Attributes of Greatness (5)

We are in a study on the attributes of God. We're looking at the greatness of our God and looking at characteristics, qualities of our God that describe him in his greatness. And we have thus far looked at for his self-existence, his eternality, the fact that he is unchangeable, and the fact that he is omnipresent. And tonight we're going to look at hopefully two more. We'll get as far as we can get and enjoy our time together, hopefully in the word. Tonight we look first of all to the fact that God is omniscient. What does that mean? He knows everything, okay? Omni meaning all science, science, omniscient, meaning that he knows all things. And so that really is what it means. He knows all things. What omniscience means then is the fact that God's knowledge is complete. It is perfect. It is all-inclusive. It is eternal. Whatever description you want to put on it, or alongside knowledge to indicate that it is perfect. It is all-encompassing. You could put that adjective beside it. And what we're expressing with omniscience is that God has all the information possible. He has all knowledge. He knows all things. Now we're going to look at several examples of that in the scriptures, eight of them in fact, and just give a broad range of the things that the Bible says God knows. We're going to begin in the book of Job, chapter 26, verse 6. The biblical teaching will begin there. Job 26, 6. Well I'm open to Psalm 26. I'm not quite in the right book. Here we go, Job 26, 6. The realm of the dead is naked before God. Destruction lies uncovered. The realm of the dead, the place where people go when they die in the Old Testament called Shio, and then destruction. It's the Hebrew word Abaddon. It's an interesting word. It means the place of destruction, the place of ending or finality. It's also found interestingly enough in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, chapter 12, where it is a name for Guess who? Satan, yes. It means literally there the destroyer. It is a place of destruction, a place of final suffering if you will, or can be in the New Testament, the destroyer, the one who destroys life. The point here that Job is indicating is that God knows everything about the spirit realm, the realm of the dead, what happens when people die? Where they go? God knows all about that realm. He sees beyond death into that realm. Okay, then Job 28, 24, something else that God knows, Job 28, 24. Actually, this is in this passage, it's talking about wisdom and where wisdom can be found. Verse 22 says destruction. There's our word again, Abaddon. Destruction and death say only a rumor of it has reached our ears. Verse 23, God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells. Why? Verse 24, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. So what is that speaking of by we have God's knowledge? What does he know here? Everything about creation? Yes. He knows everything under the heavens. Everything that happens in this material world, the universe even. Okay, so let's add all this up as we go along. God knows everything about what happens to people when they die, where they go and all about that realm. He also knows everything that happens under the heavens on planet earth in this material world. He knows everything that happens here. Okay, third passage. And we're just going to move our way through from left to right in your your Bible. Psalm 33 is the next passage. Psalm 33 verse 13. From heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind from his dwelling place. He watches all who live on the earth. He who forms the hearts of all who considers everything they do. What is it that God knows here? Everything about everybody. Okay, all right. So we could say he knows all about the world of mankind. Right? He knows everybody and everything everybody does. Okay, so let's add it up again. God knows everything about the spirit realm of the dead. God knows everything about the universe material world. God knows everything about every person. Everything about us and everything we do. God knows all about humanity. Okay, next passage. Psalm 139. This is a very familiar passage. The chapter indicates several of the attributes of God beginning with his knowledge. Let's look at the first four verses. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know, when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. What is this passage talking about? God knows. Okay, knows everything about us. You know what's in our thoughts? Anything else strike you here? Okay. Okay, the contrast of the passage we just saw. God knows all of mankind, but God also knows me. And he knows the breadth and scope of everybody and everything everybody does, but he also knows every intricate detail of my life. And so there's a sense in which we're moving from the broad to the very narrow from the universal to the very specific. God knows the intricate details of every person's life of your life and mine. Notice how he mentions some of them here. He says, you searched me. You know me. You know when I sit. So every time I sit down, God knows that every time I rise up, God knows that. And then he perceives my thoughts from God knows everything that's in our minds. Okay, and that's true for every individual. He knows when we go out, when we lie down, in other words, all of the events of a day, when we go out, you know, we're out in in our life's pursuit, our life's work, our life's activities. Also, when we lie down at night and rest at home, he knows every intricate detail of life. And then this, he says you're familiar with all my ways and then this amazing one before a word is on my tongue, Lord, you know it completely. God knows what I'm going to say before I say it. Obviously he does. He knows our thoughts. But again, it's just an example of the minutest detail that God knows about us. He knows everything about every detail of our lives. Okay. Amazing. Amazing description of the knowledge of God. Next passage, Proverbs 15 and verse 3. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere keeping watch on the wicked and the good. What does that seem to indicate about God's knowledge? Okay. He knows about all of our deeds. What kind of deeds? Good and bad, which indicates what does he know about us? He knows our heart. Yes. He knows the moral quality of every action. He knows what's coming out of our hearts, whether it's good or bad. You see, we can look at someone's actions and we may not be able to necessarily tell whether or not those come from pure or impure motives. And we can sometimes misjudge people because of that, can't we? We can assign motives to someone which are not true because we don't know the heart. God knows the moral quality of every thought, word, action, where it comes from. He knows both the good and the bad. Okay. So another facet of God's knowledge, it's not quite what we've seen in the other other passages. All right. Number six, it is Isaiah. Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 11. Remember the former things, those of long ago, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please from the east, I summon a bird of prey from a far off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. And he's talking there about the nation of Babylon that will come to judge his people. He says, what I have said that I will bring about what I have planned that I will do. Now that has the last part of that has to do more with God's power, but what is it about God's knowledge that's in view here? Okay. He knows every event, all the events that are going to happen, right? Okay. So he knows everything about the future, right? Every event that's going to happen. He knows that Babylon is going to come and destroy his people. He's telling this to Isaiah well before it happens. Okay. So he knows everything that's going to happen. Is there anything else in this passage that he knows? He knows everything that already has happened. He mentions, I make known, verse 10, the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. So you've got both the ends of the spectrum there. God knows everything that has happened. God knows everything that will happen. So God knows everything in the past and God knows everything in the future because what we've been dealing with thus far is pretty much what's happening right now in the present about us. But God also knows everything that has happened in the past and everything that will happen in the future. Okay. So we're broadening again our scope and understanding of God's knowledge. Okay. Let's look at a couple of New Testament passages. And here's what we're just saying about in Matthew 10, verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care. The early without your father. There's a sense in which it's saying that God attends the funeral of every sparrow. Not one false to the ground without him. So he is perfectly aware of everything that happens in the animal kingdom. Okay. Occasionally I will I'm interested in nature programs. I enjoy watching the PBS program nature. I'll usually take that and find some time to watch it. The natural world is fascinating. They just had a series of programs on PBS called Earth Flight where they described various movements of birds and migrations of birds all across the world, and they focused on a different continent in each program. And they filmed things that had never been witnessed by the human eyes as far as they knew, at least that never had been recorded. Probably had someone had seen it somewhere. But a number of times they would say this is the first time it's ever been recorded, the first time that we know that people have seen this. If people have seen this before, no one has ever talked about it, no one has ever written about it. And one of the things they showed was stingrays in the ocean jumping straight up out of the ocean and falling flat down like that. Just going straight up and then flat down on the water. It was an amazing thing to watch. And they said this has never been recorded anywhere. Nobody has ever written about this, talked about this, as far as we know, if somebody has ever seen it, it's never been told. And I was sitting there thinking God knows all about that. And it's one of those things that I think God is saying you finally discovered it. I've known about this all along. And you finally saw it. You finally discovered it. It's just amazing. When man thinks he has discovered something amazing, I think God is saying, what took you so long? God knows everything about the animal kingdom. And there is much to know that is absolutely incredibly, incredibly amazing. And God knows all of that. And there is all of that in the animal world. One other passage. And this one may be the most amazing of all when you think about this. Matthew 11, verse 21, Jesus says, woe to you, chorazan, woe to you, Betheseda. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And then he goes on to say the same thing about cappurnum. And in verse 23, if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. What is this passage talking about that God knows? I think I heard something. He knows all possibilities. Do you see what Jesus is saying? Jesus is saying, okay, I've performed a lot of miracles around the villages around the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee. Betheseda, cappurnum, chorazan, those are all three villages where the bulk of Jesus, Galilee and ministry, 18 month of ministry, full of miracles was performed. I performed all kinds of miracles inside. If I had done those same things in Tyre and Sidon, two Gentile cities, in Old Testament times, they would have repented. I know what they would have done. If certain things had been done in the past, I know what would have happened. If I had done the same miracles in Sodom, it would have repented. So what he is saying is, I know all possible results of all potential situations. You think that went over a little bit and that becomes mind-blowing. You see, not only does God know everything that is happening in the world now or the universe, that's mind-blowing enough. But God also throughout all of human history and throughout all of the future knows every potential result of every potential or possible circumstance. He knows what would have happened if any number of 30 different scenarios would have happened in your life last week. And he knows that for every person in the human race, who has ever lived or ever willed if. He knows exactly what was in their heart and how they would react. It is just amazing to think when you begin to extrapolate that to every potential situation that might have possibly happened, not just in your life, but in the life of everyone who has ever lived or ever will live. And you know that God knows every potential circumstance that might have happened and what would have resulted from that. That is an amazing knowledge. Yes. Great thought. Galatians 4.4 says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made a will on the born under the law. And it was in that moment in time where everything in human history had converged to make it just the right time for the gospel to spread rapidly. When you think about it, a lot of writing has been done on that. The Roman Empire was at its height of power. The Pox Romana, the Roman Peace, was spread throughout the world. It was a time of peace. It was a time when you could travel through the known world, at least the Mediterranean world, safely without any need for getting permission to enter other countries because the Romans ruled it all. And so it was the right time for the gospel to spread rapidly. And Paul certainly took advantage of that, didn't he? So it was the fullness of time. The fullness of time. And so many other circumstances in the history of the nation of Israel and so many other things were converging at that moment. And God knew exactly when that would be. Yeah, that's a wonderful thought. As an example of the kind of knowledge God has in the fullness of time, just at the right time in human history, God sent forth His Son. Okay. Tremendous verses, amazing descriptions of the knowledge of God. Any comment or question about those before we raise a couple of things that are difficult to understand? That's difficult enough. Yeah. So there is an area that you, or human individuals, he already knows what our action is going to be. Yes. There is nothing we can do to out-talk stuff. He already knows. So if we said we were going here and we turned into this way, he already knew that. He already knew that. Yes. So I'm wondering what is it we can do to make better decisions, make a need to see already knows what our thought processes are. Is it just going on day by day doing things that he already has already? The fact that he already knows them does not necessarily equate to the fact that that we are locked into that. We still have choice. We can make our choices about decisions we'll make, but he knows exactly what they're going to be. Yeah. It is. It is awesome. Yeah. It does not, the fact that God knows everything about us and knows what we're going to do does not strip us of our responsibility or our freedom. We still have the freedom to make those decisions. God just knows what decisions we're going to make. And he knows the consequences of those as well. And that's why he warns us in his word about the consequences of certain decisions. He knows what they are. Yeah. They are truly our decisions, even though he knows what they're going to be. I mean, we can experience that to some degree, even with our own children. We can know what they're going to do in a given situation because of what they have done before. At least we can't know with certainty, but we can pretty well tell, okay, this is what they're going to do. Little baby sees a toy. Okay, you know what they're going to do. They're going to go out and get it reached for whatever we know what they're going to do. Doesn't mean that we're forcing them to do it. Still our choice. Still that baby's choice to do that. And the same thing is true of us. God knows all of those things. Now, when we get a little bit later in our study, we begin to talk about God's decree, God's purpose and plan, He's sovereignty. Then it's going to get a little sticky. It's going to get a little more difficult to understand. But right now, all we're talking about is His knowledge. Okay. And I don't want to go any further than that right now because it's already sticky enough. But He knows, He knows everything, but we are still responsible for our choices. Okay. How does that relate to predestination? If you'll hang around a few years when we get to the doctrine of salvation, we'll deal with that. If we get started into that tonight, we don't even have enough time to get started. Much less answer that one satisfactorily. Did He know that those are the things that happen to us? Did He know that we're out of every one? Yes. Yes. Because God does not learn anything. His knowledge is never new. What He knows, He knows perfectly, completely, eternally, or it would not be all knowledge. He would be discovering new things. So why am I so anxious to say, I think we all know that God is not only Him. Who doesn't have that problem? I don't know where that one is. He knows that a lot of things are not when you're meant to be. Okay. Right now, we're not talking about God's plan and purpose. We're just talking about His knowledge. And the fact that God knows all things does not force us. We still have responsibility. We have freedom. And God knows all things. But that does not push us in a certain direction. We still have freedom to choose. Byron? Yeah. It's a good point. When you combine and all of God's attributes work together. When you combine God's knowledge with the fact that He's eternal, that everything is as though it is present with Him, past, present, and future, then obviously He knows from eternity past everything that I'm thinking right now. He has known that from eternity past. Because everything is present with Him. Okay. What we're struggling with is our finite minds being able to understand an infinite God. There's no way we can grasp it all. No way. Yeah. Getting me off the hook too, if you want to move to a couple of potential conflicts. Or at least to parent conflicts in what we've just seen in the Bible. Some difficulties in understanding this truth. Look with me at Genesis chapter 18. Genesis 18. This is that story of the angels that came to angel the Lord, the two other angels that came to visit Abraham, to let him know what was going to happen in Sodom and Gomorrah. The God was going to judge them. And verse 20, verse 20, Genesis 18, verse 20, then the Lord said, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great. And their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know. So does God know all things or does he not know all things? What is this talking about? Is God saying, you know, I really don't know what's going on down there in Sodom. I've got to go down and find out. And if it's, if it's, how did he say it? If it's as bad as what I've heard about, then I'll know. If not, well, I'll know that too. So I've got to go find out. Is that what he's saying? It sounds like it doesn't it? Can't be or as others that can't be, yes, can't, can't be. I love it. Okay. Right. When God asked Adam, where are you? Was God seeking for information that he'd know where Adam was? Of course, he knew where Adam was. For whose benefit was that question? For Adams. So that Adam would recognize where he was. Okay. For whose benefit is this statement? Abraham's benefit. It is, it is in human terms to prove to Abraham, I will not act in judgment without you knowing I have all the information. My judgment is just, it is righteous. None of my judgments are knee-jerk reactions. All of my judgments, Abraham, are just and righteous. And so that you understand that I'm going to speak in your terms. I'm going to come down there and find out for sure. I want you to know, this is for your benefit Abraham, I never judge without just cause. And so really this statement is not saying God doesn't know something and he's got to come down to find out. It basically is to demonstrate to man in this case Abraham that God has all the facts. And this is just a human way of saying it. This statement is for our benefit, for Abraham's benefit, not for God's benefit. Okay. Yes sir. Why did God let Abraham bargain with him? Abraham is the father of what race? Right. No, forget it. Just let that one go. If you've ever been to Israel, you know what I'm talking about. You do not pay the price that anybody has marked. One of the first things we were taught when we were in Israel studying over there for a month and we did some things in the old city never pay the price that's on, you know, a item of merchandise. Nobody expects you to pay that. They expect you to bargain. Jews bargain. And so I'll never forget some of us one day when we had a little time off from our studies and we didn't have a field trip or anything plan. We decided to get a taxi and go to Bethlehem and had a friend with me who had been living in Israel for a year and he said, no, he said, John, he said, when we get to the place where you get a taxi, he said, this is going to get kind of heated. I just want you to know ahead of time. This is understood by everybody involved. Don't get worried or concerned. And so the guy said 900 check-holes for a drive down to Bethlehem and Steve said 900 check-holes. No way am I going to pay 900 check-holes and I'll give you 500 and no more. And the guy kind of like he was going to walk off and then he came back. All right, we'll do it for 800 and they just bargained until I think it was somewhere on 700 found it sighted on. And everybody understood that nobody was upset. I'm being a little facetious but God allowed him to do that to establish the character trait here. Maybe. No, sincerely. Abraham bargained with God and God allowed him to simply out of his mercy. 50 righteous people. I won't destroy it for 50. Lord, what about 40? And he works him all the way down to 10. And God is just being merciful. Say, I won't destroy it if I find 10. God knew all along how many righteous people were in Sodom and that it would be destroyed. That they were not 10 righteous people. And he could have just cut off Abraham at the knees but he didn't. He's been gracious and merciful to Abraham. I think is what's happening there. Could have been pardon me. First form of government. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Give Abraham some hope. Yeah. Yes. I mean, it does show that God is merciful, that God does not want to judge. That God wants to really save the city. And if yes, if I find 10 righteous people, I will not judge it. And it does demonstrate genuinely the heart of God that he does not want to judge. And it gives Abraham hope that maybe it will not be judged and his family will be spared. God did mercifully spare a lot. Okay. But I think the point that we need to understand is God is saying this in terms that Abraham can understand for Abraham's benefit. He's not saying I need to go down there to find out or otherwise I won't know. Obviously, that's not what God is saying. A very similar type of potential problem is in Deuteronomy 8. If you look at Deuteronomy 8 and verse 2. Moses is instructing the new generation in the wilderness before they go into the land. And he says in verse 1, be careful to follow every command. I'm giving you today so that you may live an increase and may enter and possess the land. The Lord promised the note to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart. Whether or not you would keep his commands was God unsure about what they would do. So he needed to find out. That sounds like that's what he's saying. But given the descriptions of God that we have seen in the scriptures that certainly can't be. What is Moses saying about God here? Right. Okay. All right. God knew he's telling Moses this is the reason why I tested you in the wilderness. Have you ever again when you think in a very limited scale of dealing with your own children. You know sometimes children are not good at hiding what they've done. You know what they have done. But you will ask them or put them in a position to kind of test them. To do what? To tell the truth or to prove to them what was in their hearts that they had done wrong or that they had done right. The proof is not needed by the one who's giving the test. The proof is needed in the heart and mind of the person who's being tested. Okay. It's kind of like you know Romans 3 says God gave us the law to shut our mouths. He knew we couldn't keep it. But he gave us the law to test us to see whether or not we would keep it. Why? Because he wasn't sure. No, no, he knew it was to shut our mouths because we make bold claims. So I won't like Peter. I'll never deny you. I'm going to I can keep thinking, mammoths. Oh really? And so God shuts our mouths by testing us. Okay. That's exactly what God was doing here. When God says I did it to know what was in your heart. The word no really has the sense of to prove or to test what was in your heart. Not so that I would know but so that you would know. So I did it to know what was in your heart not to gain information but to know in the sense of to prove or show demonstrate what was in your heart. And that's the sense in which God says. No, whether or not you would keep his commands. Okay. Our time is up. We will. We won't have a service next week. I got two weeks to think about this and think of some applications of what it means to you that God knows all things. What does that mean to you and we'll come back and discuss that briefly before we get into the fact that God is omnipotent. Okay. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the fact that you do know all things. You know everything in our hearts and minds. Even at this very moment and Lord, we we take comfort in that. But we also are warned by that and I pray that you will help us to live every moment with the knowledge that we stand before you. Everything we do is done under your perfect gaze and knowledge. So help us to live with that in mind that you know us inside and out and Lord, we rejoice and are amazed the fact that you know us better than anyone and you still love us. Thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen.