The Bible lacks nothing. Answers from the Word are right and true. Sure, reliable things are on the pages. Possess the Word. Find your pleasure in it. Find protection in it. The promises are purifying. Psalm 19:7-12; 2 Corinthians 3:3-5

Speaker: Pastor Thomas Schaller
Date: 2026-07-15
Time: Wed 7:00 pm
Sermon #13170

P. Schaller –

Okay. Praise God! Praise God! I understand, I actually in the semi-finals in the World Cup I know we have an Argentinian family over here. Would you like to stand up for a moment, Jeronimo and Katie and the girls? We want to congratulate you even though I was rooting for England. Why did I – I was. Hey. Good job. Wow. All right. Praise the Lord. Wow. Great. 

 

Jonathan and Sani going back to Finland. We’re very happy for you. And they’re all there. There’s chatter over there. You know, Jonathan and Sani are coming. Wow. I mean, I mean, Benjamin. I’m sorry! Benjamin! Thank you. Hey, Laura Jo I think. Thank you. We have jet lag I think. I don’t have any excuse! 

 

Welcome this new family from – this is Faji and Laura. You want to stand up for a moment. All right. So, their story. Wow. Faji’s from Hungary and a disciple and a missionary who went to China, sent out from the church from Budapest. Laura is from Albania, a disciple also in the Bible school. 

 

Then to make a long story short, they married and lived happily ever after! Immigrated here to the States. Went to Marlboro and then said, We want to be in Baltimore. And so they’ve moved down, and they’re with us, and we’re very happy for that. Thank you. Great. Praise God. It’s beautiful. All right.

 

Psalm 19. Here’s our text tonight. And thank you for your love and your prayers for – Amen. Amen. Thank you for receiving us back. Yes. Thank you. I have, because of the – all right. I actually, like I cut out quotes and I labeled them. I really prepared because I don’t trust myself tonight. All right. So, let’s pray. (Prayer). Amen.

 

#1. Let’s look at Psalm 19 and vs. 7-12. That text is so powerful, but I want you to understand it in the context of what I’m going to read tonight regarding really what happened to me in Bible school years ago. 2 Corinthians 3:5, it says, “Who is sufficient for these things?” I’m not preaching about myself. I am in a way, but more importantly you. I want to preach about you and all the people in Finland that we met in that wonderful summer conference. 

 

Many of them started their Christian life 50 years ago or 47 or 46 or 40 years ago. And to have a changed life and Paul is writing to the Corinthians and saying that we are writing this with the Spirit of God, the living God. 2 Corinthians 3:3, “not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.”

 

It happened to Faji and Laura and they are with us here and raising a family and we could say how can somebody’s life be changed and that God would write on the fleshly tables of the heart. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” This is important. Our sufficiency is of God. 

 

So, here we have a person just to draw a picture there. And now I want to read this to you or emphasize what we learned from Dr. Stevens years ago in the ministry and what we copied, what we, what he modeled for us was the ministry of the Word. He showed us that we could memorize parts of the Bible and quote them and share them with each other. 

 

He showed us – the Spirit of God did this of course – because he is not able but our sufficiency is of God. God does this. What does he do? He has two elements. We have the Holy Spirit and we have the Word of God. They are both critically important in the ministry. 

 

But I’m reading now, “Sermons in many evangelical churches contain no exposition of Scripture whatsoever. Biblical content has been replaced by illustrations, stories, allegories, and psychological discourses. Issues such as human relationships, depression, and behavior are dealt with from a psychological rather than a biblical perspective.”

 

“Psychological notions such as self-love and self-esteem have even driven the concepts of repentance and sinfulness of humanity right out of the pulpit.” Some have said, and I’ve heard them say, that in church we should just be generally happy and smiling. And that’s what we need in life, happiness, have smiles, good words, self-esteem, encouragement. That’s what church is like, is about. And no, we didn’t learn that. 

 

We learned that it’s much deeper. So, we have “The resources that belong to every believer include many rich spiritual benefits. The fruit of the Spirit, the fellowship of other believers, the assurance of hope, and the eternal, abundant life Jesus promised us.”

