Turn with me, if you would now,
to Psalm 139. Psalm 139, this morning, We looked at the last line of
this Psalm, the very last line of the whole Psalm, David said,
leave me in the way everlasting. That was his request. Tonight
in observance of the Lord's table, I want us to see what the Lord
had to endure to accomplish David's request. And I'm going to take the title
from verse six, where David said this knowledge, he said, such
knowledge of God's dealing with me, all of his dealings with
me, how he has dealt with me, what he had to endure to accomplish. leading me into the way everlasting. He said, such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. He's saying this is more than
I can fathom. This is knowledge too wonderful
for me. And can't we say the same thing? This is knowledge too wonderful. for us, too full of wonder. How he dealt with us. Think about that. How he dealt
with us. We had to be dealt with. How
he dealt with us. There's an old song that says,
when I was lost in sin and shame, how thou let me take the blame.
Blessed Lord, how merciful that was to me. He said, it's just
too wonderful to comprehend. And it is, it truly is. It's
too wonderful to comprehend. We know that in order for us
to be led in the way everlasting, in order for us to be led to
life, Christ had to be led to death. In order for us to be
led in the way everlasting, Christ had to be led to Pilate. He had
to be led to Herod. He had to be led to a trial,
a trial that he personally did nothing to deserve. He had to be led to a conviction. over something that he did not
do. This man knew no sin. Pilate
said, I find no fault in this man. But he had to be led to our sin. God the Father led him like a
lamb to the slaughter, led him to our sin, laid our sin on him. And then Christ had to be led
to a cross. where he died on that cross, and then they took
his body down. They took his glorious body down
and led him. They laid him in a tomb for three
days. In order for us to live, Christ
had to die. He had to die and his dealings
with his people in everything that took place in his death,
the events that led him to his death, having some small understanding
of what motivated him to do this for us. David said, that's just
too wonderful for me. That is too wonderful for me. And it is for God's people. Hearing
why He laid down His life for us, that is too wonderful for
us. Too high, we cannot attain unto
it. Cannot grasp it, cannot understand
it. But let's just try to enter into
what we can through what has been written here for us in Psalm
139, all right? David says right here in this Psalm, we're about
to read down through this Psalm. And this is what he's saying
in this Psalm. He said, the Lord knew us. The Lord knew us. And he saw
us and he possessed us. And he wrought a new work of
a new creation in us. He loved us and he thought on
us and he has promised, he's made a covenant promise that
he'll keep us all the way to the end. He's made a promise
to us that he'll keep us all the way to the end. That's why
he died. Those reasons are why he died. We see his death in and because
of each one of those things. And it's wonderful. It is full
of wonder. So let's look at this together.
Psalm 139 verse one. It says, Oh Lord, thou has searched
me and known. That last word me is in italics.
That was added by the translator so that it would read more easily.
And it does mean thou has searched me and known me. But the way
that this was originally written, I believe best says what David
was saying. He said, thou has searched me
and known. That right there, that makes
them this amazing. Just knowing that, that makes
this amazing. It's too wonderful. I have some
small understanding of what he has known in searching me. I
have a very, very small understanding of what he knew when he searched
me. If you search me out, do you
know what you will come to know? Sin, if you search me out, if
you seek me and search me out, you will know my sin. You don't
have to dig too deep either. You'll know my sin. David said,
we might as well lay this out on the table. We might as well
lay it all out on the table for all eyes to see because Christ,
the word himself is quick and powerful and sharper than any
two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have
to do." David said, Lord, I know thou hast searched me and known. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
16. Luke 16, verse 13, it says, No servant can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and Mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were
covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he
said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves before
men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God." He said, you may
make yourself look pretty good on the outside to other men and
women, but he said, God knows your heart and he does. He does. Look at Matthew chapter nine. Matthew 9 verse 1, it says, And
he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? Could you imagine standing in
the presence of someone who could see your thoughts? Could you
imagine that? He saw their thoughts. and he
sees our thoughts. He knows us. This is the point
that David was trying to get across. He knows us. He knows the deep things of the
thoughts and intents of our hearts, which means he knows the sin. He knows the sin that we are,
not just the sin that we do, but the sin that we are. Now,
does that not make the fact that he would die for us full of wonder? He said, this is wonderful, full
of wonder. He died for us because he knew
us. That's the reason he died for
us. It's because he knew us. Go with me back to Psalm 139. Verse one says, oh Lord, thou
hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. He said, you know, every time
I sit down, you know, every time I stand up, he said, you know,
every thought I have afar off. What that means is far off. That means in both directions. He knows what our thoughts have
been. He knows what our thoughts are.
And listen to this. He knows what our thoughts will
be. Before we even ask the question
throughout eternity, he'll tell us the answer. He knows our thoughts
are far off. He knows what our thoughts are
going to be. Verse three, David said, thou
compassest my path in my lying down and are acquainted with
all my ways. Compassest, compassest, that
means to winnow, to fan, to blow, to scatter, to disperse. That means you've exposed it.
You have exposed all my ways. Verse four, he said, for there
is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. He knows us. He knows us. Why did He die for us? He knows
us. And He sees us, He saw us. Verse seven, David said, whither
shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If my fear took hold on me, if
I realized this, this knowledge that's too wonderful and it got
to me, and fear of judgment took hold on me. And I said, where
am I gonna go to hide from your judgment against everything you
see in me and about me and on me? Where could I possibly hide
from you? Verse seven, whether shall I
go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend 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, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
the light are both alike to thee. David said, you have known me,
You have seen me. You saw me in all of my pollution,
like that story in Ezekiel, in all of our pollution cast out
into the field and our own loathing. None eye pitied us. But our time
was a time of love. David said, thank God, amazingly,
even though you knew me, even though you saw me, he goes on
to say, you possessed my reins. You took control of my reins,
just like you control and lead and guide a horse with reins.
David said, that's what you've done to me. That's what you've done to me.
In our Lord's death, we see that he knew us, he saw us in our
condition, and he possessed our reins. That's what he did when
he died for us. He possessed our reigns. I love
the song, I quote it all the time. It says, against the God
who rules the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised
the mention of His grace. Amazing, isn't it? Too proud
to seek a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, Almighty love, arrest that man. Take his reins. Take the
reins of that man. Verse 13, for thou hast possessed
my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Just like
Boaz did for Ruth, he covered her. Ruth went in begging and
pleading for mercy and for his compassion and his grace, and
it says he covered her with his He took ownership of her. He
made a promise to her. That's what he did. He made this
covenant promise of redemption to her. And David said, Lord,
that's what you've done for us. That's what you did for your
people. You covered us. Covered us in
his own blood. He covered us. He did that before
we were ever born. David said, I was secure in that
covering in my mother's womb. You promised to possess our reigns from eternity past. And that's
exactly what He did. That's what He came and did on
the cross of Calvary. He took ownership of everything
that He knew in us. He knew us and He took ownership
of it. He saw us and He took ownership
of us. He joined Himself to us and conformed
Himself to us. He was marred more than any man.
What a horrible, tragic thing that came upon Him. It came upon
Him because He joined Himself and conformed Himself to us.
And in the process, He joined us and conformed us to Him. Verse 14, David said, I will
praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous
are thy works and that my soul knoweth right. Well, David said,
it is your work. It's all your work. This marvelous
thing that's happened. He said, it's your work, not
ours. Yours alone. It was your work. David said
in the womb. It was your work in the tomb. You created me. And I ruined
myself and you created me again, you, you made a new creation. And he said, there's no doubt
in my mind, this was your work alone. There's no doubt in my
mind. You get all the glory for this alone. You get all the glory,
all the praise, all the honor, all the thanks. Verse 15, he said, my substance
was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see
my substance yet being unperfect. That's what you saw when you
looked at me. And in that book, all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of
them. We were all created in Adam.
All of us were created in Adam, but God's chosen, God's chosen
people were created again in Christ. Born again in the Lord,
Jesus Christ, the old creation, this old man died and went into
the tomb with Christ. This old man died on the cross
with Christ. He literally did join himself
to us. And we died with Him and we went
into the tomb with Him. And when the work was accomplished
and Christ came out with Him, so did we. We came out with Him,
a brand new creation. Sin is gone. Sin being put away
forever. We came out a creation that was
purchased by the blood of Christ. Nourished by the body of Christ? We're about to read where our
Lord said, and when I read that, I'm gonna say it again. I'm gonna
say it now and I'm gonna say it again. Ask the Lord to let
you enter in to what He said when He said, this is my body
broken for you. We were nourished in His body. What He's saying is this is my
life taken from me and passed into you. This is my health. I've taken your sickness and
my health, I give it to you. I pass it along to you. Purchased
by the blood, nourished by the body, fashioned in the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. made alive by the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus Christ. David said, a marvelous play,
a marvelous work took place, a marvelous work took place. And Christ is the one who wrought
it. God the Father knows it, all of heaven knows it. David
said, I know it too. He said, that my soul knoweth
right well. I believe David was a country
man. He said, I know that right well.
He knew us, He saw us, He possessed us, He wrought the work of a
new creation in us, and He loved us, and He has thought on us. He thinks, He has thought, He
thinks, and He will think on us. His thoughts of His people
span from eternity to eternity. His thoughts span from eternity
to eternity. Look at verse 17, it says, how
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is
the sum of them. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. I was sitting on the beach a
few days ago, And I was thinking about this Psalm and I was thinking
about this message and thinking about this verse. And I just thought about how the
Lord thinks on us. And I reached down and picked
up a little palm full of sand. I knew better than to pick up
a whole handful of sand. My feet were covered in it and
sand everywhere. Sand goes pretty deep. But I
picked up a palm full of sand and I grabbed a little shell,
a sharp end of a shell, and I decided I was gonna count the grains
of sand in my hand. Well, I immediately realized
that's too much sand. That ain't gonna happen. Sand
is a lot smaller than you think it is. I thought I had it in
my mind about how big a grain of sand is. That's about six
or eight grains stuck together. Once you start raking them, oh,
they're so tiny. They're so tiny. And I had sand
residue all over my hand. And so I dumped that out. I thought that ain't going to
happen. I got a pinch of sand, like you grab a pinch of salt.
Okay, I got a pinch of sand, and I put a little pinch of sand
in my hand, and I said, I'm gonna count that sand right there.
And I made it to maybe a quarter of it. I got to a quarter of
those grains. I stopped at a thousand. I counted
a thousand grains of sand, and it's just little itty bitty. And then I dumped that sand back
onto the beach, and I looked out at all that sand, as far
as I could see. And I thought about all the sand
that I can't see all over this world. And David said, how wonderful
is it that you would die for me because you thought on me,
you loved me and thought on me. He said, if I could count your
thoughts toward me, it's more than the sand. He said, this
is just too wonderful. It is just too, too wonderful. Your love and your ownership
and your possession that you showed to us when you died for
us. Christ died for us because he
knew us. And He saw us in our condition and He possessed us. He took ownership of us. And
in His love for us and in His thoughts toward us, He made a
new creation. He took upon Himself something
that needed to be destroyed and He created something brand new.
something in his own image. And now he thinks on us and will
think on us forever. Verse 17, David said, how precious
also are thy thoughts unto me. Oh God, how great is the sum
of them. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I'm still with
you. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked,
O God. Depart from me, therefore, ye
bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly,
and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 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 mine enemies. Do
you know that I include myself in that group of people, that
group that we just read about right there, that old man that
I'm still living with in here. I include him. I include my own
old flesh in that group of people that David said needs to be slain
for their hatred and their enmity against God. And all of God's
people do. All of God's people say anything
that is contrary to that beautiful, loving, glorious God needs to
be slain. Why did He die for us? We needed
to be slain. All of God's people include themselves
in that category and they cry, thank God I was crucified with
Christ. Thank God I was crucified with
Christ in His glorious salvation that that brings and in the righteous
judgment that was owed to me for what I was. Thank God I was
crucified with Christ. Thank God justice was served
on me. Can't we say that? That's what
needed to happen. That's what I wanted to happen. Thank God it happened in Christ.
Thank God it happened in Christ. Verse 23, David said, search
me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and
see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlasting. That's what Christ did for us. That's why he did it. He knew
us. He saw us. He loved us, took possession
of us, brought a work in us, thought on us, and He promised
to keep us to the end. He promised to keep us all the
way to the end. Knowledge of that is too wonderful. It is too wonderful for us. But
in what knowledge He's given us, let's remember it. Let's
remember Him in taking this table together, all right? Brother
Jared, you come and read for us.