In the 19th Psalm, Psalm of David,
we see a wonderful presentation of the Gospel from whence it
comes and of whom it speaks. It opens with the words, the
heavens declare the glory of God. And it ends with, let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. entirety it
reads as follows to the chief musician the psalm of David the
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth
his handiwork day unto day uttereth speech and 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 word to the end of the world. In them have 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 altogether. 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 my secret
faults. 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. The heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. The heavens declare. The heavens
speak. The heavens speak unto a world
of the eternal power of the Godhead. Of the glory of God. and his
creation, the firmament, showeth his handiwork. This speech and
this declaration is both physical and spiritual. There is that
which is presented before the gaze of all men physically in
the creation, both in the heavens and in the earth, which declares
unto all the eternal power of the Godhead, so that man is without
excuse, as Paul says in Romans 1. We have no excuse for denying
the existence of God, His creation of us as His beings. and our
accountability before him when all around us is the evidence,
the physical evidence of his handiwork. There is an earth
in which we dwell. There are heavens above us. There
are a sun and a moon and planets and stars in those heavens. They are vast. They are of a scale that we cannot
quantify and they declare certainly and surely to all men, women
and children throughout time that God has created this, God
has made this world, God has created you and I, God has put
us here and we are accountable under him. Man chooses to shut
his mind to these things for one reason and one reason only. and that is because he does not
want to contemplate the prospect when he dies, as he surely will,
of having to be accountable to his Creator. You simply need
to discuss these things with every so-called scientist, geologist,
evolutionary proponent. With all of these men if you
discuss these things and discuss the reality of God ultimately
they will say and own that they cannot prove their theories of
evolution or their theories of the origins of the universe they
cannot prove these things. But they're forced to believe
in them because the alternative is to believe that there is a
creative being. To believe that there is a God
under whom they're accountable. They don't want to think of that
so they come up with an alternative. And that's the only reason. The
facts do not prove what they say they prove. They believe
them because they don't want to believe in God. Yet the reality
is that God has declared in his creation all around us that I
am. Man is without excuse. Man will
die and man will stand before him. So the heavens declare the glory
of God in a physical sense. They are part of this threefold
witness of God unto mankind, which begins with the creation
around, which continues through man's own conscience that God
has put in our hearts when he created us. That we know within
ourselves, within our own being, within our own life, we know,
being created beings, we know in our innermost conscience that
we have a creator. under whom we're answerable man
might seek to quench that conscience man might ignore that conscience
and indeed God rewarding man for his iniquity might harden
man and give him up to a reprobate mind such that his conscience
is seared but every man has a conscience whether he listens to it or not
and that conscience speaks under him of the reality of God and
the reality of what he as man is before his God and finally
God has spoken unto man through his word His Word which He has
spoken, His Word which He has declared unto man, His Word which
He has preached by His Spirit, His Word which He has revealed
unto preachers who are sent forth to preach that Word, His Word
which has been written down and recorded in the Scriptures. God
speaks unto man through His Word. So that we have this free fall
witness of creation around us. the conscience within our own
being, and the word of God, both written and declared and preached,
all of which we ignore to our peril, but all of which declare
the glory of God. but this declaration of the glory
of God is spiritual also it might be seen in the creation but when
David writes the heavens declare the glory of God he goes further
than the creation he leads our attention to the fact that God
in the heavens is speaking and preaching his word daily to this
world. The heavens are declaring the
glory of God. God is preaching his word. He is sending forth his light
into the darkness of this world. He is not inactive. He is not
withdrawn. He has not left mankind to it. He intervenes. Every day He sends
forth His Word and speaks. And there are those who hear,
and there are those who don't. But every day the heavens declare
the glory of God. God speaks and says, this is
my glory. and he preaches his gospel and
he makes known the glory of his Son who David calls his strength
and his Redeemer. David knows his redemption is
of God and David knows that God has sent forth that redemption
through his own Son, his Redeemer. Have you heard the heavens speak? Have you heard the Redeemer's
voice? The heavens declare the glory
of God not the earth and not man. Man by nature hates the
glory of God and man in religion has no comprehension of the glory
of God. Whenever man takes to these things,
whenever man picks up the scriptures and tries to comprehend them,
he has the word of God in the letter, but he has no light within. The heavens must declare. When
we pick up the scriptures, God must speak through them by His
Spirit. Otherwise we are as those who
stumble about upon dark mountains. It's a closed book to us. We
can fill our heads with the knowledge of every word. We can read the
Word in English, in our translation. We can go back to the original
tongues, the Greek and the Hebrew. We can study this writer and
that writer. We can go to every commentary.
