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*Praising the Sufficiency and Supremacy of Scripture (Psalm 119:161-168)*
/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on March 29, 2009/
www.goldcountrybaptist.org 
 
     “THE BIBLE contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you
     It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter.
Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
CHRIST is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.
It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever.
It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.”
– Author Unknown (printed in introduction to Gideon’s New Testament)
 
Psalm 119:161-168 (NASB95) 161 Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words.
162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and despise falsehood, /But /I love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances.
165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I hope for Your salvation, O Lord, And do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.
At the beginning of our study, we called Psalm 119 “the Grand Canyon of Scripture’s Sufficiency,” and as we have journeyed through the panorama of wonders and majesty and the grandeur and greatness and bigness of God revealed in this chapter, I hope your heart echoes the words of v. 161 across these canyon walls: “/… my heart stands in awe of your words./”
The supremacy of Scripture, its supreme value and satisfying and superior character should leave us at times speechless, awestruck, and awe-inspired.
Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying: “He who can no longer pause to wonder, is as good as dead.”
If you have not and do not wonder at God’s Word, you may very well be spiritually dead and need God to regenerate you.
One thing that stands out in this stanza in contrast to those we’ve studied before is that there are no petitions, no requests to God.
This whole passage is amazed praise to God for His amazing Word.
Here are some of the petitions from recent sections:
 
            v.
144b “… give me understanding”
v. 145 (next stanza) “I cried with all my heart; answer me”        
v.
146 “I cried to you; save me!”
v. 153 (last week’s stanza) – regard me ~/ “look”, rescue me
v. 154 – “plead my cause [i.e., represent me] and redeem me, revive me” (also repeated in v. 156b and 159b)
 
But in today’s passage he doesn’t verbalize /asking for something, /he verbalizes /awe, admiration, amazement, astonishment, absolute /“shock and awe” before the God who would condescend to give us poor sinners such a book as this, a book so sufficient for all of life, so supreme and supremely satisfying as it shows us how to fulfill our purpose on the planet: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
The reason for this change of tone is not that his worries are gone (v.
161a still has princes persecuting him) but his worries have been lost in wonder, his petitions have been consumed in praise, his anxiety replaced with awe.
It’s certainly appropriate at times to pray petitions ~/ request for our spiritual life and true needs but there should also be times when we pray simply to praise God (v.
164 “7x a day I praise you”) for His grace and truth.
/Seven Results ~/ Blessings of Being in Awe of God’s Word/
#. *Trembling at the Word (v.
161)*
Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words.
\\ \\
In the KJV the Heb.
“awe” is translated “fear ~/ afraid” its other 24x
In the NASB it is also translated as coming in /dread/ or /trembling, shaking, being terrified/, in light of something awesome in the true deepest sense of the word (like the “awe” of seeing lightning strike a few hundred feet from you).
This Heb.
root is also in v. 120:
 
120 My flesh *trembles for fear* of You, And I am *afraid of Your judgments*.
/Judgments/ there is a synonym for God’s Word, as virtually every verse in this psalm contains a synonym for God’s Word.
This fear (we can use the word “trembling” for this first point) is not only directed toward God but toward His Word as well.
We are not to fear man, Scripture repeatedly says, even those who can harm the body like the princes who he says were persecuting him in v. 161, but we are instead to fear the King of Kings before whom all princes and every other knee will bow and confess He is Lord.
When Jesus (who John 1 calls the Word) came to earth, the gospels frequently use similar language in response to His words ~/ works:
 
Luke 5:26: They were all *struck with astonishment* and began glorifying God; and they were *filled with fear*, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Luke 7:16: *Fear gripped them* all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” 
Luke 8:25: They were *fearful and amazed*, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” 
 
God is glorified by amazement, astonishment, and fear filling or gripping people in response to the Word of the Lord when they recognize that the One behind those words is the Lord Himself.
The greatest fear of this man of God who wrote Psalm 119 was not what man had to say, but what God had to say.
Not how man might mistreat him, but he feared how he himself might mistreat or mishandle God’s Holy Word.
He dared not trifle with the Bible’s contents, he trembled at its contents.
This is the mark of the godly:
 
Isaiah 66:1-2 (NASB95) 1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word … 5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word …
 
Where are those today who tremble at God’s Word?
There are plenty of feel-good churches -- we need more /fear-God /churches!
Many are flippant with God’s truth -- we must fear God’s truth.
- *Isaiah* trembled at God’s Word (Isa.
6) at the thought of him an unclean human speaking the Holy Word of a God who is Holy, Holy, Holy.
Isaiah trembled and cried “woe is me.”
We should too.
- *Ezra* spoke of those who “trembled at God’s Word” as the godly in his day (Ezra 9:4 “/everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled/” …
Ezra 10:3 calls for repentance “/according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God…let it be done according to the law/”  
 
- *Moses *hears the Word of God from the burning bush and we read: “/Moses said, ‘I am full of fear and trembling.’”
/(Heb 12:21).
- *Daniel* heard the Word of God through a messenger in Dan. 10, and he says in verse 11 “/while he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling/” – far cry from today’s so-called prophets.
- *Jeremiah* received the Lord’s word to preach judgment, his whole body shook inside and outside at the enormity and implications of the task for that generation: “/My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble … Because of the Lord And because of His holy words/."
(23:9)
 
- *Habbakuk* received God’s Word and wrote  (Hab.
3:16): "/I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble/."
Where are those today who tremble at God’s Word?
There are many preachers who trivialize it, so contextualize it, sanitize it, and minimize it.
It’s no wonder many churchgoers don’t take the Bible seriously when their pastor doesn’t seem to.
Those who shook the world in the Reformation only did so because the Word first made them shake and tremble before it.
The Reformers didn’t fear the Pope but the pulpit made their knees knock because of the sacred Word.
Luther was often said to tremble because of God’s truths.
The Scottish Reformer John Knox when he felt called to preach the Word, in anticipation of it, locked himself in a room and wept for days, trembling at the gravity and seriousness of being ‘called to this holy task, he was broken in his spirit and continually in tears over the awesomeness of such a calling and his unworthiness.
And God used him to influence his nation and beyond.’[1]
- *Paul *described his own ministry of the Word (1 Cor 2:3-5) as “… /in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, //and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, //so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God/.”
*Israel *as a nation received the Word of God from Sinai beginning with the Ten Commandments and after #10, we read (Ex 20:18-20) “/they trembled and stood at a distance … Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid …God has come in order to test you …the fear of Him may remain with you [/before you/], so that you may not sin./’
There’s a type of fear we are NOT to have (self-centered fear that paralyzes us so we do nothing) but there is a type of fear we are to have (God-centered healthy fear of God Himself that keeps us from sin and motivates us to obey reverently God’s /Holy /Word).
Isa 8:12-13 “You are not to say, ‘/It is /a conspiracy!’ … to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of /it./ “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear
 
The “awe” of Ps. 119:161 has been called “a holy reverence or godly fear – a loving trembling of the heart … [like Cranmer who] in 1555 was martyred, yet had a profound reverence for the Word, he wrote much about.
Speaking to his students he said –
I would advise you all, that come to the reading or hearing of this Book, which is the Word of God, the most precious jewel, and the most holy relic that remaineth upon earth, that you bring with you the fear of God, and that ye do it with all due reverence, and use your knowledge thereof, not the vain glory of frivolous disputation, but to the honor of God, increase of virtue and edification both of yourselves and others.”[2]
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