Chastening & Judgement (09/02/2001)

The Cross, God’s Presence, and the Battle of Faith

Well, I figured I'd call on Brother Otis and myself if they needed four people for that song. In fact, I was a little nervous when he started talking about that. Oh, goodness. So was everybody else. Well, you know what?

God has ordained these times for us to get a little glimpse of that place. And I don't think we'd make it through the week without it. No way in the world. Because one thing that the Lord makes obvious to us as he brings circumstances into our lives, this ain't home.

This is enemy territory. Kind of like you were talking about, Brother Roger. We're behind enemy lines and we're in battle. And part of what today is all about is equipping us to be able to be fit for that battle.

But the battle is really already over. And it's already been won. And that banner will never fall. And that was a good sermon that you preached. And a good sermon you preached. And the Lord be with us.

We'll look at some even more good scriptures today. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 27. We've been talking about the omniscience of God. And we talked about it from the point of view that it's a blessing to the child of God who's walking with the Lord.

It's a blessing to know that he's ever-present. And that his knowledge is such that he sees all of our deeds and he hears all of our thoughts. And he is right there with his hand upon us. He's behind us and before us.

And all of these wonderful things we've seen. And then secondly, we talked about the fact that his omniscience can make us think a little differently when we're not walking close with him. It lets us know that he sees us at that time as well.

And today we'll talk about a third point. And we'll be through with this topic and move on to the next one. As far as the character of God. And really the personality, the person of God. So let's continue with this.

Now I'd like first to start this morning in Matthew 27 and verse 42. It's not really the text passage. But it is the beginning and the end of the message. So I want to read it first and then after that we'll get into our text passage which has been Psalm 139.

And we'll go back into that passage so you can kind of get ready to find Psalm 139 as well. Alright, let's go to the Lord in prayer and we'll start with Matthew 27, 42. Father, we thank you for the music that we've heard and the place that we heard sung about.

The place that you say spiritually we are seated right now. So Father, if there are any unconfessed sins in our lives, would you bring them to our minds right now that we might confess them. That we might not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit but rather that we would be united as one with Him.

That we might be in fact seated in heavenly places in Christ this morning. That we might get the full benefit of your word as your Holy Spirit teaches us. And we might even glimpse that place that was sung about.

We might get a glimpse of that victory that Brother Roger has spoken about. And Father, we know that the reason for all of that is because of your presence in the lives of your children. And so Lord, we ask you to bless the message at this time.

And bless us by causing us to see you by faith. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew chapter 27 verse 42 says, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and then we'll believe Him.

No they wouldn't. He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now. If He will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with Him cast the same in His teeth. Now we're talking about the omniscience of God.

The all-knowing God, the all-seeing eye. He was at this place as well. And He somehow transcended this problem that we have with time and space and dimensions. And God was here. He was here. And He was observing.

And He heard every word that was said about His Son while He was on that cross. He heard everyone who ridiculed Him. And told Him to come down from the cross if He had the power. He heard the thieves as they cast sarcastic remarks at Him.

He heard the soldiers and the people and the Jews. And He saw it all. And look at verse 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth for Elijah. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink.

The rest said, let it be, let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. More sarcasm, more unbelief. Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom.

And the earth did quake and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after His resurrection. And went into the holy city and appeared unto many.

Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the darkness. And saw the earthquake. And those things that were done. They feared greatly saying, truly this was the Son of God. Apparently the manifestations in nature that took place convinced these centurions that God was not happy.

They convinced these centurions that God caused the darkness for a reason. And the earth to quake for a reason. And that this truly must have been the Son of God. And that God was not pleased with the things that were being said.

And the things that were being done. And that as He came down into time and observed the crucifixion of His Son. His wrath was poured forth. Now what these centurions might not have realized. The scripture doesn't tell us whether they did or not at this particular point.

Was that the wrath of God was poured out upon His Son. At that time. Because your sins and mine were in His body. While He was on that tree. Now let's go back to Psalm 139 to our text passage. And let's remember some things as we move into new information.

God’s Omniscience in Psalm 139

And a new word from the Lord today. In His word. But in Psalm 139, 1. As you go through the passage you see so many marvelous things. Even things that are too marvelous for us. We see as we begin with verse 1 that God searches us.

Which means He penetrates to the inside and examines us intimately. And He knows us which means He ascertains by seeing. By observing us on the outside as well. We see as we go into verse 2. That the Lord knows my down sitting and my uprising.

He understands my thought from afar off. Verse 3 points out this beautiful fact in the original language. That He compasses my path which means He winnows us like wheat. And removes the chaff as the wind does.

