Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 to 13 is a story I think many of you are probably familiar with,
but we will take a look at this again from a bit of a different perspective tonight.
Think about God's knowledge, what God knows, and what we know, and what perhaps we should or should not know.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?
The woman said to the serpent, We may eat from the trees in the garden,
but God did say you must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden,
and you must not touch it or you will die.
You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman,
for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom,
she took some and ate.
She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked.
So they sewed thick leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?
He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.
And he said, Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?
The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done?
The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
We're going to be thinking tonight about God's omniscience.
The fact that God is all-knowing, that God knows all things.
And contrasting God's all-knowingness with the limitedness of our own knowing.
Because we all have limits.
We have limits on what we can know, and what we should know, and what we do know.
But God doesn't have such limits.
To help us think about the limits of our own knowledge, and then segue into what God knows,
I want to ask you a question, or maybe some questions.
If you could know anything in the world that you don't know already, what would it be?
Would it be something about the future?
What school to go to?
What job to take?
Who you marry?
How your kids will turn out?
When you'll die?
Would you want to know a winning lottery number?
Answers to a test.
What direction a certain stock will go, so you can know whether to buy or sell and make a profit?
Lots of people want to know about the future.
That's why people read horoscopes, look at tarot cards, go to palm readers.
Or for those of us who are perhaps not into occult or New Age practices, we read business news, or sports assistants, relationship columns.
For academics, there's the never-ending drive to increase knowledge, to keep up in their field, or to have at least as much knowledge, if not more, than their peers, and the desire to get ahead.
Why do we want knowledge?
Why do we want to know things?
It's been said, knowledge is power.
Knowledge holds out the promise of security, control, safety.
These are all things that are good, aren't they?
Security, control, safety.
But can knowledge deliver on these promises?
Is knowing more the key to gaining security, control, safety, these things that we want?
Sometimes we think, if we can just get a little bit more knowledge, then everything will be okay.
Sometimes it's a good thing to get a little bit more knowledge.
That's just what we need.
But no matter how much we know, our knowledge is always limited.
There's always something that we don't know.
Always.
Our knowledge is always partial.
And what we might not know could be a threat to our security, our safety, our control, our status.
We feel like we lack knowledge, so we want to gain more.
We feel like we need to know more about something.
We might even fight for it.
We might get angry.
We might get frustrated at those who oppose us in our search for the knowledge of that thing that will bring security or safety or perhaps hope to our lives.
So, given the fact that we are in a world of knowledge, and especially now in the information age when there's so much at our fingertips via phone or computer,
how do we decide what knowledge we'll seek out and what we won't?
Because we can't know everything.
We have limited time, limited capacity.
Why do we seek to know the things we know?
Is our pursuit of knowledge driven by an inordinate desire for power, safety, control, or status?
Do we seek out more knowledge just because we're afraid?
What is appropriate knowledge to seek for and what is not?
Because some things we don't know, we probably don't want to know, and it would actually be harmful if we do know.
In order to answer some of these questions, I want us to think about our search for knowledge compared to God's.
Does God seek for knowledge?
He doesn't.
He has it all already.
God is omniscient.
So, for our younger members here, or for those who enjoy etymology and Latin,
the word omniscience is just two Latin words, omni meaning all, and science or scientia meaning knowledge.
So, God is simply all-knowing.
We may know people who act like know-it-all, but God does actually know it all.
Our knowledge is limited, but God's is unlimited.
God never learns.
Now, if we said that about a person, that would be a really bad character trait, wasn't it?
You know, so-and-so, they never learn.
That means they don't know their limits.
They don't know that they need to continue to be learning in order to improve themselves.
But God is generally the only being who never needs to learn because he has all knowledge already.
Now, the fact that God knows everything could be either comforting or scary depending upon where we sit and what we know about our own lives.
In the face of difficulty, suffering, hardship, uncertainty, the fact that God knows everything can be very comforting.
The Bible says in Matthew 10, 29-31,
It's comforting to know that God knows the most intimate details of all our lives.
So, he knows what we're going through.
And he knows what's ahead.
And he knows how to help us.
But God, the fact that God knows everything can be very scary as well if we've done something wrong or a lot of things wrong.
God doesn't take lightly our sinful rebellion.
He didn't take Adam and Eve's rebellion lightly.
And many others throughout history can testify to this fact as well.
Now, I want us to think about the difference between our limited knowledge and God's unlimited knowledge.
