We know God's electing grace is His sovereign choice of sinners before time and that He conditioned all of their salvation on Christ. God's choice of sinners marked out for mercy was due to the "good pleasure of His will." It was not based on what God foresaw. Those who say God peered down through time and chose individuals as He foresaw who would believe and repent deny God's omniscience, sovereignty, immutability, and grace. They say God foresaw what would happen, i.e., God learned what He did not know before. God changed in that He chose individuals He had not chosen before. God chose them based on their goodness. This is a denial of God's attributes and salvation by grace.

God never gains knowledge because He already knows all things. He never asks questions seeking information. When He asked Adam, "Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9), it was not because He did not know where Adam was. It was because He wanted Adam to realize where Adam was. God is self-existent, self-contained, sovereign, immutable, and all-knowing. In light of God's omniscience, there are two things every person must eventually face:

I. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE GOD'S KNOWLEDGE - It is impossible to hide from God. It is possible for our sins to be hidden from us (Jeremiah 17:9). This applies to all sinners by nature. It speaks of a specific sinfulness we do not recognize by nature. If we commit murder, we know we have sinned. We are not deceived in these areas. But this speaks of wickedness that deceives us.

It is possible to hide our sins from others. Christ told the Pharisees - "Ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matthew 23:28). He was speaking of iniquity cloaked in morality and dedication. But we cannot hide from God. God knows our deeds. He searches the motives and thoughts. "... for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). "I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins" (Jeremiah 17:10). Read Hebrews 4:13 -

• Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The way of fallen man is to love darkness and hate light because the gospel light exposes their deeds as evil (John 3:19). This is speaking of specific deeds as evil. The light does not have to expose immorality as evil. It exposes what our omniscient God knows to be evil. It is exposed as evil in light of God's glory in salvation based on the righteousness of Christ. In comparison with His obedience, our efforts are nothing. And when we set our works alongside of or above His, then they become evil. The light of God's gospel will expose this. Because God is omniscient, we must take advantage of what He reveals. He knows more about us than we know about ourselves. When He shines His truth on us, we must agree or perish. God's word is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). There is no possibility of deceiving God by false professions or outward reformation. We need to face this now before it is too late. Why?

II. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE GOD'S RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT - The omniscient God will expose reality. God has all the facts by which to judge aright. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). "The judgment of God is according to truth" (Romans 2:2). The following illustrates the problem -

• Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [John 5:28-29]



• As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. [Romans 3:10-12]

Does this mean no one will be resurrected unto life because there are none good? We know the Bible says some will be resurrected to life. If it is only those who "doeth good," then how can any sinner have life? There are two things that determine whether an act of obedience is a good work or an evil deed -- (1) our state before God, and (2) our motive. God knows our state and our motive. We cannot fool Him.

(1) There are two states in which all people exists before God. A person is either condemned in Adam, under God's wrath, guilty and defiled, or in a state of justification in Christ, free from the guilt and defilement of sin, saved by the grace of God based on the righteousness of Christ. The works of all lost sinners are cursed, not because they are immoral or insincere, but because "in the flesh no man can please God." They are servants of sin, no matter how religious and moral. Everything they do is cursed because their persons are condemned in Adam.

Their motive cannot be right because they are in unbelief, and without faith it is impossible to please God. They may be convinced they are doing it out of love, not trying to earn God's favor. But as long as they are not submitted to Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of salvation, all their efforts are self-righteous attempts to establish a righteousness of their own (John 3:18). All their efforts, then, are the fruit of self-righteousness, aimed at making themselves more holy or fit or securing their final glory in heaven. Their efforts become a rival, and therefore a denial, of Christ's atoning work.

The only acceptable motive for obedience is the motive of gratitude which is the result of assurance of salvation based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. All acceptable obedience springs from justifying faith that believes God's promise of salvation conditioned on Christ alone. This is why as long as any sinner believes Christ died for all without exception and that faith makes the difference between heaven and hell, he cannot please God. All his efforts are aimed in opposition to God being glorified in salvation based on the righteousness of Christ. It is impossible to have the right motive as long as we believe faith makes the difference. As long as we think this, our motive must be assurance of final glory based on our faith, not on Christ's righteousness to the praise of God's glory.

God who knows all sees this. We cannot escape His notice where His redemptive glory is involved. Here is where the hearts of unconverted sinners are deceitful and wicked. Here is where unconverted sinners love darkness and hate light. They hate that all their efforts without saving faith are dead works.

The efforts of justified sinners that are motivated by the certainty of salvation and final glory conditioned on Christ are good and will be judged that way as these works are evidences of a justified state. These works are good not because they are perfect or equal Christ's obedience, not because they can earn anything from God, and not because the Holy Spirit has enabled us to meet the standard. They are good only in that they are performed by one who is in a justified state, and because they are the fruit of God's grace (John 3:21). They are "fruit unto God."

(2) Our ground of salvation determines our state before God. The only standard whereby a person is either declared guilty or justified is the holy law of God. God's law cannot pronounce any sinner righteous based on faith, repentance, or character and conduct. We need a righteousness we cannot produce, and it can only be found in Jesus Christ. Christ's righteousness is the only thing that will remove God's wrath and gain God's favor. All who have His righteousness imputed to them will be resurrected unto life. They have done good. All who are found without it will be resurrected unto death. They have done evil.

God who is omniscient is not going to compare you with me. Read Acts 17:31 --

• Because He [God] hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.

Does your obedience equal Christ's obedience? God cannot save you unless His law pronounces you perfect and righteous. Admitting that we are not perfect will not help us at all unless it drives us to Christ for atonement and for righteousness. God's law must pronounce us righteous or God cannot be just in saving us, and we will spend an eternity in hell.

(3) How can we know our ground of salvation? Romans 6:17-18 -- It is by the doctrine we believe (John 3:36). The ground of salvation is revealed in the Gospel as the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:16-17), all the merit of the obedience and death of Christ. Before we hear the Gospel we know nothing about the true Christ and His righteousness imputed. All we know is conditional salvation and trying to establish our own righteousness (Rom. 10:1-3). Until we freely receive Christ, we are lost and under God's just wrath. All we can do is produce fruit unto death.

In light of God's omniscience, we see the futility of hypocrisy. Christ unmasked the hypocritical religious leaders of His day by saying they were "like whitewashed tombs" (Matt. 23:27). They appeared righteous outwardly but inwardly were hypocrites (Matt. 23:28). This hypocrisy is when sinners expect salvation or any part of it based on their efforts anything other than the righteousness of Christ. Any sinner who is not submitted to the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel is a hypocrite.

So many religionists will admit God knows and sees all, but they use this to frighten sinners into legal repentance. We ought to tell men and women that God knows and sees all their sins, but we ought to tell them what they do not know by nature, that all their efforts to please God motivated by legal fear are dead works. Our goal is that they seek God who justifies the ungodly based on the righteousness of Christ. We desire that they run to Christ and find salvation and relief in Him alone.

The vast majority of churches are filled with hypocrites, because they believe Christ died for all without exception and salvation is conditioned on the sinner. This motivates sinners to seek righteousness by works of the law and not by faith in Christ. God who is omniscient knows the difference, and He reveals this difference in the preaching of the law and the gospel. But hypocritical sinners refuse to admit of this hypocrisy and continue in unbelief. When we preach the gospel, we are seeking sinners who will bow to God and say with the Psalmist -

• Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. [Psalms 139:23-24]

Are you willing to put your whole life, your efforts, beliefs, experiences, thoughts, your ties to friends and family on the line by exposing them to the light of God's omniscience and God's gospel? If not, you are not really seeking God nor His way of eternal life in Christ. You are seeking confirmation of what you already believe. But when God sends His Spirit to enlighten our minds and convince us of what He knows to be true, our whole life up to that point must be re-evaluated in light of Christ and His righteousness. Then you will say -

• But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. [Galatians 6:14]



• But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. [Philippians 3:7-8]

This is the change of mind, the repentance, brought about by saving faith in light of God's omniscience and His standard of judgment revealed in the Gospel of Christ.

We do not have to be hypocrites in light of God's omniscience. We do not have to lie. We know we are sinners, and we know the only righteousness we have by which God can justify us is the merits of Christ. We have seen the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, and this is the cure for hypocrisy. We know "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

One of the most astonishing facts about God's omniscience concerning His elect is that He knows everything about us, yet He still loves us! God's love is His purpose to save sinners based on the righteousness of Christ. God's love demands that He engage every attribute of His character to save all the objects of His love. God's omniscience is one of the best proofs that His love is unconditional towards us and that salvation is unconditional towards us. This is what motivates us to rest in Christ and value His righteousness so much.

God knows us and yet still loves us with an everlasting love. In this way, God's omniscience is one of the most encouraging and comforting truths. We who believe God's Gospel, who trust in Christ and rest in the merits of His blood and righteousness, can know for sure, even with all our sins and shortcomings, that God does not judge us based on our sins (Psalm 32:2). He judges us righteous in Christ. We have suffered the full penalty of all our sins, not in our own persons, but in the Person of Christ our Substitute. We have kept the law perfectly, not in our own persons by our own obedience, but in Christ our Substitute (Romans 8:31-39).