you If we could see beyond today,
as God can see If all the clouds should roll away, the shadows
flee Or present griefs we would not
fret, Each sorrow we would soon forget. For many joys await us
yet, For you and me. If we could see beyond today,
as God doth know, Why dearest treasures pass away,
and tears must flow, And why the darkness leads to
light, Why dreary paths will soon grow bright, Someday life's
wrongs will be made right, Faith tells us so. If we could see, if we could
know, we often say But God in love availed a throw
across our way We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to Him the more. He leads us till this life is
o'er, Trust and obey. If we could see, if we could
know, we often say But God in love availed a probe across our
way Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
8. Hebrews chapter 8. Now, in this passage of scripture.
The writer to the Hebrews. Is giving the difference. Between
the old covenant and the new covenant. Salvation by grace
and salvation by works. And he gives us four things.
That the new covenant does that the old covenant salvation by
works could never do. Look with me in verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts. Now, the old covenant could never
do that. Secondly, I will be to them a
God. And they shall be to me a people."
If salvation by works, God would refuse to be our God. And we
would be unable to be His people. But this is what the New Covenant
does. It makes Him our God for us. And we His people for Him. And here's the third thing in
verse 11. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And here's why this is true.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. Knowing Now, there is
such an infinite difference between knowing about God and knowing
God. It's light and it's darkness.
Something the Old Testament could never do is cause a man to actually
know the living God. Now, if salvation is by works,
then knowing God is impossible. But hear the blessing of the
new covenant, verse 11, they shall not teach every man his
neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. It's not
something of just giving the right information. For I. For all shall know me from the
least to the greatest, I just read that passage of Scripture
in John, Chapter 17, verse three, this is eternal life that they
may know the. The only truth and living God,
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Now, I want to say this
with humility, and I want to say this inclusively, speaking
for all of God's people. I know the living God. I know Him. That means I have
a personal relationship with Him. I know Him. And I speak
to Him. And He hears me. And He knows
me. And He speaks to me from His
Word. And I hear Him. I have a relationship with Him. There is communion. There is
union. There is fellowship. Friendship. That's an awesome thing, isn't
it? And, you know, I was actually thinking about
this passage of scripture. It's taken me, I think, 25 years
or 27 years or however long I've been preaching to be able to
preach a message like this, because I can remember a time when I
would have felt it's almost presumptuous for me to say I know God. But
I can say, I know God, and I say it with humility, but I say it
really, I know the living God. I know him. I know him. Isn't that amazing? He knows
me. Now, there was a time when I
did not know him, like it was said of Samuel. Samuel did not
yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed. There was a time when I didn't
know the Lord, but I know Him now. And this is a knowledge
that we grow in. You get to know people better,
don't you? You know, I know Lynn a whole lot better than I did
20 years ago. Your knowledge of someone, your
understanding of that person grows and increases. And I know
the Lord better now. than I knew him five years ago
or 10 years ago, 20 years ago. Now that can't be said of him.
He has always known me all the way through, but I have increased
in the knowledge of the living God. Peter said, grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am my beloved's. And he is
mine now. Remember, to say I know him doesn't
simply mean I know stuff about him and I know accurate data
about him. It means I know him. I'm not name-dropping. I know
him. The proof is that he knows me.
He recognizes me. You know, one of my favorite
phrases in the Bible is, we know. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. Somebody says, I don't know that.
Well, I do. I do. We know, don't we? We know. They may not, but we do. You
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such
as silver and gold received by the vain conversation, by tradition
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. You
know that, don't you? You know the only way you're
redeemed is by the blood of Christ. I don't have to convince you
of that. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
I don't have to convince you. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. We know. Now. To say, I know him means
my knowledge is not theoretical. It's experimental. Now, what
do I mean by that? Well, there's a knowledge of
theory. There's a knowledge of speculation where you know some
things, you memorize some things, you read them in a book and you
say, yeah, I agree. I agree. And here's an example.
You take the doctrines of grace or should be called the doctrine
of Christ. I wish I could get that doctrine of grace out of
my vocabulary and just call it the doctrine of Christ. Total
depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement. Irresistible
Grace, Perseverance in Saints. Now, anyone with some intelligence
and the ability to read can read the Bible and say, yes, the Bible
does, in fact, teach that. If you're open minded to see
what the Bible actually teaches, you'll be forced to conclude
that is the teaching of the Bible. But do you know the devil knows
that? Satan knows that. He's convinced of it. Don't you
know that Satan's a Calvinist? I guarantee he is. He's read
the Bible a whole lot more than me or you have. And he knows
what it says. That kind of knowledge. Well, I agree. The Bible teaches
us. The Bible teaches total depravity.
I see it in that scripture. It teaches unconditional election.
It teaches all these doctrines. I see that. I agree. The Bible
actually teaches that. That is not saving faith. That's just a bare speculative
knowledge. No different than devils believe.
They can tell you all that stuff. That's speculative knowledge,
and then there's experimental knowledge. Now, what do I mean
by that? It's one thing to believe the Bible teaches the doctrine
of total depravity, and it's another thing to believe that
you yourself are totally depraved. And when you believe that, all
the rest of the doctrine of the Scripture is obvious. You must believe that your only
hope is that God elected a people and that Christ actually accomplished
their salvation. That they will persevere all
the way to the end. You learn by experience because
God's taught you something. He's taught you who you are.
He's taught you who He is. And really, what we believe is
determined by who we believe. This is the issue, whom. It's
not a what, it's a who. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded. that he's
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Now, here's an example of what
I'm talking about. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you know it, I know whom I have believed, it would be impossible
for you to believe that he could die for you and pay for your
sins and you end up in hell anyway. You couldn't believe anything
like that. It'd be impossible. You believe that he must be successful. Whatever he does, If you did
it, that means it's going to be success. You believe that
from the very depths of your heart when the Lord has been
your teacher. When you know somebody, you know
what they're like, you know their attributes. If I know God, I
know he's all powerful. I know he's sovereign. I know
that whatever he wills, it must come to pass. What I believe
is determined by who I believe. Now, here's my question. How? Can a sinful, short-sighted,
insignificant man know the Living God? To where I really know Him. I don't mean just knowing stuff
about Him, but I mean knowing Him, where I know Him and He
knows me. And that's what I want. You know,
Paul said, Oh, that I might know Him. Paul goes, You already know
Him? Yes, I do. But oh, that I might
know Him. That's what I want. I want to
know the Living God. I want Jesus Christ to know me. Say, He's
one of mine. I love that man. He's one of my, oh, that's what
I want. I want to know. I want to walk
with the living God. I know him and he knows me. Now,
how in the world can a insignificant, weak, short-sighted, sinful man
actually know the living God? Now, there are three things that
are essential for a man to know God. Here's the first thing. He's first got to know me. And really, that's what a rest
in my knowledge of him, his knowledge of me. David said, thou knowest
me. Secondly. That person. Is going to have to be made fit
for God to have a relationship with it. God's not going to know
someone if that person is not fit for fellowship. and communion,
that person is going to have to be made worthy of knowing
God. And thirdly, he must be given
the capacity to know him. In other words, God's got to
give you a new heart that will know him, and then he's got to
make himself known to you. How can you know me if I don't
make myself known to you? The fact of the matter is you
can't. You can guess things. You can speculate. You can say,
well, here's what I think. But the only way you can really
know what's in my heart, what's in my mind is if I make it known. There's no other way of knowing.
So the only way a man can know the living God is for God to
first know that man and for God to make that man worthy of a
relationship. and to make that man have the
capacity to have that relationship where I can actually know God,
where I know Him. The immortal, invisible, all-powerful,
spiritual God, the God who is the Spirit. Every believer knows
Him. From the least to the greatest,
every believer knows the living God. And you know, this is so
simple. He knew me in eternal election. I had personality before God
did. I don't understand how that is.
I can't remember when I was born, and I sure can't remember before
then, but God knew me before. He said, before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. Now how that is, I don't understand,
but it's so. I've always been, in that sense,
in the mind of God. He knew me. And on the cross,
He made me fit. He made me worthy of a relationship
with Him. You see, God's holy. Something's
going to have to be done about my sin for Him to actually know
me. And that word know, it means
more than just knowing stuff about it. It means He has an
intimate relationship with. Adam knew Eve. That didn't mean
He knew what her name was. It meant that He had an intimate
relationship with her as a man and a wife. This thing of knowledge
is not just knowing stuff. It's a relationship. He made
me fit for this relationship. And then in the new birth, He
gave me the capacity to actually know the living God. And He made
Himself known to me in the new birth. Now, for me to know Him,
let's consider these three things. For me to know Him, He must first
know me. Let me show you scripture in
Galatians 4. Would you turn with me there, Galatians 4? Verse
9. But now, after that you have
known God, or rather, and so it's as if Paul says, scratch
that, scratch that. Yeah, we know him, but we don't
know him very well. Rather, but now after that you've
known God, or rather are what? Known of God. How turn you again
to these weak and beggarly elements whereunto you desire to be? in
bondage. What did he say to Jeremiah?
I've already quoted it once before. I formed thee in the belly. I
knew thee. Now, he does not know all men
in that sense. Remember his words to that crowd
in Matthew chapter 7, who claimed such big things? Why, Lord, we've
prophesied in your name, and in your name we've cast out devils,
and in your name have we done many wonderful works. And you
know what the Lord said to them? Depart from Me. Ye that work
iniquity, I never knew you. Never. Not before time again.
Not now. Now He knew exactly who they
were. And He knew all about them. But He never knew them in this
sense. He said, I never knew you. I never recognized you as
one of Mine. It never happened. But there
are some people that He has always known. the ones spoken of in
Jeremiah 31 verse 3, when he said, Behold, I have loved you
with an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning and that
will have no end. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee The same ones of whom the Lord said, You've
been with me from the beginning, united to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, there's another great mystery. I don't understand how it works,
but I've always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've always been
united to Him. And the reason the Lord knew
me, because I was in Him. And I've always had personality
before God because I was in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always
known me. Just, we love Him. Just as we
love Him because He first loved us, we know Him because He first
knew us. Whom He did foreknow. Remember, foreknowledge is not
about events. Somebody says, God foreknew that
would happen. Well, of course He did. He ordained for it to
happen. He obviously knows what happened, but that's all foreknowledge
is about. It doesn't say what He foreknew. It says whom He
did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. This is what divine election
is all about. Him knowing me beforehand. For the children, Romans 9, 11,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, But
if him that calleth it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger, as it's written, listen to this, Jacob, have I
loved? But Esau, have I hated? For me to know God, God must
first know me. Now, for me to actually know
God, he's going to have to make me worthy of a relationship with
him. He's going to have to make me
worthy, fit for a relationship with him, and that's precisely
what the Lord did on the cross. Now turn back to our text in
Hebrews chapter eight. And this comforts me so much
because you to make the claim of knowing God, you know, a lot
of people make that claim. I'm claiming to know God. Well, what
gives me some assurance that he'll know me in return and that
he can embrace me and that he can have a relationship with
me? Now, let's read verses 11 and 12 together. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the
Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And
here's why, for I will be merciful. The word is actually I'll remove
my reason for anger through the blood of my dear son. That's
what that means. Here's why they're going to know me, because I'm
going to be propitious for them. I'm going to remove my reason for
anger, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. That
is one of the most glorious things to think about, the fact that
I remember my sins. The ones I know about. Most of
them I don't even know about. But I remember a lot of them.
Do you know God doesn't? And there's a reason He doesn't.
It's not because He's got a short memory like me. It's because
there's nothing there to remember. He propitiated those sins. He
put them away. And when God sees me, He sees
one as worthy, fit for a relationship with Him. Colossians 1.12 says,
giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet. Not He will make us meet, but
He hath made us meet. right now to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light. Not that it's going
to happen one of these days. It's already happened. I'm fit
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through his work
on the cross for me, through him keeping the law for me, through
him being made into me wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. I'm fit. God sees me as worthy
of relationship with him through the Lord Jesus Christ. He can
embrace me. He sees me as one who is worthy. And this is true of every believer,
not just me. I'm talking about every one of
God's elect. They're beautiful to God. They're perfect to God. They're without sin before God
because of the propitiation of the Lord Jesus Christ that we've
been made fit. That scripture, Isaiah 53, by
his knowledge. By his knowledge of me. By his
knowledge, he knew me, shall my righteous servant justify
many. You understand that now? By his
knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall
bear their iniquities. He knew me personally in eternity. And He knew me personally on
the cross. When our Lord was hanging on
that cross, He wasn't making a roll of the dice hoping some
people would believe Him. He had the names of His elect
like the high priest of old engraved on His breast, written on His
hands. He knew me! He knew me! He loved me! I was His. He was going to make sure that
I was going to spend eternity with Him. He made me fit. He made me meet. for a relationship
of knowing Him. And because He knew me first,
because He made me fit to know God, He's made Himself known
to me. Now, what is the evidence for
me to know Him? He must make Himself known to
me. What is the evidence that somebody actually knows God? Now, you can't know me, like
I said, unless I make myself known to you. And we can't know
him unless he reveals himself. Turn to Matthew 11. This is the
third thing. He's got to he's got to reveal
himself for me to know him. He's got to make himself known.
And he can and I can't know him unless he gives me a nature that
has the capacity to know him. But look here, Matthew chapter
11. I love this passage of scripture. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Now, before we go on reading,
if it seems good in the Father's sight, it's good. It's good. We like it that way. You know,
whatever the Lord does, that's the way I like it. Verse 27. Now, look what he says. All things
are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knows the son. But
the father, I'm so great, I'm so incomparably, incomprehensibly
glorious that nobody can really know me except the father. Neither
knows any man the father. Save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. Now, in regeneration, in the
new birth, he gives me a heart to know him to where I have the
capacity to know him. And when he gives me that new
heart to know him, you know what he does? He makes himself known.
And now I know him. I know him personally. He made
himself known to me. And I know him personally. He
made himself known to me through his word. He shows himself. He reveals himself. He reveals
his character. He reveals his attributes. He
reveals who he is in the gospel. And now I know him. I've never
seen him, but I love him. And I know him. And I know when
he's not being preached. You know, I take it personally.
Listen to me real carefully. If you know somebody and if something's
said about that person that's contrary to the truth, you know
it's wrong. And if you love that person,
you take it personally. If you say something bad about
Lynn, me and you are not going to be friends. I take it personally. She's my wife. She's my love.
And if you say something bad about her, if you say something
wrong about her, trouble's coming. Now, there's many people who
they can hear something contrary to the truth, and they wonder
why people get so upset about it. And they think, you know,
it's doctrine. No, it's not. It's a person.
It's personal. I take everything wrong said
about my Lord. I take it personally because
I love him. He that does not hate the false
does not love the truth. Now you can just write that down.
David said, I esteem all thy precepts and all things to be
right, and I hate every false way. Those who know him love
him. You see, to know him is to love
him. And to love him is to know him. Now, this is what is going on. We come to personally know his
personality. in the gospel. He reveals himself
to us. Now, this is what's going on
when he's our teacher. Look again at our text, verse
11. And thou shalt not teach every man his neighbor and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all shall know
me from the least to the greatest. Now, what is the evidence that
he's been my teacher? I've been taught. If he's my
teacher, I've been taught. Well, I've not been taught, and
He wasn't your teacher. Because anybody He teaches, they are
taught. They're taught the truth. We
know Him who is the Gospel. He teaches us who He is by His
Word. And we see. We see who He is. We see who we are. And we believe. When He teaches us, we believe
the Gospel. And it's not just facts. The
words that he says, I love what he said, the words I speak unto
you, they're spirit and they're life. And we find his words spirit
and we find his words life when he teaches us. It's not just
information, it's life itself, his word. You know what you think
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the same about what you think
about his word, the things he said in this book. That's what
reveals how we really feel about him. Look in John chapter 6. I want to look at a couple of
scriptures on this. John 6. Verse 45. It is written in the prophets.
And they shall be all taught of God, every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father, what ye do, he comes
to me." Look at Isaiah 54 for a moment. Hold your finger and
jaw and we'll come back there, but I want you to look at this
scripture, Isaiah 54. Verse 13, this is what this is
a quotation from. And all thy children, Isaiah
54, 13, and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. And here's what is the consequence
of his teaching. And great shall be the peace
of thy children. That's one thing to say you've
got great peace, and it's another thing to have it. And now listen
to me. Believing that Jesus Christ himself is my righteousness before
God. I have great peace. I'm not afraid
to face judgment day. Believing that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ actually makes me clean before God. I have great
peace. This is not just talk. There's
a true and a real peace from believing the gospel. We read
in Romans 15, 13 of the joy and the peace of believing. Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what happens when
God teaches. Look in John chapter 10. Verses 3 through 5. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger they will not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Look in verse 24. Then came the Jews, ran about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? Dost
thou be the Christ? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. And here's the way the world
reads that. You're not my sheep because you don't believe. But
that's not what the Lord says. He says you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. My sheep, hear my voice. I know them and they follow me
and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Now,
we know the Lord personally. And the reason we know Him personally
is because He knows us personally. He foreknew me. He knew me beforehand. He made me fit to know Him. He made me worthy of a relationship
with Him where I can be called His friend, His love, His wife,
His bride, someone fit for a relationship, and he gave me the capacity to
know him in the new birth, and he made himself known to me. And because he's made himself
known, we know him. You shall know the truth. And that's not talking about
you will know accurate information. It's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Isn't he the truth? You should know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. That's not saying your
knowing of the truth makes you free or your knowledge of the
truth. The truth himself is the one who makes you free. And the
Old Testament could never bring on this personal relationship
with the living God. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. That he's
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Now, it's one thing to say we
know him. A lot of people say that. If a man say he has fellowship
with God and walks in darkness, he's a liar. That's what the
scripture says. What is the evidence that we really know him? And
I'm not talking about trying to figure out the evidence of
whether you really know him. I'm talking about what scriptural
evidence is that I really know him. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2. Verse 3. And hereby we do know that we
know him. Now, doesn't that pique your
interest? Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. The commandment of the gospel.
Now, before we go on, let's look over 1 John chapter 3, verse
23. And this is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Now,
do you do that? Do you believe on the name of
Christ? Do you believe that the name of Christ is what brings
you into heaven? You believe that? Are you relying on the
name of Christ to bring you into glory and you have no other hope?
And here's this other commandment. We love one another. We love
one another. That's not just in word and tongue,
but in deed and in truth. We actually love one another.
It's not admiring his commandments. It's not knowing what they are.
It's keeping. And turn back to 1 John 2. And
hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
He that sayeth, I know him and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar and the truth. is not in him. But whoso keepeth
his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby
know we that we are in him." In Daniel chapter 11, verse 32,
we read, they that know their God will be strong and do exploits. They'll do things like walk with
God. They'll do things like they'll
walk by faith. They'll do things like they'll
love the Lord Jesus Christ, and they'll seek to make their conversation,
their conduct, their attitudes, their thoughts, everything they
do to honor Him. That's what those who know their
God will do. They do exploits. And they will seek the honor
of the Lord Jesus Christ in everything. Now, do I fail? Of course I do. But I want to
not sin. I want to honor Him in everything
I do. That's what they who know their
God will do. They'll be strong. And they'll
do exploits. Now, one last scripture. Turn
to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. In verse 4, it says he must need
to go through Samaria. I know why he must need to go
through Samaria. One of his elect is there, and he's going to bring
her to himself, to a saving knowledge of him. Then cometh he to a city
of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of bread that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey, set thus on the
well, and it was about the six hour. There cometh a woman, that's
about twelve noon, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink." Three of his disciples
were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then said the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, That's a gift. A free gift. The Lord Jesus Christ. If you
knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give
me to drink, you know what you'd do? If you knew, you'd ask. That's what everybody does who
knows Him. They start asking. They ask for
that which they can't come up with themselves. You know what
you ask for? What you can't get. It's got to be given to you.
If you knew the gift of God, and who it was that said, did
He give me to drink? You would have asked of Him,
and look what it says next, and He would have given thee living
water. If you knew, Here's what you
do. You'd ask. And if he asks, you
know what happens? He gives. The Lord Jesus Christ
delights in saving sinners. He delights. And if you ask Him
to save you, you know what He's going to do? He's going to save
you. Now, I've talked to people before
I said, have you ever asked the Lord to save you? And they replied
many times, but he hadn't done it. You know what my reply to
them is? I don't believe you. You've never asked. You've made
bargains. You've probably tried to strike
a deal with God, but he's not going to pay attention to that. But
if you ever ask for mercy, pure, free mercy, if you ever ask him
to do something for you, he'll do it. He said, him that cometh
to me. I will in no wise cast out. Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. to Him. What a blessing to know
the living God in the person of His blessed Son, to know Him
so that here's what will prove whether or not you really know
Him. On Judgment Day, you'll say,
I know Him. If He does that, you'll know
Him. Let's pray.