SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Our scripture reading for today is Psalm 119, verses 1 through 24.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Scott Braun, and I serve in Harbor Kids, and I have the privilege of reading God's word in our gathering this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the scripture reading is Psalm 119, beginning at verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong but walk in his ways.
SPEAKER_00: You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes.
SPEAKER_00: Then I shall not be put to shame.
SPEAKER_00: Having my eyes fixed on all your commandments, I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn of your righteous rules.
SPEAKER_00: I will keep your statutes.
SPEAKER_00: Do not utterly forsake me.
SPEAKER_00: How can a young man keep his way pure?
SPEAKER_00: By guarding it according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: With my whole heart I seek you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me not wander from your commandments.
SPEAKER_00: I have stored up your your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Teach me your statutes.
SPEAKER_00: With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: In the ways of your testimony I delight as much as in all riches, I will meditate on your precepts.
SPEAKER_00: And fix my eyes on your ways.
SPEAKER_00: I will delight in your statutes.
SPEAKER_00: I will not forget your word.
SPEAKER_00: Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word.
SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of your law.
SPEAKER_00: I am a sojourner on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Hide not your commandments from me.
SPEAKER_00: My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
SPEAKER_00: You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.
SPEAKER_00: Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.
SPEAKER_00: Your testimonies are my delight.
SPEAKER_00: They are my counselors.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Who's ready for a sermon from the longest chapter in the entire Bible?
SPEAKER_01: Couple of you.
SPEAKER_01: So we could be a little bit more excited.
SPEAKER_01: But uh my name is Trevor, I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm excited to be opening God's word with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to physical well-being, a diet is incredibly important.
SPEAKER_01: Any dietrician, uh dietitian will tell you that in order to be a healthy human being, you need to eat from a variety of food groups.
SPEAKER_01: You need fruits and vegetables, a source of protein, some whole grains, and so on.
SPEAKER_01: And if you miss one of those categories, you ultimately end up physically malnourished.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, for our spiritual well-being, we need to uh have Bible intake from a variety of places within the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: We need the historical narratives and the prophetic works, the wisdom literature, the gospels, and the epistles.
SPEAKER_01: But for some reason, when it comes to the Bible, most of us feel more comfortable hanging out in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: In general, it seems like it's easier to understand and at face value.
SPEAKER_01: It just seems like it's a little bit more relevant to our everyday lives.
SPEAKER_01: But the problem with that is if we only stay in the New Testament, we miss out on some of the vital spiritual nutrients that the rest of God's Word has to offer as well.
SPEAKER_01: And part of our job as pastors is to give what the Apostle Paul calls the whole counsel of God.
SPEAKER_01: That is spiritual nutrients that come from the entirety of Scripture and not just the parts that are easier to preach or that we are most comfortable with.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've preached through the book of Jonah, and we've preached two different sermon series in the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: And this summer we're going to be preaching through what's called the Psalms of Ascent.
SPEAKER_01: And they fall into that category of wisdom literature.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the Psalms of Ascent are a series of songs that God's people used to sing on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the annual feasts.
SPEAKER_01: There were three festivals that God's people were called to journey to Jerusalem for.
SPEAKER_01: There were the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Boots.
SPEAKER_01: And all able-bodied Jews were commanded to go to Jerusalem if they could to participate in these particular feasts.
SPEAKER_01: And these Psalms, the Psalms of Ascent, were kind of like the soundtrack that they would sing along the way to prepare their hearts for worship on their particular pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_01: And we've chosen to preach through these psalms because we think that they perfectly capture for us what the Christian life is really all about.
SPEAKER_01: You see, we live in a world that's obsessed with convenience and efficiency.
SPEAKER_01: In everything that we do, we're always trying to make things faster and cheaper.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's our food or the product that we buy on Amazon, we want what we want, and we want it right now, as soon as we can possibly get it.
SPEAKER_01: And the result is what we would call microwave Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: It's a kind of Christianity that focuses mainly on doing things fast and individualistically as we possibly can.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a kind of Christianity that ultimately ends up a little bit individualistic and a little bit superficial.
SPEAKER_01: By contrast, what the Psalms of Ascent do is they remind us that discipleship is not something that you can download on an app or that you can order off of Amazon.
SPEAKER_01: Discipleship is less like a microwave and it's more like a slow cooker.
SPEAKER_01: It's a long, slow process that takes time.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a lifelong journey.
SPEAKER_01: It's a pilgrimage, just like the God's people used to take in the Old Testament, not towards the earthly Jerusalem, but ultimately towards our heavenly Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're after slow cooker Christianity, a kind of in Christianity that's intentional and thorough, that ultimately takes more time, but it's more meaningful and satisfying along the way.
SPEAKER_01: We're convinced that microwave Christianity is easier, but that slow cooker Christianity is better.
SPEAKER_01: You might put that hot dog in the microwave and eat it because it's fast and convenient, but if you had a choice between a hot dog and slow cooked pork, you're probably taking the slow cooked pork every single time.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't say any of that because we feel like we're further along than any of you.
SPEAKER_01: We say that because we need this reality for ourselves as well.
SPEAKER_01: Those of you who know me well know that I hate to wait around.
SPEAKER_01: I'm one of the most impatient people in the entire world.
SPEAKER_01: I like to stay busy, I like to think get things done, and I really like to move the needle.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, when I come home from work, I judge my entire day based on what I got done that day.
SPEAKER_01: My wife is like, hey, how'd your day go?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it was great, I got so much done.
SPEAKER_01: Or I'm like, nah, it's all right.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't very productive.
SPEAKER_01: Uh because I like to get things done, I like to be efficient.
SPEAKER_01: The same is true when we go to the grocery store too.
SPEAKER_01: We often go to the grocery store as a family because it just makes it a little bit more enjoyable than going by yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, before my family's even unbuckled, I'm like halfway across the store with a cart full of food.
SPEAKER_01: They get in, they're like, all right, what's on the list?
SPEAKER_01: What do we need?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, nothing, got it all.
SPEAKER_01: Like, when?
SPEAKER_01: While you're busy in the car getting unbuckled, I was in a hurry.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I often translate that into my my spiritual life as well.
SPEAKER_01: I'm impatient when it comes to grocery shopping.
SPEAKER_01: I'm impatient when it comes to uh the work that I can accomplish throughout the day, and I get impatient with my spirituality.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just uncomfortable with the slow pace of my own progress in the faith.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I don't want there to be a process.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be perfect, and I want to be perfect right this very moment.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why we need the Psalms of Ascent.
SPEAKER_01: We need the Psalms of Ascent because they remind us that discipleship is a slow cooker, not a microwave.
SPEAKER_01: It's a process, and every single one of us are a work in progress.
SPEAKER_01: But Psalm 119 is technically not a psalm of ascent.
SPEAKER_01: It's the last psalm before we get to the Psalms of Ascent, which start at Psalm 120.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but we do believe that it's foundational for the journey because it's a psalm that uh unpacks the importance of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And because we want to be a word-centered church, uh, we decided that we would start with Psalm 119 as we ease our way into the Psalms of Ascent over the course of the summer.
SPEAKER_01: Verse one starts out saying that those who keep God's word are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: The word for blessed there is most precisely translated as happy or fortunate.
SPEAKER_01: But we could also loosely translate that word for blessed using the Nebraska motto, the good life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as uh good old Nebraska folks, we have a tendency to think that the good life is a three-car garage, a nice home, and a nice neighborhood that gives our kids access to nice schools and the best sports teams.
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing inherently wrong with any of that.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, most of that actually describes me as well.
SPEAKER_01: But the problem with that way of thinking is that it's inherently superficial.
SPEAKER_01: It locates the good life too much in our circumstances, which can easily shift or change if something were to happen.
SPEAKER_01: All it takes is one disaster, one mistake, or one economic downturn, and suddenly all the things you've just built your life on are taken away from you and it begins to crumble.
SPEAKER_01: But the psalmist, he's convinced that the good life is simply living according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's an important distinction because he locates the good life in God's word, not in our circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: And that makes it more meaningful because it's more enduring.
SPEAKER_01: So the psalm, which is written by an unknown psalmist, uh, is an acrostic poem.
SPEAKER_01: And this across the poem, each section starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
SPEAKER_01: Each section is eight stanzas long, and each verse in that stanza starts with the same corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet that starts that particular section.
SPEAKER_01: And throughout the psalm, the psalmist uses a host of words to describe God's word to us.
SPEAKER_01: He uses words like law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, word, and promise, which collectively occur in the psalm 170 times.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we could meticulously parse out the specific definitions of every single one of those words, but it would take us a lot of time.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not necessary for our purposes, because each one of those is essentially describing some aspect of God's revelation to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so for our time together this morning, we're going to collectively take those as a reference to God's word, which is ultimately the sum total of God's revelation.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what we're talking about this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But before we begin, I want you to understand that the psalmist is writing about the good life, not on the basis of good circumstances, not from a place of comfort and ease.
SPEAKER_01: The psalmist is actually writing about the good life from a place of discomfort and affliction.
SPEAKER_01: He's not in good circumstances, and he grounds all of his confidence and all of his hope and all of his joy in the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And his objective throughout this psalm is to show us that the good life is living according to God's word despite our circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's our big idea for this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The good life is living according to God's word, despite our circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: It takes roughly 20 minutes to read this entire psalm out loud from beginning to end, which is why we only had the first 24 verses read.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna work through this sermon the way that I normally would, preaching section by section.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, I'm gonna give you three categories that kind of capture three main themes that we see weave throughout the psalm, and I'm gonna show you at different places throughout this text where we see those themes.
SPEAKER_01: And those themes are why you should live according to God's word, how you can live according to God's word, and when you need to live according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And uh let me just say at the outset that this is one of the most intimidating passages of scriptures that I've ever preached.
SPEAKER_01: It is twice as long as the next longest passage that I've ever preached in my entire life.
SPEAKER_01: And trying to distill all of Psalm 119 down into a sermon is a little bit like trying to pack it, like take in all you can eat buffet and cram it into a picnic basket, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like there's a lot in there.
SPEAKER_01: So if you walk away feeling like, oh, I'm a little full, uh, that's because you are.
SPEAKER_01: There's just a ton in there.
SPEAKER_01: But uh at least you won't be able to say that you didn't get anything out of it.
SPEAKER_01: So um we're we're starting with why you should study God's word or why you should live according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bible, go ahead and open to Psalm 119 and we'll jump right in.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so why should you live according to God's word?
SPEAKER_01: First reason, because God's word is a guide to life.
SPEAKER_01: Because God's word is a guide to life.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 24, the psalmist says, Your testimonies are my counselors.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 93, he says, I will never forget your precepts, for uh by them you give me life.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 105, he says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
SPEAKER_01: And again in verse 107 he says, Give me life according to your word.
SPEAKER_01: So the word for life here is not merely referring to human existence.
SPEAKER_01: The word for life is referring to thriving, flourishing, living your life to the fullest and most meaningful way possible.
SPEAKER_01: And just as a fish uh it flourishes in water and it dies on land, we flourish when we live according to God's word and we die without it.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because a fish was made for water.
SPEAKER_01: And though it's free to go on land, it's only going to flourish when it lives according to God's design.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way, we are free to live our lives however we want to live them, but we were made for God, and we're ultimately only going to flourish when we live according to God's design, which is ultimately found in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I one thing I know to be true of all of you is that you're not content to just merely exist.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to just like aimlessly wander through life hoping that things turn out okay, and then you're certainly not okay with living a mediocre life.
SPEAKER_01: You want your life to be meaningful, you want your life to be full, you want to flourish because that's the way that God has designed you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, according to the psalmist, the way that you live that kind of life is by living according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: But there's another reason that you should live according to God's word, and that's because God's word is a guard against sin.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 9, the psalmist says, How can a young man keep his way pure?
SPEAKER_01: By guarding it according to your word.
SPEAKER_01: Then in verse 11, he says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
SPEAKER_01: And again, all the way down in verse 133, he says, Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
SPEAKER_01: Now, for the past several years, my family and I have vacationed to Colorado every May.
SPEAKER_01: And uh one of the things that we notice when you go through Colorado is that you have to drive through the mountains.
SPEAKER_01: And while the mountains are incredibly beautiful, they're also pretty treacherous.
SPEAKER_01: And it could be really easy to get caught up taking in all the beauty and drive right off a cliff.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things they have on most of their mountain roads is a nice guardrail that's guiding you all the way up or down the mountain, so that it protects you from falling off into the uh over the cliff as you're taking in all of the beauty of the mountains.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, God's word is a guard that's designed to keep us away from sin.
SPEAKER_01: The more of it we have stored in our hearts, the less room there is for sin to get in there.
SPEAKER_01: Because when your heart is full of God's word, you don't have a whole lot of room left for other things that could distract you from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to notice what the psalmist says.
SPEAKER_01: I have stored it up in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: It's not enough to be familiar with God's word.
SPEAKER_01: We need to be formed by God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And there's an old saying that says, What's in your well comes up in your bucket.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is that we have so much of God's word stored up in our heart that in those moments when temptation comes, when we get bumped, what comes out of us is the word of God, and it protects us from drifting into sin.
SPEAKER_01: A third reason to live according to God's word is because God's word is a gateway to knowing God.
SPEAKER_01: The word Lord occurs 24 times throughout the Psalm, and almost every time it's used possessively.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 1 says, the law of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 33 says, Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 174 says, I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight.
SPEAKER_01: Notice here that the word the Lord, the psalmist is referring to.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Lord's.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Lord's word, it's his law, his testimonies, his precepts.
SPEAKER_01: And so the psalmist isn't celebrating the word of God simply for the word of God's sake, he's celebrating the word of God because the word of God is the way that he gets to know God himself.
SPEAKER_01: That's the ultimate goal.
SPEAKER_01: Um, when uh I was 23 years old, my dad passed away, and I didn't get the opportunity to get to know him as much as I would like.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things that my mom has done over the years is found artifacts about him to help me gain a better understanding of who he was and what he was like.
SPEAKER_01: And this last year over Christmas, uh, she put together a scrapbook that was filled with everything she could find, either about my dad or from my dad.
SPEAKER_01: Notes that he had written, things that he had accomplished, uh, awards that he had received, uh, anything to help me better understand who he was.
SPEAKER_01: And when I opened that scrapbook, it was like a portal into a whole new world.
SPEAKER_01: There were some things that I already knew about my dad that I was reminded of and that I appreciated and that were so refreshing, but there was also a lot that I didn't know about my dad.
SPEAKER_01: And it was almost as if I was getting to know him through this scrapbook in a way that I couldn't while he was still alive.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, God's gateway is a is a, or God's word is a gateway to knowing God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: God has taken everything that you need to know about him, and he's put it down in this book so that you could read it and know him intimately and personally.
SPEAKER_01: And when we open the word, we're not just opening a book that teaches us some life hacks or answers some existential questions or help us to become a better person.
SPEAKER_01: We're opening God's word and we're communing with a creator of the universe who is inviting us to know him through it.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the goal is to know and enjoy God through his revelation to us.
SPEAKER_01: All those things are good, but they're not ultimate.
SPEAKER_01: God is.
SPEAKER_01: So you should live according to God's word because as you get to know God's word, you get to know God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: So God's word is a guide to life, God's word is a guard against sin, and God's word is a gateway to knowing God.
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's why you should live according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's consider how you can live according to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the first way is know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Throughout the psalm, words like teach, learn, meditate, understand, and do not forget are used about 39 times in reference to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 7, the psalmist says, I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous rules.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 12, he says, Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 15, he says, I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 27, he says, Make me understand your precepts.
SPEAKER_01: And you get the impression here that the psalmist isn't casually acquainted with God's word.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't kind of pick it up when he feels like it, or on occasion, or when he's having a rough day, or when he's got a little free time.
SPEAKER_01: He is fully devoted to knowing God's word.
SPEAKER_01: He wrestles with it, he studies it, he memorizes it, he applies it to his everyday life.
SPEAKER_01: For him, the word of God is not optional, it's essential.
SPEAKER_01: It's the oxygen of his spiritual life, and he knows that there's no way that he can survive without it.
SPEAKER_01: The Navigators, a college ministry that I was a part of for a short time while I was in college, has a fantastic little tool that they use to help people understand this called getting a grip on God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: It's been super helpful for me.
SPEAKER_01: I've used it with my kids, and uh I think it'll be helpful for you too.
SPEAKER_01: But it goes like this uh the pinky finger, that is hearing God's word.
SPEAKER_01: That's sitting and listening to sermons and podcasts where somebody else has essentially done the work of studying and applying it.
SPEAKER_01: They're just sharing what they've learned with you.
SPEAKER_01: The ring finger, that is read God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's like basic Bible reading plan, right?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have a two-year Bible reading plan that you download on the internet, or maybe you just pick up your Bible and you read wherever you left off, you read the next section, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_01: It's reading it, it's going into your mind, but it may not necessarily at that point be getting into your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the third one is your middle finger, or what my children call the bad finger.
SPEAKER_01: And uh that is study God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Study God's word.
SPEAKER_01: That's uh like going to a harbor group where you open up the scriptures with another other people and you wrestle with it together.
SPEAKER_01: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it here?
SPEAKER_01: How does it apply?
SPEAKER_01: How should I be different?
SPEAKER_01: Um and then the the fourth one, pointer finger, that's memorize God's word.
SPEAKER_01: That's taking the time to not only be familiar with the scripture or to study the scripture and know what it means, it's to apply it to your memory, to get it in there so that when you're tempted or when you go through a hard time or um you're struggling to obey, you have resources within you to call upon.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go flipping through the Bible to figure out what the Bible says about that.
SPEAKER_01: You already know because you've applied it to your memory.
SPEAKER_01: And then the last one is the thumb, which is um meditate on God's word.
SPEAKER_01: That's thinking about it over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: Taking the time to really understand what is this saying and how should it change my life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's the meditating is a little bit like warming yourself by a fire until you don't just feel the heat of the fire, the heat has actually been transferred to your body and it becomes essentially a part of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is that any one of these methods, in and of themselves, is not gonna be enough for us to know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you try to hold the Bible with just your pinky finger, you're not gonna have a very good grip.
SPEAKER_01: It's probably gonna fall off.
SPEAKER_01: If you try to hold the Bible with just your thumb, probably not really going to have a good grip on it.
SPEAKER_01: But you get a good grip on the word of God when you grab it with your whole hand.
SPEAKER_01: And so you get a good working knowledge of the Bible, the kind that actually shapes and changes your life when you apply all five methods of knowing it and understanding it.
SPEAKER_01: So the idea is don't just be content to know about God's word, to be acquainted with God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Devote yourself to personally and deeply knowing God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Take time to know it like an athlete who practices her sport every single day, or a carpenter who hones his craft over the course of decades of time.
SPEAKER_01: Read it, study it, memorize it, and apply it until it becomes second nature.
SPEAKER_01: Not just something you know, but a part of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: Get it deep down into your bones so that it becomes uh second nature to you in such a way that you don't have to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: You know it, you love it, and it deeply resides in who you are.
SPEAKER_01: One simple way that I did this when I was in college and have continued through into my adult life is uh when I first started reading the Bible, I just start in the gospels, I'd open up and I'd read one section.
SPEAKER_01: If that was four words, that was or four verses, then I read four verses.
SPEAKER_01: If that was twelve verses, then I read twelve verses.
SPEAKER_01: I just read whatever the next section was.
SPEAKER_01: And then if anything stood out to me, I'd write it down on a note card and I'd spend the rest of that day trying to memorize it.
SPEAKER_01: I'd say it out loud ten times uh as I was walking to class.
SPEAKER_01: And then on my way back to clap from class, I'd say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'd read it out loud nine times and try to say it once uh on my own.
SPEAKER_01: I just keep doing that until it got down in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And then I kept reading.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually what I would do is I'd get to a point where I'd find a passage where I'm like, that doesn't make sense, or that bothers me, or I don't quite get that.
SPEAKER_01: I would just pause and give it a little bit of extra time.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to encourage you, if you want to get to know God's word, try just reading it, finding something that stands out to you, write it down and start memorizing it, and then give it a little bit of extra time just to think about that part.
SPEAKER_01: I'm confident that as you get familiar with the word and you ask the Holy Spirit's help, you'll begin to gain a mastery over its meaning in a way that actually changes your life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's not enough to know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: We must also keep God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the word keep here is used 31 times throughout the psalm, and it's used in two different ways.
SPEAKER_01: In one sense, the word to keep means to protect, it means like to lock it away so that nobody can get it and take it away from you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what verse 11 implies when the psalmist says that he has hidden God's word in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is that the psalmist is guarding God's word so that no one and nothing can take it away from him.
SPEAKER_01: So it's locked in there, uh, sure and steady.
SPEAKER_01: And the other sense, the word to keep means to obey.
SPEAKER_01: It's like a soldier who's obeying orders from his commanding officer.
SPEAKER_01: And you get that sense from verse 5, where it says this Oh that my ways would be steadfast in keeping your statutes.
SPEAKER_01: So here the psalmist expresses in a commitment to do what God's word says.
SPEAKER_01: And those two those two meanings kind of work together like petals on a bike.
SPEAKER_01: Um, as you are guarding God's word, you'll begin to keep God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you want to obey it, you must first cherish it in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's an old phrase that's, I think, popular in military culture that says that under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you fall to your level of training.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is that once you get to battle, it's a little bit too late to prepare for war.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to succeed on the battlefield, you need to take uh a good long practice with your weapon beforehand.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same way, if you want to obey God, don't wait until you actually need to obey God.
SPEAKER_01: Start practicing obedience to God before you really need it.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's the idea that you can't write checks from a bank account that doesn't have any money.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't withdraw on the word of God in your life if you haven't deposited any of it in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: See, so don't wait until you need God's word to start knowing God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Deposit it in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Take the time to know it so that when you bump up against challenges and struggles, you can readily obey because you've already been thoroughly acquainted with them.
SPEAKER_01: Uh finally, to um know God's word, we must love God's word.
SPEAKER_01: To know God's word, we must love God's word.
SPEAKER_01: So words like love and delight appear in the Psalm 21 or 29 times.
SPEAKER_01: And in most instances, it's referring to the psalmist love for God's word.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 14, he says, In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 127, he says, Therefore I love your commandments above silver or above gold, above fine gold.
SPEAKER_01: Um look at the affection that the psalmist has for God's word here.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't reluctantly accept God's word as if it's an unwelcome restriction on his life.
SPEAKER_01: He also doesn't theoretically agree with God's word as if it's some general fact that has some vague benefits.
SPEAKER_01: No, he thoroughly enjoys God's word.
SPEAKER_01: It's both practically sufficient for him and personally satisfying.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't relate to God's word like it's a duty, he relates to God's word like it's a delight.
SPEAKER_01: It's more valuable to him, he says, than all riches, even than the finest gold.
SPEAKER_01: In 2007, there was a family who purchased a piece of China from a garage sale in New York for$3.
SPEAKER_01: When they looked at that piece of China, they thought it seemed like it might be worth a little bit more than that.
SPEAKER_01: So they took that piece of China to a place called Sotheby's, which is kind of an auction warehouse in the area.
SPEAKER_01: And when they auctioned off that piece of China, it sold for$2.2 million.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what's crazy about that is that that piece of China had that value the entire time.
SPEAKER_01: The original owner just didn't see it.
SPEAKER_01: And uh sadly, I think many of us relate to God's word in a similar way.
SPEAKER_01: We often treat God's word like it's trivial or boring because, like the person who sold that China, we have no idea what we have.
SPEAKER_01: The problem isn't that scripture lacks value, the problem is that we often fail to see it for what it's worth.
SPEAKER_01: But what if?
SPEAKER_01: What if, like the people who bought that china and then auctioned it off, we could see the Bible for what it is, that we could see the worth that it inherently has in and of itself as God, our Maker, reveals Himself to us through the Holy Scriptures so that we could know and love and trust him.
SPEAKER_01: But to love God's word, we must see it as the treasure for what it is.
SPEAKER_01: I think one of the challenges though, when it comes to growing in our love for God's word, is originally when we first pick up the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you're new to the Bible, if you've never read the Bible before, if you're trying out a Bible reading plan, you open the Bible for your first time and you're like, whoa, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01: That feels kind of hard to understand.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, we just give up too easily.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but God's word is a little bit like an acquired taste, whether it's fine wine or dark chocolate or eating fruits and vegetables, uh, it's actually very satisfying once you acquire and a taste for it.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would encourage you, if you're kind of like, ah, I don't know about the whole word of God as a treasure thing, and I'm not really at a place where I love it or delight in it, I just want to say that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh take time to acquire and a taste for it.
SPEAKER_01: As you spend more time in it, as you study it, as you get a grip on it, be confident that you'll acquire a taste for it and you'll begin to see it for what it is and love it for all that it's worth.
SPEAKER_01: So knowing God's word, keeping God's word, and uh loving God's word are the ways that we can live by it.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, let's talk about uh when you need God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this one is uh a little bit obvious, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like you need God's word all the time, not just sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: You need it in your life every day, every moment, every hour.
SPEAKER_01: But this particular psalm gives us three distinct contexts and when we particularly need the word of God in a specific way.
SPEAKER_01: And the first is in seasons of affliction.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 30, or verse 50, sorry, the psalmist says, This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 92, he says, If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
SPEAKER_01: He even says in verse 71, uh, that it was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice how affliction for the psalmist both both reveals his need for God's word and it drives him to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Like rumble strips on the highway, affliction is what wakes him up and gets his attention to say, Hey, come back to the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: But also like a life jacket when he falls overboard, it's what keeps him afloat when times are hard.
SPEAKER_01: It might not seem like we really need God's word when it's smooth sailing, when everything in life is going well, when our circumstances are in order, but as soon as we hit choppy waters, as soon as the storm hits, we realize very quickly the meditation exercises and Instagram quotes are just not enough to keep our lives afloat when we hit hard times.
SPEAKER_01: You need more than that.
SPEAKER_01: You need these steady promises of God's word to comfort, strengthen, and reassure you when life gets hard.
SPEAKER_01: See, seasons of affliction have a way of exposing the places in our hearts where we've forgotten God's word.
SPEAKER_01: They also have a unique way of driving us to God's word in ways that we don't when things are going well.
SPEAKER_01: And so we need God's word, particularly in seasons of affliction.
SPEAKER_01: We also need God's word in seasons of temptation.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 36, the psalmist says, Incline my heart, uh, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 37, he says, Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and give me life in your ways.
SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 133, he says, Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
SPEAKER_01: And so here we see the psalmist is acutely aware of the ways that he personally is prone to temptation.
SPEAKER_01: He sees that he's aware of his need for greed and idolatry, distraction, and even to a degree, moral decline.
SPEAKER_01: But when temptation comes, he doesn't say that he tries harder, he doesn't say that he looks to self-help, he doesn't say that he white knuckles it.
SPEAKER_01: He says that his knee-jerk reaction is to run to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Um, in his book, The Mortification of Sin, Puritan pastor John Owen said, Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, one of his contemporaries, Thomas Watson, likewise argued that the scripture is an antidote to Satan's suggestions.
SPEAKER_01: He compares them to arrows in the hands of a warrior, that when temptation comes, God's word is like an arrow that we can fire back at it to stop it in its tracks.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing about temptation is that it doesn't come when you're expecting it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Temptation comes and when it catches you off guard, when you think you're doing pretty well, when you let your guard down, when you're actually at a place of relative ease.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go looking for temptation.
SPEAKER_01: Temptation always comes looking for you.
SPEAKER_01: And this text is saying that the best way for you to fight temptation is to prepare for it before you ever face temptation.
SPEAKER_01: And the way that you prepare for temptation is by keeping God's word.
SPEAKER_01: It's by looking to God's word and storing it up before you ever find yourself in that particular situation.
SPEAKER_01: That way, when temptation comes, you'll be ready for it.
SPEAKER_01: Because you'll already be armed with the word of God well in advance.
SPEAKER_01: The final situation in which you need to live according to God's word is in seasons of uncertainty.
SPEAKER_01: Seasons of uncertainty.
SPEAKER_01: One of the most astonishing things about Psalm 119 is that the psalmist isn't riding from a place of comfort and ease.
SPEAKER_01: The psalmist is actually riding from a place of difficulty and distress.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about being afflicted, being tempted, being opposed, being insulted.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this overall tone of dependence and desperation in his words.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 82, for example, he says, My eyes long for your promise.
SPEAKER_01: I ask, when will you comfort me?
SPEAKER_01: And verse 176, he basically says, Hey Lord, I'm lost.
SPEAKER_01: Could you please come find me?
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't have any idea where I am.
SPEAKER_01: And what I want you to see is that Psalm 119 does not pit uncertainty and faith against each other.
SPEAKER_01: It actually uses uncertainty as a means for provoking faith.
SPEAKER_01: See, the psalmist is often uncertain about things like when God will act, how long suffering will last, what his enemies are going to do to harm him next, the dangers that lie ahead, and even the sin that's lurking beneath the surface in his own heart.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, in the midst of all of the circumstantial uncertainty, there's one thing that he knows for sure, that God's word is trustworthy no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: He can say that the good life is living according to God's word, not because his circumstances are certain, but because God's word is.
SPEAKER_01: When my family faces hardship in life, whether it's a storm that causes damage to our house or a flat tire or other different types of adversity that we might face in our everyday life, my kids don't have to worry about what it is they're going to do in those situations.
SPEAKER_01: All they have to do is trust that I'm going to do what I have to do to take care of our family.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, this psalm is inviting us to take everything that we face in life, all of the uncertainty regarding our finances or our career or our relationships or our health or any other area and give it back to God, placing it at his feet, trusting our uncertainty to the certainty of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And so affliction, temptation, and uncertainty, those are the circumstances in which you need God's word.
SPEAKER_01: But there's still one problem that needs to be addressed in this psalm.
SPEAKER_01: The verse one through three, the psalmist says this blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong but walk in his ways.
SPEAKER_01: See, the problem with that is that no one is blameless.
SPEAKER_01: No one keeps God's testimonies perfectly, and no one seeks God with a whole heart.
SPEAKER_01: No one in this room can say with the psalmist, I have done no wrong, except for one.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the only person who can read this psalm and honestly say, That describes me.
SPEAKER_01: Because the psalm isn't merely describing the blessed life, the psalm is ultimately describing the blessed man, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Paul can say in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 and 4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_01: You see how the Psalm connects our blamelessness to Christ's blessing?
SPEAKER_01: We can be blameless because Jesus is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the one who ultimately lived according to God's word, and we can because he did.
SPEAKER_01: And since Psalm 119 is true of Christ, it's true of everyone who is in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: See, apart from Jesus, Psalm 119 is a burden that no one can bear.
SPEAKER_01: Because nobody can live up to the standard of blamelessness that it sets.
SPEAKER_01: But in Christ, Psalm 119 becomes a blessing because Jesus bore the burden for us.
SPEAKER_01: His obedience is now our blessing.
SPEAKER_01: And that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: Because what it means is that you no longer obey so that God will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: You obey because he already has.
SPEAKER_01: Your blessing isn't secured by your performance, it's secured by his.
SPEAKER_01: And now the Spirit of God lives in you, giving you everything you need to obey God's word.
SPEAKER_01: So the blessing of Psalm 119 is that we can pursue it faithfully because it was fulfilled by him perfectly.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news isn't just that Jesus obeyed God's word, it's that Jesus is God's word.
SPEAKER_01: In John chapter 1, John says that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and he was with God in the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Later in that same chapter, John chapter 1, verse 18, it says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ, the only Son from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And so what we have here in the scriptures is the written word of God.
SPEAKER_01: But what we have in Jesus Christ is the incarnate word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And the beauty of Psalm 119, the invitation of Psalm 119, is that we could get to know the incarnate word through the written word.
SPEAKER_01: That through the Bible we can know Jesus Christ, God's own Son, who is sent into the world to forgive our sins and to make us right with God, so that in him all of the blessings of the Bible could be ours.
SPEAKER_01: And so we live according to God's word, not just for the blessed life, but because in Jesus Christ we already have the blessed life.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, as we wrap up our time together, that's the invitation that you would see the written word of the Holy Scriptures as an invitation to ultimately know the incarnate word of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for our time together this morning for Psalm 119, which is jam-packed with goodness about your word.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we are so thankful that we have a copy of the scriptures in our own language that we can read and study and meditate and apply to our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And we say thank you, Lord, that we've had the opportunity to uh hear Psalm 119 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that with the psalmist we would come to delight in your word, that we would build our lives on your word and live according to it in every circumstance and situation.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that we would uh see the value of God's word, that we would uh grow in our understanding of God's word, and that we, Lord, would come to see the power of God's word to shape and change our lives and our circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Lord, that as we finish our time together, that your word would become for us a delight.
SPEAKER_01: Not merely because it gives us things to know about you, because it's the means to know you personally.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, would you minister to us and would you cause us to be a people of your word?
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.