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learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
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pastors, please visit us at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Amen. Oh my soul, be still and know
that he is God. We can rest in that because of
Jesus Christ, Son of God, who came to this earth and who died
to rescue sinners who would believe and trust in Him and him
alone as their refuge. What peace and what hope we do
have because Christ. And isn't it good to have peace
and hope in a world as we have seen this past week, that is
full of chaos and hatred, Turmoil.
What unprecedented times we live in.
If you didn't know this, you saw this as you watched your TV
screens this week, or your phone screens.
You saw, as I have already spoken of, an unprecedented
thing. An unprecedented clash in world
views happened. I make no mistake, this is a
clear reminder to all of us that there are really only two world
views. They're not multiple world
views. There are two.
There is the world view that embraces man's word, man's
philosophies, man's ideology, man's sin, man's hate, man's
unbelief. That is the secular, sinful
worldview. There is the second worldview.
That is the biblical worldview. This is the worldview that
embraces God's word with everything that they are and
everything that they have. This is the worldview that says
I don't care about what man says.
I care about what God says. I don't care about what man
thinks in his sinful nature, that that is right when God
says, obviously that that is wrong.
It is a worldview that clings to sola Scripture, just as the
Reformers did, that it is. Scripture and Scripture alone.
That dictates our lives. And so we have seen the clash
once again, of two worldviews. This is not the first time, nor
will it be the last time that these worldviews collide.
In fact, we can go all the way back to Genesis chapter 4, can't
we? The first offspring of Adam
after the fall and what took place?
Both brothers, you know them as Cain and Abel.
Both of them offered a sacrifice offering unto the Lord.
One was according to what God desired, and one was in
opposition to what God desired. And the one who offered his
sacrifice disobediently, Cain hated his brother Abel because
Abel did that which was right in the eyes of God, and he despised
that one would do what was right in the eyes of God.
And you know the story. There were no knives, there were
no guns, there were no missiles. There was only rock.
And he took. His own brother's life because
world views collided. But let us remember this.
When this happens, our hope is in Christ and in Christ alone.
I received a phone call of this week early the morning after the
Charlie Kirk assassination and I had a brother in Christ who
lives in another state asked me what are we going to do?
Listen, what do you mean? What are we going to do?
We're going to do what we've always done.
This is not going to change anything that we do.
If we were in Christ, we were going to continue to do what we
do. We are going to stay the course.
We are going to preach the gospel to the laws.
We're going to teach the the word of God to the same so that
they can grow in the relationship to Christ and their
knowledge of Christ. We're going to say that you know
what? This is not our home, this evil
world that we live in. We're going to long even more
for that place that he has prepared for us.
And we're going to long even more for that Savior who has
made us such a great promise. What do you mean?
What are we going to do? We're going to get on our face
and we're going to say, as we do daily, come, Lord Jesus, come.
Nothing for us is going to change because the promises that
we stand in that biblical worldview that I talked about,
those promises are unchanging. They are unstoppable, They are
immutable, they are infallible, and they are inerrant.
And so we're going. To do what we always do, we're
going to turn to the Word of God.
We're going to stand on the Word of God.
We're going to teach the Word of God.
We're going to learn the Word of God.
We're going to boldly live our lives according to the Word of
God until the Savior who has promised to rescue us from the
chaos and the wickedness of this world, fulfills the promise that
He has made to rescue those who love Him.
So I invite you to turn with me to the 119th Psalm as we
continue in our study entitled Living Life in the Light of
God's Word. That's what we're going to do.
We're going to live life in the light of God's Word.
We've been learning about this for months now, and the 119th
Psalm all the way back to April when we dove into this beautiful
text, and we begin section 21 today.
We know this because of the Hebrew letter shin or sin
depending upon where you put that accent Mark.
And this shows us that we're winding down our study in the
119th Psalm. I told you in the beginning,
there are 22 letters to the Hebrew alphabet.
Each of these eight verse sections are marked by one of
those 22 letters. We are on 21 this week and as
you know after being. Taught.
Something over and over and over, through repetition.
There comes a time for a test. There comes a time for an
examination. There comes a time where we ask
ourselves the question, do we get it?
Do we get it? Do we really understand what it
means to live live in the light of God's Word and to ask
ourselves this question? Are we doing it?
Are we truly living life according to the scriptures?
And I pray that you would ask yourself that question this
morning. I pray that you would not ask
that question in reference to your husband, reference to your
wife, reference to your children, children, not in
reference to your parents. I pray that we as individuals
would ask ourselves that question, that we would dig to
the depths of our souls and ask ourselves that question.
Are we living life in the light of God's Word or are we not?
Or maybe I am, or I hope I am, or I would like to.
Whatever the answer may be, we are going to find our answer
here in Scripture. And as I said, this passage is
going to serve a test to answer the question that we have seen
running through this entire chapter of Scripture, the theme
of the Word of God. And today, what the psalmist is
going to do, he's going to hone in on that theme.
And each of these eight verse sections thus far we have seen
the Word of God mentioned. Multiple times in each of those
sections, but in this section it is particularly interesting
because he mentions it in all 8. Verses the Word of God and I
pray that we would utilize this as a tool to examine our lives
to answer the question as to whether or not we are living
life in light of God's word. Psalm 119, verse 161.
If you haven't turned there, turn there with me and let us
read this together. It says rulers persecute me
without calls, but my heart trembles at your word.
I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.
I hate and I have a horrible falsehood, but I love your law.
7 times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. 165 says
great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make
them stumble. I wait for your salvation, O
Lord, and I follow your commands.
I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly.
I obey your precepts and your statues, for all my ways are
known to you. Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you now, thanking you
for your word, thanking you for the past several months of being
challenged to live our lives according to your word.
And Lord, now we come to a time of examination where we have an
example laid before us that we need to lay our lives alongside
of and scrutinize our lives in light of the Scripture.
God, I pray that we would receive wisdom from your Spirit
in doing this, That you would, through this, raise up a group
of people who say that they're going to live according to the
Word of God no matter what those around them are going to do or
choose to do. That we truly would be men and
women who live our life according to the scriptures.
God, I pray for those who were here today who do not know
Christ. I pray that as the truth of Your
Word goes forth that You would use it as only You can to open
their eyes and open their hearts to see their need for a Savior
Lord, that You would through Your word show them that there
is a Savior who saves repentant, wicked Sinner God.
You would bring that repentance and that faith into their life
today to believe and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
God, I pray that You would receive all the praise and all
the glory for that. But we ask that You teach us by
Your Spirit. You equip us to be the men and
the women that you, Lord Jesus, died for us to be, and we pray
these things in Christ's name, Amen.
So as we begin to take this test, as we endure this time of
examination, let me just tell you, I know where you are.
I'm there too. I also have had to do evaluation
in my life during the study. Am I truly living like God's
Word teaches me to live? I've had to pray those difficult
praise. Lord, let me not be deceived
into thinking that I am when I'm not.
And let me not resist You when I realize that I'm not passing the
test. Let me humbly submit to You.
Broken and contrite before you, I pray that you would do the
same. As we look at the evidence today
of one who is truly living life in the light of God's Word, we
see the first one today. One who is living alive in the
light of God's Word will have write it down the reverent awe
for God and His Word. They will have a reverent awe
for God and His Word. 161 says this rulers persecute me without
'cause these people are persecuting me and I've done
nothing wrong, all I have. Done is stand on truth.
Hasn't the psalmist been standing on truth?
This entire Psalm? Everywhere you turn, his enemies
were coming against him. And what did he do?
He stood in truth. He upheld the law.
Of God. He upheld the promises of God.
He says rulers persecute me without calls, but my heart
trembles at your word, as we saw a moment ago in Isaiah 66 verses
one and two particularly they're in verse 2, and the Lord says,
these are the ones I look on with.
Favor those who are humble and contrite in spirit, who tremble
at my Word. To tremble at His Word is to be
in utter awe of who He is as His Word has revealed unto us, to
see who God is through the pages of His Holy Word, and to
literally tremble in awe of His Majesty and His glory, of His
attributes, of His characteristics, of His power,
of His sovereignty. The Psalmist understanding that
very clearly here, that one who walks in the light of the Word
of God, we will have a reverent awe for God and His Word,
because it isn't His word that we see who God is.
This reverence is. Awe, it's trembling, governs the
psalmist life, not the fear of persecution.
But the hatred of men or what men can do to him, even taking
his very life, he's, he's not going to bow down to what men
can do to him. But he trembles at the very word
of God, in reverence and in holy fear, in awe of who God really
is according to the Scriptures. And fear of God, not the fear of
men, will be the mark of those who really live.
Their life in the light of God's Word.
They tremble at the word of God when the enemy's at the door.
They are not trembling because of their enemy.
They're trembling and in all of God, trusting in His Word above
all things. They're like the psalmist in
Psalm 118, verse 6 where he says this.
The Lord is with me. I will not be afraid.
What man? What can man do to me?
The Lord is with me. He is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies. It is better to take refuge in
the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to seek refuge.
In the Lord, and in the promises of His word, than to trust in
man anything that man can say about you, anything that man can
do to you, Any effects that man may bring.
Upon your life, the psalmist says.
I tremble at the word of God, because I know ultimately that I
will stand and I will give an account of my life, not to man,
but I will give an account of my life unto God.
May we understand that as we examine our lives this morning,
as we ask ourselves the question, Am I really living
life in the light of God's Word? Do you have a reverent?
Awe for God and for His Word and brought by and through His Word.
Do you have that in your life? Is there an element of that in
you? You can quickly come to a
conclusion here. Let me just help you.
A moment ago when we began our worship service the same way
that we do every single week, and we opened the Word of God,
was that a time for you to talk to your neighbor about trivial
things? What is that a time for you to
just come in late to church? Because all I'll miss is the
Scripture reading. No, we're talking about people
who tremble at the very Word of God, who know when we open the
pages of Scripture, we are hearing from the sovereign God
of the universe. We're not hearing from man.
The Psalmist, as I tremble at your word in the depths of my
being, my heart trembles at your word.
I fear You over all things. I am in awe of my Creator and my
Savior as His Word reveals Him to me.
Secondly, we see this. Not only will those who are
living life in light of God's Word have irreverent all for God
and a referent all for God's Word, they will have a high
value of God's word. Look at 162 he says, I rejoice
in your promise. Again, a reference to the word
like. One who finds great spoil.
He's talking about the spoils of war.
Now let me just tell you how this worked, because we don't
understand that in our culture. But what would happen is an army
would go off and they would defeat an enemy, and then
defeating the enemy, they would take the things that the enemy
owned for themselves. But they didn't just get to grab
what they wanted, they actually brought all the spoils back.
