Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 26.04.2004
Knowing God
You can come to know God personally. Could your life have any better purpose?
Knowing man
How many persons do you know personally? You know of many, but you don't know them. With whom you discuss you will learn to know a little better. With whom you live you will know better. How has their company affected you? You have learned their knowledge. You have adopted their attitudes. Like breeds like.
Do you know God? I am sure that everybody has heard and observed something about Him. Everybody knows something of Him. Some have even entered into conversations with Him and therefore know more of Him. If you would live with Him you would learn to know His noble character. The knowledge of God is the most valuable thing that man can experience.
How many persons do you know personally? You know of many, but you don't know them. With whom you discuss you will learn to know a little better. With whom you live you will know better. How has their company affected you? You have learned their knowledge. You have adopted their attitudes. Like breeds like.
Do you know God? I am sure that everybody has heard and observed something about Him. Everybody knows something of Him. Some have even entered into conversations with Him and therefore know more of Him. If you would live with Him you would learn to know His noble character. The knowledge of God is the most valuable thing that man can experience.
Nature as the source of the knowledge of God
Products tell us much about their creators. Objects planned and made by people look like their makers. In the same way we all have learnt to know something of God. His creations convey the knowledge of God to us. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Rom.1:20
Everything in nature doesn't convey knowledge of God to us. For instance violence in nature is the result of the Fall. When man doesn't admit his guilt before God, he collects reasons to blame God. Therefore the Bible says: "Since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind." Rom.1:28
You can hold on the knowledge of God you received or you can let it go.
You can retain the knowledge of God by giving thanks to Him and by honouring Him. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." Rom.1:21
Jesus is a much stronger source of the knowledge of God than nature. In Jesus we meet God Himself and not only His deeds.
Products tell us much about their creators. Objects planned and made by people look like their makers. In the same way we all have learnt to know something of God. His creations convey the knowledge of God to us. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made." Rom.1:20
Everything in nature doesn't convey knowledge of God to us. For instance violence in nature is the result of the Fall. When man doesn't admit his guilt before God, he collects reasons to blame God. Therefore the Bible says: "Since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind." Rom.1:28
You can hold on the knowledge of God you received or you can let it go.
You can retain the knowledge of God by giving thanks to Him and by honouring Him. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." Rom.1:21
Jesus is a much stronger source of the knowledge of God than nature. In Jesus we meet God Himself and not only His deeds.
Jesus as the source of the knowledge of God
Some think that persons who have been baptized are Christians. The Bible considers persons Christians, if they know Jesus Christ. Are you in the faith? Do you know Jesus? Have you been born of the Spirit of God? Are you a Christian? These questions are one and the same question.
God promised to the Israeli the new covenant, where "no longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD', because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD..." How is the mentioned knowledge of God given? "...for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jer.31:34
Jesus came and atoned our sins so that we would learn to know God. So, you didn't believe that He atoned our sins only that we could get forgiveness, did you?
"Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." 1Cor.1:21
The crucified Messiah is a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to others. They cannot learn to know God, because they don't accept the crucified and the up risen Son of God.
By listening to the gospel you can gain the faith. Through your faith you can learn to know God. The faith that comes from the gospel is obedience to the words of Jesus.
Did you believe that it makes you saved if you have the faith, did you? The faith is not the end in itself, but knowing God. Knowing Jesus makes you saved. You got the faith for the purpose of getting to know God. If you don't use your faith, you don't learn to know God. The unused faith leads you to losing your faith. Why does someone give up one's faith to God? The one and the only reason is that he/she doesn't know God.
Peter expresses it like this: Make every effort to add to your faith goodness. If our faith and our actions are working together it products knowledge of God. "They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2Peter 1:4-9
Paul says to the Galatians: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal.5:6 God appreciates the motives of deeds. Love for God is the right motive for our deeds. To know God is to love Him. Therefore we understand that without knowing God our motives stay wrong.
It is possible to suffer or to endure hardship because of Jesus only because you know Him. "That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know Whom I have believed." 2Tim.1:12
Some think that persons who have been baptized are Christians. The Bible considers persons Christians, if they know Jesus Christ. Are you in the faith? Do you know Jesus? Have you been born of the Spirit of God? Are you a Christian? These questions are one and the same question.
God promised to the Israeli the new covenant, where "no longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD', because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD..." How is the mentioned knowledge of God given? "...for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jer.31:34
Jesus came and atoned our sins so that we would learn to know God. So, you didn't believe that He atoned our sins only that we could get forgiveness, did you?
"Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." 1Cor.1:21
The crucified Messiah is a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to others. They cannot learn to know God, because they don't accept the crucified and the up risen Son of God.
By listening to the gospel you can gain the faith. Through your faith you can learn to know God. The faith that comes from the gospel is obedience to the words of Jesus.
Did you believe that it makes you saved if you have the faith, did you? The faith is not the end in itself, but knowing God. Knowing Jesus makes you saved. You got the faith for the purpose of getting to know God. If you don't use your faith, you don't learn to know God. The unused faith leads you to losing your faith. Why does someone give up one's faith to God? The one and the only reason is that he/she doesn't know God.
Peter expresses it like this: Make every effort to add to your faith goodness. If our faith and our actions are working together it products knowledge of God. "They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2Peter 1:4-9
Paul says to the Galatians: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal.5:6 God appreciates the motives of deeds. Love for God is the right motive for our deeds. To know God is to love Him. Therefore we understand that without knowing God our motives stay wrong.
It is possible to suffer or to endure hardship because of Jesus only because you know Him. "That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know Whom I have believed." 2Tim.1:12
Learning to know God
Sometimes you have thought you know a person, but one day you face a situation where this person is revealed to be different than you had thought. Something similar happens when you are coming to the faith. You had some kind of an opinion about God before you met Him personally. You believed in Jesus and confessed your sins and sought a relationship with Him wanting to be His own. Then He showed Himself to you and you experienced His presence.
To whom does Jesus show Himself? Who is allowed to know Him? Jesus says: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21
Knowing Jesus personally as one's own Saviour means that He makes home with us. "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23
Paul refers to this living of Jesus in us when he urges the Corinthians to examine are they in the faith: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you." 2Cor.13:5
Due to this someone may ask: How well must I know Jesus to be in the faith? You misunderstood. You don't examine how well you know Him, but is He living in you or not. Maybe you then ask that how can I know that He is living in me? That examination you cannot do by observing your feelings, but by observing your spirit. Your feelings are not the point but whether the Spirit of Jesus Christ is living in your heart or not. "This is how we know that He lives in us. We know it by the Spirit He gave us." 1John 3:24 "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Rom.8:9
If the Spirit of Jesus is living in your spirit, your spirit experiences it. Thoughts originated by the Spirit of God rise from your heart. You experience their power and purity. Your own spirit testifies to your understanding that these thoughts are coming from the Spirit of God. "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Rom.8:16
One result of the presence of God's Spirit in a believer is more important than the others. Usually it is also the first sign proving that the Spirit of God has come into the heart of a person. Our heart confesses that man Jesus Christ is God. "No-one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit." 1Cor.12:3
"The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him, who is true. And we are in Him who is true - even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1John 5:20
Knowing Jesus doesn't cause only feelings in us, but it changes our attitudes, thoughts, words and deeds. Always there has been those who claim to know God, although it is not true in their life. "We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, 'I know Him', but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him." 1John 2:3-4
If the gospel of God has reached the bottom of your heart, it has produced love towards God. "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 Who came to the faith can observe the Spirit of Jesus affecting in oneself. We can obey His proposals or leave them without attention. He doesn't press us. However a believer obeys Him through the power of God's love.
When you obey the gospel of God, you start knowing God. Completely you will know Him on that day when you are allowed to see Him from face to face.
Sometimes you have thought you know a person, but one day you face a situation where this person is revealed to be different than you had thought. Something similar happens when you are coming to the faith. You had some kind of an opinion about God before you met Him personally. You believed in Jesus and confessed your sins and sought a relationship with Him wanting to be His own. Then He showed Himself to you and you experienced His presence.
To whom does Jesus show Himself? Who is allowed to know Him? Jesus says: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21
Knowing Jesus personally as one's own Saviour means that He makes home with us. "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23
Paul refers to this living of Jesus in us when he urges the Corinthians to examine are they in the faith: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you." 2Cor.13:5
Due to this someone may ask: How well must I know Jesus to be in the faith? You misunderstood. You don't examine how well you know Him, but is He living in you or not. Maybe you then ask that how can I know that He is living in me? That examination you cannot do by observing your feelings, but by observing your spirit. Your feelings are not the point but whether the Spirit of Jesus Christ is living in your heart or not. "This is how we know that He lives in us. We know it by the Spirit He gave us." 1John 3:24 "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Rom.8:9
If the Spirit of Jesus is living in your spirit, your spirit experiences it. Thoughts originated by the Spirit of God rise from your heart. You experience their power and purity. Your own spirit testifies to your understanding that these thoughts are coming from the Spirit of God. "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Rom.8:16
One result of the presence of God's Spirit in a believer is more important than the others. Usually it is also the first sign proving that the Spirit of God has come into the heart of a person. Our heart confesses that man Jesus Christ is God. "No-one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit." 1Cor.12:3
"The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him, who is true. And we are in Him who is true - even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1John 5:20
Knowing Jesus doesn't cause only feelings in us, but it changes our attitudes, thoughts, words and deeds. Always there has been those who claim to know God, although it is not true in their life. "We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, 'I know Him', but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him." 1John 2:3-4
If the gospel of God has reached the bottom of your heart, it has produced love towards God. "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 Who came to the faith can observe the Spirit of Jesus affecting in oneself. We can obey His proposals or leave them without attention. He doesn't press us. However a believer obeys Him through the power of God's love.
When you obey the gospel of God, you start knowing God. Completely you will know Him on that day when you are allowed to see Him from face to face.
The Bible version used in references is NIV