We can sit down on our own and we can work it all out, but it's
all in our heads and it's all darkness unless God the Spirit
speaks through that Word and reveals His Son unto us. The heavens declare the glory
of God. God must speak, and God will
speak, and He does so at His own will, in His own time, at
His own discretion, through whom He sends to deliver His word
by His Spirit, unto whom He chooses to send that word. by whom he
opens their dark hearts, he opens up their hard hearts, he softens
their hearts, he breaks their hearts, he shines his light in, he speaks. He does so through
the glory of creation, through the conscience in man, and through
his words, which he sends forth in the lips of those preachers
whom he calls, prepares, puts his words upon their mouth and
sends forth to declare them. Not those men who call themselves
unto this work, not those men who set themselves up and seek
a name for themselves not those men who are called by the churches
below and prepared by the churches below in their seminaries and
who by the intellect and learning of man think they have made themselves
preachers not by man not by those whom men send either by others
or by themselves Not by those outside of the church who pick
up the scriptures and the commentaries and study it and think that they
have insights which others lack. God does not speak except by
those whom he calls and sends forth. And you may say well how
can I know them? Well by their fruits you shall
know them. When God speaks there is life. there is life and you
can tell the child of God the church can tell the life that
comes forth from the words of those preachers whom God has
sent there's life in their words they're but men they're but men
full of fault and full of sin and full of confusion themselves
but if God chooses to speak by them there's life in their words
and the child of God hears that life and recognizes that life
and there's fruit the gospel comes in power not in word only
but in power in the Holy Ghost in much assurance it's a living
word there's power it doesn't just fill the mind It doesn't
just stimulate the intellect. It doesn't lead to hard, judgmental
pride. It breaks the heart. It makes
us humble before God. It makes us own the grace of
God. When we hear that word, we wonder
that God should send it unto us. We wonder that God should
make known His Redeemer unto us. We wonder that He should
have mercy upon us because we know we're great sinners before
Him. But when the Word comes, it comes
in power, it changes us, it breaks us, it transforms us. Life enters
in where once there was death. The light of God enters into
the darkness of our hearts. Those hearts which by nature
are pitch black. Where if a man wandered about
within our own heart he'd see nothing. But when God sends the
gospel the light shines in and floods forth and all is visible. All the corruption of our heart
is visible. All the unrighteousness of our
heart is visible. And we see our need of a saviour.
And when by that Gospel we are shown a Saviour crucified in
our place, whose blood was shed to wash away every corruption,
every sin, all the darkness, O how we fall upon our face in
wonder, and O how we cry out unto that God, O Lord my strength
and my Redeemer. The heavens declare the glory
of God and you know it when you've heard the heavens declare you
know it when a preacher comes with his word in power you know
you've heard God speak you know you've heard the Son of God speak
there's none of the dryness and the intellectual dryness that
comes through a gospel and through the wisdom that is of man where
every T is crossed and every I is dotted but it's all dead. Now when you hear God speak,
it melts you. It exalts God. The message exalts
God and lays you low in the dust. The heavens declare the glory
of God. the heavens look up look up unto
the hills from whence thy salvation comes from whence thy redemption
comes look up look up to the heavens it's not from man it's
not from the earth it's not from the churches in you it must come
from above and it will come from above because
God does speak every day and he does call his preachers and
he does send them forth with his word and they do preach and
you will hear if you are his the people of God will hear and
they will recognize the speech and they'll look past the person,
they'll look past the frailty of the person, they'll look past
the sins of the preacher, they'll look past all the faults and
the failings of both the preacher and the people who gather under
him as poor wretched sinners, they'll look past poor David
and his poor rabble of people that gathered with him and followed
him about and dwelt in caves with him. They'll look past these
awful sinners and they'll see the glory of God. in the gospel
which is declared. They'll see God's handiwork. The firmament showeth his handiwork. They'll see the handiwork of
God in the salvation of sinners. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Well the firmament physically
showeth the creation, the handiwork of God. In the night sky we see
all this multitude of stars, these lights surrounded by the
darkness and physically they show forth the eternal glory
of God but spiritually they show us these lights, these lights
in the darkness they are pictures of God's people they are pictures
of that multitude that countless multitude that you cannot number
of God's people whom he has redeemed and they stand there as little
lights in the darkness when God promised Abraham that he would
be that one by which God's purposes would come forth he would be
that seed he would have seed the seed would come through him
he was looking through Abraham through generations through the
coming of this of the seed Christ to that people that Christ would
bring forth who in multitude were as the sands on the sea
and as the stars in the sky. He told Abraham to look up and
count the stars and Abraham looked up to the firmament and saw the
handiwork of God but saw beyond the physical handiwork to each
individual that God would save through the Redeemer. Each of
whom stand as a little light in the darkness. They are witnesses
in the darkness of this world. Witnesses. All around them is
darkness but they stand there showing forth the light which
ultimately shines forth from the sun in the day. David goes on. Day unto day uttereth
speech and 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 have 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. Day unto day uttereth
speech and night unto night uttereth knowledge. Day unto day. Night unto night. How the psalmist separates the
two. we live in a world in time where
the sun rises in the morning and goes down at night and the
moon rises in the night and goes down in the morning and where
day and night and day and night are interleaved where there is
light for a time and then darkness and light for a time and then
darkness But the psalmist here separates the two to concentrate
the mind on the fact that these are two different realms. There
is the day in which the sun dwells and there is the night in which
there are little lights of stars. Little lights in the darkness. But all is dark. He separates
the two because these are ultimately spiritually two separate realms. This world is a world of darkness,
spiritual darkness. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. When Adam rebelled against his
maker and humanity was plunged into sin and God sent the judgment
of his righteousness against that sin which is death. which
is that which sin earns not a natural consequence but a judgment of
God against it when God sent his condemnation against man's
sin and when sin had entered every man and permeated every
man and passed down through natural generation this world was plunged
into darkness and God no longer walked with man in the garden
in the heat of the day but he removed himself at a great distance. And as it were the day, the light
was separated from the darkness. God dwelleth in light, inaccessible. Inaccessible in the sense that
those who dwell in darkness cannot get to him. Not by their own
strength, not by their own wisdom, not by their own works. We can't get there, we can't
get there because our sin has separated us. God will not dwell
with the wicked. He cannot have iniquity in his
presence. Darkness cannot dwell with light. There's a gulf. There's a gulf
between you and your maker and your sin has created that gulf. but one day if you remain in
your sin you will stand before your maker to be sentenced forevermore
and forevermore you will be cast into outer darkness never ever
ever to reach that place in which God dwells in light never This
is why in this sense, in this world, we have day, night, day,
night. Because we dwell in a time where
God is still declaring his glory. And God is still making known
to the darkness of this world. That whilst he dwells in light
and we dwell in darkness, this is a gospel day in which he will
speak unto his people. and in which he will separate
his people and ultimately they will be separated in eternity
to come to dwell with him in the light and the wicked will
be separated to dwell forevermore in darkness. Where are you? Where are you? Day unto day uttereth
speech and night unto night So if knowledge. The Sami separates
the two to dwell our minds on the fact that these are different
realms. Day unto day uttereth speech
and night unto night uttereth knowledge. These two are separated
but universal. There is light in the darkness
of this world. In the darkness there is the
moon, the stars, there is a little light that God uses to remind
those in the darkness of he who is in the light. He sends his
witnesses, his messengers, his preachers with his gospel into
the darkness, they shine as stars. He has his moon as a reflection
of the light of the sun. He speaks through his word. But it's the sun which brings
the light. It's the sun by whom he speaks. It's the sun which brings the
heat. It's the sun by which we live. in the darkness there's death
in the darkness there's cold in the sun in the day there's
heat there's warmth there's light and it's the day and the sun
that speaks in the night there's knowledge or in the day there's
speech day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth
knowledge. There is speech when the sun
is visible. There is knowledge in the darkness.
In the darkness you may hear the report of the stars. You may hear what God's people
tell you of Christ and the Son of God. You may hear what they
say regarding the light, but ultimately in that darkness if
you're to shine as they shine, you must like they have heard
the speech from the sun itself. They shine as lights in the darkness
because the sun, the day has spoken unto them. They've heard
the son of God's voice. and though they were in the grave
when they heard his voice they lived and the light they show
forth is because of the speech that they've heard from him now
you can hear their witness you can hear what they say but unless
you too hear his speech through them then all you hear all you
have is knowledge are you in the darkness? Do you claim to
shine a little? Is your shining but knowledge? Or do you shine because you,
like they, have heard the voice of the Son of God? Because they
have seen the sun, because they have been in the day. Have you
been in the day? Have you dwelt in the day? Have
you heard the speech that goes forth day unto day? Their line
has gone out through all the earth and their words to the
end of the world. This speech of the sun, this
knowledge in the darkness has gone out all over. There's no
excuse for saying you never heard. From the dawn of time God has
declared his truth to every generation. It's gone out throughout all
this world. It can be sought and found out. Even those who live in the remotest
countries or in the remotest tribes, where outwardly preachers
of the Gospel might not have journeyed. Even those in the
most remote places have the glory of God in creation around them
and the conscience of their own souls within. Even if they've
never found a Bible to read. There's no excuse. The lines
The speech, the words that come from the day and the lights in
the night have gone out through all the world. In them, in the
day and the night, have 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. God's made a tabernacle for the
Son, a tabernacle for the physical Son. But through this, he points
us to the Son, of whom the Son is but a figure. The Son is a
picture of the Son of God. And the Son of God has a tabernacle,
he has a dwelling place in the day, in the light. and when he comes forth when
the sun rises in the morning it's a picture of the rising
of the Son of God who comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber
oh what a picture of the resurrection oh what a glorious picture of
that morning when the sun rose from the grave rose with his
people coming forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber rejoicing
as a strong man who had conquered death and conquered sin he'd
taken all the iniquity of his people away he'd done it all
he'd finished the work and he rises forth and leads forth his
people, leads forth his brides with rejoicing as a victor as
the one who has set her free there she was locked up in the
darkness There, O sinner, child of God, were you locked up in
the darkness, without strength, without hope, without understanding,
without any ability to reach unto God, without any ability
to enter the day. You're locked in the darkness,
in the grave, in the tomb, and here Christ comes. He comes into
the darkness of this world. He comes to where you are. He
takes your sin upon him. He's crucified in the same world
in which you dwell. and then you're laid in the tomb
with him and then on the morning of the resurrection he and you
go forth he rolls away the stone that holds the tomb closed and
the light shines in and you what you journey forth with him into
the glory of the day as a bridegroom, cometh out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. He's taken away the
sin, he's taken away the darkness, he's taken away the chains that
bound you down, and here you are delivered from the darkness
of sin, led forth by the Saviour into the glory of the day, the
glory of the light of the Son of God. Is that you? Did He come for you? Did He come into the darkness
of this world for you? Did He come to save you? Has
He delivered you? Have you heard of Him? Have you
been led by the Spirit of God to see Him? Have you been led
to that grave? Have you been led to the resurrection
morning? Have you been led to the cross?
Have you been led to see your redemption brought nigh? Have
you been set free? O Lord, my strength and my redeemer there is knowledge in the darkness
you may see the light of others who know the sun you may come
to a meeting or you may listen to a message and hear what other
stars have to say about the son of god you may sit alongside
the stars who know the son of god you may see their light You
may hear their knowledge, but are you still sat in the darkness,
shut up in darkness, never having been brought into the day to
see the sun? You must hear the speech of the
Son of God. Oh what a tabernacle there is
for this son. O to be brought into his tabernacle. He has a tabernacle. He didn't
have one when he came into the darkness of this world. When
Christ the Son of God came into this world, born a man, born
a babe in Bethlehem, he left heaven's glory. He left the light
in which he dwelt. and he came into the darkness
and even at his birth man had no room for him his mother and
father sought an inn in Bethlehem where they might dwell where
they might stay where Mary could bring forth her child and there
was no room no room in the inn, no room anywhere man had no room
for him So he was born in the stable in the filth with the
animals. There was no room. And all his
life he lived as one in which this world had no room for him. He said that son of man have
nowhere to lay his head. This was not his dwelling place.
He had a tabernacle in the day set for the sun. Have you any
room for the Son of God? Should He come to you with your
heart saying there's no room in the inn? Do you cast Him out? Do you shut the door when you want Him? When you're
brought to seek Him? When the Lord of God opens your
eyes a little to your states and shows you something of your
need and your sin and your corruption and your need to be cleansed
of it, when you want Him, you cannot find Him. He came and
you shut the door. He came and you said there's
no room. And then there comes a day when
suddenly you want Him and you don't know where to find Him.
and you pick up the scriptures and try to find him there and
all you have are words and you go to this meeting and that meeting
and try to find him there and all you have are the words of
men and the confusion and the errors of their false gospels
and their mixture of the works of man and the will of man and
you find no light there and suddenly you can't find him you go to
this star and you learn a little of that one and you go to that
star and learn a little of that one but all you have is the knowledge
it's second hand you haven't heard his voice ultimately you
need to hear the heavens declaring the glory of God is going forth,
is from the end of the heaven, and is circuited unto the ends
of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. He's everywhere. But in a sense, unless he opens
your heart and shines the light in to you, he's nowhere. You feel the heat. of God's fury
and judgment against your sin you never feel the warmth and
the love of the Son of God because you shut him out and you shut
him out and you shut your ears and you do not know oh how we
need him to show us mercy all we do by nature is reject him
Men speak of free will. Men speak of making a choice.
But what man has ever chosen the Son of God truly? We've all
chosen another path. We've all chosen darkness rather
than light. Men loved darkness rather than
light. When the light came and shone
in the darkness, men recoiled from it. The darkness received
him not. He came unto his own, the Jews,
and the Jews received him not. He came unto the people of this
world and they received him not. We love the darkness. We've made
our choice. We make our choice and we shut
him out. If we're ever to live, he must
show us mercy. He must open the door. He must
break down our hard heart and change our hard will. 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 altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold. yea, they're 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.
Having spoken of the heavens and the firmament and the going
forth of the Son of God, the psalmist turns to his word. The law of the Lord, the testimony
of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of
the Lord, the fear of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord. He
speaks of his word in all its aspects and in all its range. The law of the Lord here is not
simply the law. by the whole testimony of God,
God's Law, His Word from beginning to end. The Gospel. Yes, He uses His commandments,
His statutes to teach and to warn. Yes, when He sends forth
His Spirit, He will convict through His Word, through its warning,
through its judgments. But ultimately it's his gospel
which is perfect converting the soul. The gospel is referred
to as a law in many respects. The law of faith. The law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The law of liberty. The
law of Christ. The gospel. It converts. And when man lies in the darkness
of this world with nothing but knowledge that he can glean from
the written word from the words and the writings of man from
the stars around about him with nothing but knowledge when he's
lying there in darkness God sent forth to those whom He has chosen,
to those whom He loves, to His people in Christ. He goes forth
to the lost sheep of Israel with His Word and speaks and converts
the soul. He declares His testimonies. He makes wise the simple. He causes the heart to rejoice
through His statutes. He enlightens the darkened eyes
through His pure commandments. He puts forth His fear in the
heart which endures forever. He sends forth His true and His
righteous judgments. He sends forth His perfect gospel
and converts the soul. And the man who hears The man
who hears this speech, the man who hears this heavenly speech,
the man who hears the heavenly messenger rejoices and says they
are more to be desired than gold. Yea, they're much fine gold.
These words are sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them
there is great reward. Oh, when the word of God comes
in power to us in the depths of sin, it breaks us, it bruises
us, it warns us. The statutes, the judgment, the
righteousness of God come down and make it plain that we have
anything but such righteousness. We as by nature are but sinners
before this holy God, before this righteous God, before this
right God. Oh it breaks us, but then it
saves us. It breaks us and then it saves
us. It slays us and then it brings
us to life. It binds us and then it delivers
us. This Word sets the captives free. It's perfect, converting the
soul. The soul is dead, it's bound,
it's set in one direction and then God comes with His Gospel
and sets it free. He delivers those in darkness. He speaks life unto the soul.
