He shall come and know my worth
today. See, O Savior, the brightness
that reigns. See, there is something in thee. Cleanse me from every sin and
set me free. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing
me from sin. Oh, I'm weary, weary, and tired. There's nothing I can do. That's why it's hard to tell
you how I feel. I'll take my life and take it
home. ♪ I'll go my way ♪ ♪ I'll go my
way ♪ ♪ I'll go my way ♪ ♪ I'll go my
way ♪ ♪ I'll go my way ♪ Through all the years we've had
to cross the sea. Yet far behind home I've found
someone in need. I know that he's there. Okay, thank you. Now for your
Bibles for the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 48. Ezekiel 48, the very last verse. in the book of Ezekiel is where
we find this last name in our studies of the names of Jehovah. The very last verse, verse 35, speaking of the city The heavenly
city says there's around about 18,000 measures, and the name
of the city from that day shall be The Lord is There, or Jehovah
Shammah. Jehovah Shammah, which means
The Lord is There. Now, that's a good name to end
on, isn't it? A good name to always keep in
mind. The Lord is there. And that will
keep us in perfect peace if our mind is stayed upon Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. But we're
going to look at Psalm 139, where this is more fully declared. Many, many times in Psalm 139, It says this, Jehovah Shama,
the Lord is there. All right? Look at verse 1. Let's begin with verse 1. This
is a wonderful passage of scripture. Thou hast searched me and known
me. You've looked me over, through
and through. Searched me. You know me inside
out. He starts on the inside. Thou
seest not as man seeth, but God looketh on the heart. David prays
or says that Jehovah has searched me, looked me over, through and
through, and known me. Yea, he knows me better than
I know me. Now this is cause for fear, humility, shame, and comfort. You know what? So how can it bring both change
and comfort, fear and encouragement? Well, because someone once said,
truthfully I'm just someone that can look right through you and
still enjoy the view. Can see right through you and
love you anyway. So that's our God. Searched me
and known me. Knows me better than I know myself.
He knows my sincerity. What little there is. He knows
my hypocrisy. He knows my faith. He gazes. He knows my lack of it. He knows my few times courage. And he knows my cowardice. The
Lord seest me, David said in another place. Thou, Lord, seest
me, and he knows me. Verse 2, Thou knowest my down
sitting, and mine up rising. And I lie down, and when I rise
up, he knows. He's watching. And this also
means my ups and my downs. He knows my ups and my downs,
when I'm cold, when I'm hot. My mood swings, and so forth.
He knows me. Verse 2. I understandest my thoughts
afar off. He understands my thoughts. That's like the verse of Scripture
in Romans, I believe it is. It says, We know not what things
to ask for, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings
that cannot be uttered. Quite often I find myself unable
to pray and put it into words, and I just, oh, I groan, you
know. He knows. He knows for what things,
as Christian says, we have need of even before we have. Why?
Because he knows our thoughts before we think them. For far and off, he knows what
I'm thinking before I think it. The parent knows the child better
than the child knows itself. Right? It's so. Why? Because you were once a child
yourself. You know exactly what they're thinking. You know exactly
what they're going to do with one of you. You know what they're
going to say before they say it. You know what they're going
to get into before they get into it. Why? Because you were a child
once. And the scripture says concerning
our Lord that he himself was toughest with infirmity. He knows
that for him. Although he had no sin. He didn't fall into what we fell
into, yet he limited himself to a degree, to a body, and he
knows our plans. Now that's comforting, isn't
it? He became a man. He took on himself the likeness
of sinful flesh, yet without the sin. And so he knows what
we're prone to. He knows. He knows what we're
going to do before we do what we want to think, before we think
it, before we want to say it, before we say it. He knows flesh. I like that. That gives me great
comfort. It causes me shame. I'm ashamed, you know, that he
sees and knows everything. But I'm comfortable about it
too. You understand that? I really
can't put it into words. That's the best I can do. It's
a cause of comfort. A parent, a child, you know your
children through and through and love them anyway. All right,
look at verse 3. He says, Thou compassest, or
surroundest, or winnowest my path and my lying down. He knows, and are acquainted
with all my ways. He knows where we go and what
we do. and is able, now listen, God
is able to deter us from taking a particular direction if he
sees fit. He's able to direct us in a particular
direction. He's able to prevent us from
falling. He's able to, He sometimes is
willing to allow us to fall and sometimes leaves us to walk right
into whatever. That's what that means. It encompasses
my path, my lying down, all for His purposes. Now, our prayer
is that the Lord will order our steps in His Word, that He will
put our feet in paths of righteousness, but according to His good will
and His purpose, and we don't use this as an excuse. But according to his goodwill
and his purpose, sometimes he allows us to go in the wrong
path. I think I know why. So it would drive us back to
him. If we didn't take a fall every now and then, we wouldn't
look up. Jehovah, our Lord, watched Eve talk to Satan. He could have prevented that.
