Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Anchor of the Soul: The Sufficiency, Inerrancy, and Value of the Covenant Word (Psalm 19:7–11)

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The Anchor of the Soul: The Sufficiency, Inerrancy, and Value of the Covenant Word (Psalm 19:7–11) · Reformed Thinking

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  Reform thinking. Welcome back to the Deep dive.
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  Today we're really narrowing our focus, moving away from all the
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  noise out there to listen to, well, the one voice that
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  actually brings life. We are Our source for this is
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  tiny, but huge at the same time. We're looking at Psalm 19, but
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  just a handful of verses, verses 7 through 11.
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  And it's such a pivot in that Psalm.
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  The 1st 6 verses are all about what some call the book of
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  nature. Right, General revelation.
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  David paints this picture of a loud universe.
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  The heavens are just constantly, relentlessly preaching about
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  God's power, his his genius, His glory.
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  It's an overwhelming picture. You look up at the stars and you
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  can't deny a creator. But our sources really point out
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  that this kind of revelation has a hard stop.
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  It does. It shows you God's grandeur, his
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  sheer power as L the mighty God. But it can't tell you a thing
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  about redemption. So you're left in awe, but also
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  a little terrified. I think that's the right word.
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  If you're standing before this holy, all powerful and offended
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  creator. The stars can't tell you how to
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  find peace. They just don't have the
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  language for grace. Creation can show you the
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  problem, this glorious God and, well, a guilty humanity, but it
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  offers no solution. None at all.
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  It can't name your guilt. It can't heal your heart.
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  It can't show you the way to be pardoned.
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  And that's the critical turn David makes in verse 7.
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  This is where he shifts from the general witness of L the mighty
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  God to the specific saving personal speech of Yahweh.
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  Yes, the Lord that name Yahweh. It signals the God who makes a
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  covenant, the God who relates to his people by name.
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  This is God speaking on purpose to rescue his own.
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  So it's an intentional move from the Creator who speaks to
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  everyone everywhere, to the covenant God who speaks directly
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  to his people. And that specific speech, that
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  special revelation, is what David is about to praise.
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  So our mission today is to unpack his famous sixfold
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  description of it, what it is, what it does, and why we should
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  value it more than anything else.
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  We're really trying to get at the idea that the Word of God
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  isn't just optional information, it's life.
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  OK, so let's unpack that transition a little more because
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  the first part of Psalm 19 is beautiful.
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  I mean, sun running its course, the heavens preaching day and
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  night. It's this universal sermon you
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  don't need a translator for. It is.
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  It's a magnificent sermon without any human words, and it
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  does what God intends for it to do, which is to leave all
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  humanity without an excuse. Paul picks that up in Romans,
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  right? No one can say they didn't know
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  God existed. Exactly.
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  But the key limitation, and this is so critical for a reformed
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  understanding, is that this natural light is completely
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  silent when it comes to grace. It can't point a Sinner to the
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  cross, it can only show that there is a maker and that he's
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  awesome, which if you're a Sinner, is a knowledge that just
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  brings condemnation. That's it.
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  Our sources remind us that if all we had was creation, we'd
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  only have this terrifying knowledge of an offended creator
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  with absolutely no way to appease him.
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  This is why the historic Christian position has always
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  been that the light of nature isn't enough to give you the
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  knowledge you need for salvation, You have to have
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  special revelation. You need the written scripture.
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  Nature shows you the size of God.
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  The Word shows you the shape of His mercy.
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  And dated really drives home the superiority of this written word
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  by naming its author over and over six times.
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  Every title, law, testimony, precepts is followed by of the
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  Lord. That repetition isn't an
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  accident. He's insisting on its divine
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  origin right from the start. He's making it clear that the
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  authority here doesn't come from human tradition or a church or
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  anything else. It comes directly from God.
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  It draws its power from the living God who makes promises
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  and speaks. The Word's ability to change us
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  isn't some kind of magic in the ink and paper.
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  It's covenantal. It's personal.
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  It's rooted in Yahweh himself. So when you open your Bible,
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  you're not just opening a collection of wise sayings,
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  you're getting this specific life giving speech of the God
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  who has committed himself to your salvation.
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  Which is why the only sane posture for a believer is just
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  reverent submission. David is arguing against this
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  idea that we need to chase after new ideas or trust our own gut.
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  Just submit to this covenant speech because it's the only
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  voice that comes entirely from the Lord.
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  OK, now let's get into the heart of it.
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  This incredible sixfold portrait.
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  David sets up this really elegant, almost poetic rhythm.
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  He gives a name for the word, a quality of the word, and then
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  the effect it has on the person who receives it it.
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  Is it's a very clear structure, and that structure shows us how
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  complete the word's work is. David isn't just praising some
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  old religious book, he's praising the act of speech of
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  God that gets into every part of a person.
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  Your mind, your morals, your feelings, your spiritual sight.
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  He's saying this word is the main tool God uses to bring us
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  to life, to keep us steady, and to make us holy.
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  So he starts with the law of the Lord.
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  And for many people, the English word law immediately brings up
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  ideas of, well, heavy rules and regulations.
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  Signs and prohibitions, yeah, but the Hebrew term he uses as
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  Torah, and that's so much bigger.
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  So what does Torah really get at?
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  Torah means God's total instruction, his direction, his
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  authoritative teaching. You could almost think of it as
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  God's fatherly guidance, the whole counsel he gives his kids
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  for how to live in relationship with him.
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  It has the commandments in it, for sure, but also the stories,
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  the history, the moral principles.
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  It's the whole package. And this Torah is described as
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  perfect. The word is tamima.
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  What does that tell us? Tamima means whole, complete,
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  without blemish. It's actually the same word used
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  in the sacrificial system for an animal that was acceptable for
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  an offering. It had no defect.
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  So when he applies that to the Torah, he's saying it's
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  absolutely sufficient, yes. That's the doctrine of the
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  sufficiency of Scripture right there.
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  It means the Word of God lacks nothing that we need for
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  salvation and for living a life that pleases Him.
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  That's a huge challenge to how we often think today, isn't it?
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  The tendency is always to want to supplement God's truth with
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  something else. It's a direct challenge.
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  If we say we need to add a little bit of modern psychology
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  or some new cultural theory or a special mystical experience to
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  really live the Christian life, we're basically saying that
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  God's instruction is flawed, that it has a blemish.
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  The David, it says no, it's perfect, it's enough.
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  You have everything you need right here.
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  And because it's perfect and whole, it has this unbelievable
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  effect, reviving the soul. The Hebrew is Meshavat Nafesh.
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  This isn't just talking about a little pick me.
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  Up No. This sounds like a fundamental
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  restoration. It's about spiritual life
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  itself, that Nafesh the soul. That's your entire inner person.
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  And the Bible's diagnosis is that our inner person is
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  spiritually dead because of sin, crushed by guilt.
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  And the verb meshivat means to turn back or restore.
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  Yes, and it's causative. It means the Word is the
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  instrument that causes the soul to come back to life.
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  This is what we mean by monarchistic regeneration.
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  God alone brings life, and He does it through His Word.
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  It's what Peter talks about, being born again through the
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  living and abiding word of God. That's it.
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  When the Gospel part of the Torah, the instruction about
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  Christ, is heard, it doesn't just give you information, it
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  gives you life. It raises the spiritually dead
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  by showing them the Redeemer. Without this perfect word, the
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  soul just stays wittered and hopeless.
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  So after that revival, you need a firm foundation to stand on.
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  David moves to the next title, the Testimony of the Lord.
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  This is Edut, God's own sworn witness about what's real.
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  Who he is, who we are, what he's done in history, and this
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  testimony, this Edo is described as sure.
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  The word for sure is Neymana, right?
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  What's the feel of that word? It means firm, reliable,
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  completely dependable. It's actually the root word that
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  Amen comes from. It's like an immovable pillar of
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  truth. This is really the scriptural
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  basis for the inerrancy of the Bible.
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  It's God's Amen in a world that's just full of confusion
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  and shifting ideas. Which is so critical today when
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  everything feels relative and you don't know what to believe
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  if you want a fixed point, David says.
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  It's right here. It doesn't shift with the
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  culture. It doesn't change with the
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  latest academic fad. It provides that unbending
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  stable center you need for discernment, and this certainty
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  is what produces the effect, making wise the simple.
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  OK, who are the simple in this context?
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  It's not about intelligence, is it?
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  Not at all. The Hebrew term is petty.
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  It refers to someone who is morally unformed, easily
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  tricked, gullible. The book of Proverbs talks about
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  the petty as someone with an open door for a mind.
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  Every foolish idea just wanders, right?
