THE PASTOR’S POINTS
sermon ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
A fellowship of faith, family and friendships.
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March 23, 2003
We have been studying the "omni" words that apply to God. This morning we come to omnipresence. I looked the word up in the Holman Bible Dictionary. If you’re familiar with using dictionaries, you will appreciate what I found for the definition of "omnipresence". It simply said, see God. A further click of the mouse and I found this paragraph:
God is present in His world in a unique manner. He is never separated from any part of His creation. As spirit, God has the perfect capability of being present everywhere in the world at once. (1)
As proof of God’s omnipresence I offer to you a little-known incident in the life of one Edward Hinkle. Although this took place in private, it was seen by the ever-present eye of God and recorded in heaven above.
It seems, as a young boy Eddie checked out the Baptist churches and was impressed especially when he saw for the first time a baptism by immersion. He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize the family’s three cats in the bathtub.
The kitten bore it very well, and so did the young cat, but the old family cat rebelled. It struggled with him, clawed and tore him, and got away. With considerable effort he caught it again and proceeded with the ceremony. But she acted worse than ever, clawed at him, spit, and scratched his hands and face. Finally, after barely getting her splattered with water, he dropped her on the floor in disgust and said: "Fine, be a Methodist." So began the lifelong love affair of Mr. Hinkle and felines everywhere.(2)
The 139th Psalm is not like baptizing a cat. It is much easier (and relevant) for the human being to understand and with which we can identify. In fact, I believe it is the model for understanding the entire purpose of the Bible. That purpose is expressed this way:
All the Bible is an invitation to read of God, realize God’s love and free offer of grace
receive God’s gift of salvation, and rely on God every day.
These four words form the structure of our message today on the All-Present God.
Invitation to Read of God
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 lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
Psalms 139.1-12
Intimate Knowledge
God has such an intimate knowledge of us. He searches and knows us. To search literally means penetrate. God pierces right through our facades. To know carries the idea of intimate understanding. The bottom line is that God has more than substantial knowledge of each human being - He has total knowledge of who we are, what we’ve done, how we operate - even our deepest seemingly hidden motives are known by our all-knowing God.
Infinite Knowledge
God is totally unlimited in all knowledge, known and unknown to man. There is nothing that surprises God.
Inescapable Knowledge
Jonah tried to escape from God’s presence. His submarine ride convinced him it was not a good idea. In the New Testament we find the final judgment of God includes this all-seeing God as the angels carry-out His orders:
15And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid
themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16And said to the
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17For the great day of his wrath is
come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:15-17 (KJV)
It is a well-documented concept - God knows all about us. A tragedy, however, is that many people don’t know God. Even fine, moral people who sit in churches year after year, listening to sermons, participating in Bible Studies, singing the songs, and giving; they know a lot about God, but miss knowing God. (3)
The second section of our text is all about knowing God which is possible when you accept the:
Invitation to Realize God’s Love and Free Offer of Grace
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
Psalms 139.13-18
The Psalmist points to the creation and the acknowledges the fact that he is part of that creation…God made him…fearfully and wonderfully.
The fact that God created us is the reason God knows us so well. His loving hand made every molecule that holds you together. Your body is an intricate weaving of dust and Divine. Someone once "did the math" on our bodies: Every day your heart beats 104,178 times. Your blood travels 171,000 miles. You breathe 23,172 times, inhaling 438 cubic feet of air. You move 752 major muscles and exercise 8,000,000 brain cells. You do this every day. No wonder I’m tired so much of the time!
David wrote of this wonder, but how do you comprehend such a God?
It is so "outside our human mind-box". We may not be able to comprehend totally how God can be everywhere at once, but we can look at the results. It is like knowing there is wind - we don’t really understand it, it just comes, messes up your hair, then moves on. But, we notice the result! With God’s omnipresence, there are at least two important results…
A. For the follower of Christ there is COMFORT. There is a sense of joyful calmness knowing that everywhere I go, no matter what happens, that God is watching over me. I often thank God for His watchcare over me each day. It is a tremendous blessing that even if no other person in the world notices my trials, anguish, pain or discouragement, God knows…He sees!
