I've often stated here that my appreciation for the writings
of David are especially good and great because
what the Lord said about him, he's a man after my own heart.
God said, I have found David to be a man after my own heart.
Well, David's heart being in tune with God's was not by nature,
but God gave him that new heart. The Lord God said, don't turn
to this passage, let me read it to you. In Ezekiel 11, God
said, I'll give them one heart. That heart of David that loved
God and was in tune with the heart of God, was the gift of
God. The Lord said, I'll give them
one heart. I'll put a new spirit within you. I'll take the stony
heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh that you
may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them and
they shall be my people, I'll be their God." The man writing
this was given that new spirit and new heart so that God said
of him, he's a man after my own heart. From David's earliest
days, evidently, you know, when he was just a young man, I suppose
in his late teens, God sent Samuel down to the house of his father
Jesse to anoint a king. God called him my king to replace
Saul, who was the choice of the people. But God said, I'll anoint
my king, my king over Israel. And he sent Samuel down to the
house of Jesse to anoint his king. And Samuel tried to anoint
several of Jesse's sons. All of them appealed to him.
But God said, that's not the one. And finally, Samuel inquired
of Jesse, are these all your sons? There were five or six
of them there. And Jesse said, well, no, the
youngest. The youngest I have sent out
to care for the sheep. And Samuel said, well, we'll
not sit down to eat till he comes. And when David, just a young
man, I'm guessing 17 or 18, somewhere in that, but when he appeared
in the door, the Lord said to Samuel, this is he. From those earliest days, David's
heart was in tune with God. And from his earliest days, while
keeping his father's sheep in the fields and the mountains,
David meditated upon the things of God. His heart was in tune
with God. And Spurgeon said that David
had two books which he studied all the time. Two books which
he studied. And he so strongly entered into
the truth of these two books that he rejoiced continually,
even from his youth, in the glory of the author, in the majesty
and wisdom of the author of both of these books. And he writes
about them here in Psalm 19, the two books. The first book
is mentioned in verse 1. It says the heavens declare,
teach, reveal the glory of God. So the first book in David's
library of two books was the world book, the book of creation. God saw, David saw in this magnificent
book authored by God the glory of God. And then the second book
is down here in verse 7. He talks about it, the law of
the Lord. The law of the Lord there is
not the Ten Commandments or the Levitical law, it's the doctrine,
it's the Word of God. The Word of God is perfect. Those
were David's two books, God's creation, which declared and
taught David God's glory, and God's Word, the which God taught
David God's glory and I appreciate I appreciate so much the individual
who is a student of both those books the book of creation and
the word book and can say my father wrote them both I'm a
student of the world book and a student of the word book. I'm
a student of his creation. I'm a student of his revelation. He wrote them both. Revelation
4 verse 11 says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive the glory
and the honor and the power, for Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. And then all
scripture is given by inspiration of God. And all scripture is
profitable, given to us by God. And the true student, now listen
to this, someone said this, the true student of creation and
science, nature, call it what you will, the true student of
creation and nature, science, and all the laws of the universe
has no quarrel with the Word of God. He has no quarrel, not the truest
of them, the one who truly knows the author of creation, the creator
of all things, and he by whom all things exist, consist, in
whose hands all things are held together. and function by his
will and purpose. The true student of that creation
has no trouble with the Word of God. He has no conflict with
the Word of God, no quarrel with the Word of God. And the true
student of the Word of God has no quarrel with creation. Not at all. Creation and inspiration. Creation and inspiration. are united. Nature and the scriptures
have one foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Creation is to
glorify him, to honor him, to exalt him, and the word of God
is to exalt and magnify and honor him. And when we stand in God's
outer court of creation, As David says here in verse 1, the heavens
declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. And when we stand and look upon
the things which God has made, we look and we admire and we
adore and we're amazed. And when we come in the inner
court and study his word which he has written, we listen. And we kneel and we pray. See, when we're out beholding
the world book, we look and we are amazed and we admire and
we adore. But when we come into the inner
court and open his word and by his spirit he speaks to us, we
listen and we kneel. And we praise and we pray. Let's spend a moment tonight
looking at the world book, the book of creation, and then spend
most of our time on the book of inspiration. But here in verse
