Would you turn to the 119th Psalm? I've been very looking forward
to trying to deal with this Psalm. Longest chapter in the Bible. We're going to read these first
eight verses of Psalm 119. Blessed are the undefiled in the way
who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his
testimonies. and that seek him with the whole
heart. They also do no iniquity. They walk in his ways. Thou has commanded us to keep
thy precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed
to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed when
I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness
of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will
keep thy statutes. Oh, forsake me not utterly. Let's pray. Lord, as we approach your word,
we ask that we might be enabled to hear what you say in your
word with reverence and with hearing ears. And we ask that
you would be our teacher. We pray in Christ's name that
your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit and
that we would be enabled by your grace to worship thy dear son. Lord, we're so utterly dependent
upon you, and we pray that you would do this for us and in us.
Lord, we confess our sin. We never confess our sin as we
ought to. We pray that we might be enabled
to truly before you confess our sins, that we might be forgiven
of our iniquity. Lord, we pray for your blessing
upon this assembly. We pray for your blessing wherever
your word is preached. Accept our thanksgiving. We're
so thankful for who you are. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The longest chapter in the Bible.
Psalm 119, and I was thinking about this. I've felt this way
for some time now. I believe this is my favorite
psalm. I love Psalm 119. Now, you'll notice that there
are 22 eight-verse stanzas, each beginning with one of the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. There are only 22 letters in
the Hebrew alphabet and every one of these eight verse stanzas,
the first word begins with one of those letters. Like you'll
see the Hebrew equivalent of A in the passage of scripture
we just read. Now, what is amazing? Everything's amazing about the
Bible. But there are 178 references in this 176 verse psalm to the
word of God. This song is about the word of
God. And I hope that when I pick up
this book and read this book, I realize that I'm reading the
words which God himself wrote. May God give us the fear and
reverence of him in reading his word. Now there are eight different
words in this psalm used to describe scripture. We read the word law
25 times. And there are two different Hebrew
words translated word, 124 times and 119 times. We read of judgments
23 times, testimonies 23 times, commandments 22 times, statutes
21 times, precepts 21 times. Now, before we look at
this psalm, I would like you to turn to Romans chapter 9. Verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh. Now, scripture had not yet been
written. Yet the scripture speaks to Pharaoh. When the scripture speaks, God
speaks. Turn over to Galatians chapter
3 verse 8. And the scripture. foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel unto Abraham saying in these shall all nations be
blessed." Now the scripture spoke to Abraham hundreds of years
before the written scriptures came into being. But what this
lets us know is when God speaks, scripture speaks. All scripture. is given by inspiration of God. Second Timothy 3.16, literally
God breathed. Isn't that glorious? And this psalm more than any
other psalm is a psalm about the scriptures. And in every
verse, but one verse, maybe in every verse, but at least in
100, 75 of the 176 verses, there's a direct reference to the written
word of God. Now this psalm used to frighten
me because there were some things I didn't feel like I could enter
into. For instance, verse one, blessed are the undefiled in
the way who walk in the law of the Lord. And I remember as a
young man reading that and thinking, I don't know that that describes
me. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek
him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity. That's
what it says. It says they do no iniquity.
It doesn't say they do a pretty good job or sometimes they mess
up. It says they do no iniquity. They walk in his ways. And I used to read that and it
would trouble me because I couldn't honestly say, yeah, that describes
me. And then when the Lord gave me
an understanding, I understood. They do know iniquity. And we're
going to see what that means in just a few moments. But look at the way this psalm
begins. Blessed. Blessed. Let me read you some
scriptures with regard to what or who God says is blessed. Psalm 1-1, blessed is the man, 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. Psalm 2, 12, and this is actually
said four times throughout the psalm, blessed are they that
put their trust in him. Psalm 32, one and two, blessed
is the man. Oh, how blessed is the man whose
transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." And don't miss
this, in whose spirit there is no guile, no deceit whatsoever. Psalm 41,1, blessed is he that
considereth the poor. Psalm 65, 4, blessed is the man
whom thou choosest. Oh, he delighted in election.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest, I like
that word, causest to approach unto thee. Psalm 84, 4, blessed
are they that dwell in thy house. Psalm 84, 5, blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee. Psalm 89, verse 15, blessed is
the people that know the joyful sound, that hear the gospel and
it's a sound of joy to them. They understand that it's a joyful
sound. Psalm 94, 12, blessed is the
man whom thou chastenest. Psalm 106, 3, blessed are they
that Keep judgment. Psalm 112, 1, blessed is the
man that feareth the Lord. Psalm 146, 8, happy is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help. And then in our text, Psalm
119, blessed are the undefiled in the way. who walk in the law
of the Lord, blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and
that seek him with the whole heart, they also do no iniquity,
they walk in his ways. Now you'll notice the word are
in verse one is in italics. It could be blessed is the undefiled
in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord, and that could refer
to the Lord Jesus himself. But when it says, blessed are
the undefiled in the way, that's the word that is used with regard
to the Paschal Lamb. Undefiled, without blemish, perfect. Noah was called perfect, same
word, by God. Abraham was called perfect before
God. So this is every believer and
this is justification. Undefiled in the way. When God looks at you, if you're
a believer, he looks at you as one who has never sinned. You say, but I have. I know,
but Christ put it away. So it is no more. And every believer,
this describes you, undefiled, perfect in the way, perfect in
Christ Jesus. Perfect. What do you think of
that? If you're a believer, that describes
you. Perfect in the way. Who walk in the law of the Lord. This is the walk of perfection
before God. They walk in the law of the Lord. Verse two, blessed are they that
keep his testimonies. Not partially, but completely.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies. Now let me remind
you, partial obedience is disobedience. Anything short of perfection.
is disobedience. You believe that? It's so. God's
perfect. God's holy. And what a description
of every believer. They seek him, verse two, with
the whole heart. Now, I don't want to do anything
half-hearted to you. Whatever I'm doing, I want to
give it my whole heart. But I believe this is also a
reference to the new heart that he gives. They truly seek him
with the whole heart because you got to admit or I got to
admit that everything that I do, there's an element of not enough, not enough, inadequate,
insufficient. I've never, I was thinking about
this every time I try to confess my sin. I feel a level of insincerity
in it. I'm going through the motions.
And I know that, I realize that even when I'm trying to confess
my sin, I hate myself for it, but I never feel like I confess
my sin with my whole heart. There's inadequacy in everything
that I do. But blessed are they. that seek
him with the whole heart, that new heart that he gives. That's
the heart David asked for when he said, create in me a clean
heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Now this is
what the psalmist is talking about. And look in verse three,
they also These people who are undefiled, who walk in the Lord,
that keep his testimonies and seek him with the whole heart.
What does it say? They also do no iniquity. Now, what in the world does that
mean? It doesn't say they have a pretty good walk and they have
a pretty consistent walk. It says they do no iniquity. What's that mean? Well, you can't
separate these two things, but first of all, if I'm justified
before God, that means I do know iniquity. I have a perfect standing
of utter righteousness and holiness before God. And it's not something
simply that's charged to my account. I do know iniquity. Second Corinthians
five. Verse 10, for we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. I'm going to appear there, you're
going to appear there. We're going to be dead before
long and we're going to be made to stand before the judgment
seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. Now, if I've done bad things
in my body, I won't be saved. You're going to receive what
you've done in your body. This is justification. It's so
real that the things done in your body are all good. That's
the glory of the gospel. The things done in your body
are all good. Perfect in Christ Jesus. That's
what justification is. Sinlessness. Now turn to 1 John
3. Here's what it also means. Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God. What's that say? doth not commit sin. Can God sin? No. Can that which
is born of God sin? No. This is talking about the
new nature, the holy nature given in the new birth. It does not
commit sin. It can't. Born of God. Look in first John chapter five.
Verse 18, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but
he that's begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. There's nothing for the wicked
one to touch if I have this nature that does not sin. That's talking about the holy
nature. The new nature, the new heart,
the new birth. They do no iniquity. Now in something like this, it's
what the Bible teaches. Can I explain it? I don't feel
a need to, I believe it. This is what the word of God
teaches so clearly. They do no iniquity. Now let's
go back to our text, verse four. Thou hast commanded us to keep
thy precepts, thy word. There's another word for the
word, precepts, diligently. Is there any other way to do
it but diligently? Half-heartedly? Lack of effort? No. You've commanded. What God
says is a command. You've commanded us to keep your
precepts, your commandments diligently. This is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son and love one another
as God gave us commandment. Verse five. Now look at this. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Now, if you're a believer, You
have enough knowledge of yourself to know that you will not keep
his statutes unless you are directed and enabled by God himself to
keep his statutes. Amen. You know that so don't
you? You know it. I love what David
said. He used the same word in Psalm
119 where he says, oh that my ways were directed He said, order
my steps in your word. Direct my steps in your word. Cause me to walk in your word. And let no iniquity have dominion
over me. That's the heart cry of every
believer. I want God himself to order my
steps in his word. So all I do is walk in his word. And no iniquity is to have dominion,
lordship over me. That's the desire, the heart
cry of every believer. Oh, that my ways were directed. Only God can do that. And this
is my cry. Oh, that my ways were directed. To keep thy statutes. Verse six. Then shall I not be ashamed?
when I have respect unto all thy commandments. Now, as long
as we still sin, we're ashamed. We're ashamed. I'm ashamed of
my sin. I'm ashamed of what goes on in
my heart. I'm ashamed of the sinful actions.
I'm ashamed. And well, I should be, but then
shall I not be ashamed when I have respect? unto all thy commandments. Now, I love this word respect. The foundation of any good relationship
is founded in respect, isn't it? You know, in a marriage,
what's the most important aspect of marriage? That you respect
one another. And oh, the respect that every
believer has toward the living God. You know, Cain showed no
respect to God when he brought his offering of works. He's saying,
God can accept this, I would. He's showing no respect for God's
holy character, God's glorious character. But oh, the respect
Abel demonstrated when he looked only to the sacrifice of Christ
as his only way of coming. Now, the writer to Psalms. I'm not sure who wrote this Psalm.
Some say David did. Maybe he did. I've even heard
that it's David writing to Solomon about the respect he wanted Solomon
to have for the word of God. David was an old man when he
wrote this. That could be the case. But here is what I want. I want to have respect by the
grace of God to all of his commandments. Anything God says is important. Well, do I have to believe this?
Is this necessary to believe? Can you not believe this? And
it's not here. You know, people ask questions.
No. What do you got to believe? Everything God says. Respect to all his commandments. Verse seven. He says, I will
praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned
thy righteous Now, even in our praise, we realize it falls short,
don't we? There's another example of everything
that I experience as far as what I do. It always feels inadequate. When I praise him, I have a feel
of, this ought to be more pure. This ought to be me out of it. And the psalmist says, I will
praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned
thy righteous judgments. Now, how's the only way you're
going to learn his righteous judgments? If he teaches you.
And this is once again, a reference to the cross, his righteous judgments. They're all together seen in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is his word. This is
what the word of God is all about. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his righteous judgments. When he judged sin and condemned
sin and put away sin and he justified, he made the way for him to be
just and justify the ungodly, his righteous judgments. I will praise thee with uprightness
of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgment. I will
keep thy statutes, O forsake me not utterly." Now, I see these words as the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ, forsake me not utterly. I don't understand
what all he felt when he was forsaken by his father. You don't
understand it either. And I can't imagine the grief
he was going through as he was forsaken by his father and him
saying, forsake me not utterly. Somehow he knew that he was totally
cut off by God, but he knew during that time he believed God that
he would accomplish what he was doing and that his father would
be completely embracing and reconciled toward him because of what he
did in behalf of his people. And that's why he's saying forsake
me not utterly, but it's also true. The writer of the psalm, the
writer of this psalm felt forsaken. Have you ever felt cut off? Have
you ever felt isolated? Have you ever felt like the Lord
withdrew himself from you? Sure you have. Sure you have. But here's the cry of the psalmist,
forsake me not utterly. And one thing that a believer,
every believer without exception, cannot bear the thought of. is for the
Lord to leave me to myself, for the Lord to leave me to my own
understanding, for the Lord to leave me alone. And that's why
he cries, Oh, forsake me not utterly. But let me remind you. David said. I've been young and
now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. In Christ,
I'm righteous. God will never forsake the righteous. I'm very excited about looking
at, we're gonna spend 22 weeks in this psalm, but I think that
this psalm describes the believer's experience of grace, perhaps
more than any other psalm. And let's pray that the Lord
blesses this to our hearts.