Knowing God: Chapter 2

Knowing God – Week 3:

Chapter 2: The People Who Know Their God

REVIEW

• 5 Basic Themes (The Heidelberg Catechism – Question 21)

• What is true faith?

• True faith is not only a certain knowledge (Godliness – true religion – our purpose), whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word (special revelation), but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart (applied redemption of the triune God); that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits (God as Redeemer).

• Theology

• Carolyn Custis James, “theologian, is just another word for Christian”

• Truth - Divine substance, Living and life-giving power, Infinite, unchanging and eternal

• Dogma (doctrine) - Human apprehension or statement of it, Logical formula, Finite, changeable and perfectible

• Danger Zones

• Going Bad on us – Pride, Conceit, Intoxication, Self-Satisfied/Self-Deception

• Meditation

• An activity of holy thought…as a means of communion with God.

our crosses

• 3 Doors Down – “Landing in London”

• Hard Life, Darkness, Lonely

• Me

• Job, Obligations, Family, Money

• TS Eliot

• “The Hollow Men” (written after WWI prior to WWII and his conversion)

  • Lonely, Shadows, Depressing

• Four Quartets (written after his conversion)

? What are the hardships you face in life? Your Crosses?

HIS cross

• Packer (pg 25)

• But these private mock heroics have no place at all in the minds of those who really know God. They never brood on might-have-beens; they never think of the things they have missed, only of what they have gained.

• Be Thou My Vision

  • High King of Heaven, my victory won,
    May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
    Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
    Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

• Philippians 3

  • The True Covenant (v. 1 – 6)

  • The True Knowledge of God (v. 7 – 10)

  • The True Treasure (v. 11 – 21)

• Russell Sukhia – Liberty Reformed PCA

  • Take up Your Cross – Deny Yourself

    • @ work, home, relax time, church, neighborhood, school ?EXAMPLES?

    • Christ Life – focus on the needs of others (never deny someone else of a need, over your want)

  • “Losing the battle for the hearts and souls of this generation won't be because of the pornographers, abortionists and the homosexuals. It's gonna be because those that bear the name of Christ have done what the Apostle Paul told us not to do and became conformed to this world, we are unwilling to deny ourselves and take up our Cross. And the world cannot discern any difference between the average Christian and the average non-Christian.”

  • It's not optional, Luke 14:27, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

Heart check

• Packer (pg 25)

• The right formula: that we come to know God through Jesus Christ the Lord, in virtue of his cross and mediation, on the basis of his word of promise, by the power of the Holy Spirit, via a personal exercise of faith

? What does this mean: a) one can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of him? b) one can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God?

• Packer (pg 25)

• The question is not whether we are good at theology…The question is, can we say, simply, honestly…because it is a plain matter of fact, that we have known God?

  • Are our Crosses rubbish? Are our successes manure?

  • If not – then maybe you just know about God and don’t actually know Him.

Evidence

• Daniel 3: 8 – 18

• Great BOLDNESS for God (v. 17)

• Packer – “Once they were convinced that their stand was right, and that loyalty to their God required them to take it, then… they ‘smilingly washed their hands of the consequences.’”

• Great CONTENTMENT in God (v. 18)

  • Packer – “There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favor to them in life, through death and on for ever.”

? Why is knowing God the basis of genuine personal peace?

• Daniel 4: 19 – 27

• Great THOUGHTS of God (v. 25 – 26, 5:21)

  • Packer – “He knows, and foreknows, all things, and his foreknowledge is foreordination; he, therefore, will have the last word, both in world history and in the destiny of every man…keep us humble and dependant, awed and obedient…”

  • Calvin – “…how difficult it is for us to attribute supreme power to God… every one restricts his power, either by usurping something to himself, or by transferring it to someone else. Especially when God raises us to any degree of dignity, we forget ourselves to be men, and snatch away God’s honor from him...”

• Daniel 6: 6 – 17

• Great ENERGY for God (v. 10 – 11, 16)

  • While their God is being defied or disregarded, they cannot rest; they feel they must do something; the dishonor done to God’s name goads them into action.

  • It is simply that those who know their God are sensitive to situations in which God’s truth and honor are being directly or tacitly jeopardized, and rather than let the matter go by default will force the issue on men’s attention and seek thereby to compel a change of heart about it – even at personal risk.

  • Calvin – “We must maintain, therefore, not only the duty of offering to God the sacrifice of prayer in our hearts, but that our op[en profession is also required, and thus the reality of our worship of God may clearly appear.”

? Why are our prayers the best evidence of our view of God? Think over your prayers of the past day or week. What view of God did they imply?

know your god

• Daniel 10: 10 – 12

• 10 Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling.
  12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

• Packer

  • Recognize how much we lack knowledge of God – measure ourselves by how much we pray and what goes on in our hearts

  • Seek the Savior - we may know God by seeking and finding Jesus’ company (Luke 11:34)

? Which of the four signs or tests are you strongest? Weakest?

open discussion

closing thoughts

• John Adams, July 1, 1776 @ Continental Congress

  • Before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it. And I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration.

• What is your Declaration? Are you ready to deny yourself, take up your cross? Be counted as one who is beloved and known by the Lord? Or do you want to be as indiscernible as the average non-Christian?

be thou my vision