I Delight in thy Law

This months devotional comes from Joshua R. Walter (again😝) from Clays Mills Baptist Church in Lexington, KY.  

"Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law."

Psalm 119:70 

It would be good to start with making sure that we know what this verse is saying.

When it says, “Their heart is as fat as grease,” it does not mean that these people have a heart that is physically overweight. The word “fat” or the phrase “fat as grease” in this context means spoiled, having an abundance, more than enough. You could say that these people have been spoiled rotten, they have so much stuff that they no longer even care about everything they have anymore.

And who are we talking about when we say “Their?” “Their heart is as fat as grease.” Who is “their?” Look at verse 69- "the proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart." The proud. The proud is the “Their” in verse 70. Now, the proud is just a very exclusive group. That includes hardly anybody, right? Wrong. The proud would include anybody, and it does include anybody who allows themselves to take the blessings of God and see them as works of their own hands. You see, these people have been so blessed of God, He has given them so much, that now they are dull to it. They’ve become desensitized to everything that God has done for them. They no longer care for it, they no longer thank God for it.

If we wanted to, we could spend a lot of time on that part of the verse, and it would make for a good sermon. But that’s not what God gave me for tonight.

 The reason why this verse is my life verse is because of the second half of the verse. “Their heart is as fat as grease: but I delight in thy law.”

Now we know what the first part of the verse means. What about the second part? What does “delight” mean? Delight means to enjoy something, to take pleasure in it, to do something because you want to do it. I delight in eating ice cream. I enjoy it. I delight in reading books. I take pleasure in that. And I just lost some of you. You fill in the blank in your mind of something that you enjoy, that is what you delight in.

Well in Psalm 119:70, David said that he delighted in God’s law.

The reason I chose this verse as my life verse is not because it uses the words fat and grease. That is not the reason. The reason this is my life verse is because I desire for it to be true of my life, that I delight in God’s law.

So what is God’s law to delight in it?

1. God’s Law is Perfect. Psalm 19:7. 
 


Without spot. Untainted. Lacking error. No one has ever, no one will ever, find a problem with the laws of God or the Word of God. If you ever are reading the Bible, and you find a problem, then friend it is a problem with you. You cannot find a fault with “Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, Thou shalt not kill.” Well there might be a couple you want to but it’s still wrong. 


You will not find error in the laws that God ordained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. “The law of the LORD is perfect.” And while I’m on this let me say, you will not find a fault in the Bible. God’s Word is PERFECT! Psalm 119:140 says “Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6. Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” GOD’S WORD IS PURE! 


What’s more, it’s settled. Psalm 119:89, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” God’s Word is settled, it is not changing. There is no room for question, it is not up for debate. There are not “versions” of the Bible. There is the Holy, inerrant, infallible, Holy Spirit inspired King James 1611 Bible. The NIV, ESV, NKJV, ASV, all the rest, they all claim to be “versions.” THEY ARE LIARS! They’re not versions. Those piles of trash are Perversions! They are corrupt men’s corrupt words trying to change what God said in His Word to make it more “socially acceptable.”


Those books aren’t God inspired, They are Satan dreamed. They are Satan’s cheap imitations of God’s Book and they ought to go straight back to where they came from. And if you don’t know where that is, that would be Hell. 


The Law of the Lord is perfect. 


2. Secondly allow me to say, the Law of the Lord is Convicting. II Kings 22:10-13. 
 


King Josiah has ordered the repairing of the House of the Lord. Hilkiah is doing that work, when he finds a book. Hilkiah takes the book to Shaphan the king’s scribe, who reads it and takes the book to the king. Shaphan says verse 10, “Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.” King Josiah hears the Law of the Lord, he hears what God commanded his people, and conviction takes over his heart. He knows that the people have strayed from God’s commandments and have done wrong. Hearing the Words of the Law stirs something in his heart. He rent his clothes and turned back to God. He led the nation in returning to God’s commandments, and God said, “Josiah, because you returned to Me, I will not send My judgment upon your people until after you die. Because you heard the Law of the Lord and allowed it to change you, I will give you a little bit longer of grace for your nation.”


Eleven years after Josiah died, his sons have done evil in the sight of the Lord again. Only eleven years after Josiah died, and because his sons did not follow God like their father did, God sent them His judgment. 


When was the last time you read the Bible and felt God’s conviction about something in your life? Or is that why you don’t read your Bible? Do you read the Bible to read it? Or is it simply to say that you read it, to check off a box? Is that why you don’t bring it to Power Hour, why you don’t use it in church? If you wouldn’t go to science or history class without your textbook, then why would you come to church and leave your Bible on your dresser?


 The Law of the Lord is Perfect. 
 The Law of the Lord is Convicting.

3. Lastly, the Law of the Lord is Delightful. Psalm 1:1-2. 
 


This goes back to Psalm 119:70, but also Psalm chapter 1.
 Read verses. 


That man that Delights in God’s Law is blessed. Psalm 119:92. “Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.” You see this in Josiah’s life. I believe that if he had not turned back to God, then God would have judged Israel during Josiah’s reign. If he had heard the Law and ignored it, then God would have sent judgment during Josiah’s reign. But because he turned back and delighted in God’s Law, he was saved from that affliction. 


4. Conclusion. 
 


“Their heart is as fat as grease: but I delight in thy law.” I’m not saying that follow this or live this perfectly. But I do desire for this to be true of my life. That even when everyone around me leaves, I will still delight in God’s Law. 


There was an old preacher. He had been at one church for many years as the pastor of that church. He was getting up in years, and he decided he needed to retire. So he stepped down as pastor of the church and a younger preacher came in. That older preacher stayed as a member of the church and he was there for several more years before he died. 


Well that young preacher wanted to honour the older preacher. So on anniversary Sundays, that younger preacher would ask the older preacher to preach. One year the younger would preach Sunday morning and the older on Sunday night. The next year they would switch. 


The last year that they did that was just a little while before the older preacher went to Heaven. His mind was starting to slip and they had to help him get into the pulpit. He wasn’t quite all there, but he had prepared a sermon. 


He had them open to the book of Psalms. He never said chapter or verse, he just said Psalms. He said, “I’ve nearly finished my race. I’m almost done.” This was just a little while before he died. And he said, “I want to give you three things from this text.” He never gave chapter or verse. But here’s the sermon. “I want stay where I started. I want to stand where I’ve stood. And I want to say what I’ve said.”


This church gives us a good starting place. It gives a good foundation to stand on, a lot of good Biblical truths to live and say. And ten years from now I want to be doing the same thing that we did today, out soulwinning. 


God has called me to be a missionary to Germany. But whether a missionary to Germany or a truck driver in Lexington, let’s decide tonight, to stay where we started on God’s truth. To stand where we started standing on the Bible. To keep saying what we said. Delight in God’s Law.