And it says also that He is acquainted with my ways. Which is a very dear term. It means to be familiar with to the point of ministering to and cherishing us. And this is what the Lord does. And His omniscience is used to do a lot of this.

Verse 4 goes on and says that He. There's not a word that comes from my tongue that He doesn't know it all together. Verse 5 says He beset me behind and before. And laid His hand upon me. And the Hebrew word beset is tsur which means to confine.

So as we go out into the world and we decide whether to go left or to go right. Or to take main street or to take beaten street. Or whatever we decide to do. At the same time that's going on in time. God from His heavenly dimension is confining us to His perfect will for our lives.

There's great comfort in that. There's great comfort in the fact that He not only knows as we would think of it perhaps from a human viewpoint. That He knows what we are doing. But from the divine viewpoint He knows what we shall do.

And how it shall be accomplished. And how He will work it in us. Verse 6 goes on and says such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too difficult for me to understand. And in the Hebrew it's piliv which means it is remarkable.

It is secret. It is wonderful. The way that I can get up in the morning with my family. And we can put our best church clothes on and get in the car. And decide which road to come down. And decide what time to leave.

And decide what to eat for breakfast. And decide where we're going to sit today in church. Wonderfully for most of you the decision whether to be here or not was already made a long time ago. You didn't make that decision.

You're just going to be here. That's faithfulness. But we make these decisions and yet in it all we're confined to God's perfect will for our lives. We're in His hand. John chapter 10 says the Father's hand is here and we're placed in it.

And Jesus says my hand is here. And He says nothing can remove us from my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. And so this is too wonderful for us. It is remarkable. It's beyond our apprehension to see how God can do this.

But we know that it's true. These thoughts are too high. As the Hebrew would say they are a saw gob. Brother Russ told me once the most horrible thing in the world is to see a beautiful Hebrew lady singing.

Because in the Hebrew language they go All these awful sounds. But saw gob means unattainable. God's ways are almost unattainable. In fact if you're speaking of all of His ways they are in fact unattainable to us.

It's interesting because He says His thoughts are high. I cannot attain unto them. That's five words in the English. It's one word in the Hebrew. Saw gob. They're beyond our ability to comprehend. Inaccessible is what the root word means.

So high that I cannot attain unto it. So good that I cannot understand the depths of the goodness. So wise I cannot understand the depth of the wisdom and understanding that God has. All these things we've already studied in the scriptures.

We came into this area where it speaks of His omniscience. Implying His omnipresence in verse 7. Whether shall I go from thy spirit. Or whether shall I flee from thy presence. If I ascend up into heaven thou art there.

Now when you think about this little portion of the scripture. Because for today's point. As we get into today's message. There's a parallel passage to this passage. Only it's the flip side of the coin.

So think about this because we're going to study the flip side of this for a little while this morning. But we won't end with that flip side. Because we're going to end with something that has a lot more to do with the song that we heard.

Before the message began. But look at this. He says if I ascend up into heaven. And you're going to see this almost word for word parallel in a moment. So hang on to these words. If I ascend up into heaven thou art there.

If I make my bed in the grave. Behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning. And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Thou art there. All from a good perspective. Because this is a man who is walking with the Lord at this time.

And he's saying I am glad you are there. I'm glad there's no place I can go. Where you're not with me. But then there's the other side that we studied last time a little bit. Psalm 98. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee.

Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. That part he sees too. And we'll get more into that in this morning's message. The message today really is the third point in this study. On the omniscience of God.

And it is this. All judgment from God will be according to absolute truth. All judgment from God will be according to absolute truth. We don't have to worry about whether or not he has seen the missing glove.

Or where it was or how it got there. As in the OJ Simpson case. We don't have to worry about whether or not he knows exactly what the truth is. And what fairness is and what is just. And what should be.

When it comes to time for this judgment. In fact we see this alluded to down in verse 11 in our passage in Psalm 139. It comes to this place. He says if I say surely the darkness shall cover me. Even the night shall be light about me.

Do you see what he's saying? He's saying if I convince myself or if the devil convinces me to believe. That darkness can cover me so that I can sin. Even the darkness itself becomes light about me because of God's eye.

He says yea the darkness hideth not from thee. The darkness cannot hide me from God he says. But the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike unto God. The thought here is that when it comes to judgment God is perfect.

He has not missed one single issue. He hasn't missed a single deed as James talked about in our Sunday school class this morning. But neither has he missed a single thought as David spoke of in Psalm 139.

When he said you see my thoughts from afar off. Now turn with me to Amos chapter 9. This is the parallel passage I was alluding to earlier. And I think you'll see that it just almost goes word for word.

And yet this passage deals with the one who is not walking with the Lord. And I believe if the context is studied we'll see that it's talking about Israel. So it is a picture I believe of a Christian.

It teaches in physical examples of the spiritual truths. And so this I would say has to do with the chastening of God's children. This is not speaking of what God might do to the lost. Those who were rejecting Jesus Christ even the day of his crucifixion.

Those who were speaking through their teeth at the Lord Jesus Christ. This does not speak of what our Father might do unto them. Those who are without Christ in the great day of judgment. But this speaks of the chastening that can come to his children.

And the fact that God sees everything we do. And this is where adults like to become children. Adults when they want to do their sin like to believe they can get away with it. Never be caught and no one will ever know.

I can think of no thought that's more childish than that thought. That is more childish than the child who puts his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. After mom said no. Look at this. Look at verse 1.

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar and he said smite the lintel of the door and the post. And the post that they may shake. Now isn't it interesting that the lintel and the post is where the blood was placed back at the Passover.

So this is certainly something that the Hebrew mind would draw up some very potent pictures. And some very heavy understanding of what the Lord is saying here. It's almost as if he's saying that which brought mercy is no longer going to bring you mercy at this point.

Because you don't care about the sacrifices anymore. Look what he says. Smite the lintel of the door that the post may shake and cut them in the head all of them. And I will slay the last of them with the sword.

He that fleeth of them shall not flee away. And he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Now he's speaking of the nation of Israel which certainly is a picture of his children. But these are children who have turned away from their father.

And they're walking on their own. And they're walking in the world. And they have become adulterers and adulteresses in the spiritual sense of being idolaters. And they come in yet after doing that all week then they want to come in God's house and play like.

God doesn't accept that. In fact when that happens it is worse than if they didn't come into God's house and play like. Do we have a problem with this today in the modern church? Do we have a problem with making the atmosphere such that it appears that revival is actually going on?

Now I'm not saying revival doesn't at certain days in certain places in the world. And in certain church services it does. But yet we've manufactured it all over this country. In order to hide our sin.

And that's exactly what Israel was doing. And here's where the parallel part starts. Look at verse 2. Do you think this is hidden from the Lord's eyes? Though they dig into hell. Then shall my hand take them.

Though they climb up to heaven. Thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of the mountains. I will search and take them out. And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea.

Thence I will command the serpent and he shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies. Thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them. And I will set mine eyes upon them for evil.

And not for good. Now ladies and gentlemen this. This is why we won't close with this passage. We won't leave you something positive today. Because this is not positive from the human viewpoint. Now you'll see by the time we get to the end of the message.

That it is positive. Because it's all for the good of God's people. But God's people won't see that sometimes. When they're going through these times. They'll think that the devil is doing this to them.

And maybe the devil is used as a tool sometimes. But this is very clear that the eye in this passage is the Lord. The one who is causing the serpents to bite them is the Lord. He may use the serpent. But God is sovereign.

Now there are seven things that are mentioned in this little passage. It all has to do with the person who is a child of God. But they're not walking in God's ways. They've gotten to the place where because of self delusion.

Or because of Satan or his demons. In their hearts and minds or whatever reason. They've been tempted to go to the place where they believe the world. They believe the flesh. And they believe the devil.

And they're disbelieving God at this time in their life. And God has a way of bringing his children out of such circumstances. And bringing them back into the glory of walking with him. They may not have much left by the time they get back to him.

But they will have him. And that's more than anything they lost. And Job would testify to that. We're studying that on Monday nights with Brother Otis. But the six things that I see here that God says he will do to these.

That he knows with his omniscience. And he sees. And they think that the darkness is covering their sin. Now children you listen to me. Because darkness doesn't cover anything. There is no darkness for God.

It's like the flashlights are shining everywhere. My little ones love to get flashlights. Turn all the lights out at night. Run around the house. Big brother is pretty cool too. Because he'll take their little rifles.

And get some duct tape. And strap those lights on there. Where they can run around like this. It's the best way to run around in the dark isn't it? But there is no darkness with God. You can't hide from him.

You can't do any secret thing in sin and get away with it. What is a sin by the way? What is a sin? Do I have a young person in the congregation that would answer that for me? Now see some of you adults don't think you're young anymore do you?

That opened it right up for you to answer that question. Well let's put it in these terms. Sin is doing something God doesn't want you to do. Young people do you hear me? When that happens God sees it every time.

All of us young people need to hear this message. Because when God does see this going on. It says several things. It says that I will take them. Secondly he says. If they're up on the mountain I'll bring them down.

Thirdly he says. Now isn't it interesting there though before we go on to the third point. Here you have one child of God who's in. It says hell. If they dig into hell. Well you're not going to literally dig into hell.

But it's a. He says if they could. So this picture is the child of God who's at the bottom of the pit in his life. As far as he thinks. And everything's gone wrong. And so he's just going to do what Job did not do.

He's going to say well this is God's fault. And he's just going to sin and then die he thinks. What God says if a person is like that. That God will take them. Now you can read into that what you want to.

But that's just what he says. He says I'll take them. Now when you have the other sinner. Who is on the mountaintop. Everything is going right. He's got all the money in the world that he needs. All of his cares are taken care of by that money.

He's got it made. Everything's working. Everything's cool. Except for one thing. He's forgotten God. Just like the nation of Israel. When they would have blessings. They would come to a place where they'd forget God.

And through the judges. The book of judges is just a cycle. They forget God. They're taken captive by the enemy. Which is always what happens when we forget God. And then the deliverer comes. And on and on and on.

And this is the person that's on the mountaintop. Boy he's got it made. And he forgets that God is the one that made it possible for him to be there. In fact placed him there. And he takes credit for it himself.

And what does God say about that person? He says I'll bring him down. And then the third thing. He talks about the person that hides in the mountains. He says I'll take them out. And then he says about those who think they can hide in the sea.

He says well. He says I won't. Maybe you think I won't see you. But I'll send the serpent to bite you. Now how can he do that if he doesn't see where they are? He sees them. But he sometimes uses the serpent.

What is the serpent picture in the Bible many times? Alright. And then he says beyond that type of calamity. He said if they are taken captive. Now what is that picture? To be taken captive by the enemy.

We are not supposed to be captive of the enemy. Our Lord is higher than that Lord. And he has freed us. In Romans chapter 6, 7, and 8. The whole thing talks about this. It says reckon what God has said to be true.

And he says you are no longer under bondage to sin. So what happens if we allow sin to bring us into bondage. And we're captivated and taken captive. Amos says though they go into captivity before their enemies.

Thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them. And that's something. Now from a human viewpoint in time. Let's just say this so we define what we're talking about. I don't want to throw anybody for a loop here.

But in time as you live this life. I always say it this way. We believe in the sovereignty of God. But we ought to pray like Armenians. And we ought to witness like Armenians. Now I don't really mean that.

Because Armenians don't know how to pray or witness. Because they believe when they pray. That they can make God do things by just saying it enough. And they think when they witness. They can talk people into getting saved.

So I don't really mean that. What I mean is when you're living in time. You should live in time. Even though you know the wonderful truths of that other dimension. That you're in the hand of God. And that as you make your decisions.

He confines you into his will. You still should make the decision to read your Bible. You still should make your decision to witness to people every opportunity. You still should make the decision to give money to the Lord's work.

You should make all these right decisions as you go. But you know what? On the other side of that. It implies very strongly. The Bible teaches it through and through. That when we make wrong decisions.

And we get to the place where we've made just one wrong decision after another. After another. There's a couple of things that go on. One is the sowing and reaping concept. That God has placed as a law in this world.

In his realm. But the other is the fact that he says. There may come a time where when you allow yourself to be a continual captive. That I'll send the sword and slay you. And just take you out of here.

Well that's already what he said. A couple of places. A couple of the six we've already mentioned. He'd take you out. Yes God will do that. Now you can say well I'm not going before my time. That's right.

But you know what the problem with that is? Trying to live that way. That's tempting God. That's saying well you know. It's probably not today. It's probably not my time. So I can go ahead and sin and make these wrong decisions anyway.

And I'll be just fine. You don't know that. Yeah you'll be fine. But you don't know the timing of it all. And so he says very clearly. To avoid this type of captivity. Because there can come times in the lives of God's children.

Where when you allow the enemy. And you know what's the truth about us this side of the cross. The only way the enemy can take you captive is if you allow him. He cannot force the issue. That's why the Bible says resist him and he must flee.

So if you don't resist. And he doesn't flee. And you're taken captive. There can come times in the lives of different ones of God's children. Where he allows the sword to actually slay them. Satan is allowed to take their physical life.

And they go to be with the Lord. Like Brother Russ talked about. There's no soul sleep about it. They're better off. I mean we're all better off. If that happened in our life. We're better off. Than to be down here captive.

Because we allowed it. Now you can see in the midst of all this discussion. The human viewpoint. The divine viewpoint merging. And we don't understand how it does that. It's too high for us. It's too wonderful.

It's beyond our comprehension as the psalmist said. But it is a fact. Now notice that it ends with this. He says two things. Now a lot of us would read this as just one thing. But it's not one thing. It's two things.

He says I will set mine eyes upon them for evil. And not for good. We would read that as one bad thing. But it's not. It's two bad things from the human viewpoint. It's all good from God's viewpoint. Because he's going to take you out of here sometimes.

And get you to the place where you can then walk with him. But now look what it says. Number one. I will set mine eyes upon them for evil. That is slightly different than saying. I will set my eyes on them for not good.

They're really two different things. One is the bringing of evil. And the other is the withholding of good. Now it may feel the same to us. But it's two actions that God is taking in this circumstance.

Now all of this comes to pass because why? God is omniscient. He has seen everything we have done. And every thought and every motive behind it. Don't fear for a moment that God is just judging by the things you do.

He is judging righteously. And he sees your heart. And he knows why you did it. And he sees all of that. And he doesn't make a mistake in his judgment. His eyes are always upon us. Both when the psalmist was so happy about it.

That there's no place I can go where God is not with me. And now this in Amos. I don't believe this child of God would be that happy. Because he's backslidden anyway. He's not thinking about God's sovereignty.

He's thinking about his own will. His own self. His selfish interests. And he is caught up in them. And he's caught up in such a place. Where he is now a servant to sin and to the enemy. And God is watching that as well.

So we have to always understand that. And we live in such a time of grace preaching. Which is marvelous. There's no higher and more beautiful truth than the grace of God. But we live in such a time that we hear it so much.

That we think sometimes it doesn't matter what we think and what we do. It doesn't matter where our heart is. And how we think of our brothers and sisters in our own church. How we think of our spouse or our husband or the people we work with.

We don't worry about that too much. It's all covered. Well yes. We'll see as we close the message. That it is covered. But it's not as if it goes unseen. Because God is omniscient. He knows all things.

And he does not hide himself. From seeing the backslidden child of God. Why does he not hide himself from seeing that? Because the chastening rod is necessary. It is in fact an instrument of love. From the human viewpoint we don't see it that way.

It's all bad. Bad, bad. He's bringing evil. And he's withholding good. We don't see that. That it's a hand of love. It's a chastening hand of a father who wants the best. And will have the best. For each of his children.

So that omniscient all-seeing eye is there for that as well. For the chastening. Now let's close with this last aspect. Let's move from talking about the chastening of God. To talk about the judgment of God.

And for purposes of this morning's message. Let's define that as meaning. Judgment in the sense of salvation or no salvation. Judgment in the sense of eternal damnation. Or eternal life. And after all we view the chastening part as the real important part.

You know we worry about. Boy if I do wrong what does God. You know man is he behind me? Yeah is he before me? Where is he? Is he going to get me for this one? We think that's the all important part. But the fact is it's not.

Because even when you get to the other side of the spanking. You're with God. And you know what? The fellowship is usually a lot better after the spanking. Than it was before the spanking. You ever notice that?

So that's not the big issue. The big issue is. Are you his or not? The big issue is what happens to those who are not. And what happens to those who are. And is his omniscient judgment perfect in this sense?

And now you start to see why we read the passage. This morning that we started with. With the cross. Now there is. A Psalm. Psalm 149 .4 that says this. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation.

Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. And it speaks of the perfect justice of God. Now I want you to be turning if you would to Romans chapter 8. And we're going to be in verse 1.

But you need to back up to the last couple of verses of chapter 7. While you're turning there I'm going to read a verse to you in Romans 14 .4. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? Now the whole message this morning is not about this.

And this is just a little corollary. You could almost call it a rabbit trail. But if it's true that God is omniscient. And he cannot miss the facts. And he cannot miss the thoughts. Why do we find it so necessary to judge one another?

Why do we find it so necessary to fix one another? I love the black preacher that Brother Myron took me to hear while I was out there. He was getting on to his people just a little bit. Something going on in church.

Of course I'm not aware of what it was because I was just a visitor. But he said I'll tell you. Some of you folks think you're God. He said you're not God. He said you're not his assistant either. Now in the context of his message everyone knew what he meant.

He did not mean that God doesn't work in us because God does. God works in us. But some people get the wrong attitude. And it's all about attitude. And God sees the attitude. We can't. But God sees the attitude.

And some people get the attitude that God has called me to fix you Brother Charlie. Well, Romans 14 verse 4 says, Who art thou that judges another man's servant? Whose servant are you? Oh, you're not mine?

But I'm your pastor. You're not my servant. Well, in a sense we all serve one another. But that's not what this is talking about, is it? This is talking about the fact that he is your one and only Lord.