I appreciated this time to visit with you and thankful for your kindness and hospitality. We spoke this morning, as has been mentioned, about loving the Word of God. Our text, taken from Psalm 119, which is the longest of all the Psalms and makes some reference to the Word of God in most every verse. I'd like for us to go back to that lengthy psalm again, looking at another portion and maybe connect it before we finish to some of the things we talked about this morning. Reading verse 33 of Psalm 119. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline mine heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach, which I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness." Throughout this psalm, there are so many wonderful expressions as David pours out his heart before his God. and petitions him to bless in such a way that the Word of God will be an integral part of his life. We're on solid ground when we pray the Scriptures. If we're praying what God has promised and praying in harmony with the examples that have already been set, we know that we're not praying a selfish, greedy prayer, which will certainly be rejected. And so there's much to be learned, both as to how this ought to influence our prayer life and other aspects of our Christian walk. We note here the psalmist expresses a great desire to learn. And that's one that is repeated throughout this lengthy psalm. Verse 12 says, Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. Verse 26, I have declared my ways, thou heardest me, teach me thy statutes. Verse 27, make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. I want to learn. I want to understand. Is that a strong desire of your heart? To be increasing in the knowledge of God, to have greater understanding of His truth that is revealed in His word. The negative side of that becomes very devastating, both in the life of an individual and certainly if it is true collectively of a church. In the book of Hosea, chapter 4, verse 6, It says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. That indeed is a sobering declaration. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. How many places today when we can see dramatic decline where once there were prosperous churches, can the whole problem be attributed to this very point that is made? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Somebody gets to the point that they maybe have a correct understanding of some particular doctrine, and then they're happy to stop right there. I feel like I've been enlightened. I didn't previously see this, I see this now, and that's as far as they want to go. And sometimes because of that, they fail to see the whole scope of the counsel of God and even eventually distort what they did come to understand because it's not correctly related to everything else. And so people become confused. discouraged and certainly God's blessing is not going to continue when there is a blatant neglect of his whole council or in sometimes an outright denial of some very basic fundamental truth. One of the things he says, because you have forgotten my law, I will forget your children. That's sobering. Oh, that we might give attention to the truth of God, to his word, showing the utmost respect for it, that we may enjoy his continued blessing upon this church, and that we can see the children being taught by their parents at home, being influenced by the messages that are brought from the pulpit. You know, I had A preacher and a couple of deacons from another order come and talk to me a while back, said, we have heard that your church has integrated worship, meaning, of course, that the children and the parents are all seated together in the congregation, and we'd like to find out about it. So the first thing they asked when they came in was, how long have you been working with this experiment? I said, well. It's not an experiment. We started with this day one when our church was constituted. That's the way it's always been. We believe it is of great benefit for parents to be able to interact with their children, ask them questions about the message, talk to them, see how much they understand. Now some of these little folks catch on quickly that they're going to try to sidestep the issue. One of my little granddaughters soon learned that she felt to be on safe ground when she was asked about the message of the day. She could say, he preached on Jesus. Well, of course, we many times have a lot more to say about things that need to be comprehended and so if parents are encouraging their children to listen and interacting with them, it becomes a great blessing in their lives. Parents obviously at that point know what their children are hearing. They're not being isolated to some other part of the building and hearing who knows what. So we want to give respect to the Word of God and see that it is being taught in the home and as we interact with the messages that are brought from the pulpit. In the book of Jeremiah, we turn to chapter 5, reading the 30th verse. says, a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof? The prophets of that day prophesied falsely, and the people were happy with the situation. They evidently must have known that some of the prophecies that they heard were not true, but they would rather hear an untruth that made them feel comfortable than to hear the truth that was disturbing. Jeremiah was a very unpopular man. Chamber of Commerce didn't like him because he comes into town saying, judgment's coming, judgment's coming. I said, we've got to lock this man up, get rid of him. He's going to hurt business. He's going to want to come visit our city. If he's hollering, judgment's coming. They put him down in the pit. They would like to have utterly destroyed him. It was only by the providence of God that his life was spared. And when God's servants deliver God's message, there are many today that are going to blatantly reject it, want no part of it. Now, it's easy for us maybe to see the extreme problems in that area