Psalm 119:25-32
Notes
Transcript
(rough draft)
(rough draft)
As we continue in our series,
The greatness of God’s Word” please turn to
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;
let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
Psalm 119:25-32
John Bunyan - Wrote a book that at one time had sold more copies of any book in the world other than the Bible. Pilgrims Progress.
John Bunyan - Wrote a book that at one time had sold more copies of any book other than the Bible. Pilgrims Progress.
Bunyan a poor uneducated man was called to preach …
Problem, in England in the 1600’s you had to be ordained by an Anglican Bishop to preach.
Bunyan was not ordained and would never be ordained by the Church of England.
Despite the law, John Bunyan preached and held religious services anyway.
You must be an ordained Anglican to Bunyan was arrested for preaching and holding religious meeting
You must be an ordained Anglican to Bunyan was arrested for preaching and holding religious meeting
He was arrested for preaching. He refused to give up preaching and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
He spent 12 years away from his family.
He was arrested while his wife was pregnant. She delivered a still born child.
His oldest daughter of the 4 children was blind.
He had no money to send them. They were very poor.
They lived off of others charity.
John Bunyan, A man who made a very big impact on this world for Christ went through difficult trials. His family went through difficult trials.
In life all of us go through difficult trials.
If you are young in life and have not undergone difficult trials be sure of this.
The question is not “IF” difficult trials will come in life, but “when” they will come in life.
John Bunyan was an Englishman who was called by God to preach. Problem, you had to have a license to preach and Bunyan had not been to seminary.
Go
Transition - The beauty of God and the Scripture is this...
Big Idea - God’s Word transforms us during trials.
Trial or Failed Temptation???
Big Idea - The source of my heart’s primary transformation is God working through His Word.
Let’s read our passage today
Psalm 119:
In our passage today we see great Humility & spiritual growth that comes from a time of difficult trial.
Transition - Your trials in life are not wasted by God.
Observations
I. God’s Word ministers best to a humble desperate heart.
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
verse 25, We see our first signs of a difficult trial or stress in the Psalmists life.
verse 25, The Soul Clings to the dust. This is an inward deep pain of the soul. This is not a small annoyance or waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
The Soul Clings to the dust. This is an inward deep pain of the soul. This is not a small annoyance or waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
The soul has not tripped and fallen in the dirt.
The soul is low and clings to the dirt.
This phrase “clings to the dust” tells us that the psalmist is so low on the inside that they are relating to death.
Maybe you have been in a very difficult spot in your life where you soul felt like death was creeping in.
You look for something to relieve you of pain.
We look to relationships for comfort, to entertainment for distraction, to addictions to numb the soul.
The psalmist does not make this mistake. He knows that life comes from 1 place.
My soul clings to dust = my soul clings to sadnness/depression.
verse 25b, “…give me life according to you word.”
My soul clings to dust = my soul clings to sadnness/depression.
Verse 25b, Only God is the giver of life. Only God lifts the soul.
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
. Psalmist wants life and the best life - life by God’s Word.
God is the one who makes alive.
God is the one who makes alive.
Psalmist wants life and the best life - life by God’s Word.
Illustration, When a person goes to counseling for depression they usually receive some kind of cognitive therapy. That simply means retraining the mind to think in a healthy way. The healthiest way to think and view life is through a Biblical mindset through the lenses of Scripture. When we are in trial, when we are down, when there is a pain that will not quit our mindset can become hopeless ...
God wants to train and retrain our mind to think according to His Word. When you live life thinking like God thinks, this will bring you peace, but it will also bring you life.
Only God can give life.
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
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Deut
Important thought
vs 25, “Give me life by your word”
vs 26, “Teach me your statutes”
vs 27, “Make me understand your precepts”
vs. 28 “Strengthen me by your word”
vs 29, “teach me your law”
“teach me your statutes”
-Even for the believer, God must lift our souls to Him.
-How is this done? -How are our hearts lifted to God? Through His Word.
-How are
-If you are in the habit now of spending time in God’s Word then when the trials come it will be second nature to go to God in His Word.
In God’s Word there is life.
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Transition - We see in verse 26 a confession of trial.
vs26, Confession of the struggle, this also applies to sins confession.
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
We see first that the Psalmist confessed to God, He told God his ways., “he declared or gave an account of his ways.”
We see confession to God as a major value in scripture.
Confession is not meant to inform God about our trials or about our sin, but rather confession informs us of where we are spiritually. (Repeat)
Illustration - I was counseling someone many years ago. I asked what there struggle was. They shared it and then burst into tears. When they regained their composer they said, I’m sorry for crying like that - I told myself before I came in that I wasn’t going to cry, but when I said out loud what was on my heart it just made it seem so real.
Isn’t this part of what confession does. We know we are struggling in trial or sin. When we pray and confess our place to God we are forced to put accurate words to our situation - it takes on a whole new level of seriousness… a whole new level of realness.
Here is the beauty of confessing to God our fear, our struggle, our trial, or our sin. When we confess he answers us.
If you are reading the King James you will see the words - “you heard me”, our other translations go further and show God not only hearing us, but also answering us.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
Look at the middle of verse 26, The psalmist’s focus was not having his prayers answered. He wasn’t focused on what He received.
Look at the middle of verse 26, The psalmist’s focus was not having his prayers answered. He wasn’t focused on what He received.
Look at the middle of verse 26, The psalmist’s focus was not having his prayers answered. He wasn’t focused on what He received.
He is excited that in his despair that God answered Him.
God did not leave him, forsake Him or reject Him.
God answered Him
Application - God does not abandon His children. When you turn to God either during a time or deep trial or a time where you are returning to God from sin God desires to answer you.
Question - What is holding you back from engaging with God right now?
If you will go to God and pour out your heart to Him in need of Him, He will answer you.
We see the Psalmists response to the mercy and grace of God answering Him.
He immediately states that he needs God to help him learn God’s Word.
God must awaken my heart to His Word
vs. 26 “Teach me your statutes”
We stated last week that most likely it was David, Ezra or Daniel that wrote this Psalm. These 3 men were steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures. These were educated men.
This Psalmist didn’t academically need someone to teach him the bible. He knew the Bible.
However, He understood something that is critical for you to get.
However, He understood something that is critical for you to get.
-Only God can awaken your soul to receive His Word.
We will see 5 different times a restating of this truth - that God and God alone can lift the spiritual heart of a human.
This is coming from a believer
vs 25, “Give me life by your word”
vs 26, “Teach me your statutes”
vs. 27 “make me understand your precepts
vs 27, “Make me understand your precepts”
vs. 28 “Strengthen me by your word”
vs 29, “teach me your law”
vs. 27 “make me understand your precepts
Illustration - Do you know that hundreds of thousands of unsaved men have gone through seminary, never to receive Christ, died and went to hell?
What makes you spiritually alive is not an academic or intellectual understanding of the Bible, but an ability given by God to humbly embrace God’s Word.
Illustration - They had what they didn’t have before.
Illustration - Today is veterans day, If you served in the military we thank you. Some of you in the military have had experience in war - actually some kind of fighting.
-You have been given an experience and an understanding that no one else can understand unless you’ve experienced it. You can study about war, read about it and watch Saving Private Ryan, but you can’t really understand it until you experience it. You have an insight into life - that most of us don’t have. Maybe an insight you wish you didn’t have. This was given to you by your experience.
-There are areas of your spiritual life you can’t give yourself - only God can give you.
-Learning God’s word is not just intellectual, it is a matter of it taking root in your heart.
Vs 27,
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
-Hear this, we are tempted to believe a humanistic lie.
-If I try hard enough I can grow spiritually.
-If I try hard enough I can understand God’s Word.
No! True spiritual growth and true spiritual understanding is supernatural. It doesn’t happen on the effort of humankind.
God Causes the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
-Even as Christ followers, we are dependent on God’s mercy and grace to help our hearts to be tender to the Word of God, to receive the Word of God into our heart.
So we see this further reinforced in verse 27.
Ps 199:27
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
“Make me” is a command - it is not a request.
Restated - “God, give me the ability to get it, to understand spiritual things, and my response will be to sit and soak in your truth.”
Catch the attitude of dependance.
Major theological truth that you must get.
Jesus said this in John 6
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 6:
It is during the trials of life that we see our weakness.
It is also during times of spiritual failure/sin and return to the Lord that we see how much He has to do the work in us.
Apply, When your face is so low that it is in the dirt and your heart is so down that you cannot feel the presence of God with you - soak up His Word.
-If you are in the habit now of spending time in God’s Word then when the trials come it will be second nature to go to God in His Word.
Transition - It is only when God works in our hearts and life (even as a Christ follower) that we gain the ability to respond to Him.
In God’s Word there is life.
Transition - It is only when God works in our hearts and life (even as a Christ follower) that we gain the ability to respond to Him.
Vs 30-32, My response to God awakening me to understand His Word
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;
let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
Here we see one of the great patterns of scripture.
God acts - we respond. (repeat)
In our passage today - God has acted and made the believer understand His Word.
What is the response?
Verse 30,
Choosing the way of faithfulness.
How? by setting God’s Word before him.
Application - This doesn’t happen by accident. There is a specific time the Psalmist will set God’s Word before Him.
-When is the time that you privately set God’s Word before you?
Vs. 31 Clinging to God’s testimonies.
Clinging to God’s testimonies.
Illustration of clinging - Young Child
There are times when a young child has to be handed off to a baby sitter. Instead they don’t make it easy. They cling to mom. Why?
In mom there is security, there is trust, there is safety.
So we cling to God’s Word
vs. 32 Obey God’s Word
“I will run in the way of your commands”
!!! When you enlarge my heart.”
When you work in the believers heart supernaturally and help me obey.
Believer - the Lord does not change your heart at salvation only. He continues to work on your heart.
It is during times of great trial or confession of sin that we gain this humility to see that we desperately need God.
Illustration
IN 2016 a 6 year old boy named Matthew Mcdonnell who was battling cancer decided he wanted to raise money to help other kids with cancer. He asked his mom if he could sponsor a hot cocoa stand. Mom and dad got word out to the community, made the cocoa strand, made the cocoa, got approval to use the park and helped 6 year old Matthew man it for 2 hours. They served over 500 people and raised over $6500 for cancer research.
Matthew had a sweet idea, but mom and dad did the hard behind the scenes work - they were the ones to make it happen.
Isn’t this similar to what God does for us?
We are weak, sick, and unable, but God in His mercy enables us grow deeply in Him.
Believer - Will you right now ask God to open your heart to understand His Word?
Will you renew your time to spend with Him and grow in deeper places.
Will you depend deeply and ask Him to help you uncover the beautiful truth in the scriptures.
For those of you who are here and who do not follow Christ, will you trust in Him now?
He desires to bring you into his family.
He desires to forgive you now & not hold your sins against you.