Love for the Commandments - Part 1 of 2

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

This is Lisea Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. We will glorify the King of Kings, We will glorify the Lamb, We will glorify the Lord of Lords, Who is the Great I Am. Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty, We will bow before his throne, We will worship him in righteousness, We will worship him alone.

He is Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, He is Lord of all who live, He is Lord above the universe, All praise to him we give. We glorify thy name, Amen. As we continue our study in Psalm 119, we come to the section that we've entitled, Love for the Commandments. And certainly that's something we all would pray that God will bless us in the depths of our heart to love his commandments and to keep them to the glory of his name.

I hope you will write us and let us know that you've listened and if you can, help us with the support which is very needed at this time. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Mach 17, 037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. In the ridded rock I'm resting, Safely sheltered I abide, There now falls, your starts will last me, While within the cleft I hide. Now I'm resting, Sweetly resting, In the cleft one's name for me, Jesus blessed, Mark of ages, I will find myself in thee. Long pursued by sin and Satan, Weary sad I long for rest, Then I found this heavenly shelter, Opened in my Savior's breast. Now I'm resting, Sweetly resting, In the cleft one's name for me, Jesus blessed, Mark of ages, I will find myself in thee. Peace which passeth understanding, Joy the world can never give, Now in Jesus I am finding, In his smiles of love I live, Now I'm resting, Sweetly resting, In the cleft one's name for me, Jesus blessed, Mark of ages, I will find myself in thee.

In the ridded rock I'll hide me, Till the storm of life is past, All secure in this blessed refuge, In naught the fiercest blast, Now I'm resting, Sweetly resting, In the cleft one's name for me, Jesus blessed, Mark of ages, I will find myself in thee. In our series, Sermons from the Psalms, we've been looking at Psalm 119. Currently looking at section 6, which begins with the 41st verse.

I want to read that section of 8 verses again, beginning with verse 41. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, Even thy salvation according to thy word. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, For I trust in thy word, And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I have hoped in thy judgments. So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever, And I will walk at liberty, For I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, And will not be ashamed, And I will delight myself in thy commandments, Which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, Which I have loved, And I will meditate in thy statutes. We first have noticed in this section a desire for salvation. He prays, Let thy mercies come unto me even by salvation. And certainly there are many deliverances which we desperately need and know that God is the source of the help, and so we address our prayer and request to him.

And then we observe also here a plan for the future. For he says in verse 44, I will keep thy law continually for ever and ever. It's beneficial to have made such a commitment. I will keep thy law. This is my intention.

I have declared it. And as we pointed out, we believe that there is a view even to eternity because he speaks of doing it forever and ever, which indeed God's people will have the joy of praising him forever in heaven's wonderful city. And then we see a great freedom in joy. Verse 45, I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts. And that liberty carries him on in verse 46 to say that I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed.

And that brings us now to look at verses 47 and 48. A love for the commandments, a love for the commandments. I will delight myself in thy commandments.

You see, that goes a step beyond acknowledging the truthfulness of the commandments, the benefit of the commandments. I will delight in them. I will not only read them. I will not only confess that they are valid. I'll not only try to keep them and obey them, but I will delight in them.

Not going to view them as being burdensome, an imposition on me. It's something in which I delight, delighting in the commandments of God. And obviously there must be some things that hinder that delight because all of us must surely confess that we do not continuously delight in the commandments of God. There are times that they may seem to us to be burdensome and extremely difficult. And there may have been times that you have actually resented some of them because it was not in keeping with what you really wanted to do. So what are some of the things that hinder us? Well, for one thing, not being familiar with the word.

It's going to be extremely difficult to delight in it if you're not familiar with it. A person that just picks out a verse here or there, a person that just interjects their own thoughts about it, or even quotes passages that they have heard somebody else quote, which are not biblical to start with. It may be part of a text. It may be no Bible text at all. Haven't you talked to people who were just absolutely sure that a certain phrase is in the Bible?

And it wasn't there. I mean, they'd want to argue you right on and on, but it's just not in the book. Well, if you've accumulated some traditional thinking, some speculative ideas, some things that people have attached to the Bible which are not in it, just not being familiar with the actual inspired word of God is going to make it extremely challenging to delight in it. And in close connection with that, not understanding it. I've had people say to me, well, I just don't get a thing out of reading the Bible.

I don't understand what I read. The fact is that none of us, as far as our natural reasoning, have the ability just to pick up the Bible and understand it in every detail. But the Lord has promised that if any man lacked wisdom, let him ask of God.

And as we read, as we study it, as we meditate upon it, we need to pray for that understanding that only can come from God. And of course, one of the things God uses is not only your own reading, but the preaching of the word. The pastor-teacher is a gift to the church that God's people might be established and might not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. That's one reason it's so important to hear preaching on a regular basis. In many churches today, various other activities are taking precedence over preaching. Preaching is being downplayed.

People suggest that, well, I just don't want to have to sit that long and listen to one man talk. I'd like to have a discussion or like to have some kind of a dramatic performance, but I don't know about preaching. But God himself is the one that designed preaching. God says that preaching is for the benefit of his people, the glory of his name. And the apostle Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ was the center of his preaching, the heart of the message that he had to deliver. And as you listen to preaching, hopefully as you are attentive to it, you are instructed by it. I won't ask you to raise your hand, but has there ever been a time you were listening to a sermon and your mind wandered? And all of a sudden you kind of came to yourself and thought, now let's see, where is this man in this message anyway?

I was with him a while ago. I've got to try to plug in here again and catch up a little bit. Well, you know, there's a challenge in really being focused and concentrating and hearing what's said. But even that requires some effort. One thing you can start with a good night's sleep on a Saturday night.

So when you come in on Sunday, you're refreshed and physically ready for the day. And pray that God will bless you to stay focused and to listen, because it's not just a matter of saying, all right, I heard a few things and I endorse, I like that. You want to be taught. You want to be instructed. You want to gain knowledge.

You want to know how to apply it. And so as you grow in your understanding of scripture, it's easier to delight in it. You say, well, this is rich to me. I've got a particular need and I know where to go. Or I'm trying to minister to somebody that has a need and I know where to go to find the scripture to help them. Has there ever been a time that you really wanted to help somebody and you just couldn't think at the time?

Where do I go? Well, maybe that experience of causing you to ask for some help, maybe ask one of the pastors, what would you use in this particular case? And as you use that scripture in ministering to somebody else, the scripture becomes more precious to you. You delight in it because you see it is beneficial and useful. Now, one of the things, of course, that can cause a person not to delight in it is a refusal to submit to it. If you read the scripture and you don't like what it says and you're going to argue with it and you're not going to delight in it.

And of course, there are people who work very hard at getting around whatever they don't like. Ever heard somebody say, well, I know it doesn't mean that it can't really mean that because, you know, that's not in keeping with the way I feel that that's not the way I look at it. So it must mean something else. Let's get busy here and figure out what else it means.

You know, if the meaning is apparent, if the language is very plain, you don't have to try to find some hidden meaning when the meaning is right there on the surface. But in the book of James chapter 4 verse 7, he said, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Clench your hand, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Submit, submit yourselves therefore to God.

We can all come to those passages that are challenging. They rebuke us. We're convicted by them. We see our failures. We see that we have made decisions where really God was left out. We looked at a situation that seemed to be very advantageous to us. It's something we wanted to do and we moved forward, but we forgot.

Matthew 6 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Way down deep somebody might say, I wish you hadn't brought that up. I was going right along, had smooth sailing on this plan until you made me think about that one. Well, if an individual just digs their heels in and says, I'm just not going to do it that way. That's not going to work for me.

You don't understand my unique situation. Here's the reason why I can't do what the Bible says I ought to do. I don't care what your reason is, there is no justification for saying I'm going to set the Bible aside.

In my case, it just is not workable. So that refusal to submit can certainly be one reason that an individual is not delighting in the law of God. Another reason can be that you're feeding on other things. We're told that we ought to feed on the word of God. We are to desire the sincere milk of the word. A little baby doesn't have to be encouraged to drink milk. That little child desires it.

It's something that gives pleasure and satisfaction and he seeks that milk. Well, God's children should be desirous of the milk of God's word and also the meat that will strengthen them. But if you're feeding on a lot of other things, if you spend all your time reading novels, or even keeping up with the news, or exploring all of the ins and outs of politics, and that's what consumes your mind, you're analyzing the stock market, I'm saying there's a place to be in touch with what's going on politically and we ought to be praying for the leaders that we have.

The scriptures teach us to pray for kings and magistrates and those in authority. There's a place for you to be diligent in your investments and be concerned about those matters. But I'm saying that if you're feeding on that, if you're having your mind filled with the entertainments of this world, the word of God may seem rather bland when you come back and start reading it. Say, well, it's just not as exciting as these other things. I tend to get a little sleepy when I read it.

So feeding on other things will be a hindrance. Well, seeing some of the things that may hinder delighting in it, what is it that encourages us to delight in the word of God? One thing is simply taking God and His word. You read His word and you say, that's what God means, I'm going to believe it, and I'm going to rely on it.

Psalm 36, verse 8, They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light. Now if you're going to find this pleasure, this delight, it's in the light of God that you see light.

In other words, as you walk in the light you have, you get more light. You take God and His word and say, I'm going to trust Him, I'm going to believe Him. I believe God means this.

But if you're constantly questioning it, oh you may never raise a question about whether the scriptures are inspired, but when it comes down to your particular situation, a trial you're facing, a problem that you have, and instead of resting in God's word, you're fretting about it, you're constantly worried about it, you don't rely on Him, you don't find the sweetness of scripture when you're in that frame of mind. Take God and His word. We read the experience of Abraham. God made a promise to him that certainly was beyond the ability of natural men to accomplish that Abraham and Sarah were going to have a son in their old age.

And Sarah at first laughed, and Abraham was later encouraged to go to Hagar, his handmaid, rather than to wait on God. But as God summarizes Abraham's experience, He puts him in the category of the faithful and said he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He ultimately took God at His word.

Yes, this is impossible with man, but with God all things are possible. And he trusted God. Now if you go to the Bible with that thought in mind, it's going to become refreshing to you. You're going to be able to delight in His word. I delight to know that God means what He says.

I'm taking God at His word. Not only taking God at His word, but learning to use the word. Just as we said a moment ago, if you're trying to minister to somebody, and hopefully all of God's people look for those opportunities. You know, that's why the pastor teaches there to establish God's people, that they might minister one to another. In many circles the thought is that the preachers do all of the ministering. But the pastors are instructing and establishing the flock that they might minister. How often have you prayed, Lord give me the opportunity to minister to somebody else.

It doesn't have to be formally structured. You don't have to say to somebody, I think you need counseling and I want to offer my services. It's just a matter that in conversation you find here's somebody that's in need. It looks like they're just about to head down the wrong road. Or they're struggling and you can tell they don't have the answers. Or if they talk about what they perceive to be the answer. You can see they've been reading the wrong material. They haven't been in the Word of God. They've listened to some of the psychological fluff that's available even under the Christian name, which confuses many people today.

But when you start using the scripture for your own benefit, and then ministering it to others, it becomes delightful. Let's look at a few examples. Let's say that you reach a point in your day-to-day living that the pressures are just so heavy.

It can come from a variety of directions. It can be the pressure of trying to educate children, discipline children, train children, guide the home. It can come from pressure on the job, trying to decide how can I provide for my family.

How can I keep up with what's demanded of me at work and still be a good husband and a good father. It can be struggling with the desire for spiritual growth and understand that you're lagging behind. It can be many, many kinds of burdens and pressures. You just feel that I can't go on. I've come to the end of my way. Then you turn to a passage like this. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 29.

He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength. Now you first read that and you say, well that's just so many words. I don't know what that means to me. But you read it again. And then you begin to pray the scripture.

Talked about that recently. How it's appropriate that we pray for what God has promised. Because it shows confidence when we're asking God to give us what He's promised to give us. It shows that we believe Him.

So you come back to Him. Lord, you've promised to give power to the faint. That's where I am. I'm fainting. I'm caving in. I just can't make it. I have no might. I'm worn out physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you name it. But your promise is you will increase strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Now that doesn't mean you're going to read that verse and suddenly have a burst of energy and just say, well everything's great. But you move on by faith. Rather than trying to bail out, you accept your responsibility. You live one day at a time.

You take one step at a time. But you're trusting God. And after a while you look back and say, you know, God did hear that prayer. I could not have made it through that period of time if God had not given me the strength.

I know He did it. Well then you get excited about this passage because when you talk to somebody who is in that same frame of mind, say, let me tell you about a verse that God used in my own life. I want to read you what God said. You find it to be delightful, beneficial, and so you're able to minister to someone else.

If the program has been a blessing to you and you would like to help keep it on the air, you can make a donation by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Until we greet you next time, this is the Sarah Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior. All the day long.