Psalm 119, a blessing and a curse,
as Brother Al ably showed us in the words of the Lord as he
set forth his law. And there is a blessing and there
is a curse in that law. And in the flesh, We have no
hope of anything but the curse, because the Lord said, if you
keep these things, not partially, but perfectly, then you can earn
favor with God. But who has done that? And of
course, you know, the nation of Israel, they thought from
time to time that they did that, But since it was from time to
time, it didn't fit the criteria, did it? And so they were left
wanting and left really naked and bare. Now it is an unfortunate
thing that the way of the thinking of the natural man is that he
thinks that God is a God who looks at the law like men look
at it. And they think that, well, if
he had good intentions, You know, that's what people think. Well,
he meant well. You know, he was a pretty good
guy. I mean, he wasn't, you know, really didn't do everything right,
but he did more good than he did bad. I mean, that's gotta
be worth something, isn't it? I mean, really. I mean, what
man doesn't think that? Every man thinks that. That's
just the way we think. I mean, really, we get to thinking
sometimes, I do, maybe you don't. But I get to thinking, you know,
well, you know, that old guy there, he was a pretty good old
guy. I mean, he really did good, but you know, the best that men
do, all of our righteousnesses, not speaking about our wickedness,
but all of our righteousnesses, the scripture says, are as filthy
rags in the sight of God. Now, if that be the case, brethren,
who is going to measure up to the Lord? And so as we look here
this morning in Psalm 119, as we mentioned last week, this
is a psalm about the law and about the law keeper. And it's
a glorious thing. The law's a glorious thing. I'm glad the Lord gave the law.
And I'm glad that he gave us a law keeper. I'm glad that he
sent someone to do something that I could not do. That he
sent one who would keep the law in its every jot and tittle,
who was without sin, and neither was guile found in his mouth.
And he is the one that we read about here in Psalm 119. This
is the testimony of Christ. And as it is the testimony of
Christ, he is setting forth the example of what a righteous man
is. Now if you want to know what
a righteous man is, then there's only one place you can look,
and that is at Christ. Because he alone is the righteousness
of God revealed unto men. He's the standard. He's the plumb
line. He's the one who all other righteousnesses
are measured up to. And any that does not stand perfectly
aligned with that righteousness shall surely perish. And so here we are in I'm not
a Hebrew scholar, so I do not know the exact pronunciations.
I can look at them and read them in books just like you do, but
then after I leave for a while and I I'm sitting here, I'm thinking,
well, how was that? I don't remember, but as we look
at it, we would say Gamal, and we know that this psalm is divided
up into eight verse segments, and each one of these eight verse
segments is one of the letters, begins with one of the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. And other Hebrew scholars have
pointed out that each verse in each one of these sections begins
with that particular Hebrew letter, each one of the verses. Now I
can't attest to that from my own knowledge, but just reading
what some others have said. And so of course that's lost
in the translation, but in the original language, that's the
way that it is. So beginning in verse 17, and
we'll read 17 through 32. Deal bountifully with thy servant
that I may live and keep thy word. Open thou mine eyes that
I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger
in the earth. Hide not thy commandments from
me. My soul breaketh for the longing
that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. Thou hast rebuked
the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
Remove from reproach and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies.
Princes also did sit and speak against me, but thy servant did
meditate in thy statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight
and my counselors. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. I have declared my ways, and
thou heardest me. Teach me thy statutes. Make me
to understand the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of
thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness.
Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Remove from me
the way of lying, and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen
the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before
me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies,
O Lord. Put me not to shame. I will run
the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart." And so, As we speak, as we look at this
in the light of the fact that this is the testimony of Christ
who came into the world as a man, just like any other man, except
without a nature or a bent towards sin. But in all other aspects
of his life, apart from the fact that he was without that sin
nature which comes to us through Adam, and he being born of a
virgin did not have that natural progression and seed passed upon
him, but he was of a pure birth. And so, he had no sin. But yet,
in all other ways, the script says in all points, he was tried,
tempted, as we are. and yet without sin. And so he
comes into the world as a man with the weaknesses of men. Now,
when I say weaknesses, not the weaknesses toward sin that we
have, but weakness as a man, having no ability. I mean, when
he was a baby in his mother's arms, he couldn't do anything. Now I know he could have done
something, but it so pleased him to come in the fashion that
he did, so that he was in that way as weak as any other baby
that was, totally dependent on his mother to take care of him,
to feed him, to clothe him, to protect him in that way. And so he comes as a man desiring the bounty of the Lord, the blessing
of the Lord. Now some men desire blessing. for blessing's sake. In other
words, they want the blessing so that they can have stuff.
