I'd like for us this evening to look
in Psalm 119, Psalm
119, and we'll read one of these eight
-verse sections, commencing with verse 105.
As you know, Psalm 119 is a psalm
that every verse, there's 176 verses, all of
them with the exception of verse 122, makes
reference in some way to the Word of
God.
And, of course, the importance of the Word
of God is something that we like to
stress because we know the value of God's
Word.
It is still listed as one of the
most circulated books in the world, but as
someone has well said, it may be one
of the most neglected books in the world.
And most especially sometimes among the Lord's people.
It's easy to dust the book off on
the Lord's Day and pick it up and
take it along to the meeting, follow along
with the scripture reading and that sort of
thing, and neglect it at other times during
the week, have little or no time for
the Word.
Well, if you neglect the Word of God,
you will certainly pay a price for it.
It certainly has a durable quality to it.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my
Word endureth forever.
So when we read the Word of God,
we need to be aware that the Spirit
of God takes the Word of God, and
he can make it very real to us.
He can instruct us in the ways of
righteousness.
Let's read from verse 105 of Psalm 119,
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.
I have sworn, and I will perform it,
that I will keep thy righteous ordinances.
I am afflicted very much.
Revive me, O Lord, according to thy word.
Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of
my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thine
ordinances.
My soul is continually in my hand, yet
do I not forget thy law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me,
yet I e'er not from thy precepts.
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage
forever, for they are the rejoicing of my
heart.
I have inclined my heart to perform thy
statutes always, even unto the end.
You just have to purpose in your heart
that you're going to spend some part of
every day reading the Word of God and
studying the Word of God, meditation upon the
Word.
Purpose of heart, I believe, could be said
to be the forerunner of obedience.
I think of that man, Daniel, and you
read that Daniel purposed in his heart.
Now, that young man determined that, come what
may, he was going to maintain his integrity
as far as his position and his relationship
with all.
He wasn't going to compromise, no matter if
he was there in Babylon, it mattered not,
in captivity.
He purposed in his heart.
He wasn't going to defile himself with the
king's danish.
He purposed in his heart, he was going
to pray, and that's exactly what we have
to do.
It has to be purpose of heart.
It goes pretty deep.
The Word of God is important to me
as a believer.
When we read about the Word of God,
that it is sharp, it's quick, it's powerful,
the dividing thunder between the bone, the marrow,
the soul, the spirit, discerner of the thoughts
and the intent of the heart, we're dealing
with something that, indeed, has a very special
quality about it.
This is the Word of God.
God gave it to us for a purpose
that we might read it, that we might
meditate upon it.
We might assimilate it, take it into our
minds, take it into our hearts, and let
it do for us all that God intended
for it to do for us.
The Spirit of God doesn't operate independent of
the Word of God.
Spirit of God is sometimes, if you think
of it this way, limited by our ignorance
of the Word of God.
If you say there's some degree of difficulty
associated with the Spirit of God leading and
directing me in my life, it's because of
my ignorance of where He wants to lead
me and direct me.
If I don't know the Word of God,
if I don't know what God is saying
to me through His words, of course there's
no excuse for ignorance.
But it does say in the Word of
God that if we know to do right
and we don't do it, then to us
it is a sin.
Most often we know a lot more about
the Word of God as far as just
knowing, knowledge, than sometimes we practice.
So, the Spirit of God can be limited
in the sense that our ignorance limits Him,
and certainly we want to remedy that situation.
So, we study, we learn how to rightly
divide the Word of Truth because we know
the value of the Word of God.
I'm reminded that the Lord Jesus, in His
hour of testing in which Satan sought to
discredit the Lord Jesus, discredit our God through
His Son, the Lord Jesus responded, it is
written.
It is written.
I don't think there's any better way to
respond to evil, to any of the things
that oppose the truth that we have in
God's Word than to respond.
It is written, and be able to give
from the Word of God a very clear
picture of exactly what the Word of God
says concerning any matter that we recognize as
being something that has been introduced, perhaps by
Satan himself, who doesn't mind using the Word
of God.
He used it against our Lord.
True, he misuses it, but that doesn't matter.
Think of all the cults and the sects
that are in the world today, and they
so lively quote the Word of God.
They quote it out of context.
They have their little way of going through
the Scriptures and very loosely connect together things
that really have no connection, and unless we
alert, unless we are well informed from the
Word of God, sometimes we can be deceived.
To those who are unlearned and know nothing
about the Scriptures, to them this is very
impressive.
I've had people to tell me after a
Jehovah's Witness or someone of that ilk comes
along, they were impressed with the way they
knew their Bible.
It mattered not that the things that they
were telling them were absolutely untrue.
That didn't matter.
They were just impressed with that person and
the way they handle and seem to know
the Word of God.
It's wonderful to have a grasp of the
Word of God, and when some of these
people come along, to be able to take
the sword of the Spirit and use it
in a skillful way in which you can
disarm them.
It doesn't take them long to discover perhaps
that you're no dummy as far as the
are concerned.
You know something about the Word of God.
I daresay they won't spend too much time
with you.
They become eager to go their way, but
the value of knowing God's Word...
When I look at what we have before
us this evening, the very first verse that
we read said, Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my
path.
The Word of God is likened unto one
of those little foot lamps, perhaps, that was
used in the day in which the Psalmist
penned these words.
A little lamp that was placed upon the
foot of the traveler along that narrow pathway
that he was walking gave just enough light
for one step at a time, and that's
really all we need because we walk by
faith.
Oh, I don't have to see a way
off over there in the far distance away.
As far as enlightenment for my pathway, I
just need to know where to step and
put my foot the next step that I
take, to be sure I'm putting it in
a safe place.
I don't worry about tomorrow.
Today, and that certainty that God will provide
through His Word, the direction that I need
for my pathway today, there are no tomorrows.
Like a light shining amid the darkness of
this world, we have the Word of God.
It reveals ever so clearly, ever so accurately,
exactly where my footpath should be.
No matter how narrow that way may be,
it may be through some place that is
very precipitous.
Danger is lurking on every side, but when
the Word of God is my guide, it's
the light that I need for my pathway,
I can be assured of one thing.
I'll never be led astray.
It's safe and sure to follow the Word
of God.
When we're able to take the Word of
God and we're able to read it when
we're searching for that will of God in
a specific matter, when we see that will
revealed in the Word of God, I can
be absolutely sure that I'm on the right
course.
I'll not be led astray by the Word
of God.
When we come to Proverbs 6, we read
something that really complements this.
The commandment, of course, is likened unto the
instrument itself, and then the teaching of the
commandment is that which provides light for the
pathway.
Both the instrument and that which it's providing
is the thing that I need, you need,
and, of course, the Word of God provides
just exactly that.
And it should bother us if we neglect
this wonderful book, God's Word.
It should be a part of my life.
It should be a part of every day
that I live, and I should purpose that
at some specific time through every day I
will take time to read it.
For those that draw aside, sometimes they have
very busy lives, and they take time to
read the Word of God.
They know the value of God's Word.
He says something in verse 106 that some
may think.
I don't think many people think this, but
when I think about, I have sworn, they
may think in terms of somebody cussing, cursing,
saying things that are evil, things that are
debasing to the individual.
Well, that's not the thought at all.
When he says, I have sworn to keep
God's Word, all of his righteous requirements, we're
thinking in terms of taking an oath.
You go into a court of law, and
they'll tell you that they want you to
put your hand upon the Bible, they want
you to swear.
Take an oath.
You'll tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God.
Of course, many times after people have said
that, I've been very suspicious that they turn
right around and they lie.
But the psalmist is speaking in terms of
his willingness to take an oath.
That obedience to all of the righteous requirements
that God places upon an individual that is
a follower of God, he's not afraid to
take an oath.
He's not willing to commit himself to that
position.
So often we find a reluctance when you
speak of things that are decent and honorable.
People draw back.
They would readily commit themselves to something that
would be very harmful in their lives, but
when it comes to those things that relate
to righteousness, such a reluctance to commit themselves
to it.
