Sunday, July 16, 2023 PM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church Josiah DeForest

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Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119.
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We'll be reading verses 33 through 40 tonight. Psalm 119, beginning in verse 33.
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Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end.
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Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
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Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
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Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in your way.
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Establish your word to your servant, who is devoted to fearing you. Turn away my reproach, which
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I dread, for your judgments are good. Behold, I long for your precepts.
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Revive me in your righteousness. Before we begin, would you please pray with me.
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Heavenly Father, blessed be your name, and blessed be your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we are saved.
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Father, I thank you for this privilege to open up your word tonight with my saints. Thank you,
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Lord, for your goodness and for your grace toward us. And Lord, we're in need of help tonight, to know your word, to understand it, and to live by it.
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Please help us tonight, Lord, and we know you will, as you always do. You always help us, and we thank you for the help you're going to give us tonight.
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It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. A student's attitude will greatly affect how he learns.
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Imagine a student coming to a subject with a prideful, resistant attitude, thinking to himself,
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I already know this information. This instructor can't teach me anything I don't already know.
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I don't need to be here. Imagine another student who comes to the same subject with a downcast spirit, thinking to himself, this information is far beyond me.
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I can never hope to understand. This teacher is skilled, yes, but it won't matter.
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I'll never get it. Imagine a student not even showing up to learn, desiring something altogether, something else altogether in his heart, not desiring to learn the subject.
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Now imagine another student who comes to the subject and is ready to learn. He's ready to take in the information as best he can, honoring the instructor as he teaches, excited to learn and grow, and be reminded about what he already knows, seeing the value in all of it.
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So which of the students will learn the subject best? Having the right attitude greatly affects one's learning, for better or for worse.
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And this is true for those who come to the greatest subject one could ever learn, the Word of God, the eternal
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Word that lasts forever, that is timeless and transcends all cultures, that answers the simplest and deepest questions we can ask.
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The scriptures are God -breathed. They are from him. They are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
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The Bible reveals to us Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and shows us how he wants to live for him in this current life.
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Having the right attitude greatly affects one's learning. This is true for those who come to be taught by the greatest instructor of all, the great
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I Am, the eternal Lord of all things, who has crafted your mind and who has fashioned your soul.
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And God, as the great teacher he is, even goes as far to reveal to us what type of attitude we should have when we come to his
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Word, when we come to learn from him. And we find that in Psalm 119.
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This psalm is the longest psalm and longest chapter in the entire Bible, spanning 176 verses.
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Its main subject is the Word of God itself, revealing it to be of more value than great wealth.
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It reveals God himself and his character. Indeed, this psalm reveals the great benefits of studying the
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Word. What will a student gain from learning from the Bible? The Bible produces godly emotions such as the fear of the
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Lord, godly sorrow and godly zeal. It preserves and keeps the student from being ashamed.
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It gives hope. It gives peace. It brings comfort and godly discernment. Indeed, it brings wisdom.
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And it even gives us the answer to what type of attitude the student of the Word should have when coming to learn the
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Bible. And that's one of humble dependence on God for his revelation. Humble dependence on God for his revelation.
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This is the attitude we must always have when coming to the Bible to learn about God and his Word. We are utterly and completely dependent upon him to know his
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Word and be taught by him. We need his help to understand divine knowledge and know how to live it out in our lives.
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We cannot know the Bible without God's help. We must come with this posture and resist the other attitudes that we can so easily harbor in our hearts when studying the
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Word. Sadly, we can think to ourselves, I already know this passage. This book is far too complex for me.
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I will never understand it. Why bother to read Revelation or Leviticus? I don't have time to study the
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Word today. There's too much to do. I want to do other things. I'm just not feeling it right now.
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This passage doesn't apply to me. I don't need this. We must come rather with a deep desire to know
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God's Word, recognizing our dependence upon him, our dependence on him to teach us.
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He will be faithful to instruct us. There is no doubt there. We are his people, and he will help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Bible. But we have to come with the right attitude.
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Whether it's coming to hear the Bible taught from the pulpit on Sunday morning or to be taught on a
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Wednesday night or in our own daily devotions, we must come with a humble dependence on God to help us.
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These are the ordinary means through which God teaches us his Word as we are good Bereans, as we study the
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Word to know more about God, to know more of his Word. We hear the Word preached to us.
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The Word also says, how will they hear without a preacher? And God gifts those believers who are gifted with the ability to teach, to teach his
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Word and to help others understand, to be taught by the Lord themselves and to give that understanding to others.
