Psalms 119, Part 2

But we do have a very special and important message. As you know, Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. As someone pointed out, it's basically in the middle of the entire Bible. If you took all the chapters, it would be right around that middle part of it.

And it is a Psalm that is so important to all of us. It's like a mini Bible. It has all the instructions to follow a godly way of life. It was written by King David, a man after God's own heart. And you see here why he was beloved, although he was not perfect by any means and committed some very serious sins. He repented, he changed, and he continued all the way to the end of his life. Psalm 119 is a Psalm that is very special because it's very carefully written.

It's actually written in 22 parts. Each one has eight verses, and it's called an acrostic Psalm, which means it's alphabetical, that each section starts out with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. If you have a larger Bible, you'll see there that each one of those eight verses begins with a letter. And so each beginning word starts out with that letter of the alphabet. So this was very carefully written, and David was someone that was bathed in God's word. He really enjoyed reading, meditating. He was the greatest king that Israel ever had. He composed most of the Psalms that we sing, and in God's kingdom, God has assigned him to be in charge of the twelve tribes of Israel.

When he is resurrected, he's going to be put over those twelve tribes of Israel. You can read that in Ezekiel 37. Other parts are several places where it mentions this about David. And talking about being bathed by God's word, that is a very fitting illustration. Let's go to Ephesians 5 verse 26. Ephesians 5 verse 26, where it talks about the church. In Ephesians 5 verse 26, let's start one verse before. It says, When you bathe, you get rid of all the dirt. You become clean. You feel refreshed. Everybody enjoys a shower, especially in the morning. Get up. There is this spiritual part that David was mentioning about God's word, enjoying.

He actually felt like it was just saturating him. I wonder how many feel the same way about God's words and his laws, that they purify us by that word, that we can be cleansed, that we can be purified through it. David certainly felt that way. It's interesting, as I was doing research on this psalm, this statement came up. It said, this psalm, 119, will be fulfilled when spiritual Israel, under the new covenant, will have the law written in their hearts. Jeremiah 31, 31, talking about God's word being that way.

We're going to have God's law one time, internalized in such a way that it will never leave us. David, although imperfect, was one of the men that progressed more about knowing God's law, trying to live it. He administered a whole kingdom. It says in the Bible that he did it with wisdom and with the skills of his hands. He really tried to apply God's laws in everything he did. Let's go to Psalms 119, because this is the second part. I'll confess, I had no idea there was so much.

I just want you to bathe yourselves in this psalm 119. Just be soaked up and see what it does for you. Psalms 119, this last time I gave the first part, and we covered all the way up to verse 40. As you can see, the different Hebrew words appear here. The last one was he, which is the equivalent of our letter H. As I mentioned, there are 22 Hebrew letters which correspond then to the Greek alphabet, and to other alphabets, and even to English. Basically, the great majority of these letters are part of our English alphabet as well.

It starts out with aleph, which is where we get the letter A. I mentioned before it was the head of an ox with the horns, and then it was turned around. That's where we get the letter A, or alpha in the Greek. Then the second one, Beth, which has to do with house, which is a little house. That was turned around also on its side, became the letter B, or beta, for the Greek alphabet. Then, gimel is the letter G, what is in the Greek gamma. And of course, our letter G, and then daleth is our letter D. I just want to go through, and we got to the letter He from H.

Now we go to the letter W, which in our alphabet ends up toward the end. But in the original alphabet was here at the beginning. Wow! Wow! W-A-W. And so I gave each heading for these eight verses. We went through each one the last time. And so I want to continue, and this would be number seven, because we went through the first six before.

So this is the eighth, what they call, strophe, or the section, the eight verses. And verse 41, what I found David exalting and praising God in these eight verses, has to do with God's law of liberty. That's a very important concept. Like I said, this is a mini Bible, because here you find God's truths that are developed in other parts of Scripture. But David here is talking about having liberty by keeping God's laws. Notice, let's start in verse 41.

So this is God's law of liberty. He says, Now you always see either the term word or law or commandments or decrees. David uses different synonyms for God's law. So one of them is your word. And actually out of the 176 verses that Psalms 119 has, 172 of them contain either God's commandments or laws or decrees or His word. Only four do not have it. So you can imagine using in every one of those verses some equivalent about God's law. So you can see how much he was completely involved and completely and deeply converted about God's law. He goes on to say, See, that's another synonym for laws. He says, Boy, that's a long commitment to do so. There are people that leave God's law within their own lifetime. And David said, I'm not going to leave your laws. I'm going to keep them forever and ever. That is quite a commitment. Verse 45, he says, Seek your precepts. I will walk at liberty or in liberty. So he didn't feel constrained and limited and burdened. God's law liberates us from the slavery of sin, the slavery of this world's wrong way of life. See, people think they're free when they can sin, but that's not freedom. That leads to slavery. Whereas if you follow God's way, you're free as far as your conscience, your life. You can live plentifully without headaches and heartaches that breaking God's laws produce. Let's keep a finger here because there are several scriptures that are important when he says that I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts. Let's go to James 2, verse 12. You're not going to hear this in many churches, are you? When people start talking about God's law, usually it's, oh, it's been done away, or now we got under grace. What's wrong with God's laws? They go along with God's grace. We need both. In James 2, verse 12, it says, God's law is a law of liberty. It's not of slavery, but Satan has turned things around. He wants people to think they've got the freedom in the world to do what they want and become slaves of sin as a result. Notice also in John, chapter 8, verse 31, Jesus Christ said to those Jews who believed Him, God's truth makes one free. It doesn't make one confined, doesn't enslave a person.

And then it goes on to mention in verse 36, The true freedom. Freedom to love, to share, to enjoy life without the sins that cause so much heartache. And so the world is the one that's enslaved. We are the ones that have been liberated through Christ, through God's Word. And of course, the world just wants to absorb us. It wants to bring us back to that slavery. And it is a struggle. It is a fight. And the world is strong. And Satan has deceived the entire world, thinking he's given them the liberty when he's really just deceived them into enslaving them. So this is an important concept to understand. God's laws liberate a person.

The world's freedoms enslave a person. It brings a person down to wrong habits, wrong lifestyles that bring more and more pain and misery. So God's laws are liberating. So this is the key phrase in this section. This is again the sixth section that we have.

There's a comment again when I was doing some background. One author said, Those who are set free by the Son of God are free indeed. The world thinks of the Christian life as a system of bondage. But those who seek his precepts are the ones who enjoy perfect liberty.

And of course, liberty becomes more and more perfected as we're able to apply them better. And of course, when you come to the church, it takes a while because it's a new system. I compare it to learning to play the piano. You begin and your fingers are clumsy. You can hardly play a chord. And it takes a while. At the beginning, it's very frustrating because your fingers don't obey you and you don't know what you're touching. You're making all kinds of mistakes. But with practice, then your fingers start obeying you better.

You start flowing more on the keyboard. But you start out with simple songs. You start out with, Mary had a little lamb or others like that. That's the way I started learning to play the piano. It took a long time to develop a certain proficiency and practice. So God's laws are the same way. At the beginning, you might feel, oh, this is a bit clumsy. And how do I keep the Sabbath? And how do I keep the food laws?

And how do I keep the feast days? And how do I start putting God as a partner and starting to tithe like I should? At first, it's clumsy. Sometimes you feel awkward. Maybe you don't do it perfectly. But that's the beginning. But as you practice, as you incorporate it, then you understand more what God expects of you, why it's the way to be free. When you're obeying God's laws of finance, you don't feel guilty.

You feel, well, my first part is to God. And then I have that responsibility to save for the feast days and the funds that are available to me. I'm going to use them. But I want to be at peace with God, His law of tithing, and also about the feast days and keeping them.

And what happens? Well, again, at first, maybe you say, well, I don't have enough. That's very hard to do. And God says, trust me, I'm going to open up the windows of heaven. I'm not going to abandon you. But I want to see if you have true faith or not. And so you begin, and it takes years to discipline yourself and to walk according to God's ways. But again, you wouldn't change that for all the money in the world. Having a partner like that backing you up and doing miracles and providing for you, and difficult as well as good times.

And again, I'm saying it from the point of view of church members here that have been following God's laws for decades and have seen the blessings that they come. And so David is one of these examples. He followed God's laws, and he applied them in his life. And he learned that he had liberty. Liberty of conscience before God, and liberty of conscience before man as well. So that's the sixth section, God's law of liberty, which takes us to the seventh section.

It starts out in verse 49. You can read. I'm not going to go verse by verse, but I want the gist of each one of these eight verses. This is the seventh section, which I've titled God's law of hope and a way of life. God's law of hope and a way of life. So it's not only of liberty, but it gives us hope.

And it's a way of life. Notice what David says here in verse 49. A zayin is the Hebrew letter for Z, Zeta in Greek. Verse 49 says, Remember the word to your servant upon which you have caused me to hope. Your word brings hope to me. This is my comfort in my affliction, for your word has given me life.

And so, as it was mentioned in the first message, we go through trials, but we have this burning hope. There's a living hope. God's promises are sure. God the Father is on his throne. Jesus Christ is at his right hand. Nobody can remove them. They're going to carry out their will. God's kingdom as a goal is in front of us.

It is the ultimate goal that nothing can hinder us from going to achieve that goal in the future. Continuing on, verse 41 says, The proud have me in great derision, yet I do not turn aside from your law. Yes, you might be persecuted. You might have people that are proud that look down on you because you follow this way of life.

And yet he says, I do not turn aside from your law. That's not going to hinder me. That's not going to discourage me. A bit of persecution that comes. You know what derision is? Derision is laughing at somebody or making fun of someone. So David was facing this, but he says, you know what?

That's not going to stop me from doing what is right before God. Verse 52, I remembered your judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. So God's word comforts us.

Because God is true. And let every man be a liar. That's what the Scriptures say. God is the one that has the final word. If somebody goes against that word, they are wrong.

Verse 53, indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked who forsake your law. Do we have indignation because of the wicked who forsake your law?

Certainly, as we see society around us, there's a lot to be indignant of.

Now, days, things that were held to be respected now have been overturned by legislatures.

Now this world is becoming more and more like a Sodom and Gomorrah. Just like Christ said, it would happen. Just like in the days of Noah, too.

We are slowly losing our moral fiber. We don't have the same dedication as generations before.

And look at the youth today, what they have to face. Sometimes you ask yourself, will anybody in the church, the youth, will they ever be able to come around because of the world that they live?

Everything becomes so relative, and you have so many choices, and you have so many temptations and distractions.

It's very tough on the youth to commit to a way of life, which is based on God's laws.

And you wonder, Jesus Christ said before He came, will there be people on earth that will have the faith?

Or will everything have been watered down, justified, where the newer generations are coming along?

They just go with the flow. They've got more distractions. They've got more available to them than previous times.

Continuing on, it says, Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. He sang and praised God for His laws.

I wonder how many youths would do that today to say, oh, you know, I'm so thankful I know about God's laws and how much they have helped me in my life.

Verse 24. I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law.

This has become mine because I kept Your precepts. There's a commitment there.

What happens is that David was internalizing God's laws. They were becoming more and more part of his life as he meditated and he reflected on them.

And so one thing is to have them outside of you. Another thing is to have them inside of you, inside of you because you want them there. Nobody's forcing them on you. So just like you cannot impose love on people, you cannot impose someone to love God's laws. They have to want to do it. They have to come around to do it. That's why the church is powerless.

As far as trying to convert somebody, we can teach, we can show, but it's the person that has to make the decision and take that step of faith.

The church can't do it for them. And the church can't bribe them with all kinds of nice things to offer them.

No, this has to be a commitment between the person and God.

And so this section has to do with God's law of hope and a way of life. That you choose to do it this way.

The next section is called Heth, which is another similar to H, but it's not quite the same.

The pronunciation is a little bit different.

And this is the eighth section.

Here he talks about God's law converts the soul. It converts a person.

This is the real process of conversion. It's you and God's laws and God Himself.

Notice verse 57, he says, He says, So you see, he thought about His ways. He thought about how He had been living.

He thought about what it had produced. And he said, And guess what? I decided to turn to your ways. I turned my feet to your testimonies.

He said, So here's another point. Sometimes a person can just put it off and put it off about obeying God.

And everybody has their different personalities and different ways God called.

Thankfully for me, it was very quick.

To me, I learned about God's Word from a schoolmate of mine in high school.

And I asked him to give me a Bible, give me some articles to read, and in two weeks I was convicted. I knew this was the truth and that God's Word was right and that His laws should be kept. And so two weeks later I asked the minister who came by to visit, Can I attend church? And he allowed me to do so.

And so within a month or so, I was keeping God's way of life. And I remember I thought, if I didn't go this way, I would never be able to face myself and look at myself in the mirror without feeling guilty and feeling like I'd been a coward. Because I knew what God expected, what I should do, and He gave me the strength. It wasn't my strength, but He helped me because He saw this is what I wanted.

So God helps that the person must want it too. So he says here, verse 61, The cords of the wicked have bound me, but I have not forgotten your law. At midnight I will rise to give things to you because of your righteous judgments. And so he's just meditating on it. Just like this little article on the oyster. To me that was very inspirational.

And here this big hurricane is going to hit, and somebody in one of the most prestigious papers in the world says, You know what? We're going to get worse shellacking over this because people ate all those oysters and destroyed all those oyster beds that were there for a purpose. And I can look to God and say, Thank you, God, because I have not eaten an oyster since I was 17 years old. And now I know I respect them. And even if I was hungry, I would not eat oysters.

I know there are foods that you gave that are for the purpose of eating. But oysters are there for filtering and for protecting us from big storms. And so we meditate on His Word. Every part of it is important. The law about not eating shellfish is based on God's law. It's based on His way of doing things. He knew when He put it in the Word, don't eat that. There was a purpose behind it. And we have the faith to follow Him. Maybe we didn't know anything about all the good things oysters do. But we knew that it was based on God's law. And that's why we did it.

Later came the understanding. Just like keeping the feast days. At first, you kept them because God commanded it. Later comes the understanding what God has in store for us and the purpose of all of this. So, He says in verse 63, I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts.

Now, how moving that is to me as well. I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. Those are my brothers and sisters. I had to leave my family. I had to basically go on my own. None of my family ever came into the church. And I had to say, My brothers and sisters are those who keep your precepts. Those are my companions who fear you by keeping your commandments. And so, everybody in the church is part of my fellowship and my companionship.

It doesn't matter if I go to Africa, I'll go where people fear you and keep your commandments. Those that are keeping God's laws, just like I do. Those are my true companions. Now, are they the best people in the world? No. They're average. We have all kinds of people in the church. All kinds of different situations. And some, as they mentioned, all going through different trials. But, as long as they follow God and His laws, then they are my companions. And I love them, and I will be with them.

And the rest of the world, even my physical parents and relatives, I love them, but they are not the true companions that I have in the church. That's why to me, the church is my life. And thankfully, my family, my wife and daughters and everybody, they're in the church, and that's a big blessing.

But I've told them, I'm going to continue in God's ways and God's laws to the end. Continuing on, it says in verse 64, The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy. Teach me your statutes. Show me how better to apply them. We should all thirst and hunger for that type of righteousness.

There are a couple of comments on this section. One source mentions, he says, Why does he say he needs mercy? It says in verse 64, The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy. Teach me your statutes. There is a twofold answer to this. First, his own ways, living for himself, have clearly been unsuccessful. He says, I thought about my ways. Second, he has been attacked by the wicked, and so he cries out for mercy to God. He says, I thought on my ways. This language refers to the time, especially of conversion, and describes the process of a sinner turning to God when he became personally interested in the subject of religion. The first step in such a work is reflection on the course of life which has been led, on the guilt of such a course, and on the consequences it has produced. It is a pause in the career of sin and folly, a pause for reflection and thought. No one is converted without such reflection, and as soon as a sinner can be made to pause and reflect on his course, there is hope that he will be converted. And he said, I turned my feet. I changed the course of my life. He does not say that he waited for God to turn him, or that he found he could not turn of himself, but that he turned. He paused. He reflected. He changed the course of his life. This is always true in conversion. There is an actual turning from sin, an actual turning to God. As a sinner turns, he leaves an old path and treads a new one. Man himself is always active in conversion. That is, he does something. He changes. He repents. He believes. He turns to God. It is indeed by the grace and help of God, but the effect of that grace is not to make him idly wait. It is to rouse him to effort, to lead him to act. That is why this section has to do with God's law converts the soul. If you allow that to happen, open your heart to it, then God's law begins to be written in your heart. There is a process to all of that. We will never get it completely written, but it is a process that begins that conversion. That takes us to the next section. Teth is the Hebrew letter, starting in verse 65. This is a tough one because this is based on the principle God's law straightens our paths. God's law straightens our paths. Verse 65, David says, You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe your commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep your precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as Greece, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.

As again, the research here that I did has some good commentaries. It says here, Therefore affliction often becomes necessary to check us when we go astray, and is useful in recalling us to the ways of God. But now I have kept thy word. Since I was afflicted, the effect has been to recall me from my wanderings and to turn me to paths of duty and holiness. This is an effect often, very often, experienced. This is a language which can be used by many a child of God.

Thus he concludes, The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. Now he has his value straight. He is committed to that which lasts. As with the prodigal son in the far country, affliction has done its good work, and the psalmist has come home to the father's house. So again, God's word is what straightens us when we go astray.

And again, we shouldn't blame God's law for our problems. Using another illustration of the spiritual mirror, just because the mirror shows what we're doing wrong, we shouldn't throw the mirror out. It's not the mirror's fault. It's what we can do to change that expression and that face and what we have done wrong. So again, throughout our lives, sometimes we're going to pay consequences when we stray. From doing what's right, sometimes you get burnt. You learn, God said, don't touch the stove because it's hot. You touch it, you burn yourself, and then you learn. God's law is there for a reason. It's to be respected. And so again, this is a very important section, and God's law is the way to straighten us out.

And that takes us to the tenth section, the letter, this is the yod, it's a little accent that's used in the Hebrew. That's where the yod and the tittle that Jesus Christ was talking about. Just kind of like an accent to stress a certain consonant. This is number ten in our section. God's law should be our delight. God's law should be our delight. This is again important to determine a person's relationship with God and the conversion. If God's law is a burden, a person's not really being led by God's Spirit because God's law is the law that frees us.

That's going to be the law that's going to be established in God's kingdom. Jesus Christ never broke God's law. In that sense, He was the happiest person on earth. Although He suffered, He grieved, but He never had to suffer the consequences of sin. And all the rest of human beings have suffered the consequences of sin. And so we see here that God's law should be our delight.

Notice in verse 73, it says, Your hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn Your commandments. He's asking God as a loving Father, You made me. I need Your guidance. I need Your wisdom. I need to make the right decisions in my life. So you ask God for understanding, and He will provide it. Verse 74, Those who fear You will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in Your Word.

It's like one brethren meets another brethren. They enjoy their company because we all fear God, which is a deep respect for God and His way of life. Verse 75, I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. So let's not blame God when we go through different afflictions that were there as a discipline because we had gone astray, we had not done things right.

David recognized that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort according to Your Word, to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight. I want to pause there, verse 77, because it's kind of like the highlight of this whole section. Now, we can ask God for mercy, for love, for help, because Your law is my delight. So there is a reason behind this that we have.

That reminds me of a scripture. We can go to it in 1 John 3, verse 22. And then we'll go back to Psalm 119, 1 John 3, verse 22. It says, And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Now, we understand that has to be according to His will, but we have that open channel to God.

We have a right to ask Him and for Him to listen to us, as it mentions here in Psalms 119, verse 77. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live, for Your law is my delight. Notice again what is mentioned here.

One comment that I wrote down says, This builds an intimacy with God as a loving Father. The meaning is that He is a Father, and He has pleasure in His service and in His commandments.

And so we have the propriety to appeal to God, so He will help us. This is a proper ground of appeal to God in our prayers, not on the ground of merit or claim, but because we may reasonably suppose that God will be disposed to protect His children and to deliver them in the day of trouble.

So if we delight in God's law, that's something that pleases God, that we are gaining His favor, and that we have a right to ask Him for things as a son or daughter before God the Father. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live, for Your law is my delight. He goes on, verse 78, Let the proud be ashamed, for they treated me wrongfully with falsehood, but I will meditate on your precepts. The word meditation is always seen in this psalm, which is the way you reflect on God's principles. Meditation is a lost art, because that's one of the things we should learn to do. On the Sabbath, in the mornings, or when we're studying God's word, meditate on how God's laws can be applied in our lives, how we can better live our lives by putting them into practice. Those are things that David said here, I will meditate on your precepts. I'm all over. How can I do this better, according to God's word? How can I improve before Him the way I am living? Verse 79, Let those who fear you turn to me, those who know your testimonies. Let my heart be blameless regarding your statutes, that I may not be ashamed. So that's the section that has to do with God's law as our delight. We go to the next section, section 11. I put here, God's laws comfort us in our afflictions. God's laws comfort us in our afflictions, which again had to do with the first message. Let's go to verse 81 to see how this is applied. The letter Kaph in the Hebrew for K. Verse 81 says, My soul faints for your salvation, but I hope in your word. My eyes fail from searching your word, saying, When will you comfort me? For I have become like a wineskin in smoke, yet I do not forget your statutes. Sometimes it seems like God doesn't intervene when someone wants him to. Sometimes you feel like you're wasting away. But he says, I will not forget your statutes. God is faithful. He says he's not going to let us go through a trial that is bigger than what we can handle. He says that he will work all things for good in the end for us. Verse 84 says, How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me? There are times in our lives when we are asking God, Please intervene. We don't know how much we can stand. And God does. He listens. He acts. The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to your law. So they get to do things breaking God's laws, but that does not give us the right to apply and to break God's laws in the same way. He says, All your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me. So he's recognizing all your commandments are faithful. He continues, They almost made an end of me on earth, but I did not forsake your precepts. Revive me according to your loving kindness, so that I may keep your testimony of your mouth. So he's always asking God here for the comfort in the time of affliction. And so again, we should go to God's word when we are depressed, when we are saddened, because it will give us comfort. We see examples of men and women. How much did they go through? How much did Jesus Christ go through? There's a plan of God, and it's going to succeed. There's no doubt about it. God, the Father, and Jesus Christ have invested everything for us to one day be part of His kingdom. And so no matter what we go through, God's kingdom is still the ultimate goal. That's our reward if we're faithful. And it'll make up all the sufferings that we go through in the present life.

And that takes us now to the next section, number 12, the faithfulness of God's laws.

Here we have the letter L, lamed in Hebrew, verse 89, Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Let's think about the significance of that verse. Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. God's law was not given as some human device. That was established by God in heaven. This is established by the being who created everything. And He said this law has been established in heaven. So man has no right to change it, to alter it, to replace it, but to honor and to love it. What a different world this would be if people just respected and followed God's laws. That's going to happen in God's kingdom when it arrives.

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven, not for a short time. Continuing, it says, Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You establish the earth and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants. So He talks about God's laws that regulate the universe as God's servants. They do the work. Gravity. All of these forces, we have four great forces in the universe, which are gravity, electromagnetism, and then we have the strong nuclear force, and then we have the weak nuclear force. And basically, they say those are the four great forces that maintain everything together. But then, of course, you have many others that are based on these same principles. You have absolute zero, which is 273 degrees below zero, or Fahrenheit. It's an enormous temperature down, and that's where molecules quit rotating. Absolute zero is where there is absolute coldness. Nothing survives. It's 276 minus, because 273 is what you see. We are three degrees above that in the universe, as the waves and that initial explosion from what they've measured. But anyways, the point is, all of these are God's servants. For instance, the moon, God put it at the right distance. It has the right size. It has the right velocity to go around, and it is the way through the attraction of the moon that causes the wave action and the rise of the tides. And it's like having this sweeper come by. It sweeps the oceans so that it oxygenizes them. It keeps the trash from accumulating, and it's all done through the rotation of the moon around the earth. And that's one of God's servants, to keep the earth in its proper orbit, and that you have the tides that create the currents, ocean currents and everything moving. So David recognized this. Continuing on, verse 92, he says, Unless your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I would have perished if it hadn't been that I kept your laws. That's what he's saying.

I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. Never forget God's laws. I am yours, save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked wait for me to destroy me, but I will consider your testimonies.

I have seen the consummation of all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. He recognizes God's law is perfect, it is good. So the faithfulness of God's laws, physical laws, and also spiritual laws that govern all of us.

They were established all the way from when God said, Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.

So this produces the strength from loving and keeping God's laws.

And again, how many of us would have just had miserable lives if we had not come into the church and learned about God's laws? I'm one of them. I was going the wrong way when I was about ready to get into the university life and just follow the world in this nominal Christian group.

And I was just going to be another person in the world, and yet God called me to a life of loving His laws and applying them. I've got a lot better family than I deserve. I've got a lot better church than I deserve. I've got a lot better life than I deserve.

And I attribute it to God's laws, trying to follow them. I wish I could follow them more perfectly.

But so far, they have not let me down. And I'm so thankful. Every one of these verses I identify, I feel at love and desire to follow God's ways.

Although David is way above any of us as far as applying them.

But we're doing our best, aren't we?

So we gain strength from loving and keeping God's laws. We are free from men.

We're free from the political influences. See, we don't have here in the church all kinds of politicians, and we don't have parties. We abstain from that. And sometimes it's difficult because everybody has strong feelings about what's going on. But you know what? Let's read what it says in John 18, 36. John 18, verse 36.

This is what Jesus Christ said when Pilate says, What have you done? And Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. We're looking to that kingdom. Jesus Christ is our president. He is our master. He is our Lord.

And we pray for God to place the right people. But we're not into all of this politicking and all of this divisive spirit that we see around us.

And again, it's from the strength of loving and keeping God's laws. So our church is not part of the political parties. We don't have pastors in one group or pastors in the others. No, we're not going to have spiritual fornication with the nations of this world in that way.

And we just realized, once you get started, then people start looking to men more than they look to God.

So we have one more study left from looking at Psalm 119. Hopefully next week we will finish this section completely of Psalm 119. We've covered 12 of the sections.

And it's just like looking at a beautiful diamond with all the different facets that shine and emit different colors. Just like a beautiful diamond, we're looking at all the facets of this Psalm 119, each one reflecting about God's laws in a different way.

And for us who keep God's commandments and have the faith of Jesus who are following His way of life, we need to appreciate every one of those facets that we have seen in this Psalm.

We need to internalize them. So it's not just something outside of us, but something we can also rejoice in doing and sharing with others.

Boy, I'll tell you, if I wouldn't follow the laws that are based on marriage and family, how can you rejoice in that?

You are reaping benefits from having sown something decades ago.

And to see normal children, happy children, children that work hard, who keep their children in God's ways.

See, all of this is something that finally you start seeing, not at the beginning. I never imagined it would be that way.

But it is something that everyone can have that way of life. I just followed the instructions. I just followed the instruction manual as best as possible.

And certainly we are doing all the same thing. So we need to meditate on these principles.

There's more information now about these laws than ever, but we have to take advantage of it. We have to really want to study and understand God's laws better, to apply them, to have happier and more fulfilling lives as we look toward God's kingdom when that law will be one day written completely in our hearts.