What God Knows

What God Knows

Psalm 147:4-5

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

If you want to buy a star you can now and they will name that star your name. But God knows all stars and calls them by name.

Here we may begin to look at the doctrine of God’s omniscience to help understand predestination and its relationship to human free will. Every time we get into this I always bring God’s foreknowledge into the game because it is what God works with free will and predestination. So 1 Peter 1:2, “^ who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance” always enters into equation.

"If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer, His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.” John Newton

 

These are truly vexing questions that have troubled thoughtful Christians down through the centuries. That shouldn’t surprise us because any time we discuss the ways of God we are certain to be partly right and partly wrong. At the very least, our knowledge will be very incomplete.

I. God Knows All

With that as background we turn to consider the doctrine of God’s omniscience. The word itself is a bit of a mystery, so let’s break it down. “Omni” means “all” and “science” in its original sense means “knowing.” So omniscience means “all-knowing.” In classical theology the doctrine of God’s omniscience means that God knows all things, past, present and future, real and potential, and he knows them all at the same time. He not only knows what was, and what is, he also knows what will be. More than that, he knows everything that could be but is not.

If we are looking for scriptural proof, it isn’t hard to find. In fact, we may confidently say that few doctrines are so explicitly taught as the doctrine of God’s omniscience. Consider the following statements of Scripture:

1 John 3:20 God … knows everything.

Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord … his understanding has no limit.

But that only scratches the surface. The Bible in many places sets forth the implications of God’s unlimited knowledge. Consider further the following statements:
He knows your words before you speak them. Psalm 139:4 
He knows your thoughts before you think them. Psalm 139:2 
He knows your prayers before you pray them. Matthew 6:8 
He knows everything you are going to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and every moment of every day until the moment of your death. Psalm 139:16 
He sees everything you do in secret, both the good and the bad. Matthew 6:4 

II. God’s Knowledge and Ours

Let’s move on to consider God’s knowledge and ours. There are some important contrasts we need to think about.

First, God’s knowledge is independent, ours is dependent. No one has ever taught God anything because his knowledge is complete from the beginning. But our knowledge is dependent in that we must learn what we know.

Second, God’s knowledge is infinite, ours is partial. He knows everything that could be known, we know a tiny fragment of what could be known. God never sleeps, therefore he never wakes up. All his ideas are great. He knows all the great ideas all the time from the beginning of time.

Third, God knows us better than we know ourselves. Specifically, he knows what is in the human heart. Consider the words of God: “The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

All these truths should give us pause the next time we are tempted to think that no one can hear what we are saying or no one knows what we are thinking. How wrong we are! One day you will give account for every careless word and every unspoken thought. Not only that, you will answer for the motives behind your thoughts.

Before you speak, think. Before you think, remember. It is said that Jewish men wear the traditional yarmulke on their heads because it represents the hand of God pressing down on them. It reminds the wearer that he always lives in the presence of God.

III. Implications of Omniscience

It has been well said that God’s omniscience is a comfort to believers and a terror to unbelievers. The comfort is easy to see. If he truly knows all things and if he ordains all things, then everything that happens to me or to those I love must happen as part of his plan.

Andrew Murray, although he lived almost 100 years ago, many of his books are still in print, including the classic With Christ in the School of Prayer. During a low period in his own life, he wrote the following words: “He brought me here. He will keep me here. He will make this trial a blessing. He will bring me out again. Therefore, I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for His time.”

We often hear it said that “disappointment is His appointment.” But that can only be true if God is in charge of the details of life.

Every Decision Is a Free Choice. That leads me to give you my personal understanding of predestination and free will. I confess that I struggled with this whole question for many years, and did my share of arguing late into the night. Eventually I came to an understanding that has freed me from the necessity to argue anymore. It basically consists of three points.

1. First, from our human standpoint, we are completely free. When you wake up in the morning, you have a choice to get out of bed or to stay in bed. You can put on a red dress or a blue one. When you get in your car, you are free to drive to work or you can drive to St. Louis if you like. Every decision you make is a free choice. By that I simply mean that you do not feel constrained by some divine power that forces you to eat at Wendy’s instead of McDonald’s. As far as you are concerned, you “pay your money and you make your choices.”

2. That leads to the second point: God sees and knows everything you do. He hears everything you say. He will someday judge you for all of it. Nothing escapes him. Everything is transparent before his eyes. Yes, you have free will but you are 100% responsible for every choice you make—that includes the choices you make in the words you say and the thoughts you think. He won’t just judge the “big” things; he’s going to judge the “little” ones, too.

3. What, then, is predestination? Predestination always works with God foreknowledge of our free will. That’s the third point. Predestination simply means, because God knows everything about us beforehand, God works in, with, through, and sometimes in spite of your decisions to accomplish His will for your life. He controls both the circumstances, the environment, and the thoughts of your heart. Everything that happens to you is part of his plan for your life. There are no accidents with God. He doesn’t roll dice.

That’s why Joseph could say, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Even the evil that men do serves his purposes, often in ways we cannot see and would not understand even if he told us.

The theologians use an interesting phrase to describe this truth. They say that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass in the sense that he “participates” in every human decision. Yet he does so without being the author of sin because of his foreknowledge. Precisely how this can be is a mystery our small minds simply cannot fathom. No one is totally “free” from God and no one is God’s robot. The choices of both are “free” from the human point of view, yet God works in both instances to accomplish his will. And both will be judged, one to be rewarded for sacrificial service, the other to be punished for unspeakable crimes.

IV. Salvation is of the Lord

Let’s apply this truth of free will and predestination to your salvation. When we believe we freely chose to come to Christ. We do not feel pressured or coerced by God? No, not at all. Was it a free choice to accept Christ? Yes, absolutely. But now as we look back, are we conscious that Someone was drawing us to Jesus? That Someone is the Holy Spirit who draws unbelievers to Christ (see John 16:8-11).

What does it mean? When you came to Christ, you made a decision of your will. You chose him. Predestination simply means, God chose you first because He already knew your heart and if he didn’t choose you first, you would never have chosen him. To say it another way, God so arranged the circumstances that when the moment was right, you literally had no other choice but to freely choose Jesus.

So it is for all of us. Salvation is of the Lord. It is a work of God from beginning to end. Our choice is a free choice, but it is made possible only by God’s Spirit enabling us to believe and be saved.

Illustration:  Think of the gate of heaven, and above it is a large sign, “Whosoever will may come.” As you pass through the gate, you look back and from the inside the sign reads, “Chosen from the foundation of the world.” It is chosen but free.

Or to say it yet another way: “He doesn’t make you go against your will, he just makes you willing to go.” I have often said that God will not force anyone to believe. He is a perfect gentleman. But that is only part of the story. When the moment comes, God so arranges the circumstances that you are drawn to Jesus Christ. He gives you a new heart and a new desire and from that new desire you freely choose the Lord.

 

V. Bad News for Sinners

This doctrine of God’s omniscience should strike terror into the heart of every unbeliever. Jesus said, “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36). God’s omniscience is the basis of his judgment. This is not good news for sinners.

We cannot hide anything. He knows all our works and thoughts and bring them all into judgment.

Job 34:21 “His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step.

Jeremiah 16:17 “My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.”

Omniscience means that God will take into account every word and every deed. Nothing will escape his penetrating gaze in the last great day. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

You can sin and go to Hell if you desire. No one is going to fool God. No one is going to escape judgment.

But here is the good news for sinners. No one has to go to Hell. If you go, it won’t be because you were predestined for Hell. It will be because you rejected God’s gift of salvation.

Earlier I said that no one can be saved unless God calls him. That thought may trouble you, but it shouldn’t. How do you know if God is calling you? If you have the slightest desire, then God is calling you. If you want to be saved, then God is calling you. It truly is as simple as that.

If God is calling you, then come running to the Cross of Christ. Fling yourself upon God’s mercy. Hold fast to the bloody Cross as your only hope. If you want to be saved, you can be saved and you will be saved. That is the promise of God to you. No one will ever be lost who truly wanted to be saved. No one will be in hell who truly wanted to go to heaven by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

“Whosoever will may come” is still the gospel message. When we finally get to heaven, we will look back and discover that we were indeed “chosen from the foundation of the world.” It’s true that I don’t claim to understand it all, but that’s okay, because I’m just little ole me and he’s a great big God.

Conclusion:

Over 235 years ago Joseph Hart wrote one of the grandest gospel hymns ever composed: Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy. It’s set to a musical style that is sometimes called Sacred Harp music. Every verse contains wonderful truth, listen to the third verse we just sang:

Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall, ចូរមកអ្នកព្រួយ អ្នកផ្ទុកធ្ងន់អើយ អ្នកបាត់បង់អ្នកចិត្ដប្រេះឆា
If you tarry till you’re better, you will never at all.             បើអ្នកបង្អង់ពឹងតែអត្មា អ្នកនឹងខានបានមករហូត

And the chorus is the sinner’s answer to the gospel invitation:

I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in his arms;ខ្ញុំនឹងងើបទៅរកព្រះយេស៊ូវទ្រង់ទទួលខ្ញុំក្នុងព្រះហស្ឌ
In the arms of my dear Savior, O, there are ten thousand charms.នៅក្នុងព្រះហស្ដព្រះអង្គសង្រ្គោះ មានក្ដីសុខសាន្ដ ច្រើនម៉ឺនយ៉ាង។

If you are still without Christ may he make you restless in your heart until you find your rest in him. If you are a believer, may you find comfort and joy in believing both now and in the days to come. Amen.