Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. It is quite common to hear
people talk about knowing the Lord as if He were their next-door
neighbor or friend of the family. Many use the term quite freely
when evangelizing others as if to imply that men have the capability
to possess or learn such knowledge by an act of their own will.
The scripture is quite clear that one of the blessings of
the new covenant would be that his children would not be taught
the things of God by men, but they would have them revealed
to them personally by the Holy Ghost. For this is my covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for all shall know me. from the least to the greatest.
Now obviously He is not saying that all men shall have this
knowledge, but that all who are given to Christ in this covenant
will be individually instructed by Him. All of those whose God
is the Lord will be led by Him out of darkness into light. This
was part of His purpose in leaving us His Holy Spirit when He ascended
back to the Father. The new covenant is not concerned
with teaching men religious dogmas, traditions, and practices, which
must be instilled in one generation by the former, but rather the
knowledge imparted under its reign is very present and timely
understanding, an enlightenment which can only be given by God
himself. This is exactly what the Lord
Jesus told the woman at the well when she asked him which religious
tradition was the best. Now I'm not saying that God does
not use human teachers in the edification of his children,
but I am saying that the essence of the truth which is taught
to the sons of God only comes by the revelation of the Father.
Men cannot impart this truth to one another and cannot keep
this truth from one another either. Thank God for that. There are
several Greek words in the New Testament which are translated
into English as know. There are two which are predominantly
used. They are oida and gnosko. Gnosko
suggests inception or progress in knowledge, while oida suggests
fullness of knowledge. Paul used the word gnosko when
he cried out, O that I might know him, saying I need to become
acquainted with him more intimately. Yet when he triumphantly stated,
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, he
used the word Oedipus, which is the exact word the Lord himself
used when he said to the Pharisees, Yet ye have not known him, but
I know him. This suggests that Paul possessed
a confidence that the knowledge he had was sufficient. Such is
the blessing of the gift of faith. It carries with it a rest for
the people of God, an unshakable assurance that Christ is the
sum total of all we need or are looking for. We are lacking in
nothing that will make us perfect in the eyes of God, nor are we
in any danger of coming short of that whereunto we are called.
Yet there is in the true child of God the knowledge that we
have not arrived at a state of perfection yet in this life.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It is to this quest we are called
and conducted by the Spirit of the Living God. God's true children
are consumed with a desire to know Him. They cannot be satisfied
with someone telling them things about Him, nor can they be content
with the testimony of others who have been acquainted with
Him. They must know the power of his resurrection. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. They must know the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death, always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
They must know the hope of His calling, for God has not called
us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. They must know the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. According to His
abundant mercy, He hath begotten us again to a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They must know
the greatness of His power. According to His divine power,
He hath given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory.
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