The Fire of Faithful Zeal: Delighting in God’s Righteousness

• Divine Justice and Temporal Judgment [00:04:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the objection that God's sudden judgments are unfair or cruel, arguing instead that they serve as restraints and pictures of greater judgment.
• Human Subjectivity vs. Divine Truth [00:03:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the world's 'mushy' and relative standards of truth with God's upright and everlasting judgments.
• Guilt, Mercy, and Justification [00:14:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that while all are judged for all sins, believers are justified by Christ's payment, leading to a desire for mercy and justice for others.
• The Beauty of God's Holiness [00:17:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the believer's new inclination to love and display the 'loveliness' and 'holiness' of God, which is superior to natural beauty.
• Reconciliation and Humility [00:18:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that confessing iniquities is evidence of seeking reconciliation with God, using the analogy of human apologies to illustrate how God takes the initiative to reconcile sinners to Himself.
• The Second Commandment and God's Jealousy [00:20:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > He reads the Second Commandment regarding graven images and explains that God's jealousy is glorious because He is jealous for His honor, reputation, and people, contrasting it with sinful human jealousy.
• Love for God and the Law [00:22:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that loving God is inextricably linked to loving and keeping His commandments, citing Jesus as the perfect example of this obedience even in the face of opposition.
• Regenerate vs. Unregenerate Obedience [00:23:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > He distinguishes between the difficulty of obeying God for the unregenerate versus the regenerate, noting that for believers, sinning grieves the Holy Spirit and feels like a 'terrible hangover' contrary to their new nature.
• Godly vs. Ungodly Zeal [00:30:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts human-focused zeal, which seeks admiration and disregards God's commands, with godly zeal, which is humble, focused on God's glory, and faithful to His word.
• Godly Zeal vs. Self-Righteousness [00:31:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between a zeal for God that lacks knowledge and is focused on self-promotion, and a godly zeal that seeks to honor God without seeking personal attention.
• Divine Command and Authority [00:32:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that God commands obedience and honor, not merely suggests it, asserting His right as Creator to dictate how He is to be honored.
• Church Accountability and Doctrine [00:33:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the tendency of denominations and leaders to ignore doctrinal matters or avoid offending prominent people, arguing that correcting sin is more important than maintaining comfort or avoiding offense.
• Restraint in Zeal (The Sons of Zebedee) [00:34:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the example of James and John wanting to call down fire on Samaritans, the pastor illustrates that true zeal must be restrained by Christ's spirit of salvation and intercession, not destruction.
• The Despised Savior and Christian Suffering [00:37:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Jesus being 'small and despised' to the experience of Christians who are mocked or called legalists for keeping God's commandments, urging them to find delight in the law and Christ.
• Delight in God's Word [00:42:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the purpose of gathering is to glean from God's Word, which reveals sin, brings delight, and equips believers for holy living, distinguishing between justification by law (which is impossible) and living by the law.
• Delayed Justice and Mercy [00:43:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God's delay in justice provides opportunity for mercy and forgiveness, urging patience and reliance on the gospel for salvation.

• Sermon Illustration [00:05:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Elijah's confrontation with the captains of Ahab's army (fire from heaven), the judgment of Nadab and Abihu (strange fire), King Uzziah's leprosy for usurping priestly duties, Gehazi's leprosy for greed, and Herod Agrippa being eaten by worms for accepting divine praise.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his family's avoidance of funerals and the reality of death, noting that multiple generations do not want to face the 'reality of death and eternity.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:13:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a criminal trial where a defendant gets off on a technicality or a 'ridiculous defense,' illustrating the human perception of injustice compared to God's perfect fairness.
• Sermon Illustration [00:18:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a person apologizing for offensive words or broken promises to explain why sinners seek reconciliation with God; he also compares the bitter feeling of sinning after being born again to a 'terrible hangover' that serves as evidence of prior sin.
• Sermon Illustration [00:27:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > He recounts the historical event of Jesus cleansing the temple, driving out money changers and animal sellers who were profiting from worship, illustrating Jesus' zeal for His Father's house and His hatred of making God's house a 'house of merchandise.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:27:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the Pharisees' zeal, noting that they added burdens to God's law and sought self-righteousness, contrasting this with the true zeal of Jesus who loved the commandments because He loved the Father.
• Sermon Illustration [00:34:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical account of the sons of Zebedee (James and John), known as the 'sons of thunder,' who wanted Jesus to call down fire on the Samaritans who rejected Him. Jesus corrected them, stating He came to save, not destroy, illustrating the need for restrained, holy zeal.
• Sermon Illustration [00:37:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the historical and prophetic reality of Jesus being 'despised and rejected by men' (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22), noting that despite performing miracles like healing hundreds and feeding thousands, He was ignored and mistreated by unbelievers, serving as a model for Christians who face scorn for their faith.
• Sermon Illustration [00:40:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical illustration of wishing Christians carried a dictionary to define 'legalist' correctly (trusting in the law for righteousness) versus the biblical definition, to address the sting of being mocked by those who mock the Lord.

• Pastoral Charge [00:28:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor invites the congregation to the fellowship lunch and instructs them to ensure others are aware it is free.
• Pastoral Charge [00:45:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Grow in love for God, become disciplined in reading and meditating on Scripture, and teach it to children.
• Pastoral Charge [00:46:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for God's intervention and mercy to flow upon the lost and wandering.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Please take your Bible and turn to the book of Psalms. Psalm 119. We'll start at verse 137 today. 137 through 144 will be our text.
[00:00:15] The title of the sermon is, My zeal has consumed me. So let us give our attention to the reading of God's holy word.
[00:00:33] 119, starting with verse 137.
[00:00:37] Righteous are you, O Lord, and upright are your judgments.
[00:00:43] Your testimonies, which you have commanded, are righteous and very faithful.
[00:00:49] My zeal has consumed me because my enemies have forgotten your words.
[00:00:56] Your word is very pure.
[00:00:58] Therefore, your servant loves it.
[00:01:01] I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.
[00:01:08] Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.
[00:01:16] Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet your commandments are my delights.
[00:01:26] the righteousness of your testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and i shall live may lord add his blessing of us hearing receiving believing and indeed living by his holy word let's pray and they probably pray that you bless indeed both that hearing of
[00:01:52] the word read and the preaching of the word and the receiving of your message through those means that you would build up the faith of those who are in faith here that you would bestow the gift
[00:02:06] of faith for any who are in need of that gift that you would encourage those who are downtrodden that you would indeed correct those who are faulty that you would encourage in the walk of faith and
[00:02:20] stand for truth for those who are timid or perhaps timid in a time of temptation and trial.
[00:02:28] And so, Lord, we pray that you accomplish your good work through your worship. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So our first consideration this morning, the zeal for the Lord comes from conviction to his truthful word. Of course, we're going to speak of zeal for the most part in the
[00:02:53] positive. That's how Scripture speaks of it here. And we know that truth outside of God's perfection is defined by the world, by mankind, is defined by either subjective or relative standards.
[00:03:15] And that means there is no consistent truth, only a convenient truth that serves the one who will declare what is true and what is false. And this mushy standard for declaring truth or denying it
[00:03:38] has repercussions on the law of God as well.
[00:03:44] Ungodliness has such inroads into the thinking of the average person that precise application of the law, and I'll use that word very broadly in this instance, so even the law of man is considered unfair
[00:04:04] to anyone who is the subject of the consequences of their actions or of their breaking of the law.
[00:04:14] A common objection to the law of God specifically, as we find it in God's Word, is applying punishment on sinners who break God's Word, often cited as perhaps extreme vengeance on God's part, unjust in every way.
[00:04:40] And we just have to pause there because you know in your own life, you do not pay immediately the consequences of breaking either man's law, unless you're caught, and even then, or especially God's law.
[00:05:02] In other words, we don't have an immediate punishment that comes down upon us when we have sinned against God for the most part.
[00:05:14] Now, often people who are in opposition to the Christian faith will cite the sudden, quick judgments of God and say, that is unfair. That's cruel, even. So take, for example, the sudden application of temporal
[00:05:34] judgments. Temporal judgments would be judgments that happen in this life, as opposed to the eternal judgment that is everlasting, that happens at the point of death and beyond.
[00:05:46] So one of the classic examples is Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that were known to be very wicked. And God came to Abraham and he said, I've heard the cry, the cry against Sodom and Gomorrah. And I would imagine that's the prayers of
[00:06:05] Lot. And I know I'm going to destroy that city. And Abraham does negotiations with God and gets him down. If you find at least ten righteous there, will you not destroy it? And he said, I will not destroy it for ten righteous. And of course there wasn't ten righteous,
[00:06:21] but he took Lot, his wife, and two daughters out.
[00:06:26] There's also, and then there was sudden destruction.
[00:06:29] Like it rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah.
[00:06:34] It's a very vivid example that people know of even today.
[00:06:39] And then there's the example of Elijah, the prophet, who prophesied and preached in the time of a great apostasy in Israel and preached against wicked king Ahab, and Ahab sent a group of 50 soldiers to arrest Elijah,
[00:07:01] and they called out to the man of God, and Elijah said, If I am a man of God, because this is a time of such great confusion that Israel can't discern their left hand from the right hand,
[00:07:13] or do we serve Baal, who didn't deliver us from Egypt, or the covenant God who spoke to Moses and to Abraham.
[00:07:23] And so Elijah said, if I am a man of God, may fire come down and consume you.
[00:07:29] And it did.
[00:07:30] And then there's a second group, a second group of 50 that came and with almost the same dialogue and fire came down.
[00:07:40] And then the third group, Elijah was told by God, go with them, I am with you.
[00:07:47] And so there's an example of sudden destruction, indeed, fire coming down from heaven.
[00:07:52] And then we have an example of Nadab and Bihu, who were priests, the sons of Aaron.
[00:07:59] And again, as I speak about this, there is no indication that these were unbelievers.
[00:08:06] They did commit a sin, but there's no commentary that they were wicked or they were evil.
[00:08:14] They took fire to put in their censers for the incense, which is their responsibility as priests, but the fire wasn't the fire prescribed by God.
[00:08:27] It was from another altar.
[00:08:29] It wasn't from the altar of the Lord.
[00:08:32] And God brought fire down and consumed them.
[00:08:36] And in that instance, it is a commentary.
[00:08:39] It is a picture commentary.
[00:08:43] The fire that originally came down from heaven to light the altar of the Lord came from heaven.
[00:08:53] Man wasn't there with two sticks or with a flint making that first fire.
[00:08:58] It was a perpetual fire.
[00:09:00] It was started by God who sent fire down from heaven.
[00:09:05] So there was a temple judgment, and it was to teach Israel, fear God.
[00:09:11] Don't be casual towards God.
[00:09:13] don't be flippant with his worship don't do things out of convenience but worship in a way that God has prescribed and do not deviate and so it was a lesson for those who did remain
[00:09:26] then we have other examples we have King Uzziah who is spoken of as a good king as opposed to an evil king good kings were for reformation and they follow the Lord but often and we see the good kings, often later in their life,
[00:09:46] they got prideful, and Uzziah became prideful.
[00:09:50] And he took it upon himself the role of a priest.
[00:09:54] And I think this involved incense again.
[00:09:58] And so he's in the temple, and he's offering incense, which only the priest should do, and the priest rushed in and was rebuking him, and he was angry.
[00:10:08] And he was stretching his hand out towards the priest, and leprosy came upon him.
[00:10:14] And there's also leprosy that came on Elisha's aid, who thought, hey, you know, I can make money from my master's ministry.
[00:10:22] I can get some gold and silver from Naaman, who was a leper, and he was willing to give all these good gifts to my master Elisha.
[00:10:31] I'll just go to Naaman secretly and ask for some things in the name of my master.
[00:10:38] And God struck him with leprosy.
[00:10:42] And we can go on, talk about Herod Agrippa, who in Acts 12, who killed the apostle James and he imprisoned Peter and he was going to execute him the next day because it pleased the unbelieving Jews.
[00:10:56] And, you know, he was given a speech up there in Lebanon and people needed his favor and food from his country.
[00:11:06] and they were just thrown out these blasphemous, outrageous compliments.
[00:11:15] They're saying of Herod Grapevine, this is not the voice of man.
[00:11:18] It's a voice of God, of a God.
[00:11:22] And he did not correct them.
[00:11:24] And the Lord struck him.
[00:11:25] It says worms ate him up.
[00:11:28] Of course, he was a very evil man.
[00:11:31] But over 6,000 years, and we can think of a few other examples, but there's not many left in scriptures.
[00:11:38] There's very few examples of people being struck down as a sentence of judgment for their sin.
[00:11:48] But when we do read them, it's either serves two full purposes.
[00:11:53] One, as a restraint upon those still living, don't fall in suit in these ways of sin and rebellion, but also as a picture of a greater judgment that is to come.
[00:12:06] And we need a reminder of the greater judgment to come because we all will die.
[00:12:15] It's the most sobering truth.
[00:12:18] And we've talked about this, especially in prayer meetings.
[00:12:22] And a lot of us, you know, come from families that are not Christian families.
[00:12:26] And I know I've shared kind of a bird in my heart where my family of multiple generations don't want to have a funeral.
[00:12:36] Skip over that.
[00:12:38] they don't want to face that reality of death and eternity and what will happen.
[00:12:48] But we have to face that because it comes upon all of us.
[00:12:53] But in this psalm, it talks about the Lord is upright.
[00:12:56] The Lord does what is right, what is just and what is fair in the true sense of the word.
