Outline
1. Introduction
2. Transition
3. Major Exposition
a. Textual Movement
i. Heart-Commands, Love for God-Love for God’s Word.
b. The gift of purity. (v.9-13)
c. Rejoicing over God’s law as with great riches. (v.14)
d. Covet the things of God. (v.15-16)
4. Conclusion
a. Illustration
b. Application
Introduction
My two young sons love to go for walks in the dark. So long as we have our flashlights is. Now, this is great fun to walk at night with the kids and shine the light out into the field near the house and look for deer and other animals but there is always a great debate about who gets to use the big flashlight. We have several flashlights but the one that the boys really covet is the daddy’s big silver Maglight. That’s the one that they believe is worth arguing over. Who gets to hold the Maglight? Children somehow feel safer in the dark and perhaps we all feel safer in the dark if we have a powerful light that will cast away the unknown of the darkness. Sometimes this life can be frightening because we can only see so far onto the path of our lives. We can only see a little way.
I told Sebastian the other night on a walk around the house at night that he didn’t have to scared because even though he didn’t get the Maglight that night that the light that he had, if we kept following that light, it would take us all the way back to the house. God has not given us a light for daily living that lights up all of the darkness; but He has given us a lantern in the darkness which, if we take heed to it, will illumine our entire pathway – step by step. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Ps. 119:105). There is no darkness which cannot be pierced by that lamp. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32)..
Transition
That is what God is calling us to do. He has saved us, set us upon sure ground through faith in Christ and He is calling us to walk in the light of His word with a surrendered heart.
CIT: Love for God produces a love for His word.
CIS: God is calling us to the joy of a heart surrendered to His word.
Exposition
At the outset we do well to take careful note of some of the movement in the text. You’ll recall that last week we established the Psalmists intense desire to see the beauty of God’s worth that is displayed in God’s law, brought into the here and now of reality through righteous living.
The Psalmist has already made it clear that as God calls us to Himself and we are drawn into a love relationship with our creator and as we recognize His worth our hearts should naturally be inclined toward a desire not only to please God by living according to His ways but also to display God’s worth in our actions.
In the section of the Psalm –the second stanza of the poem – the writer continues on that theme, emphasizing the relationship with loving God and loving His ways.
In verse 9 the writer asks how a young man may keep his ways pure. The Psalmist can assume the desire for a young man to keep his ways pure because he has already established the blessedness of those who walk according to God’s ways.
It’s assumed in the text. Among the great tragedies of the lives of the youth of this present generation is that the blessed of living a chaste and upright life is no longer modeled or taught and as a result it is no longer assumed.
In our efforts to raise children and influent the lives of our grandchildren let us not grow slack in stating in plain terms the blessedness of living an upright life in relation to God. I can tell you from my own experience, having not grown up in Church but later having been introduced to the Gospel as a teenager.
I felt like I had been deceived to up to that point. I felt as though I had been the victim of a conspiracy to be withheld need to know information of the highest value! It was as though so many things that had not made sense up to that point in the world and in my life all of the sudden had a legitimate explanation.
Young person, it is a good question to ask “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?” (Psalms 119:9a NIV) But you’ve got to be willing, for yourself, to ask that question and to honestly evaluate the answer that God gives.
The culture detests purity. You won’t find it there. The world looks elsewhere.
The world in the modern context detests Christian notions of purity. They are outdated, rigid, restrictive, and judgmental to the modern mind.
Yet, God only commands those things in His word which are for His greatest glory and ultimately for our greatest good and benefit.
“How may persons guard against sin in their lives? The psalmist gave a straightforward answer: live according to God’s Word. This answer highlights the need to be a lifelong student of the Scriptures. We cannot live according to His Word without being personally acquainted with it. The Bible provides resources for resolving life’s dilemmas, making right decisions, and distinguishing true values from worldly banalities. Sin, Responsibility—Sin is not necessary.”
The world says that we must test everything and see for ourselves. The world is more concerned with what something means “to me” that what it actually means objectively. Our experience of reality wars against the modern worldview.
Here is a principal from the Scripture that is applicable for both young and old: living according to God’s law is not meant to restrict you from good things but to give you a proper understanding and a clear definition of what is in fact good!
Flower can only blossom in the ground. There are many people in our culture who see purity only as a way of missing out on all of the supposedly good stuff that life has to offer. There are those who disregard marriage because it is simply a way to handcuff one person to another as they deny themselves the pleasure of every enjoying intimacy with other people. But this is not how God has made us.
This year we planted several tulip bulbs in the ground at the parsonage. We put them into the ground in the fall and there they will rest quietly and in spring erupt as vibrant colors that we will be able to enjoy. So too, God has created everyone one of us to be planted in the security of His word and there in the fertile soil of His precepts to be nurtured and grow into what He intends us to be .
Purity is not abandoning the good life of the world. It is surrendering our hearts to the will of Him who has a plan and a purpose and a future and a hope for our lives. The world promises pleasure in sin and enslaves us to it!
The world offers the thrill of life and only brings death and destruction through wonton sin. God on the other hand offers abundant life in Christ and fulfillment in life with meaning and a lasting hope. God calls us into a love relationship. At the Cross Jesus opened the heart of God to us – literally and figuratively – His bleeding side.
The Psalmist says “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.” (Psalms 119:14 NIV84) Have you seen or been a person rejoicing over great riches? I’m not a gambler and I’m not advocating for gambling. I have done it only on the rarest of occasions. But I’ll tell you that I have seldom rejoiced more greatly the day that I was in Nevada a couple of years ago where I was to officiate the wedding of one of my sisters. We were all staying at a certain hotel and as I passed through the lobby of this hotel I thought what the heck I’ve got four dollars in my pocket, I’ll put it and one spin of the wheel and that will be it. You never saw greater rejoicing over riches when those 4 dollars turned immediately into $400 dollars. I cashed out. That’s the extent of my life as a gambler.
The Psalmist rejoices over God’s word as one rejoicing over great riches.
So how do we worship God with all of our heart? “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” (Psalms 119:15-16 NIV84) Clearly the Psalmist’s focus is that we must get invested into the Word of God but he is saying more than merely read your Bible.
Remember the movement in the text in this section is a constant love for God; desire to please Him, and a love for the Word. I have put your word in my heart – so that I might not sin against you. (v11) I delight in your decrees – so I will not neglect your decrees. The text is straightforward and balanced and the connection between a love for God and His word is plain.
It is one thing to appreciate God’s Word. It is another to delight in His Word. It remains still something altogether higher to love God’s Word. The Psalmist declares a longing on the order of the condition of love for keeping God’s Word.
What causes disaffection of the heart from God and His word? Coveting things of this life. A love for God’s word is inherent to the life of the believer. It is necessary for spiritual growth. It is possible to read God’s word and not grow.
Its possible to study the word of God and not be affected due to misunderstanding, a lack of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, a rebellious heart, or many other things. However, it isn’t possible to grow apart from the word of God. It won’t happen.
In relation to this very topic, the writer of Hebrews says that “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (5:12-14 NIV84)
What the writer of Psalm 119 is pointing to is the connection between our love for God and our surrender to God through His word. The stumbling block alluded to here is that most basic of snares in the Christian life; the desires of our heart.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”(Exodus 20:17 NET.)
We lose or never gain a love for God and a willingness to submit to God through His word because we covet the things of this life and by our actions we prove that we actually detest the things of God. We celebrate the riches of this world as a man does with great wealth rather than celebrating the wealth of knowing God!
Conclusion
Friend, covet only righteousness. Covet only connection with God. Covet only to please God. Find contentment in the Lord through His word. Then will we learn to be thankful because we will have a right view of what to be thankful for!
What is the Christian’s right response to the love that God has showered upon us in Jesus Christ? “Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.” (Psalms 119:12 NIV84) Saint Ambrose once wrote that “As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.”
God seeks us in and through His word and calling on us to seek Him there, in His word. The ABC’s of thanksgiving. We will never understand how to be thankful until we have a surrendered heart to God and a love for His word; wherein we learn the precepts of life; what to be thankful for. Amen.
