Psalm chapter 19, and Lord willing,
we'll be looking at verses 1 through verse 10 this evening. I know
that sounds quite long for me, but pray that God would bless
us, give me liberty to do this, because it is a blessing to my
heart. I pray that God would bless it to you. Psalm chapter
19, the scripture said, the heavens declare the glory of God. and
the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone
out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end
of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, 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. The title of the message this
evening is Look Up and Look To. Look up and look to. The scripture says the heavens
declare the glory of God. I was reading a book by Charles
Spurgeon this afternoon and he said this, that there are two
concerning the glory of God, the book of creation and the
book of revelation, the book, the word of God. And that's exactly
how we're going to divide this verses tonight. Look up, and
when you look up, what do you see? The heavens. You look up. So many of us as
believers in Christ, we get so busy looking down. We get so
busy looking down on all our troubles, all the pressures,
all of the needs and wants of this flesh that we forget to
look up. We become so doubtful and fearful
and forget to look up at God's care to see God's care for us. We get into so much trouble by
trusting in our own strength and intelligence to fix our troubles.
Either that or we spend so much time trying to fix others. You know, man was made upright
for a reason. So he can look up. So we can
look up. I know that we feel sometimes
like a hamster in that wheel. We feel like we're running and
running and running and running, but going nowhere. We know this
is illustrated for us by the apostles when they were told
to go to the other side of the sea by the Lord Jesus while He
went to pray. And the Scripture says He saw
them as the wind was contrary to them. They were toiling in
rowing. They were rowing They were obeying
the command of Christ, but yet they were going nowhere. They
were toiling. Let me ask you, did not the Lord
know the storm was coming when he commanded them to get in the
boat? Well, you know he did. Matter
of fact, he is the one that commanded the storm to come. He knew everything that was wrong.
He knew all their troubles. And when He saw them toiling,
it was then He came. And when He came into the boat,
I love this, when He came into the boat, then was the sea calm. If we're always looking down,
if we're always looking at the trouble, and Christ is not in
the boat, There is not going to be any peace. We have to look
up. And when you look up, what do
you see? You see the heavens that were
created by the Lord Jesus Christ. Do the heavens remind you of
him? Do the heavens remind you of His glory, of His majesty? And that's exactly what this
text is talking about. It's talking about the majesty
and the glory and the power that is revealed to us by His creation. His creation. Here in this psalm, believers
in Jesus Christ are exhorted to look up to the glory of God
in his creation, in his handiwork. Do you know that creation speaks?
It speaks. That's what this psalm says.
It says there's no speech or language where their voice is
not heard. Creation speaks. You bet it does. It speaks in
a universal language that everyone can understand. There is no one
and there is no language that the creation does not speak. They are the voice and testimony
of God's omnipotent power and deity. Every day and every night the
sun comes up The sun rises, the sun sets, the moon comes up,
the moon goes up, it goes down, the sun comes up. How long has
this been going on? Ever since God started it in
the beginning. Day after day after day after
day. Faithfully testifying God is
here. God is powerful. God is majestic. God is the creator of all things
daily. The heavens, it says, the heavens
declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
What are the heavens? Well, there are three. There's
the firmament, the sky. Can you imagine this, that this
is the only planet in all of the universe that has a firmament
that keeps the oxygen in? that keeps us in so that we can
live, so that the clouds are formed, the rain comes down and
waters the earth. It evaporates and goes back up
into the sky and drops somewhere else. Amazing, simply amazing. God's handiwork. This is just
his his piddling. That's kind of what, you know,
I guess if I were to take a piece of wood and whittle, that's about
it. That's about what God did. with
this world. To him, it was nothing. And yet
it's magnificent. It's magnificent. The heavens
is also the outside, the outer in outer space. How far does
that extend? How far does it go in every direction? Man, with all of his mind and
with all of his science and with all of his computers, he cannot
project the number or the distance to measure heaven. Matter of
fact, they know this, it's expanding. Wow. It's amazing. So large, they can't find an
end. And then there's the heaven of
heavens where God sits, where one day will be. The heavens declare the glory of
God, you want to see the power and majesty of God, just look
up. Are you troubled? Just look up.
God testifies of his faithfulness, doesn't he? Every single day
he testifies of his faithfulness. And he testifies of his faithfulness
by the sun. Look at this day after day of
the speech and night after night, a show of knowledge. In verse
five, it's in verse four, it says in them, in these, in the
firmament, in the heavens. In them have God hath he set
a tabernacle for the sun, which as a bridegroom cometh out of
his chamber and rejoices as a strong man and runeth his race. He goeth
forth from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends
of it, and there is nothing hid from his heme. You can set your watch to the
sun. Matter of fact, we do. Matter of fact, everybody in
this world testifies to the deity and faithfulness of God by looking
at their clock. It's God's clock. God said it,
God wound it and God keeps it moving day after day after day
after day. Faithful, faithful, unfaithful,
unfaithful, unfaithful. You want encouragement? Just
look up. Just look up. They declare the glory of God. And friend, the sun runs its
course as a strong man. Who in the world can stop the
sun from rising and setting and running its course? Who could
knock the sun off its course? What man could take mine to knock
the sun out of its orbit? Can't. God is faithful. God is faithful. This voice that utters God's
testimony of His power every single day in every language
so that men are without excuse. No man is without excuse concerning
this matter of God's deity and power. No man. An atheist is nothing more than
an idiot. That's just all you can say. Only an idiot would look up and
see the sun running day after day in his course, following
it. You can count it. You can count when the sun will
come up ten years from now if you wanted to. Man, he's an idiot. He's a fool. You see it. And regardless of
how he feels about it, he's without excuse. He's without excuse. And when he stands before God,
he'll be accounted for what he what he knows. And he knows this.
There is a God and he is all powerful. The scripture said
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. This is revealed by creation,
you can see it everywhere. You can see the power and majesty
of God. God's wrath against sin is revealed
in his creation. But rather than causing men to
seek God, don't you think that would cause men to seek after
God, to see a God who can speak and speak for worlds and the
universe into existence? And yet that would not cause
them to run to him for mercy. No, it doesn't. Oh, their voice
speaks, creation speaks, but it doesn't save anyone. It doesn't
save anyone. You figure that they would seek
God, but rather they change the glory of God into something they
imagine. That's what the Scripture tells
us. They knew God, but they knew him not as God. Neither worshipped
him as God, but as a four-footed beast or some other creature.
Whatever they imagine God to be. This is why I want you to
understand his foolishness to argue the gospel from creation. You're not going to be able to
do that. Because once you've convinced a man there is a God,
then what he'll do is he'll imagine his own God. He'll imagine God
to be whoever he is. Rather, declare God is. God is. And let me tell you who God is
according to the word of God, not according to what you think
of God. And so we don't argue from creation, but I'll tell
you, creation is for the believer. This voice, it makes them without
excuse, but I tell you what, it makes us rejoice. It should
cause us to rejoice because in it we see the glory of God. We
see the power and faithfulness of God in these things. Matter
of fact, when the Lord Jesus Christ, or anybody in Scripture,
is it not true that we have to use earthly things in order to
see heavenly things? I mean, we have to liken it to
something. And it's always in Scripture,
likened unto something that was made, something that was in the
creation. Jesus said, I am the vine, you
are the branches. You see, He was making an analogy
using creation. And I'll tell you, we can see
that, can't we? You go out and look at a vine. You go out and
pull that branch off the vine and throw it on the ground and
wait and see what happens to the branch. It withers. We can
see that in a spiritual sense. God's made these things for us.
We can see his glory in it. Believers in Christ. To us who
have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit from death to life,
from darkness to light, we who have come as sinners in need
of mercy by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, stop a while
and look up. Stop. Stop running the wheel and just
look up. See the faithfulness of God to
give us these wonderful things that we have. Is it not wonderful? Is creation not beautiful? We
should, we should, we should enjoy it. God meant it for us.
God meant it for our enjoyment. We should enjoy it. The power
and majesty of God are revealed in these things. When you see chaos in front of
you, when you see trouble, behold the witness of heaven the sky,
the sun, the moon, the stars, that our God is faithful and
He is a God of order. Can you not see that in heaven?
That everything is in perfect sequence and order? You see,
this shows us that God is sovereign in all things and whatever He
has ordered, that is exactly What is going to take place?
You see, it's not chaos, it's order. So when you have chaos, look
up. This gives us great cause for
every believer in Jesus Christ to trust not the arm of flesh,
to trust not men or nations and especially not trust our own
works. Scripture says, happy is he whose hope is in the Lord. who made heaven and earth." Look up and see God's great faithfulness. Second of all, look to. Look
to. This second part is divided here. It goes from viewing God's faithfulness
and goodness in creation to looking to God's Word. God's Word. Look to. To what? To God's Word. to God's
Word. Look up and see the power and
majesty of God, the awe of God, and be thankful. And this should
move us to meditation concerning His sovereign rule. But if we're
only looking up and not looking to the Word of God, we'll soon
find ourselves confused, doubtful, and fearful. So when I say look
up, If you look up without looking
to the Word of God, you're going to be fearful. You're going to
be doubtful. You've got to have both. You
should have both. Look to the Word of God. It says
in verse 7, the law of God is perfect, converting the soul.
The law of God is perfect, converting the soul. This gospel, this gospel message
contained in the word of God, this gospel message, which is
the word of God from front to back, is given to men to preach. It is given to pastors the charge
to preach the word. That's what Paul told Timothy. He said, preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season. What does that mean? When it's
popular and when it's not popular. You see, we're not taking a poll.
We're not we're not putting our hands in the air and seeing which
way everybody wants to go. No, when it's popular and when
it's not, this is what we preach. We preach the word, the word,
God's word. Paul told Titus, that young pastor,
he said, preach the word with all authority. To preach the word with all authority
is to understand our office as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, the King and
Creator of all things. Praise God that he did not reveal
this to me fully yet. I imagine, I'm sure I would have
died under the weight of it. But slowly, patiently, with long
suffering, God is teaching me concerning the authority of this
message, the authority of the word of God, that this is not
a compromise. This is not a debate. This is
not God asking anyone's opinion. This is God's word. This is God's
word. The God who made the heavens
and the earth has given us his word, and we preach it, we declare
it, and we do so with authority, the authority of God, who is
the only potentate King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the throne and he has sent us to preach his word. And what are we to preach? First
of all, it says the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul. Doesn't that sound strange? Because we know that the law
does not save. We know that the law is never
meant for salvation, but I'll tell you what the law is meant
for. The law has a purpose. The law has a purpose in the
word of God. It is in the word of God, the
law. It is God's word. The law of
the Lord. And friends, as the law of nature. On the first page of the law
of nature, there was light now, right? God said, let there be
light. Why? Because light reveals. Light exposes. And friends, the first part of
the gospel has to always be ruin. There are three R's. redemption,
regeneration. These things are always preached
when you preach the gospel. These things are always preached.
But the first must be ruined. It must be the law. It must be
that man is guilty, that man is dead by nature and ruined. The law of God is perfect. The psalmist said, therefore,
I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to be right. Is not the law of God perfect?
