Putting Truth to Work

Good morning.

Let me say a couple things before we get to the task at hand, which is the Lord's word.

It is a great privilege to be with this church in particular.

You have had a journey since COVID began.

We've all been on our own journey with that.

Each church has had to navigate it, but you've lost your facility and needed to bounce around.

And the flexibility that you have shown and your faithfulness to this body is just demonstrated by the number of people that are in front of me today.

And I count it an unplanned privilege to shut down your time here at this community center and send you back to the location I know that you started.

Let's give our attention, if we could, for the next bit of time to the word of the Lord.

Would you turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 119.

I'll be reading the whole thing.

No, I won't. I won't.

It's a very long psalm.

We're going to be looking at just one stanza of this very long psalm, verses 9 through 16.

But before we get there, I want to give you a heads up of what this sermon is looking to accomplish.

Every sermon, after it exposits a text and helps you understand what's being said to the original audience,

every sermon tends to try to then make it applicable to help you understand the claim it makes on your life through application.

And, of course, this sermon will do that.

But it's designed to do even more than that.

By teaching this passage in the way I'm teaching it, the hope is that you'll do more than just learn Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16.

Psalms 119:9–16

The hope is that you'll learn, to an even greater degree, how to apply the Bible.

How to take any passage and ask it questions so that it has a claim on your life,

so that you understand the difference it's supposed to make in your life.

And so I've titled this sermon, Putting Truth to Work.

And we're going to demonstrate that coming out of Psalm 119.

Now, I want you to picture a kitchen sponge right next to the sink.

Now, maybe you're the kind of people that use the yellow sponge with the green scrubby on the back.

Maybe yours is blue with a darker blue scrubby on the back.

Maybe you don't have a scrubby.

I think those people still exist somewhere.

But whatever comes to mind when you think of your kitchen sponge, just picture it sitting there.

There's no water around it.

By all appearances, the sponge is dry.

And so you go and you pick it up and you squeeze it over your sink and water comes pouring out of the sponge.

Okay, you with me on the picture?

All right.

That sponge laying there next to the sink, we're going to call that professed faith.

It's the faith that you profess.

This will all make sense, trust me, in about 65 seconds.

Professed faith.

It's the faith that we say we believe.

It's what we study.

It's how we would answer a theological exam.

Then you take it and you squeeze it over your sink.

And let's call that water that comes out functional faith.

It's what happens in our life when heat gets applied.

It's what happens when things don't go according to plan.

Functional faith is the faith that we live out of when we ourselves are squeezed.

Professed faith is real.

But we never live out of everything we say we believe.

We only live out of what we truly believe.

That's what our faith functions out of.

That's what we see in our lives when we are squeezed.

And in each of our lives, there's a gap, isn't there?

Between what we know about God and what we live really believing about God.

There's a difference in how we would answer a question on a test and how we respond when we're squeezed.

And that gap is where your besetting sins lie.

That gap is where doubts live.

That gap is where you're vulnerable to attack and temptation.

And the hope this morning is to give you a roadmap on how to close that gap.

How to take what you really in your heart of hearts believe to be true

and help it take one step closer to what you know the Bible says is true.

Okay, the entire message is designed to help close that gap and put truth to work.

And we're going to do that out of Psalm 119.

Let's read that passage together.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you.

Let me not wander from your commandments.

I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O Lord.

Teach me your statutes.

With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes.

I will not forget your word.

Let's pray.

Father, as we come now to sitting under and applying your word,

Lord, we ask for the help of your spirit to open our ears and our minds,

to overcome even the weaknesses of my preaching,

and that your spirit would take your truth and apply it personally

and specifically in each of our hearts.

Change us because we've sat under your word this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Now if you come to a passage like this, let's say, in your own devotions,

it's easy to turn this into a checklist.

Keep my way pure.

How am I doing?

I'm staying pretty clean.

Check.

Store up God's word.

Work on my Bible memory.

