I want to speak to you this morning from Psalm 119. And as we move along through the psalm, as I read various portions of it, I'm not going to read the whole psalm, but as we move along through the psalm, I'm going to make some comments as we go. So I'd like to begin with a word of prayer, and then we'll begin our study of the Word of God. Our Father, as we come now to that time in our worship service where we would in particular give ourselves to the preaching of your word, we do pray that you would be with us, that you would be our teacher, that you would come and guide and direct us into all truth, that you would guard us against error on both the right hand and on the left. that you would grant, O God, that the words of my mouth as I speak and the meditations of each of our hearts would be pleasing in thy sight, we ask. We pray, O God, that not unto us, not unto us, but to your name give glory. We ask these things in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, our prophet, our priest, and our king. Amen. I want to begin in the first stanza, and then I'm going to turn to different portions of this particular psalm. And also, I would ask you to have at the ready, if you will please, a copy of the Trinity Hymnal, which we sang from here just a few moments ago. I want to look at some of the various parts of hymn number 700 as we move along through the hymn. I'm not going to go there directly, but God so willing we'll be there before the end of the hymn. Now the Word of God as we come to the 119th psalm. Now as we read through the psalm, you're going to notice in the various portions of this psalm that I read, that some of you are going to have at the top of each stanza. And there are 22 stanzas in this psalm. And that is very important. It is a very important thing for us to understand. This is clearly the longest psalm in the entirety of the Psalter. It is more than twice as long as any other psalm. And it is, I think beyond any question, the psalm of psalms. It is the masterpiece psalm of the entirety of the Psalter. And that's saying something because the entire Psalter is one magnificent masterpiece of divine revelation. But when we come to this psalm, this one is the psalm of psalms. And we're going to come to that a little bit later as to why I'm saying that. And I'm going to cite the words of several men who have brought me to a greater understanding of what this psalm is all about. Now, before we even read, again, you're going to see at the top of each stanza you might have there, you're going to see a little mark, which is a Hebrew letter of the alphabet. And some of you may have before Psalm 119, verses 1 through 8, the word aleph. That's the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Now, I know some of you have studied Hebrew. You may see when you come to verse 9 and following that you have Beth. And then when you come to verse 17 and following, you have Gimel. And then all the way down through the end of the psalm, where as you come to the final stanza, which we find in verse 169 through 176, that you'll see at the top there, Tav. Now, all of the Bibles do not have that in them. Those are not inspired in the original text. They are not there in the text. Now, the reason I say that is, what is widely misunderstood today, and it's a real shame that it is misunderstood, is that when we come to the psalter and we see words in the beginning of the psalter, if you drop back to Psalm 110, 110, there you read a psalm of David. You all see that? A psalm of David. That is a superscription. And that is part of the original Hebrew text. In fact, when you come to the Hebrew text, that is either verse 1 or a part of verse 1. The superscriptions are often not read today from the pulpit, and that's a shame. People don't mean anything by that, but that is really taking away, in a sense, from the Word of God, because that's there in the Hebrew text. It was one Bible a number of years ago that left them out, and it all came from that. But it's part of the text. Now, I know it's widely questioned today among the academic community, but that's all right. As one person tells me, people have always tried to have been removing the Word of God. But this superscription in Psalm 110 is part of the Word of God. Now, the first verse of 110, and I haven't gotten away from 119, but the first verse of 110 reads this, The Lord, notice Old Testament, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, said unto my Lord, capital L, little o-r-d. That's not a misspelling. That's not by accident. The caps, and you see one with a capital L and then little o-r-d, they are different Hebrew words. And that is very significant. The first one, all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R-D, that is the covenant name of God Yahweh. That is technically God's name. You can read about it in Exodus chapter 3. That's God's name. He says, that's my memorial forever. Now the other titles that we have for God, like God, G-O-D, and capital L, little o-r-d, those are titles, and we call them names, and that's perfectly fine. But capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that is found over 5,000 times, and some Hebrew scholars say over 6,000 times, in the Old Testament. Now, we're talking about only the Old Testament. There's a reason I'm mentioning these things. First, for your own edification, and reading through the Old Testament, but also when we come to the 119th Psalm. The second Lord, capital L, little o-r-d, that is a different word. That is the Hebrew Adonai, which means master. That's found 340 some times in the Old Testament. The word God, g-o-d, that's Elohim. That is found, again, thousands of times in the Old Testament text. But we need to distinguish between Yahweh and Adonai. And when I read, I always do that in the Old Testament. I'm not saying that has to be done. But I try to make that distinguishing factor. Because when we come to Psalm 119, you're going to see it's pointed out in different ways. Now, in this Psalm 119, there is no superscription. No superscription. This is one of only 34 Old Testament Psalms where there's no superscription. So we don't know infallibly and inerrantly who wrote this psalm. We know 110 was written by David. We know that infallibly. We know infallibly that David wrote at least 72 of the psalms from the Psalter itself. And then when you come to the New Testament, there are other psalms which are spoken of as Davidic. We know David wrote that one. But when you come to this psalm, we're not told infallibly who wrote it. However, I'll say that the overwhelming majority of commentators ascribe this to David. I think there are several reasons for that. One of which is, of course, David was the poet laureate of Israel. There's no question he was the greatest poet they had. He was their greatest general, I know, with the possible exception of Joshua. He was certainly their greatest king, and he was also their finest poet. And David also had a tremendous mind, a tremendous mind. He was very, very bright. He was, we might even say, the Paul of the Old Testament. It was Abraham Kuyper who once said, The book of Romans was written by Paul intentionally, because Paul is the greatest mind in the entirety of the New Testament writers. Yes, it is true, God infallibly and inspires inerrantly every point of Scripture, but he uses the particular authors to write the Psalms, to write the books, to write the epistles and so forth. And he uses their character traits, he uses their gifts and callings. So there is this conformity of God's Word and man's Word being written together. But it's all along the Holy Spirit guiding, directing those men so that whatever they pen is infallible, inerrant revelation. It cannot err. It's God's Word. It's God's Word. All 66 books, infallible and inerrant. But yet God uses it that He chooses to write with their particular gifts. When you come to the book of Isaiah, you read through Isaiah, and then you turn and read Jeremiah, you are reading two entirely different writers. It's very easy to tell just by reading their writing. Same thing with Paul and John. When you come to Psalm 119, this is such a masterpiece of genius. I think that is the predominant reason that the commentators attribute it to the writing of David. Now, the first stanza reads, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of Yahweh or Jehovah. You see that in your text. Now, in the very first verse we see The word I'm reading from the King James, I trust most of you are using the King James here. Others of you who may be using a different translation, the words are going to be a little bit different. But now listen, there are in this psalm eight different words, eight different Hebrew words which are used, I think, as practical synonyms throughout the entirety of this psalm. Eight different words. which over and over and over again are spoken of as God's revelation. And depending upon the translation you will have, you might find them in such words as law, ordinances, judgments, precepts, word, and so forth throughout the precepts and throughout the entirety of this psalm. All 22 stanzas have at least six of these words. Six of the stanzas have all eight of them. All eight of them. And the psalmist is here weaving these things all together as we move through the psalm. Weaving them together. But that's not yet the overarching grandeur of this psalm. Let me continue. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, 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. There's another word, precepts, you see. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep your 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 have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes, O forsake me not utterly. Now turn, if you will, to the final stanza, 169 through the end of the psalm. In the first three verses of this psalm, The psalmist actually introduces it to us, and then when you come to the last stanza, he draws a conclusion and really summarizes the whole. But one of the things that I find extraordinarily interesting about this psalm is that as you move closer and closer and closer to the end of the psalm, you see the psalmist. crying out more and more for God's help, for God's deliverance, for God's work in his life. It's almost as if, I'm speculating, but it's almost, I'm not speculating on what I just said, but I'm speculating on this. It's almost as if the psalmist is giving us his life story. As he moves through this psalm, he's moving through his life, and the older he gets and the more time he spends in Jesus Christ, the more he recognizes his great need for the living God in every area of his life. His dependence on Jesus Christ. Nothing in my hands I bring. Solely to thy cross I cling. O Lamb of God, I come. Over and over and over again. Every part of his life lived. for God's glory, and yet at the same time recognizing that all of the glory goes to the great triune God of heaven and earth. And so when you come to the last stanza, tav, let my cry come before thee, O Yahweh. Give me understanding according to thy word. Let my supplication come before thee. Deliver me according to thy word. My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes. My tongue shall speak of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness. Let thine hand help me." Let your hand, you see that? Let your hand help me. I remind you, this is King David. This is the giant of the Old Testament. And he says what? Your hand, help me. I need help. I need help in my life. For I have chosen thy precepts. I have longed for thy salvation, O Yahweh, and thy law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee, and let Thine ordinances help me." And then with the conclusion, I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek Thy servant, for I do not forget Thy commandments. Now, this final verse, as some of the commentators do point out, may be translated. I mean, John Gill amongst them, Kylan Dalich, others. This last verse can be translated, and I prefer it, I think it probably is the case, as a, if then, if, if I've gone astray. Not that David hasn't gone astray. If this is David, there's no question he went astray. But he had a heart that beat and throbbed for the living God. And when you read through the psalter, you see a man whose whole life