The Heavens Declare the Glory of God!�

And good day everybody, let's bow our heads to our praying.

Heavenly Father, by your spirit and through your words, speak to us right now and please

be changing and transforming our thoughts and our attitudes and our beliefs to be in

accordance with yours and in accordance with what is true, that we would be changed and

transformed.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

How would you rate yourself if you applied consumer standards to how you worship God?

So, you know, if your car starts two out of three, do you go back to the dealer and say,

that's okay?

Or if your refrigerator works for a day or two or stops working for a day or two every

once in a while, would you think, well, it works most of the time, it'll do?

Or my iPhone locks up every couple of hours but it works all the rest of the time, then

I'm happy with that.

Yes?

Or the water heater delivers an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?

If you miss a couple of loan payments every 12 months, do the bank say to you, well, 10

out of 12 ain't bad.

So, if you read your Bible once a month, if you come to church when you feel like it, if

you won't meet in a small group because you don't like the people in it, if you're always

grumbling about brothers and sisters not meeting your standards, if you're always expecting

to be served and never serve, what's that say about you?

Not other people, you and for me, what's it say about me when I do those things?

Now, don't take that as a guilt trip, just say it as a thoughtful challenge and I'll now

tell you that that was a very unfair thing for a preacher to do.

Do you know why?

Because we are always faulty, aren't we?

And we are not perfect except through the grace of Christ, so I don't want to press it

too far.

We don't become part of God's family by measuring up to a set of performance standards.

We are here by the grace and mercy of Christ, but the way we live does reflect our view of

God and ourselves and that's a bit why I've used it just now, because in a sense our lives

are a practical demonstration of what Christ means to us.

And I think a lot of the time, and this is true for me and it probably is true for you

in some measure, our lives project an inadequate view of God and his majesty.

This is the third message in a row.

We didn't plan a preaching series, this is something that God has stitched together.

But it's a third message in a row where the glory of God has been on display in the Bible

passages which we have been preaching.

So two weeks ago Steve preached to us from Isaiah 6, one week ago I think Sam spoke to

us from Psalm 8, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

And then having said that, said, and what are people that you even take notice of them and

regard them?

And today, tonight, I come to Psalm 19.

And this is a psalm that C.S.

Lewis, the great writer, described as the greatest poem in the Psalms and one of the greatest

lyrics in the world.

I'm going to read from there.

Psalm 19, verse 1, fantastic if you're following your Bibles as I speak.

Psalms 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard, their voice goes out into

all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth

from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run its course.

It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other, and there is nothing

hidden from its heat.

So the writer looks up into the daytime sky, and he looks up into the nighttime sky, and

he says, wow, it speaks.

And it's telling us how glorious God is.

The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims the work of his hands.

And then in verse 2, day after day, they pour forth speech, night after night they display

knowledge.

The heavens are always speaking, they never stop.

The only time you don't see them speaking is when the cloud goes over.

And they are speaking every day, and they are speaking every night, and they never stop

telling us that God is glorious.

And he says to us, there's no speech, there's no language, there's nowhere on the earth that

their voice is not heard.

Every person on the earth hears the same message in every place and in every language.

And we're being told how glorious God is.

They tell us what an extraordinary creator we have.

He's an artist.

The universe is his canvas.

Every person on the planet lives in his gallery.

So every man, every woman, every child has an opportunity to be blown away by his artistry.

And he uses this daytime illustration.

It's a wonderful illustration.

The sun coming up in the morning, rising out of his tent, coming out like the champion,

ready to do battle.

And he marches across the heavens.

Boom, boom, boom.

And he puts his heat on everyone.

I don't see many sunrises, to be honest.

But I did see a magnificent sunrise a couple of years ago.

We were on holidays on the central coast.

And I think Gary and I woke up early in the dark.

And I said, oh, it must be nearly sunrise.

Let's go and sit on the sand dune.

And we went and sat on the sand dune.

And it's like waiting for a great performance to begin.

You see the horizon begins to lighten.

And it seems like it's just about to happen.

And the suspense is growing.

A bit like Giant Jenga.

The suspense is growing and growing and growing.

And you think it must be there.

And then suddenly the golden crown comes across the horizon.

And the sun marches up at speed.

You watch it growing and growing and growing over the horizon before it gets set and comes.

And it is the most magnificent display.

And do you know what?

That happens every day.

I've got to tell you.

Some people pick a passage like this and they say,

oh, the Bible's so out of date and unsophisticated.

The sun doesn't go round the earth.

The earth goes round the sun.

Duh.

And I as the preacher want to say, you're not fair.

That's so unfair.

This is written 3,000 years ago before we had telescopes and Copernicus and everybody.

And the person who wrote this down has used the most magnificent poetry to describe this awesome event which happens every day.

He's blown away by the wonder of creation.

And I think we have to be really, really careful with all our sophistication and our science that we lose the wonder.

Oh, yeah, we know it goes.

The earth goes round the sun.

It's held in elliptical order by the Jupiter out there and all the rest.

I mean, we just lose it.

It's true, but we lose the wonder.

I can think of another moment of wonder.

Who's had the last little baby?

Annabelle, is she the last one out?

Well, just checking.

Isn't there something wondrous about that moment?

I mean, we could stand there.

We could have the medicos out the front and they could tell us about how it all happens.

But you've got to be there in the moment to appreciate just how wonderful this is.

It's cool.

And I've been there five times.

I can tell you it's really wonderful.

Kerry might say differently.

No, I think she'll say it's really wonderful, but it was really easy for you.

Okay?

I love being in the bush.

And clear, moonless night.

That's the other picture that's here in Psalm 19.

Clear, moonless night.

You gaze into the heavens.

My son Andrew went on an excursion to the Warren Bungles, which wasn't far from where we lived at Wee War.

And they went to the planetarium.

And he came back with all this knowledge that I've never had before about which constellations and galaxies are out there and what you can see.

And he got me to take him out of town.

And we went out to somebody's property.

And we were way away from town.

We were way away from the house.

We turned off the lights.

There was no moon.

Pitch black.

We looked up into the heavens.

And the sky just comes alive.

You see that many stars.

And you just go, wow.

And I know what I did with him.

He stood there and he said to me, Dad, that's the serpent over there on the horizon.

See the stars?

And that's Scorpio up there.

And I'm going, boy, I wish I could remember what he's remembered.

But he could see things that I couldn't even see.

And it was just fantastic to have them shown to me.

You don't see stars like that in Sydney.

But the enormity and the vastness of the universe stirred me.

We stood there.

We prayed.

And we gave God thanks and the glory for what he has made.

We could look at those things and say, thank you, God.

You are awesome.

You are creator.

You are magnificent in what you have brought into being.

And you allow us to share in that.

So for us, the glory of the heavens told us about the glory of God.

They told us about the majesty of our creator.

Psalm 19 says to us that every person on the planet hears the same message.

Every person, every language spoken to in exactly the same way,

the heavens are declaring the glory of God.

If everybody could understand in our church family my message tonight,

we would not have Chinese, Cantonese and Mandarin congregations.

We would all be building a bigger building and we'd be in the one place

and we'd be brothers and sisters in Christ understanding one another.

But Psalm 19 speaks in a universal language which is heard by everyone.

Romans chapter 10 verse 19, no, Romans chapter 10 verse 18 quotes Psalm 19.

Romans 10:19 Romans 10:18

And it applies Psalm 19 to what people hear.

And the context is that God has something to say,

but not everybody's obedient to it.

So in Romans, Paul goes back and he grabs Psalm 19 and he says,

but I asked, did they not hear?

Of course they did.

Their voice has gone out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

The heavens are speaking.

They are declaring God's glory.

But just because something's said doesn't mean it's heard or acted on.

So mum and dad and mum says,

dinner's ready.

Why do you laugh?

Because you do what I do sometimes.

The message goes out and it's not responded to, is it?

And I had the silly occasion the other week I came in as the family was finishing dinner

and I said, I didn't even know you'd started.

But there you go.

The ancient Greeks and Romans heard the heavens speak

and they turned them into gods.

The Darwinian evolutionist hears the heavens speak

and praises the random forces of nature for what they've achieved.

Isn't that a nonsense?

I think it's very human to be thrilled by the wonder of creation.

I think every greenie does it, don't they?

They look at it and they just say, this is so magnificent.

Look at how it all fits together.

Everybody who's been to the US that I know and sees the Grand Canyon,

I haven't seen it yet, just goes, wow.

Or to Nepal or North India and sees the Himalayas.

They're blown away by what they see.

But just because you see something that makes you go, wow,

doesn't mean that you give glory to our maker.

And the Bible tells us that we're going to be held accountable for what we've heard.

Romans 1, verse 18,

Romans 1:18

that the anger of God is being revealed from heaven

against all the godlessness and wickedness of people

who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Since what may be known about God is plain to them.

Because God's made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world,

God's invisible qualities,

his eternal power and his divine nature

have been clearly seen,

being understood from what has been made

so that people are without excuse.

Psalmist stands in awe of the silent heavens

and he hears them saying,

God is glorious.

And he gives glory and honour and praise

to the unseen God who has made them.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

The writer doesn't personalise God at this stage.

He actually uses a very general name for God.

It's L, E-L.

We sometimes sing a song like El Shaddai.

It means God Almighty.

The L part just means God.

And sometimes in the Bible, in the Old Testament,

it's even used for other gods,

not even the true God, just God.

The creation speaks.

Yes, it declares a glorious God.

But the next part of the psalm says

that God himself speaks.

And God is a God who reveals himself in words.

So verse 7.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure and enduring forever.

The ordinances of the Lord are sure

and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold.

They are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.

Now this time he actually changes

the word he uses for God.

And I think Sam talked about this last week,

but he said he uses the word Yahweh,

the Lord.

He uses the special name of God

which was revealed to Moses

in the Old Testament.

And the Lord isn't somebody

who is merely out there in the heavens

and standing aloof and all remote.

He has come very close to people

and his people know him personally.

They know his name.

He's revealed himself to them

in words and in actions.

God has reached down to us.

And it's why Christian faith,

I hate it when it's even referred to as a religion,

Christianity as a religion.

This is not religion.

This is relationship with the living God

of the universe.

See, religion is about reaching up to God

and trying to grab hold of God,

whatever he might look like

or however he might be,

trying to keep God's happy.

Some of the nations that God threw out of Israel

were nations that worshipped

by burning their kids in fire

so that they'd make their God happy.

They wanted their gods to make their lives easy,

to protect them from flood and drought

and sickness and disease

and give them a crop,

give them an income.

And it's almost like our prayers become sometimes,

Lord, just give us what we want,

give us what we need,

rather than actually seeing who he is

and his glory

and seeing that he's the one

who's actually reached down to us,

that we don't have to make him happy

because he's taken the initiative

to bring us into relationship with him.

The law of the Lord,

the statutes of the Lord,

the precepts of the Lord,

the commands of the Lord,

the fear of the Lord,

the ordinances of the Lord.

It's all the things that we find in the scriptures,

the Old Testament in particular,

are the people of God in the Old Testament

relating through the law,

the scriptures given through Moses.

What God gave his people

was the information that they needed

to relate to him in a right way.

His laws reveal his character.

The majesty of God is revealed in his word.

He is very good to his people.

The New Testament takes us even further

and tells us even more about what God has done.

John 1, verse 14,

John 1:14

where we were a minute ago.

The word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory,

the glory of the one and only

who came from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

Jesus Christ has stepped into the world,

left his throne in heaven,

left his Father and come amongst us

and revealed the glory of God to us

in his own person.

Hebrews 1, verse 1,

Hebrews 1:1

In the past God spoke to our forefathers

through the prophets

at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days

he has spoken to us by his Son,

whom he appointed heir of all things

and through whom he made the universe.

God is a God who speaks

and he still speaks.

He's spoken to us through the person of his Son.

He's proved his love to us

through the death and resurrection

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has shown how seriously he takes our sin

and God has made a sacrifice for us

which turns away his anger.

Listen to the wonderful words

which describe the power of God's word.

God revives the soul.

It's trustworthy.

Makes simple people wise.

You don't have to be clever to be a Christian.

Gives joy to the heart.

Light to the eyes.

It endures forever.

It's sure.

It's righteous.

It's precious.

I think so many of the things

that we hunger for in life

can only come from God

and from his word.

Only come from God and his word.

See, we seek satisfaction in relationships

and we experience disappointment.

Sometimes, I guess, you know,

we look for a boyfriend or a girlfriend

and we just think,

oh, that'll make life so much better at the moment

and maybe that's a nice thing

and a good thing that God's given

but it doesn't solve all our problems

and meet all our emptiness.

And those of us who are married

know that even the best marriages

have their moments of biting disappointment.

Or we look for joy in wealth

and possessions and things

and we find worry.

And the more we have,

the more effort it takes to look after it.

I haven't got a pool

and I can't afford one

and I don't think the parish

is about to put one down at Rain Street

either.

Unless it's a Clark paddle pool

or something like that.

You should look at me and go,

life's tough, eh?

Not really.

But let me tell you,

over on the northern beaches

where my mum lives,

she's got a,

they've got family that lives next door

and they have this wonderful pool.

And they go away on holidays,

they let me swim in it.

And I can go over there

and I can swim in it for Nick

so I don't have to pay anything,

I don't have to put the chemicals in,

I don't have to clean it,

I don't have to pay the loan

at the bank,

I can just go and swim in it.

It's great fun.

I reckon if you own a pool,

it must suck to have to look after it.

And if you've got a pool

and you let me swim in it,

thank you.

So Songwriter found,

he found great joy and security

of relationship in God's law.

In relationship with God.

God has done something incredibly precious

when he spoke to us in words.

He revealed what he's like

and at the same time

he overwhelms us

with what we are not like.

And that brings the response

from the Songwriter

which we read in the very last verses.

Verse 12,

Who can discern his errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins.

May they not rule over me.

And then I will be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

No.

It's a great ending

but I've got to tell you

the first time I read it

and many times I've read that

and I really had no idea

how to connect it

to what has just gone before.

And I really read the psalm

and I scratched my head.

But it's a glory of God response.

See, the writer encounters God

in creation and in his word

and he is just overwhelmed

by his glory.

And it's like Isaiah,

you know, encountering God

flat on his face.

Woe to me, I am ruined.

I am a man of unclean lips

and I live among a people

of unclean lips

and my eyes have seen

the Lord, the King,

the Lord of glory.

Or Peter, you know,

throw out your net

on the other side,

lands enough fish

to secure his life

for quite a while

and he just goes away from me,

Lord, I am a sinful man.

And it's the same here.

The writer sees,

reflects on God's glory

in creation

and God's glory

in his words

and he becomes

very aware

of how far short

he comes.

He's reflected

upon God's majesty

in creation.

He's thought hard

about how he measures

up against God's word

and he's down

on his knees

praying for forgiveness

and acceptance.

It's a very moving

and a marvellous reaction

to the Lord God.

I think it does us well

to think about

who wrote this.

King David.

Man described

as after God's own heart.

A man whose

strengths and victories

are on display

in the scripture.

A man whose

tremendous failures

in the flesh

are also on display

in the scripture.

But he did love

the Lord

and God continued

to work with him.

And he prays

in verse 12,

he says,

forgive my

hidden faults.

And verse 13,

keep me from

willful sins.

He knows

he's not perfect,

he's like us,

he struggles

with deliberate sin,

he fights against it

but it's still there

and he's also

wise enough

to know that

even if he's got

his will in check

there are plenty

of areas of his life

where he falls short

even if he can't see it.

things like pride,

you know,

you struggle to be

a humble man

or woman

and somebody says

to you,

boy you're a humble

man or woman

and then you say,

I know.

Doesn't work,

does it?

We are sinful

to the core

and we need

a saviour.

I said to our

830 people this morning,

I said both services

really but

one of the things

I often don't do

in a communion service

with our older people

and they'd really

love me to do it

is to read

the Ten Commandments

which are part

of the service

and a lot of old churches

and this is one of them

used to have

a board

out the front

with the Ten Commandments

out there in front

of people all the time

and they told me

in the service

this morning

that it's in there

maybe turn backwards

no, it's not

but I want to say

it's scripture

the Ten Commandments

are scripture

and there is nothing

wrong with God's word

and Jesus said nothing

to turn those commandments

on their head

or to revoke them

so in terms of

what they say

they are God's truth

and they are worth

hearing

I said to the church

family this morning

one of the reasons

I really don't like

reading them regularly

in the communion service

is because

thou shalt not

commit adultery

oh tick

I haven't done that

thou shalt not

murder

well

certainly never

done that

thou shalt not

steal

oh

no

well back in

second class

I might have

taken a friend's

rubber

no I haven't

done anything

much like that

for a while

and so what happens

as we do that

we look at God's word

and we go

tick

tick

tick

and what we do

is we glory

in ourselves

at that moment

and it's almost

like

look at me

look at how

I measure up

against God's law

and we steal

God's glory

and I think

it's why

Jesus in the

Sermon on the

Mount

turned some

of these

things on

their head

to help

people to

think about

what really

mattered

and what

they really

mean

so you guys

say that you

have never

committed adultery

said Jesus

I want to say

to you that

if you've even

looked at a woman

lustfully

you've committed

adultery in your

heart

and to all of you

you say you've

never murdered

if you have even

hated another

person in your

heart

then you've done

even worse than

murder

men's breakfast

yesterday morning

was a really good

time for a number

of reasons

and I went away

there are a few

things I was thinking

about that I was

reflecting on

but I was very

moved later in

the day as I

thought about

what happened

because the

thing that

moved me most

is that Ian

who's on the

drums often

he gave his

testimony

he gave a bit

of a talk

and he said

how much he

loves Vander

a couple of

times through

the morning

and I went

away and

thought wasn't

that a wonderful

thing to hear

one brother in

Christ saying

how much he

loved another

brother in

Christ

Christ and

I thought

wouldn't that

be a wonderful

thing to be

being repeated

over and over

and over again

in our church

family where we

speak of one

another as I

really love you

I really love

that person in

Christ I really

love them for the

way that they

encourage me and

know me and build

me up and I

took that a step

further because I'm

saying to you

I need people

that I can go

to and say

brother I'm

struggling

brother there's

all this stuff

that's going on

in my life and

I need to tell

you about it

because I need

you to remind

me from the

scriptures one

what I already

know that if

it's sin to be

able to say

look brother I

know it's a sin

but I want to

remind you of

the grace and

mercy and

kindness of

Christ in

bringing forgiveness

for that sin

and I want to

encourage you to

cling to Christ

and I will pray

for you and I

will ask you how

you're going

and what do we

need for that to

happen we need

trusting relationships

don't we we

also need people

who don't feel

like they need to

pretend where

we're able to

come and say I

am broken and

I need a

saviour and

yes I struggle

here and I

struggle here

and where we

don't jump on

one another in

guilt and

judgement but

where we work to

build one another

up in Christ

even in the

face of our

sin

I think it's

true worship

this is a

wonderful passage

what goes on

here the whole

creation that we

live in declares

the glory of God

the glory of God

has been revealed

to us in his

word and and

lastly through his

son the Lord

Jesus Christ

and it is true

worship to

acknowledge God

for who he is

but it also means

knowing ourselves

for who we are

true worship is

being brought face

to face with God

acknowledging our

sinfulness

delighting in his

glory and

rejoicing in the

safety and the

undeserved forgiveness

that we find in

Christ who can

forgive even our

hidden sin

amen

amen

for our

forms crochets

to face with

him

Micłem

with