Omniscience of Christ
Continuing to display the distinguishing attributes of God possessed by Christ, Pastor Martin devotes this message to the omniscience of Christ. He expounds John 1 (Christ reading Nathanael's heart under the fig tree), John 2 (He knew what was in man and needed no witness), Revelation 2 (He searches the reins and hearts), and Matthew 11:27 (no one knoweth the Son but the Father, and none the Father but the Son). He applies the doctrine as a source of great consolation to struggling believers (with Peter: 'Lord, thou knowest that I love thee') and a source of conviction to those dallying with sin.
Primary Texts
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A full transcript is available on the tab. 135 paragraphs, roughly 56 minutes.
Introduction and Review of the Second Group of Witnesses
A wise man of God of another generation said, It is the grand distinction of Christianity that all its doctrines and all its focus center in the person of its founder and teacher. There are many distinctions among the so-called religions of the world, But this very perceptive man of God has said that the grand distinction, the grand distinction of Christianity is that all of its doctrines and all of its forces center in the person of its founder and teacher.
And since the person of Christ is fundamental to every aspect of the religion of Christ, it should not surprise us that the enemies of Christ have continually sought to undermine the teaching of the Word of God at this very pivotal point. It is for this very reason that we are moving most carefully and thoroughly through this section of our series of studies entitled, Here We Stand.
This series of messages is intended to be a broad overview of the major doctrinal aspects of the Word of God, particularly those aspects which need desperately to be confessed in our generation by any group of people claiming submission to the Word of God. In the course of this series of studies, we have considered, first of all, the book we believe and obey. Secondly, the God whom we worship and confess, and we are now engaged in this third area of concern, the salvation we receive and proclaim. The first major subheading of that third broad area concerned the objects of this salvation.
And we saw from Scripture that the objects are primarily man and secondarily the earth itself. Now we're considering the central figure in this salvation taught in the Word of God. Who is the central figure? And even a very careless reading through the New Testament answers that question.
The central figure is the person of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And as we've been considering this central figure, we've looked at scriptures that underscore the tremendous importance of the doctrine of Christ's person. Then I attempted to set forth a simple statement of the doctrine of the Word of God concerning the person of Christ. And that simple statement has three irreducible elements.
That the person of Christ is to be understood as true God, secondly, true man, thirdly, one person in two natures forever. Now we are engaged in examining the raw materials of Scripture out of which that construction of the doctrine of the person of Christ has come. What has always forced the people of God to confess their Savior to be true God? What Scriptures have always led them to confess him to be true man? What portions of the word of God, what lines of biblical truth have always caused the people of God to confess their Savior to be not only God and man, but one
person in the two natures forever? Well, it's precisely that question that we are seeking to answer. And all of our attention for several weeks has been focused on the first part of that simple statement of the doctrine of Christ's person. Namely, He is true God. How do we know that He is God? Why should we worship Him as God? And we brought in the first group of witnesses, the text of Scripture which explicitly call Him God. Texts which come to us in a setting that forbids any other meaning than that Jesus Christ is truly God. That is, everything that can be said of God as God can be said of Jesus Christ. Now we're engaged in the second, looking at the second,
or listening to the second group of witnesses. Those scriptures which declare him to be the possessor of the distinguishing characteristics or attributes of God. You remember the illustration now between the baby cart and the automobile? They have many things in common, but there are certain characteristics of an automobile that are its distinguishing characteristics that set it apart from a baby carriage.
There are certain characteristics of all rational beings, God, angels, devils, and men, and of Jesus Christ. But there are certain distinguishing characteristics of God, things that are true of God and of no other being. And if we see those characteristics attributed to Christ, then we are warranted in assuming that he is God. Even if he were not called God, if he possesses the distinguishing characteristics of God, we are to identify him as such.
We do not need to have a sign on the side of a car saying this is an automobile. If it possesses all the characteristics of an automobile, we are warranted in assuming that is an automobile. Last week we looked at three of the witnesses in this second major group. I'll just mention them and then we proceed to our study this morning.
We saw that Jesus Christ is brought to us in the scriptures as one who has eternal existence. A characteristic of God, as we read in Psalm 90 this morning, is attributed to Jesus Christ in several pivotal texts of the New Testament. and then we saw that changelessness or the more formal word immutability is attributed to Jesus Christ a distinguishing characteristic of God is said to be possessed by our Lord and then we closed our study by looking at those portions which attribute to our Lord omnipresence that is he is everywhere present in all places at the same time
and if this again is a distinguishing attribute of God do not I fill heaven and earth and yet wonder of wonders it is our Savior who says where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in the midst lo I am with you always now we come this morning to consider two more fundamental witnesses in this second group who attests to the fact that Jesus is God. How do we know He is God? The first group of witnesses came in and said He is God because He is called God. And we looked at the seven texts.
The second group of witnesses say He is God because He possesses the distinguishing characteristics of God. The first one in that group said He is the person or the being of eternal existence. The second one said He is changeless. The third one said He is omnipresent.
Omniscience Defined as a Distinguishing Attribute of God
And now the fourth one in that group of witnesses says he is omniscient. Now, it's a big word. But all you kids ought to know what it means. The word omniscient simply means to know everything.
Now, some of us would love to have even a little bit of omniscience at certain times. Say, like, if we're doing something we shouldn't, and we'd like to know whether or not mom or dad are about to come through the door, or when we go to take that exam and we haven't studied, it's at such points that we wish we had a little bit of omniscience that we knew all there was to know. But the scripture says that only God is omniscient. That is, he possesses all knowledge, everything that is to be known concerning all things, with a perfect knowledge that needs no investigation or deduction.
You see, we come to certain things to know them by investigation. We have to examine things to know them. God does not need to examine it. He knows everything there is to know about everything without having to go through any process of examination, investigation, or deduction.
Maybe your mother will come in someday and say, Now I know that you traipsed the mud through the living room floor. Now how does she know that? Well, she's done some deduction. She looked at your shoes.
She saw they were muddy. She looked at the rug and saw it was muddy. and she looked and saw a trail that led right outside to where she saw you playing. So putting all the facts together, she says, I know that you are the guilty culprit who put mud tracks on our new living room rug.
Now she knew that by deduction. She took certain facts, put them together, and came to a point of knowledge. Without being at all irreverent, God does not know by deduction. He doesn't need to put certain facts together and say, Oh, in the light of that, I know.
He knows by an immediate contact with all reality in every realm of the cosmos. God is the God of perfect knowledge. He is called this by Elihu in Job 37 verses 14 through 16. Omniscience, perfect knowledge of all things, is attributed to God by this man who is speaking to Job.
Job 37, verses 14 through 16.
Hearken unto this, O Job. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know how God layeth His charge upon them and causeth the lightning of His cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?
He's saying, Job, can you penetrate the mysteries of what we would call the natural order? Can you penetrate the mystery of the lightning in its relationship to the clouds? Do you understand the ways of the clouds and all that's involved in what you can behold with your eyes? The obvious answer is, of course not.
But there is one who does. Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? God never had to go to a school to learn meteorology. God never had to go to school to learn the weather patterns.
He knows all there is to know in every single realm without investigation or deduction. In the language of the New Testament, Hebrews 4 and verse 13, all things are naked and opened before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. To use the illustration, if this were a book explaining some particular technical field, if I was to know what was in it, I'd have to open the book. I'd have to first of all read and understand and relate and assimilate.
But everything to God is naked and open. All the books are open. and all the pages are open, and they are perfectly mastered. All things naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Witness 1: Nathanael Under the Fig Tree (John 1)
Now, I trust we've established the fact that omniscience is that quality or ability to know all things in all realms without investigation or deduction, that that quality, that characteristic is a distinguishing characteristic of God. Only God is omniscient. Now when we turn to the scriptures, if we find Jesus Christ possessed of omniscience, we are warranted in saying He is truly God. Turn then to the Gospel of John in chapter 1.
