Psalm 119. We'll be looking into the sixth
part of this, beginning with verse 41 in a moment. Upon a casual glance at these verses
of Scripture, it appears David seems to be bargaining of sorts
with God, saying, You do this, I'll do that. He says throughout
this that I shall, or I will, I will, if you If you do this,
I will do that. I'll speak. I'll walk. I'll keep.
I'll delight. I'll lift up. And so often, men
and women try to bargain with God by saying things like, Lord,
if you do this, I'll do that. Lord, you give me a new job,
I'll start giving more money. Yeah, I bet you will. Lord, you
give me a new car and I'll use it Whatever, I'll go take the
widows. Yeah. Lord, you give me a child
and oh, I'll just bless your name and glorify your name. I'll
be there every service and lift up that. Yeah. We're all guilty of this, aren't
we? We're all guilty. God doesn't make bargains. God
doesn't make bargains. Sometimes I believe he gives
us what we're asking for just to teach us a lesson, not because
he's driven a bargain with us, not out of some condition. But God never bargains with us,
because if he did, he'd be bargaining with a fool. And fools never
keep their word, do they? Fools never. You know, you wouldn't
dream of bargaining with a man who's bankrupt, would you? Loaning
money to a man who's bankrupt. Well, David appears to be bargaining
with the Lord here, but his desires and intentions are completely
different. The things he asks for seem to
be conditional. They're completely spiritual
things. The things David asks for here
are spiritual things, and he's not asking anything to consume
it upon his own fleshly desires and covetousness and all that.
No, he said back in the last portion that we looked at, he
said, Incline my heart unto your testimony, not to covetousness. David is asking for things really
needful, spiritual things, spiritually edifying and profitable things.
And David can count on getting these things. And even though
we, David makes some vows here. He really does. And. I don't based upon this, these
passages here, I don't see anything. Well, I see. I don't see anything
wrong with it, I see everything right with this is what David
does. I don't see anything wrong with making. Spiritual vows before
the Lord are good intentions anyway, but even though we can't
keep these vows we make before the Lord, we can't fulfill our
vows and intentions, yet God will grant the grace and the
strength to honor these sort of requests. God will grant the
strength and the grace to honor vows like David makes here. Now, once again, this is kind
of in the form of a prayer by David here. Let's look at it.
And the first thing that David asked for is the first thing
needful. The first thing, and this is
where we always must approach to God, isn't it? Right. Verse 41, Let thy mercies come
also unto me, O Lord. Brother Joe and I were talking
this morning. After hearing what we heard this morning, just four
short verses, all the vast truths stored up in just four short
verses. If you don't hear today, you don't hear any, you don't
hear anything that even comes close to what we hear here. You
don't hear a mention of mercy, man's need for mercy. You don't
hear God's character described, do you? Or proclaimed. You don't
hear anything of the holiness of God, the righteousness of
Christ that's mentioned. It permeates the Scripture that's
done in heaven. You don't hear anything of any talk of justice. God's justice. You don't hear
any talk of our need for justification. You don't hear these things.
You just don't hear them. A propitiation, that is an atonement,
a blood offering, a covering. You don't hear these things today.
We do. And we're blessed of all people.
Blessed are your ears. They hear glorious truths. And this, we've been taught well
here, that the first way, the way you first approach this holy
God is like a dog. Not a buddy, not an equal, not
a good friend. The word worship means like a
dog licking his master's hand. Not presumptuously, not carelessly,
not flippantly, not familiarly, but in mercy. Lord, mercy. Isn't that what old blind Barnabas
cried out? Have mercy on me. Jesus thou
son of David was. I have accepted you. No, have
mercy on me. And Christ stopped what he was
doing in the midst of all that hubbub and religious tumult all
about him. And because he heard somebody's
voice, somebody that was approaching him in the right way. Mercy. Did I hear a cry? Did I hear a sincere, heartfelt
cry for mercy? Doesn't the Scripture say he's
nigh, he's near, he's good to all them that call upon him in
what? Mercy? He'll answer all them that hope
in his what? Mercy? And David knows how to cry to
God. Oh, the thing I need more than anything, Lord, is what?
Mercy. Was it David that says his mercies
are new every morning? David knows a man after God's
own heart, a man that knows a little of the character of God. He knows
what he needs more than anything is mercy. Why? He needs the blood
of Jesus Christ to make propitiation for his sinful soul while he
sleeps, even, because his dreams are defiled. And upon waking
from that sleep, his first waking thoughts are perverse, right? Are covetous, are worldly, right? You sons of David, your first
waking thoughts are All manner of things, aren't
they? You need his mercies to be new every morning, don't you? His mercy, Terry, his mercy must
endure forever. It must. Why? Because my sins
are ever before me. They're ever before me. I need
mercy, not only in the morning, but noon and night. It said mercies, too. Plural. Not mercy, but mercies. If you understand this, we need
his tender mercies, his compassionate and tender dealings in every
area of our life, because we're just bumbling, fumbling, sinful,
mistake-prone little babies, children, stumbling, falling.
picking us back up, setting us to fall again, get into this,
get into that. We need mercies in every, everywhere
we turn. Like a little baby, like a toddler's
first learning to walk, you're behind them like this. Keep them
from bashing their brains out, keep them from wrecking the house.
Mercies in every aspect of our lives, don't We need his tender
dealing in so many areas, but especially his saving mercy here. He says, that's what he says
in verse 41, even your salvation, your salvation, that saving mercy,
that's to be won by being found in Christ. That's what I want.
That's what I need more than anything. I need to be found
in him at the judgment. Don't you, Terry? We read it
there in Psalm 143, hide me. I got to run to him to hide me. Hide me. And that's what he said
in one place. He said, you're dead and your
life is hidden with God in Christ. Well, I'm glad of that, aren't
you? Hidden, hidden with God in Christ. Your salvation, according to
your word, according to your word, the salvation is found
in the gospel. How that Christ died according
to the scriptures. How that Christ died for the
scriptures. David's saying here, Lord, I plead for justification,
sanctification, regeneration, adoption, forgiveness, not because
I deserve it, not even for anything found in me, but according to
your promises in the scriptures. This is the way to deal with
God. This is the way to come to God. The old Puritans used
to talk about arguing with God. Not in the sense that we do.
What they meant was, he's food for mercy. Take God to court. Now, understand what I'm saying
here. Understand the beauty of what they say by that. It means
pleading God's promises. God loves to be called to verify
his truth. He loves to honor his word. He
said he's magnified his word above all his name. Lord, you
promised to save sinners. You said this cause came out
into the world. You said it's a faithful saying,
Lord, a true saying, that Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners, even the chief, the worst. That's me, Lord. And
would you save me? According to your word, you said
it. I will. He'll say it every time. I will, according to his word.
Lord, I plead for your promises of saving sinners and saving
all that call upon you in mercy and in truth, in Christ. Lord,
I'm calling. I'm calling. I'm calling. So here's his vow. You see how
he started it out there? I need mercy. Lord, I need salvation. I need mercies. I need tender
dealings. I need compassion. I need everything
that an all-wise, heavenly Father can do for such a weak, frail,
helpless, hopeless, godless sinner such as I. I need mercies. I
need salvation above all else. And it's according to your word,
Lord. You've bound yourself to your veracity, to your truth,
to your salvation in Christ. And Lord, I'm pleading that.
And here's the vow, here's the intentions here, the answers
here. So shall I have wherewith to
answer him that reproaches me. That sounds a little bit like
this morning's text, doesn't it? So that I, what will I answer
him when he reproves me? Who, what is it first that will
reproach us? What is it that first reproaches
sinners such as we are? What is it that we must first
approach that will reproach us? Have I got you thoroughly confused? The law of God. Do you remember
the story of Ruth and the kinsman? Do you remember when the near
kinsman said, Want to redeem you. But there's a kinsman nearer
than I who has some claims on you. I've got to go talk to him
first. Remember that? Huh? And who that
man was, he represented the law. And the law has first claims
on us. Yeah, it does. Why? We've broken
it. But God can't just up and, oh, we'll let bygones be bygones.
Boys will be boys. Forgive and forget. No, God's
justice must be satisfied. Right? That's why Christ died,
to satisfy God's justice. And so the law has first claimed,
the law reproaches us. The law says to you, John Davis,
you're guilty, doesn't it? Whatsoever things the law saith,
it says to them that under the law, of you, that your mouth
will be stopped and you become guilty. And then it says the
soul that sins has got to die. You've got to die, buddy, don't
you? How are you going to answer that
reproach? What are you going to say to yourself? Guilty, as
charged. And then why do you cry? Christ,
help me. Somebody plead for me. I need
an advocate, right? Dear God, you got an advocate
up there? You got a court-appointed lawyer? You got a public defender, a
public defender. God says, yeah, I got one right
here with me. Jesus Christ, my very son, he'll
represent you. He represents all guilty sinners.
He's never lost a case. Will you take him, John? Yes,
buddy. Take him. Take him. So that's the first thing that
approaches us, the law of God. We've got to face it. I don't
want to face it by myself, do you? I want somebody to stand
beside me, and every time the law says, You have it? God says,
Yes, he did. Yeah, but he's—no, he's not.
I paid for that. But here, I hear it's written.
No, it's covered. I got that covered, too. But he's come short
of the glory of God. No, he hadn't. I did it for him.
All of it. Every jot, every tittle, for him. I fulfilled all—it behooved
me to fulfill all righteousness for this Lord. If you've got
somebody to talk to, Law, talk to me." And then the Law finally
says to Christ, I find nothing in it. You have the right to
redeem because you've fulfilled. All the reproaches have fallen
on Him. Ah boy, I'll have something to
answer Him that was Law. I'll have something to answer
God with. I'll have something to answer Satan with. Satan's
a great accuser in this day. He accuses us daily. Oh, God
won't take you. You're such a hypocrite. That's
right. I tell you what, he'll make you
feel, oh boy, you're a hypocrite. Boy, you're a sinner. That's right. I am. I'm the worst. But Christ came to save sinners. There. That's how you can answer
him. There's only one way you can
face that. There's only one way you can resist the devil and he'll flee
from you. And it ain't like this, you know. Something silly like
Dracula. It's only by pleading the merits
of Christ, the blood and the righteousness of Christ. Satan. Don't take it up with me. Take
it up with my representative. And plead to him, Lord. He's
pray for me like Peter. This roaring lion is trying to
devour me. Lord, would you pray for me?
Would you plead with him for me? Would you take care of him
for me? He's promised to do it. Promised
to do it. I don't want to face him like
these nuts talk about facing the devil. I don't want to face
him. No more than Michael the archangel did. Micah. Alright,
he says, I have trusted in your word. According to your word,
so shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproaches me,
for there again he pleads trust in God's word, in Christ. I trust
in Christ. I trust in the Christ of scriptures
for an answer for God, an answer for Satan, an answer to the law
of God, an answer for sin, an answer for self. The best way
to answer yourself, too, to mortify your own members is to see yourself
killed in Christ, crucified on the cross. Verse 43, And take
not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped
in thy judgments. Take not the word of truth out
of my mouth. The scripture says, Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. And David's praying here, Lord,
don't let the gospel be far from my mind, from my heart, but let
it even be on my lips. Let my speech be seasoned with
salt. Let grace pour from my lips. Let the gospel be so, let it
fill me. Let me be so inclined, what he
said back there in verse 36. Let my heart be so inclined unto
the gospel. My desires be so for the gospel
of Christ, be so set on things above that that it's even on
my lips. It readily comes out of my mouth.
All right? Wouldn't you like for just grace,
everything? Wouldn't you like for most of what comes out of
this old cesspool here to be gracious and edifying? Most of
the time it's foolishness and it's unprofitable. You might
as well not open it. It's so much hot air, isn't it? Most
of the time it's just bad breath. Halcitosis. Let grace pour. Let the gospel, let Christ dwell
in my heart by faith so much that grace pours from my lips.
That's what he's saying there. Take
not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Didn't Christ
say the word is nigh you even in thy mouth? Even in your mouth. So that I'll
ever speak praises, thy praises, because I've hoped in your judgments.
I've hoped in your judgment." Christ is my hope. He's my hope. Lord, according as your word is near
me, is on my mind, in my heart, on my lips, he says here, I've
hoped in your judgment. Take not your word of truth utterly
out of my mouth. I've hoped in your judgment.
You're all, listen to this, you're all wise judgments will give
me good judgment. God's judgments, his truth, his
word written upon the tables of our heart will give us good
judgment. And we need good judgment, don't
we? In every day, every hour of our
life, we need good judgment. We need to know how to act around
an unbelieving world. We need to know how to act around
our children. We need to know how to treat our wives as we
should, our husbands as we should. Right? Now, brothers and sisters,
we need to have good judgment. And according as His all-wise
judgments are implanted in here, it will give us good judgment
and discernment. And that's David's prayer. He
says, verse 44, "...so shall I keep thy law continually for
ever and ever." If the word is hidden in my heart,
if it's the ready speech of my tongue, if it's the tenor of
my conversation, then he said, I'll not sin against thee. Thy
word have I hid in my heart, in my memory, that I might not
sin against thee. He says, I'll keep God's law
for. Now look at verse 43 and 44 again with me. He says, take
not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. I've hoped in
thy judgment, so shall I keep thy law continually forever and
ever." In a spiritual sense, I'm going to keep God's law forever
and ever when Christ lives in me. Right? When I'm found in
Christ and Christ in me, Christ liveth in me, I'll keep God's
law forever according to my hope of being judged in Christ. Right? According to God's judgment against
my sins is justice against my sins in Christ. And also, though,
he's talking about the Word of God being a restraining, a restraining
influence in our lives. And it is. Nothing else will. Right? The Word of God, the judgments
of God, is a restraining influence upon us to keep us from sinning.
Are you with me? To keep us from sinning. And
we're never going to be completely free from sin. We're never going
to, we never reach sinless perfection. We don't preach that here, not
at all. And we don't preach that in the sense that some do talk
about progressive sanctification in the sense that you finally
get better and better until you're just worthy of heaven, and you
just go on to be in heaven. No, it's not progressive in such
a way that we become perfect. Besides, it's not the old man
that's getting better anyway. The old man doesn't get better.
He dies. He dies daily. He dies daily. But the law, the
Word of God, the Scriptures, has a restraining influence upon
us. I'm not sure any man can explain
this. They just say it. But the law of God, the word
of God, the word of God, the scriptures, keep us from standing
against God. They just do. They're just a
restraining influence upon our life. So we need to peruse them,
use them, use these men. And he says, with God's word
as my hope and my guide, verse 45, I'll walk at liberty. You
see that, verse forty-five? I walk at liberty, because I
seek thy precepts. I walk at liberty, knowing Christ,
trusting Christ as my Savior, I'm free, free from the law,
O happy condition. Jesus Christ is bled, and there
is remission, bruised by the fall, bruised by the fall, but
redeemed by Christ. He is my redemption. He is the remission of my sin. And I walk at liberty. I'm set
free in Christ, free from the law. Did your margin have over
to the side when it says, at liberty, did it say at large?
I thought about that. It says here, I walk at large. You ever heard a newscast, there's
a criminal at large. That's us. Stan's on the loose
out there, folks. God set him at large as a criminal,
a sinner. You think about this now. In
the light of God's holiness and justice and the law of God, there's
a sinner at large. He ought to be in hell. Right? What a mystery! Ought to be locked
up. One man said of me, he said,
he told my dad when I was a young boy, he said, he'll be in prison
by the time he's fifteen. He wasn't far from it. Ought
to be locked up, ought to be in hell, yet we're free, walking
around free, innocent of all charges. We're not roaming at loose, really.
