Psalm 119:113-120

Introduction

Q: What do you think of when you think of the term double-minded? Can you give an example?

[ILLUS] Starting and stopping when headed into a room; need to do something in one room but need to get something from another room to do that thing, but remembering that the key to that room is in the first room

Scripture says that…

To be double-minded is to waver between God and idols. First Kings 18:21 says…

1 Kings 18:21 NASB95

21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.

To be double-minded is to waver between faith and unbelief. James 1:8 says that such a man is…

James 1:8 NASB95

8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

To be double-minded is to waver between truth and vanity. So the KJV says in Psalm 119:113…

Psalm 119:113 KJV 1900

113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: But thy law do I love.

And we Christians are called away from this double-mindedness in James 4:8…

James 4:8 NASB95

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Double-mindedness is double-heartedness. It’s trying to live with two kings on the one throne in your heart. One day we let the King of kings rule and the next we let some other usurper make some decisions.

This should not be for the Christian.

We should be single-minded, single-hearted in our devotion to God, and the surest evidence of single-minded devotion to God is single-minded devotion to His Word.

That’s what Psalm 119:113-120 is all about.

Those who are single-mindedly devoted to God’s law...

…love God’s law

…wait for God’s word

…observe the commandments of God

…live according to God’s word

…regard God’s statutes continually

…and fear God’s judgments

[TS] Let’s take a look at some of these (maybe all) tonight…

Major Ideas

#1: Those who are single-mindedly devoted to God’s law love God’s law (113)

Psalm 119:113 NASB95

113 I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your law.

[EXP] Who are the double-minded? It is not those of the world. They are single-minded in devotion to themselves or to their idols. For example, Elijah wasn’t speaking to the single-minded worshippers of Baal when he said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him,” (1 Kings 18:21). Elijah was speaking to the people of God! The psalmist hates the people of God who are double-minded. The psalmist certainly hates single-minded devotion to sin as well, but here it is the double-mindedness of the people of God that is focus of his hatred.

Q: Can you think of any examples of double-mindedness among Christians today? Homosexuality, divorce, pornography, John 14:6, etc. On this point we want to beware hypocrisy. It is easy to hate public double-mindedness while entertaining private double-mindedness.

Wherever we find double-mindedness (in the church at large or in our own hearts), we should hate it because we love the word of God.

The word of God is from the mouth of God. It is His declaration to us. In its fullest sense, it is the declaration of Christ who is the Eternal Word (Henry). One older writer, Amesius, said, “Then is our hatred of evil acceptable to God, when it flows from love to his word.”

Let us be careful then to love God’s word, and let us be cautious about what we put into our minds. W.S. Plummer, in his commentary of this verse wrote, “The tenor of Scripture… teaches us that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he… How can one be regarded as prepared or preparing for heaven, whose mind is a receptacle for worldly, carnal, proud, spiteful, impure, roving thoughts?”

[ILLUS] Studying this passage yesterday, I was convicted about some audio books I’ve been listening to. They were good guys shooting bad guys type books, but they were worldly, carnal—in short, they were not of Christ. So I deleted those audio books and started listening to others.

Are there things that you need to delete—things feeding double-mindedness rather than single-minded devotion to Christ?

[TS] …

#2: Those who are single-mindedly devoted to God’s law wait for God’s word (114)

Psalm 119:114 NASB95

114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word.

[EXP] We are impatient creatures. We don’t find it easy to wait… especially when we are under some sort of attack. The psalmist in Psalm 119 was attacked by enemies who were lying about him. We might be attacked in various ways for obeying the word of God. And when we are, we want to respond. When we are struck, we want to strike back. We don’t want to wait. But we must wait. We must wait on God’s word, trusting that He will be our hiding place and shield until our salvation comes.

Q: Besides impatience, what do you feel when you have to wait? Powerless, uncertain, etc.

Although we may feel powerless, God is present to hide us and protect us with His power. Although we may feel uncertain, God will certainly bring about our deliverance in His time. Although we sometimes have to wait for God’s word to be fulfilled in our lives, God is always available to us as our hiding place and shield.

Waiting on or hoping in God’s Word teaches us to trust in God rather than ourselves.

[TS] …

Conclusion?

In Philippians 3:20, the Apostle Paul talked about waiting. He wrote…

Philippians 3:20 NASB95

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

If we have trusted Christ for salvation, we spend the rest of our lives trusting Him and eagerly awaiting His return.

This waiting is not easy. Sometimes it feels uncertain, and we have no power to change it, but through all our waiting we exercise the same trust we first placed in Him.

We trust Him as our hiding place.

We trust Him as our shield.

We devote ourselves to His word because He is the word we are devoted to.

We are not double-minded. We know where our devotion must lie. It must lie with Christ, the Word made flesh.

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Commandments = given with authority/ expected to be kept

‘Uphold me that I may be safe’ = safety not for safeties sake but for the sake of regarding God’s statutes continually

statutes = the word of God engraved, detailed, or marked out so that we should follow

judgments = proceed from the Judge, thus they are judgments and judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, the words of our mouths, and the actions we take

Conclusion