Psalm 119, be reading verses 1-8, Psalm 119 and verse 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart. When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments, I will keep thy statutes. Oh, forsake me not utterly. If not, why not? Let's pray. Lord, we need you tonight. We pray that you would work as we look at your word. Lord, speak to our hearts. Challenge us. Convict us. Lord, call us to a closer walk with you, I pray, that we understand the importance of your word tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. I wanted to follow up our meetings with Brother Beckham in a way that would be appropriate and a helpful tie-in, hopefully. The two main foundational components of starting out and growing in your Christian life are prayer and Bible reading. Those are foundational. Those are paramount. 1 Peter 2.2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. You will need those two things for the duration of your Christian life until you die. Oh, there are many other good and necessary things that are part of living a life that is pleasing to God. The writer of Hebrews would write, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation. There are to be some things that accompany salvation. God doesn't just save us and let us wander around and take us home one day when we die. No, there are things that He wants for us to have in our lives. There are things that accompany salvation that are pleasing to Him. Church attendance, of course, important. Witnessing, important. Tithing, important. All the one another commands on how we treat each other. All of those things are vitally important. But the foundational things upon which you will build your Christian life are prayer and Bible reading and Bible study. Church is important. But we don't usually have church on Monday. We do this week, but we don't normally have church on Monday. But you need to walk with God on Monday. And so you need to be in your Bible on Monday. You need to be in prayer on Monday. And you need to be in the Bible on Tuesday, in your prayer closet on Tuesday, and on through the week. Psalm 119 serves to remind us of how important and necessary the Word of God is. Vitally important to us. We have before us a Psalm which should convict every one of us as to how little time we spend in God's Word. You cannot read this Psalm and meditate upon it without being impressed with the absolute necessity of the priority Word of God needs to be in our lives. This psalm is divided into 22 sections of 8 verses each. Each section corresponding to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In Hebrew the psalm is actually arranged alphabetically and each verse in a section begins with that same letter. The author of the psalm is not given. commonly believed to have been David the sweet psalmist of Israel. The very length of this psalm is actually credited with saving a man's life. history records for us. There was a man by the name of George Wishart. He was the chaplain biographer of the great Marquis of Montrose. He was Bishop of Edinburgh. And he was scheduled to be hung. And he was actually on the scaffold. And in that time you could request a psalm, one of the psalms, be sung before you die. kind of like the prisoners last meal only for them it was a psalm so you could choose a psalm and have them sing the psalm and then they break your neck. So he requested this one Psalm 119 which is rather lengthy so it took a while to sing it and they said when they were about two thirds of the way through the song a pardon arrived and his life was preserved. So he made it. He lived because he chose Psalm 119. If he'd have chosen Psalm 117, he'd have been done. So this is actually at least once in history, Psalm 119 has saved somebody's life. And to tell you the truth, if we would read it, study it, meditate upon it, it would go a long ways towards enhancing our lives and maybe saving us from a lot of things that are pretty destructive to our lives. So it's a valuable, valuable psalm. As we said before, this psalm is convicting. Psalm 1, 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. And so this psalm is remarkable, as are all the psalms. It opens, Psalms 1 opens with that, and then we come all the way through, and we find just a lot of challenging thoughts to inspire us. We can get so busy with so many other things, and get so involved with so many other things. This psalm, Psalm 119, is remarkable in that almost every verse mentions the Word of God. There are, I believe, only four verses in this entire psalm of 176 verses that do not mention the Word of God in some form directly. The Word of God is referred to by a number of different names in this psalm. It's called the Law. It's called the Testimony. It's called the Precepts. It's called the Statutes. It's called the Commandments. It's called the Judgments. It's called the Word. It's called the Way and Saying. And a lot of similarity there, a little bit of difference in the Hebrew. Law, this word is formed, they tell us, from a verb meaning to direct, to guide, to aim. It means God's law in general, that which is the universal rule of law of nature, that which was revealed also to Moses to give to the children of Israel. The testimonies are derived from a word which signifies to bear witness, to testify, Precepts, from a word which means to place in trust, meaning something entrusted to man, given to man for him to care for. Statutes, the verb from which this word is formed, means to engrave or inscribe. The word means a definite prescribed written law, even that moral law of God, which is written on the tables of man's heart, the Bible tells us, that inner conscience. The commandments, derived from a verb meaning simply to command, to ordain. Such was God's command to Adam. His command to Noah about constructing the ark and on and on. Just a direct command. Judgments is derived from a word signifying to govern, to judge, determine, to make judicial decisions and ordinances. the Word, the Word of God in its most divine sense, the announcement of God's revealed will, His commands, the Ten Commandments are called this, the Word of God. And then you have the remaining word, way, that occurs just twice in this entire psalm, and just plain rule of conduct. But all of those words referring in some measure to the Word of God, the scriptures that we have. We have before us A psalm which should really challenge us deeply, that should speak to our hearts. It's been said that sin will keep you from this book, or this book will keep you from sin. And the 119th psalm will bear out the truth of that saying. It's also been said that a Bible that has fallen apart is usually a sign of a life that isn't. Don't be rough on your Bible, but wear it out through use. Again, the way our psalm opens tonight, it sets the tone for the whole psalm. And then the way the psalms open, as we mentioned, Psalm 1-1, blessed, blessed. The word means happy. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed, happy are they. Isn't that what we all long for? Live for? To be happy? Now people try in different ways and seek it in different areas, but ultimately all of us want to be happy. You say, I really enjoy being sad. Then, OK, but most of us want to be happy. Our methods and means of trying to achieve happiness would vary widely and wildly, but every one of us would desire, I believe, to be happy. We could act super spiritual and pretend to care nothing of our own happiness and to only care about what's right. But the bottom line is we're still human. And there may be times when we might say those things and even mean them. But if that were always true of us, then we would never sin. And we know from the word of God, no one can say that they never sin. We really do desire every last one of us to be happy. And that's not a wrong desire. God giveth us richly all things to enjoy, 1 Timothy tells us. What is wrong much of the time is how we go about seeking to fulfill those desires. We look at all the wrong places to find satisfaction and fulfillment and happiness. And ironically, when we don't find it in those other areas, sometimes we just try all the harder to get them from those wrong areas. The Bible clearly teaches us. That the way to true, lasting happiness is not the way we normally would seek it out. It's not hard to figure out. It's clear to understand. We would all acknowledge that God is smarter than we are. and that his ways are better than ours, and that his word is true, and yet somehow we run right past this simple, plain truth and these instructions on how to find happiness. We try to find happiness our own way. To further complicate matters, there is pleasure in sin for a season. And there are things, good things, that God gives us to enjoy, but we can very easily get out of balance in those areas. And even they can eventually become sin to us when we get out of balance. And all the while, there's a very real devil who's actively seeking to entice and lead astray God's people and keep them from living for God. And those things that he uses can appear at the time to offer real enjoyment and real enticing things to us. And we can think, oh, this looks like the way to go. He's clever. He's been leading people astray for a long time. And the whole time we're following things that lead us the wrong way, and we're walking away from the only real source of real lasting happiness. Psalm 119.1 again, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Psalm 37.23 says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. He delighteth in his way. There are people who think, well, if I really just start living for God, that's going to be boring. No, he delighteth in his way. how often we look for much lesser things to delight in. But the steps of a good man, when we submit ourselves to God and walk in the way He would have us to go, that we will delight in that way. In Psalm 1, 1, blessed, again, happy, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law. The Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night and he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water To bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also should not wither look at the last phrase whatsoever. He doeth shall prosper Whatsoever he do us to prosper how often we look in the wrong places for those things. What do you delight in tonight? I What do you delight in? What do you find pleasure in? What do you find enjoyment in? In Jeremiah 610, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. How sad that is. No delight in the word of God. And so, they're not gonna take any time for it. There's no delight in it for them. When you have the right relationship with God, you learn to trust Him, You'll delight in him and delight in his word. Jeremiah. chapter 17. It challenges us. Blessed. There you have the word again. Happy. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves shall be green, shall not be careful or full of care in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. So he's describing somebody that is walking with the Lord, that is sold out to the Lord, has delight in the things of God, and even in the difficult times. Because you're going to go through those. You're going to go through dry times. You're going to go through times of drought, times of heat. He said even still, there's going to be that delight. There's going to be that fulfillment. There's going to be that yielding fruit. Even in the negative times, even in the difficult times, the challenging times. And so as we said earlier, this psalm is convicting. Psalm 1, 1, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Proverbs 14, 2 says, he that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord, but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. That word perverse, again, we usually think of as sexually perverse, but it just means to walk contrary to the right way. Instead, if we walk in our uprightness, if we walk in the way God would have us, in the fear of the Lord, but when we go our own way, when we choose our own path, it says we despise Him. We despise Him. You remember when Samuel was talking to Eli and giving the message from God, and Eli had just let his sons go wherever they wanted to go and do what they wanted to do, and he hadn't raised them in the right way. And God would say to Eli, the high priest, you've despised me. You've despised me. And I'm sure Eli would have thought, I don't despise you. But God was saying he despised him because he hadn't walked in the way that he was supposed to go. He hadn't lived in the manner that God had called him to live. Bible has a lot to say about what it calls the way. Jeremiah 6.16, Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? And walk therein. Ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Proverbs 2.20, that thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous. Isaiah 48.17, thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. And the expression refers to our manner of living, how we conduct ourselves. Is it according to our own desires, or is it according to God's desires? In Exodus 18-20, they also teach them ordinances and laws, and shall show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Exodus 32-8, he would say of the children of Israel, they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. The good way or the right way is contrasted often in Scripture. Psalm 1-1 again, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Psalm 1-6, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Proverbs 15, 19, the way of the slothful man is as in a hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain. Jeremiah 21, eight, under this people thou shalt say, thus saith the Lord, behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. And then there are hundreds of verses that talk about the way, both good and bad ways. And our Psalm talks about those that are undefiled in the way. They're undefiled in the way. There aren't that many people like that. In fact, the psalmist would cry out in Psalm 12, one, help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth. For the faithful fail from among the children of men. So he's looking around and saying, there's not that many people really interested in walking with God. There are not that many people interested in doing the things of God. Second Chronicles 16, nine, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro. throughout the entire earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. God's looking for men and women whose hearts are right with Him. Psalm 15.1, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly. worketh righteousness, speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Who's going to walk with God? Who's going to walk in the right way? Who's going to be in God's presence? And he tells us who, Psalm 24, 3, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands. and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord. Isaiah 33, he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His waters shall be sure. When I was about, I don't know, I suppose about 14 or 15, the church that I was in, in junior high and high school, the church in Phoenix that I grew up in, they were taking a trip to Bob Jones University for college days. And I hadn't planned on going, I didn't have the money to go, I didn't have the money to go on the trip, and I certainly didn't have money to go to college there. But a few days before they were to leave, the assistant pastor asked me, he said, are you going on the college trip to Bob Jones? I said, no, I'm not going. He said, well, somebody's paid your way. And I said, okay, I'll go. So I went, I didn't end up going to college there, but I'm glad I went because when I was there and just seeing the college, they had a chapel service. And the visiting pastor used Job 1, verse 8. The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and is true of evil. And that was his text. And he said in the course of his message, he said, If God were to come to Greenville, South Carolina, and show the devil a righteous man, would he show him you? And if not, why not? Seldom has a question from a message hit me so forcefully and resonated so deeply and convicted so mightily. I don't even remember the preacher's name. I don't remember what church he pastored or what state, but I will remember almost 50 years later those questions. If God were to come to Greenville, South Carolina, and then he expanded on it. He said, if you're not from here, wherever your city is, wherever your town is, if God were to come to your city and God were to come to your town, And show the devil a righteous man. Show the devil a righteous woman. Would he show him you?" And then he paused. And they said, if not, why not? Job wasn't a preacher, a prophet, or a priest. He was evidently a wealthy rancher and probably a farmer also. But more than that, God called him His servant and would point to him as a righteous man. As the devil would come to basically challenge God, the Lord said unto Satan, Thou shalt consider my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, perfect meaning complete and mature, one that feareth God and escheweth or despiseth evil. If God were to come to your city, if God were to come to Covina or West Covina or Upland or Rancho Cucamonga or San Dimas or Laverne or Pomona or wherever you're from. And show the devil a righteous man. Would he show him you? Show the devil a righteous woman. Would he show him you? Show the devil a righteous teenager. Would he show him you? And if not, why not? In and of ourselves we are nothing. And Paul would write, not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. But if you desire to walk with God, you desire to be the undefiled in the way that walk the law of the Lord, that's your heart's yearning to be righteous in an unrighteous age. to be holy in an unholy age. Pastor Ryan challenged a young marriage this morning about Noah raising his kids in a totally ungodly age. He got his kids on the ark. And you know, if his kids would have all reached their kids, and their kids would have all reached their kids, and their kids would have all reached their kids, and so on, this world would be in good shape today. Noah reached his family. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Here's a man that's righteous in a very ungodly, wicked generation. Genesis 6-5 describes it as being just unending wickedness. And so we can look at our society and say, well, it's just hard to live for God these days. It's never been easy to live for God. It's never been easy. Now there's times in history where it's more difficult than others. But here the psalmist say, blessed are the undefiled. Those that say, I don't want this world to corrupt me. I don't want the things of this world to pull me away. I don't want to be defiled by all of the things that are around us. And the devil has more opportunities to defile us than ever before. But God's people need to purpose, I want to be undefiled. I don't want to be corrupted by this wicked world. I don't want to be conformed to this world. I want to be transformed. I want to be changed. And if you desire to walk with God, God will come alongside you and He'll help you. And James 4, 8 says, Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. I saw a plaque one time it said, You are as close to God as you want to be. You're as close to God as you want to be. He said, I don't feel that close to God, but I really want to be. Well, how much time are you spending in the Word of God? How much time are you spending in prayer? There's some things we have to sacrifice if we want to be close to God. There's some things we need to put out of our lives if we want to be close to God. Hebrews 13 20 now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom we glory forever and ever amen he'll work in you if you'll allow him to he'll work in you that which is well pleasing in his sight that's his desire But he has to have a yielded vessel that we have to surrender, allow him to do what he would do in our lives. Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship. If you're saved tonight, that's you. You're his workmanship. How's the project coming along? He's desirous of making you conformed to Him, to be more Christ-like, more godly, where His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. That's His desire. That's His goal for every one of us, that we would become more and more like Christ, that we would be more and more conformed to His image, that we would be the undefiled in the way. that we would go in the direction that's pleasing to Him. The psalmist would say, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. The Lord will do that. But it's not automatic. He's not just gonna do it whether we want Him to or not. We have to have that desire. We have to have that yearning of a close walk with Him, fellowship with Him. Philippians 2.13, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. You can't do it on your own. And if you try, you'll miserably fail. Jesus would say, without me, you can do nothing. But he will work in you. So he's not really doing that. Nothing much is happening. That's on us, not on Him. Because He's desirous to work in us. But we can't keep going in a direction that's contrary to what He wants to accomplish and just think, well, He's just gonna work in us. No, we have to be yielded. We have to do our part and that He will work in us. Jude, verse 24, now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. He'll do that in us if we allow Him to. He'll change our lives if we allow Him to. Being confident, Paul would write to the Philippian believers, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's not over when you get saved. That's the start. And how sad for Christians that say, well, at least I'm going to heaven. Do you really wanna go to heaven that way? He began that good work at the point that he saved you. He began that good work, but he wants to continue to perform and to work that good work until he takes you home. That's his goal for you, that's his desire for you. How's that coming along? How much are you giving him to work with? If we get up, if you get up tomorrow morning and you have no time for this, he's not gonna do much of a work in your life. But if you get up tomorrow morning early enough to take this book and say, God, I need you today. I don't know what I'm gonna face. I don't know who I'm gonna talk to. I need to know what to say, how to respond. I don't want to misrepresent you, Lord. I don't want to be a bad ambassador. And if you'll take time to say, Lord, would you give me opportunities to be a witness? Will you help me to curb my tongue and not say stupid things? Will you help me to respond with grace even if other people are abusive? Will you help me represent you well? He wants to do a work in you and through you to influence this world, to make a difference. And so Paul would say, I'm confident that he began a good work. At the point you got saved, that was the beginning of the work God wants to do with you. He wants to use you. He will perform it. But if you get up and just rush out into your day, you don't have any time for him? And your prayers are just perfunctory. You know, the Bible says Daniel prayed three times a day. People go, I do that too. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I pray three times a day. But he got alone with God. Spent time in the presence of God three times a day. Because he knew he needed God. Knew he needed God's direction. There's none of us in here that don't need that. But when we just go our own way, we're, Kind of acting like we don't need God. Colossians 129, whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Worketh in me mightily. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. That doesn't just happen. It doesn't. But for every one of us in here tonight that know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, that could be a reality in our life if we desire that. Doesn't matter how evil this world is, doesn't matter how wicked things are. If we say, you know what, I wanna be that person. I wanna be undefiled in the way. I wanna walk in the law of the Lord. I wanna go in that direction. I want his hand of blessing on my life. I wanna please him. We make that choice. We make that decision. You say, I want that. Then I would challenge you. How's your devotional life? How much time are you spending in this book? How much time are you spending in prayer? How serious are you? God's not gonna just automatically bless and keep you and make everything go well, and when you just are haphazard about it, you're casual about it. The only Bible you get is if and when you come to church, and you pray just perfunctorily? No. But if it becomes important, it becomes the priority. You say, man, I want that. I want to be one of those, those few. It's always been the few. The Marines claim to be the few. But the people that walk with God have always been the few. That's why the psalmist has said the godly man sees it. There are not too many people living for God these days. Well, it's no different today. than it was in David's day. But you can be that person if you desire that. He says, blessed is that man. That man's happy. There's a joy in serving God. He delighteth in his way. And yet how many things distract us and pull us away, and we go after this, and we go after that, and we go after this, and we go after that, seeking happiness. Seeking fulfillment, seeking contentment. But the ultimate happiness, the ultimate joy, the ultimate contentment and fulfillment is found in the way, in the way. Blessed are the undefiled that'll walk in that way. Lord, thank you for your word tonight. Lord, help us. Help us to be willing to examine our own hearts, our own level of commitment. Lord, I pray that you put within us a desire to spend more time in prayer. spend more time in your word, to seek to be someone that would be undefiled in the way, that would walk in the way that you would have us walk. Bless now this invitation, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.