at a distance. but maybe becoming more keenly aware of what's happening among many professed Christians today, seeing the extreme measures as some depart more and more from the fundamentals of the word of God will make us more sensitive to the fact that even among us who claim to have a conservative view of respecting scripture, that we cannot allow compromise on what the word of God says, that it is our ultimate authority in all things. Phil Johnson recently put in an article a description of what's happening among some churches today, known as the emergent church movement. And I think that it's worthwhile to be informed about what kind of thinking becomes prevalent and to know what you may be facing if you're trying to witness to somebody and be effective in their life. You know, in many ways today, What we're facing is totally different than what we did some years ago. I concede that 50 years ago when I came to the Old Baptist, most of my discussions with people were on the basic doctrine of grace. I was talking to Arminians, free willers, who had no concept about the sovereignty of God or salvation being by grace. I find today that I'm talking to people who have no religious background, who understand little or nothing about God, who don't know anything about the Bible, In fact, I was counseling with a lady one time, and she came back and said, I just have no idea. You assigned me this scripture, and I read this one, I read this one, but this other one, I just don't know what to expect me to get out of it. I don't know how to apply this to the situation. I said, well, let's open our Bibles and read it. And I started reading, and she said, that's not in my Bible. I said, let me see what you've got. And she had one of these modern translations, and it left a whole gap out. I said, no wonder you're confused. The first thing we need to do is get you a Bible. So I got her a King James translation. I said, now, let's work from there. And as more and more of the versions come along, which are really interpretations in many cases rather than a translation, we find people Totally confused. And then even among professionals, Christians. Well, this will give you a little insight. Like all good postmodernists, emergent Christians hate clarity and precision. They despise authority. That's one of the things we see in every category of life in America today. People despise the authority of government. They despise authority in the school room. I've talked to teachers who say, I can't take it anymore. I don't have time to teach a subject. I'm just trying to keep the place from turning into total chaos. And I can't accomplish anything. And you see, certainly the same thing is in the home. That's where the problem starts, is that I've talked to parents that were intimidated. He said, well, I'm afraid if I take that stand, I don't know what my children are going to do. I said, you don't have to ask their permission to be in charge. God has appointed you. You have the authority and responsibility over them. And so when it comes to the church, people are absolutely appalled to think that the church might have to discipline one of its members as though there is no authority there. And when it comes to respecting the leadership of the ministry, We're told to obey those that have the rule over us. That's totally, totally foreign to the thinking of multitudes. Certainly it doesn't mean that the minister is to be a lord over God's heritage, but he is in a role of leadership and he does have divinely given authority that ought to be respected and followed. But in speaking of the emergent movement, it says they certainly detest, despise authority, detest certainty. They say that they really do not want answers. They want mystery. They don't want to be preached to. They want conversation. They don't want to have to judge whether something is orthodox or heretical, true or false. They want to create their own spiritual reality. They want to be affirmed while they do it. And unfortunately, the evangelical movement has plenty of people who are willing to affirm them in all of these things. At last year's emergent convention in San Diego, one of the speakers, Doug Padgett, pastor of an emergent church known as Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, told emergent church leaders he is convinced that preaching is no longer a viable methodology for worship or evangelism in a postmodern world. Preaching is broken, he said. It was on post-modern people don't trust any authority figures. They don't want to hear someone stand up and expound the word of God. It's unhealthy, he says. It's abusive. Why do I get to speak for 30 minutes and you don't, he asked. I suppose they're talking about the little 30-minute sermonettes that some people get. I thought, what would they think if they knew what goes on in a primitive Baptist church? I guess they would consider that sheer torture. But let me tell you something, friends. Preaching was not designed by a bunch of crotchety old men thinking up how they could punish little children. Preaching is something that is designed by God, and some may assume that preaching is broken, but I'm confident that preaching will still be done till Jesus comes back, and that God will use it to the glory of his name and to the edification and instruction of his people. He went on to say, a sermon is an act of violence. It is violence toward the will of the people who have to sit and take it. Let me say this, that epitomizes the direction of all the fads that are moving today. The fad driven church cannot be a church governed by the Word of God. If you get your direction by seeing which way the winds change and are blowing and follow the prevailing trend, you're being disobedient to the clear command of Ephesians 4.14, which says that God's people must be instructed not to do so, not to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Now, I concede that's an extreme, and yet it's very popular. It's closely connected with the seeker-friendly concept