And good day everybody, let's bow our heads to our praying.
Heavenly Father, by your spirit and through your words, speak to us right now and please
be changing and transforming our thoughts and our attitudes and our beliefs to be in
accordance with yours and in accordance with what is true, that we would be changed and
transformed.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
How would you rate yourself if you applied consumer standards to how you worship God?
So, you know, if your car starts two out of three, do you go back to the dealer and say,
that's okay?
Or if your refrigerator works for a day or two or stops working for a day or two every
once in a while, would you think, well, it works most of the time, it'll do?
Or my iPhone locks up every couple of hours but it works all the rest of the time, then
I'm happy with that.
Yes?
Or the water heater delivers an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?
If you miss a couple of loan payments every 12 months, do the bank say to you, well, 10
out of 12 ain't bad.
So, if you read your Bible once a month, if you come to church when you feel like it, if
you won't meet in a small group because you don't like the people in it, if you're always
grumbling about brothers and sisters not meeting your standards, if you're always expecting
to be served and never serve, what's that say about you?
Not other people, you and for me, what's it say about me when I do those things?
Now, don't take that as a guilt trip, just say it as a thoughtful challenge and I'll now
tell you that that was a very unfair thing for a preacher to do.
Do you know why?
Because we are always faulty, aren't we?
And we are not perfect except through the grace of Christ, so I don't want to press it
too far.
We don't become part of God's family by measuring up to a set of performance standards.
We are here by the grace and mercy of Christ, but the way we live does reflect our view of
God and ourselves and that's a bit why I've used it just now, because in a sense our lives
are a practical demonstration of what Christ means to us.
And I think a lot of the time, and this is true for me and it probably is true for you
in some measure, our lives project an inadequate view of God and his majesty.
This is the third message in a row.
We didn't plan a preaching series, this is something that God has stitched together.
But it's a third message in a row where the glory of God has been on display in the Bible
passages which we have been preaching.
So two weeks ago Steve preached to us from Isaiah 6, one week ago I think Sam spoke to
us from Psalm 8, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
And then having said that, said, and what are people that you even take notice of them and
regard them?
And today, tonight, I come to Psalm 19.
And this is a psalm that C.S.
Lewis, the great writer, described as the greatest poem in the Psalms and one of the greatest
lyrics in the world.
I'm going to read from there.
Psalm 19, verse 1, fantastic if you're following your Bibles as I speak.
The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard, their voice goes out into
all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth
from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run its course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other, and there is nothing
hidden from its heat.
So the writer looks up into the daytime sky, and he looks up into the nighttime sky, and
he says, wow, it speaks.
And it's telling us how glorious God is.
The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims the work of his hands.
And then in verse 2, day after day, they pour forth speech, night after night they display
knowledge.
The heavens are always speaking, they never stop.
The only time you don't see them speaking is when the cloud goes over.
And they are speaking every day, and they are speaking every night, and they never stop
telling us that God is glorious.
And he says to us, there's no speech, there's no language, there's nowhere on the earth that
their voice is not heard.
Every person on the earth hears the same message in every place and in every language.
And we're being told how glorious God is.
They tell us what an extraordinary creator we have.
He's an artist.
The universe is his canvas.
Every person on the planet lives in his gallery.
So every man, every woman, every child has an opportunity to be blown away by his artistry.
And he uses this daytime illustration.
It's a wonderful illustration.
The sun coming up in the morning, rising out of his tent, coming out like the champion,
ready to do battle.
And he marches across the heavens.
Boom, boom, boom.
And he puts his heat on everyone.
I don't see many sunrises, to be honest.
But I did see a magnificent sunrise a couple of years ago.
We were on holidays on the central coast.
And I think Gary and I woke up early in the dark.
And I said, oh, it must be nearly sunrise.
Let's go and sit on the sand dune.
And we went and sat on the sand dune.
And it's like waiting for a great performance to begin.
You see the horizon begins to lighten.
And it seems like it's just about to happen.
And the suspense is growing.
A bit like Giant Jenga.
The suspense is growing and growing and growing.
And you think it must be there.
And then suddenly the golden crown comes across the horizon.
And the sun marches up at speed.
You watch it growing and growing and growing over the horizon before it gets set and comes.
And it is the most magnificent display.
And do you know what?
That happens every day.
I've got to tell you.
Some people pick a passage like this and they say,
oh, the Bible's so out of date and unsophisticated.
The sun doesn't go round the earth.
The earth goes round the sun.
Duh.
And I as the preacher want to say, you're not fair.
That's so unfair.
This is written 3,000 years ago before we had telescopes and Copernicus and everybody.
And the person who wrote this down has used the most magnificent poetry to describe this awesome event which happens every day.
He's blown away by the wonder of creation.
And I think we have to be really, really careful with all our sophistication and our science that we lose the wonder.
Oh, yeah, we know it goes.
The earth goes round the sun.
It's held in elliptical order by the Jupiter out there and all the rest.
I mean, we just lose it.
It's true, but we lose the wonder.
I can think of another moment of wonder.
Who's had the last little baby?
Annabelle, is she the last one out?
Well, just checking.
Isn't there something wondrous about that moment?
I mean, we could stand there.
We could have the medicos out the front and they could tell us about how it all happens.
But you've got to be there in the moment to appreciate just how wonderful this is.
It's cool.
And I've been there five times.
I can tell you it's really wonderful.
Kerry might say differently.
No, I think she'll say it's really wonderful, but it was really easy for you.
Okay?
I love being in the bush.
And clear, moonless night.
That's the other picture that's here in Psalm 19.
Clear, moonless night.
You gaze into the heavens.
My son Andrew went on an excursion to the Warren Bungles, which wasn't far from where we lived at Wee War.
And they went to the planetarium.
And he came back with all this knowledge that I've never had before about which constellations and galaxies are out there and what you can see.
And he got me to take him out of town.
And we went out to somebody's property.
And we were way away from town.
We were way away from the house.
We turned off the lights.
There was no moon.
Pitch black.
We looked up into the heavens.
And the sky just comes alive.
You see that many stars.
And you just go, wow.
And I know what I did with him.
He stood there and he said to me, Dad, that's the serpent over there on the horizon.
See the stars?
And that's Scorpio up there.
And I'm going, boy, I wish I could remember what he's remembered.
But he could see things that I couldn't even see.
And it was just fantastic to have them shown to me.
You don't see stars like that in Sydney.
But the enormity and the vastness of the universe stirred me.
We stood there.
We prayed.
And we gave God thanks and the glory for what he has made.
We could look at those things and say, thank you, God.
You are awesome.
You are creator.
You are magnificent in what you have brought into being.
And you allow us to share in that.
So for us, the glory of the heavens told us about the glory of God.
They told us about the majesty of our creator.
Psalm 19 says to us that every person on the planet hears the same message.
Every person, every language spoken to in exactly the same way,
the heavens are declaring the glory of God.
If everybody could understand in our church family my message tonight,
we would not have Chinese, Cantonese and Mandarin congregations.
We would all be building a bigger building and we'd be in the one place
and we'd be brothers and sisters in Christ understanding one another.
But Psalm 19 speaks in a universal language which is heard by everyone.
Romans chapter 10 verse 19, no, Romans chapter 10 verse 18 quotes Psalm 19.
And it applies Psalm 19 to what people hear.
And the context is that God has something to say,
but not everybody's obedient to it.
So in Romans, Paul goes back and he grabs Psalm 19 and he says,
but I asked, did they not hear?
Of course they did.
Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
The heavens are speaking.
They are declaring God's glory.
But just because something's said doesn't mean it's heard or acted on.
So mum and dad and mum says,
dinner's ready.
Why do you laugh?
Because you do what I do sometimes.
The message goes out and it's not responded to, is it?
And I had the silly occasion the other week I came in as the family was finishing dinner
and I said, I didn't even know you'd started.
But there you go.
The ancient Greeks and Romans heard the heavens speak
and they turned them into gods.
The Darwinian evolutionist hears the heavens speak
and praises the random forces of nature for what they've achieved.
Isn't that a nonsense?
I think it's very human to be thrilled by the wonder of creation.
I think every greenie does it, don't they?
They look at it and they just say, this is so magnificent.
Look at how it all fits together.
Everybody who's been to the US that I know and sees the Grand Canyon,
I haven't seen it yet, just goes, wow.
Or to Nepal or North India and sees the Himalayas.
They're blown away by what they see.
But just because you see something that makes you go, wow,
doesn't mean that you give glory to our maker.
And the Bible tells us that we're going to be held accountable for what we've heard.
Romans 1, verse 18,
that the anger of God is being revealed from heaven
against all the godlessness and wickedness of people
who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Since what may be known about God is plain to them.
Because God's made it plain to them.
For since the creation of the world,
God's invisible qualities,
his eternal power and his divine nature
have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made
so that people are without excuse.
Psalmist stands in awe of the silent heavens
and he hears them saying,
God is glorious.
And he gives glory and honour and praise
to the unseen God who has made them.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
The writer doesn't personalise God at this stage.
He actually uses a very general name for God.
It's L, E-L.
We sometimes sing a song like El Shaddai.
It means God Almighty.
The L part just means God.
And sometimes in the Bible, in the Old Testament,
it's even used for other gods,
not even the true God, just God.
The creation speaks.
Yes, it declares a glorious God.
But the next part of the psalm says
that God himself speaks.
And God is a God who reveals himself in words.
So verse 7.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure and enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure
and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
Now this time he actually changes
the word he uses for God.
And I think Sam talked about this last week,
but he said he uses the word Yahweh,
the Lord.
He uses the special name of God
which was revealed to Moses
in the Old Testament.
And the Lord isn't somebody
who is merely out there in the heavens
and standing aloof and all remote.
He has come very close to people
and his people know him personally.
They know his name.
He's revealed himself to them
in words and in actions.
God has reached down to us.
And it's why Christian faith,
I hate it when it's even referred to as a religion,
Christianity as a religion.
This is not religion.
This is relationship with the living God
of the universe.
See, religion is about reaching up to God
and trying to grab hold of God,
whatever he might look like
or however he might be,
trying to keep God's happy.
Some of the nations that God threw out of Israel
were nations that worshipped
by burning their kids in fire
so that they'd make their God happy.
They wanted their gods to make their lives easy,
to protect them from flood and drought
and sickness and disease
and give them a crop,
give them an income.
And it's almost like our prayers become sometimes,
Lord, just give us what we want,
give us what we need,
rather than actually seeing who he is
and his glory
and seeing that he's the one
who's actually reached down to us,
that we don't have to make him happy
because he's taken the initiative
to bring us into relationship with him.
The law of the Lord,
the statutes of the Lord,
the precepts of the Lord,
the commands of the Lord,
the fear of the Lord,
the ordinances of the Lord.
It's all the things that we find in the scriptures,
the Old Testament in particular,
are the people of God in the Old Testament
relating through the law,
the scriptures given through Moses.
What God gave his people
was the information that they needed
to relate to him in a right way.
His laws reveal his character.
The majesty of God is revealed in his word.
He is very good to his people.
The New Testament takes us even further
and tells us even more about what God has done.
John 1, verse 14,
where we were a minute ago.
The word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory,
the glory of the one and only
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ has stepped into the world,
left his throne in heaven,
left his Father and come amongst us
and revealed the glory of God to us
in his own person.
Hebrews 1, verse 1,
In the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets
at many times and in various ways.
But in these last days
he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things
and through whom he made the universe.
God is a God who speaks
and he still speaks.
He's spoken to us through the person of his Son.
He's proved his love to us
through the death and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has shown how seriously he takes our sin
and God has made a sacrifice for us
which turns away his anger.
Listen to the wonderful words
which describe the power of God's word.
God revives the soul.
It's trustworthy.
Makes simple people wise.
You don't have to be clever to be a Christian.
Gives joy to the heart.
Light to the eyes.
It endures forever.
It's sure.
It's righteous.
It's precious.
I think so many of the things
that we hunger for in life
can only come from God
and from his word.
Only come from God and his word.
See, we seek satisfaction in relationships
and we experience disappointment.
Sometimes, I guess, you know,
we look for a boyfriend or a girlfriend
and we just think,
oh, that'll make life so much better at the moment
and maybe that's a nice thing
and a good thing that God's given
but it doesn't solve all our problems
and meet all our emptiness.
And those of us who are married
know that even the best marriages
have their moments of biting disappointment.
Or we look for joy in wealth
and possessions and things
and we find worry.
And the more we have,
the more effort it takes to look after it.
I haven't got a pool
and I can't afford one
and I don't think the parish
is about to put one down at Rain Street
either.
Unless it's a Clark paddle pool
or something like that.
You should look at me and go,
life's tough, eh?
Not really.
But let me tell you,
over on the northern beaches
where my mum lives,
she's got a,
they've got family that lives next door
and they have this wonderful pool.
And they go away on holidays,
they let me swim in it.
And I can go over there
and I can swim in it for Nick
so I don't have to pay anything,
I don't have to put the chemicals in,
I don't have to clean it,
I don't have to pay the loan
at the bank,
I can just go and swim in it.
It's great fun.
I reckon if you own a pool,
it must suck to have to look after it.
And if you've got a pool
and you let me swim in it,
thank you.
So Songwriter found,
he found great joy and security
of relationship in God's law.
In relationship with God.
God has done something incredibly precious
when he spoke to us in words.
He revealed what he's like
and at the same time
he overwhelms us
with what we are not like.
And that brings the response
from the Songwriter
which we read in the very last verses.
Verse 12,
Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins.
May they not rule over me.
And then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
No.
It's a great ending
but I've got to tell you
the first time I read it
and many times I've read that
and I really had no idea
how to connect it
to what has just gone before.
And I really read the psalm
and I scratched my head.
But it's a glory of God response.
See, the writer encounters God
in creation and in his word
and he is just overwhelmed
by his glory.
And it's like Isaiah,
you know, encountering God
flat on his face.
Woe to me, I am ruined.
I am a man of unclean lips
and I live among a people
of unclean lips
and my eyes have seen
the Lord, the King,
the Lord of glory.
Or Peter, you know,
throw out your net
on the other side,
lands enough fish
to secure his life
for quite a while
and he just goes away from me,
Lord, I am a sinful man.
And it's the same here.
The writer sees,
reflects on God's glory
in creation
and God's glory
in his words
and he becomes
very aware
of how far short
he comes.
He's reflected
upon God's majesty
in creation.
He's thought hard
about how he measures
up against God's word
and he's down
on his knees
praying for forgiveness
and acceptance.
It's a very moving
and a marvellous reaction
to the Lord God.
I think it does us well
to think about
who wrote this.
King David.
Man described
as after God's own heart.
A man whose
strengths and victories
are on display
in the scripture.
A man whose
tremendous failures
in the flesh
are also on display
in the scripture.
But he did love
the Lord
and God continued
to work with him.
And he prays
in verse 12,
he says,
forgive my
hidden faults.
And verse 13,
keep me from
willful sins.
He knows
he's not perfect,
he's like us,
he struggles
with deliberate sin,
he fights against it
but it's still there
and he's also
wise enough
to know that
even if he's got
his will in check
there are plenty
of areas of his life
where he falls short
even if he can't see it.
things like pride,
you know,
you struggle to be
a humble man
or woman
and somebody says
to you,
boy you're a humble
man or woman
and then you say,
I know.
Doesn't work,
does it?
We are sinful
to the core
and we need
a saviour.
I said to our
830 people this morning,
I said both services
really but
one of the things
I often don't do
in a communion service
with our older people
and they'd really
love me to do it
is to read
the Ten Commandments
which are part
of the service
and a lot of old churches
and this is one of them
used to have
a board
out the front
with the Ten Commandments
out there in front
of people all the time
and they told me
in the service
this morning
that it's in there
maybe turn backwards
no, it's not
but I want to say
it's scripture
the Ten Commandments
are scripture
and there is nothing
wrong with God's word
and Jesus said nothing
to turn those commandments
on their head
or to revoke them
so in terms of
what they say
they are God's truth
and they are worth
hearing
I said to the church
family this morning
one of the reasons
I really don't like
reading them regularly
in the communion service
is because
thou shalt not
commit adultery
oh tick
I haven't done that
thou shalt not
murder
well
certainly never
done that
thou shalt not
steal
oh
no
well back in
second class
I might have
taken a friend's
rubber
no I haven't
done anything
much like that
for a while
and so what happens
as we do that
we look at God's word
and we go
tick
and what we do
is we glory
in ourselves
at that moment
and it's almost
like
look at me
look at how
I measure up
against God's law
and we steal
God's glory
and I think
it's why
Jesus in the
Sermon on the
Mount
turned some
of these
things on
their head
to help
people to
think about
what really
mattered
and what
they really
mean
so you guys
say that you
have never
committed adultery
said Jesus
I want to say
to you that
if you've even
looked at a woman
lustfully
you've committed
adultery in your
heart
and to all of you
you say you've
never murdered
if you have even
hated another
person in your
heart
then you've done
even worse than
murder
men's breakfast
yesterday morning
was a really good
time for a number
of reasons
and I went away
there are a few
things I was thinking
about that I was
reflecting on
but I was very
moved later in
the day as I
thought about
what happened
because the
thing that
moved me most
is that Ian
who's on the
drums often
he gave his
testimony
he gave a bit
of a talk
and he said
how much he
loves Vander
a couple of
times through
the morning
and I went
away and
thought wasn't
that a wonderful
thing to hear
one brother in
Christ saying
how much he
loved another
brother in
Christ
Christ and
I thought
wouldn't that
be a wonderful
thing to be
being repeated
over and over
and over again
in our church
family where we
speak of one
another as I
really love you
I really love
that person in
Christ I really
love them for the
way that they
encourage me and
know me and build
me up and I
took that a step
further because I'm
saying to you
I need people
that I can go
to and say
brother I'm
struggling
brother there's
all this stuff
that's going on
in my life and
I need to tell
you about it
because I need
you to remind
me from the
scriptures one
what I already
know that if
it's sin to be
able to say
look brother I
know it's a sin
but I want to
remind you of
the grace and
mercy and
kindness of
Christ in
bringing forgiveness
for that sin
and I want to
encourage you to
cling to Christ
and I will pray
for you and I
will ask you how
you're going
and what do we
need for that to
happen we need
trusting relationships
don't we we
also need people
who don't feel
like they need to
pretend where
we're able to
come and say I
am broken and
I need a
saviour and
yes I struggle
here and I
struggle here
and where we
don't jump on
one another in
guilt and
judgement but
where we work to
build one another
up in Christ
even in the
face of our
sin
I think it's
true worship
this is a
wonderful passage
what goes on
here the whole
creation that we
live in declares
the glory of God
has been revealed
to us in his
word and and
lastly through his
son the Lord
Jesus Christ
and it is true
worship to
acknowledge God
for who he is
but it also means
knowing ourselves
for who we are
true worship is
being brought face
to face with God
acknowledging our
sinfulness
delighting in his
glory and
rejoicing in the
safety and the
undeserved forgiveness
that we find in
Christ who can
forgive even our
hidden sin
amen
for our
forms crochets
to face with
him
Micłem
with