Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Psalm 119, I'll pick up reading in verse one and we'll read through verse 16. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord.

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity. They walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently.

Oh, that my ways were directed to keep your statutes. Then I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments. I will praise you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. I will keep your statutes.

Oh, do not forsake me utterly. How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word with my whole heart? I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments, your word.

I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me your statutes with my lips. I have declared all the judgments of your mouth.

I have rejoiced in the weight of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the written word of God and we thank you for the Holy Spirit. We pray that he would guide our thoughts now, that he would guide us as we consider this section of scripture.

We pray that it would be under edification, that it would be for our instruction and for our profit. We pray, Father, for any and all here that do not know you as Lord and Savior. We pray that you'd open their hearts today. that you would cause them to rejoice in Jesus Christ, the one alone who saves his people from their sins. We just confess our sins now.

We confess our iniquity. As we see a description here of what a godly man looks like, we are confronted with the reality that we fall short. And we confess our sin to you now, trusting in the merits and the mercy and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash us and to cleanse us. And we pray these things through Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

Introduction

Well, this morning we're going to focus on Psalm 119, specifically verse nine. How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? It's a very simple passage. It doesn't take a lot to sort of figure out the thrust and the direction.

But I do want to make a few observations on the question and then the answer. The Bible contains many questions. The Bible provides answers. In fact, it is like no other book in the world.

It alone provides the answers for eternal consequence, for eternal benefit and eternal life. As Pastor Porter read there in John 3, the focus of history is upon the doing and the dying and the rising of the Lord Jesus Christ. to take heed to that word. There is one example, besides Psalm 119, that sort of illustrates this. In Job chapter 9, verse 2, Job asks, How can a man be righteous before God?

That is the biggest question of questions. That is the thing that faces each and every one of us, and the psalmist here addresses it directly. And I want to consider the question under three observations.

The Presupposition: Man's Way Is Dirty

First, there is a presupposition in the question. How can a young man cleanse his way? And though it's directed to young men, it doesn't mean that if you're a young woman or you're an old woman or an old man, you can just tune out at this particular time. He is using this as a foil to instruct us concerning things eternal.

But the presupposition of the text is that a young man's way stands in need of cleansing. In other words, the young man's way is dirty. The young man's way is filthy. It asserts here, by way of implication, what the Bible everywhere recognizes as what we call total depravity, the doctrine of sin.

This doesn't mean utter depravity. It doesn't mean that we're as bad as we could possibly be. It doesn't mean we're all Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot or or Idi Amin, or one of the big terrorists in the century. It doesn't necessarily mean that.

But what total depravity means is that though every part, every power, and every faculty of man's nature is corrupt, our mind, our intellect, our emotions, our will, our conscience, our body, all are affected by the fall. When Adam stood in the garden and sinned, he sinned with reference to his posterity as well. Paul in Romans 5 says, in Adam, all died. And as a result of that, we engage in sinful practice and in sinful activity.

I just want to illustrate this doctrine in Ephesians chapter 2. answering the question or looking at the question and seeing or recognizing the presupposition or the assumption that a young man's way stands in need of cleansing. Paul, describing what we were before we came to Christ, says this in Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse one. He says in you, He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." We see the scope here. It's every man's problem.

There's not a one of us who doesn't have to face this question, how does a young man cleanse his way? There's not a one of us who can say, my way is pure, my way is righteous, my way is spotless, my way is holy. I have no need for this question whatsoever in my life. Look at what Paul says in verse three.

Remember, this is Paul, the apostle, one of the godliest men that ever lived on the face of the earth. He says, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. You see, total depravity. It's not just the flesh.

You may be upright. You may not commit adultery. You may not commit the act of murder. You may not engage in robbery.

You may not engage in what we might term outward acts of rebellion. But if your mind is far from God, if you have pushed God out of your mind, in Psalm 14 it says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Edwards renders it this way. The fool has said in his heart, no God.

