maybe help to consider this evening from Psalm 90 verse 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

Those of you who were here on the last Wednesday on New Year's Eve we looked at our teachers to all my times are in thy hands and as we had come to the end of another year and we're at the threshold of 2026 and we saw what a favour and a blessing it is for the Lord's people to know that the life circumstances are in the hands of God, those hands which are secure, those hands which are sovereign, those hands which are strong, and to commit the year into the Lord's hands and I mentioned that the world was outside partying and living life freely without any concerns and there would be those young people no doubt who were drunk and taking drugs and trying to make memories for the end of the year and for the new year and that their lives were so fragile and every moment of every day, every minute of every day is that is constantly moving forward, that time keeps going, the clock never stops ticking and although we place the years and the seasons which the Lord has given to us, yet that time continually marches on and then that day will come when time will stop, that our lives will cease and we will be ushered into eternity where there is no time and the one who is in control of that is God.

It is him who created time. And as the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, time will cease. And there were those that were partying that night, who never got to see the new year, or they may have seen it for a few moments, but they were taken. They were ushered into eternity in the most horrific way imaginable, being burnt to death or smoked to death in in Switzerland and what solemn event that is to go from worldly pleasure in walking in enmity against God, to go from a drunken state, straight into the presence of Almighty God, the judge of all the earth who will do right.

You know, there's no hiding from this God. That place of partying, as with many nightclubs, is a place of darkness. It is a place, that one especially, and others are buried in the ground, as though trying to hide away from prying eyes. And if you've ever been into a nightclub, you will notice its darkness. There is the flashing strobing lights, but the atmosphere is shrouded in darkness to cover the iniquity, the sin that takes place. People feel more comfortable to express themselves in a wicked way whilst they are shrouded in darkness.

The scriptures tell us there is no hiding from God. that his eyes penetrate the darkness of this world and he's able to view the darkness as light. The psalmist says, where can I go from thy presence? If I go down into the depths of the earth, thou art there. If I hide myself in the nightclub, thou art there. If I hide myself in the dens of the earth, thou art there. There is nowhere that we can go from the presence of this Creator. There is nowhere that we can go from this God by whom we are sinning against continually. Our iniquity is always before Him. And our secret sins are held in the light of His countenance. He's the all-knowing God. And Moses knew all about this all-knowing God.

Moses, the one who was drawn out of Egypt, the Moses who was found in the wilderness, called into service by the Lord, sent back into Egypt to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, is the author of this psalm. And he knew all about this all-knowing God. He knew about his holiness. He knew about his hatred for sin. He knew about his just judgment that he brought down upon the people of Israel. He knew all about this holy, holy, holy God who dwells in heaven in the light. And so he wrote this psalm.

He knew about the frailty of human life. compared to the eternal existence of an almighty, all-knowing God. He says, before the mountains were brought forth, or wherever thou hast formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting now at God. Nothing changes about God. He always has been and He always will be.

This world constantly changing, a constant cycle of time, a constant cycle of people coming and going, being born and dying, existing, constantly changing, but God never, ever, ever changes. He's everlasting. And Moses compares it to the frailty of man.

For a thousand years in thy sight I was but yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night. But what is man's existence? He says it is like a flower, flourishing and growing up, and then it's cut down. No matter how long somebody lives. We take my great-auntie, 95 years old. Today looking at a picture of her when she's just a little girl, maybe two or three years old. She didn't know that she had 92 years to live. And yet her life is gone, just as it were in a moment. Those memories are left behind, those pictures ingrained forever on our photographs. That's all we have. But even those 95 years are just as a flower blossoming and then falling away, cut down.

But God is from everlasting to everlasting. He says, our days are limited to 70 years. And if by reason of strength, they are 80 years yet, their strength is labor and sorrow. It is the life of the person that exists on this earth. It is labor and sorrow.

Moses looks at God as though he is a judge, sitting upon the throne, sitting upon the judgment seat, examining the case before him. He says, thou hast set our iniquities before thee. As a judge sits and he examines the case before him, he listens to the witnesses. He listens to the testimonies and he examines and cross-examines the witnesses and the defendant. And he tries to work out, you know, is this person guilty? Is this person guiltless? God doesn't have to do any working out. He doesn't have to do any interrogation. He doesn't have to send out the detectives and to take up witness statements and to do fingerprint statements and to examine the scene. He doesn't have to do all that because it's all before Him. Every single one of our lives is laid out before a holy God. Our sins, our iniquities are set before him. There's no need for him to do an investigation.

Moses ultimately speaking about the people of Israel and how they rebelled against God, but he knew man. He knew what the human heart was capable of and he knew God. As we looked at Caleb on Sunday evening, Caleb and Joshua, the men who wholly followed the Lord and everybody else who was willing to listen to the lies and to be discouraged about the evil report. that innumerable number of people, that congregation that was as the sand of the seashore. God said to them, because of their unbelief, they were going to wander in the wilderness until every single one of them had died. Moses was fully aware that God had their iniquity before him and their secret sins were laid bare before a holy God. And he was just in his judgment to the people of Israel because of their sin and their unbelief because, because they knew the capabilities of this God. They had witnessed his deliverance. They had witnessed the Red Sea opening. They had witnessed the cloud and the pillar of fire by day and by night. And therefore, when they disbelieved the report and they would rather listen to the lies, they would rather listen to the evil report and to listen to the report of Caleb and to examine the greatness of God. God judged them because of it. Their iniquities were before him.

If you think of Achan, Achan committed a sin. He stole the gold and the Babylonian garment and hid it in his tent. And because of his sin, he troubled all Israel. No other person, maybe his family knew about it, but Joshua didn't know. It was hidden. But his iniquity was before a holy God. The secret sin that he had committed was before a holy God. It demonstrates to us that that God is able to see into the darkness and everything is laid bare and transparent before him. There is nowhere that we can go from his presence. He sees even those things that are hidden from others.

Sometimes there are things that we do And we wouldn't want anybody else to know. And we know what we're doing is wrong because we feel guilty. We know if mum or dad came in, then they would be really cross. I know if our husband or wife came in, that they would be really cross. If they found out, they would be so upset. And we know that we're doing wrong because there's guilt. and we're trying to cover it, we're trying to hide it from other people, but we forget about God. We're willing to do these things in the light of God's countenance. We're willing to do these things in the sight of a holy God, but we don't want any human to see us. We're so ashamed of being caught out, yet we're quite willing to do it before a holy God. And yet it's a holy God that we've got to face. It's a holy God that we are sinning against when we commit sin. All sin is against God. David said, against thee and against thee only have I sinned. Even if other people don't know, God knows. For it's all set out before him and there is nowhere that we can go. Everything is transparent. Nothing can be hidden from him.

Secret things that we try to hide are in the light before a holy God. There are things like Akan that we've hidden. Maybe a long, long time ago, we've hidden them, never told anybody about them. We've laid them to the back of our minds. You know, God never forgets. There's the book that is written of the sins of all the people that have ever lived in this world. The Bible tells us that the books will be opened. Every thought, every deed, every action, every sin of omission, every sin of commission, every sin that we have done, every sin that we have failed, everything that we have failed to do that we should have done is recorded. For our iniquities are set before him.

He dwells in the light in 1 John 1 and verse 5 it says, This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Christ's kingdom is known as the kingdom of light. The kingdom of Satan is known as the kingdom of darkness. He is the god of this world. God himself dwells in the light and in him is no darkness at all. shows us that there is no spot in his character, that his character is pure and holy and without sin. There's no blemish in his character whatsoever. There's no limit to his knowledge. If you think of darkness, darkness limits, it limits the ability to see, it limits the ability to function properly and therefore you need light. Light reveals, it exposes what is taking place, it exposes the truth. And so God dwells in the light. When it says that God dwells in the light, there's nothing hidden from him. He is truth. And when he deals with the things, he deals with them in the light, he exposes.

Jesus tells us that the thief likes to do things in the darkness, that his deeds may be hidden. but Jesus Christ came to bring things to the light, to expose our sin. And what a blessing it is to have our sin exposed while we are here on earth, that we are brought to the light, brought to the Lord Jesus Christ and have our sin revealed unto us, that we might be able to confess it and bring it before a holy God and ask for forgiveness.

of the Lord Jesus Christ when he is transfigured before Peter, James and John? What is their response? It is immediately to bow down and to worship and to tremble because the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, his glory shining through. You think of the Apostle Paul on the road when he is converted. A light shone from heaven. He falls down on his knees. What must I do? Lord, what will thou have me to do? Who art thou, Lord? That light penetrating.

If you think of the sun, you know, the sun, it can't be looked at. It is so bright. The same with God. He is light. He cannot be looked at with sinful eyes. And He exposes the darkness of our own hearts. He has set our iniquities before Him and our secret sins in the light of His countenance.

But, though God is so holy, And although he sees every sin of every person that has ever lived, yet he has provided a way for salvation. He has told us that those sins which are before him, those sins that are in the light of his countenance, He is able to place them from before him and put them behind his back.

In Isaiah 38, in verse 17, it says, Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all of my sins behind thy back. Isaiah 43 and verse 25 again, I, even I, am him that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake. I will not remember thy sins.

And so though Moses, as he writes this psalm, he views God in his eternal existence outside of time and his holiness and his omniscience, his all-knowing, that everything is laid out clearly before him. He dwells in the light and the sins of his people or the sins of the people of the earth can never be hidden from him. Yet he knows that he is a just God and he is a merciful God. That even in his anger towards sinful men, he has provided a way of salvation by which those sins which are before him may be placed behind his back and remembered no more.

Your sin and your iniquity shall be remembered no more. How? By charging that guilt, that sin to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That holy, holy God who hid his face from the presence of his son there upon the cross at Calvary as he punished his son for the iniquity and the secret sins of his people.

What a comfort then that is to the Lord's people. that even those sins which we never knew about, those sins which we committed in our lives that we never really understood that we were committing sin, or even those sins that we may have forgotten about, although they were recorded there before the throne of God, yet in Christ Jesus, they've been put away. We've been justified before the law of God, made without sin. and taken from the darkness into the light. And though our lives are still as a flower, as a tale that is told, as a vapor, yet at the end of that, when we are cut down and we fly away, we fly securely into the presence of Almighty God.

But because our sins and our iniquities are remembered no more, they are cast behind his back. And so it's a wonderful prayer of Moses, acknowledging the greatness of God, acknowledging the holiness of God, acknowledging the frailness of man and the sinfulness of man, and yet seeking to ask the Lord to return and to bless them.

And so as we come to the throne of grace once again, we acknowledge the greatness of God, acknowledge that he is the sovereign, the sovereign God who has existed from everlasting to everlasting and he's unchanging. We acknowledge that we change as seasons roll on, we get older, we acknowledge that we sin, we acknowledge that our salvation comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, that our sin can be put away in Christ Jesus.

May the Lord then bless us together as we meditate on his word and help us to come once again to sing his praises and to the throne of grace. Amen.

sing from hymn to worship, hymn number 136. I often say my prayers but do I ever pray and do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say in 136.

Unto whom I am a friend, and to whom the riches of my heart go with the blood. ? And brothership gold of stone ? ? As o'er the fields we go, the prairies we go ? ? The world without the heart ? ? The Lord will make appear ? ? All hail ye to the tree ? ? The tree, the tree ? ? And teach me how to pray ? ? O let me up before thy crest ? ? That we may hold thy hand ?