 

“But also we have all these realities that are given to us, that are communicated to us by the Word of God. And this is where our lives change.” And this is so powerful. I love it. It’s amazing. So, let’s go to that text and just say what this does to us. 

 

Psalm 19:7, So, here’s a man and I’m going to like read one thing here. “Many people and many pastors we find people struggling with chronic emotional and spiritual disabilities. And they’re desperately seeking answers in all the wrong places. That is precisely the state of affairs in much of the contemporary, evangelical churches.” Absolutely. 

 

Let’s see. “the rise in psychotherapy, the decline of biblical counseling in the church has paralleled a decline in biblical preaching. The psychology epidemic began infecting evangelical pulpits several years ago and its effect on preaching has been disastrous.”

 

I love the fact that when we came into this church years ago and when we were sent to Finland years ago, we had one thing that we could do. We had one thing that we could, we could see lives change. Even though we didn’t speak Finish, even though we didn’t know the people, even though we didn’t know the culture, we didn’t know their problems. 

 

But what did we have? We had God’s Word. Look at Psalm 19:7. I want to write this word down. Perfect. It means, it’s comprehensive. It’s not lacking anything. It means it is not lacking. The Bible, the Word of God, is not deficient in any way. There’s nothing lacking in the Bible. It’s perfect. It’s sufficient. 

 

You might say, I have a cancer. The Word of God has an answer. I have a depression. The Word of God is the answer. I am lost and wandering around. I’m in a fog. I don’t know what I should do with my life. I’m 19 years old and kind of a little bit lost in my life. What should I do? What should I do? 

 

I should embrace it and learn the Word and hear it and embrace it. Why? Because look at vs. 7. It’s perfect. It’s not lacking in anything. It’s altogether comprehensive for everything in life, even the grace, even a disability, even a failure, even a sin, even a demon. Whatever it is, it is perfect. It’s all complete and it’s able to convert a soul.

 

The word “convert” means restore, revive, refresh. What does the word “soul” mean? Inner person. Refreshing the inner person. Converting the inner person. Reviving the inner person. What does that? How does that happen? The Word of God.

 

Vs. 7b. Here we have this word “sure.” It means unmistakable, trustworthy, unwavering, reliable. The Bible is reliable. The Bible is unwavering. The Bible is a guarantee. It’s absolutely – you can bank on it. You can believe in it. You can believe in God who gave us his Word. That’s why Joshua is told to meditate on it. Psalm 1, meditate on it day and night. It will change my life. It’s powerful. 

 

That’s why we have a Bible college here. And by the way, wherever we go to plant the church, the first thing we want to bring the people of the church into is Bible school. Intensive learning, studying, listening, meditating on the Word of God. Why? 

 

Vs. 7. Makes wise the simple. So we have provides a foundation that will not move. The word “simple” means open door. An open mind is that’s the idea. It take, it takes a man that is open to everything on the channels, everything on Facebook, every advertisement, every bit of pornography or gossip. He takes a man who has an openness to all and everything. He will read anything, watch any movie, go with any girl or guy. He will listen to anything and do anything. He is a simple man. 

 

But what does the Word of God do? it makes that man wise. Wise. How do I get wisdom? The Word of God. I got to tell you something. I know I’m a fool. I know I am. I’m a fool. I’m not like this. Left to myself, I would not be doing this. I’m a fool. I know I am. Absolutely. Guaranteed sure about it. I know that’s who I am. 

 

But I’m not. I’m not that now. Why? Why did my life change? The Word of God did that. I listen to the Word of God. It’s not I’m not smart. I’m not able. We’re not able. No, it’s God. Our sufficiency is of God. Our life changed because of God. Our ears started to hear God’s Word. With large doses of the Word, a lot of the Bible that goes into the heart, a lot of the principles and the truths of the Word of God. 

 

Now, #3. It’s vs. 8. “The statutes of the Lord are right.” And this word is precepts. I want to shorten my message here because I think I’ve gotten my point across more or less there. We’ll wrap it up here in a minute. But the statutes of the Lord are right. Divine principles that guide you down the right paths. You learn the precepts or these are divine principles. They are correct. They are correct. 

 

Do you, do you before you get married, do you sleep with your girlfriend? No. It’s good for a man not to touch a woman, 1 Corinthians 7:2. By the grace of God, we practice that. By the grace of God, we believe that. And it helps us. It’s correct. The precepts of God. Look at vs. 8, rejoice the heart. You actually find the joy that comes from doing the right thing. The precepts of God and you end up enjoying it and rejoicing the heart. 

 

And then “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” I think I have that word here, too. I do. It means it’s without corruption, without error, without impurity or defilement. What is the Word of God? It’s the only purest thing you can find on the earth is the Word of God. Everything, everything else is defiled. 

 

This is my opinion on it. Everything I think, everything in the world that you know there is no perfect circle. No perfect dog. No perfect person. No perfect speech. No perfect. The only thing perfect in the universe is the Word, is God himself and his Word. 

 

And how could the pure Word of God go in a person? And the purity of God is in a person. And how does that affect a person? It makes him clean. It gives him clarity, simplicity, joy, purity, holiness. God dwells in you and he gives you and I his Word. 

 

Let’s wrap it up here. Look at vs. 9. “The fear of the Lord” and this means, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is really worship. It’s the Word of God connected with worship. The fear of the Lord. It’s a parallelism with the text there with six phrases for the Word of God. So, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

 

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” All right. So, I made my point. I don’t know. It’s just so good. I’ve got five last words here to share with you. Possession, pleasure, protection. Great handwriting! Promise. Purifier. 

 

Do you know what the Bible is? The Bible is those five words in the next two verses, vs. 10-12. Now, you know what happens when you start to read, meditate, rejoice with the Word of God. I want to challenge you this summer. Get alone. Read Psalm 19. Get a word out of the psalm and just memorize it. Hide it in your heart and say it. And then when you pray, bring the word into your prayer. 

 

And when you try to, when you’re thinking about God, think about the Word, the Word of God, in your meditation and in your fixation in your mind. I got to put my mind on something. Have you ever gone to prayer and your mind is everywhere? Your mind is on the cat, the dog, the kitchen. Your mind is on the people and many things. But then control your mind and put your mind on the Word of God and learn to meditate on it and meditate and memorize it. And this is what’ll happen. 

 

It’ll be a great possession. It’ll be more valuable than gold. That’s what gold is. It’s a possession. It says, doesn’t it say more than what kind of gold? Much fine gold. It’s a possession. Like a credit card in your pocket is in a way gold, right? It has the power to buy. I got something to buy. I got something to use when I need, I need, I own something. I own the Word of God. I put it in my heart and in my mind. It’s my greatest possession, the Word of God. It’s powerful. 

 

#2. It’s a pleasure. And that’s in vs. 10. Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. You can meditate on it. It’s not vain. I hate vain thoughts. The psalmist said, “I hate vain thoughts.” And I have plenty of them, but they are so low. That’s why I’ve seen people live so low. They live in complaining. They live in anger. They live in fears. They live so low. They live in anxiety. I also, I also am a human being, too. We live so low. 

 

But then, do you have pleasure in the Word of God? It’s like honey in your mouth. I like it. I like it. Nobody has to tell me. I like it. You know, when you have honey and you tasted it, you don’t have to be told to go get more of it. You just go get more of it cuz you like it. It’s a pleasure. It is a possession with power and it’s a pleasure in your mouth and in your heart.

 

#3. It protects you. Vs. 11. “Moreover, by them is thy servant warned.” He is warned. Don’t touch it. He is warned. Stay away. Hey! Shut the door. Hey! I’m warning you. I’m warning you. The skull and the bones on the electric box. The skull and the bones on the poison. I’m warning you. I’m warning you. Stay away. That’s what the Word of God does. 

 

But the world is filled with foolishness and it destroys people. It destroys their soul. It takes them down to hell. It makes them angry and murderous and revengeful and empty and jealous and covetous. I got to have I got to have. I got to have. 

