WWUTT 1129 It Is Time for the Lord to Act? (Psalm 119:121-136)

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There's a lot of trouble happening in the world, there's trouble happening anywhere at any time, but when we see the lawlessness that is taking place, does it cause us to mourn when we understand the text?

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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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Thank you for subscribing and if this has ministered to you please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky. Well it is Thursday and we've been in the

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Old Testament on Thursdays. Currently in what book? Anybody know? The Psalms?

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Does anybody know which Psalm? 119. That's correct. And we'll probably be here for a few more weeks yet.

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So today we're up to the section of Psalm 119 that is under the Hebrew letter

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Ein. I'm going to begin reading in verse 121. I have done what is just and right.

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Do not leave me to my oppressors. Give your servant a pledge of good.

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Let not the insolent oppress me. My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

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Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love and teach me your statutes.

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I am your servant. Give me understanding that I may know your testimonies.

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It is time for the Lord to act for your law has been broken.

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Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

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Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right. I hate every false way.

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When you hate the false way, you'll want to go the right way, right? So coming back here to verse 121,

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I have done what is just and right. Do not leave me to my oppressors.

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I had a couple of situations that happened to me recently. One was last year and one was at the start of this year.

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And I mentioned them both because they were both very similar. I was being accused of something that I did not do.

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And in both of these situations, I submitted myself to my elders to be tested.

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And in both situations, the elders came back to those who were accusing me and said, we have not found

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Gabe guilty of any wrongdoing. And in fact, at the end of one of those episodes, I said to the individual, when all of this is said and done,

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I've submitted myself to my elders, but you have not. You will not listen to their counsel.

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And I have. Instead, you decide to rely on your own subjectivity and you're going by what you think is right, not by what scripture says is right or what your elders are instructing of you, are counseling you according to the word of God.

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See, even an elder has to submit to his elders. When we read in 1 Peter 5 or in Hebrews chapter 13 or in 1

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Thessalonians 5, that we need to be subject to our elders, those who teach us, those who guide us in the word of God.

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Even an elder has to do that. And if you have a plurality of elders, then an elder can submit to his fellow elders whom he is serving with.

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So the lay person has to do that and the elder has to do that. And in this situation, I was able to say, I did that, though you are not.

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So I was walking away from a situation where I was being falsely accused and could say,

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I have done what is just and right. The apostle Paul instructed both

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Timothy and Titus to be consistent in their speech and in their action, what they say they must also do.

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And in fact, to Timothy, he said, this is in 1 Timothy 1. It's also in 2 Timothy 1, but in verse 5 of 1

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Timothy 1, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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And then Paul talks about a clear conscience again at the start of his next letter to Timothy as well, but having this good conscience so that we we are not in any sin.

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We are not behaving in such a way that when we preach the gospel, our conscience is compromised because we know that we have not been living in a righteous way or in that pursuit of holiness.

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So let us conduct ourselves in such a way that our conscience may be clear to be able to say, along with what is said here in Psalm 119, 121,

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I have done what is just and right. Do not leave me to my oppressors when we have not done what is right.

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Then those who wish to malign us will be able to. And believe me, if if somebody is out to get you, they will find something that they can get you with.

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We have what's going on in our culture right now, this thing that's called cancel culture. You know what

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I'm talking about, where it's kind of like there's there's nothing that you've said in the past that's off limits. Somebody is going to dig up something that you've said 15 years ago, and it could have been when you were a young pup and just saying stupid things anyway, 15 years ago.

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But they're going to find that and they're going to bring it back up to the surface. They're going to say, look at how evil this person is because of what they said 15 years ago as the whole cancel culture mentality right now.

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So if somebody wants to find something to smear you with, chances are they will be able to dig it up.

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So this is one of the reasons why we should desire to want to do what is just and right so that we will not be in the hands of our oppressors, though we we don't do what is just just for that reason.

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We do what is just because it is pleasing to God, because we follow a

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God who is just and we want to please our father who is in heaven. But when we live justly before the father, we will be able to say,

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I've done what is right. So do not leave me to my oppressors. And even if man hates us, we are approved by God and we have nothing to fear.

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Because once again, as I believe it was yesterday, I mentioned this Romans 8 1. For there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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Verse 122. Give your servant a pledge of good. Let not the insolent oppress me.

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It's really another way of saying exactly what we had read in 121. Then the next verse 123.