B. For the one who has never accepted the loving free offer of Grace there is CONCERN. The Bible says that one day every knee shall bow to Christ. It also says that every private thing will be made public. Who else could do that but the One who sees all?
We are invited to read of God, and realize His loving free offer of grace, and…
Invitation to Receive God’s Gift of Salvation
O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
Psalms 139.19-22
Admittedly that doesn’t sound like the choir singing "Just As I Am" at a Billy Graham rally. But that is what the invitation looks like. It is a turning from the old way of life. Preachers call it repentance. Whatever you call it, the picture is of hating the old life with a vengeance; it’s turning your back on being an enemy of God. That’s how the free gift of salvation is received - admitting to God that you’ve been at odds with Him, and now you want to turn your back away from the old life…and…
Invitation to Rely On God Every Day
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB
It seems odd that David still wanted God to search. He had just written all that about God already knowing everything. Yet that is the way salvation is when it comes. You get right with God, and suddenly there is this comforting assurance that His knowing everything is a good thing. It makes you feel clean and wonderful…and you want more!
One preacher put it this way:
And perhaps that’s where the word of grace comes. You’ve got this whole psalm where you say, "God, I can’t get away from you. You’re searching, looking, digging." And then at the end you beg him to search a little more, beg him to test you, to see if there’s anything not pleasing. You say, "God, find out those thoughts that carry me away from fellowship with you. Show them to me so that I can understand them and their effect on my walk with you." I just don’t think you’d say that to somebody who you didn’t know loved you. (4)
There is only one relationship in my life that even comes close to being a picture of that. If there is one person who could write a book on Russell’s faults it would be my Elizabeth. If there is one person beside Jesus, to whom I can unburden and vent, it is Mrs. Preacher! She is my confidant, and best friend. I can relax with her and know I am safe.
Now, she could write a book - I hope she won’t - but in spite of the volumes she could write at that point, she won’t. Of all the people in the world who know me, she still loves me. And God is better at it than she is!
We sing a song sometimes, "Isn’t The Love of Jesus Something Wonderful?" That’s the whole point. The presence of God is all of that…Creator who made me and knows all about me…Lover of my soul Who gives grace beyond measure…Granter of salvation full and free…Dependable and closer than a brother for ever.
Writer Kenneth Wilson tells of growing up in Pittsburgh:
That house in which we lived on the side of one of Pittsburgh’s hills was three stories high in the front and four in the back. The bottom layer was the cellar and the top was what we called the third floor, really a finished attic, the ceiling of which was cut into shadowed geometric shapes by dormer windows. Up there were two bedrooms, a hallway, and a mysterious storage room for trunks that always smelled of mothballs and history. Our family slept there, because the second floor was usually rented out for a tenant to help pay the rent.
Kenneth remembers that, being the youngest, he had to go to bed first, braving that floor of dark bedrooms. It felt like a long way up the steps, especially because they did not have electricity above the second floor, and a gas light had to be turned on, then turned off once the boy was settled.
That bed in that room on the third floor seemed to be at the end of the earth, remote from human habitation, close to unexplained noises and dark secrets. At my urging, my father would try to stop the windows from rattling, wedging wooden matchsticks into the cracks. But they always rattled in spite of his efforts. Sometimes he would read me a story, but inevitably the time would come when he would turn out the light and shut the door, and I would hear his steps on the stairs, growing fainter and fainter. Then all would be quiet, except for the rattling windows and my cowering imagination.
Once, I remember, my father said, "Would you rather I leave the light on and go downstairs, or turn the light out and stay with you for awhile?" . . . [I chose] presence with darkness, over absence with light. (5)
That indeed is my choice…I choose to read of God in my Bible, and continually realize His love for me and His grace; I choose to receive His free gift of salvation, and to rely on Him for His everyday constant presence.
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FOOTNOTES
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1) Holman Bible Dictionary
2) Story adapted from my friend Dr. Grady Carter, Jacksonville, Fl
3) Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
4) An All-Seeing Eye by Alan Smith, SermonCentral.com
5) Kenneth L. Wilson, Have Faith without Fear (Harper & Row, 1970), p. 54; from Tim Jones’s forthcoming book, Prayer’s Apprentice
