God Knows All About Me (Part 1 of 2) - 06/27/23

[Music] have you ever Googled your own name I mean let's be honest most of us have right Google can provide a lot of information about a lot of things probably even about you but today on Truth For Life we'll find out that God knows even more in fact he knows all about you Alistair Begg begins a brand new study today in Psalm 139 where we'll discover the importance of thinking christianly when it comes to answering life's biggest questions who am I and why do I matter [Music] I invite you to turn again to the Bible to the Old Testament and actually to the Book of Psalms Psalm 139 to the choir master a Psalm of David O Lord you have searched me and known me you know when I sit down and when I Rise Up you discern my thoughts from afar you search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways even before a word is on my tongue behold O Lord you know it all together you hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence if I have sent to Heaven you are there if I make my bed and Shale you're there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me if I say surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you for you formed my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your Works my soul knows it very well my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret intricately woven in the depths of the Earth your eyes saw my unformed substance in your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them how precious to me are your thoughts oh God how vast is the sum of them if I would count them they are more than the sand I awake and I am still with you oh that you would slay the wicked or God o man of blood depart from me they speak against you with malicious intent your enemies take your name in vain do I not hate those who Hate You O Lord and do not loathe those who rise up against you I hate them with complete hatred I count them my enemies search me o God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any Grievous way in me and Lead Me in the way Everlasting amen Chris Morphin is someone probably unknown to most of us he's an Australian he lives in Sydney he's a school teacher he's a chaplain of a school and he's particularly gifted in working amongst teenagers and students and in the last little while he wrote a book with that audience expressly in mind I had my hands on it I have a copy in my study and I was intrigued by it the title of the book is simply who am I and why do I matter who am I and why do I matter and clearly the emphasis is on identifying the many challenges that face young people as they try and make sense of their lives as they move into the early stages of adulthood and they wonder who am I really am I my status am I my possessions am I my looks whatever I may be and it is a very very helpful book but as I was looking at it I said to myself you know this is a book not simply for teenagers but this really is a book for everybody because that same basic question needs to be addressed and needs to be answered in a way that only the Bible can actually answer and in many ways this morning in these next few Sunday mornings are a follow-on from what we began to say last week about the importance of thinking christianly about everything and therefore thinking christianly about our personal identity I've mentioned before that I have a very scant understanding of anything to do with art and therefore I would never pretend but I I do know that there is a painting in the Boston Museum of Fine Art that I still have on my list to go and see and it was painted by Gogan one of the French post-impressionist painters and it Gogan like Van Gogh or others was really rejected in his life people didn't think much of his paintings at all unfortunately he had to die for his paintings to become valuable he never knew the value of them himself but the largest of his paintings which is there in Boston apparently and it is a lot it's known because partly because of its size and the comprehensive nature of the theme but it is of interest to me and has been always because he wrote on the canvas and he didn't write on his canvases at all none of them saved this one and the canvas portrays the totality of life so from the infancy of birth all the way through to some aged people who are there he painted it in Tahiti which is where where he died in the islands but up in the left-hand corner he wrote three questions he wrote them in French but in English they are straightforwardly this where do we come from what are we where are we going where do we come from what are we and where are we going who am I and why does it matter now Gogan did not come up with an answer to that despite the fact that he had been raised as a Roman Catholic boy he had been raised within the framework of the catechism he knew the answers to those questions in his head but he did not know the answer to the question in a life-transforming way and we know that because he made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide shortly after completing that great painting and his friends knew that the longings of his heart were unanswered I ponder that and I say if only somebody had said to Gogan why don't you read the Bible why don't you as an artist go to one of the great artistic books of the Old Testament why don't you turn to the Book of Psalms after all in the Psalms we find everything all the emotions of Life joy and sorrow grief doubt fear they expressed longings of our hearts and so on and