God Has Made Himself Known:
General Relevation: God's CREATION (Ps 19:1-6)Special Relevation: God's WORD (Ps 19:7-14)
God's Word is Good!
I NEED God's Word. (Ps 19:7-9)
- It lead me to LIFE . (Ps 19:7a)
- It WISES me up. (Ps 19:7b)
- It BRINGS me joy. (Ps 19:8a)
- It GUIDES my way. (Ps 19:8b)
I WANT God's Word. (Ps 19:10-14)
- I see it's VALUE . (Ps 19:10)
- I see it's IMPACT . (Ps 19:11)
- I see it's AUTHOR . (Ps 19:12-14)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
-
00:01-00:05
Turn in your Bibles with me please to Psalm 19.
00:07-00:13
While you're turning there, I do have a couple of announcements I'd like to make in addition to the ones that Amanda had made earlier.
00:14-00:19
I had mentioned about today we're honoring moms and I said mother figures also.
00:20-00:26
And many of you know our grandma Barb that has visited here on several occasions.
00:27-00:31
She's not biologically related to anybody in my family.
00:31-00:41
But we call her "Grandma" because she has been such a motherly/grandmotherly figure in our lives for...
00:41-00:44
gosh, since like 1996, 1997.
00:44-00:45
We go way back.
00:46-00:53
She doesn't have children of her own, but she certainly qualifies in the mother category.
00:53-00:55
That is true for some ladies.
00:55-01:00
Maybe if you've never had your own children, you have been a mother figure to somebody.
01:00-01:03
We certainly celebrate you today as well.
01:03-01:03
Amen?
01:05-01:15
Also, as you know, the earthquake that had recently hit Nepal resulted in massive devastation.
01:15-01:21
And I don't know if everyone here does know this, but we actually have a Harvest Bible Chapel in Nepal.
01:22-01:26
A lot of devastation to the church, of the church.
01:27-01:36
And if you're wondering, is there a way that we can give to help support rebuilding, we are going to send out an email this week.
01:36-01:39
And I'll get it posted on our website as well if you're not on our email list.
01:39-01:41
But I've talked to our elders about this.
01:41-01:43
We are not going to be taking an offering here.
01:44-01:46
What we're going to do is have it available on our website.
01:47-01:47
We'll send the email out.
01:48-01:56
But there is a website where you can go where you can give to help with the relief efforts rebuilding after the earthquake in Nepal.
01:57-02:05
Terrible devastation, but it's going to be an opportunity that the Lord is going to use Harvest Bible Chapel in Nepal to minister to hurting people.
02:06-02:13
And we look forward to seeing how the Lord is going to glorify His name in the midst of that horrible event.
02:14-02:15
Alright, Psalm 19.
02:16-02:17
Let's bow our heads and pray.
02:19-02:21
Father, just now we're turning to Your Word.
02:23-02:27
It's just simply my prayer today, Father, that we would take Your Word as seriously as You do.
02:28-02:33
Your Word actually tells us that You've exalted Your Word even above Your name.
02:35-02:38
And Father, we live in a day where people have denied it.
02:38-02:40
People have discredited it.
02:40-02:41
Have tried to.
02:43-02:44
People have defied it.
02:46-02:47
But Your Word still stands.
02:48-02:50
And it will stand forever.
02:51-02:57
with our prayer that it would minister to our hearts over these next few moments.
02:58-03:01
I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
03:02-03:17
Our series is "God is Good." And I shared with you last week, going into a series like this, I did have the thought that there were going to be some people that would think that seems awfully elementary.
03:18-03:19
I mean, God is good.
03:19-03:22
That's like one of the first things to teach our children, right?
03:22-03:24
When we sit down to pray at mealtime, you remember the prayer?
03:25-03:26
God is great.
03:27-03:29
God is - what's the rest? Go ahead.
03:30-03:31
Amen. Right.
03:31-03:33
You know the rest of it?
03:33-03:33
Like the bonus verse?
03:34-03:34
How many people know that?
03:35-03:38
"By His hand, we are fed.
03:39-03:44
Give us, Lord, our daily bread." Ok, some of you know that one.
03:44-03:47
But my point is, we teach children from a very young age that God is good.
03:48-03:51
And we come Sunday morning And we worship God.
03:51-03:51
God is good.
03:51-03:53
And we talk about the Lord.
03:53-03:54
And we pray to the Lord.
03:54-03:55
God is good.
03:55-03:56
God is good.
03:56-04:05
But I shared with you last week, when tragedy comes into our lives, Satan would cast a big shadow of doubt over that.
04:06-04:08
I got a phone call yesterday from our cousin in Florida.
04:10-04:11
Her husband had passed away.
04:12-04:15
He'd been battling cancer for quite some time.
04:15-04:17
And she texted me again last night.
04:18-04:27
And she said one of her well -meaning friends came to her and said, "I don't know what you've done to deserve this." Because it wasn't too long ago, she had to bury her son.
04:29-05:15
So to lose a son and her husband in such a short span, her unofficial counselor came to her and said, "I don't know what you did to deserve this." But you have to see that that's one of the ways the enemy would plant that seed in your head. Yeah, what did I do to deserve this? Maybe God's not as good as I thought He was. And I just simply said to her, knowing you, I'm sure you are thankful for the time that you did have with your husband, and you are thankful for the time that you did have with your son. And you look forward to the day when you'll be reunited with both of them for eternity. And she said, "Amen!" with like 12 exclamation points.
05:17-05:21
But you see, we are not going to let Satan get a victory there to cast this shadow of doubt.
05:21-05:22
Is God good?
05:22-05:23
Is God good?
05:23-05:25
I thought He was, but look at all of this stuff that is happening.
05:25-05:26
Is God good?
05:28-05:30
As I said, it is Satan's oldest ploy.
05:31-06:07
And with this sermon series, I simply want to do one thing, and that is to go right at the heart of this lie that Satan would have you believe that God isn't good, that God doesn't love you, that God isn't for you. We're going to attack that lie with one simple statement and the statement was from Psalm 100 verse 5, "For the Lord is good." So in Psalm 19, I want you to take some notes here. God has made himself known. Look at this on your outline. We're going to be talking about two things. This is some Bible Bible College 101 type stuff here.
06:08-06:14
In Psalm 19, we see that God has made Himself known, and He's made Himself known through two ways.
06:15-06:20
And the first way is what is called general revelation, meaning God's creation.
06:22-06:25
I want you to look at the first six verses to see what we mean.
06:25-06:30
This is how God has made Himself known to us on the earth.
06:30-06:37
It says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, The sky above proclaims His handiwork.
06:39-06:43
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
06:44-06:50
There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.
06:52-06:58
Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
06:59-07:00
Like, wait a second, what's he talking about here?
07:00-07:11
He's talking about there's all this declaring and proclaiming in speech, and then he turns around and says, "But there's no words." And you totally understand what he's talking about.
07:12-07:20
When you look at God's creation, God is preaching a message through His creation without words that everyone hears.
07:21-07:26
When we look at creation, what we see is God's glory on display.
07:28-07:40
And any time you've looked at a sunset and thought to yourself, "Wow! Look at that!" Do you know what it was that made you go, "Wow! Look at that!" Do you know what that was?
07:40-07:42
That was God preaching to you.
07:43-07:47
That was a sermon without words that He was preaching to you.
07:48-07:59
If you've ever stood on the beach and looked out the massive ocean waters before you and seen the waves and thought to yourself, "Wow!
08:01-08:04
What is it that makes you go, "Wow!
08:05-08:13
You are responding to a sermon that God is preaching to your heart!" That's what is making you feel that.
08:15-08:24
If you've ever looked up at night and seen the stars on a clear night, and thought to yourself, "Isn't that beautiful?
08:25-08:37
It's another sermon from God." If you've ever held a newborn baby in your hands, looked at this perfect creation from God, and thought, "Wow!
08:39-08:46
What a miracle!" You know, being a pastor, one of the perks of being a pastor is when somebody has a baby, I get to go to the hospital and see the baby.
08:47-08:48
And I love that.
08:48-08:51
I especially love how babies smell, and you guys know that.
08:51-08:53
I'm always like grabbing your baby, sniffing their head.
08:53-08:56
There is no better smell in the world than a baby's head.
08:58-08:58
True or false?
08:59-09:00
True.
09:01-09:02
It's not even up for debate, Jay.
09:03-09:04
It's true.
09:05-09:18
But you know, a phrase I hear almost every time without exception is people say, "What a little miracle!" What is it about that little person that makes you go, "What a little miracle!
09:18-09:21
What a beautiful, beautiful gift!" What is it?
09:22-09:26
It is because God is preaching a sermon to your heart without words.
09:27-09:33
is called general revelation. The Bible speaks much about that. Actually Romans 1.
09:34-09:59
Verses 18-21. We're not going to turn there, but you can jot that reference down. But Paul's point in Romans 1, he says God has made himself known through creation so that no one has an excuse. There's no one that's going to show up in heaven and say, "Oh my gosh, God, I didn't know you were real." It's clear because God, as the psalmist is pointing out here, God has been preaching this message worldwide, constantly.
09:59-10:03
Look at creation, because design demands a designer.
10:05-10:10
You don't look at a painting on a wall in an art gallery and say, "Wow, that was a beautiful accident.
10:10-10:21
It looks like somebody must have knocked a gallon of paint over onto a canvas." You know that because somebody designed it, there had to be this designer somewhere.
10:21-10:23
And that's what happens with creation.
10:24-10:25
God demands a designer.
