The Attributes of God - God is Everywhere - Psalm 139 (Sermon 7)

Have you ever felt that you wanted to run away from it all?

• Maybe you think that the Pressures of the Christian Life are far too great.

• Maybe you feel that you cannot keep up to the High Standards demanded by Scripture.

• Maybe you feel that you simply cannot be the kind of person God wants you to be.
• Maybe you think that Christian Parenthood & Marriage demand too much time & effort;

You find it difficult to cope with the pressures of modern day Christian Family Life.

• Maybe you have a great desire to Witness to Friends, but you have shied away from it.

Now you feel too afraid or too ashamed to speak about your faith.

• Maybe you find a Particular Temptation too difficult to resist; You are ready to give up.
• You may be thinking - If only I could get away from Pressures of the Christian Life - I'd feel much better.
• If only I could go someplace where God cannot see me - everything will be all right.

1. The Prophet Jonah learned that people cannot escape from the Presence of God:

• The Lord commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against its great wickedness.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria - the mightiest pagan nation on earth at that time.

• Going to Nineveh was the very last thing Jonah wanted to do.

• Jonah was convinced that the people of Nineveh would reject his message & kill him.
• So Jonah decided to run away from the command of the Living God:

Jonah's intention in going to Tarshish instead of Nineveh is perfectly clear:

• Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh; But he went the opposite way, to Tarshish.
• Jonah ran away from the Lord. He went to Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
• Jonah only had one purpose in mind when he set off for Tarshish -

he wanted to get away from the Presence of the Lord.

- Somehow he had got the ridiculous idea into his head that God did not live in Tarshish.

More than any other book in the Bible, Jonah teaches us that God is Everywhere.

This is what the Theologians call, the Omnipresence of God

• Jonah should have learned this lesson long ago!

He knew all about Adam & Eve.

• When Adam & Eve ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil:

• God called out to Adam, saying: "Where are you?"

• God knew exactly where Adam & Eve were hiding.

• But he wanted teach them that man cannot hide from the Presence of the Living God.

The Lord God then confronted Adam with his sin, saying:

God is saying: Adam, you are trying to hide your sin from God, but you cannot do it!

Adam had to learn two lessons about the Lord God:

• Firstly, because God is Everywhere, man cannot hide from His Presence.
• Secondly, man cannot hide his Sin from God, because God Sees Everything.

Jonah knew all about Adam & Eve, and yet he still tried to run away from God.

• By boarding a ship going to Tarshish, Jonah thought he was leaving the Lord's Presence.
• But he was merely going from one part of God's Kingdom into another.
• He thought he could run away. But he soon learned that God is Present in the Sea.

The Lord God revealed his presence to Jonah by sending a Great Wind into the sea.

• Jonah knew all about the Creator God continually working in nature.
• Jonah had to learn all over again, that God is at Work Everywhere.
• Through the Mighty Wind, he learned that he could not run away from God's Presence.

When the sailors asked Jonah where he came from, he said:

"I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven,

who made the sea and the land" (1:9).

• Jonah was aware of the fact that the God of Heaven is the Sovereign Lord of the Sea.
• Jonah knew that God has the Power to either Send a Storm or to Calm it.
• Nevertheless, in his great folly in running away from God,

he failed to apply his Doctrinal Knowledge to the circumstances of life.

The captain of the ship confronted Jonah with a heart-searching question:

"What have you done?

• By asking this question, the captain was asking Jonah:

"How could you be so foolish as to even try to run away from your God?"

• We read how the captain was well aware of the reason Jonah was on his ship:

"They knew he was running away from the Lord,

Jonah was compelled to admit his sin in trying to run away from the Lord's Presence:

- The captain asked: "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

• Jonah replied: "Pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm.

I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you" (1:11-12).

