Psalm 119.9
[Note to the Reader: You need to know that, right before the sermon, I asked all the youth of our church, from ten years old through high school, to sit in the front rows of the sanctuary. I then stepped down from the platform and stood right in front of them to preach. This sermon was especially for them.]
We've just had a baptism and, as you may remember, it's my habit to preach on some aspect of baptism whenever that happens. So, I'm going to do that today, but with you as the focus. Each of you have been baptized and most of you were baptized by me. And while there are great blessings associated with baptism, there are also great dangers. I want to talk to you about both. This morning's text is especially for you. 'How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.' Let's take it apart and see what it's all about.
The first step is to understand the words. 'Pure'. What is that about? People often understand this word in terms of what it is not. And they especially see it related to sex. So, 'pure' means not being involved with anything immoral. But that's not what the word is about. 'Pure' is telling us that whatever it's pointing to has only one thing. There is nothing else mixed in. So, Ivory soap used to claim that it was '99 44/100 % pure'. You probably don't remember that but your parents do. And all they were saying was that their soap was only soap. There was nothing else mixed in – or almost nothing. So, our text is talking about keeping your way pure, making sure that there is nothing mixed in. But keeping your way pure what? You can have pure garbage, but that's not what's going on here. Another bit of Scripture is helpful here. From the Apostle Paul: 'For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.' At the heart of our verse in Psalm 119 is this idea of pure devotion to Christ. It's about making sure that nothing else gets mixed in when it comes to living your life for Jesus. Pure devotion to Jesus. And this gets us to baptism. There's lots going on when someone is baptized. But here's one thing. The baptized person is completely given over to Jesus. That person begins a life of devotion to Jesus, pure devotion to Jesus. His baptism points to the fact that his whole life is to be about Jesus. And that's what your life is to be about: pure devotion to Jesus; nothing mixed in. This applies to whatever you do. Some of you will be called by God to work as homemakers. Others of you will be called to work in a factory, or in an office, the great out of doors or somewhere else. But whatever work you do, you are to do is as someone who is devoted to Jesus with a pure devotion. This includes more than your vocation. It includes where you live, whom you marry, if you marry, how many kids you want to have, how much money you want to earn and how you'll spend it. Your whole life is about being devoted to Jesus with a pure devotion. And you know that this applies to you because of your baptism.
Now, did you notice that the first half of the verse is a question? 'How can a young man keep his way pure?' That points to the fact that there are things that need to be done to keep your way pure. But it also means that if you don't do what is needed, devotion to Jesus can be lost. Your relationship with Jesus is like any other living thing. Living things are intended to grow. So, a seed is supposed to grow into a tree and as it matures, it's supposed to produce fruit. But living things can also die. If you do not work at keeping your way pure, if you do not work at being devoted to Jesus, then, over time, your relationship with Him will shrivel up and die. There are a huge number of people who have been baptized but who have nothing to do with Jesus. They may go to church, even pray once in a while. But they have not worked at keeping a pure devotion to Jesus. As a result, their relationship with Jesus has died. They take false comfort that all is good with God because they were baptized at some point. But what good is a baptism without pure devotion to Jesus? Hell is filled with baptized people. They failed to consider this verse, and they are now paying the price. I hope that none of you ever says, 'That can't happen to me.' It can happen to anyone who is not careful, me, you, and everyone else in this room. If you are wise, you will take this to heart.
