Psalm 119, as you may already know, is the
longest psalm of the Psalter. It contains 176 verses. These verses are organized or arranged into
22 sections, stanzas, or strophes that are each eight verses long. And these 22 stanzas are poetically arranged
in a beautiful acrostic using each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The theme of this exquisite piece of sacred
poetry is the total sufficiency of God's Word for every season of life. In Psalm 119 verses 89 through 96, the psalmist
testifies to God about His Word: "Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed
in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for
all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would
have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by
them you have given me life. I am yours; save me, for I have sought your
precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but
I consider your testimonies. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but
your commandment is exceedingly broad." Amen. In the previous three stanzas of Psalm 119,
the psalmist is overwhelmed by a fierce storm of affliction. In fact, verses 81 through 88 mark the low
point of the Psalm, where the storm nearly wipes out the faith of the psalmist, so it
would seem. But in this lamed section, the psalmist is
coming through the storm. He is anchored to the sovereignty of God. He is firmly standing on the solid rock of
God's Word. Verses 89 through 96 of this Psalm record
the psalmist's faith-filled testimony about the permanence, power, and perfection of God's
Word. And it is good news for all who trust and
obey the Word of God. The message of this section is simply this,
if I may, in a sentence -- God's Word is a solid rock upon which you can confidently
stand. God's Word is a solid rock upon which you
can confidently stand. No, it will not always make sense to you. No, it will not always give you what you want. No, it will not always keep you out of storms. But add this to the list of things the Word
of God will not do -- it will never let you down. As we sing, "How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to you He hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus has fled?" God's Word is a solid rock upon which you
can confidently stand. J.C. Ryle responded to the critics of the
Bible in his day by saying, "Give me the plenary verbal theory of biblical inspiration with
all of its difficulties rather than the doubt. I accept the difficulties and humbly wait
for the resolution but while I wait, I am standing on the rock." Psalm 119 verses 89 through 96 give three
reasons why you can and should stand firm on the unfailing Word of God. Reason one, the Word of God is permanent,
the Word of God is permanent. As the year 2000 approached, Ray Pritchard
who then pastored the Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park near Chicago deliberated about
the best way to usher in the new millennium. The congregation decided on a marathon Scripture
reading from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. December 28th at 6 a.m., they opened their
doors and began a public reading of the Scriptures starting with Genesis 1 at 6 a.m. in the morning,
and they finally reached Revelation at the end of December 31st, closing the year and
the millennium with Revelation 22. Of course, this caught the attention of reporters,
and Pritchard responded to the media inquiries by explaining that they did this not as a
stunt, but to proclaim their confidence that God's Word is true, and that every part of
it deserves to be read and believed. Furthermore, he noted that the church wanted
to proclaim to the watching world that the same Word that had carried the church for
its first two thousand years will continue to carry it into the future. This is the glorious, powerful, life changing
message of Psalm 119. This hymn declares the sufficiency of Scripture,
and in this stanza the psalmist declares that the total sufficiency of God's Word is absolutely
permanent. Only two things last beyond this world, the
Word of God and the souls of men. And to spend eternity with God you must commit
your eternal soul to God's eternal Word. One preacher said it this way, "I'm a Christian
because God says so, and I did what He told me to do, and I stand on God's Word, and if
the book goes down I'll go down with it." The good news is the book is not going down. The Word of God is permanent. Verses 89 through 91 affirm the permanence
of God's Word in two ways. Consider on one hand the heavenly permanence
of God's Word, verse 89, "Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." This verse answers three questions about the
trustworthiness of God's Word. First, what is the nature of its trustworthiness? Verse 89 answers, "It is firmly fixed." A few years ago, we cleared out some rooms