I'm quite content to live without you in my world. I am quite content to live without you in my consciousness. I turn onto you the back rather than the fall upon my knees and give you the worship and praise and honor that is due your name. Total depravity affects the actions, the flesh, and it affects the mind.

So do not delude yourselves that because you don't engage in those acts of atrocity, somehow your way is pure. No, the mind is filthy, the mind is affected, the mind has fallen in Adam. Total depravity is the presupposition of this particular question. How can a young man cleanse his way?

When we look through the scripture, we'll see the life of a sinner portrayed. It's not a pretty picture either. This is why the gospel is good news, because it comes as a response to bad news. It is God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, and that world is a mess.

You take the infant life of a sinner. Certainly the infant's way is pure, isn't it? Certainly if the infant is wholly harmless and undefiled, Scripture only declares that concerning Jesus. What does the psalmist say when he's tracing back his native depravity in Psalm 51, 5 and 6?

He says, In sin my mother conceived me. He's not saying that conjugal relations within the context of marriage is sin. He's saying that as soon as David came into being, he's a child of Adam. In sin did my mother conceive me.

What does the psalmist declare in Psalm 58, verse 3? The wicked are estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. I realize this isn't popular in a love-me age, in a self-esteem age. I realize this isn't popular when we're trying to coddle children and make them feel good.

The way or the path to good feelings is through the gospel of free and sovereign grace. We don't do them any favors by lying to them. The wicked are estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. Did you ever notice, parents, that you didn't have to teach your child selfishness?

That's not a lesson you have to have in kindergarten or preschool. OK, kids, today we're going to learn how to be selfish. You don't have to teach them how to say mine. We always want them to say daddy first, if we're men, or mommy first, if we're women.

You know what trumps that, generally speaking? Mine. Me. Give me.

You don't have to instruct them in that. Why is that? What is the explanation? There's this big discussion about nature and nurture.

It's nature. In Adam, all die. Now, because we're sinful, we nurture them, even in this rebellion and wickedness also. The infant life of a sinner isn't pretty.

And then as he grows up, there's a particular bent that develops. In Ecclesiastes 7, the preacher said, I have found this. God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices. Your devices may not be my devices, my devices may not be your devices, but devices against God we have certainly sought out.

Some are practical atheists. I've already alluded to Psalm 14. The Bible recognizes there's no such thing as a real atheist. There are those people trying to fool themselves that God doesn't exist.

There are those who try to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. But Romans 1 tells us very clearly that all men everywhere know that God is. They have to try and run from that. They have to try and hold that down.

But they do take pains to try and live as if there is no God. They try to exclude him from their thinking and from their lives. There are religious sinners. There's a description given by Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 to 5.

It's almost as if it's the Romans 1 of the church. He describes men who love themselves, men who will love money, men who will love pleasure, which sounds peculiarly like our own particular generation. And then he says this. He says, having the form of godliness, but denying its power.

These are people in the church. These are people that are participating, perhaps, in singing. Not all religious people are what they propose to be. Jesus' loudest and most severe denunciations were upon the hypocrites, the scribes, and the Pharisees.

He called them brood of vipers. He didn't do that with others. He did it with the religious. The end of the unrepentant sinner is given us in Matthew 25, 46, when Jesus says, Depart from me into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels.

It's horrifying. It's terrifying. The picture that the Bible sets forth of what unrepentant sinners will receive is absolutely alarming. Revelation 21, verse 8, tells us who will be in the lake of fire, and it describes in detail various types of sinners.

John Gill says the question, how can a young man cleanse his way? Supposes the young man to be impure as every man is by birth, being conceived in sin and shaping in iniquity. He is a transgressor from the womb and his heart weighs and actions evil from his youth. And the difficulty is, how shall we be cleansed?

How one so impure in his nature, heart and ways can be just with God or become undefiled in the way? That's the issue that the psalmist is addressing, and

The Importance and Necessity of the Question

that highlights, secondly, as we consider this question, the importance of it. Notice he doesn't say, where is a young man going to go to college? Which young woman is the young man going to marry? Which profession is the young man going to seek out?

Those are all very important, aren't they? These are all very important things that, as you young men are getting older, you ought to give concern to. You young women as well. Give concern to these particulars.

But they affect the temporal. They affect the here and now. They affect this life and that alone. See, this question that the psalmist is asking penetrates deeper.

It goes further. It deals with eternity. It deals with unseen realities. It deals with the fact that while your way may appear pure to everybody else, God sees you for what you are.

How can a young man cleanse his way? And then the necessity of this question, have you ever asked it? I want you to raise your hand here this morning. I don't want you to stand up.

This isn't an encounter group. This isn't trying to get you in touch with your feelings. Rather, you need to ask yourself the question, have you ever given thought to this? You ever considered the fact that there's a holy God in heaven above, a God who made this world and everything in it, things seen and unseen, a God whose eye is too pure to approve of any evil, and yet your inclination, your bent, your disposition is to run from Him and to run fast from Him, to try and escape any thought of God whatsoever?

Has the question ever entered your mind or heart? When you've sat under preaching, do you just busy yourself trying to get rid of it? You just keep looking at your watch, hoping that the sermon will end, not wanting to face eternal truth and eternal reality. Has that been your law?

There is a necessity here. And the interesting thing about the Bible is that the doctrine of total depravity will so work in a man that he never does face these questions. He never does think in terms of God. He never engages in eternal things.

I mean, that's one of the amazing things about witnessing in our generation. Go talk to people about the gospel. They don't generally think about when they die. We live in a society of men who are eight foot tall and bulletproof.

They think nothing will ever happen to them. They think they're going to live for 80, 90 years and that when they're on their deathbed, if there is a God, well, they'll throw him a bone so he'll let them skate right into heaven. One of the most difficult things in a materialistic age, in a very affluent age, is to try to get men to think in terms of eternity. Right?

You ever witness? You ever talk to anybody? Oh, that's okay for you, but I don't need that. Are you hearing yourself?

Your way is impure. Your way is unclean. Our God is holy. The prophet Isaiah recounts his time in the presence of the Lord of hosts, Yahweh of Israel.

High and lofty, the train of his road filled the temple. It was pomp and glory. He had angels attending to him, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory.

That's what the prophet Isaiah saw. And when Isaiah saw that, his response was consistent with Psalm 199. He said, woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of Jehovah of hosts. Have you come to that place? Maybe it's not as Isaiah. Maybe it's not a Saul of Tarsus experience.

Maybe you haven't seen yourself as perhaps a Bunyan or a Spurgeon before they were converted. Sometimes we read these biographies and we say, wow, that wasn't my experience. Perhaps I'm not saved. Though a conscious reality that your way is impure.

The Bible doesn't spell out how deep that has to be, how powerful that has to move on you. It doesn't specify that you've got to spend three years in the deep valley of misery before you can look unto Christ and live. Isn't that a beautiful thing that Jesus uses, a beautiful illustration in John 3? Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Do you think when those Israelites were bit by the serpents, And Moses lifted up that bronze serpent that they were to look to and live. They held their leg, they held their wound, and they said, well, I haven't suffered enough. I haven't felt it enough. I haven't enabled, I haven't miserated enough.

They looked and they lived. The reality is, is when you're conscious of the fact that your way is impure, go to the fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. So that's the question.

There's a presupposition. His way is dirty and stands in need of cleansing. It is a most important question. And there is a necessity for each and every one of us to deal with that.

The Answer: Taking Heed to God's Word

But notice the answer. How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed, according to your word? Beautiful. God is telling us the value and the import of his word.

The Bible has seen better days in its history, and by that I don't mean its truth capacity. I mean the way people recognize it. Much of the church today treats it as simply a guide of principles. There are principles, to be sure, but the primary focus of all of the scripture is Christ in him crucified and resurrected.

It's about Jesus. It's God's work in Christ to save His people from their sins. The Bible is absolutely crucial because it sets forth to us the gospel. God says that He reveals Himself in the created order.

When you look at a day like this, you have to just stand amazed. I mean, face it. Our summer came very late, didn't it? How do you not appreciate this day?

Who do you appreciate it to? Chance? Matter? Electrons?

Protons? Neutrons? All acting in harmony? Well, we thank you today, electrons, protons, and neutrons, for acting in such a way that there's no cloud coverage.

No, your heart is drawn out to consider the One who made it all. Your heart is drawn out to consider the God who spoke these things into being, who hung the sun and the moon and the stars in their place on the fourth day. The God who made man in his own image, to think his thoughts after him, to be rational, to think in terms of God. I mean, the Baltimore Oriole and the dog and the cat, they're all wonderful little beings, but they don't think, they don't rationalize, they aren't created in the image of God.

God has made man with that capacity. God reveals himself in the created order. The psalmist says, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament demonstrates his handiwork.

Spurgeon said that if you can look up into this starry host and you can look into the beauty of creation and you still brand yourself as an atheist, you're either a liar or an idiot. You can't escape God. You can try and suppress the truth and unrighteousness. You can try to hold it down.

You can try to get him out of your thoughts, but you can't hide ultimately. General revelation is God's revelation of himself in the created order. By virtue of the fact that we are made in his image, we interpret things. We know whether we're born in North America or we're born in some other place in the world, we know it's wrong to commit murder.

We have to work very hard to get to the point where we have state-licensed abortion clinics. That takes a lot of denial. It takes a lot of suppression. It takes a lot of holding down the truth and unrighteousness.

We'll try, though. You can't escape it. You see, this created order, as beautiful as it may be, doesn't teach us about Calvary. It doesn't teach us about the gospel.

It doesn't teach us about blood atonement. It doesn't teach us what we learn throughout the pages of Holy Writ. The Scripture is special revelation. The Scripture highlights for us and to us the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus.

Perhaps a New Testament counterpart to this statement in Psalm 119 is found in 2 Timothy 3 at verse 14. Paul writes to Timothy, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of. knowing from whom you have learned that and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Scripture is inspired.

We messed that up at times, too. Sometimes evangelicals and unfortunately reform treat the doctrine of inspiration as if it promotes inspiration. You know, like when you go out and you write a poem or you write a love song or you write some piece of narrative that is just beautiful, you say, wow, I was inspired to do that. That's not how Paul is using this.

Paul is using this very Very literally, in the language of the NIV, it is God breathed. That means God took Paul, God took Isaiah, God took Jeremiah, God took the man Moses, God took the several other prophets and the apostles, and he breathed through them so that the very words they wrote are God's words. That's what inspiration means. This book is like no other.

It is given by inspiration of God. As far as I know, there's only two religious systems that claim their word is revelation, and that is Christian theism and Islam. The various other religions do not claim to have revelation. Now, there are Christian cults. the Book of Mormon and various other competitors that they claim are revealed by God.

But it's the Bible that tells us that it is revealed. It is given by inspiration. It is God-breathed. Notice, because of that, it is an infallible word.

It is an inerrant word. That means by taking heed according to your word, you will not go wrong. You will not go astray. You will not be let down.

You will not be disappointed. The Bible is profitable, as the Apostle says, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. You see the psalmist's answer. His way is impure.

How can he cleanse it? By taking heed according to your word. And

Justification and Sanctification

there's two major doctrines that I think the psalmist wants us to appreciate here. First is the doctrine of justification. The reality is, is that we're totally depraved. The reality is, is that we're sinful.

The reality is, is that we have a bank away from God and we need justification. We need forgiveness of sins and we need the alien righteousness of Christ. That's what the word of God furnishes. It tells us of the gospel.

It tells us that in Adam all died, but in Christ all shall be made alive. Justification is that act of God's free grace where he pardons all of our sins. Beautiful. He pardons all of our sins.

Everyone. Every lawless deed, every lawless thought, every transgression of his law, every lack of conformity unto his law, every departure. Every That's why sometimes this gospel is just so mind-blowing. If you know yourself rightly and you consider the fact that your way has been impure, you might come to grips and start scratching your head and say, you mean he really forgives those sins?

He really washes those sins? He really cleanses those sins? He really gets rid of those sins? This is what caused the prophet Micah to ask the question, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity?

And then he summarizes the whole statement when he says that God takes our iniquities and he casts it into the depths of the sea. That's why Micah Butler got his name from Micah the prophet. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity? The gospel is so wonderful and so amazing, and justification is that chief jewel.

God pardons all of our iniquities and accepts us as righteous in his sight. Can you imagine that? He not only cleanses us, but he brings us into his presence just or righteous. How does he do that?

Only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Praise God. You see why you ought to be thankful as a justified sinner? You see why you ought to be a grateful person?

You see why the three forms of unity follow a particular pattern? Guilt, grace, gratitude. What's the response to grace? Praise be. to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has cleansed us from all sin and has accepted us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed, not infused, not transforming.

God imputes that righteousness to us so that he can receive us into his presence as a justified And then sanctification. As Spurgeon says, it's not just a matter of how do we get pure, but how do we stay pure. Right? Those are the two chief doctrines that you need to get your minds and hearts wrapped around.

Justification. How do I come into this place where God receives me freely by His grace? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is justification by faith alone, and as a justified by faith alone sinner, how do I then live?

That's sanctification, by taking heed according to your word. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. John Gil captures both of these doctrines when he says, I think the words may be better rendered and supplied by observing what is according to thy word, which shows how a sinner is to be cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ and justified by his righteousness and be clean through his word and also how and by whom the work of sanctification is wrought in the heart, even by the Spirit of God, by means of the word. And what is the rule of a man's walk in conversation?

He will find the word of God to be profitable, to inform in the doctrines of justification and pardon, to acquaint him with the nature of regeneration and sanctification, and for the correction and amendment of his life and manners, and for his instruction in every branch of righteousness. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.

The Psalmist's Eightfold Example

Well, in conclusion, two thoughts. Two thoughts. First, the psalmist doesn't leave us wondering what this means. The psalmist, per his own example, illustrates a young man taking heed according to God's word.

The remainder of this section illustrates this for us or exemplifies it for us. I want to direct some specific attention to the young people here who are going back to school and preparing for their lives. I have in mind one particular young man that I want to address, and I want his conscience. Notice the psalmist example.

Obedience to the Word

First, obedience. Verse 9. By taking heed according to your words. Not just receiving it through the ear duct, not just through letting it resonate in the mind, but by taking heed according to your word.

For the sinner who does not know Christ, that means believe on him. Look to the one alone who can save you from your sins. For the saint, it means taking the scripture seriously. Spurgeon says, let him become a practical disciple of the Holy God, who alone can teach him how to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, that trinity of defilers by whom many a hopeful life has been spoiled.

He is young and unaccustomed to the road. Let him not be ashamed often to inquire of him who is so ready and so able to instruct him in it. Be a stranger to the scripture. I mean, isn't that the assumption by taking heed according to your word that means some contact with the Word.

It means reading the Scriptures on your own. It means fellowshipping with others who read the Scripture. It means coming to church where the Scripture is revered and treated as the God-breathed Word that He says it to be. It means attending to the sermon.

It means listening to the sermon. It means resolving to do what God in His Word says. There must be obedience.

Whole-Hearted Seeking

Secondly, notice the psalmist example. It is to be with a whole heart. Verse 10. With my whole heart, I have sought you.

Religion isn't a part-time activity. Biblical Christianity isn't just for Sunday. In preaching through this, I'm just sorry to my sons that I haven't set a better example. It is whole soul commitment.

Do you realize that that's how God saves us? There's a statement in the Prophet Jeremiah 32, where God says, with my whole heart and with my whole soul, I will plant them in this land. He says, I will rejoice over them to do them good. In that blessed statement of Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, when it talks about the messianic kingdom, what does it say is the activating power of these promises?