is breathing out his love for God. On every page of the psalter, every part of the psalm, it's breathing out this love for God in his life. He cannot help himself but extol the glory of this God. And even though he fell with Bathsheba and the proxy murder of Uriah, when he turned, he turned once again to seek his God. And I think at the end here he's saying, Oh, if I go astray like a lost sheep, then seek thy servant. Why? For I do not forget thy commandments, O God. Turn with me, if you will, please, back to the 97th verse. You'll see the little word here, mem, or the little Hebrew sign, mem. Oh, how I love thy law! That verse is about as anti-Antinomian as you can have it. Oh, how I love thy law! I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day. You see that? Now listen, David doesn't just read the law. He doesn't just spend time studying the scriptures. He meditates upon them. Meditation is not just a cognitive children. Cognitive means mind thinking. It's not. It is that that's where it begins. But it's not just that. Meditation is not in the scriptures. Emptying the mind like it is in Eastern thought. No, no, it's precisely the opposite. It's filling your mind with the Word of God. Letting that mind be transformed by the Word of God. Thinking Christ's thoughts after Him. And if you will, prayerfully, prayerfully speaking it back to God. I hope to come to this in a little bit as well. But one teacher when I was very, very young in the Christian faith said to me, Don't ever forget that God loves to have his word prayed back to him. And as I read the scriptures, more and more I saw, yes, yes, that's right. It comes in 2 Samuel chapter 7, directly after God has given David this covenantal promise that he's said, David, you're not going to build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. And he tells David how he's going to do it. First thing David does, he gets down and he begins to pray. And he prays it right back to God. You've given me this now. Work it out. He's praying it back to God. It's not only thinking through what Scripture says, it's meditating upon it. It's meditating upon it. And when you come to this stanza, which is Mem, you'll notice here what David says, which is really an astonishing statement. He says, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thou, that's God, through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. Well, David's saying I'm wiser than my enemies. Well, that's not surprising. But let's keep going. I have more understanding than all my teachers. Now, that surprises me. Why is that? He doesn't say he's brighter. He doesn't say he has a higher IQ than they do. And by the way, I don't give a whole lot of credence to IQs, but I'm just saying I'm using that as the IQ testing today, I think is... Well, I'm not going to get into that. But David is not saying I have greater mental capacity. But he says, I am wiser. I have more understanding. There's a big difference in that. There's a big difference in those two things. He says, I have more understanding than all my teachers. And he tells us why. For thy testimonies are my, you see that? You notice that? They're my meditation. I don't only spend time Now listen, I don't only spend time studying the Bible. I read my Bible, but I just don't read it. I focus on it. I meditate upon it. I scrutinize the pages. I'm figating the great subject of the deity. I'm letting this Word of God penetrate every portion of my life, and I'm allowing it to get down into my very bloodstream. And it becomes part and parcel of my life. I'm learning to think God's thoughts after Him because I meditate on this Word. I don't just give it a casual reading. I spend time in the Word, thinking about it all the day, night and day, doing these things, you see. I understand, verse 100, more than the ancients. That's another remarkable statement. Because I keep thy precepts. Now you see, these two things go hand in glove together, don't they? I mean, it's meditating on the Word of God. It's studying the Word of God. And then it's keeping that Word. It's walking in covenant conformity to that Word. And because he does these things, he says, I'm wiser. Listen, wisdom in the Bible is more the knowledge of the Bible. Wisdom presupposes knowledge. There are many people who know their Bibles, but they're not wise. I know non-believers who know their Bibles, but they've never embraced that as their own. I know Christian people who know their Bibles, but they don't have the wisdom. Wisdom presupposes knowledge. You can have knowledge and not have wisdom, but you cannot have wisdom without knowledge. Knowledge is good, it's absolutely essential, but the wise man, the wise woman is a person who then knows how to, and this is the exact meaning of the Hebrew word hakmah, it's the skillful application of that word in your life. And again, there's a world of difference in merely knowing what the Bible says and acting upon that word in every area of my life. How does it affect your life in the marketplace? How does this word affect you when you go out to your work tomorrow? How do you apply God's word in your life? That's what I'm talking about. That's meditation. Now, David was the king of Israel. Very significant station in God's economy, you see. But your calling is also significant. Are you taking God's Word and applying it in your calling of life? Do you focus on this Word as you go about your daily activities? You homemakers, you moms, as you go about your cooking, your cleaning, your caring for the children, are you focusing on God's Word? Salesmen, food products, and I don't know all of your work here, computer people, is it God's Word that's directing your life? It did direct David's life, and he's telling us this here in this magnificent psalm. When it goes down to verse 101, I've restrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy ordinances, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way." Now, we could spend a good deal of time reading through other portions of this particular psalm, but I'm not going to go there right now. I mentioned earlier that this psalm, you'll notice that you see the Aleph, Baith, Gimel and so forth. I want to spend a few moments looking at that with you. What this is called, this psalm is one of nine acrostic psalms. An acrostic psalm Some of you know this very well. Others of you may not know it at all. But an acrostic psalm, there are nine of them in the Psalter. I counted nine. Nine of them in the Psalter. And in the acrostic psalms, each verse, or in two psalms, each half verse. But in most of the acrostics, each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet and follows the alphabet sequentially all the way down from Aleph to Tav. If it were in English, we have 26 letters. Hebrew has 22 letters. If it were in English, it would be verse 1, A, verse 2, B, C, D, all the way down to Z. But here it's Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, and so forth, all the way down to Tav. as the 22nd letter of the alphabet. So one of the ways you can tell a psalm which is acrostic is by seeing it as a 22-verse psalm. The difficulty is there are some 22-verse psalms, like Psalm 33, which aren't acrostics. And that's what makes it difficult. You see, you have to consult the concordances, the commentators, or whatever it is to make sure, except, of course, for those of you who know something about the Hebrew. And the acrostic psalms are tremendous. I mean, you see them put together. But when you come to Psalm 119, the great uniqueness of this psalm is that in this psalm, which is an acrostic, each stanza Now notice, each stanza, eight verses in each stanza, 22 stanzas, 176 verses, each stanza begins, Aleph, Beth, Dimmel, Daleth, all the way down to Tav. So in verses 1 through 8, every verse in 1 through 8, 9 through 17, every verse, Beth. 17 Gimbel and so forth all the way down till you come to the final stanza. Now, I tell you, that is tremendous. I mean, that is a masterpiece of genius. I remind you, David did not have access to a computer. This takes real genius. It absolutely is mind expanding, to use Charles Spurgeon's word, to see the depth of the riches of the way this psalm is put together. It is a beautiful, beautiful work of poetry. I would say in that sense, it's to be seen as what we would call a real masterpiece. But what makes this? I think particularly the Psalm of Psalms is what we're going to look at right now. I came across this, oh, several years ago when I read two of the greatest theologians certainly in the history of the Christian Church, post-apostolic, Jonathan Edwards, and then the great English Puritan John Owen. And they made statements about this psalm that brought me to my knees. Jonathan Edwards said this, I know of, I'm quoting, I know of no part I know of no part, no part of the Holy Scriptures where the nature and evidence of true and sincere godliness are so fully and largely insisted on and set forth than in Psalm 119. The psalmist declares his design in the first verse of the psalm and he pursues it all the way to the end. That is an extraordinarily strong statement about this psalm. I know of no part in the entirety of the 66 books of divine inspired infallible revelation that give us a picture of conscious God-seeking man. John Owen said this. He wrote a treatise, well he wrote a number of them, but this one titled The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, focused on Romans chapter 8, verse 6. The entire treatise was written around Romans 8, verse 6. Romans 8, verse 6 says, to be carnally minded is death, To be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be carnally minded is death. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. And when Owen went through this treatise, now follow me please very carefully, when Owen went through this treatise, he said there are only two kinds of people in this world, just two, two kinds of people. One kind of person. is guided by the flesh and the other is guided by the Spirit, Holy Spirit, capital S, Spirit. And then he went on to say that the difference between these two, of course, is literally the difference between heaven and hell. So, we better make very sure which one of those camps we fall into. amongst those here today. There are those, I am very, very confident, who are guided by the Spirit. I see it in your lives. You see it in your lives. And I'm almost as sure, I would say indubitably, that there are those here this morning who are still in the flesh. You may not even know it, but you're in the flesh. And if you're in the flesh, you're still outside of Jesus Christ. You're carnally minded, and you're running feet the wrong way. And I'm going to urge you, I'm going to plead with you as Paul does with the Corinthians, listen carefully, listen carefully to what is being said here. It's a matter of heaven and hell. It cannot be any more important than that. It cannot be. Don't presume upon God. Don't presume upon Him. He is God. And if you're not following what God says in His Word, you're still outside of Jesus Christ. Don't fall into the carnal presumptions of our age with the Church of Christ, the alleged Church of Christ. In our day, there are other Gospels. Owen goes on to say, the clearest evidence of genuine spiritual conversion is spiritual mindedness. In other words, when you examine yourself as an individual, do you think spiritually? Are you still governed by the flesh? In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul concludes that magnificent chapter by saying that in this Word, here in this Word, we have the mind of Christ. You want to know how Jesus Christ thinks? It's here in His Word. Now, this is not the entirety of the mind of Christ. It's what He's given us. And it's ample sufficient for us to study this. If you know this book, you know how Christ thinks. And you cannot think any more perfectly than Jesus Christ. And if Owen is correct, you've got to be thinking as God tells you to think, or you're still in the flesh. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5, the apostle there can speak of Taking every thought into captivity into the obedience of Jesus Christ. You see, he's speaking here in that passage of a warfare that's going on in the heart and mind of the people of God. And they have got to be, as carnal thoughts come in, they're taking those thoughts and they're bringing them into captivity to Jesus, allowing those thoughts in their lives. They're doing battle with them. They're rooting them out of their lives. Rooting them out. They won't allow those thoughts to stay there. They do come in. I know they come in. You know they come in. But what are you doing with those thoughts? If you're carnally minded, then you just let them have their place there. But if they're spiritually minded people, you're doing desperate to them. Otherwise, it'll be like that thorny bush which comes up, which Jesus speaks about in Matthew 13, and chokes out the Word in your life. You say, it can't happen to me. Oh, yes, it can. Yes, it can. That's probably what Demas said. Two epistles, Paul speaks of Demas as a fellow laborer in the preaching of the gospel. Colossians and Philemon. But when he comes to his last epistle, 2 Timothy chapter 4, it's his last epistle before he's beheaded, he speaks of Demas as loving this present world and going the way of all flesh. Now let me tell you, Demas, Paul was convinced, was a child of the living God and served side by side with Paul and at the end, Demas proved himself to be no child of God at all. How about you? Where do you stand with Jesus Christ? I have people telling me about, I was converted 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, 50. That's good. That's fine. But it didn't ask you. when you think you were converted. I ask you, where do you stand with Jesus Christ right now? Right now! Because if you do not stand with Christ now, not only were you not converted 30 years ago or 40 years ago, you were never converted! It's now! It's now in your life! that you've got to deal with. I'm not saying we don't have wrestlings and struggles in our lives. Oh, we have them. But we do battle with them. And we bring those thoughts into captivity to Christ. We will not allow them to be there. We root them out. We crucify the sinfulness. We say that's radical. Of course it's radical. This is Christianity. It's a game we're playing. Of course it's radical. You think I'm radical? Read Christ! He's speaking of plucking out eyes, and cutting off hands and feet. He's not talking about salvation by physical amputation, but by doing desperate to sin in your life. You can't get any more radical than the teachings of Jesus Christ. That's why they crucified Him. He called for obedience to the Word of God. You shall be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect. You cannot have a higher standard than that. What do you think he's talking about there if he's not calling for radical, heartfelt obedience to the Word of God? Trust and obey. Trust and obey. Trust and obey my Word, you see. Well, Owen went on. Now, you'll ask me, said Owen, well, what does it mean to be spiritually minded? And he said, not only is the clearest evidence of being spiritually minded, thinking biblically, but if you want the very best example in all of Scripture, it's Psalm 119. That's why this, I believe, is the Psalm of Psalms. I'm going to read a quote from Owen. Listen to what he said. Quote, Read Psalm 119. Are you listening? Read Psalm 119 and examine yourself by that pattern. Can you truly – now he's speaking honestly and openly before God – can you truly speak the same words as David spoke? If not with the same degree of zeal, yet with the same sincerity of grace, are you able to say openly and honestly before God, in other words, this is the way I think and act? Because if not, you are not spiritually minded. That's Owen. That's not Crampton. I agree with him. But that's Owen. That's John Owen. That's Jonathan Edwards. I would say that's David. And if it's David, written by the Spirit, it's God. Owen goes on, he says this, but you will say, but that was David. We cannot be like David. And Owen says, but as far as I know, we must, we must be like David if we mean to come to that heavenly kingdom where David is now. It will ruin our souls, says Owen, if when we read in Scripture how the saints of God express their experience of faith and love and delight in God as their constant thoughts of God, their constant thoughts of God, if we excuse ourselves by saying that we were never like, we were never meant to be like them. In other words, if you are saying, we can't be like David, we can't be like the psalmist, we were never meant to be, Owen says, oh yes, you were. Not only were you meant to be, you must be like David in this psalm. He goes on to say, infallibly, Owen, Paul says, and first these things are written for us as examples for our admonition on whom the end of the ages have come, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 11. Now there's the infallible proof. Owen says this, with a sentence he concludes, if we do not have the same delight in God as they had, If we do not have the same spiritual mindedness as they had, then we have no evidence that we please God as they did, and we have no reason to believe that we will go to the same place where they have gone before us. Again, I will say to you, my friends, those are extraordinarily strong statements. And if they are correct, if John Owen, if Jonathan Edwards are correct, Then this psalm is a psalm focusing or functioning as somewhat of a spiritual thermometer, somewhat of a spiritual rule. How do we measure up when we read through this psalm? How do you measure up? How are you doing? here in your own life. How is it with you? How is it? Do you think biblically? Do you think like the psalmist thinks here? Are your thoughts governed by the Word of God? When God speaks to you in His Word, Do you take it to heart to the point where your life is then governed by God's Word? Or do you just read it, put it down and go on your way? One is an individual on his way to God's heavenly kingdom. The other one is an individual reading his Bible, knowing his Bible, but not acting upon his Bible. who's still carnally minded. A 20-year-old commentator by the name of John Steck said this about the psalm. The author, and I'm quoting, the author of this psalm had a theme that filled his soul. It filled his soul. A theme as big as life. that range the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of a person's walk with the living God. Here is a man, quoting still, passionately, passionately devoted to the word of God as the word of life, passionately devoted to it. who humbly acknowledged his sins before God. He knew the pain of God's hand of chastening. He also suffered at the hands of the wicked. The psalmist interweaves his thanksgivings, his ardent seekings after God, his prayers for help and deliverance, and his requests for direction in life throughout the entirety of the psalm. He is a man, still quoting and concluding, he is a man who knew both joy and affliction, He's a man who possesses a holy zeal for the things of God. He is a man whose life is God-centered, God-conscious, with the Word of God as foundational for every single aspect of life. That's a spiritually minded man. That's a spiritually minded woman. That's a spiritually minded child. Is that you? Is that I? Is that where we're going? Because if it's not, According to these authors, these commentators, we're still in our sin. We're carnally minded. I'm not talking about perfection. God forbid that anybody hears me say that. But if your goal is not perfection, if that's not the desire of your life, you've got a real spiritual problem. Because that's what Christ calls us to. You're to be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect. That's the highest standard there is. I'm not asking for a show of hands. I'm asking for a heartfelt, serious, asking yourself those things. Where do you stand right now with your spiritual mindedness? And one of the ways we develop this kind of spiritual mindedness is by meditating on the Word of God. And I don't have time to look at this in any detail. But when we talk about meditating, again, it's more than just thinking through. It's more than just thinking through the different passages, the different books, the different verses. It's prayerfully speaking them back to God. Marvin Vincent, in his word studies, speaks of the inner whisperings of the heart. The inner whisperings of the heart. Here is a man who is reading, a woman, a man who is reading the Scriptures, and then prayerfully, if you will, speaking them back to God. Don't take the time to turn there, but you remember in Joshua 1 and verse 8, God says to Joshua, as he's the new commander of the people of God, ready to take the people of God into the promised land, he says what? This book of the law shall not depart out of your... do you remember? Not mine! This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do all that is contained therein. Then you will have good success. Then your way will be prosperous. Joshua, if you're going to be the leader of my people, if you're going to be the one who takes my people into the promised land, the most important thing that you can do is be a man of the book. You have to be a great commander, yes, but if you're not first and foremost a man of the book, you will be a miserable failure before me. You've got to be meditating on it. You've got to know this word. You've got to be prayerfully speaking it back to me, ruminating on it, if you will, and then acting on it in your life. And if you're not doing that, Joshua, you are not God-pleasing. Same is true with us. Are you a person who knows what it is to meditate on the Word of God? Part of your daily routine, in fact, it just becomes so much of your routine. I mean, you're just doing it throughout the day. How does it apply here? And then acting upon it. Is that you? Is that where you are? Remember Hannah? 1 Samuel 1, who was without child, and her husband brought her there to the temple, and she was there, and she was praying, asking that God would give her a son. You remember, some of you remember that passage very well. And Hannah's there praying in the temple that God would give her a son, a child, and the high priest At that time, he comes to her and he says, woman, the Bible says her lips were moving but no words were coming out. And he says to her, put away your wine. You obviously had too much to drink. That'll give you some indication of the spirituality of Israel at that time. He'd never seen anybody pray like that probably. But you remember what Hannah said? No, my Lord, speaking to Eli, I am not drunk with wine. But do you remember, I'm pouring out my soul to the living God. I'm pouring out my heart to God. Is that how you pray? Do you understand that kind of prayer life? When you get down on your knees before the living God to have doings and dealings with Almighty God, are you pouring out your soul to Him in prayer? Or are you just giving the prayers lip service? Anybody can pray. Anybody can voice words. But only God's people can pour out their souls to the living God in prayer. And God delights in those prayers. People who are serious about prayer. Serious about His Word. So serious that they learn the Word, they meditate upon it, and then they act upon it in their lives. living their whole life under the dictates of Holy Scripture with the supreme end of honoring, of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. Is that you? Oh, my friends, you cannot get any more. This is a matter of where you stand before the living God. Where do you stand? Where do I stand at this moment in your life? Turn, if you will, to the hymnal that we shined from earlier. I don't have more time to go into the meditating part. But when you come to hymn number 700, Trust and Obey, I want to conclude it with this. I'm going to need a few minutes here. I hope I'm not running over the time, but if I am, I apologize. I only get here once a year. Give me some slack here, if you will. Trust and obey. Stanza one. When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way while we do his goodwill. You see that? While we do his goodwill, he abides with us still. See the condition? While we do his goodwill, he abides with us still. He abides with all who will trust and obey. And in this refrain, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Dr. John Gershner, I remember so well him speaking about this particular hymn. And he said, it's true. But what's also true is that when we sing this refrain, we could every bit as much sing it, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be in Christ Jesus, not just happy in Him. Chris Oberholzer was talking earlier about being in Christ Jesus. And what Dr. Gershner is saying, and he's precisely correct, if you don't trust God and if you're not obeying God, it's not only that you're not happy in Him, you're not in Him at all. You're no child of God. is what Gershner is saying. And he's precisely correct. Now, Gershner's not saying, let's change the wording. He's saying it's true. But it's more than that. It is a person who's trusting, obeying, who's walking in covenant fidelity to the Word of God. That's the definition of a Christian. Not just one who's happy in Christ, but who's in Christ at all. And of course, if you're in Christ, you're necessarily blessed. You're necessarily a joyful person. Because of Christ. But when you come down to the fourth stanza, I'm sure that this speaks to more than one. Well, I'm not sure. But probably. When we never, excuse me, stanza four, but we never can prove the delights of his love. We never can prove the delights of his love. I'm going to read it again so it sinks in. We never. We never can prove the delights of his love until, there's the key word, until all on the altar we lay. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for those who will trust and obey. So I ask you this, are you here today as one who knows what it means to have laid it all, all on the altar. Are you holding back certain portions of your life? Some of you here, I trust, I don't know you well. I don't. I'm pointing the finger at no one in particular. I'm pointing the finger. These things are true. Not knowing with you. But there may be some here who've given eight things out of ten to Jesus Christ, but you cannot let go of the two things that are still in your life. You can't let them go. You can't let them go. You've got to let them go. You've got to lay it all on the altar. And if you don't lay it all on the altar, you're still governed by the flesh. Now, I'm not saying that we don't have weaknesses again. God forbid that anybody hears me saying that. We are all in desperate, constant need of Jesus Christ. But at the bottom, at the bottom line, the Christian is a person who has laid it all on the altar. Every part of my life is given to the living God because he's God. And he deserves everything I have. And all is laid on that altar. Is that you? Is that I? Are you a spiritually minded or a carnally minded person? In other words, do you think and act like the psalmist thinks or acts? Are you still in your sins? May God grant, may God grant here that at Emmanuel we would be a people who know what it is to trust, to obey, to walk humbly and faithfully in spiritual mindedness before the living God of heaven and earth, all to the glory, all to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close with prayer. Our God, we come to you at the conclusion of this meeting, praying that you, O God, praying that you would give it to us to be a spiritually minded people, giving it to us, O God, to repent of those areas of our lives that need to be yielded to you and empower us to do so by your Spirit. God forgive us, we pray, every sinful thought and word and deed. Reign in us, O God, progressively, enabling us to die to sin and to live unto righteousness, running that race that's before us, always looking unto Jesus as the author and the perfecter of the faith. We pray these things in Christ's name. for His glory. Amen. Now, at Immanuel, there's a time of interaction in which the male members, I believe, are permitted to ask questions. And I will attempt to field those questions. So yes. Yes. Yes, sir. Thank you for the challenge today about spiritual mindedness. And I have a couple of things, comments and questions here for you, sir. Spiritual mindedness. It seems like Romans eight is talking about is based on the new birth, the regeneration that the spirit comes in to our lives. It's not something that we develop. It's not something that we can work up. It's something that the Holy Spirit gives us. And it is a using it because a couple of terms, the principle of spiritual mindedness is planted in us at regeneration. We could say we have a new position of spiritual mindedness. And yet the Bible also says that we have to have our minds transformed by the renewing of the Word of God in a daily type fashion. And so is it possible for a Christian to have the principle of spiritual mind in this and yet not live in that fashion? Because first of all, they're a new believer. Secondly, they've been mistaught. I mean, how does that work out? I look at Psalm 119 and I say how far I have to go. And yet, you know, we need some help in seeing how the principle works itself out. And that leads to my other question I want to answer about meditation. You've told us today that meditation. I'll bring that up after you answer that question. All right. Yeah. Let me let me deal with the first one first, because I'll forget the second one. You'll have to say it again anyhow. You're, of course, precisely correct what you said right there. There are people who are new. in Christ who don't understand these things. When we're first babes in Christ, there is so much to deal with there, so much of the outside world. Our minds have been so infected with sin. We are thinking carnally, mindedly, and it takes a bit to get rid of those things in our lives. That can only be done by a work of regeneration. Amen to what you said there. And yet it takes work. You know the principle in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10, where Paul says, if a man does not work, neither let him eat. Now he's talking there about a slugger who's unwilling to work and yet is on the dole. I know that. But it's the same thing in spirituality. If you're not going to work at it, you're not going to eat on this Word. You're not going to feed on it. God won't feed you unless you work at it. It takes work. Again, Gershwin was very fond of saying, when he sang that hymn, it takes time to be holy. He said, yes, it does. It also takes work to be holy. It's not only taking time, it's labor. It's laborious. And my point, Pastor, and you're precisely correct in what you said. Of course, there are babes in Christ. We're all at different levels in this spiritual mindedness. But if our direction is not in the direction of Psalm 119, we've got a real problem. We've got a real problem. We can't speak that about you. You can't speak it about me. It's in everybody. In fact, there are people who even fool themselves. That's the most dangerous thing. We can even fool ourselves. But you're precisely correct. It's a process that takes place in our lives. A process. My major concern is for those people who made a profession of faith and really believe that they're walking with Christ, everything's fine, and yet this is not the direction of their lives. because they've been taught by, I would say, certainly today. of what goes under the name of evangelical Christianity is not focusing on this direction. I would say I've heard a higher percent. I haven't taken a survey, but that's my guess. And that's antinomianism, and that's very dangerous. That's very dangerous. Excellent point. Thank you. So an evidence of salvation, as we look at that, is this hunger for spiritual mind. And as the principle has been planted and there is a hunger in the true believer to Think like Psalm 119. Amen. And act upon it. Yeah. Right. Exactly. And the easiest way to do that, the best way to get that formulated in your mind is by meditating, which I think leads to your next question. Yeah, meditation, that's an interesting term. Is meditation reading the Word of God carefully? Is it studying the Word of God? Is it seeking to how to apply the Word of God? Is it all of the above? All of the above. What is meditation? Yeah, all of the above. I wanted to deal with this. I just ran out of time. Now we're giving you some more time. The clocks move a lot faster in Pennsylvania than they do in Virginia, where I live, I think. But of course, I was back. But I couldn't get anybody to go up that high. But yes, meditating, in fact, the word that is used in the Hebrew for meditate, they're different words. But as I went through the concordances and studied them, they all have a similar function. All of them can be and are translated in the Old Testament in some place, one place or another, not only think or meditate, but also talk, speak. I mean, I can show you places where the word means speak. It's translated speak. And so it's not merely cognitive. It's not merely thinking it through. It's speaking it through. Again, Joshua, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. It's not just not depart out of your mind. You see, Joshua is to not let it depart out of his mouth. In fact, there are several places where that word can be translated mutter. It's muttering it back to God. It's not just nonsense verbiage. It's prayerfully thinking it through, prayerfully cogitating upon it. It takes work. And if you think that the current speaker has perfected this, let me assure you, he has not perfected this, not at all. But I have learned to do so more and more as I've been encouraged to do so by teachers that I've known, by pastors that I've heard speak on the very subject. And I can tell you, it is a blessing upon blessing upon blessing as you see the Word of God opening up in new and rich and living ways. But let me make this comment finally, Pastor. It's one thing to read through your Bible day by day. It's an altogether different thing to be studying the Bible. That's where the rubber meets the road. It's not just I've got to read two passages. You know, my dad told me I've got to go through three, you know, and I get through. I've done it today. I mean, I know I've done my devotions for the day. Have you really? Have you read them and put them down or have you really study the Word of God. Not just doing Bible study, but studying the Bible. Yes, sir, I want to thank you for your words today, very convicting, and I pray the Lord might use that in my life as well as others here as we meditate and think about it in the week to come and weeks. The question I would have for you, particularly dealing with the 119th Psalm this morning, as you had mentioned a number of words in there are synonymous law, statutes, precepts, judgments and so on and so forth, as you had mentioned. What? Does that refer to when we say law today, many times we think about a particular portion of the word of God. But I wonder if that doesn't refer to, you know, sometimes with the word of God or scripture. If you could talk about that, I'd appreciate it. All right. That's an excellent question. Elder Oberholzer brings to it. Here, the word, I think that they're all practical synonyms. I think that we shouldn't say, well, he uses this word here, and then we've got to have an altogether different thought than this word over here. I think they're used as practically synonymous. But I do think there are nuances to them. One of the great misunderstandings, I think, is what you mentioned, that when we think of law, the Hebrew word is Torah, that we think of, well, this is the writings of Moses. That's all there is. But that's not true. The word literally means teaching. Teaching so we can say where the psalmist says oh, you know open my eyes that I would behold wonderful things in that Torah We can say open my eyes that I would behold wonderful things in your word all 66 books not just the five books that Moses wrote and I think that we see that the reason that I'm Very confident of that, Jesus summarizes the whole Old Testament by speaking of the law and the prophets. He's summing up the whole of it in Matthew chapter 5. But also, the use of these eight different words, I think, shows that he's not trying to say, well, you've got to look at this and this and this. But all of them are used to refer to God's infallible, inerrant revelation. I think that's where we must be. Thank you very much. Dr. Crampton, for your ministry and the Word of God today. We greatly appreciate your ministry as you're constantly pointing us to the Word of the Living God as the source of our faith, the foundation of all of our thinking, and where we find direction for living.