1, David said the heavens. What are the heavens? Well, let
me read you Psalm 148, what it says over here. Psalm 148, verse
3 and 4. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above heavens. Let them praise the name of the
Lord, for He commanded and they were created." Well, Paul talks about the third
heaven. I looked it up to make sure that
I didn't just Imagine that, I looked it up again, I read it many times,
you have, but he did say, I know a man, whether in the flesh or
in the body or out of the body, I don't know, but he was taken
up into the third heaven, the heaven of heaven, the place of
God's abode. Paul said, I visited there one
time, but I can't tell you about it, I heard things it's not possible
to utter. And then there's the second heaven,
I guess you would call where the stars and the planets are,
so many thousands of miles above. And then there's the heaven above
this earth, the firmament, showeth forth his glory. That's where
the clouds are and the rain and the snow. Have you entered the
treasures of the snow? There was an artist who painted
a picture, Dan and Bob Sellett, and it's beautiful. It's a beautiful
picture. It's an expensive painting, isn't
it? And the artist let Bob name it. And Bob and his family named
it The Treasures of the Snow from the script. Have you entered
The Treasures of the Snow? where Paul visited, where the
planets revolve and move, and where the snow comes down. Declare the glory of God. I tell
you, if every preacher would shut his mouth, this one included,
and every choir hush, and no human voice ever again pronounce
the name of God on the face of this earth, the heavens would
declare his glory in sufficient majesty. And the sun and the moon and
the stars would reflect his wisdom in sufficient measure. And the
birds would take up the Tonight I threw some peanuts
out on the patio to fluffy my squirrel. And Darce said, he's
talking. I said, oh, honey, he's not talking.
Yes, she said, he's saying something. He knows what he's saying. I
don't, but he, I said, you can hear him? She said, yes. She
opened the door and I went out and he was perched up on a little
place there looking under the, under a board at us. And he was
just jabbering away. God's creatures have a language
of their own. They do. And the birds and the
squirrels and all these animals will take up the message and
the winds and the waves will say, the Lord God reigneth. Our Lord Jesus Christ walking
on this earth and people, some of His disciples were praising
Him. Someone wanted to rebuke him. He said, if they don't praise
me, the rocks will. Isn't that what he said? The
rocks will. During the French Revolution,
I can't pronounce the name of this man, but he was one of those
leaders. And he was quoted as saying this
to the peasants. He said, we'll pull down all
your churches and all your church steeples. and all your shrines
and altars and all your places of worship. And then you'll have
no object to remind you of your religious superstitions. And
one of the peasants says, how you going to pull down the sun
and the moon and the stars? They declare the glory of God. It'll be all right. Tear down
the buildings. Might be good. and let the things
that are made declare who he is. I think who he is is not
declared very well in the places we've built. All right,
let's move on. There verse 2, day unto day uttereth
speech, where one day leaves off and another one takes up
the message. God reigns. The next day takes up the message
of the day before. By him are all things created. Every night and night unto night,
one night passes on to the next night the sermon and the seasons. We're watching the leaves fall. So beautiful. God's turning the
summer into fall and the fall into winter. I heard some silly
fellow say one time that he heard that one of these days he won't
be able to tell one season from another. You won't be here. That's for sure. Turn to Genesis
8. Genesis 8, verse 20. Such a day is not in God's program
or on God's calendar. Genesis 8, verse 20. building an altar unto the Lord,
when he walked out of that ark, and took of every clean beast,
and of every clean fowl, and burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a savor of rest, a sweet savor, and the
Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any
more for man's sake. For the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth, Neither will I again smite any
more every thing living as I have done, while the earth remaineth. Seed time, spring, harvest, fall,
cold and winter, heat, and summer and winter and day and night
shall not cease." And I'm not saying I can't tell
the difference. I might be so addled that I won't know the
difference in summer and winter, but they're still going to be
here and declaring His glory. All right, let's look at verse
3. Verse 3 of Psalm 19. There's no speech and no language
where the voice of creation is not heard. Somebody said creation preaches
a perfect sermon and The whole world hears creation
loud and clear all the time and There's no speech and no language
and no tribal dialect anywhere even pigeon in New Guinea Where
the voice of God's creation is not heard every day and every
night Where one day leaves off, another takes it up. Where one
night leaves off, another takes it up. Declaring God's glory. Let me read you a passage. I
do want you to turn to this Romans 1. Romans chapter 1. Listen, you read this with me.
Read it along while I read it. Romans chapter 1 beginning with
verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God, his power, his wisdom, his glory, his majesty, is manifested
to 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 God's, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse. Everybody's without excuse. Without a preacher ever opening
his mouth, without the Word of God ever being written, The heavens
declare the glory of God. And there's no language or speech
or tribal dialect anywhere in this world that those heavens
aren't preaching to them and declaring God's glory. Someone
said one time, the preachers are many. The sun, the moon,
the stars, the planets, the things that are made. The wind and the
waves and the animals. The sanctuary is the whole universe. The ceiling are the stars of
God, and the floor is the earth of God, and the walls, there
aren't any. The whole universe is the auditorium. The congregation is every son
of Adam, male, female, boy or girl, old or young. The subject
is who made these things. His majesty, his glory, the Father,
Son, the Holy Spirit, the results, they're all without excuse. As the book David studied, the world book, he saw God in
everything. I see God in everything. He's
my prophet, All the universe is under his control, summer,
winter, spring, or fall. He is sovereign over all. I see
God in everything my eyes behold. Do you? Sure you do. Verse 4
through 7, their line, their message, their sermon is gone
out through all the earth. Their words to the end of the
world, these preachers declaring the glory of their God And in
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." Listen to me, in
the heavens, in the universe, God has made the whole universe
a tabernacle for the sun. In this great tabernacle, the
universe, there's one center point. There's one central figure. There's one great one. There's
one upon whom all depends. There's one fountain of life,
heat, warmth, without whom there is no life and nothing survives
or moves without the sun. In the universe, in God's world
book, one prominent central great one, the sun. The sun. Every scientist knows that. Every
one of you knows that. The sun. S-U-N. And he says about
the sun, he says verse 5, which is as a bridegroom coming out
of his chamber, that's how important he is, rejoices as a strong man
to run a race. His going forth is from the end
of the heaven, his circuits under the end of it, and nothing hid
from the heat of the sun. These verses point to the Son,
S-U-N, but primarily to the Son, S-O-N. I told you the heavens declare
the glory of God. The glory of God, the chief glory
of God is redemption in Christ. The great foundation, the great
message of even the creation is the Son of God. Turn to Malachi, verse 4. Last book in the Old Testament,
Malachi chapter 4. Listen to this. Malachi 4, verse 1, For behold,
the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud,
yea, all that do wickedness shall be stubble. And the day that
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it leave
them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name
shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings,
and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and
you shall Tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under
the soles of your feet in that day, that I shall do this, saith
the Lord of hosts." That's the son of righteousness is our Lord,
rising with healing in his wings. And verse 5 says, he's a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber to take his bride to church. He purchased us, He bought us,
He chose us, He loved us, He redeemed us. The broad groom,
the whole universe is a tabernacle for the Son. And He rejoices
as a strong man to run a race. He came down here and obeyed
the law, conquered Satan, bruised the serpent's head, won the battle
victoriously, finished the race. And his going forth, oh my, his
goings forth is from the end of heaven, his circus to the
end of it. Let me read you a passage over
here in Micah when it talked about his birth in Micah chapter
5. Ephrathah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth
unto me, that is, to be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting." That's who this Son is. Tabernacle
for the Son, Son of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber to embrace his bride, strong man
finishing the race, whose goings forth have been from everlasting,
and watch the last line of verse 6, and there's nothing hid from the heat thereof. Nothing hid from the heat of
the sun. How can that talk about Christ?
Nothing hid from the heat of Christ. Well, two things. Those who believe on him are
not hidden in any way from the warmth of his love, the heat
of his love and grace. If I send him to heaven, if I
make my bed in the grave, if I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand hold me. Even the night shall be light
about me." No believer is ever out of his care and away from
the warmth and heat of his grace. Now wait a minute. No one is
hidden from the heat of his wrath. No one can escape. Let me read
you a passage over here. Isaiah 50, verse 10. Who is among
you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his
servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his guard. You will
find light. All ye that kindle a fire, that
compass yourself with sparks, and walk in the light of your
own fire, and in the sparks that you kindle, this shall you have of my hand,
you lie down in sorrow." And he can't escape. All right, let's look at the
word book for a moment. In verse 7, David talking about
the Word of the Lord. He describes the Word of the
Lord in six ways. I want you to mark it in your
Bible. And he gives the results, the effect of this characteristic
or description. He says the Word is perfect.
Verse 7. He says the testimony of the
Lord is sure. You see that? Perfect and sure. He says the statutes of the Lord
are right. He says in verse 8, the commandment
of the Lord is pure. He says in verse 9, the fear
of the Lord, and that's the Word of God. That's how we're taught,
the fear of the Lord is the Word of God. It's clean. And then
he says the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous. And let me comment on that and
I'll let you go. Verse 7, the law of the Lord,
the word of the Lord is perfect. It converts the soul. The word
of God converted my soul. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, I declare unto you the gospel
by which you're saved. The Word of the Lord is perfect.
It converts the soul. It reveals my sin. I would not
have known sin had not the Word of God said, Thou shalt not covet.
It destroys all other ways of salvation. The Word of God says,
Neither is there salvation in any other name under heaven given
among men. It reveals the blood and righteousness
of Christ. He died for my sins. And the
Word of God commands me to look. and be saved. So the Word of
God is perfect. It converts my soul. Secondly,
the testimony of the Lord is sure. It makes wise the foolish,
the simple. That's me. The simple. The Word of God is sure. It makes
wise the simple. Christ is the wisdom of God.
And watch how the Word of God works in us. First of all, the
word of God in Christ removes our guilt and despair, and yet
it does not remove repentance. In Romans 7, Paul closes with
this statement, the things I would do, I do them not. The things
I would not do, I do them. He said, when I would do good,
I find another law warring in my members. bringing me into
captivity to sin. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of sin?" And in the next chapter he says, there's no condemnation
to living in Christ. That's God's wisdom. The Word
of God is sure. It gives a man a knowledge of
his sin and yet a confidence in his Lord. It gives a man assurance
and yet It does not take from him a continual state of repentance. It lifts him up in confidence
and yet he bows down in confession. That's wisdom. And then it gives
pardon without creating presumption. Paul said this. He said, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus
Christ came to the world to save sinners. comma, of whom I'm the
chief. It gives pardon, clear, clean,
complete pardon, and yet no presumption. And it gives rest, but promotes
watchfulness. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not walk. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leads me in prayers of righteousness
for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, thou art with
me. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of
my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And yet, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Rest, watchfulness. No presumption. Joy? But ever looking to Him, it assures
me of a perfect righteousness, and yet it leaves me no room
to boast. Who makes you to differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
Now, if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn't
receive it? It prepares me for heaven. and gives me a desire
to depart and be with Christ. And yet, it equips me and prepares
me to perform and enjoy the duties of this life. That's wisdom. You see that? The law of the Lord is perfect.
It saves the soul. And the testimony of the Lord
is sure, it makes wise the simple. Now you needn't talk to the world
about these things, because they can't put them together. But
to believe there is a paradox. He's happy and he's miserable. He's perfect and yet he is the
greatest sinner. No presumption. He has a perfect
righteousness and yet he grieves over his sins. And then watch verse 8. The Word
of God is right. It rejoices the heart. What does
it do? It converts me. It makes the believer wise. And
it meets with his approval. He loves the Word. It's right.
