The Law of the Lord is Perfect (Psalm 19)

Announcements

Just a reminder, we have a Wednesday evening Bible Study & Prayer time every Wednesday at 7pm online via Zoom. We were working through the Letter to the Ephesians, but this past Wednesday and this coming Wednesday we’re in the Psalms. If you haven’t been able to make it so far, we’d love to have you join us, every Wednesday morning I send out the link to join us in Zoom to all of you that I have email addresses for—all you have to do is click that link and it’ll put you into the Zoom room.

Just so you know, Natalie and I will be out of town for part of this week. We’ll be out-of-state from Wednesday morning until Saturday night (May 5th-8th), of course we’ll still have our phones on us, so if you need to reach us you can, just be aware that we won’t be able to meet with anyone after Tuesday until the following Sunday. All services will still go on as planned, so there will still be a Wednesday evening Bible Study & Prayer online and of course Sunday worship, here at 10:30am.

I want us to start praying for a permanent location for the church, one in which the church would have every day of the week, preferably in a location in town where we can easily do outreach during town events. Having our own permanent facility would allow us to hold all of our services in person at the same location, it would also allow us to not have to set-up and tear-down each week, and it would give us a dedicated location that can act as a beacon or a common ground for the church.

We reached out to the Philipsburg Revitalization organization over this past week to see what all is available and they actually had a storefront in mind that is currently for rent near Front Street. They told us that it is the only storefront that’s currently available.

Natalie and I checked it out on Monday or Tuesday and we loved the location, but the facility itself needs a lot of cosmetic work—such as repainting and replacing the flooring. The church owns eight chairs, so we would need 20-22 more chairs. The property is available for $600 a month and the landlord pays all of the utilities, which is actually a great deal; but with the cosmetic work, purchasing of chairs, and whatever else we would need, we would need about $5,000-7,500 upfront to do the work.

That specific storefront comes with enough space that as we continue growing, we could start a children’s ministry utilizing the backroom.

Now of course, I’m only asking us to start praying for the time being and I want to help you in your prayers by explaining what exactly we would need in order to make renting a facility as a permanent location happen. We would need to increase in number and increase in giving—if our average attendance increased to 20+ a week and if our average giving increased by about $250 a month, we would be able to not only afford to rent a facility, but to also continue in our outreach and evangelism efforts.

In the meantime, the church will be setting aside money for an eventual move into a permanent facility—both to pay the initial upfront costs, but also to be able to pay rent longterm.

Starting May 22nd, which is a Saturday and every other Saturday after that, we’re going to have a booth at the Philipsburg farmer’s market as a means to let the community know that we’re here and to essentially show the town that we love them and care about them. We’ll be giving out free water, free Bibles, flyers, and we’ll also be doing free facepainting for children—if you are able and willing to help with this outreach opportunity, there is a sign-up sheet next to the snack sheet in the rear of the room. And you can speak to Natalie if you have any questions about it.

Finally, as always, let me encourage you to continue in your worship of God through your giving. Our church operates on a completely faith-based model, which means that we operate only on what is given to the church through your tithes and offerings. In order to help you worship God through your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in the back of the room, there is an offering box through which you can give with cash and check giving; (2) if you’d prefer to give with a credit, debit, or ACH transfer, you can text the number 84321 with your [$]amount and follow the text prompts or you can (3) visit us online at graceandpeacepa.com and select “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the growth of this local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship

Psalm 15 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Congregational Singing

God, the Uncreated One (King Forevermore)

I Will Sing

Scripture Reading

Romans 1:16–25 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning is going to be a little different, but only because we’ll be looking at a different text this morning. We have been working our way through the Gospel according to John—verse-by-verse, thought-by-thought and we typically would be continuing that series, but this week along with this past Wednesday and this coming Wednesday, we’re taking those three sermons to work through three different psalms. So, this past Wednesday, we took an expositional look at Psalm 63, which is a psalm of David during his time hiding in the wilderness from Absalom, his son. And I explained that the reason why we’re working through this psalms this week is two-fold: (1) because after our Wednesday evening series in Ephesians ends, we’ll be switching to the book of Psalms and this whets your appetite for the psalms, but also (2) it’s purely practical on my behalf. Occasionally, I have classes in grad school that require me to write sermons as part of my grade. This semester I took an Exposition of the Psalms and thus, I’ve written sermons from the psalms and instead of just throwing those sermons out, I wanted to share the fruit of my labor with you.

