C.A.C SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL FOR , APRIL 3 & 10, 2022 UNIT TWO, LESSON SIX : TOPIC – GOD’S KNOWLEDGE VERSUS CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

Worldly knowledge kills. Only God’s knowledge saves Pursue the knowledge of Christ and become His best for your life.

Paul often urged people to set their minds on eternal things rather than the transitory affairs of this world. He condemn those whose minds were taken up with ephemeral matters and pleasure. A school of thought divides humanity into the enlightened and the foolish; Judaism divides humanity into Israel and the Gentiles. Paul own devices. In Romans 8:7,8, Paul responded, What does it differently mean to live according to the sinful nature, and according to the Spirit? He explained that the former means having their minds set on regard for God. The exact opposite it true of those who live according to the Spirit. They have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The sinful nature and the indwelling Spirit are in conflict (Gal. 5:17).

What difference does it make whether a person is mindful of the flesh or of the Spirit? Paul clarified. The mind of the sinful man is death (cf. 8:6b-7), i.e. it is equivalent to death, or it leads to death in all its forms – physical and spiritual. On the other hand, the mind controlled by the Spirit is life, eternally, and peace, immediately and ultimately. In 8:7-8, Paul focused only on the sinful mind to explain why he said that it ends up in death: (1) It is hostile to God (cf. 5:10); (2) it does not submit to God’s Law; and (3) it cannot do so. The result is that, those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. The unsaved live lives that are totally devoid of spiritual life and ability. A believer, then, who gives in to his sinful nature is acting like the unsaved (cf. 1 Cor. 3:3).

Mon. Mar. 28: Deception Is As Old As Creation (Gen. 3:1a)

Tue. Mar. 29: Decwivers Hide Their Nefarious Intensions (Gen. 3:1b, 2)

Wed. Mar. 30: Death Results From Disobedience (Gen. 3:3)

Thur. Mar. 31: Decwivers From False Knowledge Against God’s (Gen. 3:4,5)

Fri. Apr. 1: Disaster Results From Godless Knowledge (Gen. 3:6,7)

Sat. Apr. 2: Disobedience Brings Guilt And Shame (Gen. 3:8-11)

1. The yearning and pursuit of the carnal mind end in enmity with God, because it is opposed to the knowledge of God.

2. Living without God’s knowledge yields corruption and destruction that result from being enmity with God

Those who choose to be God’s enemies would immediately and ultimately regrets their foolish choice.

AIM: To show that the knowledge of God supersede the carnal one in all ramifications.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this lesson, learners should be:

i. able to differentiate between God’s knowledge and the carnal’s;

ii. able to show that God’s knowledge is important in our daily living than the carnal knowledge;

iii. able to defend the fast that the end result of the carnal knowledge is destruction without remedy; and

iv. more determined to pursue the knowledge of God over and against the carnal.

It is a great thing to come to God’s throne of mercy again, and again, to nourish our souls through His Word. We have leant, and our knowledge has increased in the past weeks, in His Word, about GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD, which we have been discussing since the beginning of the first half of this year (January to June). Glory be to the Lord. Hallelujah!

Last week, we concluded discussions on the topic, THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE. It is expected that we should have better understood that, lacking God’s knowledge makes one miserable, and having zeal in any form, without knowledge, is hazardous. Nevertheless, God promises us His knowledge that, if accepted, will surely bring divine power and success, both not and eternity.

The current lesson, GOD’S KNOWLEDGE VERSUS CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, is the sixth in this series, and the second in unit II. Nothing can be compared to the knowledge of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:25). The mind of any man full of the carnal knowledge is equivalent to, or leads to death, in all manners, physical and spiritual. On the other hand, the mind controlled by God’s knowledge is life and full of peace, now and in eternity. May we not ignore the knowledge of God in our lives, as we journey with Him to eternity, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is a 2-week lesson with two major divisions, I and II. Each is further divided into A and B.

DIVISION I: CARNAL KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT GOD

This first section is a discourse of the knowledge without God. This kind of knowledge is also called the carnal knowledge that leads to vanity. The knowledge of God must be considered as the church, as well as in all social transactions. “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible (Knowledge of God),” said George Washington. Outside God’s knowledge is man’s heart, dangers loom.

It is revealed in this division that the Bible tells us we have to grow in the knowledge of God once we get saved. God expects you to grow in the knowledge of Him. How? By fearing Him (Prov. 1:7) and studying His Word, day and day night. There is life in God’s knowledge because it comes from the Giver of life – Jesus Christ. It preserves the life of its possessor. Any man who possess the knowledge of God has the fear and love of God in him, and these help in being obedience to God, in all ways.

