God's Word: Understanding for the Undeserving

You have allowed us one more evening to study your word We thank you Lord for this opportunity We know that there are many other things we could be doing many other places We could be attending and yet Lord We are here this evening To sit at your feet to hear your words because truly your words are the greatest of all So we pray that you teach us about you that we might grow in our walk with you in Jesus name

Amen Turn to Psalm 119 Psalm 119, I don't know about you, but I tell you I have had the most incredible time studying this chapter I'm gonna be sad when it's over, but it's a great chapter and I have learned so much About my Lord and about how he works in my own life personally And I praise the Lord that we have had this opportunity to study verse by verse Through Psalm 119 and I trust you'll cherish this time I trust that if you haven't been here for all of them that you get the CDs the tapes so that you can continue to Listen to them because it tells us a lot about the Word of God and how specifically this evening how God gives understanding to those who truly are Undeserving and the Bible says in the very first phrase of Psalm 119 verse number 129 thy testimonies are Wonderful now think about that

God's Word is absolutely wonderful What goes through your mind when you think about that? What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you think that God's Word is wonderful? well turn with me if you would to Psalm 139 and let me see if I can shed some light on that for you as To what the Bible says about how God's Word truly is wonderful Psalmist knew that the testimonies of God were truly wonderful

So what does that mean? Well Psalm 139 a very familiar psalm reads as follows Oh Lord thou has searched me and known me thou does know when I sit down and when I rise up Thou does understand my thoughts from afar thou does scrutinize my path and my lying down and art intimately acquainted with all my ways Even before there is a word on my tongue behold O Lord thou does know it all Thou hast enclosed me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me Such knowledge is too What's next word? Wonderful for me and then here's the explanation of it

It is too high. I cannot attain it God is wonderful His words are Wonderful and in the Hebrew, it's a word that means Incomprehensible Indescribable The testimonies of God are absolutely beyond anything. I can ever begin to comprehend They go way beyond me the psalmist in Psalm 139 said Lord, you know my words before I even speak them You're intimately acquainted with all my ways, you know everything I'm gonna do before I actually do it Lord This is way beyond me. I can't even begin to fathom that And the psalmist in Psalm 119 says Lord thy testimonies are wonderful

In other words, they are Incomprehensible The Bible says this about the wonders of God It says that God's works are wonderful The works of God are wonderful In other words, they are Incomprehensible they're indescribable over in Psalm 40 verse number 5 reads as follows Many O Lord my God are the wonders which thou has done and thy thoughts toward us There is none to compare with thee if I would declare and speak of them

They would be too numerous to count Over in Psalm 107 it says this on four occasions verse 8 verse 15 verse 21 and verse 31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving-kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men The psalmist would repeat that over again because of God's loving-kindness Because of his mercy his wonders go beyond anything He can imagine and then over in Isaiah chapter 25 verse number 1 O Lord thou art my God I would exalt thee I will give thanks to thy name for thou hast worked wonders plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness The works of God are wonderful

In other words, they are indescribable they are incomprehensible The psalmist knew that the testimonies of God were wonderful, but the Bible says that the works of God are wonderful You know sometimes when we go and look at our lives We don't necessarily understand God's working and how he works everything out after the counsel of his own will But God is in complete control of all things and how God actually does what he does is beyond anything We can imagine I was sharing with our elders on on Monday night about how God had taken care of everything Concerning the the purchase of our new home and to cut a long story short, you know It took us a while to get a loan We couldn't get a loan for for a long time because they're not doing a hundred percent financing anymore I needed a hundred percent financing But no banks were giving a hundred percent financing Until one day at the last minute there was a guy he was able to work it out so we could get a loan we Finally got our loan and it was right before we had to close on our new home and The fires broke out in Southern, California Well, the bank we are going through is not in Southern, California So the people who don't live in California watch TV and they think California is all ablaze They think everything's burning down so None of the banks were processing loans because of the fires After what had taken place in Louisiana with Katrina There was a lot of fraud that had taken place and so with this disaster in California all the banks had put their loans on hold because of the fires Why because people would try to pull one over on the bank