So, this morning, we’re going to take a look at a psalm that’s probably somewhat familiar to you—it happens to be one of my favorite psalms to the extent that I’ve committed most of it to memory (and if you know me, you know I’m not very good at memorizing anything, so the fact that I’ve made the commitment to memorize the full psalm expresses my love for this psalm).

As we read this full psalm, I want you to be aware of the the structure of the psalm, because David writes this in a two-part format with a specific application point in the end; and because of this, that’s exactly how we’re going to study the passage as well. Let me give you the structure before we read the passage, we’ll actually read the full psalm, and then we’ll pray as we open up the sermon portion of our service.

As we read this psalm, you’ll notice that David splits this psalm roughly in half with the psalmist looking at the various ways that God speaks to us. (1) Vs. 1-6, General Revelation—starts by him wondering about all of the creation that he sees around him and as he wonders about this creation, he expresses the understanding that all creation declares who God is. (2) Vs. 7-13, Special Revelation—the psalmist continues by expressing his love for and desire of the Word of God, which he calls the Law of the LORD. So, not only is there general revelation that proclaims who God is through all of creation, but there’s also specific revelation in the form that God breathed-out the words of Scripture. And as he reflects on these truths, the ultimate point that he’s driving at is in Vs. 14, David’s Application (3) “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” Which when we think about creation and we think about the Word of God, this should be the exact response that we have as well.

Let’s read Psalm 19 together:

Psalm 19 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Prayer for Illumination

While most scholars think that David probably penned this psalm at a much older age, they believe that it was highly influenced by the time that he spent shepherding sheep. So, I want you to imagine with me as we start to study through this psalm, a young David who, as a young man, is a shepherd of sheep. Or if it helps you, imagine yourself as David, shepherding sheep. Shepherds during this time period, which was probably about 3,000 years ago, lived a very humble life. Typically, in a family, the youngest son would be the primary shepherd for the family while the other members of the family would tend to the housework and tend to the crops, which is why in 1 Samuel 16, when Samuel goes to Jesse to see if any of his sons would be the new king of Israel, Jesse responds with, “There [is] yet the youngest and behold, he keeps the sheep.”

Now as the youngest would keep the sheep, he wouldn’t just keep the sheep right next to the house. No, anyone who actually wanted to do his best to tend for the sheep would take the sheep to where the best places were to graze. They would know where there was plenty of food, they would go where there is relative safety from wild animals, and they would go where there was plenty of water for the sheep to drink.

And oftentimes, because the shepherd would need to take the sheep to a different place for grazing, he couldn’t just leave them out in a field and so the shepherd would sleep in the fields with them. I want you to keep imagining this young shepherd outdoors with his sheep.

And as he lays down to sleep, he looks up and around at all of the stars in the sky and remember, this is 3,000 years ago so light pollution isn’t really a thing, if there is light around him at all, it’s the light of a small campfire that he himself lit. So, the stars above would be visible in a multitude and would be utterly stunning to see. And as he looks up and he looks around at all of the stars in the sky, the shepherd thinks these words:

General Revelation (1-6)

Psalm 19:1–6 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

David starts this psalm by reflecting on the creation that he sees around him. Vs. 1-2, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

As David looks at all that is around him, he makes the declaration that what he sees had to have been created by God, because what he sees around him proclaims God.

It is his knowledge of God’s creation of the universe that allows him to see all that is around him and offer up praise to the Lord—the fact that David knows that God created the heavens and the earth is what compels him to cry out in praise and worship of God in this psalm.

