Do You Know God? — John Piper

Knowing God Through Jesus

Do you know God? Do you know God? John 8, 19 is your test. Jesus says to those who claim to know God and were his adversary, or they said to him first, where is your father? They're calling him a bastard because they knew Mary was pregnant before she married Joseph.

Where's your father? And Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. And he's shifting categories on them. If you knew me, you would know my father.

They don't know Jesus. They're rejecting him. Therefore, he says, you don't know God. This is what got him killed. Saying to the most religious people on the planet who have the Old Testament memorized that they don't know God is highly inflammatory.

And that's what he said. Because everything I've said up to this point in this sermon is to help you understand that when God was revealed in the Old Testament, Christ was revealed. And if Christ shows up and you reject him, you never knew the revelation of God.

Honoring the Father by Honoring the Son

Test number two, implication number two, do you honor God? The first one was, do you know God? John 8, 19. The second one is, do you honor God? Ask yourself right now, do I honor God, the maker of heaven and earth?

Do I honor God? Here's your test, John 5, 23. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So the Father and the Son are revealed in Scripture with such union, such unity, that if you dishonor the one, you dishonor the other.

The Son’s Sacrificial Work, Resurrection, and Lordship

And dishonor means not speaking nicely about him and denying who he is. Honor him means recognize he's the Son of God, crucified for sinners, risen from the dead, reigning in heaven, coming again, Lord of the universe.

That's the way you honor the Son. And if you reject any of that, you don't honor the Son, and therefore, don't honor God. No matter what you say, or how much of any Bible you have memorized, or how much you go to church anywhere, or mosque, or synagogue, or tree, or shrine, or Baptist church.