The 19th Psalm. Psalm 19. 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's no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out throughout
all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them,
the expanse, the firmament, the sky, In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and
rejoices 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, as thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them, there is great reward. Who can understand his errors?
Cleansed thou me from 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. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we first ask for your mercy and your grace
and your loving kindness be toward Tim and Jessica and that family.
We pray that you would say into their souls, I am by salvation
and give them grace. Lord, we grieve with them, and
Lord, we're so thankful that you are in control of everything,
and your will is always done, and whatever you do is perfect. And we don't understand it, Lord,
but we know you do, and we rest in who you are. We pray for your
presence. We pray that the gospel might
be preached in the power of your spirit. We pray that you would
enable us to hear with hearing ears. Lord, speak to each one
of us for Christ's sake. Forgive us of our sins for Christ's
sake. Cleanse us for Christ's sake.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. Now before we look at Psalm 19,
I want you to hold your finger there and turn to Romans chapter
one, because this is what Paul is referring to. In Romans chapter
one, verse 20, Well, let's look at verse 19,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for
God hath showed it unto them and me and you. For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, the creation that
we can see. even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. And he's referring to Psalm 19,
this passage that we just read. God has written two books. He's
written the book of, I don't even know what nature, a better
word would be creation. He's written the book of creation.
that we see so clearly, and he's written the book of grace, this
book we call the Bible. And in these two books that God
has written, it's clearly seen that God is. I love a statement somebody made
during the French Revolution, one of the, objectives of the French Revolution
was to get rid of all religion, get rid of all thoughts of God
to where he's not even in people's thinking. And somebody made this
comment, you can't cover the stars. You can't cover the stars. God is. And somebody says, I
don't believe there is a God. Well, I don't believe you. Everybody
is born with the knowledge that God is. Everybody can see his
eternal power. Somebody very powerful made this
creation and he is eternal. Nobody made him. I remember I
was talking to a fellow once, he said, Thought I had it on. It's on now. Okay. I was talking to a fellow that
claimed to be an atheist, and he kept saying to me, who made
God? Nobody. God's eternal. He's all powerful. Now let's look in Psalm 19. I love this psalm. Preached from
it several times over the years. The heavens declare the glory
of God. There's no escape from this.
The heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens say God is.
And the firmament showeth forth his handiwork as the creator. Day unto day uttereth speech,
night unto night showeth knowledge. Everything about the creation
speaks. God is. It is completely irrational
and illogical to say God is not. God is. Creation says that. Look what verse three says. There's
no speech nor language where their voice, the voice of creation
is not heard. I don't care what continent you're
in. I don't care what country you're in. I don't care what
culture you're in. Doesn't make any difference.
Everyone is made to see from the creation that God is. Their line, verse four, has gone
throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the
world. In them, he uses this imagery of the sun going across
the sky. We all know it's the earth rotating,
it's not the sun, but that's the imagery he gives of the sun,
which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices
as a strong man to run a race. I love the way the sun pictures,
the S-U-N pictures the S-O-N, the bridegroom. and the strong
man having the strength to save. Verse six, his going forth is
from the end of heaven and his circuit under the ends of it,
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Now, there's
no question in anybody's mind. Now, it could be that somebody
says, I really sincerely am an atheist. Well, you weren't always
that way. You weren't always that way. For someone to become
an atheist, they have to take a leap into the dark. You want
to talk about blind faith? It's blind faith to take that
leap to say, well, I don't believe there is a God. It comes from
not liking the implications of who God is and and what my responsibilities
are that's why people get upset at this thing of God But everybody
knows that God is but do you know? Creation doesn't give you
enough light to have a saving knowledge of God You can have
the complete appreciation of nature and go out in creation
and see that God made all this, but it does not give a saving
knowledge of God. Now, God's first book is creation,
and that book cannot be silenced, but he has another book, the
Bible. 2 Timothy 3, 16 says, all scripture. is given by inspiration of God
and how we need the Bible. And we are given, I think, one
of the most beautiful descriptions of the Bible in Psalm 19. Now let's look at what he says. In verses seven through nine,
the law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul, the testimony
of the Lord. These are all descriptions of
the word of God. The testimony of the Lord, 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. Now he gives six descriptions
here of the word of God. I hope I know, I hope you know
that the written word cannot be separated from the living
word. But all we truly know of the living word is from the written
word. We're totally dependent upon
this Bible being the inspired word of God. If this book is
not the inspired word of God, all we have is what's in my mind
and what's in your mind. That's trouble, isn't it? Thank
God for the scripture. Now let's look at these descriptions
he gives of the scripture. In verse seven it says, the law
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. And my marginal reading
says the doctrine of the Lord. It's the Hebrew word Torah. It
is the doctrine, it is the word, scriptures, everything God says. And I think the marginal reading,
the doctrine of the Lord is such a good description of God's word. It's God's doctrine. We make
a mistake when we think of dry doctrine. You ever thought that
doctrine is dry? God's doctrine's never dry. I
may have a dry heart. I wouldn't deny that, but God's
doctrine is never dry. God's word is never dry. Now, we may be dry. You know
that. You know that about yourself.
