WWUTT 964 The Heavens Declare the Glory of God?

In Psalm 19, David says the heavens declare the glory of God. Now it's our job to declare

God's praise, creation cannot do that. But creation bears witness to the one whom we are to praise, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, in our Old Testament study, we've been going through the

Psalms. If you want to open up your Bible, join with me in Psalm 19. I'll go ahead and read the whole thing here.

To the choir master, a Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims

His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end 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.

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. The testimony of the

Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoining the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 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.

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them, as your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward.

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.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. So we begin with creation proclaiming the glory of God.

And this is the personification of creation here. It's not that creation literally declares the glory of God and the sky above proclaiming his handiwork, but rather the psalmist is personifying that which has been made as giving glory and honor to the one who made it.

All things exist for the glory of God, especially mankind as we have in Isaiah 43 7 everyone who is called by my name whom

I created for my glory. I formed and made so mankind has been made men and women to give glory to God and we give glory to him in a way that the rest of creation simply cannot because we are image bearers of God now, all of creation certainly gives or bears witness to the creator though creation itself doesn't, you know, raise up a voice and give glory

Romans 1 19 says for what can be known about God is plain to them to everyone because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse creation bears witness to the fact that it has a creator that God has made it but it is mankind in particular that God has made to give him praise and he alone is worthy of our praise in Revelation 4 11 worthy are you our

Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created it is all of creation that bears witness to the creator day by day or I'm sorry

Psalm 19 to day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge so back to Romans 1 20 again

God's invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived so we know that God is eternal and he is divine all -powerful simply from all that has been made because he is higher and greater than all of creation you look at the

Sun which is a created thing it is so intense in its production of light that you can't look at it for longer than a couple of seconds and even looking at it that long it will put a burn on your eyes so that whatever you look at you see the spot of the

Sun you can't see clearly for a while and your eyes have to readjust you go too long 10 seconds or longer you could even do permanent damage to your eyes you can't look at the

Sun without burning your eyes right out of your head God is even greater than that we would not be able to stand in his glory the

Sun has to be nearly a hundred million miles away from us if we get too close to it it would burn up the earth we can't get close to God or his glory would destroy us so there is a certain

Testament that creation gives to the creator and reveals knowledge of him day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge so this reference to creation pouring out speech

I'm reminded of a series of NASA videos I don't know if you've seen these or not but you can go on YouTube and search them out there are there have been probes that have been sent out into space to study the different planets of our solar system and though the vacuum of space does not transmit sound because air is required in order for sound waves to travel through nevertheless the planets produce radio waves and those probes that we've sent out have picked up those radio waves and recorded them and then turn them into sound and so you can go on YouTube and listen to what the planets sound like there's actually a sound that's being produced by the planets and all of them are very distinct

I would say all of them are also very creepy it's really strange listening to these sounds and you think of the planet being out there in the vastness of space in the dead of silence and then we're taking radio waves and transmitting them into sound being generated by these planets and it's just really creepy and eerie to think of these alone planets out there producing these somewhat harrowing sounds even in some cases anyway so you have creation that is pouring out speech even planets in the deadness of space producing some sort of a a sound and their very existence giving a testament to the creator who made them verse 3 there is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard even planets and stars and other celestial bodies galaxies etc out there in the vastness of space producing light and sound and energy and other things these things are not happening without an observer though we may never behold them and marvel at the gloriousness of their creation these things do exist for the glory of God and God has observed these happenings that are going on in the universe that we can't see or even perceive but God knows of them there is a certain theory within quantum physics it's called the observer effect and it's the theory that mere observation of a phenomenon inevitably changes the phenomenon so if there's a star out there in space that we don't look at it'll just continue burning and doing its thing as stars do but once we look at it just by sending a probe out into space so that we can get a telescope out there far enough to look at that particular celestial body and then it transmits those signals back to earth and we observe them just the mere fact that we've observed it will will change something about the thing that we've looked at now it's really a silly silly theory all things considered because it means that somehow we've altered the course of things in the universe simply because we opened our eyes and looked at it that's a that's a silly theory and when it comes down to it we understand we who are

God fearers that God observes all things so there isn't anything that happens without an observer since God has created it all and in fact ordained it all that everything should happen as it does as he has said it in the universe for it to take place there is no speech nor are there words whose voices not heard

God hears it he knows it because he created it because he made it to be the way that it is their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end 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 it's rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them and there is nothing hidden from its heat so as I made the reference earlier to the fact that you can't even look at the

Sun without destroying your eyes and comparing that with God and his glory so the psalmist has done the same thing here you look at the glory of the

Sun and how it travels from one end of the sky to the other and its heat touches everything and there's nothing that can escape from its heat it's interesting that that David would use specifically that word heat and not light because there are places where the

Sun's light doesn't go on earth but there's nowhere that can escape from its heat all of the earth benefits from the heat of the

Sun nothing can escape from its heat so the same way no one can escape from the

Lord he knows and sees all verse 7 the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the

Lord is sure making wise the simple if the law of God is perfect there is no word that is higher than his word and therefore it has governance or authority over every single person whether they believe it or not the perfect word is the ultimate word and it is the word of the

Lord that is perfect and yet mankind in his sinfulness wants to rebel against it but nobody can get out from under the law of the

Lord remember this comes right after David has said that the Sun travels from one end of the sky to the other and no one can escape from its heat so it is the case with the law of God his law governs everything and no one can escape the fact that the law of God is over them and they will be judged by it if they do not repent and follow

Jesus Christ who has died for us covering over our sinfulness with his atoning blood verse 8 the precepts of the

Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes we have various metaphor and personification going on here but the commandment of the

Lord is so pure it opens our eyes up to the truth of God and who he is though there is evidence in creation of the existence of God and certain attributes of God we don't actually get to know

God except by his word the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the rules of the

Lord are true and righteous altogether by following the rules and the commandments of God we do the right thing how do we know the difference between right and wrong everybody knows there is a right and a wrong even though they might say all truth is relative well if that statement is right you know they're depending on that statement being right which is a contradiction nevertheless that is a testament to every person believing that there is a right and there is a wrong it's just we're confused as to what is right and what is wrong because once again we've suppressed the truth with our unrighteousness according to Romans 1 18 so we know there is a right and there is a wrong how do we know what's right and what is wrong we have it in the

Word of God the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they then gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings of the hone of the honeycomb it's in Mark 13 31 that Jesus says heaven and earth will pass away but my word will never pass away so even gold is ultimately going to be burned up with fire but the word of the

Lord remains true forever moreover by them is your servant reward rewarded

I'm sorry I start that again saw Psalm 1911 moreover by them is your servant warned in keeping the

Word of God there is great reward blessings and curses just as God gave to Israel so it is the same with us if we keep the law of God we will be blessed if we break his law we will be cursed now we are not saved by the law but nevertheless those of us who are followers of Christ fulfill the law when we love our neighbor as ourselves that stated in Galatians 5 and 6

Jesus himself even saying that to love God and to love neighbor is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets we fulfill the law of Christ Galatians 6 2

I believe that is who can discern his errors on 1912 who can discern his errors declare me innocent from hidden faults we know what our errors are because we read it in the law right that's

Romans 3 20 it is through the hearing of the law comes knowledge of sin we can't discern our errors but we come to know that we have sinned against God when we hear his law so declare me innocent from even hidden faults

I've become knowledgeable of my sin from hearing the law of God but I haven't heard all of it like what what is the extent of the sins that I've committed against God what in my heart is there that I have not yet come to probe the depths of and understand the wretchedness by which

I would be judged without the mercy of God so David is saying declare me innocent from hidden faults search me out and find those secret things that I may be convicted of them and seek the forgiveness and mercy of God keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins sins that are committed when

I know what the right thing is to do but I do the wrong thing instead declare me innocent from hidden faults keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins when

I know what the right way is to go but instead I follow after my flesh consider the

Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 Jesus taught us to pray lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one so this is that that same sort of request here

Psalm 1913 keep back your servant also from presumptuous presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me lead me not into temptation when

I know what the right way is to go but instead my flesh is tempted and I want to follow after the wrong way let me not go in that way let my flesh not have dominion over me sin will not have dominion over me let me be released set free from the bonds of sin and death to do the righteous thing in the presence of God then

I shall be blameless David says and innocent of great transgression and here's the way this song concludes 1914 let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight

Oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer we'll look at Psalm 20 quickly here

Psalm 20 beginning in verse 1 may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble may the name of the

God of Jacob protect you may he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion may he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices may he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans may we shout for joy over your salvation and in the name of our

God set up banners may the Lord fulfill all your petitions now

I know that the Lord saves his anointed he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the

Lord our God they collapse and fall but we rise and stand upright

Oh Lord save the king may he answer us when we call the nature of this particular

Psalm Psalm 20 is essentially that we would do the Lord's will and if we seek those things that are pleasing to God the

Father will give them to us we've read that over and over again here as we've been going through the upper room discourse between Jesus and his disciples in our study of John and Jesus has said to his disciples whatever you ask the father in my name he will give it to you because we seek the will of God we have the mind of Christ we want to do the things as Christ wants us to do them and it says that Jesus has promised the

Heavenly Father will bless us to do the things that we would do in the name of Christ if we ask he will give it to us and the the understanding of that being given here even in Psalm 20 let's look at Psalm 21

Oh Lord in your strength the King rejoices and in your salvation how greatly he exalts you have given him his heart's desire and you have not withheld the request of his lips for you meet him with rich blessings you set a crown of fine gold upon his head he asked life of you and you gave it to him length of days forever and ever his glory is great through your salvation splendor and majesty you bestow upon him for you make him most blessed forever you make him glad with the joy of your presence for the

King trusts in the Lord and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved your hand will find out all your enemies your right hand will find out those who hate you you will make them as a blazing oven when you appear the

Lord will swallow them up in his wrath and fire will consume them you will destroy their descendants from the earth and their offspring from among the children of man though they plan evil against you though they devise mischief they will not succeed for you will put them to flight you will aim at their faces with your bows be exalted

O Lord in your strength we will sing and praise your power so once again just like with the the example or the metaphor given of the

Sun the Sun in the sky not s o n but s u n so the judgment of God no one can escape from it the fire will consume them he will even directly target them he knows who is evil and who is against him who might say with their mouth that they are a follower of God but they've set their heart against him by not obeying his law by not following in his precepts by going instead according to their own way and believing that they in and of themselves can be righteous without God God knows the intentions of man and he seeks them out and he will destroy those who are against him so may we stand in fear of the

Lord and know just as David is prayed here in Psalm 21 that the Lord saves those whom he has anointed his glory is great through your salvation splendor and majesty you bestow upon the one who fears

God and keeps his commandments amen you've been listening to when we understand the text with pastor

Gabe Hughes we hope you are a part of the church family committed to gospel teaching and we thank you for including us in your

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