The Observer and the Observed

Now open your Bibles with me
to the book of Psalms again, Psalm 139. Now the title of this message
is, The Observer and the Observed. And I say unto you, first of
all, that there is nothing more dishonoring to God And there's nothing that is a
greater denial of the very character of God than for us to do what's
being done in religion today all over this nation. And that
is in His name to pretend to be what we're not. to pretend outwardly to be what
we are not. That's an abomination. Dishonoring
to God, and it's a denial of the very character of God. For
us to pretend to be religious, hallelujah, praise the Lord.
To pretend to be what we're not. Or, secondly, to use words. Idle religious words. Words which
are not sincere and words which do not come from the heart. That's
an abomination to God. Ad-libbing piety. It's a denial
of God's character. For me to be, when I step into
this pulpit, anyone but myself. Or for you to step in your class
and be anyone but yourself. Or for you to gather in this
congregation and be anyone but what you are all the time. That's
an abomination to God. That's put on piety. And it's
a denial of His character. Or thirdly, to do my works of
religion, my deeds of religion. For the admiration and applause
of men, that is an abomination. When Samuel went down to the
house of Jesse to anoint the king, and the different young
men came before him, and he was impressed. He was impressed with
their, the height of their stature. He was impressed with their looks.
He was impressed with their outward conduct. And God said, no, no,
Samuel, no, no. God looks not on the outward
countenance. God looks on the heart. Do not
be impressed, Samuel. Do not be swayed by what you
see and what you hear. God looks on the heart. And again in Luke 16, our Lord
said this, Luke 16, 15, He said, God looks on the heart. You justify
yourself before men, but God looks on the heart. And that
which is highly esteemed among men, and all of these set decorations
and all of these programs with the running water
and the backdrops and the flowers and the out-of-doors quartets
all dressed alike, and the women in red and the men in blue, and
everybody smiling and grinning and singing songs, and preachers
with their hairdos and perms and so forth. It may be impressive
to the outward eye, but to God they're an abomination. That
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God
Almighty. That's what he said. You see,
the Lord Jehovah knows us. God knows us. He understands
us. God is intimately acquainted
with our persons, our nature, our character. Is that not true? God knows us. And I tell you
this, if there's going to be any genuine
relationship with God, it's important that we know the God who knows
us. I'm not telling the truth. Is
that not the truth? If I'm going to have any relationship
with the living God, I'm going to have to know the living God
who knows me. Our Lord prayed that in the garden.
He said, this is eternal life that they might know thee, the
only true God. Not a God of our imagination,
but the living God, the God who knows me. Hagar. Even Hagar knew that. She said,
Thou God, seest me. John said in 1 John 5, he said,
He has come and given us an understanding that we may know God that is
true, that we may know God. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. There's nothing in me that God
doesn't know. And Paul prayed, O that I may
know Him. Well, let's look at this chapter.
Let's see what it says. In Psalm 139, O Lord, thou hast
searched me and known me. Me. Now, let me tell you something,
friends. I am a very small part of this
universe. A very minute part. Just think
how small I am in the universe. And yet the Lord knows me. He
knows me. He knows me as thoroughly and
completely as if He had examined me minutely. He knows me. As if He had searched me individually. Just singled me out and individually
searched me with His sovereign eye. And the thing about it is
this infallible knowledge has always existed for He says, Thou
hast searched me and known me." You've known me a long, long
time. I don't surprise you. It's Jehovah and me. That's what
it comes down to, John, Jehovah and me. You know what Paul said over
here in Hebrews? Let me just read it to you. Over here in Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 13, he said, All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of God
