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Psalm 119:49-56 - Zayin · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today is a chilly day at the
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  time that I am recording, and I'm not saying chilly as in
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  that's the kind of food that I'm eating.
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  It's just chilly as in it's cold.
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  It's nippy outside and certainly a December morning today we are
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  in Psalm 119 and we are in this next portion, which is verses 49
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  through 56, so Psalm one, 1949 through 56.
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  And we're looking at all of these verses start with the
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  Hebrew letter Zion. Zion.
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  And in these verses, we're going to see one theme that kind of
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  gets drawn out again and again through this portion.
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  So Psalm 118, it's all about the Word of God, if you will, from
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  A-Z all the way from the first Hebrew letter to the last.
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  In each of these sections, all 176 verses deal with the Word of
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  God. So let's see what the Word of
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  God has for us today. Verse 49, Remember your word to
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  your servant. You have given me hope through
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  it. This is my comfort in my
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  affliction. Your promise has given me life.
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  The arrogant constantly ridicule me, but I do not turn away from
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  Your instruction. Yahweh, I remember Your
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  judgments from long ago and find comfort.
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  Fury seizes me because of the wicked who reject Your
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  instruction. Your statutes are the theme of
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  my song during my earthly life. Yahweh, I remember Your name in
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  the night and I obey your instruction.
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  This is my practice. I obey your precepts.
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  So there's a lot of things that we could pull from this
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  particular portion of Scripture, but the one thing that I wanted
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  to highlight is this truth. The Word of God is settled, and
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  because it is settled, we can believe it and we can look back
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  on it with hope for our future. So we can look back on the Word
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  of God because it's settled and find hope for our future.
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  One of the things even nowadays that I see so often with people
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  is they put some faith or some hope into the stock market.
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  And the stock market can go up or down any given day.
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  You can ask people back in 2008, hey, how did that work out for
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  you? You can look back in, you know,
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  1929, I think is when the Great Depression started.
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  And you can look, even nowadays, a lot of financial individuals,
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  they're looking at how the stock market's currently going and
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  they're talking about an AI bubble and all of those things
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  that we can go, OK, wait, where is the settledness?
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  Is there anywhere firm that I can place my ground that I know
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  for sure if I do this or say this or if I believe this, this
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  is a safe place for me to rest in.
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  And the truth is, so many things in this world are not that.
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  If you put your faith in the stock market, it might pan out
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  for you, it might not. And for some people it works out
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  great, and for other people it reeks devastation in their life.
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  Some people really hope that a particular job is going to
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  sustain them for many, many years and they will be able to
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  accomplish all of their both career and financial goals as a
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  result of having that job. But there's no guarantee that
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  they will retain that job for any length of time.
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  But some people start a business and they're excited about the
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  ability to have their own, you know, their own thing.
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  And they're not relying on someone else to be the boss.
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  They're not relying on someone else's mood to depend to
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  determine whether or not they're going to have a job.
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  And so they, they love that idea.
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  But even being self-employed, you still have to get customers
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  and your products all have to come in on time and it has to be
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  at the price that works so that when people buy stuff, you're
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  making money and you're not losing money and you're able to
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  make enough money to be able to live as a result of your
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  business. And so there are all of these
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  things in life that can be, can be good, can be bad, but there's
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  no guarantee that it will keep you safe.
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  But what we see in this portion of Scripture is that we do have
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  something that can keep us safe. There is something that we can
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  rely on when all the rest of the world goes up and down.
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  We can rely on the Word of God, that knowing who God is, what
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  His intentions are, and what His will is for us, and knowing the
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  purpose that we have while we are here and the fact that God
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  has promised those basics within our life of that daily bread.
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  Or we read one of the Psalms. It's somewhere in the Psalm 30
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  is I think it's 37 or 39 perhaps I where David says I've never
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  seen the righteous abandoned, nor have I seen his descendants
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  begging for bread. And so we can go to these
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  portions of Scripture to say, God, here's who you have
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  proclaimed yourself to be. I remember Philippians 4 and
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  verse 19 where it says, my God will supply all of your need
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  according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
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  And so we take these promises from the word of God.
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  We take Hebrews 13, I'll never leave you or abandon you, and we
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  can say God, I believe this. So here's what I was talking
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  about at the very beginning. We remember God's word because
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  it's settled. God's word is not still being
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  written. It was completed with the last
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  of the apostles to write and then pass off the scene which
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  would have been the apostle John there in the Book of Revelation
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  being the last written of the New Testament.
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  And the word of God is settled. It's complete.
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  And so we fully know who God is as far as He has made known to
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  us. And so we can fully know God
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  according to His revelation and we know what His instructions
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  and will and temperament is towards us and for us.
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  So because we know everything that God wanted us to know, we
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  don't have to worry about some new letter, you know, from Paul
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  coming out that we then go, oh man, OK, Actually, God doesn't
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  anymore promise that he will provide for all of our need
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  according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
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  Oh no, God says now he will take away the Holy Spirit and that
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  the Holy Spirit's no longer the down payment of our inheritance
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  until the redemption of the purchase possession.
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  We don't have to worry about God's word changing.
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  It is complete, it's total, and He has told us that He does not
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  change. And so the promises that he made
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  3000 years ago or 2000 years ago he will still keep today.
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  And so here's where I see this, particularly within this passage
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  verse #49 He says, remember your word to your servant.
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  He says, God, you know what you said?
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  Would you act on that as a result of the fact that you told
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  me that you were going to do this because you said this would
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  happen, Would you be true to your word?
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  I've mentioned off and on here before when Scripture talks
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  about God remembering, it's not that he has forgotten it.
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  It's calling for God to act based on what he has said.
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  I love this. Even when I think about my work
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  as a pastor. The area in which I'm
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  ministering in Essex is an incredibly needy area.
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  There are so many people that do not know the Lord.
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  There are people in dire financial straits.
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  There are people that maybe are doing OK financially, but they
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  don't have family, they don't have connection.
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  There are broken family relationships.
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  And so I'm thankful for God's promise that he has people from
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  every nation and tribe and tongue.
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  And that because he has called us to go into all the world and
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  make disciples of all nations. That there are people within
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  this town and the areas around it that need to know the Lord,
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  that need to become disciples of Jesus, that need to be baptized,
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  need to be taught everything that Jesus commanded and that my
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  work that I do here is not pointless.
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  My my job here. I don't know how many of my
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  Tabernacle family listen to these.
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  My job is not necessarily to just say, OK, what would make,
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  you know, what would make Shelly or what would make Myron or what
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  would make Martha or what would make Caitlin the most happy at
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  at the church. And I'll try and, you know, do a
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  whole smorgasbord and whatever makes the most people happy,
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  we're all going to do that. And if everyone is happy with
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  me, then I'm doing my job, right?
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  No, my job is not even to say what would make Brian most
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  happy. No, my job is make disciples,
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  baptize them, teach them everything that Jesus has
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  commended. Command.
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  That is my instruction as a pastor.
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  That's my job description. Frankly, it's our job
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  description as Christians, period.
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  And as a pastor in particular, I'm praying for it, and I'm
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  looking after the souls of other people.
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  And so if I'm going to accomplish the work that God has
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  called me to, then I'm relying on God's promises.
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  I'm relying on God's word to say God.
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  If all I'm here for is to make Christians happy, it's not
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  really a great purpose in life, But God, if I am here to
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  evangelize the lost and to equip the Saints so that they can
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  evangelize the lost and so that they can walk with God in a
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  deep, meaningful way, well, that's a life worth living.
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  And I can live it based on the promises of God.
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  I can say, God, you said whoever calls on the name of the Lord
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  will be saved. And God, you said that everyone
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  that the Father has given to you will come to you, and those that
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  come to you, you will never for any reason cast them out.
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  God, you said that you have people all across this world,
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  from every nation and from every tribe and every language.
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  And so God, I believe your word, would you accomplish your will?
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  And so that's my purpose is God, I hear what you've said and so
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  I'm going to follow it. Verse #49 continues.
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  He says you have given me hope through it, through your word.
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  This is God, you have said this. And so I can go back to there
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  and say, God, this is what you have promised.
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  This is what your declaration is.
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  And so I believe it when I'm concerned about my walk with the
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  Lord or even if I truly am saved because I'm struggling with sin
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  and, and I just feel like I'm constantly failing God over and
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  over again. And I don't know if I'm truly
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  saved. I can go back to Romans chapter
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  8 and verse #1 where it says there is therefore now no
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  condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
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  And I can say because I have placed my faith in Christ, that
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  is the basis of my standing before God.
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  Am I called to holiness? Am I called to follow the Lord
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  and my actions and my words and my thoughts?
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  Certainly. But that is not the basis of my
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  relationship with God. The basis of my relationship
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  with God is the fact that Jesus died for me.
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  And if I'm going to get to heaven, if I'm going to have a
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  relationship with God today, it can only come through the Lord
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  Jesus Christ. And so all of my faith is placed
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  in him. And so I asked God, like God,
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  would you be the one that is standing by me when my own soul
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  is condemning me for my sins? Would you help me to remember
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  that it's about what Jesus has done, not about my perfection?
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  Certainly I need to follow you, but help me to gain assurance
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  through knowing it's about Christ.
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  It's not about me so many other ways that that we could think
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  about this all continue on in verse 50 the end of it.
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  This is my comfort in my affliction.
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  You want to have some comfort for the hurts in your life.
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  Says your promise has given me life, this promise that was
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  given in the past. He says, this provides me with
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  the life, the exuberance, the joy, the energy to be able to
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  move forward. You need comfort in your
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  affliction. The book of James in chapter 5
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  would tell us, sing psalms to the Lord.
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  Why the Psalms? Because over and over again it's
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  these kinds of statements to say, God, I am hurting.
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  There are enemies, there are those that ridicule me, there
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  are those that are hurting me. My own soul is like down in the
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  dust. But God, I believe that you will
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  lift me up. I believe that your word will
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  give me strength, and so may we rely on the promises of God.
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  How do we know the promises of God?
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  We spend time in the Word. It's the most important thing
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  that we can do. Verse 51 The arrogant constantly
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  ridicule me, but I do not turn away from your instruction.
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  Ridicule is very, very, very rarely a tool that a Christian
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  should ever use. And frankly, in today's very
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  polarized age, it's something that's very common, very
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  unfortunately, I can see in many politicians today that this has
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  become commonplace. I remember even seeing back
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  about nine years ago now, there was the Republican primaries and
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  seeing one particular person whose name you all know that was
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  constantly insulting the beauty of other people's wives.
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  Seeing people be demeaned and ridiculed was terrible.
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  And even today the same kinds of things happened and people made
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  in the image of God are called are told to be quiet piggy in a
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  way that is reprehensible to the Spirit of God.
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  Now in the same it's not just unfortunately, it's not just one
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  side of the aisle that has been partaking in this now as frankly
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  social media discourse has begun to affect how people talk to one
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  another. You can see the same types of
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  things begin to bleed over into so many different politicians
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  and to where you can have people that begin ridiculing others
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  based on unchangeable physical characteristics of others and
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  judgment and belittlement of others based on how you know
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  naturally beautiful or not beautiful that person might be
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  or whether or not they are strong enough or frankly
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  sometimes even people that have you know abnormal tonal
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  inflections in their voice that someone could make fun of
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  another person because their voice is a particular tambour or
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  tone or pitch. None of those things are like
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  what God does. In fact, here in verse 51, it
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  says the arrogant constantly ridicule me.
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  And when we demean others because of their looks, when we
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  demean others because we disagree with them in politics
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  or when we insult others as a result of unchangeable physical
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  characteristics or when we insult their physical
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  characteristics, even if they are changeable, that is not like
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  what God does here. It's what the prideful do.
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  It's the arrogant that walk in this way.
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  Let's not be like that. Let's not be ridiculers.
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  May other people not be able to say, Oh yeah, Brian ridiculed me
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  at lunch or yeah, he was just really making fun of me.
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  Now there can be good hearted jesting and and teasing between
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  people, but there's also people very seldom will be like, yeah,
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  that genuinely like hurt and kind of stabbed me when you said
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  that or when you did that. And so may we be ones that were
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  defined by our encouragement. We're defined by how we point
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  people towards the Lord, not through how we ridicule.
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  Now, are there times in which ridiculing could possibly be a
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  correct choice? Possibly.
