Sermon Transcript — December 24, 2005
Let's see how many people are willing to confess today! At least mentally you can raise your hand and I'll mentally count how many hands are mentally raised! Anybody here ever eavesdropped on a conversation between two other people? That's the first question, all right; we have one person who wanted to confess so much he actually physically raised his hand! Everybody look around, you can see who that was, but actually the question is even more telling and might even involve more in the way of confession. For those of you who at least on occasion have eavesdropped on somebody else's conversation. How many of you really enjoyed it? Oh, OK, so we've got some real confession going on here.
Well I want to engage with you in a little eavesdropping here as we begin the sermon, I want you to imagine if you would that you and I are going to eavesdrop on a conversation which is actually a debate, we're going to eavesdrop on a debate between two people and of all things, the thing that they are discussing, we're going to listen in here in just a minute. The thing that they are discussing, yes the thing that they are debating, of all things, is a question about whether or not a certain other individual, a third person ever lived. They are debating the existence of a third party. Now one party in this debate we'll give the name of "Pro" and that person "Pro" we're going to find claims that this third person in question did in fact, live or is still living. And the other party in the debate and I wonder if anyone can imagine what we're going to call him? The other party we will call "Con" is saying and arguing that this third person has never lived. So we've got "Pro" and "Con."
Now both Pro and Con claim to have evidence and they both have their reasons, each of them has their reasons to support his own conclusion. We've got a give a name now to the person that they're debating about and a hometown to make this seem real. So when this imaginary debate that you and I are going to eavesdrop on, let's say that the object of the discussion, this third person, let's say that that person is named Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa. I read Civil War history and you might pick up a few Civil War history notions here in this debate. But Abraham Grant is the person's name that is the object of the debate, from Ames, Iowa. Now Pro believes that Abraham Grant did in fact live and he lived in Ames , Iowa and Con has concluded based on his evidence and his reasoning, Con has concluded that there never was an Abraham Grant in Ames, Iowa. Now understand this before we start listening in, understand something very important. Neither Pro nor Con knows, has ever met with or talked with personally or seen Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa, that's equally true of Pro and Con. Obviously therefore, neither of them can claim to know or have known Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa, but Pro believes that he existed and Con believes that he never did and does not now exist. So let's listen in on the debate, it goes something like this:
Con speaks first: "Look, there is not now nor has there ever been anyone named Abraham Grant in Ames , Iowa." Con says, "I've done considerable research on this matter, consider this — in the Bureau of Records, the official Government Bureau of Records, there is no birth certificate with his name in this town of Ames, Iowa nor indeed in any county surrounding Ames, Iowa or even in the entire state of Iowa or even in fact in the entire United States." Con claims to have done the research in all official Bureau's of Records and could find no evidence in Ames or surrounding counties or the state or the nation. He says, "I've checked this all out."
Well Pro says, "Well look, that proves nothing at all to me, what you just said is absolutely not convincing to me whatsoever. Remember there was a fire a few years ago at the Bureau of Records?" Now let me interrupt as we listen in here and we'll rejoin the debate here in just a minute. This is not really so far fetched, some of you may be aware of what I'm about to tell you, that there was a giant warehouse in St. Louis, Missouri that contained the military records going back through many many wars in the United States military history and it was destroyed, this warehouse and all of the contents were destroyed in a fire, I think it was in the 1960's — I can't be certain of that but I do know at one point I got on the Internet and I was looking up, just out of curiosity, the military record of my father who served with Patton's army in World War II over in Europe and I traced it back through and I came across this note, "These military records were lost in the St. Louis fire." And I got to looking, this happened, an enormous number of individuals who served in the armed services of the United States had their entire military history destroyed in that St. Louis fire a number of years ago. It might be the case that those individuals, if there were regimental or battalion or division histories separate from that central repository that there might still be those records, but aside from that, they were just destroyed.