with whom we have to do." Now, you can play church anywhere
and any way, anytime, but there comes a time when you have to
do with Him before whom all things are naked and open. That's what
it comes down to. We play the game all we want
to. Joke about it, laugh about it, cut up about it, but there
comes a time when we're going to have to deal with Him before
whom everything's naked and open. God, You've searched me and known
me. Now watch how He knows us. Verse
2, Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising, whether I sit
down to read or whether I rise up to walk, whether I sit down
to write or whether I stand up to go to work. Whether I watch
TV or whether I rise up to walk and play and work, God knows
me, my down sittings and my uprisings. Never a moment I'm out of His
sight. And you're acquainted with all my ways. And then He
said, Thou knowest my down sittings and uprisings. Watch this, verse
2. I missed this. Thou understandest my thoughts.
My thoughts are far off. In other words, all my thoughts,
what they have been, what they are now, and what they will be. God knows them. My thoughts. In verse 3, thou compassest my
path, thou, you encircle my path, whether awake or asleep, my lying
down, your acquainted with all my ways, my motives, my purposes,
my ways. And what's this? And there's
not a word in my tongue. Not a word in my tongue. But Lord, Thou
knowest it altogether. You know the source of it. You
know the reason for it. You know the results of it. There's
never been a word in my tongue. Never been a word spoken. Think
how many words we've spoken. Words, words, words, words. And
there's not a word I've ever spoken that's not registered
in the mind of God. That's what it is. You know my
word. My down sittings, my uprising,
actions, my thoughts, my words, my ways. And verse 5 says, and
God not only beholds us, but he besets us. Thou hast beset
me behind and before, and you've laid your hand upon me. God surrounds
me. The living, almighty God surrounds
me and hymns me in. And there's no escape, for He
says He's before me and He's behind me. You've set me behind
and before. And lest one think that this
surrounding presence of God is off at a distance somewhere,
it says, and you laid your hand on me. Lord God, thou hast searched
me and known me. You've encircled me and you know
my thoughts and words and ways and you've beset me before and
behind and you're so close you've laid your hand on me. Laid your hand on me to deal
with me either in mercy or judgment. He said to Pharaoh, for this
same purpose I've raised you up that I might show my power
in you. And he said to Ananias, you go down and preach to Saul
of Tarsus because he's a chosen vessel under me. You've laid
your hand on me. And verse 6, watch this, such
knowledge is too wonderful for me. The omnipotence, the omniscience,
the omnipresence. What does that mean? It means
the power of God, the knowledge of God, and the presence of God,
present everywhere at all times. It's too wonderful for me to
even understand. I don't understand it. The wisdom
and the glory and the holiness of God is far too high for me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high. I can't attain unto
it. At my most enlightened moment,
while His thoughts and His ways are above me as the heaven is
above the earth. I have to stand on tiptoe to
touch the lowest part of His revelation. It's too high for
me. I think of the attributes of
God which make His promises so sure, and it's too vast, beyond
my comprehension. I think of the incarnation of
the Son of God, Jesus Christ became a man. Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh, the most complete manifestation of God and yet
unexplainable. I don't understand it. Redemption
by the death of Christ. You believe it? I believe it. Explain it. The righteousness
of the Son of God which clothes us and covers us and makes us
acceptable, unblameable, holy. I believe it. You believe it?
Explain it. You can't explain it. It's too
high, too wonderful. The resurrection, which will
satisfy the hope of sinners, but no one knows the mystery
of it. How do you account for this word? The preservation of
it. How do you account for the power
of his gospel? Oh, he says such knowledge. is
too wonderful for me. It's too high, I can't attain
unto it, and yet preachers can get it down in so many words
and three steps to heaven, four steps. He says in verse 7, Whither shall
I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I make my
bed in hell, in the grave, when she o'er, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the farthest, remotest
part of the sea, even there, shall thy hand lead me, thy right
hand shall hold me. Well, I say, surely the darkness
will cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea,
the darkness hideth not from thee, the night shineth as the
day, the darkness and light are both alike unto thee. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me, my ways, my thoughts, my actions. Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. if aware of my sins, and full
of fear at the presence of God, and awed by the attributes of
the Most High God, and desiring to postpone or even put off or
even escape that confrontation with His holiness, the one with
whom I have to do, well, where shall I go? Where shall I flee? The highest
point, you're there. Maybe the deepest point, you're
there, to beset me behind and before and to lay your hand upon
me, well to the remotest part of the earth or even the sea.
Well, these places are all His dwelling places. Even the darkness,
well the darkness will cover my evil thoughts or my sins.
