Knowing God

Welcome

Announcements

Our door to door evangelism this past Sunday and yesterday

Tyler

Brandon

Samuel

Kathy

Halie

Scripture Reading:

Hebrews 12:25–29 (NLT): Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. 28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.

Pastoral Prayer

Pray for the lost

Pray for transformation of our hearts

Pray for God presence in this place

Pray for God’s will to be revealed to us in relocating

INTRODUCTION

What comes to mind when you hear someone say they know God, they speak to God, and God speaks to them, leads them, and teaches them? Many people when they hear someone say they know God on a personal level and God speaks to them they immediately doubt. What do you think? Can we know God in such a personal way that He is as real as you and I are in here today?

Jesus said this, Matt 11:27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

What does that mean? That means that we as sinful finite humans can actually know the all powerful living God who created the heavens and the earth.

That word “know” means more than knowledge about someone. Epiginōskō describes the most intimate and fullest acquaintance of God the Father.

God has made Himself accessible to human beings and we are going to look at today. How we can know God on that personal, intimate level

God is the sovereign ruler of His Creation

Matthew 11:25 NASB95

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

Explanation

This is a prayer that Jesus is offering up to God the Father.

Jesus is publically confessing God as Ruler of heaven and earth

What does that tell us about God?

The word “Lord” means He is the only ruler, the king of Kings and Lord of lords.

Since God is the Creator of heaven and earth, He is the supreme ruler of His creation!

God has dominion over all the earth and God owns the earth

He is free to reveal and conceal anything that He wishes

As the owner of all things, God can do as he pleases according to His will

ILLUSTRATION: Storm

Did anyone experience the winds we had on Friday?

God has complete control of those winds

The wind must ask His permission to blow a certain direction

So when you fear the storm, remember who is in control of the storm

Bridge

Humanity is also part of God’s creation

God created Adam and formed him from the dust of the ground

And we know that God created Eve from a rib that He took out of Adam

The human race is part of God’s creation

And as part of his creation, God is over all of us as well

He allows things to come into our lives

And He withholds things from our lives

And He has the right to give or withhold according to His will because He owns it all and possess all wisdom and knowledge

Application

There is no higher authority or power in this life than God

The wise person understands this truth and lives their lives according to wisdom of God over the wisdom of this world

The man who somehow thinks he knows better than God who created life has become a fool.

If God says to the church, this is the way we are to do church, then that is the way we are to do church

If God says to the husband, this is the way you are to live with your wife, then the wise man will do as God says

If God says this is the way you raise your kids, then the wise man or woman will raise their kids just as God has said.

If God has said this is how you can know Me personally, the wise man or woman will listen up.

And that is exactly what I want to talk about today: How anyone can know God as their Heavenly Father

God reveals Himself to those who are child-like and “hides” Himself from those who are wise in their own eyes

Matthew 11:25–26 NASB95

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Explanation

What are “these things”?

It refers to the all the things Jesus taught in His ministry!

The things pertaining to the Kingdom of God

The spiritual truths in this life that tell us how to live and have a relationship with God

The very character and nature of God

The second coming of Jesus Christ

Judgement

Heaven

Righteousness

Election

Who does God in His sovereignty choose reveal Himself to?

He reveals Himself to those who are child like

This does not mean immature or of young age. It does not mean those who like candy and throw pouty fits when they do not get their way

The word “infant” is a metaphor

ILLUSTRATION

Think about a child. What comes to mind when you think about a child?

Cute, cudley, needs to be fed every 15 minutes, needs a diaper every 5 minutes, needs to be held, needs their nose sucked every hour.

An infant is helpless. They are totally dependent upon their parent

An infant cannot feed himself, cannot cloth himself, cannot even change his own diaper.

They are 100% totally dependent upon someone else

This is what it means to be child-like

It is knowing that apart from God, His wisdom and spiritual truth we are lost and helpless.

It is knowing that the thought process of this world is not sufficient to have a relationship with a supernatural God.

God reveals Himself to those who know they desperately need Him and His wisdom and His guidance.

In contrast to that, God withholds Himself to who think they are already wise and know it all

We will call these the spiritually arrogant

They think they have life all figured out and when they come to God’s truth and wisdom they reject it because they think they are too smart for God and they do not need His instruction

They reject the wisdom of God because they think they do not need it

This does not mean that smart people cannot be saved. He does not say the wise are lost and the stupid are saved. This is a contrast between pride and humility, not intelligence and ignorance.

The smartest man in the world can know God if he is willing to swallow His pride and humbles himself like a child.

Our relationship with God is characterized by that of a Father to a child

The contrast is between those who are self-sufficient and who deem themselves as wise AND those who are dependent and love to be taught by God

God reveals his truths only to those who open themselves up to him with a childlike simplicity and receptiveness, not to those who in their pride and self-sufficiency feel no need for it.”

Application:

God gives a man or a woman just enough light to take a step. That may come through His Word, through a sermon, through His Spirit that communicates to our spirit.

And our response to that light will determine what happens next. We can either choose to believe God, swallow our intellectual pride and worldly wisdom or we can reject what God has said and do what we think is best.

