Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ. And now the message. Notice in your notes here, as we just finished reading the 119th Psalm verses 25 through 32, this fourth stanza of the 119th Psalm is outlined by the consonant Daleth, Daleth. It has a dental T to it. It's off the teeth, if you will. The character for Daleth has much similarity in the Hebrew with the Hebrew consonant resh. The Hebrew consonant resh. If you will take for a moment, I know some of you will have headers in your passages where it will give you the Hebrew letter, but turn over to verse number 153 of the 119th Psalm. Resh is one of the Hebrew consonants, so is Daleth. And I want you to see for a moment the similarity of these two Hebrew consonances. So if you'll look just above verse 25, you'll see Daleth, and it kind of looks like an upside-down L. And then you'll look at Resh just above verse number 153, and it also looks like an upside-down L. Just by show of hands, can anybody see a distinction between Resh Andoleth. Don't tell me yet because then you'll be reading my notes. Can you see it? There's a lot of hands now coming. You're looking very close. Take another minute. In fact, well we're going to get to the paragraph but there is one real kind of distinction there. Let's keep looking in our notes. In fact, these two Hebrew characters are almost identical. The only difference between the two is that Daleth has a little horn coming out from it and Resh does not. That Hebrew phrase horn, it is the word tittle, tittle or horn. The only difference is the tittle or horn that separates them. This is exactly what Christ was referring to in Matthew chapter 5 when He said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Now if you're wondering what a jot is, that is the Hebrew, it is really the smallest Hebrew consonant marking in all the Hebrew alphabet. And if you wanted to see if your Bible and the heading gives it, you'll look just above verse number 73 and you'll see a yod or a jot that is present. So what the Lord is saying in Matthew chapter five in reference to fulfilling all the law, He's saying, really, if we want to put it in some type of equivalence to our mind as English speakers, he's talking about the crossing of a T in a dotting of an I. Well, that doesn't really, they don't have those in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew, the jot is the smallest character marking of a consonant, and the tittle is the horn of a character that would distinguish it between two separate markings. You know, out of that, there's a lot of things that come to mind, isn't it? God is concerned with the minutia concerning His law. Might we even go beyond that? God is concerned about the little things of His creation. God is concerned even about the things that we would deem too little for His appearance and understanding in our life. God is a God that is pleased when small things are sought to honor Him. And no matter how large something is and how in the eyes of man how wonderful it might be, if it is disallowed in the little things, God will take no glory in it. He said, I come to fulfill it. Heaven and earth, one jot and tittle shall in no wise pass in the law till all be fulfilled. As we proceed down through this section, it'd be prudent to take a moment and highlight the words and phrases that commence each stanza of this acrostic. In actuality, there's only really three Daleth words that are distinguished in these eight verses. We mentioned some of these a moment ago. It's the word cleveth. It is the word my way or the way, the word melteth, and the word I have stuck. In fact, the words the way or my way, same root Hebrew word, are used five times out of eight verses. The word for cleaveth and I have stuck, same root noun, has the idea that is moved there, is found two times in these eight verses. And then one time you'll find the word for melteth that is used. So as the psalmist is sitting there, or standing, or whatever posture he is, and as the Holy Spirit of God comes upon him, and as he pens these words of God, for he being a holy man of God, he is moved and navigated, the focus and the intent of this dolleth section is the ways, the melting, and the cleaving. And the overwhelming thing, focus if you will, is the way. And it probably should be. As you read down through these verses, particularly paying attention to verse number one, this is a very dire time. The psalmist has said that his soul cleaves unto the dust. Perhaps this is a continuation from the previous section that we looked at last week. He uses so many of these phrases that are indicative of a great distress that he is under. In the previous section, he talks about being a stranger in verse number 19, in a strange land. Later in the same section, he talks of the very essence that his soul was longing. It was longing. In fact, he even mentions the point that it was breaking. Now we cross-referenced that a few times in your notes last time. To the prophets, it talks about the breaking of the teeth. It's a very difficult time that he's under. In the previous section, he talks about the reproach and the contempt that has been placed upon him. These, among many others, would make the soul of even the greatest saint be crushed as David is in this moment when he cries, my soul cleaveth to the dust. There's disappointments. There's burdens. There's grief. And all of these things heaped upon themselves have caused the