Psalm 19

[0:00] Reading from Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect to the choir master a psalm of David.

[0:15] The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.

[0:28] There is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

[0:40] 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.

[0:51] Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

[1:05] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

[1:18] The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.

[1:33] Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward.

[1:44] Who can discern his errors, declare me innocent from hidden faults, keep back your servants also from presumptuous sins.

[1:55] 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.

[2:11] O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. And the Lord will add a blessing to that public reading of his part. And I now hand over to Carl. Thank you. Good evening, folks.

[2:32] Well, this morning I did something with my son's ball pit balls, and I didn't want you to miss out tonight, so I've got another one. Thank you for reading that there.

[2:44] God's word is the living word, you know. And we're going to see some stuff on this screen, but you're going to see something on a much larger screen outside.

[2:55] Maybe not tonight with the clouds, but keep an eye out. I'm going to start with a question. When you look up at the stars at night, or when you see a magnificent sunset stretch across the sky, what do you think about?

[3:10] What do you conclude about that? Now, I haven't always seen the glory of God written across the sky. I haven't always concluded that. But I've always been caught by its beauty and the immensity of it.

[3:25] For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated with space. As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a spaceman. I don't quite know what it was about that that drew me in.

[3:38] Perhaps the awe and wonder of it. But the beauty of the universe. In fact, I've got a book at home that I've got from Levi in the future, a space book. In this psalm, David talks about the skies and the scriptures.

[3:51] God's two great books. And that God reveals himself in his creation. And he reveals himself in his word. A space book and the scriptures. And one of my favorite pictures of space, maybe you've seen this, was taken in 1995 by the Hubble telescope.

[4:09] It's one of the most iconic pictures ever taken by the Hubble. And it's called the Pillars of Creation. Anyone seen it? Well, it's part of a nebula called the Eagle Nebula.

[4:22] So that's the Eagle Nebula. And that little part in the center, Hubble zoomed in a little bit. And this is the image it captured. Giant columns of cool interstellar gas and dust.

[4:37] These columns, they're absolutely immense. They're immense. They're around four light years tall. And together, they're around five light years wide.

[4:48] They're huge. Now, let me put that into a little bit of perspective. Now, the distance... Let me do this for you. This is the sun. The distance between the earth...

[5:01] The earth... A little bit of Blu-Tack. And the sun. I'm sure the earth is actually much smaller than this. The distance between the earth and the sun is 93 million miles.

[5:13] 93 million miles. That's a long way. 93 million miles. Now, light is really, really, really fast. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.

[5:29] 186,000 miles per second. And one second. Unbelievably fast. So despite how immensely far the earth is from the sun, it only takes eight minutes and 20 seconds for the sun's light to reach us because light travels so fast.

[5:47] That's 93 million miles in just 500 seconds. It's a huge distance and incredible speed. That's incredible. Incredible distance, incredible speed.

[5:59] Now, the scale... The scale is so big that once you get past the day, light traveling at that speed, the numbers are just so ridiculously big that it's far easier to measure distance in time rather than distance.

[6:12] So rather than saying a million, billion, whatever miles, it's easier just to say one light year. The distance that light travels in one year. By the way, even the distance that light travels in one day is just too big to talk about.

[6:26] So for example, our entire solar system from the sun... Now, I'm going to need a smaller bit of blue tack. That's Pluto. That's the sun. So our solar system, from the sun to Pluto, both ways, is around 7 billion miles wide.

[6:45] 7 billion miles wide. But that's not even half of one light day. A light day is about 16 billion miles. Now, how could we even imagine that distance?

[6:57] Well, let's say... Let's say it's the same as going around the whole earth. 640,000 times in one day. Now, it takes Pluto, right, for one orbit.

[7:09] It takes Pluto 248 of our years to travel once around the sun. 248 years to travel once around the sun. Or 124 years to make it from one side to the other.

[7:22] 124 years. Now, the healthiest human that has ever lived and died before Pluto has even made it halfway across the other side. That's how long it takes for Pluto to get there.

[7:34] Now, if Pluto raced light from one side of the solar system to the other, it would take Pluto 124 years, longer than a human life.

[7:47] Yet it would take light only 12 hours. That's how fast light travels by the time you eat your lunch, light has made it across the solar system. But you will live and die before Pluto gets to the other side.

[8:00] So, if it's just 12 hours, imagine the distance light can travel in one year. A light year. Light traveling in one year. 5.8 trillion miles.

[8:13] So this, 5.8 trillion miles is only a quarter of the height of this. It's incredible. The pillars of creation are five light years wide.

[8:26] That's 29 trillion miles wide. That's huge. And if you drew a dot on this picture, it would be bigger than our entire solar system. This is going to make sense later.

[8:37] If you were traveling in a jumbo jet, 500 miles per hour, in one second, you would go 200 meters. At the same time, light has traveled around the world seven and a half times.

[8:50] 186,000 miles. So, pillars, these pillars are so big that stars are basically forming inside of them. It's basically a massive star factory.

[9:02] That's what they've called it. Here's the thing, though. This is in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. We haven't even left our own little neighborhood. This is around 6,500 light years away from us.

[9:16] Or that's 38,000 trillion miles away from us. We live in a pretty big galaxy. Yet the crazy thing is, with a really good telescope, you can see this.

[9:27] How amazing is that? With a really good telescope, something that is 38,000 trillion miles away, you can see through a telescope. And that's just in our own galaxy.

[9:39] And there are estimated around 100 billion galaxies. This is all to say, the universe that we live in is kind of big, pretty huge, absolutely immense.

[9:53] And here's the thing, the heavens declare something about God. I mean, if this is the size of the universe, how great do you think God is? Now, one of the objections to Christianity is that the universe is just way too big for us.

[10:10] All that inhospitable, wasted space, just for us to live in a tiny part of it. And that's true. We live in an incredibly tiny part of this universe.

[10:25] So people who think themselves pretty big and important don't realise how small we actually are. Here's another famous picture. I don't know if you've seen it before. This shows how small we are, even in our own little solar system.

[10:38] This is called the pale blue dot. It was taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 space probe as it was exiting our solar system. That wee dot there is Earth. The space probe was launched in 1977, travelled 38.6 thousand miles per hour, and as it was leaving the solar system, it turned round and took one last picture.

[10:59] It caught Earth. That's it. Pale blue dot, less than the size of a pixel. In the words of Carl Sagan, he said, that's here, that's us, that's home.

[11:12] A mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. Most of the people in human history, most humans in all of human history haven't seen the depths of our universe.

[11:25] The universe really is too big for just us. It really is. But the universe is not for just us. It is not.

[11:36] The heavens declare the glory of God. The pillars of creation declare the glory of God. You might be pleasantly surprised to hear where that comes from, that term, pillars of the universe, pillars of creation.

[11:48] The phrase, pillars of creation, used to name that picture, was taken by a sermon by a famous Baptist minister. Anyone want to have a guess? Charles Spurgeon.

[12:00] The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon entitled, The Condescension of Christ, he said, And now wonder ye angels, the infinite has become an infant.

[12:12] He upon whose shoulders the universe doth hang, hangs at his mother's breast. He who created all things and bears up the pillars of creation, hath now become so weak that he must be carried by a woman.

[12:27] Christ, upon whose shoulders the universe hangs, who created all things and who bears up the pillars of creation. That's what we read in Colossians 1.16, isn't it?

[12:38] For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, not for us, for him.

[12:53] The universe is too big for us, but it's not too big for Jesus who created it. When we see that, that it was created by Christ and for Christ, and when we really understand who Jesus really is, then we see that it's not too big, that all of this is declaring his glory, and you can't get big enough to declare the glory of Christ when you consider who he really is.

[13:19] Now, it's interesting that at first, King David, in this psalm, only speaks of God in generic terms. He uses the title El for Elohim rather than God's name.

[13:30] is because he has creation in mind here, drawing on Genesis 1, declaring that the heavens are God's creation, his handiwork, and as such, they declare his glory day and night.

[13:43] They reveal knowledge of God, that there is a God. Creation declares that there is a God who created all of this, showing his supremacy above the heavens and his glory in all creation.

[13:55] There is something visible, something tangible and on massive display that reveals something about God. The work of his hands, the creator of all things, his character, his power, his sovereign rule over all creation.

[14:09] God made all things. He made them really big. He made them wonderfully beautiful. He made them exceedingly good. He set them in place and ordered them. They do exactly as they were made to do.

