Hidden Treasures of Psalms 119:6- Taking Off The Mask

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. So we are going on a treasure hunt and the gold we are seeking in this treasure hunt is actually the face of God, pure light.

So join us taking this deep dive mining with King David in the 119th Psalm. I am so grateful for my fellow miners this morning, because when we are digging in today, I think you are going to agree with me. We are going to hit one of those shafts.

Of course, I am going to mix my metaphors here a little bit. But anyway, if you can picture with me that we are going to hit this shaft that is more like a chimney. And when you enter it, the gas pushes you right straight up to the top of a mountain. And when you are up there, I don't know if you have ever seen the movie, The Third Man on the Mountain.

It was an old Disney movie from the 60s where there was a mountain climber up there and he says, I feel sorry for those people who never climbed a mountain, they never see this. And they were showing a scene where sometimes you are on the top of a mountain and the clouds are below you. You have this view of the earth from 10,000 feet, which is just absolutely amazing.

The sky is clearer and whatever. So I think we are going to hit one of those shafts today. So I am so grateful that you are on this mining expedition with me. I hope you will see what I am saying, that King David was digging, digging, and then all of a sudden he hit this shaft and we are going to go straight to the top of the mountain.

So the whole thing is building. It really is these verses. As we talked about, you are going to get to see the face of God in every single verse.

But in this particular one, I think you are going to agree with me, it is just almost a spectacular view when you get a look at it. So you might remember last episode we talked about, he said, oh that my ways would be directed to keep thy statutes. And that idea is, oh that I was in the way or oh that I was in the narrow strait, the narrow gate to see Jesus, right? And then that statues we talked about are these super holy commandments that it is even hard to know what they are. And so as I was praying about that this morning, because it leads into the next verse so clearly, I was like, oh God, you know, what are these things that are so holy that they scare me? And he brought back to my mind the time that I was praying, praying, praying, and all of a sudden he showed up and it just scared me because of the holiness. And I am hoping you have experienced that at some point in time, that there is a sense of the fear of God that happened at my conversion, but it has also happened at a few other times in my life where you have got this sense of how holy this is, like you are standing on holy ground and oh my goodness, and you get this sight. So when King David is saying this, oh that I was in the way that I would perceive this holiness to the point that I was just terrified, but at the same time in awe of God, then comes the next verse, which he says, Then I would not be ashamed when I had behold, or when I saw into, or when I had respect for all thy mitzvah, or all thy commandments, and we are going to dig into all that and hopefully in a minute you will get in the shaft with me and we will all be rocketed up to the top, so here we go. So he has had a chance to see this holiness and then, you know, and I actually feel so sorry for the Jews because they have no way of seeing this, but these are these high holy commandments and it is so connected, right? The verse before, he talked about when he sought him with a whole heart and we talked about how King David was all about the whole heart. Well in this verse he said, when, then I will not be ashamed, and that word has to do with nakedness, okay?

Then I'm not going to be naked, then I'm not going to be a poser, and if you're like me, how often am I ashamed, how often am I exposed for not being who I think I am, right? And here King David is saying, then I would not be ashamed, okay? Work with me here a minute and the good news is we have the New Testament to see what this looks like because what's the one story in the New Testament that points to shame tremendously is when Peter denied Christ, right?

And he was totally ashamed. His cloak had been pulled off and he got a chance to see that night when the cock crowed three times exactly what he really was versus what he thought he was. So what David is saying is he wants this idea to go from this point of shame to a point of being aptly able to see Jesus through these kind of mitzvah, these commandments, and this is so clearly pictured, this verse is, and I'm sure you're with me, I don't know, I think most people that love the Bible love the section where Jesus is restoring Peter at the end of John and he asks him, Peter, do you love me? He asks him three times, Peter, do you love me? Well, after he asks him if he loves him, which is really getting to this whole idea, do you love me with your whole heart, like David is saying here, then do a mitzvah, do this, feed my sheep, right?

Do you love me? If I was not ashamed, and here's a picture, okay, so Peter was ashamed, he was totally shamed and totally naked, and now Jesus is restoring him because he's seen some holiness that he got a chance to look at himself and he got a chance to look at God, right? And here God is restoring him, he's not ashamed, and this, right, then I would not be ashamed when I could behold, when I could see all, and the word that David uses here is that same call word, that same meaning of whole. I could see your whole mitzvah, I could see your whole commandment.

Well, how can we see the whole commitment? Because if you look at this word mitzvah, again, to get back to that, it is a mem, which means the Messiah or the King, and then a zadik, which means righteousness, avav, meaning coming from heaven, expressed. Well, it's clearly Jesus, but if you think about what he's saying here, let's just take the mitzvah of feed my sheep, right?

The commandment to feed my sheep. Well, you know, I don't know if you've ever had a chance to teach a Sunday school class or maybe even share with your kids, when all of a sudden you were talking about something in the Bible and you saw the light come on, right? You saw them see Jesus.

You saw their light, their eyes being lightened, like, oh my goodness, and you saw that. You see, you knew that at that moment in time you had fed a sheep. Well, when you see that, when you see the beauty of that, in your own way, you're beholding the King himself, right? The beauty of that commandment. And so what King David is saying here, I'm convinced, is then I'm going to be like Peter, right? I'm not going to be ashamed, and I will actually be able to feed the sheep.

And so many times, you know, those of us who teach Sunday school and that kind of stuff, we go in there and we feel like such a poser. Well, go back to the verse prior, because what did he say? He said, oh, that my ways, oh, that I could get in the straight gate, right, and see your holiness, right? Something so bright that it would kill you, you know, in order to be in the presence of the Father, you've got to have Jesus's blood, something that holy, right?

And so we have that. God has given us the Holy Spirit and the ability with his blood to behold the holy of holies, all right? But we can't forget how holy that is, and we can't forget almost how terrifying that really is, because it would literally, you know, immediately vaporize anybody that wasn't in Christ. And we can't not see what King David is saying here, because he didn't have that view. But he could somehow or another see that this was the answer, and that was then I would not be ashamed, right? I would not be a poser when I could behold the righteousness of your commandments, the righteousness of Jesus, that I could behold all that, because again, the Word is God, and God is the Word. So let's stand on top of that mountain for a minute and gaze at some of the commandments that you may have had an opportunity to do in your life. And when you did, you saw Jesus. You knew, oh, this is why you have me here. I got to do this. You essentially held me over the basketball goal and dunked it for me. And when you saw it, you're like, man, oh, God, you let me score like this. So beautiful, so beautiful to be there. Then I will not be ashamed when I can behold, right, your mitzvah. Thank you for listening.