But, Lord, shall fill my heart
with a new life, with a whole new creation and evermore. My God, Thou great Thou art,
then sings my soul, My Savior God to Thee I'll break
no more I'll break no more And sing my song My Savior God to
Thee I'll break no more Now turn back to Psalm 19, if
you would. Psalm 19. I was reading this the other
day, and blessed by it, decided to preach on it. And it seemed awfully familiar
to me, and I looked it up, and I had preached this nearly one
year ago to date. Just a few weeks short of one
year exactly. But I thought I'll do it anyway.
The writer of this is David, we believe. He's called the sweetest
psalmist of Israel in the scriptures. A man after God's own heart. A man after God's own heart,
a man who has a heart for God. Thoughts of God. He is a man
who is in communion with his God. And surely David must have
written this as he did other songs, while perhaps sitting
on the hillside overlooking some sheep or at any rate meditating,
looking out over God's marvelous creation. Psalm 8 is a psalm
that he may have been penned when he was outside during the
night time, it says, when I consider the heavens, the works of thy
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, surely
he must have been looking up at a brilliant star-filled sky
at night time. Well, this one, perhaps he was
sitting on the hillside during a glorious blue sky day, the
sun was at its peak, talking about this son in the tabernacle. All right. David communed with
his God. David studied two books, and
that's what this psalm is about, two books that God has written. One is an unwritten, literally
unwritten book. It's the book of nature, the
book of creation, which all men could study, if they would. As
Paul said in Romans 1, the invisible things from the creation of the
world are clearly seen. His eternal power and Godhead
are clearly seen. All men can read that book. And
then the other, though, is his revealed word, his written word,
the word that is written. One reveals his power. The book
of nature reveals his power, his Godhead. The book of God's
Word reveals his character. We need them both, and these
two are the subject of David's psalm here. All right, let's
look at it, beginning with verse one. He says the heavens declare the
glory of God. The heavens. They're basically,
or Three heavens that the Scriptures speak of that we know about. Three heavens. There is the immediate
firmament over us, the sky that we see. We would call it our
atmosphere or maybe even our solar system, as far as our eye
can see. Then there's the distant sky
and how many solar systems there are, nobody knows. Scientists like to But nobody knows. There's the
distant sky, and then there's the heaven of heavens, which
Paul spoke of. You see, I knew a man that went
to the third heaven, the heavens of heaven. But these heavens,
all of them declare God's glory. They all declare that God is. God is. God's existence, God's
power are clearly seen. Look at it. The firmament, the
heaven immediately above us, showeth his handiwork. The heavens
that we can see show his handiwork. Back at Psalm 8, I may refer
back there quite a bit, you might want to mark it. Psalm 8, I quoted
it a moment ago, he said in verse 3, when I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers." The heavens are the works of God's
fingers. It's as if he took a bottle of
stars and threw them out in space.
He numbered them before he did and named them and threw them
out in space. The firmament showeth his handiwork. The heavens clearly reveal his
handiwork. And I love Psalm 139, verse 14,
David said one of the most marvelous creations of God. His handiwork. His craftsmanship. Perhaps his
greatest work, which he saved for last. Do you know what that
is, what God saved to create last? David said, I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. He said, all of God's works are
wonderful and that my soul knoweth right well. The man after God's
own heart that communes with God and communes with this book
of nature and thinks on his God and meditates on his God, that
his soul knoweth right well. The heavens declare his glory. Verse 2, day unto day uttereth
speech. and tonight showeth knowledge."
Someone said, these are God's silent preachers, although they're
not always silent. But the daytime and the nighttime,
they preach. They are God's preachers. They
utter speech, it says. They show knowledge. What is
this speech? What do they say? What does the
daytime say? What does the nighttime say?
What knowledge are they teaching us? A brilliant and glorious
day, the sun shining, the clouds, and all of this glorious creation
in the night time with the full moon and the stars, the brilliant
stars. What are they saying? What's
this speech that they are uttering? They're saying, God is, God is,
God is. That's what they're saying. And
knowledge. They will teach us that God is. This is eternal
life that they might know thee. The only true God. Creator. That's how we know him first.
Creator. Creator. And that teaches us
the fear of this one who made such a marvelous creation. From day to day, night to night,
they silently say that God is. God verse three. There's no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. There's no tribe
or kindred or tongue or nation where. The nighttime, the daytime
don't teach men and women, no matter how. Primitive they may
be. Or how learned they think they
are. There's nowhere where these two preachers do not teach men
and show men so that they are without excuse that God is, that
a greater being than they are exists, and in Him they live
and move and have their being like all the creation teaches. No speech, no language where
this voice is not heard. No speech, no language where
this voice is not heard. They tell us. They tell us God
is. Verse 4. Their line or their rule, their
direction has gone out through all the earth. Their words to
the end of the world. So they do say something, don't
they? This has been one of the windiest years that I can remember. Certainly the windiest one that
I've experienced while here in Rocky Mountain. But it's the
windiest I've ever seen it or experienced it in all of my days. Has that been true with some
of you old folks? It has. It's been a windy year, hasn't
it? Well, the wind, the wind, others speak, the lightning.
There's a scripture that talks about the voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedar. You remember studying that? The
voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. The voice of
the Lord is mighty. And the wind and all of these
things are, as it were, the voice of the Lord, the wind. What's it saying? Maybe you'll
think about this next time you hear the wind, especially if
you live in a mobile home where it really, really blows. You
want to say it? Worship. Worship. Think about that next time the
wind blows and the lightning. I am God. His voice, the scripture
says, is thunder, thunder. No speech, no language where
this voice is not heard to worship him, bow down before him. God
is. Acknowledge him. Scripture says,
though that the natural man receiveth not, God is not in all their
thoughts. Well, they are without excuse.
All right, look at the next line, verse 4. Their line has gone
out in them. In the day, in the night, he hath set a tabernacle for
the sun." A tabernacle for the sun. You say, is the sun shining
at nighttime? Oh, yes. Most certainly. Just because it's hidden from
our view doesn't mean it's not shining. We see a reflection
of it, don't we? Where do we see that reflection?
In the moon. Whatever light there may be,
whatever light there may be, and especially an abundance of
light when there's a full moon, is it? Have you noticed sometimes
when there's a full moon, it's so brilliantly, seemingly brilliantly
lit at night that you don't need artificial light? That's just
the reflection. of that one great shining light,
the sun, the S-U-N. And I believe, though, that this
is a picture, a type, a symbol of Christ, the S-O-N, the sun,
who is at the center of all things and who is shining, who is bright
and shining, who reigns and rules in the heavens even though men
don't see him. He's the center of it all, and
even though men don't see him, yet we see some reflected glory,
don't we? Look at verse five. The son is
as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a
strong man to run a race. Son, I'd love to watch the sun
come up in the morning. Where we live, it's already been
up a while before we see it now. There's a hill that obscures
our view of the first sunrise. We do see some of the light of
it. But it says, a bridegroom, as a man coming out of his chamber,
going forth to his day's work. A bridegroom. And rejoicing as
a strong man to run a race. The earth is as the bride of
the sun. The bride of the sun. The earth
is the bride of the sun. The sun takes care of her. The
sun goes to work for her every day. You understand? The earth is as the bride of
the sun. And he takes care of her every day. He arises and
goes to work, providing for her, caring for her, nurturing her
life. Without him living, she wouldn't
live, this earth. And the church is the bride of
Christ. The Church is the Bride of Christ
who receives all her nourishment from Christ. And Christ rejoiced,
the Scripture says, who for the joy that was sent before him
endured the cross. He ran this human race, this
strong one ran this human race. The Son of Righteousness arose
with healing in his wing. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us and lived as a man for men. He died that they might live,
and now he is set in the heavens like that literal sun, the spiritual
sun. Christ the sun is set in the
heavens, and we bask in his light. And because he lives, we live.
Verse 6. He is going forth. He's talking
about both suns, but the sun that's in the sky is going forth
from the end of the heavens. The Son is everywhere at once.
As I said, even in dark, even dark places see his reflection.
Well, Christ is the omnipresent Son of God. He's everywhere,
always. That's what the term, I am, means.
When Moses said, whom shall I say sent me, he said, tell them,
to whom shall you liken God? Give him a name. That's what
he's saying. That's the name he gave to Moses.
To whom will you liken God? What will you compare him to?
