You are listening to Key Life Fellowship's Pulpit Ministry
podcast. We thank you for tuning in as we
learn from God's Word together. For more information about Key
Life Fellowship, visit us on the web at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Amen. Are you thankful this morning
that His Word truly is a lamp unto our feed and light unto our
path? I can speak for myself and
saying this, I don't know where I would be without guidance from
His Word. I know one of those options
would be eternity and hell. But I'm thankful that His Word
is definitely a lamp into my feet and a light unto my path,
just as the Psalmist has told us in the 119th Psalm.
And I invite you to turn with me there to Psalm 119.
And we will continue to look at our study this morning entitled
Living a Life in the Light of God's Word as we are verse by
verse traveling through the 119th Psalm.
And here we are in the 7th letter of the Hebrew alpha
alphabet. Evolve in your Bible.
It's spelled in English WAW, but it is evolve in Hebrew.
And the the psalmist is going to take this next acrostic.
And what he's going to do in these 8 verses in this acrostic
Psalm is he's going to give us today 7 blessings that we
receive from God's Word. Seven blessings.
Now I told the men earlier, this is not an exhaustive list.
There are more, but these these are those that in this portion
of this Psalm, the psalmist focuses on.
So we'll, we'll be looking at those seven specific blessings
or what we know as graces from God that directly stem or come
from his word. And I want us to see how
important the word of God is. And so in looking at this many
times, because we fail to see the blessings that He has given
us in His Word, and we fail to utilize the opportunities that
we have to get into His word, we then forfeit the blessings that
He desires that we have. And so in looking at 7 points
that lie ahead of us, you know what we have to do.
We have to jump in rather quickly if we're going to get
all seven points out. And that's what I intend to do
now. I intend to do it before 3:30.
Now make you that promise. But we jump right into Psalm 119
as we look at these seven blessings from God's word.
And I pray that you would bear witness to this and that you
would testify to how God has graced us with His Word and how
every time that we open the pages of Scripture, it is
blessing upon blessing upon endless blessing.
Verse 41 it says, May your unfailing love come to me, O
Lord, your salvation according to your promise.
Then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your
word. Do not snatch the word of truth
from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.
I will always obey your law. Forever and ever I will walk
about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
I will speak of your statutes before kings, and will not be
put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love
them. I lift up my hands to your
commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees.
Let's pray together, Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to
you now thanking you for your word, thanking you that today as
we open our eyes and our ears and our.
Hearts to your word. Lord, that you're going to give
us understanding and into what a blessing your word is to your
children. God, I pray as we look at these
seven things, Lord, that we would be encouraged that we
would rejoice that our God has given, given us the blessings
that he has through the scriptures.
And God, that we would devote our lives to studying them even
more diligently, diving off into the meditating, as the psalmist
says, loving them. And God, that you would change
our lives through Your Word, as Your Word promises to do, to set
us apart, to sanctify. US.
In your truth, Lord, we pray all these things that we not be
filled up with knowledge and become pompous.
Well, we say all these things and we ask all these things so
that you would receive all glory and honor and praise as a God
who richly blesses his children. God, I pray for the soul who's
here today who does not know Christ, who is going through
life ignoring the greatest blessing of all, the fact that
God sent his only begotten Son to this earth to rescue sinners.
I pray today that you would open the sinner's eyes to that fact
that they are Sinner and they are in need of a Savior.
And Lord, I pray that in your mercy and by your grace you
would meet their need and save them today as only you can, and
God will give you all the glory for it in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. So we see the Psalmist here in
these 8 verses, these 8 verses coinciding with that 7th Hebrew
letter. He's giving us insight into
blessings that often times we receive from the scripture and
don't really realize the magnitude of these blessings.
What? What does this consist of?
And he jumps right into it. In verse 41, he says this, May
your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according
to your promise. It's the psalmist here quickly
recognizing the blessing of salvation that comes through the
Word of God. Let me make that ever so clear.
It is through the Word of God that salvation has been brought
unto any of us. It is the Word of God that has
revealed to us the truth of the gospel.
It is the Word of God that has revealed to us through the
prophets the Messiah that was pointed to.
It is the Word of God that confirms that it was truly Jesus
Christ, God Incarnate, who came to this earth and who offered
himself as a propitiation upon a cross, a payment and atonement
for sinners. And it is the Word that declares
those things, bringing a man to the knowledge of his need for
salvation. And so the psalmist saying this
very quickly, may your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your
salvation according to your promise.
You know what he's saying. I want to be saved according to
your word. I want to experience your
unfailing love according to your Word, because it's through the
Word that God truly does bring. Salvation to his people.
That's why Paul, in speaking to Timothy in Second Timothy
chapter 3, says this to Timothy in regards to the Scriptures.
He says the scriptures that he's known from infancy, which are
able to make you wise unto salvation.
Did you know this? There's not a person who is
saved who was saved without hearing the word of God.
It is impossible. It is impossible for a person to
have some kind of traumatic experience and then somehow that
traumatic experience LED them to God.
We are not led to God by traumatic experiences.
We're not led to God by our feelings and our human emotions.
We are led to God through the teaching and the preaching and
the reading and the studying of God's Holy Word.
In fact, salvation is impossible without hearing the word of God.
I know many people are confused about this.
I've heard testimony after false testimony.
I was in this tragic car wreck and I was on the brink of death
or I had some near near death experience.
And then I came back and, and now I'm trying to live a good
life because I've got a second chance.
Well, welcome to legalism. You're going to try to live
alive because you got a second chance.
And you've mentioned nothing about Christ.
You've mentioned nothing about the truth of the word of God.
You've mentioned nothing about the gospel mentioned, mentioned
nothing about truth that is revealed in His Word.
Romans 10 verse 17 makes it very clear it says this.
Consequently, faith comes from hearing.
The message and the message. Is heard through the word of
Christ. And so if faith is birthed
through hearing the message, and the message is the word of
Christ, it is impossible for you to have true saving faith, true
faith in God without the Word of God.
See what a blessing the Scriptures are to us.
Let it be known that this is more than just a book of
instructions for life. This is and contains the very
Word of God that leads and directs us to salvation,
forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.
The psalmist knew that. Oh Lord, your salvation, bring
it to me according to your promise, because you, your
infinite wisdom, will lead me to truth in regard to salvation.
Isn't it funny how there's so many false doctrines out there
that are actually leading men away from salvation, all the
while telling Him that it's leading them towards salvation?
The reason that we know this is because this path that these
false teachers are laying out for these folks, this path is
not defined by scripture alone, but it's defined by their own
philosophies and their own intellect.
But it's God through His scriptures, it brings us to a
place of salvation. Is God through his scriptures
that opens our eyes to see the truth, opens our deaf ears to
hear the truth? Is God through that truth
coupled with the power of His Spirit that quickens us to new
life, bringing about faith, bringing about repentance,
bringing about true salvation. In John chapter 17, verses 6
through 8, Jesus gives us some insight on this.
He says this in verse 6. I have revealed you to those
whom you gave me out of the world, and they were yours, and
you gave them to me, and they have obeyed Your word.
What did they do? They obeyed the Father's word.
How did they receive the word of the Father?
They received the word of the Father through the Old Testament
Scriptures, through the prophets, and then through
Christ Himself. Who taught them how the Old
Testament Scriptures? And the prophets pointed to
himself. It says now they know that
everything you have given me comes from you, for I gave them
the words you gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed
that you sent me. How?
Did they believe that he was sent by the Father because
Christ declared the word of God to his disciples?
And in hearing the word of God, they believed.
And unless you hear the word of God, you cannot believe.
But they did believe in what a blessing salvation is, and it
comes through the Word of God. The psalmist here specifically
saying, according to your promise, the psalmist wanted to
receive salvation God's way. He didn't want to receive
salvation his way or anyone else's way.
He wanted to receive salvation God's way.
He said May your salvation come according to your promises.
Let me just help all of you. If you bought into some man made
gospel that is not based on scripture, you bought into a
lie, therefore you are not saved.
Please hear that. I say that because I am
concerned for your soul in a church culture where they have
lightened the gospel message so much that it's not even
biblical. And so we need to examine the
scriptures. We need to see has the true way
of salvation come to me according to his promises.
What did he promise? He promises how he truly saves
sinners. What does this look like?
We know that Paul gives a very clear description of this in
Romans chapter 10. He says in verse 9 he says that
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. 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, for there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and
richly blesses all who call on Him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How do we know this is true? Because Scripture says that it
is true. And so God saves sinners
according to what He has promised long before we get into
any theological debates. If you do call upon the name of
the Lord, and you do believe and you do confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus, yes, God has done a gracious work in order
for all that to happen. And He's done it first of all
through the preaching and teaching of His word.
Now when that happens, when you truly do believe and you truly
do confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, calling on Him and
Him alone to save you, you were then saved according to
Scripture. Please note this.
Nowhere in there did it say pray a little prayer, ask Jesus into
your heart, walk an aisle, do a dance, nothing of the sort.
It is simply telling you the truth about how a person is
honestly saved. What are the signs that this
person has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit according to the
Word of God? We see Him giving those
indications there in John chapter 3 where He says you must
be born again long before he gets to John chapter 3 verse 16.
But when we get to 16, after a person has been sovereignly
regenerated, what does salvation really look?
Like he says this, for God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned. Please pay attention to this.
But whoever does not believe stands condemned already because
he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Well, Scripture makes that very clear how salvation comes.
Doesn't it? Salvation comes through faith in
Christ and that alone. Salvation does not come in any
good work that you can do. Salvation does not come in any
religious merit that you have a religious ritual that you have
somehow partaken in. Salvation comes to faith in
Christ alone. A man is justified by faith
apart from any law. The Scripture makes that so
clear, and that's why when we read the scriptures, we can see
what it really means to know Christ as our Lord and Savior.
What does this look like? How does this transpire?
John there in chapter 3 on down to verse 33 says the man who has
accepted it is certified that God is truthful.
When you believe in Christ and you accept Christ, you certify
that God is truthful. What is he saying?
Because God brought this truth to you by His grace through the
preaching of the Scriptures. As you open your eyes, you
certify that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent
speaks the words of God. For God gives the Spirit without
limit. The Father loves his Son and has
placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has
eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see
life, for God's wrath remains on him.
Why are we looking at John chapter 3?
We're looking at John chapter 3 because John chapter 3 defines
for us true biblical salvation in Christ and in Christ alone.
True faith, true belief, true trust in Christ.
That is why the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God
accurately is so important. Romans chapter 10 verse 14 says
this. How then can they call on the
1:00 they have not believed in? Why is?
Paul talking about this because you must believe in Christ to be
saved. And how can they call on the one
that they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the
one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them? What are we preaching?
We're preaching the Word. We're teaching the truth from
the Scriptures. And how can they preach unless
they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
those who bring good news, who bring the truth of the gospel.
I'm thankful for the beautiful feet of the man who walked into
that church service on that Sunday morning.
And he preached the truth of the Word of God to this young man.
Because God used the Scriptures and the preaching and the
teaching of the Scriptures to open my eyes to my need for a
Savior. And He sovereignly saved me that
morning, giving me faith to believe and strength to repent,
empowered by His Holy Spirit for the very first time.
And how beautiful are the feet of that man?
Who was obedient and preaching the Word of God?
Why? Because God uses His Word to
bless us with salvation. Salvation, the grace that His
Word brings into our life. Let us recognize that.
Let us. Rejoice in that.
You didn't get saved because you made some decision.
You got saved because of the Word of God.
And the Word of God does what the Word of God is intended to
do, and that is to set the sinners free from their sin upon
hearing the truth of His Word. So we see salvation.
May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, Your salvation
according to your promise. Psalmist then moves on and he
says, then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in
your word. Obviously here someone is
taunting him. It seems to be a theme of the
Psalmist's life. We see that all throughout the
Psalms, right? Someone ridiculing, persecuting,
saying false things against the man of God.
He says that there are these who are here who are taunting me,
probably taunting him for his faith and his trust in the Word
of God when others are not trusting in the Word of God.
And he says, for I trust in your word.
See the confidence there? Is it true that God through his
Word gives us confidence that we would not have otherwise?
The Psalms here displaying this confidence.
I'll answer the one who taunts me, for I trust.
In your word. And trusting in God's Word,
please listen to me, believe you're trusting in God's Word
will bring you confidence to stand even when others are
opposing you. Because you're not standing in
the in the confidence of your own flesh.
You're standing in the confidence of the truth, the
word of God. And it is absolute truth.
And you're standing in that. You're standing on his promises,
you're standing on his precepts, you're standing on his commands.
You're trusting in him over you and over those who are opposing.
You. That's what we see here, the
psalmist standing in that confidence that he has been
blessed with through the word of God.
Where did the confidence come from?
He tells you, for I trust in Your word.
I don't trust in what I see. I don't trust in my critics and
what they say. I don't trust in the things that
I'm going through in this life. I trust in your Word.
He was confident. He was confident that God's Word
is truth. Is that not what Jesus said,
John 1717, where He said your word is truth and what He means
by that? It's absolute truth, and there
is no other absolute truth. God's word is truth.
That truth ought to be our confidence.
We got to stand in it just as the psalmist is standing in it
here, even in the face of our enemies.
God's word is truth. Psalm 12 verse 6 says this.
And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in
a furnace of clay. Purified 7 times God's number of
perfection all throughout Scripture, it is completely
flawless and pure. Second Samuel Chapter 7 verse 28
says this. O sovereign Lord, you are God,
Your words are. Trustworthy and you have
promised these good things to your servant.
What we see there, the man of God trusting in the Word of God,
the word of God being his confidence.
Again, even in the face of those who would oppose us or oppose.
The truth. You know what I've learned?
I don't have to defend myself when I'm standing in the Word of
God because I am not standing in myself.
I can sit back and I can rest in the confidence of the Word of
God to defend itself when someone wants to oppose the Word
of God. And do you know what I just
continually give to them? The Word of God.
And they are going to tire themselves out.
They are going to exhaust themselves arguing with God.
They will never win. But I will not entertain an
argument with them. That's not what the psalmist is
saying here. He's saying I can answer the one
who taunts me with truth, with solid truth.
I can say thus saith the Lord, and I can walk away.
I don't have to defend myself. I don't have to defend my
stance. I rest in the confidence of
Scripture. You know that's lacking today in
the Christian Church, isn't it? Right.
We were compromising, it seems, at every turn.
I know this is not popular. People are going to get upset
with me and it's OK. My confidence is in the Word of
God, when many so-called Christians are debating things
that they ought not be debating, like sexually immoral
lifestyles, like homosexuality, we are not to be debating at
those things right here. You're not to fornicate, you're
not to sleep with someone who's not your wife.
And we know that scripture says that a man is not to lay with a
man as he lays with a woman. It's very cut and dried.
It's very clear. My confidence is in that when
someone wants to bring accusation against me or they
want to oppose me on that, I simply quote for them what the
scriptures say. Such will not inherit the
Kingdom of. God and I don't have to say
anything else because God has already spoken on that.
My confidence is in the Word of God.
What about this in our liberal way of thinking, right And day
when everyone is embracing things that are unbiblical, for
instance, women pastors, I know some of you are going to get mad
because you're going to say this to me.
Well, my aunt's a pastor. No, she's not.
Your aunt's posing as a pastor because Paul's very clear that a
woman is not the teacher to have authority over a man.
And he's talking about in the church.
It is not supposed to happen. It is not biblical.
I don't have to argue with you about this.
Did you notice the church for almost 2000 years has never
argued this until the the women's liberal movement has
infiltrated our culture. They didn't have to argue about
it. They knew.
What the word of God said and they were confident in the word
of God and they said here's what the Lord says.
There's no need to really debate this.
It's interesting that there are entire denominations debating
these things. The debates over God has spoken,
read the. Text.
I can stand in the confidence of the text.
And say this is what God has said, therefore it's what is
true. There's no room for compromise
in any of this. So the Psalm is your
understanding that he could face those who taunted him, right?
Those who would say, oh, that outdated religion with all those
crazy outdated beliefs, The psalmist could say, thus saith
the Lord. Let's say at the Lord, I don't
have to argue with you, I don't have to get into this with you.
All I have to simply do is say what the Lord has already
spoken. And in that He will defend
himself, and He will defend His word.
And that is my entire confidence.
That ought to be all of our confidence.
And what a blessing that is. What a blessing it is to know
that I am not here to convince everyone that I am right about
something. My job is to simply state that
God is right in everything that He says.
And here's what He said. And you can fight with God if
you want to, but let me just warn you, friend, you're going
to. Lose.
You're going to lose in the end. Well, it may seem like you're
doing OK in this life, but I promise you there will be an
eternity to pay. You will pay for all eternity
facing the wrath and the judgement of God.
Embrace His truth and embrace His truth with confidence.
Mark chapter 13 Jesus Speaking of the confidence that he was
giving to his disciples. He says this in Mark 13 verse 9.
He says you must be on your guard.
You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in
the synagogues. Oh, who wants to be a follower
of Christ? Doesn't sound like modern
invitations where he's going to make your life peachy and Rosie
come, just ask him into your heart, He goes on.
He says on account of me. You will stand before governors
and kings as witnesses to them, and the gospel must first be
preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and
brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say.
Just say whatever's given you at the time, for it is not you
speaking, but the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit speaks,
the Holy Spirit speaks as the word of God, because every
single word that we have from God is breathed by the Holy
Spirit as he carried the men of God of old along.
And so we know this. He's promising his disciples.
You can have confidence in my word when you're standing before
kings and magistrates, you're standing before those people who
are opposing you and can take your very life and, and in fact,
they did. He said, don't worry about what
you're going to say. You don't have to worry about
what you're going to say. You just let my word speak.
We see Jesus teaching that to his disciples.
We see Paul exhorting the Ephesians to confidently use the
word of God there in Ephesians chapter 6 in a very popular and
familiar passage of Scripture, right?
It's talking about the armor of God in the battle that we're
facing. And Paul tells him when the day
of evil comes, not. If the day of evil comes, but
when it comes, he gives them some hope in in the armor of
God. And he says this in verse 17 of
chapter 6 of Ephesians. He says take the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God. Oh what great confidence you
have now going into the battle. You have a sword, not only just
a sword, a double edged sword, you have a sword that's.
Provided for you by God for defense and for offense.
And you don't have to rest in your own confidence.
You can rest in the confidence of the Lord.
Psalmist knows this. Then I will answer the one who
taunts me, for I trust in your word.
His confidence was fully in God's blessing and grace of
confidence that comes through the word of God.
Thirdly, we see this as the psalmist continues to walk this
out. He says in verse 43.
Do not snatch. The word of truth from my mouth,
where I have put my hope in Your laws.
Do not snatch the word of truth for my mouth, for I have put my
hope in your laws. You know what the Psalmist knew
here. He knew something that many
times we forget. The Psalmist knew how the Word
of God, if truly absorbed into the heart, will produce an
outward profession. It will come out of your mouth.
He knew exactly how an inward hope would be accompanied by an
outward profession. In fact, first Peter.
Peter says this in chapter 3, verse 15.
But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect.
What is Peter saying here? He's saying this that we know in
your. Heart and by faith in the unseen
you will experience salvation, but it will result in a constant
and continual profession of Christ and the hope that you
have inside coming out on the outside.
It's sad that we live in a church culture that thinks
baptism is an option. Baptism is your public
profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
It is you outwardly expressing what Christ has done inwardly
inside of you. There are people who say, you
know, I, I have trusted Jesus in my heart, but I'm not ready to
be baptized. I don't know about going in
front of all those people. To you I say this, I question
the sincerity of your faith. I question the sincerity of your
faith, because inward faith must be present.
But please know this outward expression must be present as
well. That is confirmation that you
are a true believer. Isaiah 51 verse 16, it says, I
put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of
my hand. I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, you
are my people. He said, I put my very words in
your mouth. If you're his people, He puts
his words in your mouth. He gives you a profession.
That's why we know this. Paul teaches it just like that
in Romans chapter 10. We looked at it a moment ago for
another example, but let's look at it again that if you confess
verse 9 with your mouth. Jesus is Lord and believe in
your. Heart that God.
Raised him from the dead. You will be saved, for it is
with your heart that you believe and are justified is with your
mouth that you confess and are saved.
So inward faith without an outward profession is not
salvation, it's intellectual knowledge, because true
salvation through the Word of God and according to the Word of
God, you will be graced with a profession.
And what will that profession be?
Christ and Christ alone. If it weren't for Christ, I
would still be destined for hell.
If it weren't for Christ, I would still be condemned.
If it weren't for Christ, I would still be the Sinner that I
always have been. But in Christ I have been
cleansed, I have been washed, I have been given eternal life.
Both are required. Please note that Paul didn't say
that we can confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and we
don't have to worry about it in our heart.
And he didn't say that we have to believe in our heart, not
really worry about our profession.
He said if both are present, you can know this true salvation has
taken place. And a person who says that I
believe, but yet I'm too embarrassed to get baptized.
You fall into the category that Jesus taught about when he said
if you were ashamed of him on this earth, he will be ashamed
of you before his Father in heaven.
Please take that seriously. That's the word of God.
That's not Kirk's opinion. That's not Kirk's
interpretation. That's exactly what the truth of
Scripture says. And so please understand that
today that your profession, you're our profession.
Is a result of a work of God, and it is a result of a work of
God through the Scriptures. He says, do not snatch the word
of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.
He put hope in his laws inwardly, and now he's
professing the truth with his mouth.
He said. I don't want to lose that.
I don't want to be ashamed of my God who's done so much for me.
I don't want to be ashamed of my God who rescued me.
I don't want to be ashamed of my God who sent his only begotten
Son to rescue me on a cross. I want to proclaim that truth to
everyone I know. And then some.
Oh so many times we don't think of our profession as a grace,
but all of our salvation is a grace.
And if professing Christ is a part of our expression of
salvation, then we ought to see it as his grace in and through
us. The reason that I can profess
that Christ is my Lord is because Christ graciously saved
me. And I can profess it according
to the Scriptures accurately because Christ graciously gives
me the truth of Scripture. Jesus is not my homeboy, He's
not my best friend. Scripture says Jesus is my
atoning substitute, that he died in my place, that he.
Who knew no sin? Became sin so that I might
become the righteousness of God. Scripture tells me how he
suffered and how he bled and how he died to rescue me.
And that is what I profess. I profess it because Scripture
dictates it. Scripture mandates it.
So we see that even our profession may we understand
that that required profession. It's a grace that God has given
us through the Scriptures. He has let us know.
It's not enough just to secretly say you're a follower of Jesus,
but you must profess and you will profess according to the
word of God. But you see the blessing that
that is if you do profess Christ, and if you don't profess
Christ, I pray that you would search your soul today.
I pray that you would test yourself to see if you were
really of the faith. So we see the psalmist here
seeing the third blessing, that of profession.
He says, do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth.
Oh, where would I be without that word confirming that I do
truly have hope inwardly because of what Your word says.
Fourthly, we see this, he says in 44.
I will always obey your law, forever and ever.
Oh, we see there the blessing of obedience.
Now let me make this clear to all of you folks here today so
that you know this. When you obey God, don't pat
yourself on the back. That is simply what Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 10 calls good works which He prepared in
advance for you to do. And you learn to do these
things. How?
Through the studying and the teaching of the Word of God.
Isn't it the word of God that teaches us right from wrong?
It's the Word of God that teaches us.
Black from white, right? Black from white.
It's the Word of God that teaches us.
Unrighteousness from righteousness.
It's the Word of God that teaches us holiness from
wickedness. We know that we learned those
things through the Scripture, and without the Scripture we
would not even know what obedience is.
That's what Paul said when he got down to the root of the law.
He said it's the law that showed me what sin is.
Had the law not come forth, I wouldn't.
Have even known what coveting is, but His word shows me what
is sinful, and it also shows me what is obedient and righteous.
So the psalmist here is saying, I will always obey your law,
forever and ever. Why?
Because he had been blessed through knowing the Scriptures.
With the gift of obedience, He'd been graced with that God's word
had allowed him to see all of his deficiencies and his need to
count on God in every area of his life.
To know that there is no righteousness that is found in
and of ourselves, but righteousness comes from God.
We know that Paul declares that that righteousness has been.
Revealed in Christ, God's Word, He gives us all the wisdom and
all the direction that we need to be obedient to God.
Proverbs 2 verse 6 says this. For the Lord gives wisdom, and
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He holds victory in store for the upright.
He is a shield to those who want whose walk is blameless, for He
guards the course of the just and protects the way of his
faithful ones. Then you will understand what is
right and just and fair. Every good path.
How will you know this? Go back to the first part.
The Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and
understanding. How do we have knowledge and
understanding to walk the path of obedience?
It is His Word. It is a lamp unto our feet, and
it is a light unto our path. That's why the psalmist said,
I've hidden Your word in my heart so that I might not sin
against God. He had a desire for obedience,
and where did that desire come from?
Please don't take credit for it. He didn't come from you.
God put that desire for you to obey in you when He saved you,
because it should be the desire of His children to obey Christ
to obey. The Word of God, Jesus, Matthew
chapter 17 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter
the Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does what the will of my
Father. Why do you have a desire to do
the will of the Father? Because the word has shown you
that that ought to be your desire and has shown you what it
means to actually live out your faith obediently.
If you're not living out your your claim to faith obediently,
A, you're not truly saved or B, you're ignoring the word of God
because a true believer is going to see the word of God for what
it is, wisdom and direction and how to obey God, how to bring
him glory in your life. Don't forget this.
If you're obedient to any degree in your life, it's because of
His work of sanctification. It's because of His work of
sanctification. And what did Jesus say?
Go back to John 1717 again. He said sanctify them by truth.
Your word is truth. And if you were being
sanctified, that means you were being moved from sinful and
disobedient to holy and righteous and obedient,
conforming to the image of Christ, just as He preordained
for you to conform to. If that is going on in your
life, it does not happen without the blessing that comes from the
Word of God in regard to our obedience.
So if you're obedient, it's because of Him, it's not because
of you. Give the praise that is due.
Luke 11 verse 27, it says this as Jesus was saying these
things, a woman in the crowd called out, blessed is the
mother who gave you birth and nursed you.
She was obviously Catholic. She's obviously wrong.
Watch what he says, He replied. Blessed.
Rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
What a blessing that it would have been from God.
Can you imagine being Mary? And we know we can read the
account of how she was informed that she was going to bear the
Messiah. What a blessing that would have
been that she would be a vessel chosen by God.
And please know that just the vessel, just the tool chosen by
God for His incarnation. She was even overwhelmed with
that blessing. Now Jesus himself said a greater
blessing that we can receive is this, to hear the word of God
and to obey it. The psalmist understood this.
I will always obey your law forever and ever.
He was devoted to obedience because God had done a work in
him. Through the word.
So when we see obedience toward God in our lives, may we realize
that any and all obedience comes as a blessing, as a grace from
God. Don't pat yourself on the back.
And pat yourself on the back and say how good you are, because
you used to not obey, and now you're obeying.
Now you say how good God is that He would grace you with the
truth of His Word, so that you would walk in obedience to His
Word, and you would walk in that blessing that He desires.
To give you of O obedience. What a gracious God that we
serve, that a once willful center like myself who
contradicted God in every area of my life, every word from my
mouth, every thought in my mind that He would now through His
Word, through the teaching of His Word, grace me with
sanctification and obedience and allow me to now be a vessel who
brings Him glory through that obedience that He has given me
to live out. Psalmist understood that I'll
always obey Your law forever and ever.
We go to verse 45 and we see the 5th blessing.
Of God's word this morning says I will walk about in freedom,
for I have sought out your precepts.
We see freedom here. What a blessing.
The psalmist understood freedom through the word of God, freedom
through sound teaching from the Word of God.
He knew that through His Word, God enlightens us to the fact
that we can be set free from the bondage of sin that once held.
US. The psalmist getting that I will
walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
Isn't it interesting that the lost world thinks that the Word
of God will confine us? The Word of God will hold us in
bondage to those ancient traditions.
But isn't it true that the opposite really happens to the
child of God? It is the Word of God that sets
us absolutely free from bondage. What the psalmist is saying
here, you know what to be true if you've read the New Testament
and all that. We have freedom in Christ,
number one, we have freedom from sin.
According to Paul, what he wrote in Romans chapter 6, he says in
verse 18, you have been set free from sin and have become slaves
to righteousness. Why?
Because of God's grace, because of God's mercy, because of the
truth of God's Word, we have been set free from sin, from the
penalty, and the power of sin in our life.
How many people just settle for being freed from the penalty?
Why? It's not going to be held in my
charge eternally, and I'm not going to have to go to hell now,
so I'm going to get to go to heaven, and that's cool.
But Jesus died according to the Word of God, not just.
To free you from the penalty of sin, but to also free you from
the power of sin. So that you can walk in
obedience, so that you can be holy.
For the Lord your God is holy, just as Scripture has commanded
us to do. Jesus Christ has set us free
from the penalty and the power of sin.
And one day ultimately, according to the Word of God, He
will set us free from the presence of sin.
We will dwell with him in a sinless environment for all
eternity thinks be unto God through Jesus.
Christ our Lord, and so we have freedom.
Freedom from the penalty and the power of sin.
Now make no mistake, it's not freedom to sin because
unfortunately the carnal mind hears freedom from sin and you
think freedom to sin. That's not what he's saying.
In fact, we ought to never abuse our freedom from sin by
participating in sin. Galatians chapter 5 verse 13.
Paul makes this very clear. He said you, my brothers, were
called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in
love. The entire law is summed up in a
single command. Love your neighbor as yourself.
What is Paul saying? He's saying this.
You are freed from the penalty and the power of sin in your
life. There is no sin that is going to
be held to your charge eternally.
If you were in. Christ, they're all forgiven,
past, present and future. He said.
But that's no. Excuse for you to do whatever
you want to do, because you could call somebody else to fall
into sin. You could call someone else to
stumble. You could hurt your testimony to
others. Paul taking that very seriously.
We know that how the word of God is when we look at freedom, the
blessing that we have from the word of God.
We also need to see if freedom is not to be abused.
So we have freedom from sin, not freedom to sin, but we also have
freedom from legalistic righteousness.
Oh, I would to God that some of you would get freedom from
legalistic righteousness. You think that if I check all
the boxes, I'm going to be OK? Galatians 5 says this verse one.
It says it is for freedom that Christ has set you free.
Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by
the yoke of slavery. Mark my words.
I Paul tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,
Christ will be of no value to you at.
All. Again, I declare to every man
who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the
whole law. So what's going on here?
These Judaizers have crept in and they're trying to promote
circumcision. That's always the first step
because we know that circumcision precedes the.
Law. Because circumcision came with
Abraham, the law came with Moses.
So what's happening here? These people are telling the
people that they must be circumcised even though they are
in Christ. And some of them, even Gentile
believers, Paul saying absolutely not.
Don't return to that yoke of slavery and legalistic
righteousness, he says. I tell you that if you let
yourself be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at
all. Again, I declare to every man
who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the
whole law. He says if you're going to go
through with this, you have to obey the other 613 commandments
of the law. If you're counting on that to
justify you, you have to be perfect and your righteousness.
He doesn't. Verse 4, you who are trying to
be justified by the law, that's for all the people who say what
he was talking about circumcision here and not
talking about the entirety of the law.
There you go. Paul has spoken.
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been
alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace,
but by faith we eagerly await is through the Spirit, the
righteousness from which we hope.
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
has any value. The only thing that counts is
faith expressing itself through love.
What's Paul talking about here? He's talking about freedom from
legalistic righteousness. I don't have to earn salvation.
I don't have to do this. I don't have to do anything so
that I can be saved. Jesus Christ has done it all.
I simply by God's grace, trust in that, in that alone,
according to the word of God. And so people who teach you
things, Jesus plus anything, right?
Jesus plus you have to be baptized, Jesus plus you have to
go to church. Jesus plus you have to wear a
black suit and a black tie. Jesus plus anything is
legalistic righteousness. That's not the gospel, That's no
blessing at all. What that is, it's another yoke
of slavery. Paul said don't return to that.
You have freedom from legalistic righteous.
You have freedom from the law. Why?
Because Christ has fulfilled the law fully for those who are in
Christ. And thirdly, we see this in
regard to freedom. We have freedom through the the
truth of God's Word. How does this come about?
Through God's Word? John chapter 8 verse 31 says to
the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples.
Again teaching the doctrine of perseverance, that a true
disciple will hold to his teachings, the teachings found
in His Word, and then you will know the truth and the truth
will set you free. There's freedom again.
And what has set them free? It is the truth.
The truth of what? The truth of the Word of God.
So it is in the Word of God that true freedom comes to those who
are really in Christ because they have believed the truth of
the Word of God. And we know what he says in 36.
So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed.
This is no longer up for discussion.
If you are truly in Christ, set free by the truth of God's Word,
you have the blessing of. Freedom.
You are free now to rejoice and to be obedient to God, not out
of obligation trying to be justified.
You get to be obedient to God out of appreciation for what
Jesus Christ did for you at the cross.
And. Let me tell you this, I've done
it both ways. 1 is a yoke of slavery, legalism and the other
is true freedom and trusting in Christ that if I lay my head on
a pillow tonight and and all the boxes are not checked, Jesus
Christ has already checked all the boxes that need to be
checked for me and I have faith and I have hope in him and him
alone. What freedom that he blesses us
with through knowing his word. Sixthly, we see this as the
Psalmist continues verse 46. He says, I will speak of your
statutes before kings and will not be put to shame.
What are the psalmist doing here?
The psalmist is offering for us boldness, and the psalmist could
boldly proclaim truth, He says, even before kings, before rulers
and those in authority, because he trusted in the word of God,
and he trusted in the word of. God to be his powerful boldness,
he says. I'll speak of your statutes
before kings and will not be put to shame.
That's what Jesus told his disciples they would do as well,
right? You're going to go before kings
and magistrates, but don't worry about what you're going to say.
Holy Spirit's going to give you the word to say My word is in
you. He's going to speak through you.
He's going to give you the boldness that you need.
Isn't that what Jesus promised the followers of Christ there in
Acts chapter one? That they would receive boldness
to be witnesses when the Spirit's power came.
Upon them. And that's exactly what
happened. So we see that.
The psalmist understands the blessing of true boldness from
the Word of God. To simply proclaim God's Word as
truth and not compromise at all, and just to be bold in that
people. Ask all the time, why are How
are you so bold? I'm not bold.
Truth be told, I don't even want to be up here, but God's word is
bold and God has empowered me with his word and when that
comes out, it comes out as bold. Why?
Because God is bold and His Word is bold, that He has graced us
with boldness if we are in Christ, so that when we stand
before whoever, be it kings, be it magistrates, be it governors,
be it a group of people known as Goli Fellowship, when we stand
before those people and we stand in His Word, we stand in the
blessing of boldness. That's what the psalmist is
getting at here. I'm going to speak of your
statutes before kings and will not be put to shame.
I'm not going to be afraid of them, what they can do to me
because kings could take his life.
He's not worried about that. He's going to proclaim boldly
the truth of the word of God because of the truth of the word
of God is bold. So anytime you proclaim God's
truth, it's bold, It's bold truth.
People like you're, you're just black and white.
No, the word of God's black and white.
It says what it means and it means what it says.
And we simply get up here and we just discharge the word of God.
And we we broadcast it out to everyone.
It does what it's intended to do.
It boldly confronts your sin. It boldly confronts your life.
It boldly confronts your unbelief.
It boldly confronts your doubt. It boldly confronts your fears.
It boldly confronts everything in your.
Life because the word of God is bold.
Psalmist here understanding that I'll speak your statutes before
kings and will not be put to shame.
No, we remember the words of Paul where he told Timothy there
in second Timothy chapter 4. Preach the Word, be prepared in
season and out of season, correct rebuke, encourage with
great patience and careful instruction, for the time will
come when men will not put up with sound doctrine and said to
suit their own desires, they will gather.
Around them a great number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away
from the truth and turn aside to myths.
In the midst of this, Paul saying that there is going to be
this downgrade and people are not going to want sound
doctrine. He's telling Timothy boldly
stand on the Word of God and let the Word of God be what it is,
bold, and just stand there in season and out of season.
You know what that means when it's popular and when it's not
popular, when it's accepted, when it's not accepted, when the
people who you're talking to are going to prove of it or the
people who you're talking to are going to disapprove of it.
He's saying stand in boldness and it is in the Word of God
that we have boldness. What a blessing that is.
Now we see the example of Paul not only speaking to Timothy
about boldness and preaching the word of God without compromise.
We see it in his life. Paul living this out.
Acts chapter 24 before Felix, standing in the boldness of the
word of God before Festus in Acts chapter 25, standing in the
boldness of the word of God before Herod and Griffith.
There again in Acts 25 standing in the boldness of the word of
God. We see in Acts 25.
Many believe that he actually stood before Nero.
How do you stand before Nero? In the boldness of the word of
God, blessed and graced with that boldness that comes from
the Word, we think of men like Luther throughout history,
Martin Luther, who took his stand on the Word of God.
At the deer of worms, he refused to recant the truth of
Scripture. He refused to back down from
what the word of God said and what the word of God taught, and
he stood with these famous words.
Here I stand, I can do no other. How he was facing
excommunication and possibly even facing death.
