Our text for this evening is the 16th part, 17th part rather, of Psalm 119. Psalm 119, starting here at the 129th verse. Psalm 119, starting at verse 129. Hear once again the word of our God. Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them. The entrance of thy words giveth light, they giveth understanding unto the simple. I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for thy commandments. Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Order my steps and my word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression of men, so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon my servant, and teach me thy statutes. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. Amen. May the Lord bless this portion of his word to us this evening. Beloved, we have seen now 17 evenings now, a pilgrim making a journey. And as we've watched and observed this man take each successive step, we've noticed that this man has vistas. Vistas as he ascends that are wonderful because they show to us a man who knows his God and who knows the love of his God. And of course we've also followed this man as he's been taken into valleys. You remember the twelfth part, the midnight portion of Psalm 119. The man is almost at an extremity with sorrow and with external oppression as well. And because of that we may be tempted to think that well, this man lives a life that is purely polarized. He's a man of extremes. He either has great vistas, where he has these great experiences of the favor and love of God. And then he has these great lows that take him almost, almost to despair. And you almost think that there's no in between. But what we have in our section this evening is actually what you might say is the most ordinary experience of the pilgrim. and it's neither extreme. He's not polarized in the section that we have before us. He's not in the midnight portion that he was before, nor is he in perhaps what we would refer to as the pinnacle portion of the Psalm, the eighth part, where from every line we see a man exuding with confidence of his place and of the favor of God. Now the section that we have before us this evening presents to us A man who is neither exalted in those ways, nor is he brought so low as he had been before. And I want you to notice too, that as we come to this section, it's important to understand that as he's made these kinds of movements, as he's gone up into the heights and as he's made his way through the depths, the thing that has propelled our psalmist has not been a kind of dogged resolve. The man is not merely a man who is simply resolved and it's the force and the power of his own resolutions that carries him. That's not the psalmist that we have before us. That's not the pilgrim of this psalm. No, what we have here is a man who, as we've seen in the previous three sections, a man who is resolved but who lives upon oaths. He lives upon the oaths that God has made to him. And that's the very thing that drives him forward. And I said last midweek that we were coming really, in the previous section, to an end of those considerations with regard to oaths. You remember, for three sections, the psalmist meditates at some considerable length about the making, the keeping, and the breaking of sacred solemn vows. And in one sense, it is true, we're coming away from those kinds of themes, but only partially. When we come to this section, we're still dealing with a psalmist who is looking to God. He's still looking to a God in covenant. And he's also a psalmist, I would mention, though more should be said about this later on. He is a man who himself is willing to resolve again, verse 134. He's a man who's saying the after deliverance, he will keep the Lord's precepts. That's a renewed vow. It's just the renewal of the vow that he made before three sections prior. But what we have in this section particularly is a man looking far more at his own experience. The wicked that previously had some considerable space for comment before, now they have been removed to the background. And the foreground now is our psalmist's experience as he seeks to be faithful and as he seeks his God through his pilgrimage. Our section, verses 129 to 136, carry out a very particular structure. And that structure does indicate that we have only now narrowed our focus. As I said before, it was the making, the keeping, and the breaking of solemn vows that were previously the psalmist's preoccupation. But now we have focused primarily on God's vow to the psalmist and the psalmist's experience of its fulfillment. And the structure of the text indicates that much. I want you to notice that there's something of, I suppose you could say there's something of a unique emphasis that comes in this particular section. If you look at verse 129 and 136, you have a common theme. You have the man stating his affection for the love, his affection of love for God's law. In the first case, he says that his testimonies are wonderful. In the latter case, verse 136, he puts it negatively. Those who break God's law are the ones who cause him to mourn, or rather the breaking of God's law is that which is the cause of his grief. And when you come to verses 130 and 135, you have another parallel. In verse 130, you have the idea of light coming from God and granting understanding. Then look down at 135. You have light coming from God, teaching. Verse 135, teach me thy statutes. And so the idea is that there is illumination, and that illumination is particularly in the form of instruction. Then you come to verses 131 and 134. I opened my mouth and panted. Verse 134, deliver me from the oppression of men. It doesn't come out so clearly in our translations, but in the beginning of both of those two verses, the idea is the idea of freedom. Freedom. In verse 131, freedom for God, Verse 134, freedom by God. You might say, why are you emphasizing this point? Why is this psalm even structured this way? Well, the reason why scripture does this is the very same reason why you and I underline things in our own writing. Same reason why we italicize things. Same reason why scripture will repeat things three times. And there are all kinds of other devices that are in the scriptures that are to underscore particular emphases. In this case, a structure like this is supposed to point you to the middle two verses, verses 132 and 133. They don't stand in parallel, they stand as one really synthetic rather whole. Verse 132, look thou upon me and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Order my steps in my word. and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. The structure of this psalm indicates that we have returned and are emphasizing that return to something that has to do with God's usual manner of how he deals with those who love him. Now, I want you to notice that in verse 132 you have that phrase, as thou usest to do. That is a phrase in the English translation that occurs only once, but it's actually from a Hebrew word that occurs all throughout the Old Testament, from the very beginning of the scriptures to the very end. This is variously translated as the manner of, or in the order of, or so forth. The sense is very basic. This simple phrase in the Hebrew describes the idea not so much of custom, this is not just what one usually does, but the sense here is one of right. Now, whenever you find this occurring in the scriptures, the idea is that God has ascribed certain rights to certain individuals. So for instance, this word is used to describe the right that belonged to the Levites. So as you read through the Pentateuch, the Levites had a certain portion that was their right. In our translations, it's rendered the manner, but it's the same word that we have in our text. In 1 Kings chapter 8, it's the same word that we have here, but it's used to describe what is owed to a man who has worked faithfully. The wages are his right. And so like I said at the very onset, we have left in some way the themes that we've taken up before, but in another sense we haven't. The psalmist is looking to a particular right, and he emphasizes a particular right that belongs to those that love the Lord's name. What does this mean? Well, beloved, it does take us back to the idea of covenant. It takes us back to the idea that God has indeed given to sinful dust those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ right. And these are those who the psalmist here describes as those who love the Lord's name. The emphasis is on that covenant. Everything in this section points back to that. The beginning and the very end are all, as it were, centered on this idea that God has given to man certain right. And that's the very thing that the psalmist now is craving. What is it that the psalmist is craving then mainly? Friend, I want you to notice here that the man is still sojourning. He is still a pilgrim. And in his sojourn, the pilgrim notices that there are things that are not right. I want you to notice in verse 135, He makes a request, make thy face to shine upon thy servant. They give us a clue as to what right the psalmist is looking to. He's looking to God's countenance. And why is he looking to it at this time? We'll come back to this in just a minute. But the idea that the psalmist sets before us is the idea of what you might refer to as spiritual desertion. Why is the psalmist requesting here the light of God's countenance? Why is he pleading for it on covenantal terms? Because he currently doesn't enjoy it. In fact, if you look at this phrase throughout the scriptures consistently, throughout the Psalter, through the book of Daniel especially, this phrase refers, well, this petition comes primarily because the sense of God's favor has greatly diminished almost to the point of non-existence. Why is it that he craves God's countenance to shine Because currently, currently he feels that it's not. And so the psalmist here is craving two things. He's craving first of all, the comfort and also the preserving grace that comes as a right to those who love the Lord's name. And just two things here. Friend, if that's the main theme of the psalm, if that's the thing that the entire section here is pointing to, We ought to remember that this is, as we've said before, not the psalmist in extremity. You don't have the midnight experience that you had in the 12th part, nor do you have the pinnacle experience that you had in the 8th part. This is a man who is simply, as it were, plodding along. This is the character of a man who knows his needs and whose needs are ordinary to his journey. The sense is that these things are just the necessaries of a man who's on spiritual pilgrimage. These are not the extraordinary things. What he requests here are the very basic things as he makes his sojourn in this life. But then secondly, if we're not just looking at a man, but we're looking at the scriptures as they show us the true character of Godliness, we learn here that these desires after comforting and preserving grace