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Works and Words of God By Stephen Bignall

Psalm 19

And when David was keeping sheep he had abundant opportunity to consider the word of God, which was at that stage probably just the five books of Moses, and the world of God, to consider the heavenly realms as he minded the sheep, to consider the earth and all that was in it as he looked after those sheep and protected them and watched them fed from God's hand.
David couldn't create the food that kept his flock, God did that.
So David begins the psalm and says the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork, day under day out of speech and night under night reveals knowledge, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Now I'd like you first to look with me at the the amenity of creation, just how great creation is. It's amenity, it's intensity, it's delicacy, it's robustness, and when you think of creation think of it as God's silent testimony, God's eloquent, well-spoken, descriptive, clear, beautiful, silent testimony to himself.

This is what David's saying here, I'm just going to go through the psalm tonight brethren, I just want to open up this portion of God, I just want to enjoy it with you and to have some benefit from it with you, so I just pray that you'll have your bibles open and that you'll find this of interest. You may have professed Christ and found yourself now disinterested, you may not profess Christ and you should make this worthy of your interest.
The heavens do not speak to us, there are people who believe that, they believe the heavens speak, they'll cast your horoscope for you, but the heavens do not utter words, they are inanimate, they are inanimate, they are energized and framed, but they have no life.
By the heavens the psalmist is talking about that great expanse of the universe, David was not a fool. When I was at school I was taught that anybody that lived more than a couple of thousand years ago sort of had not much of a brain and was pretty primitive and liked to play in the dirt and hit other people on the head with large lumps of wood, sort of always brought up in a very rampantly evolutionary school and David was no fool, David knew that the sun, the moon and the stars were in this enormous canopy of space, he knew that, God's word had taught him that, he knew that God had placed the stars in the heavens, he was not lacking in intelligence and this is what he's talking about here when he says the heavens, the starry realm, the universe
declares God's glory, each one of those lights set up in the blackness of space says God is glorious,
God is perfect, God is light, there is none like God, God made me, God made me and also he says the
canopy or the firmament which is the framing of the earth, the word means canopy, it's like you
know if you see a canopy over something, it's something that encases something else,
a canopy over your head encases you, he's talking about all that's around the earth, the skies, the
clouds that encase the earth, they also, they show what sort of a workman God is, now if you saw a
wall at the back of Andrew and Virginia's place you'd see what sort of a workman Scott is because
he built it, if you went down to Joe Hardy's you'd see what sort of workmen Alan Norfolk and
Norris and I are on a very late Friday night because we put up a petition down there for him
the other night, it's not too bad, probably a little bit wonkier than it should be but you can
tell what sort of a workman a person is by looking at what, what he's made, what he's made, if that
wall at Andrew and Virginia's was sort of like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the bricks were sort of
in and out, in and out and every now and then there was some cement and then a cavity, we sort
of wonder what sort of a workman had created it, if you saw the wall that Alan and Ian and I created
you wouldn't wonder, it serves the purpose and it's useful but it's not perfect, it's not perfect,
when you look in the heavens, have you ever thought what the sun is like, now David could
probably tell you a lot about the sun because he is involved with creation science and he knows
a lot about those sort of things, I like to read the creation science magazine but I couldn't
actually tell you how big the sun is, could you David in terms of how much larger than the earth,
there you go I'm wrong, but the sun is huge and it's this ball of gas that's constantly erupting
and unleashing the energy that holds it together, you see what it's doing, God has taken this huge
mass of gas and he set something in motion that releases bit by bit the energy that holds it
together, that's how much power there is in those little bonds that God holds matter together with,
that when he sets fission as it's called or fusion, I'm not sure which one it is,
when he sets it in motion this enormous energy is released, the heavens declare the glory of God
that in a tiny minuscule bond he can unleash enormous powers, you've thought of how much
energy it takes to hold the universe, the fabric of the universe together, to set the sun in its place
and then to scatter a million suns out into the universe, we've only seen one up close but those
stars are incandescent balls of gas just like our sun or bigger than our sun and God has set them
all in their place and how long did it take him to do that, does anyone like to tell me, how long,
a word that's right, a word and if you like a word in a day and only because he chose to
do it piece by piece but with a word he created them, in seven days the whole world was in place
and God had rested and considered it and said that it was good, if you look out into the world
there is such beauty, such complexity, you've got the sun on one hand haven't you and it's
awesome and mighty and powerful but on the other hand you've got something as insignificant as a
snowflake but if you take a microscope and you look at a snowflake it is the most beautiful
geometric pattern, the frailest loveliest flower you have ever seen in a snowflake
and yet every single one of them is different, no one has ever found two snowflakes that you
can just put over the top of one another, this is the delicacy, the delicacy of God's creation,
in one moment this huge ball of gas erupts and lights the earth and the solar system, in another
the clouds drop down the snowflakes, delicate and beautiful, David had felt the sun's intense
rays in En Gedi and the other places where he kept his sheep and he felt the chill of the snow
and all those things, though they didn't walk up to him and say David, they spoke to him of God's
goodness and God's glory, now we live a life where we're somewhat closeted from creation,
it's possible for us to spend a week without ever stepping out of our houses and to have
all the food we could desire, all the heat we wish to enjoy, all the entertainment we could
possibly want, all the companionship and never see the sun rise, never see the sun set, never feel the
chill of night, never feel the warmth of day, it's possible, some people prefer it, that's how far
we have departed from the beauty and the goodness and the wonder of what God created for us,
see he created it for humanity, this world, created it for humanity, he set it all in place
and he put man in the middle of it, the man was able to see that the heavens and the earth
were to the glory of God and he could go and name every one of the creatures
and know intimately and intuitively why God had created them, what they should be called and enjoy
fellowship with them, now if you went up to the RSPCA up there and there was a rottweiler that
had been mistreated and you stepped into a cage with it, you would not enjoy too much intimacy
and communion of the best kind, it would probably seek to tear you to shred, Wendy is dreading that
I'm going to mention Hogan, Wendy Nicholson has a dog, or the dog has Wendy Nicholson and Robert
Nicholson and the family, it's quite an interesting dog and it was mistreated not by the Nicholson
family but by the family that had it previously and that dog was very badly, very badly treated
and sometimes he can be a little disturbed at strangers but he has responded to the love,
the kindness of the Nicholson family and he loves them, he just, he's all over them, you knock on the
door and he doesn't know you, I think Bill Edwards can testify to this, he just about knocks the
screen door over trying to get at you, not to lick you to death either but you see how the creation,
see how the creation's been perverted by humanity, can you see that, that this eloquent testimony to
the goodness of God has been perverted and there is a great sin rampant in the world today
and it's called environmentalism because environmentalism does two things, one it blames
those who serve God for the fact that the environment's damaged and says that it was
these Calvinistic Christians who just wanted to burn, pillage and plunder the earth who have
caused the western mentality of destroying and two because it worships the creature more than
the creator, environmentalism is a great sin because there's no penitence in environmentalism,
none at all, there's no repentance because repentance can only take place towards God,
you see environmentalists worship the world, they worship the world, this is what happens when
the eloquent, clear, startling testimony of God is distorted, misunderstood by man,
they worship the creature more than the creator, you see it's just as wrong to worship the world
worship a rainforest and to go up and hug the trees and commune with them and to think that
the primates that inhabit the jungles of Brazil are your distant cousins, it's just as wrong
to tear them out by the roots and to slaughter them in their thousands as has been done in
Trump's past, those two things are just as wrong because both of them are the sin against the holy
God who's declared his glory in the creation, you see then it's not that environmentalism is good
and that the western idea of development as people call it, development of resources is bad,
they can be equally as bad as one another, there is nothing wrong with responsibly developing
what God has given us, it's commanded in Genesis, subdue the earth replenish, there is nothing
wrong with seeking to retain the beauty and the wonder of the delicate balance of nature that
God has provided for man's enjoyment but without God, without the consideration of the creator,
it's sin, it's sin and it offends him because it says here that the heavens declare the glory
of God and this great canopy around us all that surrounds us here and if we were to walk out into
the middle of Kakadu and stand in the silence or hear the eruption as the water birds take off
or see the crocodiles in the water and the fishes, to see the fauna and the flora
it says God maybe, God is marvelous, God is great, God's perfections are past finding out
this is what he is for, but because of sin, because of man's sin, it's all become twisted
and defiled, it's all been reserved to a day when it will be destroyed because of mankind,
because our presence in this world has defiled this world, that's what happened in Genesis,
not only did Adam die but it's the world began to suffer death, animals began to die,
plants began to die, trees began to become diseased, plants began to be warped and twisted
they became poisonous, they became bitter, they became overgrown and rank, the creatures slew
one another, this was the chaos that man brought into the world through sin and so the heavens
and the earth aren't enough to turn man to God because man, man has sought to destroy their
testimony, man has shut out their testimony, man is incapable of understanding their testimony
anymore, the sun comes out, now we know that the earth revolves around the sun but from our point
of view looking up at the sun, the sun comes out it says in here, comes out in the morning
like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, glorious, powerful, radiant, I mean
I don't know, I didn't see Gordon on the day of his wedding and I didn't see Philip, I did see Alan
and I can tell you, you feel radiant, you see your wife coming down, your wife-to-be coming
down the aisle and you just feel like, like there's just this glow around her and you just
feel radiant and you feel like you could run 100 miles, you feel like you could lift the greatest
weight, you just want to be a knight in shining armour and some of us probably lack the facilities
to run 100 miles, I certainly do, but that's the picture that, that God is painting here,
that the sun in all its glory and magnificence as it, as it moves across the sky, that's a picture
of God, that's what he's like, so glorious and radiant, the sun has been the cause of great
rejoicing for endless centuries, the warmth that people have enjoyed and what has happened, people
have worshipped the sun, wrongings again worship the sun, the moon at night with its beauty and
its radiance has seen many a lover pledge their vows underneath it because its beauty seems to
accentuate the feeling of people that love one another, you know lovers go for walks
don't they, those that are, that are knit to one another, that want to know the peace and the quiet,
Virginia walked with Andrew a few weeks ago on her 30th birthday down the beach,
I know, I like to go for walks, no one's going to miss out tonight, I want you to see how real
the creation is to you, you see how you can rejoice in it, Philip rejoices in it, every time one of
those little bees forms a cell in, in that eight period, every time the honey goes into the cone,
Philip rejoices, God created that, God created it and when we're in communion with God we can enjoy
these things to the uttermost, not, not by putting spikes in the trees so that the next poor
timberman that comes in with his chainsaw ends up with it wrapped around his neck,
not, not by putting pipes in the ground and encasing ourself in cement,
not by tearing it down and calling it progress but by worshipping God, worshipping God,
you see there's a circuit that the sun obeys, it comes forth and then it disappears and the night
comes, there's a language that it speaks, you know that there's no one in this room that knows
all the languages in the world isn't there, anybody want to judge what they do,
how many people can speak two languages,
how many can speak three, put your hand up if you can speak three languages,
well have a look how many languages the creation speaks,
verse two, day unto day utter speech and night unto night reveals knowledge,
there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard,
the creation speaks every single language known to man, every tribe, every tongue, every nation
have heard or should have heard, have witnessed God's message in the creation, see that's why
we're without excuse, don't think that somehow people that never hear the gospel, those poor
people have received a bad deal from God, you see the creation speaks of the glory of God to every
soul that has ever lived and will ever live, because it says that the sun's heat nothing is
hidden from it, the darkness of night nothing is hidden from it, you see the canopies encases all,
the universe is there for all to see, there's nothing hidden but still, still man is deaf,
has not the ears to hear and live, does not understand and that's where God, God provides
something better, something better than the creation, now you might find that hard to believe,
certainly there'd be people today who think hey you know can God provide anything better than a
beach and six or seven straight sets, I mean can God provide anything better than that,
can he do that, can God provide anything better than a stones concert in Australia, I mean wow
the stones, boy these 50 year old drug-crazed, dissolute, grey-haired old men, I can't understand
how people can get so worked up over them, they're just creatures and they're pretty poor creatures
at that, but God provides better things, it's incomparable, modern, intellectual, superior,
mankind in the 20th century worships the creature more than the creator,
absolutely bows down and worships things that will pass and fade away within a lifetime,
within a lifetime and that don't look really good up close, I mean from a distance Mick Jagger looks
fine, you get close and he's got bags under his eyes, he's got wrinkles, he's not a well man,
he's going to die, he's going to die, you don't look close at creation and look at the blight on
it, look at the plagues and it's because of humanity, God provides some better thing for
this poor, sin-sick humanity, this humanity that sees the message and perverts it, worships
something different, did you see that in Isaiah? People that have a lot of money go and get a bit
of gold, people that have a little bit less money they get silver, people that haven't got much
money at all they get a piece of wood and they worship it, how many people do you know that
worship gold, silver or wood? There's quite a few, depending on their abilities they get the
finest of creation and they worship it, it's called materialism, God provides something better,
have a look in verse 7 at the healing properties of God's law, God's law, now by God's law here I
don't mean the mosaic ordinances about how many days you should work and what you should do on
the Sabbath, not gather sticks and all that, or the ten commandments about the spiritual principles
of keeping a day holy to the Lord or not stirring, not committing adultery, but by the law of the
Lord here it's meant the whole word of God, not just the ten commandments which are part of the
word of God but the whole testimony of God, it's often referred to as the law and that's the sense
in which David means it, and he says the law of the Lord is perfect, absolutely perfect,
now creation's pretty good and when it was made it was perfect but it's not perfect anymore,
the earth is not perfect, one day the sun's going to go supernova probably,
if the Lord doesn't come first which I probably think he will,
but there have been supernovas over the centuries where these stars have exploded apart
there have been cataclysmic events in the earth, the most beautiful relationships are marred,
but the law of the Lord, the law of the Lord's perfect, complete, it's entire, and that's what
we want to look at, we want to look, and I put it this way, the healing properties of the sweet and
precious ointment which is the word of God, you know how many people are looking for remedies,
remedies, Ian Norris can tell you much about remedies, good remedies from God's creation,
God has made very many medicinal plants that put them in the earth, it's no, you might think that
naturopath is humbug, I can tell you on a personal experience it's not, it's not, medicine often
finds in natural extracts the very drugs it needs to cure illnesses and then synthesises them,
insulin was discovered that way, aspirin was discovered in willow bark, all these things,
but there's an ointment that's precious and pure and perfect and it is 100% effective against the
disease, 100% effective, it's perfect, it's sure, it's absolutely sure, there's no doubt here as to
whether or not the next dose you take will do you good or no good at all, it's absolutely sure it
says in the end of verse seven, in verse eight it says it's right, it's right for you, you don't
have to worry about the dose, you don't have to worry about whether or not this medicine suited
to me, I've got very delicate constitution here, too much of this could be very dangerous for me,
too little could put me, could put me into a convulsion, no you don't have to worry about that
because it's right, it's perfect, it's sure, it's right, it's clean, it's clean,
God's method of dispensing his law and its entrance into your heart, it won't infect you
with anything bad, it's hygienic, it's good for you, it's free from any sort of corrupting
influences, is creation free from corrupting influences? Love a woman and it can destroy you,
love a man and it can destroy you, why? Because you can become covetous, you can become obsessive,
you can worship the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever,
love the law of the Lord, it's just right for you, it's the thing to enjoy,
you see in the next verse it says, verse 10 it says, more to be desired than gold than much
fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb, you see the most precious thing that
you can mine out of creation or the most sweet to the palate substance you can taste in creation,
they're nothing compared to the word of God, have you known that? It's not always
readily experienced is it as a professing Christian, sometimes we sort of have the word
of God like some of that nasty medicine that we sometimes have to take don't we? I mean I've got
this medicine that Ian gave me, it's very helpful but oh it tastes terrible, it's made from,
what's it made from Ian? Dandelion seed,
made out of a thistle and it tastes pretty thistle-ish I can tell you, but God's word,
God's word, it says here it's more to be desired and it's sweeter than the honeycomb,
now what does it do? What does it do? You see medicines do things don't they,
if you've got heart palpitations and you take a medicant it slows the palpitation down,
if you're subject to sugar diabetes and you take insulin it restores the balance in your system,
all these things, all these diseases, the medications rectify the problem and that's what
God's word does, first thing it does is it restores, it converts, you see someone who's
ill is going like this, down like that, I've been ill lately and every day I seem to my body
feels like it's going down into a pit that I can't get out of and you don't know what's the
matter and it's very frightening when you don't know what's the matter and you suddenly realise
that you're like what is it? It's a vapour, it's a vapour, God blows on it and it's gone,
converts, the first thing it does is it arrests the downward progress and it turns the soul around
and it transforms the person, so that's the first thing it does, it arrests the disease,
the second thing it does is it informs and that's in verse 7, it makes wise the simple
and that word can also mean bathes, makes the bathes wise, makes little children like Martin,
Martin can be taught, Martin can be taught, God's word teaches, God's word can teach Martin,
there's plenty of verses applicable to little children like Martin, God's word is even
applicable to Michael or to Diana or to David or to Peter, God's word is applicable to every
human creature whether Martin's age or the venerable age of Ian who's turning 40 in about
a week, God's word is relevant to you, it is, it's meant to be enjoyed, meant to give you
a perfect and a complete understanding in heaven, God's word will have furnished you
with a perfect human.