I want to call your attention
to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 7. If that first covenant
had been faultless, then would no place have been
sought for a second not just very reasonable and logical and
sensible. For finding fault with them,
God said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt, Because they continued not in my covenant,
and thus God regarded them not. For thus, this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. Now listen to this. If anybody
is saved, it is by this covenant. And if anybody say these things
are true, man or woman, young or old, this is a covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. Put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God.
They should be to me a people. I'll be their God, they'll be
my people. And they shall not teach. Now
listen to this. This is the subject of my message.
They shall not teach every man his neighbor, every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord. For all shall know me from the
least of them to the greatest. This is the thing about them.
They know the Lord. They're saved. They're Christians
because they know the Lord. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. That's the new covenant. Any
man or woman here this morning who is saved by the grace of
God They're described in these words. God's written His law
in your mind, in your heart, and He's given you a revelation
of Himself. You know the Lord. You know the
Lord. And while we don't run around
like Israel used to and say, know the Lord, know the Lord,
that's the title of my message today. Know the Lord. I want you to know the Lord.
If you could attain to the highest knowledge in the greatest university
in all the world and did not know the Lord, it is virtually
nothing in vanity compared to knowing God. Paul talks about
the count of everything but loss and the dung. I suffered the
loss of all things and counted but none that I may know Him. The excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. That's what Paul said. And he
was a learned man. He was an educated man. But all
of his education compared to knowing Christ. He said the knowledge
of Christ is a surpassingness of that knowledge. Nothing equals
it. Nothing can be compared to it.
Knowing the Lord. And God said, this will be the
mark of my people. One of the marks. They shall
all know the Lord. Christ said in John 6, they shall
all be taught of God. They shall know the Lord from
the least to the greatest. And my message this morning,
as I said, is know the Lord. Know the Lord. The greatest pursuit. of every man and woman in all
the world ought to be this one thing, to know the Lord. If you
were to ask someone what they desired most of anything, more
than anything else in the world, a good answer would be that I
may know Him, that I may know the Lord. That ought to be first and foremost
on everyone's list, because John 17 verse 3 says, Thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he might give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given him. And this, this is life eternal,
that they might know the Lord. Know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou said, This is life. Knowing the Lord. This is the new covenant. Knowing
the Lord. They shall all know the Lord
from the least to the greatest. Turn just a few pages over to
1 John 5. I want you to look at 1 John
5 and verse 20 just a moment. Look at verse 19. Let's read
verse 19 with it. You can't have one without the
other. 1 John 5, 19, and we know But John likes to write that,
we know, we know, we know. Not guess, we know. We know that we are of God. Oh, I want to
know that, don't you? We know that we are of God. And
the whole world lies in wickedness. And we know And I trust you know this, that
the Son of God has come. God's Son came into this world. God came incarnate. God came
in flesh in this world. And he has given us an understanding. Oh, there it is. That's that
new covenant. That's salvation. That's life.
He 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. And I tell you, this is true
God. This is the true God and eternal
life. Knowing Him, being in Him, that's
life. What's salvation? Walking in
an aisle, making a decision, being baptized, or knowing the
Lord? You can know the Lord without ever moving out of your seat.
And that's how men come to know Him, by hearing and by the sovereign
free grace of God. This is life eternal, that they
might know the Lord. This is what we were made for.
This is why we were put on this earth. To know the Lord. To love the Lord. To worship
the Lord. To obey the Lord. To glorify
the Lord. And to enjoy Him forever. Enjoy
the Lord forever. If you know Him, you enjoy Him.
If you know Him, you love Him. If you know Him, you've come
to Him. If you know Him, you want to
obey Him, worship Him. Bring glory to His great name.
Let me show you one other passage of Scripture. Look at Jeremiah
just a moment. Jeremiah chapter 9. There's a
man who wrote a wonderful book about this one time, knowing
the Lord, knowing God. But he was writing about what
I'm talking to you about at this point, knowing the Lord. How
important it is. How essential it is. Look at verse 23. Jeremiah 9 verse 23. Thus saith the Lord. This is
God talking now. He's talking to me. He's talking
to you. It's God talking. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. You don't do that, do you? No. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might and strength and power. We don't want to do that. And let not the rich man glory
in his riches. You don't want to do that. But,
but, there is something that we may glory in. But let him
that gloryeth glory in this. Here it is. That he understands
and knows the Lord. That he understands and knows
me. that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness and judgment
and righteousness in the earth, the sovereign God, the ruling
God. Let Him glory in the fact that
He knows the Lord. For in these things, God said,
I take delight. That's amazing. God takes delight. in the fact that we know the
Lord. There's delight in those who know the Lord. When all is said and done, the all-important thing is knowing
the Lord, knowing the Lord. To those who know the Lord, this
is their chief delight. They glory in it. They know the
Lord. I went to a conference one time,
a big conference, a church house full, and chairs had to be brought
out. There were several preachers
sitting near the front, and I went by and shook their hands, spoke
to them, and said, how are you doing? This one preacher, I said,
what do you know? And he paused a few seconds,
and then he said, I know the Lord. Is that enough? I said, that's enough. That's
enough. I know the Lord. Man's chief delight is in knowing
the Lord. There's a passingness of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And God's chief delight
is in those who know Him. He delights in me. He delights in the fact that
I know Him. He gave me that knowledge. It's
all of God. Now look at Matthew just a moment.
Matthew chapter 11. There's hardly anybody in town
that hasn't whittled this down. Just plain don't believe it,
that's what. But it's still true. It's still
true. It shows here in this context
the absolute sovereignty of God. And Christ said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, Lord over all. I thank thee, O Father, that
thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes. Verse 26. Even so, Father, for
so it seemed good in thy sight." Now, all things having exalted
the Father, now he says, all things are delivered unto me
of my Father. It's all in my hands. God incarnate,
God in the flesh, the Son of God, Mary's Son, it's all in
His hands. He's God of heaven, God of earth,
God over all, God over all flesh. He's God. All things are delivered
into His hands, and He can do what He pleases, as the Father
did. He can hide these glorious things from the wise and prudent
and reveal them unto babes as pleases Him. But He said, All
things are delivered unto Me of My Father, and no man knows
Me. Everybody in this city of Matadorville
thinks they know Jesus. He said, Nobody knows Me. Nobody
knows the son but the father. He knows his son. The son knows
the father and the father knows the son. They know each other.
But nobody else does. Except. Neither knoweth any man
the father. Except. With the exception. The son, except the son, And
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. And I say, even so,
Father, even so, Son, because it seemed good in thy sight.
Whatever you do is all right. Eli lost his son to the Lord. They'd been wicked sons. The
prophet brought him the message, little Samuel. He said, it's
the Lord. Let him do what seemed to him
good. whatever seemed good in his sight. But then you have a wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful in this context. No man knows the Son but his
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
except his Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Where does that leave us? You
know, a man may desire to meet the Queen of England and walk
by the palace every day and never be invited in. That's not the way it is here.
Do you want to know God? Do you want to know the Son? Look what follows. Come unto
me. Come unto me. Come unto me, all
ye that labour and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. I'll reveal
God to you, reveal myself to you, show you my salvation. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest. Continually, throughout your
days, you will find rest by learning of Him. Rest for your souls,
because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I'm going to make a statement
this morning. You can write it down and hide
it away in your heart. Those who sincerely desire to
know God may know Him. Those who sincerely desire to
know God can know Him. And I'll go even a step further.
Those who sincerely desire to know God shall know Him. Because God put that desire in
your heart. You weren't born with it. You weren't born with it. God
put that desire in your heart. God made you weary and heavy
laden. God made you restless under the
guilt and penalty of sin. God caused you to run to Him,
come to Me, and you did. Those who desire to know Him
sincerely shall know Him. God caused the thirst to be deeper
and deeper after God, after forgiveness, after the knowledge of God. And
to those people, God will give faith. They shall know Him. But you think about that example
now. There's a man who desires to
know the Queen of England. A lot of people this morning
are desiring to meet the Prince up in Philadelphia or wherever
it is, Boston. And one of them I heard say on
TV this morning, it's an honor to be in his presence. They want
to meet him and be where he is, the Prince of Wales. What an
honor it is to know the Lord. to be in His presence, to have
Him be our God, and for us to be His people. What an honor
to know the Lord. You may never meet the Prince
of Wales. You may never be invited into
the palace to meet the Queen of England. But here's an invitation
to those who are weary and heavy laden, come to me. I'll show
you who God is. I'll show you where forgiveness
is. I'll give you rest. You're weary
and heavy laden because of sin? Christ said, I only can reveal
the Father. I only can give life. But come to me if you're weary
and heavy laden. I will. I'll give you rest. What a wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful word. Come on. Come on, says our Lord. The only way God can be known
is in Christ, in the forgiveness of sins. Only way you'll ever
know Him. Only way I'll ever know Him.
To know Him as the appointed substitute who was delivered
for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.
That's to know Him as Abraham knew Him, who's the Father of
the faithful. Father of the faithful. To know
Him in His free grace, the only way you can ever know Him. In
Christ, in His free grace. The only way you can ever know
Him is to believe Him. Hear it and read it and believe
it. I heard I understood the words
that I heard and I believed them in my heart. I'm justified before God. That's
what the Bible teaches. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. To believe the gospel, to believe
Christ is righteousness in life. No less. With the heart, I said,
God, man believeth unto righteousness. Many confess this, talk of justification
by faith. I want to raise one question
and I'll close. Who really believes? Who really
knows God? Do I really know God? Do you
really know God? We talk about it. How important
it is. Do we really know God? I'm just
going to make this real simple and brief. Who really knows God? Well, you find all of this in
John chapter 10. You want to read it at your own
leisure. Those who really know God, God calls them by name. Has He ever called you by name?
Old dead dog sinner. He ever made you weary and heavy
laden and said, come to me, I'll give you rest. He calls them
by name. He said, I know them. He said,
I know them, they know me. They hear my voice, they follow
me. Another voice they will not follow. God speaks to them. God talks to them. If they know
Him through this book. Not in visions and in dreams,
but through this book. If they know God. I give them eternal life. They
follow me. These whom he speaks to personally
through his word, they hear his voice. They follow him. Only
those know the Lord, really. He turns their thoughts from
earthly things to eternal things. It's not that we quit thinking
about earthly things, but eternal things have the preeminence in
our minds and our hearts. We can give up all earthly things,
but we can't give up Christ. He speaks to our hearts. He talks
to us about life and death and sin and judgment, forgiveness,
salvation. And He talks to us, it's not
in a theoretical way, but it's real. It's real. It's right down
where I live from day to day. It's real knowledge. He talked
to his people about the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and they understand
what he's talking about. Mind, heart, and imagination. Oh, we're such sinners. Paul
said, in me, that is in my flesh, in my nature, Adamic nature,
nothing good, not a good thing, nothing. But oh, to be in Christ. Oh,
to be in Christ. He talked to them about full,
free forgiveness in Christ. God does in this book. That's
what this book's about. Testimony of God concerning His
Son in salvation. It's not due. It doesn't talk
to us about doing for justification, but believing. Believe. Jews came to Christ one day and
said, tell us what good work we might do, what we might do
the works of God and all these things. He said, believe on the
one he sent into this world. Believe it, son. That's a good
word. Believe His Son. Not work, but
believe. Not do, but believe. It's still
true, as Paul told the Philippian jailer when he came and fell
down before them and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul's answer is still true
today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But this is also true and needs
to be pressed hard in our days. How can they believe in Him whom
they've never heard? How can they? They must hear
the testimony of God concerning His Son. Number two, God talks to them. Number two, those who really
know God, have a personal interest in spiritual and eternal things. I've said that in the last poem.
Let me repeat it and say it again in a fresh way. They have an
interest in spiritual and eternal things. The natural man receive
us not the things of the Spirit of God. But the spiritual man,
the Spirit has shown them to us. And we most certainly receive
them. But the natural man receives
them not. The natural man is mindful of the things of the
flesh. The spiritual man is mindful of the things of the Spirit. Those who truly know God have
a personal interest in spiritual and eternal things. Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 4.18, he said, We look not at things which are
seen, but at things which are not seen. What I see that's precious
to me, the world can't see it. I see it in this book by the
grace of God. It's real. Is the courthouse
downtown real? My abiding place in glory is
real, too. Are earthly inheritances real?
Men look forward to them? Earthly men? I have an inheritance in glory,
incorruptible, undefiled, never fade away, reserved in heaven. for all of those who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation. That's real. You have a receipt. It's in this
book. It's in this book. My will is
in this book. Christ emphasized it over and
over and the apostles throughout, over and over. It's in this book. And Paul said, we long for it
and we wait for it and we hope for it. I'm simply saying that to these
people, their chief interest are things pertaining to God
and His kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be
all right. But make that first. Make that first. Acts chapter
11, verses 19 through 23, we have the beginning of the spread.
of the church and the gospel throughout the world. Those men
went from place to place preaching the gospel. Bill Clark spent
the latter part of his life going from place to place in places
which were hazardous to the health preaching the gospel. The Apostle Paul said, the Holy
Spirit tells me wherever I go, bonds and afflictions await me.
But he said, I'm not moved by these things, neither can I buy
my life dear unto myself that I may finish my course with joy. What is that, Paul? Testify of
the gospel of the grace of God. That's the only way I can finish
my course with joy. I can't quit because of persecution. I can't quit because of threats.
I can't quit because of threats of death. I don't count any of
these things. They don't move me. Neither,
I repeat, count I my life dear unto myself. that I might finish
my course with joy and testify of the gospel of the grace of
God. Acts chapter 20. And that's what he did. Interest in spiritual and eternal
things. I have an interest in the economy
of this world and the politics of our nation. I have an interest
in these things. But I stand here and tell you
before God that it doesn't compare to the interest I have in this
nation spiritually. I feel like Lot sometimes sitting
outside the gate of Sodom and Gomorrah. My soul is vexed from
day to day with the filthy conversation of the wicked. It's all about
you. Everywhere! And it's become so
commonplace that it's accepted. Accepted. And there's only one cure, and
that's the gospel. Preaching against it won't change
it. It might around the edges and the corners and places. It
won't really change. It's got to be a change in the
heart. And only the gospel can do it. Only the gospel can do
it. Let me show you something. Look
at Psalm 119 just a moment. And I know that some of you here
are like that. And I'm sorry, and yet I'm glad. You remember King David, a man
after God's own heart, a mighty man of war, mightily used of
God? Listen to him now. Verse 136,
Psalm 119. Rivers of water. Not just a tear
every now and then. Rivers of water run down my eyes. And they ought to run down ours.
Because they keep not thy law. Because nobody cares who God
is or what God says. They do their own thing. They
do their own thing. interest in spiritual things,
those who know God, written as law in their mind and their heart,
they know God. They're not as those, and I repeated
this last week I think, they're not as those who try to fit a
little religion into their busy schedules, but they are those
who mold their lives around the worship of God. Altogether different. Well, I'll fit it in if I can
get my schedule worked out right. Though I work my schedule around
the worship of God. That's God's people. It's important
to them. Like old Abraham. The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was yet in Ur
of Chaldeas. He said, come out. He left his country, his kinfolks,
his house, with nothing, and followed the Lord. And his pappy
trailed along with him, and God just held him outside the land
until his daddy died. Then he took him in, took him
in to the land of promise. The Bible said Old Noah. God spoke to him and he heard
and he believed. And it says one other thing.
It said he moved with fear. He believed what God said. He'd
never seen a drop of rain in his life, but he believed what
God said. It's going to come floods. Floods of water. And he moved with fear to the
salvation of his house. Now Noah still had to plant his
garden and care for his family and those things, but his chief
interest from day to day was building that ark, hammering the nails into that
ark, saving his house. And he did. That's the life of faith. the
life of faith. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 3 said,
By faith we understand, we understand. And by faith I see and I understand
that the judgment of our God is on our nation. That our churches are struggling, half-hearted worship, We all
lament. We all weep over our hardness
of heart. All I know to do is cry out to
God, cry out to God, and witness a good confession
in this wicked world. May God bless these words in
every heart.