The Heavens declare the glory of God
Psalm 19
This morning we are going to take a look at Psalm 19.
-A familiar passage to a lot of Christians for it's words; "The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
-Well known to Bible college students for its clarity on the subject of general and special revelation.
General revelation referring to how the creation testifies to the glory and greatness of God.
Special revelation referring to how else God reveals himself to man- i.e through the Word of God - which is a special emphasis in our text.
Note: God's pre eminent act of special revelation is Jesus. God became a man and dwelt amongst us. Jesus came to our world on a rescue mission to save us from our sins and the judgment to come.
Before digging into Psalm 19 I'd also like to point out how today's study links to our last two messages
In Psalm 8 David praises the majesty of the LORD. A scene depicted is him sitting out at night looking up at the moon and the stars in the sky and marveling at how big God is and how small we are-- and yet, we are of incredible worth to God
Last week we took a look at Psalm 14 which begins with "The fool says in his heart there is no God". One of the points of that text is that it is the heights of rebellion to deny the existence of God- given how everything around us bears His signature and testifies to His glory.
Today we come full circle in returning to the theme of David in Psalm 8
READ TEXT
A WALK THRU OF PSALM 19-- Including lesson, principles, observations
1. THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY AND EXISTENCE OF GOD v.1-6
After reading Psalm 19:1-6 I decided to do a little research on the sun and its orbit, for v.5-6 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."
Note this: While the Bible has not been written like a Western science text book- everything it says about how we got here and how things work and what their purpose is, is true.
Lessons on the sun
-The sun declares the glory and greatness of God
-The sun on average is about 93 million miles away from us
-The sun is the biggest thing in our solar system -8 planets (by volume 99% plus of total volume)
-The sun is 1.3 million times bigger than us
-without the sun and its energy, we'd be dead
-We are in exactly the right spot in relation to sun to live- to far and we'd freeze, too close and we'd fry.
-We are in exactly the right spot in relation to the moon and the other planets in our solar system
-The sun is moving in orbit (just as we are-- the earth moves around the sun). The sun orbits the Milky Way Galaxy
-the Sun is moving a lot faster than us. It is in orbit at 782 thousand km per hour. We (the earth) orbit the sun at 108 thousand km per hour.
-the sun does not rotate as a solid body. It rotates faster at its equator than it does at its poles
-fun fact- if the earth were robbed of all its orbital speed- in 64 days the earth would fall straight into the sun
-another fun fact, because of God's design the speed of the earth is about 30 km per second. If God reached out and nudged the earth to speed us up to 42 km per second, we would break free of the sun's gravity and become a rogue planet.
More thoughts
When one starts to think about the sun and it's orbit in the milky way and the planets in our solar system and their orbits, things get pretty complex. Then, when you start to think that there are billions of stars galaxies and they are all held in perfect order -how can one say "There is no God" How can one say "I won't worship the LORD"?
The heavens- there complexity, their beauty, their vastness, the way they move in perfect harmony, the design of our solar system, our galaxy, the universe- it all points to God, declaring His worthiness of our praise and worship
APPLICATION
Worship and praise God for his amazing act of Creation. Since the Heavens declare the glory of God- we are too.
KNOW THIS: General revelation leaves no person with the excuse "I didn't know about God- I didn't know I should worship Him. I didn't know that I should seek after Him or pray to Him
If all God did was reveal Himself through the created order, that would be enough to hold us all accountable to Him
Romans 1:18-20 backs this up, saying; "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
2. THE WORD OF GOD- IT DECLARES THE GLORY AND MAJESTY OF GOD v.7ff
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says to the Devil; "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
In the Western church, we have a problem- we have tonne of Bibles but very little Bible reading, very little meditating on the Word, very little memorization of the Scripture-- not to mention, that the doing of the Word is tough for all Christians everywhere.
This past week I was listening to WDCX 99.5 Christian radio and they program was on how Cuba has opened up to the Gospel. Christians are being granted more freedom in this repressive, but once very repressive country. As I listened to the program I heard of how one church (until very recently) had one Bible. What the pastor did was to take that Bible and to divide it into its 66 books. He then distributed those books to the members of his congregation. Those folks treasured God's word. They read it, they studied it, and then at a set time they passed there part on to the next family and they received another part of God's Word.
Note what our text says about the Word of the Lord
Note how the personal name of God mentioned "LORD" so no confusion who we are to follow. It also shows us how God is interested in a personal relationship with us
Note the play on the subject of the sun in v.5-6 but now in relation to God's illuminating work
The structure of our text highlights the qualities of the Word and their benefits to us
The law of the LORD Perfect Refreshes the soul
The statutes of the LORD Trustworthy Making wise the simple
The precepts of the LORD Right Giving joy to the heart
The commands of the LORD Radiant Giving light to the eyes
The decrees of the LORD Firm and righteous
In summary: More precious than gold, sweeter than honey
SOME APPLICATION as it regards the Word
-If you not in the Word, get into the Word
-If you were in the Word but have fallen off the wagon, get into the Word
-Memorize it, learn it, meditate on, read it all the time, love it, Do it. Treasure it.
