Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5kTDItirQABqBKdC1UMx3W

Summary

Main Themes:

1. Human Need for Connection:

   • People are designed to know others and to be known.
   • Dr. Julianna Schroeder's quote emphasizes that being interested in others is more meaningful than being interesting.

2. God's Design for Relationship:

   • God created humanity to be in relationship with Him and others.
   • Old Testament examples:
     • Temple: Symbolized God's presence.
     • Nation: Defined identity.
     • Monarchy: Conveyed purpose through leadership.

3. Psalm 139: God’s Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence:

   • God knows everything about us-our thoughts, actions, and even our innermost desires.
   • This knowledge can feel both comforting and terrifying because it reveals our vulnerability.

4. Growth in the Knowledge of God:

   • Knowledge of God is infinite and should be pursued with humility.
   • True knowledge leads to transformation and Christlikeness.
   • The danger of arrogance in knowledge-knowledge should build others up in love.

5. Biblical Knowledge and Study:

   • Scripture emphasizes the importance of growing in knowledge (e.g., Proverbs, Hosea, 2 Peter).
   • True knowledge of God is more than just emotional experiences; it involves intentional study and reflection.

Key Takeaways:

1. God Knows Us Fully:

   • Psalm 139 highlights God's intimate knowledge of humanity-He searches us, knows us, and leads us.

2. Relationship Over Doctrine:

   • While theological terms like omniscience and omnipresence are helpful, Psalm 139 is more about God's personal relationship with us.

3. Christian Responsibility:

   • Christians are called to make God visible by growing in knowledge and revealing Him to the world.
   • Love for Jesus is shown through a commitment to knowing Him deeply, not just experiencing Him superficially.

4. Practical Steps for Growth:

   • Regularly study the Word, not just devotionally but deeply and systematically.
   • Approach learning with humility, recognizing that God's knowledge is infinite.

5. God’s Mercy and Grace:

   • Psalm 139 ends with a call for God to continually search and lead us, demonstrating trust in His guidance.
   • God's omniscience is not just about His power but also His mercy-He knows us fully and loves us regardless.

Encouragement:

• Pursue the knowledge of God with passion and humility, knowing it will transform your life.
• Trust that God’s intimate knowledge of you is for your good and leads to eternal security.

Final Sermon Script

Now, I'm fascinated by psychological studies. Additionally, I also get to work with lots of Psychologists.

• The first thing I find fascinating is how so many people who want to be Psychologists are also the people who most need Psychologists.
• One area I enjoy reading about is personality. People LOVE personality tests, even those ones online like "do this test to find out what Disney princess you are" (I'm Belle - beauty & beast)
• Most of them are inaccurate BUT often they just give us language to describe ourselves.
• One common area is Extraversion or Introversion… Who here would call themselves an Extrovert/Introvert.

I'm an extrovert. Which means I am energised by people, any people, even strangers.

• So I injured my back last year and was bedridden for 10 weeks. Let me tell you, the worst part was not the injury… It was the lack of connection with people.
• Even introverts, when left alone too long, feel the same.
• Humanity is designed to KNOW others and be KNOWN by others

Dr. Julianna Schroeder from the "Journal of Experimental Social Psychology"

• "It’s good to be interesting. It’s better to be interested. We gravitate toward people who want to understand us. Feeling seen is core to feeling loved.

How often do we gravitate to simply be interesting.

• "Anyone here know someone who knows alot?"… "Who know someone who KNOWS they know alot?"
• They LOVE trying to be interesting…have to correct everything (Let's get a Maccas icecream=actually soft serve)
• Ever thought you knew a lot and then realised… I hardly know anything - I've learned, if you feel intelligent, it's probably because you avoid talking with people smarter than you. And when you do = caught off guard… am I DUMB?
• Yes… But also, who cares? Instead of being interesting, be interested. People want to be seen and known by others.
• It's how God created us… In the beginning God created Adam & Eve to walk in the garden, to KNOW Him and to be KNOWN by Him.

This is why all throughout Scripture one statement we see God making is "they will be my people and I will be their God"

• And more than just a far off, disinterested God, but Jesus says He is our "Father"
• It's interesting to observe this throughout the Old Testament and how God established this relationship with Israel
• First, He established a Temple. The Temple was the "house of the Lord", the place of worship, the sanctuary where the Presence of God was.
• Second, He established a Nation. He defined the Identity of His people, those who were blessed, and set apart.
• Third, He established a Monarchy. These king's were to receive from God and then deliver God's Will to Israel.
• Presence, Identity, and Will shaped God's relationship with His people. God was WITH them, He gave the IDENTITY, and they had PURPOSE.
• Reminds me of church… God is with us, we all belong to Him & each other as His children, and our purpose is to reveal Him to our world.

But that's a side point… This is significance because it set's the scene for our text this morning - open up to Psalm 139… And we'll just work through the Psalm until it's time to leave.

• The Psalms are essentially human response to God - they're poetry, songs, prayers.
• But they're also Scripture. Which means they are God's Words to us. So they are human responses to God but also God's responses to humanity.
• Psalm 1 begins by describing what the Psalms are for - our happiness. AWESOME, I know what will make me happy… WRONG, Psalm 1:2 says that happiness is constant openness to God's "instruction".
• With that, let's listen to someone with a better voice than me read Psalm 139

VIDEO

At the time of writing this, Israel had just gotten out of Exile. (Timeline)

• Between 605-597 they were invaded and deported back to Babylon. In 587 Babylon destroyed the temple.
• This lasted until 539 when King Cyrus allowed Israel to return.
• The problem is… They lost the Temple, their Nation, and their Kings.
• I wonder… If we lost our Churches & our religious freedom, how many Christians would still follow Christ?
• The Psalmist, who's lost their God-given national identity, the source of God's word to the people, and the place where the Presence of God was says

Psalm 139

Now, we don't know the specific context of the writing, but we know for certain that there are some enemies against him cause…

Psalm 139

And yet the Psalm begins with

Psalm 139

• And ends with…

Psalm 139

All throughout Book 4 & 5 of the Psalms from Psalm 90-150 we see the anguish of Israel, who has lost everything. But we see the answer to their anguish:

• That Israel's true home is and always will be God alone.
• Israel's true king is and always will be God
• And His promises and covenant is not solely reliant upon a land, but rather in a people.
• No matter where God's people are, God is there. No matter how secretive they are, God still knows them.

Psalm 139

We've been talking about the attributes of God recently. The characteristics of God on display in this Psalm are His Omnipotence, Omnipresence, & Omniscience. As in God has ALL POWER, He is Present EVERYWHERE, and He KNOWS ALL.

• He sees our private life as we "sit down", and also our public life as we "rise up" to go out.
• Even from afar He knows our thought; our every desire, what we enjoy, long for, our values.
• Even before the psalmist forms his words the Lord knows fully what he intends to say and what he means by what he says.
• There's no masking with fancy word salads… You ever notice spiritual word salads? Those people who call themselves prophets are great at it:
  • "As we step into the new season of divine acceleration, we activate the realms of glory and walk in the fullness of Kingdom authority, releasing the winds of revival to unlock heavenly dimensions, while standing under the open heavens of supernatural overflow and breakthrough manifestation." WHAT DOES THAT MEEAAN
• God sees past the words, into you heart.
• Our desire to be fully know? It is found in God.
• Is that not terrifying? He must look at my thoughts sometimes like "wow… that's dumb"

The Psalmist also has conflicted about it

Psalm 139

• This word "hem me in" - it has no one definition. Rather, it's purposefully ambiguous.
• It can be translated as an enemy "beseiging" him or a friend "protecting" him.
• He has conflicted feelings, on one hand he wants to be known, on the other he recognises His own vulnerability.
• Is that not so relatable? We know how God has created us to belong in community, but opening up to others is hard.
• We know we are meant to read His Word but sometimes we just don't want to be confronted by it.
• In fact, I truly believe that one of the roadblocks to reading Scripture is that we know it demands stuff of us. "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - REALLY… deny MYSELF??
• Newsflash, HE already knows. He knows my heart. He knows my excuses.
• His knowledge of me is not dependent on my vulnerability.
• For those in sin and rebellion with God, this should terrify… For Christians, this should astonish.

Psalm 139

• His knowledge is too much for us to understand.
• Wayne Grudem defines Omniscience as

God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act.

• While we don't understand HOW, it is possible for us to conceptualise all knowledge. This is why omniscience is called a Communicable Attribute.
• God knows what was, was is, what will be. He knows all things about all people and things.
• Even if we also could know all of that, the one that blows my mind is that God fully knows Himself.
• I imagine it's something like this - IMAGE
• Because God is INFINITE, right?
• Meaning, no beginning, no end.. We cant really grasp that, that's why it's called an Incommunicable Attribute.
• So fully knowing, with perfect knowledge, of Himself.
• God has all knowledge.. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me

It's at this point that we must stop and ask… So what now?

• At the start of this series, Ps Bill explained how our role as Christians is to make God visible to our world.
• In other words, we are to be Christ-like in all we do.
• Ever heard this before "we don't need theology, we just need Jesus"?
• Because knowledge puffs up… the most pompous, arrogant people are often those who think they know alot.

2 Peter 3

• The knowledge we grow in as Christians is the knowledge of CHRIST.
• The knowledge of God is INFINITE… But Christ is different, Jesus and the Holy Spirit submit to the Father… NOPE, that's Heresy (Subordinationism)
• But He is different, like a clover, there's Father, Son, Holy Spirit and together they're God… NOPE, heresy (that's Partialism)
• What about the Father, Son, Holy Spirit are just different FORMS of God like water, ice, and mist… That's Modalism… and that's heresy
• Jesus is not a created being, or lesser being.
• Jesus IS God.
• God is three persons, one God… There's no metaphor that truly help us understand

But the point is this, Jesus IS God… God is eternal… so knowledge of Christ is never ending.

• A Christian who reveals God to this world. A Christian who is Christ-like is a Christian who is growing in knowledge.
• The implication of this = you can study for the rest of your life and there will still be more to know about God.
• We don't need Theology or knowledge, we just need Jesus though?
• Jesus is sufficient, but think of it like this… I love my wife. But if you asked me "what colour are her eyes, what does she like doing, favourite food?" and I struggle to answer….
• How can I say I LOVE my wife if I don't know her or even try to know her?
• Usually the statement "All we need is Jesus" is another way of saying "I can't be bothered to study, I just need to experience Him"
• A relationship that is based on an experience without knowing sounds more like a fling than a relationship.

Christianity founded Harvard, Oxford, & Yale. Christians played the pivotal role in establishing Modern Science. They abolished Slavery and produced some of the best Literature and Art of the Medieval world.

• Then came the revivals… Which had incredible fruit and I'd never devalue them
• But at that time, Azusa Street, Great Awakening etc. - An emphasis on experience overwrote teaching.
• The amount of Christians from these revivals who ended up in Mormonism and the Latter Day Saints was massive.
• Peter was dealing with the same thing:

2 Peter 3

But doesn't the Bible say that "knowledge puffs up"? Not exactly… A good tip is to always read around the verse…

1 Corinthians 8

• Some christians knew that idols weren't real, but others didnt know that and though that eating food sacrificed to idols was ceremonially unclean.
• Paul is encouraging the believers with greater knowledge to show love to those with the weaker conscience so they wouldn't stumble.
• His point is that knowledge should be exercised in love and for the purpose to build up other believers and not to simply build up our own arrogance.

Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1

Hosea 4

2 Peter 1

Philippians 1

2 Corinthians 10

Proverbs 18

Proverbs 1

Matthew 22

Being "puffed up with knowledge" is nothing like a cup that is so full nothing else can be poured into it… it's the cup that is satisfied with it's current capacity.

• It's the person who is satisfied with their current knowledge as if there's no where to grow.
• "I don't need to worry about all that, I just need to love Jesus"… No, we LOVE Jesus by growing in our knowing of Jesus
• "I don't need someone else to teach me from a platform or through a book"… Ever thought someone else may have different or greater insight than you? I pray I never get to the point where I reject the thousands of years of the Holy Spirit speaking to others because "I've already learned these things".

My favourite author G.K. Chesterton points this out brilliantly by stating that "In real life the people who are most bigoted & puffed up are the people who have no convictions or knowledge at all. The economists of universities who disagree with Socialism take Socialism seriously. It is the young man on the street, who does not know what socialism means much less whether he agrees with it, who is quite certain that these socialist fellows are making a fuss about nothing."

• We pursue knowledge because God has made knowledge of Himself, myself, and the world available to us. We refuse to Lord over others or remain puffed up in our own knowledge, but we humbly and in love grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
• And in become more like Christ, we make God and His knowledge known to this world.
• Let me tell you this… Truth, and I don't mean "ooh this is my truth"… But objective, Godly truth is needed more today than ever before.
• The knowledge of Christ is foolishness to the world, yet the knowledge of Christ is the knowledge of He who created the world.

My prayer is that we recognise the unsearchable depths of the knowledge of God and dive in…

My prayer is that in studying the Word, not just listening to a devotional or perusing through it, but in STUDYING His Word we will grow in the grace & knowledge of Christ.

• Is it daunting? yes! Will you ever attain full knowledge? NO WAY! Perhaps you don't even know where to start… ASK.
• But I want to finish on one more aspect of the Knowledge of God, pivoting away from our responsibility but back to God.

One scholar said this about Psalm 139…

Theological terms like omniscience and omnipresence often fail to fully capture the meaning of Psalm 139, as the psalmist's intent was not systematic doctrine. The psalm emphasises God's personal knowledge of and presence with the psalmist, rather than abstract doctrines.

• One incredible reality of the Omniscience of God = He knows YOU
• This Psalm gives us the correct way we must approach God

Psalm 139

• Having been searched (v. 1), the psalmist wants to be continually searched.
• Having been known (vv. 2, 4), he wants to be continually known.
• Having been seen (v. 16), he wants to be continually seen.
• Having experienced God's leading (v.10), he wants to be continually led.
• The psalmist fully entrusts his life to God, for now and forever, secure in the conviction that he or she has been, is being, and will be "fully known".

Hebrews 8

🧠 Brain Dump

IDEA:

• Psalm 139 expository
• Cover omniscience, God knows us, God knows God
• Psalm 139:6
• We really only need to know Jesus? 2 Pet 3:15
• Jesus IS God = infinite
• Trinitarian heresies
• Tension=told to grow in knowledge but will never make it
• Welcome - God's attributes
• Start with Psalm 139 video reading
• God KNOWS
  • thoughts/words
  • Psalm 147 = knows every star
  • Luke 12 = knows even the hairs on our heads
• "Know someone who knows alot?" "Know someone who KNOWS they know alot?" - have to correct everything (icecream=actually soft serve)
• Ever thought you knew a lot and then realised… I hardly know anything - I've learned, if you feel intelligent, it's probably because you avoid talking with people smarter than you. And when you do = caught off guard… am I DUMB?
• God is never caught off guard

Potential Outline:

• Welcome
• Psalm 139:1-12
• God KNOWS - thoughts/words, star, hairs
• Story about know-it-alls being humbled
• God = Omniscient - Elihu & John
• God knows all things past, present, future. He knows the human heart, He knows our sin, our actions… Deut 29:29 even says "the secret things belong to the Lord", so He knows things that are hidden from human understanding.
• Psalm 139:13-16
• Psalm 139:17-18 - God knows Himself PERFECTLY (complete, starts with Himself (like Zoom screen repeat))
• Mind-blowing? 2 Peter 3:15 - knowledge of Christ = God = Infinite
• Implication = you can study for the rest of your life and there will still be more to know about God.
• 10 Levels of Theology Knowledge VIDEO
• Knowledge puffs up - 1 Cor 8:1
• My Study - Theology? Can't Jesus Be enough?
• Interesting? Christians started Harvard, modern science etc. > Revival > Mormon growth
• 2 Peter 3:16-17 - Peter is dealing with the same thing
• So doesn't the Bible say knowledge puffs up?
• Being "puffed up with knowledge" is nothing like a cup that is so full nothing else can be poured into it… it's the cup that is satisfied with it's current capacity.
• It's the person who is satisfied with their current knowledge as if there's no where to grow.
• "I don't need to worry about all that, I just need to love Jesus"… No, we LOVE Jesus by growing in our knowing of Jesus
• "I don't need someone else to teach me from a platform or through a book"… Ever thought someone else may have different or greater insight than you? I pray I never get to the point where I reject the thousands of years of the Holy Spirit speaking to others because "I've already learned these things".

My favourite author G.K. Chesterton points this out brilliantly by stating that "In real life the people who are most bigoted & puffed up are the people who have no convictions or knowledge at all. The economists of universities who disagree with Socialism take Socialism seriously. It is the young man on the street, who does not know what socialism means much less whether he agrees with it, who is quite certain that these socialist fellows are making a fuss about nothing."

• We pursue knowledge because God has made knowledge of Himself, myself, and the world available to us. We refuse to Lord over others or remain puffed up in our own knowledge, but we humbly and in love grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
• And in become more like Christ, we make God and His knowledge known to this world.
• Let me tell you this… Truth, and I don't mean "ooh this is my truth"… But objective, Godly truth is needed more today than ever before.
• The knowledge of Christ is foolishness to the world, yet the knowledge of Christ is the knowledge of He who created the world.
• Chesterton

The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed. It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. We shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but something more incredible still, this huge impossible universe which stares us in the face. We shall fight for visible prodigies as if they were invisible. We shall look on the impossible grass and the skies with a strange courage. We shall be of those who have seen and yet have believed.

• My prayer is that we recognise the unsearchable depths of the knowledge of God and dive in… My prayer is that in studying the Word, not just listening to a devotional or perusing through it, but in STUDYING His Word we will grow in the grace & knowledge of Christ.
• Is it daunting? yes! Will you ever attain full knowledge? NO WAY! Perhaps you don't even know where to start… I have a helpful slide of free resources at the end of this.
• But I want to finish on one more aspect of the Knowledge of God, pivoting away from our responsibility but back to God.
• If you feel like you're not smart, you don't know as much as others, maybe you just find it hard to study.
• One incredible reality of the Omniscience of God = He knows YOU - Psalm 139:1-5
• Even in His all-knowing, He chose to forgive - Hebrews 8:12

url: https://sermons.logos.com/sermons/1175846-omniscience-all-knowing
title: "Omniscience-All Knowing"
description: "Omniscience-All Knowing For as long as I can remember, I have always been one who liked to consume information. I never wanted to stay stagnant in my learning and growing. It can be about stuff that will help me in my life. Or just random information that really holds no intrinsic value. I just love…"
host: sermons.logos.com
image: https://files.logoscdn.com/v1/files/72006077/assets/15236883/content.jpg?download=true&signature=cTGzj8XNODP7KtaaWxIHpAI1B4Y

url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5BfC61pt8
title: "Why Is Theology So Important? Can’t Jesus Be Enough?"
description: ""If we’re going to have Jesus, we need to have theology."Kevin DeYoung discusses the necessary connection between being a disciple of Jesus and theology."
host: www.youtube.com
favicon: https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/997e740c/img/favicon_32x32.png
image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gp5BfC61pt8/maxresdefault.jpg

url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edq7a5euvcA
title: "Is Too Much Head Knowledge Bad For Christians?"
description: "Can a Christian study too much? Does knowledge stifle faith or put the head in front of the heart?To order Alisa’s book, "Another Gospel":  https://www.alisa..."
host: www.youtube.com
favicon: https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/997e740c/img/favicon_32x32.png
image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/edq7a5euvcA/maxresdefault.jpg

Maybe funny video:

url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-VD5WQCH20
title: "The 10 Levels of Theology Knowledge"
description: "Go to https://ground.news/redeemed to get the full side of every story. You’ll get 40% off of their Vantage plan which includes unlimited access to every fea..."
host: www.youtube.com
favicon: https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/997e740c/img/favicon_32x32.png
image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/i-VD5WQCH20/hqdefault.jpg

Coming to Christ is something more than coming to the possession of head-knowledge about Him. You may know the whole system of evangelical doctrine, and be able to talk, argue, and dispute every jot and tittle of it, and yet never be saved. All this is not coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is coming to Him with the heart by simple faith. Believing on Christ is coming to Him, and coming to Christ is believing on Him. It is that act of the soul which takes place when a man, feeling his own sins, and despairing of all other hope, commits to Christ for salvation, ventures on Him, trusts Him, and casts himself wholly on Him.

• J.C. Ryle, 19TH CENTURY Anglican Bishop, Christmas Thoughts, pg. 12