So the banks just stopped giving any loans well, that was a problem for us because we had to close our home by the 31st of October and we kept waiting for them to process our loan, but they wouldn't do it so we had to send them pictures of our home to show them that it was still standing and Even after we showed them that it was still standing

They still didn't believe it Why because the builder dropped the price of our home a hundred and eleven thousand dollars Well, we think that's a great thing But the bank processing the loan says wait a minute if your builders dropping it a hundred eleven thousand dollars There must be some damage to it some fire damage to it So take another picture of it and send it to us and this thing happened over and over and over again and God was working everything out after the counsel of his own will because through the whole process of Our selling and buying a home we learned that God wanted us to trust him every step of the way Every step of the way and he didn't let us think for one moment

We could sell a home He didn't let us think for one moment that our realtor could sell a home Because you know the verse of Psalm 127 verse number one unless the Lord builds a house that labor in vain to build it Well, unless the Lord sells the house they labor in vain to try to sell it And so we began to learn that God was teaching us to trust him and so I was sharing with the elders we sat down one night after we got into our home our new home and all the Children sat around in a circle and we asked them what it is

They'd like best about their new home and Every one of the children except for Avery because she doesn't really articulate things very well She's only two But all the one every children said Said in essence these words our new home We like best our new home because of what God taught us about getting into the home And we saw that what has taken place was our children were learning what it means to trust God through the whole process Because they had to see the works of God

They're incomprehensible and God kept teaching us Trust me believe me. I'll get you out of your home I'll get you into a new home, but don't think for one moment you have any control over the situation because you have none I'm in complete control of all things and we had to learn that in a very simple way and God kept testing us Day after day after day and we came to realize God's works are beyond Incomprehension because he has a plan and that plan does include his children But it's gonna go according to his time frame

And so the Bible says that the works of God are Incomprehensible they're indescribable

And then it says this it says that the wisdom of God is Incomprehensible, by the way, we haven't got to your outline yet This is all introductory material that though that the that the wisdom of God is Incomprehensible if you're still in Isaiah Isaiah chapter 28 verse number 29 says this This also comes from the Lord of hosts who has made his counsel Wonderful and his wisdom great God's wisdom is Incomprehensible that's why Paul would say over in Romans chapter 11 verse number 33 those familiar words when he says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor or who? Has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again For from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever Amen Paul after discussing the salvation of Israel in the salvation of the Gentiles Came to realize as we all need to that the wisdom of God God's plan and how he works Everything out after the counsel of his will goes so deep and so far Beyond us because his wisdom is vast His wisdom is incomprehensible because it's wonderful his works are incomprehensible because they're wonderful and Then the Word of God is incomprehensible because it too is Wonderful, and that's what the psalmist is teaching

That's the psalm 119 verse number 129 that God's Word is Wonderful now we know the Bible says that God himself is wonderful right Isaiah chapter 9 verse number 6 This son that is given this child that's born his name will be called wonderful Judges 13 tells us that when the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah, he told him that his name was wonderful incomprehensible Way beyond anything we can imagine and so when we come to Psalm 119 We begin to realize that the psalmist has come to a point in his life where he says, you know what God's testimonies are Just simply incomprehensible They are so vast so deep so rich so full so infinite that I can't even begin to grasp the wonder of God and that's what Psalm 119 teaches us and So the psalmist begins to explain to us why? God's testimonies are wonderful

So we have two points We want to cover with you Number one is that the priorities of the psalmist reveal to us the wonder of God's Word and then the prayer of the psalmist records for us the wonder of God's Word Okay, so Psalm 119 verse number 129 says thy Testimonies are wonderful Therefore my soul observes them the priority of the psalmist is this that God's Word is so wonderful that There is a dedication in his life to keeping the Word of God Priority number one is dedication He is completely dedicated to keeping the Word of God

