Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we ask You for Your help. We understand that we often lack wisdom. And in light of that, You invite us graciously into Your presence to ask You for it, to give us light, to give us understanding, Help us see our need for You. You would do that now. Instruct us from Your Word that we may be more like our Savior. This we pray. All right. Well, those of you who did not come camping with us last weekend missed out. Maybe you don't see it that way, but we had a wonderful time up in the forest, wherever we were, round mountain or something or another. And it was awesome. So, great time of fellowship and worship and all the other ships that the Bible has to offer. So, it was a wonderful time. Next year, consider being a part of it. And if you like the benefits of home and technology and indoor plumbing, then let each be fully convinced in his own mind, is what I say. So, let us open our Bibles to Psalm 119. And I will pull up my notes here. Psalm 119. We began a study in the largest chapter in the Scriptures. And I thought, well, verses 9-16 round this out nicely. And we will not be going through the whole thing. We'll be going through some other material in the coming days and weeks. So please be in prayer for that as I prepare. But let us read God's Word, Psalm 119. We'll begin in verse 1, and I'll read through verse 16. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord, How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. They also do know in righteousness they walk in his ways. You have ordained your precepts that we should keep them diligently, or that my ways may be established to keep your statutes. Then I will not be ashamed when I look upon all your commandments. I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statues. Do not forsake Me utterly." And then in our text today, how can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. With all my heart I have sought You. Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord. Teach me Your statues. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. I shall delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your ways." May God be blessed by the reading of his words. So we are visiting this, again, sort of a repeat of the theme that we explored a couple Sundays ago. Glorying in the law of God, we have found that When it comes to the Christian, when it comes to the believer who has had the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to his account, he need not approach the law with fear, with dread, with a sense of condemnation. Like the psalmist, he can approach the law and rejoice in it, seeing that the commandments of God are good and right and true. And of course, we discussed in that study the three uses of the law, one of which particularly serves the Christian as a guide, a guide to godliness. And although, yes, the application of every point of the law of God belongs to another expansive study, we do understand that fundamentally, the law of God is still to be applied to the Christian today, and to be received as a good thing. To be received as God's revelation that is still relevant for today. That is, in many aspects, still binding. Remember that. We have to as Christians remember that very thing, that being under grace does not somehow absolve us of the responsibility of obeying God's commandments. If you have any questions on that, read the book of 1 John. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. The commandments of God are good. They are for our good. And as believers, we do not stand condemned. but we can follow the One, we can look to the One who was condemned for our sins. All of our sins, all of our violations of the law were laid upon Jesus Christ. And as He defeated sin and death in His death and resurrection, we are now raised in Him to walk in newness of life. And a major part of that is keeping His commandments. It is obeying. And it's a marvel that we can look upon the law of God the commandments of God in whatever aspect, and not be overwhelmed by it. But we can rejoice in it. I love your law, the psalmist says. It is my meditation day and night. All the day, he thinks about God's Word. And so we come to this pattern starting in verse 9 with a question. How can a young man keep his way We're talking now about a pure way. 119 v. 1-8 serve as an introduction more or less. And then there's sort of a repetitive cycle that goes on throughout the psalm exploring the greatness, the glories of God's Word. And so just by way of review, remember that the psalmist here, most believe it is David. I would fall in that category who's writing this. He uses the commandments of God using a variety of words. And just so we kind of have our bearings, let's go through those again very briefly. The first is the word law, which comes from a word meaning to teach or direct. Law or revelation. The whole body of the commands of God. This is the most generic term we have found out. We come across the word, word, from Devar. Used a multitude of times in this psalm. Refers to the spoken word. The word which God has revealed concerning His will and desire for us to obey. We have judgments. Just like it sounds, it refers to a determination, a regulation. It can speak of discernment. But basically, the rules by