Check.

We apply ourselves to growth, which is good,

but we often do it in a strength that we generate,

in a to-do way of doing it.

And we do it sometimes in the wrong power and for the wrong reasons.

And in this passage, we are called to something we will never fully attain,

this side of heaven.

And what is it?

We will never fully attain it, perfectly live that out.

We are finite creatures.

And in our own strength, we are weak and we are frail

and we are vulnerable to temptation.

And even as we grow in purity, which each of us must do,

as we follow Christ, we each must walk in purity as we can.

And we fall woefully short of the required standard.

And here's the truth, and it's good news.

Only one has kept his way perfectly pure.

Only one has stored God's word in his heart that he might not sin.

Only one has sought God with his whole heart.

And his name is Jesus.

And while we're called to follow his example and to walk according to his ways,

we do not attain purity by discipline and obedience alone.

In fact, the way to break the power of sin in our lives is to entrust ourselves to his righteousness,

is to take all of our hope and lay it on Jesus.

He lived a life that was free from sin and was full of righteousness.

And in his immeasurable love and God's immeasurable wisdom,

God covers us in the righteousness that Jesus earned.

And he's laid upon Jesus the penalty and judgment we have earned.

2 Corinthians 5 says it very plainly.

For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin,

who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is good news for our functional faith.

Because you don't dig yourself out of the pit.

In God's mercy, he pulls us out of the pit.

And he puts us on a rock.

Firm footing.

When we entrust ourselves to him,

God looks at us not as failures who have to get their acts together,

but as righteous children of God in whom is all his delight.

In whom he pours his grace and his mercy.

For our functional faith,

we don't have to dig ourselves out of a hole to have hope.

No, our functional faith begins when we truly believe this.

Our functional faith begins on a rock.

Out of the muck and out of the mire.

We don't earn God's favor by applying this.

We already have God's favor because of Jesus.

And we run after purity,

not because we want to be free,

but because God has already freed us from the power of sin.

And so as you're thinking about whatever sin came to mind

when I talked about the gap,

where your besetting sins lie,

or where your temptations or doubts lie,

whatever came to mind,

as we approach that very topic,

and as you see this call on how to address your functional faith,

we start with victory.

So as you hear this,

there is no discouragement to be had.

There is no huge mountain to climb.

No, because of God's mercy,

he not only gives us his righteousness,

but in this fight he gives us his help.

And we know,

because the scriptures say it,

you would answer it on a theological test,

that we can do all things in Christ

who strengthens us.

That's the hope we can bring

to dealing with a faith

that doesn't rise to what we know the Bible says.

We can bring hope to it.

And so Lord,

we can say,

squeeze us.

Let us see what we're made of.

And when I see something that falls short of your promises,

remind me of Jesus.

Remind me of Christ.

Remind me of hope

and of the help you provide

when I confess,

when I repent.

And what happens

is our functional faith rises.

All right,

that's just all the introduction.

Are you with me?

Let's jump into the first point.

Relying on God's word.

There's a premise in this passage

that if we don't buy it up front,

we're going to end up applying

the rest of this passage really unhelpfully.

And the premise is this,

that we can keep our way pure

if we live according to God's word.

It says it very plainly in verse nine.

Take a look.

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

So let me ask you a couple questions

to see if you buy into this premise functionally.

We know the Bible says it.

I just read it to you.

So that's our professed faith.

But do we really believe it?

Let me ask you a couple questions.

In your biggest areas of temptations,

what role does God's word play?

When you're facing hardship

and someone shares the word of God with you,

are you typically resistant to that

or receptive to that?

When you're walking through a trial,

do you find that you spend less time in God's word

or more time in God's word?

If we genuinely functionally believe

that it's God's word living according to that

that keeps our way pure,

in trial we will double down in our time in the word.

We will invest further

because we need the instruction.

We need the reminders.

We need the strength that comes from his authoritative word.