I mean, if you listen to a lot of these preachers on the radio
and TV today, that's what they're telling you. You know, you just
need this, you need God to give you stuff, and he'll give you
stuff, and he'll get you out of jams, and he'll fix you right
up, you know, that's the blessing. They want the bounty of God for
carnal reasons. Now the Lord here, speaking as
a perfect man, he desires the bounty of God, but the purpose
for which he wants the bounty of God is so that he might serve
the Lord. That he might do the will of
God perfectly. That he might be enlarged. that
I may live. Deal bountifully with thy servant
that I may live and keep thy word. See that's why he wants
to be blessed is so that he would keep the word of God. That it
would be precious to him. Open thou mine eyes that I may
behold wondrous things out of thy law. Now you know it's an
incredible thing when we consider that the Lord Jesus Christ, though
He came into the world as the Word of God, yet He learned the
Word of God. He reasoned with those men in
the temple. That's where He wanted to be.
He wanted to hear the Word of God. He wanted to read the Word
of God, yet He's the one who was the author of that Word,
and yet As a man, as a young child, he desired to know the
Word of God. He desired to be around those
who were declaring the Word of God. And so as a man, as he grew
in favor and stature, in favor with God and man, he desired
that. Open thou mine eyes that I may
behold wondrous things out of thy law. Now one scripture that
causes me real puzzlement, in a way, I mean, I think I have
an understanding to some extent of what the Lord was getting
at when He said it, but when He spoke about the day of His
coming, He said that when He would come, the day of the Lord,
when that final day was, He said, these things are not even given
to the Son of Man to know. He spoke in fashion, he says,
I don't even know these things. You know, how it can be that
he can know all things and yet, you know, could speak that. But
it just speaks to the fact that he came in human flesh, that
he walked among men in the weakness of human flesh and the limitations
of human flesh. Now, as he walked among men,
he transcended the limitations of human flesh in order to fulfill
his purpose, to demonstrate that he was more than man, like when
he calmed the sea. I mean, the disciples said, well,
what kind of a man is this that he can say these things? But
he says, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth. Which he was. He was an oddball. He stuck out, did he not? He
couldn't help it. Even as the scripture says that
the Lord has made his people to be a peculiar people. You
know, we're strange in this earth. The world is not, we're not friends
with the world and the world's not friends with us. I mean,
men don't want you going around telling them about Christ all
the time. I mean, they don't want you telling
them about Christ much of any time. Sometimes they get in a
bind, you know, or they get sick or something, they want somebody
to come around and tell them about those things. When they're
dying, you know, they want somebody to come there then. But by and
large, men don't want to hear the word of God. They're not
interested in it. And so we do, even as Christ
did, feel ourselves to be strangers in the earth. Abraham, he confessed that he
was a stranger and a sojourner in the earth. This world is not
his own. He desired something greater
than this. Hide not thy commandments from
me. Let me know the word of God. Lord, teach me thy word, is what
he said. My soul breaketh for the longing
that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. Now, you know,
we desire to know the judgments of God from time to time, do
we not? But then sometimes we're content
just to kind of put that stuff out of our mind and go on our
way. But the Lord said that for thy longing that it hath unto
thy judgments at all times. Now here's his perfection. He
desired to know the judgments of God, that is the word of God,
the truth of God at all times. This was always that which was
upon his heart and mind. thou hast rebuked. And he said,
my soul breaketh. That is, I'm with longing. I mean, this wasn't just something
that he kind of offhandedly desired, but this is something that was
in the very core of his being. Just like when he went into the
temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers. He said,
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. He was eaten up.
with the Word of God. Oh, to be eaten up with the Word
of God, wouldn't that be a glorious place to be? But He was in that
fashion. Thou hast to rebuke the proud
that are cursed. Now, which do err from thy commandments. Thou hast to rebuke the proud
that are cursed. Now they are cursed because they're
proud, but they're proud because they are cursed. I mean the Lord
has a people that he's loved with an everlasting love and
according to what scripture says he has a people which he has
appointed unto destruction. Now some people call that double
predestination. I don't ever use that term but
the Lord is predestined to all things. If you want to call that
double predestination that there's an elect people and there's a
reprobate people. You know, the reprobate people
are worthy of destruction just like those who are not the reprobate.
