Complexity I - Part 2 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the chorus of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is Lisei Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim! Hail Him! Hail Him!

Bias, dark angels in glory! Strength and honor give to His holy name! Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children!

In His arms He carries them all day long! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Tell His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Remember His joyful song! Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!

For our sins He suffered and bled and died! He our rock, our hope and eternal salvation! Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus, the crucified! Sound His praises!

Jesus, who bore our sorrows! Love unwound Him, wonderful, deep and strong! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Tell His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Remember His joyful song! Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!

Heavenly portals, loud with all status ring! Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever! Proud Him!

Proud Him! Prophet and priest and King! Christ is coming! Over the world victorious! Power and glory unto the Lord belong! Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Ever-enjoyful song! Certainly we'd like to hear from you. If the messages are proving to be a blessing, let us know how God is using this truth we're looking at from Psalm 119 in your life.

When you write, mention the call letters of the station of which the program comes to you, and remember we depend on our listeners for support. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Verse 162 then speaks of joy. I rejoice at Thy word as one that findeth great spoil, joy at one who has found great treasure. You find frequent reference in the Old Testament to that which was described as being spoiled. In other words, when one nation conquered another and they took their valuables, they took their gold and their silver and sometimes their valuable garments and other things, that was the spoil. You recall that when the children of Israel went in to take the city of Jericho, they were instructed not to take any spoil. But it was Achan who saw these garments and saw these treasures and was overcome with temptation.

I saw them, I desired them, he said, and I took them and then he buried them in his tent. This was the spoil. This is what any conquering nation would have expected to take from those that they had conquered.

But in this case, God said, don't take it. But you see, if there are soldiers out here on the battlefield and they ultimately are successful and on this occasion it is their right to take the spoil, it's rather exciting. Look what we've found. Not only have we defeated the enemy, but look at all these valuable things. Look at all these jewels, look at this gold, look at this silver, look what we have found. And David is comparing that to his attitude about the word of God. I rejoice at thy word as much as one that findeth great spoil. Look what I've found, look what I've discovered.

Look at what an exciting thing this is. Sad to say that often we're not really that excited about the Bible. The Bible is a book that you've had access to all of your life, perhaps.

You've kind of gotten a custom to it sitting on the table, and there it sits, and sits, and sits, and it's not always utilized. Sometimes people then look at Bible reading like, well I know I've got to get my reading in, it's a legalistic thing, they feel the obligation but they're not excited about it. Hey, David said, I rejoice at thy word. It's like finding great spoil, and of course in the finding of this spoil, sometimes that involved winning a battle. It involved great effort. And so when we find the riches of the word of God, we don't do it just by picking up the book from the table, and reading a few lines, and saying, well I didn't get much out of that article, I didn't understand that, and we give up on it.

But it's digging in. It's the labor that's involved, not just in reading it, but in studying it, and laboring to get the meaning as we pray for the guidance and direction of God's Holy Spirit. You see, there's great treasure in this book.

Just as the spoil was valuable treasure, so there's great treasure in the book. There's great treasure in God's word. In the 77th verse of this 119th Psalm, he says, Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live, for thy law is my delight. I delight in it.

It's not burdensome, but I delight in it. Verse 94, he says, I have sought thy precepts. I have looked after them. I've wanted to gain information. I desperately need it.

I need food for my soul. In verse 49, he tells us that these precepts, these commandments, this word brings us hope. In verse 99, he says, By the study of it, I am made wiser than my teachers. And verse 74 says this, They that fear thee will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in thy word. That tells us that it's also going to improve our relationship with others.

Not only does it give us that closer walk with God, because we're delighting in His word, we are rejoicing in the truth of it, we're communing with Him, we're submitting ourselves to His word, and we have a closer walk with Him, and we now have greater hope, and we've gained information till we are wiser than the teachers of this world who would reject the word of God. But it brings about a better relationship with others, because those that fear the Lord will be glad when they see me. Instead of saying, well, here comes this person that never has anything worthwhile to talk about. Well, they can talk, they can talk on and on, but they never say anything of any value, because it's all idle chatter. Or here comes this person that is always criticizing somebody or something, kind of dread having to meet with them because they're just, they're a professional critic. Or here comes somebody that's a constant complainer.

Or, you know, on and on the list can go. There's certain kinds of conversation you'd just rather not have to ever encounter. But what a difference it makes when you have been feeding on God's word, then those that fear the Lord, those that love the Lord and fear Him and love His truth, are glad when they see you, because you've hoped in God's word, you've spent some time in His word, you've got something valuable to talk about, you've got the right kind of an attitude, you're going to be not a discourager but an encourager. You're going to be able to talk about something that honors God's name and in turn edifies those that are a part of the conversation.

Joy. Yes, the Psalmist was rejoicing in the word of God even as one that findeth great spoil. Then verse 163, he says, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. I hate the sin of lying. Well, if we're not careful, we lie to ourself. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

Can you think about a time in your own life where you have lied to yourself, tried to make out a better case than what was justifiable? You thought more highly of yourself than you should have. We're often told today that the greatest human need is more self-esteem.

But you turn to the scripture and find out our biggest problem is we're overloaded with it. We think too highly of ourself. So if you're thinking highly of yourself, you feel like you're superior to others. You're like the Pharisee, I thank thee, Lord, that I'm not as other men. You see their faults and failings and you just glory in the fact that you're far superior to them.

What are you doing? You're lying to yourself because you're not nearly so good and worthwhile and superior as you think you are. You may be saying, well, I think I've made some good progress here. I believe I'm growing. And you're not growing at all.

You've reached a plateau and you're not moving on. So we have to be careful about lying to ourself. David prayed in Psalm 51 verse 6, thou desires truth in the inward parts. We want to be truthful as we examine our own heart until we pray, Lord, search me, try me, make me to know what's within me. And then certainly, if we're going to hate lying, not only would we hate it when it would come to self-deception, but also if there was an effort to deceive others if we are not speaking the truth. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25, wherefore putting away lying speak every man the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. The lack of accuracy in relating something that you have heard can become a downright lie.

People are not careful enough about the use of the tongue. James chapter 4 warns us about what a terrible thing it is for us to be careless in this regard. In fact, several places in the book of James. But let's look at that one in James chapter 4 verse 11. It says, speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law.

But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law but a judge. Start talking about someone. Little by little you begin to tear them down or you have heard what somebody else said and you repeat it as though it is absolute truth when you don't know that to be a fact or in the process you get it distorted. You're talking about what somebody else said and there may not be what they said. You're talking about what they did supposedly. It may not be what they did. This is lying. Exaggeration.

Distorting something. There may be some facts connected with it but you exaggerate it to such an point that it's not truth any longer. David says, I hate lying. I abhor it but I do love thy law.

So I hate lying if I would be lying to myself or lying if I'm lying to others but I also hate the lies that others tell. I would hate false testimony. Any kind of a testimony, any kind of declaration that is false, that is a lie, should be detested because God hates it. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 16. These six things doth the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. God hates a lying tongue.

That's serious isn't it? You know people talk about, well it's just a little white lie. I don't find a record of one of those in the Bible. Don't find anywhere in the word of God.

Here was a little area here that kind of got in a bind and had to make it a white lie. No, God hates lying, hates a lying tongue and so if God hates it then you ought to hate it in yourself or in anybody else. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 5. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall not escape. This is God's word. The one that speaks lies shall not escape punishment. There are consequences to speaking lies and not only those who would speak lies but those who would offer false counsel. We have every reason to hate that which is counsel but it's not biblical counsel and it will be to the detriment of those that hear it and receive it. Isaiah chapter 31 verse 1.

Woe to the rebellious children sayeth the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with the covering but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin. They take counsel but not of me. Over the past 25 years or so that I've labored extensively in biblical counseling. There's no telling how many times I've asked someone who has gone to the counselors of this world, what did you learn that was a benefit?

Just tell me something that you learned there that really has been of great value to you. I have never to this day had anybody yet tell me anything that they thought was beneficial. It wasn't that they told me something and I didn't think it was beneficial, they just couldn't come up with anything. I think why is it that people will pay good money to get rotten advice?

Why is it that they will turn from the counsel of God's word and receive that which is not of God? We are within our right to hate that kind of counsel. When I talk to people that have been under some of the humanistic type of counsel that's prevalent in our world today and see what it's done to them, how it's distorted their thinking, I think it's a good thing that they are thinking. I hope it's righteous indignation that I feel. There's a little anger that swells up in me when I think about what it's done to them. I remember trying to help a person one time who had been psychologized to the limit and knew that we had to deal with this issue very gently and tenderly, but I just laid out the first little hint that this person might be responsible for some of their own problems.

That they had an obligation and they could not blame all of their problems on somebody else. I mean that individual left telling friends and relatives that I was the meanest person they had ever met in all their life. That I had screamed and yelled. I hadn't raised my voice.

I was talking in a quieter tone than I'm talking to you. But it jarred them because all they had ever been told is not your fault. You had bad home life. You had a father that failed you. You had this situation. That situation is not your fault.

I know that there are people who can go through horrendous difficulties in life, have just the worst possible situation at home, have all kinds of complications and things to deal with, and I feel the deepest compassion for them. But I also know that when you come to the Word of God, every one of us individually are held accountable to God for our actions. We can't blame somebody else. That was attempted back in the Garden of Eden. Adam said, Lord, it's this woman that thou didst give me. Blamed it on the woman and God all in the same breath. But God said Adam was accountable. He sinned with his eyes open. He knew what he was doing.

He was held responsible for his actions. Yes, we ought to hate false counsel. Counsel that springs from man-made wisdom that's totally contrary to Biblical truth. And then talking about hating that which is false, we ought to hate false doctrine. First Timothy chapter 4 speaks to this issue. First Timothy chapter 4, reading in the first verse, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

Now somebody said, Paul, that's a little too rough. Now you might disagree with somebody, but how can you say that they're speaking lies in hypocrisy? That's what he describes it as being. If lies are being preached in the name of truth, somebody claims I'm preaching the Bible, I'm preaching truth, but what they're doing is distorting it and preaching a lie. It's only right that we hate that, that we hate that error. We can have compassion for those that might be taken in by it and deceived by it, concerned about those even that advocate it, that God might give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth. But we hate that lie, that false teaching. We see Paul speaking to that in writing to the churches of Galatia. Galatians chapter 1 verse 8, But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him, what?

Be accursed. And as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel to you than that which he have received, let him be accursed. Now obviously that doesn't mean that when good godly brethren and sisters have a different point of view about a particular text that you decide that anybody that disagrees with you is evil, corrupt, and that you have every right to hate what they believe and hate them in the process. Certainly among God's people there are going to be some differences. And we have to learn to be patient and tolerant in those areas where we can be tolerant. But there are some things that cannot be tolerated. Writing to the churches of Galatia, he was talking about those Judaizers that were trying to lead them back under the bondage of law service. He said this cannot be tolerated.

And John speaks to that issue in his first epistle, 1 John chapter 2 verse 21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. See, it can't be a combination. It's either the truth or it's a lie. No lie can be of the truth. Now he's going to answer the question for us.

We're talking about things that cannot be tolerated. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? What's he say about him? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. A person may come along and say, yes, we're a part of the Christian faith, yes, we're a part of the Christian faith, but we deny that Jesus Christ was God.

What's that? That's antichrist. That's not Christian. That's antichrist. That's not something that's to be looked upon with the idea that, well, it's just a slight difference.

That's a major difference. That's heretical. That's something that cannot be tolerated. Such teaching ought to be hated. Doesn't mean that you become judgmental, self-righteous, pharisaical, that you try to defend an antagonistic, resentful spirit, that you try to defend unkind words that you may use to speak against those that oppose you. Plenty of scripture to confirm that we're to have compassion and we're to have love and we're to be prayerful for those even who are in the dark, but we can say and should be able to say with the psalmist, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. Lord, I love thy word. I want to reject every false testimony. I want to reject every false doctrine. I want to reject all the counsel that's not in harmony with thy word. I love thy word. Can you say that today? I love the word of God.

And that means even if it's something that is difficult to put into practice, something that doesn't coincide with what you would normally suggest would be the good best course of action, but if it's in the word of God, I'm going to do it. One of the most pleasant experiences I had through the years with counseling was a man and woman that came to see me from out of town. They said that they'd listen to me on the radio and it had been recommended that they come and talk to me because they were close to getting a divorce and really felt that it probably was hopeless, but just at the insistence of friends, they had decided to come. We started that morning about nine o'clock, spent the whole day in the word of God and the wonderful thing about it was they had total respect for God's word.

It didn't matter what I showed them. It might have been hard, it might have been difficult, it might have been something that was very convicting, they hadn't been living that way, they hadn't been doing it that way, but if I showed them in the word of God, they said, that's right, I've got to change. And by that evening when they left, they said, we don't have to see the lawyer anymore. We're going to follow the instruction that we were presented today in the word of God. Some of these issues can be rather drawn out and take a while, but how thrilling it is to see somebody who just says, if that's what the Bible says, then that's what I've got to do. I'm going to bury my pride, put down my resistance, by the grace of God, change my attitude, change my way, I'm going to live differently because I respect God's word. I stand in awe of his word.

Where do you stand? Do you have that kind of respect for what the word of God says? May God help us to love his word intently and to put it into practice on a daily basis. Just a reminder that if you would like to help with the support of this program, you can do so by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Till we greet you at the same time tomorrow, this is LaSara Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.