I Hope in Your Word – Part 2

Introduction

Hope you get your Bibles, in particular your Old Testaments, and go with me again to Psalm 11. If you’re with us last Sunday, you know, we started off in Psalm 11 looking at the concept of the Word of God. I hope in your Word. We’re going to continue and conclude that lesson this morning as we’re talking about the Word of God. And I really have two objectives in this lesson, and two objectives that kind of con that kind of merge based upon the calendar. One is, as already been pointed out, this has been the week of Thanksgiving, and I want us to be thankful for the Word of God. The frequency, the availability of God’s word should not diminish the awe that we feel when we think and read the Word of God.

It should not diminish our appreciation and our gratitude that we can open up the pages of our Bible and know that we’re reading the very words of God.

Isn’t it wonderful to think that you can read the words of God? That as that last song that we sang teaches us, God is still speaking to us today. Just as powerfully, just as authoritatively as when he spoke into the ears of the prophets. Just as meaningful as when he inspired the authors of the New Testament. His speaking to us today is just as important. But also the calendar tells us we’re getting toward the end of the year. And if history teaches us anything, and if the Lord allows this world to continue to turn, the end of the year is replaced by the beginning of a new year. And I don’t know that we’ve ever been anticipating the beginning of a new year any more than we have this year.

But one of the things that we do from time to time with a new year is we institute a Bible reading program. And we want to do that again here at South Bumby. If you participate in that reading with us, and by the way, if you’re watching us online and you want to participate in that, we can make these readings available to you as well. We’re going to be reading from the epistles in the New Testament. And so I want to not just encourage you to be thankful and grateful that we have the Word of God, but I want to encourage you to use it, to read it, to make it a vital part of your lives. And whether through our daily Bible readings or through studying for our Bible classes, or whether listening in Bible class or listening to a sermon such as this, or just your own private biblical study, I want to encourage you, as preachers for centuries have been encouraging people to read the Word of God.

Make it a part of your life. And I said preacher after preacher has gotten up and said that, haven’t they? Read the Bible. Read your Bible. Read it every day. Read it. And I’ve often wondered what motivation is there. Rather than just giving you the instruction and the dictat dictate to read it. Maybe we need to be supplying with motivation. Why? Why should I be reading the word of God? And so we’ve done these two lessons, hopefully, to put within us the gratitude for the word of God and the motivation to read and study the word of God. Psalm 119, verse 47 says, I rise before the dawning of the morning and cry for help. I hope in your word.

As we cry out for help, we turn to God, and turning to God demands that we turn to the Word of God. Do you remember this list from last Sunday? We looked at some reasons for studying God’s Word. You maybe could come up with some more. One is to complete some assignment. Maybe there’s a Bible class coming up, and you don’t want to be caught off guard in case the teacher calls on you, and so you want to know what the answer to number four in the workbook is, and so you’ll study the word of God to fill in your workbook. And that’s a good motivation to study God’s Word. It may be some sense of obligation. You know you’re supposed to, because the preachers, again, have been saying it over and over again.

You know, as a Christian, you’re supposed to be reading the Word of God, and so you want to check that off the list and make sure that you do that. And that may not be the best motivation, but we do many things out of a sense of obligation, don’t we? The third one might be just to learn certain facts. I want to learn about these things. I want to learn about the children of Israel. I want to learn about the Passover that we talked about briefly in our Lord’s Supper talk this morning. Maybe you want to memorize some things. I’d like to put the judges to memory or the ten plagues, the ten commandments, or the apostles to memory. And so you read and study the word of God to accumulate some knowledge.

And again, we would not dismiss that as a good reason to study God’s Word. You might read it just because it’s good reading. Many of us are readers. We like to read secular books, history books or fiction or nonfiction books, and we may be drawn to the scriptures because it too, in a higher level, is just a great piece of literature. And again, it’s okay to read the Bible because it’s enjoyable to read. But then we offer two other reasons, didn’t we? That should be the greatest motivation for us to read the Word of God is that we read the Scriptures to know our God. I think this may be a neglected reason, a neglected motivation for reading and studying the Word of God. But if you want to know about God, if you want to know about the person that this divine being is, this is the only place you can go.

The only reliable source of knowledge of the Word of God is going to be in the Word of God. And then lastly, we read the scriptures, we study His Word to learn what his will is for our life. We want to please him, and let’s just boil it down and make it really simple. If you want to go to heaven, the instructions are in the book. And so we read. And again, all of these are probably good motivations, and you might come up with six or seven more. But I want to emphasize these last two. And so with the psalmist, we say, I hope in your word. I rise before the dawning of the morning. I cry for help. And I hope in your word. And so we’ve taken the 119th Psalm, the longest chapter in all of the scripture, and we’ve picked out four verses where he says, because he hoped in the word of God, he said to God, teach me your statutes.

