let us ask the lord to bless
his word and be with us our father which art in heaven hallowed
be thy name we pray father for thy presence this morning that
you would bless us with a spirit of worship the spirit of worship HELP US TO GIVE UNTO YOU THE
GLORY AND HONOR DUE UNTO YOUR NAME HELP US TO LISTEN THIS MORNING
AND LORD HELP ME TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH TO HANDLE TO
HANDLE THY WORD THY GLORIOUS WORD HELP ME TO HELP ME TO HANDLE
IT SEND FORTH YOUR WORD IN POWER instruct us and be our teacher
bless us this morning father in jesus christ name we pray
and amen the title of the message god's two great books god's two
great books you know i when i prepare these
messages ONE IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN
THE OTHER. You know, I do not look at the
preaching service or the Bible class here, what we call the
Bible class. ONE IS NO MORE IMPORTANT TO ME
THAN THE OTHER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM BECAUSE WE ARE HANDLING
THE WORD OF GOD, WE'RE LISTENING TO THE WORD OF GOD, NOW SOMETIMES,
WELL USUALLY, I HAVE MORE LIBERTY WITH ONE MORE THAN THE OTHER. AS HENRY SAID, IT'S HARD TO RISE
TWICE IN THE SAME DAY. IT USUALLY SEEMS LIKE WHEN THE
LORD GIVES ME LIBERTY WITH ONE, I'M ALMOST MENTALLY DRAINED BY
THE TIME I GET TO THE OTHER ONE. BUT ONE'S NO LESS IMPORTANT OR
EVEN GREATER IMPORTANT THAN THE OTHER. Now let's look at this. In this chapter of Psalms, we
have the word book, creation. You know, creation preaches every
day. It's crying out a message every
day, every day. And then we have God's book there
in verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect. Verse 1, THE
HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD. Everything that God has
made declares God's glory. It declares His glory. And it
would be wise to devote oneself to the study of both books. It
would be wise and it would be very beneficial if we would look
at both books, look at creation and see God. LOOK AT CREATION
AND ASK GOD TO MAKE HIMSELF KNOWN TO YOU. You know, there was a
time when I could look at creation and I could recognize the beauty
of it, but I never recognized God who created it. I never recognized
God. But now everything I see, and
I can say this with confidence, everything I see whether it be
a huge tree, whether it be a flower, whether it be an earthworm, it
doesn't matter. I see God in it. I see God in
it. You know, it, it takes no more
power from God to create a mountain or an earthworm. It doesn't,
it's, it's the same power. It doesn't take any more power
from God to create Mount McKinley. than a little old earthworm,
no more power. You know, I was thinking this
morning, just before coming out here, I was thinking about the
power of God. There's a screen or a picture
on my computer of this great big mountain. It's got snow on
it, snow-capped. And that's what made me think
of it. When I saw that on my computer screen, I thought it
takes no more power from God TO CREATE THAT OR TO CREATE AN
EARTHWORM. And the thought hit me that POWER,
REAL POWER, when we think of it, when we think of power, we
think of EFFORT. You think of putting forth a
lot of effort. Somebody has a lot of power, he puts forth a lot
of effort. POWER IS EFFORTLESS. POWER IS GOD SPEAKING AND IT
LETS THERE BE LIGHT. THERE'S NO EFFORT IN THAT, IT'S
JUST GOD SPEAKING. And when we look at creation,
we see the power of God and we see the glory of God's power. We see the glory of God's wisdom.
Do you know what wisdom it took to make all of this variety to
work in such harmony? That takes infinite wisdom. That takes the wisdom of God
to make everything work together like it does. And we ought to,
by God's help, when we look at creation, see God in it. And especially when we look into
the Word of God, we see God. It reveals God. Both of them
reveal God. They both do. And thank God you
can see it. Thank God you can see it. Look
over in Romans 1. I don't know if I have this right
or not, but look over in Romans 1. It says in verse 18, For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them or
to them, for God has showed it to them in creation. You can
hear creation, God has shown it, God has displayed Himself,
God has revealed Himself in creation. There's enough light in creation
for everyone on this earth to seek after God. You know that?
