Transparent Worship – Part 2
Psalms 139 (7-12)
September 18, 2022
Tonight we return again to this wonderful Psalm which
Carries us high into the heavenlies to behold the glories of our God.
As I said last week, I’ve called this Psalm “Transparent Worship”
I did so because that is sort of the heart of David here in the Psalm.
He is seeking to worship the God
Who knows him inside and out.
In one sense
He is almost DECLARING the genuineness of his worship to God.
• He is emphatically stating that His worship is real and genuine
• And the God who knows Him fully should know that.
In another sense
David is APPEALING to God to direct his worship even more.
• David thinks he knows his heart and his devotion to God,
• But in reality it is God who really knows and
• So David even ends with that famous prayer that God would search him and
lead him.
That’s what we mean by “Transparent Worship”
And yet at the same time I don’t want to mislead
As if someone might assume
That there is a type of worship that is not transparent.
ALL WORSHIP IS TRANSPARENT TO GOD
• God sees the heart.
• God searches the heart and tests the mind.
We think of Jesus even:
John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
GOD KNOWS.
All worship is open and laid bare to Him.
The beauty of Psalms 139 is that David is aware of it too
And it totally changes the way he worships God.
It will totally change the way we worship as well.
As I told you last time
We are breaking this Psalm down into 3 major points.
We started looking at the first point last time.
#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18
This is that part of the Psalm that
Literally blows our mind regarding the person of God.
David contemplates who God is
And then allows that knowledge to change the way he worships.
Now, 18 verses is a lot to cover so we have broken this down even further as well.
Last time we looked at verses 1-6 where we talked about
THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD.
Namely that God is “All-Knowing”
That is what David talked about.
(READ 1-6)
• God knew the mundane details of David’s life.
• God knew the thoughts David thought.
• God knew all of David’s ways.
• God knew David’s words before David knew them.
David simply said, (4b) “Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”
Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
And then we discussed the IMPLICATIONS of such truth.
We said that:
1) God knows all your sin – you’ve never done anything that He is not aware of.
2) God knows all your righteousness – He is the God who sees what you do in secret
3) God sees even your times of trouble – He is not unaware of your hardship
4) God is the effective Sanctifier – He knows what is really wrong with us
And so we talked about that reality of omniscience
And we even marveled that the God who knows everything about us
Would still love us.
That is remarkable.
WELL TONIGHT we want to see another attribute of the incomprehensible transcendence of God.
TONIGHT let’s discuss GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE
(READ 7-12)
Let’s FIRST just listen to what David says about the Omnipresent God
And THEN, as we did last week, let’s discuss the implications of that.
David begins this section with 2 questions:
• “Where can I go from Your Spirit?”
• “Where can I flee from Your presence?”
And both of those questions expect the same negative response
NOWHERE
There is not a place I can go where Your Spirit is not.
There is not a place I can go where Your presence is absent.
And then David explains:
(8-10) “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
David there doesn’t just speak of difficult places to go,
David is actually laying out HIS COMPASS.
You see north, south, east, and west there.
• “If I ascend to heaven” – that is north, the highest of heights.
• “If I make my bed in Sheol” – that is the place of the dead in the earth.
• “If I take the wings of the dawn” – that is of course east where the sun rises.
• “If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea” – that is west for the sea was west of Israel
It doesn’t matter how far I go in any direction, You are there.
There is no place too high for You
There is no place too deep for You
There is no distance too far for You
There is no area too remote for You
God is OMNIPRESENT
It means “All-Present”
And that, just as it did with His omnipresence,
Brings with it the RAMIFICATION OF JUDGMENT.
David says in verse 10, “Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
There’s no escaping.
I’m not getting away.
WHAT ABOUT HIDING IN HIS PRESENCE?
If there is no distance I can travel to be outside of Your presence, maybe there is a condition I can enter (invisible) that will escape Your presence.
WRONG!
(11-12) “If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”
Even in the darkness God is there.
Even in the light God is there.
He sees all and He is All-Present.
Now I realize that is incredibly difficult to comprehend.
This is certainly another one of those “too high” truths
That we “cannot attain to”
SO STILL LET’S DISCUSS IT A MOMENT.
Perhaps it’s best to start with what it DOES NOT mean.
It DOESN’T just mean PART of God is everywhere
That He is just so big that while his right foot is in California, His left foot is in New York.
No, that would just be a part of Him present in each place.
God is “All-Present”
It also is NOT PANTHEISM.
Pantheism is the pagan belief that God is everything and everything is God.
Trees are God, mountains are God, clouds are God, etc.
No, God is God, the world is merely the creation of God.
It also is NOT merely a TECHNICAL REALITY where we just say technically God is everywhere.
You know, how you may be in a room and someone talking to you, but your mind is somewhere else.
No, God is “All-Present”
There is no escaping His presence.
A great verse to begin with is:
Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.”
God testifies of Himself there
• That He is both near and far off.
• That no man can hide from Him.
• And that He fills both the heavens and the earth.
You need to understand God’s omnipresence
In the sense that God is outside of creation.
He does not dwell within time and space.
He is not bound inside of creation.
God is the creator of all things and He is beyond it.
When Melchizedek blessed Abram he said:
Genesis 14:19 “He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”
Moses later said:
Deuteronomy 10:14 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.”
God is the “possessor of heaven and earth” – He owns it.
The heavens “belong” to God.
He is not bound by them, He owns them.
He dwells beyond them.
All of the created order COULD NOT CONTAIN Him.
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”
And this is sort of the basis for His omnipresence.
We are limited by time and space and the created order
And so we can only be one place at one time
And sometimes we aren’t even fully there.
But God is All-present because He is not bound by the created order,
He owns it, and it cannot contain Him.
And in this sense it is why we see in Scripture evidence of God in 2 places at once.
Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”
Joshua 2:11 “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”
Isaiah 66:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Those are not just the realms over which He has authority,
But He is always present in those realms at all times.
He is All-Present.
As Steve Lawson put it, He is TRANSCENDENT and IMMINENT.
He is both beyond us and among us.
• He dwells beyond the heavens and at the same time Jesus is called “Immanuel” which means “God with us”
• He dwells in unapproachable light and at the same time the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
It is not just that God is everyone on earth.
God is all-present.
He is Spirit and He is always everywhere.
So He is All-Knowing and He is All-Present.
But as we did with His omniscience,
Let us also consider the RAMIFICATIONS of God being All-Present.
We can start with the NEGATIVE and MOST TERRIFYING here as well.
Let’s talk about the EFFECT this has on SINNERS.
Now, notice again Psalms 139.
• It began with David declaring the great omniscience of God.
• David didn’t comprehend it, but none the less he was convinced that God knew everything there was to know about him.
I think then the next statement of David is quite significant.
(7) “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”
It is quite interesting that
As soon as David contemplates the omniscience of God,
His first instinct is to flee to a location where God can’t see him.
This is always the first instinct of fallen man.
Genesis 3:9-10 “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
As soon as Adam sinned his first instinct was to try and hide from God.
And for the course of human history this plan will not change.
In the book of Revelation it is still the same.
Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Isaiah 2:19 “Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”
NOTHING CHANGES.
From the beginning of the fall to the consummate judgment
Man’s tactics never change.
Job 14:13 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!”
But David pointed out, this is a futile endeavor.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
David said it doesn’t matter if I go to heaven or hell; east or west;
You are there.
David even said, (11-12) “If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”
Job 34:21-22 “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. “There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”
SINNERS CAN’T ESCAPE GOD’S PRESENCE.
(10b) “Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
Amos 9:1-3 “I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of them all! Then I will slay the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will flee, Or a refugee who will escape. “Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. “Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.”
Where are you going to go to escape Him?
He is All-Present.
Isaiah 29:15-16 “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?” You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?”
Do you really think God doesn’t know?
When you sin, He is right there.
And when you flee, you never escape.
The Bible says that God
Will call all the heavens and all the earth to appear before Him.
Psalms 50:1-6 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence; Fire devours before Him, And it is very tempestuous around Him. He summons the heavens above, And the earth, to judge His people: “Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.”
And this is graphically depicted in the FINAL JUDGMENT
When sinners from every corner of creation must appear before God.
You can’t escape His presence.
Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Do you see that no one drifted out of His presence?
• What about men lost at sea?
• What about men already dead?
• What about those disintegrated in an explosion?
They still did not travel beyond the presence of God.
He is there and He brings them all to judgment.
So hopefully you understand this implication
As it relates even to judgment.
Sinners should be extremely aware that God knows all their sin
AND He knows right where they are.
There are no fugitives on the run from God.
There are not missing persons.
You can’t escape His presence.
And if we just took this even a step further.
You’ve probably heard people describe HELL as “separation from God”
They say this based upon:
2 Thessalonians 1:9 “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”
The word for “presence” there is the word for “face” or “appearance”
The idea is that in all your pain and all your suffering God will turn His face from you.
• There will be no grace.
• There will be no favor.
• There will be no compassion.
But don’t think for a second that you escape His presence.
Revelation 14:9-10 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”
There the word “presence” is a different word. It means “before”
Sinners would like nothing better than to escape God’s presence.
Indeed they wanted the mountains and hills to fall on them.
YOU WISH!
Even in hell you do not escape the presence of God.
He is “All-Present”
In hell those who rejected Jesus Christ
Will bear up under His divine anger for all eternity
With no expression of grace or mercy or kindness or compassion.
But there is no escaping His presence.
(8) “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”
There is no escape for sinners.
And this isn’t just sinners who have rejected His saving grace,
But even an important reality FOR SINNING BELIEVERS.
It is an important thing for disobedient believers to remember.
When God calls you to a task You cannot hide from Him.
Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”
Jonah 1:10 “Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.”
Do you really suppose that if God has chosen you for the mission field that you can escape it by fleeing from His presence?
Do you really suppose that if God has called you into some ministry that you can escape it by fleeing from His presence?
God thrust Jonah into the sea
And had a fish transport him to his mission field.
You are not going to escape Him.
No rebellion; No disobedience; is beyond His eye or His presence.
• You cannot run and hide and get away.
• There is no hideout where you are safe.
BUT God’s Omnipresence is NOT an entirely negative reality.
Think also of the great comfort of God this truth brings.
Psalms 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”
We love that verse.
We imagine what such statements would have mean to those 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace when Christ entered it with them.
We imagine Daniel in the den of lions comforted as one came who closed the lion’s mouths.
We listen to Paul:
2 Timothy 4:16-17 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.”
He is All-Present.
Jesus promised:
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 13:5 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”
We love:
Isaiah 43:1-7 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
You see the blessing of all this.
TURN TO: PSALMS 23
We certainly see the obvious picture of God’s omnipresence here:
(4) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”
But it’s not just that.
Look at the location of God throughout the Psalm.
(2) “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He LEADS me beside quiet waters.”
There David sees God as the One who goes BEFORE HIM.
In verse 4 we already saw God walking BESIDE HIM THROUGH DEATH.
And then look at (6) “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will FOLLOW me all the days of my life.”
There is no escaping the presence of God.
And so just like it is with God’s omniscience;
GOD’S omnipresence is BOTH COMFORTING AND TERRIFYING.
The awareness that God is All-Present
Should most definitely produce awe and fear.
When God spoke to Jacob, notice what Jacob realized:
Genesis 28:15-17 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
He was afraid!
What a sobering reality when you realize that
God not only sees and knows all that you are and do,
But God is always present.
David realized that there was no escaping it.
There is no where a man can go to escape the presence of God.
And this reality is either comforting to you or terrifying to you
And that is all depending upon your attitude.
If you love God and trust God and seek to obey God then it is of great comfort to know that God is always present.
If you do not love God or trust God or obey God then it is a terrifying reality that God is present and can at any moment lay His hand upon you.
The writer of Hebrews said “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
And this is perhaps what David had to square with.
He has now come face to face in his worship
With the God who knows all that is in his heart
And from whose presence he cannot escape.
And the choice of David is then
To draw near to Him and worship Him and to submit to Him.
It is sin that causes men to seek to escape from God
But that was never God’s intent.
Man was created to draw near to God.
Man was created to seek God.
And the promise to us that He is not far!
Acts 17:26-27 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”
This is truly one of the greatest realities of the omnipresence of God.
That on the day when you become aware of your sin
And you seek to cry out to God for forgiveness, He is not hard to find.
HE IS ALL-PRESENT!
Listen to Paul as he expounds the gospel and the cry for salvation.
TURN TO: ROMANS 10:5
Paul is talking about the righteousness of God
Which is available to all who believe.
And the question is: WHERE DO I FIND IT?
Look at verse 6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),”
What does that mean?
• Suppose you wanted righteousness and you knew that it could only be found in Jesus Christ, but He was in heaven and unwilling to come to you.
• Suppose you had to go track Him down and ascend to heaven and pull Him down to earth and get Him to fulfill the Law and die on the cross.
That would be an impossible task.
Or look at the next scenario:
Verse 7, “or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
• Suppose salvation depended upon Christ rising from the dead (which it does) but He never did.
• And your only hope of salvation is to descend into death and rescue Him and bring Him up from the grave.
That would be again an impossible task.
If salvation was not READILY PRESENT we would be sunk!
(8) “But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,”
Salvation isn’t far, it is near.
It’s as near as your words and your heart.
It’s as near as your confession and your belief.
What do you mean Paul?
(9-10) “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Salvation is near.
It is near to you this very second.
God is All-Present.
If you cry out to Him right now, He is here!
• If you repent of your sin and confess Him as Lord.
• If you believe that God raised Him from the dead.
HE IS PRESENT TO SAVE!
Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”
It does not good to seek to hide from God.
There is no hiding.
But His presence doesn’t have to be a negative thing.
It can be the most precious thing in your life
Because our All-Present God is present to save.
You’ve spent the week contemplating God’s omniscience.
Now spend a week contemplating His omnipresence.
It will change the way you live and worship.
