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Psalm 119:65-72 - Teth · 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. I am excited today.
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  We're in Psalm 119 and we are in the tenth section of Psalm 119.
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  That is verses 65 through 72, verses 65 through 72.
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  And in this portion of Scripture, as I've mentioned,
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  Psalm 119, it's all about the Word of God from A-Z, if you
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  will, in the Hebrew alphabet. And so all of these verses start
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  with the Hebrew letter test, and they all talk about the Word of
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  God. And today we are going to be
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  seen in these verses kind of this theme that there is change
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  that is needed. There's change that's needed.
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  And you might be like, Oh yeah, absolutely, Brian.
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  My my spouse needs to change. My coworker or my boss needs to
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  change, my neighbors need to change, you know, their their
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  habits and how late they're partying or they need to change
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  how loud their music is or this nation really needs change.
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  No, my friend, the biggest person in need of change in your
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  life and in my life is me. And you might say, yes, Brian,
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  you do need to change. I need to change too.
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  But each of us individually need to change.
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  We are not yet who God wants us to be fully.
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  We are not showing fully who God is through how we live.
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  That's who we were made to be. We're made to image God that we
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  would be that reflection of the nature of our God towards other
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  people and towards the world world around us.
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  How do we become that? How do we fulfill what God
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  created us to be? And the answer is through
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  looking at the word of God and specifically listening to what
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  it tells us about us. And so that's what we're going
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  to learn in these verses today. Let's start in verse 65.
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  Yahweh, you have treated your servant well, just as you
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  promised. Teach me good judgment and
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  discernment, for I rely on your commands.
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  Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your
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  word. You are good and you do what is
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  good. Teach me your statutes.
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  The arrogant have smeared me with lies, but I obey your
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  precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are hard and and
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  sensitive, but I delight in your instruction.
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  It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn
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  your statutes. Instruction from your lips is
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  better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
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  I love this section. It is just so.
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  It's so poetic. Some really great word pictures
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  all the way through. And so I'm I'm looking forward
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  to dabbing into this with y'all. OK, we are looking at changing
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  as a result of listening to the word of God, or if you will, the
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  word of God as the teacher who tells us what we should be doing
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  so that we can show others what God is like.
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  I I love him. Verse 65, he says, Yahweh, you
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  have treated your servant well, just as you promised.
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  And this is true for every child of God.
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  People have mistreated me. I have had, I've had teachers
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  that mistreated me. I, I humorously think about my
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  first driving test. I by no means a perfect driver.
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  Ask my wife, ask, you know, my siblings.
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  I'm not a perfect driver, but I have never gotten in an
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  accident. I have never been pulled over,
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  never had, you know, traffic violation thing.
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  And but you would not know that from my initial driving test.
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  The, the guy that gave me that test was just irate and I
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  thought they did pretty good on the test.
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  And he, he flunked to me and then just seemed to have a very
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  sour face while while doing so. The next time that I went in and
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  took the test passed with flying colors.
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  And so I don't know what was up with that guy that particular
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  day, but he, he was not happy with me.
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  Or I can think about my, my English class in college.
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  Actually, it was a second English class that he took
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  because I took English in my local Community College, got
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  phenomenal grades in in in high school, got great grades all the
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  way through. But then when I went to Bible
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  college, the English professor that was there, I think that was
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  the only C that I maybe ever got in.
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  I think that's correct. That was the only C that I ever
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  got in college or in high school or I think in middle school too.
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  And it was just wasn't due to lack of knowledge about English
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  as my other classes indicated. It was just, hey, here's, here's
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  a failing from a teacher. Humans fail us constantly, but
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  God has treated us well. And there was no moment in my
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  life where I can look back and say, God, you did wrong by me.
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  Through this happening. I've had loved ones that have
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  passed. I've had hard circumstances.
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  My wife and I lost a child to to miscarriage back in 2021.
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  I have experienced hard times, but as I've gone through all of
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  those, I can echo here with the psalmist.
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  God, you have treated your servant well.
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  And if there's no other lesson that we can learn, then this
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  lesson, it's verse 68. You are good and you do what is
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  good. You are good and you do what is
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  good. Let's remember when life gets
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  hard that circumstances are difficult.
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  Sin is awful and it destroys everything it comes in contact
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  with. But God is good and he does what
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  is good. So it's not a tribute sin or
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  evil or wrong to God. Let's place that blame where it
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  belongs, on Satan and on his work he wants to accomplish.
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  That's not from our God because he is good and he does what is
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  good. Sorry, that was a little aside.
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  That's not the pain thing I was talking about with the word of
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  God as our teacher, but just felt like the Lord is kind of
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  leading in that way. I have fully forgiven both that
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  driving instructor and my English professor, by the way.
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  Totally fine with them. If I saw them today, I'd, I'd be
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  thrilled to death to see him. No bad blood.
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  I, I just as I was thinking about hey, mistreatment.
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  Oh, yeah, I I remember some people that might have
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  mistreated me in the past. Verse 66, the psalmist says,
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  teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on your
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  commands. God.
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  I don't know how to choose between right and wrong here.
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  There's a judgment call, there's a discernment call.
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  I need to know, is this good or is this bad?
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  And my indicators are totally off because sin has muddied my
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  brain to where I think, Oh well, that can be excused.
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  And really this is a good thing, even though God might say that
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  it's a bad thing when you have to make judgment calls, when you
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  have to determine is this a right or a wrong action for me
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  to take? Is this a wrong or right
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  conversation to be having, a wrong or right vocabulary to be
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  using? You can go to the word of God to
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  determine if something is right or wrong.
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  So we need to listen to the word of God in order to figure out
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  what is right and what is wrong. Verse 67, Before I was
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  afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word.
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  You want to get back on the right path.
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  Maybe you've been away from the Lord for a while, or maybe
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  you've really been struggling with some sin that it's kind of
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  been ruling over you and you want to stop having sin.
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  Be in charge of your mouth or your behavior or your thoughts.
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  How do you get back on board? Listen to the word of God.
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  It will teach you what you should be doing there.
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  He says before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your
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  word. I love here.
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  He's going to mention it again at the ending.
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  He says I was going my own way, but then trouble came into my
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  life and I realized this was God's goodness to me that I
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  recognized I had a problem. And so now I have changed
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  according to God's word as a result of the hardship that I
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  went through. And he's going to mention it
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  more later. So I I'll, I'll save some more
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  comments for, for later on. But I think sometimes we resent
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  trials and temptations. We resent when other people
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  'cause us issues, when really it's God showing us.
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  He's showing us our flaws. He's showing us the ways in
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  which we're not like him. Because when someone says that
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  thing, man, we're all up in arms.
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  And when someone doesn't invite us to the party or when someone
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  does says this thing that we're like, oh, I really bet they
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  meant this. Our sin nature creeps on up and
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  God uses those moments to show us, Hey Brian, you really
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  operate in suspicion. Brian, you really operate in
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  unforgiveness or in bitterness. And I'm showing you that this is
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  what you do. And I want to show you a better
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  way through my word. So don't resent the hard times,
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  don't resent the afflictions. God wants to use His word to
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  show you the better way. As a result, verse 68, you are
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  good and you do what is good. Teach me your statutes.
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  God, you are good. That's what your character is,
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  and you do what is good. That is your actions, both your
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  character, what's inside you, and your actions, what you do as
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  a result of what's inside you. They are good and they're
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  consistent. And then he says, teach me your
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  statutes. God, show me how to be good,
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  that my character would be good. And God show me how to do good
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  in my actions. Make me like you.
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  That's what we read in first Peter chapter 1.
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  I think it's about verse 13, Be holy because I am holy.
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  That's what the Lord says. So God, you're good.
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  You do what is good. Help me to be good and do what
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  is good. It's a desire to be like God,
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  that His word would teach us to be like Him.
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  Verse #69 The arrogant have smeared me with lies, but I obey
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  your precepts with all my heart, God, with the the fullest sense
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  of who I am. I'm going to press on following
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  you regardless of what other people say then 70 Their hearts
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  are hard and insensitive. They don't feel that like prick
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  that conscience poking from the Holy Spirit when they are doing
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  what is wrong, it says. But I delight in your
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  instruction. Well, if we don't want to be
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  like the arrogant who have hard and insensitive hearts, what
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  does that mean for us? If I'm in delight in the
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  instruction of God, then what does it mean that my heart is
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  like, It means my heart is soft and it is sensitive that when
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  God goes, shouldn't have, shouldn't have said that we go,
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  oh God, I am so sorry. I'm going to make it right with
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  that person. I'm going to apologize when God
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  says you just passed on by and I told you to talk to that person.
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  Or maybe, you know, you're at church and your natural bent
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  would be I'm just going to avoid this person.
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  God says no, no, no, go, go right to them.
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  Express love, express the care of Jesus.
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  You know, if you need to make something right with them, if
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  you need to be like, hey, you said this and it really kind of
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  hurt my feelings, do that. Be sensitive to the work of the
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  Holy Spirit. Ephesians chapter 4, Paul tells
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  us, do not quench the Holy Spirit of God.
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  It is by him you are sealed until the day of redemption.
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  So don't shut him up. He is with you until you die
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  here, until Jesus comes back. So listen to the Holy Spirit.
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  Don't shut him up. Don't have a hard and
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  insensitive heart that can never be told that you are wrong.
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  Have a sensitive heart that you can always be told when you're
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  wrong. Now does that hurt?
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  Absolutely. I was telling my wife earlier
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  today, The closer that we get with the Holy Spirit, the more
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  we recognize sin both in others and in ourselves.
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  The problem is because we're human, that then results either
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  in pride because we're like, oh man, I'm so much better than
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  they are. Sometimes anger of oh, I can't
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  believe they would sin in this way.
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  Don't they know that that is bad?
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  And so then we fall back into sin even as we recognize sin
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  occurring in others. But then as we recognize our
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  sin, if we're being led by the Spirit, the Spirit shows us
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  that. And so then we grow a little
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  closer to the Lord, but then we recognize more sin.
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  And so this is the struggle that we go through, that even the
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  closer you get to the Lord, you're not going to feel more
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  holy. In fact, if you're actually
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  holy, you are going to be more and more aware of your flaws and
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  failures to be like God, God. And so as a result, our only
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  salvation is Jesus, that we can't ever be holy enough.
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  And so be aware that that sensitivity and that hurt and
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  that process is all going to happen and it's going to happen
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  in your life again and again. What's what's the counterbalance
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  to this delight in the instruction of God that you are
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  happy when someone goes, Hey, Brian, you're kind of a jerk
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  when you said this, that I go, man, thank you.
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  Sin puts the blinders on me that I don't know how I can improve.
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  But when there is instruction from the Lord, when there is
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  instruction from the mouth of his people, when there's
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  instruction even sometimes from the mouth of those that don't
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  know the Lord, but that the Holy Spirit is using them to grow
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  you, that you go, man, yeah, I'm not being like God and how I'm
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  doing that God, thank you. Delight in instruction, delight
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  in in being told that you have done wrong.
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  Don't delight in the wrong. Delight in being told what it
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  is. Listen to it.
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  Because if you don't listen to it, then you are like in James
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  one that the guy looking at a mirror, he sees what he looks
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  like and then he goes away and immediately forgets.
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  And we don't want to do that. We want to be those that
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  continually become more and more like Jesus.
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  Verse 71, It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could
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  learn your statutes. You want to learn, you're going
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  to experience affliction. You're going to experience
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  someone saying something against you.
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  You're going to experience those extra bills, that thing that you
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  didn't see coming. You're going to experience
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  illness and health difficulty. But it is good to be afflicted
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  so that you can learn the statutes of God because in the
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  hard times, in the affliction, your flesh rises up and that
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  shows you where the problem is. It's like when you are purifying
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  gold or silver that you heated up to an incredible heat and all
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  the gold sinks to the bottom and all the imperfections, all the
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  impurities rise to the top and then that stuff can be scraped
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  off. But it's only as the gold is
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  melted and super heated. And so it is in our life that
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  what remains of us is gold. It is purer than before the
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  heat, the trial, the affliction, the sickness, the words from
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  others before that came along. We are now pure as a result.
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  Verse 72, instruction from your lips is better for me than
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  thousands of gold and silver pieces.
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  He says God hearing from you, hearing from the word, hearing
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  from the Holy Spirit, this is far better than all the money
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  that could be used here. I think 30 silver pieces was
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  what Joseph and Jesus were sold for.
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  And so this would be, you know, worth thousands of people.
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  But here the psalmist says your instructions are so much better
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  than any of the money and the gold and all of that.
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  God, you and your ways, your character, your actions are
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  better for me. Let's walk in that.
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  Let's believe that today that God's word and God's way are
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  better, that afflictions can be embraced because it shows us
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  where the problems are so that the Holy Spirit of God can help
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  us to erase those from our life. That we would be more and more
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  like God. We would be like him who is good
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  and who does what is good. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Hope you have a wonderful day.