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Living alone in this unsent world Hardly a comfort or help or home Striving alone to face temptation's thorn Where could I go back to the Lord?

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Where could I go? Where could I go? Seeking a refuge for my soul. ♪ Heeding our prayer ♪

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♪ To save the MPN ♪ ♪ Where I could hold on to the law ♪ ♪ Faithful to God ♪ ♪ I love Him everyone ♪

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♪ We get along and it's sweet and cold ♪ ♪ Oh, and my soul is better from above ♪ ♪ Where could I go but to the Lord ♪ ♪ Where could I go ♪

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♪ Where could I go ♪ ♪ Seeking a refuge for my soul ♪ ♪ Needing a friend to stand in the end ♪ ♪ Where could I go but to the Lord ♪

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♪ I'm here as friend ♪ ♪ With friends I love so dear ♪ ♪ Come for the old world ♪ ♪ Yet when I face ♪

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♪ The cheery land of death ♪ ♪ Where could I go but to the Lord ♪ ♪ Where could I go? ♪ ♪ Where could I go? ♪

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♪ Seeking a refuge ♪ ♪ For my soul ♪ ♪ Needing a friend ♪ ♪ To save me in the end ♪

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♪ Where could I go ♪ ♪ I come unto the Lord ♪ - Amen. We continue our sermon series based on the Psalter,

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the book of Psalms. We come today to Psalm 139. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and my up rising.

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Thou understandest my thought of far 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,

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thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

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It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?

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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,

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even there shall thy hand find-- 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.

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Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both a light to thee. For thou has possessed my reins,

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thou has 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

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in the last part of that particular Song search me O God and know my heart Try me and know my thoughts

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And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way Everlasting the subject of the message The inescapable presence the inescapable presence

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George Oswald's knowledge novel 1984 he envisioned a kind of human existence in which Big Brother was an inescapable presence. No matter what one did, where one went, what was said or done, Big Brother was always there. In fact, Big Brother exercised

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mind control. The innermost thoughts of the individual were influenced by Big Brother. George Oswald's vision was a world that denied the autonomy, integrity, and freedom of the individual simply to be oneself. We are all involved in a quest for being.

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The most significant question that confronts us is whether we choose being or non-being. To be or not to be, that is the question. Psalm 139 is a song concerning the inescapable presence.

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No matter what may be our pursuits, no matter who we are, who or what we hope to become, Or where we go here or hereafter, there is the inescapable presence. Worship is defined as awareness of the eternal presence. It is practicing the presence of God.

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It is permitting that presence to influence, condition, and control our lives and determine our destiny. The psalmist gives a testimony of faith in which he indicates that he knows that he is known by the eternal presence. There is awareness of an intimate relationship with the eternal.

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There is a blessed fellowship that knows no bounds. There is an examination that reveals all. We're familiar with the x-ray, it's of inestimable value, because it reveals that which is concealed. In order to really know, many times the physician will say, "Well, it's necessary to have an

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x-ray taken because that will help us to discover what's wrong." But there are times when the physician will say, "Well, that did not show up on the x-ray." Well, the psalmist here refers to a thorough examination in which nothing can be hidden. "Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me." Each of us can talk about what the psalmist is

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relating to here as the mystery of me. There is that part of me that nobody knows, that's true of us all. There is that part of me that I do not know, that about myself that I do not understand, that's true of us all. Science says that I am a product of heredity and environment, but I do not know all about my origins. I

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do not fully understand all of the forces that have contributed to and shaped my history. Nobody in this world really knows me, yet I am fully known. That's what the psalmist saying, "Thou knowest my down sitting and my up rising, thou understandest my thought afar off." My path is surrounded by the eternal presence. This presence goes before me. This presence is

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is behind me, this presence is beside me. I am surrounded by this strange presence. This presence is behind me, it was this presence that watched over me while I slept last night. It was this strange presence that preserved me across the years. It was this strange presence that woke me up this morning. It was this strange presence

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that started me on my way as a journey through this day. Nobody knows me like the Lord. The Lord knows the roots of my existence. The Lord knows the reason of my being. The Lord He knows my desires. He knows my thoughts when I am idle.

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He knows my idle thoughts. He knows what I think and what I'm going to do before I do it. He knows all.

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God alone, the eternal presence is omniscient. He knows everything. He knows me from start to finish and all in between. in between. The mystery of our history is that the eternal presence sees everything. He's all

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seeing and all knowing, the living Lord of history. And he has laid his hands on me. He has entered into a divine and human relationship. He is entered into a relationship that is personal, a relationship with me and with you. He makes it possible for me to share fellowship with him. He walks with us in the garden of human existence.

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The divine presence is in the garden. There's a serpent in the garden, yes. There are demonic forces that trouble us, but let us not forget that the divine presence is in the garden. There are times when we are prone to escape from the presence.

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There are times when we try to hide. Adam and Eve tried to hide in the garden, but the eternal presence is there exposing that which they try to hide. And as they hid themselves among the trees of the garden, the eternal comes walking in the garden in the cool of the evening as they're hiding

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the trees and he calls saying, "Adam, where are you? You think you can hide from me? You think you can escape the divine presence? You think you can conceal your identity by covering yourselves with leaves? Adam, where are you?" The eternal presence comes to each one of us.

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We are addressed. He questions us just this morning as he questions every one of us saying, where are you?

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You think you can masquerade in my garden? Are you trying to play hide and seek with me? Where are you? You think you can get by

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by developing a counterfeit personality? Where are you? Your authentic identity is known by me. Where are you?

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Oh, what fools we mortals be to think that we can hide from God. The psalmist knows what many have yet to learn. Instead of trying to hide from God,

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he invites God to take control of his life. The psalmist knows that the divine presence is inescapable. Where shall I go from thy spirit? Where shall I flee from thy presence?

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Where shall I go? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I attain to the loftiest heights, you are there. If I reach the pinnacle of happiness, you are there.

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If I make my bed in hell, though I descend to the very depths of despair, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

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"Evil man, shall thy right hand lead me." There just is no escape from the eternal. Oh, the prophet Jonah tried it. God told him what to do,

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and as he was told to go to Joppa, he went and took a ship going to Tarsus. He thought he could run away from God, But God sent forth his winds and the winds began to toss the ship upon the angry billows of the deep.

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And the passengers aboard became so disturbed, even Jonah himself became disturbed and said, "Throw me out of the ship into the ocean." And there into the seas he was cast and he ends up in the belly of the great fish. He tried to hide from God, but in the end he cries out to God for help.

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Simon Peter cried out, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." Peter thinks that he can escape the divine presence. People of Gadara beg Jesus to leave their country. They are disturbed by his presence.

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He upsets the economic structure and he disturbs their conscience and they ask him to leave, but there's no escape from the divine presence. He is the hound of heaven. You know those who go hunting know what it is to have a hound and the hound picks up

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the scent. They know what that means. You know the other night when we had the break in here at the church, they came, the man had been in the church and he was standing outside beside the building and they came

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and they put the dog in and the dog picked up the scent and the dog went right outside to where he was. You just can't hide. You see the Lord, the Lord, the Lord knows our scent. He's right there. He knows where we are. You can't hide from God. You just can't In fact, Francis Thompson has written a beautiful poem called The Hound of Heaven.

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He said, "I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the arches of the years. I fled him down the liberating ways of my mind. And in the midst of tears I hid from him an underrunning laughter.

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Upfisted hopes I spared that night. Precipitated down titanic glooms of chasm fears. And those strong feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurried chase, you see,

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God doesn't have to get in a hurry. An unperturbed pace, delimited speed, majestic instancy they beat, and a voice beat more instant than defeat.

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All things betray thee who betrays me. The voices round about me like a bursting sea. All which I took from thee did but take not for thy harms, but just that thou majestic,

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or that thou mightest seek it in my arms. Finally, that voice just keeps on pursuing. Just keeps on pursuing us wherever we are, saying rise up and clasp my hand and come.

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That voice is just continually seeking us. He's always on our trail. He's the hound of heaven, tracking down the souls of men and converting them to his saving truth.

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That's what God is. We can't get around him. So high you can't get over him. So wide you can't get around him.

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So low you can't get under him. You just gotta come through the door. Can't get around God. And so the psalmist recognizes this.

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You can't hide from God. Some people try to hide. They try to hide by finding fault with the preacher. They try to hide from God by criticizing the church. They try to hide from God by creating a vacay of excuses. But the eternal knows right where we are and there's no escape from his presence. And the psalmist concludes that no matter where I go, no matter what I do, the hand of God follows me.

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I may do wrong but he's there pointing a finger of condemnation. And what I do right when I walk in the godly way, he's there

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to caress me and to comfort me. So whether I do right or whether I do wrong, God's always there. And then he said, "Well, I will praise thee, O God, for I am faithfully and wonderfully

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made." When he considers the mystery of me, so to speak, he said, "I'm going to praise God, because God is everywhere." Jet-propelled planes that ascend to the heights cannot escape the divine presence.

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Submarines that delve into the depths of the ocean cannot escape the divine presence. The darkness cannot cover us. You know, sometimes we think that when we turn the lights out that we get away from God.

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But no matter how we hide in the darkness and no matter, no matter, no matter what we may do, God somehow is there to expose us. Pull the shades down if you will,

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but God is inside that room also, wherever we are. We cannot escape from God. James Cone in Black Theology points out that blackness in our time is a symbol of oppression

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and hardship. And the wonderful thing about it, even though blackness has come to be a symbol of oppression and hardship, in the midst of our blackness, in the midst of our oppression, in the midst of our hardship, God is there working with us so that we can say that black is beautiful.

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Because of the eternal presence in our lives, that in the divine creative process at work everywhere, God is present, his guiding hand is there, and we are known and we are loved, even in our blackness. We are known and we are loved. You know, Clayton Powell tells the story in his autobiography, Adam by Adam,

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where he was a seminary, Kogan, Rochester. And as you all know, A. Clayton Powell was very fair and he could pass. And he says that he had a white roommate

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and the white roommate thought he was white. Until A. Clayton Powell's father came, he was pastor in Abyssinian Baptist Church, his father was, And his father was invited as one of the chapel speakers.

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And he came and spoke in chapel. And when his father came and spoke in chapel, they discovered, as his roommate discovered, that A. Clayton Powell was white.

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And he said from that time on, his relationship with his roommate was different because he discovered who he really was. He thought he was white and he found out he was black.

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Well, that's life. You know, many people have certain relationships with us because they don't really know who we are. And if they really discover who we are, then their relationship changes. You know, so we have to carry on sort of a little game.

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And so we all, all of us to some extent, play little games. There's a book written about this, "Games People Play." So we're going to play those games so that we'll be sure that people don't really understand and really come to know who we really are.

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Well, there's somebody who knows. Somebody who really knows us through and through, that we don't have to hide and we cannot hide from God. And so that's the wonderful thing about what the Psalmist is saying. He said, "Lord, Lord, Lord, you know me."

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He said, "You have searched me." And I can't hide anything from you. I can't go anywhere you haven't been. You already there before I get there.

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So you know it. Gary Hart told him, he said, now, you reporters, you all want to follow me around? He said, follow me around.

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He said, but you'll find this Barry Dugg, you won't find anything exciting. So they took him up on it. And they followed him around.

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after they followed him around and found out something he didn't want them to find out. He said, "Well, where would you delve into my personal life?" [laughter] Well, well, that's the kind of message that somehow the psalmist is conscious of,

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that all of us have our weaknesses, but the wonderful thing is that God knows that He understands and He accepts us just as we are. You know that's wonderful? So many people, you know, they don't want to accept us for what we are.

