Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.slbc.org.au/sermons/97689/considering-gods-word/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Psalm 19. To the choir master, a psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God,! And the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

[0:12] ! Day to day pours forth out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

[0:25] Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

[0:40] Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

[0:54] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

[1:05] The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.

[1:17] Sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors?

[1:31] Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

[1:44] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[1:56] This is the word of the Lord. Alright. Well, let's pray. Our Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, our Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

[2:16] Amen. I wonder if we value things the way that we should. When we consider God's word, do we treasure it as we should?

[2:28] When we reflect on what matters most in the world, are we considering God's word as part of that? It seems that King David does.

[2:39] I mean, what is it that we really desire? What is it we really long for? Psalm 19, verse 10. Look what David says when he concludes what God's words are here about.

[2:52] More to be desired are they, verse 10, than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Gold, the most precious metal.

[3:08] Honey, the most sweetest thing in a pantry. Both luxuries to have and luxuries to taste. Both appeal to the eyes and both appeal to the stomach.

[3:22] But notice, God's revelation of himself in his word is something to be desired even more. More than gold. More than honey.

[3:34] So let's look at Psalm 19 for a while and consider it together as we consider what makes God's word so desirable. So what we have is a progress from general revelation to special revelation and response to it here in Psalm 19.

[3:51] God reveals himself to us in the creation, that's general revelation, and then he reveals himself to us in his written word, that special revelation. And notice that there's a movement, so you just noticed it, you might have picked it up, that in verses 1 to 6, we just have God, right?

[4:10] Verses 1 to 6. And then in verse 7, from verse 7 onwards, we actually have the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, as a movement from just God to the Lord.

[4:24] So general revelation, great King David, we're told, he's writing a song, he's writing a psalm for Israel. And as they sing it, this is what they will sing.

[4:36] And he writes, it is the Spirit of Christ, the King Jesus, who is at work in him, giving him this psalm, just so you know. The heavens declare the glory of God.

[4:48] That is the things of the region above the earth, they tell us, they declare the glory of God. Notice, they don't just show, they don't just show us the glory of God, they declare it, they shout out aloud, they declare by bearing witness that they are not just random works of God, slime and time and chance, but rather created by an orderly creator.

[5:17] When someone looks at the heavens, and considers the sky above, the appropriate response is to recognise that there is a glorious creator.

[5:30] Day to day, they declare the glory of God. That is from this day to the same day next year. As the days progress, the times and seasons, the sun, the moon, the stars, declare the glory of God.

[5:48] And night to night, that is from this night, this season, to the same night, the next season, next year. As night progresses, as times and seasons, the sun, the moon, the stars, declare the glory of God.

[6:02] And yet, there is no language on earth where the revelation of God in the heavens cannot understand this.

[6:17] The heavens are mute. They don't speak words like we hear, right? But they do speak clearly to every language in the world.

[6:27] different languages all over the world can hear the same words at the same time. The God who created all these things is glorious.

[6:40] That's what they're to hear. God is worthy of worship, worthy of praise. He has done all things well. He is the first and He is the ruler over all.

[6:54] Now notice at the foot of the page there, it could, in the footnote it says here, the measuring line, right? It could be the measuring line. Well, the great Calvin commentator says, it's probably actually a written line is the idea.

[7:14] Like you're asked to like lines out when you're at school and you got punished, you know, thou shalt not chew gum, do not chew gum, I won't chew gum. The line is, God is glorious. God is glorious.

[7:26] God is glorious. The language though is an interesting language. The language that is addressing the eyes, this language.

[7:37] So these words address the eyes. These eyes hear, God speak. So the fabric on which these words are written is the heavens and when we look at the heavens, our eyes hear, hear the mixed metaphor, our eyes hear, the glories of God and should we move to say that God is glorious.

[8:00] And then in verse 4 we see that the heavens are tent for the sun which comes out there in verse 5 like a bridegroom leaving his chamber. Every day the sun rises and the whole world experiences it.

[8:17] Everyone and everyone in it experiences the heat of the sun. Without it we will be dead. It affects everybody. No one person can live in denial that there is a sun in existence.

[8:30] and because of that they should recognise that there is a God who is glorious to be worshipped and yet the nations of the old would end up worshipping the sun as God would end up worshipping the moon as God or the modern day astrologer ends up thinking that the stars rule us and so end up worshipping the stars well the modern atheist sees how incredible they are and his incredible power and might in those stars up there knowing the size and the scale and the order and the precision and yet the modern atheist denies that there is God.

[9:15] David looks at the heavens and sees the glory of God his eyes hear them and say God is glorious.

[9:28] Now someone might say what about those who never heard about God? Well this is the answer is everyone has heard that there is a glorious creator God you cannot doubt it but that should be sufficient to bring people to praise him as God worship him glorify him but instead most of the world most of the world rejects him and worships the creation instead and doesn't glorify him okay that's general revelation that's not all though God in his kindness has given people special revelation God tells us much more about himself than we deserve to know more than the reality that he exists more that there's an ordered universe God reveals himself to us and so that's very special because this revelation in verse 7 to 11 can be heard with our ears and so penetrate and transform our hearts so special revelation there in verse 7 to 11 the law of the

[10:34] Lord is perfect and here we have the Lord the personal name of God Yahweh repeated over and over again he's not a distant God right unapproachable distant removed uninvolved in his creation and we're talking about more than the Ten Commandments here we're talking about at least the first five books of the Old Testament that King David would have written out for himself and was to read all the days of his life Jerome chapter 17 says that the king is supposed to write down the law for himself and to read it daily so in the first instance the law is the Torah the first five books of the Old Testament and by having this word David would be perfectly provided for he had the perfect wisdom of God containing the promises the covenants of God now there are lots of words and books in the world see that the law of the

[11:40] Lord is perfect there's lots of books in the world written by lots of authors but none of them are perfect but the law of the Lord is and notice that the law revives the soul not just refresh right but revive it brings the soul to life brings it from death to life and just as the soul gives life to the body the soul needs converting renewing and restoring and that it's the law of God that will do that which does that because the law brings us to Christ the law is a guardian bringing us to Christ Jesus we told in Galatians chapter 3 and it's the misuse of the law separating God's grace from his word that makes the law a deadly letter now the testimony of the Lord though is true there he says making wise as simple what God says about this testimony what God says about himself that's the idea of testimony is true who he is what he has done what he will do is true and the beginning of wisdom we know is the fear of the Lord and those who hear and believe that God is and what he has done is true are the wise ones see that there the testimonies of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the fool says his heart there is no God the precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the precepts are the application of the law to the small details of life the fine details of life that's what the precepts are and they are right true joy comes from ordering our life rightly according to the word of

[13:55] God and the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes I love it what God commands we are to obey and what he commands is pure there is no impurity in his commands he's not going to command us to do anything that's impure that's not righteous and if you want to be enlightened this is where our societies have all gone wrong you won't find it in eastern mysticism and you won't find it in rejecting the word of God and becoming rational so you would say no the commandment of the Lord gives light to the eyes to see the glory of God it's the word of the Lord our God that gives enlightenment and when the world ignores God claiming enlightenment it only regresses further into darkness the fear of the

[15:04] Lord is clean worshipping him in the way he calls us to worship him is clean the way that people fear gods right false gods is by inventing other false religions which are corrupt inventions and full of uncleannesses full of temple prostitution child sacrifice idolatry ignorance and blind stupidity that's what other religions bring about inventing false ways but the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether there in verse 9 the rules are the just decrees of God that's what the footnote says here or just decrees the rulings are true there's nothing false in the rulings that God gives nothing corrupt in his decisions he is true just and righteous as opposed to the so-called gods of the world that are fickle deceptive and wicked and there's no single exemption there's no blemish in

[16:17] God's law it's perfect it's right it's pure all together and since that's the case is to be highly desired highly valued highly esteemed what we have is an incredible treasure in our hands let me ask you I'll think about this during the week if you turned up with nothing in your hands on a desert island right and an angel turned up to you and gave you the choice of a bar of gold or a bible what would you choose from the angel or if you had the privilege of the choice right the choice and freedoms and all that kind of stuff of studying maybe business or studying theology what might you choose and why or if you had the choice of working an extra shift and building your bank account in your share portfolio or hearing

[17:30] God's word with others at growth group or church what would you choose David would say the scriptures David would say theology David would say gathering of God's people around his word every time so verse 10 to 11 more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb the law the testimonies the precepts the commandments the fear the rules of the Lord are more to be desired than gold the law the precepts the commandments the fear the rules of the Lord are more to be desired than gold pure refined gold why because to be separated from the word of the

[18:31] Lord is to be separated from the Lord himself living without knowing God is to be living in death the soul is dead to be living without certainty to be living without any kind of security to be living in foolishness to be living in gloom and depression is to be living in darkness is to be living in unrighteousness and filth and grime is to be living without the word of God so too easily we can forget how good God's word is I wonder if we consider God's word as more desirable than gold sweeter than honey really do we see the return on investment in hearing God's word which shapes the priority of our day shape the priority of my life is it really hearing the word of

[19:34] God that gets me going it's got to be more than just hearing it like noise coming to my ears as we sung in that song we need to hear it as the command of God the life-giving rule of God the revelation of God in all that is truth and justice see verse 11 moreover by them is your servant warned in keeping them there is great reward we are governed by God we are made circumspect by God's word it's a good and humbling thing it's keeping his word that brings great reward I don't know about you but I remember what Jesus said man doesn't live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God God says it in

[20:34] Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 and again Jesus says it in Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus confronts the devil the devil wants Jesus to prove that he's the son of God the king the messiah he would have Jesus turn stone into bread to satisfy his desire for food but Jesus would rather feed on the word of God he desires the word of God above all else now we call ourselves St.

[21:05] Lucia Bible Church because we consider the word of God to be more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey so let's consider what God's word reveals to us see left to ourselves we are prone to think more highly of ourselves than we should and God's word should humble us you see in verse 12 who can discern his errors declare me innocent from hidden faults keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression you and I we can't discern the full extent of our sins without God's word I can't see the extent of the sin in my life or the extent of how sin has damaged the world all around about us and if

[22:08] God was to reveal to me show me the full catalogue of my sins or the extent of how wicked I can be I would see that my sins have neither bottom nor shore and it's the same for all of us and yet in the mercy of God he redeems us from all them verse 14 have a look at verse 14 let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my God and my redeemer as!

[22:50] God love could remember no wrongs we have done omniscient or knowing he counts not their sum throwing into a sea without bottom or shore our sins they are many his mercy is more and so we cry out to God to prevent me from doing the sin that I'm not even aware of David cries out that he might not do the sin that he's even unaware of who can discern his errors declare to me innocent from hidden faults as I flee to have his word rule of my life sin won't rule my life David's plea is that God would keep him from presumptuous sins that is when confronted by God's rule God's righteous law and command and precepts the danger is to reject it and to justify my sin and to continue more and more into sin and unless

[24:02] God would restrain us David's prayer is to pray for pardon and ask us to be strengthened so that when temptation comes it won't rule us and we won't go okay we're going to do it and defy God in doing it and it's only God who can make him blameless before God it's only God who can make us blameless before the Lord our God himself and cleanse us from all our sins and those we know of and even those we don't and so the!

[24:35] Okay so what do we learn about or been reminded about God from his word this morning well God in all his glory is the creator of the heavens and the sky above his magnificence is revealed for all to hear with their eyes our eyes hear him speak clearly in his creation and declares his glory and he's the one who is truly and purely about himself telling us who he is in his word so our ears can also hear him clearly as he reveals himself in his word he is the redeemer and so saviour of his people he is the one who has purchased us by the blood of his son the

[25:41] Lord Jesus Christ but what have we learned about salvation from his word his word is the word that revives us brings us to life convicts us of sin leads us to Jesus it's God who can declare us righteous innocent from our sins and failings and what we've been learning about or been reminded of right living knowing the truth about his word will lead us to treasuring his word of greater worth than gold and more tasty than honey and in living under the rule of his word there is great reward the reward of being blameless before the Lord himself the reward of a soul brought to life and so having everlasting life with the Lord himself let's pray our father in heaven we thank you that you revealed yourself to us in your creation as we look at the night sky you speak to our eyes and father as we look to the day we know that your son reveals your glory father thank you that you revealed yourself to us clearly in your word help us to treasure your word and to flee and to run to your word thank you that in your word you reveal yourself to us clearly and you reveal our sin to us clearly and your word revives us brings us to life thank you for sending your son the Lord

[27:29]  Jesus who has your final revelation to us and is the one who has brought forgiveness and gives us eternal life and we long for that day when we'll sing your praises in your great congregation for all eternity we pray in Jesus name Amen