God Made Known
Notes
Transcript
1. WELCOME
Good morning.
If you’d like a title for this morning I’ve simply called it,
‘God Made Known’
We’ve just heard the text read, so let me pray and then we’ll look into it.
2. PRAY
3. INTRODUCTION
If you’ve been here over the last month you’ll know we’ve been spending our time in the book of Psalms.
And this morning we are continuing that, but this time in Psalm 19.
For me, like all of scripture, the Psalms speak of the glory of God.
When I’ve found I don’t have the right words to pray,
or feel at a loss to express what’s happening in my heart,
the Psalms have helped to reflect what my soul wants to say.
When I’ve felt lost or alone
the Psalms have helped bring comfort and security into my life.
And when it’s feels as if God is far off,
the Psalms have reminded me that He is in fact near,
and holding me safe, even if I don’t feel it.
This Psalm has reminded me afresh of God's beauty, and love,
and during my study this week
I have been freshly amazed at God's goodness in my life.
If you’re new to the Psalms,
As we all once were,
it’s the 3rd longest book in the Bible,
and containing more chapters than any other book.
The Psalms are a collection of 150 poems, songs and prayers
which have been broken down into 5 books.
The oldest Psalm is probably Psalm 90 written by Moses
and the newest Psalms are Psalm 74 and 79,
written nearly a thousand years later.
Out of the 150 Psalms
30 or so were written by people like Moses, Solomon, Asaph and the Sons of Korah.
About 45 of them were written by unknown authors.
And the remaining 75 were written directly by King David.
In fact David wrote some of the most well known Psalms including,
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
or Psalm 103
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
The Psalms are also quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament book.
And it is arguably the most popular book of the Old Testament,
if not the whole Bible.
C. S. Lewis wrote of the Psalm 19,
“I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter
and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”
And American President Abraham Lincoln said of the whole book,
“They are the best!
I find something in them for every day of the year.”
In fact, Abraham Lincoln loved the Psalms so much
that a section of our Psalm, Psalm 19,
is included on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington BC.
4. OUTLINE
Our Psalm today, starts with the heading,
‘For the director of music. A Psalm of David.’
And this Psalm breaks down into three sections which all interlink together.
And they form the basis of our main points,
God’s Creation
God’s Word
Our Response
5. GOD’S CREATION
Let's start with our 1st point, ‘God’s Creation’.
Verses 1 - 4b says,
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they [heavens and skies] pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech,
they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:1–4
Now, over the years I’ve had the privilege of traveling all around the world
training people in the film industry.
It can sound glamorous,
And for a good while it was.
But after a few years it can get very tedious.
Especially as I didn’t really like flying.
One Canadian broadcaster really captured how I felt towards the end of my days of travel,
“Airline travel is hours of boredom,
interrupted by moments of sheer terror.”
And I can tell you,
there were some moments of sheer terror!
Landing in Dublin, Ireland on a windy winter evening is normally pretty scary!
However it's hard to look at the South face of Everest,
or gaze upon the ice fjords of Norway,
or swim into the warm waters of the Caribbean without thinking
“Wow!”
There’s no doubt that the heavens and earth,
the sky and the oceans really do ‘declare the glory of God’.
At the very beginning of our bibles in Genesis 1 we read,
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless
and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said…
Genesis 1:2–3
God just spoke,
and He produced everything we can see around us,
Every speck of land, every drop of ocean water.
Every bird, every animal, every fish.
What God has made is staggering.
And it all displays His glory in one way or another.
EXAMPLE-BEETLE
Let me give you an example,
Did you know God made an insect called the ‘Bombardier Beetle’.
Its home is in the United States of America.
Inside its body are two small chambers filled with different chemicals.
At its rear is a small tube-like setup
which can be rotated 270 degrees.
And when the two chemicals are mixed together
and sprayed out the back of the beetle
they create a deadly acid
which fries any predator which is trying to eat it.
Think James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’ but on a smaller scale.
There are so many examples of God’s amazing creation.
All of which are designed to show God’s glory.
If you get a chance, go back through the sermon archives on Youtube
have a listen to Elita’s message on ‘Jesus Walking on Water’.
