Latest / Reformed Thinking / Hope in Affliction: God’s Word Keeps the Soul Alive (Psalm 119:49–56) | Charles Spurgeon

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Hope in Affliction: God’s Word Keeps the Soul Alive (Psalm 119:49–56) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  You know, usually when you were trapped in a pitch black room,
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  there is a very specific expectation about what you need
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  to survive. Right, you want to weigh out.
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  Yeah, I mean, you want a flashlight, right?
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  Or a flare? You want someone to throw open a
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  door, break the locks, and just flood the entire space with
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  light? That is the standard human
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  operating procedure for sure. When we face severe, crushing
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  affliction, our instinct demands an instant alteration of our
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  circumstances. We want the pressure removed.
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  We want the pain mean to stop. Like right now.
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  Yes, we want the mocking voices silenced immediately.
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  Well, welcome to Reform Thinking.
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  Today, our deep dive takes us into an ancient survival
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  strategy that completely defies that natural human instinct.
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  It really does. It flips it on its head, right?
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  We are looking at a situation where a person is sitting in the
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  absolute pitch black of severe affliction, surrounded by people
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  who are actively mocking him. And he does not ask for a
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  flashlight. No, he doesn't ask for a sword
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  either. He just sits in the dark,
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  holding on to a legal document. He is holding on to a set of
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  ancient statutes. Which is such a fascinating
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  image. It is so we are looking at a
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  specific 8 verse section, an octane from Psalm 119,
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  specifically verses 49 through 56.
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  And our primary source material for this analysis is Charles
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  Spurgeon's massive commentary, The Treasury of David.
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  Yeah, it's huge. And through Spurgeon's curation,
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  we are going to look at the insights of some heavy hitting
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  Puritan and Reformed theologians.
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  People like Thomas Manton, Richard Sibbs, Matthew Henry,
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  and John Calvin. So the mission today is to look
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  at how a person finds actual tangible hope in the middle of
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  severe affliction. We will examine the life giving
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  force of God's Word and how to stand firm when you are facing
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  loud secular mockery. Plus, we'll talk about how to
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  draw comfort from historical justice and the sheer joy of
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  obedience. And since we approach everything
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  on this show through the lens of the Westminster Confession, we
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  already share a baseline understanding of how these
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  mechanisms operate. Right.
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  We maintain a sharp distinction between the law and the gospel.
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  Yes, and we hold a high view of God's absolute, meticulous
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  sovereignty over all circumstances, including the
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  darkest suffering. And perhaps most critically for
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  this specific text, we operate on the premise that even the
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  faith required to believe a promise from God is in itself a
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  sheer gift of grace. You do not generate the faith
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  from your own internal reserves. The capacity to believe is
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  granted to you by the very God who makes the promise.
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  OK, let's unpack this. Let's jump straight into the
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  text and look at verse 49. Sounds good, the psalmist
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  writes. Remember the word unto thy
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  servant, upon which thou has caused me to hope.
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  It is a bold statement. It really is.
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  I mean, looking at this phrasing, I have to pose a
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  question. Isn't it highly presumptuous for
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  a frail, finite human being to look up at the sovereign creator
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  of the universe and tell him to remember something?
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  It does sound like an accusation.
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  Yeah, it sounds like you are accusing God of forgetfulness,
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  like you are tapping your watch and telling the Almighty that he
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  missed a deadline. The phrasing does sound bold to
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  our modern ears, but we have to analyze the specific dynamic the
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  text sets up. OK, walk me through that.
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  Well, the psalmist explicitly calls himself Thy servant.
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  Now, in standard human relationships, a master usually
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  remembers A servant's failures. Oh sure, a human boss remembers
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  the mistakes, the missed deadlines, the times you drop
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  the ball. Right, but God's nature operates
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  on a completely different axis. God remembers his own promises
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  to give grace. So when he says remember, he
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  isn't worried God actually forgot.
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  No, not at all. When the psalmist says remember
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  he is making a legal covenantal plea.
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  Richard Sibs has a brilliant framework for understanding
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  this. I love sibs.
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  What does he say? Sibs calls this suing God on his
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  bond. Wait, suing God?
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  That sounds even more aggressive than telling him to remember
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  something. It does, right?
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  Yeah. Breakdown what sibs means by a
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  bond in this context. In the legal system of Sibs Day,
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  a bond was an absolute ironclad contractual obligation.
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  Like a binding guarantee. Yes, when someone gave you their
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  bond, they were staking their entire reputation, their wealth,
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  their very life on the fulfillment of that promise.
