I can't get no satisfaction. ( John 4 v 13 - 14 )

 Just recently one of the the Rolling  Stones group has died,his name was Charlie Watts, he was ages eighty, he was a great drummer. I never took much interest in the RS  music, but I do remember one of their hits , 'I can't get no satisfaction', it is because they don't try,oh no, one line of the song goes,'Cause I try and  try and try and I try'. So it was not for the want of trying, it means everything was tried but to no avail. Such is the words of a song. Jeffrey Epstein was a billionaire , and yet he wasn't satisfied,so he turned to abusing young girls.The world is full of so many people,who no matter how much they try, can't get any satisfaction, yes they try and try and try.One of my favourite books is ,'The Wind in the Willows', by Kenneth Grahame, the characters in it are wonderful,Ratty,Mole, Badger,and of Toad of Toad Hall. Toad was wealthy ,he was always trying new things,boating, caravanning, cars,nothing appeared to satisfy.There are multitudes in this world and they are running on empty, no satisfaction can they find, but they try and try and try.Shakespeare wrote the following,a Countess asked  a question to a clown,'Tell me the reason why thou wilt marry,?' the Clown answered,'My poor body, madam, requires it; I  am driven by the flesh, and he must needs go that the devil drives'.The fact is ,the flesh will never be satisfied.

                                                     O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,

                                                     And found in Thee alone,

                                                     The peace, the joy I sought so long,

                                                     The bliss till now unknown.

                                                     Now none but Christ can satisfy,

                                                     None other name for me,

                                                     There's love and life, and lasting joy,

                                                     Lord Jesus found in Thee.

Knowing God. ( 5 ) (Romans 8 v28 )

 'God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform', words by  William Cowper,one of the greatest hymns ever written,and one of my favourites .In Deuteronomy29 v 29, we read.'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but  those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.' The word of God clearly teaches that God is sovereign as Tozer puts it,'He rules His creation, He is all knowing,all powerful, and absolutely free'. It raises many questions, which we cannot answer, the why's are many ,and often come out of painful situations. There is not often answers to those why's, we are very limited ,we know so much, but we also know so little.People may ask why did such and such a thing happen,and often we just have to say we don't know.We come back to that statement that the secret things belong unto God, whose ways are past finding out Romans11 v33. The doctrine of the sovereignty must be accepted by faith, a faith and trust in God who loves us, and who will bring all things through to a conclusion.A.W.Pink writes,'Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical Despot, but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise',and I would add loving and kind.The  sovereignty of God  is not there to confuse of perplex us but to reassure us,that  in spite of all the why's,He is in control.

Knowing God. ( 4 ) ( 2 Timothy 2 v 15 )

Abba sang a song called ,'Knowing me - Knowing you', God knows all bout  me, and all about you, but you and  I do not know all about God, and we never will.I commend to you a book written by A.W. Tozer ,called ,'The knowledge of the Holy', It is not a big book , but it has much to teach us about our wonderful God,which we would all benefit from.God has revealed to us so much in His word,but by no means  everything as regards Himself.The old saint Richard Rolle said,' God is of infinite greatness, and then he adds,'more than we can think'. There is much we can know about God,which are known as His divine attributes, we should acquaint  ourselves with these truths.Sad to say many don't, I would that every child of God would to get to know God as revealed in His word. It was William Tyndale who translated God's word into English  said,''I will defy the Pope and all his laws, if God spare my life, I will make a boy that driveth the plough ,know more of the scriptures than thou dost''.His translation would enable people to have an understanding of scripture,we are very fortunate to have the scriptures in our language,but the challenge is,that we may understand God's word.In so doing we will get a greater understanding of God,it was the apostle Paul who wrote to the church in Thessalonica, that he did not want them to be ignorant or uninformed as to the second coming of Christ ( 1 Thess 4 v 13.We will continue this next time.

                                               Ignorance about God is not bliss.

Knowing God. ( 3) ( Romans 8 v 12 - 16 )

 'There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin ,there is a door that is open and you may go in ,Calvary's cross is were you begin ,when you come as a sinner to Jesus'. The moment you go through that door all is changed,you have entered a whole new relationship with God. No longer are you on the  outside, .you are now in the family God ,He has become your loving heavenly Father. In 1 John  3 v1 we read,'  Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God'. Now you know God ,and it is very personal,in fact there is a word for addressing God in the Bible for Father,it is  Abba, Vine  writes the following,' It is a word used by infants which expresses unreasoning trust', another writer says it has the meaning of obedience,we are privileged and blest to be children of God,that means intimacy, that means we are loved beyond words. Yet it brings  with it obedience, in fact when we address God using the term Abba, we are saying I will obey you.We will continue this next time ,but I leave you two verses of a hymn by  Ann Gilbert.

                                             Great God! and wilt Thou condescend

                                             To be my Father and my Friend?

                                             I, a poor child, and Thou so high,

                                             The Lord of earth and air and sky.

                                             Art Thou my Father?Let me be 

                                             A meek  obedient child to Thee,

                                             And try, in word and deed and thought,

                                             To serve and please Thee as I ought.

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.