The God I Know

Curtis Gordon

Current Threats to the Church • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Acts 17:22–31

Jeremiah 9:23–24

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Preliminary:

Invite to Jeremiah 9

Acknowledge guests

Thank testimonies & singers

Jeremiah 9:23

I want to continue some of our thoughts from last week on Current threats to the church - I’m still laying some of the groundwork for some of the ideological threats -

But we have to establish some foundational moorings before we get there.

We talked last time about a worldview and how it involves the five academic elements

Theology - the study of God

Metaphysics - The study of what is ultimately real- our sense of reality

Epistemology - The Study of how we can know things

Ethics - the study of moral right and wrong

Anthropology - the study of what and who humans are.

I want to take a closer look at each of these over the course of this series - but I want to focus this morning on the first one - THEOLOGY - the study of God

Read: Jeremiah 9:23-24

Jeremiah 9:23–24 KJV 1900

23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, That he understandeth and knoweth me, That I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

Introduction:

Dr. Bird my Apologetic’s professor asked the class an interesting question -

“Can anyone know there is not a God?” The answer is “not without infinite knowledge” you can use the illustration of a circle and fill in all the knowledge you have that is in the universe - is it possible that the knowledge of God is outside the boundary of the knowledge that you have.

Pascal’s Wager

Blaise Pascal was a famous 17th-century French scientist, philosopher and mathematician - known for originating the mathematical theory of probability. His most famous work, however, was the Pensées. It was published posthumously in 1670 and contained what has been called Pascal’s Wager.

Pascal’s wager

Pascal believed that it was impossible to know for sure by reason alone whether God exists.

So Pascal offers a wager:

Either God exists or He doesn’t exist. ...Let’s say we put a wager on the idea that God exists. If we win this wager, and He does exist, we win everything; if we lose, and God doesn’t exist, we lose nothing. Since this is the case, we should wager that God does exist.

Pascal’s wager” shows that faith in God is life’s best bet, and atheism is life’s most stupid one.

Peter Kreeft (Kraaft)

Pascal theorized and rightly so that man could not arrive at salvation by merely reasoning alone - but at the same time I would submit to you that reason plays a huge part in it.

So I have shown two things so far

No one can ever say they have all the knowledge and by using all of that knowledge and empirical data that there is not a God - so in reality there is no such thing as an atheist - in fact they are hard agnostics - they doubt or aren’t really sure there is a God.

That according to Pascal’s wager - it is much better to believe in a God and be wrong than to not believe in a God and be wrong.

Now I want to show you a few more things about how we can Know there is a God -

Out text says a couple of great things we need to take notice of:

Jeremiah gives us a comparison and contrast of three negative boasts of humanity, 1) wisdom 2)might 3) wealth with three positive attributes of God 1) lovingkindness 2)judgement 3) righteousness (Adapted from HCSBSB:GWL)

Jeremiah also gives us some of God’s thoughts and the priority he places on the Knowledge of God

Jeremiah 9:24 “24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, That he understandeth and knoweth me, ...

Look at Hosea 6:6 “6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

God places a greater priority on the knowledge of God than he does on deeds of sacrifice and service.

Jeremiah also shows us that what we think about God is crucial - right thinking about God is extremely important

What we think about God shapes the way we experience him

How we experience God transforms what and how we think about him.

We can infer from Jeremiah that wrong thinking about God leads to serious error.

Wrong thinking Leads to atheism - the belief that there is no God

Wrong thinking Leads to pantheism - that God is everything

Jeremiah talks about the importance of knowing God

I want to go back to where we were last week and look a little closer at how Paul talks about God:

Acts 17:22-31 if you wish to follow along:

The backdrop of that speech is the temple to Athena which was up on the Acropolis behind Paul on Mars Hill. Speaking to these Athenians in front of this incredible temple filled with a sixty-foot tall statue of Athena (a man could stand in her hand), he says God doesn’t dwell in temples made by human hands nor is he served by human hands for in him we live and move and have our being. What a contrast to pagan deities. God isn’t just in a local building of some sort.

Acts 17:22–31 KJV 1900

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 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. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Here are some things we learn about God from Paul in this passage:

God created everything

The God revealed in the Bible is holy, existing outside his Creation. The universe is not an emanation of God’s being,

The goal of Christian worship is to enter into union with the triune God through Jesus Christ.

Because the God that made everything doesn’t live in temple made with hands, or worshipped by the created gods of mans hands

But, what is offered the Christian is not a unity of being with God; it is a unity of relationship. We are not God; we are and will always be His creatures. We do not become God. Yet through worship (and prayer) we enter into intimacy with God, we enter into the life of God. He shares with us His love, His joy, His peace.

Right thinking about God is crucial.

Our attributes of emotion, intellect, and will did not just happen. God made us in His image, after His likeness. He has revealed Himself in the Bible to be a Person. He is called Father. He is pictured as a shepherd. He is called a brother, a friend, a counselor.

We know God is a Person because He thinks, hears, wills, acts, loves, feels, and communicates. He is the living God (Josh. 3:10). Yet, He is not EXACTLY like anything or anybody. But He is exactly what He says He is, although a full understanding of what He says may be beyond our fullest comprehension. Yet we learn about Him by using what He reveals and what we already know as a bridge over which we pass to the unknown.

The Fact of God's Existence.

A. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded of them that diligently seek him."

Among other things, this verse tells us two important facts about God:

1) God exists

2) it is possible to know something of His nature.

Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride.

Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair.

Knowing Christ gives the balance.

—Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

B. Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God ...."

The Bible offers no proof of God's existence. It simply opens with the positive statement that God does exist.

C. Psalm 14:1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

This is God's opinion of a person who denies His existence. One may deny His existence in two ways:

1) an open avowal of disbelief in His existence (atheism), or

2) by ignoring His claims upon your life and living as though He did not exist.

D. The belief in God ultimately rests upon the foundation of FAITH, which is based upon the historical fact of the resurrection.

The following are five logical arguments that give witness to the existence of God.

1. Cosmological evidence. This is based on the argument of cause and effect. For every effect there must be a traceable cause. The cause of infinity must be infinite. The cause of endless time must be eternal. The cause of power must be omnipotent. The cause of knowledge must be omniscient. The cause of personality must be personal.

2. Teleological evidence. (teleos = "end" or "perfect result"). Something completed or perfected shows evidence of a maker. Design implies a designer. God is the supreme designer.

3. The Anthropic Principle The earth has just the right conditions for human life.

For example,

• Distance from the sun

• Gravity and electromagnetism

4. Moral evidence. The very fact that we know there is right and wrong suggests the necessity of an absolute standard. If anything is right and anything is wrong, somewhere there is Someone who determines which is which.

How We Learn About God.

There are two methods of revelation by which we can learn about God:

1) natural revelation and 2) supernatural revelation.

A. Natural Revelation (through creation and conscience)

1. Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

2. Acts 14:17: "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

3. Romans 1:20: "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."

4. Romans 2:14-15: "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, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

5. Acts 10:34-35: "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

From these verses we conclude:

1). Atheism and agnosticism are not natural responses; they are learned,

2). All people can know at least five things about God:

a) there is a God (Rom. 1:20)

b) He is powerful (Rom. 1:20)

c) He is glorious (Psa. 19:1)

d) He provides material blessings (Acts 14:17)

e) He is eternal (Rom. 1:20)

This information is "light" (Eph. 5:13). When men fail to walk in the light, they are "without excuse" before God (Romans 1:20). Some suggest that the phrase, "or else excusing one another" in Romans 2:15, teaches that if the witness of conscience is followed it may lead to acquittal at the final judgment.

B. Supernatural Revelation (Holy Scripture)

Scripture is God's self-disclosure. He wants man to know what He is like. We learn about Him through His mighty acts in history, His relationships with mankind, and through His promises and commands.

The Person of God

A. God is a Spirit Being

1. John 4:24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

· God is the ultimate reality. Therefore, the ultimate reality is in the realm of the spirit, not the material.

· God does not want us to think about him in material concepts. This is why He forbids man from making material representations of Him (cf. Exodus 20:4 - “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”).

B. God (the Father) is Invisible

3. I John 4:12: "No man hath seen God at any time" (The visible appearances of God in the Old Testament are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ—see Exodus 24:9-11, 33:20).

4. I Timothy 6:16: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”

To say that God is Spirit is to consider the form of existence (or essence) which God has. We may say that in His essence, God is spiritual. He is not material and possesses no parts such as material things have. He lacks such material qualities as shape, size, weight, divisibility, or ability of increase. These are all qualities that apply to things. God is not a thing. Yet on the other hand, do not equate spirit with the vagueness of a great gaseous substance. Perhaps the best way to describe spirit is to think of a human being. A human being has a body within which lives His spirit. It is the spirit of man that is the true self. The spirit uses the body as a tool. Death is the separation of the body and spirit. If you think of yourself as primarily spirit rather than body, and then increase your spirit being to infinite proportions with spiritual faculties and powers far surpassing any human spirit, you begin to get some idea of what "spirituality" means as far as God is concerned (Wilcox, III, 53-54).

C. God is to be Worshiped.

1. Matthew 4:10: Jesus said, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only."

This verse teaches that worship is not optional. Everyone is required to worship God.

2. John 4:23: "But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him"

God is actively seeking for worshippers.

God's Natural Attributes

When one discusses God's "natural" attributes he speaks of those qualities which are distinctly God's and are not communicated to man (incommunicable attributes). We must always remember that an attribute describes how God is. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures (Tozer, 24).

A. God is One (a compound unity).

1. Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!"

There is one God eternally existing and manifesting Himself to us in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God’s substance is indivisible. He has no parts but is single in His unitary being. No contradiction between His attributes can exist. He does not suspend one attribute to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does. He does not divide Himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being (Tozer, 23). He is holy in all He does.

B. God is Infinite.

1. Psalm 145:3: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."

2. Psalm 147:5: "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."

3. 1 Kings 8:27: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"

God is limitlessness and therefore impossible for a limited mind to grasp fully. Whatever God is and all that God is, He is without limit, unbounded. He is without growth or addition or development. Nothing in God is less or more, or large or small. Because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also (Tozer, 50-53). His resources never run out. His resources are not diminished by His generous giving nor is He enriched by withholding. He has unlimited resources of grace, love, mercy and more for His children.

C. God is Eternal (self-existent).

1. Deuteronomy 33:27: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them."

2. Exodus 3:14: "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM."

3. Psalm 90:2: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."

4. Psalm 93:2: "Thy throne is established from of old; Thou art from everlasting."

5. 1 Timothy 1:17: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

God exists in Himself and of Himself. God had no beginning and will have no ending. He always was, always is and always will be. He is unaffected by time or motion. He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for "where" has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both (Tozer, 34). In eternity there is no succession of events. Therefore God exists in the eternal present. He is beyond time. The God who leads me through today knows my tomorrows. And because He has gone through my tomorrows already, He also knows what I need today. Because of His eternity, He can give all of Himself all of the time to everybody.

Do not think of God's eternity as simply a state of existence. God is not static. God is eternally "Be-ing". He is the living God and as such has life in Himself (John 5:26). Various names, such as LORD (Yahweh) communicate that He is "the self-existent one" and He is the One who "causes to be." He is the eternal "I Am." His life did not come from another source nor is He the generator of His own life. He is not "in process" in the sense of growing or increasing in any manner. Tozer suggests that due to the fact that God has life in himself, nothing is necessary to God; therefore no one is necessary. God seeks us but does not NEED us. We seek God because we need Him, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. (Tozer, 39). God contains all, gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given. He has a VOLUNTARY relation to everything He has made, but has no NECESSARY relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself. And since His is the Being supreme over all, it follows that God cannot be elevated (Tozer, 39-40).

E. God is Omniscient (knows everything).

To say God is “omniscient” implies at least two concepts: 1) God’s knowledge is total; and 2) God knows the difference between the actual future and the potential future.

F. God is Immutability (Unchangeable).

1. Malachi 3:6: "For I am the Lord, I change not."

2. James 1:17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

God never differs from Himself. He cannot improve or deteriorate. All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He will ever be. Nothing that God has ever said about Himself will be modified; nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about Him will be rescinded. His immutability guarantees this. God will not compromise and cannot be persuaded to alter His Word. The fact that God does not change in His character or will does not mean He cannot choose to react differently to man's varying responses. (cf. Jeremiah 18:1-10)

As men respond to God in repentance, the unchangeable God (as to His character) changes in His dealings with men. He blesses what He can bless. He pours out His wrath on all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. The term "repent" as applied to God refers to either the grief and pain man's sin brings God (Genesis 6:6) or it refers to the change of God in His dealings with mankind due to their changed response to His grace (Jonah 3:10)

G. God is Omnipresent (everywhere).

1. Psalm 139:7-9: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea."

2. Jeremiah 23:24: "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD."

3. Hebrews 4:13: "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone. Therefore God sees you at all times. But do not picture God as a great vapor or fog that extends across all creation. He is able to manifest His presence at the same moment anywhere and everywhere.

He is the creator and sustainer of all things but is not to be identified with any of His material creation. He is in His creation (immanent) and above and beyond His creation (transcendent). At all times and in every circumstance God remains a Person.

God is even in places we associate with evil. He is in the heart of a sinner by inspection and conviction. He is in hell by His acts of judgment, for it is He who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That does not mean He is defiled by the impurity around Him. His essence is everywhere, but it never mingles with any impurity (MacArthur, 62). Also, God is in some places in a way that He is not in other places. There is a fullness and manifestation of His presence in some place that there is not in others. Further, the perception of God's presence differs according to varying circumstances.

Leslie Wilcox suggests the following list of what he calls "different official relationships of God in His divine presence."

1. Divine Omnipresence. Present everywhere, upholding all things by His power, making life possible. "Upholding all things by the word of His Power" (Hebrews 1:3).

2. Divine Royal (Kingly) Presence. A distinctive presence in Heaven as the center of all things and the object of angelic praise and human worship. "Am sat down with my Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).

3. The presence of God in a meeting. A special manifestation of His presence in response to united faith and concentration of spiritual powers of His people. "The power of the Lord was present to heal" (Luke 5:17).

4. The presence of God as He comes to a soul in convicting or enlightening power. The presence of the Lord to flash light across a darkened human understanding and make one conscious of a need of salvation.

5. The presence of God in a soul. This is the relation of God to a Christian and consists in two stages, which we refer to as works of grace. The first stage is that of salvation, in which God makes life exist in the soul that was dead. The presence of the Holy Spirit sustains and preserves this new life. The second stage is entire sanctification and the life that follows. The believer is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), even "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

None of these types of expression of God's presence are meant to contradict or deny the omnipresence of God, nor do they indicate that God has to leave one place to be in another place. They merely stress the differing modes of God's operation which are part of and included in His omnipresence. (Wilcox, III, 60-61).

Divine Omnipresence means He is where you are:

Acts 17:27 “27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:”

Jesus waited for the woman at the well

Song by Greater Vision

Jesus' feet were growing weary as He journeyed on His way So He rested at a well-side, a comfort in the heat of day There, He waited for a woman, black with sin and bound for hell When she arrived, He plainly told her "What you need is not in the well" Are you tired of being thirsty, even though you've had your fill Of the water that the world gives? Does it leave you longing still? Well, there's good news up at the well-side A woman's voice rings loud and clear She says this man changed her forever And if you need hope, you can find it here He's still waiting by the well and He's holding out His hand If you'll drink this living water, you won't have to thirst again He's been waiting by the well-side, knowing you'd be passing by So take advantage of the moment He's not gone, He's still waiting by the well

Jesus waited for Zaccheaus to climb the tree

Jesus waited for me

Jesus is waiting for you

I sense that God is wanting me to preach on the idea that “He is right here all the time” waiting patiently in line

“He stood at my hearts door mid sunshine and rain”

What an idea of the mercy, faithfulness, love of God

Waiting yes for us to get saved

but also waiting for us to quit depending on ourselves and turn to Him - he’s right here

An old gospel songwriter put it this way: “Standing somewhere in the shadows you’ll find Jesus”

Time after time I went searching for peace in some void I was trying to blame All my ills on this world I was in Surface relationships used me 'til I was done in And all of the while someone was begging To free me from sin He was there all the time He was there all the time Waiting patiently in line He was there all the time

Never again Will I look for a fake rainbow's end Now that I have the answer My life is just starting to rhyme Sharing each new day with Him Is a cup of fresh life And oh what I missed, He's been waiting right there all the time

He was there all the time He was there all the time Waiting patiently in line He was there all the time