God's Omniscience Restrains Sin

What would you do if you could really do anything? What would you do if you could "Get away with" anything? For example, there is a movie called, Hall Pass. It is the story of married men whose wives give them permission to have an affair without any repercussions.

What if you could be granted a "hall pass" to do anything you wanted for one day? Would you use it ? There are certain things in life which restrain our behaviour. Thomas Watson writes, "The consideration of God's omniscience would be preventive of much sin. The eye of man will restrain from sin; and will not God's eyes much more?... Men judge the heart- by the actions. God judges the actions  by the heart." God knows all things; He knows our actions as well as our hearts. We can always adjust our actions depending on who we are- or aren't- with. But, you can;t just adjust the desires of your heart.

Consider this passage of Scripture from 1 Samuel 16:7: "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." When we look at all the various kings of Israel and Judah, we see that god always mentions the states of their hearts. God mentions the states of people's hearts not so that we can find ways to judge others, but so that we consider our own. God isn't calling us to become better judges of our peers, but to become better judges of ourselves.

Living Life

God Knew We Needed Law

Except for the rare exception, everyone has a moral compass. Somehow, regardless of beliefs, culture, time or place, we all know intrinsically what is right and wrong. Scientist, psychologist, and sociologist can all give various reasons why we people have moral compasses. It can be argued that evolution favors those who are socially conscious, or perhaps that we learn our social morals from our parents.

God, however, gives a different reason for why we have moral code. He decreed it. Job 35:5. Psalm 19:1, Romans 1:19-20, Romans 2:14-16, Acts 14:15-17, and Acts 17:24-27 are some examples of how God makes His presence known in His creation, and how He makes Himself known to our consciences. God did not have to make His presence known. He did not have to send us laws to follow. Arthur Pink writes, "God was alone when He made His decrees, and His determinations were influenced by no external cause. He was free to decree or not to decree, and to decree one thing and not another .This liberty we must ascribe to Him who is Supreme, Independent and Sovereign in all His doings."

God gave us moral codes to follow from the beginning of time; this shows that God shows how we would act, and He knew how we would need to be directed. Still, it has always been our choice to follow God or not to follow God. We are responsible for what we do, and we will need to give an account to God for how we act. This shows that God does influence us, but He still gives us a choice: obey or disobey.

Living Life