For our thinking this morning, I'd like you to turn with me to the Psalm 119 that we read a portion of together. And I would like us to focus on the verses from verse 89 to 96. Psalm 119 and verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine afflictions. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad. I wonder if as you look around at contemporary society there is a measure of dismay. When you see all that's going on, all the way in which society is going, whether you have real fears and real concerns about our place as Christian believers, as churches and as individuals in such a society. a society that's turning its back systematically upon the teaching, upon the precepts of God's holy word. We see in the media terrible things portrayed. We see things that in a previous generation would have been embarrassing even to speak about being paraded as good and lauded as right and acceptable and even promoted. We see in the schools all sorts of things set before our young people that are contrary to the Word of God. We see in society itself enshrined in law things that turn upside down the holy and righteous and moral law of our God. We see in society more generally in the world forces that are beginning to manifest themselves which, if we really sit down to think about them and where this could lead the world and society as a whole, would give us cause to be almost alarmed. Well, what is our stance? How do we interpret these things? How do we look at these things? And this passage will help us to refocus because this passage tells us that there is a place where we can get an explanation of all these things. There is a place where we can look and we can make sense and we can begin to unpick all these forces and contrary influences and have an understanding of what's going on. And that is in God's Word itself. But there's something else just to set the scene on our thinking. There is sad to say among Christians, and very sad to say sometimes it comes across in a very marked way in our reformed churches and reformed circles, there is a kind of attitude that reduces Christianity to a you can't do this and you mustn't do that a set of rules that we must follow and we must never deviate from. And that too is a negative influence that this passage will just help us to counter. And it is to God's Word that we turn again to see, well, how should we live? How should we approach life? How should we conduct ourselves? And what we see in this passage is that rather than the Christian life, the Christian message being a message of thou shalt not do this, you mustn't do that, the Bible comes to us with a set of principles. And these principles we shall see as we trace through the passage are enduring and they are comprehensive, they are positive, they are wonderful, they are beneficial to us as individuals and to society at large. And so we will come, I trust, at the end of our service this morning with renewed trust in the Word of God as the great source to which we must turn for everything in our Christian walk, in our understanding of life and society in general and our relationships in every direction. Well, the whole psalm, Psalm 119, focuses upon the Word of God. This is the great theme of the entire psalm. And in the psalm itself, and in this portion of the psalm, a number of different words are used to stand for the Word of God. Verse 89, Thy word forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. In verse 91, it is thine ordinances. In verse 92, thy law. Verses 93 and 94, thy precepts. Verse 95, thy testimonies, and in verse 96, thy commandment. All of these are words that have their own significance. They all give us a special insight into what's intended and meant, what aspect of the Word of God is intended, but for our purposes this morning, we'll treat them all as synonyms. We'll look upon them as just words that direct our thoughts, to God's revealed Word, His Word, the Bible, that we have in our hands. We could divide the passage up into two parts, verses 89 to 91, where they speak of the Word of God decreed and determined and designed by God. And the latter part of the passage from verse 92 to 96 is the Word of God affirmed and depended upon in the experience of the believer. And that's a wonderful way to look at the passage. And when you go home, do read the passage again and see it in that context. The Word as God has designed it and determined it and given it to us and our response, our hold upon these things. But what I want to do this morning, rather than look at the psalm in that way, is to trace for you six great principles. Six things, memorable principles, that we can remember about the Word of God. and which will shape our thinking and our stance towards it. Let's go straight then to the first principle, and the first principle that we see in verse 89 is that the Word of God is enduring and complete. The Word of God is enduring and complete. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven. And that little term, forever, is an ongoing Word. It has been and always will be settled in heaven, the psalmist says. And indeed the application of that term forever is more comprehensive than perhaps comes across in the English language. And if I were to recast the verse, it might be something along these lines. Lord, who is eternal, who is forever, thy word is forever settled in the heavens. In the same way that our God is eternal and everlasting, unchanging, the Word of God. His revealed will is also likewise enduring and unchanging. Now that is so encouraging for us. And we must think about this just for a moment or two. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven. Looking back, looking back into eternity past, This Word of God was always in the mind of God. This revelation that we have complete in our hands now, every word of it, every syllable in the passage that we read, every jot and tickle, every little marking was designed and intended by God. What an encouragement and what a help to us to know that what we have is a word that God always intended to give us. This is his message to us. Now, of course, it was revealed over a period of time, over centuries, and a number of different human authors were used as the penman. But does that mean that in some way God adapted the Word to circumstances? That as the history of Israel unfolded and their conduct went in certain directions, one moment obeying, another generation perhaps disobeying, that God in some way altered and adapted his word to suit those circumstances. No, all of those things were foreseen and known by our God. And all of those things were taken into account when his word, as it were, were set down, were formulated so that it might be revealed to us. And we may be certain that the word of God that we have was the word of God that he determined from eternity past that we should have in our possession. In our children's meetings at church, we sometimes do cooking with them. And in our group, because it's mostly chaps teaching young boys, our cooking is nearly always a disaster. And what tends to happen is you can measure the ingredients as carefully as you like, you put the ingredients in the pot and they start to mix it, and some of them are going to be too runny, Some of them are going to be, you know, too dry. And so we have to adapt things. Oh, this one needs a little bit more flour or something to stiffen the mixture. This one needs a bit more egg or some butter to soften it up. Oh, but that's not... We may have to make small adjustments here or there. But the Word of God and God's revelation to us is not like that. He designed it. He spoke forth and His Word has stood from eternity past. But it is an ongoing Word and His Word is settled in the heavens and will continue to remain settled. And even as time passes into eternity, the wonderful truth that we read here is that the Word of God, His revelation, will continue as it were to be operative And the things that we read of in the Word of God are going to be our occupation and our study in eternity to come. And the principles that we love and we love to contemplate and learn of in our life will be the same principles that are at work in that eternal realm. Time spent in the Word of God is never wasted. Now you don't need me to tell you that. But let me put it to you in this way. Yes, it's going to be of great benefit to me now because I shall have, I shall see in the Word of God a doctrine that will deepen my understanding. I'll see in the Word of God a promise and an encouragement that will lift up my spirits in my present difficulty. Ah, but even beyond those things, this is preparation for heaven itself. Everything I learn from the Word of God are the things in which I'm going to be rejoicing in that eternal realm. Oh, I need to learn more. I need to prepare myself for that moment when I shall see my Saviour, because this Word is a settled Word. It has stood from eternity past. It is my resource right now and it will stand into the eternal realm when it will fuel my worship and my adoration. I must know more of this Word so that I'm prepared for the day when I shall stand before my great Saviour. So it is enduring and it's complete. This is the beautiful Word. Thy Word is settled. absolutely secure. Here we have everything that we need. All we need look nowhere else than in the Word of God for encouragement and for help, for uplift. to spur us in our service, to help us in times of difficulty and hardship. The Word of God is settled and it is complete and it is the place to which we must turn. So firstly, the Word of God is enduring and it is complete. In verses 90 and 91 we see a second principle. which again is very challenging but also very encouraging. And the second principle is that the Word of God is universal in application. The Word of God is not only enduring and complete, but its application is universal. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Here, the psalmist, as he continues to think about the Word of God, He draws attention to, well, I'm going to focus just on three elements in this verse. That, first of all, that God has bound himself to his word, to his written revelation of himself. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. The God whom we worship, the God of whom we read in the Bible, is not a capricious God. He is not a changeable God. And He has undertaken, and this is a remarkable thought, God who is all-powerful, God who is majestic, God who can do anything that accords with His character, has bound Himself to act according to His Word. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. And whether we consider history in the past, whether we consider our present generation and generations perhaps that may come until the Lord shall return, God has covenanted with us as a race that he will act in accordance to what is revealed in his word. And so when he speaks, and when he speaks of the condition of man and our sin and judgment to come, we know that he speaks the truth. that He speaks that which we need to alarm us and to awaken us from our sin and from our sleepy lethargy about spiritual things, when He tells of a Saviour and all that He has done. And when He unfolds to us His gracious invitations to come for salvation, if we confess our sins, and appeal to Him for His mercy and for His grace, He will hear and He will bless. He binds Himself to keep those promises in every generation. What a wonderful promise that is, that our God, the God who could do anything, has revealed to us. Can I use such an expression? I don't mean to belittle the Lord, bound himself to act in a certain way, to do justice to the undertakings that he has made in his word. What a God and what a revelation it is that we may trust it entirely. Then he gives two illustrations. Thou hast established the Earth, and it abideth. What's this got to do with the Word of God? Well, it's an illustration, it's a picture, but it's so helpful to us. We look around us and we see the Earth, and we know now, in our generation, a lot more about the place of the Earth in the solar system and in the universe. We know and understand how things work in many cases. And we know that all things that we do are subject to the laws of nature. And those laws, those laws of nature, are laws that God brought into being at the time of the creation. When the world was, and the universe was set into motion, it was to be, to follow and to be guided by the laws of nature. And everything that happens are subject to the laws of nature. So if I were to take an apple, and I were to hold it and release it, I know that today, as yesterday, and as tomorrow, the apple will fall to the ground. Those universal laws of nature apply to everything that takes place. Now the Word of God was written many generations ago and they knew nothing in those days of motorized transport, of space travel, of the possibility of picking up a little piece of plastic, well they didn't even know about plastic in those days, and hold it to your ear and talk into it and someone the other side of the world being able to hold a conversation with you. And yet, the psalmist says, thou hast established the earth and it abideth and they continue this day according to thine ordinances. Everything that we do, everything that we know, is subject to the laws of nature. And though there was so much that was unknown in previous generations, nothing that has happened, nothing that has been invented, nothing that has taken place in society, has been outside of the laws of nature, as it were, that God has set in motion in the world and in the universe. And here is the application to the Word of God. Society, we may see as changing. We may be fearful about the forces that are beginning to show themselves and exert themselves and impose themselves upon us. We may wonder where these things will lead. Ah, but we are assured by our God, nothing can take place in human society, nothing can take place in the human condition that falls outside what is revealed in the Word of God. The laws, as it were, of human nature, which are exemplified here, and the patterns of behaviour, and so on, that are displayed in the various illustrations used in the scriptures, is comprehensive. It deals with all types and conditions of men. It covers comprehensively sin in all its manifestations. And we may be sure that nothing that happens around us will fall outside the principles of the Word of God. It's universal in its application. But God, for our comfort, gives us a second illustration. Because he says not only so, but he says that this world continues to exist. to display and to show that all things act according to the principles that he has laid down. They continue this day according to thine ordinances for all are thy servants. Well, the question is asked, what is the they of verse 91? I'm applying it as though it were the heavens and the earth and human society. Am I right? Or should I be applying that to the Word of God since that is the principal subject? Well, if it were the word of God, the reasoning would be a circle. They, if it's the word, continue according to thy word. No, here the psalmist is speaking of the heavens, mentioned in verse 89. The earth and the generations of human society, mentioned in verse 90. And it is they who continue in existence according to the ordinances of our God, because for this reason they serve to establish and to prove the truth of God's ordinances and God's laws as revealed in his word. And we see played out before us Repeatedly, all that happens in human society, when you begin to analyze it, simply reflects the truth of God's Word. We see mankind rebelling, and we see God's judgments, and we see progressive judgments, the small judgments, the token judgments at first, and then we see as man continues to rebel, those judgments become ever more harsh. to bring mankind up short. We see those times when God intervenes in a remarkable way and we see his blessings, we see his comforts, so many things and all of human society, all of human history is simply a demonstration of the truths of God's Word. They are enduring and complete and they are universal in their application. verses 92 and 93 tell us of a third principle, and that is that the Word of God and its principles are life-giving and gloriously positive. No, not for us, the dos and do-nots. Not for us, a system of rules that merely hem us in. But the psalmist here reflecting upon the Word of God says that the Word of God gives life and is wonderfully positive for those who follow its principles. And we'll trace that in just a little way or two. There are wonderful blessings to be drawn from the Word of God. Verse 92, Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. Here, he speaks of the salvation of his soul. Without the Word of God, there is no hope for men and women and for young people away from their Creator, God. Without the Word of God, without His law, there is no hope for any one of us, but with that law. With the Word of God there is hope, for there we read of who we are, our sin and our need. There we have revealed to us as we cannot see in creation. We cannot see in the law of God written in our hearts. the Saviour who came into this world to rescue men and women and young people from their sin, to give them forgiveness and a new life. to give them a new relationship with Himself. And without that Word, without the Gospel, as revealed in the Word of God, if we hadn't been able to hear of these things, then surely we would only perish in our sin, in our rebellion, in our hard-hearted and stubborn determination to live our lives away from Him and the psalmist testifies to that that it is through the Word of God that salvation and the Gospel and knowledge of the Saviour comes. And in verse 93, he goes on to say, I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. Again, he's really speaking on much the same thing. And he's saying because the Word of God has brought him new life, spiritual life, he covenants himself, he pledges himself to be someone who never forgets the precepts of God's holy law. It's an interesting term that's used there. I will never forget my precepts. It actually literally means beyond human sight. He has in mind the furthest that I can possibly see. But he says no, Even beyond that, I will remember thy precepts and love them and seek to live my life according to them. He has seen, he has understood that it is not only lifelong, but for all eternity. The principles, the standards of the Word of God are for him. It is the Word of God that brings us into this experience of new life. a relationship with our God and with our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. No, these are principles. This is not a set of rules. This is quickening and bringing rejoicing and great joy. Look on to verse 94. I am thine. save me. Here again the literal translation is interesting and gives us an insight into what is meant. I am thine, save me, bring me literally into a wide open space. The Christian life is not a restrictive system. The Christian life brings us liberty, brings us freedom, brings us into the wide open spaces. where we have meaning and purpose in our lives. When, as before, sin reigned and ruled over us, in Christ we're given new power and access to wonderful resources so that we can grow in grace, that we can do battle with our besetting sins, that we can improve in character, we can become the sort of people that we were meant to be. that rather than living lives that are empty and futile, we're brought into the liberty where we serve Him. I am Thine. Yes, it's a servant spirit, but as we serve Him, and as we strive to please Him, and as we give our lives entirely over to His control, We become those who see wonderful joys and happiness. Yes, sometimes it's hard teaching our Sunday school class and they don't seem to be listening, but we say to ourselves, Lord, I am Thine. And then it still becomes our greatest joy to serve Him. We go knocking on the doors or we speak to our friends at work and we're rejected and it's so hard. And yet we know that we're doing it for the Lord. And so we see these things in that eternal context and we do them for Him. And though so often we do get those rejections, we see at times the wonderful positive things and a piece of literature is taken. conversation is received well and our testimony born to an individual seems to affect them in some way and we're encouraged again to go on in our labours for Him. Now the Christian life and the principles of the Word of God as we seek to live by them ushers us into a realm of life and of freedom and a life of service but of glad and fruitful and purposeful service for our God. These are principles and we seek to live our lives by them. Well I've really transgressed into my fourth, I'll quickly just mention it, my fourth principle was that of liberty. and we've absorbed it into the principle of being life-giving and gloriously positive, bringing us into liberty, freedom to serve, freedom to be the people that we were meant to be. But then there's another principle here, it would have been my fifth, and it is the principle that the Word of God Its truths are for our protection. Look down to verse 95. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. In some ways a very odd verse. There are enemies. And these enemies, well, they're out to bring me down. They are plotting. They are laying in wait. They're planning to, in whatever way they can, to bring me down. What am I going to do? Am I going to be on the watch? Actually, no. Am I going to seek to defend myself? No. I'm going to study the Word of God. That seems very strange and counterintuitive at first, but it's very deep and very wonderful. Of course, principally, what is in mind here is the enemy of our souls. And we know that the enemy of our souls, and we ought to remind ourselves of this constantly, is plotting to bring us down. What plan does he have for you or for me this week? What thought is he going to lob into your mind to tempt you into some sin, to distrust the Saviour? to let him down, to do something that dishonours his name? Well we don't know, but we know that he's plotting, we know that he's planning, we know that he lies in wait and he's seeking that opportunity in some way to mar your testimony for the Saviour. And what do we do? Well, we study the Word of God because there is our safety, there is our protection. And if we fall this week, or perhaps we can think of it this way, did I fall in this past week? Did I let the Lord down? To what extent could I put that down to the fact that I wasn't properly reading and studying the Word of God? To what extent Did I mar my testimony because I didn't maintain my devotions? I didn't meditate upon the Word of God? and other thoughts flooded into my mind and that let me become a prey then to the temptations and the seductions of the world and the enemy of my soul. But the psalmist says, the wicked have waited for me to destroy me. I will consider thy testimonies. I give myself to the study of the principles of the Word of God. trusting that in those the Lord will strengthen me and help me to be aware. But you know as a church or as churches we're under attack and those attacks upon us as churches have never been so vehement and on so many fronts we see the attacks of secular humanism, and the attack that society would make to limit what the church can say and limit the stand that we can take upon key issues in our generation. What's our stance? What's our approach when we have these things? We go back to the Word of God and we seek and we strive with all our power to be faithful to the principles that are taught there. No compromise. We continue to teach the exclusive soul-saving merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. When God speaks upon an issue, we speak boldly upon those things and we're prepared even to take the consequences if we should have to suffer on account of these things. There's false religion, evolutionary thinking, so many fronts attacking the Church and seeking to curtail our liberties. But our response as churches must be to turn again to the Word of God. Too often in the past, churches under attack have watered the message down, have compromised, and then the battle has been lost. But no, we stick to the Word of God. And that brings us to the final principle that we see here, and it's in verse 96. The principles of the Word of God are enduring and complete. They're universal in their application. They're life-giving and gloriously positive. They bring us into true liberty. They are our best protection. And finally, they are, well, words almost fail me, they are infinite in perfection, infinite in their scope and in their power. I have seen an end of all perfection, but Thy commandment is exceeding broad, says the psalmist. As we look around us in society, Well, there is much that is good, much that we can look upon and admire. And there are very often times when we think that we've gone as far as we can as human beings. I remember when I was at school, my physics teacher, my A-level physics teacher, saying to us, and it seems laughable now, he said, well computers, and I'm going back now decades, not just a few years, he said, computers are just about as fast as they can be. And it's inconceivable that computers will get any faster. But the computers of that day pale into insignificance compared to the computers that we have today. And you'd have to have a room full of kits to do what we have now in a handheld device. And yet he confidently said, we've almost reached the peak of speed. And this was a physics teacher. No, nothing that mankind does ever achieves perfection or completes or isn't capable of further development. But when it comes to the Word of God, this is the only complete thing that we'll ever have possession of in our hands. It is complete. It is perfect. It has everything that we need to help us in life, in our spiritual life, in our relationship with our God, in our daily walk, in our families, in our relationships with those around us. Every sphere, every department of our lives, the principles of the Word of God cover it and are perfect and complete. The breadth of the Word of God, the principles are so broad they touch upon every sphere of life. Why is it then as we close. Why is it when these principles are so amazing that when we're confronted with a difficulty so often the Word of God is the last place we look? In school my wife told of a time when the Gideons came in and as you know they give to the children a copy of the New Testament and the Psalms. And in that little New Testament and Psalms are lists that you can turn to various passages to help you. And on one occasion the children were given their Bibles And they were very pleased with their Bibles and they went out. She said for a few days they carried those little Gideon New Testaments around with them. She overheard a little boy say, in a lesson, the teacher taught them something and he said, I'm confused. So he got out his Gideon New Testament and he looked at the list and it said, where to look if you are confused. And he looked up the little passage. Now we may smile and we may think well that's a very childlike thing to do and yet it's a lesson to us because there are times when we are perplexed. There are times when we don't know the way ahead. There are times when what's happening in society may cause us anxiety and doubt and fear but it's to the Word of God that we turn because it's principles. which are enduring and complete, which are universally applicable, which are life-giving and gloriously positive, that bring us into true Christian liberty, that protect us. Their scope is so great and their power is so unique that they are the one thing that we need to keep us and to hold us. Turn to the Word of God afresh. Make it your study. Love the Word of God. Turn to it in every circumstance and you'll be amazed at how helpful and how wonderful it will be as you prove its principles in your own experience. Let's pray together. Our greatest God and our loving Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for Thy Word. O Lord, we pray that we may go from this place with a deepened and abiding respect for its principles and for its truths. We thank Thee for what we read there, that we have known in our own experience its truth. We thank you for every encouragement that we have seen. Lord we pray that we may be great students of its truths and that these things may shape our thinking and our outlook. These may give us a true perspective upon our own circumstances and lives and what we see around us. We pray that we may seek honestly and before thee to apply these principles in our own lives. We pray that we may prove them. We pray that we may see their truth and that we may grow as thy people as a result. So do bless us, we pray, for we ask these things in the name of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.