Looking at all of Psalm 119 as a whole, what you find as a psalmist, the writer here, he's going through a lot of afflictions, consistently throughout Psalm 119, and that's a lot of afflictions, because you're looking at quite a few verses. All these afflictions that he's talking about, the majority is caused by, he's living a godly life, and as he's living a godly life, those that are ungodly cause some difficult situations for him. We know the word of God tells us over in 1 Timothy, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So it's true not just in the Old Testament, it's also true in the New Testament and it's true in our day and time. If you live a godly life, there will be the ungodly that will try to put you in difficult situations and cause some afflictions within your life. The psalmist, his hope, is in the word of God. And that's what we see in this passage of scripture that we're looking at tonight. My hope is in your word. So I want you to notice what the word of God says in verse 49. Here is simply a request the psalmist makes. He says, remember the word unto your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope. The psalmist is looking at the word of God. His hope is in the word of God. So he's praying it back to the Lord. Remember your word unto your servant. And this is what's caused him to have hope. Now hope, I want you to think about that word for a minute because hope is something that you look to the future for. Sister Kay, you're looking toward Friday and you hope to have your tooth pulled Friday. That's a hope. Because you got an appointment. That hope is built upon the future. Your hope in different situations. Girls, y'all went out traveling in hope. And your hope is set upon something. It could be something subjective or something very objective. Something subjective, let me give you a little bit of an example. A subjective hope would be like, has anybody ever heard, if you found a four-leaf clover, it would bring you luck? Oh, if I found the four-leaf clover, will that give me hope? Let me tell you, that's very subjective. You might have bad luck with them. There ain't no such thing as luck. Let's get rid of that word, luck. Thinking about something subjective, I remember as I thought about that four-leaf clover, I thought of, you remember the daisy that you used to pick when you were little? And you would pluck the little peals and you would say, If you're a female, he loves me, he loves me. If you're a male, there's not many of us in here. She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not. And you were hoping to get to the end of the petals that she loves or he loves you. Well, you know what? That's very subjective. You might get to the end of the petals and you have no petals left and it says, he loves me. And you come to find out they really don't love you. Your hope, think about it, that's built upon something in the future. If it's subjective, it can very easily let you down. Matter of fact, that's, she loves me, she loves me not. In fact, I looked it up, and you know where that comes from? It actually comes back from the 1800s. It would come from the French. I thought that was very fascinating. I didn't know that little story. But really, that kind of hope is built upon a whim. If you're hoping that somebody loves you, they love you not, they love you then, yeah, that's all. has nothing solid to base it upon. But if your hope is based upon something objective, something firm, something solid, then your hope is, let me just sum it up, your hope is only as good as the promise. Did you get that? Your hope will only be as good as the promise. I've often told people, I can promise you something, I can promise you I'm going to be somewhere or do something for you, but if that was me in Iraq over there off Pigs Creek, and you know what? I wouldn't be able to fulfill my promise. Though I have good intentions, and your hope is on your pastor's word that he's going to do what he said he's going to do, but he don't come through. it becomes a problem. Most people's hopes, they crumble, they fall apart because of the object of their hope. Their hope is built upon something that is not solid and not firm. I remember reading a story, it's been many years ago, concerning the German Nazi war camps. And those that survived The one common denominator amongst those who survived those camps and the atrocious conditions, the one common denominator was that they had hope. Those who gave up and had no hope, those are the ones in the majority that died. Here's a little question I will often ask people. I will ask them, If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain you'd go to heaven? Some of you may have asked that question before or have heard that question. Have you ever heard this answer? I hope so. I hear that all the time. People hope so. Well, how certain is your hope that you're going to heaven? Your hope must be based upon the word of God. God's Word does not change. All the promises that are general promises in the Word of God are firm. They're settled in heaven. If God said it, that settles it. Whether you believe it or not, that settles it. That's God's promise. God's promise is not banked upon What you believe and what you don't believe, God will do what He said He will do. There are principles in God's Word that are also, we can trust them and bank upon. They're like checks that you can cash in. They're good, or even better than gold. I want you to notice, the psalmist said, remember your word unto your servant, that's upon, that word which you have caused me to hope." His hope is in what God has said and what God has said God will do. And he goes on to say in verse 50, this is my comfort in my affliction. Notice here he mentions He's having some affliction going on in this life. And here's his comfort that he gets in the midst of his affliction. He says, for your word has quickened me or your word has given me life. And notice the connection here of what we just said, the hope and the word giving life. His hope is in what God has said, is in his word. and his word is what gives him life. Very close relation there between those two words. Here is a fact that is not acknowledged in verse 50. And verse 51, notice what he says. The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from your law. What type of affliction do you believe the psalmist was going through? We have to speculate to really understand what it would be and I don't think we can come to a full understanding. But the psalmist, whatever