God's Word: Pathway to Purity

It's so good to be able to be in the house of the Lord The psalmist said so clearly it was so good for me to be in the house of the Lord I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord And I pray Lord that tonight as we spend some time examining your word But father you would open up to us many priceless treasures that would enable us to live for your glory and honor in Jesus name Amen Psalm 119 Psalm 119 verses 9 to 16 We find ourselves encountering once again what the Word of God has to say concerning God's Word in this particular passage We're going to look at what is the pathway? to purity It's imperative that we understand we need to live a pure and holy life We need to come to grips with what the Bible has to say about that I love the words of Peter over in first Peter chapter 1 verse number 13 He says therefore gird your minds for action

Keep sober in spirit fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the direct revelation of Jesus Christ as Obedient children do not be conformed to the former loss which were yours in your ignorance But like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves Also in all your behavior Because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy We are to be a holy kind of people We are to be as holy as God himself is holy

The Bible says in Matthew 5 48 We are to be as perfect as God himself is Perfect in other words God wants to do a great and mighty work in our lives The Bible says through the pen of the Apostle Paul Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 17 this I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer Just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding excluded from the life of God Because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart and they having become callous have given themselves over to Sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness But you did not learn Christ in this way If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him just as truth is in Jesus That in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self Which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind And put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and of course in truth Again, Paul affirms that we are to live a life differently than the world The world offers no solutions to purity Alexander McLaren over a hundred years ago a great Bible teacher said this Concerning the world and its influence

He says the world is a great deal fuller of inducements to do wrong than of inducements to do right a great many bad things that have a deceptive appearance of pleasure a Great many circumstances in which it seems far easier to follow the worse than to follow the course And so unless a man has learned the great art of saying no So did not I because of the fear of the Lord he will come to rack and ruin without a doubt That's true Many of us are are ruined because we seek to find in the world What only God can give us and so psalm 119 Talks to us concerning the pathway to purity if we're going to reach an unholy community, we need to be a holy church an unholy church cannot reach an unholy community a Separated church can reach a sinful society But a church that's like the world will never win the world to Christ Therefore we must understand how important it is for us to be clean not only before the Lord but before man and the Bible tells us how to do that the Bible gives us that pathway to purity and so we're gonna read Psalm 119 and we're gonna find in Psalm 119 that these next section begins With the letter bathe in other words every verse begins with the word that starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet Now notice the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is also a word in Hebrew bathe is the word house Listen carefully the one I'm going to say unless unless God's Word is that home in Your heart it will not be at home in your house in other words the condition of your home is determined by the condition of your heart and So we will see that in Psalm 119 verses 9 to 16 that what takes place in the heart The deeper and greater the purity the deeper and greater the home The more impure the heart the more impure the home and So we need to understand what the Bible has to say

So like last week, I'm gonna read verse number 9 You'll read verse number 10 Don't worry about your translation

If you have the wrong one I know you'll repent of your sins get right with God and bring the new American standard with you next Wednesday night Okay, I'll read verse 9 you read verse 10 I'll read 11 you read 12 and so forth down to verse number 16 number 9 How can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to thy word? Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee With my lips I have told of all thine ordinances of thy mouth. I Will meditate on thy precepts and regard thy ways Paul told Timothy in 1st Timothy 4 verse number 12 He was a young man Mid 30s

He said Timothy make sure that you set yourself up as an example In your speech in your life in your love in your faith and in your purity If you're going to be a leader in your church Timothy, you must set an example in these five specific areas and One of those of course is purity Timothy if you're ever going to be a leader in your church, you got to live a pure and holy life He'd have to remind Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 that he needed to flee youthful lusts and pursue faith and pursue righteousness and pursue holiness and The same is true for us It's imperative that we as parents live a life of purity in our home The greatest deterrent to the spiritual growth of your family is an impure husband and father the greatest deterrent to the growth of a church is Impurity among the elders and staff and leaders of that church This is so crucial that everybody I know or Hope to know should listen to what we have to say this evening Because it's God's Word and God's Word speaks to us about the pathway to purity Notice it begins point number one with a question How? How? Can a young man? keep his way pure That's the question that that is the right question That is a great question You need to ask that question In fact, every parent needs to ask that question of their children Of course after they ask it of themselves But they need to ask it of their children Because your children need to know the how question is a biblical question

It's a great question Remember Job over in chapter 9 verse number 2 said how can a man? Be made right before God Good question How can a man be made right? before God Over in Deuteronomy 18 verse number 21 the children of Israel asked how shall we know? The word which the Lord has not spoken in other words because of false prophets They had to know which words God has spoken in which words God hasn't spoken

So how shall we know? Good question again over in Luke chapter 1 verse number 34 Mary asked a question about how can this thing be? Since I am a virgin When the angel Gabriel came to her and told her that she would be with child and that child would be the son of the Most High God she wondered how can that possibly be? If you ever have a concordance and you have the chance to go through all the how questions in the Bible great questions But this one is Absolutely crucial

How is it that a young man keeps? His way pure now, does that mean that the question should not be asked of a young woman? No Does that mean the question shouldn't be asked of an older man or older woman? No, it should be asked of everyone But the time the question asks is asked is crucial young people find all kinds of difficulty all kinds of peer pressure all Kinds of heartache in their junior high high school and college years and Therefore there is a question that they must ask themselves and we as parents must be able to communicate to that to them About how they can keep their ways pure all their ways their ways mentally physically emotionally relationally Sexually all those things the ways of a man Must be pure they must Be holy and so the question comes

How is it that a young man can keep his way? pure You know, that's going to be a struggle through your whole life purity purity of heart purity of mind Purity of thought soul purity of action purity of words It's a struggle your whole life and yet It's imperative that we understand the question and the answer to the question How is it that a young man can keep his way? pure The Bible says in Proverbs 30 verse number 12 I think it is that there is a generation That is pure in their own eyes and yet Have not been washed from their filthiness You know a lot of people think they're pure they do They think they they live in a realm of purity and They think their lives are clean But yet many people have yet to be washed from their filthiness again the book of Proverbs 20th chapter 9th verse Says who can say I have cleansed my heart. I am pure from my sins Who can say that? Well, no one can say it unless God has cleansed you first

John 1 7 says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins But remember what acts 15 9 says it says hearts are purified by faith Hearts are purified By faith faith is believing in what God has already said So if I'm going to live a pure and holy life I must believe and what God has already said so we move from the question to point number two the revelation What is the revelation? What is it? I need to know in order to live a pure life How is that a young man can keep his way pure the answer here it is by keeping it according to thy word That's it There is no other way That's it And some of you might be thinking with that's just a little bit too simplistic Really you think so? Let me tell you something doing Keeping applying in a diligent manner

The Word of God is the only way to live a pure life There is no other way How is it that a young man can keep his way pure? By keeping it according to the Word of God

That's the revelation The revelation demand is this you need to know that in order to live a pure life you have to do What God says? Simple as that Our problem is listen We don't want to do that That's our problem we just don't want to do what God says We live a life bent toward doing wrong and we'll talk about that here in a moment But but that's the answer Living it according to the Word of God John 15 3 Christ said you have been made clean Through the word which I've spoken unto you Peter said this over in first Peter chapter 1 verse number 22 since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another Peter says you purified your souls out of obedience to the truth out of obedience to God's Word You have obeyed what God has said you have lived in light of his glorious Word the Bible says very clearly in The temptation of Christ in Matthew 4 1 to 11 when Christ battled Satan he said it is written It is written it is written Because he gave for us the pattern by which we overcome temptation Christ is is perfect Christ is never going to sin He could have said to Satan be gone from the very beginning get out of here I want nothing to do with you and he'd have been perfectly fine in doing so But he left a pattern for you and I to follow and that is it is Written there is a specific word for a specific temptation and our job is to know what that word is So that we might be able to overcome the temptation that comes our way But the only way that a man can keep his way pure whether he's young or old Whether it's a woman who's young or old it's keeping it according to the Word of God It's obeying what God himself Has said that is the revelation listen to Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse number 18 Moses says You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead And you shall teach them to your sons talking to them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise Up and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates So that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied in the land Which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them as long as the heavens remain above the earth For if you are careful to keep all the commandment which I am commanding you to do it to love the Lord your God to walk in all his ways and Hold fast to him then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you and You will dispossess Nations greater and mightier than you Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours Your border shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the river the river Euphrates as far as the Western Sea There shall be No man able to stand before you the Lord your God shall lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot as He has spoken to you See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse the blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God Which I am commanding you today and the curse if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God But turn aside for the way which I am commanding you today That is as simple and as basic as God can make it You want your life to be blessed? Obey me Do what I say and you will see the blessing of the Lord if you want your life to be cursed Don't do what I say Live as you want to live Notice if you will verse Psalm 119 verse number one How blessed are those whose way is blameless? Who walk in the law of the Lord? How blessed are those who observe his testimonies who seek him with all their heart? The blessed life is the one centered around obedience to God How can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to the word of God Listen to the words of Charles Spurgeon He wrote these words young man The Bible must be your chart and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible and you must study your Bible that you may take heed To your daily life with the greatest care a man will go astray if his map misleads him But with the most accurate map, he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it The narrow way was never hit upon by chance Neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life We can sin without thought we have only to neglect the great salvation and ruin our Souls and to obey the Lord and walk up rightly We'll need all our heart and soul and mind Spurgeon says very clearly

This is your map You hold it in your hand Now you can follow it And live a pure life But it does you no good to hold it in your hand and not follow it You see it was rightly said that dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives so true While at times people bring their Bibles when they come to church, but they never read them or open them throughout the week They gotta blow the dust off them to bring in the church But sin as Spurgeon said will keep you from the book or the book will keep you from sin One of the two so if you're not in the book, it's because you're sinning if you're in the book you sin less simple as that And so the Bible says here's the question

How can a young man keep his way pure answer? Here's the revelation by keeping it according to the Word of God That's What it is the great Puritan Thomas Watson records these words By looking into this pure crystal we are changed into the image of it The word is both a glass to show us the spots of our souls and a laver to wash them away the word breathes nothing, but purity it Irradiates the mind it consecrates the heart That's what God's Word does So you move from the question to the revelation to number three the dedication Once you know that the only way to live a pure life is to keep it according to the Word of God There must be a dedication on your part

That's verse number 10 with all my heart I have sought thee do not let me wander from thy commandments Here was a psalmist dedication With all my heart I have sought thee listen if God's Word is the only thing That's going to give me a pure and holy life then when I Keep God's Word when I seek God's Word what I'm seeking is God himself You see the more you read the Word of God the more you study the Word of God the more you study God the more You read about God the better you come to understand who God is And so the psalmist says I now seek you with all of my heart It's not about seeking more understanding or more knowledge or more information It's about seeking God and knowing him with all of my heart Listen carefully a lot of people Their basic problem is this They sin because they seek God half-heartedly not wholeheartedly Listen the chief pursuit in life is God Once you begin to waver in that dedication and not give it your all You will fall by the wayside Our life is bent toward going away from God That's why the psalmist said with my whole heart. I have sought thee

Oh, do not let me wander from my commandments He knows his desire He knows the direction of his heart He knows that he's prone to wander He knows he he's prone to turn away from the commandments of God He pleads with him

Oh Lord. I don't want to do that I'm prone. I'm bent to go another direction But Lord, I want to seek you with all of my heart How about you is What you do with your whole heart for God Or do you give lip service to God or do you just kind of go into it's like going into the marriage half-heartedly, right? I mean either you go into the marriage with all you got and give it all you have Or you better not get married You just can't go in and do it Do a half good job as a husband or a wife You go in you dedicate all that you have to make it that marriage what God wants it to be And in our relationship with the Lord, we got to seek him with all of our heart

We give everything to him It's a no-holds-barred commitment Where we serve him with all? that we have you can't Say you're you're gonna Serve the Lord with your whole heart and keep one eye in society and one eye in the scriptures Or one eye in the text and one eye in the TV You know, we always seem to be distracted from our commitment to God And you you know, you know those people that are dedicated, you know those people who give their all You know, I coach baseball and be coaching for years And I love players who who die for baseballs who give their all who? Slide when they have to slide who run the guy over when they got to run them over