on the basis of God's gracious covenant, or the basis by which God has made a right for those who love his name to enjoy sustaining grace. Well then friend, it's necessary for the Christian today to do the same. The theme then for this evening is very basic. It's that the Christian must always plead for preserving and comforting grace through God's gracious covenant. That is, the Christian must always plead for persevering and comforting grace through God's gracious covenant. And briefly I want us to consider that under three basic headings, as they come to us from the section. I want us to first of all consider the man's plea. I want us to consider what he asks for, its supply. And then finally I want us to consider the way in which he asks for it, or his manner. His plea, his supply, his manner. So first of all, the plea. At the very beginning, we're told here that the psalmist is one who says, who finds the testimonies of God wonderful. And the sense there is that he marvels at God's word. It's really what the word wonder is supposed to have, what it's supposed to set before us. He's awestruck, in other words, by God. He's awestruck by God's word. And then you come curiously to verse 130. He says, the entrance of the Lord's words gives light. Now, what connection do those two verses have to one another? Reverend, I want you to remember that the psalmist here is describing for us his own love, of course, for the word of God, but he's also warming to the subject of God's covenant, the covenant that God has made for those who love his name. And so when you come to verse 130, what you ought to be thinking is that the psalmist has not become distracted. He's still thinking about himself in some regard. He's saying that the way in which he's been taught that the Lord's law is wonderful or is marvelous is by the word itself. In verse 130, the word entrance there could be translated the word opening. The opening of God's word has been a powerful means by which the man has been awestruck, awestruck to the point of marveling. He, it would include himself then in the last portion of verse 130, he's among the simple that has been given understanding. The psalmist marvels at God's word because in its opening God has used it to take hold of him. But friend, the question that we have to ask at this stage is, maybe it's too basic a one, but it's an important one. Why does he marvel at the word of God? Why does he wander at it? I think that question probably doesn't strike us the way that it should, but let me situate that question in the words of Christ. Christ goes to the Pharisees and he says, you search the scriptures Diligently. That's really the sense in the original text. They were zealous about the Word of God. And then in Romans chapter 10, the Apostle says they have, these Pharisees, these same ones who are searching the Scriptures diligently, have some zeal toward God. Yet, says the Apostle, not according to knowledge. They have some kind, ask them, they have some kind of marveling at the Word of God. They know that by some kind of experience. So what differences are there then between our psalmist in this section and the Pharisee? Is there any? Beloved, there is a difference and it's a very basic one and Christ himself highlights it. When he deals with those Pharisees who are searching the scriptures diligently, he says that though they search the scriptures, they would not come to him. That answers our question. The Lord is dealing with people who are zealous about the Word of God because of its narrative. They found it enthralling. They were zealous about the Word of God because, well, it was the basis by which they could make arguments against a pagan world. They were zealous about the Word of God for any number of reasons, but they weren't zealous about it for God's sake. And beloved, what we have to remember is the psalmist is looking back to the covenant that God has made for those who love His name. And that means then that the psalmist marvels at the Word of God. He's awestruck by it, and he pants for it. Not because he simply likes the gilded pages, and not simply because he likes the narratives that it brings, and not because the wisdom is engaging. He loves it because it reveals the God whom he loves. This is the way that the Pharisee could not, could not be zealous about the word of God. And this is why the psalmist comes back then in verse 132 to a covenant that has been made for those who love the name of God. In fact, these first four verses are something of a syllogism. What's a syllogism? A syllogism is just a form of argumentation. You have a major premise, and the major premise is supposed to state a general truth. So take for example the idea that man is mortal. And then the minor premise comes down to specifics. The minor premise is then, well, Socrates is a man. The induction, or the conclusion if you like, is this. If all men are mortal, and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is mortal. That's syllogism. I want you to notice how the psalmist uses that kind of logic here. In verses 129 and 130, He describes himself as one who is awestruck, who's been given life from above to be marveled, to be awed, as it were, by the word of God. Such that, he says in verse 131, he pans after with open mouth these very things. In other words, beloved, what he's saying here is, I have the experience of one who does love God. I have the experience of one who is seeking God through the ordinances which He has established. And I'm doing it for His sake. Then He says this, as we come to verse 132. And then there is a right that has been given to those who love Your name. That's the major premise. God has made a covenant for those who come to Him in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's His conclusion. The beginning of verse 132. Then look thou upon Me. You see his argument. It's a careful one. And it's one we need to be mindful of. He starts by saying, I have some experience of the love of God. And I see that in how my heart is drawn to the word and particularly drawn to God through the word. And then he remembers that God has made a covenant. A covenant for all of those who have been reborn. For all of those who have been given light from above. that God has covenanted himself to be merciful to them. His conclusion then is simple. If God has made a covenant for those who love his name, and I have some love for his name as it's revealed in his word, then I too have a right to that covenant of mercy. It's a very basic argument, but a crucial one. This is a very reasoned discussion. And friend, this is, I should say this, we'll come back to it in just a minute, but this is the way in which one is to make one's calling an election sure. This is not presumption, this is the exercise of faith. The man as he is looking at the promises of God knows that there's a condition. Only those who love God, only those who love God, only they have an interest in this covenant. Or only they can have assurance of their interest in this covenant. Then says the man to himself, but I have love for this God. The conclusion, that I must have an interest in this covenant as well. This is what it means to make one's calling an election sure. But I also want you to notice that in his plea, you have a particular occasion. If he's reasoned it in this way, we need to also understand why he was given rise to in the first place. He says here that first of all, he's a man oppressed. Verse 134, deliver me from oppression. We're supposed to see here that he is a man who is oppressed externally. But then as we already said in verse 135, he makes the petition, make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Indicating, not only externally is he oppressed, but within he's oppressed. There's a sense, a tangible sense of his danger without, and a tangible sense of the Lord's lack of favor within. These are the experiences of the psalmist. And these are the things that give rise to his going back to the covenant for grace. These are the things that give rise to his discussion or digression on his interest in that covenant. And for all that he's doing here, it's very basic. He goes to God just as God has commanded. Psalm 50 verse 15, in the day of adversity says God, call upon me. That was not a suggestion by Jehovah. That was a command. And here the psalmist complies. It's the very same thing that the psalmist knows by experience in Psalm 91. This man cried out to God in the day of adversity and the Lord heard him. And really what you have in this psalm then, and for we can't miss this, what you have in this psalm is the fulfillment of a very basic command. It's a command that you and I ought to have written probably over our headboards, in our kitchens, in our hallways, over our offices. Isaiah 50 verse 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord and that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Here's the command. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Beloved, what the psalmist is doing is just that. The light of God's countenance has been eclipsed, for whatever reason. And providentially, there's oppression on every side. He's a man walking, as it were, seemingly in darkness. And what does he do? Well, he goes back by faith to the covenant. He goes back and he says, there is a covenant God has made. Covenant that God has made with men like myself, yes, who are weak and who are impotent and whose love is so cold, but they love Him nonetheless. And God has covenanted to be merciful to any who love His name. And all the psalmist is saying is, in that darkness, in the lack of God's shining countenance, the experience of His favor, both in providence and in spiritual experience, he says, I'll go back to that covenant. I'll go back to that covenant. He lives upon those things. Friend, it's so crucial here. It's so crucial for us to see this. Because the believer in this life will not be far from this experience at any given moment. The man who is spiritually sensible will know what it is for God to withdraw the light of His countenance and the need to walk by faith and not by sense. Yes, he'll be joyful in those moments when God surprises him with the experience of his favor. But he will know more often, more often what we see in this section. A man who knows the eclipse of God's shining countenance. A man who knows providential opposition. And a man who can only take God at his bare word, without any enjoyment of sense. That will be an ordinary experience for the believer. It will be beloved. And that's certainly something that we ought to hold to and for our comfort. There are some who would say that the Christian is always to walk almost in euphoria. That Christianity is entirely unknown to the scriptures. This is the common plodding along of the pilgrim. This is the common experience of those on their way to the celestial city. He walks in the eclipse of God's countenance many days. He walks with opposition without. He walks with turmoil within. And that brings us then to the second point. What is the supply that he looks to? Now beloved, I said before that the entire song is looking to verse 132. Structurally and thematically. And note here what he's really looking for. He tells us the kind of supply he's suing for, if you will, or he's pleading for. In verse 132 he says, look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do or as the right is unto those that love thy name. What does he call the thing that he's looking for? It's mercy. It's mercy. Not merit. Not wages. And notice how he couches this. He's looking to God to be merciful, as He has been to all of those, or as He has covenanted to be to all of those who love His name. Here's the idea, it's a very basic one. The psalmist is looking at the saints of old. He's looking at an Abraham or a Jacob. He's looking at a Moses, a Samuel. He is looking at men who love the name of God, and it was obvious that they did so. And strikingly, he says, all that they have received was mercy. All that they have received was grace. It's a very basic point, but beloved, it's one that we shouldn't miss. When the psalmist looks at all that comes to the people of God, he says not one of them, no matter how illustrious their piety, no matter how well known their grace, all of them at the end of the day have only received free grace. Nothing merited. Nothing merited. Let an Abraham exercise faith. And beloved, his faith purchased him nothing. That's precisely how the Apostle puts it in Romans 4 verse 4. God did not give wages to Abraham. He gave grace. Faith and love toward God are not meritorious. They don't purchase the covenant. Friend, I think it's helpful to remember this. And the way that Robert Trail put it, I think is probably one of the most, I think, most pointed ways to put it. He says, faith is the tongue that begs pardon. Faith is the hand that receives it. It is the eye that seeth it, but it is no price to buy it. Faith useth the gospel plea for pardon, but itself, neither inhabit nor act, is the plea itself. That is only Christ's blood. Christ's blood goes for the remission of your sins. if ever they be forgiven, and is the only plea to be heard at the throne of grace." His point is very basic. If the people of God receive anything from the hand of God, it is simply grace. And it's precisely what the psalmist says here. All that you have done favorably to your people has been mercy. And he's requesting that mercy for himself. He's saying here that he has an interest in that. Now, friend, I want you to notice that the kind of mercy that he's looking for, the covenant of mercy that he has in view pertains to both the outward and the inward man. Verse 133, he says that there is, sorry, verse 133, he says that there is a great need that he has for God to order his steps. Why? So that dominion of sin may not be obtained. And in verse 134 he says, deliver me from the oppression of men. That's external. That's without him. And note here that for both of these things, he's made application to the covenant. To the right that God has given to those who love his name. The sense is very basic. When the psalmist looks to the covenant of grace, he sees that there is provision made for the whole man, body and soul. And take the soul first of all. Friend, it's the very thing that we found in 2 Corinthians 9. There is an all-sufficiency in God, says the Apostle. That God is able, of himself, to supply all that is necessary for the Corinthians to be faithful. And strikingly, in the parenthetical statement that follows, all that the Apostle refers to are things external to themselves, their own wealth, as well as things internal, their growth and grace. That comes, both come, from God. And it comes from God by way of covenant. There is not a single saving mercy that comes to the people of God aside from covenant or apart from it. And here we find that. The man asks, he sues for persevering grace. Order my steps in thy word. And he puts negatively then the very same request. And let not any iniquity have dominion over me. The sentences of that text is very basic. He's looking at himself. And as he looks at himself, he knows that he has great need. But the need that he has is not that he's afraid of the dominion of sin that has been broken by his conversion and return. The idea is more that there is the potential for besetting sins to take hold. This is what the psalmist prays against. This is the mercy that he goes to God for. But friend, I also want you to notice too, This is something that is provided for in the covenant of grace. The man is not just pushing himself, as it were, or putting these things upon the covenant. The covenant contains them themselves. Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The growth in grace is to be found only in Christ. Christ himself tells us that, John 10.10, It's the abundant life that is promised there. But what kind of life are we talking about? A friend, if I can quote again, Matthew Poole, I think, summarizes that text very well. When Christ says that he's come to give an abundant life to the people of God, it's simply this. He paraphrases, I am come that they might have a spiritual life and at last eternal life. That they might live the life of grace here and not fail the life of glory hereafter. And not only that they may barely live, but that their life may abound. Through the upholdings, strengthenings, quickenings and comfortings of my holy and gracious spirit. That my beloved may not only drink, but drink abundantly. Not only live, but live abundantly. With all the affluences and accommodations of a spiritual life. The psalmist goes to a covenant and he sees an all-sufficient grace. A grace that really does propel him through sanctification. The grace that is the very thing that upholds him. so that he's not like one who turns aside. But friend, there's also of course grace here that's described for the outward man. Let me go back just for a moment. There is a spiritual grace too that I don't think we think too much about, but it's worth mentioning at this point. He is praying that God would keep him in such a way, his steps ordered in such a way that besetting sin would not obtain dominion But as you come to verse 135, he's also praying that God would make his gracious countenance known to him. He's not looking merely for perseverance and righteousness. He's looking also to the covenant for comforting grace. For the experience of God's favor. You say, well, is that really in the covenant? Is it really right for us who so seldom, it seems, have great experiences of that? and beloved, that it is in the covenant. Christ has covenanted. He has purchased even that for the believer. John 14, 23 is one of those great texts that the Christian ought to always put before him. Speaking to the apostles, but not merely about the apostles, Christ promises that if any man loves him, he will come and his father will come and make a bow with him. And the idea there is that sensibly he will be present. You remember that text is all about the comfort that would come to God's people after Christ's death and resurrection. And the sense is Christ's coming in that way in John 14, 23 is a coming of comfort. He has promised he would do so. He has promised that comfort and grace would be available to the people of God. Yes, in God's timing. But the people of God could plead for it. On a covenantal basis. And just briefly verse 134. Leaving the spiritual and coming now more to the physical or temporal. He looks to the covenant even for deliverance from oppression. This is in the covenant too. Psalm 142 verse 5. The psalmist says that God is his portion in the land of the living. And the context there is the same that we have here. The psalmist is praying that God would free him from oppressors. Now what he's not saying is that God will free every Christian from every oppressor. The sense is a very basic one. That if the oppression will do him real harm, if the difficulty will really jeopardize him, and by that of course we mean spiritually, he knows that God will deliver him from it. If it is not for his good, as we have it in Romans 8, it will not come to him. And it's in that way that the psalmist pleads against oppression. If it is not for my good, then Lord deliver me. Even that beloved is in the covenant. No difficult providence, no difficult providence comes to the child of God, unless it is for their good. And they have the covenant to resort to, to claim and to plead for. But lastly, of course, the manner. I want you to notice that this man is not a man, first of all, who's half-hearted. Verse 131, everything here is couched in the language of earnest panting, a man pining, as it were, after these things. Now, beloved, I know our time is coming to a close, but let me just say this briefly. It's wrong for us to approach this psalm like we would approach perhaps our own hearts. We live in a world where our need is not greatly felt. And spiritually speaking, we do not live in a generation that sees themselves spiritually needy. The psalmist is unlike that, especially in our section. Look at what he prays for. Beloved, he looks to God not just to deal with those things that are outside of him, but even for the ordering of his own steps. Do you see what need he sees? He doesn't even trust himself to order his steps. He doesn't even trust in the grace that he's received up to this point to keep him from besetting sin. He looks to God for a constant, continual supply of these things. He sees his need. And he sees his need arising from sin. He sees the power of sin and he sees that that's too much for him. Beloved, are we a people that see that? The man here is a man like a soldier on the battlefield facing a foe that he could not defeat. He runs out onto the battlefield and he finds that he does not have the weaponry, he does not have the skill. And so he turns and he runs. But he runs to be behind the shadow of his general who can deal with all that's before him. Friend, he knows his need. He knows his need for spiritual, he knows his need for temporal mercies. He knows it keenly, and that makes him earnest. And friend, it's not just that, of course. It's not just his need that drives him, it's also his love. Why does he go to the covenant? Why does he go for the shining countenance of God? It's because he loves God. When the favor of the Lord is turned away from the psalmist in Psalm 30, He says everything is put to confusion. We're not told of any providential upset. It's just the Lord being distant that grieves him. Send, send every adversity to the man. It's not so heavy as that. So our psalmist here. But lastly, friend, I want you to notice that this is an earnest petition, but it's also one It's pious. And I know that that word may be a bit confusing. Of course, this is pious. It's the word of God. This is a godly man. What do you mean? Well, I mean pious in the sense that it's not selfish. The psalmist is going back to the covenant for mercy, for persevering and for comforting grace. But he's not doing it for his own sake. Do you know that? It's a striking thing here. In verse 134, he prays for oppression, why? So that he would be faithful in keeping the Lord's precepts. Yes, that's spoken as a resolution, but you also ought to see some kind of causal relationship relating the two clauses. He will keep the Lord's precept, and therefore he prays for deliverance from oppression. And then come down to the very final verse. Rivers of water run down mine eyes because they keep not thy thoughts. Friend, look at the Christian here. The man has been haunted and harried. In 17 sections, we found the man an alien to the world, hated by the world, and the man knows that hatred. But now look at him in his closet. Look at him in the quiet place before his God. Look at him scarred by the world, and look at him rejected by all of those nearest him. And look at him in his closet weeping. And what is he weeping over? It's almost as though he forgets his adversity here. Do you find that striking? He's oppressed on every side. He finds the countenance of God has been eclipsed. But yet he prays and he weeps. Because dishonor has been done for the name of God. That's the thing that grieves him most. Beloved, it's not even his own condition that drives him to these things. It's his love for God that propels even his requests for mercy. Let me conclude with just one final thought. Though there's so much more that should be said here. To the believer. This is a passage that ought to be near to us. It shows us that our experience is a complex one. There are times when the shining countenance of God is well known, when providence seems to be moving in such a way that our lives will be made easy, even now, and our burden very, very light. And then there are times where it's quite the opposite. We walk through the sense of desertion and we walk through providences that are both perplexing and long. And then we have times like what we have in this section, where the man is simply ordinarily plodding along, but he doesn't enjoy God as he once did, though he's not quite where he had been in terms of desertion before. Nor is he oppressed as heavily as he had been before. There's no indication of that in the section, but still oppressed. The Christian life is a complex one. He's not in either polarity for very long. And of course it's complex. The philosophers and the psychologists tell us that man is complex because he has both mind and body, or we would say more accurately soul and body. And if that wasn't complex enough, the Christian is possessed of two natures. Two natures at war with one another. Of course his life is complex and so This section reminds us that we should not be surprised when we find its complexity. That is the ordinary experience of God's people. But in that vein too, friend, I want you to notice that the psalmist here is giving us a picture of what man is to do when he lacks the favor of God or his sense. He goes back to the covenant. Beloved, he doesn't make sense, his Bible, He doesn't make experience His Scriptures. No, He takes God at His Word and He says, this Word is true, regardless of how my feelings might be. And He shows us how we're to do that. He says that God has made a covenant with those who love His name. And then He evaluates Himself. Am I one that love His name? Is there any evidence of love to God in me? And then he brings it to its induction. He brings the conclusion. Then I must have an interest in that covenant too. No, he doesn't enjoy the sense of that. There's no indication that he has any more comfort than he had before in terms of feeling. But this is why we walk by faith and not by sense. William Guthrie put it this way, and we'll close here. Guthrie giving us a very similar example to what we have in this section. He said, a godly man may argue thus, whosoever received Christ are justly reputed the children of God. Then he quotes John 1.12, but as many as received him to them gave him power to become the sons of God. Then the man reasons, but I have received Christ in all the ways which the word there can impart. For I am pleased with the device of salvation by Christ I agree to the terms, I welcome the offer of Christ in all his offices, as a king to rule over me, a priest to offer sacrifices and intercede for me, a prophet to teach me, I out of my heart for him go, and towards him constantly, and resting on him as I'm able. What else can be meant by the word receiving? Therefore I may say and conclude plainly and warrantably, and that's the crucial word, I may conclude plainly and warrantably, I am justly to reckon myself God's child, according to John 1.12, which cannot fail. Beloved, the man goes and the Christian is to go to the covenant of grace with faith. Because this is a sure word, not an assembly word. Your experiences may rise up against you, may call you to come away from that kind of thinking. But is God true? Is God true? And if He is, then beloved, all who have an interest in the covenant of grace, and are able by God's grace to discern that much, can even walk with the eclipse of God's countenance in faith, and not despair. And beloved, of course, we must be such a people. Our need should drive us to the covenant. Our love for God should drive us to the covenant. And in driving us to the covenant, faith should be the thing that marries us to it. Not once, but daily. And not daily, but moment by moment. Amen.