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These are the ordinary means through which God helps us to know his Word and to know him. And he is sovereign in all of these means, in all of these different ways that we learn his
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Word as it is taught to us, as we take it in, as we read it and grow in understanding.
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He is sovereign. And it doesn't matter if we listen to all of the sermons or listen to all of the teaching or read the
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Word for ourselves over and over. We can't know it. We can't gain from these ordinary means unless the
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Lord is there in it, unless the Lord is opening our eyes and our minds and our spirits to take in the
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Word and to know what it means and to live it out. We see this dependence in Psalm 119 in the passage we just read.
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Take a look at verse 33. It says, teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end.
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The psalmist begins this section with a clear dependence, asking the Lord to teach him in the ways of his statutes.
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As the student, he is eager and ready to take in divine instruction from the
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Almighty. He recognizes the great truth that ultimately, it is the
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Lord who instructs him in gaining more knowledge of the Word. Though he might attempt to be self -taught in the
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Word, though he might to have a multitude of counselors to speak with, it is the Lord who is the one who gives the holy enlightenment.
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The psalmist wants to know the way of God's statutes. That is, how does it all operate and work together, its different parts as well as its whole?
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What is the way of your Word, O God? He comes humbly dependent on the
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Lord, the eternally existent One, Yahweh, who condescends to his people to impart divine knowledge.
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The psalmist cannot, on his own strength or intelligence, work his way through the scriptures to know them.
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He cannot climb an intellectual ladder to ascend into the heavenly heights of wisdom. He needs help, and there is no other way, no other instructor who can ultimately assist him in this quest, except the
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Lord Himself. Notice as well, the student also comes ready to practice what he learns.
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He says later on in this verse, and I shall keep it to the end. He comes dependent and ready to take what he has learned and keep it, not just for a couple days, not for a year, or a couple decades even, but to the very end of his days, his entire life.
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He desires God's Word and is ready to treasure and practice it for his entire life.
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This is not a subject the student desires lightly. This is not a subject he wants to learn just for fun, but this is a subject that is divine, that really matters for all eternity, and that he is ready to keep all of his days.
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Take a look at verse 34. The psalmist says, Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.
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Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. The psalmist is not only dependent on the
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Lord to teach, but also in need of divine help to understand what he is being taught.
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He says in verse 34, Give me understanding. An earthly teacher can set out to instruct a student in a particular subject.
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He can carefully take time to clearly and slowly teach the information and explain how it works, but it's one thing to convey information and another thing for the student to take it in and understand it for himself, to see how this knowledge works itself out and be able to internally grasp what is being taught.
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And an earthly teacher is limited to a certain point in teaching. He can teach in the best way possible very carefully, but he cannot cause the internal understanding of the student.
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But the Lord can both teach and give understanding. As the one who has molded the mind and shaped the spirit, he can cause the student's mind to grasp the divine lessons being taught, to internally comprehend, and for the heart to be moved by this new understanding from the
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Word. How does the Word of God affect us? But to enter in through our ears, to grow in knowledge, to go down to our heart, to change our heart, and then to come out in outward behavior through our hands, through our lives.
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This is how God's Word comes to us, and all throughout that process, God is sovereign to help us learn and help us grow.
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The student is completely dependent on the Lord to give this understanding. He cannot hope to understand without the great
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I Am. The psalmist is again ready to keep the
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Word as he gains understanding from God. He says, indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart, not just to practice it outwardly, superficially, but to practice the
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Word inwardly, to be completely dedicated, to be sincere. He doesn't approach learning the
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Word with a half -hearted or divided attitude, but comes ready to obey with the whole person, with the whole heart.
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Take a look at verse 35. The psalmist says, Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
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The psalmist is dependent on the Lord to help him apply what he is taught. He says in verse 35,
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Make me walk in the path of your commandments. When we see this expression, make me walk, or this man walks in this way, in the way of the
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Lord, what does that mean? It means to live it out, to apply what he has learned.
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He's not only dependent on God to convey divine information to him and cause the student to understand, but the student needs his help to live out the
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Word. And here is where a true student proves that he really has learned a subject.
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After an earthly instructor teaches a student and the student understands for himself the information, then there is the matter of testing or practicing what has been learned.
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Consider a blacksmith and his apprentice. The master will thoroughly teach, and as the student begins to understand, then he must practice the trade on his own and thereby grow in skill.
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The master is taught. Does the apprentice know and understand? Put it to the test.
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Work it out himself. Has he truly learned? Can he actually apply it to his life and grow in the skill?
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Here, too, is where a true student of the Word proves that he really has been taught by the Lord. The book of James instructs us, but be doers of the
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Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the
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Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
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But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
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The Apostle John also writes, but in deed and in truth. It's a great blessing to grow in the knowledge of the
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Scriptures, but a true student will take what he has learned and practice it. He will walk in it.
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He will live it out. Our great Teacher has instructed us to apply what we learn and shape our very lives according to His Word.
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And we can't do this without His help. We see also that the psalmist delights in the
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Word of God. That is, this is his joy to know it, to understand it, and to practice it.
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But even this inner delight, the psalmist knows that he's dependent upon the
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Lord to desire the Word of God even. Even this inner heart attitude of having joy, desiring the
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Lord's Word, of delighting in it, he knows that he needs the Lord's help even in his inner desire for the
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Word. Take a look at verses 36 and 37. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness.
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Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way. The psalmist seeks that God would turn his inner affections to the
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Word, that the heart would follow the Word as a flower follows the sun in the sky, taking in the life -giving light.
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He does not want his heart to be captivated by covetousness, not to selfish or dishonest gain, sinfully focusing on the vertical, what is around him in this world.
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He wants to focus on the heavenly scriptures in which he finds life and joy.
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He's dependent on God's help to turn his eyes away from worthless vanity, the things of this life that draw away the heart of man.
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The psalmist does not want to be caught in covetousness or focusing on the worthless vanity of the world.
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He does not want his eyes or heart to be drawn away from the Word, but he seeks that God grants grace.
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And he says, revive me in your way. I enjoy how the ESV puts it.
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In verse 37 it says, and give me life in your ways. That is to be quickened by the
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Lord, thereby receiving life from the Word, whose author is the author of life, both physical and spiritual.
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The psalmist is indeed dependent on God to have a desire for revelation. The human heart is easily distracted by the fallen world around it and led astray by the fallen flesh on the inside that tempts with various sins.
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And the student knows that he needs divine help, divine grace, to desire the
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Word and gain life by it. He is utterly dependent on God.
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Verse 38, the psalmist says, establish your word to your servant who is devoted to fearing you.
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The first word here, establish, is used elsewhere in the Word in 2 Samuel when
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David uses this word when God makes covenant with him. After this covenant is declared to David, the earthly king says in response,
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Now, O Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said.
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This is not David giving God permission, as if the Almighty waits for a man's agreement before doing his good will.
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No, this is David in agreement, in submission, and in eager anticipation to see
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God's word come about. In a sense, this is David saying amen to God's word, to the promised covenant.
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He says, May it be, bring it about, let your word come, O Lord. And this is true in the same sense in the 119th
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Psalm. The human writer gives an amen to God's word and eagerly desires it to come and be the reigning force in his life.
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God's word reigns regardless of whether people agree with it and say, Lord, may your word come and be established in my life.
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In the time we have left, let's read through the rest of the Psalm. Verse 38,
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Who is devoted to fearing you? Some of your translations might have as that which produces reverence for you or as that which produces fear or something along those lines.
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So there's a question of how do we rightly interpret this passage of Scripture? Is the God -fearing servant desiring the word or is the servant desiring the word to cause fear in himself, the fear of the
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Lord? And to be honest, I'm not really sure how to interpret it rightly. I know there's one way for this passage to be interpreted properly.
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There is one way, and I'm not sure which way to go, to be honest. I still need to be taught.
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But we do know that both ideas and just kind of thinking about the themes more helps us and is sufficient for us to grow in understanding.
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As the God -fearing servant seeks God's word which produces in him God -fearing reverence for the
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Lord. He says in verse 39, Turn away my reproach which
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I dread, for your judgments are good. Behold, I long for your precepts.
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Revive me in your righteousness. Or as the ESV puts it,
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In your righteousness give me life. This section of Psalm 119 shows us that the student of the
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Bible must be dependent on God to learn the divine truths found within the eternal word.
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This is the attitude that we should have whether on Sunday morning to hear the word preached, on Wednesday to be taught the word, or during one's own private study.
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Our attitude and our posture must be one of humble dependence upon the Lord. We can't know
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God's word without him. He has to teach us and cause us to understand. We cannot live out the truths discovered without holy grace.
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We can't even desire the word without the Lord's work in us. It's all of grace.
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Including even having the word right in front of us now in so many different translations, very accessible to us in this current day and age by the blessing and grace of God.
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He didn't have to give us a divine text that reveals who he is, who we are, and how his world works.
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But he has done this out of his glorious grace so that he may receive glory and so that he may help us.
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He has not left us alone in the dark. He has given us his word which reigns now, whether people accept that or not.
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The Bible is the true standard for living, and we need God's help to know this book. This truth of our dependence on God should not discourage us when we come to the
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Bible. As if we should ask the question, will God hold out on us? Will he hold out divine wisdom and understanding?
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Are we hopeless on our own to know divine truths? Absolutely. Yes, we can't understand this without him.
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We can't make it simply by human effort. But with God, with the best teacher there ever was, we have hope.
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An expectation that he will help us. Yes, he does help his people who are ever dependent on him.
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He resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. To those who come with a lowly posture and say,
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Lord, please help me. He is the God who is rich in mercy, and he is the
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God who is great in skill and power to impart unto needy people divine knowledge, to instruct them in the paths of life.
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And what is his will for you and for your life but your sanctification, your growth in holiness, to know his beloved son more, and to grow in the grace and knowledge of his word and of our
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Lord, Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter if you're not the brightest sheep of the flock of Christ.
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The Lord will still teach you and help you to grow. He can teach even the simplest among us to know divine truths that are super deep and that go down to the very depths of the heart and to the soul.
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He can still teach us, even if we're not the brightest of the sheep. And it does not matter if you are blessed to be one of the smartest sheep in the flock, whether he has given you much grace to know the word and to see how it all fits together and to see its different parts and it as a whole.
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If he's given you that grace and that insight, that enlightenment, you still have to come humbly dependent on God to know more of his word.
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We don't come to the Bible to master and conquer it, but we come so that it may master and conquer us.
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Regarding the 119th Psalm, take a moment to think about what is the writer thinking about when he says, when he talks about the word of the
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Lord, when he talks about the statutes and the commandments and the law, what is he in his current day and age thinking about?
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He's thinking about Genesis. He's thinking about Exodus, even Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
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He's thinking about all the specific directions of sacrifice, of what should the priests wear, what should they do, what should the high priests do on the day of atonement, what should the general everyday people do in their daily activities.
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He's thinking about such things as the Ten Commandments. He is desiring these inspired words and laws and seeking that God incline his heart to these, these
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Old Testament regulations and laws that are hard for us in our day and age to understand. Why is he desiring these things?
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How can he find joy and life in these Old Testament laws and regulations that seem so alien and far from us?
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How can we find life and joy in such things when we come to Leviticus and to Deuteronomy? How can we find life and joy there?
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Jesus said, these are they that testify of me. All of God's promises in the
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Old Testament are yes in Jesus. 2 Corinthians 1 .20. All of the
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Bible points to Jesus Christ as its main subject, its focus, its central point. A theologian once said, and I was reminded of this the other day, this theologian said, in the
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Old Testament, Jesus Christ concealed, in the New, Jesus Christ revealed. And Charles Spurgeon had this wonderful quote talking to another minister.
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He says, young man, from every town and every village and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London.
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And so from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is,
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Christ. And I have never yet found a text that has not got a road to Christ in it.
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Appreciate Mr. Spurgeon. The Bible answers our simplest and deepest questions, including the greatest question one can ever have.
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How can a sinner like me be right with a holy God? The answer to that question is by believing that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of God, who was sent into the world to save sinners. Those who believe in Jesus have eternal life, to know the only true
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God and his Son who was sent, and who is coming again to give rest to his people and punishment to the unbelieving for all eternity.
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And by God's grace, it's through faith in Christ alone that sinners are saved, as revealed in the
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Scriptures, for God's glory. The Holy Spirit of God works within us to teach us these truths.
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Jesus said to his disciples that he would send a helper. Christ said, when he, the
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Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.
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The Spirit is the supernatural teacher for the believer, who is God himself who illuminates the word to reveal the
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Son of God. The Spirit lives within us to give us the mind of Christ so that we might comprehend and be able to take in the things that are spiritual that we learn from the word.
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With unveiled face, we here at Sunnyside come to Psalm 119 and behold the truth that we are utterly dependent on God to know his word, to live it out, and to even desire it.
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And with unveiled face, we come to God humbly, seeking, teach me about your
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Son. Give me understanding that I might know him better and what he has done for me.
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Make me walk in the way of Christ. Give me grace to follow my Good Shepherd, staying in step with and imitating him.
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Incline my heart to Jesus as the Son of Righteousness. Turn my eyes of faith upon him.
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May I desire him above all else. May I submit to his royal word as it reigns in my life.
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May I long for Christ, who is my life, in whom by faith I receive the righteousness of God apart from the law.
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We are dependent on God to know Jesus in the Bible. And the
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Spirit will help us grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. So let us flee from and resist poor attitudes of pride, of defeat, anger, bitterness, fear, and any others that would hinder us from better knowing our
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Savior. Let us come with a humble dependence and an excited expectation.