Those who acknowledge themselves to be wise are in the real sense, absolute fools with a good-for-nothing, reprobate, degenerate mind, when they say in their hearts, “There is no God.” they refuse to acknowledge their Creator, and have substituted His true glory for gods of their own own choice, they are doomed to reap the consequences of their stupidity.

A. THE KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT GOD (Prov.14:1; Rom. 1:28; 1 Cor. 8:1-3)

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting (Rom. 1:28).

i. Prov. 14:1: The knowledge without God is that, that denies or despises Him. Psa. 14:1 quickly captures the folly of doing anything, or outside God.

ii. The fool has said in his heart. The heart of the seat of knowledge, from where issues of life flow ( Prov. 4:23). What the fool says against God is therefore a product of what lies in his heart (Matt. 12:34b).

iii. What becomes knowledge in a man’s heart is an accumulation of the man’s intake in terms of audios, visual, text, and pictorials, hence the charge to guard the heart/mind (Prov. 4:23).

iv. Rom. 1:28: One gradually possesses the knowledge without God as one doesn’t fancy retaining God in their knowledge. That is when one doesn’t like having anything to do with things pertaining to God – His Word, worship, service, people, programmes, etc. (cf. vv. 18-23).

v. vv. 29-32: Such people love doing godlessness and also approve of those who practice them (v. 32). Hope that doesn’t describe you, lest you be described as having the knowledge without God?

vi. 1. Cor. 8:1-3: The knowledge without God is the carnal one. It unnecessarily puffs up, when in the actual sense, the owner knows nothing yet as he ought to know (vv. 1,2).

vii. You are deformed and pitifully limited without the saving knowledge of God and His eternal provision REVEALED in Christ.

viii. Carnal knowledge starts from the heart. It is a problem of the heart. And nothing can get at this great problems than the power and the Word of God that sees into the depth of, and is able to work upon and transform man’s heart.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children

(Hos. 4:6)

i. Hos 4:6: This is part of God’s charge against Israel. There is no action without repercussion (fc. Gal. 6:7). Thus is true of not retaining God in one’s knowledge in the daily living.

ii. v. 6a: Destruction visits the person, nation or society that rejects/lacks the knowledge of God. Why ; He who does that neither can know God nor do His will. No one rejects God and survives.

iii. v. 6b: Those who reject God’s knowledge would have to face the terrible prospects of God rejecting them from His community and service, immediately and ultimately (cf. Matt. 10:32,33). Who can bear that?

iv. v. 6c: Deliberately ignoring, despising and forgetting God’s Word (the reservoir of His knowledge) results in being generationally forgotten by God, and anyone forgotten by Him is doomed. No wonder those recalcitrant Israelites were sold off completely.

v. Rom. 1:18ff: God has a way of dealing with those who deliberately disregard His knowledge (vv. 19:-23, 28, 32): 1), vents His wrath on them (v. 18); 2), lets them wallow in uncleanness that would keep hurting them significantly (vv. 24,25); and 3) and gives them up to destructive vile passions (vv. 26-27).

vi. v. 28: He also gives them to a debased mind, i.e. a mind lower than the human — that of an animal, doing things not fitting. May we not be called animals. Amen.

vi. Who can place confidence in the moral judgments of those with debased minds? How sad when such men occupy positions of influence in the Church, families, and the nation? No wonder disasters befall these settings by the day. May God deliver us from carnality and its terrible effects. Amen.

1. The knowledge without God is the one that disregards Him. Make sure that doesn’t described you!

2. He who rejects God’s knowledge would regrets in the end, sometimes, when there would be no second chance. Repent, NOW!

What are the provision in your home and the church to have the Knowledge of God in the Bible?

* Your personal response.

* Very importantly, the following measures should be in place in our homes and churches to impact the knowledge of God in our members:

a) Home:

1. Morning devotion

2. Personal Quiet time

3. Hours of Prayers to commune with God.

4. Encouraging consistent walk with God, individually and corporately

5. Meditation on His Word, etc.

b) Church:

1. Sunday School hour

2. Quality messages preached from the pulpit during Sunday service.

3. Bible Studies

4. Sermon

5. Preaching

6. Teaching

7. Bible-based Prayer/Revival services

8. Christian Conferences