Glorifying God through 3 C's - Part 2 (Clean, Close and Committed)

this evening we will look at a part two to the sermon I preached last month at the beginning of March out of Psalm 119. So we will be in Psalm 119 this evening. Last month we looked at verses 9 through 11 but the stanza consists of verses 9 through 16. So this evening we will cover verses 12 through 16 in Psalm 119. It's been a while I know that all of us have slept since then. I know it's been a minute but if you recall we unpack verses 9 through 11 with an emphasis on the supreme purpose of life and we did that sort of highlighting this idea glorifying God through three C's clean close committed clean close committed.

We established that the supreme purpose of life can be expressed in two ways positively or negatively. Positively it can be stated as the supreme purpose of life is to glorify God by finding joy in Him forever. Negatively it can be stated as the supreme purpose of life is to avoid sin is to avoid sin. Both expressions convey the same idea as sinning means failing to glorify God by seeking greater enjoyment in other things. We established that if we could learn to glorify God by finding joy in Him we would understand how to avoid sin and or possibly if we could learn to avoid sin we would know how to glorify God by enjoying Him.

Let me say that again it's kind of wordy let me say that again if we could learn to glorify God by finding joy in Him we would understand how to avoid sin or if we could learn to avoid sin we would know how to glorify God by enjoying Him. As I mentioned this evening I would like to finish unpacking this idea and to do so we will look at the remaining portion of the second stanza of Psalm 119. So if you're there in your Bible if not please turn there in your copy of God's Word. I will be reading verses 9 through 16 but in conclusion we will cover verses 12 through 16. So Psalm 119 verses 9 through 16 starting in verse 9.

How can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word? With my whole heart I seek you let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you O Lord teach me your statutes. With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes I will not forget your word. So as we jump in here let me quickly recap the context for us regarding Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 as many of you probably know is the longest chapter in the Bible. It's even longer than many of the books within it. The Psalm consists of 22 stanzas each containing eight verses. It is arguably the most meticulously structured Psalm celebrating the gift of God's Torah or God's Word. His covenant instruction if you will as the perfect guide for life. This Psalm expresses deep admiration for God who has given this great gift to his people and an intense longing for one's life to reflect the beauty and goodness of God's Word. The impact of Psalm 119 is profound.

It uses various terms for God's covenantal revelations such as law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, and word just to name a few. Psalm 119 has a laser focus on God's Word and its role in moral instruction for his people. It emphasizes that those who keep those who attend to and those who treasure God's instructions will increasingly reflect God's character. Ultimately the goal of this Psalm is to inspire God's people to admire his Word so deeply that they strive and pray for it to shape their character and conduct.

So this context leads us to the verse to what we see in verse 12 where the psalmist declares, "Blessed are you, O Lord." The psalmist opens verse 12 by acknowledging, by praising, by ascribing blessing to holy God. He takes a moment to recognize what he has received from God. He takes a moment to recognize the God who has taught him what he has learned and out of his mouth from his pen comes the words, "Blessed are you, O Lord." From the three C's we certainly see a closeness here with this statement. The psalmist is close to our heavenly Father. He recognizes his holy teacher and blesses his holy name.

As born-again, God-fearing believers, we should feel compelled to bless holy God. Let me give you a few reasons why we should feel compelled to bless him. Number one, acknowledgement of God's sovereignty. Acknowledgment of God's sovereignty. Blessing God is a way to recognize and honor his supreme authority and power over all creation. It is an act of reverence and it is submission to his will. The second reason, expression of gratitude. Expression of gratitude. Blessing God expresses our gratitude for his blessings, his grace, and his mercy. It is a way to thank him for his provision, protection, and love.

The third reason would be worship and praise. Blessing God is a form of worship and praise. It is an act of adoration, acknowledging his holiness, his greatness, and his majesty. The fourth reason I have here why we should bless God is its obedience to Scripture. Obedience to Scripture. The Bible encourages believers to bless and praise God. Psalm 103 verses 1 and 2. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 34 verse 1. "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 145 verses 1 and 2.

"I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever." Ephesians 1 3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Psalm 96 verse 2. "Sing to the Lord. Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day." Psalm 115 verse 18. "But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore." Praise the Lord. Psalm 104 verse 1. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with splendor and majesty." You see a pattern here. You see a pattern here. These verses serve as a directive for believers to bless God. These verses emphasize the importance of blessing God as an act of worship, as an act of gratitude and recognition of his greatness and goodness. And this is precisely at the heart of why the psalmist says, "Blessed are you, O Lord," at the beginning of verse 12. Psalm 119 verse 12. "Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes." You can hear the desire of the psalmist to be taught by God. He says, "Teach me your statutes." It's a plea, a crying out, a true genuine heartfelt desire.

It is a continued response to the profound question he posed in verse 9. Remember the question at the beginning of this stanza. Verse 9. "How can a young man keep his way pure?" We remain pure by continuing to be taught by God, by his holy scriptures, by his revealed word, by his revealed truth. John MacArthur comments that the psalmist invites the divine author to be his instructor. As born-again believers, we should long to be taught by God. This is how we can know more of God, know more of his mind, of his heart, of his will, his revealed will for our lives. And then we should praise him. And then we should praise him.

We should bless him for the grace, the strength, the Spirit-inspired ability to act in conformity to his statutes. So here's a question for you. Is God your instructor this evening? Is God your instructor this evening? Is he your instructor, your divine instructor this evening? Last comment on verse 12. William McDonald summarizes verse 12 this way. "Because God is so great and so gracious, the renewed nature desires to learn his statutes and be molded by them. The love of Christ constrains us." To be constrained means to compel or force someone to follow a particular course of action.

Again, to be constrained means to compel or force someone to follow a particular course of action. Does the love of Christ constrain you this evening? Psalm 119 verse 13. "With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth." I love the connection we see here between verse 13 and verse 11. Look at verse 11 with me. Psalm 119 verse 11. "I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." You see, we touched on this in the part one that I preached last month, but you see the psalmist has stored up God's Word in his heart. He delights in it. He has guarded this treasure in his heart.

Hit it in his heart if you will, but not hit...he didn't hide God's Word in a selfish way. What he means and what I would argue is that the natural consequence of storing up God's Word in your heart or hiding God's Word in your heart is that it will come out of your heart. In other words, if it is in your heart, you will not be able to restrict it from coming out of your mouth. What he is saying is that what was in his heart was going to rise up out of his lips, the doctrines, the precepts, the holy infallible Word of God that was given to him, taught to him, is what he would proclaim with his mouth.

The ESV uses the word "rule." The NASB says ordinances. The LSB in the New King James version use the word judgments. It is a reference to the statutes of our laws that he has been taught by his divine instructor, and he has agreed with them. He has believed them. He has been on the side of the holy law, and because of this he would proclaim them to bring others under their influence, the influence of God's holy statutes. It was God's truth that was in his heart and coming out of his mouth.

And see if we look back at verse 11, the reason why he was hiding God's Word or storing up God's Word in his heart was so that he might not sin against God. So follow me here. He is storing up God's Word in his heart so that he might not sin against God, and because of this, the natural consequence of his pursuit, his desire to store God's Word in his heart to avoid sinning, the natural consequence of this was for God's Word to come out of his mouth. Here me this evening, church, do you know that it is a sin to remain silent? It is a sin to remain silent.

If you are born again a redeemed believer, child of God, it is a sin to remain silent, a sin, church. Have you ever heard of the Great Commandment? Have you ever heard of the Great Commission? See if you are silent, how can you love God? See if you are silent, how can you love your neighbor? How will you go and make disciples? It is a sin to remain silent, church. If you are born again, it is willful disobedience. It will be difficult to be close. You will struggle with being clean.

There will be a lack of commitment in your life, because listen, if Christ has redeemed you, the heart surgery that he has performed on you, the transformation that he has done in your life, the truth of his Word that he has revealed to you and is teaching you will want to come out of your mouth. It will want to. So if you are rejecting that, if you are not proclaiming it, I would argue that you are being willfully disobedient and you are in sin because of your silence.

Again quoting William McDonald here, "Deep delight in the treasure of the Word leads inevitably to the desire to share them with others." It is a law of life that when we really believe something, we want to pass it on. Do you want to pass it on this evening, church? The beauty, the grace, the mercy, the love, the power of the transformative Holy Word of God. Do you want to pass it on? Because honestly, how selfish of us to remain silent when all around us people are perishing. May our prayer be that the saints of God, that his bride, the church, remain silent no longer.

Moving on to verses 14 through 16, we're going to kind of cover all three of these together for the sake of time. So Psalm 119 verses 14 through 16 starting in verse 14, "In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your Word." The psalmist establishes in verse 14 that true riches are found in obedience to God's law, God's Word. Remember God's Word is a treasure. It is true wealth and it causes the heart to rejoice. It is the delight of the man that is being led by it.

Believers should delight in the ways of God. We should rejoice in him because his ways are superior to all. The psalmist is not boasting in his character or virtues. He is boasting in the testimonies of God. See he is not concerned with the things of the world. He finds delight. He is fully satisfied by the testimonies of holy God. Looking at verse 15, the psalmist writes, "I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways." It's a beautiful picture here. He meditates on God's statutes. His entire being was fixed on God's law or commands.

It appears the psalmist was constantly considering, always reflecting on the instructions of God. Sounds like a really solid approach to me. To meditate means to think deeply or carefully about something, to plan mentally, to consider. To be fixed means predetermined, not subject to are able to be changed, situated with regard to. That's the words that are used here to describe the psalmist and his position. He meditates. He is fixed. He meditated on the truth. His eyes were fixed on God's ways. And what we see is that the psalmist delighted in God's word. It's a beautiful picture. He meditated. He was fixed.

You see an individual that is clean, close, and committed here. And this went beyond just study. It went beyond just study. It actually led to practice. Practice of God's law. Practice of God's statutes. Perhaps he was ahead of his time understanding what James writes in James chapter 1 verses 22 through 25. James writes, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." We are studying James on Sunday evenings in small group right now. Hopefully this resonates with you. The psalmist put into practice God's law. He was obedient because as seen in verse 11, he did not want to sin against God. So he meditated. He fixed himself on God's law and put into practice what he was being. taught. Let me encourage you this evening to follow this example. Put into practice the Word of God in your life. Be a doer. A doer.

Regarding verse 15 again, quoting William McDonald, he says, "God's Word provides endless resource material for the most satisfying meditation, but this should never be divorced from the determination to be doers of the Word." Determination to be doers of the Word. Let's commit to being doers, church. Now we come to verse 16. Psalm 119 verse 16, "I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your Word." Again we see the psalmist professing his delight for God's law. And in this we see a picture. For him, the psalmist, God's laws are not burdensome. They're not burdensome. They are life. They are life.

As I was working through this, I thought of 1 John chapter 5 verse 3. 1 John chapter 5 verse 3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome." Are you burdened by the Word of God? Or do you find life in his Word? That is a question we all must wrestle with. The psalmist closes the stanza by stating that he will not forget God's Word. He will not forget it. It's this picture, the dependence upon God's Word shown by the psalmist in this stanza is sort of summarized in that statement.

The way he regards God's statutes, his desire for God's instruction, it leads me to believe that he means what he says when stating he will not forget God's Word. How could he forget God's Word? It was God's Word that gave him life, that gave him meaning, that gave him purpose. Without God's Word, who would the psalmist be? See, after studying this, I believe that there was nothing in this world, nothing that could get in the way of, nothing that could sort of crowd out the Word of God in the psalmist's life. Listen, if it was hidden in his heart, if it was stored up as treasure, how could it be forgotten? How could it be forgotten?

Think about what we have seen from the psalmist in this stanza. He stored up the Word of God. He delighted in the Word of God. He meditated on the Word of God. He proclaimed the truth. He spoke with his lips the Word of God. That, to me, that does not sound like someone who would forget the Word of God. He valued it. He treasured it, in my opinion. So, one last time I'd like to read the entire stanza, Psalm 119 verses 9 through 16. "How can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word? With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments.

I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me your statutes. With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word." Church, as we kind of bring this to a close, let me take this time to challenge us to store up God's Word. It's easy to take what we have here for granted. Let me challenge us to store up God's Word, to value God's Word, to practice God's Word, to love God's Word.

It is very, very precious. It is the message of life, the message of salvation and redemption. Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 tells us, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" I mentioned this last time, but I believe it's worth repeating. We are here for a little while. In this life, our time here is fleeting and temporary. So why not fulfill the supreme purpose of life?

Glorify God by finding your joy in Him, by being clean, close, committed to our Heavenly Father. See, God has provided atonement for sin through His one and only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ. See, Christ fulfilled His supreme purpose by glorifying God the Father when He went to the cross in perfect obedience, perfect obedience on display. Christ took the full weight, the full punishment of my sin on the cross.

He fulfilled His supreme purpose and He brought it to conclusion when He said, "It is finished." God acknowledged this fulfillment by resurrecting Him from the grave and placing Him at His right hand where He is seated today and remains until He returns for His bride, the church. Listen, only through Christ can you be forgiven. Only by God's grace can you be made alive. This evening, if God is drawing you, if He is revealing to you the ugliness of your sin and the beauty of Christ, stop running and come to Christ. Stop delaying. Come to Him. Be made alive in Christ. This is something that only God can do. He must bring you from death to life.

No one else or nothing else can do that for you. For us, church, let us glorify God by finding our joy in Him. Begin by treasuring His Word, honoring His instruction, practicing His precepts, and delighting in His presence. Remember, learn to glorify God by finding joy in Him so we can understand how to avoid sin, so we can learn to avoid sin. May the encouragement from this passage be that we would pursue cleanliness in our life, that we would desire closeness to our Heavenly Father, and let's fully commit to God's instruction as we see with the Psalmist here in Psalm 119, never forgetting His Word.

Instead, let's store it up and pour it out in Word and action. See, we need the help of the Holy Spirit to be clean, close, and committed. So may we learn from the Psalmist and put into practice what we see in this passage. Would you pray with me? Father God, in the great and powerful name of Jesus.