Turn in your Bibles with me to
Psalm 19. Psalm chapter 19. This psalm
is about the glory of God that is seen in His work and in His
word. That's what this psalm is about,
the glory of God seen in His work and in His word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your
word. It truly is exceeding broad. and we had never begun to understand
it until you opened it. And even then, Lord, it comes
to us as the unsearchable riches of your wisdom and truth and
your goodness. And Lord, we pray that you would
be pleased to make yourself great in our eyes from your word today.
For Jesus' sake, in his name we pray, amen. Let's read through this psalm
together. The heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament
showeth his handiwork. The firmament means the expanse,
the sky. Day unto day uttereth speech. 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 chamber, 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 all together. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can
understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults,
or from secret. 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. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer. It's clear from this psalm that
there's two things here emphasized. The first six verses talk about
creation. The verses that follow, verse
7 through verse 11, talk about the word of God. And then the last verses, which
are at the end, in verse 12 through 14, is a prayer based on the
first two sections of this psalm to God, that he would keep him
back from sin, from pride, and that he would find his thoughts,
his words, and his thoughts to be pleasing in God's sight. And
so you can see the divisions here of this psalm in Psalm 19.
First of all, though, we see in the first six verses the emphasis
on creation. The heavens, it says in verse
one, declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his
handy work. God's work makes known God's
glory. That's what this is saying here,
and the immediate Subject, the immediate work spoken of here
is the creation. It says, the heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. And then
the next verse says that this is a continuous. Message, day
unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge.
Not only is it continuous and constant, but also there's no
place where this message is not heard. He says in verse three,
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. So here we have the message of God's creation. It speaks of His glory. And this
message is heard universally. It never stops preaching. That's
the first interpretation of these verses of scripture. He goes
on, he talks about the sun in the sky. He says, in them, in
the sky, in the firmament, in the heavens, in them hath he
set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
In the Jewish culture, when there was a marriage, the bridegroom
would come out of a chamber to get his bride. And he would emerge
as a strong man. And there was great joy because
the bridegroom was coming forth to gather his bride to himself. And so God says that the sun
in the sky is designed to remind us of a bridegroom coming out
for his bride, a strong man to run a race, because we know that
the race had to be run in order for the Lord Jesus Christ to
have a bride. And then he says in verse 6,
Speaking more of the sun, he says, his going forth, 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. So
here the sun that God has put in the sky, we all know it every
day. We see it rise up in the east
and set in the west. It's so predictable. that men refer to the sun as
being predictable. It's very predictable. Of course,
when there's clouds and stormy weather, we can't see the sun,
but we still feel the heat of it. There's no place on earth
where the heat of the sun is not felt. Now all these things
are obvious to us. There's not a person on earth
who hasn't experienced God's creation. Not a person. Not only that, but people cannot
change what God has created. Have you ever noticed that men
will try to go to a distant planet, the moon, or Mars, or they will
shoot They'll put telescopes on spaceships and shoot them
out into the sky and try to peer into the heavens. They've got
these pictures of the sky. It's immense. The universe is
so immense. It's beyond our comprehension,
beyond all comprehension. Men who call themselves scientists
try to comprehend just the heavens, and they still cannot do it.
That's how immense God's creation is. And I like to think about
creation in the immensity of it. They say that, men say this,
but we know they have no basis for what they say. It's just
beyond their description. So they pull numbers out of a
hat, so to speak, in order to try to convey how big the universe
is. They'll say things like the universe
is 200 billion light years across. What does that mean? Well, light
travels, you know how fast light travels. A number I remember
from my youth was 186,000 miles per second at an unfathomable
speed. And if light were to travel for
a year at that rate, that's how big of a distance one light year
would be. 200 billion light years is beyond
all comprehension. Our own solar system, that collection
of planets in which our sun is the main part, and there's these
different planets and you probably have some idea of how many there
are. They have names for them like Mercury and Venus and Earth
and Mars and so on. And they stretch out a ways.
And we call that our solar system. And that's just a little tiny
part of a larger galaxy of suns and stars called the Milky Way
galaxy, which is enormous. And they say that when you look
out into the sky and you see these blurry little things that
we think of as stars, those are more galaxies on the order of
the Milky Way. They're not stars, but galaxies
of stars. And that's just what they see.
And they can't even see beyond what they can see, obviously,
so it is completely beyond comprehension. Now, the other thing about this
is not only is it huge and immense, but is it unchangeable by man. Men may scoff, men may deny the
truth they know, but what man has ever changed the heavens?
They cannot. They can't even reach them. You
can send a spaceship out at the beginning of the Earth's creation
and that spaceship still would not have reached the nearest
star. That's how far away they are.
Incredible. Incredible. And yet it says in
scripture that the Lord stretched out heaven with a span. And that span just means like
the wave of his finger. It says, by the word of the Lord
were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath
of His mouth, by the breath of His nostrils. Incredible. Incredible. What does this teach
us? It teaches us that God is beyond our ability to comprehend
in His greatness, in His majesty. Everything that we know is called
creation. We can't fathom or we cannot
put our hands on, we can't sense with our eyes, our nose, our
ears, or anything, our touch, we can't sense anything that
God didn't create. And before all that God created,
there was only God. And God was from the beginning. It means there was never a time
when he began to be. He has always been God. All of creation was made by him. Therefore, there's nothing in
creation, which includes you and me, that could have given
God counsel or could have given him assistance. God didn't ask
for our help, He didn't ask for our advice, and He didn't need
it. God needs nothing from His creation,
creation needs everything from God. God depends on nothing,
everything depends on Him. He's before all things, all things
were made by His will alone, because there was no will but
Him, before He made the worlds. And so these things are self-evident
from creation. Creation has a voice and it speaks
to all men everywhere. None can deny that they have
not heard this voice of God's work in creation. That's the
first message here in Psalm 19. Eternal. God is eternal. God is beyond comprehension. In His wisdom, He knows everything. There's nothing hid from His
eyes. Nothing hid from the knowledge
of God and the wisdom of God. He is almighty. He has all power. All of creation depends on his
power. Not only did he call it forth
out of its nothingness and emptiness, but he upholds it by the word
of his power. This is our God. Great and almighty
and eternal and sovereign. No one influences him. He is
influenced by none and all are influenced by Him. Some scriptures
say, of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. In 2 Corinthians 5.18 it says,
all things are of God. All things are of God. It's given
to us in Scripture in words. It tells us a second witness
to what creation already says, is that God is eternal. It says
in Romans chapter 1 verse 20 that creation speaks of His eternal
Godhead and power. And when we see creation, we
are taken aback by the beauty of it, aren't we? And we would
love to just sit and peer at it and look at it and consider
it. And men do. Men spend their lives investigating
from the smallest biological part that they can find to the
atom, the smallest part of matter, to the infinitude of space. And
they love to look from the microscopic to the infinite. concept of space,
and they like to think about it, and they like to talk about
origins, and they completely deny what God has said. They
completely deny it, and yet the Lord says that creation speaks. There's not a sound, there's
not language where his voice is not heard, and it speaks of
God's handiwork. What power does God have to be
able to command what is not into existence by his word and that
thing which is not obeys his word? It's the same power. No, it's not even to be compared
with the power that God speaks when he calls forth a sinner
out of his spiritual, empty, dark void into a new creation
in Christ Jesus the Lord. And so we see this first part
of Psalm chapter 19, verses one through six, it speaks of God's
creation. This is the first book, if you
will, the first book of God's witness. Not the only book, the
next part too. Look at verse seven. The law
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Now, the first part
spoke of God as the creator. What does creation say? There
is a creator. That's the message. Where there
is a creation, there is a creator. I watched a movie about intelligent
design one time. They had a picture in the movie
of a shoreline. And on the sand where the waves
would lap up, it was written on the sand something like Mary,
heart, John. And they said when people look
at that, they never for a moment consider the fact that that appeared
at random. Why? Because there's a message
in it. Mary loves John. No one expects
that that happened by some clam crawling on the sand or by the
wave somehow just maneuvering the sand in such a way that it
writes, Mary loves John. Because we immediately recognize
there's an intelligence in the message. And nothing could put
that message there with that intelligence except a person.
And so that's the way creation is. Creation screams that there
is a creator. And that's the first message.
