Sermon Series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

Psalm 19 THE PERFECT REVELATION OF THE LORD

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is true, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

MESSAGE:
Our Psalm begins with the declaration that the heavens and skies (firmament) declare the glory of God and shew forth His handiwork. In our last lesson, we briefly considered the majesty and glory and wonder of the heavens. To our Psalmist, each day and each night is a continuous sermon being preached of the greatness and wonder of God. Each day is a new sermon from God telling us of His power and might...each night is a message from the Divine displaying the wonder of his creative power!

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It is as if one day took up the story where the other left it, and each night passed over the wondrous tale to the next! The original has in it the thought of pouring out, or welling over, with speech; as though days and nights were but as a fountain flowing evermore with Jehovah's praise.
THE HEAVENS DECLARE! And what a story they tell! Think, first of all what they tell about the immensity of the universe. If we traveled at the speed of light--186,000 miles a second or roughly six trillion miles a year--it would take us ten billion years to reach the farthest point we can see with a telescope. But this would still be far from the outermost limits of space. Now astronomers think that space may have no bounds at all! Think about the distances of the heavenly bodies from the earth and from each other. Someone has pictured the distances as follows: if it cost a penny to ride 1000 miles, a trip to the moon would cost $2.38, a trip to the sun would cost $930, but a trip to the nearest star would cost 260 million dollars!
It takes light from the most remote stars which can be seen with telescopes ten billion years to reach the earth. So when we look out into space, we are really looking backward in time. For example, we do not see the Andromeda galaxy where it is now but where it was two million years ago!
If creation is so great how much greater is the Creator! As Isaac Watts wrote, "Nature with open volume stands to spread her Maker's praise abroad." Simply by looking up into the heavens man can know that there is a God and can perceive His eternal power (Romans 1:20).
The terrifying dimensions and complexity of the universe confirm Lord Kelvin's observation that "if you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to believe in God."
Kant wrote:
"It is impossible to contemplate the fabric of the world without recognizing the admirable order of its arrangement and the certain manifestation of the hand of God in the perfection of its correlations. Reason, when once it has considered and admired so much beauty and so much perfection, feels a just indignation at the dauntless folly which dares ascribe all this to chance and a happy accident. It must be that the Highest wisdom conceived the plan and Infinite power carried it to execution.

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The Psalmist sees the vaulted arch of heaven as a vast tent which God prepared for the sun. As the sun rises in the morning, it is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. The sun moves through the arc of the heavens like a strong man joyfully running a race. In the midst of the heavens the sun encamps, and marches like a mighty monarch on his glorious way. He has no fixed abode, but as a traveler pitches and removes his tent, a tent which will soon be taken down and rolled together as a scroll!
During the French Revolution someone said to a peasant "I will have all your steeples pulled down, that you may no longer have any object by which you may be reminded of your superstitions." "But," replied the peasant, "you cannot help leaving us the sun and stars."
There is nothing hidden from the heat of the sun. It enjoys universal exposure, pervading every remote corner and crevice of the world. The earth receives its heat from the sun, and by conduction, a part of it enters the crust of our globe. By convection, another portion is radiated into space, according to laws yet imperfectly understood, but which are evidently connected with the color, chemical composition, and mechanical structure of parts of the earth's surface. At the same time the ordinary state of the air, consisting of gases and vapor, modifies the heat rays and prevents scorching. Thus, the solar heat is equalized by the air. Nothing on earth or in air is hid from the heat of the sun!
Our Psalmist has pondered the wonder and majesty of God's creation as a volume of the glorious revelation of God. And now his thoughts move to another aspect of God's revelation--"the law of the Lord." Both volumes glorify God and inspire the worship of thoughtful persons.
Few commentators on the Psalms can resist quoting Kant's famous dictum: "The starry sky above me and the moral law in me, are two things which fill the soul with ever increasing admiration and reverence."
But there is a difference between the two books of God. Creation reveals God as the Mighty One, the God of power. But His Word reveals Him as the One who enters into covenant relationship with His people.

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God's WORKS reveal His knowledge and power but His WORD reveals His love and grace. Scientific truth may stimulate our intellect but spiritual truth convicts our heart and conscience!
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT; by which he means not merely the law of Moses, but the doctrine of God, the whole run and rule of sacred Writ. The doctrine revealed by God he declares, to be perfect, and yet David had but a very small part of the Scriptures, and if a fragment, and that the darkest and most historical portion, be perfect, what must the entire volume be!
How more than perfect is the book which contains the clearest possible display of divine love, and gives us an open vision of redeeming grace. The gospel is a complete scheme or law of gracious salvation, presenting to the needy sinner everything that his terrible necessities can possible demand. There are no redundancies and no omissions in the Word of God, and in the plan of grace; why then do men try to paint this lily and gild this refined gold? THE GOSPEL IS PERFECT IN ALL ITS PARTS, AND PERFECT AS A WHOLE; it is a crime to add to it, treason to alter it, and felony to take from it.
In the closing words of the Bible, we have this warning: "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS ALL THAT GOD HAS REVEALED TO US IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES! And he says...they are perfect, complete, final.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. "(Psalm 1:1-3)

