Knowing God
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Introduction
For our devotions during prayer meeting, we will be studying “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer. This book is a Christian classic and has sold over a million copies. It is an introduction and devotional on the doctrine of God.
If I were to ask you, “do you know God?” How would you respond? Think about, pause, and reflect. “Do you know God?”
Of course I know him, I go to church and listen to the Word, and I pray, why would you ask that?
But think about it again, there is a difference in having knowledge of something vs. knowledge about something.
In chapter two of his book, Packer says, “one can know a great deal about God without knowledge of Him”
In other words, you can go to Sunday School, Bible Study, listen to sermons, be part of a small group, even have an interest in theology and still not know God.
For example, just think about your favorite sports star. You may know Lebron James plays for the Lakers, used to play for the Cavaliers, won a championship. But you don’t know what He is really like in person. Lebron doesn’t know who you are and you don’t know who he really is even though you have statistics and facts about him. You watch games and even attended some of his games, but if you were to tell me you really know Lebron James, I wouldn’t take you seriously.
In the same way, you can know a great deal about God without truly ever knowing Him. It is a scary thing where Jesus says,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matthew 7:15
Matthew
How do you really know that you know God?
Those who know God have great energy for God.
He uses Daniel as an example. They were willing to risk their lives instead of bowing down to a false idol. Daniel was on his knees praying, and because of his devotion before God, he was persecuted.
“Men who know their God are before anything else men who pray, and the first point where their zeal and energy for God’s glory come to expression in their prayers” pg. 24
2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God.
Daniel believed that God was sovereign over the affairs of men.
Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
to whom belong wisdom and might.
3. Those who know God are bold for God.
They would not bow down to the idol of the Nebuchadnezzar and therefore a fiery furnace was prepared for them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Esther said,
“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
Peter said
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
4. Those who know God have great contentment in God
In other words, those who know God have a great peace in God because they trust in Him.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Application:
How can we pursue genuine and real knowledge of God?
We must humble ourselves before God’s Word
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
2. We must be prayerful
A man on his knees is what he really is before God, nothing more or nothing less.
3. We must seek Christ
Jesus is the revelation of God the Father.
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
We must be prayerful
4. We must rest in His knowledge of us.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