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  Jesus called the Pharisees of his day whitewashed sepulchers.
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  You can look at the prophet Elijah as he's teasing the
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  prophets of Baal as they're trying to get Baal to bring down
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  fire from heaven. And he's like, ah, maybe he's
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  sleeping, maybe he's on a trip, maybe he's on the toilet and
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  they just there, it's, it's ridicule.
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  There is a time and place where it could be appropriate, but
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  allow the Holy Spirit of God to tell you when it's OK to do
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  that. Don't just assume it's always OK
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  to do that unless the Spirit tells you otherwise.
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  Here. Let's not be like the arrogant.
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  Let us be those that do not turn away from the instruction of the
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  Lord. Verse 52, he says Yahweh, I
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  remember your judgments from long ago and find comfort.
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  The word that encouraged in yesteryear is the same
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  encouragement that we can find today.
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  The encouragement that we heard as kids growing up in church, If
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  that if that describes you, that's the same comfort you can
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  find today. This is why I love singing old
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  hymns during Christmas time, Christmas carols that I grew up
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  with joy to the world, silent night, hark the herald, angels
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  sing during regular times of year.
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  When I survey the wondrous cross, it is well with my soul.
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  Mighty fortress is our God. These songs remind me of the
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  judgments of God that I heard long ago and it brings me
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  comfort even today. Verse #53 here I wanted to
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  highlight and I'll look at this verse and then 55 and then we'll
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  be done for the day. Verse 53 Fury seizes me because
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  of the wicked who reject your instruction.
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  I think way too often myself and and I'm sure many of you are
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  natural reaction to those that reject the instruction of the
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  Lord is fear or appeasement that we don't want to rock the boat
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  by saying no, you you should actually care about what God
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  says or we want to like build a bridge and say, well, God loves
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  you. And so I guess yeah, there must
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  be a ton of other ways to God and and it doesn't just have to
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  be faith in Christ alone. Whatever way you think works
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  well as as long as you just love people, that'll be fine.
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  No, here there is a righteous anger, fury because of the
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  wicked who reject the instruction of God.
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  May we be those that have genuine feeling when God, his
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  character, his nature and his ways are being rejected by
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  people, especially by those that would profess to be Christians
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  for those that are in the world. As I mentioned, I think was an
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  episode or two ago, Paul says that the the eyes of their eyes
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  have been darkened. They've they have blinders on
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  that Satan has placed there so that they would not see the
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  truth. So they they don't understand
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  yet they need the Holy Spirit of God to change their hearts.
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  Now for those that profess to be Christians and yet want to
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  continue in sin or in false doctrine, those ought to be
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  people that we say no, this is not OK.
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  This is not something that I just have to be tolerant of in
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  the sense that I say well you know your truth, my truth, it's
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  whatever. No, we should have some deep
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  passion about what is right, especially as brothers and
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  sisters in the Lord that we would point in the right
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  direction. Why would we be passionate about
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  it because the wages of sin is death that evil and wrong and
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  false doctrine. It leads to the destruction of
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  human souls and relationships and walks with God and so we.
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  We should never be OK with that. We should always want to point
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  people towards the truth that more could be said, but I'll
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  I'll leave that there for today. Then verse 55, Yahweh, I
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  remember your name in the night, and I obey your instruction,
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  God, at night time when I get scared, when it's dark, when
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  there's not, I can't just be busy.
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  There's nothing really I can do but just lay there.
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  God, I remember your name, your authority, and I want to obey
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  your word. And then I love verse 56.
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  This is my practice. I obey your precepts.
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  I'm not always going to be perfect about it, but is this
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  what I habitually do? Do I say God, I'm going to obey
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  you, I'm going to follow you, I'm going to love you Today,
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  God's Word, it is settled, it is complete.
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  We know exactly what God wants us to know and we can take that
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  to the bank. So rely on, take comfort in the
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  Word of God. Let it motivate you towards
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  movement, towards feeling and passion.
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  May it cause you to stand firm even in the face of opposition.
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  And may you regularly follow the Lord because he is a
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  trustworthy, consistent God that we can believe in and fall.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. Tomorrow we'll be in verses 57
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  through 64. Thank you.
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  Have a wonderful day.