You can have your Barbara Mandrells and Dolly Parton
singing their hypocritical songs. I'll take Nancy Park singing
From the Heart. You wrote that song yourself?
I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Turn with me to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. The first thing in
that song kind of reminds me of that story about the two fellows,
the one actor that got up and quoted Psalm 23 and read it well. He had perfect diction, enunciation,
he acted it out well, he emphasized the right parts and so forth.
Then he sat down and An old believer, an old man, got up and he quoted
it from the heart. Somebody said, there's a definite
difference there. Somebody said, yeah, the first
one, he knows the psalm. He knows the psalm well. But
the second man, he knows the Savior. There's a big difference.
It's a sad fact. that all of us take for granted
the most precious and valuable gift of God to man, this book. We take it for granted, the word
of God. I know we don't. We don't fully
realize what we have in our possession. We don't realize what it took
to get this book, what it took the very lives of men for us
to have this book. We don't realize that. Ed, we
just don't realize it, do we? The very mind and the will of
the eternal God of glory is contained, it's sitting in our laps. The
mind of God is in our laps right now. And everything we have or
will have that is of any eternal significance is to be found in
this book. Everything we have or will have
or ever will need or want to know is in this book right here.
Everything. All that God has for us is in
his word. Everything. All salvation, all
joy, all peace, all happiness. all rest, all glory, all wisdom,
all truth, judgment, knowledge, cleansing, strength, hope, life,
pardon, mercy, understanding, comfort, preservation, deliverance,
love, grace, keep going. It's right here to be found in
God's Word, in the Word of God. All these things are in the Word
of God. Now, for those with real spiritual
discernment, you know that we're talking about, when I say these
things, you know that we're talking about more than just printed
page, the Word, all these things. How glorious is the wisdom, how
marvelous is the wisdom of God Almighty to call his Son the
Word of God. How marvelous is his wisdom in
calling his Son the Word. Who'd have ever thought of it?
Only God. Only God. And all these things
are in his Son. In the beginning, we read, was
the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now,
I want you to look at some verses of scripture with me in this
psalm, and I want you to see what a wonderful parallel, what
wonderful parallels are found in both the written Word and
the incarnate Word. That is, Christ, the Word of
God, the Son of God, made flesh, the incarnate Word. The Word
of God, the written Word, and the incarnate Word, these marvelous
parallels. We're going to look at some of
these things that I just mentioned, peace and cleansing and all these
things, that are found in Psalm 119, and we'll see how gloriously,
how marvelously, how wisely that these things to Christ, not just
this book. Although they do. Look at verse
9 with me. And this will be a brief message.
Look at verse 9, Psalm 119, verse 9. You young people, young people. Verse 9. Wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way? These are difficult times to
live in. There's a lot of The temptations you're going to go
through, a lot of temptations. I'd say this is probably a more
difficult time to grow up in than some of the older folks
have had. You name it, the kids are falling
into it, the people are falling into it. How is a young man going
to cleanse his way? How is he going to keep out of
this mess? By taking heed according to God's word. The answer is
found right here. Wendy, the answer is right here.
You want to know the only source to resort to in order to find
out the right thing to do? It's right here. The only source
is the word of God. If anybody, young or old, hears
with the heart the word of God and believes and acts upon it,
they're walking the right way. The scripture says that you train
the child up in the way that it should go, that is, in the
understanding of God's precepts. You train that child up in that
way that he should go and he'll not depart from it. You have
God's promise. So you raise your children on
biblical principles, they'll not stray. That's not talking
about salvation. It's not talking about salvation. God only knows
who he'll save. But how's a young man or a young
lady going to clean up their life? How are they going to avoid
all the pitfalls of this world? Right here. It's in this book. He said, cleansing. Well, Christ
is the word. Christ is the word, and if any
hears his voice, believes and follows him, that one has their
sins washed in the blood. Cleanse. There's cleansing in
that fountain. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sins. You feel dirty? I go to
the word of Christ, the word of God. He is our cleanser. Look
at verse 25 with me. David says, My soul cleaves unto
the dust. You ever felt like that? You
ever felt like you're just down and dirty? Dirty dog, you know? Down in the dust. Oh, Lord, I'm
just a no-good. I deserve to bite the dust at
your feet. me according to thy word." That
word means, give me life, life-giving, quickening. If the word of God
comes by the power of God's Holy Spirit into a dead heart, it
will give life. It will snatch the light on.
It will bring life, it will bring light to those eyes that once
hanged him with whatever. It will give life. The regenerating power of God
Almighty is found in his word. It's the seed, it's the incorruptible
seed of God that he plans to bring forth a new life. It's
not just talking about this book. It's talking about Christ. Christ
is life itself. That's what she sung. When the
Son of God speaks to a sick Lazarus, he'll come out of the grave.
You're looking at him. It happens. Stinking, stinking,
they'll come out of that grave alive unto God and dead to sin. Loving the things he wants hated,
hating the things he wants loved. Alive in God, Christ is our life. Look at verse 28. He says, My
soul belted for heaviness, strengthen thou me according unto thy word."
Strength. I need strength. Where are you
going to find strength? Where are you going to find that
strength? The will, the courage for a task. Go to the Word of
God and find it. Find your encouragement from
this book. Physical strength, the ability.
You've got to go to the Word of God to find out where all
ability comes from. You've got to go to him. But
most of all, spiritual strength. Most importantly, go to Christ,
the Word of God. He is our strength. Without Him,
we can do nothing. But in Him, in the Word, in Christ,
I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. But when
we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly,
and his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Christ is our
strength. You see, look at verse 41. Notice
how everything says, according to thy word. It's all according
to his word. It's all according to Christ.
It's all for Christ's sake. God does it all according to
Christ. Christ is all. It's all according
to him. He's the center. He's the center
of the universe. He's the sun around which everything
revolves. Verse 41. Let your mercies come
also unto me, O Lord, even by salvation according to your word. Salvation is according to the
word of God. Paul said that even if you ain't
from a child, you've known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make you wise unto salvation. This book is able to make a young
person or an old person or anybody for that matter wise unto salvation,
to see where true salvation is. You know, there was an old man
named Simeon standing in the temple, and God had told him
one time that He did not die until he saw the
consolation of Israel, that he saw the very glory of God himself. Salvation, God's salvation. One
day, old Simeon was standing there in the temple, and he was
looking down, and he said, Oh, now I can depart. He was looking
down in his hands. He said, Now let thy servant
depart in peace. I have seen your salvation. I
have seen it. What was he looking at? Was he
holding the word of God? Yeah. He was holding that baby. He was holding Christ, the word
of God. He said, I have seen thy salvation. Whosoever among you that fears
God, to you is the word of salvation sent. And neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none of the name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ is the Word
of God, and he is salvation itself. He is very salvation. There is
no salvation outside of Christ. He is God's salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Look
at verse 58. He says, I am truly in your favor
with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. Mercy, more than mercy, more
than anything. And God's mercy is according
to his word. And what great mercy has God
shown us in not keeping silent. As I said to begin with, this
book, we just don't realize, Deborah, what we have here. God
did not speak to us. He could have remained silent.
He could have. He did remain silent to the Gentiles
of old. He spoke to the Jews. But he
hadn't been silent to us. He's revealing his word to us.
He's given us this book, and we have an understanding of it.
He didn't have to speak his word, but in mercy he did. In mercy
he did. And his word is full of mercy
to guilty sinners. Full of mercy to guilty laden
sinners. Christ is the word. Grace, mercy,
peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. That's
where mercy is to be found. Let me read this to you over
in Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. You don't have
to turn. I'll read it. Titus chapter 3.
He says, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration, by the
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which all these things he shed on us
abundantly, all this mercy, this washing, this regeneration, this
renewing, he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Mercy. Christ is the mercy of
God to sinners, to guilty sinners. Verse 65. David says, Thou hast dealt well
with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word. Joe, this book is so full of
precious promises, isn't it? God just says, I'll never leave
you, nor forsake you. He says, I've never seen God's
seed begging or forsaken bread. There are always a churl of goodness
and mercy who are going to follow you all the days of your life.
Seek the Lord and you'll find him. Search for him with all
your heart and you'll find him. All of these promises are in
God's word, and he's been true to his word, hasn't he? He's
dealt well with us, just like he said he would. He said he
would. He said, You've dealt well with
your servant, O Lord, just right according to thy word. All blessings,
in other words. All blessings are according to
God's word. The lives have been drawn out
of me in pleasant places," David said. How about you? Nancy, that
lady told you God didn't do nothing for her, didn't she? The lady
told Nancy one day at work, God ain't done nothing for me. How
about you all? God's done something for me. He's done a whole lot more than
I deserve. David the psalmist, David went through some trouble.
He lost a baby, didn't he? He lost a baby, but he said,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, that all is within me. Bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits. He forgives all your iniquities,
He heals your diseases, He redeems your life from destruction, crowns
you with loving kindness and tender mercies, satisfies your
mouth with good things. Bless the Lord. Oh, He's dealt
well with us, isn't He? According to His Word, He's dealt
well with us. And all these good deeds, all
these blessings, they're according They're according to the incarnate
word. They're for Christ's sake. God's
dealt well with us for Christ's sake. Like old David said to
a Mephibosheth, you don't sit at my table, son. If you have
everything, it's mine. Not because you deserve it, but
because of Jonathan's sake. For Jonathan. I love Jonathan.
Made a covenant with him. And God's dealt well with us
for one reason, one reason only. For Christ's sake. According
to his word. Christ is the word. In him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead Muslim, and he has dealt well
with us by making us just complete in him. In need of nothing, Christ
is all I need. God has dealt well with us, hasn't
he, sending his Son down here? Oh, my. Jesus Christ is the greatest
blessing of God, the unspeakable gift, the scriptures say. Verse 76. Let our praise be thy
merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy
servant. Your merciful kindness be my
comfort according to your comfort. Comfort. There's only one place
to turn. You know, some of you know something
about this. being troubled, tempted, tried, whatever you've gone through,
wherever you turn for comfort, to your husband, to your wife,
to your children, to your parents, they can't give it to you. Only
in God's Word can you find that comfort. Only in God's Word.
There's only one place to look for comfort, and that's God's
Word. Look over at verse 71. that I've been afflicted, that
I'm outlawed by statutes. If we'd never been afflicted,
we'd never turned to the words, we'd never had a need. I'm convinced
that that's the reason we have all the trials and troubles we
have in this life. So we'll look to him. If we didn't
have any troubles, if we weren't down and out, we wouldn't need
anybody. We certainly wouldn't need a
Savior. Look over at Mark chapter 10
with me. Mark chapter 10. Look at this
story well. Mark 10, verse 46. God's word is comfort, and Christ
is the word of God, where all comfort is to be found. Look
at Mark 10, verse 46. They came to Jericho, and as
they went out of Jericho with his disciples, Christ went out
of Jericho with his disciples, a great number of people. Blind
Artaeus, a blind man, son of Timaeus, he sat by the highway
side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he'd heard this name before, he'd heard
that he'd healed some blind, other blind people. When he heard
that this, his only hope, his only hope, his only healing,
his only salvation was passing through, this Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Jesus thou son of David,
have mercy on me. And then he charged him, charged
him in holy space, shut up, When he cried to the Lord, the great
being, Son of David, my only help, my only hope, have mercy
on me. Lord, save me. Lord, help me. Verse 49, And Jesus stood still,
and he commanded that man to be called. And they went over
to the man, and they called him, and they said unto him, Lord,
come. The Word of God is our only source
of comfort, and if Christ the Lord speaks to your heart, oh,
he gives you peace like no other can. And his peace is not as
the world giveth, but his peace is everlasting, eternal peace.
Look back at Psalm 119, verse 90. God has established the earth
and everything about it. They continue, God's faithfulness
continues this day according to your divine ordinances, according
to your word, for they are all your servants. God has faithfully
maintained and provided everything for our lives just like he said
he would, just like he said he would. And even so, God's faithfulness
is in Christ Jesus, for this is a faithful and worthy of all
acceptation, worthy to be heard, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Christ is God's faithful word
of promise. He is God's faithful. Verse 116,
David says, Uphold me. Lord, I beg you to hold me up. Restrain me. Preserve me. Hold
me up. Keep me from following according
to thy word. that I may live, and that I may
not be ashamed, hold me up, hold me up according to your word.
What is it that restrains us from all manner of evil and keeps
us from going astray, keeps us from following every wind of
doctrine that comes along? God's word. a faithful man that
preaches God's Word and doesn't stray off into every area. It's
God's Word that keeps us from falling, preserves us, holds
us up. Even so, Peter says in 1 Peter
1 and 5, we're kept by the power of God. And who is the power
of God? Christ is the power of God. We're
kept by Him. Christ is the Great Shepherd.
He said, They're in my hand, no man will pluck them out. My
sheep, they're in my hand. They shall never perish. Never
perish. I give unto them eternal life.
