Sermon
Ruined But Still Rejoicing
August 24, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles, and I'd like for each one of you to have one. And we have selected the last number of weeks to consider some of the great truths in the longest chapter in the Bible, as well as the longer Psalm, Psalm 119. In previous years as we planned our series in the summer on the Psalms, I neglected or avoided Psalm 119 because it's such a massive Psalm. It has 176 verses as you'll notice. To cover all of that in an exposition would be extremely difficult, but this year we've divided it as it is divided. You will notice that the Psalm is divided into 22 sections, and each section has a heading. Mine, from verses 1 through 9 has Aleph, and then it goes to Beth at verse 9, then it goes to Gimel verse 17, and then Daleth.

Now the reason for those divisions are that there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. This was written as an ancient song for the synagogue so these were stanzas, so there are 22 stanzas. And each one of these stanzas is written as what we call an acrostic, that is, each stanzas begins with a certain letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Just like when you were raising your children and you bought them acrostic books; A stands for something...and they have various pages that relate to A and then on to B. Thus, this particular hymn is written as an acrostic and you have the various stanzas.

So we've selected some of the stanzas to talk about, and today we have arrived at the stanzas which begins with Heth. Do you see it at verse 57? Now Heth is the Hebrew equivalent of our letter H; so that would mean that each sentence in this particular stanza would start with the letter H. Now because of the difference in translations that would not be so. But let me read for you verses 57 through 64, and this is the stanzas that reads:

You are my portion, O LORD;
I have said that I would keep Your words.
I entreated Your favor with my whole heart;
Be merciful to me according to Your word.
I thought about my ways,
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
I made haste, and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
The cords of the wicked have bound me,
But I have not forgotten Your law.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
Because of Your righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all who fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy;
Teach me Your statutes.

Now we've also made another observation, you'll notice that David uses various distinguishing words when he wants to think about a certain characteristic of the word of God. He calls it the law; he says they are my testimonies; they are Your precepts; they are Your statutes, and in David's mind each one of those words brought out a different characteristic of the word of God. You'll notice that we run across a number of Your words, he says, then in verse 59, Your ways, Your testimonies; verse 60, Your commandments; verse 61, Your law; verse 62, Your righteous judgments; verse 63, Your precepts; and verse 64, he refers to God's word as statutes.

With that in mind, I'd like to open our brief lesson today. Just turn with me to Your notes that you have there and I'll only just take a brief time because I want to get right to the heart of what David has said in this particular stanza in our hymn. I suggest as we begin our lesson that contained in this, the longest chapter of the Bible and the longest Psalm, are over 170 verses which refer to the Word of God. That's one of the amazing things about this great Psalm; all 170 some odd verses have reference directly to the word of God. David loves the word, he clings to the word, he promises to obey God's word. He goes on and on in his relationship to God's word.

The Psalmist finds strength, protection, encouragement, wisdom, joy, healing and hope in his contemplation of the commandments, laws, precepts, judgments and statutes of the Holy Scriptures. Now I take just a moment to establish my firm and deep conviction in my belief in the Bible as the word of God. That's what David does. The Bible is the masterpiece of God, the Book above and beyond all books is immortal in its hopes-a complete code of laws, the most entertaining and authentic history ever published, and the best covenant ever made.

The Bible, it comes to us drenched in the tears of millions of contritions, worn with the fingers of agony and death, expounded by the greatest intellects, steeped in the prayers of many saints, and stained with the blood of martyrs.

The Bible, the accuracy of its statements and its prophecies are substantiated by every turn of the excavators' spade in Bible lands, by history, by multitudinous inscriptions deciphered among classic ruins, by the unlocking of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The Bible, addressing itself to the universal conscience, speaking with binding claims, and commanding the obedience of all mankind. The one and only hope of information concerning divine revelation, the world's creation, the soul's salvation, human destiny and the realities of eternity. It offers the first and demands the last by its unequivocal, "Thus saith the Lord." God, through His prophetic servant, said: "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

We wonder at the wonder of its indestructibility when we know it has been severely abused in the hands of its enemies and sorely wounded in the house of its friends. But the Bible is the word of God, it will stand forever, it's settled in heaven, writes David. He said, "The word of our God shall stand forever." And Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Now we believe that as Christians with all of our heart.

Take and read pages 2, 3, and 4, and I take just a moment again to build a reason why I believe in the authoritative word of God. But I want to come today right to the heart of our lesson, so will you move with me to page 4, and down about two-thirds of the page David says: "You are my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Your words." Now we have to take our mind and move back into history and try to figure out what David is talking about when he uses the phrase, You are my portion.

So I explain it: When the Psalmist wrote that God was his "portion," he was using a word that had rich meaning in Jewish religious history. When the Israelite tribes came out of the land of Egypt and traveled through the desert and made their conquest of the land of Canaan, every tribe received its appointed portion. The priestly tribe of Levi though did not receive.

Remember the nation of Israel was divided into 12 tribes. You had Gad and Dan and Reuben and Issachar and Judah. When the travel is finished and they arrive in the land of Canaan, what God says is now Gad you'll take this portion up here and Issachar these will be your boundaries, and then Judah you'll take these. So the whole nation is divided up properly as God wanted it to be giving land and possessions to each of the tribes. But, when it came to the tribe of Levi God dealt with them differently.

You see, from the tribe of Levi they were known as the priestly tribe. They were the ones that served in the sanctuary. They were the ones that performed the religious services. So back to our notes -- Instead of being given land as the other tribes were, they were given forty-eight priestly cities scattered throughout the land and they were to live there so that their priestly service would always be available. They had no land, but they were given something better.

It was said of them that they had no inheritance, that is, no portion in the land because their portion or their inheritance was the Lord. Now that's interesting. What was the portion of the tribes? When David says, Lord, You are my portion, and thinking back as to how God dealt with the Levis, what was the portion granted to those Levis? What did they get from God? First of all, God gave them their earthly sustenance. God says now that will be your home and I will take care of you. You need not worry about the necessities of life because your portion will be that which comes through those worshipers, and you'll be able to provide for your necessities, your food. I'll take care of that. That's My challenge. That's My charge, God says. I'll take care of it.

You don't need any land like the rest of them do to raise their crops. But besides that, God says now I'm going to put you in these priestly cities because I want you to minister, spend your time with Me, ministering to My people. So their portion not only was the matter that all of life's necessities were cared for, but they enjoyed continually being in the presence of God. Early in the morning they would rise and participate in the morning sacrifices and went through all the day, all the rituals there of the synagogue. And then I can imagine late in the evening when the sun is setting those Levis and priests would sit around the temple precincts and talk about the wonders of God and wonders of His word. And so, their portion was having God provide all of life's necessities and they had the joy of living continually in the presence of God. That was their portion.

Now down to the bottom of the page; page 4. The Psalmist is saying that like the Levites he wants his portion of divine blessing to be God Himself since nothing is better and nothing will ever fully satisfy his or anyone else's heart but God Himself. To possess God, David says, is to possess everything. To have a faith and a relationship with the God of the universe, to come to know Him and to love Him, to sense His presence and to enjoy His blessings, David says that's the ultimate of living. You can give away all of the thing of time that are temporal, give them to the rest of the tribes, but I want to portion of the Levi. I want, Lord Jesus, for You to be the very center the very focus the very reason for my being. I want You as my portion.

Now ladies and gentlemen, if God isn't our portion something or someone else is. Because what David is saying, God, You're the center. I know that life moves on things will be around me and I will share in the existence of living, but God You have to know that that's secondary and everything else, everything else comes behind You. Now in our life you and I make up our mind what is going to be our portion. For some of us it's the acquisition of things. That which is temporal. For others, our portion could be anything we make a determination to give the fullest attention, our life, our passions to -- that's our portion.

And David said, I don't want any of that. I want You God. And thus he makes this great declaration, Lord, You are my portion. So what he's saying is, God, I want to come to really know You, because in knowing You I'm going to enjoy life's richest relationship. Now here's the problem folks, the problem is that too frequently we create the image of God in our mind that we want and as a result oft times that image is not biblical.

J. B. Phillips wrote a book many years ago, the old English scholar, and his little book is entitled "Your God Is Too Small". And what he does, he gives a scenario of various concepts that people live with. Some people think of God as that policeman up in the sky that every time I do something wrong He hits me over the head with a rod. He's heaven's policeman. That's not the God of the Scriptures, but that's the way some people see Him in their minds.

Others think of God as the great Santa Claus of heaven, I mean, the bellboy of heaven. Every time they want something, God just... In other words, He's the one they call on when life puts them in a squeeze. So he's the big Santa Claus. Ladies and gentlemen, He's not heaven's Santa Claus. Others think of Him as the grand old man who sits in the skies on some cloud with a long beard. They've got this concept that God is so old that He's not current. One of the little girls asked her Sunday school teacher, do you think that God understands computers? The idea is God is too old for that. No, God isn't that old; He's eternal; He's ever present.

You see, what I'm saying is David realizes that you can create a concept of God that is really not biblical, and if that's the God you strive to make your portion, you'll live a deceived life. So here's what he says, he said if I'm going to know the God to whom I want to make the goal of my living, I've got to know Him through the Scriptures. He must be the God of the Bible and therefore to really know Him, I must know the Scriptures. I must know how God reacts. I must know His nature. I must understand His will. I get to know God through His word, and that's why he references so frequently the word of God and its different characteristics.

David said, God, I want to know You in all Your power. I want to know You in Your love. I want to know You in Your mercy. I want to know You in Your grace. I want to know You. Remember all the hymns we sang today - Oh that I might know Him. It's a great aspiration of the soul.

When you go back in life you find that people who have a desire to make God the supreme purpose of their living and the object of their worship and the one they love, are people who set that as a goal and they strive towards that. One of the great preachers of all-time was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was an Englishman. He was a man born with a brilliant mind and they said he had such a voice that when he preached, that's before the days of help with any audio, he could preach to 5000 people and they could hear him whisper. So he was blessed with a magnificent voice.

Now put yourself back 150 years. This was 1855 and you're attending church down in England at Southwark. You walk into the chapel and this is the morning that your new preacher has arrived, and the guy is only 20 years old. He's just a kid. And I can imagine that in that church that morning the people were sitting there saying, now what's this 20-year-old got to say to us? And they were amazed when he started his sermon because his conquest was to know God.

It started down before us on page 5, and I just picked up the introduction. Now can you imagine sitting in a sanctuary and hearing this from a 20-year-old lad? He said, It has been said by someone that the proper study of mankind is man. I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing. No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God..."

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; a musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

What old Spurgeon was say as he started his ministry, the most challenging, the most expanding, the most humiliating for a human mind is to seek and to want to know God. Now it's interesting that Paul, the great apostle, said it in a different way when he said, Lord, You are my portion. In that Philippians passage that Pastor Leighton read at our communion here's the way Paul said it: Lord, I want to know You in the power of Your resurrection. I want to know You in the fellowship of Your sufferings, and I want to know You even to the point of being made conformable unto Your death. Now that's the way the apostle Paul said what David said in our psalm -- Lord, I want You as my portion. I want You as my everything. I want You to be the center of my reason for living.

Let me just quickly say what Paul was saying when he said I want to know You in the power of Your resurrection. He realizes that the Bible describes us in our sin as being dead in our sins and in our trespasses, and that it's the Holy Spirit that quickens us. It's the Holy Spirit that makes us to know God's love and His mercy. It's the Holy Spirit that pulls back the blinders from our spiritual eyes and helps us to comprehend the glorious truths of the gospel, and brings us out of our tomb of sin into the glorious life in Jesus Christ. Paul depicted the new birth as a resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ taking place within our hearts bringing us out of sin and out of death into His marvelous light.

And what he's saying is, Jesus, I want the fullest knowledge of You taking me and making me all that You want me to be. And he realized that that power that brought him from his sin was the same power that would sustain him. He wanted to live forever and always in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said it in a different way: Always be filled with the spirit of God. So here's what David is saying, God, if I'm going to really know You, my knowledge first starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's where it always starts when it comes to faith. To know God, to understand His universe, you've got to start with Jesus Christ and that's what Paul is saying. You've got to come to Him, and by faith, experience that resurrection life that comes through our trust in Him. Then he goes on a step further, and this is the one that really gets to me folks, I've spent all week and I haven't plumbed it and I've gone to many, many theologians in the same search. He said something that I still don't understand. He said, Lord Jesus, I want to know You so deeply I want to fellowship in Your sufferings.

Now he's not talking about being nailed to a cross. I think he's talked about something far deeper. What he's saying is, Jesus, I want to know You so much, so deeply, that I understand Your heartbeat. I really want to know that. Now that is a deep request. If you were walking with Christ leaving Bethany and heading for Jerusalem, waiting for the cross, and it says that as He came around the hill He stopped and He looked over at Jerusalem and said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thee under my wings as doth a chick, but you would not! And the Bible says that He wept. That's part of the sufferings, the spiritual sufferings. He's coming to His own, but His own has received Him not.

They're going to nail Him to a cross, and part of that suffering that Jesus spoke of was the suffering of rejection. Feeling that a world that He created and He wants to love and He wants to bless, but they turn against Him. And part of the sufferings that He felt is that suffering of rejection. And I'll tell you when you start weeping over the fact of a world that turns against a wonderful Christ...when rejection, you feel the pain of it. Now you're beginning to fellowship in His sufferings. Then He went a step further and He went to the cross. You remember, they're getting ready to break the legs of the thieves on the side, when they come to Jesus He's already dead so they jab a sword, spear through His side.

And we are told that the heart is contained in a sack of fluid, and when a heart, when something in life becomes so filled with tension and life becomes so unbearable, it is possible for the heart to rupture, to break, and then the blood and the water that is in that sack flow together. And it is true ladies and gentlemen, when Jesus died, He died of a broken heart. When He hung there on that cross He understood the penalties for sin, and He paid that penalty in death. When you say Jesus, I want to know You, really know You, and I want to somehow experience the fellowship of Your sufferings, that is a tremendous prayer to pray.

When Paul says I'll even go further God, Lord Jesus I want to understand Your death. He's not talking again about a cross, he's saying I want to live as a crucified person that all of my personal ambitions are set aside and You're my portion. You're my everything. Boy what a song; and what a prayer; and what a statement to be able to say, God, You're number one in my life. Is He?

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, David could say words like that and we now know what he meant, but in reality some of those words are hard for us to say because we've let everything else in life be our portion, our dream, our purpose, our passion. We kind of push You off to the side and only make You convenient on Sunday morning. So it's really difficult for us to say that word, that phrase. Would You forgive us? May it be for all of us to always be able to say, Lord, You are my portion. I need nothing else. You're my everything. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you folks.