John chapter 1. And this is the wonder of God revealed in Christ. He is revealed to us not so much in abstract discourse, but Jesus can say, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And all the glorious attributes of God shine in the face of our Redeemer.
They are revealed not in abstract philosophical definition, but in living demonstration as God-Man Jesus Christ walks here upon the face of the earth. And we have a beautiful and penetrating demonstration of the omniscience of Christ in John chapter 1, verses 43, through the end of the chapter. And on the morrow he, Jesus, was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said unto them, Can any good thing, good, particularly with reference to the matter of Messiah can any good thing come out of Nazareth Philip saith unto him Come and see Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?
Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and saith unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou?
Thou shalt see greater things than these. Here is one of the most wonderful demonstrations of the omniscience of Christ. Philip as he is encouraged to come I'm sorry Nathaniel as he is encouraged to come and behold Jesus because Philip and others have found him and believed him to be the Messiah is concerned because he has not been led to believe that any good thing with reference to messianic hope can come out of Nazareth and so they encourage him well, if you won't take it on our testimony, at least come and see. Give him the opportunity to demonstrate who he is.
And so apparently, as we try to see the circumstance in its physical relationships, Jesus beholds Nathanael coming to him, perhaps accompanied by Philip. And in his presence are the other, at that time probably, five of the intimate associates. and he says to them, but in such a way, either with volume or in such close proximity to Nathanael, he says these words, Behold, that is, as Nathanael comes, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Now this is a statement which reflected something concerning the state of Nathanael's heart.
Our Lord uses the word Israelite here in that pregnant sense in which the Apostle used it in Romans 9. They are not all Israel who are of Israel. Our Lord says this is an Israelite indeed. This is a true Israelite, an Israelite after the pattern of Psalm 32 from which this language comes.
Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is covered, and in whose spirit there is no guile. This was a truly justified believing Israelite. This was what we would call an Old Testament saint. And our Lord says, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
You see, guile is deceit, duplicity. It's a matter of the heart. He didn't say, Behold, an Israelite. on whose face there are no Gentile characteristics, or in whose mouth there are no...
No, no. He's dealing with a condition that is inward, that cannot be known by external observation. And this is what perplexes Nathanael. Notice his response to that.
He overhears the Lord saying this, as the Lord speaks to his companions, Behold, here comes an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael answers and says, verse 48, whence knowest thou me? And the word whence, an adverb in this context, literally means in what way or by what manner are you knowing me? You could never say something about the state of my heart unless you knew my heart. Now my question is, by what means do you know me? I've never seen you before. We've never talked. You have not been able to make this statement on the basis of deduction. Now, we are to make statements tentatively on the basis of deduction concerning
the state of people's hearts. Paul says to Timothy, you are to flee youthful lusts, but you are to follow righteousness with them that call on the Lord out of a what? Pure heart. Now, I cannot absolutely know a man's heart. But after spending time with him, you can with some degree of accuracy sense who are those that are seeking after God with a pure heart. And Paul says, Timothy, you line up with them and you struggle on the way to glory, arm in arm with those who press on with a pure heart.
But you see, our Lord had no basis upon which to make a deduction. And that's what bothers Nathaniel. He says, wait a minute, you're making a rather sweeping pronouncement about the deepest recesses of my character, and where in the world did you get this knowledge?
Now notice our Lord's answer. Whence knowest thou me? By what method did you come to know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, When thou wast under the fig tree, I, now get the next word, saw thee.
Now, what did that do to the family? Where did you get this knowledge?
How is it that you know that I'm an Israelite in whom there is no vile? The Lord says, rather than giving a formal statement, I'm omniscient and I know all things, he just gives a simple application of omniscience. He says, before Philip ever called you, when you were under that fig tree, which could have been a half an hour before, an hour, Could have been a day or two before. And it's the conjecture of one commentator, and I think a very interesting one, that maybe it was under that very fig tree that he was wrestling with his own sin and wrestling with the claims of God upon him according to the light of the Old Testament revelation and the preaching of John.
