THEME: BECOMING BY BEHOLDING 3

2023 THEME

THEME: BECOMING BY BEHOLDING - Cultivating A Community of Christ-Centered Worshipers

THUS FAR

1. THE GOD WHO OPENED MY EYES

2. THE GOD WE CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON

TODAYI WANT TO LOOK INTO WHAT PS 139- TELLS US ABOUT OUR GOD

Psalm 139:1 ESV

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

Psalm 139:2 ESV

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

Psalm 139:3 ESV

You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

Psalm 139:4 ESV

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

Psalm 139:5 ESV

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

Psalm 139:6 ESV

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139:7 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

Psalm 139:8 ESV

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalm 139:9 ESV

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Psalm 139:10 ESV

even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

Psalm 139:11 ESV

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

Psalm 139:12 ESV

even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Psalm 139:13 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:14 ESV

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

SERMON: AWESTRUCK: THE GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US

WHEN WE SPEAK ABOUT THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD HERE IS WHAT WE MEAN:

“OMNI” means ALL

“SCIENCE” means KNOWING

THIS MEANS THAT

1. God knows everything! THUS THERE IS NOTHING THAT GOD DOES NOT KNOW AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT HE NEEDS TO LEARN

Isaiah 46:9 ESV

remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,

Isaiah 46:10 ESV

declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

2. GOD KNOW EVERYTHING, PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE AT THE SAME TIME

Psalm 90:4 ESV

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

THE LORD KNOWS WHAT IS AND WHAT WILL BE

3. GOD KNOWS WHAT COULD BE BUT IS NOT

THE LORD KNOWS EVERYTHING

NUMBER OF STARS

GRAINS OF SAND

NUMBERS AND KINDS OF FISH (SEA) BIRDS(FLY) ANIMALS (ALL STRIPES, COLORS, KINDS ETC)

HE KNOWS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING AND HE KNOWS EVERYTHING PERFECTLY!

THIS GOD WHO HAS CREATED ALL THIS AND MIND IS ON ALL OF THIS AND KNOWS WHAT EVERY ANIMAL IS DOING NOW, WILL DO TODAY AND WILL DO IN THE FUTURE:

THIS GOD KNOWS YOU!

Psalm 8:3 ESV

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

Psalm 8:4 ESV

what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

DAVID’S POINT IN PSALM 139- IS THAT THERE IS NOT FACET OF MY LIFE, MIND, WORD - MY ENTIRE BEING: MY DAILY LIFE: MY DAY AND MY NIGHT ACTIVITIES:

HE KNOWS WHAT I SAY BEFORE I SAY

WHAT I THINK BEFORE I THINK

WHEHN I WAKE UP BEFORE I WAKE UP

WHAT I WILL EAT BEFORE I EAT IT

WHAT I WILL DO BEFORE I DO IT

HOW I WILL RESPOND BEFORE I RESPOND

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME BEFORE IT HAPPENS TO ME

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAT OUR LORD DOES NOT KNOW AND SEE!

BUT THIS DOES NOT MOVE DAVID TO BEING AFRAID: IT PRODUCES SOMETHING ELSE IN DAVID:

Psalm 139:14 ESV

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

AND I AM PRAYING THAT GOD’S OMNISCIENCE - HIS PERFECT KNOWLEDGE -PROUD PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF

Writing over 100 years ago, the great London preacher Charles Spurgeon used a powerful word to describe God’s knowledge of our hearts. He said that everything in the heart is “transparent” to God. Nothing is hidden, everything is clearly seen.

Again, consider the words of God: “The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).

SO, WHAT IS THE BASIS OF PRAISE TO THIS GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ME?

I. Since He Knows All Things I Can Trust His Guidance Over My Life and Not My Own

Because God is omniscient, he never makes a mistake. He never changes his mind due to a lack of foresight. He never overlooks anything; nothing ever catches him by surprise. Therefore we can confidently trust him as he guides us through life. This is especially true if we affirm the doctrine of middle knowledge because then it means that everything that happens in your life happens either by God’s direct will or at least his permission with respect to greater goods that might be achieved. No matter what you go through, no matter how difficult the suffering or the trial, no matter how far away God may seem and you feel abandoned by God, nevertheless, on the basis of God’s omniscience, we can know that God is guiding you and leading you as you trust in him.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:6 ESV

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

HIS WILL IS PERFECT

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

CONFIDENT SURRENDER

II. Since He Knows All Things He Knows the Right Intentions of My Heart

PEOPLE MISJUDGE YOUR MOTIVES ETC...

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

EVEN WHEN WE AIM AT HOLINESS AND MISS - HE KNOWS THE INTENTIONS OF OUR HEART

III. Since He Knows All Things I Have Total Security In His Love

SINCE THE LORD CANNOT KNOW ANYTHING “NEW” ABOUT YOU, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO THAT CAN CHANGE HOW HE FEELS ABOUT YOU OR WHAT HE DECLARES YOU TO BE

1 John 3:19–20 ESV

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS SEE NEW MISTAKES OR NEW SINS IN YOUR LIFE AND HOLD THEM AGAINST YOU. BUT GOD DOES NOT SEE NEW; HE SEES WHAT HE HAS ALWAYS SEEN - AND HAS LOVED US STILL

IF A PERSON KNEW THAT THEIR SPOUSE WOULD MURDER THEM BEFORE THEY MARRIED THEM, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE MARRIED THEM

GOD KNEW YOU WOULD

REJECT HIM;

HE KNEW THAT YOU WOULD DENY HIM

HE KNEW THAT YOU WOULD COMMIT ALL THE SINS YOU HAV AND WILL COMMIT

BUT YET HE STILL LOVED YOU

HE SENT HIS SON FOR YOU

HIS SON SUFFERED FOR YOU

HIS SON WAS CRUCIFIED FOR YOU

YOU SEE THE DEPTH OF MY HEART AND YOU LOVE ME THE SAME

PRACTICAL IMPLICATION: THERE IS NO NEED TO HIDE FROM THE LORD; NO NEED TO HIDE DOUBTS, FEARS, CONCERNS, QUESTIONS: “HE ALREADY KNOW THESE EXIST IN YOU.”

WHAT SHALL OUR RESPONSE BE TO THIS GREAT TRUTH?

It has been well said that God’s omniscience is a comfort to believers and a terror to unbelievers.

THE RESPONSE OF SINNERS

UNDERSTAND THAT THE LORD KNOWS THE REALITY OF YOUR SIN AND HAS NOT FORGOTTEN IT BUT WILL JUDGE FOR FOR IT

Psalm 90:8 ESV

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Jeremiah 16:17 ESV

For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

THE RESPONSE OF CHRISTIANS

UNDERSTAND THAT THE LORD KNOWS THE REALITY OF YOUR SIN IN LIGHT OF YOUR NEW REALITY OF BEING IN CHRIST.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THERE ARE NOT CONSEQUENCES: OUR POOR AND SINFUL CHOICES IN LIFE WILL BRING THE CONSEQUENCES

WHAT IT MEANS IS THAT OUR POOR CHOICES IN LIFE WILL NEVER BRING ABOUT THE ETERNAL WRATH OF GOD, SINCE THAT PUNISHMENT HAS BEEN LAID ON CHRIST