They are never holding back You don't want guys holding back You want them giving their all? Well same is true in our walk with the Lord

You got to give all that you got The psalmist said here's my dedication based on the revelation that By keeping God's Word. I'll Maintain a pure and holy life that I want to dedicate my life to doing it with all of my heart All that I have this is so crucial Call lady that had come to our church and she gave a testimony to me one day She said, you know before I came to this church, she goes I smoked like a freight train But as soon as I came to Christ Community Church I realized that the Word of God was paramount and I had to keep myself into the Word of God and you know what? I haven't picked up a cigarette since a day. I darken the door Christ Community Church Because I realized how important God's Word is and The more I come the more I realize how important it is the more I pour myself into it and God has broken me of that And I've realized that purity stems from a commitment to the Word of God How about you? What struggles do you have? What temptations you have? difficulty overcoming How could a young man keep his way pure by obeying and keeping the Word of God? And if that's the case then there needs to be a dedication that says okay all that I have Lord I'm going after you because that's what I want to do number four Valuation Okay, verse 11 thy word. I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against thee Now comes the valuation that is how much value am I going to place on the Word of God? I Need to treasure it. I need to protect it. I need to guard it I need to watch over it

It must be the most important item. I possess It must be more valuable than riches It must be more valuable than my family It must be more valuable than anything else God's Word is the treasure That's why over in Matthew chapter 13 You had that parable in verse number 44 the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid and from joy over he goes and sells all that he has and Buys that field it's a parable about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is like a treasure The kingdom of God is is the presence of God

It's it's it's it's a relationship with the Living God It's the gospel of God and when the man finds a treasure He realizes how valuable it is and is willing to sell all that he has just so that he could obtain it because he realizes the value of the kingdom of God and the psalmist says I have Treasured your word in my heart that I might not sin Against thee very important because he says The reason you are so important to me and the reason I treasure your word is because Lord I don't want to do anything to violate my relationship with you Isn't that what Joseph said in Genesis 39 When Potiphar's wife came after him She grabbed him And said lie with me And he said to her, you know, my master has given me charge of over everything in this house and I can do anything in this house that I want to with anything here except you and How can I do this and sin? against my God He knew That his sin was against God Was it against Potiphar? Yes, it would have been would it be against Potiphar's wife? It would have been But the main thing was the sin against God You see the reason we don't treasure God's word in our heart is because we are more concerned About sinning against our brother than we are about sinning against God there's a big difference there a big difference and We need to be primarily concerned with violating the law of God and violating that relationship we have with the Living God and The psalmist says here's my valuation

Here's how I value the Word of God It's this I've looked at it I've realized that it's the priceless treasure

It's the only thing that keeps me from sitting against my God. I do not want to do that and Therefore because I've made this dedication to search you with my whole heart because I know the only revelation to the Question of how could a young man keep his way pure is by keeping it according to the Word of God Therefore God's Word is so valuable to me because I want to live a pure in holy life You see it comes comes down to that question, doesn't it? How pure do you want to be? How holy do you want to be? How Christ-like do you want to be do you want to be like Christ or you don't want to be like Christ Do you want to honor God or do you not want to honor God? It comes down to a very basic decision that every one of us faces Every temptation that comes our way

We got two choices The choice of pleasure or the choice of pain Pleasure is a sinful route pain is the obedient route How do we know that Hebrews 11? Moses Instead of Enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God He chose the path of obedience The path of obedience is the painful path the path of disobedience is the pleasurable path But it's temporary pleasure and it's temporary pain Because that God's right hand our pleasures forevermore when you choose the path of obedience And we choose the path of disobedience The answer is there is a way was seen with right into a man But the ends thereof are the ways of death not life So every time you have a choice It's a choice between pleasure and pain the pleasures temporary and the pain is temporary Because the painful route will always take you to pleasures with God and the pleasurable route will always take you to ultimate pain Because you're away from God But that's a choice we all make In our desire should be to treasure the Word of God in our hearts To protect it to guard it then we talked about last week Proverbs chapter 4 Guard your heart with all diligence For out of it flow all the springs of life all the issues of life flow out of your heart So you got to guard it

You got to protect it You got to watch over it Yeah, as parents you got you got to take your children You got to sit your children down say, okay We need to guard our hearts How are we gonna guard our hearts? How are we gonna protect the heart? Well, you protect the heart by treasuring God's Word in the heart By by using God's Word as the most valuable thing that you have and Treasuring it in your heart because it's the only way that you're gonna maintain a pure and holy life

That's it There is no other way No other way if there was God would have told us But this is the only way it's God's way It's in line with what he said This is what he wants us to do Number five the instruction The instruction the pathway to purity involves instruction verse number 12 Blessed art thou

Oh Lord teach me thy statutes Folks listen the pathway to purity is one that realizes that the only answer to the question to a pure life is keeping God's Holy Word and Dedicating my life to keeping that word To do that. I've got a value God's Word more than anything else And when I do listen, I'm gonna ask God to teach me Can you imagine we all have God as a teacher? I? Know some of you like to come in here and hear me not all of you, but some of you do I understand that but you know, we we have God as our teacher And we need to understand how important that is the psalmist would continually cry for Instruction from his God teach me your statutes

Listen to what he says He says over in verse number 24 26 I have told my ways and thou hast answered me teach me thy statutes Verse number 33 teach me Oh Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall observe it to the end Again, he cries for the Lord to teach him verse number 64

The earth is full of thy loving-kindness Oh Lord, teach me thy statutes verse 66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge for I believe in thy Commandments verse number 108 Oh accept the freewill offerings of my mouth the Lord and teach me mine ordinances first 124 deal with thy servant according to thy loving-kindness and teach me thy statutes verse 135 make thy face shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes verse 171 let my lips utter praise for thou dost teach me Thy statutes so when you come to the end of the psalm He says Lord, I'm gonna utter praise to you because you have taught me your statutes You see there was a longing for God to teach him There was a longing for him to be the pupil and God to be the teacher and to sit on his feet and learn About what those statutes are about what those precepts are Lord Ah, if I'm gonna keep your word, I got to know what your word says. I Asking you to teach me I want to be the learned man And I want to grow in my walk with you remember over in John chapter 16 It says this John chapter 16 verse number 13 but when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth For he will not speak of his own initiative But whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come He should glorify me for he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you all things that the father has are mine Therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you first Corinthians chapter 2 Verse number 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world But the Spirit is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God Which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom But in those taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts and spiritual words But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishest to him and he cannot understand them Because they are spiritually appraised But he was spiritual appraises all things yet He himself was appraised by no man for who has known the mind of the law of the Lord that he should instruct him But we have the mind of Christ Salma says Teach me. I want to be instructed. I want to know what your word says So I can keep it. I Value it

It is the priceless treasure that I own I'm dedicating to keeping it with all my heart Because I know it's the only way that I can keep my way pure So Lord teach me what it says That should be the cry of everybody's heart who knows the Lord Jesus You know the young man The text is addressed to the young man How shall a young man keep his way pure? The young man tends to be the arrogant man, doesn't he? Young man thinks he knows everything The young man thinks that he's smarter than everybody else I remember my son drew as soon as he went into high school

He thought I knew everything You know, he thought boy that was it. I'm in high school Now. I know everything Only did he realize that he knew nothing Nothing at all But see young men tend to be arrogant Prideful And this young man says teach me Teach me teachability teachability and humility go hand in hand and Never do we ever get to a point where we are Unteachable or at least we should never get to that point

We should never think that there's nothing else to learn There's no other way to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord We should always maintain that teachable spirit But the pathway to purity also includes verse number 13 point number 6 proclamation proclamation It says with my lips. I have told of all the ordinances of thy Mouth oh You know, you know one of the first indicators of a pure life is your speech out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, right I Can tell your spiritual condition? Just by listening to the words that you say, did you know that? By listening to your words how you speak husbands how you speak to your wives I Can tell your spiritual condition? Wives how you answer your husband's I? Can tell your spiritual condition children? How do you respond to authority? I can talk or tell about your spiritual condition out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks What comes out of your mouth is the truest indicator as to what's in The heart

Yes, you can lie Yes, you can be deceptive people of that way But you know what when you begin to speak It gives us the temperature of your spiritual condition And this man in Psalm 119 says, you know what Lord with my lips I have told all the ordinances of thy mouth You know what? I'm gonna speak it If you teach me I'm gonna tell it If you instruct me, I'm gonna speak it So others will know so they too can be a part of of the blessing

He wants to speak that which he has learned You're less likely to speak evil of others when your heart is pure You're less likely to tear down your brother And tear down your fellow man when your heart is Pure you're less likely to gossip about people in the church and when your heart is pure You won't tell dirty jokes when your heart is pure You want to speak the things of God you want to speak the ordinances of God you want to speak the things of God? I love what Charles Spurgeon says about this verse

He says this It will be an effectual method of cleansing a young man's way if he addicts himself continually to preaching the gospel He cannot go far wrong in judgment whose whole soul is occupied in setting forth the judgments of the Lord By teaching we learn by training the tongue to holy speech We master the whole body by familiarity with the divine procedure We are made to delight in righteousness and thus in a threefold manner Our way is cleansed by our proclaiming the way of the Lord He says very simply when you begin to dedicate your life to proclaiming God's Word

It is a self-cleansing agent Why because you begin to speak the pure words of God number one? And as you begin to speak the fear the pure words of God in order for you to verbalize the things of God you must really be able to actualize God himself in your life and The man of God does that because he realizes That in order to keep his way pure He must keep it according to the Word of God That's the pathway to purity and Then verse number seven there is jubilation

Listen to what he says I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all Riches now if David is the Psalmist many people believe that David was the one who who wrote Psalm 119 and maybe he was if he was Then he was a very rich man, right? He had all kinds of wealth and So if David's writing this he is saying I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches In other words the testimonies of God are more valuable to me than my storehouse of treasures in the bank Why? psalm 19 Very clearly says these words the law of the Lord is perfect and it restores my soul The testimony of the Lord is sure it makes wise and simple the precepts of the Lord are right They rejoice the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and enlightens the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean during forever The judgments of the Lord are true

They are righteous altogether

They are more desirable than gold Yes than much fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the drippings of the honeycomb Moreover by them my servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward In keeping them there is reward by them I am warned I am cautioned I know what is right. I know what is wrong This is the most valuable thing I possess Therefore I rejoice in thy testimonies as much as in all riches Jubilation The pathway to purity Verse 15 meditation. I will meditate on thy Precepts Psalmist would speak of this frequently verse 23, even though princes sit and talk against me thy servant meditates on thy statutes verse 48 and I shall lift up my hands to thy commandments which I love and I will meditate on thy statutes verse 78 May the arrogant be ashamed For they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on thy precepts Verse number 97

Oh, I love thy law It is my meditation all the day Verse 99 I have more insight than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my Meditation and then over in verse 148 It says this My eyes anticipate the night watches that I may meditate on my word Meditation is a pathway to purity To be able to contemplate the words of God Meditation takes time, right? Remember that song take time to be holy And we only see one verse of it, you know, he's gonna hurry through it We don't take the time to be holy It takes time to be holy It takes time to meditate upon the Word of God if you want a quick fix

It doesn't happen Meditation takes time You got a chew on it You got a chew on it over and over and over again Meditation involves memorization The ability to memorize the text to be able to repeat the text over and over again It's the word that that speaks of inaudible murmuring Saying the word over and over and over and over again It involves memorization it involves Contemplation it involves submission to those things that you contemplate That's what meditation is about. I love what? Yeah, Thomas Watson said I'm sorry, Thomas Brooks who said these words about meditation

They usually thrive best who meditate most And that's true because God's Word actually becomes a part of their lives When you watch cows chew, they chew they chew they cheer watch couch you Do the same thing over for four minutes on in Chewing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over this keep doing it Oh, just go to a farm one day watch a cow chew. I Mean, that's what meditation is all about Over and over and over so it can become digested in the soul The psalmist says this is what I want to do The Word of God is more than information to the head It's inspiration for the heart and our hearts need to be inspired by the truth of God's Holy Word remember in Luke 2 19 when Mary treasured up all these things in her heart and She pondered them when the shepherds came and spoke to her about all that the angels had said to them

It was overwhelming and Mary lived a life of meditation Pondering over and over again all the things that was said to her by the angel Gabriel To the angel that came and spoke to the to the shepherds and they came and made their way to her It was overwhelming, but she would treasure these things

She would ponder these things She would meditate upon them over and over and over Again, because that is the pathway to purity Number nine examination The latter part of verse number 15 I will meditate on my precepts and regard thy Ways in other words, I'm gonna study that ways. I'm going to examine thy ways You see when I meditate upon the Word of God, I begin to understand more about who God is I see his ways I begin to watch his works and now I'm going to examine all those things There's gonna be an examination of the way God operates in the way He works because I want God to be a part of all of my life It's easy to examine men

It's a lot harder to examine the master for example Examining the life of Joseph how he overcame temptation that's examination and Comparing it to the life of David King David and how he succumbed to temptation How was it that this man after God's own heart would succumb to temptation with that Bathsheba and Joseph a young man when Surrounded by this woman who grabbed him was able to resist and run But David just by overlooking the city saw Bathsheba and was tempted and Had to get her to come to his chambers How was it this man David would succumb to temptation and Joseph would be able to flee and run temptation but when you read Samuel's account of the life of David you realize that it was a season when Kings go to war but this King He didn't go to war He stayed back He was irresponsible in his daily duties and He began to withdraw from fulfilling his responsibilities Found himself wandering about when he should be in battle with his men Fell into temptation You see examination of the scriptures helps us begin to understand Okay What is that I need to do in my life to maintain a pure and holy life that I might be obedient to the Word of God and number ten the decision Listen to what the psalmist said I shall delight in thy statutes I shall not forget Thy word That's the decision everybody needs to make Lord, I'm gonna delight in what I find out When I examine your word and I begin to understand it because you teach me you're the teacher and I'm the pupil and they're gonna instruct me and I'm gonna rejoice after all that I've seen and I'm gonna meditate upon it and I'm gonna examine it over and Over again Lord. I am gonna delight in what I see and what I hear and you know what Lord I'm not going to forget it

How many times do we go to church on Sunday? Hear a sermon and forget it on Monday How many times you open your Bible in the morning read a verse or a passage and forget it by noon? Folks this is a decision

We all need to make I will not forget thy precepts. I will not forget thy word I will not forget thy testimonies thy statutes Lord. I will remember dishonest made a decision he said with all my heart I have sought thee first 11 I have treasured your word in my heart first 13 I have told all the ordinances of thy mouth first 14 I have Rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies verse 15. I will Meditate on thy precepts verse 16. I shall delight in thy statutes I shall not forget thy word this man Was the decision maker And he made the right choice How about you What choices are you making? Why is this so important Why is it that I need to keep my way pure Why is it I need to treasure God's Word in my heart and guard my heart So I live a pure and holy

Why is this so crucial simply this? Blessed are the pure in heart for they and they only Shall see God The reason it's the only way you're going to see God It's not that you're just gonna go see him when you die But that you actually see him Spiritually with a spiritual eye in the Word of God The one who's pure in heart Actually is able to see the Lord God on the pages of the scriptures That's why over in John chapter 14 the Lord said these words John 14 verse 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and he who loves me shall be loved by my father and I will love him and I will Manifest myself to him Let me ask you this question You want to know whether or not you got a pure life? You got a pure heart? Just ask yourself how well you see the Living God That's your answer Let's pray Our Most Gracious Heavenly Father we thank you so much for the truth of your word The pathway to purity Oh Lord, we need a pure and holy life Lord you are so true and pure and holy and clean and you've called us to be just like you And I pray for every man and woman boy and girl in this room today That Lord they would make the decision the psalm was made I Shall delight in thy statutes and I shall not forget thy word May we not forget those things we've learned tonight May we hold them dear to our heart That we might glorify our great King in Jesus name