God's Word: Guidelines for the Godly

Let's pray father we thank you once again that we have the wonderful opportunity to spend This day this night in the middle of the week in the word of god Excuse me, and I pray lord that you would teach us much about you And that lord as a result of teaching us You might make us walk in your commandments We pray in jesus name amen Turn with me in your bible to psalm 119 As we look at guidelines for the godly Psalm 119 tells us about god's word and how it gives us guidelines by which we are to live our life You know as we talked about these three men who were instrumental in putting together and formulating our doctrinal statement I'm reminded of the fact that if you were to go to a church today Just about any church that would start up and ask someone to formulate a doctrinal statement Most people in the church today Had not grown up in churches where the word of god has been taught and so their doctrinal statements would be not very detailed because they didn't know or don't know nearly as much as These men knew when they began to formulate this doctrinal statement because they grew up in the church They grew up in good bible teaching churches and were taught the word of god and grew in their walk with the lord And unfortunately, there are many people today growing up in churches where the word of god is not taught And they have a hard time formulating what it is

They believe But god's word is that which gives us the guidelines for living And if you want to live a godly life then god's word gives us the parameters by which that happens If you want to end your life, well, you need to live well And if you're going to live well, you need to know what the bible says about living a godly holy life And that's what we want to talk about this evening. I mean, that's why you're here I mean you want to come because you want to know what the word of god says about how your life should be lived And so we're going to do what we've done in the past I'll read the odd verses you read the even verses psalm 119 verses 33 down to verse number 40 Verse 33 teach me oh lord the way of thy statutes and I shall observe it to the end Make me walk in the path of thy commandments for I delight in it Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me in thy ways Turn away my reproach which I dread for thine ordinances are good Behold Once again, we find ourselves embarking on just a very valuable portion of scripture all of it's valuable, but it just seems that as I studied each and every week that's so Applicable to my life and what god has for me that week and so we want to look at three aspects Of the godly we want to begin by looking at the the cry Of the godly and then the conviction of the godly and then the concern of the godly And then I want you to in your own mind as we go through these begin to evaluate where you stand spiritually Where are you in terms of the cry of the godly? Are the psalmist cries? the same as your cries And then the conviction of the godly What is it about the psalmist that caused great conviction in his life and are they the same convictions that you have and then number three determine What are the concerns in your life? This godly man had three main concerns And we want to be able to look at them this evening and see if they're the same concerns that we have Because they will determine our direction in life

They will determine how we end our life and they will determine how well we live from this day forward Let's begin by looking at the cry Of the godly three cries teach me Give me and make me First of all verse number 33 teach me oh lord the way Of thy statutes This is the first cry of the godly man The godly woman they cry for god to teach him the way Of his statutes god's word Gives us the guideline by which we are to live our lives The statutes tell us the way we are to live our lives And the psalmist has a cry lord. I want you to teach me the way Of your statutes

We don't have to ask anybody to teach us how to sin We just do that because that's our nature to sin But we need to be taught the statutes of god Think about this this this psalmist if it's king david, he's up in years He's older

He's asking god to teach him You know, that's important because as we get older in life, we should be longing for god to teach us as When we're young Think of the apostle paul in second timothy chapter four when he wrote that great last epistle He said come to me quickly timothy come and bring for me the books first second before verse number 13 bring the books and the parchments Here was this great apostle up in years Lying in the mamertine prison And what was his desire? to learn more to be taught more Because the word of god is an endless treasure And as we get up in years we should be singing and crying the heart of the psalmist teach me Oh lord the way of thy statutes listen to psalm 27 verse number 11 The psalmist said teach me thy way

Oh lord and lead me in a level path because of my foes This is the cry of psalmists all throughout psalm 86 verse number 11 Teach me thy way Oh lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name Lord, if you teach me your ways I'll walk in your truth And my heart will be united That means it won't be divided It'll come together so that I can live wholeheartedly for you The psalmist had a cry that the lord would teach him the way Of a statute job 21 verse number 14 tells us that the ungodly do not desire the way of god They don't desire for god to teach them

They just want to live their way And this psalmist is looking for god to teach him That's the first cry of the godly man He wants to be taught the way of thy statutes Why? Listen to what he says and I shall observe it to the end That's good I'm not going to observe it for a week or two or three Or a year or two or three i'm going to observe it to the end lord if you teach me I will observe your statutes All the way to the very end that's faithfulness That's commitment

Can you make that commitment? Can you make the commitment that says lord when I go to church and i'm taught by you I will keep your commandments And observe them all the way To the end the end of what the end of your life the fullness of your life that's why paul could say in second before I have Kept the faith I have fought the fight But he kept the faith that is he kept Pure and true to the faith all the way to the end He didn't compromise the faith He didn't turn his back on the faith He kept the faith all the way to the end and the psalmist says lord if you teach me Then I will observe your testimonies all the way to the very end He was committed And that's the way we need to be as long as I breathe I will obey your word Paul would say over in first timothy chapter six these words first timothy chapter six verse number 14 Paul told timothy you keep the commandment without staying or reproach until the appearing of our lord jesus christ Timothy you need to be a man of god and to be a man of god You need to keep the commandments of god without staying and without reproach until the appearing Of our lord and savior jesus christ, that's all the way to the end And that's the way we should live our lives

And so the the first cry of the godly man is teach me lord Teach me your statutes if you teach me here's my commitment I will keep your commandments all the way to the end

The second cry of the godly man is give me understanding verse 34 Give me understanding that I may observe thy Law he wants to understand What it is his god teaches him He really truly wants to apply to his life Everything that his god teaches him Lord if you teach me Then I need you to give me understanding Folks this is so important remember over in colossians chapter 1 verse number 9 Paul would pray there for the church of colossae these words colossians chapter 1 verse number 9 For this reason also since the day we heard of it We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the lord If you're filled with spiritual wisdom If you're filled with understanding then you will walk In a way that's worthy of the lord or you will walk in a manner that's equal to the way god wants you to walk How is that to please him in all respects? The godly man wants to please god he does that because he has understanding He says bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god strengthen with all power according to his glorious might For the attaining of all steadfastness and patience joyously giving Thanks to the father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light give me understanding remember luke 24 45 It says that jesus opened the mind of the disciples that they would understand the truth of the old testament over in first john chapter 5 verse number 20 First john 5 verse number 20

It says these words And we know that the son of god has come and has given us understanding In order that we might know him who is true And we are in him who is true in his son jesus christ We know that the son of god has come And that son has given us understanding remember proverbs chapter 1 I believe it is Proverbs i'm sorry proverbs 9 verse number 10 not the knowledge of the holy one is understanding To know god is to understand god And knowledge of the holy one gives one You and me understanding as to how we are to live our lives the more we know god the more understanding we have to live the godlike life The less we know god then the less we know about how we are to live our lives That's why it's so important to preach and teach the word of god because it's all about who god is And if we don't spend our time studying god's word and memorizing god's word and meditating upon god's word and being taught God's word then we won't know god and we will not have understanding And the psalmist would cry give me understanding That I may observe thy law Look at proverbs 24 with me for a moment proverbs 24 verse number 3 Remember the bible says in proverbs 3 that we are to trust in the lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding right So many times we lean on our own understanding Well, that's not very good Why because we need to acknowledge god in all of our ways

He'll direct our paths He'll lead us in the way that we should go but we tend to lean on what we believe is right What we believe to be true other than what god's word says is true Listen to proverbs 24 verse number 3 by wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches By understanding the house is established

It's a hebrew word which means to stand erect Sometimes our houses you ever seen a house begin to crumble Not physically not the the structure of the house, but the people in the house You ever seen the people in the house begin to to to fray and to come apart It's because there's no understanding To who god is And the bible says remember psalm 127 verse number one unless the lord builds the house they labor in vain Who build it? So unless god builds your house everything you do Is empty it's in vain A lot of people I know Have nice homes

They do all they can to make that house work But on the inner structure of that house that is inside the rooms There's nothing Filled as the bible says with precious and pleasant riches Instead there's turmoil There's rebellion There's heartache There's pain Why? Because the lord's not building the house

How does the lord build the house? simply wisdom understanding and knowledge Without those three components a house cannot stand the test of adversity It will always fall And so if you want your house to stand erect in other words to be restored to a point where it's able to flourish You need to have understanding Look what the bible says over in proverbs chapter 14 proverbs chapter 14 Verse number 29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding Just in case you were wondering whether or not you had understanding or not

