Sermon Tone Analysis

Above, Below, Within

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It was a cool crisp September night, I was fishing off a pier on Lake Ontario… This was an extraordinary night… At approximately 3 AM I witnessed what I can only describe as a divine portrait of majestic speech and glorious declarations that scream of rapturous delight...

Picture a massive lake that seems to be an ocean before you spilling into the horizon.

The only land you can see is behind you.

There is no wind and the water is so placid that it is as a mirror of the stars above.

The moon breaks over the distant horizon and causes your breath to drop as the shear size of this illuminated rock gives the palest light to everything around you, and yet you are still outside in the dark.

The stars seemed to be so innumerable as constellations marched across the sky.

After losing track of countless shooting stars, it finally happens… Standing on the most outstretched shores of NY state, and facing Canada in the distant horizon, I get my first ever sight of the Aurora Borealis… Otherwise know as the Northern Lights.

Dancing color of green and purple light up the sky and my soul shrinks within me making me aware of how utterly small I really am.

Yet one group of stars seem to be constant on the horizon, and after some time I realize that they are not moving because they are not stars, it is actually city lights from Toronto, Canada.

And it hits me… While millions of people are sleeping in that city, I stand across a vast lake staring up at the heavens seeing a sight that dwarfs all of the genius humanity can muster.

I am overwhelmed by beauty and a language that every person cannot mistake no matter what their native tongue is… It is God’s Glorious display declaring his nature to all of creation.

And try as I might, these words cannot seem to adequately paint the picture my mind is holding on to.

And yet still, this is nothing compared the picture that scripture invites you to behold… but ultimately even that is dwarfed when you come to grips with what is inside of us and how that is transformed by the same hand that painted the sky and spoke to us in his word.

In this psalm we will hear David describe God’s glory Above, Below and within.

There will be general revelation of God in creation, special revelation of God through his Word, and Gospel revelation that transforms us.

Let’s dive into the text.

C.S. Lewis called this, “the greatest poem in the psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”

David is trying to get us to stop… and look up!

The heavens are declaring and proclaiming something.

They do not boast of there own beauty, and point to there own power.

The heavens have one job… Point to the creator… Point to God.

Declare the glory of God, the one who made them, for they are his handiwork.

Have you ever seen a breathtaking vista?

A night sky that made you feel really small standing under the universe above?

Have you ever looked up and instantly stopped everything you are doing and all that you are thinking about, because you can’t hardly comprehend what you are seeing?

All that has but one job, to declare to us the Glory of God and tell us that they are His handiwork!

With our eyes we see a cosmic billboard that overwhelms the soul and declares the glory of God.

The language that creation screams to us is a language in which there is no need for an interpreter.

It is pour out speech and revealing knowledge fo the glory of God.

The words “pours out” speech mean to “bubble forth” or to “spill over”, like a mountain spring that has an infinite supply of water, continually coming out of the mountain.

The speech or language that creation speaks is constant and yet it speaks not of itself.

You see the psalmist David is happy to personify nature here, yet he does not deify it… Nature is not God!

Nature is part of a general revelation of God.

Nature is general revelation of God

when we say general revelation we mean that something God created and is seen by all is part of how God reveals himself.

Creation does not exist to proclaim creations praise… creation exists to proclaim praise of its Creator!

Creation, Nature, the physical world around us… declares that someone made it… Someone designed it and fashioned it to be a continuous universal language that can be heard and understood by all.

the Language it speaks is a speech that POURS FORTH day by Day and a revealing night after night… And what is this speech and revelation about?

GOD!

The creator!

The universe is wondrous indeed, but only because it is the work of His hands!

“From nature we know the hands and feet of God...” John Calvin

And not just Christians… every person who has ever lived can see this great general revelation of God in his creation.

The Bible declares that because God is revealed in Nature that no one is without excuse...

John Calvin

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All of God’s attributes, invisible as they may be, are revealed in the created order of nature around us.

And in this psalm we see that God will have his Glory and power constantly attested to by his creation.

Spurgeon said, “the Sun, Moon, and Stars are God’s traveling preachers.

They are journeying apostles, confirming those who regard the Lord, and circuit judges, condemning those who worship idols.”

Look at the most prominent preacher of God’s glory and how inescapable it is to not hear him...

In ancient cultures they deified the Sun, making it a god to worship, but here we see that David is saying God has set the Sun in a tent and allows it to come out and run its circuit.

The Sun is God’s servant here and it gives heat to all.

In speaking of it as a general revelation preacher to the glory of God, the Sun is like a faithful evangelist continually preaching, we cannot hide from its heat.

And just as nothing can hide from the heat of the sun, No one can hide from the Creator God who placed it there for our good and his glory.

What better star in all of creation to point to then the one that is the exact distance away from our planet so that we will not burn up or freeze over.

93,000,000 miles away, it takes 8 minutes for the sunlight produce on the surface of the Sun to reach our face and warm our bodies.

It is the perfect distance away from us because it is 9,932 degrees on the surface of the sun and if it was closer we would all die from the heat it produces.

Yet it is one of the smallest stars in the Milky Way Galaxy!

Our Sun is one of some 200 Billion stars in our galaxy and it is the only one that is perfectly set the distance away from us to sustain Life.

And the Bible declares that as it breaks forth on dawn day by day, like a strutting bridegroom that runs a circuit with Joy, we can’t hide from its heat… It is just declaring the glory of God day after day and night after night!

And in this general revelation of God to his creation there is way more spectacular revelation that we can have of this creator God.

Again John Calvin said, “From nature we know the hands and feet of God...” But he went on to say, “from Scripture we know the heart of God!”

Look at what David said in this psalm next!

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Here we have more than just general revelation of God in creation but now we have Special revelation of God found in his word.

Last week I had said that the True God, must of necessity, be his own revealer.

That man did not invent God, rather God created man, and is outside of the mind of man, and so he must reveal himself to us.

God does this by giving us his word, and here we see the importance of his special revelation to us.

The Bible is God’s special revelation to us

We must come to a place where we understand that the Bible is God’s special revelation to us.

That his word is not from the mind of men, or even someones perspective on who God is.

Rather it is God speaking to us revealing himself to us.

So if you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible… If you want to hear him speak to you audibly, then read the Bible out loud!

The bible is not a personal revelation but a special revelation from God to us!

“If private revelations agree with Scriptures, they are needless.

If they disagree, they are false.”

- John Owen

God’s word is enough for us in all things… Look at these verses.

There are 6 declarations of of what God’s word is and does.

Each part focuses on the identity, quality and functions of scripture as special revelation to us.

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Look at the first part here.

“The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul...”

Its identity is the Law, its quality is that it is perfect, and its function is to revive the soul!

The law is God’s instruction to us, pointing us to what is right and pointing out what is wrong according to God.

The law does this perfectly, meaning there is no need to correct it, or amend it… It is without defect and lacks nothing to speak to all of our circumstances.

When we look to the law, it will revive our souls and refresh us according to God’s thoughts.

The Law lays out a course for man to follow with the same joy that the sun run its circuit with.

God’s word transforms the lives of those subject to that Word!

Next: “the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple”

Scripture is God’s own witness to who he is and what he will provide for us in Jesus.

That is its identity here, as God’s testimony of himself.

This testimony is Sure in quality, it is true and verifiable, you can count on it.

But its function is incredible, as Sam Storms put it, “The Bible takes the undiscerning, naive, and gullible person and makes them wise.

He who is immersed in the Word is equipped to choose wisely where no explicit direction is found.”

What are his precepts?

Precepts are rules but more than just rules, they are the ideas behind the rules..