September 29, 2019

Theme: HOPE
THE HOPE OF THE WORD
Psalm 119:41-48

There is constant arguing in the world that tend to discourage the Christian witness from setting forth
God’s truth in the marketplace of ideas.

For one thing, since people are constantly arguing, few people are actually listening.
Of course, it is our part to tell the story and God’s part is to make people pay attention.
But we should also say that because people are so used to arguing,
there always seems to be a critic, a different perspective, another way of looking at things.

What if someone raises a question we cannot answer?

What if someone has an argument that is too clever for us?

God’s people have been intimidated far too long.

We have been so pummeled by criticism that we have half believed it ourselves.

There are the supposed critics from within the church that have assaulted the Scriptures and told us
repeatedly that the Bible is a flawed, merely human book and not the very Word of God.

And there have been the scoffers and unbelievers outside the church who have supposedly delivered the
scientific verdict that Christianity is in the same category as myths and fables, wishful thinking, which
no rational person could believe.
And to our shame, we have believed it ourselves.

We need to renew our hope in God’s Word.

We need to put all our confidence in the Bible because it is the very Word of God.
Hoping in God’s Word is the same thing as hoping in God himself.
We need to push back against the critics and fully hope in the Word.

God has entrusted to us his word, wisdom, and way.

We need to believe him.
We need the same attitude as the psalmist who has based his entire life on the Word and has never been
disappointed.

The psalmist’s testimony:

Psalm 119:42 - “I trust in your word,”

Psalm 119:43 - “my hope is in your rules,”
Psalm 119:47 - “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.”

We must put all our hope in the Word of God

or we can never put our hope in God himself.

And we must teach and declare his incomparable word, wisdom, and way to ignorant sinners who have
“become futile in their thinking,
1
and who have had their foolish hearts darkened” (Rom. 1:21) due to their sin, “who have exchanged the
truth about God for a lie,” (Rom. 1:25) and live self-deluded lives under God’s wrath.

Now what does the psalmist say will be the result of putting your hope fully in God’s Word?

What will be the benefits of trusting the Word and finding your delight in God’s commandments?

1. The hope of the Word will give AN ANSWER FOR CRITICS.

Psalm 119:41-42 - “41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your
promise; 42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.”

The Psalmist has put his trust in God’s Word and is reaping abuse because of it.
The nature of the taunt does not appear to be intellectual in this instance, but practical.
The psalmist asks God for his steadfast love to come to me, and the Lord’s salvation according to his
promise.
It sounds like the psalmist has run into some difficulty, perhaps some sickness or a reversal of his
circumstances,
and now the scoffer has come and confronted him:
“What has all your trust in the Word gotten you? You are now sick, or in trouble, or facing hardships—
what good is your faith in God’s Word? What benefit was it to you to follow his way, to avoid sin, and
keep yourself faithful to the Lord?”

The Psalmist has put his hope in God, but things have not gone so well with him.
And now the scoffer is taunting him.
So this is not so much an intellectual objection, but a practical one.
What advantage is there in serving the Lord and hoping in his Word if we still face trouble and hardship?

In some ways, hope itself is the answer for critics.

Courage and confidence in trouble speaks loudly in God’s defense.
God has never promised an easy, carefree life of pleasure, privilege, power, and prestige for those who
follow his way.
He has not promised to keep us from the storm, only to keep us through the storm.
And it is our confident hope in God’s Word that is the real answer to scoffers and mockers.

Paul writes clearly of this in Philippians 1:27-30 - “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel
of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm
in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in
anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and
that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe
in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that
I still have.”

The confident hope of God’s people even when facing great difficulty and duress is a sign to unbelievers
that they lack this hope, and it is a sign to us as God’s people that we have already entered into this
salvation which is from God.

2
And Peter tells us that it is this same confident hope in the Lord that becomes the occasion for sharing
Christ with these alarmed unbelievers who are sensing their own impending destruction, and he also
writes in the context of hope in the midst of suffering.

1 Peter 3:13-15 - “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you
should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but
in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who
asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you….”

So hoping in the Word of God gives the confidence that piques the curiosity of even scoffers,
and they may even ask about the hope we have in us,
giving an opportunity to share the hope of the Word with them.

So we should not fear suffering and hardship, we should only fear losing the hope of the Word, and losing
our witness for Christ.

1. The hope of the Word will also give AN ATTITUDE OF CONFIDENCE.

Psalm 119:43-45 - “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have
sought your precepts.”

Nowadays we are very “present” focused.

We are very shortsighted – only thinking about our immediate future:
what we will eat,
what we will wear,
or at most what we will do in a few months or a few years.
We buy cellphones or gadgets that will last for 2-3 years.
We have a “disposable” mentality – everything is designed to last for a few months or a few years.
In this transient world, “longing for forever” may seem out of place – or out of touch!

The greatest loss is not the loss of your property or fortune or life savings.
It is not the loss of your health, nor the loss of your friends, nor the loss of loved ones, nor even the loss
of your life.
The greatest loss is the loss of God’s Word, because it is the greatest treasure.
The psalmist was experiencing some unspecified hardship,
and his enemy was taunting him about it.
But he says he can stand that.
What he could not stand was the loss of God’s Word, forgetting it, neglecting it, or no longer believing
it.

Psalm 119:43 - “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.”

Take away the word, and you take away his hope, his confidence, and then he has lost all.
Do you set the Word of God on that high of a place in your life?

3
If you do not, then perhaps you are exalting something else more highly, which is a perfect definition of
idolatry.

And if you are exalting something else above the Word in your heart,
then that explains why you lack confidence in your life: that other love is undependable.
It will fail you, and you know that, and so you have no strong foundation for confidence in your life.

But the psalmist has exalted God’s Word to the highest place:
Psalm 119:44-45 - “I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 45 and I shall walk in a wide
place, for I have sought your precepts.”

When he declares that he “shall walk in a wide place” he’s referring to confident hope.
One scholar translates the “wide place” this way: “courageously and unrestrainedly, without allowing
myself to be intimidated.” (Keil and Delitsch)

So the hope of the Word offers an attitude of confidence in every circumstance of life.
This confidence comes from knowing that you are right with God, and that he is keeping you faithful:

Psalm 119:44 - “I will keep your law continually, forever and ever.”

But it also comes from knowing that you possess God’s wisdom in the Word;
that his way is right and will be proved right in the end.
God’s Word is true, and all that contradicts it is false and will eventually be shown to be false.

In the mid 1800’s, for example, Charles Darwin declared that there is no God and so God did not create
the world as the Word of God states.
He was confident that science would someday explain fully how life evolved from non-life. All we need
are better microscopes, he said, so we can peer more deeply into the living cell.
We have the better microscopes now, and we have found the living cell to be so complex that it defies
the imagination to see how it could have possibly evolved as Darwin said it did.

God’s Word is the right way and meets with his approval.
All other ways are wrong paths and they will lead to destruction.

Psalm 119:44-45 - “I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 45 and I shall walk in a wide
place, for I have sought your precepts.”

3. The hope of the Word will give AN APT WORD OF COUNSEL.

Psalm 119:46-47 - “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, 47
for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.”

God’s Word is not just about “religious” subjects.

God’s people, steeped in his truth, will possess his wisdom, which can be defined as “skill,” the skill that
comes from understanding.

4
Now that skill includes doctrine.
But it goes beyond that to encompass other aspects of life: parenting and family life, interpersonal
relationships, economics both personal and international, ethics, labor, political science, and more.

God’s Word helps us understand his world aright.

It helps us to know and comprehend our circumstances,
and teaches us about virtue, what is right and wrong, good and evil.

The Old Testament gives us some examples of God’s people who spoke of his testimonies before kings.

God made Solomon wise in every way:

1 Kings 10:33 - “He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the
wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 34 And people of all nations came
to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.”

Both Joseph and Daniel served kings as able administrators.

Joseph and Daniel were not simply religious leaders;
they did not try to establish Egypt or Babylon as Yahwist nations, but used the superior wisdom of God’s
Word to serve capably in their day.

And God’s Word makes us wise today, so that we can understand our times and live with skill.

In the realm of economics, for example, the economic system of capitalism works best, not because
people are naturally good and generous.
If that were the case then socialism would work the best.
Capitalism works best because it reflects the biblical reality that people are basically greedy and lazy.

If you refuse to support the able-bodied lazy, they will have to work to eat.
If you allow people to make and keep a profit, their greed will propel them into a super-productivity that
will benefit all.
At the same time you must have some kinds of laws against dishonesty and exploitation, or greed will
destroy an economy.
The point is that this economic system is based on biblical truth, on God’s Word.

God’s Word makes us truly wise.

It gives us wisdom, the skill that comes from understanding.

……………………………………

Psalm 119 moves us from the very brink of despair to the calm and resolute confidence of a believer who
knows that the Word of God endures forever.

Eschatology has to do with the end (the goal) of history.

What is the goal of your story?
What is the purpose of your life?
Where are you going?
What are you headed toward?

5
That is your eschatology.

The Word of God says you have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for
you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

The Bible says that your story has been united to the story of Jesus. You have been born again – you
have a new identity, a new inheritance.

And therefore, “as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but
as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘you shall be holy,
for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

You are no longer children of the devil.

You are now children of God.
“... you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding
word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

May you hope in the Word of God.

Find in the Word an answer for your critics: hope itself is the best answer.
Find an attitude of confidence in the Word.
In the Word know the living God and possess his wisdom.
Finds true wisdom and apt counsel in the word, not only for spiritual matters but for every aspect of life.

In the end, recommit yourself to the pursuit of God’s Word.

Psalm 119:48 - “I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate
on your statutes.”

Would you recommit yourself to God’s commandments and statutes?

Would you renew your hope in the Word of God, as the very words of God, as trustworthy as God
himself?

Would you renew your hope in God, by renewing your hope in his Word?