The Knowledge of God

Eduardo Elizondo—May 13, 2023

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We're going to study a topic that is very, very important, absolutely critical in our relationship with God. It's the reason why we do what we do. We're going to see that it is absolutely fundamental to think on these Scriptures and to know these things that we're going to talk about today.

The book of Proverbs we know are the Proverbs of Solomon, but this first section is written by a father to his son. We could speculate whether David wrote this for his son Solomon or not. But in any case it still applies to us, because we are the children of God, like Apostle John says in 1-John 3. We are the children of God and God the Father is our Father, Jesus said that as He was ascending to His Father and our Father; that applies to us!

With this context, this perspective, that I would like for us to read these verses, because these are the instructions of God the Father to us, what we are to do, and how we are to do it!

Proverbs 2:1: "My son, if you will receive My words and treasure up my commandments within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you shall understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God" (vs 1-5).

There are a lot of things here that God tells us to do, and the very first thing that we have to do is to receive His words. That what He says, 'If we receive those words'; it starts with believing God and the Bible! That is the only source of absolute pure Truth on the earth! Then we have to treasure those commandments within us. That's why He's writing them in our heart and mind. That's why He's giving us His Spirit so that He can do that; so that He can change us.

We understand that conversion is a process, and it takes time. But it absolutely requires all of these steps that we will receive His words, and treasure those commandments within us because this is going to lead to the next thing that incline our ear to wisdom and apply our heart to understanding! So, these two things imply action on our part. That's cooperation with God's process of conversion. We have to incline our ear to hear, to wisdom! We have to apply our heart to understanding

Then it was if we cry after knowledge, the beginning. The first thing we have to have is knowledge! But knowledge puffs up! Knowledge by itself is not enough! We have to have understanding of that knowledge. It's how that knowledge is put together; that's what understanding is!

How it's put together to really get the full picture, to get that understanding. And understanding is not enough, then we have to go into wisdom, which is applying that understanding and that knowledge, to actual live by these words. That's why we have to hear wisdom, so that we can learn and do. But we have to "…seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures."

IF we do these things THEN we will understand the fear of the Lord, which is a whole topic in and of itself. But I want to focus on the second part of v 5, because it says that is IF we do these things we will find the knowledge of God!

Why is this important? This is absolutely critical in our walk with God. To find that knowledge of God. It is paramount to really everything that we do. God Himself said that!

Jesus prayed to His Father, and this is something that He said: How important that knowledge of God is! This tells us how important this is, to find this knowledge of God! Jesus said as He was praying to the Father:

John 17:3 "For this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You did send."

They're both God; who knows God the Father and God the Son! That's why it's both! That we may know Him the only true God and Jesus Christ Who is also God. That we may know Them both, that is eternal life!

Jesus was praying this before He was crucified, and He was saying something so profound that is hard for us to wrap our minds around it. But this is exactly what God wants us to do. This is the purpose of our calling, that we may know God! That is eternal life!!

We're going to study this topic of the knowledge of God, because it is so important that we get to know God! Not just in a knowledge sense, but in understanding and in a wise way. That we can be walking with God and we can be led by Him!'

We have to have this fully ingrained in our mind, how critical and important that it is; how important it is to God Who created us and has a plan for us, and has called us according to His purpose that we would have that; that we will have that knowledge of Him! That's exactly what God wants. We just read that that is eternal life! The third thing that Jesus said in the prayer right before He died, before He gave His life for us, and the meaning of everything!

He explains so much in that one chapter, in that one prayer. But this is what God really desires.

Jeremiah 9:23: "Thus says the LORD, 'Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom…'"

So, it's not only wisdom. Wisdom is above all understanding and knowledge. It's really important. We want that, but it's not only wisdom, it's beyond that. It's what we saw in v 5, what it's going to lead us to if we do these things; if we dedicate our lives to that as though we're trying to find silver or hidden treasure.

If it were physical things, maybe we would do it. If we knew there was a treasure there, we would probably stop everything we're doing and go dig and try to find that treasure. God wants us to do with that amount of diligence and dedication. Even wisdom is not the pinnacle.

"…Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom nor let the mighty man glory in his might… [that not what it's about] …do notlet the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these I delight,' says the LORD" (vs 23-24).

This is the critical part, because it tells us so much. These Scriptures tell us so much about God:

• His mind
• His purpose
• His plan

This is what God wants and desires for us! He desires that we get to know Him! Then He starts giving us some of His attributes, some of His character; so it's both.

He's basically saying to the maximum glory that any human being can ever achieve are not riches, wisdom, achievements; not any of that! It's just that 'they would know Me!' that's what God wants, and that's what we should want! We should want to know God, to really know God!

• that's is what God desires
• that is His purpose

That is exactly what Moses wanted, what all of the men of God wanted, all the patriarchs. David: That's why he wrote all these Psalms and all these things. We see examples of that and this exactly what they understood and desired. In one the Psalms, David wrote: 'besides You, I desire nothing upon the earth, nothing else.

