INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• 2015! WELCOME! I am excited for the New Year!
• With a New Year comes excitement; we have habits to break and weight to lose as well as bank accounts to fill.
• The New Year brings new possibilities, this is one of the reasons we celebrate the ushering in of the New Year.
• Maybe this will be the year all goes right. The gyms will be filled (for a few weeks) and we will eat better (for a few meals).
• Resolutions are made with sincere hearts only to be later left on the dust pile of the history of broken resolutions.
• Why do we struggle making the changes we should make in life?
• Today we will embark on a journey through the subject of Building A New You. We will begin our journey by examining the principle of having Eyes That Are Open.
• One of the keys to being able to walk down the path of change involved having eyes that are open; however, not simple open, but eyes that are open to being able to see the issues one deals with which holds them back, or inhibits one’s ability to build a new you.
• We will begin or trek into building a new you in Psalm 119. This is a great Psalm and is the longest of the Psalms coming in with a whopping 176 verses. WE WILL BE HERE FOR A WHILE TODAY! ☺
• Actually we will examine one of the eight verse segments, 17-24.
• Psalm 119 is interesting since it is an ACROSTIC Psalm.
• The eight verse sections or stanzas are arranged to the order of the twenty-two letter Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter to form the acrostic.
• This Psalm is written to extol the virtue of treasuring God’s Word.
• The Psalmist uses eight words to represent God’s Law over 153 times in the 176 verses.
• In our passage the Psalmist will promote the thought that The Word of the Lord is a comfort in times of difficulty and distress for the godly.
• Let’s begin by turning to Psalm 119:17-20
• SLIDE #2
• Psalm 119:17–20 (HCSB) 17 Deal generously with Your servant so that I might live; then I will keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction. 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. 20 I am continually overcome with longing for Your judgments.
• SLIDE #1
• The first purpose for one having eyes that are open is
SERMON
I. Eyes that are open to see what is important in life. (17-20)
• The Psalmist asks God to deal with him generously so the he would live.
• The Psalmist is in the midst of some trials and tribulations, which were causing him a great deal of trouble so he turns to God.
• He calls himself God’s servant denoting a close relationship between the writer and God. The phrase shows the writer to be both submissive and loyal to God.
• The desire of the writer is to keep God’s Word even in the midst of difficult times.
• The writer is pleading with God to allow Him to get through the difficulties so that he can continue to keep God’s Word.
• The Psalmist’s eyes are open to see what is truly important in life.
• His eyes are not only open, but they see what is before him. He is not blinded by the present troubles he is beset by; but rather, he knows keeping God’s Word is the purpose for his life.
• How many times in life do we have our eyes open, yet do not see?
• Everyone else around us can see the train coming down the tracks but we can’t.
• Not too long before we moved to Sierra Vista, I was driving my Mazda Pick-Up truck down a highway in Illinois. It was a clear day; I was running the speed limit. There was not a lot of traffic on the road.
• I was wide-awake. I saw a delivery truck ahead of me. There were no side roads, no stop lights or signs ahead.
• Next thing I know I am slamming on my brakes and I slide into the back of the delivery truck at a high enough speed to total out my beloved truck.
• I saw the truck, my eyes were open, and so what happened? The truck was stopped in the middle of the highway because a semi ahead of him had stopped thinking he was going to hit the overpass with his semi.
• When it registered in my head the delivery truck was stopped, it was too late for my poor little truck.
• I saw the delivery truck; however, it being stopped in the middle of the road did not fit what I was looking for.
• I bet if Robyn were with me she would seen and perceived what I did not see.
• Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction
• The writer pleads with God in verse 18 to open his eyes. The word to open means to make naked, to uncover, to disclose or reveal.
• Here it is the same as “uncover;” that is, take away from the eyes what is before them to prevent clear vision.
• God’s Word was of such importance to the Psalmist that he wanted to catch the full vision and extent of the meaning of God’s Word in his life.
• In verse 20 the Psalmist proclaims that he is continually overcome.
• This means his soul was crushed which means it was to break in pieces by scraping, rubbing, or grating.
• The idea would seem to be, not that he was crushed as by a single blow, but that his soul—his strength—was worn away by little and little.
• The desire to know more of the commands of God acted continually on him, exhausting his strength, and overcoming him. Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament.
• He wanted MORE!
• He saw God’s Word as something beautiful and exciting, God’s Word was not a bunch of religious rules to the Psalmist, but rather something beautiful to behold!
• SLIDE #4
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 (HCSB) 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
• In verses 19-20 we can see the passion the Psalmist has for the Word and why He needs God to assist him in seeing God’s Word in high definition!
• 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. 20 I am continually overcome with longing for Your judgments.
• You can see the passion for God’s Word dripping from the pen of the Psalmist.
• Being able to see what is important in life will help us to build a new you.
• My father used to smoke, he smoked for years and he tried several times to quit.
• It was not until after his brother had a heart attack that y father was able to see what was important.
• Seeing what is important in life will inspire us to be able to make the changes we need to make in life!
• We need our eyes open so that we can see what is important in life.
• Let’s turn to verses 21-23 so that we can see another essential reason to have eyes that are open.
• SLIDE #5
• Psalm 119:21–23 (HCSB) 21 You rebuke the proud, the ones under a curse, who wander from Your commands. 22 Take insult and contempt away from me, for I have kept Your decrees. 23 Though princes sit together speaking against me, Your servant will think about Your statutes;
• SLIDE #6
II. Eyes that are open to see the folly of ignoring God. (21-23)
• The writes understands something that many people never quite figure out, the folly of ignoring God.
• It is getting to be more popular in our culture to ignore God, mock God and make fun of people who believe in God.
• For some reason we seem to have devolved to the point where we think we do not need God or that God does not exist.
• SLIDE #7
• Psalm 14:1 (HCSB) 1 The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.
• It is sad to say there are many fools who exist today.
• Some think they have to have ALL the answers before they will even acknowledge the existence of God, they will diligently search for any inconsistency they can find to excuse themselves from acknowledging God’s very existence, yet they will gloss over the inconsistencies of their own life.
• Those who mock God, who ignore God will not go unnoticed by God.
• There were people who were attacking the writer because of his commitment to God. It appears as though some leaders high on the totem pole were persecuting the Psalmist.
• The Psalmist was undeterred in his devotion to God’s Word. Even if the highest officials were against the Psalmist, The Psalmist stayed focused on God’s statutes!
• If we are going to be able to build a new you, on what will our new you be centered?
• Ignoring God is the ultimate of folly. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his soul? MARK 8:36, Matthew 16:26.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 (HCSB) 14 But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
• Opposition was not going to stop the writer because his eyes were open to see the folly of ignoring God.
• Let’s look at a final thought found in verse 24
• SLIDE #9
• Psalm 119:24 (HCSB) 24 Your decrees are my delight and my counselors.
• SLIDE #10
III. Eyes that are open to see the source of true joy. (24)
• Will your eyes be open to see were the true source of joy flows?
• In the center of persecution, trials, tribulations, the Psalmist was not going to be thrown off track by circumstances because his eyes were open to see where the true source of joy emanated from!
• I keep thinking of those young children the terrorist decapitated, all the kids had to do was renounce Jesus and follow Islam.
• They could not do it.
• When followers were leaving Jesus in droves because they did not understand what He was teaching, Jesus looked at His disciples and asked if they were leaving with the crowds.
• SLIDE #11
• John 6:68 (HCSB) Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life.
CONCLUSION
• Now we are into the New Year, let’s not focus on all the past failures as we tried to make a new you, but rather let’s build our new you by having eyes that are open to see what we need to do and how to get there,
• Jesus wants to create in you a new heart, He wants to bury the old self with its’ sins and make you a new creation it Him.
• Would it not be nice to begin the New Year with a fresh clean slate?
• Through Jesus what was impossible is POSSIBLE!
