Reading from Psalm 139, first six verses. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Father, we thank you for your word, and I pray that as we look at this and many other scriptures that your word would grip our hearts and cause us to appreciate more and more the wonder of our relationship with you. We bless you. We continue to worship you as we interact with these scriptures. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, in this mini-series we've been seeing that all of God's attributes work together in perfect concert, and the more we understand God in light of all of His attributes, the more we can trust Him in every circumstance. And today we're going to be seeing that God knows exactly what needs to be done in every circumstance that you might encounter. We call this His omniscience. Two weeks ago we saw that God is present in every circumstance, willing and able to minister to you personally. Last week we saw that His power is sufficient to deal with absolutely everything that you might encounter. That's His omnipotence. And if we were to go through each of his attributes, which we're not going to do in this series, but if we were to do that, we would see that each of his attributes are for us and that his attributes give us tremendous confidence to trust him in every circumstance, even when we don't understand what he is doing. So today I want to give some insights into God's amazing attribute of omniscience. You and I are not entirely trustworthy because we don't know every possible fact that could mess up our plans. We tend to forget. We tend to make mistakes from time to time, but that's certainly not true of God. A.W. Tozer said, God is never surprised by anything. God is never amazed by anything. He knows all series of events at once. Author and pastor Robert J. Morgan put it this way. God knows the temperature of every star, the composition of every planet, the size of every galaxy, and the course of every comet. He knows the shape of every snowflake. And keep in mind that scientists have not yet discovered any two snowflakes that are alike. But he says he knows the shape of every snowflake. and the design of every shell. He understands the mysteries of the depths below and the heights above. He knows what lies beyond the galaxies and beyond the grave. His wisdom is as high as the heavens, as deep as the oceans, as broad as the cosmos, and as long as eternity. But it's not just that God is all-knowing about actual events, past, present, and future. He also knows all possibilities, and He knows all contingencies. He knows all future thoughts, motives, goals, creatures, all positives and all negatives. And that's just amazing. Even things that aren't going to happen, He knows the contingencies of what could possibly happen. Rodney Johnson said, God knows instantly all matter, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feelings, all desires, all secrets, every relationship, all thrones, all dominions, and all persons. He knows motion, space, and time, life and death, good and evil, heaven and hell, all things visible and invisible, all things in heaven and on earth, He knows every cause and why everything is the way it is. He knows the fungus in the bottom of the ocean. He knows the deep sea creatures. God knows the ant that crawls in the forest. He knows our lifespan before birth. He knows what has happened and what will happen at the same time. Since God does not sleep, He never misses anything. Before the past, God knew the future. That's omniscience. And the more you study this attribute and God's other attributes, it is just absolutely stunning that God would be willing to save us, to love us, to minister in our lives, and to want to fellowship with us throughout eternity. And today I hope you grow to love and trust God even more than you already do as we look at His being through the lens of this one attribute of omniscience. Psalm 147 verse 5 says, His understanding is beyond measure. 1 John 3.20 says, For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. He is saying that despite the fact that God knows all of your problems and your idiosyncrasies and your sins far better than you do, He still loves you, He is still for you, and it gives you security to know that. And yet because He is a loving God who disciplines His children, He's a loving Father, He doesn't let you get away with anything. Hebrews 4.13 says, No creature is hidden from His sight But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. And yet, praise God, because He is for us, He has allowed us to even call Him Abba Father. That's Romans 8, 15 and Galatians 4, 6. Abba Father means Daddy Father. It's a sign that He draws us into the most intimate relationship with Him possible, despite the fact that He knows everything about you and He knows you are utterly unworthy of it. yet he calls you into that relationship. And this helps us to not worry so much about what other people think about us. You know, if God has accepted us, who cares if other people don't accept us? John Wesley once received a note that said, the Lord has told me to tell you that he doesn't need your book learning, your Greek and your Hebrew. Wesley answered in a letter saying, thank you, sir. Your letter was superfluous, however, as I already knew the Lord had no need for my book learning, as you put it. However, though the Lord has not directed me to say so, on my own responsibility I would like to say to you that the Lord does not need your ignorance either." And I thought that statement captured the essence of what is really important. It isn't opting for either wisdom or ignorance. It is saying, knowing God. And in knowing God, we will grow in the wisdom that we need for any given moment that you're going through. Okay? It's knowing God. As we've been seeing in this series, there is a vast difference between knowing the Word of God and knowing the God of the Word. In relation to wisdom, Solomon pointed out in Ecclesiastes that you could be the wisest man upon the earth and still miss out on life. And in the same breath, he pointed out that the wise and the fool can end up just as empty if they are not in right relationship with God. That's Ecclesiastes 2, 12 through 26. By the way, There are so-called evangelicals, they're not really evangelical if they believe this, but there are so-called evangelicals that say that God does not know the future. It's openness of God theology. They say since the future is open, it's impossible to know the future even if you're God. Well, that's absolutely wrong, so I want to take some time proving from the Bible that this doctrine of omniscience is indeed biblical. And I'll start with Psalm 147, verse 5. This verse gives a general description of God's knowledge. It says, Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. Now, infinite means beyond measure, without limits. Can you imagine having no limits to your knowledge? Absolutely no limits. If there is anything to be known, God has already known it. Colossians 2.3 says of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All. There's not one drop of knowledge or one drop of wisdom that God does not already possess. In contrast, we have very limited knowledge. Even the brightest of people realize how terribly little they know compared to what could be known. But that ought not to frustrate us at all. I think of the man in the 1800s. He was applying for the job to be a pilot of one of the steamboats on the Mississippi River. And the interviewer was a little bit nervous because he was a fairly young man. He was wondering if this guy really knew the dangers of the river. It had sunken many boats. And so he asked him, do you know where all of the rocks are? And the young man replied, no, sir. I do not know where all the rocks are, but I know where they aren't. And he got the job, even though he didn't know everything, right? But he knew what needed to be known to drive that boat. And God does not promise to give us all the knowledge we might possibly want, but he promises to give us all of the knowledge and all of the wisdom we need to accomplish his will and to glorify him. Praise God. No matter how complicated your problem might be at work or at home, God can give you the wisdom that you need for it. Point B says that God doesn't need to learn things, and He has never grown in knowledge. From eternity past, God knew the same things that He now knows. Isaiah 40, 13-14 denies that God has learned anything from anyone. Now, if that doesn't stagger your thinking, it should, because Paul absolutely marveled at the depth of the riches and the wisdom of God. In Romans 11, he said, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor? Or who was first given to Him, and it shall be repaid back. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. So, Paul is denying that God ever got any knowledge from outside of himself since he is the source of all knowledge. Now, we do have examples of human knowledge that can be frustrated because of their own sins, and Solomon would be a case of that, or human knowledge that is frustrated because they have the inability to carry through on what they wanted to do, and Ahithophel is an example of that. Ahithophel was said in the Bible to have such wisdom, such knowledge. He was like an angel of God in knowing what things were going to happen, and yet he didn't have the power to back that up, and he was always frustrated. He certainly was frustrated the time before his suicide, and not so God. Listen to some of the scriptures in your outline. Job says, God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. With him are wisdom and strength. And so unlike Ahithophel, he had the omnipotence to back up his wisdom. Daniel says, wisdom and might are his. Now it wouldn't be very encouraging if you knew that God was wise but not very powerful, or He was powerful but not very wise. But all of God's attributes always work together, and so God will never be frustrated. He has the ability to carry through on what He knows best. Furthermore, God knows everything in the past. He knew everything and continues to know everything that you went through as a two-year-old when your siblings, you know, beat up on you and they were picking on you. Every thought, word, and action is remembered. And you might say, well, doesn't the Scripture say that God forgets our sins? Uh-uh. It does not say that at all. I challenge you to find me that verse. And people say, but it says somewhere about God not remembering. No, it doesn't say God doesn't remember. It says God does not bring to remembrance. There's a big difference between the two. It's sort of like you might remember the sin that somebody committed against you, But you're not bringing it up to other people. You're not bringing it up to yourself and stewing over that. We're to be like God in this regard. We're commanded to not bring to remembrance constantly the sins of others, or bring it to our remembrance and getting bitter over it, always stewing over those things. But God cannot forget. He won't bring it to remembrance, praise God, but He does not forget. Amos 8, verse 7, God says, surely I will never forget any of their works. That includes an inability to forget your sins. Bringing to remembrance is a totally different thing, and it's a blessed thing. Matthew 12, 36 says, for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. And praise God, because Jesus already paid the penalty for all of your idle words and idle thoughts and all of the sins that you have committed. You're totally safe, despite the fact God knows about our sins. Our sins won't be used against us. But God will not have a lapse of memory when He refuses to bring those sins that He remembers against us, and He refuses to bring them to others. Either Christ has already borne the judgment for all of your sins or you will have to. So our only security is in Christ. But what ought to put the fear of the Lord into us is realizing the many scriptures that say we can't hide anything from God our Father now. God sees into the bedroom. He sees into the boardroom. He sees into your heart. David said to God, Oh God, you know my foolishness and my sins are not hidden from you. Psalm 69 5. We can't even hide our mixed motives from God. Jeremiah says, We don't understand our own hearts. We don't recognize many times the mixed motives that we have, but God does. And that might make you nervous, but I think it should also be an encouragement to you, because if you want to do right, all you need to do is pray to God as David did. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Show me if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the paths of righteousness. And he will be pleased to do so. Why don't you turn with me to Psalm 56, verse 8. Perhaps there's been a time when you have cried your eyes out over something, and you have thought, no one cares, no one understands. But God does. Take a look at this encouraging verse. Psalm 56, verse 8. You number my wanderings, put my tears into your bottle. Are they not in your book? When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back. This I know, because God is for me." Isn't that encouraging? It's not just that God knows you inside and out, but also that He is for you. It's as if He has counted every tear and written them in a book so they will not be forgotten. He knows and He cares, is the point. Now we tend to worry about whether we'll have enough money to pay the bills or enough time to get a project done. But Matthew 10 verse 30 says that God numbers every hair on your head at any given moment. Now God can do that. He's not going to be taken by surprise by anything else that comes into your life. We can go to Him. Hebrews 4.13 summarizes this by saying, all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. But what I think is especially cool is that God knows every detail of the future. Isaiah 46 verse 10 says of God, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. And in your outline I give other scriptures which show that God knows all that will happen, because they're a part of His plan. And secondly, God knows all things that could happen because he knows what his power and his other attributes could bring about if he wanted to bring them about, right? What about contingencies of our free actions? I remember very vividly in first grade just pondering the foreknowledge of God. How could God know everything in the future? And I'm thinking, would God know it if I say I'm going to do something and then I quickly change my mind? What if I change my mind 15 times back and forth? Well, The Scripture indicates that God not only knows what you're going to end up doing, but He knows every change of mind you've made on the process to getting to what you're going to do. How do I know that? Well, the Scripture says God knows all contingencies. Let me give you some examples. You remember Christ's words? When he told his disciple, and he told the crowds out there, that if the works that Jesus had been doing in Israel had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, that Sodom and Gomorrah would have repented. So he knows contingencies. He knows if this had happened, and it hadn't happened, but this is a contingency. If it had happened, he knows exactly what would have been the result. Take a look at Jeremiah 38. And verses 17 through 23. This is a similar prediction of the future, but it also describes exactly what would happen with all of the contingencies. Okay? Jeremiah 38, beginning to read at verse 17. Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, if you surely surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live. This city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans. They shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.' And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they abuse me. But Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver you. Please obey the voice of the Lord, which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me. Now behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon's princes. And those women shall say, your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you. Your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away again. So they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and you shall cause the city to be burned with fire." So he told the king basically, if you do this, this is what's going to happen. And if you do the opposite, this is what is going to happen. So God knows all possible contingencies, even the contingencies He does not plan to make happen. In Acts 27, Paul says much the same thing with the shipwreck. He told them if they stayed in the boat, they would live. If they go out of the boat, they will not live. They will perish. God knew the contingencies, and God told Paul which of those contingencies was actually going to happen before it happened. And you can study the other passages for yourself sometime. But they show that God is never taken by surprise by things that come into your life next year or 10 years from now. They're all accounted for. They're all planned for. And so that's omniscience. We've looked at that doctrine. It is biblical. What difference should this make in our lives? Take a look at Roman numeral two for the practical implications. First of all, his omniscience gives us meaning in life. There is nothing that can happen to you that has not been planned by an all-wise God. And the whole book of Ecclesiastes showed this. Focus on the Family once had a story about a lady, a 17-year-old lady by the name of Karen Chang. She was the first person in history to get a perfect score on the Scholastic Achievement exam. They described her as being an absolute genius. But when the reporter asked her, what is the meaning of life, she replied, I have no idea. I would like to know myself. So brilliant, yet without meaning. And as Christians, we have been given meaning by being brought into relationship with the all-knowing God, the God of meaning who gives purpose to all of life with his all-wise plan. But when our relationship with God slips, then the sense of that meaning begins to slip as well. Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes to warn us that knowing about God is not enough to avoid a life of vanity and meaninglessness. We must know God Himself. We must be in relationship with Him, which is the main point of this mini-series. Solomon tells us to seek relational wisdom, walking moment by moment with the God who can give meaning to life. And if I had time, I could go through some of those verses in Ecclesiastes, but I think you get the point. Secondly, God leads us. He guides us. He gives us knowledge and wisdom when we need it. He opens our eyes to see things in scriptures we would not have seen before. And I love this point. I'm going to spend a little bit more time on it. God has answered my prayer for insight over and over again. And we're not just talking about knowledge of the Bible, we're talking about knowledge in the ordinary areas of life, you know, how to keep a basement from flooding, you know, how to fix a sick cow, even how to do literature. In Daniel 1.17, it says that God gave illumination to people to understand the literature of their time. Now, I'm going to read James 1, 5 through 8, and then I'm going to comment on it briefly. Says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now, verses 6 through 7 insist we must believe God that He will give us wisdom. Otherwise, He's not going to give it. Without faith, we won't receive it. But let me read those verses again and comment on each phrase. He says, if any of you, not just first century saints, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all, not just to a select class of people, who gives to all liberally. That means generously. Have you experienced God generously giving his wisdom into your life? He's got plenty of knowledge and wisdom to share. I mean, what he shares with you is like a drop out of an ocean. And so he says he gives liberally and without reproach. He's not going to reproach us. It's easy for him to give that. And then it says, it will be given to him. That's a guarantee. And then he goes on to say, but let him ask in faith with no doubting. In other words, it's not automatic. When we take all of the steps that we have outlined in the previous sermons to develop our relationship with God, God guarantees that He will share with us some of His omniscient wisdom. That is the heritage of all God's people, and it's a heritage that I think has been sadly neglected by many of us. I can't tell you the number of times that I've been absolutely stumped on a problem. Now, I've studied because the Bible commands us to study and be diligent in studying, but I've come up empty, and in faith, I've gone to the Lord for wisdom, and He's opened my eyes to things that previously just seemed inscrutable. Now, I'm a slow learner, so I've had to learn you ask God for wisdom before you study, not after you've been stumped. You need to ask Him right off the bat in faith that He will give it. But in all of those cases, what helped was knowing the person who had the answers. Now, if you turn over on the backside of your outlines, take a look at the chart at the bottom of the second page that deals with the ways that God has revealed things to people. And I want to walk you through that chart. And we'll get back to the first page in a bit. But at the top of that chart, We have examples of