Psalm 19. The title of the message is two books,
one voice. Two books, one voice, one harmonizing
message. That's the thought when I was
reading this. We have in this psalm two books. One is the one of
creation and the voice that it has, the message that it has. And the other is the Word of
God. The one declares the existence, the power, and the wisdom of
God, that is creation, and the Word of God declares the same,
but it also declares the redemptive glory of God. Creation doesn't
claim that. It can't proclaim that. The first one we have here is the book of creation, the
world book. It says in verse 1, "...the heavens
declare the glory of God, and the firmament, the expanse, all
that we see, showeth His handiwork, or the work of His hand." I know
this, I know that creation itself, just creation itself, leaves
this human race without excuse. Listen to Romans 1.20, For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
When you look at creation, you see something of the power of
God, and you see something of the government, the Godhead,
the government of God. He governs this world. It does
not govern itself. It does not just roll along. God governs this world. And He
says here, so that they are without excuse. The whole human race is without
excuse just by looking at creation. And He says here that the heavens,
and He starts with things above, the things above, they declare,
it's as if they shout, They shout the glory of God. All that is
above us mark out the splendor and glory of God. They celebrate
every day. Every day creation celebrates
the glory of God. The expanse manifests the work
of His hand. The expanse is what we can see.
It speaks to us continually. The child of God hears their
voice. When you look at the sun, the
moon, and the stars, you think of God, don't you? You think of His creating power. When you look at the heavens,
You are amazed, and I know you are because I am. I'm amazed
at the power and the wisdom of God. When I think of the sun
that streaks across the sky, it never goes out. It never flickers. You know,
we have power outages. There's never been a power outage
with the sun. And the faithfulness of it. Think
of the faithfulness of the Son. We're going to get to the Son
of God here in a minute. But think of the faithfulness. You
set your clock by it. You can set your clock by the
Son. It never changes. It never slows
down, speeds up. It's the same. I mean, it's just
the wisdom that it took. It's beyond our comprehension
to create such a ball of fire that heats and warms this earth
and that gives light to the stars. The stars just reflect the sun.
They reflect the light of the sun so that we can have a little
bit of light at nighttime. The moon reflects the light of
the sun that we can have a little light at nighttime so that the
animals can see during the night as they go out and feed and do
what they do. We can see the glory of God in
His handiwork just in looking at the heavens. And listen, just
looking at the heavens, Just because a man is fallen and depraved
and spiritually dead, he still has reason. He's still able to
reason. He's still able to think. He's
still able to look at the moon and the sun and the stars and
to say, they have a Creator. They have a Creator. To look
at the earth and say, the earth has a Creator. Then to look in
the mirror and say, I have a Creator. I want to know Him. I want to
know this One who created all things. I tell you this, if a
person would walk in the light they're given, God would give
them more light. God would give them more light. And then He says here, Day unto
day uttereth speech. and night unto night showeth
knowledge." Every day is speaking. You know, every day is preaching
a message. You know what that message is? God is. That's where
it starts. God is. It says in Hebrews, He
that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He's a rewarder
of them that diligently, not just out of little curiosity
or slothfully, but diligently seek Him. Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." It's like
the nighttime picks up where the daytime leaves off. It's
like their voice is never silent. The message is never silent.
It is constant. You say, well, the nighttime
comes and you can't see. Oh, yes you can. Oh yes, the
night time picks up where the day time leaves off, and then
the day time comes and picks up where the night leaves off.
And it's one continual message that God is. He is, and He's a God of power
and a God of wisdom. From sunrise to sunset, creation. And that word, utter speech,
it means this. It means creation. I like this
meaning too. It means creation gushes out.
I like that. Creation gushes out knowledge
of God. There is a constant gushing out,
like a geyser, that God is. There's constantly
gushing out knowledge of God. And day and night, day speaks
of light and night here, I believe, can speak of rest. In this we
have we can find in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we have
light and in Him we have rest. But it says here in verse 3,
and you can take the words in italics here, the word there
is and where out of this, and it reads like this in verse 3,
No speech nor language, their voice is not heard. They don't
speak in an audible voice. The sun does not speak in an
audible voice. The star's creation does not
have an audible voice. They do not articulate the message. They are silent and yet they
have a powerful message that reaches the whole world. He says
here, their line is gone, Their line has gone out through all
the earth, even though they don't have an audible voice, yet they
have a powerful message. And that message has gone from
one end of this globe to the other end of this globe. The
decree of the heavens is one proclaiming the glory of God. They're silent as far as speech,
but they're powerful in their message. They proclaim the glory
of God. In them, he says, hath he set
a tabernacle for the sun. God has made the heavens a place
for the sun to dwell and shine forth its light and warmth and
its glory. He said out of them he's made
a tabernacle for the sun. Here is a good picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God has made all that is. He's made all that there is for
His Son to shine forth in His glory. He's made all that is
that the Lord Jesus Christ may display all His glory. He may display all the glory
of His love and His grace to sinners. And He shines forth like the
sun. He goes forth in His strength. He's the one who gives us light
and understanding. The Lord Jesus Christ is. We
know this, without the sun, nothing would be able to exist, would
there? Nothing. And without the Lord Jesus Christ,
nothing would exist. The Scripture says, all things
are made by Him and for Him. And without Him, nothing was
made. Nothing was made. It's all for
His glory. God made all this and He made
the sun to shine on all of it. Of all the solar system, out
there in the solar system, which is the greatest of them all?
It's the sun. They all revolve around the sun.
The sun is the greatest of the solar system. And Jesus Christ
is the greatest of all of God's creation. And it's through Him that we
find the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, that
we find in Him all that we need. All that we need. I thought about this today. Without
the Son, nothing could be seen. If you take away that Son, S-U-N,
you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. You could
not see any of creation, but when the sun shines, when the
sun shines and it starts to, the daylight starts to break
over the hills, then you see the trees. You see,
you see the animals. I saw this so many times during
deer season. I was out there in a stand, so
I couldn't tell you how many times before the sun ever came up.
And then when the sun started coming up, you could see what
was out in front of you. I can see the trees and the fields
and I would see deer standing down there. But without the Son,
you can't see anything. Without the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, S-O-N, without Him, we could not and would not know
anything of God. We wouldn't do it. Because first
of all, we wouldn't seek Him. We would have no desire to seek
Him. With all this standing in front
of our face, man still will not seek God. He still will not seek
God. But in Christ, in Christ, we
know God. We know the Father. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. And notice here the strength
of this son here in verse 5. You see, it talks about the heavens
declare the glory of God, the firmament show His handiwork,
but then it puts particular attention on the son. And he said, the
son is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Can you see? Here's a picture of a wedding
day. He's in his chamber, he's in his tent. this tabernacle where he's staying,
and then it's time, it's time for him to appear, and he steps
out, and he's arrayed in all this wedding garment, he's arrayed
in all his glory, and he's standing out there, the bridegroom. Of
course, you know, in our day, we make all the attention on
the bride. But with God, it's the opposite. It's all about
the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, it's all about Him. He
comes forth. He said here, it's like the bridegroom
coming forth out of his chamber and he rejoices like a strong
man, a man full of confidence to run a race. He knows he's
going to win. He said, My servant shall not
fail. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He came into this world,
yes, He's meek and lowly, but He's not weak and lowly. There
is no weakness in Him. He came forth like a bridegroom.
He came forth like a man ready to run a race, knowing he's going
to win it. I tell you, there's nothing like
watching somebody play a game with confidence. Someone said there's a fine line
between cocky and confidence. He knows he can do it. He knows
he can win it. He knows the power of the bridegroom. When the sun comes up, I was
thinking about this, when the sun comes up, it's like this
bridegroom coming out of the tent. What happens when the sun
comes up? Darkness has to flee. You know
darkness never drives away light? Light always drives away darkness.
Darkness doesn't drive away light. You turn that light on and see
how long darkness resists. It doesn't do it. The only reason
we have darkness is the absence of light. It's not because darkness
drove it away. It's just the absence of light. But the Son, when the Son of
God arises with healing in His wings, He drives away darkness. He drives away ignorance. He
illuminates us. He illuminates us. He's the reason
we know God. He comes forth in power and great
glory. It says over in Mark 13.26 that
when the Lord comes, He's going to come in power and glory, just
like this spoken of here in this verse in verse 5. There's nothing
in all of creation, in all of God's creation, there's nothing
compared to the Son. There's no planet out there compared
to the sun. There could be no life on this
earth without the sun. And there's nothing that compares
to the Son of God. Without Him, there is no spiritual
life. Without Him, there's no acceptance.
Without Him, there's no forgiveness. Without Him, we're doomed. Nothing compares to the Son of
God. 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." Still speaking here of this sun. All the attention
now is on the sun. And what he's saying here is
the sun, the S-U-N, has dominion over all creation. Mars does
not have dominion over all creation. Jupiter, you name all these planets,
but the sun does. as sun rises up and it crosses
the sky. It has dominion and there's nothing
hid from its heat. Either the warmth of it or the
wrath of it. Either one. Powerful, powerful. That's dominion. It's dominion. The Lord Jesus
Christ has dominion over all the earth. He said, Father, you
have given me power over all flesh. Before he went back to
heaven, he said, all power and all authority is given to me. All of it. And He exercises that
power and that authority day by day, moment by moment, over
all of creation. Over all of the heavens, and
over all the earth, and over all nations, all people. I don't
care if it's a king or a pauper. He exercises power and authority
over all. and nothing is hid from Christ.
There is no person in this world that is so far gone they cannot
feel the warmth of His love, and there is no person so high
and lifted up that they will not feel the heat of His wrath. They said, they cried to the
rocks and the mountains that follow them, hide them from what?
The wrath of the Lamb. Hide them from the wrath of the
Lamb. And now it's like he abruptly turns from creation. It's almost
like I can see David, and he's probably older here, but he's
probably thinking back when he was a shepherd boy, sitting out
there with the sheep, and he's looking at creation, and he's
thinking about all that, and God's glory in it, and how it
declares His glory, and then he turns his attention to the
Word of God. You can only learn so much from
creation. You can learn something about
the existence of God. You can learn something about
the power of God. Now, he has to have a lot of power to create
all this. You can learn something about the wisdom of God. He has
to be very wise and to make all this variety work in such harmony. But now he's going to turn to
the Word of God. And this is where we learn the
gospel. This is where we really learn
who God is. When we turn to His Word, we
don't guess, we don't have to wonder, we have it written right
in front of us. God has given a revelation of
who He is in His Word. Now he says, here's the law of
the Lord, and he's not talking about the Ten Commandments. He's
talking about the whole counsel of God, the whole Word of God,
all of it. The law of the Lord is perfect
converting the soul. Now you notice here, every time
he talks about the law, the testimony, they have an effect. They make
things happen. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. God's Word is perfect. It's complete. We don't need to add to it. We have the complete Word of
God. There is more in this book about
God than you and I will ever search out. Really. If you really get in, dig, and
find, and diligently seek Him, the more you seek Him, the more
you know Him. The more He reveals Himself out of this book. And His Word accomplishes the
thing where in its sin, that is converting the soul. It says
in the margin, restoring the soul. It reaches to the soul. You see, the sun, the moon, and
the stars of creation does not restore my soul. But the Word of God, the Living
Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, restoreth my soul. And God's
Word restores me all the time, doesn't it? Does His Word not
restore us day by day when we read it and think upon it? Does
it not bring us back into focus? Does it not bring us back to
reality? The Word of God is perfect. It gives us all things that pertain
to life and godliness. That's what Peter said in 2 Peter
1. And his testimony is sure, it's
true. You can take him at his Word. Our Lord said this in John 3.11,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know. Christ
said, I know what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about,
I know what I'm talking about. And testify that we have seen.
And you receive not our witness, but our testimony is sure. I'm telling you about what I
know and what I've seen. I'm a witness to it. God's Word imparts knowledge
and understanding. It's through His Word that we
find out who God is, who Christ is, who we are, and what He has
done, and who He did it for, and where He is now. Where'd
you find all that out at? Encyclopedia? The Word of God's
where you found it out. Where you found it out? The Word
of God. And the statutes of the Lord are right. I know the ungodly say, that's
not right. That's not right. The election's not right. And
why isn't it? Does not the potter have power
over the clay? You create a world, you do what you want with it.