There's enough light on this earth in creation for every human
being to seek after God. Listen here, the heavens declare,
the heavens, there's three heavens, AND ALL THREE, EVERYTHING THAT
EXISTS DOES THIS. THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY
OF GOD, THE GLORY OF HIS POWER AND HIS WISDOM, AND THE FIRMAMENT
SHOWETH HIS HANDIWORK. I like the way that's written,
it's just his handiwork. I like to think of it like this,
it shows his craftsmanship. It says in Ephesians chapter
2, WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP. created in Christ Jesus unto
good work. Every believer is a workmanship
of God. You are an operation of God.
You are a work of God's grace, God's mercy, God's power, and
God's wisdom. Now day unto day uttereth speech. Today, right now, when the sun
came up this morning, the sun came up and it uttered speech.
It has a message. Every day has the message. It
has the same message. The message doesn't change. And
here's the message. God is. The Bible declares God
is. Creation declares God is. Day
after day, when one day finishes, the other day picks up the message
and carries it on. You know, I always say, well,
in conclusion, I really don't have a conclusion to a message.
Honestly, I'm going to just pick it up again either next Thursday,
next Sunday. It's just ongoing. It's just
that I'm going to stop right now. I'll see you later. We'll
pick back up again. It's true. It's just one continual
message and creation has one continual message. God is. This
is where it starts. Here's where it starts. God is. It says in Hebrews, He that cometh
to God must believe what? Election? Particular redemption? He that comes to God, here's
the first requisite, here it is, He that cometh to God must
believe that He is. That's it. It starts right here,
He must believe that He is, and then secondly, He must believe
that He is who He says He is. God has revealed Himself in this
book, in the pages of this book. You want to know God? Open the
book. GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF IN THE PAGES OF THIS BOOK. THERE'S
NO NEED FOR US TO GUESS WHO HE IS OR WHAT HE'S LIKE. WE HAVE
THAT WRITTEN. GOD HAS WRITTEN IT DOWN. HE HAD
IT WRITTEN DOWN FOR US. HE'S MADE HIMSELF KNOWN. BUT THE WORD BOOK AND THE CREATION
BOOK BOTH HAVE THE SAME MESSAGE. GOD IS AND IT'S WHERE IT STARTS.
But you cannot know the fullness of God looking at creation, can
you? We can know something of the power of God, we can know
something of the wisdom of God looking at creation, but we cannot
know the love of God, the mercy of God, the attributes of God,
we can't know them until we open the book, until we open the written Word
of God. Then we can know God. Then we can know God. DAY UNTO DAY, UTTER SPEECH. NIGHT UNTO NIGHT, SHOWETH KNOWLEDGE. DAY AND NIGHT, DAY AND NIGHT.
You know, day represents, it represents Christ who's the Light. Christ who is the Light. He said,
I am the Light. And what does nighttime represent?
Rest. Isn't that what you rest? That's
what God made it for, rest. Christ is our Light and Christ
is our rest. Now, the natural man is not going
to see that, but you see it. You see it. You know, when I
see the sun, this S-U-N that came up this morning, which you
couldn't see it particularly because of the clouds, but when
it came up this morning, we have light, don't we? It makes me
think of Christ, the Son of Righteousness, who's risen with healing in His
wings, the scripture says. WE HAVE NO LIGHT APART FROM THIS
S-U-N WE HAVE NO LIGHT EXCEPT FOR THAT THAT'S AMAZING THERE'S
ONE SON THAT LIGHTS UP THIS WHOLE WORLD ONE SON THERE'S NOT MANY
THERE'S MANY STARS BUT THERE'S ONLY ONE SON AND THAT ONE SON
REPRESENTS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST THAT ONE SUN GOES ALL OVER THE
EARTH. IT JUST GOES FROM ONE END TO
THE OTHER. IT LIGHTS UP THIS WHOLE GLOBE. JUST ONE. AND NOT ONLY DOES IT
LIGHT IT UP, WHAT ELSE DOES IT DO? IT WARMS IT UP. IT WARMS
IT UP. DOES HE NOT WARM UP OUR HEARTS?
DO YOU NOT FIND REAL... WHEN I THINK OF WARMTH, I THINK
OF COMFORT. I THINK OF COMFORT. When I think
of warmth, I think of ease. But I'll tell you something else
this sun can do. He can burn you up. The heat
of this sun can burn you up. Now we'll either find comfort
in Christ, rest in Christ, light in Christ, or it's gonna burn
us up. It's gonna do one or the other,
it's gonna burn us up. Just this one sun. this one sun and everything
on this earth, listen, everything on this earth comes from, lives
because of this one sun, the plant life. All the plant life
draws energy and life from the sun. It gets it from the soil,
but you take away the sun, it's not going to get it. That new creation, you go over
in Revelation, a new heaven, new earth, you know who's the
light of it? You know who's the life of it? The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. He's the light and life of that
new creation. He's the light and life of that new creation
in you. He's the light and life of it. Not only did He command
it, not only did He create it, He sustains it. JUST LIKE THIS
EARTH IS SUSTAINED BY THE SUNLIGHT. THAT NEW NATURE, THAT NEW NATURE
THAT IS CREATED OF GOD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUE HOLINESS IS SUSTAINED
BY THE SUN WHO IS LIGHT. SUNLIGHT IS WHAT IT IS. THERE IS NO SPEECH NOR LANGUAGE
WHERE THE VOICE OF CREATION IS NOT HEARD. You know, don't say, well, you
know, people way over there in the darkest parts of Africa,
they've never heard of God. Creation is screaming at them
every day. He's saying right here, there's no speech, there's
no language. We have a lot of foreign languages,
don't we? When God confounded the language at the Tower of
Babel, we have all these languages now. You know, I only know one
language as the Irish, the English language. I don't know any other
language. This is the only one I know.
But there are many, many, many, many languages and dialects all
over this earth. But he says there's no language
where the voice of creation, they have not heard the voice
of creation crying out, God is, God is. when they die they will
have no excuse they will have no excuse and 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 all of creation cries
out that God is and that son is as a bridegroom coming out
of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race that's
That's just a type of Christ. The moon, a type of the church,
the stars, all the believers, those are all types. Everything
God has put in creation, and I've learned this, in some respect,
SOMEHOW, SOMEHOW, it has a spiritual relationship to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I'm the Rose of Sharon,
the Lily of the Valley, the Lamb of God, the Bright and Morning
Star. I can just go on and on. He just
reaches into all of nature and lets us see Christ in it. is
going forth speaking here the son in verse 6 is from the end
of the heaven and his circuit until the ends of it god has
saved sinners through the lord jesus christ his son FROM ONE
END OF HEAVEN TO THE OTHER, FROM ONE END OF THIS EARTH TO THE
OTHER, HIS CIRCUIT OF MERCY, HIS CIRCUIT OF GRACE HAS GONE
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, HASN'T IT? THE GOSPEL HAS GONE THROUGHOUT
THE WORLD, AND THERE'S NOTHING HID FROM THE HEAT OF THIS SUN.
NOTHING HID. AS I SAID, IF HE DOESN'T SAVE
YOU, HE'LL BURN YOU. NOTHING'S HID FROM HIM. and now
it comes to the Word of God in verse 7. The Law and he's speaking here I believe
of the whole Word of God you know sometimes when we speak
of the Law it's speaking of the Ten Commandments so sometimes
it's the whole Word of God and here it's over in my margin let
me see what the Doctrine. The Law or the Doctrine of the
Lord. Now Doctrine means Teaching That's
all it is, it's teaching. THE TEACHING OF THE LORD IS PERFECT! You're not going to get that
in secular education. You're not going to get perfect
teaching in secular education. You will get it in the Word of
God. You will get it by the Spirit
of God. The Spirit of God cannot, it's impossible for Him to give
us any wrong instructions in teaching. It's not going to happen,
He can't do it. THE TEACHING OF THE LORD IS PERFECT!
And look at the effect of it. Here s the effect of His teaching.
You know, when God teaches, you learn. You learn. I did not learn everything I
was taught in school. several times i didn't pay any
attention i shouldn't probably shouldn't say that but it was
too many times i didn't pay any attention it's boring to me it
was something some subjects but the teaching of the lord perfect
converting the soul converting you know there's there's this
matter of regeneration that's being born again BEING
BORN AGAIN, BORN FROM ABOVE, BORN OF GOD, BUT YOU KNOW BEING
CONVERTED HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. YOU KNOW WHAT GOD SAID TO PETER,
WHEN THOU ART CONVERTED, STRENGTHEN YOUR BRETHREN. when you're instructed
and you're taught just like this morning you know the Lord instructs
you and He teaches you there's a there's a sense of being converted
in that that you go from one from faith to faith you go from
strength to strength it's converting the soul you're
learning you're you're being instructed you're growing in
grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Over in my
margin it says, RESTORING THE SOUL. RESTORING THE SOUL, CONVERTING,
RESTORING THE SOUL. THE TESTIMONY OF THE
LORD IS SURE, MAKING WISE THE SIMPLE. GOD'S DECREES, GOD'S
COUNSEL, GOD'S COVENANT IS SURE. I MEAN IT IS ABSOLUTE. YOU CAN
STAKE YOUR LIFE ON IT. It's sure and it makes wise the
simple. God has taken this simple man
right here and has made me wise. He's made me wise not in so much
the ways of the world but wise in the things of God. I know
how God can be just and justify me. I know what it is, I know to
some degree what it is to fear the Lord, to fear the Lord. It makes wisdom simple. The statutes
of the Lord are right, whether He s, you know, listen, it rejoices
the heart. The statutes of the Lord, you
know, God s Word rejoices the heart, it does. His Word rejoices
the heart. But I tell you this, if he's
bringing judgment, that's right also, isn't it? If he's building
up or if he's burning down, it's right. It's right. And we say, Hallelujah. Amen. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. When you see in the face of Jesus
Christ, the glory of God, you understand the gospel, you understand
something of God's commandment, your eyes have been enlightened. Who do men say that I am? Some
say you're Elijah, some say you're this, some say you're that. Peter
said, thou art to Christ, the son of the living God. He said,
Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father, which is in heaven, has revealed it to you. Your eyes
have been enlightened, your eyes have been opened, and they've
been enlightened. And the fear of the Lord is CLEAN!
It's clean, it's right, it's reverent, that's what it is,
it's reverent respect of God, that's what the fear of the Lord
is. It's clean and it's enduring
forever. You know, this fear of the Lord, which is reverent
and it's standing in awe of God, it'll last forever. It'll only
grow. Our respect, love, and reverence
for the Lord will just grow and grow throughout eternity. The
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold. God's Word, God's judgments,
God's decrees are more to be desired than gold. What does
most people want? gold the vast majority of the
human race would say would say between having god's word having
this book right here or fort knox you know what they choose fort
knox fort knox the believer would choose this
book god's word give me god's word it's his word it says will last
forever gold's not going to last forever you know what they think
of gold in heaven they walk on it the streets are made of gold
they walk on it that's all they do they walk on it GOD'S WORD, GOD'S DECREES ARE
MORE TO BE DESIRED THAN GOLD. OH, HE SAYS, THAN MUCH, MUCH
FINE GOLD. AND IT'S ALSO SWEETER, SWEETER
ALSO THAN HONEY, AND THE HONEY COMES SWEETER. DO YOU FIND THE
WORD OF GOD TO BE SWEETER AS YOU GROW OLDER? I DO. I DO. I FIND IT TO BE SWEETER. moreover by them now here we
have the prayer of the psalmist moreover by your word your decrees