that conversation. He could have prevented that
from happening, but he didn't. He allowed her to speak with
him, be influenced by him, and fall. Why? Well, for his glory. To fulfill his purpose and his
glory. Look at verse 4. There's not
a word in my tongue But lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. There's not a thing that I can
say that you don't know, know it already. Before I say what
I say, you know it. Matthew Henry said, thoughts
are words to God. Now again, that's cause for fear,
that's cause for humility and shame, but yet that's cause for
encouragement and comfort. Because when we can't put into
words, like what someone said about prayer, it's better to
have a heart without words than words without heart. So thoughts are words to God.
If you can't put something into words, don't need to. Thoughts
are words to God. Motives are actions to God. They sure are. Listen to this.
He said, there's not a word in my tongue, but lo, oh Lord, thou
knowest it altogether. In Proverbs 16, verse 1, it says
this. And you know how sometimes people
say things and you think, How did that come from him? An
unbeliever? Do you remember Caiaphas, the
high priest, when he made that prophecy? Huh? This experience
that one died for the people and so forth? The scripture says
he didn't know what he was saying. But he said it. This is where
that's found. In Proverbs 16, 1, the preparation
of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. the preparations of the heart
and the answer of the tongues from the Lord. There's not a word in my tongue,
David said, that, Lo, all Jehovah, thou knowest it all together. Verse 5, Thou hast beset me behind
and before, gotten me surrounded. I like that. He's gotten me surrounded. He's hedged me about. No place. That means there's no place to
go. But to Him, it is. It's surrounded where we want
to go. No place to look but up, no place
to go, but him, look at this, he's laid his hand upon me. Thou
hast laid thy hand upon me. The thought I get there and I'm
surrounded is sometimes when God just hedges us about and
keeps us and prevents us and stays us to where there's no
place to go and then he puts his hand on me. The illustration of this is my
dog, when my parents were here. Old Abner, he's a stock dog. That's his bloodline, he's a
stock dog and they chase stock. You know, well I cannot keep
him from chasing those horses. I cannot do it. They get to playing
and he thinks I've got to chase them. Well, he doesn't know. And I'm trying my best to break
him. Well, he did it again the other
day. My parents were watching, and
I scolded him. I scolded him. Sometimes I think
he thinks that I am omnipresent. Because the minute he... sometimes
I'll be watching from my window upstairs, and I'll... and I'll
see, and he's getting ready to do it, so he does it, you know.
And then just soon as he starts, I open the window, and... It's like, where did he come
from? Is he everywhere? And well, the other day he did it
again, and I scolded him, and what'd he do? Caught again, so
what'd he do? He came running to me and sat
at my feet and just looked up at me. Like that. Just stared at me. I looked down at him. I wanted
him to know, bad dog. Bad dog. But you're my dog. And I put my hand on him. I put
my hands on his head. He's going to do it again, isn't
he? He's going to do it again. What's the thing to do then?
First of all, he's a bad dog. Remember that guy, Master. He's
a compass thing. He's beset me behind before he's
all around me. He knows what I'm doing. He knows
what I'm thinking. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it,
what I'm going to say, what I'm thinking before I even think
it. So David said in verse 6, such
knowledge is too wonderful for faith. It's too big, too high. I can't explain to you. I can't
figure out. I can't figure out my God. Can you? I can't figure out His ways.
All this world's got their God. Easy to figure Him out. He's
just like a man. But not our God. He's much higher. High Rock's
coming back there, Bob. Much higher. Such knowledge is
too wonderful. It is wonderful. It is wonderful. But our God... I say, I want
a God much, much, much, much bigger and higher and infinitely
wiser and greater than myself. Why would you need a God? Someone once said this, and this
is an interesting statement, by some infidel, said this, said,
if there was no God, we'd need to invent one. Man needs a master. We've got
a good one, that Jehovah. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high, I cannot attain unto it. Spurgeon, I believe
it was, said this, he said, I don't want a God, I can figure it out.
I do not want a God I can figure out, because if I could, that
means he's just like me. And then you wouldn't need one.
Well, verse 7, he said, Whither shall I go? Now here's where
we find Jehovah and Shammah. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? For whither shall I flee from
thy presence? And why would you want to? Why
would anybody want to have that? We do. No. We sure do, because
we're such sinners, that's why. And verse 8 says, If I send up
into heaven, thou art bare, Jehovah Shammah. That's what that, how
that verse looks. Thou art bare, Shammah. Lord,
thou art bare. If I send up into heaven, now
I thought, what's, how could we relate this? What, what does
this relate to, if I send up into heaven? When you think of
anything, Rick, I go up in the heaven. God's there. In the heaven? When were we ever
in the heaven? We were just in heaven. What about it, Jeanette? God's offering in the airwaves
as much as He on the ground. Heaven. I didn't mean the heaven,
not the heaven of heavens. Of course God's there. David
says so. Evading that airplane, but I
don't know. Up on the mountain, perhaps. But all of us have fears,
don't we? Whatever it may be, I'll be perfectly
frank with you. Whenever I get off the ground,
I think, what am I doing up here? You know, an airplane, you know?
Kind of feel like some kind of work driving in for a man to
fly a giving wing. He wouldn't have allowed that
airplane to be created in him. But God's a sovereign in the
air, just as much as on the ground. He's got a hold of that airplane. How many, literally hundreds
of thousands of miles, Brother Bill Clark traveled all over
to preach the gospel, and nothing could bring that plane down.
Wasn't going to do it. Nothing. Let's read the next thing. It
says, If I make my bed in hell, that is, go into the lowest parts
of the earth. Anybody claustrophobic? I've
been down into the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, one of the deepest
caves. It's over a mile and a half deep
down in the cave, Mammoth Cave. Buddy, now, I've been down there
and they turn the lights, you know, lights, and then they turn
the lights out. And you know, the walls are like this. Jehovah. He's there. He's up there. He's
down there. Where are you going to flee from
me? I mean, as a matter of fact, it's not like he's anywhere.
I'm in here. Right? I'm in Him. Look at the
next two verses. 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. See that? If I take the wings of the morning,
that's the wind, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.
When I was a young man. Twenty twenty and twenty one
just turned twenty one. And I went sailing on the ocean
ten days with another group of young men. And that was quite
an experience. I'd never been out to sea like
that. I'd been deep sea fishing, but
never outside of land. And we went 150 miles out to
sea, no land in sight, ten days. Steve, I'm a land lover, buddy. When I got back, I kissed the
ground. But when we started out, when
we started out, we motored out of the harbor, and I thought,
this is not bad. But then when they put that sail
up, and that boat went sideways and stayed there. And then the
sky was as black as, as dark as my coat. I didn't know the Lord then.
Then a lot of ships lost at sea. You know what? A lot of ships
lost at sea. And I thought to myself, now
why are we doing this? Why are we going out of here?
A lot of ships lost at sea. That's nothing. You know, sailors
have gone out for For months, my father was out to sea for
30 and 45 days. Cody Groover said he was out
there three months at a time, a submarine. Can you imagine? Well, Jehovah's Young. Thank God he was there. And that thing, that boat of
mine didn't go down. You know, Brother Herbert, Hubert
Montgomery, Passed away now, went to be with the Lord. Maurice's
father lived to be ninety-some years old. A barn builder. This
man, until he was about eighty-five years old, Stan, would get up
on, build tobacco barns, tobacco and horse barns in Kentucky.
Sought, sought after all over the state to build them. He was
eighty-five years old. Get up on those roofs. strong
man, a faithful man, believed, loved the gospel, a faithful
member of the church there in Danville. Well, Maurice Montgomery,
when he was just a 19-year-old boy enlisted in the Army and
was heading overseas, and Brother Hubert, the last thing he said
to Maurice before he left, was, son, remember, God goes everywhere. And he wanted, I believe what
he wanted to do was not only instill a word of warning and
fear into that young man, but comfort, too. Son, God goes everywhere. He's everywhere. So wherever
I go, even there, and thy hand shall lead me, and thy right
hand shall hold me. Verses 11 and 12. If I say, surely
the darkness shall cover me, or even the night shall be light
about me, and the darkness hide it not from God, from the Lord. The night shineth as the day.
Darkness and light are both alike to men. Our Lord in one place
said that men do what they do under cover of darkness, or think
they do. There is no cover of darkness
with God. None. None. They're both alike
in the God. All things are naked and open
before his eye. Verses 13 through 16, let's read
down through that. Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I was praised there. I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, that
my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid." Now
he's talking about before we were born and when we were being
formed in the belly. My substance was not hid from
thee, or that is, wasn't any strange to God. He knew me. When I was made in secret, he
made me. Curiously wrought. Science calls it genes. Anything to keep from giving
God the glory and the credit. Mother nature. It's the Lord. That's who it is. He's the one
that has made us like we are. The genes, these blueprints,
these building blocks and all that that make us what we are.
Who made the genes? We don't. I was made in secret,
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes
did see my substance, yet being unperfect. In other words, it
was already done before it was done. I was already me before
I was it. And in that book, all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, or that is, as
it went on, began to be fashioned, yet they were already done before
there was none of them. Oh, my. I like that verse 13,
You possess my reins. God has hold of the reins of
this wild ass's coat. Reins are your innermost being.
Bowels is another word for it. I like that. He has hold of my
innermost being. I'm not out of control. Although
sometimes I feel like this thing within me rages, he says he has
hold of the reins. He's able to subdue all things.
I like that thought, don't you? Those of you who feel like sin
has dominion, he has hold of the reins. He has over the reins,
he's able to subdue all things. Like a wild ass is cold, he fetched
us, he apprehended us, he broke us, branded us, saddled us, shot
us, yoked us, and reins us in. I like that. I like that. I want him a hold of my being. Verse 17, oh how precious. How
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How precious. He said, I know my thoughts toward
you, thoughts of peace. I know my thoughts toward you,
thoughts of peace. And he knows the end from the
beginning. Our end is a good one. Yes, it is. If we had eyes
to see, we'd see that all else in between is good. He can't
do anything but what's good. He's our good God. He can't do
it. His thoughts toward me are precious. Oh God, how great is the sum
of them. How great is the sum of his thoughts
toward us. How long has God been thinking
about me? Well, we just read before I was
born. I was on his mind before the world began. Well, how long
will he continue to think about me? He'll never will cease to
think of me. That's what David says. How great
is the sum of your thoughts, if I should count them, they're
more in number than the sand. When I awake, I'm still with
thee. When I awake. Have you ever walked
in and looked at your child asleep? How many times? My grandchild. There have been times when I've
gone in and just kind of looked at her and she'd wake up and
see me looking at her. What is it? Nothing. Just looking. The scripture says he needed
slumber or sleep. His eyes always beholden to that. Is that a good thought? Huh?
How precious are his thoughts toward us. When I wake, I'm still
with thee. Verse 19. Wait a minute. That's a good thought concerning
those who have slept. It's for the believer. Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, just like
sleep. The absence of the body is present with the Lord. It's
as if you go to sleep and wake up. A moment in the twinkling
of an eye. How often you go to bed. Listen, when I hit the bed, I'm
gone. I mean, when I hit it. Sometimes
I'll get a book, and I'll get in the bed, and I'll fall asleep
with the book in the air. And it gets me. I'm gone by the
time I hit that bed. And I'm up. I mean, I've seen
no sooner hit the pep than it's time to get up. That's the way
Dad felt. When I wake, I'm with thee. Verse
19, Surely, verses 19 through 22, let's read all of these together.
Surely, I will slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore,
you bloody men. They speak against the wickedly,
and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Now, who's he speaking
of? Who's David talking about? I
believe he is talking about religiously wicked, false prophets and so
forth. Why does he bring this up? Why
does he bring this up? When he's talking about all the
precious thoughts of God and so forth, and how God's there,
God's there, because we get, I get, you get, frustrated and exasperated by
all that we see going on around us, don't we? All we hear, people
get more and more and more blasphemous. The things you read, the things
you see. There's some new television program coming on now, kind of
a cartoon-like thing, but they're absolutely mocking God Almighty. There's supposed to be some little
character on the show that's God, sitting on a bar stool,
that sort of thing. You know, this began with George
Burns and all that stuff, you know, and it's getting absolutely
more and more and more blasphemous. Isn't it? It's just, you think,
can it get any worse? Why is God allowing this? And
I think that's why David brought this up. Why are you allowing
this to go on? When are you going to do something? When are you
going to show yourself? I like that Psalm 119 where it
says, It's time for you to work, O Lord, that may void your law. That is, there's a total disregard
for God's Word, there's a total disrespect for God. When are
you going to do something? That's what David's saying. When
are you going to slice up? Make yourself known. I want to
be like the disciple. Let's call down fire." And David
said, well, he will, surely. Surely he will. And it's going
to be like that. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked,
O God. Apart from me, therefore, you
bloody men. They speak against God, against
Jehovah, wickedly, even those who claim to be his witnesses.
Blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. Thine enemies take thy name in
vain. Do not, look at this, verse 21, do not I hate them, O Jehovah,
that hate thee. Am I not grieved? Am not I grieved
with those that rise up against me? I hate them with perfect
hatred. I count them my enemies." I read
that, I quoted that to a fellow one time that was talking to
me all about love, love, love, love, love, and I just quoted
that. He was shocked. He'd never heard it before. I said, I hate these false prophets.
I hate them. A perfect hatred of that. Can
you say that? Not the people. I feel sorry
for, I feel, not as much compassion as I should. I do pity these
people that are being taken in by these wolves. Let me give you a word of advice
if any of you are in the hospital anytime soon. When those wolves
come into your room, you know who I'm talking about. You know the wolves in the hospital.
You know what wolves do. Wolves prey on young, sick, and
old. It doesn't have a description
of modern creature. paid counselors and all that,
paid by hospitals and all that. Let me give you a good word of
advice, okay? When they come in your room, run them out like
a dog. I'm serious. Run them out like a cur dog. Get out of here. Do not I hate,
I hate them. I hate them. Don't you? People, they're butchering
souls. They're my enemies. Why? Because
they're against God. They hate God. They hate God. Yes, they do. They hate God. Capital G, capital O, capital
D. They hate Him. They hate your God. They hate
my God. Well, verse 22, I hate them. I count them my enemies. God will slay them. I do know this, though, God should
slay me, too. But he won't, for Christ's sake.
But he surely will slay all those outside of Christ that hate God. Verse 23, Search me. Now he ends
where he begins. He ends where he begins. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Verse 1 says, Thou hast searched
me, and known me. He has. But he ends up this prayer
by saying, Search me. And cannot we say this, huh? I want God to continue to search
me, and it's not in the sense that is trying to find something,
something good or something bad. Look at verse 24, see if there
be any wicked way in me. That's not, that's not like,
I don't know if there's any wickedness there, but if you can find some,
that sounds like a self-conscious religion. It doesn't. That's
not what he's saying. That's not what he's saying.
David in another place said, keep me from Presumptuous sins,
secret sins, sins that I don't know about, Lord. Search me and
expose them to me. Expose them to me that I don't
know about. Search me and expose me to me. Search out and expose. In the
margin, it says, see if there be any wicked way. The margin says, in the way of
pain or grief. I don't want to grieve the Holy
Spirit, and I don't want to cause any
grief or pain among the brethren. It's kind of like, this is the
prayer, this is a mature prayer. This is a mature prayer, a mature
believer. Kind of like a child, you know,
a child, when a child grows up, it doesn't want to hurt its parents.
You understand? When a child, they don't think
about how all that they do is against their parents. It brings
great grief and pain to their parents. Right, Brother Henry?
But when older you get, what restrains you is you don't want
to bring reproach upon your parents. You don't want to cause them
grief or pain, right? Same way with a husband. When
he begins to mature in that relationship, he doesn't want to hurt his wife
or wife and husband. They want to please. They don't
want to cause grief or pain and so on and so forth. And as a
believer grows in grace, this is what they say, I don't want
to cause grief. I don't want to bring reproach
upon you. So, search me. Know my heart. Try me. Know my
thoughts. See if there be any wicked way
in me and expose it to me and lead me. Oh, lead me. Please. Please. Jehovah-Raya, lead me. Oh, Shepherd, lead me. Jehovah Shamma, lead me in the
way, and what is that? The way everlasting. Point me
to Christ just as fast as you can. Put me in the way, make
me walk like Christ and in Christ my faith. Oh Jehovah Shamma,
the Lord is always there, everywhere. But I will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind has stayed on thee, when the Lord Jehovah
is everlasting strength." Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will see to it. He's
going to see to it. He's going to provide Jehovah-Rapha,
the Lord healer. Now or later, sooner or later,
one way or another. Jehovah-Nissan, he's our captain,
under whose colors we do battle. Jehovah-Shalom, Lord our peace. He made peace and he is our peace. Jehovah-Raya, Ra, the Lord. He's my shepherd. I shall not
want. Jehovah Sidkenna, the Lord, my
righteous blessing, justified. Jehovah Shammach, Lord's ever-present,
everywhere, in every place, always. All right, let's sing that hymn.
What number is it? 287. stand and sing. I've enjoyed
this study and I hope you've profited from it. Let's stand. And the river Gloria is not perfectly
Over all Victoria in its priory Perfect yet it's over, over every
day Perfect yet it floweth, eternal
the way. May that wonderful world once
more fully play, kindly let me come in. Earthly peace and well That's
perfect. Give me joy or triumph, fallen
from above. Trace upon my eyes, finest blood
of my life. We may trust Him wholly, no more
have to do. May we trust Him wholly, find
Him wholly true. Stayed up from Jehovah, watch
the Holy Land. Binding as he promised, perfect
peace and rest.