Foundations for the Future of Your Church

0:01 Would you pray with me as we begin our effort to understand this chapter? Father, I need your help, as always, to be faithful to your word and to be protected from those presumptuous sins and to be declared innocent from my hidden faults that I don't even know about. And so I pray for myself, and now I pray, Lord, for this people. This is a miracle, people.

0:37 The new birth is a miracle. And there are hundreds of born-again people in this room, and it is awesome to behold. And I ask for faithfulness for ten more years, or, as David said, centuries on some avenue. use me to that end, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

1:02 So I'm calling this message Foundations for the Future of City's Church. There are more than two foundations, but I'm going to focus on two, because Psalm 19 focuses on two. Foundation one, the glory of God. Foundation two, the word of God. And these two foundations answer two questions. What is ultimate truth? And what is ultimate reality? Ultimate reality is the glory of God. Ultimate truth is the word of God. And we will find that the word of God and the glory of God find a perfect personal union in the Son of God, our rock and our Redeemer.

2:08 The Word became flesh. These should be familiar words in view of your series. The Word became flesh. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. The glory of God and the word of God unite in the son of God, our rock and our redeemer. That's Psalm 19.

2:38 Now, if you're a child here, and I hear some chirping beautifully. you might say, wow, that's a lot of big words. I'm not sure this sermon is for me. So pay attention for just a moment. I'm going to point something out. Most children who have been taught that there's a great God, who made everything,

3:16 sooner or later say, Daddy, who made God? Where did God come from? Which is the same as asking what is ultimate reality. This is a sermon about children's questions. All the great questions are children's questions. Or if you raise children and teach them as you ought, you must, you must tell the truth. Don't ever say anything that's not true. They will sooner or later say, Daddy, who decides what's true? And that's the same as asking, what is ultimate truth?

4:21 We have adult words. We have children's words. So there are two foundations for the future of Cities Church. Ultimate reality, the glory of God, and ultimate truth, the Word of God. By reality, I mean what is. And by ultimate reality, I mean what always has been and which defines all other reality. That's what I mean by ultimate reality. God never had a beginning. He's always been there. Always. No beginning. Ultimate. Realities. Breathtaking. No beginning. He is. Deal with it. World? Amazing. By truth, I mean reliable communication about what is.

5:35 And what ought to be? What ought to be is determined by what ultimately is, which is why God said, be holy, for I am holy. What is determines what ought to be. I ought to be holy. That's what I ought to be. Why? He is holy. So ultimate truth is reliable communication about what is ultimately the case.

6:18 God. Now, I was led to Psalm 19. I didn't decide to preach this text until Thursday night, and I got it falling asleep. So I explained what happened. I was led to Psalm 19 because I have a burden. It's not mainly about your church. It's about what could be your church. And it is the case a lot. I have a burden about a kind of Christian who does not like to think in terms of ultimate reality and ultimate truth. They don't like those concepts. They are allergic to them. ultimate reality ultimate truth who do you think you are we don't talk like that they replace them with vague, fuzzy, malleable notions, ideas of tolerance, acceptance, love, justice, compassion, respect, openness. But as soon as you bring ultimate truth or ultimate reality to bear on any of those realities or ideas to give them any kind of definition, any kind of clarity.

7:49 The conversation is over. This is tragic. I know these people really well. I want to shed tears out of my eyes. Even though Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, you don't know what you're doing. So the burden that I felt on me Thursday evening was City's Church. If the ultimate reality of the glory of God and the ultimate truth of the Word of God cease to be cherished as pillars in this church. You will cease to be a church. You'll gather, you'll sing, and you may grow, but you won't be God's church anymore.

8:57 and a warning. If those in this room or who will come to this room someday who are among those who are allergic to ultimate truth, allergic to ultimate reality, don't even like to talk about those confining, restricting, freeing, glorious realities move toward the eldership, that will be the beginning of the end. You have a God-given, wonderful eldership. I know these guys. You should be so thankful. They get this. You hear it. You hear the echo of it. You feel it. And it's a beautiful thing.

9:51 It's a freeing thing. It's not a squishy thing. And I'm thankful for you. Thankful for the elders. Thank you for Jonathan's leadership. it's precious beyond words. Don't change it. Follow them as they follow Christ. Exult joyfully in ultimate reality, the glory of God. Exult joyfully in ultimate truth, the word of God. And exult in the perfect union of the glory of God and the word of God in the Son of God. And I'll make it really plain in just a moment why I say joyfully.

10:41 Joyfully in the glory of God. Joyfully in the word of God. Joyfully in the Son of God. That's just not a Christian hedonist stick. It's in Psalm 19. So let's go there. Open your phone, your Bible. And I want you to see what I say because I don't count. God counts. and I'll try to say what he says. Be faithful to it. You judge. If you think, whoa, that was a long introduction. It wasn't.

11:17 It was an exposition, and if you don't see that in a moment, I failed or you failed. Verses 1 to 6 is about the ultimate reality of the glory of God. Verses seven to 11 is about the ultimate truth of the word of God. Verses 12 to 14 is David's response, expressing his need for a redeemer, the son of God. So let's read verses one to six. The heavens declare the glory of God. The sky above. You watch it this morning driving here? good night, my sermon was preaching. I mean, God was preaching my sermon. I was preaching his sermon.

12:08 God, the voice was so loud this morning, shining like a bridegroom. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day, to people in the day, this is my interpretation, to people in the day, day pours forth speech, and to people looking up at night, night reveals knowledge.

12:35 There's no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. But their voice, which doesn't exist, oh yes it does, goes out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them, that is in the heavens, in the skies, he set a tent for the sun.

13:01 The sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber. Are you kidding me? And like a strong man, like Eric Little, runs its race, its course with joy. its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them and there's nothing hidden from its heat. What's the point? What is the point of that effusion about sky talk? What's the point? There's not a single word in those verses about you or me or any human being. not a word. It's about God. It's about the glory of God and how it is being manifest to the world. So what's David doing? He's answering the question, what is ultimate reality?

13:59 What's behind the universe? When you look up and you see that, or today now, you look at the James something telescope and the Hubble telescope, and you look at what's out there, what's the point of that? That's what he's trying to answer. What's behind that? And his answer is, the point of the universe is to declare that God is glorious. If you don't see it, you're blind. And we'll see how to fix that in the next paragraph. It's all about the glory of God. That's what the universe is for. Sometimes you hear a skeptic say, you Christians,

14:54 all caught up in your little history of thousands of years, don't you know, there are billions and billions of light years, and we can't see the end, and there are trillions and trillions of uninhabitable stars, some of them a billion times bigger than your sun.

15:24 and it's empty, a little teeny little blue dot, called Earth, absolutely insignificant. What do you make of that? I said, it's not about us. It's not about us. The point of that endless, and that's not insignificant, endless space is about God. God made that with his fingers. I'm reaching into my pocket for something. God made that with his fingers. It says that in Psalm 8. Here it says his hand. See that in verse 1? He made with his hand. Psalm 8, he made with his fingers. I like to say he made with his pinky, which means it was easy, right? It's like a peanut. I came downstairs an hour ago in SNL, I need a sermon illustration. And I found the jar. This is a peanut.

16:37 The universe is like a peanut, which God carries in his pocket. It's not vast to God. It's a peanut. And if you say, what's the point of the peanut, which we're impressed with, is God is glorious. He's great. He's beautiful. He's unimaginably valuable. He's the point of it all. He should consume your life. Does he? City's church. verses 1 and 2 speak of declaring, proclaiming, pouring out speech, which sounds like we're supposed to hear something, right?

17:34 But verse 3 says, there's no speech, nor are there words. So it's a wordless declaration, It's a speechless proclamation. Yet, what's that little phrase at the end of verse three all about? The translations go all over the place here. The ESV has, whose voice is not heard. What does that mean? I think it means there's a voice and you can't hear it because it's not that kind of voice. It's not made for the ear. It's made for the eye. You see the declaration. You don't hear the declaration. I mean, thunder is impressive and the Psalms are about that too, but this is about eye talk. it's not a heard voice, it's a seen voice. Because he goes right on to say, verse 4, their voice. So the voice of the heavens, sun, moon, stars, their voice goes out to the end of the earth, and their words to the end of the world. So a voice without speech, words without words, and no limit from one end of creation to the other.

19:01 If you have eyes to see, you see. So you all know that Romans 1.20, Paul says, God's invisible attributes, he can't see God. Namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. Or you're blind. Then, the best is yet to come. Perhaps most amazing of all, at the end of verse 4 and into verse 5, David zeroes in on the sun. Okay, not the moon, not the stars, the sun. It is the most impressive reality in the sky to the visible eye.

19:54 So he zeroes in on the sun. And what he says is mind-boggling. In them, I'm at the end of verse 4, in them he has set a tent, that is in the heavens, in the sky, he has set a tent for the Son, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Don't miss that word joy because that's an interpretation of what the bridegroom is feeling and the runner. So when you look up at the declaration of the glory of God in the rising of the sun and its course across the sky, when you look up and you see that, what you see is a divine glory being manifested that is like a bridegroom coming out of his tent on his wedding day on his way to his dream. And what you see is the divine glory being manifested like a strong runner who runs with joy. And you just cannot not see Eric Little and chariots of fire, arms flailing, head back, smile on his face, the pleasure of God all over him. That's what we're supposed to see.

21:30 when we look at the sun. What's the point? David didn't have to talk like that. Why did he talk like that? What else can this message be but that when you rightly see the glory of God, it is an ecstatically happy glory? What else? come to me afterwards and tell me what else this should be saying. Besides, when you see the sun, you see the glory of God shining. And it's happy, like a bridegroom. I mean, I remember it, December 20, 1968.

22:28 In a motel room, in my bed, by myself, thinking, tomorrow. is the day. I've been waiting for this for two and a half years. No, 20 years. 22 years. And there she sits. Right there. And I'm still happy. It was a happy day. Why did he talk like that? Why did he say looking at the sun is like that? It's the glory of God. And what kind of association should you have in your head when you think about the glory of God? Like December 21, 1968. I'll never be in this bed alone again.

23:19 How good is that? If you see the glory of God as it really is, that will be your experience, single or married, young or old, that will be your experience. Be careful here. David is not ignorant, nor is Jesus, that this world is filled with horrible, horrible, horrible suffering. Just open your eyes, just turn on the internet, just look at the fires and look at the hurricanes, look at the flooding and look at the starvation. Horrible. If you could see right now how many tens of thousands of people are screaming in pain as I'm talking, you would not be able to stand it.

24:18 Jesus said, God makes his son rise on the evil and good. David wrote before antibiotics, anesthesia, knowledge of infection, motors, electricity refrigeration indoor plumbing, central heating air conditioning, 911 it was a hard and brutal world and it was the world until about 250 years ago it never changed nothing changed for thousands and thousands of years 1700 And 300 and 3000 BC were the same world.

25:17 And it was horrible. Pick out your sickness. And yet, when David looked up and saw the rising of the sun, he saw a bridegroom coming out of his tent, moving toward his wedding day, and he saw a runner who was running across the sky, and he was happy as he ran. Amazing. I have more to say about that in a minute, that tension. Now let's go to verses 7 to 11. So the ultimate reality is the glory of God, and that must be a pillar of this church, embraced with joy.

26:09 Verses 7 to 11 focus on ultimate truth, God's Word. How are they related? How do verses 7 to 11, with their focus on ultimate truth, the Word of God, connect with verses 1 to 6? the glory of God.

26:35 There's more than one right answer to that question. I'll give you one that I believe is a right answer. I think verses 7 to 11 occur to David to write after verses 1 to 6 because they answer this question. and it is the question that you should be asking because it corresponds to some of your experience. What if I look into the sky and look at the sun and I don't see a bridegroom and I don't see a runner and I don't see God? In fact, I can't remember the last time I looked at the sun and thought anything. What if that's the case with you after verses 1 to 6?

27:33 You would ask, is there something wrong with my eyes? Is there something inadequate about the revelation in the sky? And the answer to that question in these verses is yes. There's something wrong with your eyes. And there's something inadequate about the revelation. And these verses are designed to show what both of those are. The inadequacy of the revelation and the problem with your eyes and what could be done about it. Let's read it. And as I read it, verses 7 to 11, look for six ways that the word of God is named. Look for nine ways that the word of God is described, look for seven ways that the Word of God affects you, hopefully. The law could be translated instruction of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure.

28:53 enlightening the eyes. There you go. That's what you need. The fear of the Lord. And I think that sounds out of place, right? Because that sounds like a response to the word of God. And he's making a list of the word of God. What, what, why is the word fear here? And I think it should be read as the word has this as its large focus and its intended effect. Something like that. The fear of the Lord, the word understood as permaculating the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true. They're true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings from the honeycomb. This sounds like a bridegroom all over again.

29:57 Gold and sweetness. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. Oh, In keeping them there is great reward. So he names the word six times. It's law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, rules. He takes the one diamond of the Word of God and he just turns it and we see this six facets of the word. Then he describes the word with nine descriptions. It's perfect. It's sure. It's right. It's pure. It's clean. It's true. It's righteous. It's more precious than gold. It's sweeter than honey. What does that mean? It's complete. It contains everything you need as a reader or a listener to know God as he ought to be known.

30:58 it's flawless. It's not going to mislead you ever, if you rightly understand it. It's precious beyond estimation because of its completeness and its flawlessness, more valuable than gold, more sweet than honey. And then seven amazing effects. One, it revives. So some of you don't see anything when you look because you're dead. I can't believe that this room doesn't have a dead person here. And God brought you here to make you alive. And it says the Word does that. It revives. It gives life. You, O Lord, have the words of life. Number two, it makes us wise.

31:53 It makes simple people wise. So we're not stupid. So we don't look into the skies. I don't see anything. That's stupid. That's foolish. To look into the skies as we can see them today and not see the glory of God is foolish. The word written is designed to solve that problem. Third, it creates joy. Verse 8, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. You thought the glory of God was about joy. The Word of God is about joy. The Bible is about joy. It makes you happy. That's what it says. The precepts to the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. If that doesn't happen, something's wrong with you. And the Word is designed to fix it, make the miracle happen. It takes a miracle to be a Christian, you know that, to rejoice in this world.

32:53 then for it enlightens the eyes. Verse eight. I ask, is there something wrong with my eyes? Yes, they're blind. The God of this world has blinded the eyes of unbelievers to keep them from seeing glory. That's 2 Corinthians 4.4.

33:22 But the word written fixes that. That's why this exists. So that the inadequacy of the sky, which doesn't save anybody, Thank you. is remedied by verses 7 to 11. It enlightens the blind eyes. And many of us need to see the sky afresh because the word of God has opened our eyes to see it. Number five, it endures forever. It's never going to let you down. I'm 79. It has never let me down. ever.

34:06 I'm so glad to be a Christian. I sing the praises of God's keeping power by His Word every day. I read the Bible every day. The Word has kept me. It won't fail you unless you throw the pillar away. And think, well, there's no such thing as ultimate truth. The Bible's just a religious book. If that's what you think, your life will be tragic. Number six, it keeps back from presumptuous sin.

34:46 Why haven't I made shipwreck? Why haven't you made shipwreck of your life? Why did Abimelech not sleep with Sarah? It says God kept him from it. He stopped him. He has stopped you a hundred times from making shipwreck of your life by presumptuous sinning. There is a sin that leads to death, and there is a sin that does not lead to death. And he has kept you from sin that leads to death, and he has forgiven the others. That's why you're a Christian today. And if you're going to make it to 79 or 100, that's got to happen. That's got to happen. and the Bible gives great reward, shows you how to get there.

35:39 In other words, God's communication in his word is fuller and more effective than the sky. The sky does its work. It does it well. It just wasn't designed to save anybody. It wasn't designed to regenerate anybody. wasn't designed to open anybody's blind, dead heart.

36:02 It's just full of light, full of glory, full of truth, full of joy. If you've got eyes, and you get eyes from God through His Word, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Word is better. Now, I called it ultimate truth. So verses 1 to 6 is about ultimate reality, because the universe points behind it to ultimate reality, namely the glory of God, which is there before everything. He never came into being. He never changes. He's just there. He's reality, absolute existence, and we have to deal with it. You can't argue with it. Can't negotiate. It's just there. We live in an age where people try to make up reality and define reality. You can't do it. It's a dead end street. There is reality, period. And we got to deal with it. The question is, what is it? And I'm preaching God's word. It is the glory of God. That's ultimate reality. Now, why do I call the word in verses 7 to 11 ultimate truth?

37:11 Why did I go there? Is that just kind of sermonic balance? Like keep it balanced. No, it's not. It's because of the six-fold repetition of the Lord. Nothing else is repeated like this in the psalm. Law of the Lord. Testimony of the Lord. Precepts of the Lord. Commandment of the Lord. Fear of the Lord. Rules of the Lord.

37:39 What's the point? It's God's word, and God is ultimate. It's ultimate truth. I'm looking out on you and thinking, all of us have moved through phases where we've had to ask, can I trust this? Can I trust this? And you've got to answer that question. Because the difference between the people who are allergic to ultimate truth and the people who love ultimate truth, this is the watershed right here. Go this way, go this way. You've got to answer this. You've got to figure this out. You have a church, you have a history, you have a mind, you have the Holy Spirit. If it's for another sermon, I'd tell you how I come to believe this, but that's for another time. The Bible claims to be ultimate truth.

38:34 If you agree with it, it changes everything. You live your life this way. I do this podcast called Ask Pastor John, and I can't tell you how many times in Noelle, you get asked Noelle. I come down from hearing four answers to Ask Pastor John on a Monday, and I say to Noel, I'm so glad I have a book. I don't know what I would say without the book. Just winging it, Piper's ideas. Who cares? I have a book. Wow.

39:08 This is worth giving your life to, folks. You don't have to be a preacher. You have to be a reader, meditator. So, City's Church, there are two absolutely essential foundations for your future. The glory of God as ultimate reality. The word of God as ultimate truth. And without these, you won't be a church. Watch out for people who are allergic to that. Now, there's a paradox here, and I'm moving towards the close. There's a paradox here. When a church embraces the glory of God and the word of God as its treasure, more precious than gold, sweeter than honey, two things happen. You test this, if it's not true in your life and in this church's life, Two things happen and they're in tension with each other.

40:12 Joy overflows like a bridegroom coming out of his tent and humble, brokenheartedness abounds in the church. Joy overflows and humble, brokenheartedness abounds in the church. Which is a good thing. The more clearly you see the beauty, the value of God's holiness, glory, the more deeply you are pierced by the word of God, the happier you will be about him and the sadder you will be about you.

41:01 Did you get that? the more clearly you see the glory of God, the holiness of God, the beauty of God, the perfection of God, the purity of God, the greatness of God, and the more you are pierced by the living word of God coming through this book, the more happy you will be. You'll be the happiest people in the Twin Cities.

41:25 And you will be so sad because of how far short you fall of living a life worthy of that glory and that word. You will be a happy, brokenhearted people. Happy in Him. Sad about yourself. which means we need a redeemer.

41:52 And so that's where David goes, right? I didn't make this up. Like every Christian sermon is supposed to end like this. Well, it's because the psalm ends like this. So let's read it. He needs a redeemer. He says, he just blurts out, who can discern his errors? like he's just desperately aware of what he's not even aware of and like when you were doing confession this morning I wonder how easy that was for you I gave you about 30 seconds, a minute. How'd you do?

42:32 Among the things that I said to God is, I don't even know what they are. I just know stuff comes out of me that ought not to come out of me. And I can name one or two of those, but where's it coming from? What's this stuff of indwelling sin? who can discern his errors? Are you with me at verse 12? Who can discern his errors? The answer is like nobody.

43:03 Declare me innocent of hidden faults. I can't see him. What are you going to do about him? I just got to be declared innocent. There's no hope. There's just no hope for me. Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. don't let him have dominion over me then if those two things happen you declare me innocent and you keep me back from presumptuous sins I'll be blameless that doesn't mean perfect it means you stay right with God you keep short accounts you walk in the light that's why you confess sins on Sunday morning you're walking in the light if you confess your sins he's faithful he's just he'll forgive you you're in the light you're blameless before God not perfect yet.

43:50 Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. And what does he call him? My rock and my redeemer. The last word in the psalm in Hebrew, the last word in the psalm in English is redeemer. Justification by faith is an Old Testament reality. Paul learned it from Abraham, Genesis 15. Thank you. And David is laying hold on it here when he says, declare me innocent of hidden faults.

44:33 I'm not innocent. Declare me innocent. What's that? That's crazy. That's Christianity. Declare a guilty person innocent. It's called justification by faith. And for that to happen, and God to be just, I mean, a judge who says to a guilty defendant, not guilty. The whole court rises up and say, wrong, unjust. For God to be just and declare the guilty innocent, there's got to be a Redeemer. a certain kind of redeemer. Romans 3 says God put Jesus Christ forward as a justice-satisfying redeemer because he passed over former sins. Like whose? David's. Right here.

45:42 God passed over. He just declared him innocent. And that's unjust unless Romans 3.25 is true. namely the Son of God who embodies the glory of God and the Word of God comes together and puts himself forward to satisfy the justice of God. I love Christianity. I love being a Christian. I love the Bible. Just amazing. We need a Redeemer. The Old Testament sacrifices won't do. The Old Testament priests won't do. The Old Testament kinsman redeemer won't do. The glory of God and the Word of God must unite in the person of the Son of God who gives his life to satisfy the wrath of God and glorify God while we get declared innocent. So I suppose, Those cities, church, that's a third pillar.

46:46 It is. It is. And I almost went back and rewrote the sermon to say I have three pillars, but it didn't have time. So let's do this. Let's say there's three pillars that I'm talking about. Ultimate reality is the glory of God. That's a pillar under this church. Ultimate truth is the word of God. The Bible, that's a pillar under this church. and when that clobbers us with our sinfulness, we must have a redeemer who the Bible so beautifully shows is the glory of God and the word of God in a person called the son of God who dies in our place and is the rock and redeemer. So, City's Church, final exhortation. Henceforth, while you have breath, till Jesus comes, Lord willing, openly, joyfully, constantly declare, we are built on and will rejoice in the glory of God as ultimate reality and the word of God as ultimate truth and the Son of God, and they are our treasure, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey to our taste.

48:17 Father, please, because of your great, glorious, beautiful Son, Jesus, dying, rising, reigning, interceding, coming, preserve this church. Preserve this church.

48:39 Establish them upon the infinite value of your glory. Establish them upon the infinite value of your word. Establish them upon the infinite value of your Son, I pray.