James Shepherd

My name is James, the student minister here at St. Paul's.

Welcome to you.

If you're a guest of us here this morning,

look forward to catching you after this service.

Before we start, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you so much that in your word you reveal to us the way of salvation

and how we ought to live now as we look forward to eternity.

We pray, Lord, as we hear it this morning, that you would speak to us,

that we would have our hearts and our minds and our ears open to what you have to say

and that we would leave here changed, encouraged, rebuked,

and that we would leave here desiring to follow you always.

We pray this in your son's name. Amen.

We live and exist in the world that constantly demands our attention.

Wherever we go, we are bombarded by billboards, advertising everywhere,

posters, TV commercials, radio commercials, advertising on the web.

We can't go anywhere without the world wanting our attention,

trying to sell us something, trying to inform us of something

that we should be taking or listening to.

But the world demands more than just our attention.

The world demands our love.

The world demands our affection.

And this can be particularly seen in the advertising industry.

Companies work with advertisers to sell their product,

not merely to just give us what we need,

but to help us love their products.

Companies want our affection.

And their strategy totally works.

I mean, how many times have you heard your friends say

or yourself say these things?

Look at my new iPhone.

Isn't it beautiful?

I love it.

Oh, I love my new car.

It's so cute.

I named it this or that.

How many people have you named your car?

Who names their cars?

Yeah, guilty, guilty.

See, you fall into their strategy.

Look at how beautiful these plants are.

Oh, I love them.

I love how they look in the garden.

I can't wait to see them blossom.

Oh, my goodness, these shorts, they're so cute.

I love them.

I'm not going to buy them, no matter how expensive they are.

Do you notice something here?

All these things that captivate our affection

are inanimate objects.

They don't return the affection at all.

And we attribute human traits to otherwise things

that cannot love us in return.

And this is no accident.

This is exactly what advertisers and companies want.

They want to make their products

more than just the necessities of life.

They want to make us love them.

They want us to make these products

the objects of our affection.

And you see, advertisers have not come across this by accident.

It's not something they've stumbled across.

They have tapped into something

that is very fundamental to our humanity,

which is this,

our innate desire to love and worship something.

Companies have used this and exploited it

in order to make us love and desire their products,

which is why we apply human qualities and traits

to things that are otherwise inanimate.

The world is constantly vying for our attention,

promising to be everything we hope and dreamed of,

tapping into our innate desire to worship

and to love something,

and demanding that it be the owner of our affection.

And as Christians, it can be tremendously hard

to keep our attention and our affection on Christ

and offer Him our affection alone.

In a world demanding it so much

and promising so much in return,

it can be very hard to stay focused on the Word.

And that is why passages such as Psalm 119

are very helpful for us.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Book of Psalms,

but also the longest chapter in the whole Bible.

And it's a psalm entirely dedicated to

and devoted to the subject of God's Word,

expressing the psalmist's delight and joy,

affection for the Word of God.

And it works similar to the way of advertising.

As the psalmist expresses his own delight and joy

in God's Word,

he calls his readers, us here this morning,

to have the same joy,

to have the same delight,

to have the same affection for the Word of God.

The psalmist is full of praise for his Word.

Listen to some examples here.

Verse 20,

My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.

Verse 30,

I have chosen the way of faithfulness.

I have set my heart on your laws.

Verse 43,

Never take your word of truth from my mouth,

for I have put my hope in your laws.

Verse 47,

For I delight in your commands because I love them.

Verse 81,

My soul faints with longing for your salvation,

but I have put my hope in your word.

Verse 92,

If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget your precepts,

for by them ye have preserved my life.

Verse 97,

Oh, how I love your law.

I meditate on it all day long.

Verse 119,

All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,

Therefore I love your statutes.

My flesh trembles in fear of you.

I stand in awe of your laws.

Verse 129,

Your statutes are wonderful.

Therefore I obey them.

Can you hear the psalmist's delight and affection he has for God's word?

His laws, his decrees, statutes, promises, and rules.

He is totally enamored by the word of God.

It's the owner of his affection.

This psalm is a celebration of God's gracious revelation to us in his word.

And so as the psalmist writes of his own affection and love for the word,

he wants to remind us who follow and love God,

that the true object of our affection should be the word and nothing else.

In a world that would demand otherwise,

the psalmist wants to redirect our attention and our affection

from temporary, worthless things in this world

to the eternal, invaluable, incomprehensible, sometimes word of God.

The word that leads us into the presence and knowledge of God himself.

His love and affection and adoration for the word

is only surpassed by his own love for God himself.

You see, his affection for the word is fueled by the fact

that it's the word of God that allows him into the presence of God.

And that is why the word of God is the proper and rightful owner of his affection.

There are two big things that come out of this psalm

that remind us of why the word of God ought to be the owner of our affection

and above all else.

Firstly, because his word, or by his word, we receive salvation.

Now if you note back to some of the examples before,

much of the psalmist's affection for the word of God

stems from its role in salvation.

The psalmist puts his hope in the word of God for salvation.

He says without it, he would have perished in his affliction.

In verse 81, the psalmist is longing for salvation.

He feels death is at his door,

but he draws comfort from the word of God

and looks forward to the salvation that is promised in his word.

Now it's really important to realize here that the psalmist

and his knowledge of salvation does not come from the gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or any document in the New Testament.

The psalmist has in mind here the books of the law,

the Torah, and the prophets.

Books like Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 and 2 Samuel,

1 and 2 Kings, and the minor prophets.

He writes with these books in mind.

With these books in mind, he talks about how God is his salvation,

how the word is the means of salvation.

Many of us here as Christians struggle at times to read the Old Testament,

what the psalmist calls the law.

And in fact, why would we read the Old Testament?

Aren't we all about the New Testament these days?

Aren't we all about the gospels?

Why on earth would we read something called the Old Testament,

and we have what's called the New Testament?

We might feel that way about the law,

but the psalmist certainly does not.

Whilst we might see it as something that's too hard to understand or comprehend,

not relevant for us here today as Christians,

the psalmist sees the whole law,

every single word written in it,

every word God has spoken in it,

as necessary for salvation.

And the thing is,

the New Testament also agrees with that.

In Paul's second letter, Timothy says this in chapter 3,

The sacred writings Paul mentions here are not the gospels.

They are the books of the law and the prophets.

The same writings our psalmist 119 refers to.

Paul doesn't tell Timothy to forget what he grew up learning

and just focus on the gospels themselves.

But contrary to that, he says to remember them.

For by them he learnt about a God who was holy,

a God who was faithful to his people,

a God who had promises to save them.

And in those things that he learnt,

he grew in his knowledge of his salvation

that would come through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul did not see the law of God as something

that is no longer required,

but something that is integral for knowing

and understanding where salvation comes from.

In the story of the travels of Emmaus Road,

we see how the law and the prophets

was necessary for the people who Jesus travelled with

in understanding their salvation as well.

Notice that their eyes were kept

from seeing that it was Jesus

until Jesus interpreted Moses,

okay, the law,

and the prophets and everything

in scripture concerning himself.

It wasn't until Jesus explained from all of scripture

that these men understood where salvation had come from.

It was the opening and the explaining of God's word

from beginning to end

that caused their hearts to burn

with joy,

with excitement within them.

And at that point,

when they realised who this man was,

that it was him

who the scriptures had talked about,

that it was Jesus,

the one who had come to save them.

Our view of the Old Testament

may be that it's boring,

hard to understand,

and irrelevant for us.

But to the psalmist

and to the authors of the New Testament,

it is key to understanding our salvation.

Indeed, it's more than just key

to understanding our salvation,

but its entire purpose,

from Genesis to Revelation,

is to help us understand

and make us wise for our salvation.

Dare I say it,

the four gospels on their own

are not enough

to help us

to understand our salvation.

If they were,

then the whole counsel of God

would only be those four gospels.

But what we have

here in the word here

is always

and completely necessary

for our salvation.

Even the hard bits.

When we see God's word,

all of it,

with the purpose

of making us wise

for our salvation,

will not our affection

and love for it grow?

Will not our desire

to read it grow?

Will not we be continually

thankful to God

and worship Him

for His gracious revelation to us?

We struggle to read Scripture

because we easily forget

what its purpose is.

we get too bogged down

by how difficult

it can be to understand it

and then too easily distracted

by worldly things

that promise to be

so much more

a supplement form

of our salvation.

But this is why

we have Psalm 119.

This is why the psalmist

spends 176 verses

talking about his affection

for God,

that we might not lose sight

of its purpose,

that it makes us wise

for our salvation.

All of God's word

is worthy of our affection

and indeed,

it is the rightful owner

of our affection

above all else

because it is the only thing

in our life

that can save us.

The word of God

deserves our affection

above all the things

because it leads us

and guides us

to the greatest treasure

we will ever have in life,

the one who saves.

The psalmist

shows his affection

for God's word

because it's the very thing

that saves.

But his worship of God

for his word

extends beyond that.

For the psalmist,

he sees that it's worthy

of his affection

not because it just saves him

for eternity,

but also because

it helps him

to persevere

in this life now.

And that's the second big thing

we see in this psalm

and particularly

in this passage.

Here in our passage,

the psalmist prays

that he would keep

God's word,

that he would receive

understanding,

that he would observe it

for his whole heart,

that it would keep him

from leading a life

of selfish gain,

that it would keep him

from leading a life

looking at worthless things

in order

that he might

have life

in the ways

of God

according to his word.

He doesn't see

disobedience

to God's word

as only an obligation,

but the very means

of his perseverance.

The psalmist throughout

repeatedly credits

God's word,

specifically his law

and statutes,

as the very means

that sustain him

and help him

to persevere in life.

Verse 54,

your statutes

have been my songs

in the house

of my soul journey.

I remember your name

in the night,

O Lord,

and keep your Lord.

The blessing,

this blessing

has fallen to me

that I have kept

your precepts.

In verse 92 again,

if your law

had not been my delight,

I would have perished

in my affliction.

I will never forget

your precepts

for by them

you have preserved

my life.

The psalmist

is very affectionate

about God's law

because of how

he sees it

help him

to persevere

and sustain him

through the tough times.

Its purpose,

other than pointing

towards our salvation

in Jesus,

is to provide

a helpful corrective,

to help us

keep our lives

on track,

that we might

live lives well

in a world

that is otherwise

corrupt and broken.

The law

and the prophets

are gifts

of God's grace

for our salvation

and for our perseverance

in this life

right now.

They are not

a burden

for us

to try and avoid,

but they are also

not the means

of our salvation.

It points

to where our salvation

comes from

in Jesus

and helps us

to persevere

in this life

knowing full well

that we are

under grace,

looking forward

to enjoying

the fullness

of our salvation

to come.

The whole

counsel

of God's

word,

the Old and New Testament,

ultimately exists

for our benefit.

The way

of salvation

might be made

known to us

and we might

have a helpful

guide throughout

our life

to help us

persevere

during the tough times.

This is why

the psalmist

is so captivated

and so affectionate

about God's word.

He sees

the eternal value

of what God

is trying to achieve

through his word.

He sees that

God's word

is his

gracious

self-revelation

for us,

for our benefit.

He sees that

by God's word

we can enjoy

a relationship

with him.

For the psalmist

it is something,

his word,

that he falls back on

no matter how dark

and horrible

life can be,

no matter how much

pain or suffering

he might endure,

no matter how scared

and hopeless

and fearful he is,

he can trust

in the all-powerful

word of God.

Know that it's

sufficient and true.

Know that it will

never fail

or fade away.

And this is why

the psalmist

urges us

to make God's word

the object

of our affection.

And yet,

we find ourselves

too easily

pleased by other things.

we find our affection

is too easily won

by worldly things.

The latest

TV shows,

work,

study,

sleeping in,

gardening,

holidaying,

clothes,

cars.

These things,

the psalmist would say,

if they steal our affection

away from God's word,

are worthless things.

The world

wants our attention,

the world

wants

our affection,

and it's a battle

to keep God's word

as the object

of our affection,

the center

of our life.

And no doubt,

the psalmist

realizes this,

which is why he prays,

incline my heart

to your testimonies

and not to selfish gain.

Turn my eyes

from looking at

worthless things.

He knows the struggle

that we have

in life,

and he himself

prays that he would

continue to always

keep God's word

at the center.

What the world

has to offer

can look so enticing

and so beautiful

at times,

and it can make

God's word

seem bland

and boring

and too hard,

which is why,

again,

the psalmist prays,

turn away the reproach

that I dread,

for your rules

are good.

He wants us to know,

and he wants himself

to always know

that no matter

how hard it can be

to obey God's word,

no matter how hard

it can be to read

God's word,

it is always good

because God himself

is good.

In a world

constantly fighting

for our affection,

challenging us

to make material

and temporary things

the object

of our affection,

Psalm 119

comes to our aid

to remind us

of the eternal

and beautiful word

of God

that makes known

the way of salvation

and the very instrument

of our perseverance

in this life,

that all the things

that would have

our affection

are insufficient

since they cannot

provide us

what we need,

nor a relationship

with the one

who the word reveals.

The question is,

is it the object

of your affection?

Is the word of God

the object

and the owner

of your affection?

I know this is

difficult to answer.

I'm at Bible college

and the irony is

that I've never found

it harder in my life

to love God's word

except for the last

two years.

It has been really hard

to make God's word

at the centre

of my life

and the owner

of my affection.

And I do not wish

this morning

to condemn anyone

here who struggles

to read God's word

in the Old Testament.

I'd only be condemning

myself also

if I did that.

I only wish

to implore you

as I'm imploring

myself right now

as the psalmist

implores us here

in Psalm 119

to remember

what God's word

is and does for us.

That it makes known

the way of salvation

that God loves us

and cares for us

and in Christ Jesus

has died for us

and that it's there

as a helpful guide

to persevere

in this life

for the life to come.

For anyone

who is having

a dry season

in the word

that it struggled

to read

let us not give up

reading it.

We have Psalm 119

to remind us

to keep going

and persevere

as we read it

knowing what it's

achieving for us.

And so this morning

we have a choice.

Will we love

the word of God

like the psalmist does?

Will we see

what it does for us

in showing us

the way of salvation

and enabling us

to persevere

in this life

and therefore

make it

the rightful owner

of our affection?

Or

will we

be blinded

by worthless things

temporary things

in our life

taking

that steal

our affection

and take it away

from God's word

and in the end

take it away

possibly

our salvation

and the means

of our perseverance?

Which will it be?

So

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I