10:27-10:28
Look at v. 4.
10:30-10:38
He says, "In them, in the heavens, He has set a tent for the Son." Why does He talk about the Son?
10:38-10:44
Well, because so many people groups and tribes all throughout history have worshipped the Son.
10:45-10:57
Here in the Psalms, David says, "My God created that Son that you worship, by the way." Speaking of the Son, v. 5, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber.
10:59-11:03
Something else I get to do as a preacher a lot is conduct weddings.
11:05-11:17
And just like I've had the joy of holding that newborn baby so many times, I've also had the joy at weddings to see this guy who we typically know is a slob, kind of a bum.
11:17-11:22
You know, we're kind of glad that this woman is marrying him to help clean him up a little bit.
11:22-11:24
You know the guy that I'm talking about, right?
11:24-11:25
You know who I'm talking about?
11:26-11:35
The guy that's like, he's in there, he's getting ready for the wedding, and you know he's ready as tucks, and he's going to make himself the most dashing man on the planet.
11:35-11:39
And you know, you know he's just in there getting himself ready for the wedding.
11:39-11:41
And like, you're waiting for him to come out.
11:41-11:42
And you've seen it, right?
11:42-11:45
He comes out, and it's just like...
11:47-11:48
(singing)
11:49-11:53
People say, "Wow, you clean up well." That's a silly picture.
11:53-11:55
That's exactly what he's saying about the Son.
11:55-11:57
He goes, "You know how glorious the Son is?
11:57-12:00
The Son is like that bridegroom coming out of His chamber.
12:01-12:03
Coming out, 'I am ready to get married!
12:04-12:06
And I've never looked better!'" And glorious.
12:07-12:08
He says that's what the Son is like.
12:09-12:11
Again, God's general revelation.
12:12-12:19
Then he says, "And like a strong man, runs its course with joy." I related to the baby thing.
12:19-12:21
I related to the bridegroom thing.
12:21-12:25
But this strongman running thing, no frame of reference there.
12:26-12:28
But I've seen it on TV, right?
12:28-12:29
The Olympic runners.
12:30-12:31
You've seen them, right?
12:31-12:35
Running and their muscles rippling with every step.
12:35-12:38
And like, wow, look at the power.
12:39-12:42
And he says that's what the sun is like on its course.
12:42-12:46
It's like this powerful runner on its track.
12:47-13:00
"As it's rising, it's from the end of the heavens, and it's circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat." Talking about the power of the sun.
13:01-13:02
And his point is obvious.
13:03-13:10
If the sun is this powerful, if the heavens are this glorious, what does that say about their Creator?
13:12-13:12
Right?
13:14-13:15
Awesome.
13:16-13:17
That's the Word. Awesome.
13:18-13:19
That's general revelation.
13:20-13:26
But David spends the rest of this psalm talking about what is called special revelation.
13:26-13:27
That is God's Word.
13:30-13:34
Now see, general revelation isn't enough.
13:35-13:39
You see, general revelation was intended to make people seek God.
13:40-13:42
I'm going to say that again. It's important.
13:42-13:46
General revelation was intended to make people seek God.
13:47-13:56
But God has revealed Himself - His character, His grace, His mercy, His salvation, who He is, what He's about.
13:56-14:00
God has revealed those things about Himself in a book.
14:01-14:02
In the Bible.
14:03-14:12
And that's called "Special Revelation." This book contains things that you can only find out about God in between the cover of this book.
14:15-14:20
You don't look at a sunset and say, "Whoever created this must be awesome.
14:21-14:23
Do you know what else I assume about this Creator?
14:23-14:33
Is that He sent His Son to die for my sins, and that He's gracious and merciful, and He's preparing this place for me." You don't come up with that stuff by looking at a sunset.
14:35-14:49
But the general revelation I've always been intended to make you go into this book to say, "I want to know the One who created this." That special revelation.
14:51-14:57
And that's why at Harvest Bible Chapel, we are committed to expository preaching.
14:59-15:00
Expository preaching is simply this.
15:00-15:04
We go through a book of the Bible verse by verse.
15:05-15:06
We take a chunk at a time.
15:07-15:08
What does this say?
15:08-15:09
What does it mean?
15:09-15:12
How can I reflect this truth into my life?
15:12-15:18
You know, for those of you guys that have been with us the last couple of years, we went through the Gospel of Mark, verse by verse.
15:18-15:20
We started in the first verse of chapter 1.
15:20-15:22
We ended in the last verse of chapter 16.
15:24-15:25
And expository preaching.
15:28-15:28
That's what we do.
15:30-15:34
That's why a couple of weeks ago when Mark Gort got up and preached, it was preaching the Word of God.
15:35-15:39
Last week, when Jane Auer gets up to preach, it will be preaching the Word of God.
15:41-15:45
If you've been around the block at all, you see that there are a lot of churches that don't do that.
