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Psalm 119:89-96

LAMED

“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.”

Introduction

“As far as verse 89, in this wonderful Psalm, the last series of verses were really talking about being afflicted, let the proud be ashamed, just talking about the faint-hearted, and I’ve become like a bottle in the smoke, that the proud have digged pits for me, it talks about he’s persecuted, he was treated, persecuted wrongfully and so forth, he says ‘LORD, and yet quicken me after thy lovingkindness, guide me LORD, give me, give me fresh light.’ As he comes to verse 89, he really starts to look, at these next three sets, of the wonder of God’s Word, in the middle of all of that. And you know we can say we’re persecuted, people are treating me wrongly, the things they’re doing is wrong, the proud it seems have taken over the world, we look in politics, we look at dynasties around the world, we look at tyrants, people having their heads cut off…we look at bombs going off, human blood being shed. We know that God’s heart is being broken whether it’s the blood of a Buddhist or a Hari Krishna or a Muslim or a Christian or a Jew, and Satan is laughing all the time, because men are slaughtering themselves, men that God loves. Here he comes to a place where he gets things kind of back into perspective of God’s Word. And you and I as Christians, we have to understand, if we’re really going to take a stand, we can kind of lay low, and kind of keep quiet, and not make any waves, and not ruffle any feathers, and we still go to heaven [enter into eternal life at the first resurrection to immortality], and to do that [i.e. to “not make any waves”], it’s requiring in our day more and more compromise. Because every standard is being broken down and removed. And for you, at this point, to be benign and uninvolved, not willing to say anything or speak up, doesn’t help anybody, it doesn’t help you, it doesn’t help the lost world around you. God is not going to use a compromised Christian to reach a compromised world. And the truth is, we need to stand up and realize there’s a cost to that. The world is not going to be any more gracious to Christ in you than it was to Christ when he was outside of you. The Christ outside of you was crucified 2,000 years ago. You see the way the world treated him, he was not of the world, he said. Now Christ is in you, the world is not going to have any more favor toward Christ in you than it had toward Christ himself, that’s just where we live. So the Psalmist, he comes to grips with that antagonistic world in regards to godliness, and he has some great things to say about God’s Word and how it should be an encouragement to us. In verse 89, in light of many of these struggles, he says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Look in verse 94, it’s the only request in this first series of verses, he says “I am thine,” here’s his request, “save me.”

God’s Word And The Ideas, Concepts, Within It Are Eternal, It Abides Forever, It’s Settled In Heaven

So he begins by saying ‘LORD, forever O LORD, your Word is settled in heaven.’ When he looks around at all that’s changing, all that’s going on, he says ‘Look, I do know this LORD, your Word is immovable, your Word is unchangeable, I can build my life on something that never changes.’ You know, we’re constantly challenged by the world we live in, constantly the world we live in is going to say ‘Are you kidding, some of these ideas are Victorian, some of these ideas are outdated,’ no, no, they’re eternal, they’re the same in every age, man’s sinfulness is the same in every age. We have more technology than we had before, we’re just as sinful, but with more technology it can’t be good. But the idea is, his Word abides forever, it’s settled in heaven. The affairs of men have no effect on the Word of God, it is settled in heaven, it doesn’t matter what people say about morality, his Word is settled in heaven. It doesn’t matter how men say they’re going to take over the world, they’re going to destroy everybody. No, his Word is settled in heaven. It doesn’t matter if somebody says ‘We’re going to kill all the Christians,’ no they’re not, because his Word is settled in heaven. Jesus Christ is coming back, he’s taking over, he’s King of kings, he’s the Lord of lords, we’re his children, his Word is settled forever in heaven. That’s good stuff. [Comment: And Jesus Christ’s 2^nd coming has been all mapped out, settled, in the prophecies of his Word, and has been in the process of being fulfilled since they were penned in those prophecies, such as in Daniel and Revelation. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm] So as we live out our lives here, as we do our best, to eek a living out of this world, with some dignity, one of the things we can be certain of is there is one thing in all of our lives that is unchanging. It isn’t you, if you look in the mirror over the last 30 years. But there is something in our lives that is unchanging, and that is the Word of God, he says ‘forever, there’s permanence, O LORD,’ “thy word is settled in heaven.”