So, the question in the verse is appropriate. 'How can a young man keep his way pure?' What needs to happen so that pure devotion to Jesus grows and bears much good fruit? And the second half of the verse answers the question. 'By guarding it according to Your Word.' First, notice this word 'guarding'. What does it mean to guard? Doesn't it sound like there's some danger, that some attack is possible? And there is danger! This is where I want to talk to you about Satan. When it comes to Satan people go to extremes. Either they make a huge fuss about him so that they think that he's just about equal to God or they ignore him and act as if he doesn't even exist. You want to avoid both extremes. Here are some facts about Satan. He's a fallen angel. That means that he was made perfect but rebelled against God. That also means that he's been around since before Adam and Eve which is a very long time. And one more fact: Satan hates you. It's nothing personal, mind you. Its just that you're with Jesus. Satan's goal is to steal you away from Jesus so that you would join him in his rebellion. You don't actually have to act in any certain way. As far as Satan is concerned, you can be a very nice person – as long as you reject Jesus. So, you see, this is much more serious than taking that forbidden cookie or cheating on some test or having sex with someone who you're not married to. Satan wants you to hate Jesus like he does. That's what he's after. So, the word 'guard' is the right word to use.
Now, if you are going to be able to guard your relationship with Jesus you'll need to have some idea of how Satan will attack. Do you remember the parable of the four soils? It's one of my very favorite parables of Jesus. It's all about how people respond to the Gospel. A man plants some seeds. The seed on the first soil doesn't sprout. So, the birds eat the seed. The seed on the second soil does sprout. A little plant pops up. This person responds to the Gospel and believes it. But when following Jesus gets hard, he gives up. The plant withers away and dies. Then there's the third soil. The seed is planted. A little plant sprouts up. This plant doesn't wither away, but it doesn't produce fruit like it's supposed to. There's nothing to harvest. And the reason is that there are some weeds that also sprout up and choke this plant so that it produces nothing. Jesus explained what this third soil is about. These are people who respond to the Gospel, who in some sense believe it, but who never really grow. There is no pure devotion to Jesus. Ultimately, they are lost. Do you know why they didn't make it? Here's one thing that Jesus pointed to as a problem: 'the pleasures of life'. That's one of the weeds that choked them. Instead of keeping their way pure they were more interested in feeling good. So, for them, the important question was always, 'How can I have fun? How can I enjoy myself?' As a result, Jesus isn't their first desire and their chief joy. Having fun is. Feeling good is. Enjoying themselves is. And so, keeping pure devotion to Jesus becomes less and less important until it disappears. Behind all of this is Satan. Remember what his goal is. He wants to get you to forget about pure devotion to Jesus. He will use any means to achieve that goal. So, there are many people who have been fooled by him because of their desire for the pleasures of life. They turn away from Jesus, laughing and happy and having a good time. They turn away and they die. You have an enemy, someone who hates you. You need to guard yourself against him.
Now, you're not left to figure out on your own what to do to guard yourselves. What's the verse say? 'By guarding it according to Your Word.' This is where the Bible comes in. The Bible is your protection. But, you will not be able to guard yourself with the Bible if you don't know the Bible. I'm going to give you a break for a bit and talk to your fathers. Men, one of the key responsibilities that you have in the proper care of your children is to be sure that they are immersed in the Bible. Would any good father put his young child in a car without buckling him in? How stupid is that? And yet, how many fathers send their children into a world where Satan runs free without a solid knowledge of the Bible? Your children's Bible knowledge is the heart of their protection against Satan. For the sake of their souls, they need to be immersed in the Bible. So, here are some things you must do. First, be sure that they are here every Sunday. This is the place where the Bible is read, sung, and preached in the context of meeting with God. Sunday worship is the primary means of communicating the Word not just to minds but to hearts. Next, you need to read and explain the Bible to your children – daily. That means that, at the least, there should be a time when you gather the family together to read a bit of the Word and make sure that your children understand it so some extent. Call it family devotions or family worship or whatever you like, but this needs to be done every day. What I've just told you is simply a minimum application of this command of God. 'And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.' Last, you need to help your children to establish and maintain their own person time of reading their Bible every day. You do this by describing it and by modeling it to them and then by checking up on them. Remember that, according to Psalm 1, it is those who meditate on the Word at daily who will be blessed. Your goal in this is for your children to be able to pray with the Psalmist, 'Your Word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against You.' They need to be immersed in the Bible. Men, if you are not working on these things then you are failing your children. They have an enemy who hates them and desires their ruin. You have a key role to play in guarding the purity of their devotion to Jesus. Fulfill the role that Jesus has given you and enjoy the blessings of having Godly children.
