Sermon series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

Psalm 119: 41—48
"Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I have hoped in Your ordinances. So shall I keep Your law continually, forever and ever.
And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts. I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes."

The singer of this psalm knew that not everyone shared his trust in the Word of God. In this segment of the psalm we see him striking the flint of God's Word with his hammer of conviction; we see the sparks of his testimony fly!
CAN WE REALLY TRUST THE WORD OF GOD? I believe there are many reasons for us to trust our Bible, but let's consider just one...THE HISTORICAL REASON. I have selected this defense of the reliability of the Bible because of my personal love of history.
Glance at any page in the Bible and you will encounter stories about men like Abraham, Moses, and David. You will read about Christ, His disciples, and Paul.
The Bible is filled with thousands of events that purport to have actually happened in the continuum we call history. Births, deaths, hardships, and miracles—-they are all there.
BUT IS THIS HISTORY RELIABLE?
It depends on whom you ask. TIME magazine quotes John Van Seters of the University of North Carolina as saying, "There was no Moses, no crossing of the sea, no revelation on Mount Sinai." Indeed, TIME reported that Seters spoke to the Society of Biblical Literature with "Pope-like confidence."
TIME editorialized that years of searching for evidence have "convinced all but the most conservative experts that Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs were inventions of the Bible authors.
In keeping with this viewpoint, Peter Jennings, in an ABC network television special on Jerusalem, commented on the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian belief in Abraham and then asked, "What can historians tell us about him? His answer: "They don't even know whether Abraham lived."
Let's take a moment to understand the deeply held convictions of liberal biblical scholars. First, none of the Bible is accepted without independent confirmation from history and archaeology. These scholars speak of themselves as "minimalists," meaning that they accept only the bare minimum of the Bible, limiting themselves to what secular sources can confirm.

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For example, since no reference to the Exodus has been found in extrabiblical sources (that is, sources outside the Bible), the event is not to be believed. We should notice in passing that no other historical documents are held with such skepticism. Ancient manuscripts are usually accepted at face value, along with archaeological inscriptions and the like. Although these seldom are thought to need independent confirmation, the Bible is different. If some other documents do not confirm it, its history is denied; if such documents contradict it, the Bible is assumed to be in error!
Second, there is the deeply held conviction that no miracles can have occurred. Even if some scholars now believe David lived, they most assuredly do not believe that he spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or that God made a personal covenant with him. They would scoff at the story about David's encounter with an avenging angel on the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite.
To repeat: Some scholars will accept nothing in the Bible unless it is independently confirmed. Since the crucifixion of Christ is not mentioned in other histories, it is generally denied. And even if a first-century reference to the crucifixion of Christ were discovered, these critics would certainly not admit to the biblical interpretation of this event. They would give grudging acceptance to whatever historical-archaeological studies might yield, but not a mite more!
Those of us who believe that the Bible is trustworthy look at matters very differently. Because we accept the Bible as the Word of God, we do not suspend belief until biblical events are confirmed by archaeology. We believe that the Exodus happened even if the Egyptians didn't record it (what makes us think that such a proud people would record a defeat for their nation anyway?).
We believe that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish long before a zoologist measured the gullet of a whale and told us that such a feat is possible.
Consider with me some of the contributions provided by ARCHAEOLOGY. Archaeology can be defined as "a study based on the excavation, decipherment and critical evaluation of the records of the past as they affect the Bible. The last fifty years have been a bonanza for archaeologists!
The majority of archaeological finds have illuminated biblical history and have, if anything, confirmed the biblical record. If we were to make a list of discoveries that have shut the mouths of biblical critics, it would be a long list indeed. Given the Bible's excellent reliability over the long course of research, it is doubtful if archaeology could ever make a discovery that would conclusively prove the Bible in error.
Though our faith is not dependent on the next archaeological find, it is gratifying to know that, as time moves on, more and more discoveries confirm the biblical record.
Dr. Henry Morris, a Christian apologist and scientist, has written, "It must be extremely significant that, in view of the great mass of corroborative evidence regarding the biblical history of these periods, there exists today not one unquestionable find of archaeology that

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proves the Bible to be in error at any point."
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, written by a score of experts in various fields, says in the preface that archaeology has demonstrated the historical and geographical reliability of the Bible.
Among the hundreds of archaeological finds that relate to the Old Testament, there is one that I think is important and interesting which has to do with the Creation account: Did Moses receive his information from God or did he simply rewrite accounts that were already in existence?
Answer! When Nineveh was excavated, thousands of clay tablets were discovered that comprised the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, who reigned 668-626 B.C. Among these writings was a set of seven tablets called the "Creation Epic" that listed six days of creation and one day of rest, which corresponds to the biblical account. Also, a Babylonian creation account has been discovered, bearing some resemblance to the Genesis outline but laced with pagan polytheism and unbiblical additions.
Both accounts begin with primeval chaos, the beginning of light, the creation of the luminaries, and the creation of man; and on the seventh day, the Deity rests. The Babylonian account confirms Genesis in the sense that it points to a time when the human race occupied a common home and held a common faith. It points to a common heritage when early civilizations had a common understanding of the creation of world.
The Bible's critics have always given grudging acceptance to archaeological finds that confirm the biblical record. Let me cite one or two examples:
(1) For years critics insisted that the story of Abram's rescue of Lot in Genesis 14 was not historically accurate. They said that the names of the kings listed were fictitious, since they were not independently confirmed in secular histories; that the idea that the king of Babylon was serving the king of Elam was historically impossible; and that the story that a band of Abram's followers could have defeated the united armies of four powerful kings was absurd.
But archaeology has debunked these critics! The names of some of the kings have now been identified. And there is evidence that the king of Babylon did serve the king of Elam at this time. What is more, a monument depicting a warlike expedition of the character described here was discovered, confirming that one tribe pursued another to subdue a rebellion. Abram would have been able to capture Lot and plunder some of the enemy's spoils before a larger army could recoup.
(2) The existence of Solomon’s reign and his thousands of horses was at one time questioned. But in Meggido, which was one of the five chariot cities, excavations have revealed the ruins of thousands of stalls for his horses and chariots (1 Kings 10:26-29).
Bernard Ramm has written:
A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and the committal

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read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.
No other book has been so chopped, sliced, and sifted, scrutinized and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles letters of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? with such venom and skepticism? with such thoroughness and erudition? upon every chapter, line and tenet?
The Bible is still loved by millions and studied by millions!
Please consider with me one further proof that our Bible can be trusted.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has confirmed that the Old Testament text has not substantially changed throughout the centuries. In March of 1947, a Bedouin shepherd looking for a lost goat near the Dead Sea threw a stone to ward off other animals and then heard of something breaking. He found a companion and together they went into a cave where they saw several large jars containing rolls of leather and papyrus wrapped in cloths. They smuggled them across the border between Israel and Jordan that existed at the time and found an antique dealer in Bethlehem who bought them for a small fee. The merchant told a Syrian scholar in Jerusalem about them, but he was unable to identify their age or significance. The Syrian acquired several of the manuscripts and stored them in the Monastery of St. Mark in Old Jerusalem. Soon after, the caves in the area were scoured for more manuscripts, and in all, the caves yielded about fourteen significant finds, including one cave that housed what was believed to be a library of materials.
Where did these scrolls come from?
In 140 B.C. a group of people called the Essenes left the city of Jerusalem to survive in the barren dry caves of the Judean hills. Qumran, as the site was called, was established to preserve the purity of the priesthood and to cling to the law of Moses and the prophets.
By about A.D. 60 Rome became weary of the rebellion of the Jews and decided to crush them throughout the land. This included the Essene community. When the Roman troops left Jericho for Qumran, the Essenes immediately hid their scrolls in nearly caves and fled to the hills, hoping to escape the wrath of the Romans. Thus these scrolls were in these caves for some two thousand years.
What is their significance?
Until these scrolls were found, the oldest Old Testament manuscripts in existence dated back to only about A.D. 800. These editions of the Hebrew Old Testament are known as the "Masoretic Text," so named after a group of scholars known as "Masoretes" who took great care in copying the text of the Old Testament and making sure that it corresponded with the most reliable manuscripts.
These scrolls are some eight hundred to a thousand years older than other previously known manuscripts! And one of the most important scrolls found is a complete scroll of the Book of Isaiah. The text of Isaiah has been shown to be substantially the same as that which is known as the Masoretic Text. The two copies of Isaiah found in the caves proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95% of the text.

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The 5% variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling. For example: Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeen letters [in the Qumran scroll that differ from the standard Masoretic Text]. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the [meaning]. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word "light," which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly.
It is a matter of wonder that through something like a thousand years that the text underwent so little alteration.
WHAT ABOUT THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT?
The first of three ancient manuscripts which we cite as a witness to the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures is that which is called the ALEXANDRINE. It receives its name from the fact that, in the seventeenth century, it was brought from Alexandria, in Egypt, in which city it had very probably been written. It is now preserved in the British Museum in London. It is written, or printed with the pen, in neat capital letters. It is agreed among scholars that it is about fourteen hundred years old, so that it takes us back by a single leap to the year A.D. 450 or so. It shows us most explicitly that the Church possessed the same New Testament about the year 450 as we now possess.
The second ancient manuscript whose testimony we adduce is the VATICAN MANUSCRIPT. It is so called because it is preserved in the Pope's library in the Vatican at Rome. Like the Alexandrine, it is written in capital letters, though they are not formed quite so beautifully. It is, however, somewhat older, its age being over fifteen hundred years, so that it carries us back at once to about the year 350 A.D.
The third manuscript which we cite as a witness is, if possible, one which is more interesting than either of the two preceding. It is that which is known among scholars as the SINAITIC MANUSCRIPT. It is so called because it was discovered in the year 1859 at Mount Sinai, in the old monastery of St. Catherine there. It was discovered by a German scholar and it is now safely deposited in the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg. It is the most beautifully written of all the three. It is about fifteen hundred years old. It contains the New Testament complete, and thus affords us the most explicit testimony that the New Testament of that age was the very same that we now possess!
We have cited these three venerable witnesses from the three capitals of Christendom—-the first from London, the capital of Protestantism; the second from Rome, the capital of Roman Catholicism; and third from St. Petersburg, the capital of the Orthodox Church, and we see that their testimony is most explicit.
I have gone to considerable length to establish the authenticity of our Bible because the entire Psalm 119 is all about the Word of God. We have observed that out of the 176 verses, over 170 refer directly to the Word of God. We believe that our Bible is the authentic and authoritative Word of God!

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Now we come to the exposition of the text which we have chosen in Psalm 119.
"Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord-—Your salvation according to Your word" (v. 41).
This section of the Psalm we are studying commences a new portion in which each verse begins with the letter VAU, or the English letter V.
In the previous verses of this Psalm, the poet has been expressing his desire to know God. He has used the first-person pronoun more than is the case in other psalms, and he has addressed God directly again and again. It is always..."I" and "you." But in these verses before us, he rises to a new height in expressing his desire to know the God of love and all comfort. We could translate the verse...May Your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, Your salvation according to Your promise.
This is the first stanza in this Psalm in which the poet mentions God's love! And he connects the idea of the love of God with salvation! The proof of God's love is His provision of salvation for sinners for it is out of the great love of God that salvation comes.
When the Old Testament saints wrote about salvation they could only have had a rudimentary idea of all that was involved. We live on the far side of the cross and know how the love of God and the death of Christ came together.
But when David writes about Salvation, what is the thought that must have been going through his mind?
Salvation is the great central theme not only of the Old Testament but of the whole Bible. From the story of God's rescue of Noah and his family from the flood to that graphic picture of the final destiny of God's saved people as the Bride of Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelations 21, God is seen to be at work in the rescue of men and women!
There are a number of words used in the Hebrew Text that will help us understand how ancient Israel viewed the whole concept of SALVATION.
The first word for us to consider is the word...HAYAH, which means "to preserve," "to keep alive," "to give full and prosperous life to someone." Here we meet at once an emphasis which is constant throughout Scripture.
It is God who saves. Whatever salvation may mean, and it comprises various shades of meaning, it is basically seen as the proper function of God Himself.
There is another Hebrew word...YASHA...which refers to "bringing into a spacious environment," "being at one's ease, free to develop without hindrance." It deserves close attention, not only because it is normative for the whole concept of salvation in the Old Testament, but because it forms part of several of the best-known names in the Bible, such as Isaiah, Hosea, Joshua, and supremely Jesus. If we are to understand what is implied by Matthew 1:21 "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins", it will be imperative to grasp something of what this word YASHA had come to mean to the Hebrew people of the Old Testament.
One cannot help being struck from the very outset of any study of this word by the remarkable fact that in the vast majority of references to salvation, however it was conceived, God was seen as its author.

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It is God who saves His flock. "Therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep." (Eze. 34:22).
It is the Lord who rescues His people. "Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen." (Hosea 1:7). "I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior. I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there is no foreign god among you" (Isaiah 43:11-12).
Wherever we look in the books of the Old Testament this fact stares us in the face. It is the Lord who hears from heaven and saves His anointed with the saving strength of His right hand...it is the Lord who saved His people from Egypt, for He is the high tower, the refuge, the Savior of His people. He is their God and Savior!
TO KNOW GOD IS TO KNOW HIM AS SAVIOR! "I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but Me; for there is no Saviour beside Me" (Hosea 13:4).
The first reference to this word...YASHA...comes in Exodus 14:30: "So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore."
It is no exaggeration to say that this rescue from Egypt, the land of bitter bondage under the threat of imminent death at the hand of harsh taskmasters, determined the whole future understanding of salvation by the people of Israel.
The Exodus was a great drama in which God was the central actor. It was played out against a backcloth of divine judgment on Egypt, carried out in the plaques.
Its plot was God's faithful mercy and love to Israel displayed in their rescue from judgment through the death of a lamb, sealed in the great deliverance of the Red Sea, and issuing in the covenant of Sinai in which God undertook to be their God, and they undertook to be His people.
The whole essence of Israel's uniqueness was her relationship with a God who saves, and this relationship was rooted and grounded in the historic event of the Exodus where God stepped in on their behalf to save them from Egypt unto Himself.
The influence of the Exodus on the religious festivals is astonishing! Each year there were three occasions when all adult male Hebrews were expected to "appear before the Lord", at some local shrine. The first was the FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD to mark the beginning of the barley harvest. Originally it was nothing to do with the Passover, but such was the impact of the Exodus that it subsequently became identified with it, apparently because unleavened bread was used at both, and both took place at much the same time of the year.
The second great feast was the FEAST OF WEEKS, later known as Pentecost. It was a time filled with the memory of the Exodus. "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God" as is natural at harvest; but equally, "Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt observe and do these statutes (Deut. 16:12). Pentecost was celebrated seven weeks after the barley harvest.

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The third great feast was TABERNACLES or the FEAST OF INGATHERING. The Exodus had marked this happy vintage festival with the imprint of salvation. "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days...that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God" (Lev. 23:43).
Thus at each of the great festivals the Israelites would be reminded of the saving events which brought them into being a nation. They would acknowledge that their God was not merely the provider of food for His people, but He was the Saviour God who had rescued them out of the land of Egypt. Again I say, it is impossible to overestimate the influence of the Exodus as the historical emblem of salvation!
Now we can better understand why David, in the passage from our Psalm, calls upon the Lord to extend to him the mercies of salvation...for to David the great rescue from bondage and the power of God displayed in the journeys of Israel to the Promised Land assured him that his God was powerful, loving, merciful and patient! AND GOD WAS THE AUTHOR OF THIS SALVATION...it did not come from man!
And this is the teaching of the New Testament. Our salvation comes from the God of mercy and grace. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song: He has become my salvation? (Isaiah 12:2). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself" (Ephesians 1:3-9).
David, knowing that salvation was from God and was the result of mercy and grace, He desired that he would always use his mouth to give forth praise ("and take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth" and "I will speak of Thy testimonies also before kings").
Our salvation that has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of Son of His love should be a constant reason for us to use our mouths to tell forth His praise!
Our salvation gives us reason to lift our hands in joy and rejoicing (v.48) from a heart filled with thanksgiving and gratitude.