It Is Not for You to Know
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
Text: Acts 1:1-11
I. How would your decisions change if you knew what would happen tomorrow?
A. Without a doubt we are curious people. We don’t like being kept in the dark.
1. You can see it in any child: “Are we there yet?”
2. But it remains present in adults: “Do you think we’ll land the Johnson account?”
B. We want to know what is just beyond the horizon
1. When I get some place new, I want to explore a bit to get a feel for what the area is like.
2. God wants man to reach out - Genesis 11:1-9
a. Our nations formed as people scattered through the world - Genesis 10:32
3. Our own country formed from people who went out exploring, daring to face the unknown.
C. Much of our progress in technology, medicine, and the like comes from getting our thinking out of the ruts we generally fall into.
II. Even in the religious realm, man wants to find out about God - Acts 17:26-27
A. God set up our world, in part to ignite our curiosity, to seek Him out.
B. It isn’t that we have far to look - Romans 1:19-20
C. Anyone can find God if they bother to look. But learning about God through nature has its limitations - Psalms 19
1. Notice the transition, nature declares God, but God tells even more about Himself directly.
2. He has given us all things concerning life and godliness - II Peter 1:2-4
III. But for many this isn’t enough. God hasn’t revealed everything and man wants to know more.
A. God only told us what He wanted us to know - Deuteronomy 29:29
B. No one can read God’s mind - I Corinthians 2:7-13
1. God has revealed much, but not everything
2. He hints that if the future was fully revealed, then people would try to prevent God’s plans.
C. But that has never prevented people from claiming to have an insider’s knowledge of God - Jeremiah 23:16-32
1. No one can know the counsels of God.
2. Those who claim to have messages from God, which He did not send, are speaking their own minds – not God’s
D. Despite the fact that God has said prophecy would cease (I Corinthians 13:8-10), man wants to know things so badly that they willing believe anyone who claims to have secret knowledge of God - II Thessalonians 2:9-12
1. Gnosticism, “secret knowledge” was a early form of this drive - I Timothy 6:20-21
2. It continues to day in people claiming to have special revelation from God.
IV. There are things which are just not for man to know
A. The early prophets wanted to know about how salvation and when salvation would come to mankind, and weren’t told - I Peter 1:10-12
B. Peter wanted to know what would happen to John - John 21:20-23
1. Peter was even told a bit about his own future, something most of us are never told; yet, it wasn’t enough
C. The disciples wanted to know when Israel would be restored - Acts 1:6-7
D. People have long wanted to know when the second coming will take place, yet it too is something we are not told - Matthew 24:36-39
1. We are assured that it is a certainty that Judgment is coming - I Thessalonians 4:16-18
2. But we not told when - II Peter 3:3-10
3. It means that there can’t be any last minute preparation because you don’t know when the last minute will take place - Matthew 25:1-13
V. Knowing that you cannot know when, a question remains - II Peter 3:11
A. We ought to be people looking forward to the time - II Peter 3:12-15
B. Though the time is not now, we should see it as just more opportunity to make our lives better in accordance to God’s word.
C. So what are you doing? Procrastinating or preparing?
Based on an article by Kent Heaton
