Series: Psalm
Title: Hate Lying; Love God’s Law
Text: Psalm 119: 113
Date: February 27, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
For those who read the daily reading I mailed
out for today, then you know it is from Psalm
119:113: I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
Tomorrow’s
daily reading is found in the same Psalm verse 163. Tomorrow you will get to read it, tonight you
will get to hear it preached. Psalm 119:163: I hate and abhor lying: but
thy law do I love.
Is
there anyone that does not hate for others to lie to us, even in secular things? To be lied to hurts. Usually, lies hurt worse than the thing being
covered by lies. The worst of all lying
is those who lie against our God and our Savior.
In
fact, lying is one of the worst sins there is because God is Truth. God is
Light. There are no lies in God. Therefore,
lying is the exact opposite of God.
1 John 1: 5: God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all. 6: If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth: 7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Title: Hate
Lying; Love God’s Law
Proposition: Believer’s not only dislike lying, we hate lying and we
not only like the commands of our God, we love them.
I. FIRST, HATE AND ABHOR LYING—Psalm 113:
163: I hate and abhor lying:…
The
first lie led to separation and death. It
was one lie that set things in motion for the whole world to be plunged into separation
from God and death by sin. God spoke
the truth when he said to Adam, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.” (Gen 2: 17)
But Satan,
the father of lies, came along and “the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtitly.” (2 Cor 11: 3) He told Eve
this lie, “Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.” (Gen 3:
Through
the lie, Eve began to flirt with temptation: first she only looked, “And when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she” thought, what harm could
come by merely holding the fruit? After all, she had not been forbidden to hold
the fruit. So she flirted with temptation a little more. She went a step
further, she “took of the fruit thereof.” Isn’t this what lies open us unto? Then
holding the fruit what did Eve do? “and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat.” (Gen 3: 6) So
one lie led to all being separated from God into sin and death by Adam’s one
transgression.
But
lying never ends with one lie. Lies require lies to cover lies. Adam became a liar when he disobeyed the
truth of God. Then their fig leaf apron
was a lie to cover the first lie. On and
on the lies go, down to us, where their lies brought forth spiritually dead liars
like you and me, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as
soon as they be born, speaking lies.” (Ps 58: 3)
So lies
accomplish nothing good. Lying separates man from God and separates man from
man. Lies never make things better, only worse. They draw us into further
temptation and bring forth death. Only truth makes alive.
James 1: 12: Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love him. 13: Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God:
We are
apt to excuse our lies using God’s providence. Was God providentially ruling
all things in the garden? Yes. But was God
to blame for Satan’s lie, for Eve’s lust and Adam’s disobedience? No!
James 1: 12:…for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Notice
these steps.
James 1: 15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
First
sin is conceived in the mind, then sin comes forth in the act, then sin
produces death. So
James 1: 16: Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Do not
err from the truth of God.
James 1: 17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18: Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
We
imagine a vain thing if we imagine we can save ourselves by lying whether it be
our jobs, our marriages, our reputation, ourselves from shame and worst of all,
if we think we can save our souls through a false gospel.
Lies
may save from temporary suffering, but lying never saves in the long run. Whether we are found out by men or not, by
lying we have forsaken the truth. By lying we no longer are in the realm of God
and Light and Truth, but walk in darkness.
Proverbs 12: 19: The lip of truth shall be established
for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
That
moment may last for a while, in fact it may last a life time. The rest of our lives men may regard us as
just and good and holy. We may be a preacher or regarded a saint, a faithful
husband and father or a faithful wife and mother or a faithful son or
daughter. We may be honored and praised
by men. But soon, that moment shall pass
with the swiftness of our life, then we shall meet the Truth face-to-face.
In
Psalm 101, David’s hatred of lying is typical of God’s hatred of lying—of Christ’s
hatred of lying. In the day of judgment the
liar shall not enter God’s house, “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell
within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” (Ps 101: 7)
Revelation 21:27: And there shall in no wise enter into
it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a
lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Someone
may say, “Have we not all told a little white lie now and then?” That is the way we vainly justify ourselves? By
making ourselves to be one in a million we soothe our conscious. Such lying to our own conscious makes us go
on, boldly, without fear, lying to God and men, insisting that our lies are the
truth. All our ways if not in accord with God’s word are lies.
