Would you open your Bibles with
me to Job chapter 18. Job chapter 18. We're going to
continue beginning at verse 11 with the speech of this man named
Bildad, one of Job's three friends. Bildad, who's seeking to advise
and instruct and recover Job. And this Bildad, like his other
two companions, Eliphaz and Zophar, they are seeking to recover Job
out of his misery. They, we were talking about earlier
in the study, these men are really, they're sincere in what they're
doing. They really think that what they're doing is the right
way to go about it, the right things to say. They're telling
Job what they believe he needs. And I believe they're telling
Job what they think, if they were in his position, what they'd
want to hear. But as we've seen all through
their testimony, that they were wrong and they misrepresented
God. They misrepresented the true
reality of the sinfulness of man. And they were, in essence,
preaching a false gospel of salvation and blessing by the works and
the will of men. And the question that I want
us to consider tonight is really at the end of Bill Dadd's speech,
and I'll show you how we get there, but this is the title
of the message. And this is something that each one of us, including
this preacher, ought to consider. quite often in our lives, and
that's this, do we really know God? Do we really know God? Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar,
they thought they knew God. And that's why they spoke with
such boldness. And they said some right things
about God. about God's holiness and God's
justice and the fact that God must punish all sin. They said
some right things. They said that all the ungodly
are going to be punished. That's true, ultimately. And
all the righteous are going to be glorified. And so they spoke
those things. But you know, it's one thing
to know some right things about God. And it's another thing to
really know God, savingly. And that's what I want to deal
with tonight. Many, many, many people today who believe sincerely
they know God, but they don't. There was a time in my life I
thought in my religion that I knew God, but I didn't. Isaiah, at
one time, he thought he knew God. And then Isaiah chapter
6, he says, I saw I saw the Lord God high and lifted up, holy,
holy, holy. And when I saw the reality of
who God is and his holiness and his justice, his majesty, he
said, then I just melted into corruption like Daniel. He said,
I'm a man of, I'm undone. He said, I'm cut off. I thought
I was okay. Thought I'd done enough. I thought
I had reached the bar, but I found out I was cut off. I was alienated
from God. I'm a sinner. I'm a man of unclean
lips, he said. Do you remember that? Isaiah
6, he said, I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. I'm not alone
in this, because I've seen God. I've seen His reality. That's
the case, isn't it? And this is the issue here. Now,
Bildad is sharing with Job the plight of the wicked. Now, Bildad
is applying this wrong. He's speaking, just like his
other friends, as if God immediately, on this earth, always, at all
times, punishes the wicked for every sin immediately. and he
rewards the righteous for every good deed immediately that's
the you know you recognize that today as the false gospel of
the health wealth and prosperity gospel that's that's a false
gospel and everything that he says here about the wicked he's
applying to joe he's saying joe this is where you are now we
know better because god has already spoken about Job. And incidentally,
now, Job, you know, once God brings his people to know him,
and that's what he says, he said, now, one of God's ways of identifying
his people as opposed to the world is when he says, for example,
in Jeremiah 31, and it's repeated in Hebrews chapter 8, He says
this, he said, they shall all know me from the least of them
to the greatest. And I hear preachers say, well,
you can't know God. Well, my friend, if you can't
know God, then there's no salvation. Now, right, there are things
we don't know we can't know about. There are things of his infinite
nature and ways that we cannot know. But we can know what he
wants us to know. And that's why the Lord said
in John 6 when He was quoting the Old Testament, they shall
all be taught of God. They shall all know Me. So this
is the issue. But now here's Bildad and here's
Job. Now Job knew God. But Job is
still learning about God. And that's the way it is with
a believer. We know God. We know what He's
taught us. We know what He wants us to know.
But we're still learning, aren't we? And especially in matters
of providence. That's what Job's dealing with.
You remember, he comes to the end of the book and he says,
I've heard of you by the hearing of the air, but now mine eyes
see it, and I repent and sackcloth and ashes. He learned more. You see, that's what happened
there. And we learned too. But Bildad is coming down hard
on Job. Look at verse 11. He's talking
about the wicked here. He says, he says, the wicked
terrors shall make him afraid on every side. and shall drive
him to his feet." And most commentators agree there that that terror
there, he goes on, verse 12, listen, "...his strength shall
be hunger-bitten." In other words, his strength is going to be eaten
up. He's full of his strength right now, but he's going to
lose it. He's going to be hungry for it. "...destruction shall
be ready at his side." This is the wicked. It is a good description
of man by nature, isn't it? I mean, it's a good description
of man without Christ. Verse 13, it shall devour the
strength of his skin. You know why he says that? Because
here's Job sitting there scraping the boils with the pot shard. And the skin is the protection
of the body. That's the protective organ.
They say it's the biggest organ of the body. And it's protection,
so it's the first to go. In other words, there'll be no
protection for him. Even the firstborn of death shall devour
his strength. So he's talking about physical
death here. That's the firstborn of death. You see, then there's
the second death. That's eternal death. And he
says in verse 14, "...his confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle,
and it shall bring him to the king of terrors." So that terror
is there in verse 11. That king of terrors, most commentators
agree. And what he's talking about there
is death. Because death is a terror to man. Man naturally thinks
that death is, if not the worst thing, one of the worst things
that can ever happen to him. But it's not. The worst thing
that could ever happen to any fallen human being, sinful human
being, is to face a holy God in judgment without Christ. That's
the worst thing that can ever happen to you or to me or to
anyone. I don't care what you're going through. Facing God. He's a terror. We know the terror
of the Lord, Paul said. Therefore, we preach the gospel
of His grace in Christ Jesus. I know the terror of the Lord.
I haven't experienced it and I will never experience it because
Christ experienced that terror for me on the cross. The full
terror of it. But I know, listen my friend,
without Christ, I know what people are headed for. Without Him. All that they can hope for is
eternal death and damnation. And it's the worst thing. Eternal
separation from God. Think about that. We can't even
begin to imagine what that's like. And yet that's what's going
to overtake man without Christ. His confidence. Look there. In
verse 14. His confidence shall be rooted
out of his tabernacle. What is man's confidence? He
has confidence in the flesh. Paul wrote in Philippians chapter
3, we're the circumcision. We worship God in spirit. Rejoice,
have confidence in Christ Jesus. No confidence in the flesh. Man
has confidence in himself. He has confidence in his works.
He has confidence in his promises and his intentions. He has confidence
in his will. I believe they didn't. He has
confidence in everything and anything but the one person. that we must have confidence
in Christ Jesus the Lord. And that's what gives us confidence
at judgment. That's why judgment is not a
terror to the people of God. That's what John wrote in 1 John
4, 17 when he talked about the completion, the perfection of
love reaching its goal in the heart of a sinner saved by grace
because we can see from God's testimony as He is, as Christ
is, our advocate, the Lord, our righteousness, so are we in this
world. so that we might have confidence
in judgment. I stand in Him. I don't stand in myself. I stand
in Christ. Look at verse 15. Bill Dadd says,
It shall dwell in his tabernacle, that death. In other words, just
like the old preacher said, I preach as a dying man to dying men.
Death dwells in his tabernacle, in his house. That may be his
physical body there. It may be his home. It's death
all around. You know that. Because it is none of his, he
says. In other words, brimstone shall
be scattered upon his habitation. You know brimstone is an emblem
of God's judgment. There was actual brimstone, fire
and brimstone that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. But ever since
then it's been an emblem, a symbol of God's judgment against sin,
God's wrath. He says in verse 16, and when
that says it shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none
of his, what he's saying there is death is going to dwell in
his tabernacle and there's nothing he can do about it. Now you can
prolong it as far as man's point of view is. We know that you
don't really prolong it though, don't do you? We know the day
and time of our death is appointed and set by God and there's nothing
we're going to do to stop it. But we're not to be fatalistic.
the secret things belong to god the revealed things to us but
what he's saying here's man can't do anything about it man cannot
conquer death can't do it he cannot conquer the grave only
christ can do that first corinthians fifteen oh death where's thy
sting grave where's thy victim only christ by his death he conquered
death i'll never forget one of the first little books brother
mahan gave me when i first started coming here back in the late
seventies was the death of death and the death of christ John
Owen and I read that thing I read it and read it over I never heard
anything like that and then he says brimstone shall be scattered
upon his habitation verse 16 look he said his roots shall
be dried up in other words there's no there's no root to to nourish
him to hold him and above all his branch shall be cut off even
his fruit is fruit and so the root and the fruit are all death
Paul said, you know, when we were in the flesh, the passions
or motions of sin did work in us to bring forth fruit unto
death. We had no root, no ground, nothing
to hold on to, nothing to be nourished with, and all we can
do at our highest. And that's the thing that people...
This is God's Word now. All we can reach at our highest,
our best, is vanity. vanity of vanities all that's
left to him look at verse 17 his remembrance shall perish
from the earth and he shall have no name in the street I know
we write history books we talk about men of the past but all
in all when when it's all over when this when this world is
burn up all that'll be gone All that's left will be nothing.
Vanity. Man at his best state. Look at verse 18. He says, he
shall be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the
world. That's a good way to put it. Chasing him out of the world. Does it seem like as you get
older, death is chasing you and catching up with you? That's
what that's indicating there. It's catching up. You've been
outrunning it so far. And what he's talking about now
is man's point of view, you know. When you're young, you outrun
it. And then you get old, you slow down, and it catches up
with you. Chase you out of the world, driven out of the world.
Just like man was driven out of the garden in spiritual death.
In the end, he'll be driven out of the world in eternal death.
And it says, he shall neither have a son nor nephew, among
his people nor any remaining in his dwellings." In other words,
those who come behind him, you see, they won't help him. They
won't be able to. And pretty soon, they'll be gone
too. And he says in verse 20, "...they that come after him
shall be astonished." That word, astonished, that means astonished. And the reason it's translated
that way is because it's like it turns you to stone. That's
the way it is. It just freezes you up. And he
said he'd be astonished at his day. And they that went before
were affrighted. So those who come behind him
are astonished, those who come after him, before him are afraid,
and nothing but... What he's saying here is for
the ungodly, without Christ, there's nothing but bewilderment
and fear. That's all it is. Legal fear.
And he says in verse 21, Surely such are the dwellings of the
wicked. Such are the dwellings of the
wicked. And this, now listen to this, this is where I got
the title from. This is the place of him that knoweth not God. This is the place. This is the
appointment. This is the plight. This is the
destiny. That of all men and women that
know not God. And that even emphasizes what
I've been saying about men like Bill Dadd and Eliphaz and Zophar. What's so sad when you read these
things is hear this man who makes this statement emphatically that
this is the place, the appointment, the destiny of all who know not
God that at this point in time, he does not know God himself.
Isn't that something? But that's the way it is with
us. Well, let me ask you these three questions. Number one,
why do we need to know God? Why is it necessary that we know
God? Why can't we just flitter on in this life, do the best
we can do, and come out happy in the end? Why do we need to
know God? Secondly, how can we know God? How is it possible? We don't
know God naturally. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man is a man of darkness. That's what we all are before
the Holy Spirit brings us to life. We're ignorant in darkness,
walk in darkness, even in our religion, even at our best. So
how can we know God? And then thirdly, what is it
to know God? Well, let me just go over these
briefly. Why do we need to know God? Well, there's some obvious
things that men by nature would talk about. He created this world. He created you. He put breath
in your body. He gave you what you have in
this life, the opportunities, the abilities, the breath you
breathe. He's the creator. Man must recognize
God as creator. Now, there are some who don't.
There are some who are called atheists. They deny the very
existence of God because they have sunk into such a state of
depravity. And we're all, by nature, totally
depraved. Don't get me wrong. As one old preacher said, just
because we're all totally depraved doesn't mean that we're all equally
sunk down into the mire of depravity. And there's a sense in which
that's true. There are some who have gone so far in their depravity
that the Lord identifies them in Romans chapter 1 as those
of a reprobate mind, no conscience. Even the natural man has some
conscience. Romans chapter 2 talks about
the Gentiles who didn't have the law of Moses, but they had
a conscience. They made laws. They put people
in jail. They executed people. They rewarded
others. But what is it? Why do we need
to know God? Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
3. Look at this passage with me.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3. This is the passage that talks
about a time for everything. God's appointed. Why is there
a time for all these things? Because God's set it up that
way. God's appointed it that way. The times of our lives,
in other words. Look at verse 10 of Ecclesiastes
3. This is a verse, a couple of
verses that got hold of me early on. when God brought me under
the preaching of the gospel and brought me to seek Him. And the
wise man speaking here by inspiration of the Spirit, he says, verse
10, I have seen the travail. You know what a travail is. That's
trouble. Like birth pains. Wanting something
to happen. Like a woman with child. Wanting
that child to be born and wanting it to be happy. And that's on
her mind that whole time that she's carrying that child. And
she takes care of herself. And there's a travail. And then
the birth process comes. And then there's the travail
of birth. And here's a travail which God,
listen to this, which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised in it. Now what is that travail? That
trouble? That troubles our minds. Troubles
our hearts. Verse 11, look at it. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. You can look at creation,
can't you? Now, I want to tell you something.
I believe there's something in every man that God has put there
that lets every man know that this did not happen by chance. Now, again, there's some people
who spend their life denying that, and what they're actually
doing is they're denying what they know naturally. And some,
God even allows to sink into the despair of a reprobate mind. Why would a person even have
to be an atheist? Because he's got to know, he's
got to deny what he naturally knows when he sees by creation.
But look here, he says, also God hath set the world in their
heart. Now what that is, that literally
is God has set eternity in their heart. Man knows by nature, according
to God, that this life is not the end of it all. Why would
he even ask the question, well, is there life after death? Why
would you even ask that if there hadn't been some natural quality
that God put in you and in me that would even bring that issue
up? You don't find dogs worrying about that, do you? Cats don't
worry about it. You know, man is the only creature
who is even aware of his own mortality. If you see a pet graveyard,
the pets didn't put them all there. The humans did. Isn't
that right? They just die, laid down, and
rot. So you see, this is something
that's natural to man. He has, listen, he has to know
God. And if God leaves him in his
depravity and darkness and deadness, he'll spend his life going one
of two ways, or one of three ways. He'll either ignore this,
and listen to me, that's a travail. He'll have a hard time ignoring
it, because every time somebody dies, every time he gets sick,
When he grows older, he's still gonna have to deal with, he'll
have to keep denying it. That's the travail. He'll either
ignore it, or he'll spend his life denying it. He'll be like,
what's that woman that I think she's dead now, isn't she? Madeline
Murray O'Hare, that's who. Remember her? She had to start
a club to deny God. Now why would she even have to
do that? Because she's got to deny that quality that's put
in her by nature. Or, they're going to try... This
is man on his own. One of three ways. Ignore it.
Fight against it. Or he's going to try to fill
up the void with his own works, his own religion, his own ways. That's the only three ways they'll
go. Am I right? False religion. Cain had that
void. He had that need. What did he
do? He settled for his works. He
needed to know God. But he didn't know God. Abel
had that void. And God filled it with the blood
of Christ. Need to know God. And that's
what he's saying here. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time also. The world set eternity in there.
So that no man can find out the work of God that maketh from
the beginning. The work that God maketh from
beginning to end. Man can't find him on his own.
He's just groping in the dark. Well, look over at John 17 that
I read in the opening of our service. Why do we need to know
God? Here's why. Christ praying here for His people.
And He says in verse 2 of John 17, As thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life, to as many
as thou hast given him. Is there life after death? You
bet there is. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Job asked that. He said, well,
I'm waiting for my change. Do you remember that? You're
going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Yes, there is eternal
life. How do you get it? It's a gift. That's what he says here, isn't
it? That I should give eternal life.
You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. It's given.
And where is it? Verse 3, And this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ to whom thou hast sent. My friend, that is eternal life,
to know God. If you don't know God, you don't
have eternal life. That's why we need to know God.
There's no eternal life. There's no salvation without
knowing God. Now again, I know there's a bunch
we can't know about God. But we can know what He wants
us to know. Well, secondly, how can we know God? Let me give
you three elements. Number one is revelation. God must reveal Himself. You
know, Psalm 19 talks about that. You know, there are things we
can know about God naturally in creation. But my friend, these
issues of eternal life, look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
2. These issues of eternal life
and salvation, The forgiveness of sins, the glory of God, the
only way that a sinner can know God savingly is by divine, sovereign
revelation. God must reveal Himself. You
can't reason up to it. You can't figure it out. You
can't theologize it or philosophize it. And religion will not help
you. In fact, the Lord said false
religion will just get you farther away. He must be revealed. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. He's
talking about the things of God for salvation, for eternal life
and glory. Verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 2. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the natural heart, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Revelation. That's what it's
all about. Revealing eternal life. Revealing
God. And He did it by His Spirit.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. To reveal. God to us. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. In
other words, why does it have to be revealed? Because God is
the only one who knows God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy. Man by nature doesn't know God.
He can't tell you what he doesn't know. All he can tell you is
that which is in the spirit of man. He can go into the human
body and he can tell you about the heart and the brain and the
eyes and this part of the body and that part of the body. He
can survey the world and he can talk about the rocks. Thinks
he knows how old they are. He really doesn't, but he thinks
he does. But he can tell you what it's made of. He can tell
you how to farm, how to fix an engine, how to do this, that. But he cannot tell you of God
because he's spiritually dead. man is spiritually dead and all
he knows is the things of man but the only one who knows God
is God himself for what things what things knoweth the things
of God but the spirit of God now verse 12 he says now we have
received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is
of God that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God That's the first element. How can we know God?
By revelation. Here's the second element. We
know Him in His Word. What He says about Himself. What
He says about Himself. Now think about that. The Bible
says faith. And faith is not simply believing
God. It is believing God. But it's
also a knowledge of God. Faith cometh by hearing. And
hearing by what? The Word of God. Scripture says
we're begotten again by the Word of Truth. Look over at 2 Timothy
chapter 3. Paul writing to Timothy here.
And he's trying to encourage Timothy. And he says in verse
14 of 2 Timothy 3. He says, Continue thou in the
things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, the written Word of God. We've talked
about how Christ is the eternal Word of God. He's the incarnate
Word of God. He's the subject, the center
of the written Word of God. And the subject and the center
of the preached Word of God. And here's the Scriptures which
are able to make thee wise. Now wisdom is not just knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge and knowing
what to do with it. A lot of people have knowledge,
but they don't know what to do with it. That's like a person, you've
heard of a person who's a genius, but they have no common sense.
They've got knowledge, but they don't know what to do with it.
But this wisdom, make thee wise unto what? Salvation. That's
what these scriptures do. That's the Word. The Holy Spirit
reveals knowledge of God for salvation through the Word. Not
through paintings and music. Not through visions and dreams,
but through the Word, you see. That's what Psalm 19 says. The
heavens declare the glory of God, but it takes the Word of
God, the Law of the Lord, to bring a sinner to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works. John said, this is the record
that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. Christ told the Pharisees in
John chapter 5 and verse 39, you do search the Scriptures,
in them you think you have eternal life, they are they which testify
of Me. That's the Word. And here's the
third element. You've got revelation by the
Holy Spirit through the Word of God. You see, the Spirit's
not going to reveal anything concerning God and knowledge
of God that's not in His Word and in accord with His Word.
Isaiah said it, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak
not according to this Word, there's no light in it. And whatever
the Bible says about God, that's how we know God. If it says God
is sovereign, then we know God's sovereign. And those who go around
denying it, they don't know God. That's right. But here's the
third element. To know God. How can we know
God? By gaining, by this revelation
through the word, a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15 again. That from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That's to know God. To know God is to know Christ.
If you don't know Christ, you don't know God. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness of the Father,
the fullness of the Son, the fullness of the Holy Spirit dwells
in the person, the glorious person of the God-man. Who is He? He's
Jesus Christ. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He's
the Savior of His people. He's our substitute. He's our
surety. He's our all in all. He's the
Lord, our righteousness. You see, to know God is to know
His righteousness. Look at Romans 10 one more time.
I refer to this verse quite often, but it's so beneficial for our
understanding. Look at it. In verse 1, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved, for I bear them record. Verse 2, they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They've got zeal
and religion, but they don't know God. Amos said that. He said, my people will be destroyed
for lack of knowledge. He said in verse 3, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, what God requires, for a sinner
to be justified before Him, and going about to establish their
own righteousness." Now you see here, now listen to what the
Scripture says. A person who's going about trying to establish
their own righteousness before God, trying to work their way
into God's favor, they don't know God. That's right. And he says they've
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, verse
4, for Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the
completion of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
You don't know God until you come to a saving knowledge of
Christ as the only one who can and did save us from our sins. We're sinners. We have no righteousness
of our own. We have no way of our own. Christ
is the way, the truth, and the life. He said, no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Isaiah said it, look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I'm God, there's
none else. Who hath told this from ancient time? Who hath declared
it? Have not I a just God and a Savior? You see, even Job,
even his friends made those statements, asked those questions. How can
God be, how can he justify a sinner? is through the righteousness
of another. The imputed righteousness of Christ, the obedience and
death of Christ charged, accounted to me. When I see that He's my
only hope of salvation, of blessing, of forgiveness, of righteousness,
of eternal life and glory, then I can say with confidence, based
on God's testimony, I know God. Does that mean you know everything
about Him? No. But I know what He wants
me to know. I know what he's revealed to
me through his word in Christ Jesus. His blood and his righteousness
alone is my hope. That's what Isaiah said when
he said, I'm unclean, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. And
then remember when the angel came over from the altar and
drew that hot coal off the altar, the altar of blood, the altar
of sacrifice. Job knew it. He said, God cannot
be approached without a blood offering. That's right. What can wash away my sins? If
you know God, you're going to say this, nothing but the blood
of Jesus. If you know God, you're going
to say, my hope is built on nothing less and nothing more than Jesus'
blood and righteousness. That's knowing God. Jeremiah
9.23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glory Glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Paul
quotes that over in 1 Corinthians 1 to bring a sinner to see this,
that if anybody's gonna glory, let him glory in the Lord, in
Christ, and not in ourselves. Well, what is it to know God?
Let me show you two scriptures. Turn to Philippians. Philippians
chapter 3. What is it to know God? To know God is first to know
Him in faith and repentance. Faith and repentance. Faith is
the gift of God. Repentance is the gift of God.
Now, I want you to look at this example. To know God is to know
Him in faith and repentance. If you really know God, if He's
been revealed to you in His Word unto Christ, having seen your
sin and your depravity to the point of being driven to God
by the Holy Spirit, and you'll believe Him, you'll rest in Him,
and you'll repent of your dead works. Now look at verse 4, Philippians
3, Paul writes, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more. Now when Paul was a zealous religionist,
when Saul was a zealous, he thought he knew God. And here's what
he thought recommended him unto God. Circumcised the eighth day,
the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews,
touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the
church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless
all that time he would have told you I know God but he did but
what happened well God the Son incarnate met him on the road
to Damascus and here's what happened look at verse 7 but what things
were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ and lay doubtless
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all
things and do count them but done that I may win Christ and
be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection." You know what the power of His resurrection
is? Spiritual eternal life. "...and the fellowship of His
sufferings." You know what that is? That's our witness of Him
in the world that brings the hatred of the world. Suffering
with Christ. The gospel. "...being made conformable
unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Now he knows God. Now he knows God. And then here's
the second thing. What is it to know God? It's
to know Him in faith and repentance. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. It's
to know Him in love and obedience. Love and obedience. Look at 1
John chapter 2. He starts off here in verse 1.
My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin
not and if any man sin and the construction of the original
there would read something like this and if any man sin as every
man will we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ
the righteous he's the propitiation the satisfaction for our sins
and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world
now you know that's talking about God's people out of every tribe
kindred tongue and nation there And then he says in verse three,
and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Now what kind of things pop up
in your mind when you read something like that? Keep his commandments. Well, John's talking about a
specific commandment here, but I'll tell you what, it's not,
you know, somebody says, well, see there, if you keep the Ten
Commandments, then that proves you know him. Well, I got news
for us all, none of us know him then. Does that mean we keep
the law perfectly? If that's true, none of us know
Him. Does that mean that part of us keeps the law perfectly?
Well, you can fool yourself with that stuff if you want to, but
it's not scriptural. What's He talking about, keep
His commandments? Well, what does He command? Let
me ask you this question. Did Christ Let's go all the way
back. I was talking about his earthly
ministry, but you go all the way back to Genesis. Did God,
has God ever commanded a sinner to keep the law perfectly in
order to be saved? And the answer is no. And I said that one time and
a fellow brought up the rich young man to me. He told the
rich young man to keep the law to be saved. No he didn't. First
of all, if anybody could keep the law, they don't need salvation.
You do understand that, don't you? If you can keep the law
perfectly, you don't need salvation. He just told that man to do it
in order to inherit eternal life. You don't need to be saved from
sin if you can keep the law because you're not a sinner. God never commanded anyone to
keep the law in order to be saved. And when Cain tried to keep the
law in order to be saved, what did God say to him? He said,
well, you didn't listen. You're not following my command.
Learn to do well. You're not doing well. You're
not doing right, Cain. Abel's the one who's doing right.
What did Abel do? He brought the blood. What has God commanded
us to do? He's commanded us to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's commanded us to repent of
dead works and idolatry. Have no confidence in the flesh.
That's a commandment from Jesus Christ Himself. He said, by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified. Now don't you look to the law.
Don't you look to your works. That's a command of Christ. But
what has He commanded us here? He's commanded us to love one
another. Now the grace and mercy of God
teaches us to love all men in a human way. to show kindness
to all. But here he's talking about the
family of God, our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we are
to love one another We're to love one another unconditionally.
We're to love one another sacrificially. We share the same faith of Christ.
We share the grace of God in Christ. His revealed word without
condition or without compromise. We're to obey his commandment
to love one another. To stick by one another. To stay
with one another. To be loyal to Christ and to
one another in this gospel. And while the religious world
may consider us unloving because we won't have fellowship with
any who deny the Christ of Scripture and the message of God's unconditional
grace, sovereign grace in Christ, it's that distinctive love for
Christ and His truth and His people that binds us together
and causes us to seek out the fellowship of others who know
Him. And then obedience. Obedience
unto God that is motivated. Obedience to everything He says.
Worship. Works. Anything. Not to be saved,
but motivated by grace and gratitude and love. The service of a willing,
loving bond slave. In every way, prayer. We could
talk about it all. Giving. Everything. To be hard workers. Again, to do what's right, according
to his word, motivated by love, not by legalism, not by law,
motivated by grace, motivated by gratitude, not by, as I say,
these mercenary promises of earned rewards, seeking what we can
get out of him. That's what Eliphaz and Bildad
and Zophar were shoveling. to jeff you say do we really
know these are the things i believe we should we should think about
all right