The Omniscience of God

James Fetterly's sermon "The Omniscience of God" focuses on two key practical implications of God's all-knowing nature: invoking awe and worship, and providing comfort in God's infinite knowledge. He elaborates on these points by referencing several biblical passages.

1. **Awe and Worship**: Fetterly begins by emphasizing that understanding God's omniscience should inspire a deep sense of awe and worship. He cites Romans 11:33-36, where Paul praises the unsearchable wisdom and knowledge of God. This passage highlights God's all-encompassing understanding, which surpasses human comprehension, and should lead believers to worship.

2. **Incomparability of God**: Moving to Isaiah 40:13-14, 28, Fetterly underscores that God's wisdom is unmatched and independent of any external counsel or knowledge. This further reinforces the call to worship God for His unique and boundless understanding.

3. **Infinite Knowledge**: Psalm 147:5 states that God's understanding is infinite, likened to the concept of infinity in mathematics. This attribute of God, knowing all things to the smallest and greatest details, should inspire believers to worship.

4. **Personal and Intimate Knowledge**: Psalm 139 illustrates how God's omniscience is both infinite and intimate. He knows every aspect of our lives, from our actions to our innermost thoughts. This comprehensive knowledge of God should bring comfort and lead to worship.

5. **Comprehensive Attributes**: Fetterly points out that Psalm 139 also reveals God's omnipresence, omnipotence, and holiness, all intertwined with His omniscience. Understanding these attributes together enhances the awe and reverence believers should have for God.

6. **Comfort in God's Knowledge**: God's omniscience means He understands all our struggles and is in control of every situation. Fetterly encourages believers to find comfort in God's all-encompassing knowledge and His provision of salvation through Jesus Christ.

7. **Ed Welch's Perspective**: Quoting Ed Welch, Fetterly highlights that God's omniscience, while initially intimidating, is ultimately comforting because it assures us of His holy patience and forgiveness. This should lead us to embrace Him rather than hide from Him.

8. **Call to Unbelievers**: For those who do not believe, Fetterly warns that God's omniscience includes a judgment of all actions, urging them to repent and seek salvation in Christ. 

9. **Characteristics of God's Omniscience**:
   - **Perfect Self-Knowledge**: In the Trinity, each Person knows the others perfectly.
   - **Perfect General Knowledge**: God knows everything external to Himself.
   - **Eternal Knowledge**: God’s knowledge spans from eternity past to eternity future.
   - **Immediate and Simultaneous Knowledge**: God knows everything all at once, without progression or forgetting.
   - **Exhaustive Knowledge**: God’s knowledge covers all people, all stars, and all events.
   - **Penetrating Knowledge**: God sees beyond outward appearances into the heart.
   - **Future Knowledge**: God knows all future events and possibilities.
   - **Possible Knowledge**: God knows all potential outcomes of any given situation.

Fetterly concludes by stressing that God's omniscience should lead believers to worship and trust Him, knowing He works all things for good for those who love Him.

Transcript

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There are two practical implications that I want us to think about as we look at the attributes of God. And the first practical implication that I want us to have in our minds when we're thinking about God's all-knowing mind is that we should have a sense of awe and worship. In order for us to clearly see this, what I'd like for us to do is to consider what Paul writes at the end of Romans chapter 11, looking at verse 33. Now, remember, Paul is in the middle, or at the end, maybe I should say, of expounding upon the great doctrines of the gospel. And he talks about the salvation that he has brought in Jesus Christ. We have been fallen, we're sinned, we're sinful, we're condemned, but the Lord provides a salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And he elects his people. And now he's breaking forth into this marvelous doxology in Romans chapter 11, verse 33. And as we read this, notice that it's not only going to talk about the omniscience of God, it will talk about other attributes and characteristics of him. But for our purposes, I want you guys to hone in on Paul's words that deals with his omniscience, his knowing all things. Omni meaning all, and then science meaning knowledge. And Paul writes in chapter 11, verse 33, he says, "Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God." You see it there? Could we plumb how deep, how rich, how wise God is in his knowledge? Oh, it is so vast. It's unsearchable. How unsearchable are his judgments? How inscrutable his ways? Verse 34, "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given him a gift that he might be repaid? For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen." So there we can see that God has a wisdom, he has a knowledge, and it is so deep that it should cause us to worship him. That's the practical implications of looking at the wisdom of God. Now, so that we can see this even more, I'd like for you guys to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah, and let's look at chapter 40. The second half of Isaiah is going to deal with a lot of God's peace and comfort and his grace, and we see it even in the prophecies that are given. But in the midst of all of that, he also shares with us the character and the attributes of God, looking at Isaiah chapter 40, starting in verse 13. And all of this is going to talk about that God is incomparable. You cannot set him up against any of the other gods or any of the other rulers, so as they're called, in this world. God's greatness cannot be compared with anything else. And then we look at Isaiah 40 verse 13."Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord?" Who has calculated that which God has in him? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord? Or what man has shown him? Counsel. No one has. This is a rhetorical question."Whom did he consult, and whom did he make him understand?" Who has taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge? God has consulted no one. He hasn't consulted you. He hasn't consulted the universities of the world. They have not given him any understanding on any matter. Who has taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge or showed him the way of understanding? And of course, in all of these situations, we're supposed to say, "No one has. No one has done that whatsoever." Not at all. And then if we were to drop our gaze down into verse 28, we have some more questions."Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord Yahweh is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint. He does not grow weary. His understanding, underline it, His understanding is unsearchable. This is the omniscience of God. It is unable for us to fathom. And if we understand that about God, we should be filled with a great sense of worship." Now, I'd like for us to turn to Psalm 47 and see once again that the all-knowing eye of God should cause us to worship Him. Isaiah 47, verse 5. Here, the psalmist says, "Great is our Lord and great in power." The majesty of God is beyond anything that we can possibly understand. He is great. He is greatly to be praised. When we look at our Lord, He is full of power. But now let's look to the second part of that verse which says, "His understanding is infinite." Now, in mathematics, Psalm 147, verse 5. 47? Now we're tracking? Okay, my apologies. 147, verse 5. "Great is the Lord." Thank you, Jamie. "Great in power and His understanding is infinite." Now, part of my day job is to think about infinity. In calculus, we talk about this on all different levels. There are things that are infinite on a short interval. In between any two numbers, there's another number, and you can do this forever by keep on halving something. And then you could keep on with one number and just keep on adding another number, and that is also infinite. And believe it or not, we can actually calculate that there are some infinities that are greater than another infinity. But that's mathematics, which may or may not have any application in our world. But when it comes to the greatness and the power of God and understanding His knowledge, it is infinite, whether it's at the infinitesimal level or at the macro level, and that should inspire worship in your heart. Whatever there is to know, God knows it in the smallest and the greatest detail. Is that not awesome? Like, whatever you're thinking about, whatever issue or problem or body of knowledge that you're trying to figure out how to do, God knows it right now in the greatest sense, and He doesn't have to adjust or calculate along the way. Many times, I'm adjusting my knowledge, working on a project at the house. I'm YouTubing, right? Educated at university YouTube and trying to figure out how to change this particular item, and then when that doesn't work, what do you do next? And you have that checkdown list? God doesn't have to have a checkdown list. He knows it all at one time, and it is infinite. Just so that you'll get the sense of how awe-inspiring all of this is, let us turn to A.W. Pink and let him comment on this. He says, "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 through 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." It's past, it's present, it's future, and it entails every portion, whether it's at the micro level or the macro level. Pink goes on and says, "God's knowledge of the future is as complete as His knowledge of the past and the present, and that because the future depends entirely upon Himself." Were it in any wise possible for something to occur apart from either the direct agency or permission of God, then that something would be independent of Him, and He would at once cease to be supreme. But He is supreme because He knows all of it, and there is no other direct agency that is going to challenge that. So that you can see this from Scripture, let's turn to Psalm 139. This is one of those Scriptures that is saturated with the attributes of God. Psalm 139, we will see that God is infinite and intimate. He is vast and yet He is personal. He is transcendent and yet He still condescends to us. He is high and lifted up and He is close and near. In verses 1-6 you will see the omniscience of God. And verses 7-12 is the omnipresence of God. In verses 13-18 we see the omnipotence of God. God is all knowing, 1-6. God is everywhere, verses 7-12. God is all powerful, 13-18. And then in verses 19-22 you see God's vengeance or His wrath or His justice, especially seen in verses 23-24 where there is the holiness of God. In this one passage we can see not one but five attributes of God. And that should not surprise you because when we consider who God is and how He reveals Himself to us in Scripture, you can't tease these things out. God is omniscient in all of His omnipresence. God is omnipresent in all of His power. In everything that He does, He is all of Himself there. Chapter 139 of Psalms starts off by "To the Choir Master" the Psalm of David. O 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 end me in, behind and before, and lay down and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. You see the omniscience of God? Do you see how it should invoke worship in your soul? But He doesn't stop there. He goes on and now He talks about the omnipresence of God. Where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? And after that question He gives the answer. If I ascend to heaven, you are 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, even there your hand shall lead me. Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night." Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is bright as day, for darkness is as light to you. God's presence is with you everywhere. And then He talks about His power, His omnipotence in verse 13 through 18. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you. And when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, I saw, your eye 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. God knows everything about us. He is all powerful, controlling us, even forming us. And this should give us great comfort. Are you challenged today about something that's vexing your mind? Whether it's a relationship, whether it is a health issue, whether it's, it doesn't matter what it is. God knows every aspect of it and He is all powerful. He is in control of all of this. And it should cause us to worship Him because He cares for us. He's not just high and holy. He is also close and near. Look at verse 17. It says, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God, and how vast is the sum of them.""If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you." And then He goes on and He says, we put that. Then He talks about His vengeance, His wrath. He says, "Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men of bloodshed 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 as My enemies. And here, what you see is the psalmist saying, "Whatever we can see of God, I want to be emblematic of that." God has a holy hatred. He has a vengeance for that which is sinful. And then He says, "I am going to hate what God hates." But then we also see the holiness of God in verse 23 and following. He says, "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." In all of this, in Romans 11, in Isaiah and here in Psalms, we should see that it should invoke worship for us. And as we do that, let me summarize by quoting Ed Welch. He says, "The fact that God sees every aspect of our lives may at first leave us afraid and eager to hide from God rather than in all wanting to embrace Him. But the fear of the Lord makes us aware both of God's holy purity and hatred of sin and His holy patience and forgiveness." When we remember both that we have no reason to run in fear, especially since there is no place to run beyond the gaze of God. Instead, as we look at the Lord, we see that He invites, He cleanses, and empowers us to grow in holiness. Now, some of you guys may not be believers. And when you hear about the omniscience of God, that He knows everything, the deep things of your heart, this may inflict fear and trembling in you. And if that's you because He knows everything and God is the judge and He judges all of our actions, you need to flee from your sin and run to Christ. Casting yourself upon His grace and His mercy, confessing your sin and repenting of it. And when you do that, then you realize that the omniscience of God is in fact a great comfort because He has provided a way of salvation for us. He has designed a way to invite us into His family, where He will cleanse us of all of our sins and then through the power of the Holy Spirit, He empowers us to live in a way that's pleasing to Him. Isn't that wonderful? Yes. Now, I'd like to give you guys some characteristics of God's omniscience, eight of them to be precise. You guys ready for this? You're writing them down? Number one, God's omniscience is perfect self-knowledge. Perfect self-knowledge. In the Trinity, God knows everything about Himself. The Father knows everything there is about the Son. The Father knows everything about the Spirit. And likewise, the Spirit knows everything about the Father and the Son knows everything about the Spirit. And then we could go on that the Spirit knows the Father and the Spirit knows the Son. Matthew 11, 27 says this, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except for the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone whom the Son chooses to reveal." In John 10, verse 15, Jesus says, "Just as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father, I lay My life down for the sheep." There's a knowledge between the Father and the Son, and it's perfect. You remember what 1 Corinthians 2, 11 says? That who knows the thoughts of a man except the Spirit of a man, which is in him? And then Paul says, "And so no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." You see that? God has a perfect knowledge of Himself. God is an infinite being, and He has infinite knowledge of Himself within that Trinity. You don't have an infinite knowledge, and you're a finite being, and you don't even know everything there is about you. Like you do things that surprise you. Not so with God. God's knowledge is not just perfect about Himself, but it's also a perfect knowledge in general. Job, this is number 2, God has a perfect knowledge. Not just about internally about Himself, but externally. He says, "Do you not know the balancing of the cloud? The wondrous works of Him who is perfected in knowledge?" God has perfect knowledge. That's what Job 37, 16 says. And we read earlier from Psalm 147, but verse 5 tells us that,"Great is our Lord. He's abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure." God has a knowledge of everything out there. Not only is God's knowledge perfect about Himself and perfect about everything external to Him, here's a third one that you can write down, that God's knowledge is eternal. Isaiah 46, verse 9 and 10 says, "Remember the former things? For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there's none like Me." This is the holiness of God. But then he goes on and he says, "I'm 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 purposes." If God declares the end from the beginning, then that means He's also knowing everything that's in between there. Does that make sense? And He did this before time began. It's eternal knowledge. God's knowledge is also immediate. This is a fourth characteristic of God's knowledge. It's simultaneous. He is not progressive in His learning. He knows everything there is to know all at once. Isaiah 40, verse 13, He says, "Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord? No one has. That man should counsel Him." God has all knowledge, all at once. You've learned things before, and then you've forgotten. I can remember some of my mentors, and I would hear my colleagues talk about our mentor, that they were way up here on the intellectual ladder, and one of them said, "That person knows so much that they have forgotten more than I will ever know." That was to say that that person was intellectually head and shoulders above them, right? Because we've all experienced that there's things that you have learned, but then you forgot? That never happens with God. His knowledge is immediate. It's all at once, and it never diminishes. That's exactly what Romans 11, 33 said, "Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God." How unsearchable they are. Fifth, God's omniscience is an exhaustive knowledge. It's exhaustive. It's expansive. Psalm 33 verse 13 says, "The Lord looks down from heaven." He's got a top-down look, and He sees all the children of men. Not just you, or you, but all of you. All of us. God has all of that. He sees everything that we do. Psalm 147 verse 4 says that He determines the number of stars. And if you've done anything in astronomy, you know that the number of stars just in our galaxy is mind-blowing. And yet there are millions of other galaxies out there. So now we have millions of mind-blowing numbers of stars. And Psalm 147 verse 4 says, "He determines those numbers, and He gives to them all their names." He knows all of men, and He knows all of the stars, and He knows all of the stars because He names them. Proverbs 5, 21 states that the way of man is before the eyes of the Lord. Pick up these verses. It's talking about the eye, the gaze of the Lord. And what does the Lord do? He ponders all His paths. All the paths that you have in your head as you're making a decision, and you're calculating all the what-ifs at one moment. God knows all of that, and all the other what-ifs that you had in the other moments that you had, and all the what-ifs that could happen in all those others. But He doesn't just do it for you. He does it for everyone at every moment. He knows all of that. His knowledge is exhaustive. Proverbs 15 verse 3 says, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place." The omniscience and omnipresence are all here, keeping watch over the evil and the good. It's not that God just has His eye on just a few folks. He hits them all, those of you that are good and those of you that are evil. 6. God's knowledge is penetrating. God's knowledge is penetrating. You guys remember the superheroes that had x-ray vision? Well, here's the ultimate superhero, God. You remember in 1 Samuel 16 verse 7, where the Lord said to Him,"Do not look on His appearance or at the height of His statue, because I have rejected Him," talking about all the others that, "But the Lord sees, not as man sees." Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. We've already read Psalm 139, where the psalmist says, "Search me. You know when I'm lying down. You know what I'm sitting. You know all of these things. You know my path. And you know them all together." God has a penetrating knowledge that He knows when we're rising up. He knows every aspect of it. Didn't the psalmist say, "Even in the darkness, it's as light to you"? We have a lot of joy when we can put on those goggles and see through those lenses with the green tint on it what's happening outside in the dark. God doesn't need any night vision. He knows it all. It's all equally clear to Him. 7. God's omniscience includes future knowledge. Isaiah 46.10, where God says, "I'm declaring the end from the beginning." Those things that were done in ancient times that haven't been done yet, I'm going to do it. I'm going to accomplish it. God has a future knowledge past, present, and future. And God also has a possible knowledge, middle knowledge. He knows what could have happened, even though it didn't happen. Matthew 11, verse 21."Woe to you, Corazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." That should just blow you out of the water. Lord, you knew all of that? You know all the possibilities? Now, some of you guys may be struggling right now because life has been challenging for you, either in the past or in the present. Or maybe you'll have a challenge in your life that makes you question things. God, why did you allow this to happen? Remember, we don't jettison our knowledge of God in a particular context just because it's unpleasant for us. God is loving. God is caring. God is gracious. God knows everything, and He knows what's best for His people. Isn't that what Romans 8, 28 and following tells us? That He cares about us, and He's working life out so that you would be conformed to the image of God, to the image of the Son. And so, evidently, the challenges that come up in our life is because there is a loving God that says that I need you to depend upon Me, I need you to trust Me, and I need you to glorify Me in the midst of this horrible situation. But we should also take great comfort because God has also sent His Son, who went through the most horrific situation. You know what it was. He came, born of a woman. He lived underneath the law. He fulfilled every aspect of the law, and yet He was then murdered as an innocent one. He went through the worst situation possible, and it became salvation for us that are actually guilty sinners. And because God knows all things, we can trust His Son, and we can trust Him no matter what is in our situation. I told you starting off that I had just an application or two for you. Number one is that the omniscience of God should be all inspiring so that you will worship Him. His knowledge is expansive. It's unsearchable. And because His knowledge is that way, we should take great comfort in trusting in Him, because He is working things out for good for those that love Him. Let's pray. O Lord, we do worship You and praise You. Your knowledge is high as the heavens. It is an infinite knowledge. It is a transcendent knowledge, and we worship You for all of that. Lord, I ask that we would not just worship You for that, but we would also take great comfort as Your people. We pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.[BLANK_AUDIO]