Very, very blessed portion of
God's Word. Psalm 139. This psalm especially magnifies two
attributes of God. The omniscience of God. That
is that he knows all. Sees all. and then the omnipresence
of God that He is ever present. And these two things are very
comforting and very encouraging to God's children, and they certainly
have been to me. To know that whatever experience
life brings, be it ever so painful, shameful, shocking, unbelievable or unjust, whatever
it be, God is omniscient. He knew all about it before it
came. He knew all about it while you
were going through it. And He knows all about it after
the experience. That's his omniscience. God knows
everything there is to know about everything and everybody. And
then his omnipresence. It is impossible to go anywhere
or to experience anything where the Lord is not. How many times
have you said, I wish so-and-so was here? I wish so-and-so was
here. I need so-and-so right now. Well, you'll never go through
anything. You'll never be in a situation at any time and any
place without the Lord's presence. I am with thee. Will not forsake
thee. The psalmist begins with God's
knowledge of all his actions and doings. And that's a pretty
good way for us to begin to approach the Lord, is with the understanding
that He knows all about us. You don't have to bother with
any hypocrisy. You don't have to bother trying
to hide anything from Him, because it cannot be. Cannot be. So He begins with this thought,
O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me, Thou knowest my
down sitting and mine up rising. You know, every time I sit down,
get up, lie down, wake up, you know all about it. And then he further expresses
that the Lord knows all about my every thought. In the end
of verse two, thou understandest my thought. A far off. And those two words, a far off,
means that God knew my thoughts a long time before I ever thought
them. A far off means ahead of us in
time, from eternity even. The more I understand this, the
more I realize that people who buck that God's absolute sovereignty
don't even have a clue who He is. It's pretty easy to play religion
and to pacify sinful flesh if you don't know or want to know
who God is. I mean, if you just want an arrangement
where you're in control of just about everything, And you know, God is a puppet
on a string and you just manipulate him however you will. Well, may
I say that God don't exist except in people's minds. But oh, he
does exist in people's minds. So many today. But the truth
is the God of this Bible knows all, sees all, rules over all
and in all. Now verse 3, he says, he knows
all my ways. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. You or I, you and I can do nothing
of which God must say, I'm not acquainted with that about him
or her. I'm not really familiar with
that. Now, we have to say that to one
another. So I said, did you know so and so did this or so and
so? No, no, I'm not familiar with
that. No, I'm not. No, nothing. Never will God ever have to say,
I'm not acquainted with that about him. I'm not I'm not familiar
with that about her. Oh, my. He is. He is. And David
says, Lord, you're acquainted, could
say well acquainted, with all my ways. Not only my ways, but
my words. Verse 4, he said, For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. That's a good thing, but a little
bit frightening too, isn't it? My words, and that word altogether,
thou knowest it altogether, that means entirely, entirely. I cannot speak a word, but what
God knows exactly what I said, why I said it, what I meant by
it, where it came from, what my motive was, He knows. He knows. A lot of people don't quite believe
in a God this big, but this is who He is. Then His omnipresence. He's ever
with me. He's behind me. He's in front
of me. And as we sang a while ago, He's
leading and He's also following. He got here first and He'll be
here last. He saw us coming, He will see
us go. That's what verse 5 says. Thou
hast set me, beset me, behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Then David confesses, and so
do we in verse six, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is
high. I cannot attain unto it. Everybody don't say that. I talk
to people and I even hear preachers who all but say they've pretty
much got God figured out and pretty much know everything the
way it is. I confess with David that's too
high for me. I cannot reach into the realm
of his superior knowledge. Not only do I not know everything
God's doing, I don't like some of it. Hello? But now I hear these guys talk
about, you know, like God's in this, God's not in that. They
all know all about what God's in and what he's not. And of
course they're thrilled with whatever he's doing. Well, that's
just, that's just not us, is it? No, he's doing right. I promise you that. But his knowledge
and his ways are higher than our ways and superior to our
thinking and understanding. Hmm. He's higher than us, superior. And if this makes any sense concerning
His omnipresence, He is totally with me, but I'm a million miles
from Him. He's always where I'm at. He can read my mind and heart
and feelings and does, but I'm a million miles from where He's
at. He is with me in my wanderings
and my waywardness and my foolish willfulness. Look at verse seven. Whether shall I go from thy spirit
or whether shall I flee from thy presence? Note that word
whether twice in this verse. It means where? Where? And the emphasis is, as some
would say it, pray tell where? Where is it that I shall go from
thy spirit? Where is it that I shall flee
from thy presence? Can anyone escape God? No. No. And then he said, it goes on
to expand on that. If I ascend up into heaven, Thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. Now don't misunderstand here.
David's not going to hell and he couldn't just up and ascend
into heaven either. He's not talking about that.
He's talking about the most blessed, wonderful experience I can have
in life. He's there. And the most low,
discouraging, depressing, painful situation in life. It'd be like
a living hell. He's there. He's there. If I take the wings of the morning,
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, if I could just up and run away
from it all, as some of us have tried to do at times, dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right
hand shall hold me." Now in verse 10, note those two words, lead
and hold. In your worst rebellion and fleeing
from the Lord, He's ahead of you in it. He's out in front
of you and he can put the brakes on anytime he wants to. Stop
you in your tracks. And when he stops, you'll stop. It's a no passing zone. You'll
not go on by him. And you see, this gives us, this
gives us hope in God concerning those we love who are still running
from Him. Many of us have family and friends
that are. But this gives us hope. They
think they're outrunning God. No, He's ahead of them. He's
ahead of them in that. And wherever they go, wherever you go, wherever I go,
David said, Even there shall thy hand lead me. You say, well,
I think I've been some places God wouldn't lead me. Let me give you a verse. Deuteronomy
8 talking about the Israelites. The Lord said, and thou shalt
remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40
years in the wilderness. A generation lived and died in
a waste wilderness. It's not that God didn't know
it. It's not that God couldn't change it. It's not that God wasn't there. No, He said, I led thee these
40 years. in a wilderness that didn't take
but a few weeks to get through. But He said, I led you in there,
round and around in there, wandering for 40 years. In that beautiful 23rd Psalm,
we referred to that statement David made twice, He leadeth
me. Exodus 13, 17. I want you to
listen to this. I want to read you this. And it came to pass when Pharaoh
had let the people go that God led them. You see that? But how did he lead them? He
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near. God never led them the easy way. He seldom leads us the easy way.
The easy way is not good for us. The easy way is very damaging
to us. The easy way makes us a bunch
of spoiled, rotten brats. He led them not the easy way. For God said, lest peradventure
the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. You're not strong enough to go
the easy way. God led the people about through
the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. He led them. God is leading, whether we know
it or not, however dark the picture is, however depressing, However
discouraging, however seemingly hopeless things are, God is leading
in all things, all the time. You say, well now, He wouldn't
lead anybody to do wrong, would He? Well, in Exodus 9, 16, God
told Pharaoh, I raised you up to do exactly what you're doing,
to fight against Me. and to fight against my people.
God is that big. You say, well, I thought the
Lord was trying to change the whole world to believe on Him.
Well, He sure is a long time getting it done. No, Christ died
for His people. And God's interest in this world
is His people whom Christ died for. And He calls every single
one out by His grace in His time. The Apostle Paul repeated what
was said over there in Exodus, just in case we never made it
to the Old Testament. Paul repeated it in Romans 9,
that God said to Pharaoh, I raised you up to do exactly what you're
doing, to be mean as hell and fight against my people and against
me. I'm the one who called you to do that. Boy, Paul wasn't politicking,
he was telling us who God is, and that's what I'm trying to
do. So this morning, if in your heart you are pressing on steadfastly
in rebellion against God and toward hell, and you know you're
wrong, but you don't want to change, I want to tell you what
you don't do. You don't listen to this mess
that God's trying His best to catch up with you. Oh no, oh
no. All these scriptures I've referred to say that God is ahead
of you. If He lets you make it to hell,
which you seem determined to do, Christ will say, even so,
Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight. Now that's the gospel truth.
When the disciples asked the Lord, Now for the believer, now
for you and I. When the disciples asked the
Lord, Lord, teach us to pray. It's no mystery that he put this
line in that prayer. He said, you pray this and lead
us not into temptation. Why is that so needful? It's
needful every day. It's needful for you. It's needful
for me. And lead us not into temptation. Why? Because you're
in a body of flesh, corrupted by sin, that's totally incapable
of desiring, let alone doing, what's right. Your flesh hates God. Why do we need to pray, lead
us not in temptation? Secondly, because you're in a
world that hates God and hates any part of you that would honor
God. Thirdly, why should we pray,
lead us not in temptation? Because there is a devil who
is the enemy of your soul and would destroy you. because he
hates God and you're no match for the devil. No wonder Christ
said to us, be sure and don't leave this line out when you're
praying and lead us not into temptation. Oh, he's leading
us. He's leading us. The world, the flesh, the devil. Now, verse 11. David thinks, as we do, it's
a lot easier to hide in the dark than it is in the daylight. I'm telling you, as a child,
if you never played hide-and-seek in the dark, you missed one of
the greatest thrills of life. You can hide about anywhere in
the dark, but not so with God. Look what he says here, verse
11. If I say, surely the darkness shall Cover me. I can get away
from God in the dark. He says, 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. The light and the dark are both
alike to God. I thought about how a lot of
the animal kingdom, animal creation, operates as well and some better
in the night than they do in the day. But not us, not us. Natural light, the S-U-N, is
so vital to our existence. And even artificial light, we're
so dependent, electricity and and oil lanterns and flashlights,
it's hard to grasp that the darkness and the light are both alike
to God. But that's what this says. In
other words, you can't do anything to get Him at a disadvantage. No difference. He's as much God
in the dark as He is in the daylight. He's God in the brightest sunshine
of your life. And he's God in the blackest
midnight of your experience. This, this is good. He's God
either way. Now in verse 13, David confesses,
Lord, you own me. You own me. Oh, he does. He does. We're bought
with a price. He owns us. He owns us. I remember when we were teenagers,
girls running after boys, boys running after girls, and you'd
hear one say this about the other. Well, he thinks he owns her.
She thinks she owns him. Yeah. No. I want to tell you
something. The Lord owns us. He owns us. Sure does. Look what David says
here. For thou hast possessed my reigns. Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb." In my mother's womb, you started
with me before I was ever heard of in this world. You didn't start yesterday. Notice he said Thou hast possessed
my reins. My reins. How foolish the thought
that I belong to myself. I run my life. I do as I please. Nobody tells me what to do. And
you hear people say that, implying I'm independent of God. No. No. What they don't know
is that that prevailing rebellion is God leading the way. clearing
the brush and the briars so as not to slow you down to plunge
headlong into hell. I'd prefer to identify with God
as David did. Lord, I'm not my own. I'm your
possession. My reins, some say here the reins
means inward parts The seat of my inward
desires and longings. He says, Lord, you took a hold
of that in me. You possess my reigns. You didn't
leave me to myself. And you didn't start just yesterday. Thou has covered me. You laid
hold of me in my mother's womb. You started with me before I
was ever heard of. And then verse 14, he says, I
will praise thee. for all this. Not only do I acknowledge
your sovereignty and your omniscience and your omnipresence, not only
am I not ashamed of it, but I will praise thee for it. God, I'm
glad you're just like you are. He's saying I am not what I've
made myself to be. Lord, I'm what you've made me
to be. I will praise thee for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Not that I made myself, you did.
Marvelous are thy works. And he says, I don't have any
question about that. 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. Lord, you knew all about me before
there was anything about me to know. Before I was even conceived in
my mother's womb, you saw and ordained and decreed my life
start to finish. You knew everything about me.
long before there was anything about me to know. As your child, Lord, you only
think and purpose and do for my good, how blessed that is. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. Precious means priceless. How
priceless to me, Lord, are thy thoughts toward me. And he said,
they're beyond number. How great is the sum of them. And then he says, they are beyond
number. I need not even try to start
counting. If I should count them, They are more in number than
the sand. In my fallenness, in my faltering,
in my foolishness, it's as if I'm asleep in an unconscious stupor in this
world. But when I wake, when I wake,
When I ever do have a sober moment, it's not when I come to my senses
we don't. It's when the Lord wakes us up.
It's when he quickens us. It's when he touches us. When
I awake, I am still with thee. It's not when I awake I'll return
to thee, but it's when I awake You'll be there. You're the one
who awakes me. I am still with thee. However
deep I may have gone in my dreaming, in my sleep, in my foolishness,
in my rebellion in life, however far it seems I've gone, and the
devil will say to you, you've gone too far. You'll never get
back. The religious world says there's
no hope for the likes of you. What they don't know is because
I'm God's child, in due time, you'll punch me and say, wake
up. Time to get on. Time to get on. And to my surprise, when the
Lord does give me such a touch, It becomes clear that I hadn't
gone anywhere really, and he hadn't gone anywhere really.
I am still with thee. It's what the psalmist said. God is leading and I can't help
but follow. Now, if you can't believe that
he's leading, this can't help you. But God's child cries with
David in Psalm 61, lead me. to the rock that is higher than
I. And God's child cries with David
in this 139th Psalm, verse 24, lead me in the way everlasting. Oh, Lord, lead us. Lead us. He leadeth me, O blessed thought.
Yes. In the book of Acts, chapter
13, Paul was preaching at Antioch and he He records the Lord's
own testimony concerning David. Now this, this is not what men
said about David. This is what the Lord said about
him. And here's the three things the Lord said about David there
in Acts 13. He said, he's a man after my
own heart. Acts 13 22. In other words, I've made his
heart to pursue my heart. He's done that for all of his
children. And then secondly, the Lord said about David, he
shall fulfill all my will. Acts 13, 22. He'll be everything
I mean for him to be. And then the third thing the
Lord said about him, Acts 13, 36, he served his own generation. by the will of God. In other words, when this is
all over and the devil has done his best and done his worst in
your life and mine, it's not really going to matter then what
anybody thought or what anybody said. It's going to be in my
heart then as it is now to bow to the One who will still be
in charge then, just like he is now. I'm telling you, this is a worthwhile
motto for all of us today. If only God gives us the heart
for it to be true. I want to bow to the one now
who will still be in charge then. The rock that is higher than
I, Along with the psalmist, we plead,
lead me to that rock. The world's not seeking after
him. This rock, David, the psalmist, it's the stone which the builders
rejected. It's the same one. And said,
we can't use that in our beautiful structure. Cast him aside. And guess what? They still can't. And the charge
was, this man receiveth sinners. And guess what? He still does. Lead me in the way everlasting.
There is but one way to life everlasting. The psalmist pleads, Lord, lead
me in that way. And you and I better do the same.
Lord, lead me in the way everlasting. Because Proverbs said, Proverbs
16, 25, There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. How very sad, but how true. There is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. So very
many people just like us, live and die in rebellion against
God. Some having sat on a church pew
for years, having justified themselves and having condemned others,
live and die in rebellion against God. With the devil telling them,
you're not so bad. You're better than most. Live and die in rebellion against
God with a God-hating world saying, you can do as you please. God
wouldn't let such a talented person, such a good person as
you go to hell. So many live and die in rebellion
against God with their own rotten flesh saying, you can handle
this direction you're going. You know it's wrong, but you
can turn it around any time you want to. But it's not so. It's
not so. God is the turner arounder. I am so thankful. I am so glad
that the long arm of God's holy law reached into my heart, pulled
me into court, charged me, condemned me, How fearful and how dreadful. But thank God another stepped
forth in my behalf and said, I am his righteousness. I am his redeemer. I am his savior. And there's therefore now no
condemnation toward him. All right. Another thought or
two and I'll be through. Everybody here today, every single one
of us is represented in one of those two thieves on the crosses
on either side of our Lord. And you remember one said in
so many words, remember me. Well, what was he wanting? Remember
me for the present. Remember me for now. I want my
old life back. Save me from death. Get us out
of this mess. I don't want to part with the
life I have. I don't want to part with the
goods I have. Oh, I trust it won't be that
way with any of us here this morning. But I thank God I want
to be in the other thief's shoes and heart and mindset. Lord, remember me. Not to go
back to my life in this world, but to enter into
yours. Not to keep building my kingdom, but to have a place
in yours. And that being the case, we'll
be able to sing with the songwriter, even death's cold wave I will
not flee. since God through Jordan leadeth
me. Blessed, blessed time. Blessed,
blessed psalm. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. How true it is. Thank God for
the emphasis on His omniscience and His omnipresence and His
leadership. And oh, to leave here today with
the understanding in the heart that the Lord is with me, the
Lord is with me. One of my life verses, Isaiah
41 10, Fear not, for I am with thee. You ought to get this in
Isaiah 41 10. Fear not, for I am with thee. That's enough. Be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yeah, you all, I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Oh my. Well, let's stand together.