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  In they like discernment. Our culture might call that
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  being open minded, but the Bible sees it as danger.
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  Very dangerous. So the sure testimony of God
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  steps in to protect the petty. The Word gives you the necessary
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  guardrails of truth. It gives you a reliable map so
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  you can tell the difference between good and evil.
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  It gives you a kind of St. Smarts wisdom that say a
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  brilliant philosopher without the Bible could never have.
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  That's a great way to put it. The humble believer who just
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  submits to this Nemenot testimony is protected from the
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  kind of foolishness that destroys the proud and the
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  arrogant. It gives you the operating
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  system for a life that actually works all.
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  Right, so from the whole council of Torah and the certainty of a
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  dude, we now get down to the practical day-to-day directions,
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  the precepts of the Lord. These are Pikodi.
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  These are the specifics, God's detailed directions, the
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  appointed pathways for your daily obedience, and he says
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  they are right. The word right here is yeshrim.
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  It means straight or upright. And that imagery is so powerful.
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  Our own paths, because of sin, are crooked.
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  They're twisted and confusing, but God's path, his precepts,
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  they cut a straight line right through the chaos of our lives.
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  It's an objective standard of what's right that doesn't get
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  bent to fit what our culture wants.
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  It's right whether society agrees or not, but here's the
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  part that can feel like a tension point for us.
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  Obedience sounds heavy, but the effect is rejoicing the heart.
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  How do we put those two together?
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  Detailed precepts and deep gladness.
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  This is where David just smashes the caricature that God's law is
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  a joy killer. He does.
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  He says true joy is found on the right path, because the right
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  path is the path of fellowship with God.
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  This is a perfect picture of the third use of the law in the
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  believer's life. So just to be clear for everyone
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  listening, if we're saved by Christ, why do we still need
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  these precepts? Because the saved heart doesn't
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  see the law as a heavy ladder you have to climb to earn God's
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  favor. That would crush you.
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  Instead, the believer sees the law as their Father's wise
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  guidance for how to live thankfully for the salvation
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  they've already received. It takes the guesswork out of
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  it. It does.
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  When you're on your own crooked path, you're full of anxiety,
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  always guessing what God wants or where you're going.
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  But the straight path of obedience removes that anxiety
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  and aligns your soul with God's will.
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  And so obedience becomes something you delight in, not a
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  duty you dread. The deepest joy comes from
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  walking in the will of the One who saved you.
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  Straight paths, rejoicing hearts.
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  That's the connection. Next up, we have the commandment
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  of the Lord. This is mitzvah.
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  So here we're looking at God's will as a single, unified whole.
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  A single non contradictory body of instruction and this unified
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  commandment is described as pure.
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  The Hebrew word is bra. What does that mean?
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  It means clear, bright, radiant, unmixed.
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  It's a word that could be used for the sun on a cloudless day,
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  or for pure refined gold. So applying that to Scripture
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  asserts what theologians call the perspicuity or clarity of
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  Scripture. Yes, the essential truths you
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  need for salvation and for living a holy life are not
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  hidden in some kind of mystical fog that only spiritual experts
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  can understand. God doesn't speak in riddles to
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  His children. So if the word is pure and
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  bright and we still don't see the problems with our eyes, not
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  the light. That's it.
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  And that's why the effect is enlightening the eyes.
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  The clarity of the Word has a direct consequence.
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  Because the natural person is spiritually blind, the pure Word
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  acts like a divine eye doctor. That's the doctrine of
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  illumination. Right.
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  The Holy Spirit uses this radiant, clear word to give us
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  our spiritual sight back. And what does that look like in
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  real life? Getting your sight back.
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  It means the lights come on in the dark room of your heart.
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  All of a sudden you see the lies you've been telling yourself.
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  You see the idols you've been cherishing.
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  You see the paths you were walking down that you pretended
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  were harmless? The word exposes our self
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  deception. When people say I just wish God
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  would show me what to do, David's answer is he already
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  has. He's given a pure commandment
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  that enlightens the eyes. So we can't plead ignorance and
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  we can't look for enlightenment somewhere else.
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  You can't be filled with the Spirit if you're neglecting the
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  pure commandment that the Spirit wrote.
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  The spirit works through the word he inspired.
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  Always trying to find real light apart from God's commands is
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  just choosing to stumble around in the dark.
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  David switches things up a bit with the 5th title.
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  He doesn't name a form of the word like law or precept.
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  He names its effect on us the fear of the Lord.
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  You're right. It's a really clever literary
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  move. He's basically saying the word
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  is so tied to true piety, to a life of reverence for God, that
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  he can just substitute the effect for the cause.
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  To have the word is to have the instruction manual for
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  reverential awe which speaks. To the idea that our worship
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  should be shaped by what God has said, not what we invent.
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  Right and. This fear is described as clean
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  to hora. What's the sense?
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  Of to hora it has. To do with a ritual and moral
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  purity, being free from defilement, from corruption.
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  So here scripture is presented as an antiseptic.
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  In a world that is so stained with moral, emotional and
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  spiritual pollution, Scripture is the one thing you can immerse
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  yourself in and not get contaminated.
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  In fact, it. Actively cleanses you because
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  it's so pure. It does.
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  And then he adds this incredible quality.
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  It is enduring forever. This just asserts the permanence
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  of God's revelation against how fleeting human ideas are.
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  This is a. Direct shot at human pride,
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  isn't it? Every generation thinks it's
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  smarter than the last. Every.
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  Single one Human philosophies come and go.
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  Scientific models get updated. Cultural ideas change almost
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  overnight, especially now. But the Word of God isn't up for
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  a vote. It's not subject to our cultural
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  whims. We don't get to.
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  Judge the text. The text judges us.
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  That's it. It's a clean stream that has
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  been flowing without any corruption since God first spoke
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  it and he. Closes this section with the
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  rules of the Lord. These are mishpatim.
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  The sense here is of judicial verdicts.
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  Yes, the. Final rulings from the Supreme
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  Judge of the Universe, and he declares them to be true.
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  Emet. That's a word that means
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  reliable firm corresponding to reality.
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  This is the. Foundation of Biblical inerrancy
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  When Scripture speaks whether it's about history or origins or
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  God, it speaks what is true, because God can't lie and he
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  can't make a mistake, it asserts.
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  Total integrity across the whole Bible.
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  And then he adds this final phrase.
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  The rules are righteous altogether.
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  What does that altogether or in unison part mean that phrase?
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  Is sadhu Yaktav. It means righteous as a unit.
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  This is a beautiful statement about the unity of Scripture.
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  Critics love to try and find contradictions, you know,
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  pitting the Old Testament against the new, or one prophet
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  against another. But David?
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  Says no. It all fits.
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  God's judgments form a single harmonious system of
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  righteousness. There's no conflict in the mind
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  of God. O when?
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  You pull it all together. This whole portrait is just
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  staggering. The word is authoritative
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  because it's from the Lord. It's sufficient because it's
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  perfect, reliable because it's sure illuminating because it's
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  pure and morally final because it's righteous.
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  Altogether, it speaks to. Every part of who we are, from
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  our deepest need for new life to our highest need for ultimate
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  truth and the conclusion. You have to draw from all that
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  is that if, if God has spoken this way with such perfection,
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  the only wise thing to do is get under it, read it, believe it,
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  cherish it, obey it so. David has laid out this airtight
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  case for the words perfect character and it's incredible
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  power to restore us. Now in verse 10, he turns to our
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  response. If the word can do all this, how
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  should we value it? The valuation.
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  Just has to follow from the excellence.
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  He's shown us what the word is worth.
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  So now the right response is just unavoidable and he forces a
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  comparison. He pits scripture against the
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  two biggest idols of the human heart, security and pleasure.
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  He starts with. Wealth.
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  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.
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  Gold is the universal symbol of security, status control.
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  It's what promises to keep trouble away.
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  Gold. Is the ultimate anti fear drug
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  the little voice in our head that says if I just had a little
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  more money a better retirement plan, more control, then I'd
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  finally feel safe and David just.
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  Says Nope, gold is inferior because it can't do the things
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  that actually matter. It can't.
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  Let's think about the modern version of gold.
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  It might not be actual gold bars.
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  It might be the stock portfolio you check 10 times a day, or the
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  successful career, or the perfect financial plan.
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  But all that is. Temporary.
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  It's so. Temporary.
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  Your stock portfolio can't revive your soul when you're
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  crushed by guilt. Your career can't make you wise
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  when you're being tempted. Your money can't cleanse your
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  conscience. It might make your life more
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  comfortable, but it cannot defeat death.
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  So. This comparison is really an
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  attack on the idolatry of money. It challenges the false security
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  we get from material things. It does.
