Back to basics: Knowing God

Introduction

Tonight I want to begin us on a Wednesday night series that will last a few months. I’m titling it, back to the basics.

While I think God is looking to do great things here and there will be some more modern methods employed to reach out and see souls saved there are some things that should not and cannot be updated or turned into something different.

The methods of the church change but the message of the church must stay the same. That message is the life giving and life changing message of Jesus Christ.

That message leads us into a relationship with God and as we express our faith in the message it also means we are accepting some other things from the Bible to be true. So as we begin this series of back to the basics I want you to know, you’ve probably heard this before. I pray that these lessons are great reminders of the doctrines of scripture and that you will see or hear something in a light that you hadn’t before as the Lord enlightens you to scripture.

Tonight’s lesson will be about Knowing God. Let’s pray and get into it.

PRAY

Open your Bibles to

1 John 5:7 KJV 1900

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

John 17:3 KJV 1900

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

One of the greatest things about the Christian life is the fact that we have God who desires for us to know Him so that we may have a relationship with Him.

We can only do that if He reveals himself to us.

I. God has revealed Himself to us

We don’t have to guess, wonder, or make up our own version of God. We have the ability to know exactly who He is and what He desires of us. We can do that because He has revealed himself in a couple of different ways.

First, He has revealed Himself through Creation

A. He reveals Himself through creation

We can simply look around us and see the beauty of His handiwork.

Psalm 19:1 KJV 1900

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.

It’s made plain to us in scripture how the universe and the world came to be.

Genesis 1:1 KJV 1900

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

He spoke the universe into existence. Then when He made it all He called it very good.

It is this important truth that helped me as I was coming back to my faith. I found a love for apologetics as I listened to someone provide support for Creationism and poke holes in the theory of evolution.

I’m thankful for the many Christian scientists out there who are working at proving more and more that there is a creator God who spoke everything into existence.

We all understand that no one was there when the universe started. We as Christians must admit that we don’t KNOW and can’t PROVE it without a shadow of a doubt. It requires faith.

I believe that’s on purpose from God. Because without faith we cannot please Him.

When we believe in Creation professing our faith in a creator. When a person chooses to believe in evolution, they are choosing to believe in chance.

Belief in the creator leads to an important conclusion: We are created for Him, not for ourselves.

Revelation 4:11 KJV 1900

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

We do not exist to please ourselves, but to please God.

God has revealed Himself through creation. He has also revealed Himself throughout History.

B. He has revealed Himself throughout history

There were two times in world History when the entire world knew the revealed truth of who God is.

-In the Garden of Eden

Genesis 2:15–17 KJV 1900

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

-In Noah’s Day

Genesis 7:1 KJV 1900

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Before the flood that destroyed the earth Noah was preaching and telling everyone that God’s judgement would one day come and they should find refuge in the ark. Sadly, only Noah and his family believed God and were saved by their faith.

C. He has revealed Himself through the human conscience

Have you noticed that the Bible never sets out to prove the existence of God. It simply assumes His existence.

This biblical assumption is based on the fact that God hard wired into our hearts the knowledge of a creator when He made us.

Romans 2:14–15 KJV 1900

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It has been observed that no one was born an atheist. All around the world people know there is some God and they have a sense of right and wrong.

That sense can be molded and twisted by the environment but it is there nonetheless.

People can and do reject the knowledge of God but it is not because there is no evidence from both within and without to support the truth of God’s existence.

The Bible has a word for people like that

Psalm 14:1 KJV 1900

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, There is none that doeth good.

D. He has revealed himself through the Scripture

Nature gives us a general revelation of God and it is the Bible that provides us specific revelation of God.

E. He has revealed Himself through His Son

Jesus Christ came as God in the flesh to reveal to us who God is.

1 Timothy 3:16 KJV 1900

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

2 Timothy 3:16 KJV 1900

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

God has revealed Himself in many ways because He wants us to know Him.

II. God Exists as a trinity

A. The Bible clearly tells us that there is One True God

Mark 12:29 KJV 1900

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Here are some other examples as well that emphatically state there is one God

“I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me...”

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

The Bible also teaches that God exists as a trinity. Meaning Three in one. The Bible refers to this as the Godhead.

Acts 17:29 KJV 1900

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

Romans 1:20 KJV 1900

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

There is one God who exists simultaneously in three persons. Each coequal, powerful, and coeternal.

The trinity is impossible to explain not because it is false but because it is a concept that our finite minds have difficulty wrapping our heads around. Multiple times though we see the three parts of the trinity mentioned at the same time.

-

Matthew 3:16–17 KJV 1900

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 28:19 KJV 1900

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

2 Corinthians 13:14 KJV 1900

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

One of the earliest revelations of the Trinity is given in the first chapters of the Bible. It also gives us insight into the make up of us as mankind.

A. We are made in the image of God

Genesis 1:26 KJV 1900

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

We don’t resemble God in our physical bodies. Rather we resemble him in the sense that we have a body, soul, and spirit. We were created his likeness in a number of ways

-Mentally

-Mentally

We were created with intelligence and rationale.

-Socially

We were created with a need for interaction and fellowship.

-Morally

We were created with responsibility to live according to right and wrong.

-Spiritually

We were created with a spirit that will live forever even after our bodies die and withe the capacity to have a relationship with God.

These all make up our likeness to God.

Adam’s mental intelligence is seen as he names all the animals

We see Adam and Eve’s social need in their relationship with each other

We see their moral responsibility in that God gave them a specific command and the free will to choose to obey or disobey and in the fact that they indeed made a choice.

We see their spiritual capacity in their personal relationship with God, which was later severed through sin.

God is so much greater than our minds can comprehend and yet He made us in His image for a relationship with Him.

III. The Bible Tells us about God’s Characteristics

More than existing as a triune Godhead the Bible tells us about other characteristics of God. We call them attributes

A. Some of God’s attributes are unique to God alone

Theologians call these the non-communicable attributes. In other words and words I understand, they are attributes that God has that we cannot. Notice a few:

-God is Holy

Isaiah 6:3 KJV 1900

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory.

This means he is completely separate from sin. We won’t be in this situation until we are in Heaven.

-God is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient

Those words mean He is everywhere at all times, He is all powerful, and He is all knowing.

Proverbs 15:3 KJV 1900

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.

Psalm 33:9 KJV 1900

For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

Hebrews 4:13 KJV 1900

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

-God is Immutable

turn to

Malachi 3:6 KJV 1900

For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

-God is Sovereign

Isaiah 46:10 KJV 1900

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:

-God is infinite

Psalm 90:2 KJV 1900

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

While these are attributes we can’t have there are some attributes He wants to develop in us

-Some of God’s attributes He wants to develop in us

These are called communicable attributes. These are moral characteristics of God.

He desires to make us in His image by developing His characteristics in our lives

A partial list of these is called the “fruit of the Sprit”

Turn over to

Galatians 5:22–23 KJV 1900

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Illustration about fruit

God promises us that everything allowed in our lives can be used to conform us more to the image of Christ.

”28-29

Romans 8:28–29 KJV 1900

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

This Sunday I’m preaching on Refocusing on the Word of God. It’s exciting to know that the more we get to know God the more we can become like Him in His moral attributes.

But What does all of this mean? How can I apply this?

By first understanding that God has revealed Himself to us and that He wants a relationship with us should lead us to desire a relationship with Him. This comes through studying our Bibles (vs reading) and communicating with Him often.

Next, we know that growth in the Christian life comes from growth in our relationship with God. We read and study our Bible to understand more about God. Try not to walk away from your Bible without identifying some truth or principle you can take with you for the day.

Lastly, Understand that growth in the christian life is measured by us becoming more like Christ. The Bible isn’t meant purely for head knowledge. A person could memorize Gen-Revelations but not allow it to sink into his heart and change him. Then his knowledge is pointless.

Let’s decide to a be a church is striving to know God personally so we can lead others to know God.