Well, good evening. If you would
open your Bibles with me, the book of second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians chapter
three. Begin our reading in verse one. Finally, brethren, pray for us
that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified,
even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable
and wicked men For all men have not faith, but the Lord is faithful,
who shall establish you and keep you from evil. And we have confidence
in the Lord, touching you, that ye both do and will do the things
which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. And Father, we bow in your
presence this evening. We bow with hearts that are thankful,
thankful that we can come before your throne accepted in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Our hearts bow in worship and
submission to thy sovereign will. And we bow, Father, begging a
blessing from the storehouses of your grace this evening. Father,
I pray you'd bless your word, that you would enable your word
to go forth in power. Our society is restricted at
this time from being able to meet together and to worship
thee, but Father, you're not bound. Your word's not bound,
your power's not bound. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word to your glory. Get much glory to your name through
the preaching of your word this evening. And Father, cause your
word to go forth and to bless the hearts of your people, to
pierce the heart, to give life and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Cause your word to go forth and comfort and encourage the hearts
of your people to continue trusting thee and relying upon thee. Father,
we pray for our world. We pray for our country at this
difficult time that you would put your hand upon us, that you
would Heal this plague that's in the land, that you would reach
down and preserve and protect your people for your great namesake,
Father. Heal this and enable us to be
able to come together soon, as soon as it could possibly be
Thy will, to meet together in worship, to be able to lift up
our voices together in praise and song and thanksgiving. and to face-to-face hear your
gospel and worship you. We pray a special blessing, Father,
for those who are hurting, who are sick and afflicted with so
many different illnesses and difficulties at this time. We
pray a special blessing for our sister, Joyce Brown, that you'd
comfort her at this time of loss and sorrow. Be with her especially,
Father, we pray. You know the needs of your people.
We hold them up to thee, and we're thankful to know you're
in control. This thing's not gone off the rails. It's not
something that happened that you couldn't stop, but it's according
to your direct will and purpose. We're thankful that thou art
sovereign and you are able, you're able to comfort the hearts of
your people. All these things that we ask
and we give thanks in that name, which is above every name, the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Right now, if you would
turn your Bibles with me to Psalm 119, titled the message this evening, Christ
from A to Z, part two, our help. This particular stanza speaks
of Christ, our help. Now you remember that Psalm 119
is a poem. It has one eight verse stanza
for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And the theme
of this song is the word of God. The theme of this song tells
us both of the importance, the riches, the life that's found
in the written word and in the incarnate word, our Lord Jesus
Christ. I told you last week we began this study in Psalm
119, part one, that it was not my intention to preach verse
by verse through this whole Psalm. My goal is to give you the main
point in each one of these stanzas to show you how Christ is all
in salvation. From A to Z, Christ is all. But
I'm not going to make it any further than this stanza this
evening. We'll pretty much go through this stanza verse by
verse tonight. This is the fifth stanza in the
song that tells us that our help is found in the word of God.
You'll find help both in the written word and in Christ the
incarnate word. Now, as I understand it, the
Hebrew letter for this stanza is what they call a causative
letter. They would put this letter in
front of a verb to make it causative. And that's what we need. We need
the Lord to do all of the action in saving us. We need the Lord
to do all of the action in helping us, because you and I are helpless,
and we can't help ourselves, so we need the Lord to do it
all for us, to do all the work in saving us and helping us.
And this is what the psalmist says in this stanza. He says,
Lord, cause me to be taught. Give me an understanding. Cause
me to understand. Make me go in your path. Don't
just show me your path, but make me to go in it. Cause my heart
to incline unto you. Turn my eyes from vanity and
turn my eyes to you and establish me. Lord, you have to establish
me in your word. Lord, cause this to happen. You
have to cause this to happen. You have to make this true in
me because I have no power to do it for myself. So this whole
stanza, is a plea for help from the Lord, and it begins in verse
33 of Psalm 119. Teach me, O Lord, the way of
thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding,
I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart
unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Turn away mine
eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Establish
thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn
away my reproach, which I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold,
I have longed after thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness. As I said, this stanza is a plea
for help. And right now, we all acutely
feel the need for help with what's going on in our world today.
We all feel helpless against this virus. We acutely feel the
need for help, don't we? But you know this is so. Let
me remind you, even though you know it's so. We are no more
helpless now than we were two months ago before this whole
thing started. When none of this was threatening us and threatening
our world, the economy was all good, everything was all going
good, we were just as helpless then as we are now. We're completely
dependent upon God at all times. Physically, we need the Lord
to provide for us and protect us. Today, just as much as we
did two months ago before all this started, we still are dependent
on the Lord to provide and to protect. But even in this time,
of this great worldly trouble. Our greatest need is unchanged.
We feel, you know, a fear and a need for help from the physical
world surrounding us, but our greatest need is still the same.
Our greatest need is still a spiritual need, and we need God's help.
We need God to do this for us. We're helpless, so we need God's
grace, and we need God's forgiveness now just as much as we ever have.
We need God to give us spiritual life and to sustain that life
just as much now as we ever have. We need God to be merciful to
our unrighteousness just as much as we ever have. And this psalm
teaches us, if you'll read it carefully and see what it's saying,
this psalm teaches us our dependence upon the Lord. The oldest believer
who is strongest in faith, if this is David that wrote this,
King David, in his strength, still cries to God as a little
child, saying how dependent we are upon the Lord. Every believer
is. We're completely dependent upon
the Lord. The songwriter said, without
him, I could do nothing. Without him, I'd surely fail.
Without him, I'd be drifting like a ship without a sail. We're
helpless, aren't we? We need God to do everything
for us. So this is a cry for help. And all of the believer's help
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's found in the incarnate word,
Christ, and it's found in God's written word, the Bible. Now,
the key verse, as I see it in this stanza, is verse 38, where
the psalmist says, establish thy word unto thy servant who
is devoted to thy fear. Lord, establish, establish your
word to me. If you look in the book of 2
Corinthians, this establishing is the work of God. It's not
something that we do when we help God out. No, this is, remember,
a causative thing. This is, this is the work of
God for us. In the book of second Corinthians
chapter one, this establishing is the work of God. It's the
work of the whole Godhead. Second Corinthians one verse
21. Now he which establishes us with us with you in Christ
and hath anointed us is God. God's the one who establishes
us with you. who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of
the Spirit in our hearts." There's the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. This establishing is the work of the whole Godhead. Now remember, the Hebrew letter
for this stanza is a causative letter. Establishing us is something
that God must do for us, that God must do in us. And the Lord
establishes His people through His Word and by His Word And
the psalmist here gives us four ways that the Lord establishes
his people by his word, with his word. Number one is this,
Lord, establish the word, your word in our eyes. Verse 33, teach
me, oh Lord, the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the
end. Now, if we would be established in the truth, If we would be
established in the Gospel and established in the Word of God,
somebody's got to hold the Word of God up before our eyes, don't
they? And that's the work of God. It's the work of God to
send a preacher. How shall they preach except
they be sent? A preacher must hold up the Word of God before
our eyes. But if we would be established
in the truth, if the Word would be established in us, Almighty
God must give us eyes, eyes to see Christ in the Word. This
whole Bible, every word of it, every page of it, the whole Bible
is written to reveal Christ to sinners. The whole Bible is written
for this one purpose, to show us how God saves sinners in,
by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. But now we can't see
that by nature, can we? God's got to give us eyes to
see Christ. And if God will give us eyes
of faith, And so that we see Christ, we will be established. We'll be established so that
we cannot be moved. The psalmist says here, Lord,
if you give this to me, you establish this to me, I'll keep it until
the end. Now here's what he means. I know
that we'll keep it to the end until we die, but that's not
primarily what he means. He means that, Lord, if you give
me eyes to see Christ, I'll keep the end or the goal of your word. I'll believe Christ and I'll
keep believing Him until the end. If God establishes His Word
before our eyes, we'll see Christ and we'll believe Him and we'll
keep believing Him to the end. That's being established in the
Word, having the Word established before our eyes. That's the goal
of God's Word. The goal of God's word is not
to show me how to act, not to tell me what to do and what not
to do. You already know that. You already know what to do and
not to do. You already know not to lie, not to steal, not to
cheat. You already know not to cheat
on your spouse but be faithful to them. You already know that.
