Psalm 19

Matthew Boehnlein: All right, good evening and welcome back to the Baptist Tabernacle, if you would, please, let's go and stand together. It's good to be back on the House floor tonight. Let's sing a worship the king here. Number thirty seven, worship the.

Unidentified: Schipperke. Yes, they say. Here's one. His love

Speaker 2: for Sam.

Unidentified: And. And. Race town is. I mean. Tall and dark is. Picks up a small. Thy bountiful one. Trains run by. Faintly distills. The.

Gary Boyd: Well, good evening. Welcome back to the Baptist Tabernacle. I hope that you had a good afternoon and we are glad to see you here with us tonight. Let's go to Lord and word of prayer. Ask his blessing on the service tonight and after that will be seated for a few announcements. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for all the folks that were here this morning. I pray that should continue to bless us for being faithful to me and gather together. Lord, I pray that tonight we would worship you. There would be good fellowship and would be challenged from your word, Lord, that we'd be better equipped to serve you no matter where this life may take us this upcoming week. Lord, we love you so much and we thank you for all that you do for us. It's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. Couple of announcements for you to be aware of. Some things coming up. First, we're looking forward to hosting another one of our veteran missionaries, Brother Walter Clark, missionary to Germany, will be with us April twenty first. That is a Wednesday night. And so you're going to make sure you come for the meal, get to know him, ask him some questions, talk to him before the service. They'll be with our children for the first few minutes and giving them a testimony and then preaching for us here in the main service after that. And so we definitely keep them busy when they're here with us, but they're always a blessing. We're looking forward to hosting him April. Twenty third, we're going to have a senior adult activity. They're going to be going to shepherds across Sheep Farm from 10am through lunchtime. There's a five dollar donation recommended to give to the farm. And then after that, they're going to be going to the Apple Barrel Cafe at 1pm for lunch. And this will take the place of the April retreads meeting. So please keep that in mind. There will be no retreads on April 30th. Instead, you'll have the activity on April twenty third. If you have any questions, you can see Brother Arnie and he'd be able to give you some more information about that. May 8th, we're going to be having our annual mother daughter brunch. And I'll be right here at the church at A.M. and looking forward to the ladies being able to get together and have a great time of fellowship and interaction. And this is a great opportunity for you to invite somebody that might not normally come to a church service. I invite them to the mother daughter brunch. And maybe your mom is not here in the area, your daughter isn't here in the area or whatever the case may be. Find someone, adopt them and bring them along with you. This is a great opportunity to reach out to those that you know and you would like to see come to know the Lord. So bring them on. May 8th to the mother daughter brunch. May 9th is our Mother's Day service, and we'll be honoring all of our mothers in the morning service. And then there will be no evening service on May 9th, Mother's Day, May 15th. Our teens are going to be going on a kayaking trip. The cost is twenty five dollars per person. They're going to leave at seven thirty and be back at five pm. And if you are interested in your young person going on this trip, then you need to be here on April twenty fifth after the morning service for a quick meeting with Brother Matt. Just to go over some of the details about that. We are also in need of prizes for vacation, Bible school. And so if you're trying to clean out literally anything at your house, we will take it and sell it to the kids and they will think it is the greatest thing that they've ever gotten. And so, um, my son still has, I don't know, eight stuffed animals in his bed from last year, including that giant dog that somebody brought. I mean, it's a dog. It's like this big. It takes up his whole bed. No stuffed animals this year. OK. Sure, one in one has to go out, that will have to be the rule, but you can drop those off at the office and we'll make sure that they get into the right storage place for this year's vacation Bible school. And we're looking forward to a normal VBS, whatever normal VBAC looks like. Bennewitz, that'll be coming up in June. Don't forget, coming up this week, we do have the funeral for the Danny Baker, and that'll be Tuesday at two o'clock. And several of you talk to Miss Cathy after the service this morning. She is still in need of some help with sides and desserts. And so if you can please see Miss Cathy after the service is over and let her know if you would be available or are willing to help with that. I know that would be a big blessing to the family and to miss Susan and the rest of the bakers as they deal with the very sudden and unexpected loss of brother Danny last week. Tonight, after the service, we will have a deacon and trustee meeting, will be meeting in one of the classrooms for a video conference with Brother Clarence Nettle's. The Clarence is a young, younger man that we're talking to about coming here to to invest in the lives of our young people and the lives of the young people of our community. And take the program that Brother Matt has established. Because before Matt got here, we really our teen program had dwindled and dwindled. And Matt came in, brought new life to it, and now it is ready to be taken by someone that's going to focus specifically on that area and help it take the next steps. And so Brother Clarence and I have been talking. He met with our staff earlier this week through a video call. And tonight he's going to meet with our officers. If that goes well, which I anticipate it will, then we will schedule a time for Brother Clarence to come and visit the church with he and his wife and their new son. And that way, all of you would get a chance to to meet him. And of course, for our parents, we would have a chance for you to ask questions and get to know him. And so that'll be kind of the process that we will continue to work through as we look to add a third ministerial staff member. All right. I believe that is all my announcements for tonight. And that's going to come. We're going to need a few more songs. So let's all stand once again. I'm 62,

Speaker 2: I'm on the winning side,

Unidentified: a wonderful song, and I. It out and said. With. My name is. Me, I was. Well, I am on the. I've invested. I born. The straight and narrow lake I was drifting. But it all. Laurinaitis and. Well, I am. Praise the Lord, I'm on the winning side on the third I. Me or my. So. I got my. Sounds like. All the way from. Well, I am. The winning side. I did send my. I mean, this is for the. I praise the Lord, I'm on the.

Speaker 2: 9:00 a.m., let's continue

Gary Boyd: singing wonderful song here, I will call upon the Lord.

Unidentified: All on the screen. I will call upon the. It is worthy to be. Shall I say, Brian? Blessed be the rock and. Blessed be the rock God myself.

Speaker 2: Seeing it again on the first scene that Gore is there, I will call on.

Unidentified: Oh, yes. Shall I be safe from my wife? Are. By sending the wrong message, I got myself.

Speaker 2: And even.

Gary Boyd: Our ushers are going to make their way up to the front as we prepare to receive our tithes and offerings this evening and trust that God will bless you as your faithful to give back to him as he has prospered. You and his brother, Jared Holly, if he doesn't mind, pray, ask God's blessing in the offering tonight.

Unidentified: To me, it meant nothing, just a

Speaker 2: gathering of Jews on a hillside. A typical

Unidentified: day of. Golgotha, where many had died.

Speaker 2: Three crosses, three criminal. Three outcaste brought no shame to my. I discovered that cross in the middle was my. So when I see the. Now I see heaven reaching down to undeserved. Serving men like me

Unidentified: who will be leaving. When I see.

Speaker 2: Singing There I see a friend. Beyond compare, I see my sin and what it cost when I see the cross. Now, I've devoted my life just to live

Unidentified: for his glory.

Speaker 2: To wake up each morning and thank him for what he has done. I feel so.

Unidentified: For causing your staff to take. So I'm gonna

Speaker 2: serve him with gladness for

Unidentified: the rest of my day. So when I see the.

Speaker 2: Now I see.

Unidentified: And reaching down to one disserve.

Speaker 2: These men like me, who.

Unidentified: Even when I see my save your hair. I see your friend Bill.

Speaker 2: Compare, I see

Unidentified: my sin and what it cost

Speaker 2: when I see the crawl.

Unidentified: My sin and why it

Speaker 2: cost when I see the cross.

Gary Boyd: Willingness to sing that for us tonight. Take your Bibles if you have them, turn to the Book of Psalms. Sam, chapter number 19 is where we're going to be tonight. Psalm Chapter number 19, what we've been doing, if you're new to the Baptist Tabernacle, is we started we did 10 Psalms, we took a break. Now we're wrapping up or getting close to wrapping up the second section of ten songs. And so then we'll take another break and we'll do another Sunday night series. And then further down the road, we'll come back to the songs. Songs is a long book. I mean, it's like. One hundred and fifty chapters, and then you got someone 19, which is as long as most books in the Bible. I mean, it was taking us forever to get through the book of songs. I mean, just look at acts. We started acts last Easter. Today, we just finished Acts 14. There's twenty eight chapters. I mean, so maybe next year, next Easter will be done with the Book of Acts. Anyway, some 19, if you're there, go ahead and join me in standing in honor of reading God's word, if you're physically able, Psalm number 19. We're going to read the whole chapter. And as we go through this, hopefully a lot of these verses will sound familiar to you and a lot of great lines in this poem, the song that we're going to look at tonight. The Bible says and verse number one. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with his handiwork. Day and today, Uttara Speech and Night and Tonight Show with knowledge, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line is gone out through all the Earth and their words to the end of the world in them had set a tabernacle for the sun, which is, as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, rejoices as a strong man to run a race. Going forth is from the end of the earth circuit and the ends of it. There is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightened in 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, than much gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them, there is great reward. Who can understand his errors cleansed me from secret faults, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright? I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in this sight, o Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Let's pray. Got to ask that you would help us now as we look into your word, I pray that you would give me the words you would have me to say you'd help the folks that are here to listen, to hear to their lives in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. And you may be seated. Now, you've probably heard this, but did you know that ninety seven percent of statistics are made up on the spot? I just made up the ninety seven percent part this past week, I was doing some reading and reading different Christian articles and news stories. One of them was on the the the fast forwarding that covid accomplished. Basically, it was a a an agent of speeding things up, things that would have normally taken several years because of covid. They're happening much faster. One of those things that has picked up in speed is the the shuttering or the closing of churches over the last several years. The average has been about fifteen hundred churches closing in the United States every year. And that's a lot of churches to close right now. Obviously, that's covering the broad spectrum of all that claims to be Christian. But even even what we would say are true by biblical churches, there are many that closed their doors never to reopen every year. The early statistics for this upcoming year are that that number could increase by almost double. They're projecting that up to two thousand nine hundred churches will close their doors this year. I don't know about you, but when I look at the world in which we live, when I look at the country we live in, I don't see a need for churches to be closing. I see a need for churches to be starting. Now, obviously, there are churches starting there, some of those churches that are closed are church mergers where a smaller church will join with a larger church. But twenty nine hundred churches is a lot of churches that will no longer exist after this year. Now. America, as I mentioned on Easter Sunday, is still predominantly a churchgoing nation, maybe not practicing the things that we say we believe, but by and large, a lot of people still go to church. As I mentioned, on Easter, only 20 percent of Americans do not believe that Jesus physically rose from the dead. OK, so 80 percent would either say, yes, I believe that or yes, I'm open to that idea. But we need. A revival in our belief in and our following of God. And a lot of people have come up with different tools and methods and programs and strategies for how we can reach this generation with the gospel, how we can convince this generation to follow God and to to believe in God. And all of those are great, noble endeavors to try and reach people with the Bible. But did you know that God himself has left three different points of evidence that we can point people to, to show that he is real? He really does exist. It's not a myth. It's not a fable. It's not something fantastic that we tell our children before they go to bed. God is as real as you and I are, if not more so. God is the eternal personal being that is responsible for everything you and I see. So in solemn Chapter 19, I believe David lists for us three sources of evidence for God's existence, not only for his existence, but also for what kind of God he is. He refers, first of all, to creation, the universe, specifically the things that we see in the heavens. He moves on then to the word of God, which you either hold in your lap or you see here on the screens behind me the word of God as evidence for the existence of God. Then finally, he points to the testimony or the witness of those that believe in God as evidence for their being a deity that we know as Yahweh. And so I want to walk through this with us and look at some things and hopefully encourage you to study some things out more for yourself, because with each one of these, there are more resources and more information than we could get to on a single night like tonight to start with in verse number one. David, this is a song of David. David points his readers. He points the audience to the heavens. He says the heavens declare the glory of God, the celestial bodies that you and I look up at in the night. And we're blessed here in Oklahoma. There's not as much light pollution as there are in other areas that when we look up many times we can see the stars shining brightly, especially on a Sunday night or a Wednesday night in the winter after we've been at church, probably one or two of my sons will be with me. We'll get home. And just for a moment, we'll stand out there and look up and you can see the different constellations. And there they're so bright, they're so clear. And just to think about the glory of what God created out there in space, it's incredible. Heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament show with his handiwork, you remember the song that we sing in junior church and Sunday school and vacation Bible School. My God, is so big, so strong. And so and it goes on says the mountains are his. Stars are his handiwork. The heavens declare the glory of God. All of this falls under that category of the general revelation of God, God has revealed himself to humanity in a general sense through the things that he has made. We mentioned this morning in my Sunday school class that the artistry of the universe is in evidence for the existence of God. I mean, let's just be real plain about it for just a moment and then you'll have to forgive me, because we're about we're about to get artsy on you here. But nature is beautiful, the things that we see in creation from the very, very small to the very big. It's just amazing the the design, the design that God instituted when he created the world. There's definitely a design language that God used when you you hear people say, did you know that humans share 50 percent of the DNA with a banana? Did you know that humans and pigs share ninety eight percent of their DNA information? Well, yeah, I would expect if we have a common designer, that he would have used similar tools to create the world. I mean, we joke about it sometimes when when we're all here. There's a whole bunch of Fords in the parking lot except for brother Matt. He's got a Chevy. And when you look at the Ford line of vehicles, you can see similarities between one piece of machinery to the next piece of machinery, the next piece. And even though I drive a focus and Mustang, he's got our fusion and the Jerry's got his F one fifty. There are still similarities throughout that line of products. Why they have the same creator, the same company manufacture them. And so the same is true in the world in which we live. You can look at different things and see similarities. Why? Because God designed them all. The intricacies of creation couldn't have just happened. Any more than if I smashed up my iPhone. God forbid, and put it in a plastic bag and shook it for a million years, that would never come back together as an iPhone. We talked about this in Sunday school as well, think about this for a moment, you realize God created this world so intricate, so detailed down to the the the very, very miniscule, the molecular structure of our existence, knowing full well that we wouldn't even discover those things existed until thousands of years had passed. You realize, OK, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to really just lose some of you on this, you know what an Easter egg is? An Easter egg is not talking about like what we did last week. We're talking about like a hidden, hidden joke, a hidden feature that like a video game designer or a computer programmer or a TV show, will hide something in their program that only the most astute and focused observers will see. God's got Easter eggs in this creation, you and I haven't even asked, mankind has even discovered yet. Every year, they're coming out with new news. Did you know our world has this? You know, when they discover something, that doesn't mean all of a sudden it exists, it always existed. We just found out about it. I mean, come on, this is incredible, and yet God did all. The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament show at his handiwork back in the late eighteen hundreds, I had to go back and make sure this was correct late. Eighteen hundreds scientists thought they were being very grand. They thought they were being almost overexaggerating when they said, we believe that the universe is one hundred thousand light years across. Realize today that that number that they know the universe is is in the millions of light years, I mean, they were off it just a little bit. I mean, a light years, a long span, just by itself, millions of light years across, I mean, the universe is just incredibly huge and our God made it. Now he goes on and we can look at we can look at creation, we can talk all day about genetics and just just all of the wonderful things that God has done in making this world. We can we can talk about how is it possible we believe creation. Right? I mean, we believe God created the world seven literal days. I believe the world is no older than ten thousand years. And yet we've got light that is showing up here at the Earth that should have taken millions of years to get here. How is that possible? God just made it that way. No, he I believe he created the world with the appearance of age. Some things were already in place, but anyway, we can look at all that, we can make some assumptions, but David goes on and he actually says that creation speaks to us. OK, Brother Gary, you're getting a little weird on me here, it's like a dog whisperer, tree whisperer type thing. We're going all the Disney Pocahontas movie on me. Willow Tree is going to start speaking to me now. It's not what I'm talking about, but David does say, look at this. He says on today, utter speech and night and Tonight Show with knowledge and see the world operates with an order. There is a there is a plan to what takes place. There are things that repeat that are predictable. We know that day will follow, day will follow. Day and night will come after night after night after night. If all of a sudden instead of day, night, day, night, we had de de de de de de de de. We'd be like, well, what's going on here? What happened, you know, the sun sets in the West and immediately rises back up in the east. OK, that was weird, but that's not what happens. The world follows a set program that God instituted. There is an order to the universe, you know, is actually passages like Psalm 19 that led Copernicus to reject an Earth centric solar system. He said this doesn't make sense. The charts that they had at that time to illustrate the movement of the stars, to try and explain how the earth could be the center of the solar system, they had stars going forward and backwards and up and down and and it just it didn't make sense. And so he said, the God that I know from the Bible would never do this. It would never operate this way. There has to be another explanation. And so he said he said the sun was the center of the solar system and people thought he was crazy. That is crazy, and it wasn't Christians because he was appealing to Christians saying, hey, God is a god of order, everything he does is decent and in order, this is the orderly model for the solar system. And now we don't even think a second thing about it. The sun, of course, is the center of our solar system. There are those flat earth. Known a few of them, have you? Interesting to talk to them. The passing of day to day night tonight speaks, it shows knowledge to those who will stop and pay attention. Be careful how much you make fun of those that are concerned about the the the the environment. If anybody ought to be concerned about the environment, it should be Christians, we're the ones that believe that we have a divine responsibility to care for, to nurture. Creation, God left it up to us to care for it. And so Christians should be concerned about the environment, we ought to be concerned about deer overpopulation. Do our part to manage the the numbers. Not me personally, but all of you and. Pray that God gives you a good hunting season so much that you'll share with me. Bible says there is no speech, there is no language where their voice is not heard, whose voice creation. There's nowhere you can go on this earth where there are not people who have looked at creation and said, you know what, this is pretty amazing. So amazing that they will come up with some fantastic stories of how it came across, how it came to be. People who are willing to stop and pay attention and look and observe what God has done will be left in awe of what God has accomplished. All by speaking it into existence. Just saying it, if you ever thought about the disparity between how long it took him to build the world and how long he's been working on heaven. Seven days, thousands of years. Can you even imagine what heaven is going to be like? Goes on, look at this first report says their line is gone out through all the Earth and their words to the end of the world. This is a couple of different ideas about what that means. Their line is gone out through all the Earth. Some people say it's a measuring line that's covered the whole world. Maybe you've taken a piece of string and you've used it by stretching it out and you've measured a distance with that string. Another idea is that those lines are talking about the the lines that they would use to to write their letters. And the characters were made up of a series of lines which which fits with you with the next statement, their words to the end of the world. And so basically, it's this. David is using this this this imagery to to paint a picture for you of the the speech, the knowledge, the words, the lessons of creation, the letters stretch across the world, the words which would go all around the world talking and speaking about the greatness of God. Then he switches his idea. He says in them, in the heavens, have you set a tabernacle for the sun, which has as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoice as a strong man to run a race. So more more illustrative imagery for us to think of. Most of you have been married, you had a wedding at one time or another, and so you perhaps have experienced this and many talking about the bridegroom here and some of the bridegroom coming out of this chamber, a man, he's excited. Today's the day I finally tricked some girl into marrying me. Of course not, but I mean, he's excited you remember the day you got married, butterflies in your stomach, the anticipation, the excitement, the nervousness. Man, I remember I probably told you the story before, I'm going to tell it again. Nobody came and got me from the changing room. The day of our wedding. I'm in the back of the church, all dressed up, they came out, the groom's men say you need to line up. So if you're OK, they're going to come get me next because somebody came and got the groomsmen. Are they going to come get me next? So I'm sitting there, sitting there. I start to hear music. And I was paying attention at the rehearsal. I knew this song means means the moms are going in. You know, my little brother, Joseph and Amy, they're going up there to light the candles. OK, so that's what's happening, playing through to my mind. Really ought to be up there by now. This is weird. So I put my head out and people are going in, the procession has started, and so I say someone should not be up there and they're like, yeah, so you can see it on our wedding video. There's this dark figure go bursting out of the back of the church up to the front because they had like a little entryway off to the side, but only they could get to us by walking through the auditorium. And and so I'm like going up there, you know, so I can go out what I was supposed to go out. And there's the pastor, that's the pastor of the church. And our grandfather, Davison there was saying there was like I thought, you guys, we're going to get me. That was not the thing to say the same. And like, you're getting married today. You're a man. You'd be responsible for yourself. It's like. But I mean, you know, the excitement that you experience on your wedding day, every morning, the sun burst forth on the scene as the bridegroom come out of this chamber, look at me all arrayed look. Look how bright I am. You know, it's just it's this great daily spectacle. A lot of times I'll leave, sit at our kitchen table and read my Bible or I'll sit on the couch, which overlooks looks out to the east and and we have trees in the back. So the first thing I see is, is the rings of the sun peeking through the trees. And it's so cool because the yard, which had been so dark just a few minutes earlier now is starting to be illuminated. And before I see the sun come up above the trees, I see it peeking through the trees so that these little laser beams of sunlight coming through. It's just amazing how this works every single day. You don't do anything to make it happen. I don't do anything to make it happen. God set it up and just happens every day. Here's another imagery that will sicken some of you and for some of you to be really exciting. Oh, yeah, I love this one. Oh. Does it rejoice at Sanders as a strong man to run a race? How many of you love to run? The runners. Used to, as Nancy said, yeah, oh, yeah, I used. I Annabell, you run, I don't like it, it hurts. I like doing things that hurts. The sun is like that crazy, macho fit dude, you know, who gets up in the morning? Oh yeah, going out for my morning run of 10 miles. Oh my word. We need a guy in Virginia. He'd run 20 miles, you know, multiple times a week. Like, you're nuts. You're a crazy person. The Michiana Jerry's wife, she likes to run, she does half marathons, marathons, all that kind of stuff. I'm like, why? Why would you do that if you don't have to? But the son races across the sky every day, never gets tired and never gets like to two o'clock and says it doesn't stop, it just keeps going. Always, why? Because God made it that way. Heavens or the tabernacle of the sun there, there is not a spot on Earth that is hidden from the sun. I realize there are places that don't get like the full effect of the sun, but there's not a place on earth where you are hidden from the sun. You know, even with his greatest creation in the universe. Can be. There are significant limitations to the efficacy, effectiveness of creation's message. So you can look at creation and become convinced that this didn't just happen. You can look in the heavens, the stars, and say there has got to be some kind of higher power, some kind of supreme being or designer that that put all this in place. You know, creation. I won't tell you the story of Jesus. Creation won't lead someone to salvation. Believe it can cause them to ask questions. Lead them down the right path, but it can't bring them all the way. You'll notice in this first section, first number six, there is nothing written about Creation's ability to cleanse the observer, the person who benefits from creation cannot be cleansed or saved by what they see in creation. Creation has no power to instruct in how one is to live in order for us to know how we are, to live, how we are to be saved, how we are to be reconciled to the God who created everything. We need some type of more specific revelation of God. So we have general revelation and creation and we have special or specific revelation in the word of God. That's where David turns his attention. Next, it's the second source of evidence for God, and it is his work. Now, there's a couple of things that we can know about the Bible. And we see them beginning in verse number seven, there's a list here that is this is very descriptive and helpful and and gives us some ideas of of what the Bible is all about. So a version of seven says this The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the solar. Is creation perfect? No. In addition to the artistry of creation, we also see the creation is very Marsalis. There's a lot of violence involved in creation you ever watched the Animal Planet? Watch Discovery Channel Lions take down those antelope. They I mean, they just tear that thing apart, their sinew and stuff everywhere, then the hyenas come in. You think there's nothing left those hyenas find out how to get a whole meal out of that thing that is just ripped to shreds. I mean, creation is violent. You you throw yourself into the lion's den. What's going to happen there, what's your name is Daniel. You're probably getting. But the law of the Lord is perfect. There's no faults, flaws in God's law. It's perfect converting the soul already right off the bat, we see something that the law is capable of, that creation is not. Oh, yeah, that declares the handiwork of God and it declares his glory. God's law converts the soul. Over converts to sort of what well, from unbelief to belief. Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple, you can depend upon God's word. It's very important for for for you as a Christian, OK, if you're not saved your day, you don't believe in God, I hope this will help. But mainly this is for believers. If you read God's word and you're constantly I don't believe that you pull the Thomas Jefferson and start taking a pen knife to things you don't really want to follow, say that doesn't make sense to me. That's not logical. That's not reasonable. You start pulling things out, then you're not going to get the full effect of God's word in your life. God's word is sure. It is something you can depend upon. The Bible says it makes the simple wise. If you're one of the simple biblically, you can study that word out. You don't have to stay that way. The Bible is where you find wisdom. You find out how what are some principles for how I should live my life? What are some specifics about how I should live my life? You realize social media is not in the Bible. You kind of got to use principles on how you should act on social media conversation, things you put before you face that kind of stuff. There are some things that are just specifically in the Bible, like abstaining from fornication. For sake, not the assembly, that's not a principle, it's just specific. Makes the simple wise. Is the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoice in the heart. I've tried to really I hope you've caught on to this a little bit. I've been trying to get a point across over the last several weeks now. Serving God is a good life. I mean, following the Lord is the preferable way to live your life. I mean, you want joy, peace, all that kind of stuff, following God is the way to go after it. It's the only way to find lasting joy. Statues of the Lord are right, rejoices the heart. You love and you're going through a time in your life, good, bad, whatever the case may be. God gives you a verse. You can cling to that verse. God's word, that was exactly what we need is alive. Commandment of the Lord is pure and lightning the eyes. You know, sometimes I tell my kids to do something and my commandment is not pure. Sit on the couch, tired, it's been a long day. Titus. It's sleeping. When you go clean that up for me. Titus, take that trash out, throw in the garbage for me. I got two good working legs, I could do that myself. I just don't feel like it. You know. Carter. Needs a diaper change. I'm going to the kitchen, I could certainly carry that diaper, throw it away myself, but I don't want to I want to touch that thing as little as possible. Carter, 30 days away. OK. Happy as I can throw the diaper away. So the point where he is telling us what shape the diaper is. A triangle. A triangle? Yeah, it's a triangle, it's great, go throw it away. God doesn't ever command us to do something just because he doesn't want to do it, you know? Share the gospel with everyone you come into contact with because I'm too lazy to do it myself. That is not the way God works. His commitments are pure. Enlighten the eyes. Fearing him fear the Lord version of nine is clean. During forever, the fear of the Lord is the what? Remember? Uh, uh, beginning of college. Believe that this this this reference to the fear of the Lord is in continuation, what we've seen, it's all talking about divine. Why do we fear the law? Well, we learn about him from the Bible and we learn that although he is good and gracious and merciful, he is terrible. Is powerful. We've seen what God does to his enemies, right? Know you were his enemy at one time. Until Jesus forgave you. Brought you in the family of God. Firing him is clean, it's good for us to have a healthy fear of God. As word doors forever, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. That's what the Bible is, what is the benefit of the Bible to the ones who will take time to read it? Remember, creation is good for us. Creation helps us. It will take time to to look and stop and smell the roses, so to speak. The same issue at the. It is possible for you to interact with the Bible the same way you interact with nature. You go by and you don't even notice what's happening around you. You can either ignore the Bible or you may even read the Bible and just be like, oh, okay, fulfilled my obligation for the day. We'll take the time to stop, study it, appreciate it, start to see the the intricacy and the artistry that God put into recording his words for us in a way that is not a textbook. It is. It is something built to hold our attention. Or the taking a class on Bible interpretation right now, and we've been talking a lot about that, he's having to go through and look at all the different genres that are in the Bible. You realize there are different genres of rap in the Bible right now. We're looking at poetry. Oh, don't you love poetry? I know all you men. You became poets when you met your wife, your girlfriend. Kaleb's brushing up on his skills, he's going to be a poet and he doesn't even know what.

Unidentified: Sorry, I was bad.

Gary Boyd: Poetry, history. Songs, romance. God gave us a book that is not just a systematic dictionary of apology. I really like to know something about faith today. All right. Turn to the letter F. We're going to read the section on Faith. We've got illustrations of faith. We've got teaching on faith. We've got what happens when you don't have the faith. The Bible is incredible, it's it's, according to David, more to be desired than gold. Yeah, then much Finegold. A inflation starts picking up like they say, it's going to be a rush on gold. People are going to want as much gold as they can in their portfolio because gold is going to go through the roof. I don't care how valuable gold is. The Bible is more valuable than gold, more than much Finegold. You know who says that somebody that studied the Bible, someone has read it and allowed it to impact their lives. Survival is valuable, he says, not only that, but it is sweeter also than honey. Honeycomb. I love English muffins. You love English muffins. Man, I'll take an English muffin, slather it in butter, stick it in the toaster, let it get all crispy on the on the outside but soft inside, that buttery flavor comes out. It's all golden and just beautiful. Then I'll take honey, like some of the honey gives for that honey on there and I'll take a bite of it and I swear that's got to be close to mana. It is so good. I love honey and butter mixed on anything, but especially an English muffin. The Bible is sweeter. Then, honey. Sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. First time I saw a wasp nest, I thought it was a honeycomb that I was going to take a bite out of it, glad I didn't. It's valuable, it's satisfying verse number, verse number 11, it's more over by them, as my servant warned, and in keeping of them, there is great reward. It's valuable. More valuable than gold is more satisfying than honey. It is protective. It's the means by which you are warned of impending danger. My Volkswagen is an air cooled engine. It gets pretty hot back there. There used to be stickers saying warning, do not touch this part. They are long gone. So I am more careful with what I touch back there while I'm working on it. I don't want to burn myself. Bible is a warning label. Hey, you go down this path. It's rough, it's rocky. It's not going to end the way you want it to end. It's a rewarding. So keeping the law, keeping the words of God, there is great reward. Don't you like reward's? So we use them to bribe our children to do what we want. If you do this, I'll give you a reward. What's the reward in MNM? Yeah. So we can know some things about the Bible is a benefit to the follower of God reading and studying the Bible. Would you look at his last as last point here about the word of God in verse number 12, who can understand his errors? Whose errors are we talking about? Who can understand his errors? It's not about you, me. Can any man understand his errors? Even Paul, I think, was at a loss. Oh, wicked man that I am. Things that I would do, I do not I don't want to do, that's what I do. How are we to understand our interaction with the built in moral law that God has given each of us? Why can't we follow what we know is right? There is a certain universality to right and wrong, despite what people want to tell you in in society and in culture today, most people know what is right and what is wrong. I believe. But why do we choose wrong so much, who can understand his errors, what is the answer for the presence of wickedness? In humanity. The Bible has that answer. We talked about on Wednesday night because we're all born under Adam. Bible tells us that. I says he can understand his errors klinz down MI. From secret vaults. I repeat this and I'll finish up. It's not saying all I'm going to get clean for you. Lauren, I'm going to buckle down and I'm going to just scrub and scrub and scrub and all this dirty old heart of mine is clean, put me in some holy water and I'll I'll turn it dirty as it washes away all of my nastiness. As Lord, you you have to cleanse me. God is the one who does the cleaning in our lives. Problem is not that we don't try hard enough, the problem is we won't let him do it. I can do this, I'll do it, I'll stop, I'll resist. Power clean up our lives, found in his word, cleansed me from the secret vaults, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Those are things that you commit and you know you're committing it and you do it anyways. Let them not have dominion over me, that's the the enslavement to the vices that that creep into our lives. Then I be upright. I shall be innocent from the great transgression, some say that's unbelieve for apostasy or or whatever that may be, he doesn't define it specifically. The point is that if we are going to stay clean from sin, it's only going to happen as God works through his word to cleanse us. You're struggling with a sin in your life, and we all have sin that that's so easily beset us. God's word is the answer. One last source of witness for in the in the words of this song, I believe it's in version of 14. David says, Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in my sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer, David has received strength from God. He's been redeemed by God. And so he knows that he is a part of the the plan for God to prove his existence to the world. God saves us. So that we would point out to him. Otherwise, he would just take a stab, it leaves us here to point others to him. And so David says, Lord. May the words in my mouth, may the testimony or the witness that I share be acceptable in my say. You see? Creation has no choice. But to give testimony to God. The Bible is done, the Holy Spirit inspired, it is complete, it is preserved for us, it's done. Words are settled. It's your life every day. It's up in the air. Are you going to be an acceptable witness to God or are you going to be a unacceptable witness for God that day? If I want my life to be acceptable, I words to be acceptable in the sight of God is my strength. He is my redeemer. I want people to know him. I want to be kind of testimony that points people to God, there are three sources of testimony for God in this world creation. Is word the testimony of his people. All of these are made possible through the action of God. God allows all of them, all of us, to participate in each of these different areas. So are your words acceptable in the sight of God? Are you doing your part in the trinity of evidences for the existence of God, or are you a distraction? From the testimony of God in this world. You all have to make that decision for yourselves. I pray that the Holy Spirit will point out to you where you need to let God work in your life. Let's pray differently. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the good attention of the folks that are here tonight. Thank you for Sol 19 and the. The different areas of witness that we can see for your existence or for us to be able to know you and who you are and to be reconciled to you. Well, I pray that all of your people that are here tonight would commit to play their part in pointing people to you, that our words would be an accurate, acceptable representation of what a great God you are. Laura, we love you so much and we thank you for all you do for us. It's a Jesus name. Amen. Let's all stand, we're going to have a song of imitation if God has spoken to your heart. We would invite you to respond during this time. Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling. If he's spoken to you tonight, you do business with God. His brother Matt sings

Speaker 2: softly and tenderly. Jesus is calling, calling for. And for me. See, on the portholes is waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.

Unidentified: Oh, he we recover. Earnestly, tenderly,

Speaker 2: Jesus is calling,

Unidentified: calling all called.

Speaker 2: Oh, amen.

Gary Boyd: Oh, thank you so much for your attention tonight for being here, and I appreciate your faithfulness to be here at the Lord's House. Great, great time this morning. Two hundred and nineteen people here, which is great. I love seeing that number over two hundred. But then even tonight, I know we'll have over one hundred here again tonight. And so that's a great blessing. And I appreciate you being back in your place is sure is easier to preach to people in the room than not anybody here at all. So I do appreciate that. I hope it was a blessing and encouragement to you tonight. My brother, Arnie. Arnie, if he doesn't mind to come and close us in a word of prayer and deacons and trustees, we're going to head over to the children's wing here in just a few moments to begin our meeting so you can make your way that that direction. I'll join you in just a few minutes after you come and close us tonight.

Speaker 3: Father, we thank you for creation and the witness, it bears of your existence, your power, the order and beauty, your awesomeness. But we thank you, Morsal, for your word that is settled in heaven that points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation, the opportunity to grow and. We want to become wise and we thank you for the testimony of. Of believers that bear witness to your greatness and your salvation. Thank you, Lord, for this message tonight. Thank you for the Book of Psalms and how it speaks to our innermost being. Pray that your guidance this week help us to be a testimony, be a reflection of your greatness in the world. Let's name.

‍