[0:00] Welcome to our service this morning. Special welcome to any who may be visiting with us. As we join together in the worship of God, we pray that his blessing be upon his word.
[0:17] We're going to begin by singing from Psalm 19. Psalm 19 and from verse 7, singing to verse 10. Psalm 19 and verse 7.
[1:00] And so on.
[1:17] These verses 7 to 10 of Psalm 19. God's law is perfect and converts the soul in sin that lies.
[1:28] God's law is perfect and converts the soul in sin that lies.
[1:47] God's law is perfect and makes the simple wise.
[2:03] The statutes of the Lord are right and you rejoice the heart.
[2:20] The Lord's promise to you and God. Thy duty I send out.
[2:37] And so on. And so on. It is the fear of God. And death is good forever.
[2:53] The judgment of the Lord our truth And righteous all together Be more like gold in the triangle To be this light of God And heavenly heavenly love That whom I'm through with the sweet of heart Let us join together in prayer, let us pray
[3:54] O Lord of God as we meet together in your name We give thanks for the opportunity to gather with your people Under the sound of your word It is an opportunity that many despise and others take for granted And yet it is an opportunity that has afforded us to hear what the God of heaven has to say to us And that through your word May we be attentive to it And may we realise that even through the word That you are speaking directly to us as individuals And collectively as a congregation And throughout the world Your word goes out And that to the far end And we give thanks that the psalmist of old
[4:58] Recognised and realised the importance of the word And that he treasured it above all other And we pray that you would bless it This morning fresh That it would speak to each of us According to the needs that are our temporal and spiritual needs Whatever our need is There is a sense in which There is a sense in which Both our temporal need and our spiritual need Are one And yet sometimes we We fail to comprehend How our spiritual need is Is to be Found Entwined Within Our temporal need And we find that When
[6:00] Events of our lives are Going on And Everything is going well with us That our spiritual Awareness Is not What it ought to be That you are the giver of every good and perfect gift And the things that Matter most to us Are often Things that Do not highlight The God Who is the provider of these things There are Other times when Events Seem to conspire against us And Our temporal Awareness Opens our eyes to Spiritual realities And we Acknowledge that You are the God Who Who Is Responsible For opening our eyes In these Particular times
[7:01] And situations So help us today Whatever Our providence is To bless it to us And direct us to your footstool That we may Yield ourselves To the teachings Of your word That We may Learn what it is To submit To the will of God For us And that we may see The wonder of Christ In the world in which we live A world that would be Destitute And impoverished Far more so than it It is Were it not for the For the gospel Of your free grace Were it not for the hope That the gospel Holds out to us That sinners can Seek salvation From Christ And through Christ We pray for your blessing Upon every home and family Represented Young and old alike We give thanks for them We pray that you would
[8:02] Bless our time Together Together As a congregation You would bless us Within the community And that Throughout the community That The testimony of the saints Would Speak loudly And clearly Of The goodness of God And The way that you have worked In the lives of some Hitherto And that Hitherto The Lord The Lord has helped us Is the The acknowledgement Of many of the saints That they can look back On their lives And see Read large over the pages Of their lifespan How God is good indeed And they can but speak Speak good of that God Who is good So we pray for your blessing Your blessing upon The community And those who are indifferent To the gospel May you be merciful to them
[9:04] And draw them Into the folds Of the family of God Even in Christ Remember those who are unwell Amongst us We commit them to your care Thankful That we can do That we can do No better for them Than to bear them Upon the wings of prayer That we can solicit help for them That we can seek healing for them And that we can seek the blessing of God Throughout all The experiences that they must endure Because of unhealth So those who are confined to their homes Those who are under the care of nurses and doctors Within the community Also in the hospital and hospice The care homes for the elderly And those who have been deprived of their faculties Through the passage of old days We pray Lord for your blessing upon them
[10:07] Remembering all who are involved in such care Thankful for their activities And for their endeavours on our behalf Visiting mercy the grieving and the sorrowful Heal their hurts and bind their wounds As empty places speak loudly About our own journey through life Into the vast eternity that beckons us all May you remind us of the need to make ready For in such an hour as you know not The Son of Man will come And that is a promise that is fixed By the God who gave it And while we do not know When that time appointed is That appointment has been made And no one will frustrate his will
[11:09] We know in the world that Many are concerned at the present That we are on the precipice Of yet another catastrophic war Extending into the boundaries that we occupy Beyond these boundaries Into our homes and into the lives of our families We might not think it so But the possibility is ever there And we see the troubled times in which we live Where much sabre rattling And many are threatening the use of arms And the use of the devastating weapons of war That will wreak havoc in the world We pray Lord that you would stay their hand And that you would silence those who would encourage such activities
[12:11] And that you would remove them from power And that you are the God who has the ultimate power That you have the greater iron than any Even when they are in concert So we pray that you would forgive us And show mercy to us And intrude for good In the lives of those who would seek to do evil Remember those who would govern us And may the foolishness that often prevails in their thinking Be shown for what it is And may they learn to yield to the God who is all-wise And direct their activities for good We pray for our King and his family And we pray for those who serve him Within the corridors of power
[13:13] Remembering the parliaments in Scotland And in the United Kingdom Our own local council And those who would serve on the council We pray for them all Watch over us each one Bless our church And those who would Seek to promote the gospel in it Those who gather in your name today To remember the death of Christ Until he come May he truly be seen As the alone saviour of sinners And may the sinful behaviour Of those of us who have Come to know him Fill us with shame And seek the grace of repentance To embrace salvation as it is in him Cleanse us from these sins Through the blood of the everlasting sacrifice In Jesus' name we ask it all Forgiveness in him Amen Before you go out boys and girls
[14:16] To Sunday school Before you go out boys and girls To Sunday school You are going to Speak today in Sunday school About a passion That is known to many of us As the rich young ruler It is somebody who came To the Lord Jesus With a question And the question That he had Was in many respects A question that Every one of us should have What shall I do To inherit eternal life Or everlasting life And the question Is a question Which in one sense In one sense Is right It was a question That should be asked And you should ask it How Are you going to
[15:19] Inherit Eternal life And every one of us Should think about Everlasting life Because the life that we live in this world Is clearly not everlasting It is a life that is It is a life that is Short lived Even the longest lived To save that It was a question That was asked to the right person And again It is important If we have questions That we know who to ask them of And this person went to ask Jesus To speak to Jesus To speak to Jesus And you couldn't do Better than ask Such a question To the Lord Jesus Because Jesus tells us in his own word That he is the one Through whom everlasting life Is bestowed upon those who can't And don't have it
[16:22] But the question was While it was right in some parts And in some parts It was half right Because He thought That When Jesus spoke to him And answered him In the light of the question That he was asking He thought that That he had fulfilled The law Because that is What he thought That everlasting life Was going to Be a consequence It was going to end up If he was good He was a good boy Or a good man And so many people think that If I am good And if I do everything That I can To serve God And do the best that I can That God is bound To give us Life without end But he He was only half right
[17:23] Because He thought That he had fulfilled He believed that he had done Everything the law asked of him But In actual fact He was just Doing What you would call The letter of the law He was doing it As far as he was able To keep the law And That is Really the key He was not able To keep the law perfectly And what God tells us About his own laws That No man Is able perfectly To keep the law of God That's a big mistake If we think That by doing what God Wants us to do That God Will say to us Well done You've done everything So here you are This is everlasting life for you This is heaven for you Then We've not understood
[18:25] What God Expects of us He expects us To Keep his law perfectly Not just in part But all of it And all of it To its full extent Extent And This is where This man Began to go wrong And also We see that Not only Was he half wrong In the way that he Thought of things He was completely wrong In the things That he thought Were of worth His arithmetic was poor He thought All he had Was worth More Than all That God Was promising To him And you can tell That he thought that Because When he was weighing up One against the other
[19:27] He thought everything That he had in this world Was something That he wanted to keep more Than Than What God Was offering By Coming to trust In Christ And When When we get a sum wrong In school The teacher will tell us That our sons Our arithmetic Is not right And that was the problem That this man had This week I was reading Readings that I have Which I read in the morning And at night This person was working Working Working through the things That God Was saying to him Was all his And he said Because you have God Because you have God As your portion It is far more Than any of the things That this world says to you
[20:29] That you have Because the things That are in the world That you have Are not things That you can never Hold on to You can't hold on to your health You can't hold on to your Your youth You can't hold on to Your powers Of whatever kind They may be All of them Through the passage of time They will erode They will They will pass away They will pass away And eventually You can't hold on to your life Because we are told That all Who live in this world Have sinned And because they have sinned They will embrace The wages of sin Which is death This writer said The brooks and shadows Are all deceitful All the vines Are dying vines But what Christ has given
[21:31] Will remain And all that he gives He will not take from you And all that he gives Will fill your heart And your mind And your soul So that you won't need to try And fill it with anything else I hope that you'll be able To work out What the right answer To a right question is The question has to be right And the answer that follows If God gives it Is the right answer For you and for myself And may God help us To understand that We're going to sing As we go out to Sunday School Now from Psalm 45 Psalm 45 And first version of the psalm Verses 1 to 6 My heart brings forth a goodly thing My words that I indict concern the king My tongues a pen of one that swift doth write
[22:33] Thou fairer art than sons of men Into thy lips the store of grace infused God therefore thee hath blessed forevermore O thou that art the mighty one Thy sword good on thy thigh Even with thy glory excellent And with thy majesty For meekness, truth and righteousness In state ride prosperity Thy right hand And thy right hand Shall thee instruct in things that fearful be Down to verse 6 My heart brings forth a goodly thing My words that I indict My heart brings forth a goodly thing My words that I indict My words that I indict On a certain a king
[23:38] My germs a pen Of one that swift doth write The burdens of writing The pain of condened The hazy and suns of men Com hiccrito All the greats it is, God, let for thee, I am blessed forevermore.
[24:28] O love, the dark, the mighty one, thy sword, get on thy eye.
[24:46] Even with thy glory, excellent, and with thy majesty.
[25:02] For meekness, through the righteousness, instead, thy cross must be.
[25:22] And thy right hand shall be in strength, the things that the earth will be.
[25:41] Thy narrow shadow, it pierce the heart of the enemies of the King.
[26:00] And under thy subjection, the people down to thee.
[26:18] Forever, forever ish. O God, light, yon, or might.
[26:36] As a dead, yon, or might. O God, light, yon, or might. As a dead, yon, or might.
[26:56] We're going to read now some verses from the book of Psalms. Psalm 119.
[27:08] The book of Psalms, Psalm 119. And we'll read from verse 97. O how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day.
[27:29] Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies. For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers.
[27:42] For thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
[28:00] I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
[28:12] Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
[28:25] I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.
[28:40] Accept, I beseech thee, the free will offerings of my mouth. O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy law.
[28:55] The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I err not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
[29:09] I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end. I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.
[29:22] Thou art my hiding place, and my shield. I hope in thy word. Depart from me, ye evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God.
[29:35] Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live, and let me not be ashamed of my hope. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.
[29:47] And I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes. For their deceit is falsehood.
[30:00] Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love thy testimonies. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.
[30:16] And so on. May the Lord add his blessing to a reading of this word, and to his name be the praise. We are going to sing from this psalm.
[30:29] Psalm 119. We are singing verses 89 to 96. The section just before the section that we read there. Psalm 119 from verse 89.
[30:43] Forever O Lord, thy word is settled. For thy word forever is O Lord in heaven, settled fast unto all generations.
