Let me plead back to our text
in 1 Corinthians. I've taken four words from verse
8 of chapter 2 as the title of this message. For had they known, And I want to spend a few minutes
looking at things that we as believers in Christ know to be
true. And I want to look at how we
come to know these things. In these verses that we just
read, Paul is telling the Corinthians that the revelation of Christ
in the heart of a sinner, and also the further revealing of
the things of Christ, through the Spirit of God, given to his
people over time, are not to be found out by much learning
or through the wisdom of this world's so-called wise men, whom
Paul here refers to as the princes of this world. Know everything
that we come to learn about the Lord and our Savior are given
to us through revelation by the Spirit of God. You can read about
Christ by reading through the four Gospels, and you can learn
all the historical facts about all the things that He did as
He walked this earth in the same way that you can read about any
historical figure, any man that has ever lived. And yet you'll
simply know the facts about that person. You won't actually come
to know the person. But there are many scriptures
that tell us that we can know Him, and we can know the things
of God. Paul makes this crystal clear
in the last few verses of chapter 2, that we read, because we read,
starting in verse 9, "...as it is written, I have not seen nor
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit, For the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, we have
received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is
of God, that we might know the things, that are freely given
to us of God. Paul teaches them in verse 4
that his speech and preaching was not eloquent, using enticing
words of man's wisdom, because Paul knew, as all believers know,
that these things would do them no spiritual good, because their
faith wasn't to be grounded in man's wisdom, but rather, as
these verses say, in the power of God. This word known that
we find in verse 8 of our text means specified and identified,
apprehended with certainty, acknowledged, manifested, recognized, or revealed. And that last definition, revealed,
is the one which best applies to the things here spoken of
of Paul. There are mysteries concerning the things of the
Spirit of God which cannot be found out by investigation. No,
these deep things of God can only be known one way, and that
is by revelation, by God through the work of the Spirit showing
us the hidden mysteries and the hidden wisdom of God. How many
times in our lives have you planned and done something that just
didn't turn out at all the way you had planned? And you later have to deal with
the consequences of those actions. And how many times have we said,
if only I'd known, I wouldn't have done it that way, or I wouldn't
have done it at all. We learn about the things concerning
this life by experiencing the things of this life, and hopefully
learning from our mistake. And it's not just us. It's not
just lost men and women. It's not just believers. who
do these things that they later regret, because we have many
instances in the Scriptures of men of God doing things that
they later regret. And when David decided to number
the people of God, Joab tried to talk him out of it, warned
him that it was a bad idea, that it would be a trespass to Israel.
But David did it anyway, and it ended up resulting in the
death of 70,000 men. 70,000. How do you think you'd sleep
at night knowing you were responsible for the death of 70,000 men?
And I'm sure that David deeply regretted that decision and thought,
if only I'd known, when he committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba
and later put her husband on the front lines of the battle
so that he would be killed. David paid the consequences for
those actions. God took his newborn son And
again, I'm sure David deeply regretted what he had done and
the heartbreak that resulted from his actions and no doubt
thought again, if only I had known. And when Peter, on the
day of Pentecost, preached to those men of Israel and told
them how that the same Jesus whom they had crucified was now
made both Lord and Christ, the Scriptures tell us they were
pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the
apostles, men and brethren, What shall we do? We didn't know. We didn't know that the man who
we had killed was the Lord of Glory. We didn't know. But unlike the lessons and the
things of this life, which we learn many times the hard way,
I know I have, the things of God and the Spirit of God are
given to us by revelation. In Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, we
read, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Our God tells us that He exercises loving kindness,
as He lovingly and tenderly brings those young sheep to Himself,
to the feet of Christ. He exercises judgment, which
He did when our sins were laid on Christ, and He was judged
and punished for those sins. and he exercised his righteousness,
and he did enclose us, covering us with the righteousness of
Christ. We have already concluded that
we cannot know God through much study and learning, but here
our God tells us that our glory is in understanding and knowing
him. And as I said a few minutes ago,
the only way to understand and to know the mysteries hidden
from ages and from generations is by revelation. I can't emphasize
that enough. By God showing us these hidden
mysteries. Paul speaks of these mysteries,
these hidden things of God, in several places in his writings. He uses that term many times. And it's a wonder to me that
our God has granted for us to know these mysteries. It is given
unto us to know." He's not earned, given. Just as everything we
have in Christ is given to us, not because of our merit, but
because of His. So it is given to us to know
the deep things of God. And this is exactly what Christ
told His disciples in Matthew 13, 11, as to why He spoke to
the multitude in parables. Because He said this, because
it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God. But to them it is not given. The sharpest minds who ever lived
could not discern the mysteries of God by human wisdom. If they
could, then only the so-called smart people, the high IQ people,
would know God. But we know from the Scripture
that we just read that it's exactly opposite, because Paul tells
us in this chapter, that God has chosen the foolish things
of this world. But once it is given to these
foolish ones to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they become
more wise than the wisest man. And ironically, the so-called
wise become fools who say in their heart there is no God. Thomas Jefferson is a man whom
I greatly admire. As a historical figure, he was
a genius. The man was an inventor, a statesman,
a patriot, and of course the author of the Declaration of
Independence. Like many others of his time, he was a child of
the Enlightenment, believing that a man can attain to a higher
level through much learning. But he's a perfect example of
men trusting in their wisdom and their much learning when
it comes to knowing the things of God. How do I know this? By
a simple statement that he wrote in a letter to a friend. Listen
carefully to these words. This is what Jefferson wrote
to a friend. And this is what I mean by not learning the things
of God through much human wisdom. He wrote this. I can never join
Calvin in addressing his God. He was indeed an atheist, which
I can never be, for rather his religion was demonism. If ever man worshipped a false
god, he did. The being described in his five
points is not the God whom you and I acknowledge and adore,
the creator and benevolent governor of the world, but rather a demon
of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to
believe in no God at all than to blaspheme him by the atrocious
attributes of Calvin. Much of man's wisdom, Mr. Jefferson,
but sadly, It was not given to him to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of God, nor the God of that kingdom. And based on
that statement that I just read, and unless Mr. Jefferson had
a revelation later in life, which I find nothing in his writings
to indicate that he did, he is at this moment suffering the
unimaginable wrath of God in hell. And we'd be in the same
situation. or not for the fact that it is
given to us to know the mysteries spoken of by Paul. There will
never be one of God's elect people who in the end ever makes the
statement, if only I had known, I would have believed on Christ.
Because it's given to us to know the things of God. And there
are many scriptures that bear out this truth. There are things
that the people of God know. We're not just pretty sure, We
know them. One of the definitions of this
word, know, is to regard as true, without a doubt. And how do we
know that we know what we know about Christ and God? By faith. Faith in Hebrews 11 is called
the evidence of things not seen. Evidence is something that provides
confirmation, proof, validation, and documentation of something.
The only way we can know the things of God is by faith, knowing
that if our God said it in His Word, it is true. Job had never
seen Christ with his physical eyes, and yet he made the statement
in Job 19, 25, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though
my skin were to destroy this body, Yet in my flesh shall I
see God." Job had an assurance that he had a living Redeemer
because he had the same faith that was given to us. That same
faith was given to him to know this living Redeemer. David was
taught of God to know certain things because we read in Psalm
119.75, "'I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and
that Thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me." How did he know
that except by the teaching of the Spirit of God and by experience? He had seen it again and again
in both his life and in God's dealings with the nation of Israel. He says, I judgements are right.
The believer knows in his heart that God judges rightly, that
He does nothing in haste, nothing in anger, nothing on the spur
of the moment. His judgments are right because
His judgments are based on His holy and righteous nature. He can do nothing wrong. Therefore,
all He does, including His judgments, are right. Turn with me to Ephesians. Ephesians 3. I'm going to read
a few verses. Ephesians 3. We'll read verses
13-19. Ephesians 3.13, Wherefore, I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you, which is
your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
heart by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love,
he may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which path is knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." And as I read this, I thought, how can we know the love of Christ
mentioned here in verse 19? if it passes knowledge, if it
is beyond something that we can know by learning. And there's
only one way, by God showing us those hidden mysteries. There are many places in the
book of 1 John and in the Gospel of John that talk about us knowing
that we're the children of God. I want to read a few. If you'd
like to turn with me, I'll be flipping to a few of these Scriptures. In 1 John, We read, "...you have an unction
from the Holy One, and you know all things." And I read that and I thought,
how could John say that we know all things? There's a lot of
stuff that I know I don't know. But John explains it in the next
verse. He says, I have not written unto you because you know not
the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the
truth. If God had been pleased to open
your understanding about the truth of things concerning Christ,
about who He truly is and what He has done, you know everything
you need to know. You know all things that are
needed in order to possess eternal life. There's nothing else to
learn when it comes to salvation. Therefore, John is able to say,
we know all things. Now, that is not to say that
we don't grow in grace and understanding of the personal work of Christ,
because the Scriptures plainly say that we do. But once God
gives us that gift of faith, He gives us that new heart of
love for Him, and we see Christ as all we need to stand wholly
justified before God, we know All that we need to know. Everything
else we learn of Christ is just to increase our love and knowledge
of Him. But increased knowledge does
not make us more saved than when we first believed, in the same
way that learning and growing physically doesn't make us more
alive than the day we were first born. In the Gospel of John, I'm sorry, 1 John, while you're
in 1 John, chapter 3, verse 5 we read, And we know that He was
manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. This word manifested comes from
the Greek word phenirou, which means to make apparent. How do
we know that He was manifested to take away our sins? In the
book of John, in the Gospel of John, Christ speaking to His
disciples. John 14. This is how we know Christ manifested
to take away our sins. The Gospel of John, chapter 14,
verse 18. It says, And I will not leave
you comfortless. This is Christ speaking to His
disciples. I will come to you. Yet a little while in the world
seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall
live also. At that day ye shall know that
I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he is in love with me,
and he that loveth me shall be loved of the Father, and I will
love Him and will manifest myself unto Him. Christ tells us, at that day
you shall know that I am in the Father. How will we know that? Christ
tells us that He will show us things concerning His person,
His attributes, His finished work, His holiness, His righteousness,
His goodness toward sinners. Christ said, I will reveal to
him the things of Christ. And while we're in the book of
John, turn over a few pages to chapter 10. It is speaking of Christ to His
disciples about things that we know. John 10 and verse 14. I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and am known of mine. As a father knoweth me, even
so I know the Father, and lay down my life, for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice. And there shall be one foal and
one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man take it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father." Christ is known by us as we hear
His voice, and the voice of another, we're told, we will not follow.
But we'll flee from the voice of a stranger. Not because we're
smarter than other men. That's not the case. Because He is known of His sheep. because He has been revealed
to us as our Good Shepherd. And He has taught us all things
that we need to know to be found in Him. He careth, He continually
watches over His sheep, providing all that is needed in this life
and that which is to come. And Christ tells us in that verse
we just read from John, He said, at that day you shall know. At what day? at the day that
Christ comes to us by His Spirit, and He promises, and I will manifest
myself unto Him. This word manifest means to make
evident or certain by showing or revealing, which is what the
Spirit does. He reveals Christ to us so that
we see everything we need is to be found in Him, all wisdom,
righteousness, Sanctification and redemption is found in the
person of Christ, and he is revealed as such to his people. We understand that the work is
done. We understand that Christ, when he declared, it is finished,
he meant just that. If something is finished, it
is brought to a state of completeness. That is why Paul could tell the
Colossians. You are complete in Him. Nothing lacking. And this is shown to us by the
Spirit. It is manifested unto us. While we're in John, Christ in
His prayer to His Father in chapter 17 said, I have manifested Thy
name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine
they were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept My Word. Paul told Timothy that God was
manifest in the flesh. Justified in the Spirit. Seen
of angels. Priest unto the Gentiles. Believed
God in the world. Received up into glory. Turn
back with me to 1 John again. 1 John 3. I want to read just a
few verses. 1 John chapter 3, we'll begin reading
in verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if
our heart condemneth, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth
all things. Beloved, if our heart condemneth
not, then we have confidence toward God. And whatsoever we
ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His
commandment. that we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave
His commandment. And He that keepeth His commandments
dwelleth in Him, and He in Him. And hereby we know that He abideth
in us by the Spirit which He has given us. Some people say
that you can never really know if someone believes on Christ,
and yet our Lord told us that there is a way to know. He said
this in John 13.35, He said, By this shall all men know that
ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. And in that text we just read
in 1 John, every time I read that in verse 22, I have to stop
and re-read it again because what I see in that verse does
not correspond to what I see in my life And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him. And it says, because we keep
His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight. I don't know about you, but I
don't go five minutes of a day without breaking one of God's
commandments. And I certainly don't spend any time doing those
things that are pleasing in His sight. And I'm sure it's that
way with you. Here it is in God's Word. So
there's only one way that these things can be said of us, and
that's found in verse 24. He says, "...we keep His commandments,
and He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him." Since we are
in Christ, it can therefore be said that we keep His commandments. And how do we know that we dwell
in Him? The answer is found in 1 John 4, verse 13. Hereby we
know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given
us of His Spirit. This is explained by Paul in
the verses we read at the beginning in 1 Corinthians. Turn back there
with me. I want to read a couple of these again. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, verse 9. I want to read this again. I
know I've already read it. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him.
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
We are told again, and we're told so many other times in the
Scripture, that we know these things by revelation. Verse 12
tells us that these things of God are received and are freely
given to us that we might indeed know the things of God. And I
especially like the wording of that verse concerning the things
that are given to us. They're given to us freely. No strings attached, no terms
or conditions, freely. Back in 1 John 5, Verses 18-20, 1 John 5, 18-20,
we read, We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but
he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God,
and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that
the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that
we may know Him, that is true. And we are in Him, that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. And how do we know all these
things that are here spoken of? I've already mentioned this.
We know by faith. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Another meaning of evidence is
something that furnishes proof, such as testimony. In Psalm 93.5,
the psalmist declared, thy testimonies are very sure. Not just pretty
sure, very sure. If God promises it, it shall
indeed come to pass. Because none can stay His hand
or say unto Him, what doest thou? And in Psalm 119, 24, we read,
Thy testimonies are my delight and my counselors. We delight
in the testimonies of God concerning His Son because of the basis
of our assurance. We know that the Word of God
assures, so anything that we read can be accepted as true. And it says His testimonies are
our counselors, our guides on how we ought to live our lives
as honoring to God. In this same psalm, in verse
88, the psalmist says, Quicken me after thy lovingkindness,
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. Once we are quickened,
made alive in Christ, we keep all of the testimonies of God
because we're in Christ. We certainly don't keep them
in ourselves, but through Christ and His finished work, we keep
all of the testimonies of God. So we've seen that we can know
for sure that we are in Christ and He is in us. Let me read
a few verses in closing, back over in the Gospel of John. Chapter
17. John 17. This is our Lord speaking to the things
which His people know. Verse 1, These words spake Jesus,
and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and that they might
know Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given
Me are of Thee. Now drop down to verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on Me through their word.
That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and
I in Thee, they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe
that Thou hast sent Me. and the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me,
for Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous
Father of the world, hath not known Thee, but I have known
Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent me. I have declared
unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." In these
verses, Christ is speaking to the Father, and He declares that
His disciples knew that He was indeed the Christ that should
come into the world, and that they also knew that His testimonies
were true. And by the gift of faith and
the gift of the Spirit, we can also know that His Word is true
and rest therein. Rest in all the promises that
we find in these 66 books, knowing that what we read therein is
true. And if you're sitting here today,
or listening over the stream, and have not been given saving
faith in Christ, I pray that today might be the day that God
grants you the ability to know the things that I've spoken of,
and to know His dear Son in whom is life, liberty, salvation,
forgiveness, and righteousness. I hope that has been a help. Lord willing, this coming Lord's
Day, Walter Pendleton to preach to us, and a week from
tonight, we are scheduled to have Frank Tate back with us.
Frank wasn't able to come a couple weeks ago because of the ice
storm, but Lord willing, he'll be back a week from tonight.
Lord bless you, you're dismissed.