Dealing With Temptation

[0:00] Well if you would turn with me this evening to the letter of James, the letter of James chapter 1 and we'll read verses 12 to 18.

[0:30] James chapter 1 reading from verse 12. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast or perseveres under temptation.

[0:46] For when he has stood the temptation he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God.

[0:56] For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it has fully grown brings forth death.

[1:16] Do not be deceived my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

[1:29] Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creature. And so on.

[1:40] And so we're continuing our study in the letter of James. And as we said before we're to view the letter of James as a handbook to Christian living.

[1:53] Because James' greatest concern is not for information but for application. He wants us to be able to apply the gospel in our lives and live out our Christianity in a practical way.

[2:08] But as we saw last time when we were looking at verses 1 to 11. James reminded these persecuted Christians to whom he was writing.

[2:19] That living out your faith in a fallen world is not an easy task. Especially because they were new converts to Christianity. And they had been displaced and they had been dispersed outside the land of Palestine.

[2:32] And they were living in this foreign land amongst people who worshipped foreign gods. And there were temptations all around them to deviate from their newfound faith at every turn.

[2:48] And because these young Christians were living in a Gentile country and facing a hostile environment, their lack of discipleship and teaching, it only highlighted many of the issues that they had.

[3:03] Because there were many issues of worldliness, temptation, gossip, pride and jealousy. But the root cause of it all, as we said before, it all came down to immaturity.

[3:16] Immaturity was the root cause. They needed to grow as Christians. They needed to mature in their faith. And as we saw last time, James stressed that the way in which the Lord brings us on in our faith and enables us to grow and develop and mature is through trials.

[3:38] God brings trials into our experience. Because the first thing James says about the faith of the Christian is that it's a faith that will be tried.

[3:48] It will be tested. If our faith is genuine, then our faith will be tested. But when it comes to the trials of our faith, James reminds us that the Lord has a plan and a purpose.

[4:03] He always has a plan and he always has a purpose. And that's what he says in verse 2. He says, He says, So James doesn't want us to fear trials.

[4:32] To fear them to the point that we can't fulfill our duty as Christians. Instead, what James wants to encourage us with is that the Lord has a purpose in all our trials.

[4:44] That whatever trials they may be and however perplexing they become, the Lord has a purpose in it all. And his purpose is to make us mature Christians who will have an impact upon a fallen world.

[5:00] But now as we closely related to trials, James now moves on to the subject of temptation. And James wants us, he wants to teach us how to deal with temptation.

[5:16] And he says, It's not if temptation comes, but of course it's when it comes. And the first thing I'd like us to see in verse 12 is the relationship of blessing and temptation.

[5:31] Blessing and temptation. Let me just look at verse 12. He says, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test or temptation, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

[5:50] And so what we see here is that as James continues to encourage and to challenge the Christian, he first of all highlights the blessing of temptation.

[6:02] That when a Christian endures temptation, they will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. And we'll come back to what that means in a moment.

[6:14] But what ought to strike our attention immediately when we read this is that James describes temptation as a blessing. And he describes the Christian who endures temptation as someone who is blessed.

[6:31] Blessed is the man who perseveres under temptation. Now, I don't think that any of us would consider temptation as a blessing.

[6:41] Neither would we consider ourselves to be blessed for persevering through temptation. Because those times of persevering through temptation, they seem, in my experience, seem to be so few and far between in comparison to the amount of times you succumb to temptation.

[7:02] In fact, I don't think that we would ever put the words blessed and temptation in the same sentence. Just like we would never put, as it has in verse 2, the words joy and trials in the same sentence.

[7:19] But James does. He says, And these statements, they seem to be counterintuitive.

[7:32] They seem to go against the grain of sense and reason. Because how can someone consider trials a joy? And how can someone consider temptation a blessing?

[7:43] Well, the answer is, by considering what trials and temptation, it's what they produce in us. We saw that before. Trials produce perseverance.

[7:57] Temptation is to produce perseverance. Because the connection which James makes between trials and temptation, it's the need for perseverance.

[8:08] He says that the trial of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance have this maturing effect that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

[8:22] And with regards to temptation, James says, Blessed is the man or the woman who perseveres under temptation. And so what's required in both trial and temptation is perseverance.

[8:35] And what James is saying is that the mature Christian, the Christian who is growing and developing and maturing in their faith, is the person who is persevering.

[8:47] And James says that that person is blessed. The person who is persevering is blessed. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.

[9:00] For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. But you know, the person who is blessed may not always be a happy person.

[9:16] They may not always have a smile on their face and always be full of the joys. Because that's not what the word blessed means. People often associate blessedness.

[9:28] They associate blessedness with happiness. But blessedness, it's far deeper than the outward presentation of happiness.

[9:39] And that's what the psalmist was actually saying in Psalm 1, which we were just singing. Where in his introductory psalm to the psalter, the psalmist is describing to us the person who has experienced true happiness, true blessedness.

[9:55] But in the mind of the psalmist, there is nothing in this life, nothing in the world around them that can provide true happiness. Because everything in life he sees, it fades.

[10:07] Everything withers. Everything wastes away. Everything changes. Nothing is permanent. And so the psalmist says that true happiness in this world must come from another world.

[10:20] True happiness, true blessedness, he says, comes from God. And when something comes from God, it's a blessing. You are blessed.

[10:30] You experience blessedness. Which is why the psalmist begins by saying, that man hath perfect blessedness, who walketh not astray.

[10:43] And in fact, James, he's using the same words as the psalmist when he says, blessed is the man. It's exactly the same words as Psalm 1. Now this is what we have to understand, that the blessed man or the blessed woman is someone who has received something which they don't deserve.

[11:06] They have received something because undeserved favour has been shown to them. They have been shown grace. They have graciously received something.

[11:16] And that's what the word blessed means. The word bless or blessed, it literally means to kneel. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, that the word blessed, it gives the illustration of a person who is kneeling before a king.

[11:35] It's the image of the king standing from his throne. You always see it when the queen is knighting someone and they're kneeling before the queen. Well, the image is the king standing and the servant is before the king.

[11:49] And he has submitted himself or herself under the authority and the sovereignty of the king. And he's kneeling before the king with his head bowed and his hand outstretched.

[12:04] And he's receiving something from the gracious hand of the king. And what he's receiving is something that he hasn't earned, he hasn't worked for it, and he doesn't deserve it.

[12:15] And yet the king is graciously giving it to him. He's giving to him what he doesn't deserve. It's all of grace.

[12:26] It's the whole act, it's all of grace. And the psalmist in Psalm 1 and James here, they're both saying to us that that's what the blessed man or blessed woman looks like.

[12:39] He or she is the person who has humbly submitted their life, their authority, their will under the king, King Jesus.

[12:52] And because of their humility and submission and their willingness to persevere, they are blessed by King Jesus.

[13:03] They receive from the hand of King Jesus what they don't deserve. They experience grace. But what the psalmist wants to make clear in Psalm 1 is that the blessed man or blessed woman doesn't receive that perfect blessedness from all the things around them.

[13:23] He wants to make that clear because you know the psalm well. That man of perfect blessedness who walketh not astray in counsel of ungodly men nor stands in sinner's way nor sitteth in the scorner's chair but placeth his delight upon God's law and meditates on his law day and night.

[13:44] And what the psalmist says is that the blessed man or woman is not like the cursed man or woman because he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

[13:56] He does not stand in the path of sinners and he does not sit in the seat of scoffers. And it's interesting. Psalm 1, it's an interesting psalm.

[14:08] He uses three verbs. Walk, stand and sit. Walk, stand and sit. And they give this idea of becoming more and more comfortable in their sin.

[14:24] They're walking. They're standing. They're sitting. But it's all in contrast to the blessed man or blessed woman.

