I would like to read a passage
from Galatians chapter 5 to introduce this message. I've entitled this message, The
Paradox. A paradox is something that appears
to be contradictory. But in fact, it's not. But it appears to be. In Galatians chapter 5 verse
17 Paul the Apostle writing under the inspiration of God the Holy
Spirit says, for the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one
to the other so that you cannot do the things you would you would be without sin. You would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. You would. But you can't. You would. You. Talk about me
too. I'm not you. Me. Me and you.
You would be an absolute monster in iniquity. There is no sin
you would not commit. But you can't. You cannot do
the things that you would. Now, I believe that will serve
as an introduction for these first eight verses of Psalm 119. Now, these first eight verses
are divided into three sections. The first three verses are a
state of blessedness. The fourth verse is a command,
and the fifth verse is a desire. The fifth through the eighth
verse is a desire. Now let's read those with that
in mind. Verse one. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that
keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart
they also do no iniquity they walk in his ways what a state
of blessedness now a command verse four thou hast commanded
us to keep thy precepts diligently and now verses five through eight
David expresses a desire oh that my ways were directed to keep
thy statutes then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect
unto all thy commandments I will praise thee with uprightness
of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments I will
keep, I will guard over thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Now, only a believer can understand
this psalm. As a matter of fact, only a believer
can understand any portion of God's Word. You see, this kind
of understanding is not intellectual understanding. It's spiritual
understanding and spiritual discernment. And only those who have got the
Holy Spirit, only those who have a new nature can enter in to
what's being said. Now, when I read that passage
of scripture, do you think, are there really people like this?
Look at these first three verses again. Blessed are the undefiled
in the way. Now that word undefiled is perfect. Without blemish. Without spot. God said to Abraham, walk before
me and be perfect. Now the only way you can be perfect
is if you are perfect. You can't be perfect. An imperfect
person can't be perfect. The only way you can be perfect
is if you are perfect. God said to Noah, Or he said
of Noah, he was a just man and perfect in his generation. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples,
be ye perfect. He doesn't say try to be perfect
or give it your best shot. He says, be ye perfect, even
as your Father in heaven is perfect. now those who are perfect walk
in the law of the Lord the Ten Commandments they walk in perfect
obedience to the law of the Lord now he says blessed are the undefiled
in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Verse 2, blessed
are they that keep His testimonies. They don't simply admire them. They don't simply have them memorized. They keep them. They do not disobey
them. And they seek Him with the whole
heart. There's nothing half-hearted
about anything they do. They seek Him with the whole
heart. Look at verse 3. They also, what did it say? Do no iniquity. They do no iniquity. They walk in His ways. Now you can understand how that
would describe the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He walked
before God in perfection. He is perfect even as his Father
is perfect. But notice David says, blessed
are they. that keep His testimonies and
that seek Him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity. They walk in His ways. He's talking
about men and women who actually fit this description. They do no iniquity. They walk
in His ways. Now how in the world can that
be? Because I read that, but I don't find that to be The truth
regarding me in my own personal experience. As a matter of fact,
in my own personal experience, the opposite is true. The opposite. So how could this
say this? This state of blessedness? Now,
I can answer that question. In 1 John 4.16, John says, We
have known and believed the love that God has to us. We have known and relied upon
the love that God has to us. Now what is the love that God
has to us? Turn with me, hold your finger
there and turn with me to John 17. John chapter 17. Verse 23, I in them, and thou in me, that
they, speaking of all of God's elect, that they may be made
perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hast loved them, that's me, As to every believer, thou
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now you wouldn't believe
that if it wasn't in there, would you? Thou hast loved them as
thou hast loved me. Now how has God the Father loved
God the Son? I love to think about this. Now
I've used the term before, God's unconditional love. But did you
know there's no such thing as unconditional love? There's got
to be something there to love. Now, when God looks at His Son,
He doesn't love Him unconditionally. He loves Him because He's altogether
lovely. He looks at His Son and He says,
this is the Son of my love in whom I'm well pleased. He's always
pleased with His Son. His Son always walks before Him
in perfection. Oh, how pleased He is! How He loves Him! loves his son. Everything in his son draws out
his love. He must love his son. He can't
help but love his son because his son is altogether lovely. Now as he loves his son, that's
how he loves me. That's how he loves every believer. Now how in the world can that
be? Did you notice in John chapter
17 verse 23 that they may be made perfect in one? Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11 For both he that sanctifyeth,
and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For the witch calls, he is not
ashamed to call them brother, and he is not ashamed on me as
his brother. He is one with me, all that I am, he is. So when we read this description
of every believer in Psalm 119, 1-3, this is real. Let me tell you how real it is. How real were my sins when they were laid
upon Him. How truly and genuinely did they
become His so that He was guilty of it? The Father did not look
at Him and say, I realize you're taking these sins from my people.
No, He saw Him as guilty. He bare in His own body our sins
on the tree. My sin became His so that He
became guilty of it and the wrath of God came down on Him. He got
what He had coming. And just as truly as my sin became
His, so that He said, mine iniquities, that's a heavy burden, they're
too heavy for me. Just as truly as my sin became
His, His perfection, His righteousness, His life becomes mine so that
I am, every believer is, the very righteousness of God in
Him. And so I'm one of these people
who do know iniquity. I walk in the law of the Lord and I
like this, blessed are the undefiled, what are the next three words?
In the way. Christ is the way. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by Me. You see, when He comes to the
Father, so do I, because I'm in Him. He is the way to the
Father. So, blessed are the undefiled
in the way. Would you not agree that these
people are especially blessed by God? You see, this thing of
Christ taking my sin and Him giving me His righteousness.
I don't have the authority to do this. I don't have the ability.
I'm going to put my sins on Christ. I can't do that. But God can. And God does. I heard a preacher
say once, I put my sins under the blood. And I thought, you
did not. You can't do anything like that. Only God can do that. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way. Now, look at verse 4. Isn't this
a glorious place to be? In the way. To where I stand
before God when the Holy God looks at me. Here's what He's
going to say to me. He's going to say, Well done,
thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Now, how could He say that to
me? In myself, I know I haven't done well. How can He say that
to me? If Christ did well, so do I. What a state of blessedness.
What a state of security. Near, so near to God. Near, I
cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I am as near to God as He. Dear, so very dear to God. Dear, I cannot be. In the person
of His dear Son, I am as dear to God as He. verse 4 a command thou has commanded us to keep
thy precepts diligently God commands obedience He commands
us to keep His precepts diligently. There is never an excuse for
sin. Now, it's a natural man can take
what's said in verse 1 through 3 and say, well, that's me. I
don't need to worry about my life. I don't care about my conduct. I can live any way I want. If
that's the truth because, A, I'm the righteousness of God.
I don't need to worry about the way I live. That's the way a
natural man can respond to this. He looks at it as an excuse for
sin. But do you know the gospel is never an excuse for sin? under any circumstance. And if
you or I would take this blessed truth of being justified in Christ,
and this is what this is, this is what the Bible calls justification.
This first three verses is a description of biblical justification. It
means not guilty. It means you've never done anything
wrong and you've always done what is right. You stand perfect
before God. It doesn't have anything to do
with your works either. Being united to Him. Now, if
I can take that, And use that as an excuse for my sin. I've not believed. Now you can
write that down. I have not believed. Hold your finger there and turn
to Romans chapter 6. Let's begin in verse 20 of chapter
5. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Most people, well, the law checks
offenses. It stops them. It restrains them.
That's not what this says. Wherever a man is put under law,
all that's going to happen is offense is going to abound. It's
just going to bubble up. You can't hold it down. If I
tell you not to do something, that's exactly what you want
to do. You know that. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, in the place
that sin abounded, is that place you? Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Everywhere, listen to me, everywhere
where sin abounds, no exceptions to this, Everywhere where sin
abounds, grace does much more abound. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Look in verse 11. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Now if God says reckon yourselves
to be dead unto sin, you know why he says it? Because you're
dead to sin. Believe it. Believe it. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of the righteousness unto God for sin. This is a promise. I love this verse of Scripture.
Thank God for this Scripture. This is a promise. For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but
under grace. Lord, You promised, don't let
it have dominion over me. Order my steps in Your Word,
and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. You promised.
You promised. Not under the law, but under
grace. Sin will have dominion over me. Make good on Your Word. Our belief in grace is never
to be used as a way to be on terms of peace with sin. Now,
I have no doubt that we've never preached the gospel if we've
not been accused of being antinomians. You know that. Lawless. If you
haven't been accused of lawlessness, you've just not told anybody
what you believe. But that being the case, we're not antinomians. Thou has commanded us to keep
thy precepts diligently diligently, earnestly. Okay, verse 5. Now, David believes
he's described in verses 1 through 3. He believes the gospel. The
only way you can believe that is by believing the gospel. Believing
that you're one with Christ. and he realizes thou has commanded
us to keep thy precepts diligently now he talks about his own experience
how he felt in his heart and look what he says this is where I got the term
a paradox a paradox he says oh that my ways were directed to
keep thy statutes. Here's my desire. My desire is
that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. You know,
I've had people on numerous occasions say to me, well, if I believe
that you're making people robots. When you talk about sovereign
grace and man's will, free will being a lie and so on and that
makes people robots. Is that a bad thing? How would
you like to be his spiritual robot? Programmed to do nothing
but his will. Oh, that my ways were directed
by your grace, caused by your grace to keep thy statutes. Here's my desire. But I see my ways as not keeping
thy statutes. That's my experience. Now I desire
my ways to be directed to keep thy statutes. David said in Psalm
119, 133. Turn over there for a second.
This is a verse of scripture. Boy, this is on my mind a lot. Order my steps in thy word, and
let not any iniquity have dominion over me. David said in Psalm
19, turn with me there for a moment to Psalm 19. Now David had been
talking about the Word of God. I love the 19th Psalm. He talks
about God's two books, the book of creation and the book of Grace. The book of Grace is described
in verses 6 through 9, and he talks about how in verse 10,
"...more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much finer
gold, sweeter also than honeycomb. Moreover, by them the words of
God is thy servant reward, and in keeping of them there is great
reward." He was thinking of the Word of God, and look what he
says next. Who can understand his errors? is sinfulness. Can you even understand how sinful
you are in light of the word of God? And then he says, cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Faults that nobody sees but you. Faults that I have that I don't
even know about. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. I know if you don't keep me back
from them, they'll have dominion over me. So I cry, keep back
thy servant from presumptuous sin. Let them not have dominion
over me. Back to our text in Psalm 119. I think of Jeremiah's
prayer, turn thou me, and I'll be turned. Turn us again, O Lord
God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we'll be saved."
Now, David is saying, oh, that my ways were directed to keep
thy statutes. Lord, plead my cause. Act in
behalf of me. Cause me to do thy will. Subdue my iniquities for me. I'm a captive to my sin, deliver
me. Oh, that my ways were directed. to keep thy statutes. Now hold
your finger there and turn with me to Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter 7 verse 14 Paul says for we know that the
law is spiritual but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now let me ask you a question. Is Paul speaking as an unbeliever
or as a believer? Understand this. Only a believer understands this. This is the language of the righteous. Something interesting about the
righteous, every one of them believe themselves to be wicked.