God is right. And that rejoices my heart. I
put no question mark on His Word. The judge of the earth will do
right. We love His Word, we preach His
Word as it is to men as they are. In Hebrews chapter 4, Paul says
this, talking about the sword, the Word of God is a sword. Look
at this scripture and then let me show you something Spurgeon
said that was such a blessing to me. Hebrews 4 verse 12, the
word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged
sword. Hebrews 4.12, "...piercing even
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow,
is the discernment of the thoughts and intents of the heart. There
is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. All things are
naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
I love His Word, don't you? I don't find it offensive. I
don't find the commandments of God grievous. Spurgeon said this, We're not ashamed of the Word
of God. We're not offended by the Word of God. We don't know
everything in the Word of God, but we approve of the Word of
God and love the Word of God and do not compromise the Word
of God. Some people keep back certain
doctrines and truths in order not to offend. But this takes
the edge off the sword and renders it powerless. He says the word
is sharp, and when you take the edge off, the offense away, it's
powerless because its power is in its edge, piercing. Secondly, he said some people
keep the sword in the scabbard and never take it out. They leave
it sheathed, and they substitute human logic and human stories
and argument. And when you have no sword, you
have no wound, and you have no healing. Don't substitute the sword. Take
it out and use it. Thirdly, he said, this is interesting. They've got that sharp two-edged
sword in their hands, and its power is in its edge, and it's
in its offensiveness and cutting. It wounds, it heals. So they
wrap it in towels of human words and human eloquence and human
wisdom so nobody will know what they're talking about. And the sword becomes no weapon
at all. All it is is a soft, blunt cushion
of compromise. We need no new sword. We have
His sword. Turn it loose. Let it do its
work. Isn't that beautiful? The Word
is right. It's just right. And I know folks to fit their
situation or to fit their ideas or to fit their traditions, they
want to adjust it and change it and make it say what it's
not saying. But not the student of the Word. The statutes of God are right. And that rejoices my heart. And
then quickly, the commandment of the Lord is pure. pure, enlightening
their eyes. What is it to enlighten the eyes?
It's to give understanding. When he talked to the disciples
on the road to Emmaus, it says, their eyes were opened and they
knew him. Do you know what it said? Their
eyes were opened and they knew him. And it says further that
he opened their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures Any error in which people are caught up is not the
fault of the Word. It's an unwillingness to allow
the Word to say what it says. And if any man wants to know
his will, he'll know it. He opens their eyes. The Word
of God is pure. It opens the eye. I really believe that that people
need to hear God's preacher preaching under the power of God's Spirit.
I'm not sure that too much of this sharing and counseling and
arguing and answering questions is very effective. It's not our arguments or reason
that opens eyes, it's the Word that opens the eyes. It's the
Word. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And when a man is preaching,
as I'm preaching this Word right here, my arguments won't do one
bit of good, but the Word will open somebody's eyes. It's the
Word that does it. The Word of God is pure. Oh,
I see, I see it right here. You didn't convince me. He did. Fifthly, the fear of the Lord
is clean. Still, the Word of God is meant
here. He's not talking about the Word five times and then
get away from the Word on the sixth one. The fear of the Lord
is clean because the Word teaches us the fear of the Lord. To reverence
Him, to respect Him, to worship Him, to believe Him, that's the
beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. So the Word of God
directs us to the Christ who cleanses us. The Word of God
is clean. It cleanses us, puts away all
our sin, and it's forever. No temporary thing. Now, the
law is temporary, and the ceremonial law is temporary,
and the Levitical law is temporary, and the days and duties are temporary,
but the Word of God It's forever. It's clean. Christ is forever. The fear of the Lord Jesus is
forever. Now, I'll close with this. This is on a different note.
The judgments of the Lord are true. The judgments of God. What are
the judgments of the Lord? They're true and they're righteous.
The judgments of the Lord, that's the will, purpose of God. For all the world, for the universe,
for all people, the will and purpose of God in all things
and for all people, it's just and true and righteous. What
are the judgments of God? It's the providence of God. The
providence of God in every event in our lives is true and righteous
and good for our eternal good. What is the judgments of God?
What are the judgments of God? It's the acts of God. It's what
God does to me, in me, for me, daily, yearly, over a period
of time. The acts of God in salvation
or condemnation. I'll be merciful to whom I will,
I'll be gracious to whom I will, that's just, and that's holy,
and that's righteous. I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal, that's just, that's true, that's righteous, holy. So we believe. We believe Him,
and we believe His judgments are right.