[14:35] They don't become comfortable in their sin. They don't like being comfortable in their sin. And the reason they don't become comfortable in their sin the psalmist says is because they meditate upon God's law both day and night.

[14:52] That's what causes them to become uncomfortable. And instead of walking according to the advice and the guidance from the ever-changing fads and fashions of the world we're being told that the Christian perseveres by walking according to the teaching of God's word.

[15:12] Instead of standing in the path of sinners a path which only leads to temporary happiness and entertainment he says the Christian perseveres by standing upon the truth of God's word.

[15:25] And instead of sitting in the seat of the scoffer who is proud and self-satisfied by all their own achievements he says the Christian perseveres by sitting and meditating upon the grace which God has demonstrated towards him or her in the person of Jesus Christ.

[15:47] Because his or her delight he says is in the word of God and they meditate upon it both day and night. And this is what James is referring to that the blessed man or woman they will persevere through trial or temptation because they read in God's word about all the promises that are held out to them.

[16:13] Blessed is the man who remains or who perseveres under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.

[16:29] The promise is from God's word and as we see here the promise which James specifically highlights is the promise of the crown of life the crown of life now the word crown conveys as opposed to most of us we have the image of the queen and this headpiece with lots of jewels lots of diamonds on it nice and sparkly but in the ancient world most people would have thought of a crown as the laurel wreath the wreath that the athletes the Greek athletes would have won the victorious athletes that they would have put on their head if they had won the race and it seems that James has this imagery in view because he's saying that it's only the trained and disciplined athlete that will be victorious therefore as Christians James is saying that we need to be trained by God's word and we need to be disciplined by living according to

[17:33] God's word and by doing that we'll be given the grace to persevere and to keep going and to keep pressing on towards the finish line and so what we see here by considering the blessing or blessing and temptation is that James is encouraging us as Christians to endure temptation faithfully so that we might be blessed by receiving what we don't deserve and that is what we don't deserve is the crown of life what we don't deserve is the promised crown of life and you know is that what the writer to the Hebrews said about temptation where in Hebrews 11 he went through all these heroes of the faith and then into chapter 12 it's connected with chapter 12 and he's using the imagery of the athlete and he says now that we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses all these heroes those of the faith who have run the race before us he says we are to lay aside every sin and every weight that doth so easily be sent us and he says let us run with perseverance the race which is set before us and what are we to do while we run look unto

[18:56] Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith keep your eyes upon him and my friend it's only by keeping our eyes upon him that we will persevere through trial persevere through temptation to the end to receive the crown of life which God has promised to us so we have to keep persevering but James doesn't leave it there he's spoken about blessing and temptation but secondly we see that he draws attention to blame and temptation blame and temptation look at the next verse verse 13 he says let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death and so having spoken about the blessing of receiving the crown of life for persevering through temptation

[20:14] James now draws our attention to who is to blame for temptation and he says from the outset that we are not to blame God God is not the author of temptation temptation and he does not tempt anyone and James stresses this point by repeatedly using the word temptation or tempt four times in one sentence in verse 13 he says let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one and the point James makes is interesting because he says that God cannot be tempted which means that God cannot deviate or diverge or depart from his plan or purpose and because God cannot be tempted he therefore cannot tempt anyone else now some of us will know that the authorised version and what it says about Abraham and the time when God commanded

[21:27] Abraham to sacrifice Isaac it reads in Genesis 22 verse 1 and it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham and he said behold here I am and he said take now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of but of course the translation should read God tested Abraham or God put a trial in Abraham's life because James is clear God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one which means that not every trial is temptation but every temptation is a trial not every trial is temptation but every temptation is a trial but of course every trial brings with it its own temptations because difficult circumstances can tempt us to question

