Let's turn in the word to psalm 19 this evening, the 19th psalm, psalm number 19, and we'll read the psalm together. It is a psalm of David, and he has penned it to the chief musician, and so I'll read the psalm. Psalm number 19, verse number 1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. which is as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it. And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 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. fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb moreover by them is thy servant warned and in and keeping of them there is great reward, who can understand his errors. Cleanse thy me from secret faults, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright. shall be innocent from the great transgression let the words of my mouth the meditation of my heart acceptable in thy sight oh lord my strength and my redeemer amen what an encouraging psalm we have read well we're returning again to our studies as we've been thinking about the book of psalms this much loved and much treasured book in the canon of holy scripture. Psalm number 19 is a psalm that draws us to our attention to God's revelation of himself. God has chosen to make himself known to his creatures and two of the ways in which he does that is spoken about or are spoken about in this particular psalm and so tonight I want to speak about God's revelation himself when we speak about revelation we're not simply speaking about abstract information being supernaturally communicated to us rather revelation refers to god's act of Disclosing himself his act of making himself known and also his well-known to us the creature who bears his image the greek word for revelation literally means an uncovering or a laying bare of something hidden from view. How has God then chosen to reveal himself to us? Well that question brings us to consider in the first instance the revelation of God in creation. It is known as natural revelation, natural revelation. We can come to an understanding of who God is when we consider all of his works. And one such work where God is clearly revealed is in the work of creation. It is this work that David begins the psalm with in the opening number of verses. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day utter his speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line is gone out throughout all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun. As David looked into the night sky and surveyed that star-studded canvas, and as he charted the course of the sun throughout the day from its rising to its setting, David comes to the settled conclusion that there is a God. there is a God. You see, creation does that to the unprejudiced, unbiased mind. Creation argues for a creator, one who is infinitely wiser and one who is infinitely greater than his creation. The very order within creation argues for the existence of God. If you were to come into this church tonight and in the aisle there were the 26 letters of the alphabet arranged in order, you would conclude that someone had set them in order. wouldn't have been your logical mindset to think well someone just threw all of those 26 letters into the air and just in some way they just all landed A, B, C, D right through to the letter Z. You would see that in the order someone has placed those letters in that order and in that order then there is the thought that there is someone behind the order. Order points back to one who has ordered. And order in the natural world argues for a creator who has ordered all things. We think of our seasons and how they are ordered. We think of our days and our months and how they are ordered. We think about the order within the animal kingdom, within the climate, within weather. all things are ordered by God. The very existence of order within creation argues for the existence of God. And many scientists, regardless of what others have said, have come to that conclusion for themselves. Let me quote a number of them. There was a 20th century physicist I'm not going to try and say that again, but this is what this physicist said. The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine. Arthur Compton was the winner of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics and this is what he said, an orderly unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement ever uttered, in the beginning God. John Calvin, the reformer, in his Christian institutes, as well as his commentaries and sermons and other writers, would frequently refer to creation as, and this is how he put it, the theater of God's glory. Not poetic language. Creation is the theater. of God's glory. It is the theater in which he comes to display and reveal his majesty. He said on one occasion, God has put us in this world as in a theater to contemplate his glory. Wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe where you cannot discern some sparks of God's glory. And this is what the Psalmist David is affirming here in these opening verses of the Psalm. He is encouraging us to lift our eyes upward and there find the evidence staring us in the face that there is a God. Now the heavens are set here to declare the glory of the Lord. Now that's a very interesting word, the word declare. It is a Hebrew word which means to score with a mark as a tally or record, to inscribe or to enumerate. The heavens as it were mark a tally with regard to the glory of God. Every planet, every star, Every galaxy adds to the tally, the tally that affirms God exists. The firmament is said to show forth God's handiwork. The word showeth means announces, declares, professes, rehearses, reports, utters. It's as if creation is a pulpit from which God preaches. And what does he preach? I exist. I am the living God. It reveals to all the presence and the power and the majesty and the supremacy of the infinite God. Despite what atheistic scientists and agnostic academics would say about existence, it's all there before our eyes, the evidence that there is a God. One said this, Nature proclaims God's existence, government, and attributes. And then he went on to say this, The fact of nature reveals the being of God. The vastness of nature reveals the immensity of God. The uniformity of nature reveals the unity of God. The regularity of nature reveals the unchangeableness of God. The arrangement of nature reveals the wisdom of God. The happiness of nature reveals the goodness of God. The purity of nature reveals the holiness of God. The beauty of nature reveals the tastefulness of God. And the variety of nature reveals the exhaustlessness of God. David was not the only one who spoke about God's revelation of himself in creation. Isaiah is another, another inspired pen man who points to creation. for evidence that there is a God. He will speak of the immensity of God over there in Isaiah chapter 40 and the verse number 12. Who hath measured, he said, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and met it out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in balance. He goes on to speak in verse 22 about how God has stretched out the heavens just like a curtain. But it's really the verse 26 of Isaiah chapter 40 that catches your attention when Isaiah encourages his readers to do something. Lift up your eyes. That's what he says. Lift up your eyes on high and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts, speaking about the stars by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Creation, if you'd only but stand on a dark night, no street lamps, stand out in the field, Take a lamp with you and you don't get lost or fall down a shock, but go out into a field and just stand and look up into the heavens. Creation gets us to look beyond ourselves and provokes us to ask the question as we do, who made it? Who made all this? The answer is God. God made it. The apostle Paul is another pen man who affirms that God has revealed himself through the medium of creation, and he does so in a number of his letters. When speaking to the people in Lystra in Acts chapter 14 verses 15 through to 17, Paul spoke about the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein, who in time past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness. in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness and this God has revealed himself it is God's witness the harvest season is a witness from God the goodness of God sending us three in every rainy day you might complain about it but it's God's witness to us God's witness to us that he exists, that he's in control. Paul stated that creation was the perpetual witness to his existence. Note that the apostle says what he says in Romans chapter 1 and the verses 19 and 20, because Everything that has been made is in itself a revelation of God. The entire framework of the heavens and the earth gives proof to a creator God, acting as a mirror in which we contemplate God who is otherwise invisible. When Galileo was questioned by the Roman inquisition as to his belief in God, Galileo pointed to a piece of straw lying on the floor of his dungeon. And he said to his accusers that from the structure of even so insignificant an object as a piece of straw, he could infer the existence of an intelligent creator. As we look at the world, what do we conclude? Do we see a world of nature? And do we see in a world of nature design that requires a designer? Do we see laws that require a lawgiver? Do we see a creation that requires a creator? Or do we believe the irrational theory that it was all created by a big bang? Revelation is, or creation is a revelation of the power and wisdom of God, leaving mankind without excuse. The entirety of mankind is left without excuse when it comes to the existence of God. Creation argues. for God. Now concerning this revelation of God in creation, can I say that it is an unmistakable revelation. You have to be blind not to see God's handiwork in creation stars and mountains and seas and planets and galaxies are all all visible to the naked eye and all point to the creator it's staring men in the face every day god's existence the heavens are declaring it the firmament showing forth his handiwork and the creator's handiwork is seen in our own creation Did you know that we all have been created with a pouch in our stomach? Now I find this out with regard to Mrs. Junkin, our sister Naomi. In that pouch, you can store the skull bone that the doctors have to at times remove in order to accommodate the swelling of the brain after a blow to the head. And so what they do is they take off part of the skull