E18: Psalm 119: Living Life in the Light of God's Word - The Wonderful Word of God

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learn from God's Word together. If you would like more

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pastors, please visit us at keylifefellow-ship.com.

Amen. How many of you are thankful

that by His grace your life is now supported by the solid rock

of the Lord of Jesus Christ? And it is upon Christ to which

we. Stand, let me just encourage

each of you this morning before we ever get to our text for the

day. If your life is built on

anything other than Christ, your life is built upon shifting sand

and the storms, the tragedies of life will eventually overtake

you. So I would encourage.

You to see the truth that we just sang about a moment ago and

to cry out to God to save you and experience what the psalmist

said when he said that he has lifted me from the mud and the

mire and he has set my feet on the solid rock.

If you were lifted from the mud and the mire and you were placed

on the solid Rock, You know exactly what I'm talking about

and you have great reason to praise Him this morning.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the 119th Psalm and

we will be looking this morning at verses 129 through 136 as we

continue our journey in learning to live life in the light of

God's Word. We will find our text this

morning under the Hebrew alphabet letter pay, which is

the 17th letter in the alphabet. Can you believe that we have

already traveled this far? The Psalmist is going to begin

the next 8 verses with a proclamation that I really want

to hone in on. I really want to focus in on

this morning because it helps us to really gain insight into the

remainder of the text that we will be examining today.

But he says in 129, he says your statutes are wonderful.

Your statutes are wonderful. Now let me make this very clear

that that word wonderful in our English language is different

than the word that the psalmist is you using here.

We would in our English language, walk out on a

beautiful day that's not near as humid as it has been, and we

would say this is a wonderful day, meaning that we enjoy it.

We're going to see that the psalmist is not talking in that

manner at all. In fact, that word that we have

translated in English for wonderful is a Hebrew word,

pehla. That Hebrew word means something

so much more than just this is pleasing or I enjoy it.

It actually means. Extraordinary, marvelous,

wonderful, beyond true understanding that it is

supernatural. In fact, the root word of this

word pallah is the Hebrew word pallah.

Not much difference. But what Pallal means?

Is this pall means miraculous or that it is a miracle?

And so when we really focus in on the first statement that the

psalmist is saying here, it's not too big of a stretch to say

this, that when the psalmist says that the statutes of God

are wonderful, it means that his word is miraculous.

It means that his word is supernatural.

It it means that his word accomplishes amazing things.

And he rightly states this. It is wonderful.

It is full of wonder. It's miraculous.

And sadly, the Bible is not often thought of as miraculous,

though we have thankfully, in this body of believers, seen the

miraculous power of the Word of God over and over and over

again. In fact, in just a moment there

are going to be those who come and they publicly profess Jesus

Christ as their Lord and Savior, claiming that they have been

born again and they have believed in Jesus Christ as the

only true and living Savior who died on a cross to purchase them

from their sin. And because they realize that,

we see that as miraculous. Why?

Because man does not see that on their own, but it is

miraculously revealed to them as through the Word of God.

In fact, none of these people would be following the Lord and

believers baptism had not the Word of God first been preached

to them so that they could believe.

We'll join with them in just a little while and celebrating

God's wonderful word that He used to bring them from death to

life, showing them their desperate situation and their

desperate need for Him. And then confirming that He is a

Savior who saves all who call upon Him as His Spirit draws

them unto Himself for salvation. And so today we will take time.

I'm going to take all the time that we need to see just how

wonderful the Scriptures really are and how God has used them in

our lives miraculous, miraculously, and he how He will

continue to use them in the lives of others in a wonderful

or miraculous. Way.

In fact, the Puritan Thomas Watson said this.

He said the the word is a hammer to break, a fire to burn, a

sword to Pierce, and a balm to heal.

He goes on to say it is miracle and mercy in one book, miracle

and mercy in one book. And I pray that God would raise

up a group of people who understand this, that you didn't

just come into this auditorium this morning with any ordinary

book in your hand, but you walked in with the very wonder

working power of God in your hand according to His eternal

word. And it is His word that he spoke

creation into existence. And we will see it as His word

that he uses to accomplish so many miraculous things that go

unnoticed. And I pray today that we

recognize those things. We'd properly thank Him for

those things that we would see, as the psalmist wrote in Psalm

77 in our Scripture reading, that our God is still a miracle

working God. And he works wonders, and he

works miracles through his Word. So may we, along with the

psalmist today, understand just how miraculous the Word of God

really is. May we examine the miracles that

come forth when the Word of God goes forth, and may we properly

praise God for them. So we read in Psalm 119, verse

Psalms 119:129

129. Under that Hebrew letter pay and

he says in 129 Your statutes are wonderful, therefore I obey

them. They're wonderful, therefore

they're worthy of my obedience. The unfolding of your words

gives light. It gives understanding to the

simple. I open my mouth and pant,

longing for your commands. Turn to me and have mercy on me,

as You always do to those who love Your name.

Direct My footsteps according to Your word.

Let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from the oppression of

men, that I may obey Your precepts.

Make Your face shine upon Your servant and teach me Your

decrees, streams of tears. Flow from my eyes.

For your law is not obeyed. Let's pray together, Father, in

the name of Jesus. We pray today that you would

make known your wonderful word, that you would make known the

wonders of your word, that we would see that when we open the

pages of Scripture, we hear directly from the mouth of an

eternal wonder working God. God, I pray that we no longer

consider the Bible as just a book that sets on a shelf and

collects dust, but that we. Would open the pages of

scripture as a psalmist is proclaiming today, seeing that

your statutes your word. It's wonderful, full of wonder,

full of splendor, full of majesty, Lord, that we would

experience in our lives the supernatural power of Your Word

as it is unleashed into us as individuals and to this church

as a whole. We'll be careful to give you all

the praise for it. Lord, I pray for those who are

here today who do not know Christ, that You would, through

Your Word, perform a miracle today.

Open the eyes of the most blinded center, soften the heart

of the most hardened creature in the room today.

Break the strongman and have him run to your feet.

Lord Jesus, in faith and repentance, calling on the only

name that can save sinners, and we give you praise for it.

We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

And so we see the Psalmist opening up again with a

statement about the wonderful word of God.

His statutes are wonderful. They're.

Supernatural. They do things that otherwise

would not happen. I can tell you this, I wouldn't

be standing here today, a saved man behind this pulpit preaching

the Word of God if God's Word did not have miraculous powers

because I was simply content, was doing my own thing, enjoying

my own sin. But it is the word of God that

shine light into the fact that I was a Sinner destined for hell,

that I was cut off and alienated from God, that I needed a

Savior. And so we see His word is

wonderful. The psalmist breaks it down like

this for us so that we can understand it.

If you're taking notes, write this down first.

The wonderful Word of God makes the simple man wise.

It makes the simple man wise. He says, your statutes are

wonderful, therefore I obey them.

He says, I, I know that I need to obey your word.

There's wisdom there because your word is wonderful.

He goes on. And he says, the unfolding of

your words gives light. It gives understanding to the

simple. Isn't it true that the

Scriptures can take the simplest of humans and impart to them

wisdom from on high? God's wisdom.

Not the wisdom of man, not the wisdom of this world, not St.

smarts from this world, but wisdom directly from God.

Please know, when you open the Word of God, you receive

miraculous wisdom from God himself.

And so the Bible delivers God's wisdom and His knowledge to an

otherwise uneducated, ignorant and simple person.

What I'm saying is this. You don't have to have a PhD,

you don't have to have a high school education, you don't have

to have a fourth grade education to be wise in learning from the

Word of God. Many of the wisest men that I

have known in my life, we're not educated by human standards, but

we're educated through the Word of God because it is in studying

the Word of God that God imparts to these men and these women who

study the word of God His direct wisdom.

So the Bible can make the simple man wise.

Proverbs 26 says, for the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth

come knowledge and understanding.

It's the Lord through His Word that gives us wisdom and

knowledge and understanding. Psalm 19 verse 7 says this.

Psalms 19:7

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The statues of the Lord are trustworthy.

Here we see it again, making what wise the simple.

Oh, I'm so thankful. For the word of God, who's taken

this simple man who probably meets no high intellectual

standard that this world measures things by, but who has

from the Scriptures learned to trust and wisdom from on high.

Because we can know this, our human intellect and our human

wisdom and our human knowledge, it will cease one day.

But the Word of God and the wisdom of God is eternal.

And so when we. Trust in the Word of God and the

supernatural power of the Word of God to impart God's wisdom to

us. We are receiving even as

simpletons. Because I can tell you this,

your PhD means nothing in comparison with the infinite

mind of God. You are still but a mere speck.

Be a God in His infinite wisdom through His Word, pours out

mysteries, gives understanding to the simple, who trust in Him

and who trust in His Word. And so we see that this wisdom

that He gives is provided supernaturally.

See the miracle in that that the Lord could take an ignorant and

uneducated man. I think of men like Charles

Spurgeon, who had no seminary degree and had no credentials,

that he's probably the most read and the most quoted man of God

who has ever existed since the apostle Paul.

Where did his wisdom come from? It was God through His word that

made the simple man wise. God provides us with that

supernatural wisdom. In fact, Paul talking about this

in First Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 25 he says for the

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness

of God is stronger than man's strength.

He is saying what we all know, that our intellect and even our

strength shrinks in comparison to the wisdom and the power of

God. However, through the Word of God

we glean from God wisdom and power and might that comes

directly from His throne into our lives.

Paul speaks again on this in First Corinthians chapter 3, and

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

he says this in verse 18. Do not deceive yourselves.

If any of one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this

age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise.

Look at the paradoxical tone there that reminds me much of

Jesus when he said the first will be last and the last will

be first. The great will be small, the

small will be made great. Paul was saying this.

If you measure your wisdom by the measurements of human

intellect, he says you need to become foolish.

You need to admit that you know nothing so that you can become

wise. I remember when God called me to

preach. That was my prayer.

God, I know nothing. Yet as I studied, his word

imparted wisdom, imparted knowledge.

I find myself often, even to this day, some nearly 30 years

later, saying the same thing. God, I know nothing.

Why? Because I know He is infinite in

His wisdom and His knowledge, and I still, though I know more

than I used to, still know nothing.

I must depend upon the miracle that the Word of God continues

to bring into my life where He takes a simple man and He

continues to impart wisdom into his life that I may impart

wisdom to you, Paul says. If you think you're wise by the

standards of this age, you need to become a fool so that you may

become wise. Verse 19, he says for the wisdom

of this world is foolishness in God's sight as it is written.

He catches the wise in their craftiness.

He says you only think you were smart.

And Romans, it says this, that professing themselves to be

wise, they became what? Fools?

