[0:00] This is, I guess, already our sixth week in Psalm 119.
[0:18] ! Hebrew letter, which for your edification is the letter He.
[0:38] He. He in English, it is a symbol of a window.
[0:51] Whereas the last section was a symbol, Daleth is a symbol of a door. So there's a doorway and here He is a window. This maybe is a window into the working of God.
[1:06] So we've had a house, we've had a camel, we've had a door. Now we have a window. Next week, Lord willing, we have a hook. Fish hook.
[1:18] Yeah, huh? Or it could just be a peg. Anyway, that aside. Psalm 119. We're going to be looking at verses 33 to 40.
[1:31] I would like to read from verse 25 through 40 because those two sections go together. They are the words that I prayed for weeks and months in dealing with depression.
[1:46] And in the 16 verses together from 25 to 40, there are 16 prayers, 16 requests. So it intensifies.
[1:57] So verses 25 to 32 have seven requests. Verses 33 to 40 have nine requests. So it intensifies. Feeling the desperation for God to work.
[2:13] So hopefully you can hear that as we read it. So if you're able, please stand. We read from Psalm 119 beginning of verse 25. 25.
[2:23] My soul cleaves to the dust. Revive me according to thy word.
[2:34] I have told of my ways and thou has answered me. Teach me thy statutes. Make me understand the way of thy precepts.
[2:46] So I will meditate on thy wonders. My soul weeps. Because of grief or heaviness.
[2:57] Strengthen me according to thy word. Remove the false way from me and graciously grant me thy law. I have chosen the faithful way.
[3:08] I have placed thine ordinances before me. I cleaved to thy testimonies. O Lord, do not put me to shame. I shall run the way of thy commandments.
[3:21] When thou wilt enlarge my heart. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes. And I shall observe it to the end.
[3:33] Give me understanding that I may observe thy law. And keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of thy commandments.
[3:43] For I delight in it. Incline my heart to thy testimonies. And not to selfish gain.
[3:55] Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity. And revive me in thy ways. Establish thy word to thy servant as that which produces fear of thee.
[4:07] Take away my reproach. Which I dread. For thine ordinances are good.
[4:19] Behold, I long for thy precepts. Revive me through thy righteousness.
[4:30] So it reads. Let us pray. Father, open our eyes. That we might behold wonderful things from your word. Show us, Lord, what the psalmist is getting at here.
[4:47] As he cries out for revival. As he cries out for understanding. As he cries out for protection. As he cries out for new life.
[4:59] Help us to hear the cry of the soul. And the cry of the heart. So that we, like the psalmist, may walk in your ways.
[5:14] And keep them with all our heart. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. So, new year.
[5:28] Time for new resolutions, right? I already asked and all of you kind of went, no, no. Well, I attempted a few resolutions. One, I want to stop procrastinating.
[5:43] Starting next week. This year I made a resolution that I think I can keep. No dieting all year. I was going to give up all my bad habits.
[5:55] But then I remembered that no one likes a quitter. So, I resolved to make no resolutions. Many stop doing these resolutions.
[6:10] Why? Because it reminds us how we fall. How we fail. How we fall short. Right? That we have an inability in ourselves to keep those promises.
[6:24] We have weakness. So, how does that relate to us? Right? We see the psalmist praying, but we see the psalmist also saying, I will do this.
[6:36] He's resolving. He's praying, but he's also resolving. I will walk in your way. So, how do we balance that?
[6:50] How do we make resolutions? Because if we're going to fail, why bother? So, Psalm 119, and I think particularly verses 33 to 40, shows us the only way Christians can truly grow and improve and to resolve to do so.
[7:14] Because it shows prayers of desperate intensity. I want you to notice here. In these verses, 33 to 39, each verse begins with a petition that in Hebrew has the sense, Lord, you make this happen.
[7:37] Lord, you cause this to come about. That's the head in Hebrew. Because when you add the head in front of a Hebrew verb, it intensifies it.
[7:51] It makes it causative. So, it makes our prayer suggest an urgent desperation, an absolute dependence to bring about the change.
[8:07] So, for example, verse 33. It's not just teach me. It is cause me to be taught. In verse 34, it's not just give me, understand me, but cause me to understand.
[8:23] Cause me to understand. So, make some fundamental changes in me that I might understand. Not just help me, not God helps those who help themselves kind of stuff, but I need absolute help.
[8:42] Cause me. Move me. So, verse 35. Make me walk in the path. Right? Move me to walk in the path.
[8:53] Verse 36. Cause my heart to be inclined to thy testimonies. Cause my eyes to be turned away. Verse 37. Verse 38.
[9:04] Cause your word to be established to your servant is that which produces fear of you. Cause my reproach to be turned away.
[9:15] Not just to turn it away, but cause it to be turned away. It's intensified. It's stronger. It's more intensive. Have you prayed like that?
[9:25] Have you felt that desperate for God to work? I mean, in other words, have you felt that weak and inadequate?
[9:45] A, probably a Harley, I think. So, this is what I did. This is the very thing I began to do when I first experienced depression.
[9:59] I set aside time to pray. I got away from the office. I went on a drive and prayed. Or I took a walk or a hike and prayed through these verses. What grabbed me in these verses was the desperateness.
[10:14] The urgency of the prayers. I began asking the Lord to cause me to walk in the path of thy commandments. When I don't have the will to do so, you, Lord, make me do it.
[10:28] And I do delight in the path. The path is good. The path is right. When we're on the path, it's a good thing.
[10:38] And then I would ask the Lord to cause my heart to be inclined to his testimonies. To his promises.
[10:50] To the ways that he has worked that show his faithfulness. Cause my heart to be inclined to all those promises of the Lord. My heart was so discouraged.
[11:06] And I was desperate for the Lord to change my heart. To make me inclined and motivated to look to his word. And not to my natural inclinations.
[11:18] And the prayer that comes later, turn away my eyes from looking at vanity. That's a battle prayer. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity. Turn away my eyes.
[11:28] Lord, I can't do it. So turn away my eyes from looking at those vain things. Those empty things. Those things that have promise of quick relief. But are nothing.
[11:39] Leave you lifeless. Leave you further depressed than you were before. I'm so tempted to lust.
[11:52] To look for something that would give me some relief or distraction from depression. So, I ask the Lord to take hold of my eyes.
[12:03] My looking to worldly things. And then turn them away from empty promises. And revive me in his ways. So, here we have in verses 33 to 40.
[12:20] Nine strong, intensive prayers. Request of the Lord to act on my behalf. Request, please, for urgent intervention.
[12:39] So, it's a matter of how much do I need God's help? Do I just need a little bit of God's help? You know, what's my view of myself? Do I, do I, am I confident in myself?
[12:51] Am I trust myself? Do I find myself a faithful person? And maybe your type of personality is very confident. I used to have one of those until God gave me depression. I really did.
[13:04] I was very confident. And depression broke that. Changed my personality. And I know it was God's purpose to humble me.
[13:21] To teach me some things that I couldn't learn any other way. But these are the verses that grabbed hold of me. Because I began to know and sense how desperately I needed his grace.
[13:37] Not just a little bit. Not just a little help. I'll get this far, God, get me over the hump. But rather, I need God to get me started. I need God to make the first step.
[13:49] I need God to turn my eyes. I need God to incline my heart. I mean, before I even move, I need the inclination to do the right thing. Although deep in my heart, I wanted the right thing.
[14:02] But I was stuck. And still experience that stuckness. I think now, that initial depression lasted 12 years until 2012.
[14:16] Here in the church. And God broke that. After I came to some recognition of humbling and repentance that I needed to do, that that burden lifted.
[14:27] And I had a freedom for about 10 years here. And a few years ago, it started to come back. And now it's back with a vengeance.
[14:40] Now it's back in a deeper level that I was telling James before. I don't know what to do. And so one of my motivations for coming to Psalm 119 was to kind of regather.
[14:53] Okay. Okay. These were the first lessons for me in fighting it. How to pray through it. And so I needed that. I hope it's beneficial to you as well.
[15:04] To think through. Not just praying for revival. Because there's several prayers here in Psalm 119 that are revive me, revive me.
[15:14] And that's what caught my attention, first of all. But then I see, oh, the psalmist doesn't just pray for revival. He prays for all these other things too. And that's wise.
[15:26] Not just revive me, but get me in the right road. Give me more understanding. Give me protection. Several other things that go along with revival. So hopefully we can benefit here.
[15:40] So as usual, I boil it down to two things. I always like to take a text and just cut it in half somewhere. And so we can plot our thoughts in two ways. So all these nine pleas, I'm going to boil down to two.
[15:56] Okay. So we have verses 33 to 36 that emphasize a plea for understanding and practical enablement. Kind of understanding, but not just understanding, but understanding that leads to practical enablement.
[16:12] And then verses 37 to 40, the second half, there's an emphasis on protection. Protection from sin as well as revival.
[16:26] Revival. Reviving of the spirit. Specifically, verse 40, through God's righteousness.
[16:37] And that's a fascinating concept. So let's work toward getting to that. So first plea, for full understanding. The first four verses here, 33, 36, summarize this way.
[16:51] He's praying for fuller understanding toward practical enablement. So he's also praying for enablement, right? Make me walk, right?
[17:02] So the practical enablement in my weakness. So notice the weaknesses. There's three here in verse 33 and 34, the weakness to understand.
[17:16] My mind is weak, so I need understanding. Verse 35, my walk is weak, so I need to be made to walk. And then verse 36, my inclinations are a problem, right?
[17:31] I need to be inclined to do the right thing, not the wrong thing. So my natural, to fight my natural inclination. So first he prays for understanding. Verse 33, cause me to be taught, right?
[17:43] Cause me to learn. Teach me. Cause me to be taught, O Lord, the way. Not just the statutes, but the way of thy statutes. And I will observe it. So notice the practicality in it.
[17:55] There's a desperateness to learn, teach me, but that I might observe it. So cause me to learn. Open, in other words, open my mind, right? Open my mind.
[18:06] Sometimes our minds get on neutral. Guys understand this better than women, I think. We have a neutral. Women, I don't think, have a neutral, right?
[18:17] You never, guys stop thinking and the wife leans over and go, what are you thinking? I'm saying nothing. She doesn't believe that, right? Cause that doesn't work for her. But it is a thing.
[18:28] So sometimes I need my mind engaged. Help me to be more teachable. And maybe that's the problem is the teachability.
[18:39] So that I will keep. So it's practical. And then verse 13, excuse me, 34, give me understanding. Cause me to understand with a practical goal that I may observe thy law and keep it with all my heart.
[18:54] So it's not just that I want understanding, intellectual understanding, but I want a practical understanding. In other words, wisdom. I want wisdom, an insight, discernment, so that I might walk better.
[19:07] I might be on that path. So I will keep it with all my heart. And then I have a walking problem. Verse 35, make me walk.
[19:19] Why do I got to pray that? Cause there's times that I don't want to walk in the path. Cause a lot of times the path is hard.
[19:31] A lot of times the path with Jesus says it's a narrow road, right? Not a broad road. But the narrow road is the one that leads to life, real life, not the false life.
[19:42] The broad road leads to destruction. But with all those temporary pleasures in between substituting, right?
[19:54] So make me walk. Cause me to walk. When you're stuck, ask God. Plead with God to make you walk. Make you walk.
[20:06] To stay on the path. To stay on the right direction. To make the right choices. And that is, for a true Christian, that is your desire deep down.
[20:17] Even if you're stuck. Even if you're not wanting to at the moment. Deep down, your real heart, the heart, the new heart that God gave you, wants that. And so you pray from there.
[20:30] Not from the soul. Why? Here, this is interesting.
[20:41] Why, verse 35? Why walk? Cause I delight in it. I delight in what? The commandments? No.
[20:52] Make me walk in the path. That's what I delight in. I delight in the path of the commandments. The commandments are just telling you where the path is. Commandments are just telling you, here's the borders.
[21:03] Here's the, stay in these lines, right? Stay in this area. Because then you're on the path that leads to life. And the path is what you will delight in. If you're a believer.
[21:16] You will delight in the path. Path is good. The path is right. The path brings me delight when I'm on it. And then, and then I need help.
[21:31] Verse 36 with my inclinations, my proneness. So he says, incline my heart, right? Cause my heart to be inclined to thy testimonies and not to dishonest gain.
[21:43] See, naturally, my heart is inclined to selfish or dishonest gain. Because it's the quick way. Right? That's natural.
[21:53] My natural heart. The one we're born with. The one we're prone to. Prone to leave the God I love, right? I'm prone because I still have that old man in me.
[22:04] I still have those old desires in me. When I was born again, I got new desires. I got a new heart. I got a new will. But it didn't take out the old one. So I still have that fight going on.
[22:17] That's why we have the spiritual battle. Right? So I still have that old inclination. And if I don't engage my faith, what will take over? I'll do what I naturally do, right?
[22:29] If I don't think about it. If I'm not made to walk. If I'm not made to have my heart inclined. So cause my heart to be inclined to thy testimonies and not to selfish gain.
[22:41] Gain. So he's pleading for protection. He knows himself. He distrusts himself. That's a novel idea in this time and age.
[22:58] Or not we're supposed to trust ourselves. Trust yourself. Follow your heart. Well, according to scripture, your heart is deceitful and sick. Right? It also has good things.
[23:10] We're in the image of God. It's not totally depraved. But it has depravity in it. But if I don't engage my faith.
[23:24] I always talk about active faith. Not passive faith. Oh, I believed. I believed. I walked the aisle. Now I'm good. As if that makes you, you know.
[23:35] You still engage your faith. Still, Jesus talked about faith. Faith, faith. Faith will move the mountains. Really? It's just kind of a name and claim it thing? No, no, no. That's not what he meant.
[23:47] No. Faith. Enduring faith. Enduring faith. The kind of prayer that perseveres through, you know, the judge that won't answer the widow.
[23:59] Right? The guy that comes to the neighbor. And then, you know, how Jesus talked about prayer. Prayer was a... It took a while. It was a battle. It wasn't simple.
[24:12] Well, it's simple. Not easy. That's what... Just got to keep doing it, right? So he knows himself. He distrusts himself.
[24:25] Which is a good thing for a believer. To believe God and not believe yourself. Right? So not to selfish gain. Not to gain. Not to getting ahead.
[24:36] To seeking profit through coveting or greedy motives. Because that's in us. So, Paul talks about this very kind of thing.
[24:49] This praying for... Or understanding our need for God's enablement. He teaches in Philippians 2 our absolute dependence on the Lord because of our weakness.
[25:02] Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 2, 12 and 13. He says, Therefore, my brethren, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as you have obeyed, as in my presence, but much more in my absence, you know, when I'm not looking.
[25:17] Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He's not saying work for your salvation. He's saying work it out. You have salvation. Work it out. Right?
[25:29] Work it out. With fear and trembling. Why? For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
[25:43] Now, what captures my attention is that last sentence. For it is God, you have work to do. You have to apply your faith. Work out your salvation.
[25:54] Don't be passive, right? Work out your salvation. With fear and trembling. How can I do that? Where do I get the strength to do that? What if I don't want to do that? What if I wake up in the morning and I'm so depressed and I'm so in pain and I'm so, right, whatever?
[26:10] I'm listening to myself. Instead of talking to myself, I'm listening to myself. Because there's that voice in the morning that says, whatever it says. Right? Somebody's talking in the morning, right?
[26:22] You wake up and it's only me. I'm hearing stuff. Who's talking? Well, that's my soul talking. That's who's talking. So, what does David do in Psalm 42?
[26:35] David doesn't listen to his soul. He talks to his soul. Why are you so downcast, oh my soul? Hope in God.
[26:46] He's correcting his soul. Our souls need correcting. Our souls need talking to you. Not listening. Because the soul's going to say, just roll over. Forget it, man.
[26:59] Call this day off. Right? So, God works in you both to will and to work. So, here's the thing.
[27:09] When my soul's not willing, when my heart's stuck, I can pray, Lord, do the willing and the working within me. You do the working in me. And I love how Paul puts it.
[27:23] Right? God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So, do the willing and the working. Do the inclination and the working.
[27:34] Because I'm weak in both, to put it nicely. Again, Psalm 51.
[27:45] David understood the same kind of weakness as well as anybody. This is Psalm 51 when David is repenting about the whole Bathsheba incident and the murdering and the lying and the, you know, breaking half the commandments.
[27:57] Here's David's repentance, right? So, part of his repentance in Psalm 51 is this. Create in me a clean heart. Right? Because he knows his heart is not clean. His heart is so dirty.
[28:08] Right? I mean, to put it nicely. Create. So, he needs a new heart. Create in me a new heart. Oh, God. And renew a right spirit within me.
[28:20] A right spirit. That's about attitude. The right attitude. I don't have one. So, renew it in me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
[28:32] He was afraid of that. Because that's what God did to Saul. That's not a New Testament prayer. We don't, no matter how we sin, we don't get cast away from his presence and he doesn't take his Holy Spirit from us.
[28:47] Okay? So, that's not New Testament. That's Old Testament. Right? God has given you the Holy Spirit. He's not taking the Holy Spirit away from you. Okay? No matter how bad you go.
[29:02] And restore to me the joy of your salvation. I pray that regularly. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. I have your salvation, but I don't have any joy. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
[29:15] And uphold me. Sustain me with a willing spirit. Because I have a spirit that's not willing. I mean, he can go through Psalm 51 and just kind of do the reverse of everything he prays for.
[29:26] Everything he prays for is what he doesn't have. What he no longer has. A clear conscience. A clean soul. A clean heart. Right? The ability to worship.
[29:37] He even talks about Psalm 51. He even talks about how he can't sing. Because of his sin. His sin has stopped him from singing. And we know how much David loved to sing. Right?
[29:49] And so he writes a whole song about it. Love it. Okay? So, let me ask you this. The honest question. Are you not, dear Christian, deep in your inner man, desperate for God to teach you, to enable you to do his will?
[30:10] Are you not desperate for him to overcome your stubborn will? To cause you to be faithful? To strengthen you in your weaknesses? Are you not? Desperate for that?
[30:21] We are so weak in our old passions and habits that we must plead God to will and to work in us.
[30:33] Right? So, that's the first section of his prayer. Of this section. For fuller understanding so that he might have practical enablement from God to overcome his weaknesses.
[30:46] Secondly, verses 37 to 40. Come down to protection and revival. He prays, essentially, prays for protection from his sinfulness.
[30:57] Right? Or from the temptation to sin. And he prays for revival. Through, specifically, through God's righteousness. So, first of all, he prays for protection from temptation.
[31:12] Verse 37. Turn away. He's very specific about it. Just like in 36, he prayed about his heart. Now, in verse 37, he prays for his eyes. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity.
[31:24] I don't trust myself to do that. So, Lord, do that. Cause my eyes to be turned away. If I have a problem with lust. If I have a problem with coveting. If I have a problem with what I'm seeing.
[31:38] What my eyes lead me to temptations. Then I need to say, Lord. Turn my eyes away from that stuff. Turn it away.
[31:50] I need you to turn my eyes away. I want to be pure. I don't want to be doing those things. I don't want to look for those things. That lead me to whatever. That's where it starts.
[32:03] With my eyes. Right? Sin starts with the lust of the eyes. Right? Enticement, James says. It's enticement.
[32:15] And then when it takes hold. Right? Then it becomes sin. And the result of that is death. Separation from God. We feel that separation. Right? And that's why we pray every day.
[32:26] That's why Jesus teaches us to pray. Forgiveness. Our debts. As we forgive our debtors. Pray that every day. Because I need to. There's something between me and God. That something's happened. Like Dan was illustrating.
[32:38] It might just be that little tiny sliver. Maybe I don't see it. Maybe it's that big wedge in my fingernail. That got your attention, didn't it? That was a good illustration. It's a big two-byte. A big two-byte. Yeah. Big old thing.
[32:49] Yeah. But it's like a little point here. Then it comes out like this. And Dillon has got to see that. Look at that. Look how much I've suffered for you. No. No. So that one's blatant.
[33:01] You know that one. But it's the little guys. It's the little guys. You don't even know until you. Is that how you play? Until you use your finger. And then it's like, what?
[33:13] It's the little irritating ones. And that hinders you. So here he's saying, turn away my eyes. Because I can so easily look at the vain things.
[33:25] The empty things. The temporal things. The quick fix things. My soul longs for that. My soul wants relief. My soul wants to feel good. My soul wants to be lifted up.
[33:35] My soul. So in Psalm 42, the same Psalm David is saying, my soul is downcast. He's also saying, my soul thirsts for God.
[33:45] So how can it be both? And I interpret that as, when my soul thirsts for God, it's the same soul that's downcast.
[33:58] And so when I'm downcast, David's teaching us, that means you thirst for God. That means the only quenching you will get is God.
[34:09] That's how it's both. I'm panting for God because my soul is dry, dead, down, troubled.
[34:22] And there's nothing wrong with having that condition, by the way. Jesus had that condition. Okay? Jesus talked about his soul is disturbed and agitated.
[34:39] Right? So there's nothing wrong. That's a condition. That's not sinful. What I do with it. Right? What do I do with it?
[34:52] So from David, you talk to it. From this psalmist, you cry out for revival. Revive me. Right? So he says, turn away my eyes from the vanity and revive me in thy ways.
[35:05] So I need not just to stop looking at the vain things, but I need to start looking at the right things. Right? So it's like Paul talks about. We take off the old and we put on the new.
[35:17] Right? There's that daily process every day. I renew my mind. I put off the old. I put off lying. And I put on truth. I put off stealing. And I put on generosity. Right?
[35:28] I do the. It's a transformed lifestyle. But I do it by the renewing of the mind. Right? But that's how. So he's talking about that here.
[35:38] So turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me. Revive me. Give me new life in your ways. Right? Give me back on the path. And give me life. And interesting.
[35:49] He's not just dry. Right? Like before. Back in verse 25. Remember? My soul cleaves to the dust. Revive me. Remember? There he's dry. Here.
[36:00] Here he's dead. Here he's dead. Revive me. Revive me. Revive the joy.
[36:11] Revive the passion. My soul feels lifeless. Revive me. Verse 38. Establish. I love this verse. Establish thy word.
[36:23] Cause your word to be established to your servant. As that which produces reverence for thee. How do we have fear for God? Right? Fear of God is what?
[36:34] So what's Proverbs tell us? What's fear of God? It's the beginning of wisdom. Right? That's where you start. That's lesson number one. It's about God. It's about who I view him as.
[36:46] How I treat him. How I revere him. How I trust him. How I fear him. Not just revere him. Remember the disciples had a healthy fear of Jesus after he calmed the storm.
[37:01] Remember? They were afraid. Whoa. Jesus is not just my friend. Jesus is my creator.
[37:13] He creates me. He can uncreate me. So I'm trying to be funny there, but that didn't work. So establish your word.
[37:27] So where does the fear of the Lord come from? The word. Establish the word to the servant as that which produces fear of thee. So that's where I get a right view.
[37:38] And when I have the right view of God, when I have fear of God, a healthy fear of God, a love and reverence and awe, but also an element of fear of him, right?
[37:48] Then I recognize my sin, too. When I come into the light. Dan was talking about that. I come into the light. That's John 1. First John 1, right? God is light. Right?
[37:58] In him there's no darkness. So we walk in light. What happens when we walk in light? We're exposed. Right? And that's when we confess. Right? First John 1, 7. That's when we confess our sins. Right?
[38:11] Because we're in the light. I don't hide from the light. I get in the light. That's how I get healed. I get in the light and then I can see that little sliver. I can see what's going on. As that which produces reverence of thee.
[38:31] Verse 39. Then my sin. So it's not just the temptation to sin. Verse 37. Looking at vanity. But there is the sin that I have had.
[38:43] Verse 39. Turn away my reproach, which I dread. Turn away the reproach of me. Cause to be taken away my reproach.
[38:57] Which I dread. I dread what I'm guilty of. That's fear of God. Okay? Even though I'm saved, I can still have that kind of fear.
[39:09] Right? Because the Lord, you know, if we ponder on our sins long enough or if we get stuck in them long enough and refuse to repent and resist the Holy Spirit long enough, right?
[39:20] He may take us out. Or he may give us some affliction. Right? First Corinthians. That's why some of you are sick. That's why some of you are gone.
[39:31] Well, because you're taking lightly the things of the Lord. So the Lord catches up with that. It's like the pastors who are in sin, right? Who am I?
[39:42] But in blatant, scandalous sin, right? God will expose those. And he does. He does. We keep hearing of it. Oh, there goes another one. Right? Because the Lord, he's not going to be mocked.
[39:56] The devil thinks he gets a victory, but God's just purging. So, pray that I don't get into that. I dread that kind of reproach if I got into that.
[40:11] Turn away my reproach. So he's asking for forgiveness here. Right? Turn away the reproach which I did. I see my sin. I dread the reproach that I deserve. So turn it away.
[40:22] Right? The word exposes. For your ordinances are good. When I first started praying this, I thought, what does that mean? Turn away.
[40:33] So forgive me. Turn away my reproach which I dread for your ordinances are good. I would expect him to say for you are compassionate or something like that. Right? But here it's for your ordinances are good.
[40:43] What does that mean? Forgive me. Take away the dread that I deserve for your ordinances are good. Remember, Psalm 119 is focusing on the word.
[40:56] And so the word has exposed my dread, my reproach. But that doesn't mean the word's bad. The word's good. The word that exposed me is good. The law kills me, but the law's good.
[41:13] The law is holy and righteous and good. Right? But it can't save me. All it does is condemn me. Huh? Exactly.
[41:25] Right? So that's why Paul says the law, the whole purpose of the law was to show me my sin. Not to show me the path of salvation. Well, if you could keep all the commandments, yeah, great. Go for it.
[41:36] Oh, fail again. Oh, sorry. Even David failed. Even Daniel failed. Even Joseph failed. Even Moses failed badly. Right? Our best can't do it.
[41:48] So, they're good. And then the greatest need, verse 40. Here's the fascinating statement, I think.
[41:59] Behold. Behold. Hina. Behold. I long for thy precepts. I long for thy precepts. The precepts are God's clear directions.
[42:12] They're the markers on the path. Right? If the commands are the path borders, the precepts are kind of the markers along the road.
[42:24] Right? That show you where the right path is. The precepts. Precepts means something different here in the Hebrew than it does in the English. What we typically think of precepts.
[42:36] So, it should probably be translated a different word. But, so I long for it. And that's true. Right? Every true Christian that we long for that.
[42:47] We long for his precepts. For his clear direction. We desire that. Even when we're not doing well. But, what do I need most? I need revival.
[42:57] So, again, he prays for revival. Second time. Revive me through thy righteousness. Revive me through thy righteousness. What does that mean?
[43:08] So, earlier he said, revive me in thy ways. Okay, that makes sense. Revive me. Give me life again in your pathway. Now, it's revive me through thy righteousness. Now, how does that happen? Because what is God's righteousness?
[43:22] That was our theme for worship today. What is God's righteousness? It's his holiness. It's his perfection. We sang holy, holy, holy. Right? Holy Spirit. That's the holy spirit.
[43:33] Yeah. We have a holy spirit. So, we sang fairest Lord Jesus. Right? Nothing's purer than Jesus. He's righteous. Pure.
[43:44] So, how does God revive me through his perfect righteousness? How can I? I mean, that, because his righteousness exposes me.
[43:59] How can that revive me? What is God's righteousness? Well, as Martin Luther discovered in a monastery as he studied in the book of Romans, when he was commissioned by the Church of Rome to teach the book of Romans, they didn't know what they were getting into when they did that.
[44:19] Yeah. He started studying it, and he studied from the original Greek instead of the Latin, and he discovered that God's, well, he came to that verse and said God's righteousness.
[44:32] And he had always thought, he was always so guilt-ridden and shame-ridden, you know, he was so convicted that righteousness, hate righteousness.
[44:44] And can't draw near it. Then he realized, God showed him that righteousness is a gift, not the standard.
[44:58] It's a gift. Listen to how Paul described salvation in Romans 3. Salvation is not just forgiveness of sin. It's a transformation.
[45:10] Forgiveness is only part of the story. It's a transformation. There's a change. Paul says, Romans 3, Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law.
[45:24] That's everybody. So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. So the law says, there you are. You're all sinners. For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.
[45:39] We just can't do it. Since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. That is the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law is to show us our sin, to reveal our sin.
[45:50] But now, here we go. Here comes the gospel. Here comes the good news. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. So different than the law.
[46:01] Whereas in the law, it condemns you. Now it's a righteousness revealed apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness, here it is. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe.
[46:19] That righteousness. It's a gift. Through faith. And it's a righteousness of God that's in Christ. For there is no distinction.
[46:30] For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Got it. And are justified by his grace as a gift. How? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
[46:41] We're justified. We're made righteous. That's what that means. By his grace as a gift. But it wasn't free. It was through the redemption. The payment that Jesus made.
[46:54] He redeemed. Right? He paid our debt. That is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward as a propitiation.
[47:05] A satisfaction of his wrath. By his blood. To be received by faith. There's faith again. This was to show God's righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance.
[47:18] He had passed over the former sins. Right? He didn't kill everybody. Did he? He was forbearing with the Israelites. They kept sinning. Kept sinning.
[47:28] He struck a few. But he kept bearing. Right? Forbearing. He had every right to take them out. But he didn't.
[47:39] He's forbearing. He passed over the former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time. So that he might be just.
[47:50] The one who does what is right. And the justifier. The one who makes other people righteous. Sinners righteous. Of the one who has faith in Jesus. He's just and justifier.
[48:03] He's just because he did punish the sins in Christ. Through the redemption of Christ. Through the payment of Christ. And he's justifier.
[48:13] Because he had done that. Now he can give us righteousness. That's what Luther called that great exchange. Right? We lay on him all our sins.
[48:25] He gives us all his righteousness. It's that just incredible thing. The cross is not just forgiveness. The cross is transformation. Now we're saints.
[48:39] We're righteous. That's not a feeling. That is a fact. That we trust that God has done that. So.
[48:51] Have you experienced this new life? Do you know that God has worked transformation in your heart? And your soul? That you are declared righteous?
[49:03] Not in you. You don't feel it. But do you know by faith? That he has declared you righteous. That he has changed you. That he has transformed you. Pray.
[49:17] Pray these verses. Pray these verses with urgent desperation. And pray them with urgent desperation. Because you're absolutely persuaded.
[49:30] That you need God's grace abundantly. Let us pray. Father we thank you for your word. Thank you for the psalmist.
[49:43] Whether it's David or someone else. We thank you. For their wisdom. And their. The gifts that you gave them. To compile this. Not as random prayers.
[49:55] But prayers that are meaningful. Prayers that are full of content. They're not simplistic.
[50:06] They're wise. They're far reaching. They're balanced. It's all. It's about feeling.
[50:17] And about thinking. And about doing. So we thank you. Lord for that kind of wisdom. Bring us back to these prayers.
[50:27] When we need them. Put these upon us. Lord. They are New Testament prayers. They're prayers for your grace.
[50:39] They're prayers for us. Who continue to sin. Though we're saved. We still fall. We still fail. We still get stuck. And especially oh father.
[50:50] For those of us. That have. That have. Fallen into this hole of depression. Father. Use these prayers. To help us.
[51:01] Throw out our line. To you. May they be. The rope. Attached to the bell. In heaven. That we pull on.
[51:12] To get. To you. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.