[0:00] Psalm 119, verse 33. Preserve my life according to your word.
[0:34] Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts.
[0:45] Preserve my life in your righteousness. Well, we have been doing what David wants to do with his life, when he says, let me live that I may praise you.
[0:59] It's a wonderful thing to live to praise the Lord, to be able to do it together on the Lord's day. Now, in Psalm 119, we find David praising the Lord for his righteous laws, for his word, because this is the only safe guide home to the Father's house.
[1:19] It's the only true map through this deceiving lying world that will get us safely to heaven's shore. But what we see this morning is that David is not satisfied just to have the divine textbook.
[1:34] He's equally desperate to have the divine teacher of the divine textbook. So one of his most repeated prayers in this psalm is, teach me.
[1:47] Verse 12, praise be to you, O Lord, teach me your decrees. 26, I recounted my ways and you answered me.
[1:58] Teach me your decrees. Verse 33, teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees. Then I will keep them to the end. Verse 34, the earth is filled with your love, O Lord.
[2:10] Teach me your decrees. Verse 66, teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. Verse 68, you are good and what you do is good.
[2:22] Teach me your decrees. Verse 108, accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth and teach me your laws. Verse 124, deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees.
[2:36] 135, make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees. And lastly, 171, may my lips overflow with praise, for you do teach me your decrees.
[2:52] Now, most people, if they pray, never pray what David prays all the time. Teach me, teach me.
[3:05] This is one of the reasons why David praises the Lord. Not only does he have the divine text, but he has the divine teacher. May my lips overflow with praise, for you do teach me your decrees.
[3:22] In John chapter 6, Jesus says, this is the privilege promised to all those that the Father has given me. And it's why I shall lose none of them that of all that he's given me, but will raise them up at the last day.
[3:38] Why, Jesus? Because it's written in the prophets, they will all be taught by the Lord. If you're a Christian, it's only because you've been taught by the Lord.
[3:51] If you're going to land safely on heaven's shore, it will only be because you're taught by the Lord himself. They all have God as their teacher.
[4:03] And what a teacher he is. I wonder if we grasp the privilege that is ours to have God himself as our teacher. Maybe you have a hobby or a great interest.
[4:15] Maybe a business interest. Something about your job. And you wanted to learn more. And so you took a class on it. And when you got to the class, you realized that the very best book ever written on the subject is your textbook.
[4:30] Oh, that's great. But then when you got there, you found that the author of the textbook is your teacher to actually teach you what he's written. And that's the privilege that is ours.
[4:43] The best book ever written. The only book that will safely get us to heaven. And our teacher? It's God himself. The same Holy Spirit that inspired every word is here in our hearts, Christian, to teach us that holy word.
[4:59] What a privilege. The weighty issues of life and death that are dealt with in this book are such. And the challenges of rightly learning what is written in this book is such that David will be satisfied with nothing less than having God as his teacher.
[5:20] And that's why we find him in every kind of situation in life crying out to God. Teach me, Lord. Give me understanding. Open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things in your law.
[5:35] His appreciation for the teacher is seen in his repeated cries to the Lord to be taught by him. And if he sounds desperate, it's because he is.
[5:48] Real spiritual learning is a God-sized problem. And nothing less than God will do. Now, we have many teachers and preachers. There's children you've already had at your Sunday school class and teachers there.
[6:01] And we're having preaching now and again this evening. To teach us. And we thank God for teachers and preachers. They're spiritual gifts that God has given to his church for the good of all.
[6:12] But if they're the only ones teaching you, then you're not learning like you need to learn. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
[6:26] And even so, unless the Lord is teaching, us other teachers are teaching in vain. And you are learning so-called in vain.
[6:38] No, there's this unseen real teacher supernaturally teaching that we must have.
[6:49] Or we will not profit from the word and learn from it aright. So, this repeated prayer to be taught by God reveals the psalmist's humility, doesn't it?
[7:02] That rare quality. And humility is the first part of real learning, isn't it? Calvin said all true religion begins with teachableness.
[7:15] Being humble enough to be teachable. And that too is a grace that God must teach us. Or we would not have it. Maybe you've had to train someone.
[7:26] Maybe at work. And you needed to train someone to do a certain task. And just as soon as you begin to teach. I know. I know. They say. And just watch.
[7:39] You can see that they don't know. And they're just showing their ignorance. But it's proving their pride. They're too proud to be taught by another. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer discreetly.
[7:57] Do not be wise in your own eyes. Proverbs 3.7 That's the greatest hindrance to learning. Thinking you don't need to be taught. And nothing is more common.
[8:10] Do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3.5 Why does God have to keep telling this? Don't lean on your understanding. Don't be wise in your own. Because by nature that's what we are.
[8:21] We're proud. We don't like to put ourselves under some teacher to teach us. And though David is a believer. He still has reason to pray.
[8:34] Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law. Though David is a seasoned believer. He still must pray. Teach me Lord.
[8:45] Teach me. You know the initial call of the gospel includes a call to repent. We must turn to the Lord. Well what are we to turn from?
[8:57] Isaiah chapter 55. Let the wicked forsake his way. The whole shoot and match. It's all wrong. You must turn from your way. Let him forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.
[9:11] Because your thoughts are not my thoughts. Mine are higher than yours like heaven is above the earth. And so there's this initial call to lay your thoughts down.
[9:22] And to receive everything that God thinks and has revealed in his word as truth. Truth for you. Truth for life. But that process is not over.
[9:34] By a long shot. Doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian. We still have old ways of thinking. Areas where we're still thinking like the world.
[9:46] Or like the old us. And we can revert back to old thoughts and ways. And so Romans 12 too is written to those who are saved.
[9:57] And they're told be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's in the present tense. It's an ongoing mind renewal that we need.
[10:08] A lifelong process of replacing our thoughts with God's thoughts. We still have remaining gaps.
[10:19] Blind spots. Cataracts. In our understanding. And wrong ways of thinking. About God. About ourselves. About sin. About others.
[10:31] About the world. About money. About sex. About a hundred other things. Even mothering. Consider Peter and the apostles.
[10:42] They had the divine textbook. They had scripture. But they brought to it their own preconceived ideas. Didn't they? They still had blind spots.
[10:54] That they didn't rightly understand. What the textbook said. They needed a teacher. And he was right in their midst. But they couldn't even understand. What he was telling them.
[11:06] That. He must. Suffer. And die. And be raised again. And they didn't know. They didn't understand what he meant. And yet they were afraid to ask him.
[11:22] We don't have to be afraid to ask our God. We don't have to be afraid to ask the Lord Jesus. To ask the Holy Spirit. I don't understand. Please come and teach me.
[11:34] He loves to be sought as a teacher. So ask and you will receive. He guides the humble in what is right. And he teaches them his way. David sees his need for a teacher.
[11:49] Doesn't trust himself alone with the textbook. I need you to shine your light upon it. And upon my mind and heart. So that I'll rightly understand it. That's the humility of teachableness.
[12:01] I don't know. So teach me. Now what is so special. And irreplaceable. About the teaching of God. Just this.
[12:13] It has a unique power to teach. He has a unique power to teach. Like no one else can. Other teachers can explain. Illustrate and apply.
[12:23] We can lay out the text before you. As clear as we can. But only God can open your eyes. To let you see it. As it really is.
[12:35] Other teachers can deliver truth to your ears. And just dump it there. But only God can give it entrance into your heart. God opened the heart of Lydia.
[12:50] So that she believed the message. That was being taught by Paul. There was a teaching going on. That was unseen. It was the work of God the Spirit.
[13:02] Opening her heart. And so only God can put truth. On the inward parts. Only God can write it upon your heart. The promise of the new covenant.
[13:13] To put it in our minds. And write it on our hearts. That control center of who you are. And what you do. Of what you think. And what you desire. And what you choose to do. Your heart.
[13:24] God can write it on the heart. No man can do that. In other words. There's a teaching of God that is effectual. It's effective. It actually brings about the result.
[13:38] That God desires. He can teach you in such a way. That you get it. You get it. So that the truth holds this powerful control.
[13:49] Over your life. Now we want to see this in verses 33 to 37. Verse 33. Teach me oh Lord to follow your decrees.
[14:01] Then I will keep them to the end. Notice in the first place. That this teaching. This is a teaching that is more than an information drop.
[14:11] The psalmist is not just wanting to be taught facts. Oh he wants facts. But not only facts. He wants truth. But not only truth. He wants the power of truth.
[14:23] He wants for the truth to come to him. The word of God to come to him. Alive. And active in his heart and life. At work within him. Changing his thoughts. His desires.
[14:34] His ways. His will. Changing him. Notice his cry is not merely to know his decrees. No it's teach me oh Lord.
[14:46] In such a way that I will follow your decrees. That's a whole nother level of teaching. Isn't it? Knowing and following.
[15:00] I wonder. Maybe you didn't realize that you could pray for that. Maybe you thought that you could only ask God to give you understanding. But then after that. That's the end of his activity.
[15:10] And now he just dumps it on you. And now it's up to you. What will you do with it? Now he may do that with you. But he is such a teacher. That you can ask him to do much more than that.
[15:21] To actually teach you in such a way. As to follow. And to keep his decrees. To the end. This prayer is rightly reflected in.
[15:33] The song. Many of the songs we sing. I think of the one. Speak oh Lord. As we come to you. To receive the food of your holy word. Okay.
[15:44] So what are we going to ask the Lord to do? As we come to receive his word. Take your truth. Plant it deep within. I can't do that for you.
[15:56] God can. And that's what we ask him to do. Plant it deep within. Shape. And fashion us. In your likeness. So we're asking God to do far more than just dump truth into our laps.
[16:09] We're asking him to shove it right down into our hearts. Not to lie unproductive on the surface. But to take his words. As a hammer.
[16:21] And chisels. And files. And to come inside. And to shape. And to fashion us. Into the likeness of Jesus. That's transformational teaching.
[16:32] It does not leave us as we were when we came. But we go out changed. A different version of me. A better version of me.
[16:42] More like him. And less like me. That's what we ask God. That's what we ask him to do. As our teacher. The song goes on. Teach us Lord. Full obedience.
[16:54] Holy reverence. True humility. Teach us Lord. In such a way that we will obey fully. And we'll revere you for your greatness.
[17:05] And we'll be humble before you. Cause our faith to rise. Now the truth is food for faith. But we're asking for more than God just to put the food on the plate.
[17:18] We're asking him to cause our faith to rise. To clothe faith with certainty. We all know what it's like to have the word.
[17:30] And we can be reading it. We can be memorizing it. We can be hearing the greatest preachers online preach it. And we are still. Our faith is not raised one degree.
[17:42] We're still as anxious and worrisome as we were before we came to the word of God. We need God to teach us in a way that our faith. That causes faith to rise.
[17:55] That's a whole other kind of teaching. So how can we pray for things like this from our teacher? Because David does. David did.
[18:05] Here in Psalm 119. There is an omnipotent influence that attends his teaching that David knows about. And he will settle for nothing less. I need more than a right textbook.
[18:17] I need the right teacher. With power. To take the word. And to bring about the effects for which he has sent it to us. Notice what the end for which he does bring the word to us.
[18:33] In verse 33. Teach me oh Lord to follow your decrees. Then I will keep them to the end. You see with God teaching you. You will persevere to the end in the way of obedience and holiness.
[18:45] To the very end of your life. Why? Because he's teaching you. He's not just leaving you with the Bible and saying there. Follow the map. No.
[18:56] He's causing you to follow the map. Notice there's a cause effect relationship here in verse 33. The cause is if the Lord teaches me to follow his decrees.
[19:08] What will the effect be? Then I will keep it to the end. There is a teaching of God that's effectual. Mothers wouldn't it be great if you could teach your kids.
[19:21] With that kind of power. Whatever you taught them they would do and do it to the end. There is such a teacher. And David knew him to be such a teacher.
[19:33] And ask nothing less of him than to teach him in such a way that he would keep his word all the way to the end. Well, verse 34.
[19:48] We notice more of the way our teacher is able to teach us like none other. Give me understanding and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
[19:58] At least five times in this psalm we hear David crying for understanding. It's basically the same as crying to be taught. Here we see he's saying, give me understanding. Now, Ephesians 4 says that by nature our understanding is darkened.
[20:14] It's darkened because of the ignorance and futility of our thinking. But notice the difference God makes when he gives us understanding. Understanding.
[20:26] The causes give me understanding and the effect I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. This is more than superficial understanding.
[20:38] Just knowing a few facts in our heads. There's a true spiritual understanding that is needed in order to move me to wholehearted obedience.
[20:49] obedience. Kids, you know what obedience is. It's to do it now. It's to do it all. And it's to do it with the right heart attitude. That's what David wants with his whole heart. And he knows that God is able to teach that to him in such a way that he will obey with all of his heart.
[21:10] Right? So we need understanding. We need to understand things as God does, as they really are if we are to obey with our whole heart. Parents, you tell your teenager the rule is to be home by 1030 on Saturday night. And she asks, why? When you let me stay up till midnight on Friday.
[21:36] And you respond, because I say so. Well, she may be home by 1030, but probably not with all her heart. No, if you want her to obey with all of her heart, you probably ought to be sharing some of the reasons so that she understands the rules, the commands that are given. There's a time to say, because I say so.
[22:01] It's maddening to see mothers trying to tell a two-year-old and explain to a two-year-old. No, no. There it is, right, just to say, because I said so. And if you don't, you're going to feel it.
[22:15] Children, obey your parents for this is right. That's enough for a young one. But as your kids grow up and they're teenagers, they're now, their minds are more formed and they're able to understand the reasoning behind your rules of the house. So it's good to explain. Well, honey, it's because if you stay out that late on Saturday night, you'll be tired in your Sunday school class and you'll fall asleep in Pastor John's long sermon. And oh, okay, then she gets it. She understands the reason, you see.
[22:51] And so she's able to obey. We trust with all of her heart. The more understanding you give, the more wholeheartedness you can receive in the obedience. And David is wanting to obey God with all of his heart. That's a desire planted in every believer. I want to obey you, not just outwardly.
[23:12] I'm in the right place with the right people doing the right thing on the Lord's day. No. We want to obey with all of our heart. And the way to obey with all of our heart is to have understanding, have a right understanding.
[23:31] Give me understanding and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. So let me explain some ways that this applies. David and you and I need a right understanding of a lot of things, but take our relationship to God.
[23:51] God has made you. That means you're his creature. That means he has a right to command. Potter's rights, creator's rights over you. But even more than that, if you're a believer, God has redeemed you from the pit. He's bought you with blood. You're now twice his.
[24:10] Yes, his to command. You are his servant. He is your covenant Lord, as we heard from Joshua 5. So you need to understand your identity, who you are as a Christian.
[24:22] Paul was on board of the storm-tossed ship and he spoke to the others there, the soldiers and sailors, about the living God, whose I am and whom I serve.
[24:38] I am his and therefore I serve him. Well, that's his identity, you see. You exist because of him. You belong to him and you exist to do his will, to serve him.
[24:53] You're not your own. You're bought at a price. And therefore, glorify God in your body, which is his. And so if God teaches you and he gives you that understanding of your true identity and it grips you, there's a spiritual understanding of it, then you will keep God's law and obey it with all your heart, you see.
[25:12] You'll say, I'm just glad to be here. I should be in hell by now. He's had mercy on me. And children, you'll say with that little boy Samuel, speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
[25:27] You see, it comes from a right understanding of our identity and relationship with God. It enables wholehearted obedience.
[25:45] Has the song sunk in? That Christ was damned in your place to save you from eternal damnation. And can it be? Can this really be?
[25:55] Has that gripped you to wonder at it and to really be moved by it? Then you will obey him with all your heart, you see. We need understanding to move our hearts.
[26:09] The problem is we don't see things as we ought to. But God can give us that understanding. So when Asaph was envious of the prosperous wicked, while he's suffering, he went into the sanctuary and there God gave him understanding to see the final end of the prosperous wicked.
[26:33] You know what? He quit envying and he started pitying them. And it wasn't because God says thou shalt not envy. No, it was because God gave him understanding of the end of the wicked.
[26:48] And he quit envying with all of his heart. God can give us such understanding that his commands are good. Not only holy and righteous, but good, as Romans 7, 12 says.
[27:04] Beneficial, advantageous to you. So that we would gladly obey his commands with all of our heart. God's law is good.
[27:14] It's one of his good gifts. It's only bad when you make obeying it a way to get to heaven. That's horrible. But his law is good. It's a perfect reflection of his holy nature and what he expects of you.
[27:31] And so in 1 John 5, 3, God tells us, he's giving us proper understanding, brothers and sisters, that God's commands are not burdensome. They're not grievous. They're not a pain in the neck.
[27:41] They don't cause you grief. Now, why must he give us this understanding? Because the world, the flesh, and the devil are all saying it is a burden.
[27:52] God's commands are grievous. They are a pain in the neck. Let's be done with them if we're after something worthwhile in life. Oh, but God can give us such an understanding of his goodness and of the goodness of his law that we would obey it with all of our hearts.
[28:08] David says in verse 68 of this psalm, you are good and what you do is good. And so what do you ask from a good God who only does good?
[28:19] Teach me your decrees. That's the goodness I want from you, to be taught your decrees. You know, God can give us such an understanding of what trials are producing in our lives that we would actually count it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds.
[28:40] What's the understanding? Well, the teacher comes and gives us understanding to know, to understand and believe that the testing of our faith is developing perseverance.
[28:51] And perseverance must finish its work that you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Oh, I get it. I see. That's what we need.
[29:02] And with more than just these eyes, but with the eyes of our mind, of our heart, to actually be able then to, okay, I will rejoice. Though this trial hurts, I see the good God's doing through it.
[29:17] He can give us such understanding of his wisdom, power, and love behind every providence in our lives that we can obey his command with all of our hearts not to be anxious about anything, not to complain.
[29:32] I can obey that with all my heart if I have understanding of his wisdom, power, and love behind his every providence. There's something of ignorance in every sin.
[29:46] I don't know who said it. It's in a kind of a commentary on the Westminster Confession. Something of ignorance in every sin. You can tease that out in your own life.
[30:00] Something of ignorance in every sin for which we need proper understanding from our teacher to further dispel the darkness from our minds that we might see and understand things as they really are.
[30:14] And it's that understanding that engages the whole heart in obedience. But we see more of the same from our teacher in verse 35. Direct me.
[30:29] Or in the King James Version and other versions, make me to go in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. The word has a broad range of meanings, but it can mean make me, cause me, bend me.
[30:45] Again, I believe David is wanting here more than just information from his teacher. He's wanting to be moved into the way of his commands.
[30:59] To actually go in the path of his commands. Not just to know, but to go in the path of his commands. Practical obedience. That's what he wants.
[31:09] That's what he's craving and asking God to do in teaching him. Why? Because that's where I find delight. I find delight there. I'm traveling in the path of your commands.
[31:20] And in my better state, I know that. So make me to go in the path of your commands. For there I find delight. I don't find them burdensome. I find them just like you said.
[31:30] No, they're a delight. They're the best way. Your ways are pleasant ways and all your paths are peace. Oh, but I'm so weak and foolish and often deceived and faltering.
[31:44] Please make me, cause me, bend me to go in the path of your commands. That's the good life where I find fellowship with you. Walking in your way.
[31:55] So help me to walk in it. Again, we need more than information pointing the right way to go. We need the divine power to move our hearts, our affections, our will to choose that path of God's commandments day by day, throughout the day.
[32:13] Spurgeon says, here is our only hope. For we shall not go in the narrow path till we are made to do so by the maker's own power. We won't go that way unless there is this teaching power of God making us, causing us, bending us to go his way.
[32:35] We all like sheep have gone astray. We turn to his own way. And though God is healing our wayward hearts, we still find that proneness to wonder.
[32:45] We still find that when we would do good, there's evil present with us. There's that indwelling active principle of sin, the flesh that wars against the spirit so that there are times when what I want to do, I don't do.
[33:03] And what I don't want to do, I do. The down drag of sin that would keep us from full obedience that we want to give. Oh, but I have a teacher who's able to keep me from falling and he's able to make me to go in the paths of his commands, not by forcing me against my will, but by making me willing, giving me such understanding that I see that's the only way to go.
[33:33] And I willingly walk in the ways of his commands. Because our teacher is able to work within us both to will and to do of the things that please him.
[33:47] Philippians 2.13. You see, that's a teaching no preacher teacher can ever do. But that God, the teacher, is able and does do.
[33:58] Making us willing and able. Paul could say, in my inner being, I delight in God's law. Romans 7.22.
[34:09] David could say, make me to go on the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Spurgeon says, where your heart always, already finds delight, your feet are sure to follow.
[34:21] Your heart is set on those commands, your feet are sure to follow. Because it proves that God is at work within you. Because no unsaved person ever delighted in the laws of God.
[34:35] No, he turned his back to them and he went his way. So if you find your delight in God's laws, even though you stumble and sometimes you are drug down into sin, if you delight in God's law, it shows that God is at work within you.
[34:52] And if your heart is there, your feet will be there. That will be the predominant testimony of your life. Having planted a new nature in you, he will perfect it in you.
[35:08] Until the day of Christ Jesus. When he will present you before his glorious presence. Without fault. With great joy.
[35:18] That's David's holy argument in prayer. It's the reason he gives God to answer him. You've given me the desire and delight for your law. Now give me the ability to obey it.
[35:31] David doesn't have it. He knows God can teach. God can make that happen. Well, verse 36. Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.
[35:42] You see again what's happening here. The psalmist is asking for far more than information. He's wanting his teacher to actually, in teaching him, to turn his heart. To act on our behalf.
[35:54] To do something to us with the truth. To turn, to incline, to cause our hearts to go this way instead of that way. To go his way instead of my way.
[36:05] To go toward his statutes rather than toward selfish gain. What statutes? Well, share with God's people who are in need.
[36:16] Open your hand to the poor. Work. Doing something useful with your own hands. That you might have something to share with those who are in need. Give generously, not reluctantly, or under compulsion.
[36:26] For God loves a cheerful giver. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. And take on the mind of Jesus Christ.
[36:37] He gave all he had for us. His very life. He who was rich became poor. That we through his poverty might become rich. These are the statutes, you see, that are challenging your heart's turning toward selfishness.
[36:52] And selfish gain. Of getting and keeping for me, forgetful of them. And you know how stubborn selfishness is. We never fully escape it in this life, do we?
[37:04] We have a hard time thinking out of the box of what's in it for me. That seems to be as much as we can think about. If God, our teacher, is not opening the box and saying, you've got a brother or sister in need.
[37:17] You've got this person in need in your life. And that's what we need. That's the teacher, you see. Opening the box. Teaching us to think beyond ourselves.
[37:29] There's a confession here. Did you hear it in verse 37? David is saying, I find my heart strangely pulled away from your statutes toward selfishness.
[37:43] I need you, divine teacher, to turn my heart toward your statutes. Away from selfish gain. I can't turn my own, so please turn me and I will be turned.
[37:57] Lamentations 521. And isn't it a wonderful thing, brothers and sisters, that we can ask God to do that. When we feel the stubbornness of our selfishness, it sticks to us like our skin.
[38:08] And we can't get rid of it. But our teacher can be making us more like the Lord Jesus. So examine yourself.
[38:19] Where are you being pulled to a life of selfishness? It's Mother's Day, kids. You just view mom for what you can get out of her? Or is God saving you from that selfish life to where you give her honor?
[38:35] You give her respect. You give her obedience. You give her help. You give her praise. Oh, we have a teacher.
[38:46] He can teach you. And turn your heart away from selfishness. And then lastly, verse 37. Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Preserve my life according to your word.
[39:01] Interesting, isn't it? Turn my heart. Turn my eyes. Have you noticed the connection between your eyes and your heart? The Bible makes it many places.
[39:14] It was when Eve saw the forbidden fruit. And she saw that it was good for food and pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom. That she took it and ate it and gave some to Adam.
[39:26] And Achan confessed, as we will read soon in Joshua, that when I saw in the plunder, the beautiful robe, the shekel of silver, the wedge of gold, that I coveted them in my heart.
[39:42] And I took them. David, when he wasn't where he should have been, and when he saw a beautiful bathing woman, he sent for her and slept with her. There's a powerful connection between the heart and the eyes.
[39:59] And that's why Job made a covenant with his eyes, not to look lustfully upon a girl. And that's why Jesus said, if you are looking lustfully upon a woman that is not your wife, then you need to pluck out your eye.
[40:13] Because it's better to enter into heaven with one than into hell with two. And so here we find David asking his teacher, turn my eyes.
[40:25] I'm not good at this, Father. I'm not good at this, God. Would you turn my eyes away from worthless things? Now there's a lot of worthless things to capture our eyes.
[40:41] Social media has a whole bunch of worthless things to capture our eyes. And what we don't realize is that every time we open our eyes, we're opening up two gates into our hearts.
[40:55] What are you looking at all day? It's affecting your heart. Whether you know it or not. And often it's worthless things compared to eternal value.
[41:11] The true treasures that are found in Jesus Christ. We need to fix our eyes on him. Beware of the eye gate and what you let in.
[41:22] And David is praying, Lord, may those worthless things, let them just pass by me without me even seeing them. Let me be so fixing and turning my eyes on those things.
[41:32] There's a way of eternal value. That will pull my heart heavenward. So what have we seen today? We've seen that there is a teacher. A divine teacher of the divine textbook.
[41:45] And we need him if we're to profit from the word. And we found him to be very willing to teach us. And the way to engage him as our teacher is just prayer.
[41:58] Teach me. Teach me, Lord. Do what you can do in teaching me. Turning my heart. Giving me wholehearted obedience.
[42:12] Giving me obedience to the end. Is that what you mean when you ask God to teach you? It's a lot more than just give me some facts from the book today, God.
[42:24] So pray for God to teach you. Before you open God's word at home, pray, open my eyes, that I may see wonderful things in your wall. Before you come into here or into Sunday school class to be taught, pray and ask God to teach you.
[42:40] Ask God to teach you. Make me to walk after you're done hearing God's word. Ask him, what am I to do now with this word that I just heard taught today? Make me to walk in this way.
[42:51] Give me understanding so I'll do it with all my heart. And turn my eyes away from all that would distract me. The worthless things. And renew my life according to your word.
[43:02] You can use every, the whole section this week. Every time before you open the word, take out Psalm 119, 33.
[43:13] That whole section. Or just take one verse and pray from your heart that God would teach you. And then praise. That's the whole of Psalm 119. It's pray and praise.
[43:25] And so praise God for being your teacher and such a teacher. May my lips overflow with praise. God bless. Because you teach me your decrees.
[43:37] If you're here and you're without Jesus Christ. God is telling you that you're living in a dream, a delusion, a lie.
[43:48] You're not seeing reality as it really is. Because if you've not come to God through Jesus Christ, you clearly don't see the issues. You clearly do not understand how good God is.
[44:02] You clearly don't understand how kind the Lord Jesus is. How willing and able he is to save. And how wonderful and good are his commands.
[44:13] And how horrible are his punishments for those who refuse him. Because if you saw that, if you understood that, right in your seat right now, you'd cry out and say, Have mercy on me, Jesus.
[44:26] You have a good heart. Have mercy on me. Don't give me what I deserve. Give me mercy. As I'm trusting only in what you've done. Well, may God write his word upon our eyeballs, as one preacher put it, so that we would ever be crying for the Lord to teach us as only he can.
[44:51] May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. Amen. Amen. Amen.