Turning to Colossians we get a word of warning along the same line,
Now, mind you, this was written to Christians, to Believers, and it is a solemn warning that we can be spoiled in our thinking, spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, and not after Christ. There are many schools of opinion today—many religious schools, and they have all sorts of fine-spun theories hung together according to the judgments of men, but they are not after Christ. Dear young folks, that is all you need to know. Are they after Christ, or after the world? Don't be deceived by the fact that they are specious, plausible, enticing—don't let that get you off your guard. Do they agree with what you hear here in the meeting? Are they in line with what you are taught in the Bible School? Are they after the truth of God as you get it in the Word of God? If it is, you can trust it; if not, you cannot trust it. Once I saw a man getting change for a purchase he had made in a store. He threw the coin given to him down on the counter and listened to the ring. It had the right ring and he took it.
Test these things, dear young people. We need to test them for our minds can be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It is easy to have our thinking spoiled by the philosophy of men. It is a dangerous thing; it is something to leave alone.
“After the rudiments of the world, not after Christ.”
You are safe when you are reading this blessed Book; when you have the Word of God in your hands. You can trust yourself in the reading meeting; and you can be thankful to be there for the Lord is there, and you will do well to listen to what you hear from those whom God provides to give out the Word of God, but beware of listening to a voice that is not the voice of the Spirit of God. It is dangerous and none of us know where we will land if we give heed to that which is not after Christ.
Verse 3: That is a broad term, “acquainted with all my ways.” That is not only, you see, when you are in the meeting; it is all through the week, “acquainted with all my ways.” That is far reaching; that is inclusive. That is how you act in the home, how you act in the office, in the school. That takes in all your acts. The Lord is acquainted with all your ways. He is searching us here. Well, do our ways stand the test? Do they stand that searching? Are they worldly?
What about your ways, young people? What about your companions and associates? Will they stand the test of the searching we are passing through here? “O,” you say, “the Brethren don't know anything about them.” Ah, but the Lord does; He knows all about them.
“Thou art acquainted with all my ways.”
Perhaps you are going on with some kind of reading, the kind you slip under your pillow when you hear someone coming. Father and mother don't know about it, but the Lord knows all about it. To what are you listening on the radio?
“Well,” you say, “when mother and father are not around I do turn on those programs once in awhile and listen to them. They think I am listening to the sermons.”
But God knows, and He is not mocked, and we reap the fruit of this kind of thing. Pay day will come, and soon enough, too. How much happier to have it all out before Him.
I am going to anticipate a little here: Go to the end of this Psalm. In the first verse He says, “God hast searched me” and in the 21st verse he says,
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts.” Here he is saying,
“Lord, I am glad you did search me, I needed searching, and I want you to search me because I don't dare trust myself. Before I know it something will filter in, Satan will get an advantage somewhere. Keep up the searching, Lord.”
We will never graduate from the searching process. We can go home from the meetings here and still be in need of searching.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart and try me.”
If we did that, perhaps we would find some of the things in our lives which we don't think are very serious. Things which we consider just a trifle. But submit it to the searching process and see.
Men can do wonderful things now days with the powerful instruments they have. They can magnify things a hundred thousand times. We used to think that to magnify a thing a hundred times was wonderful, but now they have an instrument which can magnify a hundred thousand times. We can actually see these things called viruses that cause such damage; they can kill off a million people inside a few months. So with spiritual matters, we need God's magnifying glass so we can see how deadly they really are.
Go back to the first section of this Psalm.
“For there is not a word in my tongue” (verse 4) “but O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.”
O, how intimate is the searching in this Psalm. We see the Lord has His hands on us here; He is turning us inside out.
Well, we have heard about the path (verse 3), the downsitting and the uprising (vs. 2), and our ways (vs. 3).
Now there is not a word in my tongue, but the Lord knowest it altogether. He knows about the words we speak. There is not an idle word which we speak, but that we will have to give an account of to Him. The world can pick up whatever comes along, but I believe that you and I weaken our spiritual power when we deliberately take over expressions of the world. One is sometimes a bit shocked to hear young saints, even those who are breaking bread at the Lord's Table, utter some of these slang expressions that have taken possession of the young today. It is just a white-washed type of profanity, and to hear saints using these expressions is painful. But what about the Lord? What does He think of it?
Verse 5. “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.”
See what a position he is in. The Lord is behind him, and before him, and the Lord's hand is over him. That is where everyone of us is, and the soul that is going on with God would have it so. We do not want to have it any other way. We do not want to get in a position where we will use a lot of words we ought not, and think a lot of thoughts we ought not to be thinking—saying and thinking that which is not honoring to the Lord.
“Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.” But should one say, “I would like to get away, and not be so near”? Young people feel like that sometimes. But what success will you have?
“Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.” (Verses 7-12).
Yes, some think they can do things at night, in the darkness, and it will not be found out. Even Christians think this sometimes. Dear young soul, it is found out before you do it, “Thou understandest my thought afar off” (vs. 2). Before you ever committed the act, before you ever thought the thought, the Lord knew about it. You have not deceived Him. There is no getting away from Him. That darkness you think is your friend, will never cover you from exposure—remember that there is no darkness to Him. He sees just the same in the night as in the middle of the day. You can't get away from Him. If you know Him and love Him you will not want to get away from Him. You will be glad you can't get away from Him.
“Lo, I am with you always.”
If that is the attitude of the soul, you will delight in His presence. There is no such companionship as that. Nothing so noble and lovely in the world as a soul going on with God; with the blessed Lord, as his companion. One has known and watched those among the young at different places and what a joy to the soul to see them going on with God.
You will never be deceived if you go on with God. He will take care of you down here, and stand by you, and when you are through down here, you have sent something on ahead over there for you. Companionship with Christ pays in this life and in the next.
So going on down in our Psalm, in the last section, he takes his place with the friends of God, and against the enemies of God. Where do you take your place? With God's people? Are you on God's side? In Psa. 119 he says,
That is better than any club you can join. Vastly better than the Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, or all of them put together. No better companionship can be found than that of the people of God against the enemies of God.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Verses 23, 24).
If there is any wicked way take care of it, and cleanse me, Lord, and lead me in the way of righteousness. Do you want that? You can have it. Take these last two verses with you, and live them out day by day, and they will bear fruit in your life to His glory.