I mean, all men are worthy of destruction. See, the glory of
the gospel is that God in His mercy has determined to save
some. He could have just left us all
in the same place. And so He says here, that thou
hast rebuked the proud that are cursed. He has rebuked them because
they are cursed. They're cursed, why? Because
he cursed them. Now that, you talk about something
that'll raise the ire of a man, you tell him that. I mean, I
tell you what, go down to any of these Baptist churches around
here and stand up and say that God has cursed some people and
see what happens. You won't be there long and they'll
put you out. I mean, they ain't gonna have
it. And it's not anything that we would glory in, except that
we glory in Him who's done all things well. And what can we
say? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? He is that one who is the savior
of men, and he's that one who is the curser of men. He cursed the ground, did he
not? He cursed the serpent, and he
cursed those upon whom his love is not set, because he determined
to do so. So he has rebuked the proud that
are cursed. which do err from thy commandments."
They manifest the fact that they are cursed, and they manifest
the fact that they're proud. How do you know who the proud
are? They're those that despise the commandments of God. Just
like back over there, Brother Al read to us. They're those
that don't keep the commandments of God, that have no desire to.
They say, I've got a better way. I don't need the law of God.
They are cursed. and they do err from thy commandments. Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept thy testimonies." You know, no man wants to be
in reproach and contempt of men. Now, he didn't say, I desire
to find favor with men, but he desired that he would be not
cast out from the presence of God. Is that not what he prayed
when he prayed in the garden? Father, if it be possible that
this cup be removed from me. I mean, think of the struggle
that was going on in his mind as he knew that in order to be
pleasing in his father's sight, which he desired to do more than
anything in all the world, He passionately wanted to keep the
judgments of God to be pleasing unto his father. But yet the
only way that he could do that was to become contemptible in
his father's sight. Now you talk about a between
a rock and a hard place, I mean an impossible situation for any
man to bear except it be him. He says, remove from me reproach
and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies. And that is,
we see that demonstrated three days after his crucifixion, when
the tomb could not hold him, because he bore the sin of men
into the grave, but he arose on his own power, and his lack
of being justly condemned by the law. And thus he prayed,
removed from me reproach and contempt, and reproach and contempt
was removed from him, and the stone was rolled away, that men
might go and see that empty tomb. What a glorious thing. Princes
also did sit and speak against me, but thy servant did meditate
in thy statutes. You see, the false witnesses
came and they spoke many things, but what did he do? The script
says he didn't open his mouth. All of those testimonies and
all of that accusations and all of those things, all of it lies,
all of it falsehoods, all of it designed for one purpose and
that was to bring him into condemnation. But what did he do? He opened
not his mouth. Why? Because he meditated in
the statutes of God. He was glorified for the joy
that was set before him. The scripture says he endured
the cross, despising the shame. Why? Because he meditated in
the statutes of God. His mind and heart was overcome
with the word of God. Thy testimonies also are my delight
and my counselors. See, a lot of people They look at the Word of God
and they say, well, the Bible says to do these things, so we're
going to do them. He didn't say, they're just my
counselors. He didn't say, they're just the
ones that tell me what to do. He said, they're my delight.
See, it's one thing to believe that this is the Word of God. It's one thing to believe that
the Ten Commandments is the Law of God. It's one thing to say
we believe those things, but it's quite another to delight
in them, is it not? I mean, isn't that what the apostle
said? That those who were cast from
the presence of the Lord said they received not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. See, some people have
received the love of the truth. Now, why do we love the truth?
Well, I mean, we love the truth imperfectly at best, but by the
grace of God, we've been made to love the truth as it is in
Christ, have we not? Why do we do that? because of
the grace of God. The only reason, because man
by nature doesn't love the law of God, he doesn't love Christ,
he doesn't love the way of God. Oh, he might say, well, you know,
the Lord, we ought to follow the Lord. A lot of people believe
they ought to go to church. I mean, I have people all the
time come around and say, well, I know I need to go to church
more often and all that. No, you don't need to go to church
more often. What you need is the grace of
God to constrain your heart to love His Word. See, when God's
people are called to love His Word, to delight in it, They
walk as Christ did because of, they do the things they do because
they delight in it, not because they're gonna get something out
of it in the end. See, that's what most people,
well, you know, I've been having a hard time. I need to go to
church more often. And they think that they can
kind of earn God's favor. You know, he'll look at them
and say, well, you know, that boy, he's straightening up. I'm
gonna bless him a little bit. I mean, that's just natural thinking,
but it's deadly thinking. Cause it's not true. My soul, and this is Daleth,
I didn't read that a minute ago, but this is verse 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. My soul cleaveth to the dust.