The one who is the creator has spoken, and his word not only
brought creation forth, but the same word carries forth through
creation to speak of him, of his handiwork, of his glory,
it says. The heavens declare the glory
of God. His greatness, his eternality,
his almighty power, his wisdom goes beyond measure. There's
nothing that God doesn't know, no wisdom that is not in God's
mind. But the second part speaks of
God's word. The law or the doctrine, it says
in the margin, 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. Now, here we have God's word. God's word written. Remember
what it says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. All scripture is given
by inspiration of God. Actually, before that, he says,
concerning Timothy, he says, thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee, what, wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. Very, very important and significant
scripture that bears on this. What is it that makes us wise
unto salvation according to 2 Timothy 3.15, the scriptures? Thou hast
known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation. And how does salvation come to
us according to 2 Timothy 3.15? Through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. The scriptures are used by God
to give us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the
way we are saved. By grace, you have been saved
through faith, and that faith, not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. So that's the way faith comes
to us, is through the word of God. Here he says, the law of
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is sure, making wise the simple. And it means here a simple
meaning a foolish, simple-minded person. The statutes of the Lord
are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. What is this saying? that here
we have a matter, God's Word, that speaks about something that
brings about here a conversion, a making wise of the simple,
rejoicing the heart and enlightening the eyes. Do you see that? And
so this is speaking about There was creation in the first six
verses. What is this speaking about?
The enlightening work of God in our salvation. This is speaking
about salvation. What was the message of creation?
The Creator. What's the message of salvation?
The Savior, you see. So here we have a pair of books.
God has given creation in order to teach us of the creator, and
he also reveals that the creator is also the savior who speaks
by his word, and it's that word that gives us this faith in Christ
Jesus. And then he goes on in verse
nine, 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. By them thy servant is warned.
Okay. So now, when we look at these
things, we can see something here that's very clear. But there's
something in the rest of scripture that unfolds Psalm 19 to our
eyes, to our understanding. And that's what I want to get
into now. If you look at Romans chapter 10, in Romans, the book
of Romans, the apostle Paul was given this ministry to preach
God, the Lord Jesus Christ sent him to preach the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our salvation. That's called
the gospel. And in Romans chapter 9, through
the apostle Paul, God reveals that salvation is not by what
we decide, not by our will, not by our choice, but by what God
decides, what he determines, who he chooses. It always comes
from God. It is not that I did choose thee,
for Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. And so in Romans 9, he talks
about God's election. And then in Romans chapter 10,
God draws out another principle. The entire nation of Israel was
given his law for thousands of years. and yet they refuse God. And so he shows in chapter 10
that the nation of Israel, when God spoke the gospel to them,
they clung in their pride to their own self-righteousness
and they rejected Christ. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. So that not only does God choose
men to salvation, but he proves to the nation of Israel that
all those who are lost are lost by their own fault, the fault
of their own self-righteous pride. Okay, that's the context here
in the verse I'm about to read in Romans chapter 10. Now notice,
in Romans chapter 10 in verse 15, it says, I'll back up, in
verse 14, he says, I'm going to back up to verse 13, he says,
whosoever Notice these words, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Praise God indeed. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Who is the
Lord to call upon? Jesus Christ. That's the context
here. If you look at verse four, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
And then he talks about the Lord Jesus Christ coming down from
heaven, ascending back up to heaven. And that in verse nine,
if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and here he says,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The Lord Jesus Christ. If you call on Christ, you shall
be saved. That's God's promise. In spite
of the fact that God is the one who chooses us to salvation,
if you find it in your heart, like Rommel was speaking from
Matthew 5 earlier, you're poor in spirit, you're burdened, you're
hungry, you're thirsty, and you find yourself calling on Jesus
Christ, Lord, save me. Like that man in Luke 18, 13,
the Lord says, you shall be saved. What a promise, huh? Verse 14,
how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
You won't call unless you believe. That's just a simple fact of
spiritual physics here. You won't call if you don't believe.
I remember I was helping a man who was a roofer and I was maybe
19 or something. Denise and I were early married.
And I was on the roof trying to convince him of the truth
of the gospel. And I said, you just need to
call on the Lord. And he said, why would I call
if I didn't believe? I said, you don't realize you
just spoke what's in the Bible. You won't call unless you believe.
That's what it says here. And how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? You can't believe unless you've
heard. The message has to be given by God. And you have to
hear it. And then God causes you to believe
under the hearing of it. like Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth! He was dead, but the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ reached him in that death and brought
him forth. That's the way the gospel comes.
And then he says, and how shall they hear without a preacher?
You don't hear the gospel unless God sends it to you. You don't
get to just figure it out on your own. You can't get it by
looking at the stars or the trees. A preacher has to preach it to
you. Verse 15, and how shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that, notice
the words carefully, preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
tidings of good things. Gospel of peace, glad tidings
of good things. And then he says in verse 16
now, remember Israel, they heard the gospel, they rejected it,
they held fast to their own obedience, trusting in their own obedience
like the Pharisees that would make them acceptable to God on
the day of judgment. They held fast to it, they held
to it, they would not let it go, they would not submit themselves
to the righteousness of God, which is Christ. So he says,
but they have not all obeyed the gospel. Here the glad tidings,
the gospel of peace, the good tidings of good things has come,
and they have not obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord,
who hath believed our report, The gospel is the report. The
report is what Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, how that he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities
and the chastisement from God for our peace was brought upon
him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. That's the gospel. That's the
glad tidings, the good news. And yet they have not all believed
it. They haven't obeyed it in believing.
Verse 17. So then, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Alright. There we have it. Israel
was given God's word, but then the question comes, well, verse
18, but I say, have they not heard? Did they not believe because
they didn't hear? Maybe God didn't send the word
to them. So we're gonna put it back on God. It's His fault. He says, notice, very carefully,
verse 18, Romans 10, but I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily,
or truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words
unto the ends of the world. Now, that is what Psalm chapter
19 and verse, Verse 4 says, let me read it
from Psalm 19, their line is gone out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world. But, notice here,
the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans where he is preaching
the gospel, is given the insight, the understanding to correctly
interpret Psalm 19. And what is the correct interpretation
of Psalm 19 according to this verse? It is that the gospel
of Jesus Christ given to, given by Christ to his apostles has
gone forth into all the world so that there's no sound or language
where their voice, the voice of his apostles and his ministers
sent by Jesus Christ, has not been heard. And the message is
so much further in significance above, so much newer, I mean
so much more enduring in its commencement when it began, and
in its enduring after the creation itself, that it's like creation
is a prelude. In a musical movement, have you
ever gone to a symphony and you'll hear one of the musicians start
up and they'll play a little thing and you kind of become
interested in that. And then the whole orchestra
joins in and plays the main piece. And there's something thrilling
about that because you thought that this little introductory
part was what captivated your interest. But then when the big
orchestra joins in, and the full piece is played, and it lasts
for maybe 45 minutes, and you're completely enamored by all of
the parts of it, and the way it plays, and it's just so delightful,
that that little prelude in the beginning, it's just like, oh,
it was just to kind of give you a thirst for what would follow. Creation is the prelude. The
gospel is the main performance. And so that what God has said
in creation, everyone has heard that. No one can deny it. But
also, something more significant. Something more important, something
that began before and will continue after. Something that is so much
greater in the revelation of God and His glory by this work
supersedes and goes beyond creation. that it's to be considered as
just the first movement of the large work of God. In fact, creation
itself was just a foreshadowing of the true message, of the true
accomplishment, the true work of God in our salvation. And so what Paul is saying here
is that yes, Israel heard. They heard the gospel. It was
preached by Christ's apostles. He sent them and their voice
went through all the world. Look at Colossians chapter 1.
I want you to see this because it is intended to make us sit
back and consider the greatness of the message, the greatness
of the salvation, and the greatness of the Savior revealed to us
now in these last days. In Colossians chapter 1, look
at verse 3. Colossians 1, 3. Now this is the apostle writing
to Gentiles who heard and believed the truth of the gospel. Listen
to the way he writes to them. He's bringing attention to God's
saving work of them. He says in verse 4, in Christ Jesus and of the love
which you have to all the saints. Notice how Paul brings attention
to the two things that the gospel holds up to us. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and love for his people, right? He says, so
we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus and the love which you have to all saints. For the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before, where? In the word of the truth of the
gospel. which is come to you as it is
in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in
you since the day you heard of it. and knew the grace of God
in truth." Notice the emphasis here. What came? The Gospel. What did it do? It produced faith
in them. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. And what did that faith produce?
It produced the fruit of the Spirit, which also was love towards
God's people, towards the saints, and it was The word that came
to them was concerning a hope God had laid up for them, a promise
of eternal life and eternal glory in heaven itself, whereof you
heard this in the word of the truth of the gospel, and it has
come into all the world. You see that? Notice that it
came into all the world, and it was concerning the grace of
God in truth. Now look over at verse 23, same
chapter, Colossians 1, 23. I should read from verse 20,
he says, having made peace through the blood of his cross, just
talking about the Lord Jesus, by him to reconcile all things
to himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, notice the scope. things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight." Verse 23, if you continue in
the faith grounded and settled and not moved away, Now begin
to focus on this from the hope of the gospel which you have
heard and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. So by the writing
of the New Testament, according to God's word, every creature
under heaven had heard the gospel. And this is exactly what Jesus
told his disciples in Matthew 28. And not just them only, but
the entire church. He says, go ye therefore, and
I'll read it to you. You're probably very familiar
with it. I'll read it to you, make sure I get it right. Matthew
28, 18. Notice the command of the Lord
Jesus Christ now. This is his gospel. He's the
word of God, and he sends it. And they came and he spake to
them, verse 18, all power is given to me in heaven and earth.
You see it? The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo, and notice these words, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world. So when we
think of creation, we think of its immensity, We think of it
being ubiquitous, it's everywhere, the word of creation is everywhere.
God is saying that that creation, that message of creation about
God's glory and God's work is just a beginning movement in
the larger purpose of God that he would display his glory, make
his glory known, and in his work, not in the act of creating the
world, the physical universe, but the act of creating a new
creation, which was the people of God, born of God, created
in Christ Jesus through the gospel of God, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is the message that
has been preached throughout the world Through the ministry
of the apostles, Christ gave them the gospel to take it and
he revealed to them what the prophets and the Old Testament
law and the Psalms were speaking about when they spoke of the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So
every message of the apostles in the book of Acts always directs
us to what? The gospel of Christ and his
sovereign rule in heaven because he finished this work. and God's
glory is seen in him, right? God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
2 Corinthians 4.6. So we see this then that what
supersedes, what's more important and significant began before
and will endure after and is as extensive in its message And
its importance is so far above the importance of the message
of creation that it teaches us about the full perfections of
God in the glory of God seen in Jesus Christ and his work.
And what can we say about this? that the message God gave to
his apostles, who were like stars in the heaven, speak continuously,
day unto day, they utter speech. The message of the gospel has
been sent into this world concerning Christ and him crucified, and
we must hear it. We must be obedient to it in
faith. Because in so doing, there's
great reward, and there's a great warning to not do this, okay? Okay, so that's the first part.
In Daniel chapter 12, it says this in verse 3, just as an example. In Daniel chapter 12 and verse
3, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament,
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. What does that say? Those who
are given the gospel and preach it, and by their preaching of
the gospel, men are converted, are like stars in heaven. world
without end, the message God gave by Jesus Christ to his people
concerning what he did in his finished work, our salvation
reveals the glory of God in that work. And that work is so far
above by comparison to creation that this is the work we must
be spellbound by. This is going to strike a response
of awe and reverence in the hearts of those who hear it and believe
it. Back to Psalm 19. I want you
to see the superlative importance of the gospel that God himself
has set the heavens in their order and the beauty of them
all as just a prelude, a beginning movement to show us the greatness
of his work in the gospel. And we've talked about this before,
haven't we? If God could command all of creation by his spoken
word, And yet it required the death of the Son of God in our
nature to take our nature to Himself and to union with Himself
and live as us, as a man, and obey God perfectly in submission
of Himself and sacrifice for our sins. and this would establish
the very righteousness of God and make known God's righteousness
in our salvation? How much more, then, how much
more significant is the work of Christ in salvation than His
work in creation? In fact, creation was just for
that purpose, to bring Christ into the world, and that He would
save His people from their sins. Brothers and sisters, we should
be captivated by the wisdom and the goodness of God that he would
make a universe to save a people. to show forth his glory by the
work of his son. And as little as we contributed
to that first creation, even more so we contribute nothing
to our salvation. It's God's work alone. It's to
his glory alone. And we are to stand spellbound
in awe and reverence of the God who created us in Christ by his
own precious blood. And we should never let these
things shrink back in our view. Now, I just have to go on quickly
here because I just want to touch on these things that follow because
we've run out of time. But in Psalm 19, he says, the
law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. So when we start reading
these things, we see an emphasis on what sounds like what? The
law, the commandments, and these different testimonies. But I
have some questions to ask you. which is a necessary conclusion. What is more important? What
is more extensive? What is more significant and
is before all things? What is from everlasting? Is
it not the word of God that was settled forever in heaven concerning
his son and the salvation of an elect people in him? Wasn't
that before time? God ordained Christ as the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He made the world
for this purpose. And so we should be awestruck
by it. Let me, I'm not going to be able
to take you to all this, but what is it, think about it in
your own experience. What converted you to faith in
Christ? Was it the terror of God's law?
Was it the fear of going to hell? Or was it the complete and perfect
forgiveness of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and the
clothing of you, your nakedness before God in His own righteousness? What is it that made you love
God and honor Him? Wasn't it the revelation of Jesus
Christ as your complete and only Savior, your all-sufficient Savior,
That's what the scripture says, doesn't it? That there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared, right? We love him because
he first loved us. Now, I'm gonna take you, I gotta
take you to Ephesians chapter three, and we'll have to close
with this, but we could just go on and on on this topic. But Ephesians chapter three,
let me just read this chapter with you, and see, and tell me
now, in light of Psalm 19, When it says, the testimony of the
Lord is sure, what does that mean? It means that it can't
fail. Jesus said, heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. Not one
jot or one tittle of all of the law shall pass away until it's
all fulfilled. And Jesus cried from the cross,
it's finished. Now, in Ephesians chapter 3,
listen to what went before in Ephesians 3. It was the salvation
of a people who were under, by nature, were under the wrath
of God. In Ephesians chapter 2, they
were dead in sins. And what happened? But God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love were with, He loved us.
Right? In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
4. Even when we were dead in sin has made us alive and quickened
us together with Christ. That was the, it was like the
explosion on the scene was our resurrection by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And then in verse
8, let me read these words. For by grace are you saved through
faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are, notice, we are what? His workmanship. We're the work. We are the creation. He says, we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in it. Now, look at chapter 3.
For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles,
if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God given to
me to you, word. In other words, it's stewardship.
God has given Paul the stewardship of the gospel. How that by revelation
he made known to me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,
whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ. What's he talking about? The
mystery of Christ. hid in God before the world began,
made known to Paul and the other apostles, which in other ages
was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." So God has broken
forth in time and has revealed something that was hidden before,
and that something that was hidden before, He's made known by His
Spirit to His apostles. He says in verse 6, that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel. By the gospel, in Christ,
all partakers of the same body, whether Jew or Gentile. He says
in verse seven, whereof I was made a minister according to
the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual
working of his power unto me, let's start slowing down, unto
me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given. What? That I should preach among
the Gentiles. What? The unsearchable riches
of Christ. And do we see this? What was
given to Paul as a star in the heaven to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ and to make all men see, there it is again,
What is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning
of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ? Notice, if he did it by Jesus
Christ, then it was for him and for the purpose of what he would
do, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers
and heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold
wisdom of God. Here we have it. Not creation,
not the law of Moses, but the gospel of Jesus Christ, his work
accomplished in our nature, the Son of God, for his people. And
then sending those people into the world to declare the glory
of God in what Christ has done. according to His eternal purpose
which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom, in Christ,
we have noticed boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him." Our access into the presence of God is with confidence
and it is by the faith of Jesus Christ. It is not by our strength. not by our spiritual wisdom,
not even by our personal subjective faith. It's by the obedience
of Christ and the faith out of which that obedience came. Him
as a man for us, standing in our place, doing everything.
And he goes on. You can read this yourself. I'll
let you read it further. Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith. that you being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ."
You can hear the crescendo. You can hear the magnificence
of this musical piece, as it were. God resonating through
creation and beyond into the heavens itself, through the church,
the manifold wisdom of God in Jesus Christ, that he would save
a sinful people. God's sure testimony, and this
is the faithful message of the Gospel, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. That's the Gospel, and He did
it. Let's pray. Father, we thank
You for Your Word. All of creation speaks loudly,
but the Gospel speaks to our heart. The law of God threatens
and condemns us and shows us our guilt and helplessness to
do one thing and our barrenness and the nakedness of our own
obedience. But the gospel sets forth Christ, the one who kept
the law perfectly and fully and did it for us. bore our sins
and brought us to God, clothed us in His own righteousness,
that righteousness of love, giving Himself in sacrifice, in blood.
Thank you for such a Savior, for such a God, and His majesty
of His goodness and all of His perfection seen in our salvation. Help us to never tire of worshiping
Him. Help us to rise every morning
and see the sun shooting its rays across the horizon and know
that's just the light of the Gospel of our Savior, the Son
of Righteousness, who has shined in our hearts to give the light
of your glory in His face. and help us, Lord, to be drawn
to Him by Your Spirit, that we might know Him. Oh, that we might
know Jesus Christ. If we live a thousand lives and
not know Him, all of our lives were wasted, but we pray, Lord,
in this short life that we have, that You would show us Yourself
in Jesus Christ, and woo our hearts, and give us this precious
faith in Him, cause us to love You and to love one another as
You have loved us for His sake. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.