All right, turn back to John
chapter 10 for a moment. The title of this message is
Known of God. Known of God. In John 10, you remember verse 14 and 15,
Christ declared, verse 14, I'm the good shepherd, I know my
sheep. I know my sheep, and they know
me. I'm known of mine. How deep is
this knowledge, this intimate, intimacy, knowledge of Christ
and his people? Well, the answer is in verse
15. As the Father knows me, even
so know I the Father. I know my sheep as my father
knows me. And that's how my sheep know
me, as I know my father. And he's speaking here as the
mediator. He's speaking here as the redeemer.
That's how deep and intimate is this relationship between
God and you, his sheep. I know them like my father knows
me. And they know me as I know my
father. That's exactly what he's saying
there. I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and they know
me as in the same manner that my father knows me, and I know
my father, and I lay down my life for them. Every believer
rejoices to say, I know whom I have believed. People say,
do you know God? Yes, I know the Lord, I know
whom I have believed. We know that we pass from death
unto life because we love the brethren. But the greatest part
of this relationship is not how well I know him, but it's how
well he knows me. That's what I'm talking about
this morning. Turn to Galatians 4. Let me show you that. Galatians
4, verse 9. Galatians 4, 9. Now, while you're finding that John
said, the Son of God has come and given us an understanding
that we may know God. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him. So we know God. The
Son has come and given us an understanding that we may know
God and that we're in Him. This is a true God and this is
eternal life, that you may know God and you're in Him. But here's
the critical knowledge. Galatians 4 verse 9. But now,
after you have known God, what's those next words? Or rather,
are known of God, I'll turn you again to the weak
and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage.
Paul's talking to those Galatians who have been tempted to go back
to Moses' law. And he said, now that you know
God, or rather God knows you, how turn ye again to the beggarly
elements. This is the name by which Hagar
referred to God. Turn to Genesis chapter 16. Genesis 16. She said, thou God
seest me, thou God knowest me. She had seen him in his hand
in a lot of revelations, but she said, he sees me. That's
what the name by which she called him, Genesis 16, verse 11. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Hagar, Behold, thou art with child, and thou shalt bear
a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath
heard thy affliction. He'll be a wild man, his hand
will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she
called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest
me. For she said, Have I also here
looked after him, upon him that seeth me? But there's the critical
part. He sees me. He knows me. He knows and loves me. I love
my sheep, I know my sheep, like my father knows me. Now, two or three things I want
us to see, and I want you to turn to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Several things I want
you to see in this psalm. How well the Lord knows his people. It's one of the most comforting
psalms in the Bible. for those who believe, those
who truly believe, those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. How
well does he know his people, and then how long has he known
them? The extent of this knowledge.
His love and knowledge is infinite and it's everlasting. This is
powerful now. All right, let's start with verse
1, Psalm 139. Oh Lord, this is David, the believer, this is
a child of God writing, this is a believer, a person who knows
God, walks with God. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. What is this searching talking
about? Well, the Lord searches out his sheep. He said, which
of you having a hundred sheep And one be lost does not leave
the 99 and go and search till he finds it and puts it on his
shoulder and brings it home. Oh Lord you search for me. I'm your sheep and you search
for me. You came down here into this
world and search for me. I lay in ruins just like all
the rest of mankind, the ruins of the fall. the ruins of Adam's
sin, among all of Adam's seed, transgressors. But I was your,
I was a lost sheep, but I was your sheep. And you searched
for me and found me, redeemed me by the blood of your Son,
put me on your shoulder and brought me home. You searched for me.
But he not only searched for us and after us, but he searches
into us. Look at the last verse in Psalm
139, the very last two verses. Search me, O God. Search me and
know my heart. And that he does. That's the
reason I say this psalm is written by a man who knew God and God
knew him, truthfully, honestly, experimentally. Search me and
know me. Try my heart, try me. and know
my thoughts, see if there be any hypocritical, contrary way
in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting hope." This search,
O Lord, thou hast searched me, searched me. Look, if you will, at 2 Timothy
chapter 2, 2 Timothy 2 verse 19, 2 Timothy 2 verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure. You've got the scripture, I want
you to look at it, 2 Timothy 2.19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that it is. And let every one that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Walk with God. He searched me. He searched me. Talk about this knowledge now
in verse 2, 3, and 4. And you look at four words here.