So let's ask ourself this question I was in my study today thinking about okay How is it? God's Word is wonderful Well, number one is wonderful because of its supremacy It's wonderful because of its supremacy Psalm 138 verse number two says thy word

Oh Lord is magnified even as thy very Name and the name of God is wonderful and So we realize that the testimonies of God are wonderful because of its supremacy It goes way beyond anything on this earth It is so high so vast so deep so rich because of its supremacy Number two God's Word is wonderful because of its sufficiency its sufficiency God's Word is complete Psalm 19 7 Psalm 19 verse number 7 says the law of the Lord is perfect complete sufficient restoring the soul you see the reason God's Word is so wonderful not just because of its supremacy, but because of its sufficiency That's why second Timothy 3 16 and 17 says that the man of God will be thoroughly complete thoroughly furnished Thoroughly put together because of what God's Word can do God's Word is powerful enough to equip the soul to mend the soul to make the soul what it needs to be to make The man of God what God wants him to be everything that you need to have in life is in this book It's the Word of God And therefore God's Word is wonderful because number one

It's sufficient its sufficiency number two It's supremacy number three God's Word is wonderful because of its simplicity its simplicity listen to Psalm 19 verse number 7 It says the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Verse number eight the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the word pure meaning lucid The psalmist is saying that God's Word is so clear That it's not puzzling It's not mystifying

It's not confusing You see God's Word is wonderful because of its simplicity You can talk to a child about God and His Word and they can begin to understand it because of the Simplicity of God's Word That's why it's so wonderful It's supremacy It's sufficiency its simplicity its Sagacity good word It's sagacity It means it's wisdom it imparts wisdom God's Word is so wise

That's why I read earlier Psalm 19 verse number 7 it says that The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3 verse number 15 that thou hast known the holy scriptures that have made thee wise unto salvation Why is God so wonderful because it takes the simple-minded man makes him wise Makes him wise to the things of God makes him wise to the salvation of God So God's Word is wonderful because of its supremacy its sufficiency its simplicity It's sagacity and then number five because of its stability There is nothing that stabilizes a life that's out of control than the Word of God Nothing there's nothing more powerful than the Word of God to stabilize a life the Bible over in Psalm 119 verse number 24 a verse we've already covered says thy testimonies Also are my delight

They are my Counselors and then over in verse number 165 Those who love thy law have great peace Nothing causes them to stumble It stabilizes the believer it causes them to stand strong and steadfast God's Word is wonderful that psalmist says thy testimonies are wonderful because he understands the Supremacy of his word He understands the sufficiency of his word He understands the simplicity of his word He understands the sagacity and the stability of his word, but there's more he also understands the serenity of his word Psalm 97 verse Number, I'm sorry

Psalm 94 verse number 19 when my anxious thoughts Well up within me thy testimonies are my delight thy Consolations are my delight there's something about the Word of God that brings peace to the soul There's something about God's Word that soothes the soul

That's why through Psalm 119 We've seen over again that the psalmist cries out to God to comfort him to revive him through his word Because of the serenity the peace the calmness that God's Word gives Psalmist knew that that's why God's Word is wonderful, but it's also wonderful because of its security its security John 5 24 talks about that those who hear my words will have eternal life First John 5 13 says that these things are written that you may know that you have Eternal life

There's nothing that secures the individual more than the Word of God Show me a person who's insecure. I'll show you a person who's not in the Word of God You show me a person who's secure and I'll show you a person who's anchored in the Word of God So God's Word is wonderful

Why because of its supremacy because of its sufficiency because of its simplicity because of its sagacity because of its stability serenity Security but most important God's Word is wonderful because of its story the great story of redemption God's Word explains to us the wonderful story of how God's plan unfolds throughout the ages to save sinners like you and me and That's why God's Word Is so wonderful and the psalmist says thy testimonies are wonderful therefore My soul observes You see if you've experienced the peace that God's Word gives If you've experienced the the wisdom that it gives the security that it gives if you've experienced the sufficiency that it gives if you've experienced the simplicity that it is if you've Experienced the sufficiency that God's Word completes the man You'll do what it says You will And that's what the psalmist says

He says hey listen because God's testimonies are wonderful. I'm just gonna do what it says I'm gonna observe them. I'm gonna observe them in my mind I'm gonna observe them in my mouth I'm gonna observe them in my manners I'm gonna observe them in my marriage I'm gonna observe them in my ministry. I'm gonna observe them in the marketplace I'm going to observe them with my money. I'm gonna observe them every single aspect of my life I'm gonna do what God's Word says because of its sufficiency You see that's what that's where we need to be Why is it people don't want to do what God's Word says because they don't see it as wonderful They see something else as more wonderful than the Word of God How can that be How is it we as Christians can see something else greater than God's Holy Word It's our source of life It's our source of strength

It's our source of salvation

It's our source of growth It's our source of transformation It's our source of joy and satisfaction And so we look at the Word of God and begin to realize this is everything the psalmist knew that So he could cry with a priority that says I am dedicated to observing the law of God The testimonies of God why because God's Word is absolutely wonderful See if Christ himself is wonderful and Christ is that word That word should be wonderful to us This word should be as wonderful to us as Jesus Christ himself because Jesus Christ is the word see Need to come to grips with that So first of all, there's his dedication second of all, there's his illumination or his clarification Look at this in verse number 30 the unfolding of thy words gives light it gives understanding to the simple the unfolding of God's Word gives Light you ever ever been in a room where the Sun starts to shine in the room You know I wake up in the morning and and it's great because my kids are still sleeping the Sun begins to rise and it begins to Just come up over the horizon and begin to peek through my windows And I'm sitting there Spending time with the Lord with the Lord and as the Sun peeks through I see something I see all these particles of dirt in the air because light always reveals Dirt I Think my house is pretty clean. I Try to keep a clean car a clean house clean office clean life. I try to keep things clean I don't like dirty things. I try to keep them clean. I don't like dirty dishes. I don't like dirty floors I don't like dirty rooms clean your room tonight Just checking But you see that's all important to me. I think you need to keep an orderly house See, so here I am sitting spending time with the Lord and the Sun comes into my house and all of a sudden I see my house is dirty There is dirt everywhere and the Sun reveals dirt the unfolding of thy words Gives light and When you open the Word of God, guess what happens? You see the dirt in your life You know what else got light does lot light reveals disorder It reveals all kinds of disorder you go into a room keep the light off You don't know whether it's orderly or disorderly, right? Turn the light on and guess what? The books are messed up

The chairs are out of place

The dishes are on the floor, you know You can see the disorderliness of the room Well, you turn the light on and all of a sudden the disorder is revealed And so we begin to understand that when the God's words Opened I begin to see the disorder of my attitude the disorder of my relationships the disorder of my actions Because God's Word reveals those things Because when you open the Word of God it unfolds as you unfold God's Word it begins to shine the light and light reveals dirt light reveals disorder light reveals direction Light reveals direction You could grope around in the dark not knowing where you're going trying to make sense of what's happening Turn the light on you know where to go, you know where to get to the door You know how to get out of the house or out of the room, but without the light on it being pitch dark There is no direction

You don't know where to go

You don't know what step to take but as God's Word is unfolded You know What the steps are? That you need to take God's Word When opened the light shines it reveals all the dirt reveals all the disorder Reveals the direction you should go and reveals the desires of your heart Doesn't it? It reveals the desires of your heart It reveals what it is your heart pants for and longs for And when you look at the psalmist his heart his desire Demonstrated a true passion for the Word of God And the psalmist says very clearly the unfolding of thy words gives light it gives understanding To the simple remember we told you the word simple in Hebrew means open door In other words the open door lets things go in and out indiscriminately and in order for you to have Wisdom you need to be able to know when to close the door And so God's Word because of the light that shines the light begins to show you how to be discriminant so you can discriminate between that what is wrong and that which is right and Therefore the psalmist knows that he can make wise decisions When God's Word is open unfolded before him because of the light that shines down Upon his life Boy, that is just so good because we all look for direction We all need to know where to go or what to say, right? We know how to make things Happen in terms of what God wants us to do

Well God's Word reveals that direction to us But I found over the years that because at Christ Community Church We are so committed to unfolding the Word of God and letting the light shine that a lot of people who come When they see that that light shines down on the dirt and disorderliness of their lives They don't want to do anything about it You ever been to someone's home? That's completely dirty and disorderly and you go to the home and you say hey, you gotta clean this thing up This place is a mess Sometimes people get upset don't they? Don't come here Talk to me about my house

This is my house You can't come in here and tell me how to clean my house where things ought to be in my this is my house If I want to live in dirt and disorder, I will a lot of Christians are that way the light shines and They just like the dirt and disorder of their lives

They don't want direction And they don't want their desires to be revealed They just like the dirt remember men love darkness rather than light because of deeds are evil Man tends to lean toward the darkness Not toward the light So you come to a place where God's Word is unfolded and light Continually exposes the areas of your life that you don't want exposed You either change or you leave Because you don't want those things exposed and the psalmist says the unfolding of our words gives light it gives understanding to one who is completely undeserving and it gives me the Opportunity to know when to close the door and when to discriminate between that which is good and evil So I can make wise decisions And that's why the psalmist says thy testimonies are absolutely Wonderful and lastly is ambition

Oh, I love this He says I opened my mouth wide and panted for I long for thy commandments Boy, you know That ambition of the psalmist. I opened my mouth wide and panted You know as human beings we like to have our emotions in check, right? But animals their emotions they don't keep in check They just let everything hang out you know, they just bark and meow and whine and cry and and and and You know when they eat they just eat they don't care where the food goes and when they're hungry They just let you know it

They just let their emotions go animals do because they They have no restraint The psalmist says, you know what my ambition is Is strong the desire I have is passionate my mouth was opened and I panted Longingly for the Word of God You see very few people just aren't there I Mean, I wish people would be there but for the most part They're not And it's sad to say because there are things that become more important to us We open our mouth Our heart is open to the things that are temporal the things that really don't matter much and yet the psalmist knew how important God's Word was listen, you know, God's Word is wonderful to you When you can't wait to hear it When you can't wait to read it When you can't wait to feed upon it when you can't wait to sing about it now, you know God's Word is wonderful to you now

You can begin to walk in the psalmist's shoes But you know, isn't it not true that most people just aren't there They're just not there. I Think of the story that said about William Tyndale, William Tyndale was the father of the the modern Bible translation And he's credited with giving us the English Translation of our Bible and toward the end of his life

He was thrown in a jail for translating the Bible In history records that he led his jailkeeper his jail keepers wife His jail keepers daughter and many others to the household of Christ and The soldiers who kept him were quoted as saying these words if this man is not a Christian We do not know where to find one Because of his love for the Bible his desire to translate it into English He was thrown into prison One day This chronicle Was written about William Tyndale It says at last after much reasoning when no reason would serve Although he deserved no death

He was condemned by virtue of the Emperor's decree Made in the assembly at Augburg He was brought forth to the place of execution He was tied to the stake Strangled by the hangman and afterwards consumed by fire at the town of Vilvoord in 1536 Crying at the stake with a fervent zeal and a loud voice Lord open the king of England's eyes As touching his translation of the New Testament because his enemies did so much to carp at it Pretending it to be full of heresies

He wrote to one of his fellow cohorts these words I call God to record against a day when we shall appear before our Lord Jesus that I never altered one syllable of God's Word against my conscience Nor would do this day if all that is in this earth whether it be honor pleasure or riches Be given to me Here was a man that no matter what was gonna make sure that the Bible was translated into clear English So you and I could read it People hated him because of it story is told of of John Wycliffe who in the 14th century after he had died some 40 years after he was dead They dug up his ashes and they threw them in the river because they hated him so much For the Bible we don't have See the Bible you hold in your hand you have because people paid a great price And for the most part in today's Christianity People could care less They very very rarely read it

