Let me remind you that service
this Tuesday night at 730. Tuesday night, not Wednesday,
Tuesday night at 730, Brother Bill Clark is going to be here
and his wife Evelyn. Brother Bill's a missionary,
worldwide missionary, and we're so blessed and privileged to
have him with us. I hope someday, there's so many
men you'd like to support and have a hand in their ministry.
This is one man I feel so strongly about. All of them. Brother Walter.
I'd love to be able to support Brother Walter and others. I
have special affection for Brother Bill. And we're going to try
to take up another offering tonight. Try to get some more to meet
his expenses while he's here. So after I read this and lead
us in prayer, I'll ask Brother Stan Let's stand and let Brother
Henry take up the offering again, please. OK, 1 John, chapter one. We have several prayer requests
also. We want to continue to remember
that young couple down at Brother Donnie's church. And some folks
in our midst, Ruth, Wendy, Jenny, Williams has requested prayer
for her grandmother who's in the hospital and seriously ill,
so we'll try to remember those. I'm going to read several verses
of scripture here. I didn't know where to stop.
All of it is so... These chapter divisions are unfortunate. These are man-made. And chapter
two, well, it's a letter. John wrote a letter, a long letter
to these folks, and there's really no place to stop, certainly not
at chapter 2 there. But let's read. I'm going to read all the way
through from chapter 1, all the way through chapter 2, down to
about verse 20. So listen very carefully to the
words of this epistle. May the Lord bless the reading. This is such important. part
of worship, this is worship. We're looking at God's word here.
May he bless it to our hearts and our understanding. John says,
that for him which was from the beginning, which or who we have
heard, who we have seen with our eyes, who we have looked
upon in our hands of handle, of the word of life. The life was manifested and we've
seen him and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life
which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. And that earth whom we have seen
and heard we declare unto you. That you also may have fellowship
with us. And truly. Our fellowship is
with the father. And with his son Jesus Christ.
Remember that word at that verse right there remember that our
fellowship. Is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ.
And these things right we unto you that your joy may be full. This. Then is the message which
we have heard of him. And declare unto you that God
is light or. Understanding revelation God
is light where God is light. Including. Right here. God is light and in him. If you're
in him. There is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we lie. And do not the truth, or know
not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
what is the light? He just said it was God, didn't
he? If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. It's all vitally connected—fellowship
of the body with the head, one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Now, if we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth—that's Christ—is not
in us. The spirit of truth. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. It does not dwell
in us. My little children, these things write unto you that you
sin not. And but if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the father. a representative, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, the accepted. He is the propitiation, the one
who does away with our sins. And not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. Now, that shouldn't be clarified. That's talking about people other
than the Jews. And hereby we do know that we
know him. If we keep his commandments,
or his word, his precepts, we keep it to heart, lay it to heart,
bind it about our neck. He that saith, I know him, I
know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar. The truth's not in him. But whoso
keepeth his word, in him, verily, is the love of God perfected.
Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth
in him," and that's what it is to be a Christian, abiding in
Christ, "...ought himself also to walk, even as he walked."
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you. This is no new thing.
But an old commandment, which you had from the beginning, the
old commandment is the word which you've heard from the beginning,
love, love, love. Love for God, love for your neighbor.
Again, a new commandment I write unto you, and this, because Christ
came and he said a new commandment I give unto you in John 14. To
love one another as I have loved you. And this thing is true in
him. It's true. It's in him, and in
you, if you're in him. Because the darkness is past.
God, he said in one place, shed abroad his love. filled you, if indeed you are
in God. True light, the true light now
shineth. He that saith he's in the light, verse 9, and hates
his brother, that can take many forms, hate. He's in darkness,
even until now. He that loveth his brother, he
abideth, I mean truly, with a fervent love, like Peter said. If there's
no occasion of stumbling in him, he's not going to fall. No scandal. But he that hateth his brother
is in darkness, and walketh in darkness. And knoweth not where
he's going, or what he's doing, or who he is, because darkness
has blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children,
young believers, because your sins are forgiven you for his
name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, mature
believers, because you've known him. You know him. Him that was
from the beginning. I write unto you, young men,
because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you,
little children, because you have known the Father. I have
written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from
the beginning. I have written unto you, young
men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the wicked one." Remember, he said over
in one place, this is that that overcomes the world, faith. faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 15. Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world that is consumed with it, taken by it, the love of the
Father is not in him or her. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life,
is not of the Father. It's of the world. And the world
passes away, unless thereof. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last
time. And as you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby you
know that it is the last time. Time is short. They, some, went out from us,
but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out. Some people have fallen away
that they might be made manifest, showing us that they were not all of us,
showing us the danger here that we face. But you have an option. from the Holy One, the Holy Spirit. And you know all things. What's all things? We're talking
about know all things. We have the mind of Christ, he
said there in 1 Corinthians 2. He that is spiritual discerneth
all things. What are all things? In Christ
is all, and in all. And that's the unction of the
Holy Spirit, and that's the things that he reveals. All things. Did you notice the similarity
of that in what we studied this morning, 1 Peter? It was real
similar, wasn't it, Henry? Talking about the lust of this
world after this world, and how it passes away, and how it exhorts
us to abstain from it, follow after Christ, fellowship with
Him. Well, that's a tremendous portion of Scripture. I hope
the Lord will bless it. Let's bow for prayer. OK, turn
with me to John chapter 17. I have thoroughly enjoyed my
study personally. From John 13 on through now to
John 17, I just don't know when I've been more blessed and I
feel like the Lord has been blessing these these messages on Sunday
night. This may be My favorite. Service that we. Are taking out
Sunday night seems to be. A little more intimate and things
we've been studying. The Lord seems to have been blessing
you certainly blessed in my heart and I hope to you as well and
once again. Let me remind you of the magnitude
and the solemnity, the seriousness of this portion of Scripture
that we're about to look into. This is the Lord's Prayer. And as I was trying to pray a
while ago, when Rick prayed in study, prayed this morning, that
our attention would be riveted and the Lord would keep us from
from dullness of hearing and so forth, and our attention will
be riveted on this most important passage of Scripture. I kind of thought about this
when I was preparing. I hope we can watch with him
just one hour, one hour as we look into this prayer. This is
the Lord's prayer. This is his great high priestly
prayer for the people of God. This is the Son of God speaking
to God the Father, and he's speaking on our behalf. He's talking about
us. He has our names on his heart
and his mind. And the importance of this prayer
is infinite and eternal. The salvation of all believers
from eternity past to eternity future depends upon the success
of this prayer. That's how important this prayer
is. This is that prayer, the high priestly prayer. That's
how great, how important, and how serious this passage of Scripture
is, and a lifetime study of this one portion wouldn't suffice
to bring all of it out of there. Every single word is important. As I began to look at this, it
just grew and grew and grew. I want to do it briefly, though.
I want to go through this briefly. I don't want to lose the spirit
of this, if you'll help us. I don't want to lose the spirit
in which this was prayed. Because you can give a dissertation,
a discourse, and go into things very carefully and lose the spirit
of it. You know what I'm saying? I know you've heard, I've preached
that way. You've heard me preach that way. I've heard others preach
that way. But God helped us to enter into the spirit of this.
Now let's look at verse 1. Last week we looked at why he
prayed. I thought it was profitable. And now here it is. He says,
it's written here, these words Spake Jesus these words. What words? Well, look back up
at verse 33. Now, he's talking about everything
that he said from chapter 13 on. We've been looking at it
for how many weeks now? Everything that he'd been saying, those
words he spoke, and now he's about to pray after that message
to his disciple. But chiefly, I want you to look
at this one verse of Scripture here in verse 33 of chapter 16.
Christ said, these things I have spoken unto you that in me you
might have peace. In other words, the culmination
of it all, the summary of everything I've been saying is, your peace
is in me. Your hope, your comfort, your
assurance, your salvation lies with me. And you remember he
kept saying, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I go to the
father and your father, I go, I'm going to, I want to do this.
