Wonderfully Made Sermon I: Wonderfully Made Then Remade Series

WONDERFULLY MADE THEN REMADE

SAVED TO LIFE FOR CHRIST IN THE HERE AND NOW . . . TO LIVE WITH CHRIST IN THE HEREAFTER

Genesis 2:3 . . . Psalm 139:1-6 . . . 13-18 . . . 2 Cor. 5:1

In the counseling profession, a typical question for getting counselees to open up and talk about themselves is, “How does that make you feel?” or “How do you feel about that”? For example, “My husband does not appreciate what all I do for him.” “How does that make you feel”? Or, “My wife is always reminding me to do stuff that I fully intend to do when I get around to it.” “How do you feel about that”?

For the purposes of this Bible study session, let me ask you a question, “How does it make you feel when you are told that God knows you so well that even the hairs on your head are numbered?” He knows about the bald spots too – and the freckles, the wrinkles, the warts, whatever. Nothing is hidden from our Maker!

Psalm 139 tells us how David felt about God’s awareness of him, and us . . . our individual situations . . . our personal circumstances. He knows all about us. He knows who we are and where we are. He knows our past, present and future.

The psalm extols the fact that there is no aspect of life beyond God’s awareness and understanding. He knows. He understands. He cares – Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 . . .

God knows our actions: “when I sit and when I rise” . . . our thoughts: “You perceive my thoughts” . . . our nights as well as our days: “You perceive my going out and my lying down” . . . what we say, even what we want to say: “Before a word is on my tongue, you know it”! “Well, I wanted to say (felt like saying) this or that.” God knows. Exasperated, someone might say: “What’s the use? At this point, God probably doesn’t think too highly of me.”

However, remember: God knows, but, He understands we are imperfect human beings. God is patient. Think less about the negative aspects of God knowing us (our weaknesses, our failures); think more about the positive aspect of us knowing God!

Just to think that God knows, understands and cares about me: humbles me and makes me feel forgiven and unafraid; gives me a sense of awe as it did David: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” Life is precious! Even in the womb! Before we were born! Nonsense to the argument that we were “just tissue” not “babies” before we were delivered into the world to breathe on our own!

“You knit me together”! “My frame was not hidden from You when I was conceived”! “Your eyes saw my unformed body”! “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew You”! (Jeremiah). Clearly our Maker regards that which is conceived in the womb to be a live baby, a developing child - not just tissue.

Contrary to what far too many people have been led by atheists to believe, (and I consider any belief about God-given life that is contrary to God’s Word, to be a form of atheism), a fetus is a child in his or her embryonic and early stage of development – a person wonderfully made in the image of God. Here’s the thing, folks:

The LORD God knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb . . . created humanity “for making” (Genesis 2:3) . . . knew who we were and would become as we began our development . . . was present at our birth . . . knew we needed to be remade, so God made a Way when there seemed to be no way.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone; the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)

The LORD God has been, continues to be with us throughout our journey - and you know what? When I woke up this morning, God was still with me . . . When I go to sleep for the last time in the here and now, I will awake to His eternal presence!

Knowing that “God knows” and knowing that “God is with me” motivated me to make things right with God (thus, my conversion) . . . motivates me to make things right with Him daily. Thus, my prayer: “Forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me.”

Each day, I do what I did at my conversion - come to God in repentance and simultaneously receive His forgiveness. “Just as I am . . . O Lamb of God, I come.”