Latest / Reformed Thinking / How a Young Man Keeps His Way Pure (Psalm 119:9–16) | Charles Spurgeon

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How a Young Man Keeps His Way Pure (Psalm 119:9–16) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking, where we take a deep dive into
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  the sources that shape our theological understanding.
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  Glad to be here for this one. Yeah, we are so glad you, the
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  listener, are joining us today. Maybe you are commuting to work
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  right now, or taking a walk, and you are looking for some
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  practical wisdom on living a holy life in a world that is
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  just full of distractions. Right, a world that is
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  constantly shouting at you. Yeah, absolutely.
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  And today our mission is to examine how a person,
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  specifically a young person, but this really applies to all of
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  us, can achieve practical holiness.
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  And we are using a very specific source for this.
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  Right. Well, we are.
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  Our sole source material today is Charles Spurgeon's The
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  Treasury of David. Specifically, we are looking at
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  his curation of commentaries on Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16.
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  It is such an incredible section of scripture.
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  It really is. Now before we jump in, we are
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  going to establish a strict conversational rule for today's
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  deep dive. Oh, I like rules.
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  Let us hear it. So we are going to make sure we
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  pass the baton smoothly back and forth, ensuring we never
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  interrupt each other. We want this to be a clear,
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  steady exchange of ideas. I love that.
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  A smooth handoff every time. Perfect.
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  So looking at this text, it really sets up a theological
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  framework of right from the start.
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  It does. I mean, this text perfectly
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  illustrates the Reformed doctrines of our total
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  dependence on God. It shows our human inability to
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  choose good without grace and how sanctification is driven
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  strictly by the Holy Spirit using Scripture.
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  Which is such a countercultural way to look at things today.
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  Oh, entirely. OK, let's unpack this by looking
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  at verse 9, which lays out the great problem and the divine
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  map. I'll let.
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  Us do it. The text asks Wherewithal shall
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  a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according
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  to thy word. Such a famous question.
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  It is, but I have to ask why the text assumes the way needs
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  cleansing in the 1st place. I mean, isn't a young person
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  starting with a blank slate? That is the common assumption.
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  Right. Yeah, like if I buy a brand new
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  car, I do not ask the dealer how to scrub the seats before I
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  drive it off the lot. It is new.
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  Right. You assume it is pristine, yeah.
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  So why does this first assume there is already dirt on the
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  road or dirt on the traveler before they even get going?
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  Well, the Reformed view of human nature, which Thomas Manton
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  notes in his commentary here, really answers that we are
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  polluted with sin from birth. So we do not start neutral.
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  No, not at all. We are naturally defiled.
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  There is no blank slate. Wow, OK.
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  Yeah, and John Gibbon points out the specific dangers of youth in
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  this regard. He talks about the boiling of
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  his blood and the fermentation of youthful lusts.
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  That is some intense imagery. It really is given highlights
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  how headstrong that nature is. And then Thomas LeBlanc adds an
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  amazing insight about the Hebrew word for young man used here,
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  which is gnar. OK, what does that mean?
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  It literally means shaken off. Really shaken off.
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  Yes, it refers to that highly dangerous period when a youth
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  shakes off the parental yoke. Oh, so they are suddenly free
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  from the rules of the House, right?
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  They have the autonomy, but they have all that boiling blood and
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  a naturally defiled heart. That sounds like a recipe for
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  disaster. It is.
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  You know, Spurgeon has an here that I think is brilliant.
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  He talks about a ship captain. Oh, the captain analogy is
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  great. Right, so a captain can stay up
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  all night watching from the deck, trying his absolute best
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  to keep his ship safe. He is totally sincere.
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  Very sincere. But if he has no pilot and he
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  refuses to look at the map of the coast, his diligence
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  actually just hastens his own shipwreck.
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  Because he is confidently steering right into the rock.
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  Exactly. I mean, willful ignorance is a
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  sin here. Sincerity without the map of
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  scripture is basically deadly poison.
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  That is a harsh reality for a culture that loves to say just
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  follow your heart. Oh totally.
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  But recognizing you need a map is only step one, right?
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  How does a person actually approach this map once they
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  realize they need it? That leads us to the internal
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  posture in the next verse. Yes, verse 10.
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  It says, With my whole heart have I sought thee.
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  O let me not wander from my commandments.
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  A beautiful plea. It is, but I have some pushback
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  on this well. Let's hear it.
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  If someone is seeking God with their whole heart, why would
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  they immediately need to beg God not to let them wander?
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  That is a very fair question. I mean, shouldn't
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  wholeheartedness prevent wandering?
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  If my whole heart is in something, I am not going to
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  just drift away. What's fascinating here is how
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  David Dixon's commentary addresses that exact tension.
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  Oh really? What does he say?
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  He says there is a vast difference between the reckless
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  young soldier and the experienced believer.
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  OK, lay that out for me. Well, the young soldier rides
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  into the adversaries camp feeling totally confident that
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  he will not fall. He thinks his zeal is enough.
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  Right, he is bumped up. But the experienced believer
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  knows their own readiness to wander insensibly.
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  They know what happens through ignorance or just simple
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  inadvertency. So.
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  They know their own weakness. Precisely.
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  And John Calvin chimes on this too.
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  He notes that even after God has bestowed manifest graces on us,
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  the imperfections of our nature still remain.
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  So the wholeheartedness is real, but the flesh is still weak.
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  Yes, and because of that we have to plead daily that God holds us
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  with a mighty hand. Our own sincerity is just not
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  enough to keep us anchored. That is so humbling.
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  It really is. But God does not just leave us
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  begging. Pleading for His help is
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  crucial, but he provides a specific instrument for that
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  preservation. And that instrument brings us to
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  segment 3, hoarding the truth, which is the internal treasury
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  in verse 11. Verse 11.
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  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
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  against thee. So we are not just talking about
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  rote memorization here. Right, it is not just winning a
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  Bible trivia contest. No.
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  John Stephen and William Calper make this very clear.
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  The receptacle for the word has to be the heart.
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  Not just the outward ear. Right.
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  And not just the intellect either, because if it is only in
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  a book on your shelf, you miss it when you actually need it.
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  That makes a lot of sense. But when it occupies the
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  affections, it creates an inward fortification against sin.
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  You know, Bernard and George Swonik have a highly memorable
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  analogy for this. Oh, the mice analogy.
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  Yes. So if you leave a loaf of bread
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  in the cupboard, it is totally vulnerable.
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  Mice can come eat it, or it can just sit there and turn to mold.
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  It is just exposed. Right.
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  But if you take that bread down into your body, if you eat it,
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  it is safe from those hazards. It becomes part of you.
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  Exactly. So for you, the listener, if you
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  leave your Bible on the shelf, it is vulnerable.
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  The world can distract you from it.
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  But if you consume it, you secure it.
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  That is a brilliant way to picture it, and John Gill points
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  out that this is the actual mechanism of sanctification.
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  Mechanism. How so?
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  Well, in Reformed theology, unctification is wrought in the
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  heart by the Spirit of God by means of the Word.
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  So the Spirit uses the hidden word as the tool.
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  Yes, the Spirit and the Word work together.
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  Wow. OK, so we have the map hidden in
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  our hearts. That brings us to verse 12.
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  Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes.
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  This is a massive turning point in the text.
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  Here's where it gets really interesting, because there is a
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  logical puzzle here. What do you see?
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  The writer says. Blessed are you God, which means
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  happy or fulfilled right before asking to be taught.
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  Yes, blessed art thou. So what does God's happiness
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  have to do with our education? Why pair those two things
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  together? Well, William Wishart and Paul
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  Bain connect those dots for us. They point out that God is the
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  fountain of all Felicity. OK, He has infinite complacency
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  in himself, meaning he is perfectly, completely satisfied
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  and happy within himself. So he does not need us to be
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  happy. Right.
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  And think about it, When we see a truly happy being, we
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  naturally want to learn their course.
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  We want to know their secret. Oh sure, like asking a couple
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  who has been married 50 years for advice.
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  Spot on. And a blessed God will naturally
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  communicate His ways to others so they can share in that
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  blessedness. He wants to teach us.
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  That is a wonderful thought. And George Phillips anchors this
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  heavily in the reform of perspective.
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  He says human strength accomplishes nothing here.
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  We cannot learn it on our own. No, the psalmist begs for
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  teaching because he is entirely helpless.
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  God must actually create the will for the performance of the
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  duty. So God has to give us the desire
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  to even learn the map. Yes, we depend completely on
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  preventing and cooperating grace.
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  He moves 1st and then He works with us.
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  That takes all the pressure off my own willpower.
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  It absolutely does. Well, once that inward work
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  happens, it naturally echoes outward.
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  That is verse 13. The shift from the internal to
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  the external right. With my lips have I declared all
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  the judgments of thy mouth. FG Marchant notes this beautiful
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  parallel here. The parallel of the lips and the
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  mouth, yes. The human lips act as a direct
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  echo of the mouth of Jehovah. When the fountain of the heart
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  is purified, the streams from the lips are pure.
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  It just flows out naturally. Yeah, you cannot help but speak
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  it. But Ambrose brings in a really
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  vital distinction here that we have to catch.
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  Oh, what does Ambrose say? He points out that the verse
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  says all the judgments of thy mouth, not all the judgments of
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  thy heart. Wait, what is the difference?
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  It is huge. We are not called to preach
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  God's secret, unsearchable decrees.
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  Oh, the things he keeps hidden. Right.
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  We just preach precisely what He has chosen to reveal through the
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  prophets and the Word, His spoken judgments.
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  That is a huge relief. I do not have to figure out all
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  the secret mysteries of the universe.
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  No, just echo what he has already spoken.
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  OK, so we hide the word God teaches us and then we speak it.
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  But does this whole process make life dull?
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  People certainly think it does. Yeah.
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  Does it feel restrictive? Let's look at verse 14.
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  I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in
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  all riches. Such a bold claim.
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  It is many people find religious duties to be a heavy burden.
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  How can someone claim to enjoy rules as much as a billionaire
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  enjoys their wealth? If we connect this to the bigger
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  picture, Thomas Manton's insight really shines here.
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  What does Manton say? He says the joy is not in
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  speculation or just talking about theology.
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  The joy is in the way. In the way like the actual doing
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  of it, Yes, the actual practice and obedience.
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  OK, but comparing it to riches is pretty extreme.
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  Well, Bernard makes a striking observation about worldly wealth
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  To contrast this, he says earthly riches are acquired with
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  massive difficulty. Sure, people work their whole
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  lives for them. And then they are enjoyed with
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  trembling. Oh, because you're afraid of
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  losing it? Right.
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  And finally, they are lost with bitterness.
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  But the joy in God's Word is secure.
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  That reminds me of an anecdote from Oliver Haywood.
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  OH. About the poor woman, yes.
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  He tells the story of a poor woman during times of intense
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  persecution. A very dark time.
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  And she was stripped of absolutely everything she owned.
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  But she said she could not live without her Bible.
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  Because it was her greatest nourishment.
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  Right. Her wealth was in the
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  testimonies and no one could take that from her.
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  That is true joy. But to get that kind of joy, you
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  need a holy habit. Which is verse 15.
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  I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect into thy ways.
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  Meditation is a word that gets misunderstood a lot today.
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  It really does. People think it means emptying
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  your mind, but Nathaniel Renewer compares it to digging a golden
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  mine. We're diving into the sea,
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  right? Yes, it is intense labor.
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  You do not get the treasure by a quick glance.
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  You have to stay under the water, draw out the golden
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  thread and reactivate your thoughts when you get
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  distracted. It is an active, rigorous
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  process, and William Calper breaks down that spiritual
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  sequence force. How does he break it down?
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  He says there are three steps. First is meditation, which
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  brings the word to the mind. Getting the raw data.
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  Then comes consideration where you actually view it and ponder.
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  It the digging part. Right.
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  And finally, delectation or joy is bred directly from that
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  pondering. So the joy does not come without
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  the hard work of consideration, no.
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  It is the result of it. Jon Trapp has a great image for
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  having respect to God's ways in this verse too.
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  What is his image? He says it is like an Archer
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  staring intensely at his mark. Laser focus.
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  Yeah, blocking out all the noise and just locking eyes on the
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  target. So good.
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  And all of that brings us to the culmination in verse 16.
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  I will delight myself in my statutes.
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  I will not forget thy word. The ultimate result?
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  So what does this all mean for us?
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  Delight is actually the ultimate cure for spiritual amnesia.
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  That makes total sense. Thomas Manton references Cicero
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  here. He says you never hear of a
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  covetous old man who forgets where he buried his treasure.
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  Because his heart is completely tied to it.
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  Exactly when you love the word, your memory holds it tightly.
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  You remember what you love. Yeah, Thomas Chalmers gives us a
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  soaring final insight on this. What is Chalmers ad?
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  It says that when righteousness shifts from a matter of
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  constraint to a matter of choice, it's whole nature
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  changes. From constraint to choice.
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  I love that. We are no longer driven by the
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  God of authority like a strict schoolmaster.
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  We are drawn by a willing heart. The law becomes a free delight.
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  That is so freeing, and it leaves you, the listener, with a
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  question to Mull over today. A vital question to ask
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  ourselves. Look at your own spiritual
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  habits right now. Are you currently trying to
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  memorize a map out of fear of the schoolmaster just trying to
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  avoid punishment? Or are you operating out of
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  love? Right.
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  Are you hoarding treasure in your heart because you genuinely
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  delight in the one who drew the map 'cause that is where the
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  real joy is? It really is.
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  Well, thank you for joining us on this deep dive.
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  It has been a great discussion. We hope it was helpful for you.
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  Have a great rest of your day.