Would you join me in hearing the reading of God's Word? We'll all stand together for the reading of God's Word. Tonight we'll have two Scripture readings. The first one comes from the New Testament, the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 11 to 13. And then our text tonight will be Psalm 119 verses 169 to 176, but first Hebrews chapter 4, 11 to 13. This is the Word of God. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of the spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight. but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. And Psalm 119, the final stanza of Psalm 119, verse 169 to 176. Let my cry come before you, O Lord, Give me understanding according to your word. Let my plea come before you. Deliver me according to your word. My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, Lord, as we now come to the preaching and exposition of your word, we ask you to grant us your Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and our hearts to the understanding of your word. Lord, we ask you to speak to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit so that each and every one of us would see wondrous things in your word. Enable us by your grace not only to be hearers of your word, but also doers of your word. We pray all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, before I proceed with the proclamation of the word of God tonight, I would like to bring greetings to all of you in the name of Christ from your brothers and sisters in Christ at Redeemer OPC in Atlanta, Georgia, including my own family. We love you very much. We always pray for you, for those of you who might know this. I managed to be in the pulpit tonight by the virtue of the authority that I had in this congregation seven years ago. He doesn't invite me. You know about whom I'm talking, I'm talking about your pastor. So I have to exercise my authority to be in the pulpit tonight. But all the kidding aside, I'm very happy to be here and I thank my dear friend Peter and the elders for allowing me to be in the pulpit tonight. How should Christians live our lives here on earth? Should we live our lives according to the wisdom of this world? We all know that the wisdom of this world is not the wisdom of God. And whatever wisdom that this world gives us as Christians, it is not earthly government. The earthly government is not going to give you eternal life. Eternal life, salvation, and everlasting joy and comfort doesn't flow from an earthly government. Of course, the right answer must be according to the Word of God. Remember what our Lord Jesus Christ teach us in Matthew 4, 4. Man shall not live by bread alone, this physical bread, material bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. You see, my friends, the word of God is essential. It is absolutely necessary for a right living before God and the world around us. In this final stanza, Psalm 119, the psalmist is teaching us what it means to live by the Word of God. And here is his perspective about that. What does living according to the Word of God mean for Christians? According to the Psalmist, it means three things. Number one, it means to live by prayer. Secondly, it means to live by praise. Now when you consider by prayer, you will see that in verse 169 and 170. And then to live by praise, verses 171 to 75. And then it also means to live by repentance in verse 176. So the psalmist in Psalm 119 exhorts believers, encourages believers to live their life according to the Word of God, which means to live your life by prayer, by praise, and also by By prayer, praise, and then lastly, by repentance. Now, when we look into this psalm, The psalmist says in verse 169 and 70, let my cry come before you, O Lord. Give me understanding according to your word. Let my plea come before you. Deliver me according to your word. So the first thing that the psalmist does in this stanza is praying to God. He's praying to God for help. He went through a lot of trouble in this life. And we see him doing what? We see him praying to God. We see him entrusting his life and his journey, faith journey if you will, to the Lord in prayer. What we see in here is the combination of prayer and the Word of God in the life of a believer. You see both of them together in his life. Listen, at the core of every spiritual life, the Word of God and prayer must cohabit together. We can't separate them. As we live our life here on earth, we live by prayer and we live by the Word of God. They are two pillars, if you will, that upholds your life as a Christian. And how is that? On what ground? You see, when you think about the word of God, the law of God, in the word of God, God is speaking to us. In the word of God, we hear the Lord speaking to his children by his word and by his spirit. In prayer, we are speaking to God. You see, both are together. We speak to God and God speaks to us. Prayer and the Word always go together. They are necessary aspects of the Christian life. You remember the apostles in Acts chapter 6? when they received a complaint from those widows, and they knew that those women were neglected in the church. And the apostles say to one another, they say, this is not right. What we see happening around the life of these women is not the right thing to do. So they said, but we will select godly men, God-fearing men from among us to serve the table, to serve as deacons. But we, they said, we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word of God. You see, they brought Bo's prayer and the preaching and the ministry of the Word of God together. What the apostles were saying was, a preaching, the ministry of the Word of God that will fulfill in the life of all people, is not going to succeed without prayer. We're going to need prayer. The church must pray. We must pray. We must set aside time for prayer. So you see, both of them, they go together, prayer and the Word of God. So you see, living by the Word is living by prayer, living your life depending on God. In verse 169, listen to the psalmist, let my cry come before you, O Lord. Give me understanding according to your word. You see what he's doing? He's praying, but he's praying for what? He's praying for understanding. He's praying for illumination, he's praying for discernment in his Christian life. And how is he going to do that? By the Word of God. He should come to the Word. He should dwell in the Word. He should read and meditate the Word of God. You see what he's saying? Give me understanding according to your Word. Not according to other books that I read, according to some YouTube that I watch from time to time, but according to your Word. This holy, infallible, life-giving, correcting Word of God, according to this Word, give me understanding. And if you think about his life, He was going through various trials in the Christian life. He has seen much as a Christian. Now he's asking God, when I don't understand my own trials. When I don't understand God's providence, how God's providence is working in my life, unfolding things in my life, when I am confused about that, when I don't understand my situation, Lord, I want you to give me understanding, to understand my trials, to understand why. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when something that you have never expected, Something that you have never thought happened in your life. It could be loss. It could be failure in your marriage. It could be a relationship problem. When those things happen in your Christian life, do you try to interpret them by your own wisdom? Do you depend on your own understanding? Or you go to the Lord in prayer and ask God, give me understanding. Teach me how to respond to this trial, how to receive this trial in my life and for Your glory. Unless we go to the Word and in prayer, there will not be discernment for us by understanding according to the Word. You see in verse 18 in Psalm 119, the psalmist prayed, open my eyes that I may behold. Behold means also understand. So that I would have the right and biblical perception of what is taking place in my life and around me. Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Not out of my own interpretation, but out of the Word of God. In verse 170, let my plea come before you. Deliver me according to your Word. So first he prayed for what? Understanding, according to the Word of God. Now he's asking for what? Deliverance. According to what? The Word of God. How many of us really understand that the Word of God actually delivers us? The Word of God delivers us from the temptation of sin. The Word of God delivers us from complaining to God, arguing with God. The Word of God helps us to come to the throne of grace, even in times of trouble and sorrow and tears, and say to God, thank you, Lord. You are always good. You are always perfect. But if you don't dwell in the Word of God, if you don't go deep into the Word of God, then you will be confused. You are not going to respond to your situation, to your trials as a Christian who lives his life according to the Word of God. So he's praying for deliverance. In 170, let my plea come before you. Deliver me according to your word, and then my lips will pour out forth praise. But before that, you see, he's praying for understanding, for sanctification, if you will. As I live my life according to your word, the psalmist is saying, deliver me from all temptations. and the enticement of the flesh, the devil, and the world. The only way for you to fight these three enemies is the Word of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit. But you must come to the Word. You must dwell in the Word of God every moment of your life. Remember what Jesus prayed for his own disciples, for his church, John 17, 17. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, Jesus said, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. You see, this work of sanctification, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to sanctify you and I, day after day. to conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ, so that you and I would have those attributes of Christ in our life, that we would love our heavenly Father with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our strength. Like Christ, you and I would say, Father, your will be done, not my will. But how do you learn that? How do you arrive to that stage in your Christian life? by the Word of God, by living your Christian life according to the Word of God. In Psalm 119, verse 11, listen to the psalmist, how he prayed to God, I have stored up your Word in my heart for this purpose, that I might not sin against you. You see, the Word protects you. The Word preserves you. The Word is your guardian as a Christian. If you have the Word of God in your life, in your heart, if you store up the Word of God in your heart like Mary, then the Word of God becomes your strength and your protection. It protects you. I stored up your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you. What we heard from Hebrews chapter 4 is, I think, a very important portion of the Scripture for us. Listen to those words again. The Word of God is living. What does it mean? It is not dead. It is alive. So the writer of the Hebrews said the Word of God is living and active, which means it is effectual. It produces result in the life of the children of God. When we use it according to the Spirit and with a great sense of humility, the Word of God produces in us what? The Word produces fruit in our life. It becomes effectual. sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of the spirit, of joints and of marrow." And then he said, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Brothers and sisters in Christ, every time you read the Word of God, every time you meditate on the Word of God, do you know the Word of God knows you? You are naked. in the sight of God, before His Word. Remember, it is the Word of God. It is not the Word of man. It was proceeded from the mouth of God. It is infallible. It is eternal. But it is also convicting. The Word of God knows us. It is the Word of God. No one can hide from the Word of God. That's why we need the Word of God. We need the Word of God for conviction. We need the Word of God for comfort. We need the Word of God for insight. We need the Word of God for wisdom. There is nothing in this life that you don't need in your life, anything that comes from the Word of God that you need in your life. The Word of God provides all your spiritual needs in Christ Jesus. And secondly, to live according to the word of God means to live by praise. Listen to the psalmist in verse 171. My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Now I want you to understand this, my friends. He has been praying for understanding for deliverance. He was in prayer so that God would work in his life. God would teach him who God is, the problem of sin, how God saves sinners. How good has been God for him even in times of trials? Now his time of teaching, his time of instruction by God according to His Word brings him where? Brings him to doxology. Brings him to praise. Brings him to praise. You see what he's saying in 171? because you have been my personal instructor, because I have been learning from you. Now the theology that you gave me brought me to doxology. Now it is time for me to praise you, to adore you, to worship you in my life, to make you known to other people. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if your theology the doctrine of grace that you know as a Reformed believer, the theology that you have in your life, your intellect, your knowledge of the Word of God, your understanding of the Word of God, all those things, if they don't drive you to worship, to praise, then you need to consider why you have your theology in your life. Because theology always should bring us to doxology, to praise. My friends, the deeper you go into the Word of God, the higher you rise up in worship. And the shallower you are in the Word of God, the shallower becomes your worship. You need the Word of God. The more you go deep into the Word of God, the more your worship is alive, the more your worship is living, the more your worship is pleasing to God. It's like a pleasant aroma in the sight of God. The smell of your worship before the Almighty God is pleasant. In Colossians 3, 16 and 17, the Apostle Paul says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, not poorly, richly. For this purpose, let the Word of God, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Now I'll stop here, teaching and admonishing. If the Word of God dwells in you richly, Then when you are instructed and admonished by the Word of God, you are always thankful about that. If the Word of God dwells in you richly, when a pastor or your elder comes to you and confront you about your sin or give you counsel to live a godly life, you will not be offended. You will thank your pastor, you will thank your ruling elder. You know why? Because the Word has dwelled in you richly. You will be thankful to the Lord. You will be humble to accept shepherding and counsel and sometimes rebuke because of what dwells in you, the Word of God. So let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom." And then he said, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word and deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. You see where the Word brings you. When the Word dwells in you richly, abundantly, and then it brings you to praise, it brings you to worship. You have no reason not to worship God, not to praise God, because the Word brings you to this God who loves you, to this God who justified you. The just God who justifies the unjust, the Word brings you to that God, and then you say, thank you, Lord, and you praise and worship God for what He has done for you in and through His Son, Jesus Christ. My question to all of you tonight is this. Does the Word of God bring you to praise, to worship all the time? Do you have the Word of God being dwelled in you richly and abundantly? Do you love the Word of God? Do you cherish the Word of God? Do you have it in family worship? Do you have it in your private worship? Do you open the Word of God every evening with your wife and children? You men, married men, do you lead your families in worship? When you do that, you see the Word will dwell in the life of your children richly. And you will see your children praising and worshiping God, not one day in a week, but every day of their life. They will be worshippers of God. You see, the Word turns us, turns our children, even our covenant children into worshippers. That's what the Word of God does. And lastly, to live by the Word of God means to live by repentance. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm, in verse 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments." Now, when you hear the word lost, some of you might think, oh, can we lose our salvation? Now remember, the psalmist was a scholar. He was expert in the Word of God. He knows better. He's not suggesting that we can lose our salvation. He knows that the one who is justified, he's also adopted. He knows the one who is adopted, he will be sanctified and he will be glorified. He knows this. Read the book of Psalm. He was the expert of the Word of God. So why is he praying this prayer? I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant. In fact, in verse 71, you remember him when praying, it is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes. So the reason why he's comparing himself with the sheep that was lost The reason was this. You see, for the psalmist, living our lives according to the word of God was not to say to God, Lord, I have your word now. I understand your word. I got it. Leave it to me. I will show you how to please you. I will show you how to get to heaven. Thank you for the understanding, the insight that you gave me. I got it. Now leave it to me." That was not the psalmist. And that's not who you and I should be. See, what he was saying was, for the psalmist, living your Christian life by the Word meant to depend on the Word of God. to depend on the help of God. You see what he said in verse 173, let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. In a sense, you see, he's telling God, I love you, I love your word, I want to glorify you, but I'm not going to do that by my own strength. That strength doesn't come from me. I need you. I need you to help me. And this is, you see, the temptation for some of us as Reformed believers. Sometimes, beloved, and I say this with love and humility and respect to all of you, as a shepherd, as a pastor, sometimes our theology makes us proud people. We become baffled by the Word of God. I know this. I understand the Bible. I know my theology. You don't tell me what to do. I understand. I know it. Just leave it to me. Maybe he's got to so-and-so. He seems weak in the Christian life. Not me. I know. I know it. What do you learn from the psalmist? We learn from the psalmist humility. He was scholar in the Word of God. He understood the law of God. Look how He teaches us the Word of God, even in Psalm 119. But He was a humble servant of God. Remember what Jesus said, my friends, in John 15, 5? I am the vine, you are the branches. That's our relationship. I am the vine, you are the branches. So always consider yourself as branches, not divine. Always consider yourselves as individual believer, individually and collectively, men and women, and the body of Jesus Christ that depends on the divine, that depends on Christ for sustenance, for strength. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, Jesus said, I in him. He it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even with your theology, even with your understanding, even with your intellect. Everything that I have, I gave you. It came from me. You didn't produce it. You didn't brought it from heaven. I gave you. It is mine. And I gave you for my glory and for the good of my people. I gave you for you to glorify me and for you to instruct and edify my people, to encourage my people, to show them more of Jesus, to love them in the name of Christ. That's why I gave you all these gifts. What about Paul? Paul was very intellect. He was a scholar. He studied theology in one of those prominent seminars, if you will. But what did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 3.5? Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. That's humility. That's how we should live our life, brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul again in Philippians 4.13 said, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. You see, in this final verse, he resembles himself with the lost sheep. What he's saying is, I need your help. I need you, God, to bring me back to yourself, to reveal your will to me. But what is amazing about this psalmist is the way he concludes Psalm 119. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. Lord, my desire, my goal is to always remember your statutes, your law, always to worship you, always to pray to you, always to praise you. That's my desire. Help me, give me your grace, give me the strength that I need. And then he presents himself to God as what? Not as a powerful preacher, not as a bishop, servant. I am your servant. Whatever I'm asking from you, I'm asking all these things from you for one purpose, to serve you. In whatever way you want me to serve you, I want to serve you. I am your servant. Beloved, let me ask you this. How are you living your Christian life here on earth? Are you living your life according to the word of God, which means, are you living it by prayer? Are you living it by praise? Are you living it by true and genuine repentance? Let's pray. Our Father and our God, your Word is indeed powerful and glorious, and we need it. We need it every moment of our life. We are your branches, you are divine. Help us to bear fruit. Help us to heed everything that we heard tonight in our hearts. Apply them in our Christian life with the aid of your Holy Spirit. Help us to follow the example of the psalmist in Psalm 119, in living our life here on earth according to your word, which means by prayer, praise, and Lord, repentance. Enable us by your grace to accomplish these things in our Christian life for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.