I know you're in a series on
relationships, right? And you've been talking about
having relationships with...with what? With your parents? With
other believers of a possible girlfriend or guy friend? What
other kind of relationships? With a church, very good. Well
tonight, I want to talk to you about the most important relationship
in your entire life. And it is this relationship that
will determine every other relationship in your life. If this relationship
is good, is well, then every other relationship will in one
way or fall into place where the Lord would want it to be,
at least on your part. And so I want you to take your
Bibles and I want you to turn with me to the Old Testament,
to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 9. Tonight I want us
to look at verses 23 and 24, and if you're taking notes, the
title of this is Your Most Important Relationship. And I want to begin
by reading...we're going to look at two verses tonight, but we're
going to go to a number of different verses to trace this out. But Jeremiah 9 verse 23, God
is the Speaker, Jeremiah is the mouthpiece, and God in heaven
is speaking through His prophet Jeremiah. And He comes to these
two verses that are just... foundational for everyone's life
here tonight. Verse 23 begins, Jeremiah 9,
thus says the Lord, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let
not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast
of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this. that He understands and knows
me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice and
righteousness on earth for I delight in these things, declares the
Lord." Being a Christian is all about
a relationship. It's a relationship between two
persons. between God and you. In the truest
sense, Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a relationship. Religion is what man does to
try to reach up to God and to...for man to pull himself up to God
in order that he might find acceptance with God. And that's what religion
is, it's what...it's man's initiative, it's man's works, man's efforts
to try to find God. It works out through ritual,
it works out through routine, it works out in all different
kinds of ways, but Christianity is not a religion per se. Christianity is a relationship.
It is God reaching down to us in order to enter into a relationship
with us. It is not our reaching up to
God, it is God reaching down to us and entering into a personal
relationship with us. When you and I were born and
when we entered into this world, we did not know God. We did not
have a relationship with God. Every one of us in this room
here tonight, when we entered into this world from our mother's
womb, we entered separated from God. We entered without a relationship
from God. But when we were born again,
And we entered into a vital, living, personal relationship
with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And in that very moment
that we were birthed supernaturally into the kingdom of God, we instantly,
immediately entered into this relationship with God where God
knows us and we know God. And He talks to us in His Word
and we talk to Him in prayer and He is with us every step
of the journey. It is this relationship with
God that defines and determines every other relationship that
you will ever have in life. When my relationship with God
is right, then it affects every other relationship rightly so. My relationship with God affects
my relationship with my parents. It affects my relationship with
other Christians. It is my relationship with God
that affects my relationship to the church, with the world,
with people who do not know the Lord. Everything hinges upon
my relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. As your relationship with God
goes, so goes your whole life. It is that important. So I want
to ask you tonight, do you have a relationship with God? Do you
know God? In a personal way, does God live
inside of you through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Or do you merely know about God,
yet you have not come yet to know Him experientially within
your own heart and soul. Tonight I want us to look at
these two verses, verses 23 and 24, and I want to tell you five
things about a relationship with God. Number one, it is the priority
relationship. This relationship supersedes
every other relationship in life and God will not be second place
in anyone's life. If you are to have a relationship
with God, He must be number one in your life or He will not have
a relationship with you at all. God does not want just a place
in your life. God must have the preeminence
in your life or there is no relationship. Notice how verse 23 begins, thus
says the Lord. I want you to focus in on that
fourth word, it is the word LORD. Do you see it? It ought to be,
it is in my translation, in all capital letters. And that signifies
which name for God this is because there are many names for God
in the Old Testament. There's Elohim, there's Adonai,
there's El, there's El Elyon, there is Jehovah Jireh, just
etc., etc. This name for God, thus says
the Lord. This is the most significant
name for God in the entire Bible. It is the most proper name for
God in the entire Bible. It is the name Yahweh...Yahweh. If you're taking some notes,
it is Y-A-H-W-E-H. That's how it's transliterated
into the English language and it comes from a Hebrew root word
that means to be...to be. And it is a Hebrew stem that
is an active form of the stem that indicates continuous action. And here's how this is really
translated. This word for Lord, He is the
One who was and who is and who shall be forever. He is the God
who transcends time. He transcends this world. He is the God who was...who was
and who is and who shall be forever. Now that is very important. Because
He's not just the God who was, but He now is getting a little
older and He's a little weaker and He's not what He used to
be. No, the God who was... In all eternity past, the God
who was in Old Testament times, the God who was for the last
two thousand years since the birth of the church, that God
is the God who is today, who is now, and He is the God who
will be forever and ever and ever. This name for God was so
revered in Old Testament times that pious Jews would not even
verbally say this name for God. It was so reverenced. It was
considered to be so holy. It's the name for God that God
used when He spoke out of the burning bush to Moses when He
said, I am who I am. Not the God who once was. But
now is not, but I am who I am." And this name for God was so
revered that whenever they wrote this name for God in making copies
of the Old Testament, after they would write this name for God,
they would throw the pen away. That is how...how sacred and
holy this name for God is. And this name for God signifies,
and I want to give you a theological word, and I want you to hang
on to this word and I want you to contemplate this word because
it says everything about who God is. It is the word aseity. A-S-C-E-I-T-Y...A-S-C-E-I-T-Y
and what this name for God signifies is His aseity, which means this,
that God is not dependent upon anyone for anything. that we are all dependent upon
God for everything and God is not dependent upon us or anything
for anything. This word speaks of God's self-existence
and God's self-sufficiency, that there is nothing outside of God
that He needs. that God is the uncreated Creator
of everything that there is. And that God, because He is self-existent
within Himself, He is independent, He is autonomous, He is immutable,
He is never increasing, He is never decreasing, He is eternal. There is nothing outside of God
that He needs. There is no hole within God that
somehow we fill up. He is totally, completely self-contained
within Himself and we need Him for everything and there is nothing
that we can supply to God that is lacking in Him. This cannot be said of anyone
or anything else. This is shocking that you and
I can have a personal relationship with a God who needs nothing.
