But I do hope you read it. I asked my wife if I could use
this illustration. I don't mean to embarrass her
or anything, but this is natural. I asked her if she had read the
paper. She said, well, I'm reading it. She said, it's difficult
to read. She said, the print and all,
plus the old English and all. And I said, well, I know that.
And then she asked me if I read it. I said, yes, I did. She said, did you read the copy
you made? And I said, yes, I did. I read it to make sure that it's
readable. Legible, is that it? But I told
her, I said, you know, That'd be a good excuse not to
read it. It's hard to read. But I said, I'm sure glad William
T. Doyle didn't say that. Boy, this Latin is hard to read.
It's too tough. And I've only got this candlelight,
and I'll just not go through this translation at all. Or Martin
Luther. Keep going. I'm sure glad those
fellas said it wasn't too tough. But they went on with it. So,
and like I said, we've got all kind of helps, bifocals, trifocals,
quadrifocals. Good reading lights and all that. I want you to turn with me to
John 8. John chapter 8. John chapter 8. My way of introduction
into this song. Try to get you out of here. and
a little bit, make no promises, I started to say early, but not
to make promises like that. John chapter 8, read with me
what our Lord said here, these solemn words in John 8 verse
31 and 32. It says in verse 30, many believed
on him. As he spake these words, many believed on him. That is,
they at least acknowledged him as being a teacher come from
God to Pharisees. The Jews, many of them, they
believed on him. Not in the heart, but at least
up here. They believed there was some
validity to him. And then Jesus said to those Jews which believed
on him, if you continue in my word, Then are you my disciples
indeed. If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. And they argued a little
bit with him there. They said, we're not in bondage.
Well, he said down in verse 37, he said, I know that you're Abraham's
seed. I acknowledge that. You're Jews. But you seek to
kill me. You hate me. Why? Because my word hath no place
in you. Now they are disciples indeed. True disciples are those who
continue in the word. Now what he said, you read it
with me. They are my disciples indeed, if you continue in my
word. And false professors, like those
self-righteous Pharisees, false professors, the Word, it says,
has no place in them, in their lives, in their heart, no place. Now, as I've already announced,
we're going to embark on this course of study through Psalm
119. And in the words of Matthew Henry,
if you read it, I think it was in the introduction there, he
said the study through Psalm 119 will either win or shame
you. That is, if you seriously and
studiously consider it with me. Now I'm asking you, I'm begging
you, I'm beseeching you. Every adult, every thinking,
every child who's able to. Stephen, if you're able to listen,
I beseech you. Stay with me tonight. The next
several Sunday nights, as I've said, we're going to study through
Psalm 119. And the reason I began by quoting John chapter 8 here,
concerning what our Lord said about His Word, is that Psalm
119, that's the subject of Psalm 119. The subject of Psalm 119,
throughout it, is the Word of God. The Word of God. Every single
verse, with the exception maybe of verse 122, Every single verse
directly or indirectly apply or relates to the Word of God
Almighty. Every single verse, 176 verses
with maybe give or take one. This song, now listen, I've weighed
these words carefully. This song of the thoughts and
intents of the heart concerning the Word of God. This Psalm is
the great revealer of the thoughts and intents of your heart concerning
the Bible. Now it behooves us to pay attention,
find out whether or not it has any place in us, doesn't it?
This psalm, let me say it again, is the great revelator of the
thoughts and intents of our hearts concerning the Scriptures of
God, the Word of God. You see, these are the heartfelt
expressions of the Son of David, and the Son of David. David is
the writer. And in reference to God's Word,
the heartfelt expressions of David here can only be felt by
those of like passions, of those of like mind. Of those of like
affection like David. These expressions of the heart
through Psalm 119 can only be expressed by those truly, those
men and women who are truly men and women after God's own heart. I want to find out. I want to
find out if I can say these things. Don't you? Because, listen to
me, the heart of God, we talk about a man or a woman after
God's own heart, like David, and this is the outpourings of
David's heart concerning the Word of God. Oh, the Word of
God. He says it all the way through, thy word, thy precepts, thy commandments,
thy judgments, thy statues, thy righteousness, thy ways, all
the way through, all of these things, thy testimony, oh I love
them, I love them, I love them, they're my gold, my nuggets,
my bread, my love, my joy, my honey, my water, my food, just
on and on, adjectives like that. How can we say that unless that's
really in our, the word of God is really in our heart, really?
Oh, it's a revealer. Like Henry said, it's a gonna
shame you. He didn't say it in that, he
didn't say it's a gonna. But he said it will either shame
you or warn you. I hope it'll do both. Do both. The reason, you see, the affection
of God. We talk about a man after God's
own heart. What is nearest to God's heart? Listen to this verse in Psalm
138 too. He said he's magnified, he's
extolled, he's honored, he's lifted up above all things to
a place of high esteem above everything else. He's magnified
his what? His word above all of his name. He calls his son by that name.
Thou my word. And for those who have discernment,
you already know that when we talk about the Word, we're talking
about Christ, the incarnate Word, and the Scripture is the written
Word. They go hand in hand, you can't
separate them. What place does the Word of God
have in you? Violet, I want to find that out,
don't you? Based upon what Christ said back
there. He said, now, the Word has no place in you, Pharisees.
You're just Jews, you're just religious for gain and all that.
My Word has no place in you. He said, if you continue my Word,
then my disciples... You want to know about that,
Terry? You want to find out? Of course you do. More than anything
else, don't you? Alright, what place does the
Word of God have in you? Now remember, What we read over
there in John 8, it says, if you continue in my word. Here's one word from the mouth
of the Word of God, from the mouth of the Son of God, one
word that will slay us into death. Continue. Now, you don't need to be a Greek
scholar. You don't have to have a knowledge
of Greek to understand or to understand the Word of God. Many insist upon that. I don't.
All you need to have is a good Webster's Dictionary. A strong
concordance will accomplish all the Greek you need to know. Just
look up the word continue in Webster's Dictionary. It'll shed
a lot of light on that. The one word, though, is the
most efficient word Christ could use. He said, if you continue,
now the Greek word is mino. Listen to what it means. If you
continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. To continue, mino, means to stay
in a given place. To stay in a state of. to stay
in a relationship with, to stay in an expectancy of, to abide,
to dwell, to endure, to be present concerning, to remain in, to
stand upon, to tarry for, to wait for as one expecting something
that belongs to themselves. If you continue in my word. That one word of That will expose this careless
and indifferent attitude we have toward the Word of God. One word
out of the mouth of Jesus Christ, if you continue, that will expose
a careless and indifferent attitude for the Word of God. He says true disciples, true
followers, true believers, true lovers of God Almighty and His
Son stay in His Word. They stay in a state of love
for, dependence upon, expectancy. They look forward to it. They
abide, they rest, they live, they walk, they feed upon it.
They endure, that is, to the end. They are present in, they
are there at every opportunity of. I didn't say this, Christ
said it in one word. Mino lagos, continuing the word. What he can say in two words
that we try to say in so many. They that stand upon, that is
do not stumble at the least little thing, but trust, believe, rely
upon the word. They that tarry, that is watch
for, look forward to, wait upon, come early for. There's countless verses of scripture
throughout the Psalms and the Proverbs talk about early, early
will I seek thee. Proverbs 8, they that seek me
early will find me. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth before the evil days come nigh and you have
no pleasure in them. Get too old and you get too caught
up in this world and the word of God has no place in you anymore. Now listen, for your comfort. All of this that I just said
applies to the study and the reading of the word. Yes, most
certainly. But it especially applies to the public hearing
of the word. I've said so many times that God has given us an
advantage, a tremendous blessing, an advantage to come and sit
and listen to what a man has studied for hours on end. And
we don't have to do that. It behooves us to listen for
a little while, doesn't it? Just a little while. Watch one
hour. What the man has devoted eight
or ten to. What an advantage. You see why
God is chosen by the foolishness of preaching? He knows our frame,
Henry. He knows we're caught up with
this world and the things of it. He knows we work from sunup
to sundown. He said it. He said there's 12
hours in a day. A man's got to work. Yeah, sure he does. No
excuse for not reading the word, but nevertheless he knows our
frame. So what does he do? He enables a man like me or whoever
to sit in the study and read and study for hours on end and
gives us the opportunity to come and we don't have to go through
that. It behooves us to avail ourselves
of every opportunity of hearing the public study of the word,
doesn't it? Certainly it does. Somebody said
Psalm 119 is the Bible within the Bible. Let me quote Matthew
Henry's father, if you read that there. Matthew Henry's father,
Philip Henry, he wrote a book called Christ is All. About the
best book ever written by a mortal man. Christ is All. And he said to
his son Matthew, upon growing up, he advised him and his brothers
to take one verse of this psalm. And I've tried to practice this
since I read this. He said take one verse of this
psalm every morning and meditate upon it. One verse. Because he
said this psalm will make you to be in love with the rest of
the scriptures. You hear that? Now this ain't
no fly-by-night come in the back of town on the back of a pickup
truck preacher. This is Philip Henry. Father of Matthew Henry. He said,
read, take one verse of this psalm and meditate upon it every
morning. That won't be too hard, would
it? He said, because this psalm will
make you fall in love with the rest of the scriptures. I want
that. Too, Deborah? You see, he said
this, all grace grows, now this is worth writing down, all grace
grows as love to the Word of God grows. We're going to see
that very plainly here in Psalm 119. All grace, now turn to Psalm
119 there, all grace grows as the love of the Word of God grows.
You understand what he's saying there? I think you do. And like I said, perhaps this
study, our study through this will shame us about our unbelief,
lack of love to God's word and commitment to it, and will warm
us, encourage us to continue in it, and comfort and help us
to appreciate and love it more. All right, Psalm 119. Now this
is written, just a brief description of it. It's written
alphabetically. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew
language. And each one of these eight,
each one of these stanzas contains eight verses in it. Eight verses,
22 letters. And I think that's for ease of
remembrance or reference. I'm not sure, I'm just not sure
why the Lord purposed to do that. I'm sure there's a deep hidden
meaning in each letter, but I don't know. All right, verse 1, Psalm
119, blessed are the undefiled in the way. Blessed are the undefiled
in the way. That word blessed there, as you
well know, it means happy, content, rejoicing. Rejoicing, content,
happy are the undefiled, that is, the holy, the righteous in
the way. Now how is anybody considered
righteous? How is anybody considered holy by God Almighty? How is
anybody blessed that is in Christ? What way is he talking about?
Christ said there's only one way to God. There's only one
way of acceptance with God. He said, I am the way. Not many
ways, I am the way. The truth and the life. So happy,
rejoicing is that man, that woman who has been declared righteous. undefiled, holy, acceptable,
unblamable, unreproachable in Christ. Now this is what I'm
going to do throughout this psalm is show you Christ in it first. Apply it to Christ and then make
practical application. So Christ is the way. We're only
considered undefiled and righteous and holy in him. Now it speaks
of Being undefiled, did you see your margin there? Do you have
a number beside that? It says perfect or sincere, doesn't it?
Sincere. A truly God-blessed man or woman
is a sincere man or woman. A man or woman with no doubt
who walks in the law of the Lord, in the way of God. That is, there
is no true happiness except for those true followers of Christ.
The truly happy, contented, rejoicing one is a sincere, honest, sincere,
seeker, follower, disciple of Christ, a half-hearted. There's
no real peace, joy, or contentment except that which comes from
knowing Christ. Some of you are getting older.
Some of you are getting quite older. What is this world, what appeal
does this world have to you anymore? Not much, does it? Where do you
find really any joy or happiness? Not in your children, they break
your heart, don't they? Not in this world, you've seen
it all, it's come and it's gone. Where do you find any real joy
and happiness and contentment? It's in the face of Christ, isn't
it? Yeah, sure it is. There's no real happiness, no
real peace, no real joy in this world. I'm only 36 years old,
but I've come to that conclusion already. This world has no place
for me. There's no place in my heart
for this world. There really isn't. The sincere seeker and
follower of Christ. In the sixth gratitude, Matthew
5, 8, Christ said, blessed are the pure of heart. that is the sincere seeker and
follower of Christ. They'll see God in the face of
Christ. All right now, there's no finding
out God with any half-hearted religion. No finding God with
any half-hearted religion. That is, it must be sincere in
the way. Who walk, now look at the second
part, who walk in the law of the Lord. Now, if you read that
that paper by Henry. There's ten different references
to the Word of God. The Word, the Law, the Statutes,
the Commandments, the Precepts, the Testimonies, the Judgments,
and so forth, His ways, His righteousness. But it all basically means the
Word of God. Who walk in the Law of the Lord, the Word of
the Lord. Now what does it mean to walk
in the Word of God? What does it mean to walk in
the Word of God? Well, throughout the Scriptures,
the walk refers to, when we talk about our walk, it refers to
our life, doesn't it? It refers to our life, it refers
to our everyday deportment, our everyday conduct. So to walk
in God's Word is to live, to move, to have our very being,
our everyday life, continually under the influence of God's
Word. To walk in God's Word is to live,
to move, to have our everyday life continually under the influence
of God's Word. It is to think on these things. You can't always have a Bible
open before you, but thy word have I hid in my heart. And he said, it is to think on
these things. It is whether we eat or whether
we drink, it is to think on these things. It is to have the affection
set on things above. Everything is done in reflection
of God's word. Somebody said to me one time,
said, I wish I could look at things like some do. I look at things and see a sermon
there and see an illustration. Why can't you? We've all got the same source.
Why can't we look at things? Why? Where are our affections? Where are our minds? Where are
our thoughts? To walk continually under the
influence of God's Word to think on these things. Now listen,
a true, mature, sincere disciple of Christ says this about God's
Word. A true disciple of Christ says
this about God's Word. Whatever God says or is word,
that's what I believe. That's the way I want it. Whatever
he tells me, that's how I want to believe. That's how I want
to act. That's how I want to talk. That's
how I want to live. That's how I want to walk. That's
how I want to think. That's how I want to be. Whatever
this book says. Whatever it said, I want to be
with, I want to walk with God. I want to be like Enoch. I want
to walk with God. Well, can two walk together except
they be agreed? Agreed on what? Not on what you
think. God's not in agreement with us.
You see, it's to agree with Him concerning His Word, to be bowed
to and be submissive to it. Now, there's an awful lot of
instructions in God's Word about how to conduct our lives, and
oh, my. All right, happy and blessed
is that man who walks under the influence of God's Word, who
walks in Christ by faith, and who is obedient to and longs
to be obedient to the law of the Lord, the Word of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his
testimonies. Blessed are they that keep his
testimonies. Happy, content, at peace, at
rest, are those that keep his testimonies. What are the testimonies
of God? Rather, what is the testimony
of God? There's one record, testimony. This is the record. It's the
gospel of God's Son, concerning God's Son. Paul said in Romans
1, it's to keep that testimony near to the heart. It's to believe
the record God hath written concerning his Son. That's the first lesson
in keeping his commandment. This is the work of God. What
must we do to do the works of God? This is it. This is the
first and foremost chief work of God. It's God's work and it's
what God does in you. And it's how you do the works
of God. To believe on his Son. To believe Christ, who is the
Word. To entrust your soul to the safekeeping of Christ. That
honors the Father. That honors the veracity, the
truth, the power, the glory, the strength of Christ. It honors
Him to trust Him with everything. Oh, it's not presumption, it's
trust. To say, I can do nothing, Christ
must do it all. That's trust. And that honors God and honors
the Son. To look to Him, to Him alone for salvation and the preservation
of your soul. That's what it is to keep the
testimony, the gospel of Christ. That's what it is. To keep, to
keep means to cling to, to hold to, to depend upon, to heed and
follow. Blessed are they that keep the
gospel of Christ, that believe it, that believe Him rather.
And when you keep something, Those of you have some things
you call keepsakes, don't you? When you keep something, you
retain it for present and future use. You store it away, don't
you? Any of you have an old blanket
chest full of old keepsakes? What do you do with it? However,
now and then you open it up and you just reminisce. You go through
it, you enjoy it, don't you? Oh, look, here's Kevin's little
booties. Sorry about that, Kevin. Where
are you? Looky there. You go through these things,
but you keep them. You're not about to throw them away, aren't
you? They've brought you joy and happiness, contentment. You
retain it for present and future use. And you mamas, if you wouldn't
thought to be senile and silly, you'd go through it every day,
wouldn't you? Because they grow up so fast.
You store it away. You remember it. You hold on
to it. It's dear and precious to you.
You don't want to let it get away. Blessed are they that keep
his testimonies, his word. You don't want to let it get
away. Oftentimes it does, doesn't it, Brother Terry? It gets away. Then what do you do? You get
away. You go astray. Don't you? You go your own way.
Oh, Lord. I'm not going to get ahead of
myself. That's what he prays later. Now, it's certain. Isn't it certain
that none can keep his commandments perfectly? Has God required?
It's absolutely certain that none can keep or do the commandments
of God. Christ did it for us. I tell
you, that's the gospel of nothing else, isn't it? That's the good
news of nothing else, plus or minus nothing. Christ did it
done. That's the gospel in a four-letter
word, isn't it? Done. But to keep his testimonies
is to hold on to them as one who has found great treasure.
And if you have found out that Christ has done it all for you,
you won't let anyone disturb that rest. You keep holding on
to that gospel, that one gospel, the hope of your salvation. The
foundation, if it be destroyed, what are you going to do? What
is the foundation? said, cut it, fixed, certain,
sure, I will, I shall, you will, you shall, fixed, I like that. And if anybody comes around,
try to disturb you, do like Tom Jones said, hang a sign on your
door, we're going to stay, do not disturb. We're kept by his power. We're
kept by the power of God, Peter said. And the evidence of this
keeping, the evidence that God is keeping us is us keeping His
Word. Look back at John 14 with me, hurriedly. Oh, I've got to
hurry. John 14. John 14. The disciples, Christ
said, I'm going to reveal myself to you. And they asked, how are
you going to reveal yourself to us? How are you going to manifest
yourself to us and not unto the world? And he said in verse 23,
He said, if a man loves me, he'll keep my words, and my Father
will love him. We will come unto him and make
our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings. The word which you hear is not
mine, but it's the Father's which sent me. So this revealing, this
manifestation of God's person, of his communion with you, is
all in keeping with his word. The Word of God. There is no
fellowship, no communion with God outside of the Word. No. Be not deceived. Either we are
walking with Christ or we're not. Either we are mindful of
Him and His Word or we are mindful of this world. It can't be one
or two. It can't be both, I mean. A casual glance at a personal
letter reveals very little affection for it. Ask yourself this question, who
or what is it that takes up most of my time and my thoughts? And
that may go a long way in discerning the thoughts and intents of your
heart concerning things of Christ. Real saving faith is wholehearted
discipleship. I wish we could stay here a good
while, but we've got a lot to look at. Wholehearted. You see the heart. Our Lord gave
this statement. He said, where your treasure
is, that's where your heart is. In other words, the heart is
the seat of affection. The heart is the desires, the
innermost desires and longings for. The heart is where your
time, the heart is a picture of your time, your energy, and
your efforts. Everything about you, you're
concerned with, your desires for. you're taken up with. That's your heart. Whatever your
heart is set upon is what you will devote yourself to. It's
what you love. Okay? Now Christ said where your
treasure is, that's what you're going to devote your time, energy,
and effort to. That's where your heart is. What your Paul said, I count everything
in this world but what? Calamity. Dung. Worthless. Garbage. Christ said
don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moths corrupt
and rusteth corrupts and thieves break through and steal, but
lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. What treasures in
heaven? There's only one treasure, only
one pearl of great price, Christ himself. Heartfelt. Did you read Spurgeon's article
in the Bulletin? Heartfelt. Paul said, I count
everything but dung. Everything. Willing to lose everything
to win Christ and know him. That's heart-seeking. If you
would know what he's talking about here, Just listen to what
Paul said, with a whole heart, with a whole heart, sincerely. Well, look at verse 3 with me.
They also do no iniquity. That is a wholehearted seeker
after God and Christ, a pure in heart, an undefiled in the
way, walking in the word of God, keeping his testimonies, believing
Christ. They do no iniquity. They walk
in his ways. They do no iniquity. And what's
that talking about? They do no iniquity. Well, he
that is born of God sinneth not, the scripture said. Now, say,
boy, that counts me out. Well, then, for your comfort,
Jesus said to him, he said, Again, it's not because of something
you did, it's because of Christ, because God birthed you, gave
birth to you. Whosoever abideth in Christ sinneth
not. John said in 1 John 3 verse 6.
Whosoever abideth in Christ by faith sinneth not. How's that
Terry? How is it that somebody doesn't
sin? By abiding in Christ. By trusting in Him, believing
in Him, right? Because it goes on to say that
he that is born of God doth not commit sin. Why? Because his
seed, whose seed? God's seed. Christ remaineth
in him. There's the key. If you have
any trouble with 1 John chapter 3, there's the key. Verse 9. His seed remaineth. The only
way anybody can ever not sin is when God considers them in
Christ. In Christ. That the believer, those who
trust in and cling to Christ and His way, it says there, they
do no iniquity while they walk in His ways. How is God ever
going to consider you righteous? How is God ever going to be pleased
with you, John Davis? Is there ever any point in your
life when God's going to be able to say, because of something
you did, He's going to be able to say, hey, that's a good boy.
Didn't he do a good job? Is there ever a point in time
he's ever going to be able to say that, huh? Never. Why? Because your motive's always
going to be selfish, evil, wicked, impure, isn't it? Imperfect.
So how's he going to do it? By walking in his way, trusting
in, looking to, depending upon Christ, say, I won't come to
God any other way but Christ. I dare not, I durst not come
to God in any other way but the way he's prescribed, that that
is in Christ. my righteousness." Surely one
will say, and the Lord, I've got righteousness. What right
you got to be here, he may ask us. Surely one's going to say,
there'll be one somewhere that'll say, and the Lord's my righteousness,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah Sidkenu, that's what
I'm going to be hollering the whole time I get to the gate.
Jehovah Sidkenu, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord my righteousness. You better stay in that way.
Hadn't you, Rick? Yeah, you better. And the true
disciple. Now, here's the practical application
here. The true disciple. They do no
iniquity. They walk in his way. The true
disciple of Christ is beyond reproach in this world. Yes,
buddy. Yeah, they are. They're the salt
of the earth now. They're the finest creatures
on the face of the earth. This world would be a pure hell if
you hadn't believers on it. How I wish there was 158 million
Vicki Pattons. Don't you? How I wish there was
2 billion Roberta Swords. She doesn't. But we do, don't
we? Huh? What would it be like to
work? Sherry, what would it be like if everybody you worked
with was like Jeanette Barry? Oh, you'd get up at 4 a.m. to
go to work, wouldn't you? No, we haven't. What is that
supposed to mean, Jenea? She said she wouldn't. I would,
Jenea. I know what you're saying. You
enjoy your sleep. But you know what I'm saying,
too, don't you? If the world was full of... Everybody
came in to pump gas that Henry wanted to talk about, the gospel.
You'd never sell much gas, would you? You'd be standing at one
fellow's car for hours on end. Oh boy, they are the salt of
the earth. People take note that this man's
been with Jesus. That's what they did to the disciples.
Oh, it's not infallible. The world will say you got a
devil. It's not infallible. They'll say he's got a devil.
That's what they said to Christ. John the Baptist. Verse four,
okay, let's hurry. Thou hast commanded us to keep
thy precepts diligently. Thou hast commanded us to keep
thy precepts diligently." Christ said, My commandments aren't
grievous. His commandments aren't grievous. Now, the first thing
that I think of when I looked at this, thought of, was when
the disciples, when some of them came and said, these are hard
sayings. You remember that? When he said,
John 6, we got to start talking about eating my flesh and drinking
my, they said, this is hard, who can hear this? This is tight,
we don't, wait a minute, you're coming down. And they went away. Hard saying. And when we talk
about the sovereign grace of God, we preach so strongly here. The world says it's hard. We
don't like this. That's grievous stuff. We just
don't like that sort of preaching. Give us a little man's will and
whosoever wills and so forth. They consider it hard doctrine. But you know it's ironic to me
that men and women reject the easy way. Isn't it? It's the other way
around. These aren't hard things. What's hard about resting? Ed, what's hard about resting? You don't have any trouble when
you get in from a long trip, do you, in falling on the bed?
Is that a difficult chore? Oh, man. Resting, what's hard
about that? I tell you what's hard is climbing
Mount Sinai. Trying to get to God by your own works and way,
that's hard. You're talking about hard. Christian and faithful got out
of the way, and they thought they'd find an easier way. It
became harder. Oh, sure, there are tribulations
and trials on this road and so forth, but believe Christ, it's
the easy way. It's the only way. That's for
sure. And the commandment comes, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. What's hard
about that, Steve Parks? It's so simple, we make it hard. Rest in Him, trust in Him. But
men say, No, we'd rather do this. We'd rather work our way to heaven.
Oh, a fool has said that, hasn't he? A fool. But for the believer,
practically speaking, His commandments, He's commanded us to keep His
precepts diligently. His commandments, His precepts,
His prescriptions. His precepts means prescriptions. His commandments. He commanded
us to keep them diligently. These aren't requests. The Word
of God isn't a request to the believer. And once again, let
me say, it applies to the believer. Ellen garnet is supplies to believers
applies to you doesn't apply to your unsaved neighbor they're
unregenerate the natural man receiveth not things of God the
carnal mind is enmity with God has no place in it this applies
to you and he's commanded you to keep his precepts diligently
diligently it's not a it's not a the king doesn't give requests The king doesn't make suggestions. I'll give you some advice here.
He doesn't talk like that. When Christ came speaking after
he preached, what did everybody say about his speaking? Well,
he doesn't speak like the scribes and Pharisees. Repeating, they said, he speaks
as one having authority. Every man speaks like this. He told us what to do as if he's
the one that wrote it. He did. He did. I tell you what, authority, authority,
with the authority comes the power to keep it. And he commands
us. He says, keep thy precepts diligently. Keep them diligently. Diligently. Disciple comes from the word
discipline. Keep on. Say, I can't. Do it
anyway. Do it. It's not a suggestion.
None of it's a suggestion. I would suggest Christ to us,
doesn't it? Verse 5, oh, this is when David
cries out, oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Because it's not a request. Because
it's not an option. Because it's not a suggestion.
Because it is a commandment. Because the Word of God is a
commandment. Oh, that my ways were directed
to keep thy statutes, he said. Brother John and I were having
a big time studying. Oh, that I were directed. Do
you see that? We need a director. We need somebody to direct us. Without me, Christ said, you
can do nothing. John gave me this illustration.
He said, it's like an orchestra, all tuning up their instruments.
You ever come in, you ever been in a concert hall or something
and heard everybody, oh my, it hurts your ears, doesn't it?
You think, there's no music to any of this. It's madness. John called it mayhem. Not mayhan,
mayhem. He said, it's madness. And everything
about us is madness, sinfulness, no purpose, no goodness, no soundness
in it, no soundness in it, with any life-giving sound in it,
nothing in us, no music to God's ear until he directs us. We need
a director, a director. I believe when that director
gets his scepter, that scepter in his hand. That little stick,
you know. Scepter of righteousness is a
scepter of his kingdom. Christ, our director, stands
up. There's music. Music sweet to
the ears of God Almighty. Only when he directs that. That's
because, and I'll tell you what. You know how you'll get out of
the melody? Won't you? And somebody will
say, who's that sourpuss? Won't they? You know why we get
out of sorts? We're not with the rest of the
band. We haven't got our eyes focused, our affections set on
Christ, looking to Christ. Thank you, John, for that illustration.
The director, oh, that you would direct me to keep thy statutes. This statute here, you know what
the word means? It means ordinances. And I thought immediately of
Ephesians 2.10 where he said, God has ordained, God has ordained
us to walk in good works, created us in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
therein. ordained. You're going to do it. If you're
a child of God, Sammy Park, you're going to be like Christ. You
may think it's the farthest thing. You're the farthest person in
the world away from it. If you're Christ, you're going
to do it. Yes, you are, buddy. Yeah, you are. You're going to
be just like him. You're going to do his will.
I like that. I like that. Then shall I not
be ashamed, if you direct me, I won't be ashamed. Verse 6,
when I have respect unto all thy commandments, I won't be
ashamed. When I have respect unto, hope maketh not ashamed.
The scripture says, to really believe, trust in Christ, those
who trust in Christ, those that believe on him, the scripture
says, they that believe in him will never be put to shame. That
is not finally in the day of judgment, you'll be in Christ. And not now on earth. When persecution
arises, trials and affliction arise, you can stand like a child
of God. Though he slay me, I'll trust
him, you can say. I won't have a shame, I won't
be ashamed when I have respect on all I command. I tell you
what, too, practically speaking, you'll never put yourself to
shame. You'll never put your family to shame. if you stick close to God's commandment. Yes, sir. Isn't that right? Oh, yes, it is. Trying to keep
us from making a fool out of ourselves. That is revealing
us to be who we are. Not making anything. He doesn't
make it. We are wild asses colts, aren't we? You know what the
word is? We talked about this too. The word is The Word is
how God rides us. We're wild asses, coach. We're
wild, unbroken creatures, unless God gets on us by His Word and
rides us, puts a bet in our mouth. Know what the bet is? Huh? The
Word is my thing. Where is it? Even in my mouth. The bet of God that keeps us,
that reigns us in. Doesn't it? I will neigh after
this. Read Jeremiah, it says, Every
man neighing after his neighbor's wife. Read it. Like wild men,
neigh here, neigh there, neigh to God, unless his word shuts
us up and reigns us in. Stop. Whoa, boy. I'll not be ashamed if I have
respect under his word. Rick, if I live and abide and
keep his commandments near and dear to my heart and reflect
upon them constantly, consider I'll never be put to shame. Not
in heaven and not on earth. And neither will my family, my
children, Stephen. I'll never be ashamed. Don't you fear that? Don't you
fear bringing reproach upon Your family? Yourself? A church? I fear that. Oh, I fear that. Y'all pray for this preacher.
This pastor. My soul, he's just a man of like
passions as you are. I could bring real reproach upon
this church and the gospel if the Lord let me fall. Huh? And the same goes for every one
of us in here. That's the reason I beg you,
I beseech you to pray for me. I'm praying for you. I am bringing
you names of every one of you. I will not be ashamed when I
trust Christ, and I will not be ashamed if I have respect
unto his word. Verse 7, I will praise thee with
an uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous
judgments. Turn those words around, righteous
judgments, into judgments of righteousness. I'll praise thee
with uprightness, that is, sincerity with all my heart. I'll praise
thee when I learn the gospel of imputed righteousness." That's
exactly what that's saying. Yes, ma'am, indeed. That's exactly
what that's saying. I'll shout it from the highest
rooftop when I find out the decree. Here's the decree. I've declared
it, God said. Jesus Christ is your righteousness. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. Now you can, that's something
to shout about. Go ahead, I don't mind. Yeah, it is, that's something
to shout about. The gospel of my salvation, that's what it
is. I'll praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned.
I tell you what, you'll praise God, you'll worship, you'll study
with sincerity of heart, with a true heart. When you learn
the gospel, I mean now when you learn the gospel. When Christ
becomes all to you, you will now, you'll praise him. Yes,
you will. You'll praise him. Now look at
verse 8. This is great. I'm glad the Lord
included this. He said, I'm going to keep your
statutes. Here's a man with sincere, heartfelt
resolve. I'm going to keep him. He's all
the way down through here. He has seen the glory of God's
Word in the face of Christ. He's seen it, the beauty of it,
the wisdom of it, God's Word. He's seen it. He's been convinced.
He's been persuaded, not only of who Christ is, but that he's
able, and the ability of the Word, the beauty of the Word,
the necessity of the Word, the power of the Word. He's seen
it all down through here, and he says, Sherry, that's a good resolve.
Yeah, it is. I'm going to keep it. You ever
said that? Yeah, I am. I'm going to keep
it. Starting right now. Oh, that's
all right. That's fine. That reminds me
of an old boy named Peter, though. He said, Lord, though all forsake
you, I won't. I'll stay with you. Now, we get
hard on old Peter, don't we? We're awful hard on him. We think
that Peter was being presumptuous and that he was being awful proud
and all that. I believe this was a true heartfelt
desires of this man. I believe the Lord honored that.
I know he did. A little while later, a little
while later at Pentecost, The Lord, under that man's ministry,
saved 3,000 people. It was never heard of on any
of the other apostles. The Lord dealt with more people
directly through that man's preaching than anybody else at the time.
I believe the Lord looked at Peter and thought, that's all
fair and well, Peter. That's good. I'm glad you've
got that desire, but you're going to deny me. You are. Vicki, you're going to deny him. That's a good heartfelt desire
there. Say it. Go ahead. Vow it unto the Lord,
but you're going to break it. David said, I'll keep thy statutes.
And look at what he follows it up with. Oh, for certain not. I'm going to keep your statutes.
I'm going to do it, if you'll help me. by God's grace. Yes, I will. I made a vow, a
covenant with my eyes. Oh, forsake me not. Don't lead
me to my eyes. Don't lead me to my vow. Don't
lead me to my own power. Keep me by that power. What's
that word? What's the power of God? The
gospel. I can do all things. through
Christ which strengthens me. I will keep the word of God through
Christ which strengthens me. I will never leave him nor forsake
thee. Why? Because he said he'll never
leave me or forsake me. I will not forsake him because
he said he won't forsake me. I will not leave him because
he said he'll never leave me. I will set my affection on things
above. Why? Because he said his affection
on me. We love him, his word, because he first loved us. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way. Isn't that wonderful how the
Holy Spirit recorded the first words out of his mouth concerning
Christ? Blessed are the undefiled in
the way who walk in the word, the law of the Lord, which is
Christ. I hope it's been a blessing to
you, and I hope it'll spark an interest in you, create
an appetite in you to come back for the rest of it. It has me.
Why don't you say we just go on? Let's go on to verse 9. Stand with me. Brother John, would you dismiss
us, please? Father, we thank you for this
time, being around your Word, and how
we love our people, how we love our home, how we love America.