All right, let's get started this morning. Good morning, everybody. Everybody can be here. If you will, just start with me in a word of prayer. That'll help. All right, start with me in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we bless you and we praise you, Lord, because you are God and you are the creator of all things. Lord, we bless you for your word. that you have given to us, and we thank you for your son, Lord. We pray that this morning we would be changed through this wonderful Davidic psalm, and Lord, I pray that you would help us to reflect upon our own hearts and look at that through the lens of scripture as you see us through your eyes. Lord, I pray that you would work in our hearts, Lord, to make us more like Jesus, and we pray that you would gently increase your refining fire on us so that we may become who you have called us to be. Lord, we bless you and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so Psalm 139. So now, this morning, being in Psalm 139, this is going to be the final collection of the Davidic Psalms. So Psalm 138 through Psalm 145 are the last collection of the Davidic Psalms. Now, I want to talk a little bit about last week with Elias' psalm that he taught us in 138. We want to see how David thinks about God as being constantly before him and helping him throughout the different times and troubles of his life. And then also, we will see how he encourages and also invites his fellow kings of the nations to join in the praise and worship of the one true God and to forsake their idols that they have been drawn to. All right, just kind of a recap of Psalm 138. It opened with Davidic's wholehearted worship as he contrasted the living God with lesser, inconsequential, carved by human hands and impotent idols. It is also worth remembering that David praises the Lord because God kept his word and he can fully rely upon the Lord for all things. It's also important for us to know that God didn't remove David from his trials, but God prepared him as a refiner does in order that the object will be able to continue and endure through the entire trial. One of the ways that Paul teaches us about ways of escape is often through endurance of continuing through it. Now just like that piece of metal that is being refined, the path to strength often runs through weakness. There's different times in which that metal is brittle and it must be handled correctly or it will break. David's heart's desire is that the kings of all the nations would destroy their idols and run to the one true and living God. David views the law of God as perfect and it is something that which brings order to society so that everyone may flourish and benefit from God's perfect law. Now, many songs have been inspired from the paradox of might versus mercy, right? We see things like the king being born in a manger or the creator of all things upon the cross. We also see how the almighty God will descend to meet lowly, pitiful sinners. Now, David did not escape his troubles, but God continued to persevere him. David endured many, many trials and throughout his life, the living God acted on his behalf. God moved mightily during the life of David and the Lord used his outstretched arms similarly to the way he displayed his great strength and power during the exodus. So time and time again, the Lord was faithful in his covenant, in his covenant love to teach David and to protect David. The life of David is good for us to look at and see how a sinful man was chosen by a holy God to accomplish all that God purposed in order to display his glory. Now David's life isn't a secret, you can read about it, and David himself did not keep his sin a secret. He was always ready to ask God to forgive him and to lead him in the way of righteousness. It's important for us at this point to stop and think about why it is that David was even king in the first place. So how did Israel get a king originally? Do we know that answer? Where does it come from? When did Israel get a king? First Samuel, that's right, okay. So in 1 Samuel, so we need to look back at 1 Samuel 8. When Israel demanded a king, or so Israel demanded a king in 1 Samuel 8 because Samuel had reached his old age. Well, that's not why. The reason they wanted a king is because their hearts were evil and they were wicked. They didn't want to serve their king, the one true God. But more to that point and the reasons why. So Samuel had reached old age and he had made his sons judges. But what were his sons? They were wicked sons, right? They didn't walk in the way of the Lord, but they took bribes and they perverted justice. So verse 8 of 1 Samuel 8 says that the people demanded that Samuel give them a king to rule over them. And Samuel was very much displeased by this. And Samuel therefore says to the Lord and reaches out to the Lord and says, this is what they want. And what does the Lord say? Obey the voice of the people. This is a form of judgment, right? Because the Lord in verse 8 says, according to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, they are also going to do to you, or they're also doing to you. So the main problem was that they just didn't want to serve God. They wanted to serve someone else, they wanted their own idol, if you will, they wanted to create a king and have that king be because they want to be like the other nations. And so they didn't want to be called out and separate. They wanted to fit in, so to speak. Yeah, they wanted they wanted a visual of an actual person. That's right. They just said this. So the reason that they wanted an earthly king is because their hearts had grown cold towards the Lord. They did not love the Lord with all their heart, as they are commanded in Deuteronomy 6, which we'll talk about. They did not love the Lord their God with all their heart, and therefore they chose to make a man their idol, and to rule over them, and in a sense, to worship him. Now, they chose to be like the other nations that God called them to be separate from, and they chose out of their own inventions to worship something that they had thought of in their mind. Samuel even gave them a warning as to what would happen to the people's children if a man were to rule over them. He talks about their sons would be called into the army and their daughters would be called into the house of the king, all these things, their lives would be ripped apart, it would be changed as they know it, it would never be the same again. And again, when we do not walk in the way that the Lord has called us to walk. What does he do? Sometimes he gives us over to our sin a little bit. And then kind of like Adam, where are you, Adam? Right? So we can feel that way, too. So this is applicable for us. So their wicked hearts would create more difficulty for them because they chose to work. They chose not to worship the one true and living God. So all right, so they want a king. So what the people do. So they chose the tallest. that shows the handsomest, it shows the most wealthy man that they could find to be their king, and they chose Saul to be their king. But the problem with that is God is not a respecter of persons. He does not look at the outward things, but he rather looks at the inward part of a man. God looks at the heart. Okay. So this morning, we're going to be talking a lot about the heart. I'm focused on the heart this morning. So if you ever get off in the weeds, think about the heart and see what's what we're talking about here. In 1 Samuel 13, 13 and 14, we read, and Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept the way the Lord commanded So that is definitely judgment. All right, so in this morning's lesson, we're going to look at four little aspects. We're going to look at God's omniscience, as he is the one who knows all things about all things. He is the one who knows what everything is made of, because he is the one who made it. He is the one who knows what happens before they even come to pass. He is the one who knows what we will speak before we speak it. And the reason he knows those things is because his knowledge is above ours. We will also see God's omnipresence as he is everywhere at once. There is nowhere anyone can go that will escape God. It is impossible to run to the east or to the west and escape him. You could not ascend into the heavens, nor could you go down into the depths of the earth where God is not there. Wherever you go, there he is. We will also be looking at God's great omnipotence, his great power. He is put on display. God puts his power and display in that God is the one who creates life. He is the one who knits and who fashions us together. Everything God does is perfect. All his works are wonderful. It's a precious gift to be chosen by God before we did anything. It's a wonderful thing to be known by God. We want to keep that in mind as well. What great power it is to take those who are far off and to bring them in. because that's what God did. He took his enemies and brought us in. God has done wondrous works since he began working. Finally, we will see David's full-blown allegiance unto the living and speaking God. His desire is that those who oppose God would be destroyed. He asks God to slay those who oppose him. Those who oppose God speak evilly, speak evil against him, and their hearts are full of wickedness and murder. Those who oppose God blaspheme his name and he abhors those who commit rebellion. He continues to say to all those who oppose God, he counts them as enemies and he has nothing but indignation and hatred towards them. Finally, as he began, he closes with asking God to search him and to know his heart and he wants to make sure that He is not one of those who is an enemy of the Lord. He must be right before the great king and creator of all that exists. So David's perspective is right. He wants to be right before the Lord. So David knew his sin well. When we read in Psalm 51, it's clear that David's heart was deeply saddened by his sin with Bathsheba and murdering of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. His penitence before the Lord is palpable. And as he asks God for mercy, he beseeches God and his great chesed. He asks the Lord to blot out his sin and to make it no more. His desire is to be washed and cleansed from all of his unrighteousness. He acknowledges that his sin is always before him. He owns his sin as being against the Lord and against the Lord only. Now we understand that he did sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, but the weight of the sin altogether is worse because the sin is ultimately against God. He takes responsibility and is accountable to God as the righteous judge. He comes into the world sinful because his parents were sinners, but God delights in the truth, and God is the one who teaches the heart in secret places, or in the secret place. So this morning I put together, I felt as though what I extrapolated from the lesson is that the main idea this morning is that David's heart is that asking God to continue to cultivate David's heart in order that he would continue to walk in the way of the Lord. And so I just believe that it's more of an aspect of David asking God to continue to make him more like Jesus, to continue to make him more like someone other than who he is. And so he knows that God knows best. And so I believe that his desire is that God would help him and refine him into becoming who it is that God has him to be. because the Lord knows best. And it's always good to be known by the Lord. Okay, so I have four basic points today. The structure that we have in verses one through six, we'll see God's omniscience. In verses seven through 12, we'll see God's omnipresence. In 13 through 18, we'll see God's omnipotence. And finally, in 19 through 24, we'll see David's allegiance. Okay. Did everybody get a chance to read? Because we have 24 verses. I want to read this because I want us to be on the page. So it's just going to take me a minute. So bear with me as I read our passage this morning. Psalm 139, 1 through 24. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings, of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall uphold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them. The days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, oh God. How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, oh God. Oh, men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, oh Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Okay. So let's look at our first little stanza verses one through six. So this is we're gonna be looking at God's omniscience here. God's knowing of all things. David speaks boldly to the Lord. For he knows the Lord's omniscience and he knows that God is the one who is the creator and the savior. The Lord specially blessed David and chose him to be the king who would be the lineage of the true king who would one day reign forever. Now, we know that David knew his Bible because I'm reminded of Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. God gave David a new heart. And so God searched out that heart. And David is the man that he became because God gave him a new heart. Do you have a new heart this morning? So in verses two and three, you can see the effects of God's law being written upon the heart of David. This reminds me of Deuteronomy 6, four through nine. We remember that, but you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples. who when they hear all these statutes will say, surely the great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Only take care and keep your soul diligently. Let yourself forget the things that your eyes have seen. unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make known to them your children and your children's children. So in verse four, David knew his Bible well, and he was well-versed, and he knew that God said, he knew what God said, and he had complete trust in the Lord. He would even remember the Lord called Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh in Exodus, right? So we're thinking, we're talking about, hang on, left, Sorry about that. So basically, the Lord knew what was what was needing to be said before we even say things. So God appointed Moses to be the one who would speak for him when he sent him to Pharaoh, right? And so Moses said to the Lord, oh Lord, I'm not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I'm slow to speech and of tongue. And the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will give you or, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. So many times we forget that God is the one who makes everything. And when God tells us and calls us to go and do things, we sometimes sit here and think that God's like us. Well, he's not. When God calls us to go and do things, you're gonna go at some point. So we're also encouraged through the Gospel of Luke to stand fast according to what God has called us to do. And when the proper time comes, he will provide for us the words to speak. It's also encouraging to remember that man does not live by bread alone. But what do we live by? We live by every word, by the words that proceed out of the mouth of God. Therefore, we're able to trust that God's word is that which makes us alive, and it sustains us, and it ultimately saves us. See, in Luke 12, 11 and 12, we read, And when they bring you before the synagogue and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. So with regard to speech, don't be afraid. God's gonna give you the words. And if God doesn't give you the words, then maybe you ought not say something. I know that's true for myself. So look at verse five. So this shows us how God divinely uses David's circumstances in order to limit his actions. So we read, you hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. So this just means that God was always around him. There was a hedge of protection around him. Whatever David did, God was there. See, the tone that he's writing in is that David feels that he's either surrounded by the Lord lovingly or at times he feels as though he's under siege by God and Throughout verses 2 through 5 God has been watching David his entire life. There is nothing that David does That God does not see God is constantly the protector and corrector for David David understands that the Lord has been extremely merciful to him throughout his entire life, and he's thankful for the Lord's presence constantly around him and With his hand upon him So he's not just around him, but he's also guiding him and protecting him. There is nothing as wonderful as feeling the hand of your loving father upon you, who is the one who is there to guide and to comfort you. It's wonderful. See, in verse six, it's not feasible for us to comprehend the infinite knowledge and omniscience of our God and creator. We can't understand it. We're finite beings, so we're limited. So that means in everything, we're limited in the amount of life we have and in the knowledge and understanding we have. We can't understand God fully right now. We cannot attain the knowledge that he has, and that's because we're not God. So because we have limitations, we're limited physically, mentally, spiritually. There's limitations upon us. But I believe that the book of Job in chapter 25 best describes the comparison of man to God as being a worm. So man cannot be righteous in and of himself. Therefore, since a man cannot be righteous in and of himself, he is in need. So we, you know, from remember when Joe was talking to his wonderful friends. Chapter 25 is regarding to build out the shoe height, the shortest man in the Bible. And he is the one who gives this. He gives good information here. Because yeah, man is a worm in comparison to God. And we can understand fully. But God gives us new hearts, and he gives us new minds to know who he is. So