K Is For Kept Series

Introduction

1. Well, as we continue learning the ABCs of the Bible...

We come to the letter K...

K is for Kept.

According to Webster...

Keep or kept is

1 : to take notice of by appropriate conduct as in to FULFILL

to be faithful to

to conform to in habits or conduct

2 : to PRESERVE, MAINTAIN: as in

to watch over and defend

to take care of : TEND

we also find the keep or kept often in Scripture...

it appears almost 600 times throughout the Old and New

Testaments...

2. With 2007 just around the corner...

many people will be making New Year’s Resolutions...

And one of the thoughts on people’s minds will be...

“will I be able to KEEP this resolution”...

will I be able to fulfill it...

When we get down to the end of the year...

like we are now...

we can look back and as ourselves in the past tense...

“have I kept my New Year’s Resolution”...

3. With all this in mind, let’s look to our text and see some things we need to “keep”...

and also some things that God keeps...

Read Text: Psalm 18:20-24

1. I have kept the ways of the Lord. v. 21

I have kept myself from sin. v. 23.

A. It is thought that David wrote Psalm 18 near the end of his life...

David lived a full life...

He had been a shepherd...

He had been a warrior and the leader of armies...

and He became King...

And he was an ancestor for Jesus Himself...

From all his experiences...

throughout his long life...

He was able to look back and say, “I have kept the ways of the Lord”...

B. Now, to be honest, I began to wonder how David could say this...

Because he certainly had some moral failures...

and David’s sins and well-known and well documented in the Bible...

So, how is David able to look back and say, “I have kept the ways of the Lord”?...

“I have kept myself from sin”?...

And what we know of David is that he repented...

and what we know about God is that He forgives...

David was never content to be away from the Lord...

He would quickly recognize his sinful condition...

or a prophet would point it out...

and he would repent...

C. That is good thing to remember if we are going to “keep the ways of the Lord”...

Let me compare it to our New Year’s Resolutions...

Let’s say that you have a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight...

probably one of the most popular of all New Year’s Resolutions...

And also the one that is most frequently broken!!

The Key is to not give up...

don’t be content when you slip and fail...

On occasion, you might blow it and overeat...

but the key would be to put that behind you and start fresh the next morning...

My problem has been that when I blow it...

I just throw the whole thing away...

“well, I gained a pound...

I guess I’ll just give up”...

Certainly not the best attitude in keeping a diet...

D. But we are talking about something more important than a diet...

we are talking about our relationship with the Lord...

And, if we allow that attitude to creep in to our relationship with the Lord...

then we put ourselves in spiritual jeopardy...

Some people might think...”well, I’ve blown it...

I just can’t handle the temptation...

I quit...

I just give up on trying to live the Christian life”...

But, the better attitude is...

“Lord...I’m sorry that I failed you...

please forgive me...

help me to do better”...

And start fresh walking with the Lord...

E. Back to our example of the diet...

if, a year from now...

you are able to look back and see that you have really tried to stick to your new diet...

and you have lost a reasonable amount of weight over the course of the year...

you would have every right to look back over the last year and say...

“I have kept my New Years Resolution”...

Instead of looking back at the few failures where you indulged in eating a few too many donuts or chips...

you would look back at the year as a whole...

and be proud of that accomplishment...

F. In the same way,...

when you get down toward the end of your life...

if you have been able to sustain a Christian life...

if you have quickly repented of any sin...

and re-committed yourself to walking with Christ...

what a blessing to be able to say...

“I have kept the ways of the Lord”...

I would imagine that all of us would have some failures along life’s journey where we didn’t live up to Christ’s ideal...