Psalm 119:97-104 | #6 God's Word Gives Understanding (Part 2)
Jesus & Me in the Psalms • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 587 viewsThe Psalmist’s love for God’s law goes on to be explained as he describes the understanding and wisdom gained from it.
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SCRIPTURE
97 MEM. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, That I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: For thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: Therefore I hate every false way.
Today, we will continue learning from our text how God’s laws, ways, and words give understanding to those who follow them.
Last Sunday, we considered how understanding is the ability to accurately see what once was abstract or unclear to you.
1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking: Fresh, Timely, and Compelling Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Speakers 45 TOPIC: Appearances Involuntary DisobedienceInvoluntary Disobedience
The attendant at a movie theater was walking up and down the aisle between showings of the movie. While doing so, he noticed that in the back of the theater there was a man lying across three seats. The attendant told the man that he would need to sit up in one chair. The only answer that came from the man was a muffled groan; the man did not even turn around and look at the attendant.
The attendant went to get the manager. The manager approached the man who was still lying across the three seats in the back of the theater. “Sir, you cannot lie down in this theater; you must sit up or I will have to insist that you leave!”
The man responded to the manager the same way he had responded to the attendant. The manager warned the man once more, but the reaction was the same.
The frustrated manager returned to his office and called the police. A police officer arrived and spoke to the man who was lying across three seats in the back of the theater: “I understand there is a little problem here; I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave this theater. So, what do you have to say for yourself now?”
With great hesitation, the man slowly turned toward the police officer and groaned out an answer, “You don’t seem to understand at all; we have a big problem here: I fell from the balcony and can’t get up!”
Understanding often takes time to develop.
Wisdom: to do (apply)—they applied what wisdom they had based on their knowledge
Understanding: to see—seeing the full story changed everything
Understanding often takes time to develop.
God’s words and ways are eternal, already established truth.
God’s words and ways are eternal, already established truth.
If we can get understanding from them, we can avoid much ignorant discovery attempts.
We saw an exclamation of love for God’s law in the beginning of the text.
The Psalmist’s love for God’s law goes on to be explained as he describes the understanding and wisdom gained from it.
97 MEM. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
O how…love…law
My meditation all the day
I love God’s law greatly and think on it often!
As has been stated previously, the Psalmist’s love for God’s law is obvious in this Psalm.
God’s law and ways are of utmost importance to him.
As followers of Christ, we ought to have a similar mindset toward God’s laws, ways, and words.
What God says should matter to us.
SEVEN BENEFITS OF GOD’S LAW
So true.
God’s words and ways cannot be moderately important to one who truly believes Him.
In our text today, we not only see a love for God’s laws but we also see practical reasons for the Psalmist’s love for God’s laws.
The reasons can be summed up as giving the Psalmist understanding, but let’s take a look at them individually verse by verse.
SEVEN BENEFITS OF GOD’S LAW
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me.
Commandments: what God has commanded
Wise: trust and fear of God that works out faithfulness to God in the practical details of life; able to apply knowledge to bring success in life and situations
God’s commandments, when followed, make one wise.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
First, consider that those who practice evil do not understand true judgement.
First, consider that those who practice evil do not understand true judgement.
KJV5 Evil men understand not judgment: But they that seek the Lord understand all things.
Evil people don’t understand God or His ways.
Evil people don’t understand God or His ways.
This makes sense since we see the fear of the LORD (and what He says) is the very beginning of wisdom.
KJV10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
We also see here that the knowledge of the holy is the beginning of understanding.
Those living in rejection of God and His Gospel, no matter how worldly wise and knowledgeable, have not even begun to attain wisdom and understanding in those things which most matter in this life—the eternal things of God.
Secondly, consider how God’s commands help us act wiser than enemies.
Secondly, consider how God’s commands help us act wiser than enemies.
By enemies, think of those who would scorn, mock, or even cause harm to you.
Knowing how to act around and respond to enemies can be tricky.
Think about how Jesus was around His enemies. Discerned their thoughts and intentsHeld back knowledge that was not prudent to share with themAsked them questions that led them to a truceWarned others of their ways
Having God’s commands in our heart and mind give us trustworthy foundational thinking and helps us expose what is not trustworthy.
Being able to discern between truth and error helps us act and respond wisely to scorning, deception, and attacks.
It helps us also have love and mercy for those lost, living in rejection of God and His wisdom.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
KJV99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation.
