Wondrous Things

1. Read: Psalm 119:17-24

2. About Psalm 119:

1) It is the longest Psalm in the book of Psalms.

2) It is also the longest chapter in the Bible.

3) The Psalm is divided into 22 parts.

4) Each part begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

5) In Hebrew, each line of these parts begins with that letter.

6) Is this significant? There’s not a letter that doesn’t honor God’s word.

7) The content of this chapter is respect, praise, and honor for God’s word.

8) God’s word is described with several different words in this Psalm.

a. Laws

b. Testimonies

c. Ways

d. Precepts

e. Statutes

f. Commandments

g. Judgments

h. Word

i. Truth

9) All of these words are used to refer to God’s word.

10) There is great respect for God’s word in this Psalm.

11) We ought to have this same respect also.

12) Without God’s word we would not have the information we need for our salvation.

13) We ought to join the Psalmist in praising God for His wonderful word!

3. About the Text:

1) GIMEL! This is the third section in Psalm 119.

2) Do we look at God’s word with a sense of wonder?

3) In our text the Psalmist says that “Wondrous things” come out of God’s law.

4) We’ll look at a few of those wondrous things tonight.

4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. God is bountiful (Psalm 119:17a).

1) The Psalmist writes, “Deal bountifully with thy servant.”

2) He acknowledges that God is bountiful.

3) To be bountiful is to be full of generosity.

4) God is generous! 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

5) Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

6) God’s bounty is a reason to praise him. Psalm 13:6 “I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”

7) What a wonderful thing it is to know that God is bountiful / generous!

2. God is our master (Psalm 119:17a).

1) The Psalmist writes, “Deal bountifully with thy servant.”

2) To confess to being God’s servant is to confess to God being our master.

3) Paul says that we know that we have a master in heaven (Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 4:1).

4) A master is someone who has authority, who has the right to command.

5) God is our master through His Son, Jesus.

6) John 13:13 “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.”

7) How wonderful to have such a master!

3. God gives life (Psalm 119:17b).

1) The Psalmist writes, “that I may live, and keep thy word”

2) In the creation. Genesis 1

3) To the faithful. 1 Peter 3:10 “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”

4) Spiritual life. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10).

5) Eternal life. 1 John 5:11 “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

4. God originates wonders when we open our eyes (Psalm 119:18).

1) The Psalmist writes, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

2) We must have spiritual sight!

3) This sight comes by walking by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).

4) We must see what can’t be seen like the Patriarchs (Hebrews 11:13-14).

5) What wonderful things are there to be seen when we open our eyes.

1. I am a stranger in the earth (Psalm 119:19a).

1) The Psalmist says, “I am a stranger in the earth….”

2) 1 Chronicles 29:15 “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.”

3) Hebrews 11:13 “…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

4) My true home is not here; I am just a foreigner here.

5) What a wondrous thought that my true home is elsewhere.

2. I need God’s word (Psalm 119:19b).

1) The Psalmist says, “…hide not thy commandments from me.”

2) Because I am in a strange land, I need God’s guidance.

3) Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.”

4) Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”

5) God’s commandments give me the strength and guidance I need.

6) How wondrous that we can put our trust in God when we follow His word.

3. I desire God’s word (Psalm 119:20).

1) The Psalmist writes, “My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.”

2) Have we ever broken down and cried for something we want?

3) This is the psalmist’s attitude toward God’s word.

4) He sees God’s word as having all of the solutions in life if he can only learn more from it.

5) Paul said, “All scripture is inspired of God….” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

6) I want to know God’s word so that I can have the answers I am looking for in life.

7) Psalm 36:9 “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.”

8) How wondrous that God’s word satisfies the innermost desires of my life.

1. The prideful sinner errs from God’s word (Psalm 119:21).

1) The Psalmist writes, “Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.”

2) Pride prevents one from following God. Psalm 10:4 “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”

3) Hence, the proud will not seek after God’s word, but their own devices.

4) Jeremiah 13:15-17 “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.”

5) It is a wondrous thing that man thinks he can guide his own steps.

2. The humble sinner asks for forgiveness and a clean life (Psalm 119:22).

1) The psalmist writes, “Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.”

2) Unlike the proud, the humble will abase themselves before God.

3) Psalm 34:18 “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

4) Isaiah 66:1-2 “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”

5) As a result he will cease to practice sin and live a clean life.

6) Psalm 119:9 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

7) Ephesians 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,”

8) It is a wondrous thing that we can have clean lives through humble living.

3. The prideful reproach the humble (Psalm 119:23).

1) The Psalmist writes, “Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.”

2) Psalm 119:51 “The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.”

3) Psalm 119:69 “The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.”

4) Psalm 119:78 “Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.”

5) Psalm 119:85 “The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.”

6) The humble always suffer at the hands of the proud.

7) But God will deal with the proud. Proverbs 16:5 “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”

8) Where do the humble turn under persecution? To the word of God.

9) The Psalmist writes, “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors” (Psalm 119:24)

10) It is a wondrous thing that the righteous, though persecuted by the proud, can take refuge in God’s word.

1. Truly God’s word reveals wondrous things.

1) About God

a. His bounty.

b. His authority.

c. His life-giving abilities.

d. His revelations.

2) About Self

a. How I am a stranger.

b. How I need God’s word.

c. How God’s word satisfies all my desires.

3) About Sinners

a. How pride causes one to be far from God.

b. How humility keeps us near God.

c. How the humble can endure the prideful through the word of God.

2. Invitation