The sermon preached by the Rev. Maurice Roberts at the 163rd Annual General Meeting.

I would like to say what a privilege I count it to be invited to address you at this Annual General Meeting, the 163rd. As you hear, I come from Inverness and I may say at once that Trinitarian Bible Society Bibles are to be found in plenty in Inverness. I can affirm that they are to be read and seen in homes, as in churches, all over the Scottish Highlands. Your work is profoundly appreciated. I wish God's blessing to rest upon the Society and all its endeavours. No Society in the world is without its critics, but I will say this about the work of the Trinitarian Bible Society. When we handle one of your Bibles, we know that we are handling what really is a Bible. It looks like a Bible and it feels like a Bible. We are therefore thankful to God for your stand in maintaining and promoting the Word of God.

I hope I shall be forgiven for drawing attention to the statistics which I found in the Society's Report this year. Over the past year we are informed that the Society has distributed 7.7 million Scriptures in 40 languages and in over 130 different countries. This is something mentioned by the Secretary, Mr. Row land, and it is a matter for much thankfulness to God.

The Psalm of three books

Let us then turn to a familiar passage in the Word of God. I draw attention this afternoon to words that you will find in Psalm 19:7: 'The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul'. One might refer to this Psalm as the 'Psalm of Three Books', because what we have here in Psalm 19 is a reference to three books which are in this world.

There are, of course, books which are not in this world. We know of the books which are to be opened at the end of history. The book of Judgment and the book of Life are books which our eyes will not see until the end of time. But here in this Psalm we are informed of three books to which we already have access, each of which is of momentous importance to us all. The first book is referred to in the first six verses of this Psalm: 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork'. Here we have the book of Creation: the heavens and the earth declare the truth of God's existence. This book informs us of the reality of God's holy being. No rational man from the beginning of the world has ever been able to lift up his eyes to the heavens without recognizing there the evidence of a divine Creator. The earth and the sky, which are the theatre or environment in which we live, constitute a book, according to this inspired Scripture. This book of nature is silently preaching to all men of all nations and at all times. With one finger and one voice it points the human race to the existence and to the being of God. That is the first book referred to in Psalm 19.

Then in verses 7 to 11 we have a reference to another book, not now Creation but the book of special and infallible divine revelation. It is what you and I refer to as the Holy Bible. I shall come back to this. But a third book is also referred to in this Psalm, from verse 12 to the end. We may entitle it the book of the human heart, which is a microcosm of man's inner life.

We have the cosmos referred to as the first book. Then we have the Scriptures set before us as a second book. Then there is this third book of the human heart. This is the microcosm, the inner world of the soul and heart of every man. For instance, we see here in these final verses to which I make reference, verse 12 and so on, a constant reference to one theme. It is the theme of human sin, of human failures and human shortcomings. Again and again that theme comes through: 'Who can understand his errors?', 'cleanse thou me from secret faults', 'presumptuous sins', and so forth.

That, then, is in summary what we have here in this Psalm. We find here the three books of creation, revelation and the human heart. A moment's reflection is sufficient to reassure us all that these books are intimately related the one to the other, as they are to those unseen books which will be opened at the end of history. All these books relate supremely to one thing, to the glory of God, to the purpose of God, and to man's place within that purpose. In history and in destiny all mankind is swiftly being led by the unseen hand and providence of God to the final consummation and to the Last Judgment.

The world without the Bible

I wish to point out here in this text at verse 7 that we have a reminder to us of what the world would be like without a Bible. Here are the words: 'The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul'. He goes on to give a number of well-known descriptions of the excellence of Scripture. This, by implication, brings to us an awesome thought: What would the world be like without this special revelation? What would the world be like without this Bible, this God-given explanation as to why we are here and where we are going? Without it how could we understand the purpose of God in creation and history? Whereas mankind has always had the first book and the last book referred to here, mankind has not always had this book of infallible Scripture referred to in our text. Indeed, only in New Testament times have the Gentile nations had it.