No, we
have not all told a little white lie now and then! Before God there are no little white lies
only big, bold, black lies. Truth is, all
the natural man is, is a liar and all the natural man does is lie. Lies
ooze from the natural man’s tongue like puss from a gangrene-wound. But the fact we are all liars, by nature,
justifies none of us for lying.
God
said this of Israel because of their daily lies; it is true of God’s spiritual
Israel by our first birth in our sin nature—this is us we must be saved from
Jeremiah 9: 5: And they will deceive every one his
neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak
lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thine habitation is in the midst
of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. Therefore
thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how
shall I do for the daughter of my people? Their tongue is as an arrow shot out;
it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but
in heart he layeth his wait. Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the
LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
If we
are born of God then we hate and abhor lying and love the word of God. Yet, even in us, believer, who hate lying, do
we not yet find ourselves lying in some capacity? We lie by omitting the truth; we lie by
putting on a fake face; we lie with flattery; we lie to prevent personal
suffering. When tempted we are sometimes like Balaam, instead of telling the
Moabites, “No! I cannot go with you. Do not return because God has said, thou
shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.”
Instead, there was a “yes” in his “no.” Is that not all the same as a lie with
the God of truth?
Brethren,
as saints of God, we are commanded:
Colossians 3: 5: Mortify therefore your members which are
upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6: For which things’ sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7: In the which ye
also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8: But now ye also put off all
these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9: Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds; 10: And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him: 11: Where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free: but Christ is all, and in all.
John
Gill—“In times of trouble there are
two things to be done, the first is to hope in God, and the second is to do
that which is right. The first without the second would be mere presumption:
the second without the first mere formalism.”
But
where is our strength to mortify the deeds of our flesh and follow the word of
our God?
II. NOW FOR THE SECOND PART OF OUR TEXT,
Psalm 113: 163:…but thy law do I love.
Our
constant need is that by the Truth, by every Word of God in these scriptures, God will bring us to continually repent from lies
and make us cry out in truth, saying, “I
hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.”
God
does so by making us know the Truth in the new man, in the heart he has made
new, by his grace.
Psalm 51: 6: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward
parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7: Purge me
with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that
the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9: Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities. 10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
What is
the Truth God puts in our inward parts? What is this Wisdom, God makes his
child know in the hidden part? How is it
God can blot our all our iniquities? The answer is the message of the law of
God which we love, the message of the whole word of God. God in Truth makes us behold Christ on the
cross:
Psalm 85: 10: Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Brethren,
when we lie it is usually because we do not want to suffer the consequences of
the truth. But think on this: yes, truth may cause us pain and suffering. It did our Substitute on the cross. But
suffering for the Truth, was the only way of upholding the Truth and the only
way of redeeming God’s elect from lies.
God’s
elect are saved from the consequences of that great lie in the garden, and from
all our sins and all our personal lies, because Christ bore the vengeance of
God for every lie of his people because every lie is against God’s own soul!
But because
God chose his people in Christ, Christ the Truth, laid down his spotless life
to be the sin bearer of elect liars. He took all our lies upon himself when “he
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” (2 Cor 5: 21) Christ said to God,
“Charge their lies to my account.” And God “numbered him with the transgressors;
he was made a curse for us.” (Is 53: 12; Gal 3: 13) So he bore the vengeance of
God for his people. Doing so he upheld the Truth—the Righteousness of God. Now,
God in Truth can be merciful to us who are by nature liars.
Do you
see how truth is always the best way no matter the suffering? Truth may mean necessary suffering but Truth always
prevails over suffering. Two great things are accomplished by Truth: 1) By Truth
God is just and the Justifier of his people. 2) By Truth God makes us depart
from our darkness into his marvelous light.
Proverbs 16:6: By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and
by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
When
David says, “thy law do I love.” it is this Word of Truth, every Word this book
declares:
·
Total depravity
·
Unconditional election
·
Limited Atonement/Particular Redemption
·
Irresistible grace
·
Preservation of the saints
The law
of God which believers love is “the gospel of God (Which he had promised afore
by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” (Rom 1: 1-3)
Jesus Christ the Truth who upheld the Truth and conquers all liars.
