Knowing God | Gage Kirwan

hey good evening thanks for coming to church tonight for hearing what i have to say um okay go ahead and uh go ahead and open up in your bible to psalm 115. it's going to be a minute before we get there i'm going to read quite a few verses before that but then we're going to be turning to a lot of other places so i want you to start with opening up there um and as you do that uh let's pray lord thank you so much for being so good to us today thank you for this church that we can come to and study your word and to know you better and lord that's uh that's my goal for tonight i pray you'd help us to know you better in jesus name amen the bible says in psalm chapter 9 verse number 17 the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget god now the first part of that verse they've forgotten god because our nation once knew god think it's interesting that uh it's some people debate it but literally half the men who signed the declaration of independence attended a school where the school's primary function was to train ministers the least religious person or the least religious founding father benjamin franklin in the spur of the moment off-the-cuff speech that he gave in the constitutional convention he referenced 13 bible verses in nine sentences it's pretty amazing our third president thomas jefferson was a lifetime donator to the american bible society was he a saved man i don't know probably not but what i'm saying is is our nation has forgotten god and i think the answer to the problem with our country the answer to every the problem with every lost person is that they don't know god that could be summed up just like that the condition of lost man could be summed up in the phrase he does not know god and the same is true with our country our president is not the problem nancy pelosi is not the problem they are symptoms of the problem the problem that everybody in this country does not know god and president trump can't fix that he can do a lot of good but he can't fix that the only person that can fix that is god working through his church he does that through the members of his church that know him so think for a moment about how tremendous of a blessing it is that we can sit here today and say that i know god to know and to be known of god is the greatest thing you could ever claim in life jeremiah 9 23 says thus saith the lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that i am the lord which exercised lovingkindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things i delight saith the lord now i want you to look notice for a second you're in psalm 115 what we just read here he said let not the wise man glory in his wisdom let not the mighty man glory in his mind let not the rich man glory in his riches those three things wisdom might and riches i believe they blind the natural man that doesn't know god he's convinced that god will keep him from wisdom and might and riches but actually the opposite is true remember solomon when god appeared to him in a dream what did he ask of god he asked for understanding to judge his people and what did god give him he gave him all that stuff he gave him wisdom understanding might and riches now he's not going to guarantee us riches and stuff like that but that's the opposite of what people think people all the time they'll say no i don't want to go to church because you know i'm too busy i'm making money they just think they think that they have done everything themselves to acquire the wealth they have and the position they have in life not knowing that god is the one that gives that to us hosea 6 6 says for i desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of god more than burn offerings this is important to god that we know him second timothy 2 19 nevertheless the foundation of god standeth sure the lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity if you know god you will be known of god remember how jesus said many will say to me in that day lord lord but i will say depart from me i never knew you i never knew you titus 2 9 10 says exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things not answering again not prolonging but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of god our savior in all things knowing god should be what we wear the bible says to put on the lord jesus christ amen okay so as i put this introduction together we've got to answer this question why is it important that we do this study and attempt to know god better and have a deeper understanding of who he is and what he's like because we know a lot about god here we know a lot about him but knowing god number one is it humbles us oh and god number one it humbles us knowing god gives us strength when we are weak knowing god gives us wisdom and direction to guide us through life and knowing god comforts our heart and mind knowing god also gives us boldness before men and before god you know i think we can honestly say a lot of the time we are wimps before men we're wimpy wimpy christians ashamed of the gospel it's sad to say but the more we know god the more we can stand we're bold in his presence too than we can stand in his presence with confidence because my confidence is in the lord jesus who stands with me before god and speaks for me before god confidence because nothing can separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord and number six knowing god brings contentment knowing god brings contentment and i want to give you a few other things results of coming to know god better your faith will influence your entire person you will be more you will have more gratitude and thankfulness the more you know god amen you'll be faithful no matter what the consequence think about these believers in countries like afghanistan it's really important that they know god because they're about to meet him a lot of those christians there and it could come our way but we need to be faithful and we need to know god and trust him no matter what happens you'll have a greater love for those that god loves and on the other hand you'll have a greater hatred towards sin and those who promote it the more you know god and the more you know god our emotions will begin to line up with god's emotions amen so both the american people and the church of god could use some humility some strength some wisdom boldness contentment comfort thankfulness and faith in the true and living god of the bible i know i can and i want to attempt my goal here is to attempt to remove the fog that surrounds our minds often when we pray and provide a more clear view of the god of the bible so that when we close our eyes and we pray we're no longer praying to some force out there in the universe somewhere but we're praying to a god who's a real person god who's a real person brother james said that on my first night in bible school and it totally opened up my eyes god is a real person god is a real person okay so doctrinally doctrinally we'll get to psalm 115 in a second doctrinally we know that god is a trinity okay he is the father the word and the holy ghost and these three are one first john 5 7 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us john chapter 1 and this is a mystery i don't understand it it's hard to understand but it's the truth according to scripture because a god that we can completely wrap our minds around isn't that big of a god but the bible teaches that god has three parts the father the son and the holy spirit okay so think back now let's go back in our minds to genesis chapter one when god created man he created man in his own image after his own likeness then when man fell and sin entered into this world god promised that the seed of the woman would bruise that serpent's head and then one day god would become a man in the person of his son the lord jesus genesis 1 26-27 and so the lord jesus he experienced what man experiences from birth to death his birth though miraculous in his death sacrificial he had to learn things okay he had to grow up but it was amazing because as a boy he was teaching doctors you see that in the book of luke as an adult he labored as a carpenter the bible says that he learned obedience says that he was tempted like we're tempted he was a leader who led by example and practiced what he preached he knows what it's like to be betrayed by one of his closest friends and he knows how to suffer wrongfully and he's familiar with pain both outwardly and inwardly he was abandoned by his friends and then separated from his father he who knew no sin became sin and died a wrongful death as if he were some criminal and because jesus christ is god in the flesh after laying down his life three days and three nights later he took it up again and walked out of the grave victorious he knows how to win he's a winner and he can teach losers like us how to win as well how we can win over sin over this flesh so the position of the father the person and power of the son and the presence of the holy spirit make up our god the god of the bible okay we're almost to psalm 115. so let's do this i want you to think back to this morning everybody in here when you woke up crawled out of bed some of you said oh my back right you walked into the bathroom you looked into the mirror and who did you see you saw you right and who are you what are you you're a person you have flesh and blood so you use your eyes to see all the drool and stuff on your face you use your ears to hear your joints popping and other noises that your body makes in the morning and use your nose to smell your wife's bad breath and your own bo right and then use your tongue hopefully hopefully you use your tongue to taste the toothpaste that you use to hopefully brush your teeth and when you wash your hands and wash your face you ran your your hands under the warm water and you felt that with your hands and then you thought about what you were going to wear for church right these thoughts went through your mind and like us sometimes we forget to strap down our trash can and i'm all worried because a bear will get into the trash we had last night last night we it was probably 12 o'clock we were going to sleep and we heard a loud crash outside of our wall where the trash was on the other side of our bedroom wall i jumped up and ran out to the back door looked out this bear was humongous we saw a bear he was probably this high crawling on the ground it was unreal he didn't get into the trash because we had it strapped down we were prepared but it was pretty frightening outside behind the wall we had our gun you know and just in case he broke through the glass but he did it okay psalm chapter 115. i want you to get that picture in your mind though of what you did this morning and how you used all your faculties and all your senses to prepare for the day psalm chapter 115 and let's begin in verse number 1 not unto us o lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake wherefore should the heathen say where is now their god but our god is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands they have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not they have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat they that make them are like unto them so is everyone that trusteth in them o israel trust thou in the lord for he is their help and their shield okay so to most people most people in the state of florida are in the good old usa god does not see what they're up to god does not condemn their addictions to alcohol or pornography or swearing he's just a nice old grandpa that smiles on them from heaven like an idol like an idol like something you could make and put on your shelf they don't see they don't hear they don't speak they can't walk they don't care how you behave what you look at what you listen to who you're friends with they're dumb right idols are dumb so what i want to do is i want to talk about our god because he's not like that he made us like him so how unlike an idol our god he does see and he does hear and he does speak and he does care about how we behave and what we look at what we listen to and who our friends are so number one our god has eyes and he sees proverbs chapter 15 go to proverbs 15. our god has eyes and he sees proverbs 15 the eyes of the lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good go to genesis chapter one genesis chapter one we're gonna do a lot of flipping now a lot of page turning so the eyes of the lord are in every place but holding the evil and the good proverbs 15 13 genesis chapter 1 verse number 31 and god saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good behold it was very good what god saw in the beginning was very good god has seen man's sin and he acted upon what he saw by cursing the ground for man's sake and then sending his son to save fallen men and what god sees now is so bad that it will be brought into judgment again along with every man and woman dead and alive turn to genesis chapter six and verse number five a few pages over and god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him in his heart and the lord said i will destroy man whom i have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and creeping thing and the thousands of the air for it repenteth me that i have made them but noah found grace in the eyes of the lord so god saw everything that he made and it was good and then he saw everything a few chapters later and it was terrible it was evil it was wicked go to isaiah chapter 53 but god made a promise back in genesis chapter 3 that he would he would send a savior go to isaiah chapter 53. let's read verse number 10. yet it please the lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou sh shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities god the father saw the offering of his son and was pleased so number one our god has eyes and he sees unlike an idol our god has eyes and he sees number two our god has a mind and he thinks he has thoughts that are higher than our thoughts which implies that our thoughts are low right how can our thoughts be low well our thoughts are vain bible says our thoughts are vain they're worthless meaningless they're selfish and they're generally not good our thoughts are generally not good god's thoughts toward man are only good whether they be thoughts of peace or thoughts of judgment they're always good because they're god's thoughts and sometimes when god thinks and god says something he changes his mind right number 2 kings chapter 20 hezekiah god said that he would die but when he saw hezekiah's repentance and penitent heart he let hezekiah live 15 more years so god can change his mind just like we change we change our mind just like god changes his mind and unlike the idols in americans lives who don't care about them god cares he cares about us and he proved his love on the cross he doesn't care about making the world a better place for sinners to keep sinning in he cares about the saints going into all the world to preach the gospel so that all the world can know him and be saved from their sin our god has a mind and he thinks let's go to number three our god has ears our god has ears and he hears luke chapter 5. return to luke chapter 5. so our god can see he can think he can hear luke chapter 5 and verse number 17. and it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching that there were pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by which were come out of every town of galilee in judea and jerusalem and the power of the lord was present to heal them and behold men brought in a bed a man which had been taken with palsy and they sought means to bring him to him and lay him before him and when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude they went up they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before jesus and when he saw their faith he said unto him man thy sons are forgiven thy sins are forgiven thee and the scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying who is this which speaketh blasphemies who can forgive sins but god alone but when jesus perceived their thoughts he answering said unto them why reason ye in your hearts whether is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say rise up and walk but that ye may know that the son of man hath power on the earth to forgive sins he said unto the sake of the palsy i say unto thee arise and take up thy couch and go into thine house and immediately he rose up before them took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house glorifying god our god has ears and he hears the thoughts of men that's interesting here's our thoughts god also hears men speaking to one another turn back to mark chapter 9. mark chapter 9. god hears our thoughts god hears us when we speak mark chapter 9 verse number 33 and he came to capernaum and being in the house he asked them what was it that she disputed among yourselves by the way but they held their peace for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest and he sat down and called unto them to 12 and saith unto them if any man desire to be first the same shall be last of all and servant of all so jesus heard these men bickering and arguing with one another and he asked him what they were talking about i think he knew what they were talking about i think he heard them he knew what was going on but he asked him and he what's the point the point is that god can hear our thoughts and he can hear us when we speak to one another you know what we do we talk about other people but we make sure they're not around so they don't hear us when we have to say something about them we don't want them to hear but god hears god hears everything so god has ears and he hears in matthew chapter 12 turn to matthew chapter 12. verse number 35 god hears our thoughts he hears our conversations and god will bring man into judgment for every idol word that he speaks matthew 12 verse number 35 a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things in an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things but i say unto you that every idol word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned so god hears not only does he bring man into judgment for everything that he says and god hears us when we think he hears us when we speak god hears us when we pray his ear is inclined unto us right god hears men when they pray and he saves when they call on him when they call on it when we pray to god he'll save so our god has ears and he hears so so far our guys had our god has eyes and he sees he has a mind and he thinks he has ears that he hears with and god has a mouth and he speaks and his voice is powerful his voice creates he spoke and life came to be and his voice destroys he'll speak and the elements will melt with a fervent heat and his voice condemns those that don't know him remember he said depart from me ye that work iniquity i never knew you condemnation they're in trouble so his voice condemns though those that don't know him but those that do know him his voice comforts he said i will never leave thee nor forsake thee his voice is comforting and he said lo i am with you alway even unto the end of the earth and in god's mouth he has a tongue and there's no filth on his tongue grab two places isaiah 53 and 1st peter chapter 2. there's no filth on his tongue isaiah 53 first peter chapter two isaiah 53 verse 9. these references are too this is interesting or two a carpenter jesus our savior and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich and his death because he had done no violence neither was there any deceit in his mouth first peter chapter 2. first peter chapter 2 verse number 22 verse 21 for even here unto were you called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth there was no filth on the tongue of god amen and god when he took on human flesh worked in construction isn't that interesting our savior was in construction and he didn't cuss and he didn't complain about how hot it was and about how the superintendent's just sitting there doing nothing in his truck all day that right there would set him apart from all the other workers on the job like man i've never heard him swear there's something different about this guy well he's god manifests in the flesh so our god has a mouth and he speaks number five our god has a nose and he smells he smells things go to genesis chapter eight i think this is interesting genesis chapter eight i think this is pretty good here grab genesis 8 and grab philippians 4. genesis chapter 8 hold on one second and then verse number 20. and noah building an ark i'm sorry and noah builded an altar unto the lord and took of every clean beast of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar and the lord smelled a sweet savor saver the lord said in his heart i will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will i again smite anymore every thing living as i have done so noah gave god some burnt offerings upon the altar and god smelled it it was sweet it was a sweet savor philippians chapter 4 and verse number verse number 18. possible he said but i have all and abound i am full having received of epaphroditus the things which were sent from you an odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to god but my god shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by christ jesus so this context here is about giving the church giving money the apostle paul said that this money that was given was a sweet smell pleasing to god what you give in the offering box is a sacrifice that god smells and accepts from his people our god has a nose and he smells i think that's interesting our god also has hands okay he also has hands god's hands can make and create from nothing everything we see was made by god he used his hands to heal the sick and he used his hands to raise the lane and he used his hands to cleanse the lepers and he gave sight to the blind with his hands and with those hands he carried the cross to the place where he would die and like how we use our hands to take out the garbage to be taken to a place where it will never be seen by us again our savior used his hands to take our sins away and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness never to be seen again and never to be brought up again they're gone forever he did that with his hands and in those hands there's holes that remind us of the great love wherewith he loved us isaiah 59 turn to isaiah 59. god does some great things with his hands remember jesus said if thy hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee it'd be better for thee to go around with life having no hands no feet no eyes and go to heaven when you die then have all of these faculties and die in your sins and god he does only good with his hands his hands save isaiah 59 verse number 1 behold the lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear but your iniquities have separated between you and your god and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear so god's hand is not shortened his hand is there to save anybody that wants to reach out and grab it our god has hands and he touches he does some great things with those hands last thing i want to talk about last one of the senses of god that separates him from dumb idols is that god has a tongue and he tastes now a parent who loves their child and watches over their child will tell their child when they see him or her about to put something in their mouth that's going to hurt them or that they picked up off the ground and they're going to say they're going to shout don't you put that in your mouth that's yucky right we say that a lot at our house that's yucky i probably said that five times yesterday well you know something sin is yucky seems yucky we're the children of god right but we're adults most of us here but we still act like children sometimes and sin is deceitful and it can appear attractive just like dirt can appear attractive to a two-year-old and think that it'll taste good it's ridiculous we look at them and say no get that out of your mouth that's gonna there might be you know i don't know a bug in there or something i don't know it's yucky and you know we look at sin like that it's yucky it's hurtful and yet we still go after it sometimes that god's got to smack us on the hand and say don't touch that get that out of your mouth sin is yucky and death is what every man gets for tasting sin and god never sinned amen but god tasted death for every man go to hebrews chapter 2. hebrews chapter 2 verse number 9 but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god should taste death for every man one of the ways that we uh try to train our child when she gets a little fussy we offer her some whiny juice whiny juice for those of you that it's just apple cider vinegar it tastes really gross but it's really good for you so she starts fussing and acting as you want some whiny juice and she'll say no no i need juice no whiny juice and man we say no death i don't want to die no death and though we deserve death the lord jesus tasted it for every man making him the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering okay so god has eyes that he sees with he has a mind that he thinks with he has ears that he hears with and a mouth that he speaks with and a tongue that he takes within hands that can save our god has feelings feelings are important we don't emphasize feelings much around here but we've all got them and we all get upset when our feelings are hurt and we begrudge somebody that offends us because they hurt our feelings god has feelings and you know when we sin against god we're his children hurts his feelings remember he the holy spirit is grieved when we choose sin over him he loves he hates our god makes decisions and judgments and our god is fair he hides his face from the wicked but he's near the righteous and like us god gets frustrated and angry with wicked people every single day but unlike us his anger and his frustrations never get the best of him not only that but he isn't just angry when he's angry at the same time he's angry with a wicked person he's comforting the brokenhearted in another place he's comforting someone with a broken heart and he's strengthening the weak in another home and he's saving the lost in another part of the world all at the same time all at the same time he is all together in a word wonderful he's wonderful and you know something our god is different from other gods because he didn't come to destroy men's lives and he doesn't command us to destroy men's lives he came to save men's lives men's lives unlike the god of the taliban and the god of pope's past he came to save them luke 9 56 our god is higher than the highest in every way even down to the very thoughts of the innermost secret chambers of his heart and his mind isaiah 55 verse number 9 go ahead and turn there isaiah 55 verse number 9. let's begin let's begin in verse number six isaiah 55 6 seek ye the lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our god for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts that's incredible that's pretty incredible so why do we take the time to study what god is like why did we do this if you remember our body is the tabernacle right of the holy ghost it's the temple of god where god dwells because god's not here on this earth god's up there in the third heaven but he gave us his holy spirit to represent him in this world to be a light in the darkness every believer is the dwelling place of god and when the world sees a christian it ought to see and it ought to hear god himself living through his children we're to be the reflection of the lord jesus christ on this earth so now when we pray we can pray to god knowing that he cares that he hears that he wants to make us just like him just like him because we the first man was made just like him now back to our country it's falling apart it's a total mess and it's frustrating and the slogan is save america right donald trump slogan save america i want america to be saved to you do you yeah some of you don't that's fine i definitely want america to be saved this country used to know god it used to be required in the public in a school federally funded at the beginning of our country that they teach the bible in a public school it was required and in fact george washington said that in his speech as he left office during his after his second term this country america needs to be saved but president trump's not going to save america he's not going to save america a republican is not the answer neither is a libertarian or an independent and definitely not a democrat for sure not a democrat we see what they're doing right now america needs a true biblical saving knowledge of the god that this country once knew and it's going to take every one of us that names the name of christ it's going to take us to depart from iniquity and to introduce our neighbors to the god that we know and reflect and god help us to reflect him in every way each and every day well that's all i have for this evening i was hoping i could go longer i've got like eight pages of notes that's all i got so let's pray and then uh i guess we'll be dismissed lord thank you so much thank you for your word thank you for showing us who you are lord i pray you'd help us help us tonight help us tomorrow help us as we go into this week to our jobs to our families help us to represent you better than we did this past week and lord i need your help i'm a fallen sinful man and god i pray you'd help us fill us with your spirit give us grace give us strength and boldness we pray and we thank you in jesus name amen

Channel: James W. Knox Sermons

Views: 874

Rating: 4.9183674 out of 5

Keywords: bible, preaching, preacher, independent baptist

Id: gkMxmM_C6Mw

Length: 38min 28sec (2308 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021