He said, Lord, thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. The Lord knows my movements.
He orders my steps. Turn back to Psalm 37. This is
the knowledge of the Lord of his people, so thorough That
when I'm sitting down or when I'm lying down or when I'm walking
or moving or whatever I'm doing, he orders my steps. Psalm 37,
verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered,
established by the Lord. Every step. And he delighteth
in his way. Though he fall, he'll not be
able to cast down. The Lord upholds him with his
hand. Job wrote, The Lord knoweth the way I take, and after he's
tried me, I'll come forth like gold. He knows my down sittings and
my uprisings. He orders my steps. Then secondly,
our text, Psalm 139. He understands my thoughts afar
off. He knows my thoughts so well.
He knows them before I think them. He knows them when I think
them. He knows why I think them. He
knows the motive behind my thinking. He knows the results of my thoughts.
He knows my thoughts. He knows what I think of him. He knows what I think of Christ.
He knows what I think of myself. He knows what I think of others. He knows my thoughts. And then
he says he compasses my path, my lying down. He's acquainted
with all my ways. Now this is not just one single
step or one single move or one single day. When he says he's
acquainted with my ways, he's talking about the whole of my
life and my conversation. Peter summed it up in this way.
When he was sitting around the fire, the Lord Jesus said, Peter,
do you love me? Boy, about three days before
that, Peter was sitting by a fire denying him. About three days before that,
Peter was cursing and swearing he never met the man. But Peter fell back on this here,
he's acquainted with my real way. the tenor of my life, the
bend of my will, the course of my life. He's equated with who
I really am. Not who I am in my best times
or my worst times or in my mountain experiences or my valley experiences
or my praising or my cursing. He knows who I really am. So
he said to Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know everything. about me. And you know I love
you. You know my ways. He knows my down sittings and
my uprisings. He knows my thoughts are far
off. He compasses my path. He is thoroughly
and completely acquainted with the real me. Not who I am on Sunday. Not who
I am when I'm around a bunch of believers. It's the real me. And I'm just glad he is. Are
you? Because I really love him. I really believe him. It's no put on, it's no show.
It's nothing, I don't have to impress anybody. I'm too old
to do that now. He knows me. Knows my ways. and not a word
in my tongue, that he doesn't know it all together, all together. He knows my words all together,
the whole of it. You know, when he described the
Lord Jesus Christ, he said he's all together lovely. That means
nothing about him that's not lovely. And that's how he knows
my words. He knows them all together. altogether, completely. It's
not a word that he doesn't know. And then he said down here in
verse 5, And thou hast beset me, the word beset there in the
Hebrew word is confined, but also enclosed. He hath enclosed
me behind and before. He hath put heads around his
people. I think it's best described over
here in the book of Job, Job chapter 1. I'll just have to
borrow Satan's words in Job chapter 1, describing this knowledge
of the Lord of Job. He knows, down sittings and uprisings,
my my thoughts, my will, personal ways, my words. He's enclosed
me behind and before, before I ever existed, now and always. And the Lord said to Satan, let's
start with verse 6, Job 1. There was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said to Satan, I
can't explain this, this is a heavenly occurrence that you just better
just see what took place and not why it took place. Don't
fool with why, you don't know and I don't either. But the Lord
said, Satan, whence comest thou? And he said, from going to and
fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord
said to Satan, have you set your heart on my servant Job? Are
you considering Job? Have you set your heart on Job?
Have you set your sights on Job? Made him a target of your wrath? Unlike him in the earth, he's
a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and hates evil.
Satan answered and said, does he fear God for nothing? Listen,
have you not made a hedge about him? Have you not enclosed him? Have you not beset him behind
and before, and given your angels charge over him, lest he dashed
his foot against a stone? And about his house, and about
all that he hath on every side, you bless the work of his hands,
his substance is increased. You put forth your hand, and
touch all that he hath. You put forth your hand and afflict
him, and he'll curse you to your face. But I'll tell you this, what
he's saying here in verse 5 is, God, this is what Satan said
about Job. You've beset him behind and before,
you've encircled him, you've encompassed him, you've enclosed
him in your hands. That's what the
Lord Jesus said in John chapter 10. I'll just read it to you. I read it a moment ago, and you
remember it. John 10, listen. In verse 28,
John 10, 28, And I give my sheep eternal life, and they never
perish, and no man can pluck them out of my hand. My Father
which gave them me is greater than all, and no man can pluck
them out of his hand. That's an enclosure. It's indescribable. his people in his hands, hedged about. That's the knowledge. And David
came to this conclusion in verse 6. He said, such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. It's beyond anything that I can
comprehend or even consider. It's high. I cannot attain unto
it. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. And whom he did foreknow, he
called. And whom he called, he justified,
and whom he justified, he glorified. He knew us in his everlasting
covenant of grace, known unto God of all his works from the
beginning. It's too wonderful for me. I
can't describe it. I can't comprehend it. I can't
preach it like it ought to be preached. But if you can get
hold of this knowledge I'm talking about, known unto God are all
his works from the beginning, known of God. If you can get
a hold of that, you can sort of enter into, with some understanding,
Isaiah 53, verse 10 and 11. I want you to turn over there,
Isaiah 53, verse 10 and 11. Isaiah 53, 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." That's
his people, that's his elect, his church, his seed. And he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. He
shall see of the travail of his soul. That travail is the word,
the travail of a woman in birth pains. That's bringing forth
a child in travail. And Christ will see the travail
of his soul. He made his soul an offering
for sin. And in the travail of his soul
and the suffering of his body, he brought forth a people, a
kingdom, a covenant people. He'll see the travail of the
travail of his soul and be satisfied. For by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. By his what? His knowledge. I know them. I know them. They know me. And
I know them like my Father knows me. He's speaking here as our
Redeemer. He's speaking in John 10 as our
Redeemer. He knew us. in the covenant of
mercy. He knew us. He knew us at the
cross. He knew us in Gethsemane's garden
when he said, I pray, not for the world, I pray for them which
he has given me. I know them. I love them. I pray
for them. I die for them. Right now at
the right hand of God, he ever liveth to make intercession for
us. He prays for us now. By that knowledge, is how he
redeemed us, and why he redeemed us, and the certainty of his
redemption. I know them. All that my Father
giveth me, they'll come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. I came not to do my will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that all he hath given me, I'll lose none of them, but
raise them up at the last day. Now verse 6, that kind of knowledge,
that intimacy, that knowledge, that love, that oneness, head
and body, husband-wife, is too wonderful. I can't attain unto
it, it's too high. Now, whither shall I go from
his spirit, the spirit of God? Whither shall I flee from his
presence? Jonah tried to flee from it. Whither shall I flee
from his presence? If I ascend into heaven, he's
there. This is the believer talking now. If I make my bed in the
grave, that's not hellfire there, that's the grave. That word hell,
many times in the scripture, is simply the grave. If I make
my bed in the grave, and I will someday, as he did. Behold, I am there. He was there
and arose. But his presence is where his
people are. He knows them. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand
will lead me and your right hand will hold me. I'm still held
in his hand, enclosed and circled in his hand, kept. If I say, well, surely the darkness
will cover me, even the night will be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee. The night shineth as the day,
the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou
hast possessed me. Thou hast possessed my reins.
That's David talking now. Thou hast possessed my reins.
You Bible students, where have you seen that thou hast possessed
me spoken by somebody else? Turn to Proverbs 8. Proverbs
chapter 8. Thou hast possessed me. Thou
hast owned me. Thou hast confessed me. Thou hast possessed me in all
that that word means. Proverbs 8 verse 22. You know
who the speaker is here? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Lord Jesus says
about himself is what he says about his redeemed ones. And
what the Lord Jesus said about himself, if the Father loves
me as he loves him, and knows me as he knows him, and owns
me as he owns him, I can say the same thing. And David did. He said, Thou hast possessed
me. Thou hast possessed my reins. What is your reins? Look it up
sometime. The word reins, R-E-I-N-S. The word reigns is your being,
your mind, your soul. The old Jewish writers called
it the kidneys. That's right. No, I'm not off
my rocker this boy. They called it the kidneys. The
kidneys are so vital. They shut down, you shut down. God has possessed my kidneys,
my mind. How long? Proverbs 8.22, Thou
hast possessed me in the beginning of his way, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting from the beginning wherever the earth
was. Hang on now. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He knew you and possessed you,
encompassed you. You see, as long as there's been
a Redeemer, there's been a redeemed. See what I'm talking about? People
say, does the father have a son? Well, he's not a father if he
doesn't have a son. You understand that? To have
a father, you've got to have a son. And to be a Redeemer,
you've got to have redeemed people. Almighty God has never considered
the Redeemer apart from his people. Isn't that right, Cecil? They
are in him, always been in him. He possessed me, and I can't
go back far enough to tell you when the Redeemer was the Redeemer,
but that's when I was redeemed in the mind of God. Possessed
me. When there were no debts, I was
brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, I was brought forth as who? As the Redeemer, as the
covenant head, as the assurative of people, as the Christ. And that's what he says over
here in Psalm 139, verse 13. Thou hast possessed my reins,
my being, my person. Verse 13, Psalm 139, You covered
me in my mother's womb. The average person thinks when
a fellow gets under some kind of conviction, comes down the
aisle and shakes hands with a preacher and joins the church and we baptize
him, God writes his name in the book of life. New name written
down in glory. Don't count on it. There are
no new names written in glory. They've always been written.
The book, God says, I have written. And then God starts blessing
him. God blesses him from then on. He belonged to God when he
was drunk as a coot, if he belongs to God now. Now, he's not going
to do that now, but he belonged to God then. He belonged to the
Lord God as a redeemed person before the world began. That's
what this book says here. You covered me in my mother's
womb. Listen, verse 14, I'll praise thee, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye is of God. How marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knows right well. My substance, what is my
substance? It's my strength, it's my body,
it's my being. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was wrought in secret, when I was conceived in secret.
When just the seed met the egg and something happened, when
I was wrought in secret, curiously, made in secret, curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Where is this lowest parts of
the earth? It's the womb. That's where you were conceived,
and that's where you were wrought, and that's where you were developed,
in the womb. It's called in the scripture
the lowest parts of the earth. It's the place to which Christ
came when he left heaven's glovers. Where'd he come to? His mother's
womb. That's where Christ came to.
Let me show you that in the scripture. It's found in John... found in Ephesians. Well, well, I didn't write that
down. Curiously, it was found in the
lowest parts of the earth. But it says Christ descended. I know where it is, Ephesians
4, that's it. Ephesians 4, that's where it
is. Ephesians 4. Now listen to this, let's talk
about our Lord. Now over there, David said, My
substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and
curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth. Now, Ephesians
4, verse 8. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, gave gifts to men. Now that he ascended, what is
it but that he also descended first? Before he ever ascended
back to the Father, he descended first to the lowest parts of
the earth. That's where he came to the world.
He was made in the world and born a man. And this is what
the Lord said, David said here in my text, Psalm 139, my substance,
my strength, my body, my person, me, I was not must not hid from thee when I
was made in secret, curiously wrought in the womb of my mother."
Listen, verse 16, your eyes did see my substance, thou God seest
me. What did Hagar say? Thou God
seest me. You saw me when I was a seed,
you saw me yet being unperfect, and in your book, in your book,
all of my members, my substance, My being, my personality, my
character, my life, my thoughts, my ways were written. When in
continuance, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
wasn't any of them. When I didn't even exist. That brings me down to this conclusion. How precious, verse 17, 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 wake, I am still with thee. How precious. There are
several things that are called precious in the word of God. It is the precious blood with
which we are redeemed. He is precious unto you that
believe. His promises are precious. God-given faith is precious.
The death of a believer is precious. But I'm telling you this, the
most precious thing to me personally this morning is his thoughts
to me. That makes the other, that makes
the other my possession because of his thoughts. Let's read the
rest of the chapter. Surely, O Lord, thou wilt slay
the wicked? O God, depart from me therefore,
ye bloody men. They speak against God wickedly,
not just the world, but the religious world. They speak against this
God, this sovereign God, this God of all knowledge, this God
of all grace, this God of eternal salvation. Thy enemies
take thy name in vain. When we don't use the name of
God in such a way as to glorify Him, we take His name in vain.
If we don't ascribe to Him all the glory and greatness due unto
His name, we take His name in vain. When we call someone Jesus
that's not the Christ of the Bible, we're taking His 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 a perfect hatred.
I count them my enemies. Search me. Oh God. Know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts. And see if
there be any contrary. way in me and lead me in the
way everlasting.