St. Thomas Conference: 1984
Table of Contents
This Do
Hebrews 12:1-4
Hebrews 12:5-17
Hebrews 12:18-
Living Knowing the Lord Knows All About Me
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn this afternoon to Psalm 139.
Psalm 139.
All the art thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue, but Lord, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Further shall I go from my 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 art there. If I take the wings of the morning and fly into the uttermost part of the sea, even there thy right hand shall 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. Yeah, the darkness hideth not from thee.
But the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
That for Thou hast possessed my reigns, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb, I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts.
Of the Earth.
Mine thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect, And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
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.
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked. O God, depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord that hate thee, and am not, I grieve with those that rise up against thee. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies.
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.
Well, I'm sure as we read a Psalm like this, we can see that the great desire of the apostle was that he should walk in the consciousness realizing that the Lord knew all about him. You know, that's what the natural heart doesn't like. It has been said, the difference between a believer and an unbeliever is this, that an unbeliever hides from God.
A believer hides in God because our life is hid.
With Christ in God, I've heard it said that the only commandment that people care about today is the unwritten 1 Thou shalt not get caught. And you know, I think there's a lot of truth in that, that people seem far more concerned about whether they get caught or not than whether the Lord sees them or not. When I was just a boy going to school, I think one of the things that preserved me.
More than perhaps anything else.
Was that I still remember my father praying as we started out to school, that we would always remember that the eye of God was upon us.
You know, boys and girls and young people and all of us, let us remember this. We cannot get away from His presence. But as believers, do we really want to? There's a little song that we sing that says thy presence is our home. And what is going to make heaven heaven to us? Is it the street of Gold and the gates of Pearl and all the wonders of that place?
Where God shall wipe away all tears from off of all faces.
And there will be no more sickness, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. Is that? Is that what is going to make the place so wonderful? No, it's because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and because His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face. When I return home from a trip, it's not the house that I want to see first. It's the person that I love.
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You know, and dear young people, that's what I want to bring to bring.
Before you, the enemy is going to try and work in your heart to get you to think that if you can just get out a little bit and have your own way. There's something of the prodigal in every one of us that want to get away from restraint. But you know, it's just the enemy's attempt to rob us of what is really for our true happiness and blessing and the secret of a happy Christian life is really to live in the.
Consciousness of the presence of God.
Even in natural things, we know a happy marriage is when two people can enjoy one another's company and that there's nothing that they desire better than just to be with one another. And so it is in our Christian life.
As one young man, when he was saved, an older brother said to him.
He said the Lord has saved you. He said you're spoiled for this world. You might as well make the best of what you have in Christ because you can never enjoy the world again in the same way. It's true, Christians, all of us as Christians sometimes do try to sidestep and enjoy something of this world apart from the mind and will of God. And what do we find? That it was just a mistake, that the real.
Happiness is in the Lord's presence. Now, I don't just mean sitting here in the meeting, because it's true that that is a very, very blessed privilege which I hope all of us are enjoying today being here with the Lord's people. But you know, you can enjoy the Lord's presence at work. You can enjoy the Lord's presence at school. You can enjoy the Lord's presence in the daily activities of life if you are seeking to live in a way.
Is pleasing to him.
But communion is to be able to just turn and talk to the Lord at any time as your dearest friend. And if something comes between, it isn't worthwhile. It's robbing the Lord of His portion. And it's robbing you too of what you have the privilege of enjoying as a believer. Because the Lord Jesus died on Calvary's cross.
Not just to save you and I from hell, but because he loved us so much.
Much that he said, I want to be, I want to have you in my company forever. And I'll never be satisfied until you're satisfied in my presence and in my company. And it will be his joy, a greater joy even than ours, to have us in his company forever.
Well, let's run a little 139 Psalm begins and ends in a very similar way.
It begins with a statement of the fact, Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. It's something that the psalmist knew, something that he realized was true. And all of us do as Christians, we know that we really can't hide anything from God that he knows that he sees in the light and in the dark just as well. We know that very well. But in the end of the Psalm, he says in the 23rd verse, search.
God noticed in the first verse He has said Thou hast searched me, and then in the 23rd verse he asked that this would continue. In other words, he wanted it to be a constant thing that the Lord would point out to him anything that would not be pleasing to him, so that he might be LED in the way everlasting.
