Psalms 119:11,18

Psalms:119:11: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalms:119:18: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Introduction:

A. A lady said to me that she felt the need of prayer, and the fellowship of other believers, but she could not feel her need for the Bible. She admitted that she never read it, didn't carry it when she went to church, could not get any thing from it.

B. I seriously doubt if one can really live the Christian life without getting into the Word of God. I am not saying a person is unsaved if he doesn't use his or her Bible, but I am saying it is doubtful if they can live the Christian life, and be all that God would have them to be.

C. We are to use the Bible.



I. It Is To Be Used For Meditation (v 97)

A. Did you know the old timers used to read a portion of the Bible then they would meditate upon it?

B. Paul encouraged young Timothy to meditate on the things he had heard.
     1 Tim. 4:15a Meditate upon these things.

C. My father had a saying about meditation. It was, "Read something then let it soak in."  That's a pretty good definition of meditation.

D. Meditation is chewing up the food, and letting it digest.
1. You see a cow chewing her food. I have seen them chew for hours. We called it "chewing the cud."

E. It is difficult to meditate with a lot of noise and commotion going on around you. It is necessary to find a quiet time. Some jobs are not as noisy as others, and you can meditate while you work in those less noisy and nerve-racking ones.

II. It Is To Be Used For Light (v 130)

A. We all know the value of light.
1. A light reveals things that could not otherwise be seen.

Illustration: A man was driving his car on a dark night. His lights had a short in them and would not shine. He ran into a horse. The horse was killed, and the man's car demolished. That man was a relative of mine. He told me that he had learned a valuable lesson. Never drive in the dark.

2. A light not only reveals, but it guides.

Illustration: A young man was leaving to go away to college. An old friend said to him, "You are about to embark upon the dangerous ocean of life."  The young man replied, "Yes, I know, but I have a good and safe compass," and he held up the Bible.

3. Light protects.
a. We read of stories of the times when the old settlers would build fires to keep the vicious animals away at night.
b. The world is full of a different kind of vicious animal now. These are dangerous times. The Word of God however will protect us.

III. It Is To Be Used For Cleansing (v 9)

A. We are living in a dirty world.
1. Sodom and Gomorrah didn't have anything on us. Neither did the people of Noah's day. We are living in similar times.

B. It is impossible to live a perfect life in this world. We may not have stooped to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah, but we do sin.
     1 Jn. 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1. If you are in this service, and you consider yourself a perfect person, would you not be too hard on the rest of us, and just breathe a prayer for us poor sinners?
2. A man said to me recently, when I invited him to church, "Your church is full of hypocrites." I said to him, "Well, in that case brother come on up, you'll feel right at home."

C. We need to come again and again and wash in the Word. It has a cleansing effect.

IV. It Is To Be Used For Sustaining (v 92)

A. Like the writer of this Psalm, we can all say, "I too would have gone under had it not been for the Word."

B. We can look around and see the casualties in the Christian life.

C. We need its support in the time of storm.

V. It Is To Be Used For Peace (v 165)