Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. God's knowledge never increases nor decreases. His knowledge is all-encompassing. Nothing at all lies outside the scope of the knowledge of God. Nothing can possibly happen that God doesn't know about.
He is infinite in his knowledge. He is omniscient. He has perfect knowledge of everything because God knows everything about everything. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Where do you turn when you need guidance or when you're struggling to find an answer?
Perhaps a mentor, a parent, or a wise friend. Today, Pastor John Monroe reminds us that we have access to the one who knows everything. As he continues our series, What Would You Ask God?
Now here's Pastor John Monroe with the start of today's lesson. on the omniscience of God. Have you ever met a know-all?
Someone who gives the impression that they know everything. Today we're continuing our series on God. We've been asking and answering a number of questions about God. Today our question is Does God know everything? Through the Holy Scriptures, I'm seeking to guide you in understanding the true God.
So that you will know him, love him, and trust him with all of your heart. Today, we're thinking of God's omniscience. That is, that God knows everything about everything. Those who know God through our Lord Jesus Christ have a security. as our lives are in the hands of this God who knows everything about everything.
Isn't this encouraging?
So join me. As we think of today's questions, and the marvelous answer. I was reminded of the menu. of the story of the Scottish atheist. He was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness Monster.
And in one easy flip, the monster. toss the Scottish atheist and his boat high into the air. Then the monster opened its mouth getting ready to swallow and Uh the Scotsman and his boat. Flying through mid air, the man cried out Dear gods, Please help me. At once, the ferocious Loch Ness monster froze in place, and the atheist hung in mid-air.
And a booming voice came down. From the clouds. I thought you didn't believe in me. Give me a break, the atheist pleaded. Until a few moments ago, I didn't even believe in the Loch Nes Munser.
The goal of this series is not Just to help us to believe in the existence of God. I trust we do believe that God exists, but to know and to love and to trust in the living God, one day. Each one of us, the Bible says, will stand before God. Jesus said, This is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God.
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Our eternal life, your eternal life and mine, depends on knowing the true God and His Son, Jesus Christ, whom the Father sends into the world. To be the Lamb of God. Who takes away the sin. of the world.
This morning, we continue our series. Questions I'd like to ask God. Our question and our subject this morning is an intriguing one. It is, does God know Everything. Let me ask you to open your Bibles first of all to Job chapter thirty-seven.
And as you're finding your way there, let me reread to you 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9. David to his son Solomon. You, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. Do you get that?
The Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts.
Now Job chapter thirty seven, the book of Job just before Psalms. thirty seven verse sixteen Do you know? about the layers of the thick cloud. the wonders of one Perfect. in knowledge.
A reference to God who knows everything, the wonders of the One. who is perfect. In Knowledge. Over to the book of Psalms, Psalm 1. Four, seven.
Towards the end. of the Psalter, Psalm one hundred and fifty. 47, a psalm of praise as we get at the end of the Psalter, beginning and ending with hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Why would we praise the Lord?
Here's one reason, Psalm 147, verse 4. God counts the number. of the stars He gives names. to all of them. Great is our Lord.
and abundant in strength. His understanding Is infinite. I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible in the NIV. It says: understanding is without limit. His understanding is infinite.
Over to the book of Isaiah, chapter forty, that wonderful chapter that we love. In this prophecy, Isaiah, by the middle of your Bible, chapter 4. Fourth day. couple of versus verses thirteen and fourteen A series of rhetorical questions demanding the answer no one, What are the questions? Isaiah forty verse Thirty.
Who has directed The Spirit of the Lord. or as his counsellor has informed him With whom did he consult and who gave him understanding? And who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge? and informed him of the way of understanding Is there anyone Who gives counsel to God? Is there anyone who Helps God in his understanding of things.
Is there anyone who gives God advice as the point of the questions? The answer is absolutely not God's. Knowledge. It's Infinite.
So we want to learn, first of all, that God knows everything. In fact, God knows everything about everything. Two weeks ago we considered the eternality and the infinity of God. And when we said that God is infinite, we are saying that God has no limits. We are finite beings.
We are all very limited. But God has no limits. And when we say that God is infinite as to his knowledge, we are saying that God's knowledge is so great, is so vast, that it is without limit. He is. to use the technical word, he is omniscient.
One of the attributes of God is His omniscience. God is omniscient, that is, God knows everything. God has perfect and eternal knowledge of all things, whether they be actual or possible, past, present or future. Simply put, God knows everything about. Everything.
That is, God never has to learn anything about anything as He knows everything about everything eternally. We have to learn, don't we? We learn, and sometimes it's very hard. We learn bit by bit. We learn successively.
But God's knowledge is simultaneous. God never has to learn anything. No one had to teach God because He is omniscient. He knows everything in the past, present, and future, and He knows it all instantaneously. God knows the results of every game.
God knows the names of everyone here. Today. As we read from Psalm 147, God not only knows the number of the stars. And there are billions of them. He gives names to all of them.
He knows all of the names of the billions Of stars. And because God is immutable, that is, God doesn't change. God's knowledge never varies. God's knowledge never increases nor decreases. His knowledge is all-encompassing.
Nothing at all lies outside the scope of the knowledge of God. Nothing can possibly happen that God doesn't know about. He is infinite in his knowledge. He is omniscient. He has perfect knowledge of everything because God knows.
everything about everything.
Now let me ask you to turn to Psalm one hundred and thirty nine, which is the great classic passage on some of the attributes of God, including his omniscience. And we're going to look very briefly at the first six verses. I want you to understand as we begin to read Psalm one hundred and thirty nine, That we are the objects of God's complete Knowledge. And you today, because very personally, you You are the object. of God's complete Knowledge.
Here is David in this wonderful Psalm. Psalm 139, then, verse 1. Oh Lord. You have searched me. And none may You did know me when I sit down.
and when I rise up You do understand my thought from afar. You do scrutinize my path and my lying down. And they are intimately acquainted with all of my ways, even before there's a word in my tongue, behold, O Lord, you do know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before. And laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too high. I cannot attain. to it. What's the basic point of these verses?
The basic point is a very simple one, but a very profound one. And one that we need to understand: that God knows David thoroughly. He knows David thoroughly. Verse 1: You have searched me and Known me. God has carried out an investigation on David, and everything about David is known to him.
Verse two, he knows David's every action from the time he gets up in the morning to the time he goes to bed. You've known me when I sit down and when I rise up. You do understand my thoughts from afar. He knows every thought that David has. He investigates and he evaluates David's personal life in great detail.
Verse 3, you do scrutinize, or the word is to winnow, you do scrutinize, you analyze my path and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways. It's not just that God knows roughly what David is doing, it's not that he just knows David exists. It's not just that he knows David's name, although that's wonderful. It's more than that.
He knows David inside out. He is intimately acquainted with all. of David's life. No aspect of David's life is excluded. from gods.
Knowledge. Even before David articulates a word, verse four, God knows what he will say. Even before there's a word in my tongue, verse 4, Behold, O Lord, you know it all. David's just getting ready to speak and he's framing the Sentence in his mind, God already knows it. He's able to read his thoughts.
Why? Because David's thoughts, his speech, his actions, and his attitudes are all known. To God. And from David's perspective, verse 5. This complete knowledge which God has of him is a bit confining and limited.
I think that's what David is saying here in verse 5. You have enclosed me. That's enclosed me with your knowledge behind and before. And laid your hand Upon me. Interesting.
David is enclosed, hemmed in. When he thinks of the knowledge of God, he can't prevail over it, he can't get away from it, he's in the cup of God's hand, God's knowledge is all around him. He cannot get away from this complete knowledge of God. And as David reflects on that, as we would reflect on it, it's a bit restricting, isn't it? It's a bit limiting of our own independence to think that God knows everything about us.
That kind of makes us feel a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it? You had the experience, at least I had. Many times when I was a teenager, I would be out. With my friends and get home a little late, and invariably we went through this kind of routine in my. And my home.
Hopefully, some of my other brothers were acting up so I didn't get the attention. But if my parents were waiting, the conversation would go something like this: John, where were you? Oh, I was out. Yeah, we knew we know you're out, but where were you? Oh, I was out and about.
Uh who are you with? Oh, oh, some friends of mine. What were you doing? Oh, just different things. I mean, what was the problem?
It wasn't necessarily that I was doing anything wrong. It's just that I didn't want my parents to know everything that I was doing. Full knowledge of us by anyone, even by those who are close to us, makes us feel a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it? You don't want everyone to know everything about you. People can ask you a question, and it's not that you're covering up, it's not that you've done something wrong, but you sometimes think and perhaps even say, well, is that really any of your business?
You want to protect yourself. And David is saying: when I think of God's knowledge, it's all around me. I can't get over it. I'm kind of hemmed in, I'm in the cup. of God's hand.
But when David, verse 6, Begins to reflect on God's knowledge of all of his life. He begins to understand that the knowledge of God is something incredible. Such knowledge, verse 6, is too wonderful for me. It's too high. I can't attain to it.
It's absolutely incredible, isn't it? It's beyond his control. Do you understand? But your life like David's? is all under God's Penetrating knowledge.
That God's knowledge is so comprehensive, it's so detailed, it's so penetrating that He knows everything about you. You can't get away from it. A man wearing sunglasses tried to rob the cash register of a pharmacy, and when the robber demanded the money, the employee took action and thwarted the robbery. What did he do?
Well, when the robber was asking for money, the pharmacist recognized his voice. and called him by name. and asked If the robbery was a joke. And on hearing the mention of his own name, the robber got such a surprise that he quickly ran out of the store and jumped on a passing bus, true story. Knowledge of the robber's name prevented the crime.
God knows your name. Today We may not know it. But God knows. Your name. Not only does he know your name, he knows your address.
He knows your history. He knows your parents, he knows your friends, he knows your social security number. He knows what you reported in your last IRS. form or what you didn't report. He knows everything about your identity.
As far as God is concerned, you have no secrets. There is nothing about you that God doesn't know. God knows everything about you, and God knows everything about John Monroe, because God knows everything about everything. And God's knowledge Is not only vast, he gives names to the billions of the stars. Not only does God's knowledge is it so vast, That is mind-blowing.
God's knowledge goes to the tiniest detail about you. In fact, God knows more about you than you know yourself. You've forgotten certain things about yourself. You've never yet discovered certain things about you, but God knows. God knows things about you which others may think as trivial or insignificant or inconsequential and unimportant.
For example, God knows the total number of hairs on our heads. You say that's ridiculous. No, it's not. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. And see what our Lord Jesus said.
On the subject, Matthew chapter 10, the first book in the New Testament, the first gospel. The Gospel according to Matthew chapter 10, verse 29, the teaching by our Lord. This is what He says. Matthew 10:29, are not two sparrows sold for a cent? Sparrow is the cheapest bird of the time.
So cheap you can get two of them for a penny. and yet not one of them Even though it's the cheapest bird there is, not one of them. will fall to the ground. apart. From your father.
Just think of that. There's Thirty. But the very hairs Of your head are all numbered. Therefore, do not fear. You are of more value than many.
Sparrows, how wonderful that all of the hairs of our head are numbered by God. God knows that.
Now I love my wife dearly. I'm very interested. in the details of her life, or at least most of them. I think I am. But my interest in my wife and my love for my wife Do not extend, this may shock some of you.
But do not extend to counting the hairs of her head. I have never sat down, and I don't intend to sit down and count how many hairs are on my wife's head. I'm not that interested in her. I have to admit it. I have no idea how many hairs are on Her head.
Now admittedly she's got a better idea of how many I have on my head. But that's another story. But God knows. Isn't that amazing? That God's Interest in you and God's knowledge of you is so detailed that what would be unimportant to even your closest friend or closest relative is known By God.
And Jesus says this amazing statement: although you can buy two sparrows. Just for a cent. They're so abundant. Yet there's not one of them. that will fall to the ground.
A park. From Your father. that God watches over and God knows the fall. Of every sparrow. It is true.
His eye is on the sparrow because God's eye is on everything. And he knows everything about you. And he knows everything about me. Because he knows everything about everything. We have learned from these scriptures that God No's Everything.
Now, what are you going to do with that? You say that's amazing, isn't it? What are some responses as we reflect on this great truth of God's omniscience? We wonder at it. Yes, it should promote great worship and praise and adoration and love and service, but let me suggest to you three Particular responses for you to reflect on now and during this week.
If it's true that God is omniscient, if it's true that God knows everything about everything, here is the first response. Response number one, spend time With God. Doesn't that make sense? If God is a being who knows everything about everything I think it's good advice that we would spend time with God. A long time ago, I received very good advice of Heard it more than once.
But it's always appropriate, and that is I've been told to spend time with wise people. To spend time with mature people, to spend time with godly people, to spend time with smart people. When I was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, one of our professors, Howard Hendricks, told us. He says, choose your friends wisely.
Now, that's advice that we give not only to children and teens, it's good advice for all of us. Why should we choose our friends wisely?
Well We most of us begin to get like the people we spend time with. If we spend time with foolish people, we are much more likely to do foolish things. If we spend time with immoral people, we shouldn't be surprised if sooner or later we fall into immorality. Conversely, if we spend time with wise people and godly people, we are much more likely to be wise and godly people. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 33, bad company corrupts good morals.
You may have good morals, but if you spend time in bad company, don't be surprised. when your good morals degenerate into poor Morals.
Now if it's true That we Want to, as I think most of us would, we'd want to spend time around wise people, smart people from whom we can learn. who model to us these wonderful virtues, can you imagine spending time With someone Who knows everything about everything.
Now, all of us have met people who think they know everything about everything, give that impression, but they don't, of course. But there is one being. And only one One unique being in the whole universe who does know everything about everything, and that, of course, is God. Therefore, Spend time. With God.
This is the verdict featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict. org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry. Whether it's $5, $50, or more.
Your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website. Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte.
We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I'm sure you agree that compared with God, our knowledge is microscopic. But our gracious God has revealed so much of His knowledge to us. This is why we're committed to reading and understanding and obeying the Word of God. It is His revelation.
He has chosen to give us some of his knowledge in the Holy Scriptures so that we will be able to worship God and trust him. Don't forget to join me next time as we continue to think. that God knows everything about everything. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. M
