Sermon Tone Analysis

*Treasuring Scripture in Your Heart to Keep Your Way Pure from Sin -- Psalm 119:9-16*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on September 28, 2008/

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

* *

The psalms were written to be sung by the ancient Hebrews, and singing Scripture set to music is a great way to hide God’s Word in our heart, which of course is the most famous verse of this stanza, if not the entire psalm, v. 11.

The children’s youth choir of Foothill Bible Church (one of our sister churches at Family Camp in the summer) actually sings the entirety of Psalm 119 set to music word-for-word in the KJV text, with a different arrangement for each stanza, and they’re scheduled to be with us on November 2, 2008, in the PM service to sing it for us.

I’ve been listening on CD to it in my car as I drive my 5-year-old Ella to and from school daily and she and I are memorizing the psalm together and I’m excited to be able to hide these great words in our hearts.

That’s not just a great way for young people to memorize Scripture, but for all of us at any age.

Some of you have already expressed interest in learning Psalm 119 and I hope others of you will consider joining us and learning together as families or individuals in our church (and as we’re able, we can help print flash cards for those interested and we’re also working on getting copies of the CD available).

The writer of Psalm 119 also used a device to help young men (and others) learn its words.

As I told you before, the original Hebrew was alphabetically alliterated for every line in each stanza in a masterful acrostic, which in part was a mnemonic or memory aid.

Below is one attempt to translate from the original Hebrew in a way that reflects this structure.

*/ /*

*/ALEPH Stanza (v.

1-8)/*

* *

*A*ll joy for those who are the complete of the way who walk in the teaching of JEHOVAH

*A*ll joy for those observing his testimonies they seek him with their whole heart \\ *A*lso they do no injustice they walk in his ways \\ *A*nd you commanded your precepts to keep with care \\ *A*h that my ways were directed to keep your statutes \\ *A*nd then I would not be ashamed to gaze on all your commandments \\ *A*nd I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn the judgments of your righteousness \\ *A*nd I will keep Your statutes you will not forsake me for ever

*/ /*

*/BETH stanza (v.

9-16)/*

*B*ut how will a young man cleanse his path to keep it for your word?

\\ *B*y all my heart I have sought you do not let me stray from your commandments \\ *B*y my heart I have hid your promise in order that I will not sin against you \\ *B*lessed are you JEHOVAH teach me your statutes \\ *B*y my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth \\ *B*y the way of your testimonies I have rejoiced more than all sufficiency \\ *B*y your precepts I will [meditate] and I will look to your paths \\ *B*y your statutes I will delight nor will I forget your word[1]

This pattern is followed for 22 stanzas, as we saw before, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order (ex: in English, “C” would be next, /gimel /in Heb.), and in the original language each stanza follows that pattern.

Besides being a memory aid, this alphabetic acrostic in this context communicates that this is the A-Z on the subject of the Word of the LORD, a complete look at God’s complete revelation, nearly every verse using a term referring to Scripture.

Charles Spurgeon called Psalm 119 “The Golden Alphabet” and he published a book with that title with his expositions of this psalm.

The heading in one Bible translation is: /The Christian’s golden ABC of the praise, love, power, and use of the word of God, for here we have set forth in inexhaustible fullness what the word of God is to a man, and how a man is to behave himself in relation to it.*[2]*/

/ /

Our text today, verses 9-16, has the heading /beth.

/This second letter of the Hebrew alphabet when spelled out is also the Hebrew word for “house” (ex: Beth-lehem = house of bread) and these verses have to do with making our heart a home for God’s Word.

That last line we just read expresses the writer’s determination not to forget God’s Word.

And he doesn’t want his readers to forget God’s Word either.

He wants them to memorize it, meditate on it, make it their delight – not merely remember it, but rejoice in it.

So in this stanza in particular, he extols the value of beginning when young, as a young man or young person as early as possible in God’s Word, as v. 9 says.

If you are a young person here this morning, this may be one of the most important messages in all of God’s Word for you to take to heart, before it’s too late, before you grow hardened to and calloused to the things of Scripture.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 is along this vein: /Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw night when you will say, “I have no delight in them” … /

 

v.

12-14 /But beyond this, my son, be warned … The conclusion when all is heard, is: fear God, and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil./

That passage addresses a son particularly, but the verse said it also applies to every person.

Similarly, Ps 119:9 begins with young men in particular, and it also essentially has the same point about keeping God’s commandments, which “applies to every person.”

But let’s start where v. 9 starts – it says “how shall a /young man/ keep his way pure?”

The time of life when minds of young people can learn so much and are so moldable and so influenced by what they choose to fill their minds and hearts with, this is such a crucial age that near the beginning of this long psalm, we have a section devoted to address those who are near the beginning of their life, and the principles laid down here should be our lifelong pursuit.

This passage demands the attention of every young man and woman, every parent, every person who works with young people, every young Christian who would like to keep His way pure, and by extension, every Christian who desires not to sin against God.

Many commenting on the text of v. 9 would argue that the word “pure” (or “cleansed” in some versions) functions as the theme and heading of this whole section.

Young people who want to be happy (as the psalm began in v. 1-2 and following) need to enroll in this school of purity in this classroom image:

            The curriculum is real life

            God is the gracious teacher

            The psalmist is the dependent disciple [student]

            The textbook is the sufficient Word of God[3]

 

The question for this semester (or section), really the question for all the years, is v. 9 “How shall a young man keep his way pure?”

The second half of verse 9 doesn’t answer it in detailed terms, but it may be more of a general heading to vs. 10-16.

It could also be argued that the entire rest of the psalm expounds and expands on the question in v. 9 in how to live according to God’s Word.

OUTLINE:

*- The Question (v.

9)*

*- The Answer (v.

10-16)*: 7 ways to keep pure from sin by the Word of God

* *

*/First, let’s consider the Question in v. 9/*

*9**How can a young man keep his way pure?

*

*By keeping /it /according to Your word.

*

 

Over 300 years ago Henry Scougal wrote /The Life of God in the Soul of Man /(one of the most influential books in the life of men like George Whitefield and John Piper).

When Scougal was a youth, he opened his Bible on this very verse, Psalm 119:9.

It went to his heart, and he gave himself to God, and to the Christian ministry.

Over a hundred years earlier it was the truth of this verse that caused Theodore Beza in his dying will and testimony to express thanksgiving that as a young man God had brought him to His Word and kept him pure by it from many defiling and destroying sins.

The Bible has much to say about the critical formative time of a young man and his need for staying pure by living according to God’s Word.

The book of Proverbs begins its first 10 chapters addressing this explicitly in many areas of life, as a young son is addressed by this subject for chapter after chapter about how to fear God, be wise, and stay pure.

Chapters 5-7 of Proverbs in particular address the need for sexual purity so that you don’t destroy your life.

I already read from Ecclesiastes 12 which addresses young men as well in its culminating chapter, a book written to young people with a message “Don’t waste your life on vanity (life without God)  – remember ~/ fear God when you are young before you waste your life!”

In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul also addresses a young man of God with the words “Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith …” (where do we do that?

In God’s Word, living according to it).

God’s Word gives examples of young men who were able to keep their way pure in an impure world by living according to God’s truth

-         Joseph in Egypt (protected him in sexual temptation as well as from temptation to despair in a dungeon for years, or temptation to want revenge later on his brothers)

-         Daniel in Babylon would not defile himself in what he ate and did (great study of a godly young man in ungodly world)

-         His friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not defile themselves by bowing to idols.

As they sought to keep and live their lives according to God’s Word they experienced the blessedness of verses 1-2 of this psalm, even in the midst of circumstances that would not be considered happy in and of itself, in the midst of a very pagan society.

WAY (v.

9) – is a term that could signify a track or rut made by the wheel of a cart or chariot.

I’ve heard it said it refers to the highways of our life, more literally a course, journey, or pilgrimage.

It is the patterns and habits formed as a young person that set the course for our life.

/How can a young man keep his way pure, when the world is so impure, when his own internal sin nature is corrupted, and the world, the flesh, and the devil are intent on corrupting him further?/

KEEP PURE – verb with causative nuance, to make or keep clean or pure.

An alternate translation could be “how can he purify his path?”

This is a question the world isn’t going to ask or answer properly.

In fact, there seems to be an assumption that purity is a lost cause for the youth.

For example, in the area of sexuality for school-age kids, our culture assumes we can’t try and teach purity and monogamy to young people, our only recourse is to teach “safe sex.”

The reality is there’s no such thing as “safe sex” outside of what God’s Word has laid down for intimacy within the bounds of a marital covenant – any violation of God’s good laws has devastating consequences, which you can read about in Proverbs 5-7 and other places.

The world tells us the opposite of the answer Psalm gives in many areas of purity and life in general.

As James Boice has written:

‘The world has its answer.

It says, Have your fling when you are young and settle down to being religious when you get old, if then.

God’s answer is quite different.

God says, If you are going to live for me, you must begin at the earliest possible moment, without delay, preferably when you are very young (v.

9).

If you do not live for me when you are young, you will probably not live for me when you are older either, and the end of your life will be ruinous … the decisions of youth form habits that guide us from that point on and are hard to break.

If we form good habits when we are young – reading the Bible, spending time in prayer, enjoying the company of God’s people, going to church, rejecting sin, and practicing to be honest and do good – these habits will go with us through life and make good choices later in life easier.

If on the contrary we make bad choices, later we will find good choices harder to make and the bad habits nearly impossible to break … it is the small things that form habits, and it is our habits that determine the course and outcome of our lives …

Are you a young person?

Then you should pay particularly close attention to this point.

Most young people want their lives to count, and most Christian young people want their lives to count for God … But youth is also often impatient and undisciplined, and young people are tempted to let the little things slide.

You must not do that if you are God’s young man or young woman.

God [can] make your life count, but this will not happen unless you determine to live for him in the little things now.

This section of Psalm 119 is telling us that the best possible way to live for God and establish and maintain a pure life is by starting young.’[4]

/ /

/Verse 9 says purity comes “*by keeping it according to Your word” *(NASB) or other translations have “by guarding it” (ESV), or “by taking heed” (NKJV), or “by living according to your word” (NIV)./

This protective keeping, guarding, or preserving of way refers to the general course of life, from all defilement.

Figuratively, it refers to character and~/or conduct.

God’s Word is the answer.

*/ /*

Commenting on v. 9 where it says /Thy word/, the Puritan writer William Gurnall wrote: ‘The word is the only weapon (like Goliath's sword, none to equal this), for the hewing down and cutting off of this stubborn enemy, our lusts.

The word of God can master our lusts when they are in their greatest pride: if ever lust rage[s] at one time more than another, it is when youthful … it must be a strong arm that brings a young man off his lusts … a young man …is farther from the fear of death's gunshot, as he thinks, than old men … Well, let the word of God meet this young gallant in all his bravery … with the point of its sword …’[5]