Lord, be pleased to help us this morning. We direct your prayerful attention to the psalm that we read, Psalm 139, and more particularly, the second verse, verse two.

Now we read these words. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising. Thou understandest my thought afar off.

what a minor experience and heart-breathings are found in the Psalms. Of all the books in God's word, we find in the Psalms more of the utterance and experience of the heart, I think it would be right to say than any other book, how the psalmist breathes out those very things that are the exercise of his heart. And so often we see within one's arms such contrary as it were feelings and do not we find this too? A heart that is so changeable, one moment so blessed perhaps and favoured with the Lord's presence and then we marvel how soon we can be turned aside and so filled with vanities in the things of the world.

but then how blessed there is the other side. How often the Psalms will start off in some low place and then the Lord lifts him out and he's able to sing of the praises of his God. And bearing in mind the experience that is found here, let us first, before we come more particularly to the words of our text, look just generally at the Psalm and what is the exercise of the psalmist at this time.

And there's basically five points upon my mind as what was his exercise here. And firstly we see the knowledge of the Lord. The psalmist is so taken up with the knowledge of the Lord. It so strikes him that wherever he moves, whatever he does, the Lord knows of him. That there is nothing that is hid from his presence. And whatever is his intention to do, the Lord knows it.

Oh, have we been there? Have we been brought to that place of experience where the Lord has convinced us of this? Thou, God, seest me, and thou knowest all about it. Thou knowest all about the condition. One thinks of Sarah's name, Hagar, and how that she went out from her presence And she was found by the well of waters by the Lord. And the Lord knew all about her. He knew her case, knew her condition. He knew exactly all about her. And he gave her direction. Told her to go back and be in subjection unto her mistress.

The Lord knows everything. And she said, she called the name of the Lord there. Thou God, see us now. She knew something of what the psalmist was speaking here. And what a mercy it is for us if we are brought by the Lord to know something of the knowledge that he sees us. Over the pulpit at Geelong in Victoria, those words are written, Thou God, see us now, in large letters above the pulpit. And we would be mindful of this, that the Lord not only sees, but he knows. And he knows where there are those aching hearts. He knows where there are circumstances which may not even have been told unto another, not known to any. And the Lord comes, and by the words that he speaks, by his providence, by his dealings, there is an unfolding of this. There is a knowledge, a persuasion in our hearts. The Lord knows all about the matter.

who was struck recently in reading of Moses and the signs that Moses was given to show unto the children of Israel that they might believe that the Lord had sent him. And the way it speaks to them is that the Lord said, if they will not hear the signs, and if they will not hear, then they will hear thy voice. The thing is, in the signs, there was as much a voice of the Lord as there was through his servant Moses. And so, through providence, through those things that he brings to pass, there is as much the voice of the Lord as when it is heard in your heart or mine. Now, some would seek in a way of direction to have a word from the Lord. And they can find, as it were, the direction having a word applied with power perhaps in the Lord's house or in their reading God's word. Now the Lord is pleased to work in that way but he's not confined to that means.

Why? The children of Israel were going to be told by Moses that the Lord had appeared to them and that they were going to be brought up out of the land of Egypt. But that wasn't the only way that the Lord spoke and the only way that the Lord was to give assurance that he was in the thing. He was by the signs, by those things that were done. And so it is today. And the Lord will cause you and cause me, if we are the subject of his teaching in that way, to see the signs.

Now maybe this, hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it? It may be a word of reproof, a word of restraint, go not down into Egypt, but stay in this place. Go back there, back to your master, go back to your mistress. And it is perhaps in a way of solvings, not in a way of a direct word. And the thing is this, to have and to be given this experience of a psalmist, to be fully persuaded that the Lord knows everything, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord.

And then if that is your experience and mine, We won't just pass over things in our lives as being of no consequence, or just happened. You remember the Philistines when the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord and the ark of God was brought through their country, and they were much afflicted. Now I said at first that paraventure was just a chance that happened to us, and oh how often I felt to say that. And the Lord has multiplied so much And it brings one to the point where we say this, it is the Lord, it is the Lord. And there's then a bowing under his head, there is a hearing of his voice, but there is this persuasion, the Lord knows all about it. He knows every tossing of the heart, every place of the unbelief. He knows all about the case. And so that is in the psalmist's experience here.

But then also, secondly, in his experience, he is convinced of this, that the Lord not only knows everything, but he is in every place, that there is no place that he is not. You know, that was sweet to me, in coming over here. And I know, I believe I can rightly say, I've known the presence of the Lord in this land and years gone by, but it is good when we're moving in providence, or when moving from place to place, to have this persuasion upon our hearts. The Lord is in every place.