But in any case, our Lord says, Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Now Nathaniel is well versed in the Old Testament He is well instructed in the knowledge of Jehovah And he knows that a distinguishing characteristic of Jehovah is omniscience That he can see all people and all things In all circumstances, in all places at the same time And the moment Jesus says Before Philip called you When you were under the fig tree I saw you How does Nathaniel respond to that? Look at it. Look at it.
Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God. And in the language of a Jew, as you see reading through the book of John, that meant nothing less than you are God, the Son,
the King of Israel. What led him to that confession? It was this obvious display of a distinguishing characteristic of Godhood. It was the obvious display of our Lord's omniscience that brought Nathanael to this confession that is in so many ways parallel to the confession with which the formal part of the book closes in John 20, 28.
My Lord and my God, thou art the Son of God. thou art the king of Israel, showing that Nathanael understood the second psalm, in which the concept of the son and the king are brought together. The Lord will say to his son, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. In Psalm 110, from which this language is taken, here was a true Israelite.
Now you see, the prophets sometimes were given the ability to know things that could not be known by observation and deduction. You remember the problems they had? And somebody said to a heathen king, Hey, that man Elijah is following up all my military plans. Every time I make plans, God lets him know, and he lets the generals know, and we're getting beaten on the field.
There's a prophet somewhere. You see, God gave this kind of what we would call God-like knowledge in specific instances to prophets. He gave it to Peter. You remember when Ananias and Sapphira came before him?
He had no way, there's no record, that he learned about their deception by observation, investigation, or deduction. God gave him a direct revelation. But now listen carefully. Never did the prophet ever claim that this was an expression of his person.
He would gladly claim that it was simply a manifestation of the power of God working in and with and through him. But you notice what our Lord does? He allows this to be a revelation of his essential person, and when Nathanael gets the message, he pronounces blessing upon him for so doing. And he says,
It will cause you to be willing for my sake, if necessary, even to die for me.
Witness 2: He Knew What Was in Man (John 2)
The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Son, possessing this distinguishing characteristic of omniscience. See it again in the second chapter of John.
In John chapter 2, we have the record of the miracle of turning the water into wine. And this is not the only miracle he performed, for we read in verse 23, Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs, which he did. Here is some kind of an external favorable response to Christ based upon the miracles that he had performed. But verse 24 says, There was no reciprocal commitment by our Lord, but our Lord did not trust Himself unto them, that is, those who came to some kind of faith based upon the miraculous, and why did He not entrust Himself to them?
Did a period of time pass in which He saw that this so-called faith was surface, spurious, unreal faith? No. No, John is very careful to tell us why our Lord did not for a moment respond favorably to these so-called believers. For He knew all men.
He knew all men, and because He needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning literally this man or that man, for He Himself knew what was in a man. He doesn't use the general term in the plural, men. But he knew what was in a man. And so in the case of every single one of those who professed faith in him, our Lord immediately refused to commit himself to them in the way he had already done with Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, and now Nathaniel.
The circle has been increased to six at this point in John's record. Jesus committed Himself to them as their true Master and Lord, and they to Him as true believers and followers. But now these people say, Oh, we believe. We've seen the miracles.
You're something great. You're this, you're that. And immediately Christ draws back. Why?
Because He knew immediately what was in them. And how did He know? Not by deduction. Not by observation.
Not by investigation. But He knew by the exercise of His own inherent omniscience. as God. And John then underscores that principle by stating it in general in the end of verse 24, for he knew all men.
And then he goes into greater detail in verse 25. He needed not that any should bear witness. He didn't need to learn by deduction. You didn't have to have some people come up and say, look, Lord, beware of these people.
They say they love you, but I've seen this, this, this, and this. No, no. He needed this not. How can language be plainer?
Witness 3: Searches the Reins and Hearts (Revelation 2)
He knew this by a knowledge that is peculiar to God. All things were naked and open before the eyes of this Jesus with whom these professed believers had to do. Then turn to Revelation chapter 2. For another in this group of witnesses to the omniscience of Christ.
Revelation chapter 2. And everything in the messages to the seven churches takes its clue from that amazing vision in chapter 1. where John sees one like unto the Son of Man, or a Son of Man, in the midst of the golden lampstands. And then in each message to each church, our Lord takes some facet of that vision and underscores it.
And we read now in chapter 2 and verse 18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like unto burnished brass. I know thy works, and thy love, and faith, and ministry, and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, and teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time that she should repent, and she willeth not to repent of her fornication. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery
with her into great tribulation, except they repent of her works. And I will kill her children with death. To what end? And all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts. You see what our Lord is saying? He introduces every message to every church with the statement, I know thy works. Some might say, well, there's a sense in which anyone can know the works of any group of people by observation, by report, by reputation.
But you see, our Lord does not know by report and by natural observation. He is the omniscient one who is present in all of the churches, the omnipresent one there in all the churches, and He's there as the omniscient one. And this fact is inescapably pressed upon us when He says, I am He that not only observes works as though they were external deeds alone, but I am He that searcheth the rains and hearts. And this is the language, of course, of Jeremiah chapter 17, verses 9 and 10.
Most of us are quite familiar with Jeremiah 17, 9, one of the most humbling statements in all of the Old Testament concerning the state of a man's heart by nature. Jeremiah 17, in verse 9, The heart is deceitful above all things and exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? Where is the being that can plumb the depths of the corruption of the human heart?
So extensive, so pervasive, so powerful has been the influence of sin upon the center of a man's being. Who can plumb the depths of sin's influence upon the human heart and spirit? The answer is, verse 10, When I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing. You see what God is saying?
The nature of any external deed is never properly understood until it is seen in relationship to the state of the heart out of which it flowed.
And He says, to be the judge of men, I must have perfect knowledge of men. Therefore in rendering to every man according to his deeds, I render out of a perfect knowledge of the heart and of the reins. Now look at the language of Revelation 2, in which our Lord almost quotes verbatim the language attributed to Jehovah and Jehovah alone. I am he, Revelation 2.23, that searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.
And our Lord picks up the very language of Jeremiah 17 in the mouth of Jehovah and applies it without any reservation to himself and says, I am the omniscient one who searches heart and mind.
Witness 4: No One Knows the Son but the Father (Matthew 11:27)
And now the final witness to his omniscience, not the final one in the word of God. It's been so difficult to be selected. But the final one for our study in this part of the study, Matthew chapter 11.
Matthew chapter 11.
Who is Jesus Christ? He is God. How do we know He is God? He is called God.
He possesses all the distinguishing characteristics of God. He is eternal. He is the omniscient one. He is the changeless one.
He is the one who knows all things. Matthew 11, verse 25, Our Lord has just returned from a ministry in which there has been a blatant manifestation of unbelief. In the face of mighty works, impenitence and unbelief, He pronounces woes upon the cities in which that impenitence has been manifested in the face of great miracles.
And the scripture says at that season, verse 25, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise in understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes. Yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father, and no one knoweth the Son save the Father. And the word for know is the intensified word. No one knows with true knowledge the Son save the Father, neither doth any know the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. Here is one of the most profound disclosures in all of
the Word of God. If you've had any contact with those who deny the authority of the Word of God and try to pit one section against another, you will find that one of the favorite little cliches is that John had an exalted view of Christ that goes far beyond the synoptics, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John reflects the later augmented view of Christ that the church concocted in a sentimental attachment to Jesus, whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they only present a human Jesus, or a great Jesus, but just a human Jesus. There is nothing in the book of John that rises higher than Matthew 11, 27.
Nothing. There's a sense in which the most profound concepts shared by John are just a commentary on this text. Listen to what our Lord affirms. And He does so in the very presence of His Father.
This is in a context of prayer and of praise.
I thank Thee, O Father. It is in that context that He says these things. No one knoweth the Son save the Father. What our Lord is asserting is that the person of the Son is so incomprehensible in the mystery of what he is as true God and true man, in the one person and two natures forever, that only God can comprehend the Son.
Only God can fully know who the Son is. And then He makes this amazing statement, And no one knoweth the Father save the Son. The Father is so incomprehensible in all of His glorious being, not only as one of the persons in the Trinity, but as the Father, that only the Son can encompass God with perfect knowledge. Now why does Christ make this statement?
No one knoweth the Son save the Father. Think of the tremendous wisdom of the minds of angels never tainted by sin. Think of the wisdom that must be inherent, if we may say so, in the college of the angels. For the Scriptures intimate that they spend their time in proximity to the throne of God, waiting His bidding to serve the heirs of salvation.
Jesus said, their faces do always behold your Father which is in heaven. Think of the wisdom, the knowledge they have. Minds that have never been tainted with sin, twisted because of evil. Minds that have been expanded by this closest proximity to God imaginable.
And yet Jesus says, no one, no angel, no college of angels, all the collected wisdom of all the angels and all the seraphim and cherubim, they cannot fully know who I am. He says it takes God to comprehend God. No one knows the Son save the Father. And no one can fully know the Father save the Son.
You see what he's doing? He's making a double claim to identity with Godhead or with Godhood. He says on the one hand that so immense and so vast and incomprehensible is his own person that only the Father can comprehend him, and so vast and so infinite in his own mind that he and he alone can comprehend the Father. I don't know if that excites you but that text has excited me for two weeks and I concur with David Brown the commentator who says a higher claim to equality with the Father cannot be conceived either then we have here one of the most revolting assumptions ever uttered
and that's exactly what it is a revolting assumption or the proper divinity of Christ should to Christians be beyond dispute. Oh, I trust it is the latter to you, that the proper divinity of your Lord is forever put beyond dispute, for He claims to have perfect knowledge of the Father, and He claims to be so transcendent as to the glory and the full dimensions of His person that only God can encompass and comprehend God. Let me try to illustrate for the sake of you children. And all of us are children at one stage or another.
Some of you remember Paul Emmerich, our brilliant computer scientist who's now out in Arizona. And when Paul would get talking about computers, he'd make my head swim. And he would actually be asked to go in and set up the computer systems in some of these big companies. He did it for a section of Exxon, and now he's doing it with American Express out there in Phoenix.
As I was trying to think of an illustration of this, Paul came to my mind with that brilliant mind that penetrates the mysteries of a computer.
Suppose Paul were to give himself to constructing a computer, every single circuit in it, every single module. And when he put it all together, we could say, Paul, do you know your computer? He could say, I sure do. I've put every single little transistor in every single...
I've done the whole thing. I fully know my computer. Then we'd say, Paul, show off your computer to us. And then he'd feed some information into it.
And man, it would do math like make our heads swim. Huh? I mean, it would do problems that take us days to do...
It could do them in milliseconds. I understand Paul said one time that a computer now, and I think my facts are correct, can do in one hour the work it would take in times past a hundred physicists a hundred years to do working 24 hours a day. Now you want your head to spin. All right?
Now that computer is something else. Isn't it, kids? Huh? Can do all that kind of...
All the math you've ever done right up through the sixth grade. It could do all of that in about ten seconds. Isn't it a shame we aren't computers? Huh?
We get straight A's in math and we could go out in the playground the rest of the time. Huh?
I mean, a computer is something else. But you see, Paul could say, I fully know my computer. I fully know my computer. And that computer that can work with tremendous figures and calculus and all the rest, the computer cannot stand and turn around and say, I know Mr. Emmerich.
As magnificent a thing as a computer is, only its creator can fully know it. It can't know its creator fully. That computer has no ability to analyze Paul's likes and dislikes. you see for the computer to fully know Paul it would have to have a mind as keen as Paul the ability to rationalize to take information and to sort it out and to regulate one set of facts with another but the computer can never say even if he can make it talk and they have computers that talk you know you get them talking back I am such and such but it could never say I know Paul Emmerich unless it was speaking a lie because the computer, even though it is a complex machine that can do marvelous things that astounds even human beings,
is just a created thing. And the Creator always stands in a superior position to that which is created. Now apply that to this text. Why can Jesus say, No man knoweth the Father save the Son?
because He is of one essence with the Father from eternity If He were a created being even in the language of the most elevated semi heresy that's the heresy that said he's more than just a created being, he is in some senses God, but there was a time when he was not. The most elevated semi-Aryan heresy does not allow for an honest interpretation of this verse because there would be something in the divine essence unknown to this being called even God by some, but less than equal to God as touching His Godhood. And here we stand, dear people, to confess to our confused generation,
be it the religious generation, be it the secular, be it the social, that our confidence in redemption, our confidence is fixed in Him who is true God. who is very God of very God, who can say, No man knoweth the Father save the Son. And so vast is the Son that He can never be fully comprehended by any creature. So the inescapable conclusion of this testimony, this third group, yes, this group of witnesses that speak to His omniscience, the inescapable conclusion is that Jesus Christ does indeed possess and exercise
Application 1: Consolation in Struggles With Sin
the distinguishing characteristics of Godhood, one of which is omniscience. Now may I remind you that all of this is revealed of our Redeemer. We are not contemplating God in the abstract. The God whom we contemplated in John 1 was gathering disciples to Himself.
The God whom we contemplated in John 2 is the one who's gathering disciples to himself. The God who searches the hearts in Revelation 2 is the exalted Lord who's administering the affairs of his church in redemption. You see, it is as the Redeemer of God's elect in the language of the shorter catechism that Jesus Christ is revealed as true God as well as true man in one person and two natures forever. You say, well, what practical application does that have in the realm of my Christian experience?
Oh, dear child of God, listen. It ought to be the source of the greatest comfort in the midst of all of your struggles with sin to know that He knows you all together. That's what it was to Peter. You remember in John 21, the Lord is dealing with Peter and He says, Do you love me?
And what does Peter say? He says, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Now all the other people may have seen, Lord, was my denial.
All they may know is that I cursed and swore and said I didn't know you. But Lord, you know what men don't know. You know that even though the air was made blue with my cursing, and though there is resident in the memories of some men who stood near me, the words of cursing and the bitter denial, Lord, you know what they could not know, that in my heart, even when I denied you, I loved you. Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love you. Oh, dear child of God, I find great consolation in the omniscience of my Lord. When there is that in my external conduct that so often belies my profession, when there is in my struggle against sin so much that from the outside would say, does he really love the Lord? What a blessed thing to know that we have a Savior who knows all things.
And we can say, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And these external falls and these external denials, they are not the settled principle of my heart. Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. This great truth of the omniscience of Christ ought to be a source of great consolation.
Application 2: Conviction for Dallying With Sin
But my friend, it ought to be a source of great conviction whenever we're dallying with sin.
Revelation 2.23, he says, I know thy works. As the Lord who walks in the midst of the lampstands, He searches the hearts and tries the reins. And He's never content with external lip service, with mere external conformity to formal rituals of worship.
I ask you, dear child of God, is the thought of the omniscience of Christ a consolation as you look back over your conduct over the past week? Upon what have your eyes looked when no one else saw you but the omniscient Christ? What thoughts has your heart entertained when none could read them but he who says, I search the heart and I try the reins? As you sit in this place this morning, And Jesus Christ walks in the lampstands.
And he moves, if I may speak in human language, he moves up and down these aisles and between the seats. And what is he doing? He is not gaining knowledge by deduction and observation. He knows perfectly the state of your heart.
What does he see in that heart? Does he read in that heart a transcript of his own work of grace, giving you a love for Him as your Redeemer, a loving submission to Him as your Lord, a passionate desire to know Him and to please Him.
But as He behold in that heart, that which could be likened to a field grown over with nettles and briars and thorns and thistles,
just a little scrubby plant of love and desire for Christ and panting after holiness and big powerful weeds of attachment to the world and preoccupation with sports and with job and girlfriend and all of these other things. What does he behold this morning?
What does he behold this morning?
My friend, answer! What does he behold this morning?
I can only behold your countenance for man always and only looks upon the outward appearance. But God seeth the heart.