Testimonies: what God testifies to be His willMeditation: to think and contemplate
1001 Quotations that Connect: Timeless Wisdom for Preaching, Teaching, and Writing St. JeromeI beg you, my dearest brother, to live among these [sacred books], to meditate on them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else. Does not this seem to you to be a little bit of heaven here on earth?
Citation: St. Jerome, in one of his many letters to the church
10,000 Sermon Illustrations We Yearn For ShortcutsHuman beings grow by striving, working, stretching; and in a sense, human nature needs problems more than solutions. Why are not all prayers answered magically and instantly? Why must every convert travel the same tedious path of spiritual discipline? Because persistent prayer, and fasting, and study, and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes, not for God’s. Kierkegaard said that Christians reminded him of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through...We yearn for shortcuts. But shortcuts usually lead away from growth, not toward it. Apply
Understanding, seeing, God’s testimonies comes from slow contemplation and prayer in them.
Having understanding is worth the time.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
KJV100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep thy precepts.
Ancients: aged, eldersPrecepts: what God has appointed to be done
There is no one as aged as God’s precepts.
What God has appointed to be done is as old as His eternal knowledge.
So, obeying these eternal precepts can give me wisdom far beyond my years.
Beyond that, not all aged people are necessarily wise.
It was said in Job:
KJV9 Great men are not always wise: Neither do the aged understand judgment.
Today, we will pick up at verse 101 and see how God’s Word gives us understanding that really changes who we are.
Status and age do not always equal wisdom.
Status and age do not always equal wisdom.
Get wisdom by obeying God’s precepts.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, That I might keep thy word.
When God’s words prove faithful in our lives, we stay away from things that would pull us away from His Word.
Some on the other hand, look for reason not to keep God’s word.
Moral revolutions way from God’s commands attempt to replace God’s law with rationale.
Haven’t you ever noticed how rationale and logic can be used to “prove” all sorts of justifications and positions?
As complex thinkers as we are, how do we determine what is right and best?
God’s Word.
God’s Word reveals the expectations of our Creator, Ruler, and Saviour as well as the purposes for us.
All who are lost in darkness and sin naturally rebel God’s laws and ways though.
Without God’s grace, you and I would do the same.
Humans aren’t the only ones who rebel though. Consider this:
Jesus’ sheep know His voice and follow Him—they need to be listening.
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 189: The Dangers of Straying
It is the nature of sheep to stray and get in harm’s way, whether from hungry wolves or steep canyons. For centuries, shepherds have used various methods—from staff to dog—to keep sheep from straying from the safety of their care.
In recent times shepherds have tried more sophisticated methods. One is a metal, hoof-proof grid that is built into the ground around the sheep’s territory. The animals cannot walk over the grid, which is eight feet wide. This works well in keeping sheep in the protection of the pen.
But in 2006, shepherds in Yorkshire, England, found that their sheep were not only stubbornly prone to stray but also crafty. One of the sheep laid down and rolled over the grid. The other sheep in the herd followed the first, and soon the entire flock had spread over the countryside to neighborhood gardens, where they ate the food and flowers of local residents.
The shepherds eventually gathered up the troublesome sheep and returned them to their pen. But they escaped again and got into trouble. While the escape of this flock of these “bad” sheep may have seemed like an exciting adventure, it actually placed the animals in harm’s way from cars and unfriendly dogs.
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If sheep will rebel like that, how much more will rational humans?
Be careful!
God’s laws, words, and ways are worth us refraining our feet from harmful ways that lead us to destruction, separation, and death.
A disregard to God’s law leads ultimately to evil ways.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.
5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: For thou hast taught me.
Commitment to what God rules is right deepens when our learning includes a direct relationship with God.
Experiencing God’s grace and good laws endears us to His laws.
Without the direct relationship, the rules only become religion and dogma—which leads to rebellion.
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 404: Jumping to Defy Law
Jan Davis, sixty, a professional parachutist, was BASE jumping when she fell to her death. Her husband, who was filming the jump, and several reporters were stunned when Davis crashed onto the rocks. She was jumping off the thirty-two-hundred-foot granite cliff, El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California, when her chute failed to open.
She and the other jumpers knew that BASE jumping was illegal in Yosemite Park. The law was passed because six people and numerous others had been injured in Yosemite due to BASE jumping. The five jumpers, including Davis, were protesting the park’s restrictions by proving the sport is safe. They knew the law, but they deliberately chose to defy it. Davis paid for that disobedience with her life.
In a similar way, many people think they can deliberately violate God’s law. Eventually they learn, sometimes the hard way, that God’s laws exist to protect us.
—Jonathan Mutchler, “Parachutist Perishes,” PreachingToday.com
As God’s word proves true and good for us, we grow deeper and deeper in our trust.
As our trust deepens, we learn more than the laws, we learn from the One who gave them.
Commitment to what God rules is right deepens when our learning includes a direct relationship with God.
Experiencing God’s grace and good laws endears us to His laws.
Without the direct relationship, the rules only become religion and dogma—which leads to rebellion.
Relationship gives reason to God’s rules.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.
6) Enjoying God’s words ought to be normal for me.
6) Enjoying God’s words ought to be normal for me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Makes me think of the captured missionary and what he said to the cannibals: “At least you get a taste of religion.”
1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking: Fresh, Timely, and Compelling Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Speakers 586 TOPIC: Missionaries Taste of Religion
Taste of Religion
Captured missionary to cannibals: “At least you get a taste of religion.”
As a born again believer, the truth and understanding from God’s words are both nourishing and tasteful.
When God’s words bring clarity to life and purpose, we develop a healthy appetite for more of it.
Did you know you can find enjoyment and pleasure from God’s words?
It takes slowing down and thinking on the applications of the wisdom contained within them.
Learning God’s words and ways is not just a discipline to practice, though it is a discipline.
It is an opportunity that brings joy to those who taste of it.
While those rebelling God’s words find them bitter, let us find sweetness in them.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.6) Enjoying God’s words ought to be normal for me.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.
6) Enjoying God’s words ought to be normal for me.
7) Understanding gained from God’s precepts can make me hate false ways.
7) Understanding gained from God’s precepts can make me hate false ways.
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: Therefore I hate every false way.
Once you have internalized the sweet understanding gained from God’s Word and laws, false ways become abominable to you.
The falseness of false ways becomes absurdly obvious and detestable.
Understanding from God’s Word instills a hatred for ways that oppose it, yet while maintaining a love for those deceived by those ways.
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 705: Avoiding Icebergs
The Hibernia oil platform in the North Atlantic is 189 miles southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The total structure is 246 yards high from ocean floor to the top of the derricks.
Unlike the fated Ocean Ranger, a platform that sank in 1982, killing the eighty-four men aboard, Hibernia’s design incorporates a gravity-based structure (GBS), which anchors it to the seabed. The structure does not move. It is an artificial island. It was built that way because it is in the middle of “iceberg alley,” where an iceberg can be as large as an ocean liner.
Hibernia is built to withstand a one-million-ton iceberg (expected every five hundred years), and to withstand a six-million-ton iceberg (expected once in ten thousand years) with repairable damage. Even so, Hibernia’s designers take no chances. Radio operators plot and monitor all icebergs within twenty-seven miles. Any that come close are “lassoed” and towed away from the platform by powerful supply ships. Smaller ones are diverted by the ship’s high-pressure water cannons or with propeller wash. As rugged and as strong as this platform is, Hibernia will not allow an iceberg even to come close.
One thing seems obvious: the engineers of this oil platform are not guilty of the kind of false security that may have contributed to the sinking of the Titanic. Christians need to take spiritual threats just as seriously.
—J. Richard Love, “Oil Platform Designed to Survive the Worst,” PreachingToday.com
CONCLUSION
You might say, “But, I am not theologian. Can I really get understanding from God’s laws?”
Yes, you can.
While you will never exhaust the riches and depths of God’s law and words, you can continually grow in understanding from them.
130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple.
Receiving clear explanation of God’s words gives understanding to the simple who are not yet committed to the way of either the fool or the wise.
Are you uncommitted to foolishness or wisdom? Commit to learn from God’s Word and get understanding.
Have you been getting understanding from God’s Word? Remain faithful to God’s Word.
Do you know people who are uncommitted to either foolishness or wisdom?
Share God’s Word with them.
Start with the beginning: the Gospel.
1) Having God’s commands always with me can make me wiser than my enemies.
2) Meditating on God’s testimonies can give me more understanding than my teachers.
3) Obeying God’s precepts can give me more understanding than the aged.
4) Keeping God’s word is important enough for me to avoid evil ways.
5) Learning from God can teach me commitment to His judgments.
6) Enjoying God’s words ought to be normal for me.
7) Understanding gained from God’s precepts can make me hate false ways.