You're listening to Key Life Fellowships Pulpit ministry
podcast. We thank you for tuning in as we
learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
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pastors, please visit us at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Amen. Isn't it true that our only hope
is Jesus, just as we sang a moment ago?
I pray that you know that and that you find great treasure in
the fact that you do know Christ and that He is sufficient and
that His grace is sufficient for everything that we need.
You have your Bibles. If you would turn to the 119th
Psalm and here in the 119th Psalm we will continue our
series entitled Living Life in Light of God's Word.
We begin in that section there in verse 97.
This morning, as we will be looking at verses 97 through
104, we see that Hebrew word, mem, Hebrew letter, excuse me,
That begins this first or this section that we will be covering
today, and we'll begin the next 8 verses in our passage today
and this morning. I want you to understand before
we get into it very deeply that the psalmist is going to express
his love for God's Word in this passage.
Unfortunately, there's a deficiency of this in the church
as a whole today, a deficiency in true love, passionate love
for the Scriptures. In fact, it is an uncommon
phenomenon. So uncommon that when someone is
literally in love with God's Word and it shows in their life
and it shows in their learning and it shows in the meditations
of their minds and their heart, it shows in their passion for
the things of God. It's an anomaly that we don't
quite often see. In fact, we find it strange, but
truth be told, this is not the case in the Church of old.
In fact, you can go back just a few 100 years and find men and
women who were passionate in their love for God's Word.
The Psalmist here is going to give us a picture of what true
love for God's Word it really looks like.
And he, without even knowing it at the time, is going to give us
an example by His Holy Spirit inspired words, an example of
what true love for the Scriptures really looks like.
And we know this in 119th Psalm and in that one chapter alone,
the psalmist says he loves God, God's Word in some manner 11
different times. We're going to see it today, the
references that we have in our text before us.
But we also. See that he said this in Psalm
11947. He said For I delight in your
commands. Why?
Because I love them so I delight in the commands of God because I
love them. Psalm 11948 He says I lift my
hands to your commands which I love, and I meditate on your
decrees. Psalm one 19113 the psalmist
says I hate double minded men, but I love your law.
Psalm One, 19119 He says, all the wicked of the earth you
discard like dross. Therefore I love your statues.
Why? Because we talked last week that
His Word, God's Word, is eternal.
It's as though all the wickedness of this world will be
discarded. I love your statues because
they're eternal. Psalm One 19127 He says, because
I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold.
He loves the Word of God. Psalm One 19140 your promises
have been thoroughly tested and your servant loves them.
He loves the promises of God and shouldn't we all love the
promises of God that he's given us in his word, every one of
them being yes and Amen to those of us who are in Christ.
He says in 119 verse 159, See how I love your precepts,
preserve my life, O Lord, according to your love.
He said, see my love, that I'm reciprocating for you and for
your word. Preserve me according to your
love. Psalm one 19163 He said I hate
and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
He says I hate falsehood, I hate the lies, but I love your law.
Why? Because he knew that God's law
is pure and true, that it is absolute, that the lies of men
are worthy to be hated. He says in Psalm 1191607-I obey
your statutes, for I love them greatly.
He said, what moves me to obedience?
I love the word of God. No, I know what many people are
going to say at this moment. They're going to say, well,
shouldn't we love God? Yes, you should.
But if you do truly love God, you will love His Word.
And if you don't love His Word, there is a deficiency in your
love for God. Let me explain it so that you
can understand it. Husbands and wives, it would
serve you well to say that you love your spouse.
However, if you don't love listening to them.
You're in big. Trouble if you say you love your
spouse, but every time she opens her mouth, you turn her off or
even worse than that, you tell her to shut up.
You're not showing that you truly do love your spouse and
value her life, value her opinion, value the things that
she's trying to communicate to you.
And the same goes with the word of God.
There are many of us who will claim to love God's God and as
as our creator and as our Redeemer.
In fact, I would think that everyone here would at least
make some kind of even if it's just a hollow claim to the fact
that you love God and that's why you're here today.
But then I would ask you, what do you love His Word?
Let me just help you. If the last time that you open
it up was last Sunday morning when I got up behind this pulpit
to preach, you don't love His Word.
Therefore, there is a deficiency in your love that you say that
you have for Him. Now, I'm not going to stand up
here and claim that I know what that deficiency is.
I can tell you it can range from everything to the fact that
you're not truly born again to the fact that you were stagnant
in your life or you are spiritually in your Christian
walk right now. We're going to see today that
the cure for all of that is a love for God's Word.
That would ask, and you would in our lesson today, you would see
this example of true love for God's Word, that you would lay
your life next to it and you would be honest about where you
really are in your love for the Scriptures.
Because a desire to know and to meditate upon God's Word proves
that we desire to know the one who loves us.
Thomas Watson said this. By meditation, your knowledge is
raised into admiration, your admiration into love, your love
into delight, and your delight into obedience.
We're going to see all of that transpire today and the example
of the life of the psalmist as he teaches us about what it
means to have true love for God's Word.
It says this in Psalm 119, verse 97.
It says, Oh, how I love your law.
I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than
my enemies, for they are ever with me.
Why? Because he's hidden them in his
heart. He said, I have more insight
than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your
precepts. I have kept my feet from every
evil path so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for You yourself have
taught me how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than
honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your
precepts, therefore I hate every wrong path.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you, thanking you for your word, thanking you that you
have sovereignly preserved it, so that we not be deceived into
thinking that we have a love for your word when we really don't.
God, I pray today that we would look at the life of the Psalmist
who passionately loved the scriptures and found life
therein. God, I pray that we would
examine our lives in light of this, that if there be a
deficiency in our love for You and for Your Word, that we would
confess that and we would make that right today.
We would take any means necessary to make sure that we
don't continue on a path with no love in our heart and in our
minds for Your Word, proving that we have no true love for
You. God, I pray for the unbeliever
who's here today, but they have no love for Your Word because
they have no love for you. Lord, I ask today that You would
love them first so that they could reciprocate that love that
You've given to them. Open their eyes to see the
demonstration that you've given of Your love by sending Your
only Son to this earth to die on a cross in the place of all
sinners who will believe God that You would by that love
grant to them strength and repenting today of their sin and
faith to believe and to trust in Jesus Christ.
It's Lord and Savior. Now we pray most of all that you
would be glorified from the teaching of your word as it is
poured out. It is unloosed to do whatever it
is that you desire for it to do. We'll give you all the praise
for it in Jesus name and all God's people, said the psalmist
here, beginning this passage with an emphasis on how he loves
God's. Word And I want you to
understand what he's saying here as he says, oh how I love your
law. And then right after that, he
says, I meditated on it all day long.
He's showing us this, that a person who has true love for
God's word will, and I want you to write this down, think on
God's word. You will literally be pondering
and meditating upon God's Word constantly because it's true.
As we grow in the Lord and our love for Him grows, shouldn't it
stand to reason that our love for His Word grow all the more?
And again, if your life is void and you do not have a love for
God's Word, you really need to check your claim that you love
God at all. Because when we understand, as
we learned last week, what the Word of God really is, it is His
eternal voice to us. It is a love letter from the
lover of our souls to the depths of our being.
And I want you to see the magnitude of that so that you
don't think that this is just some book on the shelf that is
unworthy of your love. But that you would do as the
Psalmist is doing here, thinking on it, meditating on it.
That's a word we're. Quite confused about.
I know in our culture meditation, many of you think
that that's some Eastern Mystic Hindu type thing.
You choose not to get involved in any sort of meditation, but
we are. Free, according to the Word of
God, to get involved in meditating on God's Word.
It is simply this thinking on it, dwelling on it.
Yeah, you don't have to to sit with your legs crossed and you
don't have to close your eyes and put your hands like this and
hum some Pagan tune. No, it's simply to just think on
the word of God. Now, in order to think on the
word of God, you must first digest the word of God.
You must receive it and take it in.
The psalmist, you're saying, oh, how I love it.
You're law and I love it so much that I meditate on it all day
long. There should be in our thinking,
in our pondering. All of you think all day long.
You ponder all day long, You meditate all day long in that
there should be meditation upon the word of God in the life of a
true believer. This is that communing
meditation. This is where we have intimate
communion and communication with God through His Word.
I would ask everyone in this room and you would all give the
same answer. I could say how many of you
would like to hear directly from God and you would all say yes,
that would be amazing. That would be really cool.
Can we hear directly from God? Yes, but it is not in some
esoteric audible voice that comes from the clouds.
It is not if you were a child of the 80s.
George Burns is smoking a cigar while he's talking.
It is the Word of God that we have in our hands right here, 66
books collected by God Himself, preserved by God Himself,
inspired and breathed by God Himself, as we learned last
week, in order that we may commune with an infinite God in
our finite condition. The psalmist says I love your
law and I meditate on it all day long.
He says all day long I commune with God, the God I love,
through his word that I love without.
Thinking or pondering on His word.
It's impossible to commune with God.
It's A1 sided thing and in fact many of your Christian
relationships are one sided. All you do is go to God and
petition Him for things, but then you never listen to His
word in communion. People come all the time, Kurt.
I want to know God's plan for my life, getting His word.
Watch. As he speaks to you.
But I I want to hear something bigger.
I want to hear something more exciting.
There's nothing bigger. There's not nothing more
exciting than the infinite, eternal word of God.
The psalmist understands that, he said.
I love it. And I love it so much that I
meditate on it constantly communing with my lover.
Did you know God is the lover of your soul?
How would your marriage relationship be if you never
communicated with your spouse? There's no accident that God
illustrates for us His relationship to His children and
the fact that He is our groom and we are His bride.
And shouldn't the bride rightfully commune by thinking
on the words of the groom? Can I be completely honest this
morning? I grieve for those of you who
miss the blessing of communing with God through His Word.
I'm not talking about some 5 minute or 10 minute devotional
where they've spoon feed you one verse and then talk about coffee
and life application. I'm talking about truly
communing with God by meditating on His Word all day long.
Nothing wrong with your 5 minute devotional.
I know we're all busy. Christian, if you're too busy to
meditate on the Word of God, let me help you.
You're too busy. You need to ask God for some
wisdom and rearranging your life for you.
You were missing out on so much, and I grieve for you.
Take the time to meditate on His word, communing with Him,
communing with the God who loves you so much that he sent his
only Son into this earth to bear the wrath and the judgement that
you deserved. Surely we can fit him in our
schedule somewhere. The psalmist could.
He said I love your word, love it and I meditated on it all day
long. I commune with my Creator
through His word. This is when the Lover of our
soul speaks into our relationship.
It's where He reveals Himself to us.
This is simply listening to the One who loves you with an
unimaginable kind of love. It's lending an ear, the One who
gave Himself for you sacrificially.
This is deep thought. This is pondering the infinite
Word of God as you ponder an infinite God, as you realize
that He has entrusted you with the things that He has revealed
to you in His Word. Deuteronomy 2929 says that the
secret things belong to God, but the revealed things belong to
man. What would you think about that
for a second as you commune with God and He reveals to you in
that communion who He is, His attributes, His characteristics,
His deep love for His? Children, His just anger, His
just wrath, His beauty in all regard, His Holiness in every
situation. What's wrong with the church
today? Oh, there's so many things, but
you know one of the things we don't meditate on the word of
God. We're not thinking on it
constantly. Not so with the psalmist.