The bible says he who is slow to anger Has great Understanding in other words if you're going to build your house on being Understanding that is understanding who god is because the knowledge of the holy one is understanding that means In your home you are slow to anger You got a long fuse You got a short fuse in your house, you know somebody with a short fuse That means their knowledge of the holy one is lacking Because those who have understanding have a long fuse The verse goes on to say but he who is quick tempered exalts folly Chapter 15 verse number 21 says it this way Folly is joy to him who lacks sense But a man of understanding walks Straight He walks right Because he has understanding of the holy one proverbs 17 verse number 21 27 i'm, sorry He who restrains his words has knowledge And he who has a cool spirit Is a man of understanding Isn't that good? You got a cool spirit Or you got a hot spirit He who has a cool spirit Is a man of understanding Look over in proverbs 18 verse number 2 a fool does not delight in understanding Are you a fool Or do you delight in understanding? the holy one remember james chapter 3 Verse number 13 who among you is wise and understanding People say i'm wise I have understanding I have a knowledge of the holy one

So james asks a question who among you is wise who among you has understanding Who among you is able to apprehend the truth? Because you're wise and then you're able to apply the truth to life because you have understanding Well james answers the question for us

Listen to what he says Let him show by his good behavior his deeds In the gentleness of wisdom But if you have bitter jealousy And selfish ambition in your heart Do not be arrogant and so lie Against the truth this wisdom is not that which comes down from above but it's earthly natural and demonic Now listen in your home is there rivalry is there bitter jealousy Is there selfish ambition On your part as a spouse Well, the bible says who among you has this kind of understanding Who is the wise man if the house is going to be built on understanding? If it's going to stand erect because we have knowledge of the holy one Then we know that there can't be selfish ambition and there can't be jealousy in the home Because that's not wisdom from above that's wisdom from below

That's demonic wisdom Then he says this For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist There is disorder and every evil thing Yeah See this is why you need to build your house On understanding the knowledge of the holy one Because if there's selfish ambition and there's jealousy there's going to be disorder in the home And there's going to be every other thing that's evil in the home your house will be filled with evil That's why it's not standing erect That's why it's beginning to falter and fall by the wayside because there's no knowledge of the holy one which produces understanding in the life of the individual then it says But the wisdom from above It's first pure then peaceable gentle and then it says Reasonable that word reasonable means teachable or one who receives Instruction Isn't it good? Wisdom from above receives instruction the wise man the understanding man is willing to listen to instruction He delights in understanding not according to proverbs 18 2 the fool does not delight in understanding But the wise man does delight in understanding

He wants to know more by because he has a teachable spirit This is what makes psalm 119 So great The psalmist says teach me oh lord The way of your statutes Why does he say that? It's because he's a man of understanding

He's a man of reasonableness He's a man who wants to be taught the truth of god's holy word and james says this house This man is full of mercy and good fruits unwavering without Hypocrisy There's no hypocrisy with the man of understanding because he has knowledge Of the holy one Isn't that good? This is so deep and so rich to begin to grasp and to understand the cry of the godly heart Teach me Give me understanding teach me your statutes And then he says Oh remember remember solomon first kings 3 9 What did he ask the lord for he asked the lord for an understanding? spirit God says you can ask me anything you want Whatever you want you ask i'll give it to you Solomon says these are your people I need an understanding spirit to judge them properly if you're a father today That should be the cry of your heart lord these This family these children of mine this wife of mine

They are your chosen people Give me an understanding spirit that I might be able to judge between right and wrong Because these are your people and they need to be led properly Listen to what the psalmist says back at psalm 119 he says Give me understanding that I may observe thy law

Oh, by the way Just in case you didn't know the key to understanding Is obedience to what god says Let me show it to you verse 99 of psalm 119 It says I have more insight than all my teachers For thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the aged Because I have observed thy precepts Why does he have understanding it's because he does what god says that's why look over in verse number 104 104 From thy precepts I get understanding therefore. I hate every false way Your precepts give me understanding why because your precepts give me a knowledge of the holy one and proverbs 10 tells us that knowledge of the holy one is understanding and therefore I hate every false way verse 169 says it this way Let my cry come before thee oh lord give me understanding according to thy word again the psalmist cries lord Here is my cry Give me understanding According to thy word listen When you obey god's word You are a person who increases in understanding god And the psalmist says Give me understanding I'll observe thy law And he says and keep it with my whole heart with all my heart That's good

So not only is he going to observe the word of god all the way to the end He's going to do it with a whole heart That is an undivided heart That is a complete heart In other words, he is going to obey all the way to the end wholeheartedly It's not a half-hearted obedience I gotta obey the lord all the way to the day I die or till he comes back again I wish I could do it another way But I guess i'm gonna have to give the lord at least a quarter of my heart All the way to the end

