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Amen. How many of you are thankful
that by His grace your life is now supported by the solid rock
of the Lord of Jesus Christ? And it is upon Christ to which
we. Stand, let me just encourage
each of you this morning before we ever get to our text for the
day. If your life is built on
anything other than Christ, your life is built upon shifting sand
and the storms, the tragedies of life will eventually overtake
you. So I would encourage.
You to see the truth that we just sang about a moment ago and
to cry out to God to save you and experience what the psalmist
said when he said that he has lifted me from the mud and the
mire and he has set my feet on the solid rock.
If you were lifted from the mud and the mire and you were placed
on the solid Rock, You know exactly what I'm talking about
and you have great reason to praise Him this morning.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the 119th Psalm and
we will be looking this morning at verses 129 through 136 as we
continue our journey in learning to live life in the light of
God's Word. We will find our text this
morning under the Hebrew alphabet letter pay, which is
the 17th letter in the alphabet. Can you believe that we have
already traveled this far? The Psalmist is going to begin
the next 8 verses with a proclamation that I really want
to hone in on. I really want to focus in on
this morning because it helps us to really gain insight into the
remainder of the text that we will be examining today.
But he says in 129, he says your statutes are wonderful.
Your statutes are wonderful. Now let me make this very clear
that that word wonderful in our English language is different
than the word that the psalmist is you using here.
We would in our English language, walk out on a
beautiful day that's not near as humid as it has been, and we
would say this is a wonderful day, meaning that we enjoy it.
We're going to see that the psalmist is not talking in that
manner at all. In fact, that word that we have
translated in English for wonderful is a Hebrew word,
pehla. That Hebrew word means something
so much more than just this is pleasing or I enjoy it.
It actually means. Extraordinary, marvelous,
wonderful, beyond true understanding that it is
supernatural. In fact, the root word of this
word pallah is the Hebrew word pallah.
Not much difference. But what Pallal means?
Is this pall means miraculous or that it is a miracle?
And so when we really focus in on the first statement that the
psalmist is saying here, it's not too big of a stretch to say
this, that when the psalmist says that the statutes of God
are wonderful, it means that his word is miraculous.
It means that his word is supernatural.
It it means that his word accomplishes amazing things.
And he rightly states this. It is wonderful.
It is full of wonder. It's miraculous.
And sadly, the Bible is not often thought of as miraculous,
though we have thankfully, in this body of believers, seen the
miraculous power of the Word of God over and over and over
again. In fact, in just a moment there
are going to be those who come and they publicly profess Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior, claiming that they have been
born again and they have believed in Jesus Christ as the
only true and living Savior who died on a cross to purchase them
from their sin. And because they realize that,
we see that as miraculous. Why?
Because man does not see that on their own, but it is
miraculously revealed to them as through the Word of God.
In fact, none of these people would be following the Lord and
believers baptism had not the Word of God first been preached
to them so that they could believe.
We'll join with them in just a little while and celebrating
God's wonderful word that He used to bring them from death to
life, showing them their desperate situation and their
desperate need for Him. And then confirming that He is a
Savior who saves all who call upon Him as His Spirit draws
them unto Himself for salvation. And so today we will take time.
I'm going to take all the time that we need to see just how
wonderful the Scriptures really are and how God has used them in
our lives miraculous, miraculously, and he how He will
continue to use them in the lives of others in a wonderful
or miraculous. Way.
In fact, the Puritan Thomas Watson said this.
He said the the word is a hammer to break, a fire to burn, a
sword to Pierce, and a balm to heal.
He goes on to say it is miracle and mercy in one book, miracle
and mercy in one book. And I pray that God would raise
up a group of people who understand this, that you didn't
just come into this auditorium this morning with any ordinary
book in your hand, but you walked in with the very wonder
working power of God in your hand according to His eternal
word. And it is His word that he spoke
creation into existence. And we will see it as His word
that he uses to accomplish so many miraculous things that go
unnoticed. And I pray today that we
recognize those things. We'd properly thank Him for
those things that we would see, as the psalmist wrote in Psalm
77 in our Scripture reading, that our God is still a miracle
working God. And he works wonders, and he
works miracles through his Word. So may we, along with the
psalmist today, understand just how miraculous the Word of God
really is. May we examine the miracles that
come forth when the Word of God goes forth, and may we properly
praise God for them. So we read in Psalm 119, verse
129. Under that Hebrew letter pay and
he says in 129 Your statutes are wonderful, therefore I obey
them. They're wonderful, therefore
they're worthy of my obedience. The unfolding of your words
gives light. It gives understanding to the
simple. I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands. Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as You always do to those who love Your name.
Direct My footsteps according to Your word.
Let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from the oppression of
men, that I may obey Your precepts.
Make Your face shine upon Your servant and teach me Your
decrees, streams of tears. Flow from my eyes.
For your law is not obeyed. Let's pray together, Father, in
the name of Jesus. We pray today that you would
make known your wonderful word, that you would make known the
wonders of your word, that we would see that when we open the
pages of Scripture, we hear directly from the mouth of an
eternal wonder working God. God, I pray that we no longer
consider the Bible as just a book that sets on a shelf and
collects dust, but that we. Would open the pages of
scripture as a psalmist is proclaiming today, seeing that
your statutes your word. It's wonderful, full of wonder,
full of splendor, full of majesty, Lord, that we would
experience in our lives the supernatural power of Your Word
as it is unleashed into us as individuals and to this church
as a whole. We'll be careful to give you all
the praise for it. Lord, I pray for those who are
here today who do not know Christ, that You would, through
Your Word, perform a miracle today.