[14:22] They reveal him and declare his glory. And they do that everywhere. All the time over all the earth in a universal language that's universally heard. See, someone might say, if only God would show himself, then I would believe.

[14:38] The truth is, God is not hidden from man as though man needs to find him. It is man that's lost, not God. God hasn't made it difficult. Man is just blind. This is what John Calvin said about this.

[14:51] He said, in my judgment, therefore, the meaning is that the glory of God is not written in small, obscure letters, but richly engraven in large and bright characters, which all men may read and read with the greatest ease.

[15:08] See, even the sun, even the closest star to us, declares the glory of God. David talks about the skies being like a tent for the sun. After a dark and cold night, hopefully tomorrow morning, the sun comes out of its chamber like a bridegroom in procession to meet his bride.

[15:25] This is in relation to a Hebrew wedding where the bridegroom would dress in all white and would all be waiting for him to leave his tent and make a glorious procession to get his bride, marching along like a strong man in a race, running the course with purpose and joy.

[15:41] This is what David sees in the sun, a glorious light flooding the heavens and earth, every single part running its course through all the earth from one end to the other, filling the earth with light and heat, screaming the glory of God, who is light, the God who made it and set its course, gave it purpose to rule the day and cover the whole earth.

[16:04] It's Genesis 1, isn't it? The sun ruling the day, moon and stars ruling the night, the light continuing to this very day and the course and purpose set by their maker, declaring the glory of God.

[16:17] Even today, we saw it this morning, and it was a miracle that we saw it in Scotland. He is the creator. God is the creator. His creation is good.

[16:28] His creation is ordered. His creation has purpose and his creation glorifies him and makes him known in all the earth. Nothing is hidden from the heat of the sun, is it?

[16:39] This is something all us Scots long for, isn't it? When the sun eventually does come out of its chamber, we all shout for joy. Shorts and t-shirt, beaches are filled and voices unite. Burn us!

[16:52] Then three days later, we complain, it's too hot! Nothing's hidden from the heat of the sun. Just as the voice of the heavens is heard throughout all the earth, so the heat of the sun is felt in all the earth.

[17:06] The point is, creation is declaring its creator through all the earth, and there's not a single person who can say that they've not seen or felt or heard it. God is revealed in his creation.

[17:18] Yet it is not just the creation that speaks and declares. God himself has declared who he is. God has revealed himself in the scriptures. Creation reveals its creator, and the scriptures identify who that creator is, Yahweh.

[17:34] Why? Why would we read this book? Why would we read the Bible? Because it is God speaking to us the truth of who he is. Who can ever complain that they didn't know about God or they didn't know God when he has given us every opportunity to know him?

[17:52] Now granted, perhaps not everyone knows that this is what the Bible is all about, and how much more should we who do, and who do know God and believe, how much more should we try to put the Bible in the hands of those that don't, in the hearts of those that don't?

[18:07] It's not about getting people to services, is it, but rather getting the word of God to people, because God has made known in his law. That's it, the five books of Moses, the Bible of David's day.

[18:19] The Bible isn't about rules for humans, it's about the revelation of God to humans. Notice that, from creation revealing the God of creation to the scriptures revealing his name.

[18:31] Six times in this part, six times in quick succession, David says the name of God, doesn't he? He uses the personal and holy name of God.

[18:44] David doesn't really want anyone confused about who the book, whose book is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous altogether. He doesn't want us in any doubt or confusion as to who he's talking about.

[18:56] David is saying that it is the words of this one and only God, the only God, the true God and creator of all things, Yahweh, only his words. Only his words are perfect, reviving the soul.

[19:10] Only his words are sure, making wise the simple. Only his words are right, rejoicing the heart. Only his words are pure, enlightening the eyes. Only his words endure forever, and only his words are true and righteous altogether.

[19:24] I mean, who here would not like a bit of reviving of the soul, or making wise, or rejoicing the heart, or enlightening the eyes?

[19:34] I want a bit of that. Who here would like to know what is perfect and sure and right and pure? Who here would like to know what is clean and endures forever, what is true and righteous altogether?

[19:46] Well, this is where you're going to find all of that. Right here and nowhere else. In the word of God. This is where to look. The word of God.

[19:56] You can trust this. You can trust God's word. People have tried to rid the world of his word many times over, yet none have succeeded, none have succeeded, because his word endures forever, and they are life to those who find it.

[20:12] Now imagine, imagine this, imagine you're in the library, or in a bookshop, or even in your own house, and there was a book there, a book like no other, one made of paper and ink, but unlike any other book on earth, and in that contains a message from God himself, the very creator of the universe.

[20:33] Now wouldn't that be the greatest treasure in all the earth? Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. What is more, desire than pure gold?

[20:47] What is sweeter than the purest honey? David views just the Bible as more valuable than the best gold, more delightful than the sweetest honey.

[20:59] Imagine this, if you will. Imagine you're walking down the street, and you meet a street vendor, and he sees that you're carrying a book under your arm. As it's Sunday, he puts two and two together, and guesses that you're carrying a Bible.

[21:15] So he asks you, excuse me, is that a Bible you're carrying? Why, yes it is. How wonderful of you to notice. I really hoped that you would notice, of course, is your answer, isn't it?

[21:29] And he says, well, may I make a proposition? He asks. And then he shows you a box. Would you give me your Bible for this ornate box?

[21:41] Now, you might be tempted. I mean, it's a lovely historical looking box, isn't it? And you can just go over and buy another Bible in a shop any other day. In fact, perhaps you have another Bible in your house anyway.

[21:53] But maybe you grip your Bible a little tighter, and you say, no thanks. But the street vendor opens the box. more gold than you've ever seen in your life.

[22:05] And he says, listen, this is real gold. You can have it verified. I'm being serious. I will give you all of this. If you will just give me that Bible that's in your hands. What would you do?

[22:17] I mean, is that not a real challenge to all of us? Would that not be a real challenge of how we value things? I think it'd be a real challenge, to be honest.

[22:29] Now, you might think, well, it's easy for King David. It's easy for him to say that he values the Bible more than gold, because he already had all the gold. Well, yes he did, but the opposite is true actually.

[22:43] Because he knew the true value of gold. He had the gold, so he knew what it did for him. He knew what it could do for him. He knew what it could offer. And because of that, he knew exactly what it could not do for him, and what it could not offer.

[22:59] He knew the truth, that all the gold in the world could never offer what God and his word has offered. As Peter said to Jesus, Lord, to whom shall we go?

[23:12] You have the words of eternal life. Sweeter than honey. Now, is that what anyone that you know thinks about the Bible?

[23:24] Perhaps it is. That's good. Imagine people desired the word of God like they desire gold. Imagine people desired the word of God and found it to be sweeter than honey.

[23:36] I mean, let us pray for the day that at least those who believe should have such a desire for insatisfaction from the word of God. how long for the day that I remember that?

[23:48] And hopefully that is a reminder every day to me. In verse 11, there found to be a much needed warning. A warning to our blind spots and a guide to reward.

[24:03] Now, why do we need such a warning? Well, that's what David goes on to say, isn't it? He says, who can discern his error? I mean, who can do that? Who can discern his error? The implication being that we're all blind in some way to how far we fall short.

[24:19] We all have blind spots. We need this kind of warning, not like a threat of punishment, but rather a signal that we are in grave danger if we continue in this path. Like a lighthouse warning of the danger of the rocks to the ships in the night.

[24:35] David says, declare me innocent, because only you can do that. Let me see by your word any hidden faults, any blind spots, and by your word, keep me back from presumptuous sins.

[24:48] Let them not have dominion over me. Let's be honest about our state, because there's no fool in God. No one here today has it all sorted out. No one has it all together.

[24:59] No one's without struggles or challenges or blind spots. no one here skips through life without any hint of fear or anxiety or pain or sorrow or regret or discouragement or despair.

[25:11] Yes, many of us have experienced joy and love and laughter in life, but we all know deep within ourselves that something isn't quite right in the world, and something isn't quite right within ourselves.

[25:24] And do we have an adequate answer to why things are the way they are? God is revealed in creation, but that's not enough to solve the problem. Each man should know by creation that there is a creator, there is a purpose, that we have a moral compass, but also that things are not quite right.

[25:43] The scriptures then reveal who the creator is. He's perfect, and his law is perfect, and the revelation of that reveals to us that man is not perfect.

[25:54] Man has a massive problem that has made a massive chasm. between man and God. The hard truth is that man's measure of himself is woefully ignorant.

[26:07] There is more sin in each and every one of us than we would ever dare to imagine. Adam and Eve, the only humans that were not first bent towards sin. Noah, a man righteous in God's sight.

[26:18] Job, blameless and upright before God. Moses, more humble than any other man in the face of the earth. Joshua, valiant and obedient. Samson, the strongest man. David, a mighty warrior king and a man after God's own heart.

[26:31] Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. Elijah, the prophet who never died. Mary, chosen by God and blessed among women. Peter and Paul, perhaps the greatest apostles of Jesus.

[26:42] But what do all these people have in common? The best of them? Well, like the rest of us, they're all sinners. All fallen short of the glory of God. All in need of his mercy when measured up against the law of God.

[26:55] So this is David's prayer. Acquip me from the wrong I do not know I have done. Hold me back from doing what I know to be wrong. Let it not rule me.

[27:07] And then by your mercy and forgiveness shall I be innocent. Innocent not just of hidden sin or presumptuous sin, but of great transgression or open rebellion against God.

[27:19] How can we ask God to do such a thing? How can we have any hope that God would ever declare us innocent? Well, the answer is in the very last line of the psalm.

[27:31] That God, this God, the God, is in the business of redeeming. Isn't that a comfort? You see, like many psalms, this is probably most known for the first verse, but it is actually the last verse that holds the whole psalm together.

[27:49] Although this psalm poetically celebrates God in both his creation and his word, the point of this psalm is not simply to celebrate. Knowing these things about God through his creation and through his word should do something to us, something in us that should change us.

[28:05] Why does God reveal himself in his creation and through his word? Why does God in his creation declare his glory and in his word declare his righteousness? Why? Well, in the last verse of this psalm, we see the intended outcome.

[28:18] the application, the thing that we are supposed to take away from all of this. Just as the heavens declare the glory of God, all of creation in every part speaking of their creator, so David wants his words to do the same.

[28:39] That's David's prayer. Just as the word of God is perfect, sure, right and pure, eternal and true and righteous, so David wants the meditation of his heart to be on that rather than on gold or honey or anything else that would capture our interests.

[28:57] And just as David considers how far he falls short of the law that brings life, he looks to the only place where there is hope, hope of forgiveness that can be found, the only hope of being acceptable to God.

[29:11] The last line, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, we simply cannot get away from the fact that God has made himself known. God has revealed himself in a universal language, universally seen, heard in all creation and through his word.

[29:30] If God would only show himself, then I would believe. Those words are the words of someone who doesn't realize that the ball is now in their court. God has not hidden himself.

[29:43] His creation screams of his glory. His word faithfully tells his story. And he even left the majesty of his heavenly home to dwell with his own in Christ.

[29:54] Look at the skies. Look at the scriptures. And look at the cross. For there you will see your creator calling out to you, come to me and live. If you struggle to see the glory of God in creation, he's given us his word.

[30:10] And if you struggle to see it in his word, he's given us his son. The glory of God could not be seen any clearer than in Jesus Christ himself, the son of God. May our words declare the glory of Jesus.

[30:26] His words of eternal life be in the meditation of our hearts. And may we be acceptable in his sight, because he and he alone is our Lord, our rock, and our redeemer.

[30:39] Let me pray. God, our heavenly father, we thank you so much that your creation is good, because you are a good God.

[30:50] We thank you that your creation reveals your glory, that it declares your glory. We thank you that you open our eyes and hearts to see that and to stand in awe of that.

[31:03] Lord, you have not left us alone, that you have revealed yourself in your word. Lord, you have spoken to us and it has been recorded and handed down through the ages, faithfully and endures forever.

[31:15] So, Lord, we thank you for that, because your words are living. Your words are life. Your words are words of eternal life. And, Lord, we thank you so much, God, that you have given us your son.

[31:29] That Jesus Christ came and dwelt with man. that he has been revealed. That your love was displayed on the cross of Christ. And that he did not remain in the grave.

[31:43] But he has been risen from the dead, ascended into the heavenly places, to be at your right hand, reigning over all creation. Lord, may our words declare the glory of Jesus, the King of all kings.

[31:59] may his words be the meditation of our hearts. May we declare them to other people and proclaim the truth of Christ to all nations.

[32:11] And may we be acceptable to you, God, because of Christ. For he and he alone is our rock and our redeemer. In his name we pray and give thanks.

[32:22] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[32:33] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[32:47] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. clockwise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.