And Luther stood in the boldness that comes when a man stands on
the truth of the word of God. And he stood there, and he said,
here I stand. I can do no other.
I got no other choice. Preacher, why are you always
confronting issues with the Scriptures so boldly?
I've got no other choice. Here I stand.
I can do no other. Let me just tell you this.
If you claim to be a preacher and you can do something else,
you're mistaken in your calling. The preacher is going to stand
in the boldness of the truth of the Word of God, and he can do
no other. I tell these young ministers all
the time who I work with. If you can do something else, do
it. Start today, put out your
applications, get out of here. There's lots of good jobs.
Go find a job. But if we're going to do what
we're called to do, we're going to have to trust the Word of God
that He's going to give us all the boldness that we need.
And he's going to, you're going to need it.
He's going to give it to you. So we see boldness as a blessing
that comes from God through His Word.
We read account after account in Scripture.
The men and women of God who were equipped with the word of
God and allowed them to be bold. Even in the face of persecution,
even in the face of death, they were bold.
That boldness came from the truth of Scriptures.
And lastly, we see this verse 47, he says, For I delight in
your commands because I love them.
Instead, I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love.
And I meditate on your decrees. I want you.
To see the blessing of affection that he has been given, you say,
well, wait a minute, he's been given.
It sounds like he's given it back.
He had to receive it before he could give it.
And is the Word of God that revealed God's love to the
psalmist, just as the word of God reveals his love to us.
Psalmist here, obviously overwhelmed with love for God.
And for his word. The reason that he's overwhelmed
because he received God's unfailing love that he asked for
in verse 41. Go back to verse 41.
What did he say? Go back there, he says, may your
unfailing love come to me. That's his first request and now
we see. Here at the end of this Psalm,
obviously his unfailing love came to him.
And we know that his unfailing love came to him because we know
what John teaches in his epistle.
We love because he first loved us.
And now, because the psalmist has received, has received the
blessing of God's love and affection, he now walks in that
same affection, reciprocating that love back to the Father, so
having true love for God and for his.
Word folks, it's a blessing. It's a blessing that is brought
about in our lives because God has revealed His love to us
first. And when you see the magnitude
of God's love, Romans 5/8 God demonstrates his love for us in
this While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
When you see the magnitude of God's love, and your response is
not utter love in return, something is spiritually wrong
with you. Something is dreadfully off from
what a believer ought to be. So the psalmist here having
affection, look at his deep affection.
For I delight in your commands because I love them.
I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I
meditate on your decrees. Oh, think of the psalmist there
going. Through the Word of God,
meditating on those truths over and over and over again, and,
and in doing that, seeing the extent of God's love for him.
Up in the attic above my garage, I keep a small blue Rubbermaid
tote that I've had for years. In fact, had it since high
school. Inside that tote there are love
letters that I received from my now bride when we were just
kids, while we were in high school, when she went off to
college and we thought we were going to die because we were
away from one another. Many times I have revisited that
treasured vault, sometimes by myself.
Sometimes we've actually read these things together.
Please don't judge us on our grammatical errors.
But one thing I will I'm reminded of every time and I
still don't know why. I'm reminded of every time I
read those letters that that woman loves me and I don't know
why. And she's loved me since we were
kids. It's the same.
And even to a greater degree, when we open up the Word of God,
we see the truth, and my God loves me.
And I may not have any idea why. I don't have any idea why I can
give him a million reasons why not to love me, just as I could
my wife. But the Lord has determined to
love me, and His word confirms that.
Over and over and over again, I think about those letters, when
I would receive those letters. That's how we used to do it.
All you youngsters, the mail we didn't have, e-mail we didn't
have. Text.
My wife went off to college. She's quite a bit older than me
while I was still in high school, and it was a difficult
time because contrary to what anyone else thought, parents
included, we loved each other. We knew that we were going to
spend the rest of our life together and that the Lord had a
plan for us. I'm thankful that he did.
But I can remember when I knew that she had sent me a letter.
It would take about 2 1/2 to three days, whatever, from
getting from where she was to where I was.
I would listen. I couldn't wait because I don't
know why the US Postal Service can't fix their brakes, but they
have the squeakiest brakes in the world.
And my mail lady would come and I would hear her brakes and I
would know, oh, that's probably a letter from Brandy.
And I'd already mailed one off because she made.
Sure, if I'm sending this, you better send me one.
How we go out to that mailbox and get that letter as fast as I
could. I just wanted to know, does she
still love me like she used to? Does she still want to be mine
forever? So many times we don't do that
with the word of God, do we? We don't get excited on Sunday
morning to come and to hear that He still loves us.
He still has a plan for our life.
We're still His children. We're still the apple of his
eye, even though we don't know why.
And he sent his only begotten Son to die to rescue us so that
he could love us, so that we could then love him in return.
And that's what the psalmist is doing here.
He is blessed with love in return to God.
He gets to love God back. And that means a lot from a guy
who understands that he was once cut off from God, but now I get
to love him back. I get to approach his throne of
grace. I get to commune with him, He
with me. Well, the psalmist understood
that. And how do I understand that?
The Word of God, the Word of God, every time I open it up, it
is 66 volumes of letters that He has left for me so that I can
know more about Him, so that I can fall deeper in love with
Him, so I can fall deeper in love with who He is for what He
has done for me. So that I can long.
To see him again. Oh, just like those letters used
to serve that purpose in the human sense.
Oh, we long to see each other again.
We couldn't wait till that day and those letters were full.
We still read them if we open them up today.
Oh, I can't wait until this weekend.
I haven't seen you in four weeks and we're about to die then.
It's sad that sometimes we spend more than four weeks without
even opening the pages of Scripture, missing out on the
wonderful love that God has for us so that we can reciprocate.
That love for him, that's what John said, John says, and John,
John's epistle, the 4th chapter, he says this is love, not that
we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. How do we know about that?
Through the Scriptures. Through the scriptures.
I wouldn't there at the feet of the cross when Jesus was
crucified, but I know through the Scriptures that He has
preserved for me through the ages, for you as well, that God
has shown us His love through the sacrifice of His Son.
May we love Him in return. Because we're not for the Word
of God. We'd have no real understanding
and real no real knowledge of God's love for His own.
We'd have no real hope. He has given us his word and we
have all of those things, Stephen Sharnick said.
This he said, before the new creation, there was no affection
toward the law. He said I had no affection
toward God's Word. It was only a dead letter.
But when this is written within him, he is.
So. Pleased with the inscription
that he would not for. All the world be without the law
and the love of it. What is Sharnic saying?
He's saying before you were born again, you gave no regard to
God's word. But since you have been born
again. It ought to be a love in your
life, just as those letters that I received from my wife would
would assure me of her love and our love for one another as she
would read letters that I wrote to.
Her. It ought to be the same for the
born again believer. A love for God's Word Look what
the psalmist says here. He says, I'll speak of your
statues before kings and will not be put to shame.
Then he says, Fry, delight in your commands because I love
them, and I lift my hands to your commands.
Look at the response here, which I.
Love and I meditate on your decrees.
What's he saying? I lift my hands.
Well, we can lift our hands and do a lot of things right.
Pray, praise. We can lift our hands to work
for the Lord and to serve Him. Isn't that part of our worship
and our love toward Him? He's saying because of your law,
I do these things. You have overwhelmed me with
your love to a point that I love you and I lift my hands to Your
word and what Your word says to me and I love it.
And I love it so much that I meditate on it.
Just like the letters that I've spoken of.
I meditated on those things over and over and over.
I process those things. That we do the same with the
Word of God, because it is love for God and His Word that moves
us to worship, that moves us to service, that moves us to
intense adoration. May we be moved.
By the Scriptures in regard to all of those areas in our life,
for not for God's Word revealing God's love for us, we would
never love neither God nor His Word.
But because of that blessing that we have received of His
Word, we know of His love, and we in return love Him, and we
love His Word and we meditate on it.
The lover of our soul has revealed Himself to us through
the Scriptures. May we see the blessing that it
is, and may we love the Lord and His Word in return.
So we conclude with this this morning to the believer, I ask
you this question. Are you reaping the blessings
and the benefits from God's Word that we see the psalmist reaping
here? Those blessings and those
benefits that He intends for you to have?
Are you thankful for the graces that we have seen, those seven
blessings that He has covered in God's Word?
Are you thankful for those things in your life daily, or
you just simply take them for granted, never giving any
thought to His Word or to loving His Word?
Are you thankful for the salvation that His Word has
brought, the confidence that His Word brings, the profession that
you have because of His Word, obedience that you have through
His Word, freedom that you have according to His Word, boldness
in His word, and affection, It comes from His word.
Oh, what graces we have received, believers, I'll take
those things for granted. Don't miss seeing them as the
blessings that they truly are to the unbeliever.
I turn your attention back to .1 because until God graces you
with knowledge of true salvation, none of the other
things will be applicable to your life.
So for you it must begin all the way back in .1.
Salvation and God's word has made it very clear that sinful
man is in need of salvation. In fact, Romans chapter 3 verse
10 says this as it is written. There's no one righteous, not
even one. There is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God. All have turned away.
They have together become worthless.
There is no one who does good, not even one.
Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit.
The poison of Vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Ruin and misery mark their ways and the way of peace They do not
know. There is No Fear of God before
their eyes. Scripture is very clear about
this. I told you that it is the truth
of Scripture that will show you your need for a Savior.
Scripture is very clear that apart from Christ you are a
Sinner, that all who are apart from Christ are sinners.
None are righteous. No one seeks after him.
In fact, in Romans 3, Paul continues in verse 23, for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Everyone and all are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came through Jesus Christ.
And God presented Christ as the sacrifice of atonement through
the shedding of His blood to be received by faith.
He did this to demonstrate His righteousness because in His
forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present
time so as to be just in the One who justifies those who have
faith in Jesus. It is also His Word, and we see
reveals to us that the only way to experience His unfailing
love, His forgiveness, His true salvation is through faith in
Jesus Christ. And that alone and His faith in
Jesus Christ and that alone that a person will be justified
before a holy God. He is the only hope for sinners.
In fact, Scripture tells us that there's no other name given
under heaven whereby men must be saved other than the name of
Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10 gives us the
answer to all of this. And I am a Sinner, and I'm
separated from God, and I'm destined for judgement in hell.
What does the scripture say for me now?
It says this, 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. 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.
Paul going back and quoting the Old Testament scripture showing
us that people have always been saved the same way both Old
Testament and New Testament faith, he says anyone who trusts
in him will never. Be put to shame.
What is the hope for sinners? Trust in Christ Trust in Christ
as the only acceptable sacrifice for your sin.
Romans 10/13 Paul makes it very clear for everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord, we'll be saved.
See your desperate condition as God opens your eyes today that
you are a Sinner and you are separated from a holy God, and
that you must cry out to Jesus in desperation because he's the
only hope that you have to ever be forgiven of your sin.
And this day, cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ calling on His
name, and you will be saved. Save from what?
Many people don't even know this.
Save from what? Save from judgment.
It is coming. Judgment is coming upon all
unbelieving sinners. The Word of God says that I
stand in that truth and I do not compromise.
Save from the judgment that is to come.
Save from the wrath of God that will come upon all unrepentant,
unredeemed sinners. The wrath of God is coming.
Flee the wrath of God today and be secured in the ark of Christ.
Flee to Christ today and away from the wrath that is to come.
Free from judgement, free from wrath, and free from hell.
Yes, this preacher still believes in hell.
Why? Because Scripture still
commands. That we believe in it.
And so I say to you today, oh, I know what some will do.
I'm never going back to that church.
He preaches all that Hellfire, brimstone stuff.
I preach you nothing but the scriptures.
I've spent this entire morning showing you the blessings that
come from hearing the word of God and from learning the word
of God. And one of those blessings is
this. And when a person hears the word
of God and the truth about hell, God can use that to spark
something in them, to cause them to flee to Christ as their only
hope. And I pray today that He sparked
that in you, that He causes you to flee to Christ, calling upon
His name. Let's pray together, Father, in
the name of Jesus. We thank You for Your word, and
it has gone forth, and we trust that it will do exactly what you
desire for it to do. Break the hearts of sinners.
Draw them unto yourself. Encourage the Saints.
Teach them to count. Every blessing that they
received from your word, as they walk in it, as they learn it, as
they grow from it. God, we ask in this moment that
you do what only you can do. That is to draw wicked men unto
yourself for salvation, granting them forgiveness and eternal
life. And we pray all these things in
the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Would you stand to your feet? Heads are bowed and eyes are
closed. You have been listening to Key
Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.
If you would like to speak with one of our pastors, please visit
us on the web at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Thank you again for joining us today.