Good morning. I wanted to have some time with
you this morning just to share the latest in
eye fashions. Very special pair of glasses. I
finally found out the answer. You see, when I
was a child, I always wondered how my mother
knew. You know, there were times when she was
nowhere around. And I did something wrong. But
in the end I found out that mom knew what I had
done. And I swore she had to have eyes in the
back of her head. Did you ever say that about
your parents? Well these glasses do that because
you see I can see you equally well from right
here. As I can when I'm facing you. These, the
latest of glasses, have vision both ways. Mom
had a pair of these glasses 30 years ago. I'm
convinced of it. She was a single parent, as
many of you know. I have a lot of respect for
single parents. They carry a heavy load. One
parent cannot be both mother and father, but
one parent can do a great job raising children
with God's help. There were times when mom knew
things that I didn't think she would ever figure
out Things that I did wrong and sometimes things
I did right on those occasions She used to work
late on Saturday nights her job the grocery store
and so we children the four of us would get together
and Clean her kitchen for her now. I'm not sure
exactly what the True result of the cleaning
was Whether it was something that was helpful
or not, but it made us feel good and as soon
as she came in the house Mom knew what we had
done not question how she knew so quickly, but
she knew what we had done It's an amazing what
parents know And yet mom didn't know everything
There are some things she never found out and
I'm glad There are some things she didn't learn
and I'm glad because I don't know if she could
have born it. There is a tremendous weight that
comes with knowing something. Can you imagine
knowing everything? There are times when things
come on television my wife and I say turn it
off. I don't want to hear any more of it We have
heard enough about the sadness and the the grief
and the sorrow in the world just turn it off
But God doesn't turn it off The God that you
and I worship knows what does he know everything
And when does he know it? Always. He never forgets.
How does he know that? How does he do it? It
is simply a natural attribute of God. It's one
of the qualities that is his as deity. God never
learns. God did not have to go to school to be
deity. He has always known all things that can
be known. One commentator put it this way, A
.W. Pink, God is omniscient. That's what the
word means, all -knowing. He knows everything,
everything possible, everything actual, all events,
all creatures of the past, the present, the future.
He is perfectly acquainted with every detail
in the life of every being in heaven, in earth,
and in hell. Nothing escapes his notice. Nothing
can be hidden from him. Nothing is forgotten
by him. His knowledge is perfect. He never errs,
never changes, never overlooks anything. How
solemn is this fact. Nothing can be concealed
from God. Though He be invisible to us, we are
not so to Him. God not only knows whatsoever
has happened in the past in every part of His
vast domains, and He is not only thoroughly acquainted
with everything that is now transpiring through
His entire universe, but He is also perfectly
cognizant with every event from the least to
the greatest that ever will happen in the ages
to come. The God that we worship knows. The story
is told about a man who had several friends in
town and on one occasion he thought he would
play a practical joke on them and so he sent
out seven letters. to seven friends and what
it simply said in the letter was You have been
found out Wasn't signed or anything. It just
said you have been found out and he mailed them
and five of them left town What does God know
about you and me Well in the text that was read
earlier this morning from Psalm 139 verses 1
through 6 We see that God knows the events of
our lives and the deeds that we do. He goes before
us, He comes after us. Our down -sitting, our
uprising. Whatever we do, God knows it. Whatever
we say, God hears it. Deuteronomy 2 -7, it says,
God has known your wanderings through this great
wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God
has been with you. You have not lacked a thing.
Even though God caused his people to walk those
years in the wilderness and to die, he did not
forsake them. He was with them every day and
knew them, knew their needs, and provided what
they needed. Psalm 33 says, the Lord looks from
heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From his
dwelling place he looks out on all the inhabitants
of the earth He who fashions the hearts of them
all he who understands all their works God knows
everything about us the events of our lives the
deeds that we do The Lord Jesus illustrated this
when in John chapter 1 he called Philip and Philip
went and He found Nathanael and told him that
we have found the Messiah. The next day it says
that Nathanael came to Jesus and Jesus said,
behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.
Nathanael said, how do you know me? And Jesus
says, when you were under the fig tree before
Philip called you, I knew you. You see, God knew
all about Nathanael. That's one evidence again
of Jesus' deity. He knew where Nathanael was.
He knew what he was doing when Philip called
him. God also knows the thoughts of our minds
and the motives of our hearts. Psalm 139 again
makes this clear. But so do many other texts
of Scripture. For example, God knows the heart
of an ungodly king like Sennacherib of Assyria.
Through Isaiah the prophet, God said to him,
I know you're sitting down, and I know you're
going out, and you're coming in, and you're raging
against me. God said to Snackram, I know all
about you, you hate me, but I know when you stand
up, I know when you sit down, I know you're rage,
I know you're coming in, you're going out. And
God said, and I will put my hook into your nose.
David said to his son Solomon, 1 Chronicles 28
verse 9, As for you, my son Solomon, know the
Lord your God, the God of your father, and serve
him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For
the Lord searches all hearts, understands every
intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will
let you find him, but if you forsake him, he
will reject you forever. God knows every thought
and every intent of those thoughts. And to the
house of Israel, Ezekiel said on behalf of God,
I know your thoughts. Ezekiel 11 verse 5. Once
again we see Jesus illustrating this in his deity.
For as he was speaking to the crowds in one day,
as recorded in Matthew chapter 9, and then another
time in Matthew chapter 12, It says, Jesus knowing
their thoughts said, you see as he was talking
to them he was able to read their thoughts. Aren't
you glad I can't read your thoughts as I'm talking
to you? That would be fun for me. Jesus was able
to listen in on the thoughts of his hearers as
he spoke to them. How could he know the thoughts
of another person's heart? Or how could he know
the motives of their hearts as he obviously did
he was God and as God he knows all things God
also Knows the future of our lives God knows
the future of the world. He knows the future
of our lives in Revelation 1 1 it says the revelation
of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show
his bond servants the things which must shortly
take place. Did the Lord Jesus illustrate this?
Many times. For example, he told them, now you
go over here to this village and there's going
to be a donkey there with a colt and the owner
is going to say this to you and you respond that
and he'll let you have the donkey. It hadn't
even happened yet. He knew exactly what was going
to take place. As they were gathered around the
Lord's table, he said, one of you is going to
betray me. Peter said, no, though everybody else
betray you, I will never forsake you. Jesus said,
Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning,
three times you're going to deny me. You see,
God knows what you're going to do this afternoon
at 3 31 or next year at this time where you're
going to be and what the circumstances of your
life will be. God knows everything about you
and about me. He knows the intimate details of
our lives. What are the ramifications of this?
knowledge that the psalmist calls wonderful.
Well, in the first place, it brings conviction,
doesn't it? Because it means if God sees everything
about me, He sees my sin. Proverbs 15 .3 says,
The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching
the evil and the good. In Hebrews 4 .13 it says,
there is no creature hidden from his sight, but
all things are open and laid bare to the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. Or as one writer
says it, with whom our final reckoning has to
be made. One thing is for sure that every human
being is one day going to stand before God. And
God is going to give a final reckoning to everyone.
And on that day, God is not going to be guessing
what happened in the life. God is not going to
be flipping back and forth through books trying
to find out all the details because every moment
of every day He knows every detail of every life.
Therefore, It is wise on my part to be sure that
I am right with God before I stand before Him
for my final reckoning. How wonderfully possible
God has made that for us to be right with Him,
to have our sins forgiven. And he says, there
are sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
It doesn't mean that God actually forgets them
because God knows all things. But it's an expression
that meaning that God chooses to overlook them
or to hold them against us. He sets them aside
as having any influence in His thinking about
us when we trust in Jesus Christ to be our Savior.
How wonderful God is that He chooses not to hold
against us everything that He knows about us.
He can lay some of those things aside, those
sins aside, because we trust in Jesus Christ
as our sin bearer. When we think about God knowing
all things, it also brings consolation to us
because we know that God sees all of our hurts,
all of our pains. our weaknesses and our needs.
