Let’s turn again to Psalms one hundred and nineteen beginning with verse forty-nine. A psalm that speaks of the hope and the comfort of the word of God.
Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope (119:49).
One of the sad and tragic things of the world in which we live today is the lack of hope. There is a legislator now who is introducing legislation to legalize coke, heroin, marijuana, and the amphetamines so that anybody can buy them anywhere. His rational is that we cannot win the war against drugs and since we cannot win the war, it was the same rational they used in abolishing prohibition, we are only creating a criminal element we can get rid of the criminal element by legalizing all of the drugs. Then there will be a proliferation of drugs, they will be easy to get and the price will go down thus these people won’t be able to make so much money off of drugs because they can buy them in a drugstore or a grocery store or wherever. Behind this legislation he is introducing is a lost hope in the war against drugs.
In the world in which we live there is cause really to lose hope in the fight against evil. It seems like the forces and the power of evil are so strong. One of the most despairing things is to be without hope. It is interesting that Francis Shaffer in his book “The End of Reason” declared that one of the sad and tragic byproducts of the existential philosophy, the prevailing philosophy of our age, is that it brings man to the point of despair or hopelessness. Even the philosophers recognize that man cannot exist, cannot go on in a hopeless state. The existential philosophers say that “Because reason brings you to despair, reality is so despairing, you’ve got to take a leap of faith into unreality”.
Taking this leap of faith into this unreality you have to hope that your feet will land on something that can hold you up because you can’t live without hope. The reason is reality brings you to despair. So they talked about the leap of faith into the second story. That is the reason why the existential philosophy has given birth to the new age which is really not new age at all, it’s ancient Hinduism, that creating of your own reality and the mental imaging and the things of this nature. People are taking the leap of faith into many different kinds of religions and religious experiences looking for something that can bring them a sense of hope.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but I holy lean on Jesus name.” I thank God for the hope that the word of God brings to me. I have a hope of eternal life and it is more than just a hope, it’s a living hope. As Peter said,

“Thank God we’ve been born again to a living hope by virtue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and faced not away that is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith”.

We have discovered that man cannot live long without hope. There has got to be a hope, you’ve got to be able to have something to hope in. During the Korean War they found many of our soldiers dead in the trenches with no apparent cause for death. There were no physical wounds and there was just no apparent cause for their deaths. There were so many of them that they did an extensive investigation to find out why these men died. The ultimate conclusion was as they were there fighting on the front lines in the trenches they had just given up hope of survival. Having given up hope they died. Hope is so important.
If you don’t have the guideline of the Bible looking at the world today with all of the mixed up and crazy things that are happening, if you didn’t have the Bible to give you a guideline to show you what is going to come to pass you have not hope. Jesus talked about the last days that the circumstances would be so bad that people’s hearts would be failing them for fear of the things that are going to be coming to pass. No hope, don’t know what’s going to happen and just that loss of hope people would be actually dying as a result of this Jesus prophesy.
We are living in that day and age in which man has no hope and thus he’s taking these leaps of faith into non-reasoned religious experiences. That’s what they called him in the philosophy, non-reasoned religious experiences. In other words I’ve had a great enlightenment but I can’t tell you about it it’s just that I have an enlightenment. They go around talking about this wonderful experience “While I was sitting there contemplating my naval going ohmmm an great sense of peace came over me. It was just like it just poured down over me, like warm oil pouring down and enveloping my whole being. Such a sense of peace. I can’t give you any reason for it, it’s a non-reason religious experience”. People are going for this and experience becomes the thing.
The word of God gives a solid foundation, there is a reason. Peter said, “You should be able to give to every man a reason for the hope that is in you”. The reason is God’s unfailing word. God’s word cannot fail and thus my hope is built upon the solid foundation of the promises of God and the word of God. So the psalmist speaks about this hope.
Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope (119:49).
Not only is it our hope, it is our comfort. Have you ever found comfort in the word? I don’t know how many times. I mean when I’ve got a problem I turn to the word of God and say “Lord minister to me. I need help. My heart is in turmoil, I don’t know what is going to happen”. I turn to the word of God and before long I come across a scripture that brings me such comfort. “Fear not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will help thee, I will strengthen thee; yea I will uphold thee by the right hand of my power”. I tell you, I can go out and whip the world. What comfort the word of God brings. You say, “Hey Lord, it’s in your hands. I know you’re going to take care of it all”. You can rest in the comfort of the word of God.
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me [gives me life]. The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law (119:50-51).