And now he says, I'm going to pray for you. It's in me, me. I'm going to do something for
you. In the world, he says, though you shall have tribulation. But
be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Violet, be
of good cheer. Why? Why should you? Christ said,
I've overcome the world. I know what he said, I know what
you're feeling about a bird. I know you haven't gone through
what he's gone through. He knows and anybody else. I know we have a great high priest
who is touched. Touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. In all points, he said he was
tempted like as we are yet, and this is our hope. Without saying
he overcame it, he overcame it. He says, I've successfully mastered
and conquered this world. You won't. It'll take you down,
like old Peter on the water. You walk a little while and then
you go down. Then you walk up and you're down. Up and you're
down. I walk over it. I mastered it. All of its temptations,
trials, demons and devils, I've successfully fulfilled all righteousness
for you. And that's your hope. So be of
good cheer. Be of good cheer and listen to
what I'm about to pray. These words fake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven. Now, like I said, every word
is important here. And it says these words fake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven. Now, you remember
the public in the temple would not so much as lift up his eyes
to heaven. Remember? The Pharisee did. I thank you,
God. Praise Jesus. You see him down
today doing that. An old sinner doesn't do that.
The sinner comes like on the fiddle shift this morning. Oh,
that dog won't look up. Lord, please help us. Mercy. This man can look right in the
eye of God Almighty. He can walk up to the throne
of God himself and look him in the eye. Lifted up his eyes to
heaven. Can look God eye to eye and live.
No man can see God and live. This man did. He's walking up.
One day, he can walk up right up to the throne of God himself
and take the book out of his hand and say, here, let me read
that. And read those names and then
sit down right beside the Father. This man. That tells me he's
more than a man. He lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, look at it, and said, and said, he prayed this out
loud. Like we looked at last week,
he did it for our benefit. Let me say this very briefly,
a brief note here. Prayer, listen to what I'm about
to say. I got this from Thomas Manton. It's very good. Prayer,
more than anything, is a groaning and an attitude of the heart.
That's where prairie is more than anything. Remember, he said
in one place that the spirit must go to the Father for us
with groanings that cannot be uttered. So it's more an attitude
of the heart and the spirit more than anything. That's what prayer
is. But speech. And if any of you pray out loud,
pray for your family, a leading prayer here, you can enter into
this. Speech gives vent to the heart. It's the vent. With heart, man
believes on the righteous. With mouth, confession is made.
Peter said, or who was it, said, we can't help but but tell the
things we've seen and heard. Can't help it. It comes out.
It's like David said, my heart is indicting the good matter.
I'm bubbling up. I've got to get out. And speech is the vent
for the heart. And listen to this. He said this.
This is a good thought. Words are also a boundary to
the mind and to fix the thoughts. Have you ever tried to pray silently?
This is a good point here. I think it bears dwelling on.
You ever try to pray silent and you just can't get thoughts together?
You're just kind of rambling and thoughts coming here and
there? Speak it out. It's kind of a
boundary. Does that make sense to you?
It binds your thoughts because you're thinking about what you're
going to say. Some of the time it's good like that. Go ahead
and speak out loud to the Lord in privacy. But Christ himself
spoke out loud and said, Father. Stop right there a minute. Father,
Terry, that word alone gives me tremendous comfort. That the
man that walked this earth and said all these things so comfortably
and peacefully to me and to you and to his disciples, he calls,
he's praying to God Almighty and he says, Father, Dad, do
you reckon he's going to be heard? Oh, yeah. And he's saying, my
daughter asked me practically, I'm going to give it to her.
And this man is getting ready to pray to the holy God in heaven,
and he calls him Father. There's one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus, and he's calling God his
Father. My case is pretty good in his
hands, isn't it? It's pretty safe. Pretty safe. Father, the
hour has come. The hour has come. The moment,
the event for which all time and eternity has revolved around. You know, we measure time by
this, don't we? B.C.? Before Christ? A.D.? After? No. In the year of. In
the year of our Lord. He's not dead. He rose. But time
revolves around this man and what he did. Any truth to it? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. The center
of the universe. This right here, what he's about
to do is the center of the universe. Barbara, this The sun is about
to rise. The sun, S-O-N, is about to rise. He's about to be lifted up. He
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all of my men, all of my
elect, all the saved, to myself. That's what God did out there
in Ephesians 1. He wrapped this whole thing up
in Christ. And he said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men
to myself. And then he's put down in the grave, taken sin
with him, and then he's lifted up again in resurrection to sit
at the right hand of God, and we're sinned with him in the
heavenlies. The sun's rising. The sun's about
to rise here, Terry. And the time in eternity revolves
around this event. Look what he says. The hours come. Another place
he said, what, shall I ask the Father to deliver me from this
hour? No. For this, this is what I, this
is why I came. The hours come. Father, glorify
thy Son. Glorify thy Son. Oh, how different our thoughts
are than God's thoughts and our ways than his ways. If we were
going to exalt our children, how would we do it? We would
lavish things upon them. We would do everything in our
power to give them a good education and to make sure they were successful
in this life and no pain. We wouldn't let them suffer any.
We'd make them grow up healthy and strong and lively and so
forth. How does God exalt his son? Kills
him. He puts him on a cross. and turns
him into a bloody mess. His thoughts aren't our thoughts,
are they? His ways are not our ways. Well, how in the world
could that exalt the Son? How could God glorify and exalt
His Son by killing Him, by making Him a bloody sacrifice? Because
God said, without shedding the blood, there's no remission of
sin. He said, the soul that sinneth
must surely die. So, by lifting up His Son, by
crucifying Him, the only way by shedding His blood, by making
His soul an offering for sin, by Christ being God's Lamb, His
bloody sacrifice once offered for the remission of sin, to
bear the sins of many, God now is able to be just and the justifier
of all them that come to Him. Now we see His greatest glory,
the glory of the Son in His obedience, even under death, the death of
the cross. It glorifies Him and His life, His death, and His
resurrection. He has powers that no man takes
my life from me. He laid His life down. The glory
of the Son is seen when He's hanging there on that cross.
No man has ever been able to do this, hanging there on that
cross. He said, Father, He did it again, into Thy hands I commit
my spirit. He laid His life down. Who could
do that? That's glory. That glorifies the Son. He said,
no man takes my life. I lay it down of myself. And
that's the reason God said, I've given him a name which is above
every name. And then when he arose, death had no, had no claim
on him either. Couldn't hold him. It's impossible
that my Holy One should suffer corruption, David said. He arose
from there. And when his time, when it was
all over, three days later, he took off that grave cloth, that
napkin. Wipe the dust off of his body,
the mildew. Walked out of that thing. Who
can do that? But God Almighty. He walked into
the body, into a baby, walked into that body. It was time to
die, he walked out of it. Then three days later he walked
back into it. Then he walked into heaven. This is the greatest
glory I've ever known to man, the glory of the Son of God himself.
And he says, Father, glorify thy Son in what's about to take
place. Now, remember, he's saying all
this for our benefit. Glorify thy Son, why? And this
is the reason the Father always answers his prayers, that thy
Son may be able to glorify you too. That's what I want to do
this for, that thy Son may glorify thee by showing the world the
most glorious attributes of God Almighty, the full revelation
of the person, the character of God, mercy. Remember? Go back to Moses, remember? The
Lord showed me your glory. He's seen so many things, and
finally the Lord said, okay, I'm going to cause my goodness
to pass before you. I'll show you how good I am,
the rotten, rebellious, wretched, Go through and look at the children
of Israel, how they rebelled against God and all His kind.
Just look at it. That's us. That's us all of our
lifetime. What did God do for them? Oh,
He was good to them. Constantly, wasn't He? Constantly. Continuously. Eternally good
to them. And that's us. I'm going to make
my goodness pass. More than that, I'm going to
declare the name of the Lord to you. Who's that? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Somebody's going to come to this
earth. and declare the Father to you, the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'm going to be merciful
and be gracious." And all of that, the glory of the Father,
was seen at Calvary. All of His character is seen
at Calvary. His holiness, His justice, His
love, His mercy, His grace. Stay with me, please. Stay with
me. All is seen at Calvary. All of it is seen at Calvary. Look back at chapter 12 with
me. Look back at chapter 12 with
me. John chapter 12, verse 27. John 12, verse 27. Remember when
Christ prayed, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. No, for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I've done it, I've both glorified it, and I'm
going to do it again. I've glorified it. He did it
in the past, Henry. Christ was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. He was the glorified Son from
the very beginning. He said, I've glorified it before,
and I'm really going to glorify it now when I raise you up, raise
you up. I look back at the text again,
John chapter 17. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh. That word has there means since.
Father, glorify me and thee, since you have given me all power
over all flesh, that that I should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me," or him. There's two things here I want
you to notice. The place that God gave him. God made him Lord
and ruler. He said, you've given me power
over all flesh. God has made this same Jesus
and we've crucified both Lord and Christ. Lord. He's got all
power over all flesh. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. I've got it all. keys of heaven
and hell, keys of death and hell. I've got it. Everything is in
my hands. God's placed all things in his hand. He's Lord, he's
ruler, authority over all flesh. And the Father gave him a work
to do too. Gave him a work to do. To secure
the eternal salvation of all the people that he gave him.
Now listen to this. Bear with me here. Stay with
me. and his eternal, all-wise, merciful,
gracious counsel. Long time ago, long time ago,
before this whole thing's ever even a thought, God planned and
appointed his son to save a portion of the human race. Now, he planned
this whole thing, how it was going to be, how it was going
to happen. And he appointed his son to be the Savior of a portion
of the human race, to bring to glory and bring in many sons,
like he said over in Hebrews, many sons to glory. He gave the
names of certain individuals sitting right here in this congregation
to the Lord. Years ago, Charles Ross, your
name was spoken in the Council Halls of Attorneys. It was! And written in a book. And he
gave that all to Christ and said, now son, you've got to go down
there and bring him home, else he ain't going to make it. You're in good hands. In good
hands. Bring him home. These elect,
as many as God chose and placed in Christ, were given to Christ. God the Father said, I choose
this one, I choose that one. It's his prerogative. He's going
to make them. He can take them or break them,
right? Make the best one to honor, the best one to succeed. It's
his. It's his creation. He can do what he wants to. Now,
in eternity past, he said, I'm going to choose Stan Andrews. There might have been some, there
might have been some argument there, Stan. Wait a minute, you
don't need, what do you need with that old guy? No, I'm going
to choose Stan Anderson. Can't wait to see my name. I'm
going to say, I'm going to choose Nancy Parks. I'm going to choose Charles Ross. And all these people,
we named them, named them. How long did this take? It didn't
matter. Time is of no essence with God.
And now he says, now, he put them all in a book, closed that
book, sealed it up, and the Son committed them to memory. Every
one of them, in his heart. And the Father says, now, you
go down there and you do what's necessary to bring them all home.
You've got to do it all. You've got to fulfill it all. to give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me." That's what they're saying in it. That's
what they're saying. Father, you've given me all power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life, that I should
accomplish this, this job you sent me to do. Bring them all
home. Father, do it. You planned it. Here I am, getting
ready to go to the cross. Do it, just like you've said.
You remember back there, he said, I've done it. And like the rest of the human
race, we were all dead in trespass and sin, guilty, vile, depraved,
unable, unwilling, incapable of thinking, feeling, choosing,
acting, enjoying, communing with the Holy God. If ever anybody
is going to be saved, they must have eternal life given to them. They must be given to the son
by the father in that plan a long time ago. You say, well, how
do I know? What if I wasn't given to him?
You seeking it? Do you want him? You want to
be there? You're in it. I can't reconcile. That doesn't
gel with me. Well, you're not God. You're
not God. If you were God, you'd understand
it. It'd be very clear, very clear. The thing to do is just
believe it, right? Don't try to figure it out, just believe
it. Given to the Son. So Christ is saying here, for
our benefit, because remember, He knows all things. He's all
things already done before. He knows it all. He doesn't have
to say all this. He knows whose are His. He knows
they're going to be saved. He said, and it's for you, Roberta
Sowell. So you'll take comfort. Father, I must have all power.
To do this, I must have the power of God. That's the reason Rick,
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Only God can
give life. Only God can forgive sin. And if Christ's going to
come down here and make all the claims that he made, he got to
be God, doesn't he? He says, God, as you've given me power,
just like you've got, I'm going to give eternal life to me. You
got it? You're mine. I and the Father are one. Do
it. I will. It's done. On the cross, it's
finished. We'll look here at verse 3. I want to dwell here a little
while. He says, This is life eternal. This is life eternal. Are you interested? Are you interested? I don't care, never mind what
these soul winners say. Never mind what any preacher
says. Never mind what through the Bible radio says, or whatever.