at our church that had been used for storage and repurposed it for a bookstore for our
membership. An architect came in and showed us the designs,
we went through all of the proper channels, and they began working on this bookstore right
across the hallway from our sanctuary. But in the middle of the process I was given
an alert, they had not noted as they tore down walls that in one of these walls was
a bearing beam that held up the structure. Oops! A lot happened in the aftermath of that, I'll
spare you the details, but we did build the bookstore. But if you visit our church in Jacksonville,
you'll note that where the original design of the door is had to be shifted and the whole
store is shaped around this beam. Because that's what you do when you find a
beam. You don't tear down the beam; you change your
plans. And this is what the Bible is saying about
itself as God's Word. The Word of God is the pillar that upholds
the world. It is firmly fixed. It stands firm. One older translation said it this way, "It
is settled." There's an old expression people use, "God
said it, I believe it, and that settles it." But of course when God says it, that settles
it whether you believe it or not. Where is God's Word fixed, still verse 89,
"in the heavens." The external word is transcendent. It is above us and beyond us. It is infinitely outside the reach of human
opposition on earth and spiritual opposition in the heavenly places. The Bible says in Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9,
that "'my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the
LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher
than ours, which begs the question, "How then may we think God's thoughts after Him?" Isaiah 55 verses10 and 11 answers, "For as
the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goes out from my mouth." Note that in Isaiah 55 verse 11, the personal
pronouns God uses, "my word coming out of my mouth shall never return to me empty, but
it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent
it." God's Word is settled, fixed in the heavens. And what is the duration of its trustworthiness? Answer -- one word, verse 89, "forever." This word "forever" is strategically placed
at the beginning of the verse for emphasis, think about that. There is nothing else in the world that is
firmly fixed, much less firmly fixed forever. But the Word of God is firmly fixed forever. The Bible is not the book of the week or the
book of the month or the book of the year; it is the book of the ages. Isaiah 40 verse 8 says, "The grass withers,
the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever." But then consider the earthly permanence of
God's Word. Verse 90 is only the second verse in Psalm
119 that does not directly mention the Word of God, the other verses being verses 84,
121, 122, and 132. Here verse 90 does not directly mention the
Word of God, but there is an indirect reference to Scripture here where the psalmist says,
"Your faithfulness endures to all generations." God is faithful. You can always count on Him. When God speaks, you do not have to worry
that God may change His mind tomorrow. Psalm 100 verse 5 says, "For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." You can trust the Word of God because the
God of the Word is faithful. Verse 89 points to heaven to affirm the trustworthiness
of Scripture, but verse 90 points to earth to affirm it, "Your faithfulness endures to
all generations. You have established the earth, and it stands
fast." God created the earth ex nihilo, out of nothing,
and it stands fast because the God who created and sustains the world is faithful. The fact that the earth is close enough to
the sun that we don't freeze and far enough that we don't burn up means you could trust
God's Word. The fact that the sun continues to rise and
fall faithfully is proof that you could trust God's Word. The fact that the flowers keep budding, blooming,
fading, and falling is proof that you can trust God's Word. Faithfulness of God's Word is seen by looking
up and by looking around. Verse 91 says, "By your appointment they stand
to this day." The heavens and the earth do not stand on
their own; God sustains them. Because the B part of verse 91 says, "All
things are your servants." Everything in creation is a servant of God. Dr. Sproul would say, "There's not a maverick
molecule running about the universe." God is in control of everything. Everything on earth is a servant of God. Remember when the disciples woke up Jesus
in the middle of the storm and asked, "Teacher, do you not care that we are about to perish?" Jesus rebuked the storm saying, "Peace, be
still!" and there was a great calm. Mark 4 verse 41 says in the aftermath, His
own boys, the disciples were asking one another, "Who then is this, that even the winds and
the waves obey him?" This is the confidence that we have in Christ,