Here is the key: When God has given us light, we are accountable to that light. We can no longer claim ignorance as if we didn’t know right from wrong. We must make a choice.

Whatever pleases God ought to please the child of God

Matthew 11:26 NASB95

“Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Explanation

What does Jesus do in verse 25? He praises God for His way of revealing truth to the world

And what does Jesus say in verse 26, “This was well pleasing in Your sight”

Jesus is in total agreement with God and His decisions

There is no arguing, there is no doubting that God knows what He is doing, there is no rebellion against God’s decrees.

Jesus says, “Lord I love your ays and I am in total agreement with whatever you say”

Why?

If God is the Creator, then surely He knows better than us how to run His universe!

Because God has all knowledge and all understanding and all wisdom, IT ALL BELONGS TO HIM

And anyone who is not in total agreement with God is against God

Application

This ought to be the spirit of every ChristIan!

What pleases God the Father ought to please us as well

What angers God ought to anger us as well

What God calls sin, the child of God should call sin as well!

What God calls good we ought to also call good

What God says should be our standard of truth and nothing ought to stray us from that sure foundation

Let’s make a habit brothers and sisters to praise the wisdom of God, rather than question or reject it!

Lets make a habit of finding pleasure and joy in what God has said rather than thinking we may know a better way

Only Jesus has the right to disclose the Father to us

Matthew 11:27 NASB95

“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Explanation

This is one of the most remarkable verses in the Bible

God is the supreme ruler

God has chosen to reveal spiritual truth to those who come to Him in child-like faith

The Agent that God uses is His Son Jesus Christ

I want you to think about a Father/Son relationship

Who could know the Father better than His own Son?

And who could know the Son better than His own Father?

Bridge

Only Jesus is in a position to declare to us the divine things of God

There is only one Mediator between God and man: Christ Jesus

And apart from Jesus nothing will be known about God

Application

I have talked to several people who claim to know the Father apart from the Son

I have talked to Muslims who claim to know God apart from Jesus

Catholics who claim Mary is the best way to God

Pagans who believe God is there and you can find him on your own

The Jehovah Witnesses claim to know God as their Father yet refuse to worship the Son

BUT this Scripture is telling us is the only WAY TO KNOW God is to know His Son

What does that mean to us?

Everything Jesus told us about heaven, hell, the second coming, sin, righteousness, discipleship is an absolute fact about God and end of this age

We must never think that we can get around what Jesus has told us about spiritual truth

If Jesus said it must be done this way, then it must be done like that

To think God will go around Christ is directly refuted in this verse

It doesn’t matter what culture says about God

It doesn’t matter what we think about God

It doesn’t matter what our hearts tells us about God!

If you truly want to know God, You must go through the Son of God

And we have been graciously given this book that has recorded the very Words of Jesus!

Believe them, Live them!

Make them part of your life as if your life depends upon them because it does!

Do not let anyone tell you who God is or what God is like apart from Jesus Christ

Jesus invites everyone to take His yoke upon them or continue carrying the heavy yoke of this world

Matthew 11:28–30 NASB95

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Explanation

What is a yoke?

A yoke is a frame they would put around animals to control them AND to assist them in carrying the load they were under.

An animal could pull much more weight and pull it much longer when it had a yoke.

Because the yoke assisted them to get their work done

Jesus says, “take my yoke upon you”

His yoke is His framework of His teaching, His wisdom, and His principles that He calls us to live by.

He is inviting the world to come under his framework because His yoke is much easier and His burden is light

Everyone is carrying some kind of yoke

You are either living by the wisdom of this world, or you are living by the Wisdom of God

You are either carrying heavy loads that this world puts on you, or you have submitted to the lordship of Christ and are being led by Him.

What is the world’s yoke like?

It is a call to find satisfaction is many different avenues, yet satisfaction can never be found.

Whether it’s stuff, or relationships, or vacations, or money, or power, or belonging...we never attain what we are after and can never get enough to truly satisfy us.

The yoke of this world makes us to constantly seek more and more thinking if we just get enough we will find what we are looking for; but never do.

We fall into a vicious cycle of always wanting more and more. And having money did not do it so we try something else. We start a new career. We find a new relationship. We change our circumstances thinking that we will satisfy us and after time we find ourselves trapped by this impossible yoke.

And that burden gets heavy. And it wears us down. And it burns us out. And it steals the good life that God has for us. The joyful life, the meaningful life, the life with purpose.

But Jesus said His burden is light. Does that mean Christianity it is a cake walk? Absolutely not. Following Christ will cost you everything including your very life.

Jesus said, Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

But the yoke of Christ, is the only thing in this life that will ever satisfy you! The yoke of Christ is the only thing that will ever give you peace! The yoke of Christ is the only thing that will allow you to have a true and meaning relationship with the Father. And there is nothing greater in this life than to know the Creator who gives life.

Rest for the weary soul is found in Christ

And the invitation is for “all”. That means every soul that hears my voice and wants Jesus. That means everyone who has a desire to come to Him, can come and find rest.

~Prayer~