Psa 139:16 knows everything about our lives before we are born

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1 Omniscience In 1997, a team of IBM engineers designed and developed Deep Blue, the computer that outmaneuvered chess grand master Garry Kasparov. Deep Blue was equipped with thirty-two processing engines that could calculate 200 million chess moves per second. I don t know about you, but I have a tough time with the fifty-fifty stuff. True of false. Right or left. Chocolate or vanilla. I can t even imagine contemplating 200 million contingencies in a split second. But 200 million contingencies is laughable compared to the Omniscient One who took every contingency into consideration before a nanosecond had even ticked off the clock. Batterson, In a Pit with a Lion, Here we go again. Back to our theologian SAT words. Omniscient is a fancy word that means all knowing. God knows everything. Many of us feared this of our parents as we were growing up. How did they find out what we were up to? Did they have eyes in the back of their heads? Was there a snitch out there, masquerading as our friend? Did they have us wired or had they planted a microscopic videotaping devise in our hair? Here s a hint kids, the reason why we parents know what you are up to, is because we did the same things when we were your age. We ve seen this movie before we ve lived it. Well, what we feared of our parents is absolutely true of our God. He knows every single thing we do. He ever knows what we think. In fact, there is nothing whatsoever outside of the purview of our God. David declares it plainly, O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord (Psalm 139:1-4). God knows us inside and out, backwards and forwards, up one side and down the other. I can snow you. You can pull the wool over my eyes. My kids, even with my eyes in the back of my head, can hide things from me from time to time. My dog is slick and I know she gets by with stuff. But, my God, never gets hoodwinked. He knows me like no one does. My wife knows me but not like God does. The government has my Social Security number, but God numbers the hairs on my head. My elders and fellow pastors ask me accountability questions each week and they know the weakest areas of my life, but my God doesn t need to ask me anything, He knows all about it. He knows me like I don t even know myself. How do you respond to a God like that? David gives us the answer at the conclusion of the Psalm we just read. Since God knows us so well, we d be wise to follow David s example. Notice how he prays, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24). Pink (Attributes, 17) God is omniscient. He knows everything; everything possible, everything actual; all events and all creatures, of the past, the present, and the future. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell. 1

2 Compare Grudem s definition 190 Dan 2:22 knows what is in darkness Job 37:16 perfect in knowledge Job 12:13 wisdom belongs to God Heb 4:13 all things open and laid bare to His eyes Psa 139:2-4 knoweth it altogether Psa 139:16 knows everything about our lives before we are born Acts 15:18 knows all His works from the beginning Ezek 11:5 knows what comes into our minds Prov 16:2 Gen 20:6 Psa 147:4-5 1 Sam 16:7 Exod 11:1 Isa 42:9 Isa 45:21 Matt 11: John 3:20 Ezek 11:5, a bit scary (e.g., Sarah s laugh, Achan s theft, David s secret sin) Num 32:23 Be sure your sin will find you out Pink (Attributes, 18) The wicked do naturally hate this Divine perfection as much as they are naturally compelled to acknowledge it. (Psa 90:8) Job 23:10 He knoweth the way that I take 2

3 Psa 103:14 He knows our frame John 21:17 He knows all things Pink (Attributes, 18-19) There is no danger of the individual saint being overlooked amidst the multitude of supplicants who daily and hourly present their various petitions, for an infinite Mind is as capable of paying the attention to millions as if only one individual were seeking its attention. Grudem 191 quote Psa 147:5 His understanding is infinite Pink (Attributes, 19) 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 throughout the entire universe, but He is also perfectly cognizant of every event, from the least to the greatest, that ever will happen in the ages to come. Tozer (Knowledge, 55,56) God has never learned and cannot learn. He knows all His works from the beginning Acts 15:18. Find verse Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? Have class dream what the ramifications are for a God who knows everything, then read this quote from Tozer. Tozer (Knowledge, 56) God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell. Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well. He never discovers anything. He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything nor (except when drawing men out of their own good) does He seek information or ask questions. Pink says that God doesn t just know what will happen, He ordains them to happen. His foreknowledge isn t a passive understanding of what will be, but an active determining what will be (see page 20, Attributes). Pink (Attributes, 23) False theology makes God s foreknowledge of our believing the cause of His election to salvation; whereas, God s election is the cause, and our believing in Christ is the effect. Foreknowledge in the NT always has to do with a person: 3

4 Rom 8:29,30 Rom 11:2 1 Pet 1:2 God, here I am. I have accountability, but no one knows me like you. You know what I m going to say before the word even gets to my tongue. Father, you know when I m going to get off your path. You know where I m heading. You know what my tomorrow looks like. You know the sinister motives of my evil heart. Search me, Father. Look deep within me. Keep me back from doing what my sinful nature is secretly plotting. I want to image you well. Create a clean heart in me, O God. Wash me and make me whiter than snow for your glory. Stop my sin before it even gets out of the strategy room. Make my heart soft and pliable before you so that you may never have to harden it due to my disobedience. Omniscient God, you who knows me inside and out, purge me today and make me a vessel that is pure and fit for the Master s use. In Jesus name. Amen. How does his omniscience work with Isa 43:24? Wisdom How does God s wisdom differ from His omniscience? See Grudem, page 193 for definition; compare Pink 60 and 61. Rom 16:27 Job 9:4 Job 12:13 Psa 104:24 Rom 11:33 To say God is wise doesn t cut it: Pink 59 How this should change the way we approach prayer and life: Pink 63. Omnipotence Quote on Pink 46 Psa 62:11; 18:13-15; 89:6; Dan 4:35 Heb 1:3 sustains all by word of His power Where does God walk? Job 9:8; 22:14; Psa 104:3 Good news for us; quote on Pink 51 Ryrie (Basic Theology, 45) Omnipotence means that God is all-powerful and able to do anything consistent with His own nature. 4

5 Almighty is used only of God in the Bible (56x): to Abraham (Gen 17:1); to Moses (Exod 6:3); to believers (2 Cor 6:18); to John (Rev 1:8; 19:6). Gen 17:1 Gen 18:14 Luke 1:37 Job 42:2 Jer 32:17 Matt 19:26 Eph 3:20 Psa 62:11 power belongs to God Psa 18:13-15 God s power displayed Job 38:4-6 rocked Job for not knowing His mighty power Psa 89:6 no mighty sons can be compared to Him Dan 4:35 none can stay His hand Psa 68:32-35 C. H. Spurgeon said, God s power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the Omnipotent One. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court in not maintained by His courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendor from His creatures. He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all power. [Quoted by Pink, Attributes, 47] Pink (Attributes, 48). It is very beautiful to link together the following passages: He walketh upon the waves of the seat (Job 9:8), which expresses God s uncontrollable power. He walketh in the circuit of Heaven (Job 22:14), which tells of the immensity of His presence. He walketh upon the wings of the wind (Psa 104:3), which signifies the amazing swiftness of His operations. God s power in creation. Psa 33:9 He spoke it and it came to be (compare Gen 1) 5

6 God s power in preservation. Heb 1:3 Psa 66:9 He holds our soul in life Job 38:11 keeps the waves in place God s power in government. 1 Pet 5:8 protection from the enemy Rom 3:14,15; Psa 93:3,4 God s protection from those around us. Pink (Attributes, 50) Then what unbridled licentiousness and headstrong folly would triumph in the world, if the power of God did not interpose to lock down the floodgates of it! God s power in judgment. Ezek 22:14 none can resist Him Psa 2:12 just a little wrath can do us in His power gives us reason to praise. Exod 15:11 fearful in praises, doing wonders Pink (Attributes, 51) But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue; no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve. Psa 27:1 Knowing the Lord is the strength of my life, whom shall I fear? Find verse: the Lord God omnipotent reigneth To reign, God must have power, and to reign sovereignly, He must have all power (Tozer, Knowledge, 65). Tozer, 67: Since He has at His command all the power in the universe, the Lord God omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being. Pink (Attributes, 29) Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth to combine in revolt against Him, it would occasion Him no uneasiness, and would have less effect upon His eternal and unassailable Throne than has the spray of Mediterranean s waves upon the towering rocks of Gibraltar. So puerile and powerless is the creature to affect the Most High, 6

7 Scripture itself tells us that when the Gentile heads unite with apostate Israel to defy Jehovah and His Christ, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh (Psa 2:4). Nathan challenging me to one on one b-ball. God s supremacy over all: 1 Chron 29: Chron 20:6 Job 23:13 Job 42:2 Psa 115:3 Prov 21:30 Examples in the Bible of His supremacy over all: The exodus Numb 16 earth swallowing up the rebels Josh 10 making the sun stand still Isa 38:8 backing the shadow up 1 Kings 17 sending the raven to feed Elijah Read Revelation and His control over the heavenly bodies Psa 135:6 He does whatever pleases Him No wonder the Psalmist cries out, Knowing the Lord is the strength of my life, whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1). "In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid; What can man do unto me?" (Psalm 56:11, ASV) "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" (Psalm 118:6, KJV) "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13:6, KJV) When are we ever going to realize that our God has all power, that He is on our side, and we need not fear what the enemy can do to us? What God can t do: Lie (Titus 1:2) Be tempted to sin (James 1:13) Deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13) Sovereignty Definition on Pink 32; Transcendent quote on Tozer 70 Psa 135:6 Psa 115:3 7

8 God is free: Tozer 109 God on his throne, Pink Is man then free? Tozer We talk sometimes about being free as a bird. Is a bird free? Not at all. Yes, a bird may be able to fly, but let the bird land in my yard, and my German shorthair pointer/springer spaniel, will show that bird within seconds the meaning of bondage inside the four walls of her mouth. My children may long for the day when they can leave my home and not have to listen to anyone s orders, but the truth is we ll never reach an age of maturity that finally thrusts us into freedom. We have to do things. We do. If you don t think, stop breathing and see how long you make it. Stop eating and see how long your body lasts. These are things you must do and since you must do them, you are not free and you are not sovereign or supreme. God, on the other hand, must do nothing and at the same time, can do anything. He does what He pleases to do all the time. That s called God s sovereignty. Wayne Grudem defines it this way, God s exercise of power over his creation. 1 And there is a good reason why God can exercise such power over this old planet and its inhabitants, He made is and as such owns every single inch of it. Let s see how God demonstrates this through this plague. Tozer (Knowledge, 109) God is said to be absolutely free because no one and no thing can hinder Him or compel Him or stop Him. He is able to do as He pleases, always, everywhere, forever Even to discuss the authority of Almighty God seems a bit meaningless, and to question it would be absurd. Can we imagine the Lord God of Hosts having to request permission of anyone or to apply for anything to a higher body? To whom would God go for permission? Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Whose position antedates that of the Eternal? At whose throne would God kneel? Where is the greater one to whom He must appeal? 1 W. Grudem, Systematic Theology,

9 Pink (Attributes, 32) The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His supremacy Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. Tozer (Knowledge, 110) Here is my view: God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, What doest thou? Man s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.. Moses replied, When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord s (Exodus 9:29). This earth is mine, says the Lord of all creation. In closing, I want to take you to three other places where this same phrase is used and you ll discover the same application in each: Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites (Exodus 19:5-6). Since this is earth is God s, we must live holy lives for His glory. The earth is the Lord s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty he is the King of glory. Selah (Psalm 24:10). Since this earth is God s, our purpose in life is to live for the King of glory. For the earth is the Lord s, and the fulness thereof. Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Since God owns this planet, my job is to live for His glory. 9