[22:40] God's providence sorrowful experiences can tempt us to question God's love for us illness and suffering tempt us to question God's justice and even his care towards us but what James is wanting us to separate is the outward trial which God brings into our life and the inner temptation which God doesn't bring into our life the outward trial which God brings into our life but the inward temptation which God doesn't bring into our life because what James is saying is that's something we develop because there are many accounts in the Bible where God brought trials into the lives of his people but he didn't bring temptation temptation came as a result of the trial and the greatest example in the Bible is Job Job lost everything he lost his wealth his health his family his home he lost it all and that was the outward trial which

[23:51] God brought into his life but the inward temptation came when his wife told him curse God and die that was the temptation and what James wants to make clear is that we have we have to have the right perspective of temptation that when God brings trials into our lives he does so in order to strengthen our faith and to bring us on to maturity that's what we saw in the first section but he never brings temptation into our lives by provoking us to sin or even trying to destroy our faith therefore God is not to blame he's not the author of temptation and he's not the author of sin now when we say that God is not the author of temptation we might immediately conclude well it must be Satan who is the author of temptation after all he's the father of lies he's the deceiver he's the divider as we read he tempted

[24:58] Adam and Eve to fall into sin in the garden of Eden and as we read in Matthew 4 he tempted Jesus to try and sin in the wilderness and he still tempts countless millions to follow after other gods and be blinded by the world therefore Satan he must be the author of temptation but that's not where James goes with this because he says that the root of Satan begins with us it begins with us that's what he says verse 14 but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death and so James says that temptation finds its root in us he attributes temptation to each person's evil desire and that word desire it carries with it the idea of the inward longing for things that

[26:14] God has prohibited it's the longing for the things which God has said are out of bounds or not helpful to us or hazardous to our Christian growth and what James is saying is that the desire for the things that are of no benefit to us it's already there it's already there it's not put there by God or Satan it's already in our heart it's already there evil desires are already in our heart that's what we're warring against because our heart as the Bible says it's deceitful above all things desperately wicked and as the Bible puts it who can know it which means that this means that any one of us can fall into temptation all evil desire is already there so any one of us can fall into temptation none of us are immune none of us are exempt none of us are safe we are all susceptible to temptation because temptation finds its root in the evil desires of our heart now

[27:35] James doesn't say that Satan is the innocent bystander in temptation not at all because the luring as he says himself and the enticing that's the work of Satan there's someone else working there he says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire and Satan's role or Satan's delight is to lure us and entice us away from the things of God and his word and he does so by playing on our evil desires and Satan does that by illuminating and enlarging our desires whatever they may be it may it's probably different for all of us what these things are but yet he makes them more and more appealing to us rather than being faithful to God and what's helpful is that the language which

[28:38] James uses here is the language of fishing now I had Toshi in mind when I was thinking of this the fisherman takes the rod and he takes his fishing hook and he carefully places the bait on the hook and he hides the hook in amongst the bait so that all that the hungry fish can see is the bait just dangling before their eyes and that's what Satan does he works on our hunger he works on our inward evil desires that are already there and he presents to us the bait and he entices us and lures us into the bait and just like the fish when the fish sees the bait it moves closer and closer to it and when all seems okay the fish starts nibbling on the bait and of course the fish can't see the hook but as soon as it bites down onto the hook then the fish knows it's made a big mistake because immediately the fisherman feels it and he yanks his rod and the hook is impaled in the fish and at that point there's no way of escape because the fish is then dragged home dragged out of its habitat and it becomes

[30:15] Toshi's dinner and that's the description which James is giving because he says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death and with this helpful illustration James warns us about the seriousness of falling into temptation because Satan he will glorify sin he'll make it pretty he'll entice our evil desires for it and Satan's greatest desire especially for the Christian is for us to fall away for us to bite the hook and James says that like fishing there are steps of temptation because when we see the bait whatever it is whatever form it comes in it'll be different for us all when we see the bait our evil desire wants it wants it when it becomes but when it becomes more than a desire like the fish nibbling on the bait we move and act in the interests of our evil desire and we know that it's wrong that's when we as

