"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things.” Jeremiah 9:23-24

Knowing God is more important and more valuable than human wisdom, might, and riches. However, we must consider the perplexing question in Job 11:7, "Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?" The answer is obvious ... we cannot understand and cannot know the infinite, unlimited God without His initiative. Our finiteness limits our comprehension of the infinite.

God has taken the initiative to reveal Himself to us. Therefore, we can understand and know Him. God has given us the Spirit to guide us into truth, John 16:13. He has revealed Himself in creation, Romans 1:20 ... in that we see His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature. We see something of God in man. He made man in His image and His likeness, Genesis 1:26-27. The Bible is God's Word to us and for us, Matthew 4:4, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12. In addition, God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ, Hebrews 1:1-12, 1 John 5:20. Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9. We can know the true and infinite God. Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3. God has given us these five means to learn of Him ... the Spirit, creation, man, the Bible, and Jesus.

There is so much of God that we can know even within the inadequacies of our limited, finite words. We can know that God is one. We can know that He is three. In addition, we can know that He is three-in-one. However, we cannot know how that can be. The general attributes of God give us understanding about how great, how immense, how immeasurable He is ... but finite understanding falls short of the infinite.

Each of the members of the Trinity is equal to the others. Each is fully and totally God. At the same time, each is uniquely distinct from the others. The Father sent Jesus to us. He returned to the Father. Then Jesus sent the Spirit from the Father to help us ... to indwell us ... to empower us. Our life with the Spirit is of vital importance to our being all that the triune God wants us to be.

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KNOWING GOD 1    PAGES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10   
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Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.