No, never mind. Blotted out of our minds and
our hearts. Let's come here without any preconceived
notions of religion, without denominational beliefs, church,
covenants, whatever. Get it out of there, OK? Let's
start right here. The Son of God Himself is speaking
right here to the Father. They're discussing, Rick. They're
saying, this is eternal life. Look at it, verse 3, that they
might know these the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent." Well, he's saying right here,
and if you're interested, he's saying right here, this is what
it is to be saved. This is it. This is what it is to be a Christian,
to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God sent. And
this is where our English language does us terrible injustice. Now
stay with me here, we're going to do a little Greek lesson.
I'm not really high on this or in favor of this, but it's necessary
right here, okay? Gather yourselves. Turn back
with me to John chapter 9. John chapter 9. It's necessary
that we know what he means by know, right? That's the key to
that whole verse, isn't it? This is life eternal, that they
might know The, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
sent. That's the key word. That's the
key that unlocks this whole verse here. Know. What does he mean
by know? Know about him? Believe that
he came, died, buried, rose again? Know the facts? Is that what
he meant? No. No, that's not what he meant.
Look back here at John chapter 9. It's like I said, this is
where our English language does us terrible injustice because
it doesn't use the same word over and over in the scriptures,
in the original. Oh, it's quite different when he says no in
various places. There are two words for the word
no. Two words here in this passage,
these two passages of Scripture. One is, now this is profferable,
this is necessary. One is the word edo, which means
to see, to be aware, to consider, to have knowledge of, like I
know that flower is Pink. Edo. Edo. I know that's pink. I have knowledge. I understand
that. I recognize the fact of the matter. I know that it is
such and such a time. I know that my name is, and so
forth. I know. I have that knowledge. There's another word called ginosko. Ginosko. A Greek word which means
to feel. perceive in the inner being to
be resolved after. Intimate union and acquaintance
with. Quite a different, quite different
isn't it? Now let me show you this in the
scripture. John 9, you remember we preached on this, the man
who was born blind and had his eyes open. Look at verse 12 with me, John
chapter 9. After he was healed, They kept
asking him questions. They said unto him, Where is
this man that healed you? He said, I know not. Edo. Look at verse 19. And they came
and asked his parents and said, Is this your son? How then doth
he now see? His parents answered them and
said, We know, Edo. We know this. We know he's our
son. He was born blind. We know this.
Verse 24. Then they called the man who
was blind again and said, now come on now, give God the praise.
We know we are Edo. We understand that this man is
just a sinner. And verse 25, and the man answered
and said, whether he is a sinner or not, I know not Edo. I don't
know, I don't really understand it, or not. We'll look at verse
29 with me. Now we know Edo, same word. We
know that God spake unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know,
same word, not from which he is. We don't know where he comes
from. Verse 31. Now we know, we understand, same
word, that God heareth not sinners. Does any man be a worshipper
of God? He doeth his will, him he heareth. All right? That's the same word all the
way through that chapter. Now look at chapter 10 with me.
Look at chapter 10, verse 14. Christ said, I am the good shepherd
and ginosko. The word change is right there.
You look her up. I am intimately acquainted with
and feel and have in my inner being my sheep. and have known of mine." The
same word. Oh, it's entirely different.
And the word in John 17, verse 3 is, "...this is life eternal,
that they might genosco, feel, have in their inner being,
be intimately acquainted with God abiding in him, and the Lord
Jesus Christ." Oh, that opens a whole new light on this thing,
doesn't it? It's not just facts. Now, listen.
Knowing God and Christ does involve the intellect. We're an intellectual
being. We are a mind. We're not an animal.
We have a mind. We have an understanding, yet
it doesn't stop there. Remember when Paul said, the
love of God which passes knowledge? But it becomes a heart and a
soul awareness and a consuming in your inner being. It can't
really explain it, unless you know it. You know what? It's
like Adam, the scripture says, Adam knew his wife Eve, and she
conceived and bore a son. What does that mean? Well, Adam
walked up to Eve and said, How do you do, Eve? Glad to meet
you. My name is Adam, your name is Eve. And they had a child.
No, you're Eve, aren't you? OK. I understand that. No. They got together in that marriage
bond, but the two became what? One flesh. One flesh. And with God joined asunder,
no man can fit asunder. Adam knew his wife as a personal
union and communion. And like that blind man back
there in chapter 9, he said, one thing I know, Edo, that where
I was blind and now I see. That ain't enough. That's not
enough. I used to use that wrongly. I
used to use that. Well, I don't know much, but
I know I'm a sinner. That's not enough. Everybody
admits to that a little bit. It's not enough. You've got to
meet Christ. Yes, you do. You've got to come
to know God in his Son. Christ said to that blind man,
after the blind man said that, he said, Do you believe in the
Son of God? Yeah, I know your eyes are healed. He was standing
in the presence of the one who healed him. He didn't know who
he was. He knew he was blind. He didn't know the Son of God.
And Christ said, Do you know the Son of God? Do you believe
on the Son of God? The man might have said, Sure,
everybody believes in the coming Christ. Yeah. No, that's not
what he said, because he was seeking. He said, Who is it that
I might believe on him, that I might see, that I might know
him and come to him? Tell me who he is. And then he
opened that boy's eyes. This was me. This is a picture
of me. Remember the blind man that was
healed in another place? He says his eyes were open. He saw me
walking in the trees. And then later on, the Lord came
and really opened his eyes. That was me. I had an understanding
of some facts. I could argue doctrine and so
forth. That is not salvation. I mean, that's a start. But you've
got to come to know the living God and his son. You see him. Christ said to that man, thou
hast both seen him and you're hearing his voice. And what did
the man do? The Lord. Saved. The Lord, I believe, and
worshipped him. Salvation, listen to this. Salvation
is not a concept. It's a relationship. You can
write that down. Quote of the week, salvation
is not a concept. It's a relationship. Read, we
went through it in John 14. He that abideth in me, abideth
in me. Does that sound like a mere intellectual
acknowledgement of facts? Knowing and believing some things
is necessary, yes, but salvation is seeing the glory of God. Where?
In Calvinism? No, in the face. of Jesus Christ. They said, well, we can't see
him, we've never seen him. Yeah, you do. I take issue with
that. They said we were getting into
some kind of mystical experience. Call it what you want to, but
the Son of God came into my life. Are you not your own self so
that Christ is actually in you? I mean, the person, the spirit
of Christ, any man has not the spirit of Christ, he's not of
God. Now listen, This is the reason. It's going to get hard here for
a second, and then we'll comfort you. This is the reason so many
people are deceived. People claim to love, worship,
follow, cling to, be enamored with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
are evidences of salvation. Clear, undeniable evidences.
I mean, love, follow, trusting, clinging to. looking to disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ, longing, willing, oh, that I might win
Christ. Oh, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection,
not just in word only, but in power, His person in me. These are evidences of salvation,
really and truly following a person. And somebody that claims that,
yet they may or may not be here to worship him? That person may or may not love
his people? That person may or may not serve
him who lived and died such for them? No such thing. No such thing. There's no such thing as a half-hearted
disciple. No. You remember they kept coming
to Christ. They kept coming to Christ. Well,
we'll be a follower of yours, but let me first go see about
some land. No. Send what you have and follow
me. Well, Lord, I've got to bury
my father. Now, surely you'll... No. Sounded like he was being hard,
didn't it? No, let the dead bury the dead. You follow me, right? Let the world have this world
and everything and everybody in it. You follow me. Christ
said, you must believe in one God. Yes, holy, sovereign, omnipotent,
the true God, he said there. You must believe in one Christ,
one way, one truth, one gospel, one life. You must believe in
one gospel, the record. You must believe the record. But this saving knowledge is
a deep, abiding, love, understanding, affectionate relationship with
the living God and His Son. Yes, it is. Now, listen. Let
me comfort you a little bit here now that I've maybe depressed
you a little bit. You're looking within, maybe.