No psalmist says with all my heart with my whole heart you give me understanding And with all that I have all the way to the end I'll obey Folks that's a commitment That's a deep commitment

How many people you know got got that kind of commitment? All the way to the end, I mean we can't even stay married long enough most people can't Can't stay married more than three or four or five years We can't even complete our marriage vows We can't we can't complete our our commitment at our job We can't even Keep our commitment in the church to volunteer for six months See let alone all the way to the end with a whole heart with an undivided heart A heart that's fixed completely upon god That means he's going to do it enthusiastically He's going to do it energetically he's going to do it with all of his Ability because he wants to serve His god remember ephesians chapter 6 says that we are to do the will of god from the heart From the inside out That's the cry of the godly man the godly woman teach me The way of your statutes give me understanding Give me understanding Then make me walk in the path of thy commandments Here's his third cry make me walk Make me walk in the path of thy commandments You has you have made me know now make me go You see his desire to obey Is demonstrated By his desire to have god move him in that direction Make me I'm taught by you to understand And I want to live your word to the end With all that I have but he also knows How frail his commitment can be So he says lord make me Make me walk in that path Make me lord That's what I want to do you know when I think of the psalmist with his whole heart, I i'm i'm I I think of that and you know, I realize that so many times as as christians we get so excited about things That mean nothing But the psalmist was excited about the things that meant everything The psalmist said in psalm 1 and 22, I was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the lord That's where he wanted to be Right

He wanted to be in the house of the lord He wanted to be there because his heart was committed to following god Today, we we are so glad that that that we can get away for the weekend and and get a break That we can go on vacation The the vacation becomes more exciting to us and more stimulating to us than our time with god Something's wrong somewhere The psalmist said I was so glad when they said to me let's go to the house of the lord Wow, that's that's excitement That's wholeheartedness That's enthusiasm That's energy That's drive

That's passion That's desire And so many times we get excited About other things that really don't mean that much they're so frivolous and so temporary But psalmist Oh, he was his was his delight Was in the law of the lord that's why he said Make me walk in the path that I commandments for I delight in it Lord if you give me Delight I will delight If you show me the way Then I will delight in it That's good And that's the cry of the godly man So you gotta ask yourself

Is that your cry? Do you cry for god to teach you the way of his statutes? Do you cry for god to give you understanding do you cry for god to make you walk in his path? That's the cry of the godly man He wants to be like his god So it consumes his thinking number two the conviction of the godly The conviction of the godly He's convicted about sinful desires He's convicted about meanness activities And so he begins to realize that the more he asks god to do these things in his life The more aware he is of those things that will distract him and keep him from doing those things maturity

Listen maturity in the life of a believer always understands depravity Maturity understands depravity The more mature you are in christ the more you understand the depravity of your soul And that's what the psalmist does here Listen to what listen to this

He says this verse number 36 incline my heart to thy testimonies and not to dishonest gain Maybe your text says and not to covetousness That's dishonest gain That is the desire for things And believing that what you pursue will somehow give worth and value to your life That's the covetous person That's the 10th commandment thou shalt not covet and then it names shall not covet your neighbor's wife You shall not covet your neighbor's cow or in this vernacular your neighbor's car You should not covet your neighbor's this or your neighbor's that why you should not be in a mode where you are constantly doing Or wanting something in your heart that you cannot have and cannot obtain but will do all you can to obtain it dishonest gain Getting in a way that that is wrong And so it deals with the covetous of the heart

That's why luke 12 says beware of covetousness Why because man's life does not consist in the abundance of things in which he possesses Oh, we think it does because we keep accumulating all kinds of riches So we think that somehow the more we accumulate then the better we are but man's life does not consist of that and that's why christ says beware of Covetousness why because covetousness according to ephesians 5 5 is idolatry It's idolatry And we got to be careful about setting up something else in our heart that's what the psalmist says incline my heart incline my heart To thy testimonies lord And not to dishonest gain Covetousness is a hard issue

Is it not? It stems from what's inside the heart of a person So you can have nothing but want everything and that's covetousness It's called the secret sin The tenth commandment is the secret sin Because it's necessary It's not necessarily visible on the outside But it but it's on the inside and it controls your emotions

It controls your desires It controls your passions And you got to beware Of covetousness Covetousness the bible says in proverbs 23 love this verse proverbs 23 Verse number four Do not weary yourself to gain wealth Cease From your consideration of it When you set your eyes on it It is gone For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens Isn't that good? It's so true I mean the whole bible is true, but but the lord is just so practical Don't set your heart on on gaining wealth Don't even consider Even thinking about getting rich But we do all the time

Don't we don't even think about it We're thinking about how how I could how I could become the first, you know good christian millionaire, you know i'm saying Uh, or how I can be a good christian and win the lotto and still give a good testimony at church about winning the lotto You know, we we have all these ideas in our mind and the bible says, you know Don't even consider getting rich Why because money's like Money has wings on it

It just kind of flies away and it's here one moment and gone the next And that's why the bible says lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth Where moth and rust doth corrupt but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven Where thieves can't break in the steel Where moths and rust don't don't corrupt Because it has eternal value see And so the psalmist knows That he wants god to teach him He wants god to give him understanding and he wants god to make him walk in that path, but he also knows the desires of his heart That's a godly man It's like paul He says i'm the chief of all sinners See How could that be? I mean the dude wrote 13 different epistles in the new testament He was used by god in a mighty way He says i'm the chief of sinners, I know i'm the worst there is out there i'm the least of all the apostles We think of him as the greatest of all the apostles

We we think of him as the least of all the sinners But maturity Real maturity That's not false humility by paul He really knows his heart's condition

That's why in romans 7 He he wrote that that long diatribe about the inner desires of the heart and how he does things That he doesn't want to do He knows what he should do, but he doesn't do those things and there's this struggle in the inward man Constant struggle day in and day out because he's a man who's growing in his walk with god And as he grows he realizes more and more the struggle of his heart and that's what the psalmist is saying Oh lord incline my heart to keep thy testimonies And not to dishonest gain focus my heart on the right things not the wrong things And that's the way our lives should be Because the conviction of the godly Is the conviction of idolatry? It's the conviction of covetousness Lord, I I don't I don't want to covet I don't want to desire that which I don't have that will lead me to dishonest gain lord. I know my heart I want to do the right thing I want to honor you And then this is so good he says Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me In thy ways So what he does is he deals with the inner the inner man the heart right incline my heart Deal with my heart lord And then lord turn my eyes from looking at vanity So he goes from idolatry to vanity from covetousness to worthlessness Lord if you if you deal with my heart Then I need you turn my eyes Away, he doesn't say shut my eyes does he He says turn my eyes because your eyes have always Got to be focused on the right direction, right? Fix your eyes upon jesus the author and finisher of your faith Set your affections on things above not on things below

So he doesn't say lord Shut my eyes to vain things He says no lord turn my eyes from looking at those vain things Turn my eyes Ah, would it be Would it be That lot would have asked his god to turn his eyes from looking at the vain things Remember a lot One of my favorite old testament stories is about lot Every time I I go to israel and we drive by Or down to the dead sea I'm reminded of lots I'm reminded what the bible says about remembering lot's wife

Oh, she couldn't help but turn her eyes to look back If she'd cry like a psalmist lord turn my eyes From looking at the vain things the empty things the worthless things but lot's wife just couldn't resist Looking one last time at the mall and sodom She just couldn't turn her eyes from all the vain things And god said don't turn don't look Don't even look back, but she just couldn't keep her eyes From turning And I can't help but think that somehow her husband Had an influence in how she looked that day I'm not blaming the lot for his wife's turning and looking But can you think with me back to genesis chapter 13 for a moment when it says this In verse number 10 and lot lifted up his eyes And saw all the valley of the jordan That it was well watered everywhere

This was before the lord destroyed sodom and gomorrah He turned He saw the valley of jordan He'd gotten a taste of the good life way back when he went down To egypt With uncle abraham And when he had a chance one more time to turn the eyes and look upon the valley, oh it looked good Because in his heart there was a longing See the longing always leads to the looking That's why christ said in matthew chapter 5 verse number 48 that You have heard that it was said By the ancients of old Do not commit adultery But I say to you that whoever looks upon a woman And lusts after her he has already committed adultery in his heart It's not the lustful looking that causes a man to commit adultery in the heart It's the adulterous heart that causes a man to look lustfully upon a woman It's the heart issue And so there was a longing in the in the soul of of lot And that longing led him to look toward sodom sodom and once he looked toward sodom he began to lean Toward sodom How do we know that? verse number 12 abram settled in the land of canaan While lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as sodom He longed in his heart for the vain things He looked then toward those vain empty things And once he began to look he began to lean toward sodom And then once he leaned towards sodom he lived in sodom verse number 14 Uh, excuse me verse number 12 of chapter 14 For he was living in sodom He longed for sodom He longed for the vain things He looked then at the vain things He began to lean toward those vain things And then he began to live in the midst of those vain things Then genesis chapter 19 verse number 1 Now the two angels came to sodom in the evening as lot was sitting in the gate of sodom When you read the commentators in genesis 19 you begin to realize that now he had a leadership position in the city of sodom So now not only did he long For the vain things not only did he look toward the vain things Not only did he lean toward those vain things and not only did he begin to live among the vain things He now was leading in the city of vain things Why Because truly he began to love the vain things And you know the testimony of lot don't you he lost It all He lost it all he lost his home He lost his family His wife his daughters in the sin and the iniquity The consequences of this man's life He lost his family his city his legacy his testimony and his credibility Why Because he wasn't like the psalmist who said incline my heart To keep thy testimonies Incline my heart So that won't be moving toward covetousness and dishonest gain turn my eyes Even the man who was after god's own heart Didn't turn his eyes You can read about david and basheba in first samuel Where he didn't turn his eyes From looking at the vain things because his heart Was not right and yet the bible says that he was a man after god's own heart Which is very important to understand Because it means that if you're a man after god's own heart You humbly repent of your sin And david becomes the man who humbly repents of his sin After he lost his kingdom After he lost his leadership after his son usurped his authority and began to overthrow him So important to understand That we need to ask god to turn our eyes Not shut our eyes Because we need to be focused on the right things

Listen to what charles spurgeon says about covetousness He says this is the incarnation of nature and grace must put a negative upon it This vice is as injurious as it is common It is as mean As it is miserable It is idolatry And so it dethrones god It is selfishness

And so it is cruel to all in its power It is sordid gain greed and so it would sell the lord himself for pieces of silver It is a degrading groveling hardening Deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely in christ-like he Who is covetous? is of the race Of judas And will in all probability Turn out to be himself a son of perdition The crime of covetousness is common, but very few will confess it For when a man heaps up gold in his heart the dust of it blows into his eyes And he cannot see his own faults Our hearts must have some object of desire And the only way to keep out worldly gain is to put in its place the testimonies of the lord If we are inclined or bent one way we shall be turned from the other In quote so true hard words but beware our lord says of covetousness And so the the conviction of the godly man Is the conviction of the sin that he so easily commits The sin of covetousness and the sin of worthlessness the sin of vanity and the sin of idolatry Read ecclesiastes and read that solomon says, you know, I had the money to do whatever I wanted to do So I did whatever I wanted to do I went wherever I wanted to go and I bought whatever I wanted to buy and when it was all said and done I came to this conclusion It was all vanity under the sun It's all soap bubbles That's what it is

That's the word vanity means soap bubbles It's all it is they're here one moment and then poof they're gone it means nothing It holds no value holds nothing And solomon said I had all the money. I wanted all the women. I wanted all the houses I wanted all the chariots. I wanted all the horses. I wanted the kingdom I went I had it all and when it was all said and done, I realized it's just nothing It's nothing there

It's empty It's valueless It's worthless Solomons knowing that Ask god to make sure he deals with his heart first Why remember proverbs chapter 4 verse number 23 Salma says these words Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life verse 25 Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you If your heart is not right if you don't guard your heart you can't fix your gaze on the things of god you can't And the psalmist knows that that's why it's the it's the conviction of the godly man He cries for god to teach him he cries for god to give him understanding He cries for god to make him walk in the right path because he knows in his heart That covetousness Is there? He knows that in his heart It will cause him to turn and look in the wrong direction That's why job said I have made a covenant with my eyes Not to look lustfully upon a woman Made that covenant with his eyes with his eyes And so we begin to see The guidelines for the godly What do you cry for? What are your convictions? And then we have the concern of the godly man three of them reverence reproach and revival he says Very clearly verse number 38 establish thy word to thy servant as that which produces reverence for thee Confirm your word to me seal your word in my heart lord I want you to incline my heart to your testimonies

But lord, not only do I want you to lean it there I want you to stabilize confirm and settle and seal my heart around your word So that I will learn to fear your name Fear your name listen We read god's word And one of three things happens number one We forsake it Number two, we forget it Number three we fear it We read god's word and we forsake it because we don't like what it says Or we read god's word and forget it because we come become so preoccupied With the mundane things that it drowns out what we should be doing or we read god's word and we fear it Why Because we have developed a reverence and a holiness of our god We revere him as the lord god of the universe And the psalmist knows about what it means to fear the lord and and we are to live in the fear of the lord all Day long

Well, how do you live in the fear all of the fear of the lord all day long? Well, listen fear comes upon a man When he recognizes the he's in the presence of the superior king of the universe And the only way you recognize you're in the presence of a superior is to be in the word on a regular basis And so the psalmist understands that And in order for him to have a reverence for his god a fear of his god He must have his heart fixed sealed with the word of god And so his concern Is that he would revere in reverence his god This is my concern That's why I need you to establish my heart lord according to thy testimonies according to thy statutes Seal it confirm it wrap it up So that I will have the reverence I need for you Number two reproach He says Verse 39 turn away my reproach which I dread for thine ordinances are good Now folks, there's two kinds of reproach One is you suffer reproach for the sake of christ because you're a testimony for the lord

Jesus christ, right? Matthew 5 verses 10 to 12 read about it in first peter over and over and over again Okay, you were called for this to be a blessing to others Peter says christ says blessed are you when men persecute you when men revile you and speak all kinds of evil against you For my name's sake he says why because you find yourself among the greatest of the prophets And you're suffering from my name So there's a kind of reproach that we should not fear but there's another kind of reproach We should fear and we should be concerned about and that's the reproach that david brought upon the name of god because of his sin remember over in in uh I think it's second samuel Second samuel chapter 12 Nathan comes to david and says in verse number 13 David said to nathan I have sinned against the lord and nathan said to david the lord also has taken away your sin You shall not die David recognized that he was a sinner

He had sinned against god He had sinned against uriah He had sinned against basheba

He had sinned against the kingdom of god He had sinned against god and nathan says god has wiped away your sin david But forgiveness never negates the consequences of sin We forget that don't we? We think that we've been forgiven therefore there are no consequences wrong wrong Forgiveness never negates consequences Listen to the next verse however Because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the lord to blaspheme The child also that is born to you shall surely die Today Because of your sin You have caused the enemies of god to blaspheme Our god to speak evil against him See, that's the reproach the psalmist dreads

That should be the the reproach all of us dread that lord I'm going to do something that's going to bring reproach upon the name of christ bring reproach about upon the The family of god to bring reproach upon my own personal family

That's the kind of concern every one of us should have Every one of us should have that as a major concern of our lives that our sin Although personally committed Will affect the name of my god in the community Will affect my church Will affect my family It'll bring reproach upon the kingdom of god The psalmist recognizes that Says lord turn away my reproach which I dread for that ordinances are good Oh that word is so good

And then he says Behold that long for thy precepts revive me through thy righteousness He doesn't want to dishonor or discredit anything about the name of god His concern is that there'd be no reproach upon the name of god His concern is that there'd be reverence on his part for the name of god And there's a concern that there'd be revival in his own life that god would quicken him to live strong So that he might live long That was his concern And he knew that only the righteous ordinances would do that Only his word would accomplish that in his life And that's the concern of the godly man What are your concerns today? Are your concerns that you would learn to revere in reverence the name of god in his word Is that a chief concern of yours? It is the godly man Is it a chief concern of yours that you don't bring a reproach upon the kingdom of god the name of god the church of god The family of god that's the concern of the godly man Is it your concern that there'll be revival in your heart that god quicken you That you might live according to his righteous standards That should be all of our concerns because that's the concern of the godly man Thus we read in psalm 119 verses 33 to 40 god's word and the guidelines For the godly let's pray Our most gracious heavenly father what a joy it is to know That your word spells out for us the truth Lord every one of us in our hearts has to deal with covetousness It's not just in some people it's in all people And lord you you've made that very clear in your word Forgive us for our lack of contentment with where you've placed us And lord because of there's covetousness in our heart we we tend to turn and look at those things That bring satisfaction to that Empty part of our life, but in reality they don't So psalmist would say turn My eyes from looking at the vain things Would it be that that would be our cry Turn our eyes lord Help us to keep them fixed and focused above upon you And may we follow these guidelines that we too could learn to be a godly man a godly woman For the glory of the kingdom of god We pray in jesus name Amen