The God Who Knows

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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December 13, 2020

00:00: I want to invite you to take out your Bible and turn with me to Psalm 139.
00:17: As I was thinking about the sermon last week, I had 6 verses and it was 55 minutes.
00:28: Today I have 24 verses.
00:32: I think we'll all be grateful that lunch is prepared and ready when we're finished.
00:38: Today is the third day in the Advent season.
00:43: This is the day that we celebrate the theme of love.
00:49: And I want to make mention that just a few weeks ago, Brother Mike preached on John 3.16.
00:59: It was the first Sunday of Advent and it was the day of the theme of hope.
01:09: We looked at the theme of hope, but we did it from the perspective of God's love being the basis of our hope.
01:19: God's love is the basis of our hope.
01:24: This may seem a little redundant because we've already had a message on love in this season of Advent, but we can't talk about love too much.
01:30: We certainly can't talk about the love of God enough.
01:35: As I was thinking about what Brother Mike said in his message, I got to thinking about it.
01:40: One thing that he said that may have surprised some of you, but I think we should be reminded of it, is not only is God not obligated to love us, but God shouldn't love us.
01:53: There's nothing in us that is inherently lovable.
01:58: We are sinners by nature.
02:00: We are sinful creatures.
02:01: We have violated the God of the universe.
02:03: We have committed high treason against the king of all the world.
02:08: And yet God still loves us.
02:16: He chooses to love us.
02:19: And today what we're going to do is we're going to look at Psalm 139 and we're going to see that it expresses the love of God in three ways.
02:30: It expresses the love of God through His comprehensive knowledge of us, through His lifelong care for us, and through His hatred of sin.
02:42: That's the part I think that's going to sort of turn the sermon on its head because at the end of this psalm, it becomes an imprecatory psalm.
02:52: An imprecatory psalm, which I'll explain in a little while, is a psalm that is a prayer of judgment against sinners.
03:03: And we're going to see how even that demonstrates the love of God.
03:09: So let's stand together.
03:10: We're going to read this psalm.
03:19: To the choir master, a psalm of David.
03:23: O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
03:27: You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar.
03:32: You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
03:36: Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together.
03:40: You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
03:45: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
03:47: It is high.
03:48: I cannot attain it.
03:50: Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there.
03:56: If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
04:00: 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.
04:09: If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you.
04:17: The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
04:22: For you formed my inward parts.
04:26: You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
04:28: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
04:30: Wonderful are your works.
04:31: My soul knows it very well.
04:34: My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
04:39: Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
04:41: In the book were written every one of them, the days that were fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them.
04:48: 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.
04:54: I awake, and I am still with you.
04:59: Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent.
05:08: Your enemies take your name in vain.
05:10: 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.
05:21: I count them my enemies.
05:25: Search me, O God, and know my heart.
05:29: Try me, and know my thoughts.
05:34: And see if there be any grievous way in me.
05:40: And lead me in the way everlasting.
05:46: Father of mercies, what a psalm.
05:49: What a word.
05:50: What a tremendous word from you.
05:52: Lord, we could close the book now and meditate for 30 minutes.
05:56: For Lord, you have spoken.
05:58: And your word is true.
06:00: Lord, as I seek to give an exposition of your word, I pray that you would keep me from error.
06:05: I pray that you would keep me from cowardice.
06:08: And I pray, Lord, that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit.
06:12: I pray that every person under the sound of my voice would hear the word of God.
06:16: Not the word of Keith Foskey, but the word of God.
06:19: And Lord, that that word would penetrate the ear and the mind and go to the heart.
06:23: And that hearts would be changed today.
06:25: And Lord, if there are those here among us, young or old.
06:31: Church members or non-church members.
06:32: Lord, if there are those among us who have not experienced the life-changing love of God through Jesus Christ.
06:42: Lord, today that you might open their hearts to believe.
06:45: And forever be changed.
06:48: For Lord, only you can change a heart.
06:50: And only you can see a heart.
06:53: And know if it is saved or lost.
06:59: Lord, may it be in Christ's name.
07:03: You may sit.
07:04: You may be seated.
07:07: Oh, you're very welcome.
07:17: As I was considering this psalm all week.
07:19: And I've been reading it.
07:21: Listening to it.
07:22: Going through various translations.
07:24: Studying it.
07:27: I was reminded of how the word know.
07:35: When it refers to God knowing someone.
07:42: Is never or almost never used in the sense of a passive knowledge.
07:51: But when the Bible talks about God knowing someone.
07:56: It's always in the sense of an active and intimate knowledge.
08:03: To say God knows everyone is just, you know, that's easy.
08:08: Because God knows everything.
08:09: God knows everyone.
08:10: But when the Bible says God knows someone.
08:15: It's almost the same as saying God loves someone.
08:23: Because that knowledge is an intimate knowledge.
08:27: I'll give you a few verses to consider.
08:29: Amos chapter 3.
08:31: When the prophet Amos wrote.
08:32: He was writing about Israel and he wrote this.
08:36: Speaking to Israel he said.
08:37: You only have I known of all of the families of the earth.
08:44: Think about what God is saying to Israel.
08:48: I know all the nations.
08:49: I know Nineveh.
08:51: And I know Assyria.
08:53: And I know Babylonia.
08:55: And I know all these nations.
08:56: But only you have I really known.
09:00: You see when God's knowledge is being used in that way.
09:03: It's not passive.
09:05: It's active.
09:08: It's not something that's aloof.
09:11: It's something that's intimate.
09:14: God knows Israel.
09:20: In John chapter 10 verse 27.
09:22: Jesus.
09:23: We talked about this verse last week.
09:25: Jesus is the great shepherd said this.
09:27: He said my sheep hear my voice.
09:29: And I know them.
09:33: And they follow me.
09:35: That's not just knowing.
09:37: That's intimacy.
09:39: I know them.
09:42: And they follow me.
09:44: In Romans chapter 8 verse 29.
09:49: When the apostle Paul is trying to explain how God has predestined the elect.
09:54: What does he say? For whom he foreknew.
09:59: He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
10:04: And that word foreknew doesn't simply mean God looked down the corridor of time.
10:08: And saw something about someone.
10:10: It means God set his affection upon someone.
10:15: It means God set his affection upon someone.
10:20: That's what knowledge is when we speak from God's perspective.
10:24: Do we understand? Are you with me? And the reason why I'm really getting to this point today.
10:32: Is because this passage is about God knowing David.
10:41: But by extension knowing us.
10:44: Knowing his people.
10:46: This is about the God who knows.
10:50: And by saying the God who knows.
10:52: We could say the God who loves.
10:59: God searches us and knows us.
11:02: This is how the psalm begins and ends.
11:05: Look at it with me.
11:06: Verse 1 it says, Oh Lord you have searched me and known me.
11:10: And then if you go down to verse 23.
11:12: He says, Search me oh God and know my heart.
11:16: So it's interesting that at the beginning he gives the indicative.
11:20: You have searched me and you have known me.
11:23: He's saying what is.
11:24: But then at the end he makes a petition.
11:27: Oh God search me and know me.
11:30: But he already said he already searched him and knows him.
11:33: But the reason for the request at the end.
11:36: Is David wants to know himself through the eyes of God.
11:40: So the final petition is God you who know me.
11:44: Expose me to myself.
11:46: That I might know if there is any wickedness in me.
11:50: That I'm not hiding myself from you.
11:54: Because you see everything.
11:57: You see it begins and ends with the idea of searching.
12:01: It begins and ends with the idea of knowing.
12:05: And the God who searches is the God who knows.
12:08: And the God who knows as I will show is the God who loves.
12:13: Now there's a little bit of a debate.
12:19: Within the commentators.
12:23: As to how David is writing the first part of this psalm.
12:28: Some people, some commentators write.
12:31: That they believe that David is writing in the sense of dread.
12:37: And if you read the first portion.
12:39: You can see how dread could be in his mind.
12:45: You search me and know me.
12:47: Every time I stand up you see me.
12:49: Every time I sit down you see me.
12:50: I can't go anywhere that you're not looking.
12:52: If I go into heaven you're there.
12:53: If I go down into the soul of the earth you're there.
12:56: I can't escape.
12:58: You see how that could be dreadful.
13:03: In fact as I was thinking about the sermon this week.
13:07: I thought about the book 1984.
13:14: It wasn't a great year.
13:15: If you were born it was a great year.
13:18: In 1949 George Orwell wrote a book.
13:25: And the book was entitled 1984.
13:30: And it was a dystopian novel about the future.
13:37: And the idea what made the future so scary.
13:39: From Orwell's perspective.
13:41: Was that totalitarianism and mass surveillance would reign.
13:46: Very relevant today.
13:48: Maybe he should have called it 2020.
13:51: But in the book the term big brother is watching you.
13:56: Was all throughout the book.
13:58: And what big brother is watching you meant.
14:00: Was it was a constant reminder that everything that was being done.
14:03: Was under the watchful eye of the totalitarian state.
14:08: It had cameras everywhere.
14:09: It had listening devices set up everywhere.
14:11: It could hear all the citizens at all times.
14:13: And kept tabs on everything that was ever done.
14:16: Even within the home.
14:17: The novel truly depicted a frightening society.
14:20: Where every word was under the sound of the authoritative rulers.
14:33: And I think that is how some people see this song.
14:38: God in a sense becomes dreadful like big brother.
14:50: And I can see that.
14:58: Because as I was pondering this week on what this means.
15:02: I was thinking about the fact that nothing I've ever done has gone unseen.
15:10: Nothing I've ever.
15:11: And here's what's worse than 1984.
15:13: Is at least in 1984 you could think thoughts that the government wouldn't know about.
15:18: You could think a thought that the whole book is based on one guy's telling.
15:23: And it's all happening in his mind.
15:24: He's thinking these thoughts.
15:25: And he can't say anything.
15:26: He can only think these things.
15:28: But we know that even our thoughts are not outside of God.
15:35: Not only does God know us.
15:36: He's not fooled by us.
15:38: Have you ever tried to fool God? Now don't be a bunch of pious gasbags.
15:42: Listen to me.
15:43: Have you ever been in the midst of prayer.
15:46: And said something you knew wasn't true.
15:48: And then stopped.
15:50: I'll be honest.
15:51: I have stopped in the middle of a prayer.
15:53: And said to myself.
15:54: Keith why would you say that to God like he didn't know.
15:58: Why would you say you're sorry if you're not sorry.
16:01: Why would you say you're no longer angry when you're still harboring anger.
16:04: Why would you say you're no longer vengeful when you really are.
16:10: God knows Keith.
16:11: Why are you lying.
16:17: That's things I've had to deal with them.
16:19: And again maybe you are much holier than I.
16:22: But I know this.
16:25: This psalm gets past all feigned auspices of hiding from God.
16:32: You just can't do it.
16:35: You can't.
16:37: And I can see how for some that would be absolutely frightening.
16:41: There was an atheist philosopher.
16:45: I think it was Nietzsche but I could be wrong.
16:48: But one of the famed atheist philosophers said.
16:52: That the one thing that he could not tolerate.
16:55: About the concept of a deity.
17:00: Was that if the truth was that the deity was all knowing.
17:05: Then that would mean that he did not have any privacy.
17:08: That he had nowhere where he could escape the presence of that deity.
17:12: And there was nowhere where there was not a probing eye.
17:16: And therefore he could not accept that.
17:18: Because that would mean that he was less than human.
17:22: He said if I am always being watched.
17:24: And I have no autonomy.
17:25: If I have no privacy.
17:27: If I have nowhere to escape the eye of the deity.
17:31: Then I am not fully human.
17:35: That was the view of.
17:37: And again I think it was Nietzsche but I could be wrong.
17:41: Do you understand what he is saying? God is watching and I can't stand it.
17:47: So do you see how some people could read Psalm 139 with a sense of dread.
17:52: You see how some people could come to Psalm 139.
17:55: And have a sense of hatred of this passage.
17:57: I can't stand the God who sees everything.
18:00: I can't stand the God who knows everything.
18:03: That is not the God.
18:03: I want a God who I can fool.
18:08: There is a little country.
18:09: I have told this story before but I will tell it again very quickly.
18:11: There is a little country in the Middle East called Bahrain.
18:14: And over in that country.
18:16: Muslims will flock there to gamble and exercise in things like prostitution.
18:24: And things like that.
18:25: Because they believe that Bahrain is too small for Allah to see.
18:30: Bahrain is too small for Allah to give any attention to.
18:33: So it sort of becomes the Las Vegas.
18:37: Where it is the sin capital.
18:42: Because Allah does not see what happens in Bahrain.
18:48: But we know that is foolish.
18:50: And I imagine many Muslims know that is not true.
18:54: But they use it as an excuse.
19:00: The all seeing eye of God is dreadful to many people.
19:05: But I want you to see today.
19:07: And it is my heart to show you today.
19:09: That I do not believe that this psalm is a psalm of dread from David.
19:16: I believe it is a psalm of comfort.
19:20: I believe David is showing us how we can be comforted by the God who sees.
19:28: David is showing us how we can be comforted by the God who knows us.
19:33: And here is the thing that is the most comforting.
19:38: I heard another preacher say this while I was studying this week.
19:42: And it so resonated with my soul.
19:43: That I actually went and I wrote it in the margin of my message.
19:47: And this is what he said.
19:48: He said God knows everything about you.
19:50: As bad as you are.
19:52: Worse than you even know that you are.
19:53: And He still loves you.
19:56: That is the amazing thing.
19:58: That is what makes this psalm great.
20:03: You know it is like Spurgeon said.
20:04: He said do not get mad when people speak ill of you.
20:06: Because they do not know the half of it.
20:08: They do not know half of how bad you truly are.
20:11: God knows it all.
20:14: And yet He still loves you.
20:16: That is the comfort of Psalm 139.
20:19: God knows how bad we are.
20:21: And He still loves us.
20:24: Amen.
20:26: That is the beauty.
20:28: That is the beauty.
20:30: So this is the three part outline.
20:33: And I am not going to give a pure exposition of this text.
20:37: Time will not allow it.
20:38: But I want you to at least have the outline.
20:41: If you will bring it up on the screen.
20:42: We are going to see God's love expressed in three ways.
20:45: Number 1.
20:45: His comprehensive knowledge of us.
20:47: Is a way that He demonstrates His love.
20:50: Number 2.
20:50: Is His lifelong care for us.
20:52: And we are going to see from the womb to the tomb.
20:56: God knits us together in our mother's womb.
20:58: He takes us all the way to the grave.
21:01: And He never departs from us.
21:04: So lifelong care.
21:06: And then we are going to see God's love is demonstrated in the hatred of sin.
21:09: That one is hard.
21:10: But I am going to show you how that works.
21:12: Because I will say this.
21:14: God demonstrates His love in His hatred of sin.
21:17: Because the one thing that destroys us is sin.
21:21: And God hates sin.
21:25: So let's look first at His comprehensive knowledge.
21:28: We are the object of His gaze.
21:30: That is verses 1-6.
21:32: It says, Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.
21:34: You have known when I sat down, when I rise up.
21:36: You discern my thoughts from afar.
21:37: You search out my path, my lying down.
21:39: You are acquainted with all my ways.
21:42: This is all what we talk about in the Psalms.
21:45: Parallelism.
21:46: When I rise up, when I sit down.
21:49: My lying down.
21:50: And my going about.
21:52: This is poetic.
21:54: Basically simplified.
21:56: David is saying, God you see everything.
22:00: You see if I sleep in.
22:02: And you see if I rise early.
22:04: You see if I do what I am supposed to do.
22:06: Or you see if I am goofing off.
22:09: You see if I have diligently spent my day.
22:11: Searching after you and doing the things I was supposed to do.
22:13: Or if I have spent all day.
22:15: Watching again the office reruns.
22:18: You know what I have done oh Lord.
22:20: And you know whether it was good or bad.
22:22: I can't escape your knowledge.
22:26: And verse 4 is the one that really strikes my heart.
22:32: Because verse 4 says this.
22:33: Even before a word is on my tongue.
22:36: You know it oh Lord altogether.
22:40: Think about that.
22:42: Even before a word is on my tongue oh Lord.
22:45: You know it altogether.
22:47: You know what that means? God doesn't just know you are lying down.
22:53: He doesn't just know you are rising up.
22:54: He doesn't just know you are standing and you are sitting.
22:57: Where you are going where you are coming from.
22:58: God knows what you are about to say.
23:03: And he is never surprised.
23:07: Did you know God never learns anything? Omniscience can't learn because it already knows everything.
23:15: God doesn't learn.
23:17: By the way that is the greatest argument against Arminianism in the world.
23:20: Because Arminianism says God chooses you based on seeing what you are going to do.
23:24: And then he chooses you.
23:26: That means God had to learn what you were going to do.
23:29: That is the way it works.
23:32: But that is another sermon for another time.
23:34: The point of this is simply to say God knew what you were going to say.
23:38: Before you said it.
23:42: That means God's knowledge of the future is absolute and unchanging.
23:51: God not only knows your present.
23:53: He knows your future.
23:56: He knows every word that comes out of your mouth.
23:59: And listen to Matthew 12.36.
24:01: Just for this.
24:03: Jesus speaking.
24:04: He says I tell you on that day.
24:06: The day of judgment.
24:07: People will give an account for every careless word that they speak.
24:12: They will give an account for every careless word.
24:14: Isn't that frightening? That nothing you have ever said.
24:19: Was not only not foreknown by God.
24:21: Was not only not determined and decreed.
24:23: That God would allow you to say it.
24:25: But also that he knew you were going to say it.
24:27: And it is.
24:29: It is absolute.
24:31: How does God know what you are going to say? Because he is not bound by time.
24:38: God is not bound by time.
24:40: He decrees all that comes to pass.
24:44: This one verse.
24:45: Verse 4.
24:46: Tells us so much about God's.
24:49: The span of his power.
24:51: He knows what you are going to say.
24:53: Before you say it.
24:57: And then he goes on to say.
25:00: In verse 5.
25:00: You hem me in.
25:01: Before and behind.
25:02: You lay your hand upon me.
25:07: And that may seem scary.
25:09: What does it mean to be hemmed in? Being hemmed in usually is a bad thing.
25:12: Right? Well it is not a bad thing.
25:14: If it is protection.
25:18: Because if you think about.
25:19: How does the president.
25:20: How does the president go from place to place? He has a car that is built special for him.
25:27: But in front of that car.
25:28: There are two other cars that are filled with men.
25:31: With high powered weapons and training.
25:35: And the cars behind him are filled with men.
25:37: With high powered weapons and training.
25:39: And so he has got men who go before.
25:41: And he has got men who come behind.
25:43: And the whole idea.
25:45: Is not to make him feel like he is trapped.
25:47: But to let him know that he is protected.
25:50: No one is going to come from the front.
25:52: And no one is going to come from the rear.
25:54: We have got you on both ends.
25:57: And this is what the psalm is saying.
26:00: God goes before.
26:02: And he comes behind.
26:08: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
26:10: Verse 6.
26:11: I have got to hurry.
26:12: Because I am stopping at every verse.
26:14: I can't do that.
26:15: But verse 6.
26:16: He says.
26:17: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
26:19: I cannot attain it.
26:20: He says the same thing in verse 17 and 18.
26:22: Look down at verse 17 and 18.
26:24: How precious to me are your thoughts O God.
26:26: How vast is the sum of them.
26:27: If I would count them.
26:28: They are more than the sand.
26:29: I awake and I am still with you.
26:32: Basically verse 6 and verse 17 and 18.
26:35: Are almost like miniature doxologies.
26:38: You know normally.
26:39: The psalms will end with a sound of praise.
26:42: Praise ye the Lord.
26:43: Or something like that.
26:44: Well verse 6.
26:45: Is a doxology on God knowing you.
26:48: And knowing everything about you.
26:50: And then verse 17 and 18.
26:51: It is a repetition of that same thing.
26:53: God knows it.
26:54: And these thoughts are too mighty.
26:57: Too powerful.
26:58: Too wonderful.
26:58: You can't even imagine how much God knows.
27:03: And that is what he says in verse 17.
27:04: How precious to me are my thoughts.
27:06: How vast is the sum of them.
27:07: If I would count them.
27:08: They are more than the sand.
27:09: I can't even understand how much God knows.
27:14: You take the most powerful super computer in the world.
27:16: That is able to compute.
27:18: Over and over and over and over again.
27:20: Thousands of computations per second.
27:22: And that is nothing compared to the mind of God.
27:26: You take the smartest man in the world.
27:30: I know a guy.
27:31: Jonathan Sarfati.
27:32: He is a Christian apologist.
27:34: He is one of the most brilliant men.
27:35: He has preached here.
27:35: He is one of the most brilliant men I have ever seen.
27:37: He plays chess blindfolded.
27:41: They just call out.
27:42: Bishop to King 3.
27:43: And he knows.
27:44: He remembers.
27:45: And can see the board in his mind.
27:48: And able to play chess.
27:49: Simply by calling out the names of where the pieces are.
27:53: He remembers where the pieces are.
27:56: He is like a living computer.
28:01: And Jonathan Sarfati is nothing compared to the mind of God.
28:05: Not even to be scaled against.
28:09: And this is the God who knows.
28:15: If you wanted to have a theological word.
28:19: To tie to verses 1-6.
28:21: The theological word is omniscience.
28:25: God knows all.
28:28: But then when we get to verse 7.
28:31: We see not only is his knowledge complete.
28:36: But so is his presence.
28:39: So we move from omniscience to omnipresence.
28:41: Look at verse 7.
28:42: Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven you are there.
28:47: If I make my bed in Sheol you are there.
28:49: And he goes on to simply say.
28:50: Even if it is dark you can see me.
28:53: The darkness doesn't hide me.
28:54: Nothing can shield me from your presence.
28:57: And when I was reading that.
28:57: I thought about the prophet Jonah.
29:01: Remember Jonah? Jonah ran away from God.
29:04: God said go to Nineveh.
29:06: Jonah said no, no.
29:07: I don't like the Ninevites.
29:07: I don't want to go preach to the Ninevites.
29:09: You might save them if I preach to them.
29:11: Like I am going to stop you from saving them.
29:14: If I don't go.
29:15: But I am going to run and get on the ship.
29:17: And head towards Tarshish.
29:18: And if I go down in the belly of the ship.
29:21: Maybe I will be hidden from God.
29:26: And we all know what happened.
29:28: God took him from the belly of the ship.
29:29: To the belly of the fish.
29:31: And vomited him up on the shores of Nineveh.
29:34: And said get back to work.
29:35: You just can't escape.
29:37: You can't get away.
29:39: And like I said for some that is dreadful.
29:41: But for the believer that is comfort.
29:42: You know why it is comfort? Because the Bible tells us.
29:45: That nothing can separate us from the love of God.
29:48: Neither death nor life.
29:49: Nor angels nor powers.
29:50: Nor things present.
29:51: Nor things to come.
29:52: Nor height.
29:52: Nor depth.
29:53: Nor anything else.
29:54: And all creation will be able to separate us.
29:56: From the love of God.
29:57: Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
29:58: Why? Because that love is completely omnipresent.
30:01: And expansive.
30:02: It cannot be separated from us.
30:06: I can't go anywhere.
30:08: Where He is not with me.
30:09: I cannot do anything.
30:11: Where He is not beside me.
30:13: I can't escape the presence of God.
30:17: Because He loves me.
30:20: And now we look at His lifelong care.
30:22: Beginning at verse 13.
30:24: Now this section.
30:26: Many of you know this section.
30:28: Beginning at verse 13.
30:29: This section is used a lot on the subject of abortion.
30:32: And rightfully so.
30:35: Because this passage reminds us.
30:37: That the baby in the womb.
30:39: Is a living being.
30:41: You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
30:44: You intricately created me.
30:46: In the depths of the earth.
30:47: And that is a euphemism for the mother's womb.
30:51: Right? So a lot of pro-life advocates.
30:54: A lot of Christians.
30:55: Who are fighting the good fight.
30:57: Of trying to save babies in the womb.
30:59: Use this passage for their fight in abortion.
31:03: And I am all for that.
31:05: And I don't think that is wrong in any way.
31:08: So understand.
31:09: I think that is great.
31:11: There is no problem using this passage for that.
31:14: But there is more to this passage than just that.
31:17: Because this passage takes you from birth to death.
31:23: You say.
31:23: What do you mean? Look at verse 16.
31:26: You saw my unformed substance.
31:28: That is when I was in my mother.
31:31: In your book were written.
31:34: Every one of them.
31:35: The days that were formed for me.
31:38: When as yet there was none of them.
31:40: My days.
31:43: Were written.
31:44: By God.
31:45: Before I was even born.
31:52: My story.
31:54: Is already written.
31:57: God has already written.
31:59: My life.
32:01: By the way.
32:01: That doesn't make me a fatalist.
32:06: I want to explain that.
32:07: Because some people think.
32:09: That because God is sovereign.
32:11: That we simply have.
32:14: No contribution in our life.
32:16: But the Bible very clearly shows us.
32:18: That we do make legitimate choices.
32:20: We do have a creaturely freedom.
32:23: And therefore we are not robots.
32:25: It is hard to understand.
32:26: The intricacies of how that works.
32:30: But.
32:31: At the same time.
32:33: We should be very careful not to fall into fatalism.
32:36: Because often what fatalism does.
32:38: Is it cause us to live with a caesarasera attitude.
32:41: Whatever will be will be.
32:42: And there is no sense of urgency.
32:45: That is the problem.
32:47: With fatalism.
32:49: Is fatalism robs us of the urgency.
32:51: Which is always in the scripture.
32:54: Today is the day of salvation.
32:56: Therefore I proclaim today.
32:58: I go today.
32:59: I move forward today.
33:01: I don't ever simply say.
33:03: Whatever will be will be.
33:03: I trust that the Lord will ensure that it will.
33:07: But I do not allow that for me.
33:09: To become passive and lazy in my faith.
33:13: But what it does.
33:14: Is it gives me great comfort.
33:15: Because I know that God's plan for my life.
33:19: Will not fail.
33:22: God's plan for my life cannot fail.
33:29: Know this beloved.
33:31: When my day comes.
33:33: Whenever that day is.
33:38: You can feel confident that the Lord was not surprised.
33:43: Very recently I.
33:45: I lost a very dear friend.
33:50: He was.
33:51: He was introduced to me.
33:53: By the.
33:55: Artisans and the bells and some other.
33:57: Family members here at the church.
34:00: He.
34:01: Only a couple years older than me.
34:03: So I think.
34:04: Mid forties.
34:06: And he was a.
34:07: He was a shooting instructor.
34:08: And I'm a shooting instructor.
34:10: And so he and I did a lot of classes together.
34:11: He would invite me to his home.
34:13: And I've taught in his home.
34:15: Shooting classes.
34:18: And.
34:20: Had come to be real good friends.
34:23: And the other morning.
34:24: My wife woke me up at 8 a.m.
34:32: And she said.
34:33: Glenn.
34:35: Has died.
34:37: He was driving home.
34:41: And.
34:43: Car.
34:44: Coming the other direction lost control.
34:47: Swerved across the road.
34:49: Hit him.
34:52: And he died.
34:53: And his wife is now.
34:55: By God's grace.
34:57: Beginning to have some recovery.
34:59: But she has spent many, many weeks in ICU.
35:02: Having crushed her left side.
35:04: Having been hit.
35:05: At that angle.
35:10: And it was a devastating day.
35:14: For.
35:15: All of us who love them.
35:18: And love him.
35:21: And it was a surprise.
35:23: A shock.
35:24: To our heart.
35:26: But God was not surprised.
35:30: To welcome Glenn home.
35:34: Glenn was a believer.
35:36: And Glenn loved the Lord.
35:38: A conversation about which we had many times.
35:43: And so.
35:44: Glenn was in the hands of God.
35:46: Even in that terrible moment.
35:48: And that's the thing that this psalm reminds us.
35:52: You can't escape it.
35:54: If you are his.
35:57: No matter whether you go up or down.
35:59: Left or right.
36:00: Forward or backward.
36:01: He is with you.
36:03: As we learned last week.
36:06: In the valley of the shadow of death.
36:10: I will fear no evil.
36:13: For thou art with me.
36:23: So that's his lifelong care for us.
36:27: And now let's look finally.
36:30: At his hatred of sin.
36:33: His hatred of sin.
36:34: Beginning at verse 19.
36:36: It seems as if the psalm turns itself on its head.
36:38: And the psalmist just switches to this.
36:41: This prayer of vitriol against the enemies of God.
36:47: And we have something here called.
36:49: An imprecatory psalm.
36:51: An imprecatory psalm simply means.
36:53: A psalm of judgment.
36:55: Calling down judgment is an imprecation.
36:58: Or imprecating something is to call down judgment on someone.
37:01: Or to curse them.
37:03: And we see this all throughout the psalms by the way.
37:05: This is not the only imprecatory psalm.
37:07: Psalm 55.
37:08: Let death take my enemies by surprise.
37:14: Let them go down alive to the grave.
37:19: Let them be buried alive.
37:21: That's what the psalmist writes.
37:24: Psalm 58.6.
37:25: Oh God break the teeth in their mouths.
37:32: Psalm 69.28.
37:34: May they be blotted out of the book of life.
37:37: And not be listed with the righteous.
37:39: That's another way of saying may they go to hell.
37:45: Psalm 109.9.
37:46: May his children be fatherless and his wife be a widow.
37:52: And probably the one that gets most of us in the chest.
37:57: Psalm 137.9.
37:59: How blessed are the ones who seize your infants.
38:03: And dash their heads against the stones.
38:11: Now.
38:13: I'm preaching on the love of God.
38:17: But all that was straight out of God's word.
38:21: And immediately as Christians we find ourselves recoiling from that.
38:26: Almost as if we have to defend God.
38:28: By the way you don't have to defend God's word.
38:32: But we do want to understand it.
38:34: Because Jesus tells us to love our enemies.
38:37: Right? In Matthew 5.43 and 44.
38:40: He says you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
38:42: But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
38:46: You've heard it said to hate your enemies.
38:47: But I tell you to love them and pray for them.
38:49: So you say is Jesus.
38:52: Now is Jesus arguing with the psalmist.
38:55: And saying the psalmist is wrong.
38:56: And Jesus is telling us a different way.
39:00: Is he telling us that the imprecatory psalms are wrong.
39:02: Some believe so.
39:04: Some believe that Jesus is correcting the imprecatory psalms.
39:09: And some people believe that the imprecatory psalms have no place for the Christian.
39:13: I've heard many as I was reading commentaries this week.
39:16: Several of them say this is really just for the Old Testament.
39:19: Not for the New Testament.
39:23: However I want to challenge that for a moment.
39:29: Because we have to ask this question.
39:31: What do the imprecatory psalms teach us about the nature of God? They teach us that God hates sin.
39:42: And they remind us.
39:44: They remind us that sinners are at war with God.
39:51: How does the Bible describe sinners? Enmity with God.
39:56: What is enmity? War.
40:00: Hatred.
40:04: Sinners are not just good old boys.
40:08: Sinners are criminals in the king's court.
40:14: And they deserve God's wrath.
40:16: As I said from the beginning of today's sermon.
40:18: Recounting what brother Mike said two weeks ago.
40:21: God should not love us.
40:23: And any good that we have from him is pure grace.
40:27: And the imprecatory psalms remind us that God will not tolerate sin.
40:33: God will punish sin.
40:36: Every sin will either be punished in Christ or in you.
40:41: Hear that again.
40:45: Every sin that you have ever committed will either be punished in Christ.
40:51: Who is the substitute.
40:53: Or it will be punished in you in hell.
40:56: And by the way this psalm also reminds us.
40:58: People say hell is separation from God.
41:00: That's not true.
41:01: Because you can't go anywhere where God is not.
41:03: But what hell is, is separation from God's grace.
41:07: You are under the perpetual wrath of God forever.
41:13: Which is do your sins.
41:17: They say pastor you are supposed to be talking about love.
41:21: Understand.
41:23: I'm still talking about love.
41:28: Because a God who loves is also a God who hates.
41:37: He loves righteousness therefore he hates wickedness.
41:41: He loves holiness therefore he hates that which violates his holiness.
41:49: God loves and therefore God hates.
41:54: And if you are a father you know this.
41:59: You love your children therefore you hate that which would violate your children.
42:03: You love your wife you hate that which would violate her.
42:07: You understand how this works right.
42:10: And what we are seeing in the psalm.
42:12: Is we are seeing the love of God expressed through hatred of sin.
42:16: Sin is the most devastating thing in the world for you.
42:20: And therefore God in loving you hates that which destroys you.
42:29: And if you think the imprecatory psalms are limited to the Old Testament.
42:34: Might I remind you how Jesus taught you to pray.
42:38: He said thy kingdom come.
42:42: Thy will be done.
42:45: What are you praying when you pray thy kingdom come? I'll read it to you.
42:50: This is what it's going to look like when the kingdom comes in it's fullness.
42:55: Revelation 19 verse 11.
42:57: Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and the one sitting on it was called faithful and true.
43:03: And in righteousness he judges and makes war.
43:06: His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems.
43:10: And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
43:13: And he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.
43:16: And the name by which he is called is the word of God.
43:18: And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses.
43:24: And from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which he will strike down the nations.
43:30: And he will rule them with a rod of iron.
43:33: He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God almighty.
43:38: And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords.
43:45: Thy kingdom come will be a day of devastation for many.
43:54: It will be a day of death like has never been seen in all of human history.
44:05: Thy kingdom come is an imprecatory prayer.
44:10: And yet, and yet, we are called to pray it by Jesus himself.
44:21: Thy kingdom come.
44:23: Thy will be done.
44:27: It's the hatred of sin.
44:29: It's the hatred of sin that caused God to send Jesus Christ.
44:38: You say, wait a minute, it was the love of God that caused him to send Jesus.
44:41: For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.
44:45: But why did he send his son? So that death and hell would be destroyed.
44:50: So that the power of sin would be no more.
44:55: God hates sin.
44:57: And in hating sin he shows his love for us.
45:01: And he breaks the power of sin and darkness in the sun.
45:05: And he loves us through the sun.
45:07: Beloved, we have, even in the imprecatory Psalms, a demonstration of the love of God.
45:14: The title of today's message is The God Who Knows.
45:17: And there is nothing God does not know.
45:19: There is nowhere God is not present.
45:21: And there is nothing God cannot accomplish.
45:23: And notice how he ends, and we're going to finish with this.
45:25: He says, Search me, O God, and know my heart.
45:28: Try me and know my thoughts.
45:30: See if there be any wicked way in me.
45:32: Why does David end this psalm with a request? Because he has just prayed a prayer of imprecation upon the wicked.
45:41: He has just prayed a prayer of judgment upon the guilty.
45:46: And then he looks to God and says, Search me, O God.
45:49: You know me.
45:51: I've said for the last 22 verses, You search me and know me.
45:55: You know when I rise up.
45:56: You know when I sit down.
45:57: You know my left, right, forward, backwards.
45:59: You know my inside.
46:00: You know every day that has been fashioned for me.
46:02: Ever since there wasn't any of them.
46:04: You know me, O God.
46:05: So expose myself to me.
46:08: And tell me if there is wickedness in me.
46:13: Why? That you might lead me in the way everlasting.
46:17: Lead me to repentance, O God.
46:21: I'll say this.
46:22: If you want to pray a prayer of imprecation against the wicked, don't leave yourself out.
46:29: Don't leave yourself out.
46:31: Pray, God, search me and know my heart.
46:35: Try me and know my thoughts.
46:38: And see if there is wickedness in me.
46:41: And lead me in the everlasting way.
46:44: The way of repentance.
46:47: Beloved, pray that prayer.
46:51: God, search me and know me.
46:54: Try me.
46:56: Expose myself to me.
46:58: Some of you who know Christ still need to repent.
47:02: There are things in your life of which you need to repent.
47:04: I would say all of us have things that we struggle with and we need to repent.
47:08: And some of you don't know Christ.
47:10: Some of you young people don't know Christ.
47:11: Some of you older people maybe don't know Christ.
47:13: Let me say this about that.
47:15: The most devastating thing you can hear in all of eternity is depart from me.
47:20: I never knew you.
47:22: There's that word, no.
47:23: Depart from me.
47:25: I don't know you.
47:26: That is what every unbeliever will hear.
47:30: I don't know you.
47:32: Does God know you today? And do you know him? If so, there is great comfort and joy in the God who knows.
47:43: Let's pray.
47:45: Father, I thank you for your word.
47:47: Thank you for your truth.
47:48: I thank you that you know us and you loved us.
47:51: Our name is written on your hand, oh God.
47:53: Our name is graven on your heart.
47:56: And Lord, I pray that this message will be one that will resonate in all of our hearts.
48:03: Lord, that you might search us and know us and expose our hearts to us.
48:08: And Lord, help us to repent.
48:11: Please, oh God, for only you can do such a thing.
48:14: I pray this in Jesus' name and I pray this for his sake.
48:19: Amen.