And I think all of us, as we sit in meetings like this, often feel that the.
The Lord is pointing out to us things that need to be corrected in our lives, things that we are not doing that are all together according to His will, and things perhaps where we're not enjoying Him like He wants us to because He wants us to enjoy our company, for He enjoys having us with Himself. I've been struck in reading through the scripture, the delight of the Lord's through the scripture to.
Mention that he dwelt among his redeemed people. He loved to remind them of that and showed how he was grieved when things were taking place that were not compatible with his presence.
Well, as I say, this chapter begins, Thou hast searched me and known me. And the Lord, dear young people, He does search us, and he knows us through and through. Your best friend is a person who knows all about you and loves you just the same.
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All of us have friends who don't know all about us. If they knew some things about us, they mightn't feel the same toward us. But they don't know those things, and they like us because they don't know all about us. But the Lord Jesus is not that kind of a friend. He has searched us. He knows everything. It says Thou understandest my thought afarath. He knows everything about us.
And dear young people, he loves you just the same.
He'll never find out anything about you or about me that he doesn't already know. And not a thing ever has or ever will change his love toward us. He may be grieved at times, but it doesn't change his love. And restoration is when we come back and the realization of this.
Not only the realization of our sin that's necessary for restoration, but realization also of the fact that our failure has not changed His love. I say that is part of the restoration. As it says in the verse in Romans, The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. How do you feel when something has come between you and a friend?
And something you have done.
Hurt that friend very much and you come back and you find that they haven't changed their feelings of love towards you one bit. Does that make you feel ashamed? But doesn't it also draw you closer to that friend? Well, the Lord has searched us and known us. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
He sees everything, every movement, every physical movement in our lives.
The psalmist might well say, here, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. He watched me sit down in that chair. He saw me get up. He saw everything about me. And then it says, thou understandest my thought afar off. Other people may know about things that we have said and done, but they really don't know what we're thinking about.
But the Lord even knows what we think about. He knows the thoughts that come into our mind, every one of them, the Scripture says That's how well He's appointed with us.
There are few people that you can share your thoughts with. Isn't that true? There's few people that you can go and really pour out your heart to, but that's the kind of a friend the Lord Jesus is. It says trust in Him at all times. Pour out your heart before Him. He invites that kind of confidence. You say, well, I wouldn't like to tell some of my friends, even thoughts that come into my mind, but you can pour out your heart to the Lord.
Oh dear young people, what I want to bring before you is this is the kind of a wonderful friend you and I have in Jesus.
One who loved us enough that knowing all about us, he went to Calvary and there died, suffered for our sins in his own body on the tree.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways as you and I go out to get in our cars and travel. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Thou compassest my path. Then when you go to bed at night, you say, oh, there's so many dangers on the highway. That's true. 2 dear friends were just cut off suddenly on the highway.
Did the Lord know? Was He over it all? It didn't happen.
And by chance, there's nothing happens by chance in your life and mine. Nothing could happen to Job until God gave permission to Satan. And when he gave permission to Satan, he set limits. He only told him that he could do so much and no more. Absolutely nothing can happen in your life. Oh, you say somebody was mean to me. Somebody did a mean trick on me, but he couldn't have done it unless the Lord allowed it.
And if the Lord allowed it, he allowed it for some purpose, something that was intended to bring blessing to you and glory to His name. Don't all these things encourage you and I when we think of a This is what the psalmist is dwelling upon here.
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Not a word in my tongue, but no Lord, Thou dost it all together. He saw the thought in your mind. He heard what you said.
And so he hears everything that we say. Sometimes it's true, we speak out of turn, but nevertheless He knows. And all these things we need to look up and seek his help. But the important point, I think in this chapter is that all these things are so well known. And then it says in the fifth verse, thou hast beset me behind and before.
And laid thine hand upon me.
No, I, I like to think of it there, there are different scriptures that speak about the Lords hand. Sometimes he puts his hand on us in discipline. Sometimes he puts his hand upon us to hold us back in some path that we might be taking. But you know, there is such a thing as when you get worried, the person you love just puts their hand on you and it's just a feeling. Well, I understand.
And I believe that's the.
Out here, I think it's very lovely. Is there any young person here and you're going through some deep water, some trial maybe you did speak out of turn. Moses spoke unadvisedly with his lips. But the Lord puts his hand upon you, just like a loving friend puts his hand upon you. And you understand There's no word said, but that person just put their hand on you. The feeling of love, a feeling of confidence, a feeling of understanding.
And I believe this is what he's tacking about.
Out here. And then he says such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Yes, we can understand it when it's a natural a person, 1 The flesh and blood like ourselves. But when we think it's the very God who upholds the universe, it's the very Jesus who stood in the midst of the disciples there in the 28th of Matthew. And when he saw their minds were full of doubt, he said.
The way it's worded there on the 28th of Matthew, they had come to this place where the Lord said he would meet with them. And it says when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And then it says, and Jesus came and said unto them, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. You know, as far as the grammatical construction is concerned, you'd say, well, hadn't they already seen the Lord?
What does that mean? Jesus came?
Well, I like to think of it in this way, that they were sitting there, the 11 of them, and some of them had doubts, perhaps doubts about problems and why God had allowed things to turn out the way they had. And as to me, as if the Lord just went to those ones that had the doubts and put his hand upon them and said, All power is given unto me.
Dear young people, there isn't a problem in your life. The Lord couldn't remove it if it were His will. All power is given to Him in heaven and in earth. Jesus came and stood and spoke those words to them. And so who was this person? Who was this Jesus? Oh, He is the upholder of all things. By the word of His power. He is the eternal God.
The disciples could say our hands have handled of the word of life. Oh.
Surely these things ought to cheer our hearts. We surely need it in these days. If there were ever days that it's easy to get discouraged whether it's over the office, it's hard to get a job. And when you get a job, it isn't all that you want it to be. Friends aren't always what they want, what you would like them to be. Maybe you get disturbed sometimes, even in the assembly, but Jesus comes and says.
All power is given unto me.
Who is this Jesus? The one who has the nail prints in his hands, the one who loves you, the one who says I want you to be with me for all eternity? That was the one who stood there in their midst that day, and he's the same today. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Well, we all have to say this, don't we? Such knowledge.
Is too wonderful for me. This is just beyond me that the God of the universe would have a personal interest in me and a personal concern about the thoughts that come into my mind, the words that I say, whether I'm lying down or whether I'm sitting up. I just can't understand how he would have a personal interest, but he does. He does. You haven't got a friend who numbers the hairs of your head.
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On earth. But the Lord Jesus does He numbers the very hairs of our head.
And then he goes on to say.
Further, shall I go from my spirit, or whither shall I flee from my presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell or Hades, behold, thou art there. That is, there's no getting away, it doesn't matter where. Those who take as it were the wings of an airplane and fly up, do they get out of the Lord's presence? This is a good verse when you board the airplane, isn't it? If I.
Up into the heavens now, right there. We don't we don't get away from his presence or his company, no matter where we are, whether it's here upon earth or whether it's up in the air or even should the Lord take us away in death. What is death for the believer absent from the body and present with the Lord. Well, you can see here how the psalmist was just musing, as it were, that there was no.
Getting away from the Lord's presence.
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.
Here he's enjoying something more than just simply the knowledge of the Lord's presence.
It seems to me takes a little step further. Thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Yes, the Lord wants to lead. Because we do have decisions to make in life, don't we? We all have to. Maybe you're making decisions right here in these meetings, Decisions about friendships, decisions about jobs.
Some young people have come to a meeting like this and he made a decision to.
Receive the Lord Jesus. I hope that there's one here that's not saved. You will make that wonderful decision that you will receive the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. Maybe there's someone come here and you have been exercised about where the Lord would have you to remember him and his death. Well, perhaps even here you might make such a decision as that, that the Lord did desire that you would gather with his own to remember Him.
He wants to lead you, lead you in those paths that are pleasing into him, unto him. And then it says.
And thy right hand shall hold me. Because even when we have made decisions, isn't it true We can't keep ourselves, We need the Lord to hold us.
Why, it says in the 16th Psalm in the first verse, Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Oh, it's blessed to have him leading us and holding us. And there's that lovely verse in the book of Isaiah that says that thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying, this is the way. Walk ye in it when he turned to the right hand or to the left.
And now here this verse speaks about the Lord leading us.
But you notice that verse in Isaiah says, thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying.
How is it that the voice is behind us?
Well, normally if you and I are walking as we should, the Lord is leading and we're following him. But did you ever run ahead of the Lord? I have. I wish I hadn't, but I I run ahead of the Lord sometimes. Did he give me up because I ran ahead of Him?
Nor he took his place behind and it says here, the voice said, you're turning the wrong way when you turn to the right hand or to the left, instead of throwing his leading, we run ahead, but he doesn't give us up. The voice behind says, this is the way. Wrap ye in. It used to happen with our children. Sometimes they like to run ahead of us. And then we saw danger. We were behind them instead of ahead of them, but we saw the danger and we warned them.
Dear young person, is the Lord warning you of some danger? Are you about to take some step? And the Lord's saying this is the way. Walkie in it when you're turning off on the wrong, on the wrong lane, so to speak. Or may the Lord cause you to hear His voice today. May you allow Him to lead you.
If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. The darkness and the light are both alike to Him. There is absolutely no way of getting away from His presence. Oh, you know, sometimes we think we can. Sometimes you say the brethren don't know, my parents don't know, they'll never find out. But does that really give you peace? Does it really make you?
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At ease that the brethren don't know and that your parents don't know. Now I know it doesn't. I know it just makes you feel uncomfortable because the darkness doesn't hide from the Lord.
The darkness shines as the day. It makes no difference One of the little songs the children sing out in the darkness you alone may go. And seeds for the wicked one's soul. There's an eye that's watching from the throne on high. You can't do wrong and get by now. You may think you get by, but you don't really. The darkness does not hide from him.
Or if there's any person here, any young person and.
You have followed paths of self will. Oh, I beseech you to come back.
You can't hide from the Lord, and you're never going to be happy in your soul until you get right with Him, until you come back and He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
So he talks about the darkness and the light. They're both alike to him.
And then he goes on here it says, For thou possessest my reigns, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
And he goes on and speaks about the time even before he was born. You know, I always have enjoyed reading these verses because, you know, we're all different physically, We're all different emotionally. We all have different family backgrounds and perhaps family.
Characteristics and cultures and all, they're all different, you know. Does the Lord know even all about this too? Yes, isn't it? Aren't these verses?
Wonderful. The Lord wants my body being formed. He knows all about every physical weakness in my body. He knows all about. He knows my emotional setup because we're not all the alike. That's the kind of a God that we have. You go to the doctor and he may try to study your personality and your physical.
Feelings and make up and so on. But there's one who understands you perfectly, who watched your body.
In its very formation. Isn't that a wonderful thought? It's often said that what the human heart craves about everything else is understanding and love, and those things you and I have perfectly in the Lord. We have perfect understanding because as we've been noticing, He sees us. He understands our thoughts afar off. He's acquainted with all our doings. He numbers the hairs of our head, so He knows.
Because all about that too.
So he has perfect understanding and then he has perfect love for us too, a love that led him to go to Calvary and die for us.
Sometimes we might do something for a friend, and after we've done it, the friend doesn't seem to show much appreciation, and perhaps a kind of a thought can come up in our minds. I don't say it should, but sometimes I think it does. Oh, it wasn't worth all the effort. They didn't appreciate it. But you know, isn't a marvelous thing that when the Lord Jesus gathers the vast company of the redeemed around him in the glory, it always thrills.
Soul to read those words thus he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He's not going to say about one person who is in that redeemed company where, I'm sorry, I did so much for that person. They never appreciated like they should what I did for them. No, he's going to see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
How wonderful. And so as I say.
These verses are written to show us that He knows all about us physically, it says.
In this 14th verse I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
That is, we can't even think about the anatomy of the human body without marveling. If you and I can't understand God's love, can you understand the marvels of the human body? Why? It's just totally beyond our minds or even the wisest person to think of how God planned the body from the very time he took a bit of dust, the lower parts of the earth he picked a piece of.
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Dressed and made a man and a woman. Why? How could we understand something like that? When we look at the marvelous function of the human body, we can't understand it, can we? But here is the psalmist and he's just meditating on this he's talked about how he can't get away from the Lord's presence and then he looks at his own body, his physical frame, his emotional makeup, everything like that and he says the Lord watched it all being.
Formed. He started with a piece of dust, and that's what he made.
Oh, how wonderful this must have been.
Perhaps we could take it too, as a picture of something even still more wonderful, and that is that you and I are members of the body of Christ. It is indeed a marvelous thing when we think of the wonders of the human body and all the functions of the human body. But I think it's far more wonderful that out of the wreck and ruin of humanity, God would have made me.
A poor Sinner whom he saved by grace. A member of the Bible.
Christ, and He is watching that being formed too.
That very day when another was added, another one received the Lord Jesus as Savior, and out of this wreck and ruin of humanity, He is doing something even more wonderful in the human body. He is forming that Christ. Brethren, we're members one of another. Do we stop to think about this? Do we always act like it?
Bible says no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it.
Even as the Lord, the church, are we that considerate of one another? We're pretty considerate of the rest of our body. We take good care of something happens to the rest of our body to see that it's attended to and whatever is necessary is done. Do we have that care for one another, brethren? Do we bear one another's burdens? Do we? Do we really care? Well, I think all this is set before us here too.
I have to say for myself how little I enter into were such naturally selfish beings. We don't enter into the needs of others, but we're greatly concerned about our own human bodies and all the members of that body.
Says in the 16th verse, Thine eyes did to see my substance, yet being not imperfect but unperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. That is, as the baby was formed, it wasn't, it wasn't imperfect but unperfect and just in the development as it took place under the eye of God.
That's how much he thought.
About you and I. He watched you from the very time before you were ever born into this world, and he is so concerned about you.
And that leads to the 17th verse. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God.
How great is the sum of them. All these things ought to be precious to our hearts, dear young people. As the psalmist rather mused upon these things, he said, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me. I know you can go to school and you can study.
Anatomy, and you can have a lot of courses in psychology and business and all these kind of things, but isn't this something more wonderful? Do we dwell upon this sufficiently? Do we really stop to think about it that the Lord understands and knows all about us? These things ought to truly be precious to us as we meditate upon them.
How great is the sum of them? And then he says if I should.
Count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee.
Said I can't count up as a little song says, when all thy mercies, Oh my God.
Wondering so display looks into.
Confounded with the view, I am lost in wonder, love and praise. That is, we can't really enter into all these things in their fullness, but it ought to fill our hearts with praise. And then he says, When I awake, I am still with thee. That is, it seems that we sometimes do have to wake up, don't we? We go spiritually asleep and we have to get wakened up. And when we're wakened up to find that we're in.
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Presence, when I wake, when I awake, I am still with thee. And if I, if there's one thing that I desire for you, dear young people, is that you would enjoy more, and I'm saying this for myself as well As for you, that you would enjoy more of the sense of the Lord's presence with you, His concern about everything in your life. I know there's this landing in every one of our hearts.
Because only somebody you could talk.
To somebody.
Over and over again, young people will say that people don't seem to understand when you try to talk to them. They don't. But the Lord does, and He wants you to enjoy this.
When I await, I am still with thee, His presence and His company. That's everything.
Well then in the end of the chapter we can see what does that lead to? Well, it leads to separation. It leads to separation.
We feel that we're in the world that doesn't love this Savior whom we've learned to know.
As we said at the beginning, the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, the unbeliever hides from God. Yes, just like Adam, as soon as he had sinned, he and his wife Eve, they hid from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Yes, that's the heart of the natural man. There's nothing that he fears more than to get into the presence of God.
You can talk to him about almost anything, but when you try to get him to have to do with God and into his presence, he shies away. He feels uncomfortable, but that's all for the believer.
His presence is our home, and this is what leads to real separation.
And the children of Israel came out of Egypt. There was that Shekinah of glory that was over them, and that cloud went with them. It says he took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night.
And as they left Egypt, it says that that cloud came and stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, so that the one came not near the other all night. And it was a cloud and darkness to all the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to these. What made the separation the presence of the Lord, and all that it was to the Egyptians was a cloud and darkness. And if you and I talked.
To our friends who are not saved, about our precious savior and what he means to us, it's a cloud and darkness to them. They don't at all enter into that, but it gives light by night to us, even if we're standing by the Red Sea and we don't know which way to go, the enemies behind and the sea is in front still there was no mixing. And that's what we have in the end of this chapter we have brought out.
Separation. No, separation isn't just a negative.
Thing separation is because we have found a friend in the Lord Jesus and the world doesn't want him they don't want the one who's dearest to us and you know very well if there's somebody that you love very much and there's a person that says to you well I'd enjoy an evening with you on one condition that you don't talk about that friend of yours don't say one word about that friend of yours him or her because.
I don't want to hear it. Now get mad. What would you do? Would you enjoy that evening? Well, I'm sure you wouldn't.
Somebody said that to me that I wasn't to mention the name of my wife. And that was the only way we could have a good time together. I'd say, well, count me out. I I don't want to go if that's the way you feel. And so that's what separation really is. It isn't a negative thing that we say I can't do this and I can't do that. But the little song says no place can fully please us.
Where thou, O Lord, art not in thee and with thee.
Cover is found by Grace our lap.
So after he has recounted these things, then he says that leads to separation. I don't want to be in the company of those who take the name of the one I love in vain. So that's no place for me. And then he closes this Psalm by saying, Search me, O God.
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And know my heart, try me and know my thoughts as I remarked before.
In the beginning of the Psalm he is saying, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. And then in the end he says, Lord, please keep on doing just that. Please keep on, because I don't want anything to come between.
If there's a happy marriage relationship, what that couple dread is something coming between them. They don't like to even think of something coming between and you know, if you and I.
Realize what the Lord means to us and what He's done for us, how much He loves us.
How much He wants our company, then the thing that we are really most concerned about is that nothing would come between us and the Lord. Well, dear young people, don't let anything come between you and the Lord. As someone has said, anything that comes between you and the Lord is not worthwhile. It's not worthwhile because.
That's the thing that is the most precious thing that you have is to have.
His company and His presence. And so he asked the Lord to search him, and if there was something that he didn't see, that the Lord would show it to him. I'm sure all of us have things that we don't see. I, I really believe in myself. There are things I don't see, but are we willing that the Lord would point them out to us and show them to us? Because we're only going to hinder fellowship with Him and communion with Him.
Well, this was the closing desire in this chapter of the of the psalmist. Now I'd like to turn before we close this to a few thoughts in Zechariah, the end of Zephaniah, rather the end of Zephaniah chapter 3, the fifth verse. The just Lord is in the midst thereof. He will not do iniquity. Every morning doth He bring his judgment to light. He faileth not, but the unjust.
No, no shame. The 14th verse sing. Oh daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart. O daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands be slack.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Well, here we find in the end of Zechariah, the Lord is speaking about being in the midst of His people.
We've been talking in the 139th some, perhaps in a more individual way. The Lord searches us. He knows us, knows what we do, He knows what we think. He knows where we go, He knows our thoughts. All these things are known to him, and He wants us to live in the consciousness of it. But, brethren, I believe there's a collective side to it too.
And the Lord dwells in the midst of Israel, He, He said in the 25th.
Chapter of Exodus, Make me a Tabernacle, that I may dwell among them. And when He spoke of having to deal with evil, he spoke of it in numbers, and subbed, because the reason for it was because He dwelt in the midst of His people. And now I believe we have His presence in the midst of His own, brought before us here in this prophet.
Zephaniah.
And it says.
Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light. He faileth not.
You know, this is a very blessed thing to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. It's a great privilege. I hope the Lord will keep me in the appreciation of it to what it is to be gathered to His name, because He is holy and true.
But you know, we can't hide things, things we might be able to hide them from friends and all, But remember, it's a silent thing as gathered to the Lord's name. He brings things to light. He brings things to light. And here he's telling us that His presence was to bring things to light, and that if they were not concerned about what was due to His presence, He would have to bring it out.
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And he would have to deal with them and Brad and I do believe that the Lord is allowing us to go through a great many things in these last days of the church's history has gathered to his name. I believe it's a tremendous a wonderful privilege that we have for two or three are gathered together in my name There am I in the midst of them. But one thing I'm sure of this that the Lord is going to bring things to light and that he is not going to allow us to go on and hidden.
And with hidden and uncovered things, whether individually or collectively. And so God was bringing this before his people in the last days of decline. He tells us too, in the seventh verse. I want you to notice of this theory of Zephaniah. I said, surely thou wilt hear me, fear me. Thou wilt receive instruction. So their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punish.
Them, but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.
I should have read the sixth verse also. I have cut off the nations. Their towers are desolate. I made their streets waste that none passeth by. Their things are destroyed so that there is no man.
That there is none inhabitant. I said surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction. That is, the Lord was dealing with the nations round about Israel, and he said surely they'll listen when they see I'm having to deal.
And isn't God speaking in this world? Can't we see everywhere His hand being made manifest? Everything that can be shaken is being shaken. And the Lord is saying to us, surely are we going to receive instruction, we who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, we who take that place?
Of being where the Lord is in the midst, how much more serious, how much more solemn. He said everything's going to come to light. Comes to light in our personal lives, comes to light in the assembly. Well, this ought to speak to us, brethren, and I trust we will be exercised not only individually but collectively. I say again, it's a great privilege to be gathered to His name, but it's a serious thing. The Lord in the midst is holy and true.
But then there's two more instances here in this chapter. In the 14th verse it says, Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart.
O daughter of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Well, I think this is beautiful, because we can look on to a time when there be no more trials.
But will not have to think, well, there's trials in our assembly, there's trials in our difficulty, in our home life. Now there's a day coming, as I've often said, when you and I meet one another in those courts of eternal glory, no one's going to say, how do you feel today? No one's going to say, how did things go today? No one's going to say, well, how are things in the assembly?
Now there's a day coming when it's all going to be passed, brethren.
What a glorious day. And it says here saying, O daughter of Zion, there's a glorious future ahead for us. But it's the same person that's going to be in the midst, the one who's in the midst now, who shows us his hands and his side, who tells us I suffered all this for thee, who says I'm holy and true. The same person He is going to fill our hearts in that day.
And it says all the trials will have come to an end.
And there will be great rejoicing at that time.
It says, thou shalt not see evil anymore. How wonderful to wake up some morning and say there'll never be another trial, never another sorrow. That's the glorious future. But the same Lord in the midst, the same one who wants us to enjoy his presence individually, who wants us to enjoy his presence collectively, that glorious day is coming.
And then it tells us.
In the 17th verse.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing.
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Is it going to be a wonderful day for us? Oh, indeed it will. Won't it be glorious for us to think that we're there where there's no more trouble, no more tears? As I say, no one will have a trial or a sorrow. But who's going to have the greatest joy? Who's going to have the greatest joy? The Lord himself, he says, when that day comes, I'm going to rejoice.
I'll joy over you with singing, he said.
That's just what I desired for you. I want a jury eternal happiness. I want a jury eternal joy.
The Lord Jesus went to Calvary that he might make us eternally happy, and He's looking forward more than you or I are to that day when He will be in the midst of His own. Not to bring evil to light, not to tell us that it's the end of our trials, but just to say, I'm so glad that you're here. It was what I wanted. I just wanted to have you here, fully happy, supremely blessed. And now I can rest in my love, My love.
Satisfied in your happiness and your joy. Oh, what a day is ahead of us, brethren.
The next verse says, I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden valid often is a burden to us today.
That is when we see young people, and older ones too, getting away from the Lord, it's a burden to us. When we see trials in the assembly, it's a burden to us. We feel them, we should feel them, and the Lord would have us to feel them. But oh, what a blessed thing to lift up our eyes and look, it's better on ahead. There's a glorious day.
It's worth following Christ, dear young people. It's worth making him your object.
The apostle could say in the chapter we had before us this morning, our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And so I just say in closing to each one of you, dear young people, it's my privilege and joy to speak to you in a special way this afternoon. If the Lord leaves us here, you're looking out on life. You're seeking to make your plans for life.
The Lord desires your happiness more than you do. You say I want to have a good life, I want to have a good friend, I want to have a companion where we're compatible and we can have a happy home. And I am really concerned about these things. The Lord's more concerned than you are. He wants to bless you. He wants to make you happy, and He's not going to be satisfied until He makes you eternally happy in heaven.
Will the Lord, may the Lord grant that you and I will want him to search at our hearts, removing every hindrance, so that we might walk consciously in the light of His countenance. It says, Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. Well may the Lord grant it for us. May it be our desire that day by day.
We live in the consciousness that He knows all about us.
He loves us, He wants our company, and He's waiting for the day when we'll be supremely happy in His presence for our eternity. And it cost him Calvary to bring it about.