Psalm 119:153-160
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Well, this is God’s Word for the afflicted. The passage before was God’s Word for the desperate, but really all of Psalm 119 is God’s Word for those who really feel their need for God.
One of the things we should pray as we learn from Psalm 119 is “Lord, help me to feel my need for You.”
Affliction often makes us realize our need for Him.
Let’s read the passage and we’ll notice a few things about the psalmist and his affliction…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
In his affliction, the psalmist cries out to God (vv. 153-154)
In his affliction, the psalmist cries out to God (vv. 153-154)
153 Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
Q: What are the things that the psalmist asks God to do in these verses?
1. Look upon my affliction and rescue me.
Here the psalmist cries out to be remembered in his affliction. This cry for remembrance is a cry for action; the psalmist wants God to rescue him.
The psalmist says, “For I do not forget Your law.” The psalmist isn’t arrogantly demanding, “I’ve remembered Your law, so remember me in my affliction.”
Rather, the psalmist is standing on the promises of God, “I remember that your law promises that you will remember and rescue the faithful in their afflictions.”
2. Plead my cause and redeem me.
Here the psalmist cries out for God to fight for him in his affliction. In Psalm 35:1, David prays...
1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; Fight against those who fight against me.
In 1 Samuel 24:15, David says to Saul…
15 “The Lord therefore be judge and decide between you and me; and may He see and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.”
In Psalm 119:155, the psalmist knows that if they Lord plead the case or fight for the afflicted, the afflicted shall be redeemed.
3. Revive me.
Affliction feels like a slow journey toward death, so the psalmist turns to the Author of Life and asks to be revived. As we have seen, this revival must be according to God’s Word, according to His promise.
[Jesus] Jesus is, of course, the Word made flesh. Revival comes through Jesus. The answer to all affliction is Jesus.
During His public ministry, Jesus often revived the afflicted.
10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.
When the woman with the issue of blood came to Him, he said to her…
34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
In Jesus, the promise of God regarding our afflictions is redemption. He fights for us against our enemies. He will give us relief when He comes. Second Thessalonians 1:6-7 say…
6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
[App] The answer to all affliction is Jesus, so let’s cry out to Him.
Are you afflicted in the body? Turn to Jesus.
Are you afflicted in the mind? Turn to Jesus.
Are you afflicted in your finances? Turn to Jesus.
Are you afflicted in your family? Turn to Jesus.
Are you afflicted at work? Turn to Jesus.
Let’s stand on the promises Jesus has made to us.
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
“I am with you always.”
“I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may also be.”
Let’s turn to Jesus for life. And let’s look forward to His coming and look forward to His bringing relief from all our affliction.
In his affliction, the psalmist hopes in God’s mercy (vv. 155-156)
In his affliction, the psalmist hopes in God’s mercy (vv. 155-156)
155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes. 156 Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances.
[Exp] Salvation is far from the wicked but judgment is close; the proof of this is in that they do not seek God’s statutes. To be a non-seeker of God’s statutes seems indifferent but the wicked who are not seeking God’s statutes are not indifferent; they are thoroughly rejecting God’s statutes.
In his commentary on the Psalms, W. S. Plumer writes, “Salvation is far from the wicked because they are wicked, because they are far from God, because God is holy and just, and cannot keep friendship with the vile, because they neither wish nor labor to know, or do his will, not desiring the knowledge of his ways, of the methods of his grace, or of his plan of salvation.”
In other words, the wicked have rejected God and so salvation is far way and judgment is close.
But notice that the psalmist does not then appeal to his seeking of God’s statutes. To be sure, he does not forget God’s law (v. 153), he remains focused on God’s testimonies (v. 157), and he loves God’s precepts (v. 159), but he does not appeal to his own righteousness as he cries out to God; rather, he appeals to God’s mercies.
Q: What is mercy? And why should it comfort us that God is merciful?
Mercy is God kindly and compassionately giving us the forgiveness and grace that we do not deserve.
It should comfort us that God is merciful because, no matter who we are, we are all in need of His mercy.
Again, Plumer writes, “It shall be for a perpetual joy to all the righteous that the gentlest, the most loving and tenderest being in the universe is God Himself.”
Q: Why might we struggle to think of God as gentle, loving, tender, and merciful?
Perhaps it’s because God isn’t that way with the wicked.
Perhaps it’s because the Preacher doesn’t speak of Him that way enough.
Perhaps it’s because we just don’t believe that He is the King of Mercy.
[The King of Mercy] In the tabernacle and in the temple, in the holy of holies, on top of the Ark of the Covenant, sat the throne of God. Do you remember what it was called? The mercy seat.
Once a year, the high priest would come in to the holy of holies before the mercy seat—before the King of Mercy—to make atonement or propitiation for the sins of God’s people.
In fact, a translation note in the NASB says that the mercy seat could also be called the propitiatory seat. That’s because God’s mercy only comes to God’s people on the basis of propitiation or atonement.
When Jewish worshippers thought of the mercy seat, they were reminded that their God is the King of Mercy and that mercy only comes through propitiation.
As Christians who have been grafted into the people of God, we are reminded of God’s great mercy through propitiation as we look at the cross. Romans 3:23-25 says it this way…
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
God is the King of Mercy. When we forget this in our affliction or are tempted to doubt it in our affliction, we should look to the cross and remember the King of Mercy who has brought His mercy to us through propitiation in His blood.
In his affliction, the psalmist loves God’s Word (vv. 157-160)
In his affliction, the psalmist loves God’s Word (vv. 157-160)
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies. 158 I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word. 159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
[Exp] The psalmist has many persecutors and adversaries, but God has many mercies (v. 156) that will keep the psalmist from turning aside from God’s Word or His testimonies. The psalmist looks at the wicked or treacherous and loathes them because they do not keep God’s Word, but the psalmist’s affliction is also his temptation, Will he keep God’s Word or will he use his affliction as an excuse to abandon God’s Word?
Q: How do people use affliction as an excuse to abandon God’s Word?
Perhaps it really just comes down to this: a person thinks to himself, “Because I’m afflicted, I’m not required to produce the fruit of the Spirit but I can engage in the works of the flesh.”
These works of the flesh are works like laziness, lust, anger, and so on, but afflicted or not, these things do not produce the righteous life that God desires.
[Exp] The psalmist will not use his affliction as an excuse for sin, however, because he loves God’s precepts.
This love for God’s Word is a mark of God’s people; it is a fruit of the Spirit. God’s people are people of the book in season and out of season, in pleasure and in pain, when we are afflicted and when we are not.
The psalmist then asked once again to be revived, but this time according to God’s lovingkindness or grace, which is of course revealed to us in His Word.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The psalmist ends this stanza with v. 160...
160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
This Word is what the psalmist clings to in this midst of his affliction. It’s his anchor. His rock. His firm foundation. His strong tower. His hope. His comfort.
The psalmist is born of this Word.
He stands on this Word.
He will be revived according to this Word.
This Word, which reveals to us our Lord Jesus, is how we are able to be “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:8-9).
--------------------------notes----------------------------
17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.