Psalm 139 (Massive Truths for Meaningful Worship and Missional Walk)

May 31, 2026

Dr. Henry Dennard

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Good morning.

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If you picked up a study knows or sermon guide or whatever you want to call that, uh you know that we are in Psalm one thirty-nine.

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So if you would turn to Psalm 139.

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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. I pour out my complaint before excuse me, that's two pages. That didn't go along. I know that wasn't what I was reading this week. 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 altogether. 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 ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in 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 me in 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 yet none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sad. I awake and I am still with you. O that you would slay the wicked, O God, O men 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 I 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. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this your word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by a man after your own heart, for not just his good, not just the good of Israel, but for ours, and for generations to come until Jesus comes. Thank you for working all things out in all of the earth, all of time and space, all of creation, to have us here in this moment, gather together, not by chance or accident, but by your divine providence. Help us, Father, in this time coming, these few minutes, as we look into you, as you reveal yourself in your word, help us worship, because you are worthy of all our worship. Help us, Holy Spirit, worship our holy God in Jesus' name.

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Amen. A couple of weeks ago, a few weeks ago, oh, by the way, some of you have noticed it may be a little warm in here, a little muggy.

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Well, summer on the calendar officially starts June 21st. Summer for Calvary Baptist Church starts the first time the first air conditioner breaks down. So it's officially summer at Calvary Baptist Church, so we'll deal with it. Um and I will try to shorten my sermon so that you don't have to endure it too long. God willing. A few weeks ago, Andrew asked me to uh and Jason that if we would fill in a couple of weeks this week and next week because he and Kent and their families are taking a vacation. So they're on their vacation. Pray for their safe return and their joy while they're gone. Uh but he said, just pick a psalm. Any psalm, whatever you want. Okay, thanks, Andrew. There's only like, what, 150 of them? So how do you pick? They're all good. How do I pick one? Well, I could start with maybe I just pick the shortest one. That'd be the easiest to preach. And then I thought, amen. And I thought, well, no, but I really like Psalm 16. That's just one of my favorites. And I thought, no, I really like Psalm 37. No, I really like Psalm 145. And so I couldn't pick my favorite. So God picked one for me. You want to know how that happened? It's pretty interesting. Christy and I are reading through a book together. We do that regularly, uh, or I let her read it to me on the drive to work and back. So the latest book that we were reading is one by John Eldridge. It's actually been out for a while, but the title of it is Walking with God. Subtitle is How to Hear His Voice. That's pretty intriguing, isn't it? It was for us. Um he tells a story in the book about a time when he asked God for his guidance about what they should do, and then felt like he got an answer, and then did something else anyway. And then he tells about what happened when he didn't do it the way God told him. So he has an interaction then with this reporter who was doing an article, and she asked what this book was about. And he told her, this is a sort of tutorial on how to walk with God and how to hear his voice. I told her several stories, including the one about the bad thing. There was a long pause, that pregnant sort of pause that tells me I've just hit upon something, some great need and a great doubt. Finally she asked, What do you say to people who say God isn't that intimate with me? I had a hunch. It was something in the tone of her voice that said she hadn't experienced the Christian life in the ways that I was describing. Maybe because she'd never been told this is available. Maybe it's as simple as the fact that no one had ever shown her how. It might seem trivial that I'm bothering God, the God of the universe, with a family outing for a Christmas tree. That was the story. Does God really care about that kind of stuff? Is he really that intimate with us? Let's start with this much. God certainly knows us that intimately. And then he put in Psalm 139. Now, he didn't put in all of it. He left out that last part. I will have to deal with that last part because I picked Psalm 139. So I'm going to deal with all of Psalm 139. But as this was being read to me, it was the words that I just read to you, and that you just read in your own Bible. I would, I was overwhelmed with this sense of who God really is and who he really is for me. Personally, yes, corporately, he's for you. He's for the church. He is for the church of Christ. He is in some ways for the world. His grace extends all over the earth right now. There are a lot of people who are still alive because God's grace exists. So praise God for that. So I do my homework. I start doing homework. One of them is just reading, rereading, praying, rereading, asking God for help. What is there to see here? And then I do a little research, and I came across the fact that Charles Spurgeon preached this psalm like back in 1886 or something, quite a while ago. And I love this, what Charles Spurgeon had to say as an introduction to his sermon on Psalm 139. And he says this the brightness of this psalm is like unto a sapphire stone or Ezekiel's terrible crystal. It flames out with such flashes of light as to turn night into day. Like a pharaoh's, this holy song, S-O-N-G, casts a clear light even to the uttermost parts of the sea and warns us against that practical atheism which ignores the presence of God and so makes shipwreck of the soul.