[31:31] James says we conceive and give birth to sin we're hooked we don't want to let it go and it's not going to let go of us and we know it's wrong we know it's not right but as we enjoy that sin and fulfil the evil desires of our mind that sin continues to grow and to like the fish it's dead brings forth death and you know my friend the most heartbreaking thing to witness is a Christian who has taken the bait and as a result they have fallen away that's the most heartbreaking thing so the question is how do we avoid taking the bait because the bait will always be dangling in front of us it'll always be there no matter how long we've been on the road as a

[32:38] Christian and Satan will use different ways different means at different times to entice us and lure us to take our eyes off Jesus to take our eyes off the race and so how do we combat his attacks on our evil desires how do we protect ourselves from falling into temptation how do we stay faithful to the Lord and endure temptation well James wants to tell us in these closing verses verses 16 to 18 he's told us about blessing and temptation that if we persevere to the end we will receive the crown of life he's told us and explained to us blame and temptation that God nor Satan is to blame for temptation but we are but what we see lastly is that James draws our attention to the Bible and temptation the Bible and temptation look at verse 16 do not be deceived my beloved brother every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creature and you know there's something so compassionate in the way in which

[34:07] James writes to these Christians he knows that they struggle with temptation and we all struggle with temptation of various kinds and temptations which come in various ways and yet James says to all of us do not be deceived my beloved brothers and sisters and that phrase beloved brothers and sisters it's repeated again and again throughout his letter he says it again in verse 19 know this my beloved brothers and sisters James knows that any struggle in the Christian life it's not easy to deal with there's no use condemning people and writing them off he's taking the compassionate approach because he knows that what's needed is compassion and understanding and encouragement and forgiveness but James also says that we're not to be deceived into thinking that it's

[35:08] God who is tempting us into doing evil and making us drift away from him no says James God is the giver he says of every good and every perfect gift to his children he's the giver of what we need in times of temptation he's the giver of gifts he's gracious he freely gives unmerited gifts to us he's like the king who blesses us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ and is that not what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount you remember the sermon on the mount where Jesus said look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them and then he asks are you not of more value than they and then he says and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life and why are you anxious about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet

[36:18] I tell you even Solomon in all his glory he was not arrayed like one of these but if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven how much more will he not clothe you eat what shall we drink what shall we wear the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all and Jesus drives home the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount by saying seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these other things will be added unto you and this is the reminder which James gives here that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change everything we receive he says whether temporal or spiritual it all comes down to us from the father of lights and the father of lights is an expression of what happened at the creation light spoken to darkness the

[37:40] God who is light said let there be light and because God is light says James there is no variation in his light there's no change no shadows no shades or darkness there's there's constant light constant light the apostle john said god is light and it's in him that there is no darkness at all he is the father of lights who spoke this world into being by the word of his power and James says he hasn't changed why in verse 18 of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creature he brought us into being not only in the beginning of creation but literally James says that we were born again by the word of truth we were given a new birth and a new beginning by the word of

[38:50] God as Peter says in his letter we were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which lives and abides forever it's the word that did it and what James is reminding us is that the God who brought this whole world into being and sustains it each and every day is the same God who gave to gift of eternal life through the word of truth and he promises to sustain us through every trial and every temptation so long as we keep our eyes upon Jesus and keep our minds in his word my friend the only way God will keep us from falling into temptation is by the same way he saved us the word of truth the word of truth as we said earlier

[39:53] Satan will use different ways and different means to entice us and lure us to take our eyes off Jesus to take our eyes off the goal the finish line but how do we combat all his attacks on our evil desires how do we protect ourselves from falling into temptation how do we stay faithful to the Lord and endure temptation and James says the word of truth and it seems so simple but in reality we know it's hard he's saying the word of truth is what will help you endure the Bible that's how Jesus endured temptation in the wilderness he is he is the embodiment of psalm one he's the blessed man he's the sinless man of perfect blessedness who never walked astray who never stood in the path of sinners or sat in the seat of scorners but he made the word of truth his delight and his study both day and night and when

[41:00] Satan came to tempt Jesus three times in the wilderness three times Jesus defended himself with the word of truth the word of God three times Jesus quoted the Bible to Satan and that's how we ought to deal with Satan quote scripture Jesus said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord it is written you shall not tempt the Lord your God it is written you shall serve the Lord your God and only him shall you shall worship the Lord your God and only him shall you serve it is written it is written it is written and then the devil left him it was then that the devil left and it should be no surprise to us then how powerful the word is and it should be no surprise that when the apostle Paul urges us in Ephesians 6 to put on the whole armor of

[42:02] God that you may be able to stand against the violence of the devil because he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against the spiritual wickedness in high places and Paul says put on the belt of truth put on the breastplate of righteousness have on your feet the gospel of peace pick up your shield of faith and wear the helmet of salvation and have in your hand the sword of the spirit he says which is the word of God and Paul says with that word pray always being watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the sins pray always being watchful with all perseverance the amazing thing about the

[43:14] Roman armor which Paul was describing there was no armor on the back you had to keep moving forward you had to keep pressing on and that's what we need to do we're in a fierce battle but James is reminding us that there is a purpose in temptation the purpose is to persevere the purpose is to persevere he's told us about blessing and temptation that if we persevere to the end we will receive the crown of life he's explained to us blame and temptation it's not God or Satan that's to blame we are but his greatest desire James his greatest desire is that we see the need for the Bible in temptation and that when we are faced with temptation we cling ever more to the word of truth the word of truth because it's the word of truth and the promises that are found in this word that will spur us on to persevere to the end of the race so that we will receive the promise receive the promised crown of life which

[44:35] God has promised to those as he says who love him those who love him and so that word of truth it's encouraging us again to keep going to keep looking to Jesus to keep your eyes fixed upon him because he is the author and he remains the finisher of our faith may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord our gracious God help us to be like that blessed man or blessed woman help us to trust the Lord in everything to know that when we are faced with trial and temptation that these things are in our experience for a purpose that they are not there by some random chance event but that thou art the God who is working in us both to will and to do of thine own good pleasure thou art the

[45:36] God who has promised that he who hath begun a good work in us will bring it on to completion at the day of Christ Jesus help us Lord in our weakness to keep going to keep pressing to keep looking to Jesus how often Lord we are tempted to turn to the left hand or to the right but we pray that thou wouldst keep our going out and our coming in that thou wouldst stay our hands that thou wouldst watch over our feet protect our minds and our hearts O Lord we are those who are so susceptible to falling into temptation but that our prayer would be as we have been taught from a young age lead thine is the kingdom the power and the glory O Lord keep us then we pray thee bless us in our needs this evening whatever they may be that thou wouldst undertake for us help us to know thy presence in all that we say and do in all that we go through in our lives that thou wouldst be with us go before us then we ask and do us good for we shall conclude by singing in

[46:55] Psalm 119 Psalm 119 singing from the beginning page 399 Psalm 119 singing from verses 1 down to the verse 6 Psalm 119 of course is a psalm all about the word of God and the psalmist is talking about those who are blessed because they stick or they cling to the word of God blessed are they that undefiled and straight are in the way who in the Lord's most holy law do walk and do not stray blessed are they who to observe his statutes are inclined and who do heart and mind down to the verse smart 6 of psalm 119 to

[47:58] God's place blessed are they that undefiled and stricter in the way who in the Lord's most holy law to walk and do not stray blessed are they who to observe his statutes are inclined and to seek the living court with their whole heart and mind that in his ways to walk and they to know iniquity why let thousand collings

[49:13] And it ought to keep thy presence carefully. O that thy statutes do observe, Thou wouldst my ways direct, Then shall I not be shamed, When I thy priest hath all respect.

[49:52] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.