Amen. We turn back to the Psalm this evening, Psalm of David, Psalm 19. And for a short time we shall look at this Psalm of David this evening. David is describing the greatness of God. God from his creation all the way through to our salvation. And the heavens declare, he starts with and he ends in verse 14, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. And you see that David is glorifying the Lord of all his works that he has done. All the things that God has created, all that God has laid forth, all that the Lord God had, preempted that man would need from before the foundation of the world had been laid out, been laid out for the benefit of man, that man who was put in the garden to be there to name and to care for it, and yet man became disobedient. and had to be driven out of the garden as we read in Genesis 3. But we look at David this night here and he's declaring the glory of God. The heavens declare the glory of God. It says, even in the firmament above us when we look up, He says we can see God's handiwork. And when we do look up, are we not amazed when we see the number of stars above us and in their places? And often when the night's clear enough, we can see that big band of stars known as the Milky Way. And we wonder as how they're all there and how the Lord God put them there. And the firmament was his handiwork. The Lord put everything in place, everything in order. The garden was complete before God created man. God had known the needs of man, how man would have to live. And he created a garden full of the necessity that man would have to eat. And Adam was created. Adam is the first man created, as we read in Genesis 2, from the dust of the earth and from the breath of God himself, was the creation of Adam. Adam was to be special. He was to be that final miracle of the garden. Everything was there. He'd be able to wander freely without fear or trepidation. He was given authority over everything. Name the animals, name the plants and the trees. He had total control. The Lord had made one prohibition, and only one, and that was the tree of life in the midst of the garden. Adam must not touch it under any circumstances. because that tree represents the authority of God. God is the only one who could create, the only one who could have control over life and death. That was God's authority. That was an image to remind Adam and to remind us daily of the authority that God has over life. But the Lord saw there also that Adam was lonely in the garden. And then he created women from the side of Adam, from the rib. And Adam could say, flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. And he called her woman. But we see that the serpent get into the garden. And he'd get in and he was not a new creature in the garden. He would be a familiar creature. He took the shape of a creature out of the garden. He'd be familiar to Adam and Eve. But what caught them, what the surprise was, he spoke in a voice they understood. He spoke to them. And it was through that speech that he deceived the women. and she in turn, deceived her husband. And we have that terrible plight, where God is found in anger, and that first raised voice of God in the garden, Adam, where art thou? And from that moment, right through to the cross of revelation, our Lord is still asking us, where art thou? Where art thou? And tonight we want to look at this, the glory of God. How God gave everything and how even through time of the Old Testament, he still required man's obedience unto him. He required it of Adam in the garden. He required it even of Noah in building the ark. Although Noah found favor with God, Noah still had to be obedient when the Lord told him to build an ark, and how to build it, and the purpose of building it. And Noah didn't ask questions or refuse. He set about to build the ark. He became obedient. And it was in the ark we know that there was obedience in the ark. But when the ark came to rest, we find that no three sons went out of their way to reestablish the land. And sadly they turned from God. And we have a story that goes on in the account in through Abraham. And Abraham was another man who found favor with God, brought up in the land of Ur, brought up in an idol family, a family of idol worshipers, and the Lord called him out of it. And he sent him on that journey, transferring and transcrossing the whole of the land that would become the promised land. And during those times, we find even then, even Abraham fell down and sinned, didn't he, in Egypt, when Pharaoh desired his wife, and Abraham had called her his sister, and he had to confess and come back. And we see Lot had to be rescued from the city, and so on throughout, but we find The sacrifice in the Old Testament was by animals. An animal without blemish. An animal in its first year without blemish. A lamb or a goat to be sacrificed. That's what Moses was told to tell the people. That's what the people had to acquire. And the blood had to be split from it and painted on the doorposts of the house and the uprights and the crossbeam. And that night the angel of death passed through Egypt. And when he said, when he saw the blood, I will pass over you. I saw the blood, I will pass over you. And Christ's blood is applied to us. The blood of Christ that was shared at Calvary is far greater than the blood that was applied to the door pillars of the houses in Egypt. The blood that was applied for us is a cleansing, powerful blood. It cleansed us from all unrighteousness. The blood in Egypt marked out the Jews as the children of God. And we know that through the Testaments, the first five books of the Old Testament, we know the troubles of the Jewish strife as they went through the desert, as they moaned and they groaned over the loss of water, as they moaned because Moses was so long up the mountain, how they moaned and how they built a calf of idol worship. And we see throughout the Old Testament, even David sinned, that great sin, b'bar Sheba. But yet the Lord is merciful. He remembers man. He remembered why man was created by him. He remembers why he put man in the garden. And he remembers us tonight. The account of David there. And he tells us that the firmament showed his handiwork. The sky declares the glory of God. Day unto day utter a speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. What we learn during the day, we absorb at night as knowledge. And that is what we learn of the gospel of God. When we learn of the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, it sinks into us and becomes knowledge. We have a duty to study and apply that unto ourselves. There is no speech, no language where their voice is not heard. Where the lands were empty and empty, there was no voice of the gospel, no voice of God. No voice, but where there is people, the language of heaven must be spoken. It must go abroad to all to hear it. The Lord tells us that his word will not return unto him void. It won't return void, but it will accomplish that which he says it. And so that David goes on to explain. And he explains the greatness and the strength of the Lord. He explains the joy of the Lord. He explains the joy in verse five there, which says, as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his. Here he's shown as a bridegroom come looking for his bride and he sees her and he rejoices. as a strong man who is about to run a race, rejoicing in his challenge to run that race. But the bridegroom rejoices because he sees his bride. Christ rejoices to see us in our day and in our time. But the New Testament here of David helps to settle us in the way that the Lord God is our creator. He created it. He made it. He created each and every one of us. And so we look at David in this chapter of the Psalms. It's just a psalm of David to the chief musician. It's a psalm that would probably be sung over a time of rejoicing. A psalm to remind the people of who the Lord God is and how great he was. is going forth from the ends of the heavens and to circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heart thereof, the heat thereof, nothing hid from God. David goes on and asks that the Lord take away the hidden sins and that the Lord remove them. And this is the thing that we have to understand tonight and the days in which lie ahead of us. When we're in this new crazy world that we've entered, where the scriptures are being torn apart by men who have no faith, who don't believe them, and now we have this idea that even We don't need religion being spread about. It is something that is only one of a group of religions. It can be tolerated, but it can have no place in society. It cannot be any influence on society. How we attempt to shut our Lord out in this day and age in which we live. We have forgotten the majesty of God. We have forgotten He's the one who holds the world in His hands. He's the one who dictates what happens, and when it happens, and how it happens. Not man. Man may think he's in control, but all man is in control is, as we see in the garden, is destruction, is disobedience to the Word of God. And so we have to get back to that righteous state with God. We have to get back to that time when God is the center of our lives, the center of our nations, but moreover, he's central to the whole of the church, the whole of his church, not just part of it. The law of the Lord is perfect, he says. What's that perfect for? Converting the soul, converting the soul. There's no other law on the land that can remove our sins. There's no other law that can refresh us and make us ready for the kingdom of God. There's no other law, no matter how many times men may say to us, you're forgiven. There is no law. There's only the law of God that was given unto us. And when was this law given to us? Well, it was given to us right from the start. But in John 3, 16, we read that wonderful verse. For God so loved the world that he gave, and that's the important word of that verse, he gave. He didn't send, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God gave us his son. And this is our salvation. This is our spiritual creation. This is where the Lord God is perfect in everything. He saw the state of man. He knew that man had wandered away from him. From the close of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament, there was no prophecy. There was no prophecy in the land. And man had become so deceitful. We know that when we read the accounts of the Jewish kings who were in authority. One tried to kill our Lord as a child. One beheaded John the Baptist. and the other who could have freed Paul but sent him to Caesar. We know the deceitfulness that was really rooted from the top down. So God had to act. And what did he do? He gave us his son. He didn't just send Christ into this world. He gave us His Son, knowing that we would crucify Him, knowing that we would nail Him to the cross. And God knew that only the blood that was shed of Christ would avail us for our sins. There was nothing that could have cleansed us. All the animals that were used in the feasts at the temple. When the temple was first opened and Solomon saw that Shekinah glory coming down, the sacrifice was so big that he had to create a big pit in the front of the forecourt of the temple to offer the sacrifice. The altars weren't big enough. He had to create greater. to offer sacrifice to the Lord. But the Lord knew, even then, how man was deceitful. For in chapter six of 2 Chronicles, we read of that great shekinah glory. In chapter seven, we read that the Lord came to Solomon in his night's sleep. And the Lord said to Solomon, if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and give over their foolish ideals. I will forgive them and I will restore their lands." But he says more than that. He says, I will hear from heaven. I will hear from heaven. The Lord will hear our prayers. He will hear us when we pray for forgiveness. And he will hear from his very throne in the kingdom of heaven. And he will answer us. You see, our salvation is complete in Christ. but we must grow in that salvation. We must grow and we must add to it by the things that we do for Christ. By the way that we live, the way that we are witnesses, we have to become faithful in Christ. That's why Christ said to the disciples, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. He was preparing to send them out into the world, going into all the world and preach the gospel. Salvation, our salvation. And like our faith, as James says in chapter two of his epistle, faith without works is dead. and so is our salvation. If we don't work at it, we're apt to forget it, and apt to wander away from Christ. We have to be there at all times, working and honoring our Lord. Adam's disobedience was usurping the authority of God. How many of us try to usurp? How many of us think that we can do God's work better than what he asks us to do? And we usurp his authority only to fall flat like Adam did. So we see the great power The great power that Paul's related to us in Rome is in that chapter that we read. We read how of that we have that peace with God, that peace that was shattered in the garden, that peace that was broken by our disobedience, that peace that was broken even after we said, Father, forgive me for I have sinned. Paul writes there for being justified by faith. We have peace with God. Peace with God. Peace with our Father. And that is a wonderful thing to obtain, is our peace with God. For peace doesn't come cheap. It's not something that we just pick up Peace is at a great price. It was a great price for the Lord our God. The price was he to send his son to bring us that peace. And we have to receive that peace from Christ. And we have to be prepared to put ourselves in that position where all things As Paul says in his other letter, in all things give God the preeminence. We have to be there, giving God the preeminence to maintain that peace within. For God is not short at chastising. If we are not correct, he will chastise. Look at David, his chastisement. David wanted to build the temple. The Lord says, no, you're not building it. He got Solomon to build it, but not David. David's heart was set on building the temple, but he couldn't. Paul and his letter that we read there and that, he tells us how we are faithful, or how our faith is probably measured by our own standards. In verse seven he says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even dare to die. Christ dared, Christ didn't dare, Christ obeyed. He obeyed his father, he died for each and every one of us. But God commanded his love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. David would not know the salvation of Christ, but he would know the forgiveness of God. And he would know that by the way the Lord blessed him and the Lord maintained him, they saved him. Saved him from Absalom and his son. Saved him from many falls. But the Lord blessed him. And the Lord made David a man of strength. A man that today his name is still honored among the Jewish people. But where is our name in Christ? That's what I want to ask as we're closing. Where is our name? Is it a name that Christ will honour before my Father? If thou honour me, I will honour thee before my Father. Is our name honourable for Christ to take to his Father? Have we fallen for the deceit of man in today's world as Eve fell for the deceit of Satan in the garden? Have we become that we accept what the world is offering and what the world is demanding? Are we offering the changes that they're making and demanding that we make? that we accept all the things that God has forbidden, accept all that Romans chapter one forbids and calls reprobates? Are we accepting the sins of the world as a new world, a new order, a new beginning? Are we going along with them? You know, when we look at ourselves and we look at the world, can we say truly and honestly that we are outside of it, looking in? We're not part of it, looking out. The things of this world distort the things of God. And it's the things of God that we have to maintain and rightfully practice. We cannot, we cannot let our faith down, for Christ never let us down. That night in the garden when he prayed, and he said, Remove this cup, but not my will, thy will be done. Is that the prayer of all of us tonight? Is that the prayer that we come with to our Heavenly Father? Is that the prayer that we adopt as children through the blood of Christ? Are we this night able and capable, knowing how the creation of God was brought about, knowing that very firmament cries out the glory of God, knowing the very land that we walk in provides everything for us, knowing that God still maintains us, even though we sinned in the garden. even know that we took his son and we crucified him and we cried, we have no king but Caesar. Is our faith a faith that we keep to ourselves while we go along with the world and the world don't recognize us? Our faith to be acceptable must proclaim the full counsel of God's word. No partial account will be accepted. We must relate the full painful and agonizing account of the death of Christ on the cross. We must make that known. that the agony of Christ at Calvary is the agony that brought us and restored us unto our Father, who removed us, who drove us out of the garden for cause of sin. We are the seed of Adam, and Christ the seed of God. the only begotten Son who was sent, not just given. We are the ones cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Are we faithful? As John writes in Revelation, be faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. Is our faith, is it ready for a crown of God came and called us? Are we ready to receive that white robe and that adorning crown? You see, our crown cannot be tarnished. Our robe cannot be stained. and our faith must be complete in Christ and in Christ alone. He is the Redeemer. Is he our Redeemer? He must be our Redeemer of all. Let's pray. Father, we thank Thee Thy creation still today, still declares Thy glory. We thank Thee that we can look around us and can see Thy glory in all things. And Father, we thank Thee that through faith we can share in the glory of Christ. And Father, we can have that peace with Thee through the Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, he can restore that glory in us whereby we can utter, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, help us to secure thy legacy. in each and every one of us today through Christ. Through his death and resurrection, he has given us that legacy to be sons and daughters, to be faithful and accountable unto thee, to go forth and proclaim the counsel of God's will that all must come under the saving sound and all must receive the salvation through the blood of Christ. Help us, O Father, to be found faithful in all things through our