Now, staying's not loose. Y'all be thankful to know that. We're not loose. We're not roaming
at large. No. The scripture says we have
a yoke upon us. A yoke. A yoke about my neck. I'm the Lord's free man. I'm
not free to do as I want. Now, I'm not splitting hairs
here. I'm not splitting hairs here,
making much ado about nothing. But I've heard men say this,
that freedom is being free to do whatever you want to. Well,
that's man's freedom. But not the sort of freedom that
Christ sets us free for. Not freedom to sin. And not freedom
to do what you just feel like doing. That's really not it at
all. It's freedom to serve Christ.
We're free to do what God tells us to do. We're no longer under
bondage to sin. In other words, sin as a reigning
power and ruling influence. Right? Once we were under its
grip, we couldn't do anything but that. And Christ just says,
free from sin, free from Satan, free from self. Right? And as I said a while ago, we're
not going to reach sinless perfection in this life. Not at all. Christ frees us from the guilt
of sin, the penalty of sin. As long as we're in this life,
we'll be in the presence of sin. But yet he frees us more and
more, according as we look into these precepts, from the reigning
power and influence of it. That's just so. That's just so,
the more we learn from God's precepts and God's word, that
we hide, that's what he's saying, hide my word, your word in my
heart, that I might not sin against it. Right? Isn't that what it,
growing like Christ, being conformed to his image? How do we do that?
By the sincerity of the word. By the meat of the word. That's
just so now. I'm not preaching sinners protection,
I'm not being. But I am preaching that the Word is, can I say it? The rule of life. The rule of life. All right? And according to my diligent
looking into or seeking after God's precepts, His mandates,
His orders for us. According will we walk at liberty
from sin's bondage, from worldly bondage, from self-rule. That's
just so. That's just so. And I want to
get in on that. There's so many blessings, so
many blessings to be found being in Christ, being grounded and
settled in God's Word, having God's Holy Word written upon
our hearts, being thoroughly acquainted with and conversant
with this book. Ah, boy, freedom. I want freedom
from sin. I don't want freedom to lasciviousness
to do what I want to do. I want to be set so completely
free from me that I'll be totally taken up with and a bond slave
to him. That's what I'm trying to say.
Right? I want to be set so free from
sin's powerful grip and influence that I'll have my eyes and heart
and affection and life and walk and talk and everything just
captivated by him. We're captives of him set free. Isn't that a mystery? Who can
explain it? We can't. We can't. Well, he
says, and I'll speak of thy testimony, verse 46. I'll speak of thy testimony. According to how closely we are
acquainted with somebody and love with somebody, especially
God's Son, God's Word, according to how closely we're acquainted
with God's Son and his Word, that's how we'll speak. Yeah,
we will. Where a man's treasury is, that's
where his heart is, and out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks. So we're going to have to have Christ in the
heart by faith, really and truly living in our heart in order
for us to speak for his glory, right? And I'll speak of thy
testimonies, of thy gospel, and will readily speak of and boast
of those things that we most delight in." And that's what
he said. I want that, don't you? I don't
want to be ashamed. Christ. He says, I'll speak about
testimonies before Kings, it won't matter who I'm in front
of, before my boss. I won't fear getting fired, who
cares? The Lord gave me the job anyway,
I'll speak before Kings. And will not be ashamed. Don't
you want that? I do. Paul said it to Timothy,
he said, don't be ashamed of the gospel, nor of me. Woe is us that we need to be
rebuked for being ashamed of this gospel. Now, in a very real sense, and
I'll quit, I'll hurry. In a very real sense here, David
is asking for all these things. He's not making any boast. He's
not really making any vows. He's got good intentions here.
But he's really asking for a greater desire and a heart for the things
of God. And we can enter into this. We
can enter into this. David's not bargaining with God,
really. Not at all. No. He's stating a fact. What
he's saying is that, Lord, if you'll do something for me, Lord,
according to your mercy, your salvation, your word, According
to how you begin a work in me, that work will be perfected. See that? According to your gracious
dealings and leadings with me, Lord, I'll do those things I
ought to do. If you really do a true saving work in my heart,
then I'll act accordingly. I'll say those things I ought
to say. I'll do those things I ought to do. I will. When it's
all said and done, John, it's God that worketh in us both to
do and will and do of his good pleasure. Right? That's what
David's saying. That's how he started this out.
