The Goodness of Obeying God's Word

Intro

When I first arrived to Liberty University, I loved many meaningless things. I loved video games, I loved heavy metal music, and honestly, I loved sin. Don’t get me wrong, I had the holy spirit, and I believe I’ve been a Christian since I was little, but just barely. I believed in the morality and truth of it, and I didn’t want to do sinful things. But I just didn’t act like it. I tried to fill loneliness in my heart with many things, even very very sinful things, but nothing worked. Of course it didn’t. They weren’t made to fill that.

But then I met a girl. And I was interested in her! I thought she was really cute! So I got her phone number and started texting her pretty often, as well as spending time with her in person. One night she said to me, and I’ll never forget it, that she was going to READ HER BIBLE. I was astonished. I mean, I had a Bible. It was a little NIV bible with a CAMO design from high school. I had left it at my parent’s house, because I never used it! I just used the app on my phone. But when she told me that I immediately realized two things: this woman truly loves God, and I need to read my Bible! I even convinced her to come with me to get a new Bible from the Liberty Bookstore (which made her think I was a new Christian, which is fair, because I basically was). I started reading the book of Proverbs out of this ESV Study Bible, and my life began to change. I began to be more and more convicted of sin. The Holy Spirit used that woman, who is now my wife, to rebuke me. I began reading the Bible often, regularly, and even daily. I went from barely opening my Bible app to rarely putting down my ESV. God’s word grabbed me, pulled me in, and molded my heart.

Today, I can confidently say that the Psalms are my favorite biblical literature. I love all of God’s word, but if I could only have one book, it would be Psalms. And in Psalm 119, a Holy-Spirit-inspired Psalmist beautifully and extensively expresses The Value of God’s Word. It is all done in an acrostic poem within the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, and while we won’t be covering all 176 verses today, we will be starting with verses 1-8, the Hebrew letter aleph.

Psalm 119:1–8 (ESV)

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart,

who also do no wrong,

but walk in his ways!

You have commanded your precepts

to be kept diligently.

Oh that my ways may be steadfast

in keeping your statutes!

Then I shall not be put to shame,

having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

I will praise you with an upright heart,

when I learn your righteous rules.

I will keep your statutes;

do not utterly forsake me!

The title of my sermon is The Goodness of Obeying God’s Word, and we are going to learn we must Seek God, Praise God, and Obey God.

Let’s Pray.

Throughout the Psalms there are a lot of words that mean something specific in Hebrew that isn’t often how they are used in English, so throughout the text today I’m going to be working to clarify these words so that we can understand it today in our modern context.

I want to ask a question. what does it mean for someone’s way to be blameless?

Well, the Psalmist uses two Hebrew words in that first verse that are important for us to understand reading this text. The word way, or der-eckhc, means manner, or behavior. And blameless means impeccable, without fault. So blessed are those whose behavior is impeccable. But to be blameless, there has to be a standard to which someone could fail!

And that’s where the second part of the verse comes in. Who walk in the law of the Lord! It adds to that first part, almost saying “those whose way is blameless, they walk in the law of the Lord! So the Psalmist is saying that those who walk in the law, which is the Hebrew word Torah, are blessed! This would be specifically the first five books of the Bible, often called the books of the law, and considering that this was written as Hebrew poetry for Hebrews, it is a recognition that their behavior should be walking in God’s law. So reading it now, it makes more sense

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord! - v1

Then, the text talks about keeping his testimonies. The word for keep could also be translated as OBSERVE, and testimonies is another Hebrew word that just refers to general laws, so the text is saying “HEY, those who OBSERVE God’s LAWS, HIS RULES, they are BLESSED!”

It says that they seek him with their whole heart. now, today we hear heart, and we think that means that the Psalmist is describing desire, and passion, and emotion. but that’s not at all what the Hebrew understanding of the heart was. that’s a very valentines-day point of view that we hold in modern day, but when Hebrew’s say heart, they mean WILL. It’s about disposition and intention, and today it could even be thought about the same way as we think of the mind. They view the heart as the decision maker. So seeking the Lord with their whole heart doesn’t mean loving him so much as it means knowing him. They seek to know him fully.

These people, these blessed people, they do no wrong, but instead, walk in his ways. In God’s ways. They are moral and upright. Their behavior is instead to walk in the ways of God. They seek to know Him with all their being, all their will, and they walk in his ways, the paths he has now set for them, rather than walking off his path to the bad ways.

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart, v2

who also do no wrong,

but walk in his ways!v3

My wife and I recently got a dog,

his name is Apple Cider and he’s a cute little husky mix.

Well I have the primary responsibility of taking him outside for walks and to go potty.

And there are plenty of times where I’m walking him and he want’s to run out into the road or go down a steep hill, and of course I pull him back so he doesn’t go those ways

He doesn’t know how dangerous these things are for him, and since I love Him, I teach him to stay on the right path and to go my way.

Well God’s ways are much higher than ours. And just as we try to wander off into dangerous paths, God and his instruction pulls us back in the right direction.

Now as you’re reading this text you might realize that there is a shift in who the Psalmist is speaking to. Rather than speaking generally, about these people, he makes a statement about God. And whenever there’s scripture that says something about God, something that he’s done or said or is, it’s extra important. We must LEAN in to hear what God’s word says about him.

God has commanded. He is the king, he declares from his throne that his precepts, meaning his instructions or his commandments, must be kept. This is important, it’s a verse right in the middle of these eight verses, and it’s the centerpiece. God, the righteous king, says to OBSERVE his instructions.

Illustration

I worked at Camp Hydaway this past summer. It was a great ministry, we got to see so many kids of all different backgrounds come through and hear about Jesus. It all takes place Liberty University’s property, rented out by Thomas Road.

So of course at the end of the summer it comes time to begin to take things down. We removed decorations, swept and mopped the floors, cleared out the cabins, cleared it all out. There were stages to move, things to put in storage, and things to clean.

Throughout the process, we had to make sure we cleaned it properly. This isn’t our property or our land, so whatever we put up, we take down. Whatever we made dirty, gets cleaned. Whatever was broken, got fixed. We did all this, not really because we just wanted to, just for fun, but because our boss, the director of Camp Hydaway, instructed us to. She told us what to clean, what to move, where to move it, and what to fix. She gave us tasks, and we were told to complete them diligently, how she wanted them.

back to the text

English Standard Version (Psalm 119)

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. V4

That’s what God has commanded. He has commanded his precepts, his instructions, to be obeyed, diligently and completely. And this verse is translated in the NASB as “that we should keep them diligently.” The text has moved from them to we, and theres about to be another change in perspective.

Now it’s about the psalmist himself.

He’s gone from teaching and describing someone else to now a personal prayer that he lifts to God. He seeks to pursue God and his word.

The psalmist has such an intense desire for God and obeying God’s law. He desires to keep God’s laws, and to make them his ways.

Brief comments

In today’s world, many people look at the laws, rules, and instructions from God as legalistic, outdated, and restrictive. The world thinks all these rules about sex and lying and stealing and praying is all too much. Many in our world today think that life is about doing whatever you want. Ultimate freedom. satisfying your desires. “following your heart” doing what’s best for you. All of that is satanic. Literally. the satanic church’s motto is “do as thy will.” Satan wants everyone to pursue their own pleasures. But God stands in direct opposition to that, saying “HERE”S WHAT YOU SHOULD DO! I WROTE IT ALL DOWN FOR YOU! DO THESE THINGS! AND DON’T DO THESE THINGS! And you know why? Because he wanted people to be truly free. Not enslaved to drunkeness and sexual addiction and idolatry but free to live fulfilled lives worshipping God, as they were created to. God’s law, and his scripture, is so good. It is true wisdom, rich and beautiful.

lets read verse 5.

English Standard Version (Psalm 119)

Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! V5

He prays to God that his behavior would be steadfast in keeping God’s laws, his statutes. He says “OH THAT..” which is similar to saying “IF ONLY...” Steadfast is a word used pretty often in the bible, and it’s important that we know what it means. It’s a pretty key word here. And it can be interpreted in a few ways. It can be steadfast, it can be established. The same Hebrew word is used to describe establishing God’s sanctuary, and in Numbers to describe a city being established. In the ESV, it is only translated as steadfast in the Psalms, and it is used often to describe the psalmist’s heart, their heart being steadfast. When looking at those texts, it is often associated with faithfulness.

HE

English Standard Version (Psalm 119)

Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. V6

He wants a free conscience.

he’s seeing people obeying the lord, knowing his word and he’s writing “WOW! THOSE PEOPLE, THE ONES WHO WALK IN GOD’S LAW, THEY HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT! THEY ARE BLAMELESS! THOSE PEOPLE WHO KEEP GOD’S LAWS, THEY SEEK GOD WITH ALL THEY HAVE! THEY DON’T DO ANYTHING WRONG, THEY JUST OBEY GOD, WALKING IN HIS WAYS! THOSE PEOPLE ARE BLESSED! GOD, YOU COMMANDED YOUR PRECEPTS TO BE OBEYED IN FULL, AND MAN, IF ONLY I COULD FAITHFULLY DO THAT. “IF ONLY THE WAY I ACTED WAS FAITHFUL IN KEEPING YOUR LAWS, GOD! THEN I WOULDN’T BE ASHAMED WHEN I LOOK AT YOUR COMMANDS!”

He wants to obey God. He says “if only I would be faithful in it”

Verse 7 says

English Standard Version (Psalm 119)

I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. V7

If his ways were blameless, then he would praise God with an upright heart. His disposition would be uprightness, blamelessness, shamelessness, when he learns God’s righteous rules. He learns them and praises God, giving thanks to him, and now doing it from an upright heart.

In his conclusion, the Psalmist makes a decision, and begs God. He says

English Standard Version (Psalm 119)

I will keep your statutes;do not utterly forsake me , v8

He has recognized that if he just obeyed God, if he followed him, he wouldn’t be ashamed when he looks up God’s commands. He would learn God’s righteous rules and praise God, giving thanks to God for them! So he makes a decision.

I WILL KEEP YOUR STATUTES.

I says “you know what? i’ll do it. I’ll commit to obeying you God. I want to keep your law.”

and then he ends with a plea to God

DO NOT UTTERLY FORSAKE ME!

HE’S SAYING GOD, I’LL OBEY YOU, DON”T LEAVE ME! I’LL OBEY! DON’T Leave! DON’T ABANDON ME!!!

and you get the sense that the psalmist cares an awful lot about God’s presence with him. He commits to following God and his law, praising him, and asks him not to abandon him.

Now, There are three main ways we should respond to this text.

First, we must seek God. Seek him with our whole heart. There are many ways to seek God. We can seek God in prayer, as the psalmist does in writing this text, but what sticks out as the most favorite way to seek God is through his law. God gave his law to Israel, and even though we don’t need to obey the torah anymore, we obey what Jesus/God has commanded: a standard of holy living that often aligns with many of the laws in the Torah.

However, it’s still so valuable to read God’s word, especially his law! One of the reasons he gave his law to Israel was to show them his character. And when we read the Scriptures, God’s holy word, we can see who God is. We can seek him with our whole heart in this way, by reading what he has said to us in the Bible. Practically, that means you should be reading your Bible, every day. It means learning what his word says, who he is. It means discussing God’s word with others, studying it, squeezing out all the insight and theology. it means taking in all the information not to know about God but to truly know God. You must seek God, seek him in his word. read it and pray he’d help you understand it.

Second, praise God! Give him thanks! And praise him with an upright heart because you learned his righteous rules! You should seek God and then from that be able to praise him because of what you have found in him. Praise him and give him thanks for his justice in his rules, his mercy in his rules, his grace for all people. Don’t ever lack giving praise to God. Practically, this means prayer! Lift up prayer to God, thanking him for his word! Think about how amazing it is that we are able to have access to hundreds of resources about the bible, how amazing it is that we can read the bible in english, our own language, when hundreds of years ago the catholic church would’ve killed someone for that. Thank God that he inspired this psalmist to write these words that can encourage us today! Praise him in worship music with songs and hymns and spiritual songs!

Third, Obey God. He has these commands and scriptures not just so that we know him but so that we keep his precepts. Learn what God has asked us to do, what god has commanded for the christian life, and obey! Do it! The king of all creation has given you tasks and roles and things to follow, and we must do them. Faith without works is dead, and so if you’re not doing the works God has commanded you to do, you need to examine why that is. Practically, this means sharing the gospel with people. Loving others by being kind and gentle, but also honest and realistic. It means not letting yourself be addicted to anything, lest you be mastered by it, but instead being a steward of your body that God has bought with a price.

Honestly, the psalmist kinda sounds like us doesn’t he? Ashamed of his lack of obedience and convicted. The good news is that Jesus Christ has delivered you from shame. He is our God and is king, and he humbled himself to take on human form. He lived a blameless life, and was killed for it. But his death wasn’t for long, and he rose from the dead, defeating death. His death on the cross paid the price we should have paid for our sin instead. And his resurrection from the dead brought new eternal life to those who believe. If you don’t believe in Jesus, in the truth of the gospel, I invite you to trust in him, to put faith in him. If you believe he is lord and that he resurrected, then you will be saved, and you’ll enjoy all the wonderful goodness of obeying his word and his commands.

I’ll pray that you would.

Pray

My prayer is that you’d hear this and think, that you’d hear what I said and compare what you heard with the Word of God. If you find any benefit in it, give the Father and his Son the Glory; and also pray for me. If you heard anything weak or wrong in this, apply those things to my weakness, of which I am always full. Grace and peace to you, and God bless you.