Many times people will make fun of you if they know that you believe the word of God and you’re trusting in Jesus Christ. The crowd will have you in derision “You mean you believe that stuff. Come on. Surely you are beyond that”. The crowd holds you in derision. David said, “Even though they did I did not turn, I did not decline Lord. I did not let it turn me and I did not let it alter my commitment and belief in your law”.
I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself (119:52).
The one thing about studying the word of God and knowing the word of God is that it does give you comfort. You know that even though things at times look hopeless and bleak God promised his people deliverance and God did deliver his people. God was faithful, he did keep his people. You come to that realization and that confidence that God is faithful to his promises, God is faithful to his word and God will keep his people. If you trust in the Lord the Lord is going to sustain you and the Lord is going to bring you through. So when you remember what God has done, if you go back and read how God has dealt in the past, the righteous judgments of God will prevail though it seems like sin is just rampant. The righteous judgment of God shall prevail.
Lot was living in the conditions of Sodom and Gomorrah. He found that his righteous spirit was vexed living in that corrupted society, seeing what was going on, it vexed his righteous spirit. I can imagine that in seeing all of the corruption that was there he, at times, just gave up hope of ever seeing any changes. Yet God’s righteous judgment did prevail and ultimately the righteous judgment of God shall prevail thus I am comforted.
The wicked may be in power, the wicked may be exalting themselves against God and the people of God and the ACLU may seem to be invincible. The PAW with there millions and millions of dollars that they are spending in propaganda to destroy the idea and concept of God out of the minds of people in America; their goal is the destruction of God and getting God totally out of the minds of the people in America. They use the millions and millions of dollars to lobby legislation, they use it to influence the public school system in order to remove God completely from our culture and our life. We see their power and we see the adverse decisions that are being made to Christianity and to godliness.
A young girl in Minneapolis advertised in the paper for a roommate and a lesbian came to rent the room. She refused to rent the room because of the girl’s lifestyle. The lesbian sued her and the court ordered her to pay five hundred dollars to the lesbian for refusing to rent the room to her and because her other roommate was also opposed she also had to pay five hundred dollars. This was all because they refused to rent the room. That’s the kind of an ordinance, thank God, that was just recently defeated in Irvine. That was what that ordinance was all about that was passed by the city council; it was to give them special rights and special privileges where if they wanted to come to work for you and you had a day school for children and they want to come to work and you say no. They then turn around and sue you and you have to pay them damages for not allowing them to work for you.
These things are happening, there are many cities that have such ordinances. You say, “God how is that you allow these things to go on? How far can it go before you step in? How long God before you judge?” As I read God’s judgements, as I read the word of God, I realize that there are limits that God has established for man to go into depravity and then God says, “That’s it” and God’s righteous judgements prevail. I am comforted, God is going to win. The forces of righteousness shall prevail.
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law (119:53).
Basically what we’ve been talking about. You read these things that are happening and you think “No! It can’t be”. Horror just sort of takes hold of you when you read what’s going on and you say, “I can’t believe it” the things that the wicked are doing who have forsaken the law of God.
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage (119:54).
The theme of the songs, the lyrics of the songs are the statutes of God. You take our choruses that we sing around here, we are really singing about the statutes of God. We’re singing about the things of God, it’s the theme of our song and we’ve made it our song. It is glorious to sing about the Lord about the things of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord.
I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law (119:55).
In spite of the pressures and in spite of the derision yet I have been faithful and kept the law of God.
This I had, because I kept thy precepts (119:56).
The victory, my ultimate victory because of keeping his precepts.
Cheth.
Thou art my portion, (119:57).
Notice I’ve kept thy law and I’ve kept thy precepts. That seems to be the introduction into the next section of this psalm; The keeping of the word of God, the keeping of the commandments of God and the keeping of the precepts.
Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words (119:57).
James exhorts us that we should be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deceiving ourselves, it is very easy to ascent to truth. When we hear truth it rings a bell in our heart and we say “Yes that’s true. Yes, I believe that”. Truth, until it comes into action in your life, is not really valid. You’ve got to put truth into practice. Paul talked about the mistake that the Jews were making in his day. He said, “Because they have the law they think that they are justified”. Just having the law doesn’t justify a person it is the keeping of the law that justifies a man. The mistake that they were making is having the truth revealed and it’s a very easy mistake to make. I have the truth, I know the truth and I believe the truth but do you practice the truth and do you keep the truth? That’s what is important, the keeping of the law.
So I have kept thy precepts, I’ve said that I would and I made a purpose that I’m going to keep thy words. I’ve made that declaration and established that purpose that I’m going to keep the words of God. I think that it’s important that we do establish certain basic foundational commitments in our lives. I’m going to keep the word of God. The Bible tells us that Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s meat. He just made that purpose of not doing it. It wasn’t an issue of question of shall I do it or not? He just purposed that he’s not going to do it. I think that we need to close the doors to a lot of options. When we make a commitment it should be a full commitment. We should purpose in our hearts that we are going to live a life of purity, a life of righteousness and a life of commitment. That doesn’t then become a question, an issue or a problem. If temptations arise in that area it’s already been purposed in my life that I’m going to be pure and I’m going to keep myself pure.
I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word (119:58).
Begging for God’s favors with your whole heart.
I thought on my ways, (119:59).
Notice I intreated, I thought then in the next verse I made haste and I have said.
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies (119:59).
I thought about life and I thought about the way things are going. There are two directions I can take, I can take my own path or I can turn towards the path of God. Thinking about the ways, the paths, I turned my feet toward the testimonies of God.
I made hast, and delayed not to keep thy commandments (119:60).
I rushed into that path of obedience keeping the commandments.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me: (119:61).
Another translation of that is the snares of the wicked have robbed me.
but I have not forgotten thy law (119:61).
The wicked have set a trap for me, the enemy does set his snare for you. We are warned about the wiles of the devil and he is seeking to trap you. The law of God, the word of God, is something that we hide in our hearts and we don’t forsake or forget.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments (119:62).
It’s glorious in the night hours when you are awakened and find difficulty in going back to sleep it’s just a great time to spend in fellowship with the Lord. We have a Samoa dog who is really a part of the family with all the rest of the kids gone he’s still there. Every morning he still meets me when I go down to the kitchen he comes up outside the kitchen window and says “Hello” to me every morning. It’s true. Kay has trained him to say hello and the routine really is he’s asking really for a dog biscuit. He says, “hello” and runs to the back door and waits for me to bring the dog biscuit. Part of the routine is I just turn the knob on the door and then he knocks it open with his nose.
We just have a little routine we go through every morning as he gets his biscuits. He also hates possums and he hates skunks. Every once in a while a possum or a skunk wander into the yard. He can beat a possum and he can beat a skunk but it’s not worth beating the skunk. But he has a certain bark and I know when we have a possum or a skunk in the yard by the way he barks. He’ll corner the possum and then the possums always turn and show their teeth and make sort of make a hissing kind of noise. He stays back far enough and just barks and barks and barks and barks. When I hear him bark I get up, put on my slippers and go outside because I know he’s not going to stop until something is done about the possum. So I get the hose and I turn the hose on the possum and the minute I do the possum is distracted from him and then he grabs it and then chews on it for the rest of the night. But I can go back to bed.
Many times being awakened out of a sound sleep and going outside, getting the hose and going through this whole routine by the time you go back to bed you just don’t go off to sleep as readily or as easy as when you first go to bed. Sometimes I’ll just lie there and sleep flees from me. I start thinking about God, the word of God and the righteous judgments of God, the things of God. I begin to spend the time in prayer and some of the most valuable and beautiful times are those times when I can’t go back to sleep because I can’t go back to sleep.
Of course every once in a while in the middle of the night our phone will ring and you’ll wake up and we’ve got two lights coming in and you’re punching buttons and sometimes we lose the calls. That’s really bad because you wonder well who was it? What kind of emergency is it? Who died or who is dying? You just can’t go back to sleep because your mind is turned on and it won’t turn off. You start thinking about God’s righteous judgments, you start thinking about the things of the Lord, praising the Lord and it’s rather than wasted time turning and tossing it’s time well spent, it’s spent in fellowship with God. I’m blessed and strengthened. In the morning I’m just as strong, awake and alert as if I’d slept all night because of the time I spent was spent with fellowship with the Lord. I was thinking about him, talking to him and remembering his righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts (119:63).
The idea is keeping the words of God, keeping the commandments and I’ll surround myself, which is very wise. I will be a companion to those that keep thy precepts. One of the pluses of fellowship like this is you get together with people that are like-minded with you. A desire to keep the word of God and a desire to serve the Lord you become an encouragement to each other. If you’re only keeping company with those that are constantly putting you down it can be a heavy trial and it can be difficult. To surround yourself and to get together with people who are obedient to the word of God, those that keep the word of God, it’s strengthening, it’s uplifting and it’s a blessing.
The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes (119:64).
Now again the last verse seems to be the introduction to the next section. Even as the last couple of verses seem to be the introduction to the Cheth section so the last verse seems to be an introduction to Teth talking about God teaching his statutes.
Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: (119:65-66).
Oh yes Lord please teach me good judgment and knowledge. So many times our judgment is not wise. How important that we seek the Lord to give us discernment and to teach us good judgment.
for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word (119:66-67).
Afflictions are something that God puts on his children or his people for corrective purposes. God uses discomforting experiences in life to, often times, correct our course. We sometimes stray from the path of the Lord, sometimes we get involved in other things and we are not spending the time with the Lord that we should be spending. We are beginning to waste time in unprofitable things. God, in his love and in his faithfulness, will allow us to be afflicted. Afflictions can take many, many forms. Moses spoke about the heavy burden, the complaints of all of the people as being an affliction. Naomi spoke of the death of her son and husband as an affliction from God. God uses them to get our attention and to teach us. “Before I was afflicted I went astray:” (119:67). The purpose of affliction was to bring me back on the right path.
now [after the afflictions] I have kept thy word. Thou art good, and doest good; (119:67-68).
The afflictions of God are good. Unfortunately, so many times, Satan takes advantage though of the affliction to cause us to believe that God has forsaken us, that God is angry with us and that God is punishing us. God never punishes his children, never. God corrects his children, that’s vital, but he doesn’t punish his children. Now in the correcting processing God uses sometimes chastisements, afflictions of various sorts. It is the goodness of God, it is the love of God, and it is the fact that God does care and is concerned with me that he does afflict me. Talking still of the afflictions, it is good and the goodness of God that causes him to afflict me. He uses the afflictions for instruction, teaching us his ways. So you are good and done good.
teach me thy statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me: bit I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart (119:68-69).
The enemy will lie to you about God and especially in the times of difficulty. Often the lie is something like this: If God really loved you then he wouldn’t allow you to go through this hurt and this pain and suffering. You are going through this difficult experience because God is angry with you, God is through with you and God wants nothing to do with you. He forges these lies against us. But the psalmist says that he will keep his word.
Always the enemy is coming against us with lies concerning God. I have to make a decision whether or not I will believe what Satan is saying or what God has said. In the Garden of Eden Satan came to Eve and he said, “Hath God said that you could eat of any tree you want in the garden” Eve said “God said that we could eat of all of the trees except that tree in the middle of the garden and God told us that if we eat of it we would surely die”. Satan said, “Oh, you won’t surely die. God’s withholding from you something that is desirable and will bring pleasure because he is afraid and defending his territory. He knows that if you eat of that fruit you are going to be as God”. Here is Eve, she has the word of God that says if you eat it you’re going to die and she has the word of Satan saying, “Oh you surely won’t die”. Eve now has to make a choice: Do I believe the word of God or do I believe what Satan is telling me?
We often are faced with that very same choice for Satan is constantly challenging the word of God. Satan, in challenging the word of God, will often times contradict the word of God. He will cause you to question your salvation, he will cause you to question God’s love and he will cause you to question the justice of God. As he brings the challenge of God’s love to you he can sometimes make a very strong case and you actually, if you listen to him, will come to the conclusion God really doesn’t want me and God really doesn’t love me. He’ll say, “Your sin is too enormous for God forgive. You’ve gone too far. You knew what you were doing when you did it and therefore there is no place of forgiveness from God”. He will lie to you.
You have God’s word that assures you of his love, you have God’s word that assures you of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from all sin. You have Satan saying “You’ve gone too far. That was over the bounds and now you’ve had it”. So now I have to, as Eve, determine whether or not what God has said or what Satan is saying. I have to make my choice. At this point many people make the tragic and unfortunate mistake of listening to Satan’s lies which only brings them into misery, into depression and into defeat. There are a lot of people today going around under deep depression because they have been listening to Satan’s lies. They come in and say, “I don’t even know if I’m saved”. They are so depressed but they have been listening to Satan’s lies challenging the word of God.

“If thou shall believe in thine heart, if thou shall confess with my mouth Jesus Christ is Lord, believe in your heart that God has risen from the dead thou shalt be saved.”

Satan says, “No, no, no you did this and that. That really doesn’t mean you. That’s for the other guy not for you”. People get depressed because they’ve chosen to listen to Satan’s lies and that’s always depressing. So you’ve got to make your choice. Here’s what God has said.
The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep [hold on to] thy precepts with my whole heart (119:69).
I’ll believe God and let God be true and every man a liar. Take the word of God, hold onto the word of God. It’s interesting to me that people will take the word of Satan over the word of God many times. I find that very unusual, hard to understand when Satan is the father of all lies. Jesus says, “He is a liar from the beginning”. He’s called the father of all lies and yet people will believe the lie of Satan over the word of God. Difficult to understand. God’s word says he loves me, God’s word says that his mercy endures forever, God’s word talks about his grace and forgiveness and “by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourself God’s gift, not of works lest any man shall boast”. Satan says, “You got to climb the mountain, get the golden apple and slay the dragon”. You think that you’re too weak and will fail and Satan lies. People listen and give ear to the lie of Satan.
Their heart is as fat as grease; (119:70).
That’s pretty fat.
but I delight in thy law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; (119:70-71).
Looking now at these experiences it is good for me that I have been afflicted.
that I might learn thy statutes (119:71).
God teaching me his statutes through these experiences of life that were difficult and hard.
The law of thy mouth is better [worth more] unto me than thousands of gold and silver (119:72).
The value, the esteem that the psalmist put on the word of God. It is more valuable to me than the riches of the world. The temporal verses the eternal. The treasures of this world is temporal but the word of God is forever established, it’s eternal. So putting the value upon the eternal things I find the greater value in the word of God. My heart values it more than the riches of the world. Jesus said, “What should it profit a man if he would gain the whole world but lose his own soul?” The value of the word of God and the value that was put on the word of God.
We’ll go through Yod and then we’ll stop at that.
Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: (119:73).
That is a total contradiction to the evolutionary theory. The psalmist recognizes that he is a creation of God. As a creation of God, an intelligent God, in the creating of man he had a plan and a purpose for that creation. Therefore there is a purpose for my existence. To take the alternative that I evolved through millions of years of accidental mutations from a single cell protein molecule to this marvelously designed body I am, by the evolutionary theory, just really a phenomenal, remarkable, unbelievable, mathematically statistical impossibility. Yet here I am just by fortunate accidents through billions of years of process. As the result of inert forces operating and working and coming into existence as the result of this multiplicity of accidents through the centuries of time, there’s really no design and there’s really no purpose for my existence; there’s no meaning to life. It’s what you make out of it and what you get from it is all that matters.
Thus man is left without purpose and meaning. He roams through life aimlessly, no real reason for being here. Thus if I want to spend my life in a drug induced oblivion it’s my business. If I want to destroy my life with alcohol and other things, it’s my business because after all there is not purpose for my existence anyhow. I’m just here with no real reason to be here. You see the philosophy that’s born out of the evolutionary theory versus the philosophy that’s born out of the creation theory, I am created by God as a very special object. I am an object of God’s love and he created me with a purpose and with a plan for God wants fellowship with me and God wants to spend eternity with me. I am important to the eyes of God. There is a reason for my being here, a divine eternal purpose in my existence.
Isn’t it sad that we’ve got to spend millions of dollars now in our public school systems in the state of California to bring the children to a better self-esteem? What a contradiction! Here now they want to teach them that the evolutionary theory is a facto f science. You are here by accident, there is no real reason for you being here, there’s no purpose of life, you are just a product of accidents through the centuries, that’s science. Even my grandkids know enough to know of the story of the little girl who kissed the frog that turned into a prince is only a fairy tale. The immediate transformation of turning from a frog to a prince, a handsome prince of course. Fairy tales, they know that. They don’t believe that that really happened, they don’t go around kissing frogs. Yet add a few million years it’s no longer a fairy tale, it’s a fact of science; the frog turned into a handsome prince. All you need is a few million years for the process to take place. It’s still a fairy tale, a bigger fairy tale.
There is no reason for being here, it’s just an accident. Now to counteract this loss of worth, this sense of worth, we’ve got to spend millions of dollars for self-esteem classes to raise the esteem of these poor little accidents that have no purpose of existence. The Bible teaches me that God created me. By his hands he made me and he fashioned me and he had a purpose and a plan in his mind and he has a specific purpose and plan for my life. The God who created the universe loves me. The God who created the universe wants to guide my life, he wants to hold me by the hand, he wants to bring me into his glory forever because he loves me that much. I don’t need self-esteem classes. If God values me that much I’m pretty important in the eyes of God. I’m special in God’s sight. He loves me, he’s concerned about me, the creator of the universe has a plan for me. He doesn’t just treat me as one of the mob of people but he knows how many hairs are left of my head. I’m making it easier for him.
He fashioned me. The psalmist realizing that continues.
give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments (119:73).