Now, back to you. Your fathers can do everything right, but if you don't give yourselves to the Word, it just won't work. And then, Satan will have you. You may become a nice person with a new car and a big house and fun vacations because your job pays so well, but Satan will have won. And you don't want that. The things that I am telling you aren't just things that pastors are supposed to say. I knew this fellow in college, a Christian who was part of our InterVarsity group. He was one of the guys and even led a Bible study. I found out last week that his life fell apart and that he committed suicide. How do you suppose that happened?
Last thought. How does knowing your Bible help in your fight against Satan? Is the goal to know your Bible so well that you're just too smart for Satan? Well, remember that he's been at his tricks since Adam and Eve. Do you really think that you can outsmart him? You want to know your Bible well because it is the tool that the Spirit uses. It's up to the Spirit to keep you safe. He does this by guiding you through life. And He guides you by using what you know of your Bible. You want to know more and more of your Bible because that gives the Spirit lots to work with when it comes to guiding and guarding you. Having only a little knowledge of the Bible hampers the Spirit's work. And someone who doesn't work at developing his understanding of the Bible will, bit by bit, lose what he knows until the Spirit has nothing to use. And on top of all of this, reading and interacting with the things that you find in your Bible draws you closer to Jesus. He becomes real. He becomes precious. And as that happens, your pure devotion to Him grows and develops and matures. Jesus becomes a very real and very attractive person instead of just some doctrine you're supposed to agree with. And as the closeness develops that also becomes a protection against Satan.
I realize that I may have overwhelmed some of you. That was not my intention. But the things that I have been talking about really are important. So, because I care about you I wanted to try to help you see those things more clearly. I hope that I've had some success.
[Note to the Reader: You need to know that, right before the sermon, I asked all the youth of our church, from ten years old through high school, to sit in the front rows of the sanctuary. I then stepped down from the platform and stood right in front of them to preach. This sermon was especially for them.]
We've just had a baptism and, as you may remember, it's my habit to preach on some aspect of baptism whenever that happens. So, I'm going to do that today, but with you as the focus. Each of you have been baptized and most of you were baptized by me. And while there are great blessings associated with baptism, there are also great dangers. I want to talk to you about both. This morning's text is especially for you. 'How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.' Let's take it apart and see what it's all about.
The first step is to understand the words. 'Pure'. What is that about? People often understand this word in terms of what it is not. And they especially see it related to sex. So, 'pure' means not being involved with anything immoral. But that's not what the word is about. 'Pure' is telling us that whatever it's pointing to has only one thing. There is nothing else mixed in. So, Ivory soap used to claim that it was '99 44/100 % pure'. You probably don't remember that but your parents do. And all they were saying was that their soap was only soap. There was nothing else mixed in – or almost nothing. So, our text is talking about keeping your way pure, making sure that there is nothing mixed in. But keeping your way pure what? You can have pure garbage, but that's not what's going on here. Another bit of Scripture is helpful here. From the Apostle Paul: 'For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.' At the heart of our verse in Psalm 119 is this idea of pure devotion to Christ. It's about making sure that nothing else gets mixed in when it comes to living your life for Jesus. Pure devotion to Jesus. And this gets us to baptism. There's lots going on when someone is baptized. But here's one thing. The baptized person is completely given over to Jesus. That person begins a life of devotion to Jesus, pure devotion to Jesus. His baptism points to the fact that his whole life is to be about Jesus. And that's what your life is to be about: pure devotion to Jesus; nothing mixed in. This applies to whatever you do. Some of you will be called by God to work as homemakers. Others of you will be called to work in a factory, or in an office, the great out of doors or somewhere else. But whatever work you do, you are to do is as someone who is devoted to Jesus with a pure devotion. This includes more than your vocation. It includes where you live, whom you marry, if you marry, how many kids you want to have, how much money you want to earn and how you'll spend it. Your whole life is about being devoted to Jesus with a pure devotion. And you know that this applies to you because of your baptism.