This is his. He can do what he wants with
it. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. They rejoice the heart of God's
children, God's statutes, God's commandments, God's law rejoices
your heart. And it doesn't rejoice the heart
of the ungodly. It does yours. The commandment
of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The statutes of the
Lord are morally right, perfect. They are universally right. It's
not like they fit one place and not another. No, they're universally
right. They are right because it is
the revelation of God who's holy, God who can do no wrong. It's
a revelation of Him, they're right. And they are right because
a holy God can communicate no other way, but through righteousness. It has to be right. The Word
of God never leads people into sin. Never lead you into sin,
ever. Never, never, never, never. The lust of the flesh leads you
into sin, in me. But never the Word of God. The
Word of God is... The statutes of the Lord are right, they're
right. And the commandment of the Lord is pure, pure. It gives
understanding. It gives understanding. And the
fear of the Lord is clean. enduring forever, and the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, the Word of God will
never fade or diminish because of impurity. It is clean, and
it makes clean. The Scripture says the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And David summarizes the Word
of God as true and righteous, all together from Genesis to
Revelation. And he didn't have that. Think
about this. He's saying the statutes of the
Lord, the commandments of the Lord, they're true, they're right,
they're pure. And he only had the first five
books of the Bible. And he may have had Job and Ruth,
a few of those older books, but that's all he had. What do you
think he'd say if he had this now? Well, if he has what we
have. But I know this, there's nothing
false or unrighteous in God's Word. It is the unerring Word of God. There's not a book you can read
that doesn't have a lie in it, except the Word of God. I mean
not a book. There's not a book you can read,
I don't care if it's the best commentary in the world, that
hasn't missed the mark on something. You know, when somebody writes
a commentary on the whole Bible, I'm like, there's nobody that
has that kind of knowledge. I mean, there's some good ones
out there. You know, I've heard Henry say,
you know, because I know the ones he read, he said, well,
I don't really, I didn't really agree with him maybe on this
point. That's because none of them get it completely right. There's only one book that's
completely right. This one. This one. And listen here, David puts great
value on God's Word. And the older I get, the older
I get, the more I want to read of God's Word and less of other
men. And I do have some good men that I read, but I'd rather
read more of God's Word. and compare Scripture with Scripture. Someone said there's no better
commentary on the Word of God than the Word of God. Compare
Scripture with Scripture. But His Word, he says here, is
more to be desired are they than gold. What is the one thing that just
draws us? Anybody in here says money doesn't
draw me. You can fool somebody else, but
I don't believe it. It's more to be desired than
gold. He says, yeah, just in case, in case he didn't get the
point across, he says, yeah, more than fine gold, the most
purest and abundant gold. Sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb." God's Word is to be desired above all riches. Which is better to have? The
Word of God, the Gospel, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or a great job and making great money? Which is better to have? Many have left the gospel for
a better job. More pay. I can do better for my family. If you take your family away
from the gospel, you just did one of the worst things in the
world for your family. One of the worst. Actually, you can't
do anything worse. Because you'll lose in the end.
Paul said this in 2 Timothy 4.10, Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world. He was so drawn by the world
and the riches of it that he finally left the Apostle Paul.
In one place, now listen, in one place the Apostle Paul commended
Demas. He actually commended him. And
then here he says, this same Demas that he commended, he said,
has left me. having loved this present world." I bet you he wish he hadn't left
now. Life's too short. Life's too
short to chase after soap bubbles. Too short. And he says here, concerning
God's Word, they're sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb.
You know what this is saying, I think? They are better than
all fleshly experiences. They're better than all sensual
experiences. Sweeter than the honeycomb. He
says God's Word, God's commandments, God's statutes are better than
all sensual experiences. Moreover, Moreover, he said,
let me tell you some more. I'm not through yet. I got a
few more things to say before I'm done here. Moreover, by them
is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there's great
reward. We need to be warned, don't we? Because we don't know nearly
as much as we think we do. And we're not nearly as strong
as we think we are. Lead us not into temptation,
because one temptation I cannot resist without the Lord's help. One guy said, he said, I can
resist anything but temptation. That's the one thing you can't
resist is temptation. Wherewithal, Psalm 119, wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? How will he cleanse his
way? How will a young man, he's strong, he's vibrant, he's full
of youth and vigor, how will he cleanse his way? How will
he stay on the right path? How's he not gonna be like the
young man over in the song of Solomon, over in the Proverbs,
where Solomon is warning his son about the harlot, the flattering
woman. She looks out her window, she
sees this simple man, simple young man passing by, and she
goes out and she flatters him and gets him and brings him into
her house and into her bed, and before you know it, it says,
her ways are the way to hell. She got him, she got him. What's going to keep a young
man on a straight and narrow, straight as a gate and narrow
as a way? What's going to keep him on that path? Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according
to thy word, getting into the word of God. I tell you this,
the word of God in the hands of the Holy Spirit will guide
a young man or young woman on down that right path. And I'm
telling you, there's a lot of voices going down that path.
Hey, come over here. Hey, over here. We're going to
have a party tonight. Come over here. But God's word will keep that
young man or that young woman on that right path. That's what
he told Tim. Paul said to Timothy, flee youthful
lust. Flee it. In God's Word, we are warned
against sin, sin that's within and sin without. In God's Word,
we are warned against dangers. Paul said, shun every appearance
of evil. Shun every appearance of it. He says, in keeping them, there's
great blessings. There are great blessings in following God's
Word. Number one, they keep you out of trouble. They can keep you out of trouble.
They can keep you from bringing reproach on the name of Christ.
They can keep you from great heartache. Remember David who
fell with Bathsheba? Listen, the sword never left
his house. His son raped his sister. Absalom
tried to take the throne. Absalom is killed. And David,
when he's dying, says, although it be not so with my house, God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. But my house is a mess. My house
is a mess. And my house is a mess over one
thing that I did. I committed adultery with Bathsheba
and had her husband killed. Now you know I read to you this
past week that it says that David wholly followed the Lord in all
his commandments. He followed Him with all his
heart except in the situation with Uriah the Hittite. And because
of that, the Lord told David, He said, you've given the enemy
occasion to blaspheme My name, and the sword is not going to
leave your house. We can be forgiven of all sin, but sometimes the
consequences are a lifetime. They can be a lifetime. And that's
why it's so important to be saturated in the Word of God. It's a light. It's a light into our feet and
into our path. It's a light. You go out here
tonight, you turn all the lights out, and you got one flashlight
in your hand, and you can shine which way to walk. This Word
is a light. It's a light in a world of darkness. A world of confusion, it's a
light. And I cannot, especially the
younger ones, I cannot tell you how important it is to saturate
yourself in the Word of God. The Word of God leads to a fuller
knowledge of Christ. Our Lord says, search the scriptures,
and then you think you have life, but they are they which testify
of me. If you want to know more of Christ, get into the Word. Then he says here, Who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Who can understand the depth of sin? Who can understand? Now listen, who can understand
the real depth of the corruption of their own heart? We have some
knowledge of sin. If God has saved us, we have
some knowledge, we have some understanding of sin. But brethren,
we're going to scratch the surface. Who can understand the error,
the depth of wickedness? Who can understand errors, sins? Cleanse me from sins I don't
even know about. We have more sins that we don't
know about than we do. We really do. How often do we walk around and
our love is so cold and we don't ever think about it. David is saying, cleanse me from
sins I don't even know about, sins of ignorance, sins of omission
as well as commission. Let thy blood cleanse me from
all my sins. For listen, we are responsible
for them all, known and unknown. I've been reading in Leviticus
and I was reading about sins of ignorance. Sacrifices had to be offered
for them when it came to knowledge. When it came to their knowledge,
they did something. They didn't, it was like, I didn't know, I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to do that. You know, a sacrifice still had
to be offered for that before there could be forgiveness. We are responsible for sins known
and unknown. That's why we look to Christ.
Lord, cleanse me from all my sins. And keep back thy servant
also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from
the great transgression, or much transgression. Keep thy servant
from doing what I know to be wrong. Hmm, you think David knows
what he's talking about here? Now this is where it really hits
the road. Keep me back from doing the things that I know I shouldn't
be doing. Some think because they are a
Christian, God is just automatically going to forgive them. That's presumptuous. That's being
presumptuous. That's to presume upon God's
mercy. Someone said this about presumptuous sins. Presumptuous
sins are when I know better, when I've been warned, when I
have warned others about the same sins, when I plan on it
and enjoy it. He's saying, save me from presumptuous
sins, the sins that I'm so given to, prone to do, drawn to do,
like a bug to a light. Sin has a progression. It starts
out as a thought, then it goes to a meditation, and it goes
to an action, and it goes to slavery. Because he says here,
"...let them not have dominion over me, make a slave out of
me. Lord, save me." David knows himself. Sounds like a man knows himself,
doesn't it? Save me from sins of ignorance, and Lord, save
me from the sins that I know better than to do. Keep me from
them. Lord, save me from the indwelling
sin that I'm so driven to do. I need salvation. Lord, save
me from it. The Scripture says, There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. You know, He may show mercy and
He may not. Yes, He can forgive me, but He
can also leave me alone. let them not have dominion over
me, let them not enslave me. Then shall I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression." Some say
this means from apostasy. But others say, and I agree with
this also, both of them, save me from some great transgression. Save me, listen, One little sin
leads to another, but save me from a great fall. David knows
what he's talking about. Save me from a great fall. Don't
let me bring reproach on your name. Don't let my sins enslave
me and bring me down. Then shall I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength." When he says here, O Lord, that
is God of my covenant, the God of the covenant of grace. My
strength, that is my rock, my redeemer. David closes by humbly
submitting himself to God. His words and the meditation
of his heart were like a sacrifice. That's why he says here that,
let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable. That has the meaning of a sacrifice. We know that doesn't supersede
the sacrifice of Christ, but Lord, accept them. He's asking
God to accept his prayer, to answer his prayer, to keep him.
Oh, to fall upon God like this. David ends by calling God his
strength, or his rock, as well as his Redeemer. There's two
things David knew here. Well, he knew more than just
two things, but he ends with a couple things. He knew that
he needed to be redeemed. He knew he needed a Redeemer. And he knew he needed a rock
to stand on, a solid rock, one that was not movable. One that
was firm, a firm foundation. He knew that. He knew that. All right.