“Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts…of men?” (Proverbs 15.11.)
Introduction. You have often smiled at the ignorance of heathens who bow themselves before gods of wood and stone, for these gods can neither see nor hear. Your God can both see and hear. But in nine cases out of ten, the doctrine of Divine Omniscience, although received and believed, has no practical effect upon our lives at all. May God drive some of your practical atheism out of you.
(1) A Great Fact Declared. ‘Hell and destruction are before the Lord.’ (I) The word translated ‘hell’ may be translated ‘death,’ or the state of departed spirits. About death we know very little. God understands all its secrets. The many who have died alone, amid dreary forests, frozen seas, and devouring snowstorms—they and their sepulchres, are known to God. You cannot tell where Adam’s tomb is. God knows, for death and Hades are open before the Lord. Not only this, but God knows the history of men’s bodies. The infidel has often asked, ‘How can the body of man be restored, when it may have been eaten by the cannibal?’ We do not think it necessary to resurrection that God should track every atom. But it is within his range to do this and to rebuild every body. As the body, so the soul, when separated from it, is before the Lord. ‘His soul has fled,’ we say. Can we form even a conjecture of what the flying of that soul may be? The Most High could reveal to us the condition of every man that is dead, whether he be in the sunlight of his Master’s countenance, or plunged into hell to wait in dreary woe the awful trial. (II) The word ‘destruction’ signifies ‘hell,’ or the place of the damned. That land of terror is unknown. The groans and shrieks of hell are not to be heard here. But they are known to God; yea, it is his look that makes hell what it is. His eyes, full of fury, flash the lightnings that scathe his enemies, who see that fearful vision of the Most High. Hell itself is naked before his vision.
(2) A Great Fact Inferred. ‘How much more then the hearts of the children of men.’ (I) Why? With one glance God sees death and hell—their bottomless depths and their boundless miseries. Surely he can behold all the actions of the little thing called man’s heart. Death is an ancient monarch. He preyed on mighty creatures long before Adam was here. How old, too, is Hell!—old as the first sin. Hell was digged when Satan led the third part of the angels astray. We are creatures of a day, and know nothing. (II) How? How well does God understand man? He searches the heart. No partial search, like that of Laban, when he went into Rachel’s tent to look for his idols. God looks into the camel’s furniture, and all. God also tries the reins. The goldsmith examines his gold, and says, ‘I don’t understand this gold yet: I must try it.’ He thrusts it into a furnace to find out what there is of dross, and what of gold. Now, God knows to the very carat what we are made of—how much of hypocrisy, how much of truth. God is also said to weigh the heart. He puts his own Word in the scale and the heart in the other. He knows whether we have grace in the heart, which makes us good weight. Might not God say of many of you, “Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting”? (III) What? What does God see in man’s heart? He sees all the heart’s imaginations. The heart is full of every thing that is hideous once it begins to make carnival and revelry concerning sin. God sees the heart’s devices. Perhaps you have determined to curse God. He knows it. And he knows the resolves of the heart, how you resolved to repent but quit as soon as you were beyond the temporary danger. (IV) When? He beholds all our motions when we think they are hidden.
Selection from Conclusion. “Swearer! could you swear if you could see God’s eye looking at you?”