I know that about myself. We may be dry, but God's word,
God's doctrine is never dry. What does David say about God's
law? The law of the Lord is perfect. This is the perfect revelation
of God. Now I want you to think about
this. Nothing's perfect, this word is. This word is. As it's delivered in the original
languages, this word is perfect. And what does it do? It converts
the soul. It saves. you. James 1.18 says of his own will
begat he us through the word of truth. Now this word, this
book we're looking at right now is perfect. It converts the soul. It brings someone to a knowledge,
a saving knowledge of the living God. Creation can't do that.
It can tell you God is, but it doesn't convert the soul. Somebody
says, well, I'm gonna go out and worship God, looking at the
mountains and the lakes and so on. Well, I mean, we do have
an appreciation of that. This is my father's world. We
love that, but that doesn't convert the soul. It's only the Word
of God, the Gospel of God that converts the soul. The testimony,
now look in verse seven. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. Now, I love the way the Word
of God is called God's testimony. You know something that I maybe,
maybe, I don't know how right I am about this. I kind of think
I'm right. I never trust people's personal testimonies. If somebody
gives their religious testimony and this is my testimony, I think,
well, that's what you say, but I don't know if it's so. There's always an element of
a question mark to anybody's testimony because who gave it?
If I say something, if I give my testimony about my experience,
I'm gonna give it in such a way as to make me look better. I'm
gonna do it in such a way as to make you feel like you need
to measure up to me. Now, somebody says that's wrong. I know it's
wrong. But with regard to any personal testimony of anybody,
maybe I just have a suspicious nature, but I'm always, I don't
know, you know. But God's testimony is sure. This is God's testimony. And
it is completely to be relied on. It's absolutely sure. you thankful for that? I'm so
thankful for the Bible. God's testimony is sure. We're
not dependent upon listening to some man trying to shade the
truth in such a way as to make them look better. Not at all.
This is God's testimony and it's sure making wise the simple. The Scriptures, Paul said to
Timothy, are able to make thee wise unto salvation. through
faith, which is in Christ Jesus. What a testimony. God's testimony
is sure. Now look what he says next. Verse
eight. The statutes of the Lord are
right. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. Now, that word statutes is mandates,
decrees. You see God has given us in His
Word what He has decreed. The first thing that I think
of is the cross. Revelation 13, 8 lets us know
that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This is God's eternal purpose. This is God's eternal decree. Now everything God does because
He's God is by decree. He decreed it. You see, one of
the things that I think is so glorious about the Lord is he
doesn't have a law over his head that he has to conform to. He's
God. And he never does anything because
it's right. It's right because he does it. Amen. That's who God is. That's the God we worship. And
his statutes, his decrees are right, rejoicing the heart. You know what rejoices my heart?
that my salvation is not something that I have done, but it's what
He has decreed, and it must come to pass through the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, that rejoices my heart.
If you tell me that my salvation is dependent upon some performance
on my part, some work that I need to do in order to make it work,
I don't rejoice, I'm just scared. I think I'll mess it up. I know
I will. But when I hear that salvation is totally the work
of God's decree, God's purpose, He purposed His Son, He chose
His people, Christ accomplished their salvation without their
works. You know what that does? That rejoices my heart. Oh, don't
you love the decrees of God? It's so glorious to Him that
He decrees. I mean, here's what I will to
happen. Well, it's probably not gonna
happen because we willed it. We're weak, sinful, frail creatures
that can't foresee all the circumstances. God's not dependent upon circumstances. He's dependent on his own glorious
will. He decrees it, it is. And that rejoices the hearts
of all of God's people. All of God's people rejoice in
that. Now let's go on, what's it say next? The commandment
of the Lord. pure, enlightening the eyes,
the commandment of the Lord. Now let's just talk about the
10 commandments, the thou shalts and thou shalt nots. You know
what they are? Pure, absolutely, gloriously
holy. Every commandment of God is perfect. It's pure. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt not covet. Go on and
on. They're all altogether glorious. And they enlighten the eyes.
I love that, they enlighten the eyes. If you and I have any understanding
of what God's law is saying, it enlightens us to God's holy
character. And it enlightens us about ourself.
We're altogether sinful. If you can look at one of God's
commandments and think you've kept it, you've not seen God's
commandment at all. You know, I've heard people say,
well, nobody can keep the law perfectly. Oh, brilliant. If you don't keep the law perfectly,
you don't keep it at all. And God's commandments are pure. They enlighten the eyes regarding
me, God's character, my own sinfulness, and my need of somebody to do
something for me, the Lord Jesus Christ. God's commandments are
pure, aren't they? They enlighten the eyes. Verse
nine, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Now, this is what God's word
produces when believed. The fear of the Lord. The awe of the Lord. The reverence for the Lord. Now, let me tell you what the
fear of the Lord is. The fear of the Lord is not,
I repeat, is not, If I mess up, God will punish me. The fear
of the Lord really is not, I'm afraid of going to hell. The
fear of the Lord is not, if I'm not generous enough, God will
take it out in the coffin. The fear of the Lord is not any
of these, I'm going to get sick. If I don't, if I'm, if I'm being
disobedient, if I do something wrong, God's going to make some
kind of disaster come into my life. That is just not the fear
of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom.
The fear of the Lord that's the beginning of the wisdom is having
such respect and all toward the Lord that you fear looking anywhere
but Christ alone as everything God requires of you. Now that's
the fear of God. If you don't look to Christ alone,
you have no respect. There's no fear of God before
your eyes. But if you are so afraid of the glorious person
of God and his awesome character and all of his glorious attributes,
you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone at all times. You never want to leave that.
That is the fear of the Lord. And you know what it says about
the fear of the Lord? It's clean. Now that's clean. Anything else
is unclean. That's clean. And you know, once
someone has the fear of the Lord, it's forever, it endures forever. It's not something that's ever
going to leave. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. And then he says in verse nine,
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Now the judgments of the Lord,
God's judge. That's one. Everybody knows God
created the world. Everybody knows God's judge.
He's the judge. Everybody's born with that knowledge.
I answer to him. He is the judge, and his judgments
are true and righteous altogether. His judgments of condemnation. I hope I can say this right,
but if I go to hell, all of the People who are in heaven will
be praising God for his righteous judgment to get rid of me from
the universe. Now that's so. Somebody says
that sounds harsh. No, it's not harsh. It's true.
It's true. If God sends you to hell, it's
for the glory of his justice. You're no victim. He's giving
you and me exactly what we deserve. His judgments are true and righteous
altogether. But if God saves me, his judgments
are true and righteous altogether. In other words, if God saves
me, that means I deserve his salvation. I deserve it. Somebody says, how can you say
that? Because Christ put away my sin, he gives me his righteousness,
and I'm standing before God without sin. Altogether righteous. Now that's the God of glory.
His judgments are true and righteous all together. Let's go on reading. Verse 10, more to be desired
are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also
than honey and the honeycomb. Now this is the only way you
can know this is if you've experienced it. Is there anything in this
world better than trusting Christ? Any material things? Anything
that tastes better than to be able to simply rest in Christ
and know that all God requires of you, you have in him. There's
nothing that this world can offer that's as good as that. This
is sweeter than the honeycomb. This is better than anything
material. Verse 11, moreover by them, God's
judgments, his word, his commandments, his statutes, moreover by them
thy servant is warned. You know what I'm warned to do?
I'm warned to look nowhere but Christ. Everything God says in
his word, in his glorious word, lets me know I'm warned to look
nowhere but Christ. May the Lord enable me and you
to do that. To simply know something of the joy and peace of believing,
looking to Christ as all. And in keeping of them, there's
great reward, heaven. Justification. Sanctification,
redemption, likeness to Christ, all the glories of heaven. Somebody
that looks to Christ, oh, what reward there is in that. Verse
12. Now, whenever you consider the
character of God, David says, who can understand his errors
or his sins or his faults? Do you understand your own sinfulness?
Not even close. You and I haven't seen the tip
of the iceberg. I remember, because I'm a preacher, people come up
and say religious things to me if they know I'm a preacher.
And this one fella came up to me and he said, you know, I feel
bad about myself right now. I said, it's a lot worse than
you think. And it is, indeed it is. Who can understand his
errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Now, what is he talking about?
Is he talking about secret sins? Would I be at all far from the
truth to say that me and you are pretty good at covering our
sins so people can't see them? Everybody's pretty good at that.
Cover up secret sins that God sees. Men don't see them. We're good at covering them.
But God sees them. Or does the secret sins or secret
faults talk about most of the sins we commit? We don't even
know they're sins. We're so ignorant. I like what David said, I was
as a beast before thee. Most of the sins we commit, we
don't even know they're sins. We're so blind and dumb spiritually. And you know that's true. I know
that's true with regard to me. You know it's true with regard
to you if you're a believer. But what does he say? He says, cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Oh, I need cleansed. Cleansing
the blood. And look what he says in verse
13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them
not have dominion over me. Then shall I be up, I shall be
innocent from the great transgression. Now that word presumption every
other time, notice the sins is in italics. The translators put
it there to, supposedly help us, but it doesn't help us. And
that word presumption is always translated proud. What is it that will keep you
from looking to Christ? Pride. Looking for something
in yourself. That's it. It's not your sin
that'll keep you from Christ. I don't care what sin it is.
Your sin won't keep you from Christ. Your pride will though.
looking for something in yourself. Now he said, keep me from that
because I know that's what I'll do. And if you don't keep me
from it, if you don't prevent me from it, that's the direction
I'll go. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous
sin or from pride. Let them not have dominion and
control over me. I love where David said in Psalm
119, Let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. Order my steps in your word,
and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. And here's
the thing, when we ask that, we're saying it will have dominion
if you don't prevent it. We know that. That's why we ask
that. Somebody says, well, why would you talk that way? Well,
it's because of the way the Bible talks. Keep back. Prevent me. Restrain me. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous
sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then I shall be upright and shall be innocent from the great
transgression, which is not believing the gospel. That's the great
transgression, isn't it? What's the great transgression?
It's to look somewhere other than Christ. That's the great
transgression. Now he says in verse 14, let
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable. Acceptable through Christ. Acceptable
through his grace. He's asking for favor. The things
I'm thinking. Let it be acceptable in thy sight,
accepted in the Beloved, accepted through Christ. Let it be accepted
in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. What a name
for our Lord. He's my strength. Strength is
power to do. I can do all things through Christ
with strength in me. I can believe the gospel through
Christ with strength in me and my Redeemer. What a name. A Redeemer, the concept of the
Redeemer in the Old Testament, if you lost everything, if you
had a man who would redeem what you lost, he could do it. He
had the right to do it. He could demand that. He could go to the
person who had your property and say, you gotta give it to
me. But he had to be a kinsman Redeemer. He had to be a near
kinsman. Christ Jesus, bone of our bones,
flesh of our flesh. He had to have the ability to
do it. Christ has the ability to do it. And he had to have
the willingness to do it. Christ has the willingness to
do it. What a name for our God, my strength
and my Redeemer.