For the 22nd week, Psalm 119. Verse 169. I hope as we read
this we can make every statement from our
heart along with the psalmist. Let my cry come near before thee,
O Lord. Give me understanding according
to thy word. Let my supplication come before
thee. Deliver me according to thy word. My lips shall utter praise when
thou hast taught me thy statutes. My tongue shall speak of thy
word, for all thy commandments are righteousness. Let thine
hand help me, for I have chosen thy precepts. I have longed for thy salvation,
O Lord, and thy law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall
praise thee, and let thy judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost
sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy commandments. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be enabled to enter in to everything the psalmist
has said. Make this the prayer of our hearts. Lord, we give thanks for the
gospel of your son. And Lord, we ask that he. Would
seek us. And save us. Lord, we. Confess with Isaiah
with the psalmist, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've
turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him,
your son, the iniquity of us all. Lord, our hope is in him. We pray that your gospel would
be preached and that you would give each of us hearing ears.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. Verse 169. Let my cry come near before thee,
O Lord. Now, it's not going to come near
unless the Lord lets it. That's why he says, let my cry
come near before thee, O Lord. I'm so aware of that. My cry
is not going to come into his presence unless he permits it
to come for the gospel sake. But this cry, it can be a cry
of gladness. I'm glad in the Lord. I rejoice
in the Lord. Gospel makes me happy. It can
be a cry of sorrow. Sorrow over my sin. But whatever
my cry is, I know it won't come near to him unless he lets it
come near. Let my cry come near before thee,
O Lord. Give me, verse 169, Psalm 119,
give me understanding according to thy word. Give me understanding. Give me discernment. Make me
like Solomon to know the difference between good and evil, the difference
between law and grace. Give me understanding according
to thy word. The only understanding I want
is the understanding that's according to the scriptures. But here is
my plea right now. Lord, give me understanding.
Don't leave me to my own understanding. Don't leave me to myself. Be
my teacher. He's gonna go ahead and say that
in this psalm. But let my cry come before thee. Verse 170. Let my supplication come before
thee. Deliver me according to thy word.
Now, what's the difference between let my cry come before thee and
let my supplication come before thee? Well, there's not a lot
of difference, but a supplication is a request for divine favor. Lord, favor me. Let me have your
divine favor. Let me have your grace. Oh, what
a request. I need him to give me his favor. If I don't have his favor, there's
no hope for me. Let my supplication, a request for grace. Let my supplication come before
thee. Give me your favor. And then
he says, deliver me according to thy word. I love what David said after
the Lord gave him all these promises. He said, do as thou hast said. Deliver me according to your
word, what you have said in your word. Here's an example. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Lord, you said that in your word.
I'm calling on your name. I'm calling on who you are to
save me. I'm calling on you. Would you save me as an act of
your sovereign will? Will my salvation? Save me by
your righteousness. Give me your righteousness. Save
me by your grace. You said this in your word. I'm
not asking anything that you didn't already say in your word.
I'm not dictating to you what to do. Do as thou hast said. Save me according to what you
have given in your word that you do. Now that's the only plea
we make. We don't dictate to him what
to do, but we do say, save me according to your word. according
to what you have said in your word. Verse 171, my lips shall utter praise when
thou hast taught me thy statutes. I realize that my praise in and
of itself is no good. It's shallow. It's not anywhere
near what it ought to be. It's not as sincere as it ought
to be. It's not as thankful as it ought to be. And the only
way I can truly praise him is as he has taught me his statutes. I can't praise a rite. I must
be taught of the Lord in order to praise. I love the way he
says, I'll praise you when you've taught me. David said in Psalm
51, open thou my lips and they'll show forth thy praise. I can't
even praise except you teach me and enable me to do so. I'm
so helpless, I can't even praise you unless you teach me how to
do it, unless you cause me to do it. Open thou my lips My lips
shall utter thy praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes. I love the promise, they shall
all be taught of God. Every one of God's elect, they
shall all be taught of God. Lord, teach me. Teach me. Can you pray that prayer? I know
I can't praise you except you teach me. Lord, teach me. Teach me who you are. Teach me
who I am. Teach me your gospel. I need
to be taught of God. Verse 172, my tongue shall speak of thy
word. Now, once again, When God teaches,
here's what happens. My tongue shall speak of thy
word. Paul said to Timothy, preach the word. All I want to hear is the word
of God. I don't want to hear man's opinions.
I don't want to hear man's thoughts. I don't want to hear the message
of human religion. All I want to hear is the word
of God and my tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments
are righteousness. Now here. Righteousness or righteous is
not an adjective, it's a noun. All thy commandments are righteousness. Now the very, there's not a more
important word in the Bible than righteousness, the righteousness
of God. All thy commandments are righteousness. Now, hold your finger there and
turn with me to Romans chapter one. Verse 16, Romans chapter 1, verse
16, remember this word righteousness. Paul says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. You know, I'm not either. As a matter of fact, I'm proud
of the gospel of Christ. It glorifies God. It's a gospel
worthy of God. It honors every attribute of
God. It's a gospel that saves me.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm proud of the gospel. Somebody
says, I don't like it. I don't care. I do. I do. I love
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm certainly not ashamed of
it. I want to learn to preach it in its freeness and in its
narrowness. Never have done it once as ought
to. I've never preached it as free as it is. I've never preached
it as narrow as it is. Not the way the Lord, I'd love
to, I suppose this side of the grave, it's not going to happen,
but I'd love to, wouldn't you? Preach it and how free it is
and how narrow it is. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. There is no salvation apart from.
content of the gospel or hearing the gospel. The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is
the what? Righteousness of God. That's
what we're talking about. All thy commandments are righteousness.
In the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. Let's go to the cross for just
a moment. The cross is a declaration of the righteousness of God. His righteous character. He will
not let sin go unpunished under any circumstance. He is altogether
righteous, the righteousness of God. I see the righteousness
of God in my condemnation. When Christ suffered the wrath
of God, he was taking what I personally deserve. And I believe that God
would be righteous in my condemnation. I know that. And the cross is
proof of that. But in the cross, we see the
righteousness of God in salvation. God is utterly righteous in saving
me because I have no sin. Christ put it away. I'm given
his righteousness. The righteous. Can you see where
David says all thy commandments are righteousness? I love this.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. To everyone
that believeth. Back to Psalm 119. My tongue shall speak of thy
word for all thy commandments are righteousness, righteousness
itself. And then he says in verse 173, let thy hand help me. Now, is
that not always an appropriate prayer? His hand is the Lord
Jesus Christ. His hand is his power. Lord,
let thy hand help me. I need help. You know, on a human
level, somebody says, let me help you. And my tendency is,
I don't need your help. I'm all right by myself. And that is not an appropriate attitude. I think of the Syro-Phoenician
woman. When the Lord said to her, he said, I'm not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep of
the house of Israel are the elect. That's who he's talking about.
And he says, I've not come to save everybody. I'm not sent
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And you know
how she responded? Scripture says she came and worshiped
him saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. I can't be helped. I need your
help. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. For Christ's sake,
help me. Help me believe. Help me repent. Help me love. Help me Take the
lowest place. Help me to take sides with you
against myself. Lord, help me. If you don't help
me, there's no help for me. There's no hope for me. Lord,
let thy right hand help me. Four, verse 173. I have chosen thy precepts. Now
he's not saying help me because I've chosen thy precepts, but
I've chosen thy precepts. Well, what's that mean? Would
you hold your finger there and turn to Joshua 24? Verse 14. People have used this
passage of scripture to teach salvation by free will, by choice.
Well, if you look at it, it obviously is not teaching that, but look
what it does say. Joshua chapter 24, verse 14. Now therefore fear the Lord and
serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods
which your father served on the other side of the flood and in
Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you
to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you'll
serve. Do you want to go back to those
other gods? Go for it. That's what you want to do. Choose
you this day. That we're on the other side
of the flood or the gods of the Amorites or whose land you dwell. If you want to go with the gods
of the Amorites, go for it. Choose you this day whom you
should serve. Oh, I hope we're hearing this. But as for me and
my house, Joshua says. I love the way he says it's for
me and my house. We will serve the Lord. It's almost as if he
says, pick your poison. Every man to his own poison.
