Psalm Chapter 119

ALEPH.

Psalm 119:1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

So many today ignore the law of the Lord. Today's society is trying to remove any reminder of God and His word. It is to our peril to do so. Without God we have no life, no peace, no true joy and nothing everlasting. We need God more than we dare to think about.

Do we find ourselves saying things like:

I know God's word says that but my situation is different.
I know God hates divorce but ............
Jesus says to love one another but.................

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

The promises and understanding of the word are ours for the asking. We have not because we ask not. God knows when we are half-hearted. Even in the business world, if someone runs a business with no enthusiasm and without motivation, the business will not succeed as well as the one where the owners and the workers are excited and motivated in what they are doing. If we really do not want God or His word, we will not have it. We find God when we seek Him with our whole heart. God makes us many promises and offers us His Holy Spirit and eternal life but we cannot get those by being half-hearted. I heard a lady once say, "We are as close to God as we want to be."

There is always conditions to God's promises. We must go His way to get answers to prayer or receive salvation. If we ignore His word, live any way we want and then expect to name it and claim it by faith, it will not always work. Those that continue in sin and claim to be of God are not to be the ones we should follow. We shall know them by their fruits.

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

How would we know the will of the Father if we never open up the book that contains His word so that we can find out?

Psalm 119:3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

How can we know God's ways if we do not study the word that He provided for us?

Psalm 119:4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

These things I hear sometimes:

God didn't really mean that. That was just for the Jews. That was the old law. That isn't in effect today. We live in different times. God hates divorce but loves the divorcee.

These are excuses to ignore the word of God even the words of Jesus. It is true that through Jesus every one of the Old Testament ordinances are not counted against us if we believe and trust in Him. If we willfully go back into the sin Jesus saved us from though, we will come under bondage again to sin. Jesus didn't just come to forgive our sins but to free us from sin.

Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

The above teachings are written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the apostle Paul. The same Paul that wrote, "By grace are you saved through faith, not of works lest any man should boast." is the same person who wrote about being free from sin.

We cannot earn salvation by doing good works or by keeping the ordinances of the Old Testament apart from Jesus Christ. The only way to be saved is by faith in Jesus. After we are born again by the spirit of God, we are to live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and not sin. If we do sin, we must repent and turn back around to follow Christ. We cannot be saved once and then live any way we want to. That is not true salvation.

2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Remember again these words are by the same person who wrote about being saved by grace and not of works. We must take the whole bible and not just a few key verses that we take out of context to justify our sin and make the flesh feel good.

Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The book of Galatians is used by many to preach against legalism and adding to the gospel. Some use it to justify sin by taking a few verses out of it. But the above verses are also from Galatians. It does not tell us that we can be saved and sin too.

Paul in Galatians was dealing with those that thought that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to perfect their salvation. Paul told them that it was not necessary for their salvation.

Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

We must be careful not to apply this to any teaching that is attempting to justify sin in the life of a believer. The other verses in Galatians assure us that Paul is not saying that if we are saved by grace we can sin and not be condemned. He makes it clear that those that live in unrighteousness cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Psalm 119:7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

Jesus Christ in us does not make the moral law of the Old Testament of none effect but rather the moral law is now in the heart of the believer and we can live righteous because we love the Lord.

Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Jesus Christ makes it easier to live above sin because by the power of the Holy Spirit that we receive when we are born again. It is a new way. Instead of trying in ourselves by will power to keep the law, Jesus puts the law into our hearts.

The Spirit of God is dwelling in everyone that truly repents of sin and receives Jesus as savior and Lord. We may still sin if we ignore the Holy Spirit but we have the power to yield to God instead and live without sin. After the price Jesus paid to free us from sin so that we could inherit eternal life, why would we even desire to return to our old ways?

BETH.

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

This is still true under Jesus Christ because we still must heed to His words. The word of God cleanses from sin.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Wow. What a wonderful gospel God gave us through faith in Jesus Christ. We can't even begin to understand all the benefits that come through Jesus.

Psalm 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

The more we seek, the more we find.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Here is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible. The word in our hearts keep us from sin. Sin kills and destroys. If we do not read or study the word, how can we know how to live and how to avoid sin? We need that word in our hearts. We cannot assume everyone in our congregations are knowledgeable of the word.

Psalm 119:12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

God Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit will teach us if we ask Him to.

Psalm 119:13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

When we begin to to these things, we will rejoice. The word will make us alive and cause joy to abound in us.

Psalm 119:15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

The word is to be read, studied and then we can mediate on it as we go about our duties each day. To ignore or neglect the word is a serious threat not only to ourselves as individuals but as a nation. Let us hunger and thirst after the word of God. DC

Psalms 119 continued

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