Would you turn to Psalm 119. I want to begin reading in verse
97. Oh, how I love thy law. It's my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments
has made me wiser than mine enemies. For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than
all my teachers. For thy testimonies are my meditation. 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've not departed
from thy judgments, for thou has taught me. How sweet are
thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.
Through thy precepts, I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false
way. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we're so utterly and completely dependent
upon your spirit to teach us your gospel. We pray that you
would meet with us. We pray that you would Cause
your gospel to be preached in the power of your spirit. We
pray that we might be enabled to worship thy dear son. We pray
that you would deliver us from hearing the words and thoughts
of a fallen man, but that we might actually hear from you
through your word. We pray for your presence with
all your people. Lord, we pray for the Church
and Rock Valley, the Terrell's the. Morels that you would give
them grace at this very difficult time, and we know that you're
in control of everything and. Lord, we bow before who you are.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together in Christ
name we pray, amen. Um. In case you didn't know,
Joe Terrell died tragically and everybody remembered that church,
those people associated with that. Now before I get into Psalm verse 97 through 104, I want
you to turn with me to Revelation 19 and I'm going to make some
comments on this. I want you to read verse eight
with me. Now, this is the lamb's wife
being described in verse eight, the church. And to her was granted. Graciously bestowed and given. To her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen
is the righteousness of saints." Now in the original, this is
spoken of in the plural. the righteousnesses of the saints. And I looked in several translations,
other than the King James Version, and most translations translate
this like this. This is the righteous deeds of
the saints. This is the righteous acts of
the saints. This is the good deeds of the
saints. That's the way the majority of
translations translate that. Now, two questions. Do believers
have good works? Absolutely. Absolutely. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Every believer is zealous of
good works. zealous. That's what the scripture
says. Do believers have good works? Absolutely. Here's my next question. Are
those good works, those righteous deeds that they have done, is
that what makes up their wedding garment that was graciously granted
to them? Do you want that to be your wedding
garment? A wedding garment with my good
works? Well, let me ask you this. Would
you look at any of your good works as fine linen, clean and
white? Of course not. So why does the, why does John
talk about the righteousnesses of the saints? Because you know
that the righteousness of Christ is that wedding garment. You
know that. The only righteousness there
is, is the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. So why
did he mention this in the plural? Because it is mentioned in the
plural, the righteousness is. This represents the active and
the passive obedience of Christ. I asked Lynn if I've ever dealt
with this and if I hadn't, I should have. The active and the passive
obedience of Christ. Now somebody says, what are you
talking about? Well, his active obedience is his law keeping. He actively, perfectly, joyfully
kept every commandment of God. He never sinned. That's his act
of obedience. Now, if all he performed was
his act of obedience, what good would that do you? If that's
all he did. If he just came down here perfectly
and perfectly kept the law and went back to heaven, what good
would that do you? It wouldn't do you any good at
all. Not only did he actively keep the law, he became obedient
to death. Now this is his passive obedience.
He was brought into the hands of God's law and justice, taking
our sins and God's wrath came down upon him. And the reason
we are saved is because of his active and his passive obedience,
his law keeping and his being condemned under the law. Now
that's. critical importance for us to
understand. I'm saved by His active obedience, His law-keeping.
I'm saved by His passive obedience when He became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross, and put away all my sins. Now, turn back to our text, and
I hope you'll understand why I wanted to bring that out out
of Psalm 119. Now, this Psalm, This section of this psalm, I can only understand this as
the words of Christ himself. When I read, for instance, 101
verse 101, I've refrained my feet from every evil way that
I might keep thy word. Could you say that? Have you
refrained your feet from every evil? And he says, I'm the one
that's done this. He didn't even say the Lord enabled me to do
this. He said, I've refrained my feet from every evil way that
I might keep your word. I couldn't say that about anything. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ describing himself, and in this passage of scripture,
he gives us both his active and his passive obedience. That's
why I tried to introduce that with this. Now let's look at
this. These are the words of the Lord. He says in verse 97,
oh, how I love thy law. It's my meditation all the day,
24-7. That's, you and I can't enter into that. I mean, I want
to, but the Lord meditated on the holy law of God all the day
long, nonstop. This is the same thing as in
the first Psalm. Turn with me there real quickly. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in the law of God, and in his law doth he meditate day and
night. Now who is that? The Lord Jesus
Christ is the blessed man. He's the man who never stood
in the way of sinners nor sat in the seat of the scornful.
Many have been guilty of doing all of those things, but not
him. He is the blessed man. Now this is talking about his
act of obedience. Back to our text in Psalm 119,
verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law. It's
my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments
has made me wiser than mine enemies. For they are ever with me. Now this is not boasting, it's
fact. Oh his infinite wisdom, he's
wiser than his enemies. Now this is true of a believer
too in this sense. If you trust Christ as your righteousness
before God, you're a lot wiser than anybody else that doesn't.
This is the God given wisdom, but this is the Lord speaking
of him being wiser than his enemies. This is not boastful speech.
This is just the facts. This is who he is. Verse four,
they are ever with me. Your commandments are ever eternally
with me. Your word is eternally ever with
me. And then he says in verse 99, I have more understanding
than all my teachers. Now who can say this but the
Lord in reality? I have more understanding than
all my teachers, and here's why. For thy testimonies are my meditation
all the time. Now this is the Lord talking
about his delight in the law of God. He says, I understand
more than the ancients, the elders, verse 100. Now three times he
talks about how I have more understanding. Only he could say this, I have
more understanding than the ancients because I keep thy precepts.
None of them have ever done that. I have kept every law perfectly. And then he makes this statement
with regard to his life. I have refrained my feet from
every evil way that I may keep thy words. Now, who does that
describe? There's only one person that
that describes, that's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And if
someone would look at this and say, well, check that box, I've
done that. No, you haven't, nor has any
other son of Adam. This only speaks of the act of
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. He refrained his feet from every
evil way that he might keep thy word. And I believe verse 102
is what he's talking about when he's talking about his passive
obedience. I've not departed from thy judgments. Now what's the greatest judgment
to ever take place? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is where God judged sin. There is where the wrath of God
came down upon sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ, all
of his life, he knew this was coming. And he says, I didn't
depart from it. I didn't leave it. And that is
so overwhelming to think of. The reason the Lord Jesus Christ
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and that's how he's
described, a man of sorrows, acquainted, deeply acquainted
with grief, is because all of his life he knew Well, he said,
I've been afflicted from my youth in Psalm 88. All of his life,
he knew that this was going to take place. You see, his passive
obedience didn't simply begin when they nailed him to the cross. I'm talking about high and holy
things that I have that are just so glorious. I don't even know
how to describe them. He actively kept God's holy law
perfectly, and he gave him, he said, I gave my back to the smiters
and to them to pull out the hair out of the cheeks. He gave himself
to this for his people. He says, I've not departed from
thy judgments, knowing what was going to take place, for thou
has taught me. And look at this statement in
verse 103. And by his grace, I feel this
way too, but these are still his words. First of all, how
sweet are thy words unto my taste. Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Oh, how he delighted in the word
of God. Man shall not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. How he delighted in God's words. You know what? I do too. Not
like he did. I realized that, but I'm so thankful
for the word of God. I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ
who is the word of God. I love just this concept of Christ
being the word of God. Words are vehicles of communication
and God communicates himself and here's his word that comes
out of his mouth. This is my beloved son, hear
ye him. He is the word of God and how
sweet the words of God are to my taste. I love the word of
God. That's only by the grace of God,
I realize that. But I love the word of God. I
love the Bible. I love everything it says. I
love everything it says with regarding to the living God.
I love the Bible. And that's what he says, how
sweeter thy words are to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth, through thy precepts I get understanding. Now, the Lord,
while he walked on this earth for 33 years, I don't understand
this, he grew in wisdom. How'd he grow in wisdom? I don't
know, but he did. He grew in wisdom and stature. That's what the scripture says.
And in favor with God and with men. And that is the scriptural
testimony of our Lord growing up. And it was through the precepts
of God that he got this understanding. And if we have any understanding,
it's through God's word, God's precepts, God's commandments,
God's statutes, the word of God. The only understanding that I
want is that understanding that comes from the scriptures. Oh,
don't you want the Lord to be your teacher, to teach you his
word and to find his word sweeter, sweet to your taste, sweeter
than the honey of that to that honeycomb. And he ends with this
statement. Therefore, I hate every false
way. Now these are the words of the
Lord. I hate. This is what he says about it.
I hate every false way. But these are the words of the
believer as well. I hate. Been talking about my
love for the word. I love the Lord. I love God. I love him as he's
revealed in his word. I love all of his attributes.
I love his sovereignty. I love his holiness. I love his
justice. I love his love. I love his grace.
I love the Lord. I love his son. I love his spirit.
I love the gospel. Therefore, I hate every false
way. Now, Charles Spurgeon made this
statement. I want you to think about this. He said, he that
does not hate the false does not love the true. Think about
that. He that does not hate the false
does not love the true. Why do we hate the false? I want
to give you five reasons in closing why we hate the false way. Number one, because we love the
true. If you love the true, you will
hate that which is false, that which is contrary to him. We
hate the false because we love the true. He is the way to God. We love the true. Secondly, we
take false doctrine personal because it's against the person
we love. That's the reason. Any other
reason is a wrong reason. If this is an I'm right, you're
wrong thing, I've got the wrong attitude. I hate the false because
it's against the person I love. That's why we take false doctrine
personal. It grieves us. It's against him. It's contrary to him. It's an
attempt to bring him down and to bring man up. We take it personal
because we love his person. We hate every false way. Thirdly,
because every false way seeks to rob him of his glory. Every
false doctrine is an attempt of stealing glory. That's why we hate it. Fourthly, we hate every false
way because no one can be saved by hearing of a false way. If
all you hear is a false way, you'll never be saved. There's
no salvation apart from hearing the gospel. There's no salvation
apart from hearing the way to God. Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. We hate every false way because
we know no one can be saved by hearing a false way. No one was
ever saved by hearing a false gospel. Do you believe that? It's so. No one was ever saved by hearing
a false gospel. Now here's my last reason, and
this is probably the one that I, I don't know what word, this
is the one that probably means the most to me. All of them mean
infinitely a lot, but here's the main reason why I hate every
false way. I've got one hope, the way. And
if you tell me that way is not the way, you're taking away the
only hope I have. And that's why I hate it so bad.
The only hope I have is that Jesus Christ died for me. Can
you say in your heart amen to that? The only hope I have is
that Jesus Christ died for my sins and put them away. Now,
if you tell me that Jesus Christ can die for my sins and I might
be damned anyway, you've taken away the only hope I have. If
you tell me there's something I need to do to add to what he
did, you've taken away the only hope I have. Do you hate every
false way? And remember, he that does not
hate the false does not love the true. Now, one of the things
I love about these Psalms and even looking at them as Christ
being the first speaker, I feel like through the Psalms I get
to know the person of Christ more. How he feels, what he thinks,
what he does, what he has done. I read this and it just makes
me admire the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and how thankful
I am for his active and his passive obedience. My salvation. Amen.