May the Lord help you in hearing
friends and one in speaking. I would direct your prayerful
attention to Psalm 139, verse 17. Psalm 139, verse 17. How
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. I wonder how many texts we could
read, friends, that would have two exclamation marks in them. As you young friends know, we
put an exclamation mark in if something is there that is to
be exclaimed out loud. And it adds emphasis to the sentence. And as I just read it, I thought
there's two of them there, and how this word commands it, the
thoughts of God. Now, This psalm is one of 55
that was written to the chief musician, or that the chief musician
should be the musician that controls the singing of them. Because
as you know, the psalms are metrical and all were written to be sung. And the chief musician, a Psalm
of David. You find in this psalm, as you
look at the background, and may we be helped to do that before
coming to our text, we find in the background that there is
much of the power of Almighty God expressed by David here. He speaks, initially friends,
of the omniscience of God. He speaks secondarily from verse
seven onwards of the omnipresence of God. And then really from
verse 12 onwards, well 13 really, the omnipotence of God. Those
three omnis that we hear of often mentioned in our pulpits, omni
of course meaning every, So everywhere the eyes of God,
omnipresence, everywhere He is present and He's omnipotent,
He has every power in all matters. Here David covers all three. So from verse one down to verse
six, thou hast searched me and known me, thou knowest, thou
compassest, there's not a word in my tongue, Thou hast laid
Thine hand upon me, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, the
omnipresence of God, that He is everywhere seeing us exactly
as we are. I wonder how comfortable that
makes you and I feel, friends. I know we hear these things,
but God's all seeing eye upon us. David acknowledged it. David
felt uncomfortable because of his sins. There was discomfort
for David. You know, Nathan came to him
and said this, thou art the man. I tell you this, my friends, the
dear Lord convicted me when somebody mentioned something to me and
that dear person is my Nathan. We know it. Ah, what about this? Yes, confession before God. It was me. I did it. What about
it, you young friends? Have any ever told you you've
done something wrong? Perhaps your parents have. And
has it come home to you like this? I've done it before. My parents are aware, but God
is aware. He's seen that sin. He knows
that I've done that thing that's wrong. Yes. Friends, I hadn't thought
of speaking like this at all, but I'll tell you this, when
the Lord convicted me of that particular sin and in that way,
thou art the man, thou art the man, don't look at another, thou
art the man, the eye of God upon me for my sin. You know, the
next, Well, I think it was later the same day, actually. No, it
was the next day. I wandered up Cranbrook High
Street, and it brings it back to me being in the town here.
And there was a car park, friends, and I felt fully my sinnership
before God. And I looked at this car, and
there was a text in the back of it. And it was this, the Lord
is with me always. and quoted the word. Now the
word in our Bible friends is this, Lo, I am with you always. I stood on the corner of the
street and I can honestly tell you I wept because the Lord spoke
it into my heart. You're a defiled man, thou art
the man, but I have thoughts of peace towards thee and not
of evil to give thee an expected end. God's thoughts. And so,
friends, that conviction was followed by a word of comfort
and consolation. And young friends, if you felt
that conviction, may you find the Lord yet speaking in deliverance
to give you some hope. And we'd had no thoughts of these
comments, but you see, David was seen, the omnipresence of
God. in the omniscient eye of God
and his omnipotence in his mighty power. So verse 1 to 6 and then
we come to the presence, the omnipresence of God from verse
7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. Yes, everywhere. And so it is. Even shall thy
right hand lead me. Even there, the uttermost parts
of the sea. There's no getting away from
God, you know. And although there are many in
the world that think they can, And they do, because they will
perish in their sins. But none of the ransomed shall
ever be lost. They can't be lost. And the Lord
will reach out arm. And I believe it behoves us to
pray earnestly for those who have left the courts of God in
desiring that yet the prodigals shall return. Because There is
a time, there is a period known to God when all his sheep redeemed
by blood shall leave the hateful ways of sin, turn to the fold
and enter in. And friends, just because you've
come to chapel doesn't mean to say that you've left the hateful
ways of sin. It doesn't mean to say that you've
entered in. There needs to be a searching out of the heart,
but it's wonderful to see the young friends in chapel. Do not
get my point wrong. but there must be the application
of the word in the soul. And that's what we would ever
contest for, isn't it? Application. You see, we come
then to that where there is the acknowledgement of how wonderfully
made, fearfully and wonderfully made, which really sets forth
in those verses there preceding our text, between 13 and 16,
really it speaks there of the omnipotence of God. God, God
in his perfection has created, created man, created David, fearfully
and wonderfully made. Friends, it's such a wonderful
thought that David in all his imperfections was able to write
a psalm, pen a psalm like this where very much he speaks of
the power and might of Almighty God because he knew it. And friends, that's real teaching
in the heart that we would ever contest for. So we come to this
then when he considers, we consider our text, how precious are thy
thoughts unto me, O God. So what is a definition of the
word precious? Before we come to the thoughts
of God. Now the word precious can mean
something that's important. It can mean something that has
got a high value. It can mean something that is
rare. Now friends, I believe in the
terms of God's thoughts towards me, says the psalmist, and the
psalmist being an example of the Lord's people, the thoughts
of God to his people are not rare thoughts. I don't think
that's the application of that dictionary rendering of the word precious. I think it's more important
Definitely important, those thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
us an expected end. Those thoughts of love, those
thoughts of mercy, despite the wretchedness and the sins. And
we've spoken of our own little case. But you see, friends, that's
what it is. The preciousness that's in those,
they're important, but also the value of them. The value of the
preciousness of those thoughts is eternal, life friends. How can we put an estimation
on the value of those thoughts? How precious, how precious they
are. Yes, more precious than all the
rubies, all the gold, all of the valuable coins in the world,
more precious. What shall it benefit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? Friends, the
benefit of God's thoughts towards us. How precious then are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. His thoughts unto the wicked
are this. that He has created the wicked. He has created the waster to
destroy. And don't we see those going
about with a destructive spirit? But, friends, the Lord's people
created to worship Him, but His thoughts towards them, His thoughts. Now, friends, I wonder if you've
ever considered how many thoughts the average human being has in
a day. As I understand it, it's about
6,000, which comes down to, and you can work it out, but it comes
out to three or four thoughts in every minute of the day. And
even as you sit and listen to a sermon, your thoughts will
be I hope on the subject, but they will also be flying here
and there a little, won't they? Even around the subject matter
we're talking about. Our minds are ever on the move.
Our thoughts. What about God's thoughts for
the six billion people that are upon the earth at this point
in time? Thoughts for many that they have
no love to him. They have no time for him. They
have sadly no knowledge of him But for those and we have no
idea of the number that are to be saved That are currently upon
the earth. We know that the number friends
But for those that are his the apple of his eye Those that will
know what it is to have those blessings of apples of gold and pitchers of
silver. They're special, they're sought
out, they're a city not forsaken. There are people that his thoughts
are precious towards. We know not how many there are,
but I know this friends, that his thoughts towards them are
continuous. You and I lack, we will go through
days, hours, days sometimes, barely thinking about God. Even
the most ardent Christian, the strongest believer, will have
times when they do not think upon their God. And we must be
honest in our thoughts in this way. It is so. We may have those
6,000 on average thoughts per day, but how many are towards
the Lord Jesus Christ and God in heaven. But he's a precious. His thoughts are on his dear
people. Friends, I want us to, it's a
subject that's beyond our understanding to think of God in heaven and
his thoughts. We read, and it was important,
I felt, to read Isaiah 55 because we often quote this, and move
on because it's quoted in different contexts but as we think of the
thoughts of God in heaven remembering that God it was God man and understands
our thoughts because in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ he came
on earth and would have had and had his own thoughts. Thoughts
that were pure, thoughts that were holy, thoughts that had
no sin in them whatsoever and friends In our 6,000 thoughts,
you know, there's a lot of sinning. A lot of sinning. I think we wouldn't want all
those 6,000 thoughts to be laid open before another man or woman,
would we, or child? All our thoughts to be written
up on that wall over there, all the things we thought today. The Lord sees them. He knows
our thoughts. Every single one of them. Isn't
it searching for us? Doesn't it make us tremble? Well,
it ought to make us tremble. Every single one of those thoughts. Thoughts against people. Thoughts
where we want to see people out of the way and destroyed. I want
to speak carefully. Thoughts where we think evil
towards those that we ought to be thinking kindly towards. Judgmental
thoughts. Challenging thoughts. His thoughts are perfect at all
times. But he says this, let me come
to the word that I was going to mention, for my thoughts are
not your thoughts. They can't be because they're
sinless. They're perfect in every way. For as for God, his way
is perfect, so are his thoughts. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. And
perhaps you young friends, you know, you've got particular thoughts
about something you want to do or a pathway you want to go in. And oh, it may well be that that
is the permissive will of God, in which case it does go with
his thoughts, but it's proving it, it's laying it before him
and watching to see how he will guide and lead and teach you.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts. Friends,
it's like a different layer of thoughts we've got. Right up
there, as in the heavens, and ours are earthy, earthy thoughts. Yes, and they're in the mud,
a lot of them, if we're honest. But isn't there an encouragement
in this that he thinks upon us? that his thoughts are upon the
