Two Books

Good evening. It's a pleasure and an honor to be with you and It's such a surreal experience to finally meet Conley in person as well. We've been communicating for a number of years and it's really great to be here.

We can turn in our Bibles to four four hundred fifty six Psalm 100 Psalm 19, so page 456 and.

My.

Wife Bethany would have loved to have been here. We have two children a year old and three and a half and They are Definitely missed. We also teach Hebrew to the world.

Together.

On a YouTube channel and That's a lot of fun. We've done ministry in Africa Central Africa and now we're living in Mexico. So This psalm is is a really special psalm. I bet a lot of you have it memorized and C .s. Lewis wrote in his reflections on the Psalms that I Take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.

The Glory of God in Creation

So hopefully that grabs your attention this is a beautiful poem full of artistry and Delightful imagery, so let's start try to take us through this lightning speed to the choir master a psalm of David the heavens declare the glory of God and The sky above proclaims his handiwork.

So notice that first there's two parallel lines here and sky expanse. Heavens, these are all put together This word for firmament or expanse. These are both words that are key from Genesis 1 and you actually have a footnote in your ESV about that and This gives us a clue that David is probably meditating on the creation Account in Genesis 1 as he uses the same language in this song.

So here we have a man meditating on what we'll see as the world and the word and.

So.

The glory of God here is In parallel with the work of his hands. What his hands form are a part of his glory and This is a word for craftsmanship. So in some way the things that God has made are part of his glory.

They always point to him as the source as The craftsman as the creator for those who have eyes to see but many don't. So when you look at the sky the question for us in our hearts should be do we think of Him or do we just see clouds.

Do we just see blue do we just say see stars. Do we look at the world around us through the lens of God's glory? His craftsmanship. Is your life too busy too faithless? Too self-centered too crowded for you to look around and be struck by the truth that an infinitely wise artist Has crafted all of this.

He made this to teach us what he is like. So we're so prone. I am so prone to forget To take it for granted Or to drown out all of the wonder with my own whining. So let's move to the second verse. Psalm 19 to day to day pours out speech and Night to night reveals knowledge each day.

We see brings new colors new patterns new orchestrations in the sky and new artwork to boldly proclaim a glorious artist and It happens over and over. You know, it's it's this relentless Endless onslaught day after day night after night.

David says people are confronted with the beauty of God on the biggest screen in.

The world.

So.

This is like a stream. It says it pours forth speech. They pour forth speech. It's like a stream or a fountain of speech about God. And there's a lot of it's like a spring that never runs dry. It's just endlessly over and over proclaiming the The glory of God faithfully day after day.

And it says it also declares knowledge. So in Romans 1 19 through 20 Paul writes. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and Divine nature have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.

Why? So they are without excuse. So Paul picks up this idea that David and others are talking about he expands it to encompass all Of creation not just the sky. All the rest of creation is a giant display To showcase God's majesty.

This is basic stuff. But we have to meditate on this sometimes and I think it will be a challenge. Now how exactly do these things reveal him. Paul doesn't give us the answer? Very specifically and if I had to guess I would say that it has to do with the complexity the beauty and the immensity of creation.

Those elements may be what Paul has in mind that clearly reveal God's eternal power and divine.

Nature.

Now this next verse. Let me read this verse literally from the Hebrew because I think it'll help us grasp the poetic Nature of it a little bit better than the ESV does. It says literally there is no speech and There are no words.

Their voice is not heard. So we arrive at a poetic paradox here. Okay, David you're just talking about pouring out speech and now you're saying there are there is no speech there are no words. Their voice is not heard.

Which one is it? Of course, this is just poetry. This is what poetry does. David is catching the readers attention. Hopefully with a kind of irony or paradox. He basically says that the heavens are singing silently of Of God's glory they're speaking unspokenly their wordless book.

They're a wordless book revealing God. We have a saying in English, right? Actions speak louder than words and. So David says that their voice is not heard, but it's loud. Right. That's the the beauty of this poem.

It's constant. It's a speech is gushing out of the sky To the world to tell the world about God's glory and. The levels of irony are multiple here. So David knows that the world was created through words, right?

It was spoken into being. So he plays with this idea that God has made the world through his word and these words or matter are now wordlessly gushing forth words about God. So to say it another way God has spoken the sky into existence and now that speech created sky is speaking without speech about the Living God.

So it's beautiful and brilliant. Next verse their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. As Paul would say no one has an excuse. Everyone has seen the sky. Because and they can see it anytime they want.

Next verses 4b and 5. 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. So David chooses now to focus on the the most dominant part of the sky.

Right that the Sun it bursts forth with joy in two ways at daybreak first like this bridegroom Coming out of his wedding chamber. So God's glory includes this kind of joy. Do you see that do you have it?

Do you taste it? It's also the joy of a strong man or warrior. This is a more common word for warrior in Hebrew rejoicing to run his course. Maybe he's running into battle the way that David knew battle all of his life.

Battling against lions and bears battling against Philistines. Battling against Giants. We're not sure exactly what kind of running this warrior is doing. But this whole psalm stands in contrast to the hymns of the ancient people around them.

That worshiped the Sun so they would sing hymns and songs of worship to the Sun. Deifying the Sun and David is just personifying the Sun as God's creation and.

As.

God's reflect the reflection of God's glory. Verse 6. 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. So David draws this section of the psalm to a close with these words.

The Perfect Word of Yahweh

So we're gonna see two sections to the psalm two basic sections. The first section. I will call.

The the.

The book of Creation and the second is the book of words the book of the world and the book of words. So we're moving on to this new section that's going to reveal God in another way. So this book of words.

The problem with the first book the book of the world of creation is that it reveals just God's power. But not his person. It reveals his power, but not his pardon. And for that we need another book and that is the one you're holding in your hands.

So David is moving on to a description of the Bible. The Bible he had available to him. The Torah the five books of Moses all these words he uses in the poem law. Testimonies that were testimony precepts rules fear of Yahweh.

Can be taken as synonyms for God's Word. And as we read it together. Let's let's apply it today to what we know to be the whole of Scripture. So while the wordless book of creation addresses us as humans The book of words addresses us as sinners as Wayward children.

So all humanity can as Paul says they can understand the book of of The world of the creation. They can understand that as human beings. But this addresses us as sinners. Theologians have terms for this you probably know general versus special revelation that kind of thing and This is probably why we see Two distinct ways of talking about of referring to God here at the beginning it refers to God generically as God.

And.

Now it's gonna use God's covenant name Yahweh His personal name. So starting in verse 7 the law of Yahweh is perfect Reviving the soul The testimony of Yahweh is sure Making wise the simple.

David.

Writes this beautiful list of things that the Word of God is and then what it does. It's got this real steady rhythm to it. What it is. What it does. What it is what it does. It's perfect. That's what it is.

Revives the soul. That's what it does. God words. God's Word is sure Trustworthy or reliable and what does it do. It makes the simple wise? That's what it does. Verse 8 the precepts of Yahweh are right rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of Yahweh is pure enlightening the eyes. So God's Word is is right or correct, that's what it is. And it makes the heart rejoice. Does it make your heart rejoice. When is the last time your heart rejoiced in this word, it's pure and it it's radiant and It lights up the eyes.

In the ancient Near Eastern culture in which this was written first. The eyes were the most important sense of the body. We in a in a certain sense, we believe that today and.

And.

For the eyes to have light meant to enliven or restore life. And at the same time we can understand this also to mean that this radiance Helps the eyes to see a clear way to walk uprightly on the correct path of life.

And most of all to see Christ. There's a reminder up here. Thank you Conley. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. I like that you can't see of it. I can see this note and This is why I love the scriptures. Because we see Jesus and all of his contours and clarity without the same that without a veil as as Creation does creation is we look at creation and it it's a little bit hazy.

We don't see those clear contours of who God it is in his person in his Son in his salvation. So let's keep going verse 9. The fear of Yahweh is clean and during forever. The rules of Yahweh are true and righteous altogether.

Let's keep going. Well, actually, let's stop there for just a minute. So This this is in some sense Mirroring The the fixity of the heavens so we have the heavens are fixed they're always there. They're unmoved and we have the Word of Yahweh Endures forever.

That's what it does so those kind of those mirror qualities and This is what we see right and when Jesus says Heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will not pass away in Luke 21. And of course Isaiah 40 verse 8 the grass withers the flower fades, but the Word of our God Will stand forever.

Do you live like that. Do I cherish esteem read live eat breathe The Bible. Because it's the only thing that won't pass away that won't out that will outlast this finite world. It's a struggle. We need to stir up one another.

I'm preaching this to myself. Stir up one another to be living Bibles. To live the Bible to love it more than gold and this is what we're gonna see in verse 10. More to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.

So we don't deal with a lot of gold these days. If you look it up a standard gold bar is worth around 1 .6 million dollars now, it's going up really fast, too pretty crazy.

I.

Do we value scripture like that in the ancient Near East. That was it. That was there was nothing more valuable than gold. So in Honey, there was nothing sweeter. There wasn't there wasn't refined sugar.

There was honey. That was the sweetest thing. So this is just saying there's something very simple God's Word is sweeter than the sweetest thing and it's more valuable than the most valuable thing. Does our life reflect that do I put our priorities our time reflect that it is so easy to Miss out on this.

Do we crave it like we crave dessert? Do we think about it more than we think about money. You know, you may not be living for money, but you may think a lot about it. We all have that temptation in a society that's the richest society that has ever lived.

Is this consuming our thoughts more? The modern world is a perfect storm as you know of distractions from and.

Cheap.

Substitutions for scripture and. So I just want to encourage us. Let's take stock of our lives seriously.

How.

Far away are we from being like the man of Psalm 1 who meditates on the word day and night? It's not optional. It's not a joke It's not just a radical Christian thing for these elite people. I Myself need to hear more blood earnest Encouragement on that front.

I need to hear people pleading with my soul From the pulpit to reflect with my life and my time and my energy that I believe the word is more valuable than money and Sweeter than honey.

It.

The Word That Leads to Christ

So let's let's finish this up. Moreover by them is my serve is is 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. Oh Yahweh my rock and my Redeemer.

Now I won't go into a lot of depth on these last verses because I want us to have some time to linger a little Longer over what we've just seen. When I was in Alaska a couple years ago visiting with my family, but we only had one daughter at the time Naomi.

And.

She was I think a year and a half and we we went on this road trip to Homer. Which some of you been there? It's gorgeous gorgeous place you're seeing these glaciers in the distance and shining waters of the ocean and It's spectacular.

And so we get to this overlook. That is just gorgeous, you know, and they've got the telescope things and Naomi was more interested in watching the trucks and the cars go by on the highway behind us than she was like looking at the.

View.

And.

So I think that this is a perfect, you know children are always a parable of our own often blindness pettiness whininess before God and.

She.

Was being childish in that moment. But when she marvels at rocks and mushrooms and throws kisses to every living creature She's being childlike. So what I want to encourage us to think about is are you childish or are you childlike before God?

My one of my favorite authors says those who refuse to become childlike are doomed to be childish. Babies have been sent into your life to confuse all your plans to frustrate your best Intentions to outwit you at every turn and to drive you to your knees.

In short to reduce you to tears just like themselves for you are exactly the same.

You two.

One's big one's little but there the difference ends and God would have you know this. He wants you to know that you two are. But a mewling little rosebud kicking in your blankets and screaming bloody murder whenever the big butler in the sky Doesn't bring your food and drink on a silver platter at precisely the right time.

How many times have I been waiting to watch cars go by instead of marveling at the glory of God how often are the cares of your life and The tawdry and empty things of this world drawing you away from the splendor of Christ of Knowing him and being found in him.

So I'd encourage you to think not only about how invested you are and being a man or woman of the word. But also how you might extend that opportunity to others Who have no access to scripture or Bible study tools in their language.

Through the Bible we are born again. That's what first Peter says through the Bible people come to know come to the knowledge of the glory of God in the face Of Jesus Christ. It's through the word that we see the incarnate word and you can't get a clear picture of Jesus Christ without the Bible like I said.

And I love Jesus Christ. We're here out of love for him ultimately we. We are people of the word. Because in it we see Christ. It's not just about words. It's about the person. I Love his magnificent humility.

His lion-like power and triumph his gladness. His sovereign voice as he says peace be still. Lazarus come out. I Love his unfathomable strength. For in him all things were created. Visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and He is before all things and all things hold together.

By the same strength he upholds the universe by the word of his power. I love his unprecedented wisdom. I love his tenderness toward children and Widows and when his people are like sheep without a shepherd, I love his wonderful mercy.

That when we cry Jesus Son of David have mercy on us. He hears us I could go on. He's our light and our salvation. He is our life. Everything begins with him. Everything ends with him. This is a word who speaks and is spoken about.

May we go to him? And love him.

Amen.