Let me say in the beginning this
morning that I know this is a day where most in religion celebrate
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we celebrate his birth
every day here. We do. Because if Christ hadn't
come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, He would
have never lived a perfect and righteous life so that he might
die to fulfill the law of God and satisfy the justice of God
in our room and state. So I have chosen this morning
to bring you a message on what is it to know Jesus Christ? What is it to know Christ in
a saving way? Turn with me first to Jeremiah
chapter 31, Old Testament book, Jeremiah chapter 31. What is it to know Jesus Christ? I wanna know. I want you to know. The Lord here is speaking through
the prophet Jeremiah, and in verse 31, he says, behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break. Although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord. Now that Hebrew word husband
in verse 32 means master and owner. But you ladies that are
married can relax. I'm not insinuating to you that
your husband is your owner and your master. But your husband
is responsible before God to His owner and master for you,
spiritually and physically. And you ladies who are without
a husband, you who believe and trust in Christ, are married
to Christ. And there's no husband like Him.
What God is saying here is this, as His people, Israel was betrothed
to the Lord, and He, the owner and master of His people, acted
the part of a husband to them. While He nourished them, and
He cherished them, and He provided food and raiment for and to them,
He rained down manna from heaven. Fresh bread from heaven. He provided
refreshing water from a rock that followed them. What a husband,
what a owner and a master he is. Their clothes didn't wear
out. He protected them from their
enemies. In verse nine, if you look up,
it says he refers himself also as a father to them. God's people
meant everything to him. Yet, Israel, as his wife and
his children, rebelled against the Lord at every turn. Now in
the last ten years, we've gone through the book of Genesis,
we've gone through the book of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, 1 Samuel, Judges, 1 Samuel, we're in now. And we've seen this almost in
every study. Israel. Disobey God. So when the Lord says here in
our text that he was a husband to them, he means that he did
everything for them, regardless of their rebellion. That is amazing,
isn't it? You talk about long-suffering.
Our love for one another is so conditional, it's so much based
on, you know, well, what have you done for me lately? But not
God's. That's not the way God loves.
He has an unconditional love. He has an everlasting love. But this is what husbands are
to do and it's what they should be and what they should do. Paul
said, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. Ephesians 5, 28. So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own
flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, of his bones. And for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Now, in verse 33
here of our text, we read these words, but this shall be the
covenant that I make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord. Now look at this. I will put
my law in their inward part and write it in their hearts, and
we'll be their God, and they shall be my people." Now, what
a covenant that is. What a blessed covenant this
was that God made with Israel. But this covenant was made, and
it applies to true Israel, not the nation, but the chosen and
the elect people of God, both Jew and Gentile alike. In other
words, Those of you who believe and trust in Christ, this covenant
is made to you. That's good news. Verse 34, and they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I'll remember their sin no more. Now, the title
of my message this morning is in the form of a question. I've
already asked it. What is it to know Christ? What
is it to know Jesus Christ? Well, first we know that to know
Christ is to be saved, is to be redeemed, is to have our sin
forgiven. Salvation begins with God-given,
God-revealed knowledge. I add God-revealed because it's
not something you just pick up from someone teaching you or
reading in a book. God has to reveal it to you.
God has to first give you life, give you eyes to see, ears to
hear, hearts to believe in order to see this. The Lord Jesus said,
this is eternal life. And then he told us what it was.
This verse has been on the front of our bulletin for years. John
17, two, this is eternal life. What is eternal life? To know
the only true God. To know the only capable Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father gave unto God
the Son power, it says, over all flesh. What does that mean? Just what it says. all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father gave
Him." Now, if a man, a woman, a sinner is not saved, it's because
God the Father did not give that person to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that what the verse says? When will false religion stop
telling folks that God loves and saves everybody? It's not
true. And people look at you like you're
some kind of antichrist yourself when you tell them that. Hold
your place here in Jeremiah 31 and turn with me to John 17.
You know the passage well. Now, there's no more glorious
passage in all the Scripture. But in John 17, I want you to
begin reading with me in verse 2. John 17, 2. The Lord Jesus here says that
God gave him power over all flesh. All means all. Doesn't mean all
except one. It means all. The Lord Jesus
has power over everyone in the world. He said, is it not right
for me to do what I will with my own? Yet notice what he says. He only
gives life eternal to the many that God gave Him. It doesn't
say that He gave life to all the world, He gave life to the
many that God gave Him. Two distinct groups here. All
flesh, everybody in the world, many that the Father gave to
Christ. Do you agree? That's what it
says. John 17, 3, and I just quoted, this is life eternal,
that they might what? Know Thee. Who will they know? The only true God. You see, there's
a lot of gods preached today. They're little G gods. They're
trying, they're wanting, they're endeavoring to accomplish something,
but there's only one true God. And who? Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. No less God than God the Father.
God in three persons. Verse 23, look down at it. It says, I am them and thou and
me, that they may be perfect in one and that the world may
know that thou has sent me and has loved them and has loved
me. One day the whole world is gonna
know that God the Father didn't love everyone, but that he loved
those that he made perfect in Christ and he sent the Lord Jesus
and the Father loves him and the Father loves them. God loves
me by proxy, friend. I didn't do anything in order
for God to love me. But folks make that so complicated
when they try to explain what it means to know. They certainly
don't know the correct definition of know or knowledge. I can know who the president
is and yet not know him. That's the case. I can know some
things about the president and yet I don't know the president
personally. The Hebrew word for know means
understanding. It means to have a true comprehension. It's to be aware of things as
a matter of fact. It's to be certain of things
by way of experience. It's to be absolute and sure. We read in the first hour, Psalm
111, that the covenant that God made with David was ordered in
all things and what? Sure, certain, matter of fact. It's to be absolutely and sure
of something. It's to be familiar and of close
acquaintance. Now, I only know what I know
concerning the president by what someone else has told me. And
most of it's probably untrue. I have no personal acquaintance
or experience with the president. I've never seen him. I've never
spoke to him, never written to him. He's never written to me.
So I don't really know him. Many professing believers can
say, well, now brother, I've read the scriptures and I'm familiar
with the attributes of God. I know that God is sovereign
and in control. Listen, the devils know that.
Devils know that God is sovereign. That's not gonna get them into
glory. They don't have a personal, intimate relationship with Him.
Men and women can continue and profess and say, I have great
reverence for all that God has done. But still, with that alone,
we cannot say that we know Him because knowing God is not knowing
there is a God. Knowing God is not knowing that
there's just one God. Knowing God is not simply knowing
some facts about God. Most everybody everywhere knows
some facts about God. Yes, God is omnipotent. He's
all-powerful. Yes, God is omniscient. He is
all, He knows everything. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere
all the time. God is immutable, changing never,
always the same. Yes, God is holy. He always does
what's right. He's righteous, He's holy, He
always does what's right. And by the knowledge of the Bible,
though it declares and describes the knowledge that we must possess
in order to be saved is to know Him. Have faith, believe and
trust in Him for everything. Everything. It's to be personally
acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's to have full
confidence that He provides for us everything that God requires
from us. I said it again. I told you in
the first hour. I love to say it. I find every
opportunity I can to say it. God did for me the wretched sinner
that I am, the one undeserving of His love, mercy, and grace.
He did for me everything that God Almighty requires of me,
personally acquainted, full of confidence. It's to confidently
say with Paul, as we sung a moment ago, for I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded, convinced, assured that he is what? Able. God is able. And friends, God is willing to
keep that which I, you, and everyone else commits to him against that
day in Christ. What day does that speak of?
The day of death, the day of resurrection, the day of judgment?
Well, since God is a spirit and not bound by time, it means all
of those days. For the elect of God, the day
of death, resurrection, and judgment are all one in the same. Paul
speaks of that day when the child of God is brought face-to-face
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And for some, it's gonna be a
glorious, glorious day, and for others, not so much so. There's
a hymn that says, oh, what a day that'll be when my Savior I shall
see. When I look upon His face, face-to-face,
the one who saved me by His grace, when He takes me by the hand
and leads me to the promised land. What a day, glorious day,
that'll be. Do you know Christ? Most urgent
question ever asked, what think you of Christ? Do you know Him?
What do we commit to Him? Our very souls and spirit, all
our hope, all our confidence in being conformed to Christ.
Having that perfect righteousness that God requires. Having that
perfect righteousness that God accepts. We can only be accepted
in Christ the Beloved. Only He has that perfect righteousness. And are you persuaded that He
is able? Are you persuaded that He can
keep? If we do, Paul went on to say in the very next verse,
hold fast the form of sound words. Friends, these are sound words,
not because I'm speaking them. I'm nobody. I'm no different
than you, just a wretched, depraved sinner in need of mercy and grace. Hold fast the form of sound words
which thou has heard of me in faith and in love, which is in
Christ Jesus. Now the word know in the scriptures
means knowing someone in a personal and intimate way, much more than
our English dictionary defines it. To know in English, the word
know in English can simply mean to know that someone or something
exists. You say, I know that there's
an Eiffel Tower. I've never seen it, but I know
that it exists. I know people that have seen
it, but I haven't. To just know some things about
something or someone is not to know in the biblical sense. To know God is not to know Him
in an intellectual or an impersonal manner. To know God and Christ
is to bow to Him as the sovereign creator. It's to recognize Him
as the King of kings and the Lord of lords and to believe
all His claims and promises. To know God requires a dutiful
obedience. The word know is an expression
compared to the intimacy between a husband and a wife. You know,
when the angel appeared to Mary and said, You're gonna have a
son. She said, how can that be? I
know not a man. I've never been intimate with
a man. And that's why God said, I was
a husband to them. He was intimate with them, but
they weren't intimate back. They didn't know him. God is
intimate with his people. I look back at our text, Jeremiah
31. Again, verse 33, in the second
part of the verse, it says, after those days, saith the Lord, I
will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts
and will be their God and they shall be my people. Then the last part of verse 34
adds, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember
their sin no more. So this brings me to my second
point. Who is it that knows the Lord?
Who really knows the Lord? Well, the one who truly knows
the Lord is the one whose sin is forgiven. The one whose sin is not only
forgiven, but remembered no more. The work of grace in most cases
begins with the Holy Spirit bringing the law of God in contact with
their inner man, the soul and the spirit of a sinner. Man outwardly
forgets the law. We do. He may profess a reverence for
the law, but usually it doesn't affect his desires and his thoughts. But when the Holy Spirit begins
to put the law in the inward parts of a man and woman, in
the hearts of men and women, as God says in our text, the
shortcomings and the transgressions committed by us as the sinners
we are seem to have an immediate result. The more our hearts as
sinners see the perfect holiness of the law of God, and we're
overwhelmed with shame and sorrow and conviction, we begin to feel
that if God should mark iniquities, who could stand? Who could stand
before Him? We're overwhelmed with shame
and sorrow and conviction. We feel that if the Lord would
be just and right in condemning us forever. Is that not how you
feel? Do you feel like you deserve
what God's done for you? If He saved you by... No, you
don't feel deserving at all, do you? You feel like you deserve
hell. And that's what you deserve.
But that's why it's called mercy and that's why it's called grace.
God not giving us what we deserve and God giving us what we don't
deserve. I like to say that too. Those with no knowledge claim,
well, that's not fair. Well, that God's not fair. Your
God's not fair. He's not fair if He saves some
and passes it by others. Well, Paul said, I knew you were
going to say that. I knew you were going to say
that. He said, is there unrighteousness with God? Is God wrong to condemn
some and to save others? His answer was, God forbid. No,
no, no, no, no. No. You see, dear friends, law
work is a grace work. When God calls you to see what
you really are and what you really deserve, when God convinces us
of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, the Holy Spirit works
towards transforming our deceitful and wicked hearts. God takes
the stone, the hardness out of our hearts, giving us new hearts
that are fleshly and tender and sensitive. You know that was
the case with you. Then God with His own finger
begins to write His divine law on your heart. And God's divine
demands were tender to that become the center of our lives and the
governing force of our actions. Why don't you do that anymore?
Oh, that would be displeasing to my Lord. That would bring
dishonor to His name. Who made this change of heart?
God did. God did. By a miracle of grace,
our nature has changed. Our tendencies, which were once
toward evil, are now in tenderness turned toward good. Not as a
reward of salvation, but as the cause of salvation. No one has
ever been saved by doing good works because simply they're
not good enough. But his was. His works were good
enough. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done, but according to his righteous work we're saved.
