Oh God, May I Please You!
“What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has, in a way that no other man has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?” J. I. Packer
Introduction:
Our God is a speaking God. He desires to be known and enjoyed. He speaks in creation through the work of his hands and he speaks through his law written in a Book. When God’s Word is read and heard, the Spirit of God opens eyes and softens hearts so that we not only come to know God, we come to want God. The Word of God has the power to transform sinners and rebels into worshippers and lovers. That is why the psalmist finds it so precious and sweet.
How to Win over Sin
Psalm 19: 12-13
"The good fight of faith is at the root a fight for delight. It’s a fight to maintain satisfaction in God against all the enticements of the world and all the deceptions of the devil. The fight for faith in future grace is a fight for joy. Knowing this will help us understand what is happening to us when the temptations come. Diminishing delight is a summons to war." John Piper
Introduction:
Psalm 19 is an awesome description of how God speaks and reveals his glory. Through creation he declares his glory by the work of his hands. Through the law he declares his glory as the work of his heart.
A Banquet of God's Glory
OUR STRATEGY: An Introduction to meditation on Psalm 19
Our God is a Person. Our God speaks. In his speaking, he reveals himself to people. In his speaking, he reveals his power. In his speaking, he reveals his holiness. In his speaking, he reveals his presence. Christianity is a revealed religion. God has chosen to reveal his glory to us so that we can enjoy “the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Revelation is God’s activity of speaking so that we can know him and enjoy him forever. The Bible is God’s speech written down. In it God still speaks to us personally, opening our eyes so that we can see more of Him; changing our hearts so that we become more like him; and filling our lives so that we enjoy more of his friendship.
Our God Speaks!
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. Ps 19:1-4
Introduction: Why should we devour That Book? What makes the Bible infinitely more valuable and satisfying than a novel by Grisham or Hemingway or Steinbeck? What is it about a book that was completed over 2000 years ago that makes it as up-to-date as any newspaper or talk show we will hear this morning. Here is my answer: God who is Creator and Sustainer of all that there is, speaks in That Book. In The Bible God speaks to us and reveals His will and His ways. He not only conveys His thoughts. He conveys Himself. When we hear him speak and respond in faith and obedience, we are brought into experimental union with our God and Savior. That is what Packer refers to when he writes:
Our Radiant Center Of Joy
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 his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. Ps 19:6
Introduction: We have been studying the way God reveals his glory to men. In Psalm 19:1-6, the psalmist shows how God speaks without words through what he has made in creation. In 19:7-11, he shows how God speaks through what he has written. It is through his deeds and words we discover and delight in the power and beauty of God. When we respond to what God is saying to us in faith and obedience, our lives find the direction and delight we were created for. That is what Piper points out so eloquently in the following paragraph:
THE SUFFICIENT WORD
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.” Ps 19:7
"Why, the Book has wrestled with me; the Book has smitten me; the Book has smiled on me; the Book has frowned on me; the Book has clasped my hand; the Book has warmed my heart. The Book weeps with me, and sings with me; it whispers to me, and it preaches to me; it maps my way, and holds up my goings; it is the Young Man’s Best Companion, and is still my morning and evening Chaplain." Charles Spurgeon
Introduction: Religion can become a culture. By that, I mean that we become so used to the environment we stop living it intentionally. We just do things without engaging our mind or our heart. We say we love the Good Book and never really get into it. We say the Bible is the basis of all we do but seldom apply its promises to the details of life. We say we love Jesus with all our heart and then we spend our day hardly giving him a glance. We say we trust Jesus to meet every need of our lives and then when the pressure hits, we depend upon the promises of the world for our relief.
MAKING THE WISE SIMPLE
“The statutes of the law are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7
When Geraldo and Ophra become arbiters of public morality, when the opinion of the latest media personality is sought on everything from abortion to transvestites, when banality is mistaken for profundity because it is uttered by a movie star or a basketball player, it is not surprising that there is less thought than hype.
Ophra shapes more of the nation’s grasp of right and wrong than most pulpits in the land. Personal and social ethics have been removed from the realms of truth and structures of thought; they have not only been relativized, but they have been democratized and trivialized. As a guest on a show dealing with pornography put it, “The great thing about our society is that you can have your opinion and I can have mine.” [D. A. Carson; Quoted in The Gagging of God, p. 24]
THE JOY OF BEING RIGHT
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. [Psalm 19:8]
“Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.” David Brainerd.
Introduction: David Brainerd was a young man who gave his life to evangelizing the Indians of New York in the early eighteenth century. He was a very godly man whose prayer diary inspired many of the world’s greatest missionaries to go to the ends of the earth for the joy of seeing Jesus Christ glorified among all peoples. Tuberculosis wracked his body and he died at the young age of 29. Shortly before he died he called several of his friends to his bedside. His last words to them summed up the driving force of his life:
My Father's Eyes
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. Ps 19:8
So, the final test of love is obedience. Not sweet emotions, not willingness to sacrifice, not zeal, but obedience to the commandments of Christ. Our Lord drew a line plain and tight for everyone to see. On one side he placed those who keep His commandments and said, “These love me.” On the other side He put those who keep not His sayings, and said, “These love Me not.” A. W. Tozer
Introduction: We have discovered in Psalm 19 a God who reveals Himself by speaking. The psalmist shows two ways in which God communicates to mankind: 1] Through the works of His hands; and, 2] through the words of His law.
THE PURIFYING POWER OF FEAR
The fear of the Lord is sure, enduring forever. Psalm 19:9
“Now the main thing is to get the eyes of the people open. They need to see hell as the result of their sin, and that produces fear, the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. Once they get this fear all will be comparatively easy; but if this fear does not lay hold of a man, his so-called conversion is a sham. True love wakens a man to reality; sham love soaps him down to hell, greases his trail, in fact, to hell. Very many are half asleep or deluded, and make up fancy doctrines of their own, which practically mean that an unholy man can get to heaven without being holy. But remember, Christ did not die to whitewash us, He died to re-create us, and none but His re-creations enter heaven.” C. T. Studd
Introduction: The world has been shocked again by the ruthless and heartless actions of one very troubled young man. Raised in a charismatic Christian home, surrounded by religious family and friends, actively involved in training for missions, counseled and medicated by professional therapists, and as evidenced by his own writings, a very articulate, albeit perverted thinker, this young man did the unthinkable. With deep bitterness and deliberate forethought, he planned and carried out his war upon Christians by coldly and indiscriminatingly, shooting them down as they approached worship on a Sunday morning in Colorado.
