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Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is always a privilege to share the Word of God with Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.
Last week we had a great time gathering together for a Sunday Evening Sing. I mentioned that evening that in many ways it felt like a family reunion. It was a great way to kick off the Summer. As we talked about rest a few weeks ago, I said that it was an appropriate time to do so because we are entering into this Summer season. This is the time where some go on vacation or maybe spend more time outdoors resting from the rigors of regular life.
It is no secret that all of us are in need of rest. We’ve discussed this recently so I wont go into too much detail, but should be reminded that when God created this universe, on the seventh day of creation God modeled rest for us. That means before sin even entered the picture, there was an expectation of rest for the human experience.
So it is good, proper, and biblical to rest. This might go against our nature for those of us who are constantly on the go, but rest is a good thing.
As we understand that rest is a good thing, we also have to understand the KIND of rest that is actually beneficial to us. It can be really good to disconnect and get away from everyday challenges. But let me caution you on one thing as you are going about your summer. Please, enjoy rest, get away, disconnect, but do not “take a break” from the Word of God.
The fear of the Lord leads to life,
and whoever has it rests satisfied;
he will not be visited by harm.
Whoever reverentially fears the Lord truly has full life and whoever has that rests satisfied. Rest without the Lord isn't really rest. I bring this up to caution you when you are going about your vacations, do not leave the Word of God at home, and if your travels take you away from our little corner of clay’s ferry for the weekend, visit a church and be refreshed by the preaching of God’s Word.
My wife knows that when we go on vacation we are going to church, somewhere. That’s because going to church, gathering together with a body of professing believers, centered around the Word of God and giving Him all the glory should not be a taxing experience, it should be apart of our weekly restl and when we go on vacation, why would we want to miss out on the bit of rest that we are regularly getting!
Understanding that reverence of the Lord brings rests, also points our attention to being in the Word during our times of rest. Reading God’s Word should be a part of our daily existence, and it too should not stop for vacation. That is why I was glad to start a new Bible reading plan with the church this past week. It’s a simple plan, one chapter a day, five days a week, and in a year we will have made our way through the New Testament. Many people like to start reading plans at the turn of the year as a part of a New Year’s resolution, and that is well and good. But anytime is a good time to begin taking the consuming of God’s Word seriously.
When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan to turn rocks into bread and provide Himself with sustenance, Jesus said this:
But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
The Word of God is absolutely vital in our lives. If you look at that verse there it is an amazing declaration. The Son of God quotes the Word of God to declare the sufficiency of the Word of God. And if the Son of God declares the sufficiency of the Word of God, then those that claim to follow Him better take notice!
Please rest. Please rest not from the Word of God, but IN the Word of God.
It is with that understanding that we are returning this summer to look at Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the entire Bible. It is almost directly in the middle of your Bible, and while I do not assert that the placement has a significant spiritual meaning, it is an apt reminder for us that the Word of God should be central in our lives. All 176 verses are proclaiming the glory of, love for, and sufficiency of the Word of God.
Last year, we worked through the first 8 stanzas, this summer we will be tackling the next four. If you have your Bibles, open them to Psalm 119 and today we are going to pick up in verse 65. As you are turning there, allow me to remind you of the structure of this psalm. It is broken into 22 parts. In each of the parts, there are 8 verses. Each set of 8 verses begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the entirety of the alphabet is included throughout the psalm. It is believed that it may have been constructed this way to help teach children about the Word of God. Throughout the centuries it has been a much beloved psalm.
Matthew Henry – the great 18th century Bible commentator – was introduced to Psalm 119 as a child. His father, Philip Henry, told his children to take one verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate on, and thereby go through the entire psalm twice in the year. Philip said to his children, “That will bring you to be in love with all the rest of the Scriptures.” (Enduring Word Commentary).
Matthew Henry’s father was wise in counseling His child to have a love for God’s Word. We would be wise to do the same.
The section of Psalm 119 we come across today is full of wisdom for us to apply. It is a prayer of reflection by a seasoned saint. I’ve recently been meeting with some other pastors and talking about prayer. One of the things we talked about this past week was how Christians need to understand prayer beyond requesting health for the sick. I hope that was we walk through this text today, you will be encouraged to have true communion with the Lord through prayer and also see how the Word of God is truly a source of rest. With this understand let us begin walking through God’s Word in Psalm 119:65,
You have dealt well with your servant,
O Lord, according to your word.
As we think about prayer, think about the last time you prayed. Maybe it was last night, maybe it was this morning, maybe even during this service. How did your prayer begin? What were the first words you uttered to the Lord?
In pop culture, most of the time when we see a character pray its something like, “Dear God, I don’t know if you’re up there, but I could really use your help here.” If we let sources of entertainment become our primary disciple makers, then we will begin to think of God as a cosmic genie we only approach in our deepest moment of need. We’ll place Him behind glass with a sign that says “break open only in case of emergency.”
That couldn’t be any further from what we see in this stanza of Psalm 119. The psalmist, most likely King David, says You have dealt well with your servant O Lord, according to your word. This is not a declaration of need despite doubt, but a declaration of thanksgiving with full confidence in who the Lord is!
Lord you have dealt well with your servant! Do you realize just how well the Lord has dealt with you? Do you thank him for the providence you have seen in your life. You might say, but Brad, my life is hard. I’m right now in the middle of one of the biggest challenges of my life. I’m barely hanging on. Listen I get it, but look at that first line. If you can say that you are the Lord’s servant, then you can say that He has dealt well with you. He has saved you! He has pardoned you! He has chosen you! If you are feeling down about the circumstances of your life despite knowing that Jesus is Lord, go spend some time in Romans 8. See what a glory it is to be saved by God! Here’s a portion that speaks for itself! :
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you know Jesus, then give thanks to the God whom you serve because He has dealt VERY WELL with you. He acts perfectly according to His Word and you are truly blessed. Instead of treating Him like an on demand Santa Clause, cry out to Him and give Him the glory! Those who have been reconciled unto the Lord are secure in Him. Nothing will separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That love is all consuming. Though we struggle in the flesh, that love produces the desire to be consumed by the goodness of God. It produces the desire to be in His Word! Check out verse 66 of Psalm 119
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
The psalmist says Lord you have been so so good to me, now would you continue your goodness by showing me how to live out my love for you? Asking the Lord to teach him good judgment and knowledge is asking for discernment in daily living. Why does the psalmist want to do this? Because he believes in the goodness of God’s commands!
The simple question for you right now is this: Do you believe that God’s commands are beneficial and reliable? Do you believe that God’s way is better than your own? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? That is the greatest commandment and obedience to Him flows from obeying that commandment first. It does not mean that we will never falter, but like the psalmist here, loving the Lord spurs us on to learn how to better glorify Him in our daily lives.
When is the last time you considered the glory of God before doing anything? We’re excellent at thinking about what we can do to bring ourselves glory, but how often do we consider the Lord in our daily lives?
I hope that the answer to that is constantly. As we battle this sinful flesh, I hope that all of us believe in the goodness of God and HIs commands. I hope that all of us are seeking to glorify Him, to make better decisions to honor Him. When we look at what He has done for us, especially in like what we read from Romans 8, we see just how worthy He is to be served. Ask the Lord to make you more discerning in how to honor Him in your day to day life.
He is worthy of our honor, glory, and praise.
Some of those who have gone through deep trials will resonate with the next two verse of Psalm 119. He writes:
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
There was a time in the psalmist life when they were not as adamant about following the Lord. Then in a time of affliction, he came to truly understand the necessity of following the Lord.
I believe that I’ve shared this with the church before, but the Lord really set me straight at one of the lowest points in my life. Fresh out of college, I had just been past on for what I thought was the job of my dreams so I decided to slog it out selling cell phones. I was getting by, but I was at a emotional and spiritual low. To make matters worse, my house was broken into twice in less than 30 days. Each time there wasn’t much physical property taken, mainly because we didn’t have much to take, but each time a brick was thrown through the window above my bed. I felt vulnerable, low, and forgotten. But it is clear to me now that the Lord used those events to draw me in closer to the church of my youth, to reignite my passion for serving Him, and put me on the path for pastoral ministry that I am so thankful for today.
God used the lowest moment of my life to pull me away from playing games and get serious about serving Him.
That is the same sentiment expressed in verse 67. If you are in the midst of affliction today, it is my hope that you will be able to see it in the same way as the psalmist. It is an opportunity to rely on the Lord evermore. That section of Romans 8 I read earlier began with stating,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God uses all things, even our affliction for our good and for His glory. Our affliction is not a reason to desert Him but to cling to Him evermore. Our psalmist recognizes this. After discussing affliction, he doubles down in saying that God is good and God does good. And because He is good even through the affliction may we cry out, God, teach me your statutes as it says in verse 68.
Being secure in the goodness of God does not take away affliction or trial, but it does provide the proper perspective to make it through. This is what the psalmist proclaims in the next two verses:
The insolent smear me with lies,
but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
their heart is unfeeling like fat,
but I delight in your law.
Here we see that our psalmist, though delighting in following the Lord, has detractors who are actively working against him.
Now the man we see described through out Psalm 119 seems to be a godly man who is humble in character and seeks to do the will of the Lord. We can assume that these things are true because they are included in Scripture and inspired by the Holy Spirit. So from this we should know that following the Lord is not a guarantee in avoiding conflict. In fact, it is just about a guarantee to involve some conflict! Jesus warned us it was going to be this way.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
Jesus was the most righteous, most obedient, perfect expression of sinlessness this world has ever seen. He is quite literally God incarnate. And even still He was persecuted and rejected by the world. Those who follow Him cannot expect anything else. This is not to say that we should go out of our way to bring persecution upon ourselves. But rather, when we are being obedient to God, it will not sit right with the fallen world. We see in verse John 15:21 that the world does not know God and so those in it stand against those who do know God.
These words of Jesus are encouragement to His followers to press on in the faith. We are not worried about the condemnation of the world when we have received salvation from God!
Look back at verses 69 and 70 and see the contrast between the psalmist and those who are attacking him.
The insolent smear me with lies,
but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
their heart is unfeeling like fat,
but I delight in your law.
While they smear with lies, the psalmist is whole-heartedly set on following godly principles. The psalmist delights in God’s law while the their heart is unfeeling like fat. That is an interesting phrase that we don’t see much in our everyday conversations. A heart that has grown fat is a heart that has become insensitive towards God. While the world grows colder towards God, the redeemed grows in love and affection for the Lord. We keep His precepts and delight in His law. We process things biblically. We strive to have a biblical worldview. We process life through the understanding that God comes first. This foreign idea will bring ridicule from the unbelieving and calloused. But it is far better to serve the Lord with your full heart and face the condemnation of man than it is to stand side by side with man with an unfeeling heart and face the condemnation of God.
Spurgeon wrote: There is and always ought to be a vivid contrast between the believer and the sensualist, and that contrast is as much seen in the affections of the heart as in the actions of the life: their heart is as fat as grease, and our heart is delighted with the law of the Lord.
Let’s look at the last two verses:
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.
The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
We can’t be sure if the affliction the psalmist is talking about is the persecution he was facing from the insolent. But whatever the affliction was, it was a humbling even that caused him to see his profound need for the Lord. The psalmist realizes that everything he has gone through has been used by God to grow him in obedience.
He reflects back on everything and sees that God’s Word is the most valuable thing in His life.
There was a story from the 1500s of a Hebrew manuscript being kept in the Vatican that weighed 320 pounds. There was a group of Italian Jews who traveled there to see this manuscript. They then told a group of Russian Jews about it and the group of Russians offer the Vatican the weight of the book in gold. According to today’s gold prices, that would have been an offer worth more than 8.5 million dollars for the manuscript. Julius the Second refused the offer despite the immense value. Today we pay very little to own multiple copies of God’s Word. But the question is, do we value God’s Word?
When we value God’s Word, when we find our rest in God’s Word, when we dwell in God’s Word, when we long for God’s Word, we are showing our love for the God who gave us His Word.
There is so much to learn from the Word of God. We see that God is sovereign and working even through our difficult times:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We find our strength to endure:
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
We are refreshed by countless stories of God’s providence. Further, we are given a glimpse of the final state of things and the joyous existence there will be after the complete removal of sin.
And most importantly of all, God’s Word shows us the sin that separates us from Him and what HE did to remove the gap!
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
God’s Word shows us how man’s sin took us out of God’s rest. In our sin, we stand in rebellion to Him. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son to live a life without sin and die on the cross to pay for all the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him. In God’s great grace we are changed from condemned sinners to confident kings. When God opens our eyes to our sin through the hearing of His Word, we turn away from that sin and cling to Him. We understand just how unrighteousness we are. We humbly and joyfully live everyday in reflection of the grace we have received. We can hold fast to this word even amidst strong persecution because God’s grace is greater!
God’s Word is so good. As I mentioned in the onset of this message, we all need rest, but we do not need to rest from the Word of God, we need to rest In the Word of God.
Where are you finding your rest and identity? If it is anywhere else then you stand as one of those hard-hearted insolent mockers we talked about moments ago. But understand what God said about His new covenant people:
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.
God gives a new heart to the believer. Confess with your mouth and believe in heart that Jesus is Savior and Lord. Make that known publically today. Come now. Let’s pray.
