Well, typically in our morning service, we're going through the book of Acts, in light of a busy season and much going on, I wanted to pause and do a two-part psalm today, two parts from Psalm 139. So I invite you to turn in the Bibles this morning to Psalm 139, and you'll find that on page 662 in your pew Bible, 662. Psalm 139, we'll read the entirety of the psalm. This is the word of the Lord. To the choir master, a psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for the darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me. and lead me in the way everlasting. There is the reading of God's Word. This morning we'll focus on the first 12 verses, and then this evening we'll look at verses 13 through 24. Well, I don't know if you've ever felt like the rug has been pulled out from under you, but there are times, obviously in life, where we go up and we set up a great amount of securities around us, and we want securities around us, and we enjoy life in that security and in the comfort that those securities provide for us. But at times, you know, those securities are taken away, and things are attacked, and the comforts that we enjoy, the creaturely comforts of life, are assaulted in unique ways, and we lose those securities. And that is probably part of the reason that people suffer in this life depression at times and fall into states of despair when things are not going the way that they want them to go. You feel alone at moments like this. We set up securities all the time in our lives in any way that we can. And they often let us down. In fact, really every form of security that we set up in life lets us down at some point, even people. There's a reason that the Bible says all men are liars. And these things happen to us. These things constantly happen. And sources of our strength and security fail us. If you understand at all this and have experienced this and know this to the different degrees that it happens and in the different ways that it happens, then you understand something of Psalm 139 of what he is writing and facing and finding help with. something on earth has failed him maybe those closest to him maybe those the very thing that he thought never would fail him we're really not told but as you read the psalm you get a sense of something has happened to him that led him to deeply reflect upon the lord and the lord's ways to him you'll notice that throughout the psalms you'll get statements that people speak lies against me a condemnation and false judgments are made and accusations against the psalmist oftentimes a series of lies that are spoken that simply aren't true and then the psalmist describes the terrible feeling of being let down of those all those emotions that come with being let down when people fail us when things happen that are against us that leads to the question of what is trustworthy in life i think that gets somewhat to the heart of psalm 139 where he's reflecting on the greatest source of his safety the greatest source of his comfort the greatest source of his security the one who never lets him down this perspective of the psalmist as he is here describing he is describing his safety in a crumbling world that he is ultimately in God's hands and that's what the the psalmist is describing for us that his pursuit and goal in life now becomes driven by what he has learned about God by what he has come to appreciate and see about his God the wonderful attributes of God which we don't study much anymore this psalm is full of attributes this psalm is full of having us think about what god is like to us how god has revealed himself and how he's proven himself to us in these attributes these are the attributes that stand out in this psalm you'll notice here some wonderful attributes that the psalmist is praising god for his omniscience we'll look at these his omnipresence we say his omnipotence those are really three of the highlights of this particular psalm and then In light of that wonderful knowledge that God has given him of what God is like to him, it leads him to make two real requests of the Lord that we'll look at tonight, which is the application of this psalm. It's a beautiful psalm. I want to focus this morning on these first two attributes that I raised here, his omniscience, his omnipresence, to think about how the psalmist is thinking about life in light of these truths. And so that leads us here to verse one. You'll notice here the beautiful statement. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and you have known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh, Lord, you know it all together. What a wonderful section of Scripture, isn't it? beautiful absolutely beautiful what really moves the psalmist up front is that god is all-knowing all-knowing what a beautiful attribute isn't it omniscience that he knows everything that power that quality that attribute of god thrilled the psalm thrilled him We should know that this psalm was used for worship. In fact, you'll notice there right at the beginning, for the chief musician, for the choir master, a psalm of David. This was the worship music that they would sing when they entered into the temple. And ironically, not ironically, it's just true, the Jewish leaders believed that Psalm 139 was the most excellent of all the psalms. They loved Psalm 139. The first thing you'll notice about the psalm is how doctrinal it is. But not doctrinal in an abstract way. Not doctrinal merely in a theoretical way. But a doctrine that he has come to enjoy. A truth that he has seen play out in life. It's really wonderful. We are often concerned today about the heart. You'll notice here that this is most certainly heart knowledge. Heart knowledge. For those of us who are always worried about better music, this is what you should be after. You don't get better than this. You just don't get better than this. You want better music, this is where we have to go. There's nothing better that you could sing in life than the truths that are expressed here. It's absolutely beautiful. you can learn so much from this especially from the practical aim of the psalm that you'll notice toward the end that i'm tipping my hat and giving