My Creator

[0:00] Okay, good evening everyone. Good evening. Good evening. Okay, so I wonder if you can think of a time when someone has inspired you to do something by what they've said.

[0:16] It has become quite common for businesses and various institutions to hire in a business expert or guru or motivational speaker to come and inspire their employees to take on some new initiative, to motivate them to make more sales or close more deals or whatever it is they need to do to make the company more money.

[0:44] Now when it comes to a motivational speaker, the first thing I would want to hear is who are they and what have they done? Have they done something to warrant me taking the time to listen to them?

[0:57] And if they're there to inspire me, then I want to know that they've actually done something inspiring. Now once I know there's a reason to really listen, then I can start to evaluate what they're saying and work out if what they're saying rings true and holds together as a coherent set of ideas.

[1:18] But when it comes to any kind of expert advice, listening alone is not enough. If I've heard something that's inspired me, well then I would actually need to do something about it.

[1:33] Tonight, let me tell you that you're going to hear from someone more inspiring than the most expensive business guru or the top motivational speaker and you're going to have to decide what you're going to do about what you've heard.

[1:50] Now you might be sitting there thinking, letting Peter preach a sermon has really gone to his head. But believe me when I say that I'm telling the truth because I'm not talking about myself.

[2:02] I'm not even talking about King David, the author of the psalm we're going to look at. I'm talking about God. So let's listen to what God has to say through the hand of David and let's think about who God is and what he's done, what he's said and what we should do in response.

[2:25] So let's look at Psalm 19. Turn to it with me, please, if you can. The heavens declare the glory of God.

[2:40] The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge.

[2:51] They have no speech. They use no words. No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth. Their words to the end of the world.

[3:04] In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

[3:16] It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth. The law of the Lord is perfect.

[3:28] Refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. Making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right.

[3:39] Giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant. Giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure.

[3:51] Enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm. And all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold. Than much pure gold.

[4:03] They are sweeter than honey. Than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is a great reward.

[4:15] But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.

[4:27] Then I will be blameless. Innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.

[4:38] Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for the opportunity to come together and look at your word and consider it for ourselves.

[4:55] And I pray like David. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.

[5:06] Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Lord, my rock and my redeemer. So, let's start by looking at the first six verses of this psalm.

[5:18] And let's see whether this God is really worth listening to. So, how can we answer that question? Well, just like a motivational speaker, we can ask, who is he?

[5:32] What's he done? And we can see who God is and what he's done through creation. Through our natural world. It speaks without words.

[5:44] Without a voice. It tells us a lot about God. David writes, The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.

[5:57] Can you picture David? David, perhaps in his shepherd days, out in the open, staring into the vastness of the night sky. Have you ever stopped to ponder the immensity and beauty of the heavens?

[6:15] One thing I still miss about my home, where I grew up in Northern Ireland, is the dark skies. Having grown up out in the countryside and now living in the big city, stars are much harder to see at night.

[6:30] And there is something magnificent about seeing a clear, dark sky with its thousands of pinprick lights. Being able to pick out the vast Milky Way or watch shooting stars streak across the sky.

[6:44] When we go to Altna Creek in Aviemore for the dine weekend away, I always hope for a clear sky. So that we can see the stars during our night walks.

[6:56] Though it can be pretty difficult to get the kids to stop, turn off their torches, their phones, and look up and let their eyes adjust so that they can really see the beauty of the night sky.

[7:14] And even the very scale of the universe is amazing. It's something that as a child I can remember thinking about and struggling with. How could the universe be infinite?

[7:28] How is it possible for space to just go on and on and on and on and on? But equally, how could it stop? How could there be nothing?

[7:42] How could there not even be empty space? Surely there must be something. So anyway, I just had to stop thinking about it and accept that it's beyond me. And I thought it might be worthwhile to just watch a short video.

[7:56] It's just three minutes long. This video, it's from an app, a phone app called Cosmic Eye.

[8:10] So that's why it's in portrait mode, even though we're watching it on widescreen. So forgive me that. And let's just take these three minutes to have a think about the very scale of God's universe.

[8:21] Okay, so hopefully that helps to just give you some idea of the scale of the universe that God has created.

[8:32] I just feel that even the scale of the universe tells us so much of God's power and awesomeness. So David talks about the heavens.

[8:44] He also talks about the skies. And the skies can provide just as many wonders, mighty towering clouds, beautiful rainbows, breathtaking sunsets, and awe-inspiring thunderstorms.

[9:01] I personally have always really enjoyed being in a thunderstorm with a healthy sense of the danger they pose, but nonetheless just really enjoying the raw power on display.

[9:19] And it points me to God's power. It just gives me a little hint of his almighty power. Now at the end of verse four, we see David turns his attention to the sun, this bridegroom, this champion.

[9:39] It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth. Now, perhaps David didn't know about Scotland.

[9:51] But in all seriousness, even here in Scotland, we are totally dependent on the sun and its warmth. Without the sun shining on the earth, it would soon freeze.

[10:04] It would just take a matter of weeks. And any plants without artificial light would soon die. And if you've ever experienced a solar eclipse, or even just a partial eclipse, then you'll know the eerie feeling of darkness during the day, and may well have noticed the drop in temperature that occurs even within that short time.

[10:26] And staying on the theme of eclipses, listen to an explanation from a NASA website explaining how an eclipse happens.

[10:38] eclipses occur due to the special coincidence of the moon and the sun being the same angular size.

[10:50] The sun is 400 times wider than the moon. But it is 400 times further away.

[11:01] So they coincidentally appear to be the same size in our sky. This is what allows us the phenomenal beauty of the total solar eclipse. Now you see that NASA's explanation, it recognizes the phenomenal beauty of an eclipse.

[11:19] But it simply puts it down to coincidence. The study of nature, both in a scientific sense and in an art sense, is a very wonderful and worthwhile thing.

[11:34] But when we completely miss its designer and creator, then we're in trouble. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1, verse 20, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

[12:07] For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

[12:21] Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things, rather than the creator.

[12:36] So if you don't already, then please do take time to be amazed by God's creation. But always let it point you to God's invisible qualities.

[12:52] So I hope from this, you've just had a little bit of a sense that God really is worth listening to. He's worth taking the time to hear.

[13:05] And thankfully, God doesn't leave us with just the silent proclamation of creation. He has more to say. So we've evaluated God's work.

[13:17] Now let's evaluate his words. So what is God's word like? What will we see if we take the time to evaluate God's words?

[13:32] Perhaps it's worthwhile to picture David again, having stared into the night sky, having felt the warmth of the sun as it rises. He's been amazed at God's handiwork, and then starts to think of all that he's read or been taught from the scriptures.

[13:52] And when David thinks and writes about God's words, it's interesting to note that whereas before, in thinking of creation, he uses the word God, he now switches to Lord, which is actually the way God's personal name is shown in most English Bibles.

[14:15] It perhaps would be better rendered as Yahweh, God's personal name. But the point is that David first thinks about God's greatness, this God who created the universe, and then moves to thinking about God in personal terms.

[14:34] This amazing God has made himself known, not just in a big, far-off kind of way, but also in a right here, something to say about your life kind of way.

[14:54] God has drawn near to us in his word. And what does David make of Yahweh's words? Have a look at verses 7 to 10.

[15:09] Yahweh's law is perfect. His statutes are trustworthy. His precepts are right. His commands are radiant. His decrees are firm and righteous, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey.

[15:26] Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, firm and righteous, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey.

[15:37] And what effect does David say they have? They refresh the soul. They make the simple wise.

[15:50] They give joy to the heart and give light to the eyes. So what is it that God says?

[16:02] Well, tradition gives the number of commandments in the Old Testament as 613 commands. That's rather a lot for us to consider just now. And I don't have a nice three-minute video that I can show you to amaze you with God's commands.

[16:18] But thankfully, Jesus summarizes all of God's law in just two commands. In Matthew chapter 22, an expert in the law tries to test Jesus with this question.

[16:32] Teacher, which is the greatest command in the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

[16:45] This is the first and greatest command. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

[17:01] Here we see the very heart of the law. This is what it's all about. Loving God and loving others.

[17:15] Can you imagine what the world would be like if it kept these commands? What a difference it would make. What a difference it would make to our own lives.

[17:29] but we have creation but we have creation and now know so much more about it.

[17:47] We have the completed Bible and within it we have the definitive account of Jesus' life and teachings. And in Jesus, like we sang, we have the full and final revelation of God.

[18:05] At the start of the service we heard from Hebrews chapter 1. Let's read Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 again. In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

[18:25] But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe.

[18:37] The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

[18:51] Jesus is the ultimate way that God speaks to humanity. And if you read what the Bible says about Jesus and evaluate his work and words, I think you would agree that the description David gives of God's word could pretty well apply to Jesus.

[19:15] Jesus is perfect. Jesus is trustworthy, right, radiant, firm and righteous, more precious than gold and sweeter than honey.

[19:28] Again, we see God's character in Jesus. We see it in creation. We see it in his word and we see it in Jesus. And ultimately, we see it in Jesus' death on the cross and glorious resurrection.

[19:45] God, God, who asks us to love him and to love others, first loved us.

[19:57] Romans chapter 5, verse 8, says, God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[20:11] So I hope that you can see that God's words are good. If you don't already, then please do take time to read and meditate on God's word.

[20:29] And when you need help to understand, because we all do, please ask a member of Brunsfield. Join a home group or look for other good resources that I can point you to or Graham can point you to or many others can point you to.

[20:48] And I know in my life that I don't do this enough. You know, thankfully as part of my job, I have to read the Bible so I can teach it to children. I have to study passages and really kind of understand them as best I can so that I can, in a simple way, explain it to children.

[21:07] But there's something different about just enjoying God's word for itself. To read it and to meditate on it like David did.

[21:20] And that leads me on to my third and final point. So we've evaluated God's work. We've evaluated God's words.

[21:31] Now let's evaluate ourselves. Now if you are very keen on having three points all starting with the same letter, you can go Glasgow for this last point and say evaluating ourselves.

[21:49] But I'll just stick to ourselves. So what about ourselves? Like I said at the start, it's all very well hearing an inspirational speaker realizing that they're worth listening to and agreeing with what they've said.

[22:08] But if we don't put into practice what we've heard, then it's all a bit pointless. So what then for us? What do we see when we evaluate ourselves in light of what God has said?

[22:28] So let's first look at verses 11 to 13 and see what David saw. David knows that God's law is a warning to him and also the way to great reward.

[22:47] And it shows him that we have two different kinds of problems in keeping to God's law. Hidden faults and willful sins.

[22:59] These hidden faults are not just faults that are hidden from others, but are actually hidden from ourselves. Who can discern their own errors?

[23:11] David puts it. And in a commentary I read it was put like this. The truth is you have no idea how sinful you are.

[23:25] Compared to God and his word we fall very short indeed. We don't need to try to sin. It will happen without us even realizing.

[23:41] The next problem is willful sin and the stranglehold that it can put us in. The sin where we know it's wrong but we just do it anyway.

[23:55] Perhaps we feel we just can't help ourselves. Or maybe we've justified it in our own minds. Or maybe we're able to downplay it and think well what we're doing is not really that bad.

[24:10] It could be worse. But if we're not careful it will lead us to what David describes as great transgression. You see sin can easily snowball and get out of control.

[24:27] So what can we do? What can be done? Firstly we need to recognize that we are not basically good.

[24:38] Not when we evaluate ourselves in light of God's character and word. When we ask ourselves how are we at loving God and loving others what is that evaluation like?

[24:58] I know when I think about myself even just loving those who love me can be so hard. Parents siblings spouse children yes I love them but at times do I really show it?

[25:17] No. Romans 3 23 puts it like this for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So like David says we need to ask for forgiveness and if we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

[25:48] we also need God to keep us from willful sin and great transgression. We absolutely need God's help to overcome sin.

[26:02] It is not something we can do on our own and if we do these things then we will be blameless not because we're perfect but because we are forgiven because of God's grace.

[26:20] Jesus who showed us what God is like lived in perfect obedience. He never failed to love and he became sin for us.

[26:36] Took the punishment we deserved so that we can have eternal life if we are trusting in him and then we can truly call God Lord our rock and our redeemer.

[26:55] Let's pray. Lord thank you for your creation. Thank you that we can look and marvel at its beauty and scale.

[27:09] thank you for using it to reveal your glory to us. Lord thank you for your word. Thank you that you have given it to us so that we can know you.

[27:27] Thank you for Jesus and all that he revealed. Lord thank you that you love us. Thank you for Jesus and because of him you are willing to forgive us.

[27:42] Thank you that because you love us you are willing to transform us. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.

[27:57] Lord my rock and my redeemer. Amen.