Christ is our surety. He is our preservation. Look at verse 154. He says, I
do plead thy cause, answer me, deliver me quickly according
to thy word. Deliverance. Deliverance. God, however, is able to deliver
a man from the worst of vices. It is now. It is. I may sound
a little modern here. But people talk about being delivered
from alcoholism and all these things. Yes. God delivers people
from all these things. Vices and so forth that people
are hooked on, that this world has a hold of. His word is able
to deliver man from these things. But that word is Christ, because
chiefly and foremost, Christ has delivered us from the curse
and the bondage of God's love. Do write a curse for us. Look
over Luke chapter 4 with me. Luke chapter 4. Look at verse 18. I don't want yourself
to speak in here, and he says, Luke 4, chapter 4, verse 61. He says, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he has anointed me. He sent me to preach the
gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives. Look, captives, to
Satan, to sin, to self, to this world, until Christ comes with
power and sets us free, looses those shackles, looses our chain.
Christ is our deliverance. If the Son sets you free, you'll
be free indeed. A man can come up with ways,
but he's not necessarily free. But if Christ will set you free,
you're free indeed. Look back at verse 97, Psalm
119. Verse 97, look at it. He says, O Lord, how I love thy
law, that is, thy word, your commandments, It is my meditation
all the day. Thou through thy covenant sons,
Lord, have made me wiseer than my enemies, for they are ever
with me. I have more understanding than
all my teachers. Thy testimony, O Lord, is my
meditation. I understand more than the ancients,
more than Plato and Aristotle and all these fools. I understand
more because I keep your word. I'm holding on to your word.
I'm looking at your word. Look at verse 104. Through thy
precepts, according to thy word, I get understanding. All true
understanding. Everything you need to know is
found in this book. Everything. Everything. And Christ is the word. In him
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And when
you come to know Christ, when you come to understand him, To
know him and see him in all things, you understand the mysteries
of the universe, and you know more than the ancients. We've
got a clearer revelation. We've got a more sure word of
prophecy. Christ is the mind of God and the purpose of God. He's the reason for it all. He's
all-understanding, Christ is. He's the word of God. The whole
book, that last book in this Bible, is called the Revelation.
And that sums it up. That's the conclusion of the
whole matter. It's the Alpha and the Omega. Look it up sometime.
In the beginning. That word Alpha means beginning.
Your word Omega means end. What's the first two words in
the Bible? In the beginning. What's the
last two words you find? The end. That's Christ. That's
the start and the finish. He's the beginning. He's the
end. He's the revelation of God. He's the Word. He's all-understanding.
Look at verse 162. And we'll wind this thing up.
Verse 162. The psalmist said, I will rejoice
at thy word, and what defines great spoil? When God first revealed
this book to you, when you first start opening, you understand
it, oh, there's nothing else you wanted. Nothing will cause
you a greater delight and more joy than looking into this book.
Can you give a sense of it? God's written word rejoices the
heart of a sin-saddened soul, and Christ is that great pearl,
that pearl of great price. If any man finds, he sells all
that he has, and he finds Christ as one that finds a great spoil.
I found him. Rejoice with me. I found him. I found Christ. Really, he found
us, didn't he? Christ is the source of all true
joy, and we rejoice in him. We rejoice in him, our salvation.
Verse 42, a few more. Verse 41, he says, Let your mercies come
also unto me, Lord, according to your salvation, according
to your word. According to your word, so shall
I have wherewith to answer him that reproaches me, for I trust
in thy word. Where are the answers for the
reason of the hope that's within you? Right here. This is your
answer. How fine a foundation, in the
sense of the Lord, is made for your faith in his excellent work.
What a fine foundation is made for us. We need to study this
book, too, to show ourselves approved. A work done that might
not be a shame, widely divided in the word of truth. We need
to study it. We know, for God's word has an answer every man. This Word is our textbook, our
answers to every question. It's our answer to the approaches
of men. It's our answer. Why do you believe
what you believe? I just believe God's Word. I
just believe God's Word. You see, we really have no common
ground to speak with anybody unless we both agree this is
God's Word. You know, men don't believe this
really, but this is truly God's Word. So you really have no common
ground, and everybody calls you blind, but go on and walk through,
for Christ's sake. Say, this is my, this is where
I resort, this is what I believe, God's word. And so, those that
will approach you, those that lay along and laugh at you, Christ
is our answer. So shall I have to wear red pants
or one that reproaches me? Man, why is she not being in
here? Why is she not coming into God's kingdom? What gives her
the right to be in here? See my Savior. See my Savior. He's my answer. He's the one. Ask Him. Christ has answered
all the questions we'll ever have to answer. He's answered
them all. All the answers that will be
asked or ever need to be answered, He's already answered them for
me. He's answered the Savior. He's answered the God. He's answered
the God's law. He's answered it all. I need
not answer anything. See the Savior. See my word.
See Christ. He's my answer. Verse 74. Verse 74. And I like this. Verse
74. He says, look at verse 68. He says, I'm a companion of all
those that fear thee. Those are my buddies. Those people
that fear God, those are my buddies, those are my friends. Those that
fear God, those that keep God's word, those that are trusted
in God's word. Look at verse 74. They that fear thee, those
that fear God, they'll be glad when they see me. They'll be
glad when they see me because they're hoping to find their
place, they're hoping God's word. True fellowship, there's no time
to go to so sweet as fellow believers sitting around talking about
the Word of God. There's nothing I'd rather do. Nothing I'd rather
do. And I don't think that conversation
with God by His Spirit really bestens that conversation. If it really speaks that up,
you know, then you can't start talking about Christ. I remember
one time I was sitting in the back of Todd Roberts' I was talking
about the scriptures, it was dark and beautiful, sky, starlit
sky, and we were talking about the scriptures, and one would
say something, the other would say something, the other would say
something, the other would say something. For a long, the whole conversation,
one man, he started off saying something about Christ, and somebody
else said something about what it meant to him, and somebody
else. And for a long, we were all talking about him, not just
doctrine. Not just these things. We're
talking about Him. I don't think I've ever experienced
anything like that. Christ is our real fellowship. The Scripture said truly our
fellowship is with the Father and with His Son. We fellowship
with one another, yes. But we've got to have that personal
fellowship with Him. And to coin a phrase, He is a
personal Savior. Oh yes He is. Those that know
Him know what I'm saying. Christ, you know, we talk about
somebody joins a church, say, let's give him a right-handed
fellowship. Christ is God's right-handed fellowship, isn't he? That's what he wants, that's
what he wants. He says, my soul thanks for thy salvation, but
I hope that thy word, my hope is built on death and rest. In
Jesus' blood and righteousness, feelings come, feelings go, and
feelings are deceiving. My hope is in the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. I don't trust this heart. It's
deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? This
book's the only place to turn. God's Word. When all things hopeless,
when all things defiled, sinner, there's your hope to be found
in God's Word. And by the commandment of God
our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, you hold our hope. glory, your
only hope, but he's a good hope, he's a sure hope. Look at that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. And look at this, this is the
last one, verse 114. Verse 114, the psalmist says,
Thou art my hiding place and my shield, my defense. I hope in your word. You're going
to hide your face in my shield. It's all according to your word. You know what's said of us? It's
said, Karl Marx said it. He said religion is opiate of
the masses. Well, that's not true, but it's
said of us that we hide behind this book. You don't hide behind
this book. You'd better believe it, buddy.
I don't have anything to say. But I don't know if that has
anything worth saying either. I only know what this book says.
God's love is all the protection I have against the angry darts
of the wicked. Put on the shield of faith, the
helmet of salvation. But more than this, the scripture
says, a man shall be a hiding place. A man shall be a hiding
place. Those cities of refuge, you know,
if somebody killed somebody accidentally, they'd run into those cities
of refuge. They'd find safety. They'd find
shelter. They'd find a hiding place from
that holy law that said he was to be killed. And Christ is my
shield of faith. And he repels all the devouring,
the darts of the wicked man and the devouring lion by his prayers. He said to old Peter, he said,
Satan has desired you. He has desired you to sift you
like wheat. But I have prayed for you. You
are all right. Barbara, Deborah, Satan desires
God's people. He does. Sift us like wheat.
He walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But our hiding place, our shield,
Christ our Savior, our protection, he sits at the right hand of
God right now, interceding for his son. He's praying for us.
And he'll not shoot an arrow like the Palmistidon Hezekiah
in that city of Jerusalem. He's not going to shoot an arrow
in this city. He won't come in here. And Christ
said, they'll never perish. Oh, no. Oh, no. Never perish. I give them eternal life. He
dealt well with us, hadn't he, according to his word, just like
it says in the book, and according to Christ. It's all according
to God's word. I hope it's been a blessing to
you. little deeper meaning. Your word,
your book, these glorious pages have been revealed to us a little
more clearly. And we see Christ a little better. That Christ is all as it was
sung. He's all. He's everything. He
is all we need. He is worthy of righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We are complete in him. Thank
you for Christ the Word, and thank you for this book that
tells all about him. Get us interested in it, Lord. Get us in the Word, for Christ's
sake, for our good. Amen. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if you can see it. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's a shame we can't do that. It's a shame.