There's nothing that we bring to the table to complete what
would be lacking in God. And as we enter into a personal
relationship with Him. He supplies everything that we
need in our lives. It is in this God that we live
and move. and have our being. It is this
God who has appointed the day of our birth. It is this God
who has appointed every day that we will live here upon the earth.
It is this God who has numbered our days before there was one
of them. It is this God who has already appointed the day of
our death. It is this God who has determined
every step of life's journey. Man plans his ways, but God directs
his steps. It is this God that you and I
now may have a personal relationship with. This is the priority relationship. It dwarfs every other relationship. It towers over every other relationship. And if you have this relationship
with this God who is self-sustaining, self-dependent, self-supporting,
self-existent You have a relationship with the one who will supply
everything that you need at every single level, spiritually, physically,
financially, emotionally, every other relationship. That is who
is the one when you become a Christian that you enter into a relationship
through His Son. So that's number one, that's
the priority relationship. And I want to ask you this question,
is God the priority relationship in your life? Because for every
Christian, every true Christian, everyone who is genuinely, authentically
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God from above, God becomes
the dominant force in that person's life. God becomes the dominant
pursuit and the dominant passion in that person's life. That is
where this text begins, with the name for God. This is who you come to know.
if you're a Christian. That's number one. It's the priority
relationship. Seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all of these other things shall be
added unto you. Now second, not only is it the
priority relationship, but second, it's the prized relationship,
meaning it is It is most valuable, it is most important. Notice
what he goes on to say here in verse 23, let not...here is a
strong word of don't let this happen in your life. He says,
let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. A wise man here refers
to the one who tries to devote his life to accelerating his
learning, accelerating his education, accelerating his reading, and
trying to pursue an education in this world that becomes the
dominant drive in a person's life, and to learn the wisdom
of this world." Now I would imagine that there are a lot of college
students here tonight. I would imagine that there are
a lot of students here, people who are involved in pursuing
an education and please note what this says, let not a wise
man boast of his wisdom. Now this is not saying that you
can't go to school. This is not saying that you cannot
pursue an education. But what this is saying is if
the most important thing in your life is to acquire worldly knowledge
and worldly wisdom, you will not have a right relationship
with God. He says, let not a wise man boast
of his wisdom. T.S. Eliot once said, all knowledge
brings us closer to our ignorance. In other words, the more we learn,
the more we realize we know very little. Will Rogers once said,
we're all ignorant just on different subjects. There's no way that
a Christian could ever invest their life in the pursuit of...and
when he says wisdom here, he's not talking about God's wisdom,
he's talking about man's wisdom, and man's wisdom is man's solutions
to man's problems. It's a man-centered world view. It's secular education. It is secular humanism. It is an accumulated knowledge
of secular philosophies where all things are from man and through
man and to man. God is very straightforward here
and He says, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Then He
goes on to say, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. This might here could take on
any different number of possibilities. It could be physical might, that
you would just devote your life to building up your physical
body, to always be working out, to always monitoring what you
eat. And that's not wrong, but if that's what you're living
for, a man all wrapped up in himself makes for a very small
package, right? It could be...it could be political
might. It could be financial might.
It could be whatever the leverage is, God says, you should not
boast in this. And then He goes on to say, and
let not a rich man boast of his riches. This is to say, if you
give your life to just get ahead in the world, if you give your
life just to live for more money and the accumulation of money
and that's the path you're on and that's what's driving you
and that's what's motivating you and that's what you're pouring
your soul into. God is warning and God is saying,
let not a rich man boast of his riches. What did Jesus say? He
said in Matthew 16, 25, why does it profit a man? If he gains the whole world,
now that's a hypothetical situation. You and I could never gain the
whole world. I mean, we could never corner
the gold market, corner the silver market, corner all the real estate
in the world, have all of the money that there is in the entire
world and have all of the jewelry and all of the diamonds and the
jewels that there are in the world. It's a hypothetical. Jesus
said, when does it profit a man? If you gain the whole world and
lose your own soul, what will a man give in exchange for his
soul? That is the ultimate buy-high-sell-low
deal, to try to live for this world because this world is headed
to hell, this evil world system. has Satan as its...as its head. He is the god of this age and
the prince of this world. And he is working and towering
over the world of entertainment, and the world of education, and
the world of banking, and the world of athletics, and the world
of music, and the world of each of these different worlds. Let
not a rich man most of his riches. Money is such a fleeting thing. And so I want to ask you, are
your priorities in order? Are you putting too much importance
on your education to the exclusion of God being number one and wanting
to know God more deeply and grow in the knowledge of God? You should be studying hard if
you're in school. That's your job. You should be
doing your very best. But that should not be the most
important thing in your life because if making better grades
is number one in your life to the exclusion of, I want to spend
time with God, I want to study His Word, I want to spend time
in prayer, then those priorities are upside down. Are you putting
too much of an emphasis on getting a job, earning money, getting
physically in shape and not enough time upon pursuing the knowledge
of God? then that's a misplaced emphasis
in your life. And I want to tell you this,
if that becomes true, it will affect negatively every other
relationship that you will ever have in your life. Are you so
focused upon meeting someone else, a possible spouse, and
trying to get to know someone else? to the exclusion of pursuing
knowing God and being with God, that's a misplaced responsibility. You know what's the greatest
thing that you can do to prepare yourself to have a relationship
with a person of the other gender that you might find the person
in life? You know what's the number one
thing you should do? Get to know God. Grow to know
God as closely and as intimately as you possibly can and be the
person that God wants you to be and God will bring that person
into your life. The most important thing for
you tonight and every day and every night of your life is to
know God. Can you think of anything more
important than God? Can you think of anything bigger
than God in your life? Of course you cannot. That is
why He must be the priority relationship. And that is why He is the prized
relationship, greater than accumulating wisdom, greater than accumulating
riches, greater than accumulating might. is for you to know God. Now I want to tell you a third
thing as we look at this text because we're working our way
into it and I want you to notice now in verse 24, verse 24 begins
with the word, but, and I want you to see now number 3, the
personal relationship. Notice in verse 24, he says,
but let him who boasts. It's okay to boast. It just matters
what you're boasting in or who you're boasting in. You know
what the word praise means in the Old Testament? To brag, to
boast, to praise God means you're boasting in God, you're bragging
on God to God how great He is. And so he says, let him who boasts,
boast of this. You and I have a green light
tonight to boast in something. And you and I need to be the
biggest braggers in Los Angeles. No one ought to ever trump us
in that we're always bragging about something. And he goes
on to tell us what it is, but let him who boasts, boast of
this. that He understands and knows
me." That's who you need to brag on, it is coming to know God
in your life. When He says to understand, none
of us can ever fully understand God. As high as the heavens are
above the earth, so great are His ways above our ways and His
thoughts above of our thoughts, there's no way we can get our
arms around the entirety of who and what God is. But He has revealed Himself to
us and we can begin to have an understanding of who He is, that
He is the Creator of heaven and earth, that we are made in His
image, that He is controlling the affairs here upon the earth. We can understand and have some
insight that He is a Spirit being. He does not have a body or a
physical, corporal body like you and I have. He's a Spirit
being, that is why He can be everywhere. at one time. There are no spatial limitations
with God, that He is holy, that He is infinitely perfect. He
is flawless. He is without blemish in His
character. All of His ways are perfect. His judgments are perfect. His
will is perfect. His decisions are perfect. Everything
about God is perfect. He is omnipotent. He has all
power. And any power that you and I have even to walk across
the street is a delegated power that He has given to us for a
short period of time. And at the end of our life, He
really doesn't even have to take our life, He just stops giving
it because we are totally dependent upon Him for everything. He is the God who knows all. He sees all. He is truth, everything
that comes from His mouth is truth. The word truth means reality. It's the way things really are.
It really doesn't matter what the world says anything is. It
doesn't matter what some opinion poll says something is. It doesn't
matter what the culture says anything is. All that matters
is what does God say something is? That is what it is. Sin is what God says it is. Salvation is what God says it
is. Heaven and hell is what God says
it is. Everything is what God says it
is. He is the God of truth. He is
the God of wisdom. He has perfect insight. He has
not only the best and the highest end chosen for your life, but
He has the best means to accomplish that highest end. He is a God
of grace. He is a God of mercy. He is a
God of compassion. And He is a God of wrath. And
He is a God of vengeance. This God, He says in verse 24,
let him who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and
knows Me. There's a world of difference
between merely knowing about God and actually knowing God. To know God begins with knowing
the truth about God and knowing His provision for how we can
come to know Him. But to know God, do you see there
in verse 24 that He knows me? That's an experiential knowledge. That is an intimate, personal
relationship with God where you actually...you actually know
Him. Now what I want to do is take
us through a... a number of verses. Now I want
you to come on this little journey with me. I want you to turn back
to Genesis 4 and I want to start at the very beginning of the
Bible and I want to show you what the word know means, K-N-O-W,
for you to know God. In Genesis 4 and verse 1, I want
you to note how the word to know is used in a different relationship
here, Adam knowing Eve. Notice in Genesis 4 verse 1,
now the man had relations with his wife. Do you see the word
relations? Had relations? That's what happens
in a relationship. Adam had relations with Eve. Literally in the Hebrew with
which Moses wrote this, it says, the man knew his wife Eve. And what he is talking about
here is the most intimate, physical, personal relationship love relationship
that is expressed in a physical union between a man and a woman
that is reserved exclusively for the husband and wife relationship. That is the word for no, K-N-O-W,
and as a husband would rightly and properly be as intimate and
is close and tender and loving with his wife in a physical relationship
whereby she would conceive and give birth to a child. That is the very same word that
is used in Jeremiah 29 verse 24 that God says, let him who
boasts in this that he knows Me. To know God is to enter into
the most intimate, personal, loving relationship where there
is nothing between you and God and it is one plus one equals
one. It would say...it said earlier
in Genesis that the two shall become one flesh. Speaking of Adam knowing Eve. And for you to know God means
that you are so close and so intimate with Him that you talk
to Him, you lean upon Him, you come to Him, you worship Him,
you follow Him, you obey Him, you serve Him and your whole
life is wrapped up in God. That's what it is to know God. Come to the book of Psalms, if
you will. Fast forward to the book of Psalms and turn to Psalm
1. If you were here this Sunday
morning, I preached on Psalm 1. And I want to look at just
one verse that we looked at on Sunday, and I made a passing
comment on it on Sunday morning, but I want you to lock in on
this in your own Bible again. Many of you were not here Sunday
morning, but notice Psalm 1 verse 6, it says, "'For the Lord knows
the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.'"
When He says, He's talking far more about knows about because
God knows about even the way of the wicked. Every hair on
their head is numbered. He knows everything about those
who are on the way of the wicked. He knows all of their sin. There
are no secrets. Everything is open before the
eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Now here in Psalm 1 verse
6, when He says, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, He's
not saying He knows about the way. but that He actually is
intimately involved in the way of the righteous every step of
our entire lives. God is with us. He will never
leave us. He will never forsake us. And
He knows our way so well, He is the one who has planned it,
He has ordained it, He has predestined it, He has built the way, He
has paved the way and He goes the way with us such that He
will never, never leave us nor forsake us. That's what it means
for God to know us and for us to know God. Do you see in this
relationship with God how intimately involved He is in every aspect
of our lives, every step of your life as a believer in Jesus Christ? God knows the way. He is intimately
involved. Come to the book of Amos, if
you will, Amos chapter 3 and verse 2. In fact, as you're going
to Amos, stop in Jeremiah 1 verse 5...Jeremiah 1 and verse 5 and
I want you to see how this intimate relationship really began before
we were born. This is totally mind-boggling. In Jeremiah 1, I want to begin
reading in verse 4, but it's verse 5 that I want you to note. In Jeremiah 1 verse 4, we read,
now the Word of the Lord came to me saying. And so, Jeremiah
will now record what God said to him, and this is what God
said, before I formed you in the womb, what? I knew you."
Now that means far more than just God knew about Jeremiah,
what color hair he had, what gender he would be, how tall
he would be, what his weight would be. No, what this means
is that God sovereignly chose to enter into a personal relationship
with Jeremiah before Jeremiah was ever born. God is the great
initiator in this relationship that we have with Him. It is
God who has been pursuing us. It is God who has marked out
this relationship and He did so before time began. He did
so from all eternity past. And that is why this relationship
is so special. because God from before the foundation
of the world chose to know a certain people. And if you are a Christian
here tonight, I can say to you with all certainty that God knew
you before you were born. What a humbling thing this truth
is. Come with me, if you will. You
can just jot down Amos 3 verse 2. I don't know that I want to
take the time to pull in, but I'm going to do it anyway. Amos
3 and verse 2, this is an amazing verse. In Amos 3 and verse 2,
God is speaking to His chosen people, to the nation Israel.
And he says in Amos 3 verse 2, you only have I chosen among
all the families of the earth. I don't know what translation
you have, but that word for chosen in my New American Standard is
the word to know. What literally God is saying
to His chosen people, you only have I known among all the families
of the earth. And why this is important is
God does not know everyone on the earth. There are chosen ones
whom God has intentionally purposed to set His love upon. from all eternity past. And it is God who has chosen
to know you. And He has marked you out and
He's drawn a circle around your name before you were ever born
and before you ever entered into this world. Now come to the New
Testament. Come to Matthew chapter 1 and
verse 25. Let's just keep walking through
a number of these verses. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 25,
this is the account of when Joseph was first told that Mary would
be...is pregnant and would bear a child. Though it would not be by Joseph,
it would be by the Holy Spirit, the virgin birth. And so in Matthew
chapter 1 and verse 25. We read, Joseph kept her a virgin
until she gave birth to a son and he called his name Jesus.
