04 Aug God is TRUTH

Psalm 19:1-14

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. ⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. ⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; ⁹ the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. ¹² Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. ¹³ Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Have you ever asked the question, “How can I hear God speak to me?” If you ever try to communicate with God, I am sure you have asked that question. “Okay, I am speaking to God, but how does God speak to me? How can I know anything about God?” Growing up in church, I was told to wake up early in the morning to have QT with God. So, I did. I had a real QT with God. And by QT I did not mean quality time. I meant quiet time, literal quiet time with God. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Like, after you pour your heart to God, you want an answer. You want him to reply. But it is quiet. It’s like talking on the phone, and you go, “Hello? Yobuseyo? Ola? Konichiwa? Apa kabar?” only to realize your phone is switched off. In the same way, we often talk to God and there seems to be no reply. The good news is God is not silent; God is speaking to us.

Today we are on the fourth sermon in our series, “God is”, with the tagline, “Knowing God living right.” Throughout this series, we are looking at different attributes of God and how those attributes shape who we are and what we do. The attribute of God we are looking at tonight is truth. What is truth? Truth is statements that correspond to the reality. If I say, “I am an Indonesian and I am 178 cm tall,” that would be true. But if I say, “I am a Korean and I am 25 years old,” that would not be true. It would not correspond to the reality. That’s how we commonly define truth. However, there is another way the Bible depicts truth. In the Bible, truth not only states reality, it is reality. So, when the world says that we are simply a product of an accident called the Big Bang, we reject that. Why? Because the Bible tells us that there is a God who is “I am who I am.” He is the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient, immutable God. He is the ultimate reality. And if that’s true, if God says, “I am who I am,” then everything else says, “I am because he is.” Everything exists because of him and for him. So, the Bible does not only give statements that correspond to reality, but it also defines reality. The Bible does not only tell us about God, but it is the very word of God. The Bible does not only communicate things that are true; it is the truth. And listen. The same word of God that created everything out of nothing in creation still speaks to us today through the Bible. And whatever God says, whatever the Bible says is true, whether we accept it or not. That’s what we mean by God is truth.

Psalm 19 is written by King David, and it deals with how God communicates to us. How can we know anything about God? How does God tell us anything? How can we know the truth? That’s what Psalm 19 is all about.

There are three ways God communicates to us: the wordless word; the perfect word; the internal word.

The wordless word

Psalm 19:1-4a – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

The first thing David tells us is that God speaks to us through creation. So, when we look up into the sky and gaze at the beauty of the heavens, God is speaking to us. He is communicating with us. Verse 2 says, “Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.” It means that there is not a single moment where creation is silent. Creation continuously speaks to us in abundance. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year, creation is telling us something. But verse 3 tells us that the wonder of creation is that creation speaks to us without words. There is no speech, nor are there words. So, creation speaks through wordless words. We don’t hear its voice in our ears, yet its voice is heard through all the earth and to the end of the world. That sounds like a contradiction, but it is a poetic way of describing nonverbal communication. We know that there are ways of communicating nonverbally. So, creation is sending information and knowledge in a nonverbal way. What is it that creation tells us? Verse 1 gives us the answer, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Let me illustrate it for you. Look at this picture. This is the picture of the Swiss Alps. Some of you went there recently. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to go to the Swiss Alps. Before I got there, I knew what to expect. I had seen the picture of the Swiss Alps. So, in one sense, I knew what the Swiss Alps looked like, and it did not interest me at all. It was just all white. It looked boring. But when I got there and saw it for myself, I was in awe. There are three kinds of wow. The first one is, “Wow, that’s good.” The second one is, “Wow, wow, that’s amazing.” But at that time, I experienced the third wow. And I know some of you are thinking, “Wow, wow, wow…” But it’s not. It’s the wordless wow. I was speechless. At that time, the Swiss Alps were speaking to me in wordless words. And these wordless words can be understood by everyone. There were people from different nationalities there with me in the Swiss Alps. We came from different parts of the world and spoke different languages and yet we all heard the Swiss Alps speak to us in wordless words.

This is David’s point. Creation is constantly speaking to us. What does it say? Here is what I know. I can’t look at the breathtaking view of the Swiss Alps and think, “I wonder what sort of natural occurrences created this beauty.” I can’t. The only right response to the breathtaking beauty before me was to say, “I wonder who created this?” The splendour of creation was screaming out to me, “I am not an accident. I am a work of art. I am the product of someone’s imagination. If you think that I am breathtaking, wait till you see my Maker. He is far more breathtaking than me.” Have you ever wondered why the universe is so massive and empty, while we live in a tiny speck called Earth? The vastness of space and the size of Earth is extremely out of proportion. Do you know why? Because the heavens do not declare our glory. It is not about us. It is about God. It’s about God’s greatness and God’s glory. So, this is what creation is telling us: God is beautiful in his perfections. God is awesome in his power. God is beyond comprehension in his wisdom. In other words, David is saying that when creation takes our breath away, don’t stop there. Don’t worship creation. Creation points to the glory of the Creator. Wherever we are, when we look at the stars, when we look at the sun, when we look at the mountains, they are communicating truth to us. Look at what David says next.

Psalm 19:4b-6 – In them he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. ⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. David pictures the glory of the sun like a bridegroom leaving his chamber and a champion who runs his race with joy. Have you ever seen a sad bridegroom? I have seen a weeping bridegroom. But he was weeping not because he was sad, I hope he was not, but because he was extremely joyful. The wedding day is the happiest day of a bridegroom’s life. So, creation reveals to us that God is a happy God. He is a joyous Creator. And David says that nothing is hidden from the sun’s heat. It means that there is not a single millimetre on earth where the message of creation is not proclaimed. Creation is God’s way of saying to everyone everywhere at all times, “I am here. I created all of this. This is my handiwork. I am awesome. I am great. I am happy. And I am glorious.” Note carefully. We do not believe creation is God. We believe creation exists for the praise of God. John Piper sums it up beautifully. “The glory of creation and the glory of God are as different as the love poem and the love, the painting and the landscape, the ring and the marriage. It would be a great folly and a great tragedy if a man loved his wedding band more than he loved his bride.” Creation exists so we can see the glory of the Creator and praise him for it.

Let me draw out one implication from these verses. I hear people ask this question a lot. “What happens to those people who live in the remote jungle area and don’t know God?” Here is the answer. If creation declares the glory of God, it means people who reject God are without excuse. This is how Apostle Paul puts it in Romans 1:19-20 – ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Paul says explicitly that those who reject God are without excuse. The reason they reject God is not because they don’t know the truth, it’s not because they don’t know God, but because they refuse to listen to the wordless word of creation. They know what creation is telling them, but they suppress the truth and close their eyes and ears to what God is saying to them. Therefore, no one can say, “I didn’t know there was God.” Everyone everywhere at all times knows there is a God. And they will be judged based on their response to this truth. No one has an excuse to reject God. There is no such thing as an honest atheist.

However, even though God speaks through creation, it is not enough. The wordless word of creation is heard by everyone everywhere, but it is not enough to know the one true God. Just like every nonverbal communication, wordless words can send mixed messages and be unclear. Married couples, isn’t true the longer you are married, the more nonverbal communication you have with each other? There are times when you don’t have to communicate with each other with words. Just a stare, just a look, and you know exactly what your spouse is saying. But let’s be honest. Sometimes you misinterpreted what your spouse was trying to say. Sometimes you didn’t read it right. And by you, I mean the husbands. And all the wives say, “Amen.” You thought your wife’s facial expression meant she was having so much fun at the party, while she was actually saying, “Babe, this party is so boring. Let’s go back. The kids are alone at home.” That’s the problem with nonverbal communication. We can easily misread the message. Like right now I am looking at your faces. It looks to me like you are paying attention to my sermon. But some of you are actually thinking, “Where are we going to eat after the service?” That’s why creation alone is not enough. It sends mixed messages. We need something more than wordless words. This leads us to the second way God speaks to us.

The perfect word

Psalm 19:7-9 – ⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; ⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; ⁹ the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

There is an important shift in these verses. In verses 1 to 6, the word God is the Hebrew word Elohim, which is the generic word for God. But in verses 7 and following, it is not the Hebrew word Elohim but the personal name of God, YHWH. It’s the name God gave to Moses in the burning bush. It’s the name that God gives to people who have a personal, covenant, love relationship with him. And verses 7 and following are talking about the Scripture or the Bible. This tells us that we can know God as the Creator through creation. But if we want to have a personal relationship with God, if we want to truly know who he is, we can only do so through Scripture. It is through Scripture that God gives the full revelation of himself. John Calvin puts it this way. “From nature we know only the hands and feet of God, but from Scripture we may know his very heart.” And what we have in these verses is Hebrew parallelism. David uses different synonyms for Scripture and shows us the benefits of Scripture in our lives. There are six of them. Let’s look at them briefly.

First, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” The law here is not only referring to the 10 commandments, but the Torah. It refers to every part of Scripture, every part of the Bible. And the word perfect means complete, without blemish, and no error. And this perfect Bible has the power to revive the soul. The word revive indicates that there is something wrong with our soul. The Bible’s diagnosis of the human condition is not that we were sick, but we were dead. All of us come to know God personally through unique circumstances. We all have different stories. Yet we have one common denominator. We came to know God because we heard the Bible preached to us and it generated faith in us. The Bible invaded our deadness and revived our souls. But that is not the end. We not only come alive by the Bible but our spiritual life is also sustained by the Bible. There is a story in the gospel of Matthew where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Jesus was fasting 40 days and 40 nights, and Jesus was hungry at the end of it. So, the devil came and told him to turn stones into loaves of bread. Did you know what Jesus said? “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Every word that comes from the mouth of God is what the Bible is. It is our spiritual nourishment. Some of you are weak today because you have been fasting the Bible for a while. You wonder why your spiritual life is struggling. You wonder why you don’t have the strength to resist temptations. It’s because you haven’t been eating. God has designed the Bible to be the means of spiritual life. Ignoring it will starve you and eventually kill your spiritual life.

Second, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” The word sure means that it can be trusted to provide guidance. And the simple refers to those with a lack of experience in life. So, the Bible gives wisdom to those who lack experience. One of the most common questions I received is, “How do I know the will of God for my life?” We want to know, who should we marry? Where should we live? What major or job should we take? For all these situations, we can’t open the Bible and find bible verses that give specific answers to our situations. If you are deciding whether to live in Australia or Indonesia, you can’t open the book of Hesitation 1:8, “You shall move to Zimbabwe.” That verse does not exist. The Bible does not tell you where you should live but it does tell you the ultimate purpose of life. Do you know what is the ultimate purpose of life? God has one ultimate purpose in every decision you make: to make you more like Jesus. In other words, God is more interested in who you are becoming through your decisions rather than the name of the city where you should live. Now that you know the ultimate purpose God has for you, it gives you the framework to make a wise decision. Does your decision lead you to more of Jesus or away from Jesus? Do you see? When you immerse yourself in the Bible, you are equipped to choose wisely. The Bible is making wise the simple.

Third, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” The word right means straightedge. It is the thing by which we measure other things. It means the Bible is the standard by which we measure everything else. And when we do that, it rejoices the heart. That means when we take the path the Bible has prescribed for us, we will be glad we took that path. Let me give you one example. YOLO: You only live once. The idea behind YOLO is to do whatever we want that makes us happy. Don’t let anyone stop us from getting what we desire. Live life with no regret because we only live once. But the Bible tells us the opposite. Yes, we should live life with no regret, but we do that not by doing whatever we want but by doing whatever God wants us to do. Through the Bible, we know that this life is not all there is to it. There is another life after this where we will live forever. So, we don’t have to experience the beauty of the Swiss Alps in this life. We have the eternity to enjoy the Swiss Alps. The path of rejoicing is not to do whatever we want in the here and now but to use our lives in the here and now for God. That’s the path that brings ultimate joy.

Fourth, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The word pure means radiant. The Bible gives radiant and removes darkness from our eyes. It enables us to see clearly. What happens when we walk in the dark? We stumble. We fall into ditches. We hit the bad frame and cussed. But the Bible enlightens our eyes to see clearly. We see the world differently. How we raise our children is different. How we use our money is different. How we love our spouse is different. Because we are no longer in darkness, but we are walking in the light.

Fifth, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.” What David has in mind here is that the Bible produces the fear of God in us. And clean speaks of the absence of impurity, no defilement. And this fear of God is enduring forever. It means that there is no time that the Bible is out of date. We do not need to make the Bible more relevant to our days. The Bible is always relevant in every season of life. Everything in this world has its expiry date. Philosophy keeps changing. Music taste keeps changing. Fashion trend keeps changing. The church growth movement keeps changing. But the truth of the Bible never changes. Why? Because the Bible is the word of the eternal God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is the unchanging truth.

Sixth, “The rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.” This is to say that every part of the Bible is true. They are equally sure, equally righteous, equally perfect, and equally trustworthy. No part is truer or less true than others. The Bible is righteous in every way. Therefore, we can have the certainty that whatever the Bible tells us is true. The Bible is the truth upon which we must build our life. And listen to what David says next.

Psalm 19:10-11 – ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. David says the Bible is to be desired more than gold. Gold represents the most precious thing in life. Think about the most precious thing you have or want to have. David says that the Bible is more precious than that thing. David is not broke. He is a king who has access to all the wealth of Israel. He can buy thousands of Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and he can build a massive mansion with the gold that he has. He can buy whatever he wants. But David says that the Bible is more precious than wealth or anything that wealth can get. Let me put it in our context. If you have to choose between the Bible and $1000, choose the Bible. If you have to choose between the Bible and $100,000, choose the Bible. If you have to choose between the Bible and $10 million, choose the Bible. Because the Bible is more precious than the most precious item in the world. The benefits of knowing the Bible are far greater than all that money can buy.

But David does not stop there. He not only says that the Bible is to be desired more than gold, but the Bible is also sweeter than honey. Honey represents the pleasure of the senses. Honey is probably the most delicious natural substance you can enjoy. Think about your favourite food, the food that gives you pleasure in your bad days. Recall the taste of that food in your mouth. David says that the Bible is more delicious than that food. Let’s put it in our everyday language. If you have to choose between the best sports car and the Bible, choose the Bible. If you have to choose between the latest Korean drama and the Bible, choose the Bible. If you have to choose between the best holiday destination and the Bible, choose the Bible. Because the Bible gives you the true pleasure that nothing else can give you. The pleasure of knowing the Bible is sweeter than the greatest pleasure of this world.

And when you know the Bible, David says the Bible protects you from chaos. It warns you of sin and the consequences of sin. It keeps you safe. But the Bible not only protects you, but it also profits you. There is one law that I break more than any other law. Do you know what that is? Texting while driving. Before you judge me, I don’t text and drive anymore. But I got caught a few times in the last few years. And they all happened at the exact same spot. I hate that spot. But why does this law exist? This law exists to protect us and every driver on the road. Texting while driving could lead to unwanted accidents that could be fatal. By keeping the law, we are protected from the potential harm of texting while driving. But it also profits us. It profits us by giving us greater awareness of our surroundings while driving. And it also gives us a greater sense of peace, not having to worry if there are any police or cameras nearby. The same with the Bible. The Bible not only protects us, but we also receive the benefit that comes with obeying the Bible. Rather than restrict us, the Bible offers us freedom by telling us how to live rightly. It keeps us on the path of life and great reward.

Can you see why David thinks so highly of the Bible? The Bible is not simply a compilation of dos and don’ts. It is the very word of God. It communicates God’s perfect truth. And it is through the Bible that God speaks to us. So, let me give you one corporate application of this truth. Whenever we hear a sermon, we must be a good discerner of God’s word. Here is what I mean. Don’t listen to a sermon without your brain. You must use your brain when you listen to a sermon. Don’t just agree with whatever I or your favorite preacher says. You must ask, “Is what being preached come from the Bible? Does it communicate the truth of God’s word?” Because if it isn’t, I don’t care how compelling that preacher is, I don’t care how many thousand people he has in his church, I don’t care if he writes the best-selling book or raises the dead, you need to reject the sermon. It is not God’s truth. But at the same time, don’t be quick to reject a preacher because of his background. I have had people reject me because I am from a different denomination than them. True story. Don’t do that. You don’t first look at the preacher. But you listen to the sermon and ask if the sermon communicates the truth of the Bible. In the Old Testament, there is a story about a prophet named Balaam who disobeyed God and went astray. God could not get his attention. Finally, as a last resort, God spoke to him through an ass. God touched the ass, and it spoke to Balaam and gave God’s word to Balaam. The lesson of that story is it might be an ass, but God can speak through asses. The question is not, “Is he an ass?” but “Is he right?” Let me speak on behalf of all the preachers in the world. We are, to one degree or another, asses. We’re not perfect, but the Bible is. So, if you’re listening to an ass preach the Bible, you are not wasting your time. God is speaking to you. But if you’re listening to the best preacher but that person is not preaching the Bible, you are wasting your time. The Bible is the truth, not the preacher, and you must use the Bible to examine every sermon you hear.

The internal word

Psalm 19:12-13 – ¹² Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. ¹³ Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

After describing the beauty of the perfect word, David is now reflecting on himself. He is internalizing the word. This is crucial. Because it is very possible to know the truth and not experience the truth. We need to internalize the Bible. David asks a rhetorical question, “Who can discern his errors?” The answer is no one. We cannot discern our own errors because our hearts are extremely deceitful. That’s why we need the Bible to help us discern our errors. David then mentions two kinds of error: hidden faults and presumptuous sins. What are hidden faults? They are the skeletons in our closets. They are our secret sins. Sins we hide so well that we don’t want other people to know. All of us have hidden faults. And we also have presumptuous sins. It is the things we know are wrong, but we still do them anyway. They are open acts of rebellion against God. So, the first thing that happens when we internalize the Bible is we become more aware of our sins. And this is probably not what we expect when we read the Bible. I think what we often want when we read the Bible is to feel peace, joy, comfort, encouraged, strengthened etc. Yes, that’s good, but we only experience them to the degree we are aware of the sinfulness of our hearts. No one can encounter the perfect word of God and feel awesome about themselves. We always feel awful because we know we fall short of the standard of the Bible. That’s why we find David pleading with God to declare him innocent from hidden faults, and to keep him back from presumptuous sins. David knows he cannot do it on his own. He is hopeless on his own. Only God can do it for him and make him blameless and innocent of great transgression. But at the same time, David has confidence that it is possible. Look at what he says in verse 14.

Psalm 19:14 – Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. The word acceptable is the word used in the Old Testament to describe the sacrificial offering that the people must bring to God. God requires an acceptable offering from his people. God is saying, “When you bring sacrifices to me, bring me the blameless one. Don’t give me the lame animals. Bring me one that is perfect and without blemish.” And here David has the confidence to say that the words of his mouth and meditations of his heart are without blemish in God’s sight. So, on one hand, David admits the sinfulness of his heart, but on the other hand, he is confident that God is going to look deep into his heart and see him as perfect. How? Let me tell you the answer: “My rock and my redeemer.” David knows that the God of the Bible is not only the Rock of Truth, but he is also the Redeemer.

Let me put it this way. C.S. Lewis wrote a great book called ‘Reflections on the Psalms.’ When he got to Psalm 19, he was perplexed. He read the part where David says, “I delight in the perfect law of God. It is more precious than gold, and more pleasurable than honey” and Lewis said something along this line. “How did he do that? I can understand if David delights in God’s mercies or promises. But the perfect law of God? How? I understand we must obey these commandments, but it’s very hard to see how anyone could find them delicious. We may obey them, but surely we don’t think of them as precious and enjoyable. But David’s language is not the language of duty; it is the language of a man ravished by beauty.” In other words, how is it possible for David to look at the perfect law of God and say, “It is the best thing in life”? Why doesn’t it crush him? And we need to know what David knows. Because if we can be honest, many of us don’t think of the Bible the way David thinks of the Bible. We do not find the Bible to be more precious than gold and more desirable than honey. Some of us are bored by the Bible. We might read it, but we do so because we have to, not because we delight to. Do you know why? Because we only read the Bible as a book of dos and don’ts. We read the Bible as a book of demands. If we do what it says we will be blessed, if we don’t, we will not be blessed. No wonder reading the Bible feels dry to us. Because we are missing the point. The God of the Bible is not only the Rock of Truth, but he is also the Redeemer. David knows that and that’s why he delights in the Bible. But when David says that God is his redeemer, he only has the faintest idea of what God has to do to ultimately redeem his people. But we know better.

Listen to what Jesus says in John 5:39 – You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. Jesus says that the Bible bears witness about him. In other words, Psalm 19 points us to the greater David who delighted in the Scripture completely. Think about it. Jesus meditated on the Scripture day and night. He obeyed the Bible perfectly. His life was saturated by the commandments of God, and he feared God to his very last breath. When Satan tempted him, he answered Satan with Scripture. When the Pharisees accused him, he replied with Scripture. When he was alone, he was thinking of Scripture. And at the worst moment of his life, at the moment of the greatest pain anyone ever experienced, he quoted Scripture. He quoted Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was so saturated with Scripture that when you stabbed him, he bled Scripture. Jesus was the only person who lived out Psalm 19 to perfection. He was the only one who was innocent of hidden faults and presumptuous sins. But what was he doing at the cross? What happened to the great reward of keeping the truth? Jesus was crucified at the cross because he was taking our punishment for not keeping the truth. Jesus, the only man who deserved the reward of keeping the truth, died on the cross and took the punishment for disobedience, so that when we put our faith in him, we may receive the great reward he deserved. The reward for his perfect truth-keeping comes to us while the punishment for our imperfect truth-keeping has gone to him. This is what it means for God to be our Redeemer. And because of what Jesus has done, we can have the confidence that when God looks deep into our hearts, he sees us as perfect. He sees us as beautiful. He sees us as spotless.

If we get this, if we understand that God is our Redeemer, it changes the way we read the Bible. If we read the Bible simply as a rule book that we must obey, it won’t be a honeycomb. It will crush us. But if we see that the perfect word points us to the perfect Son of God, it will be a honeycomb. We will delight in reading the Bible. If we don’t see how Jesus has fulfilled the perfect word for us, the Bible will crush us. But if we see how Jesus has fulfilled the perfect word for us, the Bible becomes more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. We obey the Bible not because we have to but because we want to. We delight in the truth. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. Have you ever experienced the wordless word of creation? Share your experience and what you felt.
3. Look at the six benefits of the Bible. Which one stands out the most for you and why?
4. How does the Bible help you to discern your errors? Give examples.
5. How does the gospel make you delight in the Bible?