Would you turn to Psalm 119? After this morning, we'll only
have three more stanzas. We will have been in this Psalm
22 weeks. That's almost half a year. I want to begin reading in verse
137. Psalm 119, verse 137. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and
upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that thou hast
commanded are righteous and very faithful. My zeal hath consumed
me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. Thy word
is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. I am small and despised, yet
do not I forget thy precepts. Thy righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness, and thy law is the truth. Trouble and anguish have taken
hold on me, yet thy commandments are my delights. The righteousness
of thy testimonies is everlasting. Give me understanding And I shall
live. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. For your
word. Lord, it's very pure. And we
give thanks. Lord, we would never know you
apart from your word. And we would never know your
word apart from you making known your word. We give thanks. We thank you
for the gospel of your son. We pray that we might hear the
gospel this morning. What a blessed privilege if we
actually hear by gospel. Bless us for Christ's sake, Lord,
we. We confess our sin, we say with David, our sin is ever before
us, but how? Thankful we are that in thy Son,
it's not before you and that it's gone. Lord, we're amazed at the glory
of your gospel. Now, speak from your word. Meet each need here according
to your will. Lord, we pray for your blessing
on our homes, on our children, on our families. We pray for
those that are hurting that you would make yourself known and
be very near to them. We pray for those in sickness,
whether in body and mind and spirit. We pray for your blessing
upon them. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. We pray for these newborns, we pray for your
salvation on them and your hand upon them. In Christ's name we
pray, amen. The key word in this stanza I
just read is the word righteous or righteousness. Look in verse
137, righteous art thou. upright are thy judgments. 138, thy testimonies that thou
hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. Look in verse
142, thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Verse
144, the righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting. Now, if I would try to attempt
to give the main difference, there's a lot of vast differences
between an unbeliever and a believer, vast differences. But one of
the main differences between a believer and an unbeliever
is found in this thing of agreement with God. A believer agrees with
God. He agrees with everything God
says because God said it. There's agreement. An unbeliever
is not at agreement with God. An unbeliever disapproves of
what God does. How can God do this? How can
God let that happen? Standing in judgment on God,
judging the way God saves sinners, that's not fair. There's not
agreement. But with a believer, there is
agreement. You know, the word confess means
to speak the same thing. A believer even agrees with God's
condemnation of me in my sinfulness. I agree with God. What he says
is true. May the Lord impress us with
that agreement with God. And an unbeliever finds fault
with God, judges God. You know, it's terrible to judge
anybody, to stand in judgment of anybody. I don't care what
the reason is, but to be in judgment of God, I don't want to talk
about bad, to stand in judgment of God. Well, with those things
in mind, look what the psalmist says in verse 137. Righteous art thou, O Lord. And upright are thy judgments. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? He's righteous. Everything he
is is righteous. Everything he does is righteous
because he is righteous. And we believe that. Righteous
art thou, O Lord. Upright are thy judgments. And
that's talking about the judgments of the cross. Can't you see? His uprightness, his righteousness,
and what he did on Calvary's tree when he punished sin. When
he made the way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. You know that, I'm gonna talk
about it more this morning, but that's not even an issue with
an unbeliever. Who cares? That's an uninteresting subject.
I'm not even thinking about, you know what, can't they just
forgive? Why do people even make an issue of that? Well, I'll
tell you who does make an issue of it is everybody that's ungodly.
If you believe yourself to be ungodly, you're vitally interested
in this question of how God can be just and justify you. Righteous
art thou, O Lord, upright are thy judgments, his judgments
of the cross. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. In the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now an unsafe person is ignorant
of God's righteousness. No, it's not an issue, but with
a believer, we stand in awe. of the righteousness of our God
and the righteousness of his gospel and how he can actually
be righteous in saving somebody as sinful as me. I stand in awe
of that. It's glorious. Verse 138, thy
testimonies that thou has commanded are righteous and very faithful. Now God only speaks in the form
of a commandment because of who he is. When he says, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, it's not an invitation. It's
a command. And there's your right to come.
He commands you to. That's all you need to come. He commands you to. He'll, with
the command, give the grace to enable you to do it. And all
of his testimonies, and I love what God bears witness to us
of who he is and what he's done, and all of his commandments are
righteous and very faithful. I love this term, very faithful.
You know, faithful, we ought not even have to have an adjective.
I mean, I've been faithful to my wife all the time but once. That means you're unfaithful. One time makes you unfaithful. God is very faithful. Very faithful. His testimonies
are very faithful. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Very faithful. Aren't you thankful for the faithfulness
of God? I have heard maybe I've even
used it. I've heard. We don't put God
in a box. Well, you can't get him in a
box. Let me assure you that. But he is always faithful to
who he is and he's utterly predictable in that sense. He's always faithful
to who he is. No creatures like that. We want
to be faithful. We want to be that way. We do.
But God is very faithful, utterly reliable. He says in verse 139,
my zeal has consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten my
words. Now, if you have a marginal reference,
it probably points to John chapter two, verse 17, where the Lord
made the whip. I've heard people debate on whether
or not he hit anybody with it. I kind of think he did. He made
a whip and drove those money changers out of the temple. And
he said, you've made my father's house a house of merchandise,
of profit, of gain. And there were people who were
for gain, bringing sacrificial animals and sell them for a little
profit. And after all, we're trying to make things easier.
And the Lord drove him out of the temple. He did that at the
first of his ministry and the last of his ministry. Did it
again. And it says the disciples remembered
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. He was consumed
with a zeal for his father's glory and his father's And he
describes his enemies as those who have forgotten thy words. You know, Paul said it's always
good to be zealous in a good thing. Don't you want to be zealous
of the glory of God? Don't you want to be zealous
of the honor of Christ? May the Lord cause us to not
be half-hearted, but zeal. I love that, zeal. My zeal hath
consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten thy words." They
have no interest in your words. Now, look what he says about
the word here in verse 140. Thy word is very pure, therefore
thy servant loveth it. Now that word, very pure, has
to do with the refining of silver. When that silver is refined,
All the dross is removed and it's very pure. The word of God
is very pure. It contains no error. Now, let
me tell you why we have to have a written revelation that's inspired
by God without error. Here's why. Number one, because
God's spirit God's spirit. No man has seen
God at any time. God is spirit. Somebody says,
I need empirical evidence. Well, God's spirit. You're not
going to get it. As far as that goes, were you there when life
was created? Does that mean you don't believe
there's such a thing as life because you don't have empirical
evidence? That argument is ridiculous. God is spirit. Men are liars. There's the second problem. God
is spirit and men are liars. And I'm not going to trust what
a man tells me about God. I'm just I'm not going to trust
it. All I can trust is what God has revealed in his word. Aren't you glad the word of God
is very pure? There's no air in it. I've heard
people say, well, it contains the word of God. No, it doesn't
contain the word of God. It is the word of God. And if
all it does is contain the word of God, who's going to decide,
well, I think God said this and he didn't say that. And people
do that. No. The word of God is very pure.
It's authoritative. And we believe that, the authority
of the word. Aren't you thankful that God
has given us this book where he makes himself known? We would
not know him had he not made himself known in this book. We
can't see him. And I can't depend on what men
say. Men are liars. All men are liars. I don't trust
what any man say. Here's what let me tell you about
God. As soon as somebody says that, I don't trust them at all.
Oh, I trust the word of God. It's very pure. Therefore, thy servant loveth
it. I love the word of God. I want you to turn to Isaiah
40 for just a moment. Verse six, the voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry? Okay, you tell me to speak, what
shall I speak? What is the message I am to bring? He's very specific. Here it is. All flesh is grass. All the goodliness thereof is
as the flower of the field The grass withereth, the flower fades,
because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people
is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. The gospel message, the word
of our God. Don't you love the word of God?
Thy word is very pure. Therefore thy servant loveth
it. Now verse 141. I am small and despised. Yet do not I forget thy precepts. Now I realize we have felt that
before. I'm small. I'm insignificant,
I'm powerless, I'm despised. We've all felt that, I'm isolated,
but that's not what he's talking about. Do you remember when the Lord
said of John the Baptist, the least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he? Who became least in the kingdom
of heaven? When the Lord Jesus Christ was
nailed to a cross and made sin, he became least. But he's infinitely greater than
John the Baptist or anybody else. And these are the words of the
Lord. They could certainly apply to
us. We've all felt that way. But
this is the Lord when he became least despised, a man of sorrows,
despised and rejected. He said, I am small and despised
yet. Do not I forget thy precepts? When he was forsaken by God.
And made to bear the awful guilt of our sin in his own body on
the tree. He never forgot God's precepts.
He never quit believing God. He said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. Somebody had to believe God perfectly.
He did. He never forgot God's precepts. He never forgot God's law. He, I don't under, even when
he was made sin, he never sinned. That's so important in his person. When he was made sin, and I don't,
you know, when I talk about that, I think I'm, I'm in water's way
above my head. I don't understand what all that
means. But when he was made sin, he never sinned. Perfect. And he said, I don't forget thy
law. Now look what he says in verse
142. Thy righteousness. is an everlasting righteousness. And thy law is the truth. Now
his righteousness is everlasting because it's eternal. It never
had a starting point. Just like God never had a starting
point. His righteousness is eternal. And that's exactly why David
said in Psalm 71 verse 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. Now I want you to think of the
magnitude of that statement. I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. Why? Because his righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Do you believe that? His righteousness is the only
righteousness there is. And if I stand before God accepted
on judgment day, one reason, his righteousness, his eternal
righteousness. Now that's what Paul was talking
about when he said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, which amounts
to nothing more than filthy rags, according to the scripture. Turn to Psalm 40 for a moment.
This is the preaching of the Lord. He gives us a summary of
his preaching. You know, the Lord, you know,
people call Spurgeon the prince of preachers. I don't think so.
I don't think so. Here is the true prince of preachers,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he describes his preaching. Now, first look in verses six
and seven to establish that this is Christ speaking. Sacrifice
and offerings I did not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offerings and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will, my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now that's quoted in Hebrews 10 as the very words of Christ.
Now he speaks of his preaching. He says, I have preached righteousness. in the great congregation. Though I've not refrained my
lips, O Lord, thou knowest, I have not hid thy righteousness within
my heart. Now he's preaching the righteousness
of himself as being the only grounds of acceptance before
God. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Does that mean he preached right
living? You all need to live right? Or God's going to bring
this flood down and kill you all? Well, we ought to live right,
but that's not what that's talking about when it says Noah is a
preacher of righteousness. He's a preacher of the righteousness
of God as the only ground of acceptance of a believer. That's
it. And this righteousness is eternal.
Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. And thy law is
the truth. Now, that could refer to the
Ten Commandments. It is the truth. It could refer
to the whole word of God. It is the truth. But the only
way I can know the truth about God's character, who he really
is, is through God's word. The only way I can know the truth
about myself is through God's word. Not my thoughts, God's
thoughts. The only way I can know the truth
of God's salvation is God's word. Thy law is the truth. Amen to that. Thy law is the
truth, the truth of God's character, the truth of my sinfulness, the
truth of salvation by Christ. Thy law is the truth. Verse 143. Trouble and anguish have taken
hold on me Hold your finger and go back
to Psalm 140 for just a moment. Or Psalm 40. Right after he has spoken with
regard to his preaching, look what he says in verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine iniquities have, what? Taken hold on me. This is one of the great mysteries
of the scripture, how the Lord Jesus Christ called my iniquities
his iniquities. They became his. And when the Lord smote him on
the cross, he wasn't smiting the innocent. He was smiting
the guilty. And that's how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Now, there's no doubt that every
one of us have said trouble and anguish have taken hold on me.
I'm not discounting that. We felt that. We felt the grievousness
of it. But this is the Lord speaking.
First, it's whoever wrote this speaking also, but this is the
Lord's cry from the cross when he says, my iniquities have taken
hold upon me. Trouble and anguish have taken
hold on me. Yet thy commandments are my delights. Even while this was going on,
he could say, thy commandments are my delights. Verse 144. the righteousness of thy testimonies. Now, the gospel of grace. Unbelievers hear the gospel of
grace and they say, well, that'll lead to sin. If you really believe
that your salvation has nothing to do with you, why that lead
to sin? Why not? I mean, I'm not going
to be held responsible for it. I can say, you know, God's going
to save me anyway because salvation is by grace. If I really believe that way,
I'd sin all I want. I've heard people say that many
times to me. If I really believe that, I'd
sin all I want. You just expose yourself when
you say something like that. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter five, verses 20 and 21. Moreover, the law entered
that sin might abound, but where sin abounded. Would that describe
you? Where sin abounded. It's like
it's a volcano coming up in your heart. where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. You know, the only place where
sin abounds in the first place is where grace abounds. You see,
it's grace that makes you see that abounding sin. You'd be
blind to it, did not the Lord reveal himself to you. That as
sin hath reigned unto death, how much power Do you have to
not die? You don't have any power to not
die, do you? Well, I'm gonna eat right, and I'm gonna rest,
and I'm gonna exercise. You're still gonna die. And you're
gonna die the day the Lord appointed you to die, in the way the Lord
appointed you to die. You can't prevent death. Well,
just like you can't prevent death, you can't prevent grace. As sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign. Do you
know the next word? Through righteousness. Oh, the
gospel of grace is a righteous gospel. It exalts the righteousness
of God. It makes the sinner righteous. The righteousness of thy testimonies
is everlasting, eternal. And look at this last request.
I hope this is my request, and I hope this is your request. Give me understanding. Like Solomon, when the Lord said,
what do you want? Riches? Power over your enemies? I want understanding. I want wisdom. God gave him everything. I want wisdom. Lord, give me
understanding, not just knowledge. Thank God for knowledge, but
the right use of that knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Give me understanding. And I shall live. I won't live
if you don't give me this. But you give me this understanding.
And I shall live. That is the fruit of life. Amen.