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Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is an honor and privilege to preach the Word of God to this church.
I want to begin this morning by telling you the story of Min-Jae as told by the publication from The Voice of the Martyrs. Min-Jae grew up in North Korea. In 2004, he took a business trip to China. While in China, he actually visited a friend’s church and loved all of the weird and new Bible stories he was told. It wouldn’t be long before Min-Jae put his faith in Jesus Christ. He was baptized and given his very own Korean Bible. While he was getting ready to head back to North Korea, someone asked him if he would be willing to accept a shipment when he returned home. In that shipment would be 10 hidden Bibles.
This is a big ask! He was a new Christian and already nervous about sneaking in just the one Bible for himself. “If border guards caught him with even a few pages, he could be tortured or killed.” He knew that if he received the shipment of Bibles that it could result in being placed in one of North Korea’s concentration camps. He labored much over the decision and made up his mind when he remembered that his life was no longer his own, but that it belonged to Christ. He decided to trust God and accept the package.
A few months later, the package would arrive. “At 1 am, he approached a boat along the bank of the Yalu River, praying for God’s protection and guidance with every step.” He then got three large duffle bags and ran home. He tore through the contents of the duffle bags and wrapped in all of the various, tightly packed clothing were 10 Bibles. He wasn’t sure what to do with the books at the time so he kept them hidden until God made it clear who they should be given to.
One day months later, he heard a man whistling a hymn that Min-Jae had learned while he was at church back in China. After midnight, that evening, he wrapped eight of the Bibles up and delivered them to that man’s front door.
Some time later, Min-Jae decided to return to China with hopes of defecting from North Korea. During this attempt, he was arrested and extradited to North Korea. I’ll read to you exactly what was reported to have happened next:
“In prison, he met a former friend who had been arrested because of his Christian faith. And as they talked, Min-jae realized that his friend was a nephew of the man he had given the Bibles. That man had also been arrested and was being held in the
same prison. Min-jae's friend told him that his uncle had given the eight Bibles to relatives, who had then committed their lives to Christ. The entire family of 27 people began to gather secretly at night to worship God and to read and discuss the Scriptures. But one night a neighbor overheard the believers singing hymns and reported them to authorities. The secret police raided their home and arrested everyone. Although he wasn't able to interact with them in prison, Min-jae often heard some of the family members praying in their cells. He never told his friend that he was the one who had left the eight Bibles on his uncle's doorstep; it was still too risky for anyone to know. A month later, all 27 family members, including Min-jae's friend and his friend's uncle, were sent to a concentration camp.”
Min-Jae would eventually be released from prison and successfully defected to South Korea. He remains concerned about the Christian family that is suffering in that North Korean Concentration Camp. He knows that he is the one who provided the families with the Bibles that helped lead to their imprisonment. However, he also knows that it was ultimately God who provided the family with the Bibles and that God is with that family as they suffer in his name.
There are Christian brothers and sisters all across this globe that are going through trials that are almost unfathomable for us. Let us take a moment and pray for them:
PRAY
Today we are going to talk about faithfulness amidst affliction. If you would, open your Bibles to Psalm 119. We are going to be looking at the 11th stanza of this psalm today. This is an emotionally difficult passage. One commentary said, “[in this] stanza the poet’s sense of depression from the current attack of the insolent ment reaches its [greatest depths]” (Broadman). We’ve talked about trial and affliction through the other parts of psalm 119 and it will be a continuous theme throughout, but in verses 80-88 we see the deepest and most anxious depression of the psalmist. There is still hope, hope centered on the goodness of God’s Word, but our psalmist describes being at wit’s end as he waits for God’s deliverance.
I know that many of us are going through difficult times. We have battles with our health. We have familial difficulties. We are surrounded by the effects of sin and see the consequences thereof as people are hurt all around us.
False versions of Christianity have given the impression that a life lived for Jesus is an easy life. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus warned that those who follow Him would be afflicted. The trials that we go through here in America are trials indeed, but they pale in comparison to our brothers and sisters throughout the world who are imprisoned, beaten, and put to death for their beliefs. I don’t say this to make light of the trials you are going through or have gone through. But rather to highlight the fact that even with the glorious hope there is in Christ Jesus, we should not expect for this life to be easy. With the glorious hope there is in Christ Jesus, we are given the endurance to press on for the glory of God!
As we look at the Word of God today, we will see three phases of affliction for the one who has been reconciled to God.
The first phase is:
The Anchor
The Anchor
Before we get to the specifics of the psalmist’s trials we see where his life is anchored:
My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.
I am not much of a sailor but I do know that every boat has an anchor. The purpose of an anchor is to keep a boat in place when the conditions of the water would see it moved. Not only does a boat need an anchor, but it needs an effective anchor! If the anchor doesn’t keep the boat in place, then it’s pointless! I found myself on a boating forum this week and the very first post was a person noting how many 60-100 thousand dollar sailboats they had witnessed the weekend before using $25 anchors from Walmart. The little anchors were ineffective! The boats were being tossed all about and most of the people had to give up on their adventure because of the winds that weekend.
