Do You Know Him?

There are lots of concepts of what it means to “know” God, but there is only one way to truly know God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. Since I have been studying in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and I have come across two passages that talk about not knowing God, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what it means to know or not to know God. Why is this important to examine? It is because there are serious consequences with our knowledge of God. Without truly knowing God through His Son Jesus Christ you will spend an eternity in suffering and separated from God in hell. This is why it is so important to have a TRUE knowledge of God.

I want to take a look at four ways I can know God. They are:

I know nothing about Him
I can have knowledge of Him
I can know things about Him
I can truly know Him

I know nothing about Him
Well unfortunately for people this is not a valid statement. We all know about God whether we want to admit it or not. It is impossible to make this claim whether you are born in the most populated city in the world with thousands of church’s or if you are buried deep within the Congo Jungle and have never even heard the name of Jesus. Paul tells us the following in Romans 1:18-20

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Paul tells us two things in this passage. First, God is known within all of us, it has been written upon the human heart and mind that there is a God. But what does sinful man do but try and repress the truth because they rather do acts of unrighteousness. Second, all I have to do is look at the creation around me and it tells me there is a God creator. There are only 4 possible solutions to the cosmological argument (where everything came from).

I am just an illusion (crazy talk)
Universe has always existed (no credible scientist in this day and age believes this)
Universe sprang out of nothing (beyond credulity)
God

No human can make the claim they know nothing about God. God did not leave that as a possibility.

I Can Have Knowledge of Him
I would guess most people in the world fall into this category of knowing God. It is a knowledge that their is a God and He does exist but that is as far as it goes. They are not interested in the things of God and what He desires for them. People rather just not deal with God because they would have to deal with His ways and no longer live the way they want too. Who else has this type of knowledge of God, the demons and the devil himself? What does the Bible say about demons knowing Christ?

Mark 1:34

34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

Mark 8:28-29

28 When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.
29 And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

So like the demons we can have a knowledge of God and even acknowledge who He is (Son of God) but still not know Him in a way that will save you from the torments of hell. The demons know what is going to happen to them one day, eternal torment. Their knowledge of God is not enough to save them nor is yours if you just acknowledge Him.

I Know Things About God
Here is the most dangerous situation to be in, it is knowing God in a way that causes self deception. These are people who say they have a saving knowledge of Christ but have twisted His truth to cause themselves to not be saved. There are millions of people who fit into this category. I have family and friends who say they are Christians but their lives don’t reflect a true knowledge of Christ. Just to be clear I would never judge anyone to hell or heaven because God is responsible for that, however He calls us to be fruit inspectors and watchman to warn those who are not in the faith.

People can have a said faith but unless their lives display the works that represent their saving faith then they are deceiving themselves. James tells us in James 2:17-19

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

Of course no one is ever saved by works but it is a represents the faith they have, we do works because we have a true knowledge of what Christ has done for us and He is our Lord. We desire to obey Him because we love Him.

Think about all the mormons, jehovah witnesses, muslims...etc they all have a knowledge of Christ but it is not the Christ of the Bible who they believe in. They have made up their own God in their own minds and denied Christ Jesus who is God.

There are many passages in the bible that address this issue. I would suggest reading Revelation chapter 3 and look at the apostate Laodicean Church who believes they are Christians but Christ is going to reject them (vomit them out). Here is another passage that should give us great concern and warning and this is from the mouth of Jesus himself saying in Matthew 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

There are people who believe they have a true knowledge of Christ but He is going to reject them because they are self deceived. Matthew 7:13

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

True Knowledge of God
How do I get to enter the narrow gate? How do I get to have eternal life with the Creator of the universe? How do I get to spend eternity in heaven? How do I get to praise and worship God forever? How do I become a follower of Christ?

In one million years there is only one thing that will matter here on earth and that is whether you repented and turned from your ways to to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. Nothing else at the end of the day will take precedent over that event. Because you are going to either spend eternity with a perfect, holy, loving God or you are going to be in eternal torment for all of eternity separated from Him forever. He tells us that we can come to know God through the Son of God. 1 John 5:20

20 And we know that 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, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Jesus Himself tells us it is only through Him that we may come to the Father John 14:6

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We then see what John writes about knowing God. He tells us in 1 John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

What does Jesus tell us about this kind of love? John 14:15

15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

What are Jesus commandments? Matthew 22:37-39

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 16:24-27

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

Here it is the bottom line on knowing God.

If you want to know even more you can read the Roman’s Road of salvation.

Sola Scriptura vs The Emergent Church

I have read about the Emergent Church. I have listened to their leaders. I have read some of their books. I have thought to myself how can these guys even be believed? Is anyone really following them, challenging everything that I believe to be true and right? My question has been answered with a resounding yes. There is a following and it frightens me to death.

Are these guys smart, yes. Do they know how to present their case, yes. Do they care about people and social injustices, yes. Do they seem to be concerned about fixing the church, yes. Do they truly believe scripture, NO? It is a resounding no. I have not met read or seen a single emergent follower who holds onto scripture as Sola Scriptura.

