How Does One Know God?

Q: What does the Bible say about knowing God?

The Bible reveals that knowing God comes through His Word, regeneration, and personal revelation in Christ. To know God is fundamentally to understand His nature as revealed in Scriptures. John 17:3 states that eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. It's through His Word that we come to know His attributes: His majesty, holiness, and mercy. Additionally, knowing God requires transformation of the heart through regeneration, which is a work of the Holy Spirit making us alive in Christ. Believers must also grow in their understanding and relationship with God as they continue to walk in faith and seek Him through prayer and study of the Scriptures.

Q: How do we know if our regeneration is genuine?

Genuine regeneration leads to a transformed mind, heart, and will that seeks to glorify God. Genuine regeneration, or being 'born again,' produces a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). This transformation is evident when a believer begins to think differently about God, aligning with His Word. A regenerated person will have new affections, desiring to love God rather than selfishness. Their will is transformed, turning from rebellion to submission to Christ's lordship. As stated in John 3:3, without being born again, one cannot see or enter the kingdom of God; the evidence of regeneration is a life increasingly characterized by holiness and love for Christ.

Q: Why is knowing God through His Word important for Christians?

Knowing God through His Word is essential for spiritual growth and understanding His will for our lives. The importance of knowing God through His Word cannot be overstated; it is our primary source of knowledge about His character, His will, and His ways. As stated in John 17:3, eternal life hinges on knowing God, and His Word reveals the truth about who He is. To grow in faith, Christians must immerse themselves in the Scriptures, seeking to understand God the Father and Jesus Christ better. This understanding guides our actions, molds our character, and shapes our responses to life. Furthermore, it helps us discern truth from error as we navigate our faith journey in an often confusing world.

Q: How does regeneration relate to knowing God?

Regeneration is the divine act that enables a person to know God, transforming their heart, mind, and will. Regeneration is critically linked to genuinely knowing God because it is the Holy Spirit's work that changes our hearts and makes us alive in Christ. As outlined in Romans 5, the fall of Adam impacted all humanity by introducing sin and separation from God. Thus, for anyone to truly know God, they must first undergo regeneration, which allows them to understand and accept spiritual truths. This transformation is essential because it aligns our will and affections towards God, enabling us to respond to His revelations and to seek a deeper relationship with Him. In essence, without regeneration, the capacity to know and relate to God is fundamentally compromised.

Now then, open your Bibles to
John 17 with me. John 17. Now this 17th chapter of John is
indeed the Lord's Prayer. This is the Lord's Prayer. Here
is the great Mediator. our great intercessor, our great
high priest, coming before the Heavenly Father on behalf of
his church. Look at verse 9. I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me for their vantage. He's praying for his church.
This is an effectual prayer. This is the prayer of Christ.
This is the intercession of Christ. Look at verse 20. Neither pray
I for these alone, that is, these in my immediate presence, or
these in this century, these around me at this time, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word. That's
us. All right? That's clear, isn't
it? This is the Christ, the high
priest, praying for his church. All right, look at verse 1. These
words speak Jesus. Now, that's saying that what
he has just said, John chapter 13, 14, 15, and
16, are our Lord's instructions. and encouragement to his disciples. He'd been talking to them from
the time that he met with them in the upper room and washed
their feet. He'd been talking with them about
what to believe, what to expect from this world, what would be
their ministry. All these, John 13, 14, 15, 16,
these words speak Jesus. Now, he lifted his eyes to heaven. He's been speaking with his disciples. Now he's going to speak with
the Father. He lifted his eyes to heaven. Now if we've ever
listened, we ought to listen now. I want to listen to what he said
to the disciples. I'm interested in everything
that he has to say to his church and to his people. But I'm doubly
interested in hearing what he has to say to the Father. Like
Spurgeon said one time, I feel that I'm where Moses was, and
I ought to take off my shoes, for this is indeed holy ground.
He says, Father, lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. And my friends, this is the hour
of which he speaks so often. You remember at the wedding feast
in Cana of Galilee, and without wine, he said, Woman, what have
I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. On
another occasion, Peter said something to him about not going
to Jerusalem. He said, For this cause came
I to this hour. And I said that several times.
And now here he said, The hour is come. And my friends, this
is the hour. the moment in human history,
the hour in the great purpose of God, which was predestined
from all eternity. The Lamb was about to be slain,
who was ordained from the foundation of the world. This is the hour.
The hour has come. And this is the hour when all
the promises of the Old Testament would be fulfilled. Every picture,
type, and pattern now in this hour would be fulfilled. The
tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifice, the service, rivers
of blood would all be fulfilled in this hour. This is the hour
when He would die and redeem everyone the Father had given
to Him, beginning with righteous Abel to the last one who will
ever live. This is the hour. This is the
hour of redemption. Father, the hour is come. That's
solemn, isn't it? Now, glorify thy son, that thy
son may also glorify thee. Now, as God, he needed no added
glory. As God, he has all glory. all glory. He needed no added
glory. He needed not to ask the Father
to increase His glory. You can't increase infinity. He has all glory. You can't add
to His glory. But I said to you at the beginning
of this message, this is the High Priest. This is the Mediator
praying. So now as man, as our Mediator,
He prays that the Father will support him, sustain him, and
uphold him in all that he must endure for the redemption of
his people. That's what he's praying for.
Now glorify me. You see, the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. God became a man. And when he
says, the words that I speak are not my words, Well, they're
His words as God, but He's a man now, identified with men. And
the words don't originate with that man, they originate with
God. You see, the works that I do are not my works, they are
His works in that He's God, but they're not His works in that
He's the Mediator. So when He bows to pray here,
you see, He's a representative of men. He's identified with
men. He's numbered with the transgressors.
He's flesh and blood, though he never left the bosom of the
Father. Tell me to proclaim it, but don't ask me to explain it.
I can't do it. And as a man, he prays, now sustain
me, and support me, and uphold me. Let's get this job done. And without you, I cannot do
it. That's what he's saying. Glorify me. Glorify me as Mediator. Glorify me as the High Priest.
Glorify me. Uphold me. Accept me, and with
me all whom I bring. Why? That I may glorify you.
That's what he says, you glorify me, the Son, that the Son may
glorify thee. That the Son may glorify the
Father's attributes, glorifies justice, glorifies righteousness,
glorifies grace. glorifies mercy, that I may glorify
you. And I'm telling you, and I say
this to me as well as to you, and I try to say it to this whole
religious world, Almighty God's not going to sustain, support,
uphold anything that doesn't glorify Him. He's just not going to do it.
And so much of what's going on today, there's no use to say
anything about it. It only provokes us to even think
of it, but what's going on in the name of God. God bless us
that we may bless thee. Glorify us that we may glorify
thee. That's what our Lord prayed.
All right, what's the next verse? As thou hast given him, the Mediator,
the Son, Jesus Christ, thou hast given me power, authority, over
all flesh. Now I'm telling you, this is
not figurative. He has all authority. He doesn't have all authority
if you let him. The preachers are just not telling
us the truth about this man Jesus Christ. He's not king like Queen Elizabeth
is a figurehead over that. He's king. As surety of the covenant,
as Lord of creation, as king of the kingdom, as son of the
Father, he has all authority over all flesh right now. I heard a preacher this morning
who seemed in his message to separate the offices of He was dealing with all judgment
is given to the Son. He said, one day Christ will
be judge. Right now He's Savior. He won't
always be Savior. He'll then be judge. Oh, I beg
your pardon now. Wait a minute. Jesus Christ is
Savior and Judge. He's Redeemer and Lord. Every
office He occupies now and always has. When our Lord died on the
cross, he was redeeming his people and judging this world. You see,
he is king. All authority is given unto me,
not going to. This is the problem with dispensationalism. This is the problem with dividing
the purpose of God and the person of Jesus Christ and the office
of Christ. He's not assuming different offices
at all times. He has all offices all the time. as thou hast given him authority.
Isaiah 9, 6 says this, Under us a child is born, under us
a son is given, is an infant in a manger, born of a virgin.
And the government shall be on his shoulders. The government
shall be on his shoulders. He's called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father in whatever state he assumes
at whatever time. He's king. He's Lord. He said in Matthew 28, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and earth. How else could He have stood
on the bow of that boat and told the water to stand still and
the wind to stop? He's King. He's Sovereign King,
King over diseases, King over blindness, King over darkness,
casting demons out. They do what He says. I'm not
talking... I'm talking about the meek and
lowly Christ, who is the everlasting, exalting, living King at the
same time. The Father, Love of the Son is
given all things, all authorities given unto me, I've got to go
on, that he should give eternal life. My friends, eternal life
is not an offer. I don't mean to enter into controversy
with people. I hear about the offer of the
gospel and the offer of this. I can't find that in the Word
of God. The gospel's not an offer. It's
not for sale. The gospel's not a reward for
service rendered. The gospel's not a prize earned.
The gospel is the gift of God. Eternal life's the gift of God. The gospel goes much further
than an invitation. It's a commandment. God commands
you to believe on Christ. God commands all men to repent.
God commands men to bow to Christ. And they're going to. But eternalize
the gift of God. Thou hast given me authority
over all flesh that I should give, give, give, give eternal
life. I give eternal life. I don't
sell it. I don't offer it. I don't bestow it as a prize.
It's not raffled off. It's a gift. It's a gift, the
gift of God's eternal life. This is the record God has given
us eternal life. To whom is he going to give it?
To as many as thou hast given him. Now, I'd be a fool to try to
explain that away, wouldn't I? God didn't call me to explain
His Word so that men will like it. He called me to preach it.
And my Heavenly Father is addressed here by His Eternal Son. He says, My Father, the hour
has come. The hour of hours, the one prophesied,
promised, and pictured. Now sustain me and uphold me
and glorify me that I may glorify Thee. Thou hast given me authority. You put it in my hand. Everything
God has for anybody is in the hands of Christ. Nowhere else. Not in the church, not in the
Pope, not in the preacher, not in an altar, not in a doctrine,
not even the Bible, in the hands of Christ. Thou hast given it
all to me, vested it all in me. that I should give it. Thou hast given me the right,
the authority, the power that I should give eternal life, eternal
life to as many as you've given me. Now what's the next verse? And this is life eternal. This
is the next statement. And my Father, this is life eternal. What is eternal life? Everybody
claims to have it. Preachers are selling it. Churches
are giving it out to the highest bidder. But Christ said it's
in Him, vested in Him. He has the right and the power
to give it to whom He will. And this is it, that they may
know that they, those you have given me, might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's eternal life. That's what Paul prayed that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. What is
it to know God? How does a man know God? I know how a man knows the preacher.
I know how he knows doctrine. He learns it. I know how he knows
his Baptist tradition. It's grounding him from his youth
up. I know how he knows a lot of
things, but how does he know God? How can a man know God? But I don't have a formula or
a prescribed plan for you to follow. But I do know the way
by which God is known, and I'll give it to you under three headings. How can one know God? How may one know God? First of all, a man may know
God by His Word. By His Word. Would you know the
true and living God? I know we've got preachers, oh,
they're just worlds full of them, the woods are full of them. They're
just ranting and raving and screaming and hollering and saying nothing.
The world's full of preachers, the world's full of books, the
world's full of quarterlies and religious tracts and literature,
but do you want to know God? Do I want to really know God? What we're going to have to take
is our textbook, His book. That's just all there is to it.
You really want to know God. And I imagine most people in
this world know very little about this book. I was having dinner
in a home last week with a family I just met. They wanted me to
come into the home and visit and get acquainted. And I did. And supper was being prepared
by some ladies and the wife and the husband, the children and
the pastor and all sitting around the circle. The man looked at
me and he said, he said, you wouldn't want to talk
shop, would you? I said, yes sir, I would. Yeah, I'd love
to talk shop. He said, okay, we got some questions.
And one of them looked at me and said, tell us something about election.
We've been hearing you on the television tapes talk about election. Would you tell us something about
it?" Oh, I said, I certainly will. And I reached over on the
coffee table and picked up this book. You want to know something
about election? Why don't you pick up this book? And that's
all I did. I just picked up the word. I
turned to Ephesians 1 and I read it. I turned to Romans 8 and
I read it. I turned to Romans 9, and I read
it. I turned to John 17, and I read
it. I turned to 2 Thessalonians 2,
and I read it. I turned to 1 Thessalonians 1,
and I read it. I didn't argue. I didn't present what the Baptists
believe or what somebody else believe. I just simply read what
God said in His Word about it. We want to know God? then let's
find out what God says about Himself. That's how to know God. What does God say about Himself? What does He say about His majesty?
What does God say about His holiness? What does God actually say about
His holiness? What does He say about sin? What
does He say about His love? What does He say about His wrath?
What does He say about His mercy? What does God say about His grace?
What does God say? Honestly, and this is my quarrel
with most preachers, they're not preaching the Word of God.
Just like a moment ago, we went here in John 17, verse 1, we
went word by word, word by word, verse 2, word by word, verse
3, word by word. Right on through that. That's
what we've done back in the Sunday school for 10 or 15 years. We've
gone through the epistles word by word, phrase by phrase. Let's
find out what God says about Himself. Let God be true and
ever man a liar. Yeah, I don't think that's, you
know, I just don't think God's that way. What you think about
God has nothing to do with who God is? Ron Travance, who he is, he's
not who you think he is. He's not who you think he ought
to be. He's who he is. You want to find out who he is?
Ask him. Let him tell you who he is. Let him tell you what
his thoughts are, his ambitions, his attitude are. Listen to him. Don't listen to somebody tell
you about him. And that's what we've done. We've brought these
hired hirelings in, these hired merchandisers of souls, and we've
let them tell us who God is, and they don't know. I urge you, I just urge you with
all that's within me, find out what God says about him. by your
Bible. And I tell you this, when you
start out, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you
read in Genesis, that's Jesus Christ. Every appearance of God
to men is Christ. He's no different now. He's no
different. He's the same. When he tells
David to go down and kill all them Malachites, it's the same
God We worship right now. And he has his reason. Don't
question his reason. Don't question his purpose. Don't
question his judgment. If you come to the Word to find
out who God is, put away your preconceived notions and ideas
and find out who God is and just say, let God be God. You can't
comprehend God. Some old writer said, one thing
I don't need is a God I can comprehend. Somebody said, well, my God wouldn't
do that. No, but your God's not the one we're interested in.
We're interested in the true and living God. We're not interested
in what your God would do, or what your God thinks, or what
your God supposes or purposes. I want to know. He said, eternalized
to know thee, the only true God. That's who I want to know. The
only true God. I'm not going to stand before
your God at the judgment, or the Baptist God. I'm going to
stand before the true God. See? Find out. How does one know God? Through
the Word. Secondly, by regeneration. What is regeneration? Well, do
you know what happened in the garden? Turn to Romans 5, Romans
chapter 5. Do you know what happened in
the garden? I know a little bit about what
happened in the garden. Romans 5 tells me this, verse
12. Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man, that's
Adam, our representative, our federal head, the one man God
created, all came from him. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into this world, Adam's sin, and death, and death by
sin, and so death at that moment passed. upon all men, for all
sin. Verse 18, Therefore by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men the condemnation. Verse 19,
For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners. Now,
what simply, and how can you make simple something so profound? I can't, but I can say it in
this fashion. as in Adam, all died. I'm speaking
of spiritual life. I'm talking about Adam before
the fall, walked with God, talked with God, thought the thoughts
of God, had fellowship and communion with God. Then he fell, and he
fell into death, darkness, and separation from God. And now
my mind, the mind of man, The natural mind is enmity against
God. My thoughts are not his thoughts.
He said, you neither know me nor my father. There's a way
that seems right to us, and the way is death. Our minds, we have
a mind. We have a mind. But our minds,
we have mental powers, but our minds are out of focus. They're
directed wrong. See, we have a mental power,
but the garden crippled it, perverted it, twisted it, warped it. And
then we have affections. But the fall affected my affections. And men love darkness rather
than light. Adam loved light. After he fell,
he loved darkness. That's just so. And we love darkness. Men loved themselves. I heard
a preacher this morning say we need to hold ourselves in esteem.
I never had any problem with that, have you? He said we're
going to have to start loving ourselves as we are. I never
had any problem with that. I wish I didn't. We got affections, but we don't
love God. And then we have wills. We have
a will. I say a man's will is not free,
but he's got one. He's got one. Christ said, you
will not come to me. That acknowledges the presence
of a will, but it's a twisted will. It's a perverted will.
I will do wrong. I will, another comes in his
own name, in him you will receive. We have souls and hearts, but
they're deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You see, we have mental powers,
we have affections, we have wills, and we have hearts. But when
Adam fell, they were warped and twisted. And something's got
to be done. They don't know God. My heart
doesn't know and love God. My mind doesn't think upon God.
My will does not submit to the will of God. My heart is wicked
by nature, hard, unchangeable, deceitful. And as a man called
Nicodemus came to Christ, he wanted to talk about God. Nicodemus
said, Christ said, Nicodemus, you've got to be born again.
You can't see this kingdom. You can't see, you can't understand
this kingdom of God if you're not born again. You can't enter
the kingdom of God. We can't even talk about the
kingdom of God because I've told you earthly things and you don't
understand them. How are you going to understand
if I tell you heavenly things? You don't have the capacity.
You've got a mental capacity, you've got affection, you've
got a will, but the fall ruined it. Now, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh. You've got to be born again.
You've got to be regenerated." And he said, how? How can a man
be regenerated? How can a man become new? How
can a man have a new mind, new will, new heart, new soul? How
can he be a new person? Can he go back to his mother's
womb and start this journey again? Christ said if he did, he'd come
out just like he came out the first time. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh. You've got to be born of the
Spirit of God. And they that are born of the
Spirit of God are like the wind. The Spirit of God in this regeneration,
in this new birth, in this giving of life is like the wind. You
hear the wind, you see the results of it. Darcy and I pulled up
in the parking lot this morning, and the shrubbery around the
church was just blowing. That's the result of the wind.
And I heard it. And I saw the result. I didn't
know where it was coming from. I didn't know where it was coming
from, and I didn't have anything to do with starting it. It's mysterious. I know who did
send it. I know who did send it. And such
are they that are born of the Spirit. The wind bloweth where
it pleases." And that's how a man receives. God gives him a new mind. God's
Spirit sets that mind on the right track, and he starts thinking,
hey, John 17 here, I know what that means. That's the result of the wind.
I know what that means. I know who He is. And my will,
my will's changed now. I got a new will. I will bow
to Christ. I will love Him. I will glorify
Him. I will. I do love Him. Lord,
You know all things. You know I love You. My affections
have been changed. I don't want to be my own Savior
anymore. I don't want to present my rags to God anymore. I want
Christ's righteousness. Well, who taught you that? The
wind? And I'm not talking about a windy preacher either. I'm
talking about the wind, the Spirit of God. And that's what happens. And people write books on the new
birth, and preachers are trying to define the new birth, and
I'm telling you now, you didn't born yourself the first time,
you're not going to born yourself the second time. You have nothing new. You're
going to have as much to do with your new birth as you did the
first one. And that's nothing. I'm telling the truth, Mr. Ron.
That's right. God will quicken, the Son will
quicken, whom He will. We were dead in trespasses and
sin, and the Spirit of God made us alive. And He came where He
would, when He would, with His word, the seed of life, and somebody's
mind got straightened out. And somebody's will got redirected. And somebody's affections got
put where they ought to be. And somebody's heart got changed.
I'm telling you, that's the new birth. It's all of God. It's
all of God. Call me what you want to. You
say, you're a hyper-Calvinist. I don't care. Just, you know,
it doesn't matter what people call you. Don't make me one.
You can call me a freight train, but I'm not one. Calling a man something doesn't
make him that, does it? But I'll tell you this, I believe God.
I know who God is. And more and more as I get a
little older and get a little more white and a few more wrinkles
and a little more aged, I don't see his greatness any less, I
said more. I'm more confirmed in what I
preached when I was 25 years old. Bob, I believe him a whole
lot more than I ever did. I've watched people run in and
run out. I've watched people get doctrine and disappear. I've
watched people make professions and fade away. I've watched them do all these
things for Jesus. I've watched these preachers
come and go. God's the same. Salvation's the same. Christ's
the same. And those whom He saves stay
at His feet. They had nothing to do with it.
He did it. That's right. Oh, I use the third thing. That's
instantaneous. That's what that is. You say,
what would you do to know God? Get into the book. Get into the
book, into the Word. Secondly, ask God for life. Get blind by the mace and say,
Lord, that I may see. When he told Nicodemus, you've
got to be born again, instead of turning around and walking
off, why did Nicodemus say, well, do something for me? Huh? Do something for me. Lord, that
I may see. If thou wilt, thou can make me
whole. camp at his feet. All right,
here's the third thing, is by revelation. Turn to 1 John 5.
1 John 5. Now, this is not instantaneous.
This occupies my whole life. This is what I said a moment
ago. I'm learning more about God. That's where even Paul knew
Christ, but he said, oh, that I may know Him. Peter exhorted
us to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, didn't he? Well, you're
regenerated instantaneously. But to know God, you're not going
to know Him perfectly, you get the glory. Then I shall know
as I have been known. I've got to grow in this knowledge
of Him. How do I grow in that? By revelation. Listen. Verse
20 of 1 John 5, And we know that the Son of God hath come. The
Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true, and that we're in Him that is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. Who is? Christ is. You grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ. As you know Christ, you know
God. As you love Christ, you love God. As you come to Christ,
you come to God. Christ Jesus. Every revelation
of God in person is Christ. You see that? The Son of God
has come into this world and has given us an understanding.
They said, well, show us the Father. He said, have I been
so long time with you and you don't know me? He said, you've
seen the Father. Now, this is not instantaneous. That's the reason we're studying
here. That's the reason we're preaching. What's God's attitude? Now, let me ask you a question,
and I'll quit preaching. What's God's attitude and God's
actions towards the things that you encounter every day? What's
God's attitude? What is God... What's his attitude? What's his actions? What's his
purpose or feeling about the things we encounter every day?
Want to know? Well, learn Christ. Watch Christ. Listen to Christ. In other words,
the world system, government, nations, rulers, what Christ
said, my kingdom is not of this world, or my servants would fight. What action and attitude do I
take about marches and objections and all these things and trying
to change the government and all this, my kingdom is not of
this world, or my servants would fight. Render to Caesar the things
of the Caesar, and to God the things of the God. He looked
at this world, he said, it's not going to be left standing
one stone on another. Preserve it, save it, but God's
going to destroy it. All right, what's his attitude
toward materialism and possession? So many people have such problems
with that today. Well, Christ said this, the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, it's to do the will of the Father.
It's joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. Our Lord wore one robe. That was His sole possession.
He said the Son of Man doesn't have any place to lay His head.
He said, take no anxious thought what you shall eat, drink, or
wear. The heathen seek these things. That's heathenism. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these
things will be added to you. You want to know God? Listen
to Christ. What's God's attitude towards
sinners? Towards people that do wrong? What's supposed to
be my attitude towards the people that... A fella came in here
this morning, I was dark over there playing the organ, I stand
here, nobody here but us. Walked in, just a lush, dirty,
kinda came in like I said, you the preacher? I said, yeah, I'm
the preacher. And my natural tendency was to
get a little, I don't want to deal with you. I mean, don't
bother me. That's my nature. But he said,
could you help a fella that ain't got nothing to eat? Well, God helped this fella that
didn't have nothing to eat. And I just, I kind of melted.
I just came over here. I didn't have anything. I got
in Darcy's. She helped him. But what's my attitude? Here's
something my people do wrong. What's my attitude? You want
to know God's attitude? Christ said, I didn't come to
call the righteous, I came to call sinners to repentance. You want to know God's You that are spiritual, restore
such a one with meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. My Lord loves bona fide sinners."
Compassion, tenderness. Know God. What's his attitude
toward religion? What's God's attitude toward
religion? He came down here, the Lord Jesus
came down here to a religious day. They had their temples and
all their ceremonies and they had all of their selling stuff
and the temple was a place. They had their, like today's
basketball teams and entertainment and big offerings and big buildings
and all this stuff and, you know, all the commotion. What's his
act? He got a whip and came in and
drove them every one out. That's right. His attitude toward
religion. No part of it. He went out on
the hillside and preached. What's his attitude toward his
enemies? Everybody here's got enemies. My Lord was nailed to
a cross by his enemies. But he said, Father, forgive
them. They don't know what they're doing. They just don't know what
they're doing. You want to know what God's attitude
toward his people? Toward his sheep? He lays down
his life for us, gives himself. I've never been able to understand
anybody who claimed to be a believer who was selfish, who wasn't generous. I never have been able to put...
To me, that's... It's an inconsistent... It's
inconsistent to say, I love God and I hate somebody else. That's
inconsistent. The greatest contradiction is
that God's been merciful to me and then not to help others with
everything I've got. I've got friends that just don't
give anything to anybody. And I don't understand that.
I just don't understand. I don't understand that to save
my life. My Lord gave Himself. Gave Himself. What's His attitude toward His
disciples? Loyalty. You know, we have disciples
and friends and fellow preachers that get on us once in a while,
and we just write them off. My Lord didn't write Peter off.
I'm glad of that. He said, go tell my disciples
and Peter that I want to see them. Loyalty, faithfulness. What's his attitude toward death?
I lay down my life that I might take it again. All right, that's
it. Do you want to know God? Do I
want to know God? Here it is, out there in the
Word. But it's got to be light. Light and sight. And that's for
the new birth. But, that's instantaneous. But this knowing God is knowing
Christ and watching Him and listening to Him. And not just for doctrinal
purposes, but to imitate Him. Imitate Him. Imitate Him.

How Does One Know God?

What does the Bible say about knowing God?

How do we know if our regeneration is genuine?

Why is knowing God through His Word important for Christians?

How does regeneration relate to knowing God?

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How Does One Know God?

What does the Bible say about knowing God?

How do we know if our regeneration is genuine?

Why is knowing God through His Word important for Christians?

How does regeneration relate to knowing God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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