The law of God is perfect. There
is nothing that needs to be added. The law of God is absolutely
perfect. Whether it was the one written
on the tables of stone given to Moses, or it is the one written
on the heart of every man by nature, the law of God is perfect. There's nothing wrong with the
law of God. It's absolutely perfect. But Paul, flip over to Romans
chapter 7. Paul gives the greatest explanation
of the purpose of the law in this chapter, the longest explanation,
the purpose of the law. Romans chapter 7 and verse 9,
Paul said, For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid, but sin. that it might appear, but sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
Here is the purpose of the law, to expose sin, to expose The dead nature of
man. The law was never meant to save. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once. What does he mean? He said, well,
I thought that I obeyed the law. I thought that everything was
going well. I thought that everyone else
was a sinner and I was righteous. But what happened when the law
came, the commandment came? Not in word, but in power, the
commandment came and sin revived its ugly head and stood up and
said, I will not. I will not. Law never makes a person obedient. It never makes a person obedient. The minute we put out a law,
sure enough, somebody's itching to break it. Somebody's itching
to find out, man, is he really going to do that? Is there really
any power behind this? And they're going to go at it. Law stirs sin. And you see, when the real law
comes, what it does is it stirs up and it shows us how depraved
we are. I remember when I was doing pest
control, it always reminds me of this. You lift up some of
these appliances and if the place is infested with roaches, you
can lift up anything you want to and you don't see anything.
But you cut on the light and they're scattered. That's exactly
what happens when the law is preached. That is exactly what
happens when God's perfections are declared. They start running. Looking for a place to hide. If you've witnessed anybody,
you've noticed that. Man, when people ask me questions,
they really don't know what they're getting into. And once they get
into it, they want to run as fast as they possibly can away
from me. They say, well, don't judge me.
I didn't. God did. You're wicked. You're dead. You're a sinner.
Well, that's your opinion. They'll just walk off. No, it's
not my opinion. It's God's law. God's law is perfect. You're
wicked. You're a sinner. And to preach
the gospel of good news, friend, there's got to be bad news. And
the bad news is man is dead. And that's the baddest news that
anyone could ever receive. It's the worst news. Especially
when it comes in convicting power. Look at that. The law of God
is perfect. The laws, the God is perfect
converting the soul, this word converting. It means to bring
back or to turn around or to repent from. Therefore, we see
clearly the purpose of the law is to convict men of sin. The law shows that all the world
is to become guilty before God and to shut the mouths of men. You know when the law of God
is revealed to a man, you know what? That man shuts up and has nothing to say. If a
man has something to say, he has never heard what God said
concerning the law. If a man's still trying to earn
his favor with God by the law, he's never heard the law. Because
all the law says to me is this, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,
guilty. And when the law comes in power,
friends, it will come with conviction, conviction of our sins. You remember the man Asaph in
Psalm 73? He's one of my best friends.
Me and Asaph, we have a lot in common. A lot in common. Asaph was so much troubled, he
was so much concerned, that the wicked men of this world lived
as though there were no judgment. I don't know, does that bother
you like it bothers me? I'll tell you, at times it does
to watch men run around as though there's no consequence for anything
they do. They do what they please. And
here I am. I suffer. And I say, God, don't you see
them? Look, look, why are they doing this? They don't they don't
fear. They don't have any problems.
They're always prospering. God's people are suffering. I
don't understand. You're just you're holy. Your
law is perfect. I don't understand. They speak
lies, they embrace the message of false religion, false religion
fills the pews with millions, while the truth of God, sovereignty
and mercy seems to be drowned out by their by their cries,
by their voice. I tell you, sometimes I feel
like I'm trying to speak underwater. It feels as though my voice,
the voice of the gospel, does not go past this pulpit. But I know that's not true. I
know that's not true. Men speak lies. And when the
gospels preach their rages so much that it drowns us out, it
seems to, but we should take courage that God's law is perfect
and justice will be accomplished." Believer, don't worry about them. Don't worry about them. God's
law is perfect. He will judge the wicked. I don't care how they feel now
or how they prosper now. God will judge them. But we should
also recognize this concerning the law of God. It should also
humble us because we were one of them. We should not be haughty and
proud. We should know and humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God and praise God for his mercy
that exposed us for who we are. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful
that he showed me my ruin. And by that, by his grace, he
converted me, he turned me and I ran away from that. What did we run to? Look at this
in part B of chapter 7. He said, The testimonies of the
Lord are sure, making wise the simple. Where Asaph went is where
we should go. He went to the sanctuary. It's here we learn. It's where
the Word of God is preached that we learn the end of all wickedness. Aren't you glad one day there's
going to be a time where sin will molest us no more? Isn't
that great? That there's going to be a day
when God takes all the sin and death and hell and casts it out
and there won't be anything but holiness and joy? Love? Peace? Testimonies of God are sure.
It's in the place here we hear the gospel of God's word preached
concerning Jesus Christ. When I heard the law, you know
what I did? When I heard the law, I also
heard this. I heard Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Because as soon as I heard the
law, I didn't have any place to go. I didn't have any place
to go until God revealed Christ. And in Christ, I found all that
the law demands. You see, all that God demanded
of me, Christ did. Righteousness! Christ obtained
it by His own, His own hands, His own works. Jesus said, I
came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And friends, he has filled it
full. God is pleased with his righteousness. And I also learned that Jesus
Christ was also an atonement. He also made an atonement for
my sins. God's law is perfect and must
demand payment, but Jesus Christ has paid it all. As a matter
of fact, the Word of God here in Isaiah says that He paid double
for all my sins. I, by the grace of God through
Christ, have obtained the righteousness of God and atonement for all my sins. That's the testimony of God. That's God's testimony. And it's
sure. Why? Because it's God's. It's
sure because it's God's. It's sure. Making wise the sinful. Oh, how
simple. How simple. And ignorant is the
natural man. But wisdom, the wisdom of God
is only found in Jesus Christ, the Lord. And look at this in
verse 8, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart. What are the statutes of the
Lord? The statutes of the Lord are the promises of God, the
decrees of Almighty God. What has God promised? The God
who created all things, the God who is faithful year after year,
day after day, month after month, to raise the sun and lower it,
He says this, I will remember your sins no more. I will. God has determined not
to remember your sins. I will remember them no more.
God has promised, I will do you good all the days of your life. Is today a good day? You bet
it is. Because God said, I'll do you
good all the days of your life. Does that not cause you to rejoice,
no matter what happens today? God says, I'll do it for your
good. I promise it'll work to your good. The statutes of the Lord are
right. All God does is right. All God does is right. And causes us to rejoice in the
heart and the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening
the eyes. What is the commandment of the Lord? It's not the law. Let me show you what the commandment
of the Lord is. Go over to first John. 1 John, chapter 4. Read this with me, it's very
important. 1 John, chapter 4. John had mentioned concerning
the commandment of God so many times thus far, and here he gives
the definition. He said, and this is his commandment, that we should believe on the
name of his Son, Jesus Christ. and love one another as he gave
us commandment. Notice that he said we. Is he not talking about himself?
You bet he is. You see, it's a continual belief.
A continual faith. That's the commandment of God,
and you know what, that's not only commandment of God, that's
the work of God. That's the work of God. Remember those people
in John 6 that said, hey, what is it that we may do to work
the works of God? And he said, this is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God.
Faith is a work of God. And that's God's commandment.
And this is God's commandment, love one another. Now, these commandments grieve
us. Are these commandments grievous to us? No, they're enlightening. Look at this. The commandment
of the Lord in verse eight of our text, the commandment of
the Lord is pure in light in the eyes. Are your eyes dim with
tears? They dim with tears. Believe and trust Christ. Are your eyes deceived by sin,
believe and trust in Christ. And this clears our vision. It makes us see clearly what's
our purpose. It makes us see clearly the will
of God as he has revealed it in his words. And lastly, the fear of the Lord
is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous all together. The fear of the Lord. Scripture
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, reverence. Everything we do is to be done
for the glory of God. Would to God that every breath
I take would be to the glory of God. I know in Christ it is. I know in Christ everything I
do is for the glory of God. And God forgive me. God be gracious
to forgive me of all my sins. and cleanse my conscience." You know, believer, you're clean
every whit, but our feet get dirty. Our conscience gets cluttered
with guilt, and we must return to the cross. We must return
and look to Christ. And he is faithful to forgive
you of all your sins. Faithful and just. I pray that
God blesses to you and keep you. Encourage your hearts and strengthen
you in his word to trust him. To look up. And to look to Christ. Let's
stand will be dismissed in prayer.