January 31, 2016 God’s Call By The Psalms by Steve Mixsell

Excellent, Josh, this is fine. This is fine. That's mobile. Oh, it says partner. Good morning.

It's always an honor to stand before you and attempt to bring you the word of God in all its power and glory. However, it's something special, honor today, to stand before you and open up Psalm 19, a text that is for me especially holy ground.

Thank you, Josh. First, because God used a portion of this psalm in a very special and mighty way in my own salvation.

But secondly, and more importantly, is because the psalm, in my humble estimation, is one of the most important texts in all the word of God.

This text is a powerful apologetic for both the divine origin of scripture and for the correctness of the

Reformed faith. This psalm contains one of the most briefest and most direct declarations of the most central and vital truths in all the universe.

The most important truths with which all men and women must deal.

The truths which will divide every man and every woman throughout all the earth and throughout every age into the only two categories of any eternal importance.

Those reconciled to God and therefore saved unto eternal life, happiness, and fulfillment, and those who remain estranged from God and alienated from their creator and therefore condemned unto eternal death, sorrow, and emptiness.

The truths plainly declared by this psalm through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, given to the mind and pen of David, King of Israel, prophet and man after God's own heart, 3 ,000 years ago and over 1 ,000 years before the coming of the eternal son to earth, declares vital themes about the glory of God as plainly seen by all mankind.

The estrangement of all men from God, the necessity of conversion and reconciliation to God by new birth, the purely gracious nature of the salvation and eternal security and perseverance of all the saints, and the end for which

God has given us his word. One of the interesting things

I find about the psalms, which are especially precious to me because they not only contain deep theology but because they express it in a manner that they're dripping with devotional emotion, loving the truths they declare with a love with which they ought to be loved, is that they are truths about God and his works which are literally written to be sung.

I think that is so because they express truths which in some sense can only be sung as they are so great and so worthy of praise and adoration.

Sometimes I think we fail to notice that one of the implications of the fact that each one of these texts are songs written to be sung by his people is that they are truths that are both meant to inspire song in our hearts, the hearts of his servants and followers, but they are also truths which are meant to be overheard by those around us, by the entire world.

So in some special sense, the psalms are written not only to his servants but to all the world, for all the world to hear.

Because of this fact and because of the content of Psalm 19, my message is consciously directed at both the believer and the unbeliever with the hope to inspire greater love, reverence and obedience in the believer and to urge faith and repentance in the hearts of those who have not yet bowed the knee to the

Lord Jesus Christ. As an aside, I want to let you know that if this text, if this my message is a little bit evangelistic and geared to those who don't know the

Lord, it's not that I have any doubts about those of you who are here. As I look around and see not as many visitors as possible, but simply a consciousness of the fact that our messages are published on the internet and therefore they do, in a sense, go out before all the world, but also because these truths just flow from this text.

It is an essential truth that God speaks to all the world. So I don't have my doubts about you, fear not.

And interestingly enough, one of the things I hope that the believer will get from this is as Josh just spoke, this gospel that we proclaim and even the reformed faith we hold dear is not a new invention.

It was not dreamed up by the Apostle Paul to try and explain the death of Jesus Christ and use it as something to create zeal as some of the popular modern theorists surmise, but it's something which was fairly clearly uttered in texts long before the coming of Christ.

This text that I read today as some of the other gospel psalms like Psalm 32 were written by David who lived over 1 ,000 years before Christ, who wrote these texts before any prophet had lifted a pen.

The first prophet I believe most agree is Joel who wrote over 100 years after David.

This is two or 300 years before Isaiah. So it's a powerful apologetic for the truth of both the gospel and the reformed faith as I hope to show you how the necessity of a new birth and the entirely gracious nature of that salvation and the eternal security of the believer are fairly clearly revealed in this song, although as Josh pointed out, not so fully revealed as they are in the pages of the

New Testament. Now to our text. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun which is like a bridegroom coming out of its chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.

Its rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit is to the other end and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The Holy Spirit through the pen of David begins by informing us that both the existence and the manifold glory of God is declared daily and nightly to all men and all women everywhere.

It has been declared to all men and all women who have ever lived and will continue to be declared to all men and women who are born until the heavens and the earth are one day rolled up like a scroll and replaced by a new heavens and a new earth.

The existence and manifold glory of God are declared by the heavens and the firmament.

Heavens, shamayim meaning the lofty, the sky, the visible arch above the clouds and firmament, rakia, a similar meaning, properly and expanse, the firmament or apparently the visible arch of the sky.

As I spoke before, here we see the psalmist over a thousand years before the apostle Paul wrote by inspiration of the same

Holy Spirit in Romans chapter one, verses 18 through 21. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because although they knew

God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

All men and women need to do to receive a powerful testimony of both the existence and the full glory of God is to look up.

See the mighty sun upon whose light and heat the existence of all life on earth depends.

See the clouds which bring water, which bring water to the crops and animals in the field and whose ever -changing shapes provide infinite fascination to many.

See the sunsets whose color palettes put to shame the greatest painters of all time. At night, see the starry host, the thousand points of light which represent not only stars as mighty as our own sun but galaxies, each containing billions of stars, a truly awe -inspiring palette testifying to the magnificent power and wisdom of the creator, one

I believe which testifies not only to the vastness and power of any being who created it but also to the precision, the wisdom, and beauty of that creator.

This is what the spirit of God in some sense reveals to everyone who views the heavens and indeed also

I think by application all other parts of God's creation. We should also understand this to mean that just as we've gazed into the vast heavens, now as our ability to perceive things such as the atom, the molecules, the atoms, and the subatomic particles, we look in and we see the same attributes displayed.

By application, this refers not only to the heavens but to everything beneath the heavens. Many of the greatest minds in history have echoed the truths of Psalm 19, that the entire creation loudly proclaims the existence of God.

Just a brief little sampling. John Locke, philosopher and political theorist upon whose ideas and observations most modern democratic governments rest, including our own, stated, the visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly, and by the way, these are not necessarily

Bible -believing Christians. These are simply men who have perceived what logic directs.

John Locke stated, the visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of creation that a rational creature who will but seriously reflect on them cannot miss the discovery of a deity.

Or Louis Pasteur, the chemist and microbiologist who is the father of modern inoculation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, who stated, science brings men nearer to God and the more

I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the creator. Or Abraham Lincoln, who in my personal opinion cannot by objective men be accounted anything else but the greatest president in American history.

Sorry for interjecting a historical determination. That's one man's opinion.

Abraham Lincoln said, echoing Psalm 19 almost perfectly, I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down on the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no

God. For those of you who have not bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you not to let the false bravado, the bluster and bluff of so many of those of great learning and scientific training who belittle as preposterous a belief in God and a belief in his word.

Do not let them dissuade you from coming to belief in God and in his holy and perfect word.

These men and women whose ranks and boldness have both grown greatly in our day, as we are told in 2

Timothy 3 .13 that evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

These men and women are those whom the apostle Paul told us of in Romans 1, beginning at verse 18, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because although they knew

God through his general revelation, they did not glorify him, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible

God into an image made like corruptible man. No, do not fall prey to their bold and strident assertions about the foolishness of faith and the fact that no reasonable men of science believe.

For despite great efforts on the part of the academic establishment to expel them from the academies of the world, in every branch of science there are brilliant minds, well -schooled in the scientific method and the current state of scientific discovery, who believe that everything science has truly proven and everything that they observe in their examinations conducted in their various fields speak loudly of a super -intelligent creator.

One example is the renowned physicist and atheist, Fred Hoyle, who after pioneering the idea of nucleosynthesis, blah, excuse me, nucleosynthesis, the accepted explanation for how elements heavier than helium are formed inside of stars,

I believe the only place they can possibly be formed, a discovery which won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983.

When referring to the precise relationship necessary between the various forces in the universe, such as the relationship between the strength of strong molecular bonds and weak molecular bonds and gravitation, et cetera, and there are many of them, there's like 15 physical laws of the universe, which if they're not in precise accord, life as we know it cannot exist, so much as a 0 .1

% variance in the ratio between any of these factors will cause life to be impossible because the elements that form life could never have existed.

It's very heady stuff, but it's what made this atheist say, this former atheist say, a common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super -intellect has been monkeying with physics as well as with chemistry and biology and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.

The numbers one calculates from the fact seem to me to be so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.

And as an interesting aside, his partner in the discovery, which won the

Nobel Prize for Physics, was awarded the prize, he was not. Just wanted to show you, and his partner expressed amazement that he was not awarded the prize,

I just wanted to show you that there's something of a bias against men who say such things in the professions, the scientific professions, the academy.

There are many, many more. I have excised many citations about scientists well -regarded in their field who have made similar statements and observations.

Looking into the atom is one of the things. As we've peered inside or subatomic particles and peered inside the cell, we see irreducibly complex machines which really speak strongly against Darwin's theory.

And Darwin's own admission was, if it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous successive slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.

Well, our recent discoveries, as we've been able to peer deeper inside the cell, have revealed countless irreducibly complex machines which could not possibly have been formed by numerous successive and slight modifications because every one of their numerous and complex parts are necessary for the machine to operate at all.

And they cannot have come into being by a series of successive slight modifications.

No, dear brethren, it is neither logic nor extreme familiarity with the scientific method and the compendium of scientific discoveries which create unbelief in so many of these whys according to this world.

But it is their refusal to see what they do not want to see, evidence of a creator to whom they must give an account.

Let not the lie that belief in the word of God is not for the educated, the erudite, or the sophisticated, but instead for the timid and simple -minded dissuade you from coming to faith.

It is true that many, if not most, of believers are the foolish things of this world.

But that fact does not flow from the foolishness of the premises which God calls us to accept, but from the fact that God has purposefully hidden these things from the wise and prudent.

As Jesus himself says in Matthew 11, beginning at verse 25, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. And also, as the Holy Spirit tells us in 1

Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at verse 26, and more importantly, as he gives the reason why God has chosen to hide these things from the wise and reveal them unto babes.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26, the Holy Spirit tells us, for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

And the base things of this world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to put to shame, to bring to nothing the things that are.

That no flesh should glory in his presence. I would also like to point out, now turning to the believer, that this portion of our psalm which declares that the heaven and everything beneath declare the glory of God loudly and clearly, can be of great practical use to the believer.

Charles Spurgeon, who despite being omnicompetent and brilliant, was prone to depression, and a wayward emotional makeup, as many of us are, often encouraged and exhorted believers to take full advantage of this general revelation by, even if at great exertion, making time for themselves to take pleasure in his gloriously created works of nature, and to use them as a vehicle for stirring up our sometimes congenitally dull hearts and minds unto praises to our

God. Truly, as the Holy Spirit tells us in Psalm 145, all your works shall praise you,

O Lord, and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of your glory, the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

And as the book of Psalm concludes in Psalm 150, echoing Psalm 19, one, it tells us, praise the

Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty firmament, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness.

We are to praise him not only in the sanctuary, we are to praise him under the firmament, that same firmament which declares the glory of God.

Moving on, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the

Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

In this section of our Psalm, we see that God, whose purpose is to glorify himself before all the world, his chief purpose,

I am Yahweh, that is my name, my glory I will not give to another, has revealed himself much more clearly and glorified himself much more wondrously through his revealed word.