When the words were written on the tablet of stones, and Moses
brought them down to the people, oh, they were terrible and feared
words. Thou shalt not kill. right on down the line. But now
they're written on tablets of our hearts and their manifestation
is made of God Himself to us. Oh no, I don't want to displease
the one who loved me and gave Himself for me. Do you? Make
us to know ourselves and He made us to know ourselves and then
He made us to know the Lord. Our text says, they shall all
know me. from the least of them unto the
greatest of them. Who said that? He tells us, saith
the Lord. That's what the Lord said. How
is this knowledge obtained and imparted to us? He says, for
I will forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sin no
more. What a divine revelation. When the child of God is pardoned,
it is then that they truly know the Lord, because they've experienced
His love and His mercy and His grace and His forgiveness for
themselves. How do you know the Lord's forgiven
you? I just know. He made me to know. God revealed
it to me. The Lord gave Himself for them
as their heavenly husband, and they became intimate with the
One who loved them. Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah,
what a Savior. This is a personal knowledge
wrought by personal experience. And it's most definitely personal. You can't trust someone you don't
know. If you ask me if I know a particular
person and I say, no, now my daughter Amanda, I think my daughter
Amanda knows them, that would be the same as an admission that
I don't know them. And then if that question be
asked me again, do you know them? I would have to say, well, you
know, I think my son Andrew might know them. The question's personal. Do you know Christ? You cannot
know God through other people. You cannot see God through other
people. You cannot know God through someone
else's knowledge, eyes or ears. Can you? No, you cannot. You yourself have to be born
again. You personally have to be given
life. You personally have to be given
eyes to see. You have to be given ears to
hear. You must be made pure in your
heart, not getting in on somebody else's knowledge. The man that
knows God doesn't know Him solely in, by, and through instruction. You can attend church for 50
years, listening to a gospel preacher, but unless God Almighty
divinely intervenes into your heart, you'll never believe a
word that's said, not truly. No, sir, you won't. Teaching
may be a means that God uses. But the true knowledge of God
is obtained from a much higher source. God himself must reveal
it to you. You know, when Peter confessed
Christ, you remember that? The Lord said, who do men say
that I am? They said, well, some say that you're Elijah, and some
say you're Isaiah, and some say you're John the Baptist. And
he said, who do you say I am? And Peter stood up, the bold
man that he was. He said, you're the Christ. You're
the son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said, blessed
you are, Simon. You're a blessed man. Flesh and
blood hadn't revealed this to you. Who did then? My Father, which is in heaven. Divinely intervened, divinely
opened up our minds and our hearts. You may know a great deal intellectually
by the teaching of men, but hard knowledge, that knowledge revealed
to the elect of God comes from above. The Lord Jesus said, he
shall teach you all things. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about his father. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Himself and His Father. In John 6, 45, the Lord
said, it's written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught
of God. Not of the preacher, not of the
pope, not of the priest. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me. Have you
learned of God the Father? Come to Christ. Come to Christ
if you haven't. So back to the question at hand.
I need to hurry. What is it to know the Lord?
That's the most urgent question. Now, back in Jeremiah, if you're
not there, verse 34, And they shall teach no more, every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.
Now this is not the urgent question that's asked today among religionists. Preaching the gospel has taken
a back seat to gospel preaching. You just ask somebody that you
know who attends a different denomination of a church, well,
how was your services today? Oh, the praise and the worship,
the worship band, just so good. Matter of fact, the Spirit moved
so much, we never got around to preaching. Religion today
has become a numbers and a money game. It's gospel preaching is
taking the back seat to social entertainment. Men and women
make a decision and choose Jesus. And then it's on to bigger and
better things. They're walking out. They say
a sinner's prayer. They get baptized. They join
the church. Then they're done. Mission accomplished. And they're said to know the
Lord. And they're saved. No matter how they live from
that day forward. I'll never forget when my grandmother
passed. I was still a young man, didn't
know the Lord myself. But I did know some things. And
he said, you know, Miss Ethel, she's in heaven today because
when she was a nine-year-old girl, she got baptized. And I
about fell out of the chair. My Mamaw Ethel, she said some
pretty things. She didn't ever talk about the
Lord. She didn't show any confidence
in trusting in Christ to put her sin away. Regardless of how
folks live the rest of their lives, everything's A-okay with
them and Jesus. You've heard it and so have I.
Me and Jesus, we got a good thing going. I kind of doubt it. When
asked, do you know the Lord? They say, why, yes. I made a
decision. I said a sinner's prayer. I got
baptized. I joined the church. I got saved.
No, you didn't. No, you did not. You don't get
saved. God saves you. You don't get
saved. It's all about what they've done.
The gospel's all about what God has done. The gospel's all about
Christ's finished work. It has nothing to do with what
we've done. You can't convince somebody of that, but the Lord
can. That's why we pray for them. God's people are destroyed. How? By a lack of knowledge. Because
they've rejected knowledge. God says, I will reject thee,
seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God. I will also forget
you and your children. Hosea 4, 6. This is God talking. Are you going to believe God
or are you going to believe some lying wolf in sheep's clothing? Isn't that what I've been saying? This is what God said. The Lord
knew Moses very well. In Exodus 33, He spoke to Moses
face to face. He spoke to Moses as a man speaks
to his friend. He told Moses, He said, I know
thee by name. He told Moses, thou hast found
grace in my sight. The Lord knew Jeremiah before
he was ever born. The Scripture says He singled
him out to be a prophet before he was ever born. Listen, He
did me too. I'm not a prophet, I'm a preacher.
And if you ask any of my old friends, they'll tell you that
I'd be the first person that they would think never be a preacher.
And they'd be right. But God chose me before the foundation
of the world. And I cannot not preach. Can't not. Oh, I thought about
quitting several times, but God won't let me. God won't let me. I hope that doesn't sound bad.
You know what I mean, don't you? We all get frustrated sometimes
and think we're making any difference. Listen, you're not going to make
any difference. The only difference that's made is the difference
that God makes. Who maketh thee to differ? Only God. What do
you have you didn't receive? Nothing. If you received it,
why do you glory in it? You shouldn't. The Lord knew Abraham and chose
him to be a father of a great nation. The Lord knew Joseph.
He was with him through all his afflictions. From the pit, to
Potiphar's house, to the prison, to the throne of Pharaoh. God
was with him all the way. The new king didn't know him.
But the Lord did, the Lord knew David. Well, he was the apple
of God's eye. To know Christ is to know God,
John 14, 17. Eternal life is to know God and
Christ, as we read in John 17. But the question is, do you know
Christ? Most important, urgent, crucial
thing for us to know, and that is Christ. He told us how we
would know Him. So what is it to know Christ?
What's to be known of Him? Turn with me to Matthew 7. I'm
out of time. Matthew 7, verse 17. How do we know that God is doing
a work of grace in our hearts? Matthew 7, verse 17. The Lord Jesus speaking says,
even so, every good tree bringeth forth what? Fruit. But a corrupt
tree brings forth evil fruit. Then the Lord added down in verse
20, wherefore, by their fruits, you shall know them. Look at the very next verse,
verse 21. The Lord added, not everyone,
not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father,
which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied? Have we not preached in thy name?
In thy name, haven't we cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works, and then I will profess unto them, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." You see, friends, in the end, it will not be those
who say that they know the Lord that are saved. They may prophesy
and preach. They may claim to cast out devils. They may say that they do many,
many wonderful works. Well, if all my works were written
down, a thousand page book wouldn't hold them. That's not so. All that really matters is if
the Lord knows me. Does the Lord know you? And how
do we know others know him? By fruit. It speaks of the fruit
of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Again,
such is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified in the flesh with the affection and lust. We live in
the Spirit, we're gonna walk in the Spirit. And that is the
gospel. All this fruit that we're given
is in Christ. I had a man tell me one time,
he said, are you getting fruit in your life? And I once said,
no, you're business. He said, well, I'm a fruit inspector.
No, you're not. If there's a fruit inspector,
it's God. And he's the one with whom I
have to do. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me." We love Him, friends, because He first loved
us. We have not chosen Him. He has chosen us. To know Christ
is to trust and obey Him. So is salvation then by works?
No. No, it's by grace. God gives
us the grace to trust Christ. It always comes back to that.
We trust that Christ does for us. What? What we can never do
for ourselves. I said it again. Let me read you one last passage
found in Ephesians chapter two. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works." Not saved by good works, created
in Christ to do good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. Ephesians 4. In Christ, we were
before ordained, and we were prepared to do good works. And as we've already said, we're
not saved by them, but we're saved as the result, or we do
these good works by the result of being saved. We're not saved
by doing, we're saved in walking and following the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the proof that God saved
us. But our obedience to Him as His followers, we find proof
and we know first who the Lord is and that we are saved by Him
knowing us.