Open the eyes of the most blinded center, soften the heart
of the most hardened creature in the room today.
Break the strongman and have him run to your feet.
Lord Jesus, in faith and repentance, calling on the only
name that can save sinners, and we give you praise for it.
We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
And so we see the Psalmist opening up again with a
statement about the wonderful word of God.
His statutes are wonderful. They're.
Supernatural. They do things that otherwise
would not happen. I can tell you this, I wouldn't
be standing here today, a saved man behind this pulpit preaching
the Word of God if God's Word did not have miraculous powers
because I was simply content, was doing my own thing, enjoying
my own sin. But it is the word of God that
shine light into the fact that I was a Sinner destined for hell,
that I was cut off and alienated from God, that I needed a
Savior. And so we see His word is
wonderful. The psalmist breaks it down like
this for us so that we can understand it.
If you're taking notes, write this down first.
The wonderful Word of God makes the simple man wise.
It makes the simple man wise. He says, your statutes are
wonderful, therefore I obey them.
He says, I, I know that I need to obey your word.
There's wisdom there because your word is wonderful.
He goes on. And he says, the unfolding of
your words gives light. It gives understanding to the
simple. Isn't it true that the
Scriptures can take the simplest of humans and impart to them
wisdom from on high? God's wisdom.
Not the wisdom of man, not the wisdom of this world, not St.
smarts from this world, but wisdom directly from God.
Please know, when you open the Word of God, you receive
miraculous wisdom from God himself.
And so the Bible delivers God's wisdom and His knowledge to an
otherwise uneducated, ignorant and simple person.
What I'm saying is this. You don't have to have a PhD,
you don't have to have a high school education, you don't have
to have a fourth grade education to be wise in learning from the
Word of God. Many of the wisest men that I
have known in my life, we're not educated by human standards, but
we're educated through the Word of God because it is in studying
the Word of God that God imparts to these men and these women who
study the word of God His direct wisdom.
So the Bible can make the simple man wise.
Proverbs 26 says, for the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding.
It's the Lord through His Word that gives us wisdom and
knowledge and understanding. Psalm 19 verse 7 says this.
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statues of the Lord are trustworthy.
Here we see it again, making what wise the simple.
Oh, I'm so thankful. For the word of God, who's taken
this simple man who probably meets no high intellectual
standard that this world measures things by, but who has
from the Scriptures learned to trust and wisdom from on high.
Because we can know this, our human intellect and our human
wisdom and our human knowledge, it will cease one day.
But the Word of God and the wisdom of God is eternal.
And so when we. Trust in the Word of God and the
supernatural power of the Word of God to impart God's wisdom to
us. We are receiving even as
simpletons. Because I can tell you this,
your PhD means nothing in comparison with the infinite
mind of God. You are still but a mere speck.
Be a God in His infinite wisdom through His Word, pours out
mysteries, gives understanding to the simple, who trust in Him
and who trust in His Word. And so we see that this wisdom
that He gives is provided supernaturally.
See the miracle in that that the Lord could take an ignorant and
uneducated man. I think of men like Charles
Spurgeon, who had no seminary degree and had no credentials,
that he's probably the most read and the most quoted man of God
who has ever existed since the apostle Paul.
Where did his wisdom come from? It was God through His word that
made the simple man wise. God provides us with that
supernatural wisdom. In fact, Paul talking about this
in First Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 25 he says for the
foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness
of God is stronger than man's strength.
He is saying what we all know, that our intellect and even our
strength shrinks in comparison to the wisdom and the power of
God. However, through the Word of God
we glean from God wisdom and power and might that comes
directly from His throne into our lives.
Paul speaks again on this in First Corinthians chapter 3, and
he says this in verse 18. Do not deceive yourselves.
If any of one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this
age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise.
Look at the paradoxical tone there that reminds me much of
Jesus when he said the first will be last and the last will
be first. The great will be small, the
small will be made great. Paul was saying this.
If you measure your wisdom by the measurements of human
intellect, he says you need to become foolish.
You need to admit that you know nothing so that you can become
wise. I remember when God called me to
preach. That was my prayer.
God, I know nothing. Yet as I studied, his word
imparted wisdom, imparted knowledge.
I find myself often, even to this day, some nearly 30 years
later, saying the same thing. God, I know nothing.
Why? Because I know He is infinite in
His wisdom and His knowledge, and I still, though I know more
than I used to, still know nothing.
I must depend upon the miracle that the Word of God continues
to bring into my life where He takes a simple man and He
continues to impart wisdom into his life that I may impart
wisdom to you, Paul says. If you think you're wise by the
standards of this age, you need to become a fool so that you may
become wise. Verse 19, he says for the wisdom
of this world is foolishness in God's sight as it is written.
He catches the wise in their craftiness.
He says you only think you were smart.
And Romans, it says this, that professing themselves to be
wise, they became what? Fools?
Why? Because they were vested in
human knowledge, vested in human education, vested in human
wisdom. And Paul's making very clear,
and that is opposite from the wisdom of God.
