Sermon Cloud

When we think about commitment to Christ and to the kingdom we so often put it into a context of mediocrity and we see it around us and start to think that is the standard of zeal. The psalmist confronts with our apathy and models for us a man who is sold out for Christ; a man who has set his heart toward things eternal; because he has set his heart toward the Eternal One. 

The psalmist displays a zealous love and reverence for God!

3 Evidences of a Passionate love for God 

(1) Zealous Commitment (113-115)

(2) Zealous Prayer (116-117)
(3) Zealous Fear (118-120)

Read: Psalm 119:113-120.

I. Zealous Commitment toward obedience (113-115). 

(113) “I hate double minded men (or, “those who are”) - strong statement that speaks of his inner repulsion at hypocrisy; those who profess allegiance, but then turn away. 

“to hate” -  It expresses an emotional attitude toward persons and things which are opposed, detested, despised and with which one wishes to have no contact or relationship. It is therefore the opposite of love. Whereas love draws and unites, hate separates and keeps distant.  

We say we hate a lot of things. I have things I hate like: I hate tomatoes; I hate running (though I do it). These are silly, but some are more serious I hate violence, I hate abortion, I hate rape, I hate the destruction of marriage and the family in our society. And I hate things in see in myself at times and in the church: I hate legalism and self-righteousness. 

We all have a list of things we hate, and the more serious of this list should reflect our faith in Christ. We should hate those things that God hates. Hate those things that destroy institutions created by God, other peoples lives, and ultimately their souls. 

To hate evil and every false way is to reflect the character and nature of God (Rom. 12:9); the right hatred, however, is because of the dishonor to God and the reproach it brings on His glory. Thus, it is not self-righteous hatred but God-centered hatred; it is the natural reaction to evil from one who loves God. 

Interstingly, it is the attitude also of the wicked toward the righteous (John 15:18-19). 

God also has a list of things He hates: 

Prov. 6:16-19

Is. 1:13-15 - religious hypocrisy

In the NT the Lord Jesus tells us the same Matt. 23; Mk. 3:5.

Here the Psalmist says he hates “double minded men”  - the object of his hatred. ASV “them that are of a double mind” 

These are those later referred to as “evildoers” “those who go astray from Your statues” 

115 suggests that at least one great cause of his hatred for them is that they detract from his devotion to God; he hates every impediment to obedience. 

His prayer for God to “sustain” and “uphold” him suggest that he hates in himself as well; he knows the threat to compromise is just as real for him as it is in those who have fallen to the wiles of the world while maintaining a verbal profession of allegiance to God (2 Timothy - a “form of godliness but denying its power”). 

So, in a nutshell, he really hates anything that distracts him from his devotion to God. 

1 Kings 18:21 - those who profess to know God must make a choice. 

James 1:6 refers to the one who wavers between trust and unbelief as “a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.” 

Revelation 3:16 - the risen Lord tells us that He hates those who are lukewarm. He wants commitment.

Paul made this choice and could therefore say, “I have been crucified to the world and the world to me” (Gal. 6:14). 

And so had the Psalmist: “I love Your Law” - the opposite of hate. If we love something then we hate that which is a threat to it. If I love my wife, I hate those things that threaten to harm her. If I love my children then I hate those things that are a threat to them physically and spiritually. If I love God, then I hate those things that dishonor Him and mock His holiness. If I love God’s Word, I hate those things that are an attack upon it. 

Here, he hates the “double-minded” because he loves God’s Law.  

(114) “You are my hiding place and my protection (sometimes, ‘shield’)” - tender statement of trust as a child to his father, as a creature to His benevolent God. The world is full of troubles that are out of our power to control, however, God is our ever present help in need; our comfort in pain; our rest in doubt and worry; our safety in danger; our resting place when weary from the spiritual toil of battle. 

Here commitment is shown by his steadfastness in waiting on God to perform His work in His own time and in His own way. A commitment to trust Him, no matter what.

Ps. 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults. And with my song I shall thank Him.” (*27:1-2). 

“Shield” is a wonderful picture of protection in battle. We are in a battle (Eph. 6 “shield of faith”) but the Lord is at our right hand; nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8:31ff); even the persecution and trials of life are all ordered from the throne above. 

A soldier in battle could hide behind the shield where he would find protection from the thrust of the sword and the wound of the arrows of the enemy. 

“I wait for Your Word” - the psalmist protection and repose is found in his confidence in God’s Word, because he was confident, therefore he could wait confidently in Him. 

The idea of waiting on the Lord in Scripture - the OT in particular - is that of waiting in trust, confidence, in faith (cf. Ps. 33:18-21; 84:8-12). It is waiting that takes Him at His Word and knows that what God has revealed He will fulfill (cf. 145:13-14). 

(115) “Depart from me evil doers” - a holy reaction to those who love sin. Here the psalmist becomes more assertive in his opposition to those who stand opposed to God and to his commitment to Him - he wanted no distractions or detractors to his commitment to his God (“that I may keep”). The crescendo of his opening statement!

“evil doers” - those who do not submit to the Law of God, but in pride go their own way. They are the enemies of righteousness. They are a hindrance and obstacle to the the way of and the pursuers of righteousness and obedience to the Lord. 

Those to whom the Lord identifies as “stumbling blocks”

Here is our own heart check; how much do we model this zeal? Have we become comfortable with things in our life we know are a distraction to our commitment to Christ. (Excessive TV, or entertainment; certain relationships; sleep). 

(Take a moment an think about it - maybe take a moment to jot it down now or latter and then commit to the Lord to change). 

II. Zealous prayer for Grace (116-117). 

(116) “Support me according to Your utterances” - this is really a tremendously touching picture of faith; he is abandoning all to follow God. He is counting things as loss, putting himself in places of danger and ridicule, giving up comforts and ease, and then saying - I’m trusting You Lord. I am putting myself into Your care. (Matt. 19). 

“support”  - different term than (117) - 

2 Kings 18:21; Ezek. 30:6 - nations are no hope, but God’s Word is the true source of strength. God’s word is the only trustworthy source. 

This section, and those like these throughout, are what keep such bold expressions of commitment in balance with grace. He love God, he loves His Word, he is zealous for it, but he knows it ultimately cannot be lived out in his own strength. 

“according to Your utterances” - in line with all He has said and promised. Note the constant role of the Word in the psalmist life - his guide, protection, rest, corrector, love, meditation, source of wisdom, understanding. This is one who knows and has yielded to God by yielding to His word. 

“do not let me be ashamed” - cf. Ps. 25:1-3. 

The wicked may seem to be more strong in the moment or in a season, but God will vindicate the righteous. For some that vindication won’t come until until the day of judgment. However, here the psalmist is referring to the shame of the reproach of evildoers here in this life. 

He is asking here for the inner strength to not be ashamed in the face of ridicule. It is the same idea of Paul’s admonishment to Timothy - “do not be ashamed of the Lord or me His prisoner” (2 Tim. 1-2). What was the ground of Paul’s confidence - “for I know whom I have believed”

(117) “uphold me” - different term. Here it has the idea of “sustenance” rather than “lean upon” as in the previous verse. He is asking for the inner strength that will cause him to stand strong and victorious. The enemy seeks to weaken and destroy, to cast down the righteous - but the psalmist’s is praying that God would supply to him that inner strength that would allow him to stand strong in confidence in the Lord. The Lord would be that secret supply of strength; that never ending resource of spiritual fortitude unknown to the one who has not yet submitted to the Lord.

Ps. 94:17-19 “If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in silence. If I should say, ‘My foot has slipped,’ Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thought multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” (note the context of vv. 15-16). 

“and may look on Your statues” - always his aim. 

III. Zealous fear of God (118-120). 

*Here he sees the world as it really is; it is because he notices the futility of the world and sees the end of all those who in the present seem to have it all and to have such ease. A high view of God is the only way and the only lenses by which we can see the world in the right perspective - and ourselves and our own lives and problems. 

(118) “You treat as worthless all those who go astray” - most translations have some version of the NASB “You have rejected all those who wander from Your statues” - this form of the verb is used only here.

The opening verse expressed the psalmist attitude toward the wicked, now he expresses the Lord’s attitude. If the psalmist - a sinner - hates and rejects the wicked, how much more severe is the perfectly holy hatred of God against those who rise up against Him. Here is God’s judgment and estimation of those who go astray from His Word. 

(119) “You cause the wicked of the earth to cease” - The wicked who fail to repent are like the lighting of a match that flames for a moment but then quickly goes away. So it is with the wicked, the growl and roar and seem for the moment to have success and strength, but their days are numbered and their strength is like vapor, which quickly appears and then vanishes and is no more. 

Ps. 73 catches this from another angle. There the psalmist (Asaph) was feeling the early signs of jealousy over the ease of the wicked, until he remembered their end, after which he once again rejoiced in the inheritance of the righteous. 

“like dross” - the Lord views the wicked as “dross,” like “the scum that forms on the top when a precious metal is being refined” and afterward is discarded. (*Ezek. 22:18-22)

This is the same idea as Rom. 3 - “all together have become useless.” 

Matt. 3:10-12 - this is the judgment the Lord will execute (cf. John 5) at the end of the age. God will remove all iniquity and rebellion from His creation (13:40-42; Rev. 20:15ff). *Is. 24:1ff. 

“Therefore, I love Your testimonies” - 

What is the conceptual force “therefore”? 

(1) Because he loves that which will cause one to know enduring blessing rather than enduring judgement 

(2) Because he to hates the wicked he loves the testimony of God’s promise that they will one day cease, or depart (cf. 115, same idea though different term) and only the righteous and righteousness will reign. 

(120) “my body shudders” - 

Boice notes, “Verse 120 should be read carefully, prayerfully, and with repentance by every Christian, particularly the evangelical Christians of our day. It is speaking of a reverent awe of God, and important element of walking uprightly before Him.”

This is a case of holy reverence; in 114 the Lord is his “hiding place and protection” here He is the cause of his fear. 

Eliphaz uses this same term in reference to an encounter with a being from another world in Job 4:15 (“bristled”). Interestingly, the context of his statement, and the message of “the voice” falls very close to the cause of fear for the psalmist here - “Can mankind be just before God? Can a an be pure before his Maker?”

This is a stark contrast to the wicked who give no though of God, in fact the very foundation of man’s iniquity is that “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom 3). 

A true conception of God, particularly while in this fallen state, senses perfect grace against the backdrop of awful majesty (cf. Rev. 1; Luke 5). 

Our godliness and growth in grace can be directly linked to our fear and reverence for God and growth toward Him and in being like Him. 

Here the psalmist ends with the crescendo of his opening statement that expresses his commitment and single minded devotion to the One he so loves and is pursuing the knowledge of and joy in. Yet, not flippantly. Not with a “God is my buddy” attitude, but with the broken reverence of a weak and finite creature before an infinite and holy God; who is yet full of mercy, long-suffering, and lovingkindness. 

An awesome, infinite, all-powerful God with the scars of His redeeming love forever bearing testimony to His people of His great, endless, and boundless mercy, grace, and love, purchased with His blood, and freely bestowed on all who believe. 

“of Your judgements” - not the eternal and final judgement for his sin, but the judgements that do come because of sin: 

(1) Upon the world when God destroys all the wicked

(2) Upon the nation for their rebelliousness 

(3) Upon him personally in acts of Divine discipline. 

Lev. 26; Deut. 28.