He says, oh, how I love your law.
I meditated on it all day long. You know what he's saying?
The fact that I meditate on your law all day long proves how much
I really love it. It is this communing meditation.
We feel the intimate connection that we have with God because of
the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us at the cross.
Well, it becomes more than just a story and more than just a
fairy tale. His love spoken, love described.
Well, it's true that when someone feels distant from God,
and I've seen it happen as long as I've been doing what I do,
Christians come to me and they say, you know what, Kirk?
I I feel really distant from God while I start talking about the
relationship to Christ. And some of them confirm at
least they profess that they know Christ and that's all I can
go by. It's only God who knows your
heart. They profess that they know
Christ, but yet they feel distant from God.
You know what the next question that I ask them, how much time
have you been spending in God's word?
Well, I haven't been. Well, I haven't been.
Well, herein lies the problem. When someone feels distance from
God, it's because they have distanced themselves from His
Word. You would feel distant from your
wife. You would feel distant from your
husband if you distance yourself from hearing from them, hearing
about them, conversing with them and.
It's His Word that He's given us that we may commune with Him
through the meditations of the Scriptures.
This is a communing meditation as we think on God's Word, but
it's also a consuming meditation.
Well, I would to God that His people in this church be
consumed by His Word meaning this.
Even when you want to get the thoughts of His Word out of your
heart and out of your mind, you can't because they are so deeply
rooted, though you shouldn't ever want them to be removed.
But if you were to be a fool and to desire this, I pray that you
have been consumed so much by your love for the Word that the
meditation would continue. I can honestly tell you that
I've only met but a few professing Christians in my life
who were truly consumed by the Word of God.
Who loved it so much that they thought on it, they pondered it,
they meditated upon it all day long.
They were consumed by it. When His Word permeates our
every thought, our every prayer, our every longing, our every
desire, our every decision. A man of God who loves the word
of God, A woman of God who loves the word of God will.
Be consumed in their meditation for God's Word.
Just as a psalmist, you're consumed meditating all day
long. When's the last time that you
woke up and crave the word of God more than you craved coffee,
more than you craved breakfast? Completely consumed by it,
knowing that you must hear from your God through his word.
Psalmist here saying I do it all day long.
Oh, isn't it true that we need Christians who are consumed with
the word of God, consumed by the Word of God, meditating on his
Word all day long? A person who has true love for
God's will Word, excuse me, will think on God's word, constantly
communing, meditation, consuming meditation and constant
meditation, the psalmist said. All day long, when I'm not
sleeping and I'm not eating, I'm focusing on the Word of God,
constantly thinking on the things of God that have been
revealed in Scripture. This is when the line of
communication between US and God is kept by our constant and
steadfast fast thinking, pondering and meditating upon
the Word of God. It's interesting to me a few
years back there was this phenomenon where people would
wear bracelets that had the inscription WWJD on them.
What would Jesus do? Yet we were just deciding what
would Jesus do based on popular thinking, not based on what the
scriptures say, how He truly would live.
And react. That ought to be our thoughts
not not just because of some bracelet.
We're going to be so consumed with the word of God that every
decision we make, every desire of our heart, every prayer that
comes forth from our. Lips ought to come because of
our constant thinking and meditating upon God's Word.
Joshua 18 says this. Do not let this book of the Law
depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so
that you may be careful to do everything written in it, and
then you will be prosperous and successful.
Now let me just help you. Joshua's not talking about
prosperous and successful in regard to how the world
understands it. He's talking about being
prosperous and being successful in the eyes of God.
And that ought to be the heart of every single Christian in
this room. Now let me help you.
If you want to be prosperous and successful in the eyes of God,
meditate on His Word. Dwell on his word, study his
word, think on his word. In constant meditation.
Psalm one verse one said This Blessed is the man who does not
walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of
sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he
meditates day and night. You know why this man is
blessed? He's blessed because he doesn't
walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of
sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
He's blessed because. He's delighting in the Word of
God that tells us not to do those things, and he's
meditating on God's Word day and night.
Why? Because he loves God and he
loves God's. Word.
It's important to him, and he shows that importance by his
constant meditation. Thomas Manton said this.
He said how sweet is the word of God to a believer's soul.
It is like honey to the taste and meat to the appetite.
The Word of God is the spiritual nourishment that keeps the soul
alive and flourishing. Without this daily feeding, the
soul grows weak and starves. Therefore, the Saints do well to
meditate on it and feast upon it.
The feast upon the Scriptures continually.
You know a major problem in the church starvation.
We're malnourished to spiritually.
We're malnourished because we don't go to the word and we
don't feast upon the word. We're malnourished because we
don't constantly meditate on the word.
We're spiritually shallow and the church in America.
As a whole, it's biblically illiterate.
Why? Because no one is teaching them
to think on God's Word, constantly communing with God
through our meditations of His Word, being consumed by those
meditations, consuming our entire being.
Those meditations being constant, night and day, long as
we are coherent, may we meditate upon the words of God.
This is, Manton said. The Saints do well to meditate
on it. Are you meditating on the Word
of God? True love for the Word is like
true love for anyone or anything else.
We will dwell on the object of our love.
Our thoughts will be consumed with her or with Him.
Our minds will be consumed by the things that they say to us
all. You remember those of you who
have been married quite some time.
You remember when the relationship was new and you
just watched every syllable of every word flow off of their
mouth, just thankful for the fact that they would even
entertain the thought of loving you, much less conversing with
you. Oh, when we opened the Word of
God. Please know this, that every
word that comes off the pages rolls from the mouth of God into
the lives of those He truly loves.
Meditate on those things as a person who has true love for
God's Word will think on God's Word.
Secondly, a person who has true love for God's Word will,
according to the example of the psalmist here, trust in God's
wisdom. Look at verse 98.
He says, Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they
are ever with me. I have more insight than all my
teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your
precepts. The psalmist here is expressing
that one of the reasons he loves God's Word is because of the
wisdom that he gleans, the wisdom that he is taught from
the Scriptures. He is in no way being arrogant
or braggadocious. Here, when he says things I
like, I have wisdom over my enemies, or that I have more
insight than my teachers, or that I have more understanding
than the elders, he's not doing that in some braggadocious
fashion. He's simply stating the truth
that the greatest teacher is the word of God and he has found
great value and love for the word of God.
In fact, Thomas Watson says the Word of God is the fountain of
wisdom. It opens the eyes of the
understanding and makes the simple wise.
Oh, I'm so thankful, the simpleton who stands before you.
I am so thankful that his word makes the simple wise.
That I can actually open the pages of Scripture and declare
to you what the Word of God has spoken.
And in that I speak forth wisdom that I would not otherwise have.
So we see a person who trusts, who loves the Word of God, will
trust in God's wisdom. He breaks it down for us in
three different categories. Here He talks about wisdom in
regard to his enemies, wisdom in regard to his teachers, and
wisdom in regard to the elders. What is he saying here?
Because he uses some different phraseology and we're going to
look at that. He says Your commands make me
wiser than my enemies. They're ever with me.
He says I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin
against you. Your word is ever with me, and
it helps me to have wisdom. Over my enemies.
He is talking here about discernment and trust in God's
wisdom through His Word. Because you love His Word and
you are consuming His Word. Will give you access to
discernment over your enemies, revealing the schemes of the
wicked. How do we know this?
How do we know how the wicked operate?
We go back to the scriptures. We can go all the way back to
the garden, can't we? We can go back to the deception
of Eve, the temptation of Adam to fall into sin.
We can see exactly how the serpent operates, and he has no
new tricks. He tempts us through the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
And he's continually doing it that today.
And it's the word that gives us discernment into knowing this,
giving us insight into dealing with our enemies.
Now, I say enemies plural, because Satan is only one of the
enemies that you face in your Christian life.
There are others. How about the enemy of your
sinful? Flesh that you face every day.
Your wicked heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked
above all things. Oh, we must have insight that is
greater than just our human philosophy and our human
reasoning. We must have insight into God's
wisdom. And he says that he gets that
through God's Word and trusting in the wisdom that God gives us
in his Word, that discernment, God's Word protecting us from
our enemies, Satan. The lust of our flesh.
The wolves in sheep's clothing that are constantly coming after
the sheep. The false teachers, heretics, we
go to the word of God and in that we have discernment against
those things. His word does make us wiser than
our enemies. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 5
verse 12, writer of Hebrews says this.
He says, in fact, though by this time you, you ought to be
teachers. You need someone to teach you
the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food. This is not a compliment.
This is a rebuke, he's saying. Some of you ought to be teaching
by now. You ought to be feasting on meat
so that you can teach meat to other people, but you're still
drinking milk like a little baby, he says in 13.
Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not
acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained
themselves to distinguish good from evil.
It's important that we learn to distinguish good from evil.
Why? Because evil is constantly
coming at us. Now, how do we do this?
You don't just simply pray, Lord, help me to distinguish
good from evil. You open the word of God and the
word of God defines for you the difference.
And the word of God gives you wisdom and discernment in facing
your enemies. That's why the psalmist could
say that his word makes him his commands, makes him wiser than
his enemies. And don't we have to be wiser
than our enemies and the church culture that we live in?
For so many people buy into this.
Don't be those people. Well it's got Jesus name on it
and they said they were Christians and they had a Bible
so I just listened to what they said.
No, the scriptures are going to give you discernment into who
they really are because the enemy is going to pose for you
as an Angel of light and he is going to deceive even good
hearted, well meaning people who do not meditate on the Word of
God so that they are wiser than their enemies.
Please see the discernment. That you were missing because
you do not love the Word of God. Because there are clowns
everywhere who will tell you the scriptures say something that
they don't say at all so that they can dig into your pockets
and get all the money that you have.
And you better make note of that and you better discern that.
And how do you discern that love for the Word of God?
Because if you have love for the Word of God, you'll trust in
God's wisdom as revealed in Scripture.
His Word will make you wiser than your enemies so that you
can do as the author of Hebrews says you can do, be trained to
distinguish good from evil. Do you love His Word?
And are you reaping that discernment from it?
Not only do we see discernment involved here when we are
learning to trust in God's wisdom, he mentions the next
thing and he says I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes, he said.
I'm wiser than my enemies, and I have more insight than the
people who are teaching me because I meditate on your
statutes. You know what he's doing?
He's placing more value on God teaching Him His Word than on
human teachers. He doesn't say there's no value
to human teachers at all. He is simply saying this.
He's saying I've received more insight from God himself by
looking at His scriptures and dwelling and meditating on His
Word. Let me help all of you.
Are you looking? This is not your primary teacher
of the scriptures. It is God Himself who teaches
you from His Word. And I want you to pay attention
to that because I don't ever want to be the one who leads you
astray. I want you to do as the Psalmist
is doing here, receiving insight.
That is far more than anything that I could ever give you.
This insight that he's talking about, it supersedes basic
intellectual knowledge and it speaks of supernatural
knowledge, wisdom into God's infinite knowledge, and wisdom
given spoken by God Himself through His Word.
Isaiah 55 verse 8 says this. For my thoughts or not your
thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways, declares the Lord, as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And so we read that about God, and we say, OK, how?
How can we ever know His thoughts, His word?
It's in his. Word that God has shown us his
infinite thoughts in a way that we who are finite can understand
and grasp those things, and we have to trust in that wisdom and
that insight that He gives us into Him so.
Giving us insight, insight regarding who he truly is.
Everybody's got an opinion about God, don't they?
In fact, if you've ever gone out with me, when we do evangelism,
my question that I begin any conversation with, I ask people,
what are your thoughts on God? Because everybody has thoughts
on God. The atheist is going to say I
don't believe in God. Diagnostics going to say I'm not
sure the week professing Christians going to say oh he's
he's my best friend got me through a lot of things.
But in asking a person what are your thoughts on God, you learn
a lot, don't you? You learn whether they're truly
meditating on the Word of God and know God intimately for who
he really is, not for who man has tried to make him.
And don't we know that man has many times attempted to make God
into something else? Continues to still do that
today. When we truly have a love for
the Word of God, trusting in God's wisdom alone to reveal the
truth of the Word of God, He's going to give us insight into
who he really is. I'm going to make this easy for
all of you. You want to learn who God is.
You want to know who God is. You plant your face in the Word
of God. You began to read from Genesis
all the way to Revelation as He unveils to us everything that He
desires for us to know about Him and see if on that journey you
don't fall deeper and deeper in love with Him and His Word.
Along the way He gives us insight as we trust in His
wisdom and sin side only comes to those who love the
Scriptures, who love the Scriptures enough to open them
up, to study them, to divide them rightly, to glean true
wisdom from them, to know about all of God's character, His
attributes, traits, how he operates, how he thinks, to know
everything about him that has been revealed to us.
Well, he gives us insight, Psalm, misunderstanding that he
says I have more insight than all my teachers for I meditate
on your statutes because I meditate on your statutes, I've
been given insight. Why does he meditate on his
statutes? Well, we started it with this.
He loves the the word because he loves the word.
He meditates on his statues and all meditating on his statues.
He then gleans wisdom, insight into who God is, into who his
enemies are. Then we see this, he said.
I have more understanding than the elders.
The ruling elders, they're in Israel, he said.
I have more understanding than these guys.
And why? He says for I obey your
precepts. He said I don't only know what
your word says because I love your word.
I obey what your word says to obey, proving that I have more
understanding than the elders that that pharisaical group who
who they just view the word of God as this this system to gain
knowledge. He says I have the application
to back it up. I'm actually applying the wisdom
in the form of my understanding. I understand what God has said,
therefore I am now obligated to do what God has commanded.
Understanding here speaks of wisdom and knowing the.
Will of an infinite God, He said.
It is through the Word that His will is revealed to me.
This understanding allows us to recognize God's will.
In fact, Romans 12 verse 2 says, do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. And how is your mind renewed?
Your mind is renewed through the Word.
That is how you were sanctified. That is how you were brought
from a place of deceit and wickedness.
Into a place of truth, he says. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God's will is, the good, pleasing and perfect.
His good, pleasing and perfect will.
So we see this. It's His Word that gives us
understanding into His will. People come to me all the time.
I just want to know God's will for my life.
Can you help me? Sure, I'll tell you the same
thing that I told the last 37 people.
If you want to know God's will for your life, get in His Word.
Get. In his way.
And then they said, well, but Kirk, you don't understand.
I want to know if it's God's will that I marry Johnny.
Is Johnny a follower of Christ? Why?
I don't know. I don't.
I don't think so. That's very clear.
Scripture says be not unequally yoked with unbelievers.
Don't marry Johnny. But I don't know if that's God's
will for my life. It's God's will for your life.
He's revealed in his work. Don't be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. I wish some parents in the
auditorium would say Amen for your children.
I made this little Johnny and he says, I don't know.
I'm I'm looking for a wife. What should I look for in a
wife? Proverbs 31 Virtuous wife who
can find you can't You know when you find one of those that God
delivered her into your hand, you better marry her as fast as
you can. Amen.
Preacher, help these families out.
So you got to love God's Word, trust in His wisdom so that you
know His. Will well, I don't know if it's
God's will for me to take this job.
I've looked all through Scripture.
No, you haven't. Because you would know this God
desires you to seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything
else will be added unto you are you.
Seeking God's Kingdom first? Well, no.
I'm trying to find out, to find you to take this job because I'm
going to get a big raise. Then you're not seeking God's
Kingdom first. If you go to chasing money, I
can promise you this. The enemy can throw money at
you. Seek God's Kingdom 1st and watch
this. You'll walk in His will as you
walk in His Word. As you meditate on His precepts
and His commands constantly, you'll obey what it says.
He said to have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts. Obeying God's will.
After it has been clear that He has given you understanding and
wisdom into what His will is, then you have to actually apply
it. True understanding and true
knowledge or wisdom. Will be followed up by true
obedience. Proverbs 9 verse 10 that says
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the
knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
So when you truly fear the Lord and you truly have knowledge of
him through his word, you're going to have the understanding
that you need about His will. And then you can then obediently
walk into his will. But it begins with loving God
and loving His Word and One who. Loves the scripture will truly
glean wisdom as God reveals his word to them, leading you to
fear the Lord and to live a righteous life and to walk in
obedience to all that it is that he has commanded you to do
Richard Baxter says this. The scriptures of the perfect
school of wisdom. All true knowledge and
understanding must be learned from the word.
Christians, don't consult your friends.
Don't consult your reach. Group leaders.
Don't consult your enriched teachers.
Don't consult me before you first consult the Word of God.
Nothing wrong with godly counsel, but if you've not
inquired of the Word of God first.
Don't seek the opinions of man because what you need to do is
you need to consult the word of God first.
And if you want to consult me after that, and you and I are on
the same page according to the Word of God, you know this, that
I've given you good counsel. But if you've received something
from the Word of God and you come to me and I tell you
something totally opposite of that, say that dude is a quack.
I'm never listening to him again.
I invite you to do that. I'm not infinite in my wisdom
and my knowledge. He is.
Go to His Word. And trust in him, trust in the
wisdom that he gives you. He's a person who has true love
for God's Word. We'll trust in God's wisdom.
Thirdly, we've seen that a person who has love for God's
Word will think on God's Word. There will be that meditation,
trust in God's wisdom, will trust in God for discernment and
insight, understanding from his Word.
And then thirdly, we see this. A person who has true love for
God's Word will traverse in God's way.
Verse 101 says this. I've kept my feet from every
evil path so that I might obey your word, he says.
I'm watching my steps, I'm paying close attention to my
walk, where I'm going, what direction I'm heading, what path
I'm on. I have not departed from your
laws, for you yourself have taught me, he said.
I have the best teacher, he goes on.
And he says, How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than
honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your
precepts. Therefore I hate every wrong
path. Isn't it so clear here that the
psalmist is walking in the path of obedience and righteousness?
And the reason that he's doing this is because he loves God and
His word? Do you know that a person who
loves God and His word will walk in paths of righteousness?
Jesus makes that very clear in His teaching, doesn't he?
Matthew Chapter 7 When the Lord says this, enter through the
narrow gate, verse 13 For wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads to destruction and many enter through it, but
small is the gate, narrow the road that leads to life and only
a few find it. You know why?
Because only a few really love His word and it is in His word
that the narrow Rd. is defined for us.
I have the blessing which is sometime a curse of being a
pastor in America where all people go to heaven at a
funeral. Have you noticed that they could
have been on the broadest Rd. around, but they're in a better
place? You're sadly mistaken, Sir.
You're sadly mistaken, ma'am. There's a narrow Rd. that leads
to eternal life and it is defined for us by the scriptures
and His name is Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the
life. And no man comes to the Father,
but by Him. He is the only name under heaven
given whereby men must be saved. It is a narrow road and the Word
still defines it as a narrow path.
The path of righteousness is narrow.
But a person who truly loves God's word will traverse on this
path. They will traverse in God's way.
Why? Because they're taught by God's
Word. Look what he says.
I've kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey
your word. I'm not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me. They are taught by God.
If you're going to walk on this road, you're going to be taught
by God on this journey, you must, you must go to His Word,
love His Word, meditate on His Word, just as we see the
psalmist here doing, meditating on it day and night, obeying it
at every turn, being LED down the paths of righteousness for
His glory as His Word declares Psalm 23.
We know what He says in verse three.
He restores my soul. He guides me on paths of
righteousness for His name's sake, Him leading you down the
narrow Rd. for His glory. And He does not do that apart
from His Word, And He does not do that in your life apart from
you loving His Word and desiring to be on that narrow path that
the Word defines for us, the path of righteousness for His
name's sake. Psalm 5/8 says Lead me, O Lord,
in Your righteousness because of my enemies, make straight Your
way before me. You see how He's depending upon
God for leadership in His life? Teaching him how to traverse
down his path. Lord, show me the way in which I
should go. Show me, lead me.
Are you going to his word being taught by God?
Psalm 14310 the psalmist says, teach me to do your will, for
you are my God. May your good Spirit lead me on
level ground. He said, May you lead me on the
path that you want me to go on a level path for your glory.
Will you teach me? And how does He teach us?
By His Word. It is being taught by God to
walk down the paths of righteousness for His glory, for
His name's sake. According to the Scriptures,
being taught by God is also being taught by God through His
word. So I'm sick.
Excuse me. John 6 verse 45, it says it is
written in the prophets. They will all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes
to me. Everyone of you who are in
Christ have already been taught by the Father.
And how are you taught through the Word?
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word.
Someone preached the truth of the gospel to you.
And in preaching the truth of the gospel to you, the Father
Himself taught you that that gospel is true.
In the depths of your heart, through the power of His Spirit,
He taught you that that is true. And in seeing that it is true,
He quickened you to new life so that you could believe, so that
you could profess Christ, so that you could repent of your
sins, so that you could receive the eternal inheritance that He
has kept for you. Well, those who traverse on
God's way will be taught by God, and you can't be taught by God
without His Word. I know many of the charismatics
claim to have a word of their own, right?
I heard this from God. He wants me to tell you, no, He
doesn't. Everything that God wants me to
know. Are you listening?
Everything that God wants me to know is right here.
You know why charismatics do that?
Because they're lazy and they won't study the Scriptures.
I received a word from God. No, you didn't.
In times past He spoke through the prophets and in many ways,
but in these last days He's spoken through His Son.
He has spoken. Understand that.
And if you want to hear from God and be taught by God, you are
going to be taught by God and through the Scriptures.
And the Spirit who indwells you will confirm to you if that
teaching that you are receiving from the Scriptures is sound in
the way that you have interpreted.
That's His job, the interpreter. Are you being taught by God
through His word? Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3 says
many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His path,
right? He didn't just teach us His ways
so that we can ignore them. If you're being taught by God,
you're going to walk and traverse down God's path, He
says. He will teach us his ways so
that we may walk in his paths. The law of the Lord will go out
from Zion, the word of the Lord. From Jerusalem, how is He going
to teach us to walk in His path, Church, His Word?
How has He always taught us to walk in His path, His Word?
He's not going to change that. And if you don't love His Word,
you're not going to consult His Word, and therefore you're not
going to be taught by God. You're going to be taught by
yourself or you're going to be taught by man, never receiving
direction from God himself. So we're going to traverse on
God's way, proving that we do have love for God's Word,
because Jesus himself said if you love me, you'll obey me,
you'll walk in my ways. He must be taught by God's Word.
The second thing that the psalmist is going to teach us
about this, we must be treasuring God's Word.
He says in 103, How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter
than honey to my mouth. Let me tell you, honey was a
commodity in the psalmist's day. Not everybody had access to it.
When you tasted it, it was precious to you.
You treasured what little you had, if you had any at all.
If you're really going to traverse in God's way, not only
you're going to have to realize that you need to be taught by
God through His Word, you need to be treasuring God's Word.
Love for God's Word will always be marked with a high value upon
the Scriptures. Do you value the Scriptures?
Because isn't it true that I can know and you can know how much
someone loves their spouse or their children by the value that
they place upon them? You know what I mean?
You've all been to that store, grocery shopping or to Walmart.
You've seen the mother who's dragging the kids around who are
not taken care of, dirty, neglected.
You think to. Yourself, Why do you even have
children, right? And don't look at me all pious.
You know that. You have all thought these
things. Why do you even have children if
you're not going to lavish love upon them and take care of them?
We've all had those thoughts. You can.
You can think that that's right or you can think that that's
wrong. I just simply call it reality.
What do we do? We know that someone really
loves someone when they place high value on them.
When you see a child who's taken care of, when you see a child
who's clean, when you see a child that when they speak to
their parents, their parents are attentive to them, they're
listening. Or you see a spouse who takes
care of his wife, a husband taking care of his wife, a wife
taking care of her husband taking care of her home because
she loves her children and her family.
You can say with confidence they.
Love their family, they love their children, they love their
husband, they love their wife. Why?
Because they treasure them. And you can tell that they
treasure them by the way that they treat them.
Oh, we could come up with countless examples of this,
couldn't we? You can tell how much you
treasure the Word of God by how you treat it.
That's fair, isn't it? How do you treat it?
I'm not talking about how you treat it.
Whether you think it should be on the table or you think it
should be on the ground. I'm not talking about that.
No. You should take care of it.
And value it because it came at the lives of many men who God
used to make sure that you have a translation in your own
language to read from. But aside from that, I'm talking
about how do you treasure the word of God in your heart?
You say, as a psalmist said, that it's sweeter than honey to
my lips. I value the word of God and I
show that I. Value the word of God that it
means something to me and I walk in accordance with it.
I traverse in God's way because I do treasure what He has told
me to do. Psalm 19, verse 9, it says the
fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinance of the Lord are sure and all together righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.
They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
He said, there's nothing of higher value to me than the word
of God, sweeter than gold, sweeter than all the riches of
the world, sweeter than that next pay raise, sweeter than
that next career move. Do you treasure His Word because
we treasure that which we love. I could ask every wife in the
room, would you rather have money from your husband or would
you rather him treasure you? We know the answer, husbands,
would you rather have trivial things from your wife, or would
you rather her treasure you? Because we know at the end of
the day, what we treasure is what we love.
You treasure the word of God. If you don't treasure the word
of God, don't dare say that you love the word of God, because
you're not fooling anyone. Just like that spouse who
doesn't treasure their husband or their wife's not fooling
anyone. Just like that parent who
doesn't treasure their children's not fooling anyone,
You're only fooling yourself. Person who has true love for
God's Word will traverse in God's way, taught by God through
His Word, treasuring God's Word, causing us to walk in the path
that He's laid out for us, proving that we do truly
treasure His Word. And thirdly, we will be
transformed by God's Word, transformed by God's Word.
Oh, we have forgotten that. That is the whole reason for the
Word of God. It is to transform our lives.
That's why we preach it here, and unfortunately, that's why so
many other places don't preach. The word of God, I'm, I'm not
here to criticize them. I hurt for them.
I grieve for them. I grieve for their people
because they're starving and they're dying on the vine.
And I pray for them that God would raise up a Bible teacher
in that church. So we need to be fed because we
need to be transformed. We need to be transformed by
God's Word. Not clever stories, not fancy
illustrations, not flaming motorcycle jumps.
More Hollywood on the backdrop. Now we need to be transformed by
the transformative power of the Word of God so that we can
traverse in God's way and in traversing in God's way.
Prove that we truly do love God's Word.
If you're traversing in God's way, loving His Word, you will
be transformed by it. It will result in continual
growth and change in your life. The life you once lived will be
in the past. I'm going to say that one more
time for all the people who think that they can hold on to
their past life and say that they love God and love His Word.
The life that you once lived will be in the past, and
Scripture confirms that very clearly.
First Corinthians chapter 6, the passage that no one likes to
read these days, but I'm not afraid to read it because it is
the Word of God. Says in verse 9, do you not know
that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
And then he gives this disclaimer, do not be deceived.
You know, I said that because we quickly deceive ourselves,
especially in a country where everyone has a better life when
they leave this earth. Don't be deceived, he says.
Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor
thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards nor slanders, nor
swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.
And some of you can't even hardly take your next breath
because you've committed many of those offenses.
Aren't you thankful that the Scriptures are complete?
Watch what he says next. And this is what some of you
were. Oh, you see how that lifestyle,
whatever it is of sin, was past tense, but that's what some of
you were. But you were washed, you were
sanctified. You were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
How were you washed? Through the washing of the
water? By the Word, just as Ephesians
chapter 5, verse 26 tells us. You heard the word of truth and
in that you were quickened to new life and the Spirit cleanse
you through the precious sacrifice of Jesus Christ and
you have never and will never be the same.
That is what you were. You're sanctified.
How? By the Word of God.
Jesus prayed. Sanctify them by truth.
Your word is truth. That's why we love the Word.
The Word cleanses us and sanctifies us.
And you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God. First Peter says this.
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of
imperishable. How?
Through the living and enduring Word of God.
You have been transformed by the Word of God.
Now please look at your life. And do not be deceived, if you
have not been transformed, you don't have a love for the Word
of God and you don't have a love for God, and you've not yet
experienced His love in Christ Jesus.
And I pray that He would be merciful to you today because we
will be transformed by God's Word if we are truly traversing
in God's way, because we truly love His Word.
The life you once lived will be gone.
It will be passed. You will be transformed by the
washing of the water through the Word.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 says, May God himself,
the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. How does He do this?
Through His Word. Were it not for His Word, you
would have never heard of His Son.
Were it not for His Word, you would have never heard of His
sacrifice. Were it not for His Word, you
would have never heard how you must repent.
Were not for His Word, you would have never saw your need to
believe and trust in Jesus Christ.
Were not for His Word, you would have never called on Him.
To save you. Were it not for His Word, you
would not have the promise of that forgiveness and eternal
life that Jesus Christ promises to those who believe and trust
in Him. It is His Word that transforms
those who love God and who love His Word.
And why do we love God? And why do we love His Word?
We love because He first. Loved us?
Do you love him? And do you love his Word?
And have you been transformed by it?
Are you traversing in God's way? Love for God's Word will be
marked by a life that walks down God's paths and out of the paths
where you once trod. If you're in Christ, your new
creation, a new creature, all the old is gone.
And behold, all things have been made new.
So as we wrap this up today, this lesson on true love for the
Word of God, please know that a person who has true love for
God's Word, according to the example of the psalmist here,
we'll think on God's Word, we'll trust in God's wisdom, and we'll
traverse in God's way. Now, I would ask the believer
here today, those of you who are in Christ, I'm speaking to no
one else at this time. Those of you who profess Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior, I ask you this difficult
question. Do you love the word of God?
Or do you love church?
Or do you love preaching? Or do you love coming in and and
learning just facts? Or do you love the word of God
as the Psalmist loved the word of God as an example for us
today? Do you meditate on it as one
meditates on his or her lover, hanging on every word, desiring
to hear more? Wishing that you could spend
more time with him. Do you, do you trust the wisdom
revealed in the scriptures? Do you see them as the great
treasure that they are? Do you yearn to hold that
treasure in your hand and behold that treasure as God fulfills
His promises in your life? And do you live in live a life
inconsistency with what the Word of God says with a deep God born
desire to obey his word in every area of your life, being
literally transformed by it? Do you love his word that much?
I pray for you, believer. I pray that you do.
But if you don't, I pray that you understand that God is a God
of mercy and forgiveness and you can declare that to him today.
You can confess to Him you have not been faithful and obedient
in regard to His Word and loving the Scriptures.
And I would do this double dog, even triple dog, dare you as a
believer to ask God to create in you a hunger and a thirst for
His Word that you've never experienced in your life before
and see if He's not faithful to do that.
See if he doesn't unfold endless treasure after endless treasure
in the Holy Writ. Perhaps you're here today and
you're an unbeliever. I'm going to say this rather
bluntly, but intentional. You don't love God's word and
you don't love God, and you prove that every day as you
remain in your unbelief, as you remain in your sin, as you, as
you continue to live life any way that you want to live it.
Now, I want to make this very clear to you.
I'm making this very clear to you because I love your soul,
not near as much as God loves your soul, but I can tell you
this. I love your soul enough to tell
you the truth, to risk you hating me because I tell you the
truth that God will consume all of His enemies with raging fire,
and there will be judgment upon the unbelieving who die in their
sin. And the only way out of that
judgment and that destruction and wrath that is to come upon
all the unbelieving and all the wicked, the only way out of
that, is to run to Jesus Christ in desperation and plead with
Him for His mercy. As he draws you out of darkness
and into life. To trust in Him and Him alone to
forgive you and to wash you and to cleanse you from your sin as
you surrender to Him as Lord and Savior, leaving your life of
filth, leaving your life of unbelief, leaving your life of
immorality and clinging to Jesus Christ, the only sacrifice that
is acceptable unto God. To cling to Him for the only
salvation that man can receive. I pray for you that today He
would graciously allow you to trust in Him as Lord and Savior,
That He would give you the mercy that only He can give to the
Sinner. That in doing so He would grant
to you faith to believe and strength to repent.
That you would turn from yourself and your sin and the
wickedness of this world, and you would turn to Christ.
And He will be faithful, I assure you, to save you.
Because He says that He will never turn away, not one single
person who comes unto Him, but He will raise you up at the last
day. Oh, if God is moving in your
life, drawing you unto Himself today, it is because He desires
to let you know that you were His and that He desires to
lavish His love upon you today, forgiving you of your sin,
cleansing you from all of your wickedness, and giving you faith
to believe and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you pray with me? Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you now, thanking you for your word.
Lord, forgive us when it's not the treasure that it ought to
be. Forgive us when we meditate on
so many other things that we love in this world and neglect.
Meditate on Your word. Teach us to be more obedient in
those areas. God, I pray for the unbelievers
who are here today. Would I pray today You would
extend your friendship to them, that you would take those as I
once was an enemy, and you would forgive them and wash them and
make them yours today, adopting them into your family as sons
and daughters as they repent and they turn to Christ.
And we'll be careful to give you all the glory for it in Jesus
name, Amen. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowship's Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.