Turning this morning to 1 Samuel 2, verse 3. 1 Samuel 2, verse 3. The words taken from Hannah's song. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. Friends, I want to look this morning just at this one verse, and my topic really is The Lord is a God of knowledge. The Lord is a God of knowledge. Knowledge, as you know, is a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing to have and to know different things. We come into this world without any knowledge. We come into this world almost, you could say, as a blank slate. But then gradually, little by little, year by year, are adding to our knowledge, adding to our store of what we know, accumulating things about the world around us, about ourselves, about human beings, accumulating different kind of things, keeping up things together, increasing in knowledge, learning new things, We go to school, we learn, pick up many subjects and we learn so many different things. And then we advance perhaps to university and go deeper into particular subjects, which maybe we are interested in, or perhaps we skip university and go to take up an apprenticeship and we learn on the job train. And even there, we are learning skills. and we're learning new things and how to do things. And all these things are, well, they're so interesting to us and so marvelous to us. Really, we find a thrill, isn't it? I hope you do, in knowledge and in learning. It's something that we find so very valuable, and it's something that we're always hungry for. We want to gain more and more. It might even be something as simple as a new recipe, and you've discovered it. Well, that's such a thrill maybe to you to discover. I didn't know you could do such and such with all these meats and so on. But knowledge is such a pleasant thing to have. And yet, friends, even if we've studied, as it were, if we spent our whole lives studying and we spend every day studying, still at the end of 70 years, what do we have to say? We know so very little. At the end of the time, our days in this world, you have to say, oh, what a vast amount of knowledge, what immense gaps there are in my knowledge. I thought I knew so much, but actually, I know so very little. And of that, even which I know, that even which I learned, I've forgotten so much of it. Gaps in my memory, things have slipped my mind. Oh, friends, what finite, creatures we are. What feeble people really we are. We are small, isn't it? Our minds are great. They're wonderful things. Our minds are tremendous things. We can store in our minds, but at the end of the day, they're just small containers. They cannot contain everything. And even though we realize these things, that we know so little, yet still man is so proud. Still knowing that he knows little, he is still proud. The human race are boasters, boasters really of its attainments, boasting of the great progress that it has made. And no doubt, great progress has been made in our modern world. We do know so much more than our previous generations. But there is still so much we don't know. There are still so many areas in which we are in the dark. The National Geographic Society has said this, more than 80% of the ocean has never been mapped, explored, or even seen by humans. And the same source tells us 86% of the Earth's species are yet to be fully described. Well, how much do we know? We know so little, friends. Yet, knowledge has puffed us up to make us think we know more than we are, or we're greater than we are. We're looking today at the Lord, who is a God of knowledge, at somebody who does know everything. The Lord God, what do we know about him? He knows everything, this is for sure. He is the God who is able to handle that vast amount of data that encompasses this world and this universe that we live in. We can only take in a sample, a very, very small portion, but he can take in everything there is to know. And he never becomes puffed up, knowing everything As the God of knowledge, he never abhors and is puffed up about it. The word here in the Hebrew, the Lord is a God of knowledge, that word knowledge is actually in the plural in the original language. You could say, the Lord is a God of knowledges. I don't think there's an English word, the knowledges. That's the idea. The Lord is a God of knowledges. His knowledge is varied. His knowledge is extensive. He knows all that there is to know about everything. knows it perfectly, knows it completely, he knows it infallibly, never makes a mistake. All the events in history, he can see those events with perfect clarity. He can see the past He can see the present, he can see the future in one moment of time before him in absolute clarity without ever making a mistake. For us, if we're studying history, you need to go to the primary sources and the secondary sources. If you haven't got the primary ones, we need to hear and to learn from others. But not God. He knows and sees all events in history in one moment of time before him. And he knows what's going to happen in the future. And we have proof of this in the Bible, because we have all those prophecies in the Old Testament, some given six, 700 years before they took place, and very specifically mentioned, how can God do that? How can he tell us hundreds of years in advance what's going to happen? Because he sees the future as clearly in daylight as he sees the present. Friends, God knows each and every person living today, those who lived in the past, those who are living today, those who will be alive in the future. And He is perfectly acquainted with all of us, as we read in that psalm. He knows us better than we know ourselves. is all seeing knowledge, sees our innermost thoughts. Perhaps that troubles us. God sees my thoughts. God sees my motives. God sees what's really going on inside of me. Oh, perhaps we wish it were not so. We wish God was not like that. Perhaps we wish we could remain