God Who Speaks

[0:00] Okay, good morning, Watermark. It's great to be here. It's my privilege, my joy to be sharing today. For those of you who do not know, my name is Alan. I oversee the youths here at Watermark.

[0:11] And man, it's such a great morning today. And I pray that God will work in our hearts this morning. So C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian writers, he talks about Psalm 19, which is our passage today.

[0:23] He says this about this psalm. He says, I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter in all of Psalms and one of the greatest lyrics in the world. And man, I thank God that I came across that quote before I even started studying Psalm 19.

[0:41] Because my thought was, what is so different about this psalm from the rest of the psalms? Why is this psalm so special? And by the end of my study, I mean, this is what my Psalm 19 looked like.

[0:53] It was all scribbles. Each line had something to say. And it's one of those studies that left me in awe, in yearning, in tears of so much treasure that you find in Psalm 19.

[1:06] So as Annabelle is going to come up and read Psalm 19 over us, and I pray, let us come with open hearts. Let us come with a surrendered heart. Let us come praying, God, would you come and speak to us through Psalm 19.

[1:19] So if you have your bulletin, if you have your Bible, let us open to Psalm 19, and Annabelle will come and read to us. Annabelle. Psalm 19, to the choir master, a psalm of David.

[1:39] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

[1:50] 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.

[2:06] 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 cause with joy.

[2:18] 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.

[2:34] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

[2:45] 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.

[3:03] 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.

[3:17] In keeping them, there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

[3:28] Keep back your servants also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

[3:39] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[3:50] This is the word of God. Can I lead us in prayer? Father God, glorious in majesty. Father, we come before you this morning.

[4:03] And as we look at your word, God, how majestic, how glorious, and how wonderful you are. Father, we pray this morning, would you come and open up the scripture to us?

[4:15] Would you come and open our hearts to see your glory this morning, Lord? Father, help us to see the things that are not pleasing to you. Help us to see the things that are broken in us.

[4:27] And Father, we pray that all of us would glorify you. All of me, all of the things that are inside of us would glorify you. Father, would you come? May your spirit be among us. And to you be all glory.

[4:40] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In 1820, a man called John Adams, one of the founding fathers of the U.S., what he did was he commissioned about 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence to be made.

[4:58] So he commissions this. There are 200 copies of Declaration made. So, and obviously in today's time, the main one, the original one is in Washington, displayed with full security.

[5:10] And the rest of the 200, which are almost equally valuable, are spread around all over the place. In present times, we know where most of them are. Some of them are lost forever.

[5:23] Now, this is a story of a man called Michael Sparks. In 2007, he stumbled across a thrift shop. He goes to a thrift shop and he stumbles across a Declaration of Independence.

[5:34] And he looks at it and he thinks, maybe this is a souvenir. It looks good. It looks great. So he goes and he buys it for $2.48. And then he goes home and he looks at it.

[5:45] Man, this is so well made. The engravings are incredible. It looks really old. And he's pretty amazed at how well made this souvenir was made. And I'm pretty sure you know where this story is going, right?

[5:58] And later on, he figures out, no way, it's actually one of the 200 pieces. And later on, he bought it for $2.48. And he sells it for $477,000.

[6:11] Isn't that amazing? And the point is this. Sometimes, we miss the value of something because we do not know what it is.

[6:22] I mean, think about the number of people that came across this declaration, this souvenir in that shop, and they just walked past it. They picked it up. They looked at it and they just put it down. Think about the thrift shop owner who sold it for $2.

[6:35] How much he felt afterwards when realizing it's actually worth nearly half a million dollars. In today's psalm of David, David brings out two things that we come across daily, but we tend to actually brush over.

[6:52] And that is creation and God's word. David brings up these two things that we all have access to. And suddenly, he burst in joy, talking about the beauty, the glory of creation and God's word.

[7:06] And he just burst out into a lyrics. He burst out into poetry. And he comes up with one of the greatest lyrics in all the world. But if you stop and think, and as we are going to look into, what really captures David Hart is not just the beauty in creation.

[7:21] It's not just the beauty in God's word, but it's actually the voice that is being heard through his creation and through his word. It's actually the being that is behind all of this thing, which is God himself.

[7:35] But that's not it. What is more fascinating is, is what God is calling or what God is speaking through creation and what God is speaking through his word and what he's calling us, you and I, into.

[7:48] So finally, what we find in Psalm 19 is, the first part you'll find is God's voice through his creation. Second part, you'll hear God's voice through his word.

[7:59] And finally, we hear David's voice and entitled man's voice in response. So, let's try to dive straight into Psalm 19. If you have a bulletin, you can open with me. We're going to look very closely at this Psalm.

[8:11] So, let's look at verses 1 to 6. The first point being God's voice through creation. Psalm 19. And I'm pretty sure that we all know that there's something about creation.

[8:22] There's something about the view and mountains and the beaches and the seas. There's something about it that speaks volumes, isn't there?

[8:34] So, David starts of proclaiming. He says, You know, creation, nature, galaxies, animals, all sorts of things that take our breath away.

[8:54] And they have that kind of effect on us. Right? It's pretty interesting. It's as if this creation is trying to communicate something that is so hard to describe in words.

[9:05] And they make us feel something that is equally hard to describe. It's pretty interesting. I mean, look at verse 3. It says, It has no speech.

[9:17] There are no words. And His voice is not heard. In other words, what David is saying is that, in other words, it has no ability to speak. Nor does it have any vocabularies to use.

[9:28] And the third thing is, it doesn't even, it can't even make any sound. And yet, it declares the glory of God. And yet, it proclaims His handiwork.

[9:40] And yet, it pours out speech and reveals knowledge. And yet, its voice goes out to all the earth. Its word goes out into all the end of the earth. And if you have ever stopped and looked at a breathtaking view in your life, which I'm pretty sure we all have, you know exactly what this passage is talking about.

[10:03] I mean, if you have ever stood before a breathtaking view, I wonder what kind of memory or what kind of scenery comes to your mind when you look at this verse. It could be mountains that you came across in one of your vacation.

[10:17] I mean, in my high school, there's this amazing Himalayas that you can see early in the morning. Something that takes your breath away. So, it could be something like that. Or maybe it's one of those beaches that you came across.

[10:28] And you're on your trip to Thailand or somewhere. That just takes your breath away. Or maybe it's galaxy that you came across a picture. And you look at this galaxy and you think like, where are we in this galaxy?

[10:41] A small tiny dot is our sun. We are like lost. And you think about this massive galaxies after galaxies. Billions and billions of stars. And you feel like, wow.

[10:52] It just takes your breath away. Or maybe it's one of those animals that you come across that has like amazing colors, mixtures of colors, flowers that have mixtures of colors, made in such a creative way.

[11:06] And you stop and ponder upon it. Look at this animal. Look at a lion. I mean, have any one of you heard a lion roar? Let me see if I raise your hands. I can see a few. I mean, if you have not heard a lion roar, you got to hear a lion roar.

[11:21] It's incredible. It feels like 10 of the sound boxes are put up and you hear it. I'm not going to make it sound. It's incredible.

[11:33] The creation is incredible. What comes in my mind is, in my mind, a memory comes up that just feels like yesterday. It's back in my high school.

[11:44] If you know where I studied, it's literally on top of a mountain. So my school was on top of a mountain. More precisely, it was on top of an extinct volcano. And we have this massive field.

[11:55] And it was one of those nights. I mean, if you know India, the electricity goes off from time to time. There's no light. So it was one of those nights where me and my boys, we were sitting at this end of the field.

[12:05] It was a massive field. The dormitories were all at the end of the field. And we were sitting right there, up to no good, having deep conversations. And all of a sudden, the electricity goes off.

[12:20] And it's pitch dark. And within a matter of seconds, the whole field lights up. And we look up. There's no clouds. There's no moon.

[12:32] And suddenly, we were surrounded by thousands and millions and billions of stars over our heads. And it was incredible. It was like the stars are dancing.

[12:44] You know how the stars twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, little star. It was like that. Incredible stars lighting up the whole field. And we all stopped. And we looked up. And it was silent.

[12:55] We just stopped talking. No one had to tell us to stop talking. Because it felt like if we even made a sound, it would just taint this beauty with our trash voice or whatever.

[13:10] It just, we were just speechless. We felt something that was indescribable. I mean, that's what it does to us. That's what it does to every one of us. So I was curious about it.

[13:21] What is it that, what is that thing that makes us, that this scenery makes us feel? So I went to Google the great wisdom of this generation. And I Googled this. I Googled people's experience when looking at stars.

[13:34] It's quite interesting that most of these people have similar reaction. And this is what I came up with. So some said, I feel free. The stars make me feel loved.

[13:45] I feel deeply loved, deeply cared for, that I'm not alone, that I'm tiny, yet I have a lot of potential. Makes me want to be a better soul despite my circumstances. And some said, I'm accepted.

[13:56] I feel like I'm accepted and loved by nature. So it seems that a lot of people, or most people, every people, feel some kind of assurance. They feel like there's something bigger than them that's out there.

[14:10] And you can call it the universe. You can call it Mother Nature. You can call it God. You can call it whatever you want. But if you stop and think about this, what people primarily feels or sees has a lot to do with themselves.

[14:26] You know, everything that they feel has primarily to do about themselves, that they feel loved, that they feel motivated, that they feel like they've got to be a better person. Which, by the way, there was research done. And apparently, if you keep looking at nature, it makes you a better person.

[14:40] It's pretty interesting. It makes you be a better person. I mean, that is true, right? If you think about it, you feel like, you look at a nation, you feel like, oh, I'm going to do better at my work. I don't know. But anyway, it has a lot to do with themselves.

[14:56] I mean, though it is true, but David seems to have found something that went beyond that. David seems to have found something that went beyond what people were hearing or seeing.

[15:11] And I believe that David did not write this psalm, or at least did not think of this psalm, inside a room. He thought about it maybe when he was out in the field under the starry night or when he was under the creation.

[15:24] And what David does is he looks up in creation. He looks up at breathtaking views. And what does he say? He says, the heaven declare the glory of God. The heaven, the sky proclaims his handiwork.

[15:38] And somehow people now and people then and people throughout history seem to have missed the voice that spoke through the breathtaking creation, seem to have missed the voice that was speaking through this massive creation and beautiful and glorious creation.

[15:56] And I mean, look at verse 4 to 6 with me. And David starts describing the sun from verse 4 to 6. And I mean, even the way he starts describing the sun, he says, In them, creation, he has set a tent for the sun.

[16:09] Now, I want you to stop and think about that one sentence. In ancient times, you look up and you see this massive yellow round thing on the ball on the sky.

[16:20] And it's giving out immense heat. And it's moving from east to west. And it's incredible. And what's the first thing you do? You think like, man, that must be God. That is something we should worship.

[16:32] And that is what everyone was doing, right? Every nation around that time, around David, was looking at the sun and worshiping the sun. In Egypt, the sun god was called Amun-Ra.

[16:43] In Mesopotamia, they called him Shemesh. The Canaanites called him Shemesh. The Babylonians, the Assyrians, everyone used to worship the sun. But what does David do? What does David say in the middle of all that?

[16:54] He says, no. No. We don't worship the sun. The sun, it is God who actually set up a tent for the sun. It is God who actually dictates where the sun goes.

[17:06] It's God who actually declares where the sun goes when the sun rises and when the sun sets. The sun is nothing but a part of God's creation, pointing us back towards the glory of God.

[17:19] The voice behind the creation was none other than God. The creation itself was pointing us back towards God. So which begs a question for all of us, church.

[17:31] When was the last time you stopped and looked around to see the glory of God? When was the last time you went out, marveling over the creation, the hills, then clouds, and skies, and rain, and typhoons?

[17:47] And you thought, wow, God, you're so glorious. When was the last time that happened in our lives? Think about it. We usually end up doing two things, right?

[18:02] We usually end up not giving God His glory, or we end up idolizing creation. Could it be that we are so crowded in our lives that so much work, so much things happening, so many other priorities that are happening in our lives that we miss this amazing revelation of God in creation that is calling us to worship Him, that is calling us to look up and be thankful, look up and be in awe.

[18:26] And in awe of God's majesty. And in awe of God's majesty, I mean, just walking down the slope this morning, I wonder how many of you saw the scenery, which you can't miss. The amazing islands, the water that was reflecting the clouds, the water that was reflecting the sky.

[18:40] And you think to yourself, wow, God, how wonderful your hand must be. How wonderful you created each and every island, each and every animals that live there. When was the last time that happened?

[18:53] Or it's even easy for us to view creation as something that benefits us, something that gives us, that refreshes us, that gives us a time out from our workplaces, rather than it being a way of us worshiping God.

[19:05] Or many times we idolize it. And I don't think a lot of us worship creation like they did in biblical times. But if you stop and think about it, what about our bodies?

[19:18] What about our sexuality? What about lust? The way we view the beauty of God's hand in another person, do we idolize it? I mean, anything that we put above God is an idolatry.

[19:29] Is it our sexuality, which was created for God's glory, but we use it to satisfy our needs and to objectify other people? How do we view this creation of God?

[19:43] So you see, God speaks to His creation, which points us back to Him. And His voice goes out to everyone on earth, right? I mean, look at verse 6, the end of verse 6. He says, just like the sun, nothing is hidden from the heat.

[19:57] It touches everything on earth. So God's voice to creation touches everyone. Everyone looks at it and they hear something. But the reality of that is, the reality that we see is that people don't hear what God is speaking.

[20:13] And they end up worshiping creation or worshiping themselves. I mean, Romans 1.20 talks about this. Talks about how God shows Himself through creation. But the people don't get it.

[20:24] Romans 1.20 says, For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

[20:35] So they are without excuse. And people don't get it. We don't fully get it, what is being said through creation. So in God's great mercy, so in God's great love, God speaks again.

[20:51] He spoke through creation. We heard His voice through creation. And now we hear God's voice through His word. Which leads us to our second point, God's voice through His word. Verses 7 to 11.

[21:02] So let's look at verses 7 to 11. So commentators usually call the first part that we saw, verse 1 to 6, they usually call it the general revelation of God.

[21:15] And this section from 7 onwards to 7 to 11, commentators usually call it the special revelation. So what that means to me is, God speaks through creation generally.

[21:26] In other words, everyone gets the revelation. He speaks very generally. Everyone gets it. But now, through His word, it's a special revelation. It's very specific. It's more intimate.

[21:37] It's more personal. I mean, you see that in the way this psalm describes God, right? I mean, look at verse 1. Going back to verse 1, David addresses God using the word God. And the translation is basically L, which is a very general use of the word God.

[21:52] It could mean anything or any God. But when you come down to verse 7, and from 7 onwards, David changes or addresses God with a word called the Lord, which is actually the word Yahweh, which is a name actually God gives Himself, which is more intimate, which is a more very specific way of addressing God.

[22:14] So it changes from this onwards. David starts calling God the Lord, Yahweh our God. So let's look at verse 7 to 11, which is a more special revelation, very specific, very intimate, very personal.

[22:25] So from verse 7 onwards, David starts talking about God's law. He mentions a few things, right? He mentions God's law. He mentions God's precepts. He mentions testimony, commandments, and rules.

[22:37] And what David is referring to, all of these things, is basically he's referring to something called the Torah. Now what is the Torah? Basically, it is the first five books of the Old Testament.

[22:50] Or in other words, it's the books of what Moses wrote. I mean, so when David was referring to them, when David was referring to the Torah, he's not only talking about commandments.

[23:01] He's not only talking about rules. He's not only talking about the things that you got to do, but he's talking about a combination of a lot of things. Okay? So if you think about the first five books of the Bible, the Old Testament, what you have there is the creation story, the false story, the promises, the things that God has done.

[23:19] So if I may, if I could summarize those three things, basically, it's three things. What do you find in the Torah? And the three things are who God is, what God has done, and how He wants us to live.

[23:38] So basically, it's who God is revealing Himself to be, what God has done, and how He wants us to live in light of all that. So what David here is doing is, he's holding up God's Word, he's holding up the revelation of who God is, and what you find is that God is a good and gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, and the revelation of what God has done.

[24:02] And if you think about it, what has God done? I mean, isn't it not God calling His people to a relationship with Him? What God has done is, is Him rescuing His people from Egypt.

[24:16] What God has done is, is Him continuously pursuing His people, even though the people were unfaithful and turning away from God. And finally, we see how God wants us to live, the commandments, and the way that gives us life.

[24:33] So now, I want you to create an image in your mind. So David holds up the revelation of God, who God is, what He has done, and how He wants to live. He lifts up all the testimonies and the stories of God, and God's faithfulness, and love, and all of those things.

[24:49] And He presents them to us, and He brings up, puts it up in front of you, and almost like a diamond with different facets to it, He says, look, come, come guys, look at the, look at the law of God, look at the word of God, and look at the different facets it has.

[25:04] Do you see the different angles and the different beauty that the law, the word of God has? And what does He say? He excitedly, He tells us, look, it revives the soul. I mean, you'll find it in the passage.

[25:15] He revives the soul. It makes you wise. It rejoices the heart. It enlightens the eyes. It endures forever. It's trustworthy and can be trusted. It is true. I mean, in a world that we are living where truth is whatever anyone feels it to be, David says, hey, here is something that is true.

[25:32] It is righteous. It gives joy. It gives life. It gives wisdom. And I remember Niels asking this question when we were talking about Bible reading and devotion.

[25:43] He said, hey, when you are tired, when you had a really bad day, do you pick up the Bible or would you prefer to lay down, lie down, and watch Netflix to rest?

[25:59] I'm not waiting for an answer. But David says, no, no, no, it gives you rest. It gives, it rejoices your heart. It gives you wisdom.

[26:11] I mean, church, are you looking for wisdom? Are you looking for something that filled the void in your life? Are you looking for something that you can fully trust in and bank your life in, that you could put your security on?

[26:23] You will not find that in career or any relationship. You will not find it in Netflix or any momentary entertainment. You will not find it in sex. You will not find it in lust.

[26:35] But as David cries out, you will find it in the revelation of God, in His Word. And as you not just read it, but as you hear the voice of God through His Word.

[26:48] I mean, I was reading this book about what it means to be a man, which is an interesting book and which I think all men should read. And it's a book entitled Men of Courage.

[26:59] It's one of the first book I've read on what it means to be a man. And I'm actually just starting to learn what it means to be a man. And this book, the author talks about his vision.

[27:10] He says like, his vision is, I want a generation of men to rise up who loves the Word of God, who are drenched in God's Word, who sees how the Word of God affects every part of life.

[27:24] And this man to rise up and start mentoring the next generation of men that will actually, to show them that God's Word is powerful and it is, it affects every part of our lives.

[27:37] And he was talking about this vision. And that can be said for women too. And isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing to see a generation of people, God's people, passionate about God's Word as we see in this psalm.

[27:51] I mean, look at how David describes his Word. Do we describe God's Word as that way? If someone comes up to you and says, hey, Kenny, what is God's Word? Would we describe God's Word as we see it here?

[28:03] I mean, stop and think about it. See how David describes God's Word. It's almost like a man who's passionate about hamburger describing the best burger in his life, right? I mean, I recently had a Five Guys burger.

[28:18] Incredible. And I'm going to try to describe that. You know, like it was the bun that was toasted. You know, it was brown in color. I'm like, it's not very sturdy, but it's not very soft.

[28:29] It was toasted in a butter. And then you have the meat in the middle, like just BBQ'd and you have the pickles and the sauce in the middle. so juicy, you know.

[28:40] It makes you want to have a burger right out of service, right? Is anyone up for Five Guys after this? And you see, somehow, David is describing God's Word like that.

[28:53] Isn't it incredible? And at the end of it all, you can also see, what you see here is you can see David's desire boiling up. You can see David's desire bursting. And finally, in verse 10, he burst out in this sentence.

[29:06] He says, more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of honeycomb. He burst out in this sentence.

[29:18] I mean, church, is that how we desire God's Word? I mean, does God's Word, His revelation, burn a desire in us or do other priorities come up?

[29:29] Or do other things come up? Could it be that you're too tired? Could it be that I've other places to be? But if you stop and think about it, I mean, this is God's revelation.

[29:45] This is the Creator God speaking to His creation. He's the Creator God who chose to reveal Himself. He's calling us to come and see what He has done. I mean, there is life, there is wisdom, and much more than that, there's the revelation of God Himself.

[30:01] and His Word. It's everything that we need and it's everything and that's much more than that. It is everything that we need for growth, to be fruitful, to get life, to be reconciled with our Creator God.

[30:16] and it's one of the reasons why we as Watermark are pushing the Bible reading plan is why we want all of us to get in God's Word through the Bible reading plan is for us to be a church that loves God's Word, to be a church that encounters God in His Word and to fall in love with Him more and more in His Word, to be fruitful, to be grounded in Christ.

[30:39] But that's not the end of it all. I mean, there's much more. Look at verse 11 because David is not finished. He said, look at verse 11. Moreover, what's more, David is saying, I'm not finished with this.

[30:52] By them, your servant is warned. In keeping them is great reward. So basically, what he's saying, in it, we are warned. It gives us a warning. It protects us from what brings death.

[31:02] It protects us from what's going to destroy us. But also, there is a great reward in it. Now, the question that comes up is, what is this great reward that David is talking about?

[31:20] So if you take the Torah, if you take what David was talking about, what David was holding up, the God's Word, God's revelation, what is that one thing that is at the center of it all?

[31:33] What is that one thing that swims through God's Word in the Old Testament? And if I could summarize it in one sentence, it's this.

[31:47] It is God calling His people into a covenantal relationship with Him and Him showing His faithfulness in that covenant. Let me say that again.

[31:58] It's God calling His people into a covenantal relationship with Him and God showing that He is the faithful one in that covenant. What do I mean by covenant?

[32:09] In simple words, covenant is basically like a marriage, right? Where two parties agree on terms on the basis of relationship. So if you're married, the agreement is you don't cheat. And you follow that term not because you have to follow the term, but because you love the other person because of the relationship.

[32:25] So covenant is something similar. So what we find in God's Word is every time the humans would turn away from this covenant, they would cheat basically.

[32:36] And every time people would turn away, God would always call His people back into Him, into the covenant and showing that He is the faithful one, He is the faithful party in that agreement or in that covenant.

[32:48] Now stop and think about that. When you come into the New Testament, man, I cannot see it. When you come into the New Testament, isn't ultimately Jesus the one who brings us into the covenant relationship to God?

[33:06] I mean, Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and so He did. Through Him, though we turned away from God, though we sinned against God, Jesus paid the price of our sins so that we would be brought back to God.

[33:22] Jesus brought us reconciliation through His blood. So you see the same theme even back all the way to New Testament. So now going back to the question, what is the great reward?

[33:33] What is the great reward that David is so excited about and he is talking about? Isn't it God Himself? It's God Himself the reward.

[33:47] Isn't that incredible? The creator God Himself offers us as His reward that we can come into relationship with God Himself. The one who created us, the one who knows us and loves us, the one in whom we are all fully satisfied fully secured, truly loved, and completely justified.

[34:08] He is the greatest reward. And so John Piper, in one of his quotes, he challenges us to think, do we consider Jesus our greatest reward? So he asks this question to us, if you could have heaven with no sickness, with all the friends on earth, all the food you ever liked, all the activities, all the beauties, all the physical pleasures you've tasted, and food, and no conflict, no disaster, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ was not there?

[34:38] Do we truly see Christ and God as the reward in this relationship? Christ and God, our greatest reward.

[34:49] So David proclaims in this psalm the voice of God through His word, His revelation, precious and glorious, and behind it, all of it, now we are starting to see why David is so excited about this.

[35:01] And you see behind all of it that God is the one who is the reward. Jesus Himself has the reward. Now the next question that we come across is, now what kind of response do you think that this begs?

[35:13] What do you think happened to David? As David sees God's glory in creation, God's glory in His word, what do you think David comes up with? Which leads us to the last, the third point.

[35:26] We finally hear David's voice. We finally hear the man's voice in response. Let's look at verses 12 to 14. Man's voice in response. So the question, what happens to anyone when they come face to face with a revelation like David did in his psalms?

[35:44] What happens to anyone when they can count the glory and beauty of God, that which is better than gold and sweeter than any honey? What happens to that person? Well, the answer is pretty simple.

[35:56] They end up wanting more. They want it. What happens when you see something beautiful? You want it. You just, you not only just go, wow, you actually say, I want it. What happens when you see the latest iPhone?

[36:09] Actually, nothing happens. It's not, it's terrible. But what happens when you see something amazing? You want it. It leaves us, you know, I mean, if you think about it, isn't that what God's revelation to all of us?

[36:22] When you come in face to face with God's revelation, it leaves us in awe. It leaves us yearning for more. You end up saying, God, I want more of you. But, but, it also makes us aware of that thing which hinders this relationship.

[36:41] and that is sin and particularly our own sinfulness. So, as David desires what he's experiencing, so that, as David is seeing this amazing beauty and glory and creation word, he wants it.

[36:57] He desires it, but, he suddenly becomes aware of this great chasm of, that has been created by his sin. So, then he starts off with this in verse 12 and 13.

[37:10] So, look at verse 12. He starts asking a rhetorical question. He asks, who can discern his error? Well, the answer is no one because there are sins that we know of and there are sins that we do not know of.

[37:24] I mean, look at verse 12 and 13 later on. David says, declare me innocent from hidden faults, things that we do not see, things that are deep in us, things that we do not know, things that are beneath our good works, things that are deep in our hearts that we ourselves are not aware of.

[37:42] He says, keep back your servant also from presumptuous sin, sins that are arrogant and insolent, that are done intentionally with a mindset of, I don't care and I'll do what I want.

[37:55] That kind of sin. And if you stop and think about it, isn't that what happens in our heart fundamentally when we do something knowingly, whether it's big or small, small like lying.

[38:09] Even when we say a small lie, aren't we basically saying, I don't care and I'll do what I want. So David lifts up the hidden faults and the presumption sins and he lifts them up to God and he cries out to God and he looks at the sins that are hindering and it's quite a mix of emotion and reality, isn't it?

[38:33] At one hand, he wants God and the other side, he wants the sin and there's things that are hindering to go away. It's quite a mix. I mean, it's similar to when something or a sin that is hurting someone you love and you want that thing to go away, right?

[38:48] I mean, between friends, I mean, between friends, maybe you have a really bad temper, you end up saying something you don't mean. You end up saying something hurtful and it hurts your friend and you see it and because you love your friend, you feel like, oh gosh, I don't want to be this person.

[39:03] I want to change because I don't want to hurt my friend. I want this relationship to flourish and in similar ways, David sees that and he cries out to God and says, God, you make me blameless.

[39:15] You make me innocent because ultimately, it is God who can make us innocent and blameless and finally, we come to the last verse. Verse 14, which is one of the most famous verses in this psalm, David cries out, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[39:36] it is a prayer not only of desperation, it is a prayer of surrender, a prayer that offers up the words of my mouth, things that are external, things that come out of me, things that are heard, things that are, people see that are outside of me and the meditation of my heart, things that are inside of me, my desires, my motivations, things that I treasure, things that I think about a lot, things that I love inside of me, in other words, things that are inside of me, things that are outside of me, in other words, all of me, God made me acceptable in your sight because David sees the hindrance, his sin, that is stopping him from coming to God and he cries out to God and he says, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, my rock in the sense that

[40:38] God is never changing, rock in the sense that he's trustworthy, he's faithful, his promises remain forever, he's faithful forever, even when we were unfaithful, God would remain faithful and his redeemer, his refuge and his security.

[40:54] I mean, where do we run for security? Is it our jobs? Is it our relationships? Where do we find our deepest joy? Is it relationships or our achievements? Or is it God? David runs to God, the one who rescues him and he surrenders everything to the one who's faithful, strong, glorious and trustworthy.

[41:13] David cries out to God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[41:30] If you step back and look at this psalm, isn't it such an amazing psalm of a God who speaks, a creator God who calls out to his people?

[41:42] Why? To draw his people into a covenantal relationship with him. And as David hears, as hearers hear it, his desires change. He wants all the sins, anything that hinders to go away from him.

[41:55] And what he wants the most is this relationship with God. He wants God to be the highest priority in his life, his highest desire. You see, our God speaks to us to draw us unto him.

[42:07] And if you stop and think about it, how does God do that ultimately? How does God ultimately draw his people to us? How does God ultimately make his way, make a way for us to him?

[42:20] He sends his son, Jesus Christ, his word, the one who came to fulfill the law, to draw his people unto him. Going back to verse 1, the heavens declared the glory of God.

[42:33] Hebrews 1, 3 tells us that Jesus is the glory of God. We talked about the word of God, the Torah, the law. Jesus not only come to fulfill it, but John 1, 14 tells us that he is the word.

[42:45] We talked about how God draws us to him, but sin hinders us. Colossians 1, 20 tells us that Jesus, through Jesus, everything was reconciled to him through the blood of Christ that was paid on the cross.

[42:56] He paid the price of our sins that hindered us. He bore our sins and we stood before God as if we have never sinned. Let me say that again.

[43:07] We stood before God as if we have never sinned. Isn't that incredible? Think about all the sins in your life.

[43:18] Through Christ, you're going to stand as if you have never done it. Ever. We stand through Christ justified by the payment which was his blood.

[43:29] He made a way for us to come to this glorious reconciliation of the creator and his creation. I mean, if you are new here, if you are new to the Christian faith, your creator who knows your every struggle, your heart, who made your heart, calls out to you.

[43:47] Will you come and get to know him? He is a God who is not far away, but he is a God who speaks, who is intimate, who calls us, into relationship to him. And I mean, church, when we live today and when you wake up tomorrow on Monday morning and when you go back to work or wherever you go, remember that our God speaks.

[44:09] Our God speaks as you pick up the Bible to read, as you look up at creation, you look up at the sky, as you meditate on his word, as may our heart burn with passion as David's did to come face to face with the creator God.

[44:22] and we can come to him with thankfulness for he made a way for us through Christ Jesus. And may the chains of our sins, may the bondage of our sins, the seduction of sin, burn away as we look at the beauty of Christ.

[44:38] May we be a church that loves God's word, not as a duty, but for knowing the voice that speaks through the word and the creation. Let us pursue God.

[44:49] Let us seek God who speaks through his creation, who speaks through his word, throwing away any hindrance because of what Christ has done in our lives.

[45:00] Let us go into the week with that in our hearts, being people that loves God's word, that loves to encounter God in creation and his word. So before we do that, before we go into prayer, let us spend a few minutes, let us spend one minute just reflecting on that.

[45:22] I'll give you, I'll give us one minute to reflect on that. Here's a few questions on screen which you can ask and think about. And let us spend one minute doing that right now.

[45:34] Thank you. Thank you.

[46:14] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[46:53] Can I lead us in prayer? Father, we come before you, glorious and majestic God. And it's not just the word and creation that is beautiful and awesome.

[47:07] Father, it is your voice that speaks and calls us to you, Lord. Father, as other psalms talk about, what are men that you care so much about us, that you offer us yourself to us, Lord.

[47:20] Holy Spirit, help us to see the beauty. Help us to see your love that is poured out in creation and your word. And Holy Spirit, would you burn a fan of passion in us to pursue you?

[47:37] For you are beautiful. You are glorious. God, we give you glory. We give you praise. For you are a God who deserves our glory and praise. Lord, all creation declares the glory of God.

[47:53] And Father, we pray. We pray, God, as David prayed, that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable to your sight. May everything that we are and everything that we have glorify your name.

[48:06] Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer, we praise you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.