Advertise Your Business Or Website At HomewithGod.com


HOW CAN WE KNOW GOD?

By George W. Sinquefield

Heb. 1:1 through Heb. 1:2 (KJV)
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

        It is very important for us to face the question of our relation to God. How can we know God and how can we discover whether there is a God at all? And, if there is a God at all? And, if there is a God, what sort of a being is He? Now, without a doubt, these are very important questions for us to ponder.

        It is very obvious to me that if we are to know anything about God, it will be because He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. It is very improbable that weak and limited creatures, such as we are, could discover Him by our own feeble efforts. Without any will on His part to make Himself known, we would never have known Him. We can truthfully say that a God who could be discovered by man would hardly be worth discovering.

        One has said, "A mere passive subject of human investigation is certainly not a living God who can satisfy the longing of our souls."

I.   God Has Made Himself Known Through His Creation.

        How did the world come into being? It came into being because God created it. There is a language in nature that speaks of the existence of God. It is the language of order, beauty, perfection and intelligence. A scientist said that when he gave serious thought to the majestic order of the universe and its obedience to unchanging law, he could not help but believe in God. He had become aware that God was speaking through nature.

        God speaks in the certainty and regularity of the seasons; in the precision of the movements of the sun, moon and stars; in the regular coming of night and day; in the balance between man's consumption of life giving oxygen and its production by the plant life of the earth and even in the cry of a new born child.

        Sam Jones said,"We see God all around us. The mountains are God's thoughts upheaved, the rivers are God's thoughts in motion, the oceans are God's thoughts embedded, the dew drops are God's thoughts in pearls."

        We live in a world that is itself a message from God.

Rom. 1:18 through Rom. 1:20 (KJV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. 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:

        This is expressed in Wordsworth's well known poem Peter Bell.

        Now compare Wordsworth"s own response.

    My heart leaps up when I behold
    A rainbow in the sky:
    So was it when my life began:
    So it is now I am a man:
    So be it when I shall grow old,
    Or let me die.

        The ocean speaks of God.

    The boundless ocean e'er proclaims
    A God omnipotent to bless;
    The mighty billows are but types
    Of waves divine of righteousness.
    As rivers flow to earthly seas
    In deepening, widening, growing power;
    So peace which God alone can give
    Grows stronger hour by hour.
                    ---J. Gilskirt Lawson

        The mountains speak of God.

    The God who formed the mountains great
    Can lift the soul to heights sublime:
    And he who formed the quiet vales
    Will fill the heart with peace divine.
    The One who made the earthly sun
    So full of power and wrath and might,
    Can cause the Son of Righteousness
    To bathe the soul in floods of light.

        The stars speak of God.

    The stars of heaven ever tell
    Of Christian hopes more bright than they.
    The singing birds and beauteous flowers
    Proclaim the wisdom of God's way.
    All nature has a voice to tell
    Of God's great power and love and grace.
    His word and works then let us read
    Until we see Him face to face.

        May we pray the prayer Mary P. Crawford prayed. "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Give us power, our Father, to see Thee and feel Thy presence in the simple everyday things of life which envelopes us and which we take so much for granted."

        John Calvin wrote, "The little singing birds are singing of God; the hearts cry unto Him; the elements are in awe of Him; the mountains echo His name; the waves and fountains cast their glances at Him; grass and flowers laugh out to Him. Every day God paints a beautiful sunrise and breath taking sunset in His unique, unsurpassable brilliance. Could man create such works of art, he would fence them in and charge admission to see the, but God gives performances twice daily without cost"

        Roy L. Smith tells of an aged minister who was very interested in astronomy who spent the night on a California mountain top with a group of young men. A little after midnight all were asleep but the old preacher. Two great stars came into conjunction and he ran from one sleeping bag to another shaking them and shouting, "Get up! Get up! Don't miss it! Don't let God Almighty put on such a show as this for just this old mule and me!"

II.   God Speaks To Us Through His Son.

        In John's gospel we are told that the speech of God uttered through the years became flesh.

John 1:1 through John 1:4 (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:14 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

        The speaker on The Back To God Hour says: "Every man who refuses to let God speak to him through Jesus will always misunderstand God. He will always feel that God is ultimately the enemy of mankind. When you hear God's voice in nature alone, you cannot escape this conclusion. The natural world can be beautiful indeed, but when you probe beneath the surface and study it carefully you discover that nature is "red of tooth and claw." You cannot really understand that God is a God of love if your knowledge of Him stops with the Old Testament either. Taken by itself, the Old Testament seems to be dominated by an awful message of doom. (But when you hear God's final speech -- His son, the Lord Jesus Christ -- you see that, however hard it is to understand, God is a God of love. The first epistle of John puts all this very clearly: "God is love, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.)"

1 John 4:8 through 1 John 4:10 (KJV)
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

        Jesus Christ is the glorious revelation of God and when we finally hear God speaking to us in Jesus Christ, we understand what we must about Him. Then all the confusion and perplexity born of our natural deafness recedes and we discover that the God who has made all things is our Redeemer.

        An atheist once asked an oriental how he knew there was a God. The man answered, "How do I know whether it was a man or a camel that passed my tent last night?" He said, "I know by the footprints." Then he pointed to the setting sun and asked, "Whose footprint is that?"

        Yes, and we can ask, "Whose footprints are those by the gate of Nain, by the grave of Bethany, coming away from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea? Whose footprints are those by the doors or sorrow along the path where the leper, the blind, the lame, the demoniac waited for Him? Look around you -- whose footprints are these in the churches, the missions, the hospitals, the Christian homes, the cleansed lives, the comforted mourners -- whose footprints are these? These are the footprints of Jesus!

        God speaks to us through His Son and He urges us to listen to Him.

Matt. 17:1 through Matt. 17:5 (KJV)
1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

        So many times Jesus urged us to hear.

Matt. 11:15 (KJV)
15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matt. 13:9 (KJV)
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matt. 13:43 (KJV)
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:9 (KJV)
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 7:16 (KJV)
16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 8:8 (KJV)
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 14:35 (KJV)
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

        One has said, "One of the strange things in this strange age is our inability to hear what we ought to hear. We hear the voice of man in space, the heartbeat of a dog out beyond the earth's atmosphere, but we can't hear the voice of God."

        Hearing is not enough. If we expect to be blessed, we must be doers of the Word.

James 1:22 through James 1:25 (KJV)
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Rev. 1:3 (KJV)
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Matt. 7:24 through Matt. 7:25 (KJV)
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

        One should listen for himself. A black preacher once said that a good many of his congregation would be lost because they were too generous. The people looked surprised then he said, "Perhaps you think I have made a mistake, and that I ought to have said you will be lost because you are not generous enough. That is not so: I meant just what I said, you give away too many sermons. You hear them, as if they were, for other people."

        An old Puritan preacher had a way of saying, "I want to know but two things: First, does God speak; second, what does He say."

        The life of Theodore Parker was changed by an experience and by a devout mother who properly and carefully interpreted loyalty to God. When Parker was four years of age, he saw a tortoise resting. As he took a stick to strike the animal, he heard a voice within him saying, "This is wrong." He did not strike the harmless tortoise and rushed home to ask his mother what it meant. She explained that this was the voice of God speaking to him and that his life would be a success or a failure according to how he listened to God when He spoke. This easily explains the greatness of this preacher.

        One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to teach the Christian God's Word and help him to understand it. This we are told in several scriptures.

John 14:26 (KJV)
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 16:12 through John 16:15 (KJV)
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.

        Are we listening to what He tells us? Do we really want to hear what God has to say?

    The sermon now ended.
    Each one his way wended
    The eels went on eeling
    The thieves went on stealing
    Much delighted were they
    But each preferred his own way.

        To hear aright is to hear and obey and to do so now.

Heb. 2:1 (KJV)
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

        It doesn't say that we are to wait and think it over. It urges us to hear and put it into practice now -- not next week, a year from now but immediately. If we do not, the devil can and will take away the Word and we become unfruitful.

Matt. 13:19 (KJV)
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

III.   God Speaks Through His Word -- The Bible.

        Hence the importance of teaching and preaching. How does God speak through the Bible? By His Holy Spirit. An ignorant man brought a message to a telegraph operator. The message was sent and he walked around in the office waiting for the reply. Becoming impatient, he complained to the operator, who replied, "Your answer is coming now. I am taking it." The ticking of the instrument had meant nothing to him. He could not recognize his message when he heard it. We cannot understand God's Word without the illumination of the Holy spirit.

1 Cor. 2:14 (KJV)
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

        The natural man, the unsaved man, must first be born again before he can see the spiritual truth of God.

John 3:1 through John 3:3 (KJV)
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

        When one is saved, the Holy spirit takes up His abode in the body of that new Christian.

1 Cor. 6:19 through 1 Cor. 6:20 (KJV)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Rom. 8:9 (KJV)
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

        If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are lost and on your way to hell. But, praise the Lord, He has a message for you that the Holy Spirit will help you understand. That message is that God loves you and will save you if you put your faith in Jesus.

John 3:16 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:36 (KJV)
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

        God invites you to come to Him today and receive the greatest of all gifts.

Rom. 6:23 (KJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rev. 22:14 (KJV)
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Rev. 22:17 (KJV)
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.