Go to Psalm 19. I have thoroughly
enjoyed the first two psalms we've looked at, and I'm looking forward to this one tonight,
requested by Darrell Powell. I hope you've enjoyed them. I
think you have. You seem to enjoy requesting them. As I said, some
of you requested many. And a couple that I haven't looked
at for a while, I've read through the psalm. I almost always just
start right back over again, keep reading through them. Sister
Teresa Patterson requested Psalm 31. I'm going to look at that
next Wednesday night, Lord willing. And I hadn't looked at that in
a while. And I looked at it again. What such a blessing. I'm looking
forward to that. Verses that... I knew, but wasn't
sure where they were. This psalm, I catch myself, I
find myself quoting this often. All the time. I quote this psalm
all the time. Not only the first part of it,
but the prayer, the short prayer by David. It's five or six verses
on God's creation. four or five verses on God's
Word, and then a closing prayer, a very simple, short prayer at
the end of it, which is my prayer. It's been titled this, Two Voices
of God, Two Books of God, it could be said, the Book of Creation
and the Written Word. Job 33, Elihu in his sermon to
Job and his friends, he preached to four people, one of the greatest
Sermons ever been preached? Young Elihu. He said, God speaketh
once, yea, twice hath God spoken, but men perceiveth it not. Man perceiveth it not. God clearly
speaks through His creation, His Word, but man is dead, he's
deaf, he cannot hear, he's blind. Creation sings God's praises. in God's glory, very loudly and
very clearly, doesn't it? Look at verses 1 through 3. The
heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his
handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge, knowledge of God. Day unto day uttereth speech,
says God is. Behold our Creator, night unto
night showeth knowledge, the knowledge of God. There is no
speech nor language where their voice, that is, the voice of
day and the voice of night, is not heard. Nowhere. Was David
sitting on the hillside with his lute or his harp when he
wrote this? He sang this. This is a song
that he wrote. Was he sitting on the hillside
in the morning? would get up early, you know
that, don't you? He said, I myself will arise early. Thy voice,
my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, he said. Was he sitting
on the hillside watching over those sheep as a young man when
the morning sun was rising? And that made him write this
heavens, declares God. Was he sitting there in the evening
watching over those sheep when the sun was going down? And the
sky became a brilliant red or orange or pink, just the master
artist's canvas, our God. Someone texted me yesterday,
did you happen to see the sun going down yesterday? The sun
set, glorious, glorious. Someone texted me and said, I
believe the Lord is giving us a preview of tomorrow night's
message. Was David watching that sun set
when he wrote this? The heavens declared glory. Was
he sitting out under the stars? He was a good shepherd. He was
a great shepherd. Watching over those sheep. And
he never lost one. Was he sitting out under the
stars? Every one of us have been out
at night sitting, whether you're on your porch or on a hillside
or wherever, and seeing sometimes The glory of God, His creation.
Countless stars. He telleth them all by name. He's got them numbered. Amazing. Was He sitting there
looking at the sky at night time? Whatever it was, whether it was
day or night, He said, It uttereth speech. It says, Our God is. God is. Night unto night showeth
the knowledge of our God, he wrote in Psalm 8, the heavens,
he said, when I consider thy heavens the work of thy finger,
the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man? What is man? You get something
of the, you get just a little understanding of the insignificance
of man, the smallness of man. in light of the vast heavens.
One time I copied a picture and I saw a picture of all the planets
and the sun was this big and earth was next to the sun that
big. Now what about us on that earth?
Just an infinitesimal, that's a big word. speck in the universe,
but nothing. And thy God is He that sitteth
on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are reputed
as nothing, grasshoppers. Romans 1 says this, Paul said,
the eternal power in Godhead, the invisible things of Him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen. Men have eyes,
you can clearly see it, ears, but they don't hear this voice,
do they? God's got to give us eyes, ears
to hear. Clearly seen, understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder consider all the world Thy hands have made, Great is
our God, and great are His works, the work of creation. Now, I
have to say this, and I already did. The Psalms are for God's people.
This is for God's people. Now, all creation clearly declares
the great and glorious Creator. The sun, the moon, the stars,
the skies, the heavens, the earth, the trees, the waters, clouds
of the destiny's feet, everything God made. Emphasizing, we were
reading through those things, seed, seed, His kind, His image. God did it all. All things were
created by Him and for Him and for His pleasure, for His glory. Everything were downs under the
glory of God. Everything clearly speaks of
the glory of God to God's people, doesn't it? Birds, animals, the birds. I was sitting in my little attic
studying. The other day, we hadn't had
a winter, and it was so warm, the birds were acting like it
was springtime. They were just flitting and flying
and singing. The birds, their carol raised. The morning light, the lily white,
declared their Maker's praise. Everything that hath breath praises
the Lord. But, man, we're supposed to be higher creature. Oh no, our Lord said the ox knows
his owner, the ass knows his master's crib, but my people,
he came to his own, his own creatures, and they knew him not. Romans
1 goes on to say that because they didn't retain God, their
knowledge, their worship, and serve the creature more than
the Creator, God gave them over. Their understanding was darkened. Man is in darkness. Little birds. or have more light than man. But these things are clearly
seen. They're without excuse. That's what Romans 1. So enough about unbelievers,
okay? I had to say that. It's clear
to us. And such, not just some of you,
but all of us. We didn't see. We didn't behold
His glory. But if God, but God. If God has
given you ears to hear the song of creation, if God has given
you eyes to see his glory in the heavens, if you have a heart
to praise him for his glorious works, blessed art thou. Flesh
and blood didn't reveal this to you, but the Father which
is in heaven. God spoke to you. God said, let there be light.
Let there be light. And it was so. Bless his holy
name. Now, though the terrestrial things,
and this is not my word, this is Bible word, 1 Corinthians
15, Paul speaks throughout that chapter of the terrestrial and
the celestial. Terrestrial being the earth.
The terrestrial things have a glory all their own, don't they? David
doesn't mention those right now. He mentions the celestial. Because
the celestial things, the heavens, far exceed the glory of the earthly
things. The heavens are where God is. The heavens are just beyond our
understanding. We can dig into some of the earth's
treasures and all that, but the heavens, there's a vast mystery
in them. The celestial is greater glory
than the terrestrial. Try to get your mind around infinity. No beginning and no end. That proves God in itself. The
heavens. There's no beginning. Go as far as you can to the east,
you'll never come back west. Go as far as you can to the west,
you'll never come back east. Infinity. Eternity. Never ends. Never began. Never
ended. That's our God. That's Christ. He said, I'm the beginning and
the ending. And I have to say this. Scripture
says he separated our sins from us, as far as the East is from
the West. That brought a smile to my face.
Oh my, the glory. And if you haven't read 1 Corinthians
15 a while, read it. Oh, it's glorious. But it says,
as is the earthy, so are they that are earthy. But as is the
heavenly, so shall we be. We're going to be like the heavenly. Our Lord, though, who was high,
condescended, took a body. Oh, great is the mystery of God.
I didn't have all this written down, but in my mind, when Christ
entered, the eternal God, No beginning or ending? No beginning
of days or end of days? Was an infant of days and died
on the cross? I can't understand it, but I
believe it. I believe it. Okay, it says the heavens declare
His glory. The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth the speech.
God is. Night unto night showeth knowledge.
No speech, no language. but his voice is not heard, and
there is no one without excuse. And Romans 1 says, though they
professed themselves to be wise, they became fool. Now look at this, the greatest
proof of God, and God doesn't prove himself, and I'm not proving
God, and yet the greatest proof of God is one great and shining
thing, a glorious thing, that he set in the heaven of God and
His Son. Read on with me, verse 4. Their
line, that is, day and night, their rule, their direction,
their voice, their speech is gone throughout all the earth.
Their words to the end of the world, they speak, they say,
God is, Christ reigns in them, in these heavens, in the celestial. He has set a tabernacle. God
made these heavens. Primarily for one thing, to set
in it his greatest glory in creation and salvation. Isn't that a sign? I've always marveled, the English
language, the gospel at least, is spoken in the English language
more than any other. Right? I was an idiot. And there
are certain words that men just came up with in the English language
that God had them write that. Son. The Son. God made the heavens and the
firmament of everything, the heavens as a tabernacle, as a
place to set His Son for all to see. to reign, to rule over
all. Did David know Christ? We just
looked at Psalm 2, didn't we? Kiss the Son. I have declared,
decree, I will set my King on my holy hill of Zion. Thou art
my Son. This day have I begotten thee.
So he made the heavens for his glory, yes, his creative glory,
But they testify and declare the Son of God, the Son of Righteousness. Look at verse 5, which is as
a bridegroom. Now, why would David call the
sun in the sky a bridegroom? Because the kingdom of God, our
Lord said, is about a king that made a marriage for his And that's why Christ came to
this earth. He came, verse 5, out of his
chamber. Christ, who was with the Father
in the beginning, came out of his chamber, out of the bosom
of the Father, became flesh. He came down here to find his
bride. When God made man, remember?
Let us make man after our own image. God made man, or he made
Adam first. Didn't it? The man was first. The man was not of the woman,
but the woman of the man. Okay? The woman is the helpmaker. The woman was for the glory of
the man. Right? She came out of his side. What's
all that picture? Christ and his bride. Okay? And God presented. He caused
a deep sleep to fall on Adam. and opened his side up, that's
Christ crucified. And when he awoke from that sleep,
and there's a passage, I think it's Amos or Hosea, I awoke and
my sleep was sweet unto me. And behold, because of Christ's
death and resurrection, his bride is presented unto me, faultless,
unblameable, holy, unapproved before God. He came as a bridegroom. in search of his bride, and he
finds them all out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man
to run a race, the fit man, the human race, this race, this work
of redemption. Christ came, a strong man. Our Lord spoke of our adversary
who holds people's captivity and said, unless a stronger than
he come and bind him. And Christ did. He came to take
captivity captive. See, all his brides were like
Abigail. All his brides were like Abigail.
The enemy had them in captivity. And David came and he recovered
all out of that captivity. His bride. And that's Christ. The strong man. The strong man. Verse 6, his, now who are we
talking about? The sun in the sky? Well, yes,
but a greater than he. His going forth, Christ's, is
from the end of the heaven. Proverbs 8, that whole proverb
talks about, I was with him from the beginning. I was ever his
delight, before the mountains were settled, before the hills
was I brought forth. Christ, the Son of Righteousness.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit?
His reign, His rule, under the ends of it, there's nothing hid
from the heat thereof, from the light, the all-seeing eye, the
reign, the rule, Jesus Christ, God's Son reigns over all. Everything is in His hand. Everything. And that's what creation, or
rather who, creation speaks of. This is why God made the heavens
and the earth. For His glory, yes, but His greatest
glory is His Son. When God made everything, He
said, it's good, it's good, it's good. Then when He made man,
after He made man, He said, it's very good, very good. Man is shining, as it were, creation. In the image of His Son. In the
image of His Son. Christ is the image of God. Bodily. In Him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead. Bodily. Alright? Alright, when God recreated,
regenerated the people in the image of Christ. David said this.
He said, as for me, I will behold thy face in Rochester. It's going
to be made holy and righteous by Christ. You see, it's all
about Christ. We're not going to get to God but by Christ.
Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. David
said, I'll behold thy face in righteousness, dressed in his
righteousness alone. Christ. And I'll be satisfied. And God will be satisfied. And
to this end, God predestinated the people to be conformed to
his image. David said, I'll be satisfied when I wake with his We're all going to bear the family
resemblance. We're all going to look like
His Son. We're all going to be us, and yet we're going to look
just like Him. Just like Him. Won't that be
glorious? All right, now, the second voice
of God, or book of God, which declares His glory, which declares
God's Son, the Word. the written word, which is even
greater than creation. Greater than creation. It is
a mistake to say that we commune with God in nature. No, we don't. That's what the Hindus say. That's what the Buddhists say.
That's what the naturalists say. That's what the mystics say.
That's what the spiritualists say. That's what the Native American
Indians say. That's what the heathens say,
that God can be known, God can be communed with, God can become
one, you can become one with God sitting out on a hillside
looking at the sun. No, you can't. No, you can't. You cannot know God. God doesn't speak that way. The
heavens declare his glory, the firmament shows his handiwork,
but we would not know God apart from his word. Jesus Christ is
called the Word. He has magnified His Word above
all His name. We don't commune with God sitting
out on a hillside. We commune with God through His
Word. We commune with God, you know
where God meets His people? At the mercy seat. Not out on
a hillside watching the sun come up. It's pointless on Easter
morning to wake up early in the morning. It's pointless. Get some sleep so you'll be awake
enough to hear the message. It won't make you any more spiritual.
You won't know God anymore. It'll just prove that you're
more, you're just heathen like the rest of them. God is known
through His Word. You can't know the mind of God.
You can't know the will of God. You can see the creative power,
His eternal power in Godhead. You can see His hand. in everything,
but you can't know his mind. You can't know his thoughts.
You can't know his ways. You can't know his will. You
can't know his purpose. You can't know what he thinks.
You don't know what he's like. You don't know his character.
You don't know how to get to him. You don't know if you'll
speak to him, you can speak to him. You don't know. You can't
know. But apart from his wife. And as I said, Christ is the
Son and glory. The Word was made flesh. Now, the Word of God is spoken
of throughout. Psalm 119 gives, and we went
through that, and it talks about the law of the Lord, the testimony,
the statutes, the judgments, the commandments of God, the
Word of God, the words of God. It all speaks of the Word of
God, a different aspect of God's Word. But it all speaks of Christ. It all bears witness of Christ. Verse 7, the law of the Lord
is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect.
It's complete. It converts the soul. Wait a
minute, preacher. We're not saved by the law. No. Not by keeping it. We're saved
by Christ keeping it. And doesn't the scripture say
that the gospel is witnessed by the law? Doesn't it? Doesn't it? To Him give all the
prophets witness. When David was writing this,
he's talking about Moses' five books. All the law. Everything
God wrote. That's what he's talking about.
Everything God wrote. Alright, the Levitical law. The Levitical
law wasn't written to tell us how to get to God. That is, for
us to keep and do this, we do this. No, no, no. The Levitical
law was written to show us Jesus Christ. Right? We're going to go through Galatians
real soon. But Hebrews, the whole book of Hebrews, it begins... How's the book of Hebrews? God,
as sundry dimes in diverse manners, spake unto the Father by the
prophet, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, who
is the express image of God. It goes on and on to talk about
Christ. It begins with the law, and it
talks about the tabernacle, the high priest, and the sacrifices,
and the ceremonies, and all these things. What's that all about?
Jesus Christ. There's so much in there, but
take it all together, it's complete, it's a perfect manifestation,
if God opens it to you, of Jesus Christ. Nothing more so than
that tabernacle. Mindy was listening to a young
preacher the other day, and he started out by saying, and our
Lord said this to the woman at the well. He said, salvation
is of the Jews. Do you know what that means?
You do. Very few people know that. Salvations
of the Jews. What's that mean? You've got
to have a high priest, you've got to have a tabernacle, and
you've got to have a sacrifice. God hasn't changed. You've got
to have a high priest, a tabernacle, and a sacrifice. Brethren, you
know this. These three are one. Jesus Christ. I'm enjoying this. The law is
perfect. Converting the soul, that is,
if the Lord uses the law as a schoolmaster to teach you, to show you the
things of Christ. It will convert your soul. Verse 7. The testimony of the
Lord. Ever borne testimony? You ever been in a court of law
and you testified? The testimony of the Lord. Didn't we just look at this in
1 John? This is the record. This is what God testifies. This
is what the heavens declare. This is what the word declare.
The testimony of Jehovah is this. This is my son, in whom I am
well pleased. Hear him, worship him, bow to
him, believe him, come to him, and out he'll bring you to me.
He's the way, he's the truth, he's the light. No man cometh
unto me but by him. That's the testimony of this
book from Genesis 1 to Revelation. Didn't it? Testimony of the Lord. And brethren, it's sure. All the promises of God in Christ
are sure, are yea and amen, aren't they? Making wise the simple. 1 Corinthians 1.30. Oh, God has made him wisdom to
us, and the gospel is Oh, the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom
knew not God, but God pleased by the foolishness of preaching.
We preach Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 8, the statutes of the
Lord are right. Statutes are appointments, enactments,
every little thing. Everything God enacts or appoints. All that God predestined, predetermined,
His will, His works, God's ways, everything is right. I love this. I love this. I hope if you're
going through trouble and this brother is telling you about
his son, I have to tell you that I thought, you know, this young
man, I believe he seems to love the Lord He was a very young
believer at best. And I have to tell you, I thought,
Lord, why? Why did you do that? He's just a young man. He's just
starting. Why? Have you ever asked? Sure we have. We all ask, why?
No, I don't understand. Why? And Abraham comforted himself,
encouraged himself in his God by saying this. And God said,
I'm going to destroy Sodom. Everybody in it. He showed me
five. I won't destroy it. There wasn't
five. And Abraham said this, Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, he will. And that's where
we need to stay. Right there, whatever God does
is right. Let's just leave it at that,
okay? Everything that God did to Job,
when's the last time you read that? Job 1 or 2, read it. Anything that could happen to
a human being, everything that could happen, all happened to
Job at the same time. And it said, in all this, Job
sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. He glorified God in everything. Well, how do you say that? He
said the Lord did give. He said the Lord gave. The Lord
taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lamb.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Yes. And someday, I
told our brothers, we just don't know now. It's just a mystery
to it. But someday we'll know, even as it's been known. And
we're going to say, How could I have doubted you? Why didn't
I trust you? It was the only way. It was the
best way. Statutes, enactments, the appointments
of our Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. That will
rejoice the heart. Trust in the Lord. Be of good
courage. Trust in the Lord. Strengthen
your heart. Trust Him. Rejoice the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The commandment to create, the
commandment to regenerate is pure, purifying. Thou hast given
commandment. You knew I was going to quote
this. Thou hast given commandment to save men. Salvation is not
an invitation. Salvation is not an offer. Salvation
is an enactment by command of the Lord. We love that song that
the brother sings on, you know, the harp, what's the name of
it? I forget. Anyway, it says, Almighty love, arrest that man. That was given commandment. He
told David, go down there and rescue your wives and you shall
without fail recover. Commandment. The commandment
of the Lord is purity, purifying. Christ said, now you are clean
through the word I have spoken unto you. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. I say
unto you, this man goes down to his house justified. Why? Because God sent him. Purified
through the word. Clean. One of our next articles
in a bulletin next week is going to be from Spurgeon on Leviticus
13. He talks about the leper. He's covered all over. And the
high priest says, clean. I say he's clean. My, my. Isn't that wonderful? Pure. Enlightening
the eyes. Do you not see that salvation
is of the Lord? That's this week's bullet. Salvation
is of the Lord from first to last. God gives command to save
His people. to purify them by faith, by Christ,
by faith, enlightening the eye. When God said, now here's salvation,
you can't hardly preach the gospel, John, without quoting 2 Corinthians
4, 6, can you? God, who caused the light to
shine out of darkness, God said, let there be light. Was there
light? It was so. God, who caused the light to
shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. One day God said
concerning Joseph Park, let there be light. And it was so. It was light. Hath shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge, the glory of
God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Reckoning. Enlightening the eyes. Do you
not see through the Word, the more you read it, the more you
see of Christ? If you've ever seen Christ, you'll
see Him like looking at the sun. You'll see Him in everything.
Verse 9. The fear of the Lord is clean.
The fear of the Lord. I do want you to turn to one
other scripture. Proverbs 16. If you hadn't read through the
Proverbs lately. Proverbs 16 is a glorious, glorious
proverb. Proverbs 16. The fear of the
Lord is clean. Proverbs 16, verse 4. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. Everyone
is proud and hard as an abomination to the Lord. No hand joined in
hand shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth, Iniquity
is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
The fear of the Lord is clean. By the fear of the Lord, men
depart from evil. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. We will fear the Lord as long
as we live. Verse 9, the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether. The judgments of the Lord are
truth and righteousness. Listen to this. In Acts 17, Paul's
message at Antioch, I believe it was, he said this. Acts 17. It talks about in Him
we live. This is Acts 17. In Him we live
and move and have our being. He says, God hath appointed a
day. in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained, Jesus Christ, whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men, and that he raised him from the dead. Out of the crowd. In the ark,
out of the ark. And they're true. And they're
righteous. All together. All together. Verse
10 says, More to be desired are they than gold. These are true
riches. The Word of God. You know, I
was thinking today, I don't know why thoughts like this come in
my head, but they do. And I thought, if this house
caught on fire, You had a few minutes. What would
you rush to save? Huh? Would you go in your closet
and get your suits and ties and coats and dresses and shoes?
Would you go get your photo albums? Would you get that money? Well,
I don't want to tell you. Would you go get that? You know what I thought? I really
did. I thought... That's what I did. Took it under
my coat. Everything else was irreplaceable.
Everything else was replaceable. Gold. True riches. We can live
without anything but this. God's Word. Gold. Hey, fine gold. Sweeter, verse 10, than the honeycomb. Honey in the honeycomb. Do you
find God's Word to be sweet? Is this sweet to you? Honeycomb. My dad used to eat the honeycomb.
I never could take it. It just stuck to my teeth. He
loved it. He put a big old chunk of rum
in his cereal. Stick to your teeth. Well, that's
a good illustration of that. Oh, it sticks with you. Oh, it's
sweeter than a honeycomb. I guess it's like a cow chewing
his cud. You can just keep chewing on it. and get the sweetness
out of it. Verse 11, the Word of God is good, is sweet, is
rich, and it warns us. By them, by your judgments, by
your law, by your testimony, by your statutes, by your word,
commandments, I am warned. Whom the Lord loveth, he warns.
Know of being warned of God. Move with fear. These are words you don't hear
in preaching today. Fear, warning, judgment. Oh, by them servants
warned. What are we warned to do? Flee
to the city of refuge. Flee the city of destruction.
To the celestial city. Celestial city. Celestial city. Flee to Christ. The rock that
is higher than I am. By them I am warned. And in keeping
of them, laying hold of the promises is a great reward. What's the
reward? Abraham said, Lord, what do I get? Look at Lot. Look what
he's got. He later found out, I would not
trade places with Lot for anything. Our Lord said, I am thy exceeding
great reward. Now verse 12, after looking at
God's Word, after hearing it preached, The Lord speaks to
us and creates a sphere and shows us his statutes and judgments,
his law and everything. What does it do to us? It shows
us our sins. Who can't understand his error?
David speaking to himself, who can understand his error? And he prays this prayer. Now,
here's a short prayer in closing. Oh, Lord. There's so much wrong
with me. I can't find anything right with
me. Cleanse me. Cleanse thou me from
secret thoughts. Not only my open acts that I
know about, but those things I don't know of. David, in Psalm
51, is one of our favorites, is it not? And I'm glad someone
requested that. Sister Bonnie wasn't. No, it
was... I forget. Somebody. Was it? No. Anyway, this is a
favorite of everybody. He says, purge me with hyssop,
and I'll be clean. Wash me, and I'll be whiter than
snow. What's that? The hyssop was used
to put the blood on the doorpost of the little one. That's Christ
crucified. David didn't just want forgiveness
of his sin. David didn't just want not to
be held accountable for his sin or guilty, to be done with the
shame and the guilt. David wanted cleansed. Cleansed man. They asked Spurgeon
one time, if he had anything he wanted, what would it be? He said that I might never sin
again. Cleansed man. From secrets, and
that's in italics, secret whatever. And there's lots of those. Keep
me back, Lord. Keep me back. Verse 13, keep
back thy servant from presumptuous sin. Peter said, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. Paul said, I haven't arrived
yet. Paul said that. He went to the third heaven.
Heard things that are impossible, unlawful, does it? But he said,
I'm not presuming. I trust him, but I'm not presuming.
This one thing I do, forgetting things behind, pressing toward
the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.
Oh, I want to win Christ, be found in Him, want to know Him.
Don't be presumptuous. Let them not, these presumptuous
sins, let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright.
I shall be innocent from the great transgression. What's the
great transgression? We just looked at it. The sin
unto death. The apostasy. Oh, it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Oh, Lord, Thou
who are able to keep me from falling. Keep me from falling
away. Keep me from departing from the
living God. Oh, Lord, keep me by your power. I don't want to commit the great
transgression. I don't want to fall away. Do
you? And then he closes, verse 14.
Let the words of my mouth. You know, our mouths condemn
us, don't they? They cause us so much trouble. He that keepeth his mouth, his
lips, keepeth his soul from trouble. Oh, Lord. Set a watch on my lips. And whatever I speak, let the
words of my mouth. Let them be praise. Let them
be thanks. Let them be profitable. And the meditation of my heart.
Oh, my heart, my heart. Out of the heart of the issues
of life. Oh, Lord, set my affection on things above. Too often my
heart goes after other things. Let the words of my mouth and
meditation, the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in thy sight."
Our Lords were, weren't they? Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ, without
sin, thought, word, deed, perfect, pure heart. Oh, Lord, You're
my strength and You're my Redeemer. Two voices of our God. the two
books. Stand with me.