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They want to make us into something else. And when they find out that we are people who have feet of clay, then they want to get away. Well, the psalmist says here in his prayer, it's really a prayer, this is a prayer hymn. And really you may say it's expressed in five great verbs.

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First he says, "Examine me, examine me." "Examine me!" He says this to God, "Lord, examine me." Then he says, "Know me, I want you to have

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"an intimate relationship with me. "I want you to know me through and through." In other words, he cries out here for intimacy, know me. And he says, "Test me, test me."

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Try me, try me. And then he says, "See me, see me." See me amidst all of the people that you have on this earth, Lord, see me. See whether there be any deceit in me.

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And then after that he says, lead me. Oh, those are some wonderful things to ask of the Lord. Examine me, know me, test me, see me, and then lead me. lead me in the way everlasting.

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And when we do that, we recognize this inescapable presence, that this presence is with us always, that there is no mountain that's too high,

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no mountain too high for God. If you have any mountains and the difficulties, none of them is too great for God. If you have any valleys, there's no valley

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That's too deep for God to walk through with you in that valley. There's no sea that's too stormy for he's there with us on the stormy sea to quiet our and calm our raging fears. God is there wherever we are.

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And though we find ourselves in a fiery furnace, God is able to air condition that fiery furnace. And though the waters are raging, he's able to come apart through the waters.

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God is able to be with us and to do for us whatever needs to be done. And so God answers this plea that the psalmist has. The psalmist cries out, he said, "I will praise you.

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"I will praise you, I want you to come into my life. "I want you to take complete control." Well, God answers that. He's answered that through Jesus Christ.

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He wraps him up in human flesh and sends him to walk this way with us, calm us, to strengthen us, comfort us. That's what Jesus does.

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And he cries out, I am the way! I am the way, walk with me! And the wonderful thing is that he walks with us and talks with us all along this pilgrim journey.

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- Yes, it is. - That in his capable presence. Isn't that wonderful? - Yes.

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- Wherever you are. You know, there are some places that you can't get certain people to come. I notice quite often that when you find yourself in the midst of a crisis, there's nobody many times that may be close to you, that can even get to you.

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Even your wife, your mother, your father, your children. Many times when you have to go to that hospital, they take you to that bed. Just so far they can go. And then you have to go and leave them in the waiting room.

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Well, when others are left there in the waiting room, God is right there in that room. He's right there with you wherever you are. That's good news because He knows us, He loves us, He cares for us. He knows. Don't have to worry about the load you have to carry.

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Because God knows how much you can bear and He will not put on any of us more than He can carry. That's good news. It's because of the excellent work of the church.

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But this is inexcusable prejudice. I hate all the laws and the laws.

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If you think that I'm going to make it to the top of the house, then you should know I'm from the United States of America.

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I'm from the United States of America. I'm from the United States of America. [MUSIC] [music]

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We are heavenly fathers' children And we all know He loves us one and all Yet there are times when we find the answer Another voice and call

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If we are willing, He will teach us His voice is only to obey no matter where And he knows, yes he knows Just how much we can bear Although the load gets heavy, children, you are never less.

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I long to bear it all Just ask for strength And keep on toiling Though the tears I fall

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You have the joy ♪ Of this, Jesus ♪ ♪ The heavenly Father ♪ ♪ Will always hear your prayer ♪

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♪ And He knows ♪ ♪ And I thank God He knows ♪ ♪ Just how much ♪ ♪ We can bear ♪

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♪ Though the Lord ♪ ♪ That's heavy a challenger ♪ ♪ He never left ♪ ♪ A long to bear it all ♪

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♪ Just ask for strength ♪ ♪ And the jeep on toward the hill ♪ ♪ Although the tear drops fall ♪ ♪ And you have the joy of this assurance ♪

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♪ The heavenly Father ♪ ♪ Always answer your prayer ♪ ♪ And you know ♪ ♪ Yes, my God knows ♪

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♪ Just how much we demand ♪ - Amen. [laughter] [ Silence ]