and they put that skull into a pouch in your stomach. Why do they do that? It is the safest place for that skull bone to be and it is also the most sterile place for that skull bone to be and it means that that bone does not die but it continues to live until it is reattached to the skull again. I was amazed at that when Naomi told me that. You know, God made it. God made it to be so that at some point in medical history, doctors would discover that there was a pouch in your stomach in which you could store part of the skull bone in order for that to survive until it's ready to be reattached to the skull. Now, to me, that's an amazing thing. To me, that argues for a designer who knew what he was doing when he created man. He knew exactly what we needed, even before we knew we needed it, because this is the wonder of creation. It's an amazing thing. It is an unmistakable revelation. God doesn't hide the revelation of himself in some back room. He literally takes the canvas off the sky, and in it he declares I am that I am. I exist. I am God. Not only is it an unmistakable revelation, the revelation of God in creation is an unremitting revelation. Verse 2, it says, Day on today utter a speech and night on tonight showeth knowledge. Day and night this witness from God and from nature is broadcasting the truth that there is a God. It's a 24-hour broadcast, day after day, night after night, unremitting, every day. It never stops declaring creation, that the hand that made us is divine. The stars are always shining. We may not see them, but they're always shining. And the moon is always reflecting its light, and the sun is always constantly emitting rays and heat the planets are perpetually revolving around the sun there's never a day there's never a night where their witness stops they tirelessly testify that there is a god it is an unremitting revelation doesn't stop doesn't break the revelation of god thirdly the revelation of god in creation is a universal witness it is not confined to the west to Western nations, but rather verse 3 and 4, there is no speech nor language where their voice, the voice of creation, the voice of God through the medium of creation, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them he has set a tabernacle for the sun. Those who use the most basic of tribal languages to communicate to their fellow man are as capable to understand what nature is saying to them as those who employ sophisticated linguistics to communicate to other human beings. There is no people group, no matter how illiterate they are, that nature does not witness to. And that is why Paul says in Romans 1, verse 20, that they are all without excuse. All without excuse. John Phillips, when he wrote his Bible commentary in the book of Psalms, he gave this illustration. He wrote, in one of the world's backward countries, a missionary had been trying to impress a tribal chief with the nature and the character of God. The chief pointed to his idols and he said to the missionary, these are my gods, now show me your God and perhaps I will believe in him. The missionary tried to explain that his God could not be seen by the human eye, God is spirit. But the chief was unimpressed and he retorted back to the missionary, I can see my gods, show me yours. The missionary replied, I cannot show you my God, but I can show you one of his messengers. Let me blindfold you, and then I will lead you into the presence of the great minister of my God. The chief agreed. The missionary blindfolded him and led him by the hand and told him to turn his face towards the sky. When the missionary removed the blindfold, the chief staggered back, blinded by the blazing light of the noonday sun. That said, the missionary is but one of the servants of my God. That's why you cannot see him. The son spoke the language that even the chief could understand, and he came to believe in the missionary's God. That's one of my ministers. Such is the greatness of our God. The unreached millions have still the universal witness of creation that points them to a creator God. But accompanying and complementing God's revelation of Himself in nature, we have then the revelation of God in Scripture. We've been thinking about natural revelation, now we come to think of supernatural revelation. This is the revelation that now David comes to address in the verses 7 and 8 of the chapter. The law of the Lord, he said, 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 terms, the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, they all are terms that are referring to the scriptures, the word of God. Now in the Garden of Eden, by a deliberate act of disobedience, Adam deprived himself of the ability to read the book of nature aright. It's as if he gouged out his own eyes when he sinned he willfully made himself unable to read the book of nature or right and therefore another revelation of God had to be given by God if God was to be known and such a revelation was given to man in God's special revelation of himself in the word of God The incomplete nature of the knowledge of God gained through simply natural revelation necessitates then the addition of this supernatural revelation. We can come to understand from the revelation of God in nature that he's wise. We see God's wisdom in nature. The