which the people of God are to be governed. It's conclusions. We think of a judgment in the sense of rendering a verdict. After all of the data is processed, after all of the information is sifted through, a conclusion is made. A conclusion drawn from truth. And so the idea here is that we come to the same conclusions as God does. God wants us to be as sure of Him as He is of Himself. Testimonies is another one. Testimonies. Related to the word for witness, right? We obey His testimonies. On our part, points to a consistent obedience or loyalty to the commandments of God. God is loyal, so His Word is a testimony to His own reputation. We find in this, in a testimony, God's faithfulness being clearly expressed. And so even the law itself, as we talked about last time we were here, does not rise and fall on who man is, but on who God is. So His testimonies, God's witness to something is always true and reliable. Commandments. Basically, the authoritative instruction of what is given. So we talk about the law of God. The word commandment helps us understand it in the scope of authority. That when God speaks, it is binding. When God speaks, we can't just turn a blind eye to it without consequence. When God tells us, do this, or think this way, act this way, what's our response? Yes, Lord. Statutes. This was a very interesting word. Statutes refers to something that is engraved. We think of the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, engraved in stone. That's probably where our mind should go to first. The Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone, declaring God's authority over us. His power to give laws. Precepts. Here's another one used 21 times in Psalm 119. the word drawn, according to Derek Kidner, from the sphere of an officer or overseer, a man who is responsible to look closely into a situation and take action to attend to something. So the word points to the particular instructions of the Lord as of one who cares about detail. You notice, too, the specificity of God's commands. God is rarely vague regarding His instructions, His desires. He doesn't leave us flying blind. Think of a pilot who flies way up there 10,000 feet or above and he runs into clouds. He doesn't really know where he's going. He becomes disoriented. There is something about the law of God that basically just clarifies things and makes His desire and will for us clear. Crystal clear. So in light of that, in light of His precepts, we are left without excuse. We know that God is... First of all, we know that He is. Every person knows that. It is evident. But we suppress that reality in unrighteousness. God has revealed clearly that He is, that He exists, that He is eternal. That He is a God of righteousness. And He is a God that has called us to obey His commandments. And finally, another use of the word, word, from the Hebrew, imra. denotes anything that God has spoken, commanded, or promised according to Van Gemeren. So just by way of review, we understand the nuances, right? So if you go back and listen to this, we're going through this text using the various expressions of the law of God. And all of these things have a point. It's not just repetition for repetition's sake. They all have their particular use. They all call to mind a particular thing. And with that, we can explore today, once again, this theme of glorying in the law of God yet in the context of this pure way that is brought up. It takes us back to the first verse. Look at your text. Psalm 119, verse 1, how blessed are those whose way is blameless. So we are introduced once again to the way. Now in verse 1, the way in view. I believe a different Hebrew word is used here for way, but still, this is a way presented as God's way. God's way is the highway. And the believer, the man of God, is the one who treads that highway. This is a way that by God's supernatural working has been recognized, recognized by a person who has been given ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart that understands, to view this way as the only way, God's way, God's will revealed. And we find a blessing for those whose way is blameless. And so we come back full circle. Well, now that we are on this way, how can a young man keep his way pure? So this question is dealing specifically with a young man. Now, of course, it applies to Christians everywhere of all ages, both man and woman. But the question is asked, how can a young man keep his way pure? So the first theme we want to address simply here is the reality of the pure way. There is a way. And this way, God desires us to keep pure. So this is a very important question. I think even by the psalmist's use of pure way, or any young man. I mean, think about the priority here. How often do we hear this ever expressed as important? I think even the church struggles with this. Oh, sow your wild oats. You are a young man. You have youth and vigor. Go do your own thing. Explore yourself. We live in a reality that hardly ever calls to mind the importance of a young man keeping his way pure. This question is simply out of the question. But we would look at the Scripture here and say, is this not the question of the ages? Ever since Adam fell, How can a young man keep his way pure? This is the question. Especially given our great concern for men. I mean, we just got through a massive series on marriage and one of the main themes we kept returning to was the issue of what is a man responsible for? Man as image bearer. Man as an heir of this world. Man as one who is called to take dominion. Man who is one to subdue creation and to inherit it. Man in all of his responsibilities, not only as a man, but as a husband, as a father, as a creator, as a builder, as a conqueror. And if men are leading in this, as God's representative, as His vicegerent, ruling in the presence of God, ruling under the authority of God, would it not make sense for the enemy to attack man? Especially his identity. His idea of who he is, but also his responsibility as an image-bearer of God. We go back to this discussion of biblical manhood, of course. And unfortunately, today, even what it means to be a man is treated with near murderous disdain. Not only in the unbelieving realm, but it is also questioned seriously by the confessing church. We keep kowtowing to cultural Marxism and things like feminism, and then of course that seems to override the authority of Scripture and what the Bible has to say about what it means to be a man. It's scandalous. It's sexist. It's homophobic. It's transphobic, and all the other phobics. This is why, I bring it up again, we have to stop caring about what the unbelieving world thinks. We have to start caring about what God thinks, because this is a timeless question. How can a young man keep his way pure? Kind of gives the air of this is something that is difficult. This is not something that happens automatically. It's not an autopilot, this young man keeping his way pure. But it is important, and even more importantly, there is an answer to this. And God gives it to us right here. So this is definitely an issue. And this problem is compounded with the fact that young men are getting older and older. We are in a phase of of human history where men are experienced this prolonged stage of adolescence. You find teenagers trapped in a 30-year-old man's body who just, they don't want to get up, they don't want to take dominion, they want to sleep in every morning, they don't want to show any grit or any strength because their strength is offensive, their strength is toxic. And so they basically put off life for a couple of decades. They put off marriage. They put off family. They put off church membership and commitment. They put off the most important things. And so the question becomes not, how can a young man keep his way pure? It becomes, how can a young man keep his way easy? How can a young man keep his way prosperous? Now, prosperity is a good thing, but young men want it without any grit, without any effort, without any perseverance. Without any godliness? Without any discipline? Also, how can a young man keep his way pleasurable? How can I experience all the good things in life and get them as cheaply as possible? This is a graceless path that this kind of man walks. And we find that young men struggle in all of these things. That's the reality of the situation. I would recommend that every dad in here reads with their son at least once, but maybe should be read on a yearly basis, is J.C. Ryle's classic, Thoughts for Young Men. And from the outset of this work, he details many of the challenges facing young men. And many of the things he mentions are quite timely, even for our own age. The first thing he mentions, this will resonate with every man in here. Challenge is pride. Pride. Self-conceit. This godless, Christless state of mind that makes us resistant to receiving any kind of counsel, any kind of wisdom, that basically desires to shut down the voice of God. It resists the gospel. It resists grace. It is ultimately self-reliant. and self-sufficient, and most tragically of all, self-authoritative. Where this man relies on everything but the Word of God. But it is pride, right? Our innate character flaw in Adam. Where we just want to do whatever we want to do. It is this disposition which says, I do not need God. I do not need others. Pride is the problem. Love of pleasure. And I would add to this, it's not that pleasure is bad. It's misplaced pleasure. It's taking pleasure in the wrong things or taking too much pleasure in the right things. It's this love of pleasure. It's a delight in anything that overshadows a delight in God Himself. Listen to what Ryle says. Youth is the time when our passions are strongest and, like unruly children, cry most loudly for indulgence. This is the time when we generally have the most health and strength. So stop the quote right there. So what do we do? We use that to squander. We squander our strength. We squander our manly vigor on idols and other stupid things. Note also what Ryle says, death seems far away, and to enjoy ourselves in this life seems everything. Love of pleasure. Another one, thoughtlessness and inconsideration. This is one of the things that the enemy attacks mostly in men. One example is this allowing our emotions to overpower us. Emotions to govern our will. Emotions to govern our mind. It's amazing that even though Adam fell and the mind is corrupted, that still by God's grace, a man of God can use his mind, can subject it to the commands of Christ, can take every thought captive. It is remarkable. that by the grace of God we still have the capacity to do that. And yet, one of the pitfalls is that we're thoughtless. We don't think things through. We don't consider things. We do not sit and ponder God. We don't ponder. We don't think of the opportunities under Christ's administration that we can take advantage of to serve others. to use our strength for good. No, we go out and waste it. That is, if we can get out of bed before 10 a.m., we go out and waste our strength and masculine vigor on things that do not matter. We don't think about the things that matter most. We don't consider how God can use us for the expansion of His Kingdom for His own glorious purposes. Here's another one. I think this is a big one too, so listen up, young men. Contempt of true Christianity. Now, this is not so much contempt in the sense of sneering at Christianity or calling Christians names. It's not outright mockery. But the contempt comes in the hypocrisy. The contempt is evident in what is little or half-hearted involvement in the things of God. And do we not read in Psalm 119 this theme of, with my whole heart I have sought You? Verse 2 of Psalm 119, blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart. Not just a half-heart. But it is this half-hearted regard of the things of God in which contempt truly is made manifest. It's that double-mindedness. that unveils our hypocrisy. But there are other things competing for supremacy in our own hearts. Here's another one. This one is huge. Fear of man's opinion. One of the greatest challenges facing men is fear of other men. And I think we really do battle with this our entire life. I mean, you'd hope at some point of maturity in Christ we would just stop caring, but this is something that we really, really struggle with. is fear of man's opinion. And I think most notably, fear of a woman's opinion. I'll throw that in there. Oh, we talked about this, man. I want to do the right thing, but what is my wife going to say? We talked about the importance of reproving your wife. Telling your wife she's wrong. Telling your wife that you must obey God rather than her. You must obey God rather than man and woman. Listen to what the Scriptures say. Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart, there's the heart again, is My law. Do not fear the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their reviling. Think about that. God knows us. He knows that internal struggle. Don't be afraid at their reviling. Oh, they're going to say mean things to me. They're going to curse me. They're going to call me names. They're going to drag God's name through the mud. I better keep my mouth shut. He says don't be dismayed at them. Don't fear them. Now listen to verse 8 here. For the moth will eat them like a garment and the grub will eat them like wool. You think about King Herod in the book of Acts. Because Herod failed to give glory to God, what happened? He was eaten by worms and he died. Foreshadowing here. But, my righteousness will be forever and my salvation to all nations. The work of God will last forever. And it will be a worldwide phenomenon. My righteousness will be forever. It will never end. It will outlast the critics. It will bury the critics. Their revilings are temporary. And if their revilings are temporary, your fear of man should be temporary. Love this. My salvation to all generations. And He's going to use human instrumentation to proclaim this salvation. But He's not going to do it with a bunch of spineless cowards. Here's another one. And this is outside the scope of Ryle's book, but a couple of things that came to mind And I think the big one, and you could package this all up in sort of the one concept, but laziness, idleness, procrastination. Procrastination is such a manly thing, we should call it brocrastination. It's terrible. This thing plagues men, right? This resolve, right? Waiting to the 11th hour only to die at 10.30. This afflicts man like nothing else today. Men simply are lazy. We like to think we're diligent. We like to think that we're maybe being strategic or well-rested. But I tell you, few things afflict man today like laziness and making excuses. Starting every other sentence with, I can't because... I wish I could but... This is what young men are saying. And this is what increasingly older men are saying. Waiting around for opportunity rather than by the grace of God going out there and seizing those opportunities to bring glory to God through your work. Remember, as Christians, brothers, the work of our hands are blessed. Any work you do, Whether you are keeping us from getting nuked by Big Bad Russia, or you are digging ditches by the I-25. All of that is blessed work if it's done in the name of Christ. And you do it as a Christian. And here's another one. I didn't expect my introduction to be this long, but whatever. Another one and the last one is unbelieving friends. Surrounding yourself with those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Surrounding yourself by godless people, whether it's on the internet or in your own city. And Ryle actually warns about that. He gives a big warning to young men near the end of his book. He says, beware of having close relationships with those who do not know God. Surround yourselves with godly men. I don't care what age you are. I don't care if you're 5. I don't care if you're 14. I don't care if you're 90. Surround yourself with godly men who love the Lord. Surround yourself with men, manly men, who won't let you, who won't suffer you to make excuses, who will not suffer you to be lazy and careless. We all need men like that in our lives, especially if you're young. You need men who are going to disciple you, who, if necessary, are going to rebuke you to your face, perhaps in the presence of many witnesses, and tell you to walk with God and work hard for His kingdom. So that is what is wrapped up in the young man. I mean, we could quit right now, but let's keep going. Exploring this reality of the pure way. So how can a young man keep his way pure? So once again, this path laid out for him in which this young man has taken ownership of God's way. You see these sort of heaven has touched earth in this sense, that a man has looked upon God's way and says, yes, this is the way. This is the old path. This is the path or highway I must walk. This is the path of God. So, how do we keep? And the word here is a little misleading, but how can a man keep his way? That is cleanse. How can a young man keep his way pure? How can we clear it from compromise, from obstacles? How can we keep it from getting soiled? A great illustration that comes to mind is a young man's bedroom. I have a young man who dwells in my house. And sometimes keeping the bedroom clean is an arduous task. We were all young men once, and we remember our parents coming in and saying, what is going on with this room? You are not leaving this room, young man, until you clean it. We've got to purify the room. We've got to throw out the baby toys. We've got to pick up our books off the floor. We have to make our bed and not put all of our belongings underneath it. We have to declutter. We have to be able to get to our place of rest without tripping over everything that is in the way. And keeping our way pure is much like that. It's keeping at bay all the things that compromise our walk with God. To compromise our ability to stay committed to this task of faithfully proclaiming the Word of God. So how do we keep it? How do we keep it pure? Remember, purity is a big issue in the Bible. We want to live as we are, right? As we are proclaimed in Christ. We have been proclaimed righteous. We have been proclaimed clean. So how do we live as such? How do we guard it? This is amazing to think about, because we are not living in a time before Christ. We are living in light of the truth that a man, one man, in history has faithfully kept his way pure. Christ goes before us. We have an abiding example. We are treated as if we have lived His life. And yet, this task remains. Functionally. Of staying pure. Of not allowing the devil to gain a foothold. Of not living our lives with such defiling compromise. And so here's the answer. See, I know the lead up is unbearable, but here we go. How can a young man keep his way pure? And here's the answer. By keeping it according to your Word. Keeping it according to your Word. So here we go. Keeping it. Not just keeping something in the sense of doing what it says. We understand this requires love, attention, discipline, watchfulness. Not complacency. Not carelessness. Not laziness. Keeping it means to take heed, to watch yourself. What I love about this word is that it goes back all the way to Genesis 2 regarding Adam's responsibility in the Garden of Eden. He was put there as God's steward to not only be a gardener, not only to be a priest where heaven and earth met, but to guard it in the sense of being a sentry. To keep danger at bay. That's what makes this episode of the serpent So alarming. Where was Adam? He was supposed to be guarding and keeping Eden so that things like talking snakes did not come in and deceive your wife. You're never quite going to understand that. But to guard and keep Eden. So, in the same sense, by guarding it, by being watchful over this path, sometimes with deadly vigilance according to Your Word. You realize that after the man and his wife were exiled from the garden, what then happened? In Genesis 3.24, a sword then guarded the way. Where man failed, now the sword of God keeps the way. And you find this theme kind of continuing throughout the book of Genesis. What happens next? Genesis 4-9. Cain's offering is rejected by God. He becomes angry. And then he goes out and slays his brother violently. And the Lord asks him, Cain, where is your brother? And then what does Cain ask? Am I my brother's keeper? Do I have responsibilities of protection Toward my brother. Do I need to be a sentry for my brother? Do I watch? Do I exercise watchful care over my brother so that sin does not befall him? So that danger does not befall him? Right? Danger is both spiritual and physical. Just like the serpent. The serpent was a physical and a spiritual danger to Eve. Am I my brother's keeper? What's the answer to that, guys? Yes! You are your brother's keeper. You are a guardian. And then in Genesis 17, verse 9, where the Lord revisits His covenant that He makes with Abraham, and He says, now, as for you, you are to keep My covenant, Abraham. I am blessing you with all of this. I am going to do all these things. I will, I will, I will. Read the pattern there. But then He says, as for you, oh yes, there are responsibilities for you. And I will give you what you need. to carry out these things, but you are to keep, you are to guard my covenant, right? I have given a word to you, Abraham, and now your calling, very similar to Adam, is to guard the word that I have spoken to you. Adam had to do the same thing. He had to guard what God had revealed to him. Every tree you may eat of, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, Abraham, you are to guard my covenant. And today, as men, young men, old men, whatever, living under the New Covenant, we have the same responsibility. No different. We are also now today to guard what God has entrusted to us. We are to guard the Word. We are to guard the Gospel. We are to guard and steward all of those sure promises that have been given to us in Christ. So in some sense, it's an exalted responsibility. Because we're living in the very reality of it. The Old Testament saints could look forward to it, but we are living in light of that finished work. And so he says, by keeping it according to Your Word. I mean, notice the starting point. Realize we are harping on this constantly. I would say between Jeremy and I, anyone who takes the pulpit up here, anyone who teaches, this is a regular occurrence. It's answering the question of what is our starting point? What is our starting point for life? What is our starting point for how we think? What is our starting point for ethics? For morality? For our understanding of everything we see and hear and taste and touch? What is our starting point for understanding what truth is? It's the Word of God. That always is the starting point. And this is very hard for young men to take. This is why pride die is such a hard death. Because we look at this and we say, it can't possibly be this simple. The answer can't possibly be this clear. And there are many men out there today, and you're looking at this and you may think the same thing, or you may think, well, obviously, But then you walk out of there and you're always starting at other places. You're not starting at God's Word. And yet here it is, by guarding it according to your Word. So the way in which we steward this purity, this pure way, we have to do it by using God's Word as our starting point. We keep it according to what does God say? So that's the ongoing question. What does God say about this? What does God think about this? Because often, so often, our starting point is ourselves. What do I think about this? How do I feel about this? No, it's what does God say about this? That is the answer. And I think a reflection of growing in grace as men is struggling with this less and less. As more often as you grow in the Lord, you will see God's Word as your starting point manifest itself in every area of life. Right? In your worship, in your family, in your work life. That's your starting point. That is your standard. And note this, friends, there is only one answer here. There are not many answers to this question of keeping your way pure. It is keeping it according to your Word. That is the only available option you have. Everything else is going to be a catastrophe. Because every starting point other than God's Word is an instant, extreme deviation from God's standard. You cannot manufacture another one and expect Expect life. Expect blessing. Expect ongoing fellowship with God. His Word is the only way. Think of what the Scriptures say about this elsewhere. 1 Kings 8.25, Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, Keep with your servant David..." This is Solomon talking. "...your servant David, my father, that which you have promised him, saying, You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel. If only your sons take heed..." Right? Same thing. "...take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked." To walk before Me as you have walked. Now there is some good news there. It seems that David is being used as some kind of example of what it means to serve the Lord with his whole heart. Even the Lord's witness of David himself was that he sought me with his whole heart. He kept my commandments. David loved me. And we think, David the murderer? David the adulterer? David the liar? David the thief? Oh yes, same David. But what was the difference in David? Love really shined through. David wasn't just a screw-up. He was, in fact, a royal screw-up. And yet, what was his response when confronted with his sin? When Nathan the prophet said, Thou art the man, what did David say? I have sinned. Now, that may seem unremarkable to us at first. But think about the sins that David just committed. How likely is it that any man, after committing adultery, theft, murder, and lying, and there's probably a host of other things involved with that scandal, How many stand like a man and say, yes, I have sinned. I have missed the mark. I have violated God's Word. I have offended a holy God. And I deserve to die. Most men at that point, if they are caught in that act, they are running. They are running for their lives. Or, they are standing there and they are making excuses. They're doing at least one of those two things. But where is David's heart expressed in the fact that he confesses his sin? Right then and there. And also ends up receiving and enduring the consequences which have been declared on him. But one thing he never does is he never forsakes God. He continues to love the Lord. He continues to serve the Lord. Even while the sword never departs from his house. and knowing that you are going to live under that kind of calamity and watch certain things befall your own children and your own kingdom, and have your own son usurp your throne, you have all kinds of reasons to say, I give up. This clearly isn't worth it. I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to walk my own way. But no, David does just the opposite. He walks with the Lord. He keeps His command. He loves the Lord with all of his heart. Good insight to this is what is expressed in Psalms 17, 3-5. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night. You have tested me and you find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent. Right? My steps have held fast to your paths. Right? The same way that is being expressed here. My feet have not slipped. That is something we can say together about the way of God. It has great traction. We do not slip, not because we have good shoes, but because the way is firm. The way is not slick. The way is not prone to failure. And as something occurred to me this morning that I'd like to share, you think about this use of the way. How was the church described as in the book of Acts? They were followers of the way. You see the continuity there. These Christians under the New Covenant understood that in Christ, they were on the way. They were on the Lord's way. The King's highway. And what an offense that would have been to those Jews who rejected Christ as the Messiah and as their King. And those are the ones whose paths slipped. because they did not hold fast to the Word of God. So that's the encouragement from Psalm 17. Keeping yourself from the paths of the violent. That is what is being expressed by keeping your way pure. Don't go along with evil men, even when they entice you, saying, as Proverbs says, let us lie in wait. Let us take plunder. Let us victimize people. Let us take advantage of those who are not looking. But the man who keeps his way pure keeps clear his path from violence. And his steps hold fast to God's steps. And his feet have not slipped. I mean, the Lord will prove Himself faithful. That much we know. Even in this life, the Lord will prove Himself faithful by keeping our feet firmly planted on the rock of Jesus Christ. That is what A young man who is keeping his way pure, who keeps it according to the Word of God, has to look forward to. And there is such extraordinary blessing in that. There is such great anticipation for a young man who, from early on in his life, resolves by the working of the Holy Spirit to walk with God, to follow the Lord, to keep His commandments, to trust in Christ alone, who looks at what the world is doing, who looks at how unbelievers are walking and behaving, and says, by the grace of God, I will have nothing to do with that. I will take ownership of this path. I will steward it righteously. I will keep my integrity. I will not forget God's Word. And I will not go the way of the unrighteous. And any young men out there, don't think that just because you are young, you have time to squander. Do not think just because you are young, you cannot walk with God right now, but you cannot set an example. So I would say, stop excusing yourself from that opportunity. Trust in Christ. Bow the knee. Obey Him. Open up His Word. Listen to it. Long for it. Delight in it. and proclaim it. And your way will be pure. But it will only be done according to God's Word. So we will wait for my next four life-changing points for next Lord's Day, and we will close for today. So please pray with me. Father, thank You again for Your Word. And granted, I anticipated getting much farther along in the text today. But if we can only sit here and ponder the reality the reality of the pure way. The reality for young men. That even a young man with all the temptations in this life can hear Your voice and can be a faithful steward of Your Word and keep the path pure, undefiled, uncompromised, if only he would listen to Your Word and trust it and obey it. And so, I do pray for the young men in our congregation today specifically, and then generally each saint in here. We know that compromise really begins when we deviate from Your Word, which is our standard, which contains Your promises, which reveals to us who You are and what You desire from us. And Lord, You desire for us to hear the Word and trust in You, to have faith in the work of Christ. That we can even from our standpoint today, we can look to Him as the Man who kept the way pure. Who has sanctified this path for us in a very real way. That we can walk the path of the King to know Him, to honor Him, to cherish Him. Lord, give us, and we know You will, give us every strength to walk that path faithfully. To walk it as Christ did. knowing that You will give us every provision necessary. Help us to consider these things, Lord, to take heed according to Your Word with what it has said, with what it has revealed, and all of its completeness and sufficiency, God, that we can trust it truly, that we need not look elsewhere. So please, be quick to answer that and give this church the strength to persevere and to keep our way. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.