Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October 5, 2003
Psalm 19 - God’s Library
Illustration
Where do you go for your answers? Do you
have a resource that can answer your questions? Do you have a library that can
answer the very questions of life?
:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
As a young boy tending his father’s flock out in the field, David grew up
with two books in his library, Nature and Scripture. In this Psalm David talks
about where he finds his answers for life, his reference desk.
:1-6 God’s first book - Creation
:1 The heavens declare the glory of God
If you ever wonder if God exists, all you need to do is look up.
Illustration
George MacDonald writes, “Something is wrong in the man to whom the sunrise
is not a divine glory, for therein is embodied the truth, the simplicity, and
the might of the Maker. ... Alongside the gentle meeting of earth and sky, ...
the great burst of a new morning, the sordid affairs of mammon sink to the
bottom of things and have little more interest.”
Illustration
In the evening, Theodore Roosevelt and his friend, the naturalist William
Beebe, would go out and look at the skies, searching for a tiny patch of light
near the constellation of Pegasus. “This is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda,”
they would chant. “It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred
million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our
sun.” Then Roosevelt would turn to his companion and
say, “Now I think we are small enough. Let’s go to bed.”
:3 There is no speech nor language, where
their voice is not heard.
The word “where” should be omitted. It was added incorrectly by the
translators. The communication of God’s creation is “non-verbal”.
(NAS) There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not
heard.
Lesson
Creation’s Witness
The witness of creation is a silent one. It is something seen, but without
words.
Illustration
Several years ago a scientist wrote an article entitled, “Seven Reasons Why I Believe in God.” He
said, “Consider the rotation of the earth. Our globe spins on its axis at the
rate of one thousand miles an hour. If it were just a hundred miles an hour,
our days and nights would be ten times as long. The vegetation would freeze in
the long night or it would burn in the long day; and there could be no life.”
He said, “Consider the heat of the sun. Twelve thousand degrees at surface
temperature, and we’re just far enough away to be blessed by that terrific
heat. If the sun gave off half its radiation, we would freeze to death. If it
gave off one half more, we would all be crispy critters.”
He said, “Consider the slant of the earth.” I think he said twenty-three
degrees. “If it were different than that, the vapors from the oceans would ice
over the continents. There could be no life.”
He said, “Consider the moon. If the moon were fifty thousand miles away
rather than its present distance, twice each day giant tides would inundate
every bit of land mass on this earth.”
He said, “Think of the crust of the earth. Just a little bit thicker and
there could be no life because there would be no oxygen. Or the thinness of the
atmosphere. If our atmosphere was just a little thinner, the millions of
meteors now burning themselves out in space would plummet this earth into
oblivion. These are reasons,” he said, “why I believe in God.”
-- Frank Pollard, "Our Greatest
Victory," Preaching Today, Tape No. 175.
The world has a different perspective on creation – that it was some big
cosmic accident.
Illustration
Paleontologist Stephen J. Gould concluded: We are because one odd group of
fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for
terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice
age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of
million years ago, had managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may
yearn for a “higher” answer but none exists.
How very sad. He’s also wrong.
Illustration
I’d like to suggest that “to say that a well-precisioned, mathematically
created universe just happened is about as credible as saying Webster’s
Unabridged Dictionary was accidentally published because of an explosion in a
printing factory, or that a Boeing 747 was assembled when a tornado swept
through a junk yard.”
Illustration
Prior to his death in 1984, Paul Dirac was called “the world’s greatest
living physicist.” His pioneering discoveries led to the Nobel Prize in physics
in 1933 and led to the study of quantum mechanics. Called by some the equal of
Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, at age 30 he became the youngest person ever
to hold a professorship at Cambridge University.
When Dirac was asked once why gravitational forces were getting weaker, he
responded, “Why? Because God made it so.” Dirac insisted that science and
religion were not at odds; rather, “they are both seekers after truth.”
The scientist believed that God used “beautiful mathematics” to create the
world. “Beautiful, but not simple. My theories are based on faith that there is
reason for all the numbers nature provides us with.” He said, “God is a
mathematician of a very high order, and He used very advanced mathematics in
constructing the universe.”
:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth
The words that creation speaks are heard all around the world.
:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven
David is using poetic language about the sun here. There are some people
who would look at this language and try to find fault in the Bible.
Yet at the same time we all use the terms “sunrise” and “sunset”. If we
were to be technically correct, we would eliminate those terms because in one
sense the sun isn’t the object that’s moving.
Yet there is still truth to what David says, even if you take it literally.
The sun actually travels across the galaxy at 64,000 miles per hour.
In addition to this,
The earth spins on its axis 1,000 miles per hour.
The earth travels around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour.
The galaxy moves 481,000 miles per hour across the universe.
That means that right now you are moving at over 630,000 miles per hour
through the universe. And you thought the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Disneyland
made your head spin!
Lesson
There is a God
Here’s the “Cliff Notes” on God’s “first book” (creation) - There is a God.
There is a Designer, a Maker. And the whole world knows it.
Man is without excuse – the knowledge of God is obvious.
(Rom 1:18-25 KJV) For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; {19} Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto
them. {20} For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: {21} Because that, when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. {22}
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, {23} And changed the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to
birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. {24} Wherefore God also gave
them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves: {25} Who changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen.
Man has the witness of creation before his eyes, but he
chooses to ignore it. As a result, man has to lie to himself and without a
Creator, man descends into a moral mess.
:7-11 God’s Second Book – His Word
:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
perfect – tamiym – having
integrity; what is entirely in accord with truth and fact
This means that God’s Word is perfect, without error. The total message of
the Bible is about Truth.
Illustration
Billy Graham writes, “On the cover of your Bible and my Bible appear the
words “Holy Bible.” Do you know why the Bible is called holy? Why should it be
called holy when so much lust and hate and greed and war are found in it?