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My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

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Now, at the time that this was written, this may have had something to do with the covenant that God made with David and that on David's throne, he would establish his kingdom forever.

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And so writing this psalm, the psalmist may be saying, I want to see that my eyes.

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I want to see this promise of yours fulfilled. I long for your salvation.

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Deliver us out of the hands of our enemies. Establish us as the superpower you have promised your people will be.

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I long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

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This may also be a request just on a personal level that you would deliver me from the hands of my enemies and that you would seat me with you in the heavenly places.

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Just as it is said at the start here, do not leave me to my oppressors.

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We go on with verse 124. Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love and teach me your statutes.

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Something that we've come back to over and over again as we've gone through Psalm 119 is that our understanding of God's word and his ways is a gift of God.

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We come to that understanding because God gives us that understanding. It is only in the spirit of God that we are able to understand and discern spiritual things.

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So it takes more than reading black and white words on a page, but rather that we desire

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God's will as unfolded and laid out for us in his word.

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Verse 125. I am your servant. Give me understanding that I may know your testimonies.

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Same as the verse before. Teach me your statutes. I am your servant. Help me to know your testimonies.

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It is time for the Lord to act for your law has been broken.

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And maybe that's something that you're thinking about right now, just watching the evening news, right? Boy, this place is going crazy right now.

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Lord, when are you going to act? But we read in second Peter chapter three, verse nine, the

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Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

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And again, this is addressing the church. So you being those who are the elect of God and all that reach repentance are going to be those whom

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God has for ordained for salvation. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, a promise of judgment and a promise of deliverance, but he is patient so that the full number of his elect will come to salvation through the hearing of the gospel of Christ.

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All this stuff that is going on, it may look like chaos may look like it's never ending.

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We're just going to be in this fight until kingdom come. But the Lord is doing something in it.

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He is using this to even bring about the salvation of his elect, that there are others who will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and turn from their sin and so live.

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And that's in any situation that is going on in the world. The Lord is acting. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise.

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He might be acting in such a way that's not what we like to see, but he is nevertheless doing something.

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Maybe the thing that he's doing in your life right now is teaching you to trust in him.

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Verse 127. Therefore, I love your commandments above gold and above fine gold, because when

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God finally does come to judge those who are breaking his law, it is those who do the will of the father in heaven who will be saved, as Jesus said.

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Verse 128. Therefore, I consider all your precepts to be right, and I hate every false way.

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This is somewhat similar to the way that the previous section of Psalm 119 began back in verse 113.

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I hate the double -minded, but I love your law. We get to the next

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Hebrew letter in Psalm 119. And this is beginning in verse 129.

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Your testimonies are wonderful. Therefore, my soul keeps them.

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The unfolding of your words gives light. It imparts understanding to the simple.

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I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.

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Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

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Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.

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Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes. My eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law.

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So as we're considering things that are going on in the culture right now, what's your reaction to it?

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That verse there, verse 136, might encourage you to consider your reaction to things happening in the world another way.

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We'll get to that here in a moment. Verse 129. Your testimonies are wonderful. Therefore, my soul keeps them.

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We're just picking up right where we left off in the previous section. I consider all your precepts to be right.

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Your testimonies are wonderful. Therefore, my soul keeps them. Remember that we have various words that are going on here in Psalm 119 that are synonymous with law.

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Statutes, precepts, word, testimonies. This word right here is testimonies.

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So your testimonies are wonderful. God's law is wonderful. It's great. We should love

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God's law. There's this constant thinking, especially within evangelical

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Protestantism, of people thinking that the law is something oppressive. So we must hate the law.

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We're no longer under the law. So let's not follow the law. How do you know what to do that is pleasing to God?

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It's in his word. It's in his law. When you obey his commandments, keeping the law of God, that is a delight to God.

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Jesus saying, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments.

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You keep what I have commanded of you, as he said to his disciples. And he is saying to us in John 14, 15.

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So the testimonies of God are wonderful. We should delight to keep them. They are not a burden to us. We love them for they are what guide us in righteousness.

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Now, granted, our keeping the law is not what brings us righteousness. We've been given righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.

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But it's in that righteous, it's in that righteousness, which we have of Christ, that we're now able to keep the law of God in a righteous way.

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And so we delight to do so. My soul keeps them. My unfolding of your words gives light.

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It imparts understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commandments.

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We're just having this over and over again, this loving delight in the law of God.

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There is nothing about Psalm 119 that is embarrassed about God's law or wishes that we didn't have to keep this thing.

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How long do I have to continue in God's law before Jesus is going to come back and I don't have to keep the law anymore?

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No, it is a delight to follow in the law of God. And even when we get to heaven, when we're praising

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God forever in glory, we're going to be praising him for his word having been accomplished.

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So all of these things are wonderful. We must store them up and we must delight in in what we have in God's word because it's

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God's word. The God who sits enthroned on high, who created all the heavens and the earth has spoken.

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He has spoken through prophets and apostles in the Old Testament and through his son, Jesus, who then also spoke through apostles in the

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New Testament. And so this is God's word. God in heaven above is communicating to us through what we read in the

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Bible. It should be our delight to read it. Every word of it. Now, where we read here,

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I pant, I pant for your commandments. I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commandments.

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I'm reminded of Psalm 42 as a deer pants for flowing streams.

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So pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living

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God. When shall I come and appear before God? My soul pants for you because I long for your commandments.

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Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is the way with those who love your name.

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God is going to show his love to those who love him. And the name, the name of God is connected with his character.

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It's even connected with his word and his law. It's why we call the Bible God's word.

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His name associated with his word. So those who keep the name of God keep everything that is bound up in that name.

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When God introduced himself to Moses and he said, I am,

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I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses said, when I say who sent me, who am

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I going to say sent me? And he said, I am sent you. Tell them that I am sent you.

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And and our phonetic spelling of that name

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I am is Yahweh or our phonetic pronunciation of it. It's Y H W H.

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We don't actually know the right way that is to be pronounced. So we add some vowels in there and we we use the name

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Yahweh. But nevertheless, when you hear that name Yahweh, you understand that is the name of God and bound up in that name is all of the character of God.

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So we are to use that name reverently, not even to misuse his name. That's one of the

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Ten Commandments. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. If you exalt

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God, if you worship him, if you desire to honor him, then when you speak his name, it is going to be in such a way that is reverent unto the

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Lord. And so all those who love your name, God shows his blessing to.

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Verse 133, keep steady my steps according to your promise and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

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I think of the Lord's Prayer where it says, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one.

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Let no iniquity get dominion over me. Let me not be tempted by any false way, but keep steady my steps according to your promise.

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The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter six, sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace and under the grace of God.

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We live by the grace of God, meaning that we live in the righteousness of Christ. So we're not being judged by the law for in Christ.

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The law has been fulfilled and wearing his righteousness. Once again, we're able to keep the law in a righteous way.

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So we must submit ourselves as slaves to righteousness. The argument that Paul makes there in Romans chapter six, we are slaves to righteousness, no longer submitting the members of ourselves to unrighteousness.

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Therefore, sin is to have no dominion over us. Don't let any iniquity get dominion over me.

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Redeem me from man's oppression that I may keep your precepts.

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Again, let no man lead me astray or discourage me from even following in your law.

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Make your face shine upon your servant. That's another statement of favor that we often have come up in the

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Old Testament. You probably think of second second Colossians. I'm sorry. Second Chronicles 714.

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Second Colossians. Second Chronicles 714, which says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then

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I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. So we're talking about seeking the face of God.

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And in the book of Numbers, we have that doxology from Aaron where it says, may the

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Lord make his face to shine upon you. So this is a statement of the favor of God that we would seek the face of God and his face would shine upon us.

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Teach me your statutes. My eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law.

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Do you have such a reverence for God and for his word that it grieves your heart to see people breaking the law of God?

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And I hope when you see what's going on in the culture right now, it's all right to have a righteous indignation about it, but that it really breaks your heart so that with tears, you come before the

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Lord and ask and pray that these people would turn from their wicked ways and seek the face of Christ.

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Jesus wept over Jerusalem after the triumphal entry because the people did not know him.

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And Jesus mourned over the judgment that he knew would come upon that city because they did not honor the son of God.

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And so we must feel the same way about this world, that there are people, living souls made in the image of God, perishing and going to hell because they will not revere

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Christ or his commandments. May we continue to hold out the word of life to them so that they would turn from their sin, believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and so live.

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Be forgiven sins, have eternal life with God. That's what we get by faith in Jesus.

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Heavenly father, we thank you for our time and your word. May it convict our hearts and guide our steps.

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Never thinking too highly of our ways, but seeking the Lord's ways in everything.

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In Jesus name we pray, amen. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word, when we understand the text.