everything obeys His voice. This is true of God's Word. When God speaks the raging storms of spiritual
rebellion will shut up and lay down. The Word of God is permanent. Secondly, the Word of God is powerful. As with satellite technology the psalmist
zooms in on the trustworthiness of God's Word as the stanza progresses. Verse 89 tells us God's Word is settled in
the heavens. Verses 90 and 91 tell us the Word of God stands
on earth. Verses 92 through 95 tell us that the Word
of God is sufficient for the believer. How do we appropriate the power of God's Word
in our lives? These are important answers. In verses 92 through 95, first, delight in
God's Word. Psalm 119 helps us view affliction from a
godly perspective. It's one of the reasons I appreciate this,
not only about what Psalm 119 says about Scripture, but also what it says about affliction as
a believer. Verse 67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word." Verse 71, "It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I may learn your statutes." Verse 75, "I know, O LORD, that all your rules
are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Now the writer testifies in verse 32, "If
your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction." Devotion to God does not exempt you from affliction. Verse 92, the psalmist says his affliction
was so severe that he almost perished, he nearly died. Trouble almost wiped him out. But the Word of God was an anchor for the
soul that held him fast in the midst of the raging storm. So verse 92 says, "If your law had not been
my delight…" and just for a footnote here, "law" here is one of at least ten different
synonyms for Scripture in Psalm 119. And notice here that he says, "I delight in
your law," meaning I don't just delight in Your Word when it's granting blessings, making
promises, and providing comfort. Even when Your Word is giving commands, making
demands, restricting, directing, ordering. Even when Your Word is getting in my business,
I delight in it. And if Your law had not been my delight, I
would have perished in my affliction. The rescuing grace of God here was experienced
by a proper attitude toward God's Word. The power of Scripture here is assumed, delighting
in Scripture activated it. In fact, the Hebrew word translated "delight"
here is plural. The psalmist based his joy on God's Word no
matter the situation. One writer says, "The Word of God helped the
psalmist keep his sanity. It gave him something to hang on to when the
world was falling apart. It was a rock and anchor. He was able to get his feet on the solid rock
when surrounded by the quicksand of mincing circumstances. He was able to throw out his anchor and feel
the cable hold his drifting boat against the rising wind and perilous reef." The Word of God will do the same for you. If you delight in God's Word, it will keep
you when you cannot keep yourself. Delight in God's Word. Remember God's Word, that's verse 93. The A part of it is a vow, "I will never forget
your precepts." For the record, throughout Psalm 119 the writer
talks about forgetting and remembering the Word of God, and these references are not
about mental recollection. Forgetting God's Word is a matter of the will
more than a matter of the mind. Remembering God's Word is more than thinking
about it; it is to do it. James 1:25, "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." So when the psalmist says, "I will never forget
your precepts," it's a pledge of obedience to Scripture. Charles Bridges comments here, "This resolution
is the language of sincerity, not of perfection." Indeed to be godly does not mean you never
do wrong, you always do what is right. It means your heart is determined to please
God. This is the work of His transforming grace
in us. And if this is your heart's determination,
it will be evident in the way you live. The psalmist says, "I will never forget your
precepts, for by them you have given me life." It's this language throughout the psalm. He speaks as one who is at the point of death. And he declares the Word of God has given
him life, revived him, quickened him. This is the power of God's Word which can
put you on your feet again. If I may again, Charles Bridges comments,
"The leaves of the Word of God are the leaves of the tree of life as well as of the tree
of knowledge," the pages. The psalmist here does not pledge obedience
with the hopes of receiving the life-giving power of God's Word. Because the Word had given him life, he determined
to remember it. Obedience here is not some legalistic strategy
for winning the favor of God. New life through saving faith in Jesus Christ
makes you a beneficiary of grace that it enables you to remember God's Word. "Delight in God's Word," he says, "Remember
God's Word." Verse 94, week God's Word. Psalm 119 verse 94 begins with a beautiful