way that we take. The way I take cannot be wrong
if Jesus be but there, and you know, friends, his thoughts will
be upon us in that way, you young friends, as you seek the guidance
and direction of the Lord, I hope you do. You know, we're going
to sing, how precious are thy thoughts, which are my bosom
roll. They swell beyond my thoughts,
faults and captivate my soul. How great they're some! How high
they rise! Can ne'er be known beneath the
skies. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me. Now this also leads on from the
previous verse which is making the point that thine eyes did
see my substance. yet being unperfect or imperfect. In other words, it's seeing that
we were created in sin, as in Adam and Eve. So we were born
in sin and shaped in iniquity. It's how we were born. We can look on a little baby
and they seemingly perfectly formed but it's not long before
they sin because it's part of their nature. Yes. But you see, and then it says,
how precious also are thy thoughts, the thoughts of a holy God. You know, friends, I'll tell
you this. The true believer will think this, as shown in and under
the work of grace, that we are amazed that God has any thought
towards us whatsoever, let alone thoughts in the plural. Because
why should he think upon those that are so vile? Why should
he think upon those that show such hatred to him in their flesh? Why should he think upon those
that are so distant from God. Why should he bother to think
upon those that trample at times upon his blood? Friends, they
will not want to when they're rightly taught, but in nature,
it's what we do. It's what we have done. Yes,
the wretchedness of our hearts, vile indeed, but you see, we
then see that he has thoughts upon us. It's such a mercy, friends,
to realise it. God has thoughts, thoughts upon
his dear people. You see, the psalmist says earlier
in the book of Psalms, he says, Oh Lord, how great are thy works
and thy thoughts are very deep. Yes, very deep. Beyond us. The sovereignty of God is beyond
us. We've seen something of the sovereignty
of God of late amongst our churches in the sudden taking of that
young man at 19. And our minds cannot get round
it, friends. We cannot comprehend why. Our understanding cannot grasp
it in our thoughts. Because we feel that he was cut
down at a young age. Why? Why, you see, that questioning
of the Lord's will, and that's what we do. And friends, we're
not even closely involved with those dear ones that are in it.
But you see, this is it, isn't it? His thoughts are not our
thoughts. His ways are not our ways. And
perhaps if you have a disappointment at the moment, that you may be
able to consider this in the light of this word, that disappointment. And friends, often when we're
younger, we have those disappointments. Yes, and the hymn writer says,
this disappointment, change one letter and I see this, his appointment,
the H instead of the D. Oh, friends, young friends, You
may have to see that. His appointment, disappointment. Yes, and I'll tell you what,
friends, it's for the older friends too. We need to see that because
so often we have those disappointments in the way. When we thought perhaps
something was going to happen. But you see this, David acknowledges
in Psalm 40, he says, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works
which thou hast done. and thy thoughts which are to
us ward. In other words, they're towards
us. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would
declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Oh, friends, what a mercy that God should think upon you and
me, poor lonely creatures that we are. Yet he thinketh on us. Such a blessing. The gospel in
this. Those are the lost. Those are
the fallen. Yet he thinketh upon them. And I think it is Jeremiah that
speaks in that way. For I know the thoughts. I know my thoughts. and my thoughts
are established and my thoughts are eternal. I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace. Poor soul, poor soul, you're
struggling with sin. You're struggling with the difficulties
in the pathway. You're struggling with afflictions,
you're struggling with all these things. But he says this, the
thoughts I think towards you, in fact, you feel there's little
peace in your life at the moment, but thoughts of peace. Yes, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you an expected
end and that's the end when, oh friends, when you will be
taken up into glory with Him. And then ye shall call upon me,
ye shall go out and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Yes, we often hear that other
verse quoted, but it's important to say this, ye shall, then ye
shall call upon me. Well, friends, His thoughts upon
you mean that you and I should call upon Him. and ye shall go
out and pray unto me. I will hearken unto you, and
ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with
all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity. There's such
a blessing in it. Yes, because if his thoughts
are thoughts of peace and not of evil, You know, through the
prophet Amos, he says this, I will do unto thee, O Israel, yes,
the people of God, that though he that formeth the mountains
and createth the wind and declareth unto man, what is his thought? In other words, he makes clear
some of his thoughts to man. which is interesting because,
and that maketh the morn in darkness and trellith upon the high places
of the earth, the Lord of God of hosts is his name. That's
interesting because you also read in Micah that it speaks
of those that look upon Zion. So in other words, let's come
back, Amos is telling us here that his thoughts that he declared
unto man his thoughts, and Micah is saying that they know not
the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel.
But he, Micah refers to the nations that look on to Zion. In other words, they look on
to the children of God, and they know not the thoughts of the
Lord, those that are not amongst the children of God, those that
are the children of God come into the word of Amos. In other
words, let me try to explain this because we've already quoted
that word in Isaiah as we had in our reading that our thoughts
are not God's thoughts. There are those times when God
reveals his will, therefore his thoughts to us. We will never
grasp God's thoughts. We will never understand them,
friends, in their entirety or anywhere near. But there is,
by divine revelation, there are some thoughts of God that are
revealed to us as poor sinners. And, you know, sometimes He shows
us a way. He says this, I have set before
thee an open door and no man can shut it. And we go through
that open door and we realize the matter proceeded from the
Lord. Or as Abraham's servant said,
the thing proceeded from the Lord. That is God's thoughts
for us in that particular pathway. There is a revelation of his
thoughts. There also is a revelation of
his thoughts when he gives us a blessing in our soul and a
hope that we are numbered amongst the children of God. Some word,
some promise that is sealed upon our heart, it shows his thoughts
of peace towards us. So there is a revelation, but
we will never, I hope we've explained that, the differential there,
but those that are not amongst the children of Israel will never
know his thoughts. will never comprehend any of
them because there's no divine revelation of them. Oh Jesus
reveal thyself to me, says the hymn writer and indeed that's
where we will be. But you see friends in the way
of life, you see I think back to my first pastor dear old Mr
Bradford at Macfield and he was he came out of the Navy after
the war but he wanted to go back into it. He had this plan, he
had this master plan. And don't we for our lives, particularly
when we're younger and we can understand, he had this plan.
He wanted to go back into the Navy, he wanted to get his master
mariners certificate. So he studied hard for the exam
and he turned up for the examination. But before he could do the examination,
he needed to have his eyes tested. Now he'd always had 20-20 vision,
very good eyesight because he had been working in the First
World War in the Navy and one of his jobs was to look out and
to sight the enemy. He got use of his eyes. But you know, he didn't know
that his eyes had been worn out by it. And he failed the eyesight
test. He wasn't even allowed to take
the written test. And he came away and he realised
this, my thoughts are not thy thoughts, your thoughts neither
are my ways thy ways. And he said this at the same
time the Lord spoke that word to him, sit still my daughter,
until they'll know how the matter will fall. And he had to prove
God's ways were different to his ways. God's thoughts were
not the thoughts that he had regarding his future. But may
each of us be wise in seeking God's thoughts for us in the
pathway. And I know they're not always
revealed, Fred. And I know we have to tread sometimes
and watch our signs, but I believe his thoughts are shown in those,
the thoughts of God that are beyond us, unless, unless in
his providence he permits us to see them. Well, that dear
man proved through much trial that different positions were
opened up for him and how the Lord watched over him and how
he granted him that rich provision and he will provide for you poor
soul in whatever way you need. If his thoughts are towards you,
he will provide for you. You know I thought of one who
his thoughts were towards and that was Joseph. I don't know
why it should be Joseph, we could have plucked any character out
of the Bible I suppose that ended up in glory and that we read
something of. But Joseph seemed to be upon
my spirit. Why? Because he had such a contradictory
pathway. He could not have understand
the thoughts of God. Why have I been sold down into
Egypt? Why did my brothers dislike me
because of the coat of many colors? Why did I go down into Egypt? Why, when I'm in Egypt and considered
to be a man of some wisdom and knowledge, was I put in charge
of Potiphar's house? Why was there a false claim against
me? Why did I then, having that false
claim against me, then end up in the prison? Why did I have
to wait two full years in the prison before Pharaoh was brought
to have those dreams? Friends, all these wise and yet
God's thoughts were upon Joseph that he should be raised to be
a number two in Egypt under Pharaoh, that he should in time be able
to feed his brethren from the corn that had been stored up
from the seven years of plenty and readiness for the seven years
when there would be a lack. You see the way right through
Joseph. Joseph, my son is yet alive,
sees Jacob. But you see, Joseph must bring
Jacob to Pharaoh. He must come before that he's
weeping brothers and make himself known. Why was all this? Because God's thoughts were upon
it. This friends, it's summed up
in this and you may find it in your country paths. as we read
in the book of Genesis, as for you, ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good. God meant it unto
good, God's thoughts, God's thoughts are that it was for good, your
thoughts were that it was for evil. Oh, and that's how we think
about the trouble. That's how we think about the
pathways we come into. Dear Joseph, you know, what kindness
he was brought to show to his brethren. They fell down in fear
before his face. Fear not, for am I in the place
of God, he says. Yes. Well, you know, we read
that that the Lord Jesus knew when he was upon earth the thoughts
of those that were around him. We read that when he appeared
to his disciples after, that he'd appeared to Simon and after
he appeared to those on the road to Emmaus, Jesus stood in the
midst of them and he said, peace be unto you. They were terrified.
He said unto them, why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise
in your hearts? Yes. He knows that he knew their
thoughts. They didn't speak a word. And
we read several times in, you will find in the, uh, gospels
that, uh, Jesus knowing their thoughts, knowing their thoughts. So he knows our thoughts. He
knows our thoughts. But this beautiful word we have
by Teksu about his thoughts that are so much higher than ours,
and how precious they are, how great is the sum of them, and
the next verse says this, if I should count them, they're
more than the number of, than the sand. We ever tried to count
the little particles of the sand? Well, of course we haven't. We
know this, that we've only got to go to the beach and put our
towels and things in the back of the car and cleaning out the
sand. It gets everywhere. All the particles get into the
car. Well, how many particles are
there in just one beach? And friends, this is the volume
of the thoughts that God has towards his people. How precious
it is. And that's the right word. In
fact, I think there's not really a word in the English language
that describes the thoughts of God. And we probably need to
take that home and ponder that. But you know, Paul writing to
the church in Rome, Christians in Rome, he says this, who have
known the mind of the Lord? Who have been his counselor?
Yes, you see, oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out. You know, that's really why we
had that hymn 320, because, you know, His ways are past finding
out, they're beyond us. But there are those things. There
are a few things. that we see in our spiritual
and providential pathway where God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain and he shows us therefore what his thoughts
are. But we can't get to his sovereign
will in those, he treasures up his bright designs and he works
his sovereign will is what we sung. And You see, that word
precious is such an interesting word in scripture and I see the
time is going. But I just want to say this friends,
you will find it more in Peter's epistles than anywhere else in
scripture. But you see, the word precious,
really it refers to the Lord Jesus in every way. Precious
are his thoughts. And it says this, that we are
not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious
blood of Christ, that's precious friends. And his thoughts are
upon those that are his, that he will apply that precious blood. And you see, it made me wonder, why Simon
Peter, why? Why did he use that word precious?
because he was a man who knew what it was to go out and weep
bitterly because the Lord convicted him of his sin. And yet, and
yet he wanted to walk close to his Lord and Savior. And he says
this, we are getting, whereby a given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises. Yes. Oh, you search the word
and see it that beautiful word precious but the precious thoughts
of the Lord Jesus Christ and you see it's it comes back to
those definitions we tried to bring out they're so important
those thoughts they're so important and the importance, we will sing
today, the importance of his thoughts throughout a never-ending
eternity. Well, friends, I won't keep you. May you ponder this word. How
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is
the sum of them. Amen.