The darkness will cover me. No, the darkness and light are
like to God. But verse 13 says, Thou hast
possessed my reins. God owns me. God owns me. God not only observes me, God
not only knows me, God owns me. God is the owner and Lord. What
are the reins? Well, the Hebrew says the kidneys,
because they believed back then that the passions and all the
functions of life were out of the kidneys. What it's talking
about here, God has possessed my innermost parts. I belong
to God. I belong to God. God owns me. Even, watch this, he says in
verse 13, you covered me in my mother's womb. Even hidden in
my mother's womb, he owned me. Even there in the darkness of
my mother's womb, he covered me. God so possesses me and owns
me and rules over me that in my most secret parts, in my reins,
in my kidneys, in my innermost part, in my very secret passions,
in my secret condition yet unborn, I'm under the ownership, control,
and dominion of Almighty God. That's what he's saying. God
owns me. That's what he's saying. God owns me. Now, I wouldn't be dogmatic about
this, but verse 14, the psalmist seems to turn from the observer
to the observed. He seems to turn from marveling
at the mysteries of God, and he turns to the mercies of God.
Thank God we have mercies in which to delight. Lord God of
heaven and earth, thou hast searched me and known
me, all about me, all about me. Whether shall I flee? You've
beset me before and behind. You've laid your hand on me.
If I go here, you're there. If I go there, you're there.
If I go somewhere else, you're there. You're everywhere. You
own me, even in my innermost parts, hidden in the secret darkness
of my mother's womb. I was yours then. Alright, he
seems to turn now from the observer to the observed. And he says
in verse 14, I'll praise thee. I will praise thee. I will praise thee for many reasons. First of all, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. God made me. And I'll tell you,
even in my fourfold state, I'm fearful and wonderfully made.
When God made all men in Adam, we were fearful and wonderfully
made. In that holy state, in the garden,
walking with God, we were fearful and wonderfully made. Even after
we fell in Adam and we were born in sin, in this natural depraved
state, we are fearful and wonderfully made. I never could understand a doctor
not being a believer. How could he account for the
marvelous, marvelous body that we have, the mind,
the heart, all the different organs of the human body, the
eye, the ear, fearful and wonderfully made. And then in our state of
regeneration, we're fearful and wonderfully made, regenerated
by His Spirit, made in the likeness of His Son in that fourth state
when we shall be eternally glorified. You talk about fearful and wonderfully
made. I'll praise Thee. I'll praise
Thee. I'm not running from Thee. I'll
stop and bow and praise Thee. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'll not strive with thee, I'll
not conflict with thee. Now God knoweth me, searched
me, and known me. And you know my thoughts, and
my words, and my actions, my down sittings, my uprisings.
You've beset me before and behind. You've laid your hand upon me.
There's no escape. It's Him with whom I have to
do. And you've owned me. I'm yours. to do with what you
will, to make me a Pharaoh or a Moses, to make me an Apostle
Paul or a Judas, because even in my mother's, you possessed
my reins, even in my mother's womb, there you covered me, there
you owned me. So I'm going to surrender. I'm
going to praise Him. I'm going to praise Him as He
is. I'm going to praise him as he is. I'm going to worship him
as he is. I'm going to praise him because I'm fearful and wonderfully
made and you made me. You made me. I'm fearful and
wonderfully made. And then secondly, he said, not
only that, but marvelous are thy works. Marvelous are thy
works. And that my soul knoweth right
well. Right well. In verse 15, my substance
was not hid from thee. Watch this now. My frame, my
life, me. I'm Henry Mahan. You're Cecil
Thornberry. You're Frank Tate. Different
ones here. And your substance, your frame,
your life, the span of it, the length of it, the quality of
it, the whatever of it, was not hid from God. Not hid
from God. It was known to God. What's this? When I was conceived, when I
was made in secret, when I was curiously wrought in the lower
parts of the earth, you knew me. You knew me. When I was formed
in my mother's womb, God said to Jeremiah, before I formed
thee in the belly, before you came out of your mother's womb,
I knew thee. I sanctified thee. I made you
a prophet. I ordained your life before you
were ever born. That's what he's saying. I'm
going to praise you. I'm going to surrender. I'm not
going to argue. I'm not going to debate with
God. I'm not going to strive with God. I'm going to praise
God. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. My substance was not hid
from God. My life, my frame, my being,
my person, when I was made in secret, when I was conceived,
came forth, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth,
in my mother's womb, your eyes did see my substance. Brother man, this universe, you
talk about all the voices, the voices in this universe, the
noises, God hears my voice before you speak. You mean all the different
vibrations and passions and lust and power and thoughts and all
these imaginations that go from all the different creatures in
the world and God knows your thoughts before you think them. Such knowledge is too wonderful.