An ineffective anchor is worthless! So why then that when it comes to our lives we are so quick to tie on a cheap, ineffective anchor! We cling to hope of a politician. We cling to the hope of pulling up our own bootstraps. We cling to the hope of a sexual relationship with another sinful person. We put our hope in just about anything and everything except for the true anchor of Jesus Christ as revealed to us in God’s Word!
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
The steadfast anchor of the soul, is the hope there is in Jesus! Jesus is the Great High Priest who made atonement for the sins of those who believe in Him. He has gone beyond the holy of holies. He is the God-man who enters into the Father’s presence on our behalf!
At the time Psalm 119 was written Jesus had not yet come, but He was alluded and promised all throughout the Old Testament. The psalmist knows that God is going to provide salvation and his life in anchored in the expectation of that salvation. Look back at verse 81 once more.
My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.
The Psalmist desires the Lord and hopes in God’s Word with all of his being. You may see in other translations that it says “My soul faints for your salvation.” He is desperate for the Lord to the very core of his being, and though desperate, he is not despairing. He still sees the hope there is in God.
No matter what you are going through. No matter the concentration camps our brothers and sisters are in around the world, they can still be heard praying from their cells, because in our deepest desperation, there is not despair when you are reconciled to the God who is in control of all things. Paul said it like this:
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
This only happens when you are anchored in the Lord as revealed in God’s Word.
The anchor of Hope in God is seen all throughout our psalm.
My eyes long for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
As he is asking the Lord when comfort will come, look at where his eyes are focussed! Other translations more accurately state this verse as saying “My eyes fail from searching Your Word.”
This shows us that the psalmist is fixated upon searching God’s Word. He’s studied so hard his eyes hurt!
God does not promise us immediate gratification. When you are going through difficulty, you CAN very well find comfort in the Word of God, but we shouldn’t expect this to be an instantaneous reaction. In our world of Google and Youtube tutorials, we want every answer to be given in a matter of seconds, but that is simply not the case! In a sermon on God’s comfort, Spurgeon gave the following practical points to his congregation:
· Comfort will come when we put away unbelief.
· Comfort will come when we are finished complaining.
· Comfort will come when we put away the sin that we tolerate.
· Comfort will come when we fulfill the duties we have neglected.
God works through the diligent study of His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to move us in these ways. Even when comfort does not come immediately, press on in the faith and remain anchored in the Lord and God’s Word. This is what the Holy Spirit is teaching us through the words and life of the psalmist. Look at the next verse!
For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
The psalmist is weak! A smoked wineskin would be shriveled, unattractive, and useless! That is exactly how he feels in this moment, and YET he forgets not the statutes of the Lord! Despite the desperate situation of the psalmist, he is still anchored in the Lord.
Look at how he finishes this stanza
In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.
Lord, I am weak. I am useless. I am faint. I am dragging. I am shriveled up as a man. But I look to you for life. Give me life that I may keep your Word and live for you.
When you are anchored in the Lord you understand that your life is to be lived for His glory. It’s not about you. It’s not about your condition. It’s all about Him.
There is a plethora of evidence in these verses that the Psalmist’s life is anchored in the Lord. He searches God’s Word, he hopes in it, he knows God is the one who from steadfast love gives life. He knows that the purpose of his life is the serve the Lord. He is anchored in the Lord.
So I ask before we continue on, what is your anchor? What are you depending on for life, hope, love, and comfort? We will talk more about this later, but there is no other working and worthy anchor for the soul than Jesus Christ.
And you must have an anchor. I mentioned earlier that an anchor’s purpose is to keep the boat fixed to the place it is supposed to be. When the winds and storms come the anchor keeps the ship steady. For that reason, it is massively important to have your anchor before the storm comes.
Each week we rotate through a different family within the church to be praying for. We are praying that that family would have on the armor of God and be equipped for battle even before the battle comes. We are basically praying that they would be anchored in the Lord.
We must be anchored. Because we are going to face
The Storm
The Storm
Let’s look now at the explanation of the storm psalmist was going through. We see this explained in verses 84-87
How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?
As a reminded Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and it is central focussed on the sufficiency of God’s Word in all parts of one’s life.
84 is one of the few verses in the psalm that does not specifically mention God’s word. The context leads us to feel that personal weakness and a sense of injustice have led the psalmist to such distraction and desperation that for a brief moment, he has lost focus on God’s word.
When we realize that these were penned under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that even in desperation the psalmist remained anchored in God’s Word, we should understand the grace we are given to feel real emotions and press through in hard times. We must reject all types of name-it-and-claim-it, I prayer so it’s gonna go my way, prosperity-gospel-ish gobbely-gook, and understand that when the waves are beating on the ship of our lives our God hears our cries. He remains our anchor even in the deepest of sufferings and does not expect us to fake through our emotions. We are never to reject Him nor profane His beautiful name, but sometimes all we can do is fall before the Lord and sincerely ask why is this happening? When will your just judgment come?
We will return with the answers to those questions a bit later on, for now let’s continue to look through the psalmist situation:
The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.