So it's not so far fetched for Pro to come back after Con said what he did in the initial debate, and say, "Remember there was a fire at the Bureau of Records a few years ago in the wing of the building that contained all of the records for people whose last name began with 'G'." Pro says, "Your failure to find a birth certificate for Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa proves nothing, proves nothing at all because you can't find a birth certificate for anyone with the last name beginning with the letter 'G' because they were all destroyed in that fire. Anybody who was born in Ames , Iowa for the last 100 years, those records were destroyed, so you've proved nothing at all by your argument, your negative argument that you opened with."
Well Con comes right back — this debate is going to go on awhile — Con says, "Yes, but I have more evidence than that, I have searched all the records and no employer in the entire area of Ames, Iowa has any record in their employment history of any employee named Abraham Grant having been employed by them ever — what do you think about that Pro?" Well Pro is unmoved by that, he says again, "So what, you haven't proven anything. Abraham Grant could have been self-employed, maybe he was not an employee of another company, he might have been a craftsman, he might have been self-employed in which case you would not find any record of him being an employee of any other company, would you, so that proves nothing at all."
Now Pro goes on the offense in this debate, Pro says this: "What's more, not only am I not impressed, nor am I persuaded by your lack of evidence as to birth certificate or employment records, those things are easily explainable, those are arguments from silence, those are negative arguments, so not only am I not impressed by that, I have positive evidence that he did live and that he did live here. Look, I just purchased this beautiful piece of antique furniture." And he shows this item to Con, "I just purchased this beautiful piece of antique handmade furniture, this chest of drawers in a local Ames , Iowa used furniture store." He says, "Come here Con, look on the back, look what I found back here, there's a hand carved signature and look what it says, look closely, it says, 'AB. Grant and Son.' Abraham Grant! And since I made this purchase I've found several similar pieces of furniture in other stores here in Ames , Iowa with identical markings, with identical craftsmanship. Case closed —what do you think of that Con?"
Well do you think Con is going to be impressed by that? Con comes back and says, "Look, that doesn't prove anything. AB. Grant — you assume that means Abraham Grant, that could just as easily stand for Abner Grant or Abdullah Grant, AB. could mean any number of names, there's no proof that that is Abraham Grant, you're just assuming, you want to believe and so you see AB. Grant and Son and you arrive at a conclusion that the facts do not warrant."
Pro comes back with additional argument, Pro says, "Yes, but one of the oldest residence of Ames, Iowa, a man who has been around here for a long time and has seen it all, a gentleman named Jeb Longstreet talks occasionally, for those he discusses it with, he talks occasionally about having known Abraham Grant and that he was in fact a residence of Ames, Iowa about forty years ago, now that's eye witness testimony, that's just not the back of a piece of furniture with a hand carving, it's not contending with an argument of silence, you go talk to Jeb Longstreet, he'll tell you, he's kind of old but he'll tell you that he used to know Abraham Grant about forty years ago. Case closed, I win" says Pro.
Con says, "Oh no you don't, Jeb Longstreet, and you should know this, is a senile old man who suffers from advanced dementia, he lives in a state run nursing home, he has for years, he's just a crazy old delusional man, everybody knows that about him, he babbles on and makes all sorts of things up, you can't rely on the words of a crazy old man like that. His so-called testimony proves nothing to me, nobody believes him anyway."
Con says, "Look, I've done a lot of research, there is no marker or headstone in any Ames, Iowa cemetery with the name Abraham Grant on it. Not only that…(this Con has gotten around you'll have to agree as we listen in…) not only have I checked every gravestone in Ames, Iowa, I've checked every marker in every cemetery in the whole state of Iowa, the United States, the world. There is not a headstone on any gravesite in the entire world 'Abraham Grant.'"
Pro says…what do you think Pro is going to say? Pro says, "That doesn't prove anything. Abraham Grant could still be alive and if he is, you wouldn't expect to find a marker at a gravesite with his name on it." Con says, "Come on, I've got a lot more facts that prove there never was an Abraham Grant. There's no record he ever paid real estate taxes around here." Pro says, "Well that's what you'd expect if he was a renter, if he never bought a home, he just rented, you wouldn't expect to find that he paid real estate taxes."
Con comes back, "There are no hospital records that anyone by that name has ever been treated in an Ames , Iowa hospital." Pro says, "So what, if he was healthy and never needed to go to the hospital you wouldn't expect to find anything like that is there." Con says, "There's never been any listing in any Ames, Iowa phone book for Abraham Grant." And Pro says, "That's what you'd expect for somebody with an unlisted number now isn't it?"
Well the debate goes on and on and on, so let's you and I go back into another area and we'll let them fight it out! You see both Pro and Con have evidence, don't they? They did a lot of research, they put a lot of energy, a lot of mental energy has gone into the evidence that they have gathered, they both have minds to reason with, they both have come to conclusions and they thrust and they counter-thrust in this debate and they cannot both be right, that's one thing you and I would all agree on, they cannot both be right, one of them must be right and the other one must be wrong and the debate goes on and on endlessly. Neither of them personally knows or has ever known this individual Abraham Grant but one, Pro, believes, with great conviction, that this person lived and the other one, Con, believes with equal conviction that he did not live.
And so you sit back and you listen and you are bemused by the whole thing, you're bemused, you think it's a little bit funny because it is all so irrelevant to you. Because to you, all the evidence and all of the reasoning and the conclusion is completely beside the point because you are different than Pro and you're different than Con in a very important way as it relates to this debate. And this is that difference — I didn't tell you about this before — this is the difference. You personally know Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa. In fact, you are his son, he is your father, you live with him and you have lived with him all of your life. Remember the back of the furniture, "AB. Grant and Son?" You are the son! For whatever reason, your father is sort of a recluse, he doesn't like to get out in public, he doesn't really desire that most of the townsfolk of Ames know him personally. But you're different. The evidence and the reasons of Pro and Con are totally irrelevant to you because you know the man, you work with him, you know him. You live in a different realm than either Pro or Con — you certainly disagree with Con, he is just flat wrong in his conclusions and you don't just think that, you know that! He has misread the evidence and he has come to an erroneous conclusion but you also live in a different realm from Pro. You see Pro is right in his conclusion, Pro knows about Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa, he has reasoned correctly to know about him but the difference is, between you and Pro, you know him and you know him personally. There is a profound difference between knowing about someone, between concluding that someone exists, of admiring that person's workmanship and knowing that person intimately.
Brethren, it is the same when it comes to mankind and God. Many people have debated about God down through the ages, about His existence. Many scientists get hung up on an evolutionary bias and they have reasoned incorrectly that there is no personal God. But I would say that most of humanity, all the surveys show this, most of humanity, even if they're not scientifically trained and even if they can't answer every technical argument of evolutionary scientist, most of humanity, just with native common sense has concluded, they've looked at the evidence of the world around them, they've looked in the mirror, they've looked behind their own eyes and they know that their own conscience and consciousness is something that cannot be explained and they've kind of concluded that there must be some sort of a god, some sort of a first-cause.
Now those in the first group, the evolutionary scientists, who in their own heart, if it's true that they believe there is no God, they are simply wrong in their conclusions. They're hideously wrong, they're foolishly wrong. But members of the second group, they're right as far as it goes. They conclude that there is a God, they know about God to one degree or another but almost none of them know God. Recently, it seems like just a few weeks ago, we were at the Feast of Tabernacles and one of the themes that we observe there at the Feast of Tabernacles was a time when the whole world will know God, the Eternal God.
I want to begin in the scriptures today with you, this sermon you can title, "Knowing God." Isaiah 55. This is one of the themes of the Fall Festival season that not too many weeks ago we were observing.
Isa. 55:5 — Surely You …that's God, speaking about God or to God… shall call a nation You do not know and nations who do not know You shall run to You.
Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa, does not know in the way we usually think of the term, Pro and Pro does not know Abraham Grant — might know a little bit about him, might have concluded that he lives, but this is talking about a time that "a nation that You do not know," God does not know intimately in that way, and "nations who do not know You shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you."
Before that time comes, that is something we celebrate and look forward to in the fall Feast, before that time comes including right now, most of the world, even those who know a little or a lot about God do not "know" God. Let's look at I Corinthians 1. The apostle Paul actually states this very clearly! The world does not know God.
