Bible Intake

Introduction

Psalm 119:9–16 ESV

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Psalm 119:33–40 ESV

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!

Psalm 119:105–112 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 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. 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. 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.

Well, good morning!

If you have a Bible, and I hope that you do, again open ‘em up with me to Psalm 119…we’re gonna look at those couple of sections that we just read a few minutes ago.

But if you’ve been with us the last several weeks, we walked through a series looking at the Word of God…we examined what it means for it to be inspired…how it has authority over our life…we saw how to respond to it in light of the power it has.

This sermon series, that we’re starting this morning, it’s kind of a sequel to that series. If we believe those things to be true about the Bible, then the things it lays out for us, they’re good for us, right?

And so, the purpose of this series, its to highlight some of the things the Bible says is good for us…things that help us grow…things that help us mature in our walk with Christ. Spiritual disciplines…the things we should devote ourselves to…which is why I’ve titled this series, “Devoted.”

Over the next 9 Sunday’s, getting us all the way to the Easter season, every week, we’re gonna discuss healthy habits, or healthy disciplines that’ll help you grow spiritually.

And, I get it, we don’t like to be disciplined…being disciplined is hard sometimes. But the purpose of discipline, its to structure us or train us. The Oxford definition for discipline it’s the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior. Now understand, discipline doesn’t always involve punishment…its not like you punishing your kids or something like that…Discipline, it can also involve self-control in certain aspects to train or develop…according to Webster. And so, the purpose of the things we’re gonna cover over the next several months, its things you should devote yourself to, things that’ll train you, things that’ll develop you into godly men and women that care about the glory of God.

Remember our memory verse…our desire, its to love God with all our heart…with all our soul…with all our might. How do we do that? By trusting God’s Word, trusting that it’s instructions are good for us…And its by being disciplined…It’s by doing things that might be hard, but yet good for us.

Listen, for many of us, with the new year, we’ve taken on a new diet. We’ve made the pledge to eat healthier or drink more water or lose weight, whatever it is. But if you’ve ever been on a diet, you know that the things typically better for you…those things aren’t always the best tasting, right? And the opposite, the best tasting things aren’t always the healthiest.

Even more so, the things that seem to be bad for you, those things are everywhere…they’re more readily available…they’re cheaper…they’re easy to get…While the things good for you…those things are gonna cost you more time and more money, right?

Listen, there’s actually a ton of parallels to these truths in the spiritual realm. The things that are bad for you spiritually, things that are bad for your soul…kind of like Big Mac’s are bad for your body…those types of things, they seem to be everywhere. They’re all over TV…the internet…the radio…in the break room at work…in your office. And listen, just like that Krispy Kreme doughnut appeals to you when you’re on that diet…these things, they appeal to your fleshy desires. And yet they’re not good for you.

Guys, if we’re gonna avoid these things that are toxic to our spiritual health…if we’re gonna actually take in the things that make us stronger and healthier…we’re gonna have to be intentional…we have to disciplined.

And so, with all that being said…there isn’t a spiritual discipline more important than the intake of God’s Word.

And I get it, you’re sitting there thinking, “Here we go again…he’s drilling us about reading the Bible, all over again.” But listen, the purpose of this sermon, its to show you how to read it and how to study it…how to live it out.

This morning, I wanna talk about what we eat…not physically but spiritually. I wanna talk about Bible intake, about absorbing God’s Word…allowing it to nourish you and conform you and strengthen you. I want you to see…I want you to understand that there’s simply no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of Scripture.

And listen, the reasons for that, its because the Bible, it informs us about God…about His Son, Jesus…It tells us about the standard of God, how we’ve rebelled against God…It’s there we learn how Christ died as a sinless, willing Substitute for sinners…how we’re to repent and believe in Him to be right with God. The Bible, it shows us the ways and the will of God. We find in there how to live in a way that’s pleasing to Him…we find how to live in ways that’s satisfying and fulfilling to ourselves. This information, it’s not found anywhere else…its not in self help books…it’s found in the very Word of God. And so, if we’re gonna know God and if we’re gonna live a godly life…its gonna take us being intimately connected to the Scriptures, engaging with it constantly!

Listen, I struggled deciding on a passage for us to walk through on this topic because its just everywhere in Scripture…from the very beginning.

In the beginning, God spoke and the world was created. God's Word, it’s so powerful that it took nothing and it created something…In the Garden of Eden, it was a violation of God's Word that led to the fall of mankind…When Israel made its covenant with God, God told them to be diligent to do all that He had told them, to teach His law to their children (our memory verse)…David devotes entire Psalms to the Word of God…When revival broke out in Israel in the time of Nehemiah (we saw this last week), it was because Ezra read from the Word of God…When Jesus was tempted in the desert, He rebuked the devil and He said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God…It’s the Word of God that produces faith and leads us to salvation because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Nothing is as important in the spiritual growth of a believer as is the regular intake of Scripture.

But again, I think you believe that…the problem, I think, it’s not so much in our belief of that, it’s in our practice…which is why I landed on Psalm 119. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible and the entire thing, its devoted to the Word of God.

And so, we took some time during the prayer time to read our passage (to save a little bit of time this morning)…and so, let’s just dive into it.

If you’re taking notes, I have three points for us this morning as we walk through these passages…number 1, Read the Word…number 2, Study the Word…and then number 3, Live the Word.

And so, if you’re there with me…let’s look at this first point together.

I. Read the Word (vv. 9-16)

Read the Word.

Psalm 119, again it’s the longest chapter in the Bible. There’s 176 verses here…And listen, it’s one of the most unique passages we have in Scripture. It’s an acrostic poem that’s divided into 22 different stanzas. And each stanza, it begins with a corresponding letter from the Hebrew alphabet. There’s 8 verses in each of the stanzas, and the first word of each verse, it begins with that same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, corresponding to that section. It’s pretty neat. But listen, the whole point of this poem, it’s to highlight the psalmist’s deep love and appreciation for the Word of God.

Now, we don’t know the author for sure, most scholars believe King David wrote this…and that he wrote it over the course of his lifetime…it wasn’t something he wrote in one sitting. He kept coming back to it over and over again throughout his life.

And listen, the content of this psalm, its one of angst and frustration…its one of awe and hope. I think it hits in all the spots that someone serious about following God is gonna deal with.

But understand, we could literally do a whole series on Psalm 119 alone. There’s so much here to unpack…even within the sections we’re gonna look at today. And so, my encouragement to you, at some point this week, maybe go back and just add this chapter to your reading plan…read over it and just see how David wrestles through different things as he walks with God, and look at the solutions he presents in this poem.

And so, with that, let’s look at what this Psalmist says again starting in verse 9:

Psalm 119:9–16 ESV

How can a young man keep his way pure? Listen, if you were to go back to the start of this poem, David says some things here that are crushing to us. He starts it off by saying, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless…blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord…who keep his testimonies.” You read that and you’re like, “Whelp that’s certainly not describing me…I’m not blameless…I’m not perfect…and so, this chapter, it absolutely doesn’t apply to me.” But guys, if the author is David…and I believe that it is…Was David a perfect man? Was he blameless?…NO!!! He was an adulterer…he was a murderer. Remember these are things he’s wresting with in his heart. “Blessed are those whose way is blameless.” Verse 9, the question he presents here…its’ a question to himself. “How do I do those things.” The first couple of stanzas, it’s presenting the idea, it’s showing us how to have a fulfilling life, a satisfying life. It’s giving a picture of what a blessed life looks like…its one that’s blameless…one that walks in the law of God…one that keeps His testimonies…that’s diligent, that’s steadfast, righteous. The question though, is “How?” He described what that kind of life looks like…but how do I get that? Look at what he says, jump down to verse 10… let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! “Teach me, help me live out your Word!,” he says. Here’s what I want you to see…Even David, a man after God’s own heart…even David, by his own admission, struggled with some of the same things we do. Just look at what he says, “Let me not wander from your commandments.” Don’t we find, more often than not, that we’re wandering from what we know to be true? David’s saying, “I know what God’s Word says…I know what’s true…I know what it looks like to submit and follow Him”…but He’s struggling to do what he knows God would have for him to do. If the standard of God is blamelessness…I couldn’t give you a day where I could say, “I’m confident I’ve been blameless, that I’ve kept the law of the Lord perfectly…where I’ve been wholehearted in my zeal for Him.” My walk, its inconsistent…its messy. And listen, if we’re honest here…we’d have to confess, this is true about each of us. We have highs, we have lows…One day we’re on fire for the Lord and the next we’re frozen. We have the same problem as David, we’re constantly wrestling with submission and obedience…And one of the things we see here, this actually points to the finished work of Christ on the cross, if you were to read through it all…In fact, in the New Testament, at the sermon on the mount (The Beatitudes), Jesus gives us a whole new list of “Blessed are the…”…Jesus shows us that blamelessness, it’s not gonna be achieved by our own effort…It’s only by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross…that His life, His death, His resurrection purchased our salvation and dwelt with our sins; past, present, and future. And then of course we know, the Holy Spirit, He’s given to us…He emboldens us toward obedience…our ability to seriously pursue the things of God. Listen, we as Christians…we have a bad habit of kind of putting on this facade…like we know what we should be doing, we act like we’re doing those things…but then we live completely differently. I think if we’re gonna get serious about our walk, we have to acknowledge first, like David here, that’s who we are…and then we have acknowledge the thing He’s given us to grow us. If we’re gonna break this cycle of secret sins we live in…if we’re gonna embrace this body of believers that we’re called to be…one where confession’s happening…where constant repentance is happening, we’re gonna have to individually root ourselves to the thing that He’s given that has power. Right? Our sanctification, it begins at our acknowledgement of our own depravity…it’s acknowledging our problem, it’s admitting who we are…and it’s embracing the community God’s called you to, those that He’s placed around you to keep you straight…and listen, it’s embracing His Word and engaging with it. David asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” Go back to verse 9…he says, “By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; That word “seek” there, its indicating an active pursuit of God’s will. David’s disciplining himself. That’s why he’s asking for the Lord’s help with it. Verse 14: In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

David wasn’t a perfect man…and he admitted that…frequently…but guys, David was a man after God’s own heart because David sought to learn about God…He delighted in His Scriptures. He was in it, constantly.

How can a man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to the Word!

Guys, if the world is dark...and if we go out into the world daily…we have to, right?…How often should we be in God’s Word if it’s the thing that guards us?…Daily, right?

Notice what he says, “I’ll mediate on it…I’ll my fix my eyes on it…I’m gonna delight it.” That phrase there, it’s not suggesting he already delights it in necessarily, he’s saying, “I’m gonna force myself to delight in it…because ultimately I know its good for me.”

And so, my first encouragement to you…read the Word! And don’t just open it up and read random parts of it…read it systematically…read it from start to finish. Don’t read it like a normal book, once and done…Read it over and over again.

Guys, I know I’ve said this before…I know I’m like a broken record…but get a reading plan. We have some at the info table…if you go to the Resources tab on our website we have all kinds of plans for new and old believers alike. Get into the Bible. Read it. Do it individually…do it corporately…and guys, do it in groups, so that there’s some accountability.

And listen, again…read the Bible…quit prioritizing some devotional.

More times than not, when I ask someone to share what they’ve been reading in their quiet times…they give me something they read in a devotional. And listen, I’m even working on this within our leadership on some of the boards…Its all of us. I wanna know that you’re putting the Words of God on your heart…not someone else’s words.

Remember our memory verse, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…with all your soul…with all your might…How?…by putting HIS Words on your heart!”

Read the Word of God!…According to the psalmist here, that’s how we keep our way pure.

II. Study the Word (vv. 33-40)

Point number 2…study the Word.

Jump down to verse 33 with me. If you were reading the chapter as a whole here…you’d see there’s a shift in the theme…there’s a plead….their pled, its for God to cause them to love what is good and to hate what is bad.

It says:

Psalm 119:33–40 ESV

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. “Cause me to keep it,” he says. Listen, if you’ve followed Jesus for any length of time, I think you can understand that prayer, right? “Cause me to keep it…I wanna be more consistent than I am. I want there to be some discipline…some pursuit of you…Cause me to keep what I know to be good! I’m tired of this spiritual inconsistency in my life” He goes on and he says: Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Listen, I love this poem…this prayer…whatever you wanna call it…there’s just some much of our own desires in it…it’s such a human prayer. Look at what he says…, “I don’t wanna just observe your law…I don’t wanna just read it and know it…I wanna observe it with” what? “My whole heart!” Well, now we’re starting to get right down to what our memorize says, right? To love God with our whole heart. I think we can all relate to David’s pled here…he doesn’t wanna be half-hearted…he doesn’t wanna be half in. He wants to follow God wholeheartedly…with all of himself…but he’s struggling…he can’t will it on his own…he needs the power of God to bring that about in him. Which is something we just need to be reminded of again. We can’t lose sight of who we are. Our will, it’s depraved and it’ll always choose contrary to God. The moment we think we got this Christian life figured out…the moment we think we’re doing good, that’s usually the moment we’re furtherest from God. Remember why God had to go through such lengths to save us…because sin’s root, in our hearts, its deep…and its caused our will to always think about our own desires above anything else. And so, David’s pleading here…, “God do something about my problem. I wanna walk with you…I wanna keep what I know is good…but I can only do that by your power!” Recognize that in yourself…Plead to God for that. He continues: Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. “Cause me to delight in your Law”…that’s actually what he’s saying here. “Do something in me that awakens my delight for you.” He says: Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Remember what I said a second ago…there’s a shift here. There’s a pled for God to cause a love for good and a hate for evil, right? Look at what he says here. “Turn my heart to your ways…make me care about you. I don’t want it to be about me anymore.” Guys, if we’re honest…again, we can relate to this prayer. Everything about us, about our culture…it breeds selfishness. It’s all about us…its about our ambitions…about our accomplishments…its about what we wanna do. And regardless of what we know to be true sometimes, we still choose ourselves and what we want. And David, he’s getting caught up in the same things…he saying, “I don’t wanna use my wealth…I don’t wanna use my power for selfish gain…Cause me to hate selfish gain!” Look at how he continues: Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. “Cause me,” he’s saying…, “To turn from worthless things.” Its the same thing Paul says to the church of Philippi:

Philippians 4:8 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about [marvel at…drink in] these things. Look at verse 38:Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. And so, David wants to love good and hate evil…and he says, “I wanna fear God…Cause me to fear your name.” Why?…Because a fear of the Lord, its the beginning of all wisdom (Psalm 111:10). David, wants to walk in wisdom, and the beginning of wisdom is fear. When God is big, when God is majestic…when God is huge…when we’re small…it puts us in a proper place to begin really walking in a way that’s good for us. Because again, it reminds us of who God is and who we are. When I fear God, appropriately…when I make God big and me small…I have more freedom…I’m able to rest…I’m able to walk in the things God has for me because I’m putting it on His shoulders and not my own. David says:Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!“Cause me life…lead me into life!” That’s David’s pled here. And listen, the whole point of this Psalm, its that the Law of God, it’s the very thing that leads us into life. Every “Thou shall’t” or every “Thou shall,” it’s written so that you might walk in the world the way God designed it. The things we see laid out in this book, they’re meant for our joy…He’s not trying to take things away from you. Instead, He’s trying to offer you the very best experience of whatever those things are telling you…marriage, sex, food, whatever it is. That’s why Jesus says in John 14:15:

John 14:15 (ESV)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Keep ‘em, not just because its good for God…keep ‘em, ultimately because it’s good for you!

I mean hasn’t Jesus shown you that He loves you?…That He’s got your very best interest at heart?

Obedience to the Law…obedience to the Word of God, that’s where joy comes from.

And so, how do we get there?

Well, if God’s Word is the means to our joy…then I think we have to approach it differently than we do just any other book, right? It’s not enough for us to just read it…I mean look at what David’s saying here, we have to study it.

Isn’t he pleading with God for understanding? To cause an understanding?

It means we have to be disciplined…trusting that as we dig into it, God, through His Spirit, He’s gonna illuminate our minds.

Listen, when I read the Word, for my quiet time…I usually read that section, for the day, multiple times…I read it out loud…I listen to it on the Bible app…I look for repetition within the text, repeated words. I use other resources to try and understand the original purpose of each book or letter.

I’ve said this before but until you put yourself in the original audiences’ shoes…until you do that, you’ll never understand the original purpose the author had, and because of that, you’ll never really be able to apply God’s truth to your life. If you’re just reading the Bible and not studying the Bible, digging into the Bible, this is gonna be just some other book for you with a bunch of useful information. It’s not gonna change your life.

Guys, we have more resources today then at any other point in the history of the church, and we’re probably the most biblical illiterate generation of Christians there’s ever been.

Hear the heart of David here…seek to understand and pray for God to cause something in you that only He can do. That’s where study starts…petition…prayer. Placing all of your dependence on the only One that can give you understanding.

Listen, if you’re taking notes…let me just give you a simple strategy I use when I’m reading through the Bible, when I’m studying it…(And if you don’t get it all, that’s okay…all of this, its under our ‘Resources’ tab on our website)…It’s called the HEAR strategy…H…E…A…R. (Highlight, explain, apply, respond).

Every time I read, I highlight a passage that maybe I didn’t quite understand…or maybe it was just something that was stuck in my head, and I write it down. I highlight it. I have a journal for this…Writing it down, it also helps me to memorize that verse.

From there, I try to explain that verse, in its original context. Two or three lines about the author, the audience, its purpose…what it means to the original reader. If you have a good study Bible, those are good places to really dig into those verses. You can use commentaries…online resources. But try to understand the original context of that verse.

And then listen, once I feel like I grasp that verse…I try and apply it to today…Now that I understand what it means, how does it apply to me?…What does God want me to know about whatever it is I’m reading. Right?

And then from there, I respond. I write a short, simple prayer to God…responding to what it is He’s shown me…because ultimately, studying His Word, its not about reading some book, its about coming into, more fully, the presence of God…so that I might walk in a way that’s more and more blameless, by His power. Amen?

I highlight, I explain, I apply, I respond…every time I read the Word. I engage with it…because its true…because its good…because there’s real power in it.

And listen, as you study...work to memorize it...work to put it on your heart, so even if you don’t a physical copy of God’s Word, it’s still there to encourage you.

And so, the second point, we have to study the Word...we have to engage with it.

III. Live the Word (vv. 105-112)

And then real quickly, the third point…live the Word.

Listen, as we get to this section...the tone, its shifted a lot. What I love about this Psalm, there’s so many lows and highs. It’s so relatable to us. And what we’re seeing now...David, he has this nearness to the Lord and because of that, there’s this sustaining fruitful life. Like, David’s in love here...that’s what he says all the way back in verse 97. He can’t get enough of God. Its all he thinks about all day long...God, His Word. He’s consumed.

And listen, because of this new found love...there’s some things David says are the result of that love. He says back in verse 98, “Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies.”...If you know David’s life, and even throughout this Psalm...we see there were these enemies that were constantly out to get him...there’s these princes and kings that are trying to kill him...there’s all kinds of people that were against him. And yet, none of ‘em were ever victorious. And so, in this high moment we’re seeing with him here...he’s saying, “God, you’ve made me smarter than my enemies.” He says, “You’ve made me smarter than my teachers,” in the next verse. He says, “I understand more than the aged [or more than the elderly].” Which probably indicates he was still a young man when he wrote this section…the Word of God, it made him wiser than his years.

And so, David’s at this high in his walk with God...The Word of God, its impacted him in ways that he’s just left astounded. He can’t believe it...He loves the Word of God. Verse 103 says, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” He’s like a paid spokesman for the Bible now...Its finger licking good! He’s witnessed just how sweet it can be in one’s life.

But look at our passage starting in verse 105, that’s really what I want you to see here. It says:

Psalm 119:105 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Listen, how many times in your life have you been at a fork...you thought, “Man, I just don’t know which direction to take or where to go or what decision to make.”? And so, you ask some friends...maybe some co-workers, family…whatever it is...but listen to David here, the Word of God, it illuminates things in our path that we wouldn’t have naturally seen before. The Word of God, it sustains our love for God because it keeps us on the course that God would have us on.

That’s why in our memory verse Moses combines our love for God with the Word of God.

David continues:

Psalm 119:106–112 ESV

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. 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. 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.

Listen, a couple of things here...there’s a lot but I just wanna point out two things...the first, David says, “I hold my life in my hand continually.” One of the things I pray over you, its’ that you would live your life with an open hand...to cry out to God, to wrestle through difficulties...to plead with the Lord for your heart’s desires...and listen, to hold all things with an open hand, trusting that God gives to his children what’s best…That’s what David’s saying here..., “I’m holding my life with an open hand...I’m open handed about my life. You lead me, You guide me…my life, its yours!” He’s saying here, “I trust you, I’m gonna live my life according to your Word.”

I know life’s hard...I know our culture’s so different than the things laid out for us His Word...but live life with an open hand, trusting that God will sustain us...trusting that His Word will grow us!

And then the second thing, he says, “Your testimonies, they’re my heritage...for they’re the joy of my heart!”

Listen, one of the things I’m super prideful about, its that I’m Cajun from Louisiana. I feel like because of that, I’m expert of some sort on things of food and taste. I like to give you my opinion on what I really think about your cooking...But let me give you just a little secret...I don’t know how to cook a lick of Cajun food (My wife cooks more Cajun food then I even know how to and she’s never lived there). I haven’t lived there in over 25 years...and when I do go back to visit, I sound so different, no one even thinks I’m from there…The reality is because I was pretty much raised in South Carolina, its hard for me to really claim Cajun ways as my ways, right? I don’t sound like those guys on Swamp People. My family does, I don’t. I’m more South Carolinian because that’s just who’s poured into me the most.

But listen, you know what David’s saying here?...What he’s proud of? Who he says he belongs to? He’s saying here, “I belong to the God of the Bible, that’s my people...that’s my heritage!...And that brings me great joy!

Several years ago, I got hooked on ancestry.com...I was able to go back a couple of generations and I found all kinds of cool people and stories that really built up my heritage. The more I uncovered about my heritage, the more I became consumed with learning more. I mean really, it was probably an addiction. I traced my family line all the way back into the 1400’s. But the more I found, the more proud I became about my heritage...and the more fulfillment it brought me. There’s something about learning who you are...where you came from...There’s something about that, that helps you figure out where you’re headed.

David found joy in the Word of God...because it uncovered his heritage...and it allowed him to see where God was taking him. It brought him joy.

Listen, the thing I love about David and the things he wrote in the Psalms...the thing that draws me to him, its just his way of being relatable...right? Like when you think about somebody like Paul...it seems like Paul’s just some kind of superhero or something...like he wears a cape...because there’s nothing that really causes him to stumble. Like his enemies they’d say, “We’re gonna kill you if you keep on preaching Jesus.” And Paul would say, “To die is gain.” “Okay, we’ll let you live.” Well, “To live is Christ.” “Okay, we’ll put you into a prison!” “Fine, I’ll reach the guards for Jesus!” It seemed like Paul was bulletproof.

But yet, what we read in the Psalms, with David, we see someone that’s much more relatable...someone that’s wrestling with right and wrong...someone that has these really high highs and these really low lows. And to us, it’s much more human...I think that’s why I’m just drawn to the Psalms.

But guys, listen to the heart of a man that didn’t have it all together...listen to the heart of a man that didn’t have life figured out, that struggled, that fell sometimes...listen to the thing he says changed his life...forever...The Word of God.

When we’re in it...when we read it...when we study it, it naturally transforms us and it causes us to live it out. And as we live it out...as the Word illuminates our path…our love for God, it’ll grow...it’ll show...it’ll pour out of us. That’s actually what we see in our memory verse if you were to keep reading in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

If you read through this Psalm, David’s love for God, it grows as he devotes himself to the Word.

And so, listen...that’s what I wanna challenge you to do this morning.

Maybe you’re here and you’ve been following the Lord for years...maybe you’re a newer believer...maybe you’ve been reading the Bible...but you’re not really digging into to...you’re just kind of habitually coming to it and you’re not getting anything out of it.

Closing

Listen, if you’re a believer, I want you to commit to a reading plan. I want you to commit this morning, that you’re gonna take one of our reading plans...again, we have some at the table...there’s others on our website...I want you to take that and I want you to commit to walking through it.

And listen, not just that...but I want you to commit that you’re gonna engage with the Word of God. Study it. Meditate on it. Maybe use something like the HEAR Journal.

And then again, I want you to commit to meeting with someone, in this church, intentionally to hold you accountable to the Word of God.

If you don’t have the time to do these things, make time...get up 30 mins earlier...cut something in your life that’s empty. Make this a priority because ultimately you know it’s good for you.

Would you bow your head and close your eyes?

And so, that’s what I want you to do as we worship. I want you to take some time this morning making some commitments to the Lord...devoting yourselves to things that you know are good for you...and then building barriers, or accountability, to keep you disciplined in those areas...so that you grow in your walk and in your love for the Lord.

But listen, if you’re here and you don’t know Jesus...pay attention to David’s pleads here. David made a mess of his life. He fell into terrible things over and over again. He wasn’t perfect. And he struggled with so many of the things that you and I do.

But guys, he understood his problem, that he was a sinner...in nature and by choice. He struggled with doing what was right sometimes because that was just who he was. And listen to his psalm here, he knew there wasn’t anything that he could do to change that problem on his own. That’s why he’s pleading with the Lord. Help me to love your Law...Help me to love what’s good and righteous...Help me to walk in your ways. He couldn’t do it and he knew that.

But guys, that’s why Jesus came. He came to remove that burden from us. Jesus, being God, took on flesh, He lived a perfect, righteous life...He died a death meant us...and He rose three days later...all so that we might have life...so that the guilt and shame that we’ve brought on could be removed. We don’t have to be good enough...we don’t have to be perfect in order to stand before God...because Jesus was all those things for us. Jesus was good enough...and that’s why the Bible says that all we have to do is repent and believe. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, that He raised from the death and you will be saved.

And so, maybe for you, maybe that’s what you need to do today.

But listen, whatever it is...however you’re convicted, you take this time, respond to the Lord...and I’ll close us in just a minute. I’ll be in the back if you need me.

[Prayer]