- Br. Abraham Koshy
(Borivali Assembly, 14th February, 2018)
(Borivali Assembly, 14th February, 2018)
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Sermon Transcript
Shall we turn to Amos 8:11-12.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from North even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.
Shall we turn to John 17:2-3.
As you have given him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given him, 3. And this is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Verse three, once again, this is life eternal. They may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Finally, let's turn to Proverbs 2:1-6
‘My son if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with you; 2. So that you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; 3. Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding. 4. If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, 5. Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the Lord gave His wisdom out of His mouth. For the Lord gives wisdom, out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
Prayer
Shall we pray; Father, we thank You, Lord. Thank You, Father, for You have given us this one more occasion to study from Your word. Thank you, Father, that Your word has revealed yourself unto us. We thank Father that we are enabled to understand what Your word says through Your spirit. And O Lord if we were to ponder on of who we really are, O Lord we know very well the answer. Father, we know exactly how unworthy we are to be in your presence. And Father, we thank You that today You’ve given us an opportunity to know You. And Father, we thank You that even ten thousand years would pass away and there would no less days to sing Your praise. Father, we pray O Lord like Moses - Reveal Yourself unto us, your face, that we may see Your glory. Help us, Father, to know You and Your Son, Lord Jesus. Help us Father to enjoy this eternal life in this world, in this life, in this earth right now. Father, we pray O Lord that as we sit around Your word that You would give me specially the strength to speak; that I would speak through the liberty of Your spirit and that all glory would abound unto You. Father, I pray that each one of our hearts including myself would be stirred up and overwhelmed to know You, to praise You, to worship You and to devote our lives unto You. We pray this prayer in and through Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
I was considering for some time, what would be the next topic that we should be looking into after we have completed Romans six to eight. Couple of thoughts came into my mind, at last I settled for what we would know as the attributes of God or knowing God. In theological circles there is a term for this, it's called proper theology or theology proper, just to know God; but it doesn't matter we are not interested, or we are not going to be interested in some jargon, what interests us and what will delight us is to just sit quietly in His presence and know God.
Just to gain the knowledge of God, this is a beautiful hymn written by F. Faber. He says to the soul that a thirst for God. Nothing could be more delightful. Only to sit and think of God— O, what a joy it is! To think the thought, to breathe the Name— Earth has no higher bliss!. And that is my intention through this series of classes, just to study God. We're not going to do it in for the sake of gaining knowledge, because the peril of studying the Bible is that you could know a lot about God, and yet not know God. So we are here to know God as a person to know His personality, His character, His behavior; those are very, very small and little words, we are here to know, His glory. And most importantly, as we read in John 17, when we know God, and when we know His son, we enjoy the gift of eternal life, and that's eternal life. That is what happens in eternity, not the heaven or not the place, not the glories of the place. It is just to know God.
And just as much as eternal life is given by Christ as He said, It is given to them. And this is eternal life that they know God. We read a verse. We will go back to it in Amos chapter eight. 11) Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.
These are very painful words. Very, very painful words. Because it's written over here that people will go north to east, sea to sea they will run to and fro just to listen to God's word, and they will not find it. And why because He has said in a previous verse, He has sent a famine. A famine of the knowledge of God. Not a famine of bread or thirst. This is the most painful judgement that God can give. Sometimes we don't realize this, but not knowing God is not just our failure but can sometimes be God's judgement upon man. A judgement upon man for not knowing Him.
Perils of not Knowing God
And before we go into the topic of knowing God, lets for some time meditate on why it is so important to know Him. What are the perils of not knowing Him? And for that, let's go to Romans one. Romans chapter one, and we'll read a couple of verses from here. Roman chapter one, and there is a phrase that keeps appearing in this chapter. You can read this, in verse twenty-four. God also gave them up. Verse twenty-six - For this cause God gave them up. And verse twenty-eight - God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Now that is a phrase of judgement. God is giving them up. There will be absolutely no restraint from God for man to commit evil. He's giving them up. This is the worst form of judgement, where God lets go of all strings. Even society cannot stop man. Even man's own conscience cannot stop himself. And the spirit of God will not restrain with man. God gives them up. Three times it appears, but every time it has appeared we need to know what happens just before it has, God gives them up. What was the reason why God would give them up?
Verse twenty-one, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Neither were they thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of an incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, to birds, to four-footed beasts, and creeping things. That's why God also gave them up to uncleanness. It's clear that when they knew God, they suppressed the knowledge of God. They did not desire to acknowledge God, to glorify God, to worship God, to be thankful to God. And when a man does not give God the priority in His life; it doesn't matter whether it is an unbeliever or a believer. Mostly this would be talking about an unbeliever. But even among believers, like David, would say about his brethren that they have not set God before their eyes.
When something like that happens when God is not the first thing in your life, when God is not your greatest and highest desire, when you do not desire to glorify God. Over here it is not written that they did not know God, they knew God, but they did glorify Him as God. They were not thankful, and God gave them up to uncleanness. Well, again we read this in verse twenty-five, they changed the truth of God into a lie. So what knowledge they had, the truth they had they exchanged it to believe something that was lies and what happens in next verse for this cause for this very reason God gave them up unto vile affections. Even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, men leaving the natural use of women burned in their lust one toward another man with men.
You might not realize this, but people would say that they are born as homosexuals, but this verse will say that homosexuality is also a judgement from God. When they did not desire the truth of God, when they exchanged it for lies. God gave them up to their desires, to their lust. Even some sins become a judgement from God. Ultimately we read in verse twenty-eight even as they did not like to retain in their knowledge they did not want an iota of the knowledge of God they did not retain His knowledge they wanted it to be forgotten; why? And that would be the next reason; God gave them over to a reprobate mind. What happens here is that a person does not want his mind to think about God. He does not want to retain the knowledge of God. So what does God do? God gives that person such a mind, a reprobate mind. A mind that cannot think about the things of God. A mind that cannot be overwhelmed by the things of God or the mind that cannot ponder upon the things of God.
That is the spirit of man. A spirit of man cannot think upon the things of God. Why? Because we have asked for it. That is our desire. When men did not like to retain God in their mind, God gave them over to a reprobate mind? So that why when the Lord would come, when the word of God, when the word would come and speak the words. He would say that they have eyes, but they would not see. They have ears, but they would not listen. And their hearts are hardened. It was never a lack of knowledge; it was never a dirt of knowledge. It was never where people were running around, and they didn't have knowledge.
Knowledge was in their midst. The word of God was in their midst, but they did not desire the knowledge of God. The light of the world came into this world, but men loved darkness and not the light. And when that happened, God gave them up to a reprobate mind. So, this is the testimony of just about everybody. This is what the Lord would say through Isaiah that the ox knows it's owner, the donkey it's master's crib, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand. The ox and the donkey; if you want more animals Jeremiah would add it; the stock in the heavens knows the time, the turtledove, the crane keep the time of the coming, but My people know not the rules of the Lord.
And what ultimately happens is when you do not want to know God, when God has given them up over, you can read how this chapter ends in verse 32. Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them, that do them. So now they know that they are committing sin. They know the judgement of God. They know that they will do this sin, and it will cost them their life. They know exactly what that sin will cost them. They know that God will punish them. They know it and still they will do it. A soul that is completely unrestrained. No knowledge is saving that soul. A person that just knows about everything about God and still cannot restrain himself from the sin he does.
You can ask anybody who smokes or who drinks alcohol. Do they not know what they're doing? They know it. And yet deliberately will go ahead and do it. This is the most fallen state of man, this is going to get worse because we read ain Amos that the days come when there will be a famine. So today there is the word of God. Today there is knowledge and people are denying knowledge. But the day will come when that knowledge will be taken away. When the period of grace will be taken away. When the salt of this earth will be taken away, and people will run to and fro.
And you don't need to wait for that day you can see it happening even today. You can see it happening even today in your midst, the number of people who know about God, and yet do not know God, the number of people that are thirsty to know the true and living God. You see, as a church, the greatest revelation of the church is God. The greatest revelation of our lives is God. And someone would put it this way. A right conception of God is basic not only to theology, but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple, where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse.
I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced, finally, to an imperfect or ignoble thoughts about God, this is closer, and he is seeing this clearly that if you do not know God. If you do not have a lofty view of God, if you do not appreciate the majesty of God, your ethics, your morality is in for a ride, is definitely faulty. So that is what happened in verse 26. When they exchanged the truth, God gave them up over two vile affections and lust.
What is Morality?
So today, if you talk about morality, we say every everybody has become subjective about it as to what is sin, and what is not sin. Well, there are three things that we could say. Sometimes you need to say that morality is categorical, black and white. Sin or not sin. Some understand morality this way, that if it is sin, then it is always sin. And that is God's understanding of sin. When God gives a standard, if you fall short, that is sin. That is a categorical understanding of sin.
But what have we done? We make morality circumstantial. We talk about the person, we talk about the person who has done this, we try to look into his past and make the person who has committed the act a victim. And circumstances like his upbringing and all those things comes up. All what are called mitigating factors and eventually what is sin does not become sin. So, what the person has gone through in the past and sympathies invoked and all those kinds of things happen and circumstantially, it is let go, that is not sin.
Secondly, what we have done is we have made sin consequential. If it doesn't affect anybody, then how can you call it sin. So that's why if you smoke, it is not a crime. If you drink, alcohol, it is not a crime. And eventually homosexuality will not be a crime because what happens in the confines of your room is not the concern of the government. So, the government will say that cannot be a crime. What happens between you and with a consent with others? If it doesn't affect anybody else, it cannot be a crime. We define sin based on consequences. That is man's highest thought of morality. If there is no consequence to it, he will say it is not sin.
Unfortunately, God doesn't stay that way. God's morality is categorical. It is either sin or not sin. Whoever be the person, no matter what is passed, and no matter of facts, anybody around him or not, sin will always be safe. And if there are exceptions to exceptions are given, the Bible. So, if it is sin to murder, then it will always be sent to murder. And on what grounds can you justify your entry into the army or navy or anywhere else? Those exceptions are given in the Bible. So, unless exceptions are given, sin will always be sin.
Now, how do we hold our ground that sin is always sin. Especially in times when sin is being compromised? When the right is being rewritten as wrong? How do we say sin is sin? It is impossible to say that if you do not have a lofty view of God, if you do not have a right view of His Holiness; of who God is, you will also compromise. If you do not know how God does not let go of his standards, not even for His Son on the cross, then you will not have a circumstantial or a consequential view of sin. Sin for anybody, any sin, at all times will be sin.
So, what happens is over here is that people do not want to know God, and because they do not have a lofty view of God, they have a very small view of sin. And when they have a very small view of sin, they will not have a great view of Christ. If God is not as God for you, and sin will not be sin for you, and Christ will be hardly a saviour for you. Your sin, your lofty view of sin, comes from the knowledge of God. If you do not retain God, and do not retain His knowledge, then God gives you over to a convoluted mind, a mind where morality is totally inside out, topsy-turvy, and it's all gone for a toss. This is the society we will soon be entering. And what will be our responsibility is to hold ground and say that sin is sin. To always say sin is sin.
Knowledge of God is Dangerous
That brings us to the second thing, that the knowledge of God is dangerous, as Hosea would say that My people are destroyed by the knowledge of God. And Jeremiah would also say the same thing. But it is not just not knowing God being the problem. Let's read a couple of verses from Numbers 23:18. God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will not do it? Has he spoken and really not make it good? Just the first part, God is not a man, that he should lie.
Shall we read Hosea 11:9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man. Finally, let's read Job 9:32. For God is not a man as I am, that I should answer him. And we should come together in judgement. Three verses and the same thing has been said in three verses but for different reasons.
In Numbers, we see God's saying, I am not a man that I can lie. And that is the greatest insult to God. When we liken God to man and think that God is a man, and that God can behave like man and that God can think like man. That becomes an insult for God because God is holy, holy, holy, and for a God that is incessantly worshiped as Holy, holy, holy, for us to even think that God is man is an insult for Him. So, God had to clearly say, hold on there. I am not a man. And I cannot lie. God clearly differentiates Himself between man and God. In Job, Job is saying that God is not a man. And so, I cannot even access Him. And the next verse, he says, that there is no mediator that can even go unto God.
God is unapproachable, that He is God, and He is not a man, if He was a man, I could perhaps meet Him. But the most important thing is in Hosea. When Hosea would say, God is not a man, and that's why you are not destroyed. Or in other words, if I was in the place of God, I would find it difficult to forgive a person like me, I would rather want a person like me destroyed, and Hosea says no, for the record, God is not a man, and God will not think like a man. Like the way of man, because the ways of God are much, much higher than men. And His thoughts are far, far, far higher than men.
You see, this is the problem that we have amongst us. We think for the sake of God as if God is a man. We think that this is the situation as to how it will work out because this is the way God will work. But we don't realize that God thinks differently. That God's mind is not ours. We don't realize that we cannot be a spokesperson for God. We see things in our life falling in place, and then we realize that O wow, God has done this for me. And we have such a low understanding of God that we reduce the level of God when we think for God like a man thinks. That, for God this is wrong, because for man it is anyway wrong. For man, these things are wrong.
So, therefore for God also it will be wrong. We reduce the knowledge of God to the knowledge of man. We understand man one to another, the way we can understand, and through that we understand God. So, God keeps saying that, wait a minute, I am not a man. God is God. God cannot be known, just through the knowledge of man. God and man is different. We cannot be spokespersons for God. We cannot play God in our life. We cannot say that this is what God wanted. This is what God knows about your life. You see, even Paul was very careful about it, right?
There is an instance when he writes a letter to Philemon, and he is writing about Onesimus. And just look at the odds of what happened. Onesimus is coloce. He defrauds his master, goes far away to Rome. Ends up in the same prison, where Paulus is, and listens to the Gospel by Paul, is saved, is released from the prison, is carrying an epistle back to his master. Consider the odds that all of this is just coincidental. All of this is just random. You know if something like this happens in your life, and something is so phenomenal and extraordinary. All of it falling in place, you would jump the beams and say, Wow, this is God's doing. This is how God has done in my life. This is the danger of taking God's place.
But look at what Paul would say when he writes to Philemon. That most probably, perhaps most probably, this is how it happened. Paul did not assume authority and say this is what God wanted. And God has worked it, no matter how unseaming it is, no matter how convincing it is, that perhaps God has worked, Paul would still say, probably, God has used Onesimus, and brought him to me that I can share the gospel. He used the word, probably. Until and unless he knew it from God Himself. Until unless he knew that God had taken Onesimus, taken him from Coloce and brought him to Rome. Until and unless that was revealed unto Paul, Paul would not write it that way. He would be careful. And he would say, probably, this is what God wanted. This is how God has worked. He does not say one hundred percent this was God's doing.
And yet when in our lives when we see something so phenomenal, we say this is God's doing. We really play God, and we really take up the role of God. We need to remember this, that God is God, and God is not man. And we with our knowledge cannot assume God, we with our knowledge cannot assume how God works. His ways are far and far beyond searching. And His ways are inscrutable. His Greatness is unsearchable. So, we are on this earth. We are so tiny; we are so puny. And with that, we want to know how God works in this world. How every earthquake can be explained, how every natural calamity can be explained.
No, we are not God's spokesperson. We can't explain everything. We can't answer for God. We do not know His ways. It is impossible to know God until and unless someone who is unknowable, incomprehensible he himself reveals Himself to us. You see, there is a problem in not knowing God. But there is also a problem in having an incomplete knowledge of God. Having a very small, miniscule, manly knowledge of God is also a problem. You know, you know about the parable of the blind men trying to figure out an elephant. Five blind people touching different parts of the elephant, and they're trying to figure out how the elephant is. The moral of that parable is not that they have an incomplete knowledge. They have an incorrect knowledge.
Having an incomplete knowledge of something that you cannot see is most probably incorrect. So, having a little knowledge of God, having little knowledge of who your Redeemer is, who your father is, is going to be inadequate for you. And that's why you read about the psalmist who would say that I thirst for God, I longed for God, I seek for the living God, I cry for God. As if it is our most secret disposition to know and seek God. To know Him, and that's why David would tell Solomon, know the God of your father. And that's how It's written in job that you need. Acquaint yourself with God.
You can't live in this world just having superficial knowledge. The Spirit of God takes the deep things of Christ and gives it to his believers. So, the question is, what do you know of God? That is going to be the greatest question in this life as someone would say, if somebody can answer that question, his full spiritual future can be understood in that one answer. This was the most important question that Lord Jesus asked Peter, what do you think of me? What do you know about God? How much is your knowledge of God? Do you desire God as if it is your greatest priority?
Cry for Knowing God
If you could just read some verses, Psalms 42:2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God? When shall I come? And appear before him? Psalm sixty-three and verse one. Psalm 63:1. O God, you are my God. Early will I seek you? My soul thirst for you, my flesh longs for you are in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. To see Your Power and Your Glory. So, as I've seen You in the sanctuary Psalms 84:2. My soul longs, yeah even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart, and my flesh cries for the living God.
You see, these are not simple verbs, like I want to know God. I want to study God. I want to meditate on God. These are his greatest yearnings, he longs he faints, he cries, he seeks he thirsts just like a dry and parched land, waiting for even one drop of water, that is the spirit of the psalmist. I want to know God more, because that is the most important knowledge in this life. If we cannot know God enough, we do not know to worship Him. And all the problems in our life can stem out from this one problem of not knowing God. Okay, again, I can read this one.
Yes, this is what again Tozer would say, a man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems. He sees at once those that these, have to do with matters which are, at most, cannot concern him for very long. But even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the walls of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul.
To obey him perfectly. To worship Him acceptably. It's so beautiful, if this one problem is solved out, ten thousand problems can be relieved. And yet this will be a problem till we are on this earth, to know God to use all our faculties, all our resources, all our effort and labor and seek after him, to cry after him and know about God. This is our greatest responsibility to know His power, and that from that knowledge can stem out all our duties of obeying Him. If at all, we just know God, that brings me to the third thing I want to say.
Inexplicable peace in Knowing God
The knowledge of God comes with an inexplicable peace. A peace that cannot be understood. A piece that supersedes understanding. In our life and when are pressed to problems, we want to understand why. We want to understand what, when, how, where. Only if you would ask who. Who is God? You see, we were looking, I believe, two Sunday ago in the book of Habakkuk. We can turn to the book of Habakkuk. We were looking at this portion in the youth meeting. In this book of Habakkuk, just for an overview, Habakkuk has one problem. His problem is, why is God using a wicked nation to judge Israel?
That's Habakkuk's problem. And he is so perplexed, he cannot be satisfied. He wants to know why God is working in such a way. Just typical of us. We always like to ask the question of why. We want answers. Habakkuk wrote this whole book, crying out for why. And in this whole book, you will not see an answer to that question. You will not see God explaining to Habakkuk why. God does not give Habakkuk that answer. But God doesn't leave answer-less. God gives him an answer. And if we are going to read this chapter three, just notice the number of times the word "his'', from verse three onwards. 3. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. 4. And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of His hand: and there was the hiding of His power. 5. Before Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. 6. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: His ways are everlasting.
That was God's answer to Habakkuk. Habakkuk asked a simple question, why, Lord, are you bringing Babylon? And God's answer was Habakkuk, look at me. And Habakkuk wrote down his brightness, his praise, his glory, His hand, his power, his feet, his ways, and Habakkuk was satisfied. When God was questioned why, God decided to show himself to Habakkuk. And when Habakkuk saw the glory of God, when he realized who this God is, his brightness, His power, His glory, His ways. Habakkuk didn't have to ask why, what, where, how, when nothing? He got the answer for who? He got the answer for who is this God, and all the other problems swept away.
So, look at how we would end this chapter. He would say in verse 17, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Very, very depressing. But verse 18. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. This is Habakkuk's answer. The fig tree is not going to blossom, the fruit is not going to come up in the vine, the olives are going to fail, there'll be no herd in the stock, it's all going to be so bad when the Babylonians come. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. A person who started writing this book with so much perplexity. With so much anxiety as to why God you're doing this, ended with saying, I'm going to rejoice in the Lord.
You see how much difference the knowledge of God can do? How much difference in knowledge of God can bring peace in your life? Isn't this the way God dealt with Job? Job was trying to make himself righteous and say that he had not sinned. Look at how God took job through the vision of how God is his grandeur. And God would say you do not even know a whisper about me. And ultimately, when Job would see the glory of God, Job would say, I'm not going to speak anymore. You know if we rely on God, knowing who true God is, who truly God is, we will rest our case. We will know to be still and know that He is God, we will wait upon Him. The knowledge of God brings an inexplicable peace. It's just beyond understanding. Just to know God will change the perspective of your life.
How to know this God?
That finally brings to the question to the question as to how we're going to know God. A God that is unknowable. A God that's unsearchable. His ways are past finding out. The God that is incomprehensible. I mean, just look where it's written in Job 26:14. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power, who can understand? Again, in Job 37, the Almighty we cannot find him; He is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness He will not violate.
In Psalms 145:3, Great Lord, and greatly to be praised. His Greatness is unsearchable. And we just read about Romans. About Paul writing the discourse of Romans. And just before he was going to end his doctrinal aspect of the book in Romans chapter 11. Just before he is going to step into the practical aspect, he would end that whole discourse in chapter 11 and verse 33, O the depths of the riches in the wisdom and knowledge of God, How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable are his ways?
So that brings us to the question. If we have to know God. How do we know God who's like this? How do we know a God that is so unsearchable? His ways are so inscrutable. His ways are past finding out. And even if we do know Him, we just know a whisper about Him and the outskirts of His ways. Well, the most simple answer is through His Son. Through Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read this from 2 Corinthians 4.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in your hearts, to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the answer. The light of the knowledge of the glory of the knowledge of God is in the face of Lord Jesus Christ.
Shall we also read 1 Corinthians 2:9-15
The eye has not seen, the ear not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him, But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searchers, all things. Yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, 13. Which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual man. 14. But, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit for they're foolishness unto him, neither can you know, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, 15. For who has known the mind of God, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.
These verses are so self-explanatory. I'm just going to conclude by reading the verse we had read in the beginning. Proverbs 2:5. We can notice verse 5. Proverbs, chapter 2 and verse 5. It begins with the word 'then.' then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Then, after all of these things, you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. So when? then meaning when? In verse 1. If you will receive my words, and if you hide my commandments with you. Verse 2. If you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Verse 3, If you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding. Verse 4, If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, then, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God because the Lord gives wisdom. And out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
You see, no doubt, God is unknowable. And no doubt we cannot know God without efforts. And no doubt, God will only make himself known through spirit, in the face of Lord Jesus Christ. All of that is true. But here is a conditioned in us. Are we going to cry Him and search Him out like silver? Silver cannot be found on the streets or on the floor. You need to dig deep. And it is written here that hidden treasure; treasure, is not something that you can just walk up into it. It needs to be dug into it. It's hidden. It's secret. It requires your effort. It requires you to cry and long and thirst and seek and faint after God. Your utmost effort, all your faculties in knowing and studying about God. Are you ready to do that. If you did that, despite your best efforts, it will be God's spirit which reveals the deep things of Christ. Because the Lord said, The Spirit takes things of Me and will reveal unto you. May God bless these words to us.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from North even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.
Shall we turn to John 17:2-3.
As you have given him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given him, 3. And this is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Verse three, once again, this is life eternal. They may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Finally, let's turn to Proverbs 2:1-6
‘My son if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with you; 2. So that you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; 3. Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding. 4. If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, 5. Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the Lord gave His wisdom out of His mouth. For the Lord gives wisdom, out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
Prayer
Shall we pray; Father, we thank You, Lord. Thank You, Father, for You have given us this one more occasion to study from Your word. Thank you, Father, that Your word has revealed yourself unto us. We thank Father that we are enabled to understand what Your word says through Your spirit. And O Lord if we were to ponder on of who we really are, O Lord we know very well the answer. Father, we know exactly how unworthy we are to be in your presence. And Father, we thank You that today You’ve given us an opportunity to know You. And Father, we thank You that even ten thousand years would pass away and there would no less days to sing Your praise. Father, we pray O Lord like Moses - Reveal Yourself unto us, your face, that we may see Your glory. Help us, Father, to know You and Your Son, Lord Jesus. Help us Father to enjoy this eternal life in this world, in this life, in this earth right now. Father, we pray O Lord that as we sit around Your word that You would give me specially the strength to speak; that I would speak through the liberty of Your spirit and that all glory would abound unto You. Father, I pray that each one of our hearts including myself would be stirred up and overwhelmed to know You, to praise You, to worship You and to devote our lives unto You. We pray this prayer in and through Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
I was considering for some time, what would be the next topic that we should be looking into after we have completed Romans six to eight. Couple of thoughts came into my mind, at last I settled for what we would know as the attributes of God or knowing God. In theological circles there is a term for this, it's called proper theology or theology proper, just to know God; but it doesn't matter we are not interested, or we are not going to be interested in some jargon, what interests us and what will delight us is to just sit quietly in His presence and know God.
Just to gain the knowledge of God, this is a beautiful hymn written by F. Faber. He says to the soul that a thirst for God. Nothing could be more delightful. Only to sit and think of God— O, what a joy it is! To think the thought, to breathe the Name— Earth has no higher bliss!. And that is my intention through this series of classes, just to study God. We're not going to do it in for the sake of gaining knowledge, because the peril of studying the Bible is that you could know a lot about God, and yet not know God. So we are here to know God as a person to know His personality, His character, His behavior; those are very, very small and little words, we are here to know, His glory. And most importantly, as we read in John 17, when we know God, and when we know His son, we enjoy the gift of eternal life, and that's eternal life. That is what happens in eternity, not the heaven or not the place, not the glories of the place. It is just to know God.
And just as much as eternal life is given by Christ as He said, It is given to them. And this is eternal life that they know God. We read a verse. We will go back to it in Amos chapter eight. 11) Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.
These are very painful words. Very, very painful words. Because it's written over here that people will go north to east, sea to sea they will run to and fro just to listen to God's word, and they will not find it. And why because He has said in a previous verse, He has sent a famine. A famine of the knowledge of God. Not a famine of bread or thirst. This is the most painful judgement that God can give. Sometimes we don't realize this, but not knowing God is not just our failure but can sometimes be God's judgement upon man. A judgement upon man for not knowing Him.
Perils of not Knowing God
And before we go into the topic of knowing God, lets for some time meditate on why it is so important to know Him. What are the perils of not knowing Him? And for that, let's go to Romans one. Romans chapter one, and we'll read a couple of verses from here. Roman chapter one, and there is a phrase that keeps appearing in this chapter. You can read this, in verse twenty-four. God also gave them up. Verse twenty-six - For this cause God gave them up. And verse twenty-eight - God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Now that is a phrase of judgement. God is giving them up. There will be absolutely no restraint from God for man to commit evil. He's giving them up. This is the worst form of judgement, where God lets go of all strings. Even society cannot stop man. Even man's own conscience cannot stop himself. And the spirit of God will not restrain with man. God gives them up. Three times it appears, but every time it has appeared we need to know what happens just before it has, God gives them up. What was the reason why God would give them up?
Verse twenty-one, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Neither were they thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of an incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, to birds, to four-footed beasts, and creeping things. That's why God also gave them up to uncleanness. It's clear that when they knew God, they suppressed the knowledge of God. They did not desire to acknowledge God, to glorify God, to worship God, to be thankful to God. And when a man does not give God the priority in His life; it doesn't matter whether it is an unbeliever or a believer. Mostly this would be talking about an unbeliever. But even among believers, like David, would say about his brethren that they have not set God before their eyes.
When something like that happens when God is not the first thing in your life, when God is not your greatest and highest desire, when you do not desire to glorify God. Over here it is not written that they did not know God, they knew God, but they did glorify Him as God. They were not thankful, and God gave them up to uncleanness. Well, again we read this in verse twenty-five, they changed the truth of God into a lie. So what knowledge they had, the truth they had they exchanged it to believe something that was lies and what happens in next verse for this cause for this very reason God gave them up unto vile affections. Even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, men leaving the natural use of women burned in their lust one toward another man with men.
You might not realize this, but people would say that they are born as homosexuals, but this verse will say that homosexuality is also a judgement from God. When they did not desire the truth of God, when they exchanged it for lies. God gave them up to their desires, to their lust. Even some sins become a judgement from God. Ultimately we read in verse twenty-eight even as they did not like to retain in their knowledge they did not want an iota of the knowledge of God they did not retain His knowledge they wanted it to be forgotten; why? And that would be the next reason; God gave them over to a reprobate mind. What happens here is that a person does not want his mind to think about God. He does not want to retain the knowledge of God. So what does God do? God gives that person such a mind, a reprobate mind. A mind that cannot think about the things of God. A mind that cannot be overwhelmed by the things of God or the mind that cannot ponder upon the things of God.
That is the spirit of man. A spirit of man cannot think upon the things of God. Why? Because we have asked for it. That is our desire. When men did not like to retain God in their mind, God gave them over to a reprobate mind? So that why when the Lord would come, when the word of God, when the word would come and speak the words. He would say that they have eyes, but they would not see. They have ears, but they would not listen. And their hearts are hardened. It was never a lack of knowledge; it was never a dirt of knowledge. It was never where people were running around, and they didn't have knowledge.
Knowledge was in their midst. The word of God was in their midst, but they did not desire the knowledge of God. The light of the world came into this world, but men loved darkness and not the light. And when that happened, God gave them up to a reprobate mind. So, this is the testimony of just about everybody. This is what the Lord would say through Isaiah that the ox knows it's owner, the donkey it's master's crib, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand. The ox and the donkey; if you want more animals Jeremiah would add it; the stock in the heavens knows the time, the turtledove, the crane keep the time of the coming, but My people know not the rules of the Lord.
And what ultimately happens is when you do not want to know God, when God has given them up over, you can read how this chapter ends in verse 32. Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them, that do them. So now they know that they are committing sin. They know the judgement of God. They know that they will do this sin, and it will cost them their life. They know exactly what that sin will cost them. They know that God will punish them. They know it and still they will do it. A soul that is completely unrestrained. No knowledge is saving that soul. A person that just knows about everything about God and still cannot restrain himself from the sin he does.
You can ask anybody who smokes or who drinks alcohol. Do they not know what they're doing? They know it. And yet deliberately will go ahead and do it. This is the most fallen state of man, this is going to get worse because we read ain Amos that the days come when there will be a famine. So today there is the word of God. Today there is knowledge and people are denying knowledge. But the day will come when that knowledge will be taken away. When the period of grace will be taken away. When the salt of this earth will be taken away, and people will run to and fro.
And you don't need to wait for that day you can see it happening even today. You can see it happening even today in your midst, the number of people who know about God, and yet do not know God, the number of people that are thirsty to know the true and living God. You see, as a church, the greatest revelation of the church is God. The greatest revelation of our lives is God. And someone would put it this way. A right conception of God is basic not only to theology, but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple, where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse.
I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced, finally, to an imperfect or ignoble thoughts about God, this is closer, and he is seeing this clearly that if you do not know God. If you do not have a lofty view of God, if you do not appreciate the majesty of God, your ethics, your morality is in for a ride, is definitely faulty. So that is what happened in verse 26. When they exchanged the truth, God gave them up over two vile affections and lust.
What is Morality?
So today, if you talk about morality, we say every everybody has become subjective about it as to what is sin, and what is not sin. Well, there are three things that we could say. Sometimes you need to say that morality is categorical, black and white. Sin or not sin. Some understand morality this way, that if it is sin, then it is always sin. And that is God's understanding of sin. When God gives a standard, if you fall short, that is sin. That is a categorical understanding of sin.
But what have we done? We make morality circumstantial. We talk about the person, we talk about the person who has done this, we try to look into his past and make the person who has committed the act a victim. And circumstances like his upbringing and all those things comes up. All what are called mitigating factors and eventually what is sin does not become sin. So, what the person has gone through in the past and sympathies invoked and all those kinds of things happen and circumstantially, it is let go, that is not sin.
Secondly, what we have done is we have made sin consequential. If it doesn't affect anybody, then how can you call it sin. So that's why if you smoke, it is not a crime. If you drink, alcohol, it is not a crime. And eventually homosexuality will not be a crime because what happens in the confines of your room is not the concern of the government. So, the government will say that cannot be a crime. What happens between you and with a consent with others? If it doesn't affect anybody else, it cannot be a crime. We define sin based on consequences. That is man's highest thought of morality. If there is no consequence to it, he will say it is not sin.
Unfortunately, God doesn't stay that way. God's morality is categorical. It is either sin or not sin. Whoever be the person, no matter what is passed, and no matter of facts, anybody around him or not, sin will always be safe. And if there are exceptions to exceptions are given, the Bible. So, if it is sin to murder, then it will always be sent to murder. And on what grounds can you justify your entry into the army or navy or anywhere else? Those exceptions are given in the Bible. So, unless exceptions are given, sin will always be sin.
Now, how do we hold our ground that sin is always sin. Especially in times when sin is being compromised? When the right is being rewritten as wrong? How do we say sin is sin? It is impossible to say that if you do not have a lofty view of God, if you do not have a right view of His Holiness; of who God is, you will also compromise. If you do not know how God does not let go of his standards, not even for His Son on the cross, then you will not have a circumstantial or a consequential view of sin. Sin for anybody, any sin, at all times will be sin.
So, what happens is over here is that people do not want to know God, and because they do not have a lofty view of God, they have a very small view of sin. And when they have a very small view of sin, they will not have a great view of Christ. If God is not as God for you, and sin will not be sin for you, and Christ will be hardly a saviour for you. Your sin, your lofty view of sin, comes from the knowledge of God. If you do not retain God, and do not retain His knowledge, then God gives you over to a convoluted mind, a mind where morality is totally inside out, topsy-turvy, and it's all gone for a toss. This is the society we will soon be entering. And what will be our responsibility is to hold ground and say that sin is sin. To always say sin is sin.
Knowledge of God is Dangerous
That brings us to the second thing, that the knowledge of God is dangerous, as Hosea would say that My people are destroyed by the knowledge of God. And Jeremiah would also say the same thing. But it is not just not knowing God being the problem. Let's read a couple of verses from Numbers 23:18. God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will not do it? Has he spoken and really not make it good? Just the first part, God is not a man, that he should lie.
Shall we read Hosea 11:9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man. Finally, let's read Job 9:32. For God is not a man as I am, that I should answer him. And we should come together in judgement. Three verses and the same thing has been said in three verses but for different reasons.
In Numbers, we see God's saying, I am not a man that I can lie. And that is the greatest insult to God. When we liken God to man and think that God is a man, and that God can behave like man and that God can think like man. That becomes an insult for God because God is holy, holy, holy, and for a God that is incessantly worshiped as Holy, holy, holy, for us to even think that God is man is an insult for Him. So, God had to clearly say, hold on there. I am not a man. And I cannot lie. God clearly differentiates Himself between man and God. In Job, Job is saying that God is not a man. And so, I cannot even access Him. And the next verse, he says, that there is no mediator that can even go unto God.
God is unapproachable, that He is God, and He is not a man, if He was a man, I could perhaps meet Him. But the most important thing is in Hosea. When Hosea would say, God is not a man, and that's why you are not destroyed. Or in other words, if I was in the place of God, I would find it difficult to forgive a person like me, I would rather want a person like me destroyed, and Hosea says no, for the record, God is not a man, and God will not think like a man. Like the way of man, because the ways of God are much, much higher than men. And His thoughts are far, far, far higher than men.
You see, this is the problem that we have amongst us. We think for the sake of God as if God is a man. We think that this is the situation as to how it will work out because this is the way God will work. But we don't realize that God thinks differently. That God's mind is not ours. We don't realize that we cannot be a spokesperson for God. We see things in our life falling in place, and then we realize that O wow, God has done this for me. And we have such a low understanding of God that we reduce the level of God when we think for God like a man thinks. That, for God this is wrong, because for man it is anyway wrong. For man, these things are wrong.
So, therefore for God also it will be wrong. We reduce the knowledge of God to the knowledge of man. We understand man one to another, the way we can understand, and through that we understand God. So, God keeps saying that, wait a minute, I am not a man. God is God. God cannot be known, just through the knowledge of man. God and man is different. We cannot be spokespersons for God. We cannot play God in our life. We cannot say that this is what God wanted. This is what God knows about your life. You see, even Paul was very careful about it, right?
There is an instance when he writes a letter to Philemon, and he is writing about Onesimus. And just look at the odds of what happened. Onesimus is coloce. He defrauds his master, goes far away to Rome. Ends up in the same prison, where Paulus is, and listens to the Gospel by Paul, is saved, is released from the prison, is carrying an epistle back to his master. Consider the odds that all of this is just coincidental. All of this is just random. You know if something like this happens in your life, and something is so phenomenal and extraordinary. All of it falling in place, you would jump the beams and say, Wow, this is God's doing. This is how God has done in my life. This is the danger of taking God's place.
But look at what Paul would say when he writes to Philemon. That most probably, perhaps most probably, this is how it happened. Paul did not assume authority and say this is what God wanted. And God has worked it, no matter how unseaming it is, no matter how convincing it is, that perhaps God has worked, Paul would still say, probably, God has used Onesimus, and brought him to me that I can share the gospel. He used the word, probably. Until and unless he knew it from God Himself. Until unless he knew that God had taken Onesimus, taken him from Coloce and brought him to Rome. Until and unless that was revealed unto Paul, Paul would not write it that way. He would be careful. And he would say, probably, this is what God wanted. This is how God has worked. He does not say one hundred percent this was God's doing.
And yet when in our lives when we see something so phenomenal, we say this is God's doing. We really play God, and we really take up the role of God. We need to remember this, that God is God, and God is not man. And we with our knowledge cannot assume God, we with our knowledge cannot assume how God works. His ways are far and far beyond searching. And His ways are inscrutable. His Greatness is unsearchable. So, we are on this earth. We are so tiny; we are so puny. And with that, we want to know how God works in this world. How every earthquake can be explained, how every natural calamity can be explained.
No, we are not God's spokesperson. We can't explain everything. We can't answer for God. We do not know His ways. It is impossible to know God until and unless someone who is unknowable, incomprehensible he himself reveals Himself to us. You see, there is a problem in not knowing God. But there is also a problem in having an incomplete knowledge of God. Having a very small, miniscule, manly knowledge of God is also a problem. You know, you know about the parable of the blind men trying to figure out an elephant. Five blind people touching different parts of the elephant, and they're trying to figure out how the elephant is. The moral of that parable is not that they have an incomplete knowledge. They have an incorrect knowledge.
Having an incomplete knowledge of something that you cannot see is most probably incorrect. So, having a little knowledge of God, having little knowledge of who your Redeemer is, who your father is, is going to be inadequate for you. And that's why you read about the psalmist who would say that I thirst for God, I longed for God, I seek for the living God, I cry for God. As if it is our most secret disposition to know and seek God. To know Him, and that's why David would tell Solomon, know the God of your father. And that's how It's written in job that you need. Acquaint yourself with God.
You can't live in this world just having superficial knowledge. The Spirit of God takes the deep things of Christ and gives it to his believers. So, the question is, what do you know of God? That is going to be the greatest question in this life as someone would say, if somebody can answer that question, his full spiritual future can be understood in that one answer. This was the most important question that Lord Jesus asked Peter, what do you think of me? What do you know about God? How much is your knowledge of God? Do you desire God as if it is your greatest priority?
Cry for Knowing God
If you could just read some verses, Psalms 42:2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God? When shall I come? And appear before him? Psalm sixty-three and verse one. Psalm 63:1. O God, you are my God. Early will I seek you? My soul thirst for you, my flesh longs for you are in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. To see Your Power and Your Glory. So, as I've seen You in the sanctuary Psalms 84:2. My soul longs, yeah even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart, and my flesh cries for the living God.
You see, these are not simple verbs, like I want to know God. I want to study God. I want to meditate on God. These are his greatest yearnings, he longs he faints, he cries, he seeks he thirsts just like a dry and parched land, waiting for even one drop of water, that is the spirit of the psalmist. I want to know God more, because that is the most important knowledge in this life. If we cannot know God enough, we do not know to worship Him. And all the problems in our life can stem out from this one problem of not knowing God. Okay, again, I can read this one.
Yes, this is what again Tozer would say, a man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems. He sees at once those that these, have to do with matters which are, at most, cannot concern him for very long. But even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the walls of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul.
To obey him perfectly. To worship Him acceptably. It's so beautiful, if this one problem is solved out, ten thousand problems can be relieved. And yet this will be a problem till we are on this earth, to know God to use all our faculties, all our resources, all our effort and labor and seek after him, to cry after him and know about God. This is our greatest responsibility to know His power, and that from that knowledge can stem out all our duties of obeying Him. If at all, we just know God, that brings me to the third thing I want to say.
Inexplicable peace in Knowing God
The knowledge of God comes with an inexplicable peace. A peace that cannot be understood. A piece that supersedes understanding. In our life and when are pressed to problems, we want to understand why. We want to understand what, when, how, where. Only if you would ask who. Who is God? You see, we were looking, I believe, two Sunday ago in the book of Habakkuk. We can turn to the book of Habakkuk. We were looking at this portion in the youth meeting. In this book of Habakkuk, just for an overview, Habakkuk has one problem. His problem is, why is God using a wicked nation to judge Israel?
That's Habakkuk's problem. And he is so perplexed, he cannot be satisfied. He wants to know why God is working in such a way. Just typical of us. We always like to ask the question of why. We want answers. Habakkuk wrote this whole book, crying out for why. And in this whole book, you will not see an answer to that question. You will not see God explaining to Habakkuk why. God does not give Habakkuk that answer. But God doesn't leave answer-less. God gives him an answer. And if we are going to read this chapter three, just notice the number of times the word "his'', from verse three onwards. 3. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. 4. And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of His hand: and there was the hiding of His power. 5. Before Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. 6. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: His ways are everlasting.
That was God's answer to Habakkuk. Habakkuk asked a simple question, why, Lord, are you bringing Babylon? And God's answer was Habakkuk, look at me. And Habakkuk wrote down his brightness, his praise, his glory, His hand, his power, his feet, his ways, and Habakkuk was satisfied. When God was questioned why, God decided to show himself to Habakkuk. And when Habakkuk saw the glory of God, when he realized who this God is, his brightness, His power, His glory, His ways. Habakkuk didn't have to ask why, what, where, how, when nothing? He got the answer for who? He got the answer for who is this God, and all the other problems swept away.
So, look at how we would end this chapter. He would say in verse 17, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Very, very depressing. But verse 18. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. This is Habakkuk's answer. The fig tree is not going to blossom, the fruit is not going to come up in the vine, the olives are going to fail, there'll be no herd in the stock, it's all going to be so bad when the Babylonians come. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. A person who started writing this book with so much perplexity. With so much anxiety as to why God you're doing this, ended with saying, I'm going to rejoice in the Lord.
You see how much difference the knowledge of God can do? How much difference in knowledge of God can bring peace in your life? Isn't this the way God dealt with Job? Job was trying to make himself righteous and say that he had not sinned. Look at how God took job through the vision of how God is his grandeur. And God would say you do not even know a whisper about me. And ultimately, when Job would see the glory of God, Job would say, I'm not going to speak anymore. You know if we rely on God, knowing who true God is, who truly God is, we will rest our case. We will know to be still and know that He is God, we will wait upon Him. The knowledge of God brings an inexplicable peace. It's just beyond understanding. Just to know God will change the perspective of your life.
How to know this God?
That finally brings to the question to the question as to how we're going to know God. A God that is unknowable. A God that's unsearchable. His ways are past finding out. The God that is incomprehensible. I mean, just look where it's written in Job 26:14. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power, who can understand? Again, in Job 37, the Almighty we cannot find him; He is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness He will not violate.
In Psalms 145:3, Great Lord, and greatly to be praised. His Greatness is unsearchable. And we just read about Romans. About Paul writing the discourse of Romans. And just before he was going to end his doctrinal aspect of the book in Romans chapter 11. Just before he is going to step into the practical aspect, he would end that whole discourse in chapter 11 and verse 33, O the depths of the riches in the wisdom and knowledge of God, How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable are his ways?
So that brings us to the question. If we have to know God. How do we know God who's like this? How do we know a God that is so unsearchable? His ways are so inscrutable. His ways are past finding out. And even if we do know Him, we just know a whisper about Him and the outskirts of His ways. Well, the most simple answer is through His Son. Through Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read this from 2 Corinthians 4.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in your hearts, to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the answer. The light of the knowledge of the glory of the knowledge of God is in the face of Lord Jesus Christ.
Shall we also read 1 Corinthians 2:9-15
The eye has not seen, the ear not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him, But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searchers, all things. Yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, 13. Which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual man. 14. But, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit for they're foolishness unto him, neither can you know, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, 15. For who has known the mind of God, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.
These verses are so self-explanatory. I'm just going to conclude by reading the verse we had read in the beginning. Proverbs 2:5. We can notice verse 5. Proverbs, chapter 2 and verse 5. It begins with the word 'then.' then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Then, after all of these things, you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. So when? then meaning when? In verse 1. If you will receive my words, and if you hide my commandments with you. Verse 2. If you incline your ear unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Verse 3, If you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding. Verse 4, If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, then, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God because the Lord gives wisdom. And out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
You see, no doubt, God is unknowable. And no doubt we cannot know God without efforts. And no doubt, God will only make himself known through spirit, in the face of Lord Jesus Christ. All of that is true. But here is a conditioned in us. Are we going to cry Him and search Him out like silver? Silver cannot be found on the streets or on the floor. You need to dig deep. And it is written here that hidden treasure; treasure, is not something that you can just walk up into it. It needs to be dug into it. It's hidden. It's secret. It requires your effort. It requires you to cry and long and thirst and seek and faint after God. Your utmost effort, all your faculties in knowing and studying about God. Are you ready to do that. If you did that, despite your best efforts, it will be God's spirit which reveals the deep things of Christ. Because the Lord said, The Spirit takes things of Me and will reveal unto you. May God bless these words to us.
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