If you give God a name, give us names. My name, Paul, you
know what I mean? Small. It's fitting, isn't it? And all of us who give us names,
and the most fitting name for all of us is sinner. How are
you going to compare God? He's the incomparable one, isn't
he? The unnameable, the unknowable. God says, I've got my own name.
Tell them, I am. I am. That encompasses it all. You
are what? I am that I am. I am all and
in all. Isn't that, that's above my little
pea brain. I am. Or like one old preacher
said, God is eternal, God is omnipresent, God is omniscient,
He is all things. He that cometh to God must believe
He is. He is God in the fullest sense of the word. And man can
never say, I am. Man can never say, I am. Because
as soon as he says, I am, he has ceased to be what he was
when he said, I am. You see, man, it's ever-changing.
Change and decay and all around. I'm dying. Something changed
about me just now. Right? I'm getting older. God
doesn't. God doesn't change. God is the immutable one. So
are all these decrees. I'm getting ahead of myself.
But when God describes himself, he says, I am. I am. I am. is going for Christ going
forth from the end of the heaven. He is everywhere always in every
place at once. Too high for me to acknowledge
him. And it says his circuit under the ends of the earth ends
of the heaven. Is going forth from the end of
the heaven his circuit under the ends of it. His circuit. I believe this is a spiritual
picture of Christ who is written in this book, who is from cover
to cover, the circuit, or where Christ, there's no place in this
book which is God's tabernacle to display his Son, of this dwelling
where his Son is revealed. And there's no place in this
book from cover to cover where he is not seen. He is in this
place. His circuit goes from end of
it to end of it. The word walks throughout this
garden of birth. And I believe it's significant
that we we have seen him in all of most seemingly most important
parts of. and so forth. And as Melchizedek,
he's a hands-on God. He's not a God just to fire off.
That's what he'd say. He's a God at hand. He's a God
at hand. Just because we don't see him,
we don't feel him, doesn't mean he's not there, not here. He's
going forth from the end. His circuit's on the end. There's
nothing hid from the heat thereof. Nothing hid from his all-seeing
eye. Nothing. Verse 7. All right,
now David is going to talk about God's written word. Talk about
God's book of nature, and in it we see Christ. Now he's going
to talk about God's written word, which is Christ, the incarnate
word. All right, verse 7. The law of
the Lord. Law means doctrine here. Each
reference to the word here has a different. There's a different
reference to the word in each word. The law of the Lord is
perfect. The doctrine of the Lord is perfect. God's word, the teaching of it
is perfect. It's complete in all its parts
and the whole. What's the old saying? The whole
is the sum of its parts. You cannot take any part of God's
Word away from it. That's the reason he said, whoever
adds to this Word, whoever takes away from it, I'll take out his
name because his Word is perfect not to be added to or taken away
from it. And it all tells perfectly the
story of Christ, the perfect one. And it will perfect us. God's Word will perfect us. It will mature us in Every precept,
every line fits together to make the whole picture of Christ,
like threads in a tapestry. It's perfect. The law, the doctrine
of the Lord, or the doctrine of Christ. That's what John said.
If any man abide not in the doctrine of Christ, he's none of Him.
And that's what the Word speaks of. Christ is perfect as He is. Read on. The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. Restoring the soul, the doctrine
of Christ or the gospel saves the soul. That's what it does.
The word which Peter said by the gospel is preached unto you
is what God uses to save the soul, to convert. That's what
save means, to convert, to turn the wayward to him, to turn the
wayward from their way to Christ who is the way, from their wrong
way to Christ who is the way of righteousness. and salvation,
it will convert the soul, restore the soul, restore us back to
fellowship with God. That's what I'm going to talk
about Sunday morning. Read on. Converting the soul, the testimony
of the Lord. Testimony of the Lord is sure. Testimony of the Lord is sure. Look over at 1 Corinthians 2.
What is the testimony of the Lord? First Corinthians two,
look over here. A testimony, have you ever given
testimony? Have you ever testified in the
court of law or something? Ever been a witness? Someone
who testifies is someone who tells of what they've seen and
heard. Or bears witness of something, bears witness. And in order for
a true witness to bear proper testimony, it must be of the
truth. Not half the truth. Not part
of the truth, but the whole truth. That's the reason they say, do
you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so
help you God. I do. Liar. All men are liars. That swearing means nothing,
but God swore, didn't He? When He could swear by no greater
than Scripture said. By two immutable things, it's
impossible for him to lie. Well, what is this swearing of
God? What is this testimony of God? Look at it. 1 Corinthians
2, verse 1. I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. What is it? Here it is. Verse
2. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Christ
is the truth. Pilate asked that, didn't he?
What is the truth? God left him alone. He didn't
give him an answer. The truth was standing in front
of him. Christ is the truth. Christ is God's testimony to
man. God's testimony to man, no man
has seen God at any time nor heard him. The only begotten
son, he had declared him. He is true, he is the testimony
of God and God even testified of his son, his son came to testify
of the father and the father testified of the son. And he
said it from heaven that's my son. This is my son. He said I will declare the decree. I'm going to testify something.
You better hear him. I set my king on my holy hill
of Zion. Hear him, bow to him, kiss the
sun, lest he be angry. That's God's testimony. That's
his testimony. It's sure. It's never going to
change. It's sure. King on my holy hill
of Zion set Christ on the man. I'll give him the heathen for
his inheritance and he will. I'll make his enemies his foots
to it. Sure. And he's seated right now, expecting
what God said. Which is true, which is sure
to come come to pass and it will. And it will. The testimony of
the Lord is sure. It will make wise the simple.
Back to the text. The testimony of the Lord is
sure making wise the simple. The gospel of Christ, testimony
of God, Christ and him crucified, as Paul said, will make wise
the simple. The psalmist said he saved the
simple. Making wise the simple. You know, Christ One of the few
times that Christ rejoiced in spirit, where the scripture says
he rejoiced in spirit, where he must have smiled or laughed
out loud or something, he said, I thank thee, Father. One of
the few times that he rejoiced in spirit. He said, I thank thee,
Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
proven and revealed them unto me. was so it seemed good and
I said he's here these made the wise he's hidden these things
from the wise and have not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world. And he's taken the simple. The ignoramuses if you will the
uneducated the poor the simple ones and made them wise. So that they really know more
than their teachers that's what David said I'm just a shepherd
I don't have any learning But I know more than my teachers. Certainly no more than our biology
teachers. Don't wish to hear it. Unless they know God. Making wise the simple. He saved
the simple. Wise are made foolish and the
simple babes made wise. Verse 8. Statutes of the Lord
are right. Here's another word for God's
Word or another reference to God's Word. The statute, the
word here means appointments. Appointments are the decrees
of God. The decrees of the Lord are right.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? The decrees of God,
the statutes of God, it says rejoice in the heart. If we really believe this, if
this got hold of our heart, that the judge of the earth will do
right. The decrees, the statutes, the appointments, the predestinating
purpose of God concerning us in all things, ordered in all
things, ensure they're right. Nothing wrong about them. Whatever
befalls, whatever takes place, everything, no matter how seemingly
hurtful or whatever, it's right. If it weren't right, God wouldn't
have done it. The statutes of the Lord, the
decrees of the Lord, the purposes of the Lord, the appointments
of the Lord concerning them, all things work together for
good according to His immutable purpose. And they're ordered
in all things and sure and known unto God before the world began. That ought to rejoice your heart,
Barbara. That ought to rejoice your heart. He's taking care
of me. Whom shall I fear? What shall I be afraid? God will
take care of you. Yea, you're God who will take
care of you. That ought to rejoice your heart. If you wait on the Lord, you'll
rejoice. You'll see his wisdom. We can
just learn to wait. Patience. Let patience have her
perfect work. Perfecting or maturing work.
Maturity Or patience is a mark of maturity. You know, young
people don't have much patience. And the younger you are, the
less patience you have. The older we become and the more
we walk with our God, if indeed we do, the more patience we ought
to acquire from his word. That's the only place we're going
to get it. And from waiting on him. If you be willing and obedient,
he says, you'll eat the good of the land. Submit yourself
to the yoke, you'll eat the good of the lamb. Maybe I'll illustrate that in
a moment. Read on. It says, The statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing in the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure. The commandment of the Lord is pure. Listen to this
song over in Psalm 12. He says this, listen, you can
turn if you want, wouldn't bother me a bit. Psalm 12, verse 6 and
7. The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. The words of the Lord are pure.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. We did. We had a Bible study
one time on the inspiration of Scripture. Do
you remember anything about that? How that we got our translation
of Scripture and how it came to us through various means and
men. And generations and generations
past have sought to do away with the Word of God. They've sought
to put it away. Some by trying to ban it from
the people, burn them all, burn all copies. But you can't do
that. Why? Where's where's the master
copy? How did these men get to work?
How did where did Moses get to work from God? holy men of old
spake as they were moved by the by the spirit and the Scripture
says thy word oh Lord is settled forever settled where. It ain't in the monastery chain
to a pole where the Pope's guarding it. The great high potentates
has the copy the master copy and. It is pure scripture says here
in some way pure God pure word everything about it tells me
God wrote it everything about I don't have any. Questions or
doubts concerning any of it. Do you. Told you about that fellow came
in here the other day and asked me questions and he was just. Just Mr. Doubt everything he
was wanting. He was one of these game sayers
wanting to argue and question the word of God. Well, God won't
answer men like that. God won't prove himself to men
like that. The word of God is not up for
debate. It is not for argument and not
to be proved. God doesn't prove himself to
anybody but believers. God gives faith first and then
he proves himself in a miraculous way through his word you see
his wisdom see to the wise it's foolish. They look at it and
say well that can't be. When God reveals it to you you
say it can't be any other way. That's what proverb eight says
he said all my words are in Righteousness, there's nothing forward or perversion.
They're all right to him to find the knowledge. They're all right
to him to find the knowledge. When God reveals the truth to
you, you say it's all true. It just can't be any other way.
And the gainsayer and the arguer and the backtalker, he says,
I know this right. I don't believe any of it. How
do you account for the difference? God make us to all right, we
don't back in the day, so my. Pure God, pure word, a commandment
or a period of light in the eye of the fear of the Lord is clean.
Fear of the Lord is clean. Every verse here deserves a sermon. We don't have time, but the fear
of God. Which is the beginning of wisdom.
which you only require acquire. Where where do you get the fear
of the Lord? Sitting out under the stars in
the sky that going to teach you that you're going to know that
this is the only book going to teach that. The ignorant are
afraid of lightning. And they worship the sun, S-U-N.
But the fear of the Lord, who is holy, just and righteous,
will by no means clear the That's only known through revelation
from this book. And the fear of the Lord, the
fear of God directs us. Where would the fear of God direct
us? After God reveals his holy self, his just, his righteous,
his sovereign self, his mighty power, where then does he direct
us? Christ. To Christ. And that's salvation. The fear of the Lord is clean.
He directs us to Christ who cleanses us from all sin. And, as Paul said, to cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh. The fear of God
directs us to a knowledge of Christ. And it also cleans out
the love of sin. In proportion to how we fear
God will be our loathsomeness of how we loathe sin. How we
fear sin against Him. Right? In proportion to our fear
of God is our hatred of sin. Right? Fear of God. Fear is also a good
thing. Fear is like a bit. One writer said, fear is like
a bit in a bridle. You see, we're like wild asses,
Colts, ready to run wild with sin. And without a bit and a bridle,
we'll just kick up our heels and run wild in sin, right? But
the fear of the Lord is as a bit and a bridle to subdue us. It's
clean. It's clean. Bunyan, listen to
this. In his book, The Holy War, listen
to this. This is a good quote. There's
a fellow in that book named Mr. Godly Fear. And this fellow went
throughout the town, cleaning everything up. He said, Mr. Godly, fear is not satisfied
till every street, every lane, and every alley, yea, every house,
and every corner of the town of Mansoul is cleaned of the
Diabolonians who lurk there. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. Enduring forever. There's a sense
in which we're going to fear the Lord forever. We are. And his word, which teaches us
that, certainly endures forever. Endures forever. The judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous. Read on. The judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous all together. They're all together
and they all tell of truth and righteousness. Truth and righteousness. Do you know Psalm 85? Verses,
read over, look over there real quickly. If you don't have these
verses marked, if you don't have any other verses marked, mark
this one. Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Verse 9 is just another
one of the verses that speak of his fear. Verse 10 is this
one I want to show you. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him. that glory may dwell in our land,
mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. What is that? The judgments of
the Lord, true and righteous, mercy, truth, righteousness,
peace. Verse 11 explains it. Truth shall
spring out of the earth. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven. What's that? That's Christ. That's
Christ, true and righteous, and he is the judgment of God. He
endured the judgment of God, and he is the judge. He is the
judge. Read back in the text. Let's
hurry. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. Verse 10, more to be desired
are they than gold. More to be desired are they than
gold, a knowledge of the truth, a knowledge of Christ the righteous
one. Saving knowledge is more to be
desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Gold will perish,
but this knowledge will enrich your soul. These are bags which
will not wax old. You'll keep this baggage. This
is baggage you'll keep. Christ said, Provide yourself
bags which wax not old. Gold. That's Christ, the knowledge
of him. Then much fine go. Sweeter also
than honey. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the
golden street. Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb
to those who taste and see that the Lord is gracious. Sweeter
than honey, a taste of Christ. Read on. Read on. By them, moreover
by them is our servant warned. By God's word is our servant
war we may not only need. Comfort. Strength encouragement. All the words give my inspiration
of God profitable for doctrine but we also need proof correction
instruction in righteousness we need these things we need
chastisement we need to be corrected We need to be warned the word
of God is. Warns us it warns a preacher
the gospel is called a watchman. Who watches for your soul. Watchers in prayer and certainly
will keep not keep back anything profitable from you no matter
if it's. Somewhat convicting he's not
he does not show him to declare on the all the counsel of God.
which also warns us, warns us, flee from the wrath to come.
And in keeping of them, read on, in keeping of them, there's
great reward. In keeping the judgments of God,
the word of God, the commandments of God, there's great reward. This is what we've been talking
about the last several services together, haven't we? Keeping of them, obedience Obedience
is its own reward. All right, look at this now.
David, in contemplation of these things, he says, keeping of them, I'm warned by
God's word and keeping God's commandments, judgments, statutes. Christ said, he that hath my
word keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. David thinks and he
says, and keeping of them is great reward. I know that if
I would be willing and obedient, I'd eat the good. He that would
love life and see many good days, let him refrain from evil. Remember that? We preached on
that. If we'd be willing and obedient, we'd eat the good of
the land. Christ said, take my yoke upon you. I said I was going
to illustrate that. One day I went out to I had changed the fences around
my pasture. The horses had eaten up one part
of it, as during the summer. And I had another part that was
full of lush green grass. And one day, I went out to switch
the horses from one place to the other. Well, I went to get
Molly first, you know. Get her first. Because she's
so, you know, she's so, she needs that food bad. But I get her,
I went to get her first, she ran from me. She doesn't usually
do that. I had her bridle and her lead
rope, and she ran from me. And I chased her around there.
I said, and that scripture kept running through my mind. Now
if you'd be willing and obedient, You need to go to the land. If
you just submit, there's no more grass here. Submit. Bow your head to the yoke. Take
my yoke upon you. I'll lead you into green pastures. I finally corralled her. He maketh
us to lie down in green pastures. He does corral us. He draws us
with cords of a man, cords of love. The gospel of Christ, if
you're one of his own, you may run and go astray, always like
sheep gone astray, but he will bring you back to this gospel
and say, if you be willing and obedient, he that keepeth my
word, keeping of them is great reward. You'll eat the good of
the land. This is God's best for us, you
know. Whatever God says in here is
God's best for man. You know, if a man didn't even
know Christ, and this is maybe a foolish hypocrisy, but if a
man didn't even know God or know Christ, if he'd followed the
teachings of this book and endeavored to, he'd live a pretty good life. You know? He would. All right, let's read
on. Who can understand his error?
I endeavor to keep God's Word, but who can fully understand
his error, where I've gone wrong? He says, cleanse me from secret
faults. We've got enough open, glaring
faults. But people, there's so much wrong
with us that we don't even know about. We can't see. And we're
blind, too. Maybe others see it. Maybe others
see it. God sure certainly does, doesn't
he? And this is what David's saying here. Who can understand
his error, let alone his secret faults? Cleanse thou me. That's
what I want cleansing from. Everything. All of it. Cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Verse 13. One of the brethren
asked me the meaning of this before serving. Keep back my
servant also from presumptuous sin. Presumptuous sin. What are these presumptuous sins? What is it when you presume something?
When you presume something. I call up early in there and
ask her to do me a favor. And. Before I find out whether
or not she's done it or not, I go ahead and. Act upon. In other words, I say, well,
early and did that early has already done that. I presume. I presume that you assume or
you you take it for granted. That it's been done. OK, presumptuous sins. Presumptive, I'm explaining presumptuous
sins are taking God's mercy and his grace for granted. That he
that this sins, he's going to forgive the sin. In other words,
it's it's willful and obstinate rebellion against God, knowing
full well it's wrong. With no idea of turning from
it. and with the eye to continue
in it and to presume that God's going to forgive it. It's hard
shell-ism is what it is. That's what it is. It's fatalism
is what it is. Oh, well, you know, I'm a sinner.
It's not me. I've known one antinomian, Sammy,
in my life. One antinomian, true antinomian.
A fellow that said, well, I can do whatever I want to because
it's not me. It's sin that dwells in me. He
said that. He was married, he'd go out with
his wife, he'd get drunk, and he said, it's not me, it's sin
that dwelt with him. God forgives all grace, and God's going to
save me anyway. He's going to cleanse me from presumptuous
sin, keep me back from presumptuous sin. Let me not think, let me
repent every day, and turn, that's what repent means, turn. Isn't
that what repent means? Turn? Change? It's like saying
I'm sorry, with no intention of changing. Anybody ever said
that to you? About something? That's what presumptuous sins
are against God. He says, keep me from them and
read on. He says, let them not have dominion
over me. They will. They'll turn a man
hard. They'll harden his heart. They'll harden him toward the
gospel. He knows grace, he knows, he believes sovereign mercy,
he believes sovereign grace until he's just so comfortable and
at ease in Zion and he's just going to sleep on into hell.
He's just going to ease right on, he's going to go, he's just
going to ease right into hell. Comfortable in the knowledge
that he's saved. Woe unto them who are at ease in Zion. Read on, he says, Not them I
have dominion over me, then shall I be upright, or that is, walk
in an upright manner, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. What will these presumptuous
sins lead to? Apostasy. Apostasy. That man I was telling
you about, he doesn't attend the worship services anywhere. He's gone. And you could see
it coming presumptuously. Does that open that up? You understand
what they're saying? Then I shall be answered from
the great transgression. You see, the fear of the Lord
is clean. It goes back to that, doesn't
it? The fear of the Lord is clean. It cleanses us. And it makes a man repent. It
makes a man cry out unto God. Keep me. Keep me back. Keep me
back. Put bit and bridle in. Keep me
back from presumptuous. Let not have dominion over me.
Order my steps in thy word. Let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. Especially presumptuous. Let
me never presume upon God's mercy, but ask for it every day. Let
me never presume upon grace, but ask for it every day. He
give us more of it. But only those that ask. Let
me never presume I'll be innocent from that great transgression,
that sin which does so easily be set up. And he quits, he ends
this by saying this. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Does that sound familiar? Romans
10 talks about that. He said, With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. It's better
to have words or to have a heart without words, though, than it
is to have words without hearts. But he includes the two. Let
the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, in the sight of Christ, through Christ, who
is my strength and my redeemer. What a prayer. Mouth and heart. Mouth and heart. The heavens
declare his glory. The book of nature. The law of
the Lord is perfect. The book of his word and then
a prayer. Keep me more. Keep me. Keep me
studying these two books. All right, let's stay. Our heavenly father. Your Word
will not return void. There's some part of this that
you will apply accordingly. You are the great physician.
You know what balm needs to be applied and where. You know what
wound there is and how to operate on it. So I ask, O Lord, Thou
who art the Word, that you would take this balm of Gilead, this
salve, this ointment, this oil, and anoint us accordingly. Take the word and deal with each
case individually, O great physician. We thank you for this word. The
heavens do indeed declare your glory, and this book certainly
reveals your marvelous character and your son. in whom we live
and move and have our being. O Lord, keep us, is our prayer. Keep us. Through the remainder
of this week, keep us back from presumptuous sins. Let them not
have dominion over us. Cleanse us from secret thoughts.
Let the words and meditation of our heart, words of our mouth,
meditation of our heart, be acceptable unto thee, O Lord, our strength
and our redeemer. Our Redeemer's name we pray and
met together. Amen.