Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20121111.htm

SPECIAL INTERLUDE
Guarding The Heart Through Scripture: Five Gems From Psalm 119
Part III: Section Nun - Guarding The Heart In Great, Long-term Crises
(Psalm 119:105-112)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We Bible-believing Christians today face large, ongoing crises:

    (1) We face it in the political realm. Last Tuesday morning, my wife and I met another couple from our Church as we arrived to vote early at the polls in the Torrington City Hall. After we voted, and we stood in the hall, the man said, "All we can do now is pray and wait!"

    I knew what he meant. Indeed, I don't know of a single Bible believing Christian who hoped the President would be reelected due to his administration's highly unbiblical views and actions.

    However, the spiritual plot thickens: Brannon Howse's book, Religious Trojan Horse, 2012, p. 33 claimed, "I believe . . . [it is] Satan's strategy to leverage President Obama" who has "scared self-professing Christians right into the waiting arms of Glen Beck, his ecumenical friends, and the Church of Rome. The strategy has been successful so far in getting evangelicals to embrace false teachers, their false Jesus, and the accompanying false gospel." (brackets ours) To illustrate, he added that Ravi Zacharias, Tony Evans and David Jeremiah, three reputable Evangelical leaders, two of whom graduated from the seminary I did, with one being my former seminary classmate, participated as leaders in a meeting linked to Glenn Beck's ecumenical "Restoring Love" gathering in Dallas, Texas.

    Thus, with the President's reelection and four more years of an administration in conflict with Biblical Christian beliefs, believers will be lured to react by getting involved in errant ecumenism, so we face long-term political stress that presses us into long-term spiritual stress!

    (2) Economically, our country faces a "fiscal cliff" of a $600 billion tax hike and spending cuts threat that pundits warn will put the country back into a recession unless Congress acts. (Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, "Wall Street rises in this trade day before election," yahoo.news, November 5, 2012) Yet, pundits also say the government can not keep on spending as it has without disastrous long-term effects!

    (3) On top of all this, I know of seven large, ongoing crises people either in or who are related to our Nepaug Church body face, crises in dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, mortgage foreclosure, housing needs, employment or marriage issues!

    Thus, if Proverbs 4:23 NIV directs, "Above all else, guard your heart, for out of it is the wellspring of life," we ask, "How am I to guard my heart in such huge, continuous crises?!"

    Need: "In facing great, long-term crises, how can I guard my heart?!"

  1. Psalm 119 is written in an alphabetical arrangement of sections where each section is marked by the first word of each of its lines starting with a specific Hebrew letter, and the focus in the ENTIRE psalm is on the PRACTICAL VALUE of GOD'S WORD.
  2. The Psalm 119:105-112 letter "Nun" section describes the use of Scripture to guard the heart from stress in great, long-term crises:
    1. The psalmist faced a great, long-term crisis, Ps. 119:107a, 109a, 110a:
      1. Wicked foes had set a "bird-trap" (pah, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 809) for him, and as such traps were put in a regular bird run to catch a bird as it unwarily tripped a mechanism (Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 798), the psalmist's foes sought to entrap him by guile in his daily routine, a very hard, stressful trial, Ps. 119:110a.
      2. The psalmist lived in constant risk of his entire being, figuratively holding in the palm of his hand (kap, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1084; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 496) his life principle of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual welfare (nepesh, Ibid., Kittel, p. 1084 and 3 in citing Gen. 2:7 where God made man a nepesh), Psa. 119:109a.
      3. He thus faced "exceeding" (me'od, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 547) pressure that left him "bowed down" (anah, Ibid., p. 776) in stress, v. 107.
    2. However, his use of Scripture supplied him a comprehensive solution:
      1. To avoid the "bird-trap," the psalmist chose "not to stray unto ruin" (ta'ah, Ibid., p. 1073) from Scripture lest relying on even his own outlook would lead to his being trapped by his foes, Psa. 119:110b.
      2. To handle the mental pressure of the trial itself, he did not forget (shakah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 1013) Scripture, 119:109b.
      3. To counter the emotional wear of the long-term crisis, the psalmist sought Scripture's "refreshment" (hayah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 310-311; Piel = intensive), Psalm 119:107b.
    3. Yet, as the crisis' force and duration could humanly overwhelm, the psalmist applied Scripture in small, manageable steps for success:
      1. First, he chose to focus on Scripture in his great, long-term crisis:
        1. Psalm 119:106 reveals the psalmist took an oath and confirmed it to heed God's upright verdicts (mishpat, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 1048-1049) from Scripture in addressing his crisis.
        2. He also asked God to receive his freewill offering (nedabah, Ibid., p. 621) of consecration (Zon. Pict. Ency. of the Bible, v. Five, p. 208) as God taught him (lamad, Ibid., p. 540) truths to use in addressing specific issues in the crisis, Psalm 119:108.
      2. Second, he focused on the immediate and hence manageable event faced in the crisis, applying Scripture to that event, Psa. 119:105a:
        1. The lamp for the psalmist's feet was a small, handheld lamp that lit only the one step immediately in front of one's feet.
        2. So, to manage the great, long-term crisis, the psalmist applied Scripture only to the next immediate step he was to take!
      3. Third, the psalmist repeated this action for each succeeding event faced in the long-term crisis so that Scripture eventually , over many steps, illumined his entire path of crisis, Psa. 119:105b:
        1. The word "light" (or, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 21) lit. can mean "become a light," and here, the repeat use of the lamp for each step eventually makes it become a light for the psalmist's entire (fig.) "path, course of life"! (netibah, Ibid., p. 677)
        2. Thus, the psalmist kept his focus on Scripture so that as he encountered each event in his great, long-term crisis, he could take the step Scripture directed for each instance of need faced!
      4. When the psalmist realized how successful this step-by-step use of Scripture had become in delivering him in his great, constant crisis, it led him to want to keep using Scripture this way, 119:111-112:
        1. God's solemn charges (edut, Ibid., p. 730) had forever (olam, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 761-763) become the psalmist's invaluable "inherited possession" (nahalah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 635), for they (emphatic pronoun) were his heart's exultation (sason, Ibid., p. 965), what caused his inner man to exult as it led him to succeed in his crisis, Psalm 119:111.
        2. So, he "inclined, bent" (natah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 639-641) his heart to heed Scripture "unto the indefinite future" (olam , Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 761-763) "end" (eqeb, Ibid., p. 784) [to the end of the Psalmist's life], Psalm 119:112.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to be saved and receive the "parenting" Holy Spirit, John 1:11-12; 14:16-18. (2) To handle big, long-term crises, may we focus on the immediate step Scripture directs us to take, and take it in dependence upon the Spirit's power (Galatians 5:16-23), repeating this activity as needed not only for the duration of the crisis itself, but as a way of life throughout life!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

Last week, in view of the world we face due to the election results, God gave me very encouraging glimpse of the value of this Church's ministry in the world, so I really must share it with you now:

(1) Last Sunday, I was given a copy of Brannon Howse's book, Religious Trojan Horse, 2012, and its reputable documentation reveals a long-term war being waged against Bible Christianity, a war I before had only vaguely understood. Formidable foes seek to create a world religion to include business, government and religious realms, and to bring everyone into a union where individualism is replaced by the collective, and where a few control the masses, Ibid., p. 15-69. Many even right-wing evangelicals have unwittingly boosted the foe's agenda by adopting its emphasis on community in ministry, thus pressuring individual Christians to compromise their beliefs, Ibid., p. 70-439.

(3) From viewing the book, I realized our Church is not a part of this unholy movement, not because we understood all about the war, but because the Bible has led us a step-at-a-time to where we are now:

(a) First, 1 Timothy 3:15 teaches us that the local church is the pillar and foundation of God's truth on earth, so we have sought function only as a local Biblical church -- nothing else.

(b) Second, 2 Timothy 4:2 directs that a local church pastor's calling is to "Preach the Word," so we have also done that!

(c) Third, 1 John 5:19 NIV with 2 Timothy 3:13 and 4:3-5 teach the whole world [system] lies in Satan's power, and will go from bad to worse spiritually, so we have separated from the world, and from its false, worldly ideology, even as found in evangelicalism!

(d) Fourth, we have learned from Revelation 3:21 that Christ promises local churches and pastors in our era, the last era of Church History, to sit "in" His throne as He sits "in" His Father's throne IF they "overcome." Revelation 7:17 with 3:14-20 in their contexts show this promise means God will give a pastor and church a nurturing Bible teaching ministry to those who suffer from godless oppressors IF the pastor and church heed Scripture and practice Bible exposition. In our era of many oppressed people, and with God having led us to preach these messages on guarding the heart, and with the worldwide outreach of our web site with its 3,244 messages, this prophecy is now set to be fulfilled! It doesn't get any better than that!

May we keep at a step-by-step application of God's Word!