In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches from Psalm 119:97-104 the four results that come from seeking God’s wisdom.
Pastor Babij explains that there are two foundations for these four results:
- We must love and desire the Word of God to learn obedience
- We must meditate upon God’s Word to achieve a transformed character
Pastor Babij then discusses the four results of meditating on God’s Word:
- We receive prudence
- Our insights become greater than the teachings of worldly teachers
- A young person becomes wiser than older non-believers
- We are restrained from wrong thinking and actions
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and let’s turn to psalm 119 before I go back into the Gospel of Mark I want to look at psalm 119 and one of the reasons why I want to look at someone 119 this morning is because every year I try to encourage people if they have not start reading through the Bible in a year that you would this year make it a commitment to every day you try to discipline yourself to get up and read through scripture now there’s many many things that could help us matter of fact they have apps that helps us read through scripture every year they give you whatever Bible program that you pick to do it either going through a the psalm and Old Testament New Testament some in a proverb every single day or you’re doing a chronological approach like I’ve been doing it but what’s neat about it is if you do it electronically that if you miss a few days they will remind you that you missed a few days and so it does keep you on track and I always encourage one encourage people listen if you fall off the wagon just keep going on that day and maybe this year you’ll read a half half of the Bible maybe next year you’ll read three quarters and then you’ll get to the place while you’re reading through Scripture maybe even finishing ahead of the time that you should have matter of fact finishing before the year ends because every day you’re not missing and you maybe even reading a little bit more because you get into it I think it’s that important so this morning of course psalm 119 is really about the Word of God and so there’s no way I can preach the whole thing we would be here for a year if I did that so I’m taking one small section verse 97 to verse number 104 which really talks about thus really the sufficiency of living with scripture on your mind in fact in psalm 119 verse 97 104 you see that’s a section there and it’s broken up by the Hebrew alphabet this is the section where it is it’s the the mame is the word of where they’re the M alphabet of the Hebrew language and so it takes it in sections and each section talks about the Word of God and so this morning I picked this section because I think it has four assertions in it that really help the child of God help somebody who wants to understand more about God in Scripture to be able to get into the Word of God and actually compensates for us youthfulness and even spiritual immaturity plus it leads us to satisfaction and victory so the wisdom which comes from the god of the word through the Word of God to the child of God is what this Psalm is talking about it was CS lewis who wrote in mere christianity he said this creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires actually exist for example a baby feels hunger well there is such a thing as food a duckling wants to swim well there’s such a thing as water if he said I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world because there are some things in this world that cannot satisfy us our soul he also says that if none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove the universe is a fraud probably earthly pleasure was never meant to satisfy but only to arouse a desire for the real thing and the real thing is God and the way we get to understand God is through his word so this morning I want to lay down a tube basis of getting to where the assertions actually start a matter of fact what I’m saying is that you can’t have these assertions in your life unless you meet the criteria for the basics and what are the basics well there’s two basics there’s two underlying basis of a godly person’s desire for the assertions of the Word of God and here’s the first one in verse numbers 97 here’s the first assertion oh how I love your law so what’s the basis desire desire for the word of god now the desire for the Word of God does not necessarily matter of fact it does not come naturally it comes specifically when we actually become a believer and if you notice then the passage it says here it’s really an explanation of wonder actually a very simple Hebrew verb here that means human love and appetite for God’s law and of course the word law is really the word Torah and basically it means the divine teaching of God teaching that comes from God a revelation of the will of God for life for Humanity and remember this that revelation is not simply for interest it is for obedience when James wrote his epistle he said this but the one who looks intently at the perfect law the law of Liberty and abides by it not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual do that man shall be blessed in what he does so in other words it’s not just about interest or hearing it’s about doing the Word of God brings us to the place that we just are not gathering information we are actually understanding our relationship to God so we can actually do it put it into practice so the law points to the didactic or the teaching nature of scripture that God dispenses true doctrine to humanity concerning really three areas of life what we should believe what kind of character we should cultivate and then how we ought to actually live now some do not love God’s law some of you love knowledge you love learning but you don’t love the Word of God you may be intellectually stimulated and you love to learn new things but the Word of God is not food or medicine for your soul see God wants to change that and the only way you can change that is by actually getting into the Word of God not just for the sake of just reading it but for the sake of loving it see that’s what God wants us to love the Word of God also the real child of God loves it and lives in it and if he or she could not live in it and actually somehow must live without it they actually died for the Bible says really the law testifies of who he is and guides us to who the Lord is it’s like what Jeremiah said in his prophecy he said that your words were found and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and a delight of my heart for I’ve been called by your name o Lord God of hosts see to come to love it in fact turn over to psalm 119 verse 47 notice what it says there he says in this section in verse 47 I shall delight in your commandments which I love and I shift our excuse me I shall lift up my hands to your commandments which I love I will meditate on your statues so under we understand here that the psalmist is a person who’s writing here whether it’s David or someone else all right that they love God’s Word they have come to a place where they realize in this world there is nothing like revelation that comes from God others have a different story an unreconciled sinner has no love for the law of God they don’t think about it when they are confronted with God’s law or God’s design in the law the unserved safe person or the person that has no relationship with God actually only feels like they’re condemned in their sin by it and of course they don’t delight in it at all in fact if they never heard it again they wouldn’t be sad about it but it is the first step to move someone toward the Lord toward faith toward salvation some have concluded that the difference differences between mediocrity and excellence is desire and effort see desire is the basis because if you love his law you will love the whole of the word of God and you will hold to its obligations as well as to its privileges for the bottom line is if you love something you are going to be committed to it and you are going to spin time with it and we know that it’s not just the word of god it’s where the word of God leads it leads to a personal relationship with the God who created the heaven and the earth and the God who created us and wants to have a relationship with us so see the Word of God should be come to you and I as a rich and a precious jewel in our life so see the first basis before we get to actually the understanding the assertions and the foundations of the assertions are I must love it I must have a desire for it a second assertion found in verse 97 of psalm 119 it says and it is my meditation all day long all right in other words diligence in the Word of God it is my meditation all day it’s a constant occupation that I have see the proof of love for the word of God is the fact that the person meditates upon the subject all day long the child of God reflects upon it as daily bread it feeds their soul they give themselves to it so it is the word of God that actually rules their day and it’s only through the this warm affection toward God’s law and due diligence that we can actually understand the four assertions before they would ever become a reality in our own life any child of God who loves God’s law by their constant occupation with it will find that it transforms the whole character it fills the mind with the heavenly matter for prayer it will spread a sweet disposition over our earthly business it will bring our attention on the providential workings of God in our daily activities Wow God’s really involved with my every day and I see all these things I’m noticing it see the Word of God brings us to that place it keeps us mindful of the presence of God throughout the day I live before the eyes of God every single day so do you and if you live there that’s a good place to live because you’ll not be concerned so much about what people see you’ll be concerned about what God sees not only in your heart but in your your words your actions your deeds it also will impress upon us the brevity of this life and the eternality of the next life is short right let’s live it well you know we only have one chance to die die well right put your head on the pillow and death without regrets right you can actually do that and the Word of God it actually gives you the basis to actually get to that place where you are depending on that see it makes us very useful and capable people while we live here so those are the bases the two things I must desire the word of God and as I desire the Word of God I give it due diligence and meditate upon it think about it chew on it in my mind every single day and as I do that then the next part of the scripture becomes a reality a reality to me and look what it is here’s there’s four assertions here’s the first one in verse 98 of psalm 119 now this one I’m going to break it up in two ways there’s the substance of the assertion right and then because I’m asserting something to you that here’s the substance if you do this then there’s there’ll be a foundation to it if you do this this is what will happen right so here’s the first thing and the first assertion is the word gives prudence to the young person in the presence of adversity in verse number 98 the substance of this assertion is this your Commandments make me wiser than my enemies so that’s the substance he returned here for commandment is really emphasize is the authoritative binding character of scripture God requires certain things from people and he blesses those who comply but judges those who do not in other words God has a right to give orders he’s God right and so if he has a right to give orders then it says here that when I am growing in my understanding of God’s commands I become wiser than my enemies and those who are against me it makes us wise as to the things God approves us of and disapproves of it gives us an advantage with our adversaries our enemies only have the learning of this world but the child of God has a better in a different wisdom not one which consists of just policy or craft or human prudence our wisdom is practical it is skillful it is sharp which consists of course in the fear of the Lord and leads us to what is right and brings us to the place to avoid what is evil because note we know those things don’t please the Lord now in this section actually in all of psalm 119 there are different words synonyms that describe scripture like the law testimonies precepts statutes commandments ordinances the word itself and promises they’re all talking about Scripture but in a different way a different way scripture is used and so he uses hear the word commandments that that’s the authoritative word that is binding on all human beings because God is the creator so understanding the substance of this assertion does not mean that you’re building on the foundation yet all that you do have now is knowledge about okay if your Commandments will make me wiser than my enemies that is the the substance of it here is the foundation of it in verse number 98 it says for they are ever mine in other words there with me he is saying here simply that the commandments of God are my possession the possession of God’s Word is mine that’s where it becomes very personal and practical the child of God the child of God the advantage is that they have possession of God’s Word and that is why they are wiser than their enemies see we have an ever-present well of wisdom in the Word of God and we can draw from it and it will never run dry you can exhaust God’s Word no matter how long you live you cannot exhaust what’s in the scripture because it is the mind of God for us on earth right and so therefore the mind of God communicated to the human mind especially the mine who is now sanctified is going to be a great delight for us the more you read and study the Word of God the more you hear it preached the more you realize there is nothing like it that the wisdom of God is opposed to the wisdom of the world it is totally opposite of the wisdom of the world or what you would think in your own flesh in your mind at which we gained by experience is different than what God teaches us in the Word of God and of course Satan is not going to help in that area he’s going to deceive you but why are we wiser than our enemies and who are our enemies anyway our enemies are the flesh the world and Satan were wiser than those things see with God’s wisdom I see what my enemy is up to I see what was going on in my remaining sinfulness and flesh and I know how to defeat the strategies of saying I cannot defeat Satan I’m not strong enough to do that neither you are only God is but I can defeat his strategies I can defeat his plan against me to take me down and I do that by what learning the Word of God and so those who are absorbed with his Commandments that is the word wisdom becomes a reality in their lives and in their thinking now wisdom means the ability to look at life and its difficulties from God’s point of view as I learned more of God’s Word and get a grasp on its practical principles I start to gain the ability to look at life from God’s vantage point that is I begin to see my circumstances as opportunities that he has designed to develop and train me to be a vessel of honor in this life I also realizes that when the Word of God has put into practice it removes bitterness and irritation from my life it replaces it with gratitude and zeal to live for God and God alone that’s why you look at scripture why does it talk about being thankful so much all over the place it’s talking about being thankful being joy-filled all right those are things that come from God through the Word of God to us and you can’t bypass the Word of God to have those things the Spirit of God is producing those things in our life so see that is the first assertion and that first assertion is that your Commandments will make me wiser than my enemies and once the Word of God becomes my possession it’s mine then the foundation of that sir shin assertion becomes a reality I am wiser than my enemies as the Word of God makes me that way here’s the second assertion verse 99 of psalm 119 the second assertion is that the word multiplies the insight of the young person in the presence of intellectuals the substance of the assertion in verse 9 99 is this I have more insight than all my teachers little words the word gives me more insight then those who are actually teaching me who have learned by experience who have education see the world emphasizes the importance of getting knowledge from education but the Lord says that the one who knows the word possesses more insight than those educators and you know just because somebody has a PhD or all these degrees doesn’t mean that their moral or that they’re holy or that they know what’s going on beyond what their they studied right a lot of times they’re their misfits they have a lot of knowledge but they can’t even put socks on you know they see the Word of God will give us balance now if you have both of those and you combine them and use them you can be pretty significant vessel in God’s hands to be able to communicate the Word of God to other people and and to put it into practicality in your own life so the the Word of God is the insight is not attained by extensive reading and research nor by natural intelligence that you get from the world or from reading books or studying subjects but by diligent meditation on God’s testimonies for that’s what he says it right here in the Word of God he that’s David received instruction from many teachers he was a king so he had the best of the teachers but he maintains that by the constant meditation on God’s testimonies he has obtained the truest discernment that you can get in this world and it comes and the best guide for living from the word of God and so that’s what he says so the foundation of this particular assertion is found in verse number 99 for your testimonies are my meditation see what our testimonies well testimonies are according to the Psalms the dependability of the outspokenness of Scripture with its high standard and with its Frank warnings that what God said and what he has done is a faithful witness about who he is see the Word of God teaches us that so what I’m meditating on is who God is and what he requires of me in this life that’s what the testimony is the testimony defines God’s written word as a witness to the truth if you want to know about God you’re going to find it from the Word of God this is the testimony that God’s given us about who he is what he has done and what he requires of us so in other words your testimonies make me give me insight more insight than my teachers insight becomes the reality in a person’s life and thinking and what does insight insight means the ability to see through life and its difficulties from God’s point of view so as you and I grow in the Word of God we gain ability to penetrate beyond the surface level of things the surface level of irritations and problems that is we learn to see what is real and what is the root cause of certain situations right and we know that anybody who’s going to do any counsel with somebody and you’re going to use the word of god what are you trying to do you’re trying to help the person see the root of their problem right and really the root of the problem is really not what they’re coming to you with the root of the problem is deep in their heart they that they have not seen yet and you want to try to dig that out and show it to them so they can deal with that particular sin repent of it put it to death and go on and then they’ll beginning also more insight in the Word of God so see that’s what we all want we want to have this ability to see what’s really happening to go to the root cause of the situation and so make no mistake that the Word of God can give you insight beyond insight it will give you insight beyond the age all right you don’t have to be in other words you don’t have to be older to have this insight this is not insight gained by experience this is a insight gained by meditating on God’s Word thinking about it loving it desiring it putting it into practice all right that’s what you and I definitely leave need leads to a third assertion and Psalm 100 or psalm 119 verse 100 and this assertion is that the Word of God increases discernment of the young person in the presence of more experienced people the substance of the assertion notice in verse 100 I understand more than the aged you’ve met older people who should have a certain amount of wisdom because as long as you know out as many years as they lived and you find out they’re just as foolish today as they were 20 years ago so see it’s not the world doesn’t help you to grow pass your ability or your your experience of age it and it is definitely like the proper says when you meet a young person who’s wise it’s like a beautiful picture it’s like a garden a garland of a wreath on their head that they have something excellent about them there’s something attractive about them that wow that young person is definitely wise how could they be so wise and so young there’s only going to be one play only one place you’re going to find the answer they’ve been in this book they’ve been taking the book of God very seriously and because of that they have become wise so it’s not about experience gained long life but about knowledge and understanding gained from meditation on who God is what God has done and what God requires of you and I now the foundation of that assertion is found in the second part of verse number 100 of psalm 119 and it’s this that you and I first of all not only should possess the Word of God and desire it and work hard at understanding it but secondly we ought to meditate upon it and that’s the study of the word of God and then this foundation of this third assertion is obedience to the Word of God before it says because I have observed your precepts I have observed your precepts that’s obedience and a precept here really is drawn from the sphere of a person who is personally is actually personally responsible for looking closely into a situation and then to take action like a commander or someone who is in charge of something and so in other words a person who grows in the Word of God gets to the place where they are wiser than the aged people because they have taking charge of their life and and they have taken charge of their life because they are obeying the Word of God for it says in one verse number 100 because I have observed your precepts right your divine principles your guidelines are my guidelines so if we make this our regular practice we will press from it its sweetness its daily comfort its strength its freshman we’re in the five hundredth year of the Reformation this year 2017 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door at Wittenberg and everything changed right there was a Reformation against what was the abuses in the church especially specifically the Catholic Church well Luther said this find such an abundance of delicious fruit that you will gladly seat yourself under its shade and abide there as under a tree laden with fruit he’s talking about the word together and you know that Luther is the one who translated the word of God from Latin to German so the German people could actually read it and that was the explosion when the Word of God got into the hands of the laypeople that’s when the Reformation exploded because they began to say wow I can understand this wow this has something to do with my life this is how God orders his church and what his people how are the people are supposed to live and so it changes everything so those who are absorbed with his precepts the Word of God understanding becomes in their lives and in their thinking a reality and understanding means the ability to respond to life situations and difficulties from God’s point of view as I get a hold of God’s Word I discover how to react when things don’t go my way or turn out the way I would have hoped and isn’t that what life is about things don’t turn out the way we thought things don’t go down the way we had hoped so that’s where we usually lose it right there right that but that right there really does show how much you’ve learned because if you think God when some trouble comes into your life it’s it surprised the Lord you’re mistaken it’s God’s providence to see how you respond and to test your faith on how well you’ve been growing in the Word of God so if you lose it then that’s a telling sign that you’re not doing so well spiritually but if you respond to it in a way that you know you’ve been learning along the way that pleases the Lord then that’s a telling sign that there has been some growth there has been some maturity in Christ’s likeness there has been some godliness and holiness obtained from your putting it to practice the Word of God so that means you know and I find that attitude is as important to God as my activity and often often more so what kind of attitude do I have when I have a bad attitude when you have a bad attitude it’s not looking very pretty that’s a good place to be because you don’t want to display those things too long without taking care of them especially when you are alone with yourself because the Lord knows it see all these things you have the you have the substance and then you have the foundation of the assertion you can know the substance and never get to the foundation but the point is God wants us to get to the foundation that which leads me to my last and forth assertion found adverse 101 and 102 that the word grants direction in the presence of alternatives we do have alternatives in life but I want you to notice what it does for us first of all the Word of God becomes a preventative for us look at verse 10 1 it says I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word that’s interesting here because what happens is that when I have a warm affection for God’s Word and I give it due diligence and then I possess the Word of God I study the Word of God and now I obey the Word of God that leads to something it leads to a greater restraint over my own desires and my own passions it says it right here in Scripture I will restrain my feet that means you hold yourself back from an evil way from the way that doesn’t please the Lord right why do I do it I do it so that I may keep your word I don’t want to lose what I learned by foolish living by evil living in fact look over to psalm 119 verse 9 through 11 119 verse 9 through 11 he said this in verse number 9 he says 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 might that I may not sin against you so here it is it’s the Word of God that becomes the preventive restraining our own desires to do what is wrong to go in the wrong direction but then back to verse number 101 102 also the Word of God is a it’s a preventative but it’s a preservative it says also i have not turned aside from your ordinances for you yourself have taught me in other words i have greater perseverance because of the word of god the world the world places of great emphasis on feelings you know you hear the movies listen to your heart right no don’t listen to your heart man don’t even ever listen to your heart unless your heart has been molded and shaped by God’s Word alright and so here it’s not an emphasis on feelings which are fleeting and change 20 times a day I can’t even use that as a guide for deciding anything I so the emphasis is the world of course places emphasis on feeling as a guide for decision making like if it gives pleasure do it if it doesn’t do your pleasure don’t do it but the Word of God gives insight and power to restrain those often evil influences of the heart and gives us the ability to know what God’s will should be so in each case we learned that a knowledge and the application of the word of God will better equip us for life then our experiences our teachers and even our age or our feelings none of those are adequate but when they are trained with the word of God we become people who can walk by faith and live for God but no one’s interesting too sometimes people think that God is a killjoy that he wants to take all the joy out of life well look at verse number 103 the word is satisfying it says how sweet are your words to my taste or to my palate yes sweeter than honey to my mouth you want sweetness and satisfaction in your soul where’s it going to come from it’s going to come from God’s Word because we’re gonna know more of who he is and we’re going to fall more in love with him and we’re going to find that God is sweet and his word is taste good and I I love it I love it there’s I don’t know of anybody who doesn’t love honey honey is kind of one of those sweet things that you never forget you know and it depends on what be and what flower they’re getting there whatever they get from and to make that honey there’s different tastes but honey is definitely sweet and if you can’t take the sweetness out of honey and that you can’t take the sweetness out of the word of God when you receive it like this you cannot do it and then there’s one last thing so the Word of God is preventative its preservative it’s satisfying and it’s also suppressive look at verse number 104 it says for your precepts I get understanding from your precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way you know that is I have a greater discernment I know the difference between what is the false way and what is the right way where do i get i get it from the word of god so see this warm affection towards God’s Word and giving it due diligence where it becomes my possession then I further study because i’m learning to love it more and then from that I gained obedience to the Word of God then it leads to a greater restraint of my own flesh it learn it leads to a greater perseverance in God’s Word and in this life where I don’t trust certain things but I only trust truth and then of course it brings me to a greater delight in the sweetness of God’s Word and it brings me to a greater discernment to what is true and false because of what God teaches me from the Word of God so I can really know what is good and what is not good and like I said before what is God’s Way and what is every other way what pleases God in my life what will give me that discernment the Word of God so this is only one section here of psalm 119 so therefore the Word of God will continue to make you wiser give you more insight and an ample supply of understanding on how to live your life in a pleasing manner before God whom you and I should love right and the only way we’re going to get there is through the Word of God so that should heighten your desire this year to read it that’s where it started starts at least with reading it and then it starts with meditating upon it then it starts with really listening to it then it starts with putting it then it leads to putting into practice and then when you put it into practice and that process goes around like in a circle then what happens is that you’re the Word of God becomes sweeter your desire becomes more intense and your you giving due diligence with God becomes more regular and consistent where you when you miss a day in the word you feel like I missed something today my whole days empty because I haven’t gotten something from God today in the Word of God and so and then when it leads up to meeting for worship we should be all ready to blow the ceiling tiles off the this room because we’re ready and psyched to serve God and worship God with all our heart mind soul and all our strength see that that’s where it leads that’s what so on this first Sunday where everybody partied last night it was ugly I know and and you’re here today and thank I’m thankful you are here today I thought was going to be me and you in a dog named boo and I wasn’t sure boo hoo showing up and so but you’re here and I praise the Lord for you being here today and so that’s that’s enough for this morning that’s the word of god and I just pray that it dumb and of course whole all of one psalm 119 is like that it just takes different sections of God’s Scripture and kind of highlights it and so let me have a word of Prayer and then i have something i got to say to you let’s pray lord this morning i just thank you for getting us through 2016 in many ways lord it was a different kind of struggle last year I pray Lord that we came out of it with greater discernment and more love for you then we went into it and I pray this next year that were in already 2017 would be a year of really giving diligence to the Word of God in everything we do so Lord we would learn to desire it for we know that love of the word of God is not a natural desire it’s something produced by your spirit and lord I pray that you would do that so Lord we would gain the wisdom and the insight that we need no matter who we are what age we are and we can become wise people we can gain understanding and Lord we can get to the place where we can actually experience that when we are meditating upon your word it is sweet to us it tastes good and because it tastes good lord we’re going to want more and we know Lord that the Spirit of God if we desire it he will give it to us and I pray that you would continue to feed us to make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