And what knowledge we should seek and what we shouldn't seek in order to honor God and to find what's best for our lives according to God's word.
And to do that, I want to come back to Adam and Eve from the passage that we read just a moment ago.
There's some things that God wanted Adam and Eve to know.
And there's some things that God did not want Adam and Eve to know.
So, what are those things?
What did God want Adam and Eve to know?
He wanted them to know him.
God wanted to have a relationship with Adam and Eve.
In the garden, he talked with them.
And he knew them.
And they knew him.
And there was a relationship of intimacy there.
Of communion between God and man.
God wanted Adam and Eve to know his provision.
God put them in a garden.
There was fruit.
There was things to eat.
There was a temperate climate.
All their needs in life were provided for.
He wanted them to know.
He wants us to know that he provides for us.
And that he expresses his goodness and kindness to us in his provision.
God wanted Adam and Eve to know the benefits of work.
Some people think about paradise as a place where we'll never work.
But if we actually look at the account in the beginning of Genesis, in the garden of Eden, there was work.
But it wasn't poilsome work.
It wasn't work.
It wasn't back-breaking work.
It was work that they enjoyed.
They got into.
They saw the fruit of their labor.
And it wasn't burdensome to them.
They saw the fruit of what they did with their own hands.
God wants us to have and enjoy that.
God wanted Adam and Eve to have the joy of human companionship.
Right at the beginning, before Eve was created, God said it's not good for man to be alone.
Even though dog may be man's best friend, dog is still not good enough.
Not nearly as good as woman.
God wants us to be in relationship with other people.
To have friends.
For many people, that includes getting married and perhaps having children.
He wants us to have relationships with his people.
God wants us to know creativity.
God gave to Adam to name the animals.
There was a creative process that God was engaged in.
He wanted people to know that as well.
God wanted Adam and Eve to know the experience of exercising authority and wise management.
In Genesis 1.28, the Bible says,
God blessed them and said to them,
Be fruitful and increase in number.
Fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.
Now, in the history of mankind, we haven't done very well in exercising dominion over the earth and caring for the earth and managing resources.
And those God has put into our care very well.
God wants us to exercise authority and stewardship and management rightly and properly for his honor and for the benefit of other people.
And God also wants us to know.
He wanted Adam and Eve to know.
And this is where Adam and Eve slipped up.
He wants us to know self-discipline and trust.
Right in the middle of this garden of abundant food and everything that they needed,
there was a tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And that was the only thing that God said,
Don't touch this.
This is not for you.
And Adam and Eve had not sinned yet,
but there was still a test to bring them further on in their perfection in order to be the people that God wanted them to grow into.
So they needed to exercise self-discipline.
He wanted them to know this.
And he wanted them to know what it was like to trust.
Because when God said no,
they needed to learn how to trust God.
That when God said,
You don't need to know this.
You don't need to know what comes from this tree.
Adam and Eve needed to be okay with that.
When God put that tree there and said,
Trust me,
it was in effect that God was saying,
There are some things I want you to know,
and some I don't want you to know.
And that's okay.
Not to know something.
I need you to trust me when I say to you,
You don't need to know some things.
Don't be afraid at not knowing.
Don't be afraid.
I'm taking care of you.
Trust me,
and be content with the knowledge of the things that I've given you.
God's saying,
The things I've given you to know,
this should be enough for you.
Don't look for more than I've given you.
But Adam and Eve sought forbidden knowledge.
Because they thought the limits God had put in them
constituted a denial of something good.
They thought,
There's something good out there.
There's something more that we could know
that will improve our lives
that God is keeping from us.
They wanted,
like many of us,
they wanted more power and control,
and God was willing to give them at that time.
Like Adam and Eve,
we too experience the temptation of forbidden knowledge.
In our own wisdom,
in our own wisdom,
we come up with reasons why we should,
why we need to have certain knowledge.
Maybe it's gossip.
Maybe it's a certain intimate or thrilling experience
that God's word is forbidden.
Maybe it's some sort of insider business information,
or maybe it's just some trivia on the internet
that has no practical and perhaps some harming effects upon us.
There's all sorts of things that we could know,
but it's really no benefit to us to know,
and that we shouldn't seek out.
But sometimes the temptation is not in the knowledge itself,
but in what the knowledge can do for us.
Why do we seek the knowledge we do?
Is it to be masters of our own destiny?
