The Heavenly Preachers

Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.

In a moment, a challenge to consider God's glory in His creation and His Word as you look a little closer at Psalm 19. This message is part of Dr. Youssef's practical series called God Has the Answer for Every Problem You Face. Oh, and please do remember that you can hear and watch Leading the Way 24 hours a day. Use the Leading the Way app or subscribe to one of the Leading the Way podcasts. No matter how you connect, you'll love hearing Dr. Michael Youssef passionately proclaim uncompromising truth.

More at ltw.org. Right now, though, listen as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's teaching time. Heavens declare the glory of the Lord. And I know that if you have ever taken time and you gazed into the heavens and you felt the presence of the glory of God, you understand what I'm talking about, what the psalmist is saying?

Even in the times of the storms and the gales, we can see the handy power of God. What the psalmist is saying to us is exactly what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1. In fact, in the whole epistle to the Romans, the stars are God's oldest testament. In our Bibles, we have two testaments.

We have the Old Testament and the New Testament. But there was a testament before the two testaments, and that is the stars in the heavens. The stars are God's silent preachers that never tire from reflecting the glory of God.

The stars testify day and night. Our God is the God of power and might. Our God is the God of the supernatural. Our God is the God of miracles. And beloved, don't you ever forget that we serve a miracle working God. That we serve a God who does the impossible, His hand not too short to work on behalf of His children. Look at that verse again, verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God. Here's a question you need to ask the skeptics and the doubter.

Why on earth did God created man to be upright and the animal kingdom all to be on force? Answer, because God created humanity to look up and see that the heavens declare the glory of God. And the amazing thing is that the very God who sprung those stars in the orbits is the God who loves you, loves me, and He calls us friends. Isn't that amazing?

Isn't that amazing? Beloved, I am absolutely convinced more than ever, more than all the years of the past, that it is time for God's children at this time to cease being intimidated by the doubters and the skeptics and the political correctness of our culture and begin to preach the gospel of the God who put the stars in their orbits. I'm still in verse 1. That's the most important verse, verse 1. The heavens, it's in the plural.

Do you notice that? The heavens, say it with me, the heavens in the plural. In fact, the Bible talks about three different heavens and all in the same kind of language but they're distinguished. Heaven number one is what we see with our eyes, the stars and the moon and the sun.

That's what we call the sky. That's heaven number one. Heaven number two is where Satan dwells, where the throne of Satan is. Satan has not been relegated yet to the bowels of hell.

Not yet, he will be and maybe sooner than he thinks. The Bible says he is in heaven. The Bible tells us in Job chapter 1 that we see God walking in the heaven and Satan comes in. Ephesians chapter 6 tells us that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against what?

The powers and the principalities where? In the heavenlies. The Bible said that in the last day, Satan will be thrown out of his heaven. But then there is heaven number three. That's where the throne of God is. Don't ever forget that it is not by accident in the language of the Bible that heaven number three is above heaven number two.

I'm getting ready to shout because I know what I'm going to say. For it means that God looks down at Satan as if God reminds Satan every single day. I'm in charge here, buster. Beloved, don't ever forget that our God has defeated Satan. Our God is not frustrated by Satan. Our God cannot be defeated by Satan. And the very fact that he is above Satan, it means that he has the name that's above every name.

And he is in the highest of heaven. And so he looks down on that old serpent of old and he's saying every single day, I am in a superior position. You are my footstool. You are defeated snake and you have limited power.

You have limited time. You are roaming the earth but only for a few more days. I'm going to chain you with shackles and throw you into the lake of fire. Satan, you have been defeated on the cross and you will never mount to anything again.

Amen. For there is none like the Lord, none like the Lord. But verse 1 still, literally, it means that the heavens continuously declaring the glory of God. God used the stars to preach to the world. And he may be using the stars to preach the world even now but we know in the scripture that he used the stars to preach to Abraham. When God revealed himself to Abraham for the first time, Abraham, don't forget, came from a pagan culture.

And then God revealed himself to him. And then he began to use the stars to minister to Abraham. And he told Abraham that his spiritual seed will be as numerous as the stars of heaven. That you and I who are in Jesus Christ today are the spiritual seed of Abraham. That we are the children of Abraham by faith, we better live like it. We are like the stars in the heavens.

Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad. But also God will use heaven to announce the return of Jesus. Matthew 24, our Lord Jesus Christ himself said that in those days, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give its light and the stars shall fall from heaven. And we shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. But also God uses the heavens to declare the glory of soul winning. We take soul winning very lightly. We take sharing the gospel very lightly.

If the opportunity comes and if everything is convenient, we do it, we don't do it. But the Bible has a special glory for those who are soul winners. In Daniel chapter 12 verse 3, and they that be wise shall shine as bright as the brightness of the firmaments. And they turn many to righteousness as stars forever. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30 tells us that he who wins soul is wise. Beloved listen to me, your desire, your effort, your sacrifice, your prayer, your deliberate and intentional sharing of Christ and witnessing to Christ and sharing him with others determines your glow in the heavens.

And the glory of God's eternity. Verse 2, finally I come to verse 2. Day unto day utter speech and night to night proclaims knowledge. Your time is limited.

My time is limited. The sun shines in blazing glory like a young man or young woman in their prime. But in the end of the day it fades away. Beloved the day ends, the week ends, the month ends, the year ends, the decade ends, life ends.

And that's what the stars teach us. And that is why the apostle Paul said we must redeem the time. Question, how do you use your time? Do you just let it fade away or do you deliberately and intentionally use it for the glory of God?

The question is more important. Are we redeeming the time? Are we discerning the time?

Are we focusing on where we are in the plan of God? I'm so grateful to the Lord. I'm so glad that things end. They don't go on forever. Psalm 30 says weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.

Let me ask you this. Are you going through a trial in your life and only you know this? Are you going through a trial in your life? Joy comes in the morning. Are you going through inexplicable time?

And I know I've been there. Times and things that do not make sense. Joy comes in the morning.

Are you experiencing your own private Gethsemane? Joy comes in the morning. This too shall pass. Remember, this too shall pass. And don't ever forget that the darkest hour, the darkest hour is the hour before dawn. He came to them in the eleventh hour. God takes his sweet time but don't ever forget joy comes in the morning. Let's say it together.

Joy comes in the morning. Verse 3, David said there's no speech or language in which the voices of these stars are not heard. Ought to be sure they don't speak a language but their message understood. It's like the sign language. You ever seen somebody doing sign languages?

I mean there's no voice coming out of the person but motion with hands. You see the hands are moving. The stars are the moving hands of God. I'm here. Glorify me. Honor me. Respect me. Worship me alone.

And then you see in verses 4 to 6 that throughout the earth their influence goes forth and their words have gone to the end of the earth. Now if you go outside of this building, completely go outside, you will be out of the sound of my voice. You can't hear me.

Although I have an unbelieving dear friend, a neighbor says to me, I can't get away from you. I turn the television, you're on. He said I went to Amsterdam and I got into the hotel room. He said I turned the television on. There you are.

I said get the message buddy. Every time you look up, you see and hear the voice of God's evangelists in heaven. They are saying God is here and his eyes are on those who fear him. Look at verses 7 to 13. David literally takes us from hearing this unspoken voice of God in the stars in the heavens as we hear this unspoken message of these evangelists in the sky. And as we hear them, they drive us to know more about God. And so where do you know God? In his word. So literally he goes from these evangelists proclaiming the invitation of God to come and then when you come to God, he says now know me, know all about me because I know you and I love you and I want you to know me. Remember the stars and nature, they only calling say turn to God, turn to God. And so you come to his word and you want to know that God who just invited you to come in.

Why? Because his word tells us that the word of God challenges us. The word of God cheers us. The word of God changes us. The word of God convicts us. The word of God cleanses us and the word of God corrects us. Verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. That means that the word of God can convict us and bring us back to him.

Just like the sun returns to the heavens, so does the word of God returns a repentant sinner, a confessing sinner back to God. Verse 8, God's word cheers us. The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10 said, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The apostle Paul tells the Philippians while he himself in prison, he says rejoice. Chapter 4 verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always.

How often? Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Always when you're up or when you're down.

Not when only things going hunky-dory, but all the time. Rejoice always because your rejoicing is not in your circumstances but in who? The Lord. You know if I learned anything from non-believers, and I do learn from them a lot, and I love them dearly, I can tell you truthfully they are tired of mule-faced Christianity. They are tired of Christians that look like they've been born on Wednesday looking both sides for Sundays.

They want to see authentic Christianity. And that is because my beloved friends, Christians are not spending time with the word of God. I can tell you experientially, when not spending time with the word of God is the fastest way to lose your joy. You won't lose your salvation but you lose your joy and that will show up on your face. The fear of the Lord is clean, endures forever. I know my friends and my family, those who are close to me know this. If you press me and you say, Michael, what would be the one sentence you want us to have as an epitaph on your tombstone?

It would be simply this. He feared the Lord. He feared the Lord. Beloved, that's what I live for. I don't care what other preachers say about fearing the Lord.

To me it's wonderful, it's joyful, it's a blessing, it's comforting. Verse 10, the word of the Lord changes us. It is more desirable than gold. Yeah, even the much fine gold.

I can make you a promise. When you fear the world and the people of the world, you will crave the gold of the world. But when you fear the Lord, you're going to crave Jesus. If you fear the world, you will crave power. But when you fear the Lord, you will crave purity. When you fear the world, you'll be a people pleaser. But when you fear the Lord, you'll be the Father's pleaser.

Hear me right on this one. I genuinely love people more than anyone else. There is nothing that I can do, would not do, for the flock of Jesus Christ in this place. But I can tell you also that I want to please the Lord more than anything else in this life. And I'm saying this because I used to be a people pleaser until the Lord delivered me from that. But, verse 11, God's word convicts us.

By them, your servant is warned. You see, the word of God forces us to confront sin in our life. The word of God exposes hidden, concealed sin and the cancer of sin. The Bible does not say that if we repent to some extent, we will be saved to some degree.

No. The Bible does not give us a new meaning for the old sin. The Bible does not call it an alternate lifestyle. The Bible does not call it an affair.

It calls it adultery. And therefore, when the word of God warns us, we need to take notice. Verse 12, the word of God cleanses us. Cleanse me from the secret sin or hidden sin. What is that secret sin? What is that hidden sin? You see, a hidden sin is any sin that is not confessed and wept over and placed under the blood of Jesus. See, when you confess, what are you doing? You're agreeing with God because God can see through us. But when you refuse to confess, when you rationalize, when you explain away, well, because this has happened, because so and so did this, and because the circumstances were that, that means you're disagreeing with God.

And you know where that's going to take you. Beloved, the only way I know how you've heard me say this, and I'll say it till I die, the only way I know how to deal with sin in my life is to confess it and repent of it and place it under the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us two cleansings. First of all, we are positionally cleansed. The day you come to Jesus, confessing your sin, repenting of your sin, receiving Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Positionally, God sees you as if you've never sinned because he sees you through the prism of Jesus.

Positionally. But then the Bible talks about daily cleansing, continuous cleansing, sometimes even more than once a day. And the reason I often say confess as soon as you realize your sin is because that way Satan does not have a hold over you. I remember when he did this back in us at Satan, buzz off, I repented of that sin.

I confessed it. You remember when Peter was protesting the Lord Jesus washing his feet, he said, no, no, no, no, you can't wash my feet. And it was a true humility, I believe with all my heart. And Jesus said, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part of me. He said, no, no, no, if that's the case, bathe me.

You remember what Jesus said? No, no, you've been bathed. When he came to Jesus, you've been bathed. The only thing you need to do is the washing of your feet on a regular basis because of the muck and the mud of this world sticks to us. Positionally cleansed, but daily cleansing.

How do you do that? Again, the word of God tells us. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26, by washing of the water of the word of God.

Here it comes again, spending time in the word of God. Verse 13, the word corrects us. Keep your servant from deliberately or the old translation said presumptuous sin. We commit a presumptuous sin when we sin not only knowingly and deliberately but also stay in sin. That is presuming on God to forgive us without confession and without repentance. In the New Testament, all sins are forgiven through the cross of Jesus Christ. All sins. But when you deliberately, knowingly and then continuously remain in sin, you're basically inviting the consequences of that sin to stick with you.

You're getting yourself removed from the boundary of the mercy of God. Verse 14 is a prayer that I pray often, pray daily. Let's pray that prayer together. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord our Rock and my Redeemer. Dr. Michael Yusef, concluding this edition of Leading the Way. Make plans to join Dr. Yusef next time for more practical teaching from God's Word. And if today's message brought spiritual questions to mind, please consider speaking with a member of the Leading the Way Pastoral Team.

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