heart of this valiant psalmist to melt, to waver. Sometimes as a Christian seeks to walk with God, be it with society or be it with difficulties, The experience is similar and sometimes our heart cleaveth to the dust. He's speaking there of really the essence of having such great weight upon him because of the difficulties that he would be near death if it wasn't for the sustaining grace of God. Misery, discouragement are upon him. In fact, he cries out in the 22nd Psalm, my strength is dried up like a potsherd. You know what a potsherd is? A poncher is not just a piece of pottery, but it's a piece of pottery that was cast aside. It's just broken. It's left over there. And out of the heat and aridness of the wilderness, you know what's happened to it? It's become brittle and dried up. He's referencing in the 22nd Psalm that his soul, all of his strength has become brittle. In a real sense, and I think this is no doubt a double prophecy, David not only describing his difficulty, but the 22nd Psalm is prophetical. It's tied with the 23rd Psalm and the 24th Psalm. And the 22nd Psalm deals with the suffering of our Savior. He's gonna talk in those passages about the great difficulties the Savior would endure. He said, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Thou hast brought me to the dust of death. No doubt the psalmist felt this way when he spake in verse number 25, my soul cleaveth unto the dust. There is only one that can deliver the psalmist from this terrible time. The psalmist cries out, quicken, note verse 25, quicken thou me according to thy word. It's important that he realize that it is only God that can give life. It is only God that can give life. There in your notes in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel. That's a fantastic passage. Here's Ezekiel, a man that is an exilic prophet. He's away from the land of Israel. He's preaching to a very hard and difficult group and there's many challenges upon him. And God brings him into a valley of dry bones. And in the third verse of the 37th chapter, God asked Ezekiel a question, a question that could be deemed rhetorical, but one in which Ezekiel thought better to receive it as rhetorical. He says in verse number three, Son of man, can these bones live? Do you remember what Ezekiel's answer was? Thou knowest. Thou knowest. From the particular presence of Ezekiel's viewpoint, no, these dry bones cannot live. From Ezekiel's position and his experience in his life, these dry bones would continue to wilt and dehydrate under the heat of the day. But when the God of all heaven says, son of man, can these bones live? You reference your mind all the way back to the Old Testament where God asks another question. Is anything too hard for me? David, as his soul cleaveth to the dust, as he's without any vitality or strength, needed to remember that it's only God that can give life. In John 11, there in that particular passage, you have a friend of our Lord Jesus named Lazarus. And though he had been in the grave long days since, when God said, Lazarus, come forth, forth came Lazarus. Why? It is only God that can give life. I would have you know the second thing about this quickening. This is a very wondrous word. Every believer has, by necessity, received or experienced the spiritual quickening that only God can give. I think of Ephesians chapter 2. He says, You hath He quickened. not the idea that he's made you fast and speedy and quick. Rather quick has the idea of that which is alive. He goes later in verse 5 and he'll say that you were quickened out of your trespasses and sin. In Colossians 2, he says that you have been quickened. You have been quickened. In fact, even dead in sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, but you have He quickened together with Him. He's made you live though once you were dead. Colossians, honing in on that idea of being quickened together with Christ. When was Christ quickened? It's a sign of Jonah, wasn't it? Three days? Was He dead? And then what? O Peter, And the disciple that Jesus loved ran into the tomb and behold it was empty. He is not here. He has been raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians in the 15th chapter, the resurrection chapter, seizes on this and says that he's the earnest. He's the first fruit. My friend, we cannot know the gospel if we do not understand the fact that Jesus Christ rose again by the power of God on the third day. And to deny the fact of the resurrection, the literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, is to deny the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For if Christ be not risen from the dead, then we are men most miserable, and we are yet dead in our trespasses and sin. But Christ be risen from the dead! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, Every believer has experienced a spiritual quickening, where once I was dead in my trespasses and sin, but now with Christ I live. 2 Corinthians 5 He talks about now this new man that liveth. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. I would note here in verse number 25, when he speaks of quickening, he puts this phrase, this prepositional phrase to the conclusion there of that verse, to thy word. I would remind you that the Word of God, His Word, is the vital instrument by which He produces quickening. It's Hebrews chapter number 4 where He talks about His Word being quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing, dividing, asunder of the soul and flesh, and is discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the Word. His Word is that entity whereby he quickens. He quickens with His Word. My, that's a truth throughout Scriptures. Isaiah, speaking on this in the 55th chapter, says that his word will not return unto him void, but will accomplish the thing whereinto he sent it. The word of God and its quickening impact are highlighted in David's cry. And I would have you note three contrasts that are made in these eight verses here. Three contrasts as the psalmist cries out to God and the Word and this word way becomes something of a focal point in these next verses. Let me give you the contrast here. The first contrast that you see is you'll see a contrast between my way in verse 26 and the way of thy precepts. Now just to rehearse back to The first introductory we listed some almost 10 words. 10 words which David uses throughout the 119th Psalm to describe, to detail the Word of God. One of them is precepts. It's never singular, it's always plural. Statutes has the idea of an outline engraved, but the precepts has the idea of all the entities or sub-points of said statutes. So he's going to speak of my way versus the way of thy precepts. Well, as you look at David and you consider his current way was one of defeat. My soul cleaveth into the dust. His current way is one of trouble. I was listening to a recording just a few moments ago and they quoted that verse and Job talks about Man that is born of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. That's the way of man. The way of man is a way of trouble. The way of man is a way of fear. Fear. Oh, how many times our hearts and minds are troubled with fear. Fear of what we know, fear of what we suspect. Isn't it always interesting? We fear what we know. We fear what we suspect. Even when in reality we might would conclude after elaborating on our fears that we don't know all the details. Sometimes we're just afraid of the unknown. But that is the way of man. And that is the way of David when he found his soul cleaving through the very dust with no strength or vitality. Why was his way this way? Why was he in a way that was such was common to man? It was such because he had not remembered the way of the Almighty God. In the 34th Psalm this same psalmist pens, The righteous cry, and the Lord what? Heareth. Note again that ETH ending. What does it mean? means when the righteous cry, God always hears his prayer. Isn't that marvelous? Focus on that moment with me. We sometimes feel that if it's not a smooth prayer, God might not hear it. If it isn't a prayer accompanied with great liturgy, well, God might ignore it. If it's a prayer, a cry, or a prayer without much maturity, God might roll his eyes at it. God heareth always the prayer of his saints. He goes on, and while it's such a wondrous thing to think the fact that he heareth your prayers, there's a second promise that David seized on in the 34th Psalm. He delivereth them out of all their troubles. Again, continual deliverance. We don't like to be caught doing too many favors for certain people. They'll always be asking us for more. My, you can call on the name of the Lord God, your Father in heaven, hallowed be his name. And he stands by ready to aid always his people. How often! For as much as they call upon the name of the Lord, he heareth, he delivereth. Later in the same psalm, I think it's the 19th verse, it says, many are the afflictions of the righteous. Paul in the closing chapters of 2 Timothy would say this very thing. He would say, all those that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him, delivereth him out of them all. Now it's interesting, isn't it? This is the psalmist pinning this in the 34th Psalm. But when you come to the 119th Psalm, he's so fixated in his way that he has failed to recognize the way of the precepts. How many times has God made a promise that he has failed to deliver on? How many times is there a child of God that will be able to accurately say, I cried unto God in a time of my distress and he failed to hear me? How many times will we be able to know of a saint of God in which God has ignored the plight of his child and failed to deliver them? In Area 1, David forgot the way of the precepts. The way of thy precepts is the idea of I want to understand even the details of thy grand and glorious purpose. I think of Job, what is man that thou art mindful of him? What am I? Who am I? What is it that thou wilt have me do? We are so insignificant as we look at all of eternity and the existence of all of human history. We are but just a bleep or a blurb on a radar. But God has a distinct plan. God, in His great omniscience and power, heareth and delivereth His people, might we not be immersed in our own way of trouble and fear and distress, but rather might we rest in the way of His precepts. There's a second contrast that is given, and that is the way of the lying, verse number 29, and in verse number 30, the way of truth. The way of lying, it is an easy matter for believers to experience the greatest deception and that is self-deception. Oh, the constant need to have the God of holiness removed. Note what he says there in verse number 29. Remove from me the way of lying. It's the idea. to turn off. In the Hebrew consonants it looks very similar to the English word swerve. It has the idea to take a different path, to