"Answering The Tough Questions, Pt. 2"
• 9.27.15 •
Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro
- As we began our study of this passage last
week, we made note of three questions which inevitably surface in the hearts of
all human beings.
- "Is there a god?," "If such a
being exists, what are they like?" and "Does that being care about
me?" Psalm 19 provides the
inquisitive and skeptical heart with some compelling answers!
- God has left a witness of Himself, beginning
with the sky above, which acts as God's Clarion.
• Psalm
19:1 : "The heavens declare
the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." : The day and night sky broadcasts a signal
that betrays a designer's touch. His reality and His detailed magnificence
speak to all.
- His communication is both clear and consistent. Notice verse 2.
• Psalm
19:2 : "Day unto day utters
speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." : God never turns the signal off! Every day
and every night, there is a steady stream of information that points a person
toward a Creator!
- His revelation of Himself is also comprehensive in it's scope.
• Psalm
19:3,4a : "There is no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world." : There isn't a people group on Earth that is
unable to comprehend God's language or song! Every place on the Earth that has
a view of heaven, has a front row seat in God's school!
- Moses notes that the heavens, indeed the
whole host of the heavens, are given as a heritage to the all people under the
sky! (Deuteronomy 4:19)
- General Revelation is God's clarion, consistent in it's activity, comprehensive
in it's reach, revealing a compassionate
being who has acted for His creation's good!
• Psalm
4b-6 : "In them He has set a
tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat." : The Sun follows it's course and gives it's
energy and warmth as a form of common grace to all the people of the Earth!
- As wonderful and magnificent as God's General
Revelation is, there is a significant gap of information left. General
Revelation reveals God's power and hints at His goodness.
- But to know His character, we must move from
General to Special Revelation. From verse 7 to verse nine, we uncovered 6
synonyms which accurately described God's Word.
• Psalm
19:7-9 : "The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes 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
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." : All of these phrases describe the full
character of God's Word. What sort of being provides such a thing?
- One thing we can clearly say is that this God
is not subjective or vague! By the use of the words, we deduce much about Him.
- He is a moral being (Law), who wishes to be
known (Testimony). He desires to teach (Statutes) and protect (Commands).
- He seeks to effect a proper response to
Himself (Fear), which will always lead those that follow in the right path!
(Judgments)
- His Word transforms, secures and stabilizes and
brings joy to the hearts of His people.
- God's Word gives direction, remaining relevant
forever as the person of God seeks truth and righteousness!
- God's Word is complete, faithful, right,
unstained and undiluted! What a wonderful possession that God has left for His
people to enjoy and ingest as their daily bread!
- David has assessed the nature of God's Word
and begins to weigh in on it's practical value. Text
• Psalm
19:10 : "More to be desired
are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb." : When David
considers the value of God's Word, he marks it as more valuable than the most
treasured possesion on Earth!
- God's Word is not equal to gold. God's Word
exceeds the value of gold!
- Gold in it's unrefined state is referred to
initially, and then the fine or processed gold which goes to market. The finest
24 karat gold, pales in comparison to the Word.
- God's Word to David is far more precious in
it's value in spite of the fact that men
have always been willing to die or kill to possess this Earthly treasure! How
can David make this remark?
- Consider what David has just revealed about
God's Word. When did gold ever transform a life beyond the change in economic
status?
- Certainly gold can buy a person a life filled
with luxury, but it cannot affect the life of God within a person! What it
creates is a new environment for the same corrupt individual.
- It takes a roach from the streets and puts
him up in the Plaza hotel!
- Similarly, when have riches ever stabilized
and secured a person mentally, making them more discerning and less vulnerable
to the deceptive schemes of the enemy?
- Gold merely opens the door to greater
opportunity for more varied and luxurious deception!
- Perhaps David considers this against the
longevity of the Word. Gold, however fine, cannot transcend this physical
planet.
- A man with all the gold in the world still
leaves this world and that gold for another place and person respectively! No one needs a U-Haul at a grave site!
- We could go on and on, but often riches, far
from making a man righteous, often deceives him into a life of
self-centeredness and self-worship, leading to alienation from God, often
eternally!
- Consider King Saul, whose riches didn't
insulate him from the madness of rebellion against God and neither did it help
him on his quest to destroy God's plan in David's life!
- When David had nothing, it was God's Word
that had sustained him and led him successfully away from Saul's pursuit.
- Scripture changes our value systems as it
changes our lives and it's dividends only increase with their use!
- David moves now from actual value to a
sensory or sensual value which also happens to be similar in color to gold!
Scripture contains more sweetness than frest honey from the comb.
- In David's time, honey was the only source of
sweetener and the more directly related to the comb, the sweeter the honey.
- Honey is not an essential, primary food, but
it makes anything more pleasurable to taste, even the most peculiar foods.
David is calling God's Word a pleasing resource.
˚ "The
pleasures of sense are the delight of brutes, and therefore debase the great
soul of man; the pleasures of religion are the delight of angels, and exalt the
soul. The pleasures of sense are deceitful, will soon surfeit, and yet never
satisfy; but those of religion are substantial and satisfying, and there is no
danger of exceeding in them." Matthew Henry
- When contemplating this verse, I've wondered
why they are coupled together? Why put gold and honey in the category of a
value assessment aside from their obvious similarity in color?
- Consider how values change as we age and how
that might be in David's mind as he wrote.
- The older the person, the more that
possession marks their place in this world.
- The younger person values practice and
pleasure over possessions and lives for the next sensory experience!
˚
"Old people are all for profit, the
young for pleasure; here's gold for the one, yea, the finest gold in great
quantity; here's honey for the other, yea, live honey dropping from the comb." John Trapp
- Whether old or young, the Word of God will be
the most satisfying resource to be found!
• Psalm
19:11 : "Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great
reward." : "But wait! There's
more!" The value and sweetness of scripture is derived from the fact that
God's servants are warned by them.
- "Warned" comes from a word which
speaks of shining a light upon something.
- The system that this planet operates under is
one of foreboding darkness. We are called to walk in light, as children of the
light.
- The metaphor requires that we have a light,
which comes directly from God's Word, which we then submit to or walk in. God's
light brings discovery of the proper path and leads us to safety.
- How often have the scriptures turned on the
floodlight of heaven to a perplexing, personal situation that has plagued you
for a time!?
- Then, at the right time, God says "Let
there be light! And there was light!"
- Perhaps you had been thinking incorrectly
about life or God and before you could act upon your theory, God's Word broke
out from the confusion and brought clarity!
- It's wonderful to be warned. That is a great
function, but it follows that a warning is only as good as the commitment to heed
it!
- This is the most basic conception that we can
link to the actual provision of God's Word. God gives His warning and the wise
person goes to every length to keep it!
- You cannot say that you are a person of the
Bible by simply acknowledging it's existence. There is no reward for or
nobility in that proposition!
- Turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 6. Listen to the heart of Israel's law giver in verses
1-3.
• Deuteronomy
6:1-3 : "Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and
judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe
them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His
commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the
days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be
careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may
multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk
and honey.’" : When you read Deuteronomy, you get this sense over and over again that the Word
of God must be applied and adhered to if it's value will be experienced!
- Therefore, David says that the person who
takes in God's Word and keeps, protects, guards it like a precious metal will
find an exceedingly great reward!
- This is the natural byproduct of following God's
heart, to hold it as precious and to live by it's instruction. That alone
produces a life of abundant reward, especially in abundant peace.
- But what of the value in eternity when the
Lord of the Word bestows on His servants the bounty that is due their faithful
adherance in the face of uncertainty!?
- Today, as Christians, we are banking on the
validity of the contents of this book. We have staked our lives and our
eternity upon the veracity of it's claims.
- We have foregone pleasures. We have forsaken
paths. We have given of ourselves, in many ways, sacrificing daily to follow
Him. To such as live this way, there is great reward!
- We have examined God's General Revelation and His Special
Revelation. In this last section, we have God's Specific Revelation and the answer to how God cares for His people!
• Psalm
19:12,13 : "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and
I shall be innocent of great transgression." : Look at how David moves in this Psalm. He is calling upon the
God that reveals His omnipotent creativity in creation to consider his very
personal fight against sin!
- He presumes to call upon Him, expecting that
He will respond in kind! From the most phenomenol place in the galaxy, to the
very heart of a Godly individual, God is there!
- I particularly like the NLT's translation of
this verse, as it captures the essence of the troubled heart behind verse 12. "How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?"
- The word "understand" is helpful,
as it speaks to standing apart from something and observing it completely. Who
can stand outside of themselves to see their lives clearly?
- The person involved in walking with the Lord
cannot see his or her own actions objectively.
- Even with the best of intentions, there are
things that we should have done that we didn't and there are things that we
should not have done that we did!
- These are sins of commission and ommission
respectively.
- Who can keep up with these things alone? David
continues and confesses the need to be cleansed or acquitted of secret faults.
- The thought here is that which is hidden even
from the person committing them! They are attitudes or actions committed in
ignorance and David desires the Lord's cleansing.
- David calls out to God to protect him from
the dirt that even he is unaware of! What a thing to ask of the Lord, who sees
all! Lord, hold me innocent of that which I am ignorant of!
- David is concerned with that which he is
ignorant of and what he is confident in!
- "Keep back Your servant."
Understand these words. Restrain, hold in check, the person who has devoted
themselves in service to You! Does this not remind you of the Disciple's
prayer?
- "Lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil!?" In this case, the "evil" is presumptuous
sins, which speaks of failing to observe the limits of what is permitted or
appropriate.
- Just a moment ago, the issue was ignorance.
Presumption is to act from arrogance!
- These are deliberate, willful, flagrant sins
which are committed presuming that God will honor whatever choice is made
regardless of the Lord's previous decree or natural consequence.
- David sees this a very real possibility and
you should as well. Are you so confident that you might act upon that
confidence instead of acting upon God's Word?
- An excellent example of this occurs in Numbers 14. The spies have returned
from their tour of Canaan with a bad report regarding their pending occupation
of Canaan.
- The majority of Israel believed the report
and refused to trust in God's power or promise, provoking God to pronounce
judgment upon them. That generation would not go into the land.
- The people wept, but woke up the next morning
with a resolve to go into the land. Moses warned them, telling them that God
would not be with them.
• Numbers
14:44,45 : "But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless,
neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites
who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as
far as Hormah."
- David is asking God to protect him from
acting this way! If God would cover David in these ways, there wouldn't be
anything to pin on him. He would be free!
• Psalm
19:14 : "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." : There are some who have mentioned that this is a prayer based
on Joshua 1:8.
• Joshua
1:8 : "This Book
of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day
and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good
success." : Let Your words be my Words and my
thoughts like Yours.
- The words are the out pouring of the heart's
'meditation', a word reflecting the note of an instrument, striking it's tone,
calling out for a time of sober reflection.
- David asks that this meditation satisfy and
please the heart of God! David wants the part that God is most interested in to
be pleasing to Him!
- It's from that place where every other
action, bad and good, emanate! In the end of this Psalm, it comes down to this
plaintive cry to God. "Do these things in me!"
- David calls out to His Lord, and calls Him his
strength, literally his Rock and his "Ga'al." It is translated here
simply as "Redeemer." Is God interested in a human being?
- So much so that He becomes their strength in
weakness and their defense in time of turmoil.
- The Redeemer or Kinsmen Redeemer in Biblical
times fulfilled three vital services to their family. The first was to Father a
child for a brother's widow in a practice called "Levirate" marriage.
- The second was to rise up in justice for a
family member who had been murdered. The third was to pay a debt that a family
member owed! The last two could have applied to David.
- When David was a fugitive from Saul, David
called upon God to rise up and fight the injustice that he was suffering, as a
Redeemer would! But this last function makes the most sense.
- David calls out to God to pay a debt that he
was unable to pay, namely that of the sin debt that he recognized in himself before
God!
- He could not pay it, but His Kinsmen
Redeemer, His own great descendant, Jesus Christ would pay the penalty in full
for David and every other believer who has ever lived!
- A Kinsman Redeemer had to first be a
relative. Jesus Christ was from the very same tribe, the very same line as
David, born of a virgin in Bethlehem.
- A Kinsman Redeemer had to have the resources
to absorb a debt. Jesus Christ never sinned, having been born without the stain
of a sin nature or the defect of committing a sin.
- Finally, a Kinsman Redeemer had to be
willing! Jesus Christ endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy that
was set before Him. What was that joy?
- To once and for all settle His people's debt
and set them free to live in the grace of His riches for eternity! He delights
to be His people's Lord, their strength and their Redeemer!
Conclusion
Let's pray!