Stanza Gimel: "A Stranger"

Sermon Primer

So far we have established that holiness is happiness, and that it is our wisdom first to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. We began our journey with a true idea of blessedness. We established the way to a blessed life in verses 1-16.

The psalmist is now going to identify the two chief causes of our souls lamenting along the way: we are strangers in this world (vv. 17-24), and we are sinners in this world (vv. 25-32).

I am a stranger in the earth declares the psalmist (119:19). Why? He is a stranger in terms of his affections, as are we. Our union with Christ reminds us of the redemption that was accomplished and redemption that has been applied to purchase our freedom from this world of sin and death. As a result we enjoy a new status. God owns us as His people. He has forever granted us an inheritance. He has forever made us His children.

While celebrating these amazing blessings we have in Christ we must recognize that we are saved only in part. We are saved, yet we await the full consummation of our salvation, we are redeemed yet we await the fullness of our redemption; we are adopted, yet we await the finality of our adoption. It is all ours, but we have yet to enter into the full enjoyment of it. We know we will because we have the Holy Spirit - the pledge of it’s fulfillment. In the meantime we grown with great anticipation.

The Great Engagement

It’s like the period of our engagement, they are always anticipating the great day of the wedding. The bride and groom are both preparing with a great frenzied anticipation of the fulfillment of the that great day.

As Christians we are in a period of anticipation. As a result, we wait “eagerly” for our adoption as sons - “the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23).

Until that time we are on a journey that has all its high’s and lows. Because we are sojourners in a fallen world, we continue to lament along with the psalmist.

Psalm 119:17–24 ESV

17 Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 19 I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. 21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. 22 Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. 23 Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. 24 Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

Big Idea: God sustains His people by His Word when they live as outsiders in a world that resists Him

Scripture continually weaves the narrative that this world is not our home and we should keep our focus and path heavenward.

1.) Theme Begins with the Patriarchs

Abraham: Living by Promise, Not Possession

“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you.” (Gen. 23:4)

God promised Abraham the land, yet he owned only a burial plot.

His life was marked by tents, not cities (Gen. 12:8; 13:3).

Hebrews interprets this as faith in a future inheritance.

2.) Israel as a Pilgrim People (Exodus–Deuteronomy)

Redemption Produces Pilgrims

“For you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Exod. 22:21)

Israel’s identity was shaped by deliverance, not comfort.

The wilderness was not a detour—it was discipleship.

God dwelled in a tabernacle, reinforcing mobility.

3.) Jesus: The Ultimate Sojourner

“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20)

Jesus enters the world He created as a rejected stranger (John 1:11).

He lives fully obedient, never settling into worldly power.

His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

Key idea: Our sojourning mirrors Christ’s own path.

4). The Church: Exiles with a Mission

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles…” (1 Pet. 2:11)

Peter addresses ordinary believers, not missionaries or monks.

The church lives visibly different lives among the nations.

Holiness is a witness, not withdrawal.

“Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20)

5). Revelation: Sojourners Become Citizens

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.” (Rev. 21:3)

The journey ends.

Tents become a city.

Sojourners become heirs.

Key idea: Temporary wandering gives way to eternal dwelling.

Everyone knows the feeling of being out of place, new city, new job, new community, unfamiliar culture. Moving to or living in a different country you always hear people talk about culture shock. What does this identifier mean?

It is the sense of being in an unfamiliar surrounding where things do not seem normal or familiar.

This is the same sense we should get as Christians living as sojourners in this world. This should also point to the field map we have been given as we sojourn through this foreign land.

Core Definition

A sojourner is someone who lives in a place without belonging to it, awaiting a promised home established by God.

“Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.”

We should all desperately long to know more about the life God has given us to live and how to live it out in absolute obedience to God’s everlasting word. Verse 18 the tells us how this is to be done, God must open our eyes that we may look on the wonderous things of God.

How does God’s Word Sustain Outsiders in a World that is Resistant to the God of the Bible?

1. A Stranger Holds to God’s Words Because Life Comes from God’s Grace

Dependence on divine grace

“Deal bountifully” (gāmal) implies undeserved generosity, not wages earned.

Life itself is viewed as a gift, not an entitlement.

“Before opening our Bibles we must open our heart and hands asking God to open our eyes”

The Cultural Problem

Here is the problem that we have in Christian culture. Many of us do not come to God as the bountiful king and see ourselves as the dutiful and humble servant.

We must all come as empty vessels to be filled up with the bounty of the God’s goodness and grace. Remember Paul’s motto: “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain” Phil.1:21. He values his life on in his opportunities of serving his God.

The psalmist is asking God to let his wage be according to God’s goodness and not according to his own merit. Award me according to the greatness and generosity, and not according to the meagerness of my service.

Sermon by Charles Haddon

[A Sermon for the Worst Man on Earth]

“All of the Fathers household servants have enough bread to spare, and He will not let one of His household perish with hunger. If God will only treat us as he does the least of His servants, we can be well content, for all His true servants are sons, princes of the blood, and heir of eternal life.”

A. We Must See Our Life as a God Given Gift to Serve Him

“that I may life...”

John 10:10 … “He came that you may have life, and have it to the full.”

The purpose of calling upon God for His bountiful blessings is so that we have the opportunity to make much of Him with the life he has given us in this fallen word. To walk obediently with Him.

God is the principle cohesion in all of the universe. It is impossible or unimaginable for any part of creation to exist for a moment apart from His upholding power and grace.

We must first understand that God deals bountifully with his servants that they may live and keep His word.

People call out to God with all they have to grant to them a prolonged life. However what is the purpose of such a prolonged life. For this believer such a prayer should always be so that they have more opportunities to serve God with this life He has given them.

That is the heart of Psalm 119:17:

“Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.”

The psalmist understands something crucial: Every day God gives is an opportunity to obey.

He does not pray for life so he can relax—but so he can serve.

And because he is a sojourner (v. 19), he knows the days are limited.

Because the proud oppose him (vv. 21–23), he knows obedience will be costly.

Yet because God’s Word delights him (v. 24), he gladly spends each day serving the Lord.

B. We Cannot See God’s Truth Unless God Himself Opens our Eyes

We do not need more information, we need more illumination.

In order to keep God’s word we should not pray to understand it? What then is the prayer? Not - give me a plainer Bible - but open my eyes to know my Bible.

David had been to the Divine school “more understanding than all of his teachers;” yet he comes to his God under a deep sense of his blindness. I have found that those who have been the best and longest taught are always the most ready to sit at Jesus feet admitting that they really know nothing at all.

Cultural Problem

Many of us are unaware of our blindness. Don’t many Christians find the word of God to be a sealed book to them?

They go through their weekly portions of scripture without genuinely increasing in their acquaintance with it’s life, light, and power, and without any distinct application of its contents to their hearts and lives.

Whenever the reading of God’s word is unaccompanied by the prayer for Divine influence from God it remains veiled from our eyes.

If we desire to have a clearer view and insight into the glorious wonders that as we read in 1 Peter only angels long to see we must behold the glorious beauty of our Immanuel.

This is the immeasurable extent of God’s love, with which “God so loved the world, as to give his one and only Son”, and of that incomprehensible love, which moved the son to cheerfully undertake the cross for us, we must make daily, hourly use of this all important petition -

“Open my eyes that I may Behold Your Wonder”

open my eyes Lord, I want to see Jesus......

2. A Stranger Holds to God’s Word Because this World is Not Our Home

The psalmist was a stranger for God’s sake; otherwise, he would have been as much at home as those who are worldly. He was not a stranger to God, but a stranger to this world. He saw himself as an exiled man as long as he was out of heaven.

Cultural Problem

Most Christians seem to live their lives more at home in this world of flesh and blood and less as a stranger to the things of this world.

When this happens we become more of a stranger to the things of God and less a stranger to the things of this world.

Sermon Illustration: “The Wrong Passport”

A man was traveling overseas and went through customs. When the officer asked for his passport, he handed it over confidently.

The officer looked at it, frowned, and said, “You don’t belong here.”

The man was confused. “But I’m standing right in front of you.”

The officer replied, “Yes—but this passport says your citizenship is somewhere else.”

The man wasn’t being arrested. He wasn’t in trouble. But he also wasn’t at home. He could stay—but only as a visitor.

That moment changed how he experienced the entire country. The language felt unfamiliar. The customs felt strange. The values felt different. He realized, I’m allowed here—but I don’t belong here.

That is exactly what the psalmist means when he says:

“I am a sojourner on the earth.” (Psalm 119:19)

The believer lives in this world—but carries a different citizenship.

We speak a different language of truth.

We follow a different set of values.

We obey a higher authority.

And because we are strangers here, we desperately need God’s Word to tell us how to live where we don’t belong.

Theological Weight

Strangers aren’t careless—they’re careful.

Strangers don’t conform—they remember who they are.

Strangers don’t settle—they stay ready to leave.

As Paul says:

“Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20)

When this world feels strange, it’s because it was never meant to feel like home.

OR

If you belong fully to this world, you do not belong to Christ, but if you belong to Christ, you will always feel out of place here.

“that sense of not fitting in is not a failure of faith, it is proof of it.”

Was this not the very character of Christ’s inaugural coming to this world. Born in an inn - not having anywhere to lay his head - suffering hunger - neglected by His own - I am a stranger here on earth a sojourner passing through.

American Folk Song of the 19th century (born out of the civil war)

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through this world below There is no sickness, no toil, no danger In that bright land to which I go I'm going there to see my father And all my loved ones who've gone on

I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home

A. We Find our Identity as a Pilgrim

“Sojourner” (gēr) signals temporary residence and vulnerability.

This helps us in a deeper sense be able to be able to withstand all kinds of injustice and struggles in this world knowing that we were not created for this world. We were created for the kingdom of Heaven.

Do the conversations we have in daily life treasure the things of this world more of the eternal things of heaven?

Is the world gaining more of our affection or the eternal things of heaven?

Scripture is our Survival Guide

How are you making daily progress towards a world where there are no strangers?

With the survival guide at your side are you making it your daily focus to help others navigate this world of sin and death?

B. We Have an Intense Longing for God’s Word as a Pilgrim

vs. 20 “My soul is consumed with longing for your rules..”

Contrast this with the church we read about in Revelation from Laodicea who was neither hot nor cold therefore, He wanted to spew them out of His mouth.

Which state most resembles your own when it comes to God’s word?

“Those who know they are passing through hunger most deeply for eternal truth.”

Application: If Scripture feels unimportant, we may be too comfortable in this world.

3. A Stranger Holds to God’s Word Because When the World Pushes Back it Protects Us

vs. 21-22

The psalmist takes comfort in God’s judgments - His providential dealing with humanity.

He is well aware that God destroyed all but Noah and his family with the floodwaters, rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, caused the the sea to engulf the Egyptian armies, and brought down the walls of Jericho.

God has always made known His great objection to pride. God judges and destroys with the greatest of ease. His authority is unrivaled and His power is unstoppable.

David writes Psalm 14:2

Psalm 14:2 ESV

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

Literally, He bends over to see them. he has done this from the beginning.

In the days of Noah He looked upon the earth.

In the days of babel he came down to see.

In the days of Sodom He went down to see.

He has been looking down from heaven ever since.

The fool has turned aside: Psalm 14:1-3

Psalm 14:1–3 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

The psalmist makes it clear that God judges the proud. He see’s everything and knows everything. He is out of our sight but we are not our of His sight.

Psalm 11:4 ESV

4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

This should be a great comfort for the sojourner here on earth as we face an increasingly hostile world towards God and His word. He knows all things fully and immediately. It is impossible to escape His gaze.

“He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in all righteousness” (Acts 17:31).

A. Pride Rejects God’s Authority, Humility Submits to it.

There is no sin that is more abhorrent to God’s character than pride. It is as if we are taking the crown from his head, and placing it on our own.

It is man making a god of himself - acting from himself, and for himself.

PROBLEM

Unfortunately it even rears it’s head in those who hate and condemn its influence in their lives. It is most like its father the Devil in its serpentine deceitfulness. It is always active - always ready imperceptibly to mix itself up with everything.

Note: The whole plan of Salvation is intended to humble the pride of humanity, by exhibiting his restoration to the Divine favor of God, as a free gift through the atoning blood of the cross.

When we resist this humbling in our lives we are as Banhaugher puts it, “Cheapens the Grace of God.”

B. Obedience Invites Scorn from the World

What creates problems for him, and underlines his need of such a handbook, is the fact that though this really is God’s world there are plenty of people in it who do not behave as if it were

What is Scorn?

So if you feel scorn you feel no respect for someone. You think that they are stupid that they have no value.

In the Bible, scorn means intense contempt, disdain, and mockery for someone or something considered worthless, often stemming from pride and leading to rejection, strife, and spiritual decay, with "scorners" being those who mock God, wisdom, or godly people, refusing correction and sowing discord. It's a rejection of what is holy or wise.

God’s approval will always outweigh public opinion. The problem happens when we care way more about what the world say’s or thinks about us than we do what God say’s and things.

Far from being accidental or abnormal, Scripture presents scorn as expected, meaningful, and temporary, while God’s approval is eternal.

Key idea: The faithful do not flee scorn; they endure it by clinging to God’s Word

Jesus models the picture of endurance in the midst of scorn.

The apostles rejoiced in being counted worthy to be mocked for Christ.

The worlds scorn is temporary, God’s Verdict is Final.

How Should Christians Respond to the scorn of the world?

Not with retaliation: Romans 12:17 “17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”

Not with Shame: 1 Peter 4:16 “16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

But With Faithfulness and Hope: 1 Peter 4:19 “19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

The World may scorn the faithful, but God Honors them....

Application: Whose approval shapes your Obedience, God’s or the Worlds?

Sermon Illustration: “The Eye Roll”

See if this situation seems more accurate to what Christians possibly face today in the way of scorn or contempt.

A Christian woman spoke up in a small group at work when the conversation turned to ethics. She didn’t quote Scripture. She didn’t preach. She simply said, “I think there’s more at stake here than what’s legal—there’s also what’s right.”

No one argued with her.

Instead, someone rolled their eyes. Someone smirked. Someone quietly changed the subject.

And that was it.

No confrontation. No debate. Just dismissal.

From that day on, she noticed something: when conversations touched on faith, morality, or truth, her voice carried less weight. Not because she was wrong—but because she was known.

She wasn’t rejected loudly. She was discounted quietly.

Notice That experience echoes the psalmist’s prayer:

“Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.” (Psalm 119:22)

The psalmist is not suffering for sin, but for faithfulness. He is treated with contempt not because he is cruel, but because he is committed.

Yet when leaders oppose him, he does not retreat:

“Your servant will meditate on your statutes.” (v. 23)

God’s Word—not public opinion—remains his counselor.

Theological Weight

Scorn today often wears a subtle face:

Eye rolls instead of arguments

Silence instead of shouting

Marginalization instead of martyrdom

But Scripture reminds us: 1 Corinthians 2:14

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

“What is Dismissed by the World is Treasured by God”

When the world rolls its eyes at obedience, heaven is watching with approval.

Or:

Being held in contempt by the world is often the cost of being faithful to Christ.

“Faithfulness doesn’t always get you persecuted—but it will often get you discounted.”

CONCLUSION

Closing Sermon Illustration: “The Wrong Road Signs”

A man was driving late at night through an unfamiliar part of the country. The road narrowed, the lights disappeared, and the signs became fewer and farther between. At one point, he passed a sign that said “Road Closed Ahead.” But the road looked fine, and cars behind him kept going, so he ignored it.

A few miles later, the pavement ended abruptly. The bridge was out.

He stopped just in time.

Standing there in the dark, he realized something sobering: The warning wasn’t unclear—it was inconvenient. The sign didn’t fail. His trust did.

Psalm 119:17–24 reminds us that God keeps us alive not so we can follow the crowd, but so we can follow His Word.

The psalmist prays:

for life, so he can obey (v. 17)

for eyes to see, because the truth is wondrous (v. 18)

for guidance, because he is a sojourner (v. 19)

for help, because the world scorns obedience (vv. 21–23)

And when every voice around him presses him forward, God’s Word remains his counselor (v. 24).

Gospel Weight

Jesus walked this road perfectly—

ignored by the crowds,

mocked by leaders,

obedient to the Father— and His obedience did not end in a dead end, but in resurrection.

Because Christ obeyed, we now walk by His Word with confidence, even when the world says, “Keep going.”

When you are a stranger in this world, God’s Word is the only sign you can trust.