There she talks about our galaxy
and shows some incredible images of NASA of our solar system.
Amazing message,
stunning photos,
both pointing us to God glory,
Back in our text,
David goes on to tell us that,
Day after day [the heavens and skies] pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech,
they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:2–4
Even without us proclaiming the glory of God ourselves,
creation itself cries out.
In Hebrew the words ‘pour forth’ is just one word, ‘na-va’ ,
which means to ‘gush’ or ‘bubble up’.
It’s almost as if David is trying to convey the idea
of creation being unable to contain itself,
it must proclaim God’s glory!
And that's right,
creation is built to point away from itself,
and to point to God.
STORY
Just before Sandra and I had kids,
we decided to do an epic road trip through the Western states of America.
One of the places we felt was a ‘must see’ was The Grand Canyon.
But to be honest I wasn’t overly interested.
On our way there, we visited Bryce Canyon
which at that time was the most spectacular thing I'd ever seen.
So how could the Grand Canyon top that?
Well, let me tell you!
We arrived at the parking lot in our camper van
and made the short hike up to the top of the Canyon ridge.
Maybe I was distracted
Maybe I was still thinking about the burrito I had for lunch,
but all of a sudden we arrived at the top of the ridge
and found ourselves looking out across the Canyon.
IMAGE OF GRAND CANYON GOES UP!
It’s hard to put into words what I felt,
but all of a suddenly I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
There have only been a few times in my life when I have felt completely overwhelmed by seeing something.
But this was one of the moments.
The sheer size and grandeur of that hole in the earth is staggering.
The Canyon is 277 miles long (450km) and 18 miles (30km) across.
And in some places it’s four-thousand feet deep.
If you were to accidentally fall off at that point,
you’d have 27 seconds to think about what just happened,
before you hit the deck.
But I can tell you one thing comes to mind really fast.
If God, the Creator of all things, made this,
if He just spoke this into being,
what must He be like?
And who am I
that he would want a relationship with me?
In a moment, I felt both - very, very small - and very, very loved.
That feeling leads you to want to jump,
and sing,
and worship the Creator God!
However,
sometimes our response to God’s creation can be the opposite to this.
Sometimes we can give glory not to God
but to the things He’s created.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we…
…became fools,
If we…
…exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man
and birds
and animals
and creeping things.
Romans 1:22–23
We are called to give all our worship to God,
not to those things He’s created,
however beautiful they are.
We are called to worship Him alone,
simply because of who He is,
and all He has done for us,
through His son Jesus Christ.
David then goes on to highlight the sun as he says,
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Psalm 19:4–6
God has assigned a place for the sun in the heavens
David calls it the ‘tent’, and there the sun makes its circuit.
We see the splendor and power of the sun
moving through the heavens
displays the glory of God.
To help the illustrate things further, David refers to a
bridegroom appears, radiant, ready to meet his bride,
or a champion who rejoices to run his race.
Listen to the wise words of Charles Spureon,
Jesus, like a sun, dwells in the midst of revelation,
tabernacling among men in all his brightness;
rejoicing, as the Bridegroom of his church,
to reveal himself to men;
and, like a champion,
to win unto himself renown.
He makes a circuit of mercy,
blessing the remotest corners of the earth;
and there are no seeking souls,
however degraded and depraved,
who shall be denied the comfortable warmth
and benediction of his love.
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26
6. GOD’S WORD
Let's turn our attention to the next section of this Psalm
and our 2nd point, ‘God's Word’.
We’ll start by reminding ourselves again of the text,
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
Psalm 19:7–9
You’ll notice that that text says
The law of the Lord
The statues of the Lord
The precepts of the Lord
The commands of the Lord
The fear of the Lord
and the decrees of the Lord
These are all different ways of saying the same thing,
focusing on the same subject,
God's Word.
And that's what this section is drawing our attention to.
In verse 7 we read,
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
Psalm 19:7a
God has revealed Himself not just through creation, but through His word,
and these words direct our lives.
They are His instructions to us.
His ‘royal law’, as the Apostle James calls it.
And unlike us,
God’s word is perfect!
