SPEAKER_01: As you know, we study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel.
SPEAKER_01: And uh we have some extra copies.
SPEAKER_01: If you didn't bring one, you'd like one to follow along.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand up real high.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody will drop one off at your row, your aisle.
SPEAKER_01: There's a couple over here by the window as well.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much to those who are doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll throw up on the screen the QR code.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like the notes and quotes in advance, you can turn there and uh take a picture of that with your camera and click to the link it takes you to, and you'll be able to get those.
SPEAKER_01: Uh today we'll be looking at Psalm 119 again for the uh looking at the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th stanza of this great psalm.
SPEAKER_01: Want to thank the folks who have joined us around the from around the world uh in the past week.
SPEAKER_01: We've got folks from Cebu City in the Philippines, people from Accra in Ghana, uh, people in Casper, Wyoming.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Denver, Colorado, and Dubai United Arab Emirates as well.
SPEAKER_01: So we are so grateful for you uh to have you joining us over the last week for study or worship, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01: And we're glad to have made a connection.
SPEAKER_01: We hope that that can continue as well.
SPEAKER_01: Today we'll look at uh, I'm gonna call this the certain word in an uncertain world, and perhaps that will in some way intrigue you to consider what this is about as we come to the end of a year.
SPEAKER_01: An end of a year where there is indeed much chaos, and you're wondering about next year and what's it gonna look like then.
SPEAKER_01: How rocky is the boat gonna get, and uh hopefully we can uh give us uh offer ourselves from God's word just a little bit of more of hope and confidence in God and in what he said.
SPEAKER_01: The Psalms are songs of revelation and response.
SPEAKER_01: 150 of them.
SPEAKER_01: We find them in the middle of our Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: If you're turning there, I'm glad you are.
SPEAKER_01: We use SIDSI as an acronym for how we uh how we benefit from studying the Psalms, stir the emotions, inform the mind, direct the will, shape the imagination, and inspire worship.
SPEAKER_01: So the Psalms are really wonderful, great to study the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: You'll find every human emotion uh on display there, every struggle that we have in some way reflected there.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, as the Lord Jesus said in Luke chapter 24, all of these find their fulfillment in Christ Himself.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've looked at Psalm 119 already three different times.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to look at today and two more times as well.
SPEAKER_01: We've already made the sort of summary statement that there are 176 verses, making it the longest chapter in the Bible in terms of the number of verses.
SPEAKER_01: There are 22 stanzas, each corresponding to the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
SPEAKER_01: There are eight lines in each of these stanzas, and each of those eight lines begins with that corresponding Hebrew letter.
SPEAKER_01: So we will begin today with kaf in verse 81.
SPEAKER_01: And that Hebrew letter, every one of the verses in the original Hebrew language, each of the verses will actually begin with a word that starts with that Hebrew letter.
SPEAKER_01: You don't see that necessarily in your English translation, but trust me, it's there.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it makes it such an amazing piece of literary art and linguistic skill is on full display here.
SPEAKER_01: And I have a sense that this perhaps is a lifelong uh journal.
SPEAKER_01: If it is David that has written this one, we don't really know.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Spurgeon and others feel like, oh, yeah, it's 100% David.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not 100% sure about that.
SPEAKER_01: But if it is, whomever it is, really gifted as a linguist, really gifted with words as a songwriter.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems as you move from the beginning to the end that it could be younger and getting older as you go through Psalm 119 to when you get to the end and he's really sort of uh marinating in the wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: And on the front end, he's saying things like, Your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you.
SPEAKER_01: So he's just wrestling and struggling with a lot of temptations and things like that, and he gets older, he's thinking more about wisdom and that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll take a look at some of that as we look at Kaff, and we're also going to look at uh all the way down to uh verse 112 today.
SPEAKER_01: But allow me, if you will, to uh just lead us in a prayer before we start reading.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, as we study your word today, we pray that what we know not you will teach us, and what we have not, you will give to us, and what we are not, you will make us.
SPEAKER_01: Grant to us a clearer vision of your truth, a greater faith in your power, and a more confident assurance of your love for us.
