God's Word: Counsel for Christians

We thank you once again for all that you do We thank you that tonight, as we gather together, we can open the Word of God and study it together And we pray that those things you teach us would enable us to live for the glory and honor of God Open our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our ears, that we might be able to receive these glorious truths And that, Lord, upon receiving them, apply them to our lives, that we might live each and every day in the light of your great glory We pray in your name, Amen

Turn with me, your Bible, to Psalm 119, our continuous study of God's Word and what the Bible has to say concerning the Word of God In Psalm 119, verse number 24, it says, The testimonies, or thy testimonies, also are my delight They are my counselors The psalmist said that God's Word is that which directs him, is that which guides him and leads him, that somehow he will be counseled by the testimonies of God You know, it's a remarkable thing about our Lord Everything he says is absolutely perfect, absolutely true And he never says things that are meaningless

If you go to somebody for counseling, they're going to say a lot of things Some of them might be true, some of them might not be true We'd hope that if you go to somebody for counseling, they would give you biblical counseling, you would know what is truth But you know, for us to understand that what God says is absolutely reliable and faithful And not only that, every little thing he says is just as important as every big thing he says, because they're the words of God You know, there are some times I can say some things that could be profound

There are other times I say some things that just mean nothing But with God, everything means something And this section in Psalm 119 highlights that for us It's the 10th section in our study of Psalm 119 We have 22 sections we're going to cover This is the 10th section And this section begins with the Hebrew letter, Yod Now, we know that every section begins with one Hebrew letter, the alphabet That is, every word at the beginning of every verse begins with the Hebrew letter that corresponds with that section And the Yod is that small letter, the smallest letter in the Hebrew language

Listen to what Christ said about it in Matthew 5, verse number 18 He says, for truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished And what this section opens up to us is that when God speaks, even though it might seem like a little thing, it truly is a great big thing, because it truly is the word of God

And so we need to come to grips with the fact that when God says the little things, it opens up to us very big things concerning Him and the truth that He wants us to come to grips with and to understand And we need to realize that everything, every word in every verse, in every paragraph, in every chapter, on every page, in every book is important And not one is more important than the other, but they are all equally important

And what God does for us is open up the door to help us understand how God's word is the ultimate counselor for the Christian, that God tells us exactly how we are to live and what we need to know from day to day to live as He wants us to live The Bible says in Isaiah 9, 6 that our Lord is called the wonderful counselor He speaks words of truth, words of wisdom, words that open up to us who He is that we might understand His will

Let's read it together. I'll read the odd verses, you read the even verses, but you've got to read real loud so those who listen on tape or CD or by way of radio in years to come will hear your beautiful voices in unison as you speak forth the word of God Psalm 119, verse number 73 says, Thy hands made me and fashioned me Give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments. I know, Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me May Thy compassion come to me that I may live, for Thy law is my delight

May those who fear Thee turn to me, even those who know Thy testimonies The psalmist opens up to us about the hand of God, the heart of God, and how God helps those who look to Him The psalmist begins to show us not only the fact that God makes us, but God is making us in such a way that the methods He uses goes beyond anything we can ever imagine So when you talk about how God's word counsels the Christian, you must begin where the psalmist begins in verse number 73 when he tells us that our Lord God, His hand is at work He describes for us God's hand

Listen to what he says, Thy hands made me and fashioned me Now you need to think about that just for a moment How the hands of God have made you and fashioned you and put you together You see, one of the things we need to understand about God is that He counsels us in a way that shows us our dignity and our importance That God made us the way we are He made us that way for a purpose And we need to understand what that purpose God has in mind for people like you and me But the very fact that God in His sovereignty specifically put you together just like you are He made you the way you are

He made you in such a way that He put you in a family where He wants you to be He has placed you in a church He's placed you in a job God's hand is upon all that you do because God is the ultimate creator of all things In order for us to make it from day to day, we must understand how God fashions our lives How God makes our lives As you recall, way back in the very beginning, God, the triune God, got together and said, let us make man in our image God communicated with Himself God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit

And so man was made in the image of God, and then God said, it's not good that man should be alone So God fashioned for Adam a specific woman He fashioned that woman for him so that he would not experience aloneness, but understand communion and fellowship and intimacy You see, God is in the business of fashioning our lives And so when the psalmist begins by describing to us God's hands, he says, I want to describe to you how the hand of God created me He created me He made me He put me together

We know that great verse in Psalm 139, which says in verse number 13, For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Wonderful are thy works, and my soul knows it very well My frame was not hidden from thee when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them Not one of them

So God not only fashioned me, he fashioned the days in which I would live He fashioned the circumstances of those days as well And every person, when it comes to understanding the will and purpose of God, must begin by understanding that God's hand created him That God's hand was intricately involved in all that he is

Over in Revelation chapter four, verse number nine, it says this, And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne, and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crown before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, O Lord, and our God, to receive glory and honor and power For thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they existed and were created You know, God fashioned us that we might learn to fear him

God made us that we might learn to manifest him God created us that we might learn to commune with him We exist for one purpose, that we may extol him and exclaim his glorious name You see, if you have another purpose in life, if you have something else you want to do outside of that, outside of fearing God, exclaiming God, living for God, magnifying his name, manifesting his character, you're going to have a hard time in life as a believer Because that's what the Christian is designed to do When we get to heaven, we're going to give praise and glory to God throughout all eternity

That's going to be the sole emphasis of our time in heaven, to praise our glorious maker and to lift his name up on high You see, God creates us for a purpose The Bible says over in Proverbs 16, verse number 4, He made all things for his purpose, for his glory He made all things for his purpose, for his glory And it goes on to say in Proverbs 16, these words, Even the wicked man Wow! God made even the wicked man, even the evil man, for his purposes and for his glory You see, we need to come to grips with the fact that God is a creator of all things

And God created man that he might learn to commune with him and worship him and glorify his great and wonderful name And the psalmist said, Thy hands made me and fashioned me, give me understanding that I might learn thy commandments The psalmist is crying out that somehow he might begin to learn all that God had for him If God is his creator and he's been made by God, then somehow he must understand the God who made him And if we in life are lacking meaning and purpose, it's because our heart's cry is not to know the God who made us You see, we need to seek after God We need to look to him

And the psalmist said, I want understanding. I want to know you, Lord. I want to come to grips with who you are. I want to understand how it is you fashioned me and how you made me Remember Jeremiah, over in the Jeremiah chapter 1? It says these words God says, Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you And before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations Then I said, Alas, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth

But the Lord said to me, Do not say I am a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go And all that I command you, you shall speak Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord God told Jeremiah, You're my prophet You're my spokesperson And when you were in your mother's womb, I fashioned you for this purpose at this time Did you ever think about the fact that you were born in this time, in this day and age? You weren't born in the 1800s You weren't born in the 1500s You weren't born in the 1300s

When were you born? In this day, in this time, for a purpose that God has for you. I always use the example, I hate to camp. I'm not a camper, look at me. I mean, come on, a camper? If God intended me to camp, I would have been born in the 1600s. I'm in the 21st century God doesn't want me camping Come on, man, that's backwoods stuff Man, we're microwave age, we're high tech, we got cell phones, we got all kinds of things That's the age God wants me to live in Praise be to God, because I hate camping. I hate it

But you know, God puts you at a certain time, and he puts you in a certain place to accomplish his purposes Is that not true? And I can look at this church and realize that God has placed me here for his purpose Whether you like that or not, I'm here And God put me here for a specific purpose, and that is to preach and teach the word of God God gave me the children that I have He didn't give me any of your children, right? He didn't give my children to you, he gave them to me For a specific purpose, at a specific time Because God's hand fashioned them as it fashioned me

And God, the creator of all things, fashions every day, every moment of every day Because the Bible says in Hebrews 1 that God holds everything together by the word of his breath Colossians 1 says that he holds all things together That if he at any time is not intricately involved in holding them together, they will disintegrate In other words, God is intricately involved in holding the universe together He's intricately involved in holding your life together If God ever stepped aside or stepped away from the universe, from your life, from being involved, he would cease to exist

That's how involved God is in your life and mine And when we go to God for counsel, his word begins to explain to us, I fashioned you. I made you. I made you for this hour. I made you for this family. I made you for this job. I made you for this opportunity This is your time to give me glory To manifest my name to others And so the psalmist says in describing God's hand, he created me And not only did he create me, he compels me So not only did he make me, but he moves me He says this in verse 74, May those who fear thee see me and be glad because I wait for thy word