[30:54] Thy faithfulness doth last. The earth thou hast established, and it abides by thee. This day they stand as thou ordainst for all thy servants be.
[31:06] Unless in thy most perfect law my soul delights hath found, I should have perished, whithas my troubles did abound. Thy precepts I will ne'er forget.
[31:19] The quickening to me brought. Lord, I am thine, O save thou me. Thy precepts I have sought. For me the wicked have laid weight, me seeking to destroy.
[31:31] But I thy testimonies true consider will withdraw. An end of all perfection. Here have I seen, O God.
[31:42] But as for thy commandment, the two succeeding brought. These verses, Psalm 119 and verse 89. Thy word forever is O Lord in heaven, settled fast.
[31:55] Thy word forever is O Lord in heaven, set the price unto a genevieve.
[32:23] The heavens, thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness, thy last.
[32:35] The earth thou hast established, and it abides by thee.
[32:52] The sky, this kind of self-ordains, for all thy servants be.
[33:09] The sky, this kind of self-ordered, my soul delights of love.
[33:27] I should have had a strength. My troubles did abode.
[33:44] Thy presence I will never get, forgive me, Lord.
[34:02] Lord, I am thy music, forgive me, thy presence I absorb.
[34:20] For me the wicked, I am lit with me seeking to destroy.
[34:36] But I thy testimony to consider will, with joy, an end of all perfection.
[35:02] Here I am, I sin, O God, but as for thy commandments, it is exceeding your bride.
[35:28] Amen. We can turn to the passage that we read in the Old Testament Scriptures, the book of Psalms, and we're reading verse 105.
[35:46] Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
[35:57] Sometimes we think of the Bible as a book that we can read, and as we read it, we are interested in following the narratives that tell us about the lives of individuals, or the parts of the Bible that are giving us historical accounts of the people of God throughout the generations.
[36:35] But it is preeminently the word of God, which means the word that God uses to speak to us, his people, tells us what he has to say to us, what he has to say about us.
[37:00] And from beginning to end, that is what we can trust that we will find in it.
[37:12] More importantly, although that itself is important, it speaks to us about the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that is at the heart of God's word.
[37:27] God has something important to say to us. And the most important thing he has to say to us, he has to say to us about his son, Jesus Christ.
[37:44] And all who are Christians have an interest in Christ. You wouldn't expect it to be otherwise. the name Christian suggests that to us, that Christ is of central import to their lives.
[38:08] They bear his name. Christian is a person who has come to know Christ, to trust Christ, to believe Christ, to follow Christ.
[38:20] in the early church, as you would expect, the New Testament church, the followers of Christ were converted Jews.
[38:36] They came to know Christ. Most of them were in Jerusalem, and most of them were converted Jews.
[38:47] but then, the gospel that spoke of Christ spread to other parts of the world. And when we get to the book of Acts, it tells us about the preaching of Barnabas and the preaching of Paul.
[39:07] And there we find in the book of Acts on chapter 12, it tells us that the Christian name came into being in Antioch for the first time.
[39:21] And all who came to be called by that name were not converted Jews, but converted Gentiles. People who had little or no knowledge of the God of the Bible, no other Jews, they had the Bible, they had God's word as far as it went, and they had a measure of understanding through education and through teaching about all that God had said to his people.
[39:55] It didn't necessarily mean that because they were Jews they believed what they were taught. Just like many of you, perhaps, who are Christians in name only.
[40:07] You've been taught about Christ, but that doesn't make you a believer in Christ, doesn't make you a follower of Christ, it doesn't mean that you trust in Christ, and yet, just like the Jews of old, the Bible, God's word, you had exposure to it, you've been taught from it, you've been encouraged to memorize it and learn what it has to say.
[40:37] But in the early days of the New Testament church, the Christian name came into being in Antioch when the gospel was preached there.
[40:53] Now what has that got to do with the psalm that we're looking at here? Well, the psalmist, he is mostly through this psalm, he is talking about what God has to say and the importance of it, the centrality of it, the word of God, which is sometimes recognized as the law of God, sometimes it is the teaching that God has to give to those who would follow him and learn about him.
[41:34] But it tells us in using various words, various names given to the world of the importance of it.
[41:47] Now, Christ, the Son of God, is the sum and substance of the Word of God. Because God wants the world to know about his Son.
[42:06] He wants the world to know about what his Son needed to do, why he needed to do it, how he did it, the implications of him having done it, and the implications for us who believe in him and for us if we don't believe in him.
[42:27] and the Word comes to be synonymous with the Christ of whom the Word speaks because we find that Christ himself is identified as the Word.
[42:44] The Word become flesh, the Word of God embodied, so that those who see him see the Word of God fulfilled in ways that he would not otherwise have seen him.
[43:02] And we're going to explain the words of the Psalm here in that respect, that Christ Jesus is the one who is God's Word, the Word that God has given to us, and the Word, in the words of the Psalmist, that is the light to our path.
[43:28] He is the one who opens out God's way to us. He is the one who keeps us in the way to God, and so on.
[43:40] Now, how can I make such a claim? It seems to be rather a spurious claim, if it is just based upon one or two verses of the Bible.
[43:57] But we need to understand that when we think of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Word, God's Word above him, God's Word who is concerning him, describes the way that he became the source of salvation to a fallen world.
[44:17] It does so in great detail and covering so many different aspects of the outworking of the salvation of sinners.
[44:29] And the shorter catechism helps us digest the Word and helps us understand the various ways in which the person of Jesus Christ fulfills the role of redeemer and saviour to a fallen world.
[44:51] And in the shorter catechism verse 23, the question is asked about the person of Jesus Christ. Well, first of all, the question is asked who is the redeemer redeemer of God's elect or God's people?
[45:12] And the answer that is given, the only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal son of God, became man and so was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever.
[45:29] So, in that answer given to the question who redeems God's people? Who is the redeemer? The person identified is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[45:44] But then people who wrote the catechism, compiled the catechism, saw a necessary question to follow that one, is what offices does Christ execute as a redeemer?
[46:04] In other words, they want to expand this information so that we can understand that in every way possible that we could think of, Christ came to fulfill a role that would allow him to be the most complete and perfect saviour to the lost world into which he came.
[46:35] And it describes it in terms of office. This was office in the sense that it was official. God gave him this role. He didn't give it to anybody else.
[46:46] He gave him this role. He is the alone saviour and as redeemer nobody could do what he came to do.
[46:56] God didn't give that role or give that office to somebody else. And as redeemer we are told he executed the offices of a prophet, of a priest and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exhortation.
[47:17] So that describes to us three essential offices, three things that Christ is seen to do. He is the prophet, he is the priest and he is the king of his people.
[47:34] And each one of these offices he fulfills a function that serves a purpose in ensuring that when a sinner is saved there is never a doubt as to the nature of the salvation that that person enjoys.
[47:53] There is nothing lacking in what Christ has done. It perfectly satisfies God and ensures that the person being saved is saved totally.
[48:09] So what has that got to do with this verse that we are looking at or the psalm that we are looking at? well it speaks of the word of God and the purpose that the prophet of God has always had is to speak God's word to a sinful people.
[48:34] And Christ as office of prophet implies he is the embodiment of the word of God.
[48:45] And we are going to explore the various ways in which that is possible. But we know it applies to him because the Bible insists upon it.
[48:56] In the Old Testament and the book of Deuteronomy God gives a promise to his own people and that promise while it can be applied in different ways to different individuals to fulfill the role of prophet.
[49:15] It applies to the person of Jesus Christ in particular. And Moses under the direction of God's Holy Spirit says I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
[49:43] Now that clearly speaks of the role of prophet and what a prophet does. A prophet is not there to show his own skill in displaying his wisdom or display his ability at gathering the thoughts of others and sharing it out.
[50:11] No, his role is entirely to take the word of God and to bring it to the attention of those who need to hear it.
[50:24] And Christ is the prophet that is above all prophets. And we know that just for example that God points us to Christ and invites us and encourages us to hear what Christ has to say.
[50:47] If you remember when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration he was taken to a mount and there he had his disciples with him some of them and they were given a privilege to see the glory of God displayed in the passion of Jesus Christ.
[51:08] And a voice came from heaven and a voice said this is my beloved son. But it also said hear him listen to him take heed to what he has to say to you.
[51:25] So not only was Christ identified as God's son sent by him into the world he is shown to have come with a particular word from God concerning the intention of God to bring salvation to a fallen world.
[51:46] We know that again confirmed to us in the New Testament scriptures where the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews begins that epistle with these words.
[52:01] God who at sundry times and in diverse manners speak in time past unto the fathers by the prophets that's how God spoke during the history of the world he always spoke his word the truth that was God's truth came to the world by way of those appointed by him to speak that truth.
[52:27] But then he says hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds.
[52:42] The particular thing of interest there to us for the purpose of today's service is that Christ is there shown to be one sent by God to speak God's word to the world and to make sure that word is listened to.
[53:04] The second thing we have to say about this as far as this introductory part of the service is concerned we need to recognise and understand the importance that God places upon the prophetic ministry ministry and the prophetic ministry of old even as it is seen in Old Testament times the prophet had a place of import only because of the word that they spoke and the word that they spoke was always tested for its truth and veracity as God's word if what they said either foretold or declared a truth consistent with what God had made known of himself if they failed on that part for prophet did not speak the truth of God if they took a truth that contradicted what
[54:07] God had made already made known then they were false prophets if they predicted an event in the future that clearly did not come to pass then they were false prophets but we are told that when the son speaks he always speaks God's truth and his truth is a truth God means us to understand as a truth that reveals to us not only what God has said but who God is and what God intends to do again reading from the New Testaments scriptures in chapter one of the gospel of John what you find there is the Lord clearly shown to be able to speak the truth of God like no other yes every prophet that
[55:10] God had used to declare his truth inspired by his spirit filled his mouth from an eye were in that role at God's say so but none of them could say what Christ had said because this is true the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ no man hath seen God at any time the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he hath declared her now as far as being a prophet is concerned this Christ was unique he is described there or given the description there of someone who is in the bosom of the father someone who is able to speak of experience that belongs only to him uniquely then again we have to say before we say anything more is that this son who was the prophet sent by
[56:22] God and who was the word of God in a way that the word of God speaks of him and describes him to us he tells us that it is entirely what God has given to him that he has to say and while we can say that of the prophets as a whole who are faithful to the word that God has given to them Christ is able to say of himself that his father the God of heaven is the one who has given him a word to speak henceforth he says I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known to you so in other words
[57:22] Christ is there alerting us to the fact that in his role as the word he is a personification of the word he is the fulfillment of the word but he is also the one by whom this word is brought to the world directly from the mouth of his father and again no one can speak in this way as he can and finally as the introduction goes it's really an explanation of why we want to look at these words in this way the son as he speaks he enables us to discover the will of God his father with regard to the salvation of those who are in need of it so if we look at
[58:29] God's word and if we look at the Bible as being God's word in its entirety but if we understand that the entirety of this world has at its heart a message concerning God's son God's provision of our savior even as it came at the very outset following on from the fall that God had promised that there would be a source of redemption to a fallen world and that information is added to that information is increased as God chooses to reveal it to us and it focuses on the passion of his son Jesus Christ he is revealed to us and God sees it to reveal himself through the son that he sends and in his role as prophet he is able to do that so what does the psalm say to us about that prophetic role as it applies to him the psalmist speaks to us no doubt about the elements that are necessary for us to understand with regard to God's working in our lives he takes away the darkness that sin has brought into the world he enables us to understand the source of the light that removes that darkness and how that works we are reminded here how the word made flesh not only declares to us
[60:14] God's words he embodies the world in a way that only he can he is as we said the greatest of all prophets who is the son of the most high God and he alone is the light of the world he alone is the one who is able to disseminate light in a world that is in the grip of darkness dispel the darkness by the power of his light and do so in a way that no other can the psalmist tells us how the word of God works that the word of God brings light where there is darkness and that can be understood not only physically which is possible but intellectually and spiritually and spiritually in particular and those whose lives have been spent in darkness as far as the things of
[61:27] God are concerned are the ones who can testify to the veracity of the truth of God when they have experienced God's light coming into their darkness and bringing to light what was previously hidden and sometimes the change is so great you know when you talk to a person when I talk to a person as a minister sometimes I speak to men and women and I know some of them have grown up under the gospel they've heard God's word they've read God's word they've even memorized God's word and yet I often find that even with a head full of that knowledge that is the knowledge that God has given to them they are still in the power of darkness there is a chasm as it were between the light that
[62:39] God's word brings and their ability to interpret God's word with the aid of that light it's as if you know there are many descriptions I suppose you could imagine if you can imagine let's say a radio and it needs plug to be fitted into the wall and power to go from the wall to the radio in order for that to function forget about your batteries for a moment that needs the power of electricity to function so you've got your radio you've got your cable the cable is in the wall even the wall socket is switched on and yet it's not functioning and looking at it you can't really see why it isn't functioning there's something missing there's something lacking and sometimes it's as simple as this there is no fuse in the plug and if there's no fuse in the plug the plug is not going to work and if the plug is not going to work the cable that takes the power from the wall is not going to be able to do that that's a poor but sometimes you think this person this person knows everything that should be sufficient to make them understand who
[64:24] Christ is and yet they don't they've not reached it they've not understood it this person is a stranger to them and it is a person Christ is a person his place in the world is God given his role is insisted upon by God and you have that explained to you and you have that word expounded to you to the best of a preacher whoever that preacher may be and that you're looking at that person and you're not seeing him you're not seeing Christ the way God means you to see him and sometimes the change that God does is so mysterious you can't really understand how he does it but he does it he does it even in the experience let's for example use the illustration of somebody who's a
[65:29] Christian already somebody who knows the Lord somebody who is familiar with Christ he knows Christ he trusts Christ he believes in Christ and that person to use a word that was used by many before is in the dumps he is in the dumps he is spiritually downcast and he is not or she is not living their life in the light that God means them to live in because they're feeling themselves that they're not what they could be or should be or they're not in this relationship with Christ the way they ought to be there's something wrong there's something lacking there's something missing and they're Christian and something is wrong and they can't put it right and they look at the Bible and they read the
[66:30] Bible and they see the promises are there in black and white and they're saying to themselves but they're not helping why are they not helping and sometimes the only answer is God coming with his light to show them where what the matter is and remember some of you will know the name John Owen a famous Puritan preacher and his writings they're deeply theological and deeply profound and people find it difficult to read what he had to say because of the awesome grasp that he had on theology and God's word and yet there was a time in his life where John Owen was in darkness after he became a Christian and he just he was lost he was lost in the sense that he was so uncertain about his salvation he was so uncertain about where he was coming from or where he was going to and what happened was he went to church and himself and a cousin went to a church and they knew that there was a well known preacher preaching in that church and he wanted to hear because he was saying to himself something's got to happen something surely this person will have to have some input into how how
