Shall we turn now in our Bibles to
Psalm 139 for our scripture reading?
I'll read the first, the unnumbered verses.
Pastor Brian will lead the congregation in the
reading of the even-numbered verses, and shall
we stand as we read the Word of
God?
O Lord, thou hast searched me and known
me.
Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising.
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it
altogether.
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.
Whether shall I go from thy spirit, or
whether shall I flee from thy presence?
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 night shall be light about
me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but
the night shineth as the day.
The darkness and the light are both alike
to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins, and 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
knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee when
I was made in secret, and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes 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,
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.
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine
enemies take thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that
hate thee?
And am I not grieved with those that
rise up against thee?
I hate them with perfect 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 the way
everlasting.
Let's pray.
Lord, it's a rather awesome thought to realize
that you know us so well.
There is nothing that is hid from you.
You ponder our thoughts.
You know our hearts.
Lord, we pray that in light of this,
that we will live in such a way
that our mind and our heart might be
in such a place that we are pleasing,
Lord, in all that we think and all
that we do.
Lord, our desire is to be pleasing unto
you.
We know that's why you created us.
And may we, Lord, fulfill the purpose of
our existence by bringing pleasure unto you.
Guide us, we pray, Lord, in the study
of the word today.
Open now our hearts, our minds, to the
understanding of your word.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
This morning we'd like to draw your attention
to the 24th chapter of Proverbs, beginning with
verse 10, where Solomon said, If you faint
in the day of adversity, your strength is
small.
But if you forbear to deliver them that
are drawn unto death, and those that are
ready to be slain, if you say, Behold,
we did not know it, doth not he
that pondereth the heart consider it?
And he that keeps your mind, does he
not know it?
And shall not he render to every man
according to his works?
Basically, these three verses, forming a single thought,
speak to us about the responsibility that we
have towards those who are perishing in sin.
Verse 11, those that are about to die,
those that are ready to be slain.
It's much like when the Lord spoke to
the prophet Ezekiel and said unto him, When
I say to the wicked, you will surely
die.
And if you do not give him warning
or speak to warn the wicked from his
wicked way to save his life, that wicked
man will die in his iniquity, but his
blood will I require at your hand.
But if you warn him and turn him
from his wickedness, then if he doesn't turn,
he will die in his iniquity, but you
have delivered your soul.
Paul said to the elders of Ephesus, I
want you to bear record that I am
pure from the blood of all men, for
I have not shunned to declare unto you
the whole counsel of God.
You see, knowledge brings responsibility.
It's a glorious thing to know that Jesus
died for our sins.
It's wonderful to know that God loves us
so much that he was not willing that
we should perish, but desired that we would
repent from our sin and be saved that
we might spend our eternity with him in
the kingdom of heaven.
These are wonderful truths.
We've come to embrace these truths, but we
need to realize that knowing these things brings
a certain responsibility that we should share these
truths with others who are perishing in sin
and don't know God's love and the provisions
that God has made for them to be
forgiven if they would but believe on Jesus
Christ.
Paul said, woe is me if I preach
not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He wrote to the church in Rome and
he said, I am a debtor both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the
wise and the unwise.
So as much as I am able, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you that
are in Rome also, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ.
It's the power of God unto salvation to
those that believe.
So Paul felt that obligation.
Woe is me.
He saw himself as a debtor.
I have received the glorious good news that
God has provided forgiveness for my sin and
now I am a debtor.
I need to share that truth with others.
I'm not ashamed of that truth.
It's God's power unto salvation.
What is that good news?
The gospel that Paul preached that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures and
was buried and rose again the third day
according to the scriptures and whoever believes in
him will be forgiven all their sins.
We cannot shirk our responsibility of sharing the
gospel of God's love for a with a
lost and a dying world.
The willingness of God to forgive a person
their sins.
In verse 11, if we fail to deliver
those that are drawing near to death, are
ready to die, then as God said to
Ezekiel, they will die in their sin, but
he will require their blood at your hand.
You cannot excuse yourself.
There in verse 12, for if you say,
but I didn't know.
Well, does not he that ponders the hearts
consider it?
The Bible says, not the Bible, our law
says that the ignorance of the law is
no excuse.
God ponders our hearts.
It's really a folly to try to deceive
God or to try to make ourselves out
something before God that we're really not.
God sees right through us.
He sees our hearts.
He ponders the thoughts of our minds.
David said to Solomon, his son, know the
God of your father, serve him with your
complete heart and with a willing mind for
the Lord searches all hearts.
He understands your imaginations and your thoughts.
If you seek him, he'll be found by
you.
But if you forsake him, he will cast
you off forever.
David in Psalm 10 wrote the wicked because
of his pride will not seek God.
God is not in his thoughts.
That is the wicked doesn't even think about
God.
The wicked, David said, has said in his
heart, I do not need God for I
shall never face adversity.
His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and
fraud.
David said he has said in his heart,
God has forgotten.
He will never see it.
Why do the wicked, he said, contend God
and say in their heart that God will
not hold them responsible for their sins.
Psalm 94, David said, he that created the
ear, don't you realize he can hear?
The one who created your eyes, don't you
realize that he can see?
We've already read in the Proverbs, for the
ways of man are before the eyes of
the Lord, and he ponders all of his
ways.
Again, last week in Proverbs 21 to we
had, every way of a man is right
in his own eyes, but the Lord ponders
the heart.
As God ponders your heart today, as God
sees, what does he see?
Does he see a heart that is totally
toward him?
Does he see a divided heart?
What does God see as he looks at
your heart today?
Ezekiel said, God brought me to the door
of the court, and when I looked, there
was a hole in the wall.
And he said to me, son of man,
dig now in the wall.
And when I dug in the wall, I
saw a door.
And he said to me, go in and
behold the wicked abominations that they are doing
in there.
So I went in and I saw, and
behold, every foul and abominable practice was taking
place.
All sorts of pornography was portrayed on all
of the walls.
Then he said unto me, son of man,
you have seen the elders of the house
of Israel, what they do in the dark,
every man in the secret chambers of his
own imagination.
For they say, the Lord does not see
us.
The Lord has forsaken the earth.
God took Ezekiel right into the minds of
the elders of the nation, the rulers.
God showed him the perversion in the minds
of those leaders of the nation.
I dare say if the Lord would allow
us to dig a hole in the wall
and to go into the minds of the
leaders in our nation, we would be shocked
at what we would see, even as was
Ezekiel.
You see, God knows what's going on in
your mind.
He knows what's going on in your thoughts.
He knows your every fantasy.
In Hebrews 4.13, we're told, neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in
his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto him with whom we have to
do.
But because God is so patient as he
deals with us, there are times when it
would seem that we are getting by with
our evil.
And this is when people often are deceived
into thinking that God does not see or
know what they are doing.
Much like the leaders of Israel who were
saying, the Lord does not see us.
The Lord has forsaken the earth.
Jesus said to the church of Thyatira in
Revelation chapter two, I gave her space to
repent of her fornication, but she repented not.
God is so patient.
He is so long-suffering that he oftentimes
gives us space.
Space to repent.
We are doing things that are not right
in his sight.
We are guilty.
And God sees what's going on, but he
gives us space to repent.
You see, the Bible says that God is
not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance.
And so often, God just gives us space
to repent.
But with Thyatira, God said, because they did
not repent, I'm going to cast them into
the great tribulation and all that commit fornication
with them.
But our mistake is often we look at
the space that God gives to us as
blindness on the part of God.
We begin to deceive ourselves into the thought
that, well, God really doesn't see, or God
really doesn't know, or worse yet, God really
doesn't care.
God approves of what I am doing.
Paul asked the Romans in chapter two, do
you despise the riches of his goodness and
his patience, his long suffering?
Do you not realize that the goodness of
God is intended to give you opportunity to
repent?
But through your hard and unrepentant heart, you've
stored up against yourself wrath, that in the
day of wrath and the revelation of the
righteous judgment of God, you will be judged.
Paul spoke to them in chapter nine, verse
22.
What if God, willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known, bore with
great patience those vessels of wrath that were
ripe for destruction?
The Bible says concerning God, he's slow to
anger, long-suffering, patient.
But be careful that you don't mistake that
as God not seeing, God not knowing.
In Ecclesiastes 8, 11, Solomon said, because the
sentence against an evil work is not executed
speedily, the heart of the sons of men
are fully set in them to do evil.
God doesn't bring instant judgment.
The sentence against an evil work is usually
not executed speedily by God.
But then men mistake that and they're fully
set to do evil.
Because God has not yet intervened in San
Francisco, do you think that God doesn't know
what's going on up there?
Do you think that God approves of these
same-sex marriages?
It's a classic example of the patience of
God and of the long-suffering of God
with the rebellion and the disobedience of man
against the Word of God.
He's giving them space to repent.
The Apostle Peter wrote, in the last days
there will come scoffers who are walking after
their own lust.
They will say, where is the promise of
his coming?
For since the fathers have fallen asleep, all
things continue as they were from the beginning
of time.
Of this they are willfully ignorant, that the
heavens which were of old and the earth
that stood out of the water and in
the water were created by the Word of
God.
And that world that existed then perished in
the flood.
But the heavens and the earth which are
now are by the same Word of God
being preserved by God for that day of
fiery judgment and the destruction of ungodly men.
Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord as
a thousand years.
A thousand years is one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promises,
but is faithful to us, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
But then Peter went on to say, but
the day of the Lord will come.
Don't be deceived.
Don't fool yourself that the day of judgment
is not going to come.
God has been long suffering.
The day of the Lord will come.
You can be certain of that.
And though God has been patient, his judgment
is on the way.
The consequences are very severe on not heeding
the warnings of God.
Back in the first chapter of Proverbs we
read, because I have called and you refuse
to listen, I've stretched out my hand, but
no one paid any attention.
You have set aside my counsel.
You would not respond to my reproof, and
thus I will laugh when the day of
your calamity comes.
I will mock you when fear grips you.
Then you will call upon me, but I
will not answer you.
You will seek me early, but you won't
find me.
For in as much as you hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the
Lord, would not listen to my counsel, because
you despised my reproof, you will eat of
the fruit of your own way and be
filled with your own devices.
As Solomon said, you can't really say to
God, well, I really didn't know, because he
ponders the heart.
He considers it.
He keeps your mind, and he knows it.
And shall he not render to every man
according to his works?
Over and over, the Bible affirms to us
that God is going to one day judge
according to righteousness, and we will be judged
according to our works.
Jeremiah 17 10, the Lord said to Jeremiah,
I, the Lord, search the heart.
I test the mind, and I will give
to every man according to his ways and
according to the fruit of his doing.
Again to Jeremiah, Jeremiah declared, the great, the
mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his
name, great in counsel and mighty in works.
For your eyes are open upon all of
the ways of the son of man to
give to everyone according to his ways and
according to the fruit of his doings.
The day will soon come when all of
us must stand before the judgment seat of
Christ to be judged and to receive the
rewards that we have earned while in these
bodies, whether they be good or bad.
Paul writing to the Corinthian church about the
judgment seat of Christ for the believers said,
we labor that we might be accepted by
him.
For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
judgment for the things we did while in
these bodies, whether good or bad, knowing therefore,
he said, the terror of the Lord, we
seek to persuade men.
I'm afraid that somehow we have looked rather
carelessly at the judgment seat of Christ.
Yes, we thank God that there is no
condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
But I think that oftentimes we think that,
well, we're going to slip by and the
Lord will be easy on us.
But listen to what Jesus said concerning when
he does judge to those who will come
and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name and in your name cast
out devils and in your name we did
many wonderful works.
And Jesus will say unto them, I never
knew you depart from me, you that work
iniquity.
Those that were doing the work of God
with wrong motivation, those that were doing it
for their own glory and their own enrichment,
he'll reject them.
The one that was given a dollar by
the Lord.
Remember he gave one $10, $1.5, $1
.1. And when the Lord returned, he brought
them in that they might give an accounting
of what they did with the funds that
he invested with them.
To the one that he gave the $10,
he brought back an extra 10 and said,
Lord, you gave me 10 and I've used
it.
I now have 20.
The Lord commended him.
The one that had received five doubled it.
The Lord commended him.
The one who received the $1 said, Lord,
I know that you're an austere man.
You take up that which you did not
lay down.
You reap that which you did not sow.
And so here is the dollar back again.
I hid it in the napkin and kept
it safe for you.
Jesus said, I will judge you by your
own words.
You knew that I was an austere man.
You knew that I took up that which
I did not lay down and I reaped
that which I did not sow.
Why then did you not put my money
in the bank?
That when I came, I might receive my
own with interest.
And he said to those that stood by,
take from him the dollar and give it
to him who has the 10.
To that servant who was entrusted with the
Lord's goods.
And when the Lord did not return when
he was expecting him, said the Lord delays
his coming.
And he began to eat and to drink
and began to abuse the responsibilities that the
Lord had entrusted him with.
Jesus said, the Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he is not
looking for him at an hour when he
is not expecting him and he will cut
him off.
He will appoint him his portion with the
unbelievers and that servant that knew the Lord's
will and did not according to his will
shall be beaten with many stripes.
As Paul said, knowing the terror of the
Lord will have no excuses.
He ponders your heart.
He knows your thoughts.
You can't make up some clever alibi.
You won't have some clever attorney.
Who is looking at some little flaw in
the prosecutor's case.
You're going to stand naked and open before
God.
Nothing will be hid.
And we will give an account of ourselves
unto him.
There's another judgment coming.
That's a great white throne judgment.
That's another deal.
But as Christians, we're going to stand before
the judgment seat of Christ.
The secrets will be revealed.
That which has been hidden will be made
manifest.
You need to think seriously about that.
You need to consider and ponder that in
your heart and ask yourself, am I fulfilling
the responsibilities that I have knowing the love
of God and knowing the truth of God?
Am I sharing that love and that truth
with others faithfully, diligently?
Am I fulfilling my debt that I have
because of my knowledge?
God help us.
One day we will answer and he will
answer that for us.
Father we realize today the seriousness of the
Christian walk in life.
And Lord we do thank you and we
do rejoice that you have forgiven us our
transgressions, our sins.
That you have provided for us salvation from
the judgment that will come upon the disobedient,
the unrighteous.
But Lord we pray that you'll help us
to realize also that one day every man
will give an account of himself to you.
How we used or how we abused those
things that you entrusted into our care.
May we be faithful Lord.
On that day may we be able to
present to you not only that which you
invested in us but a return Lord on
that investment.
Lord how we want to hear your words,
well done good and faithful servant.
May we be Lord good and faithful servants.
Faithful to the responsibilities and the duties to
which you have called us.
Faithful in the things that you've entrusted in
our care.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.