Please open your Bibles with me this evening to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, as we continue our verse-by-verse study through this extended but excellent Psalm. Psalm 119, tonight we come to verse 128. It is the last verse in this stanza, ayin. Please listen as I read God's inspired word for us here in Psalm 119 verse 128. God says through the psalmist, therefore, I consider all your precepts to be right. I hate every false way. And with that, let's open our time in prayer. Let's pray. Our Father, give us grace tonight that we might understand your holy word, your word that has been preserved for us throughout the ages, that is continually being applied to our hearts and our lives by your sovereign spirit. Lord, we do ask that you would bless us now. Meet with us by your spirit, Lord Jesus, just as you have promised to do when two or three are gathered in your name. And we ask these things in that perfect name, amen. Well, as my dad mentioned this morning, we were just in Oklahoma City for a conference, not for two weeks, but just for a couple of days. Our hotel happened to be just a block away from a place, a restaurant, that I had not been to in many, many years. The Waffle House. Now, I have some fond memories of going to the Waffle House for breakfast, enjoying many early morning breakfasts there on our way out the door to go camping or hunting, me and Paul and my dad, or with our grandfather just for fun. Grandpa Gregory. And I had this memory in my mind there in Oklahoma City of how good the Waffle House was going to be. Those cheesy eggs and buttery grits and the crispy bacon and the warm cinnamon raisin toast. But because I hadn't been in many years, it sadly was not as good as I remember it. The question it left me with was, well, did they change their recipe? Did the ingredients change in the last, oh, I don't know, 25 years since I had been there? Or have I had the chance in that 25 or so year span to enjoy better food? I think it's more the latter. And isn't it interesting that when we come to see and understand what is good, what is better in life, we can quickly begin to dislike that which is not as good, what is actually bad. Now, I admit from the outset here, that's a poor and lacking analogy, so let me try this one. Have you ever been hiking up a mountain or through the woods and you lose the trail? Maybe you did it on purpose, hoping to find a shortcut like many of us guys will try to do. We purposefully go off trail to save time, to get to the top of the mountain faster. But that supposed shortcut turns out to be quite difficult, even dangerous for us. Maybe it leads us to the edge of a cliff or some other kind of impasse. And so the next time we go on that same trail, hopefully we learn not to deviate from the trail, from the marked path. And as we continue on the trail, we come to enjoy it all the more, that path that's been carved out for us. You see, when we come to know and understand and even practice the way that is right, we move away from and even come to despise the ways that are wrong. I'm sure this can be applied to many other areas of our life experiences, and I'll let you come up with some better illustrations for the next time we preach through this text. But we'll look at this tonight. If you consider Romans 7, verse 12, the Apostle Paul says there, so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. And he goes on in verse 22 there of Romans 7, speaking of delighting in the law of God in his inner being. You see, the law of God, God's righteous rule, his truthful word, it's the only map that we should follow all the way to our final destination, the celestial city. And the same word, it's nourishment to our bones, it's manna from heaven, it's our daily bread which he feeds us. And so we should love this law. And conversely, as we love this law, We should naturally find ourselves more and more throughout our lives hating all that does not conform, all that opposes this law of God in Christ. This is the point of our verse tonight. And we'll consider this text in Psalm 119, 128 in just two simple parts. Here again, we have a cause and effect relationship in these two parts. First, the consideration of all God's righteous precepts. And second, the hatred then of all that is false. So consider with me firstly, considering all God's righteous precepts. That's what the psalmist begins by doing. He says here at the end of this stanza, therefore, I consider all your precepts to be right. Other verses translate it, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. There's this emphasis, it seems, on the universality of God's righteous law. God's law has something to say about every aspect of every person's life, does it not? It is the rule, the standard, the measuring stick for both our doctrine and our practice. What God's law says is right is right. And what it says is wrong is wrong indeed. There's no arguing against this law because its source is God himself. God is the divine law giver and the holy judge of all men's hearts. Thomas Manton paraphrases the psalmist saying, That's what the psalmist is saying here. And among unbelievers, it seems that over time, there's naturally a downward slide towards greater immorality. It's not usually an all-at-once occurrence, and sometimes it's not even visible to the watching eye of men. Also, it's not without its glimmers of virtue throughout a person's life. Unregenerate men can and do exhibit virtues, common good towards their fellow men. But on the whole, sinners are going to sin. Without the interrupting grace of God to divert their spiritual trajectory, to turn them around completely, they are going to sin more and more and more and more as their life goes on. When given the option of loving God and His law, or loving themselves and their sin, unregenerate men can't help but choose to love themselves, to love their own sin. It is of man's sinful, fallen nature to do so. It would be unnatural for a natural man to love God's law. Does that make sense? Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 13, verse 23. Pastor Rob alluded to this this morning. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? These are rhetorical questions that God is asking through Jeremiah. Then also, he says, since the answer is clearly no, then also you can do good who are accustomed to doing evil. And in Romans 1, verse 32, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things, lawlessness, deserve to die, they not only do them, continue their lawlessness, but give approval to those who practice them. And a few verses later, God tells us how such men who know the law of God because God has revealed it to them, by nature, written it on their hearts, how they therefore will be left without excuse on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. And so the world, it drifts, and it drifts more and more towards immorality. And it would have Christians, if it could, if it could have their way, the world would have Christians join them in their drift away from God and towards greater and greater sin. But the man or woman of God must remain firm. The smallest deviation from God's law, the littlest renunciation of God's truth can cause a Christian to eventually stumble into serious sin and error. So we must love and consider, as the psalmist did, all of God's precepts to be right, and thus obey them. Charles Bridges writes, many profess to esteem the precepts to be right so far as they inculcate the practice of those moral virtues of which they may present some faint exhibition and demand the abandonment of those sins from the external influence of which they may have been delivered. But when they begin to observe the exceeding breadth of the commandment, how it takes cognizance of the heart and enforces the renunciation of the world, the crucifixion of sin, and the entire surrender of the heart unto God, oh, this searching touchstone separates them from the church and exposes to open day the brand of hypocrisy upon their foreheads. So the enemy still will allow a partial subjection to the precepts, but as he well knows, one sin holds us, his captive, as well as a thousand sins. The willful contempt of one precept is the virtual rejection of all. Isn't that what we see in the story of the young rich ruler who came to Jesus and said, I've done all these things, and Jesus, gets to the heart of the matter with him and says, well, then sell your possessions, give it to the poor, and he could not do so when he left sad that day. So we ought to heed and practice the instructions of the apostle, the apostle who writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. As we heard in Sunday school this morning, We're always excited at the conversion of sinners. We're always thrilled to see someone begin their journey to the celestial city. But we're even more excited by watching those who have run with Christ in an obedience to his law for many, many years continue running with Christ and in that way everlasting, even towards the end of their earthly race. Consider also Philippians 4, 8, and 9, where Paul writes, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. If and when our minds are filled with these things that Paul describes here, then there really ought not to be any room for that which is false, or dishonorable, or unjust, or impure, or unlovely, or deplorable, or anything morally inferior, or anything worthy of condemnation. As we'll see in a moment, when we love the things of God, we should abhor the things that are not of God. Bridges again writes, all therefore, not many, all is the Christian's word. All are the objects of his supreme regard. Every duty, every circumstance and obligation of duty, the evangelical as well as the moral precepts teaching him to renounce himself in every part and to believe in the son of God is the only ground of hope. So the psalmist considers here in the first part the righteous precepts of God, and he loves them. And because he loves them, there's this converse reaction, this opposite response that causes him to hate that which is not of God's law. And we see that in the second part of verse 128, hating all that is false. There are actually two conclusions or applications. If you look at this stanza, beginning at verse 121, ending at 128, there are two conclusions. You see, therefore, twice. Once in 127, and once here in 128. At the end of this stanza, he concludes, firstly, that all of God's words are of great worth to him. even more than the finest of gold, as we saw last time in verse 127. And secondly, we see here in 128 that he concludes even further that because God's words are valuable and all true, therefore he hates all that isn't valuable and true. I hate every false way, he says. Get out of here with that dross. Get out of here with the impurity. Get out of here with the falsehood. I hate it all. And here's the natural effect caused by a supernatural love for God's good precepts. Supernatural love because it came from God. We love because God first loved us, you see. Hatred, this is the result, this is the effect caused by God's love for us and our love for Him. Hatred for all that contradicts and opposes God's truth and God's laws. Well, what is meant by the psalmist when he alludes to every false way? John Gild defines it as every command, institution, and ordinance of men which are opposed to the will of God. He goes on, every false way of worship, all superstition and idolatry. Lent. Every false doctrine whatsoever is contrary to the testimonies and word of God. And so, as Gil shows us, the psalmist is admitting his hatred for everything out there that opposes God's worship and His Word. Do you oppose that which opposes God's worship and His Word? Do you hate it? As Bridges puts it, every way, however pleasing to the flesh that is opposed to the revealed will of God is aided as false in itself and false to his God. This godly sincerity will apply to every part of the Christian directory. What he means by Christian directory is the Christian's knowledge, his faith, and his life practice, all of the Christian. And what is it that causes this negative response, this negative affection in the psalmist? Ultimately, it's his prior love and worship of God. It's his understanding, his consideration, his knowledge of the goodness and rightness of God's words. So there's a negative response or reaction when he sees the opposite occurring in the depraved world. Maybe even in himself. Maybe some of you remember high school science class where you learned about Isaac Newton's third law of motion. Some of you might be science nerds here, and you could recite it. I had to look it up. I remember it a little bit, but not all of it. It says, Newton's third law of motion says, basically, that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, right? I've always thought about this as illustrated by the shooting of a gun. When you pull the trigger and the firing pin hits the thing and it lights the thing and it makes a fire that propels the bullet out one end of the gun, hopefully the barrel, then the whole gun, what, goes the other way. And some of you guys know that if you're too close to the scope, that rifle's gonna leave you with a nice little red mark on your eyebrow. That gun is gonna kick back into your shoulder Newton's third law is sometimes seen even played out in the home, especially among young brothers. When one brother punches the other brother, the punching brother could and should expect a punch back at him. It's science, right? But long before, Isaac Newton was a Greek philosopher named Aristotle. Aristotle posited a similar philosophical, not so scientific, but philosophical theory about forces that has come to be called anti-peristasis. One reference guide explains that anti-peristasis was an Aristotelian theory of motion that by the 17th century was being employed to describe how contrary qualities repel each other and with an intensifying tendency in the repelling. and to move in opposite directions. So with this very Aristotelian idea in his mind, the 17th century minister, Thomas Manton, would write, commenting here on this very psalm, he says, Manton says, there is an anti-parastasis in grace as well as nature. He goes on to illustrate what he means by that. In bad times, good men are best. Wicked men's badness exerciseth and increaseth good men's graces. The more odious sin appeareth in them, the more grace is strengthened in the saints. Their looseness maketh you strict. Their vanity and carelessness maketh you serious. Their intemperance maketh you sober. Their worldliness and sensuality maketh you spiritual. As they are instances of the cursed vigor of nature, you, speaking to saints in Christ, you are instances of the sacred power of grace. I thought that was helpful. I hope you did too. We see this in our own lives and in our own societies today, don't we? Even at home, one child wants something from their sibling. The sibling doesn't want to give it. Things often escalate. There's this competing of forces. On the global scale, it's what almost led to an all-out nuclear war in the middle of the 20th century. We saw different nations leveling up. One nation moved some warheads around on on their part of the continent and another nation, maybe the US, goes from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 3 or 2 in no time. Equal opposite reactions, you see. What does any of this have to do with verse 128? Well, it's the cause and effect relationship that we find in our verse. Because I consider all your precepts to be right, I hate every false way as a result. Think of it this way, and maybe a more personal way. As soon as a sinner is saved, as soon as someone is regenerated by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, their mind and their thinking is also regenerated. Their will and desires are regenerated. Even their heart and affections towards things and people are regenerated so they begin to learn and know, they begin to experience this change of affection from loving and doing that which is bad and sinful to now loving and doing that which is right and good. Ephesians 2.10 tells us that that's exactly what we were created for in Christ Jesus, to do good works. Our confession puts it like this in chapter 10 on effectual calling. Effectual calling, another term for that that we often use is regeneration. Those whom God hath predestined unto life, he's pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his word and spirit out of the state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. This is what we see in the first part of our verse. I've considered your precepts and how have I considered them? I've considered them all to be right. Well, man can only do that because of the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration in our minds. Our confession goes on, taking away their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh renewing their wills and by his almighty power, determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace. You see, everything changes at the moment that a person is saved. Spiritually speaking, everything for that person changes. And the process of sanctification that begins in that very moment of justification See, when a person is saved, he or she will begin to despise the things that they once loved, that had even just recently, maybe earlier that day, brought them temporal happiness. We think of the self-indulgences that many saved sinners struggled with, lived in prior to conversion. self-indulgences, partying, getting drunk all the time, sexual sins like pornography, fornication, even relationships with other unregenerate sinners. Everything changes when God extends to us His grace and by faith we embrace Christ. See, at that point that by faith we embrace Christ, we have to, in order to embrace Him, we have to let go of everything else that matters to us. We have to let go to our hold on the world. And again, you know this already, we wouldn't let go of those things left to ourselves, would we? No, it is God working by his grace and spirit in our hearts to pry our fingers off of the things of this world, off of the idols of our own heart, and to place our arms around Christ in grace through faith. At that point, we have a new master, we have a new love, a new and lovely object of our worship who is Jesus Christ. And we find this doctrine too in our confession in chapter 13 on sanctification, paragraph 1. They who are united to Christ. effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also further sanctified, really and personally, through the same virtue by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them. And what is the effect that that cause of the Spirit's sanctifying power causes? What's the cause and effect there? Well, it goes on and tells us the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed. Sin no longer has dominion over us. And the several lusts of it are more and more weakened and mortified. And this happens over time. That's what more and more refers to. And they are more and more quickened and strengthened and all saving graces to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. My friends, once Once a person tastes the sweetness of God's saving love, they will hate their sin and all that is opposed to divine grace. Once God sets you in the way to his lasting city, you will no longer look at this world as your home. You'll no longer look for shortcuts to happiness, even as much as the world will tempt you to do so. But God will keep you in that way that is Christ. Spurgeon says it like this, The psalmist here, he says, was not lukewarm regarding the truth. He loved well and he hated well. Did you know you could do that? You can hate well. But he was never a waverer, Spurgeon says. He knew what he felt and he expressed it plainly. And this is how it should be, dear believer. We should know God's law. We should consider his precepts, all of them, to be righteous and good. And when we are confronted with falsehood, with corruptness, with wickedness, either in the world, out there, or probably just as often in our own hearts and minds, we should hate it. We should hate it. And ultimately, like Jesus himself, we should seek to be holy like he is holy. Thomas Manton adds this practical admonition, you should walk with God as Noah and David did in the worst of times. Yea, the badness of the age you live in should make you the more wise, more circumspect, more humble, more heavenly as fire burneth hottest in the coldest weather, so study to serve God in thy generation. My friends, as I close this message, I want to encourage you, whether you're here tonight and you are in Christ already by God's grace or have yet to be united to him, this message is for all of us. And none of us, in and of ourselves, are able to love God and despise our sin. That's the bad news for humanity. A total inability in our own selves to love God and hate sin. But here's the good news. Because God has done an amazing work of grace towards hell-bound sinners like us in the sending of his eternally begotten son, who took on our flesh, who suffered like us in this world, yet without sin, who perfectly obeyed God's righteous requirements, who took the penalty of God's justice towards sin by shedding His own blood and atoning for sins. And because He, Jesus, didn't stay dead, but because He rose with power from the grave to newness of life and He ascended to heaven to the right hand of the Father, where He is even now interceding on behalf of all God's elect Because of these truths, we can have hope that we might be saved if we believe upon Him who lived and died and rose and ascended and is mediating on behalf of sinners like us even now. So the question for all of us tonight is this. Do you believe these things? Do you love this Jesus? And if so, then you are called to renounce your sins. to consider God's precepts and to hate all that is false, all that is opposed to God and His law. And for those of us who have already experienced that condescending grace of God towards us in Christ, May He enable us to continue to walk by the Spirit as new creatures in Christ, hating lawlessness and persevering in good works until the end, all to the praise of His glorious name. Let's pray. Our Father, our God, our Judge, we thank you for sending Christ, that perfect, spotless Lamb, to be the Redeemer of sinners. We thank you for Jesus, our righteousness and our joy and the everlasting desire of all our hearts. Lord, may you help us as we seek to walk daily in communion with him. Help us to hate our sin and to give more and more and more love to thee, oh Christ. We pray this for his name's sake, amen.