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts shall perform this. God doesn't enter into salvation half-heartedly. Jesus willingly laid his life down for the sheep. Jesus went to the very uttermost on our behalf.

It is fit. It is natural that the saint of Christ say with my whole heart, I have sought you. Paul says, therefore, beloved brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is what your reasonable service. Not the super spiritual, not the five percent of the Christian church.

It is reasonable for those who have been bought body and soul with that great price to give body and soul back to the Lord God most high. It is to be with obedience. It is to be with a whole heart.

Memorization of Scripture

Notice thirdly, with reference to his example, it is to be with memorization. Verse 11, your word, I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Memorize scripture. Not just so you can show off at gatherings.

Not just so you can say, well, I know a hundred passages of scripture. What's the purpose for hiding God's word in our hearts? That I might not sin against you. You have a peculiar bent to a particular temptation.

Memorize scripture that deals with that. If it's sexual lust, get 1 Peter 2 in you. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. If you are a gossipy woman, then study Ephesians and Colossians with a view to mortify that tongue so that you don't gossip.

It's not brain surgery. It's not rocket science. It's not incredibly difficult. The psalmist elsewhere says, thy law has made me wiser than all of my teachers.

The law of the Lord in Psalm 19 makes wise the simple. Isn't that beautiful? God acknowledges there's simple folk in this world. His law makes you wise.

His law equips you. His law fortifies. His law strengthens. Memorize scripture.

Hide it in the heart that you might not sin against God.

Dependence on Divine Instruction

Notice fourthly, with dependence upon divine instruction. Verse 12. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. Back in verse 10.

Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. You see the realization in this redeemed sinner's heart? He could sing with us number 400, prone to wander, prone to leave the God that I love. It's in there, even as Christians.

So he says to the Lord, let me not wander from your commandments. He says in verse 12, teach me your statutes, divine instruction, depend upon him. Again, Charles Spurgeon says, you are a young man. The Bible must be your chart.

The Bible must be your chart. The Bible must be your chart and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions. Don't give any ear to the people say, well, that's not true or all the world wasn't created by God or Jesus really didn't die the way the scripture says or they try to rationalize it away. Take heed to God's word.

This is a world of lies and rebellion against the Lord. This is a light shining in the darkness. Spurgeon goes on to say you must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life. You see how it's intertwined.

He says with the greatest care, a man will go astray if his map misleads him. But with the most accurate map, he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it. You turn your GPS on and when it's saying go right, you keep going straight. You're not taking heed to it.

You've got the chart. You've got God's word. You've got his revelation. You've got his mind.

Regenerate people, according to 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 8, says that we have the mind of Christ. We know things that God has told us to be the case. He says the narrow way was never hit upon if I'm sorry, the narrow way, he says, was never hit upon by chance. Neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life.

Dependence upon divine instruction. Notice fifthly, with a desire to witness. Verse 13 is beautiful. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth.

Isn't that beautiful? You draw your line in the sand. Right away. Right away.

Don't get caught up in the mayhem. Don't get caught up in the muck. Don't get caught up in the garbage. You draw your line right in the sand and with your lips you declare the goodness, the graciousness, the kindness and the mercy of God Most High.

With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. Be like Joseph and Potiphar's How can I engage in this activity and sin against my God?

Joy in God's Testimonies

Notice, sixthly, with joy. There's this conception out there that Christianity is this dark and dour and serious and horrible and terrible way of life. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. You take that wicked man pouring over his gold.

I'm going to outjoy him. He's got nothing. I've got everything. Remember that pearl merchant when he found that pearl of greatest Christ, he sold everything he had so that he could grab that jewel and he could raise it up and he could delight in it and he could tell others about it.

That's Christianity, not the idea that our dog just died and our lives are over and everything's ruined. No, we have joy in Jesus Christ. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimony as much in all riches. The psalmist elsewhere says that God's Word, God's commandments, God's statutes are better than much fine gold.

Value, prize, delight in the Word.

Meditation and Contemplation

Notice 7, with meditation and contemplation. Verse 15, I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I'll roll it about in my head. I'll think about it.

