1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,640 This series in the Psalms, you guys, 2 00:00:01,640 --> 00:00:03,680 has been an incredible journey. 3 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:05,380 I know it's been incredible for me, 4 00:00:05,380 --> 00:00:08,440 and from the feedback I'm getting from you guys, 5 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,960 our congregation, it's been really, really helpful 6 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,760 for many of you as well. 7 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,020 And it seems like every Sunday, I walk up here 8 00:00:16,020 --> 00:00:18,560 and I look at you guys and I say, well, 9 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,160 I have another Psalm this morning 10 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,680 that you absolutely know and love. 11 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,200 It just happens over and over again 12 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,560 because the Psalms have been drilled into us, 13 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:28,440 many of us, for a long, long time. 14 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:29,280 Well, guess what? 15 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,000 I have another one for you this morning. 16 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,560 For so many saints over the centuries, 17 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,560 Psalm 139 has been a soaring encouragement 18 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,960 that they have come back to over and over again 19 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,400 to remember two important things. 20 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,300 First of all, the attributes of God, 21 00:00:47,300 --> 00:00:51,700 but second, his love and his care for his children. 22 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,840 There have been many Jewish sages over the centuries 23 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,280 who have looked at Psalm 139 and said, 24 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,720 this is the crown of the entire collection, 25 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,400 which is high praise, right? 26 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,400 Unequaled in the five books of the Psalter. 27 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,080 Many Jewish sages have said that. 28 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,320 No less than Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, 29 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,320 declared Psalm 139 to be, quote, 30 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:19,840 the most notable of all the sacred hymns. 31 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,080 So we're on sacred ground here this morning 32 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:23,600 and I couldn't be more excited about it. 33 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,800 Whether you know it or not, you probably know 34 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,400 a whole bunch of the statements and verses in this Psalm. 35 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:30,680 I'll give you a few examples. 36 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,480 Search me, O God, and know my heart. 37 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,200 You know when I sit down and when I rise up. 38 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,180 Where can I flee from your presence? 39 00:01:41,180 --> 00:01:45,400 Even the darkness is not darkness to you. 40 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:47,280 You formed my inward parts. 41 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,920 You wove me in my mother's womb. 42 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,140 I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and so on. 43 00:01:54,140 --> 00:01:56,640 So because the Psalm is so filled with wisdom and truth 44 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,400 and because the elders are always saying to me, 45 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,820 Jeff, you know you can slow down just a bit. 46 00:02:00,820 --> 00:02:03,620 You can actually break up a Psalm into two separate sermons. 47 00:02:03,620 --> 00:02:04,980 We're doing that here. 48 00:02:04,980 --> 00:02:08,120 We're gonna spend two Sundays in Psalm 139 today. 49 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,480 We're gonna cover the first 12 verses 50 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:12,320 and then next Sunday, Gird your loins, 51 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,800 we're gonna focus our attention on the issue 52 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,420 of the value of human life and abortion. 53 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:19,800 Now, there's something I wanna say 54 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:21,560 before we read today's passage. 55 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,760 And this is critically important to catch 56 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:26,940 as we frame our study this morning. 57 00:02:26,940 --> 00:02:28,360 We're about to walk through 58 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,680 two of the greatest attributes of God, 59 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,920 His omniscience and His omnipresence. 60 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:36,360 And so we're gonna get a little bit technical 61 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:37,760 in places in this message, 62 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:39,960 but overall I think it'll be very practical 63 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:40,780 and very instructive. 64 00:02:40,780 --> 00:02:43,120 But here's what I want you to think about 65 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:44,200 as we read the passage. 66 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,200 First, think how beautiful and comforting 67 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,460 these words are for the believer. 68 00:02:49,460 --> 00:02:51,660 How comforting and beautiful these words are 69 00:02:51,660 --> 00:02:53,860 for those of us who sit here this morning 70 00:02:53,860 --> 00:02:55,740 and are found in Christ. 71 00:02:55,740 --> 00:02:57,700 For us, the words we're about to read 72 00:02:57,700 --> 00:03:00,140 are some of the most beautiful words imaginable. 73 00:03:00,140 --> 00:03:02,940 But then I also want you to think about 74 00:03:02,940 --> 00:03:06,060 how terrifying these words for anybody 75 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:08,300 who is found outside of Christ. 76 00:03:09,780 --> 00:03:12,180 It's really quite a dichotomy. 77 00:03:12,180 --> 00:03:15,780 For anybody who has not yet bowed their knee 78 00:03:15,780 --> 00:03:18,020 to His Lordship, who is living, 79 00:03:18,020 --> 00:03:20,060 whether they know it or not, living in rebellion 80 00:03:20,060 --> 00:03:23,620 against Him by not coming to Him in faith. 81 00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:25,940 For those folks, it is not a comfortable thing 82 00:03:25,940 --> 00:03:28,940 to realize that God knows everything. 83 00:03:30,260 --> 00:03:32,060 That God knows all of your actions, 84 00:03:32,060 --> 00:03:34,260 your thoughts, your intentions, 85 00:03:34,260 --> 00:03:36,820 even what motivates your heart. 86 00:03:36,820 --> 00:03:38,500 Nor is it a comfortable feeling to know 87 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:41,300 that there is absolutely nowhere you can run 88 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:44,740 to escape His knowledge or His watchful eye. 89 00:03:45,780 --> 00:03:47,380 And so as we come to God's presence, 90 00:03:47,380 --> 00:03:48,740 as we come to God's word this morning, 91 00:03:48,740 --> 00:03:50,060 if you're a believer here this morning, 92 00:03:50,060 --> 00:03:51,300 I want you to think about two things. 93 00:03:51,300 --> 00:03:54,420 Number one, be thankful as you sit here this morning 94 00:03:54,420 --> 00:03:57,340 that God knows you and you know Him. 95 00:03:57,340 --> 00:03:59,180 And then second, let this passage move you 96 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:02,740 towards a greater sense of compassion 97 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:06,420 for those who right now are outside of God's grace. 98 00:04:06,420 --> 00:04:10,180 And pray that that might change, amen? 99 00:04:10,180 --> 00:04:11,140 Grab your Bibles. 100 00:04:12,060 --> 00:04:15,380 We're going to Psalm 139. 101 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:16,820 Now I'm calling it a wisdom Psalm, 102 00:04:16,820 --> 00:04:19,620 but depending on what commentary you pick up, 103 00:04:19,620 --> 00:04:24,620 there are all kinds of ways to categorize this Psalm. 104 00:04:24,620 --> 00:04:26,940 Boom, there it is, a wisdom Psalm. 105 00:04:26,940 --> 00:04:29,060 As I shared earlier, because of the importance of it, 106 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:30,020 we're going to limit ourselves 107 00:04:30,020 --> 00:04:31,940 to just the first 12 verses today. 108 00:04:31,940 --> 00:04:34,740 And as you arrive there, you see at the very top, 109 00:04:34,740 --> 00:04:37,300 what do we call that thing at the top? 110 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:39,980 A superscription, which tells us 111 00:04:39,980 --> 00:04:42,700 who authored this particular song. 112 00:04:42,700 --> 00:04:44,700 And look, we're back to reading the words 113 00:04:44,700 --> 00:04:46,860 of our old friend David. 114 00:04:46,860 --> 00:04:48,540 Now remember, we talked about this at the outset. 115 00:04:48,540 --> 00:04:52,460 David wrote at least 73 of the 150 Psalms, 116 00:04:52,460 --> 00:04:54,900 maybe even more, but most of David's Psalms 117 00:04:54,900 --> 00:04:57,660 are sort of grouped in the earlier collections. 118 00:04:57,660 --> 00:05:01,740 But as we get closer to 150, the end of the Psalm series, 119 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:04,180 we're going to see there is a final grouping of Psalms 120 00:05:04,180 --> 00:05:07,580 that were written by David from 138 to 145. 121 00:05:07,580 --> 00:05:09,700 So we still have a couple of Sundays, 122 00:05:09,700 --> 00:05:12,180 a few Sundays where we'll get to hear David's voice. 123 00:05:12,180 --> 00:05:14,460 So let's read together, for the choir director, 124 00:05:14,460 --> 00:05:16,260 a Psalm of David, verse one. 125 00:05:16,260 --> 00:05:19,700 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 126 00:05:21,380 --> 00:05:25,980 You know when I sit down and when I rise up. 127 00:05:25,980 --> 00:05:28,900 You understand my thought from afar. 128 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:33,580 You scrutinize my path and my lying down 129 00:05:33,580 --> 00:05:38,580 and are intimately, intimately acquainted with all my ways. 130 00:05:40,700 --> 00:05:43,500 Even before there's a word on my tongue, 131 00:05:43,500 --> 00:05:47,220 behold, O Lord, you know it all. 132 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:50,020 You have enclosed me behind and before 133 00:05:50,020 --> 00:05:51,980 and laid your hand upon me. 134 00:05:53,340 --> 00:05:55,580 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. 135 00:05:55,580 --> 00:05:58,860 It's too high, I cannot attain to it. 136 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,180 Where can I go from your spirit? 137 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:04,800 Or where can I flee from your presence? 138 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,640 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. 139 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,460 If I make my bed in shield, behold, you are there. 140 00:06:13,460 --> 00:06:14,980 If I take the wings of the dawn, 141 00:06:14,980 --> 00:06:17,380 if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 142 00:06:17,380 --> 00:06:20,900 even there, your hand will lead me 143 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:23,040 and your right hand will lay hold of me. 144 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:26,740 If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me 145 00:06:26,740 --> 00:06:29,340 and the light around me will be night, 146 00:06:29,340 --> 00:06:32,840 even the darkness is not dark to you. 147 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:34,420 And the night is bright as day. 148 00:06:34,420 --> 00:06:37,540 Darkness and light are alike to you. 149 00:06:38,620 --> 00:06:40,180 So already in just these 12 verses, 150 00:06:40,180 --> 00:06:42,580 we see there's so much to unpack here 151 00:06:42,580 --> 00:06:43,500 and I'll admit something, 152 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:45,740 I'm a little bit intimidated by this psalm. 153 00:06:45,740 --> 00:06:49,300 It's really hard to live up to the sort of lofty concepts 154 00:06:49,300 --> 00:06:50,940 that we see here, but we'll do our best 155 00:06:50,940 --> 00:06:53,220 together here this morning. 156 00:06:53,220 --> 00:06:56,740 Back in the year 1961, great year by the way, 157 00:06:56,740 --> 00:06:58,180 I know all of you were there, 158 00:07:00,060 --> 00:07:03,420 a Cambridge scholar by the name of J.B. Phillips, 159 00:07:03,420 --> 00:07:05,700 who later would actually translate the New Testament, 160 00:07:05,700 --> 00:07:08,980 but J.B. Phillips wrote a book called Your God is Too Small. 161 00:07:09,980 --> 00:07:11,340 Your God is Too Small. 162 00:07:11,340 --> 00:07:14,260 And even back then, more than 60 years ago, 163 00:07:14,260 --> 00:07:17,100 he was warning the church that they were leaning 164 00:07:17,100 --> 00:07:20,460 into a theology that featured a God of our own making, 165 00:07:21,820 --> 00:07:25,880 a God who had been reduced to seeking our approval, 166 00:07:26,820 --> 00:07:29,900 a God who seemed to exist for the sole purpose 167 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:31,980 of making human beings happy. 168 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,660 And he warned us about that way back in 1961. 169 00:07:35,660 --> 00:07:39,320 And his remedy to that false caricature of God 170 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,500 was to rebuild a rich, full theology 171 00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:44,740 that relied solely on biblical truth 172 00:07:44,740 --> 00:07:46,700 to show us who God really is, 173 00:07:46,700 --> 00:07:51,060 this omnipotent, sovereign God of the Scriptures. 174 00:07:51,060 --> 00:07:54,240 And this is what Psalm 139 does for us as well. 175 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,040 This is what's so beautiful about it. 176 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,300 Psalm 139 is a great course correction for any believer 177 00:07:59,300 --> 00:08:02,100 who has come to think that the world revolves around him 178 00:08:02,980 --> 00:08:05,180 or his feelings or what he needs. 179 00:08:05,180 --> 00:08:07,040 It's perfect for any churchgoer 180 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,820 who has tried to shrink God down to a deity 181 00:08:09,820 --> 00:08:12,460 who will serve him rather than the other way around. 182 00:08:13,780 --> 00:08:17,260 Because it tells us about how high and lofty God really is. 183 00:08:17,260 --> 00:08:19,140 What we hear in Psalm 139 is a God 184 00:08:19,140 --> 00:08:23,020 who is really beyond finite human comprehension. 185 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:27,660 And yet we also hear about a God who is so, so infinite, 186 00:08:27,660 --> 00:08:29,820 but also so close, so nearby, 187 00:08:29,820 --> 00:08:33,040 so intimate with those that he loves, 188 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,100 that he's condescended to reveal himself. 189 00:08:36,100 --> 00:08:38,860 He wasn't obligated to do that, 190 00:08:38,860 --> 00:08:42,300 but he condescended to show himself to us. 191 00:08:42,300 --> 00:08:44,540 And then to show us in very practical ways 192 00:08:44,540 --> 00:08:47,420 how we can know him, how can we abide with him, 193 00:08:47,420 --> 00:08:51,940 how we can love him, and how we can devote our entire lives 194 00:08:51,940 --> 00:08:54,740 as an act of worship for his glory. 195 00:08:54,740 --> 00:08:56,200 What a God, right? 196 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,740 What a God that he would do that. 197 00:08:57,740 --> 00:09:00,780 A God that great, that infinite, that eternal, 198 00:09:00,780 --> 00:09:03,420 that he would come down and do that for us. 199 00:09:03,420 --> 00:09:06,660 Spurgeon captures this issue in an epic quote 200 00:09:06,660 --> 00:09:07,660 that I just wanna walk through. 201 00:09:07,660 --> 00:09:09,620 I got three slides, it's that big. 202 00:09:09,620 --> 00:09:11,980 But it's an absolutely epic quote 203 00:09:11,980 --> 00:09:14,620 which tells us what we're gonna do this morning, 204 00:09:14,620 --> 00:09:17,240 how important it is, how lofty it is. 205 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:18,240 Here's what he says. 206 00:09:19,300 --> 00:09:22,840 He says, there is something exceedingly improving 207 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,600 to the mind in contemplating the divinity. 208 00:09:27,580 --> 00:09:32,580 It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost 209 00:09:32,580 --> 00:09:37,580 in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned 210 00:09:37,740 --> 00:09:39,020 in its infinity. 211 00:09:39,900 --> 00:09:42,980 Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with. 212 00:09:42,980 --> 00:09:46,380 And then we feel a kind of self-content. 213 00:09:46,380 --> 00:09:49,700 And we go away thinking, behold, I am wise. 214 00:09:51,100 --> 00:09:51,940 Do you love that? 215 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:55,460 But when we come to this master science, 216 00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:57,420 that is contemplating God, 217 00:09:57,420 --> 00:10:00,660 finding that our plumb line cannot sound its death 218 00:10:00,660 --> 00:10:03,380 and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, 219 00:10:03,380 --> 00:10:06,860 we turn away with the solemn exclamation, 220 00:10:06,860 --> 00:10:11,140 I am but of yesterday and know nothing. 221 00:10:14,180 --> 00:10:15,020 And then he finishes. 222 00:10:15,020 --> 00:10:18,660 But while the subject humbles us, humbles the mind, 223 00:10:18,660 --> 00:10:21,460 it also expands it. 224 00:10:21,460 --> 00:10:23,500 Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, 225 00:10:23,500 --> 00:10:27,220 nothing so magnify the whole soul of man 226 00:10:27,220 --> 00:10:31,060 as a devout earnest continuing investigation 227 00:10:31,060 --> 00:10:33,700 of the great subject of the deity. 228 00:10:33,700 --> 00:10:35,840 Wow, that is a great challenge to all of us 229 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,420 to continue all the days that God gives us in this life 230 00:10:39,420 --> 00:10:42,980 to continually investigate who he is 231 00:10:42,980 --> 00:10:45,140 and what he's done for us, amen? 232 00:10:45,140 --> 00:10:47,620 And we get to do this this morning together. 233 00:10:47,620 --> 00:10:48,460 Isn't that great? 234 00:10:48,460 --> 00:10:49,280 Yeah, thank you very much. 235 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:50,420 That was my wife, by the way. 236 00:10:50,420 --> 00:10:51,240 Okay. 237 00:10:52,500 --> 00:10:55,820 All right, so these 12 verses break up very, very cleanly. 238 00:10:55,820 --> 00:10:57,180 We have verses one through six, 239 00:10:57,180 --> 00:10:59,020 which speak about God's omniscience, 240 00:10:59,020 --> 00:11:01,380 and then we have verses seven through 12, 241 00:11:01,380 --> 00:11:03,140 which speak about his omnipresence, 242 00:11:03,140 --> 00:11:04,420 and we'll talk about both those things. 243 00:11:04,420 --> 00:11:06,980 But let's start with the verse that begins to frame 244 00:11:06,980 --> 00:11:08,440 the entire meaning of the psalm, 245 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:10,500 and that is very simply verse one. 246 00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:13,800 Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. 247 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:17,840 So this is David's passionate concern, 248 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,460 this God who has infinite knowledge of him, 249 00:11:22,460 --> 00:11:25,380 this God who knows everything about him, 250 00:11:25,380 --> 00:11:28,980 his exhaustive, comprehensive, infallible knowledge 251 00:11:28,980 --> 00:11:31,660 of David's heart, David's mind, and David's life, 252 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,300 including every movement and every motivation. 253 00:11:35,300 --> 00:11:37,100 And guys, this should be our concern, 254 00:11:37,100 --> 00:11:39,180 our passionate concern as well, 255 00:11:39,180 --> 00:11:42,280 to know this God who knows us this well. 256 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,720 The word omniscience comes from two Latin words. 257 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,980 We know the word omni means all, 258 00:11:46,980 --> 00:11:49,940 and scientia, which means knowledge. 259 00:11:49,940 --> 00:11:51,980 So when we talk about God being omniscient, 260 00:11:51,980 --> 00:11:55,500 we simply mean that he exists in a state 261 00:11:55,500 --> 00:12:00,500 of having total and complete knowledge of all things. 262 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:02,620 And those superlatives matter, 263 00:12:02,620 --> 00:12:06,660 total, complete, and all. 264 00:12:06,660 --> 00:12:07,820 Nothing escapes him. 265 00:12:08,780 --> 00:12:10,660 Now think about this, not only does God have knowledge 266 00:12:10,660 --> 00:12:13,860 of all things that we're aware of as human beings, 267 00:12:14,780 --> 00:12:16,260 but he has total and complete knowledge 268 00:12:16,260 --> 00:12:18,020 of all the things that are real and true 269 00:12:18,020 --> 00:12:20,900 that are outside of what human beings have discovered. 270 00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:23,900 He knows so many more things that not one human being 271 00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:27,500 who has ever lived on this earth has come close to knowing. 272 00:12:27,500 --> 00:12:31,100 That's how total and complete his knowledge is. 273 00:12:31,100 --> 00:12:33,060 Just as he's infinite in his being, 274 00:12:33,060 --> 00:12:35,560 his knowledge is infinite. 275 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:38,100 There's absolutely no limit to his knowledge. 276 00:12:38,100 --> 00:12:39,000 Think about that. 277 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:41,780 So God never learns anything. 278 00:12:42,820 --> 00:12:45,820 He never forgets anything that he knows. 279 00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:48,940 He doesn't have to reason things through 280 00:12:48,940 --> 00:12:51,460 or gradually discover them. 281 00:12:51,460 --> 00:12:54,700 He knows absolutely everything that has ever happened 282 00:12:56,220 --> 00:12:57,740 since the moment of creation. 283 00:12:58,940 --> 00:13:01,600 He knows absolutely everything that is happening 284 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,080 right this moment, including everything that is happening 285 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,340 in this room this morning and everything that is happening 286 00:13:08,340 --> 00:13:11,460 in the most remote jungle on the other side of the planet. 287 00:13:11,460 --> 00:13:14,140 And then off into the universe, 288 00:13:14,140 --> 00:13:17,500 into black holes and everything else, he knows all of it. 289 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:19,940 And he absolutely knows everything that will happen 290 00:13:19,940 --> 00:13:24,940 in the future to the very last day of creation's existence. 291 00:13:25,860 --> 00:13:28,540 In every corner of what he has made. 292 00:13:29,460 --> 00:13:31,340 And now that's amazing, right? 293 00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:33,140 But here's the kicker for me in all this. 294 00:13:33,140 --> 00:13:35,140 He knows all of those things, past, present, 295 00:13:35,140 --> 00:13:37,460 and future simultaneously. 296 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:44,380 He knows it all at once because he exists outside 297 00:13:44,380 --> 00:13:47,220 of the created order, because he exists outside of time. 298 00:13:47,220 --> 00:13:49,940 He knows all things at once. 299 00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:55,580 He sees it beginning to end as one thing. 300 00:13:55,580 --> 00:13:57,740 He just knows every bit of it. 301 00:13:59,900 --> 00:14:02,220 This is what the Bible tells us. 302 00:14:02,220 --> 00:14:04,380 This is what God himself has told us 303 00:14:04,380 --> 00:14:05,700 through the biblical authors. 304 00:14:05,700 --> 00:14:07,700 He did this through his chosen instruments, 305 00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:10,340 the biblical authors, who wrote about these high 306 00:14:10,340 --> 00:14:12,980 and lofty concepts as they were carried along 307 00:14:12,980 --> 00:14:15,540 by his Holy Spirit, right? 308 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:18,620 Breathing out his truth to us so that we might know 309 00:14:18,620 --> 00:14:22,900 just, I mean, just a smidgen of who God is 310 00:14:22,900 --> 00:14:24,620 and how great he is. 311 00:14:24,620 --> 00:14:27,180 And trust me, it's just a smidgen. 312 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:29,580 I'm convinced when we get to the other side, 313 00:14:29,580 --> 00:14:33,540 we pass from this life and we're in the presence of Christ, 314 00:14:33,540 --> 00:14:37,940 I mean, our minds, I mean, just gonna be blown, right? 315 00:14:37,940 --> 00:14:40,340 At all that we didn't know. 316 00:14:40,340 --> 00:14:45,340 But we know enough, because God has disclosed himself to us. 317 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:48,900 And here's a few logical corollaries to God's omniscience. 318 00:14:48,900 --> 00:14:52,020 We talk about him being utterly sovereign over creation, 319 00:14:52,020 --> 00:14:53,780 utterly sovereign over everything. 320 00:14:53,780 --> 00:14:56,620 Well, to be in control of so many things, 321 00:14:56,620 --> 00:14:58,700 he would have to know all things, right? 322 00:14:59,820 --> 00:15:01,340 If he's gonna be in control of all things, 323 00:15:01,340 --> 00:15:03,660 he can't say, well, I'm not sure about those things, 324 00:15:03,660 --> 00:15:05,740 I only know this subset of things. 325 00:15:05,740 --> 00:15:08,380 No, he would have to know all things. 326 00:15:08,380 --> 00:15:11,420 And then if he's gonna be a competent and righteous judge 327 00:15:11,420 --> 00:15:15,380 over all of humanity, he also has to know all things. 328 00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:18,500 Otherwise, he's not a competent or righteous judge. 329 00:15:19,380 --> 00:15:21,580 And that's why we warn people who are outside the faith. 330 00:15:21,580 --> 00:15:24,620 Someday, we will all stand before that judge, 331 00:15:24,620 --> 00:15:29,620 and yes, he will know every detail about you, every detail. 332 00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:32,740 And by the way, that's really what David is passionate 333 00:15:32,740 --> 00:15:34,500 about here in verses one through six. 334 00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:36,380 Not just that God is omniscient, 335 00:15:36,380 --> 00:15:38,300 not just that he knows all things, 336 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:39,900 after all, honestly, think about it. 337 00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:43,060 Does it really matter to you and I to know 338 00:15:43,060 --> 00:15:46,420 that God is fully aware of all the plant and animal life 339 00:15:46,420 --> 00:15:48,380 in some remote island somewhere? 340 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,620 That's not the most practical thing in our lives. 341 00:15:51,620 --> 00:15:55,060 But the fact that God is all-knowing when it comes to me, 342 00:15:56,100 --> 00:15:57,420 that really matters. 343 00:15:59,060 --> 00:16:01,340 The fact that God is all-knowing about David, 344 00:16:01,340 --> 00:16:02,460 that really mattered to him. 345 00:16:02,460 --> 00:16:05,820 It's that intimate aspect of God's knowledge 346 00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:09,060 that David is most concerned about here in Psalm 139. 347 00:16:10,140 --> 00:16:11,460 Now, let's look at some of the language. 348 00:16:11,460 --> 00:16:13,060 Based on what we read here, 349 00:16:14,620 --> 00:16:17,340 we need to read the word searched in a particular way, 350 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:19,800 in an anthropomorphic way. 351 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,340 Anthropomorphic language, that is, 352 00:16:23,500 --> 00:16:27,980 we have a human author describing the indescribable, 353 00:16:27,980 --> 00:16:31,620 but using human language that we can understand. 354 00:16:31,620 --> 00:16:33,300 Anthropomorphic. 355 00:16:33,300 --> 00:16:36,380 God searches and knows us, and those two verbs together 356 00:16:36,380 --> 00:16:37,860 describe a single truth. 357 00:16:37,860 --> 00:16:39,940 This is not a, he's not trying to say 358 00:16:39,940 --> 00:16:41,460 this is a consecutive thing, 359 00:16:41,460 --> 00:16:43,140 that God doesn't know something, 360 00:16:43,140 --> 00:16:45,140 so he conducts an investigation, 361 00:16:45,140 --> 00:16:47,400 and then he comes to know it. 362 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:48,560 It's all one thing. 363 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,220 What David means by search is, get this now, 364 00:16:51,220 --> 00:16:56,220 the Lord has eyes on the most secret corners of your heart 365 00:16:57,500 --> 00:16:59,820 and your mind and your life. 366 00:16:59,820 --> 00:17:01,580 He has eyes on it. 367 00:17:01,580 --> 00:17:04,040 That's what he means by search. 368 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,580 By the way, even places that we don't know ourselves, 369 00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:10,140 think about that, even places where we have not yet 370 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:14,300 come to understand our own hearts, God has eyes on that 371 00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:15,500 and knows all about it. 372 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,340 Then we also see this word, this Hebrew verb, zara, 373 00:17:20,340 --> 00:17:24,660 which means to scrutinize, you scrutinize my path, 374 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:26,340 and in the original Hebrew language, 375 00:17:26,340 --> 00:17:27,980 that word has a range of meaning. 376 00:17:27,980 --> 00:17:32,340 It can mean sifting, which is the type of work 377 00:17:32,340 --> 00:17:34,020 that God does, knowing all things, 378 00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:37,100 he is able to sift or separate the wheat 379 00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:38,980 from the chaff in our lives. 380 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:41,460 He separates the things of lasting value 381 00:17:41,460 --> 00:17:43,580 from the things that will not endure. 382 00:17:44,660 --> 00:17:47,340 And then finally, we have to point out the Hebrew verb, 383 00:17:47,340 --> 00:17:50,940 yadah, in verse one, which is translated known. 384 00:17:50,940 --> 00:17:52,320 Many of you know that word. 385 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,180 You've been taught how intimate and relational 386 00:17:55,180 --> 00:17:56,900 that particular word is. 387 00:17:56,900 --> 00:17:59,540 It's used repeatedly in Genesis three and four, 388 00:17:59,540 --> 00:18:03,580 and most famously, it's used to describe sexual relations 389 00:18:03,580 --> 00:18:07,400 between Adam and Eve, which is wild, right? 390 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,140 Genesis four, one, the man knew his wife Eve 391 00:18:11,140 --> 00:18:12,380 and she conceived. 392 00:18:13,580 --> 00:18:14,700 He definitely knew her. 393 00:18:15,820 --> 00:18:18,580 And from a human perspective, that points us to something. 394 00:18:18,580 --> 00:18:21,180 The deepest and most intimate relationship 395 00:18:21,180 --> 00:18:24,160 that we're given to experience on earth is marriage, 396 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,180 one flesh marriage. 397 00:18:26,180 --> 00:18:28,500 Husband and wife get to journey through life together 398 00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:31,760 and grow to yadah, know each other more and more 399 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,100 in every way, spiritually, sexually, 400 00:18:34,100 --> 00:18:38,500 emotionally, intellectually, every way that you can imagine. 401 00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:40,020 And that's God's design for us, 402 00:18:40,020 --> 00:18:45,020 that husband and wife know each other in every possible way. 403 00:18:45,340 --> 00:18:47,540 But even that level of human intimacy, 404 00:18:47,540 --> 00:18:50,140 and some of us are like, wow, that's a lot of intimacy. 405 00:18:50,140 --> 00:18:55,140 Even that pales in comparison to how much God knows you. 406 00:18:58,020 --> 00:18:59,300 Think about that. 407 00:18:59,300 --> 00:19:02,860 How intimately he knows every corner 408 00:19:02,860 --> 00:19:04,480 of your heart, mind, and life. 409 00:19:05,780 --> 00:19:08,020 Now, in order to demonstrate just how exhaustive 410 00:19:08,020 --> 00:19:12,200 his knowledge is, David uses a rhetorical device 411 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,660 called a merism, and that's basically where you describe 412 00:19:15,660 --> 00:19:19,140 two polar opposite things as a way of describing 413 00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:20,020 the whole of life. 414 00:19:20,020 --> 00:19:22,540 It's the far this side, the far this side, 415 00:19:22,540 --> 00:19:23,940 and everything in between. 416 00:19:23,940 --> 00:19:25,100 That's what a merism is. 417 00:19:25,100 --> 00:19:27,780 Verse two, you know when I sit down, 418 00:19:27,780 --> 00:19:31,540 and you know when I get up, and everything in between. 419 00:19:32,460 --> 00:19:35,780 Verse three, you scrutinize my path or my travel, 420 00:19:35,780 --> 00:19:39,620 my movement, and my lying down when I rest, 421 00:19:39,620 --> 00:19:41,420 and everything in between. 422 00:19:42,580 --> 00:19:46,300 You are intimately acquainted with how many of my ways? 423 00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:49,160 All of my ways. 424 00:19:50,620 --> 00:19:52,960 What does all mean there in Hebrew? 425 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:53,800 All. 426 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:56,620 You guys, Hebrew experts. 427 00:19:58,700 --> 00:20:03,700 You're intimately, intimately aware of all of my ways. 428 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:06,760 So there's no guesswork with God. 429 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,720 Even the most, here's the thing that blows me away. 430 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:12,440 I can almost fathom a God who knows all the really 431 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,080 important things happening in the world. 432 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,040 That makes sense to our finite minds. 433 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,560 But even the most mundane, trivial, minute, 434 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,920 everyday things are part of his knowledge. 435 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:27,080 As we heard in our call to worship this morning, 436 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,840 from Jesus himself, God the Son who took on flesh 437 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,200 and walked on the earth to walk as we walk, 438 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,440 even he points us out when he says, 439 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,120 even the feeding of the birds, God knows about. 440 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,760 Even the growing of the fields, the lilies in the field, 441 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,580 are under his providence. 442 00:20:43,580 --> 00:20:45,800 And then later he talks about how even if a single 443 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,680 sparrow falls to the ground, he knows it. 444 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,360 He's actually numbered the number of hairs 445 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,040 on everybody's head. 446 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:56,640 That's crazy, isn't it? 447 00:20:57,860 --> 00:21:01,080 That's how exhaustive his knowledge is. 448 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:05,080 The Lord even knows right now where you are gonna go 449 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:06,680 to pick up lunch after worship. 450 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,480 Or if you're gonna go home and make it yourself. 451 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,000 He knows it. 452 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,720 He knows it. 453 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,300 Mod pizza, is that where we're going? 454 00:21:16,300 --> 00:21:18,640 It's Mod or it's Jersey Mike's anyway. 455 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,960 The Lord knows, right? 456 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:22,800 It's good. 457 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:28,920 Look at the end of verse two again. 458 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:33,040 You understand or really you discern 459 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,520 my thought from afar. 460 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:36,760 Now think about that. 461 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,840 He doesn't just have eyes on what you do, 462 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:41,640 but he discerns your thoughts. 463 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:42,680 He knows your thoughts. 464 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,000 What that does is it shifts it from external things 465 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,240 to internal things, right? 466 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,440 This is where it gets a little bit scary. 467 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,240 Because we all know a little bit something about 468 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:54,560 what's up in our minds, right? 469 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,400 And it's not always pure. 470 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,680 This moves from external deeds inward 471 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,280 to the affections and motivations of our hearts. 472 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,200 In other words, God not only knows what we do, 473 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,600 but why we do it. 474 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,600 And whether our motives are righteous for His glory 475 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,360 or unrighteous for our own glory. 476 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:16,400 He knows all that. 477 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,320 He even knows what we're gonna say before we say it. 478 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,000 That's what David says in verse four. 479 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,640 How many times have you just, you've blurted something out 480 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,640 and you went, wow, where did that come from? 481 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:28,480 Have you ever done that? 482 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,280 Like, wow, that just popped right out of me in response. 483 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:32,400 That was not good. 484 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:33,560 That was not good. 485 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,520 So we're surprised by what we say, 486 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,240 but it doesn't surprise God at all. 487 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:41,880 Think about that. 488 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,360 He knows every impulse that governs you and regulates you. 489 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,960 Every emotion, every feeling, every idea, every goal, 490 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,680 every commitment, every doubt you have, every worry. 491 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,800 All of it is exposed before the eyes of the Lord. 492 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:00,480 That's what God tells us. 493 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,080 He tells us through His own prophet, Jeremiah. 494 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:08,080 Jeremiah 16, He says, my gaze takes in all their ways, 495 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,160 speaking of unfaithful Judah right before the exile. 496 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:14,880 My gaze takes it all in. 497 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:16,800 They are not concealed from me 498 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,800 and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight. 499 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:26,280 Now, that's a lot to process, right? 500 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:28,680 This is big and heavy. 501 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:30,680 Up to verse four, the reader might be tempted 502 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,280 to look at this overwhelming knowledge that God has 503 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:35,720 and then ask this question. 504 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:36,640 This is a key question. 505 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,040 Is that really a good thing? 506 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:40,280 Is it a good thing that God has 507 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,200 that much knowledge about me? 508 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:47,880 So I would ask you, how does what I've described so far 509 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:48,880 about God's knowledge of you, 510 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,840 how does that sit with you this morning? 511 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:53,160 How does that make you feel? 512 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,960 Does it bring you joy to know 513 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,520 that God knows that much about you? 514 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,200 Does it bring you anxiety or fear 515 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,720 that He knows you to that extent? 516 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,680 Because not everybody likes that idea. 517 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:07,840 My guess would be if you went out into the streets 518 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,720 and pulled 100 people, almost all of them would say, 519 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:12,400 ah, I'm not comfortable with that. 520 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,040 Not comfortable with it. 521 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,480 Being utterly exhaustively and intimately known. 522 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,120 In fact, most human beings would say, 523 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:23,600 I prefer to hold at least one hand of cards 524 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,120 really close to the vest 525 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,520 and not tell anybody about anything in my hand. 526 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:30,520 Just hide it. 527 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,600 You remember how Adam reacted after he sinned in the garden? 528 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,120 What's man's first impulse? 529 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:39,960 To hide. 530 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,560 He hid in the garden to keep his secret safe. 531 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,080 In vain, of course, right? 532 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:49,480 He feared being exposed. 533 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,200 And that is the story of the human race since the fall. 534 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,920 Complete openness and intimacy can terrify us. 535 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,080 And the fact that anyone might know every single thing 536 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:00,840 and every thought and every desire 537 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,480 that we keep hidden for most people, 538 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,280 that's a very unnerving thing. 539 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:08,320 But here's the key to understanding this. 540 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,040 The reason we're uncomfortable 541 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,040 with that type of total knowledge 542 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:14,960 is because we doubt the goodwill 543 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:16,480 and we doubt the good intentions 544 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,680 of people who might gain that information. 545 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:20,880 Right? 546 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,960 We doubt that they'll use that information in a good way. 547 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:27,680 But that's not true of our father. 548 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,200 Oh, what a difference between another human being 549 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,200 knowing all about your heart and all of your secrets 550 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,720 and all the things you wanna hide versus God knowing them. 551 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:40,320 Because of our father. 552 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:41,160 And see, here's the thing. 553 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:42,760 If you have kids, you know this. 554 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,120 A child is actually comforted 555 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:50,600 by the fact that his or her father is watching over them. 556 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,000 That brings great comfort to a child. 557 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:55,760 Because daddy's keeping me safe. 558 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,600 He's watching out for me. 559 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,920 He's got my best interests in mind. 560 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:03,080 That's the way we need to see as believers, as Christians, 561 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,800 we need to see God's knowledge of us. 562 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,320 That it's the greatest of blessings. 563 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,680 It's not to be feared, it's not to be run away from. 564 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:12,640 And I've known way too many Christians in my life, 565 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,440 including me when I was a young believer, 566 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,520 who did everything I could to hide things from God, 567 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:22,520 as if I could. And so we need to come out of the shadows 568 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,880 and open up our hearts before the Lord and say, 569 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,560 okay, God, I can't fool you. 570 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:28,560 So here I am. 571 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,880 I'm just gonna be honest about it. 572 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,760 And now Lord, I need you and your spirit to help me change. 573 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:37,120 So is this a good thing? 574 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:37,960 Yes. 575 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,880 Verses five and six answer that question 576 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:41,560 with an emphatic yes. 577 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,840 David goes on to say, you've encircled me or enclosed me, 578 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,680 both behind and in front of me. 579 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,840 And what he's describing is this protective barrier 580 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,840 around his children. 581 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:54,400 David believed that he was sheltered 582 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,720 by this powerful presence of God, 583 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,320 such that if anything was gonna come upon him, 584 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,760 it first had to get through this barrier, 585 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,760 this sovereign barrier that God had established around him. 586 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,040 Doesn't mean he's gonna be immune from hard things 587 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:08,680 or difficult things, 588 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,920 but he knows because he's been encircled 589 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,040 by this gracious God, that nothing's gonna get to him 590 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,240 unless God allows it and permits it. 591 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,040 And then he goes on in verse five to say, 592 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:21,960 and you laid your hand upon me, 593 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,760 which is beautiful language that talks about the Lord 594 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:29,400 guiding and caring for his sheep like a good shepherd. 595 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:30,920 You've laid your hand upon me. 596 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,720 And for David in verse six, 597 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,840 look, it's all too much for him to process. 598 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,880 Look what David himself declares 599 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,120 about this total knowledge that God has. 600 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:44,120 He said, it's too wonderful for me. 601 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:46,360 So this is a good point of analysis for us. 602 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:50,600 Like if I was hearing about God's total knowledge of me 603 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,360 and it unnerved me to some extent, 604 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:55,480 or it scared me, or I was fearful of it, 605 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:56,960 look at David's response. 606 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:58,560 For him, it's wonderful. 607 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,840 And this is what we need to take on as believers. 608 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,080 It's wonderful for me. 609 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,960 He said, look, I know it's beyond me. 610 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:07,800 Right? 611 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:09,120 He says, it's too high. 612 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:10,360 I can't really attain it. 613 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:12,920 I'm not capable of reaching to all the heights 614 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:14,520 of understanding this, 615 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,640 but it is wonderful that God knows me to this extent. 616 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,760 And you can almost see David's mind spinning, right? 617 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,480 How am I supposed to comprehend this? 618 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,640 It's too much for my finite mind. 619 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,760 And again, let me make sure that I get this point across. 620 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,760 It's not that David is just blown away by God's omniscience. 621 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,200 It's that God's omniscience applies to him. 622 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,320 It's that it's personal and intimate God's knowledge. 623 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:40,560 Because we can stand outside and go, 624 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:41,840 oh, it's great that God knows everything, 625 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:43,800 but no, it's even better than that. 626 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,760 He knows me. 627 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,240 So David makes it very personal. 628 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,920 He's stunned to realize that this wonderful, 629 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,480 too high God is near to him, is intimate with him. 630 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,720 And get this now, this is the thing that 631 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,400 if you stop and think about it for long enough, 632 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,120 you just can't process it. 633 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,200 God knows everything about David's mind, heart, and life, 634 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,000 all of the ugly stuff, too. 635 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,320 And he still loves him. 636 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:15,400 That's the difference between God's love and human love. 637 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,440 We just don't do that well, do we? 638 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,280 When we see ugliness in people, we pull away. 639 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,000 We're like, ah, I'm like that. 640 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,200 God says, I still love you. 641 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:28,120 My love doesn't change. 642 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,440 Wow. 643 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,600 It's amazing. 644 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,240 God knows every lust of David's heart, 645 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,640 every impure thought, every selfish motivation, 646 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,720 every bit of anger and hatred that he's wrestling with. 647 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:45,520 And still, this God shelters him, guides him, cares for him, 648 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:46,360 and loves him. 649 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,960 It's all by grace. 650 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,600 David doesn't deserve this, right? 651 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,320 It's all by God's grace. 652 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:55,680 He says, I'm going to love you still. 653 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:56,880 I'm going to love you forever. 654 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:58,200 He says, I'm going to love you still. 655 00:29:58,200 --> 00:29:59,200 I've marked you out. 656 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,480 I'm going to love you still, even 657 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,400 though I know things about you that you don't even 658 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:05,040 know about yourself. 659 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,960 I still love you. 660 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,600 So if David could walk in this gathering this morning, 661 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,160 I think he would say to us, look, guys, 662 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,680 the omniscience of God should be a basis for great praise 663 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,360 and worship, not fear, but comfort. 664 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:21,560 We should love this. 665 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,160 We should be strengthened by it, reassured by it. 666 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,960 The fact that nothing escapes the eye of your loving Father 667 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,040 is the best possible thing for you. 668 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,440 Finally, there's nothing too hard for an omniscient God. 669 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,680 There's nothing too hard for him. 670 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,760 It's on the basis of our faith in him 671 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:41,960 that we can just rest in that. 672 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,040 We can be secure in that, because we know 673 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:45,760 his promises never fail. 674 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,360 So friends, if you're found in Christ this morning, 675 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:53,480 God's knowing you extends all the way back to before creation. 676 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:54,400 Think about that. 677 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,000 He has known you before the foundation of the world. 678 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,560 So we can rest secure in him. 679 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,440 We can rest in the promises of his word, that he says, 680 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:06,000 look, there is nothing that can separate you from my love. 681 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,040 If I've marked you out, if I've drawn you to myself, 682 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,760 if I've justified you in my sight, 683 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,640 if I've adopted you as my child, there 684 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,680 is nothing that's going to separate you ever 685 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:18,680 from me or my love. 686 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,320 Now, before we move on to the next section, 687 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,440 again, for those outside of Christ this morning, 688 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,600 I cannot say the same thing. 689 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,760 And it breaks my heart. 690 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,280 And it leads me to be compassionate towards those 691 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:32,840 who are lost. 692 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,800 For the unbeliever, God's omniscience 693 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,400 is a source of terror. 694 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,280 For he not only knows everything about you, 695 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,800 but there will be accountability someday at the judgment seat 696 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,440 for the people who are lost. 697 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:50,080 There will be accountability at the judgment seat 698 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,640 for every word, every thought, every motivation, 699 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:55,880 and every deed. 700 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,880 And for the unbeliever who thinks, well, I've 701 00:31:57,880 --> 00:31:59,480 managed to dodge him in this life 702 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,400 and I've gotten away with hiding things, 703 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,160 it all gets exposed in the end. 704 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,120 It will all be brought to light. 705 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,040 You might have dodged him in this life 706 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:14,320 and escaped some consequences, but it doesn't last. 707 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,360 Ultimately, there is no place to hide 708 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:18,960 the truth of Jesus and just God. 709 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,720 OK, let's move to the second major section of the passage. 710 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,040 We'll go quicker on this. 711 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,400 Verses 7 through 12. 712 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:31,960 Look at verse 7. 713 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,200 Where can I go from or where can I escape from your spirit? 714 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,040 Where can I flee from your presence? 715 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,840 So David, first of all, tackles this amazing concept 716 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:43,880 of omniscience. 717 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,320 Now he goes to omnipresence. 718 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,000 What I love about this is David so helps us. 719 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,720 He gives us, this is so cool the way God does this, 720 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:52,880 he gives us almost systematic theology, 721 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,480 but in poetic form, which is really, really cool 722 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:57,920 and is really interesting. 723 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,560 So what do we mean when we say God is omnipresent? 724 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,080 Well, we start at the beginning with the very first truth 725 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,320 that the Bible tells us, that God is eternal in nature. 726 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:13,440 Before the world or matter itself existed, God was. 727 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:18,440 And before time was even a thing, God was. 728 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,040 He has no beginning, He has no end. 729 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,480 There was never a time that He didn't exist. 730 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:26,000 There will never be a time where He ceases to exist. 731 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:31,560 He is the necessary first cause of all things. 732 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,040 You have to have a first cause ultimately, right? 733 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:35,640 For anything to come into existence, 734 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,440 He is the necessary first cause of all things. 735 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,560 Things that we see, things that we don't see, 736 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,960 things that are physical, things that are spiritual. 737 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,720 God is not limited by time or space. 738 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,840 He is present everywhere in creation, in every molecule, 739 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:54,000 yet He is distinct from the creation at the same time. 740 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,640 That's important. 741 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,680 Meaning God is everywhere, but He's not everything. 742 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:03,040 That is what we call pantheism, the idea that God is in everything 743 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,880 and therefore nature itself is divine. 744 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,200 That is a pagan view of things. 745 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,300 We know from scripture that creation is ontologically 746 00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:13,300 other than God. 747 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:17,840 It is an ex nihilo product, an effect of His divine will, 748 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,920 not an extension of the divine being Himself. 749 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:26,080 And if you need to hear that again, just rewind the tape. 750 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,160 That's a hard one. 751 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:31,720 So all things are permeated by God, sustained by God, 752 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:34,720 but God is not in all things. 753 00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:38,680 In fact, He transcends all spatial limitations. 754 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:42,500 His being cannot be contained, His being cannot be localized. 755 00:34:42,500 --> 00:34:45,740 He cannot be contained even with the immensity of the universe 756 00:34:45,740 --> 00:34:47,900 that we don't even know how big it is. 757 00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:50,120 He can't be contained. 758 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:53,280 So it's not even proper to speak of God as having size, 759 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:57,480 because if you use the term size, that implies that He's somehow measurable, 760 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,860 that He has boundaries or limitations, but He has none. 761 00:35:01,860 --> 00:35:04,780 So if the question gets asked, well, how big is God? 762 00:35:04,780 --> 00:35:09,380 That's a category error. 763 00:35:09,380 --> 00:35:14,560 It invalidates the question to begin with. 764 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,380 Now Psalm 139 is going to lay this out in poetic fashion, 765 00:35:18,380 --> 00:35:20,520 but guys, it's hardly the only place where we see this. 766 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:21,840 I'll give you two examples. 767 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:23,940 Jeremiah 23. 768 00:35:23,940 --> 00:35:24,940 Am I a God? 769 00:35:24,940 --> 00:35:25,940 This is God. 770 00:35:25,940 --> 00:35:28,540 This is God asking a rhetorical question. 771 00:35:28,540 --> 00:35:32,960 Am I a God who is only near and not a God who is far away? 772 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:34,280 There's a merism, right? 773 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,820 Near and far away and everything in between. 774 00:35:36,820 --> 00:35:38,940 Am I not that God? 775 00:35:38,940 --> 00:35:42,620 Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see Him? 776 00:35:42,620 --> 00:35:50,860 Do I not fill, love that word, fill both the heavens and the earth? 777 00:35:50,860 --> 00:35:55,420 First Kings 8, Solomon is praying over the dedication of the temple, 778 00:35:55,420 --> 00:35:58,860 and he asks, will God indeed live on earth? 779 00:35:58,860 --> 00:36:03,380 Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, 780 00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:08,020 much less this temple, this building that I've built. 781 00:36:08,020 --> 00:36:10,140 Solomon knew. 782 00:36:10,140 --> 00:36:13,780 So in verses 7 to 12, David's passion now turns to the completeness 783 00:36:13,780 --> 00:36:21,580 of God's presence, and like omniscience, for him it's not just about God's omnipresence. 784 00:36:21,580 --> 00:36:26,460 What's important to David is that he's omnipresent with Him, 785 00:36:26,460 --> 00:36:29,340 omnipresent with His children. 786 00:36:29,340 --> 00:36:30,340 Same thing. 787 00:36:30,340 --> 00:36:37,620 They are whatever's happening, God is overwhelmingly with us as believers, 788 00:36:37,620 --> 00:36:41,540 with you as a believer. 789 00:36:41,540 --> 00:36:44,300 Now the way verse 7 is written, I've seen people misunderstand this. 790 00:36:44,300 --> 00:36:48,420 You might get the impression that David would like to escape from God's presence, right? 791 00:36:48,420 --> 00:36:50,780 But that's not the case. 792 00:36:50,780 --> 00:36:53,260 He's not like Adam trying to hide in the garden. 793 00:36:53,260 --> 00:36:56,140 He's not like Jonah who says, Nineveh's that way, 794 00:36:56,140 --> 00:36:59,100 I'm going to get on a boat and go this way and try to hide. 795 00:36:59,100 --> 00:37:01,260 That's not what's going on here. 796 00:37:01,260 --> 00:37:04,380 David once again is using this rhetorical device. 797 00:37:04,380 --> 00:37:07,500 He's speaking hypothetically to make his point. 798 00:37:07,500 --> 00:37:13,100 He says, if I intended to ever run away from your presence, where could I go? 799 00:37:13,100 --> 00:37:15,580 If I ever wanted to, where could I go? 800 00:37:15,580 --> 00:37:18,820 And the answer's obvious, nowhere, right? 801 00:37:18,820 --> 00:37:20,340 Have you ever thought about that, by the way? 802 00:37:20,340 --> 00:37:21,340 Could you? 803 00:37:21,340 --> 00:37:23,340 Have you ever thought about disappearing? 804 00:37:23,340 --> 00:37:26,220 Oh, that just went dark. 805 00:37:26,220 --> 00:37:30,020 Okay, here's when I think about this. 806 00:37:30,020 --> 00:37:32,180 This actually, Stone's laughing at me. 807 00:37:32,180 --> 00:37:33,180 This hit me last night. 808 00:37:33,180 --> 00:37:37,720 Have you ever watched like a movie or a documentary about inmates who do this elaborate plan to 809 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,140 escape from a prison and they're able to break out? 810 00:37:41,140 --> 00:37:42,140 And what do they have to do now? 811 00:37:42,140 --> 00:37:43,140 They have to disappear. 812 00:37:43,140 --> 00:37:49,640 They have to find a place to hide and just lay low and just disappear as the authorities 813 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:50,640 search for them. 814 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:55,100 They have to melt into the population so that they can't be found. 815 00:37:55,100 --> 00:37:57,180 And by the way, that's been done before. 816 00:37:57,180 --> 00:38:02,260 There are inmates who have escaped prison, have melted into the population, have disappeared 817 00:38:02,260 --> 00:38:04,780 for years, decades, even lifetimes. 818 00:38:04,780 --> 00:38:05,780 That has happened. 819 00:38:05,780 --> 00:38:09,740 But it won't work with God. 820 00:38:09,740 --> 00:38:14,260 It doesn't matter how crafty you are, how clever you are, how elaborate your plan is. 821 00:38:14,260 --> 00:38:15,540 It will not work with God. 822 00:38:15,540 --> 00:38:19,780 There is no melting into the population unrecognized. 823 00:38:19,780 --> 00:38:21,780 There is no secluded hideaway. 824 00:38:21,780 --> 00:38:25,180 No, you think about, maybe there's a remote corner of the earth somewhere. 825 00:38:25,180 --> 00:38:29,460 If I just sat there and didn't move for weeks, nobody would find me. 826 00:38:29,460 --> 00:38:31,180 God would. 827 00:38:31,180 --> 00:38:34,660 God would say, you-hoo, I'm right here. 828 00:38:34,660 --> 00:38:38,140 Actually, I don't think he would say you-hoo. 829 00:38:38,140 --> 00:38:42,820 Okay, I'm moving on. 830 00:38:42,820 --> 00:38:45,740 I have so many thoughts. 831 00:38:45,740 --> 00:38:49,660 Okay, and to make this point again, we come back to Marisms. 832 00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:52,340 It uses a vertical and a horizontal Marism. 833 00:38:52,340 --> 00:38:53,340 First the vertical. 834 00:38:53,340 --> 00:39:00,300 If I ascend to heaven, that's the highest high of the created order, he's there. 835 00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:07,180 If I then drop down into the lowest hell, make my bed in Sheol, the absolute depth, 836 00:39:07,180 --> 00:39:10,460 oh no, you're there too. 837 00:39:10,460 --> 00:39:12,720 You're there too. 838 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:15,160 You can't ascend outside of God's presence. 839 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,740 If you reverse course, you cannot drop down into hell itself. 840 00:39:18,740 --> 00:39:24,700 He would still be patiently waiting for you there. 841 00:39:24,700 --> 00:39:25,700 And that's true. 842 00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:27,820 You might not have ever thought about this before. 843 00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:32,660 In Hebrew theology, Sheol, or the grave, was known as a place where there's no praising 844 00:39:32,660 --> 00:39:37,860 of God, and yet still David says, yeah, in Sheol, God is present because there's no place 845 00:39:37,860 --> 00:39:40,620 God cannot be. 846 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:43,100 There's no place where God says, oh, I can't go there. 847 00:39:43,100 --> 00:39:48,380 No, even in Sheol, God is present. 848 00:39:48,380 --> 00:39:52,860 And so we talk about the presence of God's glory and his grace in heaven, and we talk 849 00:39:52,860 --> 00:39:59,820 about the presence of God in his glory and his justice in hell. 850 00:39:59,820 --> 00:40:05,240 Both places give him glory, but one is related to grace, the other is related to justice, 851 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:07,340 but he's present everywhere. 852 00:40:07,340 --> 00:40:10,740 Then in verse 9, we see a horizontal Marism. 853 00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:16,100 If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, and scholars 854 00:40:16,100 --> 00:40:20,860 point to this as David, really what he's describing here is the spread and the speed of light 855 00:40:20,860 --> 00:40:26,660 as it fills the morning sky, its radiance, it pops up and its radiance flies from east 856 00:40:26,660 --> 00:40:31,980 to west and fills the entire earth at the speed of light, right? 857 00:40:31,980 --> 00:40:36,620 The New American Standard translation of the second phrase, in my opinion, is not the best. 858 00:40:36,620 --> 00:40:39,180 It's actually not talking about dwelling in the sea. 859 00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:43,140 It's talking about arriving on the other side of the sea. 860 00:40:43,140 --> 00:40:47,100 So a human being that looks up into the sky from east to west, David is describing this 861 00:40:47,100 --> 00:40:52,300 vast motion of the sun's rays as it moves at the speed of light, which, Ross, you'll 862 00:40:52,300 --> 00:40:59,940 have to correct me later, I believe is 186,000 feet per second. 863 00:40:59,940 --> 00:41:02,060 Oh, miles. 864 00:41:02,060 --> 00:41:03,500 So even better. 865 00:41:03,500 --> 00:41:04,500 Thank you. 866 00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:05,500 See? 867 00:41:05,500 --> 00:41:07,500 He fact-checked me. 868 00:41:07,500 --> 00:41:12,020 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light. 869 00:41:12,020 --> 00:41:13,620 And guess what? 870 00:41:13,620 --> 00:41:18,780 David said, even if I fled from your presence, God, at the speed of light, I could not outrun 871 00:41:18,780 --> 00:41:20,380 you. 872 00:41:20,380 --> 00:41:23,060 Wow. 873 00:41:23,060 --> 00:41:25,860 I can't outrun your knowledge at the speed of light. 874 00:41:25,860 --> 00:41:29,740 Again, God would just be sitting on the other side of the shore going, what took you so 875 00:41:29,740 --> 00:41:30,740 long? 876 00:41:30,740 --> 00:41:34,540 I've been here all the time. 877 00:41:34,540 --> 00:41:41,980 This is the poetic way that David is expressing these really deep systematic theology points. 878 00:41:41,980 --> 00:41:43,940 And it's really quite beautiful. 879 00:41:43,940 --> 00:41:48,620 Verse 10, even there, he says, your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold 880 00:41:48,620 --> 00:41:49,620 of me. 881 00:41:49,620 --> 00:41:54,060 So just like in that first section, now David talks about the goodness of this, the goodness 882 00:41:54,060 --> 00:41:56,340 of God's omnipresence with me. 883 00:41:56,340 --> 00:42:00,660 His absolute knowledge of me is good, and His absolute presence with me is also for 884 00:42:00,660 --> 00:42:01,660 my good. 885 00:42:01,660 --> 00:42:02,660 Why? 886 00:42:02,660 --> 00:42:03,660 Because look at it. 887 00:42:03,660 --> 00:42:10,020 Verse 10, because God leads His children, leads them by the hand, like any good daddy. 888 00:42:10,020 --> 00:42:13,300 He guides and He protects and He cares and He empowers. 889 00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:18,020 And with His right hand, His hand of skill and strength, He holds us fast. 890 00:42:18,020 --> 00:42:21,140 Don't you want that? 891 00:42:21,140 --> 00:42:24,820 Every child wants that from his or her daddy. 892 00:42:24,820 --> 00:42:26,580 And we want that from our heavenly Father. 893 00:42:26,580 --> 00:42:28,860 This is not something to fear. 894 00:42:28,860 --> 00:42:36,140 God's omnipresence with us is to your good and to your blessing. 895 00:42:36,140 --> 00:42:40,620 Plus then, if we can't run anywhere, David gives us one last example. 896 00:42:40,620 --> 00:42:46,380 Maybe the best thing to do would be to turn off all the lights and close the blinds and 897 00:42:46,380 --> 00:42:52,740 close the drapes and go into the covers, and then God won't see you. 898 00:42:52,740 --> 00:42:53,740 Just pitch darkness. 899 00:42:53,740 --> 00:42:58,060 Have you ever been in pitch darkness, like in an underground cave? 900 00:42:58,060 --> 00:42:59,540 Then God won't see me, right? 901 00:42:59,540 --> 00:43:00,540 Nope. 902 00:43:00,540 --> 00:43:03,500 Verse 12, even the darkness is not dark to you. 903 00:43:03,500 --> 00:43:08,300 And the night is as bright as the day. 904 00:43:08,300 --> 00:43:09,300 Still sees. 905 00:43:09,300 --> 00:43:15,680 And again, for the unbeliever, this final verse invites further terror and ultimately 906 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,980 seals their doom because you cannot escape God or His judgment. 907 00:43:19,980 --> 00:43:24,380 There's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide, and there is no darkness to conceal 908 00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:26,900 you. 909 00:43:26,900 --> 00:43:33,700 Because to God, even the darkest cave underground is brighter than the sun to you and I. 910 00:43:33,700 --> 00:43:39,060 There's a reason that for more than 100 years, you've heard people describe God with an interesting 911 00:43:39,060 --> 00:43:40,060 phrase. 912 00:43:40,060 --> 00:43:42,700 How many of you guys have ever heard, He's the Hound of Heaven? 913 00:43:42,700 --> 00:43:44,820 Oh, you've got to be my generation. 914 00:43:44,820 --> 00:43:46,500 Okay, good, a few of you guys. 915 00:43:46,500 --> 00:43:47,500 The Hound of Heaven. 916 00:43:47,500 --> 00:43:49,180 Well, where did that come from? 917 00:43:49,180 --> 00:43:54,460 Well, it goes back to a poem written by an English poet by the name of Francis Thompson 918 00:43:54,460 --> 00:44:01,500 back in 1890, and it's the story of how God's love relentlessly pursues the soul of a mound 919 00:44:01,500 --> 00:44:04,300 like a hound on a scent. 920 00:44:04,300 --> 00:44:09,420 And the pictures of this guy who's constantly trying to flee from it, and it doesn't make 921 00:44:09,420 --> 00:44:13,700 sense to us because we know how loving God is, but he's constantly running trying to 922 00:44:13,700 --> 00:44:15,020 evade God. 923 00:44:15,020 --> 00:44:16,020 Why? 924 00:44:16,020 --> 00:44:19,820 Because he thinks he knows what he wants and he thinks he knows what he needs, but by the 925 00:44:19,820 --> 00:44:22,380 end of the poem, guess what he figures out? 926 00:44:22,380 --> 00:44:27,340 Everything that he wanted, everything that he need was actually found in God, and yet 927 00:44:27,340 --> 00:44:33,260 he was running away from it the whole time. 928 00:44:33,260 --> 00:44:35,020 God's like the Hound of Heaven. 929 00:44:35,020 --> 00:44:42,960 He will relentlessly pursue you with His love and say, my grace is sufficient. 930 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:47,920 So I say to anybody here this morning who doesn't know Him, stop running. 931 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:52,520 Everything that you think you want out of this life or need in this life is actually 932 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,500 found in Him. 933 00:44:55,500 --> 00:44:59,660 For David and for believers who trust in God and have made Jesus the Lord of their lives, 934 00:44:59,660 --> 00:45:01,500 there's no fear in this. 935 00:45:01,500 --> 00:45:06,620 There's no need to run because the truth of God's absolute presence is the ultimate comfort 936 00:45:06,620 --> 00:45:09,900 for us. 937 00:45:09,900 --> 00:45:14,320 So as we close, I hope that what I've shared this morning is what you believe about the 938 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:16,240 attributes of God. 939 00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:21,560 And I hope that like David, you delight in these two things because you want your Father 940 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:27,100 to know you completely, and you want your Father to be with you in every single moment. 941 00:45:27,100 --> 00:45:36,300 Now, to wrap up, drop your eyes down to the last two verses of Psalm 139. 942 00:45:36,300 --> 00:45:40,300 Look at the language in verse 23. 943 00:45:40,300 --> 00:45:45,900 See how David bookends here, right, with the word search and know between verse one and 944 00:45:45,900 --> 00:45:46,900 then the very end. 945 00:45:46,900 --> 00:45:51,580 Only this time, he then also adds a prayer request, a very specific thing that he asks 946 00:45:51,580 --> 00:45:52,760 God to do. 947 00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:56,300 Verse 23, search me, O God, and know my heart. 948 00:45:56,300 --> 00:46:03,760 Try me or test me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful or offensive 949 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:06,980 way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. 950 00:46:06,980 --> 00:46:12,180 Now friends, I am going to, this is going to be short, so stick with me. 951 00:46:12,180 --> 00:46:13,860 This is a bold prayer. 952 00:46:13,860 --> 00:46:20,220 This is a very bold prayer request for any believer to say, Lord, here's what I want. 953 00:46:20,220 --> 00:46:22,040 Here's what I desire from you, God. 954 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:26,380 Would you rummage around in my heart? 955 00:46:26,380 --> 00:46:27,500 That's a dangerous prayer. 956 00:46:27,500 --> 00:46:28,500 That's a bold prayer. 957 00:46:28,500 --> 00:46:33,180 Rummage around in my heart and test every single chamber of it, every corner of it, 958 00:46:33,180 --> 00:46:37,100 even the really dusty parts that I don't like to look at. 959 00:46:37,100 --> 00:46:41,420 Rummage around there, look in there, and then show me, reveal to me anything that I need 960 00:46:41,420 --> 00:46:44,500 to discover. 961 00:46:44,500 --> 00:46:50,020 If there's a hurtful way in me, anything that is offensive to you, Lord, I want you to root 962 00:46:50,020 --> 00:46:57,680 it out and put me on the path towards a more vibrant walk with you. 963 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:03,020 This is what Calvin talked about when he talked about having the knowledge of self, which 964 00:47:03,020 --> 00:47:06,380 is second only in importance to the knowledge of God. 965 00:47:06,380 --> 00:47:10,040 You have to know God and you have to know your own heart. 966 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:11,040 Here's what he said about it. 967 00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:17,660 It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he is first looked 968 00:47:17,660 --> 00:47:27,380 upon God's face and then descends from contemplating Him, God, to scrutinizing himself. 969 00:47:27,380 --> 00:47:33,020 For the believer, that is a lifelong process that we ought to engage in daily. 970 00:47:33,020 --> 00:47:38,420 This is where David connects verses 1 through 12 in Psalm 139 with these last two verses. 971 00:47:38,420 --> 00:47:42,700 First, he says, look at the attributes of God. 972 00:47:42,700 --> 00:47:44,140 He knows you completely. 973 00:47:44,140 --> 00:47:46,500 He's present with you everywhere you go. 974 00:47:46,500 --> 00:47:47,940 He's encircled you. 975 00:47:47,940 --> 00:47:49,820 His gracious hand is upon you. 976 00:47:49,820 --> 00:47:51,500 He will hold you fast. 977 00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:59,200 So in light of that, now ask Him to come and do an even greater work in you. 978 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:03,880 If you believe all those things about God and that they're good for you, now ask Him 979 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:05,140 to do this greater work. 980 00:48:05,140 --> 00:48:07,860 In fact, open yourself up to that work. 981 00:48:07,860 --> 00:48:12,340 Take the searchlight of God's Word into the depths of your mind and heart and see what 982 00:48:12,340 --> 00:48:17,260 the Spirit might show you, what He might reveal to you. 983 00:48:17,260 --> 00:48:23,100 New things to work on, new challenges, sins to overcome, greater convictions to hold, 984 00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:27,180 becoming more Christ-like in the way you think, the way you feel, the way you live. 985 00:48:27,180 --> 00:48:29,300 Friends, don't be afraid of this. 986 00:48:29,300 --> 00:48:32,560 It is always to your benefit. 987 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,000 And you can pray this prayer. 988 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:38,380 You can pray this bold prayer when you know your heavenly Father, when you know that He 989 00:48:38,380 --> 00:48:44,620 is good, when you know that He has only your best interests in mind, when you realize that 990 00:48:44,620 --> 00:48:48,920 He knows everything about me, even the ugly parts, and He still loves me. 991 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:54,120 That's when you can pray that prayer. 992 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:58,220 He loved you enough to die on a cross in your place. 993 00:48:58,220 --> 00:49:02,940 He loved you enough to ransom your sins with His own blood. 994 00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:09,500 He loved you enough to impart His righteousness to you so that you could live eternally with 995 00:49:09,500 --> 00:49:12,220 Him. 996 00:49:12,220 --> 00:49:15,300 So you can pray this prayer. 997 00:49:15,300 --> 00:49:17,300 May we agree with David this morning. 998 00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:21,900 Listen, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. 999 00:49:21,900 --> 00:49:22,900 It's too wonderful. 1000 00:49:22,900 --> 00:49:23,900 It's too high. 1001 00:49:23,900 --> 00:49:24,900 It's too lofty to reach. 1002 00:49:24,900 --> 00:49:28,700 But then let's also add this, and I am so grateful for it. 1003 00:49:28,700 --> 00:49:29,700 Amen? 1004 00:49:29,700 --> 00:49:33,100 As bar heads. 1005 00:49:33,100 --> 00:49:39,140 Father, it's my prayer for my brothers and sisters here this morning that this type of 1006 00:49:39,140 --> 00:49:43,460 prayer would become just a regular routine in their lives, that we would take all that 1007 00:49:43,460 --> 00:49:47,860 David has shared with us in these just these 12 verses, Lord, and make it just a daily 1008 00:49:47,860 --> 00:49:53,180 practice of saying, Lord, search me and know me. 1009 00:49:53,180 --> 00:49:55,740 You already know me, Lord, but I want to know more. 1010 00:49:55,740 --> 00:50:00,740 And I want you to reveal to me even more about myself, about the things that might be offensive 1011 00:50:00,740 --> 00:50:07,100 to you and that you might grow me and conform me more and more to the image of your son. 1012 00:50:07,100 --> 00:50:14,740 God, we're grateful people this morning for your omniscience and your omnipresence. 1013 00:50:14,740 --> 00:50:21,740 Grateful for the fact that you are God and we are not, as we sang earlier today. 1014 00:50:21,740 --> 00:50:26,140 We know, Lord, that you are sovereign and in control of all things. 1015 00:50:26,140 --> 00:50:27,740 And as your child, we don't have to worry. 1016 00:50:27,740 --> 00:50:29,880 We don't have to be anxious. 1017 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,580 We can rest secure in you. 1018 00:50:33,580 --> 00:50:35,380 So thank you, Lord, for all of these truths. 1019 00:50:35,380 --> 00:50:39,900 And I ask God that you continue to seal them to our hearts as we try to just grasp in these 1020 00:50:39,900 --> 00:50:44,580 finite minds and bodies that we have to grasp just how great you are. 1021 00:50:44,580 --> 00:50:48,060 Help us to do that well, Lord, for your glory and our good, we pray. 1022 00:50:48,060 --> 00:50:52,060 Amen.