You Spoke Everything Into Existence, And It’s Still Functioning

“Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.” (verse 90) ‘LORD, you put these things in place, and they still remain.’ It’s in his Word, it’s the Word of God. It’s interesting, the first Ten Commandments are not in Exodus chapter 20, the first Ten Commandments are in Genesis chapter 1, when you read there, it says “and God said, and God said, and God said, and God said,” ten times, here it is, he spoke it into existence. The Word of God brought the whole world into existence, listen, in your DNA, all the way down to the epi-genome, the things that are molecular, there’s language there, there’s language there. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/dinosaurs/molecularmachines.htm] If you change that language, you get a deformity in the physical frame. That language is based on a higher language, and that’s the Word of God that spoke everything into existence. The Lord said don’t add to it, don’t take away from it, don’t diminish from it, that we have it, it hasn’t changed, it’s not gonna change, it’s settled in heaven, it’s unchanging, we can trust it now the way it was trusted thousands of years ago, we know that, because it spoke the worlds into existence, and it’s all still functioning. It’s all going the way it was when he started it up, and he spoke it into existence, it stands, it testifies of the faithfulness of his Word, ‘He’s established the earth, it abideth,’ “They continue this day according to thine ordinances” of the sun and the moon and the stars, “They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.” (verse 91) ‘all of the heavens declare the glory of the LORD, the earth shows forth his firmament, they are thy servants.’ And he says, “Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.” (verse 92) ‘I’d have given up, I’d have thrown in the towel,’ you know, when life is very difficult and it stinks and things wear me down, I just feel like saying ‘Uncle,’ I’m done, I can’t go any further, he says, ‘there’s still a place there, where I find delight in your Word. This stinks, but I know you’re coming, this is painful, but I know there’s a day ahead of us. I don’t understand what you’re doing now LORD, but I look at the pain and difficulty of my life, it wants to tell me that you don’t care, but I know that contradicts your written Word, and I know the day’s coming when I’m going to see all things clearly.’ “Unless thy law had been my delights,” he says, “I should then have perished in mine affliction.” (verse 92) He says, “I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.” (verse 93) that’s a great thing, by the way, that’s a good bumper sticker I think, good plaque over the fireplace, “I will never forget thy precepts” the reason, “for with them thou hast quickened me” ‘you’ve revived me.’ He ended up in the last set of verses saying, ‘LORD, quicken me, revive me.’ He said ‘I’m never going to forget your precepts,’ because ‘it is with them that you revive me,’ and he says, ‘I’ve come to this, and I know it with all of my heart,’ “I am thine,” in context with that, “save me;” that’s a single request in this set of verses, ‘LORD, deliver me, have me as your own,’ “I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.” (verse 94) that’s ‘I’ve given myself to that.’

“The Wicked Have Waited To Destroy Me: But I Will Consider Thy Testimonies”

“The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.” (verse 95) ‘The wicked are waiting to destroy me LORD, but I think of your testimonies,’ I think of Abraham, the hostile tribesmen that wanted to kill him and destroy him, of Pharaoh in Egypt and how he gave him a dream and you delivered Abraham, you brought him back again, and preserved him. I think of Joseph, the hatred of his own brothers, down in Egypt, I think of him doing his best, and throwing him in prison for that. I think of all the things that went on in your testimonies, I think of Moses, driven to the backside of the desert for 40 years, coming back to Egypt, not wanting to come, and standing up for you, and standing up for you, and all of Pharaoh’s strength wanting to come against him, and Jesus sustained him, and why should I worry about my enemies when the greatest nation in the world couldn’t destroy one man that you had your hand on. When I think of Joshua, takes over control when he’s 100 years old, that’s kind of a bummer, you’d like to do that at 30. He takes this on at 100, and lives out the last 7 years of his life in battle. It says in Joshua, ‘the servant of the LORD.’ He says, ‘Ya, the wicked, they’re waiting to destroy me, but I’m going to consider thy testimonies.’

Everything You Think Is Perfect, It’s Not Lasting, But Your Commandments Have No End In Sight

“I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.” (verse 96) ‘All that looks perfect, all that looks like this is the best of everything, this is what you want, this is what you want to get your hands on, LORD, I’ve seen an end of all of that, it’s not lasting [cf. Rev. 20:14-15; 21:1]. But your commandments,’ the idea here is, ‘they’re exceeding broad, you can’t look out on the horizon and see the end of them, you can see an end of all other things.’ You can see an end of everything people think ‘This is perfect, if we only had this,’ ‘I’ve seen an end of all of that, it’s come before my view, but LORD, your testimonies, very broad, your commandments, exceeding broad, you look and you don’t see the end of it, LORD, your promises.’

Psalm 119: 97-104

MEM

“O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”

Introduction

So he comes now to this next set, this next set of verses, there’s no petition at all, he doesn’t ask for anything. He’s just praising. Listen to what he says, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.” That’s encouraging, isn’t it? “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” This one just exalts God’s Word, there’s no petition, he’s just saying what he thinks of all this.

“O How Love I Thy Law! It is My Meditation All Day”—If This Isn’t True For You Right Now, It Will Be

Look, “O how love I thy law!” ‘LORD, I love your Word,’ and please, in relation to a world that doesn’t. They don’t want a prayer before a football game, they don’t want prayer in any circumstance, they don’t want the Ten Commandments on a wall, that’s the world that we’re living in. Again, when I was a kid, we went to elementary school, every morning, the principal, the whole school in the auditorium, read a Psalm and said a prayer. ‘You can’t do that! You’re infringing on all these people’s beliefs! you know all the people complain about that, ‘That’s wrong, you can’t do that, you know, you’re forcing your religion down people’s throats’ and all that stuff. But I’ll tell you this, when I was a kid in elementary school you didn’t have any metal detectors at the door, there were no drug problems in the school, they weren’t giving out condoms, there was no assault on the teachers, we didn’t have any armed guys in the school just looking out because the world was crazy. It was a different time. Was it so terrible, really? It was a different world, that was for sure. You know why? Because there was right and there was wrong. Duh, there was right, and there was wrong. Ya, there were things wrong in our culture, there were things wrong in our society, but there were some things that were right, too. Now we’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There’s always things you fix in a culture and society, but we’re throwing the wrong things out. I love to hear this Psalmist say “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” (verse 97) ‘It’s what I keep in my mind,’ you know, ‘I want to love your Word, I love your Word.’ You may not tonight, but you will, you will. Because I’ve been with the most people in the last hour of their life, and it was said to me, ‘Joe, read me Revelation 21 one more time. Let me hear what the City looks like, one more time. Let me hear about the walls of jewels and the streets of gold, one more time. Tell me about the throne of God and the Lamb…one more time, tell me what I’m gonna be seeing by this evening, one more time. I love your Word, Lord.’ That’s all so sweet on the lips of the departing. It has a different power. We’re young, running the world, we can look at it as restricting, that sometimes it’s tying us down, but when the reality of life gets to us, we see it as liberating, it’s the promise, it’s the hope that sets us free. And look, he says ‘I’m meditating on it all day long.’ What would you be doing, some of you I know, I’m just asking to be courteous, putting you in with everybody else, what would you be doing if there was no Bible? How would you sort out your problems during the day if there was no Bible, if you had no Biblical context for the world, for sin, for your own selfish life, what would you be doing? He says ‘I meditate on it all day long in your Word.’ Think of how our minds would have gone without the Bible. I think about where my mind was going, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972. At least I try to think about where it was going. It didn’t know where it was going. Between the culture we lived in, and the LSD that was going through then, I think ‘Where would my mind be today without Jesus, without his Word?’ Think of where our minds would be? Think, how many of us would have ended up in the newspaper, how many of us would have ended up in a tower with a rifle? How many of us would have ended up in the wrong place, with a wrong behavior, doing the wrong thing? And I remember the night that the light came on, and God got ahold of my heart. I remember crying like a baby in the presence of Jesus. I remember the next day, trees were green, they had been all along, I just never saw them. The sky was blue, birds were singing, imagine that. ‘I love your Word, LORD.’ Great thing, great thing, to get alone with him. ‘I love your Word, LORD, it’s on my mind all day, it’s there when I’m blessed I think about it, I think about the verses I read in the morning, when I want to yell at somebody or slug somebody, it’s there LORD, your Word is there to keep me steering on the right path, I think of your Word all day.’

