Psalms 119:76

Psalms 119:76-77 says, “Psa 119:76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Psa 119:77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.”

These verses are talking about the mercy of God and these verses use some very interesting terminology.

The first and most important thing we should understand about the mercy of God is that the mercy of God is something that all men experience. We know this because Jesus died for all. Jesus didn’t die for some of the world but for all the world that means every man woman and child that has ever and will ever live in human history past present and future. Of course you have to turn from you sins and ask Jesus into your heart for that mercy to take effect.

But mercy is not getting what we deserve. So in some sense all men do receive mercy because all men are sinners and sin has one primary consequence physical and spiritual death. Most men get to experience some life don’t they? They aren’t’ just born into existence and cast into hell. Why they live many for 80 years or more. That’s mercy. So all men get mercy.

But also when it comes to talking about the mercy of God we need to understand t here is a huge difference between a saved person and an unsaved person. A saved person is a person who has entered into the mercy of God, accepted the mercy of God, prayed for ask for and received the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. A lost person hasn’t done that.

Psalms 7:11 says, “Psa 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”

The wicked, those who do not believe in Jesus are in danger of the judgment of God. How are they in danger? Well, if they died they would go to hell wouldn’t they. They have sins they have committed and those sins have not been covered by the blood of Jesus because they haven’t had the salvation experience where they have confessed those sins to Christ and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The righteous, the Christians, those have believed the gospel and accepted it, are not in danger of the judgment of God. They have the righteousness of Christ imputed unto them when God looks at them He does not see their sins but He sees what Jesus did for them when He died on the cross. Therefore they are under the eternal mercy of God as they walk through this life. What a difference. There is a tremendous difference between a saved person and a lost person and God treats and deals with both differently.

This does not mean God is not love or that God is not fair. God is fair. Based on whether or not you are in Christ does effect how God looks at you, thinks about you, and treats you.

This is why the lost people of the world don’t like the concept of the anger and the wrath of God and they accuse God’s anger of being unjust because deep down they know God hates sin and God is angry at them because of their unrepentant sins.

God is not angry at the Christian not in a positional sense not in the sense that they are now in Christ and have their sins washed away.

Now that that difference has been explained lets look at this terminology. We have the phrase merciful kindness and tender mercies. These two phrases really bring how God treats a Christian: very gently, very patiently, very lovingly, carefully just like any Father would that loves His child.

God doesn’t throw lightening bolts at us when we fail. He might throw a lightening bolt to get our attention but that is not the same thing. The merciful kindness and tender mercies of God show us how much God loves us and these things are our comfort.

There’s a lot of things that people use to comfort themselves. Sometimes people eat food for comfort. Some times people look for comfort by telling other people the things that trouble them. But how about this for comfort, thinking about and being thankful for the way that God treats you.

Now this is something that your not going to be able to do if you don’t know God if you don’t walk through life and examine the circumstances of your life and look for the hand of God in them. It’s like saying well you won’t see answers to prayer unless you pray. You won’t see the tender mercies and merciful kindness of God in your life unless you look for it. But I guarantee you its there. Just forget about all the bad things that you think have happened to you and think about every good thing that you can and you will have thousands upon thousands of examples of the merciful kindness and tender mercies of God.

Two other words mentioned in these verses are prayer and delight. If you want the merciful kindness and tender mercies of God and the comfort that comes with it then pray for it, ask for it. Jesus said ask and ye shall receive. It’s that easy. It’s that simple.

Not only that but there is also a direct connection between the way God treats us and the way we treat His word. God’s Word is very important to Him. It’s the main tool that He uses to bring people to Christ for salvation. Romans 10:17 confirms this. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

When a person believes in Christ ultimately that birth of faith has its roots somewhere in the Word of God and that person having heard the word of God and that seed having been planted in their heart at some point in their life before they first believed.

Considering how important of a role the Word of God plays in the work that God is doing in this world how you treat the word of God will effect how God treats you.

Those who delight in the word of God will be those who seek to obey it, read it, study it, believe it, and spread the word.

This is how it works the better you understand the word of God the more that God can use you in the world for teaching of the truth. So you could say the better you understand the Word of God, assuming that you also are faithful in obeying it, the greater will be your opportunities to serve God.

In addition to that God has tender mercies and loving kindness to give to all people. But doesn’t it seem logical that God is going to shed such favor in great degrees on faithful child, a more dedicated servant, than those who are the contrary? Of course He is.

There are benefits to doing what is right. There are benefits to being faithful to God. And you can reap those benefits, those blessings, those comforts, those opportunities and those merciful kindnesses and tender mercies by Obeying the Word of God by being the apple of His eye.

Psalms 119:78 says, “Psa 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.”

The word perverse means to make crooked, to turn upside down. People who pervert the truth have a problem with pride and there is great shame in the future for them especially when it comes to their final destiny as stand before God to be judged.

What is an example of how the proud pervert things? Well, they call evil good and good evil. They call immorality tolerance and they call morality prejudice.

Romance between a man and woman in marriage is morality. Anything else is immorality. There should be no tolerance for immorality and there should be no prejudice against morality in your own life if you want to reap the blessings of God and if you want to be testimony. The same is true about any issue regarding right and wrong.