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Wow.

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That's pretty big. That's pretty special. Now, first you may have to know well, what did he mean by is Ezekiel's terrible crystal? I don't remember. They never heard of it. That's back in Ezekiel's vision to chapter one. Of course, he has the four creatures and all the strange visions that he has, and one of them is this firmament above the creatures that's vast, measureless, and grand and shining gloriously that it's almost blinding. So that's the comparison that Spurgeon's using here. And then Pharos is the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria. It's no longer there, but it was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world because of what it was and what it did, casting its light out onto the ocean to lead ships home. So he's using these illustrations about this Psalm 139 and what light it shines not on God, but from God on us. The light of God through his word shining on us in a way that should have an impact and effect on me. It had an effect and impact on me. As I think about this and the implications, that's where I came up with the title. Massive truths. These truths that we're going to talk about here in just a minute are massive. If you really try to get your head around them and who God is and what all is implied in these truths, it is massive. And it should have an effect on us. So these massive truths should be massively helpful for God's children, but also can be massively horrifying for those who are not his children. So these truths first were true for David. David penned the song. In fact, he he penned it and he says, Send this to the choir master. I want us to interject this into our worship. That's what it says. Now, in your ESV, it's kind of like just a little headline, but if you go to the KJV or other versions, it's actually part of verse one. Send this to the choir master. I'm paraphrasing. A song, S-O-N-G of David. So in this psalm, I see four massive truths, and I want to go by through them one by one. So, number one, I am intimately known by God. We can hear that maybe from David's voice. I am intimately known by God. And that's what he says through the first six verses. He expounds on that. I am intimately known by God. We can in Christ also say, I am intimately known by God.

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Is that a big deal? Let's look at it.

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Let's go back to that Psalm. There we go, the first six verses. Now notice the underlying parts. That's why I do the, like the slides where I'm put my underlying parts in there, because I underline mine, so I want you to see the underlinings. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discerned, that's another word for no, my thoughts from afar. You search out my path. That's another word or phrase for no and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. You know my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind before. Lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge, your knowledge of me is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it.

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That's pretty big.

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Now, what I see in these psalms, these the this psalm, I see in these four points, the four points that I'm going to make, these four massive truths, I see each one of them in some way meeting one of our most basic and critical needs. I believe this psalm, this part of the psalm, first six verses, is meeting our need to be known. We have a need to be known. We want to be known by somebody. Because that kind of gives us identity, gives us reality. Somebody knows me. Um back in the day before Christ in my life, um, I frequented a place called Benegan's. It was a restaurant in town. I I told I was going to quit doing this. I do this because it was a restaurant that it also had a bar inside it. So the food was wonderful when I ate it. But one of the reasons I kept going back to Benegens is I had developed such a habit that they knew me by name. And they knew what I was coming for, and they had it ready when I got there. I felt I felt pretty important. I felt special. They know my name. They know me and something about me, they know what I want. And they're gonna give it to me. And that made me happy. Wouldn't that make you happy? You go someplace and they already know who you are. They already know what you like and what you want, and not only that, they already have it ready for you. How special would that make you feel? It made me feel pretty special, so I kept coming back. Well, I don't go anymore. Of course, Benegan's not there anymore, but I don't go to places like that anymore. Because the place where I can come, where I know somebody knows my name, knows who I am, knows what I like, know what I want, know everything about me, and is there to give me what is best for me, is on my knees before God. And I can do that at home. I don't have to go somewhere, but I also do it here with you. I want to share my joy at being known and my needs being met in such a way that it makes me want to worship and I want to share my joyful worship with all of you.

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Y'all remember the um TV show Cheers?

