If you've got your Bibles, turn to Psalm 119, the 119th Psalm. We have gone over the first verses and we went over the very first week a couple weeks ago and looking at a bird's eye view of Psalm 119. And all of Psalm 119, all 176 verses, they all talk about the Word of God. And they all speak of God's Word in different aspects. And out of the 176 verses there's no repetition. It is just a beautiful psalm right in the middle of God's Word. And what you find, you have the Hebrew alphabet. We go over that each week. First eight verses is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The second eight verses is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There's 22 letters to the Hebrew alphabet and it goes all through that. And like if you go through verse one in the first verse, you have it starting with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet all the way through verse eight. So there's a section of all like in Our ABCs is all As. The second eight are all Bs. This third is all Cs. So it's a way of helping for Jewish people or those who know Hebrew to be able to memorize the word of God. So what we find in the next eight verses, we're looking at verses nine through 16 tonight. And what we see there is the light of God's word. What it does, it shines in people's hearts And the Word of God shines in people's lives. And what it does, it exposes sinful thoughts. It exposes sinful desires. And it exposes sinful deeds. God's Word shines light into people's life. And it exposes the darkness. It's the Spirit of God that uses the Word of God to actually convict people of sin, to convince people of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and brings a person who is spiritually dead to life. To produce a spiritual life with abundance of fruit so it gives more and more, more and more life. It's amazing how the Word of God works and how the Spirit of God uses God's Word. But our problem is something even worse than what we would look at a virus. You remember the coronavirus and when it started going on a rampage? Nobody really knew what was going on. Nobody knew exactly. The government was telling us one thing and a lot of things they told us was not accurate information. And if anybody said anything different, they classified it as false information. And so you couldn't tell what's right and what's wrong because you had so many voices coming in so many different directions. But that virus was basically transmitted through the air. It was basically through the... This sounds jerky, but through the saliva that comes from the voice box that resonates out, it's microparticles that go into the air, and some people were actually super spreaders, because they put out more, and some didn't. Now, why that is, we don't know, but that virus was very, very contagious when it started going from one person to another. But there's a difference with our problem that's a bigger problem than a virus, and that is the problem of sin. Because while virus attacks from the outside and gets in, sin starts from the inside out. Sin starts because we're all born sinners. Every one of us have sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God, and sin starts in our hearts. And in our lives, we're born sinners, by nature we're sinners, and we choose to sin. So sin is a lot deeper problem, much deeper than we can say a virus is. We are born with a sinful nature. But once a person has trusted in Christ and believed that Christ died for their sins, there comes a change in their life. But even after one's been born again and all things have passed away, behold, all things start becoming new and there's a change in our walk, there's a change in our talk, there's a way and a change we live, there's a change in our worldview, there's a change in the way we think. But even the child of God, who has been born again, been given a new nature, been given the Spirit of God that dwells within, even the child of God, the believer, has to struggle with flesh. Now, is that true in your life? Do you have struggles with your flesh, with your desires, wrong desires, wrong choices, wrong decisions? We all must wrestle against the flesh. It's a lifelong struggle. I remember when I was growing up many years ago, when I was in school, my peers tried to conform me to be the way they were. You know what, peer pressure is no different today. It's gotten a lot worse over years, definitely so. When we think back to when we were in school or back in that time, Our big problem was people smoking in school, or people drinking in school, or crude jokes, cussing, this type thing. Now it's developed even further into drugs. I looked online today to check to see the past administration, how much money they invested into the school system to teach and try to get people to change their thinking with DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusivity. And this all feeds into the transgenderism and it all feeds into the homosexuality. It all feeds into a different way of thinking that goes counter to the word of God. And the last administration, does anybody know how many dollars they put into the school system to make the influence of thinking this anti-Christian, anti-God way. Anybody see that figure? One billion dollars. I can't even count to a billion. And yet they've thrown billions of dollars into the school system to get educators to teach and to make people to try to think this way. A very fascinating thought. Can you imagine what a billion dollars could do to help people out and yet they've used it to turn people that cause damage to their own lives? It's really sad. They've also spent millions of dollars, not billions, but millions for initiatives if you do certain things concerning DEI. They spent $4.6 million to help foreign groups promote the LGBTQ projects and the pride parades and the drag shows. Our government took tax dollars to promote drag shows and homosexuality in other countries. Now you know what? Something's wrong there because it's all going against God's Word. many today desire for us to conform that way. They want us to be tolerant of sinful lifestyles and sin itself. We cannot do that. One of the things that I disappeared for a moment to pick that up that we passed out to the men of our church. Sly, if you'd like one, I'll give you one after church. We passed that out to the men in our church, passed out about 35 of those books. And what it does, it encourages you to live a godly life and live a life of purity and holiness and is very blunt with that. You know, I pray that our men are reading that. I pray that our men are digging into that because not many people strive for holiness. Not many people strive for godliness, and yet that's what we're told to do in God's Word. What we see in Psalm 119, if you notice there, it's the letter that starts with Beth. That is the Hebrew alphabet second letter. So, baith is in each one of these verses if you were reading it in Hebrew. You're not reading it in Hebrew, but all that introduction is because of verse 9. And verse 9 is a verse, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way. How can a young man purify his life? How can a young man, and that's in a general way of speaking, how can a person live a pure life? You look at all the ungodliness around us and all the things that try to promote us to do things counter to God's Word, how can a young man purify his way? There's a question there. How can one be sanctified How can one grow in sanctification? Now there is a big long word, sanctification, let me just very briefly give a definition for it. When one believes in Jesus Christ, that Christ died on the cross for their sins, and they put their faith and trust in Him, it's at that moment they are set apart unto God. God saves them, they belong to Him. That's sanctified. apart. But sanctification happens at the moment of salvation, but there is progressive sanctification. In other words, we are set apart unto God and what God does in our lives, He causes us to grow. in holiness and grow in sanctification. In other words, when I first trusted Christ, I've grown a lot since then and I pray for the better. I become more and more like Christ the more I look into God's Word and put God's Word into practice into my life. Therefore, there is progressive sanctification. I'm never going to be sin free upon this earth while I live in this body, but one day I will be. And one day I'll have a new body. Praise God for all of us. We'll all have a new body. No more aches, no more pains, no more aging, no more dying, no more sickness, none of that. Here's progressive sanctification. So here is how we grow in purity and holiness. Notice what it says there in verse 1, and it's talking about the power of God's Word. In verse 1 there is power in cleansing. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? It's not by taking a bath. It's not by trying to clean the outside. But notice what he says, by taking heed thereto according to your word." Here is how you purify your way. Here is how you grow in holiness by taking heed to the Word of God. Purity is absolutely impossible unless God's Word is observed. There's no way anyone can attain it. It's an old saying, very old saying. I remember hearing it for years. Sin will either keep you from this book or this book will keep you from sin. You know how true that is? Once sin starts getting a grip in our life, we drift from God's Word. You want to cleanse your way? You got to take heed to the Word of God. Holiness in an unholy world. Think with me with that imagery, if you would. Think of holiness in an unholy world. We did a candlelight program Christmas. We had the lights out. And you know what? If everything is dark and you've got a candle shining, that's like holiness in an unholy world. When you let your light shine and live godly in an ungodly world, you're shining light to those that are around. Some people don't like that light. You know what you do, right? And you live godly and you give God the glory, there are some people who are going to speak against you. But you know what? How are they going to hear unless we speak the truth and live out the truth? It is not just speaking the truth because there are people who speak the truth and live like the devil. You know what? That is counteractive to what their witness is. Here, how can anyone cleanse his way? How can anyone make his way pure? How can anyone become holy? Very simply by taking heed thereto unto the Word of God." Taking heed to God's Word is what it's saying. In verse 10 what we see, we see the cleansing power of God's Word in verse 9, but in verse 10 what we see is God's controlling power with His Word. The psalmist says, with my whole heart have I sought you. He has sought God with all of his heart. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments." What does it mean, the whole heart? The whole heart, you can imagine, it means totality. You ever done something half-heartedly? Sure you have. You ever done something wholeheartedly? Wholeheartedly means you're totally involved in it. There's no duplicity. It's not being double-minded. Listen to what it says in James 4 in verse 8. In James 4 in verse 8, the Word of God says, draw nigh to God, draw close to God, and he will draw close unto you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So being double-minded is like having a half-hearted effort. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways is what it says in James chapter 1. That's being divided, half-hearted. But what the Word of God is telling us in verse 10, with my whole heart have I sought you. With all of my heart I'm seeking God. That means total commitment. It means fully devoted. Boy, we need more of that today. It means with the whole heart they are seeking after God, are inquiring of God, are consulting God. As we go through life and we have decisions to make, we face things, we need to seek God's counsel, God's wisdom. Consult Him. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, is what the Word of God tells us, and He will direct your path. Boy, don't we need our path directed by God? God knows the path we're gonna take, but you know what? I wanna be on the path that He wants me on, because that is the path of blessing. Half-heartedness, what is half-heartedness? Have you ever heard of, I'm sure you have, jailhouse repentance? I visited jails and am visiting jails at times. It's been a while since I've visited jails. There's a lot of times a lot of people will get religion in jail for the purpose of just getting out of jail. And when they get out of jail, then they're back living like the devil. That's jailhouse religion. That's half-heartedness. In other words, it's saying one thing but deep down inside you don't really mean it. That's a half-hearted confession. Notice here it's talking about the psalmist is saying, I'm seeking the Lord with my whole heart. Don't let me wander away from your commandments. You know what? Even the strongest believer can wander away from the commandments of God, can wander away from God's Word. You can slowly drift. I've seen it in people's lives time and again. We don't think you're above it or you sure will slip. Notice here. as we move along. In verses 11 and 12, it speaks about the corrective power of God's Word. Verse 11 is one of probably the most well-known passage of Scripture that most people would know. It says, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. This correcting power Notice what it says, God's word, I've hid it in my heart. I've hid it in my inner being. I've got God's word inside. Let me give you an illustration. In the first five books of the Bible, The Law, it talks about the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant, do you remember what they put in the Ark of the Covenant? There was the Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments that had never been broken were placed inside that Ark. Now that's very interesting because you think about it, the Ark represents Christ. They put those unbroken Ten Commandments inside the Ark. Christ had the Law within His heart. That Ark, you remember what it was made of? Acacia wood. and then it was overlaid with gold. Had a lid on it made of acacia wood, and then it was overlaid with gold. The acacia wood represents the flesh of Christ, while that gold represents the deity of Christ. Here is the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ, who had the law of God in his heart. He lived a life in such a way that he did everything to please the Father. He lived a life doing the Father's will. Why? Because the law was at the center of his life. The Word he treasured up in his heart. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, let me make something clear here in verse 11. This is not talking about just memorizing scripture to where you can just repeat scripture or you can recite scripture. That is good. We need to do that. But you know what? I know people who memorize scripture and sin just with the best of sinners. That's not talking about that. He's talking about he treasured up God's Word in his heart. He's applying the principles and he's applying the guidelines of God's Word in his life that he might not sin against God. You understand the difference there? There's a difference between just memorizing and you think you got it stored in your heart, therefore you ain't gonna sin. Don't think that. You'll still sin. But when you apply God's principles of His Word and the guidelines of the Word of God, then you will not sin against the Lord. When you actually treasure up the Word of God, you do not have the desire to sin against God. Let me give you an example. if you were to go to the book of Genesis, you'd read about Joseph. You remember how Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife? And boy, she was seductive. She was the seductress back in Joseph's day. And she tried to corner him and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. And you remember how he fled and she grabbed his garment and then she accused him of trying to make advancement upon her and Joseph was thrown in jail. In that scenario, what you see is Joseph knew it was wrong. He knew if he sinned, it would be against God. Now, you know what? He could use the thinking like people do today. Well, everybody does it. Everybody lives together, you know. It's only natural. Well, God knows my heart. Boy, here's excuses that I've heard through the years. People will try to justify their sin. But let me tell you what was wrong, according to God's word, still is wrong. Cultures may change, environments may change, but God's word does not change. Therefore, adultery is still wrong. Therefore, Joseph fled that situation. Why did he flee that situation? Because he had God's word in his heart. and he fled temptation. Notice how it is in verses 13 on through 16, in closing out this section, how we have the privilege of the Word of God. We take this often for granted, having God's Word. We've got God's Word in abundance so much, you know, all you have to do is click on a phone and you can read God's Word. You've got probably Bible stacked on in your house. Probably got dust on it because you got so many of them. But I want you to notice in verse 13, the psalmist said, with my lips have I declared all the judgments of your mouth. It is a privilege to be able to proclaim God's Word. It's a privilege to be able to share God's Word. Whether you're buying a gift, trying to encourage someone with the Word of God, whether you're speaking the Word of God, it is a privilege God has given us. But to proclaim it, you've got to study it. Hear what I'm saying. To proclaim God's Word, you've got to study God's Word. Oftentimes, people will tell me, especially young parents, I don't have time to read. And I'm going to tell you this, and I don't make no bones about it, you've got time for what you make time for. If you want to read God's Word, you will make time to read God's Word. I guarantee you, if somebody gave you free tickets, if you were a basketball fan, to the Arkansas-Kentucky game this coming Saturday, if they gave those to you, you'd make time to go, if you were a fan. $1,500 for a seat. Wow, that's crazy. Can you imagine? $1,500 gone in two hours, poof. but you do make time for things that you desire. You make time for the things that you love. Here, it is our privilege to proclaim God's word, therefore we need to study God's word. This past Sunday morning, someone passed out the congregation when we were dismissed, and you remember what I said I was gonna preach on Sunday night, I said I was gonna preach on prayer. And this person told me as he was going out the door, he said, You know what you ought to do? You ought to tell people, in so many words he said this, you ought to tell people to pray as often as they look at their phone. Now how often do you look at your phone? Oh, quite a bit, don't you? Probably more than you read your Bible. If you looked at your Bible as much as you looked at your phone, You know what? You'd be a diligent student of God's Word. You'd be a little theologian is what you would be, a regular theologian, which we ought to be. All I'm simply saying is that whatever we put a priority on, that's what gets the priority of our life. The lack of holy living is due to the lack of holy loving God's Word. The more you love the Word of God, the more you're going to live out the Word of God. It's only natural. There is so much wisdom here in God's Word. If only we would become so saturated with it till we become What was Spurgeon saying? I think Spurgeon said something like, if somebody cut you, you would be blind blood. In other words, Bible just ooze out of you. I remember a little meme, if a mosquito bit you, it'd go away praising Jesus because you have so much of the word of God in you. Here, we're given God's word. And this wisdom that's in God's Word, it remains hidden to most people because they don't get into God's Word. If you want to be able to confront the ways of this world, confront that which is wrong with that which is right, you've got to get in God's Word. If you want to confront this worldly system that we live in, you've got to be in God's Word. That which opposes the grace of God, you've got to be a student of God's Word. It's a privilege to proclaim it, but you know what? It is also a privilege because it is priceless. Notice what the Word of God says, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches Here is a priceless treasure. It's what we have in God's Word. Go back a hundred Psalms. 100 minus 119 equals Psalm 19. Look at Psalm 19 and look at verse 9. Verse 9 says, The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant mourned, and in keeping of them there is a great reward. Here God's Word is of eternal value. It's greater than the greatest riches this world has to offer. It's of eternal value because it shows us the way of life. There is temporal value to God's Word too, because if we put into practice the principles of God's Word, you know what, we're gonna not go the way of sin, which causes a lot of pain and heartache in your life, and you'll go the path which the Lord leads us down. Notice in the next verse, verse 15, he says, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. As much as in all riches, verse 14, I will meditate in your precepts and I'm gonna have respect unto your ways. Here is the joy in the word as it says in verse 14, I've rejoiced in your word. There is great joy in the word of God. And the practical aspect of it comes from that. It says in verse 15, I'm gonna meditate in your precepts, that's the word, and have respect unto all your ways, or unto your ways. I'm gonna have respect unto your ways. That's talking about the ways of God. It's the path of God. the ways God would lead us. I'm going to have respect to those paths. Here's the practical part of this treasure of God's Word. His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. A lamp unto your feet, that means He guides you step by step by it. A light unto your path, that means He broadens that view to see where you're going. So God's Word The psalmist says, I will have respect unto that. He will put our feet in the right path that we might end in the right place. If you're following the right path, you're going to end in the right place. Now you know what, if you're not following the right path, let me say, let me say, if you were to take, I'm going to give you directions. I'm going to give you directions to Alaska. Go out here and get on I-75 and start going south. Well, you think you're gonna end up in Alaska? Not hardly. That's the wrong path. And how many people go on the wrong path today? God's word gives us the right path that we need to go down that we might end up in the right place. And that is with God forever and ever. In life, I was thinking about my dad the other day. In life, life is full of slippery places. Before my dad fell, 90 years old, two broke ribs, before he fell, he moved his car out on the street. Because I was coming in, I was gonna pick up my mom and it was clear under the carport. He was about to walk back up the driveway on ice. And I look at him, I'm pulling right beside him before he starts walking up there, I'm saying, what are you doing? And he says, I'm going to go up to that asphalt, that clear spot up there. So he had to cross the ice to go up to the asphalt. I'm like, well, why don't you get in the car? Well, I'll just walk up there. No, don't walk up there. Ice is hazardous if you're going to fall when there ain't no ice. Ice is hazardous even if you've got stability. I remember a few years back when I was quite a bit more agile, I was right in front of a school where Lydia was working, and boy, the road was slick. It was like a sheet of glass. I was all confident and everything. Next thing I know, I'm picking myself up off the road, because ice is slick. And even so, in life, there's a lot of paths that is slick and tricky, and you will fall. God's Word gives us guidance. Notice what it says in Psalm 119. Just a couple different verses. Look in verse 72. In verse 72 he says, the law of your mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Look in verse 162. In verse 162 he says, I rejoice at your word as one that finds great spoil. In other words, it's like army's been defeated and they've left everything behind and they've got all this wealth and you run up on it and it's all yours. God's Word is greater than all that is what the psalmist is saying. And so he says in the last portion of this little section, he says, I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your Word. He meditates in verse 15. He delights in verse 16. Delight always follows meditation. If you meditate upon the Word of God, you'll delight in the Word of God. That's what we're reading here. And He's not apt to forget. what he delights in. If you delight in God's Word because you've been meditating in God's Word, you really delight in something, you know what? You don't forget what you delight in. Here is my delight! And he's talking about God's Word. The Word of God says faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. How can I have faith in Jesus Christ? Believing what the word of God says concerning Jesus Christ. He came and lived that perfect life you couldn't live. And in your place he died for your sins. He was buried, he rose again. And he's coming back someday, that's the gospel. Only trust him. And oh, what a difference the word of God will make in your life. I have walked without the word. I've walked with the word. I'm telling you, I'd much rather walk with the word than without the word. Saves so much heartache and pain. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your precious word. Thank you for teaching us in how we can cleanse our way We thank you for preserving your word through the years, that you would direct our paths by your word. Help us not to forget your word. May we ever delight in it, even more so than all the riches of this world. We'll give you the glory and the praise for Christ's sake. Amen.