My dear souls, Can you hear all right?
I don't feel particularly inspired on the assigned
topic.
Would you be disappointed if we spoke of
something else?
So let me pray.
Lord, Be the Lord, my God, of
this time.
Turn it to the good.
What is ever on your heart, my God,
express it.
Take us beyond what we thought, my God,
we would hear or speak.
Give us a memorable and a significant occasion.
Give my brother grace, Lord, to interpret me.
And grace for me to interpret you.
And we bless you.
We look to you.
Come, my God, and delight your own soul.
We thank you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, you're too far away.
Are you translating?
Yeah.
Why don't you come nearer?
Yeah.
Too stiff and too formal.
Which does not encourage the word of God.
So we have to triumph over the circumstances.
But the Lord is able.
So don't look suspiciously at the speaker.
Okay.
And turn with me to Psalm 119.
Did you bring a Bible?
No, he's not a good interpreter.
You have to project your voice.
You have to speak to them.
Did you bring a Bible?
Raise your hand if you brought a Bible.
Psalm 119 is today's psalm for me.
Because today is the 19th.
Tomorrow I will read in the morning Psalm
120.
I read the Psalms daily.
And so should you also.
By the grace of God, I hope to
show you what you're missing.
This is one of the longest of all
the Psalms.
Psalm 119.
And celebrates the word of God.
Why don't you read the...
The first four verses.
You have to have a real ear for
this.
Because this is so contrary to our whole
present modern mentality.
This is totally Hebraic.
Totally Davidic.
And yet there are a few Christians who
have a heart like this.
Remarkable that we can go back into the
Old Testament.
And find a statement of faith.
Deeper than what we know as New Testament
Christians.
Because the Lord never intended that we should
separate the books.
David is as up to date and deep
a man of faith as can be found
in all the Scripture.
And I am willing to wager that you
have never even ever considered the word way.
As Serbian.
That's not in our modern minds.
To think of a way that is blameless.
It's another mentality.
But one that you should embrace.
You will transform all your life.
To think of your faith as a way.
A mode of being.
That is blameless.
I'm speaking this for me.
I wasn't satisfied that I gave this enough
time this morning.
So you can listen in on me.
You can listen in on me.
You can listen.
As I contemplate myself what is being said.
Unless you're not interested in being blessed.
I could hardly believe that.
For there's only one other alternative to being
blessed.
It's being cursed.
So.
Choose the better thing.
For these things are written for us.
That we should walk in the way of
God.
Not in the way of the world.
This isn't just history.
This is a current word.
Perfectly appropriate.
For us now.
Oh you dear children.
Open the Bible.
And live.
Because I wasted my first year as a
Christian.
I thought I would bring my analytical skills
to bear on the Bible.
And I would do with the Bible what
I did with Shakespeare.
What I did with Karl Marx.
And I went nowhere.
Until someone said.
Do you know what the whole purpose of
the Bible is Art?
I said what?
He said it's to teach us how to
live.
So evidently there is a way that is
blameless.
Doesn't mean that we have to be perfect.
But we can be without blame.
How do you reconcile that?
That's the paradox of the faith.
God is not calling us to some kind
of impossible idealism.
That we cannot attain.
A practical mode of living.
In which we can make a mistake.
Even fail perhaps in a sin.
And yet be without blame.
So happy are those whose way is blameless.
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
The word walk is repeated in verse 3.
Who also do no wrong.
But walk in his ways.
Walking is a distinct biblical word.
It doesn't just mean ambulation.
But it's an all inclusive word.
Because you have to walk to the bedroom.
You have to walk to work.
There's nothing you can do without walking.
It's all inclusive.
And it's all important in God's sight.
Not just walking to the church on Sunday.
But walking into the bedroom.
Your relationship with your wife.
With your children.
With your family.
Is all included in walking.
There's a blessed way to walk.
In his ways.
Are his ways different from our ways?
The Bible says yes.
My way is not your way.
Nor are your thoughts my thoughts.
As great as is the distance from heaven
to earth.
So great is the distance from my thoughts
to your thoughts.
And my way to your way.
Listen you children.
You came to hear a lecture on antisemitism.
It's an important subject.
But unless you're a believer.
Walking in the way of God.