Isn't that good? May those who fear thee see me and be glad Why? Because I wait or I hope in your word In other words, it was God that not only created him, but it was God who compelled him and moved him So much so that he would longingly hope and wait in the word of God You know, this guy was the kind of man that when he walked into the room, he lit the room up He lit it up There are some people who walk into a room and they bring gloom to the room You ever met people like that? Maybe you're one of them. I hope not But they walk into a room and people are like, oh, they moan and groan

Oh, here comes oh so and so They're such a downer Or this man, when he walks into the room, people actually cheered They were excited to see him because he feared God And he would hope in the word of God And they would know of his hope They would know of his trust They would know of his belief And it was contagious Absolutely contagious Listen to Psalm 34 Psalm 34, verse number 1. I will bless the Lord at all times His praise shall continually be in my mouth My soul shall make its boast in the Lord The humble shall hear it and rejoice

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together Because the psalmist lived a life of praise, those who are humble would hear it And they would rejoice with him Listen to Psalm 40 Psalm 40, verse number 1. I waited patiently for the Lord He inclined to me and heard my cry He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay And he set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm And he put a new song in my mouth. A song of praise to our God Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord The psalmist is saying, God did a work in my life

He redeemed my life. I cried out to him He heard my cry And as a result of that, he put a new song in my mouth And I'm going to sing praises to my God And people are going to hear it They're going to see him And they're going to learn to fear God And they're going to learn to trust God That speaks a lot about us as parents, doesn't it? About how we live in light of our children and around our children

It speaks of our influence as husbands, as fathers, as employers, as employees around other people, right? That the work of God in our life should be so great and so incredible that it causes me to sing the new song, the song of salvation And others will hear that song Others will learn to fear God And others will learn to trust God Because of the influence of one person who learns to hope in his God Listen to Psalm 69 Psalm 69 Verse number 30 It says this, or verse number 29 But I am afflicted and in pain

May thy salvation, O God, set me securely on high. I will praise the name of God with song and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs The humble have seen it and are glad You who seek God, let your heart revive Or let your heart be enlivened Again, the psalmist is speaking about the effect he has on the lives of those who fear God That somehow he would be an influence in their lives This man was moved and compelled by the word of God So much so that those who would fear God would see him and rejoice and be glad

Ask yourself a question Are people glad to see you when you come to church? Are people glad to see you when you arrive at home from work? Or from school? Are people glad to see you when you show up at work? Because you fear God and trust Him and you hope only in God, your Savior You know, hope is such a wonderful thing The text says, because I hope or I wait for the Lord The psalmist had this hope in God This trust in God It wasn't some kind of wishful thinking It was ironclad assurance That his God was true and that his word was true And that what God said would always come to pass

Hope is rooted in God Romans 15 and 13 Because God is called the God of hope So if anybody is going to have hope, it's because of God Right? And this man, he hoped in the Lord God And because he hoped in God, his life was rooted in God Because hope is rooted in God. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse number 16, tells us that true hope is received only by grace Only by grace And that hope, according to Romans 15, 4, is reinforced by the scriptures Romans chapter 15, verse number 4, says it this way

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scripture, we might have hope You lacking in hope? Is your hope weak? It's because you haven't studied the scriptures You haven't listened to the testimony of the word of God Because those who read the Bible and study the Bible have their hope reinforced by the Bible It gives perseverance It gives encouragement And that hope allows you to affect other people in a positive way True hope, rooted in God, received by grace, reinforced in scripture, reproduces one thing

That's joy Listen to Romans 15, verse number 13 Romans 15, verse number 13 It says these words Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit It's the God of hope that fills you with all kinds of hope that allows you to have and experience true joy And hope reproduces joy That's why people are glad to see this guy when he walked into the room Because he brought the glory of the Lord into the room Not the gloom of a past life It was God's glory that he brought into that room

And true joy will always refine my conduct. 1 John 3, 3 Remember? About the coming of the Lord He who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as God himself, Christ himself is pure Hope refines my conduct It refines my character So here was a man that when he walked into a room, not only had the joy of the Lord on his face, but lived a life that demonstrated the character and nature of God And that's why those who feared the Lord would see him and be glad He infused courage and strength in the lives of others Folks, that's the way we should be. I mean, we're born again believers

We love the Lord Jesus Christ And there should be something about our life that when people see us and they are around us, we exude hope That those who have no hope will learn to trust in the God of hope So important And so this man understood the hand of God in creating him and in compelling him He would hope in the word of the Lord and it continued to move him on and keep him focused on the Lord God of the universe Listen to the words of Charles Bridges He wrote a commentary on Psalm 119 This is what he says about this verse

He says, Cannot you show them that because he has borne the burden of their sins, he is able to bear their griefs and to carry their sorrows? That you have tried him and that you have found him so? Oh, be animated to know more of Christ yourself Let your hope in him be strengthened, that you may cause gladness in the hearts of those that see you, so that whether you be afflicted or whether you be comforted, it may be for the consolation, their consolation and their salvation

He goes on to say, But oh my God, how much cause have I for shame that I impart so little of thy glorious light to those around me? Perhaps some poor trembling sinner has been glad when he saw me, hoping to hear something of the Savior from my lips, and has found me straightened and cold and dumb Oh, that I may be so filled with the Spirit, so experienced in thy heavenly ways, that I may invite all that fear thee to come to me, that I may declare what thou hast done for my soul That's the way we should be

He was convicted that there would be some poor soul who when they saw him was hoping to receive a word of encouragement, a word of hope, because he believed in the God of hope, and yet he never said a word He never did anything And his fear was that others would leave his presence not hearing about the great God of hope See, that's the way it should be for us, that when we walk into a room, when we sit in a car, when we go to church, when we go to work, those who fear God see us and are glad to be around us Why? Because we hope in the word of our Lord

So this psalmist describes to us God's hands, number one, in creating him, number two, in compelling him, and number three, in conforming him Listen to this Verse number 75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me That verse is so telling about the hand of God He says, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Not that, Lord, because I'm in affliction, will you be faithful to me, but that in your faithfulness you afflicted me It was Charles Bridges who said this about this verse

He says, It is the only blessing that the Lord gives without requiring us to ask for it We receive it, therefore, as promised, not as threatened And when the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which it worketh in God's time and way, spring up in our hearts humbly and gratefully, will we acknowledge the righteousness of his judgments and the faithfulness of his corrections We need never to ask God to afflict us, because in his faithfulness he does so

And so the psalmist, in describing the hand of God, describes it in a way that not only did he fashion me, did he create me, but he compels me, he moves me, and as he moves me, he afflicts me He afflicts me Why? Because he is a faithful God How many people do you know that are able to stand up and say, In faithfulness, O Lord, thou hast afflicted me. I think it's interesting to note that this man comes to grips with the fact that God is doing a great work in his life

Peter would say way back in 1 Peter 4, verse number 19, these words, he says, Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right Peter speaks to the fact that when people suffer according to the will of God, that somehow God's will is that people suffer some kind of affliction, some kind of distress, some kind of hardship, because in faithfulness he afflicts their souls But when that happens, what do you need to do? You are to entrust yourself to your faithful creator

Peter is affirming the fact that God, the creator of the world, created that affliction specifically for you, that you might be conformed to the image of God And this is the great counsel that all Christians need to understand, that God creates them, God compels them, and God conforms them to his image He does that because he allows the affliction in our lives to burn away the dross, to burn away those things that keep us from being like him so that we might better reflect him to a lost world You know, God never makes a mistake He never does His way is constantly perfect

Listen to Deuteronomy 32. 32, verse number 4, Moses says these words, verse 3, Moses affirms the fact that God's ways are perfect Everything God does he does without a mistake In the fly leaf of my Bible, I always keep a quote, a quote that I've read to you before, but I always keep it there because it's a reminder of the fact that God never makes a mistake Last week I made a reference to the fact that my first wife died some 25 years ago, and upon her death I was able to examine the fact that my God was sovereign He never makes a mistake In this woman, A.M

Overton wrote these words, My father's way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad I know he maketh no mistake My cherished plans may go astray, my hopes may fade away, but still I'll trust my Lord to lead, for he doth know the way Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith, my all in him, he maketh no mistake There's so much now I cannot see, my eyesight's far too dim, but come what may I'll simply trust and leave it all to him, for by and by the mist will lift, and plain it all he'll make

Through all the way, though dark to me, he made not one mistake God never makes a mistake His ways are perfect, and in faithfulness he afflicts us because he wants us to be like him He would be unfaithful if he never allowed affliction to come into our lives He would not be the faithful God, he'd be the unfaithful God But the psalmist recognized that because he knew what was taking place in his life

He knew that if God was the creator and God fashioned him and God fashioned all the days of his life before there was even yet one of them, as Psalm 139 says, that he knows that God has the affliction already created down the road for him It will happen at the perfect timing of God And then he will say, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous You never judge in an unrighteous way, it's always a righteous way, God And that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me You know, sometimes we fight against God's affliction in our lives We fight against God's conforming methods in our lives

And I'm always reminded of the words of Peter over in 1 Peter 5, verse number 6, when he records these words, he says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at a proper time That phrase, the mighty hand of God, if you've been with us, you know, is referenced to the nation of Israel in two ways One, their deliverance And two, their discipline

And if you go back and you read the Old Testament, that phrase, the mighty hand of God or the mighty arm of God, is used at different times to describe how God delivered his people and how God disciplined his people And Peter is saying, you know what? You just need to humble yourself under God's mighty hand of discipline Under God's mighty hand of destiny Under God's mighty hand of deliverance Because he's in charge God exalts the humble He exalts them

If you want God to exalt you, if you want God to give you grace during your time of need, and you want him to exalt you, you need to stop striving You need to stop fighting against God's plan and his affliction You need to stop questioning God and say, God, you're in charge You've created me You're the one who compels me And you're the one who conforms me Because your hand, no man can thwart Your purpose is no man can change And therefore I trust you for all things and believe in you And that, my friend, is great counsel to anybody

So not only does he describe God's hand, but number two, he details for us God's heart He details for us God's heart in two ways God's heart to comfort him and God's heart to counsel him Listen to what he says Verse number 76 Oh, may thy lovingkindnesses comfort me according to thy word to thy servant Now listen to what he says He doesn't say, Lord, I ask that you remove the affliction that I might receive the comfort He asks that the lovingkindness, the tender mercies, the compassion of God, comfort him according to his word All the while, he's experiencing affliction

He's not asking God to remove the affliction Let me tell you something about the mature Christian versus the immature Christian The immature Christian says, Get me out of here, God Take this away from me The mature Christian says, You know what, Lord? Let me experience your lovingkindness and your mercy as I go through this affliction May it be according to your word That is so important Why? Because we, as people, tend to look at things in category bad as things that are not from God And we tend to think that if those things in category bad are removed, things will be better But not so

Because the creator of the universe creates and fashions each and every day so that I can become more like him and manifest him in a more appropriate way And therefore, the psalmist knows that He says, Lord, I want you to comfort me according to your word In other words, God's word will give you comfort amidst your affliction unlike anything else will because it describes to you the lovingkindness and mercies of your God You ever met somebody who, going through affliction, just receives absolutely no comfort? It's because they don't long and lean on God's word

Because when you go to God's word, that's where the comfort comes from That's what God wants you to do What did the psalmist say last week? Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word Now I keep your word Now I know that affliction drives me to the word of God And when I get there, I receive the comfort I need because your lovingkindness has come to me according to your word The mercies of God come in line with his word And so when I begin to study the word of God, I see how God comforts me. I see how God manifests his compassion toward me

And I begin to rejoice in all that he does Listen to Psalm 103 Psalm 103, verse number 8 The psalmist says, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever But he has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Folks, that's a good thing He doesn't deal with us according to our sins Could you imagine if he did that, where we'd be today? We'd be dead Because the wages of sin is death

Where would we be if God dealt with us according to our sins? He doesn't For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his lovingkindness toward those who fear him As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us Just as the Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him For he himself knows our frame He is mindful that we are but dust You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that God knows that we're nothing but a dirt clot That's it You ever had dirt clots? We used to throw them when I was a kid

You'd pick them up in your hand and you'd crush them They'd just melt in your hand, man You'd just crush them And the Bible says we're like dirt clots, just pieces of dust But you see, that's how God treats us because he knows how frail we are He knows And God, with his compassion, with his mercy, he is slow to anger Slow to anger He doesn't deal with us according to our iniquities If that was the case, we'd be in such big trouble But he knows that he needs to have pity upon us The psalmist knows that

So the psalmist knows that in his affliction, in his affliction, he needs God to deal with him according to his word because that's where he receives his comfort It comes from God's word Because as he studies the word of God, he begins to receive the counsel of God And so God's heart wants to comfort him and wants to counsel him God wants you to know his heart He wants you to know how it is he works And so the psalmist says, I want you to comfort me according to thy word, to thy servant May thy compassion come to me that I may live For thy law is my delight

You know, one thing God wants to see happen in our lives is that his law becomes the absolute delight of our soul He wants that to happen And the psalmist, listen, when God's word is your delight, you know that the compassions of God will keep you alive through your affliction, whatever it may be Whatever hardship you might face, you know that the compassions and mercies of God will keep you alive from day to day And so you go to his word to receive that comfort And when you receive the comfort, it comes to his counsel He teaches you about himself

He explains to you about his character and his nature He explains to you about his purposes for your life And we forget, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, that God comforts us in the midst of our affliction that we then in turn might be able to comfort other people when they go through their affliction God wants to do a work The psalmist knows that That's why people are so glad to see him when he walks into a room because he had his hope in God and God alone He trusted in his God He believed in his God He received comfort from his God

And so when he walked into the room, people are saying, how is it you receive that comfort? How is it you maintain your hope? How is it you do those things? Please tell us Show us that we might have that same kind of hope and might receive that same kind of comfort They wanted that from him And he was able to give it to them because he knew about the hand of God He knew about the heart of God How compassionate he was How kind he was He wanted God to comfort him. I love what the psalmist says He says, O may thy lovingkindnesses comfort me according to thy word to thy servant

He wanted to receive comfort from the word before he received it from anything else that might be superficial or neperal You know, when we go through affliction, we can receive some semblance of comfort through temporal means We can do that And it will give us a reprieve for a brief moment But the psalmist didn't want any kind of superficial comfort He wanted the real thing He wanted the deep thing He wanted to be soothed by God See, isn't it so neat? Listen carefully That the same arm of affliction was also the same arm of consolation and comfort

The arm that would strike him would be the arm that would soothe him See, that's the mature man of God He knows that God and his faithfulness afflicts him, yet he knows that God pities him and God is compassionate, knows his frame, so he cries out to God, depends upon God, because the only comfort he can receive is from the one who afflicts him That's the mature man And that's what a psalmist is And that's how others began to want to be around this guy, because he had a walk with God that was so contagious, that was so enthusiastic, that was so unlike everybody else

When he walked into the room, they wanted to be with that guy. I'm going to go stand next to him. I want to go sit next to him. I want to just listen to what he has to say. I want to just walk in the room with him, by him, so that some of that knowledge, some of that counsel and comfort he's received just kind of oozes out of him, and I can maybe glop onto it. I want to be around that kind of guy, because God's done a work in his life So those are the kind of people we want to be around They're not superficial people They're real people They're deep people

And that's the kind of people we should all desire to be, as well as desire to be around So the counsel for the Christian wraps up, number one, in describing the hand of God, detailing the heart of God, and number three, declaring the help of God You see, God's hand is so great His heart is so compassionate that all He can do is help you, and that's what the psalmist speaks of He declares God's help in three areas, for consistency, for companionship, and for commitment Listen to what he says

He says, verse number 78, May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on thy precepts You know, I've come to realize that there are two kinds of people in this life, ones that are ruled by the pride of life, and those who are ruled by the precepts of the Lord Two kinds of people, ruled by the pride of life, or ruled by the precepts of the Lord And the psalmist describes them to us He describes them by saying, listen, Lord, may the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie

The arrogant are the prideful people, the ones who want to destroy your life And so his cry for help is that somehow he would maintain a consistent lifestyle Listen, people are going to speak against you People are going to lie about you Maybe you've had that Maybe you've had people say things about you that just are not true, that are just so far out there that they're not even close to being true But they lie about you They malign your character They speak against you Let me tell you something Those people can only do one thing to hurt you, only one

And you are only hurt if they detract you from the purpose that God wants for you That's it You see, their whole purpose, and Satan uses them in our life to distract us from our meditation upon God's law You see, Satan wants to get you sidetracked, thinking about the lies, thinking about the way people have abused you with their words, and get you focused on that and get you focused off of him And the psalmist says, you know, the arrogant, may they be put to shame They subvert me with lies

But he says, but I shall meditate on thy precepts. I'm not going to lose focus. I'm going to maintain my focus Listen to what Charles Bridges says He says, learn in the hour of trial where to go and what to do Go to the word of God for direction and support Meditate in his precepts There is often a hurry of mind in times of difficulty which unhinges a soul from the simple exercise of faith But habit brings practice and steadiness and simplicity enabling us most sweetly to fix our hearts upon the word of God and to apply its directions and encouragements to the present exigency

Our enemies fight against us with an arm of flesh We resist them with the armor of the word of God And how inestimably precious is the armor, refuge, strength and consolation here provided for us against every effort to disturb our peace or separate our hearts from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The enemy wants to detract you, to get you off focus And the psalmist says, you know, they're going to lie about me They're going to speak against me Lord, I need you to shame them You've got to take care of them, Lord

Me, I'm going to meditate upon your precepts. I'm going to stay focused Folks, listen If you lead in any capacity whatsoever, you will be maligned You will be lied about People will speak against you People don't like the decisions you make That's just the way it is And if you're going to lead in the church, that's the way it's going to be as well There's another quote I keep in the flyleaf of my Bible. I keep two This is the second one Listen to what it says Stick to your work Do not flinch because the lion roars and do not stop to stone the devil's dogs

Do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits Do your work Let liars lie Let sectarians quarrel Let critics malign Let enemies accuse Let the devil do his worst, but see to it nothing hinders you from fulfilling with joy the work God has given you He has not commanded you to be admired or even to be esteemed He has never bidden you to defend your character He has not set you at work to contradict falsehood about yourself, which Satan's or God's servants may start to peddle, or to track down every rumor that threatens your reputation If you do these things, you will do nothing else

You will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord Keep at your work Let your aim be as steady as a star You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected, misunderstood, or assigned impure motives You may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being until at last you can say, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do Folks, that's it We get so sidetracked

The psalmist wasn't going to get sidetracked Let the liars lie Let them say what they're going to say But Lord, I'm going to meditate upon Your precepts. I'm going to stay focused on Your Word, because that's the only thing I can count on, because it's faithful and true, and that will conform me to Your image So, he declares God's help for consistency, that he might maintain a consistent pattern of living before his God and for those he comes in contact with, and then for companionship

For companionship, he says this in verse number 79, May those who fear Thee turn to me, even those who know Thy testimonies God, I need You to help me when it comes to companionship. I need those around me who fear Thy name and desire to do Your will and follow Your Word That's it That's the kind of people I need around me Companionship Remember Onocephalus in 2 Timothy chapter 1? His name means bringer of profit He was this kind of man He was the one when everybody else deserted Paul, he went searching for Paul there in that Mamertine prison that somehow he might find him

And Paul says in 2 Timothy 1, When he found me, he encouraged me He gave refreshment to me May God grant mercy to his household Here was a man who stayed focused Here was a man who left his family behind Here was a man who went to look for the Apostle Paul to be his companion, to refresh him, to encourage him during a time when everybody else left him alone He would come and he would sit in that prison with the Apostle Paul and he would bring the kind of companionship that a true man who fears God can bring that no one else can

He demonstrated the fact that he feared God and did not fear man by not worrying about who would know he was searching for the Apostle Paul or what might take place in his life if someone found out about his faith in Christ He was committed to his God The psalmist says, That's the kind of guys I need around me That's the kind of companionship I need People who fear the name of God more than anything else and who know the testimonies of God And then his last cry for help centers around commitment He says this, May my heart be blameless in thy statutes that I may not be ashamed

When all said and done, my heart, my heart, what's on the inside of me must be blameless before my God Must be pure and true and holy And therefore, I'll never be ashamed See, what brings shame is hypocrisy Hypocrisy comes when the life is not in line with the heart When what I say does not match who I am on the inside That's when hypocrisy arises That's when a man is shamed And he says, Lord, I don't want to be put to shame because I want my heart to be blameless. I want my heart to always be right before you. I want everything that I have said coming from the inside out

This is my heart's cry This is what I want to see happen in my life so that I can never be ashamed because my life and my lips are equal Everything matches up And therefore, I can truly say that I have lived for my God Let's pray together Father, we thank you for the truth of your word and the counsel it gives to Christians that we might see the hand of God and know the heart of God and cry for help from him because he is our comforter He is our counselor He is our God We thank you for the psalmist and his testimony and how you did such a magnificent work in his life

And our prayer, Lord, is that we would somehow begin to pursue that kind of life that we might give glory to your name In Jesus' name we pray Amen Amen.