Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan KS, 22 Feb 2015
1 To the concertmaster , a
psalm belonging to David.
The heavens are accountings of the glory of God,
and that expanse is a relating of His hands’ action.
2 Day to day it causes speech to flow
and night to night it inspires knowledge.
3 There is no speech and there are no words;
never is their voice heard.
4 Their line goes out into all the earth,
and their messages into the end of the world.
In them He set a pavilion for the sun.
5 Now that is like a bridegroom coming out from his bedroom.
It revels like a champion to run a course.
6 Its out-going is from one end of the heavens, and its term is
beyond their ends,
and there isn’t anything hidden from its sunlight.
7 Yahweh’s
written-instruction has soul-returning integrity.
Yahweh’s testimony is trustworthy, causing the naïve to be wise.
8 Yahweh’s
accountabilities are heart-rejoicing-ly right.
Yahweh’s command is sight-illuminating-ly pure.
9 Yahweh’s respect stands
forever clean.
Yahweh’s judgments are altogether justly true.
· I read about[1] a questionnaire was mailed out to 10,000 pastors from Western Reserve University in the 1970’s. One of the questions was “Do you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God?” The majority answered “NO.”
o Even when you broke them down by denomination, the majority of every denomination said “No” – Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptist, Lutherans – all of them!
o Were all those pastors right? Is the Bible is not the inspired word of God?
· Randall Lolley, when he was president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in the 1980’s said about the accuracy of Genesis, “I believe there was a man named Noah and men named Cain and Abel. There are references in scripture to these. Whether they were absolute persons with names and addresses, I don’t know.”
o What? Is the Bible only inspired in spots so that Bible study is really about spotting the spots and ignoring the rest as fiction? Is that what we’re reduced to?
o Not hardly! The Bible itself presents a radically different view from the false enlightenment of our day, but there are even more subtle arguments:
· Just this year, a prominent Christian leader sent an email to the board of a Christian organization. The organization’s statement of faith reads, “We believe that the Bible is God’s only inspired and authoritative written revelation to mankind; and that it is completely trustworthy in all matters of faith and practice.” This Christian leader was arguing against this good doctrinal statement. His argument ran in part: “First, the Scriptures are not the end game... The Scripture does not say, ‘Trust in the Bible, or Come to the Bible or Love the Bible with all your heart….’ No, the Scripture’s purpose is to lead us to ‘Come to ME’ the Lord Jesus, personally. Jesus did not come to give us a manual for life. He came to give us eternal life. Second, the new covenant is Christ IN us. What is He doing? Writing His law on our minds and giving us a new heart... It is HIM at work in us both to will and to do HIS good pleasure. This work is not proportionate to the time we spend reading the Scripture... Life is NOT in the Scriptures. Life is in Him personally. We must be born again not memorize the Bible...” [emphasis & punctuation original, from an email forwarded to me by a board member of that organization].
o Such attempts to make a distinction between the true word of God and the relational person of God and downgrade the importance of the Bible in favor of subjective feelings about God have been propounded by Neo-orthodox philosophers like Søren Kierkegaard since the nineteenth century.
o And while there is some value in emphasizing the personality of God to people whose religion is a mere formality, who are following theological manuals apart from any personal relationship with God, the Neo-orthodox theologians took it too far – to the point of denigrating the Bible,
o and when they did that, they lost their moorings in objective truth and veered off into the Liberalism we see today which is little more than Secular Humanism and Existentialism with a thin veneer of words borrowed from the Bible.
· So, what does the Bible have to say about all this? In Psalm 19 we have the world’s greatest, most concise hymn to the Word of God (the greatest non-concise hymn being Psalm 119!). Here, David, the Psalmist, extols the written word of God using six names and six attributes, beginning with verse 7. Let’s look at each of these six phrases:
· The first synonym for the Bible we encounter is the Hebrew word “Torah,” which comes from the Hebrew verb “to instruct/to teach.”
· And this isn’t just any instruction manual David is talking about; this is the instruction of the LORD/Yahweh. This is the personal name for God in the Old Testament which disappears in the New Testament when the personal name Jesus is introduced. It’s interesting also that it appears at this point in the psalm when the focus shifts from the general principles of God’s revelation in nature to the special way God reveals His very name in His written revelation. The Bible is the personal instruction to us from the ultimate, personal God. The Bible is an utterly unique book with value beyond any other book because it is God’s own personal instruction for us.
· This word Torah is often translated “law” and often refers to the first books of the Bible, which is all David had when he wrote this psalm, so David does not appear to be distinguishing between the whole of scripture and a particular part when he says that the Torah is perfect.
· Contrary to the claims of liberal scholars, the Bible claims to have perfect integrity. There are no errors. No one has ever been able to identify an error in the Bible. Sure, people have pointed out things that appear to be discrepancies, but none of them are true stumpers. Every one of them can be explained in a way that preserves the integrity of the Holy Bible.
· Because God’s law is perfect, it has the power to turn our souls around. This brief statement does not elaborate exactly how, but our different English translations explain it in different ways: The Bible identifies what sin is so that we can turn away from it. It identifies who the true God is so that we turn to Him and be converted. Its truth nurtures spiritual life in our soul reviving and restoring those who were dead in sin. Talk about a powerful book!
· Now, let’s look at the second statement about the Bible:
· The second synonym for the Bible is the word “testimony” (or “statues” if you’re reading an NIV). Testimony is something that a witness gives in court.
o The trustworthiness of the testimony of that witness determines whether the court will ignore his testimony as that of a perjurer or whether it will become the basis for legal actions to punish evil and reward righteousness.
o Suppose I testified in court that I had seen a thief running from the scene of a robbery across the street in broad daylight, and then the video cameras from the store that was robbed had a timestamp of 11:00 at night. Do you suppose anybody would believe what I said about the thief? No, they’d know I was lying because I said it was broad daylight when it was really 11:00 at night. But if I said I saw him around midnight walking across the hotel lobby, then they would probably take my description of the thief very seriously and be looking for a guy that matched my description.
· The Bible is a record of God’s testimonies about what is true and false, good and bad, and everything He gave us in the Bible you can take to the bank. It is sure/certain – I actually prefer the NIV’s word “trustworthy.”
· Once again, this trustworthy witness has a transforming effect on those who embrace it. The testimony of the LORD is capable of taking simple, naïve, young people who haven’t thought very deeply about much in life and transform them into wise people who make good decisions and give good advice to others because they understand what’s going on.
o “...I consider... [all Your precepts to all be right;] I hate every false way. Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them. The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple/naïve.” (Psalm 119:128-130 NKJV)
o That’s why Wisdom personified in Proverbs calls out, “‘Whoever is simple [and lacks understanding], let him turn in here!’ ...[ and learn] the way of understanding. (Proverbs 9:4-6 NKJV)
o Do you really want to understand what’s going on in life? Study the Bible! It will make you wiser than your teachers!
· The third synonym for the Bible is “statutes/precepts.” The picture from the Hebrew root word paqad is that of an authority “visiting” the people under his authority and holding them accountable to his plan.
o When I think of this word, I think of when I worked as an employee of the Pizza Inn one summer at Panama City Beach. At the beginning of the summer, the owner of the restaurant oriented me and my fellow summer workers to the kitchen. He showed us exactly how to mix the dough, how to roll it out, how to place the ingredients onto the pizza, how to cook it in the oven, and how to chop it up and serve it. Then he went away, and I didn’t see him for weeks. Someone said he was out playing golf. But then one day, there he was, looking over my shoulder. I was putting pepperoni on a pizza, and I was being generous because I like really meaty pizza. But the boss said, “How many pieces of pepperoni did I tell you to put on a pizza?” I couldn’t remember, but it was less than I was putting on. He said, “I have to make money here; don’t put 30 pieces on, only put 25.” He was holding me accountable to his rules. He watched me make the pizza the rest of the way to make sure I was doing everything else right, and then I never saw him again.
o The LORD is a God who is imminently involved in the lives of His creatures, and the history recorded in the Bible shows how God is constantly bringing accountability through His perceptive guidance. He held Adam and Eve accountable in the garden when they broke His commands; He warned Cain against ungodliness; He broke up the work on the tower of Babel, and on and on His visitations and guidance go.
· Every time, God’s accountability procedure is both straight-forward (which is the root meaning of the Hebrew word yashar) as well as righteously just (which is the main figurative meaning for this Hebrew word).
o Have you ever worked in a situation where your boss didn’t communicate well and you never knew quite what your boss wanted? Then maybe you got another job where you could really track with the boss and it was easy to understand what he wanted, and you did it, and he was pleased, and you were really rocking. It makes your heart soar when things are really clicking like that. (The same can happen between parents and children at home too!) God’s word clearly lays out His expectations, and the explanation of those expectations is clearly told in stories throughout the Bible.
o And everything God has done is just and fair. You are not left with growing resentment over unreasonable and capricious actions from God like you are when you read Greek mythology. The precepts of our God are right, and that is a wonderful thing. Can you imagine how rotten life would be if we could never expect justice ultimately?
· Our fourth synonym for the Bible is the “command” of the LORD.
o This is the same word used for the 10 Commandments – Mitzvah.
o A command implies authority. God, our creator, has the authority to tell us what to do and what not to do,
o and He has codified that in the Bible – not only in the Old Testament law, but also in the commands of Jesus in the Gospels and the imperatives of the apostles to the New Testament church.
· The Hebrew word for “pure” is בָּרָה, indicating both “clear,” as in “having nothing to obscure its obviousness,” as well as “clean,” as in “not having any moral impurity[2].” God’s commands are both easy to understand because they are not complicated (unlike modern government codes!) and because they were composed out of love for us, not out of any mixed motives.
· The headlights of my Dodge caravan were designed with light bulbs installed plastic cases, but over time, the clear plastic gets eroded by heat and cold and air debris hitting it at 65 miles an hour, to the point where it turns a dull, opaque ivory color; it is not clear anymore. When I turn on the headlights, I can’t see the road very well. Then I have to buy a headlight restoration kit and that miraculously makes the plastic clear again and I can see to drive safely again.
· When something is clear, it lets light through easily for us to see, and that’s the picture painted in the poetry of this verse. “The LORD’s commands are pure, enlightening the eyes.” Because there is no impurity of sin or distraction in them, God’s commands in the Bible shed light on our life in this world and how to live it and sheds light on the future of what happens when we obey or disobey those commands. What a blessing it is to walk in the light of the LORD and understand the big picture of what’s going on.
· Now we come to an interesting synonym for the Bible. It is called the “fear/respect” of the LORD.
o It is possible that this word “fear” is not intended to be a synonym for God’s word but rather is a description of the response of God’s people to God’s word (in other words, we show respect to the Bible out of a healthy fear of displeasing God).
o However, I side with a number of Bible scholars who consider this “fear” to be another word describing the Bible.
o The phrase “the fear of the LORD” is consistently used throughout the Bible as a summary of what the Bible says:
§ Psalm 34:11 “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” (NKJV)
§ Psalm 111:10a “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom...”
§ Proverbs 15:33a “Wisdom teaches the fear of the LORD...”
o Even in English, we call a judge “your honor,” not referring so much to the response of people around him but referring to the judge himself by the term “honor.” In this way, I think the Bible can be called the “fear” of God or the “respectable [work]” of God.
· In Psalm 12:6, we already saw the word טְהֹר־ “pure/clean” applied to God’s words[3]: “The sayings of Yahweh are sayings of purity – silver, smelted in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times” (NAW).
o “The fear of the LORD is clean” – rather than unclean. It is free of defects, perfectly fitted to His nature and to His high standards.
· As a result, the Bible will “stand forever.”
o It will not tarnish with age or grow obsolete with the passing of time like an old science fiction movie that looks ridiculous ten years later.
o Non-Christian scholars arrogantly denounce this truth. For instance, Yale University Professor of New Testament, Miller Burrows is quoted as saying, “The Bible is full of things which, to an intelligent, educated person of today, are either quite incredible or at best highly questionable... The protracted struggle of theology to defend the inerrancy of the Bible against the findings of astronomy, geology, and biology has been a series of retreats ending in a defeat which has led all wise theologians to move to a better position.”
o Jesus, on the other hand taught in Matthew 5:18-19 “...until whenever the heavens and the earth pass on, neither one ‘i’ nor one serif shall ever pass on from the law until whenever everything shall have happened. Therefore, whoever might loosen one of the least of these commandments and teach the men thus, he will be called least in the kingdom of the heavens. But whoever might do and teach thus, this man will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens” (NAW).
· The sixth and final synonym for the holy Bible is the “Judgments” of the LORD, also translated “the rules/ordinances” of the LORD. The Hebrew word here, מִשְׁפּט, refers to what judges do: they make rulings or judgments as to how the law should be interpreted and practiced.
· There are three key words which describe these mishpetay or judgments:
1. The word “together” (yachdav) is prominent in the Hebrew because when a case comes to court, that is when everything is brought “together,” the plaintiff together with the defendant, the witnesses together with the lawyers, the judge together with the parties being judged. The evidence is gathered, and a verdict is reached while they are all “together” (Job 9:32; Isaiah 41:1, 43:9 & 26, 50:8). God’s word brings every detail together and makes sense out of everything.
2. Secondly is the Hebrew word emet which can be translated “truth” or “faithfulness” – it carries both connotations, and both are important to a good judge:
o That’s why witnesses in a courtroom are sworn to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” God is His own witness, and He Himself is the Truth.
o The judge also has to interpret the law faithfully according to the true meaning and intent of the law or else it becomes injustice and oppression. God is a faithful God too!
3. The third key word describing God’s judgments is the word “righteous” – the Hebrew word tsadik has to do with moral righteousness and conformance to God’s character[4]. Throughout Biblical history, when God brought it all together to render His judgments, His judgments recorded in scripture have been true and righteous:
o When the young man in Leviticus 24 blasphemed the name of Yahweh, God gave a judgment: Stone him to death, for “whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.”
o Revelation 16 tells us that this judgment still stands. It is the blasphemers of God’s name who get the bowls of wrath poured out upon them from heaven.
o And, of course, there are many more judgments, such as “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 9:6, KJV)
o and “Y’all heard that it was declared to the men of old, “Do not murder,” ... I myself am saying to you, every one who is enraged toward his brother will be guilty in the judgment ..., and whoever says, “Moron,” will be guilty in the hell of fire.” (Mt. 5:21-22, NAW)
· All these judgments of God which explain how to apply His standards of right and wrong are “altogether righteous [and] true”
o David testified to it here and in Psalm 119:160 “The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” (NKJV)
o God’s people testified to it hundreds of years later in Nehemiah 9:13 “You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven, And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.” (NKJV)
o And Isaiah prophecied that Jesus the Messiah would carry it on to the end of time: “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.” (Isaiah 42:3, NKJV)
How should we respond to these six great truths about God’s special revelation in the Bible? Verses 11-14 tell us how to respond. It would be a crime to divorce verses 11-14 from the rest of the Psalm, so, are y’all good for another 45 minutes so I can cover those last verses? No? Well, I guess I will have to commit the crime and preach on those verses next week, but let me at least bring out some points of application:
· Read it! When you become disoriented by the nonsense and hubris of the talk and writings of unbelievers, go to the Bible for a dose of order, meaningfulness, and fairness.
o Without the word of God, you will go crazy because it is impossible to put together all the particulars of this world in a sensible way without it.
o This is literally how I kept my sanity over the last week. I was not coping well with all the things in my life that weren’t making sense, but every time I stopped and read my devotional book or studied Psalm 19 for this sermon, it was like the fog cleared away and my mind was comforted by words that made sense and had integrity and hope in them.
· Resist the detractors to God’s word: When people put down the Bible, stand up for it.
o Whether it be non-Christians that make snide remarks about errors in it or Christians that call it unspiritual, challenge them:
o “I haven’t found any errors in the Holy Bible, could you tell me about a few that you’ve found?”
o Or how about this one, “If you have moved beyond the Bible, then let me hear you talk about your personal relationship with God without borrowing any words or phrases from the Bible.”
o If their hearts are hardened, then maybe they will argue back, but most people are just naively parroting something they heard from somebody else, and maybe your challenge will get them thinking with more integrity.
· Recommend it:
o We can follow David’s example and make up songs or poems about it,
o or if you’re not a poet or musician, simply quote David’s psalm to other people,
o or paraphrase it in your own words, “Man, God’s Holy Bible is so perfect; it brings renewal to me every time I read it!” – does that work for a paraphrase of Psalm 19:7?
o How are we ever going to see revival in our country if we keep our religious ideas to ourselves?
· Reflect it: – Why did God communicate to us through the Bible in the first place? In part because He wanted to inform us of His character so that we would become more like Him. The attributes which David talks about that characterize the Bible can also characterize us, as God transforms us into the likeness of Jesus:
o You can reflect integrity as you identify and repent of hypocrisy in your life (Ps. 18:23)
o You can grow in faith and be a trustworthy witness (Isaiah 26:3)
o You can reflect the straightforwardness and righteousness of God’s patterns of communication in the Bible through your own speech (Psalm 7:8 & 17)
o As we allow the blood of Christ to cleanse us from all sin, we can become pure and clean much like God’s word is pure and clean (Psalm 18:24, Matt. 5:8)
o And just as God’s word is faithful, true and just, it commands us to be faithful, true, and just ourselves, for instance in Zechariah 8:16, “These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace” (NKJV)
o I’ll plan to get into more application of all this in the next sermon, but for now, may God help us to reflect these qualities of His word throughout our lives!
|
Psalm 19 |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (Psalm 18) |
Brenton |
|
ח תּוֹרַת יְהוָה תְּמִימָה מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ עֵדוּת יְהוָה נֶאֱמָנָה מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי. |
7 Yahweh’s written-instruction has soul-returning integrity. Yahweh’s testimony is trustworthy, causing the naïve to be wise. |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. |
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The |
7 (8) ὁ νόμος τοῦ κυρίου ἄμωμος, ἐπιστρέφων ψυχάς· ἡ μαρτυρία κυρίου πιστή, σοφίζουσα νήπια· |
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, instructing babes. |
|
ט פִּקּוּדֵי יְהוָה יְשָׁרִים מְשַׂמְּחֵי לֵב מִצְוַת יְהוָה בָּרָה מְאִירַת עֵינָיִם. |
8 Yahweh’s accountabilities are heart-rejoicing-ly right. Yahweh’s command is sight-illuminating-ly pure. |
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. |
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; |
8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; |
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. |
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving
joy to the heart. The command |
8 (9) τὰ δικαιώματα κυρίου εὐθεῖα, εὐφραίνοντα καρδίαν· ἡ ἐντολὴ κυρίου τηλαυγής, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς· |
8 The ordinances of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes. |
|
י יִרְאַת יְהוָה טְהוֹרָה עוֹמֶדֶת לָעַד מִשְׁפְּטֵי יְהוָה אֱמֶת צָדְקוּ יַחְדָּו. |
9 Yahweh’s respect stands forever clean. Yahweh’s judgments are altogether righteously true. |
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. |
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. |
9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. |
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. |
9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. |
9 (10) ὁ φόβος κυρίου ἁγνός, διαμένων εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος· τὰ κρίματα κυρίου ἀληθινά, δεδικαιωμένα ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, |
9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, and justified altogether. |
[1] From a reputable pastor, James M. Boice, in an article entitled, “Does Inerrancy Matter?”
[2] It is only used half a dozen other times in the Old Testament, variously to indicate a “bare” manger where there are no cattle (Prov. 14:4), an “only” child and the sun’s “brilliance” (Canticles 6:9-10), and in parallelisms with זך to describe Job’s “righteousness” (Job 11:4) and with נקי to describe David’s “innocence” (Psalm 24:4).
[3] That same “cleanness” can be given by God to man, as evidenced by Psalm 51:10, Ezek. 36:25.
[4] Compare to yashar in v.8