Whatever your mental intention.
However much you think you're free of prejudice.
You will yourself become antisemitic.
Because the root of antisemitism.
Is not opposition to Jews.
It's opposition to the God of the Jews.
The God of David.
So God's provision.
Is to come into his way.
And be blessed.
Verse two.
Blessed are those who keep his decrees.
To what kind of a God we have?
Do you see what kind of a God
we have?
He's not just talking about a mental understanding.
Or subscribing to a legal code.
Or adopting a Christian vocabulary.
Subscribing to correct doctrines.
To those who keep his decrees.
This is very actual.
Very positive.
Very real.
Very literal.
Very blessed.
If your country was made of people.
Who keep his decrees.
And walk in his ways.
You would not need to hear a lecture
on antisemitism.
It would not be a Bulgarian problem.
It's only a problem for those who do
not walk in his ways.
Because those who keep his decrees.
It says.
Seek him with their whole heart.
That is a mouthful.
That statement is a mouthful.
Are you having a problem with me?
No.
Tell them what I.
That is a mouthful.
Whole heart.
Who seek him with their whole heart.
We have no idea what this means.
Because so little of what we do is
whole hearted.
That is a phenomenon of another kind.
To be so complete.
As to give you a whole heart.
To anything.
Let alone God.
We are living inadequately.
We are living shallowly.
We are like phantoms.
Passing through the night.
Appetites with legs.
We are not blessed.
Are you listening?
To be blessed is to live whole heartedly.
It changes everything.
Everything takes on new significance.
Life becomes earnest.
Really serious.
As God intended it.
Do you know why we drink?
Have drugs?
And do all these things?
Because we are not living rightly.
As God intended.
We have a whole heart.
We are partial.
Inadequate.
We live inadequately.
We live small lives.
Appetites with legs.
The Bible is to teach us how to
live.
Whole heartedly.
And if we are not whole hearted with
God.
Shall we be whole hearted with men?
Even our own husbands?
Our own wives?
With anyone?
So the same one who is whole hearted.
And keeps his decrees, his ways.
Seeks him.
With their whole heart.
This is life.
This is salvation.
It's more than religion.
God forbid it should be reduced to religion.
It's a manner of living.
That is sane.
And healthy.
And gratifying.
And real.
And significant.
Because it's whole hearted.
In a world that is false.
And full of lies.
And deception.
And wants to keep you only as an
appetite with legs.
How do we live brother like this in
such a world?
If his way is different from our way.
How shall we move it?
In particular ways.
In our decisions and choices.
That come up every day.
By seeking him.
Will you take my word for it?
I'm asking will you take my word for
it?
There is a God who waits to be
sought.
And he's not far from any one of
us.
If you will seek him.
If you will not.
Especially after you hear words like this.
I wouldn't trust you with any Jew.
I would not trust you with any Jew.
Anti-Semitism.
The hatred of the Jew.
Is the inevitable consequence.
Of those who do not take God seriously.
And really in their deepest thoughts despise him.
I want to ventilate their anger and their
hatred against God.
But because they can't lay their hands on
him.
They'll lay their hands on those who represent
him.
The Jew.
Even in his own unbelief.
The Jew is the measure of the truth
of our relationship with God.
Because there's nothing natural about them that we
should desire them.
In many ways they are offensive to us.
Or irritating.
Unless our hearts are filled with God.
And his love for these people.
Even when they themselves are out of the
way.
His intention is to bring them back into
the way.
By the example that you will set for
them.
Not being Jewish.
You will be more like David than they.
If you take the God of David seriously.
And his word.
To do it.
With a whole heart.
Verse 14.
I delight in the way of your decrees.
Strange man this David.
He not only does the things of God.
He not only meditates upon the way of
God.
He not only does what God says.
But he delights in it.
That's a special word.
Delight.
Do you have it?
Yes.
And not just for God.
Do you have it for anything?
Do you delight in nature?
In the sunrise?
Sunset?
Flowers?
Seasons?
Animals?
People?
Life?
Delight.
What a word.
Delight.
We are living beneath the intention of God.
And it shows.
It's revealed.
We're not blessed.
And we're not happy.
We have no delight.
In God.
His ways.
In life itself.
One day is like another.
What a strange man David must be.
To delight.
In the way of your decrees.
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts.
Fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes.
I will not forget your word.
Have you noticed this?
I will.
David is not a bump on a log.
That's an American idiom.
David is not a bump on a log.
He's not a passive human being.
He's not an accident of circumstance.
He's not a victim of his environment.
I will.
I will meditate.
I will delight.
I will do.
I will.
With a whole heart.
You want to be sons and daughters of
David?
It's available to you.
If you choose this way.
It waits for you to say I will.
And you know what I suspect?
There are many of you who are listening
to me this afternoon.
Who have never asserted yourself.
Never made an I will.
Life is happening to you.
You're the victim of it.
You're not in charge of it.
God is waiting to hear you.
I will.
You will choose.
His way.
As you are delight.
I'm seeking.
You will be found of him.
It will change everything.
It will bless you.
And bless Jews.
For they have never seen this from many
Christians.
It's God's answer to anti-Semitism.
But it will make you different.
It will make you different.
And people who liked you before.
Because you were like them.
Will now look at you differently.
And suspiciously.
You'll become fanatical.
And too religious.
You're not so much fun anymore.
You're so serious.
You take God seriously.
You're even reading the Bible.
Every day.
Even the Old Testament.
The Psalms.
That's fanatical.
You will be threatening to them.
Because you're so different.
And the strange thing is you look happy
doing it.
You look happy doing it.
It's not a religious obligation.
You enjoy.
You enjoy his word.
You enjoy walking in the way blamelessly.
You enjoy being blessed.
But it will bring criticism.
But it will also think you're going too
far now.
That's what it says here.
Verse 22.
Take away from me their scorn and contempt.
If you will walk with God.
It will not please men.
They will scorn you.
And rebuke you.
But the word calls them the accursed ones.
Accursed 21.
The insolent.
Accursed.
Take away from me their scorn and contempt.
Nothing has changed.
In every generation.
Throughout the whole of human history.
Anyone who has chosen to walk with God.
Will offend men.
And will bring their scorn upon you.
That's called walking in the way.
David chose this way.
I will he said.
I will.
Verse 30.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness.
Verse 32.
I run the way of your commandments.
He's a strange man.
But you know what his name means?
Beloved of God.
God loves David.
Because he's a man after his own heart.
Who makes a choice.
And keeps it.
He says I will, I will, I will.
Not because it's a religious obligation.
I guess I have to.
I choose to.
And it's even my delight.
I'm not just walking the way.
I will run after it.
It says in God's word.
Be holy as I am holy.
It's the same root as wholehearted.
To be holy is to be whole.
It's a way of living.
It's a mode of being.
It's blessed.
Those who walk in this way.
And delight in it.
And seek the Lord.
Because we need him.
This is not mechanical.
This is not a way that is stipulated.
That we know it once and for all.
Step one, step two.
Step three, step four.
Every day is another situation.
What shall we do?
How shall we act?
What will please the Lord?
For direction.
For wisdom.
Isn't that what your city means?
But you have it.
He himself is wisdom.
And the Bible says he gives wisdom to
those who ask liberally.
He gives liberally to those who ask for
wisdom.
But are we asking?
Are we seeking?
Are we walking?
In the way?
If we Jews had seen more of this
reality.
You would have restored us to our own
God.
There's nothing more impressive to a Jew.
Than to see a Gentile walking in the
way of David.
This is beyond religion.
It's the way of God.
And it takes the Spirit of God.
In a living way.
That's why David cries out in Psalm 51.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Let not thy presence depart from me.
Create in me a clean heart.
And renew a right spirit within me.
Do you like a man like this?
Does this impress you?
Would you like to see more men like
this?
Who are jealous over God's presence?
Take not your spirit from me.
Why was that important to David?
Because if God took his spirit from him.
How shall he seek him?
How shall he follow him in the way?
How shall he have a delight in his
work?
This is not human.
This is not religion.
This is life.
It requires the Spirit of God.
Can you say that?
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Let not thy presence depart from me.
Come on you children.
Come on.
You've got to be truthful.
God is the God of truth.
We can't play games with him.
He sees us through and through.
Who of us can say in truth?
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Let not thy presence depart from me.
If we never have known that Holy Spirit.
If we never experienced that Holy Spirit.
How shall we be jealous to retain it?
When we have not yet known it.
Well what has this to do with anti
-Semitism brother?
Everything.
This is God's answer.
Not a program.
Not new principles.
For knowledge is not a way.
Blessed are they who walk in the way.
They will be blameless.
Toward Jews.
And toward anyone.
Because they're walking in God's way.
Which is blessed.
It's a walk.
All inclusive.
Whether it's a school.
On the job.
At home.
It's a mode of being.
I'm not in the British.
I'm demonstrating it right now.
How do you mean?
What's the case?
Well I was assigned the topic.
Anti-Semitism.
The coming anti-Semitism.
Which is important.
And it indeed is coming.
All the world.
That I'm speaking something else.
Because I had no freedom.
In my spirit.
To stick to the assigned subject.
But to speak from Psalm 119.
Because I'm walking in the way.
Having sought the word this morning.
This is what is unfolding.
Because we're true preachers.
Are recalled not only to speak the truth
of the way.
That is demonstrated.
If you like to live like that.
You have one thought.
God has another.
What would you do?
Will you choose your convenience?
The expectation of men.
But do the will of God.
And trust Him.
That you might be blessed.
And be a blessing.
So let me pray.
That His words will not fall to the
ground.
He brought you here.
By your interest in the subject.
But He had another intention.
Deeper than your own.
And more primary.
How shall you be to the Jews what
you must?
When all the world will increasingly hate them.
And physically oppose them.
When you are not first right with God.
And have not His fulfillment.
Or His presence.
I want to pray for that.
So let's look to the Lord.
Precious God.
We ask your mercy Lord.
More than you.
You know every soul.
That you have gathered before you this afternoon.
We ask that you would form your own
congregation.
And you have done so.
And set before them what you will.
So we are asking mercy my God.
To break through.
The pride.
Indifference.
Ignorance.
Unwillingness.
And to bring your spirit and life.
Into every soul that will.
Follow you in the way.
And become sons and daughters of David.
The way of blessing.
So Lord look upon us.
You know the truth of our condition.
And of our needs.
You know those of us who are only
Christians in name only.
We have never sought you.
We have never sought to walk in your
ways.
We have been satisfied with ourselves as we
are.
We never took your word seriously.
We don't read it.
We don't believe it.
We don't desire to do it.
We have no delight in it.
We are not wholehearted.
We are falling short of your glory.
And are not even living humanly.
And we ask your forgiveness.
That you would grant us.
Forgiveness.
For not taking you seriously.
And being lords unto ourselves.
Walking in our own way.
Doing our own things.
Seeking our own pleasure.
And ignoring you completely.
For that.
Cleanse us from that.
By the only way in which we can
be cleansed.
By the blood which you shed at the
cross.
The reason for which you said you had
come.
To take away the sins of the world.
And of Bulgaria.
And of those in Sofia.
Who have come to this meeting today.
Will you ask Him where you are sitting?
To forgive you?
That the indifference to God is a sin?
That it constitutes rejecting Him?
And making your own self Lord?
Ask Him where you sit.
Forgive me Lord.
Cleanse me Lord.
I receive what you have performed at the
cross.
Curse me of all my iniquity.
I have lived so shallowly.
So inadequately.
Because I have not taken you seriously.
I have not been wholehearted.
Create in me a clean heart.
In the words of David.
Renew in me a right spirit.
Put your Holy Spirit within me.
And give me the sense of your presence.
That I might walk in your way.
And take delight in your word.
And be a person for your name.
Save me.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
You can recite from verse 30.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness.
I have set your ordinances before me.
And in verse 32.
I will run the way of your commandments.
For you will watch my understanding.
You know what true Christianity is?
Not what you think it is.
Not what we have religiously told.
It's the way of David.
It's a way.
And it requires the Spirit of God.
Which he imparts.
To those who call upon him.
And seek him.
God's answer to antisemitism.
Is the Spirit of God.
Which is the love of God.
The truth of God.
The righteousness of God.
The mercy of God.
How shall that hate you?
But give to them what we ought.
Even if it should cost us something.
As it will.
How will God identify his people at the
end of the age?
How will he separate the sheep from the
goats?
And saying to the righteous.
Enter the kingdom prepared for you.
Enter them.
What separates the sheep from the goats?
One question.
What did you do for the least of
these my brethren?
When did we see you hungry and thirsty
and naked?
If you have not done this unto the
least of my brethren.
You have not done it unto me.
The issue of Jesus is the issue of
his people.
The Jew.
When they shall become the least of his
brethren.
Your response to them.
Will determine your eternal destiny.
At a time when they will be hated
everywhere.
Who will stand for them?
Who will identify with them?
Who will aid them?
And be called a Jew lover.
And suffer imprisonment or worse.
Just as it was in the Nazi time.
So will it be at the end of
the age.
Who will stand with them?
And extend mercy.
And run the risk of their own life.
The sons and daughters of David.
In whom the Spirit of God is.
And walk in the way of righteousness.
For there is no other alternative for them.
But the way of God.
And the Lord will know those who are
his.
This is more than religion.
It will separate the sheep from the goats.
Although both of them say Lord, Lord.
When did we see you hungry and drinking?
He says depart from me I never knew
you.
The issue of our attitude toward the Jew.
Is the truth of our relationship with God.
They are in the world in every nation.
Not to test us and to reveal it.
Sentiment will not do it.
Only the love of God.
That cannot be offended.
And will take every risk.
For righteousness sake.
We are moving toward this conclusion of the
age.
Near religion will not be enough.
Near sentiments will not be enough.
Only the Spirit of God.
For those who walk in the way.
And are strong in the knowledge of God.
Because they walk with him daily.
With a whole heart.
And seek him.
And grow in his words.
And the knowledge of him.
Daily.
This is not a new gospel.
It is the gospel.
But we have not heard it.
It has not been required of us.
We have not been whole hearted.
So I want to pray again.
For the church of Bulgaria.
And this city.
For I know that much will be required
of it.
With regard to the Jew.
In the last days.
In the time of Jacob's trouble.
In the rising anti-Semitism.
Growing up again all over the world.
For the only people who will resist it.
Are those who are strong in the Lord.
And in the knowledge of his word.
It is beyond religion.
But we have got to choose it.
I will.
I will David said.
And we need to say also.
So Lord I pray for the church.
That it might be the church indeed.
And it may well be that those who
will oppose us.
From that religious world.
And they are threatened by us.
Because our faith is so real.
We have the joy of the Lord.
Even in hard circumstances.
And we are identified with that hated people.
The Jew.
So bless the true church.
The church within the church.
Sons and daughters of David.
Who walk in the way.
By the spirit.
With a whole heart.
And take delight in it.
Oh bless these children Lord.
Stir up and raise up a people for
your name.
Even out of this room.
Let them leave this room with a rejoicing.
With a new hope.
And a faith born in them.
Because they have sought you.
And called upon you.
And prayed.
And asked for your mercy.
And have received it.
Yet even today.
For you are not far from any one
of us.
But the word is in our mouth.
That if we will believe in our heart.
And confess with our mouth.
That Jesus is Lord.
And that God has raised us from the
dead.
We shall be saved.
So bless this people.
Bring salvation my God into their midst.
Give them a new delight.
To walk in the way.
As you will show it to them.
Day by day.
Decision by decision.
What the will of the Lord is.
Which is along perfect and righteous.
To those who will seek you.
Because you are their delight.
Do these things Lord we pray.
Oh Lord mercy.
Change us.
Let this city bless this nation.
Let it again be to the Jews what
it was once before.
That it shall be eternally remembered.
As a nation that knew its God.
And loved the people of God.
Even when they were themselves in their own
unbelief.
And demonstrated this love in such a way.
As to bring these Jews to the knowledge
of their own God.
Put a seal on this afternoon.
Use the tape of this sharing.
To bring light into darkness.
And we bless you.
And thank you for your mercy.
That will not let us go.
That we will not seek you.
You have sought us.
You have taken the initiative.
You drew it in order.
Because you had another intention.
That was eternal.
And have spoken it.
Receive our gratitude.
For such a love.
As will not let us go.
We thank you.
Give you praise.
In Jesus name.
Amen.