We must know God.

We can only understand ourselves if we understand God.

• Must know God to understand our origin
• Must know God to understand our purpose
• Must know God to understand our destiny/future

Knowing God isn’t automatic.

What does it mean to “know God”?

• Does it mean to know things about God?
• Does it mean that you spend time together?
• Does “knowing God” require a certain set of behaviors?

We would certainly like to know God and to believe that we do, but there are many who claim to “know” God, yet do not.

• A demon claimed, “I know who You are— the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24)
• Pagans think they know God…or at least some gods (Acts 17)
• Muslims claim to know and worship God, even the God of the Bible.
• All around the world, thousands of denominations claim to know and love God, despite disagreeing what He is like, what He says, and what He expects.
• In the church of Christ, and even here in this room, we probably have some different thoughts about God.

“The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.” (Tozer, 18)

Everything we say or do as people reflects our perception and understanding of God. Knowing God properly is critical to life, especially if we claim to be Christians.

We cannot know God.

God’s essence is unfathomable.

God is an infinite Being. He being the Creator, we know God exists outside of time and space and matter. Our senses can never perceive Him.

• We cannot see God.
• We cannot feel God.
• We can neither smell nor taste God.
• We cannot even hear God.

Yet we know He exists. How can we ever fully comprehend a Being who is infinite, intangible, and impalpable? We ourselves are finite, small, fleshly beings. Our brains are less than a half-gallon. How could we ever perceive—let alone understand or know—a limitless God?

The fact is, we can’t. Not fully. Listen to the words of Job.

“He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.

He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion,
the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.

He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.

If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;
if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

If he snatches something, who can stop him?
Who can ask him, ‘What are you doing?'” (Job 9:7–12 CSB)

Our God is great and mighty, far beyond our mortal comprehension. This should not give us cause to worry or stress, but to wonder and marvel at His greatness. We fall on our faces and worship the Boundless One.

God’s attributes are unfathomable.

Not only is it difficult to comprehend God’s nature (His eternity, infinity, and holiness), we also struggle to understand His attributes (His omniscience, mercy, goodness, justice, etc.).

An infinite God has infinite characteristics which are equally marvelous. Paul broke into praise, saying,

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?‘ Or ‘who has first given to Him that it might be repaid to him?‘

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:33–36)

As we seek to understand God, our human philosophy will prove to be incapable and insufficient.

God’s works are unfathomable.

Paul regularly prayed for the Ephesians to grow spiritually, and that they would

“know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:19)

God’s love is so magnanimous, it goes beyond what we could ever understand. In the very next breath, he refers to God’s incomprehensible works:

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.” (Eph 3:20–21)

An infinite God who exists outside our realm and lies beyond our comprehension is able to work so much more than is possible for us. God’s infinite power is most amazingly expressed, not in the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, nor in the complexity of the cell structure, nor even in our existence, but in the “power that works within us,” able to transform the rottenest of hearts into the sweetest.

The power God expresses in us is without compare in the natural world. An animal set on a path by its genetic disposition, the instinct that guides it, and the circumstances which afflict it will never abandon its nature.

Yet God has the ability and power to reverse the nature we have brought upon ourselves—when we know Him.

But how do we know an unknowable Being? How can Paul pray for the Ephesians to know a love that surpasses knowledge? Only if He chooses to reveal Himself.

We can know God.

We can only know God if He chooses to reveal Himself—and He has! He has chosen to reveal Himself in three ways:

• In nature,
• In His image (both humanity and Christ), and
• In words (Scripture).

God has revealed Himself in nature.

The most basic way God has reveal Himself is through the Creation itself.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20)

By seeing the universe, we know Someone greater than it all must have created it. When we observe the blessings we have on earth, we know the Creator must care for His creation.

Beyond those simple observations, we really cannot see much, however. Nature is part of God’s revelation and communication, but it’s only the surface level.

God has revealed Himself in His image.

When we do observe Creation, we will see that we (humans) are pretty different from the animals that roam around. We aren’t driven by instinct, but have reason, intelligence, and morals. These characteristics that make us unique teach us even more about God than the rest of Creation.

You see, only a God with a spirit can create a spiritual man. Our possession of intelligence and reason means God must as well.

We have values of right and wrong, and those don’t come from the air—they come from a God who holds to the concept of right and wrong too.

We have marriage and parenthood, both of which teach us about God’s relationship with us.

Being made in God’s image, we can learn about Him from examining ourselves. Yet introspective philosophy will end at a point, because we have broken His image. Our semblance to God is incomplete. If we imagine that God is exactly as we are, we will gravely misunderstand Him.

We have to examine the perfect, unbroken image—Jesus Himself. Jesus told Philip,

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” (John 14:9–10)

The life and behavior of Jesus reveal God’s attributes to us more perfectly than anything else we can observe. In fact, Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God (Col 1:15).

God has revealed Himself in words.

We can learn about God from looking around us at nature and looking at the way He has made us, but we cannot learn the deepest things about God.

You all can tell a lot about me from my works. Of course, you sit and listen to this and other sermons I have written. If you come to my house, you can see the wreath on my front door, the table I refinished, or the books I’ve bound. You’ll learn quite a bit about me. But you won’t know who I am, deep inside. Those things won’t reveal my hopes and dreams, nor tell you whom I love the most.

You can only learn the deepest thoughts, desires, and secrets I have if I reveal them to you.

That principle is true of God as well. Only when He reveals Himself will we be able to truly know Him.

“‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.’

But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.” (1 Cor 2:9–13)

This is the work of the Holy Spirit. He reveals God’s essence to us by speaking to us. Not in dreams or voices, but in the holy written Words of God.

It is in those words that we read about the life of Jesus, and it is in those words that God introduces Himself to us.

You must learn God.

On the Day of Judgment, Jesus will return from heaven

“with His mighty angels in flaming fire, executing vengeance on those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” (2 Thess 1:7–9)

On that day, the blessings of the unfathomable God will be given to those who know Him, and equally inexpressible curses will fall upon those who do not know Him. That’s why it’s not enough to know God; it’s critical that you know that you know God!

How do we know whether we know God?

“And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected.” (1 John 2:3–5)

Knowing God starts by observing His beautiful and perfect creation. You can learn more about God and get closer to Him by spending time in nature—but you won’t know Him.

Knowing God involves looking at mankind, and marriage, and parenthood. You’ll learn even more about God then too—but still, the picture will be incomplete. You won’t know Him from that either.

Knowing God requires studying the revelation of His will in Scripture. Only then can you begin to understand the deepest parts of God’s essence. But it doesn’t mean you know Him.

We all have friends that we talk to all the time, but they don’t really listen. They don’t take your words to heart or ever act on them. As a result, even after ten years, they still don’t know you. You might know them, but it’s a one-way relationship.

Even reading the Bible daily doesn’t mean you know God. God definitely knows you, but if you never really listen to Him, you don’t know Him back. Obedience and submission are evidence that we know God.

Do you know God?