Let's see what Moses said, and he was the 'meekest man.' It's amazing what God is saying here; this is what Moses is asking God, pleading with Him, praying to Him:

Exodus 33:13: "Now, therefore, I pray You, if I have found grace in Your sight, make me see now Your way, that I may know You…"

That was the purpose, the purpose of knowing God's way is to know God!That's exactly what Moses wanted. He said:

"…that I may find grace in Your sight…." (v 13).

Moses was not assuming, not pursuing anything, he was seeking God's mercy, love and favor. He had it, but then he asked for: "…make me see now Your way, that I may know You…"

• it wasn't about the way
• it wasn't about the people
• it wasn't about the plan for Israel

It was about him personally wanting to know God!

• that's what Abraham wanted
• that's what Jacob wanted
• that's what Joseph wanted
• that's what all the men of God have in common

This is what they wanted! They wanted to know God!

• Do you?
• Do you want to know God that way?
• Do I want to know God that way?

"…that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people …." (v 13).

But the purpose is to know God, because to know God is everything!

• it is eternal life
• it is the whole purpose of why we're here
  • to get to know God
  • to be sons and daughters born into His Kingdom

This topic of knowing God is all over the Bible! We can see it IF we pay attention to it. If our antennas are up to understand and see what this means:

• What does it mean to know God?
• What does the Bible tell us about knowing God?

Ephesians 4:13: "Until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Sometimes we focus on that last phrase because it's about us. But we have to read what it says in the first part of this verse: "…the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…"—

• knowingGod
• knowingJesus Christ Himself
• knowingthe Son of God

Really getting to know Him! This is absolutely critical

• in our walk with God
• to the Plan of God
• to the transformation that He is carrying out in each and every one of us

That is exactly what God wants!

Mark 12 is where the first and the second greatest commandments are. We're going to read something important here, because how Jesus responds to the scribe is very, very important.

Mark 12:28: "And one of the scribes who had come up to Him, after hearing them reasoning together and perceiving that He answered them well… [meaning Jesus] …asked Him, 'Which is the first commandment of all?' Then Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel. Our one God is the Lord, the Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment'" (vs 28-30).

How do you love someone you don't know?You have to know that person, and with God it's reciprocal! The more you know Him, the more you love Him! The more you love Him the more you know Him! He will reveal Himself to you!

Verse 31: "And the second is like this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Verse 32: "Then the scribe said to Him, 'Right, Master. You have spoken according to Truth that God is one, and there is not another besides Him."

We don't know if the scribe was taking a shot at Jesus because He was the Son of God, or maybe the scribe was sincere. But His words are correct.

Verse 33: "And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding… [we come back to the words we read in Proverbs] …and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

This is what God desires. He commanded burnt offerings and sacrifices, yes, they were still in effect then. But how did Jesus respond?

Verse 34: "And Jesus, seeing that he answered with understanding… [not just knowledge and understanding what he needed to do] …said to him, 'You are not far from the Kingdom of God.' And no one dared to question Him anymore."

• you're getting it
• you have the knowledge
• you have the understanding

Now go and apply that, go have wisdom, because you  know:

• what God really wants
• what God really desires

Jesus tried to explain these things. He tried to teach people about these things. Particularly the Pharisees in this case, didn't pay attention. They weren't as interested in learning as much as getting glory and praise from that. That's what God said!

Matt. 9—this is after Jesus comes and sees Matthew and He eats in the house of a tax collectors and sinner.

Matthew 9:11: "And after seeing this, the Pharisees said to His disciples, 'Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when Jesus heard it, He said to them, 'Those who are strong do not have need of a physician, but those who are sick. Now, go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance'" (vs 11-13).

He was telling them to "…go and learn what this means…" Go study this Scripture! Open the Scriptures and learn what this means.

It's important that we understand this. What happens is that they did not learn that, and we can corroborate that; there's another incident here where the Pharisees are there. This is when Jesus was walking with His disciples on the Sabbath Day:

Matthew 12:1: "At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath Days; and His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat them. But after seeing this, the Pharisees said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.'" (vs 1-2).

Verse 3: "But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he himself and those with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God and he ate the loaves of showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but for the priests only? Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple… [David was of the tribe of Judah, not a Levite] …profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?" (vs 3-5).

Jesus is not saying that that is not profaning the Sabbath; that is, that's a lot of work killing all those animals and preparing sacrifices and offerings. But then what does He say?

Verse 6: "But I say to you, there is One here Who is greater than the temple."

You have to understand Who you're dealing with! Then He tells them:

Verse 7: "Now, if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless."

You wouldn't have done that, but you didn't go to the Scriptures to learn what it says there. We're going to do that right now in Hosea. There's something very interesting here, because He had given only the first part of the verse. This is what He wanted them to do. He wanted them to go to the Scriptures, the book of Hosea, and read what it says there. They knew where that was written.

Hosea 6:6: "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

Just think about that for a minute! What does God really desire? Mercy and the  knowledge of God! That's what He really wants, and it goes together with loving Him. It goes together with the first and greatest commandment. If they would have read Hos. 6 they would have understood that what God really wants is for you:

• to know Him
• really know Him
• worship Him
• learn from Him
• have a relationship with Him
• have a heart that's sincere and given to Him completely

In Spirit and in Truth, not just an emotional thing, not just on the outside, not just in praise and song! Those are good things, but He really wants us to have a relationship with Him, and that implies knowing Him! That implies that knowledge!

That's what God want them to do, but they did not do it! It's so important, this is the reason, this is a salvational issue absolutely! It's so important! Our salvation depend on this, it really does! It is the knowledge of God and there's a lot of other things that we can study about the knowledge of God. This is what God wants:

• He wants you to know Him
• He wants your heart
• He wants you mind
• He wants all your thoughts
• He wants a heart completely dedicated to Him

This is not on an external thing or a religious thing! NO!

• this is a matter of the heart
• this is a matter of knowing Him
• having a personal relationship

That word relationship is not in the Bible, but everything is speaking about this, talking about this in the Word of God!

It's about a relationship with our Creator in humility, love and service! Knowing Him, that's the objective and the goal to really get to know God! Brethren, we will! We will get to know God in this life, not just when we're resurrected! In this life:

• IF we will receive His words
• IF we treasure His commandments within us
• IF we incline our ear to wisdom and have understanding
• IF we do those things from the heart
• IF we really desire this way of life
• IF we really desire to be transformed

And for God to show us things about ourselves as well, because He knows us better than we know ourselves! He's working with us, and we are the end product!

We all know the parable of the 10 virgins, we know what happens: 5 were wise and 5 were foolish and didn't have enough:

Matthew 25:10: "And while they… [the foolish virgins] …went to buy, the bridegroom came; and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. And afterwards the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' But He answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you'" (vs 10-12).

That's what matters! What matters is knowing God! If you don't know God, and God doesn't know you, you're not going to be in His Kingdom! This is how critical it is! This is how important it is!

He didn't tell them that they didn't have oil, you didn't do the works. Obviously, the oil represents the Holy Spirit and the Light. It could be because the Light was supposed to show who they are, see their face. That's how critical it is!

When Jesus says that somebody is not going to be in the Kingdom, it's because of this matter of not knowing the person, not knowing Him and having that relationship that goes both ways. Luke 13 is a similar account:

Luke 13:22: "Now, He was going through the cities and villages teaching, while making progress toward Jerusalem. And one said to Him, 'Lord, are those who are being saved few?' Then He said to them, 'Strive with your whole being…'" (vs 22-24).

Incline your heart; do this as seeking for silver and hidden treasures; strive with everything you are: with all your heart, mind soul and dedicate yourself!

"…to enter in through the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in, but shall not be able. Once the Master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside the door and knock, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us'; then shall He answer and say to you, 'I do not know you or where you are from'" (vs 24-25).

• IF  we know God, He's going to know us, too
• IF  we know God
• IF  we treasure those commandments and keep those words in our heart
• IF we are diligent to seek Him
• IF we cry out for knowledge, understanding and wisdom

Not only to know and understand, but to apply to become like God, to be completely transformed.

• He will know us
• He will know who we are
• He will know where we're from
• He will know what we've done

That's very important! Many times we can think that it is the works, and yes, He does know our works, but it's more than that! It's beyond that!

Let's illustrate another of these instances. We know this and probably can follow by memory, as well.

Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father…"

• who is applying understanding
• who is seeking wisdom
• who is having wisdom
• who is acting like that

• walking with God
• knowing God
• knowing what God wants in doing it

Verse 22: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness'" (vs 22-23).

That's why the first thing is to pay attention to His words, His commandments within us. Those are the first things! Do not work lawlessness! He will do that but it requires all of these other things. It requires crying out to God for knowledge, understanding and wisdom, and He will give it to us.

We will know God if we dedicate ourselves to doing that! He will show us amazing things every day from His Word, because that's what He wants. He wants a Bride that is clean. He wants the Body of Christ to:

• be prepared
• to be ready
• to know Him
• to love them with all their heart, soul, mind, being and strength

This is how important the knowledge of God is!

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 2:1-5
• John 17:3
• Jeremiah 9:23-24
• Exodus 33:13
• Ephesians 4:13
• Mark 12:28
• Matthew 9:11-13
• Matthew 12:1-7
• Hosea 6:6
• Matthew 25:10-12
• Luke 13:22-25
• Matthew 7:21-23

Scripture referenced, not quoted: 1-John 3

EE:bo
Transcribed: 5/17/23

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