Know the Father and Jesus Christ

Imagine wanting to know a man you have never seen. A man you have never heard speak a word to you. Someone who lives far away, far, far away, and you want to get to know this man very personally. You really want to get to know him. How can you do that? Look him up on social media, maybe? Would you get to know them by discovering their legal names? What if you could find out where they worked, this individual? Maybe you could find out what his responsibilities at work was.

Maybe his address. Maybe his cell phone number. Hmm. Would that help you come to know somebody far off that you've never seen and you've never heard speak to you? How about this? Much more effective. How about be a son or a daughter of that man and live in his house with him and grow up with him and walk and talk and be interacting with him and his family and seeing what he does and hearing what he says?

Would you get to know him that way? Be much more, much more personal, wouldn't it? What if you took it a step further? What is, as a lady, you married that man? How well would you come to know him then as you sort of bonded in a marriage of being at one where the things that you said to each other and the things that you shared and the goals that you had began to meld into one and and you began to finish sentences for each other and you you really knew what to expect and how the family, how the home operated, how your business as it were as as a couple operated and you went about that.

It's quite different than the first one. The person's saying, I know this guy who lives somewhere, never seen him, never spoken with him, but I know him. And sometimes we get this idea in our head that, yeah, yeah, we know that person. We'll pass a judgment on somebody like that. Maybe we'll hear about them from someone else or we'll read about it in a news article. But to really know somebody, you have to have a strong relationship, don't you?

Well, let's apply this concept to knowing God and Jesus Christ. You've never seen God. You've never had a conversation back and forth with God. Do you know God and how well do you or I know God and Jesus Christ? What if we were to turn to John 17 in verse 3 and see that there is a strong link to your in my salvation to how well we know God and Jesus Christ? And John chapter 17 in verse 3 begins, and this is eternal life. Here is eternal life.

You want to know how to have eternal life? Well, this is it from the mouth of Jesus himself while he was here on earth. This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Let's read that again. This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and know Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So suddenly this ambiguous concept of knowing somebody who is really far off that we we've not seen and and we haven't had a conversation with steps up to being eternal life. So the question, how well do I know God and Jesus Christ becomes an important one, doesn't it?

How does one do that? Do we plow through the Bible and try to find out his secrets, his special coded names, what he does for a living, his roles and responsibilities, all the Hebrew and Greek things associated with him. Would that help us come to know an individual as a bride would who lives with him, talks with him, thinks with him, plans with him, executes plans and and assists him?

Or is the other just kind of a trivial pursuit of how much information and facts can a person pile up about somebody? Kind of an encyclopedia, you know, or a Wikipedia statistical analysis of somebody. Let's examine how to know God and our husband Jesus Christ. And as we do this, we'll find that developing a family relationship with them, with the Father, and with our husband Jesus Christ is key to knowing the Father and Jesus Christ.

The title of the sermon today is, Know the Father and Jesus Christ. We can see by the Scripture we've read, it's pretty important. You could put an exclamation point after that title, Know God the Father and Jesus Christ exclamation point. High priority, important stuff. Now I don't know about you, but I've thought about this in my own personal life for a long time.

And in some ways, I kind of think it's unfair that we don't get some special discussion, you know, personal interaction, walking down the road, oh hi Jesus, you know, let's walk and talk. Hi God the Father, you know, there's some big things coming in. It would really help if you just sort of popped out here and, you know, we just had this face-to-face, then we could really get to know each other. But that's not the way the New Covenant is set up. It's a New Covenant based on faith. It's a New Covenant based on us being able to know God and know Jesus Christ from the heart, not just from the intellect of having a conversation or seeing them.

They want us to see and hear them in a spiritual way, from the heart, in a way that interacts with them in a relationship that doesn't need a visual interaction or an audible interaction. So how well do you know God and Jesus Christ? I ask myself. You can ask yourself the same question. Maybe a better question is, would you like to know them better? That's a good question. Would you like to know God the Father and Jesus Christ better? How can we do that? So I'm gonna break this message into two parts. The first part—we'll go through both today—the first part is how to know God the Father and Jesus Christ.

