Psalm 119 - Aleph- V.1-8 Series

Aleph

October 12, 2011

Oak Park Baptist Church – Wednesday Bible Study Series

Psalm 119:1-8 (ESV) – 1 of 22

1Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! 2Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart,

“Blessed” what does blessed mean here in this passage. Well the context is fairly clear, in that those who seek after God’s law are those who will be blessed, but the detailed meaning of ‘blessed’ here in this passage is…

Those who are blessed are divinely favored and they experience a supernatural bliss and joy within their hearts and lives. We find this word, ‘blessed’ mentioned in both v.1-2

So if they are blessed… HOW is it they become blessed? Is that blessing something they have to earn OR does it have to do with something that they DO?

Well my answer to that is YES and NO… Here is what I mean… these people are ‘blessed’ because of something that they are obedient to do BUT this blessing is not something that they can ‘earn’ NOR can they ever say that because they are being obedient that they ‘deserve’ the blessing… it is bestowed at the favor of God and nothing we can DO will earn it for us… but we are BLESSED to receive it!

So to clarify… we are called to be obedient and it DOES take effort and submission on our part, but our obedience and submission do NOT guarantee the blessing… we receive the blessing because of God’s gracious love for us… not because of our actions… although our actions reflect our obedient heart! Does that make sense to you?

A question I forgot to put on our sheet tonight is… WHO can be blessed? Well these and the following verses reveal to us just WHO can be blessed, let’s look at these verses…

1Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! 2Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart,

‘blameless’ does NOT mean sinless, but refers to one who is FREE from blame, free from the guilt of sin. This refers to those who seek after the Lord.

In Christ, we are BLAMELESS before God because of the blood of Christ on the Cross of Calvary… this does not mean we are without sin, but it means we are not held to blame for our sin, but our sin has been covered and purged and we are free from the guilt and punishment of that sin!

These who’s way is blameless did not have Christ to pardon their sin, but they were judged by their faithfulness to living according to God’s law… their ‘way’ refers to their way of life…

The psalmist goes onto those who walk in the law of the Lord… these are those who are considered blameless… those who walk in the law of the Lord!

The psalmist says those who ‘walk’ in the Law of the Lord… means that they have made a willful choice in their hearts and minds to submit their lives in obedience to the Law of God. Their life path or way of life… their ‘walk’ is a voluntary submission to the Law of God… these are called blessed!

The psalmist also speaks of those ‘who keep His testimonies’ Once again we must focus on the verb here… keep… this verb denotes a lifestyle of claiming God’s law as their own… of maintaining God’s law in all they say and do… these people make God’s law a personal profession of faith in their lives… the seek to serve God by obedience to His law.

The psalmist also said… ‘those who seek Him with all their heart…’ The active verb here is the word ‘seek’ which is an active, continual, focused and determined action on the part of the believer to search after and learn the commandments of God. This verb implies a focused and determined action on the part of the believer.

The question for all of us here tonight is do WE seek God’s law/voice out like these people did…We are blameless because of Jesus Christ BUT are we walking with a focused determination to learn God’s law, are we living our lives in such a way that we are beyond reproach when it comes to righteous living… not because of our efforts, but because of what God is doing thru us in His plan!

3who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways!

Scripture goes to speak of others who will be blessed as well… those who do NO wrong… does this mean sinless people? Absolutely not, we know that humanity is incapable of living without sin ever since the curse in Genesis 3… but again the psalmist is speaking to those who are walking in His ways… when we seek to please Him.