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Psalm 139, would you please notice with me verse one. It's a Psalm of David. And David writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. 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 thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Skip down, please, to verse 17. 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. Now that's an amazing thought. That if we were to add up the thoughts that God has toward us, His thoughts are more numerous than the grains of sand. You say, that's amazing. But it's true. Do you know, when you think about the capability of the human brain, it blows your mind as to what the mind and the brain can do. Scientists are still studying the brain. They're still learning things about the human brain as we speak. Many people have put together articles regarding the capacities of the human brain. I copied a couple of them. One of them was written by Donald DeYoung, a PhD, who actually is a professor of physics. And he writes regarding the adult brain, the human adult brain weighs about 1,350 grams or just about three pounds. And yet it handles the information of many supercomputers. The fundamental unit within the brain is called the neuron or nerve cell. Each cell contains a nucleus containing fibers called dendrites and axons. When a cell fires, it sends electrochemical impulses along its axon extension to neighboring neurons. These signals or brainwave patterns are in the range of microvolts. He says, our brain contains about 100 billion neurons. And during the first nine months of life, these neurons form at the astounding rate of 25,000 per minute. If you multiply each of these hundred billion neurons, approximately a thousand connections it can make, you get a hundred trillion data points or about a hundred terabytes of information. Dr. DeYoung goes on to say about the brain that each neuron is in dendritic contact with perhaps 10,000 other neurons. The total number of neurological interconnections is on the order of 100 trillion. This number is the equivalent of all the leaves on all the trees of a vast forest covering half of the United States. The total length of the nerve dendrites in an adult brain is over 100,000 miles. At any given moment, the many dendrite connections can be visualized as light switches that are either on or in the firing state, or off, controlled by a chemical transmitter. Thus, the brain holds at least 10 to the 14th power bits of information. Actually, it is much greater since the neurons also show intermediate firing states, somewhat like that of a dimmer switch, a light dimmer switch. Consequently, the brain shows both digital and analog characteristics. At any given moment, perhaps 10% of the brain cells are firing at the frequency of about 100 hertz. This implies a rate of 10 to the 15th power signals or computations every second. He says that the potential brain capacity is estimated to be at least equivalent to that of 25 million volumes or a 500 mile long bookshelf. I never knew we had that capacity. Clearly, the brain is far more advanced than any computer ever produced. Computer designers have been attempting to mimic brain structure with neural networks, which is a type of artificial intelligence. Success has been very limited. And he goes on to write regarding the brain that actually, you know how you have two sides to the brain, the left and the right? Somebody had said, because the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body, only those who are right-handed are in their left minds. Or actually, it goes the other way. Since the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body, only those who are lefties are in their right mind. So I had to throw that out for all you lefties in here. One active area of research involves the separate functions of the brain's left and right hemispheres. These mirror image halves are joined together by a massive bundle of perhaps 20 million nerve fibers called corpus callosum. The left side of the body is mainly controlled by the right hemisphere and vice versa. The left hemisphere is found to be specialized for language and analytical problem solving. The right hemisphere, in contrast, controls visual and artistic ideas. A standard secular explanation of this brain division is that the two hemispheres evolved to provide backup systems for each other in the event of injury to one side. One might ask, however, why is there just one division of the brain when four or six backup parts would provide even greater survival value? And if the two halves indeed evolved as backups for each other, then why are they specialized for different activities? The arbitrary and conflicting ideas of brain evolution are obvious. Much evolutionary thinking appears to be the result of dominant right hemisphere activity, where creativity reigns, and the neglect of the left hemisphere, where logical reasoning occurs. That was quite interesting. But, you know, when you think about the complexity of the human brain and what it is capable of doing, we are just amazed. Now, it's due to the Fall. It's because of sin that we never use the full capacity of our brain. It is because of sin that they say that great thinkers like Einstein only used a small portion of their brain's capacity. And so when God created Adam and Eve, he created them with a tremendous supercomputer right up here in the noggin. Just surpassing anything science has been able to create with the computer technology that we have today. Now if that's true of the human brain, If God could pack all of that potential down inside of our cranium, what must His mind be like? Right? When you think about God's mind, God's ability to think, God's understanding, it is infinitely above our capacity. And David, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, tells us truths about God that we need to think about today. We need to consider the omniscience of God. God knows everything. Now, before I dive into our text here, I'd like you to go to Isaiah. Would you go with me just for a moment ahead in your Bible to the book of Isaiah chapter 40? And we'll be right back to Psalm 139. But in Isaiah chapter 40, there are several statements made regarding God's intelligence. And I want you to see that God is independently intelligent. In other words, he never learned anything from anyone else. I'm grateful for good teachers. I am thankful that the Lord blessed me with good teachers and some good teachers in high school and then in college and then in seminary and it's great to have good teachers. But you know God never had a teacher. God didn't learn anything. He's the only one to never ever learn anything. He is independently intelligent. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 13. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him? That's a rhetorical question. Nobody. Nobody has ever taught the Lord. Verse 14. With whom took he counsel? and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding? Obvious answer, nobody has ever done that. God never had a teacher. Go to verse 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding? You can't search out all of the understanding of God. It's too vast. It is too great. God is awesome. He is independently intelligent. Job asked this question, shall any teach God knowledge? You know, people know things because people discover things. But God has never discovered anything. God knows everything about everything. God knows the cure for cancer. Hey, if that's true, I would say that the smartest scientists would be those who get on their knees and say, God, show me the cure for cancer. Because if God knows the answer to that, then we would be wise to seek Him, wouldn't we? By the way, God knows the answer to every problem you have in your life. He knows the answer to every domestic problem, every marriage problem, every relational problem. No matter what difficulty you're facing today, my friend, God knows the answer to it. So we would be very wise to say, Lord, open my understanding. Give me wisdom. Because God says that all who ask for wisdom, He gives it to them. He does not upbraid them. God is very willing to give us wisdom if we ask Him for it. Do you know the reason why God knows everything is because God made everything. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. God made it all. That's why he knows all. He made all. And he sees all. Second Chronicles 16.9, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou has done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. This is what God said to people who didn't realize God sees everything. You know, sin abounds when people are deceived into thinking that God does not see what's going on. You may be able to hide from your parents, young people. You can't hide from God. God knows everything you're up to. He knows everything you're involved with. He knows everything we do. God is omniscient. He sees all. He hears all. Numbers 14, verse 27, the one who made the ear, he hears. He planned all. You see, the reason why God knows everything is because history is his story. Past, present, and future. God has mapped out a plan for the ages. And nothing will thwart or stop his plan. You see, that's why God knows all. He made everything, He sees everything, He hears everything, He planned everything. God knows the future as accurately as He knows the past. And so my friend today, we can take both comfort and caution in the omniscience of our God. I hope you'll be encouraged by what we see out of Psalm 139. Let's go back there in our Bibles, Psalm 139, and please notice once again verse one. The Bible says, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. The word searched is a word which was a mining term. a mining term used for digging down through the strata in Job 28 verses 3 through 7. And so God has searched David. He said, you have searched me and known me. God can dig down through the strata of our mind and our life and see that which People don't see. When used of man, the word search describes a work that is difficult and requires diligent effort. God has personally and intimately known me and you. He knows everything. And you know, God knows me all the time. Look at verse two. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. My down-sitting and my up-rising is a figure of speech known as a merism. It is a statement referring to one's lying down and then getting up in the morning. Lying down at night, getting up in the morning. The point here, God knows me all the time. He knows when you recline to go to sleep at night. He knows when you rise up to begin your day. God knows you from a.m. to p.m. and p.m. to a.m. God knows us 24-7. Everything we do, God is aware of. He knows us all the time. Secondly, we also see in our text that God knows me in every way. Look at verse two carefully. He says, thou understandest my thought afar off. He understands our thoughts and our actions. He knows whether you're sitting down or standing up. He knows your thinking. As a matter of fact, Amos chapter four, verse 13 says, that he is one who declareth unto man what is his thought. God knows our minds better than we know them. He knows our inner desires, our motives, our ambitions. Many times we don't even know why we say what we say or why we do what we do. Our motivations often elude us due to the sinful heart that we have. For the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't even know why we do what we do a lot of the time. But God knows everything. He understands our thought. Although he is far off in heaven, he knows what we think. He knows the hearts of all people. He sees the unseen. He observes the unobservable. 1 Samuel 16, remember? When God was looking for a man to replace King Saul, he said, the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Chronicles 28.9, And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. And so there, David reminds his son Solomon, he says, you need to realize. God knows everything. He understands all the imaginations of your thoughts, Solomon. In Job 42.2, it says no thought can be withheld from Him. Psalm 44.21, He knoweth the secrets of the heart. Ezekiel 11.5, I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them. And Jesus said in Luke 16.15, God knoweth your hearts. Now, there's a lot of people in the world. There's seven billion people on planet Earth, but God knows the hearts of every one of them. God knows the thoughts of every one of us. Do you know, if we would realize that, we would guard our hearts and guard our thought life. Because God knows what we think. He knows the vanity of the mind. He knows the lustful thoughts that we often entertain. He knows the jealousies. He knows the envy. He knows the anger, the bitterness. God knows everything about us. You know, if we would live in light of this reality, we would say, Lord, purify my heart and my mind. Because God knows everything. He knows where we are. Look at verse 3. He knows where we are. He knows where we go. He knows the actions of all people. He says, you're acquainted with all my ways. Job said, he knoweth the way that I take, Job 2310. David said, all my ways are before thee, Psalm 119, 168. Solomon declared, for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings, Proverbs 521. And Proverbs 15.3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. God knows all about everything. You know, when you think about it, mankind is foolish to boast of our intelligence. We are foolish to brag about how smart we are. Because the greatest brain in this world has a little thimble full of information compared to God. Compared to God, we are nothing. We are less than ants. We know nothing, and yet we are often so prideful of our knowledge, but compared to the infinite God's knowledge, the greatest brain in this world is nothing compared to God. That's why we ought to be humble. We ought to walk humbly before our God, because God is omniscient. We are not. We don't even know what's gonna happen tomorrow or next week. God does. God knows the future as accurately as he knows the past. You talk about knowledge. It's just incredible. And you know, it might be a little bit hard for us to fathom this kind of knowledge of God until we studied the capacity of the human brain and saw how much capability we even have, as small as we are. But God is so great. He knows everything. He knows your thoughts. He knows your motives. He knows your actions. As a matter of fact, He knows what I'll do even before I do it. Look at verse four. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Before you even say the word, God knows what you're gonna say. That's incredible. Before we do the next thing, God knows what you're gonna do. He knows everything, what we're gonna say, what we're gonna do. He knows everything previously. As a matter of fact, go with me, keep your bookmarker here once again, and go to Isaiah 41. I wanna show you a couple of verses here about the omniscience of God regarding the future, his ability to predict the future. Isaiah 41, verse four. The Bible says, who hath wrought and done it? calling the generations from the beginning. I, the Lord, the first and with the last, I am he. By the way, this is Jesus Christ talking here. He's the first and the last. He's the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. And he says, I know everything regarding the future. Go to Isaiah 42 and verse nine. Isaiah 42, verse nine. Behold, the former things are come to pass, And new things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. I don't know why people would go to fortune tellers, these foolish people who think they could read your palm, these foolish people who read leaves and all kinds of other stupid things, which is really all demonic. when we should just read our Bible and we could know the future. We could know with precision what God has planned for the future by just studying the word of God, because there's many prophetic details that are given in the Bible that tell us exactly what's coming in the future. And God says, before the former things are come to pass and new things do I declare, before they spring forth, I tell you of them. God can predict the future. Go to chapter 46 and verse 10. Isaiah 46, verse 10. God says, declaring, well, let me start with verse nine, just so you can see how great God is. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. God says, I'm gonna do everything I have determined to do. Chapter 48 and verse five of Isaiah, Isaiah 48, five. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. Before it came to pass, I showed it thee. Lest thou shouldest say mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them. Look at verse six. Thou hast heard, see all this? And will not ye declare it? I have show thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. God knows everything in advance, perfectly. This is true when it comes to the doctrine of election. God's choosing of those he would save is based on the foreknowledge of God. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1 and verse 2 that we are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God. That means God chose you based on his foreknowledge. God foreknew previously in advance several things. Now, people ask the question, what did God foreknow? Did God foreknow that you would choose him or did God foreknow that he would choose you? Well, he foreknew both. Matter of fact, he foreknew that you would not choose him unless he had first chosen you. He foreknew that you would never come to him unless he had done a work in your heart and drew you to himself. There's not a person in this room who would have ever come to salvation unless God first did a work in your heart and drew you to himself. Just read John's chapter 6, verses 37 and following for further details about God's omniscience and what God did. So we give God all the praise for our salvation. We give God all the praise because God knows in advance those who are gonna be his. He knows things before we even do it. Go with me back to Psalm 139, and not only does God know what I'll do before I do it, but God knows me Personally. I'm not just a number to God. I am not just a social security number. He knows us personally. Look at verse five, Psalm 139, verse five. Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me. In other words, God was there, as it were, surrounding you, hovering over you, putting his hand upon you, his gracious hand, and look at verse six. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it. What does that mean? That's a great verse, verse six. It means God's knowledge is awesome. It is wonderful. God's knowledge is transcendent. It is high. God's knowledge is unattainable. It's incomprehensible. He says, I cannot attain unto it. You think about how awesome our God is. His knowledge is so amazing, so high, so transcendent, so unattainable. Now, God knows everybody. He knows unsaved people. He knows saved people. But let me tell you something about God's knowledge. He has a special knowledge toward those who are His. Though he knows all men, he knows those who are related to him in a special way. He has an infinite relational knowledge of us. For example, remember what Jesus said in John 10, 29, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. That means God knows you in a special way if you're his sheep. Yes, he knows about everybody, but he doesn't know everybody in the sense of having a personal relationship with them. He knows about all things, but he knows those who are his sheep. Now, if you're not one of his sheep, the most dreaded words to ever be heard will be uttered by Jesus when he says, depart from me, I never knew you, you who work iniquity. I never knew you. What does that mean? Does that mean he never knew about you? No, he knew everything about you. But he never knew you in that personal sense where he was your savior, you were his child. You know, you can know a lot about things or people, but you may not know those things or people. We know a lot of things. We may know about the President of the United States, or we may know about some famous athlete, but we don't know them personally. See, that's what God's talking about. He knows about everything, but he knows personally those who belong to him. So the omniscience of God is a reality. that should cause all of us to take caution. Because if it's true, and it is true, that God knows everything, there is no one who can hide from God. That's why he says in this chapter, Psalm 139, verse 11, he says, if I should 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. You can't hide from God. You can't run from God like Jonah tried hiding and running from God. Just can't happen. And we can't lie to God, like Ananias and Sapphira tried it in Acts 5. They figured we could lie to the people, we could lie to the church. We could tell the church that we gave all of our money to the offering, and they'll never know that we kept back most of it for ourselves. They wanted fame and recognition. And they lied to the church, and God knew about it. As a matter of fact, he wanted his early church to begin on the right foot, so he got these liars put out of existence immediately. They both died that very day. They tried lying to God. You can't lie to God. He knows everything. Because God knows all, we should be sincere, not hypocritical. Because God knows the real us. We should be honest, not a liar or a thief. We should always tell the truth, keep our word. By the way, God remembers your wedding vows, do you? God's gonna hold you to Him. God remembered every word you stated when you stood in front of your spouse there and stated those vows on your wedding day, and God's gonna hold us accountable for every vow we've ever made because He remembers them all. You see, we need to be people who tell the truth, people who keep our word, people who do not steal or deal falsely in any way because God knows all. You know, because God knows everything, you can't offer excuses to God because he knows the real reason why you do what you do. We're good at making excuses, aren't we? We can excuse ourselves and people will buy it, but you know, God doesn't buy it. He knows the real reason why we did what we did. In Psalm 90, verse 8, the Bible says, thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. You see, the omniscience of God should cause us to take caution. He knows everything we view on the internet. He knows every program we watch on TV. God knows every book you read, every magazine you look at. God knows every detail of your life. We can hide from others, we can't hide from him. We need to practice the omniscience of God and live our life in awareness of the reality that God sees me. He knows me all the time. But you know the omniscience of God is a reality that should cause all of us to take comfort? Because God knows everything, he knows everything you do. And you cannot perform a good deed without God seeing it. The Bible says, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. God knows everything you do, including, as I've stated frequently, even when you give a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. God knows it, he sees it, he remembers it, he rewards accordingly. And so God sees every good thing you do. Every virtuous thing that you do will not go unheeded and unrewarded. God knows everything we need. I would like to quote for you Matthew chapter 6 and verse 8, where Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, reminds us of God's omniscience. In Matthew 6 and verse 8, the Bible says, and I'm going to read verse 32 as well, he says, Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. Do you have any need? God already knows it before you utter the prayer request. He knows your need. Look at verse 32 of this same chapter. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. God knows your needs. He also knows your problems, your sorrows. He hears every time you call. Matthew 7, verse 7, he says, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. God hears every time we call. So you say, then why didn't God hear my prayers? Why didn't God answer my prayers? There's a couple of reasons. One, it may not have been according to his plan or his will. But another reason is, maybe there was some unconfessed sin in your life, and that will always keep him from answering our prayers. Listen to Isaiah 59 and verse one. Isaiah 59. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hit his face from you that he will not hear. So why doesn't God hear our prayer? He says, maybe your sins are in the way. God knows everything. And he cares about the details of our life. I love what Jesus said in Matthew 10 and verse 29. He said, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. You know, today, by the way, I'm against littering. I told that to our class on Friday night. But today, I threw an apple core out my window because that's biodegradable. And I care about the birds. And I want them to get a little meal. So I threw the apple core out there, hoping the birds will eat it. Do you know God knows when every little bird goes down to eat? God knows when every bird falls to the ground and dies. And God says, you are of more value than many sparrows. The song says, his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. God knows even the number of hairs on our head, and I keep saying, mine get fewer by the day. But God knows everything. We need to live in light of the omniscience of God. And I believe if we did, we'd live differently. You know why? Because we would fear God. The problem today is there's just no fear of God. And the reason we don't fear God is because we are not really understanding who God is. But when you know him, and you know his omniscience, and the fact that he knows everything about everything in your life, we will live our life in the fear of God. I hope that the fear of God for us at Faith Baptist will not just be a doctrine, I hope that it will not just be taught by the precepts of men, but may the fear of God be a reality, because we know God knows everything. So if that's true, if God knows everything, there may be some people that you have sinned against that you need to get it right. Maybe there are some secret sins and some secret areas of disobedience and rebellion in your life that you need to get right with your mother or your father. Or maybe you need to get something right with your spouse. Maybe there's a tiff you've had with another church member, or maybe there's somebody you stole from years ago, or withheld money from somebody years ago. You know, God keeps accurate records. Not only does he know all, he never forgets anything. He retains all of his knowledge. And there may be a reason why you're not growing like you could be. God knows the reason. Maybe you've got to back up and get something right. Maybe you need to go to somebody that you've sinned against and apologize and ask for forgiveness. so that you could be restored to them and restored in fellowship to God. God knows everything. May we live in light of this reality and then make decisions based on this reality.
God Knows Everthing (Omniscience) - God Made All Sees All Hears All Planned All
Serie Book Of Psalms
ID del sermone | 1118121832576 |
Durata | 43:21 |
Data | |
Categoria | Domenica - AM |
Testo della Bibbia | Salmo 139:1-6 |
Lingua | inglese |
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