A Servant of the Word
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Welcome
Great time witnessing Sunday afternoon
Pray for a man named Jason
Tonight we will continue through Psalm 119
The subject tonight is “The Word of God”
Psalm 119:17-18
God gives Understanding to those who are ready to Obey
God gives Understanding to those who are ready to Obey
“Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your Word”
Notice his attitude
His desire is to live out the Word of God
“That I may live”
This is not talking about physical but spiritually
He is saying, “God be gracious to me that I may live out your Word”
What are some reasons why we read the Bible?
To get a blessing?
To get encouragement?
To know God’s will?
He is asking for God to be good to him so that he can live out God’s Word
His goal in life is to obey
He doesn’t want to blessed just to be blessed
Blessing to him is to live out God’s Word
This is the attitude we must have when we study the Bible
Before we start reading it we must be ready to obey it
We must have already decided there is nothing that we wont do if God asks of us
We must declare to God and over our lives that whatever the Lord may say to us we will do
Why does this matter?
Because it is God who gives us the ability to understand
“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law”
He asks God to open his eyes
The Bible is a spiritual book
And spiritual things must be discerned spiritually
Therefore God must be involved in our Bible study
To get a Word from God
Sight is a metaphor for understanding
When Jesus gave sight to the blind it wasn’t just to see Physically, but to see spiritually
When the scales fell from Paul’s eyes he could see things spiritually
We need spiritual sight to understand the Bible
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Only spiritual people can understand what the Spirit means
If you tell a lost person they must die to themselves to becomes saved they wont understand
If you tell a lost person that they must have faith in God they will not understand
If you tell a spiritual person to persevere in faith they will understand.
We must read the Word of God in faith that we will we will obey whatever it says
We must read the Word of God in faith that we will we will obey whatever it says
When people approach God’s Word as judges or even with contempt they should expect nothing out of it
When people approach God’s Word as having authority over it they should expect nothing from it.
When people approach it as a servant, God will show them wondrous things
Everyone wants to know God’s will
People exclaim all the time that they want to follow God if God would just show them
But many of them don’t really want to do God’s will, they just want to know what it is
And why would God show anyone His will if they are not going to obey it anyways
The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
It’s not that Jesus was trying to hide something from them
It’s that they ignored the things they had already seen
And God is not going to give us great spiritual truths just to see if we like them or not
He gives us wondrous things from the Word when our desire is to do them
Two things we can take from this to help us understand the Word of God
Two things we can take from this to help us understand the Word of God
Come to the Word of God with a commitment to obey whatever He shows you
Prayer is indispensable from good Bible study
Remember he prayed, “God open my eyes”
Always pray before you read
Pray for God to open your eyes to show you what he wants you to see
Pray for God to speak to you through His Word
Verses 19-20
We have a hunger that can only be satisfied by the Word of God
We have a hunger that can only be satisfied by the Word of God
“I am a stranger in the earth”
Now what he means is he lives in a place where he does not belong
He’s not in a strange place
This world is not his home
And this OT truth is a NT truth
This world is not our home
We are only passing through
‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.
Because he is a stranger, the things of this world do not fulfill him or satisfy him
A believer will never find satisfaction in this world
No matter how much of it we have there will always be a void
No matter how much of it we have we will never be satisfied
Christians are not of this world therefore we need food that is not of this world
You can’t feed a fish a steak
He needs something from the water
And you cant feed a cow a fish
He needs something from the ground
And you cant feed a Christian from this world
He needs something from God
This is why he cries out to God and says oh God my soul longs for Your Word!
It speaks of a deep desire for the the things of God
soul: heart, the inner self, i.e., the essence of life, including thinking, feeling, willing, desiring
Without God’s Word he lives an empty life
Without the things of God he feels empty
His soul hungers for the Word of God
Matt 4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God ”
We must understand that our growth begins with God’s Word
If we do not feed on the Bible then we do not grow
Food makes grow
Our kids eat like horses because they are growing so much
Our food for growth is God’s Word
It will not come by the things of this world
“My soul breaks with longing for Your judgements at all times”
Our feeding on the Word of God is to be continuous
To be spiritually healthy is to be consistently feeding on God’s Word
Make it an everyday staple in your diet
The more you know of the Word of God the more you want to know it!
It is like sugar
Eat a little makes you want a little more
The more you read it the more you will understand it
Verses 21-24
Withstand ridicule from this world for keeping God’s Word
Withstand ridicule from this world for keeping God’s Word
(v 22) “Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies”
Reproach:
Definition: shame or disgrace
Contempt:
Definition: this means to disrespect; or verbal mocking
People were looking down on him because he was following God’s Word
They taunted him for following God
They ridiculed him for being faithful
They disrespected him because he was trying to pursue holiness
Because he kept God’s testimonies.
There is a 100% chance you will be ridiculed for being faithful to the Word of God
Walking faithfully with the lord breeds contempt
People will scorn you
People will say you are self righteous
People will call you are a hypocrite
People will say you think you are holier than thou!
And Satan will use these people to try to get you to turn back to the world
Why?
Because the people who ridicule those who walk faithfully in the Word of God belong to the world
And the world belongs to Satan
Satan is the prince, the ruler of this world
And all those who follow the worlds standards and ways will perish with this world
(v 21) “You rebuke the proud—the cursed, who stray from Your commandments”
“Princes speak against me, But Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors”
The Word of God must be more important to us than even ridicule from the world
We must be prepared to hear but never let it change us
“Princes speak against me”
He speaking of people with power
We have a hard time with regular people ridiculing us for following the Word of God’
Imagine the President or governor ridiculing you for being obedient
But none of that matters
He does’t get his direction from people
He knows the people who stray from God’s commandments are cursed no matter what they say
His counselor is the Word of God
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
There is one thing that will always vindicate you: “The Word of God”
People can hate you, and talk about you, but if you are doing your best to follow God’s Word you don’t have to worry about any of that.
We don’t get our counsel from this world or the people of this world
We get our counsel from God
And He has given us His Word that we have divine counsel.
~PRAYER~
