It's great to be here. I think the Ren Collective guys heard that last two in Ireland. I think we could hear it all the way from here. Glad we sang those new songs.
They get paid next week. Well, I want to welcome everybody here today. And it's great to have you. And perhaps you're new here.
Perhaps you haven't been here for very long. Some folks have been here for a few weeks, some for many years. I just want to welcome you. Glad you're here.
And perhaps you're wondering, well, what kind of church is this? Well, that's a little bit hard to describe sometimes. We are a group of believers who know the Lord Jesus Christ. We love him.
He has saved our souls, saved us from our sins. And if you are here today and you are a believer, we want you to be encouraged. That's what we seek to do. We come together.
We don't really hang a shingle out on the front that say we're baptized rather than we're prepared to hear you, we're anything like that. You'll see hands up. You'll see people sitting down. You'll see all kinds of things.
But we just want to teach the Word of God. And through teaching the Word of God, we want to encourage you, if you're a Christian, to walk with Jesus Christ, to make Him the priority in your life. And the Word of God to guide you through your life. And if you don't know Him, our second priority is to faithfully teach the Word of God that you may hear and know.
How shall I hear without a preacher? So we preach, we preach the Word, that you may come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, the only hope for this world. Let's pray. Thank you Father for bringing us together this morning.
We thank you for the one that we've been singing, the one who made an end of all my sin. What an amazing thought that is, that our sins can be taken away. The Lord Jesus Christ has done that for us when He died on the cross. May all glory go to Him this morning as we open your word, as we look into it, and we study the psalm of David.
Help us, Lord, to look to you and to you alone, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The one who knows all, I remember one day, someone at the office, we were talking about different trivial things and I chirped in on everything. And somebody says, you're a real know-it-all, aren't you? And my answer was, I don't know everything.
No, I just know an awful lot about everything. That didn't satisfy them. I skipped the lunchroom for about a week or so after that, and embarrassment. So I've been studying and meditating for a few months, actually, on Psalm 139.
And if you want to turn in your Bibles, if you have your Bible to turn there, Psalm 139. It's a great psalm written by King David. I am planning Lord willing down the road to look into the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis starts off with these words.
Somebody tell me, in the beginning what? God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, you can read that, but if you don't know who this one referred to as God is, it kind of muddies the rest of it.
So I want to kind of set a foundation. And maybe for the next three times, speak on Psalm 139, because it shows so much of what God is like and points to who He is. So we live in a day now when we have access to so much information. I remember, oh boy, I'll tell you, if my parents could afford it, encyclopedia of Britannica, if they could ever afford that, that would have been the greatest gift in our home ever.
Instead, we got something that you got at IGA when you cashed in some stamps, and Michelle remembers those, those encyclopedias that you would get. And I mean, when you got to page 50, the thing split, you know, it was like the cheapest binding encyclopedia you could get. But you know what? I didn't care.
I gathered the pages up. I brought them into my room. And I just ate up the encyclopedia. I loved heaven and encyclopedia in the house.
I thought it was the greatest thing. And then the best thing in the world, I lived in Sydney, we went to the library, they had the white ones, the book of knowledge, you remember that? And then they had the Britannica. They had all those great encyclopedias on the shelf.
And I would just go, this is how nerdy I was. Okay, just so you know, I didn't have any friends. Go to the library. This is our great thing we would do after school.
Go to the library, not because we had a project, but because they had encyclopedias there. And we would grab them and we'd sit at the tables and we would sit there and we would just read through the encyclopedias. It was so great. The knowledge you would pick up from books.
There's a funny story about Albert Einstein. One time they said, somebody came up to him and said, Albert, can you give me your phone number? I'll give you a ring next week. Yeah, just a second.
He gets a phone book out. He said, are you kidding? He said, no. He said, why are you looking up at the phone book?
He said, why memorize something? You can look up in the book. So I have a new phone number for work. They gave me an iPhone when I started.
And it's, yeah, yeah. Give me an Android and I'll be happy. But anyway, I'm sitting at home. I've got this new cell phone.
I've been working now for, I don't know, six weeks or so. And somebody asked me, last week? Yeah, OK, give me your number and I'll call you back. And I'm thinking, I don't know what it is.
I have no idea what my phone number is. Look, I'll give you my personal cell. Sure, if that works, yeah, yeah, you just take that one. I know that number.
But we live in a day when we don't have books. It's automatic. Everything's speed dial. Everything is.
I mean, people, it was sitting at the table with the phones. Underneath it, that is the computer that got them to the moon. That is the computer. If you look at it, it's got a bunch of numbers, and it's got noun and verb written over on the left hand side.
And there was some kind of combination of numbers, noun verb in between. And that got you to land on the moon. You imagine? The phone's over there.
But the phone you have in your hand pocket or whatever is more powerful than what landed man on the moon. It's an amazing thing. So knowledge has been increasing, extremely increasing, over the last number of years. Like today on a single chip, you can put more on a single chip and more information than on the famous library of Alexandria, Egypt, which is about 700,000 volumes.
Knowledge and the things that we can access at the speed of light, it's amazing. Before 1900, human knowledge doubled to what every century, that little graph that I put there. I think I showed that one other time before. By the end of the first Second World War, knowledge doubled every 25 years.
2013, cumulative knowledge around the world was doubling every 12 months. 2017, it was doubling daily. And in 2020, IBM predicted it. And we're past that now, I know.
It would double every 12 hours. The amount of information out there is amazing. But is that all knowledge? Is that everything?
Do we know everything? Are we, Mr. Know-it-all? No way.
No way. More times than I'd like to think during the day, somebody asked me something to say, I don't know. I'll see what I can find out. I say that countless times through the day, somebody will ask me something.
It might be about a product. It might be about a process. It might be about something that the company does or whatever. And I'd say, I don't know.
Let me find out. And I'll get back to you. I don't have unlimited knowledge in my head. I don't have access to unlimited knowledge at my fingertips.
But there is somebody who does. God does. Let's read for a second here. I'm going to read the first six verses just for the sake of time.
Psalm 139. For the choir director, Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up.
You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there was a word on my tongue, O Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain to it. I mean, could you imagine if I knew what was going to come out of Imay's mouth before he even thought it?
Could you imagine if I knew what David Hansel was thinking right now? That's powerful knowledge. But there's not a person in this room that has anything like that. But God does.
And we got to see that displayed in Jesus Christ. I'll give you a couple of examples. In early in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 45 and 49, just for the sake of time I've gone to this. So Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathaniel said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. In whom is no deceit?
Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you, when you were under the victory, I saw you. Nathaniel answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.
I knew you before Philip even went to tell you about me. Amazing knowledge of the Lord Jesus, another example. Remember the guys that came along with their friend who was paralyzed and couldn't get into the room that was packed? So they got up on the roof and they tore the branches or whatever it was that was on the roof.
They tore the pieces off the roof and they put them aside and they lowered their friend down. So Jesus is speaking and then all of a sudden, this guy is in front of him, just lowered through the ceiling. And Jesus said to him, son, your sins are forgiven you. And some of the scribes are sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, not speaking of God, reasoning in their hearts.
Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said, why do you reason about these things in your hearts? What an amazing moment.
That's probably one of the most amazing moments in this whole account, even more than the man getting up to walk. Jesus sitting there or standing there and saying, I know what you're thinking. I know exactly what you're thinking. I know the thoughts of your minds and your hearts.
What an amazing thing. Only God could do that. Just imagining somebody who knows everything about you, your thoughts, it's a sobering thought. It's also a comforting thought, if you know the Lord.
But if you don't, it can be very unsettling to think, there is somebody out there who actually knows my secret thoughts, who knows the intents of my heart. The amazing thing for me is that he knows me, he knows the thoughts that I've had this past week, he knows the thoughts I've had today, yet he still loves me. That's an amazing thought to me. This one who knows my actions, my thoughts, my deeds, even before they're even acted upon, still loves me in spite of all those things.
Psalm 139 looks at four attributes of God, his knowledge, his presence, his power, and his holiness. This morning we will speak of one. Theologians, they like to use words like omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, impeccability. We may throw some of those out there, but today I just want to talk about the incredible knowledge of our God.
Psalm 139 is not necessarily a lecture on theology, but it's David's reflection on his relationship with God and God's relationship with David. What we think about God, what we think of God, governs everything we do and everything we think. If you push him away, if you want nothing to do with him, your actions will spell that out. If you recognize him for who he is, and you recognize who you are in light of that, and you come to him in humility, you are a child of God, if you come through the cross, of the Lord Jesus.
A.W. Tozer said what a person thinks about God is the most important thing about that person. So four things I want to look at today, and we will actually go through the four points fairly quickly. First of all, God's knowledge is immeasurable.
There is no measuring of the knowledge of God. God's knowledge is instructional to us. God's knowledge is individual to you, and God's knowledge is inspirational to all of us. What David wrote these words, he says, you've searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down, you know when I rise up, you under, I think I put that up here. You know my thoughts from afar off, from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there's a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all. You haven't closed me behind and before. You laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high to attain to it. I want you to notice the words that are used here. No, understand, scrutinize, comprehend. God's knowledge has no limits.
You can't measure it. It's called omniscience by the theologians. That's the word that's used. God is omniscient.
Comes from the Latin words, omniscience. Actually, thank you, Spellcheck for changing. Cientia to science, but cientia means knowledge. All knowledge.
He knows more astronomy than the best astronomer. He knows way more astronomy than the best astronomer. He knows more about viruses than the best virologist. He knows more about medicine than the best doctor or pharmacist.
Sorry, Brian. But he knows more about the human body and how it works than any anatomist. He knows more about this planet Earth than any geologist. He knows more about you than you know yourself.
We will read a little further when we study a little further that you, yourself, he is knit together in your mother's womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. And a God with all knowledge does not make mistakes when he makes you. You are what you are.
You have no right over your own body to say I'm going to change it into something else. Because the God of heaven with all knowledge, intimate knowledge of every cell in your body has made you the way you are. That is the truth. That is the truth of who he is.
Human knowledge is always limited. We accumulate limited knowledge because we're limited beings. But God's knowledge is it's immediate. It's comprehensive.
It covers everything. And it's without deterioration. My knowledge is deteriorating. Ask me a trivial question that I probably would have.
I could have sat down and won a game of trivial pursuit against you in 1990. Today? God's knowledge does not have any gaps in it. It doesn't deteriorate over time.
He doesn't get dementia. We do. His knowledge is perfect. Job.
Sam spoke on this. His body, Eli, who said this. Do you know the clouds? Do you know how the clouds are balanced?
I don't. Those wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge. He's perfect in his knowledge. Isaiah wrote this.
Isaiah 40, best chapter. I'll tell you what. If you really, really want to know what God is like, read Isaiah 40. There's nothing better.
It's amazing. It says with him, with whom? Did he take counsel? And who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? The answer to all of that is no one. He has ultimate knowledge of everything. God's omniscience is an amazing thing.
There is something that's a growing phenomenon these days. That's a false doctrine of open theism. The God can actually learn from us. You and I can teach God something.
I don't think so. Really don't think so. Not going to work. It teaches that God's knowledge is limited.
Really? Go on a starry knife. I think that one that we get in June. And look up.
And you'll see all those stars. You'll see the moon. And you'll see all of those things. And marvel at the collisions that take place and the explosions.
No, not one. He holds them all in place. They're all synchronized. They all move around.
There are no mistakes. How could you say he's limited in his knowledge? He's not. He holds all of that together.
According to the Bible, God knows all things. It says in 1 John, chapter 3, verse 20. Verse 20, for if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. There is nothing that he doesn't know.
It's immeasurable. It's also instructional. Don't you go quick on these points. It is instructional to us.
It says in Psalm 139, in the New American Standard, you haven't closed me before. I think it says hedged in the King James and New King James and laid your hand upon me. I like what the NLT says. You both proceeded and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head. That's why it's the to lose gold standard. But I just like the way it puts that. Because when you're looking at it thinking hedged, I'm not sure I like that.
But I'll get to that in a second. It says many times here says the word you, the word you is uniquely referring to God in verses 4 and 5, emphasizes that God, only God, can know because he is God. He's in a class by himself. Psalm 86, there is no one like you among the gods.
Oh Lord. No, are there any works like yours? We live in a world of many gods. People profess to believe in many different gods.
There are religions that are old religions that have their own gods that people believe in. And people are now just making it up. They just make it up as they go. People make themselves as God.
I've heard it said on Oprah. Well, I didn't actually hear it on Oprah because I don't watch it but I heard it quoted from Oprah. I've heard different people, celebrities say, I am God. Be still, one I actually read it in his book.
Be still and know that I am God. He goes, that gives me such comfort to know that I am God and I can just be still and comfortable in that. I'm thinking, are you kidding me? Are you educated and you're leading people in this world?
Are you actually misinterpreted something as simple as be still and know that I am God and think that that refers to you? No. There are so many people that are grasping at so many things because they resist the God of heaven, the only true God. There is one God and only one God.
And he knows it all. There is no one like you among the gods. Oh Lord. He works like yours.
This level of knowledge just overwhelmed David. It was too high for him. It says in verse six, amazingly God has chosen to reveal some of his knowledge to us. Our knowledge is quite unlimited.
It is quite limited. But God reveals us some of his knowledge. How? Through here.
This is an amazing book. It contains the mind of God. It contains the heart of God. You want to know about God.
Get a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, ask us today. We will give you a Bible. If you want a Bible.
This right here reveals the knowledge and the heart of God, the mind of God to you. He instructs us in other ways through prophecy. It's all found in here. I'm amazed by prophecy.
Fulfilled prophecy is the most amazing thing in the world. But when you think about it, the first one that just pops out to me is when the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. In Isaiah chapter 44, it is written 150 years before this person even lived that Cyrus, my servant, will deliver you. 150 years written, 150 years before, found in manuscripts that were written, 150 years before Cyrus existed.
Cyrus, his name, my servant, will deliver you. I mean, we can make predictions as to who's going to be a president or a prime minister. We might be partially right. I mean, if you say, boy, Trump, or Kennedy, you're probably going to hit one of them at some point in time again.
But you're not going to be right. Bang on. God predicted that Cyrus is going to deliver from Babylonian captivity, 150 years before he's even born. In Daniel chapter 2, as you read through it, and then at the end of it, it tells you the interpretation of this dream that Nebuchadnezzar has.
It names the kingdoms that are going to come after Babylon before they even existed. That's an amazing thing. In when Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey, we all remember that. Palm Sunday.
People talk about Palm Sunday when Jesus came in and they put palm leaves down in says, that was predicted in Zachariah chapter 9 verse 9 before Jesus Christ even came to this earth. Anyone can predict the weather for the future. The weather may do that all the time. But to be accurate is another thing.
I can predict a lot of things. I can predict that Edmonton will win the Stanley Cup, and that Conor McDavid will score the winning goal, and it will be in the third period at 619. Now, you know what? There is a very, very, very slim chance that I'm right on that in all those points.
But when you look at, like, this is what I call compound probability. I can say, yeah, Edmonton's going to win the Stanley Cup. That's one thing. Edmonton's going to win the Cup, and Conor McDavid is going to score the winning goal.
Okay, you're compounding your predictions here. Yes, and it's going to be his second goal of the night. Okay, wow, that's your step it out there. And it's going to be at 619 in the third period.
Okay, like, you're crazy. But you see, in the Scriptures, God has placed over 300 plus prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Most of them, to this point, all the past ones have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. They have been fulfilled as to who he is, where he will be born, what he will do, his life.
All of these things have been laid out in the Scriptures. The Old Testament only makes sense when you look at it in light of Jesus Christ. That is amazing knowledge. You know, it would take us 100 billion years to fulfill anything, half of those prophetic utterances about Jesus Christ, to make similar predictions and have them come true.
It's not just guesswork, but it's divine guidance. God directed men of all to write these things. When I see fulfilled prophecy, what does it do? It strengthens my faith in God, because he's right 100% of the time.
You know, if you weren't well, and you saw it on a doctor who was right 100% of the time, wouldn't that be amazing? Wouldn't that be great? The doctors make mistakes. They don't have our knowledge.
But God doesn't make mistakes. God has all knowledge. He is 100% right 100% of the time. Jesus himself, who is God, on this earth, he told his disciples to the letter what was going to happen to them so that they would believe it when they see it.
John 14 verse 29, he told his disciples how he was going to die, when he was going to die, where he was going to die, and who was going to put him on that cross. He told them accurately what was going to happen. So God must be the Bible's author because nothing else explains its accuracy given the prophetic record. Next, God's knowledge is individual.
I love this one. I read this and I think, look at how many times it's actually I'll give you the number 13. 13 times he uses personal pronouns, me, me, I, I, me, my. David is just amazed here.
God's knowledge, his unique knowledge, is of the individual. He knows David inside and out. He knows everything about him. He knows when you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up and by implication he knows everything in between. He knows you when you go to bed. He knows you when you get up. He knows you when you go back to bed.
Everything that's happened in your life in between. We shouldn't just take the Bible and theologize it or philosophize about God as we as we read the Bible. We need to make it personal. We need to look at it and say, God is, yes, he's the God of heaven.
He's the creator. But he has a personal God. Who intimately knows you? He knows me.
He knows my heart. He knows my motives. He knows my insides. He knows my actions.
He knows my thoughts. He knows what I will be doing if I'll be doing anything a week from today. We read the scriptures and we study it. We look at it.
We observe what the text says. We interpret what the text means. But then most importantly we look at it and say, how does it apply to me personally, the application of scripture? When you take your Bible and you read it, don't just read it for facts.
Don't just read it so you get drunk on theology. Read it so that you can understand what the Bible is saying to you about you and what you need to do. God knows our motives, our actions, activities. He knows my sitting down, my getting up.
It says, you understand my thoughts are far off. A far off does not mean, oh, from way up there in heaven. No, no. You understand my thoughts long before they're even formulated.
It refers to time, not space. God knows our thoughts, our ideas, all the time. Now that can be unsettling. Ooh, God knows how I'm thinking.
God knows what God does. God knows what you're thinking. Yes, he does. Now that could be unsettling.
I mean, we live in a world where, believe it or not, there's a lot of data collected on you every single time you swipe your ear mouth card, every time you swipe your credit card, every time you turn on your cell phone, which is probably always, every time you go somewhere. I read recently that they tracked and traced 33 million cell phones, which to me is probably everyone in the country, last Labor Day weekend to see who was with who and how big the gatherings were and blah, blah, blah spread of COVID. And I'm thinking, yikes. But they don't know everything.
They don't know everything. God does. He knows what you're getting up. He knows you're lying down.
He knows your thoughts from afar off. He knows all of these things. And see, when God knows all of these things, it could be a comfort to me because when he knows everything about me, and I'm walking along and I'm talking with him and I'm saying, Lord, I'm just, you know what? I'm not a bad day.
He knows that. Lord, I need help there. He knows that. Lord, can you comfort me?
Yeah, I can. He knows that. He knows my heart. He knows everything about me.
It's a great comfort to me to know that God knows me. I don't have to sit down and say, okay, God, I've got to tell you about my day so you can counsel me on how to deal with tomorrow. He already knows that. He already knows my day.
He already knows tomorrow. It says in Hebrews, chapter 4, there was no creature hidden from him. All things are naked and open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Now that can get unsettling.
We have to give an account to him. You see, the fact that God knows everything makes him the perfect judge. There's not a person that ever lived on earth other than Lord Jesus Christ who can claim that. When God makes his judgment, it will be based on all the facts, all the motives, and he has all of them.
He knows them all. If you are in your sins and you have never come to Jesus Christ and never accepted him, there is a day coming when you will stand before the judge of all the earth. And I've heard people say, yeah, when I stand before him, I've got to tell him or I've got a question I've got to ask him. You know what?
The answer to that is no, you will not. Because you will stand before somebody who knows every single fact about your life. He will know every motive about your life. He will know everything you've done, everything you've thought, and everything that's behind all of that.
And you will be silent. But for the believer, for the believer in Jesus Christ, we will not be there and stand on that day. Our sins have been taken care of at the cross of Calvary. You can be free today of all your sin and live with no fear.
You see that on the back windows of cars driving around. No fear. I'm thinking really? Really?
No fear. You don't know spiders, man. Like I saw one go across my bathroom floor this morning and I thought, I squealed like a little girl. I thought, what am I going to do?
Like this is the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life. I got to call somebody, an exterminator or something. I got to sell my house, whatever. No fear?
You stand before God. It will be fear. But for the believer, we have no fear. That's my claim.
I can put that on the back windshield of my car. No fear. No fear of death. No fear of God.
It's been taken care of at Calvary. And you can have that too. Lastly, God's knowledge is inspirational. He says in Psalm 139 verses 5 and 6, you have hedged me behind and before you laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I cannot. It is high. I cannot attain it.
You have hedged me behind and before. It weren't hedged. It's one of those words. TSU where it doesn't have enough consonants or vowels in it for me to be able to pronounce it, sir, I guess.
It means to bind or to lay siege. But it also implies nestled or protected. I believe that David is speaking here when he says you have hedged me behind and before. He's speaking of a protection that's coming from an all-knowing God.
He's not talking about God as laid siege against him. He was often used to describe an army laying siege to a city. But the implication here is more of God's knowledge is protecting him. He's nestled in that.
Since God knows everything, we're safely surrounded by him. His hand is over us. It's like you cup your hands around me as a protective measure. You've set a hedge around me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It implies that it's protection, not trapping. How precious are your thoughts, it says. You wouldn't say how precious it is that you've got me hedged in here and hemmed in.
You would say, no, how precious it is that you are protecting me. How precious it is that you surround me. In John chapter 10, I love these verses. These are some of my favorite verses in the Bible.
John chapter 10 verse 27 to 30, it says, my sheep hear my voice. This is Jesus Christ himself speaking. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hands. 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 hands.
I am my father. I am the father or one. I don't know about you, but that's the greatest comfort to me. I know that I am in the hand of Jesus Christ.
I am protected by him and furthermore, in the hand of God. And there was no one greater. Since God is all knowing, we should submit to him as David did. Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, David concludes with this, Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties.
See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So because God's ability transcends all of our reality and he is so much greater than we are, he is so far above all that we can comprehend. We need to bow to him. We need to recognize who he is.
We have a great God. We have the only God. He is the only God. There is no one greater.
There was no one wiser. There was no one who knows more than him. One has said, a God who is small enough for our minds is not big enough for our needs. I like that.
A God who is small enough for our minds to comprehend is not big enough for our needs. Our God is great. I can't comprehend him with my mind. Therefore, I do not have any needs in my life that are too great for him.
He can handle them all. Three quick points as I close up. Since God knows everything, he knows the worst about us. We had time this morning we talked about sin at the Lord's Supper when we were here at 930.
How great is our sin? How sinful and wretched we are. He knows all of that. We can't resort to trying to hide from God.
We should seek him instead. There is no need to hide or fear of being exposed because he already knows it. Don't think you can hide from God. I remember living my life thinking I could just run from God.
How could I run from God? He knows everything about me. Secondly, since God knows everything, he knows the best about us. He knows our motives.
David, you read this this morning, I wrote it down right afterwards. It says in Psalm 38 verse 9, Lord, my desire is before thee. My desire is before thee. You know the desires of my heart.
You know my motives. I might not act on them rightly, but the Lord knows the desires of my heart. You know what? If maybe we do our best, we fail.
Still, God knows. I'll give you an illustration. Peter at the seashore. The Lord Jesus had died.
He had raised again from the dead. He had come in one last meeting with the disciples. He's got this great breakfast cooking there for them. They come in from fishing.
And he says, Peter, do you love me? Of course I love you, Lord. No, I'm Peter, do you love me. Yes, Jesus.
I love you. Of course I do. Peter, do you love me? What does he say?
Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. He knows the one he's speaking to. He knows that he's speaking to one who knows all things.
So he knows the motives of our hearts. First John chapter 3 verse 20 says, for if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. The other thing is, since he knows all things, he knows our potential. He is the one, as he is the one who sees our imperfections.
He sees the finished product of what we will be if you're a believer. He sees what you're going to be in the end. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, we are his workmanship in Christ Jesus. He has plans for you.
He has plans for what you will become. In Romans chapter 8 we always read verse 28, but sometimes kind of skipped 29 and 30. It says, he has predestined, he has called us justified and will glorify us. Let me read those verses.
So those that God for new, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son and those he predestined, he also called and those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. Those are all the stages of what God has done in your life. Have we been glorified yet? No, but it's written down as if it's already taken place because the God who knows everything has determined that for the believer.
Father, thank you this morning. As we come and we bow before you, you are the God who knows everything. You are the one who knows us inside and out. You know everything about us.
You know our hearts. Father, even in the past in eternity, knowing the darkness of our own hearts, you determined to send your son before the foundation of this world, to die on a cross, to take our sins that we may know you. Father, I want to ask the question to everybody here this morning, just as we do often on the streets of Halifax, do you know him? And I'm going to look to you as I'm still looking to the Lord.
I'm going to look to the people who are sitting in front of me and I'm going to say, do you know him? Do you know him? He knows you. He knows everything about you.
He knows your heart. He knows your past. He knows your greatest needs. Do you know him?
And I pray today, Father, that you would work in the hearts of those who are here this morning, that they will determine I need to know him and that they will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for him in his precious name. Amen. We'll sing a couple of songs.