Let's turn to Psalm 119 and the Mem stanza starting in verse 97. We just sang this. This is God's holy and inspired word. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word. I have not turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. From your precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way." This is God's Holy Word. It's interesting to note that in the Mem Stanza, it is bracketed by love and hate. Notice 97A, oh how I love your law. 104B, therefore I hate every false way. As we come to this stanza, it really is one of the marvelous stanzas that are in Psalm 119, and it is actually just an all-out celebration of God's Word. There's something very interesting about this stanza, and I read it slowly so that you could see this, and that is there's no petition. There's no plea. There's no crying out. As we've seen over and over with stanza after stanza, there are petitions, there are cries to God. We get to this one and it is, as it were, straightforward declarations, straightforward statements. It is, in a real sense, a continuation of the train of thought that started in the Lamed stanza that we saw last week. And so, here's the way that I see this stanza unfold. The psalmist has been agonizing over the conflict, the external conflict, the internal conflict. He gets to the Lamed stanza and it is back to that foundation, that sure foundation that he has in God's Word and he is in a sense establishing his roots. It's not that he had drifted from it, but he's going back conscientiously reminding himself of the foundation upon which he stands, that he's not going to be moved from. And as he does that, he moves into the MEMS stanza, and it ends up being, in a sense, just a doxology of praise for the Word of God. and everything that the Word of God does for him. And so George Zemeck says, and I thought this was marvelous, he says, energized by his meditations upon the stability and sufficiency of the Word of God in Lamed, the man of God explodes with his exclamation at the outset of this stanza with, oh, how I love your law." And so, verse 97, in a sense, frames up this stanza, and there is a declaration of love and a declaration of dedication to the love of God, or to the law of God. Verse 97, it's got to be one of the most famous verses in all of the psalm, right? And here the psalmist breaks forth. What he does is he actually uses an interrogative, how, but he uses it as an interjection, so we translate it, oh. And so it is this declaration of enthusiasm. It is a declaration of exuberance, and it is a deep expression of love to God's Word. Oh, how I love your law! Now, of course, when he makes the declaration, what he's doing is he is obviously engaging the emotions, right? Oh, how I love your law! The emotion of love to God's Word is clearly, clearly reflected in this declaration. And you don't just blurt out or burst forth some sort of declaration about what you love, I mean, unless you're really expressing something of deep interest that's in your own heart. And that's how he starts out. Oh, how I love your law. Now, that love is going to be reflected in his dedication. to the Word of God. The reason that I bring this up is we have to see that connection between the declaration of love being then reflected in dedication because it's very possible for us to have deep feelings about something, in this case the Word of God, that never lead to anything. I mean, how many country and western songs extol with great sentiment love for the family Bible? There can actually be virtually a superstitious sentiment that expresses itself in love for the Word of God, but never does anything. And so having warm feelings about the Bible, or having warm feelings about Mother's Bible, or having warm feelings about remembering when you used to gather around the kerosene lantern and Dad would read you the Bible late at night, or hearing songs that are sentimental that never lead to anything, guess what those emotions are worth? Nothing. Nothing. Strong emotion that doesn't lead to anything is valueless. But for the psalmist, this wasn't just sentiment. It wasn't as if he was thinking back to the good old days back in Jerusalem where mother taught him his olive bet by teaching him the Psalms. This effusion of emotion actually leads to something and it is dedication. Charles Bridges, who's absolutely marvelous in this stanza, says, the professor, that is the one who professes faith but doesn't possess faith, the professor may read and understand and even externally obey the law But only the believer loves it, and he lives in it as if he could not live without it. And so when the psalmist burst forth, oh how I love thy law, read it like this, I love your word so much that I honestly cannot live without it. I love Your Word so much that I am utterly dedicated to it. The dedication to the Law is, it is my meditation all day. So, the declaration of love is then concretely expressed in dedication to the Word in meditation. Now, we've noted this before, but the word meditation has the idea of to muse, or to ponder, or to study, so you're immersed in it, you're investigating, you are preoccupied with it. Sometimes the word is used in the Bible for murmuring. But murmuring, by the way this is somewhat interesting to me, the way that murmuring and meditation actually overlap is that meditation was sometimes seen as repeating something out loud over and over and over again so that you're muttering it again and again and again. And so there is this sense of you're turning it over, you're looking at it from every angle. And so the psalmist's commitment to the Word of God is not just a relic of family heritage, but rather it is his very life. I love your Word, it's my meditation all day. And by the way, when he says all day, he means constantly. Now the word meditate is used in Psalm 119 in verse 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, our verse, 97, and then 148. And so it's used all throughout, which makes sense because Psalm 119 is a celebration of God's word. And one of the ways you celebrate God's word is you meditate on it. And so here he is, I'm pondering it, I'm all about it, I examine it, it occupies my mind, I turn it over, and there is really quite an amazing power that comes in meditating on the Word of God. We're not very good at it. because we've got so much media, we've got so much distraction, we've got actually so little quiet time, and meditation actually requires the ability to be quiet. You ever think about how bombarded we are with what some people have called the white noise? It's just a part of life, isn't it? I mean, it's just always... And in ancient times, they didn't have that. It wasn't that they were less busy, but they certainly didn't have the white noise of modern culture. And so, if we're going to be the kind of people who are given to the meditation of God's Word, there has to be time where we actually are able to pray about it. I read this great quote from Luther today as he's commenting on the psalm and he makes the comment that the way that you read your Bible is you read it very slowly and you stop after every verse that actually draws your attention and think about it and then pray about it. Well, you know, if you're going to read even just a little portion of scripture and you do that, that's going to take a while, right? So here's the psalmist, he says, my love for the Word of God is actually manifest in the fact that I am constantly committed to meditating upon the Word of God. This goes back 21 years ago, but one of the richest times of being in the Word of God for me was when I had Bruce Ware's theology class. And I had Theology 1 and Theology 2 from Bruce Ware, and he had an assignment for every unit that he taught, and that was you actually had to memorize an assigned portion of Scripture. And so I would walk to school, and so what I would do is memorize the scripture and then go through it on the way to school, just walking along. And what was... I still remember doing Psalm 1 or Isaiah 40 and turning those phrases over in my mind as I walked, just thinking about, you know, reciting it back to myself, and then emphasizing this word, and then reciting it again, and then emphasizing the next word, and just thinking about how it related. And it was a time in which it was as if the Word of God was becoming more and more powerful and alive to me. And it could be that one of the reasons why the Bible seems so lifeless to so many of God's people is because we don't give ourselves to actual meditation and study in the Word of God. John Goldengay says, the all-day nature of this meditation indicates how dedicated our psalmist really was. Then the psalmist does something that I, and I absolutely love this section, 98 to 100. I was going to simply call this, these three verses, the words ur-power, okay? Ur being the comparative, right? Wiser. better, stronger, happier, longer, etc. Because what he does is he draws a comparison of three realms of life. And so, since you wouldn't know what I was talking about if I just said er, I used the words comparative power, and you still don't know what I'm talking about. And so the context of those three verses are fascinating. He deals with the context of his enemies or adversity. He deals with the context of academics or his teachers. And then he deals with the context of age or the elders or the aged. And then the connections in these three verses are also fascinating because it is his relationship and response to the Word that makes him wiser than his enemies and gives him more insight than his teachers and gives him better insight than the agent. All right? And so this is absolutely marvelous section. God's commandments make me wiser than my enemies, verse 98. So God's Word, actually the psalmist sees God's Word as giving him a wisdom that his unbelieving opponents simply don't have. He's superior to them in actual wisdom because of God's Word. And here's something to keep in mind. The enemies of our faith and those who would oppose us or who would be our antagonists, they may get the upper hand from time to time. But in the end, we always win. And we always win big because when it comes right down to it, we have the power, the authority, and the wisdom of the Word of God, which wins out always over error and falsehood. And so John Milton used to say, let truth and falsehood grapple. for whoever knew of truth to be put to the worse in a free and open exchange. And so the psalmist actually celebrates the fact that he's wiser than all of his enemies. He has more wisdom than all of his enemies. Wisdom, of course, not just simply being he's more clever and can lay a better trap, but wisdom in the sense of wisdom from above. God's knowledge that comes to him through the Word applied to real life so that he's the one who sees things as they really are. His enemies don't. And so he says, I have more wisdom than my enemies. Your commandments give me that wisdom. And then he says, for, or because, they are ever mine. And so he can actually look at that context of his opponents. And how many times has the psalmist talked about his opponents in this psalm already? Multiple times. And he says, God's commandments make me wiser than all the guys that are trying to trip me up and lay snares for me. And here's the real simple reason. Because God's commandments, that is God's word, is mine. It is mine. I possess it. I've internalized it. And so the advantage over my enemies is immense because I possess the Word of God and God's instruction for my life." Then he says, verse 99, I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. Now, I actually really love this verse. I think in June I'm going to preach up at Living Stones in Reno. They've got a lot of college kids there, and so I think I'm going to preach a sermon from this text on how to be smarter than your professors. It's true. Now, by the way, this verse and the next one end up creating real difficulties for commentators who think that David wrote Psalm 119 for the very simple reason that it's very hard to imagine a faithful Jew being raised in the context of, by and large, a faithful kingdom, talking about being wiser than his teachers. Who would David's teachers have been? They would have been those who would have been teaching him God's law, And then it's hard to imagine him saying he has more insight than his elders, because in that context as well, elders almost always has a positive connotation of community leaders who are spiritually minded according to the law of God. And so here, again, it makes most sense to see Daniel. Because if you take Daniel 1, and think of Daniel in that context of being a middle teenager, being immersed into Babylonian culture and Babylonian education, remember, he is actually going to be educated in all of the wisdom of Babylon. In other words, he is in for not just the bachelor's degree, but he's in for the bachelor's degree, the master's degree, and the PhD. And his teachers are not guys named Joseph or Simeon or Judah, but guys that are named Ishmael and Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar. So his teachers are Babylonian fools. wise in terms of the culture and the Babylonian worldview, but fools in regard to God's truth. More insight than all my teachers. I love it. We have some of our students here that will come up to me and tell me what's going on in their classes and we have one particular young lady who is as bold as a lion and she is constantly just bearing witness for the truth of the Word of God and the gospel in her classes, and she is wonderfully fearless. But she has a basic assumption, and that is, I'm right, she's wrong. And it's not arrogance, it's because of the presupposition of the authority of the Word of God, right? And so, who actually ends up having more insight? The 20-year-old young lady who has faith in the Word of God and is steeped in the Word of God? Or the PhD who doesn't know God from a rock? I'm putting my money on the 20-year-old. And the psalmist says right here, I have more insight than all of my teachers. And so here you have these Babylonian instructors, you know, babbling on about Marduk and their false theories of the origin of the universe and their false ethics and their false religions. and all of that. You can't really say that David would have said, I have more insight than all of my teachers, because he would have received instruction in Torah. And then the psalmist turns around and says, and here's why I actually have more insight than all of my Babylonian professors, and that is because your testimonies are my meditation. Same word is used in verse 97. In other words, I study the Word of God. I meditate on the Word of God. I'm preoccupied with the Word of God. I'm steeped in the Word of God. I'm immersed in the Word of God. I live by the Word of God. I study the divine Word, and it therefore gives me superlative understanding and insight into reality that far exceeds anything that, you know, that Professor Marduk has to offer. It's a wonderful thing, actually, to have absolute confidence in the Word of God. It does something for you, right? Verse 100. I understand more than the aged." This too, by the way, is problematic. If the author is David, most of the usages in the Old Testament end up being positive religious community leaders. And so, one possibility as a reference is to the supposed aged and wise ones in Babylon. Now, here's the amazing thing is, with the exception of our culture, in most every other culture, especially ancient culture, The idea of being old would just imply wisdom, right? So, if you had gray hair, You're supposed to be wives. So, yeah, it's...yeah. And that's the assumption. Actually, there is somewhat of a universal respect for the elderly. as those who are experienced in life and have wisdom and are the ones that you look to for insight and understanding into life. Now, the Bible does compel us most certainly to respect those who are aged, right? The Bible would compel us to look to them for wisdom. But the Bible actually nowhere says, just as a matter of plain and simple fact, white hair means you're wise. Because wisdom ultimately comes from the Word of God. In fact, wisdom comes from the word in a way. And in fact, Job actually brings this truth up as well. And that is, don't think that just because you've been on the planet for a long time that you're just automatically really smart. Although by proportion, there are more young fools than old fools, there are still old fools. And so the psalmist here actually celebrates the fact that, you know what, I actually understand more than the aged. And there's a real simple reason. Notice this. This is the most fascinating one out of the three to me because I observe your precepts. Now remember, in verse 98, your commandments make me wise because I possess them. 99, I have more insight than my teachers because your testimonies are my meditation. So there's the idea of possession, there's the idea of preoccupation, but here what you have is the idea of practice. Now, notice this connection. Actually, you can't miss it because it is far too critical. We'll put it in fancy pants terms. Obedience is epistemological. In other words, the more you obey, the more you understand. That is a spiritual principle that's woven into the fabric of God's Word. The more you obey, the more you understand. Well, guess what? The corollary of that is also true. The less we obey, the stupider we get. Disobedience makes you spiritually and morally stupid. Obedience makes you spiritually wise. And so Jesus actually tells us that he who's committed to obeying my Father, my Father will reveal his will to him. In other words, Jesus identifies the fact that a pre-commitment to obey what God reveals actually opens us up to more understanding of what God reveals. So pre-commitment to obedience is a prerequisite for spiritual understanding. I mean, how much do you think God is obligated to reveal to those who are committed not to obey? But to those who are hungry of heart and mind and want to learn and have that commitment to obey, God actually reveals things to them. And so notice this, I understand more than all the elders and the aged because, for this reason, I observe your testimonies. I practice your word. I obey your word. And so, the more we're dedicated to obedience, and the more we actually obey, the more understanding God gives us, and the opposite is also true. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness in men who do what? Who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Romans 1.18. So, a commitment to sin, that is living how I want as my own God, requires another commitment from me, and it's not to receive the truth, it's to suppress the truth. When the psalmist says in Psalm 14, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God, it's not talking about the person who is, as it were, the intellectual or academic atheist. The fool says in his heart, fool in Proverbs is a moral word, not an intellectual word. Fool doesn't have anything to do with IQ in Proverbs. It has everything to do with a person's moral compass. And so the person who is the fool, that is the person who is the moral train wreck, he's the one who says in his heart, there is no God. Paul says the same kind of thing in Romans 1 and Ephesians 4, 17 to 19. In other words, there's a correlation between obedience and understanding. The corollary is that immorality actually hampers our ability to reason correctly. Thinking is ultimately moral. And so, when it comes to moral and spiritual matters, the person who is given over to a life of disobedience, sin, and rebellion is the person who actually is going to understand less and less and less, and have less and less light, and more and more darkness. In other words, the person who indulges in sin the more his or her mind is corrupted, and sometimes that corruption takes to such a degree that it deadens that person's awareness of God. That's why it's dangerous. You talk to young adults, and they have some idea that that, you know, they're doing their thing now, but they're going to come back later. And here's the problem. You don't realize that you're anesthetizing yourself now so that you won't want to come back later. And you're stupefying yourself now so that you won't be smart enough to come back later. That's the connection. And so the psalmist says, I actually have one leg up on the aged as far as insight and understanding go. And it's because I'm committed to obeying God's word. And with obedience comes understanding. George Zemeck says, accordingly, true wisdom does not depend upon lifelong experience, but rather upon obedience to God's precepts. Verses 101 and 102 we see the words sanctifying power. Notice the way that he says this, "'I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word. I've not turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me.'" And so he says it in two different ways. First of all, restraining his feet. I've restrained my feet from every evil way. That is, I've actually consciously not gone down the path of wickedness or evil or falsehood. Understand, he's got enough discernment from the Word of God to be able to tell what the path of evil and wickedness and falsehood is. Sometimes people inadvertently go down that path because they don't have the discernment to tell between good or evil. But the person who's actually steeped in the Word of God actually has the ability to discern between good and evil. He sees that path, and the psalmist says right here, I've actually restrained my feet from giving in to going down that way, even though it seemed more pleasant, even though it seemed as if the pleasures would be greater, or the life would be easier, or whatever the case. I've not done that. And then notice the purpose statement, in order to keep your word. I have purposely avoided going down there because I've been determined to keep your word. And I knew I could not start traveling that way and be obedient to you. The psalmist actually reveals a wisdom here that's absolutely critical. I'm going to keep your word. That's what I'm about. And because that's what I'm about, I watch every step. I don't say to myself, look at that down at the end of that path. There's trouble all the way down at the end there. I see that. So what I'm going to do is, you know what, I think it's okay if I take one or two steps down this path because, you know, I mean, after all, I don't want to be overly scrupulous about these things. And so I think I can just maybe go down one or two, maybe three steps, but I know that I'm not going to go down as far as all that trouble and disaster is. The psalmist said, you know what, because I'm dedicated to actually walking in your ways, keeping your word, I'm not even gonna mess with that path. The problem is, is that whenever we make one or two step compromises, then three or four step compromises is what follows. And then before you know it, you're down at the end of a path that you never thought you would take. And so that dedication to obedience actually will keep you from saying, I'm not going to do that. I've used this illustration over the years a number of times, but it is one that is illuminating to us. So you remember when Saul is chasing David around the wilderness and he's trying to kill him. And David is hiding in a cave, they're back in the recesses of the cave, and Saul comes in to relieve himself. And what did David's men say? Not just kill him, absolutely kill him, but they actually put like a spiritual spin on it, right? God has given him over to your hand. Perfect! By the way, what they did is they read Providence by their circumstances. You can't do that. David doesn't read the circumstances and say, oh, well, God obviously wants me to kill him, or he would not have brought him into this particular cave. I mean, look how many caves are out here. It'd have been pretty easy to rationalize, don't you think? I mean, I know this area. There are at least 12 really good caves to relieve yourself in, okay? And some that are way more comfortable than this one. And so, you know, what am I to conclude? I mean, what are the odds that he picks my cave? What are the odds that he's here all by himself? This must be God. David didn't do that. David operated by principle, not just by circumstance. And the principle was, hey, you know what? God's told me I don't stretch forth my hand against his anointed. And as long as Saul is still alive, he's my king. And that's the principle. I'm not going to do it. But then David actually takes one step. He doesn't go down all the way. He takes one little step. And to me, it seems like a pretty innocuous step. You remember what he does. There's Saul relieving himself, not paying much attention, and David's able to put a pretty good sneak on him, and cuts off the corner of his robe. Saul leaves. The Bible tells us David's conscience bothered him. Old King James, David's conscience smote him, right? For what? He could have killed him. I mean, how easy is this to justify? I could have done this, but all I did was this. Well, David was committed to a life of obedience. So just doing this was a problem to him. And so here is this, what we might consider just as little piccadillo, this little tiny sin. His conscience bothers him and he confesses it. And that's the same guy, that's a pretty sensitive conscience, I think, don't you? And then here's the same guy who in 2 Samuel 12, 11 sees Bathsheba up on the roof. And what you have is a succession of sins that get deeper and deeper and deeper so that David ends up all the way down that road. And so here's a guy who actually says, I'm not going down that road. And he takes like a half a step and his conscience smites him and he draws back and he repents. And that very same man then years later ends up all the way down that road. And so the question is, how does how does the guy that just pulled back in his conscience modem end up all the way down the end of that road years later? And the answer is one step at a time. Doesn't just happen in a day. David didn't just wake up one morning and thought, I think I'll commit adultery today and then kill one of my own men and a bunch of my fellow soldiers. He didn't wake up thinking that. So the psalmist gives us wisdom here, and he says, I have restrained my feet in order to keep your word. And then verse 103, notice this is just saying it differently, 102, I've not turned aside from your ordinances. So on the one hand, I've restrained my feet from going down that way. On the other hand, I've not turned aside from your ordinances. for you yourself have taught me." And so here's obedience now negatively stated, and the reason, you've taught me. And so the psalmist actually says, here's the reason why I don't turn away from your word. Here's the reason why I don't go down that path. And here's the reason why I don't turn away from your word, because I understand that you yourself, God, my God, have taught me. In other words, what I have, what I've assimilated into my life, what I possess, what forms and shapes my ethics, my moral compass, the entire direction of my life, I recognize is not just simply the opinions of men or the traditions of men or even the instruction of men. It is actually God Himself who has taught me through His Word. And I dare not do anything else. When you have a student who does the exact opposite of what you have taught him or her, it is an insult, right? If you're a coach, if you're a teacher, any kind of instructor, and you go through the entire regimen and explain why you do what you do and how you do it and work with this person and they seem to take it in and then they turn around and go and do the exact opposite, you think, you stubborn little ingrate Not that our teachers at GCA would ever think like that, but that's the way a teacher would think, right? The psalmist says, I'm the student, God's the teacher. I'm not going to disrespect my teacher by going in a way that's opposite of what He's taught me. I'm going to do what He's told me to do. Then verse 103, tasting the word sweetness. This is one of the great verses in the Psalm. How sweet are your words to my taste? Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Notice this, this is pure enjoyment, pleasure, it's delight. How sweet are your words to my taste? And then he uses this comparison, sweeter than honey to my mouth. And so here is this wonderful statement. And you ever wonder why it's honey? Well, it's sweet and it's pleasant to eat. But you remember that great scene where Jonathan and his armor bearer are separated from the troops and they come across this Philistine garrison. And Jonathan is like, okay, maybe this is God. And if this happens, then we know we do this. And if this happens, we know we do that. And then just he and his armor bearer wipe out 20 Philistines, get this great victory. The rest of the Philistine army think that the Hebrews are crawling out of holes in the ground. And he's exhausted and on his way back, he takes his staff and dips it in some honey. There's honey all over the place. Saul had given a foolish order. Nobody eats until we've killed all the Philistines. Jonathan doesn't hear the order, takes the staff, puts it in the honey, eats the honey. You know what the text says? And his eyes brightened. He got rejuvenated, right? Got rejuvenated. You know, there are certain things when you read certain passages in the Bible, you always think of a certain memory. Whenever I read that passage in 1 Samuel 14, I always get this memory of being with Matt Berulich and Anna Lynn, and we were up past Winnemucca deer hunting, and hunting with Matt Berulich is a terrible experience. He's like a mountain goat who just is the energizer bunny and Matt does this thing where he goes, oh, all we need to do is climb up way over there and then we'll look through that canyon and then we'll rest and then we make it all the way up there and you're just dying to keep up with him. And then he pulls out his gigantic binoculars and he's looking around and you're trying to just catch your breath. He goes, oh, there's nothing here. Let's look at that one. There's probably something over there. And so by the time you're done, you've made like 6,000 feet elevation in three hours and you're absolutely wiped out. And so Matt's just running me into the ground and we finally, we finally get to rest. And Matt says these magic words. Have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now, I'd never been fond of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I will tell you what, there was something magical that happened. I was about to die, all right? I was about 35 pounds heavier, and I was completely out of shape, and I think Matt's goal was either to kill me or help me lose weight. It was one or the two, and by the time we finally stopped, and I ate this peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I'd never really held PB&J in high esteem before, but I tell you what, I ate that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I physically and mentally revived. It was amazing. It's like, I'm ready to go. At least over to that one, not that one. But that peanut butter and jelly, it like revived me. And so here is, here's Jonathan, right? You kill 20 Philistines, you're gonna get tired, okay? That's a proven fact. When it's two against 20 and you wipe out 20, you're tired. And here's Jonathan and he takes that staff and it tastes good and it rejuvenates them. That's what the word of God does. It tastes good and it rejuvenates us. It's like the ultimate PB&J, right? I mean it is really something else and so the psalmist He compares it to honey because honey tastes really good It was something that was very pleasant to eat and it also had a rejuvenating power to it And so he says it's actually better than honey The Word of God does more for my soul than honey does for my body In fact, the Word of God tastes better to my soul than honey tastes to my mouth And so here he is absolutely delighting in God's Word. This is about as high of an assessment of God's Word, of pleasure in God's Word, as you could do in the ancient world. And I love Matthew Henry's comment here. He says, there is such a thing as spiritual taste, an inward savor and relish. of divine things." Don't you like that? Relish of divine things. Such an evidence of them to ourselves by experience as we cannot give to others. To this scripture taste, the Word of God is sweet, very sweet, sweeter than any of the gratifications of sense, even those that are most delicious. Calvin used to say, for those who have no taste for scriptural doctrine, it is simply proof they have no taste buds. The Word of God is a delight to those who know the God of the Word. And then he ends, it's interesting, some of the commentators, at least the more modern ones, say, wow, he should have ended with 103 because then you'd have this really nice, I love your law and it's better than honey. Right? And he ends on something that sounds like a little bit of a downer. From your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every evil or false way. And I actually think that this is a great way to end the stanza because he begins with loving God's Word and then he ends with hating every false way. I have understanding from Your Word. Your Word informs me, it teaches me. And so, there's not just this positive emotion of delight, but there's also an informed mind and heart from the Word that causes hatred. The Word of God will be the source of love and delight. But if the Word of God is the source of love and delight, then that will also mean that it is the source of inspired loathing. Notice, to hate in scripture is not merely emotional, but it's also moral. What we hate, we're opposed to. What we hate, we are against. And so, this is the way that we should think about it. The words sweetness also creates a distaste a holy hatred, therefore, for evil and sin and falsehood. So every false way actually is about the biggest way, you could say, in wisdom literature of untruth or heresy and immorality. In other words, the false way is that which is in antithesis to God's way, and God's way is both truth and morality. And so here, every false way would be heresy or that which is contrary to God's truth and that which is contrary to the way God says we should live. And so here, the psalmist says very, very clearly, if I've got a taste for the Word of God and I delight in the Word of God, then that love and delight is going to cause me to actually hate certain things in this life. In other words, it is absolutely impossible, impossible, to love and delight in the Word of God and be indifferent to abortion. It is impossible to love and delight in the Word of God and be in favor of oppression. It is impossible to love and delight in the Word of God and be indifferent to adultery and fornication and homosexuality. In other words, it's delighting in the truth of God that creates a holy hatred for every false way. And, you know, it struck me again today. One of our evangelical leaders, who I normally have a great deal of respect for, is being interviewed on this big thing, and he was asked about so-called gay marriage, and the best that he could come up with was that he didn't think that any of the ordinary Christian responses actually addressed the issue in a biblical way. And when the interviewer tried to push him, he was just evasive about it. Well, here's the thing. You don't have to go around being sort of a nasty, judgmental person. But if you love the Word of God, you're going to be a person of conviction, and that conviction is going to manifest itself in actually being extremely opposed to certain things, right? Kyle and Dalett say, from God's law, the psalmist acquires the capacity for proving or testing the spirits. Therefore, he hates every path of falsehood. So, the MEM stanza celebrates the sufficiency of God's Word by making these wonderfully strong, robust affirmations about what God's Word does and the appropriate response to God's Word. So, you possess the Word, be preoccupied with the Word, practice the Word, and your joy increases. As your joy increases, your spiritual taste increases. As your spiritual taste increases, your delight in the Word increases. And as the sweetness of the Word increases, sin and error become more repugnant and more bitter. So at the end of the day, one of our problems is that we don't hate what we ought to hate nearly enough, like our own sin. What is the remedy? Well, the remedy isn't to just try to talk yourself into hating it more. The remedy is delighting more in the Word of God, finding a sweetness in the truth of God. If you find yourself becoming indifferent to every false way, what you need is not to go out and see how bad everything really is. What you need to do is actually see the beauty, the glory, the power, the depth of the truth of God's Word. Be overwhelmed once again with its sweetness. So Charles Bridges concludes for us, with our advancement in spiritual health, the Word will increasingly be sweet to our taste, while our declensions will be marked by corresponding abatement in our desires, love, and perception of its delight." In other words, as we move ahead in spiritual health, the word becomes sweeter and sweeter to us, but as we decline or backslide, what is marked is a corresponding diminishing of our desires and the delight that we have in the Word of God. And so, may God help us to be the kind of people who are preoccupied with and who ponder and who practice the Word of God in such a way that it becomes sweeter and sweeter and sweeter to us with every passing year. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your Word forever settled in heaven. It is our sure foundation. And Father, we pray that you would help us to see the way that these truths correlate in our own lives. We pray that you would help us to see where we're making bad decisions and bad choices and where we're making little compromises that lead to bigger compromises. Father, help us to see those things and help us to be committed to following in the tracks of your holy word. And we pray, Father, that as we do, that you would not only enlarge our minds in understanding the truth, but that you would enlarge our hearts in enjoying the truth. In Jesus' name, amen.