We need to know how you do that. So it's very clear. So we're going to look at some scriptures as to how we know this, and it's been the same from the beginning. We'll go back to Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9.

God called some people to be his own, and here's what he said to them. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9. Therefore, know the Lord your God. That's what this phrase is. Know the Lord your God. He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations.

Notice, with those who love him and keep his commandments. So we begin to see here how you know God, where to know the Lord, the supreme authority, our God, and he keeps a covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments. That's how we start—loving God and keeping his commandments and having a covenant with him. When you think of knowing somebody, you might just happen to know their name or whatever—that's not knowing them. Sometimes we'll come into a group of people and we'll say, I know him and her, and what are we saying?

If we really know somebody, we know them by who they are, not just their name or their face or what they do. We know them by who and what they are, their character, their mindset. Some people are very outgoing and giving and they want to serve and help. Other people do that in various ways. They might bring food or make food. They might write cards. They might make phone calls. They might make visits. They might encourage.

Other people might be a little shy, but they may do things in different ways, have different gifts. But we begin to know them by what they do and who they are, how they think, their mindset, the deeds begins to expose who they are. Jesus says you will know them by their works.

How we know God and Jesus Christ is then going to be by their works. We're going to know them by their works and we're not going to understand them until we do those same works. Then we can begin to understand. Take, for instance, an individual who shows up with food. I know some people have seen this. Whenever they show up, they come with an ice chest and it's full of food. It's really nice they open up and have some food. It doesn't matter if you invite them for dinner. They're still going to have the ice chest and they're going to bring out a bunch of food.

You get to know them by you doing that. You make an ice chest and fill it with food and take it over somewhere. You realize, wow, this is a lot of work. You have to think ahead as what you're going to make. Then you have to go about making it. Then you have to go about getting it in containers and putting it in the ice chest and having a heart that says, I just want to go contribute to this event. You then begin to get into understanding the people that have done that by doing it yourself, by walking a mile in their moccasins.

Unless we do that with God, we don't know God. We might know His name. We might know some things He did, but we don't really know God. Let's go to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3.

1 John chapter 2 and verse 3. We read this Scripture, perhaps often well known, but from this perspective now, walking a mile in somebody's shoes and actually doing what they do to understand them, look at here. Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

I grew up in the church and always thought the commandments were, you know, those are the things you can't do, the things you want to do but you can't do.

And so those commandments are sort of the negatives that push against human nature, you know, carnality. And you think, well, if I'm going to be in God's kingdom as a kid, if I'm going to be in God's kingdom, I've got to do all of this stuff. Not realizing that's the mind of God. That's who God is. God does His law. The law of God is the expression of God's mindset. Oh, well let's look at it this way. By this we know that we know Him if we do what He does, if we keep His commandments. You know, God is holy and perfect and righteous because He doesn't break His commandments. And Jesus is holy and righteous and perfect on earth and in heaven because He doesn't break the commandments. It's how they live. So in verse 4, He who says, I know God, but I don't keep His commandments. The man is simply uninformed or an outright liar, and the truth is not in Him either way. But whoever keeps His word truly the agape mindset of God is perfected in Him. That's how you get to know God and Jesus Christ by living as they live, thinking as they think, doing as they do, walking as they walk, keeping His word. And then this mindset, this agape of God is perfected in Him. And by this we know that we are in Him. Remember, it's not just a knowledge of somebody over the hill. We're talking about in Him, in the body of Christ, in the family of God, the one relationship of a betrothed bride and her husband at this point. We are in Him. He who says He abides or dwells in God ought also Himself to walk just as He walked or walks. So that's how we get to know God. And so this first part really shows us how we get to know God better by being like God. Then we can really then understand. We can understand many of the things that Jesus did when He was on earth, why He did them, how difficult they were, what God has been doing since creation. If we walk as He walks, we can see more the concept and the plan that they have for us and how wonderful it is.