I Cor. 1:21 — For since in the wisdom of God …he's describing, that is Paul is describing one aspect about God's wisdom and His dealing with His creation. Now it's an aspect of His wisdom that is so far above human logic or human reasoning that it's as high as the heavens are above the earth! In the wisdom of God what is one of those aspects of God's wisdom? … the world through wisdom did not know God.
God has basically created mankind and then become a recluse, has walked away and for the most part, left mankind to not know Him and even through the reasoning power of the human mind, which is probably the greatest of all the creations of God. We look at the great mountain ranges God made and raised up on the surface of the earth, we look at the great creatures God has made, all the wonderful forms of life, but I think far and away, the greatest thing God has made is the human mind and the ability to reason.
There is a human wisdom and a human reasoning; we do have a little spark of the divine in our human minds because we can think at a level so far in excess of any animal that God has created. But through that reasoning process, through human intellectual activity you cannot, this says, come to know God in the sense that we're looking at in this sermon. You might know about Him, you might be like Pro, but it says:
V. 21 - In the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom …through human intellectual activity, even through human desire… did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
We don't usually quote the Living Bible which is just a paraphrase but in this case I want to read to you what the Living Bible has in that particular verse because I think they got it just exactly right in this paraphrase. Here's how I Cor. 1:21 reads in the Living Bible:
V. 21 — For God in His wisdom, saw to it that the world would never find God through human brillianc. Through human intellectual activity, even accompanied by great desire, mankind is cut off from God and does not know Him.
Now I want to turn our attention today in this sermon to this subject of knowing God and I hope and pray that we'll all be inspired to concentrate on this matter and even to seek God's help in it individually because I contend that there is absolutely nothing more important for you and me than to know God. And again, I don't say that without very clear biblical interpinings as I'm going to show you. When we search the scriptures about this subject of knowing God, I believe we come to four major conclusions and the rest of the sermon will be an elaboration of those four points. So I want to start by just giving you those four conclusions and then we'll look at the scriptures that underlie each of them.
#1 - The first one is this: Nothing comes even close to matching its importance. Nothing comes close to the importance of knowing God.
#2 — God has to choose you in order for you to know Him. As a human being in this world at this time, you cannot know God by anything that you initiate, you may be able to know about Him, you may be able to conclude that He exists but you cannot know Him unless you have been chosen to know Him.
#3 — To know Him — what does it mean to know God? We've been using the term and I say it's a deeper sense than just mild acquaintance. The third point, to know Him is to obey and love Him. You know there was an old kind of syrupy little teenage rock and roll song a number of years ago — "to know, know, know him is to love, love, love him" and it's kind of a silly little song about puppy love but actually as applied to this matter, there's truth in that statement. To know Him is to obey and love Him. So he that says "I know Him" but doesn't love Him…he that says "I know Him but I disagree with Him," he that says "I know Him but I don't like Him." He who says, "I know Him but I don't love Him," doesn't know Him.
#4 — To know God is to be aware of your desperate need for Him to save you.
That is part and parcel of knowing God. Just to have this overwhelming sense that you need Him to save you. And I'll admit that that's language that we don't typically emphasis but it is very biblically based. All right, let's go through these four conclusions and show the scriptures that I think support each of them.
First of all, let's look at some scriptures that show what God says about the relative importance of knowing Him compared to any other consideration in life. Jeremiah 9. This might be the most important, in one sense, scripture of the whole sermon or passage. Because I don't know how it could be clearer, it spells out the relative importance of knowing God to anything else you can imagine. God speaking:
Jere. 9:23 — Thus says the Eternal, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom …is wisdom important? Yes it is, it's a lot better than being foolish. The whole book of Proverbs is lauding wisdom as opposed to foolishness, is it important? Yes it is. Is wisdom a gift from God? Yes it is. But is it the most important? Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom …He says anything you're going to glory in or feel like you've arrived at, that's not it, as important as it is… let not the mighty man glory in his might." Wouldn't you rather be strong than weak? "Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but "…if those are second, third, fourth, tenth in importance, what's first? "Let him who glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows Me." The thesis of the sermon! There's nothing as important. There isn't anything else that would cause us to glory other than this, that he understands and knows Me. What about "Me?" Well:
V. 24 — … that I am the Eternal, exercising loving kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight," says the Eternal.
It's by far the most important thing in our lives. Philippians 3 — and here is the apostle Paul saying the following:
Phil. 3:8-10 — Indeed I also count all things loss ...nothing else is as important because everything else is loss, it's on the debit side of the ledger instead of the credit side. I count all things loss …compared to what… compared to the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him.
Compared to knowing God, compared to knowing Christ, nothing else is anything but rubbish. Now it's very difficult for you and me to internalize that such that we really let that be our truth north that guides us daily, but that's what it says. And it is important that we come to internalize this, everything else is just rubbish. Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Well that's certainly Christ-like, him saying that and that's the sense in which we should follow him.
Now if you're honest, and I'll include myself among the ones who would be honest in saying, "I don't live up to that, I'm not there yet." Well, rather than being overly discouraged about that, why don't we just endeavor to ask God to help us internalize this and grow in it, growing in knowing God and have that be at the center of our Christian lives. John 17:3 — Jesus Himself showing how important knowing God is. John 17:3 — the true Lord's Prayer.
John 17:3 — He says, "This is eternal life …well isn't that the goal? Isn't that the thing that we all strive for? Well what is it we're striving for? This is eternal life that they may know You." I wonder if you've ever noticed that before, how clear can it be? There is a knowing God that is actually equal to eternal life. "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
So our first point, nothing comes even close to matching its importance, that is, knowing God. In fact, Christ Himself defines eternal life as knowing God. You see if you know God, if you're the person who is eavesdropping, bemused by the rational arguments based on evidence or lack of it for Pro and Con, realizing how irrelevant the whole debate was, because you know Abraham Grant, he's your father, you have passed through a barrier, it's an invisible barrier, you can't really see it but it's there, it's a spiritual barrier. But if you know God, you have passed through a barrier on one side of which the creation/evolution argument, the debate on a spiritual level of what we were eavesdropping on, debates and conclusions based on evidence, based on logic, based on rational human thought, reason are the focus, that's on one side of this barrier but on the other side, your side, there is a knowing which passes knowledge. You see the demons it says, believe and know God in one sense, they know that He exists, but they don't know Him in the sense that we're looking at today.
Now that second conclusion , God has to choose you in order for you to know Him. God has let the world be cut off from Him and now in this world, He only chooses a few to have the privilege of knowing Him. It's not everybody else's fault, it's the way God engineered the plan to be worked out. Let's look at Jeremiah 24 to prove this point, that in this world today, in this time now, God has to choose you for you to know Him in this sense. Now if God says, "I'm going to give you something," that must mean you don't already have it. Why would He have to give you something you already have? Notice what it says in Jeremiah 24:7, he's talking about a time yet in the future when the whole world, as we read in Isaiah will come to know Him whom they do not now know — but not until then.
Jere. 24:7 — " Then I will give them …something, what is He going to give them that they don't now have… I will give them a heart to know Me …they don't have it now, they're on the wrong side of that barrier and nothing they can do of their own initiative will get them through that barrier, under, around it… then I'll give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Eternal and …then… they shall be My people and I'll be their God."
Then it will be not AB. Grant and Son, it will be AB. Grant and Sons and the family and those who know God is going to be greatly expanded. But I'll give them a heart to know Me . Let's also look at I John 5:20 but let's begin with verse 18 because we won't want to break into the thought, let's develop the thought. Now this is John speaking to the members of the Church, these are those collectively who are on the right side of that barrier and they can say this:
I John 5:18 — We know that whoever is born of God does not sin but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God …you knew that Abraham Grant lives in Ames, Iowa because you live with him, have always lived with him, work with him. We know that we are of God. We can let Pro and Con debate till they're both blue in the face with exhaustion but we know it… we know that we're of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one …and they're on the wrong side of the barrier.
V. 20 — And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us …something, again, we're not given something we already have, we have been… given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true.
So the evidence mounts that you have to be given, you have to be chosen in order to know God. Twice we have seen that the ability to know God is something God gives just a few.
V. 20 - He has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him, who is true, and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Now if you mark in your bible cross-reference verses, this would be a beautiful place to cross-reference what we just read in John 17:3 where Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they know You." And right here he is using the same language — "… we may know Him and this is the true God and eternal life." Eternal life and knowing God are equated in both of those scriptures and we do have the spark of eternal life in us by the gift of God's holy spirit. Let's go back now to John 14 and see further evidence of how special it is to know God and how it is only for those who have been chosen to have that privilege now.
John 14:15 — Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments and I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth."
Now this is something that the human mind is not born with naturally, the indwelling presence of God's spirit, Christ in us you see.
V. 17 — "The spirit of truth which the world cannot receive because it neither sees it nor knows it but you know it …or him…that's that other topic that we sometimes go into, talking into the grammar of the Greek and it requires a personal pronoun, but it's talking about the spirit of God which is not a person… you know it for it dwells with you and I will be in you, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you."
But there is a knowing through the spirit of God that is referenced in that verse — there is a knowing that is only made possible through the spirit of God.
V. 23 — Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with Him."
Just as you knew Abraham Grant in a way that neither Pro nor Con did, because you've always lived with him, he was your father, there is a knowing of God and Christ because they live in you through the holy spirit, the indwelling presence of God's holy spirit and that makes argument and logic and evidence irrelevant. It's at a much lower level of thought than what somebody who has this has been given. John 10:4 — Jesus is talking about His role as the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep and how big is the flock of sheep? He referred to it as a "little" flock, as a small flock surrounded by wolves, a whole world on the wrong side of that barrier. What does He say?
John 10:4 - When He brings out His own sheep He goes before them and the sheep follow Him …why… because they know His voice.
Now this is a public document, millions of people read it but the key to understanding it and coming to know God through the medium of this written word is given only to a few. Look at verse 14:
V. 14 — "I am the Good Shepherd, I know My sheep and I am known by My sheep."
The wolves don't know the shepherd; the goats don't know the shepherd, just the sheep. How many sheep are there? Those who have been called to be sheep. All right, the last verse in this point is Ephesians 3; let's look at that passage, again from the apostle Paul. The point again, God has let the world be cut off from Him and now in this world He only chooses a few to know Him. Not about Him, but know Him, intimately.
Eph. 3:14-19 — For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
Now this knowledge, this knowing we're talking about is a knowing that passes knowledge, it's a knowing that passes human knowledge. It's something Pro and Con don't have at their disposal. The personal interaction with Abraham Grant of Ames, Iowa.
So, again, the language is telling that he would grant you this you see, that he would grant you this, you are not granted something you already have, that you would be granted the ability to comprehend, there is that knowledge, there is that comprehension that goes beyond human intellectual activity… may be able to comprehend …or know… with all the saints, what is the width and the length and depth and the height.
Now I understand three dimensions, I do not understand four dimensions and he just mentioned four, so again, I think that is telling. The human mind is aware of height, length, width but what is depth? I don't know, there is four. So he's actually giving us a clue there in the way he describes this, this is beyond what is natural. This is beyond Pro's ability to reason correctly that there must have been an Abraham Grant, this is beyond that. Four dimensions — and to comprehend that and to:
V. 19 - … know …not only God but… the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
The third point or conclusion, to know Him is to obey and love Him. Now this gets it down to where we start getting into an operational definition rather than a fuzzy notion of "Oh don't we love God." Well let's find out what it means to love God in the sense of the sermon. Let's find out what it means to love God in the way that only a few have been privileged to participate in. Because only those who stay committed to obeying God know Him, according to the bible definition. Titus 1 — yeah, there are a lot of people like Pro that say they know Him or know about Him, but what does the bible say about that?
Titus 1:16 — They profess to know God …
Well there are millions of people who sincerely think they know God and I again, want to qualify what I say, it's nobodies fault whose on the wrong side of the barrier, that is God's doing. Mankind in general was cut off from the tree of life, was kicked out of the Garden of Eden and an angel with a sword was put there to guard the entrance so nobody could get back in except those that God has chosen to have access to the tree of life since then and it's been very few. It's kind of telling to me when you read Hebrews 11, the hall of fame of faith, I mean the first 4,000 years of human history, there aren't 15 or 20, there are certainly no more than 15 or 20 names that are given there of those who will be in the first resurrection, that's pretty rare. Now there might be a few because it says "others like them" but only a very few, couple or three handfuls of names are given, whole eras of time. I mean how many million people were on the earth when the great flood of Noah came and how many of them had a relationship with God like we're talking about where He saved them alive? Eight! Out of millions? I sometimes, well we're all entitled to have our opinions, so I'll just say I have a wonder, a question in my mind, if we really understand how rare the calling of God is, how few down through the ages have been given this privilege to be pulled through this invisible barrier by a miracle and be on the other side? Yeah, they profess to know God, lots of people do — and sincerely, we don't condemn them and there are some fine people, just very dedicated people, based on what they are capable of doing and knowing.
V. 16 — They profess to know God but in works they deny Him …and in the final analysis it doesn't do them any good unless they really know Him and the thing that disqualifies a person from really knowing God in this sense is their disobedience to God's law… in works they deny Him being abominable, disobedient and disqualified for every good work.
That's God's judgment, not mans and of course we understand everybody is going to have their chance to be on the right side of that barrier. In fact that barrier is going to be eliminated and again, other fall festivals teach us that. I John 2, we were there a little earlier. I think we referenced it but I think this makes this point very clear, the third point being, if you really know God in the sense that we're talking about, it means that you obey Him, you are dedicated to obey Him, you won't do it perfectly because you're still human and you'll still make mistakes but it is your goal, it is your intention, it is your heart's desire to obey, not to disobey.
I John 2:3 — Now by this we know that we know Him …how do you know if you're on the right or the wrong side of the barrier… if we keep His commandments. He who says "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments …which day were we told to remember? Which are the Feasts of the Eternal? What was that again, you say you know Him… is a liar and the truth is not in him and whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know, that we are in Him and that we know Him.
John 8 — in this context I was also going to reference again John 10:4 but we already read that — it says that when He brings out His own sheep He goes before them and the sheep follow Him, see they obey Him, the sheep follow the Good Shepherd, they don't go off on their own, they follow and they obey the Shepherd. Now I want to go to John 8:55.
John 8:55 — "You have not known Him …Jesus was talking to those who claim to know Him, they claimed that they were the custodians of God's word and of all people on the earth, they did know the true God, he looked them right in the face and said you don't know Him… you have not known Him but I know Him and if I say I do not know Him, I'd be a liar like you are but I do know Him and I keep His word." He says, "I have kept My Father's commandments."
The fourth summary point — in the bible there is a clear and strong connection between a person being consciously aware of the need to be saved by God. There's a sense of vulnerability spiritually, there is a sense of being on thin ice, there's a sense of the consequences of giving vent to our natural passions and of going the way of our natural heart. A person who knows God is aware of that. If you go to all the scriptures about the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts against the flesh but here is a war going on between the ears of those who know God and the tendency and the proclivity to disobey God doesn't go away with baptism, it doesn't go away with the receipt of God's holy spirit, it's still present and it must be combated and fought and resisted. And a person is aware of how greatly they need help and of how greatly they need to be saved, if we can use that term. So let's repeat that, there is a clear and strong connection between a person being consciously aware of the need to be saved by God, there's a connection between that sense and knowing God. Such a person is not self-sufficient or independent. He or she is palpably aware of the need to be saved, to have mercy shown to him or her, to be forgiven. He is therefore humble as he approaches and lives before God. He doesn't think he brings much to the table, he knows he needs to be saved, he knows God as His Savior. That knowledge is part of knowing God. You cannot know God unless you are conscious of His mercy, His saving you from sin. Now let's look at a number of scriptures that lead to that conclusion. Hosea 13 — we're going to look at a number of verses or passages here that show this connection between knowing God and knowing Him as your Savior, and needing Him to save you.
Hosea 13:4 — " Yet I am the Eternal your God ever since the land of Egypt and you shall know no God but Me …and what's the next words out of God's mouth …you need to know Me for there is no Savior besides Me." See that connection? "I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought when they had pasture they were filled; they were filled and their heart was exalted, therefore they forgot Me."
So in working with physical Israel, He makes this statement, but it really in the final sense it's only fulfilled in spiritual Israel. "I am your God, you know Me because I'm your Savior." They — physical Israel, forgot God and became fat and sassy when they had plenty physically and they never really were in the game but spiritual Israel is in that game.
Isaiah 43:10 — " You are My witnesses," says the Eternal, and My servant whom I have chosen. Now again, we come back to that theme of you have to be chosen to know God… you are My servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He, before Me there was no God formed nor shall there be after Me and I, even I am the Eternal and besides me there is no Savior."
So in that little two verse passage we saw a reinforcement of several of these points. For a person to know God they must be chosen for that privilege and that knowing of God is knowing Him as the one who saves them for they cannot save themselves. Earlier in Isaiah 19 — we often find that things that were said in the context of ancient Israel, really as I say, have true applicability or fulfillment when you're talking about spiritual Israel. Because you see with physical Israel , God is quoted as saying, not because He had made a mistake or not because He had forgotten an important detail as He worked out the plan, but to instruct us. He said, "Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would know Me, believe Me and keep My commandments." They didn't have this indwelling presence of the Father and Christ like spiritual Israel had and therefore that knowing of God only went so far and only lasted so long, it wasn't the real genuine article like it can be for a true son of God.
Isa. 19:20 — It will be for a sign, and for a witness to the Eternal of hosts in the land of Egypt, for they will cry to the Lord …why would you cry out to God if you were self-sufficient and thought you could get out of your own problems? These are a people conscious of a need to be saved by a greater power than they have… they will cry to the Eternal because of the oppressors and He will send them a Savior and a mighty One and He will deliver them and then the Lord will be known in Egypt.
Again there's that connection, there's that juxtaposition of people crying out for deliverance, for salvation from a Savior, I mean it's in the context of being known or knowing God. One last one in this regard is Jeremiah 31. Jere. 31, beginning in verse 31 is talking about the process by which people get on the right side of that barrier, by which they're pulled magically through this invisible barrier by a miracle.
Jere. 31:31 — "Behold the days are coming," says the Eternal, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant …the arrangement that existed before is going to be superceded by a different arrangement and now every resident of Ames, Iowa is going to know God or have the opportunity of knowing God just like the son. Con will see what an absolute fool he had been and will be given the opportunity to repent and Pro will know God in a way that he never knew when he only knew about… not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke though I was a husband to them," says the Eternal. "But this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Eternal, "I will put My law in their minds (to know God is to obey Him, point three) and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they'll be my people."
V. 34 — "No more shall every man teach his neighbor …no more will Pro and Con debate at an intellectual, rational level, that will be irrelevant… and every man his brother saying, 'Know the Lord' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" says the Eternal, "For I will forgive their iniquity …Yes, He's a saving God and knowing God has to do with being saved by God from the consequences of sin… and their sin I will remember no more."
So during the fall of year we celebrate, we picture a time when the whole world will know God as only a tiny few, the elect, the chosen of God, know Him now and only then will they know God as their saving God, as the elect know Him now. I don't think there's anything more important conceivably for us than knowing God in the sense that we've been looking at it. If chosen by God to know Him now, we must dedicate ourselves with our whole hearts to obeying Him and following God. Of growing in knowing Him. There isn't just a point where you say "I know God" and that's it, there's a process of growth in this knowledge. To appreciate more the special calling that God has given to His people, to know Him now and to prepare as kings and priests, to help the whole world in the World Tomorrow come to know Him then. Let's conclude with II Peter 3:17.
II Pet. 3:17 — You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand …before everybody else, you're on the right side of the barrier if you are one of those chosen… beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked, but grow …what, in doctrine? That's not bad to grow in doctrine, grow in a number of things, but… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If I could paraphrase it, let's be growing in knowing God.