It's about the word of prayer
before we begin. Dear Lord, this is our earnest plea. More love, O Christ, to Thee, and that You would teach us Thy
way, that You would incline our heart unto your testimonies, that you would turn away our
eyes from covetousness, from vanity, that you would establish our
hearts, our minds, our souls, our lives upon your word, your
precept, your statutes, Dear Lord, open up this word to us
tonight. We're so totally dependent upon your Holy Spirit to bless
us to get anything out of this. So send that mighty teacher from
above to open up our understanding. Give us understanding, Lord.
Give us understanding. And we'll keep your law. In the name of Christ, we pray
these things. Amen. Psalm 119. The verses we're about to study
this evening are in the form of a prayer. All of the verses. All eight verses. David is praying,
he's making his requests known unto God with thanksgiving. He asks here, he asks and asks
and asks over and over again for many things here. There's
nothing wrong with asking from God. It's only wrong when we
ask amiss to consume it upon our own lust, like James said.
There's nothing wrong with asking, asking of God, but we need to
ask for those things needful. And this is what David asked
for here. Notice with me very quickly down
through these verses, beginning with verse 33. Verse 33, he says,
teach me. Verse 34, he says, give me. Verse 35, he says, make me. Verse
36, he says, incline me. Verse 37, he says, turn me. Verse 38, he says, establish
me. Verse 39, he says, turn me again. Verse 40, he says, quicken me. Eight requests here. Teach me,
give me, make me, incline me, turn me, establish me, turn me. Quicken me. Sounds like David
understands who everything depends upon. Sounds like David is looking
to someone other than himself, doesn't he? These are all good and profitable
and necessary requests. And David can count on receiving
these things. And we can too, if we ask for
these things. All of these things. Now I'm
going to I hope I have some liberty with this. If not, I'm going
to just attempt to read what I have written down, because
at the time of studying this, I was greatly blessed by it. You can't always count on having
freedom of thought and expression. But David asked for everything
in Christ's name, or with the Spirit of Christ, for Christ's
sake. I want us to see that throughout these verses. He asked for things
for Christ's sake. And if we ask for things in the
name of Christ, that's what he said, didn't he? He said, ask
and you shall receive. Whatever you ask in my name,
you'll receive it. And I pray that God would grant me all of
these requests, would grant you all of these requests, and I
would to God that he would grant me the desire to make these requests. You understand me? I wish that
God would grant me that I would make these sorts of requests
and not those things which are hurtful or asking amiss. You
understand? Spiritual things is what we're
talking about. I'm personally reminded over
and over in my own heart and mind, the scripture keeps coming
to mind, Matthew 6, 33, which says, Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall
be added unto you. I'm constantly reminded of that
whenever I go after other things, and we do. We all do. Let's begin
in verse 33. I hope to make this brief. He
says, Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes. Teach me the
way of thy statutes. Teach me, Lord. You be the teacher.
I'm a poor ignorant fool. I can't figure anything out on
my own, no matter how plain the word is before me. I'm so slow
to learn and so shallow of understanding. And I need God the Holy Spirit
to personally instruct me, to lead me and guide me into all
truths. Don't you? I need him to patiently
teach me and instruct me in the things of Christ. I need him
to bring to remembrance, as Christ said there in John 16, I believe
it is, that the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance. the things
that I've said. I need him to bring to remembrance.
Why? Because I quickly forget. Oh,
how quickly I forget. Just a few moments after I've
heard, a few minutes after I've read a scripture, I've quickly
forgotten it. I need the Holy Spirit to teach me, to be my
teacher. And it says, look at this, teach
me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes. The way. I was quickly reminded
of when Christ said to the Pharisees, Now you search the scripture,
for in them you think you have life. In other words, people,
and we do the same thing. Look into the Bible as a way
of living, as a rule book, a way to live. And there are practical
instructions there. But the Bible, Christ said, the
Word of God testifies of me, of Christ. In other words, there
are not many ways to God. The Scriptures don't contain
all manner of precepts and testimonies and statutes and commandments
and all that, and you get whatever you think you can down the path,
and God will accept you accordingly. No, there's only one way. Christ
said one way. That's what he says here, doesn't
it? Teach me, O Lord, the way. That's significant, isn't it?
The way. The way. It's not, and it's not
according to everybody's interpretation of the scriptures. This man thinks
this is the way, this man thinks. There's only one way. There's
only one truth. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One spirit. One hope of your calling. One.
Right? Who is that way? Who is the one
way? Jesus Christ. So he says here,
teach me, O Lord, the Christ of the scriptures. The Way of
Thy Statutes. I need to see the Christ of the
Scriptures. Like that article I read to you.
I need to live by the faith of Jesus Christ. Not by my faith,
that is not what I think the scripture says, but depending
totally upon him. This is not nitpicking, this
is not splitting hairs, is it? No, it's not. It's the difference
between saving faith and being under the works of the law. I
need to see Christ with eyes of faith and have a heart of
love for Christ in the Scripture. And I need God, he says, teach
me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes. Teach me the way of your word,
the Christ of scriptures, and I shall keep it unto the end. I shall keep it unto the end. While I was looking at this passage,
I saw a Proverb 4, the fourth chapter of Proverbs kept coming
to my mind, which speaks of wisdom. Proverbs 4, Proverbs 8 speaks
of wisdom. And in this Proverbs 4, it says
here down in verse 13, it says, take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her. for she is thy life. Now is he
talking about some abstract principles, some doctrine or religious thought? He's talking about a person here.
The whole chapter speaks of Christ. He says in verse 1, Hear ye,
children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding. And where is understanding found?
In Christ. In Christ. And he says all the
way through here, keep, look at verse 6. Are you looking at
Proverbs 4? Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee. In other words, if you
replace her with him, that's talking about Christ there. Forsake
him not, and he shall preserve thee. Love him, he shall keep
thee. And this, I believe, is what David is saying in the same
sense here. Teach me, O Lord, the Christ
of the Scriptures, and I'll keep, if you teach me Christ in my
heart, I'll keep hold of him unto the end. That is, if he
keeps me, because we're kept by his power. And I need God
to begin this work because I read where it says that whatever God
begins, He'll finish it. He'll perfect it to the end.
And I'll keep hold of Him if He keeps hold of me. Because
He's able to keep me from falling right up to the bitter end. Right
up to the bitter end. So I need Him to keep me. And
if He'll keep me, I'll keep Him. It's a simultaneous keeping.
Verse 34, He says, Give me understanding. Give me understanding. I don't
just need instructions. I don't just need some doctrine
to learn by rote, or that is, just to repeat, just some head
knowledge. I want understanding. I want
inward perception. I want spiritual discernment. real discernment concerning the
thing, real wisdom. Wisdom is a summary word. Give me understanding. I don't
want to be a superficial student of the Scriptures, merely parroting
or repeating what I hear. Do you? I don't want to just
repeat what I hear. I want a deep down persuasion. I want a genuine heartfelt understanding
of the Word of God, of Christ, of what I read and what I hear,
so that I'll know what's right and want to do it. I'll know
what's right and I'll want to do it. Look at verse 34 again.
Give me understanding and I'll keep thy law. I'll keep your
law. David says in another place,
Oh, how I love thy law, O Lord. Let's never be guilty of making
disparaging remarks concerning the law of God. God's law is
good. It's holy. It's righteous. It's
true. Every word, every commandment
is just, holy, and true. It's good for me because God
is good, and everything God has set forth in the Scriptures is
good. It's good. But if God will grant
me a true and mature understanding, stay with me, if God will grant
me a true and mature, that is a real and mature understanding,
I won't fall. I won't fall because, why? Because
verse 34 says, I'll observe it with my whole heart. And this
is where true faith begins. In the heart. In the heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence. For out of it, out of it are
the issues of life. Proceed forth the issues of life. Life begins with a heart work.
Salvation begins with a heart work. And if God begins this
work in my heart, if he really plants a love for, a belief in
Christ in my heart, then it will manifest itself in my walk. I
will observe God's law. I will walk the walk. I will walk in a Christ-like
manner. So that's where it began. I shall
observe it with my whole heart. When you give me an understanding,
a true heart faith of Christ, all of our lack of ability Listen,
every one of us want to be obedient to God Almighty. We want to do
what God tells us in the Word, don't you? Sure you do, if you're
a child of God. All of our lack of ability comes
from, I believe, comes from half-heartedness. Now listen to what I say there.