SPEAKER_01: Pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_01: So as we come to stanza number 11, Kaf, we arrive at what I would call both the nadir, the lowest point, and the turning point for the composer of the psalm.
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice terms like languish, longing, phrases like I've become like wineskin in the smoke, how many are the days that I have left, how long will you wait before you come?
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like we have the low point in this 11th stanza.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm gonna ask uh those of you, I'm gonna just do this a little pastorally this time, because in in the previous studies of Psalm 119, we've had you read most of the text out loud.
SPEAKER_01: But rather than do this side, that side, men, women, over 40, under 40, I want to know if you relate to what's this, what this text is actually saying today.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know, uh, and and and I'll sort of give you four, each stanza will have a word attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: This word is going to be comfort.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we see, we'll read the word comfort itself in verse 82.
SPEAKER_01: But the word is comfort, and if this year, as we've come through the year, you find yourself in need of comfort, or you find yourself looking over the year, you look back and you see that God has indeed comforted you.
SPEAKER_01: And you're grateful for that.
SPEAKER_01: But this word comfort really resonates with you as we read through this text for one reason or another, out of need or out of gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: Would you be the ones that would read?
SPEAKER_01: I'll serve as the pace dog if you don't mind me joining you.
SPEAKER_01: I indeed relate quite a bit to this, having lost my mom uh this year.
SPEAKER_01: I really needed the comfort of God, and I turned to his word over and over and over again, and indeed he did comfort me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're one of those, uh join me in reading this aloud, if you will.
SPEAKER_01: My soul languishes for your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I wait for your word.
SPEAKER_01: My eyes fail with longing for your word.
SPEAKER_01: While I say, When will you comfort me?
SPEAKER_01: Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your statutes.
SPEAKER_01: How many are the days of your servant?
SPEAKER_01: When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?
SPEAKER_01: The next slide.
SPEAKER_01: The arrogant have dug pits for me.
SPEAKER_01: Men who are not in accord with your law, all your commandments are faithful.
SPEAKER_01: They have persecuted me with a lie, help me.
SPEAKER_01: They almost destroyed me on earth.
SPEAKER_01: But as for me, I did not forsake your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: Revive me according to your loving kindness, so that I may keep your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: That beautiful, wonderful, rich, rich text that it is.
SPEAKER_01: You see the word comfort there, don't you?
SPEAKER_01: I'll jump back to that slide there.
SPEAKER_01: Um in, as I said, in verse 82.
SPEAKER_01: And just a couple comments on this particular text.
SPEAKER_01: That first verse, my soul languishes.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Nefesh is the Hebrew word for soul.
SPEAKER_01: It's my inner being, all of who I am, languishes.
SPEAKER_01: Um the word really is I'm worn out.
SPEAKER_01: I'm exhausted.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm and later it'll it'll parallel in verse 83 with this idea of being dried up, my soul being dried up.
SPEAKER_01: But perhaps you've felt that way before in the past year or in times gone by.
SPEAKER_01: And what you need is the end of that first line.
SPEAKER_01: My soul languishes for what?
SPEAKER_01: Your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's rescue.
SPEAKER_01: That's God coming and doing for you what you cannot do for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: My soul doesn't languish for me to pull myself up by my bootstraps.
SPEAKER_01: I need outside help.
SPEAKER_01: And perhaps you have too, and you know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: The next line, I wait for your word.
SPEAKER_01: This is a beautiful word in Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: Yahal.
SPEAKER_01: It means to expect, it also means to hope, and it means to wait.
SPEAKER_01: So wait expectantly with hope.
SPEAKER_01: It means all three of those.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's so rich and beautiful about it.
SPEAKER_01: I wait expectantly, hoping for your word.
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear from you, God.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to speak to me.
SPEAKER_01: This is really the most expressive lament in all of Psalm 119, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: My eye, my eyes fill with longing for your word.
SPEAKER_01: And again, I think our biggest questions spring from our deepest longings.
SPEAKER_01: And we're all longing for so many things, whether we know it or not, we are.
SPEAKER_01: Our hearts are pining for God.
SPEAKER_01: We want him to set things right.
SPEAKER_01: And so we hear in his word the promises that he makes about our future, as well as the promises that he makes about forgiving us our sins in the past, and the promises that he makes about even being with us in the present moment.
SPEAKER_01: That's so important.
SPEAKER_01: When while I say, when will you comfort me, verse 82?
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that you have felt that same thing, uh, most of you in the room or watching online, and on some occasion in your life when something has not happened that you wanted to happen, or something did happen that you did not want to happen, or you're still waiting and you're still hoping that the Lord will bring something about, you're you're not, I think the scripture is gonna say to us, don't waste your waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to the Lord and turn to his word.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 83, though I become like a wineskin in the smoke, that means just dried out.
SPEAKER_01: And you've felt that way before, I'm sure some of you, I have for sure.
SPEAKER_01: Uh verse 85, the arrogant have dug pits, uh, they have set traps.
SPEAKER_01: You have arrogant people in your life, I know you do.
SPEAKER_01: And I've said it before, arrogance is not attractive on anyone, especially God's people.
SPEAKER_01: And we need more humility, more honesty as we talk even about the gospel itself.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think if we had more humility and more honesty about how much we do and don't know, I think those who listen to us would actually receive our message a little quicker when we didn't appear to be arrogant or haughty or like we got it all figured out, because we don't have it all figured out.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, as a finite creature, considering an infinite creature, I begin by saying, I don't have it all figured out.
SPEAKER_01: It's a humble place to be, to acknowledge that we don't know it all.
SPEAKER_01: And it's important for us to be there.
SPEAKER_01: He says the arrogant are working against me, they're setting traps for me.
SPEAKER_01: Men who do not accord, they don't live in accord with your uh law, um, all your commandments, not just some of them, all your commandments, verse 86.
SPEAKER_01: All your commandments are faithful.
SPEAKER_01: They've persecuted me with the with a lie, and the cry then is help me.
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I've heard this said before too, that a lot of our prayers can be reduced down to one of two words, help and thank you, or thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Um, help is more often probably uh uh ringing throughout our prayers.
SPEAKER_01: I like 87 as well.
SPEAKER_01: They almost destroyed me on earth.
SPEAKER_01: That's an important almost, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And he's being honest.
SPEAKER_01: And we are as well as Bible believers, we have the ability to honestly lament what is broken in this world.
SPEAKER_01: That's a gift from God to be able to be honest about lamenting the brokenness in the world and the brokenness that's in our own hearts, in our own minds, in our own lives and practices.
SPEAKER_01: We can honestly say that, admit that, and say, we need help.
SPEAKER_01: We need God's help.
SPEAKER_01: As for me, I did not forsake your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: You see resolve all through this, don't you?
SPEAKER_01: A lot of resolution.
SPEAKER_01: Revive me according to your loving kindness.
SPEAKER_01: It was such a beautiful word, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Revive.
SPEAKER_01: Again, dependent on God.
SPEAKER_01: So there's resolve, but there's also request, so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's look at Lamed.
SPEAKER_01: This next section begins in verse 89.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna suggest that the word that this particular uh stanza focuses in on is gonna be reviving.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be, if you're weary and you need strength, if you look back over the year and you say, How did I make it through that season?
SPEAKER_01: God was faithful to me.
SPEAKER_01: He gave me some strength that wasn't I didn't have myself.
SPEAKER_01: And so pastorally, I would like it very much.
SPEAKER_01: If those of you that have actually experienced that could read this stanza for us, I'll read it along with you as well, just to keep the pace.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read together.
SPEAKER_01: Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations.
SPEAKER_01: You established the earth, and it stands.
SPEAKER_01: They stand this day according to your ordinances, for all things are your servants.
SPEAKER_01: If your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.
SPEAKER_01: I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't get that slide changed, did we?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: I will never uh forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me.
SPEAKER_01: I am yours, save me, for I have sought your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: The wicked wait for me to destroy me.
