It's one-thirty-nine. Psalm one-thirty-nine. I think this is one of the most fantastic chapters in our entire Bible. Psalm one-thirty-nine. And verse one. Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine upright. Thou understandest my thoughts so far off. Thou compassed my path, and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my way. For it is not a word in my tongue, not even on the tip of it. But lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. I know many a time you were about to say something, meaning it didn't. It was on the tip of your tongue, but you might as well have said it. The Lord thought, 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. Now this psalm is in four stanzas, and that's the first one, the first six verses. and that brings us God omniscient. Now verse seven, whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy breath? 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 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 light shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideeth not from thee, not from God, but the night shinedeth as a day the darkness and the light are both a light to thee. Now the third standard. For thou hast possessed me, and here's God's omnipotence, for thou hast possessed my reign, 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 knows right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in sacred. and curiously lost in the lowest parts of the earth, then I 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. And you realize that, how precious they are when you consider who it is, has such thought of me. 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. Now you come to the fourth standard. God's activities and actions and David's attitude. Surely thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men! Will they speak against thee wickedly? Thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them. O Lord, that take thee. Damn not I grieve with those that rise up against thee. I hate them with perfect hatred, not sinful 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 way everlasting. How wonderful this psalm is. I've already mentioned you have four stanzas and you have the first one, the first six verses. You have God's omniscience. In other words, God knows everything. He knows all there is to be known about you. Then in the next four verses, six verses, seven to Well, God's omnipresent, He sees all. Not only does He know all, He sees all. Nothing can be hid from hidden. In other words, God is everywhere. That's remarkable. God is everywhere at the same time. Now that can't be said of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ never went outside the boundary of the land of Palestine. He had a body, and that body localized him. And he said to his own, now he said, I'm going to leave you. I'm going to be with my father. And he says, Sorrow has filled your heart, because I said, I'm going to leave you. Which meant he was going to heaven. He had been on earth for thirty-three years. And because he had a body, he was localized. When he was in Jerusalem, he couldn't be in Galilee. And so he says, I'm going to leave you. You've been able to see me and touch me. And now I'm going to heaven. He says, and sorrow has filled my heart. But he said, I'll send my other self. I'll send the comfort of the Holy Spirit that he may abide with you forever. Now God is a spirit. God the Father is a spirit, and he's everywhere. God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, he is everywhere. When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, there were only those around him who enjoyed his fellowship. There were only those around him who could hear his word. But when he went to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit that all Christians all over the world might have his presence. And hear his voice through his word. And so the Lord speaks here. He says, Really, I'm everywhere. I'm not localized. I'm in every part of the earth, and that's what he talks about here. And then you have his omnipotence. He can do all things. All powerful. And as we mentioned the last, and you have God's actions or activities and David's attitudes. When you think of the first one, no man can claim these three things. When I was first saved, I thought they're too big words. I'm not going to use them for a while. I know what they mean. I don't know what omniscience means, or omnipotent. But after a while, I learned the meaning of them. And they're wonderful. They're God's attributes. They can be applied to God and God only. No man on earth nor committee of men could claim these types, knowing all things, being everywhere. seeing all things, and having all power, not even a name. The only one who can claim these attributes is Almighty God, the Triundar, Triundar. When you think about what we read in that first standard, yes, he says, thou knowest, thou understandest, thou art acquainted. with all my ways. That's what David said. Lord, you know everything. You know what's on the end of my tongue. You know what I'm thinking. Thou knowest everything. And Lord, you understand everything. And Lord, you're acquainted with everything. That's something, isn't it? The faith that the Lord understands everything about me. I kind of like this, you know. Thou knowest Yes, thou knowest all that's going on in the world. Thou knowest what's going on in heaven. Lord, thou knowest what's going on in hell. Thou knowest what's going on in Europe, Asia. But thou knowest what's going on in America. And Lord, thou knowest what's going on in Albany. But Lord, thou knowest me. That's the best way. He knows me. And the Lord Jesus said, I know my sheep. and I've known them I. Isn't it nice to know that this great and grand and glorious God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, He knows me? If you've got word that President Reagan knows you, he'll be kind of proud of it. He knows you first. Old friend, forget the President. God of the universe knows me. And he knows my name. And he knows you if you're a born-again Christian. And so he knows me. And I'm glad he knows all about me. He knows my mother. And I'm glad for that. It's possible for somebody to misjudge and criticize my mother. But I know, and I'm proud, that God knows my voice. I can just make the statement that could be this truth, and some here know what I'm talking about. Many years ago, we had a dear sister, and I visited her every day for nearly two years. And I was in the restaurant one day, and the lady happened to be sitting at the table. And I'll overhear to make this remark. The preacher Wilson just visited her every day because he was hoping to get a share of her will. Such a thought never enters my mind. But you see, the Lord knew my voice. And it's a grand thing when you can say, God knows my most. So I'm glad he knows all things. So I'm glad he knows. Something, and I'm kind of sad, he knows others. Thou know. And there's nothing you can hide from him. So there you have God's knowledge of you. On how he's omniscient, he knows everything. He's omnipresent, he sees them. And think of that. He's everywhere. He sees all. And he tells you in that paragraph, In heaven, he sees what's going on in heaven, in hell. In David says, if I take the wings of the morning and I fly to the outermost parts of the earth, there shall my hand lead thee. And he goes on to show that distance cannot separate from God. No matter where you go, distance means nothing to God. And darkness doesn't mean anything to him. You may hide yourself in a dark room, turn out all the lights and pull down the shades. It may differ. God not governed by the sun. He sees you and he sees what you're doing. And as I used to sometimes say when speaking to children many years ago, God can see a black ant on a black rock on a black night. God can see everything. His eyes behold evil and the good. How marvelous. Is anyone the David that says, These things are too wonderful for me. I can grasp the fact that God, He knows everything about me, and He sees everything about me. You can no more get away from God than a bird can get away from air, or a fish can get away from sea, or water. God just knows, and He sees, and He sees whatever you do. This is something in this. You remember how Jonah, he wanted to run away from God and he ran down the chopper and went down into the boat and then his boat went down to the bottom of the sea. He thought he was getting away from God and while in the valley in the bottom of the sea, he heard God's voice. And the amazing thing is Jonah prayed unto the Lord and the Lord heard his voice. You can't get away from God. I remember the case also of Jacob, when Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau. And he started praying for the night, and he made a pillow out of rocks, and he had a dream. During the night he prayed there was a ladder, an angel of God who was at them and descending. The top of the ladder was in the presence of the God, and the bottom of the ladder was right at his ear. And he awoke. And he was shocked. He said, God Almighty was in this place, and I knew it not. Here was God right there while Jacob slept. You know, Jacob, you can try to flee from your brother Esau, but you can't get away from the presence of God. And so, how wonderful are these things? God is everywhere. He can do everything. He sees everything. You come to the most marvelous thing in verses three, thirteen, eighteen. God's all power. He created the world. Certainly if he created the world, if he called all these planets into existence, and they haven't got through counting them yet, the Milky Way and all that after this, and if God created all these planets, these spheres, and cast them off his fingertips and made them sit in their sockets of blue and keep them burling. If God did all that, if he can do things like that, or how? What can he do for me? And with this, he can be, you know, this to me is an amazing thing. He gives us, to me, with something, contains something that those who consider this abortion question, of families, and I'm going to read it to you again, lest you miss them. Notice verse thirteen. He says, For thou hast possessed in thy way, thou hast covered me in thy mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and let my soul know who I well. My substance was not hidden from thee. when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest class of the earth, thine eye did see my substance, yet being imperfect or unfinished, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance succession were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. As we read this passage, right, I believe you have the gospel of conception. Here is God knowing everything. And when you start to think of this, it takes you think of a certain code. And what is a code? Well, a code, there are certain systems of rules and signals. And when they start, they dictate and influence the development of every member of that tiny body. under those laws. And God knows everything. He knew you when you were born. In fact, in his foreknowledge, and David's not talking about the wickedness, this whole chapter is taken up between David and God and God and David, leaving the wicked out. He's a child of God. Isn't it amazing what God knows and says about his children? And how remarkable that is. He knew me before I was born. And he knew me that I began. And how I was developed. And each member of this state, I believe it was him. When you think of a green apple, there's the blossom. And when that blossom starts off, you have a tiny little green substance. And it developed. It developed. We have a process. Law, history, books. Until there it is in August, September, a fake rose in the house. Then when you and I were saved by grace, when we were born again and became a Christian, and the Bible tells us we're born again by the word of God, by the incorruptible seed, the moment you trusted Christ, There was a code, a system, work, signals they got. And that is going on to this day, through the word and spirit of God. God is developing into the likeness of Jesus Christ, just as in the physical, so in the spirit. And the spirit of God will not be finished or satisfied until the all who are born again in the exact likeness. of the Lord Jesus Christ, the finished process. Is everything left? Nothing but this passage keeps. How wonderful it is. Didn't it? David not dangerous. Fearfully was wonderfully made. And if our physical birth mystified me, my spiritual birth also mystified me. The faith. that from the moment of conception, when I was born again, and the Holy Spirit took up his abode in me, there was law. Satan operates to the Word of God and the Spirit of God. And day after day, I'm being conformed in the image of Christ. Even the Apostle did not as though I've already practiced. He said, the process is going on. And no Christian is going to be that I've seen until he says the Lord. that old nature is still here, but the Spirit of God is working with that new man. Though the outward man perish, the new man, the inner man is renewed, day by day. I wonder if that's true with me. Are you living with the Spirit of God working? Are you developing? Or are you stagfront, undivided? No further developed today than you were in the yesterday. God wants to develop. These are amazing things. Then you come to the fourth section where you have, in this fourth section, you have what David is speaking about, God's action. And David doesn't do it. David hates what God hates. And David loves what God loves. You have David's appeal. This is amazing to me. David says, search me, O God. Search me, and try me. Now, I'll tell you one thing. This language demands a noble, brave, and courageous search. To think that God knows everything, He sees everything. He can do everything. And to ask Him to search me, I wouldn't worry about some man searching me. All he can see is outside. I'm not worried about anybody searching me either. The FBI, they won't be. You don't like that word, search. Well, when you stop to think of God searching, someone you can't hide, who knows your motive, yet date, he says, Lord, I want you to search. Now that demand, a proud, a person, he's not proud, that's the first thing he really wants, but he is the courageous. And he's a noble man. He's a man that wants to be certain. He wants to know just what his condition is. Sometimes in my life, I've asked God to let me know Guess what he sees in my heart and heart? He's going to tell you something. Then a Christian can get on his knees and say, Lord, search. Search. And he may be in for something when he lets you know what he sees. In other words, the word search means to hunt, to seek, to look for, or to explore, to examine, to probe, to test, to search. may be unwelcome. Today, when men come along, police, FBI, they want to search their home. They don't like it. You don't like that. And of course, they've got, when you go to these terminals of the air, planes, they've got both eyes and all kinds of other apparatus, virtues, to send all the signal that you carry some weapon. You don't like being searched. There's something about it you shy away about. You don't like to be served. You know, then, why a lot of people don't like saying Bible preaching, they don't want to be served. They don't want to know the facts. They don't want to know the truth. Well, it's the Word of God that's doing it, not me, and the Spirit of God. We think of a search party recently. We've had three or four cases, young girls admitted and admitted. Start the search party. Practice things up. Who did? Well, there are many who volunteered. You appreciate that. They're in the search party. But the party who's most concerned in that search party is the loved one of the party he did. There are degrees of search. It'd be all right if God purchased someone else. What about if he searches me? That's the point. Search me, he says. Search me. What does it mean? It means, Lord, I want to know exactly my spiritual condition. Not a name, so a name is not going to search me. No man is going to search me. David says, Lord, you search us. And you know, in verse one he had already searched us. But now at the end of the chapter, he says, look here again. Search me, O God. I want to know the fact. This is something. How could I ask him to search me? Sincerely. Be sincere about it. Carefully. Pray about it. And where should he search me? like you. When should he first me? Why now? When should I want him to first me? And why? To see my true condition before him. How am I going to correct anything in my life if I don't know what the condition is? How am I going to know, want to know my condition? Unless God put the finger on it, and that will be the question in my life. of searching this is. Thou who knoweth all, seeeth all, doeth all, search me. What does it mean? It means, Lord, bring out your X-ray. That search is the inside. Bring out this spotlight. That search is the out-ray. Lord, search me through a group, in an out-ray. and i'm going to turn it around it's me uh research so i'll use the text to also say nothing is hidden in the eye he knows everything all is exposed we're naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do search me as a minister This is where it all begins in the most. Search me as a minister. Why do I want God to search me? Am I preaching just to exalt myself? Am I preaching for monetary reasons, just for a family, or to get money? God searches me, but I do. Am I studying... to tell people how to live, or am I studying that I might learn how I may live? Do I study to give it up or to live it up? Every preacher has asked God to search him. He is after us. Search me, search my motive. He overseers. Are you prepared as an overseer to say, Lord, first me? An elder, Lord, first me. A teacher, Lord, first me. A sonny school teacher, an usher, a musician, a singer. Lord, first me. Well, the Bible will give you all the qualifications, especially first and second Timothy and In fact, anywhere in the New Testament, you'll get the qualification and you'll read them, and you'll see what God expects of you if you hold those up and his judgment on the base of what his word says. You might go a little further than if you're a father, say, Lord, search near the Father. Am I worthy of being a father? And what does God say about fathers? Pretty Deacons five and Colossians three, search near the mother, search near the wife, search near the husband. Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of Great Britain, he stomped out of church one day, mad. And this is what he said. Things have come to a tricky pass when the nation is made to invade the privacy of a man's home. He was one thing in Parliament, but another thing in his own. And he was mad at the Christian, because the Christian put his finger on his own way. My Bible says, the man not know not how to rule his own house, how can he take care of a certain God. God search you. Yes. What about our business life? And God searched me as a business man, an employer, or as an employee. I remember hearing about a color man, he went to the priest. He said, preacher, I don't got religion. Oh, Sam, you've got religion. Well, he said, that means you're going to clarify it all. Yes, sir. That means there's going to stand in church regularly. That means you're going to help the poor, the middle, the stuff. That means you're going to pay all your debts. That's religion. That's not religion. That's religion. That's religion. Yeah, you put a shame on it, isn't it? That's religion. That's not religion. That's Christianity. And so the Lord puts his kingdom on these things really not. Search me as a master of a servant. Search me as a law-abiding citizen. And attack there. How did he search me? By his word, by the Holy Spirit, by the conscience that I have, and by his presence. A few weeks after I was saved, I went to Massey Hall in Toronto, where they had a big conference. And there were three thousand people in Massey Hall, Toronto. And they had, I don't know how many preachers were there. Well, one. But there was one man got up to preach. His name was Yuma Dua, a lovely character. And he began to preach, if I want, may not, but I'll have no heart for you. When he got through preaching, the longer he preached, the smaller I got, and the more convicted I became, not that I was aware of anything he had in my life, but I'll tell you one thing, when that meeting was over, if I had found a hole somewhere around that, I'd have gone through it. The presence of God got a hole in me. I got a good first. And friend, that helped me. And I had hundreds of people come to me in my life and said, he was talking right at me. You were speaking about me. Anybody tell you about me? You were looking right at me. You were pointing right at me. You were pointing at me. That's the Spirit of God doing a little out there. Search me. Search me. This is something, isn't it? And he says, try me. Not only search me, but he says, Lord, try me. The brave, bold, courageous soul who can say this, Lord touch me and touch me. Remember, Luther Wilson, an old kid of mine, we were close friends up in Flawley, North Carolina when I came south, and Luther wanted to go out and full-time work. He was a prisoner. He said to me one day, he said, Brother Wilson, he said, I'm willing to start. He said, I'm willing to start. I hope, Luther, the Lord doesn't take that. If he were to make statements like that, I wonder what he would do if you were caught in the condition that he said he did. He went into it. He was glad to have it. God did. Jews can bless when they believe. Jews can praise when they're in pain. Very few can sing, brethren in sorrow. Very few can talk when they've been pried. Very few can sing hallelujah when they hurt. Few are resigned when they're wrong. Few can smile when they're smitten. Few can be silent when they're being sworn at. Few can heal when they're being yelled at. Few can be meek when they're being maligned. You can be true when they're being tempted. Just when a person comes to this, I want to say all thoughts and the fiction, and the shallowery, so for sure, has gone out of their spirituality. When they can get down on their knees before God and say, God, search me and find. and go my way and see if it will be any good to say. I may have mentioned this once before, and I just mentioned it now. When I came to North Carolina, I was with a three-million in Newport News for a couple of months, and somehow I'd had some meetings in Raleigh. alone and I had gone down to be with him in Newport News, and somehow the Lord was pulling at my heart to go back and labor in Raleigh. And Mr. News had sensed it. He wanted me to stay with him in the Newport News. He went down to the dock. I was to catch the ferry to go over to Norfolk, and then get the train to Raleigh. He said, that's why I think the Lord brought us together. I think we're making a mistake. And he somehow felt Christians in Raleigh were kind of urging me to come, and he was right. He said, I said, but God knows. He knows the way that I take. He said, do you know the rest of that verse? I said, I'll hand right now. I know. Then he said, I'll tell you the rest of it. Then he said, I will come forth as soon. I took the steps, and God has tried over fifty-one years of faith. I'll have to wait for the judgment sheet of Christ to see whether I've got gold, silver, precious gold, or wood, hay, or wood. Man was on the operating table very serious, questionable as he would live. And the surgeon said to the nurse, he drew her attention to a tattoo. It was on the patient's chest. He looked at it. The tattoo was J-E-S-U-S. The nurse says, let's hope it deeper than the skin. Under his condition, he better have something deeper than the skin. Tend the time going to come when you're going to die. I hope you've got something deeper than just your friendship. A good life. What a baptism. I hope you've got something deeper than the skin. I hope you've got something down in your heart known as Christ and Christianity. God wants you to come clean before him and he'll wash you clean. and as white as gold. Remember that Christian, although he has a mistake, he has a protective shield for the blood of Christ. But the unsaid have no protective shield. Everything is naked and open before the eyes of him and whom he has to do. Woe beyond to you that you are a sinner, okay, Lord, first you, then... God helped you this morning to open your heart and receive him who knows all, sees all, and to do all, he can save you now. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is the name of thy servant. We thank thee for thy word. How stretching it is! How true! May those of us as Christians proper prophets on my word for this portion of scripture and those who are not saved in him. May they see themselves, not have to turn on time and speak of Christ for salvation. We ask that you not save his name. Shall we sing in closing him? Three hundred and seventy-six. Three hundred and seventy-six. out of my bonded sodom and night. Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into thy freedom, gladness and light. Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my sickness, into thy health, out of my want, and into thyself. Well, out of my sin, and into thyself, Jesus, I come to thee. Don't sing it, unless you need. Come to Christ, you stand.