(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So last week we looked at kind of the first section of Genesis 18 where kind of the the main topic that's being mentioned is just having hospitality and now we're looking at kind of the middle section because the end section is very different and in the middle section what we See are the attributes of the Lord now when it comes to the attributes of God. There are many different attributes We obviously know God is holy God is long-suffering But I'm looking at specific things that make God You know prove who he is meaning omnipotent omniscient things that obviously we are not but God is and the first one I want to look at here in Genesis 18 is The omniscience of God meaning that God is all-knowing. He knows Everything now in verse 9 notice what the Bible says and they said on to him Where is Sarah thy wife and he said behold in the tent now You might look at this verse and say well this verse almost looks like the opposite of omniscience because he's asking You know, where's your wife, but I would say this Before I even get into this that oftentimes you ask questions and you already know the answer For example, your child acts up and does something and you know what they did you saw it, but you still ask them, right? So just because you're asking a question doesn't mean you don't know the answer. Okay? Obviously God is aware where Sarah is, of course, we know that now I'm assuming the angels with him would also be aware I'm assuming that they were told as well because it says they said on to him Where is Sarah thy wife, but this is actually significant when you carefully read what's being said here So they asked him where Sarah and he said behold in the tent now Here's the thing if Sarah was in the room with them and they would say what do you mean? Where is Sarah? She's she's right here right He they're obviously mentioning Sarah because she's not in the room where they're having the conversation, right? Isn't this basic common sense because he he says in the tent indicating it's not here, right? If I said, you know, where's Miguel you'd be like, what are you talking about? He's right there Right, but if they're outside, it's like where's Miguel? It's like oh he's in the tent. He's outside or whatever, right? So obviously she is not in the room with them when this conversation is taking place then it says here in verse 10 and he said I will certainly return on to thee according to the time of life and lo Sarah thy wife shall have a son and Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him So Sarah is close enough to hear what's being said But she's not actually there when the conversation is taking place Do you understand what I'm saying? It'd be like for example, if we speak very loud someone on the outside of this wall might be able to hear us Right and so Sarah's in the tent door, but she can actually hear what's being said, but she's not visibly there now Of course God is already aware of this. Okay, he knows that she can hear what's being said, but if you told me, you know Hey Sarah's in the tent I wouldn't know whether she could hear or not because she's not there and I can't see a reaction to see if she's Hearing what I'm saying. So He says, you know Sarah is in the tent and then he said in verse 10 and he said I will certainly return to thee According the time of life and lo Sarah thy wife shall have a son and Sarah heard in the tent door Which was behind him now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with Sarah After the manner of women so when the Bible talks about the manner of women the Bible also talks about the custom of women Obviously, you know, we know that there's like a monthly time for women That is very unique to women as opposed to men But eventually you reach an age where that time is going to go away and you can no longer have children after that point When women reach the age of menopause which the age can be different depending on a myriad of factors Well, the Bible is telling you very clearly is it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women meaning logically She can't have kids anymore scientifically medically it's impossible right because it ceased to be with her after the manner of Women which would mean she no longer has that capacity to have kids from a logical Scientific medical standpoint without a miracle. There is no way Sarah's going to be able to have kids Now notice what it says here in verse 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself So remember they're having this conversation and Abraham says Sarah's in the tent But they can't actually see Sarah and Sarah laughs on the inside She doesn't even make it You know audible on the outside now if I was talking to somebody and they didn't believe what I was saying And they thought it was a joke Even if they didn't say anything you might be able to tell just from nonverbal communication That would be a possibility but this is not the case here because Sarah is not visible when this is taking place Right. So we're paying very clear attention. She's not in the room, right? She's in the tent or laughing within herself So she's not making any noise just on the inside it to me when it says laugh within herself It sounds kind of like she's saying yeah, right it's like that's not gonna happen We've heard this promise before we've been hearing this for decades We're gonna be given a child and then you keep saying it and it's not taking place So inside she just doesn't believe what God is saying, but she doesn't say it audibly out loud and you know, honestly You know a respectful and kind thing to do is if you don't agree with people to just keep it to yourself So I'm not trying to be super critical of her because obviously this is a miracle that she's being told and she's not being rude Because she's not just like laughing out loud and just like, you know mocking God or whatever and you know, she's not even around Where God is when she's doing this she's in the tent which is nearby But she can actually hear what's being said so she laughs within herself saying after I am waxed old shall I have pleasure My Lord being old also and when she says my Lord she's referring to Abraham you know her being the leader of the home the head of the home and then verse 13 and The Lord said unto Abraham wherefore did Sarah laugh saying shall I have a surety bear a child which am old, right? So picture what's being said, you know, I'm using Miguel as the example because he's front row here tonight But let's say for example, you know, we're having a conversation and then all of a sudden I'm just like why did Miguel laugh and you'd be like, what are you talking about? Miguel's not even here What do you mean did he laugh right? You know because Sarah is not in the room when this is taking place So it's not just that God knows what's on the inside I mean literally Sarah is not even in the room and then he says to Abraham, you know, why did your wife laugh? You know, I can imagine Abraham being like what what are you talking about? Right? She laughed Right, and he said, you know, why did she laugh saying shall I have a surety bear a child which am old? What what God is doing here is he's proving his omniscience He's proving the fact that he is all-knowing. He knows everything. There's nothing that God does not know Right. He knows Sarah can hear what's being said. He knows what she's thinking on the inside, right? He knows that she laughs at this and does not believe it. What he does is he proves his omniscience Then it says here in verse 14 is anything too hard for the Lord? Now this is one of those phrases in the Bible that you know what I've committed this to memory and it's something I quote on A regular basis and I don't even quote the whole verse just the phrase itself Is powerful because you know, it's it's a rhetorical question I mean, obviously the answer is nothing's too hard for the Lord and yet we doubt things that God says all the time and Sometimes we just need to be reminded. Hey is anything too hard for the Lord? Now what we're seeing in this story is a miracle taking place Right. Sarah's gonna have a child when she has passed the point it ceases to be with her after the manner of women So logically medically scientifically no way she's gonna have a child But the question is this is anything too hard for the Lord and obviously the answer to that question is no Nothing's too hard for the Lord. So God says something God promises we can take it to the bank It's gonna happen now, of course, we're not gonna have God visit us and have a direct conversation with us but you know There's many promises found in the Word of God that we can just take for a fact and believe them But it's something we have to take by faith because it's not something we see with our eyes Immediately or visibly we just got to trust in God that it's the case, right? Is anything too hard for the Lord at the time appointed? I will return unto thee according the time of life and Sarah shall have a son So there's certainty in what the Lord says he says I will return unto thee According to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son Then Sarah denied saying I laugh not for she was afraid and he said nay, but thou didst laugh now The Bible does not directly tell us here in verse 15 But the way I picture this because Sarah is not in the room according to what we read in Genesis chapter 18 God says you know what Sarah is gonna have a child and of course Sarah is nearby So I kind of imagine Sarah just kind of walking in saying I didn't laugh Right, and so that's the picture that I see in Genesis chapter 18. So Sarah denies us and says you know, I didn't laugh Right because oftentimes we don't want to admit things that would make us look bad or an embarrass us and she's like I didn't laugh And the reason why she did that is she was afraid she was afraid with making God upset She was afraid with God being angry at her and he said nay But thou didst laugh right now this this verse is always pretty funny If you listen to the audio Bible with Alexander Scorby because just kind of the way he says it he kind of paused She's like she didn't I laugh not he's like nay, but thou didst laugh right and he's saying you know what? I know what you were thinking on the inside. I know it wasn't out loud I know it wasn't audible, but you know what? I know that you laughed and you didn't believe what I said, right? The reason why she denies it is she's afraid and of course This is a natural response people have if they're in trouble for something Lying is usually the first thing we try to do to get out of it, right? We just try to deny it and that might work on somebody else Doesn't work on the Lord God's like hey, I'm all-knowing. Okay. I know you laughed Go to Genesis 17 Genesis 17 real quickly Genesis 17 Now the truth is this that I'm not really being harsh to Sarah because honestly her response is better than Abraham's Right because if you look at Genesis 17 notice what it says in Genesis 17 verse 17 This is after God's promised Abraham You're gonna have a child Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born unto him that is in hundred years Old and shall Sarah that is 90 years old old bear So when I'm reading Genesis 17, I mean Abraham literally falls on his face and he laughs I mean it does say said in his heart But I kind of see this as a little bit of laughing on the outside as well and not just merely in his heart And I mean, it's kind of hard with the wording to fully tell but I mean there's a visible reaction from Abraham This is obviously a much more rude response in Sarah's Right. I mean God says you're gonna have a child and then Abraham falls upon his face and it's just like we're gonna have a child It's like come on you expect me to believe that and then he says shall a child be born unto him That is a hundred years old and shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear and Abraham said unto God Oh that Ishmael might live before thee I mean what an insult to say to God where it's