scripture reading we read Psalm 139 Psalm 139 begin at verse 1 O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassed my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth. Write well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. In thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly. and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So far we read from the holy scriptures this morning and the text we consider is that 14th verse. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Dearly beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, In this psalm we stand and we sing of how we stand in awe of our God. As we meditate upon what he knows and how he searches us and his just judgments, his amazing knowledge The psalm begins and ends with a reference to him searching us. At the very beginning, we say, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, and so on. Searched me. And then we get to the end of the song. We ask him to search us. Search me, oh God. Thou who hast searched me. Search me, oh God. Know my heart, try me, know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This is a psalm that's sung by one who fears God, desires to see his or her own sin more clearly, to know how great our sins and miseries are, and to be delivered from them, to be forgiven, and to be delivered from sin. And in the middle of this psalm, we have this 14th verse that speaks of how we are made, how we are fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderfully made in such a way that excites fear, fear in the sense of awe, godly fear, the fear of love. that we marvel as we consider his works, as we consider the fact that he made us. He certainly knows us, he knows our thoughts. He made us. He made us and he made our children. And when we have a child born and when we for the first time look at a child of ours, That is quite an amazing moment, to hold in one's arms one's own child. And it is good for us to marvel at the work of God, to marvel at a child that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Of course, it's not the case that every one of us gets married, nor is it the case that every married couple has children. Yet we ourselves were made, and we speak here about our own being made, and we contemplate the making of each of God's children. How fearfully and wonderfully we have been made. And our desire is to teach our children about their maker, about their father, about the one who has made them and who knows them. The one who made them knows their thoughts, knows what they're doing wherever they go. He knows where they are and he knows what they're doing. We stand in awe of Him, and our desire is humbly to praise Him and to thank Him. We say in this verse, I will praise Thee. And when we say, marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well, I will praise thee. And our desire is that our children with us will praise the holy name of our God. We consider this text under the theme fearfully and wonderfully made. We consider God's wondrous work. Secondly, the godly fear and thirdly, some practical applications. We often, well this verse is often looked at from the point of view of how amazing is the forming of the human body. And we all see that to a certain degree. There are those that spend their lifetime studying the human body. and even studying one system, say the nervous system or the circulatory system that they may especially specialize in a certain area and are astounded at the work of God in the forming of the human body, such inconceivable skill as he has made us. the amazing detail of the human body, and that if the smallest part, when there's something wrong with something that may be very, very small, the difficulties that may arise, and how it all works together. We are amazed at what God has made. And we confess that this did not happen by chance, but that there is one who has formed us. There is one who has made us. There is the all-knowing, infinitely glorious God, the creator, who has made us. What he has done is beyond our comprehension. Man tends to be proud of what he knows, what he knows personally, or what mankind collectively knows or thinks he knows. And at times, we sometimes may think that we know what God should do. And we always have to be on guard against finding fault with God. in our own life when we somehow, we sometimes think that we know better and we wonder why would this happen? Why would that happen? Wouldn't this have been better? It's good for us to meditate on what we do not know and to remember to humble ourselves before God and remember what we do not know. And there's a number of passages that speak of this some in the end of the book of Job, for example, when God was speaking to Job, but also another one in Ecclesiastes 11, verse five, that speaks about the forming of the human body. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, as thou knowest not How the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. We're to humble ourselves before God, standing in awe of what he knows, his wisdom, He who has made us, he the wise God who has formed us and who has cared for us. Thou has covered me in my mother's womb, verse 13. He has cared for us. He was providing you and me with food when we were in the womb. through our mother. And then soon after we were born, that God in his providence, it's already the case that typically the mother is able to nurse the child and immediately already there has been food forming for us when we were born. So as soon as we're born, there's already been food that's being prepared for us. There was for you, for me. Regardless of whether or not a child nurses or is fed with a body, that illustration of how God provides the little one with food and protection Protection while that little one is being formed, a little one that is so small and is gradually growing up in the womb. We marvel. We often Couples, when they are expecting a child and know what week of pregnancy, what the week of pregnancy is, often talk about what the size of the child would be right now. Today, with things like ultrasound, you can often see certain things and just stand amazed to see the forming, the forming of a child. He made us. He made us that we might have fellowship with him. He made us body and soul. We've been talking about the body, that the human is both body and soul. The soul, of course, we cannot see. You can't look at an ultrasound and see the soul. And when the baby is born, we see the body, but we know that we are both body and soul. and we grow to be able to express our thoughts to one another. We differ from the animals in that man was created in the image of God. He knew God. He was righteous and holy. Of course, sinful man fell, and now sinful man is like the devil rather than like God. Well, God made man that man might have fellowship with him. And that's astounding. Not only to think of how wise God is and how he knows what he knows and what we don't know and what he does know, but then also for us to think he made us that we might have friendship with him. That we might talk to him. that we might hear him talk to us, that we might have fellowship with the living God, our Father. We are his workmanship. He has made us to be new creatures. And now we transition. We see how passages in scripture that speak of how God has formed us and that we are his children, that he is our father, that we are directed to consider how he is the father of his covenant children. His covenant children. Like we say, another Psalm that speaks of this, makes that clear, Psalm 100. Verse three. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. He made us, not we ourselves. He hath made us. We are his people. And then notice that. It's talking specifically about his people. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. So it directs us to consider the covenant child and for us to marvel at what God does in the womb as he gives life, spiritual life, to a child even in the womb. We confess salvation is unconditional and that it can even be in the womb. That a child receives life, spiritual life. And when we stand up as parents, we say that we, that they're sanctified in Christ. They are members of his church and ought to be baptized. We understand, of course, that God does not make his covenant with each of our blood descendants head for head. We know that. We stand amazed at God's work as he gives life, spiritual life to his children. Similarly, in Ephesians 2, we are his workmanship created in Christ, created in Christ unto good works, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So that when we talk about we are his workmanship, it speaks of us being created in Christ. That's Ephesians two. Verse 10. He's our God from our mother's womb. Psalm 22 we sing that our God. He's our God from our mother's womb. He is holding us up from the womb and each child is unique. Each child is different. There are certain things in which we're the same. In certain respects, we're all the same, but it's also the case that each one is. Unique. Each one is important. And it's in. Good for us to bring that out to you children. Each one of you. Precious, important. Member of the body of Christ. It receives certain gifts. It receives gifts in Jesus Christ to be used. to the glory of God, that each one of us has a specific place in the body of Christ, that God is before determined. And God prepares us throughout our whole life. And we will live with our God not only throughout this life, but that everlasting life to come. As we meditate on these things, we fear. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Now that this verse, there's some difficulties with the verse. It is a good translation. It is somewhat difficult to translate parts of it. Something like, I will praise thee because that exciting fear, I was wonderfully made or wonderfully distinguished, separated, distinguished. Wonderful are thy works. The word that's translated marvelously is closely connected to the word that's translated wonderfully made. So there's kind of a repetition of that idea of wonder or marvel, but also that idea of exciting fear. Fearfully, the word there has an idea of that which would be exciting fear in the sense that as we meditate upon it, It excites awe, fear, and we wonder, we marvel, we admire, stand in awe of the wonderful work of our God. When we contemplate our origin, we are to recognize not how great we are, but how great our God is. There are those that make up stories, make up myths, wanting to entertain the notion that they somehow from this, they make up a story about their origin because they want to think of how great they are and how great as a people they are. When we contemplate our origins, It directs us to think of how great our God is. All that we are, we owe to him. That's what we sing. It's good to meditate on that. All that I am, I owe to thee. Thy wisdom, Lord, hath fashioned me. So that we contemplate that as we live our life. We're to live our life as those who are showing in our life that all that we are, we owe to Him, who in wisdom has fashioned us. And as we study, We're to do that as those who are in awe of our God. Whether we be studying biology, and this is an application in the study of biology in our schools, or outside of our schools, if we're pursuing studying in biology, if we're reading up on it on our own, that we study these things and marvel at the work of God while we're studying them. marveling at the detail of his work. And when we study theology, about how we were created in Christ Jesus, was he that made us, now we ourselves, We were saved by irresistible, irresistible, efficacious, particular grace. I stand in awe of him, marvel at his work, marvel at what he sees, fearing him who sees us. Undoubtedly, there is a stress upon that. When we were in the womb, we couldn't be seen. When you were in the womb, when I was in the womb, you and I could not be seen. God saw us. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret or in the hiding place, the secret place. My substance was not hid from thee. Thine eyes did see my substance. Verse 16. Not hidden from God. God sees thee, saws, he knows us. When we are formed in the womb, one would say in the darkness of the womb, yet the darkness and the light are both alike to God. Darkness and light are both alike to thee. He sees. He certainly knows he who made us He who formed us, he who sees all, certainly sees us now. We can't escape. Though I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I shall say darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. He sees us. The book of Revelation and those letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three read repeatedly that phrase, I know thy, I know thy works. His knowledge, we sing, oh, wondrous knowledge. awful might, unfathomed depth, unmeasured height. Psalter 382. And it's him who knows us and him who sees, who sees all. that we in godly fear want him to search us. Search us. We desire our maker to search us. Our father to search us. Our friend. And then we teach that to our children, too. We not only tell you children that God knows where you are, he knows your thoughts, he knows your words before you say them. He knows. There's nothing that can be hid from him. Child may be able to succeed for a time in keeping something hidden from mom and dad, but not from God. He knows. He who formed you, he who made you, he knows. He searches. He shows us our sin. And he chastens us in love. We desire Him to search us. We do want to see our own sin. We want Him to show us our sin. We make that request believing that there's no condemnation for those in Christ who believe in Christ who offered the perfect sacrifice that were washed as was signified by baptism. There's no condemnation. Christ is satisfied. The justice of God. We in thankfulness and love for our God and godly fear, we want to be delivered from every evil way. We want to be delivered from sin. Lead me. We ask God to lead me. Search me, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. I want to be delivered from every evil way. Lead me. in the way everlasting that we want to be like our father. We want to do what's pleasing to our God. And there's a number of more applications to this. We've made some along the way. Undoubtedly, this brings up that we're never to take away the life of a child in a womb. And yet, that's so common today, and in the just recent election that we had, so much talk was about that. That so many voting and voting with a concern that they so much wanted it to be the case that it would still be legal to end the life of a child in the womb. We're never to do that. And we are not, we're not to be deliberately. There's many times that the child does die in the womb. Or there's times when the life of a mother is very much in danger. There are some very difficult situations But we're talking about what is so common that people just decide they don't want the baby. And they'd like to have, be able to turn to end its life. And we say, no, that's not to be the case. We speak of ourselves being in the womb. That what was in the womb was me. was you. Even when you were so, you and I were so, so small. That was me. That was you. And of course it can't be. There's so many things today that We bring up that in the past we even probably have even thought to bring up the fact that the Bible clearly speaks of my mother's womb. Can't be claiming to be a man. Someone that gives birth. Wanting to be called the birthing parent. It's the mother, it's a woman in the womb of a woman who was our mother. A man can't give birth. And we and our children, we and our children are to be attentive to God's works that are what we would say perhaps familiar, and yet they should excite awe. The birth of a child, seeing a young child born, or seeing a young child soon after birth. One may think, well, you see a child, you've seen little children before. It's important for us to take thought of what God has done. and to marvel at his works, and to remember that our bodies and souls are temples of the Holy Spirit. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, that he who has formed us, he's formed us for himself, We are His. Our body and our soul, in body and soul, we are to serve Him with godly fear. And that we're to remember that ourselves personally, as well as others, are precious members of the body. for us to remember that about ourselves, a proper view of ourselves. On the one hand, we're not to be proud. We're not to exalt ourselves above others. All the others are precious members of the body of Christ. But to say that about oneself too, and so am I. And each one of us has been formed According to God's will, and throughout this life, he prepares us and we are to work together. That together, we're members of a body. And we're supposed to work together. Not everybody living apart from the others, we're supposed to work together. to help one another, and to show esteem of one another, and together to praise him. We gather together to praise him, to hear his word, to praise him. We say in this verse, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. You confess that? You do. God's works are marvelous. My soul knows that. My soul knows that right well. I will praise thee. I will praise thee. I will make reference to specific works of God. I will meditate on thy works, and I will praise thy works. And we and our children are to praise the works of our God together. Discuss these things together. Together turn away from that which he despises. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men. And we want to turn away from all that is displeasing to God and be apart from all those that walk impenitently in evil ways. Depart from me. I love my God. I will serve my God. Depart from me, ye bloody men. I will serve my Maker. I will think about Him at the nighttime, and I will awake and think about Him. I will wake. When I awake, I'm still with Thee. We wake up conscious. I'm with God, even if I'm alone. From a certain point of view, I awake and I'm with thee. My God, I was cast upon him from the womb, and he that has formed me will not forsake me. He doesn't forsake the works of his hands. We sing, my life in all its perfect plan was ordered ere my days began. May we together exalt the name of our God with our children. What a wonderful blessing that God's covenant is with our children as well, and to see them fear God. May we together discuss his works and appreciate one another and live to his honor. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God and our Father, we are very thankful for thy grace given to us and to our children, for the mercy that thou hast shown to us in Christ Jesus. Lord, forgive us our sins, deliver us from evil, search us and our children, and may we together be led by thee in the way everlasting. Grant this to us, we pray, for Christ's sake. Amen.