All of our lack of ability comes from half-heartedness. Christ
said Himself, He said, if you had faith, as a grain of mustard
seed. He said, when He did a miraculous work, He said, greater works
shall you do. What was He talking about? When someone has true
heart-faith in Christ, truly trusts Christ, Just a little
bit of that true, heartfelt, genuine persuasion and belief
in the heart of who Christ is, who God is, your Heavenly Father,
and really live by faith in Him, problems, insurmountable problems
will be overcome. Our lack of ability comes, I
believe, from half-heartedness and unwillingness, unbelief. Unbelief. It's that sin which
does so easily beset us, right? So he says, teach me and give
me. Teach me your way. Teach me Christ. Give me understanding of who
he is. Give me an understanding of your
word. And I'll observe it with my whole heart. Verse 35, make
me. Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments. Make me. Lord, I'm a dumb animal. I'm like the, I can say with
David, I was as the beast of the field. I'm like a dumb animal. If I ever learn anything, You'll
have to teach me. If I ever do anything, you have
to give me the grace to do it. If I ever am to be anything,
you'll have to make me that way. You're going to have to make
me, make me all that I am, because by the grace of God, I am what
I am. David knew something about that.
Make me. Make me. I was thinking the other day
how I wish that I could read the Scriptures in the very way
that the writer wrote them. You know, we read the Scriptures.
I hear people read the Scriptures. And you men, when you read the
Scriptures publicly, you need to work on that. Because when
the scriptures were written, the man did, David, when he was
writing it, he didn't say, he didn't write it like this, teach
me, O Lord, the way of thy statute, and I shall keep it unto the
end. Give me understanding, and I
shall keep. That's so dead and lifeless,
isn't it? Teach me, O Lord. He wrote that with feeling, from
the depths of his heart. Teach me, O Lord, and how I'd
like to read it, like it's written. Make me. I can just see him pounding
his fist on the table right there. Make me to go in the paths of
your command. Oh, I'm so prone to go elsewhere.
I'm so prone to go astray. Make me, Lord. Put a noose or
yoke around my neck. Make me. Make me to go in the
path of thy commandments. Make me all that I am. Make me. He says there, make
me to go. I'm ready to halt. He's got to
make us go. We're ready to quit, right? We're
prone to faint. He's got to make us go. He's
got to make us come, come to Christ. He's got to make us go
out into the world. He's got to make us. And he says,
make me to go in the path of thy commandment. There it is
again. That's the same sense in what
he said there in verse 33, wasn't it? The way of thy statutes,
the path of thy commandments. That is the direction, the path
goes in one direction, the direction. The way of God's Word is what? Is who? Is Christ. The path of
God's commandments, the way, the direction of God's commandments
points to Christ. Everything, every precept, every
statute, every word points to Christ, to faith in Christ. Every
word. In the path of thy commandments
make me to go because I'm prone to wander. Prone to wander, Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Prone to go my own way. Prone to wander down a path of
sin and worldliness. Prone to leave God. Lord, make me. Make me. Make me to stop what I'm doing. Stop me. Stop me from doing what
I do. Stop me from sinning against
thee. Make me to lie down in green pastures. I'm so quick,
I'm so much in a hurry out there in the world. Make me, like a
dumb sheep that I am. Make me to lie down in the green
pastures of your Word. Leave me beside still waters,
because my heart is so troubled, like a troubled sea. I need some
still waters of God's Word. Make me to rest in Christ, because
I'm so prone to look elsewhere for peace, for comfort. Make
me to rest in Christ. Make me to do thy will, because
I'm so prone to want to do my will. Make me. That's how David
wrote this. Make me. Make me to go in the
path of thy commandment. And what did Christ say? This
is my commandment. A new commandment I give unto
you. This is my commandment. What did he say? What was he
telling me? That you what? That you what? What is this?
Love one another as I have loved you. I don't love other people, I
love self. I love me and mine. Us four no more, us three. Make
me to love that fellow. God's going to have to. We're
from different walks of life, different personalities and all.
Make me love that person. Make that person love me. Because
I'm so unlovely. Make me. He says here, for I
delight. Therein do I delight in thy commandment. Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. As Christ said,
I delight to do thy will, O God. A true spirit of Christlikeness
says, I delight to do thy will, O God. Right? I really do. I don't always do it, but I really
do delight in it. I really do want it. I really
do desire. To will, like Paul said, to will
is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I don't know. I find not. But to will is present
with me. I do delight. Can you say that,
Vicki Patton? I do delight in his command. I do delight in God's word. You
must be able to say that from the heart. Yes, you should. Verse 36, incline me, incline
my heart. See the emphasis David places
upon the heart? David knows where true religion
is, in the heart. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Incline my heart unto thy testimony. Make, listen, we use the word
inclination. he's inclined to, he's got an
inclination toward this or that. Make the first inclination of
my heart toward God. Set my first and foremost affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. If two things are placed in front of you, something
of this world or things of God, what are you going to go to first?
Well, David says, incline my heart to the right way. Incline my heart, make my first
inclination, my wholehearted desire and affection set on things
above, not on things on the surface. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies."
Thy testimonies. What is the testimony of God?
There aren't many testimonies. God doesn't have many testimonies.
Listen to this, Revelation 19, 10. John on the Isle of Patmos
said, I fell at his feet, at the feet of this angel. I fell
at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See ye do
it not, I am your fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of God's Son, the
gospel concerning God's Son, is the spirit of, or the heart
of, all of this book. So incline my heart unto the
gospel, the gospel. Make it sweet to my heart. Touch
my heart, O Lord. Tell me the old, old story. For I forget so soon of Jesus
and his glory. Tell me the old, old story. As
to a little child, for I am weak and weary, and sinful and defiled. Tell me the old, old story. Oh, boy, I don't want to ever
hear it with indifference. Lord, incline my heart unto that
gospel. Incline my heart. Oh, touch my heart with the gospel.
Oh, let it be sweet to me. Is that your prayer? And not
to covetousness. And there's nothing that will
spiritually deaden us more than covetousness. Why? Because the scriptures say that
covetousness is idolatry. Doesn't it? Covetousness is idolatry. So dissect that. That is, to
covet or to go after the things of this world is to leave God. Right? Is to leave God for trifles,
for toys, for perishing things. It's idolatry. It's to worship. It's to set your heart where
your treasure is. That's idolatry. To leave God
for anything, to worship, to be consumed with, to pursue anything
other than God is idolatry. And he says covetousness is idolatry. And he says, you're inclined,
my heart, unto your gospel, unto your testimonies of your Son,
and not to covetousness. It's a sad state we get into
when we care more for toys than we do for God, isn't it? in a bad shape, aren't we? We're
no better than little children, little babies. Sad statement. We care more for
toys than they do God. Verse 36, turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity. In the same vein here, Charles,
in the same sense, picking up what he said in verse 36, he
says, turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. There are three
things that sum up the sin in our lives. It's called the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And I believe that's what David
is alluding to here, the lust of the eyes. Turn away mine eyes
which so lust after the things of this world. Right? Turn away mine eyes from
the lust of the things of this world, and turn mine eyes heavenward. Let me see with eyes of faith.
Let me see the vanity of, the uselessness of,
the emptiness of, how void the things of this world are, that
they're dust, and they shall return to the dust, and let me
turn my eyes heavenward. If only, listen, if only I could
look look over or pass over the vanities of this world as carelessly
and nonchalantly as I do a child's toys. Wouldn't you like to be
able to do that? I've been reading a couple of
biographies. I told John I was in the process
of reading about six books. I'm getting them all intertwined
here, so I get my facts and dates and everything wrong. You'll
understand, won't you? I've been reading of John Knox, and one
of the things that was said about John Knox, one of his greatest
virtues, not a God-given virtue, but nevertheless it was added
to his faith, this virtue. that he cared nothing for the
things of this world. He was offered many high positions
in the Church of England, but because he's so disdained... Great sums of money, notoriety. He turned these things down. Somebody said of him, they said
this in a derogatory fashion, they said, he cares no more for
the riches of this world, he does dirt. Wouldn't you like to pass over
the things of this world with such nonchalance? In favor of what is true and
real. Huh? Wouldn't you? The things of Christ. And I'll do it, listen, verse
37, I'll do it if He'll quicken me in His way. If He'll quicken
me together with Christ, like He said in Ephesians 2. If He'll
give me a real living, abiding faith and love for Christ, a
real abiding interest in Christ, then I'll live. I'll live like
I'm supposed to. I'll live to God. I'll present
my body, a living sacrifice to God, a reasonable service. But
I won't do it out of service. I won't do it out of duty. I
won't do it because I'm supposed to. I'll do it out of love. Look at verse 38. He says, Establish
thy word unto thy servant. Establish your word to me. Peter,
in 1 Peter 1, verse 25, he's quoting Isaiah 40, verses 7 and
8. And he says, in quoting Isaiah
40, 7 and 8, which speaks of the glory of this world, the
beauty of this world, is that the flower of the field and the
grass, the grass withers and the flower fadeth away, but the
word of the Lord endureth forever. Peter, in quoting that, he says
this, listen, David said, Establish your word unto thy servant. Peter says, The word of the Lord
endures forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
was preached unto you. The Word, we have it again, the
Word of God, all of the Word, the written words, the Word on
the whole, is about Christ, the Word. It all points to him in
some way, indirectly or directly, or directly, right? We're looking at some indirect
references to Christ here, right? Okay, he says, establish your
word unto me, and my heart's prayer is that God would write
the word of God upon the table of my heart with a pen of iron,
with blood red ink, right? That the Lord would ground me
and settle me and establish me in this book, establish me, hide
it in my heart that I might not sin against him. Burn it in my
memory and bring it constantly to my mind. Stay with me, okay? Stay with me. Establish your word unto thy
servant who is devoted to thy fear. He says, I'm devoted to thy fear.
Now this was David talking here. This is David talking. He said
it out of sincerity. He says, the thing I want to
know and pursue and live my life in is the fear of the Lord. Because
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. Right? It's the beginning of all understanding.
If I truly fear the Lord, it will direct all of my ways. It will direct all of my thoughts.
It will direct my walk. It starts right there, the fear
of the Lord. And David doesn't say this boastfully,
but he says it's truly my heartfelt desire. I truly want to be, and
am by your grace, devoted to fearing the Lord. We make much
of the fear of the Lord here. We talk a great deal about the
holy character of God. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. We make much of that. Why? Because
the scriptures make much of it. Because the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of it. And we need to be devoted here.
If nobody else is, Joe, we need to be devoted here to the fear
of the Lord, because the fear of the Lord will bring about
proper worship. The fear of the Lord will make
you worship, nothing else will. A good buddy, a sugar daddy,
up in heaven won't make you worship. It'll make you claim on it. It'll
make you demand things. Fear of the Lord will make you
worship and worship aright. And this man, to this man, to
this woman will I look, he said. This is the one I'm going to
have communion with. to him that fears, trembles at
my word, is broken hearted, decontrite hearted, and fears or trembles
at my word. That's the person he says I'm
going to take note of, that's the person I'm going to come
down and have communion with. Nobody else. Right? Verse 39, turn away my reproach
which I fear. Turn away my reproach, which
I fear. That is, turn me from being a
reproach. Turn me from being a reproach,
which I constantly fear. Don't you fear that more than
anything? Listen. True repentance. Do you want
to know if you've truly repented or truly are repenting? It's
not a one-time thing, it's a continual thing. True repentance is right
here. It's fearing, bringing reproach
upon God. Sinning against God. That's what
David said. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. It's fearing, bringing reproach upon God's gospel, God's
church. Not fear of being caught. That's
not repentance. Esau did that, didn't he? And he sought repentance, it
says, carefully, with tears. Strong cryings, it said. Why? Because he got caught. Because
of his punishment. Because he was cast out. Cain
did the same thing, didn't he, John? He said, my punishment
is greater than I can bear. That's not repentance. That's just fear of the consequences.
David, a man after God's own heart, this is what he said.
My sin is more than I can bear. You see the difference? Cain
said, my punishment is more than I can bear. David said, my sin
is more than I can bear. Cain said, I hate what's happening
to me. David said, I hate me that made
this happen to me. It's my fault. It's my fault. And this is true repentance.
And he says here, I think, in another sense, turn me from your
anger and your wrath, which is a reproach against my sin. God's
anger, God's wrath, God's judgment is the reproach that my sin will
bring upon me. But thank God, John, he said
in Isaiah 53, that reproaches of them that reproached him fell
on Christ. Thank God. So I don't have to
fear that reproach. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. No reproach. No fear of reproach. But still we pray for them. Turn
away my reproach which I fear. I fear falling. Do you all fear
falling? I don't have any doubts whatsoever
about the person and work of Christ. That is my only hope.
I only plea, I don't have any doubts whatsoever that the gospel
we preach is the gospel and able to save my eternal soul. But
I sure doubt this, old boy. Don't you? I sure doubt. I sure doubt myself. Well, thank God it's not dependent
on me. We need to look at that. We need
to look to Him constantly to eliminate, to alleviate this
fear of falling. For your judgments are good.
It's a strange way in which he said this. Turn away my reproach
which I fear, for your judgments are good. Your judgments are
good. What he's saying here is God's
condemnation of me would be right. He's saying God would be right
to judge me. That's exactly what David said
in Psalm 51 when it wasn't. He said, you'd be just in judging
me. You'll be clear when you speak.
