Skip HeitzigSkip Heitzig

Skip's Teachings > Biography of God, The > The God Who Knows-It-All!

Message:

SHORT URL: http://SkipHeitzig.com/648 Copy to Clipboard
BUY: Buy CD

The God Who Knows-It-All! - Psalms 139:1-6

Taught on

A little boy climbed his neighbor's apple tree when he saw their car leave. He didn't realize while he was stuffing his pockets full of apples that another neighbor was watching through a pair of binoculars and saw the whole thing! God isn't spying on people, trying to catch them doing something wrong; but God is aware of everything. Such a truth has a profound effect on us: it can either be very comforting or else extremely unsettling. As we continue with the biography of God, let's consider what God knows.

Date Title   WatchListenNotes Share SaveBuy
12/14/2008
completed
resume  
The God Who Knows-It-All!
Psalms 139:1-6
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
A little boy climbed his neighbor's apple tree when he saw their car leave. He didn't realize while he was stuffing his pockets full of apples that another neighbor was watching through a pair of binoculars and saw the whole thing! God isn't spying on people, trying to catch them doing something wrong; but God is aware of everything. Such a truth has a profound effect on us: it can either be very comforting or else extremely unsettling. As we continue with the biography of God, let's consider what God knows.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD

Series Description

Show expand

Biography of God, The

Biography of God, The

Thomas Jefferson. Martin Luther King Jr. Winston Churchill. C.S. Lewis. All outstanding men with amazing life stories, but in all of history, one biography stands out above the rest. The Biography of God gives an in depth look at His character and nature, and delves into the theological and personal profile of our Heavenly Father. As this series searches the scriptures to lead the believer to a discovery of who God is and how He is sensitive to the human condition, it will both lift up and humble at the same time.

FREE - Download Entire Series (MP3) (Help) | Buy series | Buy audiobook

Detailed Notes

    Open as Word Doc Open as Word Doc    Copy Copy to Clipboard    Print icon    Hide contract


  1. God's Knowledge Stated (Vs 1)





    A. On a General Level





    B. On a Personal Level








  2. God's Knowledge Studied (Vss 2-5)





    A. He Knows Every Movement






    B. He Knows Every Motive






    C. He Knows Every Moment








  3. God's Knowledge Surrendered To (Vs 6)






Pondering the Principles:





  1. Look up Romans 11:34. Have you ever tried to counsel God--to tell Him how to run things even though your knowledge would be considered near Zero when compared with His?


  2. Why is "wearing a spiritual mask" both illogical and wrong when approaching God?


  3. How does this attribute (God's omniscience) bring you comfort and enjoyment?


Transcript

Open as Word Doc Open as Word Doc    Copy Copy to Clipboard    Print icon    Show expand

Good morning. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 139. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we approach you this morning in the same manner that David did in this psalm we're about to read. We know that we're dealing with a God who has searched us, he knows us, knows everything about us, loves us deeply. And so we come Father hopefully without barriers, without walls, before you, openly and honestly, asking you to do your work in us, thankful that you are committed to changing us, so thankful that we can come together and consider truth in the midst of a sea that does not buy into your truth. And so Lord change and correct anything that you see in us that needs that. And for the next several minutes as well as the rest of the week we are yours. In Jesus' name. Amen.
I want to read something that a gentleman wrote to Dear Abb. Dear Abby, My wife insisted that I put the Christmas lights up this weekend. I went out of my way taking valuable time away from watching football games to go out into the cold and to put them up. Now rather than being appreciative of my efforts she has stopped talking to me. Signed, Confused." But you need to know the rest of the story and he sent a picture in to show you the rest of the story. So that's a little bit different isn't it? Oh yeah, he hung up the Christmas lights in a blob on one nail. Isn't that great. Now the reason you're laughing is because you learned something. You thought that this guy went all around the house and put up the lights when in effect he did not do that. And so you laughed because you learned the whole truth. You gained more knowledge by seeing the picture versus just hearing what was written. And we're always learning, that's how we know things. We know because we learn things over the course of time by research or experience, very different than God does. And what we learn we accumulate over time, in fact there's a lot of stuff in our minds that's just worthless information. It could be lyrics of songs or movie lines or facts about celebrities, it's not meaningful information but it's stuck up there. And it's funny how people love trivia and there's a big market for it. It's because it's interesting. Here's a sample, I bet you didn't know that no piece of paper can be folded more than seven times. Don't try it now but you can go ahead and try that sometime. I bet you didn't know that donkeys kill more people every year than plane crashes. I'm never getting near a donkey again. I bet you didn't know that the liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma. Crazy stuff. I'll be you didn't know that you burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television, it's all that snoring. I bet you didn't know that a Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brothers first flight. Or, I bet you didn't know that most dust particles in your home are made from dead skin. That's gross. I bet you didn't know that it takes three thousand cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs. You probably did not know most of those things. If you knew them you're a scary person. Or, you're hard to be around. People that know a lot can be intimidating. Have you ever thought how intimidating it might have been for the disciples to be around Jesus who knew everything, even what people were thinking? Like the time they brought the paralytic to Jesus and Jesus looked down at him and said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." And the Bible says, "They began to think within themselves, this man speaks blasphemies and the Bible says, ‘And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why is it that you think evil thoughts? Evil in your heart?'" They realized Jesus knew it all. So imagine knowing someone who knows everything. You do, that's your God. But let me put it to you a different way, imagine knowing something who knows everything about you and loves you anyway. Ahhhh. That's the vantage point that we approach this from.
Psalm 139 describes the God who knows it all. And this psalm is a treasure trove in our series "The Biography of God." It's what Charles Spurgeon called "one of the noblest of the sacred psalms." It's because it highlights four unique characteristics of God. It tells us about his knowledge, his presence, his power, and his holiness. It tells us that God is omniscient, all-knowing; God is omnipresent, always everywhere; God is omnipotent, ever and always and ultimately powerful; and he is uniquely holy. And why all of this is important is for this reason: whatever it is that you think about God determines what you think about everything else. If you get God wrong you have everything else wrong, because whatever you think about God will determine what you think about yourself, what you think about other people, what you think about the world, what you think about what is right and what is wrong. A. W. Tozer was right when he said, "Whatever a person thinks about God is the most important thing about that person." That's why theology is essential to meaningful life. You get God wrong, you get everything wrong. But don't let me scare you away, this is not a theology lecture per se. David in Psalm 139 takes the theology off the top shelf and takes it down to his personal level.
So, what we're going to do today is look at the first six verses of Psalm 139 going from wide to narrow, from general to specific, from theological to personal, because that's what David does. So that is what we are going to do. We are going to look at God's knowledge stated, his knowledge studied more in depth by David, and then finally his knowledge surrendered to. 
So, let's begin by looking at the first six verses as a whole. But I do not want you to look down at your Bibles and read along. In fact, I'd like you to close your eyes or keep them open if you prefer, but let me read it to you because I'm going to read it to you in a version that you don't have on your lap probably this morning. I want this to fall on fresh ears, I want you to get a fresh take on it before we delve into the familiar. Here's some select verses from this psalm. "God, investigate my life, get all the facts firsthand, I am an open book to you. Even from a distance you know what I am thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back. I am never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you are there. Then I go up ahead and you are there too, your reassuring presence coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful, I can't take it all in. Your thoughts, how rare, how beautiful; God I'll never comprehend them. I couldn't even begin to count them any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you."
David comes to an understanding that he articulates, we call it in the general theological sense, God's omniscience. Have you heard of that term before? God is omniscient. That's a theological word, granted. It simply means God knows it all. It comes from two Latin words stuck together, omni which is all, and scientia which is knowledge. God has all knowledge. And what this means is that God by nature, without the need to learn anything knows everything past, present and future. He's the ultimate knower in every field of knowledge. God knows more astrology than any astronomer, more biology than any biologist, God knows more about counseling than the best counselor and more theology than the most astute theologian.
I've heard women says, "I don't understand men." Or men says, "I don't get women." Amen. But God does, God understands both men and women and has written about them both, thus our best approach to men or women is from the lens of this book. And by the way God even understands your teenager. Can you imagine that?
Now, man's knowledge, mankind's knowledge, it is accumulated knowledge. It's the product of tedious learning and research or experience. And every now and then I read something that tries to elevate just how smart we are as a human race. For instance I read that mankind is accumulating knowledge exponentially, at such a rapid rate, that it was represented this way: If you took all of the accumulated knowledge of mankind from the beginning of recorded history until the year 1845 and you represented that by one inch, so one inch depth represents now all of man's accumulated knowledge from the beginning of recorded history to the year 1845, one inch. Then what we've learned from 1845 to 1945, a mere one hundred years is represented by three inches. And, what we've learned from 1945 to 1975 would be the height of the Washington Monument in Washington, D. C. Amazing how brilliant we are, they say. It is true we know more today than at any other time in history. In fact, half of what is known today was not known ten years ago. Knowledge doubles on earth every eighteen months. So I don't know what the accumulated knowledge would be from 1975 to our year but you get the idea, it is growing exponentially. It's way up there. But David would say, "No matter how great it is, you compare that to what God always known and it's like, "Pssh, whatever." It's hardly anything at all, it's insignificant. We had to learn it. God's knowledge is immediate, instantaneous, comprehensive, and fully retentive. Now let me flesh that out. What God knows he knows without any kind of painstaking research, what God knows he does not have to move from one logical premise to another logical premise to another logical premise to another premise to finally a conclusion. God never had to go to school, never had to take a test. God never has had to be informed about anything. And God never says things like this, "Huh?" Or, "Oh really?" Or, "Wow!" Or, "I didn't know that." He can never be informed, you can never tell God something he doesn't already know. He knows it all. And, get this, God never forgets. It's amazing how much we forget. We are reminded of that every time our child or grandchild brings home a book and asks us a question that's on his paper. And you struggle really hard to get in touch with that subject. And it is as foreign to you as a foreign language. You knew it once, for about a week, when you were that age, and it's gone for the most part. God retains it all. God knew who would win the election. God knows who's going to win the Super Bowl. You're thinking, "Boy, I wish he'd tell me." So, according to the Bible, God is omniscient, he knows everything; past, present, future. Now sadly I have to report to you that not everyone who comes to Christian churches believes that. There's a whole teaching afoot these days known as open theism in some churches. And you'd be surprised if I told you Christian musicians that you swear just bless your socks off, that hold to this idea of open theism, or the finite knowledge of God, what they believe in. It's the idea that God created a world in which he does not know the future, God is learning as he goes. They would say God does say, "Huh? Wow. Really?" Well that wouldn't make God omniscient, it would make him un-niscient, or part-niscient, or micro-niscient. But the Bible declares quite the opposite. He knows it all.
Now here's a question Isaiah 40 asks, it's to be answered rhetorically, "who has understood the mind of the Lord? Or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding." The answer would have to be: nobody, because of who he is, and what he knows, he knows everything. It's the same question God asked Job. In Job chapter 38 as these guys were trying to figure out why there was suffering in the world. And God finally says, "Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know." God is comparing what he knows with what they don't know. So, all of this means that God knows everything; past, present, future; didn't have to learn it; he knows it instantaneously, comprehensively, and with full retention. And that even means that the future, well it's like a rerun to God. He's already seen it. Isaiah 46 verse 9, "I make known the end from the beginning."
Okay, so that's the general sense, God is omniscient. But David doesn't leave it there. What I love about this psalm is that David takes the theological philosophical premise off of the top shelf, dusts it off and lives it personally. This truth to him is not theological, this truth to him is not philosophical, this truth is relational and personal. David does what J. Vernon McGee used to always say, when he was alive, on his radio broadcast. He said, "Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather." I've always loved that, he personalizes it.
So notice the personal pronouns, I'm going to emphasize them as we go through. "Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. There's not a word on my tongue but behold Lord you know it all together. You've hedged me behind and before, you laid upon me, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it." Now I counted eight personal pronouns. David doesn't say, "Lord, you know all things and you've searched all things." But he personalizes it, "You know me, you've searched me." And I'm bringing this up because what David does in this psalm we must do with all truth. We must not be content to leave it on a page of a book or discuss it in a roundtable discussion at Starbucks with our friends of, What is the meaning of life and who is God? We have to personalize this, not just be content to be astute theologians. 
We always teach our students this at the School of Ministry. We teach them those three steps in reading the Bible: observation, interpretation, application. First you observe, what does the text say? Next you interpret, what does the text mean? Third you apply it, what does the text, now having seen what it says and what it means, what does it mean to me personally? And all three of those stages are necessary.
In this series I've been referring to J. I. Packers' great book Knowing God and here's a little excerpt: "Whenever we embark on any line of study in God's holy book, we need to ask ourselves, what is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God once I have gotten it? For if we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it's bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us." I'm hear to tell you, I've met a few intoxicated theologians, intoxicated pastors, intoxicated Bible students and Christians. And they become more intoxicated with their personal knowledge rather than God himself. And I say intoxicated because though they have so much knowledge it didn't seem to change them. The very truths they deal with didn't seem to shape them. They still have bad marriages, they still have horrible quiet times, they're not shaped by the very truth that they espouse to be familiar with. So David says, "You have searched me." A very strong word, the word search means to see through, to pierce. Sometimes you have been with a person that they'll give you a spiel and you'll say or you'll say to your wife or husband, "I could see right through that person." That's the idea here, God sees right through me. He searched me.
Then notice the next one, "And you have known me." Now that means to examine something carefully or to explore, to know inside and out. Think of going to a doctor and getting a complete physical examination. And they run every single test and they look in every conceivable place. And by the end of that examination they have searched you and they know you and then they tell you what you need to do to fix it. Or going to a counselor and you're pouring out your heart before the counselor, or friend who asks you very deep probing personal questions and by the end of the session they've searched you and they know you. That's what David is realizing about God. 
Now wouldn't you say that dealing with any person who knows this much could be quite unsettling. We have a fear of being exposed, most people do, that's part of human nature; which is interesting because we live in an age that is the information age, there are surveillance cameras everywhere, even here at the church. You can bug a person's room, what you say this morning could be on You Tube this afternoon. You can be exposed quickly to the entire world. Or, what do you feel like when a restaurant you suddenly realize somebody's been staring at you from that table. You get uneasy. You have no other qualms about staring at other people but when you discover that you are being stared at it embarrasses you because we want privacy. We don't like that exposure. So here's David personally coming to grips with a God who searches him and knows everything about him with full examination. How do you deal with that kind of God? How do you deal with the God of Hebrews 4:13 that declares, "There's no creature hidden from his sight. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. How do you relate to him? Well, I'll put it to you bluntly: Don't try to pull the wool over his eyes. You can't hide anything from him so don't try to pull a con job off on God. You be really honest because he knows you anyway. I heard about a rich old guy who was losing his hearing and he went to a doctor and got a hearing aid and came back two weeks later. And he said, "Doctor, these hearing aids are so good, I can hear conversations in the next room." And the doctor said, "Well, that's great, I'll be your family is really happy that you can hear." The old man smiled and said, "I haven't told any of them yet." He said, "You know what doc, in two weeks I've changed my will two times." He's heard it all, he knows what they're saying. That's God's knowledge stated, he knows it all, he's omniscient. 
Let's get a little more in depth, in verse 2 David further personalizes it and this is God's knowledge studied. Now something I didn't point out yet: in the pronouns that he uses to speak about God, "you have searched me," "you know my sitting down and my rising up," "You understand…" in the Hebrew grammar it's put in the emphatic position, as if David is saying this is an attribute nobody else has, it is unique to you, only you have all this knowledge. When I was a kid I swore my mom had all this knowledge, or that God had been talking to my mom about me, because I couldn't believe how much she knew about me. I tried to hide stuff from her, she heard me whisper, she knew where I was when I thought she didn't. And that's just an insightful mother, that's different from this. David realizes God uniquely has omniscience.
Notice: "You know my sitting down and my rising up." God is aware of the slightest movement you make. And, he's interested in the slightest movement you make. That might come as a surprise to you. On one hand, yes you believe God knows that but you think, "But does really care?" Okay now watch this: look at verse 17, "How precious (notice that, how precious) also are your thoughts to me oh God, how great is the sum of them, if I should count them they would be more in number than the sand. When I awake I'm still with you." Have you ever had somebody say to you, maybe at church this morning, "Hey good to see you, I've been thinking about you a lot lately." God would say that to you this morning, "I've been thinking about you a lot, how precious are your thoughts." There are 6.7 billion people living right now on our Earth and God is aware of every one of their movements, motions, time they get up, time they sit down or lay down to rest and He's interested in each one. 
Now let's put it personally, God saw you yesterday when you were worshipping him all alone in that room or in your car. God heard those encouraging words you gave to that worker or family member. Or, think of it this way: God saw you yell at your wife this morning. God heard what you said at the gym to that guy or gal this week, everything. You hide nothing from him, Proverbs 5, "The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders all his paths." I heard about a preacher who had a CB radio, loved this thing, loved to listen to the truckers as they went through town. And a trucker was going through town, trying to get a hold of a prostitute in that town that he knew about. And was unsuccessful and the trucker said, "Well I'm sorry you couldn't hear me, I'll see you next time I come through." The preacher got on the radio and said, "She may not have hard you but God did." There was a long silence. Finally the truck driver said, "Man, I knew this CB radio had good range but I didn't know it was that good." As if it beamed all the way to heaven. It doesn't need to, God was there. The preacher was right. God heard it all.
David continues here studying God's omniscience, "You understand my thoughts afar off." Or better translated, "God, you know what I think before I even think it." Before those electrical and chemical signals were transmitted, at the synapse of neuron, you knew it. Ever had a weird thought come in your mind, "Where's that thought come from?" God knows. He's probably the only one that does. What that means to us is this: God knows what you really feel. Not just what you say, God knows what you really feel. God knows what you really believe about him, what your real worldview is. God knows where you stand, what your real opinions are.
Now look at verse 3 all the way through verse 5, "You comprehend my path and my lying down." These are opposites in Hebrew, one is a place you walk on, the other is a place you lay down. But these opposites are described. "You're acquainted with all my ways, there's not a word on my tongue, but behold oh Lord you know it all together. You've hedged me behind and before." Again two opposites are described. "And you have laid your hand on me." Now the idea of this construction in verses 3 through 5 expresses completeness. And it could be translated "at all times," or "in every moment." God's knowledge of me personally is not just every movement, not just every motive, but at all times of the day, 24/7, he doesn't take a nap, he doesn't take a vacation, he's never caught unaware, he knows it at all times. 
So God knows the past and the present but he also knows the future. And this is important because it's the basis of all predictive prophesy. Now sometimes we go through the Bible and go, "I'm amazed, there's so many prophecies given," where God through a prophet predicts an event that will happen a hundred, two hundred, thousand years before it happened, how is that possible? And once you understand at least in part agree with this attribute of God, he's omniscient. And you go, "I get it, any God that can be said to know it all must certainly then know the future and can call it into existence." And because this is true God can announce 150 years before the man was even born that Cyrus by name written in Isaiah chapter 45 verses 1-3 will come and deliver the Jews after their Babylonian captivity, he wasn't even born for 150 years when that was written. That is why Daniel can predict the succession of world governing kingdoms. From Babylon, Mede-Persia, Greece to Rome before it ever happened. That's how Zechariah in chapter 9 can say the Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey. That's why the Bible can announce there's going to be a rapture and a tribulation and a millennial kingdom and a judgment seat of Christ and a judgment seat, the Greath White Throne, and the eternal state of the new heaven and new earth way before it ever happens. God knows the future simply because God controls the future. So this whole idea that God doesn't know all things is a lie. There's a teaching called open theism or finite theism, that God doesn't know all things, that I mentioned. Okay, here's a verse that flies right in the face of that. Listen to this, Ephesians 1:11, "God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his well." There you have two things enmeshed, the sovereignty of God, the omniscience of God brought together in a nutshell. God knows the future because God controls the future and everything's done accordingly. 
Well, I want to end by what I think is the most important part and that is verse 5 and 6. This is not God's knowledge stated or even studied but surrendered to, that's the best part. Verse 5, "You have hedged me behind and before and you laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it." I will tell you that there's a number of commentators and even Bible translators that look at verse 5 and they see it as sort of a nice sweet God nestling his children. They picture the idea and even translate that here we are held by God and God is surrounding us on all sides, nicely nestled. I don't necessarily think that's the meaning. I agree with the Bible Knowledge commentary that says these first six verses describe a process, David coming to grips with the God who knows everything about him. And verse 5 would indicate he admits that he has trouble with this doctrine at first. As if to say, "Well God, if know everything, that means I'm hedged in, I'm trapped, I'm a prisoner of fate. You're in charge, you know the future, so I feel sort of like trapped by your sovereign omniscience." Have you ever heard that stated by people? I have, I've heard people say, "Well if Jesus said, ‘Your heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask him, then why should we ask him? Why should we pray about anything if God already has sovereignty and is omniscient and knows what we need before we ask him, why bother praying?" Now that's a very dim view of prayer because prayer is a whole lot more than giving God a wish list. Imagine a parent and a child who had a relationship something like this, they never saw each other, they never communicated except once a year the child gave Mom and Dad a Christmas list. You know every parent loves when a child just phones home, just calls to talk, just ‘Let's have lunch, let's just hang out. How are you doing?" There's a relationship there. And so it could be that in verse 5 David is working his way through that but rather than feeling he's a prisoner of fate, in verse 6 and in other verses, he's a worshipper of the Father. For he says, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me." I'll retranslate that, this is the NSV, the New Skip Version, ready? "Wow! Wow!" That's his reaction and response to what he discovers about God, this is like fuse blowing, "If I think about it too long I'll blow a fuse. It's too high, I cannot attain it." But then look at the end, look at verse 23, "Search me oh God and know my heart." That's a prayer, he's inviting God to know more even though that's not possible. "Try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." God, I don't get it, I can't wrap my mind around it, I'll blow a fuse trying to figure this out so I just surrender to it. Search me, know me, lead me, direct me.
And that's where we ought to leave off in our dealing with God. I'm going to tell you something, you may want to write it down, I wrote it down just to remember it, in summing up this section. This is what it leads me to: since God's ability transcends my reality, it's best for me to bow at his immensity. Now let me break that down. God's ability is always greater than your reality. If you think you're going to go to some theological school or School of Ministry or get a PhD in something and walk out holding the diploma and say, "I know everything there is to know about God," then you're dumber than we thought. It is impossible. You will have to come to a point where you say, "I've reached a saturation point, I've reached a limit, I don't completely get it. There's a mystery to our faith that is precious. And what do you do at that point? You leave off. God's ability is greater than my reality so the best thing is to bow before his immensity, God is always greater than our present knowledge of Him. See if God was small enough for your brain, he wouldn't be big enough for your needs. There's an element that makes God God. And if you understood all there was about God, you'd be God. And this is one of those attributes that is so God about God. He knows everything. And David says, "search me, know me, test me, lead me. It ends in worship. That's where it should end for us.
I want to leave you with three things this morning in summing this up. I want you to personalize this. Since God knows everything, God knows the worst about us. Now follow me here, don't lose me. In any human relationship, or most human relationships there is a fear that two people have in getting to know each other. The fear is that when that person really knows who I really am they'll reject me. That's why we put on our best face and we act so nice as to win them over. And hopefully after a period of time, that'll overshadow what they'll really find out about me, when the skeleton tumbles out of the closet. But if you live your relationship like that, you'll never be free to be real so you'll never know if you're really loved for who you are or not. That's a fear people have. Now listen, God knows the worst about you and loves you anyway. I hope that's as liberating to you as it is to me.
It's liberating. Psalm 103, "God knows our frame and remembers that we're but dust." What expectations would anybody have from dust? "I expect a lot out of this dirt. This is quality dust. God knows you and he knows the worst about us because he's all-knowing and he loves you anyway. That's number one.
Number two, since God knows everything, God knows the best about us. God knows the best about us. Sometimes you do your best and it goes unnoticed. Or you do your best and you fail. And when you fail at doing your best, others may see it and they don't get the whole picture, they don't understand the motive and they criticize you and they say this and that about you. God knows the whole truth, knows the best about you. And Peter was content with that because he failed Jesus and after the resurrection, remember the story, John 21. He said, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter goes, "Yeah." Again Jesus said, "Peter, do you love me?" "Uh-huh." Third time, "Peter do you love me?" Remember what he said? "Lord, you know all things and you know that I love you." That's where he left it, "You know, you know my heart. You know the best of my heart." I John tells us, "If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows all things." So, since God knows everything, he knows the worst about you, loves you anyway, God knows the best about you, knows what's really deep inside your heart.
Here's the third and final thing, to me this is the best: since God knows everything he knows what he's going to make you into. You're not done yet, you're still in the oven, you're still in process. God sees your imperfections but he also sees the finished product. The Bible uses a beautiful word for this, "For we are his workmanship." You're a work of art. All you see is the blob on the canvas, the artist sees the finished work. And that's where he's taking you.
This is probably no scene and no better place than in Romans chapter 8 verse 29. Now you all know Romans 8:28, right? Show of hands. Romans 8:28, ever heard that verse, memorized that verse? "God works all things together…," etcetera. It's unfortunate that we have memorized that to the exclusion of the very next verse because listen to this truth, verse 29 of Romans 8, "For those that God foreknew (or knew about in advance) 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 and those he justified he also glorified." Now let me tell you something, you're not yet glorified, neither am I ask my wife. But God is so sure that one day I will be glorified that he writes about it like it's a done deal, because he knows everything and knowing everything he knows the worst about me, the best about me and he knows where he's going to take me. I love that.
There's a bumper sticker, I'm going to say it and you'll finish it. It says, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." Now that doesn't mean you put that on your car and go 90 miles an hour. But it is true, we're in process. God knows where he's taking us.
So Father we bow before your immensity because your ability is so much greater than our reality. We echo what Paul said, "Oh the depths of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge and God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out." Lord, it is true but we don't completely understand how it is you can be so loving and compassionate with a plan of saving us as imperfect as we are and knowing what you know all about us. But we just say, "Wow! Search us, know us, test us, and lead us." In Jesus' name. Amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

Show expand

 
Date Title   Watch Listen Notes Share Save Buy
10/12/2008
completed
resume  
Can God Be Known?
Hebrews 11:6
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
Today we start a brand new series of messages I'm calling, "The Biography of God". The very subject matter of "God" is the loftiest of all subjects and the pinnacle of all pursuits. As we discover who God is and how He is perceptible to the human condition, we will be both lifted up and humbled all at the same time. The great transition that must be made, however, is to not stop with gathering information about God but by believing and acting in the light of that information, thus truly knowing Him.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
10/19/2008
completed
resume  
Is Anyone Up There? Looking For Clues
Romans 1:18-22;Psalms 19:1-6
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
We all remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her three friends come to approach the "Great Oz". Out of the corner of their eye, they notice a man pulling levers behind a curtain-working the mechanical, smoke-breathing Oz. The man then reacts by announcing, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" But how can they not? The man is the explanation for everything to them. They discovered that Oz didn't really exist! So how do we know that God exists and isn't a fabrication or projection of our own imaginations?
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
10/26/2008
completed
resume  
"Now Hear This!" How Does God Speak?
Psalms 19
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
This is the age of communication. Cell phones, email, text-messaging, i-chatting and YouTube broadcasting are as common as coffee. (Some people are even talking the old-fashioned way—face to face with the person.) So how does God communicate? How does His message, His biography get out to the world? And more importantly, perhaps, who’s listening?
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
11/9/2008
completed
resume  
I'm God...and You're Not!
Exodus 33-34
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
The only way to know someone is for that someone to reveal himself/herself to us. We discover who that person is as he tells us about himself. Moses wanted to know God better and God tells Moses about Himself. This is the only place in scripture where God lists His own characteristics and qualities there are four phases to this touching story:
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
11/23/2008
completed
resume  
God: A Short Autobiography
Exodus 34:5-7
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary

In studying the Biography of God, there's no better source than God Himself. This is one of the primary passages in all of Scripture about who God is; it is His own autobiography. This is God telling us about Himself. As God reveals to Moses who He is, he begins by declaring His name and then listing several of His primary character traits. It's not unlike meeting anyone for the first time. We get their name and then learn some things about them. As we relate to God, then, these experiences are what we can expect to find.

Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
1/4/2009
completed
resume  
Godisnowhere
Psalms 139:7-12
Skip Heitzig
  Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
1/11/2009
completed
resume  
My God is Bigger than Your God!
Psalms 139:13-18
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
There are so many different belief systems out there! Some people have a god that isn't very big and can't do very much. He smiles a lot but is weak and helpless to act. It's not a whole lot different from ancient times, really. The Syrians once said that Israel's God was "a god of the hills and not of the plains" (1 Kings 20:28). Their view of God was limited and powerless. So what's your view? Does it match the Bible's description of our Awesome God?
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
1/18/2009
completed
resume  
God's Most Unpopular Attribute
Isaiah 6
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
Ask most people to tell you the first word that comes to mind when they think of God and it will be "love" or "grace" or "forgiveness." All of these are wonderfully comforting attributes of God, but another key attribute that is seldom considered is His holiness. Today we observe one man's encounter with God, and we learn some lessons about what it means to have a personal relationship with a holy God.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
1/25/2009
completed
resume  
I Don't Get It! How Can Three Be One?
Matthew 28:16-20
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
1+1+1=1. Is this New Math? No, it's the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. At the very heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is the belief that there is only one God. Yet the Bible clearly teaches the plurality within the Godhead--three persons who are distinct from one another yet perfectly One in essence. What are we to make of all this? And why is it important? Today let's consider two major truth statements.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
2/1/2009
completed
resume  
Two Thirds is Not Enough
John 14-17
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
"The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who would try to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind. But he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul" (Harold Lindsey and Charles J. Woodbridge, A Handbook of Christian Truth). Last week we discovered that Scripture reveals One God in three distinct Persons. Today we consider the personality of all three Persons in the One God and Their role in our lives. Further, how can we relate to the Triune God in practical terms?
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
2/15/2009
completed
resume  
The Dark Side of God
John 9:1-7
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
"If God is in charge and loves us, then whatever is given is subject to His control and is meant ultimately for our joy" -Elizabeth Elliot. That perspective (which is the biblical one) is far from the typical sentiment about pain. Most ask, "If God really loved me, how could there be evil and suffering in this world--especially for me?!" To study God at all, this issue must be dealt with: Why is God’s world so messy? Where is the evidence of His power and love in such a suffering world?
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
2/22/2009
completed
resume  
GPS: God's Positioning System
Acts 21:1-15
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
Part of a relationship with anyone is knowing what that person expects. We wonder, "What does that person want from me in this relationship?" Relating to God is no different. So how can we know what God's will is for our lives? What kind of guidance can we expect? A notable example from Paul's life furnishes an excellent template for exploring this question. It was a confusing time, and many people didn’t agree with Paul's decision - but he felt it was God's will for him.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
3/1/2009
completed
resume  
How to Be God's Friend
Genesis 18:1-15
Skip Heitzig
Info
Message Summary
For the last fourteen weeks we've looked at "The Biography of God." In this loftiest of all subjects and the pinnacle of all pursuits, we've discovered Who He is, what He is like, and how to relate to Him. We must always remember not to stop with just gathering information about God--we need to truly know Him in a personal way. Abraham provided a model for us in how to do that as a friend. Four qualities form the template for being God's friend.
Message Trailer
Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Listen in Spanish
Detailed Notes
Transcript
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Spanish (MP3)
Buy CD
There are 13 additional messages in this series.
© Copyright 2024 Connection Communications | 1-800-922-1888