Theology You Can Use - The Word of God (pt-2)

The Usefulness of Theology and the Need for God’s Word

Well before we come to the Lord's table let's open our Bibles. Please to Psalm 19. As you know we've started a series on Sunday night about theology. And how useful theology is. What you know about God determines what you do how you act and what you think about as we discussed this morning in Romans the first 11 chapters doctrine and how we are to think about God and think about our salvation and think about Israel for that matter.

And then in chapters 12 13 14 and 15 how do we respond. And we want our theological series on Sunday night to be the same. Theology must be used. We could probably call it that instead of a theology you can use theology must be used.

And tonight we're going to talk again about the Word of God. I'm using Wayne Grudem systematic theology as a backdrop but tonight I'm kind of just jettisoning that because there are so many topics. He talks about the canon clarity sufficiency necessity authority all kinds of words and we could go through those in a classroom setting but I don't really want to.

I want to go to Psalm 19 to tie up all those words and if we have time later we'll discuss each of those. But I love Psalm 19 because it talks about how God shows himself in nature and then in the Word.

Synonyms and Pictures for the Word of God

I did a study and I came up with these words for synonyms regarding the Word of God. Jeremiah 23 is not my word like fire. The Word of God is called fire. Why would it be called fire by the way anyone.

Okay. Because it convicts. Good. Jeremiah 23 goes on to say. And like a hammer which shatters a rock. Why would the Word of God be called a hammer that's able to shatter a rock. Okay it could break your hardened heart.

It's a hammer that could break the will of someone who has a hardened will. By the way I just have to stop for a minute. How did it go this morning. Scott Scott was on a Cape Cod Bible Fellowship preaching.

I just have one question. Did you preach the word. Yes. Good. Did it go. Well this morning. Good thanks for serving. For the last three or four months we've had someone from the church at least one man from the church sometimes to go to other churches and preach the word.

And I've been very encouraged by that. Well the words not only a fire and a hammer. Can you think of any other words for the Word of God sword. Okay what's the verse. Hebrews 412 for the Word of God is living inactive and sharper than any two-edged as dr. Zemeck used to say two-edged surgeon scalpel.

This is the smaller sword. This is not the big sword that you have to wield with two hands. This is a smaller one and it would be small for a very precise kind of heart surgery. When I used to work in the operating room and this is kind of scary.

Tell surgeons how to do their surgical procedures. Brain surgery heart surgery. I didn't tell them really what to do. I just told them how to activate this little cautery laser thing that we sold. And anyway sometimes they'd look at me and they'd say is this right.

Mike. Yeah. Yeah. Just keep doing what you're doing. Side note. We had this machine. It was called an argon beam coagulator and we were told that whatever a typical radiofrequency current coagulator would do to tissue this would do the same thing.

Well what would that matter if the doctor looks at you and say can I use this on brain tissue. We would tell them no. Because you wouldn't use a regular cotter machine on brain tissue. So doctor please don't use it on brain tissue and brain tissue doesn't bleed anyway and so would there be no need.

Can I use it on this particular artery. Yes you can. Can I use it on this vascular tissue like the kidney or the liver. Yes you can. So one time I'm in the heart room at Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Los Angeles we just had this brand new machine out and the doctor looked at me and said can I use this argon beam coagulator.

By the way when you push the foot pedal down this arc would come out and it really was kind of Star Wars like it was impressive. It would make a sound people just look and it was $37 ,000 one of these machines.

My advice was free. So can I use it on the heart. And so the sternum's cracked open and they've got these big things to keep it apart and so you can see. And actually now the heart has been stopped by medicine and we have the heart bypass machine over here working as the lungs and the heart of the patient and the doctor has the heart in his hands.

And he looked at me and he said can I use this on the patient's heart. And I said well what I'd been trained to say the machine was brand-new. And I said well would you use regular RF cautery on the heart.

Yes I would. Well then you can use it on. This sent the patient into cardiac arrest. I'm not kidding. Next thing I knew I was up against the wall basically as they were paddling the patient and they did revive him.

And then I didn't know what to do. I did what I was told and I got a phone call from the family or what I thought was the family member of that person in the operating room and really it was my boss's friend acting like the lawyer to get after me.

And it was one of those times where I just thought I can't believe it. I've heard someone if you're going to have heart surgery and you'll watch these doctors as they take the saphenous vein out of the leg cut it up and then place it into the heart where the atrophied veins are are some of the problem arteries.

They are very precise. And getting back to Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 the Word of God is very precise and it can get into those places. Actually that sometimes we don't want it to get into kind of like a dentist.

You give them an inch. They'll take a mile. You go in for a checkup. And the next thing you know it has to you have to have a crown. And so the Word of God is a fire. It's a hammer. It's like a two-edged surgeon's scalpel.

Very precise. Can you think of any other words for the Bible. The Word of God is scripture. Well I have a few more in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 23 it's called a seed for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable.

And even this morning planting seeds as we had the baptism several visitors come. The Word of God is like a seed that is planted through us. The Word of God is like a laver to cleanse husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her they he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word.

And lastly a song that we sing many times Psalm 119 105. The Word of God is called a light to show our paths. The word is a lamp to my feet and a light makes you want to sing. Doesn't it absolutely. And so we want to talk today about this Word of God so we can understand its demands on our lives.

God Reveals Himself in Creation and in Psalm 19

So let's turn to Psalm 19. I think you're already there and this is a great classic song that talks about how God reveals himself in two ways. First in the world as you look and see and then through his word.

And I'd like to preach through a song tonight instead of giving you a theology lesson. Because there'll be a theology lesson actually in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is the mini version of mini version of Psalm what 119.

So if you like to do the quick American easy way and go for shorter but just almost as good Psalm 19 is the short version of Psalm 119 and it will tell us about God's showing himself unveiling himself.

When I say God revealing himself I'm saying just like in the book of Revelation Jesus Christ is not revealed now and he'll unveil himself and show the world. God unveils himself and shows himself in Psalm 19 through the world and then through the word.

And this is really a hymn. Isn't it. Isn't Psalm 19 a hymn. This is this is my father's world and this is my father's word. Kind of song. Very beautiful. All kinds of wonderful poetry things that if you study Hebrew you could really have this explode in your mind and come to life or come to color.

C .S. Lewis said I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter. How many Psalms in the Psalter. The best one out of a hundred and fifty. He thought this was the best one that would make me want to study it.

How about you. Franz Hayden had an oratorio that included a movement based on Psalm 19. Profound theology. Yet wonderful poetry. Psalm 19 verse 1. It says from the choir director or for the choir director rather a Psalm of David.

And then it just kind of blasts out. I love this first part. The heavens whisper God's glory. Heaven's just kind of telegraph it out secretly. A little smoke signal. Indian esq. Like it's not that at all just the language.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. True or false. A master is known by his work. That's exactly right. Weiser was right. And here we have the heavens tell the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands.

What's we know. Heavens. What are the. What's the expanse. Give me another translation. What do you have. I read read the NAS. Who does anybody have NIV and willing to admit it. Yes Frank. Firmament. What's firmament.

You know. Is that like the inside of a light bulb. The filament. You know I want to know these things when I'm a kid. If you have a lot. If you have a dictionary when you read the Bible you you want to know what these things are.

Because it just makes it more meaningful. Because there's no great kudos to be found in reading the Bible and understand. Not understanding what you read. Anybody want to guess what a firmament is. Okay.

So someone said the ground. And then we have so the area between the earth and heaven. Did you read your study notes. Good. All right. Here's what Wilcox said. A sort of upside-down bowl that sat on the circular plate like earth to form a sealed environment.

Interesting. Say what does it mean. I have no idea. I just read the guy he wrote it. I didn't think Frank's right. And what does this firmament do. What do the heavens do. They declare and they show. And would you guess the tense in Hebrew is an ongoing show where it shows and shows and shows.

You know you've ever been to a movie and it says it plays at one o 'clock in the afternoon matinee five o 'clock and nine o 'clock. Is this this kind of showing where it just shows it once in a while.

Or is it an ongoing. Here's a display. Go outside and just gawk at it all you want. I went outside this week and it was so great because we didn't have all that the haze and the rain and everything else that we have today and last week and the week before and the week before that and all.

Yeah. I looked outside and this week do you know you could see Mars. You could see the orange kind of. I wish I had a telescope but I could tell from the from the TV advertisements. Okay that orange blob up.

There is Mars. And here we have God showing forth his glory. Look at my glory. It announces and proclaims and make known makes known the glory of God. Adam Clark the old commentator said. Quote. Literally the heavens number out the glory of the strong God.

A first view of the starry heaven strikes every beholder with astonishment at the power by which they were made. End. Quote. You count and recount God. You have so much glory. Look at his handiwork. Look at the work of his fingers as Psalm 8 says.

Never forget. I was flying across country from Kentucky to Massachusetts. I think through Ohio. And I could see the form and shape of these thunderclouds right here. And we were flying around. I just thought as I could see the lightning bolts shoot up and down and through.

I thought that's the most amazing thing God you were to be glorified in that. How many stars can you see with your naked eye. How many stars visible. If you went out on a clear night. How many could you see.

How many could you count. 2 ,500. They say you could count on a good night 2 ,500 stars. Did some research at light speed which is what. Approximately 186 ,000 miles per second. That's pretty fast. If you went 60 seconds.

Let's see. How's this. How is this calculated. 60 seconds in a minute. 60 minutes in an hour. 24 hours in a day. 365 days in a year. That's approximately at the speed of light. What. Six trillion miles.

And Sirius is about Sirius. I like Sirius. It sounds like a better a constellation. Doesn't it a better star s-i-r-i-u-s is 54 trillion miles away. Nine light-years away. This is the immense place that God has spoke out in a word.

And can you imagine David true or false didn't have a telescope. He didn't have a telescope. And he still knew. Look at what God does and how he reveals himself. True or false. Space is empty in the mind of David.

Or it's a revelation of God's creation. Good job. You're listening buddy. Tell you what. Good job. By the way on Sunday nights if you're a kid you just blurt out the answer. As long as it's right. If you're an adult you raise your hand.

Very good. Speaking of blurting out look at verse 2. Day-to-day pours forth speech. A pours forth is a it's a charismatic word almost of his ecstatic utterances. It's just kind of it's almost when somebody stutters and they're trying to get the right word out.

And here you have the Word of God. No you have the world of God showing forth. It pours forth. Excited speech bubbling speech. Something that's kind of pent up in you. And you've got to get out and off.

It goes. It's like a well or if it's a I watch kids do this. You ever take a hose that has a lot of power and you try to get the kids to stop the hose right. There's only so long they can stop the hose.

Here's the end of the hose. They take their finger down there. I think it's funnier to try to get a kid to put the finger on the hose to spray things because then it's just auto spray right back and you try to take a hose with a lot of force and put your finger down there.

And there's only so long you can do that before it just pours forth. And that's exactly this word in Hebrew. It's like a fire hydrant just gushing out. You know you used to do the game with kids to put the hose in your buddy's mouth and then you just rip that thing up.

That's exactly what it is. Day today. Don't get any ideas either. We're to love one another. Day-to-day pours forth speech and night-to-night reveals knowledge knowledge about the universe and knowledge of whose universe God's universe.

Verse 3. There is no speech nor are there words. Is the communication with words and with diction and with with syllables. Or is it with a nonverbal mode. And we know the answer doesn't talk. Nothing's articulate.

Verse 4. Their line has gone out through all the earth their utterance to the end of the world. Their voice their line the way they talk. Quote unquote goes way out in them. He has placed a tent for the Sun a tabernacle for the Sun.

Where does the touch. Where does the Sun go at night. And in poetic language it goes in a tent. It's poetry even to the ends of the world. And then now how does the Sun come up if the time. If the Sun kind of goes into a tent at night.

What comes out of a tent. Who would come out of a tent in a happy joyous bubbly effervescent way. Well it tells us in verse 5 which is as a bridegroom coming out of his tent coming out of his chamber coming out of his wedding honeymoon night kind of morning when you get up and you say today's a beautiful day.

And it's hopping and skipping and jumping and the triple jump and out you come. The Sun goes to bed. It's like in a tent and it comes out as you see those Sun beams just come racing across the horizon.

It's just with joy and with happiness. Craig he said. Quote implying either the groom's emergence from the chamber in which the marriage was conducted are from the nuptial chamber on the morning following the wedding.

Oh happy day. Look at the Sun. Verse 6. It's rising is from one end of the heavens and it's circuit to the other end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat. And as Ryrie says you can be blind and still feel the Sun's power.

General Revelation Is Not Enough to Save

Now here's my question. God shows himself forth in nature. He shows that he's powerful. He shows that he's wise. Is that enough to save someone. Is that enough to sanctify someone. What about the pygmy in Africa who's innocent.

Are an Indian in Hyderabad and never knowing the gospel. Another question I have. Are there any atheists there are. What do we do with that. What do we do with some of these questions. I just as soon sing with Isaac Watts.

I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountain rise that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the Sun to rule the day. The moon shine full at his command and all the stars obey.

Helen Keller's teacher. And Sullivan would give Helen Keller names of physical objects in sign language. And then miss Sullivan attempted to explain God and tapped out the symbols for the name God according to miss Sullivan.

Surprise Helen spelled back thank you for telling me God's name. Teacher he has touched me many times before. There's something about God. I know that there's a God. But is that enough to save. Certainly not.

But it is enough to what to hold people accountable. It is enough to condemn them. It is enough to on Judgment Day have God say to them I have shown you my glory and you have not accepted it. So we need something more.

If anyone is going to be saved we need something more than just the natural revelation. And that revelation would be what word. Something specific by the way. Can you look up in the Sun or the moon or the stars and say hmm.

Well God's a creator. Yes or no. He's a creator. He must be the judge. He made everything. He probably couldn't tell me what to do. Could you figure that out. I think you figure that out. And the way he he saves people by looking at Libra is by sending Jesus the lion from the tribe of Judah and can die in our place.

And by the way there's three stars over there. And the third one must be symbolic. And so he's raised three days from he's been in the grave three days then he was raised from the dead. You know some people think that.

And I won't even tell you who thinks some of that. But it is wild for me to imagine that. No heavens declare God's glory. But we have to know specifically. That's why God speaks to us. And that's the second part of the psalm.

The Six Descriptions of God’s Word in Psalm 19

Here we have a great section of the psalm that tells us about God's Word. And this is how I will kind of broach the subject of Wayne Grudem's book on can you trust the canon. Is God's Word understandable.

Can God's Word be obeyed. Is God's Word necessary. Is God's Word inerrant. Is God's Word infallible. And so let's just teach you through the Bible about what God says about his Word. And I think you will say then at the end of the day God's Word is clear.

God's Word is understandable even though there's some hard parts. God's Word is even more understandable because he's given us his spirit that I must obey God's Word. It is a necessity to obey. And certainly it is sufficient.

How many lines of parallelism are we going to find. Does anybody know. For those who are in the hermeneutics class close six. Six descriptions of God's Word. Six things that it does. And then you'll see how it all works out.

It's the outline for this is six six six and six that makes sense. Six groups of a description of God's Word. A name for God's Word. And then what God's Word does. The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul.

By the way these are all ongoing except the last one. It's an ongoing participle just keeps on going. The law of the Lord is always perfect restoring the soul. Who can tell me what law is. If you think of the first five books of the Bible you would call that not just Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy.

But you could also call that what Torah the books of the law. This is God's instructions. Just not only law. It's his instruction. And this instruction is can you imagine faulty. This instruction is not complete.

This construction a goal only goes halfway. This kind of instruction is a bridge that goes halfway across the river. Is any of that true. Are you paying attention. I'm waiting to get stoned up here. I think I sometimes should get electrocuted but this is no.

I'm trying to use this as a teaching prop. The law of the Lord is perfect. It is complete. It is well-rounded. It is whole it lacks what. Nothing. It is comprehensive. It is a stop sign with eight sides.

Ever seen a stop sign with three sides wouldn't be a stop sign to be a yield sign. Right. It is whole it is complete. It is perfect it lacks nothing. James calls law sometimes the perfect law. And what does it do.

What does it do that the world that shows forth God's glory cannot do the world. The world says God is a good God. God is powerful. God is wise. But what can that world not do that the word can do. And there's the answer.

It can restore the soul. It can revive. It can transform. It can save. We had a bunch of unbelievers here this morning. How can we get those unbelievers to be saved. We just keep preaching so we preach.

So they believe as Paul said to the church at Corinth. And here it can restore the soul before we get into anything else kind of take care of your life give you a better marriage. Figure out your financial problems talk to figure out how to submit to your boss etc etc.

It can change you on the inside. We need a heart change. It's a restorative quality that can take care of us on the inside. Spurgeon you know him said quote making the man to be returned are restored to the place from which sin had cast him.

Here's Adam in the garden before he fell. Then he fell. And now God can take the word to restore people back even better than Adam. Because do you have Adams righteousness after salvation are someone else's righteousness.

Before Adam fell Adam had his own righteousness. Yes Adam fell. He had his own sin. When God saves us does he impute your account. Adams perfection our Christ perfection. We actually are more perfect than Adam was before the fall.

Figure that one out. This is not behavior modification. The word of God can behave. Change your behavior. No. The name of the Bible is called the law of the Lord. What does it do. It restores the soul.

And it is the description of it. It's perfect. Let's go to the second one. This is just an easy way to preach it. The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul. Number two found in verse 7 of Psalm 19.

The testimony of the Lord that's the name of the word is sure making wise. The simple it bears witness to God. It tells us something about God. That's why it's called the testimony. The word here in Greek excuse me in Hebrew is Edith.

It is something that God bears witness to. God attests this but to himself God vouches for it gives surety of it. And there it says the testimony of the Lord. Another synonym for the word of God is sure.

The word of God sadly is not trustworthy. The word of God sadly is not reliable. The word of God sadly into our shame is full of errors. That sound weird. Sounds weird because it's wrong. It's false. The word of the Lord is sure.

It means trustworthy. You can count on it. It's not vacillating back and forth. It is a settled thing in God's eyes. We were watching a show on Friday night. We have a big thing at our house. On Friday night kids don't get to watch movies throughout the entire week.

But on Friday night it's called at Avon Ross house. Friday night what. Luke movie night. You look forward to it of course cuz you don't get. It's like no TV the whole week. So on Friday night get your rooms cleaner.

No Friday night TV night. Boy get down there. Friday night movie night we were watching this Knights of the Roundtable 1950 Lancelot. What's it called. It was called Luke called it a weird movie. You know movies in the old days where you kind of had to think instead of having action scene after action scene after action scene.

But there was a man in quicksand and it was pretty dopey because you could see that it was just kind of mud on the set. But his horse came over and gave its reins to the guy who had all his iron armor on and pulled him right out.

This is the opposite of quicksand. This word sure is firm. It's kind of terra firma on this terrestrial ball. There's something to stand on that will have us lift it up. It's not quicksand at all. It's terra firma.

That's what divine scripture is. But I like what Kidner said the Greek the Hebrew scholar by its passive form. It can not. It can mean not only what is firm but what is confirmed. Did you get that. Not just firm but confirmed something that can be supportive verified reliable trustworthy.

And what does it do. Makes wise the simple. It makes naive people smart. I went to college and I thought I was super smart in high school. I just studied and it was easy to get straight A's and boom off.

I went. I got to college where he actually had to think and I started getting. I got my first D in my life. I thought I'm pretty stupid. I'm here at a university school and I'm getting deep. That's bad and at the risk of somehow acting loud like I'm super smart and I've got such high IQ and everything else.

I don't have a high IQ but I think I'm smart. So smart that I'm smarter than my university professors. Now back at the University of Nebraska how is that. My own gray matter. My own formulations my own differential equations class that I had to drop out of.

No because God has given me his word. And I used to be stupid. And now I'm what wise. Because I can understand things that God has told me. It's not innate it is not inherent within me. But I can learn.

It makes wise the simple it makes fool smart. I could say that sure guidance. And the word for simple is literally open-minded. It takes those who are open-minded and couldn't care less what goes in their mind what goes out of their mind.

Just give me the latest TV program. By the way someone told me once that TV changes their camera angles every two seconds. So if you'd like to learn how to not pay attention and just sit in front of the TV because it'll change every two seconds and it will teach you how not to pay attention as you watch it over and over and over.

And then you come to church and you hear some guy he see from Nebraska stand up and preach for 50 minutes and you can't pay attention. Why. Because I'm not just doing all these different camera angles.

You just stand and stare. So if you want to learn how to pay attention less than just watch a lot of TV. Great book by a man who's deceased but it's called amusing ourselves to death by Neil Postman. If you have not read that book you need to read that book.

And the next time you turn on the TV you're gonna think of that book. It's not a sin to watch TV. But here it's the word that makes people wise. It's the word that takes naive people and gives them skilled living.

That's what. What wisdom is skill living. How to live properly with understanding. Well we better get going. Because I told Steve I was gonna get get through this quickly. Verse 8. The next word from God in Psalm 19 that describes God's Word is called the precepts of the Lord.

What are they. They're right. What do they do. They rejoice the heart. The precepts also means statutes means charges. It means governing. It means divine principles. God has rules. That's one of the words for the Word of God a divine precept.

And what are they. They are right. They can be trusted because they are right. Earlier they were trustworthy. Now we know why. They're trustworthy because they're right. They're proper. They're good. They're well founded in wisdom.

They're not just these arbitrary rules that God makes up. He wouldn't lead us astray. Would he. They're straight. Our level are straight forward. And what do they do. They spoil Christians fun the Word of God.

Don't do this. Don't have any fun. This is church. Don't smile. What are the what does the Word of God do. Rejoices the heart. It gives joy and happiness and satisfaction. How many times even in my own life I'm going through a certain trial and all my external circumstances are just horrible.

And you read the Word of God and you just have that inner calm serene joy that you think. Look at what the Word of God has done to my own heart. Barnes the commentator said making the heart glad by the fact that they are equitable and just and glad as the result of obedience.

The Word of God is not a killjoy. Yes God says for our own good. Don't do that and do this. But they give joy later in verse 8 this is the fourth description of the Word of God and different name for the Word of God.

The commandment of the Lord is pure. What does it do. Enlighten the eyes. The world can't do this. The stars can't do this. The moon can't do this. Yes temporally enlighten the eyes. You could see the reflection of the Sun off the moon.

We're talking about spiritual things here. The commandment of the Lord. The divine mandate. The order of the Lord. The law of the Lord. The decrees of the Lord are what. Super hard to understand. Mysterious clouded.

No one can figure out. You have to be a Bible scholar. You have to know Hebrew. Right. Are some things difficult. Yes and even Peter said Paul's writings at times were difficult. That's one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Because Peter even had a hard time. But overall the commandment of the Lord is pure. It's an open book. It has no hypocrisy. It's easy. It's lucent. It's clear. It's radiant. It gives focus on all kinds of issues.

It's not an enigma. It's not a riddle. It's not confusing especially with the Spirit of God in us to understand things. By the way sometimes when I talk to people as a pastor I talked to several unbelievers and they can't seem to figure out the Word of God.

And I try to explain the verse and they just don't get that. They don't understand it. And I start thinking to myself after a while I'm knocking my head up against the wall trying to talk to this believer about spiritual things.

Because they don't have the decoder ring right. They're receiving things on a .m. frequency. And God is sending them out through his word on FM. And Dr. Zimmick said to make matters worse their AM receivers broken and so God is preaching out through the FM airwaves.

And they've got a broken AM antenna little transistor radio. And they're deaf and they can't hear it. But the Word of God to believers is by nature clear. And then it's even made more clear as the Spirit of God yes illumines the word to our own hearts and minds.

And what does it do. It enlightens the eyes. We get to see truth as MacArthur said that others can't see. It gives light to the eyes as the Sun gives light to the world. We have spiritual light. We know what God's doing.

We can understand it lights our way. It's a lighting of our path. Number five got two more than we'll finish up. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. Fear here is a word that's equivalent to law or the Word of God.