[00:13:04] You know, I think it's kind of like the second word that children learn.
[00:13:09] The first one is no, right?
[00:13:10] you know and the second one is unfair unfair see the fairness we want means that we want someone else to suffer for their offenses especially against me or against my friend or against my family and you know often we if we follow the criminal trial and we you know hear all the
[00:13:39] evidence, and we hear about the witnesses, and it seems like this great big case is very strong against a defendant. And then we hear that the defense lawyer throws out some strange theory, some strange excuse even for the defendant, and the defendant gets off on the technicality,
[00:14:03] perhaps. Or the jury just buys this ridiculous defense. We say there is injustice.
[00:14:09] done. But what can we do? But we want to have confidence in the judge of all the earth, in God.
[00:14:21] Indeed, in Jude 1, verse 7, as we talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, it says, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after
[00:14:34] strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
[00:14:43] And friends, understand, when we are judged, we're judged for everything, for all sin.
[00:14:50] If only you were condemned for one sin, then you could really get serious about that one sin, but we're judged for all sins.
[00:14:59] And so it's the innocent and the upright are the ones on earth who desire God's fairness, his equity, in other words, applying the law.
[00:15:11] but we who are in the faith know something about guilt we are masters about guilt hopefully not trying to install guilt upon others but that you really can't do that to the conscience and it's
[00:15:30] an ungodly pursuit but we should know about our own guilt our own standing before god and if we have confessed our sin and if we have believed that Christ has paid for the sins of sinners
[00:15:44] and has absolved us and has given us his spirit, then we are now just in his sight.
[00:15:52] A wonderful truth, a gracious truth, that is mercy, something we don't deserve. And so we want fairness, we want justice, we want mercy. We are recipients of mercy if we are in faith, and we
[00:16:08] want that first for a fellow man, that you too may be forgiven of your sins, that you too may be restored with God, that you too may walk with the God who created you and redeemed you, that you
[00:16:22] too would know the Lord and experience his joy and his love and his favor and commune and know of his attributes and worship him with fullness of joy because he has put his spirit within you. He has
[00:16:36] make a change in the sinner to make them saints. And so given that new nature, we now, if we're in faith, hate sin. And our overall inclination and the greatest love that we have over other things,
[00:16:54] and even things we should not love, but we struggle, but our overall love is for the righteousness of the Lord to be displayed in our life, to be seen in the world, and for the
[00:17:05] loveliness of scripture to be known more and more because we follow the beauty of the Lord's holiness. The Lord's holiness is spoken of as beautiful. We can speak of flowers this time of year and the sky. I mean, today is a beautiful day. We would all agree it is a beautiful day,
[00:17:28] but nothing in comparison to the holiness of the person of God.
[00:17:35] And that's what we want to see in others.
[00:17:39] And so with the Holy Spirit working us and moving in us, we have now divine inclinations and affections to the things of God.
[00:17:50] And so when the Lord brings us to himself through the truthfulness of his word, he humbles us.
[00:17:58] God does not want proud people.
[00:18:02] There is nothing in your Christian faith or the works that you have done as a Christian, the ministry that you have done, even if it's over 50 years, what not, that you can be proud of.
[00:18:17] Because being proud is the basis for every sin.
[00:18:21] It's about the Lord, not you, not me.
[00:18:26] He humbles us in order to exalt us.
[00:18:33] We confess our iniquities, and that is the evidence we are seeking reconciliation with God.
[00:18:40] Now, why would somebody want to apologize to you for something they said that was offensive?
[00:18:46] Or for not doing what they promised to do for you?
[00:18:50] Or putting you in a bad light?
[00:18:53] Or even saying something evil about you that wasn't true?
[00:18:58] Why would somebody come to you on their own and apologize and ask for your forgiveness?
[00:19:06] Because they want to be reconciled.
[00:19:08] They want to do what is right, and they're troubled in their conscience.
[00:19:13] And when we are the recipients of someone coming to us, seeking our forgiveness and reconciliation, that is a beautiful thing.
[00:19:23] And I think we are pretty much very disarmed by it.
[00:19:27] Maybe we're angry or we've got some bitterness.
[00:19:29] We're not dealing with it.
[00:19:30] We're not talking to them.
[00:19:32] But when they come to us, it is a beautiful thing.
[00:19:35] And so for God to reconcile sinners to himself is so beautiful in this world because God takes the first initiative.
[00:19:48] It is God's idea.
[00:19:50] It is God's suffering that is required for a sinner to be reconciled with him.
[00:19:57] It's God's loss.
[00:19:59] Christ lost his life in order to give life, eternal life, to us.
[00:20:06] But it is evidence that we're seeking the Lord and seeking the honor of God and that he reconciles us.
[00:20:13] It's a beautiful thing.
[00:20:15] I want to remind you of the second commandment.
[00:20:18] The commandments one through four is our duty to God.
[00:20:22] The second commandment reads, Thou shalt not make unto thee, I'm reading the King James because I'm reading from the Shorter Catechism, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
[00:20:35] or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them.
[00:20:43] For I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God.
[00:20:49] It's bad for you to be jealous.
[00:20:51] There's sin there.
[00:20:52] For God to be jealous, that's glorious.
[00:20:56] He's jealous for his name, his reputation, his honor, his worship, and he's jealous for his people.
[00:21:04] Wonderful thing.
[00:21:06] So God declares that he is a jealous God, visiting iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
[00:21:16] Now let me explain that.
[00:21:18] It's not like the fathers commit a sin, and so he's going to judge their children and their grandchildren and so on.
[00:21:27] It is the father of sin, the children have sin, and the next generation of sin, they all hate God.
[00:21:34] And so there can be a turning, there can be a removal of that generational rebellion against God.
[00:21:42] And this commandment ends with this phrase, and showing mercy unto thousands of them, and listen, that love me and keep my commandments.
[00:21:59] The Lord Jesus, as he walked on this earth fully as man, loved the commandments of God.
[00:22:11] They were his commandments.
[00:22:13] He kept the commandments, even when dealing with the most evil and wicked people who did him great harm.
[00:22:22] He loved the commandments because he loved God, the Father.
[00:22:32] and spirit. Those two go together. You love God, you love the commandments.
[00:22:37] You love the commandments, you have to love God.
[00:22:39] And in fact, in John's epistle it says, if you love God, you love those who are begotten by God.
[00:22:48] You can't be this Christian who hates other Christians. God doesn't accept that. So we have to love everything that is of God. So God's people are of God.
[00:23:02] So loving God is evident by delighting to keep the law of God. Again, Jesus did this. Jesus perfectly did this. He did when it was hard, when there was opposition to him. But Jesus didn't do this as divine God and just the power
[00:23:22] of God, but he did this as a man of faith with a reasonable soul for you to follow suit when it's heart when you're tempted perhaps not to. See, it's not a burden to obey God for one who is
[00:23:40] regenerate. Now, if I say it a different way, for one who is not regenerate, it is hard to obey God.
[00:23:47] That's the honest truth. But for one who is regenerate, it's not hard to obey God, but it is hard on us when we don't obey God. We have a troubled conscience. We feel yucky about ourselves.
[00:24:04] We are going contrary to our nature.
[00:24:09] I am a child of God.
[00:24:10] I'm joint heirs with Christ.
[00:24:13] I'm part of the royal priesthood, as Peter speaks about it in his first epistle.
[00:24:22] I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, and yet I have sin.
[00:24:28] I thought sin was going to be fun.
[00:24:29] I thought it was going to be pleasurable, and it is bitter like a terrible hangover.
[00:24:37] Of course, a hangover is evidence of, oh, you sinned the night before, didn't you?
[00:24:41] So we vex our soul and we continue to sin.
[00:24:48] It talks about we grieve the Holy Spirit if we're born again.
[00:24:52] So our second point, zeal translates into faithfulness to keep the testimonies.
[00:24:59] So understand, zeal does not stand by itself.
[00:25:03] You have to have a zeal for someone or for something.
[00:25:09] It's action, right?
[00:25:11] So read with me verse 139, 140.
[00:25:15] My zeal has consumed me because my enemies have forgotten your words.
[00:25:22] Your word is very pure, therefore your servant loves it.
[00:25:27] Again, this continued contrast in Psalm 119.
[00:25:32] They're like, the wicked do this, the wicked hate you, I love you.
[00:25:36] The wicked break your law, I delight to keep it.
[00:25:41] The wicked oppress me, but I'm going to keep your word.
[00:25:48] So when we hear this zeal of the Lord, I think the first place we think of is Psalm 69, verse 7 through 12.
[00:25:56] Because for your sake I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face.
[00:26:01] I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's children.
[00:26:06] Because zeal for your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
[00:26:16] When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach.
[00:26:22] I also made sackcloth my garment.
[00:26:25] I became a byword to them.
[00:26:28] Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards.
[00:26:33] What a blasphemous thing to have Jesus the song of drunkards.
[00:26:40] See, Jesus experienced this in his life and his ministry.
[00:26:43] from the covenant people of all people and he saw many of them who had a zeal and some really express a zeal for moses or a zeal for the law that was introduced by moses in those writings
[00:27:00] but it was a law of their own interpretation this is where the pharisees really shine out because they added to God's law.
[00:27:12] They added burdens to people because we cannot achieve righteousness by the law.
[00:27:21] We are to live by the law.
[00:27:22] We are to manifest the law, but we try to live by the righteousness of the law and don't need a savior.
[00:27:28] The law will condemn us for it will show us our sin.
[00:27:33] Indeed, Jesus showed his zeal and is recorded in the gospels as he comes to his father's house of prayer.
[00:27:42] And he sees people in business, in the courts of the Lord's house.
[00:27:49] And there's the money changers because you pay the shekel.
[00:27:54] You can't pay in Roman money.
[00:27:56] And they make a profit off of that.
[00:27:59] And then they got all these animals there.
[00:28:01] And it's like you need a sheep, you need a turtle dove, but you can't afford a sheep.
[00:28:07] and they're making money off of the worship of God.
[00:28:13] In fact, it's recorded in John chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.
[00:28:18] Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business.
[00:28:33] Remember, the gospel is free.
[00:28:36] We don't charge when people come through the door or when they go out the door.
[00:28:43] And we shouldn't.
[00:28:44] We have a fellowship lunch.
[00:28:46] You're all invited.
[00:28:47] Just make sure everyone knows that.
[00:28:49] There's no charge.
[00:28:52] It would be shocking if there was.
[00:28:55] It would be outrageous.
[00:28:57] All right, so they're doing business.
[00:28:59] When he made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured over the changers' money and overturned the tables.
[00:29:08] And he said to those who sold doves, Take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise.
[00:29:18] And his disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house has eaten me up.
[00:29:26] So I think there could be two references, Psalm 69 and our passage here in 119.
[00:29:34] Sally, Israel during the days of Jesus, was littered with enemies, pretentious, arrogant enemies of God.
[00:29:42] The God of the universe does not suggest a better way, but proclaims it in every page.
[00:29:54] The better way is declared, is authoritatively declared by the Lord.
[00:30:00] He orders the world to conform to his righteousness, not the self-seeking righteousness of the world.
[00:30:07] He doesn't shake his head at sin, but he hates sin.
[00:30:15] It's an offense against his person.
[00:30:18] In Zechariah 1.14, it says, So the angel who spoke with me said to me, Proclaim, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal.
[00:30:33] And this is a confession of, I think, almost all Christians, humble Christians.
[00:30:39] Of course, every Christian should be humble, but I'm not zealous enough for the Lord.
[00:30:46] Now, I use the word zealous in a positive way because the world will use it in a very, very, very, very negative way.
[00:30:52] In fact, a human-focused zeal disregards God's commands.
[00:31:00] A human-focused zeal serves self and does not seek the greater good for God's kingdom or the people.
[00:31:10] An ungodly zeal pushes aside faith and exhorts the flesh.
[00:31:18] the admiration of men it seeks is that's the final goal and not the glory of god and paul speaking to his fellow countrymen who still rejected the testimony of christ and often persecuted the christians like he formerly did he says in romans 10 2 for i
[00:31:43] bear them witness they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge so as I said earlier you know for those who seek to make others feel guilty to put people in their place
[00:32:00] and they're not focusing on themselves yeah they have a zeal but that's not a godly zeal a godly zeal you're doing work you're not pumping yourself up you're not you're you can have a godly zeal and not seeking attention for yourself that's very much possible it should be the case
[00:32:21] see the lord does not suggest we love him or honor him he doesn't suggest it might be a good idea to obey me but he commands it and we we have to emphasize that in this world of free choice
[00:32:37] god does command and expect things of us who is god your creator he has a right He's the only one who has a right to tell you exactly how to honor him.
[00:32:53] He commands, and he does.
[00:32:57] People forget the Word of God through neglect of reading it or studying it.
[00:33:03] Or maybe it's not taught to them.
[00:33:05] That's a problem as well.
[00:33:06] And even sound denominations can ignore doctrinal matters, principles, and application of church government when it displeases especially prominent people.
[00:33:16] And I say this even of our own denomination.
[00:33:21] You never get to a point where we're perfect, most perfect, nearly perfect, and we just slide.
[00:33:33] Leaders may claim we don't practice what is taught, for no one else practices it.
[00:33:41] We may offend people, good people at that, maybe tithing people.
[00:33:47] The purpose is not to offend, but to help correct.
[00:33:53] So this means that our personal comfort, our need to please certain people, and our tendency to rock the boat when it would be good to do so for people's accountability and shepherding are a cartel often.
