Sermon

September 19, 2004
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Psalm 19
Pastor Joel Zank

Look! The LORD Reveals His Glory!

In Christ Jesus, our Rock of protection and our Redeemer from sin, dear Christian friends,

Are you familiar with the Genesis Mission? It was man's latest attempt to discover the origins of the universe. Launched by NASA in 2001, the Genesis space capsule spent 2½ years gathering a small number of solar particles, each no larger than a grain of sand. Scientists are sure that by studying these tiny specks of dust, they'll be able to figure out how and how long ago the universe was formed. You can imagine that with so much riding on the mission, scientists were eager to get the capsule safely back to earth.

It was just over a week ago, on September 8th that the Genesis craft re-entered the earth's atmosphere, streaking across the sky in a fiery ball of flame. All eyes peered into the heavens, waiting for the large parachute to deploy and lower the capsule ever so gently into scientists' waiting arms. But something went wrong-the parachute never opened. As result, the $300,000,000 spacecraft and all of its sensitive data hit the sands of the Utah desert at a speed of nearly 200 mph. Scientists managed to scrape up what was left of Genesis, but they're afraid they may have to wait a while longer to get a glimpse of the glories they hoped it might reveal.

Friends, what they're still waiting to discover, King David reveals to all of us in the verses of Psalm 19, where he in effect says, "Look! The LORD reveals his glory in his creation, in his Word, and in his people.

David begins by telling us that at least the NASA scientists are looking in the right place-the heavens. He writes, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens [God] has pitched a tent for the sun,5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat" (Psalm 19:1-6).

The heavens have a story to tell. This universe did not come about as the result of some cosmic explosion billions of years ago. The heavens proclaim the creative work of our God. They declare his glory, showing him to be wise, and powerful, and good. They speak this message day after day and night after night, so that every human being on the planet can learn from them. We don't have to send a spacecraft to collect solar particles. Right here from our vantage point on earth the sun can fill us with great knowledge. David points out that each and every day the sun heads out on its course with the energy and enthusiasm of a groom headed to his wedding. And yet like a champion marathon runner, it never seems to tire. What does this tell us about our God? How wise he must be! He knew just where to place that furnace in the sky-any further away from us and our world would freeze; any closer and we'd burn up. Consider the sun's power-every second it gives out the energy of billions and billions of atomic bombs. How much greater must be the power of the One who controls and regulates all that energy so perfectly! And oh how kind the Creator must be to take such a precise and powerful thing as the sun and still use it to paint our skies with such beautiful colors at the beginning and close of every day. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

The testimony of all that God has created is enough to convince every human being on earth that there is a wise and powerful God who has made all things. But what if there are still some who deny this? What if there are some who insist that there is no God and therefore no Creator? The Apostle Paul hints at the misery such people will face come Judgment Day when he writes in Romans 1:20: "Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." How would you like to face God on Judgment Day and try to explain to him why you denied his existence? What a frightening thought, and yet I wonder how often we flirt with just such disaster. Oh I'm not saying that we're atheists or evolutionists-not in the normal sense of those terms. But I am suggesting that there are times when we are just as blind as those who say there is no God. It happens when you and I divide our lives up into categories or compartments. We have our work or school life; our social and family life, our personal and private life, and don't forget our spiritual or church life. It seems to me that while we may know how God fits in this last category, we have a problem finding him in all the others. How quickly we can take credit for success at work or at school without a moment's thought that whatever good has been accomplished is really the handiwork of God and a tribute to his glory. And let's be honest, there are many times when we wouldn't even think to invite God to be a part of our social life-we'd be too embarrassed to mention him to our friends; or too handicapped by his rules to have any fun. And as for our family life, that's just too busy to make any time for God. So back to the question at hand: how would we like to face God come Judgment Day and try to explain to him why we denied his existence or resented his involvement in so many areas of our lives? What will we say to him that will keep him from using that tremendous power of his to punish us in a place far hotter than the sun?

Search as we may, we'll find no answer to that question in the works of God's hands. Nothing in all creation offers any hope of salvation to us sinners. But look! The LORD reveals his glory in his Word. David writes: "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous" (Psalm 19:7-9). Six terms are used in these three verses to describe God's Word-terms like law, statutes, commands. At first glance it would seem that all these words are talking about the things God wants us to do or not to do. Aren't these all just others ways of describing the Ten Commandments? No they're not. The commandments expose our sin. They rightly burden us with guilt and pronounce God's judgment of hell upon us. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 "...the letter [of the Law] kills..." But look at what David says in Psalm 19, "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul." David's talking about a word that gives life rather than kills. He can't be talking about the commandments. He can only be referring to the gospel, the good news of God's glorious love for us in Christ. There's another clue here that shows that David has the gospel in mind. Earlier in the psalm, when speaking of the Creator, David used the name God, a name in Hebrew that refers to the Almighty One. But in these verses, David uses the name LORD, the name that is always connected to God's free and faithful love for us.

God's greatest glory is revealed in the Word and work of his Son, Jesus. When we were all still rebels and God-haters, the Lord Jesus showed love to us by taking ownership of our sin. He found a way to become every sinner. Jesus became the atheist and the evolutionist, he became you and me at our worst. He owned up to everything we've ever done wrong and all of our failures to do right. Why? Why would he want all our blame? The gospel says it's because he loves us, because he wanted to spare us the punishment of hell by going there in our place. So that's what he did, and because he did, we now have forgiveness with God. Now instead of threatening us with punishment, the LORD promises us life, a life of peace with him on earth, and soon, a life of bliss with him in heaven. As David says, this news revives the soul. Before the gospel made us wise to salvation in Christ, all we knew was sadness; now there is joy in our hearts. Once there was only darkness in our future. But now the darkness is gone. Now the lamp of the gospel burns so brightly before our eyes, that even when troubles or problems overshadow our lives, the glory of Christ's saving love shines right through the gloom, helping us to see that every disaster, even death itself must bring us nothing but good. My friends, it cannot be otherwise for "The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous" - a truth which leads David to say of those same promises: "They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb 11By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. " (Psalm 19:10). The good news about Jesus' love for you is your ticket to heaven. Is there anything you own, or want to own more valuable than that? The gospel is more precious than gold! And it's sweeter than honey; now a days we might say it's sweeter than a delicious piece of chocolate. Once you taste the gospel you'll want more and more, which is just fine with God. He wants us to have a sweet-tooth for his Word, because the gospel's power changes us. It has already changed our status before God. By the gospel's power we sinners are now saints in God's eyes. And there's another change, one that's in the works. The gospel is recreating us to live like the holy people it declares us to be. There is, as David says, a great reward in the gospel, not a reward earned for reading it, but a blessing that it works in us as we keep and treasure the gospel in our hearts and minds. David is an example of this. Look at him, look how the LORD reveals his glory in his people!

David writes, "Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression" (Psalm 19:13). I'll remind you that this was the same David who once committed adultery and murder. For a whole year he ignored and excused and tried to justify his sin. But that didn't work. He was miserable until God's Word came to the rescue. God's law convicted David of his sin; and then the sweet, precious gospel brought David to repentance, causing him to confess his sin and cling to God's forgiveness in Christ. The gospel declared David holy again for Jesus' sake, and at the same time the gospel gave David the desire and the strength to be holy, to do holy things. Never again did David want to be separated from God by his sin. He, of course, realized that he couldn't stop sinning, but he also knew that he didn't have to live in his sin, finding some twisted sense of pleasure in it. Instead the gospel moved David to repent of his sins, both his hidden faults - the sins he was unaware of, as well as the sins he had thought through and had done on purpose. As David brought all his sins to the LORD every day, the LORD removed David's guilt and filled his heart with peace and joy.

Dear Christians, God is doing the same thing in our lives - he's revealing his glory in us. His grace alone moves us stubborn sinners to repent of our wrongs and rejoice in his forgiveness. His grace alone teaches us to hate sin and run from its power. And when we fail, when our efforts to live holy lives crash and burn like the Genesis spacecraft, it's God's grace alone that picks up the broken pieces of our lives and puts us back together again, redeemed, restored, and forgiven. So yes, the heavens declare the glory of God, but that glory can be seen even better in his gospel and in the new life it has worked in us all. Pray, my friends, that our new life may flourish. Ask God to give us all that we need to please him and to praise him in all that we say, think and do. Pray often, saying as David did: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). Amen.

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