Go back here with me now, and
let's look together here in the 139th Psalm. And I want you to
understand this, that God's the observer. He's the observer. And He observes us, and every
once in a while, He lets us get a little glimpse of Him, and
we observe Him. But there's nothing, nothing
more dishonoring to God or greater denial of the character of God
than for us using His name or in His name to pretend what we're
not. That's just awful, to pretend
what we're not. Use words that are not sincere
and which don't come from the heart,
don't come from the heart. and go out here and do works
of religion, so men would admire us and applaud us. You see, God
looks on the, men look on the outward account of this, but
God looks on the heart. And before I get into this, I
wanna show you a verse of scripture in Luke chapter 16. This is what our Lord's talking
about right here. And this is the thing, you know,
when we talk about God observing us, seeing us, knowing us, the Lord knows us, He understands
us, He's intimately, intimately acquainted with our persons,
with our natures, with our very characters. So it's important
and most necessary for us to know Him. to know Him. Now look what our Lord said.
And He said unto them, in Luke 16, 15, ye are they which justify
yourselves before men. But God knows your hearts, for
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God. So whenever you find something
men's just applauding and applauding and applauding, God said it's
an abomination. But we need to know that we know
the God that knows us, because He knows us. He knows our name. He knows our nature. He knows
our character. He knows everything there is
to know about us. And we'll find out that He knows
about us before we were even formed in our mother's belly.
And that's why we need to know Him. This is eternal life. that
we might know Thee, the only true God, in Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. That's why Paul said, I know
whom, whom I have believed. I have believed. And look, what
is the first verse is like this. Let's go down through this together.
Oh Lord, oh Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. You know, when
we consider this universe and all that's in it, How small are we in the whole
scheme of things? How small are we in the whole
scheme of things? What a small, small part. It's a very, very small part
we have in this universe. And yet, he says here, Lord,
thou hast known me. Thou hast known me. And it says
here, thou searchest me. The Lord knows us as thoroughly
as if He examined me and you minutely, went through us minutely
and every part of us. And He searches us with a sovereign
eye, with an eye that's all seeing. And this infallible, this infallible
knowledge has always existed. For He's always searched us and
always searched me and always searched you. And the scripture
said over in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16, it says over
there, it said, there's not any creature that's not manifest
in his sight. For all things are open and naked
before him with whom we have to do. And I tell you, beloved,
that's who we have to do with. And he said, I know you. He said,
I know you and I searched you. As small as we are, he said,
I did this. I did this. And look what he
said here in verse 2. Thou knowest my down setting
and up rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. What he
said here is he said, I know every move you make. I know every
move if you're whether you're down setting, sitting down, or
you're getting up. Whether we sit down to read a
book, sit down to read the Bible, sit down to watch the television,
whether we're going to write a letter, whatever we're going
to do. Get up, rise up, walk, work, play, wherever we're at.
He said, I know where you're at and I know every movement
you make. He wants you to get in here and
sit down. He's going to watch you when you get up and go on.
Huh? Oh, and listen to this. And he
says, and thou understandest my thought afar off. He knows
all our thoughts, my thoughts, your thoughts. Listen to this,
He knows what they've been, what they are right now, and what
they will be before you think it. What a God! What kind of God,
what a blessed God! What a glorious God! Huh? And then look what He says, Oh
my goodness, in verse 3. Thou compassest my path, and
my lying down, and acquainted with all my ways. He knows all
of our actions. And when it says, Thou compassest
about, that means He encircles us. He puts a circle around us.
He comes all the way around us. Huh? Oh my. And He said, whether I'm laying
down, whether I'm asleep, or when I rise up, He said, oh my,
when the man don't sleep in whatever I'm doing, you're acquainted,
listen to this, with all my ways. And when he talks about his ways,
he's talking about your motives, he's talking about your actions,
all the purposes, all our desires. And then look what he says in
verse four. For there's not a word in my
tongue, but O Lord, thou knowest it all together. That's why he said, let thy words
be few. Oh, he knows our words. There's never been a word in
my tongue or your tongue that's not registered in God's mind
in heaven itself. And he knows every word you say.
And oh, I'll tell you there's not a word in your tongue that
God hasn't heard. Oh, hasn't heard. So I'll tell
you what, if we understood God, understands every word, sees
every word comes out of our mouth, we ought to be very, very careful
of what we say. And be especially be careful
of what we say to one another. And be especially careful what
we say about one another. and especially careful in what
we say about him. Huh? Oh my. And then he says this, there's
not a word in my tongue that God doesn't know. And then he
says, he says there again in verse four, oh Lord, thou knowest
it all together. He knows all these words all
together. He knows where they come from.
Were they sincere? Were they honest? Were they from
your heart? He knows the source of them,
where they come from. He knows the reason behind them,
why you say what you say. And he knows what the results
is going to be by what you say and the consequences of what
you're going to say and what you have said and will say. He
knows exactly what's going to come out, the results of what
you say. Huh? Oh my. You know, this is a God that
knows us. He knows us. And it doesn't put
fear in my heart. It puts adoration and love and
thankfulness. And thank God that I know him.
Did look what he said in verse five. He said, thou hast set
me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me. Now he says,
you know, he said, he said, you, you got in front of me and you
got behind me. He's in front of us and he's
behind us. Huh? And I tell you what, there's
no escape, there's nowhere you can go. You go forward and he's
there, you go back and he's there. Unless we think, unless somebody
thinks that he's way far off from us and further behind us,
that he's real distance from us, and then look what he says.
He said, then you laid your hand on me. You think he's too far
behind? Reach out and touch him. He's
too far in front? Reach out and touch him. Oh,
no wonder. That's why, Lord, you don't lay
his hand on him. And you know God laid his hands
on us in his blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how he
laid his hands on us. He said, all thou, giving him
power over all flesh, that he should give or lay his hand on
all that was given unto him. And I tell you what, he lays
his hands upon men either to deal in mercy and deal in grace
like he does us, or else he can deal in judgment, lay his hand
on a man in judgment like he did Pharaoh. He said, Pharaoh,
I raised you up, you're on the throne for one reason, to let
you know that I'm God and you're not. And all listened. Look in verse
6. Dear Shirley and I, sweet Shirley
and I were talking about this on the way. Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. It's too high. I cannot attain
unto it. Now when you start thinking,
just what we've dealt with tonight. Is that not too high for you?
How you gonna ask this? How do you get it? How do you
understand it? When you talk about the omnipotence
of God, the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God, he says,
it's just too wonderful for me. Just too wonderful, such knowledge
that God knows me. Search me. Knows I get up and
get on, lay down and get up. Knows what I say, knows what
I think, everything about me. He said, it's just too wonderful
for me, I can't understand it. Look what he says. He said, you
know, when you think about the wisdom of God, and the glory
of God, and the holiness of God, oh how high it is, and look what
he says. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high,
it's so high, that about the time I think I've got a handle
on it, it's out of reach. It's out of reach, huh? And I'll
tell you something that I most, when we feel like when God comes
down and lets us leave this world for just a couple of minutes
at a time, and when we're in a worship service and worshiping
God, and when that time, right there, everything about God's
still higher than you and I can ever think. You know, that's
why it says it's going to take eternity for us to get it. Oh my. Let me show you. Look in Romans chapter 11. This is what we're talking about
here. This is what we're talking about.
Romans 11 verse 33. This is what we're talking about. He said, oh, it's just didn't
touch knowledge. Now what knowledge? God's knowledge
of me. That's what he's been talking
about. He said, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. Who's known the mind of the Lord?
Who has been his counselor? Who has first given to him, and
he has turned around and said, I need to pay him back. For of
him, through him, by him, and to him, are all things to whom
be glory forever and ever. And that's what I feel like right
now, dealing with these scriptures. And he talks about, you know,
this God. It's too wonderful for me. When
you think about all the attributes of God, and His faithfulness,
and His promises, and His attributes, because of who He is, it makes
His promises sure. My promises are not sure, but
His is because of who He is. And you think about, you know,
you think about the incarnation of Christ. How many times have
you heard it preached? How many times have you thought
about it? God was manifested in Christ, manifested on this
earth, and yet it's unexplainable how He got here and what He was
like while He was here, and we've been talking about it for decades,
and people have been talking about it for centuries, and it's
still, anybody know how to explain it? Too hard for us! Huh? And then you talk about
the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, His blessed death, His
blood shedding for us, that brought us our salvation and guarantees,
guarantees, now listen to me, guarantees our salvation. His
death guarantees our salvation. Oh my, can you explain that? Now you, Knowing you, after God searched
you out, he said, listen, I guarantee them salvation. If I save them,
I guarantee they're gonna be saved. And I guarantee they'll
stay saved. Why? Because he's God. Huh? And you talk about the resurrection?
When he said we'll be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye? That this old corruption here will put on incorruption,
this mortal will put on immortality? That's too high for me. And how do you account for his
inspired word? How do you account for that?
That this is the book of God. Every word, he breathed it. He
brought it into existence. And the only way he can be known
is through this. Oh, how do you account for his
inspired word? What about the power of the gospel?
The power of the gospel, the gospel, the power of it. Oh,
too high. No wonder Paul said, I wanna
know him. I wanna know him and the power,
power of his resurrection. Oh my. Now look what he said
here in verse seven. Let's go down through here. The
psalmist now, he goes down and says, oh, I think about God,
his knowledge is so wonderful, and all he knows about me. He
says, oh my, what if my sin became so burdensome to me? I got so
afraid that I thought, well, maybe I could have some place
to get away from God. But oh my, here's why some things
are too wonderful for him. He said, where can I go? Whither
shall I flee from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? Where can I go where you're not?
Where can I possibly go? And if I, look what he says,
I can ascend to heaven. I can go to the highest place,
the highest place. And when I get up there, I find out you're there too. I'll
go down to hell and make me a bed down there. And when I get down
there, I'll find out you're there too. And then look what he says. If
I take the wings of the morning, in verse 9, I get up in the morning
and I take off flying, and I have, of course this is metaphorical,
if I take the wings of the morning, fly off, and go out into the
outermost part, go out as far into the sea where nobody can
see me, past the horizon. And what does he say when I get
there? Where's your hand? Even there,
wherever I'm at, wherever I'm at, he said, even there, thy
hand shall lead me, and thy right hand gonna hold me. Whatever
I do, up, down, out. He said, you got a hold of him. Oh my. Oh, go to the highest,
the deepest, the most remote dwelling places. Then look what
he says. Oh my, look what he said in verse
11. If I say surely the darkness will cover me, Oh my, darkness
can't see me. Even the night's gonna be like
daylight to you. That's what he's saying. He said,
when it's dark, he said, darkness don't mean nothing to you. In
fact, we lived in darkness, we were in darkness. And he brought
the light. And that's what he says, yo,
yea, the darkness, it don't even hide from you. And the night
shineth just like the day, when God sees the night is just like
the sun at the midday to him. Oh my, the darkness and the light
are both alike to you. So that tells us, I mean, you
think no place you can go, no place that you can go. There's
no place you can go where God said, I got my hand, I got you,
I'm gonna lead you, and I'm gonna hold on to you. And then look
in verse 13, oh my, listen to this now. For thou hast possessed
my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. And what
this means is that God owns us lock, stock, and barrel. He not
only observes me and knows me and knows you, He's the owner,
owner of our innermost parts. He says, you possessed me. And
He even, when I was in my mother's womb, in the secret places, and
I didn't even know I was there. He said, you covered me. He told Jeremiah, before you
was formed in your mother's belly, I knew you. I knew you and ordained
you to be a prophet. Oh, when I was hidden in our
mother's womb, and you were with all of us, in our most secret
parts, He says, my reins. And that means the secret conditions
of our hearts and all the things, yet not born. God said, He possessed
me. He possessed me. Ain't that what
it says? He possessed me. Then look what else he said.
Oh, God owns it. I'm certainly thankful he does.
I'm certainly thankful he does. Look down here in verses 14 and
that go down to verse 16 together. And he said, I'm gonna praise
you since I know all these blessed things and you've taught me these
things, you've searched me, you've known me, you know my getting
up, getting down. There's no place I can go where
you're not. Your hands led me, your right hands upheld me. You
covered me in my mother's womb, possessed me from my mother's
womb. I'm gonna praise you. I'm gonna
praise you. Because I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are thy works, and
that my soul knoweth right well. Oh my, David is going now, he's
looking at God, he's seeing God, and he says, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. You know, we have lived in a
fourfold state. And God, when he made us, we're
fearfully and wonderfully made. He created us in Adam. Adam was
our father, created us in Adam. Adam fell and we fell with him. Born in sin, born in Adam, born
in sin. Created in Adam, fallen in Adam. Two states. Regenerated by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Born again by the Spirit of God.
Given a new nature by the Spirit of God. That's the third state
we're in. Anybody want to know what the
fourth one is? When we become glorified, when He takes us from
this world to the next, when that glorification's ours, that'll
be our fourth state, and final state. Started out over here
in Adam, end up up yonder. Who can do that? They want to
know that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Oh my, and that's why it
says, marvelous, marvelous are thy works. Oh God, how marvelous
is your works. And then he says in verse 14,
and my soul knows it well. My soul acknowledges and knows
it. Then look what he says in verse
15. My substance was not hid from
thee. When I was made in secret and
curiously raw in the lowest parts of the earth. When he says my
substance, you know what our substance is? It's our being,
it's our life, it's the size we are and everything about us
is known to you. And look what he says, when I
was made in secret, when we is not even yet born, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, when I was conceived
and formed in my mother's womb, you knew me and everything I
was, my substance. And oh my, and you saw me, look
what he says here in verse 16. Thine eyes did see my substance,
being imperfect. Ah, oh my. And in that book, all
my members were written, which were in continuance, were fashioned,
when there was yet none of them. And what he's saying here is
you saw me, You knew me, you loved me, and in your book of
life and in your book of purpose, everything about my life and
my days were recorded right there and then, huh? Oh, and yet I
had none of it. I didn't have no substance, didn't
have nothing, but yet you saw me and wrote everything about
me in your book, in your book of purpose. God has chosen us in Christ for
the foundation of the world. He sent his son to be the good
shepherd to lay down his life for the sheep. And God has predestinated,
predestinated all whom he's known like this and put in his book.
When they was curiously wrought, curiously wrought, He's foreknown
him, he's predestinated him to be conformed to the image of
his blessed son. And just as sure as God's on
his throne, we're gonna end up like that. Now you think about
this. Here's Joseph. God had a hand
on him before he was ever born. His father loved him like he
loved nobody else. His brethren hate him and despised
him. And this young Jewish boy, how
did he go from Israel, from a pit to a prison, to a slave, to a
prison, and then go to a throne? Because God said, I knew you,
and I possessed you, and I put everything about you in my book.
Said, Joseph, when they hadn't even been formed yet. This is
what I got for you. You know, preachers say, I got
a wonderful plan for your life. I wonder what they'd think if
there's like Joseph and his in prison. Oh my. But listen to what he
says in verse 17. Oh, when as yet none of them,
better said, yet none of them even existed. But he saw us,
he loved us, he knew us. And in his book, book of life,
book of purpose, he wrote everything about us in there. And then look
what he says in verse 17. How precious, oh Lord, how precious
also are thy thoughts unto me. How precious are your thoughts
unto me that you would, listen. Now we already know that we found
out God knows our thoughts. He watches everything about us. And man by nature, he's only
evil continually. But he says, oh, how precious
what you think about me, your thoughts about me. And his thoughts
toward us is love, kindness, grace, compassion, life. And you think about this, that
God would even think about you. That you are even one of his
thoughts. And then he says, oh, how precious are your thoughts
unto me, oh God. And I tell you what, it's not
only that, but it's wonderful that his thoughts toward us is
not evil. Not evil, but full of grace. And oh my, and look what he says
in verse 18. If I should count thy thoughts
unto me, how great is the sum of them. And if I started counting
them, if I started counting them, the thoughts you have toward
me, how precious they are. If I started counting them, I
couldn't count them because his thoughts toward us are more than
the sand in the desert or on the ocean. And then look what he says, and
I can go to bed, he says, when I wake, when I go to bed, when
I go to bed, rejoicing in your blessed mercies, and I lie down
to go to sleep, look what he says, when I wake, when I wake
up the next morning, I'm still here, he's still with me. Oh my. No wonder, one of these
days we're gonna lay down and take our final sleep. And when we're awake, the next
time we'll be satisfied because we're gonna wake in his likeness.
Huh? Now look what he says in verse
19. Now he really goes, he changes so much right here. He says in
verse 19, surely, surely that will slay the wicked, oh God.
Depart from me, therefore, you bloody man, for they speak evil
against you wickedly, and thine enemies, they take thy name in
vain. You know, God, as sure as He's redeemed His elect and
saved His elect, He's gonna also slay the wicked. Eternal death
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is as sure as eternal life there
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And these wicked men, they've
done two things. Look what they said. Look what
they said here. First of all, they speak against
God. Look what he says there in verse
24. They speak against thee, and they speak against you wickedly. And then next thing is, and thine
enemies take thy name in vain. Oh, they speak against him and
take his name in vain. And you know, this is done more
in religion than any place else. It really is. And David says,
do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate you. Your enemies are my
enemies. And he said, am I not grieved
with those that rise up against you? Those that come up and lie
against you, those that take your name in vain, those that
speak against you so grievously. He said, that grieves me to my
heart. And he said, listen to this, now I hate them with perfect
hatred. I do, he said, I hate them with
a perfect, those that take your name in vain and speak wickedly
against you, I hate your enemies, I count them my enemies, I hate
them with a perfect hatred. Oh my, you know you can't love
righteousness and love wickedness. You can't love the righteousness
of God and your own works at the same time. You can't preach
the sovereignty of God and then go through life complaining about
your lot in life. Let me give you an illustration,
and I'll wind this thing up. Greg and I was talking about
this, and this is how men take the offense out of the cross.
They'll say the death of Christ is sufficient for everyone in
the world. but it's only efficient for God's
elect. Now that takes the offense out
of the gospel. Now that's a lie. That's an absolute
lie. The death of Christ is only sufficient
and only effectual to those who is given to Christ in the eternal
covenant of grace. And for me to be like me say,
God loves everybody, but he loves his elect especially. and takes
the sting out of it, takes the offense out of the cross. And
we're not gonna do that. That's why David said, I hate
them with a perfect hatred. And all mine. Now listen to this
now. Now he started out saying, oh
God, you searched me and you've known me. And then he ends up
saying this. After he talks about the wicked,
he said, Lord, search me. When you find out God, the way
he really is, you say, Lord, now you search me. Search me
again. And oh Lord, know my heart. Oh
Lord, try me, try me, try me, put me, try me, and know my thoughts. And Lord, if you see, if there's
any wicked way in me like these people, lead me, lead me in the
way. Like you, everlasting. Leave
me that way. Huh? Ain't you glad that God
observes us? And then he's let us observe
him to just a little bit? Huh? Oh, what a... Too wonderful, too high for me!
But I sure like to think about it and talk about it, don't you? Our Father, oh blessed Father,
precious name, glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank
you for allowing us to meet here tonight. Thank you for allowing
us to talk about you, talk about your son, talk about your knowledge
of us, your love for us, your purpose for us. Oh God, how we
bless you and praise you. And Lord, bless those that are
listening, bless those that are hearing, And those we prayed
for, Lord God, remember them for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.