New Hope Bible Chapel
April 8, 2018
  • Open The Eyes Of My Heart
  • Lord I Need You
  • No Longer Slaves
  • Give Me Jesus
  • Psalm 119:9–16 NKJV
    How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
    Romans 7:22 NKJV
    For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
    David, a Man among men!
    We first find him as the unimpressive son of Jesse not even worth summoning for the prophet Samuel. But at the end of his visit, Samuel is anointing David as future king of Israel.
    We see him later as the small and brazen giant killer.
    And then for much of his life, a fierce warrior, hacking and cutting the enemies of Israel to pieces.
    God would not even let David build the Temple in Jerusalem because of the blood he shed as a soldier. Solomon David’s son would build it.
    But as fierce and bloody a man as he was, David was a poet who wrote some of the most tender psalms that give us great comfort even today.
    How could there be such a contrast?
    David loved and respected the Word of God!
    After committing Adultery with Bathsheba and having Urijah her husband killed in battle, he humbled himself under the prophet Nathan’s words of accusation.
    And so, David was a man after God’s own heart!

    I. Loving God’s word is a condition of the disciple’s heart.

    I am amazed at the numbers of so called Christians that have no biblical knowledge because they have no desire to read the Bible!
    Something’s wrong with this picture!
    The Apostle Paul made it crystal clear in his letter to the Romans that, in our conversion our new person or what he calls the inward man, delights in the law of God!
    Romans 7:22 NKJV
    For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
    David was expressing that very thing in psalm 119. In fact the entire 176 verses broken down into 22 stanzas of 8 verses each beginning with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and using at least 10 different synonyms to describe the “word”, is a testimony of His love for God’s Word.
    Psalm 119:1–16 BHS/WTS 3.5 Morph
    אַשְׁרֵ֥י תְמִֽימֵי־דָ֑רֶךְ הַֽ֝הֹלְכִ֗ים בְּתֹורַ֥ת יְהוָֽה׃ אַ֭שְׁרֵי נֹצְרֵ֥י עֵדֹתָ֗יו בְּכָל־לֵ֥ב יִדְרְשֽׁוּהוּ׃ אַ֭ף לֹֽא־פָעֲל֣וּ עַוְלָ֑ה בִּדְרָכָ֥יו הָלָֽכוּ׃ אַ֭תָּה צִוִּ֥יתָה פִקֻּדֶ֗יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֥ר מְאֹֽד׃ אַ֭חֲלַי יִכֹּ֥נוּ דְרָכָ֗י לִשְׁמֹ֥ר חֻקֶּֽיךָ׃ אָ֥ז לֹא־אֵבֹ֑ושׁ בְּ֝הַבִּיטִ֗י אֶל־כָּל־מִצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃ אֹ֭ודְךָ בְּיֹ֣שֶׁר לֵבָ֑ב בְּ֝לָמְדִ֗י מִשְׁפְּטֵ֥י צִדְקֶֽךָ׃ אֶת־חֻקֶּ֥יךָ אֶשְׁמֹ֑ר אַֽל־תַּעַזְבֵ֥נִי עַד־מְאֹֽד׃ בַּמֶּ֣ה יְזַכֶּה־נַּ֭עַר אֶת־אָרְחֹ֑ו לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗ר כִּדְבָרֶֽךָ׃ בְּכָל־לִבִּ֥י דְרַשְׁתִּ֑יךָ אַל־תַּ֝שְׁגֵּ֗נִי מִמִּצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃ בְּ֭לִבִּי צָפַ֣נְתִּי אִמְרָתֶ֑ךָ לְ֝מַ֗עַן לֹ֣א אֶֽחֱטָא־לָֽךְ׃ בָּר֖וּךְ אַתָּ֥ה יְהוָ֗ה לַמְּדֵ֥נִי חֻקֶּֽיךָ׃ בִּשְׂפָתַ֥י סִפַּ֑רְתִּי כֹּ֝֗ל מִשְׁפְּטֵי־פִֽיךָ׃ בְּדֶ֖רֶךְ עֵדְוֹתֶ֥יךָ שַׂ֗שְׂתִּי כְּעַ֣ל כָּל־הֹֽון׃ בְּפִקֻּדֶ֥יךָ אָשִׂ֑יחָה וְ֝אַבִּ֗יטָה אֹרְחֹתֶֽיךָ׃ בְּחֻקֹּתֶ֥יךָ אֶֽשְׁתַּעֲשָׁ֑ע לֹ֭א אֶשְׁכַּ֣ח דְּבָרֶֽךָ׃
    Psalm 119:9
    Jesus said if we love Him, we will keep His word.
    John 14:23 NKJV
    Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
    Loving and keeping the Word is synonomous with faith and one of the proofs that we are the real deal!

    II. Implementing God’s word will lead to purity.

    How can a young man cleanse his way? David wrote.
    God’s word can do amazing things in the realm of purification.
    Jesus said in -
    John 17:17 NKJV
    Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
    Yet, in our text, what David is conveying, is actually the avoidance of sinful living by taking heed to the word of God as a preventive measure.
    Young people, take notice of the word of God and apply it to your everyday lives now, so you can avoid a lot of heartache later!
    I remember the man i was before my christian experience.
    Cussing like a sailor was second nature to me.
    In fact it began at a much younger age, and if there was a career to be had in soap tasting, i’d be the CEO of that company!
    But I remember that salvation did not automatically take away the swearing!
    I didn’t wake up one morning with a new vocabulary!
    I began memorizing verses and using them to clean up my gutter mouth!
    I let God’s word infiltrate my sinful habit and change it.
    Psalm 19:14 NKJV
    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

    III. Declaring God’s word is a natural inclination for the disciple.

    “With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth.”
    You know we are commanded to preach or herald His word!
    Because God’s word is one of the weapons of the Christian arsenal as described in
    Ephesians 6:17 NKJV
    And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
    I’m not stretching this you know!
    We have been commanded to use His word.
    We have been gifted to use His word.
    We have been sent to use His word.
    My question is, why aren’t we using His word?
    Let me propose something to you:
    The more time we spend in His word, the more time we want to spend in His word, and the more we know about Him. And the more we know about Him, the more we want others to know about Him.

    IV. Meditating on God’s word brings great joy.

    Again Jesus simplifies this for us.
    John 15:11 NKJV
    “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
    If the things He spoke to His disciples then produced remaining joy and a fulness of it, would it not make sense that as we read and meditate upon His words, we also would have fulness of joy?
    Joy is a conquering force in our lives.
    Joy dispels grief and sadness
    Joy is contagious
    Joy is strength
    James 1:2 NKJV
    My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
    James 1:2–3 NKJV
    My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
    Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV
    Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
    Perhaps a healthy dose of reading and meditating upon the word of God daily and systematically, would transform us into joyous servants of the Most High God!
    Can you imagine the effect a group of this kind of disciple would have in our community?
    What if we were it?
      • Psalms 119.9-13NKJV

      • Psalms 119.14-16NKJV

      • Romans 7:22NKJV

      • John 14:23NKJV

      • John 17:17NKJV

      • Psalm 19:14NKJV

      • Ephesians 6:17NKJV

      • John 15:11NKJV

      • James 1:2–3NKJV

      • Nehemiah 8:10NKJV

  • Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone