I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, and we're reading here, we begin, verse 161. Psalm 119, starting at verse 161. Hear once again the word of our God. Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice in thy word as one that findeth great spoil. I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Lord, I have hoped in thy salvation and on thy commandments. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee. Amen, may the Lord add his blessing richly to us in the hearing of his word. My friend, we've said at the very onset that this is a cross-section of a godly man. But in the previous sections, just in the past several sections that we've looked at, we've seen in one sense that the focus is not so much on the psalmist experience. We don't have so much a treatment of those things that were external to the psalmist that influenced and impacted him. Instead, what you have is a very reasonable account of the motions of grace in the soul. And as we come to this section, we don't find anything different. The psalmist is not giving us so much an examination of all the vicissitudes that befall him in his pilgrimage. He is looking primarily within. As the grace of God is active, the question is, how is it acting? What is it doing within the man himself? In fact, I want you to notice that that's the case, even though in the very first verse of our section, He does mention something that's external to himself. He says here, princes have persecuted me without a cause. And that really gets us to the first of four aspects that this section brings before us. The psalmist presents himself as afflicted. And then later on, he gives us his action in response to that affliction. And all of that grounded in an axiom. And then finally, unsurprisingly, the last section gives us his affections. What is his response to all? Now, friend, I want you to notice, first of all, the psalmist's affliction. He says here, princes have persecuted me without a cause. Now that word persecute, we use that perhaps in a very, very precise way today. Really often denoting some kind of impersonal systemic policy of, oppressing the gospel. But friend, the word persecution in this text does not have that kind of connotation. It really has behind it the idea of one being pursued very personally and very intently. The idea is that this man, our pilgrim here, while he makes his journey, is one who has been singled out by others and their intention is to overtake him. It's quite personal and it's quite present. And we see that even as the psalmist gives us some of his response in verses 162 down to verse 164, we find that this is the case even from the onset of the psalm. What's striking is, of course, the persecution itself. I also want you to notice here in these three verses, 162, well, the end of 161 down to 164, the psalmist responds to that persecution Paradoxically, he doesn't respond in perhaps the way we might expect him to. He doesn't merely say that he was put to flight, nor does he say that he immediately falls to crying out against his enemies. Note the kinds of things the psalmist says he's doing. In the face of this personal oppression, he says that his heart stands in awe of the word of God. Later, he says that he rejoices Then he hates and abhors lying, but he loves the law of God. And then he falls to praise. Now friend, those are actions that in one sense we would not expect from a man who is being so personally and urgently pursued by his enemies. It's a kind of paradox. But a paradox that we've already encountered, as I've just said. You remember at the end of the third section in Psalm 119, verse 23, The psalmist gives us in short form everything we find in this section. Princes also did sit and speak against me. And then note again, the very strange response of the psalmist, but thy servant did meditate in thy statues. We have his affliction, and then we have his action. And the question is, how is this so? Friend, this is supposed to strike us. The world looks at the Christian, the world looks at a man like the one we have in our text, and it must scratch its head. He is an enigma to them. This man is oppressed. He is chased by those who would do him harm. And yet his response is to rejoice, to love, and to fall to praise. That prompts a question. How is this so? And that's the very answer that we get in verse 165. The psalmist has given us his affliction. He then tells us about his actions. And then in verse 165, we have something of an axiom. A truth that's not just for the psalmist, but it's a truth summarized that's general. It applies to all. And so in verse 165, you have the psalmist in some sense explaining himself. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Now in some of your translations or copies, you might find there that there's a note by the word offend. The word offend, as we have it in the originals, used throughout the entirety of the Old Testament to describe someone stumbling, someone meeting something that's an obstacle almost insurmountable. The idea is, is that this one who has great peace as their love is fixed upon God's law, is one who will not stumble ultimately. He will not fall ultimately. So that's the idea. The psalmist is saying he's one of those. We have the great peace described for us in the end of verse 161 down to verse 164. That's the form of his peace. And here's the ground of it. He's one who loves the law of God and nothing shall be a stumbling block to him. Nothing shall prove to really undo him and his pursuit of God. But then in verses 166 down to the end, 168, the psalmist gives us a display of that love. He starts with the peace that he has and the characteristics of that. But now he falls to describe himself, the affections that he has. And he tells us here that he is one who hopes, one who loves, one who has the testimonies of God always before him. And so friend in this brief, you have a very clear picture of the godly man. A man afflicted, but a man who knows, a man who knows peace even under that affliction. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, of course, how is that possible? The psalmist tells us that all of these things are related integrally to the Lord and his word. But friend, the question we have to ask is, in what sense is the word of God the source for this man's continued love, rejoicing, hope, and peace. Well friend, generally speaking, we could of course set the word of God before us as an intrinsic good, as something that's good in and of itself. We understand that. But friend, at the very first verse, we're struck with something. He says that the man here is awed by the word. Again, not terribly surprising, this is a word that of course comes from the awesome God. The God who is thrice holy, before whom all the world ought to bow and will one day. But what follows in verse 162 is more striking and far more particular to the psalmist. He says, not only is he awed by the word, but he is overjoyed by it as well. Now friend, the entirety of the world ought to tremble before the Lord. shall not, says Job, his excellency, make you afraid. That's our word here for awe. And his dread fall upon you. That's a general truth. All of mankind, all of mankind, should be awed by the word of God because it is the word of God. And friend, even sinners, as the psalmist puts it elsewhere, even sinners are those who are to tremble before the Lord. God is greatly to be feared. By whom? The Prophet goes on to tell us that it's by those who are characterized as sinners in Zion. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrite. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Even the sinner ought to be awed by this and will be awed by this word. But the question is, who can be awed by it and also rejoice in it? Friend, that's the critical question, and that's the question that separates our psalmist, our pilgrim, from the rest of the world. The psalmist in Psalm 89 reminds us that there is a kind of rejoicing that is part and parcel of worship. God is greatly to be feared, that's our word odd, in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all of them that are about him. The saints, we're told, are those who will be awed by the word of the Lord. Awed before their God. But what are the things that make the saints both awed and rejoicing? Well friend, if you come to the fourth verse of Psalm 130, you find a striking, a very striking phrase. The psalmist turning to God says, with thee forgiveness is, and as it is in our metrical Psalter, that feared thou mayest be. That's also our word here. Even the forgiveness of God that is known only by the saints is something which is because of their reverence. It's something that awes them as well as rejoicing them. And so friend, what we have in this text is nothing less than the psalmist not just seeing the dread majesty of God in his word, but also seeing even the grace of God that rejoices the heart. Every sinner should be awed by the word. of our God, but only those who take hold of grace as it's offered in that word, offered in Christ, can also rejoice in it. And that's our psalmist this evening. And so friend, the theme that we have, I believe in the entirety of this section is very basic. The Christian may have a persistent enjoyment in grace, even under affliction. the Christian may have a persistent enjoyment of grace, even under affliction. And briefly, I want us to consider that, first of all, by the grace itself that's enjoyed, secondly, by the enjoyment of it, and finally, by the persistence of that joy. And so first of all, friend, I want you to notice the grace itself. The psalmist describes it variously. He describes it, first of all, as we come to it, as something that awes him. It's something that holds him, and causes him to be irreverent before him. But it's also an intrinsic kind of thing. I want you to notice, friend, that this is not something the psalmist carries to the Word. This is something he recognizes is in the Word itself. The grace of God, as it's revealed here, as it rejoices his heart, is a grace that is intrinsically good. It's a grace Friend that he later on describes as something that is likened to one who finds great spoil. The value is not in the psalmist's view of it. The value is in the grace itself. It is truly an intrinsic good. And friend throughout the scriptures you find that, don't you? I'll take you simply to the very text of scripture that we read at the beginning. Note the language of the apostle. When he comes to speak about the grace of God that is revealed in the Word of God, he says first of all, it is a redemption, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. It is according to the riches of His grace. It is an abounding grace, verse 8. It is a grace that is of a blessed inheritance. It is a grace that is to lead us to glory in our God and the greatness of His salvation. And so, friend, I want you to notice that what the psalmist is here doing, as he's awed by the Word of God and rejoices in it, he's awed by something that is intrinsically good. It's not a good that the psalmist ascribes to it. It is something that of its own character and own nature ought to cause us to be reverent before the Lord. It's the very same thing that you have in Psalm 130, verse 4. Even the forgiveness of God is something that causes us to fear Him. to be reverent before him. But friend, not only is it an intrinsic good, it is an effective good. Again, going back to our text, the psalmist there is very clear. The thing that he rejoices in is something that he has a present experience of. He is one that finds great store. He's one who finds something that is of intrinsic value and worth. But friend, he's also one who possesses great peace. Note in verse 165 the generality of that. The psalmist possesses already all of those things that cause him to hope and to love and to rejoice. But what he has, as it's given to him in the word of God in Christ, is something that is, it secures great peace to him in the present. It is an effective thing. I want you to notice too, it's effective just in the fact that the psalmist here is not brought to a point of forsaking the Lord under the affliction that he knows. The psalmist here is one who continues in praise even while his persecutors continue their pursuit. And we're supposed to see here that this is effective grace. The grace that he rejoices in is even a grace that is operative in the rejoicing of it, under this affliction. If I could put it another way, friend, what you have here, even as the psalmist reflects on what affliction he knows, even as he does so and he's not distracted by it, it's a demonstration that the grace that he rejoices in in the word of God is even active then. And it's effective. It is a working grace. But that leads us then to the enjoyment that the psalmist has itself. If the grace that is here is intrinsically good, it ought to awe and it will awe those who by faith are seeing it are right. And also it is an effective good. It actually holds those who have it, who possess it, even under affliction. You ought to also look here at the enjoyment of it. And friend, the enjoyment of this grace as it comes to us from this section of the psalm is presented really in two ways. He is disposed to God. We've already seen that. His inclination is Godward. But friend, I want you to notice that this man is a man who is genuinely disposed to God and to his word. The idea is that he has gone through the trial of affliction and his heart. Again, friend, it's perhaps very common knowledge at this stage, but But when the psalmist speaks of his heart, he speaks not just of one part of him, not his emotional side only, but the entirety of his being. His heart. It's not one of those cases where, as the prophet would describe, one approaching God with their lips but not with their heart. No, no, the psalmist says he genuinely, he genuinely stands in awe of God's word. And just as genuinely, he rejoices in it. And just as genuinely, he despises all of those things that are contrary to it. He's genuine in his enjoyment of these things. But friend, even if his disposal is genuine, you ought to also see that there's fruit that's produced by that. And friend, it's a dynamic disposition then. It is an inclination that actually produces real effects in the psalmist's life. And you see that here, don't you? Note what he says in verse 167. This rejoicing, this praising, this loving of God and his word is also joined with his soul, keeping the Lord's testimonies. keeping his precepts, verse 168, and his testimonies. It is a fruitful love and a fruitful praise that the psalmist sets forward before us this evening. And friend, that's crucial for us to see. The man is saying that whatever he suffers, it is still a greater thing to him, a worse thing to him, to fall into sin. Yes, he'll take the affliction, But here he keeps himself, he seeks to be numbered among those who keep the Lord's testimonies, even under duress and difficulty. But friend, finally, if the man has a grace that is intrinsically and effectively good in his view in this section, and also if this man is a man who has an enjoyment of these things that is genuine, and is also producing real effects in his life, We also ought to see that this joy that he has, this peace that is offered to all who love the law of God, as it is in verse 165, this peace is persistent. Friend, I want you to know that that's from two very basic sources. I want you to notice, first of all, that it's a present peace. The psalmist is not saying that they may have peace in time to come, those who love the Lord and His law. Nor is he saying that he is longing for a day of peace. or looking back upon a day of peace. But friend, he's saying that these things are available even in the present and even under affliction. And friend, the Christian's peace is just that, isn't it? You remember whenever Christ is leaving his disciples and really he's preparing them not just for what would befall them in hours time, but he's preparing them for a life after his resurrection and ascension. What is his parting word? My peace, he says to them, I give to you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. The point that Christ is making that the apostles should have gathered was not that Christ was making a general salutation, not a general parting word that would have been heard by any Greek or any Hebrew. But he was saying that the peace, the peace that he was offered is one that is presently given and even enjoyed in time. And friend, that's the very thing that the psalmist has in view here. It is a present peace. It's something that's available to the people of God now. But not only is it a present peace, to go back to that text, it is also a superior peace. Again, friend, note what Christ says there. He doesn't merely say, my peace I leave with you. He goes on to qualify it, to say it's not like what the world knows or could give. The idea, friend, is that he who has overcome the world is the author of this peace. This peace is something that can withstand whatever the world and whatever all the enemies of God may throw at it. It's a peace that prevails. But friend, I want you to notice, as we come away from this, the psalmist presents himself very basically. Yes, he presents himself paradoxically. in a way that would confuse the world. The friend, even in this section, the psalmist has presented himself very reasonably. He's not just, to use a reference cultural, he's not just a Pollyanna. He's not just groundlessly optimistic. He's a man who is reasoned in the peace that he has as he deals with the afflictions that come to him. The question is, what is the rise of that? He rejoices, sets his hope in, and loves the word of God, especially as it sets before him the grace that is offered in Christ. Put it another way. Friend, when you look at Job, you find a man who suffered much. You find a man who suffered in a rare way, the loss of children as well as wealth and as well as health. You find as you work yourself through the dialogues, you find a man not only afflicted in these physical ways, but a man afflicted even by his friends and even spiritually. But under all of that difficulty, under every wave of affliction that comes to him, you find that none of those things could quench that to which Job looked most intently. And you find that in what Job says in the 19th chapter. There Job, really the climax of the book, tells us precisely where Job's faith is lodged. It was not lodged in the idea that he would get his children back. It was not that his family would be restored as it had been before, or that his wealth would be returned, or that his health would come back. It's none of those things. His hope is that what? In His flesh, whenever all of these things have decayed, whenever His body had been returned to the dust, He would one day be raised again and behold His Redeemer. And that's the very thing that holds Him, even under affliction. That's the thing that He hopes for and He rejoices in, even as He's pursued. Not just by enemies, not just by the Sabians, not just by all of those who had oppressed Him, even by His friends. He can withstand all of those afflictions because He looks to one, just the idea of being, being before His Redeemer. Or put it, friend, in the way that the psalmist does. The faithful, those who are like our psalmist, oh friend, He looks at the world and He looks at all of the worldly gain that can be brought to a soul. He looks to all of those benefits that the wicked can enjoy. And he says it doesn't matter to him in Psalm 17. His portion is just with the promise that he will awake one day and see the Lord in glory. That's the thing that he looks to. Not the worldly things that the rest of humanity may know. This is the great thing that he holds on to. Or put it in the words of David. His very last words in 2 Samuel. There you find words that are striking. David, a man who was promised by God that the Lord would specially take care of his home. David who had received so many promises about his own throne and his posterity. This same David would look back on his life, watching in memory the destruction of Absalom, the defilement of Tamar. David would look back through his house and he would see that just as Nathan the prophet had promised, the sword had entered. He saw a house, he saw a house ravaged by the effects of sin. And what's his conclusion as he looks back throughout his life on these things? Although my house, he says, be not so with God. The idea there is not although my house be neglected by God in violation of the covenant the Lord made. No, the idea is although my house be not as I would have desired it. Although my house be not as I've hoped. Yet God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." All of his hopes and all of his dreams for his home. He says, although none of those things come to pass in the way that I would have intended them, that I would have desired them, although those things go, By the wayside, yet I have one thing that I hold on to. That this God is my salvation. That's enough for him. And Fred, I could continue through this, but the idea is very basic. The psalmist, as we have him in our text, is a man who looks to the grace of God and says that grace is all that I desire. that which offers to me God, reconciled in His Son, is all that I really crave. Take away from me house and health. Take away from me wealth and children. Take all of those things away from me. But leave me with this, or to put it the other way around, friend, give me every created good. Give me all the things that the world counts as good things. Give those all to me, leave this grace of God out, leave that which is promised to those who look to Christ by faith out, and I'll count myself most miserable. Friend, he rejoices under persecution because persecutors could not take from him that which he hoped in most. And so friend, as we close, the first is a word of examination. Friend, we can't rejoice under affliction if our hope is set on earthly things. We can't. To put in the words that Owen put it in, every earthly good that we have might as well be put in a deathbed sheet. The idea is that any of those things could be taken. No friend, if your heart is set on worldly things, when the Gospel comes to you and offers you God Himself as Father, Jesus Christ as Husband and Elder Brother, the Spirit of God as the earnest of your redemption, all of those riches will mean nothing to you. And so friend, the first question is, do you rejoice in the grace that is offered in God's Word? Are those the things that really grip your heart? Are those the things you desire most? But secondly, friend, there's a word of comfort in this text as well that we can't miss. The Christian, as we find him in this text, is a man who is pursued. He's a man who is very personally singled out for affliction. And as we've gone throughout the psalm, we should recognize that he's singled out because of his fidelity to God. He's singled out because he's not numbered among the hypocrites. He could have made peace with the world, but he's chosen to live as a stranger. And friend, with all of that pressure, and with all of the affliction that befalls one in such a case, the question is, will the grace of God uphold? Instead of sinning, will he choose to suffer? Instead of falling prey to temptation, will he praise? And beloved, what you find in this text is that there is a persevering grace at work under affliction. To put it this way, beloved, our forebears knew great loss. Samuel Shaw perhaps is one of the greatest instances of that in the 17th century that I can think of at least. His home was ravaged by the epidemic that ripped through England at that time. He had been chased away from his original charge because of persecution. He was sent to a home that was not fit for him and his family. And then he was sent to a part of the country in which smallpox was quite prevalent. When the smallpox came to his home, it took away two of his children, a servant took away extended family as well. All of these in just a matter of days. And friend, one of the striking things that you encounter as you read his sermon, his first sermon after these events, is that the man says that these things, these things could not take away from him what he hoped and most. as his children were buried only months before the preaching of the sermon. He said in earnest, he said in earnest that these things were good because his God was good and that he could praise him through it. Now friend, you read Samuel Shaw and he'll tell you that the affliction was real. He'll tell you that he grieved. But one of the striking things is the very thing that you have in this text. The grace of God, even in Samuel Shaw, through all of that affliction was active. The believer may not be able to imagine what it is to go through this or that difficult providence, but he should never doubt that the grace of his God is able to make him praise, make him rejoice and make him hope even under it. And beloved, that's our comfort from this text. It's not that the psalmist has great faith, but that our God is a God who bestows great grace, even under reflection. Amen.