They very rarely study it It's not their ambition Would it be that as a psalmist said I'd open my mouth wide. I would long For the Word of God in the commandments of God

Those were the priorities of the psalmist But look with me at the prayer of the psalmist because this records the wonderfulness of God's Word He says this in verse number 132 Turn to me and be gracious to me After thy manner with those who love thy name The first thing about this prayer is that he realizes his dependency upon God He realizes his dependency upon God that phrase turn to me is not it could be translated look upon me He knows that God is able to see He knows that God is anxious to save because he knows that God is always the same That's what verse number 132 says God is able to see Boy the very fact that the psalmist is Lord turned to me look upon me Lord

Look to me see me See me Lord We can be assured that God sees us member Hagar when she would run from from Sarah And she would run to the wilderness in God the angel the Lord met her there in the wilderness So hey, God, where you going? What do you do and? she realized that God Had seen her That God had seen her and because God seen her had seen her God heard her That's why her boy's name was Ishmael meaning God hears but in Genesis chapter 16, it talks about the fact that she recognized that she Not only saw God the angel of the Lord the pre-incarnate Christ But that God saw her Remember Moses the book of Exodus God came to him and said I have seen the affliction of my people See God sees And the psalmist says I want you to see me

This is his prayer He realizes his dependency upon God

And so he cries out God. I want you to see me and I want you to have mercy upon me and be gracious to me Just like you did it with these with the ancients of old in the same manner you dealt with them I want you to deal with me. I want you to deal with me like you deal with Abraham Like a deal with Isaac and Jacob and Daniel and Joseph like Noah like Esther like Ruth like Rachel God that's how I want you to deal with me Those people who loved your law those people who are committed to you and you dealt with them with great tender tender kindness and loving Mercy Lord, that's how I want you to deal with me. I want you to see me in My need and deal with me the way you dealt with them Well, you see the only reason he could do that is because he knew what the Word of God said about how God dealt with him We can't pray that prayer unless we know how God deals with his people, right? And so we ask God Lord. I want you to deal with me as you dealt with those who love your name So I I go to school and I say Lord I want you to deal with me as you dealt with Daniel in the lion's den. I Want you to deal with me as you dealt with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that when they were thrown in the fiery furnace Their clothes did not even smell of smoke. I Want you to deal with me as you dealt with Joseph when he was thrown into prison It would look like he was isolated with without any cause and all of a sudden God you brought him to a place of prominence In Egypt God, I want you to deal with me as you dealt with Joseph I want you to see me for where I am and deal with me that way You can only do that though if you understand that God's Word is wonderful And God's Word is just so great That you go to God and ask him So number one he realizes his dependency upon God and number two He relies on God's Word for a victory over sin He says in verse number 133 establish my footsteps in my word and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me God you need to establish my footsteps in in your word. I need to I have my my walk firmly planted in your ways Lord I need you to do that for me because Lord I can't do that

He recognizes the weakness of his own life And is it not true that when you go to the New Testament We're in Galatians chapter 5 were to walk in the spirit

So we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, right? And in Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 1 were to walk worthy in the manner with which we've been called And you go to Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 1 it talks about that We are to walk in the same manner in which God loved us were to walk in love You go a little later on in Ephesians chapter 5 and it talks about how we are to walk in truth I'm sorry, that's the third John for how we are to walk in truth There is no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth See our footsteps need to be firmly planted firmly established walking after God and Because God's Word is wonderful

The psalmist is Lord. I need my footsteps to be firmly Planted after your word because I don't want any sin to have dominion over me Wow, you know, I don't know very very many people who don't want sin to have dominion over them Usually people have a secret sin That's secret sin that that they know about and no one knows except God, of course but they they had the secret sin that that has dominion over them and And and they won't pray this prayer because They like their sin It's kind of cozy for them It does some things for them

And so they can't necessarily come out and pray this prayer But but but that's because they haven't understood the wonder of God's Word the wonder of God's Word And so his prayer Records the fact that he realizes his dependency upon God

He relies on the word for victory over his sin and number three He recognizes the struggles he faces day by day verses 134 He says redeem me from the oppression of man that I may keep thy precepts Redeem me from the oppression of man. I told you Last time we got two weeks ago that I was going to go to court the following day. I Want to give you a report upon that and what God did God is so good. I Got up early in the morning Two weeks ago on Thursday got up and I said Lord today is your day I'm not gonna say anything In the courtroom. I'm not gonna speak to anybody unless spoken to My commitment is to fulfill the Word of God and over in my over and over again in my mind the Bible kept rehearsing to me First Peter chapter 2 verses 21 and following when he was reviled He did not revile, but committed himself to him who judges righteously And I sat in this room before you went before we went before the judge There was an arbitrator who would come and try to bring some kind of reconciliation and I sat in that room in this Lady who was bringing this lawsuit against me was saying things one thing after another none of them were true And I kept rehearsing in my mind When reviled he did not revile but committed himself to him who judges Righteously, and I kept going back to what we talked about last time We were together in Psalm 119 verse number 126

It is time for the Lord to act for they have broken that law And so that just kept going over and over in my mind And so I didn't say anything and so the arbitrator looked at me and said, okay, mr

Sparks What happened here? Why is this woman bringing a lawsuit against you? How did all this happen? What took place with her son on the ball field or throughout the season? I? Said well, I Won't let you know that her son is a is a good boy. I Didn't have one problem with her son the whole year In fact, he was very well-liked by all the players well-liked by all the coaches He was a good boy and like all the other players he improved throughout the whole year And before I could go on any further This mother this lady pipes up and says, okay All right, you tell me if I'm so evil and I am so bad Why is it my boy is so good and I said, oh that's easy I Said that's because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And as soon as I said that she took her hand and she slammed on the table BAM She looked at me

She's pointing fingers Just don't you talk to me about your God anymore. I Said well, that's what I do. I Talked to people about God She was so angry See her old lawsuit was centered around the fact that I would talk to her and her son about Jesus Christ And in her mind that was abuse In her mind that was a defamation of her character because in her eyes I Was calling her a sinner and that was a defamation of character

So her lawsuit was that I had defamed a character That I had abused her and her son all because I Talked to them about the Lord God now the great thing about this is that at the end of you and you know this because I've shared this with you before that When I coach baseball football, whatever I coach at the end of the year I said all the players down with their parents and and I go through the name the meaning of the name of the child And talk to them about living up to the meaning of that name because every name has a biblical and spiritual connotation And at the end of that I talked to them about the one name That's above all names the name of Jesus that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ Is Lord to the God to God the Father and I will explain to them about how there's no other salvation in heaven Given them in but by the name of Christ our Lord

So I talk about the gospel talk about Christ Well, this mother was not at the closing meeting her son's name was Jacob and So when I called him forth, I taught him about the meaning of his name and how God changed Jacob's name to Israel And I talked about God's great plan of salvation for Israel And now God has a special place for Israel and how God was going to redeem Israel and I went on and on and on more so with this boy than all the other ones because of the meaning of his name see Well because his mother wasn't there

He had to go home and Tell his mother everything that was said for her to know exactly what I said Well, the good thing about that is that maybe just maybe What that young boy heard about the meaning of his name in the salvation that comes to Christ Would take root and one day maybe one day I'll receive a phone call and say hey you remember me When you presented the gospel We went to before the judge and in She began to speak when the judge said to her ma'am

Why are you here today? she said well, I'm here because of the of the the verbal abuse and Because of the defamation of character brought on to me by mr Sparks and and and those with him And so he's reading through the material

She brought three notebooks this thick One for the judge one for for me and the other men and a little leak and one for herself And she would begin to recite all these different things And he said man, you don't have a case here She goes wait a minute you just can't talk to me about God anytime you want to and the judge said Yes, he can He says his opinion is his opinion you can't sue him because he believes in God You can't sue him because he teaches you about God You just can't sue somebody because of that you might not like it But you can't sue him because of it Mr

Sparks you can go home Your lawsuits been dismissed Well, I didn't go home because I wanted to know what was gonna go on for the with with Little League As in the city of Rancho what was gonna take place with those people? So I sat there and listened to what was happening and it was interesting because she became more and more Angry as a judge was not seeing things her way and when she left she was so irate

She was so angry My heart broke for her and for her son Because they had the opportunity to hear the truth Respond to the truth and all it did would turn them against Against me and against God even worse than before and yet God acted and God redeemed me from my oppressor and God was faithful and God was true And the psalmist was asking for God to do something great in his life Because he says Lord if you redeem me from my oppressors, then he says very clearly. I Want to do it so that I can keep your precepts He didn't want to be redeemed from his oppressors because he wanted to go

No, no, no, no, no He wanted to be delivered from his oppressors so that he could keep the commandments of God That's the right motive see and then fourthly He requests God's blessing in God's help in a verse number 135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes Cause your face to shine down upon me that that that's asking for God's blessing If you read through the Psalms, you realize that when God hides his face That's because of discipline, but when God shows his face and shines his face down upon you, that's the blessing of God He's asking for God to bless his life He's asking for for God to make his face to shine upon him You see remember the Sun the Sun always shines sometimes you don't see it because of a cloud, right? But the Sun always shines It's always there And when the clouds come it There's darkness and we don't see the brightness of the Sun Sometimes because of the cloudiness of sin in our lives

We can't see the shining of God's face upon us because of our own sin Psalmist is Lord cause your face to shine down upon me Teach me your statutes and this is this Lastly he reacts properly to those who disobey and dishonor God's Word My eyes shed streams of water Because they do not keep thy law Here's here's a psalm that begins with wonder and ends with weeping Here's a chapter in the Psalms or a portion of Psalms that begins in absolute awe of God But an anguish for those who oppose God And the psalmist was was very clear my eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep thy law Now you think about this in John 11 35

We know that Jesus wept didn't he at the tomb of Lazarus? Why he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead

He knew that why is he weeping? He's gonna cause great joy in the family He's gonna cause great things that he's weeping because of the effects of sin and the effects of those Who have rebelled against him and dying their sin? so in Luke chapter 19 He he comes to a point there on the Mount of Olives where he overlooks the city of Jerusalem and begins to weep over that city Because they would not accept him as their king in the day of visitation He wept for those Who would in a few days? Would crucify him Jeremiah Jeremiah 9 Jeremiah 13 would begin to weep for Israel and their rebellion against God It would be Paul in Romans chapter 9 who would weep for Israel because of their Unconverted state and they're turning against God in Philippians chapter 3 Paul would weep and grieve Because of the enemies of the cross of Christ Folks a lot of times we we get angry at those who oppose God But how many times do we actually weep for those who oppose God I Read this and I was I was greatly convicted Because my response to the unbelieving world Sometimes is not what it ought to be and those who have broken the law of God. I should be wept over and pleaded for Because you want God to save their souls And I came to realize that the reason we don't do that is because we have not the right perception of God's Word We don't see it as wonderful We don't see it as a great thing that it is and when we do we weep for those who have broken the law Because they have not seen the wonder of it And that's why we weep and may God help us to understand as undeserving as we are The great wonders of his word

Let's pray together father We thank you so much for the truth that you give us We thank you Lord that you are wonderful and that you've given us your word That is absolutely marvelous And I pray Lord as we close out this year in our study of Psalm 119 Looking forward to the new year and finishing this great study May we as the people of God Begin to grasp the wonder of your word That Lord we might be learning to weep for those who have broken the law of God We pray this in Jesus Holy name Amen