like just you know Take Ishmael that would be good enough because we know that we're not going to have a child now Of course when we're looking at a hundred years old in 90 years old that's not like a hundred years old like we would look at a hundred years old obviously Abraham lived a lot longer than we're gonna live and Obviously Sarah lived longer than we're gonna live they live longer lives back then but they also weren't living to be 900 years either So this is obviously at an advanced age But it's not like someone who's about to die and then they have a child. It's not quite like that Okay, go to Psalm 44 Psalm 44 right in the middle of your Bible Psalm 44 Let me just give you a few verses that show that God is omniscient he knows everything and Obviously we're aware of that but it's also good to find some verses that we can prove this and See what the Bible says about the omniscience and you know, this is a major attribute that separates us from God We are never going to be all-knowing It's not possible Right. You say what what about becoming a psychic brother Stuckey doesn't happen Right now I do believe people can get possessed by devils and happen to know certain things But they're not all-knowing even with the help of a devil Possessing them right? I mean, there's something called a mentalist which is someone who? From my understanding just can use various clues to figure out what people are thinking They're very, you know clever, but it's not that they're all-knowing. They're just very clever about finding things out Nobody is all-knowing except obviously God Some 44 verse 21 shall not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart The Bible says he knoweth the secrets of the heart and the truth is that God knows our heart better than we do Right because our heart deceives us but God is aware of what's inside the heart He knoweth the secrets of the heart go to someone 47 someone 47 someone 47 The Bible says in Psalm 147 verse someone 47 verse 5 Psalm 147 verse 5 The Bible says great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is Infinite so when we say infinite or infinity, it's basically, you know the maximum Right and so we when you think of in terms of time infinity means basically forever and his understanding is infinite meaning There's nothing God doesn't know he's aware of absolutely everything that is going to take place now Of course, that doesn't mean that we don't have free will obviously we have free will just because God knows the future Doesn't mean he forces the future. We understand that this this Saturday I'm actually gonna be preaching against Calvinism as the false philosophy and look God does know the future He's all-knowing that doesn't change the fact though that we have free will to make our choices One of the examples I like to give is if if I were to ask my son, you know Zeph Do you want you know potato chips or do you want you know pretzels? My son's gonna pick potato chips every single time But he has a free will choice to make it It's not that I'm making the choice for him just because I know what he's going to decide Right, and of course our understanding can be at a certain level to know certain things Like for example, you can ask my wife and she can confirm this after the service But the other day, you know, she was ordering something to eat and she asked me what I wanted I said, you know, I don't I don't care whatever and then like a couple minutes later I said so you got Chow King, right? I knew she was gonna pick. She's like, how did you know that? I was like, I don't know. It's just obvious. You haven't had Chow King recently. It's in the rotation I did I was like, I don't know. I just knew I mean it was it was obvious not it's it's not being psychic It's just the fact that you're married for a while and you can kind of figure these things out, right? There's certain things, you know, but our understanding only reaches to a certain level God his understanding is infinite, right? Go to 1st John 3, 1st John chapter 3 1st John 3 1st John 3 1st John chapter 3 I mean, obviously these are things we know about God We know that God is all-knowing but you know, it's not just having verses to prove this which is important Even though it's something we already know I think this is something that's good to be reminded of because when we understand that God is omniscient it really kind of Humbles us down to a level where we realize we're nothing compared to God Because oftentimes we think we can figure out our future. We know our future. We know what's right. We know what we're doing Honestly, we don't Right. We need God's help in our lives 1st John 3 verse 20 for for heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things now Here's what the Bible saying here in 1st John 3 verse 20 The Bible is talking about getting right with God and being right with God and the Bible says that you know What if inside of your heart your heart condemns you and you feel guilty and you know, you're not right with God You know what? God is greater than our heart knoweth all things Meaning if you think you have this much sin in your life, you've got like this much sin You think you've got just a few things you got to work out God's like, you know what? I know all things I know every single secret of the heart every single bad thought every single thing that you're not doing right and it's like we Oftentimes want to justify our own actions So we'll do things that are wrong and just think well It's not that big of a deal and the Bible saying you know what God is greater than our hearts if you feel bad Or guilty in your heart You better get right with God because God says I know all things and there's a lot of things that you need to get right Turn your Bible to Genesis 20 Genesis 20 Genesis 20 One application is the fact that we don't know the future right? We have no idea what's going to take place in the future But God doesn't know the future The Bible speaks about being on the right path in life and God guiding your steps And of course we have free will to make our choices, but you know when we're right with God, honestly We're just following the steps that God has for us now. We sin every single day We understand that but what I'm saying is this if we trust in God and we're right with God, honestly We're just trying to follow the steps that he's doing because that's what God gives us the desires of our heart When we're right with God our desires line up with God's desires and he is directing our path and look I believe that if you're serving God and doing right you have God's protection and blessing upon your life. That's what I believe Right and look at an uncertain world, that's a very important thing to have God's blessing upon your life that he's guiding your steps We don't know the future So it makes sense just to trust in God who does love you and care about you and he does know the future He knows what's right let me just give you a couple quotes here from a few false religions on the topic of omniscience because There's actually a few religions that do believe that you can become omniscient all-knowing in This life One of those religions is a religion of Jainism now We talked about Jainism recently as they're known as the world's most peaceful religion but you know and I didn't go super into it for sake of time in that sermon because I was really trying to focus on the Idea of world peace. I wasn't trying to get into rabbit trails because all of these false religions have a million things wrong with them But with Jainism it says they say omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain Omniscience is considered the highest type of perception in the words of a Jain scholar the perfect Manifestation of the innate nature of the self arising on the complete annihilation of the obstructive veils is called omniscience so in Basic English because that's a very confusing thing what he just said you can end up knowing everything Okay, it's kind of funny because they're a religion that believes the earth's flat It's like wow, you're all knowing and yet you still think the earth is flat It's like apparently you messed up on that one, right? Jainism views infinite knowledge as an As an inherent capability of every soul Ari Hanta is the word used by Jains to refer to those human beings who have conquered all inner passions like attachment greed pride anger And possessed Kavala jhana Infinite knowledge they are said to be of two kinds one is Samanya Kavali Omniscient beings who are concerned with their own liberation and human beings who attain omniscience and then help others to achieve the same so basically the idea in Jainism is you want to stop being reincarnated and Really that takes place once you become God because once you become omniscient, which basically means your God Then you stop being reincarnated and they believe that's possible Once you reach omniscient and you're all-knowing that is when basically you're no longer going to be You know reincarnated unless according to this you stay to help other people reach that liberation you might choose to stay to help other people get Liberated but basically in Jainism you stop being reincarnated once you become God What a blasphemous and garbage teaching and Jainism for a religion that claims they don't believe in a creator God And we're not sure if we believe in God But you can become all-knowing he can be as gods as the devil said in Genesis 3 Buddhism is another example in Buddhism. Here's a few quotes on this as many teach that the Buddha became Omniscient which is like becoming God say just as Satan said you shall be as gods knowing good and evil So Buddha supposedly reached a stage and from what I've read in documentaries I've seen this is the general teaching in Buddhism that Buddha reached the stage of having infinite and all knowledge and it's something that Buddhism teaches that you can also achieve and That's the liberation of the soul and you won't be reincarnated anymore. So also in Buddhism you can basically become God That's what they teach. And so it's there's nothing I mean it there is nothing new under the Sun Right. I mean it's like we it amazes you with all these false religions how they teach such stupid things Same false things in the Bible long before Buddhism and Jainism We have Genesis chapter 3 shall be as gods and yet that's what they're teaching in their religions You can have all knowledge and know everything and no longer being reincarnated because basically you become God right, but look according to the Bible omniscience is a characteristic that only God has and Our knowledge is so small compared to God. It's so little Right. I mean you can study and study and study and study your whole life on various things and you're never gonna know everything About any any topic you can spend your whole life studying on one thing and you're still not going to learn everything about it Yet God knows the very hairs of our head. The Bible says they're all numbered and By the way, let me just say this that when we get to heaven, we're not going to become God either We're not going to become all omniscient and know Everything right now. I personally believe that basically in heaven We're going to be learning the Word of God all the time and just learning new things that we never noticed and never knew Obviously we do have a glorified body Obviously, there's some changes that take place You know, I've heard sermons that kind of study it out and show the various things that take place But one thing that's not taking place is becoming God, right? We're not going to become omniscient and become God That's not going to take place point number one attributes of God we see the omniscience of God Another thing that we see is the omnipotence of God now Obviously we already read in Genesis 18 about what God's saying He's going to do a woman who has passed the age of having children and he's going to bless her and She's going to end up having a child which is going to show the omnipotence or all-powerful ness of God Okay So Genesis 20 