The Lord God still hadn't finished with Jonah:

• The Lord God sent a Great Fish to swallow Jonah.
• He spent three days & nights thinking about this Lesson that God is Everywhere.
• It was imprinted on his heart & mind that he could not run away from the Lord's Presence

In the Depths of the Sea, Jonah was greatly aware of the Lord's Presence:

Jonah cried out from the Belly of the Great Fish, saying:

• Lord, I have sinned against you by running away from your command to go to Nineveh
• He cried out, saying: Lord, I've learned my lesson; My soul is deeply troubled!

I know that you are the Lord of the Sea and the Land;

Lord, I know that you are Present in the Deepest Sea; ready to Hear & Answer my Prayer

• Lord, I know that you are Everywhere, and that I cannot run away from your Presence.
• Jonah had learned the lesson that the Apostle Paul taught to Timothy many years later:

Jonah's Prayer in the depths of the sea is similar to King David's graphic account of how he learned this same lesson, in Psalm 139

• In verses 1-6, David extols the Lord as the God of All Knowledge.
• He freely admits that the Lord Knows Everything about him (v1 & 3).
• The Lord has searched his heart; The Lord Knows his innermost thoughts (v1-2).
• God Knows when his servant sits down and when he rises up (v2).
• The Lord Knows what David is going to say before the word is formed on his tongue (v4)
• Such Knowledge leaves King David absolutely amazed - full of awe and wonder (v6).

David then goes on to describe how the Lord is Infinite with regard to Space -

God has the Power to be Everywhere at once.

• David imagines that he is able to remove himself to any place in the universe;

Yet, no matter where he may go, he knows that God is there.

• The message of this passage is very clear - Man cannot escape the Presence of God!

The first two questions are rhetorical:

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" (v7).

• The answer is clearly implied; There is absolutely No Place void of God's Presence.
• The Eternal God cannot be bound by the limits of either Time or Space.
• We cannot think of God in terms of particular localities, strictly speaking.
• God's Presence Fills the Universe at all times.

David then goes on to refer to particular places (v8-9):

• If he ascends to heaven, God is there.
• If he descends the place of the dead, Sheol, God is there.
• Whether he goes to the Highest Height or the Lowest Depth, he will be in God's Presence
• Whether he goes North, South, East or West, he cannot escape the Presence of the Lord!
• David says: Even if he goes the farthest place imaginable, to the place where the sun rises, or to the farthest side of the sea, God will be there.

This Psalm is not to be meditated upon in some kind of TheologicalVacuum:

• David is not writing a Doctrinal treatise;
• He is writing a Psalm with Great Practical significance.
• He is writing to provide comfort, assurance & confidence to the People of God.
• God is Present Everywhere; Therefore, he is constantly available to help his people.

Believer here this morning, let me ask you a question:

Are you trying to run away from the Presence of the Living God?

• You must learn that you cannot run away from God in any area of your life.
• God is Everywhere - It is a physical & spiritual impossibility to run away from God.
• You might feel that you can run away from the Church and go into the World.
• You might feel that you can carry on with your worldly pursuits and

neglect your spiritual well being.

• But, make no mistake - wherever you try to go, God will find you.

Perhaps other Christians are not aware of the fact that you are running away:

• Perhaps you are harbouring sins that nobody else knows about.
• Perhaps God has commanded you to do something and you

haven't even shared it with the your closest friend; but you know what God has said.

• You are running away from God; You are in retreat from your first love;
• You might think that nobody knows about it.
• Let me remind you that you are trying to do the impossible.
• You are trying to run away from the God who is Everywhere, and it cannot be done!

Both David & Jonah remind us that God is Everywhere, and so we cannot run away from him

We are thinking about the Infinity of God as it relates to Space - God is Everywhere

1. The Prophet Jonah learned that people cannot escape from the Presence of God.
2. King Solomon learned that we cannot confine God to a Building (1 Kings ch 8)

• When King Solomon completed the Building of the Temple, he called on the

Elders, Priests & People of Israel to attend a Solemn Assembly.

• The purpose of this Assembly was to transfer the Ark of the Covenant into God's House.
• Remember that the Ark symbolised the Lord's Presence among His Covenant People.

Once the Ark was in place, Solomon began his Prayer of Dedication for the Temple

• Solomon begins his Prayer by extolling the Unique Nature of God:

• Solomon was aware that this was a very solemn occasion for the People of God.
• So he led the People of God in recognising their Dependence upon God.
• The king made a declaration concerning God's Covenant Faithfulness:

• Then he pleads with God to confirm his word and to continue to keep his Covenant (v26)

At this point in the prayer, Solomon stops and asks himself a very Important Question

"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven,

cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built" (v27).

• The attention of the whole Nation was focused on this Magnificent Building.
• Their thoughts were focused on the Completion of the Temple in all its Splendour;

• They were thinking about the Craftsmanship, & the Opulence, & Beauty of a Building.

Right in the middle of this prayer, Solomon inserts a thought that almost negates

the reason for this Solemn Assembly - to celebrate the Completion of God's House.

• Suddenly, he remembers that No Dwelling Place, regardless of its Expense & Luxury;

Solomon suddenly asks himself this very pertinent question:

"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven,

cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built" (v27).

He is asking himself:

Why are we celebrating the completion of this building?

The Holy Spirit causes Solomon to reflect on the Glorious Nature of his God:

• He thinks about the Person whose Glory far Exceeds the Glory of the Temple.
• He recalls the fact that the God of Israel is the One whose Glory fills Heaven & Earth;

• God is so Great & Immense, that No Structure made by the hands of men can contain him
• God cannot confine himself to the whole earth, let alone to a single building.
• Even the heavens, indeed, even the highest heaven, cannot contain the Lord of Glory.

Solomon is saying:

• God cannot be confined to Space & Time.
• God is Infinitely related to space, and therefore he cannot exist in a particular location.
• The Being of God Fills the Whole Universe at every moment in time.

Remember Isaiah's Vision of the Glory of God:

"I saw the Lord seated on a Throne, High & Exalted,

and the train of his robe filled the temple" (Isaiah 6:1).

Do you see the significance of what Isaiah is saying?

• A small portion of God's robe was sufficient to Fill the Temple with his Glory.
• Indeed, the train of God's robe was sufficient to fill the whole earth with Glory (v3)

Neither the Temple nor the Whole Earth can contain the Glory of God.

• Yet again, we see that God's Presence cannot be confined to a particular place.
• When we read this passage, we usually concentrate on the Glory of God, and rightly so.
• However, we are in danger of missing the point that God is Everywhere.
• The Temple is Full of the Glory of God; the Earth is Full of the Glory of God;

The People of Israel were viewing the Temple primarily as a Dwelling Place for God:

• They were in danger of confining the God who Fills Heaven & Earth to One Place.
• There Expectations of God, and their Whole Theology, were shaped by the Temple.
• They began to worship the glory of a Building, rather than Worshipping the God of Glory

Surely God's People are in danger of confining God to a Building today!

• We come to Church expecting to meet with the Living God.
• But, we are in danger of going out into the world outside & leaving God in this building.
• God becomes a Being whom we worship in Church, & we can only worship him here.
• We think of Church as a place where we can have a special experience of God.
• This thinking causes us to believe that we can only experience God in a particular place.

Many Christians concentrate on the Great Architecture of Church Buildings

Cathedrals & Old Church Buildings are restored for their architectural splendour.

• Sometimes they are treated just the same as Palaces & Victorian Railway Stations.
• They are treated as if they have no religious significance whatsoever.

Our God is the God of the Whole Universe; the God of Heaven & Earth;

• He is the God who has the Power to be Everywhere and See Everything at the same time.
• Certainly, we may Erect Buildings to the Glory of God;
• But never let us lose sight of the prime aim of worshipping the God of Glory!

In A.D. 70, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

This happened when the True Temple of God was being constructed with Living Stones.

- On the Day of Pentecost, the Lord declared that He cannot be confined to One Place.

• Pentecost was to signal that the God of Israel was, in fact, the God of All Nations.
• Pentecost signified that God could not be confined to a single nation, let alone one place.
• People from many nations heard the Gospel message on the Day of Pentecost;

They came to faith in Christ; then they took the Gospel back to their own nations.

• The Gospel of the Saviour of the Whole World was taken to the Ends of the Earth.
• The fact that God is Present Everywhere, signifies that there is not a place on earth

where the Gospel cannot reach the hearts of men, women, and children.

This is why Jesus promised:

"Go and make disciples of All Nations … And surely I will be with you always,

to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be

my witnesses … to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)

• The disciples must have trembled at the thought of such a vast & awesome task.

• But the promise of their Master's Presence wherever they went, allayed their fears.

The God who is Everywhere demands that we Preach the Gospel Everywhere.

The God who is Everywhere demands that we Worship Him Everywhere.

He is not a God who can be confined to One Place like some pagan deity.

We are thinking about the Infinity of God as it relates to Space - God is Everywhere

1. The Prophet Jonah learned that people cannot escape from the Presence of God.
2. King Solomon learned that we cannot confine God to a Building
3. The Prophet Jeremiah learned that, because God is Everywhere,

we cannot Hide our Sin from Him

• In the days of Jeremiah the land was filled with dishonesty, profanity, and immorality.
• False prophets not only condoned such evil, they actually participated in it.

• Instead of calling down God's Judgement on Wickedness, they did the opposite.
• They assured these people that they would live in peace;

They said that God would not judge them (Jeremiah 23:17).

These false prophets thought that God could not see what they were doing:

• They thought that God was limited to One Place at any One Time.
• They thought that if God was near someone else, he could not be near them.
• How mistaken & deluded these evil prophets were!

Jeremiah opened their eyes to the truth by asking them Three Rhetorical Questions:

"'Am I only a God nearby', declares the Lord, 'and not a God far away?

Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?' declares the Lord.

'Do I not fill heaven & earth?' declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:24).

• The Lord God is not like the pagan gods who could only be in one place at one time.
• He fills Heaven & Earth. Therefore, he is just as fully present in one place as in another.
• There is no conceivable place where God is not completely present.
• There is No Place where the Lord of All Creation cannot be the True God.

Through the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord God declares:

"Heaven is my throne & earth is my footstool" (Isaiah 66:1).

Just like the false prophets, people today may think they can hide their sin from God.

• But there is no place to hide from God.
• Wherever we commit sinful deeds, God is there and he sees us.
• It matters not whether our sin is committed in Public or in Private - God is there.
• Even if we sin in the deepest recesses of our mind & hear, we cannot hide sin from God.
• We may be able to hide our sin from God's people;

But God sees sins being committed by Everyone, Everywhere, every moment of the day.

The wise King Solomon reminds us (Proverbs 15:3):

"The eyes of the Lord are Everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked & the good."

These people in Jeremiah's day had forgotten a basic fact of creation:

"The God who made the world & everything in it is the Lord of Heaven & Earth …

He himself gives all men life & breath & everything else. From one man he made

every nation of men, that they should inhabit the earth; and he determined the times

set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men

would seek him & perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far

from each one of us. For in him we live & move & have our being" (Acts 17:24-28).

• He is the Lord who made everyone and so he knows all about us.
• He made Heaven & Earth and he exists in every nook & cranny of his Creation.
• He determines our times and the place where we will be born & live our lives.

• Therefore, he sees our every movement and every aspect of our lives.

• There is absolutely nothing we can hide from the God who is Everywhere.

We are thinking about the Infinity of God as it relates to Space - God is Everywhere

1. The Prophet Jonah learned that people cannot escape from the Presence of God.
2. King Solomon learned that we cannot confine God to a Building
3. The Prophet Jeremiah learned that we cannot Hide our Sin from God
4. Let us finish with a word of comfort.

Hagar learned that, because God is Everywhere, we need never fear Loneliness;

• Think about one of the loneliest people in the whole of Scripture.
• Hagar was a slave who had been uprooted from her home in Egypt to become the handmaid of Abraham's wife, Sarah (Genesis 16:1-2)
• She had become pregnant by Abraham at Sarah's suggestion, because Sarah was barren.
• Hagar began to despise her mistress, Sarah - and Sarah became jealous & extremely upset
• Sarah began to mistreat Hagar, so she ran away into the desert (Genesis 16:4-6).

• There in the desert, Hagar felt extremely lonely.
• She was unloved, unwanted, pregnant, homeless, and absolutely alone in a foreign land.
• To compound matters even more, she was the innocent victim of someone else's sin.

Out there in the desert, in her time of Need & Loneliness, the Lord taught Hagar that God is Everywhere & he Sees Everyone - even in the Most Lonely Places on earth.

• Hagar was not running away from God - she was running away from Sarah.
• But we read that the God who is Everywhere knew all about Hagar's circumstances:

"The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that

is beside the road to Shur. And he said, 'Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you

come from, and where are you going?' 'I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,'

she answered" (Gen 16:7-8).

• This is another of those Rhetorical Questions in Scripture which has an obvious answer.
• The Lord who is Everywhere knew very well where Hagar had come from.
• The Lord knew that she was in the desert - because he was there even before she arrived.
• The Lord knew that she had no home to go to, and didn't know where to go next.
• Even before she had decided where to go, the Lord God who Knows All Things, the One who is Everywhere, knew where she was going - and was already there before she went.

The Lord came alongside Hagar in her Loneliness & spoke words of encouragement:

• The Lord spoke tenderly to her said that she was to become the mother of a great nation;
• The Lord will so increase her descendants that they will be too numerous to count (16:10)

Hagar referred to God by a Name which reflected her circumstances:

"His name is El Roi, the God who Sees" (16:13).

• She had come to the conclusion that wherever she was, the Lord was right there with her;
• She was comforted by the fact that the Lord saw her in her loneliness, and cared about her

Remember how the Prophet Ezekiel had a Vision of the New Jerusalem:

• The most important thing about that city is its name:

Our God Never Changes - He is the Same God Today as he was in the Days of Hagar:

• He is the God who is Always Everywhere.
• He Sees us in our times of Loneliness & Deep Depression.
• He draws alongside us and encourages us when we feel that no one else cares about us.
• He is the God who is Always There when we are in our Greatest Times of Need.
• When we are lonely, we all prefer someone to be near us, a hand we can touch,

a listening ear, a voice of comfort we can hear.

• God may well provide a Human Being to come alongside us in that way.
• But the most important thing is that the Lord Himself draws alongside us.
• The very fact that we are physically alone can make the Presence of the Lord even more precious than it would be if there were people around to help us.

The writer to the Hebrews had a word of encouragement to those who were in Need:

• He was writing to believers who were being persecuted.
• Some of the recipients of his Epistle had lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ.
• Some had been put in prison and others had there property confiscated (Heb 10:34).

• The writer reminds them to concentrate on the accumulation of Spiritual Wealth and

to free themselves from the Love of Money. They were to be content with the

level of possession they already had (Heb 13:5).

It is in this context of Great Physical Need that the writer reminds them

about the God who is Everywhere:

"Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have,

because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'.

So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man

do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6).

• These believers were desperately worried about how their needs would be met.
• They had become envious of those people who had everything they needed and more.

The message of the Lord God to these Needy People was this:

• No matter where you are;
• No matter what your Physical Need may be;
• No matter what men may do to you;
• No matter how much more Wealth others may possess;
• Be assured that the Lord who is Everywhere will Never Forsake You.

• Be Confident in this One Fact - The Lord God himself is Your Helper.
• The Lord God who is Everywhere is always at hand to Help in Time of Need.

SUMMARY:
We have been thinking about the Infinity of God as it relates to Space -

God is Everywhere

1. The Prophet Jonah learned that people cannot escape from the Presence of God.
2. King Solomon learned that we cannot confine God to a Building
3. The Prophet Jeremiah learned that we cannot Hide our Sin from God
4. Let us finish with a word of comfort.

Hagar learned that, because God is Everywhere, we need never fear Loneliness;