It's a miracle of God's grace
that we're here. He who holds the candlesticks in His hand and stars, He alone allows the gospel to be preached
where He does. Turn with me to John 17. I'd
like to just read verse 3 while you're turning there. I shared with the folks at Katie
the other day, I was looking, there's a ledger there that started
when Katie was when they first started meeting together and
the church was formed according to the Lord's good pleasure.
January the 3rd, 1956, and I thought to myself, January the 3rd of
2016 will be 60 years. That's really unusual, isn't
it, Brother Henry? It's unusual. It's by the grace
of God that we've been there and you've been here. That anyone
is still meeting today, it's by the grace of God. I thank
God for you. I thank God for you. For your
fellowship in the gospel. from the first day until now,
when we first crossed paths. John chapter 17, I'd like to
look at one verse out of the passage Brother Stan read. Our
Lord is praying and the Spirit of God has been pleased to allow
us to hear. the words. Our Lord, the Scripture
said He prayed, prayed often, prayed all night, but this is
the prayer that was recorded of our Lord. And He said, in
verse 3, to His Father concerning His people, and this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent." I read something a while back that said that approximately
150,000 people die every day in this world. 150,000 people a day. 150,000 people a day stand, leave
this world and have to answer, stand before God, 150,000. Based upon this scripture, wide
is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few. There be that find it, that obtain
it, that see it, that perceive it. Based on that scripture, according
to the words of God Almighty, many leave this world not knowing
God. Man is born ignorant of God. I know that. The reason I know
that is because God says it's so. This is what the Apostle
Paul said in Romans 10 verses 1 to 3, Brethren, 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. They've not submitted themselves
unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. Man is born ignorant. He's ignorant, number one, of
sin because it's going to take the comforter. to convince him,
to reprove him of sin. So I know he's born ignorant
of sin. That is what he is. I know he's
born ignorant of that. He's born ignorant of righteousness. He's born ignorant, first of
all, of the fact that he doesn't have any before God. It's just filthy rags. He's ignorant of judgment. of what is due sin against God,
and he's ignorant that God's judgment has been poured out
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for everyone that has been given
the Son in electing grace. A man born ignorant of sin, he's
ignorant of righteousness, he's ignorant of judgment, because
the Spirit of God is going to have to teach him that. He's
born without a right knowledge of God. He's born ignorant of a right
thinking. He's born ignorant of what true
repentance is. The Lord said, Luke 13.3, I tell
you nay, but except you repent. Except you think differently.
concerning how God justifies a sinner. Man's born thinking
that he can do something to reconcile himself back to God. Except you
think differently. Except you repent. You're going
to perish. I know this. Many this morning are ignorant of God. Lord help
me, Lord help me, oh, that I might know Him. I know for a fact, unless the
Lord Jesus Christ returns, And I am found to be one that Apostle
Paul spoke of that remained on this earth in his second coming.
Ron, I know this. I'm going to die. I'm going to
die. And I'm going to stand before
God. And in that day, in that great day of reckoning, the day
of the Lord, you know what Scripture says is going to happen? The books are going to be open. And the book, and the book, and all found not written in
the book himself. God is going to deal with every
man according to his own works found in the books. Now I know just a little bit
about myself and what I know about myself I don't like. I
don't like. Was it Joe that said I loathe
myself? I loathe myself. I can't even keep a straight
mind in trying to pray. I'll catch myself, and I do,
I want to seek the Lord. I want to pray. I want to meet
with Him. I want to go in my closet. I
want to get by myself. But I'm going to tell you something.
How many times have I caught myself, and I do it all the time,
thinking to myself, where was I? Lord forgive me. If God marked iniquity, who could
stand? This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom Thou hast sent. I want you to just stop for just
a second and just let's look and ask and seek that the Lord
might give us some understanding right here because if there's
ever a verse of Scripture, Steve, that I want to have some light
on, it's this one. This, this, this, this, is life eternal. You know what that means? That
nothing else is. This is life eternal. Number one. That they might know
Thee. The only just and holy and true
God, the God who will by no wise clear the guilty. Now this is
God. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee. God, who is in Himself a consuming
fire, Holy, that's what the seraphim said. When Isaiah said, in the
year the king Uzziah died. Now whatever that, somehow, he
associated seeing the Lord in the year the king Uzziah died.
I don't understand all of that, but in the year the king Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. This is how I saw Him. He was
sitting. He was finished. I saw the Lord. And you go back and look in Isaiah
6.1. I saw also, and it's in the Old
Testament, the capital L, little o, little r, little d. I saw
the Messiah. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I saw Him. He was sitting. He was finished.