let me just show you because this is something that comes up quite a bit when it comes to God being all Powerful is the idea of a woman's womb being opened Genesis 20 verse 17 So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants and they bare children for the Lord Had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife So we see her in Genesis 20 that God has the power to actually close a womb Right, and this is something that does take place in in this example It's because of of sin, but that isn't always the case though A woman's womb might be closed and we don't necessarily know why but for whatever reason, you know God didn't you know bless them with a child at that time, but we see that God is all-powerful He has the ability to open and close the womb go to Genesis 29 Genesis 29 Genesis 29 In Genesis 29 verse 31 And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren So in Genesis 29 verse 31, you know, it doesn't say that Rachel committed some awful sin Which is why her womb is closed what the Bible says is he opens the womb of Leah for the fact that her husband Actually doesn't really love her her husband You know cares more about Rachel as opposed to her and so the Bible says God opens her womb go to Luke chapter 1 in your New Testament Luke 1 Luke chapter 1 and in Luke 1 we see a couple different stories on this idea and all of these things show that God is all-powerful because remember the quote was is anything too hard for the Lord and That was in reference to God opening up the womb of Sarah it says in Luke 1 verse 5 There is in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias Of the course of Abia and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth They're both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless So here in Luke 1 We see a husband and wife that are godly people. They've been serving God I'm sure that means they're soul winners. They read the Bible. They memorize the Bible They're obeying God's commandments, but it says in verse 7 and they had no child So this shows you that you know what you can do everything correctly You can live a godly life and pray but that you could still be barren, right? There's nothing that they did that was wrong and yet they don't have a child at this point And it says because that Elizabeth was barren and notice this and they were both and they both were now well stricken in years So I believe well-stricken in years The Bible is indicating that basically it ceased to be with Elizabeth after the manner of women as well now, of course For men men are capable of having children at an advanced age So even if he is well-stricken in years, obviously, I don't know exactly how it is It could still be possible to have children at that age, but obviously for ladies there's only a general window and eventually, you know, that window is going to run out and So go to verse number 13 verse 13 But the angel said on to him fear not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son And thou shalt call his name John and thou shalt have joy and gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth The indication is that these God fearing people they were still praying that God would bless him with a child Even when they thought it was impossible Right, even when they thought it was scientifically and medically impossible and God says, you know what? I've heard your prayer and I'm gonna bless you with your request, right? for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make Ready of people prepared for the Lord and Zachariah said unto the angel whereby shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife while stricken in years and so Zacharias hears this and it's just hard to believe Right. I mean we can imagine that because he's being told that a miracle is going to take place He's like, how can I know this is really going to take place? I'm an old man I'm not young anymore and my wife is well-stricken in years verse 19 and the angel answering said unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and I'm sent to speak on to thee and show thee these glad tidings and Behold thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed Because thou believe it's not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season So the result for Zacharias who this is really no different than Abraham or Sarah He doesn't believe the promise coming from the angel and as a result the Bible says he becomes dumb and when we say dumb We're not saying Bobo. We're saying not having the ability to speak is what the Bible says So, you know like deaf and dumb meaning you can't hear you can't speak So when it's saying that he's dumb what the Bible saying is he doesn't have the ability to speak for a time period And if you remember the story, he's not able to speak until he just says his name is John and everyone's like, whoa Wow, we can talk again right go to verse number 26 verse 26 verse 26 And let me just say this that no I believe it makes sense that When we think about the power of God because in Genesis 18 is anything too hard for the Lord is being linked to God opening the womb of Sarah and Then of course we see Zacharias doubting God's promise But you know, it makes sense that this would be applying to you know childbirth and delivering children because honestly I think anytime a child is born. It's basically a miracle I mean, it's just amazing the way that God has has has done things I don't understand how someone can see a child be born and I mean with as detailed and as intricate as it is and then say that they don't believe in God It's like are you an idiot? How could you say that a childbirth could take place Just you know without a God, it's just random chemicals and the world evolved. I mean, that's so stupid Right. It's it's so dumb to sit here and say there is no God when you witness things like that that are obviously You know miracles that are taking place God has just designed everything so perfectly and so it makes sense that when we're talking about God being all-powerful