If I have troubles thinking on it, I'll cry out to God to help me. I'll say, God, I've used this mind in rebellion against you for 25 years. You've saved me. You've blessed me.

You've justified me. You've sanctified me. God, help me to think. Help me to internalize the scripture.

Help me to consider it. Help me to roll it about in my head. I got a new toy or I had a new car. I take pictures and I think about it.

I had a new bride or a new a new husband. I have pictures and I would I would think about that. I would keep that mental image alive and alert in my mind. The same is true of the scripture to discipline.

Take heed according to your word. It doesn't happen overnight. You must develop this. You must pursue this.

You must grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I will consider the things of God. I will not think as an atheist.

I will not think disattached from God. I will strive by His grace to let the mind of Christ in me rule over me in all things.

Delight and Determination

And then notice finally, with delight and with determination, verse 16, I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. We need to be careful of arrogance. We need to be careful of pride.

We need to take heed the first Corinthians 10. Let those who think that they won't fall, take heed lest they do. We need to be careful. There needs to be some holy resolution in the Christian life, some holy determination.

Daniel and his friends purpose, they resolve they would need the king's dainties. They wouldn't do it. The psalmist says here, I will not forget your work. I may forget my anniversary.

I may forget my child's name. I may forget a favorite restaurant. I may forget what you told me last week. Those things, you know what?

I hope it doesn't happen. I don't want to be an offense. I don't want to hurt your feelings. I don't want to make you feel devalued.

But you know this one thing I will not forget. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. I won't forget that. I won't forget that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

I won't forget that, as a young man, I need to take heed according to your word. I will not forget that. Holy resolution and purpose of heart have a place in Christian testimony. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Verse 105. I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep your righteous judgment. I am afflicted very much. Revive me, O Lord, according to your word.

Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me your judgments. My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law. I have, notice verse 112, I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end. Determination, resoluteness.

That's the Christian response to taking heed according to your word.

The Gospel Ending of Psalm 119

Well, the psalmist example doesn't end there. He signs off by calling us to never forget the gospel. You say, how does he do that? Psalm 119 is actually beautiful.

You ever seen the poems of George Herbert? Sometimes the way he structures the poem is just amazing. I don't mean just, you know, justified text. I mean, patterns. visible representations of the poem itself.

It's pretty, pretty amazing to look at. Psalm 119 is like that. It takes the 22 letters of the Hebrew, Hebrew alphabet and has eight verses for each one. So that when you look at the Hebrew text, the first eight verses all begin with the Hebrew equivalent to A.

So you got all eight A's. The next set of eight begin with the Hebrew equivalent to B. It's an amazing song. Absolutely incredible song.

What's the main point of the song? It's the glorious word of God. It's utter sufficiency. It's finality.

It's authority. It's infallibility. It's inerrancy. If you read through this and the psalmist is celebrating the glories of God's word, you sort of anticipate the psalm ending on this note of triumph.

I have done these things. I have accomplished your word. I have done it for you, God. How does the psalm end?

I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. You know, going through this list of the example, his obedience, his whole heart, his memorization, his dependence upon divine instruction, his desire to witness, his joy, his meditation and contemplation, his delight and determination. All those things are humbling as we consider the fact that we don't do that all the time.

But neither did he. He lived by grace. through faith in Jesus Christ. I think that's the note the psalm ends on. The Word of God is beautiful.

It's wonderful. It's sufficient. It's efficient. It's inerrant.

It's infallible. It's everything I've said it is. Never forget, though, how you stand. It's by a seeking God.

A gracious God. A merciful God. A God who seeks and saves that which was lost. He says this to keep us in that proper state before God, humble, dependent, and constantly casting our soul upon Jesus Christ.

This works for both Christian and non-Christian. I don't mean works in some pragmatic way, but this text applies. If you're a Christian, you can say, I have gone astray like the lost sheep. Who of us lives according to the light that we have?

Who of us is consistent like we find in this psalm? I mean, really, rather. Who of us can say this morning, yeah, those things that typify the psalmist, that's me, man. That's me.

Got it down. I'm in. I'm holy. I'm sanctified.

I'm righteous. This man said, I've gone astray like a lost sheep to seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. It's applicable to the Christian. It's applicable to the non-Christian as well.

This echoes what we find in Isaiah 53, verse 6. It says, All we like sheep have gone astray. All we like sheep have gone astray. It's a terrible picture, isn't it?

It's a horrible picture. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've left the God who made us. We've departed from him who has crown rights over us.

This is the announcement. This is the confession. This is something every non-Christian would have to admit. I have gone astray like a lost sheep.

But praise God that he seeks out. Praise God that Jesus is the one revealed to us in Luke's gospel. There was this little man, a little tiny man named Zacchaeus, who couldn't see Jesus because he wasn't tall enough. It's great.

It's so real, isn't it? There's a buzz about this man, Jesus. He's coming into town. Everybody's scurrying over to see him.

Zacchaeus can't see because he's short. He felt what some of us feel like. Being five nine in a six foot world is difficult at times. I suspect he was probably less than five nine, though.

So what does he do? He scurries up into the tree so that he can look down and see Jesus. It's beautiful. It's amazing.

And when Jesus comes to that tree, he looks up at Zacchaeus and he says, hurry down because I'm eating dinner at your house tonight. So Zacchaeus hurries down. Zacchaeus says, I'm going to repent. I'm going to give back things I've taken.

I'm going to I'm going to make right. I'm going to believe on you, Lord, and I'm going to repent from my sins. So Jesus goes back to his house to eat. The rest of the people there are grumbling and complaining and whining.

They're grumbling because this man has gone to eat with sinners. This man has refused us, the holy spotless ones, and he's gone to eat with a tax collector, an especially horrible sinner in that particular context. What does Jesus punctuate on that day with reference to his mission? He says, The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

That's the message of the Bible. When Adam and Eve sin, what do they do? They run and hide. God seeks them.

After the Tower of Babel, when men tried to make a name for themselves, what does God do? He confuses their lip, He disperses them, and then He calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and He says, I'm going to make of you a great name in the earth. You see, the pattern is God-seeking. The pattern is God-saving.

The pattern is God-going-after. That pattern is highlighted and confirmed and magnified and beautified at Calvary. What is the message of the cross? God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

Sinner today say, I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant. Seek your servant. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

And my son, go with God. Fear God. Be like this psalmist. Don't be like your dad. glorify Him, honor Him, praise Him, worship Him, extol Him, and lead others to consider the glory of Jesus Christ.

I love you, and I wish God's best on you and His blessing. And I want to make sure that you get this in your head. How does a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to God's Word.

The best gift that you have is that Scripture, that Holy Bible that you possess. Make much of it. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its sufficiency. We thank you that it sets forth Christ. I pray that Micah and all of the young people here would be looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of faith.

I pray that all of us, God, would We'd part with our rebellion, we'd part with our pride, our arrogance, our failure to realize our wandering nature, and that we would submit to God, that we would come to Christ, that we would believe the gospel, that we would believe that Jesus died and that Jesus rose so that we might have everlasting life. Do this work, Lord God, open hearts and open minds and open eyes to the truth of Christ and Him crucified. We praise you that we pray to a sovereign God, a God who is all-powerful, and that we know it doesn't depend upon man, the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who shows mercy. Take the gospel and apply it this day, we pray, in Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

Scripture References

• Psalms 14:1; 19:1; 19:7; 51:5-6; 58:3; 119:1-16; 119:105; 119:112
• Ecclesiastes 7:29
• Isaiah 9:6-7; 53:6
• Jeremiah 32:41
• Micah 7:18-19
• Matthew 25:46
• Luke 19:1-10
• John 3:14-15
• Romans 1:18-21; 5:12
• 1 Corinthians 2:16; 10:12
• Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:29
• Colossians 3:8
• 1 Peter 2:11
• 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 3:14-17
• Revelation 21:8