But let me say this, though. Unless you know what I'm talking
about right now, you probably don't know who I'm talking about. But there are different degrees
in this relationship. There are different degrees,
yes, just like marriage, for example. When Mindy and I were
first married, green, you know, we didn't know much about one
another, but we loved one another. Oh, yes, we did. We loved one
another. But now, we know all about one another. Our love has
grown. At first, like I've confessed
to all of you here, that I treated her poorly. Still do, but I hope
better. But at first, you know, young,
foolish, not knowing much about marriage or love, and I just
didn't act much like a husband. Stan, were you guilty? Yeah,
you're guilty. Didn't act much like a husband.
And there's degrees in this thing of a relationship of a believer
with his Lord. At first, he might not act much
like a believer. But it's going to grow. It's
got to, if it's there. That's what you read, didn't
you? Over there. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will
also do it. He said there in Philippians
1. He that hath begun a good work in you, he'll finish it.
He's conforming. Yes, he is. It's the image of
Christ. But nevertheless, there are different degrees, yes. But
nevertheless, the relationship, the love is there, it's there,
it's got to be there or we're deceiving ourselves. Now I want you to turn with me
to three passages of scripture and I'll quit, OK? I haven't
been that long. I've been very short as a matter
of fact. Three passages of scripture,
I want you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians, our
Lord just said to his father, he just explained salvation to
us to hear. He and the Father in agreement
say, this is eternal life, that they might know thee, abide in
thee, love thee, become intimately acquainted with, and knowledgeable
of, and understand, and live in the pursuit of thee, the only
true God, not little gods here, little gods of thee, one God,
and me, who reveals thee to them. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse
15 with me. And that he died for all, that
Christ died for all, that is Jew and Gentile, rich and poor,
young and old. He did this, that they which
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him. which died for them and rose
again." Did you get that? He died for them that they which
live as a result of his death, those that really have eternal
life, living, should not live unto themselves, for themselves,
in themselves, but unto him which died for them, or in him, for
him. Yes. Yes. Yes! This is what this is saying.
Galatians chapter 2. Look over Galatians chapter 2.
This is life eternal. They might know thee. That is
a relationship. Gnosko. Communion with. Intimate acquaintance with. Galatians
chapter 2. And like I said, I know there's
degrees of it, but the principle is there of discipleship, of
following Him. Verse 20. Paul said this, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I'm alive. I'm
living. Yet not I. I died. Remember when he said, I died?
That's more than spiritual, too. That's more than in a justifying
sense. I died. I died. Me and my died. But Christ liveth in me now. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, look at it. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Let's not fool ourselves, okay?
Let's don't do it. I'm taking my heart and my soul
and my life right here in front of this scripture. Let's all
do that, okay? Right here. Let's bear our souls to the God
Almighty right here in front of these scriptures and say,
Is this me? Can you do that? That would be
a good thing to do, wouldn't it? One more scripture. Rick
read this back in the study. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. Look at verse 9. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9. He says, God hath not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
10, now look, who died for us? Why did he do that? That whether
we wake, or that is that whether we are living, or whether we
are asleep, or have died, he died for us that we should live
together with him. You're not just talking about
eternally. In the end, you know what it says there? Whether we're
living here? Didn't Paul say that? For me
to live is what? Christ. When Christ, our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear with him. It makes no difference
whether I'm dead or alive. I'm in Christ, walking with Christ.
That's got to be there. It's got to be so. Whether dead
or alive, we're living with him, right? New master, new rules. under his rule, not me, him,
him, living in him. Spiritual life, eternal life,
consists in knowing, living on, having communion with, enjoying,
that's an evidence of it, communion and joy with the triune God through
Jesus Christ the Lord. Father, glorify thy son, that
thy son may also glorify thee, as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, and given me a job to do, and men in my hands,
that I should give eternal life to as many as you gave me. And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, and I have come
to reveal the Father in them." Like Paul said, he revealed his
Son in me, and the true God in Jesus Christ me, whom thou hast
sent. Well, I hope that's somewhat
helpful. I hope it's not confusing. I
hope it should be pretty clear, I
believe, if your heart and your mind is open and receptive to
the Word. Let's sing a hymn in closing.