BIBLE IN 3 YEARS OVERVIEW PSALM 119 THE WORD OF GOD2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Bible In 3 Years Overview Psalm 119 The Word Of God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

We're going to dig into this psalm, but we can't cover it completely. I did that once. And so if you want to do that, I'm sure it's online. If you look at the archive and the Bible studies, a few years back we went through psalms and I covered Psalm 119 in entirety. But we're going to be hitting bits and pieces there as we look at this psalm. Now, this psalm is an incredible, incredible psalm.

It's a conversation with God about His Word. It's really a prayer to the Lord regarding the Word of God or the Bible.

And this psalm, as you hopefully have been reading it with us, going through the Bible in three years this past week, you might have noticed that this psalm is, well, it's not just randomly, you know, verses and lines and things put together, but this psalm really is a masterpiece. It really is a masterpiece. And the more you dig into it, the more you study it, the more you realize this is,

designed well it's expertly crafted together i know it's massive and so often the psalm can be quite overwhelming but this is a masterpiece and this psalm every time i i come across it and read through it again it gets me fired up about the word of god because of course

This psalm is all about the word of God and it emphasizes to us the importance of God's word. And so I want to give you a little bit of background on the psalm, a little bit of insight about it before we dig into some of the verses here.

The first thing that I would point out, which is pretty obvious, is that Psalm 119 is long. It's 176 verses, which makes it the longest chapter in the whole Bible. Now, it's not just the longest chapter, like, you know, it has a couple words more, a couple verses more. This chapter, this psalm, is longer than 16 of the books in the New Testament.

So almost half of the New Testament, you know, there's 27 books in the New Testament, right? 16 of those books are shorter than Psalm 119. To give you just a little bit of example about that, the book of Ephesians, when you add up all the verses, is 155 verses. It's about 20 verses shorter than this psalm that we're reading tonight and studying tonight.

First and second Peter, when you combine them together, is about 166 verses. So it's almost there, but it's not quite as long as Psalm 119. On Saturday, we went through Philippians and Colossians, and we read through, you know, all the verses of those two books, which total up to 199 verses combined. It's

Just about 20 or 23 verses longer than Psalm 119. So we spent eight hours studying Philippians and Colossians on Saturday. So it's appropriate for us to spend about seven hours studying Psalm 119 tonight, right?

Well, that's why we're not reading it, you know, verse by verse all the way through. But we will be getting into the different passages and some important verses here in Psalm 119. So it's a really long psalm, which makes it a little bit intimidating and maybe overwhelming. But there's great, great insight and truths that are in here. And also the fact that it is so long emphasizes the importance of

Of the word of God. Which is what this psalm is all about. And that's the second thing I would point out. Regarding psalm 119. That it's focused on the word of God.

And throughout this psalm, over and over again, he's talking about God's word. He's talking about God's law. He's talking about God's testimonies, God's statutes, God's ordinances, his commands, his precepts, his judgments. Over and over and over again, he's always making reference to, there's only a couple verses that don't actually make reference to the word of God in some way.

And so if this psalm does not get you fired up and excited about and passionate about the word of God, then you need to repent and get saved because that's what this psalm is all about. And that's what it's really designed to do is to call us back to the word of God. Well, another important aspect of this psalm is that it's what's called an acrostic psalm.

Now what that means is it goes through all of the Hebrew alphabet throughout the psalm. And the way that works is there's 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. And so we don't see a lot of these things because we're reading it in English. But in Hebrew, you can see there's great design here in that, well, each letter,

Group of verses, each stanza, if you would, is grouped together by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

I'll show you an example of that in just a moment. But so there's 22 Hebrew letters and then there's eight lines per letter. And so it starts at the first letter and works its way all the way through to the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And so if you multiply eight times 22, you get the 176, which is how many verses are in this psalm. And so it's 22 sections of eight verses, 22 Hebrew letters in groups of eight.

Now the significant thing and what makes this pretty incredible is that each line of those group of verses begins with the letter corresponding with that group. So let me give you an example here just starting at the beginning. The first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Aleph.

And so this letter is the first letter here in Psalm 119. And so the first eight verses are related to this letter in the Hebrew alphabet. So there in verse 1, you can see it starts out saying, Blessed are the undefiled. Now as it starts out saying, Blessed are the undefiled, that's the English translation, of course. But in Hebrew, there on the right, you see that in the green, that's the Hebrew word for blessed.

And so those are the Hebrew characters and I don't read Hebrew, but there it is for you so you can check it out. So you can see the far right because Hebrew reads from right to left, right? We read from left to right, but Hebrew is from right to left. So that's how it would be in Hebrew. It would start at the right and work this way. And so that's the first word, which is blessed. And it begins with Aleph.

