Psalm 19 Sermon PART 4A — Acceptable Words

reformed church music, spoken-word sermon, minimal ambient organ/drone, austere European sacred

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[SECTION NINE — The Closing Prayer]
[Cello note sustained, warmer]
[Preacher — measured, pastoral]

The psalm closes with a single petition 
that gathers up everything that has come before.

Let the words of my mouth, 
and the meditation of my heart, 
be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

This closing verse 
has often been spoken at the beginning of sermons 
in the Reformed tradition.
It is the prayer of the preacher 
asking that his preaching 
be acceptable to God.
It is also the prayer 
of every believer 
who knows that nothing he produces 
out of his own resources 
is acceptable 
apart from the redemption of Christ.

Notice the structure of the verse.
The psalmist asks 
that his words and meditation 
be acceptable in God's sight.
And the ground he gives 
is the address he uses for God — 
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

This is a Christological address 
even in the Old Testament.

[SECTION TEN — Strength and Redeemer]
[Cello note steady]
[Preacher — theological, building toward arrival]

My strength and my redeemer.

The Hebrew word for redeemer here is goel.
The goel was the kinsman-redeemer 
of Israelite law — 
the close relative 
who had the right and the duty 
to redeem a family member 
who had been sold into slavery,
to buy back land that had been lost,
to take the place of one in distress 
and pay what was owed.

The psalmist addresses God 
as his goel.
The kinsman-redeemer 
who has the right and the duty 
to redeem him 
from the bondage he cannot escape on his own.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
we who read this psalm in light of the gospel 
recognize immediately 
whose voice we are hearing.

The goel has come.
He has taken on our flesh 
in the incarnation.
He has paid the price we could not pay 
on the cross of Calvary.
He has broken the bondage 
that held us captive.
He has risen from the dead 
as the firstfruits of those who sleep.
His name is Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living God,
who is in the strictest theological sense 
our kinsman-redeemer.

Apart from him 
there is no acceptable word, 
no acceptable meditation, 
no acceptable anything.
We are sinners 
whose words and inward thoughts 
are tainted at the source.

But in him 
we have been clothed with a righteousness 
that is not ours.
The blood that he shed 
covers our actual unrighteousness.
The Spirit that he sends 
sanctifies our actual inward thoughts.
And so we may pray, 
through him, 
that our words and our meditation 
be acceptable in God's sight,
because in him 
they have already been made acceptable 
by an action 
that has nothing to do 
with our moral effort or our religious capacity.

[end]

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[intro] [Twentieth-Century Continental Reformed Sermon] [Basel cathedral or prison acoustic] [Single sustained low cello note, slightly warmer] [Faint stone-and-wood ambient] [Preacher — continuing, approaching the close, theological warmth] [SECTION NINE — The Closing Prayer] [Cello note sustained, warmer] [Preacher — measured, pastoral] The psalm closes with a single petition that gathers up everything that has come before. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. This closing verse has often been spoken at the beginning of sermons in the Reformed tradition. It is the prayer of the preacher asking that his preaching be acceptable to God. It is also the prayer of every believer who knows that nothing he produces out of his own resources is acceptable apart from the redemption of Christ. Notice the structure of the verse. The psalmist asks that his words and meditation be acceptable in God's sight. And the ground he gives is the address he uses for God — O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. This is a Christological address even in the Old Testament. [SECTION TEN — Strength and Redeemer] [Cello note steady] [Preacher — theological, building toward arrival] My strength and my redeemer. The Hebrew word for redeemer here is goel. The goel was the kinsman-redeemer of Israelite law — the close relative who had the right and the duty to redeem a family member who had been sold into slavery, to buy back land that had been lost, to take the place of one in distress and pay what was owed. The psalmist addresses God as his goel. The kinsman-redeemer who has the right and the duty to redeem him from the bondage he cannot escape on his own. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we who read this psalm in light of the gospel recognize immediately whose voice we are hearing. The goel has come. He has taken on our flesh in the incarnation. He has paid the price we could not pay on the cross of Calvary. He has broken the bondage that held us captive. He has risen from the dead as the firstfruits of those who sleep. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who is in the strictest theological sense our kinsman-redeemer. Apart from him there is no acceptable word, no acceptable meditation, no acceptable anything. We are sinners whose words and inward thoughts are tainted at the source. But in him we have been clothed with a righteousness that is not ours. The blood that he shed covers our actual unrighteousness. The Spirit that he sends sanctifies our actual inward thoughts. And so we may pray, through him, that our words and our meditation be acceptable in God's sight, because in him they have already been made acceptable by an action that has nothing to do with our moral effort or our religious capacity. [end]

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