Psalm 139

 Psalms 139

Tonight‘s Psalm is about God‘s perfect knowledge of man.  

• His knowledge is 100% complete - he knows every detail
• His knowledge is absolutely accurate - there are no errors in his knowledge
• His knowledge is intricately, precise - he knows us to the smallest detail
• His knowledge is permanent - he doesn’t forget anything … Hmmm, this leaves us in a little bit of a tough spot though, because he knows our sin and yet because his knowledge is perfect he doesn’t forget.  God himself provided a solution for that problem.

Let’s pray..  Lord please show us how we can be completely honest with You..

Psalms 139:1-24 (NASB95) 1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. 

This psalm starts with David saying that this is for the choir director of Israel. While other translations say it’s for the chief musician.  It makes you wonder who is this choir director or this chief musician of Israel?

If you were to ask the Sunday school kids, their favorite answer is Jesus. And it may very well be that David wrote this psalm for the Lord himself.  As we think about it, though we remember that the book of Psalms was the hymnal for the nation of Israel so more likely some 139 written by David is addressed to Heman or Asaph.

 1 Chronicles 6:33 (NASB95) These are those who served with their sons: From the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,

1 Chronicles 15:17 (NASB95) So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah,

One aspect we learned about the psalmists is that they were prophetic.

1 Chronicles 25:1-5 (NASB95) 1 Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals; and the number of those who performed their service was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising the LORD. 4 Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman.

All of this context goes hand-in-hand with the fact that God has perfect knowledge of us and of everything in the entire universe.  It’s really unfathomable it’s incomprehensible that God knows everything about everything.  You and I, we may have one or more subjects that we are experts in. We dive deep into that one thing.  Even this age that we live in is the age of specialization.  You don’t just go to the doctor anymore you go to a specialist. People learn more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. Quite a contrast to God who knows everything about everything.

Continuing with the second half of verse 1 through verse 12

O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. 

We get the picture that God is actively intentionally watching us.  We can’t escape him if we were to go to the furthest parts of the universe he’s there already.  The bottom of the ocean he’s there. Heaven, he’s there even hell he’s there. So when people say that going to hell is to be out of God‘s presence really in truth, that’s not correct. God is there. He’s everywhere. It’s just that there will be no possibility in hell of knowing and communing with God.

So God not only knows what we do and what we say, but also what we think.  Even beyond that God knows and understands our motives. He knows what’s behind or what’s the cause of what we do, say and think.  

We might do, say or think the right thing, but if it’s with the wrong motives, it’s worthless and even worse harmful.   if we do something good but we do it for selfish reasons it’s worthless. If we say something nice, but it’s for the purpose of flattery to get in good with someone it’s a sin.

Romans 14:23b and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Last thing on this topic; since God‘s knowledge is permanent in other words, God can’t forget, does that mean he’s unable to forget our sin.  I think we know the answer to that already but let’s apply scripture to this.

Psalms 51:3 (NASB95) For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

If David felt like his sin was ever before him, in other words, he didn’t forget his own sin. How could God forget our sin.

Psalms 103:11-12 (NASB95) 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

We need a permanent removal of our sins. We know that the Old Testament sacrifices provided what’s called atonement. In Hebrew the word for atonement is Kaphar.  It means covering. In other words, cleansing from sin. But they had to make sacrifices year after year, demonstrating that the blood of bulls and goats cannot permanently erase sin. I am just going to refer you to Hebrews 9 for this.

Romans 8:1 (NASB95) Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:2 (NASB95) To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NASB95) But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

1 Corinthians 15:22 (NASB95) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

So if you’re in Christ, if God sees you in Christ, he sees Christ’s righteousness not your sin. Your sins are permanently dealt with.

Now to Psalm 139:13-16

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

These verses give us a pro life context.  Let’s just ask and answer a few questions that get to the point of whether abortion is ever okay?

One argument the pro choice people make is that we conservative Christians are not truly pro life in all cases. They would accuse us of hypocrisy and inconsistency, if we endorse capital punishment. They’d say you can’t call yourself pro life and yet be okay with putting someone to death.  In a sense, they’re right.  One way to solve this is to call abortion the unjust termination of a pregnancy.  It ends the life of a baby. I.e it’s murder.  So we can  indeed be against abortion.   Now as pertains to capital punishment, we would argue it is the just execution of someone who forfeited their right to life by committing murder.  I am not here to argue for capital punishment.  But let’s look at it biblically.

Genesis 9:6 institutes capital punishment, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.

Exodus 21:12 codifies it in law, “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 24:17 affirms it as law, ‘If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death.

Here’s the kicker, if we were to follow the biblical procedure for determining guilt or innocence, we’d use Numbers 35:30  ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

The biblical procedure for determining guilt or innocence is itself reiterated (witnessed a second time) in Deuteronomy 17:6  “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

Since our system of justice isn’t entirely biblical, we can see the flaws and at least understand the shortcomings. 

Another pro choice argument is “it’s not a human being”.  You have heard it called a clump of cells, just protoplasm (prehuman).  Answer: it is as human as it will ever be.  Genetically it is identifiable as human. It will develop through various stages from zygote to embryo to infant to toddler to juvenile, etc, etc. to adult.  Each of those stages are stages of human development.

Look at a few pictures…

Another pro choice argument is that it isn’t truly alive.  Ask them to define life or what it means to be alive.  By all modern scientific definitions of life, a child in the womb is alive.   It moves, it grows, etc.  If I could read into what they’re saying, it’s not conscious.  Again this is a matter of developmental stages.   But does consciousness define what it means to be human?  Try to apply the consciousness argument in other stages of life.  We don’t get to kill someone just because they aren’t completely conscious.

What about rape or incest?  Should we allow abortion in those cases?   I refer you to the prior questions and answers.  But also, name any crime where we punish an innocent bystander.  The child conceived by rape or incest is definitely a victim in this circumstance.   Or to state it another way, is it ok to punish the child for the crime of the father?

The biggie today is “ my body, my choice”. I do believe a person should have some level of autonomy over their own body.  The question is whether or not the child in the womb is part of the mother‘s body or is it its own separate body with its own blood supply and own internal organs.   Yes the child is connected to the mom by the placenta and the umbilical cord, but the child is its own separate body.

How about this one? It’s not a child, it's a fetus.  Well fetus is just Latin for a little one or small one.  I call children, “little ones”, all the time. Think about the Bible’s term for pregnant; “with child”.

Isaiah 7:14 (NASB95)

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Also think about some things God says about children in the womb.

Luke 1:39-45 (NASB95) 39 Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 45 “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB95) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Another argument is; “what if the child will be born into 

• Poverty 
• A broken, fatherless home
• A life of misery 
• A life of disease 
• A home with dead-beat parents 
• A life of physical or sexual abuse 
• Abandonement

So what you’re telling me is that you should be able to preemptively kill a child so it won’t have to endure any of these circumstances?  You are saying you can predict the future.  That really is the definition of playing god.  

It boils down to choosing 

• An education 
• A career 
• A boyfriend or a husband 
• Convenience 

Over having a child.

Please understand, God is rich in mercy and full of loving kindness.   God offers forgiveness to all who would humbly call on him.   God will in no wise cast us out.

God will not only forgive, but he will restore that which has been lost.

Psalms 86:5-7 (NASB95) 5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. 6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications! 7 In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me.

Back to psalm 139 verses 17 & 18

 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. 

God’s thoughts are precious.   I think of Jeremiah 29:11 where God says ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Another one comes to mind, Zepheniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy

Now we get to God’s knowledge of wicked people.

Verses 19-22 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. 

People may get away with stuff here on earth during this life, but unless they repent and place their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, justice will be served in eternity.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.