Let us remind ourselves that this nation of ours in which we live and which we love, has not always had the Bible. Before the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, the world apart from Israel had no knowledge of the secret purposes of God nor the way of salvation, and so this was the condition of men before God gave the Bible to them. The world had only two books to read. Men looked up into the sky and they were afraid when they saw evidences of God's existence. But they did not love Him. The apostle Paul refers to this fact in Romans chapter one: 'For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, ... even his eternal power and Godhead' (Romans 1.20). There is no such thing as a nation that has never known about God. There is no such thing, therefore, as a really honest atheist, because the creation in which we live is a sort of mirror of God's existence. There is a divine mind behind the created world and there is an unseen Godhead at the back of it, working in it and through it, though the wicked do not know or love Him.

The function of the final book referred to in Psalm 19 is to give knowledge of God. But the apostle Paul alludes to the book of the conscience also. In the Epistle to the Romans, the second chapter, he points us to the function of conscience. The words he uses are these: 'For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves' (Romans 2.14 ). Without a Bible, men have a knowledge of right and wrong. The unevangelised cannot plead that they are 'without excuse'. In the judgment of the great day, God will be able to affirm that men had two books in which they could read concerning Himself and concerning their sinfulness and depravity. This knowledge will render all men, even those without a Bible, inexcusable and guilty.

The Institutes of the great reformer, John Calvin, remind us that two things are necessary for us to know: God and ourselves. This is true. But without the Bible this is impossible. These books of the created order and of the work of the law as written on men's hearts are, sadly, sufficient only to render mankind inexcusable when they have no pleasure in God and in His truth. This must be our starting point with men today in our modern, pagan world. This must be our starting point with men today who pooh-pooh the Scriptures which you and I love. We must show them that, notwithstanding the fact that they may scoff at Scripture, they do know in their true and innermost conscience that there is a God and that there is such a thing as moral and spiritual evil. These are things which the heathen know quite independently of the Bible and before the missionary ever goes and places in their hands this most sacred treasure which you and I call Holy Scripture.

Is not this precisely where the apostle Paul began when he stood on Mars Hill at Athens? Athens was, of course, the great metropolis of culture and the centre of learning in the ancient Mediterranean world. Their brilliance and their genius were expressed in temples and architecture, in schools, learning and books, in grammar and rhetoric, and every such thing that human minds can devise. Amidst all of that the apostle comes to them on Mars Hill and he tells them: 'The times of this ignorance God winked at'. 'Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you'. What an astonishing thing to say that in Athens, with all its human learning and all its grandeur and all its culture! Picture it: here comes this little man, Paul, and stands before these learned philosophers and he affirms to them about God: 'Him declare I unto you'. 'The times of this ignorance, God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent' (Acts 17.23, 30). Paul did that, not at first bringing to them the knowledge of Christ, but asserting to them that they already had knowledge of two things, the existence of God and His greatness. These were things which received an echo in the consciousness of those to whom he came. He knew that these two books referred to in the Psalm were books from which even the heathen without the Scripture had been reading all their lives.

Let us make an application to today's world. In this great city of London or in the far away places of the Scottish Highlands, few in this generation care about the Word of God. Men today live as if there were no Bible, no gospel and no divine revelation. My dear friends, you and I must not hesitate to affirm to them, if opportunity arises, that God has in times past winked at the guilty ignorance of the ancient world. He 'suffered all nations to walk in their own ways' (Acts 14.16). He gave them over and He gave them up to their own ways. That is a message which needs to be said in our beloved country today, where men refuse the light which shines from the revelation of nature and of their own hearts and more still when they reject God's own Word. There can only be one consequence of modern ungodliness. We are in grave danger of being dealt with as the heathen were dealt with of old. God could withdraw from us entirely.

I lay it upon your consciences, as I lay it upon mine, my friends, that we should make daily conscience of crying out to God that, whatever He does to us as a nation, He will not utterly cast us away. 0, pray that He will not entirely cast us behind His back nor reprobate us as He did the heathen nations who were wilfully ignorant of Him and deliberately suppressed the knowledge of God which they had by their unbelief.

The privilege of having the Bible

Now, secondly, in connection with my text let me go on to point out to you that here in the context of these two books we may see how great a mercy it is to have a Bible. The world without a Bible is a world which had culture and civilization and many outward common blessings. But there were things it did not have. It did not have the knowledge of God; it did not have peace of conscience; it did not have hope of glory; it did not know the way to heaven; it had no acceptable prayer; it had no pure worship; it had no true understanding of the character of God as holy and gracious. Only when we have a Bible in our hand which we can read can we have these blessings which are associated with salvation and grace and Christ and the knowledge of God.

These great facts are brought before us, therefore, in verses 7 to 11. These verses refer to that second book in the trio. Speaking of Psalm 19 and verses 7 to 11, the commentator Delitzsch says that here we have 'twelve encomiums of the law'. An encomium, of course, is an elaborate expression of praise. I think this term 'encomium' is a good one.

These verses 7 to 11 are a wonderful tribute of praise to the Bible. The 'law of the LORD' refers not simply to the Ten Commandments. It refers to the whole of Scripture. I prove the point like this. He tells us that 'the law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul'. Now the Ten Commandments have their place, a very wonderful place it is, but in and of itself the moral law cannot convert. The moral law without the gospel does not bring sinners to salvation. The moral law has its place; it has its use. I preach it and I hope we all do. There is a great place for preaching the moral law. But without the gospel it cannot save men. So when he refers here to 'the law of the LORD', he refers to all Scripture: first of all the law of Moses, then the rest of the Old Testament and now the New Testament as well.

Let me quote you for instance what John Calvin says about this term 'law' here. He says, 'It is the whole body of doctrine of which true religion and godliness consists'. That is what is meant by 'the law of the LORD'. It is Scripture. It is a parallel text to what we have in the New Testament, 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable' (2 Timothy 3.16). It is what we have from Peter when he tells us that the Scripture 'came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved (or carried along) by the Holy Ghost' (2 Peter 1.21). The writers were under divine influences. They were controlled by God and they wrote these Scriptures and they gave to us this Holy Bible which you and I prize.

This Bible, as we see here, is the highest pinnacle of all God's blessings to men because it brings to us the highest benefits conceivable. We have these twelve encomiums of the law, that is to say, items of praise. It is perfect, it converts the soul, it makes men holy, it gives men a love of righteousness, it is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, it warns us how we should and should not live and it rewards those who keep its precepts, not only in this life but in the life which is to come. My friends, what blessings could possibly be greater than these? These are the highest favours which God could give to men. Only through the Bible do we have these things.

Now it is true that without the Bible, nations rise to great heights of civilization. They have their literature; they have their civilization; they have their culture; they have their learning. But without the Bible, they never come to the experience of God's grace. They cannot do so because they have no means to lay hold upon God. Only as we have this book, only as men and nations respect this book, can such knowledge be theirs. That is why the apostle Paul stressed the tragic fact that at Athens they ignorantly worshipped God. We need to remind ourselves today that without the Bible men cannot be saved!

Bible light is the only saving light there is. The law of the LORD is perfect because it converts the soul; nothing else does. The preaching of the truth brings salvation to men: 'How shall they hear without a preacher?' (Romans 10.14). 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God' (Romans 10.17). Where men do not know this book, the gates of heaven are shut like brass against them. But when the Scripture comes to them, it brings this light and it brings this knowledge. That is why Christ therefore says: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature' (Mark 16.15). Preachers are to carry with them this book. He goes on to say: 'Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you' (Matthew 28.20). That teaching is all in this book. Here it is, written down in this very book. This is the view of the Bible which the Christian church in its true character has always held, notwithstanding the influence of the Higher Critics of the last one hundred years. It has always been the true Christian's view and the true church's view that in this one book is the light of the world.