Now, did you notice that the first half of the verse is a question? 'How can a young man keep his way pure?' That points to the fact that there are things that need to be done to keep your way pure. But it also means that if you don't do what is needed, devotion to Jesus can be lost. Your relationship with Jesus is like any other living thing. Living things are intended to grow. So, a seed is supposed to grow into a tree and as it matures, it's supposed to produce fruit. But living things can also die. If you do not work at keeping your way pure, if you do not work at being devoted to Jesus, then, over time, your relationship with Him will shrivel up and die. There are a huge number of people who have been baptized but who have nothing to do with Jesus. They may go to church, even pray once in a while. But they have not worked at keeping a pure devotion to Jesus. As a result, their relationship with Jesus has died. They take false comfort that all is good with God because they were baptized at some point. But what good is a baptism without pure devotion to Jesus? Hell is filled with baptized people. They failed to consider this verse, and they are now paying the price. I hope that none of you ever says, 'That can't happen to me.' It can happen to anyone who is not careful, me, you, and everyone else in this room. If you are wise, you will take this to heart.
So, the question in the verse is appropriate. 'How can a young man keep his way pure?' What needs to happen so that pure devotion to Jesus grows and bears much good fruit? And the second half of the verse answers the question. 'By guarding it according to Your Word.' First, notice this word 'guarding'. What does it mean to guard? Doesn't it sound like there's some danger, that some attack is possible? And there is danger! This is where I want to talk to you about Satan. When it comes to Satan people go to extremes. Either they make a huge fuss about him so that they think that he's just about equal to God or they ignore him and act as if he doesn't even exist. You want to avoid both extremes. Here are some facts about Satan. He's a fallen angel. That means that he was made perfect but rebelled against God. That also means that he's been around since before Adam and Eve which is a very long time. And one more fact: Satan hates you. It's nothing personal, mind you. Its just that you're with Jesus. Satan's goal is to steal you away from Jesus so that you would join him in his rebellion. You don't actually have to act in any certain way. As far as Satan is concerned, you can be a very nice person – as long as you reject Jesus. So, you see, this is much more serious than taking that forbidden cookie or cheating on some test or having sex with someone who you're not married to. Satan wants you to hate Jesus like he does. That's what he's after. So, the word 'guard' is the right word to use.
Now, if you are going to be able to guard your relationship with Jesus you'll need to have some idea of how Satan will attack. Do you remember the parable of the four soils? It's one of my very favorite parables of Jesus. It's all about how people respond to the Gospel. A man plants some seeds. The seed on the first soil doesn't sprout. So, the birds eat the seed. The seed on the second soil does sprout. A little plant pops up. This person responds to the Gospel and believes it. But when following Jesus gets hard, he gives up. The plant withers away and dies. Then there's the third soil. The seed is planted. A little plant sprouts up. This plant doesn't wither away, but it doesn't produce fruit like it's supposed to. There's nothing to harvest. And the reason is that there are some weeds that also sprout up and choke this plant so that it produces nothing. Jesus explained what this third soil is about. These are people who respond to the Gospel, who in some sense believe it, but who never really grow. There is no pure devotion to Jesus. Ultimately, they are lost. Do you know why they didn't make it? Here's one thing that Jesus pointed to as a problem: 'the pleasures of life'. That's one of the weeds that choked them. Instead of keeping their way pure they were more interested in feeling good. So, for them, the important question was always, 'How can I have fun? How can I enjoy myself?' As a result, Jesus isn't their first desire and their chief joy. Having fun is. Feeling good is. Enjoying themselves is. And so, keeping pure devotion to Jesus becomes less and less important until it disappears. Behind all of this is Satan. Remember what his goal is. He wants to get you to forget about pure devotion to Jesus. He will use any means to achieve that goal. So, there are many people who have been fooled by him because of their desire for the pleasures of life. They turn away from Jesus, laughing and happy and having a good time. They turn away and they die. You have an enemy, someone who hates you. You need to guard yourself against him.