your precepts by them is our servant warned what did you what
did we hear thursday night neglect not so great a salvation unless
you let it at any time you let it slip by them you're warned
you're warned thursday night god warns you and me thursday
night we are warned by them they are sweet and and they have warnings
and in keeping with them there's great reward or great blessings
spiritual blessings A natural man, he tries to keep them thinking
he's going to have a better job, a bigger house, more money, you
know, he's in it for the money. But you, it's spiritual blessings,
comfort, love, joy, peace. Who can understand his errors? NOW HOW WOULD HE HAVE KNOWN TO
PRAY THIS, EXCEPT BY THE WORD OF GOD? EXCEPT BY BEING INSTRUCTED
BY GOD, HOW WOULD HE KNOW TO PRAY, WHO CAN UNDERSTAND HIS
ERRORS, CLEANSED THOU ME FROM SECRET SINS? THAT'S WHAT THAT
IS. SECRET SINS. SINS I DON'T EVEN
KNOW OF. SINS OF IGNORANCE. YOU KNOW THERE
WAS SUCH A THING IN THE SCRIPTURE AS SINS OF IGNORANCE. YOU WEREN'T
RELEASED FROM THEM. THEY HAD TO BE ATONED FOR ALSO,
SINS OF IGNORANCE. KEEP BACK THY SERVANT ALSO FROM
PRESUMPTUOUS SINS, AND LET NOT THEM HAVE DOMINION OVER ME. LET NOT ANY SIN, ANY SIN. And it seems like everybody
is prone to some particular sin. But he said, Let not any sin
have dominion over me. Don't let it ruin me, that is,
ruin my witness and my comfort. You know, David said, Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. Why? He lost it. He lost it through
his sin with Bathsheba. He lost the joy of God's salvation. Where is God? He could find no
comfort in God anymore. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. Oh, let no sin have dominion
over me. Then shall I be upright and I
shall be innocent from the great transgression or much transgression. let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight you know
a lot of a lot of thoughts go through our mind don't they how
many it's hard to say how much you counted them how many thoughts
go through your mind today and i have and i and i understand
what he's saying here and i have asked the lord many times lord
control my thoughts i have LORD GIVE ME RIGHT THOUGHTS, LET ME
HAVE RIGHT THOUGHTS OF YOU TODAY. I'VE PRAYED THAT MANY TIMES. LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH BE
THE ANT IN MY MOUTH, LET WHAT I SAY You know, we can come in
here and we can declare to believe the gospel, I mean THE gospel
of God's grace and go out and destroy everything we've said
by our mouth. Our mouth can destroy our witness.
A person can listen to such a conversation and say, why would I believe
what you believe if it doesn't do any more for you than that? David said in one place, LORD
PUT A WATCH ON MY MOUTH, ON MY TONGUE, PUT A WATCH ON IT. HE KNEW HIS NATURE. EVERYONE
IN HERE THAT BELIEVES THE GOSPEL, YOU KNOW YOUR NATURE. And it's
like, LORD PUT BARS ON MY MOUTH. HELP ME JUST TO THINK BEFORE
I SPEAK. LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND
THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART BE ACCEPTABLE IN THY SIGHT. You
know, if I can't say it HERE, and I believe I was saying this
to Tommy the other day we were talking. If any language, if I cannot say
it in this building right here from this pulpit in your presence,
I don't need to be saying it out there. That's the truth.
I don't need to say it out there if I can't say it here. That's how much we ought to have
on our minds and our hearts God's glory because we are ambassadors
of God at all times. LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND
THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART, WHAT I THINK UPON, BE ACCEPTABLE IN
THY SIGHT, O LORD, MY STRENGTH AND MY REDEEMER. Oh that God would give us the
grace that when we look at creation
we see God and when we open the book we see God and we not only
just see but we hear Him, we hear Him. and we'd be so taken
up with Almighty God and we're so taken up with Him that it
burns in our hearts. God put a watch on my tongue,
my mouth, my conduct. Here's why. You're my Lord. You're
my Redeemer. You're my God.