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I used to watch Cheers, and maybe because Cheers was the similar situation to the one I was talking about at Benegan's. They kind of reminded me of each other. But I like Cheers, I like the interact, the comedy. But they had a theme song. They played it before the show started, where everybody knows your name. You can probably hear it, it's playing in your ear. If you ever watch the show, it's probably playing in your head now where everybody knows your name. What they were doing, very smart, they devised a whole show, a whole thing to appeal to one basic need, to be numb, where everybody knows your name. So I don't know what the watch watchership or whatever you want to call that of that was, but I bet it was big. Because it made people feel numb. You know the bride and groom, but you go to the wedding, there's a reception, and you don't know anybody else there. That ever made you feel uncomfortable? It does me. And I've been to those weddings where, well, I know the bride and groom, but I don't know anybody else, and I was really uncomfortable. So, what do you think I'm looking for when I get there then? I'm looking for somebody that knows me. Go into a crowd. I'm looking, is there anybody here that knows me? That's where I want to go. Because I want to know that somebody knows me, and then I can actually have a relationship.

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Now, who is it that most wants the best relationship with you possible? God. He knows you and he wants that relationship.

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So I actually, even when we visited here the first time in other churches I visited, I felt that aloneness. I mean, I met a bunch of people, but I don't know any of them. And I felt that aloneness. And there was a little remark that was made about a visit to a church in our Science School class this morning where nobody acknowledged this person in that church. Therefore, this person is not going back to that church because she wanted to be known. That's not true here. In fact, I've said sometimes I feel like our visitors feel like they're being crowd rushed. One at a time and do it slowly. But we want to be known. And the God of all creation, the God who set everything into existence, the God who could destroy it at a word, the God who controls all things, the God who creates all things, the God who is happy all by himself with Jesus and the Holy Spirit knows you. And he knows everything about you. He knows every thought. That's what David said. He knows my thoughts. He knows every want, every desire. He knows every darkness, every depression, every hurt, every pain, every sorrow.

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He knows all of that. And yet, he loves us, cares for us, and wants what's best for us, which is namely himself.

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Isn't that awesome? This is, and we're going to go through these in this psalm. We see here the omniscience of God. You've heard that? That's a church word, the omniscience, the all-knowing, all-seeing God, the omniscience of God. This is a form of his omniscience, but this is omniscience personally. Yes, we can say God's omniscient, he knows everything. Yeah. And you. He knows you. And he cares about you. Speaking of knowing, that word translated no in your Bibles. Some of you probably already know this, some young theologians or older theologians, is that word yada, yada? Well, if you just look at it the way it's spelled, you say yada. And don't we always kind of go yada, yada, yada, when somebody's talking and we don't really care what they're saying, yada, yada. That ain't God. That yada is also translated, as some of you know, in Genesis to describe the relationship between a husband and a wife that leads to children being born. I'm not going to get explicit on that, just leave it there. So the kind of knowledge between a husband and a wife that leads to the creation of another person. That kind of knowledge.

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That's God's knowledge of you, intimate and deep. And not only does God know you, but his son knows you too.

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We see in John chapter 10, verse 14 and 15, I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Jesus knows you. And here's the thing: you not only want to be known, you want to know. We want to know the other person. When I run into somebody that I know, I also want to know them. Not that they just know me, but I want to know them as well. And one day, we know God now partly. One day we will get to know him fully. 1 Corinthians 13 says, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part, but then I shall be known, I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. God is partially revealing himself to us. I think he's partially revealing himself to us to only to our extent to be able to comprehend and accept and deal with it. But one day, the limitations gone. We will get to know him fully. So not only will we enjoy his knowledge of us, we will get to enjoy our knowledge of him because of Jesus Christ and what he did to open the door. Right now the door is partially open, we see part, but one day, either he's coming or we're going. Freedom. Freedom to know and be known perfectly, which should and will lead to perfect joy and the best possible worship. That's where we're headed. Aren't you happy? So I would say or submit to you that considering all that is encompassed in being known by God, it should, as we really think about it, grab hold of it, should lead our hearts to worship of this God. So I've got a question for you and a takeaway thinking. How could remembering and meditating in all that this massive truth has to offer enrich your enjoyment of your relationship with your Father and with those he puts in your life or in your path? How should remembering what I just said, what we just heard, and meditating on it make a difference in your enjoyment of worship of this holy God and in your relationships with other people?

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You get to answer that question. I have to answer it for me. Number two.

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I am infinitely attended to by God. I am infinitely attended to by God. Let's go to Psalm 139, verses 7 through 12. Where shall I go from your spirit? I've underlined the parts. Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the othermost parts of the earth, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Even the darkness is not dark for you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is light with you. God, by the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, is again speaking to one of our great needs. And I believe one of our great needs here is community. God created us for community. Out of community, God created us for community. And we are always seeking community, whether we think about it or know it or not, and sometimes we seek it in the wrong places. That's what's wrong with a lot of people's lives if they want community, but they are willing to give up or make compromise to get community. Well, God put that in them to want community, except He says, you can find it in me. So going back to my days at Benegens, I was there every night. I didn't want to be at home by myself. So I'd go hang out at Benegens just to be with somebody. So I didn't have to be by myself. Now, again, seeking community in a wrong place, which can lead to some terrible circumstances ultimately if you're not careful about it. But God's protection and grace was over me, protecting me from a lot of what other people go through and seeking community in the wrong place. But God created us for community. Isn't it wonderful to know that no matter where you are, you are never alone. As a believer, we are never alone no matter what. Wherever we go. Even if you go on a vacation and you get lost, God knows where you are because he's already there. Isn't that awesome? I mean, think about that. Isn't that amazing? You think you're by yourself. It's what alone in that crowd, God's with you. One of my favorite other favorite TV shows was Star Trek. I grew up watching it back in the 60s when it was actually brand new. And of course, it had a theme song too. And as part of the theme song, well, there was like this overdub by Captain James T. Kurt. It's five-year mission to explore new worlds, new civilizations, to seek out life forms, and to boldly go where no man has gone before. Do you know what I know is true now? Wherever they went, God was already there. He'd already been there. Isn't that awesome? Wherever you want to go in space, and there's a lot of space travel stuff going on, and SpaceX and all this stuff, people want to go out of space. God's there. Go to the moon. God's there. You're not by yourself. If you are God's child and He dwells within you, you're never alone. Isn't that awesome? Shouldn't that be helpful? Maybe that's why. Do you know what the worst punishment in the United States other than the death penalty is? Solitary confinement. I wonder why that is. Because it's miserable to be alone. God made us for community. And I believe that's what he's telling us here. I am your community when no one else is. Isn't that awesome? I mean, I'm pretty excited about this. Um this is, you know, the first part's God's omniscience. This is, as you can already guess, God's omnipresence. God everywhere. But this is God's omnipresence personally. His presence with you every moment, every day. Now that could be a scary thing to think about, depending upon what you might do, be thinking, or doing. And it's something maybe you should think about when you're starting to think about doing something maybe you shouldn't be doing. God is there. And he already was there.

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That's why a couple of the most comforting verses in the Bible are Isaiah 41, 10. Hello. Thank you.

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Where he says, Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I'll uphold you with my righteous right hand. In Psalm 23, 4. I hope I don't step on Jason. Well, Jason's not doing Psalm 23. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. In fact, just this morning, if you think about this concept, even in your Bible reading, I was just reading this morning in 2 Chronicles in my daily Bible reading. And this is what I read in 2 Chronicles 20, 17. You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid, do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. It's everywhere. And it's massive. And it's massively helpful. I am never alone. So considering all that it means, if you think about to be infinitely, always, everywhere attended to by God, he not only is watching in his present, he cares, and he's active in it for your good and his glory. Should that not lead our hearts to happy worship? It does me. Leads me to happy worship. I am so happy to have this God who knows me and lives with me wherever. I mean, his main job, I think, was washing dishes in a monastery, but he's one of the great theologians coming out of dishwashers and monasteries. He wrote a book called Practicing the Presence of God, and here's just one thing he had to say. The most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God. That means finding constant pleasure in his divine company, speaking humbly and lovingly with him in all seasons at every moment, without limiting the conversation in any way. There is no sweeter manner of living in the world than continuous communion with God.

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That's a mouthful. Oh Father, help me that.

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So I have a question. How could remembering and meditating on all that this massive truth has to offer improve your personal well-being when you're in the hard places in life?

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Should it? Could it? Number three.

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Again, hearing from David's mouth to our ears, and then from our mouth to God's ears, I am incredibly crafted by God. I am incredibly crafted by God. So pay attention to the underlying parts as we go back through the verses 13 through 18. For you, God, 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. I'll get that. Intricately woven in the depths of the earth. And in verse 16, your eyes saw my unformed substance, and your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them. If I could count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you. Here, I believe we see David marveling at God's creative, imaginative, wise power, and glory. Just look at your body. Now, granted, these days when I look at my body in the mirror, I'm thinking, what happened? But even this body, 69 years old, is still an amazing work of art by God. Look like it to you or not, or to me, it is. Every single one of us is an amazing work of art by God. You thought about that? In his wisdom, in his imagination, he put together the systems and the organisms and the cells and the structures in your body that we take for granted every day.

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We forget every day the miraculous event of a heartbeat. No battery. Don't have to charge it up.

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It just beats from electricity in your body. Lungs, the muscles just go in, out, in, out, and you don't have to tell them anything to do. Now my leg, I tell him what to do, but not these. I don't know about you, but I'm just as amazed as David was with regards to this whole concept of God's creativity and his imagination and his wisdom and how he put it all together.

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Recently I injured myself doing something, cut myself. And I thought, oh, that's gonna leave a scar.

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Which it did. But what amazed me is what what what it was a gaping wound, and I didn't go get stitches. I don't like doctors and hospitals. I just like butterfly put it over, you know. Put a little glue on it.

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I don't remember where it was.

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God, in this amazing, intricate, incredible design, he fixed it.

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Now, does it mean God fixes everything? No. Why not? Sin.

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We don't have the pre-fall condition. We have the post-fall condition. So it's not just sin in the world, but the sin we commit against ourselves by the things we do with our own bodies. What'd you eat this morning? But God overcomes that. So one other thing with God's creativity and imagination, Christy loves zoos. When we had our after-tax vacation, we went to Waco, and the primary destination in Waco was the Waco Zoo. I like zoos too, but she likes them more than I do. But when you go through a zoo and you look at all the different animals and the birds and whatever, and the and the the and you're going, God did that? God did that? How many different possible creations could God have made? A lot. More than it's in that zoo or any zoo you visit. That's God who has that kind of creativity, that kind of imagination, and in all of that, and all he can and could do, he made you. Just like you are. Isn't that awesome? Should that, meditating on it, thinking about that, should that not lead you to happy worship of this God who made you? Yes. Now, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence. He has the power. In his power, his omnipotence, he personally made you. The you that you are. You've heard this phrase, you be you. No, you be the you God made you to be. That's the you that we be. Okay, that was weird. So one of the other reasons that how we see this, wanting to see God's creativity, his imagination, and his power is when we travel to see sites that we don't see here.

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Christy and I went to the Grand Canyon a few years back. Amazing. I was just blown away. Bad news is we saw it in a couple of days, but our stay was five days.

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Okay, I've seen it. It's amazing. Now what? A friend of mine sent me a picture, they were traveling, and they sent me a picture of Bryce Canyon. You seen Bryce Canyon? It's pretty amazing too. I mean, you all over the world you can go and see places that God has made. Mountains, oceans, valleys, forests, rivers, trees, the trees in California, the the red woods. I've been there. Amazing.

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A tree you could drive a car through, and they have one that's cut out where you can drive a car through it.

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Think how long that you could think this way about God's amazing power and glory and creation before you'd have to shout out with the 24 elders in Revelation 4.11 that we saw months ago, where they say, Worthy are you, O Lord, and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created, which is worship.

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Worship. Happy worship. So I will say, I shouldn't look at my watch.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

What Philippiance says, he says, a God wise enough to create me in the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me. He's wise enough to, if he's that powerful, he's powerful enough to watch out for me. Okay. Here's our question. How could remembering and meditating and all that this massive truth has to offer us increase your peace when the world, your world, or the world around you seems to be crumbling? The God with the power to create the way he created what you've seen still exists, and he still has the same power. How should that affect your well-being, your peace when your world's crumbling? Number four. Now, this is this is, I believe, from David, what David is saying, but in this case, I'm I'm hoping and praying this is what I can say that I might not immediately say, I am intensely zealous for God. I want to say that. I believe that's what David is saying here. In Psalm 139, 19 through 24, he says, Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men 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 I 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. What I see here is as David has focused on these massive truths of how God knows him, loves him, about how God is with him always in everything, about how God made him and makes and holds all things in his hand. His worship reaches a crescendo of that greatness, that glory, and then he looks around and goes, Oh no, there are people in the world who don't see, honor, praise that. That should never be. So I believe in his zeal, he says the words that he says about destroying or slaying the wicked. David has talked about his zeal in other passages. In Psalm 69 9, which is referenced to Jesus later, he says, For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me, talking about the reproaches. Approaches of God. And then Psalm 119, he says, My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words. David's zeal was not just against people because they were bad. David's hate was not just for people because they hurt him. David's hate for people were for people who hated God. Our God.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

I will rise up. I want to guard that. Now, what's more than that?

SPEAKER_01 44:51

My great God and my Savior Jesus Christ, don't you say anything against him. Now, I am not God's defender, and neither are you. God is pretty capable of defending himself. But in light of this, we have to then consider what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verses 43 through 44, where he says, You have heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And then in Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 11, God's uh He it says that say to them, God saying, Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

SPEAKER_00 45:47

So do we hate our enemies?

SPEAKER_01 45:51

Do we want them to die or not? Well, I like what John Piper said in his book, What Jesus Demands from the World. He says, we cannot claim to desire the good of the beloved, in other words, love our enemy and be indifferent to what destroys him. Jesus' demand to love our enemies implies that love must hate the evil that destroys the beloved. We do not hate God's judgment, that is just and wise, but we do hate the evil that leads a person to oppose God and incur his judgment. So in our loving our enemy, there has to be hate. Hate for what evil is doing to the people who are doing evil. I would say it this way to an enemy. I love you, but I hate what you are, and I want what you are to die. And to be born again through living hope in Jesus Christ. Die to sin, die to self, die to your evil, wicked way and who you are, to be born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus. In that way, I want all God's enemies to die and be born again.

SPEAKER_00 47:18

We have to remember too that we were once enemies of God.

SPEAKER_01 47:23

Romans 5, 8, and 10, but God shows his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, still sinners, Christ died for us. For why if while we were verse 10, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. And having been God's enemies and received his saving grace, out of love for him, we should want all his enemies to die the same death we died and to be born again to the same new life we were born again to. God slay all your enemies and create new creatures in Christ Jesus. We can only say that as beneficiaries of God's saving grace. And we actually have no judgment. We're not the ones who judge. They will be judged justly by God if they don't die and get born again. So that's that's God. Um Charles Spurgeon again, he said, Blessed would they be who should be guilty of too great a love for him, convicted of too consum consuming a ge zeal for the glory. Say that again because I messed it up. Blessed would they be who should be guilty of too great a love for him, convicted of too consuming a zeal for the glory? I would gladly die of that heavenly malady. Convict me of being too zealous for the glory of God. So a question. How could remembering and meditating on all that this massive truth has to offer help you be more missional in your everyday walk with people? Because these people you walk with, evil doesn't mean what Hitler did. Evil doesn't mean necessarily rape or murder, evil means calling God not God.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

That's evil, and those evildoers will meet God's wrath unless.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

And who's gonna tell us out of my happy worship for this glorious God, I want them to know this God. So it's not about just about do you want to escape hell? Yeah, that's that's kind of that's a benefit. Do you want to see God? Do you want to have him personally know you, be with you, accompany you wherever you are, and be powerful enough to defeat any enemy he chooses to defeat in your life? Do you want that God? Jesus will give him to you if you call on the name of Christ. So one last tozer is just amazing. I actually used this quote in a sermon, I don't know, years ago, but it popped up again, and it's a it apply it applies, I believe. For it is not mere words to nourish the soul, but God Himself. And unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his presence, and may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their being and their spirit.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

Words of worship. That's what I want for you. Worship this holy God and find joy in the worship. Let's pray. Wait, wait. There's one more thing.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

All that we've been talking about is for believers only. All that we've been talking about for the unbeliever, the one who is outside the church, outside the body of Christ, outside the family of God, the house of God, who's outside, they will not experience the joyful worship of being known, being with God, and knowing that God made them and has made something good out of them and for a good purpose. Except and unless they see God's Son Jesus as the one who came to pay the price for the sin that they could not pay for, and to make a way for the forgiveness of God that otherwise would not come. So if you've wandered in here and you are yet not in the family of God, in the church, you're not in Christ, please cry out to God, call upon them in the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

Oh, and if you know someone that that fits, would you go tell that to them? Wouldn't that be good? Maybe this week? Now let's pray.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for all that you are for us. We thank you for your intimate knowledge of us. We thank you for giving us a way to know us as much as we can in these bodies and on this earth. We thank you for the hope that we have one day to be with you face to face without sin, without shame, without anything that would get in the way of us knowing you fully. Father, help us display that this week. Help us put our satisfaction and joy in you on display so that others might see and want to join us in our happy worship.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

You're dismissed.