for tonight that i really want to spend the very last verse in psalm 24 see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting this is where he ends up in light of all of this truth about god this is what he ends up asking god This is what he wants from God. How does he get there? How does he get there? Well, if we'll accept the idea that he was let down in some way in this life and had faced some sort of discouragement in this life, that that was somewhat of the background of this, that he's facing false charges or whatever it might be, how did he find comfort through all of the struggle of life? What overwhelmed him was God knows everything exhaustively. it's personal it's an intensely personal song you've known me we always like to emphasize the corporate but we shouldn't miss the personal should we you've known me you've searched me what does god know about us what does god know about us well he says it it's really remarkable isn't it he knows every path i take he knows every thought that i've ever made he knows every word that i've ever spoken you know my sitting down and my rising everything that i've i've ever done in the course of my life everything that i've ever done you know it you you understand every thought that goes on in this mind that you've given me you know it all you're acquainted with every way everything i've ever done for there is not a word on this tongue you know it all together all of it actions thoughts words that's awesome that is mind-blowing if you will it's really a psalm of identity of true identity isn't it we don't know who we are you asked your children as they're going through and why they're doing and making the choices they make and you know they don't know who they are that's why they're doing what they do they don't know who they are god does the psalmist is overwhelmed by this this knowledge intensely individual and personal let me capture it a little bit further to let it set in god knows every single matter of your hearts he knows all the complexities of life you feel it's all so complex don't you you can't understand it every thought that has ever come to your mind he knows every single word you have ever spoken every desire that has come out of your hearts everywhere you've traveled everywhere you've gone even the decisions and motivations behind it every bit of your personality every thought even of your neighbor sitting next to you and even what you think about this church and worship right now everything that you've done in secret every bit of what you will have faced and will have to face in this life everything about the complexities and the feelings and the sadnesses the happiness is every word that you've spoken in your bedrooms every square inch he knows exhaustively you think about that for a minute how many people have ever existed our conceptions of god are a little bit low aren't they every person that has ever existed he not only just knew they existed he knew every thought word path choice all of it billions and billions and billions how many have existed on this earth since the beginning that's how big your god is everywhere they went every last detail of life none of it's past him not one thing in every life that is here today has he missed? Or will he forever forget? Now I have a question. Is that good? Is that good? How does it make you feel? I think that gets to the heart of this psalm, that question. Is that good? Would that comfort you? I think that's going to be the greatest threat to somebody who's hiding something, don't you? Because they're really not. They're really not. I mean, if you have something to hide in life, the truth that God sees into your minds and sees your actions and everything that you do in secret, what your eyes look at, what your heart is set upon, every other desire, He knows all of it. I think that's going to be some of the most uncomfortable truths in the Bible. The most uncomfortable truth. Isn't it that truth that makes people most afraid of God and religion? We are a society right now being exposed, aren't we? Our paper palace and everyone's lives are full of hypocrisy and we stand back and just watch this on the news as if it's a show. One life unraveling after another of naked exposure of it all. What do you do when the elders come over? You at least sweep, don't you? right the Netherlands Reformed Church up in Linden they didn't believe that anyone could own a tv so I had a few friends I knew from that church and I said what do you do when the elders come over well we put the tvs away the elders knew all your sins what if the elders saw everything that you do you think we're going to be asking about family devotions you know that might expose a lot for the unredeemed this is a terrible truth this is a scary truth when adam and eve first sinned the first thing they did in the garden was run remember and tried to cover themselves their shame as if god did not know as if god could not see i think this is the heart of what jesus said in john 3 when he said this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. This is what keeps people away. This is the issue. It's the greatest infringement upon our lives to think that God sees it all. And the last place they ever want to be is here where it's closest to the light. Jesus was all the stronger. I say to you that for every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. That seems to be a big conflict, isn't it? When you read verse 4, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. That's an immense problem for us. There is no creature that's hidden from his sight, says Hebrews. All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. Now, the psalm doesn't feel this threat, does it? You don't get a sense of this being a threat at all. That's the marvel of this psalm. That's where you have to feel the beauty of this psalm. Every single thought, word, and action in life, you know it all together. It's an awful truth if we're hiding, but the psalmist seems encouraged by this. The psalmist seems overwhelmingly happy by this knowledge. It's a source of deepest comfort to him, isn't it? You know what that means. It has to mean that he is living in assurance that this God loves him. That this God cares for him. That this God is not against him. And that then becomes the question of the psalm. How could the psalmist find these attributes of God to be the most comforting and wonderful truths to sing about? I think you have to answer that. How do you find comfort knowing that God sees everything and knows everything about you? If you're good, then you're living a delusion if you think you're good. Because the scripture is not the record, that's not the testimony. But here the psalmist had a complete assurance and confidence in God's forgiveness. That the Lord was certainly not an enemy to him, but that the Lord was a friend to him. Who made him feel safe. Precisely because he knows his life. Precisely because he knows his life. You know who this is, who's writing it, right? It's David. Did God see and know his sin with Bathsheba? Yes. It wasn't the great concern of God in the midst of it all that in God's knowledge of this that it would do absolute damage in the kingdom that everyone would mock that God had put such a king on the throne? Yes. Did God see his sin? It's not that God didn't know about it. The psalm is telling us God knows everything about us. God knows everything about everything that we've ever done. But clearly, David understood something about God and what God had done for him that let this knowledge become the driving force of his life. What was his experience with this God? What had God done for him? Something I think if you follow the flow of the Psalter and you believe there is a flow to this and there is a progression in this toward praise which i believe there is then you know that the first part of the psalter the early psalm said something very wonderful about what god had done for david blessed is the man to whom the lord shall not impute iniquity that man is blessed blessed is the man the reality was that david had received from this god forgiveness and god never held his sins against him god never held his sins against him we have that on record and this psalm is practical it's not just theoretical that all the way through it god had protected him when he was in danger from the life of saul god had always shown protection the lord delivered him when his own rebellious heart had cast him to the point of falling forever and cut off the lord rescued him when his own son drove him out of the kingdom with the threat of death it was then that he writes psalms that says the lord is my shield this man verse 5 you hedged me in behind and before that's been my whole experience of life you have hedged me in the lord had never left him nor forsook him and what a comfort to think god does know the worst of us and doesn't hold it against us for a very good reason and i'll get there today what moves me about the psalm is just how it breathes so much confidence and assurance that even though god knows everything he's still with me why didn't he walk away from david why doesn't he walk away from us knowing what we are it's beautiful that somebody else is mentioned in this psalm and it's the spirit and notice in verse 7 where can i go from your spirit there's a verse in first samuel about david then samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the spirit of the lord came upon david from that day forward you really get a beautiful picture of the spirit's work of what the spirit had done for david that breathes out this kind of confidence that it is romans 8 that the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're children but that he is sealed for the day of redemption he's begun the good work he has not departed from him and david believes it david knows it when you know god this way when you understand that god is like this to you in this way you no longer push him away you understand that you no longer push him away you stop trying to hide naked i we sing i come to you for dress all he had ever experienced in this life was that once god had anointed him and came to him and that he had appointed him as the king and hedged him in behind and before and nothing could take that. Nothing could overwhelm that. Nothing could take that away of the Lord's unfailing love to him. When he had come to know how great the Lord was, what he was like in his omniscience, it overwhelmed his soul. He says in verse 6, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, I cannot attain it. It's too high. That's the first attribute that's celebrated here. And he moves on in the next logical sequence of praise to God's omnipresence and how that had a bearing upon every aspect of life. You'll notice in verse 7, he then goes on and says, where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? There's no fear of them in the wrong way anymore. There's no fear of Him as a wrathful, vengeful God. He's not saying, how can I get away from God? He's describing the immense comfort that in life, the Lord is always with him. Wherever He goes, whatever He faces, whatever thing happens in this world, because he had come to know what God was like to him, having this assurance, he says, where can I go from your presence? The sentence is, where would I want to go from your present? Why would I want to be away from your present? He gives three circumstances here to describe the most radical separations from God that we could ever think about in life. What would they be? What could they be? What would separate us from God? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. He's using the most radical extremes, height and depth, if you will, from this being the source of real comfort for him, he's overwhelmed by the fact that even in the greatest extremes of life, God is there. God is with me. For him, it's the absolute assurance that when he's facing even the most life-threatening of circumstances, not even that which shakes and takes life can separate us from him. I think he's thinking about death. During Howard's funeral memorial service the other day when I preached Psalm 27, there's just such a glorious statement in the midst of Psalm 27. I think the same thing is said in verse 18 here. It says, I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have fallen apart in life unless God had not given me faith. He gave me faith, And so I did not despair that I'm going to see him, that I'm with him, that he's with me. And it says that in verse 18, when I awake, I'm still with you. I'm still with you. That knowledge is too wonderful for him. Not even death hides us from him. Not even death is a separation from him. He then goes on, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell, verse 9, In the utmost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. He's contrasting distance now. The first was height and depth, now it's length and width. Which makes you wonder if that's in Paul's mind when he's talking about the love of Christ. From where David was when he looked over to the west, he saw nothing but sea. Looked to the east, he saw the dawn. David says from horizon to horizon, from as far as I can look out and see, you're with me. I remember, boys and girls, when I first, first time I was moving away from my home and going to college, and I went up to Northern California, and I remember feeling, I feel like I'm on the end of the earth up here. Little did I know that later on I'd be going even farther north to this little place called Linden. And then one day I flew to Telcwa for classes. And I thought, if the earth is flat, this is where we fall off. This is up here and nowhere. And the greatest comfort through all of life has been, God is with me. That thought, I could never get out of my head. God is with me here. My parents are not with me. Nobody else is with me. But the Lord is with me. This is the assurance and comfort this psalm is breathing out. Think of the Russians going up into space years ago and say, I'm high in the sky, I don't see any God up here. Fools. Jonah realized he never could run. The prodigal realized he never could run. You never get away from him. Ever. But that is the source of the greatest comfort and knowledge to the psalmist. wherever I am your hand will lead me your right hand shall hold me that's what he says to have the right hand of God was to have his favor wherever he went in life this is all he knew this is what he received verse 11 makes one final contrast if I say surely the darkness shall fall on me cover me and the light be about me night even darkness is not dark to you the night is as bright as the day for darkness is as light with you i don't think we ever stop to think about enough how much darkness he's kept us out of and even in the midst of the greatest darkness that happens in this life whatever it might be the lord lightens it all up psalm 91 he shall cover you with his feathers under his wings you shall take refuge his truth shall be your shield and buckler you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day or of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday i suppose it's all summarized this is the old testament version of romans 8 isn't it it really is i'm convinced that neither death nor life in the closing hour of your death every one of us here thinks about the process of death we would think that that separates us from god not even death separates us not even death nor life nor angels nor any of the experiences or trials of things present or things to come of height or depth none of it can separate us from the love of god which is where in christ jesus in christ jesus these are the truths of god that moved Jesus to pray in His high priestly prayer and when He was on earth that treasured these attributes. Why does this love come to us? Why does this kind of favor come to us? Because a love was shown when Jesus stood in your place and satisfied God's wrath, a love by which He declared us righteous in His presence, A love that continues throughout the whole course of life to bear long with you, to be long-suffering with you, that bears all things, that believes all things, that hopes all things, that endures all things. A love that never fails. Imagine Jesus when He looked upon His own. And imagine the Father when He looked upon His Son and He always found a perfect thought, a perfect word. a perfect schedule. The one for whom He prepared a body, which is mentioned in this psalm. Because Jesus covers our transgressions and makes true for us here what is described of Him we no longer have to flee. It's the truth of Psalm 42. Why then are you downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God. Why are you downcast? Put your hope in Him. For the help of my countenance and my God, trust Him. We no longer have to view Him. If you have Jesus, you no longer have to view Him as an enemy. He's not an enemy to you. That's the beauty of this psalm. That's the comfort of this psalm when thinking about the attributes of God. That God is all-powerful, we'll consider tonight. And what that means for us is now we're asking Him to do certain things for us in the way that we are led the rest of our lives. I hope you'll be here for that. But what a treasure that he comes to us this morning and gives us a saint who enjoyed the knowledge of God this way. Who enjoyed it this way. Who could find great comfort that God is with him wheresoever he goes. That God loves him. That God has a perfect knowledge of him. And that God doesn't hold his sins against him. That is the greatest source of comfort in this life. This is your wonderful God. Believe Him, for look what He gave you in His Son. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word to us this morning and thank You for giving us such precious thoughts, which are Your thoughts. When we think about how wonderful Your attributes are and Your ways, it should move us to praise. This kind of knowledge should move us to praise. It should move us to everything we do and say we give glory to the Lord for this is what you're like to us. But we confess that our own sins often blind us, which we'll consider tonight. And that what we need from you is to lead us in the way everlasting and to guide us in all truth. Thank you for helping us this morning in light of this truth of this psalm. And may we sing your praise with gladness knowing that You know all things and that You're always with us in Christ Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen.