Sermon Central
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What Can You Know, About God?
Contributed by Larry La Douceur on Nov 3, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: God reveals Himself to us in many ways…
What Can You Know, About God?
In the Book of Job, Zophar the Naamatite, rebuked Job by, saying,
7 "Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens-what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths of the grave -what can you know?
It appears that Zophar is asking some sarcastic questions of Job and certainly when you have a God who is infinite and transcendent (magnificent) beyond our abilities to comprehend you face the question…
Verse 8 ends with the Words, “What can you know?”
The reality is that God wants you to have a true and tremendous amount of knowledge about Him. You will never have a complete knowledge of God, but God ultimately wants us to know Him.
God reveals Himself to us in many ways…
General Revelation
Clouds and Ants …
How many have laid on a grass lawn or blanket and just watched to clouds roll by?
Remember when you would take the time to look for random shapes in the clouds?
Later, I learned God had other purposes for the clouds…
Proverbs 16:15 When a king’s face brightens, it means life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Hydrology)
Isaiah was written about 700 BC, but according to an apologetic book I read years ago Hydrology wasn’t discovered until 1600 AD. God told us in His word where rain and snow come from and where it goes back to, 2300 years before science figured it out.
Henry M. Morris, President of Institute for Creation Research said, “With so many references in the Bible to water in all its aspects, it is significant that there are none that conflict with modern hydrologic science.”
In addition to what Isaiah said,
We also have the words of Elihu in…
27 "He draws up the drops of water,
which distill as rain to the streams;
28 the clouds pour down their moisture
and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?
And then some of us got too old to get up once we got down and quit doing that. I didn’t fully realize it at the time but I was learning knowledge about God.
My younger years were spent in Michigan and I enjoyed playing in the yard, searching for four leaf clovers and watching the ants at work. And never did I know I was learning knowledge that God wanted me to know.
Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
Proverbs 30:25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
God makes Himself known to us in a variety of ways that fall into two main categories:
General Revelation
Special Revelation
General Revelation is available to all (Christian and non-Christian alike)! Clouds, ants would be examples of General Revelation.
This type of revelation will only give you a general knowledge of God!
Everyday in the world around us we can see the Glory and Power of our Creator.
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
And it continues…
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Paul and Barnabas tell the idolaters in Lystra that they should have known God.
Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
We read in Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For 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, so that men are without excuse.