Without blemish,
lacking nothing.
When we read His word,
we know we are reading something which is trustworthy,
something we can build our life on.
The world so often promises happiness,
and yet so often leaves us dry and longing for something more.
But God’s law,
God’s word,
God’s path of righteousness,
brings safety and refreshment.
It brings life.
God calls us to return and repent,
to step aside from the wide path we’ve stumbled on to,
that highway of deception and sorrow,
that path leading away from God and towards destruction.
For God loves us
and warns us to keep to the narrow path,
the path that leads to life.
David goes on to say,
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7b
God’s statutes
and decrees act as a testimony to us.
They are a sure foundation
that keeps our feet steady during life's storms.
His word is something that can be trusted
and is reliable.
And when satan tries to twist God’s word,
whispering in our ear,
“Did God really say…”
Genesis 3:1
…we can know that God’s word is not only true
and firm
but accessible,
and available to us, each and every day.
HOLD UP BIBLE
…written here in the Bible.
Clear,
dependable,
life giving.
When we don’t know the right way to go,
and the path ahead seems dark,
God’s word is like a lamp to our feet.
When we tread the path less traveled,
God’s word brings illumination.
And we can be sure of a firm footing,
of stability when we rely on His word.
Next we read,
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
Psalm 19:8a
God’s precepts,
or statutes
are like rules of personal conduct.
They bring us into alignment with His will.
They bring direction and clarity to our lives.
Straight and upright in their purposes.
Bringing joy to our hearts.
God’s word causes us to rejoice as we come close to Him.
Then we read,
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19:8b
God’s commands are pure and just.
Like hands washed clean,
free from sin,
radiant and blameless.
His words remove the scales from our eyes
bringing insight and illumination.
Where once there was darkness,
now there is light.
And like the coming of the dawn,
the night always gives way to the morning.
Sometimes we can feel very lost.
We can feel as if life is closing in on us
and that we are losing direction.
It can feel as if there is no way out of our situation,
and that everything around is out to get us.
In those dark moments,
God’s word brings life.
When we can’t see the way forward,
God’s word brings direction to our steps.
We are never outside of His radiant power,
never outside of His love for us.
But let us not become blasé in our thinking,
for David also tells us,
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
Psalm 19:9a
So let us not forget whose face we long to look upon.
He is the great…
…I am…
Exodus 3:13
…the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 22:13
And Solomon, David's son, reminds us,
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…
Proverbs 9:10
Yes,
He is a God of love, no doubt.
But His is also the Creator God,
The Holy one.
Let us look to Him with reverence.
Let us stand in awe of Him.
Let us worship Him with trembling hands lifted high.
Our friend John Mark Comer has this to say about fearing God,
Can you imagine what it would be like to stand in front of the Creator?
The problem is that we fear all the wrong things:
the future,
money problems,
the what-ifs.
We need to fear God.
John Mark Comer, My Name is Hope
Finally David tells us,
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
Psalm 19:9b
God's decrees,
God's laws,
God’s word is firm.
It is trustworthy, and true.
It is righteous, and consistent.
In fact David likens God’s word to ‘gold’ and ‘sweet honey’.
He says,
God’s word is…
…more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
Psalm 19:10
Given that God’s word is complete an whole,
perfect and trustworthy,
and that it endures and refreshes our souls,
it seems only fitting that David would liken it to precious gold or pure honey.
God’s word is good news, not bad news.
Sweet, not bitter.
It reveals the heart of God to us,
what He is like,
and how we can become more like Him.
God’s word is not there to trap us,
but to bring life,
and liberty.
To help set the captives free,
and restore life to the lifeless.
To open the eyes of the blind,
and salvation to those who are lost.
7. OUR RESPONSE
Our Psalm concludes by David responding to all that God has revealed to him.
And this leads us into our 3rd and final point, ‘Our Response’.
By them [God’s words] your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth
and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD,
my Rock
and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:11–14
Here we move from the greatness of the heavens,
and the grandeur of God’s word,
to something much more personal.
Look how the language changes.
David talks about his hidden faults,
asking God that his sins would not rule over him.
He wants to be blameless in God’s sight.
He wants to be pleasing in all that he does.
But he also sees God not as some power out there in the universe,
but a God who is close and personal.
In verse 1 David simply uses the word ‘God’.
Then in verses 7 - 9 David uses the very name of God 'Yahweh’.
But by the time we get to verse 14,
God has become much more personal to David.
Now he’s using the word, ‘my’.
“My Rock,
my Redeemer”.
When we look on the wonders of creation,
when we meditate on the truth of God’s word,
our response should always lead us to our knees,
always lead us with thanksgiving toward the God who loves us.
In light of God’s holiness we quickly become aware of our sinfulness.
Listen again to verse 11 as David talks about God’s word.
By them [God’s word] your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Psalm 19:11
God’s word is there to help us,
to warn us,
to remind us we are sinners in need of a savior.
And God offers a great reward,
the reward of forgiveness,
the reward of a relationship restored.
A free gift for all those who will receive it by faith.
But who can discern their own errors?
David goes on to ask,
Forgive my hidden faults.
Psalm 19:12
Like David so clearly sees here,
we are often completely unaware of our own sin.
Unaware of our need for a savour.
Unaware of the dangerous path we have stumbled onto.
But God sees all.
You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
You know when I sit
and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out
and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
Psalm 139:1–4
We need God’s word to show us where we have fallen short.
Then we need God’s forgiveness to remove that debt of sin.
David goes on to cry out to God, saying
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
Psalm 19:13
Left to our own devices we are unable to stop sinning.
We are unable to come to God.
We need God’s help.
Pastor and author R. C. Sproul sums it up nicely when he said,
We are not sinners because we sin.
We sin because we are sinners.
R. C. Sproul, Sin's Advantage in the Law
So what can we do?
What help is there for us?
Jesus himself said,
For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
The forgiveness we need has been made possible,
by the death of God’s own son, Jesus Christ.
The debt we owe,
the debt we can not pay ourselves,
was paid for us by the death of Christ on the cross.
So whether we see God in creation,
or see Him in His word,
God is calling us to repent and trust Him.
If you are already a Christian,
everyday we are tempted to smuggle ‘good works’ into what Christ has already done.
We can so easily forget the gospel,
and fall into the trap of thinking our actions today affect how God feels about us.
If our week has gone well,
if we’ve done our devotions,
attending church
and paying our tithes,
somehow we can feel God is more pleased with us.
But on those days we curse at the driver who cuts us off,
or we get mad at the kids,
or we watch something we probably shouldn’t have.
On these days we feel God must love us a little less.
Or worse still, He is mad at us!
But the truth is,
nothing we do causes God to love us any more or any less.
And that's because His love for us is not based on anything we do.
Its solely based on what Christ has done for us,
Christ death for us on the cross.
And for those of you who have not yet but your trusting in Jesus,
not yet trusted Him for your salvation.
Those of you who are still living life your way,
ignoring God in His creation,
Ignoring God in His word,
He is calling you today.
That feeling you have right now in the pit of your stomach
may be His voice calling you,
calling you to come to Him.
And you can tell yourself,
“Tomorrow I will come to Him.”
“I just need to get my life straightened out first.”
But none of us know what tomorrow will bring.
Now is the time to stop running and come to Jesus.
He is the one who straightens out lives.
Don’t pay the price yourself,
when Jesus has already paid it for you.
Before we close, David has one more thing to say.
A prayer of sorts, a kind of benediction,
May these words of my mouth
and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD,
my Rock
and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
Our Psalm closes with David offering a pure sacrifice to God.
He prays that this Psalm would be pleasing to Him.
David knows forgiveness,
and God has become his Rock, his Redeemer.
In times of trouble God has become his refuge,
and strength.
And whatever we are facing today,
God is there for us.
The God who created all thing,
whose word is written on our hearts.
He is the God who sent his only Son
to die in our place,
as a ransom for our sins,
so that we may know peace,
and we may know forgiveness too.
This is the God of Creation,
the God of the Law,
the God whose son died for us.
This is the God who loves us.
Let us close in prayer.
8. PRAYER
9. Elita to Transition us into Communion and Prayer.