1. Because You Are God

I want that to be our prayer. Our mantra when we open up the word of God is to say that silent prayer, God, teach me your statutes. We looked at these first two last Sunday, so let’s go and just review them very quickly. Psalm 119 and verse 12. The psalmist said, Because you are God, teach me your statutes. He declared him to be God, declared him to be Lord, and said, Because of that fact, teach me your statutes. Again, this is where we go to be introduced to God. Here’s where we go to learn about God. Secondly, he said in Psalm 119, verse 64, because you love me, teach me your statutes. We should be drawn to the Word of God. We should be drawn on a daily basis to his holy and divine word because we know his love for us.

2. Because You Love Me

And we want to read about that love. And by the way, if you feel your faith waning and diminishing even slightly, this ought to be your motivation for reading the Word of God. That faith is going to grow and be replenished when you are reminded of the constant love of God. And it’s on every page, both Old and New Testament. Those who are barely familiar with the Old Testament might believe that the God of the Old Testament, as if he were a different God than today, but they may believe that the God of the Old Testament was a cruel God because they’ve heard of all the smiting that went on, of the fire and the thunder coming down from heaven, of the earth opening up and swallowing people, of the plagues and the disease and the judgment of God.

3. You Are Good and Do Good

But you’ve learned, haven’t you, as you’ve actually read that Old Testament, that yes, there were judgments. Yes, there was wrath poured out. But it followed great periods of patience and pleading and love and blessings. And more times than not, those whom God judged, not only did he love them before he judged them, but he loved them after he judged them. And called them back to him and blessed them again. And every time I read those stories in the Word of God, I’m reminded that that’s not only how God loved them, but that’s how God loves me. And so because you love me, teach me your statutes. Alright, let’s round this lesson out then. And let’s look at another passage in Psalm 119. Turn with me, if you will, in Psalm 119, verse 68.

Another reason the psalmist will say, Teach me your statutes. I want to know your commandments. I want to know your word, is because Psalm 119, verse 68, he says, You are good. You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Now that’s the understatement of understatements, isn’t it? For the psalmist, the one who knew God and knew about the works of God and knew about the essence of who God was and the love of God that we’ve already talked about, that he would say, God, you’re good. And you do good. And because of that, God teach me your statutes. This is certainly closely connected to the last one we looked at, because you love me. If we make a distinction between love and good and doing good, it would only be this that the doing good is emphasizing the outward manifestation of that love.

God, as he has taught his followers to do, God doesn’t just love us in word and thought. His love is real. His love is concrete. Turn with me, if you will. In the New Testament, we talk about the goodness of God. Look over in Acts chapter 14.

And we need to be reminded, don’t we, of the goodness of God. Now it seems strange that we’d even have to say that, but it’s true, I’m afraid. At least it’s true for me. I need to be reminded of the goodness of God. At this period of time of thanksgiving, I’m shamed. Because I can look back upon this year, decade, and my entire life, and think of too many times in which I wasn’t thankful. And I really wasn’t grateful. That I was like those nine lepers whom Jesus healed and went on their way and unlike the one did not return and thank him for blessing me and saving me. But I can look back upon my life and realize there were times far too many that I want to count, that God blessed me, and I didn’t pray and thank him for that blessing.

Far too many times, in the midst of abundant blessings, I could focus like a laser beam on the one negative and complain and grumble and gripe rather than thanking God for his numerous blessings. And so I need to be reminded that he is good and he does good. Because that reminder will build within me that heart of gratitude, that heart of thankfulness, but also a similar heart in me that I will be good and do good. Look in Acts chapter 14 and in verse 17 of our God. Speaking of the God that we serve, Acts 14, verse 17, he says, Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

That’s a timely passage, isn’t it? Filling our hearts with food and gladness. God gave himself witness. Witness of what? Of witness of his power for sure. But maybe more importantly, witness of his goodness. And the scriptures reveal that. Think about a study of the life of Christ. You can’t study the four gospels. You can’t study the life of Christ without doing a study of the miracles of Jesus. And we think about the miracles, we talk about the purpose of those miracles. They were certainly to confirm that he was who he said he was. They were to draw attention to the message that he was delivering. But I see maybe a secondary lesson in those miracles. Do you see it as well? They revealed the goodness of God.

Jesus would stand before a multitude of thousands of people who were hungry. And what did he do? He miraculously multiplied the food so they could eat. It was a miracle. But you know what just as easily have been a miracle? To have those thousands of people to already have an abundance of food, but Jesus, with a wave of his hand or a spoken word, could have tainted that food and made it poisonous. Or stitched their mouth shut so they couldn’t eat. That would have been a miracle. Just as powerful, wouldn’t it? Jesus saw the lame and the sick and the dying and even the dead. And what miracle was performed. Time and time again, he restored health and brought life. That demonstrated the power that he had.

But wouldn’t it have equally demonstrated his power to wave his hand and give somebody leprosy? To look at someone and make them lame. Then rather than raising Lazarus, say Lazarus, be dead. That would have just as powerfully demonstrated what he could do. But we don’t only see the power of God, we don’t even don’t just see the message behind the miracle, but we also see the goodness of God in those miracles, don’t we?

What would God do if he was in the flesh and saw those who were hungering and thirsting? He would feed them. What would God do to those who are hurting physically? He would heal them. What will he do to the dead? He’ll raise them from the dead. That demonstrates the goodness of God, and it teaches so many profound, powerful spiritual lessons that that’s what he wants to do to us, more importantly, spiritually.

4. Because I Want Your Approval

And he wants to raise us from the dead. And where do I learn that? In his word. And so I can say with the psalmist, can’t I? Because you are good. Teach me your statutes. He loved us. He blessed us. And so I want to know his word. Look again in Psalm 119. This time go back a few pages, or maybe just one page in your Bible, verses 33 and 34. The psalmist will again say, Teach me your statutes. Tell me more about you. Tell me more about your word. And look what he says, Psalm 119, begin with me in verse 33. Teach me, O Lord. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.

Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. This passage is a little different than the previous three that we’ve looked at. The previous three says, Because of this, I want to know your statutes. Now the psalmist says, I want to know your statutes so that I can do something about it. And we’ve worded it this way because I want your approval. Teach me your statutes. Tell me what to do.

That’s not only a proper perspective of the Word of God, but it gives us a proper perspective to obedience, doesn’t it? Do you ever feel like in your darkest, most drudgery, fulfilled days of a Christian life that this is just a burden. Being a Christian’s a burden. There’s just so much that I can’t do and things that I have to do, and God puts these demands on me. Maybe I with the psalmist need to say, Teach me your statutes. Tell me why. Remind me again. Give me a better perspective on your word and on my obedience to your word. Let’s illustrate it this way. Imagine somebody does something big for you. If you have trouble imagining what that might be, I’ll give you two possible scenarios.

Imagine that you have an exorbitant debt. Or you have an exorbitant expense that you really need, and there’s no way, but someone with a big bank account steps in and writes that big check. That wow check.

Or let’s think of another scenario. Imagine you need a life-saving transfusion or organ donation to be able to live. And someone steps up selflessly and donates that kidney or that plasma or that whatever and prolongs and saves your life. Odds are you’re never going to be able to pay them back. If you had the money to pay them back, you wouldn’t have been in the financial trouble to begin with, would you? And probably because of your compromised health, you’re probably never going to turn around and be able to donate a kidney back. That doesn’t work that way, does it? And so imagine that that scenario has happened to you, and here is this person who’s done so much. You may spend the rest of your life thinking, what can I do?

What can I do?

That might consume your thoughts. I wish I could. I said thank you. I wrote them a thank you know. I named one of my children after them, but I there’s more, I want to do more.

And now imagine you’re driving down the road and it’s pouring down rain. And you see that person on the side of the road stranded with a flat tire. And you think, I can’t pay them back the money, I can’t give them the kidney back, but I can change a flat tire. In the pouring rain.

I think two things would happen. Number one, you would surely stop and help that person, wouldn’t you? And you might say a simple prayer, thank you, God, for giving them a flat tire. Because here’s at least something I can do. The psalmist is saying, because you are God, because you love me, because you’re good and do good, and because I want to please you, teach me your statutes. And so I approach the Word of God, even the commandments of the Word of God, even the thou shalt’s and the thou shalt not, that I might otherwise view as restrictive, I approach them with thanksgiving because I need something to show God how much I love him. Thank you, God, for telling me and showing me something that I can do for you.

But I’m so glad God has said, if you want to be my children, then do this. What did Jesus say in the Gospel of John? If you love me, keep my commandments. That is both a motivation for doing the commandments, but it’s out of love. And by the way, Paul would tell us in 1 Corinthians 13, if it’s not out of love, then it is worthless. It’s a motivation for keeping the commandments, but it is also an opening of blessings for saying, here’s a way I can love you, and I can show I love you. I can’t send down rain. I can’t cause the sun to shine back upon my God. I can’t make a sacrifice like he made. And so please God, show me how I can show you that I love you.

Give me a commandment to keep. Give me a burden to bear. Give me a cross to carry. Because I want your approval. And I want to show you that I love you. And so I’ll keep your commandments. John chapter 14. John chapter 14 and the 15th verse. Again, Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. If I love God because He loved me, because He is good, and because He’s God, then I will literally be begging God to instruct me so that I might win His approval and I might find even some small way to show God that I love Him too. The psalmist says, Because you’re God, because you love me, and because you are good, and I want your approval, teach me your statutes.

Conclusion

Do we need any more motivation to read our Bibles to say, show me who you are and show me your way. And when that’s my perspective, I won’t flinch at anything God commands me to do. If he says I must believe in him with all my heart, soul, and mind, if I must confess his name before men, if I must turn my back on sin and repent of that sin and come to him, and if I must be baptized in water for the remission of my sins, I won’t question those commandments. I won’m going to try to come up with my own better way. I’ll simply say, because you’re God, because you love me, and because you’re good, and because I want your approval, teach me your statutes.

I’ll do what you say. Do you recognize who God is? And the sway and sovereignty that He holds over your life? And do you understand your position as one who should be seeking Him and seeking His approval? Would you come to Him in obedience this morning? Would you say to God, Teach me your statutes? If we can help you in any way this morning, come, as together we stand and as we sing.