Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the January 25th sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Psalm 119, verses 25 through 32. And the sermon is entitled Asking God to Enlarge My Heart, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. Well, I want to say good morning and thank you for joining us here as we worship together. I know today may be a little bit different, but the first thing I want to ask you to do is grab your Bibles. If you are watching this, I want you to follow along in God's Word with me as we study and as we worship together today. So grab a copy of God's Word, get it handy to you. And I just want to say as you're grabbing that, thank you for joining us. I know that we strive never to cancel and sometimes snow and ice changes those plans. We want everybody to be safe, but we still want to offer a moment of worship on this Lord's Day. And so we are grateful to gather together around the word of God and thank you for joining us today as we worship. I'm grateful for God's Word. So grab your Bibles, turn to Psalm 119. Psalm 119.
[00:01:08] There is a word. It is cardiomegaly. It is a medical condition in which the heart has become enlarged, usually due to other conditions that are going on in the body. So some condition within the body causes the heart to become enlarged. Now, physically speaking, an enlarged heart is a serious condition. It must to be addressed. And those underlying symptoms need to be taken care of to take care of this enlarged heart. But spiritually, an enlarged heart means this.
[00:01:46] It means a desire for a greater understanding or having a greater appreciation for God's Word. So when we see that in Scripture, it's not asking God to enlarge our heart in a dangerous way.
[00:02:02] Well, it is to ask God to enlarge our heart to give us a greater appreciation for His Word. Throughout God's Word, we have seen or we can see where people ask or pray for God to enlarge things. We are familiar with prayers that ask for God to enlarge territories.
[00:02:23] And we understand that that is a great thing, great thought that we need more people to minister to. We need more people to spread the gospel to. We want God to expand our borders per se. We also can read where people ask for enlarged harvest. So what is coming in?
[00:02:41] People want a greater harvest. And when we think about that in gospel terms, as the gospel goes out, our prayer should be this. God, enlarge our harvest. Make our harvest worthwhile. Make it bigger, make it larger. Make the people coming to you greater in number.
[00:03:00] But what if our prayer was simply this, God, enlarge my heart.
[00:03:07] Give me a deeper and greater understanding for your word. Give me a deeper love and devotion to your truth. And then allow that holy Word of God to then go and lead our lives well today. Psalm 119 offers that thought in part of this large chapter. Psalm 119 is the largest chapter in your Bible. It contains 176 verses. And today we're going to study just eight of them together.
[00:03:38] So grab your Bibles. Psalm 119, verses 25 through 32 will be our study today. As we think and we meditate on asking God to enlarge my heart. Let's read all of those verses together. Psalm 119, verse number 25.
[00:03:58] It says this. My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word. I have declared my ways and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.
[00:04:09] Make me understand the way of your precepts. So shall I meditate on your wonderful works. My soul melts from heaviness. Strengthen me according to your word.
[00:04:20] Remove from me the way of lying and grant me your law. Graciously I have chosen the way of truth. Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to your testimonies. O Lord, do not put me to shame.
[00:04:35] I will run the course of your commandments, for you shall enlarge my heart. Let's pray together, Father, as we gather together under your leading and under your direction of your holy word, God. We pray, Lord, for every ear and every mind and every heart that will absorb your word today, God. I pray, Lord, that it doesn't stop on her ears and it just doesn't land on our minds. But God, I pray your word would permeate our hearts, Lord, in such a way that it would give us a deeper love and appreciation for your word. God. May you enlarge our hearts today. That is our prayer as we study your Word. Lead us now in that study. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:05:24] Well, when we think about asking God to enlarge our heart, the first thing that we need to see in this scripture, as these eight verses are divided in half, is simply this. The first four verses you will see a soul that is hurting someone that is longing for the touch of God. And in the second four verses you will see a soul that is clinging to God with all all that he has and desires God to lead his life. But the first part as we read verse number 25, they lead us to a soul that is depressed and stressed and stretched to its limit. It longs for the touch of the Lord. We can almost feel in verse number 25 as it opens up the desperation in this psalmist voice. Listen to these words. My soul clings to the dust.
[00:06:25] Is that desperate or what? The very thing that man was made from is all that he has to cling to. And we understand that dust is the very thing that our bodies will return to. So it is a moment of life and death. He feels like he is holding on and he's probably laying prostrate and he's clinging to. The only thing that he can physically hold onto, muster up the strength to hold onto it, is the dust of the ground. Now, it says his soul does this, but I believe physically he may be doing it as well. And we understand that this represents a deep and desperate soul, a place that there is not much hope.
[00:07:10] As we read the first part of verse number 25, we see that desperation as the psalmist is clinging to what is left.
[00:07:21] But in verse number 28, he says this about his soul. He says, my soul melts from heaviness.
[00:07:31] So not only is there a feeling of clinging to something, to all that is left, but there is a heaviness that is destroying his soul. I believe he is using this figure of speech to relay probably emotion. He is probably weeping and mourning.
[00:07:52] I believe he is using this figure of speech to describe how depressed and down he feels. And I believe this psalmist is hurting very deeply. Here is the truth today. Church. There are hurting people all around us. I want to tell you in this way. There are dusty souls all around us, and there are souls that are caving under the weight of sorrow all around us. And maybe today you're listening to this sermon and you've gathered around a device to worship.
[00:08:27] Maybe this describes your soul today. Praise God that this is not the end of the story.
[00:08:33] But we understand this when we ask God to enlarge our heart to give us a greater appreciation for His Word and for our relationship with Him. There are times that we will experience hurt into our souls deep down hurt. It is not promised a paved road, a glorious time. There is no, no promise in this word that once you follow Jesus, you will have it made.
[00:09:05] And so we understand that sometimes the way that God grows us is through those moments where we need to turn to Him. Those moments where we hurt and we long and we sorrow for something greater than anything this earth can offer.
[00:09:24] And we turn To God.
[00:09:29] There's a second thing that you need to see. You see a hurting soul. The second thing we need to see is a healing word.
[00:09:39] Though this psalmist feels like he can't make it, and he longs for something more, that defeated soul can do one of two things. It can stay in in the dirt, it can lie in the dirt, it can cling to the dirt, or it can long for life again.
[00:09:57] And so I'm glad that we do not end talking or reading about this psalmist at verse number 25, the first part of it, or verse number 28, the first part of it. I love the second part of verse number 25. Look at it with me. It says this. Revive me according to. To your Word. There is a soul that desires to live again. Revive me. This is a moment of prayer. This is a moment of desperation. This is a moment where the psalmist looks to God to bring life back to something that is fleeting and that something is his soul.
[00:10:39] He asked God to revive me according to your Word. And then in verse number 28, he asked the second part of that verse. It says this. Strengthen me according to your Word. Now, there are times we may think that, hey, we're adults, or I've lived long enough and I've experienced enough things that I can figure this out on my own. Well, I want you to know if you think you can figure it out on your own and you can do it all yourself, here's the truth of the matter. What? We all need the help of the Lord. Because the truth is this.
[00:11:18] There are some times that there are certain things that only God can do. And when we look to God to do those things, it's amazing what he will do and how he will do that in order to give us a testimony for him. And so I'm grateful that as this psalmist feels depressed and down and he clings to the dirt, and he feels the weight of the sorrow upon him that now he turns and asks for life. And he asks for strength from God's Word. Strength and life, they are connected to God's Word. Anytime I get away from God's Word, I know that I soon will be reminded by my need for God's Word and my need for God. In the darkest moment, he is clinging to all that he has physically left. He is filled with emotion. It's probably overflowing in his actions and his tears, but he's clinging also to what hope he knows. He knows that at any moment he can turn heavenward and he can offer a prayer and, and that God will hear his prayer. And that prayer is simply this. I want you to revive me, God, and I want you to strengthen me, God, according to your word. I Love verse number 26.
[00:12:46] In verse number 26, he says this. I have declared my ways and you answered me.
[00:12:52] So in this prayer time with the Lord, the psalmist simply says this, God, I've told you what everything that I know. I've declared my ways, my thoughts, what I think to you. But in turning, God, you answered me when I was wrong in those areas. God, you have an answer for the way I'm feeling and what I'm going through right now. Maybe today you need to be reminded that God will answer you.
[00:13:22] He desires to learn more from God.
[00:13:27] He desires God's word to lead him.
[00:13:30] He desires all of that. As we read through these verses, listen to some of these that the psalmist says. He says, teach me your statutes and make me understand the way of your precepts, so shall I meditate on your wonderful works. And then in verse number 28, he culminates that verse by saying, strengthen the me according to your word.
[00:13:53] It's amazing what a healing word will do.
[00:13:58] And a healing word for God will lift up a soul that is desperate and that is searching and that is clinging to the wrong thing.
[00:14:07] There's so much to be learned here from this psalmist that in this moment there is someone that can give life and someone that can give strength, and it is God. And so today, maybe you can relate to a hurting soul, but my prayer is this, that you also can relate to a healing word. And God expands our hearts. God enlarges our hearts. God gives us a deeper appreciation for His Word, not only through the hurts that we go through, but when we put God's word and we turn to God and look to him to give us that strength and to give us life. And so today, that is what I want you to hear.
[00:14:50] The healing word is this.
[00:14:52] God can give life and God can strengthen. God will answer, God will teach when we turn to him and when we turn to him through his holy word. So God enlarges our heart through a time where our soul hurts.
[00:15:14] God enlarges our heart when we turn to him and we realize that he has the answer, and he can be our help, and he can give us strength and he can give us life.
[00:15:27] That healing word begins to transform us all the way down to our souls. Well, there's one more point as we close out the last half of this psalm together.
[00:15:43] And point number three is One that we must learn from.
[00:15:48] Not only is there a hurting soul and a healing word, but there is a healthy heart. Point number three is a healthy heart. And we need to see what a healthy heart looks like. Maybe you have been to the doctor and that doctor has laid out steps for you that you can get healthy. If you heed their advice, if you listen to what they have to say, you may improve how you feel. Your health may improve physically, you may improve.
[00:16:18] And they will give you their advice or their instructions of what you need to do as your doctor. They're going to give you instructions of what you need to do to improve your health.
[00:16:32] Now, they're going to say something like this, maybe you need to change your diet.
[00:16:36] The things that you eat, the things that you are putting into your body are affecting how you feel.
[00:16:44] They're going to tell you to exercise. So the exertion or the things that you're outwardly doing that affects your body. And maybe some of us need to exercise more. Maybe there is medication that will help if it is a chronic problem. But that doctor's gonna lay out some things you need to do, but also that doctor's gonna tell you some things that you should not be doing.
[00:17:08] As this psalmist asks, God, God, I'm hurting.
[00:17:12] I need you to strengthen me. I need you to revive me. I want your word to lead that to teach me.
[00:17:19] He realizes there are some things that he can do to gain spiritual strength, to gain a healthy heart. There are some things that he can do for his heart to be enlarged for the appreciation of God's Word. The first thing is this. In verse number 30, he says this. I have chosen the way of truth. So the first thing the psalmist says, I've chosen the way of truth.
[00:17:46] Despite all the things going on, despite how he's feeling, he. He desires something greater. He desires the truth from God. Now, the truth can be hard because what the truth does is the truth confronts and the truth corrects. And so when you introduce the truth in certain situations, certain people may get mad. But what the psalmist says is this. What I'm clinging to now is not working.
[00:18:17] So, God, I want to cling to your word, and I want to choose the way of truth. I'm going to choose the way of truth. I'm going to change my ways, that way of truth.
[00:18:32] It's amazing because he gives us an example. In verse number 29, he says this. Remove from me the way of lying and grant me your law graciously. Now he's choosing the way of truth. He says, I want you to remove. I want you to take away lying from me, and I want you to replace that with your Word, the truth of your Word. And so he has chosen the way of truth.
[00:19:02] He desires the thing that is not truthful to go away, to be removed from his life. And so I'm grateful that when we cling and we choose to the way of truth, when we choose the way of truth, that we cling to God's Word. And we desire all those sinful things to be replaced by the things that are true and right according to God's Word. We put God's Word before us.