And something interesting about the wicked, they all believe
themselves to be righteous. At least have the ability to
be righteous down the road, they can do something. But Paul is
speaking as a believer, and he says, we know that the law is
spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, a slave under sin. And this statement evinces an
utter dissatisfaction with such a condition. He's not talking
about an unregenerate state, but the bondage of an evil nature
and the futility of the law to subdue that nature. That's what
he's talking about in that passage of Scripture. Now, let's go on
reading. It says in verse 15, For that which I do, I allow not. What I would, that
do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but the 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,
I would be without sin. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would. That's what
I want. I would. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform it. He doesn't say sometimes I mess
up, sometimes I don't find it. He said, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that
which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but the sin that
dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. Don't you delight in the law
of God? Don't you love God's holy law, a reflection of His
holy character? I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I used to be, know that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so that with my mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with flesh the law of sin. Romans chapter 7 is an amplification
of oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes now back
to Psalm 119 verse 6 then shall I not be ashamed
when I have respect unto all thy commandments and David saying
I'm ashamed of myself I'm ashamed of myself. And I know when I'll
quit being ashamed of myself, when I don't have anything to
be ashamed for. That's when. You know, this is one of the
glories of the gospel. Listen to me real carefully.
I walk around with a cloud of guilt over my head all the time.
But you know I don't have anything to feel guilty about? United to Christ, I have nothing
to feel guilty about. Isn't that wonderful? But I won't be ashamed when I
have respect to all Thy commandments in my experience. Verse 7, I will praise Thee with
uprightness of heart when I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments. Now David is saying, my praise.
I want to praise you with uprightness of heart, but as long as I'm
doing it, there's something wrong with it. There's a problem. It's
me. There's not uprightness of heart the way I want to be. I
will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I've learned all
thy righteous judgments. You know, that's what the Bible's
about. All the righteous judgments of God. Psalm 19 verse 9 says,
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. And I love to think about it
as judgments. And this is what I'm going to praise with uprightness
in heart when I learn all about righteous judgments. What are
God's righteous judgments? Well, the first one that comes
to my mind is the condemnation of Adam. When Adam was put in
the garden. He got everything he could have
possibly desired. And yet he sinned against God. And God was altogether righteous
in condemning him. And God was altogether righteous
in condemning us in Him. You see, we were united to Adam.
You know, I was talking to, we had a class for the high school
kids, and I said, have you ever, have you ever, been upset with
the Lord because you were condemned for what somebody else did. I
just assumed everybody would say yes. One fellow said, no,
I just thought that's the way it is. And I thought, I love
that kind of childlike faith, just believing something because
the Word of God says it. But the point I'm making is if
God condemns Adam and me and Adam, God's altogether righteous.
And I love thinking of his righteous judgments on the cross. when
my sin became Christ and Christ actually deserved the wrath of
God and his righteousness becomes mine so I actually deserve to
be saved. Now I'll praise thee with uprightness
of heart when I learn when I learn all thy righteous judgments and
I'll tell you this we gotta learn over and over again don't we?
we need to hear the gospel over and over and over again he says
in verse 8 I will keep I will guard over. I will embrace and
rejoice in thy statutes. Oh, they're wonderful to me. That word is sometimes translated
appointments. It's talking about the decrees
of God. I will keep thy statutes. And look how he ends this verse. Oh, forsake me not utterly. David, don't you know the Lord
will never do that? He promised, I'll never leave
thee nor forsake thee. Why are you saying something
like that? You know. Don't you believe in eternal security?
Don't you believe in the security of God's elect? Don't you understand
that if Christ died for you, you won't be forsaken? Don't
you know that stuff, David? Yeah, but I feel like I ought
to be forsaken. I understand what Peter meant
when he said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. But I also know this. Well, I
can see why the Lord would forsake me and take His hand off of me
and say, I'm finished with Him. I can see that. Lord, don't forsake
me. Don't leave me to myself. The worst thing that could happen
to me is to be left to myself. Don't forsake me utterly. Cast me not away from Thy presence,
O Lord, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Don't forsake
me. Now the Lord's not going to forsake
His people, but I know this, everything the Lord does for
you, He's going to cause you to ask Him to do it. If He's
not going to forsake you, He's going to cause you to say, Lord,
don't forsake me. Don't leave me to myself. A believer is a paradox. You're
a paradox, aren't you? Seemingly contradictory, but
true nonetheless. Real by His grace. Now, that being true, be kind and compassionate to
your poor paradoxical brother. He's just like you. Amen.