that prevails in so many places. It's indicative of the trend of our time. In some of these mega-churches, there is no longer a pulpit because they say that's a symbol of authority. If you've got one man standing behind a pulpit in the center of the church, it means that what he says is so, and that implies that what somebody else believes is not so, and we can't go to that extreme. Let me tell you something. When Jesus declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life, that wasn't open for discussion, that wasn't conversation, that was a declaration of truth. When Paul said to Timothy, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, that wasn't just a little discussion to sit down. How do you feel about this? Well, I'm not so sure about it. I feel this way. Well, maybe your way is right, maybe my way is right. Who knows, see? These in this movement say they really don't want to arrive, think it's impossible to arrive at truth. Some say there is no absolute truth, and others say if it is, it can't be attained. Now, none of us get our cap and gown so we can say we've graduated, we've got all the truth and there's nothing else for us to learn. We're always learning, but Ephesians chapter 4 says that the pastor-teacher is in the church to establish and instruct God's people that they might not be swept about with every wind of doctrine. That means you have to come to a conclusion, here is truth. If this is truth, then everything else is not truth. If this is right, something else is wrong. Oh, certainly. There are areas where there needs to be a lot of patience and tolerance with one another. There are some things that are far more explicit and clear than others. And there needs to be kindness and love. But, friends, there are some things that absolutely cannot be compromised. When it comes to the truth about who Jesus Christ is, that He is the Son of God, that He was virgin born, that He's the one and only Savior, there can be no compromise there. When it comes to the fact that the Bible is God's Word, His inspired record, it is authoritative, it is our only rule of faith and practice, there can be no compromise there. So, what we understand, what we come to believe is vital, is truth. A lack of the desire for understanding truth that is here expressed by the psalmist has devastating effect. Learning must be an ongoing process. Jesus says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Now we would certainly conclude that if there was anybody that ever walked this earth that knew Jesus Christ intimately, the Apostle Paul knew him. Jesus had called his name on the road to Damascus. What a remarkable transformation took place. Here's a man that was an enemy of the church. He despised the gospel message. He had no interest in Jesus Christ. But there's a voice from heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. The next is, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Aren't you thrilled to read that I am? Every time I think about that account, I'm encouraged. When I see multitudes today with stony, hard hearts, showing so little interest in the message at all. And then I read this, I say there's nobody out of the reach of divine grace. If it's God's purpose to reach them, no matter how obstinate they are, no matter how far removed, no matter how great an enemy they are, the Lord can humble them. Nobody would ever have pointed to Paul and say, you know, see that man over there? He's persecuting Christians today, but I believe one day he's gonna be one of our best preachers. I don't think anybody would ever have imagined it, but it was so in the scope of God's providence and God's grace, God transformed him. God brought about a vital change. Now, here's Paul with that experience. And then he's called up into the third heaven and the Lord revealed things to him that he couldn't even write about. Can you imagine that? What kind of an experience? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could go back and remember, there's one day I heard the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven speak my name. If you're having a bad day, I'd say that'd cheer you up most any time you thought about it. I might be down today, but I remember that day he called my name. And then to be able to recall, I toured heaven one time. I was called up into the third heaven. I read a little bit out of a book one time, but a lady claimed she'd toured heaven. Well, it wasn't the same one that you read about in the scripture, and it certainly wasn't the information that God provides in his word. She had a bad disconnect somewhere, because what she had to say, what she said Jesus told her, wasn't what Jesus revealed in his word. But Paul had actually been there. Now, if you'd had an experience like that, you might feel like, I'm just about as close to the Lord as I can get. Well, the Lord attended to that. He said, lest Paul be lifted up, He'd give him a thorn in the flesh. And he prayed three times that it might be removed, and the answer was, My grace is sufficient for thee. So, what's the spirit of this man? He says, I press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. He didn't feel like he was already there. I'm pressing toward the mark. I forget those things that are behind, but I'm moving on. I desire to know Him. I deny everything. I give up all that I may. Win Christ! Somebody says, Paul, what are you talking about? If anybody knows Him, you do. But I want to know Him better. So the point is, we can never get to the place that we say, I've arrived. I have all of the knowledge and all of the intimacy with Christ that's possible. We're continuing to grow in the process. And we must therefore always be open and receptive to the teaching of Scripture and praying that God will bless us to grow in grace, taking upon us His yoke, learning of Him. And certainly that was the burden of the Apostle Paul continually. Colossians chapter 1 verse 9, it was not only his desire when he said, I pressed toward the mark, but it was his desire for those to whom he ministered. He says, for this cause we also since the day we heard it, that is the positive things that were going on in this church, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. I want you to continue to grow. I thank God for you. I thank God for what's happened already. I thank God for what you understand. I thank God for your faithfulness. But I want you to continue to grow in the knowledge of God. What's the purpose of this? That you might sit back and boast about how much I know? No. That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. You have knowledge, but I want you to increase. I want you to know more. Not to be prideful about the knowledge you have gained, but that you can translate that into how you live, in your daily walk, so that you're going to be magnifying the name of Jesus Christ. You see, the point is, throughout Scripture, that your mind is important. You find some people say, well, I just kind of, I believe in a heartfelt religion. Well, I do too. But I also know that it's possible for us, emotionally, to have a response to something that may not be biblically correct. I know that we can't trust our own fallen nature, that everything has to be tested by the word of God. how you believe, what you understand, how you think is vital in worship. Jesus said in John chapter 4, the 24th verse, that they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. See, it's not just any kind of a formality. It's not just saying I worship any kind of a god. That's another trend that's probably, believe it or not, among many evangelicals today who at one time would have certainly drawn back from such a concept. But the idea is that it's like a wheel. There are all of these spokes leading to the same hub. So there are many different roads to heaven. Many different ways of getting there. Many different religions. But they all finally wind up at the same destination. That's just the doctrine of the Bible. There's just one road. There's just one way. Jesus is the way. There's no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. He is the one and only Savior of sinners. If we're going to worship God correctly, we've got to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul talked about those at Mars Hill that had a monument erected to the unknown god. So that's the one I'm going to tell you about. You've got many gods. You've got all these monuments throughout your city. But I'm going to tell you about the god that you admit you don't know. And where did he start? He started with the subject of creation. And that's one reason that that's such a vital subject to us today. We have to understand that the God we're talking about is not just a God, not just one of many gods. He is the God. He's from everlasting to everlasting. He's the God who is the creator and continues to uphold all things by the word of his power. Certainly, it is necessary in the matter of discernment. If we're going to discern the difference between right and wrong, truth and error, we've got to think right. what we understand, how we think, is vital. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 13 says, Everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even by those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." How are you going to discern good and evil? Having your senses exercised. How do you exercise it? Exercise it by the use of God's Word. So that your thoughts are pulled in and brought into harmony with God's revealed truth. You're not just depending on what you heard somebody say on a TV talk show. You're not depending on what you read in a recent magazine article. You're not depending on what your respected friend or teacher might have said. You're depending on what does God say in His Word. And then when it comes to the matter of godly living on a daily basis. You know, if you're swept away with the trends of the time, it's not long until you're going to be totally traveling down the wrong path. But what do we need? We need to have our minds renewed so we're thinking right. Romans chapter 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, notice the basis on which he makes this appeal. This is not legalism. This is not a threat. This is not a burden to carry. I beseech you by the mercies of God, considering God's mercy in your life, that you, as a wretched, undone sinner, have been rescued and God has been merciful to you through the redemption that there is in Jesus Christ. I beseech you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. How are you going to prove the acceptable will of God? Only by having your mind renewed, renewed on the basis and authority of God's Word. It's amazing the things that people will try to defend when they base it on their own perception, their own thoughts. I was counseling with a man one time who was struggling with a great many issues, but he said, I just felt one time I was very close to the Lord and I've lost my joy and I'm finding myself depressed a lot of times and I just can't seem to shake it and I can't see what the problem is. And it took a while to get all the details out. It finally came to light that he was living with his girlfriend without the benefit of marriage I said, well, due to the fact that you are living in a sinful condition, do you not think that might be one reason that your joy has been lost? One reason that you're disturbed and distressed? Oh, he says, no, I'm confident that's not the problem. He said, we prayed about this. You see, there were some financial implications that if we got married, it was going to really be a financial burden. And so we prayed about it, we took it to the Lord, and the Lord said it'd be all right in this case. I said, let me tell you something. You can pray about it till the Lord comes back and fornication is still fornication. No way to change that. But now, you know, here's somebody that said, I've taken it to the Lord, I've prayed about it, and this is the way I feel, and I think everything's all right. He was lacking discernment. discernment, failing to have his mind renewed by the scripture that he might test it according to God's word. And then not only is it true for us individually as we chart our course in life, as we seek to honor and praise our God by the things that we say and the things that we do, but when it comes to ministering to other people. And I find often a failure in this area. People become very intimidated in this day and time. I think one of the reasons is, I used to believe that John 3.16 was the best known verse in the Bible, but I believe there's one that's passed it up. The one I hear most quoted today is, judge not that you be not judged. That if you say something is wrong, somebody says, who are you to judge? Well, you're not anybody to judge, and neither am I. But you see, you've got to understand what that text means. That text doesn't mean that you are never to say that something is wrong. Here's the difference. Suppose somebody drives up on the parking lot with an expensive automobile, and all these new brands have come on. I don't even know which is an expensive one today, so I can't call one by name. But suppose some big expensive automobile drives up on the lot, and you're able to recognize it and say, oh, look at that. I know that fella can't afford that automobile. He's bound to have been embezzling money from the company where he works. I know it. I've always kind of been a little suspicious of him, and there's clear evidence of it. He's embezzled some money. Now, what have you done? You've judged because you don't know the facts. You later find out that there wasn't any embezzlement, that his great uncle died and left him this automobile, and he's driving it because it was a gift, see? But if somebody comes and says, well, it took me a long time. I had to stash it away a few dollars at a time, but I didn't take it away from my company. In fact, it was a big company, and I didn't think they needed it, and I needed it worse than they did, and I just took it over a period of time. And you say, you know what you are? You're a thief. Now, you haven't judged. They've already admitted, I stole this money. It took me a long time to steal this much, but I finally got it done. You're not judging. You are simply saying that what they've done is wrong because it's a violation of God's law. But oh, today, people become very indignant. If you confront them about anything, who are you to judge? Well, if we're going to minister to somebody effectively, if we're going to help somebody, we obviously don't want to come and approach them in a unkind and abrasive attitude. We must try to understand where they are. And one of the big problems that often arises when we're really trying to help somebody is to ignore what Proverbs chapter 18 tells us. And that is, do not answer a matter until you hear it. That means that many times our conversations when we want to help somebody is to ask some questions to find out where they are before we try to provide an answer, before we try to point them to the thing that they so desperately need. But here's what we're getting to. Romans chapter 15 verse 13 says, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. It's very easy for a person to lose hope. You go through long, extended trials, go through terrible difficulties, and it looks hopeless. But what a joy to read that God, the God that we worship, is identified as the God of hope. Fill you with all joy and peace and believing, not just that you hang in there. I hear people say that a lot. Well, I'm hanging in there, and I think of the picture of that little cat that shows, you know, where he's just hanging on. God doesn't want His people just to hang on. He wants you to abound in hope. I want you to be overflowing with hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And I myself am also persuaded of you, my brethren, that you're full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. How are you able to admonish one another? You're full of knowledge. Where did you get your knowledge? Not because you're smarter than anybody else, but you have developed discernment through use of the Word of God, and now are capable of telling somebody what they need to hear. But what happens? We're intimidated. See a brother drifting off in the wrong direction and say, you know, somebody ought to talk to him. And maybe you talk about him, talk about what's happening. But everybody's afraid to say anything because they don't know what the reaction's going to be. See somebody that needs some help, needs some guidance, maybe needs some comfort. Well, I'm not sure I'm qualified. I'm not sure I'm capable. I'm not sure how they'll receive it. Maybe I can't do that. God's word says that we ought to. that we ought to learn how to interact with one another. That's part of the function of the body of Christ, that we're concerned about one another. We bear one another's burdens. Now, what's got to be the basis of this? It's not just an emotional response, not just sentimental about certain issues that may come along. It must be based on the authority of God's Word. Verse 4 of this chapter says, for whatsoever things are written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. God is the God of hope and that which he uses to convey this hopeful message to us that we might also pass it on to others is his word. You have hope in the word of God. You can feel to be in despair. It's easy to get there when the problems of life mount one after another. And then you turn to God's Word and it says, underneath are the everlasting arms. Doesn't matter how low you've sunk in your feelings, doesn't matter how difficult the situation may be, how far down you feel like you've gone, underneath are the everlasting arms. His arms are still there to hold you up and support you. His promise is, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, that we might boldly say, the Lord is our helper. That ought to be more than just beautiful language to us. That's a reality. God promises it. I will never leave you. All of us could envision certain terrible trials, dark scenes that might come our way. Some of you no doubt have experienced in your life some scenes that You say, if I had anticipated in advance how I would cope with it, how I could get through this trial, I thought I couldn't make it. But you got through it. How was it? Because you found out the grace of God was sufficient for you. When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee. That's God's promise. When thou passest through, that means you're going to get over to the other side. They're not going to overflow you. They're not going to drown you. They're not going to overwhelm you. How precious are those promises? That's where we have to turn in our own times of trial, struggle, disappointment. And when we have experienced the blessing of such promises, then it's a joy to us. We're excited then about sharing it with somebody else. Let me tell you what God's done for me. Let me tell you how he brought me through this dark time. I know that his word is true. It's been proven over and over again. And so what you think, what's in your mind, your understanding is crucial. That you think right, you have your mind renewed in harmony with God's word. So the psalmist expresses a great desire to learn. He's praying for the Lord to teach him. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. In verse 36 he says, incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Here is a desire to submit. Lord, I want to be submissive. In a day when there's such an independent spirit, as though each person feels like, you know, I've got my right to choose. I think the philosophy and theme song of many people's lives today is the song made popular by Frank Sinatra, I Did It My Way. That's what people are encouraged to do. Be independent. Be an independent thinker. Do it your way. Something you want, just go after it. You're entitled to it. You deserve it. Well, that's the exact opposite of what we found the psalmist saying. The psalmist is saying, Lord, I pray for thy direction, for thy guidance. I know that I need to submit. I want my feet to travel in the right path. I'm not looking for a new way. I'm not trying to explore new territory. I want to travel in the path of truth and the path that thou hast designated for thy people to walk upon. Lord, guide me in that path. Should that not be a continued prayer in our life? Lord, I acknowledge I'm prone to go astray. I may go to church regularly, I may give assent to the things that I hear preached, but in the weakness of my flesh, I'm prone to wander, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Lord, call me back, rescue me, help me to walk in the right way. I need to bow. I need to submit my will, my nature, I'm self-willed. I'm full of selfish ambition, but I need to bow. And I pray, Lord, that you will help me to bow humbly before thee. First Peter, chapter 5. Verse 5 says, likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Now just think for a moment. how difficult, how impossible life would be if you felt like you had to go through life without God's help, that you couldn't claim a one of his promises, that God was not going to hear you when you prayed, that you were all on your own. You'd have to face every trial, go through every dark season all by yourself, that he wasn't there. I tell you, I find life to be challenging enough that I don't think I could survive without God's sufficient grace to hold me up every day. Well, he says, he resists the proud and giveth grace to the humble. That means if we're walking in pride, God resists us. He will resist or reject your prayer. He will resist your plea for help. He will resist your petition that you be sustained and held up in your hour of emergency. He resisteth the proud. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. That thought one day came to me rather vividly as to what it would be like trying to go through life without believing that God is your helper. I was on an airplane going to Lubbock, Texas to fill an apartment. And I'd been through a lot of turbulence on flights in the past, but we suddenly ran into turbulence that was beyond anything comparable to what I'd ever experienced. The stewardess had the cart out in the aisle serving beverages. It was so unexpected, even the pilot had not anticipated it, so there was no warning. She barely had time to fall into a seat and strap herself in. There was nothing to be done with the cart, and it was rolling up and down the aisle, and drinks were flying everywhere, and people were screaming. And I thought, literally, the plane is going to disintegrate in midair. I know these planes are built to withstand a lot. I believe it's going to fall apart. And all of a sudden, the horror of the whole scene struck me. Suppose I was up here in this situation. And I couldn't call on God. I didn't believe there was any help for me. That I would just, there wasn't anything I could do. At that point, I would like to have changed my mind and not taken that flight, but it was too late. I was already up there in the air. There wasn't any way back and out of that storm. I'm sure that if that pilot could have found someplace else to go, he'd have gone there. And I mean to tell you, that continued with that intensity for about 30 minutes. And my hands perspired, and I quivered and quaked on the inside. And I was saying to myself, if we do survive, this is my last flight. I'll never go through this kind of torture again in my life. But I thought, what a comfort. to realize what the psalmist says, my times are in thy hands. And Lord you can take me on to heaven from this vantage point just as well as if I was down on the earth. And if this is my time, just help me to behave myself in the last moments and give a Christian testimony and not just fall apart and scream like everybody else is. We finally came out of the storm and landed safely and discovered that there were tailwinds of a tornado that had gone through that area that somehow had been overlooked and not expected and they grounded all the flights and there wasn't another flight out of Lubbock for the next two days. But it was just a vivid example to me of how desperately we need God. And I felt such consolation to recall that text. My times are in thy And another one I love is where David says, what time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. You know, a lot of people like to appear that they're tough and brave and they're never afraid. Listen, David was a man of war. And he said, what time I'm afraid, I'll trust in thee. There are a lot of things that can cause tough men to fear. None of us are strong enough to face all of the challenges of life and say, I'll never be afraid. But we can say. Whatever the cause of the fear might be, I'm going to trust in Thee. Lord, Thou art my hope, Thou art my help. What a difference it makes when we're utilizing the Word of God on a consistent daily basis, finding the strength that we so desperately need, bowing in submission to Him. The contrast that is made here is rather unique. As he says, Lord, lead me in the right way. I desire to submit to thee. The contrary, the contrast to it, is covetousness. It may seem at first the two don't even connect. But really what he's saying is that if I have forgotten the importance of surrendering my will to God, bowing in humble submission to Him, I've become greedy and full of self-interest, and I'm seeking only those material things. When Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. How is it with you, with your regard for the Word of God? Are you praying, Lord, teach me? Lord, lead me in a plain path. Lord, cause me to do the right thing. There wasn't any reluctance on David's part to say, Lord, I'm afraid to go too far with this because I don't want to be a robot. David was glad to say, Lord, just take over, take charge because I get it wrong when I'm trying to do it all by myself and I'm happy to trust in you. I can't make it. I can't stay on the right path. I can't think right and act right and perform as I should. Not that he was trying to blame any of his failures on God, but he just recognized, I need God's grace to sustain me. There's no question but what we must acknowledge that there are blessings to be found in the pathway of obedience that will never be found when we disobey. But how should we approach God in this matter? I talked to somebody one time in the Bottom line of what they said was that I believe we've got to work for the blessings we receive. I believe that when we do what's right, God's going to reward us and repay us according to our deeds. Well, let me ask you, do you ever get to the place that You feel like I can now come before the Lord and say, Lord, it's been kind of a struggle to get house clean, but I've gotten my act together, and I've straightened up, and I've been doing pretty well for the last couple of weeks, and I want to line up now for my blessings. Lord, will you pay me for what I've been doing? Friends, I don't believe that kind of prayer will go far. But I tell you this, you come according to Hebrews chapter four, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may find mercy and grace to help in the time of need. Every time we come, we can't come boasting, saying, Lord, look what I've done, reward me. No, we're not worthy of the least of his mercies. But every time we come acknowledging, I need mercy, mercy. We're not looking for what we deserve. If you get what you deserve, you're in deep trouble, friends. You're looking for something better than that. You're looking for the mercy of God and find grace to help in the time of need. When is that time of need? Is that some special, unique time? To me, that's every morning when you wake up. This is a time of special need. Lord, I need your grace to get me through this day. And I can't just pray in the morning and expect everything's in place. As the day goes on, as the day progresses, as unexpected things arise, as challenges come, Lord, give me grace. And your promise is you'll give me grace to help in the time of need. What a promise. A promise from the Word of God. A promise that we can rely on. And then finally, he also says in this passage that he has a desire to stand not just to embrace the truth, but to continue to stand as God would have him to. Verse 38, Establish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Lord, I want not just to give lip service to it, I don't want to just acknowledge it for a time, but bless me to stand. Charles Spurgeon expressed it this way. He said, make me sure of thy sure word. Make it sure to me and make me sure of it. If we are sure of the Word of God and standing upon His unchanging Word and depending upon the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we can stand strong. We can be strong against the opposition of the world, against the discouragements that come our way, because the strength is not in ourselves, it's in our God. God's Word. How wonderful. What a remarkable book the Bible is. Bringing us the truth about God, the truth about man, the truth about life, the truth about death, the truth about sin, the truth about salvation. How precious is His Word. Do you pray, Lord, teach me, guide me, enlighten me? I want to grow in the understanding of it. How wonderful to read the words of consolation when we've been made to see ourselves in nature. Once we've been convicted of our sins and understand we deserve nothing from the hand of God but His wrath. But then we hear the Apostle saying, this is a faithful saying in the world, they have all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That's good news. Every time we hear it, we're comforted again. I'm glad to know He came to save sinners. If that wasn't the case, I'd be ruined and done for. If you've come to rejoice in that truth and believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior, you've embraced Him by faith, may you confess Him and follow Him in baptism. Amen.