John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 1. The existence of God lies at the foundation of all religion: and, therefore, the knowledge of God is the touch-stone of its principles. Error and falsehood are not going to yield to any science but that of Deity. 2. It is the lack of this knowledge which sustains impiety. The stupidity of sinners would be gone if they saw clearly what God is. That one thing they shun. They do not like to retain God in their knowledge. 3. If Christians knew God better, their piety would be increased. Those ancient saints, whose happy attainments held them superior to the world, always nurtured their piety by much study and fellowship with God. 4. This subject of knowledge can never be exhausted. A finite mind, perhaps, may reach some point in eternity when it shall have compassed all other subjects, and be able to look down upon and over all other fields of knowledge without darkness and without a doubt. But God still lies above it — beyond it! 5. By a true knowledge of God, we shall have a clear and experimental discernment of the beauty and grandeur of His character. Hence, we shall feel the desirableness of being like Him. 6. Our relations to God are such that we ought greatly to desire to know Him well. He is our Maker; He wilt be our Judge. II. SOME ARGUMENTS FOR THIS STUDY. This knowledge of God tends — 1. To humble us. When we know Him best we know ourselves best. It is this that dissipates our delusions. "Woe is me! I am undone." Why? "Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 2. To crucify us to the world. To have a spiritual understanding of the exceeding excellencies of God makes the world seem but a very little thing. It shows us its emptiness. The heart uses that new arithmetic, to count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. To purify the heart. No sight is so transforming as that of God. When we can have our minds and hearts brought so as to see with open face the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. 4. To confirm and establish the believer's heart. Speculation cannot do this. Self-examination, submission to creeds and forms, and all study of doctrines, cannot do it. To have full views of God; to know Him by direct fellowship; to live in His presence, and lie down and feel that the everlasting arms are around him, shows to the believer the fulness and the faithfulness of God, and confirms his heart in something like the full assurance of hope. Now he can call God his Father. 5. Hence such a knowledge of God is most satisfying and safe. (I. S. Spencer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. |
    |