The Omnipresence of God Theologian A.W. Tozer said. He said: “What comes in our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What we think about God shapes the way we live, the way we prioritize God, and especially in this time, a time where the world is crippled by a pandemic and culturally, the social fabric is being stretched—what we believe about God either helps us get through each day with joy trusting in Him who holds the world or could plunge us to depression and despair as we look out and see a world and a nation suffering. Saints, this morning we come to a great and comforting attribute: the omnipresence of God. We are going to look at some verses today—so be ready flip through your bible with me. But before we begin, would you please stand for the reading of the Word of God in Psalm 139:7-10. As we look at the omnipresence of God—I want to look at what it means and also why it matters. First, omnipresence means all-present. The root word “omni” means all. And God’s omnipresence means that while God is present everywhere, He is attending to heavenly matters, while at the same time near to us. The first is that God is everywhere present. Turn your Bibles to Psalm 139:7-10. It says: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? IF I go up to the heavens, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Saints, this passage shows really shows us God’s omnipresence. That HE is simply everywhere. This psalm has a North, South, East, and West picture to show us God’s omnipresense. Let’s look at the North in verse 7-8: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;”. You know the word heaven means height—which emphasized that God is present not only in the height—but the height of heights. He is high up and lofty—we are going to look at that later. Then, here is the South back in verse 8: “If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” SHeol refers to the grave—and here David confesses that not only is God high up northward, but HE is also present in the grave—in the depths. God is also fully present in the east. Look at verse 9: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn,” –here David is referencing the rising of the Sun. Well the sun rises in the east and sets in the West. David is showing that not only is God present in the heaven of heavens, in the grave, but also he is in the east. Lastly, David tells us God is also present in the west. Look at verse 9-10: “IF I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” God is all present everywhere, we cannot escape him. Not only is God everywhere—but He is present. He is fully present. He is not like you or me. We can be physically present, but mentally somewhere else. You see God is not only present physically by His Spirit, but He is fully present in His being. He is all the way there. David alludes to this in our psalm by saying that “God’s hand will guide me, that His right hand will hold me fast.” David is saying that God’s presence in not a passive presence—rather He is present, fully, and active holding the saints, guiding them and working. Now, this matters for us church—because we worship a great God. You know there is only one being who is omni present. Only God is present everywhere, at all times, and in all places. The devil is not present everywhere. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil “prowls around”. While that imagery can be menacing, it tells us there is only one devil—and he can’t be in two places at once. He is not omnipresent. HE does not possess that attribute. The spiritual battles we fight against our often against His underlings, demons, and yet despite their flaming arrows, they cannot be omnipresent. They are not in the heavens, in the grave, to the west and to the east. Insteadm our God is a great God. He is awesome and is present everywhere. You worship a great God who is there. The second point about God’s omnipresence means that God attends to heavenly matters. By Heavenly matters, God is there to sustain the world and to punish the wicked. God’s presence sustains all creation and the whole world. Colossians 1:17 says: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” God sustains the whole world. He is able to do this because He is everywhere fully present. God sustains you. The fact that your heart keeps beating and air is fills your lungs is because God Himself ordains it. The fact that the ozone layer hasn’t been destroyed and meteors from space haven’t come in and destroyed our earth is because He is present to sustain it. And though things are bad, God’s presence has been there to sustain the world in spite of difficulty. He is present to sustain the world and He holds you and me together—and the world. He is also there to punish. Did you know that God’s omnipresence also extends into Hell? God is present in Hell. John tells us this in Revelation 14:10: “they too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” This is a scary image of the wrath of God. HE is present to punish and that final line, that they will be tormented with sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb makes me think that the very one who will be punishing God’s enemies is none other than the Lamb, Jesus Christ Himself punishing the enemies of God. Now, I was told and maybe you heard this—that hell was a place without God. A place without the presence of God. But, this verse seems to show something different. But the Bible does not and cannot contradict itself—so we need to balance this verse in Revelation with 2. Thessalonians 1:9: “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Now that word presence in Greek literally means face. Taking these two verses together, we see that God’s presence to punish means that He is present in punishing His enemies and HE has turned His face as to ignore the enemies of God because they have been wicked and have been enemies of Him. God is present to bless, sustain and punish. We need this view of God. We said in the beginning that how we view God—what we think about Him, affects the way we live and the decisions we make. If we only have horizontal view of God—that is a view that God is with us and near, and we never balance that out with the vertical, transcendent view of God—we can inevitably fall into discouragement. And this is because God’s transcendent is what gives us confidence in a crazy world. Though thiongs are out of control, God already has the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th move planned out. Your just walking through those steps. Because he is transcendent, it means not only is he in control, but He is also able to do the things He has planned. You see, a lot of humans plan a lot of things, and we’ve all made plans and have been unable to fulfll them—due to present limitation, different variables that cause us to go back to the drawing board to start over. Because we aren’t sovereign and we are not omnipresent, we cant control everything and we cant be in every place at all times. Saints, your God never goes back to the drawing board. There is not a human power or authority that ever stops the plan of God. God’s omnipresence gives us confidence because we know he is there sustaining us and the world as we speak and there to enact punishment upon God’s enemies. The third point about God’s omnipresence is that HE is also immanent. Look at Psalm 23:3-4: “he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Here God’s nearness is talked about. The psalmist doesn’t fear evil—because he knows God is present. He knows God is with Him and will protect Him and will comfort Him.