As David makes this declaration, he specifically narrows into the parts of God’s creation that concern what the Bible translates as the heavens—but in our modern vernacular, it would be the sky, the clouds, the stars, and in particular, he’ll talk specifically of the sun as he continues in his poem.

Vs. 1, does bring up one question, “what does it mean to ‘declare the glory of God?’”

And I think the only way we can even start to answer this question is by first understanding what the glory of God is, which let me be upfront, understanding what the glory of God is, is something that we will never fully do, but let me help you gain a little bit of a sense of what the glory of God is.

The glory of God is mentioned several times throughout the Bible including Psalm 19, but also in relation to God creating in Genesis 1, which is then mentioned again in Romans 1. God’s glory is identified with mankind being created in the image of God. When Moses sees a glimpse of God’s glory, it’s described as a shining bright light in Exodus 33:18-23. God’s glory fills the tabernacle, it fills the earth, it fills the temple and it’s identified with God’s people.

When speaking of Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 1 that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. During various times throughout Jesus’ life we see the glory of God through his birth, through the miracles that he performed, through suffering and crucifixion, and through his resurrection.

When speaking of the Holy Spirit, we’re told that the Spirit glorifies God. God’s glory is identified with the church and is manifested in the new creation.

Because God’s glory is spoken of so frequently throughout the Bible, we need to understand what it is:

Christopher Morgan writes that, “In a sense, God’s glory is the magnificence, worth, loveliness, and grandeur of his many perfections. More often, glory communicates God’s special presence, as in the pillars of glory and of fire or the glory that filled the tabernacles.”

Allen Ross in his commentary on the Psalms writes, that “the word [glory] basically means, ‘to be heavy,’ [and] the developed sense of ‘glory’ refers to importance or worth.”

The glory of God, thus would refer to who God is, his magnificence, his worth, his loveliness, his grandeur; and it would refer to his characteristics and his importance.

So, what the psalmist is writing in Psalm 19:1, is that all of creation is proclaiming God and his character, God and who he is, God and all of his worth and importance.

So much so, that the sky above proclaims his handiwork, which is just a poetic way of explaining that all creation was created by God.

The psalmist continues by stating that “Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” And that might sound tricky, but really all that the psalmist is saying is that the declaration of God’s glory and the proclamation of God’s handiwork happens day after day and night after night.

Even though creation itself doesn’t speak in audible languages that are understood by humans, creation is still proclaiming a message

And this message is continuously proclaimed by all creation day by day and night by night.

To the extent that all have heard this message concerning God—that God exists, that he is worthy, that he is lovely, that he is of utmost importance.

The Bible states that “There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. “Their [speaking of creation] voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

In proving that all of creation declares the glory of God, David utilizes an example that we’ve all seen and we’ve all experienced, but he does it with poetic language so it’s a little difficult to discern.

He says in Vs. 4, that “creation’s voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun.”

The idea of setting a tent for the sun, means that the sun has a dwelling place, Ecclesiastes 1:5 says, “the sun rises, and the sun goes down” and that reflects the same concept. The sun has a set pattern.

And every-time the sun rises, the sun is like a bridegroom leaving his chamber. The sun is like the bridegroom who excitedly leaves his house on his wedding day or like a strong man or an athlete, runs its course with joy.

He continues in his utilization of the sun as an example by explaining that the sun rises from one end of the sky to the other in order to complete its circuit, and nothing under the sun can hide from the sun’s heat.

And remember, the point of this example or this illustration is to show that all of creation is declaring the glory of God and proclaiming God’s handiwork.

And by stating that nothing under the sun can hide from the sun’s heat, David is essentially saying that all mankind can tell that God exists because all of creation is shouting the message of God’s existence.

Which is why, in Romans 1:19-20 (in our Scripture reading), Paul can make a statement like this, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Paul and David are essentially saying the same thing—creation is shouting out about the creator and because creation is shouting out about the creator, no one can have an excuse. They can’t claim ignorance. The very earth and sky and stars, sun and moon are proclaiming the existence of God.