You already know not to kill your neighbor. You know that.
The goal of God's word is not to tell us how to act. God's
put that in our heart. The goal of God's word is to
show me Christ. so that I will believe Christ,
that I will believe on Christ alone without how I act being
added to it. You know, a lot of people want
to say, well, yeah, I want to be saved by God's grace, I want
to be saved by Christ, but I want to have how I act be added to
it, that how I act be my sanctification and add to it. Brother, how I
act cannot contribute to my salvation. How I act is what's given me
the need for a savior in the first place. How I act is what's
given me this need to cry out to God for help in the first
place. No, our works have got nothing to do with it. The goal
of God's word is to show me Christ. So I'll trust him alone and not
trust myself in any part of this equation in this matter of salvation. If God gives me eyes to see Christ,
I'll keep this to the end. I'll believe him to the end and
I won't turn from Christ. If you see Christ, if God Almighty
gives you eyes to see Christ, you will not turn away from him
to trust in anything else. That's what the psalmist says
in verse 37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity and quicken thou me in thy way. Now, vanity, the word,
it means empty and useless. That is our flesh, isn't it?
That's the works of our flesh. They're nothing but vanity. Man
at his best state is altogether vanity. Man at his best state
is altogether zero, useless, nothing. So there can't be anything
more empty, more useless than trusting the works of this flesh.
And people who have been taught, they've been established in the
Word of God, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ has been
established in their eyes. They're not going to turn away
from Christ. Look at Romans chapter one. See, God does this. He establishes the word before
the eyes of his people through the preaching of the word. You
know, that's why what we're doing right now is so important that
we be established in times where the world around us is in utter
chaos and there's nothing at all you can put your hand on
that's solid in this world. This is why the preaching of
God's word is so important. because God establishes his people
through the preaching of his word. Let me show you that in
Romans 1 verse 11. The apostle Paul says, For I
long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift
to the end that you may be established. Now how is Paul going to give
them the spiritual gift so that they'll be established? It's
through the preaching of the gospel. Look at verse 15. As
much as is in me, so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For therein, in this gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. The just shall live by faith
that's given through the preaching of the gospel, of the preaching
of the word, and that God's people will be established through the
preaching of the word. That's why Paul wanted to come
to them, to preach to them, so they'd be established. Now look
at the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter two. Colossians two, verse seven.
Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith. Now
how will that happen? How will we be rooted and built
up in Christ? How will we be established in
faith in Christ? How will that happen? It's by
having the Word of God talk to us. Read on, verse 7. As you
have been taught. See, you're going to be rooted
up and built, established in the faith as you have been taught.
Abounding therein with thanksgiving. If God gives us eyes to see Christ,
we'll be established. And we're not going to turn from
Christ to the vanity of works religion. Read on verse eight.
Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and
not after Christ. Don't turn to from Christ to
the man's vain deceit and philosophy, the traditions of men. Don't
turn to from Christ for in him, in Christ. dwell all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, which is
the head of all principality and power. You're complete in
Him. See, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. And if God gives you eyes to
see Christ, you're not going to turn from Him. You're going
to turn from Christ, because God's established you, taught
you this, that from A to Z, Christ is everything that you need.
And we'll only know that we are complete in Christ, complete,
lacking nothing in Christ. If God establishes the word before
our eyes, his word before our eyes. All right. Second, look
back in our text. Psalm 119. Second, Lord, establish
your word in our mind. Verse 34. Give me understanding
and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. Now, it is not enough just to
know what the Word says. It's important that we're taught
that we hear what the Word says, but it's not enough just to know
what the Word says. You know, here we give our children
memory verses. We do that so the Word of God
will be in their mind, so they'll remember it when they get to
be old. We want them to know what the Bible says. But salvation
goes a whole lot further than memorizing verses of Scripture. See, God must give us an understanding
to know what the scriptures mean. It's not enough just to be able
to quote the scriptures. Salvation is understanding what
the scriptures mean. What do those scriptures mean?
Every single one of them means Christ. Every single one of them
means trust Christ to be your all. Now, if you look in the
book of John chapter five, I'll show you that. John chapter five. Verse 39, our Lord here talking
to these religious leaders of that day. And he says, John 5
39, search the scriptures for in them. You think you have eternal
life and they are, they was testify of me. Now these men, the Lord
is talking to here. They are steeped in the written
word. They're steeped in the law, the
traditions are steeped in those things. It's their whole life.
And the Lord tells them, you do search the scriptures. You
spend your time reading them and transcribing them and writing
them. And yet you do search the scriptures. And you think that memorizing
those scriptures, that reading those words, that trying to obey
the laws that are laid out to you in the Old Testament, you
think those things are salvation. And they're not. He tells them,
this is your problem. In searching the scriptures,
you don't have an understanding. God hadn't given you an understanding
to know that all of the scriptures testify of Christ. They all tell
of him. The scriptures tell us that righteousness
is in Christ obedience to the law, not ours. The law is not,
it was only given to show us our helplessness, our inability
to keep the, to keep the law. The scriptures, all of the scriptures
tell us that righteousness is in Christ obedience, not ours.
The scriptures tell us that righteousness is in the blood of Christ's sacrifice
that put away our sins, not all of our religious doings and ceremonies
and traditions. The scriptures tells us that
eternal life is had through faith in Christ, not by our works of
the law. And the Pharisees had no understanding
of that because God hadn't given it to them. Look what he says
here in verse 38. You have not his word. abiding
in you. It's not been established in
you. And here's how I know that's true. For whom he has sinned,
whom the father has sinned, him you believe not. If the word
was established in your heart, if it was established before
your eyes, you would understand who this man is, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He's the long promised Messiah
come to save his people from their sins. So to understand
God's word is to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. That's understanding. Look at Luke chapter 24, back
a few pages, Luke 24. You know, if we would have an
understanding of God's word, God's got to give it to us. He's
got to, oh, we cry for help. Lord, help me understand. Well,
if we would understand God's word, God must cause that to
happen. He must give us an understanding.
And in Luke chapter 24, we see a very good example of that beginning
in verse 44. This is after our Lord, he spent
three and a half years, his public ministry, his disciples following
him, being with him that whole time, hearing every word that
he taught. They watched the Lord be crucified
to suffer and die. Now he's risen again and appeared
to them. And this is what he tells them.
Verse 44, Luke 24. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the word,
the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. All those things, the law, the
prophets, the Psalms, they're all concerning me. They're all
telling about me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them,
thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer. and
to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things."
The Lord opened their understanding. They might understand the scriptures.
Now they understood. Now they finally understood. They understood the sacrifice
of Christ, bought the redemption of his people, washed away the
sins of his people. Now they understood the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's how God saves sinners.
That we're in Him. When He obeyed the law, we did
too because we're in Him. Then when Christ died to the
law, we did too because we're in Him. When Christ was raised,
so were we because we're in Him. Now they understood. Now they
finally understood that Christ's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It's an unearthly kingdom with
earthly prizes and earthly trinkets that He'd give out to His people.
God's kingdom, Christ's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom where
he blesses his people with every spiritual blessing that Almighty
God has for a sinner. Where? In Christ. It's all in him. Now they understand
because Christ has given them an understanding and now they
won't leave. They won't leave him. They won't
leave his gospel because God has established this in their
understanding that Christ is all. If you look back in our
text, Psalm 119, Verse 38, that's what the psalmist is asking for.
In verse 38, he says, establish thy word unto thy servant who
is devoted to thy fear. Lord, establish your word to
my understanding so I will be devoted to you. So I'll be devoted
to the worship and reverence of God and never leave Christ.
Lord, establish your word to my understanding and I'll never
look for another hope other than the Lord Jesus Christ. If God
will give me the understanding that Christ is all. But that
establishing will only happen through the consistent preaching
of Christ, because that's what God the Holy Spirit uses to give
his people an understanding. It's the preaching of the word.
All right, thirdly, Lord, establish your word in our feet. Verse
35, make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein
do I delight. Now, by nature, we are lame. By nature, you and I cannot come
to Christ. Look at the book of John, Gospel
of John chapter six. We cannot come to Christ. So we need the Lord to give us
feet and make us come to Christ. John chapter six, verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
their spirit and their life. But there are some of you that
believe not. You've heard this, but there's some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
unto him of my father. No man can come to Christ unless
the father gives him the ability. No man can come to Christ unless
the Holy Spirit gives us feet to come to Christ. The Lord's
got to make us come to Christ. Then Lord, I'm begging you, give
me feet and make me come to Christ. See, no man can come to Christ
by his own will or his own power because we're spiritually lame.
Now, you know why we're spiritually lame? It's because we're spiritually
dead. I mean, it's not like we're alive,
but our legs don't work. Maybe we could drag ourselves
to Christ, you know, by, by crawling on our hands or something. No,
we're lame and unable to come to Christ because we're spiritually
dead. So we can't do anything. Looking there in John six, back
of page verse 44. This is what the Lord says. No
man can come unto me. We don't have the ability nor
the desire to come to Christ. No man can come to me. except
the Father, which hath sent me, draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day." No man can come unto Christ unless God gives
him life and then draws him to Christ. So, Lord, I'm begging
you, Lord, draw me. Draw me to Christ. When we're
crying for help, what we're crying is, Lord, do it all and draw
me to Christ. Bring me to Christ. And here's
how the Lord draws his people to Christ. It's through the preaching
of Christ crucified. Our Lord said when he is lifted
up, all will... I know the translators in that
have added me and it's in italics. All will come to him. It's all
that the Father has given him. All of God's elect, when they
hear Christ lifted up, the preaching of Christ crucified him, lifted
up upon the tree, they'll come to Christ. All, he said, will
come unto me. All of God's people come to him.
They cannot stay away from him. when they hear the word of God
preached, how Christ is the savior of sinners. See, I don't just
want feet that make me mobile and let me go anywhere that I
desire by nature. I want the Lord to give me feet
and then make me follow Christ. Lord, give me feet and then lead
me and guide me in the way that I should go like a shepherd leads
the sheep. The Lord leads his people. And he guides his people.
If you want the Lord to lead you and guide you, I'll tell
you how he does it. He does it through the preaching of his
word. Look back at Matthew chapter seven. Lord, give me feet and
then cause me to walk. Make me to walk in that straight
and narrow way because the straight and narrow way leads me to life. And I can't find that way. I
can't stay in that way unless the Lord puts me in it and makes
me walk in it. Matthew seven, verse 13. Enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Now the straight and narrow way
is Christ. The straight and narrow way is
salvation in Christ alone. Lord, make me, make me walk in
that way where I can only trust Christ. I don't have another
option. The root word here for that is translated straight means
in appointed way or covenant way. The Lord Jesus Christ is
God's appointed way of salvation. There is salvation in none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ because he's God's appointed way. He's
God's covenant way where God promised he would save his people
in Christ and Christ alone. The straight and narrow way also
means a confined way. Salvation is confined. It's confined
to Christ alone. Salvation is confined to faith
in Christ alone. It's confined to grace in Christ
alone. It's confined. It's Christ alone. The root word for narrow also
means a rut, like a wheel rut in the dirt. And once you're
down in that rut, you can't turn to the right or the left. You
have to go the way that the rut is going. That's salvation. It's salvation in Christ alone
so that you cannot turn to the left or to the right. You can't
look anywhere else. If you're in the straight and
the narrow way, you're confined, you're restricted. You can't
look to any other way. You have no other hope other
than Christ and Christ alone. You can't go off on a tangent
because you're restricted to Christ and Christ alone. Now
I need God to put me there and keep me there, don't you? Now
I know that the Lord says here it's a narrow way, but I'm here
to tell you There is plenty of room for a sinner. Don't think,
oh, there's not room for me. God won't let me in. Don't blame
your rebellion on God. There's plenty of room in this
straight and narrow way. There's plenty of room for a
sinner to enter into Christ, to enter into this straight and
narrow way, to enter into eternal life as long as you come naked,
as long as you come empty, not bringing anything of your own.
