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Who immediately comes to mind when you
hear these words?
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“He sees you when you’re sleeping. He
knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for
goodness sake.”
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Santa
Claus, of course.
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For generations, young children have
looked forward to receiving gifts from Jolly old St. Nick at Christmas time.
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Before Christmas, I was visiting Len
Ferber at Carleton Manor, and he shared with me the story of a little girl who
insightfully asked her mother, “Mama, is Santa Claus God?”
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Because of the lyrics of that song,
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, the girl concluded that Santa was God having the
God like quality of omniscience, being all knowing.
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Having unintentionally taught the
child that Santa was real, what could she do?
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She risked ship wrecking her
daughter’s childlike faith.
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This mother’s dilemma is much like the
dilemma we live with each day.
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We live in a culture that has
relegated God to the likes of Santa Claus, a fantasy character of childhood
dreams.
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As parents, we need to be aware of
potential pitfalls to the faith of our children.
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Much influenced are we by our
culture’s rejection of an all-knowing God.
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It is a daily struggle for us to
believe and apply the reality that we serve an all-knowing God to our hearts,
minds, and lives.
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Can we imagine what it would be like
to know and understand everything?
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All music, art, science, and law; all
persons and relationships; all cultures and languages; all hearts and minds.
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Is it not simply beyond all
comprehension?
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However, just because I cannot
comprehend the vastness of the ocean or of the universe, for example; does not
mean they do not exist.
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We can gaze upon the ocean and upon
the universe and, although we cannot have a full or complete understanding of
them, we can appreciate their presence.
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Our Western culture ranks an
all-knowing God with Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny,
because it refuses to imagine, understand, or believe.
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Why? If there is an all-knowing God,
then he knows my heart, my mind, my sins, and he will hold me accountable.
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Contrary to the ever-increasing
cultural belief that there is no God, Christians not only believe in God, but
we believe God truly does know all things.
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That is what we are going to look at
this morning, our all-knowing God, God’s omniscience.
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The omniscience of God is one of five
natural attributes that describe the power and range of his reign.
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Omniscience comes from two Latin words
which mean all knowledge.
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When we say God is omniscient, we are
saying God knows everything.
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The Bible, the inspired written word
of God, has much to say about God’s omniscience.
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Psalm
139
for example, “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down
and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my
travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. Before word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord. For it was you who created my inward parts; you
knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been
remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very
well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was
formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my
days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.”
(Psalm 139:1-4, 13-16, CSB)
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These two sections of this Psalm show
us that King David was convinced that God knew everything about him and God
called David a man after God’s own heart.
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Psalm
147:4 says, “He counts the number of the stars; he
gives names to all of them.” (CSB)
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Astronomers estimate that there are
between two and ten trillion galaxies.
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Multiply either of those by the number
of stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy, one hundred billion, and we come up with
factors that are beyond our ability to comprehend.
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The all-knowing God, however, counts
them and names them.
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The gospel of Luke 12:6-7 records the words of Jesus, “Aren’t five sparrows sold
for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Indeed, the
hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than
many sparrows.” (CSB)
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God is aware and concerned with every
detail of every creature he has made from the least to the greatest.
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That kind of attention and awareness
needs to inspire us to trust him.
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We serve a God who is not amazed or
surprised by anything.
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God does not make discoveries; he
doesn’t wonder; he doesn’t lose things.
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He totally understands everything. All
this begs a question.
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Why
is God’s omniscience important to us?
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Here is the big answer: God’s all-knowing love calls us to celebrate
and imitate his love always.
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Let’s break that down.
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First, God’s omniscience displays his love for us. (In a few ways)
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He
saves us regardless of our sins.
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Romans 5:8, “But God proves his own
love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (CSB)
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In our relationships with each other,
we often wear masks because we are afraid that something about us, perhaps our
secret sins, might destroy our relationships, so we often try to put our best
foot forward.
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But God sees behind our masks, knowing
the things we wish to hide, however, he loves us anyway.
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God
sees our faithfulness even when others can’t.
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Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do,
do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing
that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the
Lord Christ.”
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God sees our hearts; he knows our
motives.
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We do not need to serve him to win his
approval because we already have it.
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Since we already have God’s approval, then
neither do we need the approval of others for our faithfulness.
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We don’t need to put on a show.
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We have nothing to prove, so we can
serve God freely.
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God
also sees his purpose for us.
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God’s purpose for each believer is
that we become just like Jesus.
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“We know that all things work together
for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
(Romans 8:28-29, CSB)
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He sees what he’s making of us, to be
conformed, reshaped, into the image of his Son.
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God is making us to bring him glory,
to be just like Jesus.
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No matter what happens, we can trust
God to accomplish his plans for us because we are now members of the family of
God in Christ.
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God will use all events, situations,
and circumstances in our lives until each facet reflects the image and glory of
Christ. Hallelujah!
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God’s
omniscience also comforts us in trials.
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James 1:2-4, “Consider it a great joy,
my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience in various trials, because you
know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have
its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”
(CSB)
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Not every event or situation in our
lives is pleasant.
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Hardships are difficult, and we find
it all but impossible to enjoy pain and suffering in our lives.
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We forget that God, being omniscient,
really knows what is best for us.
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“All things work together for the good
of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
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God will use all events, situations,
and circumstances in our lives, buffing and polishing until each facet reflects
the image and glory of Christ.
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“I am sure of this, that he who
started the good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of
Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6, CSB).
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So, when we stand before him
face-to-face, no matter what, God will complete what he began, and we will be
just like Jesus.
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God’s
omniscience inspires us to depend on his wisdom.
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It is human nature to assume we know
what is best for us.
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We naturally gravitate to the Paul
Anka song so famously sung by Frank Sinatra, My Way.
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But God says in Isaiah 55, “your ways
are not my ways.”
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God’s ways are higher than human ways;
his ways are the best ways.
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It makes the best sense to trust in
the One who knows all things to show us the way we ought to go, rather than
insisting on going our own way.
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Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways
know him, and he will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
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When we need wisdom, we need to ask
God expectantly and he will provide it (James 1:5).
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God’s
omniscience also
deters us against betraying him.
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Psalm 139:12, “even the darkness is
not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to
you.” (CSB)
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because we cannot see in the dark, it
is natural for us to assume the things we do in the dark, in secret, remain
hidden, but nothing remains hidden from the sight of God.
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That is a tremendously sobering
thought.
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Not one of us ever wants to imagine
ourselves in a situation where we are caught in the middle of sin by one we
love.
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I once read a story of a young man who
was receiving counselling for a growing addiction to pornography.
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At one point in the session the young
man rationalized, “but nobody saw me.”
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To which his counsellor replied, firmly
but gently, “Ah, but Someone did see you.”
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It did not matter that no one else saw
because God saw.
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Our secret sins damage all our
relationships with God, ourselves, and others.
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The knowledge that we cannot hide our
sins from God must help us when we are faced with temptation.
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The apostle John wrote, “This is how
we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before
him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he
knows all things.” (1 John 3:19-20, CSB)
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God’s
all-knowing love calls us to celebrate and imitate his love always.
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What
would God have us do? How must God’s omniscience transform
our lives day-to-day?
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#1. Repent of sin immediately.
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Harboring sin displays unbelief in the
all-knowing nature of God, so we must repent right away when we are alerted to
sin.
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We must put aside anger,
defensiveness, and pride which keeps us from repentance, confess our sin to
God, thank him for his forgiveness, and do the next right thing.
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Repent of sin immediately.
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#2. Practice thankful prayers.
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A thankful heart is a joyful heart and
thankful prayers are the key.
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A thankful heart is also free from
complaining, critical, cynical, or negative attitudes.
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A thankful heart knows and trusts that
God is in control and rests in that wonderful truth.
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A thankful heart trusts God through
trials and in difficult circumstances knowing he is working for our good and
his glory.
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Practice thankful prayers.
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# 3. Be inspired to celebrate.
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We have much to celebrate because of
God’s omniscience.
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He saves us regardless of our sins.
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He sees our faithfulness even when
others can’t.
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He sees his purpose for us.
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God’s omniscience also comforts us in
trials.
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It inspires us to depend on his
wisdom.
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God’s omniscience also deters us
against betraying him.
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Hearing all that, doesn’t it make you
want to celebrate God?
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It makes me want to invite the
neighbourhood and throw a kitchen party for God, singing, dancing, shouting and
praising his name.
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Be inspired to celebrate.
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#4. Be inspired to imitate.
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Our neighbourhoods and our communities
need to know and experience the all-knowing God and his great love.
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As Toby Mac sings, “You and me, we
gotta love. Hold nothing back! If it’s real, we gotta show it, ‘cause if it’s
not, they sure gonna know it.”
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We must let God’s omniscience inspire
us to imitate his love and display his love in us.
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People need to see his love in us for
it to be real to them.
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Be inspired to imitate God’s love.
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God’s all-knowing love calls us
to celebrate and imitate his love always.
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