Series:              Systematic Theology Part 1
Title:                The Existence and Knowability of God
Purpose:          To identify how we know God exists and how much we can
                          really know of God             
Date:               October 13, 2024
 
I.                   Humanity’s inner sense of God
II.                Believing the evidence in scripture and nature
III.             Traditional “proofs” for the existence of God
A.    Cosmological (cosmos - world)  argument 
B.     Teleological (telos - end or purpose) argument 
C.     Ontological (ont - means being) argument 
D.    Moral argument 
E.     When constructed properly, these are all valid proofs, in an objective sense, and the facts used are true. 
IV.             Only God can overcome our sin and enable us to be persuaded of His existence
V.                The necessity for God to reveal Himself to us
A.    Even nature’s message is because God is revealing Himself - Romans 1:19
B.     All we know about salvation is revealed knowledge - Matthew 11:27
C.     Not found through human wisdom
D.    Sinful people misinterpret God’s revelation of Himself in nature
E.     Bible alone tells us how to understand God’s revelation of Himself in nature
F.      God’s active communication to us in scripture is the only source we have of true knowledge of God
VI.             We can never fully understand God
A.    God is incomprehensible
B.     We can never fully understand any single thing about God
C.     We can know something about multiple characteristics of God
D.    Never know too much
E.     Never be able to know everything but must keep learning
VII.          Yet we can know God truly
A.    Everything that the scriptures say about God is true
B.     God is love - 1 John 4:8
C.     God is light - 1 John 1:5
D.    God is Spirit - John 4:24
E.     God is fair and just - Romans 3:26
F.      Knowing truth does not imply full knowledge (having children example)
G.    Difference in knowing facts about and knowing person
H.    We know God, not just facts about Him