[00:34:09] We can diminish our zeal in certain areas of our faith.
[00:34:16] Now Christ was consumed with zeal, yet he was restrained at the same time.
[00:34:27] In fact, the sons of Zebedee, do you remember them?
[00:34:29] The sons of thunder.
[00:34:32] That's John, the apostle, and James, his brother.
[00:34:37] When Jesus is ministering in Samaria, they did not receive his teaching.
[00:34:44] And that's a polite way of saying they rejected it.
[00:34:47] Get out of here, Jesus.
[00:34:49] Get out of here.
[00:34:49] We don't want anything to do with you.
[00:34:51] And the sons of thunder, their immediate thought was, Lord, should we call upon God to just send down fire upon them?
[00:35:03] Because this is what they deserve.
[00:35:06] Well, true, they deserve that, but of course all of us do deserve that.
[00:35:11] But Jesus restrained and corrected them.
[00:35:15] He said, you do not know what spirit you are of.
[00:35:21] He did not come to destroy the world.
[00:35:24] He did not come to judge the world at that time.
[00:35:29] He came as a Savior.
[00:35:31] A Savior saves.
[00:35:33] A Savior intercedes.
[00:35:35] A Savior teaches.
[00:35:37] And this was not the time.
[00:35:40] But it was time for continued prayer.
[00:35:42] And obviously the Samaritans are closing the door at that time to further witness to them.
[00:35:50] and you know when if you keep reading the scriptures there's an open door later after christ rises from the dead and after he ascends to the father stephen is taken by the spirit to samaria or i'm sorry i think it's philip philip is taken there and he's like the scout
[00:36:13] before the apostles and now there is a receiving of the gospel now is the time and those who have been destroyed at the suggestion of John and James are many of become recipients of saving grace
[00:36:28] our third point to consider the Lord's truth prevails for it is most right and just something important to keep in mind because we feel like lies prevail we feel like truth is discarded truth is not allowed to be said in the classroom
[00:36:48] or we don't hear it from government officials.
[00:36:52] Everything is spun.
[00:36:55] We never get an honest answer.
[00:36:57] And we're talking about it in general terms, but the gospel truth is often corrupted.
[00:37:05] Look at verse 141 again.
[00:37:07] I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.
[00:37:11] And that's the voice of Christ.
[00:37:13] Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.
[00:37:17] trouble and anguish have overtaken me yet your commandments are my delights the righteousness of your testimony says everlasting give me understanding and i shall live now word small here means insignificant jesus said i am i'm a nobody in the eyes of the people
[00:37:44] the people of Israel and this is the feeling of the king of glory this is the honest assessment because he evaluates things honestly as he proclaims the father's truths he is not an honored prophet
[00:37:59] he's not considered the greatest of the prophets but a false prophet by those who don't believe he is mistreated, he is despised even as he heals hundreds of people as he feeds thousands of people
[00:38:11] he even raised the dead at times that he's ignored by the unbelievers.
[00:38:17] And again, this is a fulfillment of prophecy in Isaiah 53, verse 3.
[00:38:21] He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
[00:38:28] And we hid it as it were our faces from him.
[00:38:31] He was despised and we did not esteem him.
[00:38:35] This is the reception of the king of glory who comes to earth.
[00:38:41] And specifically comes to Israel, the people of god the descendants of abraham and isaac and jacob the one who is in the line of david the greater david the true king of the jews the true king of all glory and so we have the
[00:39:03] anguish of the blessed savior as he's confronted by the sin of men and they sin against him In fact, in Psalm 22, verse 6, he says, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
[00:39:22] And understand this Savior, although he was a reproach of men, of mankind, he took away our reproach, we who confess our sins to him.
[00:39:39] And so you might feel despised at times because you keep God's commandments.
[00:39:47] Have you ever spent a week with people who do not regard the Lord, who mock the Lord?
[00:39:54] Perhaps they express scorn towards you.
[00:39:58] Perhaps they call you a legalist, a Pharisee.
[00:40:03] I wish we'd just go around with a little dictionary.
[00:40:06] Okay, legalist, let's look up that word and see what it really means.
[00:40:11] It means that you're trusting the law.
[00:40:14] and you're keeping them on the wall for your righteousness.
[00:40:17] That's contrary to Christianity.
[00:40:20] That's one thing we try to kind of get at when we examine people for the Lord's Supper.
[00:40:26] What are you relying upon to be accepted by God?
[00:40:30] And they have to answer about Christ and reliance upon Christ and his works and his faithfulness and not their own.
[00:40:39] But when we have those encounters, we feel very down, burdened, sad.
[00:40:48] Maybe we're angry.
[00:40:52] And certainly, as a Christian, you should see your sin.
[00:40:56] You should see your place of spiritual improvement and where it needs to be applied.
[00:41:03] That by faith, you live in a particular manner that is in line with Scripture, as Jesus did.
[00:41:11] You delight in the law, for the law teaches us how to honor the Lord and bless our fellow man.
[00:41:21] So even when the righteous suffer for honoring the Lord, we keep living in obedience and following Christ is our delight and through the keeping of the commandments.
[00:41:40] So Christ is the refuge for sinners, any man, woman, or child.
[00:41:47] And the testimonies, as they're read, as they're thought upon, as they're applied to our life, they are most precious for our faith.
[00:42:02] God's word brings delight to us.
[00:42:06] This is why you are here.
[00:42:07] This is why you're sitting patiently and not talking over me as the word is preached to you.
[00:42:17] Because you want to glean from the word.
[00:42:20] You're not gleaming from Kent Butterfield.
[00:42:22] You're gleaming from the Word of God.
[00:42:25] And the truth reveals and keeps our soul alive.
[00:42:30] It's a wonderful thing to see sin in your life.
[00:42:33] Then you know what to repent from.
[00:42:36] And the law shows you how to enjoy the Lord in greater fullness.
[00:42:42] You're not justified by the law, but we live by the law.
[00:42:46] But when opposition comes and shakes us to the core, it meets our convictions.
[00:42:54] our convictions to God's truth found in the law.
[00:42:59] And we cannot move from God's law.
[00:43:03] No one will suffer if we keep God's law.
[00:43:07] People might be inconvenienced.
[00:43:10] They might not like it.
[00:43:11] They might not want to follow suit, but they will not be harmed.
[00:43:18] So we delight in the word.
[00:43:19] We want more of the word.
[00:43:22] We want to apply it to every circumstance of our life.
[00:43:25] The more you delight in God's word, fuller is your delight in the lawmaker, the law keeper, who is Christ.
[00:43:38] And so the everlasting nature of all that God teaches us has truth shining forth.
[00:43:45] Justice is always found in God.
[00:43:49] Now, God has much in the area of delayed justice to give more opportunity to experience mercy and forgiveness.
[00:44:02] And so we should always keep that in mind and not be impatient with the Lord.
[00:44:07] But truth, God's word, is at the core of everything we know of God.
[00:44:11] And the gospel equips the regenerate to know more and more of God's truth.
[00:44:19] and his way of holy living.
[00:44:23] And so we want to bless.
[00:44:26] We want to flourish spiritually in this world.
[00:44:28] We might not materially, but that's fine.
[00:44:33] But may we ourselves have a zeal for the Lord with knowledge, with humility, with the fear of God, with a love for our fellow man inside and outside of the church.
[00:44:50] May we seek to bring more attention to the Lord and his ways.
[00:44:54] May we seek to glorify and honor God and do good at every turn and stand firm in the precepts, the testimonies, the commandments of God and not go away of the world, the flesh, or the devil.
[00:45:11] So by grace are we saved.
[00:45:13] And anyone can experience that deliverance from the judgment to come as they turn to Christ and believe upon the very word of God, which indeed both are used to save sinners from themselves and their guilt.
[00:45:31] And we want to live in a guiltless world.
[00:45:33] We want to live in a world without sin.
[00:45:35] We want to be with God without offense.
[00:45:40] And that is always accomplished and only accomplished through faith in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:45:48] Let's pray.
[00:45:49] Father, we pray that we would grow in our love for you, that we would be more disciplined to read your word and meditate upon it, to teach it to our children.
[00:46:02] But, Lord, we need the humility, the work of the Spirit, not to boast about ourselves, for there is no boasting.
[00:46:11] But we can boast in Christ.
[00:46:13] We can speak at length of you and your work and your love and your mercy and your faithfulness.
[00:46:17] And yes, your judgments, for we live in a very unjust world.
[00:46:21] And there is a day, the final judgment, which is the final vindication of your people.
[00:46:29] But it is the day where there is no second opportunity.
[00:46:34] And so we pray for your word to go forth with power and conviction that you would save those who are lost, those who are wandering those who can't discern the right hand from the left
[00:46:45] those who have not yet been convicted we pray for your intervention and your mercy as you've had mercy upon us we pray for that blessing to flow upon others so may we rejoice in the zeal of the Lord Jesus Christ
[00:46:59] who indeed fulfilled all that was required to be a savior for sinners may we follow his example to your glory we pray Amen.