Go with me back to Psalm 139.
I wanna bring something to you
tonight that is just amazing. So amazing. Look at the last
two verses of the Psalm. Verses 23 and 24 say, Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now, I believe every time I have
ever read those two verses, it has made me a little uneasy,
and I mean that. Every time I have ever read those
two verses, It has made me just a little bit uneasy. Verse 23
says, search me. I don't think I want God to search
me. David said, search me, oh God,
and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. He's saying, look deep, do a
deep inspection, really expose and search out my heart and my
thoughts. I don't think I want God to do
that. I know what's in me and I know
what he'll find. and I know that it's not good." Verse 24, David said, and see
if there be any wicked way in me. See if there be. See if there be any wicked way
in me. What do you mean, see if there
be? There is. There He is. Are you sure you
want God to see this? Are you sure you want God to
try this and know this? David said, yes I am because
I want Him to lead me in the way everlasting. And if there's
any wicked way in me, I can't go. I want Him to lead me in the
way everlasting and if there's any wicked way in me, I can't
go. Look at Psalm 24. Psalm 24, verse 1, it says, The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the
seas and established it upon the floods. Now, verse 3, he
said, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall
stand in His holy place. Here it is. He that hath clean
hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the
Lord and righteousness from the God of His salvation. That's
the condition that a man or woman has to be in if he or she wants
to enter the way everlasting. That's the condition. Nothing
but that condition will enter the way everlasting. Look at
Revelation 21. This is describing the everlasting
Kingdom of God, Revelation 21 verse 21. It says, And the twelve gates
were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl, and the
street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of And the city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations
of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and
the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And
they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
Verse 27 says, And there shall in no wise enter into it anything
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, nor maketh
a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. that defiles nothing that works
abomination, nothing that makes a lies entering in. So seeing
this and realizing this, do we really want God to search us
and try us and know us for what we are? Go with me back to Psalm
139. Whether we want God to search
us and try us and know us or not is irrelevant because He
has and He does. Whether we want Him to or not
is irrelevant. He has and He does. Whether we
know He has and whether we want Him to or not. Verse 1 in Psalm
139 says, Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. You have, you already have. Oh
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down
sitting and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Before I ever even think it,
you know what's in my heart. You know what's in the root of
me. Verse 3, Thou compassest my path
and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. David said, you know every sinful
infirmity there is to know about me. You know everything about
me. Everything. You know my heart. You know it's deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. You know the thoughts and intents
of our hearts are only evil continually. You know that. He said, I'm completely
exposed before you. You see me for what I am, and
you know I'm ungodly. You know I am. You know I'm a
sinner. In Psalm 51, he said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
But this is what he said. If you will purge me with hyssop,
I will be clean. I want to emphasize the word
clean. If you will purge me with hyssop,
I'll be clean. If you will wash me, he said,
I will be whiter than snow. If you will, I shall. And do you want to hear the good
news? He did, and we are. He did, and we are. Now just
scroll with me through a few scriptures here, all right? Go
to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 4, it says, surely
he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. What are our griefs and our sorrows?
It's our sins. That's what grieves us and makes
us so sorrowful. He bore our griefs and carried
our sorrows. How did he do that? Where did
he do that? How? He bore them in His own
body. Where? On the tree. On the cross of substitution
for us. Verse 4 says, Surely He hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. We're healed. With His stripes for our sin
that was all put in Him on the cross of Calvary, we are healed. Clean, healed. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." God made Christ to be our sin even though He
had no sin in Himself. God made Christ to be our sin,
the sin of His people, so that His people might be made to be
the very righteousness of God Himself. All right? Turn to Hebrews 7. This is speaking of Christ, Christ,
our high priest, Hebrews seven verse 26. It says. For such an high priest became
us. Who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from centers and made higher than the heavens. He became
us. That means He became one with
us and we became one with Him. He
became what we were so that we could become what He is. What are we? Sin. What is He? Holy. Harmless. Undefiled. Separate from center. Higher
than the heavens. When he traded places with us. And if you hang in here with
me, I'm getting to some I'm getting to the amazing. I mean, I've
already said the amazing part, but I'll explain the amazing
part. When he traded places with us. That's what he was made to
be. And that's what we were made
to be. And because of that, I want you to turn with me to Galatians
2. Galatians 2 verse 20, it says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. I am crucified with Christ. He
said, I'll tell you what I am. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, Christ liveth in me. Paul said, I died in him and
he lives in me. I died in him and he lives in
me. Okay. I died in him. And he lives in me. This is what
that means. God, the father made Christ and
his people to trade places. And because of that, when God
looked at Christ on the cross, he only saw us. He only saw us. And God dealt with us accordingly
in Christ. And now because of that, when
God looks at us as we stand right here on this earth in the flesh, when God looks at us right now,
because that trading of places was such a real, true, permanent
transaction, when God looks at us, He only sees Christ. This was a permanent transaction.
This is not something that happened and now we've gotten away from
it. This was a permanent transaction. God dealt with us in Christ because
when He looked at Christ on that cross, He only saw us. And now,
from here on out, when God looks at His people, when God looks
at us, He only sees Christ in us. And He deals with Christ
accordingly in us. Does that make sense? He dealt
with us accordingly in Christ. And He deals with Christ accordingly
in us. On the cross of Calvary, in Christ,
our sin cried, search me, try me, know me. And now because of that, as we
stand right here in this flesh, in us, Christ's righteousness
cries. And all of His holiness, all
of His spotlessness, all of His undefiled glory, His righteousness
cries in us, through us. Father, search me. Try me. Know my heart. Know my thoughts. Do a deep inspection
of me. See if there be any wicked way
in me. And after that inspection is done and it's determined that
sin does not exist, lead me in the way everlasting. Now this
is what is so amazing to me. When God looks at His people,
all He sees is Christ. What that means is, God does
not see things like we do. This is what I want us to get
a hold of. As we wallow in our misery, okay? And we're just
saying, why? And we say, I don't understand.
And God does not see things the way we do. We still see the flesh
because we are still living out the sin that Christ put away. We're still living out the sin
that Christ put away. Christ put away all of our sin
from the cradle to the grave. People wonder, if I'm saved,
why do I still sin? It's because sin is all that
a sinner can do from the cradle to the grave. That's the reason
why. But even though we still have
sin to commit all the way to the grave, Christ has already
put it all away. He's already taken it all away.
He's already paid all the penalty for it, and it's gone. Even though
we haven't lived it yet, it is gone. So even though we cannot
forgive ourselves and we cannot forget our sin, I have sin that
I would love to forget, and I can't. And I don't forgive myself for
it. But even though that's the case
for us in Christ, God has already forgiven our sin and will not
remember it anymore. He will not remember it anymore.
The way God sees things is not the way we see things. Thank
God the way we see things is not the way God sees it. Because
God sees every bit of it in Christ. For His people, every bit of
it is in Christ. And in Christ is not there. Now,
I want to prove that to you in closing, okay? Go with me to
Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Now let me just tell you something and then read something
to you. In Genesis chapter 12, God told Abraham to leave his
country and his kindred and his father's
house and go out into a place that he would show him where
he was going. All right? He said, leave. I want you to
leave your country, your kindred, your father. Go. Acts chapter 7 recalls the history
of that, okay? And it tells us that Abraham
didn't do it. He didn't do it. He stayed in Haran until his
father died. And then after that, God removed
him from Haran. Okay, so that's what God told
him to do. And that's what Abraham did. God said, leave your father.
Abraham stayed with his father until he died. All right, look
at Hebrews 11 verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
foreign inheritance, obeyed and he went out not knowing whether
he went. By faith, why would it say that? It's because when God told Christ
to leave His heavenly country and leave His Father, and go
to a particular place to accomplish a particular work for a particular
people, Christ obeyed. And God only sees Abraham in
Christ. And I wrote sees, and I was going
to X that out and put saw, God only saw Abraham in Christ, and
then I thought, no, He still sees him in Christ. God only
sees Abraham in Christ. Only. Alright, now God told Abraham
and his wife Sarah that they were going to have
a son in their old age. And you know the story, right?
You know what Sarah did? Sarah laughed. She laughed at
God. That's what she did. She laughed
at God. She questioned God, saying, how
is that even possible? And she finally told Abraham
that he was going to have to do the work for God. She said,
Abraham, God's just waiting too long. I don't think He's going
to do it. You're going to have to do it for Him. Now look at verse 11. It says, through faith also,
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Now through faith, why would
that say that? It's because Christ judged God
to be faithful, who had promised. And God only sees Sarah in Christ. You go back to the Old Testament,
you can see what Sarah did. You come right here to the Hall
of Faith, as Hebrews 11 is called, and you can see what Christ did.
And God only sees Sarah in Christ. Don't turn, but Exodus chapter
2 tells us that Moses, while he was in Pharaoh's house, you
know the story, he was put in that little ark and Pharaoh's
daughter pulled him out of the river and he was raised on Pharaoh's
knee, you know, in Pharaoh's house, all that kind of stuff.
While he was in Pharaoh's house, he slew an Egyptian. And when Pharaoh found out he
was so angry, Exodus chapter 2 says, he sought to slay Moses. He was so mad about it. He sought
to slay Moses. Therefore, Moses left Egypt because
he was fleeing the face of Pharaoh. That's what it says. Moses was
running for his life. Look at verse 24. It says, By faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward,
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,
for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." By faith,
why would it say that? It's because Christ chose to
suffer affliction with the people of God. Christ had respect unto
the recompense of reward. Christ didn't fear the wrath.
Christ set His face like a flint. Christ endured to the end. And
God only saw Moses in Christ. That's it. God only saw Moses in...sees
Moses in Christ. That's it. And in Christ, God only sees
you and me in Christ. And I said that the way I wanted
to say that. In Christ, God only sees us in Christ. God only sees
us in Christ. I know what we see, believe me.
I know. But God sees things differently.
He sees them in Christ. And in Christ, with Christ in
us. You talk about amazing. Christ
is in us. The Spirit of Christ is in us.
If there's anything that loves God and loves the glory of God
and loves the worship of God, that's Christ in us. That's not
us. That's Christ in us, and Christ
being in us, being our hope of glory in us, possessing His life
in us. He possessed our death in Him. And because of that, we possess
His life in us. And we can say, in Him, because
of Him, because He's in us, making us cry to God, we can say, search
me, O God. and know my heart. Try me and
know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead
me in the way everlasting." What an amazing announcement to hear. What an amazing announcement
to hear. God only sees us in Christ. You talk about relieving,
that's relieving. God only sees us in Christ, and
he only sees Christ in us. I think that could be the greatest
news I've ever heard in my life. God only sees us in Christ, and
he only sees Christ in us. That just blesses my heart. All
right, let's all stand together. Turn with me to 466.