A society around us that does not obey God, does not think like God, and therefore does not act like God. And I don't care how many times they throw up some sort of an icon and use the name.

They cannot know God. Cannot know God. Not know God in the sense of knowing God. They may know who He is. You can see it on your dollar bill in God we trust. You know who He is, but it didn't say in God we obey. You know, it's not a God they know. So let's go to John chapter 8 in verse 44 and see Jesus here talk to some fairly pious religious people, Sabbath keepers, holy day keepers, tithers. Here's what He said in John chapter 8 in verse 44.

You have to understand that some of these religious people wanted to kill Him, right?

Wanted to kill Him. And so He says here, you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. So if you develop the mindset of Satan, the devil, you're gonna know Satan pretty well. He goes on and says, you know, he was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, and people kind of want to do that, and you kind of would understand that. If you don't think people understand Satan, then what's with all these satanic movies that come out, and all the witchcraft, and all the terrible, you know, horror things that come out around the Halloween time, and all this stuff. How do they know that? Those demonic monster stuff that you see ads for all the time. See, you can learn about that. You can know that side by acting like that. It's always interesting when people go to war, they paint things on their machines, and they draw stuff on them often. That is very satanic and hellish, and they'll name things with those types of names, even. That comes from a different mindset.

In verse 47, he says, he who is of God hears God's words. Now, we don't hear with our ears, we hear with our eyes, and we hear God's words read to us by others, but we are hearing through God's spirit in our mind. And in other words, we are open. Our minds are open, and we are hearing. We're not deaf spiritually. He says, he who is of God hears God's words. Therefore, society, you do not hear because you are not of God. You're not of that family. You're not married in the family, not a child of the family, living and growing up in the home. You're not the wife. See, you're not in the family. You're not of God yet. Now, there's a lot of easy salvation theories that come along.

He said, well, you don't really need to obey God. You don't really need to, you know, get into all that. You just need to know the Hebrew unique names, hidden names for God. And if you have that, you're good to go. You can just bypass all this knowing and being like God. You can get in the back door. Or if you can figure out what God and Jesus do in the Bible, well, you're in.

Or, you know, there's other things. If you understand a certain prophecy, you can figure out what's going to come. And nobody else gets this but me. Or some holy day that you keep that's just a little different than everybody else. Then I'm in. You know, Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. He says, in that day I will declare them, depart from me. I never knew you. I never knew you. See, we're talking about knowing God. Well, there's a reverse to this. God does not know those who don't think like him, who aren't in the family, who somehow get into the wedding supper without the garment on. He said, depart from me, you who work iniquity or lawlessness.

Break my law. You're not part of the family.

So, easy salvation is not the way to eternal life. There's no such thing. No such thing.

As we've read before, this is eternal life that you know God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. And we need to come to know them by becoming like them. Let's go to 1 John chapter 2 now and verse 23. 1 John 2 and verse 23. I find that some of these alternate, quick ways to get saved often reduce Jesus Christ to either some created being or maybe just a baby or somebody dead hanging on a cross, but they reduce him down even as modern, so-called, Christianity is popular to reduce him just to a you, the word you in writings and song. It's all about me, me, me, me, and you. We just we made God a pronoun, literally. And that's what Christianity has done hugely today, is made God a pronoun. Reduce God down. Now, if we look here in 1 John 2, 23, whoever denies this Greek word is G 720 in Strong's, whoever disregards or contradicts the Son does not have the Father either. So, if you diminish or disregard Jesus Christ or in any way limit him as some will do, you don't have the Father either. He who acknowledges, that word acknowledges G 3670, meaning agrees with or says the same thing, you're with him, you're agreeing with him, you're saying the same thing, like a wife would support her husband, then the Son has the, whoever has that and acknowledges the Son is in agreement with him, has the Father also. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. And what do we hear from the beginning? All the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden and all the way through the end. Keep God's laws. Do what God says. Do right. Be like God. If you have that in you which you heard from the beginning, if what you heard from the beginning abides and dwells in you, you will also abide or dwell in the Son and in the Father. So you see, knowing God here isn't just, you know, head knowledge, it's dwelling in God. You will dwell in God and Jesus Christ.

That is knowing God. And God, of course, knowing you. In verse 25 it says, and this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. But it goes hand in hand with knowing and dwelling and having this relationship then. And these things, verse 26, I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. There is always individuals who come along and want a different, quick, easy way into eternal life without becoming like God, really knowing God by being like God. You know, we are victims of our selfish human nature, and it's very selfish. We're very, very good at being selfish. Excellent. We are diligently selfish, in fact.

But we're very lazy at developing God's nature, God's agape, outgoing, self-deflating nature in doing His good works. In Titus chapter 1 and verse 6, there towards the end of the New Testament period, we were seeing a lot of these different concepts coming out into the church and people not wanting to sort of work at being godly anymore.

And in Titus 1 and verse 6 it says, they profess to know God. That's the topic today, knowing God. Some profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. They're not like God.

They're not doing what God does. They don't really know Him. They're denying Him. How? Being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. Hmm. So just don't let somebody who may sound real religious or smart or whatever ever convince you that there's a way to eternal life without being a son and daughter of God, a real son, a bride to Jesus Christ, one dwelling in God in Christ, and then dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit. You know, in Revelation 22 and verse 14 it says, blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city of New Jerusalem. It always goes back to that. It's not—you don't earn salvation by keeping the commandments. You become God's family by having the mindset, and the commandments show us the mindset. And by doing that and doing the commandments, we then take on this mindset of the God family, and we know each other.

We just know each other. Not only do we know God and Christ, but we know each other, too, because we all have that spirit, and we're all of the same mind heading for the same goals, with the same objectives, trying to love and serve and be God-like.

We've seen how you can have a knowledge of God that is from the heart, from the mind. You know you have this know—that's how you do it. But let's go to part two now. How can you increase knowing God and Jesus Christ? How can we know them better and continue to grow in that? We're going to find that the Bible talks about growing in the knowledge of God and Christ. Just not the technical knowledge, but knowing them. You know, God and Jesus Christ and the children are family, and they know each other, and they are known by each other, but they know each other. If we go to John 17, verse 21, Jesus here, before he was crucified, is pouring his heart out to the Father, and here's why he came. Here's why he's going through all that he's going through.

Verse 21 of John 17, that they all may be one. That's why he did what he did. That's why he created the world and the heavens. The Father directing him to do that.

That they all may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you. Notice the Father's in him.

He's in the Father. That they also may be one in us. The way we become one with them is step one, or part one, is to be like them, do like them, think like them.

That the world may believe that you sent me. Verse 22, and the glory which you gave me, when he came to earth, God gave him glory when he was here. That word glory is a Greek word, doxa, and it has many meanings. It's one of the words that just has lots of meanings.

But essentially those meanings will filter towards an assessment that's positive, a positive assessment. So glory is never something bad. But glory might be anything from the brightness of God over here to being assessed as something good. So when Jesus was on earth, here we read that, and the glory which you gave me, remember God said, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. See, that was God's assessment, and it was the glory, the positive assessment that he shared with the disciples. This is my son in whom I am well pleased. That glory which you have given me, I have given them. He is now, through our repentance and through God's Holy Spirit, able to show us pleased or show us as positive back to the Father.

Because he forgives us our sins, he encourages, he defends us at the throne, and cheers us on, and helps us, never leaves us. He is always there, and he, in return now, gives us that recognition that's positive, that affirmation. Notice, that they may be one just as we are. That's how we become one. It's through doing right, and being praised by God is doing right. Given glory in that sense. Not the brightness yet. We'll get that. That's another thing we'll get later. But for now, as it says, I believe in Peter, that you're a holy generation, God's special, chosen people, you know, righteous. That's an assessment. That is glory. That's being given glory. In verse 23, I am them. Jesus Christ is in you. You don't have to look around the room and wonder if he's here. You don't have to wonder six days of the week if he's sitting at the right hand of God in heaven, and maybe on the Sabbath, he's floating around churches somewhere. You don't have to wonder where Jesus is. He is in you. He's always in you. Do you sense that? Do you walk and think about God and Jesus Christ in you?

I am them and you and me. If the Father's in Jesus, if Jesus is in you, then the Father and Jesus are in you. If you wonder where God the Father is, don't wait for the day when, oh, I wonder if I'll ever get to see the Father. He's been in you since you were baptized. He's been with you since before you were baptized. That they may be made perfect in one oneness, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I also desire that those whom you have given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Same word, doxa.

In this case, under Thayer's, this is the third and fourth level of definition, which means splendor, brightness, exalted. The prime applications in the Scripture are the assessment and the praise, but the brightness and the exalted, that comes three and four, which you have given me. And we know that we will be like Jesus Christ when he returns. So right now we can grow a relationship with God through an understanding from knowing Jesus Christ as we do the things that he tells us to do. Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18.

2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. He concludes this second epistle, Peter does, by saying this, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you limit the word grace overcoming, well, I'm not sure what you could say about this. Grow in the grace? How would you come? If grace is forgiveness, how would you grow in grace unless you sin more? Does that make sense? If you're going to grow in forgiveness, you've got to sin more so you can be forgiven more. That's not what grace means. Grace is charis in the Greek, reciprocal favor. God gives you a bunch of favors, a calling, a spirit, repentance, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and leads and guides you. He wants you to reciprocate with faith and obedience and developing his holy righteous character and thinking like him.

So grow in that. That's what Peter is saying. Grow in these favors, these reciprocal favors of God. Grow in them, and as you do that, guess what? You will grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowing. Knowing Jesus Christ.

Knowing Jesus Christ.

In chapter one of 2 Peter—just cross, let's see, back a little bit—2 Peter chapter one and verse two, this reciprocal favor and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of our God, the Father, and Savior Jesus Christ. So knowing God will be multiplied through this reciprocal favor that we have of growing in God's plan of salvation, growing, developing his character and mindset. This relationship should be growing in us.

In verse three, as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, so we should be able to feel and sense and grow and develop and give him the credit for life, godliness, and the knowledge of him, the growing knowing of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly in great precious promises. Notice that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. That's how we know God. Partaking of his nature, his divine nature, his agape mindset. So in verse five, then, how do we grow this? Well, he gives us the formula. For this very reason, giving all diligence, add—and just stay where we are—add to your faith virtue. Be virtuous. And to virtue knowledge. And to knowledge, self-control. To self-control, continuing in it, persevering in it, and to perseverance godliness. You see how we're now involved in the family of God and we're pushing on into that mindset, and we've reached godliness. Wow. We're beginning to know God. We keep going. Verse seven, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, agape. Wow. We grow and do these cyclical favors with God, and we grow, and he gives us more, more understanding, more abilities, more strength. We see more opportunities. More like Christ, we begin to use these things, and next thing you know, we're agape. We've got the mindset of God.

Verse eight, for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will know Jesus Christ. You will not be barren whatsoever or unfruitful in knowing him and living like him. So if we go back to John 17, 3, which I mentioned back at the beginning, and this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, see, suddenly it has a lot of meaning, doesn't it? It has a lot of meaning, and you're guaranteed eternal life. I mean, it's not even a question. You're in the family. You've got the seal. You have your name written in the Book of Life. You are a son and daughter of God. You're part of the variety of Jesus Christ.

So we need to grow an understanding God and coming to know him personally in a close relationship by imitating him, not just imitating him, but actually having him in us and imitating what he does, just like a child would a parent, learning to walk, learning to talk, learning various skill sets, learning how to do things, all the way up through learning to drive and learning, you know, certain trades perhaps, and learning how to navigate life, you know.

In 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20, just a few pages over, 1 John 5 and verse 20, it says, And we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know him, the Father, who is true, and we are in him, the Father, who is true, and in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

There it is again. It's said a little different way. To know God and to be in God and God in us is eternal life. This is a relationship, and it's a real relationship, but it's a mental one, it's a spiritual one, it's a miraculous one. It's not mechanical at all, it's a miraculous one, and that's the way God has set this up. And you know God much better than you know other humans when you live and walk like God with his commandments, with his Spirit leading and guiding you. You know him much better probably than you know people in this room, because people in this room have a different way, and you're not following their lifestyle, you're not following their objectives, their ideals, their favorite hobbies and entertainments. You're following God, so you should know God better than you know anybody except probably your own spouse.

It says here, in Matthew chapter 5, 48, I'll just do this from memory because it's one of those verses, it's shortness to the point. Jesus said, Be you therefore perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect.

If you just shorten that down, be you like your Father in heaven is, and you'll know him.

You know, that's what he's saying. Be like your Father. Be a child. Grow up like dad.

Jump in his lap and say, Abba, Father, come right into the throne room.

Be like your dad in heaven. Not a physical human. None of us are perfect.

There's some real bad examples. There's some good ones as well, and we'd be thankful for those. But be like your Father in heaven. Be like him. Then you'll know him. He'll know you. And that's a great relationship.

We have a link to the Father. You can't just skip and go, you know, short cut to the Father.

You have to go through Jesus Christ. He is our link to the Father.

And it's important that we really revere Jesus Christ. We appreciate deeply, and we submit to Him. And He is our Lord, our supreme authority. He's our master. He's the King of the Saints, it says in Revelation. We are saints. He is the King. We are betrothed to Him.

We're called His wife in Revelation chapter 19 verse 7. His wife has made herself ready.

So that's a real, real important relationship that we have. And it says in John chapter 14 and verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth, and I am the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me, except through me. But then He goes on in verse 7, if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. So by imitating Jesus Christ and doing what He says, we come to know God the Father, who is always, as far as I know, been in the third heaven on the throne whenever I see Him mentioned in Scripture. We come to know Him by knowing Jesus Christ.

Through Scripture, what He did, but living in us, the Spirit, through the creation.

We know a lot about God the Father.

So the key to knowing the Father is to know Jesus Christ, know the Godhead, their one, one-minded, one family. He goes on in verse 7, and from now on you know the Father and have seen Him. How's that? Think about that for a minute. You know God the Father and you have seen Him. Now, one place it says no one has ever seen God the Father, but He's saying, well, actually, you've seen Me, and you know who I am. You know Me by what I say, what I do, how I think, and I'm just like my Father. So see Me, you've seen the Father. From now on, you'll see the Father, and we should see the Father. I don't mean the picture of the Father.

We should go right on our knees to the throne of God and know exactly who we're talking to.

Know exactly who we're talking to. And if you want to know what He looks like, just think of the brightest sun ten times over that's burning your eyes. You'd get probably a good idea.

Knowing God also provides us with His understanding. You know, David in Psalm 19, we, in fact, we sang one of the Psalms, it's our last hymn this morning, of the three-set, but, oh, how love I your law, and that's repeated throughout Psalm 119. His laws, His statutes, His precepts, His judgments. And David then has a good understanding because he keeps God's law, His statutes, His precepts. And that longest chapter in the Bible just repeats that over and over and over. So if we look here in, let's see here, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18.

I have to limit how many Scriptures we can actually do in one message.

He says here, Paul is saying here to the church at Corinth, for the message of the cross. You know what the message of the cross is?

The message of the cross, the stake, if you look up the Greek word. It has to do with that word, charese, again. It's the favors of God. Jesus Christ came and He began to give favors.

He died so that we could repent and have forgiveness of our sins, but that wasn't it. That's just the start. So the message of His crucifixion, grace as a reciprocal favor, we might say, or the reciprocal favors that we interact with them doing, it's foolishness to those who are perishing, he says. What we're doing here, trying to become more like God, that's foolish to those who are perishing at this time. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. This is power from God in your life now and forever.

Going on in verse 30, but of Him, of God the Father, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. Jesus Christ is our wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. See, the message of the cross has all of these things in there.

It has His righteousness. We are sanctified by His blood. He is the Word of God by which we are sanctified. And redemption, He redeems us. We have this understanding then, more understanding, knowing God comes from keeping His law and being righteous. Now, how do you live daily with God the Father and Jesus Christ? How do we live a daily life knowing God, interfacing, intertwining with God as one, dwelling in them, us in them? Let's go to John 14, 21, hear Jesus talk about this. John 14, verse 21.

We'll start in verse 20.

At that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

He who has my commandments and keeps them. See how this just keeps coming back around?

He who does what God does, he who thinks like God thinks, he who does the God family deeds acts mindset. This is going to be those who keep them, is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest. The Greek word there means to disclose. I will disclose myself to him. Doesn't mean he's going to show up, but you'll know.

You're going to be disclosed. I'll disclose myself to him. Verse 23, If you want to dwell in that home, the Father has house rules. Okay? We can put this real clear. You go to the Father's house, the God family house, the house of God, there's house rules, and that's the way the family thinks, the way the family lives. If you don't want to keep the house rules, you're not going to be in the house. But if you're in the house, the house of God, you're in the body of Christ, you're in the household of God, you're going to be part of the family. You're going to think and act. You're going to know the family inside out. You're going to know God and Jesus Christ. You're going to know all of those who are truly in the family, and you'll be able to test the spirits and know who is and who isn't simply because they don't think the way God thinks. And you'll know false teachers because their fruits will reveal that they're not of God's mindset. Jesus interacts with us through the influence of God's Holy Spirit, and that's powerful. It's not through words right now, not through speech. Verse 25, these things I have spoken to you while being present with you. Knows that. He spoke while present these things we have been in writing. Verse 26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, it will teach you all things and bring you to remembrance all things that I said. That's how the new covenant will work, not direct speech.

In fact, Jesus actually forbids talking to him directly or praying. Do you know that?

Let's see him say it in John chapter 16 in verse 23. Once he leaves earth, he says, in that day you will ask me nothing. You will ask me nothing.

It's important. Keep the house rule. Be very careful here. In that day you will ask me nothing, period. Most assuredly I say to you, whatsoever you ask the Father in my name.

That's how this works. Ask the Father in my name. Now everyone in the New Testament followed this rule. You won't find any other examples of this.

In Matthew chapter 6 in verse 6, Jesus tells us how to pray. You'll find that all the apostles and everybody here prays to the Father.

He says, but when you pray, Matthew 6, 6, when you pray, but you, when you pray, my people, my family, go into your room and when you shut your door, pray to your Father. That's who we're to pray to. So coming to know Jesus Christ intimately and personally happens at the spiritual, mental, heartfelt level of the Lord. And Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He has made him the head of the church. He is the head of the bride. But we are children of the Father. We're not children of Jesus Christ. We're children of the Father. We're a brother of Jesus Christ in that sense. And so God has organized it in this way, and we're to pray to the Father. And so there in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus then gives us what's called the model prayer outline. He says, after the prayer, Jesus is the Son of God.

He says, after this manner, therefore, pray you. It doesn't matter what anybody else's do.

You. After this manner, therefore, pray you, our Father who art in heaven.

Hallowed be your name. See, that's how our prayers are to be directed.

Your calling is to have contact with the Father and faith in Jesus Christ.

That's how it's set up. We could go through several scriptures where we're to talk to God the Father, we are to repent to God the Father, and we're to have faith in Jesus Christ. And Jesus is there as our high priest. He is there as an advocate, working on our behalf and helping us. Let's go, for instance, in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers, in various ways God communicated, I believe it was the Jesus Christ of the Old Testament, communicated by the prophets, as in these last times, and by the prophets, usually they had a vision or a dream and then they would communicate it, as in these last days spoken to us by His son, Jesus Christ, on earth in the flesh and in the Bible. Okay? But verse 3, He has left now.

Verse 3, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, dropping down at the end of the verse, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Jesus Christ is no longer here, nor is He speaking to humans verbally anymore.

If we go to chapter 2 now in verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us, apostles, who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. That's how God interacts with us. He spoke directly to the disciples, the apostles, then He died. He went to heaven. He's with God the Father.

And now we are witness to signs, to wonders, miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit. You experience these things. You know God is there.

We have faith in an unseen, unheard God and Jesus Christ, and to God that is treasure. That is great treasure. Jesus said, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Yes, He will in those who are in the family.

In 1 Peter chapter 1 now in verse 10, 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse 10, 1 Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you do not see Him. Jesus Christ, whom you having not seen, you love, you agape. See, it's important that we have not seen Him and we don't see Him.

But we develop the mindset of Jesus Christ, agape.

Though now you do not see Him yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory or praise. We deem Him positively assessed and we praise Him with glory. Verse 9, and then receiving the end, or the Greek there should read, the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. That goal. So by having faith in the unseen God and Jesus Christ and believing and praising Him, we have the result. We have the reward. We have the goal of our faith, which is being part of the family, salvation of your souls, being in the divine family of God.

God gives us His Holy Spirit. He gives us this relationship. And the result is a participatory relationship with God and Jesus Christ. He's not there, there, and I'm here, and I'm trying to keep some commandments. And it's a participatory relationship. We participate in their life. They participate in our life. They're in us, we're in them. We participate in their mindset and their deeds. We do the work. We do the works, the good works. The Holy Spirit encourages us to do, and they do them in us, and they get the credit.

In Romans chapter 8 and verse 10, as we wrap this up, Romans chapter 8 and verse 10, this is a wonderful chapter. Romans 8 is just all about your salvation, all about your calling and your salvation. We'll just take an excerpt out of it. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. If Christ is in you, He and the Holy Spirit are guiding you to avoid sin, and you don't think that way. The old person has died. You're dead to thinking in that mindset of sin.

But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. The Spirit is compelling us to do God things, godly things, family things, right, things that are right, according to here.

In verse 11, but if the Spirit, this is of the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit, which dwells in you. God is dwelling in you. He is living there. We need to know Him deeply, listen and do the things that the Holy Spirit prompts us to do and to think, and also avoid the things that it says, ah, that's not a good idea. Don't do that. Don't go there. Sometimes they're just little things. They're not huge sins like murder or whatever, but they're things that you begin to think like, God, you're going to cleanse yourself from any little thought that isn't right. And God's Holy Spirit will say, I don't know, you're thinking about that? Kind of, probably not the thing to think about. And we're going to, you know, wow, I guess I'm not going to think about that. Seems like it's just a little thing, but isn't it nice to get down to finally where you're doing the little things? And it's just between you and God. And this is God's Holy Spirit. So we grow in knowing God and Jesus Christ through living life with them, daily life with them as their son, their daughter, brother. And then the family relationship is unbreakable. We drop down at the very end of chapter 8, and it says, for I am persuaded that death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present or things to come, verse 39, height, depth, any scary thing, any persecution, anything that comes along in this life shall be able to separate us from the love of God or separate the love of God from us. It's two ways. Remember, it's reciprocal. God loves us, but we love Him. What can break that? He's saying nothing. Nothing will break that relationship we have with God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So in conclusion, let's go to 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13.

I mean, knowing God, how we know God is to be like God. How we can grow in knowing God better is to have Him involved in our life and us involved in His life and do it together almost as a husband and wife do. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. There it comes back to faith. To you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. You'll die, but you're in the family. You're one of us, God says. I'm in you, you and me. We're in each other. You're family.

You have eternal life waiting for you, you might add, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. See how important a faith in Jesus Christ is? That's the gateway.

Verse 19. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Verse 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him the Father who is true, and we are in Him the Father who is true, and in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.