Good morning to everybody. It's nice to be in the house of the Lord with everyone. It's nice to see almost a full house here. I pray that as we continue in worship, it'll be a blessing for all of us to have congregated here.
You can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. And just as a note to let you know where we're going, we're also gonna read from two other passages and I'll explain why after we read and pray. After reading Psalm 19, we're going to turn to Luke 24, and after reading Luke 24, not the entire chapter, I'll tell you where to turn.
After reading Luke 24, we're going to read a passage from Romans 10. Psalm 19, beginning in verse 1, this is the word of the triune God. To the chief musician, a psalm of David.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 19; Luke 24:44–48; Romans 10:16–18
The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes 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 judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. If you'll turn with me now to Luke 24 and specifically verse 44. Luke 24 and verse 44.
Then he said to them that is Jesus These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms Concerning me and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures Then he said to him said to them thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And now finally turn to Romans 10 with me. Romans chapter 10. And when you get to Romans 10, you can turn to verse 16.
Romans 10 and verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard?
Yes, indeed. And then quoting Psalm 19, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Amen.
Pre-Sermon Prayer
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in the fact that we can gather together in liberty with Bibles in our hands to freely worship you. We do pray that you'd help us in this act of worship, the preaching of your word. Do help us to Glory in your word, to glory in the God of the word, and to rejoice in the Christ to whom the word points.
Do bless our time. Give us your spirit that our eyes might be opened, the eyes of our faith might be illuminated, that we might behold the glory of God and the Christ whom he has sent. We pray in his name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, if you'll go back with me to Psalm 19, as that is the passage under consideration, just an explanation as to why we read those passages. Why did we read Luke 24 after reading Psalm 29? And why did we read Romans 10 verses 16 to 18 after that? Well, in the account of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, he says something very striking that all Christians should appreciate.
He says that the scriptures are about him. He says to his disciples that the law, the prophets, and the Psalms all spoke concerning me. That the Old Testament, that threefold way of summarizing the Old Testament, law, prophets, Psalms, the old covenant documents, the old covenant scriptures spoke concerning me. And he opens up their minds that they might understand the scriptures.
And then the apostle Paul, an apostle of the Lord, in writing to the Romans, speaks with regards to the proclamation of the gospel. And he cites and he interprets Psalm 19 as applying prophetically to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we're going to look at Psalm 19 this morning with the title, The Psalmist's Prophetic Anticipation of the Apostolic Proclamation of Christ. We have a common surface and legitimate reading of Psalm 19 as a two-fold sort of declaration of general revelation or natural revelation that creation proclaims that there is a God who is to be glorified in by rational creatures.
And then the second part of the psalm applying to special revelation. So the supernatural revelation whereby God reveals himself in the holy scriptures and reveals his will, his Christ, to the sons of men. Well, we have New Testament interpretation of Psalm 19 as using that legitimate figural language, though, concerning the apostolic proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have figural language in our Bible.
We have the use of metaphor. We have the use of symbols. We have, in this case, both things, and the use of personification, the heavens declaring, as if they are rational creatures, the glory of the Creator. So, as we work through this particular passage for the first six verses, we're going to notice first the symbol, so the symbolic language used, and then the referent.
What do those symbols refer to? And then the particular message that is being conveyed by David writing and speaking as a prophet anticipating gospel Proclamation so as we work through the first six passages You know what symbols do symbols stand in the place of another thing or they refer to another thing so the symbol itself the figural language and then the literal reference to which it applies and then the message. So as we work through seven points, hopefully, with it, you know, across the next two hours, just kidding, we won't be that long. But as we work through, we're going to look at seven points here regarding this passage.
So
Glory in Apostolic Preaching
let's look then first at the glory in the apostolic preaching of Christ, and this is seen in verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Now, you might be asking, okay, preacher, are you just trying to interpret Psalm 19 in this particular way? No, Paul does, in the Bible, in Romans chapter 10.
He isn't just borrowing the language from Psalm 19, but rightly interpreting and applying Psalm 19 to the apostolic preaching of Christ. This is John Gill. This psalm was penned by David and inscribed to the chief musician as others to be used in public service, and was designed for gospel times as the subject of it shows, which is first, not an account of the light of nature and then of the law of Moses, but of the gospel of Christ and especially as ministered in the times of the apostles as a citation out of it in Romans 10.18 makes clear. But we want to notice first
Symbol: Heavens Declare God's Glory
the symbol. Notice the symbol used, and it's glorious, the symbol used by the psalmist. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Isn't it a wonderful thing as Christians, saved by amazing and victorious grace, made to known the triune God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, to look up to the heavens and not just stop at the burning sun, not just stop at the whitened moon, not just stop at the sparkling stars, but to move beyond that and glory in the God who made those things. who created those things, who placed them in the heavens, that we might observe the glory and the majesty of God.
We are not atheists that just stop in our particular worldview that out of chaos comes order, and we stop at the sun, and we stop at the moon, and we stop at the stars, and glory and chance. There is no such thing. We glory in the God of perfect creation, who has set in the heavens witnesses to his glory. Some of you might know and remember the quote I'm about to quote, but C.H.
Spurgeon In his comments on verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork, he speaks with these sorts of words. He says, in the expanse above us, God flies as it were his starry flag to show the king is at home. And he hangs out his coat of arms bearing shield that he might show the atheist how much he despises their denunciations of him. Then he goes on to say, and this is absolutely correct, he goes on to say that he who looks up to the heavens, the heavens and the firmament, he who looks up to the heavens and then writes himself down an atheist, brands himself at the same time either an idiot or a liar.
The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.
Referent: The Apostles of Christ
What is then the referent? What is, according to the interpretation of the Apostle Paul in seeing this as a prophetical, spiritual, mystical psalm that points to the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostolic age, what is the referent? It is the church and specifically the apostles of Christ. This is Augustine on this point, on this verse.
The righteous evangelists in whom, as in the heavens, God dwelleth, set forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory wherewith the Son glorified the Father upon earth. Now, you see, in this exercise of preaching this morning, we need to stretch our minds a little bit. Because in the relaxed posture and perhaps the, I don't want to say laziness, but I just said it anyway, sometimes we can come to passages and we cannot appreciate or move forward from a fully informed posture of recognizing, as we noticed this morning, that Christ is the scope of the scriptures. He is the center, the aim, the target, the blessed terminus to which all Holy Scripture points.
The Bible, page after page, chapter after chapter, points to the righteous Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men. We noted a quote this morning in our study in the Doctrine of Christ. Nehemiah Cox, a particular Baptist forerunner of ours, he said, in all our search, after the mind of God, in the Holy Scriptures, we are to manage our inquiries according to Christ. That's what Christ is saying, essentially, in Luke 24. 44 to 47.
So here we have the symbol of the heavens and the firmament referring to the apostles of Christ and the proclamation of the gospel. Just so that we understand or that we see that the Bible supports and touches upon this sort of symbology, you can turn with me to Genesis 37. Genesis 37. You'll remember some of this language in your reading of this passage over the years, the language of heavens applied to men.
Notice regarding this dream of Joseph in verse 9 of Genesis 37. Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers and said, look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his fathers rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?
Notice, shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? You see, immediately, The father understood that all of these things that he just used in figural speech, the sun, the moon, sorry, where am I here? Verse nine, the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me. He recognized immediately that Joseph is speaking concerning his father, his mother, and his brothers.
So there's language used of heavenly bodies applying to persons. Now you can turn with me to Revelation 12. We see similar language used, this time with respect to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how Christ, in a sense, comes forth from out of the true church of God. Notice Revelation 12, beginning at verse 1.
Now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the Sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars Then being with child she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth now We don't see or we don't find here the interpretation or the referent of the symbolic language, but as John is informed strongly and is citing and is utilizing the Old Testament in his writing to the seven churches in Asia Minor, we're to understand this in the same way that Joseph was understood in Genesis 37, that this applies in this case to the true Israel, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom comes forth the Messiah himself. This woman here is not Mary, but this refers symbolically to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we find our way back to Psalm 19, hopefully we can see here the Bible's use of figural language and how heavens and firmament can apply to church and specifically the apostles.
And in fact, just one more passage, if you turn with me to Daniel 12. Daniel chapter 12. We're going to see some language there that applies to Christ and the church and the proclamation of truth. Notice Daniel 12 verse three, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
So hopefully you can see that passage and its relation and relevance to Psalm 19. The heavens, the stars, those who turn away many to righteousness, the firmament, written here as the firmament, who declares wisdom or who brings wisdom to those as they shine in a sense like heavenly bodies. So finding our way back to Psalm 19, the symbol is the heavens and the firmament, the referent is the church, specifically the apostles of Christ, and then so what's the message? The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.
There's language of declaration being cited here, being stated. There's language of proclamation. It's an interesting thing. The heavens, in a sense here personified, proclaim the glory of God, and referring then to the apostles of Christ, we're to see here the proclamation of the gospel as Augustine and as John Gill and others recognize.
The message is, just as the light of nature shows that there is a God and declares in a measure His glory, so the apostles of Christ declared the glory of God and the perfection of Jesus Christ. It's a blessed thing. You know, in a sense, in a measure, the stars were given so that David, being a prophet, and Paul interpreting him rightly, that those heavenly bodies created by the triune God can serve as symbols for the proclamation of the gospel of God. we have a bright reminder as Christians. The light of nature, joined with, conjoined with the light of special revelation, we can look up to the stars, we can look to the sun and the moon, and we can remember the symbol and that to which it refers, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because we, at one point in time, were the recipients of the declaration, the proclamation, perhaps the reading of God's holy word. We were recipients of the proclamation of the gospel, of Jesus Christ and by grace we believed. What a blessed thing. As you look up to the stars, as you look up to the sun and the moon, we don't as atheists stop there.
We look beyond that to whom those things point, the God of glory. And as Christians with full and complete Bibles, we can even move beyond that and recognize that the glory of God was proclaimed in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a blessed thing here. in Psalm 19, verse 1. So that's the glory in the apostolic preaching of Christ.
Significance of Apostolic Preaching
Secondly, the significance of the apostolic preaching. If you're in Psalm 19, notice verse 2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. So with respect to the symbol, we see here the constancy of day leading to night leading to day.
There's something of a constancy here, a persistence in the proclamation of something. The heavens and the firmament, day after day and night after night, proclaim that there is a God and proclaim knowledge. Our confession uses the language of the light of nature. In fact, the quote I think there from from Gil or from someone, refers to the light of nature.
Our confession says, the light of nature proclaims that there is a God who is to be feared, loved, a giver of goodness, a giver of good things. The heavens and the firmament declare that, and day after day utter speech. So with respect to the symbol here, the movement of the sun, the burning of the sun, the rotation of the earth, revealing the moon, the moon in the sky, the stars that we can look upon, all of those heavenly bodies are not silent on some days, but there is a constancy, there is a persistence in their proclamation of the glory of God. The heavens and the firmament proclaim that, and they are constant in that proclamation.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. You see, when the atheist comes to the creation, and he can't move and he doesn't move beyond that to recognize the creator, he is running against the full weight of the utterance of the stars and the sun and the moon and the heavenly bodies and galaxies spinning in their orbit because those things day after day and night after night proclaim that there is a God. Moving then beyond that blessed symbol to the referent, what is it? It is then the constancy of the gospel's proclamation in the apostolic age.
The Apostle Paul understanding this in recognizing the symbol and then the referent, we have in the apostolic age a constancy and a persistence with regards to the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can turn with me to see some of this. Turn with me to Acts 20, Acts chapter 20. Notice in Acts chapter 20 at verse 31.
With regards to the Apostle Paul, there was an apostolic persistence. There was a constancy. What does Paul write with regards to his mission? with regards to the apostolic mission, with regards to what the church's mission should be, he writes things like, God forbid that I should boast saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
There was an active zeal and persistence in the things of gospel proclamation another verse you can turn to that touches upon this is 1st Thessalonians 2 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 Notice verse nine, when you get to 1 Thessalonians 2, for you remember brethren our labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. You see the apostolic persistence here symbolized by the turning of the day, day leading into night, leading into day, leading into night. The apostolic proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ had a constancy and a persistence.
And this is something that we ought to pray for in our day. the constancy and the persistence of the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Who is it that is the Savior of sinners? Who is it that is the Savior of the sons of men? It's Jesus Christ the Lord.
We pray for things in our prayer lives. We ought to pray for missionaries who go out, like the Apostles went out in the early church. They go out to Countries afar off to proclaim the riches of the same Christ that the apostles proclaimed, the riches and the excellencies of the same gospel that the apostles proclaimed. Day after day utters speech, night after night reveals knowledge.
The message with respect to this is the sustained zeal by which the gospel of Christ was proclaimed. That's the message here. David as a prophet, looking forward to his greater son and the proclaimer of good things, the proclaimer of his redeeming power, he sees the proclamation of his greater son and writes concerning its constancy and its sustained zeal. Isn't that what we need as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in a perverse and dark age, is a persistent zeal, a sustained zeal for our Savior?
He's the answer for sin and madness and depravity in our world. Christ is the answer. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who ought to be constantly and persistently proclaimed by the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need humanist sermons coming from the pulpit.
We need Christian sermons. We need pulpits that flame with righteousness, proclaiming the riches and the excellencies of so great a Savior. The sustained zeal by which the gospel was proclaimed, day unto day utter speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. The importance and constancy, the persistence, and I think we can take this for granted.
First off with the symbol, we can take it for granted. We just rest, we acquiesce, we abandon ourselves in sometimes a lack of recognition to the fact that the sun's going to rise, then it's going to set. I'm not going to say the moon's going to rise because it's a little bit different with the moon, but that we'll see the moon. and that we'll see these things in the sky, we kind of take them for granted. And really, if you perhaps examine yourself, unless you're the most amazing example of an observant Christian, we don't always look up at the sun, look up at the moon, and look up at the stars, and just joyfully spend time in glorifying our God and glorying in the creator.
We you know it's easy us for us to just get outside and look at the Sun oh man and get in our in our Van and drive away, or you know what you know get up get outside and look at the moon. Ah cool, and you know We are not to take these things for granted. We are to look up to the heavens and look up to the firmament and know and glory in the fact that there is a Creator, that He has made us, that He has set those in place, that He might be glorified, and even as special revelation testaments to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, the message with regards to verse 2 is the sustained zeal by which the gospel of Christ was proclaimed.
Extent of Apostolic Preaching
Thirdly, then, the extent of the apostolic preaching of Christ. Notice in verse 3 and then 4b. Psalm 19, verse 3, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
This pertains to the extent of the apostolic preaching of Christ. The symbol here, as we read, is the voice of the sun, moon, and stars. There is no place absent from the witness of the heavens. The creature who rejects God, the creature who rejects that there is a creator, cannot escape from the revelation of the light of nature.
Everywhere he goes, creation declares that there is a God. The unbeliever, the atheist, the rejecters of God, remember, suppress that truth in unrighteousness. It's not that it isn't there declaring and proclaiming the glory of the creator. It's just that they work so very hard to suppress the fact that creation speaks to the glory of God.
Christians as Christians saved by grace through faith we can look at the heavens and we can see their constant voice We can recognize that wherever we go We can cast our eyes upon creation and then mount ourselves and lift ourselves up by the spirit To recognize that there is a God in high heaven who has made these things There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line has gone out to through all the earth. So what is then the referent here? It is the Church of Christ and specifically the Apostles proclaiming. John Gill on this, but certain it is that the Apostle is speaking neither of the light of nature nor the law of Moses.
This is the reference of this passage in Romans chapter 10. So the Apostle Paul is interpreting it not with respect to the light of nature nor the law of Moses but of the preaching of the gospel and what the psalmist literally understood says of the heavens that the Apostle in an allegorical and mystical sense or by an argument from the lesser to the greater or by way of illusion applies to the apostles and ministers of the gospel, the luminaries of the world and stars of heaven, whose ministry by this time, Romans 10, had reached the then-known parts of the habitable world. It was an amazing thing, following the death and resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, how the apostles went out with that zeal and brought that message to every nation under heaven, according to the Scriptures. Not a glorious thing.
You know, they were scattered at his crucifixion. Many were in hiding. Of course, one, we know, Peter denied him thrice before the servant girl. They were scattered, but in the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection glory, he came to them, he gathered them to himself, he opened the eyes of their understanding to let them know that the scriptures speak concerning him, and then he sent them out, he commissioned them to go out to every nation under heaven and proclaim the goodness of Christ and his redemption of men. the extent of the apostolic preaching of Christ.
The expansion of the gospel, the message is, from Psalm 19, 3-4b, the expansion of the gospel of Christ throughout the world. Turn with me to Acts 2 for a moment. Acts chapter 2. Because do we see this?
Do we see this language of the entire world and the ends of the earth? We do in many places, and one of those first is Acts chapter 2. When you get there to Acts chapter 2, notice verse 5. And then verse 11, Acts 2, 5.
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And then verse 11, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. What an amazing providential thing that on the day of Pentecost, these from every nation under heaven and the nations are listed between those two passages all of these nations under heaven come to jerusalem and they hear the proclamation of the gospel of jesus christ isn't god glorious in his providential dealings he brings all of these sinners from all these nations under heaven and they hear in their own tongues the wonderful works of God the heavens declared the glory of God the firmament shows his Handwork the works of God the gospel of glory the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ The expansion of the gospel of Christ throughout the world notice also in Colossians chapter 1 Colossians chapter 1 and specifically there first at verse six. Notice what we read in Colossians one at verse six.
Backing up to back, just backing up a bit. Well, yeah, we'll start at verse six, which has come to you as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. It's line, their line has gone out throughout the world, their voice has gone out to the ends of the earth. And just a note on this, Steve reminded me of a particular quote the other day in last Sunday's prayer meeting.
We are, Psalm 19 is speaking to the expansion of the gospel in the apostolic age, the proclamation of Jesus Christ. But if we think about our own particular situation 2,000 years removed from that, We've noted before, isn't it a blessed thing that we here, thousands of miles, thousands of kilometers away, 2,000 years removed, are the blessed and undeserved beneficiaries of the proclamation of this same Christ and this same gospel? We have been the recipients of the gospel that has gone out through the ends of the earth. What a blessed thing that God and his providence sustained the proclamation of truth throughout millennia and that we Gentiles heard of Christ and we came by grace to faith and to believing in him.
This quote is speaking with regards to the spread of the gospel. There was a time here, this particular fellow, he's a poet, and I believe an ambassador to France or something like that, and there were people at a table speaking in a denigrating manner about Christian missionary work. They were mocking Christian missionaries. And this man, James Russell Lowell, replies, and he says, I challenge any skeptic to find a 10 square mile spot on this planet where they can live their lives in peace and safety and decency, where womanhood is honored, where infancy and old age are revered, where they can educate their children, where the gospel of Jesus Christ has not gone first to prepare the way.
If they find such a place, then I would encourage them to emigrate thither and there proclaim their unbelief. Isn't that wonderful? The gospel has gone out to the ends of the world. In Psalm 19, it's captured by the prophet David in the language that we read there.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line has gone out through all the earth, and the words to the end of the world. A number of Sundays ago, we read that language with regards to Jesus Christ. I believe it was in Matthew 12, inciting the Old Testament, where it says, and specifically I believe Isaiah 46, but it says, in his name Gentiles will trust. And we ought not to skip past that and just sort of read the narrative and, okay, yeah, after the apostles speak to Jerusalem Jews and they go out and they speak to Jews in synagogues, then they went to the Gentiles 2,000 years ago.
That blessed promise of the prophet also applies to us Gentiles. In his name, Gentiles will trust. There was a blessed time in history where for Christians here this morning, We received the gospel at some point, we heard of this Christ, we heard of salvation by Him, and by grace, the Lord God Almighty brought us forth from the deadness of sin to life in Christ, brought us forth from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of His love. that was by the proclamation of the gospel in his name Gentiles will trust should be blessed words upon the lips or in the minds of Christians because the gospel has gone out through all the earth it has gone to the end of the world notice fourthly Well, actually, just one more quote on this. This is Sutcliffe, and this applies to our understanding, or Paul's interpretation of this, applying to the apostolic age, and specifically how the gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth.
The elegant Tertullian, in his Apology for the Christian Religion, applies the same idea to the spread of the gospel with respect to Psalm 19. After stating to the emperor that their cities, their camps and castles were full of Christians, he asks, in whom have all the nations of the earth believed except in Christ? Not only the Parthians, the Medes, the Elamites, not only Phrygia and Pamphylia, not only Egypt, Libya and Cyrene, not only the boundaries of Spain, but Gaul and those parts of Britain. this is the third century, inaccessible to the Roman arms are become subject to Christ. Origen also asks, when before the time of Christ did the land of Britain agree in the worship of one God?
When did Mauritania, the country When did Mauritania, when did the whole globe at once agree in this? Whereas now, on account of the church's spread to the utmost boundaries of the world, the whole earth rejoices to invoke the gospel of Israel. As three bishops from England attended a council at Ares in the south of France in the year 215, it is almost certain that the gospel was preached in Britain in the Apostolic Age. So this language speaks to the blessed extent of the Gospel preaching of Christ, and we ought to pray that that same Gospel would be continued to be preached in churches throughout the world.
Power in Apostolic Preaching
Fourthly, the power in the Apostolic preaching of Christ. Notice the language here as we move on to 4C, just above verse 5 there, if you see that in your Bibles. So the power in the apostolic preaching of Christ from 4C to verse 6, in them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
So this, with respect to the symbol we have, the heavens which contain the sun, the sun itself, and then the bridegroom. So we have this symbology being used with respect, remember still, to the heavens and the firmament, in them, the heavens and the firmament, he has set, God has set a tabernacle for the sun, and that sun is like a bridegroom. It's a figure here wrapped in a larger figure if you read the particular symbology. So we have here that which the heavens contain, the sun, the sun itself, and a bridegroom.
So what then is the referent? Well, actually, before we move on, this continual language with regards to the revelation of God in creation. You know, we should keep coming back to this because it is with madness and the highest colossal folly that the atheist, the unbeliever, rejects the declaration of creation. As you've heard Pastor Butler often say, as in a mock conversation, the atheist might say, well, where's the proof of a God?
We have it all around us. We look up to the heavens. We look to the mountains. We look to the animals.
We look to ourselves. We look to the fact that we are rational creatures, that Gibbons can't engage in Aristotelian syllogisms, that animals can't engage in logic. They don't engage in narrative. We have so many proofs with respect to creation that it is madness to run against the fact that the sun is set in the heavens like a bridegroom coming out of its chamber, rejoicing to run a race.
It's rising, the declaration of God, it's rising is from one end of heaven to the other, it's circuit to the other end. There is nothing hidden from its heat. No one can hide from the declaration of the glory of God. What then is the referent?
It is the Church of Christ, the apostolic witness of the Gospel of Christ, and Christ Himself. Christ is the Son who is coming out like a bridegroom from His chamber. This is an ancient Latin hymn. that was used in the early church and it was used usually sung around Christmas time. And they rightly apply Psalm 19 verses three or verses four C to verse six with regards to Christ.
This is the hymn, from chastity his palace bright, forth came the bridegroom decked with light. Giant, God and man in one, glad his glorious race to run. From the eternal father sent, back to him his circuit bent. down to hell his path descends, at the throne of God it ends." So they see rightly here this symbolic, this prophetic and apostolic understanding of Psalm 19, and particularly this declaration of Christ as the Son, and as then the Son pointing to, with symbology, the bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Remember, Christ uses that language of himself in his earthly ministry.
His church is the bride and he, Christ, is the bridegroom. And he is referred to, Christ here, as the son also. We sang this morning in our confession study, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and there's a clause in the lyrics that says, hail the son of righteousness. And it's not S-O-N of righteousness, it's S-U-N.
Hail the Son of Righteousness. The Bible uses that language with regards to Christ, and so we have here God setting in the heavens a tabernacle for the Son. This is Christ set amongst the Gospel proclamation and the Church of Christ. in history. So we have the church of Christ and the apostolic witness of the gospel of Christ and Christ himself declared here.
What does that mean then? It means that no one is hidden from the exalted and ascended Christ in his kingship over all things. Remember, Christ, before his ascension, spoke to his disciples and he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, which would have instilled confidence as they go about proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as they set forth the blessed bridegroom who runs like a strong man, who rejoices like a strong man to run his race.
One of the things that we read with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ is that He endured the cross for the shame, but He rejoiced in the victory of it. He looked forward to the blessed of benefits that accrue with respect to His completion of His mediatorial work with the cross. He rejoiced like a strong man to run his race. Yes, he had suffering.
Yes, he endured much opposition and hatred. Yes, he suffered the shame of the cross. But Hebrews 12, 2 says he rejoiced as well. He rejoiced like the strong man to run its race.
And our exalted Christ is such that nothing is hidden from the heat of the mediatorial and exalted King. One of the verses that we have as Christians confident in the judgment of the wicked in Revelation is that those sinners, those rejecters of God, those haters of Christ, will not be able to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb. They'll seek to hide themselves under the rocks and the trees, but there is nothing hidden from the heat of the Son of Righteousness, even Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. So the message, of course, then, is Christ and His glory set forth by the Church's proclamation.
This is John Gill on this. The grace of God appeared to all men, shone out in a very illustrious manner, and Christ became what the sun is to the earth, the light of the world. Isn't that what the language that Christ uses of himself as we've been going through, as Pastor Butler's been going through the gospel of John? He is the light of the world.
Jesus Christ repeatedly uses this language of light. He is the sun. As Gil says here, what the sun is to the earth, Christ is the light of the world. Blessed language and Augustine and he coming forth out of the Virgin's womb where God was united to man's nature as a bridegroom to a bride This is his comments on Psalm 19 rejoiced as a giant to run his way That's an ancient way of interpreting that particular verse rejoiced as one exceedingly strong and surpassing all other men in power incomparable not to inhabit but to run his way for he stood not in the way of sinners and So we have Christ and His glory set forth by the Church's proclamation, and I'll say it again, this is to be the same proclamation today.
We spoke only briefly this morning, but we'll talk about it more as we work through the study on the doctrine of Christ in the morning hour, every second Sunday. We talked a little bit about the landscape of the study of Christ, or the landscape of the doctrine of Christ today. Maybe some of you know, but maybe a lot of you don't know, there are a lot of problems with the church professing Christ today. Wrong doctrines, bringing Christ down to a low and diminished Christ, not asserting his essential deity and equality with the Father, not asserting rightly his true humanity, mixing those two things up and saying that Christ somehow changed In the incarnation that he set aside divine attributes and all these sorts of madnesses There is a problem with the proclamation of the true and saving Christ today and there always has been And so we are to appreciate Christ and His glory set forth by the church's proclamation.
And as a church, we ought to pray for our church, yes, but for other churches as well, that the right Christ, the right gospel would be proclaimed, that the full and saving Christ would be proclaimed. That he is not diminished, that he is not somehow eternally subordinate to the Father, that he is not less than the Father, inferior, but that he is essential deity and that he has unbridled equality with the Father and with the Spirit. That he took on true humanity, not simply a body, but also a reasonable or rational soul that he might substitutionarily engage in the work the Father sent him to do for his people. we need to proclaim Christ and his glory.
Perfection of the Doctrine of Christ
Fifthly, as we move along to an end, the perfection of the doctrine of Christ. So we're coming sort of to the end of a lot of symbology referring to something that prophetically anticipates Christ. And now it's a little bit more literal language that we have in the next three points. So notice the perfection of the doctrine of Christ in verses seven through nine.
