Holy Desires From a Humble Heart - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bratley, Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the praise of my God and King, the triumph of his grace.

This is LeSaire Bratley, Jr., inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Whatever my love, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.

O Satan, should love if those rivals should come, Let this blessed heart show us control, That Christ has regarded my hell. Let that pain and that shame give some blood for my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, O the midst of its glorious law, My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear in the Lord. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And, Lord, praise the day when the fates shall be tied, The clouds we roll back as a troll, The drums shall be down, And the Lord shall be said, Give my soul, it is well with my soul.

It is well, it is well with my soul. I'm certainly thankful for the opportunity that we have to come your way at the same time each week bringing a message from God's Word. And I'm very thankful for all of you who have had a part in this ministry by supporting it and praying for it. The last year or so has been a difficult time for all of us dealing with the coronavirus and many other attendant challenges that we all have faced. And I very much appreciate your prayers and your continued support.

And if we are to remain on the air, we still need to hear from you on a regular basis. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Or if you want to go to our website, you can make a donation there at BaptistBibleHour.org. Take time to be holy, speak out with thy Lord. Abide in Him always, and lean on His Word.

Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak. Forgetting in nothing is blessing to seek. Take time to be holy, be calm in my soul.

Each thought and each motive, be in His control. Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love, Thou soon shall be fitted for service above. My subject, holy desires from a humble heart.

The text is Psalm 119, verse 131. I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for thy commandments. Four things we're going to look at in this portion of scripture. First, longing for holiness. Second, prayer for attention. Third, pleading for mercy. And fourth, asking for blessings.

Longing for holiness. First, the psalmist acknowledges the value of God's Word, verse 127. Therefore, I love thy commandments above gold. Yea, above all gold.

Can you say that today? I love the commandments of God, the Word of God, the truth of God, above gold, above money, above all material things. So easy to be sidetracked in this world, in that the emphasis is always put upon that which is material, that which you can see and touch. So to have an affection for God's commandments, His Word is not the inclination of human nature, and yet it is resulted by grace in one's heart. Verse 128. Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to be right. Whatever God has given us in His commandments, in His law, in His Word, they're all right.

There are no errors, there are no mistakes. A church in Nashville recently put out the statement that got wide publicity that they could not possibly believe that the Bible is the Word of God because there are too many mistakes, too many flaws in it, and so they were wanting to make it clear that that was their position. Well, that certainly differs from the position of the psalmist, when in this 119th Psalm there is reference in really every verse in some way to the Word of God, and he continually expresses his regard for it, his love for it, his thankfulness for it. Verse 129. Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them. Do you ever think in terms of God's Word, as the psalmist here expresses it, thy testimonies are wonderful, the Word of God is wonderful.

It's possible for a person to begin to view it as something of a duty. I feel like I need to read a portion of it every day, and so it's kind of something being imposed on them, but it's not with delight and joy, not considering the fact that the testimonies are wonderful, but the more you read it, the more you understand it, the more it's applied in your life, the more you can come to concur with what David says, that thy testimonies are wonderful. Verse 130. The entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple.

Well, there's one thing that makes it wonderful. The entrance of thy words, having the truth of God, gives light. Those who do not embrace the Word of God, those who do not acknowledge the validity of it, the truthfulness of it, are in the dark. But the Word gives light. It informs, it gives you insight and understanding, understanding about God, about yourself, about salvation, about many vital issues.

It gives understanding to the simple. So not only does he acknowledge the value of God's Word, that it is reliable, it's true, it's wonderful, it gives light, but he expresses a sincere desire for it. Verse 131. I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for thy commandments. I panted.

That's rather strong language, isn't it? Wasn't just a matter of saying, I'm looking forward to examining his Word. I panted for it. I was passionate about it. I was zealous.

I was looking forward to it. It's a very positive experience. That expression makes us think of the 42nd Psalm, where in verse 1 it says, As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God? So the analogy is to a deer running rapidly through the forest and coming then desperately to need water from the water brooks. So, as the heart or the deer panteth after the water brooks, so my soul pants after thee, O God.

Now, can you recall seasons when those words would be very applicable to your experience? My soul panted after the Lord. It's one thing on a regular basis to go to the Lord and acknowledge, Lord, I need thee. I need thy help. I need thy blessing. But there are times when you begin to feel desperate about it. Just as much as the deer feels like I've got to have water from the water brooks or I'll perish.

And you come to certain seasons where you say, Lord, I'm desperate. I must have thee. I must have thy blessing, thy presence. I must have the sense that thou art with me and leading me and keeping me and guiding me. So as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so my soul panteth after thee, O God. And then verse 133, there is a desire for direction. Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Order all my steps. Lord, I need thy help in every decision I make. Wherever I go, whatever I do.

If I'm at home, if I'm at work, if I'm on the highway, if I'm at church, if I'm interacting with people, whatever I'm doing. Lord, I want the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart to be acceptable in thy sight. So his prayer is, order my steps in thy word. Oh, there is a resentment in the human heart, the natural heart before one is born by the Spirit of God to resist God's absolute rule.

Man doesn't love God by nature. He resents the idea that there is one who is sovereign and rules over him and lays down laws and talks about the penalty of violating them. But here is one who says, Lord, I want to be under thy sovereign direction. Order my steps, command me, direct me. That's the way I want it to be, all my steps. Not just the steps I take when I go to church, not just certain parts of my life, but in all my steps.

Every detail of life, I want them to be ordered by God in harmony with his word. Now the second thing we see in this section of scripture is prayer for attention. Verse 132, it says, look thou upon me. Look thou upon me. Now you may say, well, there have been a few times I really wouldn't have wanted the Lord to look on me.

I feel like I had faltered and failed, come short miserably. I wouldn't want him to look. Well, the psalmist in this expression is desiring God to look on him because he recognizes his great need of him. And as we will see, that he anticipates he's going to look on him with favor, not because the psalmist is himself worthy of having favor shown, but because he believes this is the way God will deal with his people. Now we recently looked at Psalm 27. In verse 8 of that Psalm, David said, when thou set us, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face Lord will I seek. And in that message we emphasized the importance of us regularly and diligently seeking God's face. Not being indifferent, not being at ease in Zion, but consistently and regularly going to him and seeking his face.

But now he speaks of his eyes failing. I had promised, David indicates, that I would be seeking his face. But in verse 82 of this 119th Psalm, he says, mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, when wilt thou comfort me?

Can you not relate to that part of his experience? You may have joined with the psalmist when we were reading Psalm 27 and said, yes Lord, I want my response to be like that of David. I want to be able to say, thy face Lord will I seek. And you've diligently attempted to seek his face on a regular basis. But you reach a point where you say, my eyes fail, when wilt thou comfort me? I've been trying to look upon you, I've been trying to seek your face, but I'm weary, I'm weak. So even when there's been diligent regular effort, you can go through some difficult times when you feel empty and feel unable to view him as you want. You feel like, I'm trying to view him, but there are clouds overhead.

There are doubts, there are fears, there are troubles and trials, and I'm having a hard time viewing him. Back in that 27th Psalm verse 9, he said, hide not thy face from me, put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Now we know God has promised never to leave nor forsake his people. But repeatedly, particularly in the Psalms, particularly the writers of the Psalms as well as some of the prophets, ask God, please do not forsake me, hide not thy face from me. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. Lord, I need help. Do you not get to that place occasionally where you say, Lord, my need is particularly great at the present time? I try to pray, but I don't sense that you're hearing me.

I feel that I'm faltering at all of my efforts to serve. Lord, hide not thy face from me. I need thee desperately. And so, because he says, I'm having difficulty, my eyes fail. I'm not seeing, but I have faith like I would want to. So he says, look on me. Lord, look on me. Look on me because you will see what I need. You will see my weakness. You will see my desperate state. Lord, isn't that an interesting request to think here's one poor little sinner calling on the sovereign creator of heaven and earth. There are millions of people on the earth, but Lord, look on me. Look on me because my need is great.

I need you desperately. Paul dealt with some of this concern in the book of Romans chapter 8. When he's talking about the fact that we sometimes just do not know what to pray for. But he talks about the help that is given us.

Romans chapter 8 verse 26. Likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Well, we can stop that word infirmity and say, well, we can certainly relate to that. If we have a clear sense of ourselves, we know we are infirm. We are weak. But the spirit of God helps our infirmities.

That's good news and encouraging, isn't it? For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself makeeth intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now we generally think about Jesus being the intercessor, which in fact he is.

He is our advocate and he is our intercessor. And maybe we seldom think about this passage to know that the spirit also intercedes for us. How blessed and favored we are to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit of God both intercede for us. With groanings that cannot be uttered. Somebody asked the question and said, well, what are those groanings? Well, it says they cannot be uttered.

So there's no way we can answer that question. It is something between the Holy Spirit and God the Father. But he makes intercession for us. When we're faltering, when we're failing, when we don't know what to pray for or how to pray for it, he makes intercession.

Verse 27. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Sometimes when we're praying, we may be praying selfishly. We may be praying for something that's not in harmony with the will of God. But when the spirit of God makes intercession for us, it is according to the will of God. So the psalmist says, I need help. As Paul here admits in the Roman letter that God's people need help.

And there is help given them by this intercessory work of the Holy Spirit. Look on me. You will see where I fail. You will see my weakness. You'll see my struggles. You'll see my suffering.

You'll see all of my afflictions. But oh Lord, look. Look on me. Don't forget about me. Don't hide your face from me.

Look on me. Then the third thing we see is pleading for mercy. Here is an acknowledgement of sin and unworthiness because in verse 132 he says, be merciful unto me. Now mercy is only for guilty people. If you're not guilty of anything, you don't need any mercy. But if you see that you have sinned and come short of the glory of God, even as one of his children, you have frequently stumbled along the way and failed in the discharge of your duty. You see, I still need mercy. Does that expression suit you? Do you feel on a regular basis, I need mercy?

Well, the person like that Pharisee of whom Jesus spoke who bragged on himself and said, I thank thee that I'm not his other man. That man had no sense of needing mercy. And he didn't receive it. But the publican smote upon his breast and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. He knew he needed it. He was guilty. He was a sinner. Be merciful to me.

And he went down to his house justified. Mercy is really the only basis upon which we can expect to receive a single blessing. You're not deserving. God's not obligated to us. Every blessing we receive, the eternal saving of our soul, the blessings we need from day to day to hold us up and sustain us in the midst of the challenges and troubles of life, all these blessings, even the material things that we need to sustain life, it all comes to us as a mercy from God. When upon life said, Lord, you are dead and lost, when you are discouraged, think these lonely souls. Count your many blessings, think it one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count all your blessings, think it one by one. Count all your blessings, think what the Lord hath done. Count all your blessings, think it one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. Holy desires from a humble heart. When we look at Psalm 119, the longest of all the Psalms, we see over and over again an expression coming from the heart of the writer that he desires to have close communion and fellowship with God, and surely that must be our desire as we go from day to day praying that we can bring honor and glory to his name and have close fellowship with him.

I hope that you will write us this week until next week at the same time and the Lord richly bless you all. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When we look at others with their hands and gold, think that Christ has promised you his mouth untold. Count your many blessings, money can abide. Your reward in heaven or your home on high. Count all your blessings, think it one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count all your blessings, think it one by one.

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Help and comfort give you to your churches in. Count your blessings, think it one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, make them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.