[00:19:31] We seek to follow the truth. And when we seek to follow the truth, the sinful things must be removed. And God will remove those it becomes. God's Word becomes a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And when we choose that truth, we allow it to lead us and we allow it to give us the strength that we need day by day. So listen, when we think of enlarging our heart, giving us a greater appreciation for God's Word, when we think of a healthy heart, the way to a healthy heart is first, is first thing we need to do is choose the way of truth and remove the things that don't belong in your life.
[00:20:18] The second thing that we can learn here from the psalmist, in verse number 31, he simply says this, I cling to your testimonies.
[00:20:26] In the second half of this scripture, we see the desire for God's Word. And remember the first half, dust is what he's clinging to. And in verse number 31, he says this, I cling to your testimony. I cling to the truth of your Word, the testimony of the faithfulness of my God.
[00:20:47] That's what I'm going to choose to cling to. So we see a transformation beginning to happen here in the life of this psalm. And there are times that we must cling and we must hold to the faithfulness of God, the faithfulness of his Word. And he wants to hold to it so much that he says this, O Lord, do not put me to shame.
[00:21:13] And so his desire is this. As he clings to the Word of God, he no longer wants his life to be lived in a shameful way of disobeying God's word. Oh Lord, do not put me to shame. I don't want to shame you. I don't want to shame your Word. I don't want to shame your faithfulness. Because I'm clinging to you, O Lord, your Testimony Church today.
[00:21:38] We have seen the faithfulness of God over and over and over again throughout the years in this church. And we must be reminded to cling to his faithfulness. God has answered and God is leading. God knows best. God will lead us in truth. And we need to cling to the faithfulness of God today.
[00:22:02] We must not hang our heads in shame when we cling to the things of God. The truth of His Word.
[00:22:09] It may lead us against the path and against the pressures of the world, but we have no need to be shameful because we're holding to the truth that is God. We're clinging to the testimony of God.
[00:22:24] Now he says one more thing in verse number 32.
[00:22:29] I will run the course of your commandments.
[00:22:33] How many of us like to run?
[00:22:36] Well, I will be honest with you and simply say this. It depends on the motivation.
[00:22:42] There was a time in my life I would run for a T shirt. I think those days are over.
[00:22:48] Something has to be before me or something has to be after me in order to get me to run in these days. But how?
[00:22:55] What motivates us to run?
[00:22:58] Church today, Christian today.
[00:23:01] Here's my question for you. Does the word of God motivate us to run after Him? To pursue God and that relationship that we have with Him?
[00:23:14] I love the word here that is mentioned. I will run the course of your commandments. That word course reminds us simply this.
[00:23:25] It's not a short burst of speed.
[00:23:29] It's not a short run where you can see the start and the finish line within a hundred yard dash. A hundred yard dash. You can see the starting line and you can see the finishing line in very short time. In seconds, that push is over.
[00:23:47] Well, our run and following God. Our running of following God is not a short sprint.
[00:23:55] It's not a one time or a one day or a one moment decision.
[00:24:01] It is a decision that lasts a lifetime. And the course of following God and His Word will take us to the highest of highs. But that same word will carry us through the lowest of lows. As we run the course. We will see the mountaintops and God will be there with us. But also we will experience the lows. And in those moments, I believe that it is God who carries us. It is the truth of His Word that carries us as we run the course and, and as we are faithful to follow God at His Word, God's Word sustains us.
[00:24:41] Praise God for that.
[00:24:44] But we've got to run the course.
[00:24:47] We've got to cling to the Word.
[00:24:49] We've Got to choose the truth.
[00:24:52] And I love the last words of this section of Psalm 119. And you find those last words at the end of verse number 32, verse for you shall enlarge my heart.
[00:25:06] Wow.
[00:25:09] We see those words and I simply want to ask, do we desire a deeper and greater understanding of God's Word?
[00:25:19] Do we understand that it is God's Word that brings healing to a hurting soul?
[00:25:26] Do we understand that His Word will lead us to desire the truth that we want to exercise spiritually by continuing to run after Him? The greatest way to get a healthy heart is to pursue Jesus and to run after him and to run the course of the Lord's commandments and to follow His Word.
[00:25:49] Do we desire a spiritually healthy heart, A heart that clings to God, that clings to His Word, that chooses to follow the truth, and no matter where the course leads, we will follow our Lord.