Is it because we don't trust God to take care of us?
Because if we have enough knowledge,
you don't really need to depend on God, do we?
We can control our own lives.
In our seeking after the knowledge that we do,
are we saying to God,
God, I am not content with the limits you have set for me,
so I'm going to seek this knowledge
and make a good life for myself,
because I know how to make a good life for myself
better than you know.
But why did God set limits on us?
Nobody likes limits.
We want to have as much as possible.
It's a sinful nature in us.
We're greedy.
We want to, we're selfish.
We want everything.
We want to be in control of everything
and have nothing that we don't know.
We're not comfortable with being limited.
We value freedom and independence or liberty,
and we're not content with being
in the place that God has for us.
There's some things that God doesn't want us to know,
didn't want Adam and Eve to know.
What was it that God did not want Adam and Eve to know?
What was he keeping from them?
He didn't want them to know shame, distrust,
embarrassment, conflict, revenge, suffering,
and the death that came from sin.
Those are all things that they learned about
after they took the fruit from that tree.
They knew nakedness.
Not physically being naked.
They had that.
They knew what it was like to be physically naked
before they eat that fruit.
But the nakedness that they experienced afterwards
was that sense of being exposed and vulnerable to harm.
They knew that.
We know that now.
We may go around fully clothed,
but sometimes we have that feeling of being exposed,
being vulnerable to harm.
God did not want them to know the burden of feeling
that seeking a good life
and figuring out how to have a good life
entirely rested on their shoulders.
Because if it's up to us to figure out
by our own knowledge and our own cleverness
how to have a good life,
we'll always be in a desperate search
for that one more thing,
that one more thing
that will help us improve our lives.
If you go to many bookstores,
there's a huge self-help
and self-improvement section.
People are looking for that one more thing
that will give them that little edge
to have a better life.
God didn't want Adam to know evil and wickedness.
Pain follows sin.
Sin always has consequences.
That's why the location of the forbidden fruit
was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God didn't want them to know evil.
Adam and Eve knew good already,
but they weren't ready for evil.
It's as if they were saying to God,
we're not content with you making the buying choices here.
We want to go to the store
and see all the options before us
and then choose what's the best for us.
But God is saying,
I've brought you what's good already.
Be content in that fact.
In a world that loves to have options,
are we content to let God make the choices?
It's a really good thing that God knows everything
and that we don't.
It's a good thing that God knows everything
because he can choose what's best for us
and he can steer us away from what's harmful.
He is knowledgeable and powerful to do this.
And it's a good thing that we don't know everything
because there's a lot of knowledge that we don't need.
It's too much for us.
It's too painful for us.
It's too overwhelming.
It's too confusing.
It's utterly unhelpful.
Now, at this point,
I want to stop for a moment and answer an objection
because to modern sensibilities,
it sounds very strange and even scary
to be told there's some things you don't need to know.
It sounds like a business or a government
that wants to oppress us and take advantage of us.
There's too many authorities in this world
that have abused people
who have withheld information,
they've withheld education,
they've withheld certain knowledge from people
in order to profit from them,
in order to oppress them,
in order to take advantage of them.
But God's not an authoritarian dictator
denying information in order to deny us good.
That's not God.
God is a loving Father.
He's looking out for us as children.
And He's sharing with us only the information
that we need to know,
what's helpful for us.
And He's asking us to trust Him
in the matters that He hasn't revealed.
And there's actually a lot of things
that we shouldn't concern ourselves with.
If we look in Scripture,
there's a number of things
that just are really not profitable
for us to inquire into.
Why am I experiencing more suffering
than my neighbor is?
Do we compare ourselves to other people?
Do we ask the why question?
Why is this happening to me and not them?
Why am I going through this?
Or the other side of that coin,
why did that person have that good thing,
that ability, that opportunity,
and I don't?
When we start playing the comparison game,
we try to delve into and scrutinize God's will,
why He gives something to one person
or why He withholds something.
We're going to enter into jealousy
and we're going to enter into bitterness
and a lot of things
that God doesn't want us to know.
When will Jesus return?
Many people have gone down that road.
They tried to figure out the time and the season,
the exact day that Jesus will return.
And nothing good has come to that.
Jesus said in His Word,
it's not for you to know.
Is a particular natural disaster or calamity
God's judgment upon us?
In the United States,
it seems like every time some disaster happens,
there's a preacher who gets on TV
and says it's God's judgment.