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  Sibs views God's promises as these ironclad contractual
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  obligations. But here is the critical
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  distinction. God actually loves to be sued on
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  this bond. He delights in it.
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  So the believer is bringing the contract back to the table, not
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  to inform God of something he forgot, but to rest his own soul
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  on the absolute certainty of that contract.
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  Precisely. It is an act of supreme worship
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  to take God at His Word so completely that you treat His
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  promise as a legally binding guarantee.
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  It's like you are bringing the bond to the bank to cash it.
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  You are saying you wrote this, you signed this, you sealed it
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  with blood, and now I am presenting it for fulfillment.
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  That is the exact posture. William Cowper makes a
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  staggering theological point about this verse that ties
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  directly into our Reformed framework.
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  What does Calper point out? He points out the second-half of
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  the verse Upon which Thou has caused me to hope.
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  Caused me to hope. Right.
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  Notice the sequence of events. God gave the written promise.
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  Then God give the internal faith to hope in that specific
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  promise. So the grace to believe the
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  promise is itself a gift from God.
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  Yes. Therefore, when the psalmist
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  asks God to fulfill the Word, he is simply asking God to finish
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  the work he already initiated. That is amazing.
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  It creates a closed loop of grace.
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  It really does. God writes the promise, God
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  reaches into the human heart and grants the ability to believe
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  the promise, and then God fulfills the promise.
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  The human being is simply the grateful recipient at every
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  stage of the process. And George Horn adds another
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  layer to the logic of this process.
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  Horn asks a very practical question.
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  Why does God promise salvation or deliverance before giving it?
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  Yeah, why the delay? If God wants to deliver the
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  psalmist, why not just deliver him instantly?
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  Right. Why give a promise and then
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  leave the man sitting in the dark waiting?
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  So what is Horn's answer? Horn argues that God delays the
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  fulfilment to provoke our desire to test our sincerity and to to
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  perfect our patience. Oh I see, God occasionally seems
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  to have deserted those he engaged to relieve specifically
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  so that we will bring the promise back to Him.
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  It builds the relationship. The waiting period forces the
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  roots of faith to dig deeper into the soil of God's
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  character. Spot on.
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  Think about your own prayer life for a second.
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  When you are in a moment of total isolation, when everything
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  falls apart and the walls are closing in, how do you pray?
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  That is a tough question to face.
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  It is. Do you look around and demand
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  new signs? Do you ask God to write a
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  customized message in the sky just for you?
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  Or do you lean on the ancient, reliable promises that have
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  already been given, ratified and secured?
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  Because if you were demanding new signs, you are tethering
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  your faith to your current fluctuating emotional state.
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  Right. But if you were pleading the
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  ancient promise, you are tethering your faith to God's
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  immutable character. And pleading that ancient
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  promise naturally leads to the immediate result of the plea
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  which we see in the very next verse.
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  So you plead the promise, and you find actual comfort, even
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  when you're surrounding circumstances remain entirely
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  grim. Yes, we see this in verse 50.
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  This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath
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  quickened me. OK, I have to push back on the
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  mechanics of this. OK, how does reading a text
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  physically or emotionally alter a person's state during severe
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  trauma? It is a fair question.
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  I mean, if I break my leg, reading a medical textbook does
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  not stop the bleeding. The Worldling clutches a massive
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  bank account and says this is my comfort.
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  Or the drinker lifts a glass of whiskey and says, this is my
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  comfort, right? Those are tangible physical
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  substances that actively alter brain chemistry.
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  Yeah, they provide an immediate numbing sensation.
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  They do. So how does a spiritual word
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  compete with that kind of immediate, visceral relief?
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  What's fascinating here is the specific verb the psalmist uses.
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  He says the word has quickened him.
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  Quickened, Yeah, in the original language and in the way the
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  Puritans understood it. To Quicken does not mean to
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  provide a slight mood boost. It isn't just a distraction.
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  No, it does not mean to distract the mind for a few minutes.
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  To quicken means to give life to the dead.
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  Oh wow. It means to cheer the whole man,
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  to invigorate the soul. At its most fundamental level,
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  it is a reviving force. Thomas Brooks does a brilliant
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  job of differentiating gospel comforts from worldly comforts
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  in this regard. Brooks draws a massive,
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  impenetrable line between the two.
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  Doesn't he walk me through his distinction?
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  Brooks says gospel comforts are real.
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  They were holy, they reach the inward soul, and they are
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  everlasting. OK, and worldly comforts.
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  Worldly comforts, on the other hand, are what he calls painted
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  and brittle. Painted and brittle, that is
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  quite the image. Think about the physics of a
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  painted fire. A painting of a roaring hearth
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  might look beautiful. It might have flawless technique
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  and vibrant colors. But if you are freezing to death
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  in a Blizzard, a painted fire cannot warm your hands.
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  Right, it offers no actual heat. And a brittle glass might look
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  elegant, but it will shatter the second you apply pressure to it.
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  The drunkard's glass only reaches the physical senses.
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  It only alters the face, as Brooke says.
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  The numbness wears off and the reality of the affliction
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  returns with a vengeance. It never sinks deep enough to
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  reach the soul. Precisely.
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  But the Word of God penetrates the inward man.
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  It provides heat. It provides structural
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  integrity. Thomas Watson brings in the
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  concept of distinguishing grace here, which is vital for
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  understanding why this works for some and not for others.
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  Yes, Watson's insight is crucial.
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  Watson points out that the exact same scripture can be read by
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  two different people sitting in the exact same room, right?
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  For one person, it is a dead letter.
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  They read the words, they understand the historical
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  context, they parse the grammar perfectly, and they feel
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  absolutely nothing. It is just ink on a page.
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  And for the other person? For the other person, it is a
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  saver of life. It literally pulls them out of a
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  suicidal despair. What accounts for the
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  difference? This highlights the active real
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  time agency of the Holy Spirit in making the word efficacious.
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  The Spirit is the difference. The text on the page is the
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  instrument, but the Holy Spirit is the agent swinging the
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  instrument. The ink does not save you.
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  The spirit breathing through the ink saves you.
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  That is why it brings life. Yes, we can look at this through
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  the lens of spiritual elevation. Raising one spiritual elevation
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  often clears away the fog of affliction.
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  It is like climbing a mountain. If you were stuck in the valley,
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  all you see is the dense suffocating fog.
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  You cannot see 5 feet in front of your face.
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  But the trouble remains. You know, the affliction does
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  not vanish. The fog is still down in the
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  valley. Right, the circumstances haven't
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  changed. But the revived Quicken spirit
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  rises to a higher elevation and looks down on the fog.
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  The believer views the trouble as a trifle.
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  The circumstance is completely identical to what it was an hour
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  ago, but the internal state has been so flooded with life that
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  the external pressure loses its crushing weight.
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  The believer has been quickened. But, you know, while the
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  believer finds this massive internal life in the Word, the
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  external world does not usually sit by and applaud this
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  spiritual elevation. Oh, definitely not.
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  In fact, the external world usually reacts with the intense
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  coordinated hostility. This brings us to verse 51.
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  The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not
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  declined from thy law. Charles Spurgeon has fantastic
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  analogy for this. He compares it to dogs banging
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  at the moon. It's such a vivid picture.
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  It is. The dogs are down on the ground,
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  making a massive racket, barking their heads off, howling into
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  the night sky and the moon. The moon suffers absolutely
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  nothing from the noise. Right, it just continues to
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  shine, silently moving along its designated orbit.
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  It is a flawless image of holy detachment.
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  Conceited sinners often make footballs out of godly people.
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  They really do. They treat strict adherence to
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  God's law as needless preciseness.
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  They call it mopishness or just plain hypocrisy.
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  They look at a person trying to live a clean, obedient life, and
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  they treat the whole endeavor like a massive joke.
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  They turn it into a comedy. They see someone refusing to
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  participate in the gossip or refusing to cut corners on a
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  business deal, and they treat it like a farce.
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  Yeah, but why? What is the actual psychology
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  driving that derision? Why do they care so much about
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  what the believer is doing? The psychology of the proud is
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  driven by a hidden internal terror.
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  They fear gracious individuals. They fear them absolutely.
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  A truly holy life is a walking, breathing indictment of a sinful
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  life. That makes a lot of sense.
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  When a believer walks into a room and simply exists in a
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  state of acquired obedience, it shines a spotlight on the
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  corruption of the proud. The proud cannot handle that
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  silent indictment. Their conscience begins to burn.
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  So they veil their fear under contempt.
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  If they can turn the believer into a joke, if they can make
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  the believer look ridiculous, they do not have to take the
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  believers God seriously. They neutralize the threat by
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  turning it into a punchline. Yes, Thomas Adams traces this
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  history of mockery straight through the biblical narrative.
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  What does he point out? He points out that Joseph was
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  nicknamed A dreamer. Paul was dismissed as a babbling
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  fool. Oh wow, even Christ was called a
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  Samaritan and a Carpenter spoken with the specific intent of
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  disgrace. So this is not a new tactic
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  invented in the modern secular age.
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  It is the ancient default weapon of the Proud.
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  Far from new, Thomas Manton focuses on the specific word
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  greatly in this verse. Right greatly in derision.
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  Manton points out that this was not a passing joke at a dinner
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  party. This was not a single sarcastic
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  comment on social media. It was constant.
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  This was a perpetual, bitter, daily assault.
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  Day after day, the scoffing continued.
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  It was a coordinated campaign to break his resolve.
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  Yet the believer maintains a resolute stance.
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  He doesn't yield even half a point to fools.
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  He does not slack in his pace. Not at all.
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  Think about your own context for a second.
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  Think about your workplace, your social circles, your family
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  gatherings. When you are mocked for holding
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  to a Christian ethic, what is your first instinct?
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  It's hard to stand firm. It really is.
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  When the sarcastic comments start flying, when you were
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  labeled as backward or bigoted simply for believing what
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  Christians have believed for 2000 years, what do you do?
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  Do you laugh along? Right.
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  Do you slacken your pace? Compromise just a little bit?
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  Maybe soften your stance to appease the crowd and make the
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  awkward tension go away. The psalmist was under constant
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  bitter assault, and he did not decline from the law.
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  He refused to let the barking dogs dictate the orbit of the
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  moon. He kept shining and he kept
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  moving. But that raises a massive
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  practical issue. You are standing there letting
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  the dogs bark. You are refusing to bend.
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  Yeah. Where does the mental stamina
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  for that come from? You cannot just grit your teeth
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  forever. Eventually, human willpower runs
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  out. You have to anchor your mind to
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  something solid. The psalmist answers this by
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  looking backward in time. We see this in verse 52.
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  I remember thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted
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  myself. Now I have to push back here
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  because this sounds incredibly problematic to the modern ear.
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  How can a Christian find comfort in judgments?
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  It does sound harsh. Is it not entirely contrary to
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  the spirit of the gospel to rejoice in the calamity of
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  others? Are we supposed to be happy when
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  people are destroyed? That is a very serious case of
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  conscience, and the Puritans tackled it head on.
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  Thomas Manton addresses this exact tension.
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  What does he say? He argues that finding comfort
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  in judgments is absolutely not about celebrating destruction or
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  harboring A vindictive, bloodthirsty spirit.
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  It is not about gloating over the downfall of your enemies.
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  Instead, Manton lays out four distinct holy benefits that a
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  believer derives from seeing God's judgments enacted in
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  history. Let us walk through those four
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  benefits slowly, because this completely shifts the
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  perspective on how we are supposed to view historical
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  events. First, Manton says that God's
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  judgment removes the snare of impunity.
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  The snare of impunity. Yes, when people see that sin
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  actually has consequences, the illusion that you can rebel
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  against God and get away with it forever is shattered.
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  Because if God never judged anyone evil would look like a
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  perfectly viable consequence free lifestyle.
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  Exactly right judgment wakes people up and prevents others
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  from falling into the exact same trap.
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  And the second benefit? Second judgment, Silence is the
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  mocking of godliness. When God finally acts, the
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  scoffers are forced to close their mouths.
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  The barking dogs are finally quieted.
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  Yes. The third benefit is that God's
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  judgments remove hindrances to worship.
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  How so? When the wicked are prevented
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  from oppressing the church, the way is cleared for the gospel to
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  spread and for believers to worship freely.
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  Oh. That makes sense.
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  Manton uses an agricultural metaphor here.
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  He says when the stinging nettles are rooted up, the good
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  corn has more room to grow. That is a great visual and the
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  fourth benefit? And 4th, it clears God's
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  justice. It vindicates the truth that God
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  is holy and righteous and that He will not allow evil to
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  triumph over good forever. It proves that the moral arc of
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  the universe actually bends toward justice because God is
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  actively bending it. Ambrose brings in a massive
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  historical sweep to support this idea.
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  He looks at the entire biblical record as a vast warehouse of
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  examples. What kind of examples?
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  Well, Adam rebelled and was cast out.
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  Cain murdered his brother and was condemned.
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  The world grew violent, but Noah was saved.
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  The nation's fell into idolatry, but Abraham was chosen.
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  Right history is a continuous, unbroken demonstration that God
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  always eventually vindicates the righteous and deals with the
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  wicked. Historical theology acts as a
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  heavy ballast for the believer. Think about a massive sailing
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  ship. With the ballast down in the
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  hall, yeah. If a ship has no ballast down in
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  the hall, it will capsize in the very first storm.
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  The winds of the culture will tip it right over.
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  And if a believer has no grasp of how God is acted in the past,
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  they will capsize under present mockery.
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  Knowing that God is immutable means his past actions are
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  highly reliable predictors of his future fidelity.
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  He judged evil before, he will judge evil again.
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  He rescued his people before. He will rescue his people again.
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  But you know, seeing God's justice does not lead to
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  arrogance. It does not create a smug
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  superiority where you look down your nose at the wicked.
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  No it shouldn't. In fact, it leads to a very
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  different, highly agonizing the emotional reaction regarding
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  their fate. We see this shift in verse 53.
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  Horror have taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
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  forsake thy law. Here's.
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  Where it gets really interesting, Ambrose has this
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  devastating analogy of the good physician to explain this
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  reaction. Tell me about the physician.
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  Imagine a delirious, combative patient who is suffering from a
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  fatal brain fever. The patient is striking the
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  doctor, throwing medical instruments, insulting the
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  doctor, spitting on the doctor's face.
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  It's a terrible situation. It is, but the good doctor does
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  not feel insulted. The doctor does not get angry
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  and try to defend his ego. He knows the patient is sick.
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  Right. The doctor feels heavy pity
• 19:19
  because the patient is dying of an incurable disease and it's
• 19:22
  completely oblivious to his own impending death.
• 19:25
  The word the psalmist uses for horror is the Hebrew word
• 19:28
  zilifa. Zilifa.
• 19:30
  Yes, this is not a mild diskaste.
• 19:32
  It is not an eye roll at someone's bad behavior.
• 19:36
  Zelophas signifies a pestilential burning wind.
• 19:40
  A burning wind. It refers to the Simon of the
• 19:42
  Desert, a severe, suffocating Tempest that carries literal
• 19:46
  fire and sand, stripping the flesh off anyone caught in it.
• 19:50
  The psalmist is having a visceral, physical reaction to
• 19:53
  the destructive nature of sin. He looks at the wicked forsaking
• 19:57
  the law, he looks at the mockers barking at him, and he feels the
• 20:00
  scorching heat of the destruction they are pulling
• 20:02
  down upon their own heads. It calls to mind Jonathan
• 20:05
  Edwards and his famous sermons, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
• 20:08
  God. The parallel is spot on.
• 20:10
  Edwards was trying to convey the incomprehensible weight of
• 20:13
  eternity. The horror the psalmist feels is
• 20:15
  the agonizing concern believers should have for those outside of
• 20:18
  Christ. When you truly grasp the reality
• 20:21
  of God's wrath, your reaction to the ungodly cannot be
• 20:25
  irritation. It cannot be political
• 20:26
  annoyance. No, it must be a suffocating
• 20:29
  horror. David Brainerd's diary reflects
• 20:32
  this perfectly. Brainerd was a missionary who
• 20:34
  adhered strictly to reformed theology.
• 20:37
  He believed absolutely in predestination and God's
• 20:40
  sovereignty. He did, and yet his theology did
• 20:43
  not produce a smug, frozen, chosen mentality where he just
• 20:47
  sat back and let God sort it out.
• 20:49
  He didn't just wash his hands of them.
• 20:50
  Not at all. He spent his nights in agonizing
• 20:53
  physical grief, coughing up blood in the snow, weeping for
• 20:57
  the lost souls he was trying to reach.
• 20:59
  That is a staggering level of compassion.
• 21:01
  Think about your reaction to the cultural decay you see around
• 21:04
  you today. When you turn on the news or
• 21:06
  open social media and see people flagrantly forsaking God's law,
• 21:10
  celebrating things that God hates.
• 21:12
  What is your default reaction? It's.
• 21:14
  Usually anger for most people. Yeah.
• 21:16
  Is it anger? Is it self righteousness?
• 21:18
  Do you just want to win the argument?
• 21:19
  Drop a clever comment and walk away feeling superior?
• 21:22
  Or is your reaction genuine horror and compassion for people
• 21:26
  who are blindly walking directly into a burning wind?
• 21:29
  If your reaction is anger, you are defending your own pride.
• 21:34
  If your reaction is horror, you are reflecting the heart of God.
• 21:38
  But despite this heavy, crushing sorrow for the lost world, the
• 21:42
  believers personal internal state is marked by incredible
• 21:45
  lightness and joy. It is a striking paradox.
• 21:48
  It is you are mourning for the world.
• 21:50
  You are horrified by the trajectory of the wicked, but
• 21:53
  internally, regarding your own standing with God, you are
• 21:57
  singing. This leads directly to verse 54.
