Sermon Illustrations on Knowing God

Existence, Proofs of

We know our own existence intuitively and God's existence by demonstration.

Existence is the state of being, or having an actual essence. Mr. Locke says, that we arrive at the knowledge of our own existence by intuition; of the existence of God, by demonstration; of other things, by sensation. As for our own existence, continues he, we perceive it so plainly, that it neither needs, nor is capable of, any proof. I think, I reason, I feel pleasure and pain: can any of these be more evident to me than my own existence? If I doubt of all these things, that very doubt makes me perceive my own existence, and will not suffer me to doubt. If I know I doubt, I have as certain a perception of the thing doubting as of that thought which I call doubt: experience, then, convinces us that we have an intuitive knowledge of our own existence. Maunder.

Experience, in Religion

True knowledge of God comes through personal experience, not just reading.

A hundred thousand tongues may discourse to you about the sweetness of honey; but you can never have such knowledge of it as by taste. So a world full of books may tell you wonders of the things of God in religion; but you can never understand them exactly but by the taste of experience. N. Caussin.

God, Reading the Name of

Seeing God's name written brings joy and awe to a believer's heart.

The freedmen exhibited great anxiety to learn to read. One of them, an old preacher, spelled out the word GOD, and was told that it was the name of the One he sometimes preached about. He held up his hands in surprise, exclaiming, "Is this the name of God, and that the way it looks when printed?" Then, brushing away his tears, he gazed upon the blessed name, saying, "Oh, blessed day! God has permitted his old eyes to see to read his name."

Learning, Object of

The purpose of learning is to know, love, and imitate God through true virtue.

The end of learning is to know God, and, out of that knowledge, to love him, and to imitate him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue. Milton.

Life, Mysteries of

Godliness brings wisdom that solves life's intellectual and spiritual mysteries.

Intellectual difficulty, like the fabled monster that of old haunted the neighborhood of classic Thebes, besets the path of life, meets us at every turn, and presses on us its enigmas with terrible severity. When we solve its dark riddles, we kill it; when we fail, we become its victims. Godliness is the only true Œdipus of the soul. In the beans of a God-loving heart, all mental mysteries melt away as the mountain-mists in the summer's sun. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:" piety is an "unction from the Holy One, by which we know all things."

Mystery, Brevities

Human salvation in Christ remains a profound mystery beyond full human understanding.

Each particle of matter is an immensity, each leaf a world, each insect an inexplicable compendium. — Lavater. — Sinful man saved in Christ always was, always will be, a mystery, a wonder. — T. Adams. — Happy is the man who is content to traverse this ocean to the haven of rest without going into the wretched diving-bells of his own fancies! There are depths; but depths are for God. — Evans. — I would fain know all that I need, and all that I may. I leave God's secrets to himself. It is happy for me that God makes me of his court, and not of his council. — Bp. Hall.

Truth, Sweetness of

Spiritual truth is sweet and satisfying to those who commune with God.

The priests of Mercury, as Plutarch tell us, in eating of their holy things, were wont to cry out, "Sweet is the truth!" But how sweet and delicious that truth is which holy and heaven-born souls feed upon in their mysterious converse with the Deity, who can tell but they that taste it?

— John Smith

Truth, Vastness of

The truth of God is infinite and grows deeper as we mature in faith.

The truth is infinite as the firmament above you. In childhood, both seem near and measurable; but with years they grow and grow, and seem farther off and farther, and grander and deeper and vaster, as God himself; till you smile to remember how you thought you could touch the sky, and blush to recollect the proud and self-sufficient way in which you used to talk of knowing or preaching "the truth."

— F. W. Robertson

Best Place To Learn

The Bible alone provides true, graspable spiritual truth and substance.

Mr. Cecil, during a severe illness, said to a person who spoke of it, "It is all Christ. I keep death in view. If God does not please to raise me up, he intends me better. I find every thing but religion only vanity.—To recollect a promise of the Bible: this is substance! Nothing will do but the Bible. If I read authors, and hear different opinions, I cannot say this is truth! I cannot grasp it as substance; but the Bible gives me something to hold. I have learned more within these curtains, than from all the books I ever read."

Thought For A Free

A countryman's simple faith about God's greatness and nearness challenged a freethinker.

THINKER.—Collins, the freethinker, or deist, met a plain countryman going to church. He asked him where he was going. "To church, sir." "What to do there?" "To worship God." "Pray, whether is your God a great or a little God?" "He is both, sir." "How can he be both?" "He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him; and so little that he can dwell in my heart." Collins declared, that this simple answer from the countryman had more effect upon his mind than all the volumes which learned doctors had written against him.

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like. He bore all with his wonted fortitude and patience; telling them, the degradation gave him no concern, for he had long despised these ornaments. When they had stript him of all his habits, they put upon his jacket an old gown, threadbare and ill-shaped, and a townsman's cap, and so delivered him to the secular power, to be carried back to prison, where he was kept entirely destitute of money, and totally secluded from his friends. Such was the iniquity of the times, that a gentleman who gave him a little money to buy some provisions, narrowly escaped being brought to trial for it.

"Since Adam Was A Boy."

A boy's knowledge of Scripture exposed the ignorance imposed by church authorities.