The beginning of verse 25 where it reads that Joseph kept her
a virgin, that's not how it reads in the original Greek. Let me
tell you exactly how Matthew wrote this. It says that Joseph
did not know Mary. are transliterated, he kept her
a virgin. You can figure out what that
means, that Joseph, because God had spoken to him, obeyed God
and for the rest of their engagement or their betrothal period, Joseph
did not know Mary in a distinguishing, intimate, loving union with Mary
but kept her a virgin. Do you see something of what
it means to know God? It means that you enter into
union with God, that you enter into communion with God and that
you'll never know anyone in this entire world more intimately
and more closely than you will know God. I come to Matthew chapter
7. And I want you to see this word
used again in Matthew chapter 7, and we're talking about knowing
God. I want you to think with me tonight
about knowing God in the most important relationship of your
life. In Matthew chapter 7, I want
to begin reading in verse 21, but my eye is on verse 23. In
verse 21, Jesus concludes His Sermon on the Mount and He says,
"'Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom
of heaven.'" In other words, He's saying how easy it is to
say, Lord, Lord, but that does not mean you have a relationship
with God. It's easy just to say the words
and then just go on and live however you want to live. No,
He's going to be telling us about those who know God and those
who do not know God. And it really doesn't matter
what comes out of your mouth, what you say, the reality is
your life. And so look at verse 21 again.
Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. You don't obey God in order to
get into heaven, but you obey God to show that you are going
to heaven. And so now verse 22, many will say to me on that day...what's
that day? That day is what we preached
on Sunday night here at Grace Community Church, that day is
the final day. It is the day of judgment. It is the great white throne
judgment of Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15. Many will say
to me on that day, Lord, Lord. Did we not prophesy in Your name
and in Your name cast out demons and in Your name perform many
miracles? And then I will declare to them,
I never..." What? I never knew you. Who are you? Now he knows all about them.
He's the one who knows everything about their life. But he says,
I never knew you. I never had a relationship with
you. I never had an intimate relationship
with you. Yeah, you were in church. Yeah,
you were going through the ritual. Yeah, you were going through
the motion. Yeah, you were going through the outward activity.
Yeah, in fact, verse 22, yeah, you prophesied in My name. Yeah,
you cast out demons in My name. Yeah, you performed or you thought
you performed miracles in My name. But you know what Jesus
said? I never knew you. We never had a relationship.
We were never one. You never humbled yourself and
committed your life to Me and came to the experiential knowledge
of Me in your soul. Do you have an experiential knowledge
of Jesus Christ? The question is not, as per verse
22, the question is not, have you ever prophesied in His name?
Have you ever cast out demons? Have you ever performed miracles?
The question is, do you know the Lord? He says, therefore I will declare
to them, verse 23, I never knew you. You thought you knew me, but
I never knew you." Hey, you know what's most important is not
do you know Him, but does He know you? Because He is the initiator
of this relationship. And when He says, I never knew
you, that means we had no bond by the Spirit in your soul to
Me. I will declare to them, I never
knew you, depart from Me, you who practice What a terrifying thing this
verse is, that there are many religious people who are caught
up in many religious activities and going through religious motions
and who sing religious songs and go to religious meetings
and give their money to religious causes. and talk to other people
who are at religious meetings but who never know Jesus Christ. Come to John chapter 10 if you
would. Turn a few more books to the right, John chapter 10,
and I want...we're still talking about what is it...what is it
to know God? And let me tell you this. You're
going to have to turn back to Matthew. Go back left. Go west, young man. Go back to
the left here. Matthew 11...Matthew 11, and
I almost forgot this verse. Matthew 11, I want to start reading
in verse 25, but I want you to know my eye is on verse 27 and
I want us to see this tonight. Matthew chapter 11 and verse
25, at that time Jesus said, I praise You, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth. And whatever is about to follow
is something that caused Jesus to rise up and to praise the
first person of the Trinity, God the Father. Now what do you
think that is? Notice what He says, that you
have hidden? these things from the wise and
intelligent and have revealed it to babes?" What are these
things? These things are the knowledge of God and how to enter
into the kingdom of God and God has hidden it from those who
want to find their way into the kingdom with their own intelligence
and with their own pursuit of their own self-made religion
and their own wisdom, God has hidden it. And let me tell you,
when God hides it, you can't find it. and instead has revealed it unto
babes, those who come in utter dependence upon God." Look at
verse 26, "'Yes, Father, for this...this way was well-pleasing
in Your sight.'" It glorifies God that God hides the way into
the kingdom from those who try to find their own way into the
kingdom. And now in verse 27, Jesus says,
this is...this is a huge verse, all things have been handed over
to Me by My Father. And that includes the enterprise
of salvation and it will include the knowledge of God to be given
to people. Notice verse 27, all things have
been handed over to Me by My Father. And no one knows the
Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except
the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." What
he is saying is, the Son...the Father knows the Son and the
Son knows the Father. And they have lived in the most
intimate relationship beyond what any one of us can
imagine. They have taken pleasure in each
other. They have loved each other throughout
all of eternity past. The son has been in the bosom
of the father as though laying his head upon the bosom of the
father. The son has been face to face
with the father. They have drawn greatest pleasure
from one another, the greatest enjoyment from one another, and
no one knows the Father, no one. No one knows the Father except
the Son, and anyone whom the Son wills to reveal the Father
to them. That's a very privileged relationship.
For any of us here tonight to know the Father and to know the
Father is eternal life. To know the Father is to enter
into this saving relationship with the Father. You and I cannot
know the Father. except we come through the Son.
And you and I cannot know the Father except the Son wills and
chooses to reveal the Father to that person. Do you know God tonight? Do you know the Father? If so, it's because the Father
has known the Son, and the Son has known the Father, and the
Son has chosen to make the Father known to you, and you can't know the Father
without knowing the Son, and you cannot know the Son without
knowing the Father. And Jesus is the one who stands
between the Father and you, and we must come through Jesus in
order to know God. This is a jaw-dropping And then the very next verse,
Jesus opens His arms and says to you and me, come to Me. Come unto Me, all you who are
weary and heavy laden. And He's talking about weary
of religion, weary of dead external religion that has no knowledge
of God. Come unto Me all you who are
weary and heavy laden under the heavy burden of the Pharisees
and the scribes and I will give you rest. Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble
in heart and you will find rest for your souls for My burden
is easy and My yoke is light." What a glorious thing it is to
know the Father, to know God, and it is all by coming to know
the Son. Now, come to John chapter 10. Now come to John chapter 10.
I'm glad we stopped there for just a moment. I want you to
come to John chapter 10 and I want you to look at verses 14 and
15...14 and 15. This is such a tender chapter
as Jesus represents Himself to us as the Good Shepherd and all
those whom the Son wills to reveal to the Father are the sheep within
His flock. It would be you and me who are
in Christ tonight. And in John 10 verse 14, Jesus
plunges into the very depth of this relationship that we are
to have with Him and He says in verse 14, I am the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own
know me. It's a two-way relationship.
It first starts with Christ knowing us. And then we reciprocate and
we respond and we know Christ. You see, he says, I know my own,
he's referring to his own sheep. And if you're a believer tonight,
you are known by the Lord Jesus Christ. You are known inside
out. You are known intimately. No
one has ever known you like the Lord Jesus Christ. He has this
relationship with you and He is intimately involved in every
detail of your life, every step of your life. That is why in
1 Corinthians 6 it calls for sexual purity because he says,
the man who joins himself to a woman who is not his wife makes
Christ...brings Christ into this defiled bed and joins Christ
now to a harlot, joins Christ to one who is defiled because
Christ is one with the believer. Hey, every conversation you're
a part of, Christ is a part of that conversation. Every thought
you have, Christ is a part of those thoughts. Every concert
you go to, Christ is a part of that. Every party you go to,
Christ is a part of that. Every movie you go to, Christ
is a part of that. Everything that enters your life... that you are a part of because
Christ knows you and has this relationship with you. Christ is in the middle of it. What a motivation this is for
us to guard what comes into our mind and what enters our eyes
and what enters our ears and what our hands lay hold of because
Jesus Christ is the It's the primary relationship in our life
and He now is a part of everything that happens in our life. He's
not out there, He's inside of us. So look at verse 14, I am
the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. Verse 15, even as the Father
knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. He has demonstrated His love
toward us. He has...He has shown us His
love by going to the cross. and they're laying down His life
for us. You know what love is? Love is
sacrificially giving of yourself to seek the highest good in another
person. Love is not taking, love is giving. Lust is taking, love is giving. And Jesus has so loved us because
He knows us and has foreknown us that He has laid down His
life for us. to secure our salvation because
He loves us and has given of Himself at great cost of His
own life. While you're here in John 10,
look at verse 27. This is a great verse and let
me remind you, we're talking about knowing God. We're talking
about having a relationship with the God of heaven and earth through
His Son, Jesus Christ. We're not talking about having
a performance. We're not talking about We're talking about in your heart
and in your soul, you having a vital living relationship with
Jesus Christ. Look what he says now in verse
27, my sheep hear my voice and look what follows, and I know
them. Have you heard the voice of Christ
calling you to Himself? Not an audible voice. I'm talking
about the silent call of God to...of Christ to enter into
a relationship with Him. It is an internal call that is
so powerful that it draws you into this relationship with Christ. And he says, my sheep, hear my
voice. If you're one of His sheep, you
have heard His voice. And you have been drawn into
this relationship with Christ." And he says, and I know them.
And they follow me. You know what the mark is of
having a relationship with Christ? You follow Him. You don't follow
the crowd. You don't follow the world. You
don't follow the culture. You don't follow society. You
follow Jesus Christ. That's what it is to be a Christian.
That's what it is to have a relationship with Christ. That's what it is
to know Christ. Everyone who knows Christ follows
Christ. And you follow Him not just for
a week or a weekend, not just for a semester, you follow Him
for your whole life. And then one day He takes you
to heaven. What a relationship this is. And He says in verse 28, and
I give eternal life to them. and they will never perish and
no one will snatch them out of My hand." He will never give
up on us. Once He enters into this relationship
with us, it is a relationship that will endure through time
and eternity. He will never break up with us. He will never break His relationship
with us. Once He knows us, He will know
us forever. Let me just take you to one more
verse. I've got a bunch here, but just one more. Come to Romans. Come to Romans chapter 8. Come
to Romans chapter 8 and verse 29. It was James Montgomery Boyce
said, if the Bible is a ring, the diamond on this ring is the
book of Romans. And the highest apex cut on the
diamond on the ring is Romans chapter 8. That's pretty good. In Romans 8 verse 29, for those whom He foreknew, please
note it does not say what He foresaw But whom, personal pronoun,
you know the difference between whom and what? What is impersonal,
it refers to events or things. Whom is a personal pronoun and
refers to people, to individuals, to persons. So in verse 29, Romans
8 29, for those whom He foreknew. What does it mean to be foreknown
by God? Let me tell you what it does
not mean. It does not mean that God looks
down the proverbial tunnel of time into the future to see what
you would do with Him and if you choose Him, then He will
choose you back. That's the last thing this means
because if this means that God just looks into the future To
see what you would do, all that God would see is we all like
sheep have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own
way and there is none who seeks after God, no not one. The other
thing that I would add is if it just...if you think it would
mean that God just looks into the future. To see what you're
going to do, that's the most pagan thought you can imagine
because God has never learned anything. Why would God look
into the future to see what you're going to do? That means God doesn't
know something. That's just a bankrupt view of
God. This doesn't mean what He foresaw. Now it says, whom he foreknew. Now what does the word to know
mean? It means to love. It means to
love in an intimate, personal relationship. What does the prefix
fore mean? It means whom he previously chose
to love. with a distinguishing saving
love. Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. It's not the same with everyone.
And this is saying that in eternity past, God chose to enter in to
a personal relationship with each of His And He set His affections
and He set His love and He set His heart upon all those who
would believe in Him. This relationship that God has
with you tonight, if you are a believer, if you're a Christian, chose to love you in a way that
is so special and so distinguishing and so intimate and so personal that He would make everything come to
pass in your life. so that you would enter into
a personal relationship with Him." He goes on to say, for
those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed
to the image of His Son. And those whom He predestined,
He called. And those whom He called, He
justified. And those whom He justified,
He glorified. This verse starts an eternity
past, it ends up an eternity future, and there are no dropouts
along the way. And there's no one gained along
the way. And the relationship that you
have with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, is the result of
the sovereign love of God for you. before you were ever born. No one has ever loved you like
this. No one ever wanted you like this. No one has ever sacrificed for
you like this. No one has ever drawn so intimate
and so close as this. No one has ever come to live
inside of you like this. Listen, religion is just all
external. Religion is just being in a building,
it's lighting a candle, it's taking the Lord's Supper, it's
just all external. And the Lord's Supper is wonderful
and good. is a relationship where you love God and you follow
Christ and you serve God and you worship God. And by comparison,
everything else is just peripheral and what's at the very heartbeat
of your soul. is this relationship with God
and it defines and it determines everything else about your life. It defines and determines where
you live, where you work, who you'll marry, how you'll be a
parent. It will define and determine
how you'll die. and where you'll go after you
die. It defines and determines who
you are and why you're here and everything about your life. And there's nothing in your life
outside of your knowledge of God. It's comprehensive for the
entirety of your life. To know God is not just a little
side compartment. It's not just a Sunday thing,
or a Thursday night thing, or whatever. It's 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. It's the entirety of everything
in your life. It's what it is to have a relationship
with God. I've got to just come back to
Jeremiah 9 for a second. Just come back. Austin said,
I've got three and a half hours tonight and...what have we talked about? What have
we said? We've said this relationship with God, we've said it's the
priority relationship. It's the prized relationship. It's a personal relationship. I've got two more things to tell
you. This will be very quick. I want you to see number four. It's a permanent relationship. Notice what he goes on to say.
Let him who boasts of this that he understands and knows Me,"
now watch this, "...that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness." This word, lovingkindness, it
comes from a Hebrew word, chesed, and this lovingkindness is covenant love. It is loyal love. It is steadfast love. It is faithful love. It is unending love. What this is saying is that nothing
can ever sever this loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Not even our faithlessness, not
even our failures, not even our sin. that nothing will ever separate
us from the love of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this word loving-kindness
means, that God will never pull away, that God will never turn
us over. that God will never break the
relationship, that God will never cease the relationship, God will
never sever the relationship, that we are eternally the object
of God's love and that He will love us throughout the rest of
this life, no matter how many times we trip or fall, and He
will love us throughout all eternity future. It is a permanent relationship. Romans 8 verse 38 says, "'For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other created thing," listen to this, "'will
ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus
Christ our Lord.'" What a...what a glorious thing this is. that
we're not having to live in fear and in terror here upon the earth,
just hoping, praying that somehow, someway this relationship that
I've entered into, that God will not turn His back on me. No. It is a permanent relationship. We are eternally secure in this
relationship. And God loves us so much. You say, well what happens when
I go sin? God loves you so much that when
you sin, and if you keep sinning, and if you sin a little bit more,
and you don't repent, and you don't confess, and you don't
get right, He will discipline you in love. And He loves you too much to
allow you just to ruin your life. And He desires to bring you back
into the very circle of His love. But He will never turn you over
to your own sinful pursuits and turn His back and walk away. Some of you here tonight have
had a father walk out on you when you were young. Some of you have had a mother divorce your father and just
bail out for someone else. Some of you here tonight maybe
have even been married and for whatever reason, you're not married
now and someone has failed you. Some of you here tonight have
gone through the heart-rending emotional trauma of having a
very serious relationship with someone and that person break
up with you. I want you to know that no matter
what, this is the one relationship that I can promise you that will
never be broken up. and will never be broken off. God will never walk out on you because of His hesed love, because
of His agape love. And He is unconditionally committed
to you. And there's one more thing that
I want you to see. Not only is it a permanent love, or a permanent
relationship, but the last thing that I want you to see in verse
24, and then we're finished, it's a perfect relationship. And he goes on to say, I am the
Lord who exercises loving kindness. Now here's what I want you to
see. justice and righteousness on earth. What those words mean
in plain English is God will always do what's right in your
life. He will never wrong you. He will never disappoint you.
And if you're ever disappointed in God, it's because you don't
know God well enough or because you don't know Him at all. But
if you know Him, you know He's just and He's righteous. It's a perfect relationship. His will is perfect for your
life. His choices and decisions are
perfect. His judgment is perfect. His
reward is perfect. Even His discipline is perfect. In this word, justice and righteousness
conveys the idea of perfect equity that God will deal with you in
a perfectly equitable fashion. You say, well, yeah, maybe one
day when I get to heaven. No, look at the next two words,
on earth. That's right now. God will never make a mistake
with your life. That is why we must trust Him. That is why we
must commit our lives to Him. This relationship with God is
everything. And if everything else in your
life was taken away and all you had was your relationship with
God, you would have everything. It's the priority relationship.
It towers over every other relationship. It's the prized relationship.
It's the most valuable. Let not the wise man boast of
his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast
of his power. Let not the rich man boast of his riches. But
let him boast in this that he understands and knows me. It's
a personal relationship. He has set his heart of love
upon us and has drawn us to himself. And now if you know Him in a
personal relationship, you will follow Him, you will go after
Him, you will love Him, adore Him, worship Him, serve Him. Your whole life is tied up with
Him. It's a permanent relationship forever and it's a perfect relationship. He will deal with you with justice
and righteousness. And God loves to have this relationship
this way. He concludes verse 24, for I
delight in these things. He delights in us knowing Him.
He delights in us boasting in Him. He delights in us having
this intimate, personal relationship with Him. So I want to ask you
tonight as I bring this now to conclusion, do you know God? Do you know God? Do you have
a personal relationship with God? Do you have this intimate
union within your soul, within your heart as He called you to
Himself? Have you entered into communion
with this God? If you have, you have the most
important thing in life and He sets the course for everything
else. If you've never come to know God... I just want to say
to you, seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him
while He is near. And there is only one way to
know God and it is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father but through Me. Jesus came into this world on
a mission of salvation. He was born of a virgin to be
like us that He might take us up to heaven. He kept the law
perfectly the whole time here upon the earth. He was sinless.
He was faultless. And He went to a cross and He
was lifted up to die and upon that cross He bore the sins of
all of His sheep. And all those whom He foreknew,
He bore their sins upon the cross. And by the shedding of His blood,
He has purchased the salvation of all of His people. And whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And so
if you've never called upon the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you,
I just plead with you to believe in Jesus Christ and trust your
life to Christ. I beg of you. The greatest thing
you could ever do is to enter into this personal relationship
with Christ and He will receive you. He says, come, come unto
Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. The gates of paradise
are swung wide open tonight and the arms of the Savior are extended. And as you find yourself here
tonight, if you're here without Christ... Enter into a relationship
with Him and trust your soul to Him. Turn away from the way
you've been living. Turn away from your self-pursuits. Turn away from boasting in your
learning and education. Turn away from living for riches
and might and power. It will take you nowhere except
to hell. Turn to the Lord and He will
save you. He will rescue you. He will deliver
you from the wrath to come. He will take you into His arms
and He will forgive you your sins. And you will enter in to
this relationship and wherever you go for the rest of your life, you will have Christ with you. to lead you all the way one day
to heaven. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Let us pray. Father in heaven, how we thank
You that we could even know You. It's a wild thought, mind-boggling
thought. We could have a relationship
with You. We who are but ants upon this spinning globe that
is being hurled through space, that You would even take notice
of us that You who is so high and lifted up would desire to
have a relationship with us who are so low and insignificant. This is the greatest thing that
could ever happen to our lives and we just praise You that we
could enter into this intimate union and saving relationship,
this experiential knowledge of You that is more real than anything
else that is going on in our lives. Lord, for those here tonight,
I pray that for those who know You that they would rejoice and
even sense the supreme importance of knowing You. And for those
here tonight who do not know You, Lord, I pray that today
the Good Shepherd would call them by name and call them to
Himself. and that they would be drawn
into this relationship. Oh, may they call upon Your Son
tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.