wisdom of God. Imagine, I've used the example before, just imagine if your nose was pointing the other way up and it began to rain. You would drown. All the water would go into your nose. But the nostrils, they point downwards. The wisdom of God. Just imagine your hands were at the end of your feet and your feet were at the end of your hands. It would be a strange thing. God's wisdom is seen even. And that's how we understand that God is wise. We see that he's powerful. Of course we do. We see the vast expanses. We think of that telescope that has been put up. There was Hubble, and now the other one. I can't remember its name, but anyway, there's another new one, and the pictures that are coming, the immensity of it. We also see that God is good in creation. He hasn't left a barren wilderness for us to live in with no food. We see God in creation. His laws within creation providing for His creatures. And so, we see that He's wise, and He's good, and He's powerful. But we cannot look at the stars, and we cannot look at a tree, and we cannot look at a zebra or a giraffe and discern that God is merciful, that God is gracious, God is just, that God is holy. We certainly cannot come to an understanding of what God did for fallen man, kind in the person of Jesus Christ from the book of nature. Nature is silent when it comes to God's redemptive purposes in the world. Where in nature could you point to that says Christ became a man The eternal Son became a man, lived among men, went to the cross, laid down his life as a ransom for many, and rose again from the dead. No rock can tell you that. No star can tell you that. No animal can tell you that. See the preciousness of God's Word. See the value of it. See the indispensability of it. We need the Scriptures, the Word of God, Now, Psalm 7 and 8, they highlight to us four things that the Word of God does. And with these, I close. Note that statement in verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Now, the way that the statements are referred to in verses 8 and 9, you'll see that they all take on the same kind of format. You have a term for the Word of God. And then you have what would be known as a descriptive word. And then you would have what the Scriptures actually do. There's an effect. And so, for example, the law of the Lord. Well, there's the term for the Scriptures. And then what's the descriptive word? Well, it's perfect. And then what does it do? It converts the soul. And you'll find that same format in these verses, and we'll look at them very, very quickly. You see, the message contained in the word of God has power to convert the soul. The law of the Lord is perfect. It's perfect. Converting the soul. This is why we employ the Word of God in all of our evangelistic efforts. We believe that God's Word preached under the anointing of the Holy Ghost is able to convert, transform the soul of man. God's Word has power to reach not only the mind, not only the heart, but right in. to the very center to the very core to the very being of man it can get right to the very soul and can convert the soul it changes a man from the inside out the word of god now it's perfect brethren sisters that's what the bible says and thus since it is perfect or complete why then turn to any other kind of methodology This is God's ordained way to convert the sinner. Can we better on how God has prescribed to bring about the conversion of a sinner? I think not. I know not. So let's have done with any other thought, not taking up the Word of God and preaching it and seeing it preached and being in a place where the Word of God is preached. all other nonsense is put to one side. The centrality of the preaching of the Word of God. It does not say that worship converts the soul. I thank God for worship. It does not say that drama does it or crafting does it. It says that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. let's remember it and then notice that second statement the testimony of the lord there's the term what is it the testimony of lord is sure it's something you can depend on something you can rely on something that you can stake your soul on the lord the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple god's word makes us wise did paul not say that to timothy 2nd timothy 2 verse 5 3 verse 15 and that from a child that was known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus through the scriptures we are made wise unto salvation but brethren and sisters that's only the beginning Wisdom continues to be imparted to the believer through the sure testimony of the Lord. How foolish we can be at times, despite having at our fingertips a wealth of wisdom in the Word of God. Let's, in our simplicity, give ourselves to seeking after the wisdom that is found in the Scriptures. Note that statement there in verse 8. The statues of the Lord are right Rejoicing the heart, the word here rendered statutes means mandates, precepts, rules given to guide. Such are said to be the rejoicing of the heart. If you want to have a rejoicing heart, if you want to have a glad heart, then conform your life to the statutes of God's word. It is whenever we come to live our lives contrary to the precepts of God's word that we find ourselves in all trouble. and all kinds of trouble and all kinds of misery. Imagine just for a moment what it would be like to grind your way through this life and face eternity without the promises of God's Word. It's hardly even worth thinking about. We have God's Word. God's promises through them and by them we can face life and death with the assurance that God is faithful to His Word. They are to the rejoicing of the heart It'll rejoice your heart to get into the Word of God. Verse 8, again, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. When we're born, we're born with an understanding that is darkened, and yet when the light of God's Word breaks into the soul, the sinner's spiritual eyes are enlightened. There is enlightenment. Martin Luther lived for many years in the darkness of false religion, Romanism, and yet whenever A few words, the just shall live by faith. When they dawned upon Luther's darkened soul, it was, in Luther's words, like entering into the very paradise of God. What happened? God's word enlightened his eyes, the eyes of his understanding. Oh, let's pray then, when we come to the word of God, both privately and publicly, that God would enlighten the eyes of our understanding when it comes to the truths contained therein. Let the words of Psalm 119 and verse 18 be our prayer. Open thy mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. in light of what David said about the Word of God in these two verses. It's no surprise then that he goes on to say in verse number 10 that the Word of God is more to be desired than gold. Yea, than much fine gold, the best of gold, sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb. Oh, that we would come to cherish the Word of God. that we would come to love the word of God as David did. God revealed himself to David through nature and to the limited scriptures of the times. He most likely had the books of Moses. And so God revealed himself through nature and through the limited scriptures of time. But brethren and sisters, we not only have nature, And we not only have the complete canon of Scripture, but we have the fullest revelation of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the climax of revelation. God has revealed Himself in His Son. He is the expressed image of God. And we come, therefore, brethren and sisters, With these, these revelations of God, nature, scripture, the Christ of God, how blessed we are. Oh, may we come to improve upon the blessings that are ours. There is a God. Nature declares it so. The Bible declares it so. Jesus Christ. is God and he declares it so. May we have confidence as we live in an atheistic skeptical world, may we be able to say, I believe in God. I see him in nature, in scripture, and in the person of Jesus Christ. May God bless his word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen and amen. Well, let's seek the Lord together in a word of prayer. Our loving Father and our gracious God, we thank thee for the revelation of thy Dear Son, Jesus Christ, which we find in the pages of Holy Scripture. We thank Thee, O God, that our eyes have been enlightened. Thou has made us the simple ones wise. Thou has granted, dear God, the illumination of our hearts. Thou has opened the eyes of our understanding. We have come to behold Jesus Christ and we bless Thee for what we learn of him in thy word where would we be without the bible where would society be without the bible we see where society is going without the bible we see it before our eyes anarchy lawlessness sinfulness misery mayhem oh god we pray that thou will come Bring us back to the Bible. Help us, Lord, to declare our belief in thee. May there be no alters to the unknown God in any of our lives, but may we know him more and more as we find him revealed to us in the scriptures and in nature itself. So answer prayer. and help us now in a few moments as we seek thee in prayer. We offer our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, the announcements just for the rest of the week. Just keep these things in mind. We would appreciate you praying for them, not only tonight, but also throughout the rest of the week. Our Friday night children's meeting, remember Andrea as she brings the word of God, Mrs. Stewart on Friday night. Remember the Youth Fellowship, our brother David Laverty as he brings the word to the young people. Saturday, there is the decorating of the church, if you're any way handy with regard to that, we'd love to see you. 11 a.m., God willing, Saturday at 11 a.m. Remember the Lord's Day services, the clocks go back, remember that please. Sunday school Bible class, family worship, the Reverend Stephen Nelson as he comes In our gospel service, the Reverend Thomas Martin. Then Monday night, the Harvest Weekend, the Reverend Andrew Patterson. Remember those also who will be singing. Remember those who are sick. Remember Edna Kennedy, continually. In your prayers, your sister Linda Strong, our brother Paul Allen. Remember Heather Burns as well. Continue to remember Mark Miller. He has good and bad days. He is improving a little. But prayer has been requested with regard to the agitation, He's agitated at this present moment of time and so pray that that will come and that will settle for Mark in these days. Joe has had some treatment and he is able now to be at home and we're thankful to the Lord for that.