Now, you're not left to figure out on your own what to do to guard yourselves. What's the verse say? 'By guarding it according to Your Word.' This is where the Bible comes in. The Bible is your protection. But, you will not be able to guard yourself with the Bible if you don't know the Bible. I'm going to give you a break for a bit and talk to your fathers. Men, one of the key responsibilities that you have in the proper care of your children is to be sure that they are immersed in the Bible. Would any good father put his young child in a car without buckling him in? How stupid is that? And yet, how many fathers send their children into a world where Satan runs free without a solid knowledge of the Bible? Your children's Bible knowledge is the heart of their protection against Satan. For the sake of their souls, they need to be immersed in the Bible. So, here are some things you must do. First, be sure that they are here every Sunday. This is the place where the Bible is read, sung, and preached in the context of meeting with God. Sunday worship is the primary means of communicating the Word not just to minds but to hearts. Next, you need to read and explain the Bible to your children – daily. That means that, at the least, there should be a time when you gather the family together to read a bit of the Word and make sure that your children understand it so some extent. Call it family devotions or family worship or whatever you like, but this needs to be done every day. What I've just told you is simply a minimum application of this command of God. 'And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.' Last, you need to help your children to establish and maintain their own person time of reading their Bible every day. You do this by describing it and by modeling it to them and then by checking up on them. Remember that, according to Psalm 1, it is those who meditate on the Word at daily who will be blessed. Your goal in this is for your children to be able to pray with the Psalmist, 'Your Word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against You.' They need to be immersed in the Bible. Men, if you are not working on these things then you are failing your children. They have an enemy who hates them and desires their ruin. You have a key role to play in guarding the purity of their devotion to Jesus. Fulfill the role that Jesus has given you and enjoy the blessings of having Godly children.
Now, back to you. Your fathers can do everything right, but if you don't give yourselves to the Word, it just won't work. And then, Satan will have you. You may become a nice person with a new car and a big house and fun vacations because your job pays so well, but Satan will have won. And you don't want that. The things that I am telling you aren't just things that pastors are supposed to say. I knew this fellow in college, a Christian who was part of our InterVarsity group. He was one of the guys and even led a Bible study. I found out last week that his life fell apart and that he committed suicide. How do you suppose that happened?
Last thought. How does knowing your Bible help in your fight against Satan? Is the goal to know your Bible so well that you're just too smart for Satan? Well, remember that he's been at his tricks since Adam and Eve. Do you really think that you can outsmart him? You want to know your Bible well because it is the tool that the Spirit uses. It's up to the Spirit to keep you safe. He does this by guiding you through life. And He guides you by using what you know of your Bible. You want to know more and more of your Bible because that gives the Spirit lots to work with when it comes to guiding and guarding you. Having only a little knowledge of the Bible hampers the Spirit's work. And someone who doesn't work at developing his understanding of the Bible will, bit by bit, lose what he knows until the Spirit has nothing to use. And on top of all of this, reading and interacting with the things that you find in your Bible draws you closer to Jesus. He becomes real. He becomes precious. And as that happens, your pure devotion to Him grows and develops and matures. Jesus becomes a very real and very attractive person instead of just some doctrine you're supposed to agree with. And as the closeness develops that also becomes a protection against Satan.
I realize that I may have overwhelmed some of you. That was not my intention. But the things that I have been talking about really are important. So, because I care about you I wanted to try to help you see those things more clearly. I hope that I've had some success.
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