Who would belong to a church which withholds from its members the inspired volume? We copy the following fact from a periodical called "The Thistle," published in 1836:

Not long since, when priest W., of Corofin, was passing by some men and boys who were engaged in breaking stones for a new road, now in progress in the neighborhood of Carhue, he said, that the road there would be of great use; "and it is a long time," said he, "since there was a road in this place." "Not since Adam was a boy," remarked one of the men. "And when was that? can you tell me?" said priest W. "No, sir, I cannot," replied the man. The same question was asked of several persons, and a similar reply given. At length the priest turned to a young boy, and said, "Can you tell me, my lad, when Adam was a boy?" "Sir, Adam never was a boy; God created him man, and made him perfect also." "Are ye not ashamed," said the priest, "to be excelled by a young boy like this?" "No," answered one of those appealed to, "we are not; that boy reads the Scriptures, and has them explained to him; that is what is not done to us, and we are prevented from reading them ourselves." Priest W. rode away without making any reply.

Anthropomorphism

Children often imagine God with human traits, revealing immature understanding of divine nature.

Spiritual manhood has put away childish thinking. What, for instance, does a child think about God? Professor Street publishes some first-hand illustrations of childish conceptions of God. He says that children “completely anthropomorphize God, making Him subservient to time, space, and passions, just the same as they themselves are.” I recall an example or two: When a girl was told that the stars were God’s eyes, she at once asked where His legs were. Another saw, for the first time, a cupola on a barn. Gazing at it she asked, “Does God live in that little house?” A boy asked some one if God made the river running back of his house. On receiving an affirmative answer, he promptly replied, “He must have had a big shovel.” When another boy refused to say his prayers, he was asked for the reason. He answered, “Why, they are old. God has heard them so many times that they are old to Him, too. Why, He knows them as well as I do myself.”

— F. F. SHANNON

Fatherhood

The key to understanding Scripture is recognizing God as our Heavenly Father.

See CONFIDENCE.

FATHERHOOD THE KEY

The other day I had a cipher telegram. Glancing it over, I could read every separate word. But once I rearranged the words with the key, a hidden meaning and beauty flamed forth. Moses, Job, Isaiah, Plato, Confucius, astronomers, poets, philosophers, all read the separate words, but when Christ came the key-word, “Our Heavenly Father,” is given, and the whole heavens flamed with the love of God.

— N. D. HILLIS

Father, Our

An Indian finds the concept of God as Father beautiful and comforting.

Miss Lilly Ryder Gracey, in _The Missionary Review of the World_, in a sketch of the life and work of the Rev. Egerton R. Young, in the land of the Cree and Salteaus Indians, of Canada, gives this incident:

“Missionary,” said a savage, stalwart-looking Indian to him, “gray hairs here, and grandchildren in the wigwam, tell me that I am getting to be an old man; and yet I never before heard such things as you have told us to-day. I am so glad I did not die before I heard this wonderful story. Yet I am getting old. Gray hairs here, and grandchildren yonder, tell the story. Stay as long as you can, missionary; tell us much of these things; and when you have to go away, come back soon.”

“He turned as tho he would go back to his place and sit down,” said Dr. Young in narrating the story, “but he only went a step or two ere he turned round and said:

“‘Missionary, may I say more?’

“‘Talk on,’ I replied; ‘I am here now to listen.’

“‘You said just now, “Notawenan” (Our Father).’

“‘Yes, I did say, “Our Father.”’

“‘That is very new and sweet to us,’ he replied. ‘We never thought of the Great Spirit as Father. We heard Him in the thunder, and saw Him in the lightning and tempest and blizzard, and we were afraid. So, when you tell us of the Great Spirit as Father--that is very beautiful to us.’

“Hesitating a moment, he stood there, a wild, picturesque Indian; yet my heart had strangely gone out in loving interest and sympathy to him. Lifting up his eyes to mine again, he said:

“‘May I say more?’

“‘Yes,’ I answered; ‘say on.’

“‘You say, “Notawenan” (Our Father); He is your Father?’

“‘Yes, He is my Father.’

“Then he said, while his eyes and voice yearned for the answer:

“‘Does it mean He is my Father--poor Indian’s Father?’

“‘Yes, oh yes!’ I exclaimed, ‘He is your Father, too.’

“‘Your Father--missionary’s Father--and Indian’s Father, too?’ he repeated.

“‘Yes, that is true.’

“‘Then we are brothers!’ he almost shouted out.

“‘Yes, we are brothers,’ I replied.

“The excitement in the audience had become something wonderful, and when the conversation with the old man had reached this point, and in such an unexpected and yet dramatic manner had so clearly brought out, not only the fatherhood of God, but the oneness of the human family, the people could hardly restrain their expressions of delight.

“The old man, however, had not yet finished, and so, quietly restraining the most demonstrative ones, he again turned and said:

“‘May I say more?’

“‘Yes, say on; say all that is in your heart.’

“Then came his last question, which millions of weary souls dissatisfied with their false régimes are asking:

“‘Missionary, I do not want to be rude, but why has my white brother been so long time in coming with that great Book and its wonderful story?’”

God, The Sense Of

Knowing God gives life meaning and joy beyond all else.

No wonder you yawn and know not what to do next if you have no God, for ennui is the mark of godlessness.

Nothing is worth while but God.

The very naming of God gives zest to life.

I love to feel God love the world through me, until I am fairly washed away by the current.

Of what moment is it whether I live or die so long as that goes on?--ERNEST CROSBY, “Swords and Plowshares.”

Reasonable Religion

Christianity frees the mind by providing intellectual solutions, not just moral peace.

Mr. Robert E. Speer tells of going to the house of a friend in Japan to meet a number of old Biblewomen who were being trained for Christian service, some of whom were fifty or sixty years of age before they found Christ. Mr. Speer asked them what they found dearest in Christianity. He supposed they would say that what they valued most was the moral peace and joy that it brought them. Instead, these old women, some of whom had not been able to read before they became Christians, said instantly that what they prized most in Christianity was the intellectual solution of their difficulties that it had brought. They had come into contact with a Savior who had set their minds free. Moral rest and peace were sweet, but it was sweeter still to realize that they were at last serving a reasonable Master. (Text.)

"Seeing More of God"

John 8:19

What is it like to know God? Our image of God changes with who we are and

what we are experiencing. David Hazard's teacher in high school was asked

what it was like to be a Christian, and he said:

"For me, knowing God is like walking on a tightly stretched rope, high over a

bottomless chasm of blackness. Below me, I can hear screams of torment. Up

ahead of me, somewhere, I know I'll walk out into the light someday. For now,

I pray and read God's Word, and carefully put one foot in front of the other

to keep from sinning."

At the end of the school year the tension ebbed from this man and he stopped

stuttering. He totally revised his statement: "God is not a tightrope to me

anymore. Knowing God is like resting in an open field." A more inviting

image, for sure. Later, he learned that this man struggled with homosexual

temptations.

Varying approaches to what God is like:

1. The God of all comfort.

"God loves us just like we are, but he loves us too much to leave us

that way!"

To those who have been deeply hurt, a comforting God is attractive.

Carole ran away from an abusive home, fell in love with an associate

pastor and got pregnant. He accused her of trapping him and skipped

town and the baby was given up for adoption. The senior pastor said

she should never marry because her "premarital sin" would taint her

spouse. She found another church. "Sometimes it hurts so bady, I need

to know that God is just THERE for me."

2. The God who rules with rules.

Some people need lots of rules, but it can lead to legalism.

3. The God of the wilderness.

King David found God in a "dry and weary land." Sometimes we have to

block out all other things to see that God is totally sovereign.

4. The God who keeps green pastures.

Platitudes like "God protects" and "God provides" are inadequate in a

sin-torn world, but give encouragement to some.

We each know something of God, but not everything. We can learn from

different viewpoints.

#3045

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The Way To Intimacy

Philippians 3:8

Meditation on Philippians 3:8,10.

1. Power of his resurrection.

2. Fellowship of his sufferings.

3. Made like him in his death.

"Rediscovering the Glorious Gospel"

John 17:3

The cross gives us an intimate glimpse into God's heart. The gospel reveals:

1. The love of God.

2. The justice of God.

3. A deeper knowledge of God.

#3047

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Seekers of Your Heart

Lord, we want to know You,

Live our lives to Show You,

All the love we owe you,

We’re seekers of Your heart,

Seekers of Your heart.

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Knowing God

Luke 24:13

We referred yesterday to our heavenly Father as "the God of remarkable surprises". We must stay with that thought a little longer and draw from it further inspiration. Who hasn't seen the scenario in the old silent movies in which a victim is tied to a railway track by a handlebar- moustached villain? But the story isn't over: invariably, moments before the train comes thundering around the corner, someone rescues the hapless victim from what looks like certain death - and often in the most surprising manner. Have you not often found a similar scenario in your own life? Just when it looks as if you are facing what seems like unmitigated disaster, the "God of remarkable surprises" turns a desperate situation into an opportunity for unparalleled joy. How does He do it? Just when we are feeling as if there is no one in the world who cares and that we will not be able to get through the day, He draws close to us and wraps the warmth of His presence around us in a way that makes the experience of temporary isolation worthwhile. You see, sometimes our knowledge of God is just theoretical - we know Him in our heads, but we donOt really know Him in our hearts. In the depths of loneliness, however, this undergoes a deep change D the theory is turned into reality. Someone has defined loneliness as "the surprising opportunity to know God". It is. When there is no one but God - those are the times when we learn to know God - and really know Him. The experience of loneliness is not easy to go through, but believe me, it is worth far more than the cost.

Father, something within me still shrinks away from the challenge that You are putting before me. Help me to understand, however, that in order to know You - really know You - I must be willing, not just to trust, but obey. Amen.

PRAYER: Father, something within me still shrinks away from the challenge that You are putting before me. Help me to understand, however, that in order to know You - really know You - I must be willing, not just to trust, but obey. Amen.

FURTHER STUDY: Luke 24:13-35; Psa. 139:2; Matt. 6:8

1. What was the problem of these 2 disciples?

2. How did Jesus deal with them?

I Want To Know God

Genesis 4:1

Last year, our family moved from Florida to North Carolina. We were all very excited about the move - well, most of us were excited. My 16 year old daughter, Danna, was leaving behind some very special friends and making the first major move of her life. When I asked her what her greatest fear about moving was, the answer surprised me. I thought surely she would say, "I won't know anyone." Instead she responded with an interesting perspective, "No one will know me."

That may very well be our greatest fear about God. We find it almost impossible to believe that we can know Him or that He knows us. That one truth alone changes lives and alters eternity. What does it mean to "know" God? I believe that we can know God at different levels.

The first level is the "acquaintance level" where we think to know God means to encounter Him at certain pivotal times in life. It could be at an especially moving worship service or perhaps in a life crisis. In that moment we really do sense something different and may even go as far as to make a shallow commitment. But in our daily life there is very little - if any - change.

The second level is the "friendship level". Knowing God is not just experiencing a moment of spiritual excitement but a commitment to be actively involved with God. Friends spend time together and are involved in each other's lives. At this level, we are involved with God - to a point. We come to church and may even participate in its activities. We try from time to time to have a daily quiet time and attempt to be disciplined in spiritual habits. In other words, we are really working at this friendship. However, if the friendship level is as deep as we ever go in the pursuit of a relationship with God, sooner or later we will long for something more - because we were created for an intimate relationship with God.

The third level is the "marriage level" of knowing God. I believe that when Jesus says we can "know" Him, He is talking about a "marriage level" relationship. The first time that "know" is used in the Bible is in Genesis 4:1, "Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain". When the Bible talks about "knowing" someone it is not only referring to a physical knowledge but to an even deeper level of intimacy. Many of us settle for a nodding acquaintance or a mere surface friendship with the Father when what He really desires and what we really need is the marriage level relationship. There are many people in the Bible who had that kind of relationship with God.

· David was a man after God's own heart. · Moses spoke with God face to face. · Mary, Martha and Lazerus were close, personal friends of Jesus. · The disciples served beside Him day in and day out.

You and I can have what those people had! In 1 Chronicles 28:9 we discover how to have an intimate relationship with God. "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you." (NIV)

How can we really know God?

First, there is the simple but profoundly impacting promise that if we seek God - He will be found. We sometimes think that God wants to engage us in some kind of heavenly game of "hide-and-seek". He hides and we seek! And He chooses some pretty tough hiding places. When we look and don't find Him, we can almost hear Him laughing at our foolish and futile efforts.

Nothing could be further from the truth! The spiritual reality is that more than you want to find God He wants you to find Him! He made a way for us to know Him when He bridged heaven and earth by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross - for you and for me. If we seek Him we will find Him!

Second, remember who is speaking and who is listening in this passage of scripture. King David, one of God's closest companions, is talking to Solomon, his son. At this point, Solomon is not even seeking God but David tells Solomon that he can have the same relationship with God that David himself has enjoyed through the years. Solomon never did - but he could have. And so can we - by doing what David told Solomon to do.

1. Acknowledge God as God. To know God is to admit and recognize Him as the One and only true God, our Savior, the risen Lord.

2. Surrender everything you are to Him. To know God is to lay down at His feet everything we are, have been or ever hope to be, exchanging our life plan for His, knowing that His plan is our highest plan.

3. Serve Him with absolute devotion. To know God is to live every day, each moment as a sacrificial offering of worship to Him.

4. Seek Him wholeheartedly. To know God is to abandon ourselves to Him, actively searching for Him and His will in every life circumstance.

To know God personally, intimately is to live the life we always wanted to live. Don't settle for anything less!

My prayer for today:

I want to know you! I want to see your face. I want to know you, Lord. I want to touch you. I want to hear your voice. I want to know you, Lord. Lead me in paths that will draw me to your side and mold me into your fully devoted follower. Amen!

Application steps:

By faith, I believe that I can know God intimately. By faith, I believe that He knows me and desires an intimate relationship with me.

Reflection points:

What is the level of my relationship with God?

What evidence is there in the Word of God which supports the truth that God wants to know me?

What evidence is there in the Word of God which supports the truth that an intimate relationship with God is possible?

What level of relationship do I really want with God?

Am I willing to pay the price for an intimate relationship with God?

Power verses:

1 John 4:8-9 1 Colossians 1:10 Proverbs 2: 2-5 1 John 2:3

I Don't Even Know His Last Name

Our 4-year-old grandson, Tristan, said to his mother one day, “I think we should pray more often for Jesus to come; I just don't know why it is taking Him so long to get here.” His mother said, “I think God wants to give us more time so that more people will get to know Him.” As Tristan thought about that he said, “You know, Mama, I don't know Him very well either – I don't even know His last name.”

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Marge Jensen; Austin, Colorado, Source: Adventist Review, (c) September 9, 2004, http://www.adventistreview.org/; submitted by Mary Thayne

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J. I. Packer Helped So Many Know God

John 8:19

One fall afternoon in 1994, as a not-new but newly serious believer, I wandered into a small Christian bookstore in a small town in Tennessee, and a book caught my eye. Actually, the title of the book caught my eye: Knowing God, written by someone who, at the time, I’d never heard of ... J.I. Packer.

However, the name of almost every Christian leader I did know (like Chuck Colson, Joni Eareckson Tada, Chuck Swindoll, Elisabeth Elliot, Billy Graham, and others) was on the dust jacket, offering their endorsement of the book. Each was along the lines of: “This is one of the most important books I’ve ever read other than the Bible itself.” So, I picked it up, read it, and I’ve been recommending Knowing God ever since.

The book is best described as a work of “devotional theology.” For many Christians, “devotional” and “theology” are two incompatible words, as if diving deep into theological truth is the stuff of the “head,” while walking with God is more a matter of the “heart.” Packer, in a thoroughly biblical way, destroys that false dichotomy in Knowing God.

Two statements which this Oxford-trained theologian made in the second chapter of the book hit me like a ton of bricks. First, “One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him,” and second, “One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of Him.”

In Knowing God, Packer describes four characteristics of those who truly know God. First, they have great energy for God. Second, they have great thoughts of God. Third, they show great boldness for God. And finally, those who know God have great contentment in God.

Throughout the book, Packer clarifies that God must be known on His own terms. Too often, the God Christians claim to know is One made in our own image. We must know the God revealed in Scripture and clarified by proper theology.

That’s why I recommend this book, even for those who have studied theology deeply. Even though Packer was one of the brightest theological minds of our time, he never forgot what theology was all about. And if you’ve never studied theology, or even think that theology gets in the way of personal devotion to Christ, I’ll wager that Packer’s classic will convince you otherwise.

A few years ago, Dr. Packer announced the end of his public ministry. The eminent pastor-theologian - who authored more than 300 books, book reviews, journal articles, dictionary entries, and forewords, and preached and lectured around the world - was losing his vision. He was sustained during the last several years not by his feelings, but by what he knew to be true about the God he knew.

On The Gospel Coalition website, Dr. Packer told interviewer Ivan Mesa that “in the days when it was physically possible for me to do these things I was concerned, even anxious, to get ahead with doing them. Now that it’s no longer possible I acknowledge the sovereignty of God.”

Describing what he called Christian realism, Dr. Packer continued, “God knows what he’s up to. And I’ve had enough experiences of his goodness in all sorts of ways not to have any doubt about the present circumstances. Some good, something for his glory, is going to come out of it.”

That’s a good word for all of us. Aging is one of the stages of life that our youth-fixated culture doesn’t prepare us for. Years ago, Dr. Packer wrote, “How should we view the onset of old age? The common assumption is that it is mainly a process of loss. But here the Bible breaks in, highlighting the further thought that spiritual ripeness is worth far more than material wealth in any form, and that spiritual ripeness should continue to increase as one gets older.”

That kind of perspective comes not merely from knowing about God, or knowing about godliness, but only comes from truly knowing God.

On July 17, 2020, Dr. J.I. Packer, aged 93, died. When asked for his final words to the church, Packer said: “Glorify Christ every way.” He has now entered his eternal rest, and I join with thousands and thousands of others and thank God that his faith is now sight. Now, at last, he truly and fully knows the God he faithfully studied, and taught so many of us about, for many years.

Learn More...

“J. I. Packer, 89, On Losing Sight But Seeing Christ,” by Ivan Mesa, The Gospel Coalition, January 14, 2016

“Knowing God,” by Dr. J. I. Packer.

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Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God? [3 Articles]

Luke 10:22

A statement made by a professor at a leading evangelical college has become a flashpoint in a controversy that really matters. In explaining why she intended to wear a traditional Muslim hijab over the holiday season in order to symbolize solidarity with her Muslim neighbors, the professor asserted that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

Is this true?

The answer to that question depends upon a distinctly Christian and clearly biblical answer to yet another question: Can anyone truly worship the Father while rejecting the Son?

The Christian’s answer to that question must follow the example of Christ. Jesus himself settled the question when he responded to Jewish leaders who confronted him after he had said “I am the light of the world.” When they denied him, Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). Later in that same chapter, Jesus used some of the strongest language of his earthly ministry in stating clearly that to deny him is to deny the Father.

Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Christians worship the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and no other god. We know the Father through the Son, and it is solely through Christ’s atonement for sin that salvation has come. Salvation comes to those who confess with their lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in their hearts that God has raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The New Testament leaves no margin for misunderstanding. To deny the Son is to deny the Father.

To affirm this truth is not to argue that non-Christians, our Muslim neighbors included, know nothing true about God or to deny that the three major monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — share some major theological beliefs. All three religions affirm that there is only one God and that he has spoken to us by divine revelation. All three religions point to what each claims to be revealed scriptures. Historically, Jews and Christians and Muslims have affirmed many points of agreement on moral teachings. All three theological worldviews hold to a linear view of history, unlike many Asian worldviews that believe in a circular view of history.

And yet, when we look more closely, even these points of agreement begin to break down. Christian trinitarianism is rejected by both Judaism and Islam. Muslims deny that Jesus Christ is the incarnate and eternal Son of God and go further to deny that God has a son. Any reader of the New Testament knows that this was the major point of division between Christianity and Judaism. The central Christian claim that Jesus is Israel’s promised Messiah and the divine Son become flesh led to the separation of the church and the synagogue as is revealed in the Book of Acts.

There is historical truth in the claim of “three Abrahamic religions” because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all look to Abraham as a principal figure and model of faith. But this historical truth is far surpassed in importance by the fact that Jesus explicitly denied that salvation comes merely by being merely one of “Abraham’s children” (John 8:39-59). He told the Jewish leaders who rejected him that their rejection revealed that they were not Abraham’s true sons and that they did not truly know God.

Christians do not deny that Muslims know some true things about God. As a matter of fact, in Romans 1:19-20 Paul explains that all people have some real knowledge of God by general revelation, so that they are without excuse. Speaking at Mars Hill in Athens in Acts 17, Paul argued that even some of the Greeks’ own philosophers and poets gave evidence of a rudimentary knowledge of God — but this was not a saving knowledge, and the Apostle was brokenhearted when he saw the Athenians at worship.

In making her claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, the professor claimed the authority of Pope Francis, and since Vatican II the Roman Catholic Church has become ever more explicit in its teaching that salvation can come without a conscious and explicit faith in Christ. This is simply not an option for evangelical Christians committed to the authority of Scripture alone and to the Gospel as defined in the New Testament.

Francis J. Beckwith, a leading Catholic apologist and philosopher, defended the claim that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. At one point, Beckwith argued that two people could have differing knowledge of Thomas Jefferson while knowing the same Thomas Jefferson as the third President of the United States. He continued: “In the same way, Abraham and Moses did not believe that God is a Trinity, but St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Billy Graham do. Does that mean that Augustine, Aquinas, and Graham do not worship the same God as Abraham and Moses? Again, of course not.”

But this line of argument evades the entire structure of promise and fulfillment that links the Old Testament and the New Testament. Abraham and Moses could not have defined the doctrine of the Trinity while they were on earth, but they believed that God would be faithful to all of his promises, and those promises were fulfilled only and fulfilled perfectly in Christ. And, going back to John 8:56-58, Jesus said: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad ... Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Evangelical Christians understand that, theologically, there is a genetic link between Judaism and Christianity. That is why Christians must always be humbled by the fact that we have been grafted onto the promises first made to Israel. In terms of both history and theology, there is no genetic link between Christianity and Islam. The Qur’an claims that to confess Jesus Christ as the divine Son and the second person of the Trinity is to commit blasphemy against Allah.

Hard times come with hard questions, and our cultural context exerts enormous pressure on Christians to affirm common ground at the expense of theological differences. But the cost of getting this question wrong is the loss of the Gospel. Christians affirm the image of God in every single human being and we must obey Christ as we love all people everywhere as our neighbor. Love of neighbor also demands that we tell our neighbor the truth concerning Christ as the only way to truly know the Father.

We must also understand that the most basic issue is the one Jesus answered with absolute clarity. One cannot deny the Son and truly worship the Father. There is no question that the Muslim is our neighbor, but there is no way to remain faithful to Scripture and the gospel and then claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

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"Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?" by Albert Mohler • December 1, 2013 • Decision Magazine

Does God care what we call Him? Do Muslims and Christians worship the same god? These are questions many Christians are asking these days, and for good reason.

For some time now, feminist theologians and a host of others have suggested that Christians should adopt new names for God. One denomination went so far as to affirm names like “Giver, Gift and Giving” in place of the “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” to be used in worship. Feminist theologians have demanded that masculine pronouns and names for God be replaced with female or gender-neutral terms. But to change the name of God is to redefine the God we reference. Changing the name of God is no small matter.

As a matter of fact, God takes His name very seriously, and the Ten Commandments include the command that we must not take the name of the Lord in vain. We are to use the names God has given for Himself, and we are to recognize that God takes His name seriously because He desires to be rightly known by His human creatures. We cannot truly know Him if we do not even know His name.

Moses understood this. When he encountered the call of God that came from the burning bush, Moses asked God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). God answered Moses, “I Am who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). God told Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15).

As these verses make clear, we are not to tamper with God’s name. We are to use the names whereby God has named Himself, and we are to recognize that any confusion about the name of God will lead to confusion about the nature of God, if not to idolatry.

Christians must keep this central principle from the Bible constantly in mind as we consider some of the most urgent questions we face in the world today. We must certainly have this principle in mind when we think about Islam.

Several years ago, a bishop in the Netherlands attracted controversy when he argued that Christians should call God “Allah” in order to lower theological tensions. He also argued that calling God “Allah” would be commonplace in Christian churches within a century and that this would lead to a synthesis of Islam and Christianity.

More recently, an Islamic court in Malaysia ruled that only Muslims can use the name “Allah” in print publications. “The usage of the word will cause confusion in the community,” the chief judge ruled. Oddly enough, Christians may well agree with this Islamic judge. To call God “Allah” is to invite confusion.

In the Bible, God reveals Himself to us in many names. These names are His personal property. We did not invent these names for God. To the contrary, God revealed these names as His own.

We have no right to modify or to revise these names — much less to reject them. Jesus Christ made this abundantly clear. In the simplest way imaginable, Jesus teaches us to know God as Father, and to use this name in prayer. The Lord’s Prayer begins with the words, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” By the grace that God has shown us in Christ, we can truly know Him as Father.

Muslims do not speak of God as their heavenly Father. In the Islamic faith, Allah is not only a different name for god; the deity it designates is far more impersonal than the God of the Bible. Father — the very name that Jesus gave us as the designated name for use in prayer — is a name that simply does not fit Allah as depicted in the Quran.

Furthermore, Muslims claim that Allah has no son. This represents a head-on collision between the God of the Bible and Allah. For, as the Bible makes clear, the one and only true God is most perfectly revealed as the Father of the Son, Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly teaches that no one has truly known the Father, except by the Son. In one of the most clarifying verses in the New Testament, Jesus declared Himself to be “the way, and the truth, and the life,” adding, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Because Muslims deny that God has a son, they explicitly reject any Trinitarian language. From the very starting point, Islam denies what Christianity takes as its central truth claim: the fact that Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father. If Allah has no son, then Allah is not the God who reveals Himself through the Son. How then can calling God “Allah” not lead to anything but confusion — and worse?

Islam teaches that the doctrine of the Trinity is blasphemous. But the Christian faith is essentially and irreducibly Trinitarian. The Bible reveals that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus is not merely a prophet, as acknowledged by Muslims, He is God in human flesh. This is precisely what Islam rejects.