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  And it shows that the word itself is the real wealth.
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  The question David makes us ask is, is our sense of safety tied
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  to our bank account, or is it tied to the sure testimony of
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  the Lord? Because to have.
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  That sure testimony makes you richer than the wealthiest
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  person who doesn't have it. It's the only treasure that
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  holds its value through a crisis, through sickness, even
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  through death. Right Gold.
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  Is something you have to protect.
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  The word is the only treasure that protects you, the value.
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  Of gold depends on the market. The value of the word is
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  internal and permanent because its source is God.
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  And if you lose? Everything financially, the
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  promises of God that sure had testimony are still 100% intact.
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  You can't buy that kind of stability then, David.
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  Moves from security to pleasure, he says.
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  The word is sweeter also than honey and drippings of the
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  honeycomb. This gets at our craving for
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  delight, for good feelings, for instant gratification.
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  The idol of hedonism, he's saying.
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  Scripture isn't just more valuable than the most precious
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  thing, it's also more delightful than the sweetest thing.
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  And this just demolishes the lie that deep truth and real joy are
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  opposites, the drippings. Of the honeycomb that's like the
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  purest, most intense pleasure you could get in the natural
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  world. How does reading scripture
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  compared to the instant gratification we have everywhere
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  today? Social media, streaming shows,
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  comfort food. We've trained.
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  Our appetites to want an immediate sugar rush.
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  Our modern spiritual palette has been dulled by constant
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  artificial stimulation. If you're always chasing the
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  little high from a notification on your phone, then the deep,
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  steady nourishment of the word can feel, well, bland it.
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  Can feel like dry bread when you're used to candy.
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  That's a perfect. Analogy.
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  So if scripture seems dry or boring to you, the problem isn't
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  the honey, the problem is your spiritual taste buds sin.
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  And constant entertainment dull our spiritual taste they.
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  Do, but grace retrains our desires.
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  As the Spirit renews your heart through the Word, the very
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  doctrines that used to feel heavy and hard start to feel
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  nourishing and savory. It stops being a chore and
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  starts being a feast for a hungry soul and the sweetness.
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  Of the word is a lasting sweetness.
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  The pleasure you get from honey is short lived, but the delight
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  of knowing God through His Word is sustainable.
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  It builds you up. It leads.
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  To life, the sweet, immediate pleasure of sin always leaves a
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  bitter after taste in your conscience, but the truth of God
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  is a deep, stable, sustained joy.
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  It satisfies your soul in a way that entertainment never can.
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  We have to treat the Word as our objective treasure, something to
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  be trusted and savored. OK, so.
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  David's established that the word is perfect and that it's
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  more valuable than anything else.
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  Now in verse 11, he gets very practical about its daily
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  ministry and a believer's life, and he starts with his posture.
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  Your servant that. Posture is everything.
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  The Lord is the master and he is the servant.
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  The servant listens, depends, submits.
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  He's not negotiating and the first thing the serving gets
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  from the word is a warning by. Them is your servant warned.
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  So the word is like a watchman on the wall, shouting when
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  danger is coming. That warning is a form of mercy,
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  isn't it? A severe mercy.
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  Yes, it's love in the form of an alarm clock.
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  A warning isn't an insult, it's preventative care.
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  It's meant to keep the servant from ruin and ruin.
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  Rarely arrives like a Thunder clap.
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  It's usually through soft footsteps.
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  That's so. True, it's the small compromises
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  we make in private, the lusts we entertain, the little
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  hypocrisies and self justifications that we let grow
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  in the dark corners of our lives, the world.
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  Tells you to trust your gut, follow your heart.
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  But the pure commandment warns us that our hearts are deceitful
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  and that sin hardens us slowly over time.
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  The Word. Exposes what we try to excuse.
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  It puts the right name on the sin that we try to rebrand as
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  self-care or just a little habit.
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  It warns us that our sin isn't just a bad behavior, it's
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  treason against the King who bought us, it presses.
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  On our conscience to stop us from walking off a Cliff so if
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  the. Warnings in Scripture make you
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  feel uncomfortable. That's actually a good sign.
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  It means you're spiritually alive.
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  Neglecting those warnings is like ripping the smoke detector
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  off the wall because you don't like the noise.
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  It's just foolish, God warns. Us because he wants to preserve
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  us. He wants to keep us on that
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  straight path, that yeshurim path, so our hearts can keep
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  rejoicing. But the word doesn't just hold
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  us back with warnings, it also pulls us forward with promises.
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  In keeping them, there is great reward.
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  Now, we need to be really clear here.
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  This is not about earning your salvation.
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  Not at all. That's a critical distinction.
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  The whole context is grace. The servant posture means
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  salvation is already a given. This reward is the fruit of that
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  relationship, not the payment for it.
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  God is just crowning his own grace in us with a fatherly
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  blessing. It's the blessing.
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  That comes from walking on the path he designed for us.
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  Exactly. And the reward is great.
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  What does that mean for the believer?
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  It's great because it's all the things money can't buy, like a
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  clear. Conscience a clear.
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  Conscience growing wisdom, a stable joy, usefulness to God as
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  he shapes you into someone he can use for his purposes.
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  I think the greatest reward is often holiness itself.
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  Just the growing ability to delight in what God delights in.
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  Yes. Sin starts to lose its appeal,
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  and your heart finds its real joy in the things of God.
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  That's a massive reward. And David?
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  Is clear the reward it is in the keeping.
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  It's not something you just get at the finish line.
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  It's a continuous blessing you experience as you walk in those
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  straight paths. This whole.
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  Framework gives us such a healthy balance.
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  It keeps us from two big errors. It keeps.
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  You from legalism, trying to obey in order to get saved,
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  which makes the law a crushing burden.
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  And it keeps you from antinomianism, the idea that
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  because you're saved by grace, the commands don't matter
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  anymore. David says no, you need both the
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  warning and the reward. The commands are the blessed
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  path for the saved #tagged tagged doctrinal conclusion.
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  So this whole. Six fold description perfect
• 23:18
  sure right pure clean true, it's magnificent, but it also has
• 23:23
  this other effect, doesn't it acts like a spiritual mirror and
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  what you see can be terrifying it.
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  Absolutely Does the blinding light of this perfect law drives
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  you right to the question David asks next in the Psalm?
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  Who can understand his errors? When you look into the pure and
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  right commandment of God, you see yourself for who you are.
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  You're. Unmasked you see all your
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  failures, the secret faults you hide, the arrogant sins you try
• 23:48
  to justify the written. Word in its perfection just
• 23:51
  makes you despair of your own righteousness, and that's its
• 23:54
  job. It's a tutor that is designed to
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  drive us to one person, the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
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  That's the whole. Movement of scripture Jesus is
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  the only one whose obedience was truly tamima, perfect without
• 24:06
  any blemish he is the living word who fulfilled the law
• 24:10
  perfectly he became the. End of the law for righteousness
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  for everyone who believes The written word warns us and guides
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  us, but only the living word can save us.
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  So this is. How we hold the law and the
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  Gospel together. We love the written word because
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  it guides us and shows us God's will, but we trust only in the
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  law keepers in Christ for our salvation because we could never
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  keep it ourselves. And the.
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  Scripture becomes its sweetest, sweeter than the drippings of
• 24:34
  the honeycomb, when it leads you straight to the Redeemer.
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  It's all about to just admire the Bible for its literary
• 24:40
  beauty or its ethics, but to miss the Savior it points to is
• 24:44
  to miss the whole point. Hashtag.
• 24:46
  Tag tag tag outro. So the central.
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  Take away from this deep dive into Psalm 19 is pretty clear
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  because God's written word is divinely perfect and supremely
• 24:55
  valuable, worth more than all the gold and sweeter than all
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  the honey. Our right posture is just one of
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  reverent, joyful submission. We have to welcome its warnings
• 25:03
  as a mercy, and we have to pursue His commands as the
• 25:06
  straight path to joy. Always looking through the words
• 25:08
  on the page to find the word made flesh.
• 25:10
  Jesus Christ, the world is. Always telling you to protect
• 25:13
  your treasure, your money, your reputation, your comfort.
• 25:17
  David tells us. The word is our treasure, and
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  it's the only thing that can truly protect us.
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  A final thought. For you to consider this week,
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  the word is pure BA and it enlightens the eyes.
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  How has that pure commandment exposed a lie or a hidden fault
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  in your own life recently? Maybe a small compromise you had
• 25:34
  in rationalizing? And how did that exposure, as
• 25:37
  uncomfortable as it was, bring a little more light to your
• 25:39
  spiritual vision?