He was sitting on the throne. I saw the king high and lifted
up. That name which is above every
name, that name before whom every knee is going to bow, every tongue
is going to confess, you're the Lord. High and lifted up. And his train, the train of his
priestly garments, it filled the temple. You know what that
meant? There wasn't any room for anybody else. and bought
him the seraphims. And this is what they said, holy,
holy, holy. I don't even know, I can't even
enter in to what that means. I don't. If you were to ask me,
explain holiness to me, I can't. I can't. But I can tell you this,
this is life eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, but listen to the second part, and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the God of all justice, and that there is a
Savior, that there's a substitute. This
is life eternal. That they might know that there's
mercy with God. That there is one in whom God
is well pleased. This is life eternal. That there
is a priest who answers for me. This is life eternal. Life eternal
is to know that the only just God without a mediator is going
to consume everything. This is life eternal. That the
unapproachable God is approachable. in His Son." This is life eternal. "...that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." To know the true and living God
and Jesus Christ, who He has sent, is more than just a head
acknowledgement of His existence. It is absolutely a personal experience. Can I use that word? It is. I'm going to tell you something.
Those that God has called out of darkness, something's happened. Something's happened. God Almighty
has given them a new heart. And they know it. They know. To know Him is a personal experience
in the soul. I have been taught something
of who God is and who I am and who the Lord Jesus Christ is. To know something of God and
have life, I must know His Son. I must. Life eternal is by the grace
of God. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace. I love that word. I love grace. Grace. Sovereign grace. I love to hear of Him who rules. In the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, I love hearing of Him that no
man stays His hand." Our God's not trying to do anything.
What's He doing? He's done whatsoever. He is pleased. I love it. I love it. I'm just
going to tell you just a few things. that I've noticed by
God's grace in this passage. I know that this knowledge right
here is more than just a head perception. Devils know that. Demons know that. I'm talking
about a knowledge in the heart, in a new heart. in the soul where
God has taught me something. About that knowledge we was talking
about out of Proverbs. He that get his knowledge, knowledge
of who God is, who I am, who the Lord is. What God's done
for God's sake, God's will. That knowledge. I know this. If I'm going to know Him, if
I know Him, this is life eternal, that they might know Thee. Here's a room full of people
this morning. You have two people sitting next
to you, not next to each other. And I know this, both of them
hear the same thing. But I know this, that unless
Almighty God does something, nothing gonna happen. They don't
hear anything. But if there is any knowledge
of who He is, I know this first. God's gonna have to initiate
it. I know that. That I know. Look at John. In John 17 where we are. Now
listen to this. Look in verse 6. John 17, 6. Listen to what He's done for
His people. Those that the Father has given
Him. John, listen. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. How did they hear? How did they
hear? The Lord manifested the name of the Lord, the character
of God, who God is. He manifested it to them. Were they seeking Him? No. Saul of Tarsus on the road to
Damascus, letters of authority in his hand to take any that
were found of the way, take them down back to Jerusalem. And as
he approached Damascus, a light, bright light from heaven shined
round about Saul of Tarsus. One that the Lord revealed later
was a chosen vessel unto him. And he was Saul of Tarsus, one
who in himself over Philippians said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
I was circumcised on the right day, I was this, that, and the
other. And concerning the law, I was blameless. A man that claimed to know God. Saul saw. Why persecutest thou me? The
Lord's body, his people. He said, you've done this to
me. And you know what Saul of Tarsus said? Who are you? Who are you? This is life eternal. And the
Lord said, I'm Jesus that you persecute. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ. If Almighty God is pleased to
bestow a knowledge of Himself, He's going to have to initiate
it, because I never will. I won't. I can't. If Almighty God is pleased to
give a knowledge of Himself, not only is He going to initiate
it, He's going to do it one way, through the preaching of the
Gospel. Romans 10.14 says, They call on Him in whom they've
not believed. And how shall, how is it possible
for them to believe in Him in whom they've not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? Do you mean to tell me, the world
might ask, are you telling me that God Almighty only manifests
Himself to His people through preaching? Are you telling me
that the only way that God manifests Himself is through the preaching
of the gospel? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. Oh, that's absurd. That's silly. That's silly. I got God's Word that that's
exactly what they say. You listen to this. 1 Corinthians 121, for the preaching
of the cross, that which God has accomplished, not the piece
of wood. But the preaching of the cross,
that which God has accomplished, that which Christ finished, the
preaching of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness. And I look the word foolishness
up. And here's what it means. Silly
and absurd. That's silly, they say. But unto
us which are saved, which are being saved, it is the power
of God. Look at 2 Corinthians 2, 13 and
14 with me. 2 Thessalonians, I'm sorry, if
I said Corinthians, my apologies. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13
and 14. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13-14, but we're
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. Because God has, from the beginning,
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, where unto? He called you how? By our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. If Almighty God is pleased to
give the knowledge of Himself, the knowledge of God and His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's going to initiate it. He's going
to do it through the preaching of the Gospel. Hebrews 2.1 says,
therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we've heard lest at any time we should let them slip.