-Note: All that we believe - whether it be about how we came to be, the way of salvation, how to parent, how to treat money, the current issues of the day- ever belief we have is to be a Biblically formed view. Our natural inclination is to have our own views. Often we are guilty of twisting the Scriptures to make them line up with what we want, yet we must always take God's Word as the final authority for our faith and practice, repenting of all false positions we hold- always being willing to change our minds to reflect the Word of God.
Warning: If not in the Word, your faith, your purity, your holiness is at risk, you are in the process of being compromised. Take up the gift of God. If you can't read, listen to it (mp3, Youtube, the app)
FURTHER: Note all the things attending to the Word will do for us! v.7-13
Note the benefits of following the Word v. 7-9, 11-13:
-a refreshed soul, wisdom, joy, illumination
-"By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward"
-The discernment of our errors, faults and sins. The Bible reveals to us the attitudes and sins that are tripping us up
-The Bible serves as a guard against willful sins v.13.
3. IN LIGHT OF GOD'S REVELATION OF HIMSELF DAVID WAS CONCERNED ABOUT LIVING A HOLY LIFE v.11-14
David was a practical theologian!
Note his prayer about willful sins: Willful sins are a big problem for us. A willful sin is when we decide to purposefully do something that we know God forbids. This of course brings the loving discipline of God- much the same as when our children willfully disobey us. The Word helps us with our willfulness.
We are to keep God's Word in our hearts that we might not sin against God and mess with His blessings in our life.
CONCLUSION
1. The WORLD and the heavens above- God's creation -teaches us about God - this is General revelation
2. The WORD teaches us even more about God -- The Word of God is a special gift to us.
Of the Word the Romans 10:17 says; "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
While The WORD is an example of the special revelation of God- BUT THE GREATEST act of special revelation and love is REVELATION OF GOD TO us in JESUS
Colossians 1:15-20 says of Jesus; "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Of Christ we are told to believe in him, to follow him, to love him, to serve him, to worship him, to be willing to lay down our lives for him.
The call of the Word is to be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. The Call of the Word is to repent of our sins and to put our trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. I hope you've done it. If you haven't, I hope you will -- and soon- for time is running out.
Let's finish today's service by praising the Lord in our singing.
Psalm 19
This morning we are going to take a look at Psalm 19.
-A familiar passage to a lot of Christians for it's words; "The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
-Well known to Bible college students for its clarity on the subject of general and special revelation.
General revelation referring to how the creation testifies to the glory and greatness of God.
Special revelation referring to how else God reveals himself to man- i.e through the Word of God - which is a special emphasis in our text.
Note: God's pre eminent act of special revelation is Jesus. God became a man and dwelt amongst us. Jesus came to our world on a rescue mission to save us from our sins and the judgment to come.
Before digging into Psalm 19 I'd also like to point out how today's study links to our last two messages
In Psalm 8 David praises the majesty of the LORD. A scene depicted is him sitting out at night looking up at the moon and the stars in the sky and marveling at how big God is and how small we are-- and yet, we are of incredible worth to God
Last week we took a look at Psalm 14 which begins with "The fool says in his heart there is no God". One of the points of that text is that it is the heights of rebellion to deny the existence of God- given how everything around us bears His signature and testifies to His glory.
Today we come full circle in returning to the theme of David in Psalm 8
READ TEXT
A WALK THRU OF PSALM 19-- Including lesson, principles, observations
1. THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY AND EXISTENCE OF GOD v.1-6
After reading Psalm 19:1-6 I decided to do a little research on the sun and its orbit, for v.5-6 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."
Note this: While the Bible has not been written like a Western science text book- everything it says about how we got here and how things work and what their purpose is, is true.
Lessons on the sun
-The sun declares the glory and greatness of God
-The sun on average is about 93 million miles away from us
-The sun is the biggest thing in our solar system -8 planets (by volume 99% plus of total volume)
-The sun is 1.3 million times bigger than us
-without the sun and its energy, we'd be dead
-We are in exactly the right spot in relation to sun to live- to far and we'd freeze, too close and we'd fry.
-We are in exactly the right spot in relation to the moon and the other planets in our solar system
-The sun is moving in orbit (just as we are-- the earth moves around the sun). The sun orbits the Milky Way Galaxy
-the Sun is moving a lot faster than us. It is in orbit at 782 thousand km per hour. We (the earth) orbit the sun at 108 thousand km per hour.
-the sun does not rotate as a solid body. It rotates faster at its equator than it does at its poles
-fun fact- if the earth were robbed of all its orbital speed- in 64 days the earth would fall straight into the sun
-another fun fact, because of God's design the speed of the earth is about 30 km per second. If God reached out and nudged the earth to speed us up to 42 km per second, we would break free of the sun's gravity and become a rogue planet.
More thoughts
When one starts to think about the sun and it's orbit in the milky way and the planets in our solar system and their orbits, things get pretty complex. Then, when you start to think that there are billions of stars galaxies and they are all held in perfect order -how can one say "There is no God" How can one say "I won't worship the LORD"?
The heavens- there complexity, their beauty, their vastness, the way they move in perfect harmony, the design of our solar system, our galaxy, the universe- it all points to God, declaring His worthiness of our praise and worship
APPLICATION
Worship and praise God for his amazing act of Creation. Since the Heavens declare the glory of God- we are too.
KNOW THIS: General revelation leaves no person with the excuse "I didn't know about God- I didn't know I should worship Him. I didn't know that I should seek after Him or pray to Him
If all God did was reveal Himself through the created order, that would be enough to hold us all accountable to Him
Romans 1:18-20 backs this up, saying; "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
2. THE WORD OF GOD- IT DECLARES THE GLORY AND MAJESTY OF GOD v.7ff
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says to the Devil; "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
In the Western church, we have a problem- we have tonne of Bibles but very little Bible reading, very little meditating on the Word, very little memorization of the Scripture-- not to mention, that the doing of the Word is tough for all Christians everywhere.
This past week I was listening to WDCX 99.5 Christian radio and they program was on how Cuba has opened up to the Gospel. Christians are being granted more freedom in this repressive, but once very repressive country. As I listened to the program I heard of how one church (until very recently) had one Bible. What the pastor did was to take that Bible and to divide it into its 66 books. He then distributed those books to the members of his congregation. Those folks treasured God's word. They read it, they studied it, and then at a set time they passed there part on to the next family and they received another part of God's Word.
Note what our text says about the Word of the Lord
Note how the personal name of God mentioned "LORD" so no confusion who we are to follow. It also shows us how God is interested in a personal relationship with us
Note the play on the subject of the sun in v.5-6 but now in relation to God's illuminating work
The structure of our text highlights the qualities of the Word and their benefits to us
The law of the LORD Perfect Refreshes the soul
The statutes of the LORD Trustworthy Making wise the simple
The precepts of the LORD Right Giving joy to the heart
The commands of the LORD Radiant Giving light to the eyes
The decrees of the LORD Firm and righteous
In summary: More precious than gold, sweeter than honey
SOME APPLICATION as it regards the Word
-If you not in the Word, get into the Word
-If you were in the Word but have fallen off the wagon, get into the Word
-Memorize it, learn it, meditate on, read it all the time, love it, Do it. Treasure it.
-Note: All that we believe - whether it be about how we came to be, the way of salvation, how to parent, how to treat money, the current issues of the day- ever belief we have is to be a Biblically formed view. Our natural inclination is to have our own views. Often we are guilty of twisting the Scriptures to make them line up with what we want, yet we must always take God's Word as the final authority for our faith and practice, repenting of all false positions we hold- always being willing to change our minds to reflect the Word of God.
Warning: If not in the Word, your faith, your purity, your holiness is at risk, you are in the process of being compromised. Take up the gift of God. If you can't read, listen to it (mp3, Youtube, the app)
FURTHER: Note all the things attending to the Word will do for us! v.7-13
Note the benefits of following the Word v. 7-9, 11-13:
-a refreshed soul, wisdom, joy, illumination
-"By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward"
-The discernment of our errors, faults and sins. The Bible reveals to us the attitudes and sins that are tripping us up
-The Bible serves as a guard against willful sins v.13.
3. IN LIGHT OF GOD'S REVELATION OF HIMSELF DAVID WAS CONCERNED ABOUT LIVING A HOLY LIFE v.11-14
David was a practical theologian!
Note his prayer about willful sins: Willful sins are a big problem for us. A willful sin is when we decide to purposefully do something that we know God forbids. This of course brings the loving discipline of God- much the same as when our children willfully disobey us. The Word helps us with our willfulness.
We are to keep God's Word in our hearts that we might not sin against God and mess with His blessings in our life.
CONCLUSION
1. The WORLD and the heavens above- God's creation -teaches us about God - this is General revelation
2. The WORD teaches us even more about God -- The Word of God is a special gift to us.
Of the Word the Romans 10:17 says; "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
While The WORD is an example of the special revelation of God- BUT THE GREATEST act of special revelation and love is REVELATION OF GOD TO us in JESUS
Colossians 1:15-20 says of Jesus; "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Of Christ we are told to believe in him, to follow him, to love him, to serve him, to worship him, to be willing to lay down our lives for him.
The call of the Word is to be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. The Call of the Word is to repent of our sins and to put our trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. I hope you've done it. If you haven't, I hope you will -- and soon- for time is running out.
Let's finish today's service by praising the Lord in our singing.