Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] I'd like you to indulge me for just a moment.
[00:00:21] 52 years ago today, my wife walked down the aisle in a beautiful white dressed.
[00:00:41] She had no idea what she was getting herself into.
[00:00:54] When I was in college, I skipped school and went to a conference.
[00:01:01] And at the conference, one of the most famous preachers in America was preaching.
[00:01:07] And I still remember the sermon he preached.
[00:01:11] It adds three points.
[00:01:14] Dream a dream, tell a dream, do a dream.
[00:01:20] I had no idea then.
[00:01:23] I just knew that that profoundly affected me. I just knew that somehow or another, what he was saying was God speaking to me.
[00:01:35] And in fact, that's exactly what I did.
[00:01:42] I had a vision from God of a church just like this.
[00:01:47] And I started telling people about it.
[00:01:51] And year by year, we started planning to be this church.
[00:01:59] And what God did in my heart 51 years ago, when I was a teenage boy in a conference, is still affecting me today.
[00:02:14] God works in special ways, and we're going to have a conference here called awaken.
[00:02:21] And I believe if you'll give God a chance, he can speak to your heart in a profound way, in a way that shapes you and makes your life more than just going to work five days a week.
[00:02:37] That gives you a purpose and a rich meaning, gives you a sense of your part of what God's doing in the world. And I want to invite you to waken. It's two nights, August 7 and 8th. It's 630 to 830.
[00:02:54] And if it's not worth your time, I'll buy you a McDonald's.
[00:03:00] But I would like you to consider giving God a special moment in your life to see if he can't do something beautiful.
[00:03:10] Our dear heavenly father, I ask that your spirit would be with us this morning, and we could consider the wisdom of psalm 119 and the importance of your word in our lives.
[00:03:28] I ask that you would do that good work that only you could do. And I ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:36] Sounds a little echoey to me.
[00:03:40] I'm reading a history of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough riders, and the story is just about more than Teddy. It tells a whole bunch of backstories about the rough riders and who they were.
[00:03:58] And one of the backstories is the story of Captain Alan Caprona.
[00:04:06] Captain Capron's grandfather was in the army, and he was killed in the mexican american war. His dad was in the army, and he was a graduate of West Point. And before he joined the Rough Riders, Captain Caprons was in the 7th army in Oklahoma dealing with the Apaches.
[00:04:38] So his family had a long history of military service. And he took a leave of absence from the army and joined the Rough riders. And because it was a volunteer organization, they elected their own captains, and they elected him to be a captain.
[00:04:57] He was. They landed in Cuba.
[00:05:01] Their equipment hadn't gotten there, so they slept on the ground. They were supposed to be a cavalry unit, but America didn't have enough boats to get all the horses over there, so they became an infantry unit.
[00:05:17] And his second day on Cuba, his company was leading the exploratory reconnaissance, and they ran into a trap that the Spanish had set.
[00:05:36] And Caprons had two choices.
[00:05:44] He could retreat and I. There would be a terrible backup of men crowding together, or he could hold his place until more men got there. And he chose to hold his place.
[00:06:02] And he was one of the first.
[00:06:05] He was one of the first rough riders to be killed in the war.
[00:06:12] 24 years old.
[00:06:17] He was a man of incredible character.
[00:06:24] He was a man that was highly respected by the people around him.
[00:06:29] He was the kind of man that other men wanted to fight with.
[00:06:35] I mean, fight along with, not fight against.
[00:06:41] And when you read his story, I think to myself, what kind of life experiences did he have? So that by the time of 24 years old, he had clarity about who he wanted to do and what he wanted to do. He had clarity about his bigger mission in life.
[00:07:05] He had enough clarity that he was actually willing to sacrifice his life for a bigger idea.
[00:07:13] And it made me wonder, I wonder how many Americans are left with that kind of character if called upon. How many of us would have developed that kind of character?
[00:07:33] I hope. I hope that.
[00:07:37] I hope that we haven't been over influenced by our culture, and we care more about our image than our character, because the Bible has a whole lot to say about your character.
[00:07:52] We're studying portions of psalm 119 because there are 176 verses, and I can't possibly preach on all of them and keep you coming to church. So we're selecting some out, and today we're going to begin at verse nine.
[00:08:12] How can a young man keep his way pure?
[00:08:17] The septuagint reading for this is closer to, how can a young man set a right pathway for his life?
[00:08:28] By guarding it according to your word.
[00:08:32] With my whole heart I seek you.
[00:08:35] Let me not wander from your commandments.
[00:08:39] I have stored your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes.
[00:08:50] The question that he asked in verse nine, how can a young man set a straight pathway through life? Is a question that every Christian should ask themselves, young ladies, that means you too. How can a young person set a right course through life?
[00:09:10] As you think of your life that's ahead of you, no matter where you are on the journey?
[00:09:18] What method do you have for setting a right course through life?
[00:09:26] See, we have to answer some questions, some basic questions that only we can answer, no one can answer for us.
[00:09:34] We have to answer a question like, who do I want to become?
[00:09:45] What kind of person do you really want to be?
[00:09:49] You see, in my christian experience I've known two kinds of christians.
[00:09:56] I've known christians who they really, in their heart of hearts, they wanted a lessen strict life from God.
[00:10:11] They wanted to keep the options open, to do wrong things when it suited them.
[00:10:18] They wanted to live by the nonsense what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But at the same time they wanted to have some kind of christian life.
[00:10:29] And then I've known christians who in their heart of hearts, they genuinely wanted to be good people.
[00:10:36] They weren't looking for ways to cheat the christian system. In their heart of hearts, they really wanted to be good people and they struggled to be the good person they want to be.
[00:10:49] The psalmist is asking every one of us today, what kind of person do you really want to be?
[00:10:58] What kind of life do you really want to live?
[00:11:02] Do you really want to live a christian life that is guided by these great ideas of Jesus Christ?
[00:11:11] Do you really want to do the right thing or do you want to have the appearance of being a Christian, but you like to keep your options open, to do things you know you shouldn't do when it seems you can get away with them?
[00:11:29] This is a question that only you can answer, but your answer makes all the difference in the world.
[00:11:37] Brothers, do you really want to be faithful to your wife or do you want to sneak around and just not get caught?
[00:11:45] Sisters, do you really want to love your husband and be faithful to him? Or would you like to have the option of horsing around and not getting caught?
[00:11:55] Do you see business people, do you really want to do the right thing at business?
[00:12:02] Are you really committed to doing the right thing? Or would you rather cut corners to make it easier for yourself and cushion your margin a little?
[00:12:16] See, these are questions that only the individual can answer.
[00:12:22] You're the only one who can answer them.
[00:12:25] Young people, the younger you are when you answer these questions, the better chance you have in life. The longer you put off answering these questions, the harder you make it on yourself.
[00:12:41] Here are the two questions that every good person has to answer. What do I really want and why do I want it?
[00:12:51] How can a young person set a right course in life? They can get serious and say to themselves, what do I really want and why do I want it?
[00:13:03] What kind of person do I really want to be and what do I really want to accomplish with in life?
[00:13:13] You see, these questions consciously and subconsciously set your agenda for life.
[00:13:23] You can't lie to yourself.
[00:13:26] You know in your inner heart what you're saying. Do you hear me? And these set a course for your life. It's one thing to really, really want to do what's right and make a mistake. It's another thing to want to make the mistake and just not get caught. Do you see? There are two very different approaches to life. It's one thing to want to live for yourself and judge everything by what you have. It's another thing to say, I want to live for something bigger than myself. I want to be part of something noble. I want to be part of what God is doing in the world in my lifetime.
[00:14:08] And so to answer these questions, I start looking for sources. I start saying to myself, what are good examples of what works and doesn't work?
[00:14:22] I can tell you after years of pastoring this church, the option of not being a good person and just not getting caught, that's not a good option. I've been in my office many times with people whose lives are broken. I've been in my office with people who were weeping so hard they couldn't even breathe because someone had not been the faithful person they promised to be.
[00:14:52] If you want to look at life, if you really want to look at what works and doesn't work, the first option doesn't work. Trust me, or trust anybody who is my age, they can tell you stories. It does not work.
[00:15:10] So what is my, what is my, what is my source for figuring this out? Well, King David, the psalmist, said, I have to pay attention to your word.
[00:15:22] See, it turns out the Bible has a bunch of good ideas from God in it. And if I will take those ideas seriously and I will start trying to, I'll start trying to internalize them. I'll start saying, the God who created everything says, this is a great quality of character that you ought to have. And if I will strive to have that quality of character, I'm going to live a different life than if I'm not striving to live that character. Can you hear me?
[00:15:59] I have to pay attention to your word, and I'm going to explain that a little more in a minute.
[00:16:04] And then David said, I got to pay attention to what I'm really seeking. What do I want most in life? What am I really seeking?
[00:16:16] If you had to take out a note card right now and say, these are the three things that I'm seeking most in life, I wonder what those three things might be.
[00:16:30] I suppose it would vary for where we are in life.
[00:16:38] All right, but listen, what David said, I sought you, the Lord, with my whole heart.
[00:16:51] This is King David.
[00:16:53] He's a national hero.
[00:16:56] All the women loved him, and all the men wanted to be like him. He was everything. He embodied the israelite dream.
[00:17:08] He won wars. He was incredibly rich. He had everything a man in his life could want. And listen what he says.
[00:17:18] More than anything else in my life, I have found that seeking the Lord is better than seeking all these other things.
[00:17:28] I have found more meaning. I have found more help.
[00:17:36] I found a better course when I had a. A consistent, daily experience of seeking the Lord than seeking anything else.
[00:17:48] So what does it mean to seek the Lord with all my heart? It means we seek God intellectually.
[00:17:56] What are you doing to come to know God better?
[00:18:01] In your seeking the Lord, what are you doing to come to know him better? What is your plan to know God better next year than you know him right now?
[00:18:13] See, if you don't have a plan, you're not seeking him.
[00:18:18] I've given out the Westminster confession definition of God in bookmarkers three or four times. I probably should do that again.
[00:18:29] It's the best definition of God. And you can take it phrase by phrase, and you can think about goddess, and then you can seek him in these phrases.
[00:18:41] For example, there is a phrase that says that he's infinite in being and perfection.
[00:18:50] So I can seek God and I can say, I recognize that you are infinite in being and perfection.
[00:19:00] Help me to think about you as an infinite being without any limitations, capable of doing everything you choose to do.
[00:19:13] You're not just infinite in being, you're infinite in all your perfections. God lives a perfect life.
[00:19:21] Now I'm seeking God intellectually. I'm thinking about who he really is, and I am approaching him from the foundation of seeking the right thoughts about him.
[00:19:40] Seeking God with all your heart means to seek him emotionally.
[00:19:44] This means loving God as a living being. Too many christians create God as an idea. He's this great idea, but we don't relate to him as a living being.
[00:20:01] As a living being, we have to love him the way we would love another living being.
[00:20:10] When was the last time you said to God, I really love you.
[00:20:14] When was the last time you expressed your emotional attachment to him?
[00:20:21] When was the last time you said to God, my life doesn't work without you. I like the song we sing here. Says I'm desperate for you. Church that's loving God with all my emotions.
[00:20:37] My emotions are attached to who he is as a living being.
[00:20:45] We have to. When we seek God with all our heart, we seek him volitionally.
[00:20:50] That means we continually choose him above everything else.
[00:20:54] If you find yourself letting Christ slip on your choice list, if you have to choose, you choose this above Christ. If you find him slipping on your choice list, it's a warning that you're not loving him, you're not seeking him with all your heart and we seek him spiritually.
[00:21:20] This is things like worshiping.
[00:21:26] Worship is your inner person sensing the presence of God and praising him and acknowledging him as the most awesome and significant one.
[00:21:41] Worship is prayer where you talk to God and you have an overwhelming sense that he's listening and that he cares for you.
[00:21:51] Worship is playing your favorite christian song and allowing it to speak to your heart.
[00:22:02] Worship is meditation where we meditate on the reality in the presence of goddess and worship his service.
[00:22:12] Ah, we worship God by serving him. Alright, this is what the psalmist said. I was thinking about my life and I reached the point in my life where I was really committed to living the right way.
[00:22:30] I really, really wanted to be the kind of man God wanted me to be in my inner self. I wasn't looking for excuses for self indulgence. And so when I reached that point, I said to myself, how can I do this? And the first thing I said was I have to pay attention to the word of God.
[00:22:54] And the second thing I said is I have to seek God with all my heart.
[00:23:00] This has to be a daily seeking of God because inconsistency leads to drift. Here's what you'll find. The more you seek God, the more you want to seek him.
[00:23:15] But the opposite is equally true. The less you seek him, the less you want to seek him.
[00:23:21] Do you hear this?
[00:23:23] Here's what you'll find. The more you read your Bible, the more you want to read your Bible.
[00:23:28] The less you read your Bible, the less you want to read your Bible, the more you come to church, the more you want to come to church. Just skip two or three Sundays and see how hard it is to go back church.
[00:23:43] See, inconsistency creates drift.
[00:23:48] If I really want to be this noble soul that Christ created me to be, I have to be consistent in seeking him. Otherwise, we drift.
[00:24:00] First of all, we drift from the instruction. We stop structuring our life around the good ideas of Jesus Christ.
[00:24:08] And when we drift in instruction, then it's easier to simply say, that doesn't really pertain to me anymore. I used to think that was for me, but now I don't think it means me at all.
[00:24:23] And once we make that rejection of the truth, we end up living a life very different than what we once intended. Church.
[00:24:37] And then David said this verse. I probably memorized this when I was in elementary school, and I memorized it in the King James Version. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God.
[00:24:55] This is David saying.
[00:24:57] So when I got serious about doing this, I paid attention to the Bible, I sought God, and I started hiding what God says in my heart.
[00:25:12] Now, I want to suggest two ways of doing this. Number one, memorize Bible verses.
[00:25:20] Memorize Bible verses that when you need them, you can drag them out, and you can start saying to yourself, this is not my best option. God says to me, and quote yourself the verse. All right, but if you're not good at memorizing, you don't have to memorize it. You just got to get the idea. The words themselves aren't magic. The power is in the idea. So, for example, have you hidden the idea of faith in your heart?
[00:25:51] Do you really believe that without faith, it's impossible to please God?
[00:25:57] Are you acting in the kind of way that says, I will fail tomorrow if God doesn't help me?
[00:26:05] Or do you have a different approach to life if God doesn't come through? I still have my bases covered, and I'll be all right.
[00:26:13] See, when you hide faith in your heart, you say without faith, it is impossible to please God. If I'm going to please God tomorrow, I have to do what I do by faith and trust in him. I can't ignore him all day.
[00:26:29] How about qualities of life? What qualities of life are you pursuing?
[00:26:35] The New Testament says, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.
[00:26:45] You could just take these words.
[00:26:49] You could take these six words. You could pick one of them every single day, and each day you could say to yourself, I'm pursuing righteousness. Today I'm going to consciously think about doing the right thing in everything I do.
[00:27:09] I'm going to force myself to think right thoughts. Today. I'm not going to give in to thinking the ugly thoughts.
[00:27:16] You could take the word godliness. I want to have something about me today that is like goddess. What is there about me today that is like God?
[00:27:28] Am I steadfast or am I flaky?
[00:27:31] Can God count on me every day or do I drift in and out?
[00:27:38] The third idea is spirit.
[00:27:43] Listen what the New Testament said. God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control.
[00:27:51] What if you hide that in your heart?
[00:27:53] I do not have to be afraid of anything tomorrow because God has given me a spirit of power.
[00:28:02] God has empowered me to do everything I have to do today. I don't have to be afraid today. God has given me a spirit of love.
[00:28:12] I don't have to fold every time I'm tempted. God has given me a spirit of self control.
[00:28:17] You see what I'm saying? We take these God ideas and we bring them into our inner self and then we say to ourselves every day, this is the way I'm living today.
[00:28:30] I'm living by faith. Today. I'm going to count on God to be with me every step of the way. I'm claiming his promise. I will never leave you or forsake you.
[00:28:40] I'm pursuing different things today. Maybe in the past I pursued leisure, maybe I only pursued wealth. Maybe I pursued approval, maybe I pursued recognition. But today I'm setting all those things aside and I'm pursuing something that makes me a more noble and God pleasing person. I'm going to pursue what is right. I want to be like God. I want to love, I want to have faith. I want to be steadfast. I want to be gentle.
[00:29:12] We can also hide the events of the word of God in our heart.
[00:29:18] The Bible is full of stories because stories are easy to remember.
[00:29:23] It's easier to remember a story that is ten pages long than to remember a ten page list of something. So in the Bible, God tells us life events and we can hide these in our heart. For example, the very first story that God tells us is in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth.
[00:29:48] Look, I've been to the university. I've heard everything you've heard.
[00:29:54] I've been called ignorant because I believe in creation. But I don't care.
[00:30:00] I believe in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
[00:30:05] I cannot look at this place and say, isn't it, isn't it interesting that all this made itself a chocolate pie? Can't make itself and my eye is going to make itself and I'm not just going to. I'm not just going to get real lucky and make one eye. I'm going to evolve two eyes.
[00:30:31] And I'm not just going to have two eyes. They're going to be at the exact right place on my face.
[00:30:37] And I'm not just going to have two eyes. I'm going to end up with two ears, and they're going to be on the opposite side of my head.
[00:30:44] To believe that all of this stuff oddly fell together, the way it fell together is beyond the faith that I have.
[00:30:56] I believe that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
[00:31:06] Do things evolve? Yes. I read origin of the species. The finches evolved. But you know what the problem with the argument is? They stayed finches. None of them became mice.
[00:31:20] All they did was change the kind of finch they were. None of them became kittens.
[00:31:28] His argument requires that they become something else other than a finch. I believe in the creator God. All right? Now I'm taking that into my heart, and I have big challenges next week, and I'm going to say, dear God, you are the creator of all. You understand this better than I do. Would you help me go the right pathway through this? I'm trusting you as my creator.
[00:31:54] The story of redemption.
[00:31:56] Mankind messed ourselves up. We messed the world up. Everybody in here has regrets. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We were all hopeless without God in the world.
[00:32:11] But God, in his great love, sent Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, rose again, and he ever lives to make intercession for the saints. I want to absorb that into my heart, and I want to say, Christ is my redeemer. Everything I need to be reconciled to God, Christ does for me. My job is not to take Christ's place and try to do it all myself. My job is to submit to the Holy Spirit so the Redeemer can be formed in me. Church.
[00:32:52] The Bible also tells us the story of judgment. We must all give an account.
[00:32:58] I want to make a big point here.
[00:33:01] When our culture taught that you have to give an account for your life, we were a very different culture than we are right now.
[00:33:11] Now we teach young kids, hey, you're just a biological function. And when you die, that's it. And look at the behavior that produces.
[00:33:22] Look at the behavior that idea produces. It has produced a generation of hoodlums and thugs because there is no fear of God in their eyes. Church. I'm not saying all the kids, please. We had 70 kids here that went on a mission trip. God bless them. I'm talking about the things you see on tv. All right, listen, listen.
[00:33:47] If I absorb the reality.
[00:33:50] If I absorb the reality that even if I get away with it here on earth, I have to give an account for my life to the almighty. It's going to affect the way I live.
[00:34:02] It's going to affect how I treat people. Church, if I really believe it is appointed onto man once to die, and after this comes the evaluation, it's going to affect the way I live. Can you hear me, church?
[00:34:22] Then finally there is the story of everlasting life.
[00:34:26] That's the story of. That's the chapter in the book that we don't know how to read because eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. Do you hear this? I want to live a life that says, this is the elementary school of eternity, and I want to be ready to abide in the presence of Christ forever.
[00:34:56] I want. My goal in life is bigger than to retire when I'm 50. I missed it by 20 years.
[00:35:04] My goal in life is.
[00:35:07] My goal in life is not to take the pathway of least resistance. My goal in life is to hear Jesus say, I have gone to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will doubtlessly come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. I want that to affect my daily character. Church.
[00:35:40] And if I will absorb these ideas and these events and I will make them part of who I am, they're going to be a defense for me against sin.
[00:35:52] My defense against sin is not white knuckling it through the moment. My defense against sin is having my way set straight by the good ideas and the good examples that God leaves us in the Bible.
[00:36:09] And then David got all excited. I mean, he's feeling the wonder of this, and he says, you are blessed, o Lorde.
[00:36:19] The one who makes me want to have a straight course, the one who teaches me the ideas and the events that make my course straight. You are blessed. This is just beautiful. David said, God is blessed because he lives a life that is infinite in being and perfection.
[00:36:41] God's thoughts are all perfect. His emotions are all perfect. His choices are all perfect. His relationships are all perfect. And when he teaches us his way, he's sharing the edges of this perfection with us.
[00:37:00] The Westminster confession says, God has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself. You know what that means? It can't get any better for Goddesse. God is already as wonderful as wonderful can be. It can't get any better for God. Now listen, the one who's teaching you how to live a better life, he's the one who's already living a perfect life himself.
[00:37:28] Church, this is not some psychiatrist who's trying to figure it out themselves and using you to kind of help them do it.
[00:37:37] This is the one who figured it out. He's got it. He lives in perfect perfection of being.
[00:37:45] It can't get any better for him. And he says, I've got the ideas that will make your life better. I'm not testing them. I already know they work.
[00:38:00] Oh lord, you are blessed because you are the awesome one. I want you to teach me your statutes.
[00:38:08] What makes you eternally blessed, what allows you to live in infinite perfection. I want you to teach me that so I can live a life that's more like yours.
[00:38:23] Church.
[00:38:24] The christian life is not giving something up. The christian life is up accepting something awesome, wonderful, beyond comprehension, beautiful in every way.
[00:38:37] If your Christianity is a list of things you give up, you've missed it. The psalmist saying to us, our faith is not something that causes us to give things up. Our faith is something that teaches us how to receive the most beautiful and blessed and majestic life that God wants to share with his people.
[00:39:03] So all of this brings us right back to our first idea. How can a person set their path straight in life?
[00:39:12] This brings us back to the very first question, how can I live a great life?
[00:39:20] What do I want? I want the very same thing that Christ offers me when he says, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:39:30] What do I want more than anything else? I want the life that only God can give.
[00:39:38] Why do I want it? It's my creator's best idea.
[00:39:42] It's what he created all this for. He didn't create the world for all of us to be miserable. He didn't create the world for us to drag ourselves from one day to the next. He created us for something more beautiful. Listen, Jesus said, I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. It's all supposed to be better than what it is and the way it becomes what God wants is for you and I to start taking his teaching in the scriptures seriously again, absorbing them into ourselves and trying to live them out in our daily life.
[00:40:22] God is eternally blessed and he alone can teach us the right ways. Nobody else knows how to do it.
[00:40:32] What an honor it is to have God himself as our teacher.
[00:40:38] Have you let that pass by you? It's the almighty himself who says, I got this. I can teach you church.
[00:40:48] If you want to live a blessed life and enter into a blessed eternity, Christ is your only option.
[00:40:57] Christ modeled the right course in life and church. God highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess because he got it right.
[00:41:15] Our dear heavenly Father, thank you for the scriptures.
[00:41:23] I pray that a seed would be sown in our hearts this morning and we could feel in our inner self a new longing to set a right course in life, to become everything you created us to be, to grow in our inner self, to develop the qualities that you say, make a blessed life.
[00:41:50] And then, Father, I pray that as we live the blessed life ourselves, we would be a blessing to the other people around us.
[00:41:59] That this wonderful life that you are teaching us how to live, it will rub off from us onto others, and that people in our homes would live a better life, our spouses would live a better life, our kids would live a better life, our coworkers would live a better life. Everyone around us would live a better life, because something of the life of Christ is being formed in us. In Christ's name, amen.