therefore, since, oh wait, so it's a wonderful thing to be known by the God who speaks, right? So many people are always talking about, well, I know who God is, and this and that. But to be known by the God who speaks is more beneficial to us than us knowing him, because in order for us to know him, he must first know us. All right. So God's greatest desire is to display his glory throughout the entire world in order that his son would receive the praise and the glory that is due to his name for those who worship him rightly and with a contrite heart. He will also receive the due glory that he deserves from the justice that is pronounced upon those who willfully choose to hate him and flee from his presence. God will be glorified by those who receive justice and help. That's true. So this is, this is, this is encouraging, because our great King, King Jesus, loves us in such a way that he allows us to go through difficult trials. See, he knows more than we do. We don't even know what we need. We don't understand the trials that we go through are necessary for us to be more like Jesus. So because Jesus loves to display his glory, last week we saw in John 11 that Jesus delayed in going to see Lazarus when he was sick in order that he might die, and that Mary and Martha and all those around would go through the difficult circumstances of death, and Jesus in doing this was compassionate to Mary and Martha and Lazarus because he knew what they needed. He knew that they needed, or he knew that he must allow Lazarus to die and he must be known to be dead in order for Jesus to display his full glory as the resurrection and the life in that situation. It was a blessing. It was a blessing to hear that last week. In our next passage, we're looking at verses seven to 12, God's omnipresence. So there is nowhere that David could go where he was apart from the Lord. From the time as a shepherd of protecting the flock and defending it against wolves and bears and lions, to David protecting Israel and cutting off the head of Goliath. In times of peace and in times of war, and of times of war, of being afraid, and the times when David danced before the Lord even, he was always under the watchful eye of his Heavenly Father. And he understood that the turmoil may come, and he may be surrounded by armies that he cannot defeat in his own might, but he understands that there is nothing too difficult for the Lord. Even when David is surrounded by darkness, the Lord is outside of the darkness, looking at it, yet ever present with David as David is going through it. So these six verses are extremely comforting because we also struggle with the same types of concerns. They're different, but we all have struggles, and we all have darkness which seems to surround us, and so we can understand that. So this is helpful for us because David was a man that was after God's own heart, and he had these struggles. And we too, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have been changed, have been given this same new heart. It's wonderful. So in Psalm 51 11, We see David praying and crying out to the Lord. He says, cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. He knew the importance of God being with him and dwelling with him. He understood that Emmanuel would come one day, but he also had the presence of God of giving him the peace. So another account that comes to my mind is the account of Jonah. So if you remember the account of Jonah, you'll remember that God called Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and to call them to repentance. Well, Jonah was a disobedient man, and furthermore, he hated those people in Nineveh, and he didn't want God to save them because he knew God would do it. So in his sin, Jonah decides to flee from the presence of the Lord, from his heart also, right? So he's trying to run away, and this is silly, again, because he's trying to run away from God. He's like, okay, so now I want you to think about this with me just for a moment. The logic of sin is always irrational. The reason it's irrational, because as Jonah is on the boat fleeing from where he's supposed to go, God sends a storm. See, he provided a storm for him. And the storm is great, and it is close to sinking the vessel. And so all the men on there, they're talking, and they're trying to figure it out, and they're drawing straws, and the straw falls on Jonah, right? And so finally he tells them, they're like, who are you? What have you done to us? They're very upset with him. And so Jonah says, he tells him that he is a Hebrew, and he fears the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the dry ground and the sea. My question is, where are you going? Where do you think you can go? You're trying to flee from the presence of the Lord? Well, you're doing that in your heart, but you can't do it physically. Right? I mean, do you ever feel that way? I do. I feel that way, that I run. God tells me to do something. No. And then he sends me a storm and reminds me of who he is and calls me back to himself, right? So where is he running? Where do you think he can go? You can't run away from God. So your God is the God of the dry land and of the sea, and you're running away from him on the sea. So as fast as you run, you run right into him. But we must remember that God is faithful. And as he is being faithful in that situation, he even prepared a fish for Jonah to live in, right? So he provided that fish for Jonah to live in for three days. Now, was God with him there? Absolutely. Absolutely. So, stop running. Stop running away. The Apostle Paul gives us great comfort in the book of Romans when he talks about there being nothing that's able to separate us from the presence of the Lord. Romans 8, 38 and 39. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. All right, so in verses 9 and 10, we see the expression of wings of the morning in the uttermost parts of the sea. Now these are being used in his expression of distance. And no matter where we are, the Lord dwells with us. God has chosen to tabernacle with his people and he won't ever leave us. Verses 11 and 12, we read that darkness shall cover me. Well, that is a way of speaking about difficulties or trials in our lives. It could refer to the time in Egypt when darkness covered the land due to the judgments and plagues of God. We understand when people walk about in a dark time in their life, as to something that's difficult for them or traumatic, typically, that is referred to as a dark time. Here, David, in the Lord, or excuse me, David is recognizing that nothing is too difficult for the Lord. And so in John 1, 4 and 5, we read that in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Then we also go on and read in Luke 1, 67 to 80. I won't read the, well, it's not that long. So this is Zachariah's prayer. So, alright, beginning in 67, And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father, Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people. in the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. Second Corinthians 4.6. For God said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And then John 1 5, this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God, excuse me, 1 John 1 5. This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So in verses 13 through 18, we'll see God's omnipotence. So when God made man, he put on display his own great omnipotence. Being that life begins at conception, we can tell that God is the one who is in the midst of this, for only God can give life, 1 John 1.4. God has formed us and knitted us together, and in doing so, this process requires a plan and a design. Though God's omniscience, or through God's omniscience, he has delicately put us together And how he creates us as human beings, he has even created the mother's womb for us uniquely for the child. God has also placed it in the mother to provide for the child exactly what the child needs through the delicate process of growing into what God makes. As the child grows in the womb, the power of God continues to be put on display in the way that he provides everything that the child needs through the mother. She is the life support for the unborn child. In verse 14, I believe this kind of takes us back to creation. He says, I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. So I believe this goes back to creation, because when God created man in Genesis 1, 26 to 31, God says that he made us in his own image. He also says, behold, everything that he made was very good. So when David talks about being made in secret in verse 15, or in the depths of the earth, he is using figurative speech for being formed in the womb. Originally, man, or Adam, was formed from the dust, and therefore he was woven together in the depths of the earth. And everyone since Adam and Eve has been intricately woven and made in the secret place, which refers to a mother's womb. Continuing through verse 16, God's great ability, we see God's great ability to see that which is unformed. This is strange to us. Through God's omniscience and his omnipotence, he saw us before he created us. He refers to, in verse 16, your book as God's omniscient mind being compared to a book of remembrance, so to speak. The Lord God Almighty sovereignly ordained every single day of David's life before he was ever even conceived. He says that every single aspect of himself was formed before there was nothing. God knew who he would make David to be so that David would ultimately bring glory to the Lord. Yes, David fell and David sinned, but God also restored David to himself. The Lord is unwilling to leave his people where they are. He will discipline his children and he will ultimately save us. So if you are going through difficult times and you belong to the Lord, know that it's for your good, but ultimately it's for his glory. And that's what's ultimately important. In verses 17 and 18, David is utterly amazed at the limit, excuse me, at the infinity of God's mind compared to the limited mind of his. He is especially in awe at how it relates to the physiology of human life. So just for a moment, if you've ever considered the intricacies of the eye or the ear, you will know that there is so much detail that goes into the working and functioning properly. I mean, if you've ever gotten anything in your eye, it's the end of the world. I mean, you can't. You've got to get this thing out of your eye before you do anything. Or if you can't hear, if you have an earache, or if you have a headache, or something that's just killing you, it's terrible. And the intricacies of that, like what is the problem in there? What's wrong with it? I mean, there's all these kinds of things. And the eye, it's amazing. It's amazing how God designed these things. All right, so God has made the body even to heal itself and to protect itself. He's created our bodies with trillions of cells, and those cells want nothing more than to keep the body alive. God's design in making human beings is unlike anything else. Today, with the advancements of medical technology, we're able to find out far more than what David knew. We're able to find out more about the body and just about life in general. The more that we seem to learn and find out, the less we actually know, because there's so much more that we have to learn. All right. Now, verses 19 to 24, we're gonna see David's allegiance to God. In these last six verses, we see that the scene has changed, and it's a scene of tension. So this psalm turns into an imprecatory psalm at this point. And David puts on display his allegiance towards God and his hatred towards sin in this stanza. His heart cries that the Lord would slay the wicked. He detests those men of blood who seek war and death. Those who oppose the Lord speak against God maliciously, and they blaspheme his name. And they hate God with their entire being and their entire hearts. So I guess a question. Do we oppose those who stand in opposition to our Lord and our King? Do we have righteous indignation? Do we count them as our enemies because they stand against the Lord? Is our allegiance to the Lord? Is our allegiance in line with David? Well, I hope it is. Now, this is not an opportunity for us to take arms against those who oppose God. I'm not saying that by any means. But this is more so an opportunity for us to look inwardly and to look at our own hearts and the wickedness that still entices us. So I'm not sitting here telling you to go off and tell people that don't love God you hate them. What I would recommend is that we look inwardly and see what it is that is keeping us from loving God rightly so that his light might shine through us that others would see that, and they would glorify the Father. So just like in Romans at the end of Romans one, Paul talks about those who applaud those who do evil, we ought not be those people, we ought not be those people who applaud wickedness. We need to call wickedness wickedness. First of all, we need to look internally at the wickedness that is our own. So So don't be fooled, for we know that pride goes before a fall. We must reconsider this entire psalm from the beginning to the end. Why does the psalm begin with David making mention that God has searched him and knows him? Why does he finish the psalm asking God to once again search him and to know his heart and to try him and know his thoughts? Verse 24 is a good example. for us to constantly be vigilant in pursuing God in such a way that we actively ask him to see if there'd be anything in us that would lead us astray from him. We need to find out if there's something that's keeping us from the way of everlasting. And we ought to repent and turn. So once again, David knows his sin and it's ever present before the Lord. God makes our bodies to function in such a way that our brain remembers things. Our brain remembers things and sometimes we wish we would forget those things that we remember and sometimes we forget the things that we wish we would remember. But it's far more important for us to remember the things of God and to remember what he has done for us. Namely, he has given us the Lord Jesus Christ himself and he has done this because of his great love for us. But even more importantly, he has done this in order to display his glory throughout his creation. So this morning, I want to encourage you, if you worship God in some other way, other than how God has prescribed for him to be worshipped, you're worshipping God wrongly. With that being said, you're not even at all worshipping God, because he has called us to love him from our hearts. So do you love him from your heart this morning? Is there anything that's keeping you from loving the Lord rightly? Are there things that you're holding onto in your heart that you don't want to let go of because someone offended you or whatever? Well, if that's what you're thinking this morning, I want you to consider our offense to God. So when people frustrate us, when we become adamant, stand firm in our two square foot kingdom that we think we have standing here and you're invading it. Well, just remember that God has created us in such a way. And he has created us in his image. And once he's given us new hearts, we are now able to act out that new nature that he has given to us. And that new nature is the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So hold on to that. So you may not even though if you know the Lord this morning. And you may be indifferent or apathetic to this lesson. And to you, I would say that I would pray that the Lord would convict you and arrest you right where you are this morning. I would pray that the Lord would save you because you need him. So some folks this morning might be honest and they say, I don't love the Lord that way. How do I love the Lord from my heart? It's a good question. How do I love God rightly without just going through the motions? Well, you have to do what we're told in Mark 115. We are called to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're called to do. If that is you this morning and you don't know the Lord, or you thought you knew the Lord, I would encourage you right now to ask God to save you. Cry out to Him. But still you say to me, that just doesn't make any sense. Why would God even love me? I mean, if I'm an enemy of God, why would God even love me? Well, we have words of comfort regarding that question. Because a lot of people think, well, I'm so bad over here. That's just kind of silly. You can be bad your whole life and just ask God to save you, and he will. That doesn't even make any sense. I mean, somebody could hurt me my whole life and come to me and say, oh, I'm sorry. And I'm supposed to forgive them? The reason that we don't understand that is because of, I think something that helps us here is Isaiah 55, six through nine. And it says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And this is why he does this. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. This is our Savior. He loves his enemies. And what a wonderful thing, as a former enemy of God, to be known by God. or to be approved by God. What a blessing. What a blessing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we extol your name this morning. Lord, I pray that the earth would shout your name in joy and in honor and praise. Lord, what a wonderful thing it is to have been one who was far off and now one who is inside your fold because you came and rescued us. Lord, I pray that this psalm would resonate with us, that it would remind us of all you know and your entire presence with us and your great power. And Father, I pray that you would help us to be devoted and to give our allegiance wholeheartedly to you. Father, I pray that you would change us, that your word would go forth in great power. For our good and your glory, we pray in Jesus' name.