250

Psalm 119:41–48 ESV

41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; 42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules. 44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. 46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, 47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. 48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

The Law of the Lord provides freedom

Did you know the 250th chapter of the bible is Psalm 119? This doesnt mean anything, just thought it was interesting.

It has been said; “The main theme that runs through the entire section and ties each verse together is a holy fear of God, a deep sense of awe and reverence for who God is and what God’s presence is like. This text describes what we are to be in the light of God’s presence.

AS we read this section of the Psalms we cannot help but see a heart filled with the love of God. The modern mind has a hard time holding both fear and love. We often revert to ‘perfect love cast out all fear’. But we need a better understanding of biblical fear. This is not the crippling fear of being scared, it is the awe filled reverence of being in the presence of one who holds your life in their hand. And it should be a natural outflow of awe and reverence (to the one who holds my life in His hand) to LOVE them.

One important fact we will see is the psalmist desire to be a faithful witness for the Lord he loves; to give a strong testimony according to the truth of God’s Word. With freedom comes responsibility. The freedoms we enjoy in this nation bring the responsibility to recount the faith in which our freedom is rooted.

Other than the United States of America, where would you rather live? Because we know the liberties afforded us by being here. But true liberty can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And this liberty can be had no matter your ancestors origin or current address .

Those of us who have entered into a relationship with Jesus experience this liberty. Not a liberty to do as we please (this would be anarchy), but the freedom and liberty to serve and obey the Lord.

Our text points us to 3 truths

First we can only walk in liberty if we are…

I. Divinely Equipped

Whatever liberty is ours comes from God. It is given to us by our Creator. The founding fathers didnt invent this ideal but they did recognize it. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This hasnt changed in the last 250 years.

A. Receiving this equipping

1. v. 41 says; Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;

2. The salvation you and I enjoy is given only by God through the atoning death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The salvation of God allows us to receive the life of God, the forgiveness of God, and the grace of God into my life. It’s personal.

4. And that salvation comes only through the Word of God.

And once we have received the Word, there will be a …

B. Response

1. v. 42 tells us; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.

2. There is a reproach, a persecution that comes to those that walk with and are identified with Jesus.

3. The psalmist says; when that reproach comes Your words back up my life.

4. Luke 12:11-12 says; “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and the magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

5. This reproach comes from 3 kinds of critics for the Christian; the devil, the heretics and the slanderers.

a. The devil must be answered by an internal word of humility. In the same way Jesus answered with the Word during His temptation.

b. The heretic must be answered by an external word of wisdom. When the church allows non-biblical teaching and incorrect theology, we allow heresy. But we have to know the Word to give these words of wisdom.

c. The slanderer must be answered by an active word of conduct. When our lives mirror the character of God the accusations of the slanderers fall flat.

C. Equipped for Responsibility

1. v. 43 reads; And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.

2. My dear friend it is the responsibility of every Christian to speak and to share the truths of God’s Word to a lost and dying world.

3. How can you enjoy the equipping of God, the blessings of God, the salvation of God and never tell a person about the Lord?

4. The great evangelist from the 70’s and 80’s, Manly Beasley, once said a person living in the will of God would have to back slide not to lead souls to the Lord.

5. I guarantee you this if you were to meet the President of the United States you would be telling everybody who would listen.

So God equips us then He will enable us.

II. Directly Enabled

Notice the psalmist prayer for…

A. Consistency

1. v. 44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,

2. The Word of God has been helpful to the psalmist; it is become real in his life.

3. He desires to live a life of total obedience to God’s will.

4. There is no true faith without a longing for the Word of God, the presence of God in your life and obedience to the will of God.

5. When we come to the place of total commitment, we will not serve God out of duty, but out of desire. We will obey God not out of have to but want to. There will be consistency in our walk.

B. The boundaries of God, which have fallen in pleasant places, we happily live within.

1. v. 45; and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.

2. The kind of commitment that longs to be obedient results in liberty.

4. Walking in liberty is not the freedom to do as we please but to do as we ought.

5. Giving ourselves to the eternal things of God, sets us free.

6. The Word of God does not constrain us it sets us free.

Last we see, when we walk in liberty there will be…

III. A Great Proclamation

A. Determination

1. v. 46; I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,

3. This sounds like Paul’s statement in Romans 1:16; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”

4. We should hold a determination to live presenting this gospel with our entire lives.

Then there will be…

B. Delight

1. v.47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.

2. These are the words of a man that absorbs himself in the word of God.

3. When you totally give yourself to God he removes one delight and replaces it with another.

4. When God takes away a sinful delight, He replaces it with another.

5. My question to you this morning is what do you delight in?

Last there will be…

C. Demonstration

1. v. 48; I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

2. A man stretches out his hands to what he longs for.

3. An alcoholic or drug addict will reach out for a drink or the next fix.

4. The hands of a drowning man will reach out to a life saver.

5. Parents reach for their kids hand when walking through a parking lot.

“Which I have loved.” We love being in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We love the life freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the USA. But our celebration falls short if we aren’t celebrating our life in Christ.

Prayer for our country

Father, you tell us to pray for the land where you placed us. So today we thank you for our own nation as it celebrates its 250th anniversary. You control times and put boundaries of place, and you have allowed us to make our dwelling here (Acts 17:26). Even as we are citizens of the City of God, we pray that we would be faithful pilgrims in the City of Man.

Thank you for the many freedoms that we enjoy as Americans—the freedom to assemble, the freedom to worship, the freedom to express our beliefs in the public square. Lord, use these freedoms not to lull us into complacency but to make us even more determined witnesses for Christ.

For all the blessings we enjoy in this nation, Lord, we also recognize the challenges our country faces. The loss of Christianity’s influence over the years has meant an even more hostile response to those who hold traditional Christian teaching. We’ve seen greater rifts in society with competing values that seem irreconcilable. We want to take advantage of any way to influence the broader culture, including the wise stewardship of our votes and the passing of laws that uphold the good and restrain evil.

To that end, we pray that you would raise more, even from our own midst, who could serve in political office, law enforcement, and military ranks. Christians make the best citizens, so enable us to live out the call that the apostle Peter gave to first-century Christians in Rome: “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Pet. 2:17). Enable us to lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way (1 Tim. 2:2).

But above and beyond, Lord, we long for revival in our nation. We want to see changed hearts, not just restrained actions. Few of us are going to be in positions of great cultural or national influence, but we know that you often work through our small spheres of influence—our homes, our neighborhoods, our church, our city. So bring revival here and change our hearts to treasure you above all. And as we set aside time for Fourth of July celebrations today, enable us to relish the gift of calling this imperfect yet good nation home.

In Jesus’s name, amen!