The Word of God in The Heart of Man: Skillful Living in a Fallen World - Psalm 119:97-104 (Psalms 119:97-104)

3:00Going to battle with various trials, various temptations in life. This is what we share. And in fact, I know right now a number of you are going through some of those, some very trying circumstances. But know that this is common. We all go through difficult circumstances. That's not what separates us. What separates us is how we respond to trials and temptations. That's where many of us take very different paths. Some of us will respond wisely to our trying circumstances, and some of us will respond foolishly. Some of us will live skillfully in the midst of our trials, and some of us will respond very foolishly and be devastated by our trials. So the question is: how does one live skillfully in this fallen world? How does one live skillfully in this fallen world? Well, that's what our text is about this morning. Let me read it to you. Verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight. Than all of my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word. I have not turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth, for from your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Well, skillful living in a fallen world comes through divine wisdom. There is a kind of wisdom that comes from above, a wisdom that transcends man's wisdom, man's thinking, man's ability to observe.

5:26And so the psalmist gives us a little Christmas present here this morning, if I can put this into our season. He gives us a simple plan to live skillfully in this fallen world. Think of this as a present, a present that's a plan, a plan for you to live skillfully in this fallen world, no matter what circumstances you face. So let's just walk through this passage this morning and let it speak to us. out a simple plan to live skillfully in a fallen world. First of all, love the wisdom that comes from above. Love the wisdom that comes from above. Look at verse 97. The psalmist says, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Now, the word for love means to desire strongly, to be inclined towards. It really includes the idea to breathe after, like a deer panting for the water, a strong desire, longing for. Love in the Bible, it's not just a mere emotional affection. That's how we, many contemporaries, think of it. Love is a feeling. No, in the Bible, it's very different. Love is a commitment, a commitment. It always involves this commitment. In fact, this is one of the very first things that Israel learned about God. In Deuteronomy 7, 7, the Lord says, look, the Lord did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any other peoples, for you were fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery. So love, God's love towards his people, was manifested itself by a commandment. Commitment and redemption. It was that commitment of love that led to redemption. Same thing is said in Jeremiah 31, 3, speaking again to these people of Israel, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. God's commitment of love manifested itself by drawing his people to themselves through his covenant faithfulness, a commitment.

8:02And this is how God loves us, committed to us, and this is what God expects in return. This is what one of the very first things that he taught people of Israel, Deuteronomy 10:12. Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to love him, and to serve him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments. So love of God's people to God is to manifest itself by commitment, commitment to keep his commandments. He also gives this, that's how we're to relate to him. He also gives us the same principle of how we're to relate to one another. Leviticus 19:18, he says, You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. The idea of this love. You are to be committed, just as committed to the person sitting next to you as you are to yourself. Now, that's a high level of commitment, but that's how God speaks about love. In fact, probably a very good illustration of love in the Old Testament is that of Ruth, Ruth's love towards Naomi. You remember when Ruth gave birth to Obed, the women were standing around or there and said this to Naomi.

9:42May he also, may he, Obed, be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age, for your daughter-in-law, Ruth, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. The idea, this picture, and you know the history of Ruth and Naomi, and this one thing you can say about Ruth, she loved Naomi, and it manifested itself in deep-seated commitment, didn't it? Now, love is not this emotional thing that this emotional, sappy feeling that the dreamy novelists come up with. It's not. The Bible, it's a commitment.

10:30Commitment. In fact, looking back at verse 97, oh, how I love your law. It speaks of a present action. I am, I, oh, how I am committed to your law. That is, your written revelation for my life. Oh, how I am committed to that. I love it. Committed to it all the day continually. It is my meditation, my thoughtful contemplation all the day. In fact, when the Greeks translated this word into the Septuagint, the word for love, this Hebrew word for love, they translated as agape. I think those students of the New Testament know that is a very strong word of commitment and esteem.

11:25So as you look at this first verse, it's apparent and clear that love and meditation equals discipleship. Here is the disciple. Here is the student of the word being transformed by the word. And it's by a commitment, meditation, love and meditation upon equals discipleship. Think about that equation. Write it down. Love plus meditation equals discipleship. And think for a moment about the life. Of a disciple. What is a life of a disciple about? Well, a disciple loves the teacher, right? A disciple loves what he teaches. Discipleship is a love for the teacher and a love for what he teaches. And to love God is to love the wisdom that he imparts, the wisdom that comes from above.

12:27In the New Testament, the word for love is inextricably welded to discipleship and obedience, as George Zimmick says it very well. Love is inextricably welded. Get the picture of a strong weld to discipleship and obedience. In fact, you can't talk about love in the New Testament without this connection to discipleship and obedience. Jesus, the incarnate word, said this in John 14:15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. In verse 21, the same chapter, he says, he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. Again, in verse 23, he says, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

13:28Verse 24, he says, He who does not Love me does not keep my words. Cannot separate love and discipleship, love and obedience. You see, a disciple is a learner follower, and this is carried out throughout the New Testament. 1 John 2:4, John says, The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this, we know that we are in him.

14:07How do we know we're in him? By keeping his commandments. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he. 1 John 5, 3, go on. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Such was John. Going back to Psalm 119 and verse 47, it is the love of God's law. The love of God's law that the psalmist has manifests itself by meditating upon it. His love for the law manifested itself by thinking about it continually all the day long. It was on his mind. It was on his heart. And if you want to understand... Your world, make sure you seek to understand the God who made this world. Very wise living, right? Seek that wisdom above. Love the wisdom that comes from above. If you want to understand your world around you, if you want to understand yourself, a good place to start is to start with the God who made you and made the world. Seek His wisdom. Love that wisdom. That's the first simple first step in a simple plan to live skillfully. Love the wisdom that comes from above. James 1:5 says this: If any of you lacks wisdom, you know what you ought to do about it? Let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Do you believe that?

15:54Ask God. If you lack wisdom, ask him for him to give it to you. And the word says, he will give to all generously and without approach. He goes on to say, don't doubt, because to doubt actually makes God out to be a liar. Because he just said, come to me, ask me, knowing that I will give to all generously. So don't come up to him and start saying, I hope you'll give it to me because you make him out to be a liar. You believe him. He leaves us no place for unbelief but to come straight to him and ask him.

16:30Every good and perfect thing comes from the Father above. So, first step in a simple plan to live skillfully in a fallen world is to love the wisdom that comes from above. Second, walk humbly in the benefits it brings. Walk humbly in the benefits that this wisdom brings. Look at the first benefit. There's three of them. And wow, they are excellent. In fact, embarrassingly excellent. Look at the first one, verse 98. Walk humbly in the benefits it brings. First one is more prudence than enemies. More prudence than your enemies. Look at verse 98. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. The word for enemies, it's in that place of enemies, in that place of emphasis. It's at the start.

17:30The enemies, enemies, these hostile ones. It's a participle. And it also includes breathing, but it's breathing threats, those who are seething and angry with me and want to bring me down. The psalmist breathes after God's law. These enemies breathe after the psalmist to bring him down. And perhaps this is a specific. Group. We've been seeing these enemies throughout the psalmist, throughout the psalm. Your commandments. But look at your commandments make me wiser. That is, your authoritative rules for my life make me wiser. They make me, they cause me to become more prudent. And that's a good word there, prudent than my enemies.

18:24Your wisdom causes me to be more prudent. And why? Why do you think this is? Why do God's commandments make one more prudent than his or her enemies? Well, you think about it, it's pretty simple. God knows all there is about human life, right? He knows it all. He knows every fact of the universe. He knows it exhaustively. He knows cause and he knows effect. In fact, he himself is sovereign over cause and effect. He knows your adversaries. He knows every possibility. He's saying, Here, here is my commandments. Here are my commandments for you. Walk in them. I guarantee it's perfect.