[00:26:10] Well, we come to a moment of invitation. Church, community, anyone that's watching, a moment of invitation.
[00:26:17] And it calls us to examine our own lives. It calls us to examine our hearts. And in this moment, I want you to know, maybe you are sitting here and you have listened through this message and you sit there and say, I can relate.
[00:26:33] I can relate to the man at the beginning of this section in verse number 25, that is sorrowful and that is hurting, and that is clinging to all that he knows. To cling to.
[00:26:49] That soul needs reviving, that soul needs strengthening. But that soul knows where to turn to. And so today I'm going to remind you, turn to God. Turn to His Word. If you are hurting and if you are sorrowful and if you are depressed and if you are at despair, turn to God. That's what we see in Scripture today.
[00:27:16] But maybe today the answer is something more.
[00:27:24] We started out by realizing that the conditions of the heart are caused by something else.
[00:27:31] Maybe you sit here today and you desire something more. You desire that relationship with God, Heavenly Father.
[00:27:41] And today if you say, jeffrey, I don't even know where to turn, or I don't even know where to go, or I don't even know how to establish that relationship. I'm grateful to tell you this.
[00:27:53] You may feel like you have a hurting soul.
[00:27:56] You may feel like you want a healing word to touch your life.
[00:28:04] You don't need your heart enlarged.
[00:28:08] Here's what you need today. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus today, you need a heart transplant.
[00:28:18] Ezekiel gives us a beautiful picture of what that looks like.
[00:28:22] He says in Ezekiel 36, starting with verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[00:28:37] I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. He goes on to say in verse number 28, you shall be my people and I will be your God.
[00:28:54] Today, if you are walking through this world without a relationship with God the Father, the answer is you can come to him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through that relationship with Jesus. I'm grateful for my relationship with Jesus and I pray that every one of you watching and listening today and worshiping today has a relationship with Jesus. But if you do not listen to these words, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
[00:29:34] Today, if you need a relationship with Jesus, God is ready to perform that heart surgery. He is ready to take that heart of sin and that heart of stone and remove it and replace it with a heart that will pursue and love and follow him for the rest of life, his of its life for eternity.
[00:29:56] That doesn't mean that heart will never hurt, but that means that God will lead you and God will continue to be your Father today if you need that relationship. My prayer is simply this, that you will come to him and realize and that as a sinful man or woman, that your sin has a price. And that price is death.
[00:30:25] And though Jesus Christ went to the cross and he paid that sin debt for you, that you would not have to do that. He laid in that tomb for three days dead so that you wouldn't have to experience death. And he rose on the third day to give hope and life and a future for anyone who will place their faith, will turn from sin and put their faith in Jesus and follow him today.
[00:30:53] Will you do that, Christian? Will our prayer simply be this?
[00:31:00] Dear Lord, enlarge my heart today.
[00:31:06] If you're not a believer, my prayer is that heart surgery will begin.
[00:31:13] Not just a new heart, but by the work of the Spirit in your life. I'm grateful for a moment of worship. I'm grateful for a reminder in the importance of God's Word that it can take care of a hurting soul. And that that healing word will continue to lead us. And that as we look to him that our hearts will be healthy as we choose the truth, as we cling to the testimonies and as we run the course. Continue to to run the course Believer today.
[00:31:42] Thank you for joining us. Thank you for worshiping with us today. May God bless us and our time together. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your unending grace and mercy. And Lord, we know that we are not saved by our own willpower. God, we're not saved by anything that we do as far as works. God, it is your amazing grace that saves us. And Lord we look to you now for that one that needs that heart transplant, that heart work done in their life. Oh God, I pray Lord that you will perform that surgery Lord, that you will go before through your spirit and you will begin to work on that heart that needs you. Oh God, I pray for Christians that heard this message Lord that we will be reminded that as we cling to you Lord and as we run after you God, you begin to work in our heart and enlarge our hearts gives us a greater appreciation for your word. Oh God, be with that hurting soul today Lord. Lift them up out of the miry clay and set their feet upon a rock. God, I thank you for what you're going to do and we trust you to do it and it's in Jesus name we do pray. Amen. God bless you. Stay safe. We love you and see you next Sunday.
[00:32:56] Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