And just when you judge me, everything God does is good and right and
true and just and holy if it means sending my soul to hell.
Right? It'd be good. It'd be good if
he did. Wouldn't be good for me. But
it'd be good for God's holiness and God's glory somehow. Yes,
it would. We can't see that right now.
We see with eyes... You know, there's a passage...
There's a passage that speaks of the saved saying amen to the
damnation of the unjust. You remember reading that scripture?
It talks about, in Revelation, where it talks about the saved
people in heaven saying amen to the damnation of all those
people in hell? You see, we can't say that now.
We can't say that now because we don't have holy eyes. We don't
have a love for holiness and a hatred for sin like we will
then. We don't see people and things
as they really are now. We'll see perfectly then. We'll
know perfectly. We'll have a perfect understanding
then. We'll have a holy and righteous
character and hate everything. And we won't see people, there
won't be, there aren't relationships in heaven like there are now. My mother, my father, my child
won't mean anymore to me there. than anybody else. In the same
sense, Christ said, he himself said, who is my mother and brother?
You see, he had perfect understanding. There was no respecter of persons
with God, and up there there would be no respecter of persons
with us, right? And when we have that understanding
and that perfect enlightenment, We'll say amen to the damnation
of whoever it may be. And if it is one of our family,
we won't think of them as family. We'll just think of them as those
who hate our God. Right? We'll think of them as
those who rebelled against, who refused to believe our God. And
because we love God so much and consider His holy law just and
true and good and righteous and everything about God good in
our delight, we'll say away with everything that's not inclined
and bowing to God, right? We'll know perfectly. But right
now we see in part. And so that's a hard thing to
figure and understand. But his judgments are good. God's
justice is good. I wish we had some justice in
our society. Don't you? It'd be a good society. It'd be a better one anyway.
If people got what they deserve, if punishment fit the crime,
we'd have left crime. Well, God said the punishment
is going to fit the crime, and there ain't going to be any crime
in heaven. Right? His judgments are good. David
worded, the Holy Spirit worded his words right, didn't he? Ah, behold, he says, verse 40,
we'll quit. Behold, Listen dear Lord, that's what
he's saying, behold, behold me, would you look upon me? Would
you think upon such a poor, pitiable, miserable, wretched man? Would
you behold me? You know if God will behold us,
we'll behold him with eyes of faith. If you'll just think on
me, if you'll just think on us for a moment. Damnation is God
passing us by. Salvation is God beholding us
in love. Stopping what he's doing and
beholding you. Behold. Behold, I have longed
after thy precepts. And I believe only a true heart
can say this. Lord, let me read what I've got
written here. Lord, I know I seem to long after the
things of this world. But in heart and reality, it's
Thy precepts, Thy ways, that I long after. that I long
after." Can you say that? I know I seem to long after the
things of this world, but in heart, in reality, it's your
priesthood, it's your word, your salvation, your son, that I long
after, that I long after. And thy ways, he says, thy ways. After your precepts, the ways
of God, the right way. Precepts are ways of God, the
right way. I want to live right. I know
people abuse that term, don't you? You've got to live right.
You must be living right. Well, I do want to live right. I don't
want to live wrong. Do you? I want to really live
right. I want to walk right. I want
to talk right, don't you? I want to act right, don't you? I want to love right. I want
to be right. Don't you? Yeah, I do. I want
to be Christ-like right. Christ-likeness is what I long
for, and I think it was David who said this, too. I'll be satisfied.
I'm not going to be satisfied until I awake with his likeness. That's a good indication that
God has done a real work in your heart. When you long to be like
Christ, satisfied, and only satisfied when you're awake with his likeness,
oh Lord, and this is what it's going to take, the last line,
this is what it'll take, if he'll quicken me in his righteousness. If he'll raise me up to walk
in newness of life. by faith in Christ, walk by faith,
live the just, shall live by the faith of Christ." Well, I hope you've profited
by that. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this and pray. Heavenly Father, make this more
than just a sermon. Make this more than just another
Wednesday night service. Open up and make this what we've
read and what we've looked into, the very word of life. Make it
spirit. Your words are spirits in their life. And they don't
just show us how to live. They give us life. They point
us to Christ, who is our life. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, we'll be like him. And that's what we long for,
and that's what we want more than anything, this word to accomplish
in us. That so great a salvation which
molds and makes and conforms and regenerates a human being
into the blessed image of Jesus Christ. Grant it, Lord, for your
mercy. and your grace in the sight of
your Son. Amen.