Scripture alone is a totally foreign concept to their ideas. Many of them say they hold a high esteem for scripture but they question it. They make the claim we can’t know it. They claim it is a bunch of stories that may or not may be true. So what do they claim is truth, the community, tradition, reason and then scripture mixed in. I keep wondering when there is a conflict between any of these who decides what is right and wrong. One emergent told me it is always the community. I wonder can the community ever go against God? I believe this emergent community is going directly against God and His word.

What is Sola scriptura? This is the Latin term for scripture alone. It asserts that the Word of God is self evident, self authenticating, clear to Christians who read it, supports itself (scripture interpreting scripture) and sufficient for the final authority of Christian doctrine.

I believe the emergent church is one of the most dangerous forms of religion that looks very close to Christianity but it is apostate. Are there authentic Christians in the emergent church today? Probably, but what I have seen and read makes me believe there are a lot who are not.

First, if we go back to the very beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden, what is the very first twisting of truth? It is the challenge of God’s word. When I hear someone question the word of God the first thing I think about is Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

How much more of a red flag do I need then this? Here it is in black and white the very first deception of God’s word. Did God really say that? How do people in this movement not see that this is what they are saying when they question the authority of the Bible. It is the very lie from the father of lies and they are buying into it.

John MacArthur writes an excellent 5 part series on the attack of TRUTH. MacArthur writes: “The doctrine of the clarity (or perspicuity) of Scripture (that the central message of the Bible is clear and understandable, and that the Bible itself can be properly interpreted in a normal, literal sense) has been a cornerstone of evangelical belief ever since the Reformation.”

The dominant Roman Catholic idea had been that the Bible was obscure and difficult to understand. But the Reformers disagreed, arguing instead that anyone who could read could understand biblical teaching. Rather than limiting biblical interpretation to the clergy or the Magisterium, the Reformers encouraged lay Christians to study and interpret God's Word on their own. All of this was premised on the Reformed belief that the Bible itself was inherently clear, and that God had been able to communicate His message to men in an understandable fashion.

Here is a link to the full 5 part article and it addresses the primary leader of the emergent church Brian McLaren and his attack that we just can’t be certain about the Bible.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Wes Porter
Galatians 2:20

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 - Sexual Purity

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

We are going to learn something special in todays message, what is the will of God? There is absolutely no ambiguity about what God expects from us in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. I hear people talking about what is God’s will in my life? This answers one of the clear expectations He has for us.

What we are going to look at today affects every single male sitting in this room without exception. We are going to see what God has to say about moral purity and how do I abstain from sexual immorality.

In today’s society we are completely bombarded with sexual iniquity. It is in our music, it is on TV, in the movies, in books, magazines and I can’t even drive on the freeway without being assaulted with advertisements for gentlemen’s clubs. But most recently it has become the preoccupation of millions of people on their computers as they access pornography over the internet.

We are drowning in this sea of sexual evil and we don’t even know it. In today’s society we don’t care if our leaders are full of sexual sin as long as they agree with our politics. We don’t care because with think it is a private issue and it is a personal matter. What is even more of an oddity is the idea that it is becoming increasingly strange for those who stay faithful and married to their spouses. We make fun of men who desire to be sexually pure. There are movies created to mock a 40 year old virgin like there is something wrong with that if someone chooses to wait till they are married. All I have to do is look around me at my place of work and I am constantly faced with the talk of pornography, glorifying of sexual sins and married men gawking at other women and talking complete trash amongst one another.

We are so like the frog in hot water that we don’t know we are being cooked. Think about this just over 40 years ago on the Ed Sullivan show refused to show Elvis Presley from the waste down shaking his hips. Now days that is comedy for us, we think how silly is that. But I ask you, where are we today with simulated sex on the stage of MTV. We are lost in a world of sexual sin.

But there is hope my friends. There is hope from God’s word how we can truly separate ourselves from this world. You know God calls to live in the world but not of the world. He tells us does not want us to conform to this world but be transformed by a new mind set that is focused on His will. Romans 12:2

And do not abe conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Here we see that we are to renew our minds so we can prove what the will of God is, and His will is good and acceptable and perfect. Lets take a look at what God’s will is for our life. Please open your Bible to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

1 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.
2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.
7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

In verse 1 we see that the Thessalonians were doing a pretty good job of walking in the ways of God. They were being an Acts 2 Church who were continually devoted to sound doctrine, fellowship, communion, prayer, worship and giving. But Paul wanted to them to excel even more. Paul knew sexual immorality was a problem in the Thessalonian Church and he wanted to make it perfectly clear that God is calling them to be holy.

When we look at our society and know we are in a society filled with sexual immorality. Well the Thessalonians were in a society that compared to us or even worse. They were involved in prostitution, adultry, homosexuality, pedophilia, the only difference from then to today is the exposure of it. We can’t get away from it today because it penetrates everywhere. We need to learn how to be holy in this perverse world of ours.

In verse 2 Paul tells them you know these commandments and these commandments came from God. They are well aware of the need to abstain from sexual immorality. This is not something man has made up but it is the will of God.

Verse 3 tells us that, it is His will for us to be pure. God care so much about this topic to clearly state this is His will. He tells us it is our sanctification. Sanctification means to be set apart. Not to be like the world. God is telling us the world is full of sexual sin but I require from you to be pure not to be like the pagans and their lustful passions. God is telling us to be set apart from sin to holiness. James 4:4 Says

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God

Let’s take a look at scripture and see why God takes sexual immorality so seriously. I want to look at several passages so we get a broad understanding of what God is telling us and why. You might want to write these down and just listen instead of turning to each passage. You can go back and take a look at them later.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 10:8

Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.

Ephesians 5:3-5

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which bare not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Colossians 3:5-6

5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,

Jude 1:7

just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 21:8

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Do you think God is serious about this subject? So how do we overcome this, how do we stand against sexual immorality? Verses 4 and 5 tell us how. First, We need to learn to posses our own vessels to deny ourselves. Don’t let your body control you. We need to gain mastery over our bodies. Paul says in

1 Corinthians 9:27

but I discipline my body and make it my slave

Verse 5 really gives us the root problem of sexual immorality and that is not knowing God. The lustful passions of the gentiles were a result of not knowing God. I want to read a quote from John Piper because I think he articulates what it means to know God.

“It's knowledge that stuns you, and humbles you. It's knowledge that wins you and holds you. It comes like it did for Lydia when the Lord opened the eyes of her heart. At one moment you think you will burst with its fullness, and suddenly there is a chasm of longing for more. It's the knowledge we call faith—the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.

It's a knowledge that is so real, so precious, so satisfying to your soul, that any thought, any attitude, any emotion, any addiction which threatens to hinder this knowledge will be attacked with all the spiritual zeal of a threatened life. This is the fight of faith that rages in the godly soul when lust lures the mind away from God.”

How do I know God? There is only one way gentleman and that is through His word. How do I stop being sexually immoral, how do I become pure? I want to tell you how and it is a passage that I have held unto with complete conviction and passion. Pastor John has gone over this verse in the last few weeks and it is found in Pslam 119:11

Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

This is it guys. This is what we need. We need the word of God in us, through us it is everything. It is the only way I know what God wants from me. We need to want to consume it, meditate on it, live it, obey it, and most of all apply it to our lives. This is the solution men. This is what we need to stand upon. This is what will give us victory in our bondage to sin. It is the guide book on how to live our lives and to keep from sinning. This is what will convict your heart to stop slapping Jesus in the face with our sins.

God gives us free moral will to choose between right and wrong. Now God has a sovereign will that will get accomplished no matter what moral choices we may make. Look at verse 8 if we reject this idea and say that I don’t care what God thinks about this then are we not only sinning against God but we are rejecting Him. We are not rejecting some human philosophy but the actual will of God.

Why does Paul mention the Holy Spirit in this verse. It is because the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. If we are not convicted by this type of sin then God is not in us. J. Vernon McGee writes:

A child of God is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. He cannot continue to live in sin because the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The time will come when the child of God will long for holiness in his own life.”

So what does the bible say about practical steps of dealing with sexual sin. Here are 5 steps

Confess your sin 1 John 1:9, God is faithful to forgive us of our sins. Then confess it to a brother. Get an accountability partner who you can discuss these things with. This is part of the fellowship of the Acts 2 Church.
Be like Joseph and RUN. He was confronted with the potential of a sexual sin and instead of pondering it, going over it in his mind, toying with the idea HE RAN from it. What does this mean to me and you today. Throw the TV out, Get rid of the computer, run from the temptation.
Hide God’s word in your heart. Make the word a daily part of your life. It is the only weapon we have against the evil one.
Prayer, we need to be on our knees praying for holiness, praying to God to help us obey his commandments.
Stop, whatever it takes stop it now. Just stop. Stop your complete selfishness. Deny yourself and pick up your cross.

James 1:21
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Wes Porter
Galatians 2:20

Ambassador of Christ - Greg Koukl

Greg Koukl, the founder of Stand to Reason (STR.org), has released 44 videos on answering some of the toughest questions Christians are asked. Here are the titles of just a few, is Christianity the only way to God, why is there evil in the world, is it fair to condemn people who have never heard the gospel? Greg has been doing this for over 30 years and is a master in tactics, critical thinking, philosophy and apologetics. I would highly suggest reviewing some of these videos if you want to see what an ambassador of Christ looks like then Greg is a very good model. We should strive for this kind of clarity in our answers and strive for the manner in which he shares his faith. Send these videos to all your friends they are really good.

Here is the link to all the video resources.

Here is a sample video for your enjoyment titled.

Why is Jesus the only way?

Wes Porter
Galatians 2:20