He takes them with His Son and He nails them to the Son's cross. and He puts their sins upon the
Son and He makes His own Son to be their sin in their place
and He pours down His judgment upon their sin and their sins
upon Christ in whose heart they are placed and with Him they're
slain and with Him these sinners die and with Him they're put
in the grave and with him the final sentence is answered and
executed and the wrath of God is poured down and the fires
of God burn upon the sun in their place and then with him all their
sin having gone all the judgment having been paid all the price
having been paid they rise victorious and glorious rising with him
delivered out of darkness into the day into an everlasting day
into an eternal day into an eternal Sabbath of rest from which they
will never be removed all their working, all their striving,
all their attempts to save themselves, all their works, all their self-glory,
all their self-righteousness has been burnt away as dross
in the heat of God's wrath and they stand here in Christ, resting
in Him, trusting Him, believing Him, owning Him, loving Him,
looking under Him, having faith in Him and nothing else. and
rejoice in the word of God which has set them free as that which
is like fine gold that which is sweeter than honey and a honeycomb
that which warned them but that in which they find great reward
because when God gives them this word and God causes them to keep
it keep it forever not just obedience not just obedience in the sense
of the obedience of faith in believing it but keeping it it's
kept they'd never let go of it It's put in their heart never
to be removed, it's theirs forevermore. In owning this word, in having
this word, in keeping this word, in living by this word there's
great reward, there's salvation, there's redemption, there's ransom,
there's glory. Who can understand his errors,
the psalmist says? Cleanse thou me from secret faults,
O what a wonder it was when God sent his Word and showed him
what he was, and showed him his errors, and showed him his sin,
and showed him his Redeemer who set him free. 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
in Christ David was innocent from the great transgression
from his rebellion his hatred his unbelief of the gospel from
his rejection of God, his gospel, his son, that transgression. Ultimately all your sin comes
down to that, all your sin in the final hour and on the judgment
day will come down to that transgression. Do you believe on the son of
God or do you hate him? Do you have faith in Christ alone
for salvation or have you rejected him? Are you resting in his grace
and his salvation and his righteousness alone or are you resting in something
that you've done or added unto him? Is your hope in Christ alone
or is your hope in Christ and something you've done? Something
you've decided? Something you have? Is it all
in yourself? Is it a mixture of you and Christ? Is it a mixture of you and the
gospel? Or is it all in Christ? That's where the final question
is. Are you dwelling day unto day
with the Son of God who uttereth speech declaring the glory of
God and the handiwork of his gospel in delivering your soul
from death. Are you dwelling in one everlasting
day, one everlasting Sabbath rest? Are you in Christ? Is he all your hope, your only
hope? Is he your all in all? Or have
you transgressed by resting in something else? Do you still
cling to something or self? Do you still cling to something
you learnt? Some knowledge you've got? Some
wisdom you have that someone else doesn't have? Do you still
cling to something you've got that separates you from others?
Do you still separate yourself from others and say don't stand
by me I'm holier than thou? Do you still seek some extra
glory for self? And you don't want to go into
this Sabbath rest with those other sinners, those other corrupt
Mephibosheths, those other lame, weak, brood, broken sinners that
Christ has delivered by His grace. Are you still resting in something
of your own that sets you apart, by which God will be pleased
with you? Or have you come to an end of
it all? Can you say with David, let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. O Lord, take
away all the pride, take away all the conceit, take away all
the self-righteousness, take away the arrogance, take away
the self-hope. May everything I say come forth
from Thee. May the words out of my mouth
be words that Thou hast placed there. May I be light in the
darkness which echoes forth the light of Christ in the glory. may that be my light all my life
may it all be acceptable in thy sight because it's all of thee
and none of me oh lord my strength because i have no strength my
redeemer because i was captive I was in jail, I was trapped,
I could not escape but now thou hast set me free and thou hast
set me free through the truth of thy gospel. The truth shall
set you free. Have you heard that truth in
the law of the Lord, the gospel of the Lord which is perfect
and converts the soul? Have you heard that truth in
the word of God, the gospel as declared from heaven? The heavens declare the glory
of God and lead us to the Redeemer. The Redeemer. Redemption. Freedom. Salvation. Oh what a word to end on. What
a name, My Redeemer. What a hope David had, My Redeemer. There's salvation. That's what
it's all about. We need a Redeemer. We are bound. We are slaves. Slaves of sin
without a hope. We can't set ourselves free.
We need a Redeemer. We need to be freed. We need
Him to come unto us and set us free. To come unto us in jail
and set us free. we can't decide to be free we
can't set ourselves free we haven't deserved to be free we are rightly
in jail but we need a redeemer to come to us where we are in
the darkness and set us free and lead us into the light we
need a redeemer and it's all about redemption and when you're
free you're free and you rejoice to be free and you rejoice with
the others who are free you love the Lord and you love his people
and you love his gospel and you're one together having a common
ancestry of sin a common experience you're all children of Adam you're
all children of the same sinner you're all sinners alike and
you've been set free and all you rejoice in is your Redeemer,
the one who came into the darkness and set you free, the one who
spake, the one who speaks, the one who declares the glory of
God. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork, day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. Let the words
of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.