In verses 86 and 87, there are a few more glimpses of God being the anchor in the Psalmist’s life. He says the Lord’s commandments are sure and he has not forsaken the Lord’s precepts.
The rest of this section fills us in on the affliction he is going through.
He is surrounded by people who do not live according the law of God. They insolent, arrogant, rebels have dug pitfalls all around him, they have almost brought him to the end of his life on earth!
This is a deep and very serious affliction!
This is so very much like the story of the family who received the Bibles from Min-Jae. They are surrounded by people who completely reject the reliability and even viability of the One True God. They are placed in miserable conditions and derided for their faith. They are afflicted for their faith in ways that we cannot quite understand.
We are blessed to be in a place where we do not have to go through those trials.
But may we not take it for granted. The psalmist was surrounded by people who do not live according the Law of God. We too are surrounded by people who reject the truth of God’s Word. It is my sincere hope that we are able to celebrate religious freedom in America for eternity, but as we have seen in the study of this psalm, we are not by any means guaranteed temporal comforts. If the time ever comes that we are not allowed to legally exist adhering to God’s Word, may we do as the psalmist does in verse 86. Cry out, Oh God, Help me.
Even now, we may not be facing the same trials, but afflictions still come, may we cry out, Oh God, Help me.
Spurgeon wrote, “Many a time have these words been groaned out by troubled saints, for they are such as suit a thousand conditions of need, pain, distress, weakness, and sin. ‘Help, Lord,’ will be a fitting prayer for youth and age, for labour and suffering, for life and death. No other help is sufficient, but God’s help is all-sufficient and we cast ourselves upon it without fear.”
I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know the pain, weakness, affliction, or trial you are going through. But I can tell you that God does. And He is the only one we must call on for help.
When we go through the storm of life, whatever that storm may look like, we must remain anchored in the Lord. Because no matter the storm, when we belong to Him:
He will see us through.
He will see us through.
After going through some of the details of the great trial our Psalmist was going through, he concluded the stanza by asking the Lord to revive him, to give him life so that he may serve the Lord.
In the book of James, James is writing to the jewish believers who had been dispersed throughout the area under intense persecution. The Holy Spirit, speaking through James, gives the downtrodden believers three instructions for dealing with persecution that I want to walk through before we close today. The first comes from
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
1. Be patient.
1. Be patient.
When you are going through trial. Be patient. This is about the hardest advice to give anyone. I mentioned earlier the modern desire for immediate gratification. Patience is a virtue that is almost lost on us. We must be patient through our suffering while remaining anchored to the Lord.
He uses the imagery of a farmer. There is a season for everything that you plant. You have to wait for what you have planted to be fully formed if you want to harvest it. It takes a plum tree up to six years before it starts producing fruit. If I decided to get in the plum business and planted all these trees but gave up after a year because I didn’t get any plums I’d be a fool and pretty bad plum farmer! Side note: could a plum farmer be called a plummer?
There is patience in farming.
We must be patient. But notice what James tells us we are patiently waiting for. We are not patiently waiting for us to get out of the sticky situation we are in. We are not patiently waiting for everything to made right in our life so that we can go back to being comfortable. We are patiently waiting for the return of the Lord! God’s plan of salvation is not about giving us a better life now, it is about His amazing redemption of His people in His time through His Son! Church, be patient! Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at Hand! He may come back tomorrow and take you right out of the mess your in. He may come back after all of us are long gone. But you know what, either way, those who know Him are going to be rejoicing in the great victory there is in the Second coming of Jesus Christ! Be patient. It’s not about you, it’s about Him.
James gives more advice:
Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
2. Know your place.
2. Know your place.
In the Second coming of Jesus Christ, the great judge is going to administer perfect righteous judgment! “Christ is pictured here as a judge about to walk through the doors of a courtroom and convene His court.” When times are tough, in our sinful flesh, we all want to turn on each other. We want it to be our way or the highway. We don’t have to get caught up in petty squabbles when times are tough because we are never going to be the administers of perfect judgment, but know this Church, He’s coming! Know your place. Know that even in the tough times you are called to seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Know that we are called to spur one another on in love and good works. The great Judge is coming. Have peace in trial and do not turn on one another. Know your place.
This is the answer to our psalmist’s questions in verse 84:
How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?
When Jesus comes again there will be the great judgment, and everyone will be judge on the basis of either their own inadequate worth or the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Know your place. and Know Christ’s place as the great arbiter of justice.
One more bit of advice from James:
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
3. Remain steadfast.
3. Remain steadfast.
I mentioned last week that God’s Word is instructive. God has graciously provided it to aid us as we seek to serve Him with our lives. In His word we are given the example of Job who had everything taken from him and yet he remained faithful to the Lord. God had a purpose for Job’s suffering. and He has a purpose for ours as well. Remain steadfast. Remember that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
We know that He is merciful because He would save us even when we are so opposed to Him in our sin.
When we go through trials, big or small, whether it is something little like backbiting between friends, or as extreme as the suffering of our psalmist or our kindred in North Korea, be patient, know your place and remain steadfast.
And also know that even the most extreme suffering is little compared to what Christ suffered to bring salvation.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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