If you want to go to the false gods, go that way if that's what
you want. But as for me and my house, we'll
serve the Lord. And he's saying, help me. I have
chosen thy precepts. I've chosen. I don't want to
hear anything but the gospel. I don't want to be saved any
other way than the way of your grace, your word. Verse 174. I have longed for thy salvation,
O Lord. Now, wasn't he saved? You know, if you long for something,
that means in your experience, you don't have it. You're longing
for it. And he says, I've longed for
thy salvation. Wasn't he saved? Of course he
was. But understand this about salvation,
God's salvation. Number one, every believer was
saved before the foundation of the world. He saved us and he called us. with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world. When Christ agreed to be my surety
before time began, he took me and he saved me. He's a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He's a lamb raised
from the foundation of the world. All my salvation is in him. I was saved before time began.
Secondly, I was saved when Jesus Christ said, it is finished. My salvation was finished. Thirdly, I was saved when I trusted
Jesus Christ as my only righteousness and not before then. No man has
the right to even suspect that God loves them until they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And a man's not saved in his
experience until he looks to Christ only. Until he's shut
up to Christ as all in salvation, he's not saved until he looks
to Christ only. But what did Paul mean when he
said, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed? You know,
there's a very real sense in which I will not be saved until
I'm saved to sin no more in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul says, now is our salvation nearer that time when I sin no
more. When I'm perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ, and I won't even remember what
it's like to sin, that's when I'm saved. Now is our salvation
near. And this is what he's longing
for. I've longed, I've longed for thy salvation, O Lord, and
thy law is my delight. Now this is what Paul was talking
about when he says, I delight in the law of God after the inner
man. The new man, all that new man
given in the new birth delights in the law of God. I delight
in every commandment of God. I delight in everything God says.
I delight in the law of God after the inner man, the new man. Verse 175, let my soul live. and it shall praise thee, and
let thy judgments help me." We are aware that we only live as
he lets us live. And we ask him, let my soul live. Give me life. At all times, I'm aware of my
need of Him to give me this life and let me live. That's the request. Let me live. Let me live before
you. Let me live by faith in the Son
of God. Let me live. Let my soul live. And here's what happens with
living souls. It shall praise thee. I tell
you what, if my soul lives, I know who I'm praising. I'm praising
the Lord Jesus Christ, my salvation. Let my soul live and I'll praise
thee and let thy judgments help me. Now here he's asking for
help again. And what are his judgments? His judgments in the
cross. The cross is the great demonstration
of the judgment of God. Lord, let thy judgment help me.
Let my sin be put away by what he did. Let his righteousness
be given to me. Let God judgments help me. I
need help. Let God judgments help me. And then he ends this glorious
song. With these words in 176. I've
gone astray. Like a lost sheep. Have you gone astray? I can answer
that from the scriptures. Yes. Yes. Wasn't that the confession
of Isaiah when he said, all we like sheep. You know what sheep
do? First thing you think about them
is they go astray very easily. Very easily. Isaiah was aware
of this. All we like sheep. have gone
astray. Remember, Christ laid down his
life for the sheep. Christ is the good shepherd that
goes after the lost sheep. I've got myself in a mess, the
psalmist said. I've gone astray and I can't
get back to you. You and this thing of coming
to Christ. I got to have him come for me. I'll come to him when he comes
for me. And here's what he says, look,
I've gone astray like a lost sheep, but I'm getting back on
track. I'm coming back. I'm I'm taking care of this.
No, he knew better than that. I've gone astray like a lost
sheep. Seek thy servant. Come after me. Bring me back. I can't get back. I don't even
know the way back. I've gone astray like a lost
sheep. I've got myself into a mess.
Seek me. Come and get me. Put me on your
shoulders and bring me back. Now this is the psalmist's plea. I hope this prayer is in my heart. and your heart. Somebody says,
well, I haven't gone astray. Congratulations. Proud of you. Baloney. I've gone astray like
a lost sheep. Seek thy servant for I do not
forget thy commandments. And you know what his commandment
is? The son of man is come. to seek and to save that which
was lost. I don't forget that. Come seek
and save me. Isn't that a wonderful verse
to end this 119th psalm on? I hope every word of this is
the very prayer of our heart. Now, we're going to take a break
from the Psalms, and I'm going to go over the sermon in Capernaum
in John chapter 6 for the next five weeks. It's what we did
with the kids in vacation Bible school, and the last three or
four years I've done that and enjoyed it. So we'll pick back
up in Psalm 120 in about five weeks, but for the next, we're
going to look at that sermon in Capernaum.