deviate, to turn off, to have God remove me from a place of believing and expressing the way of lying. This false way prevents us from the great calling in our life of being conformed into the very image of Jesus Christ. Contrasted with the way of lying is another way, the way of truth. This is a route that must be chosen. Notice verse 31. I have chosen. This is a good word there. It has the idea joined into. God steer me off the path of lying. Let me ask you a question. Just think about this a moment. It would seem there's a lot of different avenues David could have taken. God could have convicted him of the way of the lying lips only for him to believe a different set of lying lips, a different impression, a different consideration, a different opinion. But no, Lord, make clear the path, the way of truth, and that must be the way that I choose. It is the only way that will be correct. It is the way that is directed by the Word of God. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This was David's responsibility. By the way, it's your and my responsibility as well. It is God's role in our life to convict us, to show that the path we're on is wrong, to divert us into a place of choice. But note this, it is always the saint of God's responsibility to have choice and faithfulness. I must choose and I must remain. Choice and faithfulness are always the believer's choice. This is not a work that God can do. So often we have the idea that I've got to meet God halfway. No, you have to receive him for who he says he is. And you have to be faithful to him. That is a choice and a requirement that I must have in this life. It is an imperative. It is a must. The way of lying, the way of truth. Notice a third comparison, if you will. Pull your eyes up to verse 25. You might have thought we were done with this, but that third word, he said, my soul cleaveth. And then you move your eyes down to verse 31. He says, I have stuck. Same root Hebrew word. It's powerful, isn't it? The idea of sticking to something is the idea of cleaving. In verse number 25, I'm sticking to the dust. I'm cleaving to the dust. In verse 31, the tune is changed. God's removed by his holiness and his conviction the way of the lying and now David being exposed into the way of truth has chosen it and made a choice to faithfulness and he says, now I have stuck. I've left off cleaving into the dust in my own way and I now am going to cleave into thy testimonies. There's a number of things that believers should cleave to. Of course, I think immediately of Genesis chapter 2. It's probably the first time you find the word cleave. Matthew chapter 2 and verse 24, and that is to cleave unto our spouse. For this call shall a man leave his family and cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. I think of Deuteronomy chapter 10, in reference to the renumerating of the law, and it's several times in Deuteronomy. I've only given you one reference. There in that passage, Moses pens that they should cling to Jehovah. The Scripture says, To him shalt thou cleave. In this passage, verse number 31, it's reminders that saints in all times and all places and under all circumstances ought to cling to the testimonies of God, the fulfillment, the affirmation of His goodness and promises to you and I. The psalmist closes this out with an emphatic statement in verse number 32. He says, I will run. I will run the way of thy commandment when thou shalt enlarge. That's the idea of broadening my heart. What an amazing thing, isn't it? You'll note all the way back in verse number one he talks about that individual that is blessed, they're undefiled in the way. And the scripture says in verse 1 of verse 1, I'm sorry, verse 1 of the 119th Psalm, it says, who walk in the law of the Lord. Yet in this passage here, verse 32, he's talking about he's running in the way of thy commandments. And sometimes when we've deviated from the path of truth, that is the urgency by which we want to get back to the path of understanding. Equally, I would note that rarely ever has there been the human possibility for an individual that was cleaving to dust in lack of strength and vitality to have the experience of being able to get up and run with vigor to pursue something. It seems almost beyond the scope of human possibility that David said, I will run towards them. There's some times in David's life where the testimonies of God And the doors that he opened unto David were something that David pursued with grand vigor. For instance, if you go back to the account of David and Goliath as they had this great time and Goliath is swearing with all of the vigor that he has against the God of heaven. And David is convicted to go there and he rejects the armor of Saul and he begins and he crosses and he goes to the giant. That same phrase is used. And he ran towards the giant. It's the idea of abandoning any fear, abandonment of any distraction. There are some things that in reference to the place and the person of God, I can find my whole safety and security there, that I can give all of my energy and effort there, that I need not have a life of defeat but rather one of vitality, that I will run the way of Thy commandments. It's the power of God that does that. You remember Isaiah's 40th chapter, the 31st verse? They that wait upon the Lord, what's the promise? Shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Teach me, Lord. Teach me, Lord, to... Wait, isn't