Teach me your statutes

Q: What does the Bible say about God's goodness?

The Bible affirms that God is good and does good, as seen in passages like Psalm 25:8. God's goodness is a central theme in Scripture, reflected in His actions and character. The psalmist recognizes that all who know God will agree on His goodness, which is evident in the countless blessings He provides. God's goodness is not only a quality of His nature but also a promise to His people. As expressed in Psalm 119:68, 'Thou art good and doest good; teach me thy statutes,' the acknowledgement of God's goodness leads to a desire for divine instruction and righteousness.

Q: How do we know that God works for our good?

Romans 8:28 assures that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. The assurance that God works for our good is rooted in Romans 8:28, which states, 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' This foundational truth is vital for believers, emphasizing that even in trials and difficulties, God's sovereignty orchestrates outcomes for our benefit. David acknowledges this in Psalm 119:65 by recognizing how God has dealt well with him, affirming the belief that God’s actions are motivated by His love and desire for our ultimate good.

Q: Why is discipline important in the Christian life?

Discipline leads to spiritual growth and understanding of God's statutes. Discipline, often experienced through afflictions, plays a crucial role in the Christian life as it reminds us of our dependence on God. Hebrews 12:5-6 explains that the Lord chastens those He loves, serving as a corrective measure for our spiritual wanderings. The psalmist expresses gratitude for afflictions because they teach him God's statutes, illustrating that through suffering, believers gain deeper insights into divine truth and grow closer to their Creator. Such experiences humble us and make us more appreciative of God's ways and teachings.

I think before I have done various stanzas from this psalm, I think I've done one, two, five, 14, and now tonight, number nine. So I'm not doing them in any, not been doing them in any particular order and there's 22 of them all together so if I do them all be a quite a long time but it's the stanza the ninth stanza tef from verse 65 to 72 just a few thoughts on those words I'm really just sort of looking at each verse in turn really And we begin with verse 65.

Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. David the writer makes a thankful acknowledgement of God's gracious dealings with him all along. However God has dealt with us, We must own he has dealt well with us, better than we deserve, and all in love and with design to work for our good. We know, don't we, from Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good to them that love God, who are the called according to his purpose. And in many instances, God has done well for us beyond our expectations.

He has done well for all his servants. With me, not only according to his mercy, but according to his word. God's favours look best this is words of Matthew Henry, God's favours look best when they are compared with the promise and are seen flowing from that fountain. And can we say, despite everything that's happened in life, God has dealt well with me? God has dealt well with us. It's good to be able to say that despite all that may have happened in our lives. God has been good.

Verse 66, teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments. Upon these experiences, David grounds a petition for divine instruction. By God's grace, I may render again in some measure according to the benefit done unto me. And teach me good judgment really means teach me a good taste, so the word signifies, and a good relish to discern things that differ to distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil. And we should pray, shouldn't we, to God for a sound mind.

Hebrews 5.14 says, But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. We live, don't we, in a world where anything goes, where good is counted as evil and evil is counted as good. But may our focus be upon the God of truth, the God who knows what is good and what is evil. And may he teach us what is good and what is evil.

For I have believed thy commandments, I've received them and consented to them that they are good and submitted to them. We have many commandments in God's word and therefore are good, aren't they? And if we break them, then misery comes. They're there for our good, aren't they? God has put them in his word. They're there for our good. Verse 67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. We read, don't we, in Isaiah 53,

6. Oh, we like sheep. have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But we bless God, the Lord have laid on him, the Lord Jesus, the iniquity of us all. But here the psalmist said, while I lived in peace and plenty and knew no sorrow, I went astray from God and my duty. Sin is going astray and we are most apt to wander from God when we are easy and think ourselves at home and comfortable in the world.

I read recently this quote on sin by, I think he's an American pastor, Ed Stetzer. And it was a good quote. I've written it down here. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

See, there's no bargains, is there, with sin? And that's for all, isn't it? Believer and unbeliever, sinners. We're all sinners, aren't we? And prosperity, of course, we can get comfortable, as I say, even blasé. Psalm 30, verse six. And in my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. I read these telling words in Ecclesiastes 7,

14. In the day of prosperity, be joyful. But in the day of adversity, consider. God hath also set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him concerning his future. And as 1 Corinthians 10, 12 says, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Peter 5, 8 says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. We are we most vulnerable when we are most comfortable. But Satan is going to play on our weaknesses, sort of, as I say, prowling around. seeking whom he may devour.

You perhaps think of the analogy of sport and a sport analyst. And this person is looking out for the opponents of the team or the opposition for the individual. And so next week you're playing them or you're playing that person. And so the analysis, he or she, they look carefully at video footage of the opposition looking for a weakness.

Yeah. There's a weakness there. And perhaps spent hours and hours looking for an area, yeah, I think you might do well if you concentrate on that because they're weak in that way. And so it's like sort of Satan, isn't it? Doing the same sort of tactics.

And maybe I've sort of experienced it in my life too, in the past, but quite a number of years ago, a long time ago, a long time before some of you were born, where perhaps all was going well. And then all of a sudden, I felt comfortable. And that was when I was vulnerable. But the Lord, Indeed, I look back and he had mercy on me. But now have I kept thy word and so I've been recovered from my wanderings. That's good, isn't it? To be, to be, to recover from it. And we do as a Lord's people, you know.

The Lord recovers us. Sanctified afflictions humble us for sin and show us a vanity of the world. They soften the heart and open the ear to discipline. The prodigal's distress brought him to himself first and then to his father. Again, words from Matthew Henry. Verse 68. Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes.

All who have any knowledge of God and dealings with him will own that he does good and therefore will conclude that he is good. The streams of God's goodness are so numerous and run so full, so strong to all the creatures that we must conclude the fountain that is in himself to be inexhaustible. We cannot conceive how much good our God does every day, much less can we conceive how good he is. Let us acknowledge it with admiration and with holy love and thankfulness. Again, words from Matthew Henry, who was obviously very helpful with points on this psalm and on this part of the psalm.

Here the psalmist prays for God's grace and begs to be under the guidance and influence of it. Because God is good, we should be asking God, help me to be good. Help me to serve the Lord. Help me to show that I am one of the Lord's people. Help me to be good, not so that as a result of my goodness, I will go to heaven. We know we can't be saved by our works. But the evidence that we are the Lords is our works. By our fruits, we shall be known.

Psalm 25.8 says, good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. So God is good. God is just. And we sung, didn't we, about how good God is and how wise God is. And so may God help us to be good and to be wise too, and to live with his help the life that we should.

Verse 69, the proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. David here tells how he was affected as to the proud and wicked people that were about him. But he didn't fear their malice, nor was he deterred from his duty by it. Rather, those that were proud envied David's reputation. And so, therefore, in jealousy, they did all they could to blemish his reputation and make his name bad. They took a pride in trampling upon him.

David was resolved, despite everything, to obey God. His heart was fixed. And so that should be the case with us, isn't it? Despite all that's going on in our lives or in the world, what people think of us or do, May there be that resolve to love the Lord, to serve him and to know that he will keep us and that he will fulfill his purposes in us and use us. May we not be deterred. I've been reading a book. I've just finished it this afternoon on resilience.

It refers to Timothy, written by John Benton, who was a pastor in Guildford. And it's sort of a book for sort of pastors and church leaders. And it really there speaks really of Paul's instruction to Timothy to basically tell him to be resilient. And it has a lot of very helpful and useful points in that particular book. We are, aren't we, to be faithful in our service of the Lord. And I think it was, was it Carey or somebody who said, I can plot. And sometimes that's the case in the Christian life. It's a case of plotting. But may God help us to be faithful.

Verse 70, their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. So David didn't envy the prosperity of the wicked. And nor is he sort of distracted by it. The proud are fools and senseless, past feeling. Thus we read in Isaiah 610, make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed. and Psalm 73 7, their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish. So are we building our security upon the promises of God's word, promises that are true and can never be broken, and have much pleasure and have pleasure enough in communion with God. And communion with God is certainly infinitely preferable to all the delights that the world can allure us with. The children of God who are acquainted with spiritual pleasures need not envy the children of this world. with their carnal pleasures. It sort of speaks there, verse 70, of fatness and grease. And maybe sort of fatness, it can look ugly, can't it? Fatness can look ugly.

And grease is something that can't easily be shifted. I had a pan earlier I was washing. I was doing the washing up, a greasy pan. But it's no good just having water to try and wash it because it wouldn't get rid of the grease. You need detergent. You need something that can tackle the grease.

And so isn't it a sign of sin, fatness, ugliness? There's ugliness with sin. Satan tries to make it look attractive, but it's ugly. And Greece can't easily be shifted. Perhaps stubbornness. Perhaps that's a sign of sin too. Stubbornness. That is quite rampant, isn't it? Stubbornness. But an ungodly heart surely is ugly, can't be changed.

Well, we can't change it, but God can. Yes, God can change the heart and minds of people as we see in the word of God and as we see throughout history and as we witness even in our day. It is good for me, verse 71, that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. It's really been the lot, isn't it, of the people of God that we've been afflicted. And that has been often so much an advantage to God's people to be afflicted. David could speak experimentally. He knew it. Many a good lesson he had learned by his afflictions and many a good duty he'd been brought to which otherwise would have been unlearned and undone.

So I said we are most vulnerable when we're most comfortable But we are most blessed when hard is pressed. And I'm sure that we can think of occasions when it was a really tough time in life. And we can say, actually, those times spiritually were about the best times of my life. I felt a nearness to God. a relationship with God then that I didn't really know when things were going along quite smoothly in life. There was a tough times when I really knew blessing.

I can say that myself and I'm sure others can say that as well. And sometimes perhaps The Lord gives us sort of an affliction in chastening us. But that's for our good. Hebrews 12, 5. Ye have forgotten the exaltation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For we know that those that the Lord loves, he chastens. Yes, we deserve it. But he loves his people with this everlasting love. And here we have about learning statutes. And we've seen in other verses as well that we've read about teach me and learn.

May God give us a teachable spirit. May we be willing learners. Not just that we sort of know things in the head about the Bible and so on, but that we know it in our hearts and that we learn through the Word of God, through reading and through experience, through others, that we learn much that we need in the Christian life.

Verse 72, the lure of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Remember, David, he had little of God's word in comparison With us, we've got the whole canon of scripture. David didn't have it all at all, did he? But he loved God's word, and he put great value to it. And we read in verse 97 of this psalm, oh, how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day. And there's many verses like that in this psalm and throughout the word of God. where David speaks of his love for God's word and how he valued it, more valuable than gold or silver. I'm sure David had a lot of gold and silver, but what is that in comparison with God's word, knowing God and knowing his word?

His riches increase, but he didn't set his heart on them. We read, don't we? Psalm 62.10, trust not on oppression and become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. So what about our treasure?

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, as Luke 12.34 says. And in Luke chapter 12, the verses before said, we shouldn't be worrying. And then it says, where is your treasure? Because what you really value, that's where your heart will be too. So where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So is the treasure for us, the Lord and the word of God.

And wonderful, isn't the word of God that we have and said the whole canon of scripture. And there's. May we be helped in our reading and studying of it and the ministry of it. God willing, Anne and I hope to be moving before too long. And of course, we have a lot of books in our house. And just as we've got a lot of books, of course, over in the bookshop, a lot of secondhand books, loads of books. It does remind me of Ecclesiastes 12,

12. And further, by these, my son be admonished of making many books. There is no end. And much study is a weariness of the flesh. Well, that's very true indeed. If we decided the only book that we're going to take is the Bible. It's going to need all the boxes of books in. The only book that we're going to have is the Bible and all the commentaries and everything. No, we're not going to worry about that. But I mean, we're not going to do that, of course. But It's really, if it came down to it, if there's one book that we would not want to do without, it's obviously God's word, isn't it? The Bible.

But we're thankful, aren't we, for the many helps that there are. As well, don't get me wrong, we're very thankful indeed for the many helps that we have. to God's Word, but ultimately it's God's Word and what it says about us and what it says about how we are and how we can be right with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So may it be that we are taught that there is that teachable spirit that we want to learn more and more about the Lord. There's so much to learn and even if we just read or consider a passage that's so familiar and somebody can preach on it. Well, that's a passage that I know so well and yet that person got out so much of it. I hadn't thought about that before. I've read it so many times, I've read so many sermons on it, such as the wonder of God's word, the inspired word of God.

We'll leave those thoughts there as we come to prayer soon. May the Lord bless to us those few remarks. Amen. Before we come to prayer, we'll sing to 199. 199. Come thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount. Oh fix me on it. Mount of God's unchanging love.

199. ♪ Ever singing, ever singing ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ All thy name will rise above ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ All is free of debt ♪ ♪ Bound to God and King ♪ Ever by thy help I've come. And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive. ♪ The salty man, a stranger ♪ ♪ Away from the Father of God ♪ ♪ It was there, my sorrow from danger ♪ interposed his precious blood. Born to resurrect the dead, they lay on all spring together, I'm to wonder, Lord, I'm filled with wonder. ♪ To live the God I love ♪ ♪ Clears my heart ♪ ♪ Looks in and she lives ♪ ♪ To live for my God ♪

Teach me your statutes

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's goodness?

How do we know that God works for our good?

Why is discipline important in the Christian life?

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Teach me your statutes

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's goodness?

How do we know that God works for our good?

Why is discipline important in the Christian life?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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