15:46-15:48
We actually grew up in this church.
15:48-15:51
Remember, the sermons would be something like this.
15:52-16:03
Johnny went to buy some ice cream, and a small was 60 cents, and a medium was 80 cents, and a large was a dollar.
16:05-16:09
Johnny asked a waitress and she told him the price of the ice cream.
16:09-16:21
Johnny said, "I'm going to buy a medium." And she gave him a medium and he gave her a dollar because he wanted to have enough to leave her a 20 cent tip.
16:21-16:25
He could have bought the large, but he bought the medium to give her a tip.
16:26-16:29
And we should all be like Johnny.
16:30-16:32
Now let's sing that closing song.
16:34-16:35
I'm sure Johnny's a great kid.
16:36-16:39
And I'm sure Johnny's grandmama is so proud of him.
16:39-16:42
There is nothing transformational about a message like that.
16:43-16:45
That is not expository preaching.
16:45-16:48
And that's the way much preaching is going now.
16:48-16:53
We just tell stories and we want to make people laugh, and we want to make people cry.
16:54-16:59
But to actually take the time to dig into the text, to say what did God say?
17:00-17:02
It's becoming more and more rare.
17:04-17:09
That's why at our church, when you go to one of our small groups, we talk about the Word of God.
17:11-17:21
Whether it's one of our regular couple small groups or our men's Bible study, ladies' Bible study, we talk about the Word of God.
17:22-17:24
Young people go to our youth group, Arrow.
17:25-17:29
Dan Thompson is going to teach them the Word of God.
17:31-17:44
That's what we are committed to because Romans 10.17 says this, "So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ." You should write that reference down.
17:44-17:45
That is so important.
17:46-17:49
Why are we so fired up about the Bible?
17:49-17:50
Is it because it's in our name?
17:50-17:51
Harvest Bible Chapel?
17:52-18:00
The reason we're so fired up about the Bible is because according to Romans 10.17, faith Faith comes from only one place, and that is the Word of God.
18:01-18:03
Faith doesn't come from anywhere else.
18:03-18:05
It comes from God's Word.
18:06-18:11
And you know, church, there was a day that I thought it's my job to try to defend the Word of God.
18:11-18:14
And there is certainly a time and a place for apologetics.
18:15-18:16
Love apologetics.
18:16-18:17
Time and a place for it.
18:17-18:17
But you know what?
18:17-18:22
The older I get and the further I go in ministry, I've come to realize that God's Word is like a lion.
18:23-18:25
You don't have to defend a lion.
18:26-18:28
What you've got to do is let that lion out of the cage.
18:30-18:31
He'll take care of himself.
18:32-18:34
And that's how I feel about the Word of God.
18:34-18:40
I don't need to stand up here and try to sell you on the Word of God, or try to defend the Word of God to you.
18:40-18:43
I'll let the Word of God out of the cage.
18:44-18:45
It'll take care of itself.
18:46-18:46
Right?
18:49-18:50
So, message today.
18:51-18:52
God's Word is good.
18:54-18:54
God's Word is good.
18:56-19:00
But first of all, on your outline, I need God's Word.
19:02-19:03
I need God's Word.
19:05-19:06
Look at v. 7.
19:06-19:15
He goes from this general revelation, creation, we know God through the glory of creation, and all of a sudden, v. 7, He shifts, obviously, to the Word of God.
19:16-19:17
And you're going to see a pattern here.
19:17-19:21
He gives a synonym for the Word of God.
19:22-19:27
And then he gives a descriptive word, and then he talks about the effect that it has on a person.
19:27-19:28
I'm going to go through these quickly.
19:30-19:32
First of all, write this one down.
19:33-19:36
Verse 7a - "It leads me to life." Why do I need the Word of God?
19:36-19:37
Because it leads me to life.
19:38-19:39
I'm dead in my sins by nature.
19:40-19:42
The Word of God leads me to life.
19:43-19:55
Verse 7 says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul." That word "law" sees God like a teacher in a classroom.
19:56-20:01
He says this law is perfect, or entire, or spotless.
20:03-20:06
God's Word is like an operator's manual.
20:08-20:14
You have one for your car, you probably have one for your lawnmower, and you have one for your kid too.
20:14-20:15
You have one for yourself.
20:16-20:18
This is your operator's manual.
20:19-20:23
Because this book reveals who you really are.
20:24-20:26
This book reveals your true condition.
20:27-20:40
This book says that God created man and woman as upright beings, as perfect beings, but because of sin, we are cursed and corrupted and fallen and we've got a problem.
20:42-20:46
Because of our rebellion, because of our separation from God, what we deserve is His judgment.
20:46-20:47
that what we deserve is hell.
20:49-20:54
But this book tells you that not only is God just and holy, God is also loving and gracious.
20:56-20:58
It is God's will that none should perish.
20:59-21:04
So what God did was He said, I'm going to step in and I'm going to save you from My own wrath.
21:04-21:06
And that's what Jesus Christ did when He died on the cross.
21:07-21:08
He took your sin on Himself.
21:09-21:14
And He rose from the dead to give us eternal life and the promise of heaven.
21:16-21:22
That's why when the Bible says the law of the Lord revives the soul, this leads you to life.
21:24-21:30
You see, it's not this leather or the paper in here that gives you life.
21:30-21:33
It's who this points to.
21:34-21:39
This book points you to the Person of Jesus Christ whom you so desperately need.
21:40-21:44
So the law of the Lord, it does revive your soul.
21:44-21:45
It does give you life.
21:45-21:46
It does transform you.
21:48-21:49
Because it shows you who you really are.
21:51-21:59
Interestingly, when you study the Bible, do you know there are two things in the Bible that are called the power of God?
22:00-22:00
Did you know that?
22:02-22:08
When I think the power of God, I think of some earthquake or lightning or like judgment power.
22:09-22:12
There are two things that the Bible says is the power of God.
22:13-22:14
One of them is Jesus Christ.
22:15-22:54
1 Corinthians 1.24 says that Jesus Christ is the power of God. You know what the other thing is that the Bible calls the power of God? The answer is in Romans 1.16 where Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God." So if you want to unleash God's power into your life, you do that by getting into this book, because And if you know people, maybe you work with some people that you're like, "Man, would I like to unleash the power of God on that guy?" You know how you do that?
22:54-22:56
You share the gospel with them.
22:57-23:00
Because the gospel is the power of God.
23:01-23:07
You know that when you share the word of God with someone, that's what you are doing, is unleashing God's power on them?
23:09-23:13
I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God.
23:14-23:14
Awesome.
23:14-23:16
So it leads me to life.
23:16-23:17
Secondly, it wises me up.
23:19-23:20
It wises me up.
23:23-23:33
2nd half says, "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Testimony, that sees God as a witness, meaning this.
23:34-23:36
The Bible is God's self-disclosure.
23:38-23:46
The Bible is God saying, "This is who I am." Don't sit around and wonder what I might be like.
23:46-23:48
God says, "Here is exactly who I am.
23:49-23:52
This is who I am." God's self-disclosure.
23:52-23:58
He says that testimony of the Lord is sure, meaning it's true or certain.
23:58-23:59
And I love this last phrase.
24:01-24:06
He says, "Making wise the simple." I did a little word study on that.
24:07-24:08
You know what that word "simple" means?
24:10-24:14
Simple means literally easily seducible.
24:16-24:17
Easily seducible.
24:19-24:22
What that means, some people will believe anything.
24:23-24:24
You know somebody like that?
24:24-24:25
They will believe anything.
24:27-24:28
Don't point.
24:29-24:31
Some of you are like, I know somebody like that.
24:32-24:34
It's my mom on Mother's Day, really?
24:35-24:41
But some people believe anything and we can thank the internet for that because if it's on the internet, it's got to be true.
24:42-24:48
But I'm not going to mention names, but I know somebody like that in our own family.
24:49-24:56
Anytime one of these internet rumor thing comes down the pike, this person treats it as gospel truth.
24:56-25:07
And this person will call me and say, "Jeff, if you're passing a car at night and they don't have their lights on, don't flash your lights to get them to turn their lights on." You haven't even heard this one.
25:08-25:08
Why?
25:09-25:10
because there's a gang initiation.
25:12-25:17
And what they do is to get people to flash their lights at them, and then they will track you down and murder you to death.
25:18-25:20
And where did you hear that?
25:20-25:21
It's all over the internet.
25:23-25:25
And for a while, tell me you remember this.
25:25-25:28
Tell me you remember the hypodermic needles everywhere, right?
25:29-25:31
Hypodermic needles in the gas handle pumps.
25:32-25:33
How many remember that one?
25:34-25:35
Gotta be careful at the gas station.
25:37-25:41
Criminal masterminds putting AIDS -filled hypodermic needles in the pump handles.
25:42-25:59
Movie theater seats, oh, I should have told you before you sat down, but movie theater seats, people are putting hypodermic needles in the cushions so people go and see a movie and they're getting the black plague injected into them and my favorite was like the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese.
25:59-26:03
Don't take your kids into the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese because guess what it's filled with?
26:05-26:08
"Hypodermic needles!" Some people will believe anything.
26:09-26:15
That's kind of a silly example, but it gets serious when some people believe anything about spiritual matters.
26:16-26:18
See, that's what this is talking about specifically.
26:18-26:26
Because when it comes to God, or whoever God is, some people will believe anything you tell them.
26:27-26:44
You get a smiley preacher on TV that says, "God wants you to have your best life now, because worship is all about you." They're like, "Yeah, that's right, it's all about me." And then you get another preacher on TV that says God wants to give you a trillion dollars if you send me a thousand.
26:44-26:46
And oh yeah, God wants me to be rich.
26:47-26:50
And then you have the next guy come along that says, "You know what? God hates you.
26:51-26:55
God's judgment is coming because God hates everyone and God is mad at you.
26:56-27:27
Oh, I feel so guilty, God is mad at me." And then the next guy comes along says, "You can't really know God." And you're like, "Yeah, you know what? I guess that's really the truth, is you can't really know God." And all these goofy ideas about God come down the pike. What's the solution? Well, look at it. It says, "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." What that's saying is you get that guy, or you get that girl that's believing everything that comes down about God and says, "No, no, The Word of God settles it.
27:28-27:29
You're grounded now.
27:30-27:33
You have a foundation on the truth of God's Word.
27:34-27:44
So when all this stuff comes down the airwaves, you're like, "I don't believe that for a second, because I know the truth about God.
27:44-27:46
God has revealed Himself here.
27:47-27:55
So when you're telling me that God's still mad at me over my sin, And I know that's not true because of what the Bible says.
27:56-28:11
It takes that easily seducible person and gives them a foundation to say, "I'm not thrown about by every wind of doctrine because God's Word wises me up." Next, it brings me joy.
28:11-28:12
Look at verse 8.
28:12-28:17
It says, "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the hearts." Precepts.
28:17-28:19
That sees God sort of as the governor.
28:20-28:29
And it says that these precepts are right, or in other words, they're just, meaning simply this, God's ways are right.
28:30-28:30
That's what that means.
28:31-28:41
For example, when we talk about money and handling wealth, say this is what the Bible says about that, we're just, well, this is how you handle wealth.
28:41-28:41
How do we know?
28:41-28:43
Because God's way is right.
28:43-28:43
That's how we know.
28:44-28:46
And we do it according to what the Bible says.
28:46-28:48
And we spent January talking about that, didn't we?
28:49-28:51
Here's how we handle wealth.
28:52-28:53
How can you be so sure of that?
28:54-28:55
Well, because God's ways are right.
28:56-28:58
Here's how God says I should love my wife.
28:58-29:00
Here's how God says I should disciple my kids.
29:00-29:03
Here's how God says I should be an employee at work.
29:03-29:05
Here's how God says the church should be conducted.
29:05-29:07
How can you be so sure about those things?
29:07-29:08
Well, because God's ways are right.
29:08-29:09
And He wrote them down for us.
29:10-29:11
That's how I'm so sure.
29:12-29:17
But notice, he says that these precepts rejoice the hearts.
29:20-29:32
So let's dispel this notion that these precepts are some kind of burdensome, "God giving me all these rules and regulations." And that's certainly not how David saw the Word of God at all.
29:34-29:41
He said, "I get great joy when I read the Word of God." And it blows your mind even more when you understand that David didn't even have the New Testament, right?
29:42-29:45
David didn't know about the death and resurrection of Jesus.
29:45-29:48
He had the revelation of God from the Old Testament.
29:50-29:53
But even through God's law, God revealed His heart.
29:53-29:55
You can't miss that.
29:56-29:59
Like when God says in the Ten Commandments, "Do not commit adultery." Do you know why He said that?
30:00-30:04
Because He's a God of keeping His Word and keeping His covenant and being faithful.
30:05-30:08
He wants His people to reflect that truth about Him.
30:09-30:15
You see, even in the law, the law was meant to lead us to Christ, but even in the law, we see the heart of God.
30:16-30:23
That's why David says, "It gives me great joy to study the Word of God, because I see the heart of God.
30:23-30:30
I see God's ways, and I see God's ways are right." You know, I could get any two people to stand up here.
30:30-30:44
If I got one person who is living in sin in some way, and I get somebody that is living Jesus Christ, those testimonies would be consistent no matter what two people I brought up.
30:45-30:46
I've seen it a thousand times.
30:46-30:51
I've met so many people that are living in sin and are absolutely miserable.
30:52-30:57
This thing that they think that they want is destroying them.
30:57-30:58
And they're miserable.
31:00-31:01
Every time, 100%.
31:02-31:02
Do you know what else I've seen?
31:03-31:08
The person that is living in Christ, The person that is trusting Jesus Christ every day.
31:09-31:11
The person that is spending time in prayer.
31:11-31:12
The person that is in His Word.
31:12-31:16
That person is walking a path of joy.
31:18-31:18
Every time.
31:20-31:21
I'm not saying that life is perfect.
31:23-31:29
But you see, the person that knows the Lord and knows the ways of the Lord, there's joy built right in that.
31:31-31:32
So much more can be said.
31:33-31:35
Let's move on to the next one though.
31:35-31:36
It guides my way.
31:37-31:38
It guides my way.
