Knowing God
(This Toolshed is the first in what will be a long series entitled, “Battling Sin.” The first step in battling sin is knowing God, therefore, these next several Toolsheds will explore the attributes of God)
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”—Isaiah 40:28
Battling sin is extremely difficult. But where do we start? If you are reading this, then you know that you have sin. We all do. Anyone who has ever claimed Adam as an ancestor has the birthmark of sin upon their soul.
If we are to begin our battle against sin, then we must not begin with ourselves, but with the God who made us. God has made us for Himself, and we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27). And since the fall of man, that image has been marred; it would be crazy to begin with ourselves in order to understand how to deal with sin. That would be like trying to examine virus-filled computers in an attempt to figure out how they worked without knowing what the viruses were, or like learning the game of football by watching school children playing on the playground. You might get an idea of the game, but only pieces of it. We cannot begin with the scaled down and broken version of things if we are to get a glimpse of our condition before God. We must go back to the source, to God Himself in order to get a picture of who we are, why we exist, and what we are to do while here. To start with the broken and corrupted would be to put the proverbial cart before the horse.
As the minister of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, England explained it as he opened his sermon on January 7, 1855*,
“It has been said that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, ‘Behold I am wise.’ But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, ‘I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.’ No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God....
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, while humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.
Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.”
This sermon, though preached some 155 years ago, is still as true today when it was first spoken. It was preached by the great Charles Spurgeon (then only amazingly 20-years old) and is one of the most fitting statements about the study of God and what it does to the life of a believer in Christ.
Knowing God is the first step in winning the battle with sin. We cannot win by ourselves. We cannot exercise proper self-control in all areas of life; we cannot overcome what our own fallen desires are, unless we know which desires are fallen and antithetical to God’s blueprint for our lives. We must know God first—that is the key, root, and foundation to our understanding about life, what it means to live, and what we are to do when we are here—to begin with anything else is ludicrous.
What about us? Where have we started? Have we looked to ourselves to understand life, rather than to the God who made us? Have we looked to self-help books, life coaches, talk shows, television, or the Internet to tell us how we are to live and what is right and wrong? Then we need to repent and get back to the source of everything, that is—God Himself. Only by knowing Him first can we truly know and understand ourselves. May God grant us the proper understanding of Himself as He has revealed through His Word. Amen.
*Excerpted from “The Immutability of God,” A sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. J. I. Packer quotes from this message in Knowing God.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”—Isaiah 40:28
Battling sin is extremely difficult. But where do we start? If you are reading this, then you know that you have sin. We all do. Anyone who has ever claimed Adam as an ancestor has the birthmark of sin upon their soul.
If we are to begin our battle against sin, then we must not begin with ourselves, but with the God who made us. God has made us for Himself, and we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27). And since the fall of man, that image has been marred; it would be crazy to begin with ourselves in order to understand how to deal with sin. That would be like trying to examine virus-filled computers in an attempt to figure out how they worked without knowing what the viruses were, or like learning the game of football by watching school children playing on the playground. You might get an idea of the game, but only pieces of it. We cannot begin with the scaled down and broken version of things if we are to get a glimpse of our condition before God. We must go back to the source, to God Himself in order to get a picture of who we are, why we exist, and what we are to do while here. To start with the broken and corrupted would be to put the proverbial cart before the horse.
As the minister of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, England explained it as he opened his sermon on January 7, 1855*,
“It has been said that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, ‘Behold I am wise.’ But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, ‘I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.’ No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God....
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, while humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.
Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.”
This sermon, though preached some 155 years ago, is still as true today when it was first spoken. It was preached by the great Charles Spurgeon (then only amazingly 20-years old) and is one of the most fitting statements about the study of God and what it does to the life of a believer in Christ.
Knowing God is the first step in winning the battle with sin. We cannot win by ourselves. We cannot exercise proper self-control in all areas of life; we cannot overcome what our own fallen desires are, unless we know which desires are fallen and antithetical to God’s blueprint for our lives. We must know God first—that is the key, root, and foundation to our understanding about life, what it means to live, and what we are to do when we are here—to begin with anything else is ludicrous.
What about us? Where have we started? Have we looked to ourselves to understand life, rather than to the God who made us? Have we looked to self-help books, life coaches, talk shows, television, or the Internet to tell us how we are to live and what is right and wrong? Then we need to repent and get back to the source of everything, that is—God Himself. Only by knowing Him first can we truly know and understand ourselves. May God grant us the proper understanding of Himself as He has revealed through His Word. Amen.
*Excerpted from “The Immutability of God,” A sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. J. I. Packer quotes from this message in Knowing God.
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