The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Then verse number two, blessed are those who, and it goes on. So it's the same word, still begins with the same Hebrew letter. Then verse three, they also do no iniquity. Now this line, it doesn't start out the same way, not the same word, but the word that begins this line still begins with the same Hebrew letter, Aleph. And then verse four,

You have commanded us, again, different word, but still begins with the Hebrew letter that is Aleph. And then verse 5, I think you're getting the picture, right? Oh, that my ways, again, different word, same letter is beginning the word. Verse 6, then I would not, different word, same letter at the beginning of the word. I will praise you, verse 7, same type of thing. And then verse 8, I will keep your statutes. So,

The very first letter of each line is the Hebrew letter Aleph in these first eight verses. Because that's the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Now then, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Bet. And the next eight verses all begin with that letter.

And then the next eight verses after that begin with the third letter and so on and so forth. And so as you were reading this week, you might have noticed it actually says in your Bible, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, all the different letters because those are the Hebrew letters that are beginning. And then each line in the group of eight verses begins with that letter.

Now, this is why I say this is a masterpiece. I mean, this is not, you just randomly put together, but this is well thought out. It's crafted. It's engineered to talk about the Word of God and make it masterful. If you want to kind of think about, you know, how...

How much time it took. Think about, for those of you who are in the class equipped to preach, right? We spent a lot of time talking about building your points, right?

And how you got to work on your points. And you know so that they have a common pattern among them. And they're connected to the passage. And we spent a lot of time wrestling with grappling with. And it took a lot of time to come up with you know three or four points. That work together well. That fit the passage. And that have common themes. And so on and so forth. Well it's that kind of thing. But this is 176 points. It's 176 verses long. Or maybe you could think about try going through the English alphabet.

And come up with your own Psalm 119. Come up with five verses for each letter of the English alphabet about the Word of God. Each beginning, each verses or each line beginning with the letter A. And then five more in the letter B and five more in the letter C. You can understand this would be a massive undertaking. This Psalm is a masterpiece.

It was crafted. It was put together with great thought, with many hours, with much labor, so that we could understand the importance and the value of the Word of God. And so what I want to do is I want to dig into some of the passages here in Psalm 119 and go through stanza by stanza a couple verses from each one. And so we're beginning in verses 1 through 8. There it's the Hebrew letter Aleph.

And verse 1 says, And so as we begin looking at this psalm, it begins with a pronouncement of blessing. It's a blessing to those who are undefiled in the way for those who walk in the law of the Lord or the word of God.

And so as we begin looking at this psalm, we learn right away that the Bible has a lot to do with how blessed you are. The Bible has a big part in how much your life is blessed. And I would ask you to consider this evening, are you blessed? Are you experiencing great blessing in your life? The word blessed, we've often talked about it. It means happy or oh how happy we often say.

But it's not like a temporary thing. You could also say that blessed means to be fully satisfied. Fully satisfied. That is completely, entirely, totally satisfied. And so as I ask, are you blessed this evening? I'm really asking, are you fully satisfied? Are you fully satisfied? Is there in your heart a cry out for something more?

Is there a longing or a thirsting within you? Is there a desire? Is there something that is, it's a desire that is not yet quenched? Or are you fully satisfied? The psalmist says, blessed, fully satisfied are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. If you want to be blessed, you want to be fully satisfied, the psalmist begins by saying, then walk in God's word.

Keep his testimonies there in verse 2. Seek him with your whole heart. You know, it's amazing to me that so many issues that are addressed, you know, if there's an issue that's requiring counseling for a believer, it's amazing to me how so many of them are resolved when that believer will invest themselves in the Word of God.

If you go, well, we took a course on biblical counseling over at Harvest. And they stress that over and over and over again. The first thing that they do when someone comes in for counseling there is, all right, you need to have a devotional life. And here's some instructions. Here's how to have a devotional life. You need to be reading the Bible every day. Because the majority of the time, just getting a believer in the Word of God begins to resolve the issues. Now, it's not that we don't have issues.

It's not that everything's all glorious all the time, but God is working out those issues through his word as we're walking with him in the word of God. And so when we're not fully satisfied, when we're not blessed, we have all these issues, we have all these things outstanding, we need to consider the words of the psalmist here. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord.

Now the requirement here we see at the end of verse 2 is it's for those who seek him with the whole heart. And this is really what we need is that wholehearted desire for the Lord. That complete turning to God and looking for him. Well the next set of 8 verses, verses 9 through 16 is the Hebrew letter Beth. And for this I want to look at verse 11 with you. It says, Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.

