Thank you, Terry. This is number 166
in your M note if you want to follow along. 166. and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts,
I pray. See if there be some way Cleanse me from every sin and
set me free. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing
me from sin. and make me pure within. Fill me with fire where once
I burned with shame. Grab my desire to magnify Thy
name. and make it wholly Thine. Fill my poor heart with Thy great
love divine. My passion, health, and pride
I now surrender, Lord, in Thee alone Oh Holy Ghost, revival comes from
thee. Send a revival, start the work
in me. Do you know where that was taken
from, that song? Somebody say, you know what portion
of Scripture that's from? Scriptural. It's our text tonight. Search me, O Lord. Try me. Psalm 139. Psalm 139. And as
we huddle down here together, I want us to just worship the Lord
by browsing through this glorious psalm of praise. This is indeed
a glorious psalm of praise that magnifies God's omniscience,
that is, how he is all-knowing, his omnipresence, how he is everywhere. And also this contains the honest
and heartfelt desires and thoughts of the true believer. Let's just
look at it very briefly, down through here, and hope the Lord
answers our prayers in song for his Holy Spirit to fill us with
his word. Verse 1, O Lord, thou hast searched
me, thou hast searched me and known me. The all-seeing, all-knowing
God of heaven has sifted and winnowed us and knows everything
about us. Everything. Even better than
we know ourselves. Everything about us. And this should humble us in
thinking about this. It should humble us and cause
us to fear him, yet this is also a source of real comfort and
joy for a believer. to know that God knows everything
about us and yet still has dealings with us. The fact that he's still
dealing with us tells us that he's going to continue to have
mercy and grace upon us. God knows me. God knows me. Intimately, he is acquainted
with me in every way. God has searched me and known
me, and the word known is foreknown and also loved for love. Verse 2, Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine up-rising, and art acquainted with all my ways. Thou knowest
when I go to bed and when I get up. He knows. He gives his beloved sleep. But
more than that, he knows when I'm downcast and when I'm upbeat. He knows me. He knows all my
moods, my ups and downs. These moods and stills have something
to do with it. We get aggravated at one another
and our moods, but our Lord, he knows us up and down, inside
and out. He knows, it says, he understands
my thoughts are far off. My thoughts are far off. He knows
what I'm thinking even before I think it. Now that's something. He knows
what I'm thinking, even before I think it. Verse three, Thou
compassest my path and my lying down. You compass my path and
my lying down, my goings, my directions, and are acquainted
with all my way. You compass my path. You know
where I'm going. You know why I'm going. You know
what I want to do when I get there? I thought about every now and then
as husbands we think about going somewhere. We have a purpose
in mind that we're going to go somewhere. And we get our coat
and our hat on. We head out the door and our
wives say, wait a minute, where are you going? They want to know
where we're going. Well, God does know where we're
going. He knows exactly where we're going. And that thought
up there, he says, he's acquainted with all my ways in the same
way that you parents understand your children, well acquainted
with them. And it says he knows our thoughts
even. We sometimes can read the thoughts
of our children, can't we? We know their thoughts. We know
what they're thinking. We know what's going through
their mind. We know how they're going to react to the way we
act. And that's our God. Our God knows
each of his own in a special way, infallibly. He searches,
he knows, he understands that. Our ups and our downs, our thoughts
even. He encompasses my path, my lying
down. He knows where I'm going, when
I'm going, why I'm going. He's acquainted with all my ways,
everything about me. My God sees me, my God knows
me. And that verse 3 reminded me
of a hunter. that's acquainted with his prey, that knows his
ways, his habits, his den, where he is, and can easily spot his
tracks and his bedding and so forth. I got a dose of that this
afternoon. Brother Rick and I were out walking
in the woods, and yes, in the rain. We didn't have sense enough
to get out of the rain. But we had a good time. And while
we were out there walking, we heard a sound. And I could I'm
not very good. My hearing is poor anyway but
I couldn't distinguish the sound from from another really but
Rick did. He readily recognized as being
a turkey. I later told him it takes one
to know one. At any rate he quickly squatted down. He said let's
get down. And he began to call that turkey.
He knew he knew about those turkeys. He'd hunted them many times,
and that turkey came right to us. Came right to us. And my God is well acquainted
with me. He knows his sheep, the scripture
said. He knows his sheep. He's a good
shepherd and knows his own. He knows their habits. He knows
their wanderings. He knows their failings. He knows
everything about them. They're not prey, though. They're
his gentle sheep, tender sheep. He said, there's not a word in
my tongue either. But, Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Not a word. Not only does he
know what I think, but he knows what I'm going to say before
I say it. And there's another, there's
a scripture that says that the Lord knows what things we have
need of even before we ask. There's another scripture that
says he tells us what to ask even. He gives us a spirit. of
intercession and prayer and tells us what to ask for. It says that
in Ezekiel 37, and also in another place, he teaches us to pray. He knows what I think, knows
what I'm going to say before I say it, and puts the words
in my mouth to say to him what I need to say. That's knowing
somebody well. Verse 5, and thou hast beset
me behind and before. In other words, he will not let
us out of his sight. Like a protective father or mother
watches over their tender little ones, our Heavenly Father has
set us behind and before, will not let us out of his sight.
He says he has laid his hand upon me. I'm not only in his
hand, but his hand covers me. I'm like Job. Sunday, how we
read that Job had a hedge about him. He not only gives his angels
charge over his people to keep them lest they dash their foot
against a stone, but yea, we're in his hands even. We're in his
hands, and he protects us. Our Lord said that. Read on.
He's laid his hand upon me. He touched me. Verse 6. Such
knowledge. David says, it's too wonderful
for me. It's high. That's high in them. How big
is your God? He's big. How great is your God? Well, he's great. Well, describe
him. Can't. It's too high. How high is your God? Well, he's
high. High as you can get. Higher than
that. David, where's your God? He's
sitting in the heavens. What can he do? Whatever he pleases. He's high. It's high. This is
all too high for this poor worm. I can't attain unto it. I can't
understand it. No man my searching can find
out God unto perfection. Verse 7, Whither shall I go from
thine? Now he begins to talk about the Lord's omnipresence,
how he's everywhere, always. Verse 7, Whither shall I go from
thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? Do you remember Brother Maurice Montgomery telling
about when he went off to to the service as a young man, going
off to fight. And he was just a young man,
I think he was 18 or 19 years old. And what his old dad said
to him before he left, do you remember that? Anybody? His dad
said one thing to him as he was getting on that plane or train
or whatever it was, he was at bus. I remember well when we
sent my brother off like that. That's a traumatic time. You don't know if you're going
to see him again or not. Well, Brother Maurice's dad,
all he said to him was one thing. He said, son, God goes everywhere. And Brother Maurice was not a
believer at the time. And he said that stuck with him
all the days that he was gone. He never could shake loose from
that. And he mentioned to the Lord Just use that word in season
to arrest him. God is everywhere. Everywhere. Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? Verse 8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. The highest mountain, he's there. If I make my bed
in hell, the lowest cave, he's there. Behold, thou art there.
Verse 9. If I take the wings of the morning,
or if I fly off to the most distant lands and remote islands that
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there, verse
10, even there shall thy hand lead me. Thou art there, and
waiting on my arrival. Even there shall thy hand lead
me, and thy right hand shall hold me." As I said, Christ said
in John chapter 10, He said, He said, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and no man shall pluck them out
of my hand. He said, My Father, He's greater than me, and no
man shall pluck them out of His hand. We're in a double grasp. We're in the hand of Christ.
He's the right hand of God, isn't he? Verse 10, Christ is that
right hand man, that right hand of God, whom he upholds all things
by his power. Christ is that right hand, and
we're in his grasp, and we're also in the grasp, and Christ
is in God. And so we're kept, well kept,
aren't we? Well preserved. Thy right hand
shall hold me. He holds me. That's a good comforting
thought, and he holds it. Verse 11, "'If I say, Surely
the darkness shall cover me,' and us poor black sheep, we do
then, come to wander, or we, like sheep, have gone astray,
and we head out into the darkness, surely darkness shall cover me.'