If you bring anything you've done with you, You've got baggage
and you can't fit in and you will not enter. But if you come
bringing nothing but Christ, bringing nothing that you've
ever thought, said or done, there's plenty of room for you. Now you
come, you'll be saved. Enter into eternal life, bringing
nothing of your own but Christ alone. The straight and narrow
way tells us that salvation is exactly as wide as Christ and
exactly as narrow as Christ. Salvation is Christ alone. Now,
Lord, help me. Put me in Christ and make me
follow him. Make me trust him alone. Make
me follow Christ alone. Lord, give me feet that will
not slip. Give me feet that will not stray
because you've established my feet on Christ alone. That's
what I need. Look back at Psalm 40. David
knew this is what he needed. He knew he needed his feet to
be established on Christ, on the rock Christ Jesus. Psalm 40 verse 1. He says, I waited patiently for
the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought
me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and
he set my feet upon a rock and he established my goalies. He
set my feet on Christ and he established me on Christ. So
I won't go anywhere else. So I'll follow Christ and Christ
alone. But now listen, when we talk
about this, Lord, Lord, make me go in this in the straight
and narrow way. Make my feet follow Christ so
I don't go anywhere else. But this is not just asking Lord,
Lord, make me follow Christ because you're forcing me to. No. What David's saying is here,
Lord, make me happy. Make me happy to follow Christ.
Make me happy to walk in the straight and the narrow way.
He says, make me to go in the path of thy commandments for
therein do I delight. Make me to be delighted in Christ. Make me be delighted that salvation
is all what Christ has done for me and in me and nothing that
I've done to contribute to it. Make me delighted that Christ
is all of my holiness. that Christ is all of my sanctification.
Make me delighted that Christ is all of my righteousness. Oh,
make me delighted in Christ. If Lord made me delighted in
Christ, my feet will be established and I'll follow him on. And the
only way that can happen is if the Lord establishes us in his
word. Right now, here's the fourth
thing. Lord, establish your word in our heart. Verse 36. The psalmist
says, incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Now this is the most important
point. It's the last one, but we've saved the best for last.
It's the most important point. Lord, establish your word in
our heart. If the Lord establishes his word
in our heart, the word will automatically be established in our eyes, in
our understanding and in our feet. See, we need the word to
be established in our heart. But we say, talk about the word
being established in our heart. What we really mean is this.
We need the Lord to give us a new heart. We need the Lord to give
us a new nature that will want to be saved in Christ. We need
the Lord to give us a new nature that will want Christ to get
all of the glory and the redemption of his people. And that won't
be covetous. Our natural hearts covetous.
We want everything. I mean, we want everything we
can imagine and we want the glory. We want the recognition. We have
a thirst for that, naturally. That's our natural heart. Well,
then I need God to give me a new heart that won't be covetous,
that won't want any glory and salvation for myself, but will
want it all to go to Christ because He did all the work for me. Now,
we don't come that way by nature, do we? So we need God to give
us a new heart. Then He talks about establishing
my heart. He means give me a new heart. Lord, give me a new heart
that's righteous. My old one's unrighteous. Give
me a new one that's righteous. Or give me a new heart that's
spiritually alive, because my old heart is spiritually dead.
Or give me a new nature that loves your law, that sees how
I've kept the law and Christ my representative, not in something
that I have to do. Lord, make me righteous by faith
in Christ. Justify me by faith in Christ,
not by something that I do. And give me a heart that loves
Christ, so I don't want any other hope. If I have Christ, If God
establishes this in my heart that I have Christ, how can I
be covetous? See, if you're covetous, you
want something that you don't have. If I've got Christ, I don't
want any other hope, because He's the best hope you could
have. If I've got Christ, I don't want another righteousness. He's
the best righteousness I could have. If I've got Christ, I'm
not covetous of another salvation, of something I can do to add
to that salvation, because He's my perfect salvation. If Christ
is my delight, I'm not going to be covetous. I'm going to
be content. Because I find my delight in Christ. That He's
my all. He's my righteousness. He's my
salvation. He's my hope. He's my sanctification. He's my friend. The one that
sticketh closer than a brother. That'll never leave you. If I
have Christ, I'm content. Not covetous, because I have
everything that I need. You see this, that all of the
believer's help comes from God's Word. This is something that
we need God to do for us. And it all comes from His Word.
And the only way we can be established like this is if God establishes
his word in our hearts. If he puts his word in our heart,
we'll see, we'll understand, we'll believe Christ and we'll
follow him. But God's got to do all of that
work for us and in us, doesn't it? So this is our cry, Lord,
establish your word. Establish it in my heart. Then
it'll be established in my eyes and my understanding and in my
feet. Now, I know at this time we all feel like we need help.
As I said to start this message, we feel an acute need for help
at this time. And my advice to you is to seek
help from God's Word. Now, you're not going to find
help in God's Word that will make all of your earthly troubles
go away. Matter of fact, if you read God's
Word, you know what you're going to find out? God's Word promises
His people not a life of ease, but it promises us trouble and
trial and tribulation, doesn't it? I'm not telling you you're
going to find help in God's Word that will make all your earthly
troubles go away and give you a life of ease, because that
would be a lie. The help that we need from God's Word is spiritual
help. And that's what God's Word gives.
It gives His people spiritual help. It gives them spiritual
life. God's Word is the seed that gives us life, gives us
spiritual life. But God's word is also the grass,
the green grass, the bread, the living bread that feeds the souls
of God's people and strengthens the heart of God's people. Even
in troubled times, it won't take the troubled times away, but
it will strengthen our heart in it. It will strengthen our
souls to go through it. God's word gives help that comforts
the broken heart. Even though the sorrow is still
there. The sorrow is still there, but God's word comforts our heart
by showing us Christ, by showing us something better than what
we've lost. Now that's the help you and I need. I have no idea
what God's purpose is in sending this pandemic, but maybe one
benefit of it is this. We'll all spend a little more
time reading God's word and seeking him in it. Maybe that's a benefit
that will come from all this. And we'll be saved and we'll
be established if while we're searching God's word, if he's
pleased to reveal Christ to us, we'll be saved. We'll find salvation
for our souls and we'll be established. Established in the word of God.
Oh, may God establish his word in your heart. All right, let's
bow together in prayer. Our father, oh, how we thank
you for your word. your word that establishes your
people, your word that gives life to your people, that feeds
and comforts and edifies the hearts of your people, your word
that instructs us in the way that we should go, that instructs
us to never take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and to
keep looking to him and trusting him and him alone. Father, how
thankful we are for your word that establishes the feet of
your people. so that we will not go away from
Christ. We would, we would. We know by
nature we would leave Christ in a heartbeat if you'd let us.
But how we're thankful you've established your word in the
hearts of your people. You've established our feet upon
the rock Christ Jesus so we cannot leave him. Oh, how Christ is
our delight. How delighted we are to find
forgiveness of our sin in him. How delighted we are to find
righteousness, peace, life, and joy in our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, establish him in our heart. Establish Christ before our eyes
that we might find our hope, our joy, and our rest and our
peace in Christ alone. Father, all these blessings,
we thank you for them and we ask you to continue to bless
us for Christ's sake, for the glory of your word, for the glory
of your son. Father, continue to bless your
people. It's in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Until next time, may the
Lord bless you and keep you.