The God Who Communicates

We'll read together from Psalm 19, and one of our elders, Hamish, is going to come and read for us.

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.

There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

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, 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.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

The rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned.

In keeping them, there is great reward.

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.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you have communicated with us.

You have declared your glory in creation.

You have spoken to us in many ways, but ultimately, Lord, we thank you that you have given us your word.

And we pray that right now you would open up our eyes to behold wonderful things from your law.

I pray, Father, that we would not just find maybe some interesting facts or,

or, Lord, please don't help let us get bored with what's being said from your word.

But, Father, that you would help us to see your glory as you have revealed yourself specifically in your word.

And, Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, who is the word.

And the word became flesh.

And so we pray that you would be lifted up today.

So let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

We pray this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Today we are starting our summer psalm series.

And I'm excited that I get to actually preach from one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 19.

And we've been singing about how God has declared his glory in creation.

And ultimately, what we're going to talk about today is that God has communicated to us.

God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, has chosen to speak in a way that we can understand who he is.

Most of you probably know that at one point, Scotland was known as the land of the book.

Now, I wasn't able to find exactly when that started or who coined that phrase.

But by the 19th century, it was pretty much well known that Scotland was known as the land of the book because of her love for the Bible.

The Reformation was a turning point in that.

And John Knox and others wanted ordinary people to be able to study the scriptures for themselves.

And so they created one of the most literate nations on the face of the planet.

All that so that people could read the Bible for themselves.

Why were the reformers so convinced that everyone should read the Bible for themselves,

that they made they did their best to make education available for all so people could learn to read the Bible?

Or in the same way, why is it that some people were willing to die in order for the Bible to be translated into their native language?

Was it simply they were just overzealous or fanatical?

Maybe they were, as some have said, just wanting more power or trying to control the people?

Why would someone like William Tyndale give his life?

He lost his life saying things like this.

I defy the Pope and all his laws.

If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow,

that he shall know more of the scripture than thou dost.

Why?

Why would people be so committed to get the scriptures into our hands so that we could read them?

It's because God has spoken.

God has communicated himself through creation, as we're going to look at very shortly.

He's communicated through the scriptures and ultimately through Jesus Christ.

The heart of what I want us to actually talk about today is verses 10 and 11,

where David here says that your word and all these descriptors are more to be desired than gold,

even the much fine gold, sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

In keeping your word, there is great reward.

Do we value God's word in that way?

Do we understand how incredible it is that God has communicated himself to us?

So today we're looking at the God who communicates.

The creator of this and sustainer of the universe who needed nothing from us

has decided to reveal himself to us.

Now, some of you may be thinking, great, yeah, another sermon making me feel guilty

for not reading my Bible enough or not rejoicing in creation as I should and all these things.

Hopefully that's not what you'll get out of today.

But instead that we will say we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.

And I want more of that.

So we start out in chapter 19 verses 1 through 6,

where what we refer to as general revelation,

that God has revealed himself in a general way through creation.

It says the heavens are telling of the glory of God

and the sky proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.

Creation is revealing God.

God has communicated to us through his world.

That is one thing that we need to understand.

It's one way he's communicated to us.

So when we go up to the highlands or down to the Lake District

or even just walking out our front doors and seeing the stars at night

or seeing the sunrise or the beauty of the grass

or even a spider web that's glistening in the light,

all of these things are declaring the glory of God.

God is telling us that there is a God.

And when we pay attention, we'll feel a sense of awe.

Recently, we were driving down to Cornwall and I would just be like,

Kelly, Kelly, look at this view.

It's just like I'm in awe of what's going on.

And if we're thoughtful, we instinctively know that there is something going on

that is way much bigger than us.

That God, there is a God and he is doing something.

And if we just admit that, we will see that life is just more than our little worlds

that we tend to live in, our little bubbles.

But what exactly is God communicating through his creation?

Paul actually addresses this in Romans chapter 1 verses 19 and 20

Romans 1:19

when he says,

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 his divine nature,

have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world

in the things that have been made.

For they are without excuse.

In other words, God has given us a knowledge about him that is enough

so that we're without excuse.

We can't say, well, we didn't know there was a God.

He didn't reveal himself to me.

And scripture tells us that God is telling us about himself in creation

in a way that we know he exists and that he is powerful and divine.

But we, as his creation, will twist that.

We will suppress it, deny his existence.

We actually try to make ourselves as God.

But look at verses 3 and 4.

It says,

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

Their voice has gone out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

So in one sense, it's saying like,

like we have heard,

in another sense, we haven't heard.

Like what's he talking about there?

Like this general revelation doesn't reveal everything

or doesn't reveal enough.

It's like I heard someone say recently

that it's kind of like when you hear music through a wall.

Where it's like I hear something's going on,

but I can't quite make out what it is.

It's kind of like in just a minute,

you'll hear some bagpipes,

and you might not understand what in the world they're playing.

Now, I will admit when I hear thunderstruck,

I'm like, okay, I know what's being played there.

But a lot of times we'll start hearing this muffled sound,

and it's like it's enough to know it's there,

but it's not quite communicating precisely.

Maybe that's a bad illustration,

but I believe that's a little bit of how creation

is communicating to us.

It's unclear.

It's unspecific.

Therefore, God has communicated to us through his word.

There goes the bagpipes right now.

Right on cue.

God has communicated to us through his world,

but he has also communicated to us through his word.

Isaac Watts, the great English minister

who wrote Joy to the World,

and When I Surveyed the Wonders Cross,

he says this,

In other words, we're able to understand who God is

because he's communicated himself through his word.

Now, the next five verses are incredibly profound.

There's like six nouns, six descriptors, six verbs.

And someone has said it's kind of like facets of a diamond.

I mean, we see these intricacies in these words.

Don't want us to get lost in the beauty of the diamond

by trying to parse out the definitions of each of these words.

However, we are going to talk about that.

I mean, we've got this beautiful description of God's word,

but often when I'm going to go through some of these things,

for some of us, it may sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.

They're like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

It's like, okay, keep moving, go to something else.

We can just even get bored

when we hear these incredible things from Scripture,

because right now we still have these bodies of sin.

We still want to twist and suppress.

Even when we don't want to, we still do it.

When God is telling us these amazing things about his word.

Some commentators have pointed out how in verse 1,

David uses the word El or Elohim for God,

which is kind of this general name or title for God.

But when we get down to verse 7,

David switches to the Hebrew Yahweh,

the specific covenant name of God,

translated in our Bibles as Lord,

usually with all caps.

Verse 1 through 6,

creation has given us a general sense of who God is

that everyone can see.

But verses 7 through 11,

God specifically reveals himself,

revealing his covenant love.

It's like one pastor said,

he said, when you look at creation,

you don't think God is a God of love.

If you're just looking at creation,

you might see the power and terror of a natural disaster,

or you might see the violence

in the predator-prey relationship,

or you might see the majesty in the mountains

and the stars and sunsets.

But how do we know God's love?

I mean, you don't get attacked by midges

and be like, oh, God loves me deeply, right?

So how do we know these things?

It's because God has revealed that to us,

that he is a God of love in his scriptures.

He speaks to us through the scriptures.

Peter addresses this briefly in 2 Peter 1,

where he says,

no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,

but men spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So these words of who God is

were written down, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit

so that we can know him.

And one of the things I want you to hear

as we start saying words like law and precepts

and rules and things like that,

I want you to understand that when David is writing this,

he is excited.

He is gushing with excitement

as he is talking about God revealing himself

in creation and now in his word.

Look at what he says.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

That word law means instruction.

It's teaching man all that he needs to know to flourish.

It's like the manual sent by the manufacturer.

The scriptures create a standard

that must be obeyed in order for us to flourish.

God has said,

here is how you should live.

It says the law of the Lord is perfect.

That word perfect means complete,

comprehensive.

It covers all aspects of a thing.

It's everything we need to know

for life and godliness,

as Peter says in 2 Peter 1.

God has communicated himself

through his word in a complete way

where we can know him

and know what he desires from us.

And it says the law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

This word can also be translated as

restoring the soul.

It's the same words that are used in Psalm 23.

He restores my soul.

This word restore means to turn back,

to get back to the state it should be.

One translation says converting the soul.

It means a change that happens.

And he says in this soul,

it's that Hebrew word nephesh

that means the inner person.

Who you really are,

the self, the mind, the heart,

your person, who you are.

It's saying God's word transforms us

totally in the inner person.

And when you hear this word

that he restores my soul,

we hear the intimacy of it in Psalm 23.

We don't necessarily hear it as well

here when it says the law of the Lord

is perfect, restoring or reviving the soul.

But what we hear when it says

that God is giving us

what will transform and restore our souls,

he's inviting us into a relationship with him.

It's only that relationship

where this language makes sense,

like we see in Psalm 23,

that he restores, revives the soul.

It's not just some cold written law.

It is God revealing himself to us.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

Hopefully you're not hearing

wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

Right?

Anyway, the testimony of the Lord,

he says, is sure.

Making wise the simple.

This word testimony,

it means what God has testified

to be his will.

It's a witness to who God is

and what he desires for us,

what he wills.

The scriptures are an expression

of God's own heart,

his nature, his attributes.

And it says the testimony of the Lord

is sure.

It's reliable.

It can be trusted.

The testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple.

Now this word simple

is a word that literally means open-minded.

And what it means by that

is someone who's not able

to close their mind off

to what is good and what is bad.

And what David is saying here

is that the word of God,

the testimony of God,

of the Lord,

helps us to discern what is right.

Help us, helps us to discern

the words of life

versus what is wrong.

What will lead us astray?

What will lead us away from him?

We don't just need to be

completely open-minded.

We need discernment,

not naively open-minded,

but discerning through his scriptures.

And the scriptures give us

that discernment and wisdom for life.

I mean, you can just,

we could go to so many

different Proverbs

or so many different places

in scripture where we get wisdom.

But one of my favorite Proverbs

is Proverbs 38 and 9

where he says,

Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with the food

that is needful for me,

lest I be full and deny you

and say, who is the Lord?

Or lest I be poor and steal

and profane the name of my God.

He's saying like,

we instinctively want to pursue riches,

but that can be bad for us.

He says, if you give me all this wealth,

I might deny you and say,

who is God?

But I also don't want to be poor

because it'll look like you're unfaithful.

And I might steal and profane

your name in that.

That's wisdom to know

that we don't need to pursue riches,

that we don't need to think

that more is always better.

And that is the wisdom

that Scripture makes plain

to the simple-minded.

The testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple.

He then says,

The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart.

Precepts are what God

has appointed to be done.

It refers to doctrine

and absolute truths,

principles for life.

And he says,

The precepts of the Lord are right.

This is not right versus wrong here.

This is, it leads us on the right path.

It's the way that we are

to navigate the world.

David is saying,

You've revealed that to us.

You've shown us how to live.

The right path.

And when we follow your word,

it leads us on the right path.

And it says,

when we do that,

rejoicing the heart.

True joy comes

from following God

in the paths of righteousness.

True joy is what we're talking about here.

Just like Jesus said

in Luke chapter 11, verse 28,

Luke 11:28

Happy,

blessed are those

who hear the word of God

and keep it.

Jesus is telling us

the way to a flourishing life

is by obeying God's word,

hearing his word,

and keeping it.

So the scriptures

are wise principles

and truths for living

that perfectly fit our need

and our condition.

God's word is for our good.

And again,

David is excited about this.

I hesitate to walk through all this

because I don't want this

to sound boring.

David is gushing over here.

The word of God,

God has spoken to us

and has communicated to us.

And that is anything but boring.

The commandment of the Lord,

he says,

is pure,

enlightening the eyes.

Commandment here,

divine decrees,

they're binding.

There's this idea

and commandments of judgment

versus reward.

In other words,

when you obey God,

there is reward.

When you don't follow him,

there is judgment.

In other words,

God's word sits

as an authority over us,

able to tell us

what we should

and should not do.

And he says,

that commandment is pure.

It's clear.

It's free from corruption.

And it enlightens the eyes.

In other words,

it helps us to see

the way things really are.

It helps us to understand

what is true.

What is reality?

David says in Psalm 119, 105,

your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

It shows me the way

that I should go.

David loves God's word.

He says here,

the fear of the Lord

is clean,

enduring forever.

Fear is this idea

of awe and reverence

in scripture.

One of the things

that we can take away

from this is that

he's saying it reveals

how to worship God

as we should.

It's free from corruption.

It's clean.

The fear of the Lord

is clean,

enduring forever.

In other words,

God's word

and the way he says

to approach him

in fear,

in awe,

in reverence,

in other words,

in worship,

this is something

that never gets stale.

It never gets old.

They're permanent.

It never becomes irrelevant.

It's relevant

for every generation.

Unlike the apps

of our phones

that always need updating,

this is God's word

that does not need

an update.

It does not need

improvement.

The fear of the Lord

is clean,

enduring forever.

Scriptures are

permanently relevant,

written down

for all time,

for every place.

They show us

how to worship God

in spirit and truth.

How can we approach

this God

that satisfies our souls?

And then lastly,

the rules of the Lord

are true

and righteous

all together.

Rules.

These are divine,

what the divine judge

has ruled as right.

Now this is the word

that's right versus wrong.

His verdicts,

his word,

it's never guilty

of injustice

or unfairness,

but his word

is always righteous

all together.

It's true relative.

In the age of relativity,

it stands firm.

All of these things

that says

we can rely on it.

Comprehensive righteousness,

the way that is right.

This is the word

of the Lord.

Now,

he's not saying

the love of the Lord

is this.

The mercy of the Lord

is this.

The grace of the Lord.

The hope in the Lord.

He's using words

like law,

testimony,

precepts,

commandments,

fear,

rules,

all these things

that we're like,

that sounds awful.

Don't bind me

with those things.

And David is saying,

you don't understand.

This is the way

we get life with God.

He's telling us

in creation

that he's there

and we should pursue him.

Listen,

he's actually revealed himself

specifically in his word.

David's really pumped

about this.

Like,

the language is one

of satisfaction

and joy

in God's word.

God has spoken

through his word.

He has communicated

with us who he is.

He's communicated

to us who we are

and how to live

and step with him.

It's not just

how to live a better life

or how to live

your best life,

but how do we get God?

Through God's word,

we get him.

That's why David

is so excited.

I'm currently reading

a book called

Heart Aflame for God

and it's about

spiritual formation

from the Reformation.

Like,

how did the Reformers

view spiritual formation?

And they use words

like aflame.

And it was all how

the word of God

sets our hearts

on fire.

Passion.

Aflame for God.

It's just like

what we've been hearing

in the last four weeks

from the sermons

on the road to Emmaus

where they said,

did not our hearts

burn within us

while he opened up

the scriptures?

Do our hearts

burn within us

when the scriptures

are opened up

to us?

Our hearts

should be set aflame

for God

pursuing him

through his word.

And going back

to verse 10 and 11

that we mentioned

at the beginning,

he says,

more desirable

than gold,

than much fine gold.

We've all probably

had dreams of maybe

winning the lottery

or having that rich uncle

that leaves us

a bunch of money.

I'm going to go

a little full American here.

Yesterday was 4th of July.

I'm going to,

you know,

just go for it.

But there was a show

growing up called,

well,

I think it was on

when my parents

were growing up,

but it was called

the Beverly Hillbillies

if any of you

have ever heard that show.

And it's about

how this guy

finds oil

on his property

and they moved

to Beverly Hills,

Beverly Hillbillies,

right?

But they found this oil

and now they're rich.

And so,

we used to have this game

with my grandmother

who had some land.

It's like,

what if we found oil

on your property?

What would be

the first thing we would buy?

I know you might not

understand this in Scotland,

but we were like

a swimming pool,

you know,

because Alabama's

really hot.

But,

we used to dream

how much better

our lives would be

if we were able

to be rich.

We dream like that.

Apparently,

they dreamed like that

back then as well.

That's not a new

human condition thing.

That is something

that has always been.

And he's saying,

the Word of God,

because it reveals

who God is,

is much better

than all of that.

He's speaking

to our deepest desires

of what we think

will make us happy.

We have the words

of life

that lead us to Him

and in His presence

there's fullness of joy.

So,

it's more to be desired

than gold,

than much fine gold.

And then he says,

and sweeter also

than honey

in the drippings

of the honeycomb.

I get this.

Like,

I'm the guy

that always has room

for dessert,

right?

It's like,

hey,

do you want to get

some ice cream?

Ah,

no,

I'm not hungry.

That has nothing

to do with it.

There's,

I think it was Isaac

that was telling me

there's a second compartment

for dessert,

right?

There's always room

for pudding.

Apparently,

that's not a new thing

either.

Like,

they desired sweetness.

Sweeter also

than honey

and the drippings

of the honeycomb.

We're talking like

genuine cravings here.

I don't know

if you're like me,

but after I eat a meal,

sometimes like,

I just need to end

with something sweet.

It's something I crave.

Our bodies will crave.

Sugar is super addictive,

you know.

But when we talk

about sweets,

a lot of times

we even joke

about how it's good

for the soul.

Kind of the stereotypical

breakup thing

is like,

oh,

we broke up.

I'm going to eat

a pint of ice cream.

You know what I'm

talking about?

It's like,

we understand

that there's something,

a craving deep

within us

and a lot of times

it turns to sugar,

to the sweet things.

But David is speaking

to our cravings

and saying the word

of God,

it fulfills

that deepest desire

and it should be

our craving.

It's sweeter

than the sweetest thing

you can think of.

King David could have

anything that he wanted

and he says,

this is what I crave.

It's the word of God.

One preacher said,

the scriptures are greater

than honey and money.

It's what we crave

and what we seek

and it's greater

than all of those things.

So what?

What's the big deal?

Our God is a God

who communicates to us.

He reveals himself

so that we can know

the one that our souls

are craving.

And the primary way

that we communicate with him

is through his word.

We know who God is

through his word.

We know how to pray

because of God's word.

We understand how to navigate

this life

because of God's word.

And he speaks to us today

through his world.

We are seeing

and it's telling us

of his glory

through his word.

All these things

that we've just talked about.

But all of history

culminated

at the moment

that God communicated

himself through his sign.

John 1.1

in the beginning

was the word

and the word

was with God

and the word

was God.

The word

became flesh

and made his dwelling

among us.

I love John 1.18

as it goes through

that passage

and he says,

no one has ever seen God.

God,

the only son

who is at the father's side,

he has made him known.

That word there

in the Greek

says that Jesus

exegetes God.

What does that mean?

It means he explains

him to us.

The ultimate revelation

of who God is

is found

in Jesus Christ.

God so wanted

to communicate himself

to us

that he came

himself.

He came

in the flesh.

Jesus is the word

and he shows us

what God is like,

what God desires,

how to live,

how to find life.

And Jesus says

in John 15

that the way

we abide in Jesus

is through God's word,

through obeying

his commands,

letting the word

dwell in us.

Do you see

how much love

God has for us

that he would go

to these lengths

to reveal himself

to us?

And he didn't have to.

He wanted to go

to these lengths

so much

that he sent,

he came himself.

He sent his son,

Jesus.

Jesus lived the life

that we couldn't live,

died the death

that we deserve to die

so that we could

know this God

fully

and one day

be with him

forever.

Do we understand

the treasure

that we have

in front of us?

That we actually

now carry

in our pockets?

Do we get numb

to the fact

that we have

the word

of the living God

revealing himself

to us?

We have it

and it's greater

than any treasure

that we own.

Do we spend time

mining this treasure

so that we can grow

in our relationship

with God?

I was reminded

of a video

that I saw

about 10 years ago

and it's this tribe

in Indonesia

that was holding

this massive celebration

as a math plane

comes in

and is delivering

to them

the full New Testament

for the first time.

They're crying,

they're celebrating

this moment

that we've been waiting on.

We have God's word

to us.

And every time

I watch that

or hear that video,

it just reminds me

of how little

I can treasure

the word of God.

That it,

how often

I can read it

and it not impact

my day.

Peter says

in 2 Peter,

I've quoted that

a couple of times already,

in 2 Peter 1,

maybe you go read

that this week,

it's a good passage.

Peter says,

we saw his majesty,

we even heard

the voice of God,

yet,

he says in verse 21,

sorry,

not in verse 21,

I forget which verse

it is,

I wrote the wrong

verse down,

but he says

that we have,

even though we've seen

and heard,

we have the prophetic

word more fully confirmed.

And he's talking

about the scriptures.

We have this word

of how God

has revealed himself

to us so that

David says in Psalm 119,

oh how I love your law,

it is my meditation

all the day.

He says,

my soul keeps

your testimonies,

I love them exceedingly.

He even says,

it was good for me

that I was afflicted,

that I might learn

your statutes.

Do we love God's word

like this?

Do we seek

to keep God's word

with our whole hearts?

Can my friends

and my family

say that Ryan,

dad,

loves God's word?

Would that be

the testimony

because it's such

a part of our lives?

May we treasure

this word

knowing that it is

the greatest treasure

that we have?

May we meditate

on it day and night

as it tells us to?

And maybe a good

exercise this week

would be to go read

Psalm 119,

176 verses,

break it up,

it's actually broken up

into 22 sections,

and just see what

the word says

about itself

and the benefits

of it.

It can change

our lives.

Let's pray.

God,

we do thank you

that you are the God

that communicates,

that you have revealed

yourself in your world

so that we see

your beauty,

your glory in creation.

We marvel

at some of the things

we see.

We hear about the number

of the stars

in the galaxy,

the universe,

like we can't even

comprehend your greatness,

your divine power,

your divine nature,

yet you have given us

your word

so that we can know you,

so that we will seek you

and find you.

You sent Jesus.

The word became flesh

so that we could have

that relationship with you

that will fulfill

our every desire.

Help us to treasure

your word.

Help us to seek you.

Help us to hold fast

to what your word says

because we know,

as the disciple said,

you have the words of life.

Where else are we going to go?

Help us to value your word

in that way.

We pray all these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.