In fact, 19 he says that that wisdom of this world is
foolishness in God's sight. May we hear the word of the Lord
and know this. Many of us spend our entire
lives chasing after human wisdom.
There's nothing miraculous about that.
Some of you are more intellectual than others.
You were born that way. However, what a miracle it is to
see a person who may not be of the highest intellect, but who
devotes themselves to studying the Word of God.
And God brings a miracle, and he takes that simple man, and he
makes him wise. I just as a psalmist said a few
weeks ago, I have more wisdom than my teachers, more insight
to the very elders who have taught me my entire life.
How is this possible? Many people scratch their head
and they wonder, Oh, I'm thankful.
I am thankful that I have been taught in my life to not depend
upon knowledge that comes from this world or the standards of
this world, but to depend on the wisdom that comes directly from
God's Word. So we see the wonderful Word of
God makes the simple man wise. What a miracle, what a miracle.
I have a friend. He was not very educated at all.
In fact, as a grown man, 40 years old, he couldn't even
read. You know how he learned to read?
He took the Word of God. He worked in the nursery, and he
had a little Bible lesson that he couldn't understand.
And he prayed that God would give him understanding.
And he learned to read the Word of God so that he could teach
little children what God's Word said.
Oh, God does miracles through his Word, making the simple man
wise. Secondly, we see this the
wonderful word of God makes the sapped man watered what the
psalmist. Says He says I open my mouth and
pant, longing for your commands. The psalmist here he found out
in his finding that the only thing that could quench his
spiritual thirst was. The word of God, He desperately
longed to have that thirst quenched.
In fact, he found himself sapped and dried and parched, panning
for the truth of Scripture. Spiritually dehydrated.
Oh, we have a lot of that going on in the church these days,
don't we? Spiritual dehydration.
And the reason that we have spiritual dehydration is because
people have not been encouraged to turn to the Word of God
constantly in their lives and to be watered in this dry, in this
weary land. The Psalmist understanding that
the wonderful Word of God makes the sapped man watered, sapped
of all of his strength. Spiritually dehydrated, knowing
the only thing that will quench his spiritual thirst is God's
word. Oh, I pray that the church would
become thirsty. I pray that the church would
become hungry for the Word of God, that you would literally
pray this God give me a hunger and give me a thirst for your
Word of God, for your Word God, like I have never had before.
Create that in me. What's His desire?
In fact, that's the Spirit who lives in you, His desire.
Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 5 verse six.
He said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be what filled.
How do we know what righteousness really is?
We we don't learn what righteousness is by reading Time
magazine or the encyclopedia. I'm sorry youngsters, I dated
myself. You don't even know what an
encyclopedia is, Google. We don't learn what
righteousness is from those things.
We learned God's righteous standard from God's righteous
and holy Word. It is in His Word that He
reveals His perfect standard. And Jesus said, blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled. You know what?
Some of you are spiritually dry and you're spiritually thirsty
because you're not thirsting for righteousness.
Because if you were thirsting for righteousness, you would be
going to the well of Scripture and you would be drinking from
this well. Have people who come to me, they
say, pastor, I don't know what's going on my life.
I just feel spiritually dry. You know what every single one
of them have in common? I ask him this question.
Have you been studying the word of God?
No, I haven't. I've been really busy.
Let's think about. That for a second.
Do you think that your spiritual dehydration might have to do
with the fact that you are not being watered through His word
of righteousness in your life? You think it might be because
you have not devoted yourself to the Scriptures daily.
How many of you in this room don't drink water every day?
You can do this for a short period of time, but before you
know it, you're in a heap of trouble.
Some of you, you're dry, spiritually sapped and you need
to be watered by God's Word where his righteous standard and
his righteousness is revealed to his people.
He says if you hunger and thirst for righteousness.
You'll be filled. Now all of us will agree with
this. Any solid Bible teacher will say
this. God is not saying that if you
hunger and thirst for righteousness, then He'll save
you. The Sermon on the Mountain does
not speak that at all. What it says is if you're saved,
you will hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed is he who hungers and thirst for righteousness.
He's already blessed. He is already Macarios in the
Greek. He is happy in the Lord.
Why? Because he was brought into the
Lord and the Spirit of God lives in him.
And the Spirit of God constantly pushes him toward drinking from
the fountain of God's Word. That's why I would implore each
of you. You're sad spiritually.
The Word of God will water the depths of your soul.
It's the only thing that will nourish one who is spiritually
dry. Psalm one O 7 verse 8.
The psalmist says, let them give thanks to the Lord for his
unvailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies
the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
In Psalm 1 he says this verse 2. But his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields
its fruit and season, and whose leaf does not wither whatsoever
he does prospers. Who is this person who is
satisfied in their thirst? Who is this person who is like a
tree planted by streams of water?
It is the one who delights in the law of God and on His law,
His Word, He meditates day and night.
He's saying you have deep roots, and those roots run right there
because you're right beside that stream.
You are constantly being nourished by the flow of God's
spiritual water into your soul. That's why you're not sapped.
That's why you're not dehydrated spiritually.
It's because you have tapped into God's eternal Word.
And God's eternal Word quenches our spiritual thirst.
Oh, if you're thirsty today, oh please don't depend solely upon
me to give you a drink when Jesus Christ died so that you
can tap into the fountain. Tap into the fountain, and
though you'd be sapped today, you shall be watered by God's
Word, God's wonderful Word. It quenches the deep spiritual
longing and thirst As we drink from the fountain of scriptures,
as we drink from His well, stems from God's endless and eternal
supply. You know this, every time you go
to the Word of God, you will find a drink for your soul, and
you will find a drink for your soul every time that you go to
the Word of God until you stand in the presence of God literally
for all eternity. May we drink from His well the
Word that He has provided. What miracle it is when He uses
His Word to quench our spiritual thirst.
So we see the wonderful Word of God makes the simple man wise,
the SAP man watered. Thirdly, I want you to see this,
that the wonderful word of God makes this sinful man washed.
Please pay attention to this verse 132.
He says, turn to me and have mercy on me as you always do to
those who love your name. Isn't it true that it is the
word of? God that offers mercy and
forgiveness and cleansing from sin.
It offers all of those things from God to all who trust in its
promises. This is a great wonder and a
great miracle that God uses His Word and He uses this great
wonder and this great miracle to bring forth salvation and
cleansing and the life of a Sinner.
There is not a person here today who is saved and truly saved who
was not saved through the preaching of the Word of God.
It is the Word of God that revealed to you your great need
for Christ. And you saw your great need for
Christ because the Word of God revealed to you that you are a
great Sinner, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not
one, no one who seeks after him. And it is the wonderful miracle
working power of the Word of God that brought you to this
conclusion that you are a sinful man who is in need of cleansing.
Are you a are a sinful woman who is in need of cleansing?
You need God's forgiveness and that was made known to you not
by fancy illustrations or cool stories.
That is made known to you by the bold preaching of the gospel
from the Word of God. And it isn't that that God
provides the greatest miracle the world has ever seen,
reconciliation for the center to the atoning work of Jesus
Christ. He proclaims that truth in his
Word, and it's his word that allows a sinful man to be
washed. God's Word revealing our need
for mercy because of our wretched sinful condition, and
then God's Word. Being used by God to bring forth
the good news of the gospel. Bringing forth faith and
justification for the Sinner. Romans chapter 10.
Paul speaks on this so many times we run right past it.
But don't miss what he says here.
He says in Romans chapter 10 verse 8.
But what does it say? He says the word is near you.
It is in your mouth and in your heart that is the Word of Faith
we are proclaiming. They're wondering, did we not
hear the word? No, the words in you and the
words been around you. You've heard it.
We're proclaiming it to you now. And what is that word That if
you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. Not you might or you could or
there's an outside chance you will be saved.
He goes on in verse 10. For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that
you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, anyone
who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
You see what Paul's doing there? As the Scripture says, anyone
who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
But there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.
The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on
him. This is what the Word of God
declares. And watch this verse 13 for
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.
Will be saved 14 How then can they call on the 1:00 they have
not believed in? How can they believe in the one
of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them? He's giving rhetorical questions
there. He's saying that they can't.
That the Word of God must go forth.
And when the Word of God goes forth, they see their sinful
condition. They see their need for a
Savior. The Word reveals that Jesus is
that Savior. And then the Word is used by God
to miraculously give them faith as he regenerates them upon
hearing the truth. And they believe, and they trust
in Christ, and they forsake their life and their pattern of
sin, and they cling to Jesus Christ, calling on him.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be.
Be saved. How can they know unless
somebody tells them? And how can they preach unless
they are sent as written as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
I'm so thankful for the feet of the man who walked into the
auditorium on that Sunday when the Lord saved me and he walked
in and he opened the Bible. He opened God's holy Word.
And he began to preach the truth, not afraid of offending
anyone. And in preaching the truth, Kirk
Hall realized that I am a wretched Sinner.
Why? Because the Word of God declared
that that's what I was. And I was there in that moment,
helpless and lost and wretched, and I knew it all.
But when that preacher. Got to the good news for the
wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When he got to the good news. Oh, it was good news in that
moment, wasn't it? Because Kirk Hall, because of
the word of God, had already been brought to a point to know
that I am a Sinner beyond repair.
Unless a miracle takes place, I am destined for hell for.
All eternity, and rightfully so. But miracle took place, and it
is the Word of God that declares that miracle to us.
How would they know? Unless a preacher tell them,
they won't know. And here we have in our church
culture, men standing behind pulpits, telling stories and
giving flashy illustrations. We ought to be preaching the
Word of God. Why?
Because when we preach the Word of God, sinful men are washed.
Sinful men hear the truth. Oh, they may not like the truth.
I didn't like it when I first heard it, but then as I began to
process everything and God began to change my heart and my mind,
I began to say, you know what? That is exactly what I am, a
blasphemer, a law breaker, a transgressor.
And I need a savior on the sweet.
Words of that preacher that day. But Jesus, 2000 years ago, he
died on a cross to save all who will believe and trust in him,
to save all who will call upon his name.
And in that moment the Word of God worked on my behalf in a
wonderful way, bringing light to the fact that though I be
sinful, Christ died for sinners who will trust in Him.
And he called me out of darkness, and he called me into
marvelous light. And he did not do that apart
from the Word of God. Why?
Because what Paul is continuing to say there in Romans chapter
10, he says, and how can they preach unless they're sin as it
is written? How beautiful are the feet of
those who bring good news. He says in 16, but not all the
not not all the Israelites accepted the good news for
Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message, He says in
verse 17. Consequently, faith comes from
hearing, hearing the message and the message is heard through the
word of Christ. When the word of Christ is
proclaimed, when the word of God goes forth, it is wonderful.
It is miraculous the sinful man can be washed.
Oh, isn't that what Jesus said in John 15?
Three, speaking to his disciples, He says you were
already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
You were already clean because you have already put your faith
in me as the Messiah. Please pay attention to this.
He says you're clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
He says I've done all this through my word.
I've guaranteed it. I've promised the prophets.
They promised under my inspiration.
I've done a word through the word.
I've. Spoken to you in Ephesians
chapter 5. Paul calls it this.
He calls it the cleansing by the washing with the water through
the word. Well, I'm so thankful for that
day that I was cleansed through the washing of the water,
through the Word as the Word was preached, as forgiveness was
declared, as atonement was declared.
God imparted faith to trust in that.
And in that moment I was justified and I was cleansed.
Just as the Word of God promises to all who believe and who trust
in Christ. Peter declares plainly his first
epistle how we're regenerated and how we're purified by God's
Word. First Peter chapter 1, verse 22,
he says now that you have purified yourselves by obeying
the truth, so that you have sincere love for your brothers,
love one another deeply from the heart, for you have been born
again not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed through
the living and enduring Word of God.
How? Are any of us born again?
Through the living and enduring Word of God, I am so thankful
that it is the wonderful Word of God, His eternal Word, that
guarantees my salvation and makes my salvation possible.
It is the promises of His Word and faith in that which He has
proclaimed which allows us privilege and the grace
salvation. Please know that the wonderful
Word of God makes the sinful man washed.
It's by that truth that is spoken to us through the Word.
Of God, that conviction comes forth, and when conviction comes
forth, then we cry out to the Savior who forgives.
Oh, see how this works in real time, Christian.
The greatest miracle of all, brought forth through God's
word. No wonder the psalmist calls his
word wonderful, miraculous, supernatural.
Because there's no man in this room, no woman in this room, no
child in this room who could ever cleanse yourself from sin.
Yet it is through the wonderful Word of God that God makes the
sinful man washed. Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word, and you are justified by grace alone,
through faith alone and Christ alone.
That is your only hope of cleansing.
And the Word proclaims that that the sinful man can be.
And is washed. Through the washing of the water
of the Word. Fourthly, we see this.
The wonderful Word of God makes the stubborn man willful.
I know none of you need this miracle in your life, but I sure
did and I sure do. It is the word of God that makes
the stubborn man willful. Look at 1:33, he says.
Direct my footsteps according to your word.
Let no sin rule over me. Here the psalmist proclaims the
leadership and direction that is made available only through the
Scriptures. When one truly repents and turns
to Christ, his repentance is marked with a desire to walk
away from the old sin and to walk in the newness of life
according to God's Word, to walk and to live a life of obedience.
And it is through the word that the stubborn man is made
willful. In fact, Romans chapter 12, Paul
says this. Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this. World.
Why would he have to say that? Because they had always been
conforming to the pattern of the world, stubborn in what they
did, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And then you will be able to test and approve what God's will
is, is good, pleasing and perfect.
Will. Paul proclaiming there that our
minds must be renewed. Isn't it interesting that the
term that we have in the New Testament, one of them for
repentance, is metanoia and the Greek?
And what that means is to change your mind?
Now please know this, none of you have the ability to change
your mind on your own, but it is God Himself, through the Word of
God, that He changes our mind and conforms us into obedience.
It's He, through the changing and the renewal of our mind, who
allows us to now know and to live God's will, His good,
pleasing, and perfect will. His word declares that we are
stubborn in an in in, in complete opposition to God apart
from this repentance. In fact, we remember Saul of
Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul.
Acts Chapter 9. There he is on the road to
Damascus. You know how it goes, and he's
there and I'll read it for you so that we see it accurately.
In verse 3, it says, as he neared Damascus on his journey,
suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
Who could that be? And he fell to the ground and
heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
He heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me? Some of your Bibles say, why do
you kick against me? Some say why do you kick against
the pricks? Regardless of however it's
worded, we can understand this. He's persecuting God.
He is in direct opposition, being stubborn toward God and he
even thought that he was doing godly things but he was so
wrapped up in his stubborn humanity he didn't even realize
it until what the word of God was spoken.
Oh please know this. When Saul of Tarsus heard those
words on the Damascus Rd. It is the same word that we see
in Genesis chapter 1 where he said let there be light.
It is the same word that spoke this earth into existence.
It is the very word. Of God.
And so Saul of Tarsus, hearing the word of God, a stubborn man,
unwillful to truly follow God, but to kick against him every
way he could. Then he replies.
Who are you, Lord? Saul asked.
And Jesus said, I'm Jesus whom you were persecuting.
He replied, I'm the one that you're kicking against.
I'm the one that you're in opposition to.
Did you know this, the same voice that Saul heard on the
road of Damascus is the same voice that we hear when we open
up the pages of Scripture? And he says, Kirk Hall, you're
in opposition to me. Because of your stubbornness,
because of your pride, because of your humanity, you are in
opposition to me. You're in opposition to Jesus
the Christ. You know what words are.
Spoken when we read that. Oh, that ought to bring a
stubborn man to his knee, to know that he's in opposition to
his very Creator, the one who is the giver and the sustainer of
life. His word declares that we're
stubborn and we're in opposition to him, that we're in need of
repentance. In Acts Chapter 11, a few more
chapters after the conversion of Saul.
We see these words seven verse 18 when they heard this and no
further objections and praise God, here's what they heard.
They heard that the Gentiles were believing the truth of the
gospel that these stubborn, godless Gentiles were being
saved. These stubborn men, we're being
changed in their will to follow Christ, to live for the one true
and living God. This is when they heard this.
They had no further objections and praise God saying, so then
God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.
Who granted it? God granted repentance.
Oh, repentance is not something you just go grab by yourself and
you just say to yourself, you know, I think I'm going to turn
around and go the other way. You're not going to do that in
and of yourself. You're going to continue down
the path of sin and you're going to continue down the path of
hell. And I am thankful today that the
Word of God opened my eyes to that.
And it is the Word of God that made this stubborn man willful.
He changed my mind. Many people think that God drags
you out of your sin just kicking and screaming.
It doesn't work like that. God changes your will, and when
he changes your will, you run away from sin, and you run to
the feet of Jesus, and you cry out to him.
Jesus save me from my sin, never to return there again.
Have mercy on me, as the psalmist said.
As you always do to those who love your name, you run to him
and you say, Lord, I love your name.
Why? Because your very name says that
God saves, and I need you to save me.
I need you to wash me. I need you to cleanse me of my
sin. Oh, he is a God who saves
sinners, isn't he? Making the stubborn man willful?
I'm so glad that He's changed my mind and He now directs my
steps, leads me down paths of righteousness for His name's
sake. Oh, the kicker there is the
first part of Psalm 23, isn't it?
The Lord is my shepherd. Is he your shepherd?
If He is truly your Shepherd, He will lead you down.
Paths of righteousness for his name's sake, for his glory.
Are you walking those paths? Are you here as a psalmist to
sing? Direct my footsteps according to
your word. Let no sin rule over me.
Is this important to you? Oh, the wonderful Word of God.
Makes the stubborn man willful again.
I won't incriminate any of you, but had I been left to my
stubbornness, I would have busted hell wide open, and
rightfully so because that's what I deserved.
I was stubborn and disobedient to a holy God in all of His
perfect commands, but yet He was merciful to me, the stubborn man
washing me and making me willful to follow His commands.
Once a stubborn man who's now willing, desiring to walk in
obedience to his Savior. All the Word of God teaches it,
teaches us God's Word, how it transforms us, how God uses it
to break our stubborn pride and to conform us to His good,
pleasing, and perfect will. Next we see this, the wonderful
Word of God makes the suffering man well. 134 He says, Redeem me
from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your
decrees. The psalmist is going to now
teach us to depend on God's grace even when we're suffering.
We depend on God's grace when we're suffering, because we
depend on His gracious promises that are.
Found in His Word to encourage us and to bring us along in the
midst of our suffering. Notice the point there.
The wonderful word of God makes the suffering man well.
It doesn't say that it takes away his suffering.
It makes him well in the midst. Of his suffering.
Where he can walk through the fire is singing.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
It may not be well with my flesh, but it is well with my
soul. According.
To the scriptures. The psalmist here obviously
facing facing opposition from sinful men.
Now, so that you understand this, this could be an internal
battle. This could be the psalmist in an
internal battle, being oppressed by his own abiding and existing
sin. Isn't that possible in the life
of a believer? In fact, isn't that part of our
struggle to know that God demands more of us?
But yet we have still existing sin in our life and we ought to
be sorrowful for that. We'll talk more about that in a
moment. But perhaps the psalmist here is
talking about his internal battle.
Battle when he says redeem me from the oppression of men.
Maybe he's oppressing himself internally.
That I may obey your precepts. I want obedience, not
disobedience. Or it could be, as some scholars
believe, the external oppression that others were placing upon
him. Either way, he's suffering and
he needs to be made well. So either way in your life, if
it is internal oppression due to existing sin in your life that
you need to confess and repent of, turn from, or if it is the
sin of others that is done unto you or that affects you, either
way you're suffering and the Word of God can make the man
well who is suffering. Anyone here ever suffered from
your own sin, your own inward desires?
Anyone here ever suffer from the oppression that comes from
others? Yes, we can all agree that we
face both of that in. Lie.
Where's hope found? It's found in God's Word.
He miraculously makes the suffering man well so that we
can have peace even in the midst of our storm.
That's what Paul speaks of when he speaks in Philippians chapter
4 verse 6 when he says do not be anxious about anything but in
everything 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. He's talking there about a peace
that surpasses all understanding.
And how do we access that peace that surpasses all
understanding? Isaiah gives us insight into
this. 26 three of Isaiah He says, you will keep in perfect
peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in
you. And how do we trust in Him?
We trust in His word, we trust in the promises of his word, we
trust in the precepts of his word.
We look to His Word, and in looking to His Word, in the
midst of all of our struggles, in the midst of all the
anxieties of life and all the worries and all the fears, it is
well. And He makes us well through the
promises of Scripture, giving us the peace that surpasses all
understanding. Oh, if you walk with Christ any
amount of time, you know that peace, don't you?
