And this is a beloved, comforting,
and intensely personal psalm. The way he speaks, oh Lord, thou
has searched me and known me. What a humbling thing it is to
be a me that he has known and that he has searched. So I pray
that the Lord will enable us to enter in to this glorious
psalm written by David. I don't know what the circumstance
was but this is such a special psalm that I'm so thankful for. Oh Lord. He begins with Jehovah. The self-existent one is what
the name means. Self-existent. He has no needs. I love to think about this. He
has no needs. What a glorious being that has
no needs. He's utterly independent. He
created the universe, not because he needed to, but because he
was pleased to do it. He's not dependent upon me in
any way. He doesn't need anything from
me. He is the self-existent, independent one. And there's
so much implied in that. Oh Lord, thou has searched me. and known me. He searched me. He searched for
me as the good shepherd goes after his sheep. He's known me. He knows me. He said, I know my sheep and
am known of mine. And what a glorious thing to
think that the God of glory, not only does he know of my existence,
he knows me. He knows me. Now that you've
known God or rather are known of God, how turn you again to
those weak and beggarly elements? Thou hast known me. Now that can't be said of every
son of Adam. He's going to say to a large
group on judgment day depart from me. I never knew you and
yet with regard to every believer this intense personal knowledge
thou has searched me and known me. I think of what Peter said to
the Lord when the Lord said, do you love me more than these?
And he said, Lord, you know all things. You know how contradictory I
am. I can't fool you. I can pretend to be something
before somebody else, but you know me all together. And you
know that I love your person. know me. Verse two, thou knowest
my down sitting and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. You know everything about me.
You know what I'm standing up. You know what I'm sitting down.
You understand my thoughts, even when I don't understand them.
And I don't. I don't understand my thoughts,
but he does. He knows them all together. Thou compassed my path and my
lying down." Now, like Job, the Lord's put a hedge around every
one of his people. You're right where he has put
you. He compassed your path, your
lying down. You know, when you're asleep,
he's not. When he's asleep, he never sleeps. There's not a verse
four or verse three, you're acquainted with all my ways. This is his
knowledge of me. Don't you love the way he says
this? You know me. Now this is, every believer can say this in
this personal way. You know me. You're acquainted with all my
ways. Verse four, for there's not a
word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. You know me to this extent. You
know every word in my tongue altogether. Now, what knowledge
he has of every single one of his people. what interest he
has in every single one of his people. I think of when Martha
said Lord don't you care that my sister has left me to serve
alone. And she demonstrated at that
time such an ignorance of the character of the Lord. He knows
me all together. Verse five, you've beset me behind
and before. Now think of the protection there.
He's behind you, he's before you. He who is self-existent,
he who is all-powerful. What a place to be. He's before me, he's behind me. I'm absolutely safe and secure
in him. Now, I love what David says in
verse six, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high. I can't attain to it. I can't
intellectually grasp this. I just believe it. The independent,
self-existent God, the Lord Jesus Christ, being behind me, I don't
know how else to say this, but he's got my back. He's got my
back. I don't know what's behind me.
He does. He's behind me. He's before me. He surrounds
me. He knows all my ways. This is not a God afar off. I
love his name, Emmanuel, God with us, not God against us,
not God afar off, but God with us. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high. I cannot attain into
it. Now he's been talking about God's
omniscience, his knowledge, not only of everything but of me
personally, this intense personal knowledge that he has of me.
And let's go on reading. Now he talks about God's omnipresence.
Now before I go on, what does omnipresence mean? Me and you
are stuck right now in space and time. In space, I can't be
two places at once. In time, I am stuck here in the
present. I can't change the past, I don't
know what's gonna happen tomorrow. He is not bound by space or time. He is omnipresent. You cannot go anywhere where
he is not. And this isn't just general.
This is regard to every single believer. You can't go anywhere
where he is not surrounding you when you're aware of it and when
you're not aware of it. This is the case. Now look in
verse 7. Whether shall I go from thy spirit. or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? Now, David is speaking in the
sense that he knows he can be a wandering, straying sheep. That's what he's speaking of
when he's talking about going from his presence. Leaving, as
it were. He says, it cannot be done. Whether shall I go from thy spirit
or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, that's poetic language
of some kind, beautiful. Even there, verse 10, shall thy
hand lead me. Now when I'm thinking I'm going
from his presence, like Jonah did, guess who was leading him?
