Discovering the Heart of God Part 9

1. Discovering the Heart of God Part 9

2. Introduction We claim to know that God is omniscient. He knows all things, past, present, and future. Yet there are so many areas of our lives that we attempt to hide from others, ourselves, and even God. We want to make a good impression on others, especially God.

3. Our Conflict Intellectually we know that God knows everything about us. He knows our strengths and victories, but He also knows every bent and twisted aspect of our nature. In practical terms we live much different. We want others to be impressed and pleased with us. We polish the externals to show what fine people we are, while we hide our struggles from others.

4. Our Conflict There is that nagging voice that can fill our ears, “who do you think your are? If they really knew who and what you are, they would not like or accept you”. There is an element of truth in this. We can be very judgmental people. We have all experienced that judgment and rejection by others. We can carry that same defensive mechanism into our relationship with God.

5. Our Conflict Our own internal struggles can cause us to cover over our shortcomings. We make excuses to justify our sin in our own eyes, and assume that others buy into our arguments. I believe it was Pastor Bell who stated that “an excuse is a lie, wrapped in a thin skin of reason”.

6. Our Conflict We try this same strategy with God as well. We can even take it a step further and blame Him. “If You had not created me this way…” If you did not want me to sin, You should not have allowed me to be tempted…. “The woman YOU gave to me, gave me to eat…”

7. Our Conflict These games do not work with others. In reality, the very people we are trying to impress, are the ones that can be “put off” and offended by these games. It is often these people that have been the focus of our sin and selfishness. When we make light of it, it pours on them a “double” dishonor. We hurt them by our actions, then tell them it is no big deal.

8. Our Conflict When you apologize to someone. Don’t make excuses or justifications… “I am sorry I hurt you, but I was ………. This states that you are sorry for the consequences of your actions, but not the root cause. You excuse the action that you are apologizing for with a justification why you had the right to do it. This is not a true apology.

9. Our Conflict If these games do not work with people, they certainly do not work with God. The only person that is deceived by our games and excuses is ourselves!

10. Our Conflict There is part of us that recognizes that we are saturated with improper attitudes and motives. We can play games where we try to do various good works, to prove our worth to God and others. But God still knows our heart… Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

11. Our Conflict Perhaps the greatest game we play is appeasing our own guilt. We do good works and fill our lives with service so we do not take the time to look deep into our souls We confess things to God, that we would never tell anyone else, but we ease our conscience to repeat the same failures again and again. We return to our sin, because our heart craves it. We fill our lives because we cannot handle the depths of our souls.

12. God’s Omniscience The truth is that God knows everything about us. He knows everything you have ever done and will do. He understands your motives and fears. He knows what lies in the abyss of our souls. When we begin to probe the depths of our soul, we discover what God is already there and has always known who we really are.

13. God’s Omniscience When we came to God and asked Him to forgive us our sins, based upon what Jesus accomplished upon the cross, He knew what we were. He reached into our lives and took our sin and placed it upon His Son. He knew it all and paid for it all. We surprise ourselves by what we do, but we never surprise God. He knew it all, and chose to forgive us and call us into His love.

14. God’s Omniscience Romans 8:31-35What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

15. God’s Omniscience Romans 8:37-39Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

16. God’s Omniscience Think on this truth. There is absolutely nothing that can separate you from the Father’s love. No sin so great to shock God into questioning why He saved you. There is no sin in the future that could cause you to lose your salvation. There is nothing in your soul that surprises God. We are known and God still loves us!

17. God’s Omniscience God wants us to discover in ourselves that which He already knows. He does not want us to continue to live in our sin and selfishness, or to chase after the things that will not satisfy. He wants us to take a journey into ourselves to discover our own corruption and to yield those areas of life to Him.

18. God’s Omniscience Think about this. God allows events, people, and the “dark night of the soul” into our lives to confront us with our sin. In my own life as events come that confront me with my sin, I realize that I have known about it for some time. Yet, I have failed to truly acknowledge it and deal with it honestly before God. I have justified my choices, made excuses, and played my games, but God was not deceived. He continued to move in my life until I confronted and acknowledge my sin.

19. God’s Omniscience Here is the great part of the story. God leads us into the darkness of our souls. We are shocked and horrified by what we see. We often run and shut our eyes to its reality. Yet when we honestly stop and evaluate, we discover that those holes and gaps in our character are filled with the grace and mercy of God. We look at the areas of our greatest failures, and we find Jesus’ note, written in His own blood,

20. God’s Omniscience “Paid in Full, I knew about this from before the foundation of the world, you did not surprise me. I love you so much, child of mine. You are mine forever - Jesus

21. So What … So before you leave, take a moment to evaluate what we have learned. There is nothing to fear in honestly looking at your life. God knows you better than you know yourself and He will always love you. Where your life is filled with shame and regret, God has filled it with His love, mercy and grace. Go ahead… take a look!