Awaking I am still will be The
wicked now will surely slay The mean let sinners turn away When
we again will break free from our shackles The living will
be as one Search me, O God, for this man. I need him, I need
him, just once and for all. May he be entertained, entertained
till the end of time. See you then. If you noticed as you were singing,
if you either recognized the words or looked at the top of
the page, those songs were taken from Psalm 139. Psalm 139, I
want you to turn there. That's when we sang those songs. paraphrased from this psalm. Before we get into this, I want
to make one announcement, and it will be in the Bulletin Sunday. But let me remind you that next
Wednesday night's service is on Tuesday night. Okay? Tuesday night, next week, Brother
Cody Groover will be here to preach to us. Tuesday night. And also, if you want to give
something for his expenses, do that. put it in an envelope and give
it in the offering Sunday or give it to Brother Ogle or Brother
Anderson. All right, Psalm 139. I just
simply want to do an exposition of this wonderful psalm, which
should be a blessing to those who seek one. Psalm 139. We just sang it. David the writer says, O Lord,
thou hast searched me and known me. Searched and known. That's the title of this message
and the subject of this psalm. Searched and known. The Lord searches. His eye sees. His eye lives behold. He searches. He knows. the heart, the mind,
the soul, the being of his people. And he knows us better than we
know ourselves. Our Lord said it is eternal life
to know God. He said, this is life eternal
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's eternal life. And it's
mercy if God reveals himself to us, to know him, the living
and true God. But it's great mercy and comfort,
and part of knowing him is to know that he knows us. And this
is our greatest source of comfort, though. Though we know him, we
know in part, don't we? Our knowledge of him, our understanding
of our Lord is so finite, so little, but our greatest peace
and comfort I hope we'll see in this message, is in the Lord
knowing us. Knowing us. Think about it. Each
one of us, we're just a very, very small part of this vast
universe. A very, very small part. There
are heavenly hosts. host of angels, cherubs, seraphs,
multitude, which no man can number. There are folks in glory right
now, heavenly hope. This world is full of billions
of people. We're such a small part of this
vast universe, yet the Lord of glory, the God who made it, knows
his people, each one of them. He knows them. They're known
by him. He said, I know my sheep and
am known of mine. Just as the most fearful words
any human being will ever hear are these, I never knew you. That's what God's going to say
to some people in the judgment. I never knew you." The most comforting
words for God to say, I know thee well. I know my sheep, and
am known of mine. That's the greatest blessing.
All right, what does it mean for God to know us? To be known
by God. It's much more than just to be
merely acquainted with. Although, if the President of
the United States knew me, I mean, even knew that I existed, and
knew my name, knew where I lived, and ever gave me a thought, that
would be something, wouldn't it? God, the Lord, knows each
one of His people. That means He loves them. To
know you, for God to know you means He loved you, He foreknew
you, He foreloved you. It means to be in union with
you. Just as Adam knew his wife Eve,
remember, in the garden? Adam knew his wife Eve. The two
became one. God knows His people. He entered
in a union with His people. We're going to see when He made
that union. He is intimately and personally
acquainted with each one of his people. They are understood completely
through and through by the Lord. That's what it means, part of
what it means to be known by God. David is going to tell us
what, he's going to go on to tell us what it means for God
to know us. Look at verse 2. He said, Thou
hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my up-rising, all my movements, all my activities, everything
about me. He's got a constant eye on me.
A parent tries to do that, or at least they do do that in the
beginning until the child becomes too active. One time when I was
about four years old, we lived Let's see, where were we? Yeah,
we were real near where my folks live now, but that's about a
block from 13th Street. Those of you who have been there
know what a busy street that is. Well, one day the neighbor
called, a neighbor who lived across 13th Street on the other
side called and said, your son's over here. That was me, four
years old. I took out and walked across
that And being the fourth child, I can understand how they would
forget me and lose sight of me. And knowing a little bit of myself,
Steve, I know I'm inexpendable. But the Lord, he knows where
we are at all times, our movements, our down sittings, our uprisings,
our activities, our movements, a constant eye. on his people,
watching over. Go on. It says, Thou understandest
my thoughts. A far off. Knows what we're thinking. Now this is both disturbing and
comforting, for God to know what we're thinking. When our thoughts
are sinful, which they are quite When our thoughts are so self-centered,
God knows that. When our thoughts for a long
time never go Godward, never think about him for a long time,
he knows it's disturbing to think that God knows our thoughts. It disturbed Peter one time. when he realized the Lord's omniscience,
when the Lord knew where every fish in that sea was and told
them where to cast their nets. And Peter, when he realized that
the Lord knows every fish in that ocean, where they are, he
knows what I'm thinking. And Peter being a sinful man,
that's when he said, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. The
Lord knows our thoughts. That's disturbing. It's comforting,
because he knows me. He knows my thoughts. Peter had
another time. Now, Peter, after Peter had denied
the Lord, after Peter had betrayed the Lord, or denied him and acted
as if he didn't know the Lord at all. You remember the story,
don't you, when the Lord called the disciples and Peter, and
they were sitting around the fire. And I'm sure Peter felt
all alone and ashamed, and yet he was there, wasn't he? He was
so ashamed of denying the Lord, yet he was the first one out
of the boat when they found out it was the Lord on the shore,
wasn't he? When they were in the boat, the Lord was on the
shore, and somebody said, It's the Lord. Peter was the first
to dive out of that boat. He couldn't wait for the boat
to get to land. He dove out of the ship with
his clothes on. Well, they went to the shore,
and sitting around that fire, the Lord looked at Peter, a single
Peter, I asked him three times. You remember, don't you? He said,
Peter, do you love me? Shortly before that, he denied
that he even knew it. Cursed, he was so ashamed. And here's Peter's answer. Yea,
Lord, thou knowest I love thee. You know I do. I didn't act like
I did. So often I don't act like I did. And these disciples might think
I don't. They all doubt me. But Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. Isn't that
comforting? He knows my thoughts. So it really
doesn't matter what other people think about you. The Lord knows
you. Yes, as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth
our frame. He knows our flesh, our frailties,
our helplessness, our ignorance. He knows us like a father his
child. Verse 3, David says, Thou compassest
my path and my lying down. The word compass, as you know,
means surround. In him we live and move and have
our being. The Lord is with us always. We're
like a bottle in smoke. The Lord is around us. In Him
we live and move and have our being. But the word here, if
you have a marginal reference, the word here is also, you see
it? The word is winnow. Winnowists. And you may or may
not know what winnowing is. Like the chaff is winnowed from
the wheat. Back in the old days they would
gather wheat into the barn and they would take whatever, a rake
or whatever, and remove the chaff from the wheat and sift it and
remove that chaff from the wheat. Well, everything the Lord does
for his people is designed to remove the chaff from a so that
we might be fruitful under the law. He winnows his people, all
of them. The Lord said this to Peter,
he said this to Peter one time, Satan hath desired thee to sift
thee, like wheat, in the same word, winnow. Satan wants to
prove that you're not one of his, but now the Lord When he
winnows his people, it's to prove that they are his. So he winnows
the chaff from the wheat. Read on. He says, Thou art acquainted
with all my ways. The Lord knows my thoughts, my
steps, my ways, everything I do, all that I am, the Lord knows
me. He says he knows my thoughts,
verse 4, there's not a word in my tongue But O Lord, thou knowest
it all together, my thoughts and everything I say and want
to say." The Lord knows it. This is so comforting. I'm struggling
right now to breathe. The Lord knows that. But it's
not my words, it's his words. Our words are so faulty, so stumbling,
so halting. He said that in one place. He
said, with people with a stammering lips, I'll speak. I'll speak
to these people. We're incapable. You feel incapable
of expressing yourself. You have thoughts. You have things within you you would love
to be able to express to others, to God, but can't do it. They just can't, they just won't
come out the way you want. Our prayers, our prayers are
so, prayer is so difficult. You men that lead in prayer,
either in a study or out here or wherever, it's one of the
most difficult things we do, isn't it? Huh? You'd rather not
do it, would you? I would rather not do it either. And I don't call on you as much
because I feel for you. I really do. We stammer and halt
and try to say what we want to say and it doesn't come out right.
The Lord knows that. Eloquence is not necessary with
God. Do you require that Lauren speaks
perfect English and her diction, you know, grammar. Well, you
know what she's going to say before she says it, don't you?
A parent does. The Lord does, knows us too.
He knows what things we have need of even before we ask the
scriptures. Eloquence is not necessary. In
fact, it's to be avoided. I'll give you men a hint in this
thing of prayer. Don't preach. We're not telling
God anything. Don't preach the message. We're
all guilty of trying to preach, and we're conscious of others
hearing us. But better, as one writer said, better to have a
heart without words than words without heart. But our words
are so pitiful, aren't they? We try to express ourselves.
Simplicity and sincerity is not only better, but it's essential. Do I try to impress the one who
made my tongue? But we feel, you know, we want
to say what we want. I don't think there's been, I
can count on one hand maybe, the messages I've preached that
I wasn't just terribly depressed afterward. Nearly every message,
I'm terribly depressed afterward. That's all right, he knows. Our
words are not a word in my tongue, but O Lord, thou knowest it all
together. Verse 5, he says, thou hast beset
me behind. and before, and laid thine hand
upon me. Thou hast beset me behind and
before." Satan said this about Job. Satan was so angry because
he couldn't get to Job. He wanted to get to him. And
he said to God, he said, You've hedged him about. I can't touch
him. That's right. And so are all
of his people. They're hedged about. They're
beset behind and before. He's put a hedge about us. God's
people are hedged in, are surrounded, are encompassed by the Lord.
And they're immortal. Nothing can happen to them except
what God purposes. And they're immortal until He
says it's time for their life to end. And it says He has beset
us behind and before. He is the one who is behind us,
covering our backside, and he's the one that goes before. I love
to read the old westerns. I love to read Louis L'Amour
especially. I've got his whole collection.
A man in a church up in Lexington who passed away recently gave
me his whole collection of Louis L'Amour books, a valuable collection,
and I love to read those books. Well, there's a lot of western
superheroes, you know, in those books. Before old Clint Eastwood
came along. And one fellow in particular
that I liked that, oh, he was so good, and he was helping this
family of greenhorns that was going out west, didn't know anything
about the land, about the dangers, they didn't know anything. Her
husband was a city feller and didn't know anything, and this
old western fella knew it all. Knew all the ropes, knew all
the tricks, knew all the bad guys, knew where the engines
were. And they'd be traveling along and unaware of any problem,
and that old cowboy would be out back of them, covering their
backside, killing outlaws, killing Indians, taking care of them
so they wouldn't be ambushed from behind. He'd go out before
them and scout the land before they got to it, lead them to
water, and on and on. So it is with our God. He has
set us behind and before. And think about this. He says behind us and before,
our past is not going to catch up to us. It's not going to do it. The Lord said there are sins
and iniquities I'll remember no more. Now that's good news. Our past is not going to catch
up to it. If God has forgotten it, why don't we? Well, it's
hard for us to do it, but God has certainly done it. Our sins
are gone. And before, he's gone before us. The future is not
unknown. We are generally afraid of what
we don't know. We're afraid of the unknown.
It's not unknown. Death is not unknown. It's not
something to be feared. The Lord himself went before
it. He went into the grave and he came back out and said, it's
nothing to be afraid of. Dark? No, it's the entrance into
light. I don't care what that old country
song says, you've got to walk that lonesome valley by yourself.
That's just not so. That's not so. Psalm 23 says,
thou art with me, though I walk through the valley. Thou art
with me. He always is. He said he'd never
leave us. He's set us behind and before. And look at this.
And he says, you've laid your hand upon me. I want you to turn over to Luke
13. Luke chapter 13. He's laid his hand upon us. You
know sometimes when somebody just touches you, a friend, your
husband, your wife, a brother, sister, when they just put their
hand on you, it's so endearing, isn't it? It's so comforting.
It doesn't help just to be touched every now and then, lay their
hand on you. Last night I was so blessed. One of the ladies, we had a big
dinner for Barbara last night, and one of the ladies got up
and walked around the table and greeted every single person.
I was waiting on her to come to me, and she did. I said, I'm
just so honored that you would take the time to speak to me.
Put her arms around me. He laid his hand upon her. Look
at chapter 13 of Luke, of the Gospel of Luke. Verse 11 and
following, Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of
infirmity eighteen years. That's about how long mine was.
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty years. And was bowed together,
that is, laid low, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, when
the Lord looked on her with mercy and compassion, he saw her first.
And he called her to him. She came. And he said unto her,
look at, he did it all, didn't he? Woman, thou art loose from
thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her. And immediately, she's made straight. And what she did? Glorified God. That's what the Lord's done to
all his people. Laid his hands on them. Laid his hands on them. Loosed us from our infirmity.
Endeared himself to us. Go back to the text. And so David
says, God's absolute knowledge of us. God's absolute knowledge
of me. is, verse 6, it's too wonderful
for me. It's too wonderful for me. It's
high. It's so, so high. I cannot attain
unto it. The height, the depth, the length,
the breadth the love of God, the knowledge of God, of his
people. It's too wonderful for me, David
said. I can't understand it, I wonder at it, I marvel at it,
but I don't understand a God such as this. We cannot comprehend
this God, but we're glad we can. I'm like Spurgeon. Spurgeon said,
I don't want a God I can understand. If I could, that means he's like
me. I want a God who's incomprehensible. I want a God who I can't understand.
I want a God who's infinitely higher than I am. Whose ways
are not my ways. Whose thoughts are not my thoughts.
Who's so far above me as the heavens are above the earth.
That's the God I want. And that's the God we have. This knowledge is too wonderful
for me. Listen to an old writer. An old writer said this. And he's kind of eloquent, but
it's good. One of the old writers said,
at one view, God surveys all the past, the present, and the
future. His eye sees the movement of
every star, every planet, yet beholds the slightest motion
of the smallest insect. He hears, he's here, he hears
the praise of angels, cherubs, seraphs, the heavenly throng. He hears that vast multitude
at the same time he hears every prayer of every saint in every
closet. As well as, and he knows this
too, the Lord hears this, every idle and polluted word made by
mankind all over this planet. He takes them all into account.
Before him stands every act, every event for the past 6,000
years and beyond, as well as everything to come. All has been
ordered or ordained according to his purpose or his glory. So David says, it's too wonderful
for me. Was it Job that said, I've spoken
things too wonderful for me, too great for me? He said, the
scripture says, he calls things that be not as though they were.
There's not a sparrow, not a sparrow mind you, not a sparrow. How many, how many sparrows are
there all over the world? Not a sparrow that falls to the
ground. An insignificant, seemingly,
little bird that falls to the ground. without your Heavenly
Father ordaining it for his purpose. Not a spare. Every hair in every
head on this earth is numbered. Every hair. Now, that's too wonderful
for me. David said that's too high. But I like it. I like it. Well, the heathen now, he goes
on, the heathen mock us, don't they? The heathen in another
place, I think it's Psalm 115, said to David, where is your
God? They mocked David, and they do that today. Where is the promise
of his coming? Where is he? I haven't heard
him, I haven't seen him. No, of course you haven't. You believe not because you're
not his sheep. If you were one of his, he'd
reveal himself to you. But they haven't heard him, they
haven't seen him. And they mock, saying, where is your God? We
don't see him. David says, where is he not? This is what David goes on to
say. Where is he not? Look at it. Verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. You know, there are times when
we get up on the mountain, don't we? We come in here, those are
usually the times when we all rise up to Mount Pisgah's lofty
heights and view that city, don't we? There are times we do, don't
we, Barbara? We're way up on the mountain,
boy, and we're just ready to, like Moses, ready to go. Ready to go. But then, and God's
with us, but then, it says, if I make my bed in hell, Next morning,
we come off a mountain road with Kevin, and we get out in the
gutter, down and sinful and dirty and feel like the Lord's left
us. Nope. He's there. He's there. As high as we go, he's there.
As low as we go, he's there. Verse 9, if I take the wings
of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold
me. All the disciples knew this, because they that go down in
ships do business in deep water. Those disciples were men of the
ocean that had been through numerous storms, and there were a couple
of them that they went through that they didn't think they were
going to make it. And the Lord wasn't around. They didn't think
he was. You remember when the Lord told them, You see, he was
behind them. The Lord told them, there were
many times when the Lord told them, you go on before me. What's
he doing? Covering the backside. And there
were times when he said, I'm going before you. You come after
me. One time he sent them out on
a boat. He stayed back on the lane. Remember? He sent them
out on that boat. And they toiled all night rowing,
and the sea was rough, and they thought they were goners. Where's
the Lord? Well, look. Come walking on the
water. Just when they needed him most.
Just when they thought they were about to go down. He said, I'll
never leave you. Be not afraid, it is I. Oh, Peter. I love Peter. So he says, if you're there,
your right hand shall hold me. Peter fell down under the waves,
and the Lord picked him up. Verse 11. If I say, surely the
darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about
me. Oh, the Lord's omniscience sees all. The Lord's omnipotence
is all-powerful. The Lord's omnipresence is everywhere
at one time. He's there in verse 12. Yea,
the darkness hideth not from thee. Folks do things under the
cover of darkness. Most sin, most evil is committed
under the cover of darkness, they think. The darkness is light under the
Lord. Look at it. The night shineth as the day.
The darkness and light are both alike to them. The believer doesn't
try to hide from God anyway, or shouldn't. They don't. They come to the light, that's
what the Lord said in one place, they come to the light so that
their deed might be manifested, exposed. That's what David's
going to say in a minute. Verse 13, now look at this, this
is good. He says, Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me
in my mother's womb. Thou hast possessed my reins."
Reins being, that's a common word used in the Old Testament,
being your innermost being. He possesses us, mind, body,
soul, and spirit. The Lord owns it. You're not
your own, believer. You're bought with a price. You're bought with a price. You
belong to the Lord himself. And we belonged to him before
we even existed. before we even existed. Look
over at Proverbs 8 with me. Proverbs chapter 8. Now I know
you know this is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs
8, those of you who have read it, this glorious chapter of
wisdom of Christ, who is wisdom, and I know you know this speaks
of Christ. Verse 22 says, The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, ever the earth
was. That's Christ, isn't it? But when was there ever a time
when his people were not considered in Christ? There never was a time when his
people were not considered by God to be in Christ. We were
chosen by him when? Before the foundation of the
world. and given to Christ, put in Christ, in him, in that covenant
of redemption, that covenant of God, before the world began,
God Almighty put us in Christ. Now think about that. Before
we were a gleam in our daddy's eye or my mother's eye, God Almighty
knew us. God Almighty purposed all things
concerning us, everything. Christ and his people have always
been considered by him. God knew us before we were. Back in our text, this is what
he goes on to say, verse 14, I will praise thee, I am fearfully
and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works, that my soul knoweth
right well. You know, this is the essence
and the theme of our preaching, the wonderful works of our God.
That's what we want to do every time we stand to preach, to tell
the wonderful works of God. That's what the Lord said to
that, was it the blind man? Go home and tell what wonderful
things the Lord has done for you. That's what the psalm says. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the sons
of men. That's what we want to do every
time we come in here. Every time I stand up here, I
want to draw your attention to the wonderful works of our Not
only creation, not only the creation of this world, this universe,
and this body. David knew more than the wisest
physician, modern physician, didn't he? He said, I am fearfully
and wonderfully made thinking about this body. This is the
most exquisite, marvelous creation in the universe. When God Almighty
created The planets, the sun, the moon, the stars, it's good.
It's good. Good. Oh, my. Good. When God created the seas
and the land, he said it's good. Good. My, my. Look at the Rocky Mountains.
Look at the Blue Ridge Mountains. Good. Look at the Atlantic Ocean.
Good. When God Almighty created the
animals, Elephants and lions and tigers and horses and you
name it. Glorious creature. He said, it's
good. It's good. Good? My, my, is it ever good. When God Almighty created man
in His image, the most glorious of all these creatures, He said,
it's very good. Very good. There's nothing like,
no, we didn't come from apes. We turned into one. Man has turned
into one, we sure didn't come from one, though. This is too
glorious, too marvelous a creation to be less than the handiwork
of God himself. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
amazed. He said, Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth
right well. Like I said, the theme and the
essence of our preaching is God's wonderful and marvelous work.
Not only creation, but especially salvation. This is the work of
works. Now he said the creation was
good, he said the creation of man was good, but when he talked
about salvation, John, he said some great salvation. Great salvation. This great and
wondrous and marvelous work called redemption. God became a man. He who was with the Father became, he who
was, is the Father, became a son. The child is the father of the
mother. He who has no beginning of days
was an infinite day. He whose voice is the sound of
many waters and the thunder that rolls cried like a baby and became a man, grew up, became
a man, tempted in all points like as we are. without sin,
a sinless man, a sinless, can you get a hold of that, a sinless
man, a man who never thought evil, never thought wrong, never
thought ill, never performed any, only good and kind and loving,
and praise to God and thanksgiving. He who knew no sin, though, was
made sin by God. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." What a wonderful work. What a
wonderful work. He whose life itself died, he
who cannot die, dies. That's too wonderful for me.
But I like what David said here. He said, marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well." Now, I don't know much,
Nancy P. I don't know much, but I know
this. All things are of God, and that
my soul knoweth right well. Now, I don't know much. I don't
know so much about, I started to call it superlaparopsy. That's a medical term. Soteriology. This inflexarianism, all these
theological terms, I don't know much, but I know this, salvations
of the Lord. And that my soul knoweth right
well. Right well. God's works. It's all of the
Lord. Of him, through him, to him, for him, because of him.
It's of the Lord. I know that right well. That's
all I need to know. All right, go on. In verse 15
and 16, my substance was not hid from thee when I was made
in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
That's talking about the womb. That's about as low as we'll
ever get in the womb. And it says, Thine eyes did see
my substance, yet being unperfect, in thy book all my members were
written, which in continuance. That is, they were fashioned
in time, or fashioned before there was any. God ordained them. Everything about me. They call
it genes. I call it God. Man wants to give credit for
anything and everything but God. No. God's the one that ordered
everything about us. The color of your hair, the color
of your eyes, how many cells in your body. And just before
This covers the abortion issue, doesn't it? It sure does answer that. Verse
17, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God? Do you know there are very few
things in scripture that are called precious? Very few things. It talks about precious promises. It talks about the precious blood.
It says he is precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Precious. But here it says His
thoughts toward His people are precious. I have to bring up a grandmother
here to illustrate this. Why are you smiling there, Jeanette? I'll pick on you then. I wasn't
going to talk about you. I'm going to now. Do you ever,
what kind of thoughts do you have toward that little girl? Do you ever have ill will? Do
you ever think, I'm going to jerk her up by the hair of the
head? She needs it, but mama and the grandmama never thinks
that, does she? Never, it never enters your mind,
does it? Well, I'll just... Precious thoughts. And that's
a poor illustration, really. But God Almighty's thoughts toward
His people are precious. They're precious to Him. Everything
about them. His thoughts toward them are
precious. And it says the sum of them.
How great is the sum of them? God's thoughts. How often do
you think of that little girl, Jeanette? Well, you lot. But not every
minute of every day. God does. His people. They're never out of His thoughts. It's wonderful to think that
somebody's thinking about you. Somebody calls you up and says,
I was thinking about you and just wanted to tell you something.
Oh, really? Me? Why? Thank you. God. God Almighty. Who has, may I
say it, better things to do. greater things to attend to than
me, yet he thinks on me all the time. Precious thoughts. Precious
thoughts. And they are greater than I could
number. Read on. Verse 18. When I awake, you see,
when we go to sleep, everything is out of sight, out of mind,
isn't it? Well, he that keepeth Israel. Psalm 116. So never slumber nor sleep. Never
slumber. Psalm 121. God never sleeps. Never sleep. When I wake, I'm
still with thee. Verse 19. Surely thou wilt slay
the wicked, O God. Who's the wicked? It's those
that don't love God. To put it in a nutshell, it's
those that don't acknowledge God. They're unthankful. Romans
1 says it. Psalm 14 says it. Proverbs 1
says it. Those that don't acknowledge
God. Those that have no use for God. The fool that says, no God. Those that don't thank Him. Those
that don't worship Him. Those that don't love God's Son. Romans 16, I believe it is, says,
Curses everyone that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
that don't love the Son. God Almighty says for the angels
to worship Him, that everything that hath breath worship Him.
And some creature that needs the mercy, the grace, the blood
of God's Son so desperately, lest they die, is not interested? Man, that's the wicked. It's not just those who commit
openly immoral acts. It's those who have no use for
God. They can be very moral people, but to God, he hates them. They're
wicked. That's what he said, didn't he,
in one place? Matthew 7. He says, David said, Depart from
me, therefore, you bloody men. Depart from me, therefore. David
says, I don't want nothing to do with these God-haters. They
speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name
in vain." You know who that's talking about. That's talking
about these false prophets. That's talking about these people
that speak blasphemy and heresy against our God. That's who it's
talking about. False religions is who David's
talking about. David said, I want nothing to
do with them. That's the reason I don't go to these prayer breakfasts
with these hirelings. That's the reason I don't have
anything to do with these fellows. The Lord didn't. The Lord didn't
have anything to do with any of them. Did he? They speak against God. I'm like
Barnard. Remember Barnard praying that
prayer? Lord, they're butchering your gospel, they're lying on
you. I'm not going to pray for them. That's so. to take God's name in vain. They're
not glorifying God before this wicked generation. They're not
lifting God high before this world. They're bringing him down.
Like Barnard used to say, they're trying to sell Jesus, and if
they won't give a dollar, they'll take him down. David says, get
the hell out of here. I don't want to have anything
to do with you. May I say that? Sure may. I don't want anything
to do with them. I wish I could call fire down
from heaven like Elijah did. That's what the next verse said,
I hate them. Isn't it? Sorry, verse 21. Is that too
hard? It's not too hard. Those that are truly interested
in God's glory hate everybody that brings it down. Do not I hate them, O Lord? Yes,
I do. I hate them that hate thee, and
I am grieved with those that rise up against thee. I hate
them with a perfect hatred. has nothing to do with our denomination,
our church, or what they think of me. It's what they're saying
about my God, Kelly. It's what they're saying about
Jesus Christ. I hate it. Don't you? I can imagine David
peeing in the nest, can't you? Too hard on it. Shoot. Read the prophets, would you?
Read The prophets had them hacked to pieces. You remember that
scene? Samuel brought in those prophets
and hewed them to pieces with a sword. False prophet. I hate them with a perfect taker.
I count them mine enemies. Mine enemies. You love wolves? I hate them, but I hate them
with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Those
who are the enemies of God are my enemies, too. How much more? God's enemies
are my enemies. Anybody who doesn't love this
man, they're not my friend. Anybody who speaks evil of this
man is not my friend. I'm not going to eat with them
and rub shoulders with them. How much less, my God? Hmm? That's just the facts. It doesn't get along fine. It's changed pleasantry. Boy,
when religion comes up. Okay, let's go on to the next
part. So David says, in closing, here's a closing prayer. He asks
for three things. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. I thought we were searched, David.
You said that. He now has to search me. Yes,
we are. And I want him to continue to
do so. We really do. Though we are fully known by
God. Fully. We saw that. We halfway
saw that we're fully known. Did you get that? We halfway understand now how
we're fully known. But David says that we're fully
known, yet I want the Lord to continue to search me, examine
me, and lay me bare. Lay me bare. Lay bare my heart
before him, unto myself. This is why the older you get,
the more you grow in grace, the more you hate yourself. That's
right. The more you love the gospel,
the more you thank God for his mercy and his grace, the more
it means to you. That's the reason I hire. This
is what John said. John said it best. He said he
must increase. Well, for him to increase, what
have I got to do? Decrease. Decrease. Try me, David said. Search me. Try me. Test me. Oh, my. I don't want it, yet
I do. You understand what I'm saying?
I don't want trials, but The Lord says, if you're not, you're
not one of mine. You don't know if the ship's
going to float. I'm not asking for them. But, ah boy, try me. Know my thoughts. Know my thoughts. David in another
place said, my secret sins make me to understand, know my secret
sins. Presumptuous sins. Know my thoughts. And see, verse 24, see if there
be any wicked way in me. He's not saying, I think it's
all gone, and I'm not sure if there's any more left, and would
you see if there's any, that's not what he's saying. He's saying,
search out, dig up, find that I don't know is there. There's
so much I know is there, but so much I don't know, and find
it out, get rid of it, and leave me. lead me in the way everlasting. Search me, try me, and lead me. The way? What's the way everlasting? Yeah, Christ. Lead me to Him. Okay, I hope that's a blessing
to you. Searched and known. You see,
it's great comfort. It's great comfort. more comforting
to know that He knows you, knows everything about you, and knows you better than you know
yourself, and loves you. All right, let's stand. Our Father, thank You for Your
Word. It is our comfort and our help. We thank You for it. I ask that
You would not let the fowls of the air take it away or the thorns
choke it out, but let us receive it from the heart and let it
bear fruit thirty, sixty, a hundredfold to your glory. Thank you for
your word, the word of promise. It is in Christ's name we are
met here tonight. Amen. Thank you.