Psalm 119:1-24

Sermon Notes

Psalm 119:1-24

Delighting in the Word of God

Pastor Jim Thomas

“All the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.”
Socrates

The Psalms: Songs of Revelation and Response

• Stir the emotions
• Inform the mind
• Direct the will
• Stimulate the imagination
• Inspire Worship

Psalm 119:

• 176 verses
• 22 stanzas
• 8 lines each
• Acrostic

8 Shared Synonyms in Psalm 119:

1. Law/Instruction: 25 times
2. Testimonies/decrees/statutes: 23 times
3. Precepts: 21 times
4. Statutes/decrees: 21 times
5. Commandments: 22 times
6. Judgments/Ordinances: 23 times
7. Word: 24 times
8. Promises: 19 times

Delighting in the Word of God:

Aleph vv 1-8
Beth vv 9-16
Gimel vv 17-20
Gimel vv 21-24

ALEPH: vv 1-8

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.
They also do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways.
You have ordained Your precepts,
That we should keep them diligently.

Oh that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments.
I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not forsake me utterly!

BETH: vv 9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
Teach me Your statutes.

With my lips I have told of
All the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.

GIMEL: vv 17-24

Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wonderful things from Your law.
I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
My soul is crushed with longing
After Your ordinances at all times.

You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed,
Who wander from Your commandments.
Take away reproach and contempt from me,
For I observe Your testimonies.
Even though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
Your testimonies also are my delight;
They are my counselors.

“First I shake the whole apple tree, that the ripest might fall. Then I climb the tree and shake each limb, and then each branch and then each twig, and then I look under each leaf.”
Martin Luther

“The imagination must be captivated by the beauty of God as revealed in the Word of God. If not, it will be captivated by some lesser beauty; and this is the first step toward idolatry.”
Warren Wiersbe, Preaching & Teaching with Imagination

Delighting in God’s Word:

1. Reveals who the God of the Bible really is.

“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself.”
J.I. Packer, Knowing God

2. Reveals the kind of people we can become.

“Blessing is God’s provision for human flourishing. But it is also relational: to be blessed by God is not only to know God’s good gifts but to know God himself in his generous giving.”
Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World

“Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ… He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has – by what I call ‘good infection’. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13

3. Trains us in the kinds of wisdom and life choices that will cause our life to be blessed and cause us to flourish.

“If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God’s, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”
John Stott

“Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your own imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it.”
Timothy Keller, The Reason for God

4. Reminds us of the beautiful redemption God offers.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:16

“The Word of God is not just to be studied. It is to be savored. God wrote His Word to awaken in us a taste for Him.”
John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God