You know that peace when you got the phone call that no one was
expecting to get and what did you do?
Instead of freaking out, instead of becoming anxious as the lost
world does, you went to the Word of God, and there you found
promises such as this there in Romans 828, that He is working
all things to the good of those who love Him and who are called
according to His purpose. And you rested there, you put
your head on that pillow, and God gave you peace in the midst
of your suffering, peace in the midst of your storm.
He gave you Wellness and healing in the midst of your oppression,
in the midst of your suffering, He gave you the peace that comes
for those whose minds are steadfast on Him.
Aren't you grateful that He supplies healing for our every
suffering through His Word? Many people suffer undue
suffering as believers simply because you will not and do not
apply the Word of God in these times.
Go to the Word of God and see how wonderful His statutes are,
even in the midst of your suffering.
Again, those of you who have walked with Him any amount of
time, you know this. There are times in your life
where you had no human answer, but you went to the Word of God,
and the Word of God carried you through your suffering, and he
made you well even in the midst of it, and He healed you on the
other side, just as He always does.
Psalm one, O 7, verse 19. It says, Then they cried to the
Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
He sent forth His word and healed them.
He rescued them from the grave. How did He do this?
He sent forth His word. He gave them a promise.
Oh believer, you have been given a promise of eternal life and
eternal rest in Jesus Christ. There is nothing in this world
that He is has not already overcome on your behalf.
Because He has overcome this world.
You too will overcome this world.
Rest in that. Be made well in your suffering.
So the wonderful word of God makes the suffering man well.
So the simple man is made wise, the SAT man is watered, the
sinful man is washed, the stubborn man is made willful,
the suffering man is made well, the psalmist doesn't end here,
and I don't want us to end here because I think this is
something that the church needs to hear abroad.
We see lastly, the wonderful word of God makes the strong man
weep, makes the strong man weep. Look, watch here 136 he says.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes.
For your law is not obeyed. Here we see the psalmist in a
broken state over evil and sin, crying this warrior who once
slayed A9 foot giant when everyone else was afraid.
Here he is weeping to such a degree, he says streams of tears
flow from my eyes. I can't even see because I'm
crying so profusely. What is he talking about?
Church, please listen to me because this has not been
preached in America for quite some time.
The Psalmist is talking about sorrow over sin.
This could be his own sin as well as the sin of others.
But shouldn't sin in general that nailed our Savior to the
cross bring us great sorrow? Shouldn't it bring us to a place
of weeping? I know in the modern church
culture that we live in where it's all about lights and
entertainment and all the things that we see, we don't have time
for weeping and we don't have time for sorrow.
You know God mandates it. He mandates it.
In fact, in Joel chapter 2 it says this in verse 12 even now
declares the Lord return to me with all your heart, with
fasting and weeping and mourning.
Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love.
And He relents from sending calamity.
You know why the American Church has not seen revival?
Because the American church refuses to weep.
They refuse to grieve over the things that grieve the very
heart of God. Oh.
Jesus himself as he walked into Jerusalem, and he saw their sin,
and he saw their unbelief, and he saw their rejection.
What did he do? He wept over them.
May we learn to weep. May we learn to weep as Christ
wept over sin, sin of our own, sins of this world, and the
wickedness that surrounds us. Thomas Brooks said this.
He said one tier of repentance is worth more than all the
outward show of religion. We can all be pharisaical
outwardly. Give this macho tough guy thing,
can't we? Oh, we've learned that.
Oh, but God does a miracle through His word.
And you know what he does? He breaks even the strongest of
men and He brings them to their knees, flowing with tears.
Oh, I love to see it. I have thankfully had the
privilege of observing it many times throughout the 30 years
that I have been doing what I do.
When God takes the biggest and the strongest and the meanest
man in the room, and He crumbles them to his knees.
And all he can do upon hearing the truth of the word of God is
weep before God, knowing that he has offended God by his life.
And in his tears of sorrow he cries out for forgiveness,
repenting with true, true godly sorrow. 01 tear of repentance
worth more than all the outward show of religion.
Oh, I wish the church would just stop getting together for the
sake of meeting. And perhaps we would get
together and weep over the sins of our nation, weep over the
sins that we still have existing in us.
That we would weep in tears, as the psalmist is doing here.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes.
For your law is not obeyed. Whether that's him not obeying
the law or whether it's someone else not obeying the law.
It brought him to a place of sorrow.
Sadly, in our country, it brings us to a place of complaining.
We look at the lost world. We just complain about how evil
they are and how religious we are.
What would we cry for them? But when is the last time that
you flooded the altar with tears?
Oh, we can go back to great moves of God.
We can go back to the Great Awakening where Jonathan Edwards
preached. We can go back to sermons.
Like sinners in the hands of an angry God.
And all historical documentation of that said that that people
began to weep and they began to well, not not only for their
sin, but the sin of all who were around them and the sin of the
world. They began to weep for the lost
people who weren't in Christ. Who needed to be rescued?
Oh, but we're too dignified. We're too religious in our days.
We're too strong all but upon hearing the Word of God, it
makes the strongman weep. Thomas Watson said this.
He said if we have no tears to weep for sin, let us sorrow that
we cannot sorrow. Or perhaps it was once a time in
your life where the Word of God, the truth of the Word of God,
would bring you to tears, bring you to true godly sorrow again,
either for the sin in your life or the sin of others.
But you have become so desensitized to that in the
modern church culture where we have no room for this.
Or may we return to this? Why?
Because it's important. Now, I'll go ahead and say this.
Tears by themselves don't mean repentance.
They do mean an outward sign of sorrow.
I saw just this week a post on social media that was comparing
someone who cries over their sin and someone who actually repents
and they presented it as an either or.
Where it's a both and someone who truly repents, I believe,
will come to tears. You say, well, do the tears mean
something? Oh yes, they do.
Did you know this both. Judas and Peter wept.
Judas wept after betraying Christ.
Peter wept after denying that he knew Christ.
Now what is the difference in their tears?
The difference is repentance. And I want you to see that Judas
did not repent of his sin, though his eyes were filled with
tears. How do I know this?
Because. Godly sorrow leads to
repentance, it doesn't lead to more sin.
Judas went out and hanged himself.
In the case of Peter, Peter wept bitterly, and he went bitterly
because the word of God was spoken to him.
And what was the word of God? Jesus told Peter.
He said, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the
rooster crows. And when Peter heard the rooster
crow, he knew the word of God was true, and he saw it for what
it was, and it made the strongman weep.
He, being one of the strongest of the 12, wept bitterly.
Why? Because every single word of God
is true. He knew that he had.
He had denied Christ, just as Christ said he was going to.
And what did it do? It brought him to tears.
Brought him to godly sorrow, and godly sorrow led him to
repentance. Paul gives clear teaching of
this in Second Corinthians Chapter 7 he says this.
Verse 9 yet now I am happy not because you were made sorry.
He's writing to the Corinthian church.
They were made sorry because they had things wrong and Paul
had to address them. He says I'm not rejoicing
because you were made sorry but because your sorrow LED you to
repentance. He said that was the end goal.
I proclaimed to you the truth of the word of God so that you
would be sorrowful to the point that you actually repented.
He says for you became. Sorrowful as God intended, and
so we're not harmed in any way by us.
He said you straighten things up before we got here, just as God
intended. You approached him with godly
sorrow. Verse 10, he says godly sorrow
brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,
but worldly sorrow brings death. You want to know the difference
between Judas and Peter? It's right there.
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and
leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death.
And it is the word of God that brings the strong man to a place
of godly sorrow where he weeps over sin.
He weeps over the sin that he has committed, the sin that he
struggles with. He weeps over the sin of his
family. He weeps over the sin of this
lost world and please for their soul.
And it is the word of God, and crushes that man once strong,
making him weak unto the Lord, weeping and dependent upon him.
And so God's wonderful word will cause a person to become broken,
weeping before a holy God over all his existing evil and the
existence of evil around him. And so I have to ask because it
bids that we ask this question amid all of the entertainment
and all of the celebration and all of the things that we see in
the modern church. Where is the weeping?
Because the Word of God demands
that we are broken over sin and that we come weeping.
I know what. Many say at this point, well, I
thought Christianity was a joyful.
Religion it is. You know what the Scripture
says? He who sows in tears shall reap
in joy. You know why there's no joy in
the church these days? Because there are no tears in
the churches these days. We come to a place where we are
broken over sin because the word of God still calls it sin, where
we are broken over our sin and the sin of those around us, the
sin of the culture that we live in.
And we cry out to a holy God in tears.
Lord, save us from this sin. Bring revival to your land.
May. We weep, may we mourn, as
Scripture tells us. So we see the wonderful Word of
God, the miracles that He does when we preach and teach His
Word. He makes the simple man wise.
The SAT man watered the sinful man washed, the stubborn man
willful suffering man well. He will take that big.
Strong man, and he will crush him and make him weep.
O may we find ourselves acknowledging the word of God as
wonderful and supernatural and marvelous and miraculous.
Thank you, Lord, and you have given us your word to the
believer today. I ask you this, do you view
God's Word as wonderful? I'm not talking about how you
view a pretty day as wonderful. You view God's Word properly.
Do you daily open the pages of Scripture that you may see the
wonders of God fly off the pages?
Do you see His Word as wonderful?
Have you experienced and are you experiencing the miraculous
change that He continually brings to those who subject
themselves and saturate themselves with His Word?
Do you To the unbeliever. I pray that today is the day
that God's wonderful and miraculous Word has opened your
eyes to see your sinful condition, opened your eyes to
see your great need for Savior. I pray that the day is the day
that His Word confirms that Jesus is the only name under
heaven whereby men must be saved.
He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to
the Father but by Him. I pray that He opens your eyes
to see that, and in that He rebirths you, bringing you to a
place of faith where you believe and you trust in the promises of
the Word of God. And you cry out to Jesus Christ
as the only hope for sinners, trusting in Him and Him alone to
save you as you surrender to Him as Lord and Savior.
Oh, may you see and may you experience the wonderful Word of
God this very day. Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you so much for your Word.
We thank you that it is wonderful and it is spectacular
and it is supernatural and it is all that it says, that it is
God. We trust today that as it has
gone forth, it will accomplish exactly what you desire that it
accomplish. Lord, may you encourage the
Saint. May you bring the center to a
place of repentance and faith, and may you be glorified and all
that you do today. And we give you all the praise
and all the honor and all the glory.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.