Is it necessary to hear the Gospel? Absolutely. Thirdly, if Almighty God is going
to give a knowledge of Himself, He's going to initiate it, He's
going to do it through the preaching of the Gospel, and He's going
to have to give a new heart to hear it. The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus,
John 3.3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Accept. Accept. A man be born again, he cannot
see, he cannot perceive, he cannot know. the kingdom of God. He cannot. Why? Why not? Can't a man hear? Can't a man
understand? Not unless God gives him a new
heart. 1 Corinthians 2.14, 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 are spiritually discerned." God must. This is life eternal. That they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. God is going to have to initiate
it. He's going to initiate it and he's going to accomplish
it through the preaching of the gospel and he's going to give
a new heart. He's going to teach his people
of himself. God Almighty must do something
for me that I cannot do for myself. When he does, I can tell you
this in closing. there is an evidence of it. When Almighty God gives a knowledge
of Himself, it's known. How is it known? There is, first
of all, there's a knowledge in the heart of that regenerated
object of God's mercy. There's a knowledge of who God
is. Now before, the Lord said this
is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God. Let me tell you what God gives
to those that He regenerates. He gives a knowledge of Himself. All the inhabitants of the earth. It's Daniel 4 verse 35. Nebuchadnezzar, I tell you, I've
read some commentaries and some said you think he was a believer.
Do you think Nebuchadnezzar wasn't a believer? God knows. God knows. But I can tell you this, what
this man said was so. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? A man that knows God knows God
is God. A man that knows God knows that
Almighty God is a God of mercy. When Moses asked the Lord, he
said, show me your glory. That's what he said. I will have
mercy. I will have compassion on whomsoever
I will. That's God's glory to show mercy. His mercy to His people. Listen to Psalm 89.1, I will
sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. You think there's ever going
to come a time when God's people will not sing of His mercy? Oh,
when they get to heaven, they won't anymore. Oh yes, they will. You go back and read Revelation
chapter 4. when those four and twenty elders
took their crowns and cast them before the Lamb who was found
worthy to take the book. To take the book out of the hand of Him that sat
on the throne. And they cast those crowns that
was theirs by grace, crowns given to them that belonged truly to
Christ. And they cast Him at His feet
and said, You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy.
For Thou has redeemed us out of every nation and kindred
and tribe and tongue. You made us kings and priests
unto God. Is there ever a time when we
will not continue to sing of the mercy of God? We'll never
stop. I will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. I'm telling you, one that knows
God knows that God is God, just God, and He's merciful in His
Son, and His long-suffering 2 Peter 3.9, the Lord is not slack
concerning His promises, some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, to God's elect, God's people, not willing that any
should perish, but that all, given Him in electing grace,
should come to repentance. There's a knowledge of who God
is. It's the knowledge of who I am.
Those that know God know who He is and who I am. Let me tell you a little bit
just by reading a couple of scriptures about myself. And I'll tell you
this, if you're honest about yourself. Here's honesty. Here's
knowledge of us and ourselves. The stars are not pure in His
sight. How much less man that is a worm, the son of man which is a worm. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's
me. Therefore, I know something about
myself. I am what I am by the grace of
God. a son of God, an object of God's
mercy, is because He was pleased to show me that mercy. That's
the only reason. A man that has a knowledge of
God knows something about who God is, knows something about
who He is. And I'll tell you another thing. He knows something
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows that God Almighty was
pleased to send His only begotten Son,
God Himself. This is an amazing thought. The Lord Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead
body. God Himself came into this world to seek
and to save that which was lost. Why? Because he saw some good
in it? It's none good. Not one. God Almighty was pleased to show
mercy to me and He's done so totally in His Son. That's so far beyond my ability
to explain it. Like Brother Scott used to say,
I just proclaim it. I can't explain it, I proclaim
it. But I can tell you this, there's mercy with the Lord.
And it's in His Son. This is my beloved Son at whom
I'm well pleased. This is the one I'm well pleased
in. This is the one I'm well pleased
in. I want to be found in Him. And lastly, those that know Him,
those that know the Lord, love each other. Those that know
God, love each other. The same spirit that regenerates
this believer is the same one that regenerated this believer. The life that this believer has
is the life that this believer has. The God that this believer
serves is the God that this believer serves. The Lord that this believer
loves is the Lord that this believer loves. By this shall all men
know that you are my disciples. How? You have love one for another. You want to be with each other.
Those that know God, seek God. They trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They come to Him. They know Him. And as I said
earlier, they want to know Him. They want to hear. they want
to see. And they realize that what they
see and what they hear of the glory of God in Christ, they've
heard because God's blessed them. Blessed are your ears, your eyes. They see, they hear. Lord, bless
these words to our heart for Christ's sake.