statement of personal devotion, "I am Yours." Psalm 119 is a hymn of devotion to the Word
of God, but this statement reminds us the Word of God is only a means to an end. You develop a relationship with the Word of
God to deepen a relationship with the God of the Word. True devotion to Scripture does not say, "I
know the Bible." It's says, "I belong to God." Can you say that this morning, friend? "I am yours." May I ask you, as James Montgomery Boice would,
"How are things between you and the Lord Jesus Christ?" You do not belong to God if you do not believe
in Jesus. In John 14 verse 6, the Lord says, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me." If you have not received Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord, you are on a collision course with the wrath of God, and your only hope is to
run to the cross. Remember in John 5 verses 39 and 40, Jesus
says, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find life, but
these are they that testify about me, but you will not come to me that you may have
life." Beware! You can master the Scriptures, but you will
not find life in the Scriptures unless you meet the life-giver in the Scriptures. "These are they," says Jesus, "that testify
about me." And if you believe in Jesus, you belong to
God. And the assurance here is that God who takes
care of those that belong to Him. Confident of this, the psalmist makes a prayer
request, "I am Yours, save me." This is not a request for the forgiveness
of sins, the psalmist was right with God through faith in God's Word. And his relationship was so intimate that
he could boldly declare, "I am Yours." This prayer for salvation is not about the
forgiveness of sin; it is about deliverance from affliction. If you belong to God, not only can you trust
God to get you to heaven but you can trust God to sustain you on your journey from earth
to glory. And you can pray with confidence that the
Lord is ready, willing, and able to deliver. And isn't it wonderful to see here that you
don't have to pray long for the Lord to help you? The psalmist just said, "Save me." Prayer is not about making long, eloquent
speeches to God. James 5 verse 16 the B part says, "The prayer
of a righteous person has great power as it is working." It seems to suggest God is not listening to
what you say as much as He is looking at your heart as you pray. If your heart belongs to God, "Save me" is
enough to move the hand of God. The psalmist gave a specific reason why the
Lord should save him, "For I have sought your precepts." I have sought your precepts. He belonged to God, but he was not perfect. Yet he did not use his lack of perfection
as an excuse for a life of rebellion. He was able to say, "I have sought your precepts." With the help of God he was not contingent
on his perfection. If so, we're all doomed. But God was looking at the direction of his
life. You don't have any legitimate reason to expect
God to help you if you're not willing to do His will. James 4 verse 2 says, "You do not have, because
you do not ask." Then verse 3 says, "You ask and do not receive,
because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your own passions." But God saves those who seek Him. Matthew 6 verse 33, Jesus says, "Seek first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to
you." We experience the power of God's living Word
as we delight in God's Word, remember God's Word, seek God's Word and one more note here,
verse 95, "Consider God's Word." "The wicked," says verse 95, "lie in wait
to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies." Here again we are reminded, as we are throughout
Psalm 119, that godly people are not immune from trouble. One wrote, "The only way to avoid the attacks
of the wicked is to lead a petty, inconsequential life." As long as our lives are effective for God,
we can expect opposition. There indeed will be times when the wicked
will oppose you. Their tactics will expose them. They won't fight by conventional means. They will use guerrilla warfare. Verse 95, "The wicked lie in wait to destroy
me." This is why you cannot fight wickedness on
their terms. They don't fight fair. They lie in wait to destroy. How do you respond when faith is attacked? Verse 95 again says, "The wicked lie in wait
to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies." Listen to me, friend. There very well may come a time when your
devotion to God's Word will cause ungodly people to rise up against you. When that happens, verse 95 says, "Consider
God's Word." Don't allow what people to say or do to change
your devotion to God's Word. In the private chambers of your own praying
ground, I would encourage you to read 2 Timothy chapter 3, the first half of that chapter
Paul predicts times of trouble that Timothy will face. But in the second half of that chapter, remember
