You want to know God? Read his book. When you read his book, you'll start knowing God. His personality is revealed in the book. His will is revealed in the book. What he hates is revealed in the book. What he loves is revealed in the book. How he works with people is revealed in the book. You'll read letters in the book of people who spoke to and spoke from God to people. And all of that will form for you and for me a profile, if you will. of who he is.
Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. John is probably one of the most familiar gospels. We're digging into all 879 verses of the Book of John with his in-depth study, Believe 879. One key thing that Pastor Skip reminded us of at the beginning of this series is that John had one purpose in writing this gospel, to help people know God. And that desire to know God is ingrained in all of us. Haven't we all had that desire to see Jesus face-to-face? Well, that's what this teaching, How Can I Know God, is all about.
You'll want to open your Bibles or Bible apps to John, Chapter 14, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching. All of the worship experiences we have now on the earth, no matter how good they are, will never satisfy you. They weren't meant to satisfy you.
They were meant to whet your appetite. Well, I've gone to this cool worship thing. I flew all the way across the country.
It was the greatest worship experience. Cool. Are you done now? Are you satisfied with that? Like for the rest of your life?
No. It whets your appetite for when you see him visibly, physically face-to-face. Here's an example. When I travel and I take pictures of my family with me, if they're not with me, I take a picture, a representation of them. When I get really lonely, because I've been gone for like a week or two, a couple weeks, I'll look at the picture, a little two-dimensional image, and then I'll even talk to them on the phone. I don't hang up the phone, close up the picture, and go, okay, that's all I needed. I can stay away now for another year or two.
No. Talking on the phone and looking at the picture simply accentuates my loss for them. I want to see them more than ever. So longing to see God, no matter what experience we've had, is at the very core of who we are, and that's the anticipation and the reason we now worship now in faith, waiting for the day when our faith will become sight.
But something else. This longing to see God is often an excuse for unbelief. See, an unbeliever will say, well, I agree with Philip. All I want is to see God. You can produce God and let me see God, then I'll become a believer.
I'll worship Him. But I've never seen God. I've never heard God. I think I've told you before about the atheist who was having a conversation with a believer. The believer happened to be a Quaker, and the atheist said, have you ever seen God? And the Quaker said, nay.
That's how they would say no. Nay. Have you ever heard God? Nay. Have you ever felt God? Nay. And have you ever smelled God? Nay.
Then how do you even know there is a God? Well, the Quaker was a little befuddled by that, but thought he would turn the argument around, and he said to the atheist, hast thou seen thy brain? Well, no. Hast thou ever smelled thy brain? No, of course not. Hast thou ever felt thy brain?
No. And the Quaker smiled and said, then how dost thou know that thou even hast a brain? It's a very rudimentary argument, but I think it packed a punch nonetheless. Something else about this desire that Philip has in verse 8. This longing is part of the root of idolatry. To make an image, some representation of God, to physically represent Him. If only God could be visible, if only I could take transcendent God and bring Him down to my level, a human level, so that I can relate to Him, and I'll carve an image with little eyes on it, and a nose, and a mouth, and I'll worship that. It's the basis of idolatry.
It's the root of idolatry. It's what people have done for thousands of years, and even the children of Israel had all around them in the Old Testament. And I think that's one of the reasons people today will say, I looked at the clouds and I saw Jesus. You see Jesus? That looks just like Jesus. Well, I've never seen Jesus.
I wouldn't know. Or, look, look at this piece of toast. There's Jesus' face in the toast. Or the tortilla. There's Jesus in the tortilla.
Or in an overexposed reflection of a fender on a car. I mean, I have seen it all. It's their desire, like Philip, to see God. These then form two roadblocks. I need proof, and I can't connect the dots.
Now let's look at the resources. There's four principles I want you to notice to help us know God, and if you know God, to know Him better. Number one, by being in His presence. By being in His presence, verse 9. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? Now listen to this statement. He's proclaiming His deity in an unmistakably clear manner again. He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, show us the Father? Now, these words of Jesus, besides being a statement of His deity, I think they're tinged with sadness.
There's a pathos in them. I've been around you so long. We've shared so many intimate moments in the last few years, and you still don't know Me. It brings up an interesting point. It's possible to be around someone and not fully know who they are. I've heard married couples tell me this.
We've been married this many years, but I feel like I really don't know Him or haven't known Him until now. They had been around Jesus for three and a half years. Cute little story. Years ago, we had the privilege of going to a World Series two games back in Atlanta, Georgia, when the Braves played the Yankees, 96. And we rode the team bus, the Yankee team bus, because one of the pitchers used to fellowship here, got us the seats and got us the tickets. We're driving back to the hotel after the game. The Yankees won that night.
They were all high. My son Nate sits down among the whole team, and next to him sits one of their coaches, the great Reggie Jackson, Mr. October. Nathan doesn't have a clue who it is. Sitting right next to him, riding the bus, talking it up, doesn't know who it is. Reggie goes, hi, I'm Reggie Jackson from California.
Nate goes, I'm Nate Heitzig from Albuquerque. Didn't know who he was sitting next to. It's possible, like here, to be around someone and not know who they are. But at the same time, it is possible to know God when you have an open heart and an inquisitive mind, you can know Him. And the disciples are in that process of knowing Jesus. And as I mentioned, Thomas will eventually say my Lord and my God.
He'll make that discovery. Now if you're an unbeliever today, let me just challenge you to spend a little bit of your time investigating the evidences for the faith in Jesus Christ. So it actually becomes something you're interested in, and you even dare to seek the Lord. Because the Bible makes a promise, if you seek the Lord with all of your heart, you will find Him.
He will be found by you. Second, if you're a believer this morning, here's my challenge. Start evaluating your time, not in so much what you do for God as time you spend with God. See, sometimes we make the mistake of, I'm so busy working for God. You know, you can work for God all the time. You can be a pastor of a church and not even know Him. The church of Ephesus had this wonderful thing going and a problem going at the same time. Jesus writes in the letter in Revelation.
He says to the church of Ephesus, I know you work hard, you labor, but I have something against you. You've left your first love. Remember that? You're working, you labor, but you've left your first love.
You know what their problem was? I'll paraphrase it. You guys are so busy about the king's business that you have actually forgotten the king himself. How about just taking a tad bit more of your time to be with Him, to fellowship with Him by being in His presence. Number two principle, by believing in His person. And what I mean by that, because you say, well, I already believe in God.
Learning to trust Him more. Verse 10, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? And then look at verse 11, believe me that I am in the Father.
Okay, stop and think about that. Who is Jesus speaking to when He says believe me? He's speaking to believers. They're disciples. These aren't atheists.
He's not trying to convince them to get saved. They already believe in Him. They're disciples.
They're followers. Believe me. And in verse 11, the word believe is present, active, indicative. In other words, go on believing.
Keep it up. Let your faith grow. You see, you don't just get saved by faith. You move on in the Christian life by faith.
By learning to trust Him more and more. That was Paul's desire. He writes to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 15. We hope that your faith will continue to grow.
Is it? The writer of Hebrews declared, without faith it's impossible to please Him, and whoever comes to God must first believe that He is, and second, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Are you diligently seeking Him? There was a skeptical physician treating a patient who was a strong, vibrant believer, and the doctor confessed after the surgery that he performed on his patient. He said, you know, I believe in God. I guess I believe in Jesus. I'm not conscious that I have any real doubts, but I don't know if I'm saved.
I struggle with this whole faith thing. The patient said, a week ago, doctor, I believed in you as a very skillful physician. I believed that if I got sick, you'd help me. But two days ago, I let you cut into me and give me some medicine that I didn't understand, but I entrusted you with my life completely.
You can see the difference. It's one thing to believe as a patient if I get sick, that guy's going to help me or could help me. It's another thing to say, I'm sick now. Help me. I surrender. I entrust my life to you. So here's my question. Is your faith growing or is it stagnant? Would you describe your faith as very active, very alive, or needing life support? One of the greatest prayers you could ever pray is what the disciples prayed.
Now get this. On one occasion, Jesus told the disciples, you guys need to forgive people. What do you mean by that? Jesus said, if somebody offends you seven times in a day, seven times in a day, and comes up to you and says to you, I repent, you're to forgive them. Okay, that's pretty amazing. Imagine somebody walking up to you, slapping you in the face, and then afterwards going, I'm sorry. You go, okay, okay, I forgive you.
Don't do it again. Twenty minutes later, bam, slaps you up again. And says, I'm sorry. Now by that time, by number two, you're going to go, you know what? Don't you ever do that again.
By the third time, he slaps you and says, I'm sorry. You're going to say, I'm not going to forgive you because that's not real repentance. You know what Jesus said? Even if he says to you, I repent, forgive them even seven times. You know what the disciples said when Jesus said that?
You know what they said? Listen, you'll relate. Lord, increase our faith.
Makes sense, doesn't it? It's like, I don't have that kind of faith. Help me on that one.
I'm not doing good on that one. Increase our faith. That's a good thing to pray.
Lord, increase our faith. So, being in his presence, believing in his person, here's a third way that can help you know God. Bending to his word. Bending to his word.
Notice in verse 10, in the second sentence, the words, the words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Jesus appeals to the words they had heard him say for the last three years. Sermon on the Mount, the Upper Room Discourse, all the magical, wonderful promises that Jesus gave during that time. You know that whenever Jesus spoke and the Bible records the reaction of the crowd, sometimes they were hostile, sometimes they were very comforted.
I mean, no one was ever unmoved. After he gave the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, after he finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke as one who had authority and not as the scribes. Listen to this, on another occasion, the elders sent the police to arrest Jesus.
The police come back to the elders empty handed and they go, where is he? We sent you to get him. And the police said, no one ever spoke the way this man does.
Oh, didn't you bring him back? Wow, he could speak. His words were so powerful. So Jesus is appealing to the words that he spoke. You've heard what I've said the last few years.
You've heard and seen the power of those words. Hey, if you wanna know God, read his book. You wanna know God, read his book. When you read his book, you'll start knowing God. His personality is revealed in the book. His will is revealed in the book. What he hates is revealed in the book. What he loves is revealed in the book. How he works with people is revealed in the book. You'll read stories about men and women in the book who encounter God. You'll read poetry in the book of people who worship God. You'll read letters in the book of people who spoke to and spoke from God to people.
And all of that will form for you and for me a profile, if you will, of who he is. You'll come to know God through the Bible. That's why Martin Luther used to say the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands.
It lays hold of me. You wanna know God, read his book. I believe one of the strongest signs of a real child of God is that person's hunger to learn more about God. I read the Bible once a year. I'm not really into that kind of stuff. I don't really, like I have to read it all the time. Really?
Boy, I don't know. My heart cry to this day is that I can know him. And I love reading that book.
I love reading his word, because he speaks to me in it. George Gallup, Jr., you're familiar with his name. He's a pollster. He polls America, has asked what they had thought about this and that over the many years. He called America a nation of biblical illiterates.
Wanna know why? He says four out of 10 Americans, only four, know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Most Americans cannot name the four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Some of us think it's John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
That's how bad we are. Only three out of 10 teenagers know why Easter is celebrated. They don't have a clue.
Only three out of 10 know why Easter is celebrated. You wanna know God? Read his book. Bend to his word. That's how he speaks. Here's the fourth and final way and we close.
By beholding his works, verse 11, believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or believe me for the sake or on the evidence of the works themselves. You guys have heard what I've said. You guys have seen what I have done.
So let's apply it, because we don't have much time left. One of the ways to know God isn't just by getting information, but by seeing transformation. We see wherever Jesus is, he changes a life.
Let me just tell you that I have the privilege of seeing and hearing testimonies of changed lives all the time. A couple months ago, I get a phone call from overseas. One of our soldiers stationed overseas calls me.
He goes, I've been listening to you on the internet. I gotta confess to you. I was raised in a Christian home. I'm a pastor's son. I don't think I believe in God.
I don't think I believe in Jesus. He had so many arguments for the faith, and it swallowed him up. Besides that, he was losing his marriage, he said.
He just had a can of worms. Without going through all of his story, let me just say that today, he's reconciled with his wife and walking with his God, and I got to watch that transformation over the period of time. God is in the business of working, doing things. Find out what he's doing.
Look at it and observe it and marvel at it. If you wanna know God, hang out with him. You wanna know God, learn to trust him more.
Let go more, surrender more. You wanna know God, read his book. You wanna know God, check out what God is doing.
But let me say, let your highest priority in life is to know God, to know God. I close with a story. There was a carpenter, a very good carpenter. He was getting older and decided, I'm gonna retire, I'm gonna relax. So he went to the boss and he said, I'm done, I quit.
The boss said, boy, I hate to lose you. You're such a skilled craftsman. Do me one favor. Before you completely retire, I want you to build me just one more house, just one more house.
Will you do that? I said, oh, okay, I'll do it. It was his last house. His heart wasn't in it. He applied poor shoddy craftsmanship, inferior material, just threw it together. When it was all done, the boss walked up to him with the front door keys and said, I'm giving you the house, not knowing how he built it. I'm giving you the house. You've been so good, you've worked so hard. It's my gift to you.
I'm letting you have this house free of charge to live in. Well, now the guy realizes if I'd have known that at the beginning, I would have built very differently. You're building your life one choice, one day at a time. How are you doing with that?
How are you building that? What are your priorities? Is it knowing God? Is it to be conformed into his image? Is it to get as ready for heaven as you possibly can so that when you go there, it's like, oh, right, I heard about this place. You know, I kind of want to get to heaven and say, oh, I know about that, I remember that, read that. Yep, yep, oh, yeah, recognize that guy.
It's more like home. Build your life one day at a time. That is so important to be aware that we're not only building for today, but we're building for eternity. What a great reminder from Skip Heitzig today, and the message you just heard was called How Can I Know God? It's part of our current series, Believe 879. And you can get a personal CD copy of today's message for your audio library. Each copy is just $4 plus shipping.
Order today when you call 1-800-922-1888. And each month we put together a special resource package designed to encourage you. You won't want to miss out on this incredible June resource. Today's modern martyrs' actions mirror the courage of a long line of brave Christians. And as believers, it's important that we know the heroic sacrifice of those who gave it all for the Christian faith so that we too can boldly stand for Christ.
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