Several years ago when we were going through
a very difficult time in ministry before we came
here to the Twin Cities, a verse in Psalm 142
ministered to my wife and me. It says, when my
spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou didst
know my path. It is great to know when you're
absolutely overwhelmed that God knows all about
it. Psalm 38 verse 9 says, Lord, all my desire
is before Thee, and my sighing is not hidden
from Thee. Do you ever get to the place in life
where you just can't even say anything else?
God knows what the sigh means. Because God knows,
I can rest. I can rest knowing that He totally
understands me and my circumstances. He knows
my frame. He remembers that I am dust. He understands
my weaknesses in prayer. In Romans 8, it says
that the Holy Spirit actually is in me to help
me to pray. And when I run out of words, He actually
groans, as it were, within me with words that
can't be uttered. And brings requests to the
Father that are in perfect tune with the will
of God. God knows all about us. What consolation
there is in that. When you are wrongfully treated,
When you are persecuted for Christ's sake, remember
that He, the Lord, will take out our vengeance.
We need not do it ourselves. God sees the wrongs
and the injustices of life, and He says, vengeance
is mine, I will repay. We can rest, you see,
in the Lord. The fact that God knows everything
brings tremendous consolation to our souls. But
it also brings adoration. Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. What the psalmist means is
it causes me to wonder, to be in awe of you,
God, when I think of the knowledge that you have
of me. He says, it is too high, I can't attain
to it. Job felt that he knew a great deal and
had pleased God in his suffering. And yet God
came to Job in the latter days of his suffering
and taught Job some things about his power and
his knowledge. And after God's discourse, Job
replied, I know that thou canst do all things,
and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.
I have declared that which I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not
know. Romans 11, 33, O the depths of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how
unsearchable are his judgments, and unfathomable
his ways. God knows all things that are actual,
and God knows all things that are possible. And
what that latter means is that He knows what
would have happened if what did happen had not
happened. No, I won't repeat it. You think of
all the choices in your life. The vocation that
you have, or the person that you married, the
place you chose to live or the job that you have
at the present time. Think of all the choices
and what might have happened had you made another
choice. And then you begin to multiply that and
you can see that it's infinite. The different
possibilities of life. But God could sit down
with you and tell you what would have happened
had you made the other choices in life. Because
God knows not only all things actual, but all
things possible. I can hear someone say, if God
sees what I'm experiencing, then why doesn't
He intervene on my behalf? If God knows what
I'm passing through right now, if He really understands
it, then why doesn't He do something for me?
And that cry is sincere. It's a cry of torment
and pain. And it's a cry that most of us have
uttered in one way or another in our lives. Why
doesn't God do something since He knows? If God
knows that those Kurdish refugees are starving
to death and freezing to death and being shelled
by Saddam Hussein, in a sadistic campaign, why
doesn't God do something? If God knows that there
are homeless orphans in Brazil like those that
Vinny Zachary is seeking to help, why doesn't
God do something? If God knows that this ministry
out here that we've loved and appreciated is
about to collapse because of problems inside,
why doesn't God do something? If God knows all
about the marriage that I'm in and the heartache
and the suffering that I'm going through, why
doesn't God do something? If God knows about
my cancer or the disease that I'm inflicted with,
why doesn't He do something? There are some people
who say, well, surely God knows, but He's not
powerful enough to do anything about it. There
are others who say, well, yeah, God knows and
He could do something, but God doesn't really
care that much. He's sort of off over there.
Bette Midler captured this thought in the song
that she made famous recently. God is watching
us. Where? From a distance. Is that right? No,
it's not right. When we're answering that kind
of a question, there are several possible responses
that can be made. One is that whatever the circumstances
may be, even if they're life -threatening, God
is working in those circumstances for a greater
good than I can possibly know. His knowledge
is too high for me. I can't see what God is doing,
what He knows, but He knows. Furthermore, God
works on a different schedule than we do. The
people of Israel cried out to God for centuries,
deliver us from Egypt, deliver us from this bondage.
Generations came, generations went. God did nothing
until it was His time. And then Moses came on
the scene and tried to do it in his own way,
and God sent him off into the wilderness for
40 more years to wait, to be prepared. It still
wasn't God's time. and people died, and people
suffered, and people were oppressed. And then,
and then it was God's time. And he brought back
Moses. And God delivered his people. You see,
God works on a different schedule than you and
me. J .I. Packer says it this way, God's almighty
wisdom is always active and never fails. All
His works of creation and providence and grace
display it and until we can see it in them, we
just are not seeing them straight. But we cannot
recognize God's wisdom unless we know the end
for which He is working. Here's where many go
wrong. Misunderstanding what the Bible means
when it says that God is love They think that
God intends a trouble -free life for all, irrespective
of their moral or spiritual state. And hence
they conclude that anything painful and upsetting
indicates either that God's wisdom or power or
both have broken down, or that God after all
does not exist. But this idea of God's intention
is a complete mistake. God's wisdom is not, and
never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy
or to make ungodliness comfortable. Not even
to Christians has He promised a trouble -free
life, rather the reverse. He has other ends in
view for life in this world than simply to make
it easy for everyone. Because God knows everything
we don't mislead him for a moment I Don't brag
about this, but I look back and I misled my mother
on some occasions She was on track with what
had happened and I was able to By one means or
another get her off track So that she didn't
really learn or know the facts of the case. We
can't do that with God. Somebody said that excuses
are the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.
We have all kinds of excuses why we do this or
don't do that. We excuse ourselves and our service
for God. We say, well, I've done enough. These
people over there, it's their turn. I can't do
this. Moses tried that one, you remember? An
excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a
lie. We use excuses for stewardship. I can't
give this or I can't do that for the Lord. I
can't give that much. The skin of a reason stuffed
with a lie. In our suffering, we say, I've had
enough. It's not fair. Other people don't experience
what I experience. It's not my fault. Why, it
was them. We point the finger at other people
and try to bring up our excuses. Somebody has
said those who are most successful in making
excuses have no energy left for anything else.
Most failures are expert at making excuses. The
fact is that God knows. God knows. And my excuses
don't make it with God. And so what I'm better
off doing is facing the truth. Acknowledging
the truth. Because that pleases God. Even if
the truth is bad about me. Even if it puts me
in a light that is sinful. It's much better to
acknowledge the truth. and try to make up some
excuse and think we're going to mislead God.
The God that we worship knows. He doesn't have
to investigate. He doesn't have to measure. He
doesn't have to open a book and see. He doesn't
refer the question to somebody else who might
know better, because God knows. That's the God
that we worship. That's the God to whom we all
must give a final accounting one day. Let's pray.
Friend, if God knows you, knows all about you,
and He does, He does. Are you ready for that
accounting with Him? Have you trusted Jesus Christ
as your Savior to be your sin bearer so that
you don't have to bear it before God? If not,
will you do that right now? Dear fellow Christian,
let this truth of God's knowing console your
heart. in the pain and the discouragement you're
in. Let it console you regarding what He calls
you to do, knowing that He will enable you. He
knows your frame. He knows what you're made of,
but dust. If He calls you to do something, He
will enable you. He knows. Be consoled. Let all
of us put away our excuses. Be transparent and
genuine before God. Oh God, we worship you today
because you know all things and you know us.
We thank you for your grace and your mercy that
enable us through Jesus Christ to be your children.
To be forgiven, to be accepted by You, the Holy
One. Thank You that in Your knowing of us, You
bring sweet comforts to our souls. Father, there
are some here this morning struggling with deep
problems of despair and loneliness and fear and
worry. May those who are your children be comforted
today in the truth that you their living God
Know and understand and you're working even now
in their circumstances In Jesus name I pray amen
You stand with me please as we depart from here
today, let us depart knowing that God sees Do
you remember Hagar of the Old Testament? Sarah's
slave who bore a son to Abraham and then was
chased out of the camp by an angry Sarah. And
she was in a desert dying with her situation
desperate. And God met her there. And her response
was, oh God, you see me. God sees where you are
too. and He's walking with you today, and He
leaves with you, and He will be with you this
week. So walk in fear of Him and worship Him.
We're dismissed.