Turn back to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. God's wonderful word. The book that we have given to us is given to us by God, they are His words. These are
the words of God. Now, I know that God used men
to write the Bible. They were men used of God, moved
by the Holy Spirit, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to write this book. But this book is unlike any other
book ever written. It's God's Word. It's His testimonies. It is a revelation of a person. It is a revelation of salvation. It is a revelation of how God
can be a just God and have anything to do with a wretch like me. They're his wonderful testimonies
to us, to us, given to us. The angels that fail, they don't
have this. They don't have a word. Not even a word. But you and
I have page after page after page of God's wonderful word. on redemption, on who God is,
who Jesus Christ is, what we are, and how we can be saved. How God saves sinners. Isn't
that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? We use
that word a lot. We use that word a lot, and we
use it a lot in a wrong way. But here, it's used in its proper
form. God's wonderful testimony. His
wonderful Word. As I said, it concerns a wonderful
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. Isaiah 9.6. For unto us, us, a child is born. He's born for us. He's our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He's for
us. Unto us a Son is given. God has given us His Son. And He has given us life in His
Son. He's given. He's a gift. This
child, this Son is a gift of Almighty God to His people. To His people. Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government, not just
of the church, but the government of the universe, of the church,
of the world, of everything that exists, principalities, powers,
The government of everything is upon His shoulders. Let's not forget that. Let us
not forget that. And His name shall be called
first. His name first is called Wonderful. Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty
God The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And God has given Him to us. Therefore now, because God's
words, His testimonies are wonderful, therefore does my soul keep them. The reason my soul keeps them
is because they are God's wonderful testimonies. and not that of
men. These men did not get together
at any time and write things down and make this up. These
are God's wonderful testimonies. Therefore doth my soul keep them.
That's what makes them worth keeping, is whose testimonies
they are. They're God's. And that means
there's no error in them. And that means you can hang your
hat on them. You can hang your hat on them. They're sure. What's written
in this book, you can count on it. God's going to do it. What
He has promised, He's faithful to do. Count on it. Count on
it. Therefore, He says, doth my soul
keep them? They reach into my soul. My very
being is engaged in keeping them. Just hearing them, just to hear
them and then go away is not going to do me any good. Not
going to do me any good. Christ said this, if ye abide
in me and my words, my words, listen now, abide in you. You shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. Now what does he mean if my words
abide in you? Well, look at verse 130. The
entrance. You see, this is what it is.
For the Word of God to abide in you, it must first enter into
you. This is more than just hearing. This is more than like going
to school and you hear the teacher stand up and instruct and teach
and you try to memorize what she said. Or he said, then you
go home. Here he says, the entrance, thy
word has entered, it has pierced right into my very soul. It's pierced right into me. It's
in me, the entrance of thy word. Now listen, give us light. It gives us understanding of
the simple. All other words, they give knowledge. You know, when I went through
school, I learned a few things. I learned a few things and I
retained even fewer, but I retained a few things. It gave me knowledge. But now listen, God's Word gives
light. It gives light. It gives understanding. It says it giveth understanding.
You understand the gospel. You truly understand how God
can be a just God and save you. You understand that. It's not
that you just believe because somebody said it, but you really
understand it. When Jeremy was in college, he
had math in his math classes. He loved math. He was just gifted. God gave him a gift in math.
And he was doing these math problems the teacher would give him. And
he found, he literally found problems, or he found mistakes
that was made by the teacher. Three or four times. He'd tell
me about this. And that teacher said, you understand. You understand the formula. You
understand how to do it. You're not just memorizing it.
He said, you understand it. The entrance of God's Word gives
understanding. You understand how God can save
sinners. You understand something about
who God is. You understand that God is holy. And you have some understanding
of what holy is, other than just how to spell it. You really understand
something about it. You understand something about
God's justice. You understand something about
God's mercy. You understand it. It gives light. It gives light. No sooner does God command light
and the soul begins to understand. What does light do? What does this light do? It reveals
what's in the room. Come in here in the morning early and these
lights are off, you can't even see the chairs. If you didn't
know the room, you would stumble into these chairs. But when you
turn the lights on, the first thing it does, the first thing
light does, it dispels darkness. It dries out darkness. And you
say, I see. I kept blind, man. He said, once
I was blind, but now I see. I see. It gives understanding. That soul begins to understand
the character of God. God said over in the Psalms here,
you thought I was altogether like yourself. You thought I
was like you. Isn't that sad? To have a God like me. But when God gives light, when
His Word comes in power, and it enters the heart, it enters
the soul, you begin to understand something of the character of
God. And you really begin to understand your need of Christ. Not just because I said it, but
because God's Word has penetrated your heart and you see your need
of Christ. And you'll never see it until
that happens. The most unlearned man can understand the mysteries
of the gospel. He says it also giveth understanding
to the simple. The mysteries that have been
hid from ages and generations can be understood by the most
simple person. And the most learned man in the
world can never can never understand the gospel unless God's Word
makes an entrance into his soul. You cannot browbeat a person
into being saved. You cannot talk them into being
saved. You cannot scare them into being saved. The Word of
God has to enter the heart, the soul, the entrance of thy Word.
It gives light. Now here's the evidence of God
at work in the soul. Here's the evidence that the
Word of God has made an entrance into your soul. Here's an evidence
of it. I opened my mouth and panted,
panted, for I longed for thy commandments. I longed for thy
Word. Thy testimonies. His food, God's
Word is food for the inner man, that new man. That new man is
not going to feed on the husk of religion and of this world
or of philosophy. It's going to feed on the Word
of God. The Word of God. The inner man
hungers for God's Word like the outer man hungers for natural
food. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Only God can create that kind
of hunger and that kind of thirst. Only God can do that. David said
in Psalm 42. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Hungry for
God. Hungry for communion and fellowship
with God. Hungry for it. Eager to come here and hear the
Word. There are so many distractions.
I know, believe me, there's so many distractions that go on
outside of here that makes it very difficult. At times to to
to to to even get an appetite, you're so distracted. But God
does. He does make his sheep to hunger
for his word, to hunger to be here and to hear his word. This is sheep food. This is the green pasture. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures. That's His Word. That's
His Word. And it says, for I long for thy
commandments. I long to know them. You know,
this one thing, to read the Word of God, to read from book to
book and to read it, But it's another thing. It's a whole other
thing to actually open the Word of God and long to learn what
He's talking about. To long to hunger for the Lord
to teach, to instruct. Lord, teach me what You're saying
here. Instruct me out of Your Word.
There's a difference. There's a difference. I long for thy command. I long
to know them. I long to obey them. I long to
be conformed to their spirit. I long to teach them to others. Lord, teach me. Instruct me.
That's what David said. Teach me and I'll teach sinners
in the way. Over there in Psalm 51. And now
he turns to prayer. Verse 132. Look thou upon me. and be merciful unto me, as thou
used to do unto those that love thy name. Look thou upon me."
What's that worth? For God to look upon me in mercy? That's what he's asking for.
Look upon me and be merciful unto me. Or to have a look. To really have a look from the
Lord Jesus Christ. For Him to just look at me in
mercy. in grace. Oh, he says, look thou
upon me. To have those kind eyes look
my way in mercy and grace. To have God's favor in Christ. If I have that, I may have to
limp to the finish line, but I won't limp after that. If I have God's favor, All will
end well. It will end well. Now, he said, Look thou upon
me and be merciful unto me. Now, listen, as thou used to
do unto those that love thy name. You know what David wants here?
You know what he's asking for? Family love. Love that belongs to the family.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, those old patriarchs. He said,
Lord, have mercy upon me like you did my forefathers. Give me that family love. Give
me that family love. He looks back on God's family
and says, that's what I want. That's what I want. I want the
love that God has to his family. And order my steps. Order my steps in thy word. I want God Not just for me, but for you
also. I want God to order our steps. I can honestly say I don't know
most of the time, 99.9% of the time, 100% of the time. Leave that 1% out
there. It seems like we can do something.
100% of the time, really, I don't know which way to go. If He does
not guide me, If he does not direct my steps, the steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord. And who is that good man? Well, first is Christ and all
those who are in Christ. And I need him to order my steps. Do you know which way to go?
Do you know the decision you'll make, what the exact outcome
is going to be? No. You can make the best informed
decision that you can make, and you have no idea what the outcome
is really going to be. Not at all. But you can do this. Lord, order my steps in Thy Word. And let not any inequity, any
inequity, have dominion over me. Control my steps. Guide my
steps. Don't leave me alone. And guide
me in thy word. Guide me. And let not any iniquity
have dominion over me. And what he's praying here for
is what every one of God's children pray for. Don't let indwelling
sin get a hold of me. Because there are plenty of it.
Break the power of indwelling sin. Christ not only died to put away
our sins, now listen, but He also died to deliver us from
the reigning power of sin. He died to put them away. And
I tell you this, He lives to break the reigning power of sin
over His people. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. It's not going to rule your life. He's not going to let it. He's
not going to let it. And here's good evidence of godly
repentance. He says, any iniquity, any iniquity. Everyone, everyone has a besetting
sin. I don't care who you are. You have a besetting sin, something
that bothers you more than anything else. And he says here, let not
any iniquity. Let not any besetting sin, anything. He makes a clean sweep. Lord,
take care of all of it. I cannot take care of any of
it. Break the power of it. Don't let it have dominion over
me. And deliver me from the oppression of man, so will I keep thy precepts. Not only deliver me from any
iniquity, inward sin, Lord, deliver me from Outward enemies. We have plenty of those. Outward
enemies. Lest they cause me to sin. We
have enough trouble within. We have a real warfare within. Let alone that which comes from
without. He's just casting himself upon
the Lord here, isn't he? Lord, help, guide me, direct
me, keep me. Don't let sin have dominion over
me and don't let my enemies have dominion over me. Lord, I'm looking
to You, to You, to keep me. To keep me. And then here in verse 135. Make
thy face, make thy face to shine upon thy servant." You know,
when I read this, and I read this, make thy face
to shine upon thy servant, what comes to your mind? I think of
someone that's got just a big, bright smile on their face looking
at me. When I read this, I think of
this, you know you have somebody's favor. If someone sees you, if
they walk in this door and they see you, and they get this big
bright smile on their face as they approach you, you know you
have their favor. And that's what he's saying.
Make your face to shine like the sun on a beautiful day upon
me. Everyone else can frown at me.
But Lord, don't you frown. Don't you do it. If I have His
favor, if I have His token of love, if He instructs me out
of His Word, I will learn, I will grow, and it will end well. And then he ends this in verse
136. Rivers of waters run down mine
eyes, because they keep not thy law. It breaks my heart to see
thy people who are called by thy name not keep thy law, thy
word." Christ looked at Jerusalem. He said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how often have I gathered you together as a hen doth gather
her brood, but you would not. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept
over that place. When people confess to no God,
They walk contrary to the Word of God. It truly, it breaks the
heart. It breaks the heart. John said
over here in 2 John, look here over here in 2 John, and I'll
close. 2 John. In verse 4, he said, I rejoice
greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth. Oh, what a rejoicing that is.
What a rejoicing it is to a pastor. What a rejoicing it is to a church.
That I have found thy children walking in truth as we have received
a commandment from the Father. He said, oh, what a joy. And
here he's saying, rivers of water run down my eyes because they're
not walking in the truth. It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. And I'm telling you this, people
who make professions, and I mean outside of here, you know that
the profession they made, the gospel they sat under is a false
profession. And it's heartbreaking to hear
them talk. and deny the gospel that they
claim that they've been saved by. It's heartbreaking. It is. To see anyone walk in rebellion
is heartbreaking. Now listen. He said, rivers of
water run down my eyes because they keep not thy law. The apostle Paul at one time
believed with all his heart that he kept the law. Those Pharisees,
they believed with all their heart that they kept the law.
That they were keeping God's Word. They believed they were
keeping God's Word when they were breaking it on every turn. Breaking it on every turn. So
when he says here, because they're keeping up that law, he's not
just talking about people running out here acting like a bunch
of rebels. He's not talking about people who just give themselves
totally to ungodliness. He's talking about people that
are religious. They're religious, but lost. To me, that's one of the most
heartbreaking things. I tell you, a lady cutting my
hair today, she told me one of the most heartbreaking stories
I've ever heard. But anyway, she was telling me
her six-year-old boy said, Mommy, I got saved last night. The place he was going showed
him something about, it's one of these pictures of hell, movies
of hell. Something about a little boy
going to hell to try to get his parents out of it. And he'd come
home and scared that boy to death. Scared that boy to death. Six
years old! Six years of age. And he said,
Mommy, I got saved last night. And he said, no, he's trying
to work on his grandfather. He said, I don't want to go to
that place. That's not salvation. That's not salvation. That's sad. I thought that's
the saddest story I've ever heard in my life. A six-year-old given a false
refuge, shown by a place that calls itself a church. And that's
even more saddening. It's even more saddening because
it's grown-ups. It's grown-ups praying on little children. Oh, they keep not thy word. They
take the gospel and they twist it, turn it, pervert it, and
then call it salvation. and feed it to the children. Well, that would make rivers
of water run down your cheeks, wouldn't it? But if it wasn't for His wonderful
Word, if it were not for the wonderful testimonies of God,
we wouldn't know these things. We'll be right there with you,
right there with you. All right, Mike.