• 22:00
  Thy statutes have been my songs in the House of my pilgrimage.
• 22:03
  Now I can see how that might be confusing.
• 22:05
  Yeah, I am. Struggling with the mechanics of
• 22:07
  this. How can cold written statutes,
• 22:10
  laws, and strict precepts possibly become joyful music?
• 22:14
  Usually rules are seen as restrictive.
• 22:16
  Right. They are the opposite of
• 22:18
  melodic. When you think of singing, you
• 22:19
  think of freedom, not a list of demands.
• 22:22
  If we connect this to the bigger picture and look at the customs
• 22:24
  of the ancient world, it makes perfect sense on a practical
• 22:27
  level. How so?
• 22:28
  In the early ages, it was customary to versify the laws of
• 22:31
  a nation so the public could sing them and memorize them.
• 22:34
  Oh, to help them remember. Yes, but on a deeper theological
• 22:39
  level we have to look at the metaphor of the House of
• 22:41
  Pilgrimage. William Cowper unpacks this
• 22:44
  beautifully. What does Calper say?
• 22:45
  He compares our earthly dwellings to an inn when you
• 22:48
  were on a long journey, you stop at an inn for a night, you rest,
• 22:52
  you eat a meal, and then you move on in the morning, the.
• 22:54
  Inn is not your final destination.
• 22:57
  You do not redecorate the Inn. Exactly, Calper says.
• 23:00
  The womb isn't in the earthly house isn't inn.
• 23:02
  Even the grave is a temporary weigh station.
• 23:05
  We are pilgrims passing through a hostile territory, heading
• 23:08
  toward a permanent city. Travelers sing to deceive the
• 23:11
  Tedia of the way. If you are walking a long brutal
• 23:15
  Rd., singing keeps your feet moving in rhythm.
• 23:18
  Precisely. But why are the statutes the
• 23:20
  specific subject of the song? Why sing about the law?
• 23:24
  Yeah, why the rules? William J provides the answer by
• 23:26
  contrasting to criminals. A condemned criminal looks at
• 23:29
  the law and feels absolute terror because the law is the
• 23:32
  mechanism of his execution. Every word of the law demands
• 23:36
  his death. But a pardoned criminal?
• 23:38
  A man who has received a full royal pardon can look at that
• 23:42
  exact same law and walk out of the prison singing.
• 23:46
  That is beautiful. The Christian sings because the
• 23:48
  law is no longer a mechanism for condemnation.
• 23:51
  Christ has absorbed the condemnation.
• 23:54
  The penalty has been paid in full.
• 23:56
  Now the law is simply a safe, joyful guide for the Road home.
• 24:00
  It is the map that keeps you out of the ditch.
• 24:03
  You sing the map because the map guarantees you will reach the
• 24:05
  destination safely. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote
• 24:09
  about the soothing nature of night music.
• 24:11
  What did he write? He wrote, And the night shall be
• 24:13
  filled with music, and the cares that infest the day shall fold
• 24:17
  their tents like the Arabs, and is silently steal away.
• 24:20
  That is a wonderful quote. The believer is singing in the
• 24:23
  dark. And singing in the dark brings
• 24:25
  us to the hidden private life of the believer, singing when no
• 24:28
  one else is listening, when there is no audience to applaud
• 24:31
  your piety. That reality pulls us right into
• 24:34
  verse 55. I have remembered thy name, O
• 24:36
  Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.
• 24:39
  The night hours are crucial. They really are.
• 24:42
  Think of the believer's life like a massive oak tree.
• 24:45
  The night hours are the hidden root system buried deep
• 24:48
  underground, unseen by anyone walking past the tree.
• 24:52
  In the dark, in the damp soil, those roots are quietly soaking
• 24:56
  up water and nutrients. That hidden, silent process is
• 24:59
  what produces the massive visible branches, the green
• 25:02
  leaves, and the heavy fruit of daytime obedience.
• 25:06
  If the roots are cut, the tree falls no matter how good it
• 25:09
  looks on the outside. John Calvin zeroes in on this
• 25:11
  specific dynamic. Calvin explains that night
• 25:14
  devotion is the ultimate proof of sincerity.
• 25:16
  How does he prove that? Well, during the day it is
• 25:19
  remarkably easy to perform your religion.
• 25:21
  You can go to church, use the right theological vocabulary,
• 25:24
  post the right Bible verses and look very pious for the applause
• 25:27
  of men. You can build an entire brand
• 25:30
  around being a holy person, yes. But in the night, when all human
• 25:34
  applause is removed, when your senses are overpowered by sleep,
• 25:37
  when no one on earth would know if you just closed your eyes and
• 25:40
  rested, choosing to wake up and meditate on the character of God
• 25:44
  proves the absence of hypocrisy. Because no one is watching.
• 25:48
  It is just you and the creator. There is an incredible
• 25:51
  historical anecdote about this level of dedication.
• 25:54
  Oh, I love historical anecdotes. Daniel March tells the story of
• 25:58
  Pastor Harms of Hermansburg. This man would exhaust himself
• 26:02
  utterly. He would perform 9 hours of
• 26:05
  grueling Sabbath duties. 9 hours.
• 26:08
  He was preaching, praying, counseling, weeping church
• 26:11
  members, dealing with the administrative burdens of his
• 26:14
  parish. By the time the sun went down,
• 26:17
  his body would be thrilling with pain from sheer physical
• 26:20
  exhaustion. His bones would ache.
• 26:22
  But he would lie awake at night, actively sacrificing his
• 26:25
  desperately needed sleep, simply to enjoy quiet communion with
• 26:28
  Jesus. The night cleared away the noise
• 26:30
  of the world, he cleared away the demands of his congregation,
• 26:34
  and it left his heart free to be with the 1 he loved.
• 26:37
  It demonstrates that his religion was not a professional
• 26:39
  duty, it was his core affection. He did not commune with God
• 26:42
  because he was paid to do it. He did it because God was his
• 26:46
  supreme delight. Edmund Calamy makes a vital
• 26:48
  theological point here about the mechanics of grace.
• 26:51
  Calamy calls this concept grace increasing.
• 26:53
  Grace increasing. What does that mean?
• 26:56
  He argues that a true delight in God's Word breeds more capacity
• 26:59
  to keep it. Remembering God's name in the
• 27:02
  silent night guarantees keeping His law during the chaotic day.
• 27:06
  The root system feeds the branches.
• 27:08
  Yes, if you starve the roots at night, you will wither when the
• 27:11
  sun comes up and the mockers start barking.
• 27:13
  Let me pose a direct challenge based on this.
• 27:16
  When the screens are turned off, when the house is completely
• 27:20
  silent, when there was no music playing, no television running,
• 27:23
  no notifications pinging on your phone, what is the default
• 27:27
  subject of your mind? Where does your brain naturally
• 27:30
  drift when the noise finally stops?
• 27:32
  Right. Do you immediately start
• 27:34
  stressing about your finances? Do you replay arguments from
• 27:37
  earlier in the day? Do you fantasize about revenge
• 27:41
  against the people who mocked you?
• 27:42
  That default destination is a highly accurate thermometer for
• 27:45
  your spiritual health. If your mind naturally drifts to
• 27:48
  the character of God, If you find yourself remembering his
• 27:52
  name and his promises without having to force it, it shows
• 27:56
  that the roots are actively drawing water.
• 27:58
  It shows that the life of God is pulsating through the hidden
• 28:01
  areas of your soul. And this cycle of remembering in
• 28:04
  the dark and obeying in the light yields an inevitable
• 28:08
  harvest. It brings this entire octane to
• 28:11
  its theological conclusion. We see this in verse 56.
• 28:15
  This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
• 28:18
  So what does this all mean? I have to pose a strict
• 28:21
  theological challenge here. As Protestant Christians who
• 28:24
  adhere to the Westminster Confession, we believe adamantly
• 28:27
  in justification by faith alone. We do not earn our salvation by
• 28:31
  keeping the rules. We do not punch a clock and
• 28:34
  collect a wage from God. So how can this psalmist claim
• 28:36
  he received a blessing because he kept the precepts?
• 28:39
  Does that not sound suspiciously like a works based
• 28:42
  righteousness? Does it not sound like he is
• 28:44
  holding up his resume and demanding a paycheck?
• 28:46
  This raises an important question, and Reformed theology
• 28:49
  handles it with immense precision.
• 28:51
  Thomas Manton clarifies the Reformed understanding of
• 28:54
  rewards perfectly. How does Manton explain it?
• 28:57
  Manton explains that when God rewards our obedience, He is
• 29:00
  simply crowning his own grace within us.
• 29:02
  Crowning his own grace. Remember what we established the
• 29:05
  very beginning this discussion. God gives the initial grace to
• 29:08
  obey. He writes the promise.
• 29:11
  He gives the faith. He supplies the strength.
• 29:13
  So when we obey using the strength He provided, and God
• 29:17
  turns around and rewards that obedience, the reward is a
• 29:21
  matter of pure grace, not a matter of debt.
• 29:24
  Spot on. God is not paying us a wage He
• 29:26
  owes us. He is graciously blessing the
• 29:29
  fruit of the seed he planted himself.
• 29:31
  God's work is its own wages, as Matthew Henry put it.
• 29:34
  I love that quote. The obedience is not a burden
• 29:36
  you carry to get a prize. The obedience is the prize.
• 29:39
  Precisely. Simon de Nue introduces a
• 29:42
  fascinating rabbinic saying that illustrates this beautifully.
• 29:45
  What's the same? The ancient rabbis used to say
• 29:47
  the reward of a precept is a precept.
• 29:50
  It sounds completely confusing at first glance.
• 29:52
  It does, but it means that the reward for obeying God is the
• 29:55
  granted ability to obey an even more difficult command.
• 29:59
  Your capacity for holiness expands.
• 30:01
  It is the compounding interest of holiness.
• 30:03
  Think about how sin operates. Sin punishes sin by making the
• 30:07
  heart harder and more callous. Yes, exactly.
• 30:09
  When you tell a lie, the punishment for that lie is that
• 30:12
  it becomes easier to tell a second lie until you are
• 30:15
  completely numb to the truth. Godliness operates on the exact
• 30:19
  same compounding principle, but in the opposite direction.
• 30:22
  Godliness rewards godliness by making the heart more sensitive
• 30:25
  to joy. You obey, your capacity for joy
• 30:29
  expands, so you obey more. You experience more joy and the
• 30:33
  cycle continues upward forever. We also have to recognize the
• 30:36
  concept of veils or present supports.
• 30:39
  What are veils? While the full, unblemished
• 30:42
  inheritance of the believer waits in heaven, God provides
• 30:45
  immediate temporal comforts to sustain us right now in this
• 30:48
  life. The Puritans refer to this as
• 30:50
  finding a well in the valley of Baca.
• 30:52
  Yes, you are walking through a dry, barren, cracked wilderness.
• 30:56
  You are parched, but suddenly God provides a spring of water
• 31:00
  to keep you moving forward. You can look at that spring
• 31:02
  drink from it and say this. I had because I kept that
• 31:04
  precepts the. Obedience kept you on the exact
• 31:07
  path where the well was located. If you had wanted off the path
• 31:10
  of obedience, you would have missed the water.
• 31:12
  Look at the massive sweeping scope of what we have covered in
• 31:15
  just 8 short verses. We started with a man sitting in
• 31:19
  the pitch dark, boldly pleading a legal promise from God.
• 31:22
  We saw him find literal physical and emotional life in the pages
• 31:26
  of an ancient text. We watched him stand like the
• 31:29
  moon, silent and shining while the proud barked like dogs at
• 31:33
  his feet. We saw him draw a heavy ballast
• 31:35
  from the history of God's justice, weeping with visceral,
• 31:39
  burning horror for the fate of the very people who mock him.
• 31:42
  We heard him singing ancient statutes in the temporary
• 31:45
  rundown inn of this world. We saw him awake in the midnight
• 31:48
  hours, his roots sinking deep into the character of God, while
• 31:51
  the rest of the world slept. And finally we saw him reaping
• 31:54
  the compounding interest of a holy life, finding present
• 31:57
  tangible joy in his obedience. It is a complete anatomy of a
• 32:01
  resilient spiritual life. It is the definitive guide on
• 32:04
  how you survive the dark without losing your song.
• 32:07
  It shifts the focus from changing the circumstance to
• 32:10
  changing the internal capacity of the believer to withstand the
• 32:13
  circumstance. That is the core take away.
• 32:15
  I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over something
• 32:18
  that builds on everything we have discussed today.
• 32:20
  Let's hear it. Look at your current
• 32:22
  afflictions. Look at the places in your life
• 32:24
  where you are feeling the most pressure, the most mockery, the
• 32:27
  most absolute exhaustion. It's a heavy thing to consider.
• 32:31
  It is. What if the specific comfort you
• 32:34
  are desperately seeking that flashlight you were waiting for
• 32:36
  in the pitch black room? What if it is actually waiting
• 32:40
  for you on the other side of a specific command you are
• 32:42
  currently ignoring? That is a challenging thought.
• 32:46
  What if the key to your consolation is hidden inside
• 32:48
  your obedience? It is a question that demands A
• 32:51
  practical physical response, not just a nod of theological
• 32:55
  agreement. You have to walk the path to
• 32:57
  find the well. Think about that as you go
• 33:00
  through your week. Keep your wits deep and your
• 33:03
  songs ready for the dark. This is reformed thinking.