WHEN ARE WE BLESSED?
Psalm 119:1-8
INTRODUCTION
Count your many blessings,
Name them one by one,
And it will surprise you
What God hath done.
We live in a culture where activity, busy work and success are the predominant traits. Rarely is there time for reflection, to look back at the blessings and victories God has given us. Instead we have been conditioned to look back at our failures, our shortcomings, our mistakes. In fact, original thinking is often in short supply in our culture. Conformity and momentum is the name of the game.
All we need to do is look around us to see the blessings of God upon us. To not see these blessings is to express the height of ingratitude to God and to others.
Psalm 119 was written to show us how we can receive the maximum blessings out of our lives.
These 176 verses of Psalm 119 are actually longer than a number of complete books of the Bible.
The Psalm is divided into 22 stanzas, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza has eight verses. In the Hebrew, the first letter of each verse starts with its representative Hebrew letter.
Mention is made of God In each verse.
Psalm 119 could be called the gospel of the undivided heart for God’s way. The real blessings of life come from keeping the law of the Lord and loving the Lord of the law.
In every possible need we may have, God reveals His will to meet that need through His Word. Truly we are blessed.
THEME: WHEN ARE WE BLESSED?
I. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE WALK IN THE LAW OF THE LORD vs. 1-3
A. When We Are Undefiled vs. 1
1. Undefiled
a. Pure, sincere, uncontaminated
b. Entire, complete, especially before
2. What we should want to become every day
3. Sin leads to misery; holiness leads to bliss, which is far more than joy
NOTE: Progression: happy, joy, bliss
B. When We Walk In The Law Of The Lord vs. 2
NOTE: Some people use grace vs. law as an excuse to live in their sin and avoid their responsibilities
1. Walk
a. Not run
b. Deliberate movement
2. The law of the Lord
a. Who habitually obey His law
b. The law of the Lord is the only just rule of human conduct
NOTE: Christian etiquette
NOTE: The blessed person enjoys a circle of blessed things
a. Blessed way
b. Blessed purity
3. Blessed law
4. Blessed Lord
5. Blessed way
C. When we keep His testimonies vs. 2
1. Keep
a. To guard, maintain, obey, preserve
b. Blessed are those who treasure up the testimonies of the Lord
2. Testimonies – witnesses
3. Seek him
NOTE: God is not sought by the cold researchers of the brain
4. Whole heart
a. A person can survive on half a lung, kidney, liver but not half a heart
b. With a sincere desire to know His will and do it
c. No selfish or sinister aims
d. Undivided affections
D. When We Keep His Testimonies
1. They also do no iniquity
a. We all fall occasionally into sin
b. We do not habitually fall into sin
NOTE: A wicked person sins with deliberation and delight
2. Iniquity
a. Dishonesty; perverseness, injustice
b. Sense of wronging someone, not general faults
3. They walk in His ways
a. Right with Him
b. Right with others
T.S. WHEN ARE WE BLESSED?
I. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE WALK IN THE LAW OF THE LORD
II. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE KEEP HIS PRECEPTS vs. 4-6
A. You Have Commanded Us vs. 4
1. The foundation of all true virtue
2. When we act from this motive, we are truly righteous and blessed
3. To keep his precepts
a. Precepts
1) Mandates
2) Injunctions
b. Diligently
4. Diligently
NOTE: People who have dedication and drive rise up early and stay up late, denying themselves much in order to reach their goal
B. We Do Not Want To Be Ashamed vs. 5-6
1. O that my ways vs. 5
a. The desire of a proper heart
b. A constant uniform desire to keep His law
2. Statutes
a. To cut into stone
b. What can not be erased
3. Then I shall not be ashamed vs. 6
a. My hope being frustrated
b. Disappointed; to keep waiting
4. When I have respect unto all Thy commandments vs. 6
a. Not a smorgasbord religion
NOTE: No child has respect for a parent when he chooses when he will and will not obey, suiting his own whim or conscience
b. No real disgrace or disappointment can befall a person whose single aim is the observance of God’s law in all its parts
T.S. WHEN ARE WE BLESSED?
I. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE WALK IN THE LAW OF THE LORD
II. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE KEEP HIS PRECEPTS
III. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE PRAISE HIM vs. 7-8
A. When We Praise Him From A Right Heart
1. Praise
a. To give thanks
b. To have satisfaction in an object
c. Our praise is elevated through our Christian experiences
2. When we have learned His righteous judgments
a. Learned
NOTE: We only learn the Christian life when we experience it, not when we hear or read about it
b. Righteousness; the right thing
c. Judgments
1) Verdict
2) Judge’s sentence
B. When We Keep His Statutes
1. I will keep … forsake me … not …
a. We want to keep it
b. We pledge to keep it
c. We are utterly overwhelmed with the utter impossibility of such a claim
d. We have to throw ourselves totally upon God’s mercy
2. Forsake me not
a. Release
b. To set free
c. To leave behind
d. To expose to Satan and sin
e. To neglect
f. Do not leave me to myself
NOTE: Our confidence that we can keep the Word of God is because God will not forsake us but enable us to keep it
CONCLUSION
WHEN ARE WE BLESSED?
I. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE WALK IN THE LAW OF THE LORD
II. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE KEEP HIS PRECEPTS
III. WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE PRAISE HIM
Sermons And Lessons From The Old Testament 