Please open your Bibles to Psalm 119. We're going to be in the Tet stanza. That is verses 65 through 72. While you're turning there I just want to remind you we've been singing a lot of Psalms lately both in the morning and the evening. And that's intentional. There's a lot of fads in worship right now, most of which I don't care about, but there is a longstanding tradition and heritage of God's people singing psalms, and I feel like we're behind the eight ball on that, and so we're singing more psalms, and I've asked Pam Anderson to help me better comprehend what that is, and she's helping us out with that, and I'm very grateful. to be able to sing those. And even tonight we sang the stanza that we're going to be talking about tonight. And it's good because it's good for God's people not only to hear the word and the ministry of the word, but it's good and important for us to sing that word. That we might go marching out from this place singing the very things that we learned and learning the very things that we sing. So tonight I want to draw your attention to this stanza, Psalm 119, 65 through 72. Listen closely, this is the reading of the word of God. You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in 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 insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. That's for the reading of God's word. I just want to echo line 71 this evening and ask the question, it's good for me that I was afflicted? I think it's important to ask that question. It's good for me? He says, it is good for me that I was afflicted. Now, I've never seen that as an advertising strategy anywhere in the West. It's good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn wisdom. It's good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn experience. No, we are awash in a culture, as you know today, that runs in the opposite direction of affliction, that runs in the opposite direction of work, that runs in the opposite direction of anything that would threaten to take away pleasure and that three-letter word, fun. We often describe things, even as Christians, as fun. I try to get away from that as much as possible. Not because I'm a killjoy, but there are some things that deserve a better adjective than fun, and you can use it that way. It was a fun day. Words should be used that have a little more gravitas to them. But this word, affliction, in Hebrew, it's a very interesting word. it's a word that means to bend. That's the basic idea. And it has this idea of the bending of the knee. The bending of the knee in submission to the Lord. To be bowed down, to become degraded, to be humiliated. It's really the concept of the crucible. Affliction is the crucible. And crucible is inconvenient. A crucible is inconvenient. It is painful. It is undesirable. A crucible is not fun. And as Americans, we don't like affliction. We avoid it. We run away from it. But affliction is often the tutor and the teacher in the school of sanctification. Affliction is often the tutor and the teacher in the school of sanctification. Affliction is God's smelling salt to wake us up from our malaise of worldly fixation. We get fixated on things, especially new things, technology, things that make our flesh happy. And affliction has a wonderful way of disabusing us of any long-lasting dependence upon them. And behind discipline is often affliction, which brings us back to our senses. It puts things into proper perspective for us and reminds us of what really matters. I know that there's some of you in here that could tell better stories of affliction than I can, and I'm not ashamed of that. I know that the Lord's the one who is sovereign over all those things, and I'm grateful for you and the stories that you have. But I'll tell you one of my stories, and again, I'm prefacing this with this may seem to some of you who have suffered more than I have as just a drop in the bucket, but it's my contribution. When I was in college, I was dating a girl and we'd been dating for, I don't know, two, three years. And I loved her, at least I thought I loved her. and I thought that we were gonna get married, and the only problem was that her parents hated me, and could not stand the thought of me going into the ministry, which at that point I was planning on doing. They were very, very well off, very comfortable, very rich, and they certainly didn't want their daughter marrying a minister, and we were close, and we did everything together, and spent my days with her, and I would often misjudge the goodness of God for the good gifts that he was giving me and her, and then finally, The Lord took her away, we broke up, and I was devastated. And it was a time of affliction for me. But it was through that time that I often tell people I had to rethink my whole existence. I know that sounds dramatic, but I mean, in college everybody's dramatic, right? I had to rethink my existence. And because I'm a Christian, I intentionally decided to rethink my existence and my worldview and how I think about affliction through the lens of the word of God, and I went to a few places. In particular, I went to the book of Job, I went to Psalm 73, and I went to the book of Ecclesiastes and just devoured them. Spent a lot of time in those books. And what I came out with is this, in the same way that Job says the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, may the name of the Lord be praised, I sought to kind of commandeer that view into my own heart. And then when the psalmist, Asaph, says in Psalm 73, he says, What does he say? He says, whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing that I desire besides you. My flesh and my blood may fail, but you are my strength, and you, God, are my portion forever. And what I basically did is I had to say, you know what? What really matters is having God. And if he rips everything else away, having God is my goodness. Nearness to God is my portion in life. It's not the things that accompany that. I mean, you know, for a man to understand this, it's... It's not the salad on the side of the steak. It's the steak, right? It's not the accessories. It's the main thing. And so it is with God. God is the one that if I have him in my heart and I have his promise that will be fulfilled in the eschaton and it will, then I'm good. And if God rips everything away from me like he did with Job, then I shall be content. Does that mean I will not work for it? No, I must work for it. And so these things, Job and Ecclesiastes and Psalm 73, they formed and shaped my worldview of suffering. Job's attitude and the psalmist's attitude are not, listen to me, this is not advanced Christian thinking. Now think about that for a second. Because I think some people say, well, the attitude that says if I just have God and I get cancer, I'm still good, okay? They're like, well, that's like for the uber spiritual, but for me, I'm young, I'm dumb, I've got my whole life before me, I gotta sow my wild oats, which is a lie from the pit of hell, okay? I'll get there later. That's what older Christians say. No, no, no, listen to me. The book of Job is in the Bible to tell you this is basic Christianity. It's basic Christianity to say God is enough. God is the gift of life. God is the one who fills not only eternity but my soul. And he's the one who made me whole in Jesus Christ. And if he decides to give me things and then take them away, that's his prerogative and I will kiss the rod and I will bend the knee in the school and the crucible of affliction and I will say bless your name. Now, young people, I just want you to hear me. That's basic Christianity. If you can't say that, you may not be a Christian. You may not be a Christian. Because it's easy, it's getting harder, it's easy in America to be a Christian and not really suffer for it. But, affliction has a way of beating out the chaff. Affliction has the way of beating out the chaff. In most cases, it takes affliction to learn these things. Things that I've learned and am learning from Job in Psalm 73. I remember hearing the story of A woman who sang at some event, I don't know, maybe it was in church, maybe it was like a concert or something, and she had a beautiful voice. She was very, very gifted. And she belted out this beautiful song, and many people are on the edge of their seat. And there's this older, seasoned, hoary-headed man in the back. And when she got done, he looked to his friend and he said, not bad. He said, she'll sing a lot better when she has experienced and overcome some affliction in her life. Isn't that true? Because when you've experienced and overcome affliction, you see more clearly what things are all about, and you sing from the depth of your soul, not the superficiality of your chest, if I could put it that way. Look at verse 57. He says, before I was afflicted, verse 57, or 67, I'm sorry. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. Now I keep your word. So affliction brought him back. And this is oftentimes what happens. We wanna be careful not to say every time there's affliction, it's because God is punishing us. In fact, I don't even like that word for Christians. The word you should use is discipline. That's what God does, and that's Hebrews chapter 12. God disciplines those whom he loves. Don't use the word punish. I don't think anywhere in the Bible God uses that except for upon the wicked, or for some temporal punishment for Christians. But God doesn't punish us, he disciplines us. He brings affliction, but sometimes it's because we're strained, sometimes it's because he just wants to teach us something. But sometimes it is because we're strained. We go astray by seeking God for all the wrong reasons. All the wrong reasons. And I guess I have a question tonight for some of you young people. This is for everyone, I'll pick on others afterwards. Why are you here? Why are you here tonight? Why are you here at church? Are you here because you have a boyfriend? Are you here because you have a girlfriend? Are you here because your friends are coming? Are you here because your parents are making you come? Maybe you're past the age, you're past 18, you're even living on your own, but it's that social pressure, that parental pressure of your parents to come. Why is it that you're coming? Are you coming for the right reasons? And don't think that just being young and having a girlfriend or boyfriend that in some way, shape, or form serves as a magnet or a tractor beam to bring you into church. Don't think that that ends with your season of life because there are husbands and wives in church, even this church, who are here against their will because their spouses are making them come. And the question I pose to you is the same question I pose to them. Why are you here? What causes you to come and affliction is a good way to level the playing field and expose our motives and tell us why we're really doing something. I once, my sister used to date a guy and I don't know how long, they dated for like a year and then they broke up. And I was always trying to evangelize this guy because he just didn't care. He was like a bump on a log. I'm actually glad that she dumped him, he was a bum. But always trying to evangelism and then she breaks up with him and all of a sudden I get this call and I look at, oh, there's Frank. Hey, what's up, Frank? Oh, Josh. Oh, man. I need the Lord. Oh, okay. What's that? You want to get together, Josh? You want to get a coffee? Yeah. Yeah, I want to get a coffee. Let's talk. So we get together, and I'm thinking, oh, Frank's coming around, right? I'm going to share the gospel with him. I'm going to drop a gospel bomb on him. Here we go. So we get there, and I got my Bible open. I'm like, yeah, Frank, let me share. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Hey, listen, you think you could talk to your sister about us getting back? Ah, I see what's going on here, Frank. You don't want the Lord. You want my sister. That's what you want. Affliction has a way of exposing your true motives. And so it's a good thing, young people and old, for us to do it the easy way rather than the hard way. And the easy way is to get on our knees before God and say, God, expose to me the true intentions of my heart so that I don't have to do it the hard way. It was good for me, verse 71, that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes. So what do I learn? Let me just tell you four very, very quick things. What do we learn? Number one, what do we learn when he says, verse 71, it's good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes? First, we learn this. Look at verse 65. We learn that God deals with us according to his word. Look at verse 65. You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. What does that mean? You know, so often through the ministry of the Word and reading the Word and hearing people speak to us who are Christians, and they tell us things like, you reap what you sow. They tell us things like, sin doesn't satisfy, only God satisfies. And we hear these things over and over and over and over again, but we always think, I say it all the time, right? It'll be different this time. It'll be different with me. And then we get ourselves into trouble. Either trouble that we bring upon ourselves or affliction that the Lord brings. And then we realize, oh God was serious when he said that. Sin really doesn't satisfy. I really do reap what I sow. And as Moses said, be sure of this, your sin will find you out. My sin really did find me out. I guess God was right. That's what the psalmist means when he says in verse 65, you have dealt with your servant according to your word. You said it would be like this. I thought I was smarter than you. And I went the opposite direction like Jonah. And you came after me and brought me all the way back to square one. And you said, look, remember when I showed you that my word and you didn't listen, here it is. And now here it is in your life. I showed it to you. I dealt with you according to your word. We need to listen to that. Okay, when the tempter is tempting you, husbands, tempting you, wives, to be attracted to somebody who is not your spouse for the wrong reasons, you better believe, you better read Proverbs 7 and 8 and 9 and 10, and you better read what adultery does to a marriage. It will destroy you. It'll destroy you. And you need to hear that over and over and over again. You need to hear that God deals with us according to his word. Is there grace? Absolutely. There is forgiveness, there is mercy, there is compassion, but there are consequences of sin, beloved, that leave a stain. And that stain will be removed when we get to heaven, but we will have to deal with the consequences for many, many years. Don't think God is a fool. If there's any fool in the equation, it's the person in the mirror. Number two, verse 68, he says, you are good and you do good, teach me your statutes. The second thing we learn from affliction is that not only does God do good, but here it is, and I've already really kind of talked about this, God is good. And here's a really important distinction you need to make. When bad things happen, We should never call those bad things good, right? God takes bad things and he works them for good. Sometimes I hear people, especially new to the reformed tradition, they're like, well, if disaster happens, that's good, because God is behind it. No, no, no, no, don't do that. That's bad theology. God asymmetrically stands behind bad and evil, but he symmetrically stands behind good and beauty. So God can, okay, sovereignly be behind and orchestrating wicked things, but He is not responsible for them. But He's so sovereign that He brings good out of them, and that's why the Psalms could say God is good, and He does good even in the bad things that He uses as raw materials to bring about. My happiness and my joy, but it's not just that the things he does is good. It's that he himself is good He is the one from whom we get sustenance and joy. So God is good thirdly thirdly verse 72 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces Okay, what does that mean? God's goodness and God's kingdom and God's agenda and God's will is better than anything that this world can offer me, be it money, be it drugs, be it material things, be it fame, be it temporal happiness. God is better than anything, and that's what the psalmist learns through affliction. He learns as he, you know, I think of junkies who just get to their wit's end, and they realize that all this pleasure, all this whatever that was temporal and fleeting, what did it get me? It got nothing but destruction. But God is better than these things. The words of His mouth are better than these things. He is the center of everything. Listen to me. When you get that, when the shoe drops, listen to me very carefully. God and His kingdom will be at the center of everything. Not just your church attendance on Sunday. But your testimony at work, he'll be at the center of that. In your relationship with your wife, your husband, your girlfriend, your whatever, he'll be at the center of that. He will be there when you're taking your exam in your class. He's at the center. You're not going to cheat because you want to glorify God. He's at the center of everything. He is the center and everything moves around it rather than putting work at the center, even family at the center, even health at the center, even the way I look at the center, okay, even my friends and my social network at the center. And if God, if you could fit in, you know, at Thursday at 6 p.m., that really works well for me. No, you don't get it. You don't get it. God is the center, and everything swirls around that center. He is the eye of the hurricane, if you want to put it that way, okay? Everything revolves around Him, and this is why our Lord said, seek first the King of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Now, fourthly, I just want to read James 1, 16 and 17, because I don't want us to go off the rails here. Sometimes we get singed eyebrows from our martyrs complex and we think and we say, you know, if you're not suffering, you're not a Christian. And I'm like, first off, man, go check yourself for a hernia. You need to settle down, okay? And secondly, listen to me. Last night we were sitting in our backyard and we were having dinner. We were having ribs. My wife made an amazing dinner of ribs. There were other things but I can't remember them right now because we had ribs. But we were sitting in the backyard and it was a beautiful day. Beautiful day. cardinals flying all over, robins landing, and Caleb was in there with just his underwear. It was just nice and warm, and the sun was just glowing down on our faces, and I'm just like, God is good. And I was reminded of James 1, 16 and 17. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Listen to me, don't feel guilty about God's good gifts. Don't feel guilty about them. Okay, don't bring that martyr's complex around here, okay? Most of you are really good about not doing that, okay? But it's okay for us to enjoy good things, just so long as we don't make good things the ultimate things. God is the ultimate thing. But it's okay for us to enjoy the gifts that He gives us, the children He gives us, the material things He gives us. Yes, we can say that. You get into a quagmire when you start saying things like, well, that money that you used to go to that baseball game, that could have been sent to missionaries, okay, as you're wearing a new shirt, okay, that you just bought, that you don't need. Okay, like, just don't do that. There's no reason for that. Okay, enjoy God's good gifts. Affliction will come. You don't need to go looking for it. Don't go knocking on the door. God, you got any affliction for me? I'm bored. No, he'll bring it in his sovereignty. But rather, what we should do is when it does come, we should take the posture of Jesus. I'm splicing some text together here, but, for the joy set before him, he set his face like a flint to Jerusalem. For the joy? Yeah. And that's the message of this stanza, beloved. The message of this stanza is joy comes after affliction. Only for the Christian. Only for the Christian. For the non-Christian, it comes affliction, temporal happiness, affliction, temporal happiness, hell. But for the Christian, it's affliction that turns into joy. Mourning turns into dancing. Weeping turns into laughing. And you get this cycle of weeping, laughing, affliction, joy, and then finally, it spills over into the eschaton where there is no longer any affliction. Because the affliction that we experience and the affliction, more importantly, that we deserved was taken by our Lord as the full, unmitigated wrath was poured out from the Father upon Him on the cross so that we could never experience the true affliction in eternity that we all deserve. Jesus Christ has taken it for us. And so we look to Him. And for the joy set before us, we endure affliction. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your son and for the.