But here’s the thing, creation itself isn’t the only witness to who God is. We call creation general revelation because it is God revealing himself to all of mankind regardless of where they are; but God also revealed himself in a very specific way as well. In other words, while creation is shouting out in a general way about the existence of God, Hebrews 1:1 tells us that God also spoke to man directly. Hebrews 1:1 tells us that “long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Hebrews 1:1 tells us that God has actually taken the time to communicate with mankind and David speaks about this in Psalm 19:7-13—we call this Special Revelation. Read with me Vs. 7-13.

Special Revelation (7-13)

Psalm 19:7–13 ESV

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

David switches gears from speaking of this general revelation from God through all of creation, to specific revelation from God through the Word of God. And in David’s time, the Word of God consisted of only the Old Testament and when he writes of the law of God, more than likely he’s referring specifically to what we call the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, the books that Moses wrote; but I’m actually going to argue that everything that he says about the law of the Lord extends to the full Bible. All of these statements apply to the Word of God as a whole:

And as we look at these statements, there is something that I want you to notice as we read them; each time David refers to the Word of God he utilizes a different term, with a different verb, for a different purpose. And while they aren’t sharply defined differences, each noun does have a different connotation and I’ll briefly explain that as we work through the text.

Vs. 7a—The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul

In this instance the noun is “the law of the LORD,” and like I mentioned earlier, typically when the Bible refers to the law of the LORD, it is speaking of the Pentateuch or the books written by Moses. This word is the Hebrew word Torah and it is a comprehensive term for God’s revealed will. David describes God’s revealed will as being perfect.

The law of the LORD, revives the soul—reading, studying, meditating on, and internalizing the Law of the LORD will breathe life into you. That doesn’t mean that reading Scripture saves you, but it means that as you read Scripture your soul is refreshed.

Vs. 7b—The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

In this instance, the noun is the “testimony of the LORD,” Utilizing the term testimony specifically refers to what God says about himself and David describes what God says about himself to be sure, which simply means that what God says about himself is firm and foundational. You can trust what he says about himself

The testimony of the LORD makes wise the simple. This means that as you read, study, meditate on, and internalize the Word of God and you learn what God says about himself, your ignorance of who God is is replaced by wisdom.

Vs. 8—speaks of both the precepts of the LORD and the commandment of the LORD, which rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes.”

In this instance, the nouns are the “precepts of the LORD” and “the commandment of the LORD” and both of these words are closely related and indicate the authority with which God addresses us. God has the authority to make precepts and commands because he is God, but David makes it clear that God’s precepts and commands are are right and pure

The precepts of the LORD rejoice the heart and the commandments of the LORD enlighten the eyes—sometimes when we think of precepts or commandments we can get discouraged because we think of what we aren’t supposed to do, but what David writes here is that what God tells us to do causes rejoicing and enlightening. Whereas the world assumes that God’s word is filled with rules to follow, what actually happens as we study God’s word and attempt to live according to his word, we find joy and we find wisdom and knowledge.

Vs 9a—The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever

In this instance, the noun is “the fear of the LORD,” and part of this is a legitimate fear of the LORD, but this is also the concept of a reverential awe of God; which emphasizes the human response to God’s Word. The response of fear which David calls clean is the proper response to the Word of God, to revere it because we revere God.

The fear of the LORD endures forever—unlike the previous four statements, the last two don’t tell us what the word of God does for man, but what it is in and of itself. In this case, the fear of the LORD will endure.

Vs. 9b—The rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

In this instance, the noun is “the rules of the LORD,” which David says are true. Rules is a little bit of a misleading term here, the proper translation would be the “decrees” of the LORD or the “judgments” of the LORD. Or the decisions that God makes are true.

The rules, decrees, or judgments of the LORD are righteous; which means that there is no such thing as God making a faulty decision when it comes to judgments of man. When Jesus judges mankind, all of his judgements will be right because he is right.

Now of course, this isn’t all that could be said about the Word of God, this is simply what David chose to highlight in this psalm, if you want to know more of what the Bible says about itself, you can check out Psalm 119, which speaks at length about the Word of God.

David says all of this about the Word of God, but he doesn’t stop at just saying these things, he continues with how we should respond to the Word of God in Vs. 10-13. “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

We should desire the Word of God. In Vs. 10, David makes it clear that the Word of God is far better than seemingly good things.

I think we would all admit that gold can be a good thing—jewelry is made from gold and despite the fact that we no longer buy and sell things utilizing gold, at one time having gold meant that you had significant wealth. I’m sure that we can all think of things that we could do with significant wealth—pay off debts, purchase a new home, maybe buy a vehicle; but David says that the Word of God is better than gold and should be desired more than gold.

In the ancient near east, honey was a valuable commodity because it was the sweetest substance known in the ancient near east. It was a privilege to eat honey, which is why the Promised Land is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. And yet, despite honey being such a sought-after commodity, David says that the Word of God is better than honey and should be desired more than honey.

And part of the reason for that is because the Word of God warns us and in keeping the Word of God there is great reward.

What exactly does the Word of God warn us about? Look at Vs. 12-13, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.”

The Word of God warns us of the dangers of folly and sin.

Matthew Henry, “God’s word warns the wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the righteous not to turn from his good way. There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping God’s commandments. Religion makes our comforts sweet, and our crosses easy, life truly valuable, and death itself truly desirable. David not only desired to be pardon and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those he had forgotten or overlooked. All discoveries of sin made to us by the law, should drive us to the throne of grace, there to pray.”

The Word of God warns us about sin, it reveals our sins to us, in order for us to do as David does, to repent, pray, and seek salvation.

We should utilize the Word of God as a mirror to view our lives in light of God’s law.

James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

David in Psalm 19:12-13 teaches us that the Word of God teaches us our errors and our sins. It reveals to us our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit convicts us to repent. James continues that idea in James 1 but explaining that if you’re a Christian you need to do more than just hear the word of God, you have to do the word of God.

And just like David’s statement in Vs. 11, “in keeping them there is great reward,” James explains that a doer of the Word who acts will be blessed in his doing.

Part of our study of the Word of God is to see what God has said, understand where our lives don’t line up with God and repent from where our lives don’t line up and line up with him.

And as a response to all of these truths, David adds one last sentence to this psalm that reflects his own application of God being revealed through creation and God being revealed through his Word. It’s quite a simple sentence that’s really more reflective of a prayer:

David’s Application (14)

Psalm 19:14 ESV

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

David, after reflecting on God’s general and specific revelation, pours out this prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.”

David prays for two different things:

Let the words of my mouth be acceptable and he prays let the meditation of my heart be acceptable

David prays for his heart and for his mouth, which is interesting, because we know from Jesus in Luke 6:43-44 that the mouth reveals the heart. Luke 6:43-44 says, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

As David prays this short prayer at the end of Psalm 19, he recognizes that his mouth reveals his heart and he prays that both his mouth and his heart would be acceptable.

He prays for both his words and his meditation to be acceptable in God’s sight, which shows us that after reflecting on God’s Word and the purpose for God’s Word, David understands that the truth is that his heart’s meditation and his words have to be aligned with the Word of God as well.

And just as a side-point, it really doesn’t matter if our words and meditation are acceptable to the world. Whether or not someone on the street or at work likes what you think about or talk about really doesn’t matter.

And it really doesn’t matter if our words and meditation are acceptable to us. We can meditate on things and speak things that are completely sinful—Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”

What actually matters is that our hearts and our mouths are acceptable to God. What actually matters is that what we meditate on is pleasing to God.

What prompted David to pray this short prayer was the realization that God’s Word is the only way to see if our heart’s meditation and the words of our mouths are truly acceptable to God.

David ends this prayer by seeking refuge in the LORD. “O LORD, my rock and my redeemer,” which shows us that even as David reflects on these truths, he realizes that he needs to depend on the LORD in order to properly be acceptable in God’s sight.

