How Can a Young Person Keep Their Way Pure?

Psalm 119: 9-16    (Beth)          Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse: 119: 1                      6-4-21

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” (ESV)

Part 1: Made Pure By God’s Grace, But There Some Interaction With Our Savior (9-11)

     We want to explore how a young person can keep their way pure. Look at verses 9-11, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from our commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

   We are not living in heaven yet. This side of heaven, we are living in a fallen world. Everyone is born into sin and are swimming in a sea of death. Our natural tendency is to follow the sinful desires of our heart. Temptations assail us every day. It is next to impossible for a young person to keep their way pure.

      Every day there is a temptation. We cannot overcome temptations with our weak human efforts. Those that try, eventually become lost in their legalism and they become empty, bored, boring, tired and drained. They will find out that they are completely helpless to overcome the power of sin on their own. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Ro 3:23) We are all desperately in need of a Savior.

      Jesus is our Savior. Jesus is our “Horn of Salvation. “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1:68-69). He is our Strong and Mighty Tower…our Deliverer. When we repent of our sins and place our faith, hope and trust in him, Jesus forgives of our sins completely. He comes to dwell in us. We become transformed by the work of his Spirit. We suddenly discover that we are set free from the power of sin and death. Sin no longer has a hold on us as it once did. We may be tempted, but sin no longer has power. We are not held in slavery to sin. We can overcome by the power of Jesus.

     Not only does Jesus free us from the power of sin. He forgives us our sin and transforms our hearts. He exchanges the impure sinful desires that used permeate our hearts and fills it with his holy desires. His spirit motivates us to follow his holy and provides us with the power to do so. We want to be holy children of God.

     We are not just recipients of God’s power with no interaction with our Savior. This passage tells us some things that lie within our grasp in order to keep our ways pure.  We can guard our hearts according to God’s word; we can seek God and staying true to God’s word. The secret of keeping one’s heart pure is to hide God’s word in one’s heart. We must seek God by obeying his word.

First, guard our hearts. Look at verse 9b. “…By guarding it according to your word.” This means that when we hold onto the word of God, God will work according to his word to guard our hearts against sin and temptation. He chooses to work through his word. That is why regular Bible study is very important. You are opening the way for God to work in your heart to guard it, Temptations may come, but since your heart is guarded by the word of God, sin cannot lead you astray. We can hold onto the word of God to guard our hearts.

Second, seek God with our whole heart. Look at verse 10. “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from our commandments!” We are created by God. He is our Creator. We are made into God’s children. God is our Father. We love God because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19). Seeking God with your whole heart is all about making Christ your daily priority. Seeking God is the obvious and natural result of being in Christ. It happens when we have a love relationship with God. This verse reminds me of the verse Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”

Third, staying true to God’s word. If we are going to make our ways pure, then we need to stay true to the word of God. That means, in our interpretation of God’s word, we can’t go ahead of it and say too much. We also can’t take away from the word and say too little. We need to rightly divide the word. This comes from sincere and faithful Bible study and from proper exegesis of the Bible. 

Part 2: Declare The Word of God With My Mouth

      Look at verses 12-16. “Blessed are, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” 

      We can delight in the word of God, for it is our wealth. The statues of God are truly a treasure. They are true wealth. Meditating on God’s word has actually saved me a whole lot of money because my heart is satisfied and I not being drawn into sin. My path is made pure. The word of God keeps us heaven bound. It keeps us rooted in Christ. Why can I not praise God for his statutes?

     From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). Verse 13 reads, “With my lips I declare the rules of your mouth.” What is meant here is not just spitting out rules from the Bible wherever I go. I think it means more, the teachings of the Bible. It means telling others about salvation in Christ. It means verbally sharing the Gospel with others.  

    I need to open my mouth and speak the word of God more. I am too silent. I like to meditate on God’s word. I praise God. But I need to verbally declare the word of God. I pray that God may help me to do this daily in the presence of nonbelievers.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for saving me from sin and helping me to keep my path pure in a fallen world. Help me do what I can do, to seek you by hiding your word in my heart to obey it.

One Word: Jesus saved me from the power of sin. Now I was to hide God’s word in my heart