Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Psalm. The book of the Psalms, chapter
19. Psalm 19. The last two Sundays I've been
preaching on what I started out and called two revelations of
God's glory, but I've changed that to three revelations. of
God's glory and today I want to talk about that third revelation
of God's glory. Let me just read through the
psalm quickly and show you what I'm talking about. The first
revelation of God's glory begins with verse 1 and it's speaking
of creation. The revelation that God has given
of himself in this physical creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. In beginning, God created. God said, let there be light
and there's light. And it says this is what theologians
call God's world book. In the world, there's enough
revelation of God whereby God holds all people accountable
and everyone without exception has this revelation This outward
revelation of creation. Now, by nature we'll deny it,
pervert it, corrupt it. We've talked about that in the
book of Romans 1 and other passages. But listen to what he says. Verse
1, the heavens declare the glory of God. What is God's glory?
That's His honor, His majesty, His power, His greatness, His
uniqueness. There is a God. He is God. And He's powerful. He's wise.
He's good. The heavens declare that. The
heavens, the sky, the space, and the kingdom of God. The firmament
showeth his handiwork. Even creation tells us that God
created it. That there is an intelligent
God. This thing didn't get here. Creation
didn't create itself. That's what evolution says. Creation
created itself and evolved out of itself. But that's not what
the heavens declared. Now, men believe that, but that's
a denial. They shoved the revelation of
God, the uncovering, the truth of God out of their minds. And
he says in verse 2, Day unto day uttereth speech, and night
unto night showeth knowledge. There's no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. This is a revelation of God all
over this earth. He says, their line has gone
out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world.
In them 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. That's the revelation of God
through the actual physical sun. And he says in verse six, his
going forth is from the end of the heaven, his circuit unto
the ends of the earth, and there's nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The sun covers the whole earth. Now that's God's revelation of
Himself, and it's a limited revelation. It's not the full revelation
of God that brings sinners to salvation. You're not going to
be saved, you're not going to be converted, you're not going
to be brought to Christ just simply by looking at nature.
Now, there is a glory of God there. Don't get me wrong. I
mean, it's a beautiful glory. And as I said, you know, by nature
we'll corrupt. That's why men worship the trees. They worship the sun instead
of seeking the creator of those things. If left to ourselves,
we would all descend into idolatry of those things. Well, we have
done it in Adam. born dead in trespasses and sin. But that's
a great revelation of God. It's a beautiful revelation of
God. It's the glory of God. But it's a limited revelation
because that revelation of God in and of itself is not the fullness
of God that brings sinners to salvation. Now where are we going
to find the fullness of God? The fullness of His glory that'll
bring sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ, to salvation by God's
grace. Well, here's the next revelation,
starting in verse 7, and it's God's word book. And it's referring to the scriptures.
The law, that word law there, you might have in your concordance,
it has doctrine, the teaching, it's the word of God. In other
words, the word of the Lord is perfect, meaning complete, converting
the soul. In other words, if we're going
to find God's full revelation of Himself, what the old writers
called the Shekinah glory of God, that brings a sinner unto
salvation, where are we going to have to go? We've got to go
to this book right here, the Bible. Now, I'm not going to
get into the issue of... I believe this is a reliable
book. I'm right now currently working on a booklet on rightly
dividing the word of truth. And I show in here why I believe
this is the book of God. This is the word of God, the
inerrant, verbally inspired word of God. It's what this is. And
I know there are a lot of different translations. I'm not getting
into all that this morning. Here's what I'm saying. If you're
going to find salvation, if you're going to find the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you're going to hear what the Bible says about God
in all of his splendid glory in every attribute of his character,
If you're going to see what God has to say about me and you as
sinners and what we need for salvation, if you're going to
see what God has freely and fully provided in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're going to have to go to the Word of God. You're
not going to get that by looking at the oceans, the trees, and
the sun and praying out on a rock. You understand what I'm saying?
The law of the Lord. Look on verse 7. The testimony
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Simple there meaning
showing us things that we don't know. The statutes of the Lord
are right. Let God be true in every man
of life. One of the rules of scripture interpretation is the
rule of simplicity. And there's two aspects to that
rule. And the first aspect is this. Here's the simple truth,
folks. If God said it, is right. Now you may not understand it,
you may not agree with it, you may be confused by it, you may
rebel against it, but it's still right. If God said it, it's right. Period. And then the second aspect
of that rule is that everything that God has for us in salvation
is in Christ, simply put. Nothing outside of Christ. He
says, The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, uncorrupted, enlightening
the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The fear of the Lord is reverence
and respect of the Lord. It's believing God. The proverb
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and
wisdom. He says, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
altogether. You see, it doesn't matter what
I say about myself or what you say about me or what I say about
you. What really matters in the end
is what God says about us in His Word. You know, just like that passage
where it says in Romans chapter 8, Who shall lay anything to
the charge, to the account of God's elect? It is God that justifies. You know, that's God's verdict
upon a sinner who is washed in the blood of Christ and found
clothed in His righteousness imputed. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. That's
God's judgment. And His judgments, it says, are
true. You can bank on them. He says
they're righteous, they're always just. Whatever God does is right,
is just. Whether He saves a sinner or
whether He damns a sinner. Now that's the truth now. You
say, but that's just not going to draw a lot of people. Well,
it doesn't matter. This is true. And he says, they're
righteous altogether. Now that's God's word book. What
the psalmist David is talking about here, here's God's revelation
in creation, but here's the fuller, the greater revelation of God's
glory in the word, in the scriptures. Paul told Timothy, The Scriptures
are able to make you what? Wise unto salvation. The Lord told the Pharisees as
they read their Bibles, and they had a veil over their heart,
the Scripture says. They read the Bible with a self-righteous
attitude. That's what most people do today.
And the Lord told them, He says, search the Scriptures, John 5,
39. Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, They are they which testify of me. This book is God's word. This book is the book of salvation.
There's no salvation anywhere else, folks. And any book that
leads you to the true salvation which is of God is a book that
guides you through this book. That's why I've written the books
that I've written, the What is Salvation, the What is a Christian.
They're not meant to stand on their own, they're meant to have
you go through the Scriptures, and that's why I put a lot of
Scriptures in that book. I want that to guide you through
what God says, and I want it to be tested by what God says.
That's God's Word book. Well, here's the third revelation,
and it's God's Wisdom book. And this is the revelation of
God to the hearts of his people. The heart being the mind, the
affection, and the will. Look at verse 10. He's talking
about the law of the Lord, the judgments of God, the statutes,
the word of God. He says, More to be desired are
they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. There's the revelation
of God's glory in the heart. In other words, is the word of
God more to me to be desired than gold? Much fine gold. That's not just poetry. Now we all have little quaint
sayings that people use, you know. You talk about somebody
who's got a lot of money, who's accumulating a lot of money,
and we'll all say, well, you can't take it with you. I saw
on Facebook the other day they had two houses together. One
was a huge spatial mansion, beautiful. The other one was a little shack,
little old dirty shack. And under the mansion it had
rich man. Under the shack it had poor man.
And then the next caption it had two open graves that looked
the same and it said rich man, poor man. That's right. So we all know that. But here's
the issue here. Just saying you know you can't
take it with you doesn't mean you don't love riches and don't
worship them. Those who have been to whom God
has revealed himself to their hearts in the preaching of the
gospel through the word of God, here's what we say, more to be
desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. There's
the law written on the heart. When you consider the creation,
when you read the Bible, what is your sincere heartfelt desire? Is it to find and see God's revelation
of himself or is it to find confirmation of what you already have experienced
or believe or been taught? What is it? This is the desire of the new
heart. The Bible says that when God
brings a sinner to conversion, remember what he said back in
verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
That's conversion. What is conversion? Well, conversion
is the new birth. That's when God gives, God the
Holy Spirit imparts a new life, new heart, new desires, new knowledge. a new spirit to a person from
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life. Christ is the source
of life. The Holy Spirit, the third person
of the Trinity, He applies that life in each successive generation
to each one of God's chosen people. He gives them a new heart. Now,
how do I know if I have a new heart? A heart, what is the new
heart? It's the regenerate heart. It's
the heart that is convicted over sin and righteousness and of
judgment. It's the heart that is broken
and contrite. It's the heart that desires nothing
but Christ and His righteousness alone for all salvation. And that's what he's saying.
It's the heart that desires Him. You know, Christ is called, one
of the messianic titles for Christ is the desire of all nations.
But you know what? Not everybody desires Him. Do
they? What's he talking about? Here's
what he's talking about. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation that he's going to bring to desire
Christ. And he'll be their desire more
than gold, yea, than much fine gold. That's the law, the word
written on the heart. He says sweeter also than honey
and the honeycomb. It's a sweetness to it because
he meets my need that he shows me. In verse 11, it's the word
of life and death, listen to this, moreover by them is thy
servant warned and in keeping of them there's great reward.
Now that reward, listen, how are we warned? Well the Bible
says we're warned to flee from the wrath to come. However you
think of that wrath. We're warned to flee from the
wrath to come. Where do we flee to? We flee
to Christ. Don't we? If we have the new
heart. You see, this is the glory of
God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. We
flee to Him. Here's Saul of Tarsus, a man
who was ensconced in his religious efforts, a sincere, dedicated
legalist. And then he said, when God showed
him the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of His person and the
power of His finished work, he saw that everything that he held
dear, everything that he valued, everything that he thought recommended
him unto God, was dung, he said, in the light of the glory of
God in Christ. That's conversion. That's a world
turned upside down. And he was warned, flee from
the wrath to come. Flee from your religion. My friend,
if your religion is not the sovereign mercy and grace of God in Christ
based on his blood and righteousness alone, you're, listen, you're
on a way to damnation. You say that's awful hard. Well,
that's what the Bible teaches. Flee from that. Don't try to
hold on to it. Don't try to defend it. You can't.
Now, you might try to defend it to me, but you're not going
to be able to defend it at the judgment. Let it go. I've told people that a lot.
You know, somebody wants to prove to me that they're saved, and
they'll go back to some experience they had when they were 12, when
they walked an aisle and got baptized. Let it go! Let it go, folks. Just flee to
Christ. Plead His blood in righteousness.
I'm not impressed. I went through all that junk,
too. I'm not impressed with it. You say, well, it meant something
to me. Well, you better learn what means something to God.
And I'm not saying it just to be mean or try to be hard. You've
been warned. If the Gospels preach, you've
been warned. And in keeping them, then there's great reward. That's
not a reward we earn or deserve. Any reward that comes in salvation
according to the Bible within the context of salvation by grace,
that's what it is. It's the reward of grace that
Christ earned for me, not that I earned for myself. It's the
reward of righteousness. Whose? Christ. It's the reward
of eternal life. Where? In Christ. Look at verse
12. He says, He says, who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. When God reveals himself in the
heart of a sinner, you know what else he does? He reveals me.
He exposes me. Who can understand his errors?
Sin, errors, transgressions is something that we by nature do
not understand. Let me show you that. Turn to
Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Now, I mean,
we know the difference in the lives of men and women as we
go through this earth. We know the difference between
what we would call morality and immorality. We know the difference
between breaking the law and keeping the law. We know that. But when it comes to a right
relationship with God, when it comes to how God can justify
sinners like us, we do not understand our errors. We don't. We don't understand sin. Look
at Romans 7 and verse 5. He says, for when we were in
the flesh, now what does that mean? That means unregenerate,
not born again, in our natural state. The motions or the passions
of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. Now let me give you two examples. These passions of sin, these
motions of sin, which were by the law. Now what is he talking
about? He's talking about rebellion
there. A lot of times when people go to that verse, they'll use
the example of a little child. And you sit a little child in
a room with a bunch of toys around him, and you look at that little
child and you say, no, you can play with that toy and that toy
and that toy, but you can't play with this toy over here. What's
the first thing he's going to want to do? Go to the one that
he can't have. That's human nature. And that's
true. But let me give this to you in
a little different light by giving you two examples. You remember
a man named Zacchaeus? In the scriptures, the Lord saved
him from his sins. Zacchaeus was a publican, and
he was a very selfish, immoral man. He was one who collected
money from his own people for the Roman government, and it
was common. I mean, it was just accepted.
If you were a publican, you were skimming off the top. Now God saved Zacchaeus by grace. Zacchaeus didn't have one thing
in his life to recommend him unto God. And yet the Lord Jesus
Christ came into his house and brought salvation to him. By
grace are you saved, not by works. Now Zacchaeus, every one of us
can easily see, well there's a fellow who was bringing forth
fruit unto death. Zacchaeus was going to be judged
for his sins, for his wrongdoings, and he needed to repent of them.
But let me give you another example. Here's a man named Saul of Tarsus. I mentioned him before. He was
a high-toned religionist. Sincere, dedicated. He made it his life's goal to
keep the law. To do right. Well, let me tell you something.
Saul of Tarsus had no more to recommend him unto God than Zacchaeus. He was bringing forth fruit unto
death too. That's right. That's what he
said when God saved him. Paul stated it like this in Galatians
1. He said, when it pleased the
Lord to reveal his son in me. That's when he was converted. Saul had heard the gospel. I
don't know how many times he'd heard it. Some asked me, well,
when? I said he was standing there when Stephen preached it
and held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. At that time,
Saul hated the gospel, but he loved his works. He loved his
religion. You know what his problem was?
He didn't understand who God is. A holy God who must punish
sin, who requires perfect righteousness, which we don't have even at our
best. And he didn't understand his
errors. He didn't understand his sin. He didn't understand
that the best he could do was sin in the eyes of God and could
not measure up to righteousness. He didn't understand it until
God the Holy Spirit revealed it to him through the Word. And
let me tell you something. When God the Holy Spirit revealed
that to Saul, he wasn't seeking the Lord. He wasn't walking in
an aisle. He wasn't at a prayer meeting
or on his way to one. He wasn't getting baptized. He wasn't reading the Scriptures.
He wasn't doing anything. He was on the road to Damascus
on his way to arrest Christians and put them in jail and have
them put to death. But God brought him to see that.
Look back at Psalm 19 now. What is that fruit unto death?
That's the errors we don't understand. That's the man who stands before
God. Haven't I preached in your name?
Haven't I prophesied? Haven't I cast out demons? Haven't
I done many wonderful works? Only to hear him say, depart
from me you that work iniquity. Verse 12, who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Someone said that means sins
I commit that I don't even know I commit. And they are there.
How can God cleanse us from sin? There's not but one way. The
blood of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 13. He says, keep
back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them, these presumptuous
sins, not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression. You know
what presumptuous sins are? They are sins that give me a
false refuge, a false hope, that cause me to presume upon God. I know I'm saved because I did
this or I did that. That's a presumptuous sin. Well,
I know I'm saved because I had a dream. Or I had a religious
experience. Or I had a great reformation.
Let me tell you how I know I'm saved. I know I'm saved because
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand. That's how I know I'm saved. Well Bill, haven't you had some
religious experiences? I've had a bunch of them. And you know what? I really can't
even remember them all to tell you, and I thank God for that.
Well, didn't you go here to a seminary? Yeah. But not to preach the gospel,
not to glorify God. Didn't you do this? Didn't you?
I've gone through a lot of things. You have too. But here's salvation. Jesus Christ, the author and
finisher of my faith. That's salvation. He's salvation.
I have a righteousness. That answers the demands of God's
law and justice. How do you know you have such
a righteousness? Because it's Jesus Christ, the Lord, my righteousness. His righteousness imputed to
me. That's how I know. And keep me back from hoping
or finding comfort and peace in anything else. Let me tell
you something. You know, people say, well, don't
you think people should repent of their sins, and do all this,
and if they've got problems, reform. Yes, I do. But that's
not going to make you righteous. That's what I'm telling you. Whatever problem you're having
in your life, whatever sin you're ensconced in, you should fight
it with every fiber of your being. But that is not going to make
you righteous. Only Christ can make a sinner
right. God can justify the ungodly through
Christ. He is salvation. So keep me back,
Lord. Hold me back. Keep me looking
to Christ alone for salvation, for forgiveness, for righteousness,
for justification and glory. Somebody said it also means using
the grace of God as an excuse to sin. Well, that would be included.
But he says this, verse 13, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous
sins, let not them have dominion over you, then shall I be upright.
You see, if my sins ensconce me in a false refuge, then what
is my standing before God? It's not upright. If I stand
before God in Christ, washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness, that's what I am. I'm upright. That's what that
means. No sinner without Christ is upright. And he said, I'll be innocent
from the great transgression. You know what the great transgression
is? I've already given you an example of it, Matthew 7, 21.
Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Lord, Lord, haven't
we done many wonderful works? That's the great transgression.
The great transgression is coming before a holy God, pleading something
other than the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the great transgression. Because I want to tell you, that's
damning to the soul. We're all sinners. None of us
have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice by our works, our efforts, our decisions, our determinations,
our promises, our attempts. But if we stand in Christ, that's
the key. Look at verse 14. Let the words
of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight. How is it possible for a sinner in his person or in anything
that he or she does or doesn't do, how is it possible for us
to be accepted in God's sight? Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
Somebody said, well I want to pray to God and I want my prayers
to be acceptable. We're here worshiping this morning. We want our worship to be accepted
with God. If I read the word book, and that word book has been made
unto me wisdom, God's wisdom book, then upon what ground and
by what merit do I expect God to accept anything? In me or
about me or from me? Well, look at Ephesians chapter
1. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with what? All
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. How did He do it? In
Christ, by virtue of His merits alone. Verse 4. According as
He hath chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." That's the only way. Accepted in Christ. by virtue
of His blood and righteousness alone. Look back at Psalm 19,
look at verse 14. Read it again. Let the words
of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight. Somebody says, well that means
you need to be sincere. Well listen, you need to be sincere. When I preach, I need to be sincere
about it. I don't want to be a hypocrite.
When you sing, when you pray, when you speak the Word, you
need to be sincere. But that is not why it's accepted. It's accepted right here. Oh
Lord, my strength, literally my rock, and my Redeemer. There you go. What is my acceptance
before a holy God? I'm redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. I'm made righteous in Him. He's
my all and in all. Somebody said one time, that's
too much Christ. Not even close yet, however.
It's not enough. It's all Him. That's the simplicity
of it. That's the wisdom. Christ is
the wisdom of God. You know, that's what the scripture
calls Him, the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is our
wisdom. All right.