We have a copy of God's word. We're going to continue our study in the book of Psalms. We're going to be this evening at Psalm 119. We're going to be focusing on verse 32. But this is the last Sunday we'll be dealing with this session right here at Psalm 119. Verse 32. This section right here, we have learned about the letter, the Hebrew letter, Dalet. Thank you there, Brother King. Got a transition right here, having a little technical difficulties, but yeah, Psalm 119, we've been finishing up. We first started off with the Aleph, Bet, and then now we learn with Dalet, Well, it was Olive Bet, Gimel, then Dalet. And Dalet consists of verses 25 through 32. We have saw all type of misemotions from this chapter, from 25 to 32. We have seen the psalmist dealing with depression and the psalmist been responded to by God's word. And now we're gonna end with a special declaration from the psalmist as down how they respond to trials and tribulations. We're gonna learn how this person now is gonna run in the way of the Lord. Let me read for us Psalm 119, starting at verse 25. My soul clings to the dust. Give me life according to your word. When I'm told of my ways, you answer me. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts. And I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word. Put false ways far from me. And graciously teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness and set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord. Let me not be put to shame. The verse of today, 32. I will run in the way of your commandments. when you enlarge my heart. Let me pray for us and ask the Lord to help us with verse 32 today. Our Father God in heaven, Lord, we thank you, Lord, for this Lord's day, that, Lord, we get the chance to come and this opportunity, Lord, to come, Lord, and to be able to, Lord, have a time of rest and be reminded of your goodness towards your people and your church. So, Lord, we ask you, Lord, to bless our time here this evening. Lord, you enrich us in your word. Lord, help us, Lord, see your goodness, and help us, Lord, with our hearts, Lord, of your spirit, Lord, brought unto you today. Lord, let us not lean to the flesh, but, Lord, let us lean on the spirit to help us. So, Lord, we ask you, Lord, to help us at this time as we walk through your word today. Any distractions, Lord, anything, Lord, can be in our way. Lord, we ask you, Lord, to remove it from us. So, Lord, let us, Lord, run to you today. Help us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. It's a very popular story that you guys may have heard before. It's a story about the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise and the hare. This story has been told for a long time ago, even when I was a kid. This story was a story that for me, right, I always wanted to be fast and fast because the hare was fast. I never wanted to be slow because the tortoise was slow. But this race consisted of two animals on a line. One animal, the hare, which is a rabbit, can hop and move really fast. But a turtle or a tortoise, almost like a sloth, moves like this, this, and this. The tortoise moves very slow. So all of a sudden, The race starts. They shoot the gun and the race starts. The hare jumps out fast. Out of there. The turtle, right? After the hare is already so far ahead, the tortoise takes his first step. He takes the first step in his story. As the turtle continue to take slow steps, the hair goes so fast, the hair get distracted. Huh, there's nobody behind me. Let me take a break. Let me get something to eat. Let me take a nap. Let me just have all the time in the world to enjoy this time. Well, the tortoise, the turtle is No, it doesn't have that long to take a break because the turtle is so far from the finish line that it got to continue going. So the tortoise, it took one step, it take another step. The tortoise mind is on what? The finish line, the race. The hare mind is on himself. He's thinking about himself. That, hey, I can get rest when I want to. I'm so faster than him. He's so distracted by his own pride that the race is not important for him. He runs his race, but he run the wrong race. The race he's running, it's a race about boasting and pride. Look at everybody and see what I can do. But the tortoise writes, his mind is set on the go. So the tortoise continued running. Well, going slow and slow. The rabbit takes a nap. All of a sudden, the tortoise looked to the side of him. Guess who's laying over there taking a nap? The hare? It's the hare. Did the turtle go to knock on him and say, wake up? No. His goal was to race. He continued to go on. He continued going. Next thing you know, guess what the tortoise sees? The finish line. It see the finish line. I mean, the turtle see the finish line. And the tortoise is right there with his tongue hanging out. The tortoise has a tongue hanging out. Tired, but his mind is set on the what? The finish line, the race. And he sees it get closer and closer. All of a sudden, the hare said, ah, wakes up. And he looks back, he doesn't see the tortoise. But he look over in front of him, and guess who he sees in front of him? The tortoise. And guess what else he sees in front of him? The finish line. And the rabbit eyes get big. The rabbit eyes, the hair, the eyes get so big right now. It gets so big that now he says that, no, the tortoise is about to beat me. So the rabbit shoots out fast as he can. And he goes fast as he can to catch him. And the rabbit comes so close. But guess what happened to the tortoise? It crosses the finish line. He wins the race. The tortoise wins the race. Family. As a Christian, this is a race for us. What race are you running? Are you running a race about yourself? Are you running a race for your own glory? Are you boasting about how long you've been a Christian? You know the Bible better than anybody else? What race are you running? We're going to learn here the psalmist is going to teach us the race they're running. He's running. He's going to teach us the race that he's running. The race he runs, he runs to the word of God. He runs to the commandment of the Lord. And this psalmist is focused on the Lord. So where are you at today in your life? Are you going to run a race like the Sumners? Are you going to run a race like the Hare? I pray at the end of this message, you have the ability to evaluate what race you are running. We're going to do it in two points today. There's only two ways to run. Only two ways to run, the way of the world and the way of God's word. Two ways to run, even in track, either run for yourself or you run for God. Even at school, if you're doing your schoolwork, you do it for God, or you do it for somebody else's glory. And everything else you got in life, there's only two ways. One, it's to the Lord, or one, it's to the Word. Second point, the Lord gives us a heart to run to His Word. The Lord gives us a heart to run to His Word. I'll jump on number one. There are only two ways to run. The way of the world, the first point. I will run in the way of the commandments. Before I get into running in the way of the commandments, I first want to mention about running in the way of the word. Do you all know what it means to run in the way of the world? The way of the world, that type of run is the opposite of the ways of God. The way of the world is the opposite of the way of God. The person that run in the way of the world is adjoining things in this world. It tells us the first John, chapter one, verse six. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness or run in darkness, where they say walk in darkness, We lie and do not practice the truth. We lie and do not practice the truth. For the person that says they don't wanna do the things of God, they're not running the God's race, they're running the race of the world. Those that do the opposite of Psalm 1, Psalm 1. What is Psalm 1? I know you all know Psalm 1 by heart, right? Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. No standing in the way of sinners. So that person, right, in Psalm 1, the opposite of that person, It's a person that walk in the way of the council, of the wicked. That's the person that sits with the school, those that are scoring the markers. Those are the one, right? That love to walk in the way of sinners and walk in the way of the wicked. If you notice, If you notice, they don't want the things of the Lord. They don't want the things of the Lord. They want the counsel of the world. They want the counsel of the politicians. They want the counsel of one to fit in with the world. They enjoy when other people get mocked in school, making fun and cracking jokes. They're the ones that want to crack jokes when I'm talking about people too. Who are these people? Which way are they running? The way of the world. They enjoy their own appetite. They enjoy what they think is good for themselves. They rule over themselves. They don't want the things of God. They want the things for themselves. Bernard, can you see? They don't want the things of the Lord. So family, which way are you running? Are you running to fit in and talk about people? You can say you love Jesus all day. If you're running in a way and enjoying those that do not love the things of God, family, you don't love the things of God. And the way you're running is damnation. But the way of the God, different. Look at verse thirty-two again. I will run in the way of the commandments. But now, let's look at those who that do not that do run in the way of commandments. This person is not opposed to the commandments of God. They long for God's commandments. They wanna obey God. They wanna love God. that love the thing God loves. Those are the ones that are born again. For God, John 3, 16. What's John 3, 16? For God to love the world. For those, right, that have been born again. They don't want to love God. They believe in him, and they shall not perish. When we were born again, family, we stopped running to the things of the world. We started to run to the way of the commandments. Who are these people? John 14, 15 tells us, if you love me, You keep my commandments. Are you running to the commandments? Are you running to honor your father and mother? Are you running to do what's right? Matthew 19, 16 to 17. Now behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing should I do that I may have eternal life. We want a T for our favorite verse, do you agree? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter the life, keep the commandments. And all the things in the world, Jesus said, you want to be good? You want to make it to heaven? keep my commandments. Not for to be saved, but for those that keep his commandment are truly saved, they truly believe in Christ. 1 John 5, 2 and 3. By this we know that we love the children of God. We will love God and keep his commandment, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. Matthew 7, 21 to 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. For he who does the will of my Father in heaven, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name Cat demons in your name, and done many works in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you practice of lawlessness. First John 2, 3 to 5. Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandment. He who has said I know him and does not keep his commandment is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God has been perfected in him. And I can continue going more verses all throughout the Bible. Ecclesiastes 12, 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandment, for this is man's all. Keep going, y'all. Do the run in 7-9. John 14-21, he who has my commandments and keep them, it is he who loves me. Family, what are y'all running to? You run to his commandments. You run to Jesus, and Jesus gives us his commandments. So what do we cry for? And I can tell you more. Psalm 111-10, Revelation 12, 17, 2 John 1, 6, James 2, 17. Thus also faith by itself does not have words. It is dead. We run to the commandments. We run to Jesus. Point number two. The Lord gives us our heart to run to his word. So we learn that now we're to run to God's word. But now the Summoner's cry is out, Lord, give me a heart to run to your word. Can you just run to your word by yourself? No, we need God's strength so we can run to his word. The Summoner said, will you enlarge my heart? The Summoner shared the root of him running to the commandments. The root of it is you, is the word you. Who is you in this text? When you enlarge my heart, who is you? The Lord. The Lord enlarges our heart. Most translations translate the word enlarge. What does it say in your Bible, Greg, in Psalm 119? What does it say in yours, Christy, in Psalm 119.32? Broaden. Broaden? Yeah. OK. Most versions says enlarge. Anybody else has any other version? In Psalm 119 verse 32, what does it say for yours? It said broaden your understanding. Broaden your understanding. All right. Some version might say grow. Some other version might even say expand. The Hebrew word in this, I believe is, is the word rakav, rakav, rakav. And this word rakav deals with to grow, to make something bigger, to expand it out. Enlarge. Enlarge your version. I like the translation to be to grow. Same thing as the word enlarge. When the Lord grow our heart, when the Lord gives us a new heart, expands our heart, that's when we become the right runner. It's the Lord doing the work in us. It's the world over doing it. If you try to beat your test and say, I'm just gonna follow commandments, guess what you're gonna happen tomorrow? You're gonna break the commandments. You cannot follow the commandments in your own strength. Only when the Lord grow us to follow his commandment, only when the Lord leads us to follow his commandments. When the Lord grows heart, the heart refers to the new heart in Christ. Once the Lord has grown us a new heart, we become right runners. It's something special about having a good track coach or football coach. A coach can get a kid that never played the sport before. The kid can start playing the sport because he wanna fit in with his friends. He wanna play the sport because he's stronger than everybody. Then that coach or that track coach or football coach take him along the way and teach this young man. It's a purpose in why we do this. It's a reason why we do this. And that sport athlete, their learning's bigger just to be before themselves. It's a brotherhood. It's a family. We're doing all these things together for a community. We're putting our community on our backs. We have a reason why we do it. Right? Now that person now, they have a different perspective on why they do what they do now. They hungry now because they got a bigger purpose on how they do it now. That's the Christian. heart to do everything for him, to glorify his name. Family, we run to the commandments now. We run to the Lord now, because we run to the Lord, we know more about him. And we grow in him, and we live for him, and our whole lives are shaped for him. So family, the first thing we start off is that the Lord give us a new heart to run to him. they're growing in the knowledge of the Lord. If we try to run after the commandments without a new heart, family will fail and we'll come to legalism. Y'all know people that know a lot about the Bible? They know so much about the Bible, but their lives are so messed up. They always talking about scripture, scripture, scripture, scriptures. Oh, did you hear what this theologian said? Did you hear what this theology say? Did you hear this theology? That theology. Have you met somebody like that before? They know all this theology, but they don't know the Lord or the theology. It's just puffed up knowledge. Again, you can learn all the stuff in the Bible and be lost. Had a good conversation. Man, that brother led me to Christ. That sister led me to Christ. You can even lead people to Christ through God's word and be lost because it's all hidden knowledge. Only until the Lord give us a new heart to run after him. This will run the race the right way. So kids, as y'all learned so much about the Bible, may the Lord give your heart a new heart for Jesus. Not to just know these things, but these things right now are shaping your heart to be more like Christ. and give Christ the glory. We are running to please ourselves. It's a different race, but we're running to please the Lord, to know him and grow in him. We run for God's glory and we truly please God. I find it to be the case many people are running, but they don't have Christ. There was like the Jewish leaders. How y'all know somebody know a lot about the Bible? These Jewish leaders, Greg, Dazzle, they knew so much about the Bible. Chris, they knew so much about it. But they misused it. Listen to this in Matthew 23, verse 1. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to the disciples, the scribes and Pharisees sit on the Moses seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you, but do not the worst they do. What do they do? For they preach but do not practice. They top heavy burdens, hard to bear. They lay on them the people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their fingers. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. Ooh, let me pray in church. Ooh, let me sing in church. That's what they were doing. I want everybody to see me pray. I want to say, everybody see me do this. So everybody can say, oh, you did good. They boasted themselves. That's what they was doing, these leaders. They want everybody to see them. They said all the right things. So Jesus said, do what they say, but don't do what they do. Don't live like them. They said a lot of good things, but their lives are so far away from the Lord. Jesus goes on to say about them. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. What Jesus said, beware of them scribes and Pharisees, because they are hypocrites. They say these things, but they don't truly know the Lord. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven and the people's faces. For you neither enter yourself nor allow those who will enter to go in. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, He called him again, say you hypocrites again. You hypocrites, you hypocrites, you hypocrites. You know all those scriptures that Christ redeemed the church, but guess what? You ain't living by any of them. What about you all? How's your life now? And your marriage, and your singleness? Are you more like Jesus, or are you more like the world? Family. These tribes and Pharisees, they went away from God's word. They ran, but they ran the wrong race. They ran the race of the world. And now these people that knew all about the Bible, they can quote the Bible, many of them are worried now. They're waiting on God to be judged. They're gonna be put in hell forever. They knew all the Bible. They were so close to Jesus, and they missed him. So family, may the Lord create in us a new heart to run after him. And we run after him, y'all. Don't be like that hair. Don't feel like you ran from Jesus for so long. You know everything in the Bible, you can take a break. Where I ran, I can take a break. I don't have to read the Bible no more. I can take a break. Family, you run like the tortoise. You might not be the fastest, but you're the most mature and faithful that you stayed on course. You didn't try to run all these things and use them against everybody. No, you ran an efficient race and you held on to God's word. And as you do that, the Lord's gonna enlarge your heart. He'll give you more, give you more, and give you more. Amen? Amen. Let us pray.