Hokey religions and ancient weapons . . .

Illus: A Young Lady who I counseled who had never heard that God loved her. I spoke with her for many sessions and assumed that because she was a Christian she knew of God’s love, grace and mercy. She had a view of God that was not biblical.

Tragedies like the one that hit many in Thomson close to home this weekend is a great reminder that we should have a good knowledge of who God is, lest we not survive any tragedy that befalls us.

If we have a wrong view of God, we will have a wrong view of ourself and the world.

What we believe and know about God directly reflects how we live in this world.

John Calvin begins his institutes of Christian religion with:

“Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God”

But, he immediately follows that with “without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.”

How do people misunderstand God?

Some see him as: The man upstairs! The clock maker! God who makes unreasonable demands!

Hollywood version of God played by George Burns or Morgan Freeman.

The views of God lead directly to how people operate in this world.

As Christians we must have a biblical view of God, or life will not make sense. What we know about ourselves will be wrong. How we view others will be misguided. How we live this life will be misguided.

Paul ran across with the sons of Sceva at Ephesus.

Ephesus was a sea port. Many had come with various religions and worship practices. Most were spiritual but not Christian.

Man has always been religious, just not always religious toward God.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. The Character of This Natural Endowment

Therefore, since from the beginning of the world there has been no region, no city, in short, no household, that could do without religion, there lies in this a tacit confession of a sense of deity inscribed in the hearts of all.

Principles of Faith

Recognizing the truth about God’s power will motivate us to rebel or repent.

God’s power is over all of his creation

Inanimate objects (11-12)

objects created by men

Evil Spirits (13-15)

Men (16)

There is nothing outside of God’s power and control

Significance:

How can we have faith in a God who isn’t over all things? Wouldn’t this actually bring more fear? Wouldn’t this actually cause distrust?

God always exhibits his power in the world in ways that is true and should be trusted by his people.

Illus: - Jesus heals the paralytic: power to forgive sins and to heal the body. Shows Jesus power over the entire creation as given by the Father. Shows that Jesus is God.

Our faith is not in a God, like George Burns or Morgan Freeman. He is not just the man upstairs. He is God of the universe. He is all powerful, OMNIPOTENT.

God’s power is often absconded by evil men

Men who seek to be God

Continual clash between God and his rule and man and his perceived rule

- seed of the woman and seed of the serpent

seeking to benefit from God’s power

Sons of Sceva are trying to benefit from God’s power.

Sin: pride, arrogance, playing God, idolatry (themselves)

English Standard Version Chapter 19

“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

App: We need to be careful thinking too highly of ourselves. Sometimes we allow pride to cause us to believe that we are the ones doing God’s work. We sometimes take the credit for his work.

Sometimes in the church we fall into this. It makes us feel good when people recognize our work. We believe that people should recognize our work and congratulate us for a job well done. The reality is that God is doing His work. We may be a part of that and he may use us, but we should be careful in our motives.

If we believe God is all powerful and that evil men will try and abscond with what is rightfully his, we must conclude that we could be guilty of that. We are not above taking credit for God’s work.

Illus: Beatitudes:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

God will be glorified in his world

(17) the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

glorified, magnified

Jesus was credited for the works taking place

We should know that the things that God does in this world, although often mysterious are for his own glory.

The goal of salvation is not that we are worship and extolled

The goal is that God is glorified

GLORIFY - the first statement in our vision statement.

App: If we stop trying to figure God out where he has not revealed himself and focus on what we know and that all things lead to his glory it will show in our life.

Whatever our tragedy is, whatever we are facing, sorrow, grief, pain, etc . . . is somehow so that God receives the glory. This should be our prayer. This should be our mindset.

Illus: Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Matthew 26:38–39 ESV

Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Matt

Jesus could go through this knowing that God the Father would be glorified.

My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Fear of God is what motivates repentance of sin

God’s people fear him

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. The Attributes of God according to Scripture Agree with Those Known in His Creatures

Indeed, the knowledge of God set forth for us in Scripture is destined for the very same goal as the knowledge whose imprint shines in his creatures, in that it invites us first to fear God, then to trust in him.

Augustine adds concerning the men who add statues to replace God that they “removed fear and added error.”

Man often seeks to remove fear from being associated with God

Men make God into their own image to avoid this fear

Yet God should be feared when we see his majesty through Scripture.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. Knowledge of God Involves Trust and Reverence

Rather, our knowledge should serve first to teach us fear and reverence; secondly, with it as our guide and teacher, we should learn to seek every good from him, and, having received it, to credit it to his account.

The problem with the sons of Sceva is they had no fear.

Yet, when people saw God withhold his power, they were filled with fear.

Out of this fear comes

recognition of God

confusion surrounding God

Either drives us to

repentance and faith

or sinful behavior

App: When we see who God is, it will cause fear, fear of his wrath or his majesty. Do you fear God? If so, how do you respond?

Application

It might be easy for us to sit and look at other people’s motivations and sins. Yet, we are called to be firstly concerned with our own sin and repentance.

App: We should be cautious in our earthly behaviors and ask ourselves if we are doing things out of fear of man or fear of God?

We should check our own motivations.

Are we repenting of our sins or seeking to benefit from God’s work?

How are you seeing Jesus in the daily things? Everything that is happening in our life is God ordained. We then either live in this world out of fear of the circumstances: men, governments, theories, policies, practices, health, life, etc . . . or we recognize that we shold fear God’s wrath for our sin.

For the Christian this means repentance and faith under God’s gracious hand. We recognize that God does not treat us as we deserve. It forces us to see the work of Jesus Christ for our life and daily benefit.

Out if this fear comes a walking away from our old self and into the new life of Christ - Repentance

English Standard Version Chapter 19

18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Out of this repentance comes a faith from God that changes our worldview

material things are no longer of value

The spirituality of God’s kingdom becomes our reality

Fear of God’s wrath is transformed into a desire to obey out of gratitude for his grace.

For the non-Christian it means a fear of God’s wrath without Jesus and the hope if salvation.

Non- Christians fear God’s wrath they may just not know it.

Conclusion

We must be careful of creating our own image of God, and placing our faith in the God of the Bible.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. Without Knowledge of God There Is No Knowledge of Self

As long as we do not look beyond the earth, being quite content with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue, we flatter ourselves most sweetly, and fancy ourselves all but demigods. Suppose we but once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and to ponder his nature, and how completely perfect are his righteousness, wisdom, and power—the straightedge to which we must be shaped. Then, what masquerading earlier as righteousness was pleasing in us will soon grow filthy in its consummate wickedness. What wonderfully impressed us under the name of wisdom will stink in its very foolishness. What wore the face of power will prove itself the most miserable weakness. That is, what in us seems perfection itself corresponds ill to the purity of God

As Christians we should look to the God of Scriptures, not our own idea of God, to see his truth. This objective truth then helps us understand and live in our subjective experiences.

This is the tensions we live in as Christians. Knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in Scripture and our own personal experiences. We must know who God is so that we may also experience him in our life circumstances.

If we just live without knowing who God is we may end up like the sons of Sceva. If we do seek a knowledge of God and have our faith in the God of the Bible then our only response is repentance and faith.

Let us not look to mystical religions and ancient weapons to get us through this life, no rather, let us look to the God of the Bible and in faith see not a god of our own imagination, but a God as he has revealed himself to us. Only when we do this will our sorrows turn to joy.

Illus:

John 16:16–24 ESV

“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

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