Maybe, maybe not.
Do we know this?
Jesus, in Luke chapter 13,
actually spoke very specifically
to how we are to respond
to these kinds of questions
in the face of tragedy.
Luke chapter 13, verses 1 to 5.
Now there was some present at that time
who told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Jesus answered,
Do you think that these Galileans
were worse sinners than all the other Galileans
because they suffered in this way?
I tell you no.
But unless you repent,
you too will all perish.
For those 18 who died
when the tower in Siloam fell on them,
do you think they were more guilty
than all the others living in Jerusalem?
I tell you no.
But unless you repent,
you too will all perish.
When there's a great disaster,
we shouldn't try to figure out
why did this disaster happen.
But Jesus says
what we should realize
is that unless we repent,
unless we're right with God,
that kind of disaster
or something works,
God's judgment will fall upon us.
That's the lesson
we're supposed to get out of disasters.
It's supposed to remind us
and humble us
before God's face
and remind us to repent
and turn away from our sin.
Not stand in judgment
over what people
who were caught up in disaster
may have done or not do.
When there's a disaster,
it's time to show compassion.
One of the fascinating verses,
I love this verse
because it really reminds us
of the limits of our knowledge
and God's wisdom and revelation.
It's in Deuteronomy 29.29.
It's nice that it's 29.29,
but it's easy to remember.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God,
but the things revealed belong to us
and to our children forever,
that we may follow all the words of this law.
Now, there's some things
that God has not revealed,
but there's a lot of things
that God has revealed.
He's given us a whole book
of things that he's revealed to us
and he wants us to know
and he wants us to respond to.
There's many people who agonize over,
you know,
what is God's will for my life?
What should I do?
But they hardly opened the Bible.
God's already given us
a lot that he wants us to know.
As we read this,
it builds our wisdom
and builds our understanding
of ourselves,
of God,
of the world around us.
And God builds us
in wisdom and understanding
as we study his word.
We need to be content
with what God has kept secret
and be content
and study diligently
and seek to know more
of what he has revealed to us.
Sometimes our hearts
will tell us to do something.
Sometimes the world around us
will tell us to do something.
But we need to be content
with the knowledge
that God has given us
and walk in that way
even though
other so-called knowledge
which conflicts with God's word
is saying to go
in a different direction.
Proverbs 3, 5-6 says,
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart
and lean not
on your own understanding.
In all your ways
submit to him
and he will make
your path straight.
We need to seek
appropriate knowledge
for the glory of God
and with trust in him
we need to try to make
wise decisions
about what we'll try
to find out,
what we'll try to know
and what we won't know.
Some people
might hear this
and say,
Well,
there's things
we're not supposed to know.
Does the Bible
want us to be
Luddites
and Ignoramuses?
Is the Bible
against progress?
Should we
lock ourselves down
at a certain point
in history
and just refuse
to know anything more?
No,
that's not what
the Bible is saying.
Proverbs 25, 2 says,
It is the glory of God
to conceal a matter.
To search out a matter
is the glory of kings.
We should learn.
We should do science.
We should seek to work,
make the world
a better place.
The Bible is not
against progress.
It's not against knowledge
or acquiring knowledge.
But we should
know the limits
of our knowledge
and be wise
in what knowledge
we gain
because there's a lot
out there we could know.
We should spend
more time
looking at scripture
and seeking out
useful knowledge.
Maybe gaining
a new skill
or studying a language
or investing time
in becoming
more knowledgeable
in our professional field.
Maybe spend more time
on things like that
and less time
clicking on those articles
about five amazing
bathing costume fails
or a quiz on
which haughty
Harry Potter character
we are.
Are those things
we need to know?
Maybe we spend
less time
on reading
about politics
and following
celebrity news
or movies
TVs
video games
and more time
in the Bible
and prayer
in building relationships
with the people
around us.
Instead of trying
to gain more
and more connections
with followers
maybe just spend
more time
with the people
that God has put
across the street
in our own church
community.
Because we're
in such
an information
rich age
and there's so much
out there
we could know
and so many of us
spend time
on the computer
on the internet
increasingly
with smartphones
we need to be
ever more discerning
about the knowledge
we've taken.
It's very easy
to quickly
just do a quick check
of email
or Facebook
or Instagram
or whatever
whatever internet
or social media site
that you like
just do a quick check
I'll take five minutes
behold
an hour and a half later
what have we done?
We've lost
half our day already
it's as if
we've overeaten
and we push back
from the table
and think
what have I done?
I've just wasted
so much time
I'm not against
social media
or entertainment
per se
but there's so much
there's such a thing
as too much
of a good thing
food is good
and necessary
but there is junk food
there is poison food
there is such a thing
as overeating
and that's called
greed and gluttony
we can be greedy
for knowledge
and knowledge
that really doesn't
benefit us
in any way
if we spend time
gaining useless knowledge
or even harmful knowledge
our minds are cluttered
our hearts are cluttered
with these things
and the stress
and distraction
that it brings
and so
the internet
especially
can be a massive
time suck
and consume
our hearts and minds
in gaining knowledge
that we think
might be useful
or helpful
now if it's clicking
on a link
about which Harry Potter
character we are
that's sort of
an easy target
it's like okay
well that's kind of useless
but what if it's
an article
vaguely related
to our field
or what if it's
about parenting
or what if it's
about health
we can easily justify
well this is a good
use of my time
is it
maybe it is
maybe it isn't
we need to
think carefully
about these things
because everything
we choose to spend
our time on
learning and knowing
it's less time
we can think
about other things
if our hearts
and minds
are consumed
with something
going on
out there
another part
of the world
something that
we really can't
affect change in
then we don't
have the time
or the capacity
to learn about
what we should
be doing in life
to think about
goals
to think about
the other people
around us
do we know
our neighbors
do we know
the other people
in our workplaces
or our schools
have we thought
about whether
we should spend
time trying to
get to know
them
that might be
useful knowledge
so that we
could bless them
we could speak
to them about
Christ
this is
and we also
need down time
to think
creatively
and to reflect
if we're
on a phone
consuming
taking an
infotainment
all the time
we don't have
that time
to stop
and think
well what
should I be
what knowledge
should I be
seeking
what should I
really be
seeking
we're just
go go go
and don't think
what should I
know
we just know
what we know
and just
flit on to
the next thing
trying to fill
every moment
of boredom
but when we
let ourselves
be consumed
by useless
knowledge
the world
the flesh
and the devil
gain the upper
hand
as we feast
on bread
and circuses
what then
should be
our approach
to knowledge
we should
read God's
word
we should
seek his
priorities
what are
what priorities
does God
have in this
world
what is God
trying to
accomplish
in this
world
and we
should seek
to know
those priorities
and seek
to bring
our priorities
into line
with his
and then
we'll have
a better
gauge
to know
what knowledge
we should
pursue
we only
have limited
time
we have
limited ability
to learn
and grow
and to know
things
so let's
rest in
what rest
in the fact
that God
knows us
and God
cares for us
who knows
that we
can't know
everything
he couldn't
possibly require
us to do
more than we
possibly could
in order to
gain safety
security
in this
world
so we
need to
learn what
we can
according to
God's
wisdom
and for
the rest
we need
to simply
abide
and rest
in the
knowledge
that God
knows us
and God
knows how
to take
care of
us
even if
we don't
know
everything
about health
or safety
or everything
we possibly
can in
our field
we need
to accept
our knowledge
is limited
and the
fact that
our knowledge
is limited
forces us
to call
out to
God
and to
trust
in God
and this
is where
knowing that
God is
omniscient
all knowing
is really
practical
because we
can't know
everything
and we
need to
trust in
the one
who does
know
everything
to be
able to
take care
of us
God has
put certain
processes
in place
in this
world
in creation
the Westminster
Shorter
Catechism
and I'm
going to
end on
this
the Westminster
Shorter
Catechism
says that
God rules
the world
through acts
of creation
and providence
he's put
certain orders
and prophecies
in place
in the natural
world
so that we'll
be provided
for
but he also
rules through
his acts
of providence
what are those
those are those
that's his
supernatural
guiding
and ordering
the world
the catechism
question 11
asks
what are God's
works of
providence
and the answer
is this
God's works
of providence
are
is most
holy
wise
and powerful
preserving
and governing
all his
creatures
and all
their actions
God didn't
create the
world
and wind
it up
like a
clock
and
for the
younger
people
clocks
he used
to be
to wind
them up
and wind
up a clock
and set
it to go
and say
okay you're
off on your
own
take care
of yourselves
no
God's hand
is actively
intervening
in our
affairs
in our
lives
and he is
preserving
helping us
and caring
for us
and he knows
what he's
doing
you be