Psalm 19 is our study this evening. I'm taking the title from what
is said in verse one. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Everything God does is for his
glory. Everything in creation, everything
in providence, everything in salvation is for his glory. It's all about his glory. The
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is about, all about, His redemptive
glory, isn't it? You remember Ephesians chapter
1, it talks about God choosing us, Christ redeeming us, the
Holy Spirit saving us, and every time it mentions the working
of the triune God, it says, oh, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, you remember,
We read there, Paul writes, the blessed gospel of the glory of
God. The blessed gospel, it is a blessed
message, but it's all about the glory of God. Not about the glory
of man, but the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, all about
his glory. The grand design of God's redemption
and the grand design of salvation is decreed, designed, purposed,
and planned to give him all the honor and glory. You remember
Psalm 115, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. We give glory, don't we? We glory
only in the Lord. As Paul said, God forbid, God
forbid we should glory in the Lord. but in Christ in him crucified. Now we have in this psalm the
glorious works of creation, which declare his glory, and the glorious
works of the gospel that also declare his redemptive glory. The first part of this psalm,
verse one through six, the wonders of God's power is displayed in
creation, and the second part, We have the marvelous power of
God set forth in his word, the word of the Lord. The word of
the Lord is perfect. The doctrine of the Lord, the
gospel of the Lord, as it says in verse seven, is perfect. It's
converting. It's converting, restoring, regenerating
us. The wisdom. The testimony of the Lord is
the witness of the Lord, the wisdom of the Lord, making sure,
making wise the simple. Two excellent books we see in
this psalm, the book of creation, published for our instruction
and edification, and then we see the book of books, the Bible,
the word of the Lord, Holy Scripture. Both have the same creator, the
same author, the true living God. Both have the same subject,
both teach one lesson. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Both have one object, His glory,
one design. All things work around the glory
of God. You remember of Him, through
Him, and to Him are all things. You remember the rest of that?
To whom be glory, both now and forever. Well, let's look at
verse 1 down through verse 6, and we see this book of God's
creation. The heavens, the heaven of heavens,
the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament, or the
sky, the parts that we see, the moon, stars, all these things,
that's His handiwork. That's His handiwork. Remember,
don't turn, let me just read it to you. Remember last week,
we talked about In Psalm 8, David writes, when I consider the heavens,
the work of thy fingers, his finger work, the moon and the
stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou should
be mindful of him? It's his handiwork and his finger
work. God spoke all things in creation. God said, let there be light.
And there was light, there was light. What a marvelous creation. All creation declares the God
of creation, all the heavenly bodies that we behold, the sun,
the moon, the stars, the planets, even the clouds are called the
dust of his feet. The wind blows where it will
by the sovereign power of God. But all preach one message. All of creation preaches one
message. God is God. God is God. I am God, you remember, over
and over in Psalm. In Psalm 115 and other Psalms,
over and over in the book of Isaiah, he says, I am God. Beside
me, there is no other. I am God. I'm the only just God
and Savior. I am God. Beside me, there is
no other. There is none like me, holy,
sovereign, almighty, and eternal. You remember the words of that
song in Exodus 15 when Israel was delivered, walked through
the Red Sea, and their enemies were destroyed? who is like unto
thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." Everything God
purposes to do, that's what he does. He says, I've spoken it.
I'll do it. I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed
it. He worketh all things after the counsel of his people. Own
will, all creation is a handiwork of God. He spoke all things into
existence. You remember this from Colossians
chapter one, for by him were all things made that are in heaven,
that are in the earth, visible, invisible, thrones, principalities,
powers, dominions, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and by
him all things consist. Controlled, held together. There is a certain sure order
to this universe, is there not? The semen that traveled back
before we had all this electronic stuff. How did they navigate
across the oceans? They fixed on that North Star,
didn't they? And they navigated that way.
That star never varied, never moved. They could count on it.
God controls all things. He spoke all things into existence. As his creation, they're all
servants, his servants, to serve his purpose, to declare his glory,
his power, and his honor for all things. Thy righteousness,
O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O
God, who is like unto thee. The heavens declare God's glory. Look at verse two. Day unto day,
or day after day. Day after day, they utter a message. There is a speech, there is a
message. And night after night, night into night, shows knowledge
that God is God. The preaching of creation, day
after day, night after night, night after night, one continuous,
one faithful sermon. God is God, the almighty God. Deuteronomy says this, verse
7, chapter 7, verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and
mercy. His covenants are ordered in
all things and assured. The day speaks of Christ our
light. He's the light of the world.
He said that in John 8. I'm the light of the world. He
that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. The night speaks of Christ, our rest. Christ is
our Sabbath rest. We rest in him. No wonder the
Lord said, come unto me, all you that labor heavy laden. I'll
give you rest. Rest for your soul. The day speaks
of Christ the light. The night speaks of Christ our
rest. Look at verse three. There is
no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Creation speaks in a universal
language that all men understand, so that even the lowest and the
most remote part of this earth, men without excuse before God. The creations speak. How many
languages are there among men today? How many languages? I
looked that up today. That is, I asked my phone. You
know there's 7,000 different languages in this world? That's amazing, isn't it? Eight
billion people on this thing we call planet Earth. How many
languages are there among men? Many, many, many. But there is
no speech or language on earth where the voice of God's heavens
is not heard, for the teaching of creation is not directed to
the ear, but to the eye and to the heart. God has showed it
unto them, as we read in Romans 1. Because that which may be
known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them.
all the eyes of men. You can go to the darkest, remotest
place on this earth, and there God speaks in creation. The heavens declare His glory.
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 all men everywhere are
without excuse. And without excuse, look at verse
four, their line, their line or their rule or their direction
is gone out. God sends it out to all the earth,
his sunshine. This whole earth enjoys the sunshine
and the rain. And this whole earth enjoys the
nighttime too. The nighttime is just as necessary
as the daytime. Gotta have the nighttime as well.
The line has gone out to all the earth, the words to the end
of the world. Where is the end of the world?
I don't know. The most remotest place in the
world, God puts his sunshine right there, the glory of God. In them he has set a tabernacle,
a tabernacle for the sun. The line, rule, or direction
of the speech of creation has gone out to all the earth. Every
preacher of God's creation goes into all the world to declare
that God is God, faithfully, Faithful God, holy, sovereign,
almighty. No living man can hide from God's
creation that preaches a message that God is God. God is God. So God holds all men without
excuse. Without excuse. God has set a tabernacle for
the sun. It says in Psalm 84, the Lord
God is sun and shield. The sun, we know, is the center
of our solar system. Everything revolves around the
sun, doesn't it? The sun doesn't move. We often
think that the sun is moving. No, it's the planets that are
moving. The sun is the center of our solar system, and everything
revolves around the sun, doesn't it? Everything is so vitally
connected to the sun, isn't it? Even so, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, everything revolves around the S-O-N, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the center of all things.
Christ is all and in all. Verse 5 and 6, I think we have
a description of the S-U-N, which is type and picture of the S-O-N,
which is as a bridegroom We know the Lord Jesus Christ is called
the bridegroom, isn't he? We know the Lord Jesus Christ
chose his bride, loved his bride, and gave himself for the bride,
which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Where did
the Lord Jesus Christ come from? Not from the earth, he came from
heaven, the heaven of heavens. God sent his son in the fullness
of time which is a bridegroom coming out of the throne of God. That's where the Lord came from.
And the bridegroom, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ rejoices
as a strong man to run a race. He's not a weak, frustrated,
weak peanut God, is he? He's a strong God. The bridegroom
coming out of the throne of God rejoicing rejoicing to do the
work of the Lord. He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me. His going forth is from the end
of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
eternal God. He has no beginning, He has no
end. His going forth is from the end
of heaven, His circuit unto the ends of it. There is nothing
hid from Him. Nothing hid from the heat of
the sun, is there? I walked out back today before
I went home and picked some grapes off the grapevine out back there.
And that sun was just beating down on me, beating down on me,
and it was so warm. It was actually even hot. You
can't hide from the heat of the sun, nor can you hide from the
heat of God's wrath. knowledge and judgment. That's
what he's saying there in verse five and six. You see, everything
in creation is type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, is
he not? He's called a son of righteousness
with healing in his wings. He's called the Lord our righteousness. He is the bridegroom. Remember,
John said, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend
of the bridegroom which standeth by hears him and rejoices because
of the voice of the bridegroom. And John said, he must increase,
I must decrease. He is the bridegroom who has
the bride. The Lord Jesus Christ is a strong
man. The Lord Jesus Christ is no weak
savior, is he? He's mighty to save. He's a great
God and savior. Mighty to save his people from
their sin. Isaiah says, I that speak in
righteousness, Isaiah writes, I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. He's mighty to save. Able to
save to the uttermost all that come to God by him. He's able
to save, willing to save. He is our kinsman redeemer. Aren't
you glad you have a kinsman redeemer? who is near kin to us, who is
willing to redeem and able to redeem, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's nothing hid. There's
nothing hid from Him. All things are naked and open
unto Him with whom we have to do. Now, he comes to the second
part of this. If you go back for just a minute
here on that word circuit, that word circuit in verse six, his
circuit unto the ends of the earth, his circuit or his revolutions
are unto the ends of the earth. His mercies are far reaching.
His blessings are widespread, reaching to all the lost. All that the Father hath given
to me, they will come to me. And those that come to me, I'll
never, I'll never cast them out. Now, here's the second part of
this. So we see the book of creation
has the message of God is God in creation, providence, and
in salvation. And then from verse seven down
through verse 11, at least that far, we see the second part of
this about the word of the Lord. Look at verse seven. The law
of the Lord, or the, I love the marginal reference here, the
doctrine. I looked that word up, law, and it is doctrine of
the Lord. Now, when you think about the
doctrine of the Lord, what do you think about? Notice it's
not doctrines, it's plural, it's doctrine. It's the gospel of the Lord,
isn't it? As Paul said, we read a moment ago, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believe to the Jew or the Gentile, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The law of the Lord
is perfect, that word there means complete. The word or doctrine
of the Lord is perfect, it's complete. The word of the Lord
is without error. This book Inspired and God-given
has no error in it. None. Now, men might like to
pick and choose and say, well, this contradicts that and that
contradicts that. There's no contradiction in God's
words. The contradiction's in your own
puny mind. The word of the Lord is complete
without error. All scripture is given of God.
The whole text of scripture is a sure word of prophecy. You
can believe it, read it, believe it as such, receive it as such,
and rest the whole confidence of your salvation upon Christ. The whole confidence of our salvation.
Rest upon what? Thus saith the Lord. What do Luther say? Feelings
come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving, my want is the word
of God, nothing else is worth believing. Faith comes by hearing,
hearing by the word of the Lord. One old preacher said, it's a
crime to add to it, it's treason to alter it, it's a felony to
take from it. That's pretty good. Preach what
God says in His Word. That's what preaching is, repeating
what God has said. And here's the effect of it.
The Law of the Lord, the Doctrine of the Lord, the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is complete. And what's the effect of it?
It's converting. It converts us. It regenerates
us. It makes us new creatures in
Christ. You remember we studied in the book of James, of His
own will begat He us. with the word of truth. Being
born again, not of a corruptible seed, but of an incorruptible
seed, the word of God. So the doctrine of the Lord,
the word of the Lord is complete. And by it, we have life, regeneration
of God. And then it says, the testimonies
or the witness of the Lord is sure. The second part of verse
seven, the testimony or witness of the Lord is certain and sure.
What a blessing we have in this world of uncertainties. We have
the word of the Lord that's certain and sure, ordered in all things,
ordered in all things. We have the sure word. As David
said on his deathbed, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, And it's sure, isn't it? And here's the
effect of it. Here's the effect of that, that
sure testimony of the Lord, of Jehovah the Lord, it's certain
and sure, it makes wise men. It makes wise men. Making wise
people out of simple, foolish, ignorant people, he makes us
wise on the salvation. Remember what Paul writes to
Timothy. From a child thou hast known
the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Aren't you glad the Lord has
given us His certain sure word of testimony? Perfect. It's converting. The
testimony of the Lord is certain and sure. We can believe it,
receive it as such. It makes us wise unto salvation.
Look at verse 8. Again, talking about the statutes
of the Lord. The statutes. The statutes of
the Lord are His mandates. His decrees. The decrees of the
Lord are right. Whatever He does is right. Whatever
the Lord is pleased to do is right. The decrees and the statutes
of the Lord, the mandates of the Lord, they're right. That
is, they're founded upon his righteousness. They're founded
upon holy principles. He must be not only a just God,
but he must be the justifier as well. Righteous and merciful. And here's the effect of that.
The statutes of the Lord are right. The mandates and decrees
of the Lord are right. And what does that do? It rejoices
our heart. Doesn't it rejoice your heart
to know that God is God? That God is the absolute sovereign
over all things? That nothing comes to pass in
time that God has not decreed from all eternity? Doesn't that
rejoice your heart? Or not shut up to Mother Nature? Or shut up to the God of all
creation? Or not shut up to Lady Luck? Or Miss Fortune? Free ladies I give no credit
to. Mother nature, lady luck, or misfortune. We're not under fate. We're not
fatalist. All things are under the control
of Almighty God. That rejoices our heart. We are
the true Israel which worship God in the spirit, that rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the flesh. They rejoice the heart of believers. The commandment of the Lord,
second part of verse 8, the commandment of the Lord is pure. Could God give any commandment
that's not pure? Everything, every command that
He gives is pure. It's as pure and holy as God.
And what is that command that is pure? The command of the gospel? The command of the gospel is
to repent and believe. It's by His command. And what
does that do? It enlightens our eyes. It enlightens
our understanding, doesn't it? The commandment of the Lord.
No mixture of air defiles it. It's pure. It's not stained.
or polluted with sin, it's as holy as God Himself. And it enlightens
our understanding. God has given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has ordained that through
the Word, He opened our understanding to the glory of God. God commands
the light to shine in our heart that we might see His glory.
The commandment of the Lord is pure. It's pure. It's holy. Every command of God is holy
because He's holy. Look at verse 9. The fear of
the Lord, the fear of the Lord is clean. It's clean. It endures forever. Enduring
forever, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
The fear of the Lord is clean. Now staying with the message
of the word, which teaches us reverential fear, respect and
worship for the Lord, does it not? The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. Holy and reverent is His name.
We have a holy, healthy awe and reverence for who God is. It's not a slavish fear, a fear
of bondage. It's a fear out of love. It's
a fear out of faith. We believe He is God. The Word directs us The Word of God directs us to
where our cleansing is found. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. All our sin. The effect of it, it's enduring
forever. It's enduring forever. His Word,
the Gospel of Christ, has an eternal effect upon our heart,
doesn't it? He saves us, not with a temporary
amnesty, They're talking about amnesty all the time now. The
Lord doesn't give us a temporary amnesty, He gives us and He saves
us with an everlasting salvation, doesn't He? He gives us eternal
life. Look at verse nine, again, the
last part of it. The judgments of the Lord are
truth. The judgments of the Lord are
true. and the righteous altogether righteous. As he's altogether
lovely, he's also altogether righteous. His decrees and his
mandates, his covenant of grace are founded upon holy foundation,
holy principles that cannot be overruled, shall not the judge of all the
earth do right. And whatever he does, it is right. It is right. His power is invincible,
His justice impeccable, and whatever He does, that's right. Faith submits to the Lord. Now look at verse 10 and 11.
I've got a few minutes here. More, all these attributes of
God's Word, His characteristics of His Word, God's people who
are enlightened, who fear the Lord, who are converted, who
have been made wise, who rejoiced in the Lord. There are more to
be desired, verse 10, than gold. Oh, everybody's talking about
gold. You know the price of gold? You
ever watch the price of gold? I look at the price of gold.
$2,500, an ounce. No wonder those people out there
in the mountains digging for gold, panning for gold. Everybody's looking for gold.
This gold of God's grace is much greater. More to be desired than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter, sweeter than honey of
the honeycomb. His word, his word. More to be
desired than gold. Spiritual treasure is far superior
than any earthly treasure, is it not? So you had Fort Knox
in your backyard. Fort Knox belonged to you. I
don't know how much gold's in Fort Knox. Probably not much
anymore. They probably spent all that
too. But if you had Fort Knox, what
would that be worth in the day when you meet God in judgment? It's not even a comparison, is
it? More to be desired than gold, spiritual treasure, spiritual
riches are better than any earthly treasure. It's sweeter than honey,
sweeter than honey. Psalm 119, how sweet are thy
words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Honey's
pretty sweet, isn't it? I love to put honey on different
sandwiches, peanut butter, Bread and honey. That's good, isn't
it? That's a good snack. But his
word is sweeter than honey. The pleasures arising from a
right understanding of the gospel bring joy and gladness to the
heart. By them, verse 11, thy servant is warned. By them, thy
servant is warned. God gives us warnings all through
the word, lest we presume. By the word, we are warned, aren't
we? David writes in Psalm 119, through thy precepts we get understanding,
therefore we hate every false way. I hate that which is contrary
to God's truth. I hate it. I hate that doctrine
that does not give God all the honor and glory in salvation.
Through thy precepts we get understanding, therefore we hate every false
way. Keeping them is a great reward. Receiving them and keeping
them and laying hold of them by faith. There is a great reward. Now notice, it doesn't say rewards. Christ is our exceeding great
reward. Receiving Christ, we have everything. Receiving Christ is our great
reward. Exceeding great reward, as Abraham
said. God said to Abraham, fear not
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy great exceeding great reward. Christ is our reward. Now verse
12, 13 and 14, we have the prayer of a believer. The prayer of a believer. Let's make this our prayer. Who can understand his error,
his errors? Cleanse thou me from my secret
sins. Now, there are sins that I know
about, but there are sins that I don't
know about, that I'm just unconscious of. David prays here. Who can understand this? We don't
fully know just how depraved we are. We understand that we're
depraved, but we don't know how fully depraved we are and totally
depraved we are. Who can understand this? Only
those who have been taught of God. And because we know this,
we pray, Lord, cleanse thou me, cleanse me, continually cleanse
me by the blood of Christ. from my secret. And notice the
word false there has been added, but you can add in there, I think
a better word is, people don't like to say, well, I'm a sinner.
Well, I just have some faults. No, we're sinners. That's a better
word. If you're gonna add a word, let's
not add the word false. Let's add the word that describes
who we are, sinners. Keep back, verse 13, thy servant,
from presumptuous. And here the word is added, not
false, but sins. Why didn't they put that before?
I don't know. Keep me from presumptuous. And
that word, I looked it up. You know what it is? Arrogant
pride. Arrogant pride. Arrogant pride. Are sins committed willfully
because of arrogant pride? You remember we studied in the
book of James, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not.
What is that? Sin. Whatever is not of faith
is sin. And here's our prayer. Keep me. Restrain me by your grace from
being full of pride and arrogance and self-righteousness. Let them
not have dominion over me. I don't want to be Consumed with
arrogant religious pride and hypocrisy, do you? Let them not
have dominion over me. Then, oh then, I'll be upright. And I shall be innocent from
the great transgression, or as it says there, much transgression
in the marginal reference. Here's our prayer. Let not my
wicked nature have dominion over me. that sin nature does remain
in the believer, but it's only by his restraining grace that
it doesn't have dominion over us. Paul writes this in Romans
6, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, but under grace. Lord, keep me by your restraining
grace. Keep me by your restraining grace,
and I'll be innocent from much transgression, then I shall be
innocent from the great transgression. Some of the old writers think
that referring to apostasy, departing from the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, looking away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, keep
me from that. Keep me centered and looking
only and always to the Lord Jesus Christ, only and always to the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. Verse 14, let the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart,
remember out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,
let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight. Now, how could that be? Only
as we're accepted in the beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. The words
of our mouth must be in tune in harmony with our heart, or
our prayers are just vain and useless. We also pray and approach
God only in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're only accepted in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, and I love this last
statement. Oh Lord, my strength, and notice the marginal
reference there is rock. Christ is the rock of ages on
which we rest. He is my rock, my refuge, my
righteousness. He's the rock. Christ, the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, sinking sand. He's the rock. He's the foundation
of our faith, isn't He? Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation
of stone, precious cornerstone. O Lord, You're my strength. You're my rock. He's the strength
of faith. The strength of faith is not
in faith. The strength of faith is in the object of faith, Christ. O Lord, my strength. My rock
and He's my Redeemer. He's my strong Redeemer. He's
my rock and my Redeemer. I love those two things, don't
you? He's our, and that word Redeemer means deliverer. He's
the deliverer who really delivers us from all our sin. In whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin
according to the riches of His grace.