Paul does not give Timothy a new strategy for difficult times. He just says, "Stick with the Scriptures." This is the spirit here. While the society grows more wicked, while
the wicked wait to destroy, just stick with God's Word. This is Daniel 6. Daniel was a man of prayer and to bring him
down, his enemies manipulated the king's ego to sign a decree that said no one in the kingdom
could pray to anyone but the king for a month. He declared himself God for a month, Daniel
6 and 10. It's a perpetually convicting verse for me. When Daniel knew that the document had been
signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had previously done. He didn't go to his house and try to devise
a plan to respond to the schemes of the wicked. When the wicked rose up against him, he didn't
have to figure out what to do, he just kept doing what he had been doing, trusting that
obedience to God's Word would sustain him. One more verse, which teaches us a third lesson
about the nature of Scripture -- the Word of God is permanent, the Word of God is powerful,
but finally, the word of God is perfect, verse 96. "I have seen a limit to all perfection, but
your commandment is exceedingly broad." Now this verse it difficult to translate but
easy to interpret. It contends that the best things in the world
are limited, finite, and tainted. There is nothing in this world that is perfect. There are no perfect people, no perfect locations,
no perfect moments, no perfect experiences, no perfect achievements. The Hebrew word translated "perfect" used
only here in the Old Testament speaks of "the intended end or completion of a thing." Everything in this world is inadequate, incomplete,
or insufficient. Derek Kidner notes here, "This verse could
well be a summary of Ecclesiastes, where every earthly enterprise has its day and comes to
nothing, and where only in God and His commandments do we get beyond these frustrating limits." Verse 96, note, draws the contrast, "I have
seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad." This is a poetic way of saying the Word of
God is perfect, complete, sufficient, limitless, and undefeatable. The statement is ironic, is it not? Because the average person views the Bible
to be a very narrow book. But the psalmist says it's exceedingly broad. It is sufficient to meet you at the point
of your need. Some people think you must add to Scripture
to reach people where they are, but there's not a place a person can be where Scripture
can't reach them. The Word of God is exceedingly broad. Only God's Word can give hope to the lost
person who is facing an uncertain eternity. Only God's Word can give joy to the sick person
who is suffering pain from chronic sickness or disease. Only God's Word can comfort the grieving person
standing over the remains of a loved one who has died. Only God's Word can give peace to the anxious
person who is facing severe financial crisis. Only God's Word can give strength to the troubled
person with enduring family discord. Only God's Word can give guidance to the confused
person who is wrestling with a difficult decision. God's Word is exceedingly broad. I was a boy preacher, studying under my father,
who was my pastor. God moved my father upstairs when I was a
boy just 16 years old. A year later, the congregation he had served
for forty years selected me to succeed him. I was a senior in Los Angeles High School. Don't freak out, I'm not recommending this,
it's just my testimony. My installation service was preached by my
father's longtime friend, Dr. E.V. Hill, fellow pastor in the city. Dr. Hill, in E.V. Hill fashion stood up to
preach and spent the first 25 minutes on preliminary remarks. Then he finally, about 25 minutes in, says,
"Well, I think I'm going to get on to the sermon." He said, "Tonight, I want to preach from the
subject, "What can that boy tell me?" He's only 17 years old. What can that boy tell me when my child has
gone astray? What can that boy tell me when my marriage
is in trouble? What can that boy…" he went on and on. For 45 minutes, E.V. Hill did a survey of
Scripture after Scripture in the Old Testament and New Testament to affirm the sufficiency
of God's Word. It's been a message that has sustained me
for now thirty years of ministry. Truth is truth, whether I experience it or
not. And he ended the message where he started. "What can that boy tell me?" And his final sentence was, "He can tell you
whatever the Word of God tells him to tell you, because forever the Word of God is firmly
fixed in the heavens." Thank You for Your Word, Father. Thank You for its truth, wisdom, authority,
sufficiency, and power. Thank You for the message of the Scriptures
that point us to Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His finished redemptive work. Would You give us a heart devotion reflected
in this psalm to Your Word that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ
to whom belongs the glory, we pray. Amen.