the various modes of revelation described in the Bible. God spoke through dreams, visions, audible voices, inward inaudible voices, miracles, various forms of guidance, et cetera. And a lot of times, huge arguments are given on whether one or more of those things continues to be a means by which God guides His people. But I think it's more important to ask the question, what kinds of revelation continue? Reformed theologians have placed all revelation under three main kinds. general revelation, illumination, and inspiration. Romans 1 says that general revelation of God, His existence, and of His law is clear enough to leave people without excuse. And yet it also says that because of man's sinfulness, we tend to become blinded and to ignore what's been written on our hearts. So there is a need for the second kind of revelation, illumination. Illumination is the opening of our understanding to things in the Scripture, things in ourselves, in the world around us. This is where the Spirit, for example, can bring conviction of sin that you didn't even recognize was there before. Okay? You didn't recognize you were even guilty. And as we draw near to Him, asking Him to examine our hearts, He exposes things in our hearts that need to be confessed. Another example of illumination is where the Spirit of God opens us, our understanding, to understand the Bible or maybe gives assurance of salvation. And yes, assurance of salvation is a kind of illumination. Other examples include God giving our hearts the sense we need to pray for somebody in a given fashion, or He gives us faith, or He gives us guidance. But we must also value the inspired and inerrant Scripture. Because we tend to resist the Holy Spirit, God has given a once and for all time deposit of truth in the Bible by inspiration. Inspiration is the third kind of revelation. Of course, men still resist the inspired Bible, and Peter says there's parts of the Bible that are hard to understand. But Peter also indicates that the Bible is more clear than the other forms of revelation. Now the chart also gives a narrowing down of who directly receives the three kinds of revelation. The first kind of revelation is given to every man, woman, and child without their even seeking it, and this is why Reformed theologians speak of it as general revelation. An atheist could not even do math He would not be able to argue in a logical fashion, he would not be able to drive a car if God had not given him that knowledge and that understanding. That's the irony of it. An atheist who is arguing against God would not even be able to argue against God without God having given him some of this general revelation, right? Logic and language and all of these things. So even unbelievers are given not only innate knowledge, but also the ability to grow in knowledge. So innate knowledge includes such things as the law of God written in our hearts and our consciences, the knowledge that God exists, the ability to communicate and think. John chapter 1 indicates that God enlightens every man that is born into the world, every person who's born into the world. That's general revelation. Psalm 19 says, everyone receives the knowledge of God. Romans 1 says, everyone has the law written on their hearts. They know the difference between right and wrong. Now, they try to suppress that knowledge of right and wrong because it bothers them. And they try to suppress the knowledge of God because it bothers them. But it already exists. Next kind of revelation is narrower in whom it is given to. This kind of revelation is not automatic, but it is much more clear to the receiver than general revelation. And many systematic theologies say illumination is a kind of revelation, but because it's subjective, we're often unclear about it at times. And it's not given to everyone, and even Christians experience it in varying measure. Illumination is not infallible or inerrant any more than our understanding of general revelation is. I mentioned that inspiration is infallible revelation that is so clear it is described in the Bible as God-breathed words. This is the process that God used to give inerrant scripture and the inerrant prophecies of old. Now my position and the Reformed position is that inspiration has ceased with the first century, and different theologians prove this in different ways. I take it that all prophecy was inspiration. Not everybody agrees with that, and it really doesn't matter to what we're saying here. But the way I would prove it is Daniel 9 says that the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ would seal up vision and prophet. He closed it off. Zechariah says, I will cause the prophets to depart from the land. Isaiah 8 describes casting away of Israel in 87 and then says, bind up the testimony, he's talking about the Bible, bind up the testimony, seal the law. among my disciples." And then he says, from AD 70 on, to the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there was no light in them. So from that time on, the Bible was the only source of inspired revelation. However you come to that conclusion, and people have different arguments for that, I think all evangelicals agree, inspired revelation has ceased. Okay? So we don't need to settle the question of how it ceased. But according to Isaiah 8, anyone who denies the completion of the canon, it's because he's missing out on illumination. God's not opened his understanding to that. And it's really the second area of illumination or insight that I would challenge you to seek the Lord on. General revelation doesn't need to be sought. Though we should praise God for it. There's no more scriptures that are being given to us, but we should praise God for the Bible. But God can certainly give us all the knowledge and wisdom we need for the problems we face today. And it's my view that illumination, God can use any means that He wants to, dreams, anything. He can use any way that He wants. Now we tend to think of this illumination as only being needed for biblical issues, but let me read you God's description of two kinds of revelation that were given to Daniel and to his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And if you're lost, we're on page one, Roman numeral two, point B. Sorry about that. Daniel 117 is one of several scriptures which show that God can give us insight into any area of life when we ask for it. It says, as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom. And here comes an additional gift of God. Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. So Daniel was given special spiritual gifts by inspiration, but all of the men were given what was necessary in terms of illumination to get through their university courses. 1 Samuel 9 gives an example of God helping someone find lost articles. And I have seen God coming through for me and finding lost things over and over again. I lose things enough times, I definitely need God's help. Usually God uses my wife to help find it. I'll give you one of many examples where God opened my eyes by illumination. Early in our marriage, I'd lost my wedding ring at the beach, and I hunted and hunted and hunted for it on this long beach, walking up and down. I couldn't find it anywhere, and so I asked the Lord, Lord, would you just help me to find this? Well, he gave me an urge to kick the sand right where I was at. I kicked the sand and up popped the buried ring. And the Lord has given me these urges, these senses, this guidance within many, many times on finding lost items. A friend of ours who used to fix our air conditioner told me a number of stories of how God gave him wisdom to fix very tough fix-it jobs. I took notes of a friend in our previous church who was called to fix a problem with an industrial electrical plant. And Tim had been working on this plant all day long trying to fix it, and the Lord just kept prompting him that it was this small little problem. And so he told them, I think it's this little problem. They were skeptical of it, but that was exactly the problem that needed to be fixed. And there are many ways in which Scripture indicates God gives wisdom, skill, insight when it's needed to serve His kingdom. The closer we draw to God, the more precious His omniscience will be in our lives. And again, we're talking in this series about a relationship with God who is always present, powerful, wise, kind, loving, merciful, who uses all of His attributes to benefit His children. It's an awesome thing to get into a closer and closer relationship with God. Now let me rush through some of the other practical benefits. We read from Romans 11.33 that knowing God as the Omniscient One draws out our hearts in worship and praise and adoration. So as God becomes the familiar guest of your home, and that's the way Job worded it in the book of Job, as he becomes the familiar guest of your home, We have hearts that will continually rise up in praise to Him. I constantly use God's attributes as a subject of my worship and adoration. Meditating on His attributes will mature your worship. And certainly meditating on His omniscience will. And I think Romans 11, 36, that's a great, or 33, I should say, is a great jumping off spot. Next, His omniscience also leads you to trust Him to come through on His promises. Wow, it will increase your faith when you start meditating on it. 2 Peter 2.9 says, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly. He knows how. What He desires is that we begin to trust Him that He knows how. And there are hundreds of stories that could illustrate this, but I'm going to tell you a story that my dad shared with me. My dad was a pioneer missionary out in Ethiopia. And there were two early evangelists that were being hunted down by the authorities. There was actually a price that had been put on their heads. And they were exhausted. They were hiding behind a bush. And they had not eaten in a while. And so they prayed to the Lord, Lord, would you provide food for us? We don't know where this food is coming from, but you're all-knowing. And you have promised in your word that the righteous will never lack bread. So Lord, would you bring some bread along? As soon as they had finished praying, there was the braying of a donkey. And the donkey comes walking along absolutely loaded with loaves of bread. And one of the loaves of bread fell off. And being the decent people that they were, they picked it up and ran after the lady and said, one of your loaves has fallen off. And it was almost as if she couldn't see them, couldn't hear them. And they suddenly dawned on them, oh, God's answered our prayer. And so they had bread to eat. When your radiator goes out on the freeway, trust God's wisdom and look for what it is that he is bringing into your life, because that breakdown had to occur If God's perfect, and it is a perfect plan, if God's perfect plan for you was to work out, it will give you excitement as you begin to live under the smile of an all-wise God. Point E, it gives us assurance and security. 