Consider The Omnipresence Of God

CONSIDER THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD

TEXT: Psa 139:3-16

INTRO: These verses are beautiful expressions of the

omnipresence of God; conveying deep instruction.

Needed is a plain discourse on the omnipresence of God.

THEME: The giving of careful thought to the sublime, lofty, and grand

subject of the omnipresence of our almighty God is a worthy

undertaking.

I. We are to understand this glorious truth.

A. God is in this and every place.

1. Jer. 23:24b

2. "...Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."

3. Bible scholar John Gill said, "If a man should hide himself in

the most secret and hidden places of the earth, and do his

works in the most private manner, so that no human eye can

see him, he cannot hide himself or his actions from the Lord,

who can see from heaven to earth, and through the darkest

and thickest clouds, and into the very bowels of the earth,

and the most hidden and secret recesses and caverns of it.

The darkness and the light are both alike to him; and also near

and distant, open and secret places:..."not only with inhabitants,

and with other effects of his power and providence; but with his

essence, which is everywhere, and is infinite and immense, and

cannot be contained in either, or be limited and circumscribed by

space and place;..."

B. In a word, there is no point of space, whether within or

without the bounds of creation, where God is not.

1. "Thou compassest my path and my lying down,

and art acquainted [with] all my ways." (Ps. 139:3)

2. Ps. 139:5

3. Ps. 139:6

C. He next observes, enthusiastly, that God is in every place.

1. Ps. 139:7, 8

2. The great God, The Eternal One, The Almighty Spirit,

a. is as unbounded in his presence as in his duration and power.

b. condesends to our weak understanding

c. is in every part of his dominion; although, it is noted that the

heavens cannot contain Him - ( 1Kings 8:27) "But will God indeed

dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens

cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"

3. The universal God dwelleth in universal space; so that we may say,

"Hail, Father, whose creating call unnumber’d worlds attend!

Jehovah, Whom none can comprehend, is comprehending all!"

4. Illustration: "What is the space occupied by a grain of sand,

compared to that space which is occupied by the starry

heavens? It is as a cipher; it is nothing; it vanishes away in

the comparison. What is it, then, to the whole expanse of space,

to which the whole creation is infinitely less than a grain of sand?

And yet this space, to which the whole creation bears no proportion

at all, is infinitely less in comparison of the great God than a grain

of sand, yea, a millionth part of it, bears to that whole space."

_______John Wesley

II. God acts everywhere, and, therefore, is everywhere.

A. God acts throughout the whole compass of his creation

1. in heaven,

2. in earth

3. under the earth

B. by sustaining all things

1. without which everything would in an instant

sink into its primitive nothing

C. by governing all

1. every moment

2. superintending everything that he has made

a. strongly influencing all

b. sweetly influencing all

D. He does so without destroying the liberty of his rational creatures.

E. Heathens acknowledge that--

1. The great God governs the large and conspicuous

parts of the universe,

2. He regulates the motions of the heavenly bodies,

of the sun, moon, and stars.

III. God’s Merciful Disclosure

A. The all-informing soul.

1. fills

2. pervades

3. actuates the whole.

B. It is an utter impossibility that any being, created or

uncreated, should work where it(God’s presence) is not.

C. But they had no conception of:

1. His having a regard to the least things as well as the greatest

2. His presiding over all that he has made

3. His governing atoms as well as worlds

D. This we could not have known except--

1. it pleased God to reveal it unto us himself.

2.This comfortable truth,~ that "God filleth heaven and earth,"

3. We learn also from the Psalm 139:

"If I climb up into heaven, thou art there;

if I go down to hell, thou art there also.

If I take the wings of the morning,

and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;

even there thy hand shall lead me."

The plain meaning is,

If I remove to any distance whatever,

thou art there;

thou still besettest me,

and layest thine hand upon me.

Let me flee to any conceivable

or inconceivable distance;

above, beneath, or on any side;

it makes no difference;