Nothing Is Hidden from God

Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I just want to thank you for subscribing on YouTube. If you're watching this or you regularly watch our weekly content, we post other interviews and teaching all week long, every single week of the entire year on YouTube.

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And we are fired up. That's all I'm gonna say right now. We've got a series to keep continuing with. We're gonna keep going with the attributes of God. We're looking at the omniscience of God. And this is the start of three weeks on the omnis. We'll just call it that, which are the omniscience of God, omniscience, that God is all knowing, the omnipresence of God, that is obvious, he's all-present, and then the omnipotence of God, kind of the the way you'd say it, omnipotence.

That word potent, omnipotence, is all powerful. The three omnis, and to teach you about the omniscience of God, I've got my Bible open to Psalm 139. When I think about the omniscience of God and then the omnipresence of God, which we'll talk about next week. Psalm 139 is the place I go. A little fun fact: if you're looking for ways to remember Bible passages or topics, I'm a chapter guy.

I know that if I can remember a chapter and a topic, I'll find the verses when I open it up to there. And so you should know, kind of pastoral cheat code. Sometimes I don't remember the verses, but I might say, hey, you know, it reminds me of what the Bible says in Psalm 139. Go ahead and turn there because I've wedged in my brain from just memorizing topic chapter, topic chapter, Psalm 139.

And then I look and go, oh yeah, that's the omniscience first, verses one to six, then the omnipresence after, when he'll say in verse seven, where can I go from your spirit? You can highlight, do your notes, little margin thoughts, all of that. Once you get to the chapter, you're good to go. So maybe a cheat sheet for you with a small group, maybe you're you're doing a study with your husband or wife, a group of singles, if you're in college or you're just not married, and so you're digging in and you're like, man, I want to learn to go places quicker.

And then, of course, talking to your children, or in my case, teaching the Bible. Maybe you're a Sunday school teacher, chapter is the key, chapter and topic. If you can do that, you're gonna be dangerously effective getting where you need to go in your Bible. So Psalm 139, omniscience and omnipresent.

The first two omnis, Psalm 139. Memorize that. You'll be good to go. Let me read this to you. It's the first six verses. 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 line down, and you're intimately, key word here, acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there's a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all. You've enclosed me behind, and before you've laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high, I cannot attain it. Psalm 139, verses 1 to 6. You know, most people know what it means to manage what other people know about them.

You know, at work, we want people to see our competence, big deal for a lot of us. At church, we want people to see that we're maturing, we're in the faith, we're faithful. At home, we might say, you know, I'm fine, I'm fine. You know, husband or wife asks us how you're doing. We're fine, even though we're frustrated, we're anxious, maybe we feel guilty about something, or we're managing stress.

And what we do is we carefully protect a version of ourselves that leaves certain details out. We're curators of our own reputation. And at times we think we're fooling people, but we're not, or we're self-protecting. But there is one person before whom the whole truth is already known. And that's what David is getting at in Psalm 139.

Oh Lord, you've searched me and known me. You know, when I sit down, when I rise up, you see my thoughts from way out. Even before there's a word on my tongue, you know what it's going to be. Behold, O Lord, he says, you know it all. Now there's a key word and a key phrase. And you are, he says, intimately in verse three, acquainted with all my ways.

You're intimately acquainted with all my ways. This means that God isn't just up in heaven, sort of micro or rather macro managing everything, just like kind of over there, all right, I've got the umbrella out and they're all under it. No, no. He is aware of the details. He knows what's painting you, hurting you, putting fear in you.

He knows what brings you joy. He knows the door that you're praying to open. He knows the hurt that you're carrying, all of it. He knows your greatest need, your deepest sin, your secrets, your thoughts, all of it. That's why David says, look, behold, O Lord, you know it all. You know, God knows where you go.

He knows what you do, He knows what you did, He knows what you wanted to do, He knows why you did it. He knows the burden that you can't explain to other people. You know, I have days like that in ministry. I'm sure you do too in business, or if you're a mom, you know, you're home with the kids, or maybe you're a student and you got the world on your shoulders with college.

You might be an athlete, maybe you're trying to get a job right now, whatever that is, you know what it's like. You have a day. We'll just call it that. Man, that was a day. And it's hard to find the words to express to somebody, how was your day? You're like, it was good, it's good. You know, that's that's all you really can say, even though it was chaos or super painful or overwhelming or shocking, or it's left you speechless.

God knows. And so even that begins to affect, in my biblical opinion, how you pray, how you think, even how you find comfort, because after a tough day, you can go, you know, I don't need to explain it. I don't need to say a ton. I don't need to look for validation somewhere or event. God, you know, I've got nothing more to say except I need you.

Help me, be my strength, be my comfort, be my hope. God knows everything. He knows the things that you hope nobody will ever discover. And that can be uncomfortable too. On the flip side to comfort, there's conviction. And we got to understand that God loves us with a full knowledge of who we are. That's really encouraging.

Even if you're in sin, you know, God knows and he loves you, and you're called to repent, and he'll discipline you in that because he loves you. Nothing you ever do or have done will ever surprise God because God is this attribute, omniscient. He's all knowing. And so I want to walk you through three truths about the omniscience of God that's really gonna bless your perspective and it'll guide the way you live.

Number one, God knows everything perfectly. And the reason I say it that way is it's not God knows everything. No, no, he knows everything perfectly. Those first four verses, oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit, rise, you know my thoughts, you scrutinize my path, you you know everything.

You're intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there's a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all. David starting with this personal confession, like, you have searched me, you knowed me, you know me, you've known past tense, you know, my movements, my thoughts, my habits, my words, just everything that he's done, doing, or going to do.

Sitting down and and and rising up, those are just descriptions for ordinary life. God, you know the ordinary, which by the way, that should comfort you. God is involved in the ordinary things in your life. He knows, he's with you. So don't ever say, like, God doesn't care about my average day-to-day.

Oh, yes, he does. Walking and lying down, this is the physical activity that you engage in. This is your rest. You're sleeping. God is watching over you. David's saying, look, there's no part of my life, ordinary life, sleep, activity, rest, all of it. That's outside of your knowledge. God, your knowledge encompasses all of my life.

And then verse four highlights that God even knows the words that David's gonna say before he speaks them. And we understand people by listening to people, observing people. Hopefully, you're a good question asker and you kind of draw out the heart. And that's how we get to know people. You got to talk and they gotta talk, and you gotta listen, and they gotta listen.

But here's what's really amazing about God God already knows what we're trying to communicate and what we're thinking and everything about us before we ever open our mouths. So God gets you. And and a basic definition is this this will be on the screen if you're watching on YouTube or the Spotify video version.

God's omniscience means He is eternally and perfectly aware of everything. He knows all things from the beginning to the end without mistake, including every thought, every action, every motive, and every event. Motive is a big deal. God knows our hearts. God never learns anything new. He never forgets, he doesn't misunderstand, he doesn't ever need somebody to fill him in.

He doesn't need like angelic reports. All right, next one up. You know, what do we got going on in uh Arizona today? What do we got going on in Florida? How are we doing down in Louisiana? How are we doing in Washington? Like, no, he knows it all: past, present, future, all of it. And his knowledge is part of who he is.

It doesn't depend on the gathering of intelligence. And so David's personal testimony is just this great expression. And you know, David went through a lot, and here he is saying, God, you know it all. This is so comforting. It's also convicting because I'm a sinner and you know my heart. And so you can come to God with those things because look, he already knows.

Like, you don't need to hide anything from him. And when you look at the whole of scripture, God's omniscience is so blatantly obvious, you begin to wonder, why in the world do I ever try to hide anything from God in the first place? Let me give you a list. Psalm 147, verse 5. I recap these, they'll be on your screen.

God's understanding is infinite, his knowledge has no limit, so there's nothing that he can't know. Isaiah 46, 9 to 10, God declares the end from the beginning. I'm the Alpha, I'm the Omega, the beginning and the end. I know it all. The future is fully known to him. He's not guessing. Proverbs 15, 3, God sees every place, he sees every person.

You've got evil happening and good. God sees both, he'll deal with it. 1 Samuel 16, 7, God sees the heart. You think about how even Samuel went to anoint David as king. He's like, oh, it's got to be this guy. And God's like, no, you look at the outside. I look at the heart. Go get the shepherd boy. There's one more kid.

That's the one I'm gonna make the king. Hebrews 4.13, every creature is exposed before God, and everyone will give an account. Matthew 10, 29 and 30, God knows even the sparrows and the number of hairs on our heads. He's caring for the birds. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. If you're bald, he knows how many hairs you used to have on your head.

1 John 3.20, God knows all things. His knowledge exceeds even our own awareness. He knows everything. And when you look at that and think through that list and those descriptions I just gave you, and you keep it connected to David's confession, you realize God is the God of understanding. God is the God of infinite knowledge.

And so when you think about omniscience or all of the omnis, I want you to resist the urge to feel satisfied with just knowledge. Like I know more theology now because I listened to this episode or I shared it with someone else, and now they know more knowledge. And so we can impress people. Hey, have you heard about the omniscience of God?

No, it hits home when you think about how the Lord knows every motive behind your actions, your words, your money decisions, your generosity, why you gave that to that person, why you went out of your way for that person, the thought behind your silence, like when you don't say anything, the truth behind your explanation, the things you're doing that nobody knows, all of that.

So I want you to understand when you know, really know about God's omniscience, two things must happen. One, great comfort visits your soul. God knows you and He's near. Number two, great conviction. We can fool people. We can even deceive ourselves. The Bible says there's many people that are self-deceived.

You can't fool God, neither can I. And spiritual maturity begins to grow when we stop trying to manage our appearance and how people view us and what they think about us, and we start dealing honestly with the one who already knows the truth. And I think that's a good word for some of you that are so worried about what other people think or so worried about chasing down every, you know, rabbit trail of information and reputation about you.

And look, we've all been there. I go through these things too, and you look back and you go, what are the lessons you learn in life? You learn not with kind of a cheeky attitude, like I don't care what people think, but you learn to rest in the fact that God knows the truth and God knows your heart. And that's good enough for me.

It's good enough for you. Because what is better than knowing God knows? Number two, God's perfect knowledge gives his people security. I've already begun to kind of bleed into this point, the comfort that comes over you. Look at verses five and six, or listen, if you're on the fly, I'll read it to you.

You have enclosed me behind and before. You've laid your hand upon me. God, you've got your hand on me. Oh, such knowledge is too wonderful. It's too high. I can't attain it. Is David just saying, oh, this is so good. Man, this is beyond my mind's comprehension. I'm not just known generally by God. I'm enclosed by you.

I'm protected by you. God's hand is upon me, David says. That's complete knowledge, personal presence, personal care. That's intentional. And David can't even comprehend the fullness of it. Too wonderful is this expression of amazement that you know me completely. Now I want you to think about this for a second.

God knows you. Dirty you and dirty me. Sinful you and sinful me. And he still loves you. And he saved you. If your faith is in Christ today, what a beautiful treasure of grace. What a picture of God's grace. And David then says in you know, verse 10 again about the hand of God ahead, not in our passage today in particular, but I don't want to bring this up.

Even there, so everywhere I go, we'll talk about his omnipresence next time, but your right hand will lay hold of me, your right hand, your hand will lead me. There's this, you know, God, you know everything, and God, you're taking care of me. You're holding me. And this is where omniscience is such a great security and a comfort for us.

God knows the responsibility that's weighing on you. He knows the grief you're going through. He knows the hurts that are that are really heavy on your heart. He knows the questions that you're asking. You never have to explain yourself perfectly for your father to understand you. That is where omniscience is just incredible for our anxiety and our fears and our worries.

God knows. He knows it all. And you never have to explain yourself. You know, I sometimes, you know, be in a conversation with my wife, just like any of you might be with your husband or wife, and you're you're trying to explain something and figure it out. And men and women, we speak different, different dialects of the same language sometimes, but you don't quite hear or understand it.

So you got to sit, you got to talk. And what is our greatest concern? Usually it should be with our husband or our wife. We want to make sure we're understanding one another and that we are being understood because we're like, no, I want you to know my heart. I hear what I'm saying. And so you navigate that conversation, you come out of it, and there's nothing better, right, than being in lockstep with your husband or your wife or with a friend.

And sometimes you may go into your prayer life with anxiety, like, God, you know, you you and you're making sure like you kind of get God to understand you, and you're so worried about saying it perfectly. Let me just encourage you to stop feeling that pressure. God knows everything, his hand is on you, he loves you.

Say what's on your heart. Talk to him as a God who knows. And don't worry about perfectly explaining it all. He's with you. Matthew 6, verse 8 says, Your father knows what you need before you ask him. And Jesus gives us that assurance. He's teaching his disciples in the context of that statement about prayer.

Now, some people think, well, if God knows everything, then who cares? Like, why ask? You know, what's the point of asking? No, the right attitude is to know this truth and then have it bolster your confidence to pray. Because we come to a father who already understands what we need, and then he's welcoming, hey, I already know what you're gonna ask.

Come bring it to me. And you can approach the throne of grace with confidence. I think about this with my kids all the time. I've got a few that when they come to ask, they go, Dad, like, so I know already, and they they kind of show you, they front load, like I have knowledge about the rules, about the schedule, that I might be asking for something a little.

And as a father, I often just stop them. I say, hey, just you don't need to preface, you don't need a nuance. You don't need to kind of mansplain with what's going on. You know, if it's one of my boys, just ask, what is it? And they'll say, Can we can we go golf or can we can we have a snack? You know, whatever that is, and I already know.

I already know what's coming. And it's my joy as a father, and we always want to be careful. Like, me using this illustration isn't my theology. Like, well, I would never do that as a father. God wouldn't. No, God is perfect, I'm not. But we can understand, I think, a concept like this in its right context.

As a parent, we know when the kids are coming with a question. We know what they need, we know what they want. And and what's our joy to say, can you stop with all of your prefacing and your disclaimers? Ask me. I want you to. There's that beautiful trust in relationship. Well, your father is perfect in heaven.

And you can trust his wisdom, you can trust his heart, his love for you. You don't need to impress him, you don't need to find the perfect words. You don't need to ask for things perfectly and just write like that was a good prayer. For sure, God's answering that. No, he loves you and listens to you and will answer you when you're not very eloquent in your prayer life.

Just like he loved you, cared for you, and met your need for salvation long before you became good enough or said it all the right way. When Christ died for your sins, none of them were hidden by God. You didn't come and like say it perfectly. Half of you, you know, you when you got saved, you just, you, you're like, I don't even know.

I don't know all the words. What Bible do I use? Uh, where do I sit? How does this work? You don't, God doesn't save you because you're a theologian. God doesn't save you because you passed a theological exam. God doesn't save you because you knew how to dress and you knew what to say and you prayed that prayer like just right.

No, the repentant heart comes and says, I don't know all the words, but I know this. I'm sorry for my sin. I see that Jesus is the only one who can rescue me. I'm dirty. He can make me clean. I need forgiveness. I've never felt this kind of love before. That this all makes sense to me. I don't know everything, but I know this.

You know, Jesus saved me that. He knew everything about you. He knew your guilt and the savior you needed. And that doesn't mean like your sin is not a big deal. But it isn't this supposed to make us think about how amazing the grace of God really is. Like if you belong to Christ, you are forgiven, loved, heard, listened to, cared for, you can confess honestly your sin before him, your greatest needs, and then you can rest in his work and that the Father knows you and the Son has received you, died for you.

You've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and a beautiful relationship with God. And so his omniscience brings great security to us. And third and finally, God's perfect knowledge, God's omniscience calls us to honest surrender. I want to jump us to verses 23 and 24. It's kind of the bookend of Psalm 139.

David starts with search me and ends with search me. Oh Lord, verse 1, you have searched me and known me. 23, search me, O God, and know my heart. There's this past and present kind of thing going on here. Try me and known my anxious. Thoughts, see if there be any hurtful way in me, lead me in the everlasting way.

It's like this idea of God, you've searched me and known me. Search me again. See if there be any way in me that is just any hurtful way, any way that I'm off. Try me. Would you test me? Know my anxious thoughts. I expose what needs to change in me and lead me in the way of everlasting. He's saying, lead me in the right way.

Because he knows, God, you know my heart. And so I trust that you're the one who can examine it. You're the one who can change it. You're the one that can sanctify and purify and guide. This is a serious prayer for a man or woman to pray. You know, we often, God, we often ask God, like, change my circumstances, change him or her.

David says, start with me, deal with me. So in your perfect knowledge, would you work on my heart? Would you check on my thoughts? Would you take inventory of my ways? What an honest prayer. Maybe a prayer that you need to pray today. Proverbs 28, 13 says, He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper.

So if you hide your sin, you don't confess them to God. And it says, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. God will bring compassion to your soul and to your life. You get honest with him about the ugly. And so God's omniscience should move us towards surrender, move us towards confession, teachability, obedience, all of those things.

They flow from God knowing everything. And so let me just give you a few applications here today. Number one, confess what you've been concealing. Like bring your sin before God plainly. If you've sinned against your wife, your children, another person, like acknowledge it. It's not like, hey, I'm sorry you got your feelings hurt.

Hey, we need, you know, maybe we should kind of clear, like, no, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? I sinned. Whether they forgive or not is their problem. But taking responsibility, getting with God on those things, He already knows, and then move on and move forward. But hiding in your sin or, you know, using some mitigating language because you're trying to mitigate your reputation or make it all okay without really getting honest only prolongs the lie you're living.

Number two, invite correction where you may be blind. Look at David. Search me, O God, know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. Lord, where am I excusing myself? Lord, where am I telling others but not living it? And listen, listen to scripture. Listen when your husband or your wife comes to you, you know, privately in love to say, hey, I'm seeing blind spots in your life.

And they want to help you in private before you're disciplined in public. What about a faithful brother or sister that just comes alongside you in a discipleship relationship, exposing something you need to address, and now you get to address it before it becomes a bigger issue. The correction should be weighed by God's word, but when it comes from the word of God, I mean, let the knowledge of God drive you to a teachability with your blind spots.

And third, trust God with what you cannot see. Trust Him with what you cannot see. You don't know how every family concern, uh, sinful decision, work issue, difficult season, uh, the decisions of other people. You don't know how it's all gonna work out. Neither do I. Guess who does? God. So, what can you do today?

What can you control? Your next faithful step of obedience, and you don't need to demand that God reveal the whole future. You just trust him today because he is the God who knows all things perfectly. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Thank you for those of you who give to for the gospel.

We are a hundred percent donor-supported. The ministry is by the grace of God reaching millions of people around the world in multiple languages because of faithful friends like you. And so I always want to end the episodes that we do by saying thank you. But above all else, thank you for praying. Please continue to pray that God used for the gospel for his glory, that he used the podcast, the teaching, the resources, the articles, everything that we're doing to minister to the hearts of people.

That's what it's all about. Sound doctrine for everyday people. It's just everyone should be able to understand God, the Bible, and then be able to put those truths into practice. And if you want more content for free, more resources, and you're a new listener, go to forthegospel.org. Our website has everything there.

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Keep on living for the gospel.

Nothing Is Hidden from God

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