There's a deep hunger in the human soul for every one of us that craves to be known. It's true, isn't it? There's a deep hunger in your soul that craves to be understood. My friend, Dennis, who's now gone to be with the Lord, an Assyrian from Iraq, he said to me, Ray, if I could find a world where I understood a people who understood me, then I would be happy. And he's exactly right. If I'm in a world where people know me, then I would be happy.
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We were built to be known, and today I want to reintroduce you to the God who knows you inside out.
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God knows all, so there are no secrets. First one, you have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.
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What you say, what you think, what you do, none of it off limits to our God. Fancy word for this is omniscience, omni in the Latin all, all -knowing. And it's impressive.
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But what we're told today in this psalm is that God knows every precious, personal, private detail of your life, and it ain't no trick.
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Friends, let's learn once and for all. There is no secrets when it comes to God. He is completely inescapable. And that's a comfort.
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God knows not only what you do, but he knows what you're thinking and what's motivating your behavior.
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In a nutshell, in this idea, God is saying, David is saying, God, you are inescapable and I am in awe of what you know. Verse six, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty, too high for me to attain.
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God is intimately involved with every one of the eight billion people that walk the face of this earth. That's why we can all pray at the same time and not confuse God.
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He doesn't say, North America, I want you to pray from eight till 10, South America from 10 till, China, oh, there's a lot of you. I might get four hours for you. India, even a bit more. Okay, we'll give you a four and a half hour. Africa, the big continent there. He can handle it. He's not running on a million prayers per second. Unlike our computers, he has unlimited knowledge. He's all known.
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God is everywhere, so don't ever think you are alone. You're never alone. Look at verse 7. Where can I flee from your spirit? Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
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My friends, there is no God forsaken place. It doesn't exist. He is everywhere. And what a beautiful thought. You need never feel alone. His hand is right with you, guiding you.
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And when it comes to darkness, you know, darkness, which kind of hides me from you and you from me, is a meaningless category for God. And look at verse 12. Even the darkness will not be dark to you, for the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
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You know, perhaps you're single, longing to be married, and there you are, alone in your bed, feeling unloved with tears rolling down your eyes. Or perhaps you're lying next to your husband or wife who doesn't know you, doesn't want to know you. And that can even be more painful. And you're feeling so unloved and so alone. And God is saying to you through this psalm, I know you. I am with you. I am for you. I get you. And I love you.
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What it means is that, it means that God knows every one of your wounds like they were his own. Like, think about that. He gets me. It means that every time you do a good work for him, that even if it's in private, no one else sees. He sees it.
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You can't create space. Some of us may have come to Dubai thinking we could create space between us and God. But guess what? God is in Dubai. You might've bumped into him once in a while. And thank goodness for that. Distance is in a relevant category. Here, near or far away, he's there.
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So the God who knows all the God who is everywhere personally knew you when you were in the womb a little fetus in the womb when you were three weeks old when you were newly conceived you know until recently the womb has been kind of off limits we didn't know what was going on in there just the baby was being born but now through ultrasound and cameras wow we get to see the development of the child and what we're told is the God who formed the dry land with his hands knitted you together in your mother's womb very personal very hands on by God your conception was the result of God's decision.
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You were very much planned. That's why Christians have always stood against abortion. We're not saying it's the unforgivable sin, but we are saying it denies the claim of God over the creation, even the conception of the child in the womb.
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When you're at your most fragile, when you're one of five possible names, when your parents didn't know who you were and you didn't even know who you were, God knew you.
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When was the last time you looked in the mirror? You came out of the shower, looked in the mirror and said, praise you, Lord, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. It doesn't matter what you look like. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
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Disabled, able, doesn't matter with God. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. That's why Christianity has always been on the front end of ministry to special needs.
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Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. What this is saying is God, more than knowing our future, God is determining our future. He doesn't simply know how many days he's given us. He knows what's going to happen in each day. And that he's in control of every one of your days.
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There are no loose ends with God. There might be a few split ends, but there's no loose ends. He knows you so well, He knows the exact number of hairs on your head, which for some of us is not a great count, but doesn't matter. He knows the exact, well, how many hairs you used to have, let's say that. Because you're wonderfully made, wonderfully known by a wonderful God.
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You may be bypassed in the crowd. You may be a person who, you know, you don't get a whole lot of likes on your Instagram, Facebook, whatever. You may not have a whole bunch of friends even. But the question is, do you understand you are known by the creator of the personally known in every detail. The question is, will you be satisfied with that? Because the issue in life is, it's not what you do that matters. It's not even who you know. It's who knows you.
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If God is inescapable to his people, and that's a comfort to us, then he's inescapable to his enemies, so don't even try it.
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That meeting God unforgiven is a nightmare that never ends. You do not know what terror is than to stand before a holy God outside of Christ and not in Christ, when there's no place to run, and that picture captures it. When men will beg God to kill them and they will not be able to die, when they will prefer to have a thousand tons of granite fall on them than to meet the wrath of the Lamb of God.
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So the call is bow before this one surrender fear god you know why so that you can serve god without fear because that's what the rest of us are doing we fear god so we can serve the lord without fear so we look forward to the day of the lord because the wrath of the lamb that the lamb has no wrath for us that was poured out of the cross.
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There will be no pretending with him there's nothing more foolish than to pretend with a god who knows everything don't do that.
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Make it your aim to live with a clear conscience before God and before men.
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He says, you know that thing you're really ashamed of? I knew you were going to do that when I made you. In fact, I chose you before the creation of the world knowing that you were going to commit that sin. More than that, I was present when you did that sin. I was right there. But there's one thing you also need to know, and it's this. See that sin? I stapled it to the body of my son who went to the cross and paid for it. It is now done and dusted.
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Because the God who knows all, sees all, sees all and is everywhere has decided to not know one thing. And you know what that is? your sin? The God who knows all, sees all, has decided to not know one thing. It's your sin.
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You're a follower of Jesus, and that shame comes to you, that memory from the past, and you've confessed it again, even though you haven't done it again, and you've already forgiven. He says, well, you can keep confessing it, but I don't know what you're talking about. He says, well, I don't know what you're talking about. I will remember your sins no more.
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