Grace Bible Church
Tree of Life
A Weekly Review
Week ending 071215
Psalm 119. The Greatness and Glory of the Word of God. Part 4.
The Hey file = an open window which describes one’s outlook or perspective in life and in this file I have entitled it “the tattooed Christian file.”
The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Zayin file which looks like a sword and it represents the word of God. The Psalmist tells us the importance that the Word of God, not the songs of God, not the fellowship with the people of God, not the good jokes or good stories told from the pulpit. But how important that the word of God was to him when he was in the prison of the chains of slavery during in his lifetime.
He says this in PSA 119:49-56, “Remember the word to Thy servant, In which Thou hast made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, That Thy word has revived me. The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Thy law. I have remembered Thine ordinances from of old, O Lord, And comfort myself. Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Thy law. Thy statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage. O’ Lord, I remember Thy name in the night, And keep Thy law. This has become mine, That I observe Thy precepts.”
In these passage alone you can see how important the Zayin file was to him, that is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. So there is a very popular passage that most of you are familiar with that talks about the Word of God being even sharper than a human sword.
Heb 4;12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two‑edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
For too long worship has been covered over with the veneer of ritual, tradition and complicated ways of reaching God! Many churches today are using the gimmicks of positive thinking and the tickling of ears to promote their ministry. That’s why we are told that in 2TI 4:3-4, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and then they will be turned aside to myths.
This is one of the main reasons why people do not like going to church today! People today are looking for answers! Most of you have in front of you this morning the best seller of all time, the Bible! And it is the best seller of all time because it is brilliant on the basics and simple solutions needed in a complicated world. It is a book that is alive and active! And not only that it is said to be sharp, in fact sharper than any two-edged sword that human race has ever produced.
HEB 4:12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two‑edged sword,
Our Lord said it another way in JOH 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; thewords that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
As a result of the word of God being living and active, it does two things and it works for two reasons. If you look closely at verse 12 you will see the things that it does and at verse 13, why it works! First, what does it do?
HEB 4:12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two‑edged sword, and piercing [notice how far it pierces] as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge…
First, it pierces! The present middle participle of the verb diikneomai which means to reach through, to penetrate: The word actually means to cut through. It cuts through the garbage, the fog, the excuses! This means it gets right to the point and challenges you!
The word for judge is where we get the word critic from, it is the Greek word kritikos translated judge. The word means to critique, to judge, to discern, or to evaluate. Therefore, we are told that the word of God is said to be able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Now, why does it work so well? What is it about God’s word that regardless of culture, age, sex, or circumstance, when it is learned and believed, it works? What is the reason for that?
HEB 4:13, And there is no creature hidden from His sight, all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
It works, first of all, because it is universal in scope, no one is hidden from God’s sight! He knows everything about us including our innermost secrets and all the skeletons that we may have or do have in our closet. The point is that when our God deals with a subject, all things are exposed! Therefore, the word of God works because it is universal in scope and secondly, it is limitless in exposure!
Alright, now we are ready for the Zayin file (7th letter in the Hebrew Alephbet). The letter looks like a sword and represented weapons in the ancient world. This is the weapon that we have to face every difficulty in life with is the word of God, which is alive and very, very, powerful.
2CO 10:4, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
PSA 119:49, Remember the word to Thy servant, In which Thou hast made me hope.
You see, the word is our weapon but it’s useless to us unless we become offensive with it when the pressure is put on us, HEB 4:2, For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. Here’s the whole point of the Zayin file, what would happen to you if the enemy attacks, would you know how to use your weapons?
So in PSA 119:49, the writer under maximum disastrous conditions is asking God for help to recall the promises he needs for the present situation. Notice he doesn’t ask God to wave the magic wand but to help him recall the word or the doctrines that are needed! In his own way, in his own dispensation, he knows the principle of pro-logos.
PSA 119:49, Bring to my remembrance the word to Thy servant, In which Thou hast made me hope.
PSA 119:50, This is my comfort in my affliction, That Thy word has revived me.
This refers to the doctrines and the promises he has already stored up in his human spirit. And when he says this is my comfort it means the word of God provides comfort and blessings in times of disaster. So he says this (word that he knows) is my comfort in my affliction which refers to his pressurized condition facing him. For Thy word hath revived me.
Revived is the Hebrew word chayah and means to refresh, to give life, to take in the oxygen needed in the spiritual life. Word refreshes us and gives life to situations filled with death. When the believer has doctrine in the mentality of his soul, there is refreshment in the life of the believer.
PSA 119:51, The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Thy law.
This refers to the Chaldean soldiers. the number of them who worship the god Allah, which is the Muslim god is small compared to the proud. And when he says they deride me the Hebrew verb luwts means to imitate ones voice in a mocking manner, ridicule, sarcasm, disrespect. But notice that he says…Yet I do not turn aside from Thy law. He is not occupied with their attitude and therefore he does not become bitter towards them. He is actually saying:
- Through all the pressure he has not turned away from God’s word.
- Through all the pressure he has not become bitter.
- Through all the pressure he has not neglected doctrine.
One of the things that causes people to turn away from the word is bitterness because of their condition of their soul. And the wicked thing about bitterness is what HEB 12:15 says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
PSA 119:52, “I have remembered Thine ordinances from of old, O Lord, And comfort myself.”
Q: How does a person comfort themselves?
A: They take doctrine learned and make it doctrine applied.
Notice that under maximum adversity conditions he still has inner resources. He can comfort himself means that he is not dependent on anyone else. This means that the is spiritually self-sustained.
PSA 119:53, Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Thy law.
The most sorrowful nightmare type suffering has come his way from those who have forsaken God’s word! And when he says in PSA 119:53, Burning indignation has seized him the word means to seize suddenly without warning. Many of the disasters you are going to face in this life will be without much warning. And as he says because of the wicked that forsake God’s word!
Notice that horror seized him suddenly and it wasn’t deserved. Don’t buy that lie that all disasters and suffering are because of you!
PSA 119:54, Thy statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
True singing comes when you understand doctrine. The house of his pilgrimage is that he understands he is in a foreign country, his only house he has is the sky above and not the chains on his feet.
PSA 119:55, O Lord, I remember Thy name in the night, And keep Thy law.
He recalls to his mind God’s name or rather God’s nature! This is occupation with Christ.
PSA 119:56, This has become mine, That I observe Thy precepts.
He realizes that because he has learned God’s word in the past that he can handle and problem in the present. The past circumstances prepared him for the future tests that bring in great victories. So, he slams shut the Zayin file shut to prepares us next for the Heth file.