Happiness of Keeping God's Word

You have a mischievous smile on your face.

I was really looking forward to Psalm 119.

I love Psalm 119.

What do you mean for? Do I have Psalm 119?

No, we're not.

So I'm just going to do the first eight verses.

Yeah, so Psalm 119.

Let me read it out loud for us.

It says,

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,

who seek Him with their whole heart,

who also do no wrong but walk in His ways.

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.

Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes.

Then I shall not be put to shame,

having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous rules.

I will keep your statutes.

Do not utterly forsake me.

So this is the,

as you guys know,

there are 1,000,

I think,

I think a lotion got in my eye.

So I'm not crying.

It's just,

there's a,

there's 1,189 chapters in the Bible,

and this is the longest chapter

in the entire Bible,

as you guys know,

176 verses.

And remarkably,

the whole thing is an acrostic poem.

And there are 22 stanzas.

So stanza,

basically the paragraph of poetry.

And it corresponds to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

So in the first stanza,

every line,

so every verse,

begins with the first Hebrew letter,

basically Hebrew equivalent of an A.

And then in the second stanza,

every verse begins with B,

and then so on.

So it's a mnemonic device

intended to help us memorize it.

And so that we could remember

and rehearse God's word,

even when we don't have it in hand

at all places and all times.

And people write poems

about all kinds of things, right?

I mean,

wondrous things in nature,

the beautiful,

romantic love interest,

or about just,

just the tragedies of life.

But Psalm 119 is,

I think,

fittingly and wonderfully

all about the central importance

of God's word.

And it's,

Kevin DeYoung puts it this way in his book,

Taking God at His Word.

He says,

Psalm 119 shows us

what to believe about the word of God,

what to feel about the word of God,

and what to do with the word of God.

And each stanza contains eight verses,

and those,

I think they chose,

the psalmist chose eight

to correspond to eight different Hebrew words

that exist

for,

to refer to scripture.

There's eight different types of words used.

In the ESV,

those words are variously translated

as commandments,

word,

rules,

promise,

law,

precepts,

testimonies,

and statutes.

So those are the words

that are used throughout Psalm 119

to refer to scripture,

God's word.

And,

and if you've never memorized

large chunks of scripture before,

this is a really good place

to start,

because it's about God's word

and to,

committed to memory.

And you may have already heard of

William Wilberforce.

You guys know the name

from the movie Amazing Grace,

or maybe you just know your history.

And he,

he was a British member of parliament,

and he became a Christian

at the age of 26.

He became a member of parliament

when he was 21.

Amazing.

And a year after his conversion,

on October 28,

1787,

he wrote in his diary,

quote,

God Almighty has set before me

two great objects,

the suppression of the slave trade,

and the reformation of manor.

In that day and age,

it meant morals,

the reformation of morals

and the,

the end of the slave trade.

He,

he worked tirelessly

toward those ends

throughout his political career,

which spanned over four decades,

and that culminated

in the abolition of slavery

in the British Empire.

And in his book,

in which he talks about seven men

who made a huge impact in history,

Eric Metaxas writes

about William Wilberforce,

and there he writes that

Wilberforce would also sometimes

walk the two and a half miles

from parliament to his home.

And the second half of the walk

took him through a portion

of Hyde Park.

Wilberforce had it timed

so that if he began reciting

Psalm 119

when he entered the park,

he would be finished

by the time he got home.

It took him 20 minutes

to recite the whole thing.

And this was his habit

on his walk back

from parliament to his house

to recite Psalm 119

from memory

as he walked through Hyde Park.

And so I wanted to

challenge people here,

and I was hoping to share it

with the church too,

to memorize Psalm 119.

I'm planning on doing it as well.

And you really just have to

memorize one verse a day

and do two verses on Sundays.

Then you'll do one stanza per week.

So you do a stanza

leading up to the Wednesday

prayer service,

and then we'll do the next stanza,

and so on.

And then we'll have

the last week of the month

during the prayers of fasting

when we don't have the message

through the Psalms

to review and catch up

if we're behind.

And if we do that,

I think we'll be done

around the end of the year.

So we'll be in Psalm 119

for a while.

But I think that would be

really cool if someone

wanted to do it,

and so I wanted to

issue a challenge.

A lot of believers

have memorized this

throughout church history.

I don't know why.

Maybe it's like the challenge

of memorizing the longest

chapter in the Bible,

or I think it's,

really I think it's because of

what it says about God's word,

how our delight,

God's people's delight

in the word of God.

So,

it really is two parts

into this first stanza.

The first four verses

is about the blessedness

of keeping God's word.

And the second half,

verses five to eight,

are about the desire

to keep God's word.

And the whole thing

is really teaching us

that it is the blessedness

of keeping God's word

that make us desire

to keep God's word.

And so let's look at

the blessedness

of keeping God's word.

Twice in verses one to three,

the word blessed

is repeated.

It says,

blessed are those

whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law

of the Lord.

Blessed are those

who keep his testimonies,

who seek him

with their whole heart,

who also do no wrong,

but walk in his ways.

So the word blessed,

it seems like technical jargon,

but really it means happy.

Blessedness is happiness.

And so those who walk

according to the law

of the Lord are happy.

And sometimes Christians say,

you know,

God wants you to be holy,

not happy.

I mean,

you guys have probably

all heard that.

I've heard that, right?

But this is actually

a misleading statement

according to verses like this.

Because yes,

God wants us to be holy,

but only a holy life

is a truly happy life.

So God wants us

to be happy as well.

And so the 17th century

English pastor Thomas Brooks

wrote a book entitled

The Crown and Glory

of Christianity,

colon,

or holiness,

the only way to happiness.

And in the intro chapter,

he writes that holiness

differs nothing from happiness

but in name.

Holiness is happiness

in the bud,

and happiness is holiness

at the full.

Happiness is nothing

but the quintessence

of holiness.

So happiness,

and not happiness,

of course,

as defined by the fleeting

pleasures of this world,

but true happiness

comes from holiness.

And what if we really

believe this,

that the living

a holy life

is not a drudgery,

that obeying God's word

is not boring,

that it's not onerous,

but that it's happy,

right?

It's joyous.

It brings true,

lasting fulfillment.

And it's this happiness,

this blessedness

of keeping God's word

that makes us desire

to keep God's word.

And notice the importance

of keeping God's word

in these verses.

So normally,

when we think of a book,

right,

the verb that we associate

with a book

is the verb to read,

right?

But here,

repeatedly,

the psalm emphasizes

keeping God's word.

The words keep

and walk

are repeated,

right?

So obviously,

in order to keep it,

you've got to read it,

but you can't stop

that reading.

You've got to apply it

and obey

and live it out.

So verses 1 to 4,

it says,

blessed are those

whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law

of the Lord.

Blessed are those

who keep his testimony,

who seek him

with their whole heart,

who also do no wrong,

but walk in his ways.

You have commanded

your precepts

to be kept diligently.

So reading God's word

has to not merely

be a theoretical exercise,

but it must be experiential,

practical,

has to be lived out

in practice.

And to that end,

the word of God

is an unfailing guide.

God.

So think about

this with me

for a second.

We can dream about this

as believers.

Imagine living

the perfect life,

a blameless life,

in no speech

or thought

or deed

can anyone

put any blame

on us

or fault on us.

Imagine living

that kind of life.

Because it seems

impossible, right?

All the other

religious texts

and scriptures

throughout the world

and all the books

in the world

on morality

and moral philosophy.

They may have

some helpful teachings

in them.

They may have

some truthful teachings

in them,

but none of them

can be described

as without blemish.

They all have their faults.

They all have mixtures.

They all have falsehood.

But verse 1 says

that if you walk

in the law of the Lord,

your way will be blameless.

Verse 2 says

that if you keep

God's testimonies,

you will seek God

with your whole heart.

So for these reasons,

the law of the Lord,

the word of God

is unique.

And verse 4 teaches us

that God has commanded us

to keep his precepts

diligently.

Not lazily

or casually

or haphazardly,

but diligently.

And so that's

the blessedness

of keeping God's word.

And then it's

that blessedness

that produces in us

the desire

to keep God's word

in verses 5 to 8.

And listen to the

psalmist's longing

to do this

in verses 5 to 6.

Oh, that my ways

may be steadfast

in keeping

your statutes.

Then I shall not

be put to shame,

having my eyes fixed

on all your commandments.

So we should not

want to keep

God's word occasionally,

but steadfastly

and not to be

distracted from

God's word,

but to keep our eyes

fixed on it,

it says,

because the blessedness

of keeping God's word

makes us desire

to keep it.

And I mentioned

to you earlier

that Psalm 119

uses eight different

words to refer

to scripture.

And they all have

different shades

of meaning,

and six of those

are used already

in this stanza alone.

The first is the word

law, right?

And the law in English

sounds so kind of

formal and stilted,

but the word,

it actually means

something like instruction.

It's the Hebrew word

Torah, instruction.

It's what God instructs.

That's what the word

of God is.

The second word

is testimonies.

It's what God

testifies,

what he attests to,

witnesses to.

The third word

is precepts.

It's what God

prescribes that we

follow, verse 4.

And then the next

is the word statute.

It's verses 5 and 8,

conveys what God

requires,

what he stipulates.

And the word

commandment,

verse 6 is next.

It means what God

commands.

And the word rules

is the last one,

verse 7.

It means what God

decides,

or what God rules

to be his judgment.

So six of the

eight different words

all refer to

God's word.

And they have

different shades

of meaning.

And they all

convey the fact

that God speaks

to us through

his word.

He promises us

through his word.

He warns us

through his word.

He directs us

and guides us

through his word.

He examines us

with his word.

He teaches us

through his word.

He talks to us,

converses with us

through his word.

And so the word

of God is the

chief appointed

means by which

God addresses

his people.

And for that

reason,

it's not like

any other book

in the sense

that it's relational.

Sometimes people

say that they feel

like they know

the author

of their favorite

books.

You've probably

heard people

say that.

And that's true

only in a limited,

approximate sense.

But through the

Bible,

we really can

hear God

and come to

know God.

Because as

Hebrews chapter 4

Hebrews 4:2

verse 2 says,

the word of God

is living

and active.

So it's not

merely a written

record.

It's a live

means by which

God communicates

to us.

And so verses,

with that in mind,

verses 7 to 8

fittingly conclude

the stanza like this.

I will praise you

with an upright

heart when I

learn your

righteous rules.

I will keep

your statutes.

Do not utterly

forsake me.

I don't know if

you guys have

ever read of,

I don't know if

you read the

endorsement pages

in the book.

I always do.

And I don't

know if you've

ever read an

endorsement on

the back cover.

That just sounds

completely unlike

the book itself.

It almost seems

like the person

has never read

the book.

It's like,

how in the world

did you get that

from this?

And so you

can't endorse

something,

you can't praise

something without

actually having

read it,

without having

familiarity with

it, without

knowing the

thing or the

person that

you're praising.

So likewise,

we can't praise

God without

actually knowing

Him.

We can't

praise Him

uprightly,

with an

upright heart.

We can't

praise Him

sincerely until

we learn God's

righteous rules,

because it's the

Word of God

that reveals God

Himself to us.

Because it's by

the Word that we

can listen to God

and walk with

Him.

And so because

of that, when we

forsake God's

Word, we are

forsaken by God.

That's why the

verse ends this

way, the stanza

ends this way.

But if we live

according to God's

Word, God will

not forsake us,

because that's how

He relates to

us and communicates

with us and

leads and

directs us.

As I was

kind of reflecting

on this and

trying to

communicate how

exciting that is

to you guys, I

was looking up,

because I had

read this a long

time ago and I

looked it up on

Google, and there

was actually a

recent article

published last

month about the

Breakthrough Listen

Initiative.

I don't know if

you guys have

heard of it.

It's like a

privately funded

decade-long

research project

out of UC

Berkeley, and

the researchers

involved just

finished listening

in on 1,300

star systems for

signs of

extraterrestrial life.

So 1,300 star

systems.

They came up

empty.

They didn't hear

anything.

But they plan on

expanding their

research to cover a

lot more ground.

And can you imagine

just how boring that

would be to just

listen hours on end

to this vast

nothingness, you

know, just the

silence all day

long?

But can you

imagine for a

moment, like, what

if you heard

something, right?

People's ears just

perk up, and

like, wait, what?

And everybody's

jumping up in

excitement and

just come, and

like, something's

there, someone's

there.

They're saying

something, or

they're communicating

something, and

like, it's like,

similarly, I think

if we don't expect

God to speak to us

through his word, I

can understand why

that might be

boring to some

people, right?

But God's not

silent.

He still speaks

today, and so

then we can feel

that same level of

excitement even

more that we hear

from God himself

that on the other

line that there's

someone there

speaking to us.

We're not

listening to the

void.

God's communicating

to us, and when

we think of it that

way, it totally

transforms our

Bible reading

experience.

And I think, and

I was looking

back on this, and

it's, I came to

know the Lord, you

know, at an early

age, but it's

really around middle

school time, like,

that God really

started speaking to

me and reading me,

and so it's been

like, since I was

12, so it's been

a little over 20

years that now I've

been reading God's

word, right, as a

regular habit, and

that's no credit

to myself.

It's God who gave

me the hunger for

his word, right, and

he's the one that

gave me the grace

for it, but I can't

count the number of

times I've heard him

speak specifically,

tenderly, right,

patiently, and firmly,

urgently, lovingly,

and my hope is

everyone in our

church really will

have that experience,

have already had

that experience, and

if not, will soon

have experience, so

that they learn to

learn God's rules,

and learn to praise

God with an upright

heart.

So it's a

blessedness of

keeping God's word

that makes us

desire to keep

God's word.