Psalm 119:36-37
Notes
Transcript
Notes:
Notes:
One of my favorite verses in Psalm 119 (in the Bible!)...
Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
How do we do that? Because this is hard to do. What the psalmist is asking is...
Help me to prioritize Your Word over my selfishness. Help me to want what you want and not what I want (Jesus - not my will, but your will).
Turn my eyes and heart away from all the things I find in this life that are so attractive to me, but do nothing for me eternally. They don’t give me life. In fact, they take life from me. They turn me away from God, who is the giver of life.
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Because of our sin nature, we will not choose God on our own. Since that is true, how in the world is Psalm 119:36-37 supposed to happen? Let’s read the context.
Break down and meditate on God’s word. If we consume too much, we won’t remember anything. (Rick Warren). However, to meditate properly on a passage, it’s necessary to consider the context. One way we do this is to read the surrounding verses.
We need to learn God’s Word with God’s help (v. 33).
Heart over head. Spirit over information (the natural man is unable to discern spiritual things). It’s God who must place it in our hearts.
“the way of your statutes” - again, this is not just information, it’s the application of His Word. While this is about following God’s word, this isn’t laying out a formula for success in life. This is pointing us to a truth while also highlighting a naturally impossible task [It’s one of those things Jesus said “With man it’s impossible but with God all things are possible.”. We radically need God’s help. Honestly, we need God to save us. We need Jesus. He’s the one who gives us a new heart and spirit. Only He makes the fulfillment of this possible. Why? Because it’s only on the cross does our sin nature become crucified and we begin to live with the resurrection life.
Interesting temporary tension - right now we live in the “already, not yet.” Our future hope is a guarantee. But we are also daily battling our sin. We must die to ourselves daily. We must daily cling to Jesus. Because this flesh - this body - wants to sin. We need to abide.
… we need true “understanding, from the Lord” in order to live according to God’s Word (keep His law) - c. 34
God, I need Your help. If that happens, I can do impossible things - like choosing You above all other things (Jn 15:5).
When God’s Word gets ahold of our heart. When we surrender to Him as Lord by faith, He changes our heart. Our desires begin to change (Ps. 37). The reason the desires change is because...
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
We get a new heart. That’s what happens when we put of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
And with this new heart, this new life, we choose new things. We start responding to the things of God, we want to “key His law and observe it with our whole heart.” And with the help of God’s Spirit, we can...
Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
This is God’s work. It’s a confidence.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Turn from our ways and say, “God I want what you have for me.” Another way to describe this choice is “repentance.”
“Look at me (trainer/Jesus) and remember your training.” [Greg Laurie - Sky Diving]. This is like running marathons. 26 miles is a long way. You have to train for a long time. One thing you have to remember on race day is, “I’ve trained for this.” Many of us have trained for a lot of things (sports, career, hobbies). How many of us have trained to find life (in this chaotic and broken world). How many of us are prepared to go through a trial right now and not have our world come apart because we could say, “Remember my training in God’s Word that gives me hope!” “Remember to look to Jesus.”
Big Idea:
Big Idea:
We need God’s help (salvation) to find life.
Potential Outline:
Potential Outline:
Goal:
Incline my heart to your Word (v. 36).
Turn my eyes from worthless things (v. 37).
Why? Because it gives life!
Problem:
My heart naturally bends to selfish gain, not God’s Word (v. 36).
My eyes naturally desire worthless things, not God’s Word - that has infinitely value (v. 37).
Why? Because Romans 3:10-12 We need life because our sin is killing us (Rom 6:23).
Conclusion: We need help! And that’s what this passage points to!
Transition: One way to understand the Bible is to understand context. This section starts at verse 33.
Teach me O Lord … (v. 33)… I will keep [Your Word]
Give me understanding… (v. 34)… I may keep & observe
Lead me… (v. 35)… I delight in it
What’s the point? The psalmist is saying, “God I need your help! Save me!”
v. 36-37 is impossible on our own / naturally.
So, What do we do? Well, follow the instructions!
Acknowledge the problem [sin].
Choose to turn from it. But remember, choice isn’t enough (Rom. 7:19-24). We need help!
God promises to help. We need to go to Him, trust Him with our lives, and receive His help by faith. When we do, the process looks like this...
Ps. 37:3-6
Ezek 36:26-27 (See, God promises to help!).
2 Cor. 5:17 - our heart changes
Phil 1:6
How does God help us? Is it just a miraculous change of heart? No… look what we are talking about here...
Confess/Acknowledge the problem
Repent/Turn
Receive God’s help by faith.
This is the gospel.
How does God help us? He gives us Jesus (Jn 15:5).
It’s in Jesus we get a new heart.
it’s in Jesus that we are made new.
It’s in Jesus that we can be confident that we’ll desire God’s Word and keep it!
This is not just a one time event. We need to do this daily. We need to train. We must get used to “taking up our cross and following Jesus.” Do you train? When you do, you can have confidence that you can finish.
Intro:
Intro:
“Do you even lift, bro?”
Edge Fitness. Feel intimated. Bench 120lbs.
Body:
Body:
Response:
Response: