WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.819 Psalm 119, verses 17 to 24. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.859 Who wander from your commandments. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.119 Take away from me scorn and contempt. 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:37.899 For I have kept your testimonies. 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:41.719 Even though princes sit plotting against me. 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.460 Your servant will meditate on your statutes. 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:48.579 Your testimonies are my delight. 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:50.920 They are my counselors. 00:00:51.980 --> 00:00:57.179 So verse 17 begins the third section of Psalm 119 with a prayer. 00:00:57.179 --> 00:01:00.200 And it says, deal bountifully with your servant. 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:06.159 And if we were trying to kind of complete that sentence on our own. 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:07.620 Without any context. 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:09.260 What would you say? 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:14.180 Deal bountifully with your servant so that... 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:15.560 Just think about it. 00:01:15.780 --> 00:01:17.299 How would you complete that sentence? 00:01:18.099 --> 00:01:20.659 Maybe deal bountifully with your servant God. 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.299 So that I might be comfortable. 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:27.079 So that I might be rich or successful. 00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:30.260 So that I might have the things I want in life. 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:32.120 Deal bountifully with me Lord. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:32.700 Bless me. 00:01:33.960 --> 00:01:36.340 That's an answer of a lot of people in this world. 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:38.240 The psalmist answers it this way. 00:01:38.300 --> 00:01:42.360 He says, deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word. 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:45.300 He desires God's bountiful treatment. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.360 Because he wants to live in keeping with God's word. 00:01:48.460 --> 00:01:49.260 That's his desire. 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:50.340 That's his goal in life. 00:01:51.320 --> 00:01:55.740 And the reason for that is found in the way the psalmist identifies himself throughout this section. 00:01:55.859 --> 00:01:57.700 He calls himself a servant of God. 00:01:58.200 --> 00:01:59.820 And a sojourner in the world. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.719 And so the main point of this passage really is that as servants of God and sojourners in the world. 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:07.520 We must depend on God's word and not depart from it. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.139 So the first few verses, 17 to 20, is about our dependence on God's word. 00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:17.859 And then verses 21 to 24 contrast that with those who depart, the departure from God's word. 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:22.060 So let's look at the dependence on God's word in verses 17 to 20. 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:28.039 And it says, because the psalmist is God's servant, his preoccupation is with keeping the word of his master. 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:33.580 And we ask ourselves, is that the desire, the foremost desire of our hearts? 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:37.340 To keep the word of our master. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.920 Do we live in keeping with God's word? 00:02:40.939 --> 00:02:48.580 Do we want to live, desire to live in keeping with God's word more than we desire to live in keeping with the expectations of other people in our lives? 00:02:48.580 --> 00:02:57.200 Do we desire to live in keeping with God's word more than our desire to live in keeping with the selfish desires that we have? 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:02.300 That's really the heartbeat of what it means to be the servant of God, the servant of the Lord. 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:05.380 But even that we can't do on our own strength. 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:08.660 So we need God to deal bountifully with us. 00:03:09.160 --> 00:03:10.360 We need him to bless us. 00:03:10.420 --> 00:03:13.340 We need him to help us so that we might live and keep his word. 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:17.560 And that prayer of verse 17 is continued in verse 18 this way. 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:22.219 It says, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:25.120 I once heard this story. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:29.439 I think I shared it maybe two years ago when we were still at the Lusitania Club. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:38.199 I once heard this story about, I think it's high school students, a group of students that go on a trip through Europe to see historical sites. 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:46.399 And they went to the Louvre in France, which is, I think, the largest museum in the world. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:48.659 And they were examining a famous masterpiece. 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:51.359 I think at this point the story gets hazy. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:52.199 They don't know what it was. 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:54.759 Maybe it was Da Vinci or Raphael or Rembrandt. 00:03:54.759 --> 00:04:05.519 But one of the students, who was evidently immature and supremely arrogant, began to rant and criticize the drawing. 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:13.180 And the professor that was leading the group grew impatient and then rebuked the student, saying this. 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:19.259 This is an undisputed masterpiece by one of the greatest masters in history. 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:26.480 The artistic superiority of this painting was established 400 years ago and is no longer open to judgment. 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:33.180 It is not the painting, but your taste that is open to judgment and has now been found lacking. 00:04:34.459 --> 00:04:43.500 So the law of God, which is another way that the psalmist speaks of the word of God, it says it's full of wondrous things. 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:49.579 And if we fail to behold it, the wonders of God's word, then it's our blindness. 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:52.420 Its default does not lie with the word of God. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:53.899 It lies with us, our sight. 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.000 So knowing that psalmist prays this way, 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:01.920 Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:06.759 So are we beholding wondrous things out of God's law in our lives? 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:13.719 Though the world might keep abuse and scorn upon it, the wisdom of God's word surpasses all the wisdom of the world. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:19.420 There are wonders in God's word that far surpass the wonders that this sinful world offers. 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:24.539 And if we are not enthralled by the wondrous things in God's word, we have to pray. 00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:27.259 God, open our eyes so that we might see. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.079 We have to pray, as Ephesians 1, 17 to 18 says, 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:37.479 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. 00:05:37.899 --> 00:05:43.399 Having the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us. 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:46.839 What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. 00:05:47.659 --> 00:05:51.099 So because we are the servants of God, we have to depend on God's word. 00:05:51.799 --> 00:05:55.839 And as servants of God, because we're servants of God, we're also sojourners in this world. 00:05:55.979 --> 00:05:57.919 So he says in verses 19 to 20, 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.439 I am a sojourner on the earth. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.680 Hide not your commandments from me. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.699 My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:13.319 So we're sojourners, meaning we're resident aliens, foreigners, because our citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.319 It's in the kingdom of God. 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:27.139 And like foreigners who know not the language and culture of the place that they live in and feel out of place or they feel lost in this world and need guidance, we're like that. 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:29.279 In this world, we are often lost. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:37.139 We need guidance because we live by the code of another kingdom, because we live, abide by the laws of another kingdom. 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:41.699 And that's yet another reason why we depend so urgently on the word of God. 00:06:41.799 --> 00:06:44.579 So Psalmist prays, you're hide not your commandments from me. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:45.359 I need it. 00:06:45.619 --> 00:06:46.779 I'm a sojourner on the earth. 00:06:46.919 --> 00:06:48.259 Hide not your commandments from me. 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:56.779 And this request is kind of a surprising twist on one of the most common prayers that occur in the Psalms over and over again. 00:06:56.779 --> 00:06:59.879 And that prayer is, hide not your face from me. 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:01.739 You've probably heard that phrase. 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:04.639 If you've read the Bible, you've seen that in many places. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:06.399 But there's a twist on that. 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:11.099 Here it says, instead of saying, hide not your face from me, it says, hide not your commandments from me. 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:19.700 And that twist shows kind of the link, the inseparable link between the word of God and the face of God. 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:29.099 And it's that when we listen to and read God's word, when we listen to and read what God has said, that's when we behold the face of God. 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:35.319 We come to behold the face of the one who speaks when we listen, pay attention to God's word. 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:41.240 And so then that's all the reason how desperately should we long for God's word, depend on God's word. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.459 Hide not your commandments from me. 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:44.079 I'm a sojourner. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:45.480 I need your commandments. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:46.839 I must see your face. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:47.779 I must see your commandments. 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:58.519 And so that's why the psalmist, it's almost, it seems, it's almost like a love poem, right? 00:07:58.599 --> 00:07:59.559 You read verse 20. 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:02.000 Can you imagine yourself saying that about God's word? 00:08:02.119 --> 00:08:09.459 My soul, my soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:10.439 Isn't that amazing? 00:08:12.479 --> 00:08:15.379 I think I was talking to Zach the other night. 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:21.740 And Hannah was talking about, she had just read Psalm 119 recently and she was like, yeah, it's a great psalm. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:23.159 It's like, I'm reading it. 00:08:23.219 --> 00:08:26.860 I'm just reminded of how I just don't love God's word enough. 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:33.159 And just, this is just, we long for it because we feel the face of God, because we hear the voice of God. 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.039 So that's why we should be dependent on God's word. 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:45.379 And at this point of the psalm, the psalmist's mind kind of turns to the people in the world who are not living like that, who are not servant of God like he is, but instead are departing from God's word. 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:47.360 So it's the second point, departure from God's word. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.019 And he kind of reflects on that contrast between him and those people in verse 21. 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:57.679 You rebuke the insulin, the accursed ones who wander from your commandments. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.139 The psalmist, remember, he describes himself as a sojourner in verse 19. 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:08.279 And here, those who reject God are described as wanderers. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:11.679 Because a sojourner has a destination. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.059 His is a temporary stay. 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:16.319 He's a pilgrim on the way. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.940 But a wanderer is lost. 00:09:21.660 --> 00:09:22.960 A wanderer has no destination. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:24.600 His journey is aimless. 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:29.520 And this is the contrast between those who keep God's commandments and those who break his commandments. 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:32.960 Those who wander away from God's word become objects of his rebuke. 00:09:33.780 --> 00:09:39.260 But in this world, which is in rebellion against God, 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:46.559 the psalmist who is the, it's the psalmist who really should have the affirmation and praise of people. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.679 He's the object of people's scorn and contempt. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.379 And so he asks God for deliverance from that in verse 22. 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:57.240 Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:01.740 The vindication that God's people await for has not yet come. 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:08.879 And so we also might be subjected to the same scorn and contempt from the insolent wonders of this world. 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:11.440 But this is then a helpful lesson for us. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:16.860 Because in spite of all that, the psalmist doesn't question his allegiance to God, his word. 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:20.639 He doesn't say to himself, why do I bother with keeping God's testimonies 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.960 when all I get is contempt and scorn from the people around me? 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.840 Instead, he says this in verse 23. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:35.100 Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:40.860 Princes are likely a reference to people in power during this time, 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.340 maybe rulers of the world who are persecuting the psalmist. 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:50.040 But while they set themselves up as princes and rebelled against God, 00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:55.800 the psalmist humbly describes himself once again, as he did earlier in this section, 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:56.899 as God's servant. 00:10:57.839 --> 00:10:58.919 I love that contrast. 00:10:59.019 --> 00:11:01.279 The prince is, but the servant of God. 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.039 And this is why, even though princes sit plotting against him, 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:06.699 he meditates on God's statutes, 00:11:06.979 --> 00:11:09.199 because he's not a servant of these princes. 00:11:09.859 --> 00:11:11.039 He's a servant of the Lord. 00:11:11.939 --> 00:11:14.939 So even though they're plotting against him, he meditates on God's statutes, 00:11:14.959 --> 00:11:17.599 because that's what he's obligated to follow, 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:20.439 because that's the person he's accountable to. 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:22.779 Not the princes of this world, but to God. 00:11:23.819 --> 00:11:25.459 And so verse 24 concludes this way. 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:27.240 Your testimonies are my delight. 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:29.000 They are my counselors. 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:33.340 We find delight in God's word and receive direction from God's word. 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.139 We turn to it like people turn to counselors, advisors, 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:38.780 turn to consult God's word, 00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:43.180 to receive help and guidance, direction. 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:45.800 That's the privilege of the people of God, 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:47.759 and who delight in the testimonies of God. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:54.480 And this persevering resolve that we see of the psalmist to depend on God's word 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:58.559 is really pointing to and fulfilled ultimately by Jesus, 00:11:58.819 --> 00:12:03.460 who really is the only person that kept God's word to the end, 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:05.179 who kept God's word perfectly. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:07.840 And literally, princes plotted against him. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.460 King Herod tried to kill him when he was an infant. 00:12:12.060 --> 00:12:15.540 The rulers of the Pharisees falsely accused him, tried to get him executed. 00:12:16.540 --> 00:12:20.120 Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, sentenced him to death. 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:22.840 And through his death on the cross, 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:26.000 Jesus made atonement for sins of his people, 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.480 because we all failed to keep God's word perfectly. 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:32.860 But he did keep it, yet he's the one that paid that price 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:35.200 by dying on the cross for our sins. 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:38.159 And it's through that work that Jesus did on the cross 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:42.480 that he takes wanderers like us and prepares for us a home in heaven 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.399 so that we now become sojourners, right, 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:46.500 with the destination on the way. 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.419 It's through Jesus that he takes these insolent people, 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:51.019 rebellious, accursed people, 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:53.840 and redeems them and makes them servants of God, 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.759 people who no longer are under God's curse, 00:12:55.860 --> 00:12:57.060 but under God's blessing, 00:12:57.620 --> 00:12:59.300 because Christ took the curse for us. 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:02.820 So that's really this psalm. 00:13:03.300 --> 00:13:06.019 I'm really enjoying going through this with you. 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:07.960 Let's reflect on that and maybe sing a song.