I want to read to you one of the most amazing and encouraging passages in the Bible. I want to read to you Isaiah chapter 40, starting in verse 28. The prophet writes, Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous men, young men, stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They'll mount up with wings like eagles. They'll run and not get tired. They'll walk and not become weary. Precious words, wonderful words. What do they mean? Well, these words were spoken to the children of Israel during some of the darkest days in their nation's history because their captivity, their exile into Babylon would soon be upon them. It was said in the context of it's coming and it's coming soon. But God had promised them that they they would be fine. He would not forget them. He would not abandon them. Even in their exile, even taken thousands of miles away, He would return them and He would restore them to the land, the land of Israel. However, in the meantime, though, they needed to know that no matter how hard life would be for them during this time of captivity, no matter how difficult their circumstances would become, in a foreign land, no matter how weak they would be, they needed to know that God would take care of them. And that's what this passage is about. They can be certain of his continuing care for them. Why? Because he never grows too tired. or becomes too weary that he isn't able to take care of his people. That's the point of these verses. Even though he mentions young people who are in the prime of their lives, even though they will grow weary and exhausted in their captivity, yet he never does. He never grows tired. And to those who will experience this weariness, he promises to give them strength. If only they'll do one thing. Only one thing. If only they will look to Him by waiting on Him, He says. Those who wait on Me. And what He means by that is patiently waiting upon Him in prayer, asking for His grace and power to endure these trials. Those who wait upon the Lord shall have their strength renewed. If they'll do this, then He promises to give to them renewed strength so that they will soar like an eagle and they will run without growing tired, and they'll walk without becoming faint from exhaustion." In other words, he's saying, even during your captivity, I will give to you inner strength, stamina, and encouragement to endure it all. Now, although these words were said to Old Testament Israel in the context of their national suffering, these words have application to every believer in Christ today, because we are His children, And like Israel, He has promised to shepherd and care for us. That's a good thing, because we know what it's like to grow weary, don't we? We know what it's like to become tired, like the Jewish people during Old Testament times. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that following Christ means that we're going to be involved and engaged in many battles that will tire us. There's, for example, the battle of spiritual warfare as we wrestle against Satan and his many temptations for us to sin. There's a host of demons who, under Satan's command, tempt us. Ephesians chapter 6, we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but we wrestle against Satan and the powers of darkness. Also, we battle against our own flesh and its sinful desires. Every day that's a battle. We fight against conforming to the world and its standards. And we are always, as Jude puts it, to contend for the faith, that is, the purity of the gospel message. We are to contend for the faith against false teachers and error. And because we have so many battles that are going on at the same time, it's easy for us to become battle-weary. It's easy to spiritually become just exhausted It's during times like this when we feel weak and we feel fatigued and we need to do what God told the nation of Israel to do when they found themselves in that condition. He told them to wait upon Him, to wait in prayer for His strength and power to go on. And folks, that's exactly what we find the author of Psalm 119 doing, as he tells us in the verses I read to you, verses 153 to 160, about his prayer to the Lord during a time when he was weary. Now, last Sunday, we began to look at these verses. And for those who are visiting, you should know that we have been going through Psalm 119 since I was a young man. It feels like that. But we began looking at these verses some time ago, and we discovered last week that the primary message of this stanza, this paragraph, meaning the main theme, the point, the purpose of this paragraph, is personal revival. Revival in the sense, not evangelistically, as we went over last week, we explained that, but personal revival in the sense of God renewing this man's spiritual strength and his stamina. In other words, this passage is about how God encouraged him and emotionally boosted his spirits and strengthened him to continue in his battles as he battled persecution and the many adversaries he had. And we came to this conclusion that this was the psalmist's main concern in these verses because of the frequency with which he tells us that he cried out to God to revive his sagging heart. Three times in a matter of just eight verses, he asked the same thing. He asked for God to revive him. He says it in verse 154, verse 156, and verse 159. Now, when you hear it three times, and it's close like that, you need to get the point, as we all do, that that's what this is about. What this tells us is that the psalmist's purpose in writing about his own desire for revival is to teach us. to teach us, his readers, not only what it means to look to the Lord for a revived heart, but also why he was so confident that God would revive his heart, that God would answer his prayers. And he's also going to bring in, as he does in almost every verse, in Psalm 119 how this truth is related to scripture because that's what Psalm 119 is about. So he does this by giving us three reasons he was so confident that God would revive him. These are the reasons that you and I can be confident that when we're down, when we feel like throwing in the towel, when we feel like giving up, God will be there to strengthen us. Now last week we looked at the first of these reasons. The psalmist was confident that God would revive him because he was a true believer. And his point is that God revives and strengthens true believers. And I'm using revive as a synonym for strengthen. Verses 153 and 154 say, Look upon my affliction and rescue me, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me, revive me according to your word. Now, as we saw last Sunday, the psalmist begins by asking God to see his affliction that he was going through, by which he means the horrible persecution that he was experiencing at the hands of wicked men, probably pagans in Babylon. He's probably one of the captives. And he's asking God to see that affliction and to rescue him from this ongoing persecution. And the reason he knows he can count on God to do this, he tells us, is because he's a true believer. He's truly a converted man. He's a genuine follower of the Lord. And God, he knows, takes care of his own. And that's why he says at the end of verse 153, for I do not forget your law. I'm that kind of person. I don't forget your law. The fact that he hasn't walked away from God's word in spite of all the pressure put upon him by his adversaries to forget the law of God and embrace their paganism, it proves that he's a true believer. I don't forget your law, even when I have all these people trying to persuade me to do that. You see, perseverance in faith is one of the marks of genuine faith. Persevering in following the Lord is one of the marks of true faith. And perhaps, you know what, perhaps the greatest illustration of this in Scripture is the man called Job, the Old Testament Bible character Job, a man who suffered so much, his name is synonymous with suffering. And yet, in spite of all of his suffering, The Bible makes it very clear to tell us this. Job did not curse God. He did not walk away from his faith. That's really the primary point of the book of Job. Job is a long book. You've got his friends giving him a lot of bad counsel. But the point of the book of Job is to say that true faith perseveres. You remember the background of this. Satan. essentially challenges God concerning Job. God tells Satan, or asks him, have you not seen my servant Job, a blameless man? He said, well, sure. Sure, he obeys you. Sure, he does that because you give him everything. You protect him. You've blessed him. When conditions are good in his life, of course he's going to do that. And in essence, what he's saying is every one of your followers is like that. Of course they're going to worship you when you're good to them and they prosper, but remove those conditions, Satan said. Remove those conditions and they'll curse you to your face. And so God does that. And then a little bit later, as Job worships the Lord, refuses to curse God, he says, well, of course he's like that, but take his health away. You take his health away. Yes, you've taken his family, you've taken his possessions, but he still has his health. Take his health away and he'll curse you to your face. Now listen, let me read to you so it makes an impression on you some of the verses from here. The Lord said, chapter 1 starting in verse 8, The Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? For there's no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God, turning away from evil. And Satan answered the Lord, does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the lamb. But put forth your hand now, touch all that he has, he'll surely curse you to your face. We read in verse 20, then Job, after everything was taken from him, other than his health, his children died, his livestock, his prosperity gone. We read, then Job arose, tore his robe, speaking of mourning, shaved his head, and he fell to the ground, and he worshipped. That's significant. That's what true believers do. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I can imagine he's saying this through his tears, but he's saying this, and he's meaning this. And then the scripture adds, through all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. He's persevering in his faith. Then we read a little bit later on, after God took away Job's health and the horrors of probably all those boils and the itches and all of that, then his wife, who I might add was no encouragement to him, said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die, meaning curse God and he'll kill you. He'll take your life, just curse him. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. And you read the rest of the book of Job, and you see that Job had some of his ups and downs, but in the end, he persevered. He persevered. And what was the point of this? To prove to Satan and to all of us that God proved this, that those who truly are His redeemed people will not and cannot utterly forsake Him. Now we may have, and we do have bumps in the road, and we do have times where we might backslide, but we never walk away. We never abandon our faith, no matter how bad our circumstances might get. We will persevere. Listen, nobody could have it worse than Job. And yet he worshipped the Lord. That's not true of unbelievers. It's not true of unbelievers. Unbelievers, especially who may make a profession of faith in Christ, but it's a false profession. And we know that because at the first sign of suffering for their new faith, they walk away from what they had claimed to believe. Now, Jesus taught this. Jesus taught this in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. We read this, starting in verse 3, and he spoke many things to them in parable, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them. But listen to this, others fell, on the rocky places where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away." A little bit later, his disciples say to him, explain this to us. We don't understand this parable. And so in verse 20, he's explaining it about this the seed that was sown on the rocky ground, the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word, and immediately he receives it with joy. Yet, he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. One of the key words here is immediately. This doesn't go on for years and years and years in case you're wondering, could I be one of these? No, it would be immediately. As soon as something hard comes up related to Christianity and following Christ, someone like this is out of there. This man isn't a true believer, he's someone who hears the gospel, and he has an emotional and shallow response to it, that's all. And the proof that his faith in Christ is not real, it's not abiding, It's only temporary. The proof of it is that the first sign of suffering for Christ, he walks away from Jesus, he walks away from Christianity. This isn't what he signed up for. But the writer of Psalm 119 is telling us, or more appropriately is telling the Lord, that he's a true believer. And his perseverance in following the word of God while suffering for the word proves it. That's why he knows that God will see his affliction and God will come to his rescue. And that's why notice he asked the Lord in verse 154 to plead his cause and to redeem him in telling us this. It does, as I said last week, it gives us insight. into what was going on in the psalmist's mind, what kind of struggle he was going through. See, when he asked the Lord to plead his cause, he's asking God to defend him, to take up a role like a defense attorney. And what he wants God to defend is his name. He wants the Lord to vindicate his name. Because, as he's told us a number of times in this psalm, these enemies, these persecutors, had lied about him, slandered his name. So he's asking the Lord to clear his name by demonstrating that he's not guilty of whatever his enemies have accused him of. Apparently, these false accusations were the main reason that the psalmist is losing heart, feeling weary and weak in his persecution. And I say that because it's right after stating all this that he asked for God to revive him. He says, revive me according to your word, strengthen me as your word promises to do for believers. See, being lied about, that's very serious. That's very troubling. It's very strength-draining, zapping, because it has the potential to destroy what is most important about us, and that is our testimony. Something you have spent a lifetime building up, your testimony, your good name for the gospel's sake, that can be attacked and torn down by malicious lies in an instant. In an instant. The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 22, 1, a good name is to be more desired than great wealth. That's why the psalmist needs reviving, because his good name has been dragged through the mud and he's hurting. It brought him low, he's discouraged, and so now he's asking God to defend him and to restore his good name. And as we saw last week, the way that God does this, if you're a believer, is by giving you the strength to obey him, and in doing so, in obeying God with godliness and good deeds, you silence at least some of your critics because of your godliness, as you demonstrate that what you're being accused of, it's a lie. You don't live the way they say you live. You're not the kind of person they say you are. And God gives you strength in this. So how does this apply to you? It applies by giving you the assurance that if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, that God will strengthen you to handle any adversity. And His strength will be your enablement to continue following Him. That's where He gives you strength. No matter what others think of you, no matter how much they have lied about you, He will give you the strength to follow Him. And God will revive your heart by giving you that inner drive, that inner strength to demonstrate to everyone what you're really like. Not the lies they've heard about you, but what you're really like. Not what you're falsely accused of. And we saw that from 1 Peter. That's a major theme of 1 Peter. You can silence your critics by godly living. This is how a true believer reacts, not only to persecution, but folks, to any trial. The trials don't derail our obedience, they drive us closer to the Lord. They drive us to look to Him for strength to obey. That is not the case with unbelievers. Notice as we get into now new material, which we didn't have time to cover last week, notice what the psalmist goes on to say about the unsaved in verse 155. He says, salvation is far from the wicked for they do not seek your statutes. Now, in contrast to the assurance he has, what assurance that God will plead his cause, that God will rescue him, that God will revive him. He says that the wicked and by wicked, he means unbelievers. The wicked, he says, they don't experience any of this. He says, deliverance is far from the wicked. And the reason for this is that he says they don't seek God's word. In other words, unlike believers, the wicked have no concern or interest in obeying Scripture. And God is not, note this, He's not in any way responsible or obligated to rescue them from the dangers of life. He has no relationship with them. He's made no promises to deliver them as He has made to deliver us. And this is a very sobering, serious word to those who are not Christians because it tells them that they have no hope of God intervening in their lives and helping them in their sufferings. No hope at all. And therefore, what each of us wants to make sure of is that we don't fit this horrible category. That we aren't those who God classifies as the wicked. See, it's very possible to be deceived into thinking you are a Christian, when in reality, you are not. And one way to determine where you stand spiritually, either a true Christian or a false one, is by your attitude towards the Word of God. The psalmist describes the wicked as those who do not seek your statutes. That's their lifestyle. They're not interested. No interest in obeying scripture. Not concerned about it. Couldn't care less. In contrast, though, to a true believer like himself, who continuously pursues the Word of God, no matter what else is happening in his life. See, being a non-Christian but thinking you are a Christian, that is a very real problem in a culture like ours because one can be exposed so much to the truths of Christianity that you think that just because you intellectually know the truth and even agree with the truth that you must be a Christian. But those who are true Christians have repented, personally repented of their sin. They've trusted Christ as their Savior, their Lord, and they give evidence of their salvation by a desire to obey the word to honor the Lord in every area of life. This doesn't mean that we always obey the word. That's not that's not the case with any of us or that we always honor the Lord. But it does mean that that's our desire. That's what we want. And when we don't do this, we confess our sin and we repent. Unbelievers don't care about that at all. I recently sat next to a young man on an airplane flight. I was a few days this week in Chicago, and Rich Hein said to greet you for him. I was up there teaching some chaplains about how to prepare a sermon. And so I sat next to this young man on the airplane flight who told me that he, as we engaged in conversation, told me that he went to a Christian school, a day school, for a few years. And so as I probed and I asked him, Had he ever personally trusted Christ? Oh, he was sure that he had. Yes, of course he would. He assured me he had trusted Christ. Oh, of course. But I got to tell you, based on the conversation I had with him, there was no indication in his life or his attitudes that Jesus or the Bible meant anything dear to him. In fact, by about 9.30 a.m. in the morning, he had to have a shot of vodka because he was just so nervous about the airplane. And in the course of our conversation, I told him that I was a pastor, so he told me he felt then so much better, he felt assured that the plane couldn't possibly crash. Little did he realize he was in great danger. But anyway, listen, there was no reality of Christ in his life. I don't know his heart. Obviously, I can't see his heart, but I'm telling you, based on my conversation with him, there's no reality of Christ in his life, no interest in seeking God's Word. In fact, I gave him a little booklet that we have out there called God's Gift to You, and I saw him looking at it and reading it. But he was excited about his business, very excited about that, not about Christ. And yet this man told me emphatically, oh, for sure, I've trusted Christ, yes. What a tragedy if you are associated with a church like Lakeside, where you constantly hear about Jesus and salvation. What a tragedy if you're so exposed to that, and yet you're not saved. I can't think of anything more tragic or more frightening than to come to the end of your life thinking that you're a Christian, only to hear those terrifying words of Christ, depart from me. I never knew you. Depart from me. If you're not a Christian, then as the psalmist says, God is now far from you. But the good news is He can be near to you. He can be in a relationship with you. If you'll repent of your sin, turn to Christ, trust Him for your eternal salvation. This is how you become a true believer. And like the psalmist, you then can know the reality of the Lord in your life, not only forgiving your sin, but the reality of Him reviving you and renewing you and giving you inner strength to handle any adversity in life. Because that's what He does for those who belong to Him. As Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But as the psalmist continues composing his verses, he tells us about another reason that he's certain that God will revive him. Not only is he confident that God will revive him because he's a true believer, but now he tells us that he is confident that God will revive him because God is abundantly merciful. Merciful. Notice verse 156. Great are your mercies, O Lord. Revive me according to your ordinances. Great are your mercies, O Lord. Revive me according to your ordinances. Here the psalmist declares something wonderful about God's character. He tells us that God is merciful. But I want you to know in the original Hebrew, it's more than that. You see, in saying, greater your mercies, the psalmist is actually saying that God's compassion is multiplied. It's great in the sense that it's immense. It's multiplied many times. He has much mercy, is the thought. In fact, this could be, probably should be translated, many are your mercies. Your mercies are manifold, multiplied. And the point that the psalmist is making is that God is rich in mercy. He doesn't just have a little mercy to spare. His compassion for the weak, the afflicted, is immense. It's huge. And what does it mean that God is merciful? Well, the Hebrew word, which is translated merciful or compassionate, it's used over 200 times in the Old Testament. It is a rather broad word encompassing a number of issues. It encompasses love, grace, compassion, forgiveness, faithfulness, Listen to what the Word of God tells us about God's mercies. I'm just going to read and maybe comment just briefly on these statements. Psalm 86 verse 15, But you, O Lord, are a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth. Psalm 103 verse 8, The Lord is compassionate and gracious. Look at this. He's slow to anger. He's abounding in loving kindness. It's overflowing. Lamentations 3.32, for if he causes grief, then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness. If you're going through a grievous time in your life, he'll have compassion on you, scripture says. Lamentations 3, verses 22 and 23, the Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease. Think about that, they never stop. For his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. And then Isaiah 49 verse 13. Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth. Break forth into joyful shouting. O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. These are just a few of the many statements in scripture telling us about the great mercies of God. That's because God is so merciful to his people that the psalmist knows that he can ask with absolute confidence for the Lord to revive him. And that's exactly what he does. Notice, he says, great are your mercies, O Lord. And then right after that, revive me according to your ordinances. He's saying, because you are merciful, I know you'll revive me, as your word says. See, this man is counting on God being merciful to him by giving him strength and spiritual stamina. And the reason God does this for his children, frankly, is because he knows how weak and frail we are without him. We are. He knows that if He doesn't give us strength, we won't have it. And His heart of mercy causes Him to give us His grace to endure, because as Jesus said, without me you can do nothing, nothing of any value. Listen to these marvelous words from the book of Hebrews about our Lord's compassionate and sympathetic understanding of how weak we are, and His willingness to give us mercy and grace to strengthen us in our time of need. Let me read this to you, and then folks, internalize it. Hebrews 4, 15 and 16. What the writer is saying is, Jesus knows exactly what you're going through, because he's one of us, yet without sin. What you are tempted in, he's been tempted in, but he didn't sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Our Lord sympathizes with your great need. Jesus knows from experience what it means to be tempted, and he is sympathetic towards you. And out of his heart of compassion, he gives you the strength to resist temptation to sin. What a great truth. Listen, the Lord knows how weak and how vulnerable you are. He knows you. He knows your breaking point. He knows how much you can handle. And He will, out of His heart of compassion, never give you more than you can handle. He promises that in 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you'll be able to endure it. Now, in the case of the psalmist, he knew how weak he was, he knew he was in need of the Lord's strength to resist this unbelievable pressure that his enemies were putting on him to abandon the Lord for their pagan ways, their pagan religion. That's why he goes on to say in verse 157, many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not turn aside from your testimonies. In spite of how many men, and we don't know the count, but there were many, were involved in persecuting this poor man, he is determined not to turn aside from the Word of God. Let's think about this. Because you know what, it's relatively easy for us to live out our biblical convictions, relatively easy in our setting, because we're surrounded by people in this church who love us, who encourage us to live for Christ. But what if you were removed from not only this church, but what if you were removed from your entire setting, your entire supportive environment, and you found yourself in a very hostile setting, in which there are few, if any, other believers? Maybe you're alone in your faith, and there are people persecuting you in that setting, persecuting you for your belief in Christ, putting pressure on you, trying to proselytize you to come up and believe what they believe and join them. And there's this pressure and social pressure and economic pressure. How would you keep from being overwhelmed by just the sheer force and power of your enemies trying to persuade you to abandon the gospel and your faith in Christ and the Bible? What would you do? That's this man's situation. What would you do? Well, there's only one thing to do. And that is fall on the mercies of God, for His strength to endure and persevere. That's really all you can do, but that's all you need to do, because even though your persecutors, your enemies, are many, the psalmist said, God's mercies are many too. And He has more than enough mercy to give you strength to say no to sin and yes to obeying scripture. But note this, one of the things that God does in His mercy When we're being attacked by others for our faith, one of the things God does is He allows us to see clearly what the other side is really like. That's to say, He allows us to see the truth about the unsaved and what they're really like. beneath the surface. Notice what the psalmist goes on to tell us about what he saw in his persecutors. Remember, this is part of God's mercy, showing him the truth about these men who were putting pressure on him. He says in verse 158, I behold the treacherous and loathe them, because they do not keep your word. The psalmist tells us that he looked at these men. That's, by the way, what he means when he says, I behold. I looked at them. And what did he see? He saw them, he says, as treacherous. What does treacherous mean? It essentially means that they were unfaithful, they were traitors to the Lord. And it deeply bothered him to the point where he says that he loathed them, meaning he was disgusted by them. But not because of what they said about him, what disgusted him. was that they didn't keep God's word. See, as the psalmist looked at the attitudes and the behavior of these men who were trying to win him to their ways, he saw the truth about them. He saw there was nothing appealing about them or what they believed. He saw their lifestyle. He saw the way they treated others, their character, their attitudes. And what he saw did not attract him at all to them. It disgusted him because everything about them clearly showed that they had rejected the Lord and His Word. On a more modern note, this is really why many in the Muslim world are coming to faith in Christ. We only hear about terrorism, but there are many in the Muslim world who are coming to faith in Christ. It's because they look at Muslim jihadists and they see them and they see Islam for what it really is. It's a ruthless, murderous, hate-filled system. and they want nothing to do with it. Nothing to do with it. Listen closely, especially those of you who are young and you're at an age where you're very impressionable. You're really the crossroads of life. You'll be making in the next few years very significant decisions. you will be exposed to all kinds of people, all kinds of belief systems, all kinds of lifestyles, and some will appear very attractive, very glamorous on the outside, but don't be duped by that. Look closely. And if you do, you'll see their behavior beneath the surface is simply sinful rebellion. against the Lord that you've heard preached about and have been exposed to. There is nothing truly attractive or glamorous about the way they live. It is pure treachery. It ought to disgust you, even as you love them enough to reach out with the gospel to them. Listen to these powerful words by Charles Spurgeon as he comments and then he expands on what the psalmist means when he says, I behold the treacherous and loathe them. Spurgeon writes this, as he is expressing what the psalmist was saying. He said, I saw the traitors. I understood their character, their object, their way, and their end. I could not help seeing them, for they pushed themselves into my way. As I was obliged to see them, I fixed my eyes on them to learn what I could from them. I was sorry to see such sinners. I was sick of them, disgusted with them. I could not endure them. I found no pleasure in them. They were a sad sight to me. However fine their clothing or witty their chattering, even when they were most mirthful, a sight of them made my heart heavy. I could not tolerate either them or their doings. My grief was occasioned more by their sin against God than by their enmity against myself. I could bear their evil treatment of my words, but not their neglect of thy word." So don't be in awe of those who have rejected the gospel. Don't be in awe of them at all. Regardless of their material prosperity, regardless of their outward success, Regardless of their appearance of being happy, their lives are in complete rebellion towards the Lord. And God will give you the inner strength to say no to their overtures, to join them in their lifestyle, as He gives you insight as to what they're really like beneath the surface. Now, up to this point, the psalmist has given us Two reasons why he was so confident that God would revive his sagging soul. One, because he was a true believer, and God has promised to strengthen true believers. Two, because God, he says, is abundantly merciful, and he promises to strengthen the weak and needy in his mercy. But as the psalmist is about to bring this paragraph, this stanza, this section to a close, he gives us one final reason. He was so confident that God would revive his sagging soul, and it's this, because he loves the Word of God. He loves the word of God. Notice verse 159. Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, O Lord, according to your loving kindness. Now, although his adversaries didn't keep God's word, he tells us that he did. He not only kept it, he loves it. He didn't just obey it. He loves the word. And he asked the Lord, note this, to consider, to consider, meaning, Lord, look upon me. See my love for your precepts. Consider this. Look here, Lord, and see this. In other words, he's asking God to see how much he loves his word. He loves it so much that it grieves him when he sees others neglect it. And it's because he loves the word that he asked for the third time for God to revive him. He says, Revive me, O Lord, according to your lovingkindness. Knowing that God is loving and knowing he's kind to his children, the psalmist appeals to God to strengthen him in his battle, to stay true to his faith, and to resist the pressure of his persecutors to leave his faith. But note this, note this, the reason that he is so confident that the Lord will give him strength to persevere in his faith is because of his love for the Word of God. See, the psalmist is asking God to keep the flame of his love, the flame of his love for his Word alive in him by reviving him, renewing it, keeping the flame going so that he doesn't give in to the assaults of his persecutors. He doesn't want his love for Scripture to diminish because of the attacks from his enemies. He wants the flame to continue burning. He's counting on God's loving kindness to just keep rekindling His love for Scripture. Listen, God will answer this prayer, if that's your prayer. He'll answer the prayers of those who love His Word for strength, to withstand the attacks against the Word, to withstand the attacks of this culture against us, to conform. to the standards of this world. He will give you a renewed and abiding love for Scripture because that's His will for you. If you want that, He wants it even more. He won't let you fall away from your love for the Word. Knowing that you love His Word, you can count on Him to supply you with a deep and continuing affection for His written revelation. But Why did the psalmist love the Word of God to begin with? Why do you love the Word? Why do I love God's Word? Well, the psalmist tells us in the next verse why he loved and loves the Word, and it's for the same reason that you and I love his Word. He says, the sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. This, folks, is a precious, precious statement in Scripture. He loves the Word, he says, because of the sum of it, meaning the sum total of it, the totality of it, all of it. He loves the whole of it. Why? Because it's truth. He loves it because, as we would put it now, from Genesis to Revelation, it's truth, all of it in its entirety. And he says, every one of your righteous ordinances, he means every individual part of the Bible, it's permanent, it continues, it never changes. He loves the whole of it, he loves its individual parts. Why do the psalmists love the Word? Why do we love the Word? Simple. It's all truth. It's truth, it's God's truth. Therefore, in a world that's constantly changing, The Word is totally reliable and it never changes. It never fails to give us the strength to endure the trials of life. Listen, the same Bible that was true for your grandparents is true for you. Same Bible that was true for your parents is true for you. The same Bible that was true for those who have risked their lives for Christ is true for you. The same Bible that was true for all believers in ages past is true for you. The same Bible that was true for the reformers is true for you. Therefore, you can trust in all of it and love it. So I ask you this, do you love the Word of God? I'm not talking about a mushy feeling. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my word. And he meant there, you'll love his word too. Do you love the word of God? If you do, then you can be assured that God will continue to give you a renewed love for it. And you can trust him to give you the strength that you need to follow the Lord under any circumstances. This is what he promises. And his word is totally true and reliable. If you don't love the Word, then you don't love the Lord. No matter what your profession of faith is. If you don't love His Word, you don't love Him. And if you don't love Him, you are not a true Christian. But you can become one. You can become one by calling upon Him to save your lost soul, admitting your sin, repenting, forsaking your sin, turning to Christ, trusting Him as Savior and Lord. May today be the day of your salvation. remind you again that if you want to pray with one of the elders or speak to one of the elders concerning what you've heard today or anything that might be troubling you spiritually, a few of them will be up here at the front after the service. Join me in prayer. Lord, we thank you for putting this, this man, the psalmist experience in your word so that we would understand about our souls being revived. Lord, I pray that these words would not go in one ear and out the other, but that these, the truths would lodge in us, that we would not only look to you for strength, but that we would count on it. We would believe it because of what your word says. Lord, I pray, even as I mentioned earlier, young people in our church who will be making major decisions in life, I pray that you'll help them to have discernment as they look upon those who look happy and yet they're not, those who would try to appeal to them to be drawn into their lifestyle. May you help them to follow Christ Help them to seek the fellowship of others who love you and love your word. I pray, Lord, that out of this church you'll raise up young men and young women who will follow Christ, going against the grain of our culture, but will love you, follow you, and persevere. I pray, Lord, that you'll rekindle, for those of us who do love you and love your word, rekindle a deeper than ever love for your word. And I pray, Lord, for those who don't know you, who may intellectually agree with the facts of Christianity. I pray that you'll help them to see their true need to repent and trust Christ and be born again. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.