All right, we are looking today
at Psalm 139 to the chief musician,
Psalm of David. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. 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. Whither 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. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. 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, and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of
them. 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. When I awake, I am still with
thee. 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 I not grieved with those
that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies. 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. Now, surely this is a glorious
psalm written by David, and he sets forth in no uncertain terms
the fact that the Lord is everywhere. He's omnipresent. There's no place that a man can
go and escape from Him. There is no place for the children
of God that they can go that He does not constantly watch
over them and keep them. Now, the men of this world, they
desire to hide themselves from God. They don't want God to see
what they're doing. They're not interested in God.
If they could block God out, they would. But the children
of God, they desire the presence of God. You know, they want the
Lord to be with them. They want the Lord to be watching
over them. And even though it causes them
great shame from time to time when they think on it, yet nonetheless
they desire for the Lord to be with them. And so he says, O
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. And the reason that that is true
is because the scripture says that the Lord is the one that
causes the thoughts of men to occur. I mean, he's the one,
you know, a man deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his
steps. And in all things, the Lord has
sovereignly guided Ben. Now, Ben often, some seem to
think that that makes man less than accountable. But you see,
God has made man accountable. And so it doesn't make any difference
what men think about it or their philosophy. You know what, men
often get, oh, well, if you believe God is a predestinator of all
things, then that just makes men like robots. No, men are
not robots. Men do what they do because they
want to do it. And you know, that's just the
way it is. It's not a thing you ever did in your life. that you
didn't do because you wanted to do it. Now there might have
been other things you would have rather done, but you have always
done the thing that you wanted to do. And so it is, that's the
nature of man in his state. Men do exactly what the Lord
would have them to do, and yet they do what they will do. And
Adam, nobody made Adam do what he Did Adam acted according to
his own volition, did he not? And he did exactly what the Lord
told him he would do because the Lord ordained all these things
to come to pass. Now only as men rise up in pride
can they think of a way that they might accuse God of unrighteousness
in these things. The Lord knows our down sitting
because he's the one that made us a place to sit. He knows our
uprising because He gave us the strength to rise up. He knows
all these things. Thou comest past my path and
my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. There's not
a thing in the world that a man can hide from the Lord. He's
acquainted with our ways, and how often it is that we think
to make an excuse. I mean, Adam, he came up with
a good one, did he not? Well, it was the woman. I mean,
she's the one. I mean, Lord, you gave her to
me. I mean, what were you thinking? I mean, you know, and the woman,
oh, well, you know, the serpent, he beguiled me. Now, all of those
things were true, but nonetheless, all of them were sinners before
Almighty God. And then he knows our way. There's
not a word in my tongue But Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Now
if that doesn't cause us shame, I don't know of anything else
that would. He knows what's in your tongue. The tongue is a
fire that burns. And the man that bridleth his
tongue is a mighty man, according to what the scripture says. And
how often it is that the words that we speak bring great grief.
and heartache not only to ourselves but to others. But yet the Lord
knows these things. They can't be hidden. Thou knowest
it all together. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid thine hand upon me. We're marked from the beginning
by the hand of Almighty God. And then listen to what he says.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot
attain to it. Now you can't explain how all
of that is to men because it's not in the realm of man's understanding
how it is that God can be the predestinator of all things and
yet men act totally and completely according to their own desire. I can't explain how that is,
but it's a wonderful thing beyond my comprehension. It's too high
for me. And so we don't need to think
that we can explain that to somebody or make them to receive it. You know, when I was a younger
man, I used to think that I could reason men into having an understanding
of the sovereign grace of God, but you can't do that. I mean,
it's beyond the comprehension of men, apart from the grace
of God to reveal it to them. Because men just think there's
gotta be something that they've got to do. They can't conceive. That salvation could be the gift
of God without any strings attached, without any prior worthiness
or faithfulness or something. I mean, well, it's got to be
something. Men have got to do something. But it is certainly
too high for us. We can't attain to it. Paul said
in one place, he said, and who is sufficient for such things?
I mean, who can comprehend it? uh... the glory of God in his
mercy toward sinners whether shall I go from thy spirit or
whether shall I flee from thy presence he's there if I send
up to heaven he's there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art
there now who made hell? God made hell what'd he make
it for? for the destruction of his enemies
I mean, that's the purpose for it. And of course, you know,
just take a moment and speak about that, the concept of hell. Of course, most of the understanding
that people have as they read the scriptures about when they
read the word hell, has been painted by men who were seeking
to scare men into seeking the Lord. They want to paint the
picture of hell in such a way, and most of it comes from a book,
Dante's Inferno. That's the place where many of
the ideas that people have about what hell is. Now I will say
this. And I seek to say what the scripture
says and not to go beyond it and not to do anything less.
Hell is a place of destruction. It is a place of total destruction.
It is a place from whence there is no escape. It's not a place
men can visit for a while and get out. You know, it's a place
where the Lord destroys his enemies. And when you read the word hell,
In the Old Testament, especially, there's one word that's used
for hell. It's sheol, which is the grave. It's the place of
death. That's what hell is. I mean,
that's what death is. The Lord told Adam, in the day
that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And death was introduced
into us through that action of Adam. Adam is the progenitor
of death in the sense that we receive death from him and it
is appointed unto men once to die. Now why is that? Because
God ordained that it be so. Because death is necessary for
death to occur in order for men to have an appreciation of what
life is. You know, I mean, life, you can't
enjoy life except that you understand that it is a precious gift from
God. It's not something that you just
owe, that God owes you or something. Every day that you live is the
gift of God. It's a breath from the Lord. Because death is our appointed
end. I mean, we are, as morbid as it may sound to some, we are
born to die. And we're headed in that direction. From the moment that we are born
into this world, we're headed to the grave. Now, you can say
it any way you want to, but that's just the way that it is. You
have fewer breaths left in your lungs, your heart has fewer beats
to beat than it ever did. Peter out here one day. I mean,
that's just the way it is. And it's all according to the
purpose of God. But it doesn't make any difference
if we make our bed in the grave, the scripture says. The Lord's
there. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. See, death is not a thing that
causes men to be cast away from the Lord, but the Lord holds
his people in his arms at all times, even in the place of death.
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. At evening
time it shall be light. Because you see, the Lord is
the light of his people. And even in the midst of darkness,
even in the troubled times, in the places when there is no place
to find any joy or happiness, yet the Lord is the light of
his people. And he gives us light, and we
are enlightened. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day. No difference to
the Lord between the light and the darkness. Why? Because he
made both of them. He said, behold, I form the light
and create the darkness. And he said that. He made the
darkness and he made the light. Now some have said, well, light
is just the absence of darkness and darkness is the absence of
light. Well, that is true. But you see, and we can't comprehend
how there could be darkness or there could be light or there
could be the, we think of there being one or the other. In other
words, if you go into a dark room, you go in there and it's
in the dark and then you turn the light on and you're in the
light. So you think of darkness and light. But the Lord is in
neither darkness or light. He is the light. and he forms
the light and he creates the darkness according to the good
pleasure of his will and so that uh... the darkness and the light
he says uh... are both alike unto thee there's
nothing that is hid from the lord because he sees all things
and he uses the darkness for his purpose just as much as he's
pleased to use the light now you remember when the Lord brought
the plagues upon Egypt, and one of the plagues was the darkness
that came upon the land. It said it was a darkness that
could be felt. Now, I've never been in darkness
that could be felt. Have you? But I can kind of think
about how that might be. You know, most of the time, even
in the darkness, after your eyes acclimatized to it. You can kind
of see a little bit. I mean, you know, you get up
close enough you can make something out. But the darkness that came
upon Egypt was such that there was no light, none whatsoever. But it says in the houses of
the Israelites it was light. Now, that's an amazing thing,
is it not? Now, of course, men have some
eyes, well, you know, they knew ahead of time, so they got plenty
of oil for their lamps and stuff, and they lit all these things.
We don't think any of the Egyptians had any lamps or whatever. No, the Lord put the lamps out.
and the light shown in those dwellings not from the oil of
a lamp but from the light of the Lord because He is the light
and He is the darkness according to His good pleasure. He brings
darkness as it pleases Him. The darkness and the light are
both alike to Him. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Now I'm going to kind of
shift gears here a little bit and go back to the front, to
the first of this. Now, David always writes according
to his experience with the Lord, but there's always a limitation
into David's understanding of these things. But this psalm,
as most of the psalms, has as its subject the Lord Jesus Christ. and while all of these things
are true as David would say them yet we can see I believe the
glory of the Lord in this psalm as well as he speaks all of these
things that have been said the heretofore and especially as
it speaks about these verses that are to come while they are
applicable to David uh... the lord jesus uh... i believe
this is specifically speaking about the lord jesus christ says
for thou hast possessed my reins now in the scripture the word
reins that has that is the same word that is uh... translated
as kidneys it would seem strange would it
not if it said thou hast possessed my kidneys now he But the kidneys
are a very vital organ. I mean, you've got to have your
kidneys. Now, of course, they've got machines
and stuff now that can take the place of the kidneys, but you
cannot do without the function that the kidney performs. You'll
die pretty quick because the impurities that are in your blood
have to be taken out. And if anything testifies of
the sinfulness of man, that one thing should, should it not?
Our kidneys are given to us to cleanse and purify our blood.
Otherwise, we would perish. And so the scripture says, here
thou hast possessed my kidneys. I mean, the Lord's the one who
cleanses us. He's the one who makes us clean.
And he's that one who possesses our innermost being. But this
is most especially true of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not?
When the scripture says, a body hast thou prepared me. Now, when
we think about the Lord Jesus Christ being made flesh and blood it boggles the mind and many
a man has gone shipwrecked in trying to explain this in human
terms and all that we can say from what the scripture says
is that the Lord Jesus Christ took on himself a body of flesh
and blood. He is flesh and blood. He became
flesh and blood and he rose from the dead in a body of flesh and
blood. I mean a real body. Now, not
a body in the sense that you and I could understand it, because
he passed through a wall to come to the disciples in the upper
room. But nonetheless, he came forth
from the grave, the scripture says, in the same body in which
he went in there, because how do we know that? because when
they went in there and looked in the tomb his body was not
in that ground in that tomb so we know that he was in the same
body and the scripture says that when the disciples looked and
saw him going up into heaven on the day of the ascension that
the angel said this same Jesus whom ye have saw going into heaven
shall so come in like manner. How is he going to come? In the
same body in which he left. Now brethren, that's a glorious
thought. The Lord possessed his reigns. That is, he is the possessor
of that body which is his prepared uh... by his heavenly father
and thou has covered me in my mother's womb now this is true
of all of us the lord the lord's mercy has been with his people
from the beginning has it not? I mean from before the foundation
of the world he chose his people and he said his love upon them
and he covered them in their mother's womb. I mean, that's
what Jeremiah testified, that the Lord knew him when he was
in his mother's womb. When John the Baptist was just
a baby, he leapt in his mother's womb. when he came into the presence,
or when his mother came, or when Mary, who was carrying the Lord
Jesus Christ in her womb at the time, when she came into his
presence, the scripture says that he leapt in his mother's
womb, because the Lord moved upon him by his spirit, to know
that that one who was in the Virgin Mary's womb was that one
sent by God. Thou has covered me in my mother's
womb. He has surrounded us with his
mercy from the very beginning. There's never been a day in our
lives if we belong to him when God's mercy has not watched over
us and kept us according to his good pleasure. I will praise
thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. You know that the reproduction of humanity,
of all of the animal kingdom, is a miracle and a thing designed
by God to occur. And men are foolish. How foolish
they are when they think that they can explain how it is that
something could have come forth from a single atom or a single
amoeba or whatever, however they describe this, and come to the
place where it became so divided and so precise that each
one of these creatures would have their own reproductive means
to bring forth life. Because, you know, there's so
many different ways in which that takes place in the earth.
I mean, in all, you know, some things lay eggs. and the fowls
of the air. They lay eggs, and these eggs
hatch out, and yet the mammals, as we know, their youngs brought
forth alive. And yet all this diversity goes
to prove the single creator of all things. I mean, all of these
things, it's impossible. To understand, you know, the
man who is without faith, it's impossible for him to consider
that God made these things. He just doesn't want to believe
it, number one, but he can't believe it. And those in whom
the Lord has given faith, they can't believe anything else.
I mean, by faith we understand that these things were made.
out of nothing by the hand of Him who creates all things. And
we can't believe anything else. I mean, nobody can convince you
otherwise. If the Lord's given you faith
to believe that He did these things, you're powerless. I mean, it doesn't make any difference.
God is that one who teaches men the truth. I am fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
well. 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, and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none. of
them. Now we can see how that can apply
to normal human birth and conception and how all these things come
together to bring that past. We can see that in those verses. But yet I believe it's more specifically
speaking about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'll show
you a couple reasons why. It says, my substance was not
hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Now, there is a natural process
that has gone on from the days of Adam until the present time
and it is a normal natural process of conception and and birth that
takes place. And in that sense, this is not
an odd thing. It's not an out of the ordinary
thing. I mean, it's a normal thing.
The human race would cease to function if it was not a normal
thing. But what he says here, he says,
my substance was not hidden from me when I was made in secret
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. That
is strangely wrought. Now how do we know it was strangely
wrought? Because the prophet Isaiah prophesied of it. He said, behold, a virgin shall
conceive and shall bring forth a son. Now that's a glorious
thing, is it not? I mean, that's a curious thing. How'd that happen? It couldn't
happen. It's impossible. I mean, men
even today say, oh, that's just a myth. Ain't no way that could
have took place. They make a mockery of it. But
the Lord said, I was curiously wrought. That is strange, in
a way which can't be explained. It says the Spirit of God overshadowed
Mary, and the Lord Jesus was conceived in her womb. Now that
is a curious and strange thing. In the lowest parts of the earth,
he made a little lower than the angels and dwelt among men. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, he was not brought forth as yet unformed.
Now that's an amazing thing, that the Lord Jesus Christ would
be at just like any baby, at some point in his creation, in
that creation, not the right word I want to use, but in his
forming, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he was made and began to
grow. And it says here, yet being unperfect,
yet he was perfect. in all of his ways. Now how was
he perfect? Because he was exactly what the
Lord intended for him to be. To come forth. How else would
he show himself to the world except to be born as a man? Yet being unperfect and in thy
book, now listen to this. Here's another reason I believe
this has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. All my members
were written. In his book. Now what book would
that be? What we don't know about one
book that the Lord has and he says, and that book is the Lamb's
book of life. That's the book. And he says
in my book, in thy book, all my members were written. Now we're members, are we not,
of the body of Christ? He said all my members were written.
When I was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, all of my
members were written. Their names were copied down, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. Because we didn't exist
on the one hand, did we? No, we didn't have any existence.
But in time, when as yet there was none of them, in time we
were brought forth according to the good pleasure of the Lord.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is
the sum of them. What a wonderful thing. How precious
are thy thoughts. Now, again, The word of God is
not precious except to those to whom it is precious. You can't make it precious to
somebody. I'd venture to say that there's probably very few
households in the United States that don't possess at least a
Bible. They probably have a Bible somewhere.
They might not confine it, but they probably have one. But it's not because they have
it doesn't make it precious to them. But when the Lord gives
a man a heart to believe the things of God, this book, the
Word of God, becomes precious to him. And it is because it
records the thoughts. He said, how precious also are
thy thoughts unto me, O Lord. Now, the Lord Jesus, especially,
came to do his father's will. And his father's will was precious
unto him, and he would do what the father had sent him to do.
How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God? How great is
the sum of them, the totality of them. Now we don't know the
totality of the thoughts of the Lord, do we? The Lord Jesus Christ
does, however. He knows the end from the beginning.
Why? Because He said, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end. So He knows all the thoughts
of God because He is God. And these things are beyond our
comprehension. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with
thee. There is no separation. between the father and the son. When I awake, whether he was
in the grave or whether he was walking among men where they
could see him, whether he was ascended into the heavens or
curiously rolled in the lowest parts of the earth, he was with
the father and the father was with him. Surely thou wilt slay
the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, ye
bloody men. Now he says, surely thou wilt
slay the wicked. Now if any man would ever doubt
that the Lord will slay the wicked, he doesn't need to look any further
than the cross of Jesus Christ, which we come here today to remember,
the Lord's death till he comes. If the Lord would let sinners
off the hook without a payment for their sin, then Jesus Christ
would have died in vain. But because Jesus Christ did
die for sinners, it is a testimony to the fact that sin has to be
paid for. It can't be just forgotten. Now most people, even most religious
people, just think that somehow or other God will just forget
about these things. He'll just Turn a blind eye,
he'll say, boys will be boys. And we'll say to him, well, Lord,
we tried to do our best. And he'll say, okay, I understand. And that's the basis upon which
they think the Lord will receive them or something they did for
him. But God will demand payment for
sin. And that's what he says right
here. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked. Oh Lord, He will. Depart from me therefore ye bloody
men. Don't let me be numbered among
them. I want to be separate from them. Now the world is content
to go on with the world because they think they're all in the
same boat together and everything will be all right. You know,
that's just kind of the way men think. They just, they have the
group mentality that, well, everybody's doing it and everybody's like
this. If we just are like everybody else, everything will be okay.
But the Lord's going to destroy the wicked according to His good
pleasure. And the children of God desire
to be a separate people from them. I don't want to be numbered
with the bloody men, with those whom the Lord will destroy. I
want to be separate from them. For they speak against thee wickedly,
and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Oh, we live in an age
when the name of the Lord is taken in vain by the irreligious
and the religious. Oh, how often is the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ used as an exclamation point. People
just do that without any thought. They have no consideration. I
mean, it's just second nature to them. They just think that
it's just a word. They're bloody men. The Lord
will destroy the wicked. They speak against thee wickedly,
and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them,
O Lord, that hate thee? Now, who's speaking? I believe
it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, wait. Haven't we been taught that God
loves everybody? No, it would be a strange sort
of love, would it not? For the Lord to slay those whom
he loves, but yet he said he would slay the wicked. So we
can conclude that he does not love the wicked. They are not
those upon whom He would set His affection. And He says, I
hate them that hate Thee, O Lord. And am I not grieved with those
that rise up against Thee? Was He not grieved when He went
into the temple and He found the money changers there? What
were they doing? They were taking the name of
the Lord in vain. Because what they were doing
was selling the merchandise, they were making merchandise
of the worship of God. Now we live in a day and age
when that has become a full-time industry for men to make merchandise
of the gospel. You can hardly listen to any
radio broadcast or TV or whatever supposed preacher that does not
somewhere along the line mention something about money. I believe that that is a sign
of the wickedness of men, taking the name of the Lord in vain.
Listen, we don't make merchandise of the things of God, but we
hope by the grace of God to humbly bow before Him and realize that
whatever we have is the gift of God. and not that which we
would benefit ourselves or even our supposed cause. See, some
people say, oh, well, it's not for me, you know, it's for the
Lord. Well, the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and
so we don't need to become beggars for the Lord. I mean, He doesn't
need what you have or what I have. And so do not I hate them, O
Lord, that hate Thee? And am I not grieved with those
that rise up against Thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies. Now, we have to be careful, do
we not, as the sons of God, imperfect creatures, as we are, knowing
that It's the Lord alone that makes us to differ from another
and it is hard for us really Realistically to confess that
we hate somebody with a perfect hatred Because the reality is
that in measure We find ourselves drawn to the very same things
that the men of this world are. And we find ourselves in company
with them in ways that we wish we were not, as the Lord gives
us understanding. I hate them with a perfect hatred.
This could only be spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, because
He alone is able to perfectly love and perfectly hate. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now there are those that come
along and they try to minimize that, you know, they try to make
it out, well, the Lord just didn't, it doesn't mean that he really
hated Jacob, it just means that, or Esau, it just means that he
loved him less than he did Jacob. Well, by the same token, you
could say that he hated Jacob less than he hated Esau. That's not the way the scripture
would set forth. These are two contrasts. And
there is a contrast between the righteous and the wicked. The
righteous are those who are made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the wicked are those who
walk on in their own way. They are those who are the enemies
of God. They speak against the Lord. 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. Now surely, all of the sons of
God can pray such prayers, no doubt we can, but we cannot perfectly
pray, because there are times when we want our thoughts hidden
from the Lord. There are times when we want to do things in
secret and we want to hide our thoughts and our mind, our actions,
as if the Lord didn't see it. You know, and we tell ourselves
that we can get by with these things or whatever. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He walked among men, He perfectly desired
to do the Father's will. And He said, Search me, O God,
and see if there be any wicked way in me. Now, some would say,
well, there was no wickedness in him. That's correct. And that's
why he said, search me and see if there be any wicked way in
me. Now, we know the Lord wouldn't have
to look very far to find a wicked way in us, don't we? There's nothing in doubt about
it. I mean, we might say, search me, O Lord, and see my wicked
ways and turn me from them. But it would really be impossible
for us to really honestly pray, Lord, search me and see if there
be any wicked way in me. I mean, I know it would. You know, it wouldn't be any
doubt about it. And so this can only be the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Search me, O God, because you
see, he was open before the Lord and desired to do his Father's
will, and he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin. And the searchlight of God's
knowledge was upon Christ the days of his life, and he never
had any inkling or any inclination towards sin. Now that sets him
apart, does it not? from Adam's race in the sense
that we are inclined to sin. He was tempted in all points
without inclination to sin. We are tempted in all points
and inclined to it in most. Lord, search me though. And when
you see the wicked way in me, turn me from it. Let me walk
in that way of everlasting life and be found in Christ. Lead me in the way everlasting.
What is the way everlasting? It's Christ. He's the way, the
truth, and the life. And He is that one who's walked
in that way, and He is that way. See, He set forth the example
of what righteousness is, and He is righteous. And He walked
in that way because He is righteous. Oh, what a glorious thing. The
Lord is pleased to turn us from our sin. And he is gracious in
all of his ways. Someone have a question or a
comment? Could you go back to verse 15 for just a minute? In
the last part of that, I know you said that curiously wrong. I mean, I was strangely conceived,
you know, again, I mean, Mary being the virgin. What did you
say about the lowest parts of the earth? Well, the lowest parts
of the earth, I mean, this is the lowest parts of the earth. where men dwell, it's just a
kind of a description of where men, he made Christ a little
lower than the angels and he came into the lower parts of
the earth, the scripture says. So it's just speaking about the
fact that we are brought into, or he was brought into this world. This is the lowest parts of the
earth. I mean, we're here. You know, it doesn't mean like
down in the ground, but we're in the lowest parts of the earth
where centers dwell. Can't get any lower than that.