Amen so this morning. We're there in Psalms chapter number 33, and this is a great psalm. It's something
I read you know recently in my devotions. It's something. I've been kind of mulling over and of course the Psalms are full of great
Passages like this we could spend a lot of time in there
But I'm really just gonna focus there in verse 6 where it says by the word of the Lord
Where the heavens made on all the host of them by the breath of his mouth?
He gathered the waters the sea together as a heap he layeth up the depth and storehouses
Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him for he spake
And it was done he commanded and it stood fast the Lord bringeth the council
Excuse me the Lord bringeth the council of the heathen to not he maketh the devices of the people of none effect
The council of the Lord standeth forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations
So we have this great promise here
Maybe not one that we think of often when it comes to this topic as I mentioned earlier in the announcements
About the preservation of God's Word if you kind of notice that there in verse 11 it says the council of the Lord
Standeth forever. That's a great promise that we have in the Word of God that God's counsel is going to stand on to all generations
It's one of many passages one of many scriptures
We could turn to that assure us that what we have in the Word of God is the preserved complete inerrant
Inspired Word of God in the King James Bible we believe that here, of course in this passage here
There's also some other great things that we can learn
About God and be reminded about God and one is that is that one of those things is that the power of God is
Unmatched the power of God is unmatched. There is no greater power in the world. There is no greater
There's no one that's going to do anything as mighty nowhere even near as great as the things that our God has done
Look there in verse 6. It says by the word of the Lord were the heavens made
I mean think about the Bible saying here that by the word of the Lord the heavens were made
God just speaks and all everything just comes into existence
You know, we might look out at the sky. We might look at the stars
We might you know, just look at the heavens and kind of just wonder at them
We'd be impressed by them, but you know how those things came about it wasn't buying millions and billions of years of evolution
It wasn't just some cosmic chance that everything just came into existence
No, we know that that came into existence because God just spake it into existence. He spake what the universe into existence
He goes on and says and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth
I mean, that's the power that we have in God and it you know
It's always funny to me when you hear even these so-called Christians get up, you know these
Intellectual types these you know, these reform types who are just so hoity-toity about with all their you know
big terms and everything they want to use and
They'll go on and on they'll agree with everything that we're saying here this morning about how mighty God is about how powerful God is
We'll say things like hey, you know God spake the universe into existence and they'll say yeah. Yeah, I agree with that
I agree with that. Yeah, absolutely
I mean, you know we could go down here and just say, you know
All the hosts of them were made by the breath of his mouth. Well, amen. Amen to that too
They would agree with that and they would say we would say well
You know though he gather at the water of the seas together as a heap
I mean God sets the bounds of the oceans. God has just he measures these things in his hand
They say yeah, God is powerful. God is great. God is mighty. They would say hey God preserved a perfect word for us
Oh, whoa preacher don't get carried away now. You're going too far
To sit there and suggest that God could preserve
You know a book that he could get ink on pages and have it bound together and have it preserved from generation to generation
You know, let's let's not get carried away with the power of God here
I mean, I know he can speak the universe into existence
I know that by his breath all the hosts of heaven have their being but you know
Let's not run with that and say something so outlandish is that God can actually preserve a written word
You know and it's it's irony to hear people have that kind of
You know thought process to sit there and think that they would admit to the power and might of God
But then you know try to belittle him by saying that well, you know
We have to correct the Bible there's errors in this. Okay, that's not really the thrust of the sermon this morning
But it is something that I've been thinking about. It's something that I find interesting
So it says here, you know, we have this
unparalleled power in the word in God and
He made the heavens he made the hosts of heaven
In fact, there's some other passage about this if you would go to Psalm 147, of course
You're gonna want to book something bookmark or keep something there in Psalms 33, but over in Psalms
147
We're gonna look at verses 4 through 6 where you know
A similar statement is made where he talks about how God is the one that created all the hosts of heaven
It says there in verses Psalm 147
beginning in verse 4
He said he telleth the number of stars. He calleth them by all their names
And when he says that he telleth there means he's counting them like God knows the number of stars that are out there
I mean this is you know, I'm just trying to get across the the power of God this morning
You know, this is the God that we serve
This is you know, the God that we believe in okay is the God who can tell all the number of the stars
You know people look at the stars and they say well there you can't count them
I remember I I don't know how true this is
But I've heard enough times that it probably is where they had you know
Some telescope that they they thought they found some blank spot in space
There's some dark spot in space
They pointed a telescope at it and and then they found out there were more stars in that one spot then then they could even
Count, you know, but the Bible says here that he telleth the number of the stars
Well, nobody can know how many stars are out there
Well, the Bible says God does and that makes sense because he's the one like the Bible says
He's the one that spake all of them into existence. He's the one that created every single one of them
He calleth them all by their names like God knows the names of them. Even he has named for them
Go on verse 5. It says great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite
You know God's understanding cannot be found out and what we have in the Word of God is just a glimpse
Just just a you know a peek at the power of God
just a small
Understanding of God's infinite power in the Word of God. He God's just kind of you know, showing us some things about him. Okay?
It's truly infinite
But notice in verse 6 it says the Lord lifteth up the meek
He casteth the wicked down to the ground and this is something that you see often
And we'll see it a few times this morning is whenever the Bible starts to
Expound the power of God and talk about how great and powerful God is then you often see this other
You know this how would we apply that?
Well, God applies it for us when he says that he lifteth up the meek and he casteth the wicked down to the ground
I mean obvious this is talking about God's power, but it's something that you see often when the Bible begins to
Expound the power of God how the meek are lifted up and the wicked are cast down not maybe those exact words every time
But that it's these themes go together. These two things are often tied together in Scripture
If you would go back to
Actually go to Isaiah chapter number 40 Isaiah chapter number 40
And what's funny is that you know people who want to sit there and deny the power of God
There's there's still subject to it. It's not like well if I don't believe in God
Then I don't have to you know that I'm not subject to God. Well, that's not true
You can deny God you're still subject to him you could still limit God in your life you're still subject to him
You could still try to keep God at you know arm's length in your life
But you know that doesn't limit God his understanding is infinite. His power is
Cannot be matched. You can't put a cap on it. You can't measure it. You can't hold it at bay
God you can't just you know, thank God out of your mind and then pretend he doesn't exist God still exists
Okay, and we're still subject to God
If you look there in Isaiah chapter 40
We'll look at verse 12
it says there in verse 12 who hath measured the waters and the hollow of his hand and
meet it out the heaven with the span
Meaning who is measured out the heavens with the span. Well, that's God. He's done that and
Comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure God knows how much dust there is in the earth
he knows how much soil and earth there is and
waned the mountains and scales and the hills and a balance
Who hath directed the Spirit of Lord or being his counselor hath taught him?
with him
Excuse me with whom took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed
Him the way of understanding
Of course, this is all you know rhetorical. This is
You know hypothetical the question is this is that the or the answer rather is this is no one
Nobody's done that God didn't take counsel with anyone. God didn't ask anybody's opinion when he wrote his word. God didn't take
Anybody's counsel into account when he created everything
Verse 15 behold the nation's or as a drop of a bucket and counted as small dust of the balance
Behold he taketh at the Isles and as a very little thing and isn't it funny that
It's the nation's day keep something there Isaiah. We're gonna come back later
That you know these nations that God counts as a little thing, you know are some of the same people these leaders of these nations
They're the ones that scoff and mock and spit in the face of God and God says well, you know what?
You're just a little thing
Look God's power is unmatched and the people who deny it are still subjected to it
So what we see is that any attempt to explain away God is vain
If you're gonna sit there and explain away God in your life
You know, maybe even it's not the existence of God. Maybe it's just God's authority in your life
You know, I'm assuming everybody in the room this morning, you know believes on Christ and is saved
you know even
Christians can get in the habit of just trying to explain away God's authority in their life just to try to you know
Put God in a certain place and say well that's you know, that's where I have my my place for God over here
And that's where he stays
God doesn't work like that
God isn't just subject to our whims. God isn't gonna just sit there and just ask well, where can I stand in your life?
You know, what what part can I play?
you know God still has power to move in our lives, even when we don't want him to and he does and he will and
Hopefully by the end of the sermon, you know, we'll be you know
We'll see that's a good thing and we'll actually be moved to give God
His proper place in our lives and not try to just explain him away
vainly
What's the appropriate response to this when we start to see the power and the might of God and look?
I know I'm not doing it justice
I'm not you know expounding the power and might of God
To the degree to which it could be. Okay, you got to kind of stay with me here
Hopefully, you know you this is something you've already understood for yourself. Okay, hopefully you've already spent time thinking about and
Contemplating and understanding the truly awesome power of God and what a you know
amazing thing it is
To be in a relationship with them through the blood of Christ to have that same God and indwelling us by the Holy Spirit
Hopefully, you know, you've already kind of got an understanding of that. Okay
But what would be the appropriate response, you know say well, I don't know if I if I have that understanding
Well, you know it's meekness and again, this is something that we just saw in Isaiah 40
You know when it cocks about the power of God that he exalts the meek, right if you go back to Psalms
go back to Psalms 37 just a few pages over in
Psalm 37 look at verse 7. I'll begin reading there in Psalm 37 verse 7 rest in the Lord and
Wait patiently for him fret not thyself because of him who prosper it in his way
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass
Cease from anger and forsake wrath fret not thyself
And any wise to do evil for evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord
They shall inherit the earth. What did Jesus say that the meek shall inherit the earth, right?
It's the meek. It's those that are not going to exalt themselves. It's not the evil
It's the meek people that are going to eventually
inherit the earth
Goes on and says in verse 10 for yet a little while and the wicked shall not be
Ye thou shalt diligent consider his place and it shall not be
You know
This is why I don't get all up in arms about what the wicked people wicked people in this world are doing some people get so
Obsessed with this in their lives they get so obsessed with you know, what some satanic group or you know
the Illuminati or some conspiracy theory they get so just twisted up and
Everything that's going on on the world and that it's like the Bible is telling us to do the complete opposite
It's saying fret not thyself because of evil doers
You know, isn't that what he's saying there?
Wait patiently for him fraught not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass
That's how I'm gonna get all twisted up and worried about what a bunch of wicked people are doing
I'm just gonna wait patiently on the Lord and here's the thing, you know when you start to get caught up in that stuff
What does it make you feel?
Angry you get angry when you start to hear about all the how the wicked are just prospering in this world
You start to hear about all the wicked people that just seem like they're getting away with it and
That are just prospering in this world. It makes us angry. But what does he say in verse 8 cease from anger and forsake wrath?
Fret not thyself and any wise to do evil, you know, don't start plotting revenge Bible says vengeance is mine
We like to think vengeance is fine, but it's mine not fine. Vengeance is mine. Say it the Lord. I will repay
Okay, and that's you know, that takes a big load off my shoulders
I don't have to sit here and worry about what a bunch of wicked people are gonna are doing
They're gonna get there someday
It's guaranteed
And he says in verse 10 for yet a little while. Well, it seems like it's been going on for a long time
Yeah, but a thousand days, you know our thousand years there is one day in the sight of the Lord
It's it's nothing to him. It's yet a little while and the wicked shall not be they're not even going to exist
They're gonna be removed from the earth and cast in the lake of fire
Okay, they're gonna be completely and the meek shall inherit the earth. Okay?
Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be say where did all those wicked people go?