SPEAKER_01: I shall diligently consider your testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: I have seen a limit to all.
SPEAKER_01: Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's go back to the beginning of that stanza then, and just a couple of comments.
SPEAKER_01: Forever is there, it begins that way.
SPEAKER_01: I love the word forever.
SPEAKER_01: If you love that word, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: That is one of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And it's throughout the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And it answers, unequivocally answers.
SPEAKER_01: Is the question, is this life all there is?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Because why?
SPEAKER_01: Forever.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, all of our lives, 100% of us, at some point, should the Lord tarry, 100% of us are gonna leave this life.
SPEAKER_01: That's that is the statistic, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, are we ready for forever?
SPEAKER_01: Becomes the next question.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we gather to remind ourselves that God is in charge of something called forever.
SPEAKER_01: But verse 89, perhaps, is one of my favorites in the entire passage that we'll study today, because Lamed is a bit of a turning point.
SPEAKER_01: We go from calf, which is really the lowest point, the the most honest lament that we have, and the greatest lament that we have in Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_01: But we go to this Lamed, which then says such beautifully encouraging things about the certainty of God's word in a very uncertain world.
SPEAKER_01: Here is our true north, people.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's word is settled in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are going, well, I wish it was settled here, or I wish it was settled in the life of my spouse or my children.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are thinking that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it will be one day.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what's great is that the ultimate authority, the one who created everything that is, the one who's in charge of human history, the one who intends to one day set things right, his word is settled forever.
SPEAKER_01: And we can turn to him because of that.
SPEAKER_01: He will have the last word.
SPEAKER_01: We can turn to him then, trust and hope in him, no matter what's going on in our world.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God is like a rock to us.
SPEAKER_01: Um the the your word is settled.
SPEAKER_01: That word that can be translated, your word stands high.
SPEAKER_01: It's another way of saying the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so now I guess I would pray this as I come to the end of a year and look at a new year.
SPEAKER_01: May your word settle in me.
SPEAKER_01: May your word settle in me as I move forward.
SPEAKER_01: And even as I look backward, may your word settle in me.
SPEAKER_01: And even as I experience the last few days of this year, may your word settle in me, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: May it take root and stand, and may it be a place where I can stand, a shelter for me, a refuge.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: May it sustain us.
SPEAKER_01: May it strengthen us.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Look down at uh verse 91.
SPEAKER_01: For all things they stand this day.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about creation, uh, how all generations and God's faithfulness runs through all generations.
SPEAKER_01: You establish the earth, all of creation, and it stands.
SPEAKER_01: And then verse 91.
SPEAKER_01: They stand this day.
SPEAKER_01: You know what stands this day?
SPEAKER_01: All of creation, everything that he's created, stands this day.
SPEAKER_01: How does it do that?
SPEAKER_01: It stands this day, according to your ordinances, for all things are your servants.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the scope of the sovereignty of God in that verse.
SPEAKER_01: How many things?
SPEAKER_01: Some things?
SPEAKER_01: No, all things stand because of God and your ordinances, and they are all your servants, including all of the stuff that happens that I wish would go a different way.
SPEAKER_01: Those things are his servants.
SPEAKER_01: It's a completely different way of looking at the world we live in, looking at ourselves, and even looking at our suffering and the stuff that we're going through in this, as Tommy mentioned earlier, already but not yet, kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And as Kim prayed, in this world where so much goes wrong in so many places for those who are faithful believers.
SPEAKER_01: And there's so much of that going on in the world.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, what the psalmist from all the way back, I mean, at least two or three thousand years ago, is saying is that all things are God's servants.
SPEAKER_01: He is absolutely sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: There's no such thing as partial sovereignty when it comes to God.
SPEAKER_01: 92.
SPEAKER_01: If your word had not been my delight, not just my ritual, not just my southern duty socially.
SPEAKER_01: If your word had not been my delight, not just my habit, it's a good habit to be in, but more than that.
SPEAKER_01: It's my delight.
SPEAKER_01: And that's deeper, that's getting into my heart, and if it had not been my delight, I would have perished in my afflictions.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the Lord comforting, here's the Lord reviving.
SPEAKER_01: I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about neuroplasticity, forming new, retraining our brains, you know, like taking in the word of God, trusting, believing the word of God, delighting in the word of God, and it creates new neural pathways in your mind, in your brain, and you retrain your brain according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And I know it's just a scientific term that they've come up with recently to describe something God created a long time ago.
SPEAKER_01: God said a long time ago, it's really good for us to be in the word, to be memorizing the word.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm yours, save me.
SPEAKER_01: That flies in the face of our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 94.
SPEAKER_01: Because verse 94 in our culture, if our culture was writing that verse, it'd be I'm mine, get out of my way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm mine, I'll save myself.
SPEAKER_01: I'm mine, I'll define myself.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way our world thinks.
SPEAKER_01: But no, we're here as creatures, created by a loving, benevolent, kind, generous, saving God who's omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he knows everything.
SPEAKER_01: He is all powerful, and he is everywhere, and we can't run away from him, which is really great news.
SPEAKER_01: But we belong to him.
SPEAKER_01: We don't just belong to ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We don't belong to the culture.
SPEAKER_01: I'm yours.
SPEAKER_01: Save me.
SPEAKER_01: I sought your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much here.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I wish we could spend more time on each and every point.
SPEAKER_01: But verse 96 I'll diligently consider your testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we study verse by verse, chapter verse.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter by chapter through books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be diligent in our study.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen a limit to all perfection.
SPEAKER_01: That is, I've seen all that humanity can do.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen the best of the best, he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, this guy's a king.
SPEAKER_01: He's seen the best of the best.
SPEAKER_01: He's had the best of the best.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he's seen that even the best of the best is limited.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen a limit to all anything that humanity has been able to do.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, here he contrasts it to the eternal word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Your commandment is exceedingly broad.
SPEAKER_01: It blows it away, in other words.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so mem.
SPEAKER_01: And for the this particular section, let's think about this for those of you who have sought God in terms of guidance.
SPEAKER_01: You wanted God to help you understand something this year.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you're doing that right now.
SPEAKER_01: Enlightening.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in our sermons, we usually pray on the front end for the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, what we know not teach us, what we see not show us.
SPEAKER_01: And so you've had a year, maybe you're experiencing that right now, or you've had a year like that.
SPEAKER_01: Big questions, deep long, that's right.
SPEAKER_01: How many times have you asked God to open your eyes as you read his word?
SPEAKER_01: Can you think back to a time when you opened this book and you found something in it that really spoke to your situation, whatever that may be, your longing in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, I hope that you would be willing to read aloud with me as we read through Mem together.
SPEAKER_01: Let me put this up on the screen here.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read aloud.
SPEAKER_01: Those of you who have been desiring enlightenment from the and illumination from God in his word.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, how I love your law.
SPEAKER_01: It is my meditation all the day.
SPEAKER_01: Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine.
SPEAKER_01: I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
SPEAKER_01: I understand more than the aged, because I have observed your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word.
SPEAKER_01: I have not turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me.
SPEAKER_01: How sweet are your words to my taste.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: From your precepts I get understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I hate every false way.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much here.
SPEAKER_01: I love your law.
SPEAKER_01: That's not something you normally would say.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're not driving down in 65 going, there's a 65 little speed limit there, uh, you know, or 70 or whatever it happens to be.
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, as a matter of most of the time when I'm late for something, I hate that.
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't law isn't something that we generally but there's another way of looking at law and saying, law is what brings us order, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: It's like guardrails that hold us in, and that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: Or lanes that that help us as we, you know, on a societal level, if there's more than a few cars, uh, the cars that are on this side of the double yellow line and multiple lanes, the lanes help us get there safely.
SPEAKER_01: And the double yellow line really helps us get there safely.
SPEAKER_01: So we always want to remember that.
SPEAKER_01: That's an important thing.
SPEAKER_01: There's a way of looking at this to say, yes, Lord, your law, I love it.
SPEAKER_01: I delight in your word, and I love that it contains law, that it contains the kinds of norms and statutes and principles that we can count on.
SPEAKER_01: That's really wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: Um, three different times he says something like this: uh, verse 98, the commandments make me wiser.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 99, I have more insight.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 100, I understand more, more than the aged.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And I listen, as an aged, I'm really glad for the youngsters that understand more than I do, especially when it comes to computers and software and all that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01: Um, that some of that is just so, so very helpful.
SPEAKER_01: But are we eager to learn?
SPEAKER_01: Are we leaning forward like that?
SPEAKER_01: Um, look at the resolve in 101 and 102.
SPEAKER_01: I've restrained my feet, that I may keep your word.
SPEAKER_01: I've not turned aside.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 102, for you yourself have taught me.
SPEAKER_01: There's an engagement with God there, isn't there?
SPEAKER_01: When you read his word, are you simply checking the box or are you saying, Lord, speak to me?
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, my ears are open.
SPEAKER_01: And then that last, that last uh 103 and 10 um 104, how how the word of God is sweet, sweeter than honey.
SPEAKER_01: I love all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Do I love the truth?
SPEAKER_01: Do I hate falsehood?
SPEAKER_01: That's that's important too, uh, because he says that in verse 104.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I hate every false way.
SPEAKER_01: All right, we've got to press on.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to nun.
SPEAKER_01: Um, some pronounce this nun.
SPEAKER_01: Um if you come from a Catholic background, that might be helpful for you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but this is uh uh actually pronounced uh nun.
SPEAKER_01: Um and it goes just like this.
SPEAKER_01: This is for those of you who um have looked for guidance in the last year.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, show me which way to go.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the path ahead?
SPEAKER_01: And and even in that first verse, maybe, Lord, help me assess how I got to where I am right now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand what happened.
SPEAKER_01: But be a lamp to my feet, right?
SPEAKER_01: And a light to my path.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this sense where we're opening our Bibles, we're looking for God to speak to us, to lead us, to guide us in some way.
SPEAKER_01: Would you read aloud if that is you and this resonates with you in terms of a need you have now, or some way in which God has used his word in your life over the last year?
SPEAKER_01: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
SPEAKER_01: I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep your righteous ordinances.
SPEAKER_01: I am exceedingly afflicted.
SPEAKER_01: Revive me, O Lord, according to your word.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, accept the free will offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me your ordinances.
SPEAKER_01: My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.
SPEAKER_01: The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not gone astray from your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: I have inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever, even to the end.
SPEAKER_01: Ah, this is God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Unique in its source.
SPEAKER_01: That's right, thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01: Unique in its source, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Timeless in its truth, broad in its reach, transforming in its power.
SPEAKER_01: For people of faith living in a world that is often unfriendly toward faith, things can sometimes be difficult.
SPEAKER_01: There's an inherent tension between the way believers in God see everything within reality and the way unbelievers, people who do not acknowledge God or believe in God, the way they see everything.
SPEAKER_01: This tension manifests itself in so many directions, and we would be wise to at least be aware of that tension.
SPEAKER_01: The tension is in morals.
SPEAKER_01: Personal, there's tension sometimes in relationships, cultural tension, political, legal, global tension.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus himself talked about this same tension throughout his teachings, including the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_01: C.S.
SPEAKER_01: Lewis commented on this tension as well.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Christians increasingly live in a spiritual island.
SPEAKER_01: New and rival ways of life surround it in all directions, and their tides come further up the beach every time.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_01: First published in 1950.
SPEAKER_01: And here we are 75 years later, and it still rings true, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Lewis, writing in the aftermath of World War II, observed that Christianity no longer functions as the assumed moral and intellectual framework of society.
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
SPEAKER_01: What once felt like a shared cultural mainland had become, to use his metaphor, an island.
SPEAKER_01: Still true, still embodied on the island, but increasingly marginalized and at the same time encroached upon, shaped, and syncretized, I would say, by alternative worldviews, philosophies, and the ways of life from other ways of seeing life.
SPEAKER_01: Although Christianity, though, has not diminished in truth, it has lost much of its cultural influence.
SPEAKER_01: As a result, believers are increasingly exposed to rival stories about reality.
SPEAKER_01: To navigate the turbulent waters like this and remain faithful, the church needs at least three essentials, and I'll put them on the screen for you.
SPEAKER_01: A biblically informed perspective on reality.
SPEAKER_01: How do you think about reality?
SPEAKER_01: What do you think of reality, including yourself in it?
SPEAKER_01: The people near you, the people far away from you, the world that you live in.
SPEAKER_01: What is true?
SPEAKER_01: What is good, what is beautiful?
SPEAKER_01: Reality is a huge word.
SPEAKER_01: We need a biblically informed view of reality.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, dynamic and passionate engagement with the living God.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if we're not engaged with the living God when we come in here on Sunday, we're literally, if we were back in Old Testament times, we'd literally just be rearranging all the stuff on top of the altar and there'd be no holy fire in sight.
SPEAKER_01: We're just moving stuff around.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the holy fire?
SPEAKER_01: We need to be engaged with the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And thirdly, deeper discipleship that develops into broader missional effectiveness.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we're still here on the planet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus hasn't returned yet, and he wants us to be joining him in the mission that he has in this world.
SPEAKER_01: You have a meaning and a purpose.
SPEAKER_01: You have a telos.
SPEAKER_01: You have a reason for being alive each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: And it's much bigger than your paycheck.
SPEAKER_01: It's much bigger than the next advancement level in your career path.
SPEAKER_01: It's much bigger than anything you might, just the finite stuff you might be interested in or hopeful of or dreaming of.
SPEAKER_01: It's the mission of God in this world.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants you to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_01: He wants me to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us as the village chapel to be a part of it collectively.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants every church that names the name of Christ and that believes the gospel to be joining him in that mission.
SPEAKER_01: We find that mission in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Michael Wilcox said the word of God is no mere label to attach to a book, it means God speaking.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we're listening.
SPEAKER_01: We're listening because we know God is speaking.
SPEAKER_01: God has spoken in his word, but God continues to speak, as John Stott points out in his two books on preaching.
SPEAKER_01: And he continues to speak.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, are we listening to what he has already said?
SPEAKER_01: Are we eagerly anticipating what he might have to say to us?
SPEAKER_01: And John Stott in Between Two Worlds says, the Bible is God's word written, God's word through men's words, spoken through human mouths, written through human hands.
SPEAKER_01: That's so true, to be sure.
SPEAKER_01: These four categories, these four stanzas do overlap.
SPEAKER_01: We all need comfort.
SPEAKER_01: We all need reviving.
SPEAKER_01: We all need God to not only guide us, but to also enlighten us as He's guiding us along the way.
SPEAKER_01: There are times when I need each and every one of those things, and sometimes I need more than one of them.
SPEAKER_01: But if we were to ask, does the world seem like it's making progress or is it in peril right now?
SPEAKER_01: How we answer this depends on who or what we believe is actually in charge and in control.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I'm so delighted to talk about the sovereignty of God all of the time.
SPEAKER_01: And as we close out one year and begin another, perhaps like me, you've lost someone near and dear to you.
SPEAKER_01: And you need the comfort of God.
SPEAKER_01: Or you need perhaps reviving.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe your spiritual life is sagging or drifting.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you need yes, you got questions.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, open this up for me.
SPEAKER_01: I need to understand this more.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you need some kind of leading and guiding in terms of God showing you the path ahead and where he would have you go in what way it might be able to advance you spiritually and make progress.
SPEAKER_01: See, as going back to Lewis again, we all want progress, but progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be.
SPEAKER_01: If you've taken the wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer.
SPEAKER_01: That should be nearer.
SPEAKER_01: If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road.
SPEAKER_01: And in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive, you see.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people will talk about progress and how we need that, but they don't define progress.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where values come in.
SPEAKER_01: It's so important for us to think that through.
SPEAKER_01: Leslie Nubingham said, if the biblical story is true, the kind of certainty proper to a human being will be one which rests on the fidelity of God, not upon the competence of human knower.
SPEAKER_01: It will be a kind of certainty which is inseparable from gratitude and trust.
SPEAKER_01: So when we say this is a certain word in an uncertain world, I would suggest to you that some of the chaos we see in the world around us is because some people value this, other people value that, some people value this, and there's really no consensus in a world where there's no transcendent.
SPEAKER_01: But because we believe that Christ is preeminent over all, we, a very eclectic group of people, you may or may not know this, but you're sitting next to somebody that actually thinks quite differently than you do about a whole lot of finite stuff.
SPEAKER_01: They may have even voted the other way than you did.
SPEAKER_01: And yet we think Jesus is more important than that.
SPEAKER_01: Even that.
SPEAKER_01: And so we come together because we have Christ in common.
SPEAKER_01: And there we find a certain word with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Christopher Ash, great series of commentaries on the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: There's a limitless breadth and freedom to the Word of God in creating and sustaining the world, such that the one who walks in that word will dwell in a wide place and find the joy of a heart set free.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's, see, that's that's what I'm finding myself and have been finding for years as I've been going through the one year Bible and I've lost track, how many years I've been doing it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that to brag.
SPEAKER_01: I'm simply saying it's a way of life, folks, and it makes a big difference in the way I look at today, this moment, this moment with you.
SPEAKER_01: It changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: When I go to the grocery store, it's different.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm marinating in God's word all the time, and it affects every bit.
SPEAKER_01: Like the psalmist in Psalm 1, he meditates on it day and night.
SPEAKER_01: And when you do that, it changes the way you see traffic on I-65.
SPEAKER_01: And especially at, you know, malfunction junction, they're going to the airport, that little section where 40 and 24 and all that comes together.
SPEAKER_01: It's just nuts.
SPEAKER_01: But it reminds me the world's broken.
SPEAKER_01: And then when you finally break through the traffic, ah, you're gonna make it to the airport.
SPEAKER_01: You remember, yeah, God's in charge.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a great illustration.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm seeing that kind of stuff all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, last quote for the day, Michael Wilcott.
SPEAKER_01: The word that directs both the structure and the universe and the processes of history is the same word that preserves and sustains the Lord's servant.
SPEAKER_01: Let that sink in.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what we're saying here?
SPEAKER_01: Is the God who juggles the stars and named them all, the God who created human DNA such that if one human adult person's body was disassembled and each strand of DNA were put together end to end to end and scientists tell us it would go all the way to the planet Pluto.
SPEAKER_01: That's how complex you are.
SPEAKER_01: You're a cosmic creature.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and God has put eternity in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: You hunger for him, whether or not you know it or not.
SPEAKER_01: You're longing for a word from him.
SPEAKER_01: In this uncertain world, you're longing for a certain word.
SPEAKER_01: And it's on offer to you, it's on offer to me as well.
SPEAKER_01: That last sentence.
SPEAKER_01: It does not save him out of a world, still vexed by scoundrels.
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: We still, it's all it's already, but not yet.
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
SPEAKER_01: But it does save him in it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you, Lord, that you are saving me.
SPEAKER_01: You are saving me in the midst of the crazy that I live in, and the crazy that you live in, and the crushing that we go through, just like the psalmist and calf, especially.
SPEAKER_01: I'm he's so he languishes.
SPEAKER_01: He's waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, comfort me now.
SPEAKER_01: So wherever you're at, and I think we find one of these four is speaking to each and every one of us because it's the word of God, and I commend it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: Speak to us, you know the hearts and minds of each and every one of us here in this room.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know our needs, our our longings, our hopes, our fears.
SPEAKER_01: You know all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, by your word, as we study it and as we read it and as we memorize it in 2026, may we, Lord, um be fed, our souls, our nefesh, fed by your word, preserved by your word, comforted by your word, revived by, strengthened by, led and guided by your word, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: May that be the case for us as individuals, for us as a church.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.