You mean every baby conceived in marriage or out of marriage,
every baby, every seed planted and germinated and conceived
that God Almighty knows the frame and substance and life and future
and walk of that child? Everyone. Everyone, without exception.
Now, I can't attain unto that. No, once you quit trying. Once
you quit trying to explain God. Why don't you preachers quit
trying to bring God down here and start elevating our thoughts
to where He is? It's too wonderful. It's too
high. I can't even touch the bottom
of it. That's my highest point. Too much. If I tell you what
I can do, I can praise Him. I can't understand Him, but I
can praise Him. John, I can't comprehend Him, but I can praise
Him. I can't explain Him, but I can praise Him. And I can say,
I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I was created in the image
of God, but I lost that image. I was created high and I fell
low. And groveling in the dust, I can look up to my Creator and
to my God who owns me, who possessed me, who knew me even in my mother's
womb. Verse 16, And you saw my substance,
my life, my frame, yet being unperfect. Oh, thank God. And in your book, all my members
were written. What's that, preacher? That's
either the book of life or the book of His purpose. God wrote
them down. All my members, all my members,
all my acts, all my thoughts, all my deeds, all my words, all
my ways. Yes, sir. All my members were
written. All my days. which in continuance
were fashioned, when yet there was none of them." Tomorrow is
Monday. Mike, I don't have the faintest
idea what's going to happen tomorrow. Do you? But I know who does. And I know it's in his book.
I know it's in his book. And I know when it was written,
when there wasn't any Monday. And when there wasn't any Sunday,
and when there wasn't any Adam, and when there wasn't any people.
Oh, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Known unto God are all
His works from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning. When there was none of them. Oh, thank God I can
say this next line. Listen. How precious also are
thy thoughts unto me. Let me tell you something, my
people. I know my thoughts toward God,
and I'm not pleased with all I've done. The Scripture said
God looked on the heart of me and found His thoughts were only
evil continually. Our thoughts of God by nature
are very small and very selfish and very evil and very fleshly. Thank God His thoughts toward
us are thoughts of compassion and love and mercy. How precious
are your thoughts to me. If He hadn't loved me, I wouldn't
have loved Him. If He hadn't have chosen me, I wouldn't have
chosen Him. I don't even know Him. How could I choose Him?
I didn't even know Him. All I know is the smut and the
mud and the mire around me. I don't know anything about an
eternal glory I've never seen. But He chose the world. And He lifted the beggar, and
He washed him, and clothed him, and crowned him, and took him
to glory. He did it. How precious are your thoughts.
I'll tell you this, it's marvelous God should even look our way.
It's marvelous God should even think toward us. It's marvelous
that He doesn't think evil toward us. And it's more marvelous and
precious that His thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace and
reconciliation. How great is the sum of our thoughts
toward me. Salvation's of the Lord. I tell you this, God's thoughts
toward me, God's purpose toward me, God's mercy toward me is
so great, if I should count His mercies, they're more in number
than the sands of the desert or the sands on the ocean floor. And He said, when I awake, I'm
still with thee. I go down to my bed, rejoicing
in the mercies of God, and I sleep. And when I wake, they're still
with me. But more than that, some day I'm going to sleep for
the last time. Then when I wake, I don't have any power over that. I don't have any choice. I lie
down in death. And I die. And where shall I
go? What shall I do? What shall I
be? What can I do now? Well, I turn to the same place
I should have turned to start with. He's still with me. It's God that must give me life.
It's God that must bring me forth. It's God that must clothe me
in that everlasting glorified body. It's God that must make
me like Christ. I'm His. I'm His. Now, if people want
to go on with this mechanical religion and this decisionism
and this sinner's prayer and this shaking the hand and saying,
I'm all fixed up for heaven, that's too human. It's delving and dealing in an
area where they've got no knowledge, let alone ability. It's salvations
of the Lord. And when I find out who He is,
knowing Him with whom we have to do, who is God, who is the
Almighty, Eternal, All-Wise, All-Knowing, Ever-Present God,
and here I am, and I've got to I've got to come to the place
where all of them have come who've known Him before. Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. I'm still with thee. I'm still with thee. You see
what I'm saying? Call on God. Call on God. How precious are thy thoughts
unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. And verse 19,
just as surely as God will redeem his elect, he will slay the wicked.
All right. Here it is, verse 19. Surely
thou shalt slay the wicked. Therefore depart from me, ye
bloody men. I don't want any part with your
alliance against God. I don't want any part with your
agreement with hell. I don't want any part in your,
this has got to be right because everybody's doing it. I don't
want any part with your man-made religion, compromising the name
and character. That's what he said in verse
20. Two sins they have. Two evils
they commit. Number one, they speak against
God. They speak against His sovereignty,
His power, His right to do with His own what He will. That's
not fair, they say. They speak against Him, and then
they take His name in vain, carelessly, in religion as much as in the
dens of iniquity. They take His name in vain. And
David adds, Your enemies are my enemies. Verse 21, Do not I hate them,
O God, that hate thee? Am I not grieved with those that
rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies." Now here we come down to the end
of this thing. And what I'm trying to do this morning for myself
and for you, and what I've tried to do especially the last few
months and years, with all of our religious thoughts
and our religious theology in our seminaries and colleges and
preachers and interpretations of scripture. We're not going to change who
God is. The very character and glory of God remains the same.
And what I want to do is find out from His Word and from His
Son. God has spoken to us through
His Son. Find out who God is. Find out what God does. Find
out something about the purposes of God, and the glory of God,
and the person of God, and the grace of God, and find out about
Him. And here David tells us about
Him. And then find out something about ourselves. Where did we
come from? What's happened to us? What are
we doing here? What condition are we in? What is the state
of nature of the creature? And admit it. And then find out
in some kind of searching of the scriptures or crying unto
the living God, not listening to some man or following some
prescribed denominational pattern or following some traditions
or what I've always heard or been taught or some old wise
fables, find out from God, from somebody who knows, from somebody
who comes from Him and preaches His Word, is there mercy? Is there hope? Is there life?
Will God show mercy? If so, how? Through whom? Let's find out about that. That's
my concern. That I may win Christ in the
fire of the heavens. I may know Him, the power of
His resurrection. And that's where David comes down, and he's
not this no-so presumptuous, I shook the hand, had an experience,
I'm going to heaven, verse 23. Alright, it boils down to this.
You search me, O God. I'm not going before the elders.
Let them search me. I want Him to search me and to
know my heart and to try me. Try me and know my thoughts and
see God if there's any wicked way in me. What is a wicked way
in me? There's enough wickedness in
all of us. He's talking here about the wicked way of self-deliverance
and self-righteousness, of finding our own way to God. That's what
it is. See if there's in me. Any leaning on myself, any dependence
on my works, any looking to my righteousness, any phoniness,
phoniness before God. Any phoniness, any
hypocrisy, any claiming to be what I'm not, saying things I
don't believe, and doing works to impress somebody, God's not
impressed. God's not impressed. Search me. And Lord, one thing, lead me
in the way of everlasting. Lead me. I'll have to be led,
because I don't know where it is. And somebody says, it's down
here at our altar, but I don't much believe it. Somebody else
comes along and says, it's in our pool, but I don't much believe
that either. Somebody else says, well, it's in making a decision,
and we'll stand here and talk to you and present you to the
church. I kind of don't believe that. I believe Christ said, I'm the
way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. And Chuck, I got to be
led in that way. I got to be led. By nature, I don't know it, and
by nature, I don't desire it. And by nature, I'll follow the
prescribed traditional way of the flesh. By nature. But I don't
want to walk by nature. Search me. and every one of us. Now then, you see how foolish
it'd be for me to announce the same just as I am to ask you
to come down here? You see why I don't do that now?
Because we're shut up to the mercy of God. And I know this,
I go to my home, you go to yours. I go with my family, you go with
yours to have lunch and to spend the rest of the day. But I do
know who owns us and who possesses us. and Him with whom we have
to do, and thank God for His mercies. Isn't it great? The knowledge of the Lord. Thank
God for His mercies in Christ. Alright, Paul come lead us in
singing 459. He lifted me, number 459.

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The Observer and the Observed

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