And the king would then distribute by His grace the
treasures as he saw fit to have them distributed.
And the psalmist here is barring from that type of thinking and
that type of ideology. And he says, I rejoice in your
promise, your word, like one who finds great spoil.
He says it's valuable to me. See what happens here.
His fear and his reverence of God and His word that happened
there in verse 161. Leads to his rejoicing.
And his joy because of the word of God, he said, I rejoice in
your promise like one who finds a great spoil.
Matthew Henry said it like this, they that tremble at the.
Convictions of the word. May triumph in the consolations
of it, those of you who do tremble at His word, knowing
that he is a God who is to be feared, because he is a mighty
God and he is a jealous God. You also have this consolation
in your fear. He is also a God who loves, and
he is a God who encourages, and he is a God who brings rejoicing
into. Your life.
Oh, see it here in the life of the psalmist.
He goes from trembling at the Word of God to rejoicing in the
Word of God all at the same time.
And he's rejoicing in the Word of God, and he's saying that it
is a great treasure, like finding great spoil.
So what he's doing here, as we all should, he's living his life
in all of God's Word and in all of God, reverently approaching
God and His Word, and also rejoicing in the fact that God
would graciously give him such a treasure.
Oh please. I know we live in an entitlement
generation. Please don't think for one
second that God is entitled to give you anything.
But aren't you thankful that He has given us His Word to warn us
about the coming judgement, to warn us about the coming wrath,
to warn us about His holy expectations of man, to provide
for us in His Word? The testimony of a Savior who
came and who died on the cross, The Lord Jesus Christ who will
rescue. Those who believe.
And trust in him from the penalty and the power of sin.
I'll be thankful for the word of God because God could have just
left us to ourselves, left us in our sin, the psalmist says in
his word. I rejoice because I have been
given a great treasure, but do you rejoice in the word of God?
Psalm one 19111 you remember he says this.
Your statutes are MyHeritage forever.
They are the joy of my heart. Is it the joy of your heart
today to be sitting with other believers, Bibles open, looking
at the word of God, seeing what it is that he desires to teach
us this morning. You rejoice in that Psalm 119,
verse 14. He says I rejoice in your
promise, like one who finds great spoil again.
This is. Valuable to me Jeremiah chapter
15 verse 16 he says when your words came, I ate them and they
were my joy and my heart's delight for I bear your name
Lord God Almighty those who bear his name rejoice in his word as
a psalmist is doing here. Isn't it true that joy in this
seemingly chaotic, ungrateful, and joyless society?
Isn't it true that joy is a priceless treasure?
The psalmist says more than that, he says joy is the spoil
of the battle. For it was Christ himself who
came to this earth and who died on a cross of brutal death that
you and I deserve, so that we could experience joy in exchange
for his suffering. Psalmist gets it.
I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil that
priceless joy. Psalm 1/19/72.
It says the law from your mouth is more precious to me than
thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
You don't know if you're living life in light of God's Word.
Is God's Word valuable to you? Is it more valuable to you than
pieces of silver and gold? The economy of the day, the
treasure of the day? The Psalms are saying yes, it's
a great spoil. It causes me to rejoice.
That I have been given such a treasure.
The apostle John understood this treasure.
In fact, in his first epistle he says this in chapter one of
First John verse 1. He says that which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched, This
we proclaim concerning the word of life.
John understood that Christ is the word.
It was John. Testified that Jesus said I am
the way, the truth and the life. It is John who testified that in
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. It is John who testified in
chapter 1 verse 14 that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And now what he's doing, he is teaching the church how
important the word is. He says this we proclaim
concerning the word of life. The life appeared, We have seen
it and testified to it, and we proclaimed to you the eternal
life which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
And we proclaimed to you what we have seen and heard, so that you
also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Now watch verse 4. We write this to make our joy
complete. It is the Word that gives us
complete and full joy when we read about the Savior that John
speaks of, who came, and He came with the words of life, and He
came with salvation, and He purchased the salvation on the
cross for all who will believe through His precious blood as He
gave His life in our place. Oh, do you have a high value on
God's Word? You say, Well Kirk, you sound as
if you are equating the word of God with Jesus himself.
That is exactly what I am doing. He is the word of God and the
word of God is Christ. And when we see the treasure of
Christ, we have a high value on God's word.
He said, I rejoice in your promise.
Rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.
So if you've asked yourself the question, are you living life
and light of God's? Word.
Is there a reverent all for God and His Word in your life?
Is there a high value of God's word in your life that brings
you great joy, that brings you to a place of rejoicing?
Thirdly, as a psalmist continues this examination, he says, I
hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
I hate and I abhor all the deceit, all the lies of this
world, all the philosophies of men that aren't true, all the
false teachings, all the heresies, all the false
doctrines and teachers. I hate these things, but I love
your law. We see here the third.
Evidence is a love for truth. The Psalmist the spied the
despise the lies of men he despised, false beliefs that
were counter to the scriptures, that were counter to the one
true and living God. Can I, can I just stop for a
second and just say this? Please listen to my heart.
It is a joy to be able to pass through a church that is
predominantly made of people who love the truth.
People who love the truth from the word of God.
Because I know this, you don't come here to be entertained.
There are enough so-called churches that that they're
designed to entertain people. I am not entertaining.
I do not seek to entertain you. I seek to simply deliver to you
truth from the Word of God week after week after week, and week
after week after week. We see what God does when His
truth has been declared, and we're rejoicing that.
And so from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you for being
a people who love truth, because that is a mark of those who are
walking in the light of God's Word.
They hate lies. They hate falsehood.
They hate man's ideology. They love God's word.
Why did the psalmist love God's word?
Because it's true. It's truth.
He saw the lies, he saw the falsehood, and he knew the exact
opposite of that. I told you there are really only
two world views, lies, untruths and the truth of the word of
God. And the psalmist is standing on
the side of truth. He says I love truth.
When he says that I love truth, you know what he's saying?
I love truth because your law reveals truth.
Is that not what Jesus said in John 1717 when he prayed for the
believers to be sanctified and he said sanctify them by truth.
Your Word is truth. And so you can't claim to love
truth if you don't love the word of God, because the Word of God
is truth. That is why the psalmist said I
love your law. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 10.
Often overlooked and read. Past.
But you know what it does? It speaks of the wicked.
Perishing under the deception of Satan in the end.
And you know why they perished? They perished because they
refused to love the truth. 2nd Thessalonians 210.
It says that. It says they perish because they
refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
Were it not for the truth of the Word of God, none of you would
be saved. It is the truth, and upon
hearing that truth, that all of us have come to know Christ.
And Paul says that the unbeliever perishes because they
refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
You know what he's saying there. Don't miss it.
Saved people love the truth, and those who do not love the truth
are not saved people, because saved people believe the truth.
And they love the truth, just as the psalmist is displaying here.
I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
I love the truth. Isn't it true in the church
today always spoke of revival in our last time together.
But don't we need men and women who will hate the wicked lies of
this world and who will cling to the truth of God's Word?
Why? Because they love it.
People ask me all the time.
Why are you so excited? Why are you passionate when you
preach? I'm not angry.
So all you people who are new here today, don't leave her.
So wow, he must be mad. I'm not mad about anything.
I'm passionate about the truth of the Word of God.
Why? Because I love it.
I love it because it was a time in my life where I walked into a
church service and I was an enemy of God.
I was a wicked, sinful scoundrel, deserving of the
wrath of God, deserving of hell. And I walked into that building
and a man preached to me the truth from the word of God.
And it is that truth that God used to rescue me from my sin,
to rescue me from the hell that I deserved.
It is that truth that I. Love.
And so pardon me if I'm passionate about proclaiming
that truth. I think we need more men and
women who are passionate about proclaiming the truth.
Why? Because your lack of passion
disturbs me. Your lack of passion.
Contradicts the word of God. The psalmist here saying I hate
and abhor falsehood, but I love your law, Oh my God.
Raise up a group of men and women who value the truth of the
word of God and who will not compromise on that truth because
they love it. I love your law, the very word
from the mouth of God. Was there anything wrong with
loving that? No.
I've already used this illustration and one of our
sermons together in this particular chapter, the
illustration of the love letters that I received from my wife
when I was just a teenage boy that stay in a box.
They are some of my most prized earthly possessions because
she's a gift from God to me and I watched him develop that love
that we have for one another that endures all the hardship of
this life. We serve him together.
If I were to open one of those letters today, and you grew up
in the 80s or 90s, you know what I have to do?
I have to see the little tab that says pull.
You young people that are dating, you got it easy.
You just send a text message. We actually have to put some
effort into learning how to fold those things with the pool and
heart. If I were to pull those one of
those letters and open it up and see her expressing her love for
me again, I would love those words because I love the one who
has written those words. So the psalmist.
Saying here I love the word of God because these are the very
words of God. This is his love letter to us.
And I love his truth. So I see one who's living life
in the light of God's word. We'll have a reverent all for
God in his Word, a high value of God's Word, a love for truth.
Fourthly, they will have a life of praise for the God of
Scripture. Look at 164, he says.
Seven times a day. I praise you for your righteous
laws. 7 times a day and no one can argue.
He must be passionate about praising the Lord, right?
What? What does this guy have?
Does he have an alarm set 7 times on his Apple phone?
No, he doesn't. They didn't have those things.
What is he meaning here? Is he?
Is he meaning this figuratively? Perhaps.
Perhaps he's meaning that oftenly and consistently.
I take time to praise the Lord throughout.
My day and we should, shouldn't we?
But there are those who. Believe that he is speaking
literally here. In fact, just.
A little research and you'll find there was a Jewish custom.
Among the rabbi's where they would pray twice in the morning
before reading the 10 commandments and once after, and
then they would pray twice in the evenings before reading them
and then twice after, which equals 7.
Perhaps he's talking about those seven times a day.
The scripture does not give us clear indication for those of
you who are checking my math because you know how horribly of
a mathematician I can be. That's.
Right, that's 7 and I don't. Know if he's speaking here of
literally 7 times in the literal sense or in the figurative
sense. But I can't conclude what he is
saying. He's saying this throughout my
day. I'm consumed with praise to God
for His Word. I'm consumed and passionate
about praising the Lord. And this did involve praise for
his word, Thanking the Lord that you have given me such a
beautiful treasure. When's the last time that you
read a passage of Scripture that gave you hope and peace?
And you stopped and turned to the Lord and said, thank you,
Lord, thank you for giving me that hope and peace from your
word. I praise you for your word.
He didn't have to give you that. Blessing but he's preserved it
so that we can have it so that it does bring him praise and
honor and glory in our lives. Psalm 5610 it says I trust in
God will not be afraid what man can do to me.
I trust in him and him alone. What what a comfort that we have
from the word of. God, should we praise Him for
that? Yes.
We should praise him that we don't have.
We don't have to be afraid of what man can do to us.
Psalm. 5610 I misquoted that. Let me read it to you correctly.
In God whose word I praise. In the Lord whose word I praise,
the psalmist that are being totally captivated by praising
the word of God. You have to pardon me.
I'm getting used to my new spectacles.
As if you didn't notice the psalmist praising God for His
word. We see him doing that again in
Psalm 19 verse 7 and 8, where it says the law of the Lord is
perfect, reviving the soul. The statues of the Lord are
trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving a light to the
eyes. He's taking his time, and he's
praising God for His word that He has given unto us.
Are you doing that in your life? Are you thankful for the peace,
the understanding, and the wisdom that we glean from the
Word of God, the joy that it brings to our hearts and to our
lives? So we see the Psalmist giving us
the example of one who has a life of praise for the God of
Scripture. It's in and through the Word of
God, isn't it, that He has revealed truth concerning how
worthy He is to be praised? Is there anyone here who would
like to argue God's worthiness and being praised?
I can tell you this if you just talk in simple terms.
You woke up this morning when many didn't.
You have a reason to praise Him. He's worthy because He is the
giver and He is the sustainer of life.
Psalm 145 verse 3, it's as great as the Lord and most worthy of
praise. His greatness no one can fathom.
He's more worthy than you can even begin to fathom.
Psalm 96 four says for great is the Lord and most worthy of
praise. He is to be feared above all.
Little G Gods, are you approaching him in this manner?
Is your life a life praise for the God of Scripture.
The psalmist said seven times a day I praise you for your
righteous laws. Let me just go on and help you
all out and tell you, you can't truly study the Word of God and
not have praise for it. I find myself often studying the
scriptures and I get to something that maybe I have read
20 or 30 or maybe even 100 or 200 times and I will see
something in there that perhaps I missed or perhaps I had
forgotten my fallible mind and God reminds me of it.
And is that in those moments where my eyes turn away from the
pages of Scripture, my eyes turn to heaven.
And I began to think and thank you Lord, for your word.
Thank you for revealing that to me.
Thank you for teaching me that you didn't have to do that.
It is by your grace, it is your kindness that has done that.
Thank you Lord, you are worthy of all of my praise.
Oh, don't think for a second that you were entitled to His
word. Praise Him for it.
It's a gift continue on in this 119th Psalm 1, who's living life
in the light of God's Word will have fifthly a great peace from
God's Word. He says great peace have they
who love your law and nothing can make them stumble.
Psalmist here testifying to the peace of God that comes from
loving and walking in God's word.
Now don't we have that peace? Those of you who have walked
with Him and walked in His word any amount of time, you know
that it brings peace into our lives when the whole world is
freaking out and the whole world doesn't know what to do.
His people should rest in the peace that comes from His Word.
Great peace have they who love your law.
In fact, Isaiah. In the 26th chapter of his book
he says this. In chapter and verse three he
says, You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are
steadfast because they trust in you.
How do we know to trust in Him? We learn to trust in His Word,
and we see how faithful He is to His Word.
And when we see His faithfulness in His Word, our trust and our
faith in Him grows ever and all the more.
He keeps us in peace, he says. Perfect peace, the psalmist here
calling it great peace. Aren't you think well that his
peace is great and it's perfect. It's not mediocre,
run-of-the-mill, average peace. That's what the world has.
God in his word has given us great peace.
In fact, Paul says to the Philippians in chapter 4 verse
six, he says do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your
request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.
Jesus, oh what great peace as many as often happens in chaotic
situations. Are looking for peace.
May I say to you, look no further, We have peace from the
word of God and we have peace from the word of God because it
is the word of God that that reveals to us the Prince of
Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
allows us to walk in peace and who guards our hearts and our
minds. If we are in him.
There's no reason to run around anxiously fretting or worrying
about thing. With the trust Christ, with your
life, and walk in the peace of God.
It is the peace of God that carries the one who trusts in
the Word of God. Second Thessalonians chapter 3
Paul praying for those at Thessalonica.
He says this in verse 16. Now may the Lord of peace
himself give you peace at all times, in every way.
The Lord be with all of you. Oh.
Don't you love how Paul says that at all times and in every
way? May you rest in the peace of God
at all times and in every way. How do we know about this peace?
Through the word of God. That's why the psalmist can say
great peace Have they who love your law?
Nothing can make them stumble. It is the peace of God that
carries us through everything, any and all things, through
suffering, through chaos, through persecution, through
trials. Any of you ever been through a
trial? It is the peace of God that
comes from his word, that comes from Christ that carries us
through trials. How about sickness?
How about death? About death, Great peace have
they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble,
not even death, Death itself. Why?
Because the word declares that we in Christ have victory over
death because he has overcome the grave.
John Bunyan said believers won't stumble because, and I quote,
they have a God to fly on to in. All their troubles and a sure
covenant to rest upon. We have a God to fly to in all
our troubles and a sure covenant.
That covenant that was made through the precious blood of
Jesus Christ and cannot be undone.
So in every situation we have great peace, peace that
surpasses all human understanding and human
explanation. Peace that allows us to walk
with hope when others are seemingly hopeless.
Romans chapter 15 verse 13, the apostle Paul speaks on this.
He says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit. Isn't it true that the peace
that we received from the word of God also brings us hope from
that same peace? How can this be so?
Because it's promised by Jesus himself in His Word to all who
follow him. John chapter 14 verse 27.
The Lord said peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Aren't you thankful for that? He's not giving you the same
kind of peace that the world's looking for.
I'm giving you a different kind of peace.
I'm giving you a piece of knowing this, that I'm going to
a cross and I'm going to suffer and I'm going to die at an end
and endure A brutal death. But my Father who is in heaven
has promised me by his word that he is going to to raise me to
life again. And he says, I'm giving you that
kind of peace, the peace that Christ had on the cross, the
peace that Christ had when he stood before his accusers and he
said nothing. He said My peace I leave with
you. He says, I do not give to you as
the world gives, because the world gives peace like this.
Peace is just the absence of conflict.
No, that's not the peace of Christ.
The peace of Christ is peace in the midst of conflict.
It's in the midst of turmoil. It's in the midst of death.
It's in the midst of tragedy. And then he says this, Do not
let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Oh, we have great 'cause to not let our hearts be troubled and
to not be afraid in every situation.
Why, we have the peace of Christ.
If you were in Christ, you have that peace.
You have that. Confidence of that peace from
the Word of God promised by Jesus Christ himself.
So if you're still taking this test, oh, don't dare check out.
If you don't finish the test, you're surely not going to pass
the test. One who is living life in the
light of God's Word, we'll have a great peace from God's Word.
Do you have that peace? You have that peace that
surpasses all understanding. You have that peace from Christ
Himself to those who He has truly saved and cleansed of all
their sin, you have that peace. Next, one who's living life in
the light of God's Word, we'll have confidence in God's
salvation. 166 The psalmist says, I wait for your salvation,
O Lord, and I follow your commands.
I wait for your salvation. I follow your commands.
You know what he's doing. He's confident, confidently
believing that God can and does and will save those who trust in
Him through the promises of His Word.
It is God Himself who promises salvation unto us.
Know that salvation has not come to full fruition in our lives
because we know that we are justified.
We are being sanctified, and one day we will be glorified where
we are perfected in the presence of God forever.
We are not yet there at glorification, but the psalmist
has confidence of knowing this. But I'm going to patiently wait
for that salvation because God has promised and God is good.
He is faithful to all of His promises.
Hebrews Chapter 7, verse 25, it says this about our Lord.
Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God
through Him because He always lives to intercede for them.
We can have confidence that He can and does save us completely,
and we have that confidence from the Word of God.
And so we are not waiting. For the fulfillment of our
salvation in vain, we are not waiting for our glorification in
vain. And that's why He tells us that
He's given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit, a guarantee that He
is going to fulfill that which He has started in US.
Just as Philippians chapter one, verse 6 says that we can be
confident that He who began a good work in US, we'll carry it
unto completion. Are you thankful for?
That this morning and we can have confidence in God's
salvation, longing for him, waiting for him, waiting for the
promises that are as good as ours.
Hebrews Chapter 9, verse 28, it says so Christ was sacrificed
once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a
second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who
are waiting for him. Do you have that hope?
Because when he comes the second time, he's not coming to die for
sin again. He's already accomplished that.
He's coming to rescue those who are waiting for his salvation.
As the psalmist is waiting for his salvation here.
They're waiting on the promises that have been revealed as
through the scriptures. Does that describe you?
Not only is he confidently believing that God can and does
save all who trust in Him for salvation, he's also confidently
believing that those who are saved will have evidence that
they are truly saved. I know this bothers some people,
but watch what the psalmist says.
I wait for your salvation, O Lord, and I follow Your
commands. You know what he didn't say?
I follow Your commands so that I can have salvation.
See the order there? As I am waiting for the promise
of salvation to be completed in Christ Jesus, I in my sanctified
life am following and obeying Your commands.
He's saying that those who are truly saved will have evidence
that they are truly saved. I say that so that you
understand this clearly. If you have no God wrought
desire to obey God's word inside of you, you have no real hope of
salvation because a true believer will have a God wrought
desire to please the one who gave himself for him or for her.
And if you don't have this, you're in deep spiritual trouble
according to what John said. First John chapter 2 verse 20,
verse three there of of chapter 2 he says we know that we have
come to know him if we keep his commands.
Whoever says I know him but does not do what he commands is a
liar and the truth is not in that person.
James in a more blunt fashion says this in James chapter 2
verse 17. And the same way, faith by
itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
What are these men of God saying they are?
Complimenting what the psalmist is saying here, he's saying, I
wait for your salvation, O Lord, and I follow your commands
because I am saved. I have been given that
guarantee. Now, out of appreciation for the
salvation that you have so freely given me, I am obeying
your word. I'll make no mistake.
He's not trying to live a right life so that in the end God will
say, OK, your right outweighs your wrong.
It's never going to happen. He's saying, because God, you
have so graciously saved me according to your word, and I
have that promise, I wait for that promise.
And as I wait for that promise, I obediently live for you.
Well, if you claim to be waiting for the promise salvation that
Jesus has made to his followers, let me remind you of this.
Now, if you're really one of those who is truly saved, that
your life will be changed, you are a new creation.
In fact, Ezekiel describes it like this.
In chapter 36 verse 26, he said, I'll give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put
my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful
to keep. My laws, What is he saying?
God is going to bring a work in those who are truly waiting for
the salvation that they have been promised, and that work is
going to be displayed by your life being consistent to the
things that the Word of God teaches and.
It is a work of God. And if the Spirit lives in you,
that work is going on. Now let me help all of you.
If that work is not going on, the Spirit does not live in you.
And if the Spirit does not live in you, you are not truly born
again. You're not truly in.
Christ, as Romans chapter 8 confirms that that if you are
truly in Christ, the Spirit will indwell you.
This is no second blessing. The Spirit is the guarantor of
all who come to know Christ that all of His promises will be
fulfilled. And He is that counselor, and He
is that Teacher who will lead our new hearts into obedience
for the glory of God. You're still taking this test.
Is your life marked by confidently believing that those
who are saved will have evidence of this, And is that evidence
seen in your life? Lastly, as we continue to
examine ourselves in light of God's Word, the psalmist says in
verse 167, I obey your statutes, for I love them.
Greatly a God wrought desire to obey always leads to obedience.
Don't miss that you're going to actually do what you say that
you believe it in high time that Christians actually do what they
say that they believe. Because you're not fooling
anyone and you're sure not fooling God.
You have a profession with no actions to back up your
profession. Because someone who's really
living life in the light of God's Word will have a life of
obedience to God and His Word to prove it.
I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly.
I obey your precepts and your statues, for all my ways are
known to you. What is he saying in these last
two verses? First thing he's saying is this,
that he's driven by a love for God and his Word.
I obey your statues, for I love them greatly.
Do you love the Word of God? Do you love the word of God
enough to obey the word of God? Because your love for the Word
of God is a direct mirror. It is a direct reflection of
your love for God himself. Jesus said if you love me, you
will obey me. This is not optional.
It is not optional even in our antinomian way of thinking.
We are recipients of grace only just to abuse grace.
You're no true recipient of grace at all, because if you
truly received grace the way that scripture says that you
have are to receive grace, you will have a life of obedience
unto the Lord. Showing that you were thankful
for the salvation that He has given you.
Showing that you understand that he who knew no sin became sin so
that you might become the righteousness of God, knowing
that that unfair exchange happened.
And you were saved because of it, because he loved you so
much. And in return, what are you
going to do? You're going to love him and
you're going to love his word, right?
You love him because he first what loved you.
Your life will show this. Your life will be driven by a
love for God and his word, just as the psalmist says here.
I, I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly.
He's driven by a love for God's word.
He's not ashamed of that. John chapter 14 verse 23, Jesus
replied, if anyone loves me, He will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him and He will come to Him and we will
come to Him and make our home with Him.
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own.
They belong to the Father who sent me.
So it's pretty simple isn't it? Two world views, those who love
the Lord and His Word and who are truly saved in Christ, and
those who don't and who aren't. And it's high time we examine
our lives. Is our life consistent with our
claim? Am I obediently living my life
in the light of the truth of God's Word?
Am I driven by my love for God in His word and everything that
I do and everything that I say and everything that I
participate in, how I raise my family, how I treat my wife, how
I treat my husband, how I treat my friends, how I speak to my
children, my reflect in Christ. Not only do we see this life of
obedience to God and His Word in the life of the psalmist being
driven by the love of God that He has and love that He has for
His Word, we see this that it's motivated.
By an understanding of God's sovereign position.
Don't miss this. He says, I obey your precepts
and your statutes. He's going to give you the
motivation behind this. He says, I obey your statutes,
for I love them greatly, and I obey your precepts, steps and
your statutes, for all my ways are known to you.
The psalmist here being motivated by God's sovereign
position. He is actually living his life
knowing that it was under the constant gaze of a sovereign
God. Church, let me just tell you
this. Whether you are in Christ or
whether you aren't, you are living your life under the
constant gaze, gaze of an omniscient, omnipresent,
almighty God who sees and who knows all things.
What a motivator. You're not going to hide
anything from him. The psalmist says I'm obedient
because I know that he knows who I am and he knows what I'm doing
and he even knows why I am doing it.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13. It says nothing and all creation
is hidden from God's sight. Let's just take a deep breath
there for a second. Meditate on that nothing is
hidden from God's sight, nothing that you do, nothing that you
say, nothing that you try to hide in the darkness of your
sin. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before his eyes. Before the eyes of him to whom
we must give an account. Look, the psalmist is saying
that is my vote of motivation. Let that be your motivation.
Why do I live in obedience to the word of God?
Because I'm going to have to give an account.
And God is not going to miss anything because he doesn't miss
anything. He knows the beginning from the
end. He has already seen it.
He is not shocked by any of it. And we?
Must understand that we're living our lives before him.
I obey your statues, your precepts, for all my ways are
known to you. Proverbs 521 For a man's ways
are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths.
Well, if you were to really get in your mind today the truth
that God is examining all your paths, will there be change in
your life? Will there be repentance in your
life? Oh, for the believer there will
be. The believer will be convicted
and moved to that. To the unbeliever, he'll say, Oh
well, and he'll create all sorts of ideas as to why not believe
in a sovereign God, but you better believe in a sovereign
God. Because He knows all of your
ways, there's nothing that is hidden from Him.
In fact, Psalm 139 verse one says you have searched me, Lord,
and you know me. You know when I sit and when I
rise, You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You know what's going through my mind before it ever goes through
my mind. You discern my going out and my
lying down. You are familiar with all my
ways. All my ways are known to you.
Is that not what the psalmist just said in Psalm 119, verse
168? He says in verse 4, before a
word is on my tongue. You, Lord, know it completely.
You held me in behind and before, and you lay your hand
upon me. He says I know you're you've
gone before me, you're behind me, you are encompassing me.
You are everywhere, all of the time, all knowing I cannot hide
from you. William Ganahl said this.
He said I may hide thee from my eye, but not myself from thine
eye. Speaking of the Lord.
Oh, I can hide myself from God, as Adam tried to do.
And Eve tried to do in their shame, though they could not
cast their eye upon God, God's eye was already cast upon them.
Oh, you can hide God from your eyes, if you so choose to do
that, as many have done right. Take the word of God out of the
schools. Take the word of God out of the
courthouses, if all but taken the word of God out of the
churches. All in the name of being hip,
cool, and relevant. And you can hide your eye from
God all you want, but He does not hide his eye from you.
Or to live our lives according to a Latin term, corumdeo, and
it means this before the face of God or more accurate in our
English language, in His presence.
Fact, I have a placard in my office that a dear friend gave
to me to which I'm I'm so thankful for because I have
those days, just like all of you have those days when I need to
be reminded I'm living my life in the face of God, that I'm
constantly in his presence, that I'm living life.
Corum Deo knowing, as the psalmist said here, I know that
you're not going to miss a thing.
All my ways are known to you. RC Sprole describes it like
this. He says to live Corumdeo is to
live 1's entire life in the presence of God, under the
authority of God, to the glory of God.
That's what it means. That's what the psalmist is
doing here. He is saying, I'm living my life
Corumdeo, obeying the precepts and the statutes of the Lord,
because all of my ways are before Him.
I cannot escape His gaze, and I will not escape His judgement.
Therefore I obey Him. And so we see here an
understanding of God's sovereign omnipresence and how it should.
And it will motivate the true believer in his or her life to
obey God even when they think no one else is looking.
And your lack of recognition of God's omnipresence doesn't
change the fact that He's always present.
Let it motivate you, as it did the psalmist, to live a life of
obedience unto his God and unto His Word.
And so let's wrap this test up. I told you as we started.
Examine yourself. Examine yourself to see if
you're truly living life in the light of God's Word.
Do you truly live according to the Scriptures?
Because one who's living in in the light of the Word of God
will have a reverent all for God and his.
Word, do you have this? They will have a high value on
God's Word. Is that present in your life?
They will have a love for truth. They will be lovers of truth.
Their life will be a life of praise.
To the God of Scripture, their life will be a life of great
peace that comes from God's Word.
Do you have that peace? Your life will be a life of
confidence in God's salvation as defined in Scripture.
And as we saw just a moment ago, their life will be a life of
obedience to God and His Word. So ask yourself that most
difficult question. Are you living your life in the
light of God's Word? Are you living your life in
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you living your life believer in obedience to what
His Word has commanded you to those of you who profess Christ?
After this extensive and intense, I'll be an examination
and it is intense. Are you living?
Life in the light of God's Word to the unbeliever you are not.
And it is that plain and is that simple.
You do not have the capabilities of doing so.
You cannot live in obedience to the Word of God.
You are living in darkness and you are living in deception and
you are living in sin. And according to the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, you must be born again.
My prayer for you today is that He in all of His mercy.
Would come to you and that he would breathe life into your
dead soul, and for the first time you would see the
wickedness of your sin. You would know that that is
deserving of the wrath of God, and you would plea that Jesus
Christ would be charged to your account, that His sacrifice
would be applied to you, that you would be washed and cleansed
of all of your sin, that you would turn from your wicked
ways, and that you would turn to faith in Jesus Christ and
surrender to Him as your Lord and Savior.
This. Very day as he ushers you out of
darkness and into his marvelous life.
As first Peter speaks of the second chapter, oh unbeliever
surrendered to him today, pin of your sin and trust in Jesus
Christ to forgive you and wash you of all of your sin.
According to the word of God, there is no hope of salvation.
Apart from that, there is no other name under heaven given to
men whereby we must be saved. You're not going to get there
any other way. You're only going to get there
according to the light of Scripture and Scripture has
spoken. Jesus himself said I am the way,
the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by
me. Turn from your sin, turn to
Christ today. Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that it is all true and it is all inerrant and is
all inspired God as it has gone forth today.
We know that it will accomplish exactly what you desire for to
accomplish today. Lord, my prayers this that it
went out to the hearts of those who don't know Christ, Lord,
that you would use it to open their eyes to see the truth.
And the truth is that we are all sinners and we are all in need
of a Savior and that that Savior has been given.
That they would hear that clearly today, that they would
turn to Jesus Christ and flee from the wrath and the judgement
that is to come upon the unbelieving.
That they would by faith believe in You, turning from unbelief
and sin, turning to Christ. God, I pray for every believer
in this room today. They would truly examine their
life. And if they fall short, that
they would run to your throne of grace.
Grace this morning in complete honesty, confessing their sin
and asking for help from from your Spirit to walk in obedience
to your word and we'll give you all the glory for it in Jesus
name, Amen. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.