What a comfort, what a blessing that was to Jonah. Even in the whale's belly, even running away from the Lord, even in a place of chastisement, even under the displeasure of the Lord, The Lord was in that place that he might look again towards his holy temple, that he might come down to that place, and was not that the blessing in the account of the good Samaritan? That the Samaritan came right down to the place where that wounded one, that slave one was, in every place. There is no place, no place in Providence, no place in Saul's experience. that the Lord is not. Oh, what a blessing, if that is our experience. And how is it brought to be so? Why, when the Lord comes to us, when we seek him not, perhaps, and he appears to us, and we have that persuasion, though we would not take it to ourselves, it is of the Lord's own lips. The Lord is in this place. And I knew it not, and it comes right down into the heart.

But also in this passage, we see made mention of the forming in the womb of the Lord's people. And as we each are brought into this world, my substance, was not hid from me when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. And so he would say this, the exercise of the psalmist is this, that the Lord is the one that forms those that are brought to the birth and brought forth and that he performs that work when as yet there seems to be nothing at all.

And in experience, how precious that is, when we have heard some of the accounts of the Lord's dealings with His people, and when we trust that we look back to the first days when the Lord first began with us. And in those first dealings, there seemed nothing at all, nothing of godliness, nothing of grace there didn't seem to be, and yet the issue proves it wasn't the Lord. And the thing is this, He is the one that forms. He forms the baby in the womb. He forms the lambs in the womb. And as we see, this time of the year, the lamb's brought forth. And he forms every one of his people anew. By his grace, he begins, he carries on, and he brings to the birth. And if you or I are subjects of that work, he will finish it.

You know, one of the accounts that I've heard of the Lord's dealings, a good friend of mine in Australia, the first time he ever went into a chapel was with his motorcycle leathers, his hat under his, his helmet under his arm, and he tried to sit in the back and not be noticed. And what we think, if we had one come in, why we'd rather fear perhaps sometimes what they would do. And yet the Lord was pleased to gently bring him forth and lead him on. And we can say now we feel the union with him, that he knows his God and his God knows him.

But the Lord knows how he forms his people. He knows exactly how to teach. That is the gospel. That is the blessing that's revealed in the Hebrews, that all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. That every man shall not say no, the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least unto the greatest. It is the blessing of the gospel that it is the Lord's work and it is marvelous in our eyes. It is finished, it is done. And at first here, the Lord's work, predestinating love and how he brings his people to the birth, forms them and blesses them. That's his work and that's the gospel.

But then also we see the psalmist's experience in meditation considers this. There is separation. There is separation. The enemies of the Lord are his enemies, and those that love the Lord are those that he loves. And oh, what a mercy. You know, that is one of the tokens that we are born again. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. That is one of the tokens the Lord has given. And here the psalmist experienced, and what his meditation is upon, is this, that there is separation. These are the people of God. They are the ones I feel the union to. These, those others that take his name in vain, they are the enemies of God. And there is that desire to be separate. Now, perhaps if we'd been brought up in the Lord's house all our days, we haven't seen perhaps such a marked separation. But I'm convinced of this, there will be a separation. And what I've experienced in my youth, there was that rebelling and kicking and perhaps attending the means of Christ just for the sake of our parents and love to them. Meanwhile, our heart, our desire was in the world. But there comes that time of separation.

And I remember one time in particular, when as a member of a male voice choir, and how they wanted to do those things on the Lord's Day. And I told them I wouldn't do them. Their interpretation was, as long as it didn't interfere with the services of the Lord's house, then I could go along with anything they did, and this was when I was about 18. And one of the chaps I worked with one day at the choir, he said in front of the 40 members, he said, I think it's just because of his mother that he doesn't go to the things on the Sabbath. And I was asked that question, is it because you don't want to go to these performances on the Sabbath, or is it because your parents say you're not to go? They know what struggles, what a hard thing when one is so young in that way.

And the Lord enabled me to say, no, I don't wish to go to these things on the Lord's day. I'd like to be found in the Lord's house. And you know, we look back and we think, we feel this. It's the Lord's mercy to give an answer like that. In that time of decision, that time where there is, as it were, a dividing of the ways, a separating of the ways. And, you know, they never asked me again. But there came that time when there had to be a complete break away from those things.

And surprisingly, the break I had to make because of these, because of the hymns that they sang and the way that they sang them, no reference and no but respect unto the God that I love. And that will come that way, is a separation not just from the profane world, but it's a separation from the professing world that are but having a name to live and yet are dead. There will be a separation from them too. It is a narrow way, and is the way that leadeth unto life.

