The Perfection Of The Word Of God

Psalm 12.6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible refined seven times.

God's Word is absolutely perfect, without any defect. The word used here in Psalm 12.6 is the same word used to describe a lamb which was brought to the priest for inspection and was found to be without any defect. Acceptable sacrifices were referred to as being flawless or without defect. (Leviticus 23)

Gold refined once is pure. Gold refined seven times... Perfect.

The Word of the LORD is perfect, flawless, without error or any defect. It is completely pure.  Peter refers to it as the pure milk of the Word. David declared that law of the LORD is perfect.

1. The Word of God stands firm in the heavens.  Psalm 119.89

Jesus- Heaven and earth will pass away but My words will never pass away.

Luke 21.33

Wisdom was there when the LORD created the heavens and the earth.

Proverbs 3.19, 8.27-29

Psalm 19. The heavens declare...

The moon, the stars... set in place by the Word of God. He spoke them into existence.

I Peter 1.21-25

Pure

Opposite of to bait, catch by a bait, allure, entice, deceive

2. Since the beginning Satan has been questioning and distorting God's Word.

In the garden... "Did God really say...?"

It has been under attack.

Tested, tried and pure. Been through the fire, continues to be.

Much of what is going on in our country today is energized by Satan. We have had to add to church policy to protect ourselves from liability from standing on the Word of God. More to come...

3. It stands the Test of time.

The Bible is still the number one best seller.

The scriptures were written between 2-4,000 years ago.

They have survived World Empires, Communistic Regimes, Men who tried to destroy them. Where they have been forbidden they have flourished. God's Word will never pass away! 

4. You can depend on it.

Love that Spurgeon quote, "A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person whose life is not."

I loved the way my grandmother, who had an enormous influence on my walk with the LORD as a young man, trusted the Word of God. I learned more by the way she lived trusting it than I did by her words, or really, as much as I loved them, my professors in Bible College.

There is something beautiful about a saint who trusts in the LORD.

"My God shall supply all your needs"  HQ China Inland Mission over the door. We have found it so in Haiti!

Standing on the Promises...

5. You will be thankful you have built your life on it. Matthew 7

Along the journey.

When the time of testing comes.

Suffering... Missionary yesterday... Sharon Hurkens and I speaking about maturing... Reflection of the image of the refiner in the crucible.

When the blessings come down.

When the end of life comes.

Throughout Eternity!

Your Integrity

Psalm 7.7-8

David is asking to be judged by his own integrity.

That is a very bold prayer!

David was a man after God's own heart. He was not perfect. We know of a few of his sins. But he loved the LORD. He worshiped the LORD. He sang to the LORD.  He taught Israel to worship in music. The fact that we sing when we come together in the 21st century can be traced back to David.

David was open and honest with the LORD about his struggles, particularly his emotional and spiritual ones. He did not talk to others much about them from what we can see but he did bring them to the LORD. That is the safest place to bring them. 

Psalm 25.21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope , O LORD, is in You.

integrity= completeness, fulness, innocence, simplicity

"Lord, to the  extent that I am righteous before You, then bless me and protect me from my enemies."

"Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, according to mine integrity that is in me." Now, David knew that he was innocent of the charges that Cush had been making and so, "God, You know and You judge."

Integrity=

the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

The state of being whole and undivided.

Proverbs 20.7 NASB A righteous man who walks in his integrity— How blessed are his sons after him.

Solomon's early years were a result of his father, David's upbringing. Much of Proverbs, if you read it carefully, was a result of Solomon's instruction he received from his father.

Don't you want a relationship with the LORD like David had? This man had such a close walk with the LORD that he could say to the LORD, "Judge me according to my integrity."

David had such a wonderful walk with God. For 37 years now it has been my privilege to be a pastor, to serve the LORD. But I have walked wit Him really as long as I can remember. I cannot recall a time when I did not pray and seek to obey Him. As I come down to the last years to the time allotted by God for life's journey, I look back and thank the LORD for His goodness. I stand amazed today that He loves me. I look ahead with great anticipation of eternity  with Him and all who have loved Him and longed for His Appearing.

David had a close walk with God. He was a man of integrity. In the testing times he told the LORD, judge me according to my integrity.

1. Your Integrity Takes Time to Build with others.

You know how you feel when someone says to you, "You can trust me!" or "Just trust me."  The lack of integrity is why we need to ask for references. Why we sign contracts.

People come to know your integrity by watching you live. In my life, the person with the greatest integrity was my Dad. I got to work with him when I was young.  I watched how he did business. I watched how he worked. The man never let me down. I remember as a boy sitting next to him in church growing up. I remember him being at my track meets and at home- he was the same man.  I remember the stress of doing taxes each year after he opened up his own business. The thought of cheating the government was not an option.

Proverbs 20.7 The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.

The closer you get to a person the more you learn about their integrity or lack thereof. If you are a person of integrity you do not mind being scrutinized. An IRS audit would not bother you. If your check book were opened to everyone it would tell a story of the lack of selfishness and generosity.

Your relationship with members of the opposite sex would be squeaky clean.

2. Your Integrity Means a lot to those who know you.

A good name...

Proverbs 22.1 A good name is more desirable than great riches.; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Your good name = reputation

Promises are made.

Vows are kept.

We make our reputation.

It begins in our hearts. We make a choice and live out a lifestyle.  We follow a path we have chosen each day, each moment.

People who love us all the way to those are are casual acquaintances watch us., and even depend on us.

We can make choices that will change our reputation so...

3. Your Integrity should be guarded carefully

Need for discernment

Need for a guard over our mouths.

Need for continual diligence.

4. Your Integrity guides you.

Proverbs 11.3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Guide- show them the way

Explain things as you see them

Keep you from going to places you should not go

Point out things you would miss without them.

The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.

Proverbs 14.15

Guard your integrity. It will guide you.

Proverbs 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Your Integrity

Psalm 7.7-8

David is asking to be judged by his own integrity.

That is a very bold prayer!

David was a man after God's own heart. He was not perfect. We know of a few of his sins. But he loved the LORD. He worshiped the LORD. He sang to the LORD.  He taught Israel to worship in music. The fact that we sing when we come together in the 21st century can be traced back to David.

David was open and honest with the LORD about his struggles, particularly his emotional and spiritual ones. He did not talk to others much about them from what we can see but he did bring them to the LORD. That is the safest place to bring them. 

Psalm 25.21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope , O LORD, is in You.

integrity= completeness, fulness, innocence, simplicity

"Lord, to the  extent that I am righteous before You, then bless me and protect me from my enemies."

"Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, according to mine integrity that is in me." Now, David knew that he was innocent of the charges that Cush had been making and so, "God, You know and You judge."

Integrity=

the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

The state of being whole and undivided.

Proverbs 20.7 NASB A righteous man who walks in his integrity— How blessed are his sons after him.

Solomon's early years were a result of his father, David's upbringing. Much of Proverbs, if you read it carefully, was a result of Solomon's instruction he received from his father.

Don't you want a relationship with the LORD like David had? This man had such a close walk with the LORD that he could say to the LORD, "Judge me according to my integrity."

David had such a wonderful walk with God. For 37 years now it has been my privilege to be a pastor, to serve the LORD. But I have walked wit Him really as long as I can remember. I cannot recall a time when I did not pray and seek to obey Him. As I come down to the last years to the time allotted by God for life's journey, I look back and thank the LORD for His goodness. I stand amazed today that He loves me. I look ahead with great anticipation of eternity  with Him and all who have loved Him and longed for His Appearing.

David had a close walk with God. He was a man of integrity. In the testing times he told the LORD, judge me according to my integrity.

1. Your Integrity Takes Time to Build with others.

You know how you feel when someone says to you, "You can trust me!" or "Just trust me."  The lack of integrity is why we need to ask for references. Why we sign contracts.

People come to know your integrity by watching you live. In my life, the person with the greatest integrity was my Dad. I got to work with him when I was young.  I watched how he did business. I watched how he worked. The man never let me down. I remember as a boy sitting next to him in church growing up. I remember him being at my track meets and at home- he was the same man.  I remember the stress of doing taxes each year after he opened up his own business. The thought of cheating the government was not an option.

Proverbs 20.7 The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.

The closer you get to a person the more you learn about their integrity or lack thereof. If you are a person of integrity you do not mind being scrutinized. An IRS audit would not bother you. If your check book were opened to everyone it would tell a story of the lack of selfishness and generosity.

Your relationship with members of the opposite sex would be squeaky clean.

2. Your Integrity Means a lot to those who know you.

A good name...

Proverbs 22.1 A good name is more desirable than great riches.; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Your good name = reputation

Promises are made.

Vows are kept.

We make our reputation.

It begins in our hearts. We make a choice and live out a lifestyle.  We follow a path we have chosen each day, each moment.

People who love us all the way to those are are casual acquaintances watch us., and even depend on us.

We can make choices that will change our reputation so...

3. Your Integrity should be guarded carefully

Need for discernment

Need for a guard over our mouths.

Need for continual diligence.

4. Your Integrity guides you.

Proverbs 11.3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Guide- show them the way

Explain things as you see them

Keep you from going to places you should not go

Point out things you would miss without them.

The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.

Proverbs 14.15

Guard your integrity. It will guide you.

Proverbs 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

The Godly

Psalm 1

In this time of, "Did God really say? relativism/ situational ethics and more concern about feeling than facts..." we have a clear delineation between the righteous/ godly and the wicked. In the garden there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Each is spoken about in this Psalm.

Jesus spoke about this division in Matthew 25 when He spoke about separating the sheep from the goats. There is  a marked difference.  

The Psalms are the hymnal of the Bible, the book of worship. Worship requires a relationship and so this first Psalm sets that out for us.

Over the next months we are going to be going through the Psalms. This would be a great time to connect with one of our Bible Studies if you do not presently attend and walk through these poems that were put to music, which are 3,000 years old.

So this morning we are looking at Psalm 1. 

We have before us a contrast of the righteous person and the wicked one.

The godly righteous person...  

1. Does not

*Walk in the way of in the way of the wicked

*Stand in the way of sinners

*Seat in the seat of mocker

Natural progression here.

*Walking, standing, sitting... all our waking hours are spent doing one of these things.

Walking is living. Keeping in step lit.

Galatians 5.25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Keep in step: 

to proceed in a row as the march of a soldier, go in order

metaphorically to go on prosperously, to turn out well

to direct one's life, to live

*Standing is waiting.

*Sitting is  reading, working, leisure... can also be waiting as at a doctor's.

Settled attitude of life.

Scornful= irresponsible

All our hours, moment by moment, in all our activities and even in inactivity.

The godly person...

2. Does delight in the law of God.

delight= pleasure, longing, desire

We talk about the pleasures of sin. They are for a very short season.

There is pleasure and delight  in obeying the LORD.  He knows the truth about life through the whole Revelation of God. He knows he needs God.

Peace

Contentment

Harmony in your soul

Heaven in your future

meditates= muse, utter

On it both day and night While he is awake walking, standing, sitting

While he is going to bed he is dwelling on God's Word

3. God's blessings on this man- v.3

Planted- 

Like a tree- difference between a tree and a plant.

A method of watering in the Middle East where water is not plentiful is to dig canals off the rivers. The Nile and the Euphrates are prime examples of this. When a tree is planted by one of these canals it has continuous nourishment. 

fruitful- lots of joy 

The fruit of the Spirit is produced as we keep in step with the Spirit ...

and handle the Sword of the Spirit with increasing skill.

This word can mean both produce (nothing like the fresh stuff! Fruit and vegetables or offspring, children,...

We pray for believers who are sick and rightly so. We need to be praying the prayer in Acts as well...

in its season= forever, continuous existence - Tree of Life in Revelation 

leaf does not whither (eternal life)

Whatever he does prospers= to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable

Psalm 4.3 But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.

What notes are you leaving? What legacy are you passing on?

Rich,

Your dad always set up the baptistry for the church. This afternoon the Spanish Church asked if I could help them set it up. I remembered everything your Dad told me. Then down underneath it, in the basement, in a room no one goes in except Sig when he outs the offering in the safe, I took the guy from the Spanish Church and showed him how to turn things on and off, there hanging from a string was a note your dad put up, in his handwriting, explaining how to turn on the heater and turn it off, how to work it in coordination with the water. He knew one day he would not be here and he prepared us for that. I am still thinking about it hours later.

Pastor