“I can tell you why. It is because the Bible tells the truth. It tells the
truth about God, about man, and about the devil. The Bible teaches that we
exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie about sex, for example; and
drugs, and alcohol, and religious hypocrisy. Jesus Christ is the ultimate
truth. Furthermore, He told the truth. Jesus said that He was the truth, and
the truth would make us free.”
converting – shuwb – to
return, turn back
Lesson
God’s Word changes you
If our “library” was based in Hollywood,
and we learned life’s lessons by watching movies, we’d think that to get
through life you just need to “listen to your heart”.
Yet the Bible says,
(Jer 17:9 KJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?
(Prov 28:26 KJV) He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but
whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
That’s why we need to go to something greater than our hearts – God’s Word.
(Heb 4:12
NLT) For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the
sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It
exposes us for what we really are.
The Law shows us our need for a Savior.
A lot of people feel like they don’t need a Savior. They think they have
life all figured out. But the Law exposes our sins to us, revealing that we
need a Savior:
(Rom 7:7 KJV) What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the
law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
The Word shows us our Savior.
Not only does the Word show us how needy we are, but it shows us the
solution to our need.
(Rom 3:20-25b NLT) For no one can ever be made right in God's sight
by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it
becomes that we aren't obeying it. {21} But now God has shown us a different
way of being right in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised
in the Scriptures long ago. {22} We are made right in God's sight when we trust
in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same
way, no matter who we are or what we have done. {23} For all have sinned; all
fall short of God's glorious standard. {24} Yet now God in his gracious
kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has
freed us by taking away our sins. {25} For God sent Jesus to take the
punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made
right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life
for us.
:7 the testimony of the LORD is sure
sure – ‘aman – (Niphal)
faithful, to be carried by a nurse; verified, confirmed; reliable
Lesson
God’s Word is trustworthy
The idea is that you can count on God’s Word. It does not change, it is
trustworthy.
Illustration
Contemporary Christian musician Kathy Troccoli was a rebellious teen who
drank, partied, and was caught in a vicious cycle of bulimia. But at a summer
job, she couldn’t escape the Christian witness of co-worker Cindy:
“She was the epitome of a girl I could not hang out with. When she started
telling me about Jesus, I made fun of her. And yet, deep down inside, I admired
her. I liked that she didn’t seem to care what people thought about her. I even
suspected she was right, and I was on the wrong path.
“Finally, Cindy said to me, ‘You know, Kath, Jesus is Lord whether you accept
him or not.’ I went home thinking about that. If Jesus was real, I had
to check him out. I plowed through the Gospel of John and when I got to the
end, I knew I had to make a decision. Everything would have to change. And
sixteen years ago, it did.”
-- Kathy Troccoli with Jim Long in
Campus Life
God’s Word is true, whether you believe in it or not.
:8 The statutes of the LORD are right
right – yashar – straight,
level; right, pleasing, correct
Lesson
God’s Word is right
Some people have certain rules for how they operate.
Illustration
You’ve probably heard of Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
There’s Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated
with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
There’s the Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be
systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage -
management.
And there’s “Cole's Law”: Thinly sliced cabbage.
Sometimes people’s “rules” can get them into trouble.
Some live by the “Golden Rule”, in other words, “The One with the Gold
Rules”.
Sometimes we only want to listen to the things that “tickle our ears”,
things that give us permission to do what we know is wrong. Like picking up the
“Playboy” lifestyle, if it feels good do it.
But the Laws of the Lord are “right”. Obeying them brings blessings to
daily life.
:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever:
Here the phrase “fear of the LORD” is referring to God’s Law because God’s
Law produces a reverence for God.
God’s Word is not only clean, but it makes us clean as well.
:9 the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
God’s judgments or His evaluations of mankind are things we ought to pay
attention to. We need to be careful that we don’t pay attention to what man
says about himself, but what God says.
:10 More to be desired are they than gold
Lesson
Desire the Word
This is an incredible Book.
Illustration
A man was out walking in the desert when a voice said to him, “Pick up some
pebbles and put them in your pocket, and tomorrow you will be both sorry and
glad.”
The man obeyed. He stooped down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put
them in his pocket. The next morning he reached into his pocket and found
diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both glad and sorry. Glad that he
had taken some—sorry that he hadn’t taken more.
And so it is with God’s word.
:11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned
Illustration
If you were in New York
visiting the top of the Empire State
Building, and a fellow breaks out
some wire cutters and begins to cut a hole in the fence so he can jump out. He
says to you, “I have this theory. I think I can fly. I found something that
looks like Pixie Dust, and since I’m thinking happy thoughts, I think I’ll be
able to fly”. And as he crawls out on the ledge, you say to him, “Don’t do it,
don’t jump! If you jump you will die. When you hit bottom every bone of your
body will be broken.” He says to you, “Hey, stop being so negative! You’re just
bumming me out. You only want to ruin my fun.” So he turns his back on you,
takes a minute to think his “happy-thoughts”, and jumps. What’s going to
happen? Should he have paid attention to you, or paid attention to his
Pixie-Dust-theory?
Pay attention to the warnings in God’s Word. God means what He says. He
doesn’t warn us to ruin our fun, He wants to save you from destruction.
:12-14 Prayer for grace
:12 cleanse thou me from secret faults.
secret faults – These are sins of ignorance.
:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins
presumptuous sins – zed –
arrogant, proud, deliberate violations.
David expresses openness to God warning him.
:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in thy sight
All of life flows from your heart. It starts in your heart. Words come from
what’s in your heart. Actions come from what’s in your heart.
Lesson
God’s Word can change you
That’s the point of God’s Second Book. But you have to give God permission
to go to work in your life.
Have you given God permission to do what He wants to in your life?