Would you turn back to Psalm
19? I've entitled this message, God's
Two Books. God's Two Books. God has written two books One is called the book of nature. And that's something everybody
can read. Everybody to ever live has been able to read this book,
but he's written another book called the Bible, God's book
of grace. Second, Timothy three 16 says
all scripture was given by inspiration of God. I mean, he wrote it. That means he inspired it. All
scripture is given by inspiration of God. This is a book that God
has written. Isn't that glorious? God's two books. Now, the first
book, verse one of Psalm 19, the heavens declare, they don't
simply imply, or whisper about, they declare the glory of God
and the firmament showeth his handiwork. The stars, the solar
systems, the galaxy, some say ever expanding, I don't know,
but it's all contained in the hollow of his hand. The heavens
declare the glory of God, the creator. Somebody made this place. Everybody knows that deep down. Everybody knows that. The heavens
declare the glory of God. Verse two, day unto day uttereth
speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. Every day says God
is. He is the ultimate reality. He's the creator. And every night
gives the same knowledge. Verse three, there is no speech
nor language where their voice, the voice of creation is not
heard. North America, South America,
Europe, Asia, Australia, the Arctic, the Antarctic, wherever
men are, they see where the heavens declare God's glory. Nowhere
where someone doesn't see this. Verse four, their line has gone
out through all the earth and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. S-U-N. But look what's said about the
S-U-N and look how similar this seems to be to the S-O-N, the
sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. You
know, the Savior is called the bridegroom. And rejoices as a strong man
to run a race. Oh, the strength of our Savior,
his strength in saving, the sureness of his victory. The S-U-N pictures
to us the sun himself. His going forth is from the end
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it. Just think
of the sun going across the sky during the day. And there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof. During the French Revolution,
one of the great goals was to get rid of all religion. And
one of the revolutionists told a French peasant, we're going
to tear down all houses of worship to rid your mind of any memory
of God. And the peasant replied, you
may do that, but you can't tear down the heavens. Can't be done. You can't tear
down the stars. Creation says God is, and creation,
renders a man without excuse. Turn with me to Romans 1. Romans 1. Verse 20. Verse 19. Because that which may be known
of God. There's some things that may
be known of God in creation. All you got to do is see the
creation. There's some things that may be known. Now, men don't
live up to the light God gives them. Nobody ever has. Somebody
says, well, what about the poor ignorant heathen that are innocent,
but they just never heard the gospel? Well, there's no such
thing. There's never been a man who's lived up to the light he
has. There's things he could know, but because of his wickedness,
he rejects what he could know. Look what verse 19 says, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has
showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse." Now, creation renders a man excuseless. Now to a believer, we get to
see, this is my father's world. Oh, we have such an appreciation
of creation. My father made this. This is my father's world. These
are my father's creatures. This is, this is my father's
house. This is my father's planet. This is my father's universe.
It's wonderful, isn't it? Children of the King. But all
creation does to an unbeliever is render him without excuse. Now so much for the book of creation. No one was ever saved by the
book of creation. You see why the book of creation
tells us much about God. Does it tell us whether or not
he's just? Does it tell us whether or not
he'll forgive sin? Does it tell us whether or not
he'll save sinners? No, the book of creation doesn't
tell us anything like that. We love the book of creation,
but here's a book that I must have, the book of grace, where
God makes known his heart. God makes known his purpose.
God makes known his will. God makes known his character
in the book of grace, in the salvation of the sinner. Now
look back in Psalm 19. Now he speaks of the written
book, the book of grace. And what would we know? You think
about this. What would we know of God? We
could speculate all kinds of things. We could guess things.
But what could we know of God without this book? What could
we know of his true character without this book? The fact of
the matter is we could, we can see he's mighty powerful. He
created this universe, but we can't see whether he's merciful.
We can't see whether he's gracious. We can't really see his holiness.
We can't see any of those things apart from this book. So thank
God for this book. Now look what it says about the
written word, the law of the Lord. Verse seven, my marginal
reading says the doctrine of the Lord. It's where we get the
word the Torah from. You've heard of the Torah, the
Torah of the Lord. The law of the Lord is perfect. It's complete. It's without error. You're holding something that's
perfect. Isn't that wonderful to think
about? The Bible is the perfect, infallible revelation of God. It's perfect. There's no error
in it. It's what Paul was talking about when he said, when that
which is perfect has come, that which is in part should be done
away with. When the full canon of scriptures come, we have that
which is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. The Bible
claims to be the inspired, inerrant word of God, and it is. It is. I know it is. You know, I was
in a hotel room last week, a couple of weeks ago, whenever it was,
but it had, you know, the Gideon Bible, but I guess the Mormons
must own this hotel chain because it also had a Mormon Bible in
it. And I picked that thing up and started reading it, and it
was ridiculous. Anybody could know that God didn't
write that book. I mean, it's ridiculous. It was
clearly the work of a depraved man. But when you read the scriptures,
you know this is the book of God, the majesty, the authority
of this word. You don't have to have somebody
prove it to you. You know it. The Bible is perfect. The law
of the Lord is perfect. It's authoritative. It possesses
authority because it's the word of God. Now the Bible is the
word of God and it is our only rule of faith and practice. Nothing else. I don't care about
man's traditions. I don't care about man's religion.
I could care less. The Bible. is our only rule of
faith and practice. We don't go to the Word of God
to try to prove what we believe and find scriptures to back up
our beliefs. We bow before the Bible and we find out what to
believe. You see, what you think about
God, what you think about God himself, his person, is seen
in how you review this book. This is the Word of God. Yes, we worship the Bible because
it's God's Word. We worship God. This is the Word
of God. And we bow to the authority of
what this book says. Now, it won't do you any good
to say you believe in inspiration and not bow to what God's Word
says. But this is what a believer does. He believes the Bible is
the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Bible is the precept
of God, and therefore it's our only rule of duty and responsibility. The illustration I thought of
was marriage. Somebody says, well, you know,
animals don't necessarily get married. Well, God says you get
married. That's all you need to know. God says it. Well, what
about the animals? Well, he said men, a man is to
be married to a woman. This is what God says. a monogamous relationship, it's
what God says, and it's our only rule of precept in that sense.
And the Bible is the promise of God, therefore it's our only
rule of hope. We find our hope, our hope of
standing accepted before God, our hope of being forgiven. All
of that hope is found in this book. The law of the Lord is
perfect, and I love what it says, converting, turning the soul. You know, this word is so powerful.
I mean, I can talk till I'm blue in the face, it won't mean anything
to anybody, me either. But if God takes His word and
turns me, that's the only thing that's going to turn anybody,
Him. Him. We can be going in a wrong direction
and have no care whatsoever, but oh, if He turns me. If he
turns me, oh Lord, that's why I'm always praying, Lord, turn
me. Turn us again, oh Lord. Cause I face the shine and we'll
be saved. Turn us and we'll be turned. That's the prayer of our heart,
that he would convert us, that he would turn us. Now look what
he says next. Here's the next thing he says
regarding the word of God. He actually gives six names for
the word of God. First he says, the law of the
Lord is perfect, converting the soul. And then next he says,
the testimony of the Lord. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, absolutely certain and faithful, making wise the simple. Now I want to be made wise, don't
you? I think of that scripture. I
love the scripture in James where it says, if any of you lack wisdom,
Right here, I'm one of them. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God who gives all men liberally and upbraids not. And Christ Jesus is the wisdom
of God. Now, the testimony of the Lord,
what he bears witness to, what he testifies of. Now, when he
testifies, he testifies to us in his word. This is a testimony.
There's something power in a testimony. He testifies who he is. He testifies
who we are. He testifies who Christ is. He testifies how salvation is
in him. It's the testimony of the Lord. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2nd Timothy 1. I talked about this in Sunday school just a
couple of days ago or last Sunday, I think, but it's worth looking
at again. Here's the testimony of the Lord. 2nd Timothy chapter
1. Verse 8. And this is the Lord's testimony.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner, but you be a partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel, according to the power of God, who hath saved
us. There's God's testimony. He saved
us and called us. with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. That's
God's testimony. You can't preach the gospel and
not preach this. Can't even come close. But is now made manifest,
that purpose, by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death, he put it away, and hath brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. Where into
I'm appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the
Gentiles, for the witch cause also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded
he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. Now, you hold fast to form sound words. That's the
testimony of the Lord. Now, this is sure. This is sure. You know what that means? It
means it's sure. It makes wives the simple. You
know how that makes me wise? It teaches me that salvation
is what God does for me. I love the way that verse states,
he saved us and he called us, don't you? He saved us, and then
when he saved us, he did all the saving, and then he called
us. And everything that we have was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. I love that, I love it. He saved
us, called us, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus.
I know whom I have believed. This is sure. This makes wise
the simple. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded. I'm convinced that He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day. It makes wise the simple. You know, the most wise thing
that you or I can do is to look to Christ only. That's the most
wise thing you can do. Testimony of the Lord is sure. Verse 8, here's the next thing
he says regarding the Word of God. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. Now that word statutes means
appointments or decrees, the decrees of God. You know, really
everything he says is unalterable. He never goes back on what he
says. Everything he says is decree. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in the heavens. It's not going to change. It's
not alterable. It's a decree. Now, everything
the Lord does, he does by decree. Turn to 1 Peter 2. You know, people get stuck on
this. Verse 7, unto you therefore which
believe, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
The stone which the builders disallowed and rejected, the
same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient. Now what's it say next? Whereunto
also they were appointed. Now I'm not gonna apologize for
that. I don't know what all it means. I really don't. I don't,
I don't know how. I know that they're disobedient. I know they reject the gospel,
but it also says where into they were appointed. This has something
to do with reprobation. God leaving a man to himself.
Now, do I understand all that? No. Do I feel the need to? No,
I don't. I just believe what God says.
They were pointing to this. They were pointing to this. Turn
to the book of Jude. Verse four, for there are certain men crept
in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
also spoke in Romans nine of the vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction. Now, if a man is damned, it's
not because God arbitrarily decided I'm gonna damn him. You know,
I'm this one, I'm gonna damn this one, I'm gonna save this
one. No, a man is damned because of his sin. A man is damned,
a man is condemned because of his personal sin against God.
And it's just as true. He was ordained to that condemnation. Now, I can't bring all that together,
but I believe it. I believe it. I mean, I tried
to, do you believe in double predestination? Well, Yeah, no,
no, I don't in the sense of what people say, he predestinated
some to hell and some to heaven. I don't believe he predestinated
people to hell, but I believe he ordained those people who
are going to be damned for that. I mean, that's what the scripture
says. And it's right! It's right. Now here's the point.
I don't understand all this. I'm sitting here thinking, man,
what are you talking about? It's high. I can't attain to
it. But I know this. It's right. Because whatever
he does is right. However he does it, that's fine
with me. It's right. The statutes of the Lord are
right. If He saves you, it's because
He decreed before time began your salvation. He knew you in
Christ before the world was. And it's right. Everything He
does is right. And this is my comfort. This
is my comfort. You know, people think, well,
you're saying God's the author of sin, or you're saying God
just... I don't know what I'm saying in all this stuff, but
I'm saying this, whatever God does is right. And I just find
comfort in that, don't you? I just leave it right there.
The statutes of the Lord are right, and you know what? They
rejoice the heart. They rejoice my heart when I
hear for the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. You know what that does? That
rejoices my heart. I am glad salvation's not by
works, but of him that calleth. The statutes of the Lord, the
decrees, the counsels, they're right. I wish I could
speak of this the way it ought to be spoken of, but I don't
know how to. I'm sorry, but I do believe in the absolute decrees
and counsels of God. And though I might not be able
to explain everything in a way that makes sense, I know that
whatever he does is right. And I just rest in that. I rest
that with regard to everything. Whatever the Lord does is right.
And he doesn't do it because it's right. It's right because
he does it. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in earth and sea and all deep places. And the
Bible is called the statute. Everything he says is a statute
and a decree and it rejoices the heart. Now look what he says
in verse eight next. He says, the commandment of the
Lord is pure. enlightening the eyes, the commandments of the Lord.
Well, that could be, I suppose you could say that could refer
to the 10 commandments. And that's certainly a part of,
of it. You know, God's commandments,
God's commandments, the 10 commands, aren't they pure? Don't you love
God's law? I love God's law. It's pure.
It's holy. And I don't need to fear it because
I've kept it. I kept it. When Christ kept it,
I kept it. Therefore, I don't have anything
to fear because I stand justified before that law. But every commandment
is holy and just and true. It's altogether glorious. I love
God's law. I love the command of the gospel.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When
God commands me to do it, I have the right to do it. That's where
my right to believe comes from. He tells me to. And the commandment
of the Lord is clean, clean, absolutely pure, enlightening
the eyes. You see, the commandment, if
you even talk about his, the 10 commandments, they enlighten
the eyes concerning the character of God, but the gospel, oh, how
it enlightens the eyes as to how God, Believing Christ tells
me how a holy God can look at me and say, I don't condemn you. You're without sin. You're without
fault. The gospel gives me the light
as to how that can be. And that is the most glorious
knowledge anybody can ever have to know how God can look at them. He can look at me and say, there's
no sin in him. Now that enlightens the eyes.
You see, my sin became the sin of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why he died on the cross. His righteousness is my righteousness. And God looks at me and says,
there's no fault in him. Now that enlightens the eyes,
doesn't it? And then I love this name of
the Bible. Verse nine, the fear of the Lord
is clean. enduring forever. Now what this
book teaches is the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning
of wisdom. And this is a good name for the
Bible, the fear of the Lord. That's the message of this book.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now it's the fear
of the Lord that makes a man afraid of sin. That's why I'm afraid of sin,
because I'm afraid of the Lord. It's the fear of the Lord that
makes a man distrust himself. You ought to distrust yourself.
You really should. The scripture says a man trusts
his own heart. It's a fool. It's the fear of the Lord that
makes you afraid to look anywhere but Christ only. You're afraid
to trust anything but Him only because you're afraid of the
Lord. That's what the fear of God is. The fear of the Lord
is clean, truly clean, and it endures forever. It never stops. It never quits. And then he says
in verse nine, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
altogether. This book is about his judgments
and the altogether righteousness of them. Now, God's the judge
of the earth. He's the judge. Only he is judge. The reason why we're not to judge
one another because he's the only judge. You and I don't have
the right to. We can't take that upon ourselves
to do so is presumptuous. He's the judge. Now, his judgments
are altogether righteous. If he sends a man to hell, you
know what it says? He's altogether righteous. If he sends me, I don't want it to be, I want
to have mercy. But if he would send me to hell,
it's because he's righteous, not No other reason because he's
altogether righteous. But here's what I also love to
think about this thing of, of the judgments of the Lord are,
are righteous altogether. If he justifies me, he's righteous
altogether in doing it. I love the parable, or not the
parable, but the Pharisee and the publican, how the Lord said
regarding that man, he made a judgment regarding that man, didn't he?
That man beat on his breast, crying, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. And then the Lord made a judgment
about it. He said, I tell you, that man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. And do you know, God uses this
whole book to explain how that takes place. His judgments are righteous altogether. You see? When I enter heaven,
when any believer enters heaven, they will fully deserve to be
there. The righteousness of God will
demand that they be there. They must be there. They've never
sinned. That's what justification is.
They've never sinned. And the judgments of the Lord
are righteous altogether. His judgments regarding condemnation
and His judgments Regarding salvation, they are righteous all together. Verse 10. Now, regarding the
word of God, the judgments of God, the commandment of God. More to be desired are they than
gold. Now, what is it that this world
is interested in? Money. Gold. I mean, that's the driving force,
isn't it? That's what everybody wants.
The love of money is the root of all evil. And this is what
everybody wants. They want gold. The things that
come with money, the security, the power, the pleasure, all
the different things money can bring. The love of money is the
root of all evil. Now, More to be desired are they
than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter, the word of the
Lord, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. I love what the Lord said of
his word. He said, the words that I speak
into you, their spirit and their life. And indeed, they are sweeter
than honey. Oh, the gospel. More to be desired
are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter than
honey in the honeycomb. Verse 11. Moreover, by them,
God's word is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them, there
is great reward. You know, I'm so thankful for
the warnings of the word of God. Here's one. As many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. And what that makes
me, I don't want to be of the works of the law. Do you? Thank
God for that warning. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's a warning. I don't want,
I want to be somebody that believes. I'm thankful for the warnings
of scripture. Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the father
is not in him. I don't want to love this wicked world. Evil communications, corrupt
good manners, evil companionships, corrupt good manners. There's
a warning. May the Lord enable me to stay away from evil communications
and companionships. But not only do I love the warnings
of the scripture, look what else he says. In keeping of them,
there's great reward. Great reward. There's great reward in taking
the lowest seat. You take the lowest seat, you
feel so comfortable there? You feel like that's the place
you belong. You go up any higher, that's where you're gonna fall,
isn't it? But isn't there great comfort in taking the lowest
seat in the house? What about the reward simply
being able to forgive somebody? From your heart, forgive them
and forget. What a comfort and blessed thing
that is. What about believing the gospel?
What great reward there is, the joy and the peace of believing.
To know that Christ is my righteousness before God right now, that all
that God requires of me, I have in Christ. There's such reward
simply in believing the gospel. Oh, there's great reward in keeping
His word. Judge not. You keep that commandment
and you won't be judged. That's a good reward, isn't it?
Forgive and you'll be forgiven. Give and it shall be given to
you. Oh, in the keeping of the word
of God, there is great reward. Now verse 12, this is actually
what kind of inspired this message. I was, I was reading this psalm. And while David had been contemplating
on the word of God, he said, who can understand his errors? Now that error is sin. It's fault. Can anybody here
understand their sin? I'll assure you, you can't. I'll
assure you, you can't. I mean, the only way I was thinking
about this, only the Lord knows how bad we are. And he didn't
let us know because we couldn't take it. I guarantee you, it
would drive us to distraction. We couldn't, who can understand
it? Can you understand how sinful
you are? Can you understand how self-righteous you are? Can you
understand how prone to wonder you are? None of us really, who
can understand? In light of the word of God,
who could understand his errors? I can't. David couldn't either. But what did it lead him to say?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Sins that I don't even know anything
about. You know, one of the reasons
we can't really confess our sins individually, because we don't
know what they all are. And if we did, it would take us, I mean,
we would never be doing anything but confessing sin. Cleanse thou
me from all the things I'm blind to. Cleanse me. Notice he's not saying, you know,
I don't even know, I don't even want to know all the things I'm
blind to, but I want cleanse from them. I do that. He says, cleanse
thou me from these secret faults, these things that I'm blind to.
And I don't even understand secret faults. You know, the scripture says a just man
falleth seven times. Now, seven is the word for completion. That means a just man follows
all the time. That's all it does. Now, I'm
thankful. I'm thankful that the Lord preserves
us, for the most part, I hope all of us, from some kind of
scandalous sin that's gonna bring reproach on the gospel. We want
preserved, that we don't bring reproach on our Redeemer. But
in the experience of our soul, there's always sin. It's always
there, the sinful nature and whatever I do, if I do it, it's
sin. And so we say, who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults
that I don't even see. Look what he says next in verse
13. Keep back thy servant also. from presumptuous sins. And notice the word sin is in
italics. No doubt there are presumptuous
sins, but that word is the word that's generally translated proud
or pride. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. When pride cometh, then
cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom. By pride only cometh
contention, the scripture says. And so he's, Lord, keep me from
it because I know what will happen if you don't keep me from it.
I will go in that direction without any question. That's the way
I'll be. Aren't you thankful for restraining grace where the
Lord keeps you from something? As a matter of fact, I want to
be careful when I say this, I'm going to say it the right way,
but any sin you don't commit or I don't commit is because
he kept us from it. That's it. That's the only reason,
the restraining grace of God. Lack of opportunity. lack of
opportunity. Keep back thy servant also from
presumption. Let them not have dominion or
control over me. Then shall I be upright and I
shall be innocent from the great transgression. Now only in him
keeping me will they not have dominion over me. And only if
I'm kept will I be upright and innocent of the great transgression.
Now what's he talking about when he's talking about the great
transgression? Is he talking about the unpardonable sin? Perhaps.
Perhaps. But any transgression is a great
transgression. And the only way I won't commit
whatever sin it is, is if he keeps me from it and restrains
me from it. Lord, keep me. Keep me by your
grace. Restrain me. a hedge about me,
lead me not into temptation. Verse 14, let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved And he ends this prayer with this cry, Oh Lord, my strength
and my redeemer. My strength. Strength is the
power to do. If you believe, it's because
he strengthened you to believe. If you love the word of God,
it's because he strengthened you to love the word of God.
Oh Lord, my strength And oh Lord, my redeemer, I need redeemed. I need to have my sins paid for.
And he is the Lord, my redeemer. God's two books, both seen clearly. The book of creation, and we
love the book of creation. We do, it speaks of our heavenly
father. But the book of creation doesn't
tell how God can be just and justify the ungodly. We love
the book of creation, but we love the book of grace better.
Because in the book of grace, the very heart of God, He tells
us who He is and how He saves a sinner. That's how I knew who
God is, by how He saves. I know His mercy, I know His
holiness, I know His justice, I know His wisdom, I know His
sovereignty, all of His attributes. are manifest in the salvation
of the sinner that's made known in the book of grace. Let's pray
together.