hidden from him. Oh, if we could strip God of this attribute of his, of being able to see my intentions, my motives, perhaps we would do that. so that we could pass before him for friends. That's what we do with our fellow human beings, perhaps. We're glad, isn't it? We're glad people can't really see what's happening inside of us, what we're really thinking. We're glad we can put on an outward appearance. We can pretend that we are something. We can hide our ugliness and our defects. We can't hide from God, because he sees it all. He sees everything. And then God knows what we need better than we do. We think, We need more money. We need maybe more health. We need more fun in life. Or we need more success. Or we just need more opportunities. Or we need more lucky breaks in life. Perhaps if only we had more of these, then things would be fine. We think this is what we need. But he can see better. He knows better. He knows we need life in the soul. He knows we need to be reconciled with him. He knows that we need forgiveness of all our sins. This is our deepest need, friends, and he can see better than we can. He knows that we need a home in heaven. He knows we need to be delivered from hell and find a place in heaven. He knows that. This is our true need. But then we can also go on to say about God's knowledge, of course, it's unlearned. It's unlearned. It's intuitive. It comes to him intuitively. He just knows. It's infallible knowledge. He never errs. He never makes a mistake. Everything he knows, he knows perfectly well. And because everything is perfect, he has perfect knowledge, it never increases. It never decreases, that knowledge. It never diminishes. He never suffers from a loss of memory. This is God. This is who he is. And we could also say God knows everything about himself. God knows everything about himself. You know, the maxim today is know yourself, know yourself. Thousands are struggling to know themselves, struggling to find out their identities. It's funny, isn't it? We boast about how great we are, and yet we, on the other hand, people don't know what gender they are. They're struggling to find out their identity. We don't really know ourselves, perhaps. We don't know that we are more than just body. We are a body and a soul. We are perhaps unaware of these things. Perhaps we've adopted the evolutionist mantra which says, everything about man is biological. You are just chemicals. That's all you are, a bunch of chemicals. You're here today by chance, and you're gone tomorrow. Perhaps that's our view of man, of ourselves. That's what the evolutionists will tell you. Your life is meaningless. and his predictions about man's origins. Well, friends, they're only predictions. A guesswork on his part. It's not science. Don't let anyone fool you and say it's science. It's guesswork. But God knows himself perfectly. What do I mean? For he understands the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of his own infinite being. This is who God is. He knows perfectly all his attributes. All his standards are known to him, what's required. His powers and his infinite power, he's so well acquainted with himself. Friends, when we know these things, it should cause us to humble ourselves before him. God's knowledge also is a concerned knowledge. He knows our lost estate. He sees what's happened to us. He sees that we have fallen into sin. He knows the danger that we are in from an eternal punishment if we don't repent and turn to him. He knows there was no way for us to save ourselves. And he is a sight of these things, his knowledge of these things. caused him to move and to take action, to do something, to help us. And that's why he sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. That's why he put into place this gospel which we preach at Christ. Jesus came into the world to take away our sins. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's why God sent him, out of pity for lost men and women like ourselves, because he cares. It's his, he feels for us. Oh look at the cross, look at what it costs Christ to suffer and to die in such great agonies, when the punishment of sin was placed upon him, the sins of all those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ was placed upon the Son of God to take away their sins. This is what Christ has done. God made this way. God made this possible, friends, out of great pity and concern for us, for when we know And I can only mention just a few this morning. The Lord is a God of knowledge. We should take heed. Talk no more, so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, said Hannah. We should keep silent. We should talk no more and speak not foolishly before him. But look again also at the second part. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. I just want to think for a few minutes on this, that knowledge, God's knowledge of our actions, that God takes note of men's actions. It's, I think we all know, all we say and do and think is known by God. and is recorded by him and some friends, but they don't believe that. They don't believe God takes note of everything I do, and everything I say, and every thought I think, and every motive I have. They don't think like that. They consider perhaps God is, if they believe in him at all, as some great transcendent person in the sky who is far too busy, far too occupied to be so concerned as to how I live my life. He's not going to be concerned with the trivial actions. He's too great to be bothered about the trivial little things that I'm doing in my everyday life and the little things I'm thinking about. He's unconcerned as to how I live my life. He's indifferent to how I live my life. Perhaps some people are thinking that. Their language is, how does God know? And is their knowledge in the most high? He does know. And he does observe everything. And he does hear everything I say. And he knows, friends, the motives behind every action. He sees the venom behind those sharp words. He sees the smile, but he also sees the deceit that is behind the smile. We may think, perhaps, well, I'm doing a good work. I've come to church, I'm worshipping. He knows, perhaps, you only did it because you had to, or you only did it, you did it insincerely, not out of love for him, Or you perhaps say, I helped such and such a person. And that outwardly, your neighbors will say, how wonderful you are. You know, you did it grudgingly. And he will see these things. He sees our motives. But then also see, he knows concerning our actions, the foulness of our sin, and yet forgives. we are apt to trivialize sin. We're apt to think of sin as something that is very small, to make a very light of it. We fail to see how wretched sin has made us, how it has harmed us, how it has spoiled our characters, how it has corrupted our lives, how it's hurt us in so many ways and marred the image of God in us. We haven't seen these things as clearly as we ought to. We think of sin perhaps as little peccadilloes. That's all they are. Just minor offenses, minor things. Oh, it should be easy to forgive. I haven't done anything that bad. I'm no dictator. I'm no Hitler. I'm no Stalin or whoever. I'm a good person. We undermine sin and we fail to see how offensive sin is to God. but the Holy God sees our sins as they really are. The Holy God sees them as a great affront to Him. Every sin, friends, is a great affront to Him. You may think it's very small to tell a lie, but it's a great affront to Him who never lies. It's an attack upon Him, actually. It's an expression, every sin, of our hatred of God and His standards and His ways. We don't want this kind of morality to be imposed upon us. We want to live our own way. But the Holy God sees how aggravating our sins are, especially when we consider how much he has given to us and how he blesses us with so many good things in life, and still we provoke him to his face with our sins. But he is still merciful. In spite of knowing the depth of our sins and what they truly deserve, He is merciful and He is willing to forgive us for Christ's sake. This is the gospel, friends. Do you know even a day's worth of sins is enough to send a person to hell? Just one day's worth? That's how grievous our sins are. And yet, but God, what a great number is behind us of a lifetime of sin. And yet here is the merciful God, the pardoning God, who is, if we come to him in repentance and faith, we humble ourselves and say, Lord, I am a terrible sinner. It's true all that you're saying about me. And you don't fight against God, but you acknowledge it before him. He will forgive you. Lord, I trust in Christ, have mercy upon me for his sake. Oh, friends, he will forgive you because he is a pardoning, gracious God. Let me come to a conclusion. The believer, excuse me, the believer, on the other hand, is very glad to know that God's eye is upon him. It's of immense Comfort to him to know that God knows all about me, that God knows all things concerning me. He's not afraid of that. God knows my needs. He knows the things that I need as my heavenly father, he will provide for me. He's aware when I'm in trouble and I need help. He's aware he can hear all my prayers as his child and he will save me. I know I can turn to him. I have heavenly help. I have a heavenly friend who's ever there for me. I have this as a believer. What a privileged friend to be a Christian. He knows and hears at my every cry and will answer me. He knows me through and through. He knows when I'm going through difficulties. He knows when I'm going through sicknesses. He knows I'm going through different trials in the home or in life. and he will be there to help me. And then he shares also, as his child, he shares his knowledge with me, the knowledge of himself. Oh, friends, this is the highest knowledge that you can have in life, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ. The Lord himself said it, this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent into the world. This is life. to know the living God. And God shares that knowledge with us through his word. You come to him, he'll begin to tell you about himself. He'll begin, you'll be given an understanding about this world in which we live. You will be given knowledge about things that are to come, what's going to happen to this world. You will find this knowledge in the Lord. This is the most stimulating knowledge you have, the most interesting. the most enjoyable things that we can dwell upon and know and understand far better than anything else in this world. Oh friends, he knows, he will know when I come, I'm on my deathbed and it's time for me to leave this world. God knows that time, God will be there. He will send his angels to chaperone me all the way to glory because he knows me. and he is acquainted with me because I trust in Christ Jesus. Well, friends, this is our simple message today. God is a God of knowledge. He knows all things. Oh, we must come to him. We must come to him with all our hearts. We must come to him believing what he has said. Come to him, friends, to know the Lord is to have abundant life. you think, so perhaps I'm missing out in life, I become a Christian. If I become a believer, I have to give up so many things. It's not what you're giving. Yes, you have to give up your sins. You're gaining so much more in an exchange. You're gaining the Lord, you're gaining salvation, you gain forgiveness, you gain a place in heaven, you gain and the knowledge of the Lord, all by grace, all gifts from God. This is the wonderful message, friends, that this is the option that is open to you. Will you come? Will you believe in the Lord? Will you give your heart to him? Will you say no to the world? Come, friends, come and humble yourself before him. Let's pray together.