How God Reveals Himself

The heavens declare the glory of God. The sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

! 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.

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.

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. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

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, sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgressions.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Amen. Is that there is no evidence for his existence. And yet, Scripture teaches us otherwise.

Scripture tells us that God has given abundant evidence that he exists. And one of those places in Scripture that reminds us of the evidence of God's existence is Psalm 19.

The psalm that we come to this morning as we continue with the fourth sermon in our seven-part Summer in the Psalms sermon series.

Psalm 19. Psalm 19 not only tells us that God exists. Psalm 19 tells us how God reveals himself.

And so this morning, I want us to consider how God has revealed himself. And why, in spite of God's revelation, there are those who still deny his existence.

And so those are the two things that I hope that we will see from Psalm 19 this morning. How God has revealed himself. And why, despite his revelation of himself, there are still those who deny his existence.

First, let me pray for us. Father, how blessed we are to be gathered in this place this morning. To hear the only essential message of life.

That is that you, in mercy and grace, sent your Son to redeem rebellious sinners like us, who otherwise are the objects of your just and holy wrath.

Lord, would you draw near to us now and enable us to hear your word. And more than that, Lord, would you help us to respond to it.

We ask that you would do this for our good and for the glory of your great name. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. So in response to those who say that there is no evidence that God exists, how does Psalm 19 prove them wrong?

Psalm 19 proves them wrong in two particular ways. By showing us clearly these two ways in which God reveals himself. And I want us to consider them in our remaining time.

First, God reveals himself generally in nature. By nature I mean creation. The psalmist tells us this starting in verse 1, but we see it in verses 1 to 6.

Theologians refer to this revelation of himself, this revelation that God gives of himself in nature as general revelation. Meaning that God has revealed himself generally to all people everywhere over all times.

Through what he has created over the generations, all people have seen God's creation. God has revealed himself generally in creation to all people everywhere.

Look again at what the psalmist says in verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

The psalmist is telling us that when we look up to the sky, it preaches to us in a loud voice that it is God's glorious creation.

It is his handiwork. Now, of all of God's creation, why is it that the psalmist points us to the heavens?

Why does he point us to the skies, to the sun, the moon, and the stars, and tells us that they speak to us about God's glory, and they reveal his existence by virtue of his creation?

Why doesn't he point us to the sky, and the stars, why doesn't he point us to the sky, why doesn't he point us to other aspects of God's creation? Like the rivers and the seas, like the flowers and trees, or like birds and bees.

Why doesn't he point us to earthly aspects of God's creation? Why does he call us to look up, as opposed to looking around?

I believe the reason the psalmist does this is because, depending on where we live on the earth, we would see different aspects of God's creation. So, for example, here in the Bahamas, we have beaches.

We have beaches around all of our islands. We don't have rivers, but there are places that have rivers, and they don't have beaches.

And then there are places in the earth that have lush vegetation, and then there are places that are just desert, with no vegetation at all.

But the part of God's creation that is consistently visible to all people, wherever they live, is what we see in the skies. All people know what it is to see the stars, and the moon, and the sun, and the sky above them.

And I think this is why the psalmist says that this is where God has revealed himself, his handiwork, his glory, in the heavens.

because it's visible to people wherever they live on the earth. Notice in verse 2, the psalmist says that day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

The psalmist is using poetic language to say to us that 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, consistently being poured out, is this proclamation of God's glory, and the evidence, the knowledge, of his creation, that he has made in the heavens.

The psalmist says that has happened without break and failure since the day of creation. All people consistently have seen it.

It's being poured out, this knowledge, this revelation of God is being poured out. The heavens are declaring it, shouting it out to us.

The psalmist tells us if it isn't clear from verses 1 and 2, he says in verses 3 and 4, there is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

There's nothing that the heavens declare. There's no speech that comes from God's creation that we see in the heavens that isn't heard.

It is heard everywhere by all people. Everywhere, the earth, in all of its entirety. It doesn't matter what their nationality is, it doesn't matter what their ethnicity is, it doesn't matter where they live.

The same message of God's glory and God's existence based on his handiworks in the heavens sounds out to all people consistently to the ends of the earth.

Notice also in verses 4 and 5 that voice is singular. It doesn't say they're voices, it says this voice, this message, meaning that all aspects of God's visible creation in one voice shouts to all people everywhere testifying that God is creator and his glory in his creation.

Now, at the end of verse 4 and through on to verse 6, the psalmist goes in on one particular aspect of God's creation which is the sun.

The sun and the sun is the aspect of God's creation in the heavens that is most visible and most dominant for all people. It's the part of what we see in the heavens that is most visible to our naked eyes.

And the psalmist tells us at the end of verse 4, he likens the sky to a tent for the sun. And I guess we could visualize that in a sense or a big umbrella that the sky looks like that to the sun.

It's a tent for the sun and the sun kind of goes out of the tent and it's rising and comes into the tent in its setting.

The psalmist is using poetic language to describe this consistent daily activity of the sun that is seen to all people everywhere.

And then in verse 5, he also likens the sun, gives another picture. He says, it's like a bridegroom on his wedding day who comes out of his house, he's all dressed up and he's beaming with joy and his joy spreads to everyone around him.

And then also in verse 5, he likens the process of the sun rising and setting to an athlete, a runner, a strong runner who's running his course with joy, with the same vigor and the same strength consistently over the course.

It's the rising and the setting of the sun going in a circuit, he says, like a strong runner who's running. Verse 6, the psalmist tells us that the sun makes this circuit every day, every year, consistently to all people everywhere, all the time.

And the point is that everywhere on this earth is affected by the sun. It's seen by all people everywhere and it is affected by the sun.

And so human beings who are rational and we are rational creatures, they can't escape observing the power and the majesty and the consistency and the beauty and all the benefits of the sun.

Rational people would see that and as a matter of fact, it's part of the reason I think that there are people who would worship the sun. because they recognize they can't just go on and ignore the sun.

They see its power and majesty and consistency and beauty and all the benefits that the sun brings.

But the sun is an expression of God's goodness. And Jesus points us to this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 where he is calling his followers to follow him in loving their enemies and praying for those who persecute them.

He says, because in so doing you will be like your Father who is in heaven. And he uses the blessing of the sun to make this point.

Here's how he says that in Matthew 5 verses 43 to 45. You've heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

in verse 45 Jesus focuses on the sun and the rain as expressions of God's goodness that he gives it to all people without discrimination those who are evil and those who are good.

And when you think about it and I think sometimes we may not think about it without the heat and light of the sun the world would die. everyone and everything in the world without the heat and the light of the sun would die.

And even when Jesus mentions the rain even the rain is dependent on the sun because without the sun we wouldn't have rain. The sun evaporates water out of the river and the seas and then it goes up I should recall some of my general science and being aware that I had some teachers in the room I had to go and make sure that I had this right.

And then it goes up and then it condenses and then it comes down in the form of rain but without the sun there is no rain. And so this is what God has done God has revealed himself generally to all people and what he has created and in particular the psalmist points our eyes to what God has done in the heavens.

And so I think this raises a legitimate question. Why is it that even after God has generally revealed himself there are atheists who still demand existence evidence evidence for the existence of God?

Why is it God has generally revealed himself in the heavens in a consistent way to all people so it doesn't matter where an atheist lives he or she has seen the same evidence of God's existence in the heavens why do they still demand evidence of God's existence?

I think the apostle Paul gives us the reason in Romans 1 18-20 and here's what he says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse brothers and sisters the apostle Paul makes a very sobering point in these three verses he tells us that

God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men because men in their unrighteousness!

suppress the truth they suppress the truth that God has revealed to them about himself and what he has created so why are atheists atheists?

they are atheists because they close their eyes and they cover their ears to suppress the truth of the existence of God the one who is their judge and the one to whom they have no desire to be accountable and therefore scripture says they are without excuse this is God's holy inerrant word and this is the answer that God gives to us for every person who denies his existence God has plainly given evidence of his existence but they have suppressed the truth they have no valid excuse to blame other than their own suppression of the truth the part of

God's creation that the psalmist points us to and reminds us of that best shows his divine power and his eternal nature is the heavens and the sun in particular some 19 highlights above all that God has created in the heavens above all the others he the psalmist highlights the sun the sun as powerful as as it is the one who made it must be even more powerful but you know what with all the scientific knowledge that we have gained over the years about the sun without that scientific knowledge there's still enough that human beings can naturally understand about the power and the consistency of the sun that could point us to the creator the sun is finite the creator is infinite he's infinite and eternal he's all powerful and he's all sufficient he has no beginning or end some time ago

I remembered seeing a cartoon a four frame cartoon and in the first frame there's this man he's looking at this magnificent building and he is talking and he says this building is a marvel of architectural design and then the second frame he is looking at this beautiful painting and he just remarks and says oh this painting shows mastery of technique and then the third frame he's looking in the engine of this car and he is marveling at the engine and he says this engine is a real piece of sophisticated engineering and then the fourth and final frame he's pictured in front of this huge mountain there's a rainbow over him there are flocks of birds over him and he's surrounded by trees there's water cascading down from the river there are animals around him there are butterflies flying all around and then he just remarks and he says nobody created this this just appeared and that's the way atheists are they can recognize human beings as the creator of anything that they see but they will never recognize

God's creation they suppress the truth of the knowledge of God because it has implications for them and here we see in Romans 1 that the apostle Paul goes on to tell us that such suppression of the truth results in rebellion against God and rebellion against his created order in particular the psalmist sorry the apostle Paul in Romans 1 he points out that sexual rebellion flows from a suppression of the truth sexual rebellion in particular in the form of homosexual conduct is the result of a suppression of the truth of God's revelation of himself and God's revelation of his design for male and female it is the most radical form of rebellion against

God because it challenges God's wise and good design for men and women in the context of marriage the apostle Paul tells us that homosexual conduct is the apex of man's rebellion against God so as we consider God's revelation his general revelation of himself in nature I think it raises this important question can general revelation about God what is revealed in nature what is revealed in the heavens can general revelation of God save us is it possible for someone to look to the heavens and see sun and moon and stars and come to a saving knowledge of God the answer obviously is no and the way we know that answer is no is that if general revelation could save us then

God did not have to do anything else the fact that God did more than give us general revelation shows us that general revelation is not enough to save us because again if it were God would be most cruel to send his son to die on the cross God would be a drama king to go through the whole Old Testament sacrificial system to point to his son and it was just a nothing it didn't have to be he could have just used general revelation and bring us all to himself but no general revelation is not enough and therefore God did more and this brings me to my second and final point in how God reveals himself which is God reveals himself specially in scripture he reveals himself generally in nature and now we see second he reveals himself specially!

in scripture this is what we see in verses 7 to 14 and these concluding verses the psalmist is extolling and praising God's word and refers to God's word in different ways he refers to it as law and testimony and precepts and commandments and rules and these different descriptions that the psalmist uses the psalmist is referring to the first five books of the Bible which would have been the books that he had at that time that he was writing the Psalms Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy the Jews call it the Torah and in Greek it is the Pentateuch these five books of the Bible are what the psalmist had as he was painting Psalm 19 and what we see in these five books of the

Bible is special revelation what was contained in the first five books of the Bible wasn't broadcast to all people everywhere it was given to a specific people at a specific time it wasn't given to the Egyptians the children of Israel had just come out of Egypt it wasn't given to the Canaanites whose land they were going into it was only given to God's people it was a special revelation that God gave of himself to his people now when we read these words of the psalmist in Psalm 19 and his references to God's law and rules and commandments obviously we have a whole Bible now we don't just have five books we have 66 books of the

Bible and what the psalmist says about God's word that he had at the time is true about all of God's word it's true for the entirety of God's word and in the entirety of God's word God especially revealed himself in a way that he has not revealed himself in nature and God especially revealed himself in a narrow way to his people that he doesn't reveal to all people and I think it's one of the most important things we could embrace as we read God's word there are a few places where there are declarations in God's word that are applicable to all people everywhere but in the main in the main this is God's word to his people it is special revelation to special people not all people now the point that I want us to see from these remaining verses

I need to work my way up to it and so what I want to do before I look at that particular point is I want us to look at what the psalmist does in verses 7 to 9 in verses 7 to 9 the psalmist uses a poetic pattern of praising six specific virtues of God's word followed by six specific benefits this is some work of poetry that the psalmist is doing so it's not exhaustive he could have said more but he uses six virtues and six benefits to magnify God's word in our eyes so in verse 7 first what we see the psalmist the first virtue that the psalmist gives to

God's word is he says it's perfect God's word is perfect it's a reflection of God himself who is its author and the psalmist tells us it revives or refreshes the soul and then again in verse 7 and what you would notice is in three verses he gives us three pairs in verse 7 the second virtue is sure he says God's word is sure meaning it's trustworthy it is certain and the benefit is it makes the simple wives and this is where true wisdom comes from true wisdom comes from God and it makes the simple wives and all of us left to ourselves with simple people and one of the marks of simplicity is simple people left to themselves to easily let astray and that is true of all of us but

God's word will make us wise so that we're not easily led astray into sin the psalmist celebrates and extols the ability of God's sure word to make the simple wise and then in verse 8 the third virtue of God's word that the psalmist extols is that it is right and it causes our hearts to rejoice brothers and sisters following God's word will always cause our hearts to rejoice because it's right it's when we disobey God's word that we lament it's when we turn away from it that we have heartbreak instead of rejoicing and the fourth virtue that he gives us also in verse 8 is that it is pure God's word is pure it is untainted by anything that is evil or corrupt it is unmixed and the psalmist tells us the benefit of it is it enlightens our eyes it is in the purity of

God's word that we see as we should see the pure light of God's word provides light to our eyes so that we can see as we ought to see we're able to see the world for what it is we're able to see things for what they are in the purity of the light that comes from God's word and then in verse 9 the psalmist gives us the fifth virtue which is that God's word is clean God now he doesn't directly reference God's word instead he indirectly refers to it as the fear of the Lord which is taught by the word of God and it is by and through God's word that we learn to fear the Lord and the psalmist says this fear is clean and it endures forever this also speaks to the moral purity of God's word and its sanctifying effect in the lives of God's people and then finally in verse 9 we have the sixth virtue of God's word that the psalmist celebrates he says the rules of God's word

God's rules, they are true they're true and he tells us they're righteous all together and so how much does the psalmist value God's word?

God's word that is perfect and sure right and pure and clean and true how much does he value that? how much do you value that?

those of us who belong to Christ and those of us to whom this word has been given is this our estimation of God's word?

that it is perfect and sure that it is right and pure that it is clean and true the psalmist tells us how he values it in verse 10 he says more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb the psalmist and he says and he says and he says God's word is more valuable than the best of gold and God's word to the soul is sweeter than the best of honey that's his estimation of God's word of God's word and verse 11 he tells us moreover by them is your servant warned your servant that is narrow that's not universal because not everyone is God's servant by them is your servant warned in keeping them there is great reward this is God's special revelation to his people to those who belong to him to those who serve him he said by them is your servant warned and in keeping them there is great reward brothers and sisters

I think any of us who have to some degree taking God's word seriously reading it taking it to heart would agree with the psalmist God's word warns us God's word corrects us in many ways and we can testify there is great reward in obeying God's word there is great reward in it we get to live a steady consistent predictable life when we take heed to the warnings of God's word when we allow the word of God to have its way with us and correct us and we obey his word his great reward in obeying his word two weeks ago

Pastor Doug Plank preached from Psalm 119 and the title of his sermon was Loving and Living God's Word as I was preparing I considered verses 7 to 11 in Psalm 19 and I think these verses 7 to 11 in Psalm 19 are a wonderful summary of Psalm 119 because in these five verses the psalmist rejoices in his love for God's word and the benefits of keeping it but here's the important point that we shouldn't miss the psalmist experience is not everyone's experience and what I mean by that is not everyone who reads

God's word in the psalmist day or in our day had the psalmist experience or has the psalmist experience not everyone does and the reason I say that is because there are some atheists who brag that they've read the Bible from cover to cover and they still have come away unconvinced of the existence of God there are many agnostics who would say the same an agnostic is a step below the atheist an agnostic doesn't outrightly say God doesn't exist the agnostic says I'm not sure he exists the agnostic is the person who is doubtful but for the most part their lives look about the same I remember some years ago

