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Psalm 119. And this morning we're beginning at verse nine. Verse nine. You probably know this,

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we're wrapping up our four and a half week journey. We started at the beach. You guys

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remember the beach? We started at the beach and we are sort of wrapping up our four and a half

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week journey into this amazing Psalm, this wisdom Psalm. And I pray that it's been helpful to you

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guys and challenging to you as well. It has been for me. I can tell you that it's been very

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challenging for me and I have loved walking through it. So far we've looked at four themes

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that come out of this Psalm. Number one, we talked about meditating on the word. We talked about

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number two, being doers of the word. Last Sunday we looked at being revived by the word. And today

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we're going to talk about being purified by the word. And as we go through this section, you're

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going to hear some of the same principles that we have covered over the last couple of Sundays.

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They're going to come out again in this text as well. And by the way, that's a good thing, isn't it?

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Because we've seen this throughout the Psalms. God uses repetition,

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principles that come up over and over again, because he's trying to get through important

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things into our mind and to have them lodged in our hearts. So he talks about things over and

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over again. So we'll see that happen again this morning. Before we're done, what I want to do is

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sort of summarize our time in Psalm 119, put a bow on it. And that way next Sunday we can look

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forward. We're moving on next Sunday to Psalm 127. All right? Okay. Look at your text. You see it's

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under the heading of bet, which is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And here's what

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God's word says. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word.

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With all my heart, I have sought you. Do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word I have

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treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your

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statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the

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way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your

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ways. I shall delight in your statues. I shall not forget your word. Now we did this last week. I'm

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going to do it again today. Just look at this section and look at all of the references to

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God's word in it. It's literally in every single verse. There's no way you can miss the theme of

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Psalm 119. As we saw last week, as we see here, it is in every single verse. Your word, your

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commandments, your word, your statutes, the ordinances of your mouth, your testimonies,

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your precepts, your ways, your statutes, and your word. Now the theme of this section comes out of

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the very first verse here, verse nine, and it's a very well-known verse. It's a very often quoted

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verse, but I have found it's often misunderstood. It's not understood in its entirety. How can a

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young man keep his way pure? So we're going to walk through the flow of this as we go along.

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And verse nine, of course, is the way of purity. Now the Hebrew word here is zacha, and it means

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exactly what all the English translations agree on. It means to be clean or to be pure. And it's a

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word that's regularly used as a contrast in scripture to the polluting effects of sin, to be

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clean or to be polluted by sin. So biblically, to be pure is to be free of anything that pollutes or

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contaminates. So you can think about having pure mountain spring water. You drink it as no other

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substances to it, that beautiful purity to the water. Or we think about what pure gold is. Gold

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that's been refined over and over and over again so that all of the dross is removed from it. That

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is what any true worshiper of God desires in his or her heart, to live a life of purity, to live

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a life that is free from the pollution of sin. And that is what God has called us to. It's a

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high standard. We heard this in the call to worship that Adam read just a bit ago, 1 Peter chapter

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one, as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he

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who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be

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holy for I am holy. And because impurity and unholiness is something that will prevent us

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from being in the presence of God, the psalmist here in verse nine is interested, deeply interested

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in knowing, well then how can I keep my way pure? How can I keep myself from sin? Now before we get

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into the exegesis on all this, I'm going to take a quite a long rabbit trail on this because of the

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notoriety of this verse and some of the controversies that go with it. I'd be doing you a

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disservice if I didn't talk about two consequential issues that have grown out of what appears to be

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a very short, very simple statement in verse nine. First, we need to talk about young men.

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And then second, we need to talk about purity in the church. So stick with me. I'm going to

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talk about the purity of the church. So stick with me. We're going to walk through something that has

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in recent years become something of a cultural minefield in the church. So let's start with this

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idea of young men. Why would the psalmist here single out young men? Well, the consensus among

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Hebrew scholars is that the psalmist is likely talking about himself and it may be that he's

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older as he writes, but he's looking back at his younger, more foolish days and possibly with a

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little bit of a sense of pride, saying, I wish I had known better back then what I know now.

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If only I could apply all of the wisdom and understanding that I have now back when I was

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younger, that would have made a huge difference in my life. And honestly, if you're older,

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if you're my age, this is not a surprise. I cannot tell you, I cannot even count the number of times

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I have thought this very thing. If only I could go back to my early twenties and get a do over

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the years, and take all the things that I've learned over these years, all the wisdom and

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experience and apply them in that day. What have you, maybe you've seen articles like this. What

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would, what advice would I give to 21 year old Jeff? It's an interesting thing to think about

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because with age and maturity comes reflection and oftentimes with some regrets, but also a desire

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to give counsel and to give warnings to the young men of the next generation so that they don't

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have to be made. By the way, I'm not going to ignore the young ladies here today. So ladies,

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don't check out on me. I'm going to bring this back. We're going to talk about you as well,

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but let me say this committed, faithful young Christian men are an endangered species today.

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Now I know we have quite a few of them here at Oak Hill and I praise God for that. I know

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there's a lot in this Valley because of our proximity to master's university, but you have

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to be careful. I know there's a lot of people here in the parts of the country. It is not like this.

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It is not like this young men who love Christ, who really, really loved the local church

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and have a desire to die to themselves in service of others. That is a very rare thing.

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By the way, we had a chance yesterday at the wedding to see one of those young men

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and to hear miles and Zariah, both of them share some of the most beautiful personal

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on our church, our church family, because the way they express such biblical Christ centered

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vows to each other, it was very, very special. So I would put miles in that category, but again,

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this is not normal. It's not like this all over the country. Let me give you an even broader picture.

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Men in general today are in crisis. Men are in crisis today. Every statistical category over the

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last 30 years bears that fact out. Men are being outpaced right now by women in almost every category

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across the board. And some of them very negative in the rate of suicide, in the rate of drug

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overdoses, in the rate of homelessness and criminal activity and mental illness. Women are now outpacing

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men in this new workplace environment. More women are going to college than men. And this is happening

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in every category. Men are in crisis. The message being communicated to young men today is this,

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you are the problem in society and you're not really necessary. That message is coming at us.

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There was an article in the New Yorker I read recently and the subtitle was this, quote,

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men face an existential crisis, confused over their place in the world, lost at home and at work,

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suffering from an epidemic of loneliness and plummeting self-image. Even secularists recognize

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this, this trend. And this is a huge deal. We shouldn't ignore it because God's plan for families

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and his plan for the church depends on young men of character and commitment who will serve the Lord

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and in time raise up and lead their own godly families. So this is important. So we have a lot

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of work to do. And by the way, it's incumbent upon older men in this body to recognize these facts

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and to commit themselves to come alongside the younger guys and to encourage them and to build

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them up in the Lord and to give them wise counsel from your time and your experience.

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As the psalmist does here, to be able to say to a guy, look, here's how you can keep your way pure.

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Here's the mistakes I made. Here's what I would counsel you. This is the way the church operates,

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right? The older counseling the younger, raising up that next generation. So we need to pay attention

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to that. Now, let me give you something else to consider. By addressing young men, again, Hebrew

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scholars have looked at this and it's possible that the psalmist is not really referring so much as to

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a particular age range. It's possible that he's talking about a particular season in any human

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life, be it male or female. And ladies, this is where I want you to jump back in and pay attention.

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Because this particular age range that you might find yourself in right now, many of the choices,

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decisions and commitments that you make from your late teens to your twenties will set you on a

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course down this path or that path or another path. And it's hard to realize that when you live in the

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moment and you're young, but yes, the choices and decisions you're making right now, you're at a

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proverbial crossroads in your life. A few good decisions here, a few poor decisions there,

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and the trajectory of your life looks very different. And you may not even realize it. See,

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when you're young, a number of things are true about you. And I'm not, as I lay these things out,

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I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or insult you. These are just facts. And I know they're facts

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because I've lived it myself. And now I have age and experience to look back. And I know that

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when you're young, you lack wisdom and experience and just the basics of life.

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When you're young, you tend to be more self-confident than you should be. You think you've got it all

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figured out right now. You tend to be impulsive and overly self-focused and too concerned about

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what other people think of you. When you're young, your passions are strong, but your guiding

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principles are still being formed. Your desires are many, but the knowledge of your own heart is

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underdeveloped. Your will is stubborn. Your power of restraint is not what it should be. And your

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physical and sexual maturity often runs ahead of your spiritual maturity. Those are just facts.

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Been there, done that. Every older person in the room could say, yep, that was me too. But you

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should realize all those things. And in light of that, this idea of youngness, this idea of being

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at a crossroads in your life, the psalmist wants to give you counsel because he wants you to avoid

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falling into bondage to sin. You have to know that his motive is very, very good because the

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natural path of man is always going to lead towards not purity, but impurity. And every successive

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experience of walking on the wrong path will build a habit in your life and lead you into deeper

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levels of slavery to sin. So finding the way of purity has to be sought after. It's not going to

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happen by accident. You have to be intentional to find the way of purity. And so this is why the

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psalmist is singling out young people, both male and female, and saying, pay close attention

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because the path of purity is essential if you want to live a life that glorifies God and produces

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in you a life of blessing, a life of overwhelming happiness. So we need to pay attention to this.

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Okay, so that's one issue, youngness. And it's important. Let's talk about purity now. For some

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of you, because you're children of the nineties, when I say purity, it triggers all kinds of

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emotions in you. Because back in the 1990s, there was a huge culture war going on in America at large,

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and also a culture war happening in the church. During that decade, new boundaries were being

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pushed in the world, mass marketing of sexual content all over the place. And it was the first

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time we'd seen it in this volume, in print, on TV, in the movies. And statistically, some real world

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consequences came out of it. During the nineties, more and more, and the shift was very clear in

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my mind as a young parent. Suddenly, premarital sex was not being frowned upon by our culture.

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Now, if you're younger, you're like, that's always been the case. No, that hasn't always been the

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case. That happened when you were children. Premarital sex was no longer frowned upon.

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This was a time when AIDS was spreading and STDs were becoming commonplace. The teen pregnancy

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rates skyrocketed in the 1990s. And then, of course, there's the introduction of the internet,

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and suddenly pornography was more accessible than it ever had been before. So in that cultural moment,

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the church reacted, and they leaned into what is known today as the purity movement. And listen,

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given the conditions at that time, it was an understandable reaction. The church put out a

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call for church-going parents to help their children turn away from all of this sexual

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content that was suddenly being foisted upon them. It was now surrounding them. So book after book

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was written about this, right? And Bible study curriculums were created, and entire youth

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conferences were organized. There was this whole movement of promoting courtship over dating,

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right? Then you had this thing called purity pledges, and you had purity rings and talk of

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abstinence and waiting until marriage. Remember, true love waits was this one stream of this

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movement, and books like I Kissed Dating Goodbye was on the shelf of every evangelical parent in

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America. Some of you are nodding and you're smiling. You're like, yep, I remember this time.

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Now here's the thing. The passage of time has a tendency to reflect on things and say, well,

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was this really effective or did it do more damage than good? It was well intended. You have to

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understand that. But there were some significant problems in this movement built into it from the

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start. By the way, you're asking, why am I talking about this? Because this issue of purity, we have

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to get this straight in our minds. If you've been wounded by this and it's still something that

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is sort of lodged in your heart, we'd love to help you work through it. But I want you to know it was

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well intended, but flawed. And the most important problem was simple. It was based on moralism.

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Moralism emphasizes good behavior to the exclusion of grace, the exclusion of genuine faith.

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So the emphasis on the purity movement was on the power of the human will to say, I pledge to do

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this or not to do that. And there was a hyper focus on this one issue, sex. And the highest

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possible standards were set and the whole litany of boundaries and rules were laid out. But here's

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the thing. When the guardrails of human willpower fail, as they always do, as they always do, a lot

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of young people who had made pledges fell short of those pledges. And many, especially young women,

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were left devastated by the guilt and the shame that ensued because nobody gave them the answer

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to that. Nobody brought healing into their lives. And a good percentage of young women ran from the

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church and they ran into the arms of the world. And many of them will still not come back

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because of this movement. Now, subject of moralism, I'll talk to the elders. That'd be like a six week

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preaching series that we could walk through. So I can't share with you a massive teaching about

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this, but I can summarize for you some of the missing pieces to this purity movement concept.

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Again, well-intended, right? And yes, biblical principles about sexual purity, well-intended,

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but flawed. Let me give you some of the reasons why it was a problem. Number one, what was missing

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was balancing sound teaching about the importance of sexual purity with sound teaching about grace

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and about what happens when we fall short of God's glory and about the washing and forgiveness that's

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found in Christ. It was just way out of balance. Number two, what was missing was the proper

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motivation for purity. It's not just about succeeding in abstinence. It's about presenting

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our bodies as living sacrifices, as worship to Christ. And that was not emphasized. Number three,

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what was missing was addressing where our desires and lusts come from in the first place. The focus

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was on external behavior, not on the heart, which is where we begin to peel back the layers to say,

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well, why do I feel this way? Why do I do what I do? But the emphasis was on the external. Number

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four, what was missing was a right valuing of the opposite sex. The idea that we see them as dangerous

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or we see them as one-dimensional objects and not as fellow heirs with Christ and fellow members of

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the body. And finally, number five, what was missing was the overall truth that while in a biblical

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sense, purity includes our sexual lives. Purity is not limited by just our sexual lives. There's so

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much more to purity than just that one issue. We need to have a more holistic view of what it means

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to be pure, connected to the idea of what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ.

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So that's what we want to do this morning, because I know that I had this feeling that as we preach

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this verse, everybody was going to be solely focused on that one issue, but it's bigger than

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that. Purity is so much more than just your sexual life. It's included, but it's not limited to that.

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Does that make sense? Okay. So in light of that, let's go back now. Let's try to answer the question

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that the psalmist has. How can a young man, how can anybody here this morning keep our way pure?

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Well, the second phrase in verse nine begins to answer the question, right? What does it say?

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By keeping it, keeping the path or better, a better translation is guarding, guarding your path

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according to the word. So interestingly, the first line of attack against impurity is actually a

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defensive posture. The Hebrew verb there for keeping is shamair, and it's a word that was often

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used to describe a watchman, somebody, a man that was a century that was posted on the wall,

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that watched over a city at night. So the word picture, word picture we have is simple. We're to

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guard the path of our life using the principles of God's word. We're to guard the path of our life

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using the principles of God's word. So daily we're to read the word, listen to the word, study the

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word, chew on and meditate over the word. And as we do that, we ingest it. And then we post those

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things that we're learning as a personal century along the path of our day. That's the word picture.

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And as we walk and abide with the Lord, the Holy Spirit is then present in us to remind us of all

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that we've read and heard and chewed on and ingested. He reminds us of those things and he

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begins to work to sanctify us, shaping our decisions and our choices as we walk along the way.

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This is the picture of the Christian life. We forget this. It's basic, but it's very clear in

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scripture. This is how we walk into our day. We post a century. We post a guard according to what?

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According to God's word. This idea comes through beautifully in Proverbs too. Look at this great

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verse for wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

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Discretion will guard you. Understanding will watch over you to do what? To deliver you from the way

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of evil. Beautiful blend with what the Psalmist is saying here and all those things which protect

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us from impurity, wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding, where do they come from? From

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time spent in the word and applied by the Holy Spirit in your life. And what you find over time

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and with experience is that the truth of God's word applied by the Spirit to your mind and to

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your heart is your best refuge against temptation. It is the most powerful tool that you have in your

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tool belt to battle temptation, the world and the flesh. That's what the Psalmist wants to tell you

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this morning. It's a light that clears away the fog of the lies and deception that come at you

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all the time. You are being bombarded every day by lies from this world. The word clears away that

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fog. It's a mirror that you can hold up and say, all right, what's the truth about me, Lord? And

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make adjustments according to what you see. It's the key to the renewing of your mind so that you

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start to think rightly about God. You start to think rightly about your own heart. You start to

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think rightly about your own heart and about the world, everything you see around us. God's word is

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also your hope and your salvation. We cannot leave this part out. We cannot overestimate this part.

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God's word is all of those things, but it is also your hope and your salvation when you stumble into

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sin. Cannot say that loudly enough because we like to talk about how the word protects us and guards

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us. That's great, but it also shows us the path to confession of sin, to repentance, and how to come

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back to that state of purity in the presence of God. It gives you the instructions to do that,

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and it's very clear because at the end of the day, it's God's word that's going to show you

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who you actually belong to. It's going to show you how to confess your sins, how to repent and turn,

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how to come back to purity. It's very, very important. Listen, if you look at the word pure

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and you automatically say to yourself, well, I'm not included because I've got a really sinful past

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or I'm in a struggle right now, then you are forgetting your identity in Christ. You are

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forgetting your status before God because it's rooted not in what you're going through right now,

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but it's rooted in the finished work of Christ. That's another lie that we can believe. We've

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got to come back to the truth. Listen, never forget what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.

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He lays out this long list of the types of people who will never enter the kingdom of God. Do you

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know the passage on 1 Corinthians 6? You know what I'm talking about? All these people, they don't get

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into the kingdom and you're like, oh boy, I better pay attention to this. And then he says this,

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such were some of you, but then something happened. This is such an important passage.

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You were once one of those people who had no chance to get into the kingdom, but then something

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happened. You were washed by who? Not by yourself, but by Christ. You were sanctified by who? Not by

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your own efforts, but by the spirit. And you were justified, declared righteous in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and the spirit of God. Wow. When God looks at his children who have been

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washed and sanctified and justified, he doesn't see wicked sinners that somehow he's forced to

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love and forced to save. He's declared us to be righteous saints for whom Christ willingly died

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out of his great love for us and out of a passion for his father's will. Have to know that. Think of

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this, speaking of the Corinthians, there is no more out of control rebellious culture than Corinth

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back in the day. So when Paul writes to the Corinthian believers, how does he address them?

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Dear sinners in Corinth. Could you imagine if he started his letter that way? Dear sinners,

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he doesn't. He says to the church, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, get this now,

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saints by calling. Saints by calling. That is their true identity. Found in Christ, washed,

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sanctified and justified saints. And friends, that only happens by God's grace. You're not going to

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earn that title. Imperfect people who fall short of holiness on a daily basis can stand pure before

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the Lord because of Christ's finished work. That's what God's word tells us. We just have to believe

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it and then become what God says of us, right? Strive diligently to be what God says you are

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in him. So to recap, how can any of us keep our way pure? The Psalmist gives the answer by guarding

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the path of your life with all of these aspects of God's word, which he now fleshes out as we

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continue on. Let's look at verse 10. Verse 10, with all of my heart, I have sought you.

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Do not let me wander from your commandments. Now, maybe you see or you heard when we first read it,

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the problem in this verse. Maybe you didn't see it, takes a little bit of thought. But if you look

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closely at it, you may say, wait, is this a contradiction? Because if a person is seeking

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the Lord with all of his heart, he's not going to wander, right? Right? All of my heart is seeking

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after God. I won't wander. Well, first you see that yes, the Psalmist is resolved to seek after the

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Lord with all of his heart, not in a halfhearted way with all of his heart. That's a good thing,

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right? And now I'm about to repeat what I have shared over two Sundays and I'm going to say it

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a third time because it's so important. The principle of resolve and dependency that are

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both so important to balance as a Christ follower, you and I are to be resolute in our commitment to

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pursue an abiding relationship with the Lord, to seek after him, because that's what the Psalmist

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says, to seek after him. And this resolve, as you see here in the verse, is a matter of the heart.

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It's a matter of your inner man, your inner person. It's not just in the mind and it's not

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external, right? As an act of human willpower, because neither of those things are sufficient.

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If your pursuit of God is purely intellectual, I have a word for you this morning. You are striving

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in vain if it's purely intellectual. And if you are just trying to present yourself as

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biblically moral on the outside, you also are striving in vain. This is a matter of the heart.

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The Psalmist has taken God's word into his heart, into his inner man, and he has internalized it to

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the extent that it is now the controlling principle of his life. And that's the reason why

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he's so determined to seek after the Lord. That is our goal. To take it in so forcefully

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that it becomes the controlling principle of our lives. And then with Godly resolve,

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he says, I am now seeking after the Lord. And yet with all of that,

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here comes the second half of the equation. He still knows he's prone to wander.

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And we have to understand this. With all of my heart, I have sought you Lord. And yet,

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I still have to ask you this question. Will you not let me wander from your commandments?

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This is the story of every person in this room. You're not the lone ranger.

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And there's no contradiction here. This is just the truth about the fact that we are not yet

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fully sanctified saints. And the fact that we all still need God's ongoing grace in our lives.

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For me, this is incredibly encouraging. Because if you've sought to yourself, man,

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everybody else seems to be totally pure and cleaned up in their lives. What's my problem?

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Did you see it in this verse? This is encouraging. The Psalmist is not a Pharisee, is he?

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He's trusting in his own righteousness. Quite the opposite. He knows himself too well. He knows that

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he needs to constantly rely upon the power of God to keep him from sin. That is a healthy posture.

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And again, going back to the possibility that the Psalmist is writing, looking back on his younger

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years, my guess is he's learned some hard lessons along the way. He's figured this out. Lessons

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about how he can't live out the commandments apart from the Lord controlling his heart. Apart

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from the Lord, get this, making him able to keep the commandments. Causing him to be able

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to keep the commandments. That's what we need. Friends, this is the inevitable tension of the

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Christian life. We resolve in the heart to keep God's commandments. That is the starting point.

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Don't get me wrong on this. That is the starting point. The Apostle John talks about this multiple

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times in his first epistle, right? What does he say? To love God is to what? Keep his commandments.

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That is the starting point. That is the resolve. And he goes on to say, look, if you're a professing

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Christian, you say you love Jesus, but you don't keep his commandments, you're what? You're a liar.

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So if you profess to love God and to follow after Christ, you must be resolved to love God

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by loving the things that he loves, pursuing the ways that he tells you to pursue. But at the same

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time, of all people, Christians are aware of how often we wander off the path like sheep gone

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astray. We cry out, Lord, I want to do what's right. I want to please you, but I lack the ability

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to do it fully. Friends, this is why we're saved by grace alone. This is why we say it all over and

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over again. There's no other way. Anybody that tells you that, oh, no, no, no, I could do enough

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good things to get there. Or if I just go to mass enough or take the Eucharist or I do this or I do

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that, then I can fill up. No, you can't do it. You can't do it on your own. It's got to be grace alone.

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And I know the pain of wrestling with the flesh in my life. Again, I'm one of those older guys

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looking back. I know the pain of what it means to wrestle with the flesh. I know the pain of what

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it feels like to lose more often than you want to. I know the pain of at times in my walk with Jesus

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saying, I give up. I cannot win this battle. And those are the lies that we believe, right?

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And the enemy whispers in our ear, you'll never do it. You'll never be good enough.

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So what do we do? Do we just sit there with those lies? Do we, do we sit in the weeds and wallow in

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guilt and shame and just say, I'm such a loser. I'll never be able to win this battle. Or, or do we

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turn to the scriptures and see what is true. That is the theme of Psalm 119. Keep coming back to the

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word to see what is true. And when we open the word, we see passage after passage that says to us,

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in our Father's voice, listen, my son, listen, my daughter, I know your struggle.

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And I know the desire of your heart. And I know that you want to walk faithfully,

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but you have to understand that you cannot do it in your own strength.

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And yet in the meantime, as you wrestle, my grace is sufficient for you.

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I haven't stopped loving you. I'm not angry at you all the time. My grace is sufficient.

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So trust in my promise. I will complete my work in you.

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And we don't sit in the weeds and wallow. We look to the scriptures for truth.

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So that's what the Psalmist is saying here in verse 10. He's saying you are not the driving

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force of your sanctification. God is. You work out yourself in your own ways.

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God is. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling, all the while knowing that it's God who

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is at work in you. To do what? Both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Yes, he wants you to

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aspire to godliness. Yes, he wants you to be resolved in your walk with him. He wants you to

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long to obey his word, but then he wants you to trust him to complete the work.

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So we declare this truth. What's one of our favorite songs?

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Prone to wander, Lord. I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That's half the story.

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What's the rest of that verse? But here's my heart, Lord. You take and seal it. Seal it for thy

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courts above. Beautiful balance. That's verse 10. Okay, we're only gonna look at one more verse this

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morning. We only have time for one more verse, but it's a big one. Look at verse 11.

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Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not send against you. So he comes back now to how

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the word of God guards our hearts and our lives. Listen, it guards us from within. It guards us

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from within. The Hebrew word there for treasured has a range of meaning. Sometimes you see

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translations say it's hidden. You're hiding God's word in your heart or you're storing up God's

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word in your heart. Now, why would you hide something or store it up? Number one, because

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it's valuable. And number two, because at some time in the future, you want to grab, want to grab hold

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of it and make use of it. Did you catch that? That's important. Two reasons why you might hide

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something or store it up. Number one, because it's valuable. You want to protect it. Number two,

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at some point, you're going to want to grab hold of it. Go into the pantry and say, move the stuff

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and go, there it is. Cause I need to use this. So here's the idea. The word of God comes to you

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at all, in all kinds of forms. You read it, you study it, you hear it preached, you meditate on

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it. That should be a regular pattern of your life. And as you do the truth of God's word enters into

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your mind and the Holy spirit then writes those truths and those principles on your heart.

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And it takes deep root within you over time. And then it becomes available to you. You reach down

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and you grab hold of that truth and it guards you from sin and it directs you to the path of

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wisdom and godliness. That's the principle that's being described here, but you have to store it

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up. I mean, I keep talking about, it's not going to happen magically. There's no magic pill that you

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can take to get all this stuff deep in your heart. It's going to take work. But if you haven't stored

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up this treasure in your heart, then you're lacking those deep roots. And what happens on a daily

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basis? You walk into the world with your heart unguarded. You have no spiritual armor on. And

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what's the predictable result? You go out there in the world, you get knocked around. Because you

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haven't stored it up in your heart. You don't have the resources to reach into when all that stuff

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comes at you. That's what the Psalmist is saying. So friends, here's where we want to be. Lord,

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I have hidden your word in my heart. I have stored it up deep inside me. I haven't left it outside of

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me. I haven't left it on my desk at home. I haven't left it by my, you know, bedside. I haven't been

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content to just make it an interesting book, an object of curiosity for my intellect. No, I've been

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striving diligently to let it go deep into my heart, to let it penetrate into the places where my

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intellect is, where my emotions are, where my feelings are, where my will is. And so let it get

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down into those deep layers of my heart so that you, Lord, can transform those things in me.

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This is part of the cooperative work of sanctification. Lord, I want to take this truth

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and get it into the deepest layers of my heart so that you can complete that work in me.

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Now, before we wrap up, let me just address another possible issue that's here this morning.

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If you're sitting here and you're saying to yourself, Jeff, this is fine, but I'm not really

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sure I want to be ruled by God's word. I'm not really sure I want to be restrained by God's word.

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I'm not sure I really want the purity that you're talking about here. Let me share with you the

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paradox that you should know. The more completely we're ruled by God's instructions, the more

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free we become as human beings. I know that seems topsy-turvy, but the more that we're conformed to

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God's commands, the more free we become. It's a lie from the pit of hell that obedience to the Lord

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enslaves you or that it limits you unfairly or that it makes your life boring. It does the opposite.

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It frees you up to become what you were originally designed to be. It frees you from the

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way you were originally designed to be. It frees you up to become that spiritually healthy person

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that God created you to be. And it comes at the end of life or at the end of this walk,

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you get to this place where you are truly satisfied, where you are filled with overflowing

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happiness because you're living in line with your purpose and how you were created.

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When you're outside of that, you're in chaos. It's just my desires, my lusts, my feelings,

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my emotions, and it's all over the place. There is no freedom in that. That is slavery.

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Freedom is found in obedience to Christ. And you just have to, listen, you have to believe that

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because God's word says it. So you've got to choose if that's your struggle, you got to choose,

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am I going to believe my own sinful mind, my own sinful heart, my own sinful emotions, or am I going

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to believe what the creator of your heart says about you? But that's true freedom.

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All right. That's all we have time for today. Let's wrap up. Oh, look at that. I forgot to click.

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I hate when I do that. Okay. I have an illustration of this for you foodies out there. Raise your

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hand if you're a foodie. Couple foodies. I'm not. Have you heard that?

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At the end of this section, look at the end of this section in verses 14 and 16, the Psalmist

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uses two really descriptive words. He talks about rejoicing in God's word and delighting

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in God's word. Those are really great words, rejoicing and delighting. And as we've seen

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already in a previous place, he says, how sweet are your words? How sweet are your words?

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In the previous place, he says, how sweet are your words to the taste? How sweet they are sweeter

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than honey to my mouth. And I'm going to ask you the question again, is that the way you see your

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Bible? Do you rejoice and delight in the sweetness of God's written word? And if not, I hope this

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mini-series in this song will change your thinking. Here's what I hope. I hope it will

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motivate you to change your palate, to change your palate, to embrace the sweetness of God's word.

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When God calls you and I to purity, he has a better recipe than you do.

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I know you think your recipe is pretty good. He's got a better recipe. What he sees is all the false

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sweetness that the world has to offer. The saccharin sugary stuff that doesn't satisfy. And he's

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warning you about it. He's saying, that's not the right palate. You don't want that. If you really

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want satisfaction, I'm going to show you what it is in my word. In reality, if we'll trust him,

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we're going to find that purity and holiness and obedience are actually delicious.

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Actually delicious. We need to ask the Lord to transform our palates. And I thought about

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this week because of something I have been going through for about a year. And I'll just share

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briefly. You can ask me later. So about a year ago, I got convicted about trying intermittent fasting

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just to manage my weight as I get older. And what I found was I needed to not have any breakfast.

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I couldn't take in any calories before noon. And one of my great pleasures was coffee in the morning.

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But I used to be a coffee guy with two Splendas and then a whole bunch of that really sweet,

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like vanilla creamer stuff. Man, I'm like, I got to give that up.

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Guess what? I now only drink black coffee. Now, okay. Now, you know what? All right.

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I don't want to get caught later on. So on occasion, I'll add a little whole cream,

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but, but not, not none of that sweet stuff anymore. And definitely no Splenda.

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Here's why I bring that up. Over time, I committed myself to changing my palate

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because it was good for me. It's good for my health. And guess what? Now the old way

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of my coffee doesn't taste good anymore. I actually, if you made that coffee for me now, I'd say,

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no, I don't want it. And so as we allow God's word to guard our paths, as we hide his word in our

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hearts, our palate changes. The things that we desire, our affections change. Trust me, again,

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if you're younger, trust me, over time, God will do this work. He will change your affections.

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If you will pursue his face. And we come to see that the old way of living just doesn't sound good

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anymore. It doesn't sound good. I don't want it. And that's how God works in us. So what we want

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most is to taste more and more of the blessings of living a life in purity. It turns out that is

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really where the sweetness of life comes. That's where spiritual health comes. That's where we,

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we both get delight and rejoicing. And you again, this is a choice you're going to have to make.

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Do I believe what God says about this or am I going to believe my selfish self? And I hope

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you'll trust in the word. I want to, I want to wrap up by reading something to you guys that I

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saw this week. How many of you guys know the Gideons? Gideon Bibles. I just found this out

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this week in the, in the foreword of Gideon Bibles, there is this amazing statement about

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the value of God's word. And as we finish up in Psalm 119, I thought we would just walk through it

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slowly and just, I want you to meditate on this. I want you to chew on it. Are you ready? This is

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what, this is what it says. First of all, the Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man,

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the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness or blessedness of believers. Amen.

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Its doctrines are holy. Its precepts are binding. Its histories are true and its decisions are

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immutable. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy. It contains light

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to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you. It is the travelers map, the pilgrim

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staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword and the Christian's charter. Here too, heaven is

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opened and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good, its design and the

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glory of God, its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly,

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frequently and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure.

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It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment and be remembered forever. It involves

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the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor and will condemn all who trifle with its

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sacred contents. It is the word of God, treasure it in your heart. Let's pray together.

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Father, we say amen to that this morning. We agree with those statements about just the beauty and

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power of your written word. It's why we're a Bible church, Lord, as you know. It's why we put your

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word at the center of all we do. And so this morning, as we wrap up our study in Psalm 119,

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we want to thank you that you have revealed yourself in this book. You have not left us to

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guess about who you are. You've not left us to guess about our problem and what the remedy for

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it is. But you have told us in your word. And so I pray for myself. I pray for all of my brothers

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and sisters here this morning that we would recommit ourselves to a study of your word,

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to let its precepts sink deep into the heart and to allow your spirit, Lord, to transform us from

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the inside by the power of your word. God may it be sweet to us more and more over the years as we

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experience its power and its ability to change us. Lord, shape our affections by your word.

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Cause us to have the ability to grow in purity, to make wise choices, to make good decisions that

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bring glory to you and bring blessing to our bodies and to our lives. Make us a pure people,

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Lord, by the power of your spirit. We thank you for this time together this morning and pray all

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these things in the name of the one who has made us clean, Jesus Christ. Amen.