Now the psalmist meditates upon that. Oh, may that be our experience. Never think to reconcile the things of the world with the things of our soul and of heaven. They can never be. You will never make up breaches by compromising to the things of the world. The gospel separates, and in the end, there will be that eternal separation. I know what a mercy to hear his voice. Oh, come ye blessed of my Father, Inherit the kingdom prepared for God before the foundation of the world.

Now lastly, what is the Islamist meditation is the desire to be searched. And we feel this to be the experience of the Lord's people especially as it being a separating experience. and one that the Lord looks at in the heart, a desire that the Lord might see us through and through, that we might be as transparent, that there is nothing hidden. Realising the knowledge of the Lord, the presence of the Lord, and his work in the matter, seeing his work, there is a desire that nothing there might be hidden from him, that we might be as open before him, a willingness to be searched, and as we come up to the Lord's house. Oh, whatever the preacher is led to set forth, even if it should search me and strip me through and through, if it is thy word, I am willing that it be so. Lord, search me.

And how we sung of that in the middle here. And now let us come more particularly to the text. Thou knowest my down-sitting, and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Now in our text we see basically two things. Thou knowest, thou understandest. Two things that are the comfort and help of the psalmist. Thou knowest, thou understandest.

Now, firstly, in speaking on this word, thou knowest, I would say this. The Lord knows our sin, our desperate wickedness, and evil by nature. And there is a reason why I say this first. So often, the Lord's people, when the Lord is pleased to give them encouragement, or perhaps one tries to Encourage them in the Lord. Or say this, ah, you don't know what a wicked, evil person I am. You don't know the thoughts that go through my head. You don't know the rebellions that are there. I can't be one of the Lord's dear people. Thou knowest my sin by nature.

Now the Lord said this, when he passed by his people, They are in their blood. Then he passed by them while they were in their blood and bid them leave. And the apostle speaks of this, if the Lord had mercy and respect upon us in our sin, if he began a work in us when we had no regard to his ways, we're enmity and open hatred to him. How much more now when he has laid us tender when he has caused us to hear his voice and know something of his ways, how much more now shall there be those favours and mercies towards us, even though we feel perhaps the very sink of sin, the very pit of hell within our hearts.

Thou knowest, and oh may this fear hell, that the Lord knows nothing is hidden from him, that he knows that we are but dust. He remembered that we are but dust. He said after the world had been overthrown with the flood of Noah, that he would not again curse the earth for man's sake, because the imagination of the heart in man was only evil continually. And the Lord did not commit himself unto those in his day because he knew all men, he knew what was in their hearts. Why, the apostle Paul, he had to say this about what was in his heart. A wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?

And so the Lord knows it's not as it were a surprise or a strange thing to him to see and to know of the rebellions and of the heart's features, and of the wickedness of the heart. The Lord will teach his people that they are sinners. The gospel is for sinners. And the gospel will encourage sinners, not in sin, but encourage sinners to come. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. And why is that feeling there? Because of the sin. Because of the evil, because of the need of a saviour, they that are holy need not a physician, but they that are sick. It is those that have a case for the Lord that need him to come and to do it for them.

Now, so often we get into that place, and especially in preparation for the Lord's table, we think, well, at the end of the week, there is the Lord's table, and oh, there's Evil heart, these temptations that keep assailing me. These things that so defy my mind, I feel like a filthy fountain, all the time casting up uncleanness. Oh, how can I ever be one to sit down at the Lord's table? And there is that seeking, as it were, a striving to make our hearts clean, make ourselves fit to sit down at the Lord's table.

No, my friends, we would not encourage any to come wrongly to the Lord's taking, but it is for sinners. It is for sinners that feel the worth of that precious blood, that have as their only plea, Lord, hast thou not said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you? Not when I see your good works, when I see how pious you've been in the past week, how you've resisted and strengthened yourself against every evil and come here looking down upon your poor afflicted brethren. No. Why? In the wilderness, Moses lifted up the serpent and we are told that he As Moses lifted up this serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but should have everlasting life.

But who was he lifted up for? Sin-bitten, dying sinners, those that were perishing, those that had no hope but to look. And oh, what a mercy! If the Lord is set before us and that is our only hope, well the thing is this, the Lord knoweth the condition and the case, and that is mercy that he does know.

Now, we read here that there is a particular thing that the psalmist is exercised on that the Lord knoweth. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. Now, we think of Job, how that in his afflictions, he was brought down to sit in the dust and ashes. And when his friends who did not and were not exercised in the cases he was, and we will say this, that if the Lord dears with you, you will find this, that friends and loved ones will not be able to go along with your exercise, and perhaps will say things that are very grievous and hard, but that in itself is an evidence of the Lord's work.

Because if it was man, why we could speak to another fellow man, make him understand these things. But those things that are taught of God, those things that he does, are personal in the heart, And so that preparation comes personally. And so Job's affliction, not even his wife, so close to him, could share in it. His affliction brought him down, and he was down before the Lord, and he said this to his friends. He said, the Lord casteth down, not man. It's the Lord that brings down, and thou knowest my down city. Thou knowest that time when I am brought down into the dust of their ships, when I'm afflicted very much and brought low, when I'm like the children of captivity that have to hang their harps upon the willows that cannot sing the songs of Zion in a strange land. They have to sit down, they can't join with the solemn assemblies.

Oh, have you had those times in coming to the Lord's house and the hymn has been given out And you fell, Lord, I cannot see that. It is too high, I cannot attain to it. I know that I could, but I fear I can't. Thou knowest my down-sitting. And the Lord knows where he brings his people down to. And we see in this, the down-sitting and my uprising, that there are changes. And David says in another place, they have no changes, Therefore they fear not God. And the Lord's people have changes. And we see these signs in the world. There is the seasons. There is the autumn. There is the winter. There is the spring and fall. There is the summer. There is changes in nature. And there is changes for the children of God.

And whoso is wise and shall observe these things, even they, shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Understand that it is the Lord that teacheth thee to profit. It is his work to bring down, that he might also lift up. It is his work. And who shall say how long this shall be? Jacob must go from Canaan, from the land of promise, into Egypt. He must abide there. They stay in that place for some 400 years. They are afflicted there. They cry unto the Lord, and the Lord heard them. And in His appointed time, He came forth to deliver them. He knew all about their case. He knew their down-sitting. But I'll say this. Though the Lord knows it, He will be inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them.

You know, it is a wrong spirit if Satan, or if Raphael's brethren, tend you in a way of fatalism, say, well, the Lord knows all things, it'll all turn out right, you've nothing to need to be troubled about. You know, there is so much of the faith in the flesh today, but if the Lord gives you this knowledge of his All knowing this, and that it is in the cast down, he will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.

All of the Lord's people brought into these places, they cry, and a living bay cries, and one that is afflicted cries, and it is unnatural, and if it's not so, it's not a sign of life. O to be led in this way, that the Lord's dealings with us, and bring us down, cause us to cry. And may we not cease from that until he appears, because these two things are joined together.

It is not just knows my down-sitting, it is thou knowest my down-sitting, and why not rise? Though I fall, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall, yet will I arise. O what a blessed persuasion, and though we walk in darkness, yet the Lord shall be a light about me. O what a trial of faith, what a hard thing it is to walk that way. Will he appear? Will he honour his word? Will he be pleased to shine through the gloom? Will ye be pleased to know to put my hope to shame, while I profess before his people that he shall appear? His being my exercise and my profession, to know that he might appear, and that he might show himself, and to be my deliverer.

Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. The Lord brings down that he might raise her. And there is that scene. You think of those blessed ones in the scriptures. The woman that came to the Lord Jesus, her daughter was previously afflicted with the devil. And she said, Lord, help me. The disciples couldn't help her. that were about the Lord Jesus, they couldn't help, and he seemed to put her off. She had such a case that he must own the answer. And oh, what an answer he gave her in the end, be it so according to thy father. And what a mercy if we know something of this teaching.

My down city, Job was brought down, The latter end of Job was better than his beginning. Those like Hannah that had a grievous case carried many years, and her adversary afflicted her soul, brought down, and to pour out her complaint before the Lord in the temple. But the Lord appeared for her and gave her her child. And we've often thought of this, The Lord gives that promise, but then there might have been this question, the Lord had promised a man-child, but what if it wasn't a man-child? We so often take it for granted, but what if it wasn't? And so there is still that exercise of faith that lays hold on it, that we think of when the Lord appeared to Moses, when he came and did those signs before the children of Israel, and they believed, and they worshipped God, they were still under the taskmasters, they were still afflicted, they were still in bondage, but they had the word of God on their side, they had the promise of a deliverance.

What promise of a deliverance? And they worshipped God. And I will say this, if the Lord gives encouragement, if the Lord gives a who can tell and a how, don't listen to the devil that says, now wait a minute, Don't praise the Lord yet, because it might not happen. You wait until it happens, then praise him. No, don't listen to him in that. Praise the Lord for the least hope, the least encouragement that the Lord is pleased to give you. Be it but a glimmer on his word. Remember, the Israelites were sustained those 40 years in the wilderness by Nanna. Such insignificant, small things, despised so much, and yet they were sustained, they were upheld by all those 40 years in the wilderness.

What was their help to us? What was used when we went forth into the ministry was this word that we found such a help in Ezra, I think it is, that the Lord may give us a little reviving in our bondage, a little reviving, and you'll find a little progresses to more, and is a sweet and blessed thing to give praise unto the Lord, and if we know our health is servanthous, that is, if the Lord's mercy is that we are not consumed, then we'll be thankful for the least thing while those in hell would be thankful for the least drop of water to quench their thirst, and how much more on earth the Lord steers people in their down-sitting places, low places, when the Lord gives them a drop, something small, not a complete deliverance, not fully setting forth on full liberties, but just a drop, just a little token for good, thanking for it.

And maybe in that praise, in that taking down your heart from the willow, maybe for a few moments, the Lord will break in and make it to go as from a stream unto a river, a most blessed and sweet appearing of himself. And he's by faith, you see. He's by faith. The Lord said to David, when thou seest a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou art to arise. Just a going, just that evidence, that token that the Lord is in it, the Lord is here.

Thou knowest my down city and mine uprising. And the Lord's people shall arise. They will rise in their souls experience here below. Those blessed times and refreshing showers the former latter rains those times of renewings and they shall arise at that last day they shall be laid in the grave but that grave is perfume with a sweet a precious perfume of the dear Redeemer and that is a blessed place it is a low place but the Lord was raised up out of it and he was raised again therefore our justification, and the Lord says this, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify men, for he shall bear their iniquities.

And the Lord knows all of his people's sin, that he might bear all of their people's sin, that he might forgive all of his people's sin, and that he might completely wash them I've been struck with this many times. Those in heaven, they are as virgins. Why? As never ever having sinned. You know on earth, it is impossible for one that has lost their virginity to ever be as virgins again. But in heaven and God's work, the work of redemption, changes vile sinners that there is no spot of sin upon them. They are as if they have never sinned. What a complete Redemption is because of this, the Lord knows all about the case. There shall not be one sin that the devil is able to bring up against his dear people, that there shall not be an answer for it in the precious blood of Christ.

When I see the blood, my hands and my side engraved on his hand, are each of his dear people, written there from eternity past. And it is because of that that there is an arising here below, and that there shall be that arising at that last great day. O to be amongst those that rise with him as those firstfruits from the earth. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, And now, as we see the time is going, thou understandest my thought afar off. Do any here feel afar off? Oh, how sometimes we feel today, afar off from the things of God, far off from him banished. Well, what is the gospel? The gospel is bringing to ones that are alienated, together.

And the king said, and Joab, I think it was, that Hedoth devised means that he's banished, might be brought nigh, brought near again. And those that are far off, the Lord is able to bring nigh, the gospel brings nigh, the blood of Christ brings nigh. and those that were alienated by wicked words, and even those are brought nigh by the Lord.

Those that feel to be far off in their feelings, and the thing is this, thou understandest my thought, and how many thoughts go through our head, and how many, like Bunyan's Christian, We wonder how many come from Satan, how many from our own wicked heart? We feel the worst. We feel that they come from our own evil heart. Well, the Lord knows not only the thought, but understands it. And he understands the struggles that prevail between the works of sin and that grace that he's worked within over those things that He is working, he understands what is the work of his own hands.

You know, there is sweet recognition in Zion, again and again. And I felt it coming here, my desire was this, that if you dear friends are found as a sheep of Christ, then you might recognize in that which is set forth, the master's book. Because the Lord has said this, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they know me, and the thing is this, the Lord understands. And when he sees those thoughts of understanding, he sees the thought of the heart which is brought in by his spirit, the exercise in the soul, the struggles between sin that we can't understand, that we seem to be, as a case, so perplexing, so confusing, and yet the Lord understands where he has implanted grace, and he looks upon that, and he looks upon it as the work of his own hands.

This is the Lord's work, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord will have respect unto his work. We read in this psalm about the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. And that work, that is what he has respect unto. That is what he sees in the heart. And so often the psalmist desires this. Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. And to have that knowledge that the Lord Thou only hast brought all our works in us, every meditation, every looking again towards His holy temple, every time when there is that rising up of who can tell an adventuring disaster. If I perish, I perish, but I'll venture, and I'll go. And how do we go? How do each of those that are taught by the Spirit go? They go pleading the night, and pleading the blood of Jesus. And that is the name the Father loves to hear his children pray. And all such pleading he approves and blesses them indeed.

Well, may the Lord be pleased to bless this word to us. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Amen.