31:38-31:40
Look at the second half of verse 8.
31:40-31:45
"The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." Commandment?
31:46-31:48
That is just what it sounds like.
31:48-31:48
That's an order.
31:49-31:51
He says it's clean, it's clear.
31:52-31:54
That's what the word "pure" means.
31:55-31:57
Here he simply says it's light for our darkness.
31:57-31:58
Same kind of concept.
31:59-32:06
The person that says nobody tells me what to do and will continue to persist in rebellion stumbling around in their own darkness.
32:08-32:11
David says, "No, you know what, I'm the person that says, 'I need God to light my way.
32:12-32:14
I need God to light my way.'" And how does God do that?
32:14-32:15
He does it through His Word.
32:16-32:17
That's how God lights your way.
32:18-32:19
He does it through His Word.
32:20-32:25
Then verse nine, quickly, two things that are connected to the Word of God that he mentions.
32:25-32:34
First of all, he says, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever." Fear, that's awe, that's reverence, that's worship.
32:35-32:38
How do we worship in spirit and in truth?
32:38-32:40
Well, we do it according to the Word of God.
32:40-32:41
That's how we do it.
32:43-32:51
Then he says, "The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." That word "rules" could also be translated "judgments," meaning simply this.
32:52-32:54
God's decisions have already been revealed.
32:55-32:57
God's judgments have already been made known.
32:59-33:10
That's why I can stand up here and say, if you turn from your sin and you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will be born again and you have the promise of eternal life.
33:11-33:12
How can you say that?
33:14-33:16
Because God's judgments have already been declared.
33:17-33:18
You have the promise of heaven.
33:19-34:12
I can also say, if you choose to reject Jesus Christ, if you choose to reject the only source of life and holiness and godliness, God will give you what you want sends you to hell forever, cast out of His presence because you chose to want nothing to do with your Creator. And you say, "What gives you the right to say something like that?" Because God's already made His decision and He's told us about it in His Word. And that's why David says, "The rules of the Lord, or the judgments of the Lord are true." They're true. They're righteous altogether. So it leads me to life, it wises me up, it brings me joy, it guides my way. You won't find this stuff anywhere else. You can go to any library any place in the world, grab any book off of any shelf on any subject and you're not going to find this anywhere else but in the Word of God.
34:14-34:26
All that to say, I need God's Word because I need it. Because I see what it does in a person's life.
34:27-34:34
We go down the home stretch here. Got this down. I want God's Word. I want God's Word.
34:36-34:49
This is the response to the Word of God. I know we're covering a lot here and I really commend you for your discipline here in studying God's Word with me. I want God's Word. Verse 10, I see its value.
34:50-35:13
I see its value. He says, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold." Here he is just simply pointing out the value of the Word of God. He says, "When I see everything that the Word of God can manifest and produce and do in my life, I want the Word of God more than I want money.
35:14-35:23
Even a lot of money. The Word of God is more And there might be somebody here that's like, "Yeah, I'm not really with the money analogy thing.
35:24-35:26
That illustration doesn't really hit him.
35:26-35:37
Here's one that'll hit everyone." He says, "Sweeter also than honey, the drippings of the honeycomb." Now he's using an illustration appealing to our appetite, right?
35:39-35:45
If I were to write the Bible, and I'm not, God didn't ask me to, He's kind of already done that, didn't need my help.
35:46-35:50
But if I were, I would say that God's Word is sweeter than a Milky Way midnight.
35:52-35:54
How many people have had a Milky Way midnight?
35:55-35:56
A couple of you?
35:57-35:58
Where have the rest of you been?
36:00-36:02
Wasting your time doing what?
36:03-36:03
Seriously.
36:05-36:06
I'll tell you how amazing they are.
36:07-36:12
When our kids go trick-or-treating and they come home, that's the first thing I do.
36:12-36:15
Dump the buckets, hand over the midnights.
36:16-36:18
And then you do whatever you want.
36:19-36:20
My kids know that.
36:20-36:22
I will shake them down like a mob boss.
36:24-36:25
I love those things.
36:27-36:29
You don't have to talk me into eating one.
36:30-36:41
Like if Darla showed up next week and she had one, and was like, "Pastor Jeff, would you like a Milky Way Midnight?" "Yeah!" "I can't believe you asked." "Yeah!" And see, that's the point about God's Word.
36:42-36:46
He's like, I don't come to God's Word like, "I should probably read it.
36:46-36:49
I'm going to feel really guilty if I don't read it.
36:49-36:54
My preacher says I should read it." He says, "Oh, this is so good!
36:56-36:58
I want to read this!
36:58-37:03
I want to know more about the Lord!" It's sweet.
37:04-37:10
Maybe if the Milky Way thing doesn't insert food of your craving.
37:12-37:12
You see the value.
37:13-37:14
Secondly, I see its impact.
37:15-37:16
I see its impact.
37:16-37:17
Look at v. 11.
37:19-37:26
"Moreover, by them..." Meaning, these words of God, these facets of God's Word that He just laid out.
37:27-37:38
"Moreover, by them as your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward." God's Word so often does have a two-sided promise.
37:39-37:41
When God tells you not to sin, do you know what He is saying?
37:42-37:43
God is saying don't hurt yourself.
37:44-37:47
That's why when God says don't, He says don't hurt yourself.
37:49-37:57
And when God's Word says do this, what He is saying is you will maximize your joy by living according to these principles.
38:00-38:01
The two-sided promise.
38:03-38:09
This is the way of righteousness, this is how my people experience joy, and you see the impact the Word of God has.
38:09-38:16
And then finally, this is last and most important, why do I want God's Word?
38:16-38:17
Because I see it's author.
38:20-38:21
Because I see it's author.
38:22-38:23
Like, where do you get that?
38:23-38:25
Look at verse 12.
38:27-38:31
What you're going to see is notice David launches right into prayer here.
38:32-38:35
He's like teaching about the Word of God and it's just like boom, prayer time.
38:35-38:36
He just jumps right into it.
38:37-38:38
He says, "Who can discern his errors?
38:40-38:42
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
38:43-38:51
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins." And there you see just two different kinds of sins.
38:52-38:54
Hidden faults and presumptuous sins.
38:56-38:58
He says, "Let them not have dominion over me.
38:58-39:01
and I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.
39:03-39:15
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and my Redeemer." Here's the motivation for wanting to be in the Word of God.
39:17-39:23
Because it's only by being in the Word of God that you're going to know the heart of the author of the Word of God.
39:25-39:29
And this prayer, this is what I want you to see in this prayer.
39:30-39:42
This prayer from David as he closes this psalm is just simply a man who has a heart like the heart of the author of this book.
39:43-39:44
You know how the Bible describes David?
39:46-39:47
God says David is a what?
39:48-39:51
A man after my own heart.
39:52-39:55
This gives us some insight as to why the Lord would say that.
39:57-40:04
Because you see, for the person that says, "Well, Jesus died for my sins, so it doesn't really matter if I sin.
40:04-40:11
Sin's not really a big deal." That shows you that that person doesn't really know the heart of God.
40:13-40:14
But the person that says, "You know what?
40:15-40:16
I know that I'm forgiven.
40:16-40:18
I know there's no condemnation in Christ.
40:18-40:22
I know that I have freedom in Christ, but I don't want to sin.
40:23-40:26
That shows that that person's heart reflects the heart of God.
40:28-40:30
Sin is destructive, rebellious, and wrong.
40:31-40:37
And here you just see the heart of a man that says, you know what God, I want to live in a way that just honors You.
40:37-40:41
I want to live in a way that represents You to people that are watching.
40:41-40:45
And God, I want to live in a way that glorifies Your name.
40:46-40:55
And the more you spend time of the God who wrote this book, the more your heart becomes like God's heart.
40:57-40:58
God's Word is good.
41:00-41:13
And only when you see how it blesses you, will you go from "I need God's Word" to saying "I want God's Word." That was the introduction.
41:13-41:13
Here's the sermon.
41:15-41:15
Read it.
41:17-41:18
Let it change you.
41:19-41:19
Let's pray.
41:21-41:27
Our Father in Heaven, Your Word says so much about Itself even in this one little chapter.
41:28-41:35
God, we just want to pause right now and thank You for giving us this revelation about Yourself.
41:36-41:48
We would be sitting down here confused and coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas about what You might be like how we could make you happy, or...
41:49-41:51
You've laid everything out for us.
41:52-41:54
You've shown us who we are. You've shown us who you are.
41:54-42:01
And you've shown us what you've done for us through your Son and the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
42:03-42:08
So Father, it's my prayer for this church that we would be a people who love your Word.
42:09-42:17
That we would be a people like David that say, "I love God's Word more than I love money." I love God's Word more than I love candy.
42:18-42:22
I love it because of what it does to me and what it shows me about God.
42:24-42:26
Father, give us confidence when we come to your Word.
42:28-42:30
Because we know, Father, that that can only come from you.
42:31-42:34
Your Holy Spirit has to be teaching us.
42:34-42:39
Your Holy Spirit has to be showing us what it is that you're saying in your Word.
42:40-42:58
Lord, I pray, especially for those times that the shadow of doubt creeps in over your goodness, we would turn to this precious book that you gave us and say, "God is good." Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Psalm 19
Explain the difference between General Revelation and Special Revelation. What is the purpose of each?
How can I grow in desiring God’s Word more (Ps 19:10)?
Share a specific way God's Word is impacting you in this season of your life.
Breakout Questions:
How is your personal intake of God's Word right now? How can you do better? Pray for one another.