WWUTT 1234 Your Testimonies Endure Forever? (Psalm 119:137-160)

It is good for us to be reminded that God's testimonies are righteous forever, that they have been founded forever, and that His word endures forever, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Psalm 119, and picking up where we left off last week, that would put us in verse 137, under the heading of the

Hebrew letter Tzadi. This is verses 137 through 144.

Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules. You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.

My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.

Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.

Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.

Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.

Your testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding, that I may live.

Look at that again, verse 137, righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules.

That's the theme that kind of dominates this particular section. You see how often that concept of righteousness comes up.

You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.

There is no part of God's word anywhere from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.

That is impure. Now we'll certainly read about some impure things, like what the

Israelites did, worshipping a golden calf, for example, after they were freed from slavery out of Egypt.

That was certainly abominable, and we see many other abominable deeds that were done even by the

Israelites when they fell away, and of course by the other nations around them as well. You'll read about those things in the narrative, but that doesn't mean that the word of God is tainted by talking about those things.

Every word that we read in Scripture is righteous. It is right.

It is good. You have to read it in context. You have to know what's being said and what we are being pointed toward, but all of it is good.

There is not a single part of it that should be left out. There was somebody recently who criticized me for saying, just preach the gospel, as if that was all

I ever advocated for. Only preach the gospel and nothing else. But what he missed is that I had just said, just minutes before that,

I preach the entire word of God, and there is not a part of it that I leave out.

There are parts of the Bible that are not the gospel. In a roundabout way, you could certainly say that it eventually directs you to or points you to the gospel, absolutely, but to teach the entire counsel of God is not synonymous with saying preaching the gospel.

There are parts of it that come out to be law that need to be resolved with the gospel.

If you just heap law upon a person without giving them the gospel, then you are burdening them with a burden that they simply cannot carry.

You can't keep the law without the gospel, without the transformed heart that has been changed from a person who is worldly and striving after your own righteousness to a person that is clothed with the righteousness of Christ and is now able to keep

God's word in a way that is pleasing unto him. So we teach the whole thing and understand the distinctions between law and gospel.

All of this is very, very important, but it's all righteous. All of it is good.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, even the law is good if one uses it righteously.

Any part of the Bible can be twisted and used in a wrong way, but the way that God has spoken it and the way that God has intended it is good.

All his testimonies are righteous and they are given in faithfulness, meaning that God is going to accomplish something with this.

He is going to lead his people to himself and instruct them in the right way that they should go.

When God gives his word, it is good. It is with good intention for his people that they would be built up in righteousness.

Verse 139, my zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words.

Zeal, understanding zeal as an enthusiasm. We have an enthusiasm for the word of God, and there's an objective to this enthusiasm.

So it's not just mere excitement for the sake of being excited, but that we have an actual cause that we are striving for, something we wish to accomplish.

God is going to use his word to accomplish something in us, and so that's what we had in verse 138.

You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness. And so what do we want to accomplish?

We want to love the word of God, strive to keep it, and do what it says.

My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words.

It's almost like we know something that they don't know, and there's an excitement about that.

God has revealed something to us, his people, those who love him, those who follow him, especially as Christians, those who follow

Jesus. He has revealed something to his people that he's not revealed to anyone else.

So there is a special privilege there that ignites in us a particular excitement to love

God and obey him and do what he says. A prayer that Jesus prays in Matthew chapter 11.

He says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, wise and understanding from the world's perspective, and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will that these things, the mysteries of God, would be hidden from the worldly wise and instead revealed to children of God.

Yes, Father, this was your gracious will, Jesus prays. Verse 27, all things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

So as Christians, what's something that we know that people who are not believers don't know

God, we know God, and they don't know God, they may know of God, but they don't know

God, not in that in that relational, personal, intimate way, the fellowship that we have with the father through the son,

Jesus Christ. And there is there's a special knowledge that God has given us with the

Holy Spirit poured into our hearts through the gospel of Christ that has been proclaimed to us.

And there's a zeal that comes from that. We are enthusiastic about God and love his word, because he's made us a part of something that the rest of the world is not a part of.

So there, yeah, again, we love that. There's an enthusiasm about that. So we continue on here in verse 140, your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.

Going right back to my zeal consumes me. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.

This statement of I am small and despised is not like size. It's not your stature.

It's not that you're a weak and feeble human being. But just in the scope of things, even as compared to enemies who may be stronger and more powerful, maybe they are more recognized, maybe they have more popularity.

I'm not striving for that. I'm not looking for the world's recognition.

I'm recognized by God. I don't need to be known by the world. So again, that whole thing about in God's faithfulness, my zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words, but I get to know your word.

So I am known by God. I don't need to be known by people. It's not important to me that I am popular by the world's standards, that people know who

I am, that they recognize my name. That is not important to me. I am small and despised.

People are going to hate you. You're not going to gain the world's recognition. Most people won't.

Yet I do not forget your precepts. That's the reason why we live.

Not for everybody else's recognition, but for the word of God, for him according to what he has said in his word.

Your righteousness is righteous forever. It's not just good for the moment. It's always good.

And your law is true. If it's true for you, it's true for everybody. The law of God is truth that governs over everybody, because as we've been reading about going through Romans, everyone is going to be judged by this law, whether or not they believed it was the law.

God's word is true and truth is true for everyone. Trouble and anguish have found me out, the psalmist says here, but your commandments are my delight.

How do we endure through trial and persecution and difficulty and trouble?

We cling fast to the commandments of God. Sometimes when trouble hits, we're kind of like digging through the

Bible and looking for some soothing little proverb or some morsel that maybe

I can put on my tongue and it will satisfy me for a little bit of time. But we don't think about the fact that God's commandments really are our comfort in the midst of these trying and difficult circumstances, because in God's commandments, we also have promises.

God commands us to do this. And if you do this, you will show yourself an approved worker who is loved by God, who is in fellowship with Christ.

And all of that is good news. All of that is uplifting and encouraging to us.

You know the old hymn, trust and obey, right? Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The way that song begins, when we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way.

While we do his good will, he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey.

In those moments when you feel most alone that God is not with you, are you trusting and obeying?

Are you doing the will of God according to his word? Because when you do his will, you will know his presence since his presence is spoken to us here in the word of God.

Let's finish up this particular section of this psalm. Your testimonies are righteous forever.

We have that statement said again, well, in 142, it was your righteousness is righteous forever.

Here it's your testimonies, which are righteous, are righteous forever. Give me understanding that I may live, a continuing theme we've seen come up over and over again through Psalm 119, that our understanding of God's word comes from God.

We go on to this next one, Kuf, that's the

Hebrew letter, verses 145 through 152. With my whole heart,

I cry, answer me, O Lord, I will keep your statutes. I call to you, save me, that I may observe your testimonies.

I rise before dawn and cry for help. I hope in your words.

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise.

Hear my voice according to your steadfast love, O Lord. According to your justice, give me life.

They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose. They are far from your law.

But you are near, O Lord, and your commandments are true. Long have

I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.

Back to verse 145, with my whole heart, I cry. You know, the instruction that we've been given to love the

Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In James 1, it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach.

But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

That person should not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double -minded man.

He is unstable in all of his ways. So, it's with our whole heart, knowing in faith that God gives good gifts to those who love him.

Jesus said that in the Sermon on the Mount. With my whole heart, I cry, answer me, O Lord, I will keep your statutes.

I call to you, save me, that I may observe your testimonies. I rise before dawn and cry for help,

I hope, in your words. Now, I don't think that's anything prescriptive, certainly. You don't have to rise before dawn and pray to God in order to have effective prayers.

But the scene here would almost be like one who is so in love with God's Word, and maybe even so concerned with the things that are coming up in the day, that they are restless at night and cannot sleep.

So they wake before the sun even rises. How do they occupy that time when it is still dark out and there's really not much you can do?

By praying to God. By meditating on his Word. So I rise before dawn and I cry for help, and I hope, in your words.

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night. Again, the trouble has seized this person so much that sleep is kind of fitful.

Unable to sleep in the midst of the stuff that plague his heart. But my eyes awake that I may meditate on your promise.

So I'm troubled, I can't sleep, but I'm waking up, I'm meditating on your Word. Instead of letting the things that concern me consume me,

I am instead giving my mind to the promises of God. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love,

O Lord. According to your justice, give me life. What is just is what

God has declared is just. What is right. And you have that contrasted with the next statement, that's 150, where it says they draw near who persecute me with evil purpose.

So they are unjust in their ways. They are far from your law. That's how you identify an unjust person.

They do not hold true to the law of God, but you are near,

O Lord. They are far from the law of God, but God is near to me because I keep

God's testimonies. All your commandments are true. Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.

We have that statement of the eternality of God's testimonies and his righteousness, just as we had in the previous section of Psalm 119.

So let's quickly do one more as we wrap up our time together.

Resh. Try to do that right. Try to do it the Hebrew way. Resh. I think

I'm close enough. Anyway, verses 153 through 160. Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.

Seen some similarities here in these three sections we've looked at today. For I'm sorry, verse 154, plead my cause and redeem me.

Give me life according to your promise. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

Great is your mercy, O Lord. Give me life according to your rules.

God's salvation is full of mercy, forgiving us of our sins. God's salvation is full of life.

We are saved from death and we're given eternity by faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Verse 157. Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

Many are my adversaries, but you know what? Many are the testimonies of God as well. Yeah, it's only one book that we have.

This is only one word of God, but we have such rich things that are written in it that we not swerve from the testimonies of God.

And I look at the faithless with disgust because they do not keep your commands.

Consider how I love your precepts. Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

We had that in all three sections that we looked at today. Your testimonies are righteous forever.

That was the last verse in Sadi. Long have

I known your testimonies that you have founded them forever. That was the last verse in Khuf.

And then this last verse in Resh. The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

God is eternal, His word is eternal, and the gift of life to us is eternal.

For all who trust in His Son, Jesus Christ will live. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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