If you will open your Bibles
with me to the book of John, the 8th chapter. The book of John, the 8th chapter. In verse 19, our Lord delivered
a shocking charge against the most religious men of His day. He said in verse 19, Then said
they unto him, Where is thy father? Jesus answered, You neither know
me nor my father. Isn't that frightening? Now lest someone in the service
this morning say, well, serves them right, Those religious fellows
were outwardly religious and outwardly moral and called God
Lord with their lips and their hearts didn't know him. They
were hypocrites. Well, I hope that you won't take any comfort
in your position. Peter said in 1 Peter 4, verse
18, if the righteous scarcely be saved. or with difficulty,
where shall the ungodly appear? In other words, the disciples
ask our Lord, if these fellows aren't saved, who is? That's
what they're saying. So lest someone, as I deal with
this subject this morning, where our Lord looked at the most moral,
religious men of His day and said, you don't know God. Now,
if they don't know God, some of you are real trouble. That's
what I'm saying. You don't take any refuge or
comfort in the fact that our Lord rebuked these hypocrites
and rebuked these outwardly religious folks and rebuked these outwardly
moral folks if they didn't know God, who studied the scriptures
and found their way to the temple every Sabbath day and gave of
their tithes and alms and time, if they didn't know God, you
who don't come at all are in real trouble. Real trouble. scarcely be saved, with difficulty. If it's rare for a church man
to be saved, the fellow that's not there at all is in trouble. So don't take any comfort while
our Lord rebukes the outwardly religious. The man with no religion
at all will suffer the same fate. But he said here, you don't know
me nor my father. Now, this was said to men who
call God Father. Look at verse 41. They said in
verse 41, you do the deeds of your father, Christ said, and
they said to him, we're not born of fornication, we have one father.
God's our father. Now these are the men to whom
he said, you don't know God. You don't know my father nor
me. And this was said to men who claim that God was their
father. They claimed it. They laid a
claim to God as their Father. God is my Father. Christ said,
you don't know God. And then verse 33, go back a
little, a few more verses, and this was said to men who boasted
of their strong religious heritage and background and training.
They said in verse 33, they answered him, where Abraham see. You see, we've got a strong heritage. We're Abraham's seed. Some of
us this morning are quite proud of our religious background,
training, right church, right denomination, right discipline,
right this, that, and the other. Our fathers and our father's
fathers and, well, these fellows here had stronger ties than you
have. They could trace their heritage
right back to Abraham, the friend of God, to whom God said, I'll
bless you, and I'll bless those that bless you, and curse those
that curse you, and your seed will be like the stars of the
heaven and the sands of the seashore. These people said, Abraham's
our father. Abraham's our father, and he said, you don't know God. This was said to men who were
examples of morality. This was said to men who were
examples of morality and religious form. They said, rightfully so. We
are not extortioners. We are not unjust. We are not
adulterers. Not outwardly they weren't. They
certainly were not. This was said to men who claimed,
we fast twice a week, more than is required. We tithe. We give
alms. And our Lord said to them, He
said, you search the Scriptures. You are men who search the Scriptures. These were men who were scribes
and Pharisees. They were in charge of writing
the Scriptures down for other people, translating the Scriptures. This was said to men who had
a zeal for God. You neither know me nor my Father. James. tells us that we can believe
in one God and yet not know God. He said the devils believe and
tremble. One God. You can believe in God and not
know God. Saul of Tarsus reveals to us
that we can fight for orthodoxy. We can fight for fundamentalism.
We can fight for the inspiration of scriptures. We can fight for
the truth of God and not know God. The blood which Saul of
Tarsus shed, he shed because he was fighting for orthodoxy,
for right doctrine, for the worship of one God. He felt Jesus Christ
was an imposter. Simon Magus certainly reveals
to us that we can profess faith and be baptized and not know
God. Peter said to him, your heart is not right with God. Agrippa. King Agrippa reveals
to us clearly that we can hear good preaching, and we can be
troubled, and we can almost be persuaded to believe it. We can
have good intentions and not know God. This, among other things, is
what caused the Apostle Paul to cry, Oh, that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection. Turn with me to John 17. If I've
not gotten your attention by now, I hope that I can with this
verse. Whatever it is to know God, our
Lord leveled this charge in the direction of those who had such
great zeal for God, boasted that God was their Father and Abraham
was their father, boasted of their morality and righteousness,
Orthodoxy. And he said, you don't know God. You don't know God. You use his
name, but you don't know him. You go to his house, but you
don't know him. You read his word, but you don't
know him. You try to keep his law, but you don't know him.
You go through the ceremonies and even call his name, but you
don't know him. Whatever it is to know God, our
Lord Jesus said in John 17, 3, this is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God. That's eternal life, to
know God. Whatever it is to know God, it's
life eternal. Whatever it is. Turn to 1 John
5, 20. You've got the same thing written
here. Whatever it is to know God, whatever this preacher is
talking about, To know God is eternal life. We have the authority
of our Master for that statement. Whatever this preacher is talking
about, to know God is eternal life. In 1 John 5, 20, look at
it. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him. That is
true. We're in Him that is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true God, and
this is eternal life. This is it. To know God. And over here in the passage
which Jay read a moment ago, and when he read it, John chapter
14, I tell you, As I thought about this message and prepared
to stand up here and preach, and he read that scripture once
again, it came with such a strong impact upon me. Now, our Lord
talked to those religious men of zeal and orthodoxy and fundamentalism
and morality and all of these things, using the name of God
and going about the form of worship of God and reading the Word of
God. He said, you don't know God.
You don't know God. God's our Father, but you don't
know the Living God. And all of these scriptures warn
us that we can believe this, that, and the other, and still
not know God. And our Lord said eternal life is to know God. Now listen to what He said to
His disciples, even the disciples themselves. Now watch it, let's
bring you up to date on this. These disciples, here the Lord
was standing in the midst of them, or sitting, and they were
encircled, they had encircled Him, and these men were perplexed. They were disappointed. They
were downcast. The Master had talked to them
of going away. He said, I'm going away. If I
go not away, the Holy Spirit will not come. The Son of Man
must go to Jerusalem and suffer these things. I'm going away.
And he said to them, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God? Believe also in me. In my Father's
house and many dwelling places, there's plenty of room. Plenty
of room. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. I'm
going away, but I'm coming back. I'm coming back to receive you
unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also." I go
to my Father. I go to your Father. I go to
my Father's house. I go to my Father's right hand.
I go to prepare a place for you. And you know where I'm going,
and you know the way. Thomas said, we don't know where
you're going. We don't know where you're going.
And we don't know the way. And Christ said, I am the way.
I'm salvation itself. There's none other way. I am
the way. I didn't make a way. I didn't
provide a way. I am the way. I'm the way. I'm the truth. What he said was
true, but more than that, he is truth incarnate. He is the
truth. That which is understood is understood
in the light of Christ. That which is understood and
discerned is understood and discerned in the light of His person. He
is the truth. Not only a true way, but He is
the truth. He says, I am the life. I'm the
giver of life. I'm the source of life. I'm the
sustainer of life. I'm even life itself. He that
hath the Son hath life. I am life. We don't know where you're going.
Thomas talked like he was going to another another country or
another city. He said, we don't know where
you're going, how can we know the way? Christ said, I am the way. I
go to my Father and your Father and I'm the way to the Father.
No man cometh to the Father but by me. I'm the truth, the truth
of the Father. The Father revealed in me. I
am the life. I am the life of the Father.
The Son quickeneth whom He will. The Son hath life in Himself. And He said, if you know Me,
you know the Father. And then Thomas, Philip, verse
8, and Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be no
more uneasy if we could just see the Father. Like Moses of old, show me thy
glory. We'll have nothing more to dread.
Lord, if you show us the Father, we'll have no more doubts. If
you show us the Father, we'll be content. Lord, show us the
Father." And then our Lord said, Philip,
have I been with you so long, so long? Have you heard all that
you've heard? Have you seen all that you've
seen? Have you witnessed all that you've
witnessed, been taught all that you've been taught? and still
you don't know me." Now my friends, this is frightening
to say the least. Let's bring it down from, we're
talking about the outward renegades and agnostics and skeptics on
the outside, they don't know God. And good possibility they
never will. The day of grace has passed them
by. God said, leave them alone. Leave them alone. When they knew
God, they didn't worship Him as God. When they saw the things
of God, they didn't give glory to God. When God literally actually
blessed them as if opening the windows of heaven and handing
them a blessing, they didn't thank God. They didn't show their
appreciation to God. Now He said, leave them alone.
I've cut them off. I've cut them off. Don't do anything
for them. Don't say anything to him, leave
him alone. When God gives a man up, I give him up. Leave him
alone. Walk on the other side of the
street. God's given him over to a reprobate mind. You can
play with the things of God just so long and you fill up the cup
of God's wrath and you're dead while you live. You're dead while
you live. And God will send you strong
delusions that you'll believe a lie and be damned for believing
it. That's right. They're living dead men right
here in this town. They've dabbled with the things
of God, they've played with the things of God, they've argued
the things of God, they've never bowed to the Lord God, they've
never given God first place in their lives, they've never thanked
God, and God's cut them off and they're dead jolly while they
live. I know something. They'll never have another spiritual
thought, they'll never have another righteous revelation, they'll
never have another contact with God till they meet Him in the
judgment. That's so. It's dangerous, my friend, to
mess with the things of God. Knowledge is dangerous. He that
increases knowledge increases sorrow. Now just leave them alone. All right, then he comes to these
Pharisees, and he says, you don't know God either. Then he comes
to his inner circle. And Thomas said, show us the
Father and our Lord with pathos and a weeping heart. It says,
Philip, have you seen what you've seen and heard what you've heard? Have I been with you so long,
so long, so long, and yet you still don't know me? Pastor,
have you preached so long and you still don't know Him? Elders,
blessed elders, have you studied and taught? You still don't know
Him? Deacons, have you served and
given your time and your labor and your effort? You still don't
know Him? Well, I know what I believe.
Do you know Him? Church members, do you know Christ? That's what he's asking here.
That's what he's saying. Philip, don't you know me? Don't
you know me? He that has seen me, look at
that verse 9, he that has seen me and known me and loved me,
he's seen my Father and he's known my Father and he's loved
my Father because I and my Father are one. And the words that I
speak, the doctrine that I preach, is not mine, but the Father that
sent me. I speak not of myself, but the
Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. The works
that I do, they're the works of my Father. The Lord show us
the Father. Why, Philip? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. He that hath dealt with me hath
dealt with the Father. He that hath received the things
of mine hath received everything of the Father. I am the Father
One. Why, the doctrines that I speak
are not my words, they're the words of Him that sent me. The
works that I do, they're not my works, they're the works of
Him that sent me. They're the Father's works. Don't you know
me? My friends, a saving knowledge
of God is not, is not, I repeat, a knowledge of God by light of
creation in nature. That's not a saving knowledge
of God. That's not to know God. I believe there's a God. You
can believe there's a God and not know God. Somebody says, well, he's gone
to meet his maker. You're right about that. But
that doesn't mean he knows God. We don't know God. A saving knowledge
of God is not knowing God in the light of creation and nature.
I know the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
showeth his handiwork, but a man doesn't know God by looking at
a tree. A man knows God by looking at Christ in faith. A man doesn't know God by looking
at stars and moons with a telescope and knowing how far it is between
all these different places. A man knows God by looking at
the wounds in the hands and feet and side of the Lord Jesus. A saving knowledge of God is
not a knowledge of God which comes by light of creation in
nature. God-ignorant people in the world
are naturalists. Did you know that? The most God-ignorant
people in this world are those who depend upon the light of
creation and nature to know the Living God. You see, they make
God to be like they want Him to be. A knowledge of God, a
saving knowledge of God, is not a knowledge of God revealed by
the laws of Moses. You say, well, God's righteous.
God's holy, but that doesn't make you righteous. That doesn't
make you holy to know that. And that doesn't permit you fellowship
with that God either. That doesn't permit you to enter
into the secret chambers of his mysteries and his counsel. You
still don't know anything about him. Well, I know God's holy
and I know God's righteous. But that doesn't let you into
his counsels of grace and his will. You know, he made known
his ways unto the children of Israel. He made known himself
to Moses. They saw his judgments. Moses
saw his will. His will of redemption. His will
of mercy. Not to know God, to read the
law. And then, watch this. And you
see people like this every day. Something good happens to them.
Something good comes their way. They say, somebody up there likes
me. Say, providence. And then something bad happens,
they say, Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Some tragedy
comes, and Lord save us! You see, their God depends upon
acts of providence. When things go good, they're
happy. When things go bad, they're suing for mercy. Well, you don't
know God by looking at God in providence. And a man doesn't
know God in religious duties. Well, I go to church, and I give,
and I try to help others, and I serve the Lord, and I teach
Sunday school, and I do this. That's not a fathing knowledge
of God. These Pharisees did every bit of those things, every one
of those things. And yet our Lord said, you don't
know God. And don't you know these disciples even were a step
ahead of these Pharisees? They weren't in ritualism. They
weren't in ceremonialism. They weren't in legalism. They
were in a true heart fellowship with Christ. And yet our Lord
said, Philip, do you know me? Do you know me? What is it to
know God? What is knowing God? Savingly
to know God? Would you tarry a minute if I
try to tell you? First of all, to know God is
an evangelical knowledge of God revealed in Christ. An evangelical knowledge of God. See if I can make good on that.
Here in verse 9, our Lord said, Philip, have I been so long time
with you, and yet you have not known me. He that hath seen me,
hath seen me, hath seen the Father. What is this seeing? This seeing
is a heart, faith, understanding, discerning. It's not to see Christ
with the natural eyes. That's not what it is, because
many saw him and did not believe on him. Others saw him and did
believe on him, and others see him down through the years. Martin
Luther saw him. Zwingli saw him. Spurgeon saw
him. William Carey saw the Lord. Saw
him! You talk about preaching a dream
or a vision, don't trust a dream or a vision. It don't have anything
to do with it. It's not of God. It's demon possession. See him
in his word. See him with eyes of faith. See
him with your understanding. Now, let me help you with that.
A man seeking God discovers two things. This is what every man
seeking God discovers. I don't care who it is, where
he is, or when it is. If he's seeking God, truly seeking
God, he discovers two things. Number one, he discovers God
is absolutely, immutably, totally, perfectly holy. He'll discover
that God is holy. Not man's holiness and man's
idea of holiness, but God is holy as God. God is God-holiness. God is perfect holiness. God
is divine holiness. God is a holiness we don't even
understand and can't begin to touch. God is perfect love and
perfect righteousness and perfect holiness and perfect thoughts
and perfect words. God's holy. The second thing
that every man discovers who is truly seeking God is that
He's not holy. Far from it, He is sinful. exceedingly
sinful, evil and corrupt. He discovers that the Apostle
Paul was very religious before he came to know God. But when
he came to know God, he said this, he said, I died. When the law came, I died. I
discovered that the things I would do, I did them not, and the things
I would not do, I did them. I discovered in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I discovered I'm a wretched man. I didn't discover other people's
faults, I discovered mine. And they were in relationship
to God. There was trouble between me and God. There was trouble
between me and heaven. All was not well. All was not
peace, like I thought it was. It wasn't a good Lord. He was
an angry Lord. He was an offended Lord. It was
not, I'm a good father and a good husband and a good brother or
sister, a good child. I'm a rotten creature. With whom
God's angry, there's no good in me, there's no righteousness
in me, I'm in trouble. I'm under the judgment and wrath
of a holy God, I'm in trouble. That's what a man discovers,
and he discovers there's nothing he can do about it. Not one thing
he can do about it. He can turn over a new leaf and
it's just as dirty on that side. And he can go to church and he
can't find anything there. And he can read the Bible and
pray and make decisions and still finds nothing but judgment coming
from heaven and wrath coming from heaven and nothing up there
for him. He can't associate or identify
with that kind of holiness. He doesn't have it. And God Almighty
demands perfection, and God can be satisfied with nothing less
than perfection. What am I going to do? Men and
brethren, they said, what shall we do? What shall we do? Our hands are
dripping with the blood of God's Son, what are we going to do,
Jay? Now then, if God does anything
about it, now we can't. Nothing we can do. There's something
God can do, but if God does it. Anything for us or for himself
in relation to us, it's got to be consistent, Charlie, with
his holiness. It's got to be consistent with
his righteousness. It's got to be consistent with
his justice, like you said last night in the message. God's going
to punish sin. You write down any sin of thought,
word, or deed, and right up beside it, God will punish that sin.
I guarantee you he's got to because he's holy. And I've got to have
a holiness that I can't produce. I've got to have a holiness akin
to the holiness of God. Two cannot walk together except
they be agreed. Agreed in righteousness, agreed
in holiness, agreed in direction, agreed in pursuit, agreed in
objectives, agreed in motive, everything. And I sure don't
agree with God. Not by nature, not in the flesh.
And God doesn't agree with me. So if I'm straightened out, and
if I walk with God, I've got to be brought up here to agree
with God. And that's something the church can't do, and baptism
can't do, and the Lord's Table can't do, and decision can't
do. You can walk the aisle, up and down the aisle, dedicating
and rededicating, consecrating and re-consecrating, joining,
doing everything you want to, but it won't lift you out of
this mud hole. It won't change the tadpole into a man. It won't
do it. So what are we going to do? Himself
came down here. Made under the law, made of a
woman, He became sin for us. He became a man. He numbered
Himself with a transgressor. God's holiness and God's law
and God's justice demanded all of this of me. It demanded obedience. Christ came down here in the
flesh and He obeyed and He satisfied that demand. And God's justice
says the soul of sinners must die, the sinner must die. And
Christ identified with this sinner down here in the pit of sin,
in the depths of depravity, identified with me, numbered with me, not
ashamed to call me his brother. The judgment and wrath of God
fell on him and wounded him and broke him and destroyed his body
for my sins. and God's holiness, and God must
be upheld, and Christ upheld it, and God's law must be satisfied,
and Christ satisfied it, and God's justice must be honored,
and Christ honored it, and Christ just literally in Himself lifted
me and brought me up here. And that's where I am. You see,
I see God in Christ, that One who came down. truly God. He never ceased to be God. He
was divine when He left heaven and divine when He arrived here.
And He was divine all through His life, but He was the divine
man. He was a man. And I see God in
Him. It's an evangelical knowledge
of God in Christ. I know whom I have believed.
And all of this, that's what Paul was saying in our Sunday
School lesson this morning, I Timothy 4, all of this regimentation,
and you dress, you put on the right kind of religious garb,
and you raise your hands in a religious manner, you know, or you kneel
at a certain time, and you cross yourself, and you wear your beads
or your crucifix, and you carry your Bible, and all of this is
not going to justify you before God. It's not going to give you
that holiness He demands. It's not going to give you that
sanctification He demands. It's not going to give you that
acceptance He demands. You can do without fish or meat
on Friday and eat fish and go to hell just the same. You can
keep Lent and go through Lent giving up your favorite dessert,
strawberry shortcake, and go to hell just the same. God doesn't
care whether you eat strawberry shortcake on Monday, Wednesday,
or Friday. It couldn't matter less to Him.
But He cares about the condition of your heart. This is where
it is. It's faith in Christ. It's seeing
the Lord Jesus. It's knowing that God, who has
not taken up forbidding to marry, forbidding to eat meat, all these
holy days. God, do you think that there's
a holy holiday as far as God's concerned during the month? Do
you recognize any special day that God says, now this is my
day, I'm going to take notice of what's going on down there
today? The other six days, you know, but if one day God, you
know, pulls back the curtains and says, what are you boys doing
today? That's stupidity, what that is. Religious stupidity.
Religious ignorance. He that hath seen me hath seen
my Father. Seen Christ how? Prophet, priest,
and king. the incarnate Son of God, the
substitute for sinners, the righteousness of God, the holiness and satisfaction
that we need. I've seen Christ. I know whom
I have believed. All right? Secondly, quickly,
to know God is an evangelical knowledge of God revealed in
Christ Jesus. And secondly, it's an experimental,
experiential knowledge of God, an experiential knowledge of
God. Look at verse 10. First our Lord said in verse
9, he that has seen me in my redemptive work, in my prophetic
work, in my priestly work, in my kingly work, he's seen my
Father. Then he said, Philip, believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in thee? Don't you believe that?
Don't you believe that? Do you believe that? You know,
the Word says it, I and my father were one, God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. The preacher preaches it, we
preach Christ. Men of old believed it. Abraham
saw my day and was glad. Moses wrote of me. Isaiah preached
the gospel. Do you believe it? Do you, darling? That's what he said. Sing old
Philip out. He said, Philip, do you believe? My friends, it's not so much
faith or accepting Christ as your personal Savior as it is
a personal faith in the only Savior. Do you believe? That's what I'm asking. Bill,
do you believe? The Lord looked right at Philip
and he said, Philip, he that's seen me has seen the Father. That's a fact. That's a truth.
If you see Christ as Redeemer, As prophet, priest, and king,
the fulfillment of God's holiness, God's law, God's righteousness,
God's justice. Everything worked out in Christ
for me. I'm holy in Him, righteous in Him, sanctified in Him, wisdom
in Him, accepted in the beloved. Now, that's so of those whom
God saved. That's an evangelical knowledge.
