God Speaks to a Darkened World: Precious Words of Warning and Reward

Introduction: Groping in the Dark

I'd like to ask that you take your Bibles and look with me to Psalm 19. This morning, we're going to look at a majestic piece of scripture. As we continue in our series in the Psalms, we're looking at those Psalms, in particular, that deal with the written Word of God, and also those that deal with the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. And we're going to intersperse them, some of them dealing more directly with the written Word, and some are called messianic Psalms that deal more directly with Jesus Christ. And this morning, we're going to look at Psalm 19.

One of the things I liked to do when I was younger, and we'd like to continue doing if I have the time, is to go hiking and camp just below the tree line on a high mountain. I really like to do that. Now, I haven't cleared this yet, but my wife likes to camp in those campground areas. You know what I'm talking about, with those fixtures and all that. That's a different experience, but a good one. But I like to climb out just below the tree line on a high mountain and pitch a tent there. And then after the Sun has gone down, I did this when I was in college, did this frequently, just go out and just look up at the sky. Have you ever done that? Where it's clear and cold. And you can see stars you didn't know existed. Can you picture it? I didn't know what the Milky Way was until I got up on a mountain and looked up, and you see this white swathe of stars going across the sky, and in some places, it's so bright and so milky and white, you can't tell one star from another. And it's glorious. Isn't it? And the Heavens are speaking to us, aren’t they? They're communicating something. They're speaking to us. And if you know how to listen, you know what they're saying.

Now, modern scientists have invested billions and billions of dollars in the most advanced listening and looking devices that there are. There are readings recently near Socorro, New Mexico, from one of the very large array radio telescopes. It uses 27 huge dishes, and an adjustable movable antenna to get faint radio signals from the distant parts of the cosmos, and they put together pictures based on what they're hearing: the birth of stars, the collision of galaxies, even the existence of a suspected Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way, and they're listening all the time. And high atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, at an elevation of almost 14,000 feet are the two most advanced looking telescopes in the world, Keck 1 and Keck 2, they're called. Constantly looking up, and each one has 36 honeycombed adjustable reflectors, computer-controlled state-of-the-art computers, just to resolve the most distance features of the universe.

And recently, I don't know if you've read in the newspaper, they have begun to detect in 20 different places, planets that are orbiting stars similar to our own Sun. And so once again, our unique place in the universe is challenged in the newspapers and magazines like National Geographic. National Geographic wrote about these planets, “as our image of the universe has exploded, humanity has lost the ancient conviction that its role must be all-important. We now know that our planet is an insignificant speck, circling an ordinary, relatively small star, far out on a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, which is an ordinary assembly of stars of only a few hundred billion in number, among at least 100 billion such galaxies.” Feel small now?

Continuing the quote, “And we're still the only intelligent life we know of anywhere, but now, humankind has taken a dramatic leap backward toward another possible demotion with the discovery of as many as 20 worlds detected in orbit around Sun-like stars outside our solar system.” Well, that whole quote is to give you a sense of insignificance, that you are insignificant. And it's funny that these scientists don't realize that the ancients had learned that lesson too. In Psalm 8, David put it this way, “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have created” (verse 3). What was David’s thought? “Boy, am I great!” Was that his thought? No. His thought was, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him” (verse 4).

So, the ancients got that message too. But there is a second message that the heavens are proclaiming, and that's what we're going to focus on today. It's a message that science twists and perverts and will not listen to. For the heavens are declaring the glory of God. And that is our focus today. How does God speak to us of His nature? How does he speak to us of His glory? And here we have in the Psalm beautifully, the three ways that God communicates to us. He speaks to us through creation, He speaks to us through the scripture, and he speaks to us through His Son, the redeemer, Jesus Christ.

