God's Word to Psalm 139, or if you don't have your Bible with you, you can look in the bulletin on page 9, and you will find the 24 verses of Psalm 139. And we're going to go through these verses at least twice in this sermon, but I'm going to read the entire text to set the scene. And because this is God's Word, we want to pay careful attention to it. And we want the Word of God to sift us and to purify us and to teach us. So let us give attention to the Word of God. For the chief musician, a psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you, for you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written. The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, They would be more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. O that you would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men! For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. May God add his blessing to the reading and the hearing of his perfect, absolutely perfect and true word. We come to Psalm 139. This is the 11th psalm in our series. I went back and counted them, and this is a majestic song, and it is a song. It's in the hymnal of Israel. It's in the hymnal of God's people, and it's about God's personal and careful involvement in every aspect of every person's life, even the lives of those who are his enemies. And in this psalm of David, there are at least six attributes of God that are very important to us as his creatures. We learn from this psalm that God is a living God, that he is personal, that he is omniscient, that he is omnipresent, that he is omnipotent, and he is wrathful. And each of these are displayed through distinct divine actions that are shown in this psalm. God's people are comforted, corrected, and they're called to offer worship to Him when they see how perfect and personal He is and how He knows us and how He keeps us. Those who are not God's people, they should be warmed and they should be discomforted. In fact, according to what we knew from Scripture, they should be terrified and humbled by seeing that what this Psalm says about the God who deals with those who resist Him and reject His offer of salvation. So as we approach this psalm, I want to start by observing the two of God's attributes together, the fact that He is the living God and the fact that He is the personal God, and then I want to define the other four attributes of omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and His wrath as they are displayed in our text. So as we get started, I think it's important to take a moment to be clear on what God teaches in the Bible about Himself, because if we try to define these things ourselves, we're going to come up with odd ideas. God's ways are not our ways. Our ways are not God's ways. He has to teach us so that His ways become our ways. Also, there's no one who knows God like God knows God. No one will explain Him the way He will. A lot of people soft-pedal who God is. They make God into a weakling and a softie and an effeminate God and a toothless God and a pleading God and a begging God, and that's not the God of the Bible. He's an ombre. He is he's he's magnificent in all of his ways. So no one can explain him like he can so Let me let me ask the congregation. I want to I want y'all to you be quiet Jonathan. What is Jonathan's favorite food? What is Jonathan's favorite food See You don't know the best you can do is guess Jonathan. What's your favorite food? What's your favorite dessert? Chocolate Okay, another question who is who is my favorite football player of all time Oh Jackson I caught a pass from Johnny Unitas one time, though, in Charleston. See, unless God tells you, unless God has spoken, unless we listen to what He says about Himself, we will never be able to do any more than guess about who He is, or what He is, or what He wants, or how to follow Him in the way that is acceptable to Him. And when we do make these guesses, our guesses are usually wrong. And they're usually seriously wrong, because God is no one to mess around with. He's not one to play games with. And when people start guessing and they start importing false ideas that come from their limited and vain imaginations about this unseen and infinite God, it's not long until we're in trouble. We've invented a false, different, insufficient, and harmful God. And it is so hard once we get this figment of imagination of a God in our minds, it's so hard to displace that misunderstanding and to replace that error with truth. So as we go through this passage, we're gonna see what God says about each one of these attributes. So let's look at, when you look at your text, let's see what God says about him. Well, first, I want you to notice in verse one, right off the bat, that God is addressed by David as a living person and is using God's personal name. Verse 1, Oh Yahweh. It says Oh Lord, all capitals, L-O-R-D. Since you don't read Hebrew, Oh Yahweh. And where did this come from? Well, when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of bondage to slavery, he was about to go to see Pharaoh, and he wanted to know, when I go and represent you to Pharaoh, who am I supposed to say sent me? Exodus 3 15 so God said to Moses when the people ask you who sent you This is what you shall say to the children of Israel Yahweh Elohim of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you This is my name forever So his name is Yahweh one of his titles