Here you notice the top of each eight verses, and do you remember the Hebrew alphabet? One thing I'm going to do is I'm going to try to type that out for you so you can have it as a handout next time so you don't have to skip every eight verses to say the letters, but let's see if you can say the letters anyway by going through every eight verses, those little segments there. The first Hebrew alphabet or letter in the alphabet is... Aleth, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Wa, Zayin, Heth, Teth, Yod, Koph, Lamed, Mame, Nun. Nun. That's where we're at. We're at Nun. the letter N in our alphabet. That would be the number verse 105 all the way down to verse 112. And let me just ask you a question as we get started in this little section. Have you ever been lost? I mean like you maybe travel somewhere or walk somewhere or drove somewhere and you got lost. Now you know when you're younger you tend to panic more when you get lost. I'm talking about lost to the point, like, I don't know where I'm at. And you get a little bit unnerved because you don't know where you're at. Anybody ever done that? You've been there long enough. If you're old enough, you should have. I remember, and I've shared this with you before, I took a group of kids, 20 or 30 teenagers, that was like suicide, taking them to Natural Bridge, and all of them wanted to be the leader. And some of them got off the beaten path, so we had to go after the ones off the beaten path, so here's all the others, that are 20 or 30 others, getting off the beaten path, and we all got lost, because we weren't on a path. and there were trails that you're supposed to be on. And here we are, tramps in through the woods, through the rough part of the woods, and the sun's going down, and it's starting to get dark. You know how it can get in the mountains when the sun goes down. It don't have to go all the way down in the mountains. It just has to get behind the mountain. And I started praying. Lord, I don't know where we are, but here I am with 20 or 30 teenagers, and we could fall off the side of a cliff, especially if it's dark, and there's all kinds of possibilities that could happen, and you can imagine the parents getting mad, not at the kids, but at moi. So anyway, I was praying, praying, praying, and up from a distance I saw on a ridge, people. I said, yes, from here, somehow I've got to get there. And we worked our way up to that point. It was kind of a difficult find, but we did that. But I was very thankful for that. That was one trip I took. I remember another trip I took in a car. And this was when I was younger. I was probably about 18. And we were going to, me and another fellow were going to Taos, New Mexico. We wanted to go to Taos. We'd seen it on TV, and it's supposed to be a peaceful little town. They had the siestas in the afternoon, and we thought, boy, that's just unique. Taos, New Mexico. So we're driving, driving, driving, trying to get to Taos. We get lost. It's in the middle of the night. It's dark. We're going around a curve and we come around a curve and there's a hundred deer in the road, just deer everywhere. And I was just thankful we didn't hit the deer or the deer didn't hit us. We'd be saying, oh deer, and they'd be saying, oh man. But anyway, it was a beautiful scene. Though we did not find Taos because we was lost, we still had a good time because of what we got to see. You ever been in that kind of situation? Which way do we go? Which way do we go? You remember how, before GPS, how you had those fold out maps? And they fold out like, you'd have to fold it back up in 50 different ways. And you remember, it's just, That's how I did those maps. I couldn't fold them back once I got them out. But you had to follow that map, and you'd have to find out where you were and locate it. How GPS has really helped us out a lot. But there have been times, I remember one time I was going to Sister Helen's shortly after they joined the church. And I was following the GPS, and the GPS says, that's as far as we can take you. And I'm going like, oh no. Because you don't have a map then, how do you know where to go? What do you do when you don't know directions? It can be very confusing. As you go through life, do you know where you're going? As we're going through life, all of us are going through life, we're at different stages of life, but we're all going through life. The main thing is, do you know where you're going? Another important question you've got to ask yourself, do you know how to get to where you're going? Now, if you don't know where you're going, and you don't know how to get to where you're going, you're lost. If you think you know how to get where you're going, but your thinking's wrong, and you think you're right, you're lost, whether you realize it or not. And that's the way people are. in our culture. In cultures all over this world there are people that are lost and don't know they're lost spiritually. They think they know the way to heaven. They've got wrong directions. We as believers have a tremendous advantage over those that are lost because what we have is the Holy Spirit as our helper and we have the Word of God as our guide. We have the Bible. The Word of God is highlighted once again in this section of Scripture from 105 to 112. And I want you to notice what the Word of God says. And I believe in just, we'll read just the first three verses, and notice how it talks about how the Word of God is our map. It is our guide. The Word of God says in Psalm 119, 105, very familiar verse of scripture, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I have sworn and I will perform it. that I will keep your righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord, according to your word. Accept, I beseech you, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me your judgment." When Adam sinned, What Adam did, he brought sin into the world. And by bringing sin into the world, by choosing to sin, he brought darkness into this world. Sin is likened unto darkness. We've got darkness on the world because of sin. But all the way back in the book of Genesis, all the way back right where Adam sinned, there's a ray of light given. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, it talks about how that serpent would bite the heel, but the heel would crush the serpent's head. And in that little verse right there, is what is called the Proto-Evangelium, and that is the first mention of the Gospel. So right there in the very beginning, right when sin entered into this world, there is a ray of hope or a ray of light when darkness came in. What you have in the Word of God is the light starts getting brighter and brighter and brighter as the Bible is written. And as the Word of God is recorded, the more of it's recorded, it gets brighter until Jesus comes. And then once Jesus came and once the New Testament is completed, what we find is that we have the full light. It comes from God's Word. And this full light has been shining from heaven to earth through the Word of God into the hearts and lives of people like you and I. And what the Word of God does, it starts showing us the way. Here is our guide. And I want you to notice how it gives direction. In the very first verse that we read here, your word, the word of God, is a lamp unto my feet. Now when you think about a lamp, you think about something on the end table that gives light. And if you were to look at that lamp as it gives light, if you go into another room, that lamp is not going to give light in another room because it's on a little stand right over here. And you know what, if it's in the middle of the night and it's a little dim lamp, It's not going to light up the whole room real good. It's just going to light up just around to where you can take a step at a time and see just a little bit. Notice what the Word of God says. Your word is a lamp unto my feet. Now, pause there with just that lamp. It's talking about a specific area. It's not talking about a large area. It's talking about a specific area, a lamp to your feet. If you had a lantern, that would be called a lamp, and you were carried along like they used to before electricity, then you would light the way for each step of the way. It doesn't light up the whole path. The lamp just lights up that little bit of a way. There's a lot of different kinds of lamps. You know, there is, you could call them street lamps or street lights. There's green, yellow, red, it lights, and it gives signals and tells us what to do. There are other kinds of lamps, but what that is, is just talking about something very specific. Now it also says, notice the latter part of that verse, it's a light unto my path. God's word is a lamp to my feet, tells me how to step, where to step, but it's also showing me the path I need to take. Now when a light shines down a path, You cannot see around a corner. You cannot see if there is a dip in the road. It only lights up the pathway and shows you the direction that you need to go. It gives kind of a general idea. It's not as specific as the lamp unto my feet, the light unto my path. Look over in Proverbs 6. Over in Proverbs chapter 6, I want you to notice what it says down in verse 23 because it's a direct correlation between what we're talking about in 105 and Proverbs 6.23, there we read, for the commandment is a lamp. When God gives a command, it tells us how we are to step. It's not a broad way, it's a commandment is a lamp. And then it says, the law is light. That speaks more in general terms. And it goes on to say, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. There are general principles that are given in God's Word. The lamp is specific, showing the next step. The light doesn't show all the twists and turns. Look over in just back a couple Proverbs or a couple chapters in chapter 4 and notice what it says down in verse 18. But the path of the just is as a shining light, as the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day. The more God gives light, the more the pathway can be seen. In general sense, think about how God's Word gives us a general path. The Word of God does not say, don't do drugs. I don't think you can find that anywhere in the Word of God. But the Word of God does tell us that your body is a temple of the Spirit of God. So there's a general principle that would cover that area as far as the drug part and the abuse of drugs or smoking cigarettes that's abusing your body. That's going against the general principle of the Word of God. The Bible does not tell us that John is supposed to marry Susie. The Bible does not get specific with some things, but it does say, do not be unequally yoked. So there are some specific things in God's Word, but there's also some general terms, and the general terms are talking about more of a broader way, or the way we should go, the path that we should go. It tells us how we ought to take one step at a time, but it also shows us the direction that we ought to be walking in, such as, let me give you a little illustration. One of the things Sister Sue told me about her daughter, Lisa, is that she's got a very positive attitude, and she's trying to keep a positive attitude, even though the doctors say they can't do anything else. There is a general principle there. You've got to keep your eyes upon the Lord. We're to walk by faith, not by sight. And when the doctors say they can't do anything else, our eyes are not upon the doctor. A couple other prayer requests we might want to add there. Continue to remember Sister Noeli and Sister Afi. She did have a shunt replaced in a particular area, and she's doing okay. She wants to take off about six months of work, and she needs to. She needs to rest. But do pray for both of those. But this one thing I know, they have a testimony that is powerful with what they're going through. And it's because their eyes are fixed upon the Lord and they know the path that they need to take to glorify God. God's Word gives us the direction. But I want you to notice it also instructs us in obedience. In verse 106 it says, I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep your righteous judgments." In other words, that word perform means I'm going to be obedient unto your word. Now we know there is none that have kept the word of God perfectly, only Jesus Christ. He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law, and that he did to the letter of the law as well as to the intent of the law. Basically, what the psalmist is saying, all you said, I'm going to do. But you know what? That's what the children of Israel said. And you know what? They failed, didn't they? The children of Israel said, all you said, that we will do. And within a month's time, you know what happened? They built a golden calf and they're parading and dancing around it and having a big old party. Not doing all that God said to do. That's because we have the flesh. We might have good intentions, but we don't always follow through with those good intentions. Only Jesus Christ kept the law to the fullest degree. It ought to be in our hearts the desire to perform the will of God. to say, I will keep it. I will keep your righteous judgments. God's word gives us instruction, gives us encouragement, gives us guidance, and gives us hope. Notice in the matter of afflictions, the word of God says, I am afflicted very much. me, O Lord. Make me alive according to your word." The psalmist is going through something here, and we don't know exactly what it is. But whatever this affliction he's talking about, afflictions can come from the outside. Sometimes they come from the inside. The afflictions that come from the outside could be like somebody trying to set us up. are in Trappist, just like we talked about how the Pharisees did our Lord Jesus, and how they tried to catch him in his own words so they could use it against him. Where do you go? Where do you go when you're afflicted from without? Well, you remember the old hymn, Where could I go but to the Lord? And here's where we go to the Word of God, and it's His Word that lifts us up. It's His Word that gives us hope, even when we have no hope from doctors, from friends, or from family. We can get hope from God's Word. Listen to what it says in Psalm 139. In the 139th Psalm, down in verse 17 and 18, The psalmist said, How precious also are your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. The psalmist is meditating upon the thoughts that God has toward him. Have you ever meditated upon that? Have you ever thought about how much God thinks upon you. He knows every hair on your head. You know what? He knows the struggles you go through. He knows what brings you joy. He knows what lifts us up. He cares for you. How this ought to lift us up as we read in the Word of God how great are the sum of the thoughts that God has toward us. Sometimes we get afflicted from without and what causes depression within. So we have that which attacks us from the outside, but if we're not careful we can get so down we can get depressed. And that depression, what do we do? We've got to go to the Word of God. It is he that lifts us up. It is he that is our help. It is he that is our strength. It is he that is our song. And therefore, when we start praising God for his goodness, it turns the way we think. Notice in verse 108, he talks about, even in our worship, how the Word of God helps us. He says, Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me your judgments. The free will offerings over in the Old Testament, one of the greatest free will offerings in the Old Testament that you find, is the burnt offering. The burnt offering is something that is totally consumed. Was something even more greater and more important and bigger, I believe in God's sight, than the sacrifices that were offered in the Old Testament as far as the rituals and all that worship that involved the burnt offerings is that, notice what he says, the free will offerings of my mouth. Now the free will offerings of my mouth comes from thanksgiving from the heart. If you don't have a thankful heart, you're not going to have praise in your mouth. Only as we get our focus upon the Lord, And look at how great God is, and how good He is toward us, and how merciful and kind He is to us, and all of His grace that He pours out upon us. Only then can we have freewill offerings from our mouth. You remember what it says in Psalm 19 and verse 14. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart. When I start getting a negative feeling, wrong thoughts of others, whatever it might be, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. How is the meditation of your heart? What do you ponder in your heart? What do you go over and over in your heart? Listen to what it says over in the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 13, notice what it says down in verse 15. Hebrews 13 and verse 15 says this, By Him, that is Jesus Christ, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. So here is a sacrifice we are to offer as Christians, and that is the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is, and he explains it, the fruit of our lips. giving thanks unto God, giving thanks unto His name. Here's a sacrifice that God respects greater than the sacrifice of bulls and goats, and that's the praise of our lips. This psalmist says in verse 108, the latter part of it, he says, teach me your judgments, and here's one thing I believe every one of us need, including me, I've got to have a teachable spirit. I've got to be submissive to the Lord and to the Word of God and submit to the teachings of the Word of God. Here the psalmist is saying, teach me. Are you willing to be taught? Are you stuck in your ways? the psalmist has a teachable spirit. The Word of God also guards us. If you notice in verse 109 and 110, he says, my soul is continually in my hand. Now what is he saying there? My soul is in my hand. You ever had your soul in your hand? It's what's called an idiom, and that is like, have you ever heard the saying, my heart's in my throat? That's like having your soul in your hand. It's kind of like, I think I'm going to die. The psalmist is saying, my soul is continually in my hand. And he needs courage. He needs strength. And where does that come from? He says, yet do I not forget your law. Here's where we get hope and help and strength. It is from the Word of God. In Psalm 119 and verse 110, he says, the wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I err not from your precepts. Who is the enemy? We don't know exactly who is right in this. But you know, here's a good little situation. Look back in 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel chapter 18, I want you to notice a particular situation down in verse 15. In verse 14 it says, And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them. And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Mirab. Her will I give you to wife. Only be you valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him." Notice what Saul's doing. He's trying to set a trap. He's setting a snare for David. And David said unto Saul, Who am I, and what is my life? Are my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But it came to pass at the time when Mirab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel, the Meholathite, to wife. and Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, I'll give him her, that she may be a snare to him. Notice there's that word snare. I'm going to entrap him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law, and the one of the two. And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king has enlightened you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore be the king's son-in-law. And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. David says, Singeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed? And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David, Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desires not any dowry, but a hundred four skins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. You see the snare, the trick that he's trying to set David up for, that the Philistines would kill David, therefore Saul would be rid of David. He didn't want to do it personally. and here he's conniving. And here the psalmist says in Psalm 119, 110, that we could have laid a snare for me. Yet I err not from your precepts. I'm going to keep your precepts. No matter if some people set traps for me and try to trick me and try to set me up, try to use my words against me, whatever it might be, I'm going to keep to your precepts. In these last two verses, I want you to notice what the Word of God does. It gives us great joy. The psalmist says, Your testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever. The word heritage means an inheritance. Here, it's talking about having the Word of God as an inheritance, something that is possessed, something that is prized. He says, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. God's word rejoices his heart. In other words, he doesn't just have a head knowledge of scripture, it's affected his heart. The word of God has so affected his heart that it tells us it brings him rejoicing in his heart. You know what, if you love something, that which brings joy to your heart becomes treasured. If something brings you great joy, you treasure that which brings you great joy. The psalmist is saying, your testimonies are my inheritance forever, and they are the rejoicing of my heart. Therefore, he's treasuring up the word of God in his heart. Then he closes out this little portion and he says, I've inclined my heart to perform your statutes always, even unto the end. Now I want you to notice this. Here's how the psalmist stayed faithful. Recently I've heard of a couple Christians falling by the wayside. going out into the world, just like Demas over in the New Testament with the Apostle Paul, having loved this present evil world. And yet, they profess Christ and they've walked away. They've turned back to the way which they had renounced. How can we be faithful in our journey through this life all the way to the end? Notice he says, all the way even unto the end. If we are to be faithful, we must never lose sight of the end of the journey. Never lose sight of the end of our journey upon this earth. The end of our journey ends up right before the throne of God, where we'll be in His presence. The majority here tonight got more days behind than ahead. We don't know how many days we've got ahead, but boy, I'll be old as Moses if I live twice as long as I did. Older than Moses, that's crazy, isn't it? We've got more days behind than we do ahead, but we know where we're heading. Therefore, we need to be faithful until the end. Let's have a word of prayer, and then we're going to sing a couple songs. Father, we thank you for your word. And we do ask that you'd help us to make it a lamp unto our feet as we walk. Help us to walk in step with your word. And may it be a light unto our path. In other words, Lord, help us to keep focused on the direction you'd have us to keep going. And help us to desire to keep your word. Even though afflictions will come in our lives, trouble will come in our lives, Difficult times at times will be in our lives. Lord, we ask that you help us to keep the end in sight, that our lives might ever magnify your name and glorify you for Christ's sake. Amen.