‘You’ve Made Me Wiser Than My Enemies, LORD, By Letting Me Meditate On Your Word’

“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.” (verse 98) He’s going to say several things now. Again, you think the Word of God is restrictive, this is what he says, in verse 98 he says “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies” in verse 99 “I have more understanding than all my teachers”, in verse 100, ‘it’s given me more discernment than the ancients.’ So he says here, of God’s Word, ‘meditating on it, letting it be the thing that fills my mind, it makes me wiser, it gives me more understanding, and it gives me more discernment.’ He doesn’t see it as being restrictive in any way, shape or manner. He says ‘It’s been my meditation all the day long,’ now what that does, he says, “Thou through thy commandments” that he’s been meditating on, “hast made me” #1) wiser than mine enemies.” That’s a good thing, by the way, if you don’t know that, to always be wiser than your enemies, because he says ‘They’re always with me, the ones you see, and the ones you don’t see.’ That’s what we’re studying on Sunday, there’s an unseen world all around us, fallen angels, demons [demons are fallen angels, Calvary Chapels seem to make some weird distinction between the two terms, but they’re all the same], there’s enemies, there’s God’s holy angels, there’s the Holy Spirit, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, there’s a whole invisible world around us. He’s said here ‘You’ve made me wiser than my enemies, LORD, by letting me meditate on your Word, continually.’ That’s a good thing. #2) he says, “I have more understanding than my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.” (verse 99) He doesn’t say ‘I have more knowledge than my teachers,’ you may not understand as much Calculus as your math teacher, you may not know as much Algebra, you know, Quantum physics or molecular biology. It doesn’t say that here ‘I have more knowledge,’ he says “I have more understanding” in the sense that, in the final analysis, when you’re there and you’re drawing your last breath, it’s not gonna matter a whole lot at that point in time, what you understand about the way certain molecules bind, weather patterns, elements in the earth, wind forces, what’s gonna matter then is what do you understand about all this, you’ve just made a pilgrimage, you’ve just passed through life. You listen to your parents when they were old saying ‘Hey kid, listen to me, it goes by so fast that you’ll never believe it.’ And then there you are, you’ve become your father, oh my goodness, and you’re laying there, saying ‘What happened!? How did I get here? What in the world just happened, I was just born, what am I doing here laying in this bed all shriveled up like a prune!?’ You made the journey. If you’ve kept your heart in God’s Word, you’ve understanding. Your teachers may have more knowledge, but you have more understanding than they do. [Comment: I’m an extreme history nut, but there are history professors out there that have way more knowledge than I do. Grigor Suny, in his book The Soviet Experiment demonstrates his extreme knowledge of the 70-year-long Soviet Empire from Lenin to Gorbachev. But coupled to Bible prophecy and the ultimate prophecied end of the age, and where mankind ends up, I have far more understanding than Grigor Suny as long as he remains a non-believer and just a history professor. I know where history is going and why.] This was temporary. Wonderful things that people learn, science, math, and all of that is part of God’s creation, it’s filled with wonder. But he says here ‘I’m wiser than my enemies, and I have more understanding than my teachers, because of your Word.’ And then finally in verse 100, he says, “I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.” Now the ancients here are not the people before the Flood and so forth, it’s speaking of the elders, the oldest people in the community that are around you. And the word “understanding” here in verse 100, it differs from “to understand” in verse 99, this is actually ‘I discern more, I have more discernment than the elderly, because I keep thy precepts.’ It isn’t just a matter here of wisdom or understanding, it’s “perception, perceiving, understanding things,” ‘and because of your Word, LORD, I have more discernment, even than people that are older than I am, been through more, because I have the filter of your Word that I’ve put all of these things through in my own life, and because of that discerning.’ How wonderful is it to be around someone whose 85 years old, whose been in the Word for 75 years, and to listen to them. That is wonderful. You may not think an hour a day in the Bible makes a difference in your life, because it may not seem like it does today or tomorrow, but if you read the Bible an hour a day, come back to me and talk to me in 60 years, and see what’s happened in your life. He says here, ‘Because I meditate in it, I love it, I keep my mind there, I have more discernment than the ancients, and it’s because I keep your precepts.’ And he says, look at this too please, no one’s excluded as we go through these things. You can’t say ‘I don’t even have a GED, I don’t have a high school diploma,’ I don’t think David did either. ‘Well I didn’t graduate, I didn’t get through my first year in college,’ I don’t think Joseph or Daniel did either and they stood next to world rulers. I’m not saying ‘Don’t do that,’ please don’t go home and say that Pastor Joe said I don’t need my GED, I gotta read my Bible, no, I’m not saying that. I’m saying here, the way this lays this out for us, no one here is excluded from saying ‘LORD, I love your Word, it’s been my meditation all day long, it’s made me wiser than my enemies,’ it doesn’t matter what your grade-point average is, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. “I have more understanding than my teachers”, ‘I have more discernment than many elderly people that are around me, and LORD, it’s from your Word.’ You see, no one is excluded, this is open to all of us.

‘You Have Taught Me, LORD’

And he says, because of it, look at verse 101, “I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.” ‘I’ve made this decision,’don’t blame everybody else, he says here ‘I’ve done it, I’ve refrained my feet from every evil way,’ the reason, ‘that I might keep your Word, I’ve made up my mind, I’m going to keep your Word, and because of that I’ve refrained my feet from every evil way.’ Verse 102, “I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.” ‘because you’ve taught me,’ he will do that, everyone in this room right now that’s born-again, we have the Holy Spirit, he will do that every day. You know, I have people come to me and say ‘I think it’s ok to smoke pot, because it’s natural,’ and I think ‘You’ve got the same Holy Ghost that I got, don’t give me that bologna!’ Lead is natural, uranium is natural, we should blow ourselves to smithereens, what ain’t natural, you smoke something from another dimension? We come up with those things, but he says ‘Because you’ve taught me.’ You know yourself when you step across the line that it’s not him. You can make every excuse, you can give everybody all the bologna in the world, but everybody’s got a bologna-meter in their heart, they know you’re trying to give them the business. He says ‘I haven’t done those things LORD, because you have taught me, how wonderful, you’ve taught me LORD.’ And then he says, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (verse 103) And in that day in that culture, there wasn’t anything sweeter than honey. He’s not talking about how sweet your Honey is, he’s talking about honey, bees, sweeter than honey. And I like that. I love thistle honey. I have a book on honey, actually. Some of them have different medicinal properties, and anti-bacterial, honey’s a good thing. I love it in tea and coffee. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” (verses 103-104) This is his conclusion, “therefore I hate every false way.” Look, he started by saying “O how love I thy law!”…he says here, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” If that’s true, then verse 104 is going to be true, he says “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” If truth gives me understanding and wisdom and discernment, then every false way, that is a lie and a deception in this world, takes from that wisdom, understanding and discernment, so I hate that, I hate that. “Through thy precepts” he says, “I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”

Psalm 119:105-112

NUN

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD. and teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.”

‘He’s Telling Us We Have A Path, With A Beginning And An End’

And now wonderfully he comes to this set of verses, it’s familiar to most of us. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much:” here’s the request in this set of verses, “quicken me, O LORD,” ‘revive me, O LORD,’ “according to thy word.” Secondly, “Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth,” third request, “O LORD. and teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand:” ‘I do my best,’ “yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.” What a sweet and great commitment, he says, “even unto the end.” Look, he says “Thy word” and this is certainly speaking of pilgrimage here “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (verse 105) In this set of verses he’s telling us very clearly that we have a path. A path has a beginning, and a path has an end. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that before we were saved, we had meandered according to the weathervane of this world, whatever way the wind was blowing in this world, we were effected by it. And he said that was because of the prince of the power of the air. You know he [Satan] had influence over us, because we were dead, it says, in trespasses and sins, children of wrath, even as others, sad, sad condition. And the world was telling us how to dress, right? What was cool, what’s not cool, what you wear on your feet, what kind of jersey you need to have, what you need to drive, it was telling us all those things. In the mean time, God had a path for us. And people spend a lot of money, this is funny because I heard somebody talking about this, this afternoon, people spend a lot of money trying to be cool. They spend a really significant amount of their income trying to be cool, so that they’ll fit in with everybody else, who buys the same thing because of the advertisers, Wall Street, and says to all of us ‘This is what’s cool. So you need to wear those things to be cool.’ The coolest person is the person who don’t care what anybody else thinks about what they’re wearing. This guy who was looking, said, ‘Bowlers are the coolest people on the planet,’ he said, ‘Look at the way they dress, they could care less about what anybody thinks about how they’re dressed.’ He said, ‘They ought to be the most secure people on the planet,’ he said ‘They’re not insecure at all, look at the way bowlers dress,’ he said, ‘now bowlers, these are cool people.’ And here, you know, we’re on this path, and we’re distracted with all the window-shopping, all this stuff going on, and there’s something very significant he asks for us, a path has a beginning and an end. I didn’t get on the path until I got saved in 1972, that’s where my path began. God was involved in my life before that, there’s a pre-salvation work, I look back and I see his hand and the things he did. But something changes then, you come into the light of eternity. The fear of death starts to fade. Don’t get me wrong, there are ways I don’t want to die, shark, you know there’s just certain ways I don’t want to die. But death itself, I’m on the other side. But I don’t want somebody cutting my head off with a rusty pen knife, I do not appreciate what I see there. Guillotine is fast, I wouldn’t mind that at all. But we have a path. Look, beginning, ending, he says ‘I’ve followed it, verse 112, all the way to the end.’ This passage is telling us here, as we look at it, that, you know the world is filled with opinions. The world wants to dictate our morality, all the gender things are being blurred right now. Everybody’s afraid to say anything about gender in any context. Everybody’s afraid to say anything about marriage and what it really is. Everybody’s afraid to say anything about religion and what we should really believe. Everybody’s afraid to say anything about anything, because the world has so many opinions, that whatever you do, somebody’s gonna be coming at you. And this says here, ‘We have God’s Word, we have a well-lit path, no confusion, and it’s well-lit all the way to the end.’ It’s well-lit all the way to the end, whether we go through storms, whether we go through great difficulties, there is light, there’s light. Now look, he says “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,” that’s speaking about nighttime, the Psalmist understood at night you needed a lamp, “and a light unto my path.” that’s daytime, the Psalmist didn’t know anything about bulbs, LED bulbs, flashlights, when he talked about “lamp” and “light” he’s talking about nighttime and daytime, whether we’re traveling through the dark part of our pilgrimage, or path, then God’s Word is a lamp, it gives light in the darkness. We’re traveling in the daytime, it’s a light, it’s like the sun. Our whole environment is brought into the light, “unto our path.” You know, it tells us in Ephesians, we’re studying there, ‘that there’s good works fore ordained, that we should walk in them.’ Paul, Acts chapter 20 when he meets with the elders on the beach there at Miletus, he says to them ‘I just want to finish my course with joy.’ He understood there was a path for his life. He had been a hater of the Church, he had been the anti-christ, there was no more damaging person to the New Testament Church than Paul the Apostle. Right now he comes to this place where he sees God’s grace. He’ll use that word over 120 times through his writing, the grace of God, until 2^nd Timothy, he’ll say ‘I’ve finished my course, run the race, kept the faith, I fought the fight, here I am.’ And this says to you and I, ‘In our journey, his Word it’s a lamp unto our feet, it’s a light unto our path, in our pilgrimage,’ as we move. The Book of Proverbs will tell us this, it says “But the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect way.” It’s going somewhere, it has a destination. In the 6^th chapter it says this, “For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” Again, we hear this reiterated and spoken over and over. So, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (verse 105) Many of you have sung the song, you know the words, ‘It is a lamp unto my feet, it is a light unto my path.’

‘Because It’s A Lamp Unto My Feet And A Light Unto My Path, I Have Sworn To Keep It’

And in regards to that, look at what it says, “I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.” (verse 106) He says ‘Because it is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, I have sworn to keep it, I’ve sworn, I’m going to perform it.’ How many of us have sworn? How many of us have made vows [Jesus in Mathew 5-6 warned about not making vows or swearing, taking of oaths], ‘You know, we did our best and we ended up divorced, life falls apart,’ but you stand there on your wedding day and make a vow, you make a promise. You’re a Christian, she’s a Christian, we’re gonna do this right, or you both get saved, and you have to stay together because you’re both Christians [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/corinthians/cor7.htm]. Because there’s a vow, a promise, ‘here’s what your Word says, we’re going to do it, I’m going to do it LORD.’ That’s a good thing. You’ll learn in no time you can’t do it on your own strength, but that’s a good thing. How many times have we said, ‘Lord, I’m not gonna drink anymore.’? ‘Lord, I’m not gonna look at porn anymore.’ ‘Lord, I’m not gonna get stoned anymore.’ Or ‘I’m never gonna punch anybody again, elbow them maybe, I’m never gonna punch anybody again.’ And our heart resonates here, and the Psalmist says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” ‘So I have sworn, I’m going to perform it, I’m going to keep thy righteous judgments. LORD, I know your will is your Word. That’s the light I’m going to walk in, and your will is your Word.’

‘Life Is Tough, LORD, Revive Me!’

“I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.” (verse 107) ‘LORD, there’s difficulty all around me,’ so the prayer to God in light of these things is, “Quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.” (verse 107b) Literally, ‘Revive me, O LORD,’ we sing that, ‘Revive me, O LORD.’ ‘I’m afflicted, LORD, there’s difficulty, I love the light of your Word, I’ve sworn I’m going to stay in it, I want to do this right, I want to have a Christian testimony, I am afflicted LORD, there’s difficulty, so LORD, you revive me, “revive me O LORD, according unto thy word.” ‘Your Word promises that’s the way you are, I’m standing in it LORD, do that.’ Secondly, “Accept” ‘LORD, I beg you’ “I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.” (verse 108) “Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth,” and we’ll do that at the end of the service again, when we open our mouth, it says our praise is a sweet savour before him, it’s a freewill offering, and we sing his praise, we worship, then it rises up before him. And the Psalmist says here, ‘OK LORD, revive me, give me life, I’ve made a commitment, I want to live in your Word, so accept, LORD,’ he says, ‘I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, I praise you, I worship you, let that be genuine, I don’t want to be looking around, scoping things out, looking at my mobile device LORD, help me to praise you and keep my eyes and my heart on you, LORD, accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD. And teach me thy judgments, LORD.’

“Teach Me Thy Judgments…The Wicked Laid A Snare For me”

The last one there, “teach me thy judgments,” so, “quicken me,” ‘accept I beseech thee my praises’ ‘and teach me.’ “My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.” (verse 109) ‘I’ve gotta face life every day, I feel like I want to make this commitment to your Word,’ you look at it in context of the verses, “My soul is continually in my hand” ‘I need to make these decisions, I need to do these things,’ “yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.” (verses 109-110) And every one of us here tonight needs to acknowledge the truth of that, in the culture that we live in. “The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.” (verse 110) ‘I haven’t turned from your Word.’

‘God’s Testimonies, His Word Is Our Heritage’—When You Die It’s All You Can Take With You

“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” (verse 111) very challenging verse for us. “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage” a lot of people, when the will is read, family get’s together, they want to know whose going to get grandma’s cuckoo clock, ‘I can’t believe she left that to him, I always liked that…I don’t want the dog, give the dog’…it’s just funny to see families, what they go through, and the executor is there and the will is read, families come out of those circumstances angry at each other, families who liked each other before they went in, come out angry. If the only thing, again, you can leave your kid is something that a lawyer settles, you haven’t left your kid anything at all. That’s the only thing you’ve left him. Believe me, and school’s starting again, I constantly hear, ‘This is better than that, and this is better than this,’ look, you know, God’s made our kids all different, they learn differently, they absorb differently, they, some of them blossom at 27, they just never get it at 17 in high school, and end up successful in business doing all kinds of things. Some of them are on fire at 14-years-old, you don’t know what they’re talking about, ‘Talk English to me kid, stop talking chemistry, you’re 14, act normal!’ God makes us all different. But the end-game is not how much we have in the bank, the end-game is not what we drive. And the Bible says he daily reloads us with benefits, he does not begrudge us good things. Hard work is a godly thing, there’s nothing wrong with any of that. But we’ve got to be able to say this, “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever” ‘LORD, when the will is read, as it were, this is the epicenter for me.’ I remember being with my dad, his last days, he would disappear for a couple days at a time. I remember one time my mom came in [to the hospital], he heard that she was there, he kind of came to the surface, he said ‘Em, I’m dying,’ and then he sunk back again…he hadn’t been conscious for a day and a half, I was next to his bed and I started to cry, I said ‘Dad, I love you,’ and I feel this arm come around me, and he leaned over and kisses me on the cheek, hadn’t been conscious for a day and a half. The kids were in Mexico, he’s waiting for them, they walked in the room, and he became conscious and talked to them, and said “I love you guys.” In the process I said “Dad, are you afraid to die?” “Nope” he had God’s Word, he had God’s Word. “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. And I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.” (verses 111-112) Look what it says, “even unto the end” ‘this is my life’s journey, the pilgrimage.’ ‘As I’m on this pilgrimage, LORD, I love your Word, meditate on it, all day long, LORD.’

In Closing

‘And it’s unchanging, you spoke the worlds into existence, they’re still doing the same thing they were doing thousands of years ago when you spoke them into existence. Your Word is unchanging, they testify of that. I love, LORD, your Word, and your testimonies LORD. And I meditate on those, and they make we wiser than my enemies, and they’ve given me more understanding, LORD, than my piers, the people that are around me, my teachers. And LORD, they’ve made me more discerning than even people that have more life-experience, that have lived longer. I’m suffering through all that. In fact, in this pilgrimage, LORD, your Word is a lamp unto my feet, it’s a light unto my path, this path LORD, that you have for me.’ Look, I don’t know what you guys think, look, if I think back, some of you can’t think back 30 years because you’re only 29. Some of you can’t think back 30 years because you’re 80, there’s different reasons for that, but my point is, think back, would you ever have drawn out your path and be sitting here in church on Wednesday night? Come on, be honest. ‘30 years ago, 40, ok, here’s where my life is going, I’m going to be sitting in this church, ah, singing songs about Jesus, that’s where I’m headed.’ We had a path. And this is part of it, we’re just passing through, we’re not staying here long. When the trumpet blows and we’re outa here, people can come and help themselves to the Bibles in the bookstore, all the tapes, everything else. Think of it, when the trumpet blows and we’re gone, we’re just passing through. This Word though, for us all as we gather, look, we’ve studied his Word here for over 30 years. If God tarries for 30 more years we’re going to do the same thing, because it’s eternal, it never changes. ‘It’s a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, our path, his words.’ And it’s a well-lit path, even unto the end, there in the last hours, when the will is read. What we do have, that no one can take away from us, God’s Word, it never changes. Let’s stand, let’s offer him, as the Psalmist says here, ‘LORD Accept, I beseech thee, LORD, the freewill offerings of my mouth,’ is that good for all of us? Let’s quietly in our hearts, as Brian’s coming, ‘Alright Lord, here we go, love you, love your Word, I’m going to offer you now the freewill offerings of my mouth, LORD, accept them, sing praise to you, close my eyes, I’m going to get my attention off of this world and this room on Philmont Avenue, I’m going to lift my heart to heaven, and LORD receive the praise that I let rise to you right now, Jesus, to the Father.’ I know you’ve overheard, Lord, and we thank you for your Word, this journey through the 119^th Psalm. And you’ve over and over, Lord, you’ve been saying to us, ‘My Word, my Word, my Word, my Word, my Word,’and we are growing in that, Lord, the power of it, the cleansing force of it, Lord, the light that it gives, the life that it gives, the healing that it brings…[transcript of a connective expository sermon of Psalm 119:89-112, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]