But, do you believe? Now that's what he said, do you
believe? It's an experiential knowledge. Paul said, now watch
this, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded. I am persuaded. He's able. You may not be, but
I am. And whether you are or not has
no effect on my relationship with Him. I believe it. And you're
the only one that can speak for yourself. I believe that. Alright,
watch the third thing. What is the knowledge of God?
It's an evangelical knowledge of God revealed in the person
of Christ. As the Word declares, as Christ
himself declared, as the minister declares, as the gospel declares,
God was in Christ reconciling the world. To know God is to
know Christ. To receive God is to receive
Christ. He that honors the Son honors
the Father. He that honors not the Son cannot
honor the Father. But it's an experiential knowledge.
I believe it. I believe it. I believe that.
I'm convinced of it. All right? Thirdly, it's a relying
faith. It's a relying faith. Verse 12, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall
he do also. It'll be revealed in your life.
It'll be a trusting Christ. That's right. It's a relying
trust. It's a knowledge, experiential relationship, but
it's a trust. Now listen to Paul again. I know
whom I have believed. I personally am persuaded. He's
able. He's able to fulfill the law.
He's able to fulfill God's holiness. He's able to satisfy God's justice.
He's able to say to the uttermost, them that come to God by Him,
He's able to keep that which I've committed to Him. I've committed it to Him. Now,
some men are committed to possessions and
materialism. They're committed to it. If they,
you know, if they've got time, they'll give God what's left,
you know, of their affections or their interest or their time,
but they're committed. Some men are committed to worldly
honor. They can get real excited over
anything that has to do with the world, organizations and
recognition and acclaim. And the praise of men, they seek
not the honor that comes from God, but the honor that comes
from... They can get real excited over that. Paul says, I've committed
myself to Him. Total commitment. Total surrender. Total commitment of will and
heart. Old Thomas later on made that commitment. He came and
fell on his face. And he said, my Lord and my God.
From that moment on, his family was second, friends were second,
ambitions were second, everything, my Lord and my God. Saul of Tarsus
made that commitment on the road to Damascus. He fell on his face
and he said, Lord, as he lifted sightless eyes, blinded by the
providence of God, and said, Lord, what will you have me do?
I'm committed. I'm committed. And you go through
the scriptures, and you'll find men who made that commitment.
And I'll tell you, it's a whole lot more than walking up to the
priest and shaking his hand and saying, I believe Jesus Christ
died on the cross of Baird and Rose again. The devil knows that.
He was there when it happened. He did everything in his power
to deny it. He did everything in his power
to get Herod and that bunch to cover it up. But this thing is
a commitment. What is it to know Christ? It's
an evangelical knowledge of God revealed in the person of Christ
Jesus in his office work as prophet, priest, and king, doing for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. being persuaded that salvation
is in Christ alone. He is our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Everything's in Christ. That's
to know God. That's to know how God can be
just and justify. That's to know how God can be
holy and yet show mercy. That's to know how that righteousness
and mercy met together, truth and love kissed each other. That's
to understand that here. And then it drops to here. I'm
persuaded. I'm convinced. Beyond a shadow
of a doubt, I'm convinced to know God. I have an experiential
knowledge of God. I know God's revealed that to
my heart. I've seen things other men haven't seen. I've been persuaded
where other men have not even been touched. And having that
experiential knowledge, I bring myself and I say, Lord, here
I am. Do with me what you will. But
from this day forth, Christ is my Lord and my God. I've committed
myself to Him. It's a total commitment. Give
thyself wholly to Christ. Give thyself wholly. Now, when
that comes, and that day dawns, and that time comes, a man, I
believe, can say, I know Him. I know Him. Too great to be second. He's too mighty, too great. He's
got to fill all things. This thing of Christianity is
not a part-time duty. We have other duties. But Christ is the Lord. He's
the King. Our Father, we pray that You take these words spoken
this morning and do whatever it pleases You to do. This is
Thy Word. Eternal life is to know Thee,
the living God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. We believe
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We believe
that thou art the refuge of our souls, thou art the foundation,
the eternal foundation, the tried stone, the sure foundation. He
that believeth shall not be ashamed. To him we've committed our hearts
and our souls and our lives and our families and all things.
Do with me what you will. Only Lord, do with me. We pray
these things in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.