The Trinitarian language is the language of the Bible, and it is essential to Christianity. Indeed, the Christian faith points to Christ and announces that we can only know the Father through the Son. Confusing the God of the Bible with Allah of the Quran is not only a mistake, it is a dangerous distortion of the Gospel of Christ.

The Trinitarian nature of God is embedded within the Great Commission. Jesus tells His disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations and to baptize them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Christians are those who bear the names of God even in our baptism, and those names are Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This has become a matter of significant controversy in recent years as some Christians, including some serving with mission agencies, have argued that Christians can use the name “Allah” in talking about God. In some languages, especially those based on an Arabic source, there is no generic word for god. In such a situation, it might be necessary to begin a conversation by using this word, but the Christian cannot continue to call God “Allah.” It is hard to imagine that anyone can hear the name “Allah” without thinking of him as claimed in the Quran (see following article). Indeed, Muslims who speak languages other than Arabic use “Allah” as the name of god. But as soon as the Christian begins to explain that the true living God is the Father of Jesus Christ the Son, the Christian is making clear that the true living God is not Allah, but our Heavenly Father.

Continuing to use the name “Allah” to refer to the God of the Bible in such situations invites deep confusion. Some now argue that Muslims who come to faith in Christ can even remain within the mosque and continue to worship God as Allah. It is hard to see how that is anything other than a theological disaster.

We can now see that the name of God is no small matter. The deity we name is the God we believe in. Christians believe in only one God, and He is the Father who sent the Son to save us from our sins. Allah has no son, and, thus, Christians cannot know God as Allah. In this light, Muslims and Christians do not only use different names for God; in reality, these different names refer to different gods.

God takes His name with great seriousness, and so must we. Thankfully, we are not left in the dark, groping for adequate language. God has revealed His names to us, so that we can rightly know Him. We are not called to be clever or creative in referring to God, only faithful and accurate.

We are living in challenging days. One of the most pressing challenges of our times is the task of speaking rightly about God. This is particularly challenging when Christians encounter Muslims, but it is also a challenge when Christians encounter secular people in Western cultures. But this really isn’t a new challenge. It was the same challenge faced by the children of Israel as they encountered the Canaanites, and the same challenge faced by the Apostle Paul at Mars Hill.

Our challenge is to speak truthfully about God, and the only way we can do that is to use the names God gave Himself. The God of the Bible is not Allah, and Allah is not the God of the Bible. Any confusion about that undermines the very Gospel we preach.

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version.

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“What Does God Care What We Call Him?” by Albert Mohler, August 22, 2007.

A retiring Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands has been making headlines around the world in recent days with his suggestion that Dutch Christians should pray to Allah.

Bishop Tiny Muskens of Breda, a former missionary to Indonesia, suggested that conflict between Christians and Muslims could be lessened if Dutch Catholics followed the lead of some Christians in Muslim-dominated lands and adopted Allah as the preferred name for God..

From Catholic News:

Speaking on the Dutch TV programme Network on Monday evening, Bishop Muskens says it could take another 100 years but eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches. And that will promote rapprochement between the two religions. Muskens doesn’t expect his idea to be greeted with much enthusiasm. The 71-year-old bishop, who will soon be retiring due to ill health, says God doesn’t mind what he is called. God is above such “discussion and bickering”. Human beings invented this discussion themselves, he believes, in order to argue about it.

Is there a valid linguistic basis for his argument? It is certainly true that the word Allah is the Arabic word for deity. Those supporting an argument like that of Bishop Muskens suggest that the Arabic word can be used as a generic term for deity.

In common English we use the word God as both a proper name and a noun. We differentiate between the two usages by capitalizing the word when we mean to refer to the specific personal God of the Bible, and by not capitalizing generic uses of the word. Thus, we might paraphrase the First Commandment like this: “God commanded His people to have no other gods before Him.” The correct interpretation of this sentence requires the use and understanding of the habits of capitalization.

Those making the case for a Christian appropriation of Allah must take their argument in one of two trajectories. The first trajectory is to argue that Allah can be used in a generic way to refer to any (presumably monotheistic) deity. This case will be very difficult to make. Language, theology, and worship are so closely intertwined that it is difficult, if not impossible, to argue for a generic use of Allah. Further evidence against this trajectory is the fact that non-Arabic speaking Muslims also use Allah when referring to their god.

The second trajectory presents even more of a problem. Those following this line of argument must make the case that Allah and God refer to the same deity. This represents a huge problem for both Muslims and Christians. Allah is not a personal deity in the sense that the God of the Bible is. Furthermore, the Qur’an explicitly denies that Allah has a son, and Islam considers the notion of a triune God to be blasphemy.

Thus, from its very starting point Islam denies what Christianity takes as its central truth claim — the fact that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father. If Allah has no Son by definition, Allah is not the God who revealed himself in the Son. How then can the use of Allah by Christians lead to anything but confusion ... and worse?

The most dangerous (and theologically dishonest) part of Bishop Muskens’ argument is found in these words:

The 71-year-old bishop, who will soon be retiring due to ill health, says God doesn’t mind what he is called. God is above such “discussion and bickering”. Human beings invented this discussion themselves, he believes, in order to argue about it.

According to The Herald Sun [Melbourne, Australia], Bishop Muskens commented: “Allah is a very beautiful word for God .... What does God care what we call him?” What does God care what we call him?

Has the bishop read the Bible? God takes his name with great seriousness indeed. Moses discovered this when heard God speak from the burning bush [Exodus 3:13-22]. God did not leave himself nameless, nor did He invite Moses to devise a name for him. Jesus used this name [I AM] to refer to himself.

The Christian faith is essentially and irreducibly Trinitarian. The Bible reveals that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus is not merely a prophet; He is God in human flesh. This is precisely what Islam rejects. If Allah has no Son, he is not the Father.

This is the most significant theological obstacle in the way of the Christian use of Allah as a name for God. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “our Father, who is in heaven” [Matthew 6:9] — thus disallowing any confusion concerning God’s name. The most important names for God for Christians are “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit.” In the four New Testament gospels, Jesus uses the word “Father” more than sixty times. No Muslim would refer to Allah in this same way. This is not what will come to mind when a Muslim hears a Christian pray to Allah.

So Bishop Muskens is disingenuous at best when he suggests that God does not care about His name. This is not a matter of mere “discussion and bickering.” If the Bible is the Word of God, we can be assured that human beings did not invent this discussion.

There is one final and insurmountable problem with Bishop Muskens’ proposal. Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize believers “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” [Matthew 28:19]. When this command is taken seriously and obeyed, the whole issue is greatly clarified — a Christian cannot baptize in the name of Allah.

If Allah has no son, Allah is not the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even if the case is made that Allah could be used in a generic sense to refer to God ( and I am not persuaded that it can), the word cannot be used to mean the Father in a Trinitarian affirmation. This is not mere “discussion and bickering.” This is where the Gospel stands or falls.

ADDENDUM: The particular question raised by Bishop Muskens was the use of the word “Allah” by Christians in the West as a means of lessening Christian-Muslim tensions. The question of using “Allah” to refer to god in a clearly missiological setting will raise other issues. If the word is understood as a generic term for God (and not exclusively as a proper name), the question would then be how a Christian must make clear that the God of the Bible–revealed as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ–is not the deity as described in the Qur’an (who explicitly has no son). The linguisitic root of Allah may well be connected to Elohim (a name for God found in the Old Testament). This fact may help to clarify the possible use of the word in a missiological setting. The clarity comes in understanding that, even in the Old Testament, the name Elohim is, in itself, quickly accompanied by other names and words to make clear that the God of the Bible is the personal, monotheistic, covenant-making God of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. The New Testament makes clear that this God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — indeed the God who in these latter days has spoken definitively through the Son [Hebrews 1].

In other words, it would seem best to think of Allah in this setting as a place to begin a conversation about God in a Muslim setting. The challenge from that point onward will be to make certain that there is no misunderstanding about the fact that the only true and living God is the Father of Jesus Christ the Savior.

The crucial questions here are these: First, can we assume that the deity central to Islam and known as Allah is, in fact, the same God worshipped by Christians and revealed in the Bible? The answer to that question must be negative. In that sense, Allah is certainly not the God of the Bible.

The second question is whether the word “Allah” can be understood, in Arabic and Muslim settings, as both a generic noun and a proper noun. Some credible Christian scholars and missionaries are certain that it can. The issue then becomes how contemporary Christians remain faithful to the Gospel in this setting even as the Apostle Paul remained faithful in Acts 17 when he visited Athens. Paul, we must remember, had to tell the religious Athenians that they had misunderstood the very nature and character of the true God. “Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you” [Acts 17:23].

Causality In Children

Children’s instinctive questions reveal a natural desire to know God as Creator and Sustainer.

A few illustrations will suffice to make clear the instinct of causality in children. I draw first of all upon notes taken on the religious development of a boy between the age of three and six years. At the end of the third year, while visiting Niagara Falls with his parents, this boy showed his first interest in the cause of things. While watching the water of the falls from Prospect Park, he said: “Mama, who pours the water over Niagara Falls?” We may imagine similar questions being asked by the American Indian ages previously, and answered in terms of “Gitchie Manitou, the Mighty.” From this beginning, the boy during the next three years seemed to be trying to make himself clear upon the question of where things come from originally, and who keeps the world going. “Who makes the birds?” “Who made the very first bird?” “Who fixt their wings so they can fly?” “Who takes care of the birds and rabbits in the winter when snow is on the ground?” “Who makes the grass grow?” “Who makes the trees?” “Who makes them shed their leaves and then get them back again?” “Who makes it thunder?” “Who put the moon in the sky?” “Who made the whole world?” “Who made people?” “Who made me?” “Does God make everything?” “Who made God?” “Was God already made?” “Is God everywhere?” Such were the questions asked again and again, with all sorts of comments in reply to the answers that were given him. The question of what is the origin of things was seldom or never asked. It was always who; and when the personal cause he was seeking was named “God” in connection with numerous objects, he finally generalized by asking if God makes everything.--GEORGE E. DAWSON, “The Child and His Religion.”

I Don't Even Know His Last Name

Our 4-year-old grandson, Tristan, said to his mother one day, “I think we should pray more often for Jesus to come; I just don't know why it is taking Him so long to get here.” His mother said, “I think God wants to give us more time so that more people will get to know Him.” As Tristan thought about that he said, “You know, Mama, I don't know Him very well either – I don't even know His last name.”

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Marge Jensen; Austin, Colorado, Source: Adventist Review, (c) September 9, 2004, http://www.adventistreview.org/; submitted by Mary Thayne

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27 Sermon Illustrations on Knowing God