Where'd they go? They were just here. You're gonna look for it. That's gone
You know, you're gonna go to the halls of Congress and be like, where are all those wicked people on both sides of the aisle?
by the way
Where do they all go, you know, this the hall is empty, you know Congress is empty the House of Representatives is empty
You shall diligently consider it it shall not be
It's gonna be gone
Why for evildoers shall be cut off but they that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit at the earth
For you had a little while on the wicked shall not be and I shall diligently considers place and it shall not be
But the meek shall inherit the earth and they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace
I mean, that's what we all have to look forward to this morning the abundance of peace
Now if you would go back to Psalms chapter 33 Psalms chapter 33, this is all just introduction. Okay?
This is all me. Just trying to you know, hopefully get us to understand that the power of God is
Unparalleled it is unmatched in this world and you know that that tells us a lot of different things one
We don't have to sit here and fret about the wicked
But also that you know
We should be giving God his proper place in our life
And if we're just gonna kind of keep God at bay and we'll play by some of his rules
God doesn't work like like that. That's not how God operates
It's like trying to put God in a box and just say well there that you know
And I'll open up the box and talk with God when I feel like it. That's not how it works folks
Notice here in Psalms chapter 33, we're going to look at verse 8
He says let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him
You know in a sense that's going to happen someday
They might not be doing it now
But every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is God to the glory of the Father that is going to happen
There is going to be a great white throne and every single God hated man
And every single God hating atheist is going to stand before God and admit that Jesus Christ is Lord
Not because they're not not because they're getting their arm twisted into doing it not because they're getting you know forced into it
because they're gonna stand before that same God they scoff and mock and ridicule and
They're gonna stand before him one day and give an account and they're gonna confess that Jesus Christ is God is Lord
So let all the earth fear the Lord that's way it should be now
Of course, it's not let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him
That's the way it ought to be. Of course
It's not the vast majority of the world is not standing in awe of God
No, the point I want to make here is this is that notice the sequence here?
He says let all the earth fear the Lord
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him notice that fear comes before awe
You know, you'll never be truly impressed with who God is and his person until you learn to fear him for first
This is why some Christians. It just seems like their Christian life is so lackluster
It's just kind of lame. It's lukewarm
Their love for God just kind of waxes and wanes. That's why they have you know, they don't have very much spirituality
If any at all, it's because they haven't learned to fear God you want to stand in awe of God?
You want to open up God's Word and be in awe about the things that you read
You won't have God speak to you. Well fear comes first
You know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
That's a phrase that's repeated many times in Scripture and the fear of God is a big subject
And it needs to be a partner life and that's kind of what I'm starting out with this morning is
You know God is mighty. God is powerful. He ought to be feared and it's not this, you know, this new evangelical thing
That's out there this, you know, well that just means to respect God
Why does it say the Bible tells me should come before God with fear and trembling?
You know fear meets fear folks means you should be afraid of God
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God
It's a fearful thing
Right, you know God our God is a consuming fire
You know God is somebody that ought to be feared
But the great thing about it is, you know, once we have that fear that that we should have
Then we have the awe
Right, and what is it that you should you would really probably stand in awe of at that point is God's power his strength
You know, that's what's really
Puts us in awe of God. I mean that's kind of what the Bible saying here
I mean he's going on the psalmist here is telling us. Hey, he made the heavens by his word
He made them by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of sea. He layeth up the depths and storehouses
He's telling about he's going on about the power of God and then he's saying let all the earth fear the Lord
And then let them what stand in awe of him, you know, we ought to stand in awe of the power of God
You know, it kind of reminds me of you know, as an illustration, you know, sometimes I'll wrestle with my kids
And you know recently one of them we were I was down on the floor one of them climbed up on my back
You know, he jumped up on my back. You could probably guess which one right?
Well the last name like wrestle you got a you got to get into it, okay
So he got up there and then he got his legs up over and I'm down on the floor and he's he's thinking
Okay, I got the old man where I want him right, but then I stood up with him on my shoulders, right?
I stood up remember that. Yeah. Well, he remembers folks and it was it was sheer terror, right?
It was like oh man every this this is not going the way I planned
You know, I thought I had the old man pinned right and it was fear, you know
But then later it's it's awe of dad's strength and I'm not obviously some great specimen of strength here
But I can at least lift a seven-year-old up on my shoulders. Okay
I'm at least that strong folks. Okay, that might not impress you
You know
But being a little child being a child and then having your dad just lift you up and and realizing that he could throw you
Across the room not that he ever would
You know, but then he and it's like he could throw you on the couch. He would do that
Alright, he can he has this power, right? Well, you know that inspires two things
Typically in a child what fear and awe, you know, we're afraid of what someone who's stronger than us could do to us
But then when we realize that they're not out to harm us then we can stand at all that strength
You know, and that's it's kind of that way with God, you know, God could just at any moment
Do whatever he wants to any one of us, but God is a merciful long-suffering
God and praise God for that
So then you know if we if we respect that if we have that fear that we're supposed to have there of God
Then we can stand in all that strength
We don't have to just worry about what God's gonna do in our lives to get our attention
You know if we give God our attention if we go ahead and climb up so to speak on God's shoulders and get close
And let him pick let him exalt us and pick us up then, you know, we can stand in awe
We can be lifted up a little higher we can have that, you know, we can be exalted, okay
That's kind of a choppy illustration, but it's the one I got
Look at verse 9 here. This is really what I want to drill in on this morning
It says in verse 9, well, it's back up to verse 8
Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him
For he spake and it was done
He commanded and it stood fast when God decides something's gonna happen. It just happens
He spake and it was done. He commanded it stood fast
Meaning when God said this is the way it's going to be no one's gonna change that
That's why it goes on and says the Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to not
He may get the vices of the people of none effect
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever
So you see how he's contrasting the counsel of the Lord with the counsel of the heathen
He's saying that the counsel of the heathen is going to come to not
But he says that the counsel of the Lord standeth forever. And what is the counsel of the Lord? It's the Word of God
You know, this isn't just any ordinary book that we have here folks
We have the very counsel of the Word of God that is going to stand forever
You know, God's counsel is an enduring counsel and when you read this you realize it's the only enduring counsel
Even if there's something out there that maybe has some grain of truth to it
Maybe something that isn't even necessarily wicked. Maybe it's man's
You know wisdom that might be even might benefit us that counsel is still not going to stand forever
It's going to go away. This is going to be the only counsel that stands
If you would of course go back to Isaiah chapter 40, I know we all know this passage, but we're gonna go back to Isaiah 40
We'll look at verses 19 through 21 he says in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 19
Oh
I'm sorry go back to verse 6
Verse 6 it says the voice said the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field
The grass wither it the flower fadeth because the Spirit of Lord bloweth upon it
Surely the people is grass the grass wither it the flower fadeth
But what the word of our God shall stand forever?
You know the Word of God the counsel of God is going to be that which stands forever
Everything else the counsel of man the counsel of the heathen. It's all going to come to not
You know God's Word is a sure word I won't take the time to turn us there in second Peter
But he says in chapter 1 that we have a more what sure word of prophecy where until you do
Well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place
You know if we have this counsel if we have this
Council of the of God in the Word of God if we have this light that's shining unto us in a dark place
You know the question is this is are you availing yourself of that counsel? Are you putting that to work in your life?
Are you actually taking heed to the things that are written here in or is the Bible just day in and day out being just
left unread
Just left unread
Ignored even when you hear the preaching about it even you hear with things that apply to you in your life
You just kind of say well
Not today. I'll get around to that what you're doing is you're shelving the counsel of God you're taking this
Council that is going to stand forever every all the flesh is his grass is gonna wither away
God's just gonna blow upon it all the the council the heathen is going to come to naught and
Only this word is going to stand
You know why would we ignore it? Why would we not be in this book? Why would we not be reading it?
I'll tell you why because we don't fear God I
Mean you think God's pleased with people when they just ignore his word
I mean think about it you parents when you tell your your kids something you give them advice you give them counsel
And then it's gonna roll their eyes
Or they just ignore you
You know that's my favorite one. Oh, I didn't hear you. Oh
You went temporarily deaf
All of a sudden just for like that with that 30 seconds when I was speaking you just went completely deaf
Well, let's get you to the doctor. You know let's figure that out
You know maybe there's something loose. There's some loose wiring. Maybe we can you know
Straighten it back out get a hard smack upside the head. I'm just kidding
Don't do that
But I mean think about how frustrated you are
You know God goes to great lengths to write his word unto us
I mean takes thousands of years takes all these prophets and apostles and inspires his word has people that are literally
Being burned at the stake to get the Word of God to us in our own language
People are dying for this book, and we're just kind of like yeah, whatever
I mean where's the fear and then when you do read it you say oh this book's boring. There's no awe there
Then you come to church, and you hear the preacher and just yeah, it's just another passage in the Word of God
You know the mind just immediately goes to whatever you're gonna eat at IHOP or wherever
You know we ought to if we were actually fearing God if we actually were reading this book if we were actually into it
You know we would be in awe of
This book if we understood what it really was that we had we would if we understood that we had this sure word
You know I mean it's amazing because it's one of the amazing things about the Bible is how many people have tried to attack this
Book and tear it apart and people still do this to this day. They're constantly trying to find contradictions
They're constantly trying to find ways to discredit the Bible, and they just fail and fail and fail and fail and fail
And it's no surprise to us if we know our Bible
Bible says in Mark heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away
Jesus said it'd be easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle in the law to pass
It'd be easier for the heavens and the earth to just not exist than for something to go wrong in God's Word for one
tittle of God of the law to pass
That's the book that we have you know I actually believe that about the Bible. I actually believe that about the Word of God
I don't just get up and say that because I'm a Baptist preacher
And that's what I'm supposed to say
This is independent fundamental King James only Baptist Church
I just get up and just say well, you know that's the line we tow around here
You know we believe that the King James Bible is inspired. It's it's preserved. No. I actually believe that I
Mean I know we're supposed to say that this is God's Word, but here's the thing I actually believe this I
Actually believe this is God's Word in fact
I'm at the point in my life where I've gone from believing it to knowing it
I know this is God's Word
That's why when some fool comes around and says oh
Did you know this about the King James Bible and try to point out some stupid you know perceived?
You know inaccuracy. I just immediately go well this person's a fool. They have no faith in the Word of God
Let me see how they're wrong, and this is what you'll find out
I mean people say things about the Word of God and say well explain that about the Word of God. You know that's clearly a
Scriptural error that's a textual error in the Word of God they didn't you know that some scribe didn't get that right
Well, maybe the problem is is that yours just some faithless
Unbelieving heretic who's coming to the Word of God it doesn't even understand. You know is gonna doubt God's ability to preserve his own word
That you can't see the answer. It's right in front of your face
You know then you look into these so-called contradiction
It's like oh, it's because there's a deeper meaning there or there
You know the answer is in the next page in the next book or the next chapter
They actually have to come to God believing that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
When I hear some so-called you know contradiction. I don't go. Oh, man is my whole life a lie
Is everything I've been preaching and believing just just it was all for naught. No I go. I wonder how this idiots wrong
Well, how can you say that because I know this is the Word of God because I believe this is the Word of God
It's not just some convenient position that I take it's something I actually believe about God and his word
Now the thing I really want to kind of get across it kind of jumped out to me when I was reading this earlier in
The week is that in verse 11 we already looked at how this is this great?
You know promise that God has preserved his word for us the counsel of the Lord standeth forever
But notice the next phrase the thoughts of his heart to all generations
The thoughts of his heart to all generations
I think maybe this is why some people it's not enough just to tell them hey you have the preserved Word of God in
the King James Bible that sometimes that's not I mean as amazing that is as
Amazing as a powerful amazing a powerful as a statement that is
To say that you have the preserved Word of God that you have the very words of God written to you in your own language
As amazing that is often that's not enough to get people to really appreciate what they have in front of them and actually get into
It you know because that because that can kind of come across as just you know impersonal, right?
That can kind of maybe come off as maybe just a little cold even just to say hey well
This is the Word of God. It's preserved for us to all generations. You should read it and
Amen that should be enough
right
But sometimes I think people forget
You know if God is the author of this book then God is expressing himself to us in this book
Just like any author of any other book
you know when somebody writes a book they're trying to get a message across and they're expressing what the thoughts of their heart and
It's no different with the Bible. I mean that's what it says here
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever and amen
God's Word is preserved, but what do you have in the preserved Word of God?
the thoughts of his heart to all generations
You know, we don't just have a book of doctrine although we have a great book that expresses a lot of doctrine
You know, we don't have just a bunch of do's and don'ts. Although there are a lot of great do's and don'ts
Thou shalt thou shalt not look it's all in there
But you know what else you have in the Word of God are the thoughts of his heart to all generations
You have the very thoughts of God. I mean whatever doesn't wouldn't you ever get curious about what God thinks about things?
Does
Anybody ever get curious about I wonder what God's mind is on this subject
What what does God think about me or what I'm doing what I'm not doing
What does God think about this issue or that issue?
What's God's thoughts on the matter? It's all right here. Oh
God doesn't cover everything you've never read it then
Because God covers everything
You know, maybe it's not everything right there in the surface where it's just plain as day to see maybe actually have to
Be a student of the Word of God to actually understand some of these things and make application in your life
But it's all right there. You have the thoughts of the Lord the thoughts of his heart to all generations in the Word of God
You know, and I think if maybe people understood this a little bit more
They'd be a little bit more compelled to read the Word of God for themselves
But they understood that it's not just that we have the preserved Word of God. We have this amazing powerful book
But we actually have the very thoughts of God's hearts heart written to us
You know and and that's proof of the fact that God's Word is pure go to Proverbs 22 keep something there again go to Proverbs
chapter number 22
You know God's Word is is the very expression of his heart
Right and made me think about you know
What Jesus said that the out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh
Of course, he was referring to man when he said that and he said that out of the heart of man cometh all these evil
Things, you know fortification murders adulteries thefts
Covetousness, he says all that comes out of the heart of man and defiles him, right?
But it's this idea that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh
So what comes out of the abundance of God's heart?
It's not all those things that come out of man's heart. God doesn't even think those things
What comes out of God's heart is pure because every word of God is pure
He's a shield one of them that put their trust in that's Proverbs 30 verse 5
But here in Proverbs 22 look at verse 20
He says have not I written to the excellent things in counsel and knowledge
And some people read that they go yeah, I don't know I don't know how excellent it is
They would never say that out loud, but you can look at their lives
You can look up they approach the Word of God how they treat the Word of God
And it seems to me like they might that might be their attitude. I'm not so sure about that Lord
Have not I written to the excellent things and counsels and knowledge mmm. I'm gonna go with no
Who would ever say that well no one would ever actually say that to God
But that's what we say when we just ignored this book
That's what we say when we go. Yeah, I'll get around to reading it one of these years
That's what you're saying. You're saying nope obviously. I mean why else wouldn't you read it?
And I mean if you really believe that these are excellent things and counsel not that these are the heart
This is the the expression of God's heart written to all mankind. Why wouldn't you read that?
What other book even makes that claim
What other book can even stand up to the scrutiny that it's gone through for making such a claim?
None this one can
He's saying look have not I written unto thee
Excellent things and counsel and knowledge that I make make thee know the certainty of the words of truth
That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee
It's not to just write a bunch of things just to get some stuff out of my chest
off my chest God wrote to us so that we would be wise people and
To make us know these things and we can know the very expressions of God's heart the thoughts that he has toward us which are
Innumerable there is the sands of the sea they cannot be counted back to him each and every one of us
You know, but God's Word it keeps something there in Proverbs 22, I know I got you in a couple different places
But God's Word is the expression of his heart if it's the out of the abundance of his heart that he speaks that every word
Of God must be pure because God is pure
You know and and I don't maybe we don't have a bunch of you know
Literary buffs in the room or anything like that, but I'm sure everybody even the most masculine among us
could probably admit if you know at least to you know, some people that
When we hear some moving piece of literature, you know, sometimes it might touch us. I don't know. Maybe maybe I'm the only one, right?
But there's people out there that can probably appreciate, you know
Well-written works people that can read things and and be moved by man's words
They could read a bit of dare I say poetry
They could read a bit of prose and be like wow, that's powerful. I
mean if you've never you know, I
Mean Shakespeare is pretty famous. I mean the guy who's writing hundreds and hundreds years ago. People are still admiring his work today
Why because he wasn't just some hack novelist, you know writing some tough guy noir or something like that
He's a guy who actually used the English language and people read that they they they hear that and it moves us
Maybe some of us just scratch your head and say what is he saying?
But that's good literature, right?
I mean you have to really pay attention to what's being said and when you do that you gets your attention then you really start
To understand what he's saying it moves us, right?
But think about the fact that you know man at his best is just poetic and at its worst, you know, he's perverted
You know, but here's the thing God's Word is far better than any of that and it's always pure
And it's sad that you know, so many people would be so much more moved to read those other things rather than the Word of God
And no matter how good man might be you have to remember that his expressions are what vain and temporal. I
Don't know maybe maybe it's not gonna break your heart to learn that, you know Hamlet's not gonna be around forever
But you know what Hamlet's not gonna be around forever
You know all these great works are they're all gonna they're all gonna disappear but God's Word is going to endure forever
So we don't want to be ignorant of it go to Psalms chapter number 92 Psalms chapter number 92
You know
It'd be real easy to just to get up and just preach a sermon about why you should read your Bible and look those sermons
Need to be preached they will be preached and this is certainly one of those sermons
But you know, typically their approach is just hey the Bible says you should read it so read it
You know
What I found is that it's not always compelling enough reason for people to actually read their Bibles
And I'm preaching this because we're still in the beginning of the year
Okay, it's kind of thing I've got going on lately
I don't have to notice lately, but it's something I'm doing to try to get people to read their Bibles
So rather than just get up and say hey the Bible says you read it. So read it
You know, maybe we should be inspired to read our Bibles
Maybe we should be reminded of what it is that we have in the Word of God
That we have the expressions of God's heart to us
That's what the counsel the Word of God is
It's the thoughts of his heart towards us. It's excellent things of counsel and knowledge that will make us wise
And be able to answer them that send unto us as you go over to where'd I go Psalm?
92
Look at verse 5. Oh Lord, how great are thy works? There's an exclamation point there
How great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep I
Mean, you know, I know maybe not everybody but a lot of people
Appreciate, you know deeper conversation, don't they?
Some people like to hear conversation that has some depth to it, don't they?
They like to hear people talk that have some understanding about a subject like to have their minds challenged
They like to have their thoughts provoked to think about things. They might not otherwise
You know, I get it. Some people don't want to do that. Okay
But either way that should not be your approach to the Word of God. Why should you read the Bible?
Why should you read about you know, God's the you know
His the thoughts of his heart because they're very deep
There's such depth in the work of God in the Word of God
It's true, I mean I've got people I've been talking to on you know, someone messaged me out of the blue an old
church member moved away about
Something he saw he just messaged me on Facebook and we just started going back and forth for a little bit about you know
Joseph's coat
Just you know a story. We've probably all read, you know multiple times. We've heard multiple times, you know, Joseph's coat of many colors
Right, and then we just started going back. Hey, did you think about this? Hey, did you think about this?
Well, what about this and we're all just like wow
God's Word is very deep. There's so many layers
You could still go back to Genesis and read it all over again and find all these new meanings all these new parallels. I
Mean good night that sermon Wednesday or Thursday night
You know that was preached from this pulpit. I mean how many times have we read Genesis 19 and Judges 19? I
Mean this is a new IFB Church
Those are those are some worn-out pages in the Word of God around here
You know, we know we all know Genesis 19 and Judges 19, but wasn't that a great application that was made
And how many people have read that and just never made that connection, you know
Those deep things are in the Word of God. How great are thy works? He said verse 5 and thy thoughts are very deep
Well, that's great. You know, I'm glad that there's this book
There's these these these deep thoughts in the Word of God
I'm glad that God his works are very deep and very powerful and great, but it's just not for me
Well, you know what then the Bible says you're stupid
That's mean you shouldn't say that I didn't say that
Bible says that
Bible says if you if you don't realize this about the Word of God, then you're stupid
That's what it says in verse 6 a brutish man. Let me bring that into the modern vernacular
Stupid that's what means to be a brute right brutish means you're dumb. You're stupid a
Brutish man knoweth not neither did the fool understand this I
Don't get it is is the Bible that deep is it really to me?
It just seems like some old archaic Bronze Age book. You're an idiot
You're brutish so the Bible says about you
His thoughts are deep, you know that should move us to be into it and to be reading it
Let me just move along here
You know, we're talking about, you know
God how's God's Word is the very expression of his heart you can go back to Psalms where you were
We don't want to be ignorant of God's Word
We don't be ignorant of the depth that is there in God's Word. We want to stand in awe of it
You know, we want it to move us. We want to be inspired by it. We want to glean from it
It's there for us. That's why it's been written to us
We want to be like the psalmist who said I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love. I
hate vain thoughts
You know, that's not something I can always say about myself and probably everyone who is honest could probably admit the same thing
That sometimes we just get we just love vanity
We just like to think about the vainest most worthless stupid things that this world has to offer
And this is an important point because this is something that's on the rise today
You can sit there and just be completely distracted by vanity and stupidity
24-7 today
You know, it used to be a time when if you actually wanted to entertain yourself, you'd have to pick up a book and read it
You know, even if it wasn't the Bible and it would be people who are actually writing with some intelligence
It would be people that would you know, you read that you would be perfectly honest
It would be people that would you know, you read that you would be made smarter for having read it
But now today, what do we have?
Now I'm gonna make everybody mad when I say this
smartphones
the internet
we have Twitter and reels and
shorts and Instagram and
Look, there might be some good things there that might have value
But you know what?
I think I'm not don't think I'm stepping out on a very thin limb here when I say there's a lot of stupidity and vanity
on social media I
Think I've just hit the nail on the head
When I say there's just a lot of vain thoughts that you can just sit there
Like dislike like dislike heart share and it's it's somebody twerking
You know, it's somebody doing some stupid dance it's somebody flipping a bottle over
There's a bottle. I
Flipped the bottle of water over and it landed upright
That's what people get excited about today
fake ping-pong shots
You know, those are all fake
You really think people can sit there and bounce them off like six pans a wall
Through a you know a slinky and into a red cup
You really think they sat there for hours doing it. Look, I'm sure there's people out there
They haven't figured out how to fake it that have done that
It's a guy in a green suit folks with a ping-pong ball in the end of a stick
Tink-tink-tink-tink-tink and you go. Oh, wow
Show me more three hours go by it's in the a.m. Yeah
You know, we should be saying I hate vain thoughts
Vain thoughts do I hate
Look, I'm not saying it's a sin to you know, blow off steam or whatever
I know I always got to put a little little little thing in there. So everybody doesn't walk out all offended
But look if we're more interested and what's going by on some screen
Than what's been written to us in the Word of God. Our heart is not right. Something is wrong with our heart
When we're more interested on some stupid vain thought whatever it is, you know, that's just one easy
You know social media and and all that stuff. That's just shooting fish in a barrel
But look we could expand that out to a lot of different things
Okay, and I'm not gonna do it because I think I just made everybody mad already. Okay
I don't need to make you know, maybe there's a few people who are like, well, I'm not into that
So I'm just gonna let them walk out, you know, having not being upset
But look we could we could go around the room and just upset everybody by saying hey, that's vanity. It's stupid
right
But if those things are the things that you know, steal our heart steal our affection steal us away from the world
It's not right
You know, I want to have the the the psalmist thought on the matter. I hate vain thoughts
You know, there's nothing I was thinking about preaching a whole sermon called entitled
I'm just gonna I'll just get it off my chest right now the blessing of being bored
The blessing of being bored, you know, it's a blessing sometimes to just be bored
Say how is it a blessing to be bored?
Say how is it a blessing to be bored because when you're bored then you can appreciate it when you're not bored
This goes back to I saying today. We're living in a day and age where it's just constantly distracted
Constantly having to be entertained just non-stop
constantly stimulated
Any time we have a little dip in our entertainment
we've got to pull out a phone get on a screen and entertain ourselves some more and
Look, these things have only been around and I know I'm going off but I need to go off on it
These things have only been around for what 12 15 years
I mean in mass where everybody's got one like a decade
Do you think we've really had time to sit there and to study out the long-term neurological effects that has on the minds of people?
What these devices are doing to people's minds
You know, it's just biology folks to sit there when you're just spiking your dopamine
Non-stop with these phones and I'm not saying even just the apps that are on them
Literally just pulling out the phone and looking at it spikes
I mean just you don't believe me go without one for a month get a stupid phone for a month and then then pull out your
$1,500 whatever smartphone and turn it on and see how you feel. I know because I've done this
And it's like wow, look how vibrant that screen is and just touching it. You're like, whoa, I
Just touched a piece of glass and like this computer software is working. It's amazing technology
but you know what it spikes your dopamine and then when you're just on it constantly and
Then it's then you wonder why you why you get so depressed when you're not being stimulated
It's because your dopamine never returns to baseline
It doesn't sound like you're a normal dopamine level and then you spike it through all different things
You know, and that's not a bad thing always, you know
I don't want to go into all that but it never would neurologist neurologist
Tell us is that it doesn't just go back to baseline and
Go back to where it was when the when the stimulation is over it drops below baseline
You actually are more depressed than when you started and it isn't interesting
You know that we're living this day and age worth all the social media and all these devices and yet young people are more depressed
than ever
Hmm. I wonder what could be causing it. That's why it's a blessing to just sit there and be bored
Sometimes you don't have to constantly be stimulated
You
Know and it's amazing to me how many people just walk around looking at these things
You know, I go over to the park in the mornings to do my thing
You know, I'm looking out at Mount Lemmon noticing a snowcap. I'm sitting I'm literally watching hawks hunt right across the street
I've seen Eagles like eating pigeons and stuff
I'm seeing these cute little birds and there's this one guy that shows up almost every morning to walk his dogs and I'm not kidding
The whole time this is how he walks his dogs and the whole time
I'm saying like 20 or 30 minutes of just like this and like there's this whole world going on around him
I'm watching these two hawks like soar down along the road over across the elementary school and then they go back behind these trees where
they've been watching these pigeons then you hear just
When all these pigeons take off and you know, they're just over there divine like wow, that was amazing
If I didn't already have an Indian name, I'd call myself two hawks
But this guy missed it he's because he's just mmm
I know I got to get off that because I know everyone's just gonna run me out of town on a rail if I keep going
But you know, it's a blessing to be bored it's a blessing to hate vain thoughts
You know and try to get into the depth of the knowledge of the Word of God
You know, his thoughts are very deep. The Bible is a deep book
There's things in here that will cause us to be in awe of the Lord
But if we're just constantly distracted from it, you know, maybe if we could do this with it
You know, but there is there's not swiping but there's turning you know, there's no scrolling here, but you can still turn a page
If we did that maybe we got into it we wouldn't
We wouldn't just be you know
Writing off the Word of God is something that's archaic or boring. I
Hate vain thoughts. He said but thy law do I love the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity
You know the Bible says that the eyes of the Lord goeth to and fro on the earth beholding the evil and the good
God sees God sees us. God knows our thoughts. God knows what we're thinking about. God knows how we're spending our time
God beholds the evil and the good that we do day in and day out
And I want to end on this thought here back in Psalm 33
You know, God sees everything right but notice how it kind of phrases us here is that
It's true that God sees everything but it's another thing to have God's eye on you in your life
It's true. God sees everybody God knows the hearts of man that they are vain
Look at verse 12. It says blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord. Whoops
I guess we got something to look out for and
The people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance
Verse 13 the Lord looketh down from heaven. He beholdeth all the sons of men
Right, God looks down from heaven and he sees everybody
You know, you can't you can't hide from God's eye. You can't get away from it
He looks down from heaven. He beholds all the sons of men from the place of his habitation
He looked at the pun all the inhabitants of the earth
So what's the Bible saying?
So what's the Bible saying here that he sees all the sons of men that he sees all the inhabitants of the earth, right?
And maybe you know people can feel like well, you know, I'm just another face in the crowd to God
But that's not true
It's one thing to be seen by of God. It's another thing to have God's eye to have God focus on you
Look at verse 18 behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, but wait a minute
But wait a minute, I thought it just said he sees all the sons of men
He does he beholds all of them, right? He looked down from heaven. He beholds all the sons of men
He looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth
but
The eye of the Lord verse 18 is upon them that fear him
You know what that tells me is that God sees everybody but he only focuses in on a certain group of people
And if you don't like the idea of God focusing in on you
I wonder why
That's a big you should probably go home and work that out and figure out what what it is that you're doing or not doing
That makes you fear the eye of God on you
You know, we shouldn't be afraid of God seeing what we're up to
Okay
In fact, it's a very comforting thing at least it ought to be to know
That the eye of the Lord is upon you
To be as what as the apple of God's eye the core of it to have God focused on me
That's something you should want in your life
And that's a good thing
You know he that doeth evil doesn't come to the light wide because his deeds are evil
You know, but they that love the light come with the light that his deeds may be made manifest, right?
I know i'm kind of butchering that
But wicked people they're the ones that want to hide from God's eye
We as God's people should want this we should say I want God's eye upon me behold
The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy
Okay
You need to get God's eye
God focuses on them that fear him
How are you going to get God's eye? How are you going to get God's eye in your life?
You need to get God's eye by doing this by giving him your ear
You get God's eye by giving him your ear
When we fear God how are you going to learn to fear God by beholding wondrous things out of his law by getting in the
Word of God by reading about
Who God is by understanding by standing in awe of God by having the fear of God in your life
You get all of that through the word of God
When we get in the word of God we give God we give God our ear it draws his eye upon us
You know, and that's maybe one of the reasons why people don't read their Bibles
They don't want God's eye on their life. They don't want to hear about what they're doing and how it's wrong
They don't want to be told what they're doing is sinful. They don't they don't want to hear these things
That doesn't mean God doesn't see you
You can't again going back to what I said at the beginning of the sermon
You can't just put God in a box and say well you stay over there
God's too powerful for that. God is too great for that. God can't be limited
You know and if we were
Right if our hearts were right we would want God's eye on our life. We would say please
We'd be like the psalmist. He would say, you know
You know know them the thoughts of my heart consider the thoughts of my heart see if there be any wicked way in me
Search me Oh God
Is what he would pray and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way with me. That's what our prayer ought to be
If we can't pray that prayer
We need to work that out because we need to have God's eye on us. We should have God's eye in our lives focusing on us
Because we fear him it's for our benefit. Isn't that what he says in verse 19?
To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive and famine
He doesn't do that for everybody. He only does that for people whose eye who who who upon whom he has his eye
Those are the only people he does that for
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon us
Those are the only people he does that for
Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy
To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive and famine
I mean that sounds like a pretty good promise
It sounds like having God's eye on you is a huge blessing in your life
Having God's protective guiding influence in your life having God's hand working in your life. That's a real thing folks
God really does that
Or I mean, is that just you just making things up here?
Well, that sounds good
Just put that in there. No, this is something that God actually does
When we have his eye we get his eye by giving him our ear
By listening to the things that he has to say by obeying the things that are written in here
It's for our benefit
You know and and it's a two-way street with God. That's kind of what you see here at the end
this is a relationship of you know, we're
of
It's a where things are reciprocated
Okay, it's give and take with God. It's not a one-way street
He goes on and says verse 20 our soul waiteth for the Lord
He is our help and our shield for our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name
We'll rejoice because we've trusted and he goes on and says let thy mercy o lord be upon us according as we hope in thee
You know, we hope in you therefore let your mercy be upon us
You know if we're not putting our hope in God if we're not trying to get God's eye then you know what we can't really
Say that we can't really say well God's mercy is going to be in my life that I'm going to have God's grace and mercy
That's a part of my life
It's it's a two-way street folks
If we want to get God's eye, we've got to give him his ear or give us give him our ear and you know shelving your Bible
Is shelving God in your life
And this is what people need to get understand when we just ignore the Word of God you're ignoring God
When you're just letting the Bible go unread you're you're ignoring the most powerful
influential
Beneficial relationship that you have in your life, which is your relationship with the Lord
Because and then people have these crazy ideas about how God works today
They think oh, you know, you can have a relationship with God outside of the scripture
Oh, yeah, I believe the Bible but you know, I have these experiences with God, you know, I I talk to God in my own way
God talks to me
I'm worried about your mental health
You that's not God you ate some bad pizza
That's your that's the thoughts of your own imagination. God doesn't work like that. God speaks to us through his holy word
Why would I want to close his book and just say it's like putting let me just put my hand over God's mouth
I don't hear it. That's what we do when we don't read it. That's what that's what that's what we're cutting off in our life
It'd be like someone trying to talk to you. You just put your hand over your mouth and say shh
I don't hear it. I'm too busy doing something else something some vain stupid thing to have any time to listen to you
You know, I'm you know God sitting there trying to give us this great treasure God sitting there trying to do something powerful in our life
We're just like put your hand over your mouth
Don't eat it trying to figure out how to live our lives what the right decisions are to make shh
No later later God I'll figure this out on you know, some other way
It's like, you know, your parent comes into the room and they're just like, hey, I want to give you this great gift
Yeah, but I'm real busy with this puzzle
Something stupid. Well, I'm busy playing tick tock with you
Something stupid. Well, I'm busy playing tic-tac-toe or whatever. Hey, you know, there's this roller coaster park. I'd love to take you to
It's gonna be a lot of fun
Over here with this coloring book
You know and I know it's kind of a silly illustration but that's you know
Trying to get you understand what it is that we're giving up when we deny God his proper place in our lives
We tell God to just be quiet, you know, I don't want to hear from you
You know, we're removing that blessing out of God's out of our lives. We don't have God's eye on us
We need to get God's eye on our lives. How are you gonna do that by listening?
by fearing
By standing in awe of him. Let's go and pray