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I'd like for us tonight to turn to Psalm one thirty nine. I did, uh, have a word with, uh, Earl. He said he was some better. I offered him a home remedy. He declined. And I told him if he changed his mind, just to call me, and I'd bring it to him. He said, no, thank you. Uh, I'm miserable enough as it is. So, I thought about this psalm, and uh, sometimes, uh, we make mention of this, that it is a thrilling experience, uh, to have God speak to us.
Uh, those of us that know the Lord, uh, those of us that value his word and, uh, spend time reading it, meditating on it, uh, it does have special meaning. Uh, we know from the Psalms that in Psalm one nineteen, it's a lamp unto our foot and a light unto our pathway. So there's tremendous value to be gained by reading and meditating upon the word of God.
To think about the one that is speaking to us through his word, and the spirit of God is able to give such a, a motivating force to that power to that word, uh, when it speaks to us that, uh, it becomes an exciting experience. Uh, I think it's good for us to develop that anyway. Uh, this psalm, uh, when you start out, you, you need to go back right away if you're reminded, if you've been reading the psalms, and the last verse of Psalm one thirty eight says, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hand. Isn't it wonderful that the God that created us, uh, he maintains an interest in us, uh, in that he wants us to grow spiritually. He wants us to be conformed more and more to the very likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's an exciting, um, uh, thought to entertain in your mind that I'm not going to always be like I am now, but there's going to be a change.
And we welcome that change. Not that we're dissatisfied with what God has made us, but it's going to be so much better when I'm like him. And, uh, that's God's work, that's God's handiwork. I'm talking about, uh, Wednesday night about one of the truly exciting things, works that God has done, uh, is the forming of the church, the body of Christ, made up of, uh, living members. Every one of us, every joint, every member in that body is supplying a need for that body, and the church will, is already, uh, pictured as being the bride of Christ.
Uh, we are going to play a very important role in God's plans and purposes. And so to just look at something in the Word of God that, uh, fixes our attention upon the Lord and, uh, and what he's like. Uh, this Psalm one thirty nine brings into focus, uh, uh, some attributes of God. Now, we believe that our God is omniscient, and that's the way this Psalm starts out. Omniscience means that he knows a lot more than we know.
In fact, he knows all. He knows all, and he's omnipresent. I will never leave you nor forsake you, and he also is omnipotent. And I was just reading this afternoon some of the things that God has done that, uh, demonstrated the awesome power of God, and it was really exciting, more exciting than anything you'll find on television. I don't care how, how, how excited you might be about that game or whatever it is, uh, when you get a picture in your mind and, uh, it begins to become so real as you read about some of the exciting things, uh, that God has done, uh, it, it, it stops you in your tracks, and you say that, that is something else.
And I'll refer to a couple of those, uh, in just a few moments. This psalm, uh, starts out, I think, uh, I'll just read the whole psalm, and then we'll go down the list, and, uh, we will gather something in here that will, uh, I think be, uh, profitable for all of us. Beginning at verse 1 of Psalm 139. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compass my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
It's 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's high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I stand 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. The night shineth as a 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 will 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 not I 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. Until we just look to the Lord again, in the word of prayer.
Our gracious Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for the privilege of having our hearts and souls focused upon thee. This has been a Lord's day. It's been a day in which God's people, we've gathered together. We have enjoyed fellowship one with another and with thee, Lord. We've listened to the word of God. We like to think that we've been strengthened spiritually. We've been encouraged in our hearts. We've been able to remember those that are less fortunate and pray for them.
And we do pray at this very moment for so many that we know. We'll not mention them by name, Lord, but you know each one of them. We pray for them. Encourage their hearts and comfort their hearts. You are the God of all comfort. And so, we feel privileged to know thee, Lord, to be a part of your family. And as we consider these thoughts from the Psalm tonight, grant we pray thee that it'll bring encouragement to us and excite us in our souls, that we are indeed a part of the family of God. You know your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's in his precious name that we ask this.
Amen. You know, it is a, a true joy to gather on the Lord's Day. Uh, I have said this to some people, and uh, they seem to sometimes think that maybe you take your experience, uh, your spiritual experience, or they may call it your religion. Your religion means a lot to you, doesn't it? Well, yes, you want to call it that, but it's more like there's a person that excites my soul.
Uh, that is that wonderful gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, he loved me, he died for me upon a cross, and my only claim to knowing the Lord is through him. We heard that message this morning. It should thrill our souls to know, man, I've been born again. I'm a member of the family of God. Well, being taught the word of God, the truth of God, and to learn and know the truth that God would have us, uh, to have in our hearts and strengthen us, it sets us free from the darkness that's in this world.