affliction he was going through, you know what? You and I can go through the same type of affliction. Though we might not know what it is. He might have been going through a sickness. We have mentioned Brother Mitch in prayer and others in prayer that's going through sickness. You think about Sister Helen, going through the loss of Brother Ron. Death, maybe the psalmist experienced that in his life here. Maybe it was slander from those that were proud who had him greatly in derision, as he said in verse 51. We don't know exactly what the affliction was, but we know it was gripping his life. And there are times in your life when affliction grips you. And the first place you need to turn to is the first place that the psalmist turned to, and that is the Word of God. For it is the Word of God that quickens us. It is the Word of God that gives life and gives hope. As long as there's life, there's hope. And here, notice the connection there between hope and life, and the illustration I just gave with the Nazi death camps, those who had hope, boy, they had life, and their life, God brought them through because of that hope. In verse 51, we see, he says, I have not declined from your law. I have not drawn back from your word. I have not ceased or backed off from the word of God. The proud are deriding me. They're mocking me. And you know what? You may experience that in your life. People may mock you because you're a child of God. They may mock you because you might quote scripture. They might deride you, as the psalmist says, they had him in derision. But here the psalmist is saying, the Word of God is my focus. The Word of God is my foundation. The Word of God is the psalmist's future. It's what he's hoping in, what God has promised he said he would do and he believes that he was gonna do it. As you go right through this passage of scripture, what you see, in verses 52 through 54, you see In verse 52 he says, I remembered your judgment of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. You notice here, he says in verse 52, he remembered the judgments of old. In other words, he remembered God's word from years back. By the time the psalmist wrote this psalm, he is looking way back in the Old Testament and he's seeing how consistently God has worked and how faithful God has been. He remembered those judgments, the word of God, and he saw how faithful God was. Therefore, he got comfort because of the Lord's faithfulness. God does not change. I think I've mentioned in times past how Mormons believe that God changes and God changes his mind. Well, the Mormon God might do that, but you know what? Our God does not. We have a sure foundation when God says something, it's settled in heaven. Forever, oh Lord, your word is established, it's settled in heaven. Circumstances change, the situations in life change, but God never changes. He says, I am the Lord and I change not. Laws change. Boy, do they change. Look at four years ago and then how things changed just over this past few months. There are executive orders after executive orders and things change. But the Word of God does not change. And when you can, excuse me for into the Word of God, when you can get a grip of what God is promising, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is truth. Notice he says, I've comforted myself. Here is where the child of God draws comfort. We can comfort one another, but ultimately it is God who gives us the comfort that never changes. He is ever faithful and consistent. The Word does not change, therefore because His Word does not change, I can consistently go to it and I can draw comfort from the Word of God because of what God has promised. Let me ask you a very simple question. You've all got a Bible in front of you. Does the Word of God comfort you? That's a serious question. We can read God's Word and just read God's Word. You ever read something and you don't even realize what you read after you read it? Let me tell you something, if you read the Word of God like that, it ain't comforting you. Does God's Word bring comfort to your soul? The psalmist goes on to say in verse 53, he says, horror hath taken hold upon me. Horror. We think of horror, we think of horror movies or horror scenes. Something horrific. Something that is terrifying. Something had gripped the psalmist and brought horror into his life. Notice he gives the definition of what that horror is. He says, because of the wickedness, or the wicked that forsake thy law. The wicked, when they forsake the law, they bring forth wickedness. The horror of wickedness took hold upon him and had a dramatic effect upon him. Back in the psalmist's day, what type of horror that was that the wicked did that brought horror to him. You think back in that day and time, they had wars. They had people taken into captivity at different times. They had murder. They had rape. Not much different than our world today. Is that what took hold of him? The wicked works in large scale like that? Or was it as he looked out, he saw people in everyday life sinning? If you're a child of God and you desire to be holy, Horror ought to take hold of you because of the wickedness that is so rampant. If you think about in our day and time, and I'm not going to harp on this, but homosexuality has become normal in many people's sight because the wickedness has gotten more wicked. You think about homosexuality, something else that has gone a little further is homosexual marriage. That's not biblical. And no man can say that's marriage. They might say that, but that's contrary to the word of God. We would not acknowledge that. But I want you to notice, many people see this as normal. The more it happens, the more it becomes normalized. In our day and time, what has run rampant because the government pushed it in the last administration, people would cut off perfectly healthy body parts and say there's something that they're not. And many people think that's normal. I would say everybody in here would say that's very abnormal. There's some problems here. There's some mental problems and it comes from sinfulness and the lies they're believing. And the more the lies are told, the more people swallow it up. The more people in our day and time. Does that not bring horror to you? Perfectly healthy people, but there seems to be a lot of sin sickness and mental sickness in our society today. Everyday If you think of the concept, whatever the psalmist is going through, you think about it, whatever we're going through in our society, in our culture, in our day and time, and we see the wickedness that is abounding, get a picture of the great white throne. Get a picture of when God calls and how one day they're going to be cast into hell. We think of, I mentioned about Syria and how tens of thousands of people are being murdered in the name of religion, the name of false religion I will say. And yet those who are doing the killing, they're gonna be dying and going to hell also. Do we have a burden? Do we have a burden for people? No matter where they are in life, are we concerned for their soul? Are we burdened enough to witness? Are we burdened enough to share Christ with others? In the midst of this horror that he's talking about, listen to what the psalmist says. He says, your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. In other words, in the midst of his sorrows, in the midst of the horror that he's experiencing because of the wickedness and how they forsake the law of God, the psalmist can have joy in sorrow. That's interesting. The joy of the Lord is truly our strength. There is strength in our sorrow. Can you have a song in your heart when you see the wickedness that goes on around us? The psalmist did. He says, it's happening in the house of my pilgrimage. I believe that's as he's going through life. He's still got that song within his heart. There can be beauty in your tears when you weep over other people's sins, but you can still rejoice in your salvation. You remember Paul and Silas when they got locked up and thrown in jail. In that dungeon, they were in chains. No doubt in darkness. And then that earthquake came. If that were you in there, would you have been singing songs of joy or would you be saying, I wonder why God has forsaken me? You know, no doubt they probably thought they had been forsaken. That might have crossed their mind. But what we find as far as recorded in Scripture, they were singing songs to the Lord. They were praising God while they're chained. And no doubt had been suffering a little bit. Not a little bit, but quite a bit. But it was God that gave them songs in the night. Your song is your testimony. I heard a little portion of a song. Little catchy songs get you sometime. I got that love. It's from above. Oh, I like that. You know, we ought to have the love of God within our heart to produce a song to where we're singing and we ought to be praising God in the house of our pilgrimage because people hear us and they'll be hearing you singing and they'll be hearing you with your song. Your song is your testimony. What do people hear from your life? From the psalmist, they heard the statues, which were his songs, in the house of his pilgrimage. Closing this portion of scripture out under the Hebrew letter Zayn, it says in verse 55 and verse 56, I have remembered your name, O Lord, in the night. and I have kept your law. This I had because I kept your precepts. Here is the Lord's name. The word of God tells us in Proverbs 18 verse 10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are safe within the name of the Lord. As the psalmist is writing here and he's closing this little section out, he's saying he remembers the Lord's name in the night. Night, what do you think about when you think about night? It's starting to turn night. It's getting a little darker through the window over there. Night is related to darkness. men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Their deeds are evil, oh boy. Their deeds are evil. You know, they like to do things covertly, so they're not seen, but some people have gotten more brazen and do it in the broad daylight. Evil often happens in the nighttime. But the psalmist is saying in the night, what has happened to me, I have remembered Your name, O Lord, Yahweh. And I've kept your law. And he says, this I had. What did he have? Well, he could have been talking back to verse 55. He had the law. Or he could be talking about the name of the Lord. He had the name of the Lord. This I had. I had you, O Lord. the night. I've kept your law. I've had you because I kept your precepts. Know what the psalmist is doing here. He's identifying with the name of the Lord. He's associating himself with the Lord. Same principle is kind of like what we went over this past Sunday night. You remember how we talked about, over in Ephesians, the latter part of that portion of Scripture, and how we are identified with Christ. When Christ died, I died. He was buried, I was buried with Him. He is risen, I'm risen with Him. He is sitting in the heavenlies. The Word of God says in Ephesians chapter 2, we're sitting in heavenly places. Notice how closely identified believers are with the Lord Jesus Christ. These, who we talk about as believers, are those who love Him because He first loved us. The question comes, do you love the Lord? Easy answer is yes. But the follow up with that is, do you keep his commandments? Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So I ask you again, we'll put that question back in front, do you love the Lord? If you say yes, does it reflect in how you live? Does it reflect in how you talk? Does it reflect in how you walk? Does it have an effect? When you're facing trials, situations in your life you don't have answers to, that you're walking by faith and not by sight. You see, when you identify with the Lord, it makes a drastic effect upon your life. I love that passage of scripture in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but it's Christ that lives within me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. You see the close identity the Apostle Paul's talking about. Here the psalmist, back in the Old Testament, he's saying, I've remembered your name, O Lord, and I have kept your law. This I had, I've had your name. because I've kept your precepts. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Here the psalmist is very simply showing how he loves the Lord. May we show the same love toward our Lord Jesus Christ because we have kept his law and because we kept his precepts. If you love me, keep my commandments. There's a song we're gonna sing in a minute, how about that? Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, how it's been recorded and preserved through the years and how it is a comfort and how it consoles us even in our afflictions in our day and time. So Lord, we ask that you work by the promises of your word in our lives, giving us hope sure and steadfast, unshakable, that's founded upon your sure promises. And we'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor, and glory for Christ's sake.