Knowing

The benefits of Knowing God

Review

• Structured plans everywhere except Christianity.

• God has revealed Himself through various means

• The Holy Spirit has give us the Bible.

Knowing God

• It is not just an acquaintance

• But it is like becoming the best of friends.

• It is keeping and maintaining a strong relationship

Daniel 11:32 “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry

out great exploits.”• This knowledge indicates where these

people have put their faith.

• It also infers that those people know His commands and they keep them.

Jeremiah 9:24 “But let him who glories glory in this, that he

understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, exercising

lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight says the LORD.

• God delights in those who are righteous and will stand up in judgment because God is a loving God who delights in those who obey Him.

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”.

• Jesus prayed that all men would come to know God in the same type of relationship that He had with the Father.

Our goal should be to know God• Psalm 139:6 “Such knowledge is to

wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it,”

• Romans 11:33: Oh, the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.”

• While God far exceeds our understanding (my ways are not your ways…Isa 55:8-9)

• We are to learn as much as we can about Him.

God knows us very well

• Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite”.

• So we should try to know Him very well.

• Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”.

Knowing God has limitations

• God is from everlasting to everlasting (infinite and eternal)

• We are limited by time and it is hard to understand

• God is everywhere

• But we are limited by space

• Understanding God is difficult because we are limited by our humanity.

• While difficult, we can learn a lot.

Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my

heart”.

• By following God’s laws and keeping the commandments, we will learn to delight in doing those things.

• This will give us true joy, knowing that we are pleasing to God,

• And when we are happy to do God’s will, perhaps others will want this same happiness.

IF

• 1 John 1:6-7 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and no not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”

• Our salvation is dependant upon keeping His commands. We must be obedient to His will.

IF

• Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ IF indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

• God places a condition upon Christians to hold them accountable and faithful.

Conclusion

• Knowing God can happen if we make the effort to understand Him and His word.

• We can learn to know God by learning from Christ.

• Our knowledge of God is necessary

• Our obedience to God is necessary

• Our trust in Christ is necessary

• All that God teaches us is necessary