[68:05] I'm feeling and make me better and yet when he went to the church it turned out that the preacher that was expected to preach there didn't turn up or couldn't turn up in those days it was difficult to travel and even a minor thing could prevent that happening so the congregation was in a fix he had to ask some other preacher who was present to preach and he was no preacher in the sense that this other preacher was supposed to be a major expositor of the truth and this person who came to preach or was asked to preach he wasn't prepared and he wasn't the best at proclaiming the truth and all he did was he chose a text and the text was this why are you afraid oh ye of little faith why are you afraid oh you of little faith and it wasn't the sermon that had the effect on
[69:24] Owen's life but the word not what was said about it but this man just speaking this word from God into that setting into that situation into that moment and this man who was in darkness struggling to make sense of why things were the way they were this word came as it were direct from God speaking to him why are you afraid oh you of little faith and the person who went out of that church was not the person who came into it because the word of God had that effect now that's the way it is at times in the lives of those who have already experienced the word of God but some of you you know you have had the experience of God's word and you are saying what's it all about what's it all about and the questions are infinite the psalmist goes on to say in the next section that the entrance of thy words giveth light it gives understanding and to the simple you might not like to be thought of as being simple you might not think of yourself as simple but the psalmist is saying that that even the most ignorant passion lacking in learning or knowledge or whatever it is when
[71:07] God's light comes and opens out the truth of God to them then wisdom comes God reveals himself through his world and that's what Christ came into the world to do as the prophet he showed through his life and his ministry and through his death on the cross that he was the embodiment of the promises of God and that in him the fulfillment of these promises would take place the psalmist resolves to commit himself to the truth and there is nothing more certain about the prophet power excellence Jesus Christ the greatest prophet this world has ever known than that he was resolute in fulfilling what God's word said about himself even the word made flesh even the son of
[72:12] God that God said may only be gone he was determined to do all that was left to him to do in order to be a saviour to sin nothing but nothing would detract from what he was in the world to do or deflect him from it and he spoke the word to whoever would hear it we spoke about a question that the children were presented with in the life of the rich man rich young ruler we're going to talk tonight about some of the questions that Christ asked directly questions that he asks that need to be answered in the face of questions that others ask that they think are important but Jesus it is his word and his law and he comes to us with persuasive power telling us that if we are not committed to it in the sense that we believe it to be his word and trust in it when the time has gone we need to hear the word of
[73:31] God we need to hear his voice in the word of God I think the most wonderful encounter that we have I often think about it I probably said it more often than I should but when Jesus walked with the two who were walking in the road to Amaze following his death and resurrection he walked with them and two things I think you can see happened he spoke about himself in the word that's what he did he took the word the bible and he used the words of the bible to tell them these are the words that spoke about me he wasn't being boastful he was being he wanted them to understand that the things that they were seeing so difficult and so impossible to interpret actually they were straightforward because
[74:38] God's word told them as much but the fact of the matter is not only did he direct them to the word he himself spoke into their need the words of his mouth had this effect on them that their hearts burned within them I wonder now would it not be something if you realise today through the burning heart experience Christ was speaking to me today that's what it's all about Christ speaking to you through his word about himself about you need of him about the changes that he can bring to bear upon your life that will make your life a life worth living rather than something to endure may
[75:42] Christ in his mercy show you that he is the light to our path to our feet and that if we follow him if we walk with him then we can be assured that whatever awaits us he is with us and he will be waiting for us may bless to us let us pray oh lord of god help us to appreciate that you have spoken and when you spoke it is the wise man that takes it to heart we have heard your voice on the cross and you have shown us how awful sin is and how great a God that you are that loved the world in giving your son to deal with such sin hear our prayers and pardon us these sins in Christ amen according to thy word will sing to verse 110 thy word is to my feet alarm tid thy in thou into
[77:22] He did a lamb unto my path a lie. I swore that I will bear horn to keep thy judgments right.
[77:47] I am with soda's vision in all the world, O Lord.
[78:03] In mercy, listen, quicken me, I'll go to thy word.
[78:18] The free will offerings of my love are set by these teachings.
[78:33] And unto me thy servant, Lord, thy judgment's clear speech.
[78:49] Though still my soul be in my hand, thy loss I'll not forget.
[79:04] I am not wrong, let thou for me the way didst, didst.
[79:23] May God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all and all. Amen.