Oh, I don't know, that standard's too high.
Oh, I better not do that.
And listen, before the Lord and with God's
help, I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.
I know within myself I have no power
within myself to keep the word of God.
God provides the power and the strength.
It's through his enabling grace that I'm able
to keep his word, and certainly there's no
lack of power with God.
His arm is not shortened that he can't
save.
His arm is not shortened that he can't
strengthen me, and he honors the commitments that
we make to keep his holy word.
Indeed, the psalmist takes a position that might
indeed be very unpopular today.
Oh, you don't have to go that far.
So often we hear this, you're taking this
thing, you're taking it too seriously.
I don't know of any way to take
the word of God but to take it
seriously, and to believe that what it says
it means, and obey it.
That's how serious it really is.
And, of course, verse 107 points out something
that I believe many of us, if we
have sought to be a true witness for
our Lord Jesus Christ, and we've taken a
stand for righteousness, and we have insisted that
the word of God is the only safe
guide as far as our conduct is concerned
that it's going to bring to bear upon
us affliction.
But I'm reminded the Lord Jesus said, in
this world you're going to have affliction.
You're going to have trial, and testing, and
tribulation, but you be of good cheer.
I've overcome the world.
Much affliction may come your way just because
you take a stand for righteousness.
I think we've heard in the course of
some conversation I've had with someone here today
that we should, in a sense, be incensed
when we see injustice in the world.
We should be.
When I see all of the wrong, all
of the evil things that are imposed upon
people by other people, their treatment of other
people, I should be incensed by that.
I should feel a sense of anger.
We talked about being angry, but sinning not.
Don't let the sun go down upon your
anger.
But when you take that very positive stand,
you're going to find that opposition is lurking
around the corner.
Maybe call some names.
I've heard fellows say that where they work,
they had a name for them.
They called them a certain thing just because
they insisted upon putting the Word of God
in a very important place in their lives.
That fellow that opens his lunch pail, and
there he's got his New Testament, and he
sits there and he quietly reads the Word
of God, bows his head, and he gives
thanks to God for the things that God
has provided for him.
Some will respect that.
It's a testimony.
It's a witness to those that see that
here's an individual that has enough courage, has
enough purpose in heart, that as a Christian,
a believer in Jesus Christ, he's not ashamed
of God's Word, knows the importance of it,
knows the value of it.
It may bring affliction.
Verse 108 makes reference to what we can
offer in the way of the freewill offerings
of my mouth.
And when I think about this, I thought
about Psalm 19, verse 14.
It says, Let the words of my mouth,
the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer.
To have the opportunity to use our tongue,
to use our mouth, to bring glory and
honor to the name of God.
We are peculiarly equipped.
God created us that way.
We have the faculty of speech.
We have language in which we can speak
to God, and we need to prepare ourselves
from the Word of God to offer up
to God praise, offerings of my mouth I
bestow from out of the depths of my
heart upon my God.
We worship God in spirit and in truth.
No other way to worship Him, to truly
worship God except in the power of the
Spirit of God and according to the truth
of God.
There again, it carries us right back to
the Word of God.
When I hear a brother offering up an
offering of praise and thanksgiving to God, very
soon you detect just how much depth there
is in that life, in that individual's life,
as far as a knowledge of the Word
of God is concerned.
Our speech betrayeth us.
We soon learn and know that there's some
depth in that individual.
He knows God in a very personal way.
It's been through his words.
Now he's able to make as an offering
to God those things that God from His
Word has used to enrich his life.
You see, the psalmist is impressing upon us
the value of the Word of God.
Don't neglect it.
Make it a part of your life every
day.
Verse 109 says something that I made reference
to this morning.
It says, My soul, or my life, is
continually in my hand, yet do I not
forget by law.
I don't know.
I think I used expression this morning that
that's a frightening thing to know.
God has saved us.
We're already seen as seated in heavenly places
in Christ.
I believe in the eternal security of the
soul.
I'm in God's hand.
He placed me there.
It's a wonderful position to be in Christ.
To know I don't have to have any
worry or concern about that matter.
Paul says, I am persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day.
But the awesome thought is the fact that
God has entrusted me with my life and
what to do with it.
That's what the psalmist is saying.
I have my life continually in my hand.
I can't say, Lord, I don't want to
do this.
I don't want to handle my life in
that sense.
No, the responsibility is thrust upon us.
Paul says, I beseech you, I entreat you,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your body a living sacrifice.
This is something that is holy and acceptable
with God, and it's just our reasonable service.
I think we sometimes forget that, indeed, there
are many that have died modest deaths.
The apostle Paul, because he was steadfast in
his faith, he would not deny his God.
He had his head taken off.
There have been many people there because they
would not recant.
All of the pressure of that horrible religious
system, Roman Catholicism, you have to say it,
responsible for the death, the martyrdom of literally
thousands of God's dear blood-bought children because
they would not deny the truth that they
had seen in the Word of God, the
same truth we had.
This is what I'm putting before you at
this moment.
Sometimes we don't think that's very important to
deny the truth that's found in the Word
of God.
Sometimes it turned into a position we were
just compromising a little.
Well, listen, if someone brought us right down
to that point where they said, you deny
or else, and that else may mean that
I'll be in prison.
Many people today that are in prison in
Russia and some of those countries that have
tried to bar and shut out the distribution
of the Word of God, the only reason
they're in those prison cells is because they've
taken a stand upon the Word of God.
It's the same word we had.
Does it mean that their convictions are deeper
than ours?
Of course, we'd have to be put to
the test.
We don't know.
I just trust that each one of us
would indeed say, yes, I'll take my stand.
I'm not going to deny the Word of
God.
My life, God entrusted it to me.
I'll do what I believe God would have
me to do with it, and I'm going
to present it as a living sacrifice, not
a dead sacrifice, a living sacrifice to God.
If it means imprisonment, if it means suffering
for the cause of Christ, I'll take that
stand.
That's our responsibility.
That's our privilege, and it's a little bit
frightening to think that we are entrusted.
After all, we shall appear before the judgment
seat of Christ.
Each one, as he stands, he will receive
reward or he will suffer loss, and this
is regarding our service.
What have I done with my life?
There are some that will be saved, so
is by fire.
There are others that indeed, well done thou
good and faithful servant.
You acted wisely.
You acted in perfect compliance with all of
the instructions that were given in my Word.
You were an obedient servant.
You walked in those pathways of righteousness just
as if it was important, and it is
important.
It is very important to obey God's Word.
And verse 110, again we can think of
those that live godly lives.
The enemy is ever so clever.
He doesn't give up.
He's not wishy-washy like so many of
us can be.
He is persistent, and the snares that he
sets for us, so often he does it
very cleverly.
And if we are not fully armed, I
think about taking the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God, and putting
on the whole armor of God.
And in talking with a fellow believer just
recently who had had quite an unpleasant experience,
I think his concept of putting on the
whole armor of God was that, well, you
wait until you are just pressed on every
side.
The battle seems imminent, and then hurriedly you
put on the whole armor of God.
We'd better correct that thinking right quick.
Listen, you keep the armor on.
You wear it all the time.
You'd better sleep with it on.
The whole armor of God, the enemy that
we deal with, is a formidable foe, and
indeed to take him lightly is to invite
disaster.
And that's exactly what this dear brother did,
and he's paying a terrible price for not
taking seriously these snares that are set by
the devil.
In the psalmist's case, not even the adversity
could cause this downfall, because he had an
unerring, unswerving devotion to God's Word.
Someone may say, well, I didn't know that.
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm very sorry that you didn't know that.
But before God, that's not a legitimate excuse.
I didn't know what to do.
We have the Word of God.
We live in a land that has afforded
us many freedoms, and the very fact that
the availability of the Word of God, the
time that we have, the time that is
at our disposal every day, we can have
time allotted for pleasure and for so many
things that we like to do, and sometimes
important things.
But are we wise enough to be sure
that a part of our time in every
day is devoted to the Word of God?
That unswerving devotion to the Word of God
is something that we will find of great
value as we live our lives in this
world.
And verse 111, it's akin to what we
have in verse 57, where the psalmist declares,
Thou art my portion, O Lord.
You know, the Word of God should be
the basis for true rejoicing.
If we're making choices in life and we
decide, What would I like to have?
What would we choose?
You know, we're warned in the Word of
God about imaginations, things that sometimes course through
our minds, things that sometimes we're embarrassed to
even think that we thought those thoughts.
All of this casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ.
Indeed, that's my portion, the psalmist says.
I want the Lord and His Word to
be my portion.
Oh, there are many other things in this
life that may be very attractive, very appealing,
but when you look at them long enough,
you realize that they're just the passing things
of this life.
They don't have a very durable quality about
them, not like the Word of God.
Thy testimonies have I taken as inherited.
That's what I want, Lord.
I want my life to be enriched by
Your Word.
I don't want just a doled-out portion.
Lord, I want the floodgates to be opened.
I want my life to be enriched by
Your wonderful Word.
This rejoices my heart.
It's wonderful to see people get excited and
to rejoice about how wonderful the Lord is.
They can go to the ballgame, they can
go to the sports arena, and there, if
they scream their heads off, they're called fans.
If we rejoice and sing hallelujah to the
Lord a little too loud, they call us
fanatics.
We know that.
But listen, to have that wonderful experience of
having our minds, our hearts, and our souls
full of the Word of God, and it
is indeed a wonderful resource and we should
value it, and value it ever so highly
in a day in which little value is
placed upon it.
Finally, he says, I have inclined my heart
to perform thy statutes.
There's one thing for sure.
God knows when we're half-hearted.
In Jeremiah 29, he says, When you seek
me, and you seek after me, and search
for me with your whole heart, that's when
you'll find me.
And God knows when we purpose in our
hearts to do something, if it's a wholehearted
conviction that we carry into that mouth.
Faintheartedness and half-heartedness, the Lord has no
part of.
He doesn't want any part of.
I have inclined my heart.
That's the tendency.
That's the way I feel in my heart,
to perform the statutes of God.
Always, even under the end.
And I understand that word end means the
heel.
It's the lowest and least noticed part.
But he says, that's how far I'm going
to go.
There's no limit to be imposed upon how
far I will go as far as obedience
to the word of God.
Well, I just trust that when you read
Psalm 119, and there are 176 verses, I
said all with the exception of one make
reference to the word of God.
The psalmist speaks out of his experience.
He was a man just like you and
me.
He had his problems.
He was faced with difficulties, but he found
the word of God to have the answer
for every situation he was faced with.
And, brothers and sisters in Christ, that still
applies today.
Let us read and study and meditate upon
the wonderful word of God, and have our
souls rejoice, and not be afraid to make
that commitment.
Lord, with your help, with your enabling and
obedience to your word, I will perform.
And you will perform in a way that
is acceptable to our holy and righteous God,
because it will all be according to his
word.
May it be so, for his own namesake.
Shall we pray?
Our Father in Heaven, we want to thank
thee tonight for the word of God.
Lord, that you would entrust us with such
a wonderful, wonderful treasure.
The psalmist has said he wants it to
be his heritage.
Lord, we have inherited from those that went
on before, those that laid down their lives,
that shed their blood, to give us this
wonderful book, the word of God.
Many, indeed, they suffered, and they suffered horrible
things in this life because they valued this
wonderful, wonderful book.
Help us to know with the assurance that
you provide for us that we're not to
take these things lightly.
We are to value and treasure it.
And, O Lord, to know that it is,
indeed, a safe guide, a lamp unto my
pathway.
The enlightenment that I need in such a
dark world, where there are so many uncertainties
and the pressures are so great, O Lord,
we thank thee for the guidance and direction
that the Spirit of God provides for us
through your word.
And may your dear people avail themselves of
it and be fortified and be armed in
a day in which there's been so much
compromise, in which error abounds, and so often
those ministers of so-called righteousness are parading
about, and so many falling victim to them.
O Lord, deliver us and help us to
value your word.
For we ask this in the precious and
holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The service is over.