Sermon Notes – Psalm 139
Psalm 115:1 NLT “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name goes all the glory…”
1John 4:4 NLT “…the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”
1. God’s Omniscience (He’s all-knowing)
Psalm 139 (NIV) “1You have searched me LORD, (‘searched’ – means examined - Jewish people used this word to describe digging deep, such as into a mine or exploring a land or investigating a legal case) and You know me. 2You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. 4Before a word is on my tongue You, LORD, know it completely.”
God knows everything about us
1Peter 1:14-16 NLT “15But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’”
Psalm 139 (NIV) “5You hem me in… (‘hem’ – to surround for protection; to guard something valuable)
You are valuable to God Almighty
Psalm 139 (NIV) behind and before…
Isaiah 30:21 (NIV) “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”
Psalm 139 (NIV) and you lay your hand upon me.
He puts His hand on us to steady us and guide us
Psalm 139 (NIV) 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”
2. God’s Omnipresence - (He’s everywhere)
Psalm 139 (NIV) “7Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? 8If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. 9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. 11If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ 12even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.”
Hebrews 4:13 NLT “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.”
3. God’s Omnipotence – (His power)
Psalm 147:5 NIV “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.”
God’s power magnified in creating human life.
Genesis 1:27 NLT “So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 2:7 NLT “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”
Genesis 2:21,22 NLT “21…While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and He brought her to the man.”
Psalm 139 (NIV) “13For You created my inmost being You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful; I know that full well. 15My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
Jeremiah 1:5 NLT “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
God’s power displayed through His mind
Psalm 139 (NIV) 17How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! (NLT - How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.) How vast is the sum of them! 18Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand”
God is always thinking about you and me.
Colossians 3:2 NIV “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
4. David’s holy hatred
Psalm 139 (NIV) 19If only You, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, You who are bloodthirsty! 20They speak of You with evil intent; Your adversaries misuse Your name. 21Do I not hate those who hate You, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against You? 22I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Amos 5:15 NIV “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts…”
Romans 12:9,19-21 NIV “9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good… 19Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ (A metaphor for showing kindness and generosity to someone who has wronged you. This kindness is meant to evoke feelings of shame or guilt in the wrongdoer, potentially leading them to a change of heart) 21Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”
While we’re exercising a ‘holy hatred’ we must not allow it to turn sinful.
Psalm 139 (NIV) 23Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24See if there is any offensive way in me, (uncover, reveal anything in me that offends You) and lead me in the way everlasting.