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Psalm 119:137-144 - Tsade · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle talk Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD I'm
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  your host Brian self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to others
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  Let's dive right in Welcome back to Tabernacle talk.
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  I hope that you're having a good day today.
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  It is at the time that I'm recording this, it is a very
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  dark, overcast morning. And it's, you know, kind of
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  seemed like a kind of chilly, rainy morning that you might see
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  in like a, you know, detective show or movie.
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  And so I'm just honestly enjoying this season.
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  I've got at the time that I'm recording this, spending a
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  couple days with my family and I've got family coming out from
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  Florida, family from depending on what time of year it is from
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  either North Carolina or Colorado and going and visiting
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  family in Pennsylvania. All of us are getting together.
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  And so I'm just thankful for for what the Lord is doing in my
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  family. I'm thankful for what he's doing
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  in our church. At the time that I'm recording
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  this. I had great last Sunday of 2025
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  and was able to for our kind of final service of the year, had
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  some devotionals from our elders to be able to get to the church
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  and encourage them. And that's always just a joy to
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  be able to hear people from all different backgrounds.
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  We've got Pastor Ron who's, you know, seminary trained and has
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  40 plus years of ministry. We have guys that, you know,
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  less than 10 years ago started doing men's ministry and just
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  the the breadth of what God is able to do with people that just
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  surrender to him. I am not by any means better
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  than any other person. The only thing that you know
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  makes me unique is Jesus and every, every Christian has
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  Jesus. And so he is the thing that like
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  ties us together. And so I always want to try to
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  be faithful, to listen to others who are walking in the Spirit of
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  God that are filled with the word of God that they are
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  encouraging. And so I hope that that's what's
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  Tabernacle Talk is for you, that you're able to just hear from
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  the Word. And so we're going to dive in
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  today to Psalm 119 and we're looking at the verses that start
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  with the Hebrew letter zade zade.
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  And these are verses 137 through 144.
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  And we are very, very close to the end of Psalm 119.
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  We've got 1234. There's only four more episodes
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  in Psalm 119 and we are done. So I think that takes us
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  through, if you're listening to this, that the day it comes out,
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  I think through next Monday and then starting on Tuesday, we
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  will finish out book 5 of Psalms and that'll be Psalms 120
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  through 150. And then I know couple of
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  episodes that we're doing after that.
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  And so I'm just looking forward to that together.
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  Let's read through. And there are two.
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  Yeah, there's two main thoughts that I want to look at today
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  from verses 137 to 144. You are righteous, Yahweh, and
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  Your judgments are just. The decrees you issue are
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  righteous and all together trustworthy.
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  My anger overwhelms me because my foes forget Your words.
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  Your word is completely pure and Your servant loves it.
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  I am insignificant and despised, but I do not forget Your
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  precepts. Your righteousness is an
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  everlasting righteousness, and Your instruction is true.
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  Trouble and distress have overtaken me, but your commands
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  are my delight. Your decrees are righteous
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  forever. Give me understanding and I will
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  live. All right.
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  What can we learn from this portion of Scripture?
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  Well, there's one word that shows up five different times in
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  this passage and it's the word righteous.
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  And that's verse 137 you are righteous, Yahweh.
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  Verse 138 you're the decrees you issue are righteous.
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  Verse 142 your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.
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  And verse 144 your decrees are righteous forever.
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  And this word is the word Zadiq. So I mentioned that the Hebrew
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  letter that all of these verses start with is the Hebrew letter
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  Sade, and that goes right into this word Sadiq, and it's an
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  adjective. Righteous righteousness is
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  certainly a good translation of it.
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  It describes something that is just innocent in the right.
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  It is accurate. So it would be used very often
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  to describe a judge that was giving a fair ruling that he
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  wasn't being bent by a bribe. It would be someone that when
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  they were measuring out an amount of say, flour or rice to
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  give someone, they were giving them the correct amount that
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  they paid for. They weren't short changing them
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  at all. It was correct.
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  And so here the thought with righteousness is it is a
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  straightforward, upright on the narrow kind of person.
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  It's a kind of action that you just know this person, they're
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  cutting it straight. It's just straightforward.
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  And so I do not have to question on if there's ulterior motives
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  here. I don't have to worry about, you
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  know, them trying to cheat me. It's just regular, just
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  innocent. And here is the way that God
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  interacts with us. I am a human.
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  I don't know if you know that. And you are a human likely,
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  unless you're maybe my friend Dina's dogs and maybe she has
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  this playing in the kitchen in her home and, and you're just
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  listening to me. No, but most of you, you are
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  humans. And so as you listen to this, we
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  know what it is to not be straightforward in how we
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  interact with other people, that we want to try and save other
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  people's feelings. And so we don't shoot straight
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  with them. We want to avoid any sort of
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  conflict. And so we don't shoot straight
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  with people. We want to maybe pull a fast one
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  over on someone. I think I hear about goofy stuff
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  that happens at like restaurants where people intentionally do
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  stuff to get a free meal, or they're like, yes, if I just
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  complain enough, then I can get free food.
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  It's those kinds of things that are just, they're not
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  straightforward. They're not honestly dealing
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  with people. Or you can think about, I think
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  it was Apple in the EU, in the European Union.
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  They got sued or they had to pay some sort of hefty fine as a
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  result of the fact that they intentionally put planned
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  obsolescence into their phones. Basically, yes, this is going to
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  not just continue working, but this is created so that within
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  three to five years someone is going to need to get a new one
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  of these devices. And that's not like an honest
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  business practice. It's not saying I want to give
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  someone a product that will last them a long time.
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  Instead, it's I want them to keep on coming back over and
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  over again, not just because they want the newest product,
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  but because their old product literally does not work anymore.
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  And I've had I've had phones and tablets and things, computers
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  that went through that exact process.
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  And the way that I was dealt with was not straightforward,
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  honest, dealing rightly. But that is the way that God
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  deals with us. And so here in verse 137, this
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  is how God is described, that he is righteous.
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  He's the innocent, the upright one.
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  And the psalmist says your judgments are just.
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  I love that we can know exactly what God thinks about us, about
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  the way that we're living our life, his favor, our eternal
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  soul, all of that. God has given us the ability to
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  know. He's not hiding it from us.
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  I've, I've talked with people before that they go, well, I'm
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  just, you know, I, I don't know that anyone can really know
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  before they die if they are right with the Lord.
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  Like you're not God. And so how can you say that you
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  know that you have eternal life? And I certainly love the verse
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  in first John 513 that gives us the reason why where John tells
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  the people that he's writing to these things.
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  I've written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
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  so that you may know that you have eternal life and that
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  through believing you may have faith in his name.
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  And so I love the fact that God is super straightforward with
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  you. We think life is incredibly
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  complicated, but so often we find it complicated because we
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  don't just follow the instructions that the Lord has
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  for us. He says to reconcile when we
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  know someone, when we know that someone has something against
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  us, we got to go to them and say, all right, let's hash this
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  out. God says that he resists the
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  proud but gives grace to the humble.
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  And as we looked at in James Four, that comes right on the
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  heels of interpersonal spats within the church.
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  If you if you don't remember that passage, that's James four
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  one through 6 where James is saying, all right, you guys are
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  fighting and warring amongst yourselves and it's not
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  accomplishing anything good. Like nothing that you are
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  desiring to happen is actually happening.
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  Instead of making peace with one another, you are feuding.
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  And you are asking God for things and you're never seeing
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  him answer because you're just asking it so that you can be
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  selfish. And so God wants no part of
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  that. And so we can know if I'm being
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  proud, if I am not humbling myself, if I am not seeking
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  reconciliation and forgiveness and joy, I can know that I'm not
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  in the will of God. Very often we paint the will of
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  God into a corner to say the will of God is this like unknown
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  thing. And it's a one magical person
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  that will give you the idyllic marriage.
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  And if you don't find that person or you marry the wrong
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  person, well, then you're just never going to experience God's
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  goodness in your life. Or God has one perfect job for
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  you to have. And if you are not in that job,
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  in that particular position that God has for you in that job,
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  then you are just going to be unhappy all of your days.
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  Maybe there's one perfect house. And if you buy a different house
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  or if you buy it at the wrong time, you are just going to
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  experience sadness. And we tie the will of God to
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  things or to people and not to our walk with Him.
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  And in fact, whenever the Bible talks about the will of God, it
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  talks about our behavior. So that's First Thessalonians 4
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  and verse 4. This is the will of God.
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  Even your sanctification that you would abstain from sexual
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  immorality. You can think about First
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  Thessalonians 5 in everything. Give thanks because this is the
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  will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
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  There's several other passages that talk about the will of God.
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  Romans 12 Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed
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  by the renewing of the of your mind so that you may prove what
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  is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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  When God is looking at your life, in my life, he's
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  straightforward with us and he says I want you to walk with me
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  because when you walk with me, there is the good life.
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  It's the life led by my Holy Spirit.
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  And as you're doing that, the Holy Spirit very well may lead
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  you to a phenomenal person that will enrich and bless your life.
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  He may lead you to a job in which you find like fulfillment
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  and joy and opportunity to witness to coworkers or
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  phenomenal coworkers that are Christians that you're able to
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  work alongside. He might lead you to a wonderful
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  home where you can show hospitality to fellow believers
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  and to those that do not yet know the Lord.
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  God can bring so many things about, but it centers on the
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  fact that we walk with Him and He is straightforward with us,
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  that he says You walk in my will, you experience the
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  blessings. Psalm One.
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  Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the
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  ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of
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  the mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
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  His law he meditates day and night, and he will be like a
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  tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its
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  fruit in its season. His leaf also will not wither,
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  and whatever he does will prosper.
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  The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind
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  drives away for I I can't remember that last verse.
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  It's like verse 6 of someone that is the future that God has
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  for us. That's the plan that he has for
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  our life that we are planted, rooted, growing, living off of
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  his word. So let's follow the commands and
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  the word of God verse 138. The decrees you issue are
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  righteous and all together trustworthy.
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  You can believe God when he says do this.
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  This is for your good and for my glory.
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  We can believe it, we can follow it.
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  God's never going to trick us. Verse 142, Your righteousness is
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  an everlasting righteousness and your instruction is true.
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  God's commands do not change. And so I can take it to the bank
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  today just as much as 3000 years ago, that I should not murder,
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  that I should not commit adultery, that I should not
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  steal, that I should not covet or envy or want the things for
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  myself that belong to others. I should worship no other God
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  but the Lord, and I should not elevate any other thing or
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  certainly not worship any other deities, but I should not put
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  anything before the Lord. I shouldn't use God's name, like
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  misuse God's name either in blasphemy or in saying, Oh yeah,
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  God said this or God told me this when God in fact did not
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  tell me that I can believe in the instructions of God.
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  And verse 144, he says your decrees are righteous forever.
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  Give me understanding and I will live to walk with the Lord, to
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  understand what He has for us and to do it is so beneficial to
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  our souls and it will cause us to walk in the path of life.
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  It's if you will, when we come to the tree of the knowledge of
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  good and evil and we listen to what God has said and we choose
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  good. We do not choose to redefine
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  good and wrong on our own whims. Then we get to eat from that
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  tree of life. That's kind of the meta picture
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  that that Scripture paints for us.
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  Even as you look at the end of Revelation that those that have
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  chosen Jesus will at the end of everything we eat of the tree of
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  life and we live forever and Scripture says it's a tree that
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  bears fruit every single month and there there's way too much
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  to go into that further. We're already out of time for
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  today. I just wanted to mention one
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  other thing. So there's righteousness, God's
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  straightforwardness to us. But then I also want to look
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  very, very shortly, just verse 141 and 143 that just because
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  God is upright doesn't mean our world is verse 141.
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  I am insignificant and despised, but I do not forget your
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  precepts. If you feel unimportant and
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  unloved, recognize that doesn't come from God, that comes from
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  the world, that comes from Satan, that comes from fallen
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  humans. Don't allow that to color the
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  way that you see God, and don't allow it to color the way that
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  you see you. Realize that you are important.
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  You are worth the blood of Christ by the fact that He shed
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  it for you and the fact that He adopted you means that you are
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  loved. You are never truly
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  insignificant or despised in the eyes of God.
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  And then verse 143 trouble and distress have overtaken me, but
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  your commands are my delight. There will come times of
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  hardship. You can look at the life of
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  Jesus. He did all things well.
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  He lived the life that God intended.
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  And yet even he went through Golgotha, He went through the
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  Garden of Gethsemane. He went through the trial.
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  He went through the rejection of family and friends and his
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  country and the religious leaders and the political
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  leaders. And so if that's what Jesus went
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  through, then let's not expect that our life will be hunky
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  Dory. Now we can find a genuine walk
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  with God filled with the fruit of the Spirit, even as we walk
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  through those times, just like Jesus did.
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  But recognize trouble will come. But that doesn't mean that God
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  doesn't love you. And he is straightforward enough
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  with you to let you know that that is coming.
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  So be grateful to him. Be thankful that you can know
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  right now what you're standing is with God.
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  Choose to walk with him today and know that you are within the
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  will of God and that your heavenly Father is pleased.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. Next episode we're going to look
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  at the verses that start with the Hebrew letter cough.