It's oftentimes shown by the fact that he opens and closes the womb Luke 1 verse 26 and in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused a man whose Name was Joseph of the house of David and the Virgin's name was Mary and the angel came in unto her and said Hail thou that art highly favored the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and when she saw him she was troubled as saying cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be and The angel said under her fear not Mary for thou hast found favor with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring Forth a son and shall call his name Jesus now, of course, you know at this time, you know, Mary is a virgin So, you know being told she's gonna have a child It's like well, that's not even possible, right logically speaking. This is scientifically medically just logically impossible to have a child right and Then it says he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give on him the Throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom There shall be no end then said Mary on the angel. How shall this be seeing? I know not a man and so Mary's saying how is this even possible because I Haven't been with any guy so it's not Possible to have a child how is this even possible because obviously, you know, we know about the virgin birth because The foundation of our faith is is largely based on the virgin birth. That's a large part of our faith, right? But this is obviously before this has taken place for her. So she's hearing this. It's kind of hard to believe We just kind of grow up and we're taught the virgin birth and we believe it and of course I do right But she's being told something that is basically a miracle now, I think we're all aware of this But let me just say this that after Jesus is born Mary actually has a lot of children So she didn't stay a virgin forever, I mean she was married right so she was married to Joseph and they Did actually come together as husband and wife and have children after this but the Catholic Church will say no no She was perpetually a virgin and it's just like well, what about all of the brothers and sisters of Jesus? Well, they were just all cousins. Well, then why does it say they're his brothers and sisters? Right and it's weird because the Catholic Church used to teach kind of bizarre things as if like that was a sin It's like no that's actually part of of being married It wouldn't make any sense for her to stay a virgin as a married person, right? So that's really bizarre, but Obviously at this time though, she has not known a man. So this is a miraculous event that's taking place Verse 35 an angel answered and said unto her the Holy Ghost shall come upon me and the power of the highest show overshadowed thee therefore also that holy thing what shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and Behold thy cousin Elizabeth She hath also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month which with her who was called barren for with God Nothing shall be impossible. This is another one of those quotes is anything too hard with the Lord with God Nothing shall be impossible. Right? God has the ability to do things that logically don't make sense scientifically impossible, but God is Omnipotent meaning he is all powerful. He has the ability to perform miracles When people try to question the Bible and say that it's not accurate and it's not correct They'll bring up stories and say well that's not possible Why I agree It's called a miracle. There are things that take place that are not possible There are things that just aren't possible They could never happen But they are a miracle that takes place because God has the ability to perform miracles We believe in things that are not scientifically logically possible, but they happen you say why because God performs Miracles now we see major miracles that take place in the Bible, but even in our personal lives I think we've all experienced things that are kind of like many miracles where you know God is protecting you or guiding you, you know Things would not have taken place if it weren't for God helping out right go back to Genesis 18 Genesis 18 Point number one we see the omniscience of God God is all-knowing. He knows that Sarah laughs He knows that Sarah can hear what he's saying We also see the omnipotence of God God, you know declares that Basically, he that Sarah's gonna have a child is anything too hard for the Lord It shows how he is all-powerful But number three, I want to also talk to you about the omnipresence of God now Omnipresence meaning that God is everywhere right when we speak about God we say that he's all-knowing all-powerful and he's everywhere He's omnipresent right now. This is one of the major things when you're describing God When you describe it to your children, this is how I describe to my son Zeph that's old enough to understand certain things I tell him God is everywhere God is all-powerful God is all-knowing I mean aren't those three of the major things that you describe about God to help people understand because sometimes it's easier just describing his attributes and they can understand you know, because it's Obviously, it's hard to describe God because none of us fully grasp God right, but we know that God is omnipresent He's everywhere. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's omnipotent He's all-powerful Right and when it comes to being omnipresent one thing you could look at is the fact that he knew Sarah You know was able to hear him you could look at that as being omnipresent as well either all-knowing you could say or the fact That he's everywhere. So he's there to see, you know, you could look at it kind of either way but notice what it says in Genesis 18 verse 16 and The man rose up from thence and looked towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way and the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him So this is the chapter Obviously Genesis 19 is a more famous chapter than Genesis 18 and basically what we're going to see in this chapter is God is going to have a conversation with Abraham which we're going to look at next week and Basically, you know God tells them that he's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and then Abraham tries to bring down the required amount of Save people so it will be spared and everything like that and he's saying to the angels Should I hide what I'm going to do then? He says this for I know him that he will command his children in his household after him So once again, it declares the fact that he's omniscient because he says I know Abraham. I know What he's going to do I know he's going to command his children in his household and they shall keep the way the Lord to do justice and judgment That the Lord may bring upon Abraham that thing which he had spoken of him and the Lord said Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the cry of it which has come on to me if and if not, I will know so God comes down from heaven to begin with this is you know an Old Testament appearance of the Son of God and He comes down and he's planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of the wickedness that's taking place He's already aware of what's taking place there. I mean obviously he's omniscient, but he's also Everywhere and the whole reason why he's here is because of the fact he knows Sodom and Gomorrah is wicked And he says I'm going to destroy it because their sin is very grievous now, of course in verse 21 He says I will go down now and see whether they have done, but he already knows this Okay, and the whole reason why he's there to begin with is the fact that he knows what's going on It's just a matter of actually, you know speaking with Abraham in person and it's it's sort of like a way for Abraham to fully understand How wicked they are and obviously it's a story for us to understand but this doesn't negate the fact that obviously God is everywhere That's the whole reason why he's there is because he's already knows what's going to take place here He knows what is taking place inside of me Gomorrah and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom But Abraham stood yet before the Lord now go to Psalm 139 Psalm 139 Psalm 139 You know a kind of a way to look at this is you know Think of the story of Nineveh in the Bible and in the story of Nineveh God declares he's going to destroy Nineveh But then when they find out in Nineveh, they actually turn to God they actually make changes Obviously this did not take place in Sodom and Gomorrah, right? I believe at this point it's like well, it's far too late. There's not enough saved people God says he's going to destroy it But it's kind of like, you know, he was planning to destroy Nineveh and then they ended up turning back to him So this is sort of like, oh, you can't say that God didn't give him a chance is what I'm basically saying Right, they're aware of it God says all you need is ten people saved at the end of it and it's just like you know What Abraham is frantically going and trying to explain I mean a lot I should say not Abraham I mean once a lot finds us out he goes and speaks to his sons-in-law They say that they date to them. It's like he's mocking them, right? It's like what the Lord you've never cared about God before right They never turn to God Psalm 139 Psalm 139 and let me just go give you a clear verse though Showing you that God is omnipresent Psalm 139 verse 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold our there and the Bible says Is there anywhere on earth that you can go and God is not there? I mean whither shall I go? Whither shall I flee from thy presence? Is there anywhere I can go where you are not there God It's like if I go to heaven you're there if I make my bed in hell thou art there now Obviously a person cannot literally go to heaven or hell while they're on earth, but it's just speaking so we can understand this Go to Revelation 14 real quickly Revelation 14 You say brother Stuckey How is it that God said that he's in hell like if you make your bed in hell God is there I thought hell Was separation from God? Right isn't that what people teach? That hell is separation from God And you know what I've had plenty of Conversations with people about this because I've been in a lot of different Baptist churches as have all of us right different Baptist churches People believe different things and I've asked people this before when this conversation comes up I'd be like, but you believe God's everywhere, right and then everyone's gonna be like, yeah, you know God's everywhere So is God in hell? I mean if he's everywhere Is He there or not and then it's like people really don't know how to respond to that They've never thought about it And then I've heard people say like the best answer I've heard is like well in a sense He's there but in a sense he's not I mean, there's no answer He's either everywhere or not Right. That's a tough question. It's such a basic and simple question But they can't answer it. It's like well, they're like, well, no, no hell separation from God God is not in hell. His presence is not there but you believe God is everywhere. Yes Does that mean he's in hell? It's like I mean, you can't have it both ways. I mean either he's Omnipresent or not. I believe God is omnipresent. I believe that God is everywhere Everywhere in this world God is there is nowhere where we can go Look, if you commit some sin and nobody sees you and nobody knows about it. I mean be not deceived God is not mocked for what's our man. So if that's Shelley also reap you say why because God knows what took place God's presence is there I mean the Bible speaks about how we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God Because the Holy Spirit of God is going to go with you no matter what you do So if you go out and get drunk you go out and commit sins You know what? You're grieving the Holy Spirit because basically the Holy Spirit has to be there when those sins are taking place Right. God is everywhere revelation 14. Let me just show you real quickly here Revelation 14 verse 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and In the presence of the Lamb so the Bible says it's in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the Lamb You say how is this possible? Because of the fact God's the one who created hell not the devil God's the one who keeps it hot God's the one who sends people to hell It's not the devil I mean the devil's not in hell with a big pitchfork and ruling it like ha ha ha I got you down here He's gonna be cast into hell also Right God created hell God's presence is there and and let me just help people out with something because here's the thing Unsaved people that are rejecting God they want to be separated from God. I mean people people Quote things and say things and you hear them so often that you know what you end up just believing it But it doesn't make any sense They'll say I mean the most painful thing Most painful thing about hell is being separated from the love and the presence of God You know that sounds sweet, but you know honestly the worst thing about hell is the fact that you're on fire forever. I Mean there's a lot of bad things about hell the fact that it's dark. Well. That's not good It's a bottomless pit the ever the feeling of always falling. That's not good I'd imagine the smell is terrible. I'd imagine people are itching. I mean no sleep day or night That's a pretty terrible thing right never Sleeping forever throughout all eternity that would be pretty miserable There's a lot of bad things about hell, but for me the worst is being on fire forever Right the fact that it's forever because here's the thing if hell was just 10,000 years That would be terrible, but eventually there's an end to it Even if it was a million years. I mean it would be terrible I mean it would be awful going through that but eventually it would have an end There is no end to it It's not just that it has no ending I mean the worst part the thing we think about is the fact that you're on fire forever that you're burning forever I mean and the reason why we think about that is because that's what the rich man said in Luke 16 that's the thing he's thinking he's I mean there's a lot of bad things happening to the rich man a Lot of terrible things in hell, but the thing he's saying is can I have just a drop of water? Right the agony the pain look all of us have probably burnt ourselves At one point or another whether it's a small burn or a bigger burn It's like the most miserable feeling in the world and it even a small little burn on your finger And it's just so painful Right I remember I remember being as a kid, and I remember burning myself on my finger one time And you know what I remember just being in so much agony And I just walked back and forth for like three or four hours with ice And it was just like so painful, and it was just a very basic burn I mean it wasn't like you know this major major burn that took place, but that's how much pain it is right The worst part about God or worst part about hell is the fact that you're on fire forever They're not being separated from God How can you be separated from God when God is omnipresent? God is everywhere. I mean it's just very basic very basic common sense and let me just say this we understand these attributes We understand that God is all-knowing all of us would say we believe God is all-knowing All of us would say that God is all-powerful right all of us would say that God is everywhere But you know honestly sometimes we live our lives as if we don't believe these things God says things we don't believe it. Why because we don't really believe God is all-powerful I mean we know he's all-powerful, but yet. It's like we don't believe it on a practical level sometimes Or or how about this? I mean Think about this you know if we live during the time of Jesus Christ Right there are certain things that we would not do while Jesus was around right But if he wasn't there I mean as they say in the expression when the cat's away the mice will play like for example the disciples are arguing about who's the greatest and Then all of a sudden when Jesus asked them hey, what were you guys talking about? And then they're quiet because they know what they did was wrong But it's really foolish because the fact God's everywhere anyway Right I mean even though Jesus wasn't literally that I mean God's everywhere. He knows he's all-knowing. He's everywhere He's all-powerful yet sometimes We live our lives like little kids live their lives kids do something wrong They get in trouble, and they figure they can just put a blanket or a pillow over their head and then Magically mom and dad don't know Right no mom and dad still know Right it's it's it's like the ostrich defense where they bury their head in the sand right and Enemies coming to kill you just put your head in the sand and you're going to be okay Right, but yeah, that's how we are as people sometimes Right it's very foolish. Let me say also this that not only should we live our lives if these things are true I do believe personally. This is a great way to just describe who God is to our kids Something we should be reminding them that hey, you know what God is everywhere Right when your kids do something wrong. You know tell them hey, you know what God saw what you did Maybe I didn't see you son Maybe I didn't see you daughter, but you know what God saw what you did God's not happy with what you did and Describe to them you know what God is all-powerful God is everywhere. He's all-knowing. He knows everything you're doing all of your thoughts these are three major attributes of God, and this is what makes God God and Makes us not God. Let's close an order prayer dear Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us to be here today And getting to see your word in this topic and help us just be reminded of these things that we know God Help us live our lives as if we actually believe these things that you are all-powerful. You are everywhere and you are omniscient