Cleansing old wounds
Key Passage: Psalm 19
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm chapter 19. Psalms chapter 19. I had announced last Sunday morning that we were going to cover the angels’ message at Christmas, calling it “The Four Angels of Christmas Past.” We covered when the angel came and spoke with Zacharias. Gabriel, the angel, was going to speak to Mary, but I just could not get peace. As of yesterday, I felt like the Lord diverted me to Psalm 19.
I want you to pay special attention. This is not a typical Sunday morning message. It’s one of those that just kind of goes over our heads, with a lot of details. But it could be a message that God can really use to grow you, to change you, and to make you what you would like to be, honestly. I hope you pay special attention. Whisper to the Lord, “Lord, you speak to my heart.” We will try to do our best to illustrate it. There is a lot to cover, so we won’t have as much time for illustrations, but we will do our best. Do your best listening and let the Lord speak to your heart.
Psalm 19 is a wonderful chapter. For years, I really associated it just with creation. When God really opened this chapter to me a couple of years ago, my wife and I had had a dream of a lifetime vacation. We flew to Montana, rented a motorcycle, and rode the Rockies on a motorcycle. My wife went back. I had planned that week just to read Psalm 19 a lot and kind of left my normal devotions just because it’s about creation. I learned it is so much more than that.
Really, the first half of Psalm 19 is about God’s revelation to mankind through creation. By the way, every single person in the world knows there is a God just from creation. Romans 1:20 talks about that. He says, “so that they are without excuse.” Now, it does say over there that the fool hath said in his heart there is no God. But at the end of the day, that same guy that says there is no God—let him get hit by a car—and the next thing out of his mouth is, “Oh, my God, help me!” So he can say it all he wants, but according to Romans 1:20, he knows the truth: there is a God, just from creation.
You have heard—I think I have told it, and we teach it a lot of times in our Foundations class—about two men in the harbor watching a big, beautiful cruise liner come in. A beautiful, massive city on water. Two guys were standing there. They said, “Wow, that thing’s beautiful. That’s amazing. It’s got swimming pools inside of there and everything in the world in there, lots of food in there.” Some of you know, yeah, I gained ten pounds on those cruises. Anyway, all that, it’s just beautiful. One guy said, “Man, whoever made that did an incredible job.” The other guy said, “How do you know anybody made that?” He’s like, “Duh, look right there. That’s how I know.” Ten thousand times more intricate than that is the universe. We know, we all know, there is a God.
Psalm 19, the first part of the chapter, is about that: God’s revelation to mankind through creation. The second half of Psalm 19 is God’s revelation to mankind through His Word, for the most part. We are going to read the whole chapter—14 verses—and then we are going to go back and really just kind of break down the last half of the chapter and what I think it means and how to apply it to our life. I want you to pray, “Lord, apply this thing to my heart and to my life.”
Would you do that? Psalm 19. We are going to start with verse number one. Would you please stand as to read it, if you are able, just to show the Word of God respect? We try to do that. They did that in the book of Nehemiah, Ezra, I believe it was. Psalm 19. We are going to start verse number one.
The Bible there says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”
Now he is changing over to the revelation of God to mankind through His Word in verse number seven. He talked about creation so far. I think there is a comparison we will get to here. But now he is going to start talking about the Word of God. He describes it in several different words here. Here it is, the first of verse number seven. He says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
“More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
Would you pray with me just a sincere prayer in your heart? “Lord, would you grow me and change me and use these truths to help me in that, to expedite that?” Would you pray? Father Lord, thank you. You worked in my heart through this chapter. It’s a wonderful chapter. Lord, somehow would you help me to convey your truth to the ears of the people? Then, Father, I do pray that your Spirit would convey the truth to the heart of the people. Lord, give us a glimpse of how you can change even the very core of us and every part of us, Lord, through your Word and through your Spirit using your Word in our lives. Help me to say everything you want said, nothing you don’t want said, Lord. And we will brag on you for what you do. It is in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
How many of you, when you drink that carbonated, unhealthy corn sugar—if it’s sugar-free, it’s got all that other unhealthy sweeteners—how many of you call that a Coke? How many call that a Coke? All right, pretty good. All right, that’s good; we’re down south. How many of you call that pop? Oh, my goodness, we’re backsliding! How many of you call it soda? Wow, there’s a lot of soda. How many of you call it soda pop? We all know it should be called Coke, amen. We are going to preach the Bible whether you like it or not.
It is amazing; it is all about the family you were born into, the part of the country you were born into. I mean, how many of you call the thing on your vehicle up front, right underneath the hood, that keeps the antifreeze—that keeps the engine cool—how many of you call that, somebody tell me, what do you call that? Radiator? How many of you call it a radiator? We got one of those, amen. You know, she’s a pretty one, though, amen; won’t take her. It’s my wife, amen. How many of you call it a tournament or a tor-na-do? You know? Oh, let’s see. There is somebody you will do better on me than that. But my point is, it is all about the family you are born into and the neighborhood you grew up in, the part of the country you grew up in. You can take these simple terms and simple words and apply that to your way of life.
Someone that grows up in a home where there is much manipulation going on, and you think that is the way to be, that is the way the world is. You grow up just kind of using that because you were born in a system and raised in a system where, you know, some systems, there is a lot of fighting, and you are ready to yell and scream, and if you have to, duke it out, you know. Because, okay, we got the Green Bay, Wisconsin guy right there; he is ready to go at it, amen. Many times we just think that is the norm. We grow up with that default, that tendency to be like that because that is why we were raised.
You can apply that in so many different ways. I will try to do a little bit of that. In families, there are family dynamics, they often call it. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes families will have these different dynamics with the children, especially if there is a narcissistic parent. Sometimes there will be what they call the golden child. How many have heard that term? All right, I want to kind of see who. So you know where I am going, many of them. That person there, they are one that they, in the family, they are typically not going to be blamed for much at all. They cannot do anything wrong. They are the ones that—it is always interesting to me. If I hear the siblings, all the siblings really, praising and bragging on one other sibling, then I typically think, well, okay, they are probably trained to do that. It is a learned trade. And probably we have got a golden child with them.
Here is the thing about that. Here is the thing about it: that golden child, it is not their fault. Some people get mad at a stinking golden child. Well, you know, it is not their fault. The parent or parents or whatever made them the golden child. They were just born into that. Y’all with me out there? By the golden child, they got a lot of weaknesses, and for the rest of their life, they will be tempted: “I got to perform. I got to be the best of everything.” And they will grow up in their life and realize you cannot be the best of everything, and they will try to spend the rest of their life proving that true.
They say in these family dynamics there is often the scapegoat. You know, I have heard these terms. That scapegoat is the one that gets blamed pretty much for everything, you know. They have got to have someone to kind of take the light off of them and their flaws, so they will cast it on someone. A lot of times it is amazing the things they cast on them are their problems. It is amazing how it works. But that person, that scapegoat, they are going to grow up with a tendency thinking that everyone is coming after them. They may have self-esteem issues, as the world says. And they are going to have a—it can come out in a lot of different ways with a scapegoat. They could be the one that is the caretaker for their parents for the rest—I am trying to make up for what they think they did wrong to the family, understand, because it has been ingrained in them from day one.
And just so many—and I am not trying to get all the way into all this this morning—but so much is about these families you grow up in. You could be the invisible child, they call it, the forgotten child. You have seen enough problems while you do not make any problems, or you are just quiet about everything. You do not even—nobody even knows you are there. You are forgotten. You never develop your taste and your likes and all the rest. You cannot stand up for yourself later on sometimes.
You say, in the family dynamics—and here is the thing I am trying to get at—you grow up in that system and you think that is the norm. Anybody know what I am talking about that you might relate to me? Just stick with me. Young people, stick with me on this. It is a little different, some of this, but stick with me on this. We are trying to go somewhere on it.
Especially if you have a very closed family. Some families, the kids never can spend their night with anybody else because, or sometimes they will not go to church, because if you go to church, you will see something different than what is inside that family. Or the preacher preaches on something, and then it makes your family look bad. So they are a very closed-circuit family. And I can really play with a child’s head because they just never see anything different. And you get all these dynamics.
By the way, all of us—you realize all of us are a little warped. You know what I am talking about? You say, “I had a perfect home.” No, you did not. You are on this earth. Hey, man, we are all warped out there. We are warped by just the family and society and where we lived at and grew up and all the rest of that. It is just part of it.
Maybe you grew up in a family where there is a narcissistic dad and husband or mom and wife and all that. And then when you grow up and you get married, you know, you can go through all the counseling, premarital counseling and training, and I am for all that, I do that, spend time with that. But once you get married, if you are not careful, during tough times, you go back to default—what you are used to, what you grew up with. So you are prone to that.
You understand how some ways, boy, can just be discouraging to think all that through. And here is the sad thing about it. Y’all still out there? Y’all still with me? This side is with me. Y’all still with me over here? Sometimes—and I hope you young people have figured out way before this—sometimes you do not even really figure out who and what and why you are until your 30s or your 40s or even later. And then you think, “Man, I have already raised my kids. So I put some of that on them.” You know, I have lived long enough to realize, man, I wish I would have and I wish I did not in some of my childhood. Not a perfect parent in the world. Are y’all people out there, you know, you live on this planet? Yeah, we are all there in these things.
And then all of that, the time you figure out all these things, you know, for you personally, however, whatever it is for you—man, your habits, you have got some strong habits and tendencies and sometimes addictions either. And you are like, “Whoa, man, I didn’t know why I had these tendencies,” and “I am just not figured it out, and I got a lifetime like that now. I am supposed to change.”
Psalm 19 gives me so much hope when it comes to these faults. Would you look at verse number 12? I think he is very specifically talking about these things in our sin-cursed world. Psalm 19, look in verse number 12. He says, “Who can understand his errors?” You say, “I didn’t even know it.”
It is going to list—we are going to list about seven different things God can do for you. First of all, God can help show you who you are and why you are. He can show you—“Who can understand his errors?” Who can figure it all out? Because you think, you know, that is the norm, that is, you know, for you, right, is right, but it might not be right. And so how can I understand that? God, He can help you understand your errors. He can help you understand where I am slanted this way or that way.
Sometimes you say, “Why do I have such a hard time?” I think—I will not take time to show you from Scripture—but I personally think David was a great, great Christian, but I think David had a hard time sometimes with being honest. And I can show you some verses in Psalms, whatnot. He is praying, “Lord, let me be honest. I do not want a lying tongue,” and all that. I think David battled that. Sometimes you say, “Why do I have a hard time with being honest?”
Maybe you say, “Why do I have such a hard time with addiction, whether it be smoking or drinking or pornography?” We all have somewhat addiction. How many got coffee this morning? Amen, you know. About two years ago, I got off coffee for about a year. Man, I went through the headaches, withdrawals. I went to DTs. I was in a rehab center. Okay, not quite that bad, you know. But we all have some addictions. You have an addiction that has a stronghold in your life. And you know, “Why do I battle this? It seems like so much harder than others.” And God can help you understand. “Who can understand his errors?”
“Why am I just prone to manipulate people and things and situations? It is just so natural for me. Why is that?” My lady, I love it. Jesus said about Nathanael, He said, “Hey, right there, that Nathanael,” He said, “in him is no guile at all.” Guile is manipulation. I love it. Jesus said, “That fellow right there, he does not have any.” It said about Jesus that out of His mouth—and Peter said out of His mouth came no guile. I mean, Jesus never was trying to manipulate people or crowds. He did not do that, did not come out of His mouth. Of course, we know He did not sin at all. But you say, “Why am I so prone to that?” And God can help you understand. “Who can understand his errors?”
Some are prone in our time to homosexuality. And why am I so prone to that? And God can help you understand. Now, it is still a sin. I am not saying it is right, but some are just prone to that. I am not saying it is certain because they were born with a certain thing. I am saying just from life has pushed them that way, and they have a default that way from sometimes their childhood, whatnot. And God can help you understand why.
Why do I have these errors in my life? Why am I—I am just prone to bullying? And you are just always pushing your opinion, everything, kind of just bullying it on everybody, you know, and you want everybody to go your way. No, why? You say, “I just can’t stand up for myself about anything.” Why is that? And I am saying this first part of God working in our life is where He has told about verse number 12. He said, “Who can understand his errors?” God can help you understand your errors.
Let’s keep going. What is the next thing He says right here in verse number 12? Y’all with me? It is a little different this morning. Verse number 12, He said, “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” I did not even see it for years. But God—God can cleanse you from secret flaws. And secret things, faults in your life. It is just like a—it is such a—just a default error or flaw in my life. And God says, “I can cleanse you from that.”
Now, a wonderful thing about it is God has a special cleansing agent. It is better than Ajax, better than bleach, better than water. It is called the blood of Jesus Christ. And it is an amazing cleansing agent. I mean, you get the blood of Jesus wrapped up in there. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” amen. “There is a fountain filled with blood flowing from Immanuel’s veins.” Amen. And that is why I dip in it and I get cleansing. He can cleanse you. His blood is a cleansing agent.
Can I say this? Sometimes God also uses life circumstances and sometimes problems. Jesus’ blood washes away and cleanses our sin, but God says, “All right, cleansing you from future things, I want to just wipe away all the stain of it.” And sometimes, you know, it can be hurtful when God says, “I want to kind of show your flaws and your faults here.” And so I have got to let you see it. Sometimes very, very hurtful is cleansing. Humbling sometimes to see—by the way, we all got them. It is very humbling to admit it and see, “That is my fault line right there. I am just prone to that,” whatever may be in your life.
But some of the cleansing—yes, the blood of Jesus Christ before God Almighty, He cleanses you, He washes it away. And you will never pay for that sin again. Gone, gone. “Yes, my sins are gone, as far as the east is from the west.” Hey, praise the Lord, I will never face that sin before God. But sometimes in my lifetime down here, dealing with people and circumstances and families and relationships and all that, God says, “All right, I am going to allow some hurtful things because it is part of the cleansing. You get that out of your system.”
I never forget when I lost my fingers in an accident years and years ago. I was playing knives with another man, and he won that one right there, you know. No, I am teasing. You have heard me talk about the accident at work, and a machine cut my fingers off, and we rushed to the hospital that night. I got to the hospital, just a little hospital in Indiana at first, and then eventually Chicago. And at the hospital, you know, and they say, “We need to clean your hand.” I said, “All right,” you know. But then they got to bring out a brush. I said, “Wait, wait, what are you getting out over there?” A brush. I am talking about it. I am not trying to be too graphic, but you can look down and see the bone in there. You know, I mean, you can see everything. You know, this—uh-uh, uh-uh. You are not getting that brush out until you give me some pain medicine.
And actually, they said, “We already gave you six morphine.” Now, I do not know how much of it was. I said, “Well, that does not matter; it still hurts.” Uh-uh, no, no, no. And cleansing—they said, “We have got to cleanse it.” Not until you put me to sleep, Amy, and you cleanse it then, you know.
But sometimes it can be painful. And sometimes it takes over time. God cleanses us. But He will cleanse you. God can cleanse you. First of all, He says, “Who can understand his errors?” And second of all, He said, “I’ll help you understand.” Understanding—we see it for what it really is, see it from God’s eyes. It is a true issue here. Number two, He will cleanse you from your secret faults, secret sometimes even secret from you. Now you are going, “All right, I can see why I am so prone to that.”
Then what is the next thing He does? Let’s keep going here. Next thing here, verse number 13, I believe it is, in Psalm 19. He says, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.” Now, that is very interesting what God words. He said, “Keep back.” Years ago, I had the privilege of leading an alcoholic to the Lord Jesus Christ, a little bit off Weekly Lane over there. We were out knocking doors, and a man invited us in his duplex, and a very nice man, very kind man, and he shared with us. I cannot remember all the details, but he had spent his life drinking. It is honest truth. You know, in some ways it is strange for many family members living there alone because he just drank his life away.
Praise the Lord, he bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ’s blood to wash away his sins, and he was gloriously saved that day. Wonderful to see. It is a great thing. He began to come to church and began to grow in the Lord. For several weeks, he told me, he said, “I did not touch a drop of alcohol.” And he had not done that in years and years, pretty much his whole life. But God was giving him the victory, and God had saved him, and God had moved inside. He made a new creature; the Holy Spirit was living inside him, and he was not drinking any at all.
This is the story he told me. He said, “Until a preacher one day—I was riding down the road by a liquor store, one of those that he had visited before, I believe—and he said, ‘I just rode down there.’” By the way, he probably should have kind of just took a different turn to go around it. You see, that is crazy. Well, you hear the rest of the story, you might not think it is so crazy. That is why I say, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”
He said, “I rode by that liquor store, and just something about riding by, and he said, ‘I looked over there at it.’ He said, ‘Man, it is just like something just grabbed me, and I turned around and I went back and I got a drink.’ And he said, ‘Pastor, since then, I just can’t get off of it.’”
And that is why the Bible says, “Keep back thy servant.” Notice, “thy servant.” It is a servant of God. “Keep back.” God says, “Look, I’ll show you, I’ll help you understand your errors. I’ll cleanse you from your secret faults. And I’ll keep you back.” Sometimes you just want to—if you have got to go ten miles away, it would be better to go ten miles around than to spend the rest of your life in a bottle. Sometimes God will grow you to the point where you do not have to do that, but if you have got to do it, do it.
By the way, I would rather have a flip phone and not be into pornography than have the best smartphone out there and be chained by sinful addiction. You said, “People might laugh at me.” Who cares? You have peace in your heart. Who cares who is laughing at you? And he says, “Keep back, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”
Now, presumptuous sins—that word “presumptuous” has to do with pride, boldness. The first time it is used was when the children of Israel would not go into the promised land. And the Lord said, “No, you messed up. Now you are going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.” And they said, “No, we are going to go fight.” And God said, “Do not go fight. I am not with you.” But they just marched up that hill presumptuously. “We are going to win this battle.” And they got—you know, they got killed. That is the first time “presumptuous” is mentioned in the Bible. And these presumptuous sins just march into your life, very proudly, very boldly. And if you are not careful, it is amazing how much damage they can do because it is your besetting sin, it is your default, it is the thing you are prone to, and they are just bold in your life, these sins are. And so he says, “Keep back that servant also from presumptuous sins.”
David here writing, and God using a dependent. Watch what else he says here. He says, “Let them not have dominion.” Dominating your life. “Let them not have dominion over me.” I thought about how many people I have, in my office or wherever, over the years, I have just seen them weep because they cannot overcome a sin. And that sin has really just dominated their life. And it is such a sad thing.
And God says, “Wait a second. I can show you why you had this error. You are prone to that. I can show you your secret faults. I can cleanse you from that. I can keep you back from that. And there is presumptuous sin.” And He said, “I can make it where you are not dominated by that sin.” What a joy when you are not dominated by a presumptuous sin in your life! What victory, what celebration, what happiness there is, because that sin is not dominating my life anymore. Anybody know what I am talking about there?
Let’s keep going. None of us want to raise our hands, but we are all guilty. All of us are. Whatever said it may be, we are all there. Let’s keep going. What does he say? He says, “Then”—I love this—“then shall I be upright.” He said, “Oh, my goodness, then.” By the way, you know somebody—I picture somebody, they got sin in their life, they are often slumped. Countenances have fallen, as over there in Genesis talked about. And you are slumped. And I am not saying this is everything about it. Do not, theologians, do not debate me on this one here. But I think maybe it has a little bit about then shall you be upright. You got the joy of God in your heart, you are happy, you are not—you know the Bible says, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” You do not have to be fearful around every corner, who culture, who knows, or all the rest of that. You are just—yeah, okay, that was my past life, but praise the Lord, I am not where I used to be. I am not perfect. I am not where I want to be, but praise the Lord, I am not what I used to be, amen. And you said, “Then shall I be upright?” I am winning in this thing. I am not perfect, but I am winning in this thing. And God is doing a work in this old boy’s life. It is a wonderful thing.
“Then shall I be upright.” God showed you why: “Who can understand his errors?” And cleanse me from my secret faults, and He is beginning to grow you, keeping you back from that sin, these presumptuous sins. And they are not having dominion over you anymore. Then shall I walk upright. And then was the last part there: “And I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” Oh, it is wonderful. You do not walk around feeling dirty all the time. I am free. God is bringing victory. I might have some slip-ups here and there, but I do not have dominion over me anymore. And I am innocent, more just a feeling of, “I’m innocent from this great transgression that’s been hounding me for years.” You all want me out there? Wonderful, wonderful chapter.
Now, how does God do this? How does God bring this about in my life? If you go back to verse number seven, He is really when He makes a transition from creation to the Bible. And just very briefly here, let’s go through some of this here, the kind of the way God does this through His Word. Verse number seven there, let’s look at these words that really are talking about the Bible. Number one, verse number seven, “the law.” The law. What is the law of God? The Bible.
And what is the next thing He says in there? “The testimony.” The Bible is a wonderful testimony of the Lord. Verse number eight there, “the statutes” by the Bible there. Middle part of verse number eight, “the commandment of the Lord”—that is the Bible. “The fear of the Lord” is tucked in there, and I do not think necessarily has to do with the Bible, but if you fear the Lord, you will have respect unto the Bible. And then the last half, verse number nine, “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” So these words are talking about the Bible.
The Bible is so very, very key because we are all warped a little bit. And so what is going to be my standard? The Bible. And I have got to have a standard. If I set my standards by the polls out there, well, polls change by what society says. And society is going downhill, friends. So I must have some kind of standard that keeps my equilibrium right. What is true? What is right? How should I act? And it is the Bible. The Bible is so very, very key. By the way, the less society has the Bible, the worse society gets. That is why in some societies, it is status quo to kill the heathens. You do not know what I am talking about there for you. You get away from the Bible, you will get some wacky stuff. You will think it is all right to try to make a man a woman or a woman, and the polls will say it is okay because society goes down here, but the Bible does not change. And it is so vital as I grow in my own personal life.
Let’s keep going. What does the Bible do for you? They have got to move along. Wow, we are going to run out of time. That is not good. Can someone change that clock back there? Just move it back a little bit there, you know, please do that. What does the Bible do? Verse number—the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Your soul, many would call it your will and your mind and your emotions. It is really how you interact with man, your soul. It is so much of you. You say, “I’m just prone to that because I grew up like that,” whatever it may be. “I went through this experience in my life.” Well, the Bible will convert your soul. It will change even your will and your mind and your motions. It will change your default. It will change the way you’ve—by the way, notice it’s converting. It is an ongoing process that the Bible does. It is just ongoing.
Where are we at here? What is the next thing it does? Verse number seven, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” You sound so simple. “I never saw this. I can’t believe I messed my kids up because I didn’t see anything. I’m just simple about all these things.” The Bible, it will make the simple wise. Man, I understand it. I see it. I see things they never saw before. I never realized, you know, anybody can walk all over me anytime they wanted to. I never realized I was a bully, whatever it may be in your life. I have got some wisdom in this area now.
What’s the next thing? He says, “The statutes of the Lord are right.” That is a good thing. Rejoicing the heart, by the way. I mean, this whole messed-up world, how do I know what right is? The Bible. And I have rejoicing. I do not have to go by what everybody else thinks or feels. I have some rejoicing inside my heart because I know what right is. And I understand what kind of dad and husband and wife and mother and all these child—I should be. I got all these things because the Bible.
Let’s keep going. We are going to run out of time. Next thing He says, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” You see things you never saw before. I just see it so differently now that I have some light. It enlightens the eyes. Now I see things I never saw before. I never understood why? What’s my problem? What’s my problem? It’s enlightening my eyes.
What is the next thing? He says, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” By the way, let me just say this under that last point there. At the end of the day, you know what it can be judged by when we stand before the Lord? Not by the polls, not by CBN or NBC or CNN or even Fox. We are going to be judged by the Bible. It is not going to be what Congress says is right or wrong, the federal government, the state government. It is not going to be all that about abortion or any of the rest of it, or how I treat someone. It is going to be by the Bible. I have time; I believe we are going to get on judgment, “Judge Not,” and all those things. And the Bible is, at the end of the day, that is going to be the thing we are judged by.
Now, let me have a couple of concluding thoughts. We ran through those very quickly here. Number one, it takes time for the Word of God to change you. Verse number four there—I think there is a comparison here. Verse number four, “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.” And then he talks about verse number six here. He is going back to the sun here. “His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it. There is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” It is a gradual, just like the sun comes up. It is not boom, you know. I mean—how many of you saw the sunrise come up in the last week at least once? Anybody? Whoa, look at that. Wow, goodness. How many of you say, “I saw it 30 years ago”? Anybody like that out there? It comes up gradual. And that is why he is talking about the Bible; it gradually changes and grows you. That is why when someone earlier this morning or just before church time says, “The big things you’re growing,” hey, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, what’s going on in your life, how grown you are in the Christian life, we all ought to be growing. Everybody, me too. That’s what the Bible does. That sun comes up and it brings the heat to everything. It’s a cold morning, freezing, you know, but that sun comes up. It’s amazing. Man, it’s getting up to 60 today. That’s where the Bible is slowly changing.
Number two, just concluding thoughts: It can affect every area of your life. “Nothing’s hid from the heat thereof.” The way you treat your neighbor, the way you treat your coworker, the way you treat your wife, the way you treat your children, the way you treat everybody, it affects everything in your life, the way you handle your finances, the way you react to things, it affects it. And the Bible will slowly change you from wherever you were, the default, to now being what God wants you to be. It takes time. That’s why it’s so important for you to be in church on Sundays, to read your Bible and devotions, just being in the Bible. Download a Bible app and listen to it, but just be to the Bible. It’s so important.
Now, here’s the key to this thing. Look at verse number 10. Verse number 10 here. We’re flying along. Y’all still with me this morning? I know our young people are a little different one. I hope you’re hanging on here. We’re flying through this thing. Look at verse number 10, right? He said, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb.” You know, the Bible talks about, he says over there, “As a newborn baby desire,” he’s not saying you’re a baby Christian, “desire that ye may grow thereby.” If I’m going to grow and God shows me my defaults and my flaws, my faults, my secret errors and all of them, I’ve got a desire: “Lord, I want that.” I know it’s humbling. I know it’s hard. I know now I’ve got to realize I’ve got my problems too. But I desire that. I want to grow. I want you to show me why I am what I have, and I want you to bring victory in my life beyond that. I must desire that. I desire that more than a desire of gold. By the way, you can have a whole lot of money and be miserable because you’re warped and messed up. You can’t have a good relationship with anybody. Come on now. More desire than gold.
Let’s keep going. We’re hurrying along here. Verse number 14, we’re going to just bring it to a close, verse 14 here. What does he say? He said, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight.” It can change even the innermost of meditation of your heart. It changes even the way you’ve—but in your heart, that’s not necessarily things you say all the time. Now, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” but the abundance of the heart, the meditation of the heart, is things deep down in the very core of you. And God can even change the very core of you. And it changes even the way you think in your innermost part.
Notice at the end of that, he said that very, very last little phrase of verse number 14 right there. He says there, he says, “O Lord, my strength.” Can I say this? You can’t heal yourself. The doctor can’t heal you. You go to the doctor, you hurt or cut or whatever, and he can get the infection out, he can stitch it up, but he can’t heal that thing. You can’t heal yourself, but God can. He’s my strength. You can’t heal you. You can’t grow. I’m going to grow. I tried to grow when I was a boy. I wanted to be taller. I hung upside down, you know, holding bricks in my hands, you know, from the tree and all that, and I still was the shortest guy on the basketball team. You can’t make yourself grow. And your strength is in the Lord. Lord, you grow me. I’ll do whatever. I desire your word to change me. I don’t want to just get stagnant because I’ve been a Christian for 30 years. I don’t just, you know, think I got it all together. I know I still got—I’m desiring that. And God, He’s your strength. And the last thing there, He says there in verse number 14, “O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Really, it starts and it ends there, my Redeemer. A.J. Gordon, a great, great preacher in Boston years ago, he said a little boy in his church came in just on a weekday, and he brought in a cage, a little bird cage, and he had just old wild birds in there. And he came in there and said, “Hey, preacher, I want to show you these birds. I caught in the cage.” And the preacher looked at it, and he said, “Well, hey,” he said, “son, what are you going to do with those birds?” “I don’t know.” He said, “I’ll probably going to take them out, probably get done keeping them for a while, I’ll have fun. I’m probably going to take them over there, give them to the old cats, let the cats take care of them.”
A.J. Gordon said, “Man, don’t do that.” He said, “I’ll tell you what, boy,” he said, “I’ll buy those birds from you.” And the boy said, “Ah, they’re just wild birds. They’re not worth anything.” You know, the preacher said, “Hey, A.J. Gordon,” he said, “I’m firm on it.” Now, the preacher said, “I tell you what, I’ll give you $2.” Now, $2, you know, you can buy a pack of gum with that, you know, as long as it’s not too big, you know. But back then, $2 is about like, you know, 40 bucks or whatever, you know, I don’t know, 60 bucks. And the little boy said, “Man, preacher, they’re not worth two bucks.” He said, “I know they’re not, but I want them.” And they gave the little boy $2. And the little boy left the birds there in the cage. And the boy was gone.
The preacher went out back, and he opened that door and let the birds fly out. Actually, he used as an illustration that cage the next Sunday morning. Friend, Jesus, that’s what He does. He buys you. The old devil has you in a cage. He’s got you caged into sin and problems. He’s got you bound for hell, the old cats, if you will. And Jesus Christ set His blood on the cross of Calvary. He said, “I’d like to redeem you. I’d like to buy you back from the old devil.” And it’s amazing, Jesus Christ, He never makes you serve Him. He opens the cage door and He says, “You’re free, you’re redeemed, not pay for your sins.” The wise individual says, “I want to come back and live for Him.” He saved me, He rescued me, He redeemed me. I want to come back and live for Him. And he says, “Hey, my Redeemer.” The best thing you can do is be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? A very different Sunday morning message. I hope you stuck with it. Maybe you here this morning you said, “Preacher, I want the Lord and His Word to reveal to me—not so I can be a victim, but so I can grow and change. And I desire that. I desire God to work in my heart through His Word. I desire for Him to reveal to me who and what I am and bring victory in my life in these whatever there may be situations in my life.” Preacher, God spoke to my heart. I want Him to grow me and change me through His Word. I desire that right there. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up: “Preacher, that’s me. I want that. I need that.” God bless you. My hands up too. My hands up too. By the way, all of us need growing and changing.
Maybe you’re here this morning, said, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart. I need to be in the Bible. I see the value of the Bible more.” Whether it be a Bible app reading it, Daily Bread reading it, whether it be Sunday school and church, the preaching of it—He’s manifested His Word through preaching the Bible. I just need to be in the Bible. God spoke to my heart. I want to memorize and meditate. Whatever may be, but God spoke to my heart. I want to be in the Bible. God spoke to my heart about that right there. That’s you this morning: “Preacher, that’s me. I want to be in the Bible. I want to be in the Bible. I want to be in the Bible. I want Him to change me. I realize I need to be in it in some form, some fashion.” God bless you. God bless you. That’s good. It’s amazing when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of that sword, the Sword of the Spirit, how the Spirit can grow us and change us and reveal to us. It takes us to another level.
Maybe you’re here this morning, said, “Preacher, I am redeemed. There was a time when I went to Jesus Christ and I said, ‘I want you to redeem me. Would you pay for my sins to be my personal Savior?’ I remember a time. I might remember the date, but I remember a time when I went to Jesus and I was truly saved, redeemed, washed in the blood of the Lamb.” Preacher, I’m saved. That’s you this morning. You slip your hand up: “Preacher, I remember a time. I know I’m saved. I’m going to heaven. I’ve settled that. I know that. I’m saved.” God bless you. God bless you. Many, many, many hands. God bless you. Thank you for that. Many, many hands. That’s wonderful. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you’re here this morning, you said, “I honestly couldn’t raise my hand.” And thank you for being honest. I appreciate that. You say, “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m redeemed. I’m not sure if I’m in that cage or the door’s open. I’m out of that cage. I’m not sure, but I want to be redeemed. I need to be a child of God. I want to get saved. I want to be on the way to heaven. I want my sins washed in the blood of the Lamb, as you mentioned. I want to be cleansed.” Preacher, I need to get saved. Would you pray for me about that? I want to be redeemed. If that’s you with our heads bowed and eyes closed, no one looking: “Preacher, I want to be redeemed. Brought by Jesus that has shed blood.” If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up now. “Preacher, I want to be redeemed. I want to be a child of God.” You slip it up. I’m not going to call your name and embarrass you. I’d like to pray for you. Anybody like that? God bless you. Would there be anybody else? “Preacher, I need to settle this thing. I want to—I want to be redeemed by Jesus. I want to do it. I know He made me, but I’m sinful like all of us. I want Him to buy me back, redeem me.” Anybody else? Anybody else? “Preacher, I need to get saved.”
Just a moment. We’re all going to stand. As soon as we stand, I’ll have just a quick prayer. It won’t be long. As soon as I say amen, our instruments will play. As soon as they start playing, if God spoke to your heart, would you come to an old-fashioned altar if the Lord leads you? You’d be obedient. If He’s tugging at your heart, you’d just be obedient. Don’t hold back. Just do what He says to do. If you’re not saved, you raise your hand. One raised your hand. There’ll be a man standing in the back if you’d like to go to the back. There’ll be a man standing down front if you’d like to go to the front. But would you go to one of those men and just shake their hand and say, “Hey, I want to make sure I’m redeemed”? Old friend, we’d love you. We’d love to be a help. He’d wash away your sin, give you a home in heaven. Would you do that? Would you do that? Well, stand, if you would, please. We’re going to have a word of prayer. If God spoke to your heart, would you come? No matter what you think, come spend some time with the Lord if He’s leading it, to the old-fashioned altar. You need to get saved, you come down front or in the back. Let’s pray. Would you come?
Father, give us the boldness, the sincerity to do as You lead. Grow us from Your Word. Lord, I pray that many would, for years to come, just be on an upward growth because of Your Word revealing and changing us. Lord, the ones who raised their hand about salvation, let them settle it this morning. I know we love to be a help. Give them boldness to do it. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
As our instruments play, would you come? Don’t wait for anybody else. If God spoke to your heart, would you come? That’s right. Lord, I want to grow. “More to be desired are they than gold.” Lord, I desire Your Word. I want to grow. I want to be changed. It’s very easy to think, “Well, I’m right.” Maybe, but let’s let God stand be the rule. That’s how defaults get changed. Lord, I’m going to be honest.
This thing about being redeemed, the difference is heaven or hell. What a great difference. Can you imagine? Heaven or hell, what a difference. Jesus has paid for it. He’s given the two bucks, if you will. He wants to deliver you if you say, “Father, I want Jesus. I want you to.” The choice is yours. He’ll never make it for you. He’s convicted us all. The Bible says, “We approve the world of sin.” Jesus said, “If I be lifted up to the cross, I will draw all men unto me.” He’s on the cross. The choice is yours. Would you make the decision for Jesus? If you’re not redeemed, would you come settle this thing? Man in the back, man down front, you come, you settle that. He loves you. He loves you. He loves to save you today. We’ll play another verse, would you please? Best decision you ever make. Walk out redeemed.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Cleansing Old Wounds - Sunday AM 12102023