Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

On October 15, 1882 Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on the Omniscience of God, in the Evening Service.

On preaching from the he said:

But the Lord Jesus Christ possessed attributes which we have not; he was omniscient, and therefore he could read Peter’s heart.

It was not necessary for him to do what it might be lawful and even needful for us to do.

He knew that Peter’s heart was right notwithstanding all the evil of which he had been guilty.

So, instead of refusing to have fellowship with him, the Saviour first eats with him,—Christ literally bids him come to breakfast

Omniscience is from two Latin words; scientia which means “knowledge” and the prefix Omni which which means “all; hence is means “all knowing”.

The omniscience of God is that attribute why which he knows all things past, present and future.

The omniscience of God is that attribute why which he knows all things past, present and future.

What is hidden from human sight is still known by God.

The omniscience of God is that attribute, like all of His other attribute; His Self-Existence, His Unity, His eternality, etc, which make Him God.

Without omniscience God will cease to be God.

The Lord God had perfect knowledge of both Himself and what He has created.

God’s knowledge is unlimited, comprehensive, and perfect in every way.

In contrast to our knowledge, which arises from the passive conformity of our minds to given truths or objects, God’s perfect knowledge follows from his active willing as the Creator of all.

Now, God’s omniscience is wrapped up in His sovereignty.

We do not believe that the Scriptures teach, as some “christian” philosophers (such as William Layne Craig), teach that God possesses what is called “middle Knowledge” or what has been called Molinism.

“Middle Knowledge” or “Molinism” sees God has acting in His omniscience, not in complete autonomy (or Sovereignty) but in the realm of both actual and possible.

The three most popular views that I see across evangelicalism as it pertains to the omniscience of God are what I call:

Active Omniscience.

That is to say that God has full understanding and knowledge of all things in cooperation with His sovereignty.

Passive Omniscience.

That is to say that God has learned learned knowledge of all things based on what He has observed; sometimes called “open Theism” or “Process Theology”.

Open Theism teaches that God is ever learning and that He is more God today then He was yesterday because He knows more and that He will be more God tomorrow than He is today because He will know more then.

And then there the “wishy washy” view of God’s Omniscience that is called “Middle Knowledge” and that is to say that God sees all the possibilities of things that could every happen and He chooses out of the possibilities which outcome He wants.

The Scriptures are very clear that God’s Knowledge originates within Himself.

Isa.

40:13-14

God has all knowledge in Himself, not as a result of peering through a “crystal ball” but because His sovereignty has willed it to be so.

God knows all because His sovereignly decreed all.

Psalm 33:13-15

As Solomon stood and blessed the Temple, he prayed:

1 Kings 8

Psalm

In addition God is conscious of and knows all that exists outside his being.

Scripture nowhere even hints that anything could be unknown to him.

True, the manner in which he obtains knowledge is sometimes stated in striking anthropomorphic language (Gen.

3:9ff.; 11:5; 18:21; etc.), but he nevertheless knows everything.

The notion that something should be unknown to him is dismissed as absurd.

Psalm 94:

So, we understand from all of these passage that the Lord knows everything.

That knows all the thoughts and the intents of our hearts.

That He knows all the minor details, even down to the hairs on our head.

Thomas Watson observed years ago, God’s knowledge is primary, for he is the pattern and source of all knowledge from which others merely borrow; his knowledge is pure, for it is not contaminated by either the object or its sin; his knowledge is facile, for it is without any difficulty; it is infallible; it is instantaneous; it is entirely retentive.

God is perfect in his knowledge.

Now, with all of this (and there are so many other verses that we could cover) that we see where the Bible teaches the Omniscience of God, it could give you a sense of uneasiness.

Because there are some things about us that we do not want God to know.

We hide it from others and we hide it from ourselves and to think that God knows it all is unsettling.

A.W. Pink noted that the thought of Divine Omniscience “fills us with uneasiness”.

A. W. Tozer observes, “In the divine omniscience we see set forth against each other the terror and fascination of the Godhead.

That God knows each person through and through can be a cause of shaking fear to the man that has something to hide—some unforsaken sin, some secret crime committed against man or God.”2

And while all of that may be true at one time or another, I want to draw your attention to a beautiful example in the Bible where the Lord Jesus, who is Omniscient, restores Peter a sinning brother.

Some people have said that the Lord asked and restored Peter three times to equal the amount of times that he denied Him; and perhaps there is some truth to that.

What I see in this passage is Peter’s frustration is verse 17.

“Lord, you know all thing”.

In other words, “Lord, you know my heart”.

While some may quake at the fact that all is open and bear before God, we can rejoice at the omniscience of God, because there are many times that the only way that the Lord knows that we truly love Him is that He knows our hearts, because our actions sure do not show it.

Our God knows all and while it is an unsettling thing that He knows my thoughts, there are times when Him knowing my heart, He knows that I live Him”.