I'm just under this heavy load brought down to death itself. Lord, quicken thou me. Now if
the Lord Jesus needed to be quickened by the word of God, that is,
made alive, enlivened, that is, brought out of his weak state
in the flesh, not sinful flesh, as he was not sinful, but nonetheless
weak in the flesh. I mean, when you look at the
disciples and the Lord, he didn't condemn them as being sinful
when they were in the garden and they prayed, and he was praying,
and they couldn't watch with him for an hour. He said the
Spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. I mean, we are weak
in the flesh. And men, you know, I'm amazed. I mean, you know, religious men,
they seek to stir up the flesh. They think that by browbeating
people enough or laying heavy burdens on people that they can
get them, you know, they think, oh man, you know, I need to serve
the Lord better and I'm going to start, I'm going to do this
and I'm going to do that and I'm going to read the Bible more
and all of these things. And all of those things are good.
Nothing wrong with any of that, praying more, reading the Bible
more, but in thinking that in these operations of the flesh
that they can somehow or other bring themselves into the presence
of God. But apart from the grace and
mercy of God, the power, even as the Lord prayed, quicken thou
me according to thy word, is that not our desire, a prayer,
Lord make me alive. You know, I don't want to just
sit here and sing a song of praise to you. I want to live that song
of praise. I want it to be part of me. You
know, let thy praise be in my lips, in my heart, in my mind,
my whole being. Quicken thou me. I have heard,
I have declared my ways and thou heardest me teach thy statutes. Now he says, I have declared
my ways. He did, did he not? He told his disciples, he says,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only one
that can say that. Now you know, there comes along from time to
time various preachers that they tell you, well, you need to listen
to me because I've got the way, I've got the inside track, and
if you don't listen to me, if you're not paying attention to
what I'm saying, you're gonna miss it. Well, there's no man
on the earth who's in such a position as that. But when the Lord Jesus
Christ was walking upon the earth, he was the way. And he could
say to me, and listen to what I'm telling you, because my way
is the way. He is the way. So he has declared
my ways, and thou heardest me. He prayed one time and said,
Lord, I know that you're always here. Oh, what a glorious thing. But he said, for these that stand
by for their sake. He said, I say it. That's when
he raised Lazarus. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
See, it wasn't even necessary for him to say that. I mean, he could have just, Lazarus
would have just come forth. But he said, for their sake.
He said, so that they might believe. And he said, Lazarus, come forth.
And Lazarus came forth. Have you ever considered much
about that? I've pondered that a lot. I mean, did Lazarus, did
he hear the voice of the Lord and awake? Or did the voice of
the Lord make him awake? How was that? Think about it
when he passed from death unto life. I mean, a glorious thing. See, you can't really divide
that, the Lord alone. can cause that to happen because
he's the one that is the giver of life and the giver of death. And death and life are both in
his hand. And so he's the one that makes
that division there. And so I don't have the answer
to those that would try to parse that out and figure out just
exactly how that happened. I know this, that Lazarus came
forth according to the purpose of Almighty God. And according
to what the Lord Jesus said, he would have come forth if he
had not said what he said. He said, I'm going to say this
for their sake. Oh, what a glorious thing. Thou
heardest me, teach me. I said, make me to understand
the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of thy wondrous
works. Make me to understand the way. Now, if the Lord Jesus as a man,
prayed that prayer. How much more ought we to pray?
Lord, make me to understand. See, that's one of the things
I believe that is sadly lacking in our day is understanding.
We live in a day and age when you can go to the computer and
you can learn how to do anything. You can learn to do brain surgery
on a computer. I wouldn't go to you and let
you operate on me, but You can learn how to do anything.
I have people come in the store every day. And you know, they're
going to overhaul this motor, or they're going to do some complex
thing. Says, well, I looked at a YouTube
video, and I believe I can do it. And then later on, they bring
the thing down there and say, you know, I tried to do this
and couldn't do it. Well, I don't know. That's neither
here nor there. But see, the thing that men lack
is only the Lord can supply. You can go to, you can read,
they got Bible programs and stuff. I used several of them. And you
can learn all about the Bible. There's a thousand different
preachers you can go and you can listen to people preaching.
But I'm telling you this, unless the Lord gives a man understanding,
It's all of no use. And that's the biggest thing
I believe is lacking in the day in which we live. You've got
churches just crammed full of people and there's people up
there preaching from the Bible. But they don't have any understanding.
And to be without understanding is really to be without the Word
of God. And so that's our prayer. That was the Lord's prayer. Make
me to understand the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of
thy wondrous words. My soul melteth for heaviness. Strengthen thou me according
unto thy word. He says, I am weighed down. I
mean, when did the Lord bear our sin? not just when he was
on the cross, not just when he was in the garden, but he bore
our sin from the day he was born. He was made an offering for sin. He was weighed down under the
load of it. My soul melteth for heaviness.
Strengthen thou me according to thy word. The Lord alone can
give a man that strength. Remove from me the way of lying
and grant me thy law graciously. Now he didn't need to pray that
for himself, did he? Because he wasn't bent towards
lying, but he did not want to be a liar. And he was not a liar. And so he prayed, remove from
lying. Don't let me be involved in lying. Don't let people be around liars. There's hardly anything worse
than somebody that'll just bold face lie to you. We face it every day. You know,
people look right in your eye. Now, I'll be back, you know,
if you'll let me have this part here, you know, I'll come back
tomorrow and I'll give you the money for it. And some do, some
do, but it's the ones that don't that gives you a bad taste and
a lack of desire to do something for those that will do those
things. So liars, in fact, scripture
says that all liars are cast out of the kingdom of heaven.
No place for liars there. Grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth.
Thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. Stuck to it. No man having put
his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ, who for
the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. He went there
because he was stuck. He stuck to it. He determined
to do it. Now you and I, our determination,
it doesn't last long. How many times I've thought to
myself over the years, how many times I've determined I'm gonna
do this. I'm gonna study the scriptures. I'm gonna read through the Bible
five times this year. I'm gonna do that. I've never
done it. I started out. But you see, the
flesh is weak. It's just not going to do that.
Oh, but the Lord Jesus Christ, what did he say? He says, I have
stood unto thy testimony. Now you can't say that. David
couldn't say that. You have sometimes, But he didn't
say, I have stuck to your testimony sometimes. He said, I have stuck
to your testimony. He said, I haven't veered to
the right or to the left. Therefore, oh Lord, put me not to shame.
And though He bore our shame, the Lord put Him to shame for
our sake, not for His, because He triumphed gloriously. See,
the Lord Jesus Christ has not been put to shame. Now He has
been shamed before men for their sake. But he has not suffered
shame because he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
And he is that one who is high and lifted up and his train fills
the temple. And he's that one before whom
all the hosts of heaven give glory and praise. So he's not
been put to shame, though he did become a man of shame and
sorrow for our sake. And he undertook and went that,
I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Now that's the only way that
it happens. And even when the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, I
will run your way when you enlarge my heart. As a man, he needed
the strength of Almighty God. And yet he walked among men as
God. These are glorious things, my
brethren. But when we see the sweetness of the testimony of
the Lord, what He did in our behalf. See, He did all those
things, not because He needed to. Not for His sake, but for
ours. He came into the world as a perfect
man because He was a perfect man. But he underwent that, not
because he had to, but because he desired to. And the reason
he desired to was to manifest the glory of his grace and the
redemption of his people. He said, Father, you've given
them to me. Thine they were. You own the cattle on a thousand
hills, all things are yours. He's speaking as a man to his
Father, to his Heavenly Father. He said, but you gave them to
me. And he said, I have not lost any of them, except that one
who was never appointed to be mine to start with, but was appointed
to fulfill thy purpose. He said, he has been cast away. Oh, the glory of the Lord. that
he would come and that he would manifest. Why would he take the
time off of things? Why would he take the time out
of his busy schedule? Why would he take the time to
come and laboriously keep the commandments of God without fail? Demonstrate to men the perfections
of humanity. What he is as a perfect man.
Why would he do that? David said, O Lord, what is man
that thou art mindful of him? That's his wonderment of it.
Why would the Lord do that? Mercy, kindness, love. We love him because he first
loved us. And we see in this psalm here
the love of the Lord for his people because all that he did
He did for our sake. He kept the law. See, when He
said, I have kept thy law perfectly, guess what? That's how the Father
sees us, because He sees us in Christ. He doesn't see us as
sinners, but He sees us as those who are in Christ. And He loved
us with an everlasting love. What a glorious thing. May the
Lord help us.