The Immensity Of God (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio, with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

God's Omniscience in Psalm 139: Knowing What We Do, Think, Go, and Say

One of the reasons why I like to go to football games. I'm not a sports nut like I used to be. Once every five years I go to a college football game or pro game, if it's on Monday night, then I can go.

Why are all these games on Sunday? But that's another point. Like a bicycle ride that's a hundred miles through the five boroughs of New York. Wouldn't that be a fun ride? How great would that be? They shut down the roads and it's on Sunday.

But anyway, back to the point. One of the reasons why I like to go to these big games is because I can tangibly think to myself, there are 60 ,000 people here and God knows everything about every one of them.

Now, if I told you billions of people, like it's hard for me to wrap my mind around that, but I think 60 ,000 people. He knows everything about them. He knows wherever they go. He knows them. Pretty amazing.

We are transparent and not opaque before God. Even the liberal Beecher said, you know what? We live in transparent beehives before God. Everything you do, he knows. He also, number two, knows what you think.

God knows what you do, but he also knows what you think. Verse 2b, you, God, discern or understand. This is not a surface knowledge word. You understand, NIV says you perceive, but it's stronger than that.

My thought from afar. Now, many people say, that means God's really far away and he still knows. I think it's better to look at this and say, when thoughts are still far off our mind and away from us, thoughts far from us, God still knows those.

He sees my plans and my designs and what I'm thinking about, Deuteronomy 31, for I know their intent, reasonings. Remember, it was said in Luke 15, some of them said Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, and others to test him were demanding of Jesus a sign from heaven.

But Jesus knew their thoughts. That's the picture here. He understands our thoughts while they're far off from us. They're near to God, Jeremiah 23. Am I a God who is near and not a God far off? God knows what you do.

God Knows Where You Go and What You Will Say

God knows what you think. God knows where you go. Verse 3, this is interesting. Again, it's a poem. It's a song. You sing this. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

You search out my path. Literally, you scrutinize our winnow. So, he uses the little metaphor here, the little wordplay here. It's like you grab a bunch of wheat that has chaff on the outside, throw it up in the air, the wind blows away the chaff, and you're left with the good stuff.

God does the same thing with us. That's the idea. You scrutinize our winnow, my path. He's not just far away, he's close. He understands, discriminates. This word is used of spying and scouting out every corner to ambush.

And are intimately acquainted, the NAS says, with all my ways. No wonder Job says in Job 31, does he not see my ways and number all my steps? God knows what you do. God knows what you think. God knows where you go.

And now, look at this one. Verse 4, God knows what you will say. If he knows what you will say, he knows what you say, too. Verse 4, Psalm 139, verse 4, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, Yahweh, you know it all together.

If you speak 10 ,000 words a day, that's 3 ,650 ,000 words per year. And there are over 300 million people in America. And just start doing the math across the world. God knows everything that they've said, of course, but he knows what they're going to say.

Future's easy for God. James Boyce said, omniscience involves not only God's knowledge of us, but also his knowledge of nature, the past, present, and future. It involves everything that we can possibly imagine and much more besides.

It is a knowledge that God has always had and will always have. There's no need for him to learn. It is not necessary to say that God has never learned and cannot learn, for he already knows and has always known everything.

Whatever you say or about to say, God knows every word. I like what Matthew Henry said, thoughts are words to God. Your thoughts are words to God because he knows them. Now, let's just stop for a second again and make sure we understand.

This psalm is written in a way to encourage people. Yes, if you go, you know what, I shouldn't sin because of that, I understand, that's a good secondary application. But the primary application is God knows everything about you and still cares for you.

How can that be? How can there be so much love from God and grace from God? And how can the atonement of Jesus Christ be so great that God can love sinners like us? We're not talking about God loving his son, God loving the spirit, the spirit loving the father.

We're talking about God, the creator loving creatures, who are sinful, fallen, and finite, and who would kill and did kill Jesus Christ if they could. How does that work? And David is writing a psalm about how God knows all about him but still cares for him.

God knows what you do, what you think, where you go, what you'll say, and now, number five, God knows what you need. This is a sense of protection here. This is really good, verse five. This is why slow, methodical, plotting through scripture is good, instead of just speed reading all the time.

Listen to verse five. You hem me in, personal pronouns again, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. In other words, I know all about you, and I'm not going to forget you. When there's enemies, when there's issues, when there are trials, the sovereign care of God Almighty.

Now, the text says you lay your hand on me. When I was growing up, that meant something different in our family. You don't wanna get the laying on of hands in our house when you were growing up. This is different kind of laying on hands.

This is not Pentecostal either. This is the idea that if Moses sees God with a full view of his glory, Moses isn't going to live. And so, God says to Moses, while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand.

Until I've passed by. This is the idea that's seen in John 10. And Jesus said, and I give eternal life to them. And they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand. Protection, sovereign care.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. Shelter, protection, sovereign care. Hemmed in and surrounded by God. This summer I'm reading a lot about the West and Kit Carson and Fremont and all these guys and fighting the Navajo and fighting the Pueblo.

And they try to protect themselves both against each other by being hemmed in. But here it's the Lord who does the hemming in. See, so we start going through a psalm like this. And have you noticed what's not happening?

I'll tell you what's not happening with me right now. I'm not thinking about all the vain things in my life and all the trivial things in my life. Of course, we live in this world, we have to pay bills, we have to go to the doctor, we have to do all those kind of things.

But study of the psalm, especially like this one, it starts elevating your mind again. What's really important? How do we see the world? We need to see the world through the screen door of, Lord, and thinking about who he is.

That's why my mother on her deathbed had a little thing that I still think is super smart. When you're in a pickle, or when you're in a bind, or you're on your deathbed, say, you know what, I'm gonna start thinking about the Lord.

And for my mother, it was alphabetically. So she'd start with A, and she'd start saying, Almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful, and when she ran out of A's, she'd go to B's. She ran out of B's, she went to C's.

And by the time she got to X, she was already thinking properly, so she didn't even need to think of one. Think of the cross when you get to X, how's that? I never even made it to X, because now I'm thinking about the issues properly.

And when people are tracking David down, accusing David, after David, trying to kill David, the proper approach is, now I have to see things properly through the Lord. That's why the psalm starts out, O Lord.

The Comfort of Being Known by God and the Assurance of Salvation

And when you know God like this, and have been known by God like this, what's the response? Well, we know that theology drives methodology, which drives. I preach in a church in Hercules, California, and they were talking.

I was told by the pastor now, when Mike, I listened to one of your sermons before, and when you did Romans 12, you kind of lectured, kind of a New England, Boston lecture. So I want you to preach, son.

I thought, I teach preaching classes at a seminary level. Okay, so I thought I better be preaching. And so I don't know if preaching means you can get the congregation to respond. I don't know. But even if you don't respond out loud, the response to God knows you and everything is this, verse six.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. You wanna know how wonderful God's knowledge is? Think about your own stinted knowledge for a second.

And think about everything that you've learned and you've forgotten. And just think about finite knowledge. And then you think, man, that God knows everything and still loves me. That's wonderful. He knows everything about himself, but he knows everything about me too.

God's knowledge is as eternal as he is. When was the last time you were astonished by God? The word there wonderful is emphatic in the Hebrew. It means extraordinary, surpassing. God never learns anything.

We should be astonished by that. God still knows us and loves us even though he knew every one of our sins. We should be amazed by that. What's the text say? It's too high. I cannot attain it. I took the dog to California and I loved to take her to the beach.

And Luke was even putting her on the surfboard a few times and so it's fun to see our dog surf. And so I also had a ball and so I'd throw the ball into the surf and I would time it perfectly so that the waves would come.

And I would try to make it so she'd be at the perfect spot to kind of get lifted up and then do a little dog, not paddle, but a little dog kind of body boarding. And so I thought that would be perfect.

And if it didn't work, it would just crash over her and knock her silly. She'd sleep well in the night. So I thought, I just kept doing it. And what does she do? She brings me the ball, puts it in my feet, I throw it in, repeat.

Just over and over and over, throwing that thing in there. And she started getting smart. Now I know cats don't have souls and dogs do, but still. She started getting smart. Some of the sets are bigger than other sets coming in.

They're not all uniform. So she would lift up on her haunches right down by the shoreline, with a beach break right there, and she'd look over to see if a big wave was coming. Because if it was, she wasn't gonna swim out to get the ball until it already came over.

And it's like David here. This knowledge is so high, I don't care how high I get up or try to look over or get on my tiptoes. I can't wrap my mind around a god like this. It's too high. And to continue the dog thing for just a little bit, I was so waiting for my dog, again, because she has a soul and because she's self-actualized and everything else and taking all kinds of psychological tests and Maslov and upper learning and everything.

I wanted her just to drop the ball and to just sit there and look at the ocean and go, there's a seal over here on its back, kind of knocking the little oyster open and eating the abalone. And there's the sun, there's these pelicans, about 500 of them, probably more like 50 or 100, dive bombing straight down in the ocean to grab stuff.

The sun, you can see the moon up over the side. I just wanted her to go, drop the ball and say, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. I think maybe she did that, but it sounded like a bark to me.

Now think about it. It's only because of the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we even get to appreciate such of God, because before we were saved, we were like a dog, not appreciating anything.

You might say, yeah, God made everything or you throw a bone out, but you don't get to see God for who he really is, because we were blind. We were as blind as a cyclops with one eye poked out. I mean, we could not see, we could not hear, we could not do anything.

And then what's it say in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, but God who is what? Rich in mercy, and he gives us eyes to see. And so a dog can't appreciate a sunset, and an unbeliever can't appreciate who God is until God turns on the switch, which is the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit that he sovereignly does.

That if it was based on your performance, he would have never done. But based on his grace and mercy to show his kindness and the riches of his grace, he does. And then David says, that's too wonderful for me.

That's wonderful. God knows me and still loves me. Praise, this is wonderful knowledge away from me, literally in the Hebrew. God, you're awesome, so high I can't attain it. Wesley said, bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I'll show you a man who can comprehend the triune God.

But amazingly, because we have the Holy Spirit to illumine scriptures, we can know at least dimly now. And so for David, it was, there's trouble, but he knows me, so I can take comfort. When a person asks Alexander the Great how he could sleep soundly by being surrounded by personal danger, he replied that Parmenio, his faithful guard, was watching.

That's the idea. So when I look at this, I say, God, you're incredible. I also say, I get comfort from you. I also, let me give you a couple other things. Here's a big one. Do you really think for one split second you can lose your salvation?

Because if you do, I need to talk to you about the freedom of the will or lack thereof, the sovereignty of God, distinguishing grace, what God the Father does, who saves, but I also want to tell you something else.

If God knew about all your sins that you committed and still had his son die for you, how can you lose your salvation? Because God already knew you'd commit those sins. God knows the worst about you. He still saved you, died for you.

Arthur Pink said, the whole of my life stood open to his view from the beginning. He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding. Yet, nevertheless, he fixed his heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before him.

And as one lady said to Spurgeon, good thing God picked me in eternity past. Because if he was knowing what I did in time, he certainly would have never picked me. But even that doesn't work theologically because he knew everything we would do and he still chose to love us.

He knows everything. Matter of fact, I will give you some more practical advice. This kind of passage should be good for those people who are here, especially with some kind of engineering mind and background.

And they've got to figure out everything about God. How could God write Romans and how could Paul write Romans? How could Jesus be God and man simultaneously? How can it be sovereignty of God and salvation?

He determines who goes to heaven, but we're supposed to preach to everybody and everybody's responsible. How do these things happen? How do we force mental closure? Friends, God knows all about it and he hasn't revealed everything to us and we're supposed to trust that he knows.

We don't know. This is a psalm not about us, a psalm about God who knows us. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too high, I can't attain it. If you struggle with sovereignty and responsibility, you ought to memorize that verse.

That knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too high, I can't attain it. God knows all thoughts, all mysteries, all everything. You know, this is also interesting practically about prayer. How do you pray?

Dear Lord, I just want to give you an update on what happened today. This happened and that happened. Well, you can talk to the Lord that way, I guess, but if you're talking that way to the Lord to inform him of your day, he already knows of your day.

He hears your petitions, of course, but you're not trying to inform God. You're supposed to say, I need to deepen my trust in you and my dependence upon you, my confidence in you. Before there's a word on my tongue, Lord, you know it, that goes for prayer as well.

And of course, it would be wrong if I didn't say this passage, this doctrine should keep you from sinning. God knows all these things and we shouldn't do it. I read this week that when people worship Greek images back in the Bible day, there were certain Greek images they really loved.

Now, maybe you could pick a Greek image on aesthetics, it's pretty, it was made out of marble. Maybe it was the God that would give you money or fame or power. How do you pick a God? I remember I was in India once and I met a young guy and I was trying to preach the gospel to him and I said, well, which gods do you worship?

And without giving you the Indian names of all the gods, he said, I worship the God of money, power, and sex. That, well, 25 years old, that seems about right for a pagan to worship those gods. And I talked to him about the God who made the sun and the stars, and then we worked from there.

So how do you pick a God if you're a Greek? Some pick the gods who were by the spiders because if the spiders make webs on the eyes of the God, then the Greeks thought, well, maybe they can't see what I do.

The more the gods know, the less comfortable I feel. James Montgomery Boyce said, to acknowledge that there is a God who knows everything about everything is also to acknowledge a God who knows us. And because we don't want some things about us to be known, we hide it.

Not only from others, but also from ourselves as much as possible. A God who thoroughly knows us is unsettling. The good news is here at Bethlehem Bible Church, we worship the risen Savior. Because one thing's for certain about all of us from the elders on down, that we are sinful, finite, fallen creatures.

It's true. But we have one thing in common as well, is we are known by this God who knows everything. I don't really like gullibility. I don't like to be duped. I don't like con games played on me. This psalm helps me from my self-gullibility, thinking that somehow I'm the center of the universe.

I'd like to read Psalm 139, verses 1 through 24 in closing. I will try to highlight some of the personal pronouns. And I want you to see this link. Here's the link. It's about God knowing us. And he can know us, the next six verses, because he's present everywhere.

He can protect us and comfort us because he's omnipotent. And then he's so holy that if you don't worship a God like this, how could you not worship a God like this? David said, then I hate those kind of people.

God's Presence Everywhere and His Power to Form Life in the Womb

Psalm 139, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, from the east to the west, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me is to be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. How powerful is God?

He could have done something about creation of the world, supernatural regeneration creation, but he goes for physical creation, the power of God in a womb. For you form my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, which, excuse me, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast the sum of them.

If I could count them, they're more than the sand. I awaken, I'm still with you. O, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O, men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent.

Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies. But there's another enemy dwelling within, isn't there?

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please, come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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