Psalm 139, and we're going to read together verses 17 and 18 as we prepare our hearts to come around the table of our God. Psalm 139, verse 17 says, 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. This morning, I want us to think on the question, how many thoughts does God have about me? How many thoughts does God have about me? Before we go any further though, let's ask the Lord to meet with us. Father in heaven, now we will pray that as we are in the word of God, that thou will send the spirit of God amongst us to do the work that only he can do, and that is to take the word and to use it within our hearts to draw us away from that which is of self and to draw us to the throne wherein sits Christ Jesus. We pray that thou will let us have thoughts of him Thoughts of yourself. Thoughts, oh God, that are directed, as we would consider your thoughts, on us. And we pray this in Jesus' name, for his sake. Amen. As I mentioned today, we are going to think about one question. How many thoughts does God have about me? Or we might say, do they even have a number? The statement of our text is that the numbers of thoughts are so many that the number is compared to the sand of the sea. If you take also the words of Psalm 40, verse five, the verse that we will be memorizing, along with this text and the question we've asked, the apparent answer is that the number of God's thoughts cannot be calculated. Further, we might ask this, how is it possible for the infinite mind of God, which not only knows all things, But he is knowing all things, including his thoughts, fully and constantly. Or in other words, he knows every thought of the past, the present, and the future all at once. He is not forgetting anything or leaving any part of his thought to drift into non-observation. So obviously, there is no number to his thoughts, right? But our text says that there is a sum. There is a number. So how does that square with the statement from Psalm 40, that they are more than can be numbered, or they are like the sand of the sea? Well, let's answer by asking this question. Is there a number of the grains of sand on this earth? Well, the answer to that is yes. Can you know that number? The answer is no. And I say there's the meaning of Psalm 40. Does God know the number of grains of sand on the earth? The answer to that is yes. In fact, He made every one of them specifically. The point is that you and I We cannot know as God knows. We cannot know what God knows. We cannot go where His thoughts go. Does He not so much as say so? Isaiah 55 verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The fact that we cannot know the number of God's thoughts does not mean that God does not have definite and perfectly wise considerations of us, in particular, and in specific terms and numbers. All of his thoughts are being completely and fully known before the eyes of God. Also let me mention, when God says he remembers something or someone, it's not that there was a time that they ever slipped out of his mind. He is eternally and infinitely in the process of knowing his thoughts. Now though this is true, that we do not have the ability to discern the vastness or the number of God's thoughts to us, we can say that we know something of them, Well, what can that be? What can you and I say, well, I know this about the thoughts of God? Well, first, our text says they are precious. They are precious. What God reveals of his thoughts and his heart is to us the very life of our souls. And though I hath not seen, nor ear, heard, nor entered into the heart of man, what God is going to ultimately do for us, we can say that what He has said about our salvation is our hope and our joy. The thoughts that He has revealed to us, we can say that is a foundation for us in our faith. God's thoughts are precious. We can also say this, that they are good. They are good. The Lord's thoughts are only good and not of evil to bring us to an expected end. The Lord does not have thoughts that are of any other kind. His thoughts are good and only good. We also would say this, that we know that the Lord and his thoughts are light. God's thoughts are light. God is light, 1 John 1, verse 5. And what God has revealed about himself and his ways are a light to our path. They are a light to our heart. They are a light to our mind. And we can also say this, that God in his thoughts is definite. God's thoughts are definite. There is no variableness or shadow of turning with God. He neither thinks, nor speaks, nor acts in a general way. All things are specific, and as the scripture says, they are forever settled in heaven. So let us return to our initial question. Are the thoughts of God numbered as he thinks about his redeemed people? And if so, why is that important? Well, I wanna answer the question by setting up my answer with another question. Child of God, can you think of anything else that you may know of that you cannot number, but may be described as being as numerous as the sand of the sea? Is there something that Jeremiah says is in such a desperate condition that you cannot know it? Who can know it? Who has thoughts about how to deal with our sand of the sea? Do you know what I'm talking about? I think you can see what I am suggesting. You and I are sinners. We have sinned from our earliest days. How many sins have you committed? Do you have any idea? God knows each one. Each sin, oh hear this, each sin is enough to condemn us everlastingly. And each sin must have its atonement. But there is a specific number. that we each will have committed in our life. You and I will have committed a certain number of sins. We don't want to think about it. We don't even want to begin to come to a number. You would be downcast beyond belief if you were to even get close to the number of sins that you have committed. But there is a number, and God has remembered each one. And I say this. God knows and has considered the answer and the remedy for each sin of His people. Now, there's a precious thought. My sins are known to my God. They're not known to me. In fact, if I were to bear the weight of them all day, I would find myself destroyed. But God knows His thoughts. And God has a numbering of thoughts for you, for me, for every child of God. There are thoughts of God that correspond directly to the number of sins that we have committed. And let me just put it to you this way. This truth, this thought that I am trying to have us to understand is for us a lesson in the nature of God's atonement. Or more, To our point today, a lesson in what the Lord Jesus paid for in his atoning death. How many sins did Christ pay for? You say, well, all of them. Well, let's not deal with a general term. Christ paid for each. Not just all, but each sin, every sin had its atonement. Every sin had its payment. When we come here to remember the Lord's death, we're coming to remember that the Lord Jesus paid for every single sin. Well, I will be brief now. I have two things I'm gonna say. I want you to see with me then in the light of this, two truths, number one, Each sin calls for death. Each sin calls for death. Our sin is not just a collection or a gathering together of our wicked and iniquitous transgressions. No man is generally depraved or I'm gonna coin a term, unspecifically guilty of sin against God. Every sin, every sin in the course of our days is a specific offense against God and calls for death. And they are not forgotten. That is the sense of the statement by Paul to the Colossians when he speaks of the handwriting of ordinances, which is against us. This is a list of our crimes. This is the handwriting of God that itemizes, if you will, all offenses that would claim our destruction and call for us to be kept from heaven. And so I want you to understand this. Every one of our crimes, every one of our crimes must be remembered It must be named. It must be brought to the fore and paid for. And the payment must be in line with the crime, and that is death. The payment of that crime by the blood of the substitute is what we call atonement. There is the atonement or the payment for our sin, each one remembered, named and brought to the front. Christ Jesus paid for them all. And I emphasize this, I emphatically say the Lord Jesus did not die. in a general manner to cover unnamed and unclaimed sin. He remembered each sin and paid for each sin. There was nothing that was not remembered. There was not something that was left out. Christ Jesus, in his thoughts, in his death, in his work on the cross, paid for every single one. Our sins were on the divine mind. He had thoughts toward us that we cannot number, but He did. And He applied to each one of those crimes a very specific payment. So a child of God, there's something to be thankful for. There's something that'll be precious to us in this. This whole thing, it tells us, it preaches to us loudly that you do not have some sins that are left as stragglers or that run loose. There is no sin that God has left unaccounted for in his mind or in his record. Jesus paid it all And although you may not remember, and you cannot remember your sins, they are like to you as the sand of the sea. God does remember, and he has thought about each one, and he has provided the remedy for each one. So we ask the question, well, what about those thoughts then? What about those thoughts that God has applied to each one of my situations where I need atonement. So, each sin calls for death, my second point. Each thought calls for life. Each thought calls for life. Every thought that the Lord has, thoughts of good and not of evil to bring us to an expected end. Each thought has within it the way and the intent to wash sin away and leave us white as snow. God sees your innumerable sin, and He applies to it His thought to each one. I have a remedy for that one. I have a remedy for that one. Oh, this one in our minds seems so much worse than that one. God has a remedy for that one. He has thought, He has planned, He has purposed, He has executed, and now He rests. in what He has done by His thoughts toward us. Indeed, He has provided the answer for our sins in His thoughts. Perhaps in some ways we may say, now there is a real context. That's a stone upon which the Lord Jesus may have built His statement in John 14, verse 6. You know that verse. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Can we say that that description of himself is true about every single thought that God applied to every single sin, that in Christ there was the way of God for which sin would be removed and the people would be delivered, that there is the truth now that there is freedom, whom the Son shall free is free indeed. And now every thought of our God has to us brought life. The Lord knows his thoughts toward us. The Lord has numbered his thoughts toward us. How great is the sum of them. And they all call for life. Oh, my mind immediately, as I was thinking on this, thought of those verses in Micah chapter 7, where it speaks to the heart, the mind, the thoughts of God, as the whole subject of pardoning sin comes to the fore. Verse 18 of Micah 7 says, Who is a god like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. He's thought about doing that. That was his remedy for each of our sins. I delight to show my child mercy for every single one and I know them all, but for the whole of it, I delight in mercy. And furthermore, I'm gonna gather those all up And I'm gonna pay for every one of them specifically with the blood of my son applied to that crime. And I will let the righteousness of my son then be put upon the one that was a guilty sinner prior to this point. And those sins, oh, may my people delight in this as much as I do. Shall we all gather at the sea and watch me cast them in? What do we say to these things? This is my conclusion. What do we say to these things? Well, I'm taking that question from the Apostle Paul from Romans chapter eight. What shall we then say to these things? Well, I'll let Paul's answer be the first one. If God before us, who can be against us? And though those things that stand against us are as innumerable as the sand of the sea, can they stand against our God? No. Can the old devil with all his condemnation and accusation stand against us? No. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Every single one of those sins. If Satan could go back and catalog every one of our sins and bring some of them up again. No, they've all been paid for, every single one. Every single one God has known, has thought about, has purposed over it, sent the Lord Jesus to pay for it. Every single one of them has had the blood of Christ applied to it. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. What else could you say about this whole thing? Think about this. If I should count them, we're talking about the thoughts of God, if I should count them, oh, I'm gonna step back and say try. Try. Child of God, it might be a benefit for you to just think, and I don't say dive into it with all your thoughts, but to think. What do I know that the Lord has delivered me from? That may be a benefit, but more so, what I'm saying is this. Try thinking about, do you know the Lord has thought about concerning you? What are God's thoughts to you? Well, I can't number them. Well, try. There's good here. And you will begin to see the magnitude and the never-failing mercy of God. And what else can we say? What should we say to these things? Well, we'll have to say what the psalmist says. How precious. How precious. And I want you to understand that those words, how precious, in fact, I challenge you, Those are not words that you're to say within your own heart and just mull it over. But rather, I have given you two words that you can and should and ought to and must say back to the Lord Jesus. Lord, how precious what you've done for me. You knew every one of my sins from the time that I began being an evident sinner. How soon was that? Some people would say right from the very time that you took your first breath to the time when you expire out your last. How many sins? Lord Jesus, you knew them all. And every one of them was an offense. Every one of them was a crime. And you took them all away. And you nailed them to the cross. or as the hymn writer says, my sins. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sins, not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul, how precious are your thoughts to me? Oh God, thoughts of rescue. Thoughts of remedy. thoughts of redemption how precious how precious and so I say as we come to the Lord's table today that is what we are doing when we are remembering the Lord's death we are remembering what he did to take our sins so many he took them all away And we're here to say to Christ, by what we do here, how precious. How precious. Well, may the Lord allow his word to do in us what he meant for it to do, for Jesus' sake.