Sometimes, uh, you can look back and reflect upon what it was like to be in spiritual darkness. Groping around. If you've ever been in a real dark place, like going down in one of those caverns sometimes, and then they cut all the lights out. Man, it's dark in there. You hold your hand up, you can't see your hand before your face. Not a light in sight. And you know, the guide might say, you know, there are fish in that little stream down there, but they can't see.
He said, you see, where there's no light, there's no need for sight. Thank God we've had light shine into our souls. We were reminded of that this morning. Light has come into the world. The sad part of it is, it says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Well, we've gone beyond that. We have, we've touched the hem of his garment, and we have been brought into this wonderful family of God, and we read the scriptures, and these scriptures, uh, provide spiritual strength for us, and they encourage our hearts.
You need not be lonely. Sometimes, you know, people say, I'm so lonely. I just feel like I've been abandoned. And so often I'll say, don't you have Christian friends? Well, yeah, I guess I do. I go to, uh, someplace they go for church, and, uh, don't you mingle with those people? Don't you stay in touch with those people? Well, sometimes. And you know, after a while, I get the impression that the fault lies with them more than it does with the people that they are associated with.
A lot of it depends on you and me. How much do you want to be in fellowship with God's people? How much do you want to be in fellowship with God? There's a lot more there for every one of us than we're using tonight, or we are enjoying tonight. So quit complaining. You don't need to be lonely if you know the Lord. Shame on you. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Yet though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Thou art with me.
That rod and that staff were so comforting to know that we're walking through this place. You know, this is a, a time, and it's fast approaching, in which people are seeking election to public office. We'll soon have another president and some other officials. And they go after those things. They need information. They want to find out all they can find out about the one that they're running against. They pay money for it.
If you know something about one of those people that they're running against, and you say, I know so and so. Well, tell me about it. How much is it worth? People pay for that sort of thing. Well, this psalm starts out by saying, O Lord, thou searchedst me and... known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compass my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Some people don't like that. They don't like the very thought of that. What's he meddling in my life for? Oh yeah. There are people that resent. If God will leave me alone, I'll leave him alone. Well, he won't do that. He created you, and he knows all about you and me. Not anything he doesn't know about us. Some of the things that we'll examine in just a moment, they're very personal. You could find that darkest cave that there possibly was, and I'm gonna hide.
I'm not gonna let him see me. After all, this is a deep cavern, maybe like one of those mines that people go down into, thousands of feet beneath the surface of the earth. I'm gonna hide from God. No, you can't hide from God. When you get there, he's already there. And he's omniscient. He knows all. You may not like this. And you might say, I don't believe that. I had a lady tell me that. I don't believe that. God doesn't know everything about me.
She felt very confident that he did not know everything about her. And this passage was read. It was one of those referred to. But God is omniscient. He knows all. That includes you and me. He created us. He knows everything about you and me. And she said, I not only don't believe that, I don't like that. I don't like that. I don't like other people or God meddling in my life. Leave me alone. That's the attitude that sometimes people have that don't really know the Lord.
Because who wants to be exposed? Who wants to have their weaknesses exposed? Nobody knows about this but me. God knows about it. You thought, uh, you thought what you did on a corner, nobody knew about it but just you. God knew about it. And as I said, that person in the world that doesn't know the Lord and does not appreciate this wonderful divine truth that our God is all-knowing. He created us, he cares for us, he loves us.
And it's in our best interest that he know us and all about us, and knows how to deal with every iota of our being. No matter what the experience in life might be, he knows about it, and he's interested in it. I was talking about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to someone, and they indicated that he had a lot of enemies, and he did. There were a lot of people that did not like the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't like to think about it, but there are a lot of people today that don't like the Lord Jesus. And when I said to this one person, but he knows the thoughts of your mind. And, and I thought about the passage in Matthew, I think it's chapter eight, where in his discussion with Pharisees and those that were opposed to him, he knew the evil that was in their hearts. Maybe they didn't reveal it, maybe they were hiding it, maybe they were not disclosing exactly how they felt about him, but he knew exactly how they felt about him.
He knew he's God. You see, that becomes the problem. The world today does not recognize Jesus Christ as God, God manifest in flesh, the God who created us. Thou compass to my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. We try to change our habits sometimes, my ways. I want my ways to be pleasing to the Lord, and we need to check up. We need to take inventory. Is this for the glory of God? We need to look very carefully. Not a word in my tongue, but lo, Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
It's not just what we've already said, but it's what we're gonna say. And you know, let it be a warning. Let us be careful what we say. Sometimes, uh, in a fit of anger, we may explode, we may say something that later we think about it and we say, I wish I hadn't said that. Well, God knew all the time you were going to say that. Isn't that something? He knows already every word that you'll ever speak, every outburst, no secret to him. He knows what you're going to do. He knows our weaknesses, and he still loves us.
They set me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me. Some people don't like for you to touch them. Don't touch me. I don't like people putting their hands on me. You like the thought of God putting his hand upon you? I do. He can touch me all he wants to. God's loving, compassionate way of dealing with his dear children puts his hand upon us. It may be the hand of correction sometimes that he puts upon us, but it's for our good and for his glory and his honor.
This is kind of summed up in such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high. I cannot attain unto it. We might have already thought this evening as we're looking at this, man, this is way out. This is something else. That we have a God, and he knows everything. He knows everything about me. He knows whether what I say with my lips is true and real or not, as far as knowing him. Many people speak falsely of knowing the Lord.
They speak from a position of just wanting to be accepted sometime in some circle of people, and they'll say something, but they don't mean it. They don't mean it. But our God, his knowledge is wonderful. No one in this world that has the kind of knowledge that God has. You know, there's a big difference between knowledge and wisdom, and God has the wisdom to know how to handle everything that is a part of what he has created, and that includes you and me. We're a divine work. We are his workmanship, and we were created for a purpose, and that is to glorify God.
Ascend up into heaven. This brings into, uh, our thinking the whole thought of omnipresent. You're there, you're in heaven. We talk about our God, the throne of God. We talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's there with authority at the right hand of God. Our Savior, the person that loved us and died for us, the one that identified with us. He's there. You can't escape it, wherever you think. I made my bed in hell, he's there.
This whole idea that Satan's in charge of hell, forget it. Forget it. He's gonna experience the lake of fire. The authority and power of God will be exercised. God is in control, not Satan. The God of this world at this present time, who binds and keeps captive men and women that will not trust the Savior that we have trusted, and known what it means to have true freedom, and liberated from that awesome power of evil that controls men and women, and they allow him to do it.
Instead, say each one of us tonight that looks back over a life, we were not always believers in the Lord Jesus, and we remember what it was like when Satan had his control over us. And I'll tell you what, I can say tonight, thank God for the time in my life when that power was broken, and I turned my life over to him, the lover of my soul, and that evil one that had abused me and used me in a way that was disgusting at times, and never for the glory of God.
That all changed, and I became a new creature in Christ Jesus. I was born again into the family of God. New creature in Christ Jesus, old things passed away, and behold, everything began to take on a new light. My world was different, and thank God it's going to be a lot more different than it is even right now. I take the wings of the morning, dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there. You can't get away from it. I want to take a vacation.
I want to go somewhere where God is not in control. There is no such place. There is no such place here upon the face of the earth or in this whole universe. He's there. He's there. The Lord Jesus Christ is there. Marvelous, wonderful thought. The Spirit of God is here, and he's in me, he's in you. He indwells us, he would fill us and fit us for God's service and use our lives to bring glory and honor to his holy name.
I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. God said, let there be light. You know, the sun is always shining. Sometimes you may go outside and you look up and the clouds are right down on the ground, you can't... the sun is still shining. And you know, God is always there, and he's always shining. We just can't see him sometimes. We're just out of touch sometimes. But he is. That's a part of his omniscience and his omnipresence with us.
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 part of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance. You saw me as an embryo. You saw me in my mother's body. You knew all about me even then. You know, people say, well, that little spark of whatever it is that's in a woman's body, it's not a human being yet.
As far as God is concerned, it is. This idea of abortion, you know what it is? If you haven't heard, I'll tell you, it's murder. When someone aborts a fetus that's in a woman's body and says, I want to get rid of this, I don't want this, and they do something, it's murder if they do it. And God knows that we as a nation of people, I do believe, brother and sister in Christ, we're going to have to pay for it.
Don't tell me that you can murder millions and millions of unborn children and not pay for it. I believe payday is coming. So don't let's run and hide from it and say, well, somebody else did it. We should be grieved by it. We shouldn't feel good about it. We should be ashamed of it. Something that is fearfully and wonderfully made by God, a man or a woman exercises the liberty that they have to destroy it and say it's of no consequence.
I didn't do any harm to anybody. No, you just killed a, a child. That's all you did. That's sad. That's what's happening in our, in our land today. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, 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. You know, as you sum all of this up and you begin to think, this accumulation of knowledge, of wisdom that's coming right from the heart of God to us, it means something to us.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding, but in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. The twenty third Psalm says he put our feet upon the pathway of righteousness for his name's sake. The reason we should be walking righteous and godly lives today is because we call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves children of God, and God wants his children to be walking on the pathway of righteousness. Don't want it any other way. Well, I said we were going to say something about the awesome power of God, and I thought about several instances in scripture.
How would you have liked to been standing there right at the Red Sea when the Lord said to Moses, lift up the rod. You've never seen anything like this before. Now put it down. Just as sure as there's an aisle right down the middle of this building, I believe those waters parted. I believe they parted. Because God wanted them to part, and he was pro- providing a way of deliverance for the children of Israel to get out of Egypt, and he was gonna take an account of Pharaoh and his hardness of heart, the power of God.
People try to turn that into a myth. People try to make that sound like, oh, that didn't really happen. The Sea of Reeds. They walked across there and maybe got their feet muddy, but, uh, that was all there was to it. Well, that's strange because Pharaoh and his army, they were all swallowed up. I guess he just went with his army, jumped into the Red Sea, and they all drowned. Is that the way it is? Don't think so. There is another account in the Word of God that points out to me the fact that people don't like to talk about these things.
We're going through a, a time in which we, we want rain. We want rain. We need rain. We're told that we only have, I don't know, Ahab found out that he had called for dry weather, and had gone on for three and a half years. And he and Jezebel, when they found out that this prophet of God had something to do with it, they would have liked, Jezebel would have liked to have gotten her hands on him.
But you know, there was a test coming. Elijah, in the full power of God, said, we're going to find out who the true and the living God is, and we can sum all of this up. Do you know who the true and the living God really is and what he can do? Do you have any limitations that you want to oppose upon our God as to what he can do. Elijah said, you bring those prophets of Baal out over to the mountain, and I'm going to show you something. There'll be a demonstration over there, something like you've never seen before. And he went over there and he said, you prophets of Baal, you build an altar here.
We're going to offer up a sacrifice. The only thing about it is we're not gonna torch this sacrifice and this altar. We're gonna cry out to our God to find out who has power, who can do something that nobody else can do. You know what those prophets did? Oh man, they went through a lot of turmoil and anguish of soul and crying and screaming. They couldn't, they couldn't do anything. That sacrifice just stayed right there. And finally he said, God, he said, take all that out of the way. Now he built his altar, now he put the, the wood there.
And someone asked me recently, he said, where does he get all that water he poured on that? He's they're going through a dry period. Where did he get all that water? I don't know. God can supply. If God can change wa- uh, water into wine, he can bring water when he needs it. You know, after all of this had been done, and Elijah stepped back and, you know, so confidently, just as if I was standing here and there's going to be a demonstration of the power of God. I stepped back. I don't have any question in my mind it's going to happen. Elijah stepped back and said, Lord, now everything's in place.
I've done exactly what you asked me to do. Now you act. You know, we were over in the nursing home not long ago, and we were talking about this, and when it came time for God to act, the brother said, Kabam! Like a lightning bolt. I don't know if you've ever been up close when lightning would strike. Man, it, it is an awesome thing to see lightning. I believe that's what that was, lightning, power from God. It, it came down and it hit that, that sacrifice that Elijah had put there. Consumed it!
Elijah said, I don't want there to be any doubt about who is the true and the living God. Brother and sister in Christ, let's don't leave any doubt in the minds of people that we're in touch with every day, that our God has power. He saved our souls, didn't he? He brought us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. He saved our soul. He's given us peace within our soul. He's done so much for us. Let's don't let the world escape knowing that. You want real peace and joy in your soul, trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. Our God is wonderful. He's awesome. He knows everything.
He is everywhere, and there's no limit to his power. Our Father in heaven do receive our thanks tonight for the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, the Lamb of God that could take away the sin of the world, and praise God, he's taken our sin away. It's penalty he bore upon the cross. Thank thee for this day that we spent together. Grant, we pray thee, that the word of God that has been opened, the word of God that has been read, the word of God that has been proclaimed, it is their fruit for your glory and honor. Give the choir, we pray thee, now they practice a good practice session.
We're looking forward to this cantata. We're looking forward to inviting our friends and our loved ones to come and to hear the word of God proclaimed in song. Bless this effort, we pray thee, Lord, for the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus, we ask it. Amen.