Title: Psalm 19 Scripture: Psalm 19
Type: Expository series Where: GNBC 8-30-20
Intro: The late Bill Klem was one of MLB’s best-known umpires. When he stood behind the plate, he was in charge of everything that mattered. He was the unquestioned authority; you didn’t challenge his word. He had a way of looking contentious managers straight in the eye and backing them right into the dugout. On one occasion, in the 9th of a critical game. The batter hit the ball to left field and the runner on third broke for the plate with the potential winning run. The catcher crouched to make the tag. There was a fierce collision with the catcher, the runner, and the umpire all knocked to the ground. Everyone eagerly awaited the decision. In one dugout the players were screaming, “He’s safe! He’s safe!” In the other dugout they yelled, “He’s out! He’s out!” The fans were in a divided uproar. In the midst of the noise and confusion, Bill Klem stood up, looked directly into the stands, raised his fist and exclaimed, “He ain’t nothin’ ‘til I’ve called it!” Klem was the authority and nobody was going to take that away from him! (From Stephen J Cole, God’s Revelation/Our Response). We live in a day and age of absolute moral confusion. Opposing voices scream, “This is the way you should live.” Supposed experts: philosophers, politicians, educators, social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, and not a few pastors tell us how they think we should live. However, at the end of the day, most of their ruminations are simply speculation. We don’t need more speculation. We need a sure word. We need trustworthy truth. Where do we find such a guiding light? If the sovereign God of the universe has spoken, and He has called it as He sees it, then it really doesn’t matter what opposing sides are screaming. We are to set aside our opinions and submit to His decision.
Prop: Examining Ps. 19 we’ll better understand and appreciate God’s revelation to mankind.
BG: 1. “Revelation” speaking of is not the final book of the Bible, but rather, “revelation” is the supernatural communication of truth to the mind.
2. In Psalm 19 we see that God has two divisions of revelation: General/Natural, Special/Specific
3. Again, today, another Psalm of King David.
Prop: Exam. w/me Ps. 19 as we better understand and appreciate God’s revelation to mankind.
I. King David Highlights Natural/General Revelation in vv. 1-7.
A. By Definition Natural/General Revelation is Visible to All People.
1. What is General Revelation?
a. God’s general Revelation is God’s communication of Himself to all persons at all times and in all places. (M. Erickson, p.153). Three of the most important passages to consider are Romans 1&2; and of course here in Psalm 19.
King David, begins this, one of the most beautiful of all Psalms with: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Possibly the king is sitting on the roof of his palace on a some cool winter’s night and he is amazed at the beauty of the star-filled heavens. Maybe he saw a glorious sunrise or beautiful sunset.
b. David is making two clear statements in this passage: 1. Vv.1,2,&4 – There is overwhelming evidence for God’s existence as seen in His creation. “glory” is the Hebrew word for “weight or worth”. There is abundant evidence to see the worth of God in His creation. 2. There is no need for a special education to grasp the significance of this evidence. General revelation speaks with a silent witness that everyone is able to hear.
2. General Revelation has a lens w/ 3 main focal points by which we may perceive a general knowledge of God.
a. Illust: I have begun to enter the realm of bifocals. Use bifocals when lost your up close focal point w/ age. Some people need trifocals. Distance, medium, and up close focal points. Well, when consider General Revelation think of it as a pair of tri-focal lens! That lens w/ 3 focal points known as General revelation focuses on: 1. Nature – the amazing and impressive nature of creation. The heavens and stars. The seas. Etc. 2. History – God is at work throughout history. God’s sovereign hand guides the march of history. See the hand of God in great events of history. (British Revivals in 1700’s. Dunkirk evacuation WWII, etc.). 3. The moral conscience of human beings. Humans make moral judgments of right and wrong. Illust: We see an out of control soccer coach screaming at his team of 5 years old kids and think it is not right. Why? Not written in Bible. “Thou shall not scream while coaching 5 yrs. old.” Man has the image of God placed w/in him/her at creation. Although fallen and marred, we get this sense of “oughtness” from that image. We of all the creatures are religious. Where does that idea come from? The indwelling image of God.
b. Illust: Unless someone is a literal sociopath, we have a conscience and for some unknown reason we are bothered by it when we do bad things. I had a dog, Reilly. Great hunter. Loved to kill any and all vermin. Never once did he feel guilty. Now Reilly was about 85lbs. Loved to hunt 13 stripe ground squirrels which on the avg. weigh 6.2 oz. little unfair size advantage. No one chastised Reilly. Yet what if some 350lbs buff Iowa lineman was picking on a disabled elementary school child? Rightly angered. Why? Conscience should bother him.
B. By Implication Natural/General Revelation has Significant Limitations.
1. What is the Biggest Limitation of General Revelation? General Rev. cannot Save!
a. General Rev cannot save. It is limited by the one interpreting it. Cannot come to a genuine saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by reason alone. God must make known. Natural Revelation points to the fact that there is a Creator. Natural revelation demonstrates our humanity and our mortality. Natural revelation is limited, however.
b. Natural Revelation can ultimately, only condemn. All people have a general knowledge of God, yet, certainly, not all believe in Him or trust Him for salvation. Besides, the Bible clearly states that people knowingly suppress the knowledge of God. Illust: People often ask, “What happens to the poor, innocent native in Africa who has never heard the Gospel?” ( BTW African more 10x more likely to have heard Gospel than IC Liberal!)Our first answer to this question may shock some people, but what we should say is: “Nothing happens to the poor innocent native who has never heard the Gospel, because innocent people do not need salvation.” Of course, this points up the fallacy of the question as it has been posed. We have to ask a further question: Are there any innocent people in Africa or anywhere else? The clear Biblical answer to this question is that no human being is perfectly submissive before God, thus, nobody is innocent. We recognize this fact in our common speech when we say, “Nobody’s perfect,” or, “To err is human.” The New Testament says that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).
2. In this song of David’s he writes about 5 characteristics of God that we see in the creation: God is infinite in power! God is consistent and faithful. Every morning the sun rises and every evening it sets. God is radiant in splendor like a bridegroom coming for his bride. God is consistently strong: Just like the sun daily runs its course. Finally, God is omnipresent and omniscient…whether in Middle East or Eastern Iowa, nothing is hidden rom the Sun’s rays and no one is hidden from God!
C. Applic: The next time you step outside on a starry night and look up into the sky, think about the fact our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains more than 100 billion stars. And there are probably at least 100 billion other galaxies in the universe, each with billions of stars! Imagine that the thickness of the page in your Bible is 93 million miles, the distance to our sun. The distance to the nearest star (4 1/2 light years) would be 71 feet. The diameter of our own galaxy (100,000 light years) would be 310 miles. The edge of the known universe would be 31 million miles on the same scale! God spoke this universe into existence! What does that tell you about His power and infinitude? “the heavens declare the glory of God!”
II. King David Highlights Special/Specific Revelation in vv. 8-10
A. By Definition Special/Specific Revelation is God’s Making Known What We Could Not have known on Our Own.
1. God has specifically Revealed Himself in His Word.
a. Because man is finite and God is infinite, if man is to know God it must come from God’s Revelation of Himself to man. Illust: We have all heard people say: “Religion is just a crutch made up by weak humans to help explain the universe and give meaning to life.” Let me ask that person a question: “If your point is true, than why is Christianity different from all other religions in the world?” “Also, if I had the opportunity to make up my own “god”, he wouldn’t look anything like the God of the Bible, and he would die the moment I die.
b. In a beautiful section of Hebrew parallelism, David (19:7-9) enumerates six synonyms for God’s Word followed by six descriptive adjectives, followed by six verbs. The first four verbs describe the effects of God’s Word on people; the last two describe the inherent qualities of God’s Word. Having thus described God’s Word, David shows (19:10 11) why God’s Word is to be desired.
2. What do I mean when I say: “Special/Specific Revelation”?
a. “Special Revelation is God’s manifestation of Himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with Him.” (M. Erickson, p. 175). In both the Hebrew & Greek, the word for revelation expresses the idea of uncovering what was concealed. Why is special revelation necessary? Very easy to answer: sin! Man lost his special relationship of favor that he enjoyed with God before the fall. It was necessary for man to know the conditions by which he could more fully know God so the conditions of fellowship could be met. Since man was the one who sinned and fell, it was incumbent upon God, to make that known to man.
b. Look at the key nouns in this passage: law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, judgments. These words speak to God’s inherent authority. God doesn’t timidly tap us on the shoulder and say, “Excuse me, do you think you could consider my suggestions, please?” He doesn’t mumble when He tells us how we are to live! God speaks, and we had better listen!
B. What is the Purpose of God’s Special/Specific Revelation?
1. God Has Given His Special Revelation for our Salvation.
a. When the Psalmist uses the phrase: “When he says “the law of the Lord” he may be referring just to the Mosaic law, or this could refer to all of Scripture. It is probably the latter. The Word of God is perfect because it is directed toward the well-being of man.
b. What are some examples of God’s Special Revelation? The Bible, Personal Experience, Miracles, Prophecy, Theophanies, Angels bringing messages to people (Mary and Joseph), the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
2. The Highest Expression of the Father’s Special Revelation is His Son: Jesus Christ.
a. One of the most important biblical texts describing God’s special revelation is found in Hebrews 1:1–2, which reads: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
b. Illust: In the 1967 prison film Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman, the warden utters one of the most memorable lines in film history when he says, in his deep southern drawl, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” General Revelation fails to communicate the requirements and Person of God’s salvation. In Special Revelation, God clearly communicates that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind!
c. Applic: Special Revelation is God’s revealing what we could not have known about Him or His plan for our salvation.
III. The Results of this Revelation. Vv.11-14
A. We recognize our Sin.
1. Special Revelation is Priceless to the human condition.
-In verse 10 we see that the Scriptures are very valuable to David. Why is it, if David spent six verses talking about natural revelation and two verses talking about special revelation, that his response focuses on the special revelation? I think that is because natural revelation is designed to bring you to the recognition of the need for special revelation. Special revelation is more important. It is where our focus should be. We should look at the rest of the world through the lens of Scripture. Illust: Several of us like many of the classic authors of the Christian faith: Edwards, Owen, Calvin, Arminius, etc. Great to read. However, we major on the Scriptures.
2. David recognizes that God’s word is good for him. It is more desirable than gold because gold does not satisfy. You always think you need a little more. But through Scripture we can know God and have relationship with Him and that does satisfy. The WOG is valuable because it points to the fact that we have a problem. We have a deadly disease, a terminal condition for which there is a cure. It shows us Who that cure is: Jesus Christ!
B. We renew our Devotion to God. Vv.11-13
a. These are verses of a devout man who is concerned about how he lives before God. He is concerned that he not sin and offend God, he is concerned about sinning by omission as well as commission. He wants to walk in holiness before God.
b. Illust: But I can imagine someone saying, ‘Well, if I do not know aht I am doing is wrong, how can it be a sin?’ In answer to that, I would say that, thank God! ignorance may diminish the criminality of the action, but ignorance does not alter the nature of the action. So David wants to be aware of even those hidden faults one may not recognize are wrong.
C. We rely upon God’s Revealed Redeemer. V.14
1.David was relying upon the Lord to redeem him.
a. Having prayed that God would keep him from sinful actions, he now prays that God would govern and sanctify his words and thoughts. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart…”
b. Illust: Do you remember in Mt. 15 Jesus has an encounter with Pharisees where He states what it is that truly defiles a person? Disciples ask Him to explain the parable. Jesus says: “The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.” (Mt. 15:18) David, under divine inspiration sees this truth that a 1000 years later the Pharisees would not grasp. Do you see it? Outward washing of hands, eating certain foods, observing certain holy days, the wearing of masks and face shields (😊) does not make us holy before God! Why? Because sin comes from the heart of a man and only God can give us a new heart! (Ez.36:26) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
2.General revelation does not reveal Jesus Christ or His work of redemption for sinners.
a. Thus there is a need for what is called “special revelation.” Special revelation is the revelation of the way of salvation. David professes his personal faith in God as his “rock and Redeemer”
b. Who or what is the “Rock of your salvation?” Illust: Friday I was driving/ listening to the Simon Conway show on AM600 WMT. Caller (Molly) was bemoaning the President’s acceptance speech at the RNC. Before long it became obvious not a Republican. Began to criticize all the people at the ceremony not masking. Began to blame Trump for all the deaths. (That may be your political view…hold on, I am about to make a point.) Caller said she wanted a national mask mandate to save lives because 1000’s were dying daily. Conway asked: “Does the fact that 10’s of 1000’s die every year from the flu concern you? “No they don’t!” (Actually they do.) Asked what about cancer? All cancers, according to the CDC take about 606k American lives per year. “Impossible.” “How many COVID deaths a day in a country of 320 million are you comfortable with? Here was her reply: “Not one, and everyone should wear a mask at all times until reach that point.” Conway asked one final question: “Are you sure that your mask will absolutely protect you?” Molly’s reply was more reflective and less self assured: “Well, I hope so, I don’t know… I am 85 yrs. old.” Hear me very carefully. I am NOT against your choice to wear a face covering in public, private, or in the shower for that matter. Many are in hopes of protecting others. I am not judging anyone’s motives. I am saying, that if you are 85 yrs old and the source of your eternal security is a piece of cloth or plastic, then friend you have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, and you are trying to convince yourself that you are fine!
C. Applic: Turn to Jesus Christ today! He is our Rock of Salvation. He is our Redeemer. You can rely upon Him completely! The Universe tells us there is a God. Special Revelation tells us that His Name is Jesus. You are responsible to live for Him.
