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Psalm 119:9-16
How can you keep your ways pure?

9How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
10I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
11I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
12Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
13With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.
14I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
15I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
16I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

     Do you want to know how to live a more holy life? Do you want to know how to sin less and have victory more? Do you want to know how to praise God properly? In short, do you want to know how you can keep your ways pure?
     You do this by living according to God's Word.
     This involves several things:
          - Seeking God with all your heart
          - Hiding God's word in your heart
          - Meditating on God's precepts

  1. How can you keep your way pure? By seeking God with all your heart... (v. 10)
    1. David said, "I seek You with all my heart"; (v. 10a). He sought God and found Him.
      1. David was a man who loved the Lord. Consider His words, "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple" Ps. 27:4).
    2. David sought God and found Him, but you have found Him in a far better way. You have already found God the Son, the Redeemer, the Savior. Where David looked to the Lord and trusted God for the coming messiah, you can look back and see the great work of the Lord in...THE CROSS. You have found Him.
    3. What does it mean to seek God with all your heart?
      1. It means to desire Him, want Him, need Him above any and every other desire, want, or need.
        1. The heart is the seat of emotions, of desire (Rom. 10:1); Love (Mark 12:30,33); Reason (Mark 2:8); belief (Rom. 10:10); trust (Prov. 3:5); and it is from the heart that you are to do God's will (Eph. 6:6), etc.
        2. It is with all of what you are that you are to seek God. With your entire being.
    4. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37).
      1. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).
      2. It is David's love for God that motivates Him to obey what God commands. That is why He says in the second part of verse 10...
        1. "do not let me stray from Your commands" (v. 10b).
  2. How can you keep your way pure? By hiding God's word in your heart... (v. 11)
    1. How do you hide God's word in your heart?
      1. You memorize.
      2. So that the Holy Spirit can bring it to your remembrance when you need it.
      3. So you can then be comforted, corrected, and guided.
    2. When God's Word is hidden in your heart you won't sin against Him.
      1. "...so that I might not sin against you" (v. 11b)
      2. The Bible keeps you from sin; sin keeps you from the Bible.
      3. The Word of God is light.
    3. When God's Word is hidden in your heart praises come out of it.
      1. "Praise be to you, O LORD"; (v. 12).
    4. When God's Word is hidden in your heart you speak of God and His Word.
      1. 13With my lips I recount all the laws that come from Your mouth.
      2. The KJV and the Revised Standard both says, "With my lips I have declared all the judgments that come from Your mouth."
      3. The NASB says, "With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Thy mouth."
    5. When God's word is hidden in you, rejoicing flows out of you.
      1. "I rejoice in following your statutes" (v. 14).
        1. A statute is a formal rule or regulation like the dietary laws.
      2. And how might you rejoice?
        1. "as one rejoices in great riches." (v. 14b).
        2. How would you react if you won the Lottery?
          1. With great riches there is exultation
  3. How can you keep your way pure? By Meditating on God's precepts... (v. 15)
    1. A precept is a rule of moral conduct.
      1. God wants you to act morally, in holiness, with love, and truth.
    2. What does it mean to meditate on God's Word?
      1. It means to "consider" (v. 15b) God's ways.
        1. To consider means to "regard or pay attention to."
      2. It means to think over and over about scripture.
      3. It means to try and discover new depths to its meaning, new applications of its truth.
      4. It means to make it a part of you...so that...
    3. you may delight in God's decrees (v. 16)
    4. and not neglect His word (v. 16)

Conclusion
     You should seek to live pure lives because to do so glorifies God.
     It honors Him. Not simply morality, being nice, etc. But pleasing God because you love Him and want to honor Him.
     God wants you to keep your ways pure. How?
    God wants you to live according to His Word.
    Seeking Him with all of your heart.
    Hiding God's Word in your heart
    Meditation on God's precepts

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