It's probably the first time you've ever heard that verse, right? No, of course not. It's a very famous verse. So we see the Bible plays a big part in how blessed you are. But here in verse 11, we're reminded that the Bible plays a big part in how holy you are. Are you holy? Are you walking uprightly? Are you staying away from sin? Or are you still stuck in sin? That it's this repetitive lifestyle of sin that you continue to live in.

Well, this verse says, your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. It's a verse we know. It's a verse we're familiar with. And yet, I think it's a verse we often misunderstand. I think we often approach this verse as kind of like a one-to-one relationship. So I think about this issue that I have. Okay, I'm struggling with this thing right here. Where's a verse in the Bible that talks about this thing that I'm struggling with?

And let me memorize that verse so that then after it's hidden in my heart, then I won't sin against God in that way anymore because I memorized the verse that deals with that issue. So I struggle with this one thing. Give me a verse that talks about that. Let me memorize it. And then I'm wondering, well, why haven't I conquered it yet? I memorized the verse that goes along with or that speaks about that thing that I'm struggling with. I memorized the verse. Why do I still have this temper? I memorized the verse. Why do I still have this temper?

issue, this wrestle. How come I still wrestle with this? Because I memorized a verse that talks about that. We think of it as like a one-to-one relationship. But when we do that, we show really how clueless we are about how big the issue really is. I kind of liken it in my head. I picture it, you know, it's like trying to kill an elephant with a needle. Memorizing a verse to try to tackle an issue of sin is

can be like trying to kill an elephant with a needle. And you might be thinking, what are you talking about, Jerry? Well, listen, the real issue always comes back to the heart. And the issue of your heart is a lot bigger than just that one thing. That one thing is, you know, what you're paying attention to. It's a symptom of the real issue, which is down here. This is what really needs to be addressed. And memorizing one verse doesn't address your heart. It's a pinprick.

No, what we need is to be filled with the word of God. To be consumed with the word of God. When he says, your word have I hidden in my heart, he's not talking about I memorized a verse. He's saying, I've filled my heart with your word. There's great depth. There's great breadth. That it's long. It's deep. It's wide. I've studied. I've learned. I've devoured your word so that I might not sin against you.

Notice in verse 15 he says, I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. But it's more than just memorizing a verse, but it's the consuming of God's word and the meditating and going back and constantly being redirected back to the word of God. Spending time considering God's word, spending time considering God's ways. And that is what addresses our heart and helps us to turn from sin and to walk with God.

Well, the next group of verses, verses 17 through 24, corresponds with the Hebrew letter Gimel. Verse 18 is the verse I would highlight here. It says, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law. Here the psalmist cries out to God and asks for help.

Reading the word of God is important. And as I've just been talking about. We need lots of it. We need to be involved and immersed in the word of God. Not just reading it once in a while. Here or there. Memorizing a verse here or there. But being students of the word of God. But it will not be effective. Even if we consume a lot of it. If we're just relying upon our own resources. In approaching the word of God. This is a spiritual book. And we need help.

We need God's insight. We need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and open our hearts to the things of his word. Jesus told his disciples in John 14, he says, I'm going away, but it's to your advantage because I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and he's going to teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is going to open your eyes. He's going to help you understand. He's going to help you receive the word of God.

Paul the Apostle writing to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 makes that distinction. He says, look, the spiritual man can receive the spiritual things, but the natural man cannot understand the things of God. These are spiritually discerned. We need to be born again. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to be asking God to open our eyes. That you can't approach the word of God with your own understanding alone.

With your own intellect, relying upon your own intelligence and your high IQ, that's not sufficient. Now that doesn't mean we check our brains at the door and God says, don't think about this, just believe it. No, he wants us to reason. He wants us to think, but we need his help. We cannot rely upon our own resources. Instead, we need to pray like the psalmist, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things in your law.

Well, the next group of verses, verses 25 through 32, corresponding with the Hebrew word Daleth, by the way, or letter, by the way. I'm pronouncing these pretty awful, I'm sure. And so later on, you could find someone who speaks Hebrew and find out the real pronunciation. But verse 28 is the verse that I would highlight here. It says, Now as the psalmist continues to talk about the Word of God,

He's praying to God. He's crying out to God throughout this psalm. And he lets the Lord know about his heart condition. It's heavy. He says, my soul melts from heaviness. Here we see that the psalmist is going to God in this midst of severe heartache. His soul melts from heaviness. He's going through something difficult. The pressure is great. The intensity is high. And so he goes to God.

And he lets God know what's going on. It's a good reminder for us to go to God. Where do you go when things get tough? When times get intense? Where is it that you go? Because hardships do come. It's often been said, if you're not in the midst of a trial now, then get ready because there's one coming. That's just, it's just part of life. We're going to face hardships. There's going to be heartache. We've been praying for Rick and Zelda and the family as

We heard the news, one in their family, I think he was 22 years old, the young man just unexpectedly died. And the whole family is just shocked. Great heartache, as I'm sure you can imagine. Incredible grief. But it's not limited to, you know, those other people that we somewhat know or we're loosely connected to. It happens in our own lives. There's going to be heartache. You're going to be devastated at some point in the near future.

I know that's real exciting to think about. But it's important because it's real. That's what's going to happen. And the time to build a solid foundation is now. So that in that time you can go to God and say, God my soul melts from heaviness. Strengthen me according to your word. That you build the connection. That you spend time now learning how to connect with God. So that when you're in the midst of the devastation.

tomorrow or next week or a couple days from now or a couple months from now when you're in the midst of the hardest thing you've ever gone through in your life that you have that foundation you have that connection that you can go to God if you're going to wait to then until try to try to learn how to connect with God it's going to be very difficult for you

No, we need to learn his word now and dig in now, get to know him now, so that then we can hold on to his promises. Look what the psalmist says there in verse 28. Strengthen me according to your word. The psalmist knows the word. And so he's able to hold on to God's promises. God, this is heavy. And I'm devastated here. But be faithful to your word. Strengthen me as you promised you would.

Well, the next group of verses, verses 33 through 40, corresponding with the Hebrew letter He. Verse 33 says, Verse 34, So as we've been looking at the Word of God, we see the importance of it, the value of it. It's important that we come to God for understanding. We seek Him for counsel.

That he needs to open our eyes. But we also see here in verse 33 and 34. This is not just an internal thing. It's not just an intellectual thing. God wants us to think. To use reason. To use logic. And to use your mind. And grow in your understanding. But he also wants you to then put it into practice. What does he say? Teach me.

The word of God must be lived out, not just known. It's not enough to memorize it. It's not enough to study it. It's not enough to learn it frontwards and backwards. We also have to then keep it. He says, Now this is interesting to me. I think it's an important model for us to follow. Sometimes, maybe you're not like this, but if you are,

Just want to let you know you're not alone. Sometimes I approach it like this. Alright Lord, teach me what you want. Teach me your ways so that I can decide if I want to follow it. I cry out to the Lord like, show me Lord, what do you want in this? What do you have to say about this? So I can decide if I want to follow that. If I agree with that. That's not a good way to approach the Word of God. And it's not a good way to get understanding.

No, we need to have this heart of the psalmist here. Teach me and I shall keep it. Determine now, Lord, whatever you say, that's what I'm going to do. It doesn't matter if I don't like it or if I'm uncomfortable with it. It doesn't matter if it's against what I was brought up to think or to do culturally or what my mom said or what my grandpa said, whatever. Teach me and I will keep it. Verse 34, and I shall observe it, he says, with my whole heart. I'm not just going to keep it.

But I'm going to commit myself completely to observing what you command. I'm just going to give myself entirely to follow you and obey what you declare as you speak to me through your word. That's what's needed in us regarding the word of God. That wholehearted commitment to live out what God instructs us. Well, the next group is in verses 41 through 48. It's the Hebrew letter Waw.

And verse 45 is the verse I'll highlight. It says, Here we learn that freedom, real freedom, is found in the pursuit of God's Word. Now some people might look at this or hear some of the things that I'm sharing and you might begin to think, you know, being so fanatical about the Bible, that produces legalism. But that's not really the case.

The word of God brings freedom. Legalism is produced by, I would say, zeal without knowledge. It's zeal without knowledge. It's not the word of God. It's zeal without knowledge that produces legalism. Knowing parts of the word, but not considering the whole counsel of God's word. And so we need to

understand that the word of God sets us free. He says, I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts. Remember in John chapter 8, Jesus says, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. But then he goes on to say, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Abiding in the word of God makes you Jesus's disciple, which makes you free because you know the truth. The word of God sets you free. If you want to be free, pursue the

The knowledge of God. Relationship with God through his word. Well the next group of verses, verses 49 through 56, corresponding with the Hebrew word Zayin. Verse 50 is the verse I'll highlight. It says, this is my comfort in my affliction for your word has given me life. And then verse 52, I remembered your judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. Here we see the relationship between comfort and the word of God. Where do you go for comfort in the midst of affliction?

