Why We Believe God Blesses Obedience

(Psalm 119:1-8)



I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.

Weve considered what Moral Law is:

The perfect expression of love

Towards God and neighbor.


And weve looked at why we believe

God still intends us to keep it:

Cant change can never be right to break;

Law is holy, righteous, good;

Jesus said heaven and earth pass away

Before anything from Law could fail;

In NC God puts in mind and writes on heart.


And, of course, this how Jesus lived as example:

Can you point to anything He did

That can be interpreted as anything but love?

Even when pronouncing judgment

Did so because loved Father

Because Father is vindicated

When those who hate Him are judged.

If keeping commandments is love,

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Then breaking them is hate.

This what He judges

Hating Him and others.

B. Preview.

Thought would be helpful now

To look at some of the things

Lord has given to motivate us to keep Law

Beyond what weve seen.


Psalm 119 gives many more motives

All of which can be helpful.


Lets consider very important one in our passage:

If keep them, God will bless you.

All of us want Gods blessing on our lives.

This is how we can have it.


Well look at three things:

1. What it means to walk in His Law.

2. What God promises if you live by this standard.

3. What you should do because of this promise.

II. Sermon.
A. First, what means to walk in His Law.

Certainly psalmist at that time

Was referring to whole law:

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Ceremonial, Civil and Moral,

Since God commanded all of it.


In our day,

Have been some changes.

As saw this morning,

Ceremonial changed with change of priesthood.

Has been fulfilled by Christ,

No longer need to keep.


Civil Law was law of Israel,

Meant to govern state.

These laws passed away when state passed.

But since most were applications

Of Moral Law and godly justice,

The general equity or justice

Of those laws remain.


But setting that issue aside for now,

Lets consider this as applies to Moral Law

The Ten Commandments

Since it remains.

What does it mean to walk in this Law?


1. It means

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That when comes to what youll do

And what not,

This is the standard youll use

The standard youll live by.


Lets fill that out a bit

By looking at parallel statements in our text.

Theres quite a bit of parallelism in Hebrew

Quite a bit of repetition,

Repetition that states same thing in different ways

To reinforce it.

Thats what psalmist does in verse 1-3.


2. To walk according to Moral Law

Means to observe His testimonies (v. 2)

To take note of what He says is right

And make sure you do it.


3. It means to seek Him with all your heart (v. 2).

To live with this kind of intensity,

Having a single, not divided heart

Between Him and yourself,

Him and the world,

Him and any person or thing.


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Its more than just going through motions,

Its a consuming desire to honor Him

With whole life.


4. It means to seek to be blameless (v. 1)

To live a life that is beyond reproach,

Where no one can rightly point out

Anything youre doing thats wrong.


The Puritans tried to live this way,

And were as might imagine

Accused of being overly scrupulous.

J. I. Packer gives one example in Puritan Papers,

Richard Rogers, the Puritan pastor of Wethersfield, Essex, at the turn of the
sixteenth century, was riding one day with the local lord of the manor, who,
after twitting him for some time about his precisian ways, asked him what it
was that made him so precise. O sir, replied Rogers, I serve a precise God.

If there were such a thing as a Puritan crest, this would be its proper motto. A
precise Goda God, that is, who has made precise disclosure of His mind and
will in Scripture, and who expects from His servants a corresponding
preciseness of belief and behaviorit was this view of God that created and
controlled the historic Puritan outlook. The Bible itself led them to it. And we
who share the Puritan estimate of Holy Scripture cannot excuse ourselves if
we fail to show a diligence and conscientiousness equal to theirs in ordering
our going according to Gods written Word. (Puritan Papers Volume 2, 246-
47)


5. This is what living by the Moral Law means

Seeking to honor God with whole heart,

To live a perfect/blameless life,

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One that God would be pleased with

Even if thats not humanly possible

Because of our sin

Thanking Him at all times that Jesus has

And that He has given

His righteousness as free gift.


B. Second, what does God promise if you live by this standard?

In a word, blessing.

How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the
LORD. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him
with all their heart (vv. 1-2).

Might look at in two ways:

If you obey, you are blessed.

If you obey, you will be blessed.


1. First, if you obey, you are blessed.

That is, if youre obeying in this way

Observing His testimonies,

Seeking Him with your whole heart.


a. Youre blessed first, because couldnt do this

Apart from Gods blessing

The blessing of changed heart.

Youre blessed because you belong to Him

You have the evidence of new birth,
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Of adoption into His family

You bear image of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in
Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I
never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS (Matt. 7:21-23).

When you obey in this way

You have blessing of assurance.


b. Youre blessed second because

You can live with clear conscience.

As psalmist writes,

Wont be ashamed when look on commandments (v. 6).

Those with tender conscience

Will see this particularly special blessing.

Wont feel guilty, but forgiven;

Be able to shake off guilty fears

Because youll know bleeding sacrifice

Appears on your behalf.


2. If you obey, you will be blessed.

a. First, with spiritual power.

You wont grieve/quench the Spirit.

Not only will He give you clear conscience
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But youll experience more His power

Because wont be offending Him

And weakening His work.

He wont withdraw

But will work more and more powerfully

Giving you greater strength.


b. The Lord will also be with you

To help you in things attempt for Him.

He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases
power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men
stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength;
they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired,
they will walk and not become weary (Isa. 40:29-31).


c. You can expect He will take care of your needs.

Jesus says, Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat? or What will we
drink? or What will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly
seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all
these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you (Matt. 6:31-33).

d. He will hear and answer your prayers,

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a
man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain,
and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he
prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit
(James 5:16-18).


e. And you can know

As you serve Him with greater power

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And are more useful

That your reward will be greater in heaven.


When you walk in obedience

With all your heart,

You gain assurance,

A clear conscience,

Greater spiritual strength,

Greater help,

Greater care,

Greater answers to prayer,

And greater reward.


C. So what should you do in light of this?

1. First, keep the commandments (vv. 4, 8).

You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them (v. 4).

Thats the reason the Lord

Gave them to you in the first place

That you might keep them,

That you would know what honors Him,

That you might help your neighbor,

That you might have the blessing

Of a firm foundation on which to build your life.

Jesus says at the close of the Sermon on the Mount,

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Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be
compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house;
and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who
hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and
the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell and great was its
fall (Matt. 7:24-27).


2. Second, in light of this,

You should keep them diligently (v. 4).

If doing this honors the God you love,

If it helps your neighbor,

If it results in a firm foundation for your life,

And blessings now and in the future,

Then keep them as diligently as you can

You cant be too precise.


But remember,

As you really seek to do this,

If you begin to look down

On your brothers and sisters

Because theyre not,

Youre actually failing

The second greatest commandment is

You are to love your neighbor as yourself.

The Lord didnt give you these commands

To turn you into a Pharisee,
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But to make you like His Son,

That He might be first born

Among many brethren.


3. Pray that God would help you do this.

The psalmist cries out in verse 5,

Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!

Realizing what blessing it brings,

Cries out to God for help.

Dont think you can do it on your own;

He stands ready to help you.


4. And finally, be thankful

When He answers your prayers

With more power and truth (v. 7).

I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your
righteous judgments.


Try to learn what pleases Him.

Study His Word.

Pray that He would reveal it.

And as He does,

Put it into practice,

Do it diligently,

And He will bless you. Amen.
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