In his book, Our Awesome God, John MacArthur writes about an old fable concerning six men from India who were all born blind from birth. The fable goes these men decided one day to visit a nearby palace where an elephant was standing in the courtyard. What happened next? Well, let MacArthur tell us. He says this, The first blind man touched the side of the elephant and said, an elephant is like a wall. The second blind man touched the trunk and said, an elephant is like a snake. Third blind man touched the tusk and said, an elephant is like a spear. Fourth blind man touched the leg and said, an elephant is like a tree. The fifth blind man touched the ear and said, an elephant is like a fan. The sixth blind man touched the tail and said, an elephant is like a rope. And then MacArthur adds these words, he said, because each blind man touched only one part of the elephant, none of them could agree on what an elephant is really like. Now folks, all these men had misconceptions and disagreements about what an elephant was like because they were blind. They couldn't see the elephant standing in front of them. They couldn't see what this elephant was like. Sadly though, there are many people who have similar misconceptions about what God is like for exactly the same reason. Blindness, but not physical blindness, but spiritual blindness. A blindness that prevents them from knowing the truth about God. See, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that all of us are born into this world, not only spiritually dead in our sins and our trespasses, but we're born into this world blind. blind spiritually, so that we walk in the darkness of our own thinking, imagining God to be anything we want Him to be. So we're not only dead, so that we're unresponsive to God, totally disinterested in obeying Him, but we are born blind. We don't know what He's like. And the only way to really know what He is like is to have our eyes opened, and he's the only one who can do that. He opens our eyes so that we can see from the pages of Scripture what God is like. And that's precisely what happens when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness. On another occasion, our Lord describes His ministry as the blind receiving sight. The Apostle Paul said that in calling him into the ministry, the Lord had commissioned him by the preaching of the gospel. And here's what Paul said he was to do. Here was his commission, to open the eyes of the blind so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. Now, this is precisely what takes place when God regenerates us, when he places his life within us. And then we place our faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. What happens at that moment? Our eyes are opened by God. So that in the words of John Newton, the author of the great hymn, Amazing Grace, we say, I once was blind, but now I see. And what we see is the truth. The truth not only about ourselves, that we're sinners deserving judgment. We see the truth about the world that we live in. That it's fallen. It's rebellious. But we also see the truth about God, what He's like, we see His attributes, His character, His ways. And the reason we now see the truth about God is because for the first time in our lives, for the very first time, the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ is shining into our minds, as Paul put it, enlightening us so that we're now able to see and believe and understand something of what God has revealed about Himself in His Word, the Bible. And there is no place in Scripture, no place where He has revealed certain particular truths about Himself with such stunning force and profoundness than in Psalm 139. So I'd like you to turn there if you're not there already. Psalm 139, As you'll recall from our initial study last Sunday of this remarkable psalm, we discovered that it reveals three specific attributes of God. Number one, it reveals His omniscience, which means He knows everything. He's all-knowing. Secondly, it reveals His omnipresence, meaning that He is everywhere. Third, it reveals His omnipotence, which means that He is all-powerful. Now, these truths about God are certainly taught elsewhere in Scripture. This isn't the only place that these truths are taught. But they're not taught any other place with the same personal touch, the same intimate touch that we find here in Psalm 139. That's what makes this so precious. And the reason for that, as we noted the other week, is that David wrote this psalm, but not as a cold intellectual theologian, just interested in theology for theology's sake. There are many like that. David was not like that. He wrote as one who was in awe of God. He wrote as one who stood amazed at the grandeur and the majesty of God. He wrote as one who was profoundly impacted by these truths about God so that it deeply affected the way he thought, the way he lived, the way he saw things. That's a critical principle for us to see as we go through this psalm because, you know what, there are many Christians who are just bored with theology. Bored especially with the theology about the doctrine of the person of God, what he's like. And they're bored with it because they see it as something that's abstract, something that's impractical, irrelevant for their lives, giving them very useful instruction for how to apply anything to themselves. But nothing could be further from the truth, especially not here in Psalm 139. What you believe about God affects you deeply, more than we might realize. It affects the way you think. It affects your attitudes. It affects the way you look at things. It affects the way you live. It affects the way you treat other people. It affects the way you respond to God. And we see it so clearly. We see all this so clearly demonstrated by David in his response to these incredible truths about God. I told you he was not a cold theologian. He was a warm-hearted worshiper of God. Throughout this psalm, we find David pausing. He pauses throughout the psalm to give us his reaction to these astounding truths about God that he's talking about. For example, after telling us about God knowing everything there is to know about him, notice what he says in verse six. He tells us this in the first six verses, but in verse six he gives his pause and his response. He says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too high. I can't attain to it. So David responds here with sheer humility. He's looking up at God, and he's overwhelmed with God's knowledge. He admits it's too wonderful, too high for him to attain to. He can't get his head around the fact that there isn't anything God doesn't know about anything, especially about him. David doesn't have the mental capacity to grasp that God's truth and God's knowledge is exhaustive, it's comprehensive, it's infallible. David the finite standing looking up in awe at the infinite and he says it is too wonderful too wonderful for me to know that God knows everything And then after telling us in some detail that God formed him in his mother's womb, he fashioned him into the man that he is, and he sovereignly says he ordained all the days of my life when there was not one. I wasn't even born. And yet God had it all planned out, even to the very last day of my life. Then David pauses again. He pauses to worship God by giving him thanks and acknowledging the wonder and the greatness of God's works. Verse 14, he says, I give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. In fact, David is so absolutely overwhelmed by God, how great he is, that God being this great would actually think about him, have thoughts about puny David. Notice how he responds in verses 17 to the beginning of verse 18, ìHow precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.î Finally, after expressing such words of adoration and praise and worship, David closes the psalm by telling us how these truths about God have impacted the way that he wants to lead his life. The closing two verses, 23 and 24, ìSearch me, O God. Know my heart. Try me. Know my anxious thoughts and see if thereís any hurtful way in me. Lead me in the everlasting way.î These truths about God have caused David to want to walk before the Lord in obedience and loyalty to this omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, magnificent God, to just be loyal to Him, see if thereís anything that needs to be removed from my life, Lord. In approaching Psalm 139, we need to understand that David's purpose in telling us about the attributes of God, his purpose isn't to fill our minds with cold, hard facts about God, but to drive us to our knees in worship and adoration, in wonder and in awe, and to purify and to refine us by drawing us closer to the one who is all-knowing and all-present and all-powerful. Now, last Sunday, we spent our time looking at the first attribute about God that David writes about, which is that God is omniscient. I'll let you read, we read before, for the sake of time, I'll let you read verses 1 through 6, but that's what he says. And we don't need to spend much time reviewing these verses because we covered them in detail last week, but it's important to recall that the primary point that David is making in these opening verses is that God knows all there is to know about him, about David. He knows when he lies down, when he gets up in the morning. He knows David's thoughts, even when they're far from entering his own mind. In other words, he's telling us that God sees his mind like an open book. He just reads everything that's in his mind. God, in addition, is aware of everything David does in a single day, in all of his days, all of his activities, the decisions he makes, the movements he has. And in fact, God's omniscience, David says, even extends to knowing what he's about to say before he even says it. Before David knows what he's going to say, God knows what he's going to say. What David is telling us is that there isn't anything about himself that God doesn't know. And in verse 5 he tells us what this feels like to him. He says, you have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. He's telling us that God's omniscience has surrounded him. One of the versions, and maybe you use it, it's hemmed me in. He can't escape. There are no escape routes. He feels hemmed in by God's knowledge, enclosed by it, walled in by it, enveloped by it. So no matter where David turns, he says that God has his hand upon him, meaning that he can't make a move without God knowing it and being involved in it. In other words, there isn't anywhere David can go. There isn't anything David can do that God doesn't know about. and isn't involved in. But far from resenting this as being too restrictive and confining, seeing it as an invasion of his privacy, David welcomes God's all-encompassing knowledge of him. He sees it as he says in verse 6, it's too wonderful. It's too wonderful for me to even attain to. It's a positive thing for David. Now understand this, that what David tells us about God's omniscience in his life is certainly true of all of us. He's not just saying God knows about me and nobody else. He's telling us God knows all there is to know about each of us individually. The Lord knows everything there is to know about you. He knows all of your activities. He knows all of your thoughts. He knows all of the choices and the decisions that you make each and every day. He knows everything you're going to do today. Even the words that are going to come out of your mouth today, before you even say them, He knows everything. This is the way God is because by His nature, He is omniscient. So, nothing ever surprises Him. He never learns anything because He knows it all. He never makes any discoveries because there's nothing for Him to discover. He is omniscient. But now as David ponders this great truth about the omniscience of God, another thought enters his mind. Thought is this, if God knows and sees everything about me, everything I do, everything I say, everything I think, then it's because he is everywhere to see and know what's going on. And it's this thought about God being everywhere that leads David to write about a second attribute of God's character. Not only does he tell us God is omniscient, but he tells us that God is omnipresent, meaning he's everywhere. Verse 7, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? Now, David begins this section by asking God a question. that naturally grows out of what he's just said about God being omniscient. Having just said in verse 5 that God has enclosed him behind and before, meaning that there's no escaping from God because he has surrounded his life with complete knowledge of him, David now asked the Lord, if you know so much about me and have hemmed me in, can I ever run away and hide from you? Is there a place I can flee to where you just can't find me? You just don't know what I'm doing? It's important to understand that David isn't asking this question because he desires to escape from God's presence. There is no indication in this psalm that David wanted to run away from the Lord because he was in sin. No indication at all. He is not like the prophet Jonah, who foolishly did try to flee from the presence of the Lord because of sin. God told him to go east and preach to the city of Nineveh. And what did he do? He got on a ship going west. And the Bible says in the book of Jonah, he was trying to flee from the presence of the Lord. Very foolish, and he couldn't do it. That's not what David has in mind at all by asking these questions. What David is doing, folks, he is thinking. He is thinking. He is connecting the dots of his theology so that he is making a logical conclusion, bringing this truth about God's omniscience to bear upon his life by making a point of practical application. And that point is this, since God knows everything, then there is no place where he, David, can hide or flee from God because God is everywhere. And the reason that David even asked this question, where can I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence, is not because he wants to flee from God's presence or escape it, but because he is absolutely astonished and thrilled to know that there is no escaping God. That's his point. He's thrilled with this. God is present everywhere and for David that is a good thing. And we know that David considered God's omnipresence something good, something positive, because if you look at verse 10, he tells us this. He says, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. David welcomes this. This is not a negative. He welcomes this, that God is everywhere because it means that he'll be wherever David is, watch this, in order to lead and to guide him and to protect him. Your hand's there on me. I'm never alone. You're always there. Now, we're going to comment on this in a few minutes when we get to it, but I just wanted you to jump a few verses ahead and see that what David is presenting to us about God being everywhere, that's a good thing, and it ought to be a good thing for us as well. For right now, we're just going to have to leave that and look at what he's saying here in verse 7. Having asked these rhetorical questions, actually two questions, but it's really the same issue, where he could possibly go to flee from the Lord's presence What David does is he proceeds in the next few verses to mention several conceivable places of escape where men might imagine that they can go hide from God. Verses 8 through 10. If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed and shield, behold, you're there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. Now each of these places, notice this, speaks of a specific direction and location. He says, if I travel up to the highest place, heaven, you're there. Now, of course God is there. Of course He's in heaven, because heaven is His eternal dwelling place. That's where God is seated upon His throne. Charles Spurgeon noted that if one were to try to flee from God by ascending into the heaven, it would be like, he said, flying into the center of the fire to avoid the heat. You just can't do that. leave it up to Spurgeon to come up with something witty like that. So David recognizes just the impossibility of escaping from God by going up to heaven. So he immediately changes directions and he heads to the extreme lowest point, Sheol, that's the place of the dead. It's the place of the grave. He says, if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you're there. In other words, if I travel to the complete opposite of heaven, the physically lowest place that I can think of, the grave, you're there too. So what David is telling us, even in death, David knows that he cannot escape God's presence. And so knowing that he can't escape from God by going up, by going down, David considers what would happen if he traveled east. to west. And so he says, if I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, your right hand will lay hold of me. Now what is he talking about? What David means by taking the wings of the dawn is that if he were able to travel like the lightning quick rays of the morning sun as it rises in the east and flashes its brilliance across the sky until it reaches the extreme west, which was for David the remotest part of the Mediterranean Sea, he says God would still be there. So that his hand would lay hold of David and it would guide him. In other words, David is saying that you just can't outrun God. You can't outrun him. Even if you were to fly by the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second, God is faster and He will be there to meet you when you arrive as you come zipping from east to west. In essence, that's what David is telling us. He can't outrun God. So what he's saying is that no matter where he could possibly travel, north, south, east, west, God would be there because God is everywhere. There is no place that God does not exist because he is omnipresent. So, if God is in every direction that we could possibly travel, making an escape from him impossible, can we at least hide so that he can't see us? Is there something we could just hide under? Well, that's the last possibility that David mentions as he speaks of the darkness and the prospect of the darkness covering him from God's gaze. Verses 11 and 12. If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. David says that if he would try to hide from God by the cover of nighttime darkness, it would be futile, because even there God would see him. And the reason God would see him is because nothing is hidden from the eyes of God, since darkness and light are the same to God. See, the Bible says that God created light, but He doesn't need light to see what's going on. It's really for our sake. Now men may think that they can, under the cover of darkness, do things and get away with sin and nobody sees them, but God sees them. God sees them. Or some might think that after sinning we can somehow hide from God. Adam and Eve thought that after they fell in the garden. The Bible says that they went hiding amongst the trees in the garden, hiding from God's presence, but it can't be done. God sees everything, and He is everywhere to see everything. So David has concluded that God is omnipresent, and there is no escaping His all-knowing gaze. So, question is, how does all this affect us? How do we apply this truth of God's omnipresence to our lives? Remember, the truths that David is presenting in this psalm, they're very personal to him. He's not detached from them. They affected him deeply. They affected him practically. And that's how the truth of God's omnipresence ought to impact us. So let's begin by seeing how this truth that God is everywhere, how it affected David, and then we'll broaden it to see how it affects us. Notice again what he says in verse 10. Even there, your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. Now what David is saying is that no matter where he goes, whether it be up to heaven or down to the grave or to the furthest regions of the earth, God won't only be there, but he will be there to guide him and to protect him. Although for some, the thought of God being everywhere is a fearful, even terrorizing thought. For a believer like David, for someone who loved the Lord like David, God's omnipresence is just the opposite. David sees it as a wonderfully comforting truth because far from feeling that God's presence is something to be avoided because it's suffocating him or it's stifling his freedom, sort of like big brother is watching you, so watch your step. No, David sees God's presence as something wonderful because it means that no matter where David is, God will always be there and he'll be there to be active in guiding Him and protecting Him. Folks, this is a crucial truth. You see, the omnipresence of God is something that is wonderful for those who are genuine Christians, because it means that whatever trial you have, whatever suffering you go through, whatever pain you face, the Lord will be there to give you His grace. Whatever decision you need to make, He's there to give you His guidance. Whatever evil you might face, He's there to give you His protection. And even when you are facing what the Apostle Paul called the last enemy, death, He'll be there too. Was it not David who wrote in Psalm 23, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I fear no evil, for you are, what? With me. You're with me. What comfort it is to know that wherever you find yourself, God is there. Wherever you might find yourself in the world, perhaps feeling very much alone in strange surroundings, or just feeling alone in your own surroundings without another human being with you, or at least one who understands you, one who cares, the truth is you are never alone. regardless of how you feel, because the Lord is with you, and He knows exactly how you are feeling, and He cares. Now, you may feel very much alone, but you aren't, regardless of how you feel. And that, you just have to take by faith. You have to believe God's Word, regardless of how you feel, because He said in Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you. And being present everywhere also means that the Lord is near you all the time so that you can always enjoy His fellowship. This is a precious truth. You can always commune with Him anywhere, anytime. Folks, that is a vital truth to grasp. It's a vital truth to absorb into our thinking, into our beings, because if we don't digest the truth, of God's omnipresence, and we are very likely to limit our fellowship with Him to a very small amount of time during the week, the time we meet together in church on Sundays, a few minutes perhaps each day we set aside for a daily quiet time of Bible reading and prayer, assuming we have one. But the truth of God being everywhere ought to drive us to fellowship with Him throughout the day and wherever we might be at home. at work, in our cars, on the beach, walking in the mall. Anywhere you are, God is there and you can fellowship with Him and should fellowship with Him. The psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 151, You are near, O Lord. God is near. And I propose to you that this doctrine of God being always near is something that you must think about until it is ingrained in you. until it is a habit of thinking, so that no matter where you are, you make it a point to fellowship and commune with God. How? By speaking to Him, by thanking Him, by praising Him, by letting verses from His Word course through your minds. John Owen, one of the greatest of the Puritans, wrote this in his book, Communion with God. He said, It's an honor to stand in the presence of princes, even if it be as a servant. What honor, then, have all the saints to stand with boldness in the presence of the Father and there to enjoy His love? What a blessing did the Queen of Sheba pronounce on the servants of Solomon who stood before Him and heard His wisdom. But how much more blessed are they who stand continually before the God of Solomon, hearing His wisdom and enjoying His love. But I say this, in addition to fellowshipping with the Lord, the truth of His omnipresence ought to have a sanctifying, holy, It ought to motivate us to resist temptation, to resist sin because everything we do, we actually do in the very presence of God. As one esteemed Bible teacher put it, whenever you sin, it's as if you've ascended to the throne room of God, walked up to the foot of His throne and sin right there. Whatever you do, you do in the presence of Him. Now that, he says, is a sobering thought. Now if you're not a true Christian, then the thought of God's omnipresence frankly is more than a sobering thought, it's a terrorizing thought. It's a frightful thought beyond imagination because there is no way you can escape from God's presence either in this life or after you die because God will be there standing judgment over you. Hebrews 4.13 says, And there is no creature, no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. With whom we have to do means judgment, accountability to Him. God knows and sees everything you have ever done, said, and thought, and everything you've ever neglected to do that you should have done. And someday you are going to have to stand in His presence and give an account of your life. And on that day, God will disclose every thought you have ever had, every wicked word you have ever spoken, every lie you have ever told, every curse word you have ever uttered, and every evil deed you have ever done. And you will be overwhelmed and you will be speechless as God pronounces judgment on you and sentences you to hell forever. But this doesn't have to be your experience. because Jesus died for sinners, sinners like you, sinners like me. And He offers you salvation, escape from judgment. He offers you the forgiveness of all of your sins, all of them, if you will only turn to Him and repent of your sin and trust Christ, trust His blood, on the cross, that it was shed on your behalf. Trust that. Believe in Him. Trust Christ to be your Savior. That is the only way to escape. And as the Bible says over and over again, today is the day of salvation. Don't leave it for tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. Do this. Trust Christ today. I urge you to do that. But this is a time we've gathered not only for the preaching of the Word of God, but also to worship the Lord, honor and obey Him by observing the Lord's Supper. We have the opportunity really to carry these thoughts of God being present with us into our observance of the Lord's Supper, but I want to explain it's not because we believe that His presence is in any way in the elements right here. We don't believe that in any way Christ's presence is in the elements of the bread and the cup, but we believe His presence is here because He's here. He's everywhere. So He's here. He's not everything. He's everywhere. And He's here for us to fellowship with Him and to worship Him as we remember His death on the cross and we thank Him for it and we praise Him for it. The Lord's Supper, I must add, and sometimes I forget to do this, but not today, it is not for unbelievers. If you have never trusted Christ, the Lord's Supper is not for you. Let the elements pass you by. We hope that as a result of observing believers taking the Lord's Supper that some will come under conviction and be saved, but it's not for you. It also is not for believers who continue in unrepentant, unconfessed sin. That doesn't mean that you're struggling with a sin. It means that you know that you're doing something wrong and you're not struggling with it. You're not repentant. You're not forsaking it. You're not asking the Lord for His help. If that's the case, then repent today and then take the Lord's Supper, or if not, don't take it. And I say that because in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 we read this, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it. And He said, This is My body which is given for you. Do this. in remembrance of Me. In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, The cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep, meaning a number have died. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. So this is a time to examine our hearts. If there's anything in your life that needs to be repented of, some grudge, bitterness, anger, lack of forgiveness, a bad attitude towards someone, a sexual sin, anything, anything, sin of being unkind to someone, being sharp verbally to them, anything, repent of it now. So let's spend a few moments asking the Lord to examine our hearts as well as thanking Him, praising Him for His death for you. And then our men will pass out the elements. Father, search our hearts. Like David, we say, see if there be any wicked way in us. Bring to our minds, Lord, not false guilt, not things we imagine to be sin, but real sins. It be there that we have not dealt with it so that we might. We pray that this would be a time of praise, a time of thanksgiving, not morbid introspection, but a time, Lord, of rejoicing at Christ. has died for us, and for those who don't know you, Lord, may our witness to them be a testimony that you use to bring some to salvation. This we pray in your name, amen.