all of it set within the context of the infinite and unlimited goodness and knowledge and power of almighty God all here in the Bible all the questions answered Calvin referred to it as the in the anatomy of the human soul and Ali Matia said of the people who wrote the Psalms and this is a Psalm of David here they were people who knew far less about God than we do and yet loved him a great deal more they did not have the fullness of the revelation of God that we enjoy as New Covenant Believers they looked as it were over the horizon without an answer to their questions they understood the nature of forgiveness they understood much and I think Matia has something when he says they knew a lot less but by their songs they appear to have loved God a lot more now all of this to say that our focus is going to be on this 139th psalm it is without question one of the high peaks if you like of the vast array of Psalms that are here the vast array if you like of Old Testament poetry what you have in the Psalms is poetic theology or theological poetry written in such a way that we can understand that all the tiny thoughts that we may have of God all the ways that we may think to constrain him or marginalize him or make him biddable to us all of those thoughts are transcended when we read the Psalms and what we're reminded of in Psalm 139 there are a number of really big things big theological words words like omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence and they're all here but not the words all those truths are actually in the psalm but they're not conveyed by means of a kind of academic statement of theology and that's one of the great benefits at least I find are the Psalms in that this truth these truths are conveyed in a way that is entirely personal it's entirely personal and I try to read it that way I put the emphasis on on my and I and mine and so on so that that might come across let me let me give you the overview of of the psalm how we'll handle this in four sections verses one to six David says you know me verses 7 to 14 you Encompass me or you surround me verses 15 to 18 you created me and verses 19 to 24 you test me so at least you have some idea of where we're going you can read ahead and that will help you and probably help me because I'll be able to assume a great deal and I won't have to study quite as hard but this morning verses one to six you know me you know me look at how it begins oh Lord Yahweh the God of all creation oh Lord you have searched me and known me in the communion service in the book of common prayer which we refer to brief seldom but it's familiar to some of us the opening prayer before the celebration of communion reads in part like this the man officiating at Communion says almighty God unto whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden we come to you it's very very good let me just read it again almighty God unto whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden we come to you in other words God knows everything Google and other google-like things have ambitious hugely ambitious plans for collecting data and they are collecting data but they cannot hold a candle to this how many billion people are in the world this morning I don't know eight seven eight now just think about this for a month what does the psalmist saying that in a personal way the entire eight billion let's call it eight population of the world is known to almighty God Calvin says how few of us acknowledge that he who formed the eye the ear and the mind himself hears sees and knows everything now you see what a staggering statement this was for David to sing it in his day and for others to join him in singing it they were affirming something to be true of almighty God that was distinct in every aspect from the surrounding gods of the Nations God had taken his people he had taken Abram out of that kind of context and he'd revealed himself to him and Abraham had made these Amazing Discoveries of the provision of God Abraham had ended his life under the promise of God trusting in it unreservedly and the people were LED out of Egypt they're LED in the wilderness wanderings they find themselves in the promised land the declension comes they're exiled and so on they eventually find themselves despairing how could we sing the Lord's song in a in a foreign land like this that's about 137th son because the gods of the idols in fact you can see it if you just go back to Psalm 135 here's this great contrast Psalm 135 and verse incidentally what I just mentioned is 137 I'm glad that it is By the Waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion Psalm 135 let's just look at verse 13 your name O Lord endures forever you're renowned O Lord throughout all the ages Abram Isaac Jacob Joseph all the rest Ruth all the way through Peter James John Aaron Little Jim Elliott Helen Rose fear all the way through and here we are in 2023 for the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants and then look at what he says in verse 15. the idols of the nations are silver and gold the work of human hands they have mouths but don't speak they have eyes but don't see they have ears but they don't hear nor is there any breath in their mouths those who make them become like them so do all who trust in them so the contrast is vast and what he is pointing out as he goes through and writes in this way is the absurdity and it is an absurdity for men and women to seek Ultimate answers from substitute gods but that's what we do you see when we turn away from God as he has made himself known we don't trust in nothing we trust in all kinds of things because we are made in order to worship to worship the true and living God and when the peoples turn back and when they turn aside where did he end up wow let me just read it again the Folly of it all graphically portrayed the iron Smith makes his peace the carpenter makes his peace he shapes it into a figure of a man with the beauty of a man to dwell in a house he cuts down Cedars or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and he lets it grow strong among the Trees of the forest he plants a cedar the rain nourishes it then it becomes fuel it takes a part of it and warms himself he Kindles a fire he bakes bread so far so good but wait a minute also he makes a God and worships it he makes it an idol and falls down before it half of it he burns in the fire over the half eats meat he rose it and is satisfied he warms himself and says aha I'm warm great fire and the rest he makes it into a god his Idol and he falls down to it and worships it he prays to it and says deliver me for you are my God I look back at psalm 139. oh Lord you have searched me and you know me now here is the fascinating and vitally important thing and I've read this um ever since I was we but I'm not sure that I really focused on this till I began to look at it this past week the knowledge of God is as I have said comprehensive it spans the globe but the point that he's making here is not the comprehensiveness of the knowledge of God but the fact that David says you know me you know me it's one thing to say you know everybody in the world He's Got The Whole World in His Hands true but David says you have searched me and you know me so you're going to be able to say to these things to our teenagers we'll go on through the psalm and see how vital it is that they understand that they're not a product of chance that they're divinely put together and that God knows them and he knows us now let's just look at how he outlines this some of you will remember Warren weirsby what a wonderful man he was I met him in the early days of my life here and enjoyed him very much and um he always had a funny story but he was masterful at outlining passages of the Bible and when I found out what he did with this section I said that's that's for me that's for me and now it's going to be for you because this is how he worked his way through it the the headings some of them are his and some are a corruption but there you look at this in verse 2. first of all you know what I do you know what I do you know when I sit down and when I Rise Up so the psalmist says you know my actions and you know my movements you know whether I brush my teeth or whether I didn't you know everything you know what I do to be you discern my thoughts from afar not only do you know what I do but you know what I think you know what I think all that goes on in my mind is known to you almighty God in other words David is acknowledging the fact that it is impossible for him to deceive God because God knows even our secret thoughts God knows the motives of my heart as well of the actions as well as the actions of my life you know what I do but I'm moving around but I'm sitting up or lying down but you know my thoughts you know them from afar distance is no issue to God then in verse 3 you know what I do you know what I think you know where I go you search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways we sang it didn't we all my ways are known to you to actually believe that all my resting spots all the spare time in the airport you search on my path [Music] you're acquainted with all my ways you following this you know what I do you know what I think you know where I go [Music] you're listening to Truth For Life and we're studying together in Psalm 139 with Aleister Begg he's titled today's message God knows all about me we'll hear more tomorrow we're learning that indeed God knows all about each one of us but how much do you know about him today we want to recommend to you a book that will help you get to know God the son a lot better the book is called confronting Jesus nine encounters with the hero of the gospels the author is Rebecca McLaughlin and she draws from all four gospel accounts to give you a clear picture of exactly who Jesus is book is a compelling and relatable book it references contemporary issues and pop culture examples to connect with those who may not be familiar with the stories of the Bible in fact as you read this book you'll gain a deeper understanding of who Jesus is Jesus the Healer the Friend of Sinners the Lord's servant there's so much more here request your copy of confronting Jesus when you donate to support the Teaching Ministry of Truth For Life at truthforlife.org donate or call us at 888-588-7884 and if you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book write to Truth For Life at post office box 39 8000 Cleveland Ohio 44139 I'm Bob lepine thanks for listening we are learning that God is omniscient he's omnipotent and omnipresent and yet he is intensely personal so how should we respond to this God who knows us better than we know ourselves we'll find out tomorrow the Bible teaching of Aleister Begg is furnished by Truth For Life [Music] where the learning Is For Living foreign [Music]

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 14,194

Keywords: christianthinking, loveofgod, trustinggod

Id: mZTbfCEaZXg

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 27 2023