Why You Should Renew Your Obedience to God

(Psalm 119:145-152)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning, we saw
How we should keep the commandments:
As Jesus did.

Jesus wasnt content

With obeying generally,
With just being in the ball park
Of what His Father wanted Him to do.
He did exactly what He wanted Him to do.
He did this to save us.
But He also did it to give us an example
Of how precise,
Of how careful we should be
In keeping them.

In the Sermon on the Mount

He lifted the commandments
Back up to where His Father intended
So that we would know exactly
What He wanted.

Obedience is important.
Thats why Jesus came into this world.
Why He became a man:
He didnt come merely to save us
From our well deserved punishment in hell,
He came to free us
From what would send us there:
Our disobedience
All of it,
Even the slightest deviation
From anything He commands
Is enough to send us
Into eternal punishment.
Remember, it was just the eating
Of one piece of fruit from the forbidden tree
That plunged the whole human race
Into everlasting misery.

B. Preview.
But again,
Salvation from hell isnt the only incentive
God offers for our obedience.
Here again, we see

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He also promises deliverance from our enemies.

Deliverance is something we need

Its something you need.
You have enemies
The most serious of which
Are spiritual
The devil,
His demons,
The world,
Your flesh
But some of which
Appear as physical
People who tempt you to sin,
People who hate you for being a Christian,
People who threaten you
In the name of doing whats best for everyone,
Such as our leaders in government.

Even though they appear to be physical enemies,

You need to see
That the battle is really spiritual.

What is your best defense

Against these enemies? Obedience.

God promises to deliver you

From all your enemies,
But only if you obey Him.
He blesses obedience,
Because it is the evidence
That you belong to Him
And so the promises belong to you;
And because He sends these trials
To teach you obedience.

This evening,
Lets follow the prayer of the psalmist
As he cries out to the Lord
To deliver him from his enemies,
To see what we should do
When were confronted with ours.

What you should do

Can be summarized in this way:
You should renew your obedience to God.
How can you do that?
II. Sermon.
A. First, you need Gods help and so you need to pray.

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I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. I
cried to You; save me and I shall keep Your testimonies. (vv. 145-146).
The psalmist here is praying.
Thats what you need to do
Cry out to the Lord.

1. But notice his fervency: I cried with all my heart.

Not just part of it, but all.

When you first became a Christian

The Lord took it easy on you.
He treated you gently
Because you were young in the faith.
The trials werent as severe
And so your prayers werent as fervent.
He didnt demand as much from you
Before He would answer your prayers.

But as you grew in Christ,

He turned up the heat
Your trials became more severe.
They had to
In order to stretch you.
But as the trials became hotter
So did your fervency.

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The Lord wanted you
To be more fervent in them
Before He would answer.

He wants you
Really to desire
What youre asking for
Before He will give it to you
And so He will put you
Into the circumstances
That will bring that about.

2. What else does the Lord look for

In your prayers?
He wants to see a greater resolve to obey.
This was the reason He sent His Son
Your obedience
Its also the reason
He sends the trials.

The psalmist says, Answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. . . .
Save me and I shall keep Your testimonies (vv. 145-146).
Obedience should be
The greatest desire of your heart.
Why do you want to be delivered from your enemies?

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So that you can take it easy?
So you can have more fun?
So nothing gets in the way
Of what you want to do?
It should be so that you can obey.

This is the difference

Between the so-called
Foxhole conversion
And a genuine conversion.
The person who prays in the foxhole
Lord, save my life, and I will do whatever you want
Simply goes back to living
The way he lived before
When the danger is gone.

But one who is genuine

Wants to be delivered
So that he can obey.
He binds himself
To an even closer obedience
Because thats what he wants
And what he knows the Lord wants.

Whats in your heart?

It should be
That the Lord would deliver you,
So that you can better obey Him.

B. Second, when should you pray?

1. When you can pray best.
The psalmist rose before dawn,
And when he awoke during the night watches,
He would pray and meditate.
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. My eyes anticipate
the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word (vv. 147-148).

Sometimes its hard to find

Time to pray during the day.
Youre too busy.
Theres too many things to do.

So when can you?

Before the day begins.
Or during the night.

When something is weighing

On your mind and heart,
Its not uncommon to find yourself
Waking early, before sunrise,

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Or sometime during the night.
Instead of going back to sleep,
You should pray
Lay your burden
At the foot of the throne of grace.

Heres another indication

Of just how much you should want something
Before the Lord will give it to you.
Do you want it badly enough
To give up sleep to ask for it?
If its not weighing on your heart,
You cant expect the Lord to listen.
Prayer must be fervent
The effectual prayer
Of a righteous man
Can accomplish much (James 5:16).

2. But what else do you need

Besides a strong desire
For what youre asking?

You need faith.

The psalmist said,
I wait for Your words.

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You need the faith necessary

To wait on God
To give you what He promised.
Sometimes the wait is short
When you first come to Christ
And sometimes the wait is longer
When youve walked with Him for a while
But either way,
The only reason you wait
Is because you know God is faithful
That He will answer you.
You wont seek Him
Unless you really want
What youre asking,
Nor will you
Unless you really believe
He will give it to you.

But along with waiting,

You also need to study His Word
To know what He would have you to do.
The psalmist didnt put his obedience on hold
Until the Lord answered him;

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But while he waited,
He studied to know better
What the Lord wanted him to do,
And so should you:
My eyes anticipate the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word (v. 148).

While youre waiting on God

Do what you know He wants you to do.

C. Third, what specifically should you pray for?

Pray that the Lord might revive you.
Thats what the psalmist was primarily after.
Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; revive me, O LORD, according
to Your ordinances (v. 149).

Why does the Lord send trials?

Why does He let your enemies
Have any power over you at all?
Its so you can grow.
But its also to awaken you
Out of spiritual slumber.

Sadly, when things go well

We often slip into a spiritual rut.
You can grow dull spiritually,

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So that your devotion and obedience

Begin to slip
And you begin to fall away from your Lord.

When that happens,

The Lord brings trials
To drive you back to Himself.
He sends difficulties to wake you up,
To compel you to seek Him again.

If we could just learn to seek the Lord

With the kind of fervency and faith
With which we should be seeking Him anyway,
We wouldnt need so many trials.

You should pray that the Lord

Would save you from your enemies,
But also that He would work in your life
What He intends through the trial
That He would wake you up again
To seek Him with all your heart
That He would revive you.

D. Finally, what reasons/arguments should you offer to God

As to why He should answer your prayers?

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1. The first is, His lovingkindness.

Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness (v. 149).
Because He is your Father,
And you are His son or daughter;
Because you are in a relationship with Him
Through His covenant;
Because He is faithful;
Because of His grace and mercy to you
In His Son, Jesus Christ;

You really cant do anything

To compel Him to answer you.
Even your best efforts fall short
Remember, it is the evidence of His grace,
They dont earn anything
Which is why your plea
Must always be His lovingkindness.
If you plead this,
He will listen.

2. Second, you can plead the sins of your enemies.

Those who follow after wickedness draw near; they are far from Your law (v.
150).
You are His child,

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But these who seek to harm you
Are His enemies.
You can plead their sins,
Their evil,
Their hatred of God against them.
If you plead this,
God will listen.

3. Third, the nearness of God.

You are near, O LORD (v. 151).
God is not only a God who is far off
But One who is near,
Especially because of what
Jesus has done.
The nearness of God is your good.
Call on Him
Because He is present to save.

4. And finally, and also more specifically

As to why the Lord should revive you,
Is the nature of the commandments themselves:
All Your commandments are truth. Of old I have known from Your
testimonies that You have founded them forever (vv. 151-152).

They are true now

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And will be forever.
The Lord saved you
So that you might keep them
So that you might do whats right.
Why wouldnt He answer
Your prayer to revive you
So that you would keep them?

5. So why should you renew

Your obedience to Gods commandments?

a. Because you need to obey

Before He will answer your prayers
It is the evidence that you belong to Him,
The mark that the promises are yours.

b. Because He sends these trials

To provoke you to seek Him
For this very reason.
All that God does for you
From the sending of His Son
To the sending of these trials
Is to get you to obey Him better
To become more like His Son.

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c. But you must pray fervently
With all your heart
The Lord wants you to know your need
Before He will meet your need

d. You must pray when you can

Early in the morning,
And late at night
When your concern wakes you up

e. You must offer reasons

Gods nearness,
His covenant mercies,
The virtue of His commandments,
The fact that they never change,
The fact that your opponents
Disregard Gods Law

f. And you must offer your prayer in faith

Wait on the Lord
Until you see Him do
What He promised He would.

g. Next time youre faced with a trial,

Focus on these things

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And see if the Lord doesnt do
All He promised He would. Amen.

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