All along. There's never a time when the
shepherd is not leading the sheep. And not only leading, he says,
thy right hand shall hold me. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
right hand of God. He is God. He's God's power. He's God's right hand. And he
said with regard to his sheep no man can pluck them out of
my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all and
no man can pluck them out of my father's hand. Oh to be in
the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that. I'm utterly and
completely in his hand. His will is always done. I'm under his complete protection.
Isn't it great to be a sheep? Verse 11. I may feel like I'm
in the dark. But he's not in the dark. The light shines continually
with him. And he always has complete knowledge
and is in the complete presence of his people all the time. He says in verse 13, For thou has possessed my reins.
Now my reins are my innermost feelings. My innermost thoughts. My innermost
emotions that I probably can't even express. And I don't even
understand them all. Well he's possessed them and
made them his possession. whatever innermost thoughts and
feelings I have, He gave to me. And I don't have any doubt about
this. That's talking about the love
He gave me for Him. I love Him. And I realize He gave me that
love and everything that's associated with that. Oh, His innermost,
thoughts toward my innermost thoughts. He has possessed them
and he controls them. They're his. Thou has possessed
my reins. Thou has covered me in my mother's
womb. Now I want you to think about
that. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. That is said of every individual
believer. Before, I formed thee in the
belly. I knew thee whom he did foreknow. Them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. Paul said in Galatians
115, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb. Now think about that. Before you were even separated
from your mother's womb, his hand was upon you. Before you
had any substance, he knew you. You had personality that he loved,
that he accepted, that he embraced before you had any existence.
He always knew you. I will praise thee. He says in
verse 14, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and
that my soul knoweth right well. Now I think that this is talking
also about the Lord Jesus when he's speaking of the body the
Lord gave him. A body hast thou prepared me. And the Lord Jesus at one time
did not have a body. Two thousand years ago, he was
made flesh and he has a body. But this is all thought. You
think of the wonder of the body. Think of the eye. Think of the
heart. Think of all the physical processes
that the Lord has made in the human body. How offensive is
it to deny him being the creator? It's just utterly offensive. You look at the human body, the
amazing nerve system, and just everything that takes place.
He says, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. I'm sure of this. Now look
what he says in verse 15. My substance, what I'm made of,
was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Read that, the first
thing that comes to my mind is something taking place in some
kind of subterranean cavern way down, but that's not what that's
talking about, that's talking about the womb. And it's speaking
that way in Ephesians chapter four. But my substance, everything
about me, my members, my personality, everything about me was known
before it began. I was born September 9th, 1959.
I was conceived, I guess, somewhere around nine months before then.
Well, before any of that happened, He knew me. All my members were
written down in His eternal book, the book of His decrees. That's
the book that He was able to take from him that sat upon the
throne and he was worthy to open this book that has the names
of God's elect written down in it that has their members that
has everything. It can't be added to it can't
be subtracted from now my name was written in your book. Before verse 16 nine eyes did
see my substance yet being imperfect and in that book all my members
were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there
were none of them. Now what a glorious thing a complete person before to him
that he saw that he knew that he loved before I had any existence. Verse 17 how precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they're
more in number than thy sand. When I awake, I'm still with
thee." Now, we think, I know I do, a lot of times, about the
Lord being mad at us. because of our sinfulness, our
thoughts, and whatever it might be. But do you know his thoughts,
because of Christ, are always thoughts of peace, desire, approval,
acceptance? Because that's who I am in Christ
Jesus. Accepted in the beloved, in the
Lord. I love that passage in, Jeremiah
29, I think it's verse 11, I know the thoughts I have of you, thoughts
of peace and not evil to bring you to an expected end. His precious thoughts. Now, how
does he think of Christ? Here's the key to understanding
this. How does he think of Christ? What are his thoughts of his
son? Oh, he's so delighted in his son. He sees such beauty
in his son, altogether lovely, his son. As He is, so are we
in the world. 1 John 4, 17. That's the way
the Lord looks at every one of His people. Thoughts of peace,
approval, delight, desire, joy. He says, I'll joy over thee with
singing. God says that. I'll joy over thee with singing. What glory there is in His thoughts
toward us. Now think about the Lord thinking
about you. and having nothing but thoughts of approval and
peace and joy in Christ Jesus. Now, David says, as he was meditating
on how glorious the Lord is, how he knows all How you can't go
anywhere where he's not. He's omnipresent. He's omniscient.
He's omnipresent. He is altogether lovely. And this thought occurs to David's
mind as he was meditating on the Lord. Look what he says in
verse 19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked. Now is this Why did he come up with this
all of a sudden when he'd been talking about how glorious the
Lord is? And then all of a sudden he says, surely thou wilt slay
the wicked. Why does he speak like this?
Because anyone that does not see the Lord Jesus Christ as
altogether lovely ought to be slain. Now I know the only reason
I do is because he enabled me to. But here's the fact of the
matter. The natural man hates Jesus Christ. The cross is the proof. And if
you want to know what you are by nature look at the cross.
When God the Son came to this earth men nailed him to a cross. That's what they wanted to do.
Luke 24 25 says Pilate delivered him to their will. And that was
their will. Men hate Jesus Christ. And David thinks of that and
he thinks they're all going to be slain. Surely thou wilt slay
the wicked. Now this is a holy desire inspired
by God the Holy Spirit. Now we want everybody to be saved
don't we? We want everybody that Christ
died for to be saved, but we also know there are wicked men
who have no love for Christ. And he says, And that's talking
about men who are guilty of the crucifixion of Christ. And the
fact of the matter is, you and I are. Now let's look what he
says next. Here is why he speaks with this
language. For they speak against thee wickedly,
and thine enemies take thy name in vain. The natural man is the
enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so, where if it were
in their power, they would kill him, which they did when it was
given the power, and want him to be no more. Now that is the
state of the natural man, enemies of God. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. And that's my mind by nature.
Thank the Lord for His grace that He would deliver me and
know me and be with me because I know that that's what I am
by nature, this description of the natural man. He says, for
they speak against thee wickedly, thine enemies take thy name in
vain. And I want you to think the Lord is so glorious that
even to speak his name without the proper reference is a sin
that deserves hell. Now, if I can't see that, it's
because I can't see him. He's so glorious that to even
take his name in vain is a sin that deserves eternal banishment
from his presence. That's how glorious he is. And
thine enemies take thy name in vain. Now look what David says.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved
with those that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect
hatred. I count them my enemies. Now,
first of all, that's the Lord speaking. He says, do not I hate
them that hate Thee? And he does, he loves his father. I think of Paul's last words
to the Corinthians in verse 16, 22, if any man. I don't care who it is. If any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema, maranatha. Let him be damned on the return
of the Lord. Was Paul speaking harshly? No.
No. And this hatred is not human
hatred that he's speaking of. If I hate somebody it's because
I think they've done me wrong and I'm mad at them and I've
got a wicked evil attitude. This is not talking about our
selfish self-centered hatred. This is talking about a perfect
hatred. And we know only the Lord had
this in its fullness. But this is the way a believer
feels about enemies of Jesus Christ, who die enemies of Jesus
Christ. Now, we can't enter into it fully
right now, but on Judgment Day, if I see somebody cast into hell,
according to the Scriptures, we will say, righteous are your
judgments, O Lord. We'll be in complete agreement
with Him. It's hard to get ahold of that,
but it's, one of these days we will. But David says, Do not
I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? Am I not grieved with those
that rise against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies. Now he ends this psalm, Search me, O God. Now he had
previously said, Thou hast searched me and known me. And now he's
using the word in a little bit different way. Search me altogether
and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. If I'm deceived, would you show
me? That's what he means. If I'm
deceived, I want you to know my heart altogether. Religious people say, won't you
give Jesus your heart? Well, I know this. I want him
to search me and know me altogether, know my thoughts, and see if
there be any wicked way in me. Now, there's only one way that's
not a wicked way. Christ said, I am the way. I
am the way to the Father. Lord, make sure that's my only
way. See if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me. I love the hymn we sing, He leadeth
me, O blessed thought. Lead me in the way, Christ the
way, the eternal way, the way everlasting. What a beautiful
psalm, amen.