19:08Such wisdom the world does not have. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies. But notice how he regards his commandments. Look at the second part of 98. They are always mine. Your commandments belong to me. They are my property. If you will, you have given them to me. You see, the wisdom of the Bible belongs to those who love and meditate upon it, not to those who disregard it, those who are certain of it, those who are secure in it, those who meditate upon it. It belongs to you. What a gift.

19:54God's commandments are always mine. And because of that, they make me wiser than my enemies. Second benefit of the wisdom that comes from above: not only does it give you more prudence than your enemies, but it gives you more insight than your teachers. Look back at verse 99. I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. It says, I have more insight. That is, I have more comprehension. I'm able to grasp things. I have this skill of perceiving and comprehending a situation that my enemies or that my teachers don't even have. Teachers that obviously do not spend their time meditating upon the word. And the concept here of more insight is a wisdom of perception, an ability to. To perceive. It speaks of David in 1 Samuel 18:30, when the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed. David on the battlefield had a skill of perceiving a situation and able to make or chart a wise path forward. It involved a God-given insight, a perception.

21:36In fact, when we remember when in Daniel chapter 1, after the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and had brought all these young men over, that they speak, they brought these young men over for the purpose of brainwashing them and putting them up as leaders over the conquered Israel. And you remember, Daniel was among them. He said, it speaks about them as youths in whom there was no defect. That's who we're looking about. We're looking, bring us the young men, the cream of the crop, men who are good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge. That's what we're looking at. We're looking for those kids that get it.

22:28And that's exactly what it says in verse 12. Verse 17, as for these four youths, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature. And he understood all kinds of vision and dreams. And he excelled his own teachers. But the idea is that the reason for his excelling insight goes back to the word testimonies. For your testimonies are my meditation. God's testimonies, God's sworn witness to the truth. What you have in your hands is, and God's word is a sworn, his sworn witness to the truth. And by meditating upon it, you get a perspective of the universe and of reality that comes from God.

23:27Your testimonies are my meditation. So not only does the psalmist own God's word, they are mine, but they are my meditation. And those, if you think about it, who meditate upon God's witness to the truth will naturally have more insight into themselves and into the universe than those who don't. Missing some very key points of reality if you disregard God's witness to the truth. He understands the world. He made the world, and to disregard his words is not wise. It's not wise. And you will not know how to live skillfully in a fallen world without divine wisdom. Well, there's a third benefit to the wisdom that comes from above. Not only does he give you, does the word give you more prudence than your enemies and more insight than your teachers, but it also gives you more understanding than the aged.

24:32Look at verse 100. I understand more than the aged because I have observed your precepts. Now, in ancient times, the aged are the elders, those people in society who are highly esteemed because of their life experience. They had experienced, they'd been taught well, but they also had experienced life. And so they are sages, people of status, and very well respected in their community, and they hold a great deal of influence over society. And here's the psalmist saying, I understand even more than them.

25:12The word for understand means to separate in the mind, to distinguish, to discern details, both large and small, that even the most experienced and learned will miss. A God-given understanding. A skill of discernment. And notice the reason he understands more. It's not found in him. It's because I have observed your precepts. That is, your charges, your written expectations that you've given to me. I have carried them out. And because of this, I understand more than the sages.

25:54You see, there's a direct correlation, isn't there, between the skill of discernment and obedience. You see that? I understand because I observed. You want me to tell you who's wise? The one who does what the word says. Those who say they have the gift of discernment yet live worldly lives deceive themselves and others. If you have the gift of discernment, it will show up in your mode of life, a life of obedience, a life of skill in choosing the right path in all areas of life, whether it be entertainment or whether it be relationships or whatever it is, a skill of living that comes from observing and obeying. That's true discernment, doing what it says. So the psalmist is saying, not only are your words mine, not only are your words my meditation, but your words are my mode in life. We can say it like this. Your words are my possession, my preoccupation, and my practice. Put them together. We have his word. Let us be occupied with it. Let us obey it. That's the psalmist's view of scripture. It gives three benefits. More prudence than your enemies. More insight than your teachers. More understanding than the age. Now, think about these benefits for a minute. These are incredible. Think about what he's saying. Now, let's put it in a business setting. Now, let's say I could offer you a course of study. Let's just pick one. Let's say engineering. Or let's just say any business. Let's just say whatever. You fill in the blank. If I had a school that could guarantee that you would have more prudence than all your competitors, more insight than those who teach the subject, and more understanding than those who have been in the business for a long time, you'd probably want to come take some classes from me, right? Pretty worth a lot. That's what he's saying. And what the word does is it gives a benefit. It's not just for a particular sliver of life, but the whole of life. More prudence than your enemies, more insight than your teachers, more understanding than the age. This is a profound statement and even embarrassing the rewards that we have in the scriptures. And how awful it is that we set them aside and we think that we can solve our problems on our own, and we disregard this as a pattern in our life. And this morning is just a wake-up call. Come back to the simple teaching of his word. Come back to approaching the scripture in a way that it can speak to you so that you will obey it.

28:55That's the second step in a simple plan to live skillfully in this world. And it's important to understand here to interject that the psalmist is not being arrogant. He's not saying, I am wiser. Wow, look at me. He's saying, he's praising the excellencies of God's Word. He's saying, look at the word. Look how rich it is. Look at what it gives me. You see, outward compliance always begins with inward adherence to God's word. We must observe it in heart and then demonstrate it in life. And that's where he takes us next to the third simple step or third plan, a third step in a simple plan to live skillfully in a fallen world. And that is to demonstrate your understanding of it. Love the wisdom that comes from above, walk humbly in the benefits it brings, and then demonstrate your understanding of it. Demonstrate your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above. And there's four ways to do this.

29:57To what degree do you understand God's Word? Well, These four ways will be a gauge for that. But this is how you demonstrate your understanding of the word. Number one, by restraining yourself from doing evil. Look at verse 101. I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word. Now, the word for restrained is to put in prison. That's what happened to Jeremiah when he started prophesying some things that Zedekiah didn't like. So in Jeremiah 32, Zedekiah had him shut up in prison, locked him up, so you wouldn't go prophesying that the Babylonians were going to come and take the land.

30:46But to keep his feet in prison, that's the idea. I have restrained my feet. Abigail, it's spoken of in 1 Samuel 25, kept David from bloodshed, kept him back. But that's the idea of to restrain, to hold back, to lock. Put your feet in stocks. Don't let them go down the way of evil. So this is what he's saying. I have restrained my feet from every form of evil. This is what understanding is. So that I may keep your word. Look back. I've done this that I may keep your word. And make a simple observation. Here. One cannot walk in the path of sin and keep God's word at the same time. Do you see this? The logical connection? I have restrained my feet from the evil way, from progressing in evil, that I may keep your word. I can't be progressing in the evil way at the same time, I'm progressing in keeping your word. The two are exclusive. You know, and you can think about this psalmist, whatever he's going through here, and certainly with his enemies that are subverting him with a lie and trying to bring him down. There is no doubt that he was tempted to pay them back evil for evil. Right? In fact, there's a temptation for us to respond in the flesh to our difficult circumstances, isn't there?

32:21Sometimes to repay evil with evil, or to respond in sin to our trials and tempting circumstances. But we must choose, like the psalmist, who are we going to serve? Are you going to serve God or are you going to serve the gods of your fallen, fleshly appetites and inclinations and impulses? Who are you going to serve? It's an exhortation and a call throughout the scripture. Choose this day who you will serve, the God. Or the gods of this fallen, fleshly world.

33:06See, those who really understand the wisdom that comes from above practice restraint. That's who really understands it. You know yourself. You know the world around you. You know the paths that lead to sin, and you restrain yourself. So, to what degree do you shun evil? It's a very good measure of your understanding of God's Word. So, demonstrate your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above by, number one, restraining yourself from doing evil. Then, there's a second way you demonstrate it, by devoting yourself to doing good. Look at verse 102. I have not turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me. The word turned aside means to neglect or to disobey. It's an expression of apostasy. So, on the flip side of that, not turning aside is an expression of steadfastness to God. I have followed you. I've been steadfast. I do not turn aside from your ordinances. That is, your revealed decisions, your judgments, your administration, your judgments about the created order. I haven't turned. Away from that. I haven't turned away from your judgments concerning morality or my station in life. I have embraced it, everything, all of your ordinances, and I have purpose to walk. And I've not turned aside.

34:50But look back at the second part. For you yourself have taught me. Notice who the teacher is. You yourself have taught me. God is teaching us. Get this in your mind. God is the one teaching us. And look at how He's doing it. God Himself is teaching the psalmist, and He's doing it through His Word. It's like the wisdom of God comes through the Word of God into the child of God. God mediates Himself to His people through His words. God is Spirit, and He speaks. And it is through those words, His ordinances, His written revelation of Himself that He mediates Himself to His children.

35:42So demonstrate your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above by restraining yourself from doing evil, by devoting yourself to doing good, and third, by receiving God's words easily. By receiving God's words easily. Look at verse 103. How sweet are your words to my temple? Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. How sweet the idea there is, how pleasant, how agreeable are your words, how palatable, use that term. How palatable. They go down very easy. Your words go down very easy. Now, if you've been in places where krispy cream donuts are served and Shipley donuts are served, you enter into this debate, which is better. I can remember going to a Krispy Kreme place and those fresh donuts coming off the conveyor belt with the fresh icing hot, and you pick them up, and boy, they go down easy. Thought nothing could ever beat a warm Krispy Kreme donuts, but you know, you go to Shipley's donuts and you get one of those donuts right off, right off the grill. What do they call it? Out of the cooker, whatever you call it, out of the oil, once you get that fresh one coming off, and boy, it goes down just as easy as that Krispy Kreme does. In fact, too easy, right?

37:08That's the idea. How easily do you receive God's word? Or are your, or does His words, do you have a hard time taking in His words? Have you ever had to try to feed a dog a pill or some medicine he doesn't want? Or try to enjoy. Inject something down a cat's mouth, right? It doesn't work very well, does it? I mean, what is your reaction to God's Word? Do you have trouble receiving God's Word? If you have trouble receiving it, you either do not love it or you don't understand it. That's the problem. That's a problem with our society. It's a problem with us. Either we don't understand it or we don't love it.

37:57So demonstrate your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above by restraining yourself from doing evil, by devoting yourself to doing good, and by receiving God's words easily. And fourth, by hating every false way. Look at the last verse: 104. From your precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Precepts. That is your charges to me, your written expectations of me, your orders, your marching orders to me. I get understanding from them. That's what he's saying. You know, we learn a lot about people from the expectations they have of us, don't we? I mean, have you ever had an employer that asked you to do something that's unethical? Boy, I have. And it tells you a lot about that person, doesn't it? Or people's expectations of you. That tells you a lot about them.

38:57Right? Well, we learned that. Learn a lot about God, about ourselves, and about others and the world around us from God's expectations of us. He gives us his precepts, which are his written expectations of us, our orders, and we learn a lot about him, about who he is, what he wants, what he desires, and the kind of person that he is. You see, a foolish lawgiver gives foolish laws, and those who follow them become foolish. But a wise lawmaker makes wise laws, and it says something about the God or the lawmaker himself. You see, the psalmist understood a lot about God. Psalmist understood a lot about the world around him. He understood himself. He understood his enemies better than his enemies understood him. He understood the ways of mankind, the ways of politics. He understood it all much better than his enemies through God's precepts. Through God's precepts. And therefore, he could say, I hate every false way.

40:14I hate every false way. The word for hate is to dislike intensely. It refers to a strong revulsion. In fact, I wanted to come up with a good illustration. Of hate. And as I will often do, I'll come into my house and say, Wifey, that's what Spurgeon used to say to his wife whenever he was stumped. I need a good illustration. Wife, I need some help. And I told the kids, I need a good illustration on a strong revulsion. Well, needless to say, I sat down with my plate of food and started eating. And after a very short while, I realized I'm getting totally grossed out here.

41:04I can't share any of this stuff to the church. This is not going to work at all. I mean, as I was eating, ooh, no, no, not, oh, no, no. You get kind of a picture of what strong revulsion is. Well, I did get, after way down the list, I did come across one story that I was exhorted to. So forgive me if I share this with you and it grosses you out. That's half of the goal here, but it's to do it in a kind of sanitary way. But it happened to give you an idea of what hate is, it's that strong revulsion. I remember went to a dentist one day and I learned something about dentists. Don't go to the dentist right after they eat lunch. Okay, so I've got this hygienist working on my teeth. I'm sitting there with my mouth. Oh, she's got her nice little cover mask. Cover, and well, she burps. Okay, that's okay. Everybody does that. That's not a problem. But then, when she blew out, it came out the bottom of her mask and right into my face, but it was right there with my mouth wide open and her hands in, and this smell, like a waft of air that came out of a rancid Italian kitchen, just came across me. And I'm like, oh.

42:28And then after I woke up, she makes this statement just a minute later: Boy, there's a great restaurant down the road that you can get some good calzoni. I said, Now, what made you think of that? And it's calzone. I guess we all have Italian food on our mind. And it probably is a good thing. She had her hands in my mouth, so I could hardly talk. But there, if you could picture that moment, just for a moment, this waft of air from a rancid Italian kitchen just coming in, your mouth's open, everything. You can't do anything but just gasp and cringe. That's a picture of being revolted strongly. And that's a picture of hatred. Ooh, a strong, oh.

43:15That's the idea. And that's what this psalmist is saying: I hate every false way, every deceptive way, the way of deception. You see, it'd have been really nice if Adam had possessed. The strong revulsion. And when the serpent comes with a way that leads away from truth, just to say, oh, I'm not even interested. That's what God's word does to us. Therefore, if you demonstrate, to demonstrate your understanding of divine wisdom, if you really understand it, you will hate every false way. And the degree to which you love and understand God's way is directly related to your strong revulsion of every path from truth. If you did a litmus test, you know, Job 1:8, the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. A good measure of your love of the wisdom that comes from above and your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above is directly related to your strong aversion to every false way.

44:41Are you one who likes to skirt on the edge of right and wrong? If that's you, you don't love God's Word or you don't understand it. But you demonstrate your understanding of the wisdom that comes from above by restraining your feet from doing evil. By devoting yourself to doing good, by receiving God's words easily, and by hating every false way. So that's the psalmist's simple plan. Simple plan to love or to live skillfully in this world, no matter what comes your way. Love the wisdom that comes from above, walk humbly in the benefits that it brings, and demonstrate your understanding of it by the way you live. You know, our psalmist this morning certainly has extolled the excellency of the written word, has he not?

45:40And this time of year, we celebrate the excellency of the incarnate word. And it is that written word, those principles, those precepts, those benefits that teach us about the incarnate word that came and dwelt among us. These words of the printed word that you hold in your hand will make you wise unto salvation, will make you understand the excellency of the incarnate word, the one who dwelt among us. We were able to behold his glory. So let us be his disciples. Let us love the wisdom that comes from above.

46:27Let us love him. Let us meditate upon him. Let us be his disciples. And you know what? This morning, he is inviting you to follow him today. If only, I've often thought, if only I was there that day that Jesus walked around and said to, Peter, follow me. Don't you sometimes wish you were there? That's what he's doing this morning. He's coming around to everyone. He is here. And he's saying, come and follow me. You see, when the word lays out and extols the excellency of his word and excellencies of the God of the word, it's an invitation for you to come and participate.

47:12So the proclamation of his word is an invitation for you to come and bow yourself. And we can do that because he first loved us. And he demonstrated that love by going to the cross. That baby in a manger became a man that went to the cross, bore our sins, was lifted up that we might be forgiven, that we might belong to him, that we might walk in his way and be glorified with him in eternal glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you for the written word. We thank you for the incarnation. Word. Father, help us, help us, Lord, to love the wisdom that comes from above in all manner and with all heart. In Jesus' name, amen.