Application

Our application for this psalm then really is two-fold. There are two primary application points that drive this text.

First off, from Vs. 1-6, General Revelation—David writes of God speaking to the whole world through his creation. That all of creation is declaring and proclaiming God’s glory—creation shouts out that there is a God and creation makes this proclamation every day even in the various cycles that the sun follows. There are two primary applications from this first section, one concerning how you relate to creation and the other concerning how you proclaim and declare God’s glory:

The modern new age movement teaches that mankind should attempt to become one with nature and I cannot stress how dangerous that concept is. By doing this, they subvert true worship of God because they essentially elevate nature into the position of God; but in doing this, they also show us an appreciation for nature that many times, we as believers neglect. We should appreciate nature as God’s creation:

Which means that we should take time to just explore God’s creation—he did create it with the intention of mankind ruling of it. Which means that we should enjoy creation and we should utilize creation responsibly.

We should take time to go outside and simply explore through the woods, see trees and animals.

We should take time to view the stars, look in a microscope, and learn about God’s creation.

And as we do these things to simply enjoy the creation that God has created for us, we need to allow creation to draw us closer to God through the worship of the one who created all things.

If we spend time appreciating nature, but we walk away loving nature, but forgetting God; we’ve missed the whole point.

All of creation is declaring God’s glory and proclaiming God’s handiwork.

Our exploration of creation, should compel us to worship God more.

A few years ago, shortly after Natalie and I moved to South Carolina, there was a solar eclipse that came over the United States. Being in Greenville, South Carolina, we happened to be directly in the path of totality, which meant that for about two minutes, the sun was completely blocked by the moon during mid-day

As we watched the eclipse occur and as we finally saw the moon covering the sun, which in and of itself was such a beautiful sight, something utterly amazing happens that only happens if you’re in the path of totality for an eclipse.

As the moon covers the sun, the sky darkens considerably, but if you look out around you, in all directions, you’ll see a 360º sunset all around you. It will look as if the sun is setting on all sides.

That Great American Solar Eclipse compelled us to praise and worship God—not because of the eclipse itself, and not because of the sun or the moon, but because we know the one who created it all.

Explore creation, appreciate what God has created, and be compelled to praise, honor, and worship God because of all that he has created.

The first six verses focus on God’s creation and how it proclaims and declares his glory and handiwork. The truth is, we as mankind are also God’s creation, knit together by God in our mother’s womb. There is a significant difference between us and the rest of creation in that we have the image of God stamped on our souls.

So, we also as created beings have a responsibility to the one who created us and I’m not just talking about the idea of believing in him.

All creation exists to declare the glory of God and proclaim his handiwork—this includes mankind.

Now most of mankind has determined to reject God and to refuse to declare God’s glory, but the truth is that mankind exists to declare God’s glory.

Now part of this declaration and proclamation is done through the verbal declaration and proclamation of God. In other words, part of this is us simply speaking or proclaiming God’s glory

But what Psalm 19 implies is that creation is to proclaim and declare the glory of God simply by doing what God has designed creation to do.

Which means that our manner of living ought to declare God’s glory more-so than just us speaking about God’s glory. In fact, we often quip that actions speek louder than words and James corroborates this concept when he teaches us to be doers of the word and not just hearer only.

So the application here is simple, live your life to the glory of God.

How do you do that? By living according to the Word of God—read and hear the Word of God and then apply the Word of God to your lives.

Learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates and then you will bring glory to the LORD.

Glorify God through the appreciation of nature; and glorify God through your life.

Special Revelation (7-13) focuses on the purpose of the Word of God. And David utilizes several different terms to describe what the Word of God is like and how it works within the heart of mankind. He also speaks of the desire that he has for the Word of God and he expresses how the Word of God reveals sin within us to convict us to repent and walk closer to the LORD.

David can say these things about God’s Word because David knew God’s Word—the descriptions that David gives of God’s Word and what it does are descriptions that we can only know when we take the time to study the Word of God for ourselves.

We won’t understand how God’s Word works if we never take the time to read God’s Word and thus the reviving of soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, and enlightening the eyes is missed because we haven’t taken the time to read through Scripture.

Which makes this application point quite simple, take time to study the Word of God; and I’m using the term study intentionally because I don’t just want you to read it without applying it, I want you to read it, learn what it says, and apply it to your lives.

Now you might say, “but I don’t have time to study God’s Word in depth.” And that’s where this next section comes into play.

David’s desire for God’s Word should convict us of our lack of desire for God’s Word—By the time David actually wrote these words he was king over the whole nation of Israel. And much like our president of the United States, the king of Israel led a busy life that could have easily been an excuse to not study Scripture whatsoever.

And yet, David makes it clear that he still desires God’s Word more than gold or honey. The Bible speaks of David’s desire for God by calling him a man after God’s own heart. If anyone had an excuse to not study God’s Word, it would be David and yet, even in times of great distress, like in Psalm 63 when his son Absalom is attempting to kill, he could be tempted to sulk in despair, but instead, he praises and worships God. Why? Because his desire for God outweighs everything that is happening around him.

Often times, we neglect our own study of Scripture because we make the claim to be too busy for accurate Bible study. So, let me just ask a few questions: How long do you spend watching television? How long do you spend on social media? How long do you spend listening to music or even reading other books?

Of how much more value is the Word of God? If you claim to not have time to study and read the Word of God, but you have time to watch the news, binge-watch shows on Netflix, browse Facebook, or whatever you do—let me encourage you to reconsider your values and put a higher priority on the Word of God.

Sometimes, Bible reading and study is neglected because the reader has a hard time understanding the words, so let me encourage you in three ways:

First off, sometimes Bible reading is hard—Peter writes about how some of Paul’s writings are hard to understand, if Peter had a hard time understanding some Scripture, let me assure you that you will have a hard time understanding Scripture.

But did Peter stop reading Scripture simply because he didn’t understand it? No, he sought to understand it.

What do you do when you have difficulty understanding Scripture? Find a commentary, ask a pastor, seek advice, but don’t use your difficulty understanding Scripture as an excuse not to continue reading Scripture.

And third, if you have a tremendously difficult time understanding Scripture, it may just be your translation. If you’re utilizing the King James Version and you’re having a hard time understanding it, let me encourage you to buy a new translation and I can recommend several for you. If you have a KJV, but you don’t read it because it’s too hard to understand, it’s not worth continuing in ignorance just go and get a new translation that’s accurate.

One of the purposes for God’s word that David emphasizes is to compare and contrast his life to what God loves and what God hates, we ought to be doing the same.

David writes that sin can be known through reading God’s Word and what he means by that is that is that as you read God’s Word, the Word of God reveals whether or not you’re living in sin.

Which means that as you study God’s word, the proper response is to repent for your sin to have a closer walk with God as we apply God’s Word to our lives.

We should desire God’s Word, study God’s Word, and apply his word.

David’s Application (14)— is the same prayer that we ought to be praying as well. In light of all this truth about God’s general and special revelation, “Let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

This means that we seek acceptance for what we think, believe, and do from the Word of God alone.

What the world thinks about us doesn’t matter.

What our friends, family, and co-workers think about us really doesn’t matter

The only thing that actually matters, is what God thinks about us and whether or not we’re acceptable in the sight of God.

Thus, in light of God’s speaking to mankind through creation and through his Word, the only thing that ultimately matters is for us to understand what God has spoken, for us to meditate on what has spoken, and for us to do what he has spoken.

This also means, that as we seek to live the Word of God, the only place that we can turn is to the LORD himself.

Put simply, Psalm 19 is a psalm of David that reflects on God’s speaking to mankind. Because God has spoken, we should (1) praise him for his creation, (2) desires God’s word, study his word, and apply his Word, (3) and seek to be acceptable in God’s sight in what you think, what you say, and what you do.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing - His Mercy is More

The Lord’s Supper

Congregational Singing - 10,000 Reasons