We'll read together from Psalm 19, and one of our elders, Hamish, is going to come and read for us.
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.
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 commandment 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 transgression.
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.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you have communicated with us.
You have declared your glory in creation.
You have spoken to us in many ways, but ultimately, Lord, we thank you that you have given us your word.
And we pray that right now you would open up our eyes to behold wonderful things from your law.
I pray, Father, that we would not just find maybe some interesting facts or,
or, Lord, please don't help let us get bored with what's being said from your word.
But, Father, that you would help us to see your glory as you have revealed yourself specifically in your word.
And, Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, who is the word.
And the word became flesh.
And so we pray that you would be lifted up today.
So let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
We pray this in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Today we are starting our summer psalm series.
And I'm excited that I get to actually preach from one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 19.
And we've been singing about how God has declared his glory in creation.
And ultimately, what we're going to talk about today is that God has communicated to us.
God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, has chosen to speak in a way that we can understand who he is.
Most of you probably know that at one point, Scotland was known as the land of the book.
Now, I wasn't able to find exactly when that started or who coined that phrase.
But by the 19th century, it was pretty much well known that Scotland was known as the land of the book because of her love for the Bible.
The Reformation was a turning point in that.
And John Knox and others wanted ordinary people to be able to study the scriptures for themselves.
And so they created one of the most literate nations on the face of the planet.
All that so that people could read the Bible for themselves.
Why were the reformers so convinced that everyone should read the Bible for themselves,
that they made they did their best to make education available for all so people could learn to read the Bible?
Or in the same way, why is it that some people were willing to die in order for the Bible to be translated into their native language?
Was it simply they were just overzealous or fanatical?
Maybe they were, as some have said, just wanting more power or trying to control the people?
Why would someone like William Tyndale give his life?
He lost his life saying things like this.
I defy the Pope and all his laws.
If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow,
that he shall know more of the scripture than thou dost.
Why?
Why would people be so committed to get the scriptures into our hands so that we could read them?
It's because God has spoken.
God has communicated himself through creation, as we're going to look at very shortly.
He's communicated through the scriptures and ultimately through Jesus Christ.
The heart of what I want us to actually talk about today is verses 10 and 11,
where David here says that your word and all these descriptors are more to be desired than gold,
even the much fine gold, sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
In keeping your word, there is great reward.
Do we value God's word in that way?
Do we understand how incredible it is that God has communicated himself to us?
So today we're looking at the God who communicates.
The creator of this and sustainer of the universe who needed nothing from us
has decided to reveal himself to us.
Now, some of you may be thinking, great, yeah, another sermon making me feel guilty
for not reading my Bible enough or not rejoicing in creation as I should and all these things.
Hopefully that's not what you'll get out of today.
But instead that we will say we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
And I want more of that.
So we start out in chapter 19 verses 1 through 6,
where what we refer to as general revelation,
that God has revealed himself in a general way through creation.
It says the heavens are telling of the glory of God
and the sky proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.
Creation is revealing God.
God has communicated to us through his world.
That is one thing that we need to understand.
It's one way he's communicated to us.
So when we go up to the highlands or down to the Lake District
or even just walking out our front doors and seeing the stars at night
or seeing the sunrise or the beauty of the grass
or even a spider web that's glistening in the light,
all of these things are declaring the glory of God.
God is telling us that there is a God.
And when we pay attention, we'll feel a sense of awe.
Recently, we were driving down to Cornwall and I would just be like,
Kelly, Kelly, look at this view.
It's just like I'm in awe of what's going on.
And if we're thoughtful, we instinctively know that there is something going on
that is way much bigger than us.
That God, there is a God and he is doing something.
And if we just admit that, we will see that life is just more than our little worlds
that we tend to live in, our little bubbles.
But what exactly is God communicating through his creation?
Paul actually addresses this in Romans chapter 1 verses 19 and 20
when he says,
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 his divine nature,
have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world
in the things that have been made.
For they are without excuse.
In other words, God has given us a knowledge about him that is enough
so that we're without excuse.
We can't say, well, we didn't know there was a God.
He didn't reveal himself to me.
And scripture tells us that God is telling us about himself in creation
in a way that we know he exists and that he is powerful and divine.
But we, as his creation, will twist that.
We will suppress it, deny his existence.
We actually try to make ourselves as God.
But look at verses 3 and 4.
It says,
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
So in one sense, it's saying like,
like we have heard,
in another sense, we haven't heard.
Like what's he talking about there?
Like this general revelation doesn't reveal everything
or doesn't reveal enough.
It's like I heard someone say recently
that it's kind of like when you hear music through a wall.
Where it's like I hear something's going on,
but I can't quite make out what it is.
It's kind of like in just a minute,
you'll hear some bagpipes,
and you might not understand what in the world they're playing.
Now, I will admit when I hear thunderstruck,
I'm like, okay, I know what's being played there.
But a lot of times we'll start hearing this muffled sound,
and it's like it's enough to know it's there,
but it's not quite communicating precisely.
Maybe that's a bad illustration,
but I believe that's a little bit of how creation
is communicating to us.
It's unclear.
It's unspecific.
Therefore, God has communicated to us through his word.
There goes the bagpipes right now.
Right on cue.
God has communicated to us through his world,
but he has also communicated to us through his word.
Isaac Watts, the great English minister
who wrote Joy to the World,
and When I Surveyed the Wonders Cross,
he says this,
In other words, we're able to understand who God is
because he's communicated himself through his word.
Now, the next five verses are incredibly profound.
There's like six nouns, six descriptors, six verbs.
And someone has said it's kind of like facets of a diamond.
I mean, we see these intricacies in these words.
Don't want us to get lost in the beauty of the diamond
by trying to parse out the definitions of each of these words.
However, we are going to talk about that.
I mean, we've got this beautiful description of God's word,
but often when I'm going to go through some of these things,
for some of us, it may sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.
They're like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
It's like, okay, keep moving, go to something else.
We can just even get bored
when we hear these incredible things from Scripture,
because right now we still have these bodies of sin.
We still want to twist and suppress.
Even when we don't want to, we still do it.
When God is telling us these amazing things about his word.
Some commentators have pointed out how in verse 1,
David uses the word El or Elohim for God,
which is kind of this general name or title for God.
But when we get down to verse 7,
David switches to the Hebrew Yahweh,
the specific covenant name of God,
translated in our Bibles as Lord,
usually with all caps.
Verse 1 through 6,
creation has given us a general sense of who God is
that everyone can see.
But verses 7 through 11,
God specifically reveals himself,
revealing his covenant love.
It's like one pastor said,
he said, when you look at creation,
you don't think God is a God of love.
If you're just looking at creation,
you might see the power and terror of a natural disaster,
or you might see the violence
in the predator-prey relationship,
or you might see the majesty in the mountains
and the stars and sunsets.
But how do we know God's love?
I mean, you don't get attacked by midges
and be like, oh, God loves me deeply, right?
So how do we know these things?
It's because God has revealed that to us,
that he is a God of love in his scriptures.
He speaks to us through the scriptures.
Peter addresses this briefly in 2 Peter 1,
where he says,
no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
but men spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So these words of who God is
were written down, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit
so that we can know him.
And one of the things I want you to hear
as we start saying words like law and precepts
and rules and things like that,
I want you to understand that when David is writing this,
he is excited.
He is gushing with excitement
as he is talking about God revealing himself
in creation and now in his word.
Look at what he says.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
That word law means instruction.
It's teaching man all that he needs to know to flourish.
It's like the manual sent by the manufacturer.
The scriptures create a standard
that must be obeyed in order for us to flourish.
God has said,
here is how you should live.
It says the law of the Lord is perfect.
That word perfect means complete,
comprehensive.
It covers all aspects of a thing.
It's everything we need to know
for life and godliness,
as Peter says in 2 Peter 1.
God has communicated himself
through his word in a complete way
where we can know him
and know what he desires from us.
And it says the law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
This word can also be translated as
restoring the soul.
It's the same words that are used in Psalm 23.
He restores my soul.
This word restore means to turn back,
to get back to the state it should be.
One translation says converting the soul.
It means a change that happens.
And he says in this soul,
it's that Hebrew word nephesh
that means the inner person.
Who you really are,
the self, the mind, the heart,
your person, who you are.
It's saying God's word transforms us
totally in the inner person.
And when you hear this word
that he restores my soul,
we hear the intimacy of it in Psalm 23.
We don't necessarily hear it as well
here when it says the law of the Lord
is perfect, restoring or reviving the soul.
But what we hear when it says
that God is giving us
what will transform and restore our souls,
he's inviting us into a relationship with him.
It's only that relationship
where this language makes sense,
like we see in Psalm 23,
that he restores, revives the soul.
It's not just some cold written law.
It is God revealing himself to us.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
Hopefully you're not hearing
wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
Right?
Anyway, the testimony of the Lord,
he says, is sure.
Making wise the simple.
This word testimony,
it means what God has testified
to be his will.
It's a witness to who God is
and what he desires for us,
what he wills.
The scriptures are an expression
of God's own heart,
his nature, his attributes.
And it says the testimony of the Lord
is sure.
It's reliable.
It can be trusted.
The testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple.
Now this word simple
is a word that literally means open-minded.
And what it means by that
is someone who's not able
to close their mind off
to what is good and what is bad.
And what David is saying here
is that the word of God,
the testimony of God,
of the Lord,
helps us to discern what is right.
Help us, helps us to discern
the words of life
versus what is wrong.
What will lead us astray?
What will lead us away from him?
We don't just need to be
completely open-minded.
We need discernment,
not naively open-minded,
but discerning through his scriptures.
And the scriptures give us
that discernment and wisdom for life.
I mean, you can just,
we could go to so many
different Proverbs
or so many different places
in scripture where we get wisdom.
But one of my favorite Proverbs
is Proverbs 38 and 9
where he says,
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with the food
that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, who is the Lord?
Or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
He's saying like,
we instinctively want to pursue riches,
but that can be bad for us.
He says, if you give me all this wealth,
I might deny you and say,
who is God?
But I also don't want to be poor
because it'll look like you're unfaithful.
And I might steal and profane
your name in that.
That's wisdom to know
that we don't need to pursue riches,
that we don't need to think
that more is always better.
And that is the wisdom
that Scripture makes plain
to the simple-minded.
The testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple.
He then says,
The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart.
Precepts are what God
has appointed to be done.
It refers to doctrine
and absolute truths,
principles for life.
And he says,
The precepts of the Lord are right.
This is not right versus wrong here.
This is, it leads us on the right path.
It's the way that we are
to navigate the world.
David is saying,
You've revealed that to us.
You've shown us how to live.
The right path.
And when we follow your word,
it leads us on the right path.
And it says,
when we do that,
rejoicing the heart.
True joy comes
from following God
in the paths of righteousness.
True joy is what we're talking about here.
Just like Jesus said
in Luke chapter 11, verse 28,
Happy,
blessed are those
who hear the word of God
and keep it.
Jesus is telling us
the way to a flourishing life
is by obeying God's word,
hearing his word,
and keeping it.
So the scriptures
are wise principles
and truths for living
that perfectly fit our need
and our condition.
God's word is for our good.
And again,
David is excited about this.
I hesitate to walk through all this
because I don't want this
to sound boring.
David is gushing over here.
The word of God,
God has spoken to us
and has communicated to us.
And that is anything but boring.
The commandment of the Lord,
he says,
is pure,
enlightening the eyes.
Commandment here,
divine decrees,
they're binding.
There's this idea
and commandments of judgment
versus reward.
In other words,
when you obey God,
there is reward.
When you don't follow him,
there is judgment.
In other words,
God's word sits
as an authority over us,
able to tell us
what we should
and should not do.
And he says,
that commandment is pure.
It's clear.
It's free from corruption.
And it enlightens the eyes.
In other words,
it helps us to see
the way things really are.
It helps us to understand
what is true.
What is reality?
David says in Psalm 119, 105,
your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
It shows me the way
that I should go.
David loves God's word.
He says here,
the fear of the Lord
is clean,
enduring forever.
Fear is this idea
of awe and reverence
in scripture.
One of the things
that we can take away
from this is that
he's saying it reveals
how to worship God
as we should.
It's free from corruption.
It's clean.
The fear of the Lord
is clean,
enduring forever.
In other words,
God's word
and the way he says
to approach him
in fear,
in awe,
in reverence,
in other words,
in worship,
this is something
that never gets stale.
It never gets old.
They're permanent.
It never becomes irrelevant.
It's relevant
for every generation.
Unlike the apps
of our phones
that always need updating,
this is God's word
that does not need
an update.
It does not need
improvement.
The fear of the Lord
is clean,
enduring forever.
Scriptures are
permanently relevant,
written down
for all time,
for every place.
They show us
how to worship God
in spirit and truth.
How can we approach
this God
that satisfies our souls?
And then lastly,
the rules of the Lord
are true
and righteous
all together.
Rules.
These are divine,
what the divine judge
has ruled as right.
Now this is the word
that's right versus wrong.
His verdicts,
his word,
it's never guilty
of injustice
or unfairness,
but his word
is always righteous
all together.
It's true relative.
In the age of relativity,
it stands firm.
All of these things
that says
we can rely on it.
Comprehensive righteousness,
the way that is right.
This is the word
of the Lord.
Now,
he's not saying
the love of the Lord
is this.
The mercy of the Lord
is this.
The grace of the Lord.
The hope in the Lord.
He's using words
like law,
testimony,
precepts,
commandments,
fear,
rules,
all these things
that we're like,
that sounds awful.
Don't bind me
with those things.
And David is saying,
you don't understand.
This is the way
we get life with God.
He's telling us
in creation
that he's there
and we should pursue him.
Listen,
he's actually revealed himself
specifically in his word.
David's really pumped
about this.
Like,
the language is one
of satisfaction
and joy
in God's word.
God has spoken
through his word.
He has communicated
with us who he is.
He's communicated
to us who we are
and how to live
and step with him.
It's not just
how to live a better life
or how to live
your best life,
but how do we get God?
Through God's word,
we get him.
That's why David
is so excited.
I'm currently reading
a book called
Heart Aflame for God
and it's about
spiritual formation
from the Reformation.
Like,
how did the Reformers
view spiritual formation?
And they use words
like aflame.
And it was all how
the word of God
sets our hearts
on fire.
Passion.
Aflame for God.
It's just like
what we've been hearing
in the last four weeks
from the sermons
on the road to Emmaus
where they said,
did not our hearts
burn within us
while he opened up
the scriptures?
Do our hearts
burn within us
when the scriptures
are opened up
to us?
Our hearts
should be set aflame
for God
pursuing him
through his word.
And going back
to verse 10 and 11
that we mentioned
at the beginning,
he says,
more desirable
than gold,
than much fine gold.
We've all probably
had dreams of maybe
winning the lottery
or having that rich uncle
that leaves us
a bunch of money.
I'm going to go
a little full American here.
Yesterday was 4th of July.
I'm going to,
you know,
just go for it.
But there was a show
growing up called,
well,
I think it was on
when my parents
were growing up,
but it was called
the Beverly Hillbillies
if any of you
have ever heard that show.
And it's about
how this guy
finds oil
on his property
and they moved
to Beverly Hills,
Beverly Hillbillies,
right?
But they found this oil
and now they're rich.
And so,
we used to have this game
with my grandmother
who had some land.
It's like,
what if we found oil
on your property?
What would be
the first thing we would buy?
I know you might not
understand this in Scotland,
but we were like
a swimming pool,
you know,
because Alabama's
really hot.
But,
we used to dream
how much better
our lives would be
if we were able
to be rich.
We dream like that.
Apparently,
they dreamed like that
back then as well.
That's not a new
human condition thing.
That is something
that has always been.
And he's saying,
the Word of God,
because it reveals
who God is,
is much better
than all of that.
He's speaking
to our deepest desires
of what we think
will make us happy.
We have the words
of life
that lead us to Him
and in His presence
there's fullness of joy.
So,
it's more to be desired
than gold,
than much fine gold.
And then he says,
and sweeter also
than honey
in the drippings
of the honeycomb.
I get this.
Like,
I'm the guy
that always has room
for dessert,
right?
It's like,
hey,
do you want to get
some ice cream?
Ah,
no,
I'm not hungry.
That has nothing
to do with it.
There's,
I think it was Isaac
that was telling me
there's a second compartment
for dessert,
right?
There's always room
for pudding.
Apparently,
that's not a new thing
either.
Like,
they desired sweetness.
Sweeter also
than honey
and the drippings
of the honeycomb.
We're talking like
genuine cravings here.
I don't know
if you're like me,
but after I eat a meal,
sometimes like,
I just need to end
with something sweet.
It's something I crave.
Our bodies will crave.
Sugar is super addictive,
you know.
But when we talk
about sweets,
a lot of times
we even joke
about how it's good
for the soul.
Kind of the stereotypical
breakup thing
is like,
oh,
we broke up.
I'm going to eat
a pint of ice cream.
You know what I'm
talking about?
It's like,
we understand
that there's something,
a craving deep
within us
and a lot of times
it turns to sugar,
to the sweet things.
But David is speaking
to our cravings
and saying the word
of God,
it fulfills
that deepest desire
and it should be
our craving.
It's sweeter
than the sweetest thing
you can think of.
King David could have
anything that he wanted
and he says,
this is what I crave.
It's the word of God.
One preacher said,
the scriptures are greater
than honey and money.
It's what we crave
and what we seek
and it's greater
than all of those things.
So what?
What's the big deal?
Our God is a God
who communicates to us.
He reveals himself
so that we can know
the one that our souls
are craving.
And the primary way
that we communicate with him
is through his word.
We know who God is
through his word.
We know how to pray
because of God's word.
We understand how to navigate
this life
because of God's word.
And he speaks to us today
through his world.
We are seeing
and it's telling us
of his glory
through his word.
All these things
that we've just talked about.
But all of history
culminated
at the moment
that God communicated
himself through his sign.
John 1.1
in the beginning
was the word
and the word
was with God
and the word
was God.
The word
became flesh
and made his dwelling
among us.
I love John 1.18
as it goes through
that passage
and he says,
no one has ever seen God.
God,
the only son
who is at the father's side,
he has made him known.
That word there
in the Greek
says that Jesus
exegetes God.
What does that mean?
It means he explains
him to us.
The ultimate revelation
of who God is
is found
in Jesus Christ.
God so wanted
to communicate himself
to us
that he came
himself.
He came
in the flesh.
Jesus is the word
and he shows us
what God is like,
what God desires,
how to live,
how to find life.
And Jesus says
in John 15
that the way
we abide in Jesus
is through God's word,
through obeying
his commands,
letting the word
dwell in us.
Do you see
how much love
God has for us
that he would go
to these lengths
to reveal himself
to us?
And he didn't have to.
He wanted to go
to these lengths
so much
that he sent,
he came himself.
He sent his son,
Jesus.
Jesus lived the life
that we couldn't live,
died the death
that we deserve to die
so that we could
know this God
fully
and one day
be with him
forever.
Do we understand
the treasure
that we have
in front of us?
That we actually
now carry
in our pockets?
Do we get numb
to the fact
that we have
the word
of the living God
revealing himself
to us?
We have it
and it's greater
than any treasure
that we own.
Do we spend time
mining this treasure
so that we can grow
in our relationship
with God?
I was reminded
of a video
that I saw
about 10 years ago
and it's this tribe
in Indonesia
that was holding
this massive celebration
as a math plane
comes in
and is delivering
to them
the full New Testament
for the first time.
They're crying,
they're celebrating
this moment
that we've been waiting on.
We have God's word
to us.
And every time
I watch that
or hear that video,
it just reminds me
of how little
I can treasure
the word of God.
That it,
how often
I can read it
and it not impact
my day.
Peter says
in 2 Peter,
I've quoted that
a couple of times already,
in 2 Peter 1,
maybe you go read
that this week,
it's a good passage.
Peter says,
we saw his majesty,
we even heard
the voice of God,
yet,
he says in verse 21,
sorry,
not in verse 21,
I forget which verse
it is,
I wrote the wrong
verse down,
but he says
that we have,
even though we've seen
and heard,
we have the prophetic
word more fully confirmed.
And he's talking
about the scriptures.
We have this word
of how God
has revealed himself
to us so that
David says in Psalm 119,
oh how I love your law,
it is my meditation
all the day.
He says,
my soul keeps
your testimonies,
I love them exceedingly.
He even says,
it was good for me
that I was afflicted,
that I might learn
your statutes.
Do we love God's word
like this?
Do we seek
to keep God's word
with our whole hearts?
Can my friends
and my family
say that Ryan,
dad,
loves God's word?
Would that be
the testimony
because it's such
a part of our lives?
May we treasure
this word
knowing that it is
the greatest treasure
that we have?
May we meditate
on it day and night
as it tells us to?
And maybe a good
exercise this week
would be to go read
Psalm 119,
176 verses,
break it up,
it's actually broken up
into 22 sections,
and just see what
the word says
about itself
and the benefits
of it.
It can change
our lives.
Let's pray.
God,
we do thank you
that you are the God
that communicates,
that you have revealed
yourself in your world
so that we see
your beauty,
your glory in creation.
We marvel
at some of the things
we see.
We hear about the number
of the stars
in the galaxy,
the universe,
like we can't even
comprehend your greatness,
your divine power,
your divine nature,
yet you have given us
your word
so that we can know you,
so that we will seek you
and find you.
You sent Jesus.
The word became flesh
so that we could have
that relationship with you
that will fulfill
our every desire.
Help us to treasure
your word.
Help us to seek you.
Help us to hold fast
to what your word says
because we know,
as the disciple said,
you have the words of life.
Where else are we going to go?
Help us to value your word
in that way.
We pray all these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.