The title of the message this
morning is Knowing God. Knowing God. There's nothing more important
for all of us than knowing God. I want you to look at a few scriptures
and see how important it is for us to know God. Look first in
John chapter 17. If you know God, you have eternal
life. John 17, verse 3, and this is
life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God in Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. If you know God, you have life
eternal. Look over 2 Peter, chapter 1.
If you know God, you know grace and peace. 2 Peter 1 verse 2. Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you. How? Through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord. Now look in 1 John chapter 4.
If you know God, you know the gospel. You know Christ in the
gospel when you hear Him preached and you recognize error when
you hear it preached if you know God. 1 John 4, verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So if you know God, you have
eternal life. If you know God, you know grace
and peace. If you know God, you know the
gospel. The gospel that says, and if
you know God, you know love. You know what real love is in
1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. Now he that loveth not knoweth
not God, for God is love. In this, here's how you know
the love of God. Here's how you know what true
love is. In this was manifested the love of God toward us. because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. Now, that's important,
to know God. If you don't know God, you're
dead. You're spiritually dead, dead
in sins. If you don't know God, you have no grace and you have
no peace. You can't have peace with God
or peace in your conscience if you don't know God. If you don't
know God, you don't know the gospel. You can hear lots of
preaching, but you don't know the gospel. You can't hear the
gospel. You can't discern it. And you certainly don't love
the gospel. If you don't know God, you don't love God. And
God does not love you. And I tell you where that leaves
you is under eternal destruction. Now, every religion talks about
knowing God. Every religion does. But you
listen to them and they all talk about different ways of knowing
God. We looked at this last week.
Christ said, I'm the way. Now are there many different
ways to God or is there one way to God? God says there's one
way. Yet every religion talks about
knowing God in a different way. And when they describe God, they
describe several different gods. Their God is not my God. They're
describing a person who's totally different. Well, now, are there
many different gods that we can know? Or is there one God who
we must know? Scripture says there's one God,
and we must know Him. And many people, religious people,
they claim to know God. You know, their religion says
about knowing this God, and they claim to know God. But they don't. They don't know God. They don't
know the God of the Bible. They know the God of their imagination,
but they don't know the true living God. In John 8, verse
19, they said unto him, Where is thy father? And our Lord answered,
You neither know me nor my father. You're religious. But you don't
know my Father. If you had known me, you would
have known my Father also. But you don't know me. You don't
know my Father. Look in Titus chapter 1. Paul
wrote to Titus about this. You know, this is just bare saying,
in case you don't remember, I've said this before. When we talk
about someone not knowing God, it gives me no pleasure to say
that. I would be so pleased if they did. But they don't know
God. Titus 1, verse 16. They profess
that they know God, but in works they deny Him. You can tell they
don't know God by their works, by the things that they do, and
especially by the message that they preach. They profess that
they know God, but in works they deny Him. Being abominable and
disobedient, and under every good work, reprobate. They don't
know God. John said in 1 John 4 verse 8,
we read it, he that loveth not knoweth not God. He shows by
his actions he doesn't know God. Now, you can read the Bible and
not know God. This is God's Word. You can read
His Word not knowing. The Jews didn't. They read His
Word every week, didn't know Him. You can be in religion and
not know God. That's the people that Paul was
telling Titus about. You can be in religion and not
know God. And Paul knew what he was talking about. Saul of
Tarsus was a religious and didn't know God. You can even hear good
preachers and not know God. Felix heard a good preacher,
but he didn't know God. You can even be in the presence
of Christ Himself and not know God. Those disciples who went
away because they said this is a hard saying, you can hear it.