Knowing that you created me, knowing that you fashioned me, your hands have made and fashioned me, now Lord I desire understanding. I want to learn about you that our fellowship might be enhanced.
They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word (119:74).
When they see what you have done for me because of my hope in your word. Those that love the Lord, when they see what God has done because I put my hope in the word of God and they see that work of God it will cause their hearts to rejoice when they see God’s work in my life as a result of my hope that I put in the word of God.
I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, (19:75).
This is an issue that Satan constantly is challenging whether or not the judgments of God are right. Is it fair that God would allow this? Is it fair that God would do that? The judgments of God are constantly being challenged by Satan. I know God’s judgments are right, I may not understand them. I can’t say that about the judgments that I read from the court system today, I can’t say “I know that the judge is right”. I think that sometimes the judges have taken leave of their senses.
It’s interesting what is legal and what is right. Not always what is legal is right. A few years ago a part time employee of Calvary Chapel signed a contract that had Calvary Chapel’s name in the contract. He didn’t sign in the line for Calvary Chapel and he signed the contract not as a representative of Calvary Chapel but as a producer of the films. According to the judge, legally, because he was an employee of Calvary Chapel and his name was in the contract they said we are responsible to keep the contract, which is a terrible contract. Talking to the judge I said, “That may be legal but that’s not right”. Now I know what’s right. If I didn’t sign the contract than I shouldn’t be made a party of the contract. If I signed the contract and my name was there then yes I would be legally obligated to keep the contract. I never saw the contract and I never read the contract but the law is the law. That’s the law of man, I’m not sure that that’s always right. I am sure that God’s judgements are always right.
Judges, on the human level can be influenced by prostitutes or other things as we have discovered in Harbor Superior Court. True judgment then does not come forth but the judgments of God when he says, “You’ve had” you really have had and rightfully so because I know that the judgments of God are right. God is not going to condemn any man unjustly. No one will be able to walk away from the throne of God’s judgment and say, “I go a raw deal”. You say, “What about those people” I don’t know just wait and see. When you see you will see that it is righteous, it is right. When God makes final dispositions we’ll say, “Right on. I know O Lord that your judgments are right”. I don’t understand them all but I know they are right.
and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me (119:75).
If God has allowed something to happen in my life there is a purpose of God that is right behind it. Even in the afflictions there is a faithfulness to God and he is faithful to his righteousness in allowing these things to happen. So when Satan challenges the justice of God or the fairness of God in the circumstances of my life because things are not going my way, things are tough, things are hurtful or paining me I’m being afflicted, I know that God’s judgments are right. He is faithful even in the afflictions that come across my path.
Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, (119:76).
I’ll find comfort in the mercy and in the kindness of God. I don’t understand but I know that God’s faithful and I’m just going to trust.
We’ve made mention that each verse of each eight verses begin with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet, we are under Jod right now. In verse seventy-six on verse eighty notice that each verse begins with the letter “L” of the word let. Now that gives us a little sample in English of what the Hebrew is all about. In the Hebrew every verse begins with the letter, Jod in the eight verse section. In the next eight verse section every verse will begin with the Hebrew letter, Kaph but in this section the Jod in the translation because it all is “Let, let, let, let” you get the idea, you get the picture while each verse begins with the same letter. However, “L” is not the Hebrew Jod but you get the idea.
Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies (119:76-77).
Now let the merciful kindness be thy comfort and let thy tender mercies come unto me.
Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight (119:77).
Who’s delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. So praying for the merciful kindness to be his kindness to be his comfort and praying for the tender mercies to come that he might live as he puts his delight in the law Lord.
Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts (119:78).
The proud have forged lies against him, sought to destroy him, let them be ashamed for their perverse dealings with me for there is no reason for it.
Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies (119:79).
Turn away the proud but draw to me those or surround me with those who love you and who fear your name.
Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed (119:80).
The prayers of David, the “Let I pray thee, Let the tender mercies, Let the proud be ashamed, Let those that fear thee turn to me and Let my heart be sound in thy statutes”.
We’ll pick it up at verse eighty-one next Sunday.
May the Lord strengthen you with His word that you might walk in the light of His countenance and in the understanding of His ways as you keep His law and His precepts. May the word of God be the strength of your life, your power against sin, as you walk according to His purpose and you fulfill His plan for you life this week. May you know the joy of doing the will and the work of God so that you have His approbation, His “Well done good and faithful servant”. May we be busy this week fulfilling the purpose for which God made and fashioned us as we keep His commandments.
Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7207
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