Understanding our Culture in light of Psalm 139

Summer Psalms  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Confession of who God is and a picture of the response of sinners to the Biblical God.

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Introduction

I would like to share an observation with you, maybe this is something that you have noticed as well.
People in our culture for the most part are open to talking about god (lower case g) but when you start talking about the Biblical God
When you begin to talk about God in such away where you are not stripping Him of all of His Divine Attributes
When you talk about God as the all knowing God, the all seeing God, the ever present God, the God whom we cannot hide from, the God who is our Sovereign Creator, the Holy God of the OT then people begin to get uncomfortable.
Case in point, the reason Andy Stanley is leading this march into this new liberalism and calling the church the unhitch itself from the OT is because he understands that people are uncomfortable with the God the Bible.
He speaks of these “de-conversion” stories of people who grew up in Christian homes and then as they get older and get more familiar with the God of the Bible they get offended and leave Christianity and so Andy Stanley is attempting to make God more palatable for the unregenerate heart.
He wants to talk about Jesus as if Jesus is not the Second Person of the Trinity, as if Jesus is somehow disconnected from the God of the OT and tell people that they can have Jesus and not have the God of the OT.
This is just a new charge into liberalism, it is just the old Marcion heresy given a new advocate. As Andy Stanley heads into this direction he is misleading thousands with his heretical theology who have been captivated by his skill as a communicator and a leader.
In the Psalm before us this morning we are confronted by the God of the Bible, we are confronted by Jehovah, the Creator, the God who Speaks, the Righteous Judge, the Redeeming God, the Covenant Keeping God, the God who cannot be escaped
And then at the end of the Psalm we see the Mixed Responses to God

The All-Knowing God (v.1-6)

Notice right out of the gate, LORD, Jehovah.
Of course there is but one God, the Bible is clear on that all the way through, and this God is the LORD.
He is the God of
He is the God of
He is the God of
He is the God of
Exodus 8–12 ESV
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.” ’ ” And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’ ” So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’ ” And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.” ’ ” And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’ ” And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” ’ ” Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail. Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.” The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people. So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.” Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
He is the God of
He is the God of
Exodus 8-12
In other words He is the God of all Creation, the God that every man and woman and boy and girl will have to stand before and give an account, He is the God who rules and reigns over all, the God who destroys sinners, and the God who redeems sinners
And we see here in that He is also the God who is All-Knowing.
This past fall we talked about the Omniscience of God, the fact that God is all knowing and one of the parts of God’s Omniscience is God’s Knowledge of each of us.
Matthew 6:8 ESV
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matthew 10:29–30 ESV
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
As we read v.1-6 we are aware that God’s knowledge of us is far greater than we can imagine.
My actions, my thoughts, my intentions, my words (even before they are spoken)
He knows all of my past and all of my future as well
What does David say in v.6
This is overwhelming
It is overwhelming when we consider the greatness of God
Brothers and sisters we are reminded this morning of
Hebrews 4:13 ESV
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews

The Ever-Present God (v.7-12)

But not only is God all knowing but He is also ever present.
Maybe one may ask as they consider the knowledge of God, is there anyway that something can be hidden from God, is there anywhere that we can run to escape His all seeing eyes, can we escape His infinite knowledge.
Maybe one may ask as they consider the knowledge of God, is there anyway that something can be hidden from God, is there anywhere that we can run to escape His all seeing eyes, can we escape His infinite knowledge.
We learn in that Yahweh must really be God, He must be that Being of which no greater being could be imagined because not only does He know all things (including every single thing about me) but one cannot escape His presence.
He is in the heavens
He is in the place of the dead
No matter where one may go they cannot escape His presence
The deepest ocean, the highest mountain, the darkest night, the brightest day; He is there.
The pagan deities had an authority that was conceived as confined to certain areas of operation and yet we see here that the LORD’s authority extends to the heavens.. the depths…the wings of the dawn… the sea.
The farthest reaches of heaven and the depths of the earth, the extremities of east (the wings of the dawn) and west (the far side of the sea) and of darkness and lights serve to strengthen the image of God’s absolute sovereignty over creation and our inability to hide from Him.
Jeremiah 23:23–24 ESV
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

The Sovereign Creator (v.13-16)