We can go to our spouse. We can go to friends. Maybe you go to a little canister of ice cream, right? Wherever you go, there's good and bad in those things. But the psalmist says, but I'm coming to you and your word. This is my comfort, he says, in my affliction, for your word has given me life. In the midst of the affliction, he goes to the reservoir of God's word that has been stored there because he's invested in the word of God ahead of time.

And as we invest in the word of God ahead of time and immerse ourselves in the things of God, we can then go in the time of affliction to the reservoir of God's word that you filled up in those deep times with the Lord. Because we're all going to experience affliction.

You know, we saw that a couple weeks ago when I think it was Psalm 76. We talked about the Valley of Baca or the Valley of Weeping. And many of you were here. Many of you shared about your Valley of Weeping and how God brought you through. But we have that in common. We go through affliction. We go through hardship and difficulty. And where do we find comfort? Well, the psalmist says, your word has brought me life. And so I'm comforted by that.

God is the God of all comfort, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1. And he uses his word to bring comfort. Sometimes it's in that moment that he brings you that word. He reminds you of the word. He speaks to you the word. Or someone comes and shares with you from the word. And it brings you comfort in that moment. But many times, God wants to bring back some of the things that he's already taught you to bring comfort.

I would suggest that God wants to teach you to comfort yourself. Because look at verse 52 again. He says, The psalmist here, he's developed some depth. He has a reservoir to tap into so that in the time of affliction, he goes back, he remembers the word of God, the judgments of old.

And is able to comfort himself from the resources that God had provided ahead of time as he is invested in the word of God. Sometimes God will speak to you and bring comfort in that moment. But many times he reminds us of what he already showed us to bring comfort to us. But in order for that to take place, there needs to be the preparation ahead of time.

And again, I would suggest you need to be heavily invested in the word of God to build that reservoir to be able to have that comfort in that time of affliction. Well then verse 57 through 64 is the next group of verses corresponding with the Hebrew letter Heth. Verse 57 says, you are my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep your words. And then verse 59, I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies.

You know, I think as believers, we all agree that God's word needs to be kept, needs to be obeyed. I think intellectually, theologically, we all agree with that. But there's a step that's missing many times in our lives where although we agree with the principle, the investment of actually taking the time to figure out what God's word means in our particular instances is often lacking.

How often do we think about our ways? He says in verse 59, I thought about my ways. It took some time. It took some investment. It took some consideration. I said I would keep your word, he says in verse 57, because you're my portion God and I declared to you I'm going to keep your word. And so in order to keep your word, I had to think about my ways. And I love how he says it, and I turned my feet to your testimonies.

He's making it, this is very practical. I'm putting feet to my faith. Keeping God's word is not automatic. It's often not obvious how to keep God's word. You can read it and you can read it every day and you can memorize it and you can think about it. But you need to think about your ways in response to the word of God. It takes work and time. It takes effort.

To think about my ways. And figure out how my ways compare with his word. And how his word applies to my life and my situation. And what I'm going through. And so I want to encourage you. Make sure you spend time thinking about your ways. You can sit through a great study. Philippians and Colossians on Saturday. Or come in here Pastor George on Sunday. And there's going to be great exhortation brought forth. And God's going to be speaking through people. But.

It's like the old saying, right? You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink. You can bring Christians to church. You can sit them in the pews. You can declare the word of God. They can sit there and read the word of God for themselves. But there's an extra step that needs to happen. Thinking about my ways and turning my feet to his testimonies. That is figuring out how does this apply? How does this work out in my life? How can I turn my feet to walk in these truths?

Well, then the next group of verses, verses 65 through 72, it's the Hebrew letter Teth. Verse 67 says, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. And verse 71, it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I may learn your statutes. Affliction drives us back to the word of God. It's amazing how quickly we get serious about God when things get hard. There's many times where we're not very serious about holiness.

But then bam, something happens. It's like, oh, I need to get rid of this sin in my life. I need to clean house. I need to take care of these things. It's amazing how often, you know, we're not very interested in what God has to say. And then bam, something happens. It's like, all right, what's God say about this? Suddenly we're interested. The psalmist says it was good because before I was afflicted, I went astray. But then with the affliction, it's brought me back to your word. I've learned your statutes.

I can testify of this in my own life. I've seen God use affliction in my life to bring me back when I've gone astray. Well, verses 73 through 80 now, corresponding with the Hebrew word yod, or Hebrew letter yod. Verse 76 says, "'Let, I pray, your merciful kindness be for my comfort according to your word to your servant.'" Verse 77, "'Let your tender mercies come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.'"