 

You got to, you got to have because you don’t have enough God in your heart and in your mind to warn you that you don’t need that and to be able to say no. Isn’t that a good word? It protects us. 

 

The next one, it promises us. It says, “in keeping of them there is great reward.” That’s vs. 11. “Moreover, by them your servant is warned.” That’s protection and keeping in them there is great reward. What is that promise? I have a promise. God is going to reward me. I’ve got the Word. I’m not sleeping with my girlfriend or my boyfriend. I’m not taking the drugs that other people are doing. I’m not lying and cheating. I’m not a deceitful person. 

 

I’m submitted to God in the Spirit of God and the Word of God and there is great reward in it. That’s what the churches in America need and in Finland and wherever you go on the earth. And when you have churches that are preaching the Word of God, it’s changing lives and people are getting edified and we’re learning how to love each other and forgive each other. And that’s another thing the Word of God teaches me, forgiveness. It teaches me honor, humility, submission as a way of life with God. Beautiful.

 

And then the last thing. What did I say? I did promise, right? Okay. Yeah, I did. It promises, warns me and promises me great reward. Go like this. Right now in your seat and just turn to your neighbor and say, I’ve got great reward. I got something good going on in my life. Yeah, I got great reward. 

 

Are you proud? No. I’m confident about it. I have great reward. The Bible says so. That’s confidence. That’s truth. I have great reward. Can you imagine going to bed every night and say, Thank you, God. I’ve got great reward going on in my life. I’ve got a great blessing from the hand of God because I’ve given heed unto your Word and I embraced the Word more than my necessary food. That I’ve embraced God’s Word and sat at his feet and heard what he said and believed him. Isn’t that good? 

 

Last one, purifies. That’s vs. 12. “Who can understand his errors?” That’s what we could say. It sounds like my own blind, blind spots. My own errors. How can I understand myself? Have you ever thought like, Why did I do that? Why did I do that? I can’t believe I did that. Why did I do that? That was so stupid. Why did I do that? Who can understand his own errors? How can I understand myself? 

 

Proverbs 18:2, that the fool tries to discover himself. This is a big lesson for me in Bible school, because I came from a university and I heard forget about yourself and learn about Jesus. Learn about Jesus. But I wen tot school to learn about myself. But I came to Christ and I thought I’ll do that later maybe or maybe never do it. 

 

But I could find Christ and look unto Christ and follow him. And then I started to pay attention to the words of Christ, believe Christ, give my life to Christ, embrace Christ, and what happens? We’re purified. 

 

Look at vs. 12. “Who can understand his error? Cleanse me from secret faults” and we have plenty of them. Things we don’t know about regarding ourselves. But guess what? People don’t care about you and me. They care about him. And the church, we care about him. We want to know him. We want God’s mind. We want faith in God. We want to leave Egypt through the Red Sea. We want to eat manna that comes from heaven. We want to be a follower of Christ.

 

And when he says, Walk on the water. Come on, Peter. And Peter does it because he has found, he has found him. That’s bigger than all of us. Wow. When we’re together Monday in Finland, the day before yesterday, we’re at a garden party at Yuka…house. He’s retired now but I met him when I think he was, I think he told me, now, I don’t remember. He was young. He was, I don’t know, 16 or 17 years old or something. Now, he’s retired, so I don’t know. You do the math. 

 

But we were at his garden party and we just could – we were there for hours just being together and loving each other and recognizing nobody could do this. Nothing, none of this could happen. None of it could happen. 

 

But the good news is in Cambodia today, it’s happening. In Calvary Chapel churches, it’s happening. It’s happening in Baptist churches and other churches in the world. It’s happening. Anybody, anywhere, anybody, any time, any of us would give heed to this and hear it and believe it and embrace it. Then, we’ll have these five things happening in our life. 

 

And we’ll say, We got it. We got something. And we’re going to take it to heaven, guys. It’s eternal. And we got it. And we got a message. And let’s go into the highways and byways and share it. Let’s pray for it to be happening with our people all the time. Amen. All right. Pray with me, please. (Prayer).

*****

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