Knowing God ( 2) ( Ephesians 2 v 1 - 10 )

 Knowing God it is possible , but many things get in the way, now consider that there  is only one God and one Saviour CP Isaiah   45 v 5,22/ 46 v 9/  John 14 v 6 /Acts 4 v 12. If you are going to know God you need to accept these truths ,for the God of the Bible is not just another one of many, likewise the same could be said of Christ.. Next we must accept that we are sinners (Romans 3 v23 ) everyone of us, no matter how young we are, how old we are, we are sinners, which separates us from knowing God as Father, CP Ephesians 2 v 12. We only become His children when we trust Christ as Saviour, who through His death on the cross,enables us to have our sins forgiven. It is generally very hard for most people to accept the extreme gravity of their sinful condition.Consider the meaning of the words that our Saviour spoke,'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. Matthew 5 v 3. It means that we  acknowledge ones spiritual bankruptcy, until we acknowledge that fact, we will never know God. I will continue this next time,but I will leave you with the words of a hymn  by Augustus M. Toplady.

                                                            Nothing in my hand I bring,

                                                            Simply to Thy cross I cling;

                                                            Naked, come to Thee for dress,

                                                            Helpless , look to Thee for grace;

                                                            Foul ,I to the fountain fly;

                                                            Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Knowing God. ( 1)( Matthew 18 v 1 - 5 )

A  Trappist monk , that is an of silent order of monks wrote the following,''Twenty- one year I have prayed and meditated  with monks of the abbey, hours and hours of the day and the night.  And yet , was God alive for me?.Was he real and living for me. I hope that I do not  shock and scandalize  anybody, really He was  unknown to me''. It was J I. Packer who wrote a book called ,'Knowing God',  yes the good news is that God can be known.,in the most personal way. It is our dear Saviour who declared ,'I solemnly declare to you, unless you turn and become like the little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.' ( Matthew 18 v 4)Knowing God starts with a childlike trust,and continues that way, when we forsake that way, we end up like the disciples .Our Saviour sought to answer the question raised by his disciples as to who is greatest in the Kingdom heaven.  You see as Martyn  Lloyd- Jones wrote ,'That the kingdom of God is unlike everything that belongs to this present evil age'. Our Saviour was cutting across their whole idea as to greatness ,it is obvious that they failed to understand this, CP Luke 22 v 24, they would eventually.We will continue with this next time,but I will leave with a verse from a Dutch poem.

                                               Make me ,O Lord ,a little child again,

                                               So tender frail and small,

                                               In self possessing nothing,and 

                                               In  Thee possessing all.

                                        

Home. ( Hebrews 11 v 13 - 16 )

 I was in the kitchen and  started to sing a song to myself,the words go like this,'There's a land that is fairer than day and by faith we can see it afar; For the father waits over the way, to prepare us a dwelling place there. In the sweet by and by , we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore, the melodious songs of the blest, and our spirits shall sorrow no more, not a sigh for the blessings of rest'. I am reminded of the words of a popular song at one time, 'Home,home,sweet sweet home,There is no place like home'.  The saints of old admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. One writer puts it like this ,'People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home'.This world is not the Christians true home,no we look for a better country,HEAVEN. The things that are seen are temporal, 2 Corinthians 4 v 18,In 1 John 2 v v 17 we read,'And the world is passing away, and the lust of it'.we have something better to look forward to,our heavenly home, that land that is fairer than day,and as we enter that home we may hear God saying ,'welcome home'.I will just add this ,we owe it all to Christ our wonderful Saviour our hope of glory.

                                                  Without Christ there is no glory.

One light . ( Psalm 119 v 130 )

I heard these words as I watched a Hobbit movie ,'One light in the darkness/ alone in the darkness.'  It was Jesus who said that a Christian is to be a light ( Matthew 5 v 14).and that this light should not be hidden. Spiritually the whole world is in darkness, for it it lies under the control of the evil one 1 John 5 v19.that he has blinded their minds,2 Cor 4 v 4. Not only that, they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.John 3 v19 .there are no innocents, none whatsoever. You can point out the truth of God to so many people,be they ever so nice,they reject it,how often I have answered my door , to be confronted by you know who, and no matter how much one would point out the truth of scripture it was  to no avail. The words of Rudyard Kipling, describes how I feel,'If you can bear the truth you've spoken ,twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools'.The worlds  darkness is manifested in a million ways,by their actions ,by their words,and by their blind obstinacy. In spite of this we must never forget that that once we were in darkness, but  by God's wonderful grace we have been rescued from the dominion  of darkness . One writer puts it like this , 'Rescued from dark dungeons', Colossians 1 v 13,and brought into the kingdom of His beloved Son'.What are we to do?, we are to shine,by our lives , with our deeds and by our speaking Gods word,, even if we are only one light .

The unexpected. ( Matthew 8 v 23 - 27 )

In Matthew 8 v 23 we read ,' Then he ( Jesus) got into the boat, and his disciples followed him', what was to follow was unexpected,let me say this ,if you follow Jesus, you must be prepared for the unexpected They were on the sea of Galilee  and a violent storm came upon them,it was so violent that it appeared to the disciples that they were going to perish,but in the midst of that storm Jesus slept. The disciples woke him with the words ,'Teacher , don't you care if we drown?', the storms cloud had affected  judgement, whatever storm Jesus brings us into ,He has not stopped caring for us.in 1 Peter 5 v 7 we read 'He cares for us', I know of one minister who was very critical of Jesus , saying that he had put in danger, yes he had brought them  into a storm ,but in essence they were in no danger,they would come through the storm, and they would be rescued from the storm. Jesus did not act straight away,He spoke  then He acted.If you are in a storm,don't panic ,listen to what your Lord has to say to you. Then He acted, and stilled the storm,the disciples were astonished,William Hendriksen comments,'That Jesus was greater by far than they had previously imagined,He exercises control not only over audiences, sickness, and demons, but even  over the the winds and the waves'.

There is a cost. ( Philippians 1 v 29 )

 In Matthew 8 v 18 we read of a man coming to Jesus, a teacher of the law, and he said to Jesus, ' Teacher I will follow you wherever you go''.I am sure this man was sincere ,but consider how he addressed our Saviour ,teacher, of course He was a teacher,the greatest that ever lived, but He was more than a teacher. There are those who seek to live out the teaching of Jesus, and don't know  Him as Saviour and Lord,  many people pray the Lord's prayer who don't know the Lord. Consider what Jesus replied, 'Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of  Man has nowhere to lay  His head'.I leave comments by W. Hendriksen,' The path of the disciple is not a bed of roses.It is said at the time of the Civil War ( U.S) there were many volunteers who eagerly joined the ranks, as if  going to war meant nothing more than taking part  in parades, drills, and reviews, and receiving medals and honors'. Every day in so many countries Christians are suffering dreadfully,we also must remember  the words of our Saviour in Matthew 16 v 24,''Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me''.

                                                    The way of the cross leads home.

Yes even the worst.( 1 Corinthians 6 v 9 - 11 )

 I am sure most of us know someone whose life is out of control,their lives are in a mess ,could be they are in and out of prison,or they are always breaking the rules,they are just hopeless cases.You would not want them as friends,or to associate with them,for they are just trouble.Let me tell you about a man of renown, the late Ian Paisley, that fiery minister of religion ,who also became a leading politician in Northern Island, a very controversial person. A friend of mine heard him speaking  on you tube,he spoke of his younger days when he would do personal evangelism, knocking on doors telling people about Christ, not many responded, except one, an notorious alcoholic,the change in this man was dramatic,the change was so dramatic that it spoke to many people,and  they started attending church,and many of them trusted Jesus as Saviour. We are all sinners,we all need  Jesus as Saviour, we should rule no one out ,as those who are so bad,they could never be saved.Who would ever thought that the thief on the cross would trust Jesus ,but he did,or a woman who was notorious for the many husbands, would trust Jesus , but she did,and who would ever thought a man whose life was possessed with evil spirits,would trust Jesus, but he did.

                                                          Christ Jesus came into the world

                                                          to save sinners. ( 1 Timothy 1 v 15 )