Big Psalm, Important Message | Psalm 119:105-112 | Ken Owens

Thank you to those who have led us in worship today.

You know, the psalmist says, Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.

And really every Sunday I feel like that at Spring Valley Baptist Church as I come to worship.

I'd rather be here with God's people, worshiping Him, hearing from the Lord, celebrating what He's doing, getting His direction.

I'd rather be here than anywhere else.

I'm grateful you're here today as well.

You know, have you ever noticed how the big, the grand, the majestic just seemed to capture our attention?

Last year, Maria and I were able to visit the Grand Tetons.

We were driving along the roads there in Wyoming.

The scenery was beautiful all around us, but then we made a bend in the road and looked out over to the left, and there they were in all of their majesty.

Out displaying God's handiwork.

Those jagged mountains peeking high into the sky from the valley below.

I mean, they're absolutely breathtaking.

I highly recommend you going there at some point if you can.

It was unbelievable just how we were drawn to the majesty, the grandeur of those mountains.

We could not keep our eyes from looking at them.

Isn't it interesting how God designs things in these big, grand ways, and we just are captivated and are drawn to them.

That came to me this past summer as well.

I was with a group of our students at Kid Salt at Charleston Southern University.

We were there in this sea of third, fourth, and fifth graders, there in the cafeteria.

And then all of a sudden, one of the basketball players at Charleston Southern walks in.

A tall basketball player, by the way.

He was seven feet four inches tall.

And as he walked in, we couldn't help but turn and look.

The kids, fascinated looking, wanting pictures made.

I don't think he was seeking the attention.

He really didn't want the attention.

But it was just wired into us that something that extraordinary, that grand, it's impossible to ignore it.

You know, I believe that God intended a certain psalm in his word to stand out.

To draw and to capture our attention to it and to its message in much the same way.

This morning I want us to look at, and I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 119.

If you've got a printed copy, take that printed copy.

If you have the app on your phone, look at the app on your phone.

There's a pew, a Bible in the pew in front of you.

You can turn to page 512 for the beginning of that psalm.

Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is big.

It's massive and grand in the scriptures.

In fact, it is the longest of the 150 Psalms that we have recorded in Scripture.

It's actually the longest chapter in all of the Bible.

At 176 verses, if it were a book of the Bible, it would be bigger than 28 of the 66 books of the Bible.

Just by its sheer size, the volume of its content, it stands out.

And I believe God intended for it to stand out to draw our attention to its message.

But when you stop and you really look through, and you can thumb through the pages that you'll have to thumb through as you look at Psalm 119, as you stop and you look, you discover that Psalm 119 is not just large or big in size, it is magnificent and it is grand in its design as well.

In fact, it's considered one of the literary masterpieces of all of Scripture.

The Psalm is an alphabetical acrostic poem.

It has 22 sections or stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

And each section contains eight verses.

And every verse in that section begins with the same Hebrew letter.

So if you're looking at your copy of God's word, you likely see that Hebrew letter on the top of every one of those sections, those 22 sections.

It's incredible in the way in which it is intentionally and purposefully designed.

The greatness, the grandeur of how it was put together to communicate again a message that I believe God wants his people to take seriously and to see.

Yet the greatness of Psalm 119 is not found primarily in its massive link, though that is impressive and it draws us to it.

It's not in its literary structure or design, though that is a work of art, and it does draw our attention to it.

The greatness of Psalm 119, the greatness we will focus on today, is not found in those.

It is found in the message that God is conveying through Psalm 119.

And what is that message?

Well, Psalm 119 is actually a long, lengthy, continuous conversation, a dialogue.

It might even be considered a prayer between the psalmists.

We're not sure exactly who that psalmist is, but between the psalmist and God himself.

And in that conversation, there are a lot of things that are covered, as many of our prayers are with God.

But throughout that long and lengthy conversation with God, there is one subject, one theme that keeps occurring over and over throughout that conversation.

Again, it's very intentional.

It's purposeful to focus on one particular thing that I believe God wants to be lifted up to his people.

Well, what is that one thing, that one message that is lifted up over and over in this, the longest psalm, the longest chapter of the Bible, beautifully designed.

What is that message?

It's this the value, the importance, and the sufficiency of one thing.

God's word.

In fact, if you look at the Psalm, at least 171 of the 176 verses mention scripture.

It contains a name or a synonym for scripture.

You might see it in Psalm 119 listed like this: God's law, his testimonies, his precepts, his statutes, his commandments, his rules, his promises.

All of those are slightly different in application, but they're all talking about how God is communicating to his people.

He is revealing himself, his will, his design, his wisdom to us through Holy Scripture, His Word.

And the psalmist is captivated.

He's captivated by the gift, the magnificent gift of God's word for his life.

In fact, as you read through that long psalm, you'll see over and over and over how the psalmist says that God's word is enough.

That God's word is sufficient, that God gives us his word so that we can live the life that he's intended and designed for us, so that we can navigate through the difficulties and challenges of life, so that we can know God Himself.

And so, in your outline this morning, I want you to write in that central message of Psalm 119.

God's word is completely sufficient.

Exactly what we need for a blessed and a meaningful life with God and with others.

As we finish up our summer in the Psalms, God just drew me.

He kept drawing me to Psalm 119.

Maybe it is the size of that psalm, maybe it is the way it's beautifully designed, but ultimately God just kept impressing upon me the message that is communicated through the psalmist about God and his word in Psalm 119.

And I couldn't help but believe for myself, but also for our church, that we need to recognize, we need to see, we need to embrace the treasure, the gift that God has given to us in his word.

That it is all that we need to know him, it is all that we need to navigate through life, it is what he has provided for us.

It is sufficient for life and blessing in this world.

And we need to recognize what he graciously does provide for us through his word.

Because God has given this word to us for us.

Out of his great love, he has desired to communicate and to share with us his heart, his will, his ways, so that we can be connected to him and have the gift of abundant full life with him through his word.

And this morning I believe there's no better place for us to see that, to focus on that than in this particular passage that we heard read from earlier.

In Psalm 119, beginning in verse 105.

I want to first say that I believe this passage shows us very clearly that through his word God provides direction for life.

So what is it that God's word does for us?

Why has he given it to us?

Well, Psalm 119, beginning in verse 105, says it very clearly.

I've sworn an oath and confirmed it to keep your righteous rules.

Psalm 119, verse 105, is a well-known, familiar verse to many of us.

Psalms 119:105

If you grew up in the church as I did, you may have learned that verse in the King James Version.

Thy word, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

If you grew up in the 80s as I did, you may have sung that verse along with Amy Grant as she was singing that song.

Some of you may have it on a bookmark.

You may have it on a coffee mug or a sign.

You may have seen it in Hobby Lobby displayed in one of their displays.

It's a familiar verse to many of us.

But we do not need to let that familiarity alter the significant truth that is found in this verse.

But God, in his love, in his kindness, has provided the word, his word, to light our way in this world.

You know, when do you need light?

When do you need light?

Don't you need light when there is darkness?

Or some level of darkness so that you can see?

I don't know if uh if you've been in complete darkness lately, but God kind of drove the importance of light and darkness home to me recently.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of being in Cuba working with some of our Baptists, mission, and churches that are there on mission.

We were staying at the Baptist Seminary that operates there in Havana, Cuba.

Florida Baptists have helped develop some rooms there at the seminary for guests and people to stay in.

I was in one of those rooms and it was getting late, getting ready for bed.

I was in my room standing near a dresser, and as often happens today in Cuba, all of a sudden the power went out.

And in that particular room there were no windows.

And there I stood.

I stood in the middle of that room.

And I can't really describe it completely, but it was incredibly unsettling.

I became uncertain as to what to do.

Like, can I take a step or which direction should I take a step?

Created a good bit of anxiety for me in that moment.

Finally began to kind of make my way to where I thought that bed would be, slowly putting my hand down and then finding it.

You know, darkness.

Or even some level of darkness.

It might be cloudiness.

In our lives, it creates a sense of uncertainty and anxiety.

And I believe that that's what happens with a lot of us in this life today.

We feel like we're kind of walking through life with a lot of darkness and uncertainty, creating anxiety.

We're trying to navigate through through this life in this world with big questions, and we just don't see the light of how to answer those questions.

Questions like, how do I make the right decisions in this situation?

How do I build a strong marriage and family?

How do I handle my finances?

How do I respond when I've been hurt or been mistreated?

How do I know which religion to follow?

A lot of big questions.

There's a lot of darkness or cloudiness as we face some of those in the future.

But there is no lack of voices trying to answer those questions.

Trying to provide some sense of what they would call the light.

Culture says one thing.

Social media influencers says another.

Political pundits, religious leaders, they all have their answers.

But in the middle of all of that noise, all of the noise that we have in our world today, we need to hear and to be reminded of the truth in Psalm 119, 105.

God's word.

God's word is the light that shines the way.

It's his truth, his wisdom, his direction, it's his knowledge that we need for the living of our lives.

And God's word answers all of those questions for us and even more.

It shines the light.

And notice how he describes the light of the word in this particular passage.

He says, it's a lamp to my feet.

Now, in the time that this passage was written, the people would have a small clay lamp.

It would pretty much fit in the palm of your hand.

It would be filled with olive oil.

And they would light that olive oil, and the flame would come out just out at the top, a little spout there at the top.

It was just enough light to light the next step.

It didn't light up everything out ahead.

But it did give what was needed right in front of you so that you would not stumble.

You could see to walk and to navigate.

And that is the truth of God's word for us.

As a reminder to you and a reminder to me, God's word daily informs us, helps us to take that next step.

Sometimes it's when a devotion comes into your life that morning and you're in that encounter with a coworker and you're wondering how to respond to them.

How do you deal with this person?

And then all of a sudden the word speaks to you.

And you know how to respond, not with a harsh word, but a loving word.

Or maybe you're going through a very, very difficult time, struggling with suffering or pain in your life, and that day, that moment, God brings you a word from his word that says that he is with you.

He'll provide for you.

And you're able to take that next step of faith and trust that day to see his work in your life.

But also he says that it's the light to my path.

His word guides our steps, but it also illuminates the path, the direction of our lives.

I mean, you think about it, God's word is his word, his actual word to us.

And if he is the designer, the maker of our lives, then he is the one who can give us the instruction.

This is his instruction manual for how we're to know him and how we're to live his design for our lives.

So if we're going to maximize, if we're going to live up to the potential of what we've been created to be, God's given us that design right here in his word.

He's given us guardrails, things to avoid that would keep us from being what God's created us to be, the blessing of life that he's providing.

But also he's providing for us the way, the path in which to walk, his ways, filled with righteousness and goodness and hope.

He's providing us that path, that direction for all of life.

And ultimately, ultimately, his word.

His word shines the greatest light when it shines the light on the light of the world.

When it connects us to the Word of God, Jesus Christ Himself.

His word communicates to us how we have a problem that needs to be solved if we're going to experience full and abundant life, and that problem is called sin.

His word tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All of us are in that condition, but his word also communicates that the wages of that sin is death.

But the free gift of God, the free gift of God is eternal life, connection eternally with God through Jesus Christ Himself.

And his word communicates that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so, his word, it lights our path, but it also helps us be connected to the light of the world, the one who will give us abundant, meaningful, and eternal life.

And his name is Jesus.

His word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

But we, like the psalmist understood, need to walk in the light of God's word.

Look at verse 106.

I have sworn an oath and confirmed it to keep your righteous rules.

The psalmist here isn't just simply appreciating God's word.

He doesn't just admire the light that he sees from the word.

He commits himself to obey and to do the word.

To live what he is learning and seeing and understanding.

You know, a person can have the brightest flashlight in the world, to be out on a trail, ready to use that flashlight, have it in hand, darkness all around.

But if you do not turn on that flashlight, if you do not put it to use, you will still be walking in darkness.

You know, we can have ten Bibles at our house on a shelf.

We can come to Bible studies, we can come to worship, we can sing songs every week.

We can hear the word, but if we are not doing and obeying the word that God has given us, then we are missing out on the source of life that He's provided for us and the source of direction that He's given us.

That's why James in James chapter 1, verse 22, says, But be doers of the word and not hear.

James 1:22

Only, deceiving yourselves.

Be doers of the word.

God gives us his word to light the path, but we must follow the light and obey his word.

I love this folk expression that I came across years ago.

I believe there's so much truth in it.

It says a Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't.

Someone who is digging into their word, learning from their word, doing the word, that person is experiencing the abundance of life.

The direction that God has given, the wisdom that he's providing.

And that person has the life that he is providing for them.

So let me ask you a question this morning, questions that I'm asking myself as well.

What or who is guiding your life right now?

What's the voices?

What are the voices that you're listening to?

Who's shaping your decisions?

Who's guiding your walk?

Who's providing light for your path?

God said in his word that he has provided the light.

He will light our steps in our path through his word.

Are we willing to walk in that light?

The second thing that he shows us in this passage that he provides through his word is that through his word, God provides hope during difficult times.

Psalm 119, 107 through verse 110.

I am severely afflicted.

Give me life, O Lord, according to your word.

Accept my free will offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.

I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.

The wicked have laid snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.

As we come to verse 107, the atmosphere, the feeling of the psalm changes.

The psalmist moves from talking about the beauty and the blessing of God's provision and leadership through the word and the light of the word to talking about suffering.

Talking about affliction.

Notice there, in verse 107, I'm severely afflicted.

Verse 109, I hold my life tenuously in my own hands.

In verse 110, the wicked have laid snare for me.

The psalmist isn't sitting in a quiet study at a coffee shop sitting on a cappuccino.

He's not writing these grand theological reflections about what the Bible is.

He's writing in the middle of the battleground of life.

He's writing from a place where many of us are.

He speaks of affliction, of suffering, of enemies, of traps.

This is real life.

Perhaps you've walked into this room today.

Walking right out of that battlefield.

Carrying burdens, feeling struggles that nobody else knows about.

Maybe today you came in and you smiled, you greeted people, you sang the songs, but inside you are really hurting.

You're struggling.

And that happens a lot in a broken world.

Sin brings so much brokenness all throughout every fabric of our world.

And so you've heard it before, but I think it's so true.

We're either coming out of suffering, we're in suffering, or we're going to be in suffering.

That's where the psalmist is in this particular passage.

But what's remarkable is not that the psalmist is facing affliction, that he's going through suffering.

We are all there.

What's remarkable about the psalmist is where he turns in the middle of his suffering.

Instead of turning away from God, like some of us do, he is turning toward God and his word.

He is reaching out to the one who can provide hope, who can provide healing, who can be with him throughout that suffering and that affliction.

He runs to God's word.

Listen to what he says in the verses there in verse 107, 109, and 110.

This is the second half of those verses we read.

Give me life according to your word, he says.

Oh Lord, teach me your rules.

I do not forget your law.

I do not stray from your precepts.

Again, all of those are words talking about God's word, his communication with him.

And he is providing what the psalmist needs.

His word is sufficient for him in those moments.

His circumstances, his struggles, they're uncertain.

But God's promises, God's truth and his word, they are not uncertain.

In fact, they endure forever.

Listen to Isaiah 40, verse 8.

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Forever.

His truth, his wisdom, it stands not just then, not just now, but also in the future.

It stands forever.

And I tell you, when you're going through hard times and hardships, it's like being a boat that is on the stormy seas.

What you need at that moment is a strong and a secure anchor, an anchor to hold during the storms and the afflictions.

And God promises.

God promises that if you're walking through that, this is the anchor.

This is the one He's given you to found your life upon as you're walking through the turmoil, the challenges of life.

Some things change, hard stuff happens, but God's word never changes, and it is enough.

It is enough for you in that moment.

My dad learned this, and he taught this lesson to us as a young man.

He and my mom were married, they had a couple of kids.

Life seemed like it was going well.

And then he got a call and understood that his oldest sister had been in a car accident.

She'd been taken to the hospital, and it looked very, very difficult as to whether she would make it.

Dad's a believer.

He said he began to pray and ask the Lord, seeking the Lord, Lord, please save her, please save her.

I need her.

We need her here.

I want her here.

He said, but the more that he prayed, it felt like his prayers were just going up and hitting the ceiling and coming right back down.

He said, I can't explain it.

I've never felt that before, but that was the way it was.

I just felt like I was talking, but I wasn't really connecting with God.

He said, I got so frustrated.

I went in the backyard and I was just crying out.

He said he grabbed one of our pear trees.

He shook that pear tree until every pear came down off of that tree.

He said, I was exhausted in the pain, focused on what I wanted.

He said, but then God reminded me that I needed to stop talking to him and start listening.

And so he came in and he took his word.

And he said, for days he just would sit with the word and read and read and read.

And then finally, the Lord brought him to a psalm.

The Psalm 46.10.

And that Psalm in 46.10, it begins actually, that chapter begins with this particular expression, and this is what captivated him at the moment.

46 verse 1.

God is our refuge in strength and ever-present help in trouble.

He said, God, that is where I am.

I need your help right now.

And then he said he read down, and then he got to verse 10.

And he heard the Lord say through his word, be still and know that I am God.

He said at that moment, I began to realize, and God taught me a lesson.

He said, He recognized and he learned that God is God and He is not.

And I began to fully trust Him and His wisdom and His guidance and His directions.

And He said, A peace came over me like I've never known.

And really, for the rest of His life, Psalm 46, 10 would shape my father's outlook, His path for how He would handle all the things that would come along life's way.

God's word is enough, sufficient to provide for our needs, even during times of struggle and hardship.

But lastly, this psalm and this passage tells us that through His Word, God provides a gift to embrace forever.

Psalm 119, 111 through 112.

Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever to the end.

Notice how the psalmist views God's word.

He says, They are the joy of my heart.

I incline my heart to perform your statutes.

He doesn't just respect God's word or admire his truth.

He cherishes the gift of God's word.

It's the joy of his heart.

It's moving from duty to the word to devotion to the word.

Some of us, and I'm guilty of this at times, we feel like, okay, we should, we should read the Bible.

We just need to do this.

It's a duty.

And there's nothing wrong with doing it even when you don't feel like reading the word.

Because God can speak through that too.

But really, where God wants our heart to be is that we are so in love with him for giving us and providing this word to us that we delight, we long for spending time in his word.

We can't do without it.

We need him.

And we recognize that his word is what is needed, is sufficient and enough for us in this life.

The psalmist recognizes that the word of God is a precious gift given to him, and he wants to embrace it for as long as he lives.

And I love this language about inheritance.

It's an inheritance that's been given to him.

Many of us have been shaped by others who have shared the word with us that have given us that inheritance, and now it's time for us to pass that inheritance along to those who come behind us.

That's delighting in his word, wanting others to know his word and to grow in his word.

As we finish up this morning, I just want to ask all of us a question.

If this really is God's word to us, if the Bible is his inspired, authoritative word, his way of communicating about him, about his ways, about how we can live a full and blessed life through him.

If this word is his word, if it truly is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path, sufficient for all that we need to know about God and his directions for our lives.

Wouldn't the wisest thing that we could ever do would be to pick it up daily and to listen and learn.

Wouldn't that just make sense?

Wouldn't it make sense that one of the priorities that we would make in this life would be every Sunday to be in one of our life groups here at church, opening the word and studying that word together with other people so that we could listen and learn and grow?

Wouldn't it just be wise that we would come on Wednesdays and be a part of discipleship groups and opportunities to study the word together?

Wouldn't it just be wise, as the psalmist is here throughout life, all the things of life, to not neglect the word?

Not just to respect or admire the word, but to study, to learn, to grow, and to live the word as well.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wrote this.

He said, Oh, give me that book.

At any price, give me the book of God.

I have it.

Here is knowledge enough for me.

Let me be a man of one book.

God's word.

Spring Valley Baptist.

With all the lights and voices and things that are out there.

May we be the people of one book.

And may we allow God to teach us and guide us as we spend time with his word.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you so much for the privilege of worshiping your house today.

Thank you, God, for this magnificent Psalm, Psalm 119.

God, thank you how you lift up in the middle of your word the value, the importance, the sufficiency of your word.

So, Lord, I pray for your people today, in this time of response, I pray, Lord, that you would just call and draw people to yourself.

Maybe those that need to come and just surrender their hearts to you to accept Christ as Savior, to make him the light of their world.

Or maybe it's to come and just to renew a sense of commitment, or just to come and bear before you their suffering and affliction and to ask you to guide them.

Lord, however you're leading, we pray your people would respond in spirit and in truth today.

In the name of Christ we pray.

Amen.

Our pastor Blake, myself, will be standing here at the front, ready to receive any decision.

You can come and pray here at the altar as well.

Let's stand together as we respond.