It’s Impossible to Know God – Lies of the Enemy #29– Purity 1041

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the silhouettes of waterfowl on a land bridge of what we believe to be Onondaga Lake at the early stages of twilight time comes to us from a Facebook friend who shared this photo on social media on May 9th, rejoicing over their completion of a nature hike walk challenge on the West Trail just before the sun went down. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and as the sun goes down on another work week, I am thanking the Lord for all he has done and as he has truly blessed, um, and guided my path as I began leading a new recovery discipleship growth group, Celebrate Freedom, at Star Point Church on Wednesday. Not surprising, there was a little stress involved in launching the new group. The church classroom facilities and the logistics of how we would operate were relatively unknown to me right up until our first meeting. But now that we have met and I know how we can do this, I am excited over what the Lord will do through this group, and I am already looking forward to our next meeting. Uh, but before I get too far ahead of myself, I am looking forward to the end of the workday today and spending the weekend with my wife at our countryside home. And I also wish anyone who sees or hears this message to have an awesome weekend and to make the most of the free time, uh, you have over the next few days by appreciating what you have and giving thanks to the Lord for it all. This morning as I was working out, I was filled with joy and gratitude over what has transpired over the last week and in anticipation of the day ahead of me, and was thrilled as the playlist I was listening to offered up Hillsong's "Came to My Rescue," which goes: My whole life I place in your hands, God of mercy, humble I bow down. 'in your presence at your throne.' Then it goes, 'I called, you answered, and you came to my rescue, and I wanna be where you are.' And that repeats a few times until it comes to the triumphant bridge that goes, 'In my life Be lifted high in our world. Be lifted high in our love. Be lifted high. And that, and of course that repeats a few times while I was, uh, over and over again, uh, while I was working out. I enjoyed it, but I didn't sing along. And long after my workout and prayer and meditation, I discovered the song had apparently grabbed hold of me as I was just moved to sing it in the shower. I just love how the Lord, the love of the Lord, can move us to explode in spontaneous worship sometimes. After looking up the lyrics, I realized that I got some of them wrong as I came— I could have sworn that I want to know you more was somewhere in the mix, but I guess I got that confused with I want to be where you are. Anyway, as I thought about how I have been walking with the Lord for the past several years, I remembered the skeptical idea or the assertion that some non-believing people or philosophers have made about how it is impossible to know God, and how I know that, that to be a lie from the pit of hell, because I called and God answered and he came to my rescue. And I know that he has always been there waiting for me to come to him. And this brings us to our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements, uh, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today's big lie is lie number 29: it's impossible to know God. In my limited, uh, research this morning, I found an article on Crossway called Why It Is Both Possible and Impossible to Know God. That addresses this, this paradoxical reality. I am sharing the link to it on the blog so you can read it in its entirety, but for now I'll borrow from its opening to establish how supposedly smart men have been playing the devil's advocate by supporting the lie that it's impossible to know God. Beek and Smalley's article begins: Skeptics and agnostics argue that it is irrational to speak of knowing God. Some would say that if there is a God, that then he is so far above us that we cannot know him. Robert Ingersoll asked skeptically, is it possible for the human mind to conceive of an infinite personality? Can it imagine a beginningless being, infinitely powerful and intelligent? Others say that perhaps we might know something about God, but we cannot know him personally. Aristotle said that friendship requires a degree of equality, but where there is a great gulf, as between God and man, friendship becomes impossible. As you may suspect, these wise guys had a point philosophically and hypothetically, but Jesus isn't a philosophical question or a hypothetical situation to be pondered in the recesses of our minds. Jesus was the Word made flesh. He is the Word made flesh. He is God incarnate. And when there was some doubt in one of his disciples after his resurrection, he invited Thomas to know him more by reaching out and touching him. John 20:27 tells us Jesus said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer, believe! To which Thomas exclaimed in John 20:28, "My Lord and my God!" Thomas and all the other disciples knew God personally. They walked, talked, worked, and lived with God, and through their accounts of their experience with Jesus and through the accounts of the Old Testament writers of their experiences with God, we can know God too. That's the first way we can know the Lord, through his word. But God is spirit as well, and he and his is an ever-present, living, and powerful spirit that could be known when we seek his presence, guidance, and strength through prayer. The point that the Crossway article makes is that while it is very, very well may seem that we could struggle to know an infinite God in, in theory, uh, it is possible to know God because God has made himself known. God revealed himself to man from the beginning, and he hasn't stopped. He revealed himself in his— he reveals himself in history, in his word, and the person of Jesus Christ, and in the transformed lives of those who have put their faith in him. While the skeptics may have a point that we can't know everything about the infinite wisdom of God because our capacities are limited, limited, we can know the Lord enough to be brought into an eternal relationship through faith in Jesus Christ with him. While we probably have— probably won't have perfect knowledge of everything about the Lord, we can know his love for us and his will for us as it is revealed in his word. So don't believe the lie that it is impossible— it is an impossibility to know God. I and many others know from experience that if you seek Him, you will find Him. And if you investigate the person of Jesus Christ, you, like Thomas, will discover that you can know the Lord, and you too can exclaim, "My Lord and my God!" Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Romans 1:16. And the word of God says, for I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Today's verse speaks of the ability for people from all walks of life to know God and to be saved through the good news about Jesus Christ, and that the power of God is at work when someone believes. It may seem overly simplistic, but I would suggest that if you enter into a theological discussion about the existence of God, to just say Jesus as your opening and closing argument on the matter. Um, people have to answer the question of Jesus. Is he, is he who he said he was or not? While I can imagine that there are all sorts of intricacies to the arguments against Jesus being the Messiah, God in the flesh, I know the one thing that doesn't result from intelligently arguing against His Lordship, and that thing is peace. I have seen enough debates with atheists and heard enough of the arguments from skeptics to know that whatever pride may result from our intellectual ponderings, they certainly don't seem to have it all figured out because they invariably seem to lack a convincing semblance of, of certainty or peace. And as much as they would seek to make Christians ashamed of the gospel they proclaim, um, whatever peace they may attempt to convey seems to be a demonic counterfeit, as they have become mouthpieces for the kingdom of darkness that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Like a pedophile offering sweet treats to children. Atheists, members of false religions, secular humanists, and the nihilists of the world, um, uh, uh, offer the, the things they offer are, are a trap, uh, from the pit of hell, and they are in desperate need of a savior. And so we should speak the good news of Jesus Christ and pray, the power of God will work to pull them into the peace that can only be found in Christ alone. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Satan, Demons, and Satanism: A Sinister Reality, uh, by Dr. June Hunt. Um, and today we're still in the Section 4, The Steps to Solution, and, uh, Section D, which says to discern the diminishing role of demons. And, um, and so if you want to see what that's all about, go to M.t. Clark for Christ to, um, uh, see that section. And, uh, the section ends with the question, can Christians be demon-possessed? So if you want to see Dr. June Hunt's thoughts on that theological question. Go to M.t. Clark's and you'll find that question at the very end of today's blog post. As always, we share these views that we might not completely agree with. For a simple question, it's got, you know, several layers to it, and You know, I would offer that I don't believe true Christians can be demon-possessed either, but there's the rub. And in terms of language, Dr. Marcus Warner points out that possession really is a bad translation. So yeah, there's a lot. I would point to Dr. Carl Payne's book on spiritual warfare, Dr. Neil Anderson's book on, uh, The Bondage Breaker to, uh, to get an idea of what I believe. Um, you know, I sort of agree with the, the findings of these gentlemen, um, that while I don't think anybody can be possessed by a demon, that, uh, we can be tormented by them, um, when we give footholds in our lives through sin or, you know, the strongholds in the mind from unrepentant sins, or the lies we believe, the agreements we make with the enemy, um, they open the door to Satan's, uh, power in your life to, to afflict you and torment you. So that's why the Apostle Paul, and, you know, told us to put on the full armor of God if we were completely, you know, safe from the wiles of the devil, why would we have to defend ourselves? Well, sort of tells you something. But as for possession, you know, complete control, um, I don't know about that. Not for a Christian, for sure. Um, um, yeah, any— and again, true Christian, not, you know, he says he believes and doesn't really believe, you know. Anyway, enough about demons today. Uh, Christ has overcome death and the grave, and we have authority over the spiritual forces of darkness through, through Jesus Christ. Um, and, uh, so we stand in our victory and our freedom, and we, we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to stay diligent, to not give any ground to the enemy. So, um, we encourage you to, uh, you know, if you don't know your freedom in Christ, we encourage you to pursue it because you can obtain it through faith and, and through prayer. So we invite you to check out our discipleship series of classes on Victory Over the Darkness: The Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ if you want to be educated in those— in that regard. And if you wanted to, you could take a deeper dive into the material by reaching out to, uh, to me via email at mt4christ247@gmail.com, and I could provide the Word documents that I handed out in the classes when I taught those back in 2021. Also, we revere the word of God here on the podcast, and so we, uh, we encourage Bible study. And the way we do it is we share our Bible study as we meet once a week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti for a topical Bible study discussion. Um, and, uh, we, we have a whole archive, 101 episodes. So if you wanted to, uh, listen in to hear our thoughts as we ponder what words— the word of God and what it means for our lives, you can check those out on the, uh, the podcast and our YouTube channel as well. Well, it is Friday, and I am very happy, uh, that we've come to the last day of the work week. Uh, I need I, I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing my wife and getting some rest. I'm really not sure what we have planned for the weekend, but we'll certainly do something. It's Mother's Day on, on Sunday, so don't forget your mother if she's still with you, you know, to give her honor and bless her in some way. Uh, I gotta figure out exactly what me and my brothers are gonna do. I'll probably leave my wife on Sunday to go go be with my mother in some way, shape, or form. No one's reached out to me to say they have any plans, so I might be the one who has to do that. Um, but, um, the, the, the Ten Commandments includes to honor your mother and father, and it gives the promise when you do that to have a long life. So, um, I want to be obedient to the word of God and, uh you know, in the Hallmark holiday, uh, that they've created around Mother's Day. So I'll be, uh, doing something to honor my mother on Sunday. So, um, watch out, Mom. Anyway, uh, I gotta go to work, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for everything you've done for us and that you came to our rescue and led us out of the darkness. And now we get to represent you uh, wherever we go. And so we need your help with that, Lord. First of all, we would like you to come alongside anyone who's listening or, or reading this message, that you come alongside them and help them in their walk, come alongside their prayer request and give them the strength and guidance and healing they need, um, as appropriate. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead our paths and the things you would have us do. Because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom. So Lord, we just, uh, we, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.