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Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a pleasure to bring the Word of God to the Saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.
When I was in middle school I wanted to be Steve Prefontaine. Pre was a track and field phenom in the late 60’s through early 70’s. My track coach introduced me to the long haired runner from Oregon. Before being introduced to Pre, all of the athletic Hero’s I knew were basketball or football players. But when you go back and look up the clips of Prefontaine running, it is incredible to see that he would sell out full venues with people there to watch him run a 5000 meter race. But that is exactly what would happen. And as a young tween, I was enamored. I even grew out my hair to match what I saw in the clips of Pre. But if you couldn’t tell, despite a brief period of interest, I didn’t grow up to be the next Prefontaine. My long distance running career didn’t last into high school and barely made it through the 8th grade season.
Kids, this is not a suggestion but rather a confession. I remember one time I was in a two mile race and I was just getting absolutely smoked by the other runners and I had had enough. So instead of gritting it out till the end, after a couple of laps I acted like I tripped, fell off to the side of the track, and limped off so I wouldn’t have to finish the race. The self-powered goal of becoming the next Prefontaine was not enough to sustain me when there was a modicum of adversity and effort required.
All throughout the New Testament, we see that Christian life is compared to a race. We see Paul reflecting back on his ministry to Timothy saying that he has finished the race, he has kept the faith. In Hebrews believers are called to run with endurance the race that is set before us. Paul tells the churches of Galatia that they were running a good race before distractions came in. Beyond these specific references, you see many inferences to the endurance that is necessary to live out a life for the glory of God.
When we think about it, there are quite a few similarities to life and a race. Each requires steady pace and endurance. You will be met with challenges and obstacles. You can see a correlation to the physical exhaustion of a runner and the times where we just want to crumble from the stresses in life. You can also see improvement in the athletes performance the longer they are committed to training. You see dedication typically result in improvement in the everyday life as well.
But if we want to press this analogy further, I think a major problem is that people approach the race of life like I did middle school cross country running. I idolized and individual but when the going got tough, it wasn’t enough for me to keep going. I tapped out and failed the race.
In the “race of life” if you would, it takes more than a dream to make it through. It takes more than following a personal hero to be eternally successful. You need more than self-powered motivation. This is the thing that so many people are blind to see, people need the Lord! Salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ is the only way to attain the crown given to the victors of this life. As we look forward to receiving that crown we should note two important truths. 1. It is Christ’s victory that he shares with all those who believe in Him and 2. The victory is for God’s glory not our own. So once we wrap our minds around those foundational truths, we see just how amazing it is that God would equip us to run this race with endurance and inherit glory!
Through Jesus Christ, we are given something more than a flawed person to seek to emulate. We are given a perfect example of never-faltering glory. But God, in His great love, didn’t just look at His broken creature and say, “Go by your own strength and try to be perfect as Christ was perfect. No, God did instruct this broken creature to be holy as He is holy, but He gave us the Holy Spirit to enable us to do it! Allow me to read a lengthy bit of Scripture that just about preaches itself! Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ. When we see Him for the Savior He is and have that God given desire to follow Him, our flesh is crucified along with Christ and we are given the Holy Spirit to guide us in lives lived for the glory of God. We see in this section of verses that Spirit produces in us those things which or impossible for the broken flesh to create on its own. We see the allusions to the race of life being winnable by walking by the Spirit whom God has given us.
With this in mind, turn in your BIbles, if you have not already, to Psalm 119. Today we are going to pick up in verse 105 and go through the 14th stanza, finishing in verse 112. We willl be focussing on how the Spirit who breathed out the Word of God then applies that Word in our lives which results in us walking through life for God’s glory.
Let’s begin in verse 112:
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
As we have been equating the journey of life to a race this morning, we see that metaphor complimented by the beginning of this stanza of Psalm119. The Psalmist sings that God’s Word is a lamp to his feet and light to the path.
We should all be noting here that God’s Word gives clear direction to the lives of believers.
As it has become clear this morning, I don’t love running. But I do make myself do it at the gym sometimes. If I’m being honest this morning, I hate every second of it! So sometimes when I’m going on the treadmill, I just have to close my eyes and try to forget where I’m at. I can do this on the treadmill because I’m in a controlled environment. Sometimes when I run outside I try this too. I’m like let this run just get over with and I’ll close my eyes for a few paces. You know what happens? I trip! Something catches me unawares and I’ve even fallen before! Let’s push the analogy further. What would happen if I tried to do a run outdoors in the pitch black with no source of light? Well, I’d likely trip again. But I’d also be pushed around by the obstacles I didn’t see coming. I’d have no way of gauging how much time is left in the run. I’d be bumbling and oblivious.
Such is the Christian’s life when we neglect the Word of God. Bumbling and oblivious.
God’s Word is to be the lamp unto our feet! The light to our paths. It’s one thing if you walk in darkness unaware of where to find the Light. It is quite another to know where the flashlight is and continue stumbling round in darkness out of your own stubbornness!
The Bible is the primary means through which God shows us how to walk and where to walk. If you want to know how to honor God in your life, BE IN HIS WORD!
I think that some folks devalue the Word of God because they want the Bible to be the fortune cookie of their life. They want to open up to the middle Zechariah and hear God tell them they should take that new job, or ask that girl out on a date, or move to Seattle. But the instruction found in God’s Word is so much better than that! The teaching of God’s Word made known through God’s Spirit is not so much concerned or pointed towards where we are, but who we are! The guidance received in the Word of God shows us how we are to be in to give God glory. It is applicable to us no matter what our vocation is, who we are spending time with, or where we live. Don’t get me wrong, there are things in our lives that God’s Word will clearly convict us that we need to remove them. But our first concern ought not to be which accounting firm should I work for, but rather how can I be a God glorifying accountant! Not should I go to Florida on vacation, but how can I rest in the Lord and use this time with my family for His glory. Do you see the difference here?
Look with me to Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus as an example:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Simple paraphrase:
Church walk like this: Be humble and gentle, be patient, put up with one another, have love amongst you, maintain that peace that comes from God. For you all are made one in the One God! Praise God for the gift of Grace that is Christ’s gift.
Paul didn’t write to the church of Ephesus and say, any of you that are working as bakers quit that and start being fishermen. Elsewhere we read the instruction, Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
God’s Word will make a massive impact on your life and will show up in your vocational choices, your relationships, and your leisure, but that happens as His Spirit mold us into His image through convicting us of sin, and showing what it is to walk worthy right where we are.
Lord, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Let’s look now at the next three verses
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word! Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.
In this section we see pressing on through affliction.
Verse 106 begins by showing us the psalmist confidence and commitment to the Lord. He says he has sworn and conformed his oath to keep God’s righteous rules.
The Psalmist is expressing the intense desire he has to follow the Lord. This is a pronunciation of a solemn pledge, one not entered into lightly but convictionally held to the core of his being. The confirmation he speaks of, or if your reading along in another translation it might say, I will perform of, speaks of putting the oath into practical application. Lord I don’t just say that I want to follow you, but I seek to apply it in my everyday life.
Church, when we see the covenantal love and faithfulness the Lord has towards us, it is GOOD to seek to show that love back. We should all leave here this morning solemnly committed to obeying the Lord. But in my studies this week I came across a cautionary example. As we consecrate our lives to following the Lord, may we not forget where the ability to do so comes from.
There once was a man who “decided that he would live a more dedicated and obedient life. He wrote out a covenant with God, and in a very serious and solemn way, he even signed it with his own blood. It wasn’t long until he started failing in his commitment to the covenant – first in small ways and then more and more. This plunged him into deep distress, almost to total despair. Then he considered that the arrangement he had made with God was actually legalistic and pharisaical, especially in the way that it relied on the power of his own vows and resolutions. So he took the covenant to the top of his house, tore it into small pieces, and threw it to the wind. He did not feel himself free from the promises themselves, only now he was of a mind to not rely on himself or his own vows, but only on the blood of Jesus Christ and the indwelling power of His Spirit. This led to a much better result, and he was close to the source of comfort and restoration when he did fail.”
Remember that in our desire to live our lives for the glory of God as shown to us in His glorious Word, that we are not dependent on ourselves to do so, but on the God who lavishes us with his grace through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Our Psalmist was seeing the grace of God to work through him even when he was in a particularly bad circumstance. He says, I am severely afflicted.
Now if we go back to the race analogy, this is where I want to tap out! Start feeling a little cramp in the leg. That’s what our flesh begs us to do! Tap out in affliction! But what does the psalmist do?? Look at the rest of verse 107.
He cries out to God! Give me life! He says Lord, I am hitting a wall in life but I know you can bust me through! I might be going through it now, but I continue to offer up things in my life knowing that you will bring me through!
So often when we are burned or burned out we turn away from the Lord. We get out the Word, We get out of the church. We don’t even want to think about the idea of giving an offering!
The psalmists words here are not a blue print for getting out of affliction. But they are a blueprint for getting through it. What do I mean here? Well, there is no guarantee anywhere in Scripture that you will not be afflicted. Nor is there a guarantee that you will always be safe and comfortable. In fact, its quite the opposite. If you look at the lives of the 12 disciples closest to Jesus and assume the historical reports are correct, you find most lost their lives in very gruesome fashions that you wouldn’t put on your worst enemies. Yet they remained faithful, even unto death. So knowing that we are not guaranteed our best life now, we can see these verses as guidance to persevere in affliction. Call out to the Lord for life knowing the He gives eternal life. Give up offerings knowing that it all belongs to him. Accept His teaching knowing God is good.
If you know the grace of God you can stay confident and committed based on His power and goodness even in times of trial.
Look now to verse 109-110
I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
This couplet reiterates the idea we saw in the previous group. The psalmists life was in danger consistently, but he did not forget God’s law. Let’s be real this morning y’all, so often we get a hangnail and we bout to lose our religion.
Sometimes when we see verses like these two we only think about physical danger. And it is true that the psalmist, likely King David, lived a life that was full of physical danger, but the principle applies to spiritual danger as well.
The wicked have laid snares. We see in scripture, namely Ephesians 6, that the devil is scheming against us. There are spiritual snares placed around us. But I don’t want to give the devil more credit than he is due. We also live in a fallen world where people love to pull us into their fallenness. We also still live in this flesh that rears its head. I say all of this so that we see that there are spiritual snares, temptations, pitfalls, all around us all the time. What do we do when we see them? We can answer that with what we don’t do. We do not stray from the Lord’s precepts.
Keep the pace. Plod on for the glory of God. All of the connections between life being a race that we have seen today make even more sense when we realize that life is marathon. Not a sprint. We plod on day by day for the glory of God. We keep the precepts over the pitfalls. That is how we have a fulfilling life for the glory of God.
Its in the next two verses that the Psalmist looks towards the end of his race.
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.
Church we can plod on in this marathon we call life with the finish line in mind and oh what a glorious finish it is going to be.
The psalmist, well versed and enamored by the word of God, has gotten a glimpse of God’s glory and it has consumed his life. He says that God’s Word is his heritage forever. We could take a moment to note all of the promises that God has for His people throughout His Word. Those are surely wonderful. We could take a moment to note the great imperishable crown that is promised to the victors which we’ve already mentioned once today. We could take a moment here and talk about the great honor it is that God would take a sinful creature like you or I and by faith make us into a kingdom and priests. But there is something else, more correctly centered, that I want to take a moment to shed some light on.
The psalmist says, “Your testimonies are my heritage forever, they are the joy of my heart.” All of those things I just quickly cycled through are definitely great blessings the Lord gives to His people. But I’m not sure if you know this, and if not let today be the day you fully understand this, God’s testimonies, His Law, His Word, is not ultimately all about the good things we receive. The good things we receive are a pleasant byproduct of the main story.
And here is the main story, the main thing we see tying Genesis to Revelation and everything in between.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
You see at first that looks like everything is about us right? In Him WE have redemption. He saved US, Forgave US, Lavishes US. But then verses 9 and 10 set the record straight for us. The great overarching narrative of Scripture is God making it known that He is uniting all things in the fullness of time and He does so through Jesus Christ. You are not the main storyline of Scripture, but God bringing everything together for His glory is!
And this is good news! This is the best news! What a relief it is to know that He’s got the whole world in His hands, you and me included! What a pleasure it is to know that God is working all things together for the good of His people. What a grace it is to know He’s got a plan!
When we see the glory of God through the goodness of His Word, we should join in with the Psalmist singing:
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.
Seeing God’s glory and being convicted by His Spirit through the proclamation of His Word gives both joy to the heart who receives it and a desire to follow His Word, to the end, even unto death. Why were the apostles willing to die for a carpenter’s son the Pharisee’s didn’t like? Because they saw that He truly is the Son of God. Because they heard their Good Shepherd and followed Him.
Church if we have caught a glimpse of the glory of God through His Word then we should be hard-pressed not to heed it!
God’s Word is a light unto our feet and a light unto our path and it continues to be all the way to the end! On this side of glory, may we be steadfast in the Word. Cling to it. God will work through His Word to conform us into Christ image.
If you’ve been a Christian 9 days or 90 years, I hope that you see the goodness of God’s Word. I hope that it lights your life to the end.
As we get ready to close out this morning, I want to draw our attention to something I think is really cool. In the here and now, God’s Word lights up our path. In the glory to come, after we’ve finished our races, when sin is no more and God has consummated His glorious plan, look at how bright that light shines:
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Here and now the Word of God lights our path as we run this race we call life. There is coming a day where sin will be no more and the Light of the Lamb shines brightly over all we can see. What a heritage we find in His Word.
You see God is bringing creation back to His Holy perfection.
Three circles
Three circles
In the beginning… Man sinned… Christ…