No. Verse 11 says, "'Even the night shall be light about me.'"
It's all the same to him. Verse 12, "'Yea, the darkness
hideth not from God, The night shineth up as the day. Darkness
and the light are both alike unto God, both alike to him.
He's omniscient. He sees all. He knows all. He's
omnipresent. He is everywhere. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. All the same
to him. And though men do what they do
under cover of darkness, there's no cover at all. Not before they
all see an eye of God. Thou hast possessed my reins."
Thou hast possessed my reins. The reins there generally is
talking about the innermost being. And that's a comforting thought
to me, that God even is in control of my innermost being, my heart. I know that Jeremiah 17 says
that the heart is deceitful above All things are desperately wicked.
Who can know it? God knows it. And he said, but
I'll give you a new heart. This is the new covenant that
he will make with his people. He'll give them a new heart,
the heart of flesh. He'll take away the stony heart, give them
a new heart. Yes, there's another law of warring in our members,
lusting against the law of the Spirit and so forth, but God's
given us a new heart, and he even controls that. And that's
a comforting thought, and he possesses my innermost being.
Because I'm not my own. I'm bought with a price and he
possesses me. And he's able, the scripture
says, to subdue all things unto himself. Even this old wild heart
of mine, John, he's able. He owns me inside and out. And
that's good. That's fine with me. And also
the reins here, quite literally, is like the reins of a horse.
We all like wild asses coats at one time. He has to go out
and rope us, apprehend us, draws us with cords of love. The Scripture
says he breaks us, has to break us and subdue us. He brands us
with a big old C, with a rod of iron, but he brands us with
a C. Shods us with the gospel, doesn't he? Shods in any case
hold of the reins, doesn't he? Isn't that where you want to
be? Ridden by him? the kind master, and turns us
with her soever he will." That's fine, isn't it? The way I want
it to be, because if he lets me go, oh, Jeremiah 17 says the
same thing. See, he tries our ways. John
occasionally will pull on the reins and see if we'll go that
way. We are. We want to go the other
way, don't we? But then he takes hold of the reins, because he
possesses the reins. He's in charge. And this is fresh
to me. My daughter has been taking writing
lessons. And she's been on a few contrary horses and maybe some
of you have and every now and then you pull them one way they
want to go the other. So what do you have to do? I'm
in charge here. I hold these reins. I possess
these reins. And you pull it until that horse
goes where you want him to go. And that's the law. That's what
he does with us. He possesses the reins. He takes
hold of the reins and turns us with us wherever he will. Verse
13. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Thou hast covered
me in my mother's womb. That tells me that life begins
in the womb, doesn't it? Before birth, life begins there.
And God is the author of life, is he not? He has covered me
in my mother's womb. People talk about the genes.
Well, that's just strictly the predestinating will and purpose
of God, is all that is. He purposes how we are. Verse
14 says, I'll praise thee because I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. Fearfully. Maybe David was writing this
psalm down on a piece of parchment or whatever, and he began to
think about the Lord and all his power and all that, and the
Lord inspired him by his spirit to write these words about being
covered in the womb, and he says, I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. And he kept writing there, and
read on. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvelous are thy works, O Lord, and there's none more
marvelous as we saw Sunday morning as this creation called man. None so marvelous as this creation
that God has made, our own bodies. And David says, that my soul
knoweth right well, greatly. Verse 50, my substance, my strength,
my body, my person, my personality, my characteristics, my height,
my weight, Everything about me, my desire, everything about me
was not hid from God because he made me the way I am. He made
me. He is the potter and I'm the
clay and he formed me the way I would be. Dare we complain
about what we have become. No, he is the potter and we are
the clay. And he says my substance was
known to God, was not hid from him because he formed it. I was
made in secret, verse 15. curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth, God's eyes did see my suffering. Yet being
imperfect, though not yet formed, that tells me right there there's
sanctity in life, doesn't it, before it's borne? Certainly. All my members were written,
everything about me was written, which in continuance were fashioned. Finally, according to his will
and purpose, were And he knew all this before, known unto God
all his works from the beginning. He knew all about me before I
was. Before I was. As somebody would
say, before I was a glint in my mama's eye, God knew all about
me. Verse 17. How precious also are
thy thoughts unto me, O God. How precious 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,
more in number than the sand. For thoughts of love and mercy
and grace and kindness and compassion, how precious are God's thoughts
toward us, us undeserving, hell-deserving, rebellious, wicked, vile sinners
that we are, and how many and how often, he said, how many
and how often, how eternal they are. He keeps thinking about
it. He thought about us before we were, thinks about us now,
and he'll always keep thinking about us. I read a note that someone wrote
my wife, just a note. The front of the card said, Thinking
of You. And it's such a precious, precious
note. I asked her if I could read it,
and she said, Yes, I wish you would. And it's from one of our
dear sisters, and it was just a note. no occasion, but just
to tell her how much she loved her and appreciated her and that
she was thinking of her. And it's so precious. Isn't that
precious to think that someone else is thinking of you? Eh? Now think about themself. Especially
when you feel yourself so unworthy and undeserving. That somebody
is thinking of you. And they take the time to sit
down and and ride or call or whatever, they're thinking of
you. Or someone says they're praying for you. That's precious,
isn't it? That's precious to hear about from someone or to
read something that someone is thinking of you. Well, the Scripture
says God is always thinking of us. Always. There's never a moment in time
He's not. That's what it says. He always, as busy as he is, has many responsibilities. Speaking
as a man, I speak as a fool. As many as his responsibilities
are, yet he always thinks on me. His thoughts, his concerns,
his care about me, such an insignificant creature as I am. Think about
it. His thoughts of love, his care, his provision, are innumerable
and constant. He said that more than the sand,
more than the sand, he's always thinking about me and doing everything
for me and concerning me at all times. I love that Psalm 121,
it says, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
While I'm sleeping, God is not. And he's thinking of me. And
it says here, Look at it. Verse 18 says, When I wake, I'm
still with him. He's still thinking about it.
I'm still with him. I'm with him. You remember what
it means to be with someone, don't you? It means he's in control. We're under his care and under
his guidance. I'm still with him. Though I turn my back on
him, he'll never forsake me and turn his back on me. I'm still
with him in his thoughts, in his love, in his care, in his
heart, in his son. All right, look at verse 19,
and David begins a new thought here. I wondered why he inserted this
right here when he did. When I read this, I thought,
what relevance does this have to what is said before? Surely
thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me therefore, you
bloody men. Why did he say that all of a
sudden? Well, maybe it's in thinking about the goodness of God and
His goodness to all men. You know, His goodness is to
all men. The rain falls on the just men, Jeff. And He's merciful. He's somewhat merciful and gracious
and generous to all men. And David, in thoughts of God's
goodness and His tender care over all his works and his provisions
and all that, maybe he begins to think about the ingratitude
of all those unbelievers out there. And he says, surely God's
going to slay these ungrateful wretches. Hmm? Surely. Yeah. Scripture says he is. All
unbelief is just that. It's ingratitude. in gratitude
to a God who has cared for us and fed and clothed and done
all this for us since the day we were born, in gratitude. Scripture says men don't like
to retain God in their knowledge, but rather take credit to themselves,
take glory to themselves, or something else. Surely God will
slay the wicked. That's what he means by the wicked,
the ungrateful, the unbelieving. O God, depart from me therefore,
you bloody men. They speak against thee. You see how David's more concerned
with the enemies of God than his own? Our Lord said, Bill, and I've
said this before myself, our Lord said to pray for them that
spitefully use you, didn't he? Pray for them that spitefully
use you. But right here, and it was a
time when our Lord said to the Pharisees, he said, leave them
alone. Leave those God-glory usurping men, those merchandisers
of souls, those proud, ungrateful, self-righteous, self-pious, anti-Christ men, leave them alone. Leave them alone. I do not say
that you should pray for them." And this is what David's saying.
They speak against God wickedly. Thy enemies take thy name in
vain. Surely God will slay them. Verse 21, David says, Do not
I hate them, O Lord? Do not I hate them that hate
thee? Am I not grieved with those that
rise up against thee? And doesn't it grieve and anger
you to hear your great God blasphemed as he is in our generation? Nothing
angers and nothing provokes me more than that, than to hear
the great name of my God being blasphemed and my Christ being
degraded and his gospel being perverted and brought down as
nothing, nothing angers me anymore. And that's every man and woman
after God's own heart must surely feel the same way. Why? Because
they are more concerned with the glory of their God. They're
more concerned with Him than they are with persons. Verse
22, David said, Yea, I hate them with a perfect or mature, a righteous
hatred, righteous indignation. Our Lord said, Judge righteous
judgment. David says, I do. I hate them because they hate
you and they're degrading you and your sons, so I hate them.
I don't love them. I don't love these preachers
that are butchering souls. Like old Barnard, you know, refused
to pray for those fellows. Lord, I'm not going to pray for
them. Butchering your gospel, lying on you, lying on your word,
sending souls to hell. I'll pray for me. Lord, bless
me. And bless my people, our people, your people. I count
them my enemies. And they are. They're the greatest
enemies. not only of God, but of men, these merchandisers of
souls and these perverters of the gospel. Verse 23, for David,
then, all of a sudden, he changes again, doesn't he? All of a sudden, I believe,
he begins to think about his own hypocrisy and his own cowardice
and his own sin and his own wickedness and his own shortcomings and
his own pride in his own self-righteousness, how he has usurped God's glory
and God's credit, taken it to himself,
forgotten his God, how he has been ungrateful, how he has done
all these things that he's accused these men of doing. And all of
a sudden he says, Lord, you're going to do something
about me. I know you'll slay the wicked. I thank God your
thoughts are precious toward me, and you put me in Christ.
You hold me in thy right hand. I am found in Christ. You put
me in Christ. Of God am I in Christ, who of
God is made unto me all that I need, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, How precious are your thoughts
toward me, but, Lord, O Lord, how wicked are my thoughts toward
thee sometime. So, Lord, search me. You know
something? He ends it like he began it.
O Lord, thou hast searched me. He knows that. He knows the Lord
has searched him, and he knows me. Lord, thou hast searched
me and known me. Well, here he says, search me,
O God, and know me. And what's he saying? Well, I
believe he's saying, Lord, expose me to me. You know all about
me. I think he's saying there, expose
me to me. There's another place where David
says, keep me from presumptuous sins, sins that I don't know
I'm committing, and we do. We not only sin sins of commission,
or commit them, but sins of omission, not only. Presumptuous sins.
And David said, look, search me, search me, O God, and know
my heart, and expose me that I might know my heart, something
in my heart. Here I believe the believer wants
to be found out, my God. That really did. as your comfort in being finally
exposed to your heavenly Father. I remember when I was a boy,
I remember we were, a bunch of us boys were on the playground, We were all wrestling. We were
all laying in a pile all over top of one another. The girls
didn't do this. The boys were just like animals,
dogs, you know, just wrestling, laying in a pile and all that.
I was over on one side of the playground doing something and
I saw this pile of boys there laying there. And one little
meek, little timid fellow standing there. He never did get in on
football or anything. He was just a little tramp, you
know. He was standing there watching
the pile, and I saw him standing there. And I took off running. And I shoved him into that pile
and knocked him in that group of boys. When he came, he got
up, just as soon as he got up, there was a big old pump knot
on his head, that big, black and blue. Of course, I quickly
got out of the way so nobody would see me do it. He told the teacher somebody
pushed him, and we were all inside, and she lined us all up. All
right, who did it? And nobody would confess, you know. I wouldn't
confess. But you know, now this is the
trick. About one week later, I was riding
my bicycle, and I flipped over the handlebars
and landed on my head, and I got a big pump knot about that big
on the side of my face. I didn't cry, I didn't complain,
because I knew I'd got what was coming to me. And I remember
telling my folks, I did it, I did it. I felt so relieved, because
that whole week, you know, I felt so guilty, I had that hanging
over my head, that Keith Coughlin was in there, I'll never forget
it. I pushed Keith Coughlin, and knocked the pump nut on him.
Well, I was just pleased to get pumped off and finally be exposed. I believe the child of God truly
is never so miserable as when he feels the guilt and shame
of his sin until finally he finally confesses it and is exposed before
his God. Not necessarily before others. I don't think I ever told my
teacher. more miserable than being in
guilt and shame. You've got to go to your heavenly
Father. You've just got to confess it. Lord, Lord, expose me to me. I think David, for nine months,
was cold and indifferent, evidently was cold and indifferent and
miserable in his guilt until Nathan finally came to him and
exposed him. And then he was convicted, yes,
but comfort came, didn't it? in the form of Psalm 51. Psalm
51. So, Lord, expose me to me. Search
me, O God, and know my heart. Try me. Try me. Try my reins. Try them. If I
don't go the way you want me to go, then take hold of them.
Possess them. Pull me in that way. Know my thoughts. Know my
thoughts. Verse 24, see if there be any
wicked way in me. That song we sung, you know,
was taken from this. And David's not saying self-righteously,
I just don't, I don't think I have anything wrong with me, but you
just see if there is anything. That's not what he's saying there
at all. He's saying, Lord, search and ferret out every wicked way
in me. There are plenty. You notice
those words are in italics anyway, aren't they? If there be any,
see if wicked way in me. See that wicked way in me and
expose it to me, Lord. Search it out. Ferret it out.
Root out all the roots of sin and bias. And like David said,
create a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me
and above all. And lastly, he says, lead me.
Lead me. Lead me in the way everlasting. And what's that? Who's that?
Lead me to Christ. Leave me to Christ. Keep me looking
to Christ. Don't let me look within too
much. You look within and expose it to me, but immediately turn
my gaze to Christ. Point me to him. Leave me to
Christ and make me like Christ. Search me, O God, and know me. He has, and he does, and he will. All right, let's sing. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you so much for these comforting words. To the child of God who
knows the Heavenly Father, who knows us, who knows our brain, how comforting it is to know
that he knows us. While it humbles us, it causes
us to fear, it should. And while it does, at times,
Lord, it's great comfort to us to know that our God knows us,
everything about us, our down-sitting, our up-rising, our ups and our
downs, our ins and our outs, our thoughts, our words, our
complaints, our praises, our sincerity, our hypocrisy, our
everything about us, and yet still loves us. Having
loved his own, he'll love them to the end. here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and he shed abroad
that love in our hearts. Lord, you ask us if we love you?
Yes. Yet at times we act and feel
like we don't, yet you know, thou knowest. And that's the
comfort of our heart, Lord, thou knowest. Thou has searched me
and known me. And whatever's there, you put
it there. Whatever sincerity, whatever love, whatever faith,
You put it there. It's all a gift. It's all a grace.
We thank you. And take these words, Lord, and
let them be a hedge about us, a comfort to us. Let them be
a restraining factor upon us. Restrain us from evil. Let them
be constraining. Constrain us to work faith which
worketh by love. Constrain us to serve our God
who is so kind to us. Constrain us to set our affection
and our thoughts on him as he has set his thoughts and affection
on us. Dear Lord, how precious are thy
thoughts toward us and more than the sands of the sea. May we
think of you on occasion. Cause us to do so, Lord. Lead
us in the way of everlasting, the way of life. Lead us to Christ. Keep us looking to him and trusting
in him. until we gather together again
next Lord's Day Christ and we pray this thing meant to get.