Was it your prayer when you came this morning in the language of that hymn we often sing? Searcher of hearts from mine erase all things that should not be. And in its own recesses trace my gratitude to thee. Are you content to come with a heart full of the nettles and weeds of preoccupation with the world and the flesh, and to give to God the abominable worship of a divided heart?
His tension is nostrils.
Oh, may God grant that the sense that we have an omniscient Savior may on the one hand comfort and console each child of God who with all of his heart is struggling against sin, struggling against patterns that have been so ingrained into your very personality that at times you wonder if there's any progress. But the whole pent and drift of your inner life is, O Lord, I would follow thee with all my heart. O take comfort, dear child of God. He knows you, and you can say with Peter, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
but some of you ought to be deeply convicted this morning because he searches the hearts and he tries the reins and as he searches and tries the reins he does not find that serious settled intention of panting after himself but he finds these things that he himself describes in Revelation 2 and 3 as dishonoring and distasteful to him. Thank God it's in the context of effecting redemption that our Savior is revealed as omniscient. I had hoped to get on to His omnipotence, but I'll stop here this morning. What a wonderful thing to know that the God who reads the heart is not going to be done with me until His own eye can see a heart
that is as perfectly purged from sin as His own. Think of it, child of God. Think of it. Think of it.
We shall be like Him. Does that just mean external form? No, no. It means in the totality of our redeemed personality we shall be like Him.
We will not be gods.
But our hearts will be purged from every last vestige of sin until in the entirety of our inner being there will be a purity commensurate to the purity of the Son of God Himself. his own eye will be able to cast itself over every nook and cranny and every last square milli-inch and find nothing but love and devotion to himself. And then make you long for the day when redemption will be consummated.
Doesn't it cause you to see why, as believers, this great controversy as to who Christ is is not a tempest in a theological teapot. Rob me of a Savior who is God and you rob me of a salvation that's worth anything. Thank God that we're privileged to stand as a body of His people today and say, here we stand. So help us God, confessing without reservation our Savior to be nothing less than true God not only because he is called God by the first group of witnesses, but because we see him possessed of and in full exercise of all the distinguishing characteristics of God.
Warning to the Unconverted and Closing Prayer
He is the Christ of eternal existence, changeless existence, the Christ who is omniscient, the Christ who is omnipresent, and God willing will have to wait until next week to behold him as the Christ who is omnipotent, mighty to save, and to accomplish all of the Father's purpose. Oh, my friend, do you know this Christ? Do you know Him? If you don't, and this is my final word this morning, you'll have an encounter with His omniscience that will shrink you into the pit.
For as the appointed judge, He will exercise that omniscience. We read in Romans 2.16, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men's hearts by Jesus Christ. My friend, do you want to meet the omniscient Christ and have every secret thought and work brought before the gaze of the whole moral universe?
Only a fool would say yes to that question. but there's no way to escape that but to run into Christ as your refuge and to find him as your Savior and Lord the one who alone can so clothe us in a perfect righteousness that we shall stand acquitted in the last day let us pray Amen Our Father Father, we thank you again this morning for the written scriptures. We thank you for their record of the life and ministry and words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and those of his inspired apostles and the other writers of the New Testament letters. We thank you, O Lord, that we have been privileged to gaze upon him who has come from your presence to be the Redeemer of His people. And oh, we ask that you would apply the word with searching power to each of our hearts. We pray, oh Lord, that you will be able to see in us a transcript of your own mighty work of grace.
And for all in whose hearts there is seen nothing but sin in love of self, in love of flesh, in love of the world. O Lord, may the sense that your eye has found them haunt them and track them down until filled with a sense of holy dread they cry to you for mercy and find forgiveness and acceptance in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seal to our hearts the word preached and may Jesus Christ be praised by each of us who names his name. Dismiss us now, we pray, with the sense of your presence resting upon us and abiding with us.
We ask these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank you.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Nathanael's confession born of Christ's omniscience
The mutual exclusive knowledge of Father and Son
I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts