Isaiah 6:1-13 | Alex Senak
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Intro:
Today we are going to look at a scripture written by the apostle Paul, in Philippians 3
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The thing that Paul was pressing on towards, his goal was to know Christ.
To continue to surrender himself bit by bit so that he could know more and more of Christ.
If I asked you if you knew God, if you knew Christ what would you say?... If you really, really thought about it would you say that you know Christ? I’ll be honest I want to know God more. More than what I know of Him now.
Today I’d like to look at 1. who God is and 2. what it looks like to know HIM.
A. Who Does the Bible Say God is:
1. Creator:
Nehemiah 9:6 Nehemiah 9:6
“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
Matthew 8:23-27 New International Version (NIV)
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
2. God is Omnipotent/ Lord of lords/ All powerful:
Revelation 19:6
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
Isaiah 46:9-10
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
3. God is Omniscient/ All Knowing:
Psalm 139:1-3 Psalm 139:1-3
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
4. God is Omnipresent/ He is everywhere at all times:
Jeremiah 23:24 Jeremiah 23:24
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
Psalm 139:7-10 New International Version (NIV)
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
5. God is Merciful:
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6. God is Faithful:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
All of these scriptures point to who God is.
Most of us have heard these descriptions of God before in our life, but is knowing these things about God the same as truly knowing him?
Salvation does not come from knowing about the truth of Jesus Christ but from intimately knowing Christ Himself. This coming alive can be accomplished by the power of God because of His love and mercy.
John F. MacArthur
B. Knowing God:
(Tell the story about 3 blind men trying to describe an elephant)
This is what people said each religion is like when it comes to describing God…
So how do we come to know Him?
This big, powerful, creator, omniscient being that has been a mystery to so many. How can we know HIM?
The answer is found in the thing what sets Christianity apart from all other religions…That is Jesus Christ. The Son of God who came, died for our sins, and has given us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us.
Jesus is the bridge between us and God. He is the one who knows God and makes him known to us...
O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride.
Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair.
Knowing Christ gives the balance.
—Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal (French Scientist, Polemicist and Christian Apologist)
Jesus is like the man who can actually see the elephant, and is able to give a clear picture of something humans misunderstand because until Jesus we only knew a small part of God.
.... And, it is only through Him that we know God because he is God.
Jesus came to earth so that God might be revealed and that we might have a relationship with him.
There is a song What A Beautiful Name (It talks about the character of God), I love the part of this song that says, “ You didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus You brought heaven down.”
That is exactly what Christ does.
He has come to us so that we would be able to know Him.
Jesus came and left with us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us and, When we accept the Holy Spirit, we are accepting the very Spirit of God in our lives.
It is in acknowledging Jesus as Savior/ Messiah, being washed from our sins, and accepting the Holy Spirit to come and fill us that we are able to begin to know God.
But it does not stop there...As we continue in our Christian walk we should strive to know God more and more.
Meaning we are striving for less and less of us and more and more of Him.
Here is the thing…this striving after and know God should cause some sort of change in us. As Christians, as children of God who claim to know Him we should then be different than the rest of the world.
If we are not…. Then we do not truly know God, if we are not different then we are merely a blind man trying to describe an elephant. (Giving an opinion on something we do not fully see)
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God is love and that means if we truly know HIM, if we, like Paul are striving to know Christ then we too should be manifesting God’s love.
If we know Him, then we should be continually wanting less of us and more of HIM living through us. If we truly know HIM, it should be so evident that everyone we meet now knows him too.
Con:
Galatians 4:8-9
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
I do not want us to become enslaved all over again. We have to get back to Knowing God, instead of just having a knowledge of Him.
Because If we aren’t searching after God then we will open ourselves up to the worthless, meaningless things.
WE CANNOT STOP STRIVING TO KNOW HIM MORE.
The Christian walk is not something that you say, “Well I think im good enough now so I’ll just stop where im at. I’ve given up most of my sins, I’ve let God take control of most of my life.”
NO.
God wants it all.
God wants us to come to fully know Him and the ONLY way we can do that is to get rid of ALL in our life that in not of Him and let HIM in.
God calls us to “Be Holy As I Am Holy”,
This is a command for now. It is a command to truly know God.
-Do you Know God? Do you Love HIM? Can you describe Him from experience and not just based of off scripture knowledge?
Maybe you used to Know Him but need to reconnect and come to know him again?
Make that time now.