Our Source of Counsel I - Part 2 of 2

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

This is LeSaire Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Praise Him! Praise Him!

Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing o'er him, his wonderful love proclaim! Hail him! Hail him! Hie us, our angels in glory! Strength and honor give through his holy name!

By God's Shepherd, Jesus the Lord is children! In His arms He carries them all their long! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Tell His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Ever a 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 unbounded, wonderful deep and strong! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Tell His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Ever a joyful song! Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!

Heavenly portals, loud with the saddest ring! Jesus, Savior, reign forever and ever! Round Him!

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

Ever a joyful song! Our subject today, our source of counsel, as we continue our study in Psalm 119. This is an important issue.

In fact, it becomes a personal question. What is your source of counsel? Do you turn to friends and neighbors, or to what you hear on radio or television, or do you go to the Word of God, which is indeed our source? I hope the message today will be an encouragement to you.

If it is, we'd like to hear from you. Our mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. To Thee will I direct my prayer, To Thee lift up my mind. To Thee will I direct my prayer, To Thee lift up my mind. Up to the hills where Christ is gone, To Thee for all His saints, Presenting at His Father's throne, Our songs and our complaints.

Presenting at His Father's throne, Our songs and our complaints. After we see great expectations and great vision, we next, in the 19th verse, see great need. I'm a stranger in the earth, hide not Thy commandments from me.

Great need. If you're a stranger, if you're separated from your homeland, if you're on a journey, if you're not accepted in the place where you're living, the place you're traveling, you've got a great need. And so, David says, I'm a stranger. And God's people are strangers on this earth.

Psalm 39, verse 12, David says, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not my peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were. All of the fathers, the patriarchs, were as strangers and pilgrims upon this earth. All the people are considered strangers here.

Why? Well, because their citizenship is in heaven. That makes a difference. That makes a separation with things here upon this earth. Look at the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 19. If you are of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I have spoken unto you? The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Now that verse reveals a lot. That tells us that if the world accepts us and approves of us, there's something wrong. Because the world did not accept Jesus Christ, did not approve of His message, they hated Him.

It says I've chosen you out of the world and because I've chosen you and I've called you and I've made a change in you, the world's going to hate you also. I think we've seen a little of that in the things that have appeared in our newspapers over the past week. With the opening of the Creation Museum, you read the articles and the letters to the editor and see the things that people are willing to say now in their attitude about the Bible, about the Genesis account of creation, about the fact that God is the sovereign Creator. Absolutely ridiculing the whole concept that the Genesis account can be taken literally.

Talking about how children are going to be brainwashed that go to that museum and therefore when they are in their classes that they're going to be confused and will not be able to accept the great scientific information that their teachers will present when they offer the concept of evolution. And on and on some of them have gone with the demonstration of a very vicious attitude toward Christians in general. And we see more of that in our society today than ever before. There may have been many in years past that felt that way but they weren't quite as open and vocal about it. And now Christianity is fair game.

You can't talk about others but if you want to say anything you want to say about Christianity that seems to be acceptable with the press and in many other areas. So we can expect that if we're following the Lord, we're going to be as a stranger and a pilgrim here. We're not going to fit in with the general flow.

We're not going to fit in with the popular opinions of the day. God's people are strangers. They have a great interest in heaven. We're told to pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Well that makes a big difference. You're living here on earth but you have a relationship with one who's in heaven. Your Father, the one into whose family you have been born by regeneration. Your Father is in heaven. You're praying thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

That's going to separate you from the world. Because the world in general is not praying for the Father's will to be done. The world in general has no concern about the Father's will being done. The world in general says we're going to do it our way. No matter what anybody else says, no matter what we may find in the Bible, we'll ridicule the Bible.

See that's just a demonstration of man's pride. Even among some who will say, well yes I think that you can get some good out of the Bible. But the way you decide what's valuable is if it means something to you. And whatever it means to you, that's what it means. That it might mean something else to somebody else.

How absurd. What that amounts to is not accepting God's Word as being authoritative but just saying I'll formulate my own opinion and if I can find a verse that seems to coincide with that I'll say that's good and everything else is not. Just man's self-will, his pride, his rebellion, I'm going to do things my way. But God's children have a relationship with their Heavenly Father. The Father in Heaven. Not only is the Father there, Jesus said in John chapter 14 that that's where he was going. Verse 3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive into myself that where I am, there you may be also. He was leaving them for a time.

Said I go to prepare a place for you. Of course if you've been born of the Holy Spirit, Christ is in you, the hope of glory. But there's also a sense in which he is in Heaven right now. He's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high where he ever lives to make intercession for us. That's why we can come boldly to the throne of grace. That's why we can pray consistently.

That's why we don't have to go through an earthly priesthood and we can go directly to him because he is our great high priest. Jesus Christ is in Heaven. Our inheritance is in Heaven. First Peter chapter 1 verse 4 talks about an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away. Where is that inheritance? It's not in the bank here. It's not in your stocks and bonds and your retirement certificates and anything that you may own. All of this is subject to change and decay and one day it will all be burnt up. But your inheritance that is incorruptible, the one that doesn't fade away is in Heaven.

That ought to give you a lot of interest in Heaven because that's where your real wealth is to be found. Your real home is in Heaven. You're a stranger here, you're traveling here, but you're looking to that day that you'll finally be at home.

Your home is over there and looking to that place where there are no strangers. Do you ever just feel so much like a misfit, feel so awkward when you find that your thinking differs so much from people that you may encounter at work or at school or in other areas of life? And sometimes even with your own personal struggles, say, Lord I have a hard time understanding myself. No wonder nobody else understands me. Sometimes I feel alone, you know.

David said, I feel like a sparrow alone on the housetop. But you're looking to that city where there'll be no strangers. Everybody there belongs there. Everybody there wants to be there. Everybody there is happy with the arrangements. Everybody there is related because they're children of the same Father, the Heavenly Father.

Oh, what joy to anticipate. We have a great need because we're strangers here. It says, I'm a stranger to the earth, hide not thy commandments from me. Lord, because I am a stranger, I need thy commandments.

I need to see them, I need to understand them, I need to know how to apply them, I need to know how to navigate my way through this unfriendly world. We read in the book of Proverbs chapter 6 verse 20. My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother, bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thine neck. When thou goest it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee.

Think of that. The commandments of the Lord. The wisdom that we receive from Him and through His Word. It's going to keep you, it's going to talk to you, it's going to be a guide for you. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

Lord, I need help because I'm a stranger. I'm traveling in an unfriendly world, therefore hide not thy commandments from me. Verse 20, we see great desire. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. An intense desire. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath. David uses some very vivid language from time to time when he talks about his desire for communion and fellowship with God. Or his desire to see and know and understand better His Word. In Psalm 42 verse 1 he says, has the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. That's not somebody with a laid back indifferent attitude saying, well I guess it's time to go to church.

No! He says, as the deer that has run rapidly through the woods and now is panting and desperately needs something to drink in like manner, my soul pants after thee, O God. Oh, that we might be able to say that of a truth in our own experience. That we long desperately to have close communion and fellowship with our God. Psalm 63 verse 1, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

Now the drier the land becomes, the more difficult the travel is, the greater that longing and desire for communion with Him. Lord, I'm going to seek you early. It's not going to be the last thing I do.

It's not going to be something just because I've tried everything else and nothing else works. I need thee. I can't make it through life without thee.

I am weak. I am needy. So it's an intense desire. It's a consistent desire. My soul breaketh expressing the depth of this with a broken heart, with a sincere desire. I'm seeking Him for the longing that hath unto thy judgments at all times.

So it is a consistent desire at all times. Surely it's convicting when we examine our own life and say that sadly the times that we're intense about seeking God are only at those moments when we've got some major trouble. You get some discouraging news. You face some problem that seems to be so entangled. You say, I just can't get through this. I don't know how I'm going to make it.

You get bad news about your physical condition and say, this is serious. I desperately need God's help. And you go to seek in Him.

But what about on a day to day basis? Do you desire Him at all times? Isaiah chapter 26 verse 8. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Lord, I've waited before thee. The desire of my soul is to thy name.

Can we say that? May we learn from the beautiful example of a psalmist that with broken hearts, that with deep longing, with sincere desire, we are seeking Him. He says, my soul longeth that it hath unto thy judgments.

Again, one of the terms that's used to speak of the Word of God. I desire thy word. We turn to the book of 1 Peter chapter 2 to see once again how our interest in the Word of God should be maintained. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now if you're really going to be able to feed on the Word of God, He tells us that there's some things that have got to be confronted and dealt with in your life. Lay aside all malice, all bitterness, all guile, all anger, all hypocrisies, that envious spirit, that jealous spirit, evil speakings, talking about other people, putting other people down, saying things that are divisive.

Lay all that aside. And then you come to the Word of God, just like a newborn babe, desires that milk and you desire the sincere milk of the word. You want to grow by it. You've tasted that the Lord is gracious and you desire that spiritual growth. And so the psalmist speaks of great desire. I think we'll stop there.

Take up at that point the next time. But may we profit from what we see in the words of God's servant here. First, great expectation. Not just trying to survive, but praying, Lord, pour out an abundance of blessing. Deal bountifully with our servant. May it be our prayer for this church, Lord, deal bountifully with the church. May there be no selfish motivation. May there be no pride involved. But may we pray it for his glory. Lord, I want thy name honored. I want the banner of truth lifted up. In this day when the enemy has come in like a flood, Lord, lift up a standard against the enemy.

Great expectations. Great vision. Lord, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. There's so many wondrous things to be found in the inspired word of God. May we give it the attention that it deserves. Praying, Lord, open our eyes that we can see and understand.

Great need. We're strangers here. We're strangers and pilgrims looking on to that city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.

Lord, since we're not a part of this world, since we're often hated and ridiculed by the world, do not hide thy commandments from me. Help me to see them. Help me to understand them. Help me to rely upon them. Help me to enjoy them. Help me to live them out.

Great need. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. May we be consistent in all seasons, all times, all circumstances, seeking communion and fellowship with our God. There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before thee near to the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet near to the heart of God, a place where we our Savior meet near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before thee near to the heart of God.

There is a place of full release near to the heart of God, a place where all is joy and peace near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us to wait before thee near to the heart of God. Well, I'm glad you've been with us today, and I hope the message has been a blessing to you. If you'd like to help keep the program on the air, you can make a donation by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Now, till we greet you at this same time tomorrow, this is LaSara Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye, and may God bless you. It 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.