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THE LAW OF THE LORD...THE HOLY SCRIPTURES! "Your word, 0 Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens" (Psalm 119:89).
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isa. 40:8).
Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matt. 5:18).
Matt. 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flower of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." (1 Peter 1:24,25)
1 Kings 8:56 "Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel just as He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He gave through His servant Moses."
CONCERNING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES...The claim set up by all evangelical Christians, of whatever phase of faith, is, that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament either directly or indirectly contain the teachings of Christ, and that, in substance, they are of divine authority and are to be received as such; in other words, that the Bible is a divinely inspired book, and that Christ was a divinely sent teacher, and that the substance of what is found in the Bible is a revelation from God, and as such is to be accepted as final authority on all matters of which it makes deliverances.
Still more explicitly and fully, the claim set up is, concerning the Old Testament, that it is a book written by certain Jews at a period from four hundred to sixteen hundred years before the advent of Jesus Christ among men, and that these writings are interspersed through that period and at intervals--some earlier and some later; and that these many writers, from Moses to Malachi, were divinely taught men, called prophets, who were appointed of God for this work, and who set forth in their writings nothing but what they either personally knew to be truth, or which they received directly from God by some form of inspiration or direct divine attestation; that whatever, or the substance of whatever, is contained in the ancient documents composing the book is to be received as of divine accrediting and authority.

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"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16)
2 Peter 1:19-21
"And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
ALL THE WORDS IN SCRIPTURE ARE GOD'S WORDS! There are frequent claims in the Bible that all the words of Scripture are God's words (as well as words that were written down by men). In the Old Testament, this is frequently seen in the introductory phrase, "Thus says the Lord," which appears hundreds of times. In the world of the Old Testament, this phrase would have been recognized as identical in form to the phrase, "Thus says king..."which was used to preface the edict of a king to his subjects, an edict that could not be challenged or questioned but that simply had to be obeyed.
Thus, when the prophets say, "Thus says the Lord," they are claiming to be messengers from the sovereign King of Israel, namely, God Himself, and they are claiming that their words are the absolutely authoritative words of God.
In the passage we have just quoted from 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul here affirms that all of the Old Testament writings are THEOPNEUSTOS, "breathed out by God." Since it is WRITINGS that are said to be "breathed out," this breathing must be understood as a metaphor for speaking the words of Scripture. For every word of the Old Testament, God is the one who spoke (and still speaks) it, although God used human agents to write these down.
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT! Without error, complete and final...powerful and eternal!
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:12-13)

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THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT! It is one thing to affirm that the Bible CLAIMS to be the words of God. It is another thing to be convinced that those claims are true. Our ultimate conviction that the words of the Bible are God's words comes only when the Holy Spirit speaks in and through the words of the Bible to our hearts and gives us an inner assurance that these are the words of our Creator speaking to us. Just after Paul has explained that his apostolic speech consists of words taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13), he says, "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14). Apart from the work of the Spirit of God, a person will not receive spiritual truths and in particular will not receive or accept the truth that the words of Scripture are in fact the words of God.
But for those in whom God's Spirit is working there is a recognition that the words of the Bible are the words of God. This process is closely analogous to that by which those who believed in Jesus knew that his words were true. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). Those who are Christ's sheep hear the words of their great Shepherd as they read the words of Scripture, and they are convinced that these words are in fact the words of the Lord.
THE BIBLE IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE, it is internally consistent, it contains prophecies that have been fulfilled hundreds of years later, it has influenced the course of human history more than any other book, and it has continued changing the lives of millions of individuals throughout its history, through it people come to find salvation, and, it has a majestic beauty and a profound depth of teaching unmatched by any other book!
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, CONVERTING THE SOUL. Jesus told this parable in Matthew 13:
"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered

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because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants. STILL OTHER SEED FELL ON GOOD SOIL, WHERE IT PRODUCED A CROP--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matt. 13:3-9)
"Listen to what the parable of the sower means; When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. BUT THE ONE WHO RECEIVED THE SEED THAT FELL ON GOOD SOIL IS THE MAN WHO HEARS THE WORD AND UNDERSTANDS IT. HE PRODUCES A CROP, YIELDING A HUNDRED, SIXTY OR THIRTY TIMES WHAT WAS SOWN." (Matt. 13:18-23)
Deut. 8:3
"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. LIKE NEWBORN BABIES, CRAVE PURE SPIRITUAL MILK, SO THAT BY IT YOU MAY GROW UP IN YOUR SALVATION, NOW THAT YOU HAVE TASTED THAT THE LORD IS GOOD." (1 Peter 2:1,2)
James 1:19-25
"My dear brothers! take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what is says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."