It is always such a joy to be
here with you. And as I said before, I thank
the Lord for his mercy to raise up a candlestick of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in Kingsport, Tennessee. I'm
going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me back
to the passage We just heard chapter 17 of John. John chapter 17. I'd like to
look at one verse of scripture, verse 3. I heard brother Henry and he
was preaching out of this blessed chapter and he said truthfully,
he said this is holy ground. This is the glorious high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God speaking to God. Who's sufficient for these things?
But I pray the Lord be pleased to bless the services tonight. Our Lord. Praying and says, and
this. Is life eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. He's speaking to the Father.
And do you know on whose behalf He's speaking? Verse 2 says,
Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. The Father has chosen a people,
has given them to the Lord Jesus Christ and he's praying for them. Man by nature is born religious, but he's born ignorant of God. Romans chapter 10, turn over
there. Romans 10 verses 1 to 4. Here also is the Apostle Paul
expressing his heart. Brethren, Romans 10.1, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. So I know that men are born ignorant. They're born ignorant of God,
ignorant of righteousness, true righteousness. Back in John 17 verse 3, the
precious Savior is saying, Now this is life eternal, that those
that you've given me might know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. When the Spirit of God When the Comforter Himself comes
in power, He reproves men. He convinces men of three things. The Lord Jesus Christ said this.
He convinces them or reproves them of sin, meaning this is
what we are by nature. Men are born rebels against God. We're sinners. We were conceived
in sin, we came forth from our mother's womb speaking lies.
The Spirit of God convinces God's people of that. See, man by nature
doesn't think he's really, he's not, I'm not that bad. I'm not
saying I've not done some things, but no, no. Here's what he convinces
a man. From the top of his head to the
bottom of his foot, crown of his head, sole of his foot, putrefying
source. And every believer will say this,
in myself being born in Adam, I lay claim to that. I know something
about that. Oh, wretched man that I am. He
convinces them of sin. He convinces them, secondly,
of righteousness. That is, first of all, that they
don't have any that will stand before God and be accepted. All of my righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, soiled garments. There is one righteousness that
Almighty God accepts, and it is the righteousness of His precious
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in word and thought and deed
pleased God. This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. So He convinces them, secondly,
number one, that they're a sinner. Number two, they have no righteousness
save the righteousness imputed to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, He convinces them
of judgment. That is, judgment for God's sheep
has been spewed out upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. Man is born ignorant of that.
Man is born thinking, number one, I'm not a sinner. I had
an uncle tell me that one time. He told me, he said, I'm not
going to go. He was a grace preacher in central
Louisiana. And he came to hear him and he
told me afterwards, he said, I'm not going to hear that again. He told me that I was a sinner. Brother Scott, I heard him say
one time, he said, a sinner is a precious thing because God
made him so. He said, there's so few of them. Almighty God convinces His people
who they are and who He is. Our Lord in His high priestly
prayer makes this glorious truth, set forth this glorious truth,
this is life eternal. Now if there's ever been a statement
made, that statement right there ought to arrest a man, a woman. This is life eternal. You think? This is the Lord saying
this. Now this is life eternal. Our
ears ought to perk up and say whatever He's going to say, I
want to hear it. In fact, I want to read it again. This is life eternal that they,
those that you've given me, might know thee. The only true God,
truthful God. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. Now I know that life eternal
is more than just a head knowledge that there is a God. Because
I've read where the devils believe that. I know that. So it's got
to be something other than just a nominal knowledge that there
is a God. I want to read something that
I got this. I wrote down what Brother Henry
said and I'm going to just read it. Life eternal is not a head
acknowledgment of God's existence, but it is a personal experience
of the soul and a revelation from God of Himself to the new
heart as he is revealed in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is an experience of the soul. I know a lot of times we just
hate to use that word, you know, because it's been so abused.
But I'm telling you, God's people experience something. Life eternal is given. A new heart is given. They experience
life. Life. And they know it. They know Him. They know God. They see in the scriptures who
God is. Is He the God that chooses? Yes, He is. Is He the God who
doesn't change? Yes, He is. This is life eternal. That they might know Thee. Experience
Thee. In the soul, in the heart, that
new man imparted. There's a new man there. Almighty
God. Giving of Himself to His people. The Spirit of God convincing
them. So the man, the woman that rightly,
truly, savingly knows God. This is what they know. They
know salvation is of the Lord. They know that salvation is all
of grace without any work whatsoever on my part. It is from him who is life himself. Secondly, to know God. Almighty
God must initiate that knowledge. when the Apostle Paul, Saul of
Tarsus, was on the road to Damascus. Just hold your place there. Turn
with you. You've read this. Let's read it again. Acts chapter
9, verses 1 to 5. Now here's what Saul of Tarsus
was doing. And listen. This is what every
one of us was doing. We weren't on the road to Damascus,
but I'll tell you this. We were on our road to Damascus.
Wherever our road was, that's where we were. And I'll tell
you this, we weren't looking for the Lord. You say, how do you know? Because
God said so. He said, God looked down from
heaven to see if there were any that did seek Him. There was
none. There was none good. No man seeketh
after God. What happened? Saul of Tarsus,
this was a vessel chosen, chosen of God. This is the one that
the Lord knew before Saul of Tarsus ever knew God. God knew
him. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. As he journeyed,
he came near Damascus. I, you know, I want to, I want
to just stop there just for a second. That word near, right? I had always, I was going over
my notes and I had never considered that word near and I stopped
to just look it up and it says he was actually approached at
hand. He was just right there coming
in. And I thought for a second, those
that knew, because Ananias told the Lord, we've heard of him.
And they knew, they knew who this was. And he had letters
of authority and it was coming after him. And God stopped him. right as he, the scripture says,
was near. They approached his hand, and
as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. And suddenly there
shined round about him a light from heaven. He fell to the earth
and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And this man that had all of
his pride and arrogance and his heritage and he was a Hebrew
of Hebrews and was born out of the right tribe and he was circumcised
on the right day and this man that made all the claims of knowing
who he was and excelled in his own opinion far above everyone
else. According to the law he was blameless
according to Saul of Tarsus and this man said, Who art thou,
Lord? He didn't know him. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee. And Saul of Tarsus says,
Who are you? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. Every one that the Father gave
the Lord Jesus Christ in eternal electing grace shall be gathered. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. How do you know? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ said they would. How many is going to be lost?
None. To know God, God must initiate that meeting, that knowledge.
Whenever it pleases God. And I love the wording of this.
You know, 2 Samuel chapter 9, when David asked this question,
Is there any of the house of Saul that I might show mercy
to for Jonathan's sake? Now there's one, Mephibosheth. Where is he? Well, he's over
in Lodabar. You know what David said? Go
fetch him. Go fetch him. It has such a precious
sound to me. The king said, go get him. The king said, dad, you go get
him and you bring him to me. I'm going to show mercy to you
for your daddy's sake. I knew your daddy. and I loved
your daddy, and I made a promise to your daddy. There's a glorious
picture of fetching, saving grace. Thirdly, to know God, I'm gonna
have to hear the gospel from a preacher that God has sent. Turn with me to Romans 10. Romans
chapter 10. I'll just read verse 14. You
can read 13 to 17, but I'll read verse 14. Romans 10, 14. How then shall they call on him in
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How? Is it necessary to hear
the gospel preached from a God-sent preacher? Let me just read this again.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him in whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? Let me just go ahead
and read 15. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Does a man or woman have to hear
the gospel from a man that God has sent? Yes. Yes. 1 Corinthians 1.18 for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. That's silly
they say. It's absurd that you would say
that. The word foolishness is from
a root word that means stupid and heedless. The world says
I don't have to pay any attention to that. I hear what you're saying. You're saying that you've got
to hear the gospel. The gospel of God's free grace
from a man that God has sent. How shall they preach except
they be sent? As it's written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. How beautiful are the feet. the
feet. You know, if you could take four
or five gospel preachers, faithful men, and just let them all take
their shoes off, take their socks off, just look at their feet.
Tell me which one is which. Let me ask you this. What difference
does it make? They're a voice. That's what
John the Baptist said, I'm just a voice. How beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel. The gospel of peace and
bring glad tidings of good things. God sends preachers, but who
gets all the glory? The Lord himself. For after that,
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe. And
then turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. I love this passage
of scripture. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, 14. We are bound to give thanks all
way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. When God Almighty is going to
cause a man, cause a woman to know Him, He's going to initiate
it. This is life eternal that they might experience God. To
experience Him in the soul, God's going to have to initiate it.
And when God initiates it, He does it under the sound of the
gospel. Fourthly, to know Him, He must
give me a new heart. The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus,
John 3.3, Jesus answered him, said, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again. He cannot see, perceive, understand
the kingdom of God. Look at 1 Corinthians 2 verse
14. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14. I know what the world says concerning
man's ability. But I know what the world says
about man's natural ability. Here's what God has to say about
it. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. For they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. For me, for you to know God,
to experience in the soul God Himself, who He is, for the Spirit
of God to teach you who He is. For the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
to reveal to you who God is. God's going to have to give you
a new heart. He's going to have to make a
new man there. Because the natural man, the natural man, receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They're not carnally
discerned. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. I remember
years ago I was in Louisiana and the Lord teaching me something
of who He is. And I remember reading that passage
of scripture to a friend of mine, a buddy, and I thought to myself,
there's no way in the world that you cannot understand this. I said, let me read this to you.
I'll read it to you again. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit, being set apart by the Spirit of God and belief of the truth. And he said, I don't believe
that. How do you not believe that?
Here's the reason. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto him.
It takes a new man. It takes a new birth from above. Now everything that we have looked
at, back in John 17, Everything that we've considered,
we're going to have to be honest, Almighty God is going to have
to do for a man or a woman. But let me ask you, is there
any evidence that I know the Lord? I know what God says it
is. I know it is an experience of
that soul. It's according to God's calling.
God has to initiate it. It's going to be through the
preaching of the gospel. And that gospel, it goes forth
in power. Two people can be sitting right
here. Two people right next to each other. Two people that hear
the same message. But why is it that one believes
and the other doesn't? God's going to have to give one
or both a heart. If He doesn't give them a heart,
they're not going to hear anything. They're not going to believe
anything. But is there any evidence that I know the Lord, that you
know the Lord? I think there is. First of all,
if there's life there, growth is there too. Anything
that is alive grows. Turn to 2 Peter 3.18. 2 Peter.
318, you've read this. 2 Peter 318. The scripture says, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen. Everything that is alive
grows. If there's no growth, there's
no life. The more we know of him, the
more we desire to know of him, more we long to know of him.
We don't grow in holiness. We grow in the knowledge. of our Lord and Savior. We grow
in grace. People talk about progressive
sanctification. That means getting more holy. Let me just, I'll just ask a
question and then you just answer it in your own mind. Who is our
holiness? Who is our righteousness? You
can grow in the knowledge of him. But he is our holiness. As we grow in the knowledge of
the Lord. A believer is one. That is more
serious as he grows. He's more diligent. He's more
careful. He's more careful to make his
calling and election sure. He's not one that strolls and
is lax in this race. He's not one that shatter boxes.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 9.27. 1 Corinthians 9.27. 1 Corinthians
9.27. Now this was penned by the Apostle
Paul. And this is what he said. Let's
just read 26 and 27. 1 Corinthians 9, 26 and 27. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. So fight I, not as one that beateth
the air. I'm not just shadow boxing. I'm
not just going through the motions. I'm not just pretending. But
I keep my body. I keep under my body and bring
it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached
to others, I myself should be a castaway. A believer is one
that as he grows in grace, he who knows the Lord, This is what
the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3.10. And he knew, he said, I
know, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Paul
knew in whom he believed. You know what the Apostle Paul
said? Oh, that I might know him. You that have sat and heard and
listened, believed and loved the glorious Savior for many,
many years, you that know Him, don't you desire to know Him?
Oh, that I might know Him. Oh, that I might be found in
Him. Oh, that I might hear Him. Tell me one more time. I'm just
telling you from my heart, this would be my desire. Tell me one
more time, and Lord, by your Holy Spirit, teach me one more
time. Tell me how you've everlastingly
loved me. Tell me, Lord, Holy Spirit, tell
me one more time how you put away my guilt. Tell me how you're
not going to leave me. Tell me how you're not going
to forsake me. Tell me how in that day, Lord, I've heard of
dying grace. Lord, remind me that in that
day, when I don't feel right now that I have dying grace in
that day, you won't leave me. Tell me how in that day, when
it's my day, Lord, when it's my time, that I can say, as Stephen,
I see him. You think Stephen saw him? I
think he did. Does that mean every person does?
I don't know. I don't know. I know Stephen
did. But I know in that day, his grace
is sufficient. To know him is to know him that
a man already knows. To spend time seeking him, searching
him, hearing. I tell you, a regenerated sinner
will make the hearing of the gospel to be a priority. This is the power of God, the
preaching of the gospel. This is where God's people are
comforted. There'll be much in prayer. How
do you know? Because the Lord said, and when
you pray, Gosh, you get into your closet. I thank the Lord
for these times that we have to be together. And I know that
we have prayer and someone leads in prayer. And that's always
a struggle. Because you know people are listening.
And we're so prone to be aware of that, aren't we? We know they're
listening. And we want to say something
that sounds honoring. We really do. And I'm telling
you, there's a struggle. When you pray, you get into your
closet. And you pray to your father in
secret. And the father who hears in secret is going to reward
you openly. Wrestle with him. Asking, desiring. What did Jacob say? The Lord
told him, he said, let me go. And Jacob said, I can't. I can't. Bless me. What's your name? My name's Jacob. I'm a liar. I'm a cheat. I'm
a supplanter. I'm a trickster. Not anymore. Your name is Israel. You're a
prince with God. To know God is to know the God
that gives men a knowledge of himself. He teaches them, keeps
them, sustains them. And the more they know of him,
the more they know of each other, the more they're tired of themselves.
Oh, wretched man. Job said, I loathe myself, oh,
that I might know him. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent.