Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

Psalms 119:1-8 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!”

Introduction:

In the second book of The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells the story of Christian’s wife, Christiana.

As she travels to the Celestial City, she visits the house of the Interpreter, who shows her a room in which a man is scouring the ground with a muckrake in search of straw and sticks.

Hovering above him is another man who offers him a golden crown in exchange for his muckrake.

But the man with the muckrake is so absorbed with his search for straw and sticks that he never looks up.

The Interpreter explains to Christiana that the point of the room is “to let you know that earthly things, when they occupy people’s minds, carry their hearts away from God.”

Many people are so preoccupied with the things of this earth that they have no idea what God offers them

He promises us membership in His family

Gal 4:4-6 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!””

We’re promised heavenly treasure and eternal pleasures

Psalms 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

We’re promised the crown of glory that will never fade away

1 Peter 5:4 “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

We’re promised a renewed universe “in which righteousness dwells”

2 Peter 3:13 “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

We’re promised eternity without pain, sorrow, or death

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

And we’re promised joyful vision whereby we behold His glory in Christ Jesus

Matthew 5:8 ““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Regrettably, most people never look up because they are so focused on their muckrake as they scour the earth for straw and sticks

As Christiana listens to Interpreter, she begins to weep: “Oh, deliver me from this muck-rake!”

Little background:

Most scholars believe that it was king David that wrote it over the period of his life time

so this is not something he wrote in a singular setting

but rather he kept coming back to it throughout his life. It is build in an acrostic format (it is composition in which certain letters in each line from a word or words, word puzzle)

22 stanza of 8 verses a piece

Each beginning with a Hebrew letter

So Hebrew letter 8 verses

Next Hebrew letter then 8 verses

All the way through 22 stanzas

content of the Psalms is one of angst, frustration, it’s one of all, and hope

I think it hits in all the spots that someone who is serious about following God will find themselves in throughout their lives

Look at v.1 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!”

The Psalm begins by unpacking the blessed life

Now this is important in our day and age because there is a lot of talk about,  what living the blessed life actually is.

Blessedness is what everyone wants

yet it alludes most people because they look for it in the wrong place

There are those who say, you surrender your life to Jesus Christ

The out come then is your going to get everything your heart desires

You’re going to get wealth, good health, and your going to have all that you ever desired

This kind of following boils down to God being some kind of genie in a battle

Blessedness Described

The psalmist uses the term “blessed” twice in the opening verses

1) He declares, “ Blessed are those whose way is blameless v.1

or “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord” (119:1)

Here, he describes how the blessed walk (“undefiled in the way”)

and where the blessed walk (“in the law of the Lord”)

2) The psalmist declares,

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,

Who seek Him with the whole heart!

They also do no iniquity;

They walk in His ways. (119:2–3)

Just in the first couple of verses we feel this crushing effect

If this is the standard:

That I am blameless

That I am whole hearted

That I follow all the statues of the Lord

That there is no failure , then I’m already out

Because my walk is certainly not blameless

Three things real quick before moving forward

The psalmist speaks first about what the blessed keep:

The Blessed person keeps God’s “testimonies.”

This means that we observe God’s word; or, as Charles Spurgeon expresses it, “we actually live under its power.”

The psalmist speaks second about what the blessed seek:

The Blessed person seeks God “with the whole heart.”

The “whole heart” denotes our mind, affections, and will.

Simply put, we use everything within our power too cleave to God.

The psalmist speaks third about what the blessed do.

The Blessed person turn’s from sin, in that they “do no iniquity”;

and they turn to God, in that they “walk in His ways.”

If that is the standard for the blessed life, then how is this even possible?

The psalmist’s point is that the way to blessedness lies in obedience.

If we are searching for blessedness, we’ll never find it.

It is a by-product, meaning it depends on our relationship with God and His righteousness.

Christ points to this relationship in the opening statement of the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).

His message is clear:

it is when we seek righteousness that we find blessedness.

Why?

As we grow in righteousness (biblical thinking and biblical living), we enjoy closer communion with the One who is blessed.

So we see blessing described

Now we see...

Blessedness Pursued

To keep Your statutes!

Psalm 119:4-5 “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!”

King David realized he couldn’t walk in God’s ways on his own strength

So he seeks God’s help

Charles Bridges reminds us, “God did not issue the commands, expecting that we could turn our own hearts to them; but that the conviction of our entire helplessness might cast us upon Him, who loves to be sought, and never will be thus sought in vain.”

As we perceive that the way to blessedness lies in obedience

we don’t despair of our inability

but look too God to provide the grace necessary to submit ourselves to His will.

As we learn to look to God’s commandments, we are no longer “ashamed”

- Look at V.6“Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.”

Shame is the result of a ignored conscience

Our conscience consists of a rule whereby we understand what God requires

a witness whereby we compare our actions to the rule

and a judge whereby we apply the conclusion to ourselves.

When we disobey, our conscience passes judgment, which leads to shame.

But obedience banishes shame.

Not only that, look what it allows us to accomplish Psalms 119:7 “I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.”

“I will praise you”

Like it or not we engage in praise every day:

Parents praise their children when they do good things (sports, grades, or just simply listening)

We praise our favorite sports teams when they preform a certain way

We will praise an artist for their great performance

Praise is our way of expressing our love for someone or something—especially the Lord:

Listen to Psalm 113:1-3 “Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!”

Kings David knows his tendency to have a divided heart

He knows that his praise will only grow by God’s grace; hence he declares,

V.8 “I will keep Your statutes; oh, do not forsake me utterly!”

Blamelessness will not be purchased and achieved by our discipline and effort

The answer resides in Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

It is in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross

That His life, death, resurrection purchases for us, forgiveness of our sins

ALL of our sins!

Past sins, current sins, future sins

All fully, freely, and forever forgiven

In other words, God doesn’t take his or our sin into account

How is this possible?

Paul tells us that God does all this for Christ’s sake

Romans 4:5-8 “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.””

Blessedness, therefore, is rooted in our position in Christ.

He takes hold of us by the Holy Spirit, and we take hold of Him by faith

And it’s in that we have been made blameless

The Result of this union:

what is ours becomes His (God reckons our sin to Him)

and what is His becomes ours (God reckons His righteousness to us).

In a word, Christ becomes to us “righteousness”

1 Cor 1:30 “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”

Because of our union with Christ, we now seek to walk in God’s ways!

here’s my fear, because it’s been my experience that christians can pick up on very early, the things they should be doing, the things they should be acting like so they put on this projection of strength

here’s what it looks like this:

We ask people how are you doing?

I am doing great, I am fine

Blessed and high favored, praise His name!

The reality is their not ok

Their to prideful to be honest

Their stuck in patterns of secret sin

Stuck in doubts and fears

If the christian life is going to be marked with an ongoing confession and repentance

That we see in our coming to Jesus the need to confess our sins and repent of our sins

The ongoing ethic of the christian life is going to be one of not hiding doubts and indwelling sin and fears

But one of being honest about those things

Dragging our sin into the light and allowing the community of faith and the power of God to come beside us and build us up

It should be in this space that we can be transparent and authentic

If we can’t be honest about where we are right now, then we can’t move forward in faith

If we want the blessed life

The life of blamelessness

The life of wholeheartedness

The life of surrender to God on high

It begins with trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ

Believing that confession and repentance and embracing of our weakness doesn’t lessen the blessed life but actually ushers us into it.