They had been with the Lord Himself and didn't know God. I said all
that to say this. You and I say we know God. You
and I say we know the true and living God. The God that's distinct
from all these other idols that men worship. But now there are
many people who say they don't know God and don't. And Scripture
tells us that. So how can I know from God's
Word? Not how can I know from, you
know, our church history or church doctrine or, you know, what the
pastor says, or what some other famous preacher says, how can
I know from God's Word whether or not I know God? I'm going
to give you five evidences of knowing God. Our text is John
14, verse 7. Number one, to know God is to
know God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 7, our Lord says, if you
had known me, you should have known my Father also. And from
henceforth you know him, and have seen Him. You see, we can
only know the Father by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
says, if you had known Me, what He was saying is, if you had
known Me better, if you had really seen and understood who I am
more clearly, you would have known My Father also. Because
the only way to know the Father is to know Christ. But here are
such comforting words. Our Lord says, from henceforth,
from here on, you will know the Father. You're going to know
clearly, because you'll see the Father in me. You'll see the
Father in my finished work, in the glory of my finished work
of redemption. And when you see Christ as all
your salvation, you know the Father. You see the Father when
you see Christ as all of your salvation. Because the knowledge
of the Father and the Son always go hand in hand. Those verses
we read to open the surface told us that. This is life eternal,
that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou sent. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
The knowledge of the Father and the Son go together. And Scripture
says that over and over and over again. But aren't we dull of
hearing You know, we can't be too hard on the disciples here,
because we're dull of hearing, just like them. Look at verse
8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Show us the Father, and we'll
be satisfied. I think Philip was thinking back to Moses. Moses
asked God, show me your glory. And Moses got a vision of God's
glory. And he wanted a vision like Moses
had. But here's what Philip hadn't realized. Philip had already
seen the same person Moses saw. He already saw the exact same
person. Now, there wasn't thunder and
lightning, there wasn't hiding in the cleft of the rock, but
Moses and Philip both saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses saw
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, and Philip saw the Lord
incarnate, but they both saw Christ. And I know that's so
because Jesus Christ is the only revelation of the Father we will
ever have. Now and through eternity, Jesus
Christ is the only revelation the Father will have. Look at
verse 9. Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. This is the revelation
of the Father, Jesus Christ. So how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father? Our Lord says, Philip, How can
you ask that question to give you a vision of the Father? How
can you ask that question when you're looking right at me? He
that has seen me has seen the Father. And if you've seen Christ,
you see Christ with understanding, you understand who Christ is,
then you see the Father and you understand who the Father is.
Now, we talk about seeing Christ, understanding Christ. To see
Christ by faith is to understand who Christ is. That He's the
Son of God who became a man. So He could be the representative
of His people. To see Christ by faith is to
understand why Christ came. He didn't just become a man to
give us an example. Christ became a man to do what
fallen man cannot do for himself. To keep God's law perfect. To
obey God's law perfectly and establish the righteousness for
His people that God demands. That's why Christ came. To see
Christ by faith is to understand what it is that Christ did when
He came as a man. He did establish righteousness
as a representative of His people. He imputes that righteousness
to His people. And He died as a substitute for
His people. He died the death his people
deserve. He died to put away the sin of
his people. Christ died to satisfy God's
justice so his people will never die. But they'll live eternally.
That's understanding what Christ did. To see Christ by faith is
to understand where Christ is now. We know Christ is seated
on the throne of glory. But why is he seated on the throne
of glory? Because the work is finished. He pleased his father. The work of redemption is finished. And brethren, he's sitting on
the throne as the sovereign Savior. He's not walking around heaven
looking over the banister of heaven frustrated and worried. Is anybody going to believe him
or not? He's on the throne. He's sovereignly calling out
everyone for whom he died. He's doing it through the preaching
of the gospel. Well, are they going to be called out? Are they
going to hear? Are they going to be given faith?
Are they going to come to Christ? If He's sovereign, they will.
He's calling them. They shall be saved. That's why
it's important where He is now. And to see Christ, not only just
to understand those things. Anybody can understand what I
just said. Those things are not hard to understand. To see Christ
by faith is to love that. When you hear that, That's my
confidence. That's my faith. That's my Savior.
That's seeing Christ. Loving Him. Loving to rest in
Him. To see His glory and redemption. And if you've seen what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done for His people, you see the Father. All the works that our Lord did
as a man are the works of His Father. That's what He says in
verse 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and
the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you.
I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelt in me, he doeth
the works. Now believe me that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very
works sake. Now we see the works of Christ. Then we see and we
understand who the Father is. Because as he says here, I speak
not of myself, but the Father dwelt in me, he doeth the works. When we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
we see his works. Now I see God's holy. When we
see the holiness of Christ, we see the spotless Lamb of God,
now I know God's holy. Now I see the fulfillment of
what God requires. The perfect holiness that God
requires. Christ is the spotless Lamb of
God. He obeyed God's law perfectly.
Yet he suffered and he bled and he died. Why? Because God's holy. Christ was
made to be sin for His people. He's the substitute for His people.
And He was made to be sin. And He suffered and He died to
put that sin away so His people could be holy. And the only way
that God can accept them is if they're holy. Because God is
holy. And He made them holy through the life and the death of His
Son. When we see Christ, now I see
God's sovereign. The Father saves whom He will.
Christ didn't die to make salvation possible for everybody in the
whole world. Christ died for those that the Father gave Him.
Those that the Father elected out of the lump of Adam's fallen
race. He died for those that the Father chose according to
His sovereign will. Didn't our Lord in His work,
in His words, show us that? He said, Father, I pray not for
the world. He's not going to the cross to
die for the world. I don't pray for the world, but
I pray for them which thou hast given me. But they're dying. They belong to you because God's
sovereign. And I'm going to die and I'm
going to give eternal life to who? As many as thou hast given
me. When we see Christ, we see His
work, we see His Word, now I see God's sovereign. I learn that
the Father is sovereign. When we see Christ, in His person,
in His work, in His Word, we see the Father is almighty. The Father has to be almighty.
He has to have... Almighty means He has all might.
He has all the power that there is. God has it. He has to have
all might. The Father made His Son to be
flesh. The Father prepared a body for
His Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Now, that's power. He has all power. God the Son
was made to be flesh so He could be the representative of and
the substitute for His people. Now, you think of the power that
took. God's almighty. The Father has to have all might. He made His holy, sinless Son
to be sin. That's so powerful, we can't
understand that. Not only can we not understand
the power that it took to do that, we can't even understand
what that means. He has all power. God must, the Father must have
Almighty. He has to be Almighty. He made
sinners who have never done anything but sin. He made sinners who
never did one righteous thing. He made them to be righteous
in Christ. Now that is Almighty. And I know
that. when I see the work and the Word
of Christ. When we see Christ, we see that
the Father is gracious to sinners. God is so gracious to save sinners,
He did it by humiliating His Son, to make His Son to be flesh,
and by making His Son to be seen, and making His Son to die a cursed
death, so He could be gracious to sinners. And God's not gracious
to sinners because of the kind of people we are. God's gracious
to sinners because of the person that Christ is. I see God as
gracious. The Father is gracious when I
see the person and work of Christ. When we see Christ, now I know
the Father is love. We can't see God's love. We read
that earlier in 1 John 4. You can't see God's love Until
you see Christ. Because all of the Father's love
is in Christ. The Father loves the Son. And
given all things into His hand. We can't see that God is love
until we see Christ. Because the Father shows His
love for His people by sending His Son to be the sacrifice.
Sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sin. Herein is love. I read it earlier. You can't
hear it enough. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation. There
is a covering for our sin because the Father loves His people and
He sent His Son to be that covering. Seeing all that by faith is a
whole lot better than seeing a vision of the Father. A whole
lot better. You know what we'd do if we could somehow see a
vision of the Father? You know what we'd do? We'd make
a graven image of it. If I got a vision of the Father,
I'd call Marvin Stein and say, Marvin, can you paint this when
I saw it? We'd make a graven image of it. But knowledge of God in the heart,
knowledge of Christ by faith in the heart is a whole lot better
than a vision. Seeing Christ by faith is seeing
more glory than Moses on the mountain. Now we all think, oh,
I'd like to be Moses, I like for God to hide me in the cleft
of the rock and put His hand and pass by me. I could see His
back parts and see all that and come down from the mountain.
My face be shining so much people couldn't look on me. I'd put
a veil over them. Oh, I loved it. Sitting right here this morning
on Hurricane Road, back road of Boyd County. You've seen Christ
by faith. You've seen more glory than Moses
on that mountain. Isn't that something? If you've
seen Christ, you've seen the Father, you know Him, you understand
the Father. Secondly, to know Christ is to
have Christ formed in you, to have faith given to you. This
thing of salvation is personal. It's for you. It's in you. Verse 10, look at this. What
does our Lord say? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak,
I speak not of myself." Didn't read that right, did I? The words
that I speak unto you. The Gospels preached to you. I'm not just up here talking
to the air this morning. I'm talking to you. This is God's
Word to you. Isn't that grace? God sent that to you, to me.
I speak not of myself, but the Father dwelt in me. He doeth
the works. You believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me, or else you believe me for the very work's sake." Our
Lord was talking to Philip here. He said, Yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? This was said to a specific person. I know he's talking to all the
disciples, but this was said to Philip. This is said to you. See how that's personal? Well,
what am I supposed to believe exactly? The Word. Lord, so you just believe the
words that I speak. You believe the words. You just
believe all of God's Word. Just believe it. Don't try to
understand it. If we've got to understand it
before we believe it, we're not going to believe anything in
God's Word because it's spiritually discerned. We can't understand
it. We can't comprehend it. God said it. Just believe it.
Believe the Word of God. How am I supposed to do that?
How am I supposed to believe? We believe by the work of God.
All of salvation is the work of God. Salvation is the work
of Christ for you. Christ came as a man and he established
righteousness for you. He imputed righteousness to you.
He kept the law perfectly for you. This is what we look at
in our study in Galatians. Then you don't keep the law.
You don't try to add to that righteousness. This is the work
of Christ for you. He established righteousness
and obedience for you. He put your sin away by the blood
of His sacrifice. You don't do anything to make
up for your sin or make it better. Christ put it away. This is the
work of Christ for you. Your name was on His breastplate
as He was crucified. It's the work of Christ for you
and salvation is the work of Christ in you. You believe Because
He gives you faith. He gives you faith in the heart.
That's the gift of God. And God does His works by His
Word. This is why we preach the Word.
This is why it's so important to preach the Word. This is why
we insist on preaching the Word. And it's why it's so important
for us to hear the Word. The Word of God. The work of
the gift of faith. Would you like to believe God?
Would you like to believe Christ? If you know Christ, you know
the Father. Would you like to have faith? Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by what? The Word of God. The work of
the gift of the new birth comes through the Word. Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. To know God
is to have Christ formed in you. In verse 12, we see this union
between Christ and the believer, to see Christ formed in you.
And we also see the third point. To know Christ is to know God
and know the Father is to have union with Christ. Look at verse
12. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do
also. And greater works than these
shall he do, because I go unto my Father. Now, it's not my works
I trust in. It's the work of Christ. All
my trust is in the work of Christ, His finished work. And all the
works of Christ All the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son who became a man, those are my works through union with Christ. The Lord says here, the works
that I do, my people shall do too. Now, some of this he's saying
to the disciples who will become apostles, they're going to do
these great works and miracles and you and I aren't going to
do those things. But yet, I did everything that God requires
of me. Everything. I did it. Through
union with Christ. Because He's my representative.
The miracle of righteousness. I did that in Christ. Because
when He did it, I did it in Him. Perfect obedience to God's law.
You've never seen me obey one law. Yet I've obeyed all of God's
law. In Christ my representative.
Through union with Christ. When Christ died, I died to the
law. I've got no relationship to the
law because I died to the law in Christ through union with
Him. When Christ died, I died in Him. In every work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, everything He did, I did in Him. Christ came preaching. He came
preaching the gospel. You know, we call Spurgeon the
Prince of Preachers. Christ is the Prince of Preachers.
He came preaching. We preach too. God beseeches
you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. In Christ's stead, we're preaching
the gospel to you. Christ raised the dead. We do
too. In this sense, when we preach
Christ and God gives life in the new birth, the dead have
been raised. The dead have been given life. Christ made the dead
here. He made the blind see and He
made the lame walk. We do too, in this sense. When we preach Christ, God gives
a spiritually hearing ear to His people. They hear Him. God gives the seeing eye. When
we preach Christ and somebody says, now I see. Now I understand is what they're
saying. I've always been able to see
it on the page. Now I understand. Because God gave the seeing eye.
We preach Christ and God gives faith. And you know what that
faith does? It makes a lame man walk. And he follows Christ. It's a miracle that Christ does.
And then Christ ascended back to the Father. And we did too. In Him, we ascended back to the
Father. We're seated there right now
in the heavenlies in Him. And I know I'm accepted of the
Father. I know I am. Because after Christ
died, after my substitute, after my representative died, he ascended
back to the Father. And I'm accepted in Him. And
one day, I'm going to go there too. One day, everybody that
believes Him will go there too. This is not all there is. One
day, we'll not walk by faith anymore. We'll walk by sight. We're going to see Him and be
with Him where He is because of Christ. And until then, my
faith will work by love. I'll serve God just doing whatever
it is He puts to my hand to do today. That's what I'll do. Serving
Him. Not for salvation. Not to earn
salvation. Not even to keep my salvation.
But out of love. Because God gave me a new nature
that loves Him and serves Him. Four. To know God is to pray
and to rely on Christ. Look at verse 13. And whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it." Now, to know God is to rely on Christ. I don't, I was going to say I
don't try to do what needs to be done. I ought not try to do
what needs to be done. Always, in everything, just rely
on Christ to do everything for me. If you know God, you call
on Him in prayer. If you know Christ, you call
on Him in prayer. You call on the Father in prayer. We pray,
and we leave it in God's hands. We leave it and rely on God to
do His will. In Psalm 57, David said this,
I will cry unto God most high. Well, of course I will. God saved
me. Gave me life. I'm going to call on Him in prayer. If God performs all things for
me, then I'm just going to rely on Him. If you know Christ, you
call on Him in prayer and you rely on Him. Now, our Lord says
that when you pray, if you ask anything in my name, I'll do
it. Now, this is one of the most
twisted verses in all of Scripture. When we talk about praying in
His name, That doesn't mean that we end the prayer by saying,
in Jesus' name, and because we said that, we're going to get
everything that we ask for and everything that we want. You
know, it's not like saying hocus pocus or abracadabra. It's not
saying in Christ's name is not magic words. We do end our prayers
that way, but it's not, you know, a magic word so that we get everything
that we ask for. And the reason for that is because
how often do we ask amiss? How often do we ask of this? This is what our Lord is saying.
If you ask anything in His name, if you ask anything for the sake
of His name, for the glory of His name, by the merit of Christ,
He will do it. Now this can only apply to asking
for things that are in keeping that matches who Christ is. Things that match His will, not
my will. I'll give you several good examples. If we pray, Lord, save your elect. For Christ's sake, save your
elect. That's in accordance with God's
will. He's going to do it. If we pray, Lord, save sinners. There's sinners in this town.
There's sinners that don't know you in our congregation that
come to hear the gospel. We beg of you, would you save
sinners for Christ's sake? because of His sacrifice, because
of His righteousness. We don't pray, now make so-and-so
one of your elect. We don't pray that. We pray,
Lord, make them a sinner. Because You save sinners. Would
You save sinners for Christ's sake? They can't save themselves. They can't put drones away, but
You can. Would You save sinners for Christ's sake? Lord, would
You glorify Your name in our preaching, in our worship services,
And in our everyday life, Monday morning, when I go back out to
the plane, Lord, would You glorify Your name. Guide my steps so
that You glorify Your name. That You don't let me bring shame
to Your name. Lord, would You have mercy on
us? For Your name's sake, would You have mercy on us? If we ask
for those things, Christ will do it. God will grant those things
because that agrees with who Christ is. That agrees with the
will of God. Now, you know, asking for a raise
and asking for all these things, I don't know. I mean, the Lord
taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Maybe that's
all we ought to pray and leave the rest of it to Him, you reckon?
See, this is asking in my name, and I'll give you whatever you
ask for if you ask in my name. This is not Christ signing a
blank check and giving it to us. And then, you know, we can
just fill it out for any amount we want, any time we want. That
would be demanding. What did our Lord say here? Whatsoever
you shall ask in my name, if you shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. Suppose a billionaire signed
a blank check and gave it to me, said, Frank, that's yours.
You present that to the bank in my name, whatever you fill
out, I'll do it. And I say, all right. I fill
that thing out for a million dollars, and I take it to the
bank. I'm not asking that bank for a favor. I'm demanding it. Isn't that right? We don't demand
anything of God. I don't say, well, I'm praying
in Jesus' name, so I demand it. No. You and I are mercy beggars. Whatever you shall ask in my
name, whatever we ask in humility, according to the nature and will
of God, He will do. And our Lord Jesus, this man
standing here talking to his disciples, shows us his oneness
with the Father. Now if you see him, you see the
Father. Here he shows his deity. See
what he says in verse 13. Whatever you shall ask in my
name, I'll ask the Father and he'll do it. If you ask anything
in my name, verse 14, I'll ask the Father and he'll do it. Isn't
that what he said? Whatever you ask in my name,
I will do it. Now the only one who can answer
prayer is God. This is why our Lord is saying,
I'm God. If you've seen me, if you know
me, you know the Father. Fifth, to know God, to know the
Father, is to love God and to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15, if you love me, keep
my commandments. Now if you love You will keep
God's commandments. You will. Now this is not talking
about the Ten Commandments. It's not talking about the law.
We slew that idea in our study in Galatians. This commandment
our Lord is referring to here is the commandment of the gospel.
The commandment to repent of your sins and to believe in and
to rest in and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you
know Christ, you'll love him. And if you love Christ, there
are some things that you'll do. If you love Christ, you will
obey His commandment to quit your works and rest in Him. To quit trusting in your own
doings and trust in His finished work. You'll do that if you love
Him. If you love Christ, you obey His commandment to come
to Him and to rest in Him. Well, if you love Him, of course
you come to Him. Of course you do. If you love
Christ, you obey his commandment to beg for the forgiveness of
sin based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, on the blood of his sacrifice.
If you love Christ, you obey his commandment to look and live. I know this is a commandment,
but if you love Christ, somebody's not breaking your neck to force
your neck to turn and look to him. If you love Him, you look
to Him. I want to see Him. When I've
been gone somewhere, you know, maybe I've been out preaching
and been gone a few days, I rush straight home. I don't go this
place and this place and stop by this place. I go straight
home. You know why? Because I want to look at Jesus. Because I love Him. If you love
Christ, you look to Him. Nobody else do you want to see
more? If you love Christ, you obey His commandment to follow
Him in believer's baptism. Of course you do. What a joy
to identify with Christ. To be able to confess Him in
believer's baptism. To say, all my salvation is Him. When He died, I died in Him. When He was buried, I was buried
in Him. And when He arose, I arose in Him. He's my life. He's my
Savior. If you love Him, of course you
want to confess Him. Let me talk about Him. Let me
tell you about Him. Of course you want to. If you love Him,
if you love Christ, you will obey His commandment to love
one another as God for Christ's sake loves you. Of course you
will. And if you love Christ, you'll obey His commandment to
believe Christ, to believe the Gospel of Christ, and to preach
Christ. Just a few of us here, John and
Dale, just a few of us preach. But everybody preaches in this
sense. You tend to preaching, you support the preaching. And
if you don't preach Christ, if you support somebody that doesn't
preach Christ, you do that because you don't love him. A man that
does not preach Christ does not love him. I don't care what he
says. If he's afraid he's going to lose his hearing or people
are going to leave and people won't support him, that's fine. But he doesn't love Christ. I'm
telling you the truth. If you love Christ, you worship
Him. And this is the importance of
obedience. Is obedience important to a child
of God? Absolutely it is. And children
show their love for their parents when they do what they're told.
Now, it's one thing To obey your parents because you're afraid
you're going to get spanked, or you're afraid you're going
to get punished. It's one thing, and you're doing that because
you have to. I don't want to get punished. My curfew is whatever time it
is, and I better be home, because if I'm not, Dad's going to ground
me. Next Friday, I won't get to go out at all. That's fear
of punishment. It's another thing. It's a beautiful
thing. You children listen to me. Maybe
you're not old enough now, but I hope the day comes you're old
enough to understand this. It's a more beautiful thing when
you do what you're told because you love your parents. I love
my father. I want to do it, please. I want
to. Because I love him. That's a
beautiful thing. And God's children are obedient.
Not out of fear of punishment, but out of love for our father.
If you know Christ, you love him, and you love the father.
So here's the conclusion. We don't know God by our knowledge
or our learning. We know God by a supernatural
work of God that's in the heart. And we know God as Christ the
Son reveals him to us. I'll just read this to you, Matthew
chapter 11, verse 27. We know the Father as Christ
the Son reveals the Father to us. Matthew 11, 27. All things
are delivered unto me and my Father. And no man knoweth the
Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal." If we're going to know the Father, the Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to have to reveal the Father
to us. We only know the Father as the Father forms the Holy
Spirit in us. If you're still there in John,
look in chapter 14, verse 16. We'll get to this next week.
Our Lord says, and I will pray the Father. And he'll give you
another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he
dwelleth with you, and he shall be in you." We only know the
Father as he forms the Holy Spirit in us. And we only know God as
the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he will show you things to
come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you." Doesn't that make us completely dependent
on God? We can only know God as Christ
reveals the Father to us. We can only know the Father as
the Father forms the Holy Spirit in us. And we can only know the
Father as the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us. We're completely
dependent on Him. And this is what I'll pray. Our
Lord said, if you ask anything in my name, I'll do it. This
is our prayer. I pray that God would send His
Spirit to His people and reveal Christ to us this morning. Let's
bow and pray. Our Father, How we thank you
for this precious promise that we read in your Word, that there's
a way that sinful men and women, boys and girls like us gathered
here together this morning, can know God by your grace and by
your mercy in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father,
I pray that you would reveal yourself to us here this morning. Reveal yourself to those that
know you not, that you give them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that knowing Christ, they know the Father. And Father,
for those whom you've already revealed yourself to in mercy
and grace, we pray that you would not take our eyes off of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that we may continue growing and faith and
the knowledge of Him, the Savior who gave Himself for us, that
we love Him more, that we worship Him more, that we care more and
more about His Word, that we care more and more about His
will and His glory and far less about our will and our glory
and our recognition. Father, we're thankful for the
Gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ that
you've given us and we pray that you'd bless it. Bless your words
that's preached this morning and in the days and weeks and
years ahead we pray. It's for the sake of and for
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask these things and we give