I was thinking there's Brother
Al's reading about the bond slave, that one who desired to stay
with his master, and how that he bored through his ear with
an awl, and there was a shedding of blood as he had that operation. carried out upon him. But what
I was thinking about was when the children of Israel came out
of Egypt after the night of the Passover
and the Lord told them to put the blood upon the doorposts
and the lintels of the house and that he would pass over where
he saw that blood. And I was thinking about that
in relation to that servant who had his ear pierced through and
there was the shedding of blood there. And as we look through
the scripture, we understand that all of the sons of God have
been sprinkled with the blood of Christ because it is his blood
and his blood alone that has made us free. that has made us
heirs and joint heirs with him, what he has borne for us. And it is upon that doorpost,
I thought, you know, each time that servant walked by that doorpost,
he could see that blood that was shed as a sign of his love. for his master, the Lord Jesus
Christ, because he would do the will of the Father. He shed his
blood, and it is his blood that we rejoice in this day. May he
ever give us understanding. We're looking here in Psalm 119,
and we're gonna begin reading there in verse 97. This is Mim. Oh, how I love thy
law. It is my meditation all the day. That through thy commandments,
thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies,
for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than
all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand
more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained
my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I am not
departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How
sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. None. Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I
will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
I am afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill
offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. My
soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare
for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies
have I taken as an heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of
my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform
thy statutes always, even unto the end. Now, once again, as
we look at these words, we understand that the perfections of these
words are found in the words of Christ. that they are the
words of Christ. That even though David, as we
believe, was that penman that wrote them down, he could not
perfectly say these things because he was a sinful man. And no sinful
man could ever say, I perfectly love thy law. Now we can say
that we love the law of God, but we say it in a modified way. We do love the law of God, but
yet by our actions we often show that we don't love the law of
God. By the way that we act and the things that we do, the Lord
said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and
with all thy mind. And there is no man that has
done that. except the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Once again,
who do you know that's ever done that? And if you think you have,
then you are sadly mistaken because there's not a man among us that
has. And so we see these things as the Lord says, oh how I love
thy law, it is my meditation all the day. Now who else but
the Lord Jesus Christ meditated in the word of God all the day? That was what his purpose was
in the earth, was to do the will of his Father. Now we're caught
up in doing many things, are we not? I mean, you know, our
meditation's often in many things other than the law of God, the
word of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
set for us the example. And it is our desire, by the
grace of God, by the work of the Lord's grace in us, that
we would meditate in the Word of God all the day. Thou through
thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for
they are ever with me. And he says, I have more understanding
than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the embodiment of the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And so it is that we understand
that the Word of God, that is the truth that's contained in
these pages. Not these pages. I mean, these
pages are not the Word of God. But the truth that's in this
book is the Word of God. You can take this page and you
can tear it out, you can burn it, you can throw it in the dumpster,
you can do whatever you want to with this book, but you're
not gonna do anything when you do that to the Word of God. I
mean, you can burn all the Bibles, you can, the government can come
in and ban people from reading the Bible or do whatever they
want to, but they can't affect the Word of God. So we understand
that this Bible is holy not because it is some sacred thing that
we're afraid to, something to happen to this book. but it's
holy because just for the same reason that when the Lord told
Moses to take his shoes off because the ground he was on was holy
ground was not that there was something special about the dirt
where he was. I mean you could go over there
if you could find that exact place today And it would be just
dirt. It wasn't holy ground because
of the fact that it was ground. And the Lord said this piece
of ground is holy. But it was holy because the Lord
was there. And he sent Moses apart in that
place. And it was not a place that Moses
could go of his own will or in his own, with his own shoes.
He said, take your shoes off you because you're not worthy,
your shoes are not worthy to come on this place. This is sacred
and holy in the presence of God. You remember the angels. seraphim
that surround the throne of God, they cover their feet with two
of their hands. Why? Because he cannot go into
that place of the Lord. It's holy ground. that through
thy commandments thou hast made me wiser than mine enemies, of
course, as we see demonstrated with his dealings with the Pharisees. I mean, they thought time after
time, we've got him now. Like the old road runner, he
always thought he was gonna get the coyote. I mean, I got that
backwards. The coyote always thought he
was gonna get the road runner. I mean, he always did, and he
always had him. They thought they had the Lord
Jesus in their grasp, but he always was wiser than they were,
because he was the Word of God. The precepts of God are ever
with him. And he said, I have more understanding
than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation,
my thoughts. And as I thought of that, went
back to when he was a child, and he was in the temple. reasoning
with these learned men. And here they were, you know,
had studied the scriptures all their life and dedicated their
lives to being there in the temple. And yet here was a little child,
probably about twelve years old, reasoning with them. And he had
more wisdom than they did. He knew more than his teachers. Now there's an application of
that unto uh... to the children of god uh... we know more than our teachers
that is those men of the world that would tell us uh... the wisdom of the world we have
more wisdom than the men of this world because when the lord teaches
a man something it doesn't make a difference what happens that
can't be taken away Remember the Lord said he would write
the laws in our hearts and he said they shall not teach every
man his neighbor know the Lord for they shall all know me from
the least to the greatest. That's the work of God in the
heart of a man. Men can't teach a man to know
the Lord. Now we can teach men about the
Lord, and by the grace of God in the preaching of the gospel,
it is the bringing of life and immortality to light, but it
is not the giving of life, for only the Lord can give a man
life. And we can, by the grace of God,
as He enables, we can shed light on the word of God. But He alone
can teach a man the truth. And the thing about that is,
once the Lord has taught a man that truth, it doesn't make a
difference who comes along. He can't change it. Now, if you
get taught something by a man, another man can come along sometime
and he can take that from you. I mean, he can reason. You know,
if you're waiting on a man, the word of a man, then another man
come along that's smarter than him and he might that persuade
you to believe that. But you see the truth of God
taught to the people of God by the Lord cannot be changed because
the Lord is the author and finisher of our faith. He's that one that
writes the law of God in the hearts of his people. I have
more understanding than my teacher for thy testimonies are my meditation. See, the man that's found in
the Word of God is wiser than all the wisdom of the world.
Even a young child, whom the Lord is pleased to teach the
truth of God, he has more wisdom than all of his teachers. I understand
more than the ancients. because I keep thy precepts.
And he kept the precepts of God because he was the precepts of
God, was he not? I mean, if you want to know what
the precepts of God are, look at Christ. You want to know what
it is to love your neighbor as yourself? Look at Christ. You want to know what it is to
love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul? Look
at Christ. He's the embodiment of the precepts
of God. And He is the Ancient of Days.
He understands more than the ancients. You know, I was reading
something the other day and it said, they were talking about
how that in studying some layers of the Grand Canyon or something,
they couldn't explain how there was like a billion years or something
that was missing in this strata and they couldn't explain it.
Well, I can explain it. I mean, God made that just like
He wanted to. I don't know if He did it in
a billion years. I don't believe He did. I mean, you know, we
don't know exactly what time is in so far as days and what
the scripture speaks about. We know that the evening and
the morning was the first day, but the sun wasn't created till
the third day. So we don't know if a day was
24 hours or what it was, but we do know this, that the Lord
made it exactly like he wanted it to be. And I don't believe
it took billions of years like these wise men tell us, but he
made it as he made it. And he did many things in the
earth, I believe, to confound the mighty. So that they could
look at these things and they think they got it all figured
out, and they don't know what they're even looking at. You
know, they're looking at some bone that they think has been
there for a billion years and the Lord might have just created
it and put the bone in the ground. I mean, you know, people think
that's crazy to even think like that, but I mean, the Lord, you
know, it's like the trees. When He created the trees, did
they have rings in them? I mean, did Adam have a navel? I mean, you know, people have,
I mean, you come up with these things. I mean, the Lord made
things like he wanted them to be. And men can't explain that. They can't figure it out, but
they try to. But we understand more than the
ancients because we understand that the one who's the ancient
of days is more ancient. than anything that men can come
up with. So it don't make any difference
if a man thinks in terms of billions of years, that's a drop in the
bucket. A day with the Lord says a thousand years, and a thousand
years as a day. That just doesn't have any bearing. It doesn't mean anything to men. Men think about, oh, well that
was a long time ago. No, it wasn't a long time ago.
I used to think when I was a kid that You know, 20 years was a
long time ago. Now that seems like yesterday.
In fact, sometimes I get to thinking something was about a year ago
and I'll think back and say, well, no, gosh, that was 10 years
ago. You know, so time is a relative thing. Doesn't mean anything. But the one who's ancient of
days, it means absolutely nothing to him. We are creatures of time,
however. I have refrained my feet from
every evil way that I might keep thy word. Oh, that it were true
of us. The Lord Jesus Christ, it was
true. He was tempted in all points
like as we are, but yet without sin. And he has refrained his
feet from every evil way. that he might keep my word, thy
word, if I hid my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
That was typified for us in Christ. I am not departed from thy judgment,
for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words under
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Now that's, you
know that, I believe this is one thing,
that when the Lord begins to work in a man's heart, He gives
him a love for the Word of God. Now it's not perfect, because
we're not perfect. But it is, there is a desire
to hear the Word of God. in those in whom the Word of
God has been placed. I mean, in those in whom the
Lord has awakened to hear His Word. They delight in it. They
can't even explain it. I mean, they can't explain why
they would, but they find some strange blessing in reading the
Word of God that the world doesn't know anything about. I mean,
it's a thing that ministers to their heart. They're sweet, sweeter
than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
and therefore I hate every false way. Once again, we see that
demonstrated in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when he went
to the temple? and he saw the money changers and he became angry because he
hated the falseness of it. He hated the fact that they were
making merchandise off of the things of God. And today that's
magnified by a thousand times. I mean as we look around us there
are multitudes of people that go about to make merchandise
of the Word of God. You can hardly turn the radio
or TV on if some preacher isn't on there begging you for money. The Gospel is not about money. The Gospel is sent forth by God
and He does indeed use the money of men in many cases to do certain
things but he never needs the money of men because he's the
one that causes men to desire to give that causes these things
to occur and so it is a foolish thing for men to think that they
should profit I was listening to a guy the other night and
he was talking about how that that uh... the Holy Spirit uh... would teach men how to prosper
in this world of goods. That sounds good. There's a whole
genre of preaching that goes today, health and wealth, prosperity
teaching, that teaches men that the Lord doesn't want you to
be poor. He wants you to be rich. Well, there is a truth in that,
but it's a twisted truth. The Lord would have you to be
rich, but he'd have you to be rich in the things of the Spirit
of God. And the goods of this world mean
absolutely nothing. As the Lord said, as Martha was
concerned about serving the Lord, and Mary sat at the feet of the
Lord, and the Lord said, Mary hath chosen the better part.
He said, Martha, you're concerned about many things. He said, take
no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.
He said, the lilies of the field are not clothed in such fine,
or clothed in finer garments than anything you could do by
taking care. So the Lord uh... it does indeed
supplies people's needs in all things and then he certainly
doesn't need anything from me and therefore I hate every false
way as he did thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
my path now you know as we think of that and as we sung about
that a moment ago thy word is a lamp unto my feet uh... it is that which It helps us
to see right exactly where we're going moment by moment, but it's
also that which illuminates the path that we're going. You know,
it's one thing to be able to see out there. You need to be
able to see right out there, but if you could only see out
there and you couldn't see right what was at your feet, then you
might stumble and fall, or if you could Just see what's right
in front of you and not see the bigger picture. You might grow
discouraged in the way. But the Lord, the Word of God
is a lamp under our feet and a light under our path. In other
words, it shows us what's out there. Just like we sell bulbs,
different kinds of bulbs in the in the store. And some of these
bulbs are made to project out very far so you can see way down
the road. But some of them are made more
so that you can see right up close. And they both have their
place. and one doesn't take the place
of the other. But the Lord's mercy and kindness
in causing His Word to not only show us the way to go day by
day, but it shows us what is to be and what will be. I have sworn and I will perform
it that I will keep thy righteous judgments. How True, he spoke
there. He said, I will perform it. He is our performer. He performs
all things. And he keeps the righteous judgments
of God. I'm afflicted very much. Quicken
me, O Lord, according to thy word. Now he was afflicted for
our sake. And he in his affliction, though
he was that one who was sent by God and equipped by God to
bear these things, nonetheless he actually bore these things.
He carried our sorrows. He understood our griefs and
our troubles because they were laid upon him as his own. And
so If he determined to perform the will of God in the midst
of all of these troubles, and he did so perfectly as our example,
why do we get so discouraged and turned aside at every little
thing that crops up and worried about every trouble that comes
our way? I'm afflicted very much, quicken
me, O Lord, according to thy word, except I beseech thee the
freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, teach me thy judgments. Now that's an interesting word
there, freewill offerings, and that's one word, freewill offerings. In other words, the word freewill
offerings is one word in Hebrew. It occurs 17 times in the Bible. Now you would think that it would
be on every page, would you not? By the fact that men are so quick
and ready to jump up and defend the free will of man. I mean,
that just seems like it's the most important thing, is free
will. Well, the Scripture does speak
about free will, but it doesn't mean what men mean when they
speak about free will. There's only one that has a free
will, and that's the Lord. He does have a free will. Now,
what he's speaking about here, he says, except I beseech thee
the free will offerings of my mouth. Now, he is giving free
will offerings, because he can give free will offerings. But
there is a measure in which we can give and we're instructed
as the Israelites were instructed to give free will offerings.
What is a free will offering? It's a spontaneous offering.
It's an offering that's not required. It's that the law doesn't say
you have to give this money or you have to give this animal
or whatever it is. It's just something that somebody
does because they want to do it. And speaking about free will,
the problem with free will, as men think about that they have
a free will, is it is true men do have a free will to be able
to do the things that they can will to do. I mean, I can will,
I had a free will to choose my shirt, and I chose my shirt,
because I have the ability to choose my shirt. But to walk
in the way of God, by my nature, I don't have the ability to do
that. Why? Because my heart is set against
that way. And unless the Lord changes my
heart and changes my will, then I won't follow the way of the
Lord. And so it is that thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. It is the work of God in a man
to cause him to be willing. How else will a man serve and
worship God unless the Lord makes him willing? Because you wouldn't
be willing if the Lord didn't change your heart. Neither would
you be able to give a spontaneous gift unto the Lord except the
Lord cause you to have it. But it is that which is set forth
in the scriptures, and we are admonished to give freewill offerings. That is not a requirement. In
fact, a true offering has to be a freewill offering, does
it not? Wouldn't be an offering otherwise. The Lord loves a cheerful
giver. And you know, if a man gives
what he gives out of obligation, then he's giving for the wrong
reason. Well, the Lord would have us, you can't give because,
if I require you to do something, that's not giving. You know,
it's paying a tax. But when the Lord says, give
unto me that which is from your heart, then that's giving of
a free will offering. Oh Lord, teach me thy judgments.
My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy
law. That's coming back to, he's basically
what he said, I can do whatever I set out to do. And man can
do whatever he sets out to do. Now, men, by nature as I said,
are hindered by that nature. And they can only do what they
can do. But our soul is in our hand. I mean, did not the Lord
say to Cain, He said, you know, if you do
well, then it'll be well with you. Well, what can he choose
to do? He chose not to do well. And
so it is with Judas. I mean, Judas did what he did
because the Lord ordained for Judas to do what he did. But
nonetheless, Judas did what he did because he wanted to do it. So men, you know, we need to
never lose sight of that fact. Our soul is in our hand in a
measure. That was most surely true of
the Lord, because He could lay down His life or not. In other
words, He was not bound to lay down His life by some cosmic
force. He was bound by the love that
He had for His people. And He freely and willingly gave
Himself My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget
thy law. I know thy righteous judgments,
and I will walk in them. The wicked have laid a snare
for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts. How true that was
with him. And over again, he says this
many times throughout this 119th Psalm, that the wicked have laid
a snare for him, as the Pharisees did continually. And even now,
you know, the world loves nothing more than to see one of God's
children stumble. I mean, you know, I mean, that's
just, they just sit and wait. Nah, I knew there wasn't nothing
to him. You know, I knew that he wasn't, there wasn't anything
to this Christianity stuff. I mean, that's always the way
that the world is. They're setting odds to the people
of God. The wicked have laid a snare
for us. May we be even as Him, yet I erred not from my precepts. He walked according to the Word
of God. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever,
for they are the rejoicing of my heart." The heritage. For the joy that was set before
him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. That was his heritage. The scripture says children are
an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his
reward. Well, think about that in the relation to Christ. The
Lord gave him many children, did he not? Gave him many sons,
gave him many brethren. And he said, of all that the
Father gives me shall come to me. In him that cometh to me
I'll no wise cast out. And he prayed for those whom
the Father hath given him. Thine they were, he said, and
thou hast given them to me. They are my heritage. And so
indeed, the testimonies has he taken as a heritage forever.
He rejoiced in the word of God and the purpose of God that he
came to fulfill. And they are the rejoicing of
his heart. for the joy that was set before
him. I have inclined mine heart to
perform thy statutes always, even unto the end. And with that
in mind, he said that he should see of the travail of his soul
and be satisfied. See, he sees that which he has
done, and he surveys that which he has accomplished, and he's
satisfied with it. Now, if you listen to a lot of
folks today, supposed preachers, they present the Lord as though
He doesn't know what's going to happen. He's just waiting
to see what men are going to do. Well, dear brethren, the
Lord knows the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, He causes
those things to occur according to the good pleasure of His will.
And he calls his people unto himself. And he's satisfied. Not one drop of the blood of
Christ was shed in vain. But he accomplished that which
he came to do. I have inclined my heart to perform
my statutes always, even unto the end. Every time I read about,
read the phrase unto the end, my mind goes to John 13, 1. The scripture says, having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Oh, what a glorious Savior we
have. He will not abandon those for whom he bled. And he called sinners even in
the present hour. Says, come unto me all you that
labor and are heavy laden. You know, remember that, I believe
it was Brother Al was speaking there a moment ago about that
Canaanite woman whose daughter was vexed with the devil and
she came to the Lord. Did the Lord change his mind?
I mean, you know, when she came and some would picture it, well,
you know, the woman calls the Lord to change his mind. No,
the Lord didn't change his mind. He knew she was one of his when
she came to him. But he wanted to show to us what
true faith is, what it is to call upon the Lord and who it
is that calls upon the Lord. And so it was that she was brought
to a place and he brought her there, just like he did the woman
taken in adultery, just like he did the rich young ruler that
came to him. He brought them face to face
with what they are by nature. See that woman at the well, she
was going along her way pretty good, wasn't she? I mean, she
was satisfied with her religion. She was satisfied with her lifestyle. But when the Lord came to her,
where she was, and he said, go call your husband and bring him
to me. And all of a sudden, you see,
she had to face what she was by nature. And so it is. that the Lord is pleased to bring
men to see what they are by nature. And when they see what they are
by nature, according to the mercy of His grace, He causes them
to call upon His name. And He calls sinners. It's the
only people He'll save. Just like the old publican in
the temple, God be merciful to me a sinner. The Lord said, he
went down to his house justified. May the Lord help us to know
two things. If you don't ever know what two
things, then you'll be okay. One is, what a great sinner you
are. The other is, what a great Savior
Christ is. He's the Savior of sinners. And
He saves such as call upon His name. May the Lord help us.