The Law
of God spoken of in our text is the Wisdom God puts into our hearts when Christ
the Truth is made Wisdom unto us, when Christ is formed in our hearts. And the sure, effectual result of God’s
irresistible grace, of Truth abiding in our hearts is this, the believer cries,
“I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do
I love.” (Ps 119: 163)
Therefore,
each new morning, we need to beg God, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for
thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” (Ps 25: 5) What is our constraint, as believers, to walk
in the truth and speak the truth—before God and all men—the truth of the facts
in every situation, and the truth of this gospel? We now know how important the
Truth is. We now know how we depend upon
Truth—Christ our Savior—not to forsake us but to keep us as the apple of his
eye. We now know every word God speaks is holy, just and good and is for our
good who follow him. That is why David said “my heart standeth in awe of thy
word.” (Ps 119: 161)
Consider
what God’s word is. First, God’s word is the truth—the only solid truth there
is. All other books were written by fallible
men therefore they are fallible books—all books contain lies. But this book was written by God and is all
truth. Secondly, by God’s word, through
the gospel, God gives the revelation of the righteousness of God—Christ Jesus
our Righteousness—how God is just to show us mercy by Christ’s sacrificial,
subsitionary, successful death on the cross.
Thirdly, the words of this book are more needful at the beginning of
each day than breakfast. Notice just in this Psalm alone how much David speaks
of meditating on the word of God.
Ps 119:15: I will meditate in thy precepts, and have
respect unto thy ways….23: Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy
servant did meditate in thy statutes….48: My hands also will I lift up unto thy
commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes….78: Let
the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I
will meditate in thy precepts…148: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I
might meditate in thy word.
Believer,
do you mediate on the word of God? Not
the silly things men call mediation. But if each morning, you read a verse from
this book and think on it all day, you will be amazed how God will use the events
of the day to teach you its meaning. I will walk around with a phrase from this
book for weeks, months, sometimes over a year—then God will show me just what
it means.
By God’s grace, by the Holy Spirit teaching
us in our hearts, the word of God will make us wiser than those who would turn
us from Christ.
First,
wiser than our enemies—Psalm 119: 97: MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my
meditation all the day. 98: Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser
than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. David says—he is a type of Christ who is really speaking to us
here—he was able to defeat all his enemies because God’s Word was always with
him, and he followed the word of God. If you want to overcome all who would
bring a charge against you or lay a snare for you, before God and men, do not
study your enemies, cast all your care into Christ’s hand, read his word and
walk in it.
Secondly,
wiser than all false teachers—Psalm 119: 99: I have more understanding than all
my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. Remember how Christ had
more understanding than all the false teachers in his day? So did David. How
so? “For thy testimonies are my meditation.” It does not mean we will be able
to overcome vain men in all their arguments against divine election, or
predestination; against Christ’s virgin birth, him being our rule through faith
and love rather than law or when they renounce his resurrection; against their
lying about the necessity of the Holy Spirit birthing us anew, guiding us into
all truth, keeping us and raising us in the last day. But we will have
understanding enough to stay away from foolish questions, to keep our mouths
shut and to trust the Lord to overcome them on our behalf.
Thirdly,
this word makes us wiser than old men—Psalm
119: 100: I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. Men will try to shake you with ancient
traditions—simply look to God’s word to determine if it be true or not. You hear me quote ancient men—faithful men—but
the way I discern if what those men said is worth repeating—is if it is
confirmed in this book. Then there are
ancient sinners. Old men who do not
believe on Christ will try to turn a new believer from Christ using all their
so-called wisdom. Keep to the word of
God and you will understand more than old sinners. Paul told Timothy,
2 Timothy 3:15: And that from a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus.
I have
but two words for you to take home with you:
1) Hate and abhor lying: whether it be a
false gospel or in our everyday lives. For God has taught us that there is no
freedom in lying, only in truth.
2) Love the word of God. When God’s word
is the Life of our life, God, by his grace, will constrain us by His word. So
God commands us,
Proverbs 3: 3: Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind
them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou
find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Only
when God has put Truth into our hearts will we understand what Christ meant in
John 8: 31-31:
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8: 31-32)
I pray
God will make us to say from the heart made new by grace, “I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.” (Ps 119: 163)
Amen!