Why? Because they were vested in

human knowledge, vested in human education, vested in human

wisdom. And Paul's making very clear,

and that is opposite from the wisdom of God.

In fact, 19 he says that that wisdom of this world is

foolishness in God's sight. May we hear the word of the Lord

and know this. Many of us spend our entire

lives chasing after human wisdom.

There's nothing miraculous about that.

Some of you are more intellectual than others.

You were born that way. However, what a miracle it is to

see a person who may not be of the highest intellect, but who

devotes themselves to studying the Word of God.

And God brings a miracle, and he takes that simple man, and he

makes him wise. I just as a psalmist said a few

weeks ago, I have more wisdom than my teachers, more insight

to the very elders who have taught me my entire life.

How is this possible? Many people scratch their head

and they wonder, Oh, I'm thankful.

I am thankful that I have been taught in my life to not depend

upon knowledge that comes from this world or the standards of

this world, but to depend on the wisdom that comes directly from

God's Word. So we see the wonderful Word of

God makes the simple man wise. What a miracle, what a miracle.

I have a friend. He was not very educated at all.

In fact, as a grown man, 40 years old, he couldn't even

read. You know how he learned to read?

He took the Word of God. He worked in the nursery, and he

had a little Bible lesson that he couldn't understand.

And he prayed that God would give him understanding.

And he learned to read the Word of God so that he could teach

little children what God's Word said.

Oh, God does miracles through his Word, making the simple man

wise. Secondly, we see this the

wonderful word of God makes the sapped man watered what the

psalmist. Says He says I open my mouth and

pant, longing for your commands. The psalmist here he found out

in his finding that the only thing that could quench his

spiritual thirst was. The word of God, He desperately

longed to have that thirst quenched.

In fact, he found himself sapped and dried and parched, panning

for the truth of Scripture. Spiritually dehydrated.

Oh, we have a lot of that going on in the church these days,

don't we? Spiritual dehydration.

And the reason that we have spiritual dehydration is because

people have not been encouraged to turn to the Word of God

constantly in their lives and to be watered in this dry, in this

weary land. The Psalmist understanding that

the wonderful Word of God makes the sapped man watered, sapped

of all of his strength. Spiritually dehydrated, knowing

the only thing that will quench his spiritual thirst is God's

word. Oh, I pray that the church would

become thirsty. I pray that the church would

become hungry for the Word of God, that you would literally

pray this God give me a hunger and give me a thirst for your

Word of God, for your Word God, like I have never had before.

Create that in me. What's His desire?

In fact, that's the Spirit who lives in you, His desire.

Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 5 verse six.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

He said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they will be what filled.

How do we know what righteousness really is?

We we don't learn what righteousness is by reading Time

magazine or the encyclopedia. I'm sorry youngsters, I dated

myself. You don't even know what an

encyclopedia is, Google. We don't learn what

righteousness is from those things.

We learned God's righteous standard from God's righteous

and holy Word. It is in His Word that He

reveals His perfect standard. And Jesus said, blessed are

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be

filled. You know what?

Some of you are spiritually dry and you're spiritually thirsty

because you're not thirsting for righteousness.

Because if you were thirsting for righteousness, you would be

going to the well of Scripture and you would be drinking from

this well. Have people who come to me, they

say, pastor, I don't know what's going on my life.

I just feel spiritually dry. You know what every single one

of them have in common? I ask him this question.

Have you been studying the word of God?

No, I haven't. I've been really busy.

Let's think about. That for a second.

Do you think that your spiritual dehydration might have to do

with the fact that you are not being watered through His word

of righteousness in your life? You think it might be because

you have not devoted yourself to the Scriptures daily.

How many of you in this room don't drink water every day?

You can do this for a short period of time, but before you

know it, you're in a heap of trouble.

Some of you, you're dry, spiritually sapped and you need

to be watered by God's Word where his righteous standard and

his righteousness is revealed to his people.

He says if you hunger and thirst for righteousness.

You'll be filled. Now all of us will agree with

this. Any solid Bible teacher will say

this. God is not saying that if you

hunger and thirst for righteousness, then He'll save

you. The Sermon on the Mountain does

not speak that at all. What it says is if you're saved,

you will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Blessed is he who hungers and thirst for righteousness.

He's already blessed. He is already Macarios in the

Greek. He is happy in the Lord.

Why? Because he was brought into the

Lord and the Spirit of God lives in him.

And the Spirit of God constantly pushes him toward drinking from

the fountain of God's Word. That's why I would implore each

of you. You're sad spiritually.

The Word of God will water the depths of your soul.

It's the only thing that will nourish one who is spiritually

dry. Psalm one O 7 verse 8.

The psalmist says, let them give thanks to the Lord for his

unvailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies

the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

In Psalm 1 he says this verse 2. But his delight is in the law of

the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields

its fruit and season, and whose leaf does not wither whatsoever

he does prospers. Who is this person who is

satisfied in their thirst? Who is this person who is like a

tree planted by streams of water?

It is the one who delights in the law of God and on His law,

His Word, He meditates day and night.

He's saying you have deep roots, and those roots run right there

because you're right beside that stream.

You are constantly being nourished by the flow of God's

spiritual water into your soul. That's why you're not sapped.

That's why you're not dehydrated spiritually.

It's because you have tapped into God's eternal Word.

And God's eternal Word quenches our spiritual thirst.

Oh, if you're thirsty today, oh please don't depend solely upon

me to give you a drink when Jesus Christ died so that you

can tap into the fountain. Tap into the fountain, and

though you'd be sapped today, you shall be watered by God's

Word, God's wonderful Word. It quenches the deep spiritual

longing and thirst As we drink from the fountain of scriptures,

as we drink from His well, stems from God's endless and eternal

supply. You know this, every time you go

to the Word of God, you will find a drink for your soul, and

you will find a drink for your soul every time that you go to

the Word of God until you stand in the presence of God literally

for all eternity. May we drink from His well the

Word that He has provided. What miracle it is when He uses

His Word to quench our spiritual thirst.

So we see the wonderful Word of God makes the simple man wise,

the SAP man watered. Thirdly, I want you to see this,

that the wonderful word of God makes this sinful man washed.

Please pay attention to this verse 132.

He says, turn to me and have mercy on me as you always do to

those who love your name. Isn't it true that it is the

word of? God that offers mercy and

forgiveness and cleansing from sin.

It offers all of those things from God to all who trust in its

promises. This is a great wonder and a

great miracle that God uses His Word and He uses this great

wonder and this great miracle to bring forth salvation and

cleansing and the life of a Sinner.

There is not a person here today who is saved and truly saved who

was not saved through the preaching of the Word of God.

It is the Word of God that revealed to you your great need

for Christ. And you saw your great need for

Christ because the Word of God revealed to you that you are a

great Sinner, for all have sinned and come short of the

glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not

one, no one who seeks after him. And it is the wonderful miracle

working power of the Word of God that brought you to this

conclusion that you are a sinful man who is in need of cleansing.

Are you a are a sinful woman who is in need of cleansing?

You need God's forgiveness and that was made known to you not

by fancy illustrations or cool stories.

That is made known to you by the bold preaching of the gospel

from the Word of God. And it isn't that that God

provides the greatest miracle the world has ever seen,

reconciliation for the center to the atoning work of Jesus

Christ. He proclaims that truth in his

Word, and it's his word that allows a sinful man to be

washed. God's Word revealing our need

for mercy because of our wretched sinful condition, and

then God's Word. Being used by God to bring forth

the good news of the gospel. Bringing forth faith and

justification for the Sinner. Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

Paul speaks on this so many times we run right past it.

But don't miss what he says here.

He says in Romans chapter 10 verse 8.

Romans 10:8

But what does it say? He says the word is near you.

It is in your mouth and in your heart that is the Word of Faith

we are proclaiming. They're wondering, did we not

hear the word? No, the words in you and the

words been around you. You've heard it.

We're proclaiming it to you now. And what is that word That if

you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in

your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be

saved. Not you might or you could or

there's an outside chance you will be saved.

He goes on in verse 10. For it is with your heart that

you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that

you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, anyone

who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

You see what Paul's doing there? As the Scripture says, anyone

who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

But there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.

The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on

him. This is what the Word of God

declares. And watch this verse 13 for

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

Will be saved 14 How then can they call on the 1:00 they have

not believed in? How can they believe in the one

of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without

someone preaching to them? He's giving rhetorical questions

there. He's saying that they can't.

That the Word of God must go forth.

And when the Word of God goes forth, they see their sinful

condition. They see their need for a

Savior. The Word reveals that Jesus is

that Savior. And then the Word is used by God

to miraculously give them faith as he regenerates them upon

hearing the truth. And they believe, and they trust

in Christ, and they forsake their life and their pattern of

sin, and they cling to Jesus Christ, calling on him.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be.

Be saved. How can they know unless

somebody tells them? And how can they preach unless

they are sent as written as it is written?

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

I'm so thankful for the feet of the man who walked into the

auditorium on that Sunday when the Lord saved me and he walked

in and he opened the Bible. He opened God's holy Word.

And he began to preach the truth, not afraid of offending

anyone. And in preaching the truth, Kirk

Hall realized that I am a wretched Sinner.

Why? Because the Word of God declared

that that's what I was. And I was there in that moment,

helpless and lost and wretched, and I knew it all.

But when that preacher. Got to the good news for the

wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When he got to the good news. Oh, it was good news in that

moment, wasn't it? Because Kirk Hall, because of

the word of God, had already been brought to a point to know

that I am a Sinner beyond repair.

Unless a miracle takes place, I am destined for hell for.

All eternity, and rightfully so. But miracle took place, and it

is the Word of God that declares that miracle to us.

How would they know? Unless a preacher tell them,

they won't know. And here we have in our church

culture, men standing behind pulpits, telling stories and

giving flashy illustrations. We ought to be preaching the

Word of God. Why?

Because when we preach the Word of God, sinful men are washed.

Sinful men hear the truth. Oh, they may not like the truth.

I didn't like it when I first heard it, but then as I began to

process everything and God began to change my heart and my mind,

I began to say, you know what? That is exactly what I am, a

blasphemer, a law breaker, a transgressor.

And I need a savior on the sweet.

Words of that preacher that day. But Jesus, 2000 years ago, he

died on a cross to save all who will believe and trust in him,

to save all who will call upon his name.

And in that moment the Word of God worked on my behalf in a

wonderful way, bringing light to the fact that though I be

sinful, Christ died for sinners who will trust in Him.

And he called me out of darkness, and he called me into

marvelous light. And he did not do that apart

from the Word of God. Why?

Because what Paul is continuing to say there in Romans chapter

Romans 10 · chapter mention

10, he says, and how can they preach unless they're sin as it

is written? How beautiful are the feet of

those who bring good news. He says in 16, but not all the

not not all the Israelites accepted the good news for

Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message, He says in

verse 17. Consequently, faith comes from

hearing, hearing the message and the message is heard through the

word of Christ. When the word of Christ is

proclaimed, when the word of God goes forth, it is wonderful.

It is miraculous the sinful man can be washed.

Oh, isn't that what Jesus said in John 15?

Three, speaking to his disciples, He says you were

already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

You were already clean because you have already put your faith

in me as the Messiah. Please pay attention to this.

He says you're clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

He says I've done all this through my word.

I've guaranteed it. I've promised the prophets.

They promised under my inspiration.

I've done a word through the word.

I've. Spoken to you in Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. Paul calls it this.

He calls it the cleansing by the washing with the water through

the word. Well, I'm so thankful for that

day that I was cleansed through the washing of the water,

through the Word as the Word was preached, as forgiveness was

declared, as atonement was declared.

God imparted faith to trust in that.

And in that moment I was justified and I was cleansed.

Just as the Word of God promises to all who believe and who trust

in Christ. Peter declares plainly his first

epistle how we're regenerated and how we're purified by God's

Word. First Peter chapter 1, verse 22,

1 Peter 1:22

he says now that you have purified yourselves by obeying

the truth, so that you have sincere love for your brothers,

love one another deeply from the heart, for you have been born

again not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed through

the living and enduring Word of God.

How? Are any of us born again?

Through the living and enduring Word of God, I am so thankful

that it is the wonderful Word of God, His eternal Word, that

guarantees my salvation and makes my salvation possible.

It is the promises of His Word and faith in that which He has

proclaimed which allows us privilege and the grace

salvation. Please know that the wonderful

Word of God makes the sinful man washed.

It's by that truth that is spoken to us through the Word.

Of God, that conviction comes forth, and when conviction comes

forth, then we cry out to the Savior who forgives.

Oh, see how this works in real time, Christian.

The greatest miracle of all, brought forth through God's

word. No wonder the psalmist calls his

word wonderful, miraculous, supernatural.

Because there's no man in this room, no woman in this room, no

child in this room who could ever cleanse yourself from sin.

Yet it is through the wonderful Word of God that God makes the

sinful man washed. Faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the Word, and you are justified by grace alone,

through faith alone and Christ alone.

That is your only hope of cleansing.

And the Word proclaims that that the sinful man can be.

And is washed. Through the washing of the water

of the Word. Fourthly, we see this.

The wonderful Word of God makes the stubborn man willful.

I know none of you need this miracle in your life, but I sure

did and I sure do. It is the word of God that makes

the stubborn man willful. Look at 1:33, he says.

Direct my footsteps according to your word.

Let no sin rule over me. Here the psalmist proclaims the

leadership and direction that is made available only through the

Scriptures. When one truly repents and turns

to Christ, his repentance is marked with a desire to walk

away from the old sin and to walk in the newness of life

according to God's Word, to walk and to live a life of obedience.

And it is through the word that the stubborn man is made

willful. In fact, Romans chapter 12, Paul

Romans 12 · chapter mention

says this. Do not conform any longer to the

pattern of this. World.

Why would he have to say that? Because they had always been

conforming to the pattern of the world, stubborn in what they

did, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And then you will be able to test and approve what God's will

is, is good, pleasing and perfect.

Will. Paul proclaiming there that our

minds must be renewed. Isn't it interesting that the

term that we have in the New Testament, one of them for

repentance, is metanoia and the Greek?

And what that means is to change your mind?

Now please know this, none of you have the ability to change

your mind on your own, but it is God Himself, through the Word of

God, that He changes our mind and conforms us into obedience.

It's He, through the changing and the renewal of our mind, who

allows us to now know and to live God's will, His good,

pleasing, and perfect will. His word declares that we are

stubborn in an in in, in complete opposition to God apart

from this repentance. In fact, we remember Saul of

Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul.

Acts Chapter 9. There he is on the road to

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Damascus. You know how it goes, and he's

there and I'll read it for you so that we see it accurately.

In verse 3, it says, as he neared Damascus on his journey,

suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

Who could that be? And he fell to the ground and

heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

He heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute

me? Some of your Bibles say, why do

you kick against me? Some say why do you kick against

the pricks? Regardless of however it's

worded, we can understand this. He's persecuting God.

He is in direct opposition, being stubborn toward God and he

even thought that he was doing godly things but he was so

wrapped up in his stubborn humanity he didn't even realize

it until what the word of God was spoken.

Oh please know this. When Saul of Tarsus heard those

words on the Damascus Rd. It is the same word that we see

in Genesis chapter 1 where he said let there be light.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It is the same word that spoke this earth into existence.

It is the very word. Of God.

And so Saul of Tarsus, hearing the word of God, a stubborn man,

unwillful to truly follow God, but to kick against him every

way he could. Then he replies.

Who are you, Lord? Saul asked.

And Jesus said, I'm Jesus whom you were persecuting.

He replied, I'm the one that you're kicking against.

I'm the one that you're in opposition to.

Did you know this, the same voice that Saul heard on the

road of Damascus is the same voice that we hear when we open

up the pages of Scripture? And he says, Kirk Hall, you're

in opposition to me. Because of your stubbornness,

because of your pride, because of your humanity, you are in

opposition to me. You're in opposition to Jesus

the Christ. You know what words are.

Spoken when we read that. Oh, that ought to bring a

stubborn man to his knee, to know that he's in opposition to

his very Creator, the one who is the giver and the sustainer of

life. His word declares that we're

stubborn and we're in opposition to him, that we're in need of

repentance. In Acts Chapter 11, a few more

Acts 11 · chapter mention

chapters after the conversion of Saul.

We see these words seven verse 18 when they heard this and no

further objections and praise God, here's what they heard.

They heard that the Gentiles were believing the truth of the

gospel that these stubborn, godless Gentiles were being

saved. These stubborn men, we're being

changed in their will to follow Christ, to live for the one true

and living God. This is when they heard this.

They had no further objections and praise God saying, so then

God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.

Who granted it? God granted repentance.

Oh, repentance is not something you just go grab by yourself and

you just say to yourself, you know, I think I'm going to turn

around and go the other way. You're not going to do that in

and of yourself. You're going to continue down

the path of sin and you're going to continue down the path of

hell. And I am thankful today that the

Word of God opened my eyes to that.

And it is the Word of God that made this stubborn man willful.

He changed my mind. Many people think that God drags

you out of your sin just kicking and screaming.

It doesn't work like that. God changes your will, and when

he changes your will, you run away from sin, and you run to

the feet of Jesus, and you cry out to him.

Jesus save me from my sin, never to return there again.

Have mercy on me, as the psalmist said.

As you always do to those who love your name, you run to him

and you say, Lord, I love your name.

Why? Because your very name says that

God saves, and I need you to save me.

I need you to wash me. I need you to cleanse me of my

sin. Oh, he is a God who saves

sinners, isn't he? Making the stubborn man willful?

I'm so glad that He's changed my mind and He now directs my

steps, leads me down paths of righteousness for His name's

sake. Oh, the kicker there is the

first part of Psalm 23, isn't it?

The Lord is my shepherd. Is he your shepherd?

If He is truly your Shepherd, He will lead you down.

Paths of righteousness for his name's sake, for his glory.

Are you walking those paths? Are you here as a psalmist to

sing? Direct my footsteps according to

your word. Let no sin rule over me.

Is this important to you? Oh, the wonderful Word of God.

Makes the stubborn man willful again.

I won't incriminate any of you, but had I been left to my

stubbornness, I would have busted hell wide open, and

rightfully so because that's what I deserved.

I was stubborn and disobedient to a holy God in all of His

perfect commands, but yet He was merciful to me, the stubborn man

washing me and making me willful to follow His commands.

Once a stubborn man who's now willing, desiring to walk in

obedience to his Savior. All the Word of God teaches it,

teaches us God's Word, how it transforms us, how God uses it

to break our stubborn pride and to conform us to His good,

pleasing, and perfect will. Next we see this, the wonderful

Word of God makes the suffering man well. 134 He says, Redeem me

from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts.

Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your

decrees. The psalmist is going to now

teach us to depend on God's grace even when we're suffering.

We depend on God's grace when we're suffering, because we

depend on His gracious promises that are.

Found in His Word to encourage us and to bring us along in the

midst of our suffering. Notice the point there.

The wonderful word of God makes the suffering man well.

It doesn't say that it takes away his suffering.

It makes him well in the midst. Of his suffering.

Where he can walk through the fire is singing.

It is well, it is well with my soul.

It may not be well with my flesh, but it is well with my

soul. According.

To the scriptures. The psalmist here obviously

facing facing opposition from sinful men.

Now, so that you understand this, this could be an internal

battle. This could be the psalmist in an

internal battle, being oppressed by his own abiding and existing

sin. Isn't that possible in the life

of a believer? In fact, isn't that part of our

struggle to know that God demands more of us?

But yet we have still existing sin in our life and we ought to

be sorrowful for that. We'll talk more about that in a

moment. But perhaps the psalmist here is

talking about his internal battle.

Battle when he says redeem me from the oppression of men.

Maybe he's oppressing himself internally.

That I may obey your precepts. I want obedience, not

disobedience. Or it could be, as some scholars

believe, the external oppression that others were placing upon

him. Either way, he's suffering and

he needs to be made well. So either way in your life, if

it is internal oppression due to existing sin in your life that

you need to confess and repent of, turn from, or if it is the

sin of others that is done unto you or that affects you, either

way you're suffering and the Word of God can make the man

well who is suffering. Anyone here ever suffered from

your own sin, your own inward desires?

Anyone here ever suffer from the oppression that comes from

others? Yes, we can all agree that we

face both of that in. Lie.

Where's hope found? It's found in God's Word.

He miraculously makes the suffering man well so that we

can have peace even in the midst of our storm.

That's what Paul speaks of when he speaks in Philippians chapter

Philippians 4:6

4 verse 6 when he says do not be anxious about anything but in

everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving.

Present your request to. God and the peace of God, which

transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your

minds in Christ Jesus. He's talking there about a peace

that surpasses all understanding.

And how do we access that peace that surpasses all

understanding? Isaiah gives us insight into

this. 26 three of Isaiah He says, you will keep in perfect

peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in

you. And how do we trust in Him?

We trust in His word, we trust in the promises of his word, we

trust in the precepts of his word.

We look to His Word, and in looking to His Word, in the

midst of all of our struggles, in the midst of all the

anxieties of life and all the worries and all the fears, it is

well. And He makes us well through the

promises of Scripture, giving us the peace that surpasses all

understanding. Oh, if you walk with Christ any

amount of time, you know that peace, don't you?

You know that peace when you got the phone call that no one was

expecting to get and what did you do?

Instead of freaking out, instead of becoming anxious as the lost

world does, you went to the Word of God, and there you found

promises such as this there in Romans 828, that He is working

all things to the good of those who love Him and who are called

according to His purpose. And you rested there, you put

your head on that pillow, and God gave you peace in the midst

of your suffering, peace in the midst of your storm.

He gave you Wellness and healing in the midst of your oppression,

in the midst of your suffering, He gave you the peace that comes

for those whose minds are steadfast on Him.

Aren't you grateful that He supplies healing for our every

suffering through His Word? Many people suffer undue

suffering as believers simply because you will not and do not

apply the Word of God in these times.

Go to the Word of God and see how wonderful His statutes are,

even in the midst of your suffering.

Again, those of you who have walked with Him any amount of

time, you know this. There are times in your life

where you had no human answer, but you went to the Word of God,

and the Word of God carried you through your suffering, and he

made you well even in the midst of it, and He healed you on the

other side, just as He always does.

Psalm one, O 7, verse 19. It says, Then they cried to the

Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

He sent forth His word and healed them.

He rescued them from the grave. How did He do this?

He sent forth His word. He gave them a promise.

Oh believer, you have been given a promise of eternal life and

eternal rest in Jesus Christ. There is nothing in this world

that He is has not already overcome on your behalf.

Because He has overcome this world.

You too will overcome this world.

Rest in that. Be made well in your suffering.

So the wonderful word of God makes the suffering man well.

So the simple man is made wise, the SAT man is watered, the

sinful man is washed, the stubborn man is made willful,

the suffering man is made well, the psalmist doesn't end here,

and I don't want us to end here because I think this is

something that the church needs to hear abroad.

We see lastly, the wonderful word of God makes the strong man

weep, makes the strong man weep. Look, watch here 136 he says.

Streams of tears flow from my eyes.

For your law is not obeyed. Here we see the psalmist in a

broken state over evil and sin, crying this warrior who once

slayed A9 foot giant when everyone else was afraid.

Here he is weeping to such a degree, he says streams of tears

flow from my eyes. I can't even see because I'm

crying so profusely. What is he talking about?

Church, please listen to me because this has not been

preached in America for quite some time.

The Psalmist is talking about sorrow over sin.

This could be his own sin as well as the sin of others.

But shouldn't sin in general that nailed our Savior to the

cross bring us great sorrow? Shouldn't it bring us to a place

of weeping? I know in the modern church

culture that we live in where it's all about lights and

entertainment and all the things that we see, we don't have time

for weeping and we don't have time for sorrow.

You know God mandates it. He mandates it.

In fact, in Joel chapter 2 it says this in verse 12 even now

Joel 2 · chapter mention

declares the Lord return to me with all your heart, with

fasting and weeping and mourning.

Rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and

compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love.

And He relents from sending calamity.

You know why the American Church has not seen revival?

Because the American church refuses to weep.

They refuse to grieve over the things that grieve the very

heart of God. Oh.

Jesus himself as he walked into Jerusalem, and he saw their sin,

and he saw their unbelief, and he saw their rejection.

What did he do? He wept over them.

May we learn to weep. May we learn to weep as Christ

wept over sin, sin of our own, sins of this world, and the

wickedness that surrounds us. Thomas Brooks said this.

He said one tier of repentance is worth more than all the

outward show of religion. We can all be pharisaical

outwardly. Give this macho tough guy thing,

can't we? Oh, we've learned that.

Oh, but God does a miracle through His word.

And you know what he does? He breaks even the strongest of

men and He brings them to their knees, flowing with tears.

Oh, I love to see it. I have thankfully had the

privilege of observing it many times throughout the 30 years

that I have been doing what I do.

When God takes the biggest and the strongest and the meanest

man in the room, and He crumbles them to his knees.

And all he can do upon hearing the truth of the word of God is

weep before God, knowing that he has offended God by his life.

And in his tears of sorrow he cries out for forgiveness,

repenting with true, true godly sorrow. 01 tear of repentance

worth more than all the outward show of religion.

Oh, I wish the church would just stop getting together for the

sake of meeting. And perhaps we would get

together and weep over the sins of our nation, weep over the

sins that we still have existing in us.

That we would weep in tears, as the psalmist is doing here.

Streams of tears flow from my eyes.

For your law is not obeyed. Whether that's him not obeying

the law or whether it's someone else not obeying the law.

It brought him to a place of sorrow.

Sadly, in our country, it brings us to a place of complaining.

We look at the lost world. We just complain about how evil

they are and how religious we are.

What would we cry for them? But when is the last time that

you flooded the altar with tears?

Oh, we can go back to great moves of God.

We can go back to the Great Awakening where Jonathan Edwards

preached. We can go back to sermons.

Like sinners in the hands of an angry God.

And all historical documentation of that said that that people

began to weep and they began to well, not not only for their

sin, but the sin of all who were around them and the sin of the

world. They began to weep for the lost

people who weren't in Christ. Who needed to be rescued?

Oh, but we're too dignified. We're too religious in our days.

We're too strong all but upon hearing the Word of God, it

makes the strongman weep. Thomas Watson said this.

He said if we have no tears to weep for sin, let us sorrow that

we cannot sorrow. Or perhaps it was once a time in

your life where the Word of God, the truth of the Word of God,

would bring you to tears, bring you to true godly sorrow again,

either for the sin in your life or the sin of others.

But you have become so desensitized to that in the

modern church culture where we have no room for this.

Or may we return to this? Why?

Because it's important. Now, I'll go ahead and say this.

Tears by themselves don't mean repentance.

They do mean an outward sign of sorrow.

I saw just this week a post on social media that was comparing

someone who cries over their sin and someone who actually repents

and they presented it as an either or.

Where it's a both and someone who truly repents, I believe,

will come to tears. You say, well, do the tears mean

something? Oh yes, they do.

Did you know this both. Judas and Peter wept.

Judas wept after betraying Christ.

Peter wept after denying that he knew Christ.

Now what is the difference in their tears?

The difference is repentance. And I want you to see that Judas

did not repent of his sin, though his eyes were filled with

tears. How do I know this?

Because. Godly sorrow leads to

repentance, it doesn't lead to more sin.

Judas went out and hanged himself.

In the case of Peter, Peter wept bitterly, and he went bitterly

because the word of God was spoken to him.

And what was the word of God? Jesus told Peter.

He said, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the

rooster crows. And when Peter heard the rooster

crow, he knew the word of God was true, and he saw it for what

it was, and it made the strongman weep.

He, being one of the strongest of the 12, wept bitterly.

Why? Because every single word of God

is true. He knew that he had.

He had denied Christ, just as Christ said he was going to.

And what did it do? It brought him to tears.

Brought him to godly sorrow, and godly sorrow led him to

repentance. Paul gives clear teaching of

this in Second Corinthians Chapter 7 he says this.

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

Verse 9 yet now I am happy not because you were made sorry.

He's writing to the Corinthian church.

They were made sorry because they had things wrong and Paul

had to address them. He says I'm not rejoicing

because you were made sorry but because your sorrow LED you to

repentance. He said that was the end goal.

I proclaimed to you the truth of the word of God so that you

would be sorrowful to the point that you actually repented.

He says for you became. Sorrowful as God intended, and

so we're not harmed in any way by us.

He said you straighten things up before we got here, just as God

intended. You approached him with godly

sorrow. Verse 10, he says godly sorrow

brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,

but worldly sorrow brings death. You want to know the difference

between Judas and Peter? It's right there.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and

leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death.

And it is the word of God that brings the strong man to a place

of godly sorrow where he weeps over sin.

He weeps over the sin that he has committed, the sin that he

struggles with. He weeps over the sin of his

family. He weeps over the sin of this

lost world and please for their soul.

And it is the word of God, and crushes that man once strong,

making him weak unto the Lord, weeping and dependent upon him.

And so God's wonderful word will cause a person to become broken,

weeping before a holy God over all his existing evil and the

existence of evil around him. And so I have to ask because it

bids that we ask this question amid all of the entertainment

and all of the celebration and all of the things that we see in

the modern church. Where is the weeping?

Where is the weeping? Because the Word of God demands

that we are broken over sin and that we come weeping.

I know what. Many say at this point, well, I

thought Christianity was a joyful.

Religion it is. You know what the Scripture

says? He who sows in tears shall reap

in joy. You know why there's no joy in

the church these days? Because there are no tears in

the churches these days. We come to a place where we are

broken over sin because the word of God still calls it sin, where

we are broken over our sin and the sin of those around us, the

sin of the culture that we live in.

And we cry out to a holy God in tears.

Lord, save us from this sin. Bring revival to your land.

May. We weep, may we mourn, as

Scripture tells us. So we see the wonderful Word of

God, the miracles that He does when we preach and teach His

Word. He makes the simple man wise.

The SAT man watered the sinful man washed, the stubborn man

willful suffering man well. He will take that big.

Strong man, and he will crush him and make him weep.

O may we find ourselves acknowledging the word of God as

wonderful and supernatural and marvelous and miraculous.

Thank you, Lord, and you have given us your word to the

believer today. I ask you this, do you view

God's Word as wonderful? I'm not talking about how you

view a pretty day as wonderful. You view God's Word properly.

Do you daily open the pages of Scripture that you may see the

wonders of God fly off the pages?

Do you see His Word as wonderful?

Have you experienced and are you experiencing the miraculous

change that He continually brings to those who subject

themselves and saturate themselves with His Word?

Do you To the unbeliever. I pray that today is the day

that God's wonderful and miraculous Word has opened your

eyes to see your sinful condition, opened your eyes to

see your great need for Savior. I pray that the day is the day

that His Word confirms that Jesus is the only name under

heaven whereby men must be saved.

He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to

the Father but by Him. I pray that He opens your eyes

to see that, and in that He rebirths you, bringing you to a

place of faith where you believe and you trust in the promises of

the Word of God. And you cry out to Jesus Christ

as the only hope for sinners, trusting in Him and Him alone to

save you as you surrender to Him as Lord and Savior.

Oh, may you see and may you experience the wonderful Word of

God this very day. Let's pray together.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you so much for your Word.

We thank you that it is wonderful and it is spectacular

and it is supernatural and it is all that it says, that it is

God. We trust today that as it has

gone forth, it will accomplish exactly what you desire that it

accomplish. Lord, may you encourage the

Saint. May you bring the center to a

place of repentance and faith, and may you be glorified and all

that you do today. And we give you all the praise

and all the honor and all the glory.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. You've been listening to Key

Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.

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