flesh comes in. But no, if you would take your Bibles and let's go to Psalm 119. We're going to pick up where we left off and the next section we've done Aleph, we've done Bet, we've done Gimel, and now we're down to Dalet basically. It's spelled in a way we would say Daleth, but it's often more said Dalet. And so We're looking here at this section of Psalm 119, the fourth section, which is verses 25 through verse number 32. And there's actually, I'm going to try to get through all of this. Now there's only two main points. but there's subs and sub subs. And so there's additional stuff to this and I am gonna do my best to just get straight through it as we've been doing each Wednesday night and that way we can get to our prayer time. here at the end. But let me go ahead and start as we normally do with verse number 25 and we'll read down to verse number 32 and then we'll pray and back up and go line by line precept upon precept when it comes to All right, let's go, let me read it, Psalm 119, 125. It says, my soul cleaveth under the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways, and thou hurtest me. Teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness, Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. And so let's pray and then we'll back up and look at each verse here and what I believe, just some of the areas. Again, not everything we can pull out of it, but just some of what I believe we could pull out that could be a help to us dealing with God's word from Psalm 119. Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we thank you for allowing us to be in your house tonight. I pray that you would help us. I pray that you'd clear my mind, give me the thoughts that I need, Lord, to focus here. at this time on what it is that has been studied and looked at, that I might be able to relay what you'd have for your people tonight, Lord, exactly as you would see fit. I pray that you'd help us to learn, help us to see what we need to see tonight. It might be an encouragement, a challenge to us. We'll be careful to give you the honor and glory for all that is done in Christ's name. Amen. All right, so, looking at Psalm 119, verse number 25. Verse 25 through verse number 28 is actually, you got two sections here I believe you can break down in the way we're gonna do it. Verse number 25 through verse number 28, and then verse number 29 through 32. Verse 25 through verse number 28, I believe you can see very clearly a place to turn when in distress and depression. As you're looking at this it starts off with my soul cleaveth unto the dust When you first read that the first thing honestly just just looking at it that doesn't sound good My soul cleaveth under the dust. Now it's often related, the fact that we will, from dust we are made and to the dust we'll return. So oftentimes when dealing with the term of dust or cleaving to dust or anything of that nature, it's often referring to an area considering death. And I believe the psalmist at this point, when you're looking at many of the things that David went through and all that took place, and throughout the book of Psalms, you see often where he goes from high points to low points. He goes from mountaintops to valleys. And many times the valleys that the psalmist went through, We're so low that you would he was put this way since such great depression that He'd almost consider himself to be nigh death or or that that death would be even better for him than what he's going through and And so you get to a point where you understand that he is in an area of depression possibly great discouragement. And through this, the distress in his life and the discouragement he's facing, the depression that's starting to try to inch into his mind and his way of thinking and all that he's facing, he comes to a point where he says, my soul cleaveth under the dust. I'm so close to death, I'm tired, I'm hurting, I'm weary from the fight. And so you see the dire nature of what he's facing. But then the last part of that verse, quicken thou me according to thy word. Where do we find a place to turn when we're facing distress, when we're facing even possible discouragement, and then through that, even depression? Now, I'm not saying that the answer for all depression is just to go to God's Word, bless God, and just read His Word, and all your depression will disappear. Though I will say that the basis of most depression In many cases for a child of God comes from oppression because of Satan attacking on a regular basis Now there are issues of chemical imbalance and issues of different things especially I think honestly a lot of it does come from the foods we eat and things that I believe we have allowed ourselves to be engulfed with so many different chemicals and different issues that it's having an effect mentally in our lives. And so people, have you ever noticed though that there is a growing, a continually growing mental issue within the United States and around the world? But especially right here in the United States, people dealing with More anxiety and more depression and more issues and then as they give you pills to deal with those they give you worse Anxiety and worse depression and or or better yet you go in for pain medication because you're hurting next thing You know it says side effect great depression possible suicide thoughts Well, that's encouraging I get rid of the pain and I start thinking about killing myself that's really gonna help me Now watch, we have so many different areas and I'm not saying that everything deals with a spiritual battle. However, for a child of God, it's a very real thing to face such great oppression that through nonstop battles spiritually, Satan brings about a level of depression and that depression we're facing It leads us to thoughts that Satan likes to plant those seeds of suicide and plant the seeds of life's not worth living and plant the seeds of God doesn't really care and this is never gonna change and I'm never gonna have the victory over this and so you you start having these thoughts go through your mind and in that spiritual battle again not always a spiritual issue but when it is a spiritual issue there is one place for sure you can turn and That can give you the hope of getting out of that distress and getting out of that discouragement And that's going to be God's word. He says my soul cleaveth under the dust I'm about ready to die and yet he says quicken thou me according to thy word So in God's words now again, you can take it two ways. You can take it according to thy promises and Because God promised that He will quicken, He will help His people. But then also you could say according to God's word in the Bible itself, Lord show me what I need, Lord show me how I need the help. Listen, how did Jesus Christ Himself defeat Satan in the area of temptation? except from using the scriptures. He didn't do anything else besides use scripture. So therefore the only option that there is for a child of God to ward off Satan in the fight of spiritual attack that brings about spiritual depression and just oppression in our lives. Now, I don't believe the child of God Satan cannot Possess but he can't oppress and so therefore if I'm going to get the victory over the oppression that's bringing about sometimes Depression in my life. I've got to go to God's words, and I've got I've got to read what he has in his scriptures But also I've got to trust the promises he gives me According to His Word, He said He would take care of me. He said He would care for me. He said He would bring about and give me victory if I would follow Him. So therefore, I'm going to follow in God's Word and I'm going to trust the promises of God's Word. That's what He's dealing with there in verse number 25, which I believe, when you're looking at a place to turn when in distress and depression, I believe verse number 25 shows us that He is a life sustainer. that God himself sustains life when we are discouraged or depressed. But also, you'll find verse number 26, the first part of verse number 26, I believe you see, it points out how God is one who is a petition hearer. He hears our cry, our petitions. He said, I have declared my ways and thou hurtest me. Boy, how encouraging is that? Now think about it, you have the psalmist, you have David, here he is, he's struggling, he's having a hard time, he's fighting the discouragement that's in his life, the distress that he's facing, and what he does is he says it's over and all, but then he says in verse number 26, that's not saying, Lord, I've told you what I'm gonna do. What he's saying is, I have opened to you my distress, The way that I'm in right now, Lord, I've openly brought my petition to you about the need that I'm in. And the great part about it is, He heard it. God heard the petition of a man who was struggling, and through that, knowing that God heard him, brought about a desire in the psalmist's heart to say in the last part there, teach me thy statutes. And that teach me thy statutes goes in combination with verse number 27, where I believe that not only do you see in verse number 25 that God is a life sustainer, not only do you see in verse number 26, first part, that he is a petition hearer, But I believe in the last part of verse number 26, first part of verse number 27, you find that he is a knowledge teacher. It says, where he said, teach me thy statutes, verse number 27, make me to understand the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. He says, teach me. And through teaching me, make me understand. Basically, he's saying, hey, educate me. He said, Lord, I'm in distress. I'm struggling and I'm really, it's getting the better of me. I honestly feel like I'm not going to survive this. And then he points out how he brought that need to the Lord. And then after that, he points out how the Lord taught him. His desire was teach me and then make me to understand. When the Lord puts us, put it this way, when we put ourselves in God's book, And we say, Lord, teach me. We let him be the teacher that we need. Then when we're struggling, we're having a hard time. When Satan is trying to oppress, God can actually be teaching us and guiding us and causing us to understand what's needed in our life to fight against the spiritual battle. There is no greater teacher than God himself and no greater textbook than this one right here, and so when we take God's Word And we apply God's word and we allow the Lord to teach us. We talked about it in one of the other sections a few Wednesday nights ago about having a teachable spirit. Constantly the psalmist is pointing out, Lord teach me, Lord teach me, Lord teach me. Why? Because the point that we reach that we can no longer be taught, that is the point we can no longer be helped. And so the psalmist is saying, Lord, I want to stay teachable, teach me, and let the great, the best teacher of life give us an education in knowledge and understanding and wisdom of how to fight the battles. But then not only do you see that he's a life sustainer, that he is a petition hearer, he's a knowledge teacher, but you find in verse number 28 that he's a strength giver. And in dealing with this time of distress and depression when you're struggling, when you're fighting the spiritual battles of life, in verse number 28, It says my soul melteth for heaviness. Now if you didn't think he was describing in verse number 25 with my soul cleaveth under the dust, if you didn't think that was distress, then this right here is most definitely without fail easy to understand. My soul melteth with heaviness. You ever been so burdened down, so Have such weight on your life over things that you just can't seem to control It's things that you don't have any way of changing and it feels like you're being weighed down with with things that are happening and it just no matter Which direction you turn you can't seem to catch a break Anybody ever been there? And after a while, you start wondering, is there ever going to be a break? And you get to the point where you say, you know, I don't know that I can take anymore. I feel like I'm just melting under the weight of what I'm facing. And that's what the psalmist said, my soul melteth for heaviness. By the way, when your soul begins to melt for the heaviness and the burden that is coming upon you, because especially the child of God, when Satan is attacking, listen, you get to a point where hope appears to be gone. And when a child of God loses hope, they often reach a point where they don't even know. Here's what happens. The flesh becomes overpowering and we lose hope because we failed to get in God's Word. We lose hope because we failed to let Him teach us. We lose hope because we start looking this way instead of this way. And we start trying to figure out how am I going to fix this problem? What can I do to help myself in this problem? And then we get our eyes off of the only source by which we can get the strength to face the problems. He says, my soul melteth for heaviness. Strengthen thou me, not according to your great riches. No, no, no. It's not even strengthen thou me according to my great spirituality. No. He says, strengthen thou me according to thy word. Now once again, you can say, according to thy word and my study in thy word, in going to thy word. But also, according to thy word could also be focusing in on the promises that God will not fail. If I'm in his word, And I'm letting Him teach me as the great teacher that He is, the great instructor, the great knowledge and wisdom giver that He is. And when my desire is for God to teach me and I'm in His Word, then I can basically say, Lord, with the boldness of any any other person throughout throughout history they're those that you see in the Bible the bold individuals that stood for the Lord in the Bible but listen you can with the boldness of any other person around you could actually go to God and say Lord I I don't have to worry about, this is not to be disrespectful. This is not to be overdrawn in areas of being a child of God. This is not taking liberties with being a child of God. But I have the right as a child of God. Not only a right, it's a privilege as a child of God. to be able to come before the Lord. And when I'm in His Word, say, Lord, I need you to give me what is necessary right now from your Word. And then, Lord, I'm going to claim the promises that you gave. And I'm going to say, God, if this is in your Word, then I need you to teach me what it means. I need you to show me how to face this. But at the same time, I am going to claim the promise as a child of God that you keep your Word. that you will always take care of me, Lord, that you are going to provide and you're going to do exactly what needs to be done. All I need, Lord, is I need you to show me how I am to handle the decisions that you put in my life. I need, Lord, I need you to show me how to face the problems, Lord. It may not go the way that I was hoping. It may not go the way that I was planning. But, Lord, I need you to teach me how to handle every yes or no that you give. And I'm going to hold on and claim the promises that according to thy word, according to what I've read and according to the words of promise that you've given me, I'm going to hold on to it, that according to thy word, you're going to strengthen me in no matter what I face. Now, the hard thing is we oftentimes will focus on the fact of, Lord, strengthen me according to what I want. Sometimes it's not going to be according to what I hoped, according to what I want, but it needs to be, Lord, strengthen me according to thy will, according to thy word, according to what thou would have for me in my life at this point at this time. Those are hard things to say. Sometimes it's accepting a no to a petition when we were hoping for a yes. But the Lord says that he is not slack concerning his promises. but He will take care of, He will provide, He will, no matter what we're facing, take us through and see us to the other side if we will focus on Him. So I believe he is in verse number 28 presented as God is presented as the great strength giver. And so when facing the problems, the distress, the depression, he can sustain life. He will hear our petition. He will, he will teach us the knowledge and wisdom we need, but also he'll give the strength to go one more day, make one more step. Then let me give you the last section here. Verse number 29 through verse number 32. Here I believe, and this is kind of a tough one for us because you go through the struggles that we're facing. Now we're going to get right down where the rubber meets the road. I believe verse number 29 through verse number 32 gives us a good recipe for being real, being genuine as a child of God. You find in the first part, verse number 29, I believe the first thing you see is the removal of hypocrisy. Verse number 29, it says, remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously. I believe the removal of hypocrisy in this area of lying can be done in two ways. It can be done through our speech and it can be done through our actions. A child of God cannot live the life of a lie and show up at church on service times and be all spiritual and then get out in the world and in front of the world, we talk the way the world does, we live the way the world does, we laugh at what the world laughs at, we like what the world likes, then we come to church and oh, forsake all that stuff, I'm spiritual. Listen, that is a lying life. People say, there's nothing but hypocrites in church. Yes, there are. Every single one of us, to some degree, are hypocrites. There are some times you need to be a hypocrite. You know that person you can't stand? When you come to church and you, oh listen, don't look at me like a calf looking at a new gate. We know how this works. The person you just, you can't stand. You really, they rub you the wrong way. You just look at them and it's like, I'm about to shake their hand. Come on now, be honest. You come to church and you know we sit on that side because we know somebody sits on this side because the further away I am, I know that handshake time, I'm not gonna be able to make it all the way over there before I have to go sit back down. You say, no, I don't do that. Yes, we do. Because, and listen, there are times we need to be a hypocrite a little bit, in a good sense. We may not always get along, but at least, listen, I may not be smiling on the inside, but I can still be smiling on the outside. My wife is that way, or at least she tells me to be that way. She says, listen, you may not be happy, but at least don't let it show. I'm like a book, I'm easy to read, okay? When I'm not happy, it's not too hard for you to tell, okay? But there are times where we have to present outwardly what's, a different light of what's going on the inside. Sometimes we're struggling on the inside and we still got to have a smile on our face on the outside. Guess what? That's being a little bit of a hypocrite. But there are times where you have to do that in order to have a right, at least a right presentation of a right spirit. I'm not encouraging you to be a hypocrite, I'm just saying we all are at times. The worst type of hypocrite, though, is the one that claims to be a child of God and live a spiritual life and walk with God And though they claim it, their speech and their outward walk in life in front of other people does not back it up. When people see one thing out of the church and they see another thing in the church, then there's going to be a major problem. No wonder we can't get the world to want to come to where we go to actually fellowship with God's people and hear from the Word of God as the man of God preaches. No wonder the world doesn't want what we have sometimes because they hear what we're like on the outside and if they visit one time and all of a sudden they see this completely Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of scenario. Somebody completely different. What basically the psalmist here in looking at this, he says, remove from me the way of lying. Lord, don't let me be a hypocrite. Don't let me have a tendency to be one way in front of these people and another way in front of these people. Lord, let me be real. Let me be a genuine individual. Help me that I might represent you well. But then he goes on and says, and grant me thy law graciously. Lord, teach me where I'm wrong. Teach me graciously. Lord, just show me. And my heart's desire will be to get it right. A recipe for being real. If you don't remove the hypocrisy, if we don't work on those areas of our life that really don't represent Christ the right way, if we don't work on that, it's going to be hard to ever be real. But then you go on and say, verse number 30, seek truth. He says, I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me. When you seek truth, you understand it has to be a choice that we make. But then after we make the choice, it then has to continue as a conviction that we keep. He said, I have chosen the way of truth. Now watch, thy judgments have I laid before me. He made the choice to walk the way of truth. But then he said to keep that a choice in front of me, to keep that something I always choose. It's got to be a conviction that goes first. So he said, Lord, not only have I chosen to go the right the right way, not only have I chosen the right path, but I have taken your law. I've taken what you have taught and I put that in front of me at all times. That's called a conviction. The only way we're going to continue in truth is to, number one, make the choice that we want to, and number two, make it a conviction that we do not stray from. But if we're going to be real, we've got to make sure hypocrisy is gone. We've got to make sure that we seek truth, making it our first choice and keeping it our conviction. But then also, just two more, we're done. Verse number 31, practicing stickability. I have stuck under thy testimonies. Oh Lord, put me not to shame. In other words, don't let me be ashamed. Don't let me, don't cause me or allow me to reach a point where basically saying, Lord, if I go to do something that's going to bring shame, slap me upside the head. Before I make a horrible mistake, Lord, please wake me up and don't allow me to make a decision or do something that's going to bring shame upon my life. Lord, help me to make the right decisions. And he can say that because he said, I have stuck under thy testimonies. He's got some stickability about him. He's made that decision. He's determined. He's convicted. And he said, you know, when it's been easy to walk away, I haven't walked away because I'm stuck like glue. Lord, I've stuck myself to what's true. I've made sure that when I would get pulled away, there's no way to break me apart from it because I desire it so much that I've made it such a part of my life that no matter how hard the world tries to pull me away from what I know is true, I'm stuck to it. I can't get away from it. It's just in me. It grows in me. It's just nonstop. The seeds of a planted in my life on a daily basis. And no matter how hard the world pulls and tugs, no matter how much Satan places on me, God's words, God's truth, everything about what I know I should be doing, every single bit of that is just stuck to my life. Got some stick ability. Last thing, 32. Resist procrastination. If we're going to be real, we're going to stay real, we're going to stay genuine in the front of a lost and dying world, show them something that's different, something that actually makes a difference in lives, then we've got to resist the procrastination that Satan, Satan is not always going to just try to get you to stop completely. What he'll try to do first is just get you to put it off for a little bit. You got time, don't worry. You can make it up later, don't worry. And therefore we put it off, we put it off, we put it off, and then after a while we realize we haven't done what we're supposed to do in a very long time. It says, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. It was a determined act. He said, listen, I'm not going to put off. I'm not going to procrastinate. When it comes to growing as a child of God, when it comes to doing what I should be doing as a child of God, when it comes to learning more about God's words and God's precepts and God's laws so that I can be what I'm supposed to be to a lost and dire world who's watching at all times, trying to see that what is it in me? Is it real or not? Is it genuine or not? Is it fake? Or is it something that could really make a difference for them as well? If they're looking and they're judging, which they do on a regular basis, when they judge me, do I give them something worth judging? Do I give them something where they look and say, no matter how much we pointed, no matter, and I've said it before, I came here if it was a Sunday school or maybe one of the Wednesday nights, talking about judgments though. Listen, the whole point of being blameless, the whole idea of being blameless, is that no matter how much mud is thrown, it doesn't stick. No matter how much the world tries to throw at us to make us be dirtied up on the outside, it's like having Raynex on our life. It washes off. It just completely slides off. And so the dirt of this world, all the stuff they can throw at us, the only way that's going to be a pure life, the only way we're going to remain as a child of God the way we ought to remain, So the lost and our world see something different is we've got to resist the procrastination He says when I have the opportunity when my heart is enlarged when it's time to learn more. I don't waste time I run To die, how do you put it? I run to die commandments. I Don't put it off. I don't walk. I Don't mosey along and I'm gonna get there one of these days. No Yeah, y'all ever watch Ma Paul kettle Some of y'all know that Mom Paul Kittle. We used to watch him. It was fun. Paul Kittle. I'm going to get that to that one of these days. That was his favorite saying. Always one of these days. He never got to anything. He's always going to get to it, always going to listen. The most devastating part of a Christian's life, the most devastating thing that could happen in a Christian's life is when we get to a point where we're always saying, I'm going to get to that. I'm going to get to that. One of these days I'm going to grow to that point. Well, you know, one of these days I'll be spiritual enough to be able to handle these things the right way. One of these days I'm going to do this or one of these days I'll serve the Lord or one of these days I'll I'll go out and tell somebody about Christ, but just not right now. Zalma said, As my heart is enlarged, as I learn and it has the opportunity for growing is there as a child of God, I'm not going to mosey along and get there one of these days. I'm going to run to thy commandments. I'm going to get there fast. Why? Because without the Lord's commandments filling our life, when there's room to grow in our life and we don't fill it with God's word, guess who else is going to be right there to help fill it? Satan's going to be right there to help fill it with ideas. He's going to fill us with hopes and dreams that are not God's. And he's going to put in us everything that the world would desire us to go after, what Satan would desire us to go after. And as we grow and the opportunity for growth is presented, if we don't fill it with God's word, Satan will fill it with his own personal ideas. So we have to run. Don't procrastinate. To be the kind of child of God we ought to be in the face and the onsite of a lost and dying world. To be real. We gotta remove hypocrisy, we gotta seek truth, practice stickability, and resist procrastination. You see it all right there in that last section of Psalm 119, verse 29 through verse number 32. I encourage you tonight, if you're in distress, if you're in depression, Psalm 119 shows you the answer of where to turn and how the Lord can help and what he is. He is a life sustainer, he's a petition hearer, he's a knowledge teacher, and he's a strength giver. If we're gonna be what we're supposed to be, Even when things aren't going well, if we're going to be what we're supposed to be, we've got to be real. That also, the recipe is found right there we just talked about. Hopefully this evening that will be a help to you. I've asked that you just take it. I mean, go through and honestly start reading ahead if you haven't already. Read Psalm 119. Keep reading ahead. Keep looking at it. There's a lot more about what God's word is for us and why it is so important to us as a child of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you.