Last week in Dr. Evans’ series of sermons on “Knowing God,” we learned how to deepen our hunger for God by looking at the apostle Paul’s own hunger to “know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). This week Dr. Evans directed our attention to the practical question of “when in our lives do we come to know God?” By identifying the ways in which God chooses to reveal Himself, we can better position ourselves to receive that revelation and ultimately come to know Him in a deeper way. Dr. Evans suggested three signposts from 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 to guide us in our search for knowing God in the spirit.
1. The knowledge of God begins with the pursuit of spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:9). Dr. Evans noted that we often lack knowledge of God because we are using improper means to obtain that knowledge. The body, or our physical nature, can only receive knowledge through our five senses and is thus limited to knowledge about the natural world. The soul, or our personality, is distorted by sin so that often we cannot even fully understand ourselves. The knowledge of God, which surpasses human knowledge, contains “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which has not entered the heart of man” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Although the knowledge of God is unobtainable by worldly means, God has not left us without help in this pursuit of knowing Him.
2. We receive this spiritual knowledge of God through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives (1 Corinthians 2:10-12). When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. Because the Holy Spirit is “not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God” (2:12), we become spiritually connected to what Dr. Evans labeled “God’s search engine.” The Spirit “searches all things, even the depths of God” (2:10), and, as we yield to the Spirit’s work in our lives, we are drawn deeper into the depths of knowing God “so that we may know the things freely given to us by God” (2:12). Dr. Evans compared the Spirit’s work to a deep sea diver who must have the proper equipment to survive the plunge into the ocean’s depths and learn about its unique life and terrain. If we desire to go “deep God diving,” we must equip ourselves with the presence and continual work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must remember that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised” (2:14).
3. The Holy Spirit uses the Bible to impart this spiritual knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 2:13). Because the Bible is the inspired Word of God, it contains more than just words on a page; it contains words “taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (2:13). The presence of the Spirit makes the Bible “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). As we read and study its pages, the Spirit helps us to understand its meaning and apply it to our lives.
We must remember that the knowledge of God begins with the pursuit of spiritual things as the Holy Spirit works within us. As we diligently study the Bible, God will reveal His word through the on-going work of the Spirit. It is only then that we will truly know God.