Now the way to handle and to respond to those around you who pervert the truth is very simple. Study, meditate, believe, obey, and continue in the scriptures. When those around you pervert the truth don’t follow their example. Don’t give in to peer pressure. Don’t compromise on righteousness. While the world turns away from Jesus and His Word turn to Jesus and His Word. The more they turn away the more you should turn too Jesus and His Word. This is the way to respond to those who pervert judgment.

Psalms 119:79-80, “Psa 119:79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies. Psa 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.”

The goal is to be a testimony, an example, both to other believers and to the lost of the world. If you live a righteous life the lost people of the world will turn away from you, separate from you, they will want nothing to do with you but the opposite is true about other believers. Other believers will, “turn unto” you and they will fellowship with you.

“Psa 119:79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.”

Believers should turn one to another. They should fellowship with one another. They should be friends and companions and they should be able to trust and rely upon each other for their prayers, their exhortations and their help. Other believers are your brothers and sisters in Christ. They are the people that you will be spending eternity with. You have the common bond of having your sins washed away in the blood of the Lamb. There is no stronger bond between two human beings than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is unfortunate that so many Christians have become divisive against one another. There are of course legitimate reasons to, “turn away” and divide from other Christians. For example a Christian living in sin that refuses to repent and of course false doctrines will cause division. But Christians should not be dividing over who is their favorite preacher, or the color of the carpet, Christians should not even be dividing over religious ceremony such as how to water Baptist or how to partake of the Lord’s supper.

It’s obvious Christians have failed greatly when it comes to the issue of unity. Now some of the divisions have been legitimate. If someone is preaching and teaching a false gospel that will cause division. But many of the divisions between Christians over the centuries could have been avoided.

Psa 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.” And that is why at the judgment there will be great shame. Christians have argued and argued and disagreed and disagreed over God’s Word and divided over it. But at the judgment there will be great shame. Shame because they did not know the word of God and did not understand the word of God like they could have and like they should have. Their own pride and covetous desires in the end is what will have kept them from learning God’s Word.

And at the judgment when it is shown what they could have known, what God wanted and tried to teach them, and what they could have accomplished for the gospel of Christ, especially what they could have accomplished if they had had the proper kind of unity, unity through truth, then they will be ashamed at how much they failed their Savior.

The cost is great and the price is high, what is at stake is the eternal souls of men. The truth is we cannot afford to make mistakes, but we will because we are sinners. Therefore we must rely upon the mercy and grace of God to help us and to lift us up when we fail.

Psalms 119:79-80, “Psa 119:79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies. Psa 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.”

It is true how well 2 or more Christian’s fellowship with one another and walk together in the way will greatly be dependant upon how sound their hearts are in the word of God.

It’s sad how much the carnality of Christians has caused divisions: pride and jealousies and a competitive spirit one against another.

1 Corinthians 3:6-9, “1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 1Co 3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.”

Now these verses express the unity and fellowship in serving Christ that should exist between two believers. We should be laborers together with God not. We shouldn’t be in competition one with another. One man or one woman can accomplish something’s for Christ but the whole body fitly joined together can do all things for Christ.

The body of Christ is compared to a human body. If you have a human body that does not function properly then that body is an invalid and is limited in what it can do. It takes all of the believers knowing and using their spiritual gifts to help each other and to work together.

For example in some Church’s too much expectation is put on the preacher. The preacher preaches and the congregation listens but then they expect the pastor to do all things. The pastor can’t do everything. In fact the odds are the pastor’s primary spiritual gifts are going to be preaching and teaching not administrating or anything else. The other believers need to do their part as well. Learn what your spiritual gifts are and learn how to use those spiritual gifts to help both in the spread of the gospel and the edification of other believers.

Once a person is saved the primary thing they need to do other than growing in the word of God is knowing what their spiritual gifts are and how to use them. There are many different spiritual gifts not just preaching and teaching, a heart of giving is a spiritual gift, a heart of love is a spiritual gift, to be filled with wisdom is a spiritual gift, to be filled with knowledge is a spiritual gift and there are others.

Ephesians 4:7 says, “Eph 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” The Bible also says in 1 Timothy 4:14, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” If you don’t know your spiritual gift your neglecting it. If you don’t use your spiritual gift your neglecting it. You can realize what your spiritual gifts are because God will place a desire and a burden in your heart for certain things and He will open doorways of opportunity for you to minister unto people in certain kinds of ways that are very applicable in regards to what your gifts are. Find out your spiritual gift or gifts and learn how to use them to serve Christ.

Of course salvation is also a gift, the free gift of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not of works. God has merciful kindness and tender mercies waiting to be shed on all those who confess their sins to Jesus. The day of judgment is coming. The day of your death is approaching. What a terrible thing it would be if you had to stand before God and be judged according to your own righteousness because you would be found lacking for there is none righteous no not one. Please turn to Jesus today, accept His love. Kneel beneath the shadow of the cross and you will find the love of God there waiting for you to forgive you of your sins and to give you eternal everlasting life.

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