is Elohim and what's the difference between a title and a name? well Joe favorite titles right That's his name is Donald Trump his title is the president majestic in power and glory so I wouldn't call I wouldn't say hey you with the deep voice over here on the on the second row if I wanted to speak to Chester I'd say hey Chester sing with a deep voice or you know you don't call people by their that's why we that's why sometimes in the scripture we'll say we'll speak to God the Holy Spirit or Holy Spirit come to me or Holy Spirit hear me because it that's his name this is this his name so El Shaddai means provider. You've heard his title is El Shaddai, but that's not his name. Zidkanu means the Holy One. That's a title. But Yahweh is a personal name. It's His eternal name. It's His covenant name, and it's used to show relationship. And the name declares God or Yahweh to be the one person, this is big, Yahweh is the one person who cannot not exist. He cannot not exist. In fact, he is the one who causes anything that exists except himself to exist. And when David speaks to God, he knows that this is the living God who is hearing him, who has a personal name, and they have this relationship. But addressing God by his personal name in our text three times in this psalm, in verse one, in verse four, and in verse 21. And when he addresses, O Yahweh, David is certain that God hears him and communicates. And he also uses the personal pronoun you in this psalm, where you'll find it in 24 verses, you'll find it 31 times. And when he speaks of El or Elohim by title, this is three times also in this text, verses 17, 19, and 23. So God is a personal God. He is a person, he's a personal God, and he has a name and a title. He has one name and lots of titles. So the psalmist David makes it clear that the living person of God is willing to be addressed in personal conversation. But what about God's omniscience? Well, omniscience is where God knows all things, all events, and all circumstances in a complete and exhaustive way that's always accurate and there is no separation between Him and His knowledge. He knows these things absolutely. Can I prove that? Well, Hebrews 4.12, for the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any tool. to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. So according to this verse, no creature great or small, no person great or small is hidden from God. No person great or small is unknown by God. And the good news is, if you're a believer, that includes you. Well is that, is this truth in this psalm? Well if you look at the first six verses, notice, O Lord, you have searched me and known me, his omniscience. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my path and my lying down. You are acquainted. The word there, acquainted, means personally familiar or intimately and personally familiar with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, oh Lord, oh, this is oh Yahweh there. You know it completely. You've laid your hand upon me. You know, we can't feel God lay his hand upon us. Or if I were to walk over to Jerry and put my hand on his shoulder. But we know that God lays his hand on us because he says so and because we can sense it. We know that God is with us and guiding us. Knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. And I can't even... I can't attain it without His help. So, God is definitely... I want you to know that technically, theologically, being omnipresent, probably the first thing that comes into most people's mind is he's everywhere, he's everywhere, right? That's not exactly accurate. Technically, it means... Well, it does not mean that... to everything anything all things all the time and God is not in you ladies geranium and your geranium is not in God but your geranium is in God's presence and he takes note of your geranium just like he does all other things is that in the scripture Jeremiah 23 24 can anyone hide himself in a secret place so that I shall not Verse Kings 827, Behold, heaven, the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you. Proverb 15.3, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. His watchful presence covers all creation. Nothing escapes his gaze. But one of those verses that's very, that we love so much because it's so personal, is for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Isn't it just an amazing thing that Jesus Christ said those words? God the Son, we are all in His presence. He is in the midst of us, we are in the presence of Him. These anthropomorphisms we have to use, but isn't it wonderful that He's here? are we're in his presence as you should rightly think about it. Christ promises his spiritual presence among believers in worship and fellowship and when they're making even to the end of the age I'm in. The risen Christ assures His continuing presence with His church to the very end of the age, but better than that, even more than that, where else does He promise His continuing presence? After the end of the age, after Not only in this life and not only to the end of the world not only to the end of time as we know it but in Eternity he is going to be with me and you forever and ever and ever Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength of very present help and trouble anybody here got trouble I God's with you. His nearness is not abstract. He is present in your time of need. And is this truth contained in this psalm? Well, look at verses 7 through 10. Where can I go from your spirit? What do you think the answer to that is? Nowhere. Or where can I flee from your presence? Nowhere. If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, and the word hell there is the word for grave. It's not the burning place of sulfur that many people will go to. Behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me. Nobody else could do that. Nobody else. If I could go those places, none of you could go with me. But he's there he he's with me and your right hand shall hold me you hear me pray all the time that we're in That we're in God's hand and his hand is good and that that delights my heart that delights my soul And when we read these verses we have a vivid description of God's omnipresence There is no place that that you can go no place that I can go no no that we can escape being in his presence. So if you fall asleep and you roll over and you're out camping and you fall into a deep, deep, deep, deep well, and it's dark. and you can't get out, and nobody's gonna come looking for you, and nobody's gonna come find you, and you're there, and the first thing you should think is, I am not by myself. God is with me. I am in his presence, even here. And if I fall into that deep, deep well, and that search party can't find me, but I die, and my soul goes to be with Christ, on the last day my body will be resurrected too and rejoined with my soul, and we will be there. You will be there, I will be there, even in those kinds of circumstances. That's the kind of power and promise that we have from God's omnipresence. But God is also, according to our passage, omnipotent. That's the ability to do all things that do not conflict with His divine nature or His will. When we say omnipotent, that does not mean that He can do anything. Omnipotence is wrongly defined as God can do anything, but He does have all power to do His divine will. Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created. We see power there, that with just the Word, He can speak worlds into existence. He can speak universes into existence. He can form what we see, and He formed those things ex nihilo, from nothing. So Genesis 1, the Bible opens with a verse declaring that God is the creator of all things and he did this in six days. So creation itself testifies to God's effortless power and his mere word brings nothing into reality. Jeremiah 32 17. I love this passage. Ah Lord God Behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm There is nothing too hard for you There's nothing too hard for God that still doesn't mean he can do anything Jeremiah exalts the power of the one who created all things in a clear confession of omnipotence Romans 120, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are being clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that men are without excuse. So all creation bears witness to His eternal and infinite power. Job 42.2, I know that you can do everything you will to do and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. So what do we know about God? That He can do all His holy will, right? Isn't that what we understand? But would it be His holy will to lie? Would it be His holy will to sin? Would it be His holy will to die? Would it be His holy will to be unwise? Would it be His holy will to fail? Would it be His holy will to create another God? Would it be His holy will to share His glory, the glory that belongs to only Him, with someone else? Absolutely not. Though He can do anything that is according to His holy will, by His nature He cannot even want to want to want to do any of these things. He can't want to do wrong. He cannot lie or sin or deny Himself or die or be unwise or fail or create another God or share His glory. Is this in this passage? Verses 13, starting there. For you formed my inward parts. Remember, I have a friend who told me that he can build spaceships, but he can't build a sparrow. God can build a sparrow. Men can do all kinds of wonderful things. In fact, Genesis chapter 11 says that God created men in his own image so we could do marvelous things. But we, even with the ability to do marvelous things, can't save ourselves? We are going to die. We can't keep ourselves from dying. We can't keep ourselves alive forever. But God is able to form even a baby in the womb. You formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully, which means with awesome honor, the word fearful there in that case in Hebrew means awesome honor, and wonderfully made. Marvelous, and the word marvelous means too hard for anyone else to do. Marvelous are, it's actually impossible for anyone else to do. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you, there's the omniscience again, when I was made in secret, and skillfully, skillfully, wrought or woven in the lowest parts of the earth. A metaphor for the womb. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. And the word unformed there is the word embryo in Latin, embryo. and in your book they were all written. What kind of great God is this who can actually declare what your life is going to be before your life even exists? He is absolutely the sovereign God. But in verse 17 he says, how precious. How important you are to God. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast the sum of them. How many times in a day does God think of you? Now remember, we're talking about God. We're not talking about, you know, a Cray computer. We're not talking about a bank of computers. We're not talking about all the geniuses in the world getting together and trying to accomplish this task. But if you were to put all those things together, you could not match how many times God thinks of you in a day. He thinks of you more times in a day than there is sand on all the beaches and in the Middle East. in one day. And how does he do that? I don't know. But do I know that he does it? Yes, I do. And how do I know that he does it? Because he says so right here. If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. And when I awake, I'm still with you. amazing that God is that kind of great God and He's our God. And then we come to this next part about God's attribute of wrath. And wrath is where he exercises the correct and absolute punishment against the guilty. He meets out the payment for sin. Romans 2, 5, in accordance with the hardness and impendence of your heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Ephesians 5-6, let no one deceive you with empty words. This is an echo from your confession a while ago. For the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Probably the most biting declaration of God's wrath, and it's in the New Testament. It's about Jesus, 2 Thessalonians 1. The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on all those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction. Is this intimated in our text? Verse 19, oh that you would slay the wicked, oh that you would kill the guilty, oh God. Depart from me therefore you bloodthirsty men verse 20 for they speak against you wickedly I don't and I don't care if if a person has a PhD or 15 PhDs and three masters or four masters degrees if he's speaking against God and if he's speaking wrongly about God he is speaking wickedly I study philosophers. Some of us here do that. And some of these guys are nothing but desperately wicked and desperately wrong. They take God's name in vain. And what do I mean by that? They don't stand up and try to curse God, but they use God's name in ways that it is not supposed to be used. They're using his name without giving it the honor that it's always due. Therefore, they're speaking wickedly. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? Verse 22, I hate them with perfect. And the word perfect is such a great word. It means with a perfectly limited hatred. Which means that when we properly hate, that's the kind of hatred that we have to be given so that we hate the things that God hates. We abhor the things that God abhors. We despise the things that God despises. Does that mean that we raise our hands against them? Not necessarily, not necessarily. I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. But then we come full circle. Back in Psalm 139.1, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. And now in verse 23, we have a prayer, more of a prayer. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, know my wrong thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. David here is praying for God to examine him, to search him, to probe him, to sift him, to make this a thorough examination, to explore the depths of his thinking, to explore the depths of his emotions, and explore the depths of his passions. And he's asking God for this continued search or searching into the hidden corners of his heart. And he's saying, in effect, Lord, examine me deeply and uncover anything false, uncover anything that would bring anxiety, uncover anything that would cause me to sin that I might not see, that I might stumble upon. And you see, this is the prayer of a man who appreciates the attributes of God. He appreciates the personal relationship that he has. He appreciates that God is a communicating, living God that he can call on and depend on. He appreciates that God is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God. And because he knows God is these things, he can call on God to use his attributes for his benefit. You know one of the safest places you could be in the world? My house. Mike George's house. You know why? I've got guns. Lots and lots and lots of guns. Does anyone here ever think I would use them against you? They're powerful. I've got 45s, I've got 308s, 7-6-2-by-51s for some of us. I've got 5-5-6s. No. Will God ever use His attributes against His people? Absolutely not, ever. Will He use His attributes for His people? Yes, and you should expect Him and call on Him to use His attributes for you because He is the personal God who loves you and cares for you and knows you in this intimate way. So he asked for God to see if there's any wicked way in him, any path that leads to sin, leads to ruin, and so forth. So in his greatness, He is able to be all that we really need. In my ignorance, He is able to teach me. In my weakness, He is able to help me. In my loneliness, He is able to comfort me. And though I sin, He is able to save me from the punishment that I deserve. So my question is, what's He doing for you today? What's He going to do for you? What's He going to do in you? And what's He going to do with you? Because if He knows you in that loving relationship, you can trust that it's going to be something worth doing. It's not going to be nothing. It's going to be something worth doing because He is perfectly able. Amen? Amen. Please prepare yourselves now to receive the supper of the Lord.