I want you to have a sense when we get done with the scripture today, that our God is what he is, a majestic, immense, incredibly unmeasurably powerful, glorious God. And that this God is sufficient for any problem you face in your life, sufficient to take you out of sin, right into heaven, and sufficient to dazzle you with his being for the rest of eternity. That's who our God is. Let's look at Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. And the heavens, he has pitched a tent for the Sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course, it rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other, and nothing is hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

 We live amongst people who are groping in the dark, don't we? They're searching for something. They're searching for some spiritual reality in their lives. And to this, we can attribute the proliferation of cults and ways of thinking and philosophies that seemed to satisfy that spiritual need. But they wither and die as quickly as they spring up, some of them even lead to tragedy. We are groping in the dark. And yet in the midst of this darkness is the light of God's communication to us. God is speaking! He is speaking and He wants to be heard, and He is speaking to us through His Universe, through the creation. He's also speaking to us through scripture and through His son, Jesus Christ, most clearly.

Now, as we're groping in the dark trying to find our way spiritually, we will never find God that way. Never! God has ordained it that we not find God that way. For it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, “For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God. God was pleased to reveal Himself.” (verse 21). The point is it was wise for God to hide so that He must communicate about Himself to us or we will never know who He is. That was wise of God, and that's what He's done. And unless God speaks to us, we will never know who He is. We will be idolators, we will imagine him and make Him, perhaps even in our own image or after our own likeness. But God has spoken to us very clearly. And what's so beautiful about Psalm 19 is that all three are featured in one Psalm: creation first, then scripture, and then as a final word, Jesus Christ.

Creation: God Speaks Naturally to Glorify Himself

First, let's look at creation. God speaks naturally to glorify Himself. What's interesting about all three forms of communication is the priority of the Word, including creation. What comes first, the universe, or the word of power, which creates it? God says, “let there be” ... What? Light! The Word exists first, and then comes the reality. God says, “Let there be a Sun.” And there is a Sun. God says, “Let there be an Earth.” See, the Word comes first, and then the reality. The Word precedes all things, but God has created, as we learn in Genesis, this world, which one theologian called the theater of His glory. You all have seats in it. You look around and you see it every day with a majestic sunset or with the stars, the Sun and the Moon, which David extols. You see a theater of God's glory. So, creation is giving a speech every day. And what is the topic of that speech? It is the glory and the majesty of God. That's the topic. How great our God is.

Now, what's so tragic is that this form of communication is not heard clearly by the sinful heart. We talked about that in Romans. In Romans chapter 1, verse 20, it says, “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 men are without excuse.” But they take that knowledge and they twist it, they do not receive it, but yet, it's there. Now, David could have focused on the intricacies of Biology and how the whole ecosystems fit together. He could have focused on geology and the stars, the rocks, and all the things that we have on the Earth or the oceans and their power, but instead, he focuses on the stars. He looks up and he focuses specifically on that star that we're closest to, the Sun. And as he looks, he sees the contours and the edges of God's glory. Not just God's glory, vaguely, but aspects of it.

What kind of glory is it? God is powerful. We see that in the Sun's constant heat. God is wise. We see that in the fact that the Sun is just the right distance from us, not too close, not too far, just perfect for life. God is immense, in that the Sun is just swallowed up by heaven, no matter how big it is, God is good, the sunlight comes through and just caresses the leaves and photosynthesis creates the possibility of your life and mind. God is good, and God is faithful. The sun constantly rises day after day. Day after day. You see aspects of the glory of God in physical creation. We also see it in the stars, and this communication is so powerful. It is first of all ample. Look at the words that David uses to describe here; in verse 1, it says, “The Heavens declare the glory of God.” What do you think of when you think of declare? It's a proclamation! The very next thing, it says, “The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech.” You get the sense of a big picture and just speech is being poured out from the heavens. And then it says, “Night after night, they display knowledge.”

You get the sense that God is not in the business of hiding His glory, that God is in the business of displaying His glory. He wants you to know. He wants you to see his glory. Yes, God wants to be the foundation of your life, but how many of you discuss the foundation of your home? We have the most beautiful foundation. I want to tell you about it. Would you be interested in talking about the foundation? God is the whole house, and he displays his glory. Yes, let God be the foundation of your life. We'll talk about foundation later on, but let God also be the showy display, which is what he is. He does not hide his light under a bushel, but he shows and displays what he's like. The glory pours forth, he's not shy about it, and neither should we be in our communication, for we serve a majestic God. And we can go out in the name of that God and pour forth and display His glory as well.

Our God is not shy about who he is, but that the nations may know and the ends of the Earth may see he has displayed this. And what else does he say about this? The communication is constant. It happens all the time. The Sun rises and the Sun sets day after day. This communication comes. The communication is clear. It is non-verbal, it says there's no language where the speech isn't heard, so it's not a matter of this language or that language, but you can just look and see, and you know. The communication, therefore, is universal. In creation, therefore, God speaks universally for His own glory.

Scripture: God Speaks Supernaturally to Save Us

But now in verses 7 through 11, we look at a different form of communication, and this is scripture. Here where God spoke naturally to glorify Himself in creation, He speaks supernaturally in order to save us from our sins. Naturally, to glorify Himself in creation, supernaturally, to save us from our sins. Look at the titles of scripture, beginning in verse 7, we have the law of the Lord, and then again in verse 7, the statutes of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord, in verse 8. The commands of the lord, also in verse 8, and ultimately, the fear of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord. This is speaking of the written Word of God. The Bible, therefore, is God's spoken word, written. We believe in prophets. We believe that God has spoken to prophets. Prophets heard accurately the words of God and wrote them down. For all scripture is God-breathed. And as this Psalm and other places testify it is perfect, so God communicates to us.

Now, as we compare the two forms of communication, we've got: nature, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, mountains, rivers, ecosystems, all of this. It communicates clearly, but scripture communicates far more clearly, with actual, perfect clarity. The reason I say that is that some see the stars and what do they do with them? They worship them. They make idols to them. This has been part of the groping in the dark of humanity. We do not get the message properly, because we twist and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And so, therefore, God must speak more clearly to us: a word that is more clear, and he speaks that in scripture. In order to understand the mind and the glory of God, you must read the scriptures and you must saturate your mind in them daily. “For man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

Perfection of Scripture

Now, the first thing that David talks about scripture is the perfection of scripture. Look at verses 7 through 9, the law of the Lord is what? It is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. There's nothing missing. There are no blemishes. It's totally complete and upright. It's absolutely flawless. Another Psalm, Psalm 12:6 puts it this way: “The words of the Lord are flawless. Purified seven times over like silver refined in a furnace of clay”. The psalmist David, in that case, Psalm 12, reaching for words, saying, I don't know anything that's like scripture- as pure and perfect as the scripture. Absolutely flawless. And so, we have here in verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect.”

And then it says “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy.” This talks about the foundation I mentioned before. When you're building a house, you want something that's not going to move, don't you? You want a trustworthy foundation, something you can bank on that isn't going to be a fad. An intellectual, philosophical fad that was true when you were growing up, or true when you were in college, but it's not true anymore; you can't build your life on that. You need something that's going to stand the test of time; something that what David says is trustworthy. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. They don't move.

When I was a student at MIT, I remember hearing day after day, the pounding of hydraulic hammers driving girders (supports) down into the muck that is the undersurface of Cambridge. And it's kind of like a landfill. It's muddy, and in order to build a solid foundation, they had to go as deep into the Earth as they plan to go above it. So, they had to pound and pound and pound until they could get a foundation that wouldn't move over the years. And that is a picture to me of the absolute trustworthiness of the scriptures. It's the very same thing that Jesus said in the sermon on the mount when He said “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matt 7:24). What's the image? The image is of permanence. It doesn't move, whereas the sand sifts away, and then the house falls when the testing comes.

Total Truthfulness of Scripture

And then it speaks of the total truthfulness of scripture in verse 8, “the precepts of the Lord are right”. The Hebrew means righteous. It means they tell the truth. Scripture speaks the truth to you. Scripture doesn't flatter you. You need a friend like scripture. You need a friend like the word of God, a counselor that's going to tell you the truth. When you go to a doctor and when you get an analysis of your condition, do you want him to flatter you? Would you like him to say “Well, basically, you're fine. Just need to get a little more vitamin C in your diet.”? Is that what you want? You want him to tell the truth. Scripture does not flatter you. The scripture tells you the truth. And the reason it does that is that it speaks with incredible clarity. The commandments of the Lord, it says; Are pure, enlightening the eyes.

Now, any of you who have been married you went through the whole process of buying a diamond. Do you remember the four Cs of diamonds? Do you remember what they are? I guess they added a fifth recently. Color, cut, carat, and what's the last one? Clarity. The fifth one is cost, right? This is important for some people; usually, people who are buying an engagement ring. They're concerned about that. But what of clarity? You know recently they've invented something called clarity-enhanced diamonds. Have you heard of these things? Clarity enhanced. Now, a clarity enhanced diamond is a natural diamond; however, it's been altered to improve the clarity. For example, if there was a break or a little fracture in the diamond structure, which broke the surface of the diamond, it's possible to fill that break with a glassy substance, which improves the clarity and the look of the diamond. It makes it catch the light and transmit it to your eye with more radiance, more brilliance, and increases the clarity.

Does scripture need that kind of help? Absolutely not. There's no flaw. It's perfectly clear. And so, the commandment of the Lord is pure, giving light to the eyes. When you read the scripture, light comes in. And you know, light is a metaphor for knowledge, for truth, for understanding. You're not in the dark anymore, which is where we started. And it ultimately results in the fear of the Lord. Verse 9, “The fear of the Lord is...” What does it say? Pure. It is clean. It's a clean life that's lived in the fear of the Lord. Well, that is the nature of scripture. We've been describing what scripture is like. Well, the Psalmist also gives us a sense of the impact of scripture; the power of scripture on an individual. Verses 7-9, also. Every one of these phrases has a direct impact on David. You see, “The law of the Lord is perfect.” What does it say? “Reviving the soul”.

Have you ever felt in need of revival? Personal revival? You feel saggy in your walk with Jesus Christ, you feel like you've got no energy? You've got to get back to the Word. The Word, the Word! It revives you. This is what gives revival. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” The next thing it says, “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Do you need wisdom for your life? Do you need to know what to do? Go to scripture. Go to scripture. Making wise the simple. When David sees himself as simple or ignorant or un-tutored, he goes to the scripture. And it is, by the way, the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to make you feel that way. To make you feel like you're simple and ignorant. You should feel that way because you are. And so am I. And we need to come to scripture and be instructed. So, the Holy Spirit humbles us and says, “Read this, and then you will learn and then you will grow.”

“The precepts of the Lord are right.” Giving what? Joy to the heart. There is a tremendous amount of joy in the life of scripture. “The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” We just talked about that. See how scripture has an impact? It doesn't leave you the way you were. And then finally, David discusses the preciousness and the pleasure of scripture. Verse 10, “the precepts of the Lord are more precious than gold. Yes, even than much fine gold. They are sweeter also than honey from the honeycomb.” Now, I don't own very much gold. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the only gold that I own. Very valuable to me, but not much gold here. Now, I don't know how much gold is worth, so I had to look it up. $275 a Troy ounce. Perhaps some of you investment-oriented people know that. What you didn't know perhaps is how much gold is available in the world? Do you know how much there is? Are you thinking of collecting it all?

Well, if so, you've got some competition, because other people are looking for it too. 33,000 tons is available in this world. So that makes a total of about $330 billion available in gold. And if you have $330 billion and you would like to invest in gold, that's what's available. And David says the scripture is worth more than that to me; the scripture is worth more than much fine gold to me. Could we connect it to something Jesus said: “what would it profit a man to gain the whole world” (Mark 8:36)? Not just gold, but all the platinum, all the diamonds, everything, the power, all of it. And yet what? Forfeit your soul. Your soul is worth more than anything you can find on the surface of this Earth. And so, the scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus is worth more than much fine gold. Also, it's pleasurable. It's sweeter than honey, the honey of a honeycomb.

So again, I looked up some information. Amazing what you can do on the internet these days. The value of honey. Do you know how many bee miles, how many miles of bee-flying it takes to make a pound of honey? Does anyone want to venture a guess? You'd be wrong. It's incredible. 55,000 miles per pound of honey. 55,000! One bee makes a 12th of an ounce of honey in its lifetime. So, to get a pound, you've got to have a lot of bees. They fly to over two million flowers to make a pound of honey. And for that reason, honey has always been valuable, even back to the ancients. The Egyptians used it for trade and even for currency. In Greece mead was an alcoholic drink made from mixing wine with honey, and it was called the nectar of the gods.

And what is the purpose of honey? Why did God create honey? Because our God is a pleasure God. He created a portion of your tongue to respond well to honey. And some of you may even use honey every day. I don't know, in your tea or something. It's sweet. It's pleasurable. It's delicious. And so is scripture to David. Is scripture delicious to you? I found that it tends to feed on itself. The more you read and meditate and learn, the better it gets. All the time. And therefore, if you can't relate to what David's saying here, I would urge you with all haste to get into the Word of God, because scripture is valuable and it is delicious.

Purpose of Scripture

Now, what is the purpose of scripture? Well, in Psalm 19, there are two-fold. To number one, warn of dangers, and number two, to produce reward. In verse 11, it says, “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” There are two great things available in Psalm 19, great transgression and great reward. Scripture is designed to help you avoid great transgression and to receive great reward. That's what scripture is for. Now, in terms of dangers, the danger is sin, and even that gets broken into two categories. Do you see them? What are the two categories of sin in Psalm 19? There are hidden faults and willful transgression. Doesn't that about cover it? The things you didn't know were wrong but you did them anyway, and they were wrong. And those things you knew what you were doing. You knew and did it anyway. Those are the two categories.

Now, in terms of hidden faults, those things that are offensive to God, but you didn't know it. They're still offensive to God. And so, David says in verse 12, “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” We all have blind spots, don't we? And it is scripture that enlightens us as to what those blind spots are. Also, the loving strokes of a brother or sister in Christ can help too, but especially if they use scripture to show us those blind spots. But then there's the second category in verse 13, “Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.”

Now, this is the real danger. When you willfully give yourself to a pattern of sin and start getting sucked into a lifestyle or a habit of sin, it feels like slavery, doesn't it? How will you be free? What can break the bondage of that addiction? The scripture and the power of God through the Holy Spirit using scripture is the only hope you have. It's a great transgression when you're in bondage to a pattern or cycle of sin and you can't get out. The scripture holds out a warning against that. So, the scripture warns against sins you don't know about and warns even more against sins you do, that you may not go in for great transgression. But it also produces great reward, verse 11: “Keeping them there is great reward”. I believe as you follow the precepts of scripture, step by step obeying God, you will produce many good works by faith. And God has already promised graciously to reward you for them. It says in 1 Corinthians 4:4, “at that time, each will receive his praise from God.” That's grace, folks. But it is scripture that enables you to produce those good deeds.

Human Response: A Prayer for the Pleasure of God.

Now, the final section of Psalm 19 is a human response, a prayer for the pleasure of God. Now, when God speaks to us, he speaks to elicit a response. He wants something back. He doesn't want to speak into emptiness and nothing results. When God speaks, there is light, there are worlds, there is conversion. Things happen when God speaks. His Word does not come back void or empty. And so, God has spoken to David, and David does what? He speaks back to God, and He does it in prayer. He says in verse 13, “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.” So that's a prayer for what? For his own holiness. He's praying to God and saying, God keep me from myself! Oh, God may I be free from sin! And then he prays in reference to his mouth and his heart. He says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.”

David has gone right to the heart of the matter here. Why did God create the universe? For His own glory and for his own pleasure. For his own pleasure. I love what the King James says in Revelation 4:11: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they have been and are created.” You are created, every one of you, created in the image of God for the pleasure of God. And not only that, but you're redeemed. You're saved for the pleasure of God. Listen to this in Luke 12:32, “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Our God is pleased not just to create us, but to redeem us, and therefore, God's pleasure should be our goal every day. 2 Corinthians 5:9 says, “We make it our goal whether at home, in the body, or away from it, to please God.” We want to please Him. Ephesians 5 says, “We should find out what pleases the Lord” (verse 10).

Now, David says, I want my words and the meditation of my heart to be pleasing to you, God. I want them to be pleasing. I want them to be an aroma offered up to you. I want you to be pleased with what I say. And Oh God, you are a God who searches hearts and knows minds. I want you to be pleased with what I think. Can you pray that kind of prayer? It's hard to control the mouth, isn't it? It says in James if anyone is able to control the tongue, he's a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body as well. If you can control what you say and you're never at fault in what you say, you're a perfect man or woman able to control all of the lusts and tendencies in the body. And so, David says, put a bridle over this thing, that I may never say anything except what is pleasing to you, O God. But where do the words come from? Out of the overflow of the what? The heart. The mouth speaks.

And so, he goes back one step back and says, May the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you as well. What's your thought life like? There is a God who searches your mind and your heart, and David knew it. And so, he presented to him every aspect of himself. You can't sanctify yourself. You can't make yourself better. What you can do is like a spiritual beggar, go to God and say, God, make me different, make me different, make my words different, make my thoughts different by your word, transform me. And that's exactly what David does as a humble man.

One last thing about pleasure. You know I've noticed in the Christian life, if God is pleased with me, I'll be pleased with life. If God is displeased with me, I will be miserable. Have you noticed that? And do you know why? Because you're one with Jesus Christ, and if he's grieved, he's not going to let you be happy. He's going to make you as miserable as he is until you come out of the sin. Our pleasure and God's pleasure are connected. And so, I pray this prayer, “Oh, God, may my life be pleasing to you. Then I will be filled with joy.” Joy. Now, I've told you that there are three forms of communication that God has given us. Remember what they are. Number one, creation. Number two is what? Scripture. What's the third form of communication? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's final word to us. Isn't he? It's also David's final word in the Psalm.

Do you see that? Who is David's redeemer? What is a redeemer? It's somebody who buys you back from slavery. And who bought David back from slavery to sin? Well, his descendant from his own body, Jesus Christ. His greater Son, who took on a human body, who died on the cross to redeem us from our sin. He is our redeemer. And isn't it beautiful how all three forms of communication are right here in Psalm 19? But he ends with God's final word. And that is Jesus Christ. And I guess for application, I just want to ask you, God is speaking. Are you listening? Are you hearing what he's saying? Do you realize what kind of a glorious God you walk under every day when you look up at the stars? Do you realize how glorious he is? What kind of power there is available for your holiness and your salvation?

That same power at work in Jesus who raised Him from the dead is at work in you, if you're a Christian. I'm going to bring you all the way to Heaven. You realize that. Praise God for it. The power of God. Are you listening to what he's saying? Are you reading scripture daily, taking in, so that your hidden faults are revealed to you and you can confess them and repent? Are you speaking the scripture back to God through prayer? And more than anything, have you come to your redeemer Jesus Christ? He's your only hope. Your only salvation. Let's close in prayer.

Prayer

Father, you have spoken to us. You have spoken to us in what your hands have made. You've spoken to us through the prophets, and now you have spoken to us the final word through your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the living Word. Father, I pray for all those here who do not know you as a redeemer, who do not know Jesus as Savior from sin, that they would even this day, not give sleep to their eyelids before they repent and come to you, for all those willful and hidden sins which your blood alone can atone for. And Father, for all of us who have come to you as redeemer, I pray that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts may be pleasing to you. Oh God, our Lord, our rock, and our redeemer, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.