Referred to throughout the entire section, the entire Psalm, as first the law of the Lord, Torah, direction, teaching, instruction, the testimony of the

Lord, edu, referring either to the 10 commandments specifically or to the entire law of God generally, the statutes of the

Lord, pichud, a mandate, a precept, a written law passed by a legislative body, the commandment of the

Lord, mitzvah, a command whether human or divine, i .e. the orders or commands of a superior, authority, and the judgments of the

Lord, mishpat, a verdict, favorable or unfavorable, pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, the penalty, and also abstractly justice.

Five separate descriptions of the word of God. Lord willing, next time we'll take a closer look at these descriptions of God's word and some implications,

I think, which flow from them. But for now, let's simply realize that this Psalm is referring to the entirety of God's word and also refers to God's word which we have before us, even though it was not yet written.

These are statements which universally apply to that excellent revelation of God which surpasses general revelation, the revelation of his glory and his word, and most specifically of the glory of his son,

Jesus Christ. That word, which is Hebrews 4, beginning at verse 12, tells us, is living and powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

And I think it's interesting that this description of God's word seems to echo Psalm 19's description of the son.

And it's almost like a transitional phrase between the glory of general revelation and the heavens declare the word of the

Lord, which ends up in speaking of the son, which is like a strong man rejoicing to run his race and from whom no one can hide from his heat, and then the word of God and the

God of the word that is referred to in Hebrews 4 as one whom there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom he must give an account.

And I think here we see why so many do not want to see the glory of God. They do not want to be unhidden from his sight and naked and open to the eyes of him to whom they must give account.

This portion of our text tells us that although everything we see in the heavens and under the heavens declare the glory of God sufficiently to hold us all accountable of his existence and therefore make us accountable to seek after him, further and clearer revelation from God is necessary if we are to be restored to a right relationship to him.

One of the most important truths to see from this Psalm and one of the most important truths to receive at all from the word of God as a whole and one that I'm afraid some of you here today may not yet have received or grasped is a truth that many who are well familiar with church pews and some who are even fairly familiar with the word of God continually miss this truth.

So that I'm convinced that sadly, the churches throughout the Western world are filled with people who do not truly know the truth and are lost and on a path to eternal condemnation.

This truth is that simply believing that God exists as so many of those scientists, perhaps like Mr.

Hoyle, who now have seen the greatness of God revealed in Revelation and acknowledge that there is a

God but see him as some difficult to know being who has not spoken clearly through his word, that they may be in this same position who simply believe that God exists, who've simply given an intellectual assent to his existence and perhaps even his goodness and believe somehow that maybe going to church and attempting by some measure of obedience to his word to make one acceptable to him.

No, let me warn you, average American church goer, that this level of faith, this mere intellectual assent is simply only enough to secure your eternal condemnation and damnation.

This level of belief is not sufficient to restore you to God.

The spirit through James alludes to this in James 2 .19 when he says, you believe that there is one

God, you do well, even the demons believe and tremble. No, dear listener, the word of God, the law of God is not a set of rules or moral precepts which provide a criteria for which you will be judged upon the quality of your effort to keep them unto salvation.

No, instead, it is, if rightly understood, a revelation of God's perfect righteousness and your helpless condemnation before him as one incapable of meeting the righteous requirements of his word.

This truth can be seen in the very first verse of our section which says, the law of the

Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The Hebrew word for converting is shub, to return, to go back, to bring back.

The basic meaning of the verb is movement back to a point of departure, a fundamental change in direction.

The Hebrew word for soul, nefesh, refers to the soul self, the life of a creature, the mind, the living being, the breathing substance or being, the inner being of a man, the man himself or woman herself, the seed of appetites, the seed of emotions, the seed of passions, the activity of the mind, the activity of the will, the activity of the character, the deepest part of our being.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting, turning back, bringing back the soul.

Here we see from the pen of David, a thousand years before Christ and the Apostle Paul, informing us and the whole world that God's inspired and revealed word, his law is necessary for salvation, that a true conversion of the soul is necessary, and finally, that this conversion of the soul is in fact the main purpose of the law of God and the word of God, so that as God reveals through the conclusion of our psalm, the end is that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts might be acceptable in the sight of our rock and our redeemer.

The law of God is not a code of conduct, which one must meet in order to earn salvation.

Galatians 3 .22 through 24 tells us, but scripture has confined all under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe, but before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed, therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, and how nicely does this fit in with the understanding of law as Torah, teaching, instruction, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, not a means of salvation, and this is something that I believe probably nine out of 10 professing

Christians who sit in churches don't understand. There is a natural part of our legal framework, as Luther referred to in some of the great reformers, that still can't get it through our head, and even those who believe are fuzzy on this thought, so much that our assurance of salvation waxes and wanes, depending on whether we've had a good day in serving our

Lord in our own estimation or not, that we lose sight of the fact that our redemption is secured by a work of God, as I hope to show further revealed in this psalm, a miraculous work of God, purely of grace, which cannot be defeated, which will not go away, and that justifying faith is nothing more than believing

God's testimony against you and his promise to account to you the righteousness of Christ if you will but believe, as his word reveals in Romans chapter three, beginning at verse 21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

There's his testimony against you and me. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and our only hope in verse 24 is to be justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God sent forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance,

God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, praise God. Every one of us here depended on that before our salvation, that he passed over those sins previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, by the law of faith.

Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. No, you must realize his law is not a means of salvation through works of righteousness.

Instead, it's a means of revealing all men and women our guilt before God, our hopelessness to achieve perfect obedience, that perfect obedience required by his word, and our need for a savior or redeemer.

Or to put it another way, God's word reveals our utter bankruptcy and our need to obey

God's highest law, the gospel of Jesus Christ as our only means of escaping the judgment and condemnation and wrath which our guilt and many failings deserve.

As the Holy Spirit warns us in 1 Peter 4 .17, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ?

By believing it, I might add. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a law. It's God's highest law.

It's the only means he has appointed by which we may be saved. So that we must, in a sense, obey the gospel by believing it.

The same idea is echoed in an even more stark warning in 2 Thessalonians 1, beginning at verse seven, telling us one day that Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know

God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me reiterate, let me say again, no one, none of you who hear the sound of my voice in this audience, over the internet, none of us deserve salvation.

Everyone deserves condemnation and wrath for the sin that lies within each of us. The very sin nature which is the cause of all the great evils of the world.

It's not the Hitlers of the world that are the biggest problem, it's you and me. I hearken back on the words of G .K.

Chesterfield, who responding to a newspaper inquiry to the question during a particularly tumultuous time in history,

I don't remember the exact year, what's wrong with the world? We might say the same thing.

We've got mass murders. We've got people seeing videos from ISIS and committing mass murders against people who have no relationship whatsoever to any ill done, any perceived ill done.

The question, what's wrong with the world? G .K. Chesterfield so eloquently replied, and I believe it was published, dear sir, in response to your inquiry, what's wrong with the world?

I am. We can each say that. Instead, you must, as Psalm 19, verse seven tells us, let the law of God, the

Torah, the instruction of God convert your soul. Change your direction.

Change you in the innermost, man or woman. To everyone who hears my voice, I say, you must be born again.

As Jesus said to Nicodemus in John three, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

You must allow the word of God to convert your soul. You must be born again by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When you believe the gospel, when you believe God's testimony against you, that you deserve eternal punishment, and you believe

God's gracious promise to accept your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior, substitute, and Lord, and as sufficient for a salvation of pure grace, you will be on the authority of the word of God, born again from above.

You will be converted in your soul, in your innermost being. As the Holy Spirit tells us in second

Corinthians five, chapter five, 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And God then goes on to tell us how this was accomplished by Christ.

And also how, now having been born again, we embark on our great work, our great never -ending work as ambassadors for Christ, telling others of his glory, and especially of his means of reconciliation.

Second Corinthians five continues at verse 18. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us a ministry of reconciliation.

That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we, as ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

For he made him, speaking of Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

I implore you, be reconciled to God. We are such poor witnesses, are we not?

It's the greatest lament of my soul as I preach, and as I try and share the truth of God to others, that I so fall short on my best day, my best second, of the greatness and glory of God.

But do not let that stop you, brothers and sisters, from being ambassadors to Christ. Because as this text tells us, we, if we are living our life right, are actually, like God himself, imploring others to be reconciled.

So I implore you, be reconciled to God. Accept his testimony against you, and accept his promise to give you the perfect righteousness of his son, if you will but believe and confess that Jesus is

Lord. And having been born again from above and made a servant of the

Most High, freed from condemnation, the condemnation of the law, because of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice on your behalf and your possession of his perfect righteousness, credited to you, imputed to you,

God's word will be transformed from being a bore or a curse to being a blessing.

And for those of you, dear brothers and sisters, who already know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, I exhort you to a humble, prayerful, and submissive study of God's word for the purpose of taking deep into your heart its truths.

And with a quick rundown of some of the many benefits of the word, as our psalm continues, let me just encourage you.

Verse seven, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the

Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

His word now becomes a lamp to your feet and a light to your path, a protection against sin which darkens the heart and mind, as Hebrews tells us, and a source of great joy as you uncover his precious promises, which the

Holy Spirit tells the believer in 2 Peter chapter one, beginning at verse three, that his divine power through his word,

I might add, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And how does this occur?

How are we given all things that pertain to life and godliness? Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these, speaking of the promises, and where are these promises found?

In the eternal word of God. That through these promises you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world, the decay that is in the world, through lust.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The fear of the

Lord is clean, tahor, pure. Physical purity, chemical purity, ceremonial or moral purity, enduring forever.

I fear, and this is a great truth, and this is where I think our Reformed faith is revealed 1 ,000 years before Christ.

I can think of no other rational meaning for this verse other than that it speaks of the new birth in the fear of the

Lord, this conversion of soul, this right relationship with God as clean and pure, being a work of God himself through the spirit of God that is perfect, and being a work that endures forever.

Always endures forever, not just sometimes endures forever, not just most of the time endures forever, but always endures forever.

The fear of the Lord in verse nine, which endures forever, refers directly to the right relationship with God occasioned by the conversion of soul in verse seven.

Throughout the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, the fear of the Lord is colorfully and descriptively referred to as having a right attitude towards God or a right relationship with God.

Proverbs 14 .27, and it's strange, I neglected to point out the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I didn't include that here. We all know that one well. It's the entry point of wisdom.

If you are not in a right relationship with God, you literally have no wisdom. You have made the wrong choice on the most important truth in all the universe.

You are a fool. You are the one referred to in Proverbs as the fool who has said in his heart there is no

God or has said in his heart there is no God who's spoken clearly, there is no God to whom I must give an account.

But getting back to the fear of the Lord as a term that refers throughout scripture to the right relationship with God, Proverbs 14 .27,

the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 19 .23, the fear of the Lord leads to life and he who has it will abide in satisfaction.

He will not be visited with evil. Proverbs 22 .4, by humility and the fear of the

Lord are riches in honor and life. Proverbs 23 .17, do not let your heart envy sinners but be zealous for the fear of the

Lord all the day. The prophet Isaiah speaking of Jesus in Isaiah 11 beginning at verse one, there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor decide by the hearing of his ears.

The prophecy of the coming Messiah states that the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

Lord shall be on him. The spirit of God is the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And it says that his delight is in the fear of the

Lord. This is a synonymous phrase for a right relationship with God.

And continuing in the New Testament in Acts chapter nine, beginning at verse 29, and he, speaking of the apostle

Paul, spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. Then the churches throughout all

Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the

Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. This fear of the

Lord is produced by the word of God converting the soul. It is a pure, clean work of God that always endures forever.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. And as the

Holy Spirit tells us through the apostle Paul, tells all believers in Romans eight, beginning at verse 38, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Nothing shall separate us from this right relationship with God which is maintained by his love.

And as our mighty Savior and Lord himself, our good shepherd, Jesus Christ said in John chapter 10, beginning at verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them, they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.

Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Let no one convince you that this purely gracious, eternal security of the believer, this purely gracious guaranteed perseverance of the saints is the product of some unusual or boutique theological construct on the part of John Calvin or any other man.

No, it is clearly revealed throughout the scriptures from the very earliest points of scripture.

As Psalm 19 directly tells us that the fear of the Lord is a pure work of God that always endures forever.

I close with the observation that the most central truths of all scripture, the most central truths in all the universe, that man is by nature alienated from God and requires turning back, requires a conversion of the soul and that this conversion of the soul is a work of God, one wrought by the spirit of God through the word of God and one which endures forever is a good and perfect gift that comes down from the

Father of lights and whom is no variation or shadow of turning. It is a gift and calling of God which is without repentance.

These central truths of Christianity and of the reformed faith are clearly revealed in the simple

Psalm of David written a thousand years before Christ and Paul, 200 years before the first writing of the prophets, 300 years before Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit has been speaking these truths clearly to men since the dawn of time and has been writing these truths since the very beginnings of sacred scripture.

And this law of God, this instruction of God, this word of God which is perfect and able to convert the soul has for us found its clearest, ultimate and final expression in the person of Jesus Christ who is indeed the living and eternal word of God.

As the Holy Spirit tells us in the Gospel of John, beginning at one, chapter one, verse one, speaking of Jesus, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made.

In him was life and the life was the light of all men. This great firmament was created by our

Lord Jesus Christ. This great firmament which declares the glory of God was created by our

Lord Jesus Christ. And as we're further told in Hebrews chapter one, God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the worlds who being the express, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Those of you who have not bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you as an ambassador for Christ just as the prophets have begged those who did not fear the

Lord and did not have the beginning of wisdom to repent and believe the gospel, to enter into a blessed and blissful union with Jesus Christ and be saved by his righteousness.

For those of you who have already bowed the knee to Christ and know something of the blessedness of union with him,

I urge you to seek greater and closer fellowship with him through the Holy Spirit illuminating to you the statutes of the

Lord which are right and rejoice the heart. By the Holy Spirit illuminating to you the commandment of the

Lord which is pure and enlightens the eyes. By illuminating to you the judgments of the

Lord which are true and righteous altogether and more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold and sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

And by illuminating to you all of his words which contain exceedingly great and precious promises that through these promises, these sure promises, you may be partakers of the divine nature in greater measure all to the praise of his glory, the praise and the glory of his grace.

I ask, I exhort you all these things in Jesus' name.

Dear Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, we just thank you and praise you for your wonderful truth, for the fact that your word speaks clearly.

If we will but remove the prejudices that adhere to our flesh and our desire to be redeemed by our own merits.

Father, it speaks so clearly of a gracious salvation wrought by pure grace of salvation which is beginning, middle and end, given to the believer because of faith in Jesus Christ.

That faith itself is a gift from God. We just thank you, Father, for this clear revelation from the beginning and humbly ask that you'll grant us a greater understanding of this gracious nature of salvation.

For those who do not know you, I humbly ask that you'll enable them to feel their danger where no one has promised another moment in this world,

Father. And although you are merciful and bear along with us, we do not know when that day comes.

For those who do not know you, they don't know when that day comes, when your mercy will have an end. And so,

Father, I just wanna thank you for the clarity of your word and humbly ask that by your Holy Spirit, you'll make good all my deficiencies in declaring it and that you'll bring it with power and glory into the hearts of all who hear.

To the unbeliever and to salvation and to the believer and to a closer and sweeter walk with you. And I just thank you for your grace and mercy and all that you are and ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.