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Psalm 119:57-64 - Cheth · 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 Welcome back
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  to Tabernacle talk. Hope that you're having a great
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  day Today. We are in Psalm 119 and we are
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  looking at the the verses, the section that all begins with the
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  Hebrew letter kef. Kef.
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  Sometimes in Scripture you will see especially in the Old
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  Testament words that start with chapter and you should always
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  pronounce those like AK. Don't pronounce it like as in
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  church it is K. So the brook Careth, I had a
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  friend of mine in college whose name was Kareth.
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  And that was something in her life that her dad loved that
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  name of. It's that water that that stream
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  that Elijah is by that gives him provision from the Lord for
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  about the the span of a year. And so her dad just really loved
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  that, that river in Scripture. And so he named his daughter
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  Kareth, but everyone always pronounced it Cherith because
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  it's chapter in English. Most of the time we do that with
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  a cha. And so that's just one little
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  Hebrew thing that I'll give you guys for today that is neither
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  here nor there. We are in Psalm 119, verses 57
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  through 64, verses 57 through 64, All of Psalm 119 is
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  basically Hebrew A-Z going through the Word of God and what
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  it means for us. And there's one main thought
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  that I want us to look at today from this portion of Scripture.
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  But read with me, beginning in verse #57 Yahweh is my portion.
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  I have promised to keep your words.
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  I have sought Your favor with all my heart.
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  Be gracious to me according to Your promise.
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  I thought about my ways and turn my steps back to your decrees.
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  I hurried, not hesitating to keep Your commands.
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  Though the ropes of the wicked were wrapped around me, I did
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  not forget Your instruction. I rise at midnight to thank you
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  for Your righteous judgments. I am a friend to all who fear
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  you, to those who keep your precepts.
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  Yahweh, the earth is filled with your faithful love.
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  Teach me your statutes well. I love this portion.
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  This is just a great one that the consistent theme that I see
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  running all through this is the amazing gifts that are given as
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  a result of the Word of God. The gifts that are given as a
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  result of the Word of God. See this beginning in verse #57
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  The greatest gift of the Word of God is Yahweh, is the Lord is
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  Jesus Himself. He is the greatest gift that is
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  given to us through the Word of God, that we realize who He is,
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  what He has done for us, what His character is.
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  We understand all of it through the Word of God.
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  Without the word of God we, we might be able to hear from word
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  of mouth some things about Jesus and we might have some
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  assumptions. The, the certainly the cross and
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  the empty tomb and the resurrection.
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  Those are all historical facts that even if we did not have the
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  word of God, we would still know about those things.
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  How can I say that? Well, you go back to the 1st
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  century and before any of the stuff was written down, it was
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  word of mouth. People told each other the
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  testimony. Even when Paul was writing First
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  Corinthians 15 about the resurrection, he says there were
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  over 500 people at one time who saw Jesus after he was risen
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  from the dead. And the majority of those people
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  were still alive at the time that Paul was writing.
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  Basically saying you can go talk to the eyewitnesses, they can
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  tell you about Jesus. So we could know some things
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  about God. Even Romans one would tell us
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  that among other places, the heavens declare the glory of
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  God. And we can understand some
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  things about nature, about God's wonderful power and his eternal
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  Godhead. As a result of what we see in
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  nature, we can know that He's powerful, He created the world,
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  and we can know that He is different than us because it had
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  to be someone unlike us. It had to be someone greater and
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  stronger and outside of our universe in order to create our
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  universe. So even without the Word, we
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  could know some things about God, but we wouldn't know Him
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  relationally in the way that we do through Scripture.
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  Here the phrase Yahweh is my portion.
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  This is David would use this phrase, Psalm 16.
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  And I know I've mentioned you guys before as one of my
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  favorite Psalms. It's it's one of the ones that
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  really meant a lot to me in my early adult life.
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  There you have inheritance portions that were given to
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  different kids. David was like the 7th or 8th
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  born son of Jesse. And so as a result, he was going
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  to get, you know, some tiny portion of anything.
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  He wasn't like the first born that was going to get a lot of
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  what his dad had. But God describes himself as
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  being the portion of his people. Or you can think back to the 12
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  tribes of Israel and as they go into the land, all of these
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  different, you know, descendants of Jacob, named after the sons
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  of Jacob, they have their portions of the land.
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  But God said that the Levites, those that were part of the
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  tribe of Levi, the descendants of Aaron, the family members of
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  Aaron and Moses, they had not a specific portion of the land
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  that was theirs. There was no portion of Israel
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  that you could go to and say this is the portion of the tribe
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  of Levi and all of the Levites live here.
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  Instead, God said I am the portion of the tribe of Levi.
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  I'm the inheritance. I am what you get out of this
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  life. If God was all that you had,
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  would you be happy with that? If you knew that God loved you,
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  that He had a plan for you, that He had a purpose for you, that
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  He would be with you each and every moment, would that make
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  you satisfied or happy? Because can I tell you, friend,
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  God has given Himself to you fully and completely, and He is
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  your inheritance. There's a great song How He
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  Loves that the the I believe it's the bridge of it.
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  He is our portion and we are his prize drawn to redemption by the
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  grace in his eyes. If grace is an ocean, we are all
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  sinking. I just love how how poetic that
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  line is there that God is our portion.
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  I'll connect with this episode in the show notes and the
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  description thing on on YouTube and Facebook and all that.
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  There's a song by Shane and Shane written by an old Fanny
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  Crosby poem called my portion. And so I'm going to link that.
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  That poem will make this thought stick around in your head a lot
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  more than me just going on and on about it.
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  But I love this that what do we get from the word of God?
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  We get that relationship with the Lord then verse 58 he says I
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  have sought your favor with all my heart.
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  Be gracious to me according to your promise.
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  What do we get from the word of God?
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  We get the favor, the grace of God through the word of God,
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  that we recognize what behaviors that we can do that will invite
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  grace and things that will reject grace, that God wants to
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  extend his grace to us. But we're told in James four
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  that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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  And so we know if I am humble before my God, I am receiving
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  grace. And if I am proud, I am
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  resisting the grace of God and I don't want anything to do with
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  it. And so we can receive favor
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  grace in that way. You can think about all of what
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  people call the regular means of grace that God encourages and
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  strengthens us through reading the word of God that we are able
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  to experience grace, know about God's encouragement and favor
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  through the word. We're able to hear about it
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  through prayer, we are able to experience grace through
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  regularly like worshipping with our brothers and sisters in the
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  Lord. Many of us would say yes, that's
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  the time when I feel most strengthened is in times of
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  corporate worship and when I'm hearing preaching from the Word
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  and when we are praying together over needs and over hardships.
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  Yeah, I I feel God's grace, his strengthening during those
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  times, even when we think about like baptism and the Lord's
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  Supper that those are times we we just observed it this past
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  Sunday at Tabernacle as I'm recording this.
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  And I can think of very few things that so encourage and
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  fortify and strengthen me spiritually as when we when we
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  partake of the bread and the cup together as a body and remember
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  what Jesus has done and remember that we are currently Christ's
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  body and that one day we will partake of the Lord's Supper
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  with him. And when I get to baptize
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  someone, man, there is, there is nothing else like those that so
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  encourages and invigorates me for the work of God.
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  And so we can find favor in the Word.
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  The Word tells us what will strengthen us in our walks with
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  the Lord and what will not hinder us.
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  Verse 60 I see there I hurried not hesitating to keep your
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  commands here. What do we get from the word of
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  God? We get an urgency and excitement
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  of following the Lord. If you're lethargic in your walk
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  with God, can I encourage you spend time in the Word here the
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  psalmist experience that I hurried not hesitating to keep
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  your commands. He says God back in verse 59, he
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  says I thought about my ways and I turn my steps back to your
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  decrees and he says God, when I look at my life and when I think
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  about the way that you want to me to live my life, I am running
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  towards your commands, your way. Your way is better.
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  There's a great little song that I had just heard like the bridge
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  of prior to I think earlier this week, maybe last week.
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  And the song is called Make Room, Make room.
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  There's a Christmas song that's labeled make room that is also
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  tremendous. But this particular one is
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  there's a version of it by the worship initiative.
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  So the worship initiative and the song is make room and I'll
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  tag it there as well. But I love just the the prayer
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  of that song is God tear down like my ways of doing things,
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  tear down my tradition, my religion and God, your way is
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  better. Show me what I actually should
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  be walking in. Don't just show me what I create
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  for myself. I think it was Luther Calvin
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  that said that the human heart is an idol factory.
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  And all the time we, we make mountains out of mole hills and
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  we think that our, our intellect, our habits are God
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  ordained and perfect and that everyone else just needs to fall
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  in line with everything that we think.
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  When the truth is, we all need to go back to the word over and
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  over and over again. God, tear down my way, give me
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  your way. And so the word of God gives us
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  a passion and an excitement to see my life doesn't have to be
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  consistently ruined through the way that I live.
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  Instead, I can rush back to the Word, I can rush back to you,
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  and I can find out that your decrees and your commands are so
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  much better. So first, what do we get from
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  the Word of God? We get the Lord as our portion.
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  We get God Himself. What do we get from the Word?
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  We get to see where God's grace and His favor can be found.
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  What do we get from the Word? We get to have an excitement
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  about turning to God's way instead of our own.
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  And then verse 62, I rise at midnight to thank you for your
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  righteous judgments. What do we get from God's Word?
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  A spirit of gratitude. A spirit of gratitude that we
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  are able even during times when you don't really want to be
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  awake, you most people don't want to be awake at midnight,
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  but when you wake up at midnight when you know and love the Lord,
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  it can be an opportunity for you to show gratitude for the Lord.
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  And certainly in the daytime you can thank the Lord.
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  Earlier today I was at the time of recording, I was over at our
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  local Denny's and I love being able to just meet, share a meal
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  with people in our community or from my church and that's always
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  just a wonderful time of fellowship.
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  But as I was starting off today, I was able to just spend some
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  time actually pouring through Revelation and through Luke
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  chapter 2, and I was just so grateful.
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  God, thank you for your word. Thank you that it can strengthen
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  me every single day because every day has new problems, but
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  every day the word of God is there.
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  And so I can react with joy and gratitude as a result of the
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  word of God. The word of God gives me
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  something to be thankful for. Verse 63 says I am a friend to
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  all who fear you, to those who keep your precepts.
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  What can the Word of God give us?
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  The Word of God gives us friendships, godly friendships.
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  And this is one of the things that I'm most thankful for.
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  Yesterday, again, at the time of recording, I was able to meet
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  with some local pastors who are a part of my local Baltimore
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  Baptist Association. And that's just some pastors.
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  We've got about 66 or so churches in the Baltimore area
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  that we all get together a couple different times a year.
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  And I'm on the leadership team there at the moment.
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  And incredibly thankful for the brothers that some of them have
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  decades of ministry experience, Others of them are are kind of
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  starting off in ministry in a little bit like myself.
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  And it is so great to have godly friends.
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  I mentioned earlier I was at Denny's and I got to share a
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  meal and talk through the Bible and pray together with some
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  people from my church. And I am so thankful for the
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  friendships that God gives us. Worldly friendships can be
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  enjoyable. And you can have people that
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  share similar political views, people that share similar
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  hobbies, people that share, you know, even DNA.
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  You can have your family. But there is nothing like the
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  connection that is given as a result of being a fellow
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  Christian, being a child of God together.
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  That is the best kind of friendship that there is,
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  because that's a friendship that no matter what the circumstances
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  are, no matter what changes what when that's the center of the
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  friendship, when the relationship with God is the
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  center, that's a friendship that can last for a lifetime and will
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  last into eternity. So I'm thankful for that.
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  And then as we end today, verse 64, Yahweh, the earth is filled
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  with your faithful love. Teach me your statutes there.
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  That word, faithful love, it's said it's loving kindness.
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  It's God's steadfast, covenant, loyal, faithful love, and I love
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  this is not directly what the psalmist has in mind here.
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  He's saying God, you're, you're faithful love is everywhere all
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  over the earth. And so I can have a praise and a
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  gratitude for that. But when I think about the word
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  of God, it gives us a different look at the world around us.
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  It gives us a different look at at nature.
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  I've loved being able to be out on walks.
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  Even as I was walking a little bit today, I, I was experiencing
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  the cool, brisk winter air and the kind of foggy skies
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  overhead. And I just said, God, thank you.
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  Thank you that it's not raining crazy right now.
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  I, I didn't have a, a hood or a umbrella or something at the
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  moment. And so I was like, God, thank
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  you that it's not raining. Thank you for the cool air.
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  Thank you for the the ability to be able to walk.
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  And it's just such an enriching view when we look at Scripture
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  and when we look at life through the lens of God, that every
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  moment is a moment where we can give thanks.
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  Every moment is a moment where we can be grateful to God.
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  Every moment, every person that we interact with is a possible
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  new friend in the Lord. Each breath we take, every
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  morning devotion and every prayer, and every time meeting
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  with God's Saints is an opportunity to experience the
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  grace and favor of the Lord. And at the, you know, core of it
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  all, we get God Himself. There is just so much that we
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  gain from being in the Word. I hope this has been an
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  encouragement to you today. Looking forward to next episode
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  when we're going to be in verses 65 through 72, looking at the
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  verses that start with the Hebrew letter TEF.
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  Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful day.