Well, turn back to Psalm 119
with me, please, and to the section entitled Mem, verse 97 down to
104. Mem. This is a letter of the
Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 of these eight-verse
sections. in Psalm 119, each of the 22
sections representing a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. A way
of remembering, a way of bringing to mind, an aid to memory of
the blessings of communion with God and of salvation, the blessings
of knowing God, enabled by gracious salvation. As we are, we cannot
know God, but because of the salvation that God has accomplished
in his Son, we can know him and we can commune with him. And
these verses, like so much else of the rest of the scripture,
all of it in fact, is about the believer's communion with God,
which is enabled by gracious salvation, by justification,
by the putting away of sin. God is consistently just. God
is consistently just. And we are consistently sinners,
yet in the gospel is the communion of sinners with their God on
the basis of the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ, God himself
in Christ, has accomplished. And it's revealed in the Word
of God, this written Word of God, this Mind of God committed
to words on paper. Remarkably. You say, well, we
don't use words on paper anymore. We've got so much better ways.
I tell you, this is more resilient. This is more resilient. The written
word of God, declaring the will and purpose of God to the objects
of his grace. What a blessing we have in our
hands if you have this book. It's inspired by the Holy Spirit
speaking of Christ. Because as Jesus said, you search
the Scriptures, he said to the Pharisees and the scribes, he
said, you search the Scriptures for in them you think that you
have eternal life. In thinking that, they were right.
This is where the words of life are. He said, these are they,
these words are they that speak of me. They speak of Jesus Christ. All of these words. So these
words that we're reading in Psalm 119, they speak of Christ. They speak of the reconciliation
of a holy God with fallen sinners. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
is God. And as God, He is the Word of
God. For, John 1 verse 1, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
He is the Word of God from eternity. He is the mind of God, the unknowable
God, expressed. And in this book, in these pages,
miraculously preserved, God's wisdom shines out. God's wisdom. God's wisdom, which as 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 tells us, is so much more than the wisdom of men.
The wisdom of God. Make you wise unto salvation,
wrote Paul to Timothy. This is the wisdom we need. the
wisdom that leads to salvation, salvation from sin, and a hope
of eternal life because we now, in Christ, have peace with God. It's an eternal word. It's an
unchanging word. This is why it's the Holy Bible.
It's the different book. different from everything else
that man might write. Look back at verse 89 in the
section we looked at last week. You are forever, O Lord, is what
it really says there. You are forever, O Lord. God
is eternal. Thy word is settled in heaven. This Word of God is settled in
heaven. You know, in this world, everything
changes, doesn't it? All the time. Everything changes. Nothing, nothing seems to be
objective, unchanging truth. This book is settled in heaven. God has, we read last week, Psalm
138 verse 2, God has magnified His Word, above all His name. He's given Him a name, because
the Word is Christ, and His name is the Word of God. And He's
magnified it above all His name, because He's given Christ a name
that is above every name. a name that is above every name. There is no higher name in all
things that He might have the preeminence. This is objective
truth, the objective truth of God against the lies of this
world. How increasingly divergent, don't
you find in these days? I certainly do. The truth of
God stands absolutely I can't think of a word to describe the
unchangeableness of this as I would like to do it. But you know,
the things of this world are so fickle and fleeting and deceitful
and lying. How increasingly divergent are
the edicts of the powers of this world. They grow ever more deceitful
and untrustworthy. But this book, the Bible, continues. It defines the standard of the
righteousness of God, which is good, which is perfect, which
is holy. His unchanging, absolute moral
standards and character against the fickle, fleeting, deceitful,
lying variableness of this world. This is the bar of divine justice.
This is where sin is judged against the book of God. This is where
gracious salvation from sin is declared. If you would know peace
with God, if you would know that it is well with my soul, if you
could lay me down tonight and sleep in peace, knowing that
you are safe in the everlasting arms. The message of that is
in this book, Gracious Salvation. Peace with God through the blood
of propitiation, the blood of Christ which has satisfied the
wrath of God against our sin, thus making peace with God. For
God who is angry with the wicked every day can no longer be angry
with his people, for Christ has paid the penalty of their sins. He has borne the sins of his
people in his own body on the cursed tree, and therefore the
justice of God is satisfied. The justice of God which calls
for punishment of sin can call no more for it, for Christ has
done it and paid it. This is the book of the blessing
of God for his people, of the eternal kingdom of God prepared
for his people. When Jesus came, he preached,
the kingdom of God is at hand. It is at hand now. How blessed
you are if you possess it, if you know it, if you're growing
in the knowledge and grace of it. As Peter called for his readers,
2 Peter 3, 18, I think, grow, grow in grace and the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the man. He was God. He was fully God.
In him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But as a
man made for a little while lower than the angels, he knew it. He knew that this word was such
a blessing. He quoted it often. It's what
was the basis of his preaching, the Old Testament. He came to
fulfill it. He knew it. He quoted it often. And his people Follow Him in
that, in reading the Word, in committing it to memory, in feeding
upon it as that bread, that manna which is from heaven. For man
shall not live by bread alone, the things of this world, but
by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is indeed,
as one of the hymns, we haven't got that hymn today, but it is
indeed, as one of the hymns says, a firm foundation, how firm a
foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith
in his excellent word. It's a firm foundation for faith. And look at this, did you notice
when I read verse 111 in the start of the service, thy testimonies
have I taken as an heritage forever. Listen to this, for they are
the rejoicing of my heart. What makes your heart rejoice?
What makes you truly happy and gives you peace in your soul?
What does that? Is it this? These words, the
testimonies of God, they are the rejoicing of my heart. Rejoice in the Lord. We saw in
Philippians a few weeks ago. Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I
say rejoice. Now today's text is verse 97.
Verse 97. I don't want to bite off more
than we can chew, and I'm going to stick pretty much to just
this verse 97 this morning. Oh, how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
Is it the rejoicing of your heart? Oh, how love I thy law! It is
my meditation all the day. What does it mean? Is it your
testimony? Can you say that? Oh, how love I thy law! Have
you read it all? Have you? Have you read it? Doesn't
it find you guilty as a sinner? Doesn't it find you worthy of
condemnation? Doesn't it find you an object
of the wrath of God in your fleshly state? Isn't that what this law
does? Doesn't it find you worthy of
eternal death? How are we to interpret this?
Oh, how love I thy law. Do you know, I used to hear this
so much. We used to sing a chorus. Oh,
how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day.
And everybody used to think, oh, yes, we do, we do. Meaning,
how I love the Ten Commandments and the justice and righteousness
of God. And did you ever think, really? How can you love it? You can't
keep it. How can you love it? Turn with me to Romans chapter
8, the passage that Peter read earlier. Romans chapter 8, I
think verse 2 is our key to this. The passage starts, you know,
he starts off, he tells us in Romans 7, and we'll come back
to some of this later, how he tries his best to attain to the
righteousness of God, but constantly fails, and he says in verse 24,
O wretched man that I am, this is chapter 7 of Romans, verse
24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? This flesh, this body, is a body
of death, because it deserves death, it deserves the soul that
sins, it shall die. Who shall deliver me from it?
Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ. I thank the grace
of God, I'm grateful for the grace of God, which through Jesus
Christ our Lord delivers me from this body of death. So then,
with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation,
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Do you hear that? What's the
verdict at the bar of divine justice? You know, is he guilty? Should he go down to the pit
forever? Should he pay the penalty due? No, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For, this is the
key, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. People confuse, religious folks
confuse. Oh, how love I the law of sin
and death is what they say. They cannot possibly mean that
if they think about it, can they? How I love the law of sin and
death. No. It's the law of life and
righteousness in Christ Jesus that it's really talking about.
You see, the condemning standard of God's righteousness convicts
me of sin against God. It correctly, justly, strictly
justly pronounces my condemnation in the flesh. It's defined in
the Ten Commandments. It's defined in other Old Testament
standards of righteousness. Read through the books of Moses
and through the principles of the Word of God. When Christ
came and he sat down on the mountainside to preach, you know, people will
say, oh, I don't want your Old Testament religion. Give me the
New Testament religion of the Sermon on the Mount. That's the
sort of religion that I am happy to follow. Have you read it?
Have they read it? The Sermon on the Mount, read
it, read it. It doesn't just say, do not commit
adultery. It says really the import of
it is that he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has
committed adultery. It doesn't just say, do no murder.
It actually means he who thinks murderous thoughts towards somebody
else is guilty of that. Have you read the Sermon on the
Mount? It's a high, high standard. Luke chapter 10 tells us. Luke
chapter 10 and verse 25. You see, they thought, here comes
the new religion. And verse 25. Behold, a certain lawyer stood
up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He said unto him, What is written
in the law? How do you read it? And he, this
lawyer, answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,
and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right. This do, and you shall live. This do, and you shall live.
How much do I need to do so as to live? How much? How much do
I need to do so as to live? Galatians 3 verse 10. How much
do I need to do? Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. That's how much, all things. All things, you must continue
in all things which the law demands and do them perfectly. Leviticus
18. Let's just make sure that we're
not picking out one verse on its own and taking it out of
context. Leviticus 18 verse 5. Ye shall
therefore keep my statutes, says God, and my judgments, which
if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord. If you would
live, you have to do them. How about another one? How about
Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse 11, and we could go on. I gave
them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which, if a man
do, He shall even live in them. And there are more verses saying
the same thing in that chapter. Romans chapter 10 and verse 5. Romans chapter 10 and verse 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. If you say that's your way of
being right with God, The law, and your keeping of that law,
you better make sure you're absolutely consistent in doing those things. Galatians 3, 12. Galatians 3
and chapter 12. The law is not of faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live by them. If they're your
rule of life, you better do them. There's no easy way. There isn't
an easy way. James chapter 2 and verse 10
says, Whosoever shall keep the whole law. Boy, that's good,
isn't it? Whosoever shall keep the whole law. Yeah, just slipped
up. Yet offend in one point. Oh, he's going to get away with
that, isn't he? No. The justice of God. The perfect
justice of God says he is guilty of all. You keep it all. you
slip up in one point, you're guilty of all. A good try is
not good enough. Sincerity does not satisfy. You see, there are many religious
folk, a lot of them Reformed Baptists. I remember a church
that we were in many years ago, and I remember talking to the
pastor about this, and saying how, we're not under law, but
under grace. And he disagreed with me. He
said, no, no, no, no, no. He said, we keep the law. And
you know, I was young then, and I was a bit naive, and I didn't
really have answers ready to hand. But I should have said
to him, Do you keep the law? Do you honestly think that you
keep the law? Really? Do you really? Of course
he didn't! He's a sinner! In the flesh he's
a sinner! They talk about the believer's
rule of life. That the law, the Ten Commandments,
are the believer's rule of life. Why don't I murder? Because the
law says thou shalt do no murder. Why don't I commit adultery?
Because a law says thou shalt not commit adultery. Why do I
not steal other people? Because a law says... The believers'
rule of life, this is what they say. Have they not read what
Galatians 4.21 says? It says, you who desire to be
under the law, that law, that law of sin and death, do you
not hear it? You see, if that law is what
is meant in verse 97, that law of sin and death, how can the
psalmist say he loves this law? How can he say he loves it? This
law brings me in guilty before God's holiness, doesn't it? Romans
3.20, by the law is the knowledge of sin. Sin is the transgression,
the breaking of the law. So why not just keep it perfectly,
always? We used to, for a few years in
the early 80s, go to Keswick Convention, you know, up in the
Lake District, and there's the Higher Life movement there, an
evangelical movement, but... They had this notion, and it
was quite widespread there, that just by getting together once
a year and giving yourselves a good slapping and beating up,
that you would come away living a much more holy life. And I
remember one preacher particularly, I can't remember the guy's name,
But, you know, they'd have half a dozen preachers in this week
of meetings. And I remember him in one sermon
talking about the sin of God's people, and saying, and I remember
him shouting it so loud about the sin of the people. He'd go,
stop it! Just stop it! And there's this
tent full of thousands of people, and he'd go, stop it! Your sin!
Stop it! Stop it! As if we're all going
to go, oh right, right, we won't do it anymore. As if it was so
easy. As if it was so easy just to
stop it. Look what Romans 8 says, the
verse after, verse 2. For what the law could not do,
what? Make me righteous. The law can't
make me righteous. Obeying the law can't make me
righteous because I can't do it. It's weak through the flesh. It's not that the law is weak.
But because of the flesh's inability to keep it, it's weak. But God,
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh. God, in flesh, condemned sin.
The law was weak through the weakness of the flesh to keep
the law. And no end of resolution enables
us to stop breaking it. You see, the problem is the flesh. The problem is the heart of fallen
man, that which we got when Satan CAPTURED the viceroy of God's
creation. Adam was the viceroy, the vice
king of God's creation. And Satan captured him by deceiving
his wife Eve, whom he loved. And for love of Eve, Adam ate
of the forbidden fruit, and he fell. And ever since, his progeny
all descended from Adam, which includes all of us. All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And it got to great
heights of wickedness as it is today. In Genesis 6 verse 5,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually." Oh, basically they're good people, aren't they?
Nice, good people. No, this is God's verdict. Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It
says that it repented God that he had made man. Don't think
that God went, Oh, Drat, I've made a mistake there, haven't
I? I never should have created them. That's not what that repented
means there at all. No, it doesn't mean that. What
it means is this, is it sorrowed God's heart. God never makes
a mistake. God never changes his mind. But
when the sin was being worked out, it grieved God in his heart. It grieved him. It was a sorrow
to him. In Jeremiah 17 and verse 9, we
read of the heart of man, the heart is deceitful above all
things. Isn't it? We live in a world
of lies and deceit. The heart of man is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. So isn't the law itself
flawed? Isn't it? Turn to Romans chapter
7. I said we'd come back here. Romans
chapter 7 and verse 7. You see, he's trying his best,
says Paul, as a believer. He's trying his best, but he
keeps on failing. He says in verse 7, what shall
we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, of
course the law isn't sin, it's an expression of God's holy character. God forbid, the law isn't sin,
nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. By the law is the
knowledge of sin, Romans 3 verse 20, by the law is the knowledge
of sin. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou
shalt not covet. And what is covetousness? Elsewhere
in the New Testament tells us, covetousness is idolatry, worshipping
things other than God. No, the law isn't evil, it isn't
flawed. Look at verse 12 of the same
chapter, chapter 7. The law The law which defines
the righteousness of God is holy, and the commandment holy, and
just, and good. But I'm condemned by it. Was
then that which is good made death unto me? No, no, God forbid,
God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good, the law, that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful, it just,
it defines the standard of God's righteousness and our breaking
of it. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, I am fleshly, sold under sin. For that which
I do, I allow not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. You
see, I'm a complete contradiction. I do the opposite of what I really
want. If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the
law that it is good. Yes, the law is good. It's just
me that's broken and fallen. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not
in my flesh. The good I would do I do not,
the evil which I would not, that I do. If I am guilty of murder,
and the jurisdiction in which I live, in my case the United
Kingdom, If I am guilty of murder, and this jurisdiction has a law
which says, you shall not murder, and the penalty for murder is
your death, which is what it ought to be, to be perfectly
honest, I may confess the rightness of the law which condemns murder
in me, and I may confess the rightness of the penalty that
it pronounces, the death penalty, but Can I, the condemned guilty
one, say that I love that law? That I might respect it and honour
it, but do I love that law? Is that law, as verse 111 says,
the rejoicing of my heart? We used to sing it, oh how love
I the law. We used to think of God's commandments,
and knowing that we never kept them, and they only condemned
us, while everyone around was pretending, as they sang it as
well, that they did keep them well. It is good. The law is
good, is honourable, is God-glorifying, but it justly condemns me, a
sinner. So how can it rejoice my heart? How can it rejoice my heart? You remember that verse 2 of
chapter 8 of Romans? The law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. The law that I delight in after
the inward man, Romans 7 verse 22, and that inward man is the
new man of God's spirit. That's the inward man, the new
man of God's spirit. That law is the law which is
the perfect law of liberty, as James tells us it is. It is that
law which is fulfilled in and by Christ. Look at Matthew chapter
5 in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5 and verse 17. Jesus says this, think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, to undo all
the scripture that's gone before. No, no. I am not come to destroy
but to fulfill. He came to fulfill it, to fulfill
its perfect requirements, to pay for all the failure of His
people in fulfilling those requirements. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the Lord till all be fulfilled, till He's fulfilled
it all by His perfect obedience and by going to the cross and
paying the price that it demands for sin. Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except
unless your righteousness shall it cede the righteousness of
the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Wow, that's a high standard of
righteousness that is required, is it not? That high standard
of righteousness. This is the law of God. that
is believing people love. Oh how love I thy law. It's that
law which is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the
righteous requirements of God. Oh how love I the righteous requirements
of God fulfilled and accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ for
his people and his people in him. Let me read it again. Let
me put in there for the law Oh how love I the righteous requirements
of God fulfilled and accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ for
his people and his people in him. Now I was thinking how can
I explain this and I can't think of a better way than of reading
you the passage that I put in this week's bulletin from John
Warburton's autobiography. John Walburton lived from 1776
to 1857. He was born and grew up near
to Manchester, about seven miles from Manchester, and he was a
poor weaver. He made a very poor living by
weaving cloth. You know, talk about home working.
Well, he was a home worker. He had a loom at home and this
is how he scraped together a very poor living for him, his wife,
and their many children. But, He had an interest in spiritual
things, and a preacher that was nearby to where he was in Manchester
was a certain William Gadsby. And he went to hear Gadsby. You
know, we have Gadsby's hymnal. He went to hear Mr. Gadsby preached,
and he couldn't get enough of it, for it was the gospel of
sovereign grace that freed his soul. This is his testimony. He became converted and he started
to meet with other people near to Manchester. Remember there
was no easy public transport, wherever he went he had to walk,
even when he moved down to Trowbridge for a very successful ministry.
It was several days journey with horses and carts with all their
possessions. And he gives this testimony of his meeting with
religious acquaintances. He said, I told them that I felt
in my very soul that the law which had cursed me in my coming
in and my going out, in my lying down and my rising up, which
had been so great a terror to my poor soul that I dreaded God
as my worst enemy, that that law was now removed from over
me. For I could now love God. I could
love His law. Oh, how love I thy law. It's
my meditation all the day. He could delight in it. It was
the rejoicing of his heart. And delight to see it honored
in my dear Jesus. I said that I had asked the law
if it had ought against me, anything against me, and it had answered
with such a smile, this is that fierce law of God, that unmerciful
law of God, that high demand of God, that had answered him.
In the Lord Jesus Christ, it had said, Deliver him from going
down to the pit, for I have found a ransom. And these were things
I said to which I was a living witness. One of them, who professed
to be my friend, told me he was afraid I was turning antinomian.
Antinomian, said I, what sort of people are they? I never heard
the name before. They are those, replied he, who
deny the moral law to be the believer's rule of life, which
is a most awful doctrine and leads to all manner of sin. Moral
law, said I, what is that? It is that just and holy law
of God, replied he, in which he commands us to love and obey
him. What, asked I, do you mean that
law which Paul meant when he said, didn't we read this in
Galatians 3.10 just before, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. Do you take that law to be your rule of life, asked I?
Surely I do, said he, and all those who do not are antinomians. Then said I, I am one of those
antinomians. Blessed be God! He has delivered
me from that law. Christ has obeyed it for me,
and has been made a curse for me, and has gone to the end of
it for my poor soul. I asked him how he felt that
law, what it did for him whilst he was undead, and how he had
been delivered from it. Upon this subject he could say
nothing, but he maintained that believers were required to be
obedient to the law as well as to believe in Christ. But I insisted
on it, that there was obedience, and blessed obedience too in
Christ. Obedience which did my soul good,
which pleased my God, honored the law, pardoned all my sins,
confounded the devil, and made my soul dance for joy. And I
won't read the rest of it. You can read that for yourself.
But you see, does that not put it so clearly? Oh, how love I
thy law, the law of the righteous requirements of God fulfilled
in Jesus Christ for his people in him. It's my meditation all
the day. It's the rejoicing of my heart. That is the rejoicing of my heart. That's the thing that causes
me to lay down and sleep peaceably, because I know that there is
no requirement of God against me that Christ has not fulfilled
for me. His strict justice is satisfied
for the multitude chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. This is what is precious. This is what rejoices the heart.
As Peter says, 1 Peter 2 verse 7, unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Who? Jesus Christ, the Word of
God. He is precious. This testimony
of God concerning his righteousness fulfilled in Christ, he is precious. It is the rejoicing of your heart.
It shows you the accomplishment of your peace with God. It confirms
your hope of eternal life in God's glorious kingdom. It reveals
Christ in your soul. For Christ is made unto us, says
1 Corinthians 1 verse 30, Christ is made unto us wisdom from God.
That's the wisdom to have, not the wisdom of this world. Wisdom
from God. and righteousness which God demands,
for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Righteousness and
sanctification, separation from this world, separation into the
holiness of God. Christ is that for His people.
And redemption, the price paid for our sins. All of that is
in Christ, and this Word reveals it, and this law reveals it.
And that's why we rejoice in it. Oh, how love I thy law! It
is my meditation all the day. Through it, The believer has
the mind of Christ, as it says in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 16.
This is what it is to have the mind of Christ. In a world of
ever increasing lies and deception, of satanic scheming, all these
powerful agents intent on rebuilding Babel's tower. That's what's
going on in these days, the world powers all around us. It's an
intent, an intention, a satanic intention to rebuild Babel's
tower without the justice of God. In this world of lies, with
their poisonous delusions and their wicked intentions, those
taught by God's word, look what it said, just read it with me
quickly from verse 98. Through thy commandments you have made
me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have
more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies
are my meditation. This is the standard to the law
and the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. I understand more than
the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts. I have refrained
my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Thy word. I
have not departed from Thy judgments, for Thou hast taught me. How
sweet, sweeter than honey! How sweet are Thy words unto
my taste, sweeter than honey! Through Thy precepts I get understanding. The word, that word of God, is
a life-directing word. Look at it in verse 105. Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path in this
fallen, dark world. What a blessing we have. This
is the law that we love as believers. Oh, how love I thy law. It is
my meditation all the day. When we're coming up for another
coronation in this country, And the last one was when I was,
I'd just turned two years old, that's right, just turned two
years old in 1953. The coronation of the newly crowned
Queen. She became Queen in 1952, but
she was crowned in June 1953. And in that ceremony, and I won't
say anything about the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church
of England, but the fact is that the ceremony went ahead. And
in that ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave the Queen
a Bible. And with it, he spoke these words.
To keep your majesty ever mindful of the law and the gospel of
God as the rule for the whole life and government of Christian
princes, we present you with this book. This book, the most
valuable thing that this world affords. How things have changed. I wonder if those words will
be spoken at the coronation of the king in May. I wonder if
it will. Then it was this law and gospel
of God as the rule for the whole life and government of Christian
princes, the most valuable thing this world affords. or that all
that hear this might know it, and the Christ that it declares
as their most valuable treasure. Amen.