Here we see that God distributes both affliction, what we just talked about, but then also mercy. He cries out to the Lord, Lord, I pray your merciful kindness be for my comfort. Now here the psalmist rests in a personal promise. He's been talking about, you know, according to your word, according to your statutes, but in verse 76 he says, according to your word, to your servant.

This wasn't just a general, you know, spoken thing, but God, you spoke to me personally about this. So Lord, I'm praying that you would be faithful to that word that you spoke to me personally, that merciful kindness would be for my comfort. There is a difference between, and they're both important and valid, that God speaks generally, it's general exhortation, but he also speaks to us personally and specifically through his word.

And there's both sides of that. There's both aspects of that. And here the psalmist is saying, in the midst of his affliction, he says, let your merciful kindness be for my comfort because that's what you told me would happen. That's what you told me you would do. So we need to delight in God's law and connect with him personally so that he can give us those promises so that later on we can rely upon him for that merciful kindness and the tender mercies that he's promised to us.

Well then verses 81 through 88, it's the Hebrew letter kaf. Verse 82 says, Here the psalmist again, he's expressing his condition. He's desperate, afflicted, uncomfortable, exhausted. And yet in verse 83 he says,

Even though I'm in the midst of great pain and affliction, I'm not turning away from your word. I'm holding fast to your word. He says, I've become like a wineskin in smoke. That doesn't mean a whole lot to us because I'm sure many of you have not seen a wineskin in smoke. But the wineskin, what they would hold the wine in when it was...

affected by smoke, it would become hard and shriveled. It would turn black and it would become absolutely useless as a result of the smoke. The psalmist is saying, that's how I feel. Hard, shriveled, black, and useless. But I'm not turning from your word. I'm not turning from your word. At what point would you say, forget God's word. This is too hard. This

The psalmist is saying, it's hard. I'm afflicted. It's hurtful. But I'm not turning away. Verse 87. They almost made an end of me on earth, but I did not forsake your precepts. They're pushing me. They're trying to get me to forsake. But I'm holding fast. I'm not going to turn away from you. Verse 88. Revive me according to your loving kindness so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth. Then in verses 89 through 96, it's the Hebrew letter Lamed.

Verse 89 says, Here we see that the word of God does not change. It's settled forever. It's established forever. It's settled in heaven. Jesus echoed this as well in Matthew 5.18. He says,

But not one jot or one tittle will by any means pass away from all the law until it is fulfilled. The word of God is established. It does not change. God has not changed his word. What he called sin is still sin. And there's lots of people trying to change the definitions and change the word of God. But it's settled in heaven. It's established. It's forever established. It will not change.

What he has declared is the method of salvation is the method of salvation. That does not change. Well, we're going to move quickly through the next couple of sections. Verse 97 through 104, the Hebrew letter Mem. Verse 98 says, Verse 104 says,

Through your precepts I get understanding. Therefore I hate every false way. We know from the Proverbs and some of the Psalms that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But here he declares, I have even more understanding. I'm growing in wisdom. Reading and studying and obeying God's word is growing in wisdom. The fear of the Lord, that's how it begins. But then as you pursue God in his word, then there's more and more understanding and wisdom that he brings.

verses 105 through 112 it's the Hebrew letter Nun verse 105 is a famous verse your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path again it's one of those verses we know we're familiar with but I would ask you to consider when is the last time you had a verse reference to go along with the decision that you're making with the step that you are taking

And I don't mean that you decided, you made a decision, you're taking a step and so then you found a verse to match the step that you're taking. No, the other way around. When's the last time you took a step because, well, you were reading the verse, you were spending time with the Lord and it prompted you to make a decision. Is the word of God a lamp unto your feet, a light to your path? That it's the word of God that's indicating to you which way to go and showing you the steps that God wants you to take.

Verses 113 through 120, the Hebrew letter Samach. Verse 114, you are my hiding place and my shield. I hope in your word. He looks to the Lord and he says, God, you're my hiding place. You're my protector. You're my shield. You're the one I'm relying upon to defend me, to deliver me, to take care of me. Because my hope is in your word.

We're looking at just so many different aspects of the word of God. So many different ways that the word of God impacts our lives and is valuable to us. We continue on in verses 121 through 128. The Hebrew letter Ayin or Ayin. Verse 126. It is time for you to act, O Lord, for they have regarded your law as void. I cannot help but think of our nation when I read this verse. It's time for you to act, O Lord, for they've regarded your law as void.

I don't know if we're exactly there yet, but we're pretty close if we're not there. We're disregarding the word of God as a people, as a whole. Hopefully you aren't, but it's time for God to act because there's a great disregard for his word. Verse 127, therefore I love your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold. Man, this is challenging. I love God's word more than fine gold.

It's challenging because it causes me to ask, do I really value the things of eternity more than the things of this life? A million dollars or the word of God? Which one do you choose? In the hypothetical, we know which one we're supposed to choose. But how does that work out in everyday life? How does that work out? Are we really pursuing the word of God as if it's the most valuable thing in our lives? More than gold, yes, than fine gold.

Verse 128, therefore, all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right, I hate every false way. Notice that. All your precepts concerning all things. Oh, how we love to pick and choose. I like what God says about this. I don't really care what God says about that. No, all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right. I've determined, God, you're right about everything you say, about everything you address, and every time you say it, it's the right thing.

All your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right. And so I hate every false way. It's a full surrender to the word of God. A full surrender to be obedient to what God has declared. No matter what. Verses 129 to 136 now. The Hebrew letter Peh.

Verse 131, I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for your commandments. Then 136, rivers of water run down from my eyes because men do not keep your law. You see this great desire that the psalmist has for the word of God and then the brokenheartedness because people disregard and do not keep God's law. It's a good challenge for us. Do we have that kind of heart? Does it bother you?

When the word of God is disregarded. Do you value the word of God so much that when other people disregard it, it causes tears to run down from your eyes? Rivers of water, he says. Because the people around you are disregarding the law of God. Verses 137 through 144. The Hebrew letter Tzadeh. Verse 139. My zeal has consumed me because my enemies have forgotten your words. 140. Your word is very pure, therefore your servant loves it.

Here we see that the psalmist values the word more than he values himself. He's fired up over the word of God. He's fired up over what's going on. He says, my zeal has consumed me. Now what gets you fired up more? What offends you more? Enemies, that is people against you, or people forgetting God's word. He says, my zeal has consumed me because my enemies have forgotten your words. His issue is...

Their forgetfulness of God's word. Their disregard of God's word. He's valuing God's word above his own self. It's not so much that he has enemies, but that they're disregarding God's word that's caused this zeal to consume him. He says, your word is pure, therefore your servant loves it. You can see this love demonstrated here in his words. Verses 145 through 152, it's the Hebrew letter Kof, something like that. Verse 145 says,

I cry out with my whole heart. Hear me, O Lord. I will keep your statutes. 146, I cry out to you. Save me and I will keep your testimonies. Verse 147, I rise before the dawning of the morning and cry for help. I hope in your word. And verse 148, my eyes are awake through the night. Watch as I may meditate on your word. You see the psalmist here crying out. And he's crying out maybe in similar ways to us.

How many times have you said, Lord, if you get me out of this situation, I'm going to do what you want me to do. I'm going to be faithful in what you want me to be faithful in. I'm going to make those, you know, things that you wanted me to make. I'm going to give those things you wanted me to give. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to do it. He says, I cry out with my whole heart, hear me, I will keep your statutes. Sometimes we kind of look at that as, you know, kind of a weakness or a fleshly thing. But it's biblical. We see that. Cry out to God.

But have that commitment already ahead of time. I'm going to keep your statutes. I'm going to do what you call me to do. Verse 153 through 160. It's the Hebrew letter Resh. Verse 154. 156. And then 159. 159.

He's asking for revival. Revive me. Again, the psalmist here, we don't know what the situation is or even who it is that's writing this, but there's great affliction. There's exhaustion. He's crying out for that renewal, that reviving that is necessary.

And again, he's going back to the word of God as his resource. As he calls out to the Lord. According to your word. According to your judgments. And according to your loving kindness, oh God. You see, you cannot separate the word of God from the crying out to God. You cannot separate the word of God from relationship with God. They're intertwined. And so as he cries out to the Lord, he's relying upon, he's looking back at, he's considering the law, the word of God.

Verse 161 through 168, the Hebrew letter Shin. I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure. 164 is interesting. Seven times a day I praise you because of your righteous judgments. How many times a day do you praise God for his word? Sometimes I just get up and kind of grumble as I'm reading through my devotion. It doesn't count as rejoicing over God's word or praising him for his word. Seven times a day.

This is how excited we ought to be about the word of God. This is what kind of place it needs to have in my life. That seven times a day I'm excited and I'm thanking God and praising him for his word. 165 says, great peace have those who love your law and nothing causes them to stumble. Man, this is heavy. Great peace have those who love your law. Let me ask, you know the question, right? Do you have great peace? I don't mean do you have like a little bit of peace.

I don't mean do you have peace. But do you have great peace? Great peace have those who love your law. So let's do the math here. Those who love God's law have great peace. Do you have great peace? If you have great peace, it's because you love God's law. But if you're lacking in peace, you know what else is lacking? You know what the cause of that is? You know how you need to resolve that? Have a great love.

For the word of God. When I don't have great peace. It's because I'm lacking in love for the word of God. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 26.3. You keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on you. Because he trusts in you. Perfect peace. Great peace. That's what God intends for us. Jesus told his disciples. My peace I leave with you. It's not as the world gives. It's not as the world gives.

This is a great peace. It's a perfect peace. We're to have more peace than anyone who is apart from Christ. But how many times we don't have great peace? And the psalmist suggests it's because we don't love the word of God. Again, so many times the issues that maybe we would seek out counsel for are resolved when a believer will seriously invest themselves in the word of God.

Great peace have those who love your law. If you want great peace, if you want perfect peace, Isaiah says, stay your mind on the Lord. And again, you can't separate relationship with God and His Word. They're not two separate things. We have relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ, and that includes the Word of God. Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing causes them to stumble. That's something to consider.

Well finally verses 169 through 176 is the final portion. It's the Hebrew letter Tav. Verse 176 we'll finish it off with the last verse in the chapter. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant for I do not forget your commandments. Here we finish up this psalm, this amazing chapter reflecting on all these different aspects of the word of God and the great value it has, the importance it has. We end today

With the reminder that we go astray. He says, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Lord, seek out your servant. He's recognizing, I'm wandering here, God. I'm going astray. You know, we do this. We go astray. We all do. There's that song we sing. I don't know all of it. But you know, it says that my heart is prone to wander. It's prone to leave the God I love. It's a reality.

And so he's recognizing that. Lord, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. But notice he says, for I do not forget your commandments. You see, the psalmist, having great love for the word of God, has invested himself in the word of God. And so he's able to recognize, Lord, I can see what's happening here. My heart's going astray. I'm starting to wander. And so he's catching it early. What happens many times for us is that we don't catch it. We're going astray and we're clueless.

We're going astray and we don't realize it. You ever have that situation where it's almost like you wake up and you start to look at your past and you're thinking, what on earth was I thinking? How did I get involved in those things? What was going on there? Like it was like all of a sudden you wake up and you realize, what have I been doing? It's because we've gone astray but we didn't catch it until later on we're deep in the midst of the thorn bushes. But here the psalmist says,

He says, I do not forget your commandments. I've hidden your word in my heart. I've invested myself in your word. And so I'm able to see, Lord, I need some correction here. Lord, there's some issues here. You need to bring me back in, God. I can see my heart is wandering. I'm going astray. And so I need your help. And so he calls out to the Lord to bring him back because he remembers the word of God. This psalm, masterpiece, we've just kind of scratched the surface.

But I hope this evening you've gotten a glimpse of the value of God's word. How important it is for you. How important it is for me to be heavily invested in the word of God. If you've fallen out reading the Bible in three years with us, you need to get back in it. If you never started, you need to join with us. If this is your church, this is where we're at. This is what God has us going through. You need to be involved in the word of God.

But it can't just be, well, I read this morning and now I go about my day. No, go back and consider some of the things from this psalm. You got to think about your ways. You got to take some time considering, Lord, what does this mean for me? How do I live this out? What do you want me to do? Shine light on my path. Where do you want me to go? Show me what you want me to do, God, and I'm going to keep it. Teach me your ways and I'll keep it. We need to be heavily invested in the Word of God. Immersing ourselves. Filling our hearts.

Building that reservoir. Because there will be times of affliction. There will be times of difficulty. There will be times that our heart strays. And those times investing in the word of God. Will help us. To know and to recognize. To call out to him. Will bring comfort to us. Will provide us strength.

And on and on and on we could go. Man, it cannot be overstated. It cannot be overemphasized. You need to be heavily invested in the Word of God. So develop the disciplines you need. Get a passion for it. Dig in. I accidentally made two equipped to studies packets back there on the back table. There's the DVDs and the packets.

I meant to do one. I don't know what I was thinking. I did two. So maybe that's because some of you need to learn how to study and get invested in the word of God because it's so important for you. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us that we would have an awareness and an understanding, Lord, that you would show us how desperately we need you and your word.

Lord, you reveal yourself to us through your word. You speak to us. You lead us. You guide us. You protect us. You strengthen us. You comfort us. Oh man, we desperately need you. We need you. We need that peace that you provide through your word as our eyes are fixed on you. And so Lord, I pray that you would stir up within our hearts a great thirst and desire greater than ever before that we would long to know you, to know your word.

Lord, that we might become more like you, that you might be glorified in us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.