Take the Apostles' Creed as the proof of my bold assertion. It goes like this: 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our LORD'. Next comes a description of the saving acts of Christ. Then it goes on like this: 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, the life everlasting'. That is to say there is no other way whereby men may obtain this salvation except in this book. The Apostles' Creed is a summation of the whole Bible. It is a summary, a distillation of the Bible's whole message. That is why the Scripture in our text says that the law of the LORD is 'perfect'. It is absolutely 'perfect' to do for us all that you and I need in order to bring us to God, to bring us to heaven, to establish us in a state of grace, to keep us unto life eternal, to make us fit to meet God and to be partakers of the saints in light everlasting, to clothe us with righteousness and to fill us with heavenly joy and peace in believing. All of these things come to believers through the 'perfection' of Holy Scripture.

I must point out, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that here is the modern tragedy in this country of ours. There is scarcely any reference today to these great transcendental realities which once made out: nation great. The Bible is a lost book in Britain today. It has little influence on national life any more.

The world's most important need

Then let me say, finally, that the text reminds us of what is the most important need of all men in this world. The Bible, of course, does many things. It coordinates our understanding of science and religion; it shows us the importance of order and law; it tells us about life after death. The Bible does all that and more. But the greatest work of all done by the Bible is this: to 'convert the soul'. Here is the matter which concerns you and me supremely today. We have to admit that we are not seeing souls converted in any great numbers. It does not matter where you go. Go to Wales, to Scotland, or to England here. Few are being converted in these days. Where are the days when the Bible was being blessed to the conversion of thousands and ten thousands? This, without doubt, is the Bible's greatest work.

Our universities, schools and colleges are in this generation places where God's book virtually has no place at all. Secular education today recalls the words of Edward Fitzgerald: 'Myself when young did eagerly frequent doctor and saints and heard great argument about it and about, but evermore came out by the same door wherein I went'. That is tragically true of modern life in this civilized land of ours, in this democratic society of ours. The problem is this, that the Word of God is no longer being made a subject of study or a subject of men's concern. Why are there so many broken hearts and broken homes in this country? What is the solution to this problem? It is not simply more police or more laws. We never had so many laws in our society, did we? It is not simply that we need more social workers, or more advice, or more education, or more schools. All of these things may have their place, but the problem is here. This book is not being read so as to bring light to bear upon men's lives. Therefore the tragedy is that men are not being converted to Christ. Could any curse in this life be greater? Could any judgment be more awful than this?

But you and I, beloved friends, believe that God is still able to take His Word and to bless it in power and grace to the hearts and lives of men so as to make it a sweet savour of Jesus Christ in lost sinners. That is why we distribute it and preach it and send it throughout the nations in all languages. We know that it will go forth to some with dynamic authority and irresistible influence. This one book brings to the world all that knowledge which no other book can bring to it. Blessed be God that that is so.

Now then, as I close, I have to ask those of you who are sitting here today: Have you got a new heart and a renewed soul or did you come to this meeting out of mere curiosity, perhaps just because your parents were interested in these things? I am asking you: Have you ever been born again yourself? Have you ever been saved and changed by the power of God's grace? There is the great question, because that is where the new creation begins.

O, England! When will you awake again to the glory of what God has given you-the Bible in your own language! This book which made our nation what it once was—and, alas, is no longer! O, let us plead with God in terms of what we were singing earlier. Let us beseech Him to awake, to stretch forth His mighty arm again from heaven to earth, and to touch the multitudes who are so indifferent to this sacred book which He has given to men! And let us pray not for this nation only but for Jews and Gentiles worldwide, until, through the knowledge of this book, the 'earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea' (Habakkuk 2.14)!

First published in Quarterly Record 529. Last edited for online publication 3 April 2024.