1 John 3, 19-20 says, and by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Have you ever had doubts about your salvation? I have. A lot of people have doubts about their salvation. That's a lack of knowledge, right? And just studying by itself does not necessarily bring you that assurance. But the God who knows all things can give you the knowledge that you are saved. He can give you that assurance. He's your friend. You have continual access to Him. Colossians 2 verse 2 speaks of the full assurance of understanding, and he bases it on the knowledge of the secret of God. Now why would such illumination bring us such assurance? J.I. Packer put it this way. I'm never out of God's mind. There is no moment when his eye is off me or his attention distracted from me, no moment when his care falters. He goes on to say, there is tremendous relief in knowing that his love for me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst of me, so that no discovery can disillusion him about me in the way that I am so often disillusioned about myself. God knows every skeleton in your closet, every mistake you have made, every embarrassing thought that has crossed your mind, and yet He still loves you very, very much because He sees you in Christ Jesus. His love and His omniscience are both infinite, which means He can't love you possibly any more, and He can't know any more about you. Right? And so it helps us to have assurance. Now, of course, Hebrews 4 says that knowing God is watching your every move and reminding yourself of that can keep you from sin because you don't want to displease your father. And you also don't want to get whooped because he disciplines those whom he loves, right? So it can keep you from giving up or doing something foolish. Point G says that his omniscience gives us a standard by which to judge other claims to knowledge and wisdom. I think this is a cool point. It describes demonic wisdom as well as worldly wisdom that is always accompanied by sins such as pride, hypocrisy, self-seeking, and other sins. But when God gives wisdom, He accompanies His wisdom with His other attributes. And thus James says that when we receive true wisdom from God Himself, it is not have envy, self-seeking, pride, confusion, or other evil fruits. He says, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. So it's a great way of judging your own Christian theology, whether it's simply man-made or whether it is God-given. If you use it in a divisive and self-serving and prideful way, it's not a good sign that you've been tapping into God's omniscience. Not a good sign at all. And that's because God's attributes are never separated from each other. If he's sharing his wisdom, he's also sharing his grace, his kindness, his peace, et cetera. Well, let's look at the next point. What happened to Job when God started giving him a tiny peek into his omniscience? Oh, wow. It made Job fall to his knees. It humbled him. Pride cannot coexist with a close walk with God because a tangible experience of God's presence with us always produces humility. Why? Because the comparison of God's perfections with our pitiful attributes, there's no comparison. It gives us humility, and it's a good benefit. Next, both Christ and Paul say that God's omniscience removes worry. Jesus said, therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. He knows. So meditating on His omniscience helps us to not worry. Next, it gives us confidence in prayer. Keeps us from giving up. But above all, it drives us to Christ's atonement. You see, when people realize that every thought, word, sin, lack of action, and motive will be judged, it makes us remember that we need Jesus always. Christ took the place of the wrath we deserve. Now, in the early days of the pioneers, I read a story about this in the prairies where prairie fires came along. And they knew, when these high winds were driving the fires along, that even a horse could not outrun the fire. And so clever as they were, they saw the fire a way off. They lit a fire downwind. And as the fire burned off, they moved on to the burned off area, and they were safe. And so they weren't afraid, even when a wall of fire was engulfing them, because they were standing on the burned, already burned off area, they were completely safe. Okay? Jesus, in a sense, is that burned over safe area. When the judgment fire of God comes to sweep men and women into hell for eternity, there's only one spot that we will be safe. Jesus Christ. Romans 8, 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Next point shows it gives us confidence in prayer. Next point, his omniscience keeps us from giving up. Psalm 142, 3, when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then you knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have secretly set a snare for me. So God knows all of the traps that the devil and others are trying to set for us, and he can provide the way of escape. 1 Peter 5, 7 says, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. So, how do we enter into a more personal experience of God's wisdom in our lives? And I'm not going to repeat all of the steps that we outlined in previous sermons, but the more you practice the presence of God, the more you will discover that your loving God's omniscience brings comfort instead of terror. But it does bear repeating that we must come to God believing that He loves to share His wisdom with us. If you don't believe God continues to enlighten His people, you're not going to have the faith to ask. And so I would urge you to read the Scriptures I've given there, especially James 1, 5 through 8. It will raise the level of your faith. Second, you need to pray for that enlightening. I've included in other scriptures that not only authorize you to pray for enlightening, command you to pray. To me, that's encouraging. Third, we must wait upon the Lord. There are many passages that tie our closeness to God with watching and waiting. Christ asked the disciples, could you not watch and wait with me? Paul calls us to be still and know that I am God. Be still and know. David's response in Psalm 25 was, show me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. On you I wait all the day. And so when we have that waiting expectant attitude, God will come. Now, just as in each of these sermons, point D shows how pride ruins the closeness of our walk with God, and so Scripture calls us to fear God and seek His glory rather than our own. Three times the Bible has this clause, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Take that seriously. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Psalm 25, 14, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. So do you want to be in on God's secrets? Do you want to have Him as a close friend? Do you want to have God in close covenant relationship? Well, he says, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. So the fear of the Lord is an essential step really for all of the sermons. I'm interspersing all of these tips of how we enter into a closer relationship with God so they're not all in one sermon. But since God especially speaks through the Bible, the next point gives scriptures that show we need to study and study and never stop studying the Bible. Over and over, the psalmist spoke of wisdom coming from the Bible and actually meeting God as he's reading the Bible. God loves to use the scriptures to do that. And he recognized he couldn't gain that wisdom simply by studying on his own, so he begs God, give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Next, be open and sensitive to the unique and varied ways that God seeks to get our attention. And I've already mentioned some, but this point suggests a few others. At times, God may lead us to prayer or action by giving us an unsettled spirit, and I give scriptures to illustrate that. And as you mature in Christ, over time you're going to recognize this unsettled spirit as being a nudge from the Lord to pray. At other times, it may be a word from others. 1 Samuel 25 gives an example where a simple plea from a woman was seen by David for what it was, a message providentially orchestrated by the Lord. God had given Abigail that wisdom. The woman may not have thought of it as such, but David said to her, blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me. And blessed is your advice and blessed are you because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. And the next passage is just a prophetic rebuke to David. Other passages show that God guides us through a multitude of counselors. Next, God sometimes gets our attention through unusual blessings. Romans 2.4 says, the goodness of God leads you to repentance. And Exodus 3 is an example of God getting Moses' attention through a burning bush. Very unusual circumstance. Unanswered prayers may be God's way of saying we have sin in our lives. Or maybe our marriage is messed up and needs to be healed. Or maybe something else needs to be adjusted. But unanswered prayer can make us anxious enough to listen to what God is trying to tell us. And of course, illumination can take other forms. The Lord may open our eyes to recognize a struggle that somebody is facing, and thus we're able to minister because we recognize it. Or maybe an awareness of trouble or a need for prayer. but it's a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit to His children. So let's go to the Lord in prayer and thank Him that He is willing to share as much of His infinite knowledge and wisdom as is needed at any given moment. Father, we adore you, and we worship you, and we bless you for your generosity, and we praise you for the perfections of your being. You are awesome, and you are worthy of all praise. Thank you that your power backs up your wisdom. Thank you that your wisdom is a holy wisdom, a loving wisdom, a wisdom that you're willing to share with us. We bless you, Lord. We're grateful that you know exactly what each person in this room is going to face in this coming week. And we pray that you would help them to navigate these challenges in a way that will be beneficial to them and those around them. Father, You know the interruptions they will face and the cranky people they will face. And in Your infinite wisdom, may You provide everything needed for them to handle these things with grace and humility and good cheer and faith. Please give this, Your people, the strength and the wisdom to successfully fulfill Your will this week. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.