Well, take your Bible and go to Psalm 119, Psalm 119. And as you're turning there, no doubt you all saw that there is 176 verses in this wonderful Psalm. I'm not going to preach all of them tonight, and nor am I going to go through all of them in an expository format that's very uncharacteristic of me. But what I'm going to do over the next few weeks is I want to preach a thematic, a sort of a topical group of messages through Psalm 119. And I want to show you the work of the Word. The work of the Word. And I hope that as we're turning to different scriptures that we'll cover a majority of them in the weeks that we have together. But I hope that kind of looking at the topics of the Word, will be a great benefit to all of us. So let me just begin by reading the first two sections. Psalm 119, beginning in verse one. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness, for they walk in his ways. You have ordained your precepts that we should keep them diligently. Oh, that my ways may be established to keep your statutes. Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all your commandments. I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. I shall keep your statutes. Do not forsake me utterly. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word. With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. I shall delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your word." It was January of 1521. It was the year that Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther. It was only a few months later that Martin Luther was brought to trial. And you know the story before the deity of Worms, he, Martin Luther, refused to recant his beliefs. He said, because my beliefs are founded on the word of God. They're founded on the scriptures. And then Martin Luther went on at a later point to say, as the gospel was taking wind and spreading like wildfire across Europe, Luther is famous for saying, I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's word. Otherwise, I did nothing. And then when I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friend Philip of Amsdorf, The Word of God so greatly weakened the papacy that never was there a prince or emperor that did such damage to it. I did nothing, but the Word of God did it all." Martin Luther, what do you have to say for the revival? This revival, this reformation work that has swept across Europe. Luther, what do you have to say? I did nothing. The Word did it all. I love that. The Word did it all. It's kind of like in the book of Acts when we read that the Word of the Lord continued to spread. In Acts 13, people gathered to hear the Word of the Lord preached. Acts 13 tells us that it was being spread through the whole region. That's what the Word of God does. The Word of God grows, it spreads, it bears fruit. It is the work of the Word. It is unstoppable. I love those words from the Apostle Paul in Colossians 3. Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 7, abide in me and I will abide in you. And then he said, if my words abide in you, you can ask what you wish and you will have your requests. We read from David in Psalm 19 verse 11, that in keeping the word of God, there is great reward. What a God. There is great reward. I want you to know this evening that the Word of God works. The Apostle Paul said that the Word of God is not imprisoned. Paul wrote that while he was prisoned, but the Word of God is never imprisoned. The Word of God must govern your life, your heart, your thoughts, your words, your actions, and we come to, like, the perfect gem, the ultimate gem, the greatest treasure in the whole of God's Word that brings us to the glory and the beauty and the power of the Word of God. Now, in your notes in front of you there, I give you a number of little check marks just by way of introduction. I mean, we could go on and on for weeks about the introductory matters here, but let me just pull out a few bullet points. The length of Psalm 119, you might be interested to know that this is longer than 30 books in your Bible. The variety of Psalm 119 and the emphasis is clearly on the Word of God because every stanza has about eight key words for the Bible, like law, statutes, a testimony, ordinance, precepts, commandment, and so on. By way of literary structure, Psalm 119 is often called an acrostic psalm, or, I like this word, ABCdery, because it's built on the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It's brilliantly put together. Verses 1 to 8 all begin with the letter A. in Hebrew, that is to say, verses 9 to 16 would be like their B and so on. It is brilliantly, masterfully put together in a literary way. The scripture clearly is the theme of Psalm 119. Almost every verse makes reference to the Word of God. It's how you and I are to know the Word, love the Word, obey the Word, fear the Word. and love the God of the Word. What kind of a psalm is this? I believe Psalm 119 is probably best a wisdom psalm because it gives you wisdom for life from the Word of God. But we don't want to just read it merely as bibliology, doctrine of the Bible. We need to remember that Psalm 119 shows us the incarnate Word Jesus is the Psalm 119 man. He is the ultimate man who loves the Word, who lives out the Word. Really, in the truest sense, he is the one who is the fullest revelation of God. In the beginning was the Word. By way of background and setting, I think it's unmistakable. I'll show you tonight and in coming weeks. I think it's unmistakable that the psalmist is going through great affliction in Psalm 119. I think that's a little bit of the backdrop. What do you do when you're going through hardship? You just bathe yourself in the word of God. And this is a long illustration of that. A long illustration of that. The purpose of Psalm 119 is to increase our love for, and our devotion to, and our obedience to the Word of God. Now, in your outline, do you see there toward the bottom, I talk about the placement in the Psalter. Do you see that there? Now, this is really insightful. It may have been Ezra who put together the order of the Psalms. We don't know for sure, but ponder with me Psalms 113 to 118, which all dealt with the Egyptian praise Psalms coming out of Egypt, coming out of bondage. There's the deliverance there. And now we have in Psalm 119, the revelation of God. God has revealed himself. And then the next portion that we'll come to is Psalms 120 to 134, which is praise and worship. And you can see a little bit more of how that parallels the book of Exodus there in your outline. It's just a really, really neat way that Psalm 119 is framed in the Psalter. But what I want to do tonight and in coming weeks is I want to wet your appetite. I want to woo your heart. I want to draw you to the most important treasure in your life. You have one here and here. You have God's Word in your own language. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord for that. And I want to woo you to a greater love and a greater devotion to the Word of God and the God of the Word. So to do that, I want to show you from Psalm 119, the work of the Word. I wanna show you the work of the word. I wanna show you 10 ways that the word of God works. Not tonight, I don't have all 10 points tonight, only a couple. Let's see if we can begin together and look at how the word of God works. Number one, what does the word do? It gladdens your heart. I want to begin here because this is how Psalm 119 begins. But I want to begin with this statement. Your joy in your life, your joy in your life, listen, is directly linked to your Bible intake. Your joy in your life is directly linked to your Bible intake. Because what Psalm 119 teaches is that the Bible-saturated man has a life of deep-rooted joy, comma, in the midst of any situation in life. Any situation in life. I remember when I was doing my doctoral work, I had to read some books on early Judaism and what Jewish boys would do when they were in the synagogue in antiquity. And I found myself amazed that when Jewish boys in antiquity would go to synagogue and Hebrew school, it's far different than what we think of. I go to church on Sunday, their life revolved around synagogue. Every day was synagogue life. But for Jewish boys, they would go to synagogue and they would memorize all of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. But you might find it interesting, Jewish history tells us the very first book of the Bible that Jewish boys from the youngest of ages would memorize is Leviticus. Our Lord, our Savior, growing up in Nazareth, would go to the synagogue, and He would learn Leviticus. He would memorize it. And then after they have Leviticus down, then they would go to Genesis and Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Men of the Word, people of the Word, people who love the Word of God, and it gladdens your heart. We want to be like Job. In Job 23 verse 12, I have treasured the words of God's mouth more than my necessary food. You and I eat multiple times a day. A simple parallel, do we feast on the word? multiple times a day. Notice how the psalm begins in verses 1 and 2, and you notice the same phrase, how blessed. It's a plural of intensity. How many are the happy blessednesses? that come to those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord." Verse 2. How many are the blessednesses of those who observe the testimonies, who seek God with all of their heart. I mean, there is a happy joy. There is a true blessedness. There is a reward that comes upon those who pursue the Word of God. It is the happiest way to live life. It is the surest way to live life. Skip down to verse 16. Notice what the psalmist says. He says, I will delight in your statutes and I will not forget your word. What I love about verse 16, it's actually a reflexive verb. I will delight myself in your word. I'm going to keep reading it. I'm going to keep reading it. I'm going to keep reading it until my heart is overflowing with delight in the Word of God. We look at verse 14. This is just so great. He says, he says, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. Later on in Verse 103, he says, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Wow, I want that contentment. I want that joy. I want that satisfaction. I want that delight. And the psalmist says, let me tell you where to find it. It's like verse 162. I rejoice at your word as one who finds great spoil. Joy, gladness, the word of God gladdens you at heart. I'm convinced that everybody in the world made by God, made in the image of God, is yearning for happiness and joy. I believe it. But some people might go to their phone. They might go to their friends. They might go to their fitness. They might go to some sort of faith that they may have. They may go to fun, food. But the joy of the child of God, that his heart is resting on the word of God, has an unfading joy. Because the joy comes from the scriptures. Remember the chief end of man, remember that Westminster catechism question, what is the chief end of man? But to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Well, how do we glorify God? How do we enjoy him? And the answer from the psalmist, I believe it's David, who wrote Psalm 119, is by running to the word of God. How do we glorify God? How do we enjoy our God forever? We run to the word in reflection and praise as our companion. Boys and girls, young children that are here today, I want to tell you, and many of the men and women here I'm sure could heartily amen this, the Bible must be your compass. The Bible must be your guide. The Bible must be your captain, and it must be your treasure. You want to check the Bible and read your Bible and know your Bible and believe your Bible and obey your Bible and love it. I believe the secret to boundless joy is found in verse 47 of our psalm. I shall delight in your commandments, which I love, and I will lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. I was praying. a couple of mornings ago on my prayer walk at the park, and I was reflecting on 20 years that God has given me in pastoral ministry, studying and teaching and preaching the word of God, more convinced than ever, the clarity of the Bible, the sufficiency of the Bible, and the relevancy of the Bible. The word really does give gladness and joy. It's like Jeremiah the prophet when he said in Jeremiah chapter 15 and in verse 16, this is such a great passage for us. He said, your words were found and I ate them and your words became for me a joy and a delight of my heart. Your joy. will be directly linked to your Bible intake. Let's be those who are, like John Wesley, the great evangelist, put it, I am a man of one book. May that be true for you and me as well. Great joy. The word of God gladdens you at heart, but in your outline, follow with me. Number two, not only does the word of God gladden you, but it guides you. It guides you. And this is so helpful, so relevant, so needed for us because, well, everybody wants direction. Everybody wants guidance. They just don't know where to go to find the reliable guidance. Let me share that the Word of God is the only reliable and the only sufficient guide for decision-making in life. John Wesley, I just mentioned it a moment ago. He said, I am a man of one book. Psalm 34 verse 4, I sought the Lord and he answered me. We need direction. We need guidance. I seek the Lord and he answers me. The negative of this is found in Jeremiah chapter 10. This is really, really sad. This is a bad example. Jeremiah 10 verse 21, the shepherds have become stupid and they have not sought the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered. Jeremiah goes on to say in Jeremiah 23 verse 16, thus says the Lord of hosts, don't listen to the words of the prophets for they are leading you into futility because they speak a vision of their own imagination, but not from the mouth of the Lord. If somebody tells you I got a word from God, but they're not quoting scripture, God says they don't have a word from God. So we need God's wisdom. Psalm 119. How does it guide us? Look at verse 24. Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. You need counsel, I need counsel. We go to God's word. Verse 33 continues this. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end. Verse 35, make me to walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Later in verse 59, I considered my ways and I turned my feet to your testimonies. Perhaps many of you have verse 105 memorized. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Church family, you know that the word of God is your only sufficient, reliable guide through life. And you and I, if I could be so honest, just to remind you, you and I are bombarded on every side, every side with dangers and attacks. Seeker-friendly churches, health, wealth, prosperity lies, current secular psychology methodologies, what's often called antinomianism, kind of living your life as if God's law doesn't have any binding effect on you. I can sin and it'll be okay. a no lordship kind of religion. There's confusion everywhere. And these attacks are bombarding on all sides. And what do we need? We need the guidance of God through life. Some of you have on your table, this little device right here, a little phone. Ponder your phone for a moment. You charge it. You check it. We update it. We might say, I need it. I depend on it. I communicate with it. I get messages on it. We get directions from it. We get warnings and alerts and reminders from this device. We often can do research with this thing. And we frequently check it. We carry it with us. We possess it. Sometimes it possesses us. Let the Bible be your reliable guide. Much more than this, through life. The Word of God is your map. The book of Scripture is your all-sufficient counselor. If I could say it like this, whatever you need in life is found here. It was read earlier But let me just read 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, these are so great, these verses from Peter. 2 Peter 1, verse 3, seeing that God's divine power has given to us everything. pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. By these he granted us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature." Wait, so, Jeff, how does the Bible guide me? And how do I make decisions through life from the Bible? Well, The Bible will either give you clear directives, or it will give you guiding principles. Should somebody lie, clear directive, shall not lie. Put off all lying. Well, what job should I take? Well, there are principles that may give helpful parameters for making good decisions. But God's Word is our only authoritative guide for all of life. I love the way Kevin DeYoung put it. He said, the Bible does not tell us everything we may want to know about everything, but it does tell us everything we need to know about the most important things. 2 Peter 1, so good. But in addition to that, 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching and reproof and correction and training and righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Whatever God wants you to do in life, whatever God's plan is for you, whatever he's gonna bring you to in life, the word of God. will make you adequate. It will equip you to do every good work for his glory. You say, well, Jeff, so help me. I've got decisions I need to make. How does the Bible guide me in my decision-making processes of life? Well, two questions. Number one, is there a direct teaching on my issue at hand? Is there a direct teaching? And if there is, you have your answer. If there's not, then you have to ask, what are the indirect principles of the Bible? What are the principles? And let me just roll off some. I wrote a paper in seminary on decision-making and knowing the will of God, so this comes from that. But questions like this, if I make this decision, will it put me in a compromising situation? Or if I make this decision to do this, would it cause another person to stumble? Well, that'd be a no brainer. Don't do it. Or if I make this decision, can I please God while I'm engaging in that action? If I can't, then don't do it. Or what do other godly counselors advise me to do in this situation? Here's one that I think is helpful when making decisions in life on practical topics. Would it be worth imitating? If somebody I'm discipling made the same decision I'm gonna make, would that be profitable? Or another one, will it hinder my private or my public worship of God? And then, once you assess all of that and you search the Word and you consider all these things, then you want to make a decision and you want to trust the sovereignty of God. That's the key. You make a decision and you trust the good and the wise sovereignty of God. The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children so that we might obey them. Deuteronomy 29 verse 29. The word of God is your guide. It's your lamp. It's your compass. It's your GPS. It is our direction manual. So number one, it will glad in you. Number two, it will guide you in your decision-making. Number three, just briefly, what is the work of the word? Number three, it calms you when mistreated. It calms you when mistreated. When you're persecuted, the Bible will tell you how to think. It'll tell you how to think. Now you're in Psalm 119, Look at verse 51. The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn aside from your law. Earlier in verse 23, even though princes sit and talk against me, your servant meditates on your statutes. When you're persecuted, When you're mistreated for your faith, the Bible will tell you how to think and how to respond. For example, I'm convinced that when our Lord was hanging upon the cross, I'm convinced that Psalm 22 was on his mind that entire Friday, hanging on the cross from beginning to end, Psalm 22. In fact, the whole week leading up to that, from the triumphal entry on Sunday all the way to the Last Supper on that Thursday evening, our Lord had Psalm 118 on His mind, meditating, pondering, thinking on the Word to guard Him, to guide Him, to govern Him, to think rightly when mistreated. We must meditate on the word. Verse 23, even though princes sit and talk against me, what do you do when people are talking about you? When people are talking about you behind your back, the psalmist says, I am meditating on your statutes. Meditating on your statutes. Verse 51, the arrogant are deriding me, but I don't turn aside from your law. That's what it means in 1 Peter 4, when you're suffering, you entrust your soul to a faithful creator in doing what is right. When you and I are mistreated, what do we need to do? What do we need to know? Verse 115, depart from me, evildoers, so that I may observe the commandments of my God. We read in verse 118, you have rejected those who wander from your statutes, for their deceitfulness is useless. Hebrews 10 would say it like this, you have need of endurance. You have need of endurance. If we are to be like our Savior, we want to constantly say, it is written. It is written. It is written. We have the evil one, the devil prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We need to be like our Savior. Now it's written. It's written in the Word. It is written in the Word. You say, Jeff, how do I do that? How do I get there when I'm mistreated? And when I'm persecuted, how do I respond rightly? Do what Jesus did. Isaiah 50 tells us. Isaiah 50, that verse 4, Jesus, as the servant here is prophesied, he awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear, and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn my back. I gave my back to those who strike me, and I gave my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. How do you respond when you're mistreated? Mourning by mourning discipleship with God. That's what characterized our Lord. And that's what characterizes us as well. Day by day feasting upon the Word. I love that great people grew such an encouragement to me called the Waldensians in church history, dating all the way back to the 1100s in France. Peter Waldo was a man who left a very luxurious, a very wealthy way of life, and he abandoned all of it to be a preacher of the word. He was very quickly persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church that was kind of taken over those Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, we might call them. And he and other believers became known in a very mocking sort of a way as the poor men of Lyon. Lyon, France, the poor men. But they preached, and they preached, and they preached, and they were a back to the Bible kind of people. Go back to the Bible, go back to the Bible, go back to the Bible, read and study the word. May that describe you and me as well. This psalm characterizes our Savior. He's the perfect Psalm 119 man. He had guidance from the Word. He had gladness of heart from the Word. He knew how to respond when mistreated from the Word. Christian, may we emulate our Savior and be people of the Word. I want to close with a quote by Thomas Watson. I think it's in your outline. At the very end, Thomas Watson said to Christians, he said, determine to practice what you read. Christians should be walking Bibles, living the truths written. The Bible is not only a guide to knowledge, but a guide to obedience. So a holy reading of God's word results in our fleeing from sins and practicing the duties commanded. May the Lord help me and you that we will put into practice what we study in the word. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth and teaching clarity of it. Thank you that it is reliable. It is inspired. We want to obey it. We want to believe it. We want to memorize it. We want to know it. We pray that you'll be glorified in this time of prayer. In Jesus name. Amen.