I'm going to be in Psalm 119,
but I'd like you to turn to Luke 24 first. Luke 24, these are
the words of the Lord after his resurrection. I'm sure you're familiar with
them. Verse 44 of Luke 24. And he said
unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the
Psalms concerning me. Now turn to Psalm 119. Beginning
in verse 73, Psalm 119. Thy hands have made me and fashioned
me. Give me understanding that I
may learn thy commandments. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me." Now, who could that be other than the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because I have hoped in thy word.
I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness
hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful
kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto
me that I may live For thy law is my delight. Let the proud be ashamed for
they deal perversely with me without a cause. But I will meditate
in thy precepts." Now he repeats what he says only
in a stronger fashion than he did in verse 74. Let those that
fear thee turn unto me. And those that have known thy
testimonies, let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I
be not ashamed. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of our son and we come with thanksgiving. We're
so thankful for the salvation that's in him. We're so thankful. For your word. Which teaches
us of him. Lord, we. Ask in his name that
you would be in our midst. That you would speak in power
to our hearts from your word. that you would reveal thy son
to us. Teach each one of us to turn
to him and to look to him and to trust him only. Lord, we ask
that you would teach us of the all sufficiency of thy son. Lord,
we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
Lord, we pray for those of our number that are afflicted physically,
emotionally. We pray for your blessing upon
them. We pray for our homes, Lord.
We pray that you would bless our homes, that you'd reveal
yourself to our children, that you would bless our marriages.
Bless us for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. I think that verses 74 and 79
tell us plainly that this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking
in this section of this psalm. You know, he said with regard
to the scriptures, they are they that testify of me, and I think
these do so powerfully. Look in verse 74 once again.
They that fear thee will be glad. when they see me. You know, I'm glad when I see
him, aren't you? Makes me so happy. And verse
79, let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have
known my testimonies. And verse 73, thy hands have made me and fashioned me."
Now there was a time when the Lord Jesus Christ did not have
a physical body. As the second person of the Trinity,
a spirit, no body. But the Lord made him a human
body when the writer To the Hebrews, as quoting Psalm 40, he says,
a body hast thou prepared me. Isn't that mysterious? God the
Father preparing a body for the Lord Jesus Christ, a human body. Look in Psalm 139 for a moment. Verse 14. This can only be speaking of
the Lord Jesus. I will praise thee for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works and that
my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Now this is talking about the
Lord making his body. I can't explain what all that
means, but it sure is glorious, isn't it? Thine eyes did see my substance
being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of
them. This is speaking of the Father making the body of the
Son. You see, man sinned. Man must
die. Christ became a man that he could
put away the sins of his people. Isn't that glorious? Look in
1 John 4 for just a moment. I never cease to be amazed by
the simplicity and the fullness of this statement. Look in 1
John chapter 4 verse 3, or verse, let's start in verse 1.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try, test the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. Hereby know ye the spirit of
God, every spirit. This is talking about a preacher,
really. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God, and it's that spirit of antichrist. Now, in this simple statement, everything we believe is contained
in this statement. He was, before he came, the eternal,
uncreated Son of God. He came in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. And whatever it was he came to
do, he did. He came to save his people from
their sins. He saved his people from their
sins. Now, everything we believe is
in that statement. He was before he came, the eternal,
uncreated Son of God. He came in the flesh, and that's
what he's speaking of. A body hast thou prepared me.
And he did precisely what he came to do. Now let's go back
to Psalm 119. Thy hands have made me, verse
73, and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I
may learn thy commandments. Now, here's another mysterious
statement with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, give
me understanding that I may learn. I think of that passage, he grew
in wisdom and in stature. The son of God, he grew in wisdom. He grew in stature and in favor
with God and men. And here we have the Lord say,
give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments. Verse 74, they that fear thee. will be glad when they see me,
because I have hoped in thy word. Now they that fear him, this
is, I reckon that this is the best illustration of what a believer
is. He's somebody who fears God.
Now, I'm not talking about a slavish fear. I'm not talking about the
fear that, oh, I did something wrong, God's going to punish
me. He's going to make me lose all my money or he's going to
take my health because I did this bad thing. I'm not talking
about that kind of fear. Everybody's got that kind of
fear. I'm talking about the fear of reverential awe. No unsaved person fears God. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. There's not that awe of respect
and reverential fear, the fear of his glory, the fear of his
power, the fear of his person. You're in awe. When you fear
God, that means you just bow down to who he is and you're
amazed by who he is and you find him altogether glorious. And
the proof of the fear of God is You're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ alone. You have no respect for God if
you can look anywhere other than Jesus Christ as all in your salvation. Now, they that fear him, what
will they do? Verse 74, they that fear thee
will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word.
Now, what this is talking about is They're going to be glad because
they're going to see the sufficiency of me. There isn't anything better than
trusting Christ alone. You see his sufficiency that
all God requires of you, he looks to his son for and you rejoice
in that. You're not looking for anything
else. You're totally satisfied before God. As he looks in your
heart, you're totally satisfied to be saved by Christ only. Are
you? Are you satisfied with that?
Do you look anywhere else? Now those that fear God will
be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word. Somebody
had to hope in his word perfectly. Jesus Christ did. Even when he
was on the cross, he never quit hoping in God's word. And we're
going to see this in the next verse. Look in verse 75. I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments
are right and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me. Now this is his word from the
cross. He bore and he's the only one
to do this. He's the only one who could do
this. The reason hell is eternal is because men never make satisfaction
for the sin of killing the son of God. God can never say, well,
I'm satisfied with that. The only one who could actually
satisfy God is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, I know that
thy judgments are right. What I'm going through right
now is you pour your wrath on me. It's right. It's perfectly
right. It's absolutely just and that
thou in faithfulness has afflicted me. It's your faithfulness to
your character and the Lord is recognizing this with regard
to his Father. It's your faithfulness to your
character that's causing you to pour your wrath out upon me
and what you're doing is right. This is our hope of justification. God justly punished my sin in
Christ. My sin is gone. And now I stand
before God justly, without guilt. And Christ acknowledged this
when he says, you in faithfulness to your character, your holiness,
to your justice, you've afflicted me. Don't you admire the Lord
as he, in darkness, his father has forsaken him. Yet this is
what's going on in his heart while this is taking place. One
of the reasons I love the Psalms is I believe I've learned more
about the cross in the Psalms than anywhere else. While this
was taking place with him, he could say this. He never quit
believing God. He knew exactly what he was going
through. You remember that Jesus Christ superstar? I don't know
if you, this martyr who didn't know why he was being afflicted.
That's not the Lord. He knew exactly what was taking
place at all times as he was being afflicted by his father. Thou in faithfulness has afflicted
me, verse 76. Let I pray thee. Thy merciful
kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant. Even while the Lord was feeling
the weight of God's wrath, his father's wrath against sin, he
knew what the father was doing was in faithful, loving kindness
to his people. And the Lord said, let this be
my comfort. What you are accomplishing through this, your merciful,
faithful, loving kindness to your people. I know I'm not experiencing
your loving kindness right now, but nothing but your awful wrath. But even then, I want you to
think about this. I wish I could get ahold of this.
When the Lord was fastened to the cross, he had me on his heart.
He knew me. He loved me. He was doing this
for me. And he said, let that be my comfort
according to thy word and to thy servant. When he felt the
affliction of the cross, he said, I know you're doing this because
of your loving kindness and mercy to your people. I'm taking their
place. Let that be my comfort according
to thy word unto thy servant. Verse 77, let thy tender mercies
come unto me that I may live for thy law is my delight. Once again, this is the relationship
of the father and the son. And we pray this prayer as well,
don't we? Let thy tender mercies come to
me. I love the language of that. Let them come to me. I can't
get to them. Would you let them come to me,
your tender mercies? For thy law is my delight. Now the Lord said that, but we
say it too, don't we? The law of God is my delight. The Ten Commandments are my delight. You know why? Because of what? is being taught in this psalm,
I've kept them. I don't have anything to fear
of the law. It's completely fulfilled by
what Christ did when he was afflicted like this on the cross. My sin
was put away, his righteousness is given to me, and I now stand
before God without guilt. That is the heritage of every
single believer without exception. And I love the way Paul said,
I delight in the law of God after the inward ban. I do. Verse 78, let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversely
with me without a cause, but I will meditate in that precepts.
Now here we have these people called the proud. Pride was what caused Satan's
fall. He wanted to take God's place.
He wanted to sit on the throne in the place of God. Pride. What
an evil sin. Pride is what was behind the
fall of our first parents. You'll be as God. You won't have
him as your ruler. He'll be your equal if you just
eat of this fruit. Pride. The proud, you know there's
no, there's nothing more groundless than pride. What do you have
to be proud about? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Who made you to differ? But pride, that's original sin. Pride, wanting to take some of the glory
to myself, pride, pride. Now he talks about the proud.
He says, let the proud be ashamed for they've dealt perversely
with me without a cause. Now here's another reason why
I know this is the Lord speaking. You've had people get upset with
you, haven't you? Did you give them a cause? Yeah. Yeah. You and I are never innocent. When someone gets upset with
me, I guarantee you I've given them a reason to. They may deal
harshly with me, I realize that, but if I wouldn't have ever given
them the cause, this wouldn't have taken place. Guilty as charged. And I hope all of us see that.
Don't be a victim. Realize the problems we have,
we're behind them. There are fault. I can't say,
well, I've been a victim. I've been treated, miss. You're
not a victim. But with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ, he's the only one who can truly say this. Let the proud be ashamed for
they dealt perversely with me without a cause. I didn't give
them any reason to act this way. I'm perfect. I've treated them
perfectly, in absolute perfection. I think of that scripture, they
hated me without a cause, with no cause in me, just from pure
maliciousness. Now this is the natural man.
He hates the Lord Jesus Christ, he who's altogether lovely, who's
altogether glorious, he hates him. And this is what the Lord
says here, they hated me without a cause. They dealt perversely
with me without a cause. Now this, only the Lord Jesus
can say this, no one else. Let the proud be ashamed for
they have dealt perversely with me without a cause, but I will
meditate in thy precepts. Your word, the word that makes
known your character and your person. This is the, what a blessing. The Lord meditated
in the word of God and what a blessing when we can just for a few moments,
even right now, meditate on God's word. This is the word of God. I love that. You know, when somebody
says, I don't believe the Bible's the word of God, well, you're
just blind then. I mean, I can't say anything else about it. You're
just blind because this is obviously God's inspired revelation of
himself. It's obvious to those who see.
Now, if you don't see, I can't make you see. I can't prove to
you anything, but I know that this is the living word of God. And I meditate. on thy precepts. Verse 79, he repeats himself. Let those that fear thee turn
unto me. Now the only place you and I
are ever going to have any comfort is when by the grace of God we
turn to Christ and look to him only. Most people's problem is they
got too much. What a blessing when you're poor
in spirit and you have nothing but Christ and you look to him
only. That's what poverty of spirit
is. Poverty of spirit means that you don't have anything but Jesus
Christ as the only ground of your acceptance before God. You
believe that. All you have is Christ. You don't have any works,
you don't have anything to recommend you to God. All you have is Jesus
Christ. Now that is the fear of God.
And that's what it is to turn to Christ. Let those that fear
thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.
Now, his testimonies are his word. And the reason we turn
to Christ and look to him is because we believe his testimonies. We believe his testimonies concerning
who we are, sinners, in need of his grace. We believe his
word. Those are the ones who turn to
him, they really believe his testimonies. And I love the way
the word of God is called the testimony of God. This is God's
testimony. And those who believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, they turn to him, they believe God's testimony.
Now look at this last request by the Lord, and this is my prayer
and your prayer as well. Let my heart Be sound in thy
statutes, that I be not ashamed. Now, this is the Lord's prayer
to his father as a man. Let my heart, that's my understanding,
that's my will, that's my affection, everything about me. Let my heart
be sound, whole, complete, In thy statutes that I be not ashamed. If I'm not this way, I'm going
to be ashamed. That's the Lord speaking. You
know, he learned obedience. The scripture says through the
things he suffered. This is mysterious, I don't know
how to, this is one of those things you can't explain, you
just believe. He learned obedience through
the things he suffered. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He learned obedience, and here
he cries, let my heart be sound. That's the Lord speaking, but
is that not the prayer of my heart right now? I hope it is.
Lord, let my heart, my understanding, my affections. Don't you want
the Lord to have all your affections? Don't you want to love him with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Let my understanding
be sound. I won't be sound in the faith,
don't you? Sound in the faith. Well, let my heart be sound in
the faith. I want my will to be sound. I
want to will only his will. I want to pray from my heart,
thy will, not my will, not my will, but thine be done. Let my heart be sound in thy
statutes that I be not ashamed. I'll tell you what. He that believeth
shall not be ashamed. I won't be put to shame and I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. I love what Paul said. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. Oh, I hope this is the prayer
of everybody listening to this right now. Let my heart be sound
in thy statutes that I be not ashamed.