THE CHRIST-CONTROLLED LIFE

PSALMS 119:5

A. "O THAT MY WAYS WERE DIRECTED TO KEEP THY STATUTES" 1. Whatever the weakness of the Psalmist may have been, and we all share the same with him he had a deep longing to do the will of God:
  1. This longing appears in most all the Psalms
  2. And there can be no doubt that is was genuine all the way
  • Our opening text is most revealing:
    1. It shows that the Psalmist had no confidence in the flesh
    2. He leaned altogether upon the Lord - all the way B. THE CHRIST-CONTROLLED LIFE
  • Men have vainly sought to build their hopes and happiness upon their own devices:
    1. Foremost among them were the Pharisees of the days of our Lord Matt. 6:5; 23:1-28
    2. Saul of Tarsus, too, attempted to develop his own righteousness but discovered that it was all in vain - Rom. 7:7-25
    3. Ancient Israel sought to build up their own righteousness; that is why they rejected the righteousness which is of faith - Rom. 10:2-3
  • The Bible teaches:
    1. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Rom. 3:23
    2. That all have been concluded under sin - Gal. 3:22; Rom. 3:9-18
    3. Writes the prophet Isaiah, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags" - Is. 64:6
  • The natural man's condition is fully illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son:
    1. He was anxious to live his own life - far away from God and his rule
    2. He demanded of his father the portion that was his
    3. But he wasted it all in sinful living until he had nothing to live on
    4. It was when he came to himself, that he began to think of his lost condition and also of his father's house - Luke 15:11-32 C. THE CHRIST-CONTROLLED LIFE
  • The one great reason why all of man's attempts to succeed in life have failed is because:
    1. Man is not his own master, he sold out - Rom. 7:13-17
    2. "Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away" - Is. 50:1
    3. "For thus saith the Lord God, ye sold yourselves, and for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money" - Is. 52:3
  • But God has provided a Redeemer:
    1. In the person of His only begotten Son - John 3:16; Rom. 8:31-38
    2. He made Him sin, who knew no sin, that we may become the righteousness of God - 2 Cor. 5:19-20
    3. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour a complete change takes place; we become a new creation - Gal. 6:15
  • Christ takes the control of our life:
    1. That makes the great difference between the past and the present; it is Christ in us the hope of glory - Col. 1:27
    2. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye be rooted and grounded in love" Eph. 3:17
    3. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" - Gal. 2:20
  • Christ controls our lives:
    1. Through the Holy Spirit
    2. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" - I Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20
    3. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" - Gal. 5:16-23
    4. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" Phil. 2:12-13
  • The Bible will be our chart - the magna carta:
    1. Like Jesus, we will point to the word of God as our defense - Matt. 4:4-9
    2. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them - Is. 8:20


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