I was reading an article about the president of France Francois Mitterrand who was dying he was dying of cancer and in the article he was an agnostic all of his life but in the article I remember this and I was quite some years ago because he passed I think in 96 one of the things I remembered from the article was the magazine article writer said that in his final days as he was dying from cancer the most prominent book on his desk was the Bible all of his life agnostic but as he watched his life ebbing away the most prominent book on his desk in his final days was the

Bible and I suspect that he read that Bible and there are many other people like him who read the Bible Bible but as best we know Francois Mitterrand went to his grave as an agnostic so why is that why is it that the diligent reading of God's word doesn't convince a person of God's existence and bringing them to saving faith automatically why is that here's why although God's word is the place where he has specially revealed himself God must personally reveal himself to all those who will come to see him as

God and know him through salvation this is God's special revelation and it's not just special revelation that he's put it in the pages of this book it is special revelation because he must personally attend to those who read it and cause them to believe it without that reading this book is like reading any other book without God's personal attendance without God bringing special revelation to those who read this book reading this book is like reading any other book God must personally enable us to see and believe the revelation of himself that he's put in his word to bring us to saving faith now I realize this morning that this may land on some of our errors awkwardly or even in a difficult way but this is the truth of scripture this is what scripture teaches us none of us can just decide

I'm going to pick up this Bible and I'm going to read and I'm going to believe or I will see if I am convinced and become convinced let me just point us to one particular account in scripture that helps us to see this in Matthew 11 verses 25 to 27 in Matthew 11 Jesus is rebuking people in several cities because he had performed some of his mightiest works in those cities and they did not repent and immediately after rebuking them we read these words in verses 25 to 27 Matthew 11 25 to 27 at that time Jesus declared I thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to children yes father for such was your gracious will all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him

God in his sovereignty has revealed himself generally in creation to all people but he doesn't do that in scripture he doesn't do that in scripture he reveals himself specially and Jesus says that he is the one who reveals the father to those whom he chooses to reveal the father what Matthew 11 helps us to see is two aspects of unbelief first unbelief is a personal responsibility and that's why Jesus after performing these miracles he rebuked those who did not believe and second we see that unless God extends mercy and grace and reveals himself to us through his son we would all remain in our unbelief and we would all bear the responsibility and the punishment for our unbelief and so brothers and sisters here's what this means for us this morning this means that the only reason we believe is not just that

God gave us his word it is because God has personally and specially revealed himself to us and brought us to salvation and this is the only reason that we can like the psalmist see in the pages of scripture God's revelation of himself and rejoice in God's word and delight to obey it brothers and sisters this is how God reveals himself he reveals himself specially by his grace not to all people but to particular people I mean I encourage us this morning to not be preoccupied with the thought about those to whom the sovereign

Lord has chosen not to reveal himself but let us be preoccupied with the amazing grace that has come to us that the sovereign Lord through his son has revealed himself to us and brought us the saving faith and caused us to pick up his word or to hear his word and rejoice in our souls and to consider it a precious thing when others would be indifferent to it and would discard it or disregard it but it is our very life and it is only that because God has been kind to us especially revealing himself to us and revealing to us that this is no ordinary book this is his word thank you very much in verse 12 the psalmist asks a critical question and it's a rhetorical question meaning it's a question to which the correct answer is so obvious you don't even need to say it it's a question that's asked not to get an answer but to make a point the psalmist asks who can discern his errors and the errors that the psalmist is referring to are hidden sins not sins that we hide but sins that we commit and are hidden to us we're not aware of them who can discern such sins none of us and that's the answer to the psalmist question none of us none of us can discern our hidden sins and yet for the psalmist without even the knowledge of these sins in the latter part of this verse we see the psalmist asking God to forgive him of them that is the effect of God's work in the life of one of his children unbelievers are indifferent even to the sins they know but to

God's children we like the psalmist would be asking the Lord to keep us and declare us innocent of hidden faults again brothers and sisters only God can bring about such conviction of sin that makes us desire to even deal with sins that we are unaware of it's only through his word it's only through his spirit that our eyes can be open to our hidden sins and it's all part of God's special and personal revelation to his people in verse 13 the psalmist is also aware of presumptuous sins the new international version calls them willful sins presumptuous sins are sins that we commit consciously and willfully and the psalmist asked God that he would help him he says keep me back from willful sins and he says don't let them have dominion over me

Lord let my life not be that I am living a willful sinful life yes I may fall yes I may stumble but Lord let not my life be marked by this ongoing obedience disobedience to your word again brothers and sisters it is only through special revelation that this kind of convicting power from God's word and his spirit is awakened in us and will keep us back from presumptuousness and then finally verse 14 the psalmist writes before he writes this prayer in verse 14 at the end of verse 13 he says then I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression how can anyone be blameless and innocent of great transgression how can anyone be innocent blameless before a holy God who knows everything who sees everything and whose standard is perfection how can anyone be innocent before that

God the witness of scripture tells us there is only one way and that is through grace through the grace that has come through the Lord Jesus Christ who came and lived a perfect life that none of us could live but that we were commanded to live and through his perfect life God is able to take his perfect righteousness and credit it to his people it's the grace that has come to us because Jesus Christ not only lived a perfect life but Jesus also died a substitutionary death on the cross for our sins the sins that separated us from God so that God would take the payment for sin that Jesus paid and credit that to us that we can be justly forgiven of our sins and it is through that grace that we can be counted blameless in his sight

I don't know if you've ever had the experience of being treated innocent even though you know you were guilty and that's really what we get to experience in the Christian life we get to experience being considered blameless being considered innocent even though we know within our own hearts that we're so far from innocent or being blameless those who belong to God through Jesus Christ are found innocent and blameless for one reason it's on the account of Jesus Christ in his living and in his dying we are counted as blameless in God's sight the psalmist ends with a prayer verse 14 let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my rock and my redeemer brothers and sisters this is the prayer of one to whom

God has revealed himself and who's been affected by God's word and who delights in God's word and delights in pleasing the Lord and who is not just actions it's not Lord let the things I do be pleasing to you know Lord let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart that which people don't see Lord may that be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my rock and my redeemer the overwhelming majority of us this morning profess to know Jesus Christ and this means that we've experienced special revelation it means that we have experienced a special revelation that has brought us to saving faith and we should never take that for granted should never take it for granted may we like the psalmist rejoice in both

God's general and special revelation of himself and may we extol the value and the sweetness of his word but brothers and sisters this is not going to happen accidentally it's not going to happen by osmosis we must plan time to be in God's word we must seek to do it daily none of us I don't think other than remember we may be fasting would even consider skipping meals and living a life and not thinking about eating to sustain our physical bodies God's word is the food of our souls and we need to approach it with the same intentionality and one of the differences with our bodies and our souls is sometimes we can be unmindful of how famished our souls are when we are mindful of how hungry our bodies are brothers and sisters let us let us give priority to

God's word and let his word have its full effect in our lives I realize some of us this morning do not know Jesus Christ whether present or watching online you have not placed your faith in him as I close I want to echo the words of Jesus that he spoke immediately after sharing that only those to whom he reveals the father will know the father Jesus utters these words immediately after saying that after saying I'm the one who reveals the father to whom I choose Jesus out of these words and I want you to hear these words if you do not know

Jesus Christ this morning he says come to me come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy my burden is light those are the words of the one who says I'm the only one who can reveal the father to whom I choose he says come to me and so if you don't know Jesus Christ I urge you I plead with you come to Jesus and lay down your heavy burden of sin and find rest for your soul and when you do you will delight in God's word as the psalmist does because your eyes will be opened to true value and true pleasure let's pray my father how kind of you to reveal yourself in your vast creation but oh lord that was not enough and so you've revealed yourself specially to your people and we rejoice in that revelation this morning we rejoice that we to whatever degree can join with the psalmist and extol your word for its virtues and its benefits thank you lord that we have come out of darkness and the light that we know true joy we know true treasure lord i pray you have mercy on those who need to come to jesus this morning would you draw them by your spirit would you convict them by your spirit of their need for a savior and the need to lay their heavy burden of sin at the foot of the cross you work in their hearts this morning in jesus name amen let's stand for closing so