Psalm 119. Beginning in verse 57. Thou art my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep
thy words. I entreated thy favor with my
whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. I thought on my ways and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste. and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. The bands of the wicked have
robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law. At midnight, I will
rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. I am a companion of all them
that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. The earth,
O Lord, is full of thy mercy. Teach me thy statutes. Let's pray. Lord, would you enable, by your
grace, Each one of us to be able to
say that you are our portion. What a glorious portion you are.
Lord, give us the grace to enter in to what your servant said
in this passage of scripture. We pray for your blessing on
the worship services today. We pray for your blessing on
the preaching of your gospel. We pray that you'd give us hearing
ears and receptive hearts. And Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We're so thankful for who you are. We're so thankful for all
your glorious attributes. We're so thankful for your way
of saving sinners by Christ, your son. We pray that we might
be enabled to sit at his feet and hear his word. Lord, we ask
that you'd be with those of our number that are going through
trials, sicknesses. Lord, we're so thankful you're
in control of all things. We pray for the recovery of those
that are going through physical sickness according to your will.
Lord, give us hearts to love one another more and pray for
one another more and seek to be true friends that stick closer
than brothers. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together. Lord, we
pray for our nation, the leaders. We pray that you would direct
them. Bless us for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray. Amen. Thou art my portion. What a word. The word portion is the word
used to describe the parts or parcels of land given to each
of the 12 tribes in the book of Numbers. The Lord is my portion. The Lord's my dwelling place.
The Lord is my treasure. The Lord is where I live. The
Lord is the only place I really feel comfortable in Him. in the
Lord. The Lord is my portion. The Lord himself, he's my treasure.
He's my hiding place. He's my all in all. What a blessing when someone
can say that. The Lord is my portion. Turn
with me for a moment to Psalm 17. Now my portion is either the Lord
or something else. Verse 13 of Psalm 17, arise,
O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, and deliver my soul
from the wicked, which is thy sword. I think that's interesting,
the way he calls the wicked. They're in your hands, they're
your sword. They're doing your purpose. They're accomplishing
your purpose in whatever way it is. The wicked, everybody.
Don't you love that the Lord is the Lord of the dead and the
living? But look what he says in verse
14, from men which are thy hand, O Lord, he repeats it again,
from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world,
which have their portion in this life. Now if my portion is in
this life, it's a very temporary portion that will not continue.
How blessed it is to be enabled by the grace of God to say from
my heart, In truth, the Lord is my portion. You can have any
other portion you want, but the Lord is my portion. Back to our text. I have said
that I would keep thy words. Now you can't separate the Lord
and his words. All you know of the Lord is his
word, his words. You've never seen him physically.
You don't even know what he looks like. I love that scripture,
whom having not seen, you love. And all he is known by is his
words. Turn with me for a moment to
John 14. Verse 22. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot,
it wasn't Judas Iscariot asking this question, it was a different
one of the disciples. Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? That's a
good question, isn't it? Jesus answered and said unto
him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. He'll guard over them. He'll
regard them. He'll love them. He won't listen
to anything else. If a man loved me, there's the
issue. If a man loved me, he will keep
my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him
and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth
not my sayings, my words, they're not precious to him. And the
word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. Now here is love to Christ. You keep his words. You guard over them, you don't
want to hear anything else. The word of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he's known, is by
his words. Now back to Psalm 119. I've said I'll keep thy words.
And then he says in verse 58, I've entreated thy favor with
my whole heart. Now my marginal reading says
I've entreated thy face. That's his actual presence. His face. This is what I want
more than anything else. I want the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn with me to Numbers chapter
six for a moment. This is the great high priestly benediction. Verse 22, Numbers chapter six,
verse 22. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, number 622, Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying,
On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying
unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make
his face to shine. That is the same word. The Lord
make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel and I will bless them. You see what he's
asking for, the Lord's face, his gracious favor, his face. And that's what every believer
desires above all things. I want his favor. I crave his favor. I've entreated
his favor with my whole heart. And the whole heart means with
my understanding, with my affections, with my will, this is all I want. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. With the understanding, with
the affections, with the will, this is what we want. With my
whole heart I have entreated thy face, thy favor, thy mercy. So he says, Be merciful unto
me according to thy word. Be merciful, and that's the same
word used in Exodus 33, 19, when God says, I will be gracious.
Same word. I will be gracious. Lord, be
gracious to me. Be merciful to me. according
to your word, according to what you've revealed in your word.
I'm not just talking about some kind of general, vague notion
of mercy. I'm talking about the mercy that
you have promised in your word. That is what I need. That's what I must have. Look in verse 59. I thought on
my ways, and turned, literally turned
back my feet unto thy testimonies. I've thought on my ways and they're
no good. I don't trust my ways, I don't trust my thoughts, I
don't trust my heart. I've thought on my ways. Oh Lord,
deliver me from my ways. By thy grace may I have my feet
turned back to thy word. I think of what David said, and
this is something that is always on my heart to try to pray. I
hope I pray it sincerely, but I can't think of a better request
than this. Order my steps. in thy word,
and let no iniquity have dominion over me." That's found in this
119th Psalm, and that is the desire of every believer. I've
thought on my ways, and my ways are no good. Deliver me from
my ways, and let me go thy way, Christ the way. the truth and
the life. Now this is repentance. You have
a change of mind about your ways. They're no good. I've turned
my feet to thy testimonies, what the Lord testifies in his word. And isn't it glorious that the
Lord does testify? You know what a testimony is?
The Lord gives us testimony concerning who he is and how we can be accepted
in his word. And here we have, like I said,
repentance. I've thought on my ways and I've turned back my
feet to thy testimonies. Verse 60, I made haste. This is so important. I made
haste. I didn't delay. I didn't wait. I made haste and
delayed not to keep thy commandments. Now, how were the children of Israel
to Eat the Passover in haste. Not waiting for something to
happen. Not waiting for a feeling. Now this, this thing of, of faith,
this thing of obeying the commandments of God, believing the gospel,
loving one another as he has given us commandment. This is
not to be delayed. Don't wait until you're fit. Don't wait till you feel right. Don't wait until you think you're
ready. Don't wait for anything. Believe
right now. That is God's commandment. Make haste. I made haste and
delayed not to keep thy commandments. And the commandment, that's, I made haste to believe on Christ
as the one who kept the commandments for me. I make haste to, to believe
his command to believe the gospel. This is his commandment that
you believe on the name of his son and love one another as he
gave his commandment. No delay in this. I made haste
and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Verse 61, the bands of the wicked have
robbed me. but I've not forgotten thy law." Now just reading that
without, on the surface I think, what's that mean? The bands of
the wicked have robbed me. I've not forgotten thy law. Now quite often the scripture
speaks in imagery, that can be more plain than just plain speech.
And I think this is an example of that. The bands of the wicked
have robbed me, the cords, the companies. The ropes, the cords,
that's what the word means, and what the word is is the ropes, or the cords that
are twisted together to make a rope. That's what the word
band means, the cords that are twisted together that make a
rope. The bands of the wicked have
robbed me, and if you look up the word, it's surround me. surround me. The bands, the cords
of the wicked surround me. Now let me show you an example
of this in the scripture. Turn to Hebrews chapter five. Speaking of the great high priest
of the Old Testament, verse one, For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now
look at this qualification of the high priest, Aaron and his
sons, who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that
are out of the way. That's kind of a pretty solid
one. How about you? Someone who can have compassion
on the ignorant and those that are out of the way. Astray is
the word, astray. Now look what it says, for that
he himself, here's why he can have compassion on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity. He, in his own experience, he's
surrounded with, on every side, he's encompassed with his own
infirmity, sinful weakness. Now, when David or whoever wrote
this says in the bands of the wicked have robbed me, I think
the wicked man he's talking about is himself. That's my biggest
problem. Say your biggest problem. Myself,
my old man, my wicked nature that surrounds me, that touches
me. Paul said, oh wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And this is what he's talking
about when he talks about the the bands of the wicked, they
surround me, they touch me, they're there, I can't get away from
them. However, he said in the same
sentence, but I have not forgotten thy law. I've not forgotten,
even in my struggle with myself, my perfect standing before God's
holy law, I've abated. I've abated in my Redeemer. in
my savior, I've not forgotten that he honored the law and that
I'm accepted in him. Verse 62, at midnight, I will
rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Now, does that mean that he set his alarm for midnight so he
could wake up and do this? It may mean that, I don't know,
but I know this, what it's really referring to is in the darkness.
In the darkness. when darkness veils his lovely
face. Is that ever the case? Of course it is. When darkness
veils his lovely face, I rest in his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. I'm out here in this storm, but
I've got an anchor in the veil. in the Holy of Holies, in the
very presence of God, and I cannot be separated from that anchor.
My anchor holds within the veil. Now he says, at midnight, in
darkness, I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy
righteous judgments. Now I have no doubt that he's
talking about the righteous judgments of the cross. Oh, I love the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a reminder to me, even in
my darkness, that that doesn't affect my standing before God
in any way, because my judgment was taken care of in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even at midnight, I'm going to
rise to give thanks for thy righteous judgments. You see, God's acceptance
of me, doesn't have anything to do with what I feel. It has
wholly to do with what Christ accomplished on the cross. Christ
taking complete responsibility for me as my surety. When he said, I'll be surety
for him. Of my hand, he says to his father,
shalt thou require of him If I don't bring him here before
thee, let me bear the blame forever. Now that's my hope, that Christ
is my surety. And we rise and give thanks for
his righteous judgments. Now look what he says in verse
63. I'm a companion. These are my
people. And the word is united too. I'm united to these people. I'm
a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep
thy precepts." I'm united to, I'm knit together as one man.
These are my companions. These are my people, all that
fear God. Now I love, and I want to have
this since all the time of the fear,
the reverence toward, the respect of, the awe of God in all of
his glorious attributes. I stand in awe of his holiness,
his otherness. That's, you worship. I stand
in awe of his complete sovereignty, how he controls everybody and
everything, and his will is always done. I stand in awe and worship. I stand in awe of his immutability. He never changes. I stand in
awe of his independence. He has no needs outside of himself.
You think of how needy we are. He has no needs outside of himself. We stand in awe at his omnipotence. He's all powerful, all wise,
absolutely just. We stand in awe. That's what
the fear of God is. You are in awe at his glorious
person. You're in awe of the cross that
God would send his son to die on a cross to save sinners. You
fear this God and this is not talking about the slavish fear
of, oh, I'm afraid he's going to squash me because I did something
wrong. This is talking about an awe of respect and reverence. You fear God only when you look
to Christ only. If you don't look to Christ only,
you don't really have any fear and reverence and respect of
God. But if you really do fear God, you're going to look to
Christ only as your only ground of acceptance before God. Now,
those are my people. Those are my companions. People
that actually fear the living God, that love the living God,
that stand in awe and respect of the living God. Birds of a
feather flock together. Those are my people. Those are
my companions. Those are the people that I really
want to be with. I want to cast my lot with them. I want to be identified with
them. I don't care if all the world hates all of us, I could
care less as long as I'm with those people who actually fear,
love, respect, and stand in awe of the living God and his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are my companions. I'm
a companion of all of them that fear thee, of them that keep
thy precepts, thy words." We guard his word. We believe the
Bible is the inerrant word of God. Now, a lot of people will
say that. As a matter of fact, probably
75, 80% of the churches in Lexington say, oh, we stand for the inerrancy
of scriptures, but they don't pay attention to what they say.
What does the word say? Do you keep that? Not just stand
for a doctrine that you've been taught, but you actually believe
the word of God. You believe it's his word and
you keep it. You won't let any word go, that's
not important or that's more important than that. You don't
stand in judgment of the word of God like that. You keep every
precept. Every word is precious. Verse 64, the earth, oh Lord,
is full of thy mercy. Your kindness, your loving kindness,
your goodness, your kindly favor, your pity, the earth is full
of his mercy. Now somebody says, well, why
are there hurricanes? Why are there disasters? Why is there disease? Why does
this bad thing happen and that bad thing happen if the Lord,
if the earth is full of his mercy? Why? How do you explain that? I just trust the character of
the Lord. I might not be able to look at
everything and say, well, that, that, that goes against. No,
I trust the character of the Lord. Whatever he does is right,
holy, just, good, pure, lovely. And I might not see why he's
doing what he's doing, but I trust him. That's the point. I trust
his character. The Lord's good all the time. Amen. All the time. And the earth is full of his
mercy. And let me say this too. Anybody who desires mercy will
have it. Anybody. You desire the mercy
of God, you'll have it. And if you don't have his mercy,
guess what? Because you didn't want it. That's the only reason. You didn't want it. You didn't
want to have anything to do with him. You had no interest in his
mercy. But understand this, the door is wide open for everyone
without exception who needs mercy. Are you one of those people?
Then you'll chime in. The earth, oh Lord, is full of
thy mercy. Teach me thy statutes. Don't
you want the Lord to be your teacher? Teach me your statutes
and included in that word statutes, as a matter of fact, the word
is actually quite often translated decrees. I love the decrees of
God because they're the decrees of God. He, uh, he decrees everything. He's in control of everything
and teach me to love and, and rest in and trust your all wise
decrees because of who he is. Lord, be my teacher. Teach me thy statutes. You know, it's interesting. When
I was a young person, when I try to read Psalm 119, it would it
would appear to me, well, it seems like he's saying the same
thing over and over again. He is. And that's good.