Psalms 119:139

Psalms 119:139, “Psa 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”

This is a very interesting verse for several reasons. First we need to understand who this verse is speaking too. Is this verse referring to believers or unbelievers when it says mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

Why would God’s enemies be thinking about God’s word in the first place, or reading it, or meditating upon it or believing it. Well the word enemy is a word that means opponent. So there obviously is a connection between not forgetting God’s Word and not being His enemy or opponent, that is to say someone opposed to God.

Can A Christian be opposed to God? Sure they can. How do you know if your going God’s way, if your doing His will, if your doing His work if you have forgotten His Word? It would be impossible. You would be His enemy. You would be in opposition to Him. You can’t possible be on the side of Jesus, or be in cooperation with Jesus and what He wants to do unless you read, know, understand, believe His Word.

This verse is talking about those who have become the enemies of God because they have forgotten God’s Word. What are the possible scenarios for this? Well there are several. There is the person who is touched by the Holy Spirit and drawn to Christ and realizes the Word of God is true but turns away from Christ and rejects Him as savior. There is the Christ who has been born again of the Word, of incorruptible seed in Christ, But doesn’t stay in the word of God, they don’t feed upon it daily, they fall away they backslide, they forget the promises of God, they even maybe forget they are saved. Such a person isn’t serving God but has in effect become God’s enemy.

And then there is the nation which forgets God’s Word. Maybe they are a society founded upon the Word of God, like the United States once was. And then they turn away. They make laws against freedom of religion and call it separation of Church and state and they force the children of their country to be educated in false religions instead of God’s Word. What would happen? Why it would take only one generation and then that society would have forgotten God’s Word. And that is exactly what has happened to America.

Psalms 9:17 says, “Psa 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Psalms 119:139, “Psa 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”

This verse talks about zeal. The word zeal can be translated jealousy. Jealousy is a very powerful emotion. There are actually two kinds of jealousy there is the sinful selfish kind of jealousy and there is godly jealousy. The one kind of jealousy is born out of a motivation of selfish desire. Godly jealousy is something that is born of a love for God and His Word and His people.

The word zeal and jealous can be used to mean two different things but there is an overlap in the meaning because both imply a tremendous amount of passion and emotion and motivation.

Exodus 34:14 says, “Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”

God is a jealous God. One of His names in the Old Testament is Jealous. God has great emotions and passion and zeal. Surely you have heard of the passion of Christ. How Jesus wept over Lazarus when he died. How Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and sweated drops of blood. How Jesus cried out on the cross and prayed for those whom brutally murdered Him and said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Emotions are like the Hydrogen in a star that keep it burning. God created emotions and the right emotions godly emotions can keep a person motivated and zealous in their service towards God.

Psalms 119:139, “Psa 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”

Sometimes when we think of Zeal we think of verses such as where Jesus said, “the zeal of thine house hath eaten thee up.” Or we think about where Paul the Apostle talked about having zeal without knowledge and its dangers.

But in this verse the Bible seems to imply that it’s good to have zeal, not a zeal without knowledge, but a zeal for the truth. It should trouble a Christian when other believers fall away and forget God’s Word, it should trouble a Christian when the country they live in turns away from God’s Word and it becomes forgotten. It should make us zealous, it should motivate us to pray, to pray for the lost, to pray that people repent and turn unto the Lord, to pray that God will be merciful. And it should motivate us to do our part in the spread of the word of God.

If they are forgetting God’s Word and if they are forgetting God’s promises who is going to reminded them if not me and you.

Psalms 119:140, “Psa 119:140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.”

The word used here for pure has something to do with God that is refined and purified. God’s Word is pure. One way we know it is pure is because it has stood the test of time and has remained perfectly preserved without error. Yes there are many who have been taught wrong in the seminaries, taught to believe that God’s Word has errors in it. But it’s not true. God’s Word is pure.

God’s Word is pure. And this is the reason so many people hate God’s Word. Some people love their sins and so because they love their sins they do not come to the truth. Some people prefer the filth and the dirtiness of their own lusts and so they hate the purity of God’s Word. They don’t want to be clean. They prefer the pleasures of sin for a season to their own shame.

The Bible gives a very detailed description of what a person who hates the purity of God’s Word is like. Let me read those verses for you. They are found in Romans 1:22-32, “Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

Now that is a lot of sins, a lot of impurities. It makes sense to say that if God’s Word is pure then the Word of God can make you pure. Then if you turn away from God’s Word you will not be pure. In This passage in Romans the first sin mentioned is homosexuality. Men with Men, burned in their lust one toward another, working that which is unseemly. And even woman changing the nature use into that which is against nature. Of course all these other sins are mentioned too. Horrible sins such as fornication and murder, envy, pride, abusers of speech people who are unmerciful and who don’t have natural affection.

Guess what’s going on in the world today? Guess what one of the top political issues of the world today is? It’s talked about on the news all the time? It’s being put into more and more Hollywood movies and its being taught in the public schools. Homosexuality. It’s being promoted by the news media, the government controlled schools, Hollywood, and those that run this country, and even by many so called Christian denominations its accepted and promoted. What fools to turn away from the purity of God’s Word. It should be very obvious what the result is going to be by promoting such ungodliness such things that are contrary to nature itself.

These verses in Romans list for us all kinds of sins. First homosexuality is listed then these other sins are listed. So can expect as homosexually goes on the rise, as people fight for their rights, the right to sin, that these other sins will go on the rise too. And what is included in these list of sins? Such things as abusers of speech, envy, lack of mercy, lack of affection, and murder. Society is headed for trouble.

Psalms 119:140, “Psa 119:140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.”

Even so there are those who love the Word of God. There are those who come to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. They come to Jesus because they want to be clean in their souls and in their flesh. They want the pleasures of righteousness which endure forever rather than the pleasures of sin which last for but a season. So hopefully you will be one of those who hears the Word of God, is touched in your heart by its purity and learns to love it.

Psalms 119:140, “Psa 119:140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” We live in a very strange world. Most people take a shower or a bath every day to stay clean. But they don’t seem to care about their spiritual purity. They don’t confess their sins to Christ daily or even at all. How impractical is that?

It would seem that most people simply do not understand the importance of purity. God’s Word is pure and God wants us to be pure. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

The Bible actually has many things to say about purity. Such as think on things that pure, keep a pure conscience and to the pure all things are pure. Remember if you want purity then come to the Word of God because the Word of God is pure and it can make you pure.

Psalms 119:141 says, “Psa 119:141 I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.”

The word small is a word that can mean little, young, least. It may be your situation in life that you are small or in other words maybe from the world’s perspective you are unimportant. Maybe you’re not a famous actor, or a world class athlete, or a highly educated individual, or a rich social elite, or a charismatic popular person, maybe you just don’t have a lot of abilities, maybe you are young and so people think you are naïve and inexperienced, or maybe you are old and so people think you are too old to be able to do anything useful with your life. Despite all of these possibilities a person should never let such things keep them from living by Faith in God’s promises

You see you can always serve God no matter what your circumstances in life are. All it takes is faith in Christ and thinking the right thoughts about God’s Word. If you are living by faith then you are serving God. It doesn’t take money, or a doctorate degree, or great athletic ability to pray about things and for people, nor does it take any of those things to treat people kindly and to love them.

Psalms 119:142 says, “Psa 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”

It’s a great think to know the truth. To know and to understand that the righteousness of God endures forever. This verse teaches us so much about the gospel of Jesus Christ. If the righteousness of God lasts forever then those who have the righteousness of God will last forever. This is salvation by grace not works and eternal security. You see if salvation were by works you would be earning your own righteousness but salvation comes through the righteousness of Christ. You can’t earn someone else’s righteousness through your own works you can only earn your own.

The righteousness of Christ is imputed through faith in Him. In addition to that because salvation is based on Christ’s righteousness and not our own we no we can’t lose our salvation. Christ can’t sin, never has and never will. Christ is God, without sin, a lamb without spot or blemish. Those who have the righteousness of Christ imputed unto them have it forever. That’s eternal security.

Psalms 119:142 says, “Psa 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”

One day sin will be wiped away and there will be nothing but righteousness because the righteousness of God endures forever. Of course this means that those who do not turn to Jesus and accept the righteousness of Christ will die in their sins and such people sadly have only one destiny eternal torment in the lake of fire. But Jesus died for all and all who come to Him He shall in no wise cast out. If you turn to Jesus today and pray to Him and ask Jesus to come into your heart and to save you He will and you too will be cleansed from your sins and receive the righteousness of God forever.

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