Not only is God all knowing, not only is He all present but He is also our Sovereign Creator.
In v.13-16 we see that Yahweh is the one to whom we owe our very being.
We can talk all about conception and the development in scientific terms from a zygote to an embryo to a fetus all the way to birth
But listen to me, there is something that many in our day do not understand; this cannot be understood if you look upon this a simply a biological event,
This is the the very handiwork of God.
The growing of a baby in the womb of the mother takes place under the Sovereign care of our God
knitted together
fearfully and wonderfully made
made in secret
intricately woven in the depths of the earth
puts in beautiful poetic language what the Bible teaches clearly
and 2 clearly teach that all things were created by the LORD God and that we humans, were created by God as His image bearers.
A few things about God being our Creator
God created all things for His glory (He alone can determine the end for which He created all things)
Isaiah 43:6–7 ESV
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah 48:11 ESV
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
2. As God’s creatures we can only understand life and the meaning of life in light of Him and His revelation to us.
Psalm 18:28 ESV
For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
John 1:1–3 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–5 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1.1-
3. We have a responsibility to live in submission to Him as He is our Creator
Isaiah 45:9–10 ESV
“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’ ”
So let me summarize what we have so far in ,
Yahweh is the one True God Who Sovereignly made us and to whom we are accountable and there is nothing that we can hide from Him and there is no where that we can hide from His presence.
That is what we see in v.1-16
I think that is the clear reading of the text.
There is much application that we could draw from all of this individually but we will spend our time in the discussion of application in this last section.

The Mixed Response (v.17-24)

We see two responses in this section
We see the delight of God’s people
We see the hatred of God’s enemies
Let’s first talk about the later and then we will go back to the former
The Bible makes it clear that all of humanity are to be found in only one of these two categories, there are those who are God’s people and there are those who are God’s enemies.
The hatred of God’s enemies
Notice v. 19-21
There are those who are referred to as the wicked, they are men of blood, they speak against the LORD with malicious intent, they are the LORD’s enemies, they hate the LORD and they rise up against the LORD
Those who are outside of the covenant people of God, those who do not know the new birth, the gracious work of God in changing the heart and making us new creatures in Christ Jesus fall into this category.
They may be nice people, they may smile and wave at you when you go by their house and yet the Bible tells us that if we have only been born once we are enemies of God.
Psalm 14:1–3 ESV
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
Psalm 53:1–3 ESV
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
The fallen human heart is wicked, it is full of unrighteousness, it is deceitful above all things, it cannot be trusted, and it cannot be understood, it leads one away into foolishness, sin, and death
men of blood, that is the sinful heart if left to itself is murderous. You say well i know a lot of people who are not saved and have never murdered anyone
Jesus teaches that we men and women murder in their hearts daily
Matthew 5:21–22 ESV
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
To hate someone and wish they would just go away and not inconvience you is a murderous heart
And the to add more significance to that we need to remember that the murder of a human being is an attack on the Creator in whose image he was created.
You hear people talk about the God of the Bible and they say things like this, well if God is like the God of the OT then I don’t want anything to do with Him,
You look at all of the confusion in our culture today.
Gender identity crisis, LGBTQ and might as well add another B and P for beastiality and pedophile because those things are coming down the line as well
We step back and it appears that the world has gone mad, that they have lost their mind
Well they reality is that they are being driven my a madness, an insanity in that they they are in a full rebellion against the Creator and His good design.
They hate Him, even if they aren’t really aware of it.
You may wander about our culture, why is there so much murder, just earlier this month there was a blood bath in Chicago, 74 shot in one weekend due to gang related events, the Colorado man who turned himself in this past week for killing his 15 week pregnant wife and his two little girls, the multitude of abortions that take place every day in our country
All of this is a horrific symptom of the heart of the problem and it is a hatred for the Creator, a rebellion against the Creator
Why are there men of blood? Because they are enemies of the LORD
helps us understand what is going on in our culture, people do not want to submit to the Sovereign Creator, people hate the idea of a God who knows all of their secrets, a God whom they cannot hide from, a God to whom they must give an account and all of their actions are flowing from an uncontrollable hatred of this God, of the Lord God who has revealed Himself to us in His Word and in His Son Jesus Christ.
But we also see a second response
v.17-18 we see this delight in who God is, this trust in mercy and the kindness of God
Clearly we have this picture of those who are at war with God
And then those who are at peace with God, right?
This one who trust God, who delights in God, this one who hates all that is opposed to God
It helps here to know who wrote the psalm, the psalm was written by David
The question is what made the difference between David and the world around that was madly in war with God?
Was it not the gracious and merciful covenant relationship that God had entered into with David?
Psalm 25:4–7 ESV
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
God had made Himself known to David,
God had set David apart for Himself, we see this even when Samuel goes to anoint the next king for Israel and God makes it clear that He had not chosen any of David’s brothers but David
David trusted in the Lord, He trusted in the Lord for forgiveness, and for cleansing
Psalm 51:1–2 ESV
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
You see David had been changed by the grace of God
So that instead of running from God and trying to hide from God he was running to God.
v.23 and 24
David had been so changed by God that instead of delighting in sin he delighted in God and in His way.
I would say to you that David experienced the very thing in him that we can experience in an even greater degree
Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
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