We need to be so sure of what God says in his word

that we will stake all we have

and all we are on what he says.

All right, let me illustrate this.

Let's imagine that I'm friends with a structural engineer.

I know this person to be excellent,

high integrity,

and I've seen her work before

and she does excellent work.

Okay?

I could look closely at the design

and the blueprints of a bridge that's being built

and I could be convinced

she has covered every detail.

I could stand there

and watch the construction team

put the bridge together

and make sure that they don't cut corners

or skip details.

I could walk with her

as she examines the finished product

and watch her sign off on it

that it's ready to bear the weight.

And then I can turn and tell you

that is a bridge that can hold up your weight.

Go ahead and walk across it.

And I haven't yet expressed

an ounce of functional faith.

That's all professed faith.

When do I express functional faith?

When I step on it.

Now, I'm so confident in her work

that I'm entrusting myself to it.

This needs to be our relationship

with the promises of God.

Not that we just learn them,

not that we can teach them,

not that we can sing songs about them

or tell them to others.

Yes, all of that, but not just that.

We need to be so certain of God's promises

that we're gonna step out onto them.

And if I fall, it'll be because God failed,

not because I failed to trust him.

When we're able to do that over and over again,

our functional faith rises to the faith

that we profess and we experience

the power and the care

and the ministry that comes

by trusting in God.

Our goal as Christians,

as we rely on God's word,

is not to trust what we see,

but to trust the one who speaks his promises,

to know the character of God so thoroughly

that when all of the signs around us

betray what we know,

we step anyway because God said it.

Lord, I have no idea what you're doing.

Nothing that's happened in the last weeks

reflects how I understand love.

But you tell me you love me

and you tell me you're going to be there for me.

So I'm not gonna turn from you.

I'm gonna step to you

because anywhere I turn

does not have the words of life.

Only Jesus does.

That's what relying on God's word looks like.

That we entrust all we are

to what he says

and we take him at his word.

So if that's what relying on God's word looks like,

what does it look like to apply God's word?

That's the second point we'll spend most of the time

looking at the rest of this passage

of applying God's word.

About eight years ago now,

I was playing floor hockey

with all the pastors that I serve with.

I serve with 10 other guys now.

It was probably 12 or 13 at that point

before we planted a couple churches.

And we were on a team retreat

and during that retreat,

we always do something athletic

that reminds all of us how old we are.

And floor hockey was the punishment of the day.

So we're playing floor hockey

and we don't use like full sticks

because we'd kill one another.

So we use these little plastic kid sticks.

Right?

It's actually,

we would never allow video out of this.

No one would follow us at church.

But,

so we're running around with these sticks

bent over for like an hour

and I throw my back out.

Right?

Two days later,

I'm at my chiropractor,

a good friend,

and he pays me the most unkind compliment.

Here's what he says to me.

Rob,

your back muscles

are so strong.

It's a good start.

They are overcoming your weak abs.

And then he charged me for the visit

is what happened.

The point there

is that I have a part of my body

that's overdeveloped

or strengthened

and a part of my body

that's underdeveloped.

And that part that's underdeveloped

causes my whole body to suffer.

This is what happens

in our spiritual lives.

We have some areas we love.

Some areas that are easy for us to believe.

Some promises of God

we'd never doubt.

We step out on the bridge.

We do a dance on the bridge.

But there are other areas

we just don't trust him.

We won't entrust ourselves to him.

And those weak areas

are where we get attacked.

So what do we need to do?

What do I need to do

to fix that problem

of my back overcoming my weak

abs?

I need to first of all

stop playing floor hockey

with tiny sticks.

But after that

I need to strengthen

the weak area

so that my body

can be balanced

and healthy.

We need to strengthen

the weak areas

of our lives

of our spiritual lives

so that our whole soul

can be balanced

and strengthened.

And this passage

gives us seven areas

we can examine.

The first one

is treasuring

God's word.

Take a look at verse 10.

With my whole heart

I seek you.

Let me not wander

from your commandments.

Let's just accept

the truth of this.

We treasure

what is most important

to us.

It's not necessarily

objectively

the greatest thing.

It's just subjective

in our hearts.

What matters most

to us

is what we treasure.

And it's not necessarily

the most monetary

you know

the highest monetary value.

If you've had

a house fire

just imagine

a house fire

you're not running

and grabbing

the sofa

and the TV.

You're not running

to get the piano

out of the house.

You're running

to get the kids

and things

like photographs.

Hopefully in that order

not the photographs first.

Get the kids safe

and then you can get

the other things.

We treasure

what matters

most to us.

Jesus' relationship

with God's word

was very clear.

He treasured

the word of God

and always did

the will of the Father.

David's relationship

with the word of God

was very clear.

When he treasured

God's word

he was victorious.

He walked in strength.

Even when chased

by Saul

he brought honor

to God.

When he failed

to entrust himself

to God's word

when he ceased

to treasure it

he falls into sin.

Growing

knowing

in how

you treasure

God's word

will strengthen

you from the inside out.

Okay the first

area

we need to examine

is how are we doing

at treasuring

the word of God.

Next

we memorize

God's word.

Take a look

at verse 11.

I have stored up

your word

in my heart

that I might not

sin against you.

Many times

we don't obey

because we don't know

what God has to say

on the matter.

Often times

conviction

comes not

as we're

considering a sin

but in the aftermath

of a sin.

But if God's word

is stored

in our hearts

it's always there

to instruct us.

And if we believe

that the way

we keep our way

pure

is by guarding it

according to his word

and that word

is in our arsenal

for whatever battle

we would face

each day

then we

don't live

in ignorance.

We don't live

below what he's

called us to.

We can rise

to what he's

called us to

because we know

what his will is.

We know

what he says.

And when we talk

about Bible memory

some will say

okay I'm in

I get it

I'm going to start

memorizing my Bible

and you start

by memorizing

Psalm 119

in its entirety

or the book

of Philippians

or the book

of Romans.

And those are

fine things to do

I don't want

to demean that.

I'm suggesting

however a starting

place be a little

more strategic

than that.

Remember the gap

between our

professed faith

and our functional

faith.

Whatever temptations

or sins

are living there

memorize passages

of the scriptures

that address

those things.

don't start

with large

books of the

Bible.

Be surgical

in how

you equip

your heart

to engage

battle.

And then as you

see strength

grow

as you grow

in holiness

and you see

the value

of God's word

applied in

specific areas

then we can go

to larger chapters

or books

of the Bible.

It's a wonderful

exercise

spiritual discipline

but be strategic

first.

Address those

areas in the gap

and watch

it close.

Next

we study

God's word.

Look at verse 12.

Blessed are you

oh Lord

teach me

your statutes.

A disciple

of Jesus

infers

that we are

not only

following

but learning

from.

That's what

disciple is.

Someone who is

learning from

a teacher.

And so we need

to be growing

in our knowledge

and understanding

of God's word.

That means we

read God's word.

When we read it

we tear it apart.

We try to understand

the argument

that's being made.

We look at the

passages before

and after what

we're studying

to understand

the context

of it.

We read books

about God's word

so that we can

understand from

people who are

ahead of us

in our study

what do they say

that means

and we consider

that in light

of God's word.

God's word.

This is why

there are things

like Bible studies

biblical counseling

and fellowship.

It's why

in small groups

I recommend

that everybody

in the small group

bring a Bible

and open it

before the discussion

starts

with the expectation

at some point

we're going to be

in this thing.

We study

God's word

and as we grow

in our knowledge

we understand

the will of the

Lord much better.

next we share

God's word.

Look at verse 13.

With my lips

I declare

all the rules

of your mouth.

Listen

following the Lord

is very difficult

if you are not

actively sharing

with others

sharing

with the lost

or your co-workers

fellow students

neighbors

friends

family members

now why

is that?

What happens

when you evangelize

is you start

to get arguments

back

about why

what you're saying

may be untrue.

Yeah but what

about this?

And what about

doesn't the Bible

say this?

And what about

this contradiction

in the Bible?

And what that does

to a disciple

of Christ

is as we share

with God's word

we may get questions

we don't know

answers to.

And we hate

that feeling

and we be embarrassed

by that

and so we don't share.

But if you do share

and you get a question

you don't know

the answer to

I have a script

for you.

You ready?

That is a great question.

I don't know.

Let me find someone

who does

and I will get back

to you.

And now you become

the student

and you go

and you learn

and you realize

I didn't really love

that feeling

of not knowing

so I want to make sure

I know this thing better

so that as I'm sharing

I'm more equipped

to give a reason

for the hope

that lives within me.

And being a sharer

of the gospel

forces you by default

to become a knower

of God's word.

If we don't share

we isolate

and we only actually

share eternal things

with people

who are safe

to us

with people

that probably

already agree

with all of the things

you think

and we don't get

pressed deeper

and broader

in the word of God.

Next we love

God's word

above all else.

Verse 14

In the way

of your testimonies

I delight

as much

as in all riches.

Now this parallels

treasuring God's word

very carefully

but the way

this is worded

begs this question

what do you love

more than God's word?

Is it your freedom?

Your liberties?

And your concern

if you just

put God's word first

you'd have to stop this

or start that.

I know

the temptation

for me

is that

I love peace

particularly peace

in my home.

It doesn't mean

the noise

of a family

it's the conflict

that I really despise.

I love peace

between my kids

and when you have six

there's a lot of ways

for them to trip up

and be in increased

conflict.

Now

that sounds like

a fine thing

to love right?

Shouldn't everybody

love peace

between their kids?

Rob aren't you

so admirable?

No I

can

when peace

is shaken

my temptation

is to just

override it

with

loud

calls

to peace.

There was a time

I could raise

my voice

above the rest

of my kids.

Some of the kids

in the military

are louder than me

now they can

get their voice

up there.

That's my temptation

and

in my home

I've got to be aware

I need to love God

more than I love peace.

I mean God

loves peace

between my kids

but he doesn't want me

to sin to get it.

I need to love God

actively

moment by moment

more than I love

the other valid things

that I love.

So consider

what is it

that you're tempted

to put above

the word of God

and remember

if you live

according to that

you'll not keep

your way pure.

We need to live

according to God's word

and the best way

to love this thing

is to do it

under the word of God

and not

aside

or above

the word of God.

Number six

meditate

on God's word.

Look at verse 15

I will meditate

on your precepts

and fix my eyes

on your ways.

Now Christian meditation

is a lost art

and a lot of Christians

don't like using

the word now

because it

conjures up

eastern religion

it conjures up

visions of

of us all

doing yoga together

and let me just

suggest

that's not the

historic use

of the word

and it's not

what's intended

in the scriptures

when that word

is used.

Meditation

is dwelling

on a word

or a passage

or a chapter

just dwelling

there

asking it questions

until it illuminates

something in your soul

until it illuminates

something in your mind.

it's taking a passage

and asking

perhaps some of these

questions

what claim

is this making

on my life

right now?

If I were to

apply this passage

what would need

to change

in my

perspective?

What words

are the key words

in this verse

and why

is this author

using those words

and not other words?

like these kinds

of things

you'll find

as you dwell

and you meditate

on this

it slows us

down

and it allows

us to reflect

one of the enemies

of meditation

is the Bible

reading plan

to read it

in a year

I'm for you

doing that

I'm not against it

I'm suggesting

though that

that should probably

be outside

of your quiet time

as additional reading

allow time

in your quiet time

to slow down

to not finish

the list

allow God

to say

hey pause here

for a minute

I want to do

some business

with you

in this verse

but God

I've got three

other chapters

to get to

yeah you don't

want to put

God on hold

if he wants

to speak

you want to

let him in

and you want

to slow down

and you want

to hear

what the spirit

of God

has to say

to you

and then lastly

verse 16

we remember

what we know

it says

I will delight

in your statutes

I will not

forget

your word

and I do believe

this is the Achilles heel

in Christian living

we forget

what

we know

you know

I tried to sit down

one time

and add up

the number of sermons

I've sat under

and listened to

the amount of truth

that I gave up

by the way

the amount of truth

that God

in his kindness

has revealed to me

think about that

in your own life

how many sermons

have you sat under

and how much of that

can you draw to mind

right now

we forget

so much

and one of the reasons

is we don't purpose

to remember

we listen attentively

we're grateful

for the word

we may be moved

but in two weeks

you probably won't

remember the sponge

right

you won't remember

perhaps

some of the passages

that have been shared

we forget

and here

the psalmist says

I will not

forget your word

and so

let me just suggest

a way or two

you can be a rememberer

of God's word

if you are not

typically a note taker

let me encourage you

to take notes

when you do that

you not only create

a record

of what you've been taught

you're engaging

a different part

of your brain

than you do

when you're listening

and now there's two ways

that you're storing

things in your heart

through your ears

and through your writing

okay

if you are

a note taker

let me encourage

the habit of revisiting

the notes

once a month

quarterly

go back through

what you've learned

so far

make it an annual

habit

to skim through

all the notes

you've taken

that year

as you come up

on New Year's Eve

celebrate the end

of a year

by worshiping God

and thanking him

for all he's taught

you that year

you'll remember more

and you'll see

you fall in line

with the psalmist

now

I'm coming to an end

I promise

but I want to pull

all of this together

and I want to illustrate

for you

what it could look like

what would it look like

if we did all these verses

at once

if we just lived

according

to

Psalm 119

Psalms 119:9–16

verses 9 to 16

so

in your life

I want you to get

specific

let's say you're trying

to overcome

an area of sin

and you identified

that sin

as pride

I want to suggest

to you

you're not yet done

because pride

is the root

of all sin

right

it's really

too broad

to specifically

repent of

I mean

don't entertain it

you want to confess

your pride

but try to get

more specific

maybe it's anger

maybe it's arrogance

maybe it's envy

something more specific

we're going to come up

with an example here

that I want to

walk you through

let's say you struggle

with unforgiveness

toward a friend

that's specific

it's about

a specific person

of a specific

relationship

and a specific

sin

they hurt you

in significant

ways

and you can't

seem

to forgive

and in your

regular daily

quiet time

which you still

have

you come across

Colossians 3

13

it says this

bearing

with one another

and if one

has a complaint

against another

forgiving each other

as the Lord

has forgiven you

so you also

must forgive

and the Spirit

slows you down

there

and you're like

ooh

God doesn't want me

to go on to the

next verse

just yet

and so you read

it again

and you look

for a way out

you're hoping

there's some

except in your

case

clause

right

you keep looking

and you're like

surely

this can't mean

that I'm supposed

to forgive

this person

and you realize

there's no

escape clause

there's no

hatch for you

to pop out

of that

that command

and you just

say honestly

to the Lord

I can't

I can't

forgive

and this is

right where

many of us

stop

we see the

command

we don't believe

we can obey

and we live in

opposition to

God's word

and God's

desire for us

we fail to move

toward obedience

because we don't

believe we can do

it

and we're right

left to ourselves

we cannot

do it

but God

can

through us

how

how does he do

that

first we look

in the verse

for help

and it doesn't

say forgive

as much as

you are able

if you were able

you would have

done it already

no the verse

says as the

Lord has

forgiven you

and we ask

that phrase

some questions

how has the

Lord forgiven

me

and we realize

it is

completely

it is

sacrificially

it is

lovingly

and okay

that is clear

to us

but maybe

that is

just Paul

to the

Colossian

church

is this

anywhere else

in the

Bible

that we are

supposed to

forgive

as we are

forgiven

and we

look at

a cross

reference

that

superscript

italicized

letters

in your

Bible

and we

let it

take us

to Mark

17

sorry

to Mark

there is no

Mark 17

it says

11

I don't know

why I said

17

to Mark

Mark 11:25

11

verse 25

listen

this is

Jesus

talking

and whenever

you stand

praying

forgive

and if you

have anything

against anyone

so that

your father

also who is

in heaven

may forgive

you

your

trespasses

and you see

that doesn't

give you a lot

of new

information

because it's

kind of the

same thing

Paul said

but it's

a different

author

and it's

a different

speaker

and it's

a different

context

so God

must mean

this thing

and you're

saying

I can't

do it

Lord

holds even

less weight

because you

see God

repeated

himself

when God

repeats

himself

we pay

special

attention

and so

our love

for God

is stirred

and it

overcomes

our weakness

to forgive

and we just

say Lord

I need

more help

and we

go to

our

concordances

which for

many of

us are

in the

back of

our

Bibles

and we

look up

the word

forgive

and as

we do

that

we come

across

Romans 4

blessed

are those

whose lawless

deeds are

forgiven

and whose

sins

are covered

blessed

is the man

against whom

the Lord

will not

count his

sin

blessed

is the man

against whom

the Lord

will not

count his

sin

and we

freeze

why do we

freeze there

because

that causes

us to

remember

all of

the things

God

could hold

against

us

but in

his love

he forgives

and it

hits us

like a ton

of bricks

that all

of this

help we're

getting from

the Bible

is the

love of

God

while I'm

actively

sinning

against

him

by not

forgiving

what

unbelievable

mercy

we receive

from God

how

could we

receive

such

grace

and not

in turn

extend that

to others

how did

we arrive

at this

illumination

of what we're

actually doing

how did we

arrive

at such

gratitude

for God

we guarded

our heart

according to

his word

we simply

meditated

and studied

we treasured

we followed

Psalm 119

Psalms 119:9–16

verses 9

through 16

and it

changed us

but at that

very moment

we've come to

this enlightened

place

of professed

faith

now

we take

what God

just taught

us

and we

step

out

on it

and we

go

and we

forgive

now

we've

exercised

the very

thing

God

has shown

us

to be

true

and our

functional

faith

ratchets

up

that's just

one example

in one

situation

from one

passage

that can

really help

us

to grow

imagine

if we

treated

the whole

book

that way

what

strength

and deliverance

and riches

are available

to us

and we

remind ourselves

as I close

that we

don't

so God

loves us

more

no we

grow in

treasuring

God's word

and living

according to

it because

he already

loves us

immeasurably

we come

to this

and abide

by it

because it

is God's

good will

for those

he's already

loved

those he's

already

adopted

those he's

already

sanctified

he's in the

midst of

changing you

from one

degree of

glory to

another

so that

next year

you are

more like

Jesus

than you

are right

now

because by

the grace

of God

you are

more like

Jesus

now than

you were

last year

this is

God's

work

and he's

going to

finish it

he's going

to be

faithful

as you

abide

in it

he will

be faithful

to bring

himself

glory

to bring

you his

blessing

to use

you

to help

others walk

across that

bridge

because you

can say

oh I

remember

when I

was afraid

of that

bridge

you watch

me walk

across

and then

you come

with me

this

will help

us close

this gap

amen

let me

pray

father

father

your word

is powerful

it is

personal

it is

living

and active

and we

pray lord

that in

each of

our lives

in each

of our

trials

by the

precision

and power

of your

spirit

you would

apply your

word

so that

we can

bring you

more glory

and honor

by how

we live

lord help

us

in the name

of jesus

amen

to

end

before

like

we

we

have

we

have

you

которой

i

want

of jesus

to

this

food

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