He said, Lord, if you'll do this work of mercy, of salvation,
according to your promises in me, if you'll do this work, then
I'll do this. You see? He's not making a bargain,
a Jew bargain they call it, with God. Not doing that at all. He's
not saying that at all. But he's saying, Lord, if you
will do this to me, then I will do this. And that's the covenant
of grace. God said, I will, and you shall. I like that. I can enter into
that. Lord, I won't do anything if
you don't do it for me, if you don't give me the strength. Lord,
I'll not be willing unless you make me willing in a day of your
power. Lord, I'll not do anything unless
you work in me both to will and to do of your good Lord, send
your Holy Spirit to give me the power to do what I'm supposed
to do. Right? Can you enter into that?
That ought to be comforting there. Because I delight, verse 47,
I will delight myself in thy commandments. That is, if you
put them on my heart. I will. I'll delight myself in
thy commandments. And he does say, which I have
loved. I have loved them. Not like I ought to, not like
I want to, but thank God it's not like it used to be. And I
do love them. I do love them. Like we read
again back there in Psalm 143, he said, I muse, I think about
times of old when I used to be more taken up with the Word than
I am now. David said it in one time, or
what Job has said it, old that I were is in months past. Do
you ever muse on the old days whenever gospel messages you
thought the Lord saved me? Every time you heard it and then
you reach a point where you go through this indifference and
coldness and deadness and you think, what's wrong with me?
Right? Lord, I will. I will delight
myself in your commandments if you do this work in me. And I
have loved them before. I know it doesn't seem like it
now, but I have loved them. And I do love them now. Can you
enter into that? Huh? I can't. And my hands, verse
forty-eight, my hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments. My hands will I also lift up
unto thy commandment. But you must strengthen those
weak hands and those feeble knees. You must strengthen them. These
hands that are so idle. must be set in motion for your
service, for the service of your church. These hands that are
so selfish, so accumulating everything for me and mine, got to be put
to use for others. It's going to take God's grace
to make a change, isn't it? It's all said and done. It's
going to take God's grace. My hands also will I lift up
under thy commandments, if you begin this work in me. I'll begin
to lift them up unto God, that is, to do his will, unto thy
commandments which I have loved." There it is again. I have loved
them, Lord. I know it doesn't seem like it,
but I have. I have. And I do love God, I
love his will and his ways, and you say that in all sincerity. Well, finally he says the thing
that's left for us to do then is to meditate in his statutes.
You see that? He comes to this conclusion.
When it's all said and done, the thing I need to do is just
immerse myself in His statutes. That's what Psalm 119 is all
about. Let's never lose sight of that.
Psalm 119 is not only speaking of Christ's incarnate Word, but
it's talking about this glorious and blessed Word of life that
we have right here. So the thing for me to do is
to meditate in thy statutes. Because it's all right here.
It's all right here. If I don't have any strength,
where am I looking? If I don't have any assurance,
where am I trying to find it? If I don't have any hope, whose
fault is that? If I don't have any comfort,
I must not have never read Isaiah 40. I don't recall it. If I don't have any peace, I'm just not looking at his word,
am I? I'm just not, I'm not, the Holy
Spirit is not bringing to remembrance the things that Christ said to
me. I'm not looking into his word. It's my fault. So David
says, the thing I need to do is meditate in thy statutes,
the word of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation,
to know Christ. And Paul said to young Timothy,
it's able to prepare us unto every good work. Every good work. Wise unto salvation and preparation,
ability, strength to do God's will. It's all right here. A wise man would look into it,
wouldn't he? A wise woman would avail herself. of this precious gold mine. Oh, that there'd be a gold rush.
Wouldn't you like to see a, like the California gold rush, a Central
Baptist or Franklin County gold rush? Diggin', searchin'. Hey, I hear y'all found gold
over there. Yeah, come dig with us. Come dig a few nuggets. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this. you.