The perfection of the doctrine of Christ, the law of the Lord, is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes 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 judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Now, as we noted from the quotes from Gill, from Augustine, and from others, this isn't speaking with respect to the law of Moses.
This isn't speaking with regards to the Ten Commandments or the ceremonial law, that sort of thing. How do we know that? What is meant by law? And when we see here in verse 7, the law, and then subsequently testimony, statutes, commandment, fear, and judgments, we are to understand that all as the Word of God.
These are not different things. There might be nuancicles, if that's a word, There might be nuances with respect to how they're employed what they're showing with regards to the utility of the Word of God But law testimony statutes commandment fear judgments all of these pertain to the Word of God and specifically pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ and again Not the law of Moses. This is a gust and on this point the law of the Lord Therefore is himself who came to fulfill the law not to destroy it an undefiled law who did no sin Neither was guile found in his mouth not oppressing souls with the yoke of bondage but converting them to imitate him in Liberty and So this language here given from seven to nine, again, isn't the law of Moses. It's not a yoke of bondage.
And how do we know this? How do we know that it isn't the law of Moses, but it is the gospel, even Christ himself? Because of what this word of God does. Notice the language, it converts, it makes wise, it rejoices, et cetera.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. It makes wise the simple, it rejoices the heart. Nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ can do these things. How were we saved?
Not by the law of Moses. How were our souls converted? Remember, the law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul.
How were we converted? Not by obedience to the law of Moses. Not by obedience to a set of commandments or statutes. We were saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not saved by deeds of righteousness, which we have done, the apostle writes, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And so what converts the soul? It is the preaching of the word. It is the word of God itself attended by the spirit in power and much assurance.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. So these words, these synonymous words, law, testimony, Statutes, commandments, fear judgments all pertain to the Word of the God, specifically the Gospel. And we know this because of what the Word of God does in the context. It converts.
It rejoices the heart.
Qualities and Effects of the Word
Notice the glorious qualities of the Word of God. Notice the language that we have here. We have perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. When we come to the word of God, we're not simply coming to a dusty tome of letters and books slapped together into some religious document, you know, by men with big hats in the fourth century.
That's not what our Bible is. Our Bible is the word of the living and true God. It is inspired, it is inerrant, it is infallible. It is the revelation, the supernatural revelation of God, disclosing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it bears, These glorious qualities, perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous.
And we see this language, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. We can rely on, we can have confidence in the word of God. Whatever the word of God testifies to, it is perfect. There is no error.
There is no fallibility because it comes from divine inspiration. That grand divine and superintending author of the word of God, the single author has given us his special revelation. And by virtue of that fact, It is perfect. So when we read our Bibles and we read, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, that is true.
That is sure. There's a perfect revelation of the law of God. If you're here this morning and you're outside of Christ and you don't believe in him, If you feel the weight of a holy God, if you feel the weight of the doctrine that you have sinned against that holy God, and there is no glory outside of that God to be given to sinful creatures, and you realize that you are under the just condemnation of this God, know with perfection that Jesus Christ is the Savior for sinners. and He has promised to save all who believe in Him. The law of the Lord is perfect.
Similar, the testimony of the Lord is sure. The statutes of the Lord are right. This is something that we ought to appreciate as we read our Bibles and that we ought to glory in and have confidence in. The statutes of the Lord are right.
Our God is a God who is most holy, most loving, most pure, and whatever the judge of all the earth does is right, and whatever he says is right. We have this language of purity. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. We have this interesting language, the fear, fear there being synonymous with the other words that are speaking with regards to the word of the Lord, but the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
Just touching upon this language, I think we ought to appreciate this language of clean. And clean as it applies to the cleansing of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are clean, we are cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ. We are made clean by the perfection of His sacrifice.
The Word declares a Savior. The Word declares the reality of guilty, dirty, wretched sinners. And the Savior comes, and by amazing and victorious grace, by virtue of the perfection of His work, He cleanses us. In fact, the language used in Hebrews 1 with regards to this cleansing or expiation of guilt is the same language used by John the Baptist when he says that he will thoroughly cleanse the threshing floor.
He will surely clean out in divine judgment the threshing floor. There will be a cleansing. Well, this, the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 1 applies to forgiveness of sin. applies to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are, sinners saved by grace, are clean, and that promise of salvation endures forever.
We also have this blessed language of the glorious effects of the Word of God. So qualities, perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. We have also glorious effects of the Word of God, conversion, wisdom, rejoicing, enlightenment, and permanence. the utility, the effects, what the Word of God does for Christians. We have conversion, wisdom, rejoicing, enlightenment, and permanence.
You know, we ought to pray for these things, and maybe I'll just verge in on wisdom, rejoicing, and enlightenment. Merging wisdom and enlightenment together, we ought to pray for wisdom as we seek to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Don't we want to know our God more? Don't we want to know our Christ more?
Don't we want to know the doctrine of salvation more? We ought to be such who eat up, who listen to the declaration of the heavens and the firmament, who listen to the declaration of the apostolic witness, who day after day, night after night, proclaim knowledge, who gave us the inspired documents concerning the Savior of men and rejoicing. It's a commandment, in a sense, the Apostle Paul, in the book of Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.
It's a commandment, but obviously not one that is a yoke of bondage, not one that is burdensome. Why? Because Christians ought to be, our posture should always be one ready to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, ready to rejoice in the forgiveness of sins. ready to rejoice in the glory of God, who is even the son of righteousness himself, Jesus Christ. Wisdom rejoicing enlightenment, and we have the blessed promise of permanence.
Well,
Treasure of the Doctrine of Christ
as we close here, notice that we have the treasure of the doctrine of Christ. It is greater than earthly treasure. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Is this true of your appreciation, your rejoicing in and your glorying in the Word of God, that you treat it as treasure? that you treat it as better than gold, more to even be desired than gold.
The language is that it's greater than earthly treasure, the gospel. It's sweeter to the soul than the richest food is to the taste. And we all have maybe a favorite food. Maybe it's not honey.
There might be some people here who don't like honey very much. The symbology can still apply, though. Pick something that is really blessed upon your lips, whatever that might be. It might be a steak with HP sauce on it or something like that, some Red Vines licorice or something like that.
As much as you rejoice in that, there is much greater in the referent here to rejoice in Jesus Christ the Lord and the glory of the gospel. The word of God is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. It is replete with benefits. It is replete with truth, instruction in it, prevention of error, and it is a lamp to our feet.
We are to glory in the Word of God.
Desire of the Saints
And it closes with the desire of the saints of Christ. Notice this language. The desire of the saints of Christ. Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression." This isn't a desire for the saint of Christ, for the Christian, to be obedient to the law such that then he will be blameless in the sight of God, but this is a plea, this is a desire for forgiveness from God by virtue of the perfect work of Jesus Christ. How are we blameless before God?
How do we stand righteous before God? Not by virtue of ourselves. A one-second examination of ourselves will certainly declare that, but the Bible also declares that by the deeds of the law, no one shall be justified in the sight of God. So how are we blameless?
How are we righteous before God? It's by virtue of Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness. It's by virtue of the one who lived in our stead, who died in our stead, and who rose again, punctuating the victory of himself over death, hell, and the grave. What a wonderful thing we have in this verse, leaning upon forgiveness, leaning upon the righteousness of Christ.
And then lastly, we have this blessed statement by David, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, and notice, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. You know, this is something that we can pray as well. Our meditations of heart, our words of the mouth come acceptable to the Lord God through our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are as such a sweet-smelling aroma to God. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our heart be acceptable to God.
And this is an interesting use of a word. You've probably heard this before. But as Christians, we, rightly so, kind of shudder against meditation, conceived largely. Because often, it sort of carries the weight of Eastern mysticism, that we're supposed to clear everything from our minds and be one with the universe, or whatever sort of garbage is set forth in mystical religious meditation.
The Christian meditation is such that we fill our minds with the knowledge of the truth. That is the best meditation on earth, is to fill our minds with the word of God, to fill our minds with the Christ to whom it points, to fill our minds with the doing, the dying. and the rising again of the Son of God. Saints, rejoice in your Christ. Rejoice in the Bridegroom.
Rejoice in the Son of Righteousness. Rejoice that you were the blessed recipients of gospel proclamation, and sinners here, believe in this one who died and who rose again for guilty sinners. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will sing with the prophet, rejoicing in your God and rejoicing in our blessed Savior.
Closing Prayer
Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for the disclosure of truth. We thank you for the proclamation it gives us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of his gospel.
We pray that you would help us, Lord God, to glory in our Christ, to rejoice in you, our creator, to rejoice in the truth. And we pray, Lord God, that you would save a multitude of sinners. We pray that you would save a multitude of those who would reject the declaration of nature, the declaration of creation, who currently would reject the declaration of Jesus Christ, the Savior. We pray that by your grace and for your glory and by your word and spirit, you would bring them forth from darkness to light.
Do go with us now and help us to honor your day. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, we can stand and sing our closing hymn, which is 224, stanza one.
That's 224 and stanza one. ♪ In this world of holy minds divine ♪ ♪ Let's ask the Lord in our eyes ♪ ♪ Who has set your soul free ♪ ♪ To be the children of nature ♪ ♪ All-mighty King of glory ♪ Please be seated, we'll have a time of prayer and meditation, and after the piano's finished, you'll be dismissed.