it interesting? In the moment of trial and difficulty and distraction and all of this, David perceiving his own way, his own way had brought him to a place of utter physical exhaustion and emotional distress, just to name a few. But when he reflected on the goodness of God, his strength was restored. His energy was replaced. His fervor was commenced upon. As you consider all of this, it's God's sustaining strength that produced this victory for David to be an overcomer. The psalmist besought God's aid and was delivered from certain defeat. As you analyze and look and study these verses, there's a lesson for believers even today in this psalm. We ought still to cast all our cares upon Him. It would seem as we survey once again these verses that it would seem that David makes five specific requests that allow him to pursue with vigor the will of God. Go back to verse 27. He's going to ask for some things. He says in verse 25, "'Quicken thou me.'" That has the idea as a prayer for vitality. God bring me from a place of despondency to a place of vigor as it concerns the Word of God and the subsequent will of God. It's a prayer of vitality. There's many Christians that need to pray like Paul at Monash, the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians, awake from sleep. There's many Christians that is lulled to death by all the defeat and distractions of this life and has no vitality and service towards the things of God. This portion of this psalm, it's a prayer that David conveys, You drop your eyes down to verse number 27. It's the second prayer that is mentioned. He says, make me. Oh, there's an open request, isn't it? Use whatever means necessary to accomplish this. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. This is a prayer of understanding. That's in keeping of Colossians chapter 1. Paul prayed for the Colossian saints that he had never met. He said, I pray that you have a deep epigonosko, a deep understanding of the things of God, and not a shallow superficial glancing understanding, but that you have a real understanding that's rooted in the depths and strengths of doctrinal truths. David praying this, he says, make me. It's a prayer of understanding. In verse number 28, he says, strengthen thou me. This is a prayer of strength. I would note what depleted David's strength. At one glance, I would say what depleted his strength was the fact of all the enemies he had. But the fact is, if that depleted all his strength, his strength was not steadfast and rooted in the eternal power of God. To the Ephesian church, God highlights those powers. Various words use the word energeis in the Greek. It talks about energy giving. God is an ever ready help to those that are for him. He has great power. He's called the Great King. In Timothy chapter 6 it's referred to as the only potentate Lord God. God has more power and ability to convey strength and power to us than we'll ever need. There's no reason for a child of God not to have strength to serve him in his spiritual essence. What took David's strength was when he began to rely on the arm of the flesh. There's a fourth prayer in verse number 29. He says, remove from me. These are personal prayers. Remove from me the way of lying. This is a prayer of purification. Once, like old Peter, be ye holy for I am holy. Oh, what a prayer that every child of God should pray. Cleanse thou me, David would say in the 19th Psalm. Keep me from the presumptuous sin. Keep me from the secret sin. Cleanse thou me. In the 139th Psalm, he would talk about, Lord, search me and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way that is everlasting. Cleanse thou me. And then in verse 31, he references himself again, put me not to shame. That's a great word. Put me not to shame. Lord, give me victory. That's where the shame came from. The shame came from, Lord, if I have trusted, Lord, if I have followed, Lord, if I have been obedient, and now I failed because of that. That's what he's saying. Lord, as I trust and rest in your promises and your hope, all those inner temptations of the heart and mind that says this isn't going to work out so well, keep me from that utter shame. And this is an absolute truth. You've got it on the bottom of your notes, Isaiah 50 verse 7-11. For the Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint. I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me. Who will contend with him? It's rhetorical. Doesn't even answer it. Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old like a garment, or as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the Lord? that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light. Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire. And in the sparks that ye have kindled, this shall ye have of mine hand, and the ultimate result of that person that trusts their own strength and their own power and their own ability, Isaiah in verse 11 says, "'Ye shall lie down in sorrow, but the way of the righteous shall not be.'" That's what gave David the hope, the strength. That's what transformed him from cleaving to the dust to running in the way of the commandments. He set his way aside and he followed the way of God's holy commandments. May God bless these words to our hearts and minds. Thank you for listening. If you would like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541-Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.svbcpa.org. Until next time!