Salvation Defined

In the 4th chapter of John, verse
22, there are four statements in the 22nd
and 23rd verses spoken by our Lord which I believe demand considerable
attention. I think these four statements
sum up what goes through my mind quite often. I want you to look at them. The
first one is this. In John 4.22, our Lord said to
the woman, you worship you know not what. Or as the Amplified
Version states it, you Samaritans do not know what you are worshiping.
You worship what you do not understand. In other words, Christ is saying
to this woman that their whole system of religion, and it was
a complicated, involved, ritualistic, ceremonial system of religion,
much like ours. It had all of the forms and prayers
and orthodoxy and doctrine. And he says that your whole system
of religion is born out of ignorance. Wouldn't it be a terrible, terrible
experience to carry on all of this expensive, extensive, involved,
and to some degree dedicated form of religion that we have
today, and find out at the judgment that it was all born of ignorance?
Now that troubles me. I don't know whether it troubles
you or not. But it troubles me a great deal. Our Lord said in
Matthew 7, Many shall say unto me in that day. And I believe
these people were speaking out of sincere hearts. Lord, we prophesied
in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your
name perform many wonderful works. We had an involved, dedicated,
expensive, form of religion. He said, I never knew you. Now
a man may be an apostle. We find this out from the scripture.
This is very clear. A man may be an apostle, and
really that's about as high as you can get in religion, and
still not know the Lord. No one was more involved than
Judas was. And a man may be a student of
the scriptures and not know the Lord. Nicodemus was a man who
had given his lifetime to a study of the Bible, the scriptures,
the Old Testament scriptures, and yet he did not know the Lord.
A man may be a companion of those who are saved, an accepted companion,
like Demas. You know, Paul wrote to the church
and mentioned Demas a little later. He wrote and said, Demas
hath forsaken thee, having loved the world. A woman can be married
to a man who does know God, like Lot's wife. Or a man may be married
to a woman who does know the Lord, and yet himself or herself
not be redeemed. A person may be a convert. Of an outstanding preacher, Simon
Magus was converted under one of the apostles, but was in the
gall of bitterness, as Peter said. I don't know of anyone
in the Bible who was more totally involved in religion than Saul
of Tarsus. zealous, he said, blameless,
energetic, dedicated, consecrated, devoted, in total, complete ignorance
of God. So what our Lord is saying to
this woman here, this very religious Samaritan woman, he said, you
Samaritans, your whole system of religion, your whole system
of worship, is born of ignorance. You don't know what you worship,
nor do you understand. Now, this doesn't keep a person
from worshiping. They worship, but they know not
what. It doesn't keep a person from
being involved in religion, involved in doctrine, involved in legalism
and morality. They get involved in these things
and they don't find out until later. A man can build a false
refuge. A man can build a house on the
A man can build a false hope, and it can have all of the characteristics
of a good hope. It can have all of the characteristics
of a good refuge. Now, the second statement that
he makes to this woman, he says, your whole system of religion
and worship is born of ignorance. You don't know what you worship.
Then he says, we know what we worship. The Amplified Version says we
know what we are worshiping, we have knowledge and understanding. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. Now
this is what John says about this knowledge of the Lord, of
true worship. In 1 John chapter 5, reading
verse 20, yesterday I preached up in look out West Virginia. I drove up there early yesterday
morning, spent the day, and had about 12 or 13 preachers there,
and I preached last night. Yesterday afternoon we just had
a talk session. Nearly all the preachers gathered
in the pastor's home and just talked for two or three hours.
And one of the men asked me, he said, what do you preach to? I said, what do you mean? about the individual, what is
it when you're preaching, what do you preach to in the individual,
in the person? I said, I have to think a minute,
I've never had that asked. I thought a little while, finally
I came up with this. I said, I preach to the mind
and to the heart, I believe. I preach to the mind and I preach
to the heart. Because true worship and the
true knowledge of the Lord is not a matter of emotion only.
It's not a matter of will only. It is not just to have a God.
It's not just to have a religious experience or religious inclination. Most men have that. But it's
to know what we worship and whom we worship. It's to understand.
It's to love Him, but it's to know Him. It's to embrace Him,
but it's to understand Him. Now let me show you this 1 John
5. And you know, Peter said, be ready to give a reason for
your hope to anyone who asks you. Now that would take the
mind, wouldn't it? The hope is laid in the heart,
in the affection. That's where the hope is, in
the conscience. But the understanding of it must be in the mind. And
in 1 John 5, Verse 19, the Scripture says, We know that we are of
God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding. Not
only hath God granted repentance to us, but He's granted understanding
of repentance. Not only hath He granted faith,
but He's granted understanding of faith. Not only hath He granted
the gift of His Son, but He has granted the understanding of
that gift. We don't worship with blind faith. Faith has eyes. He that seeth the Son and believeth
on him. We don't worship with a blind
faith. We worship with a faith that
sees. I know whom I have believed,
Paul said. I know whom I have believed.
I understand. He hath come and given us an
understanding that we may know him that is true. And that we're
in him, that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. Now turn
back to the book of Job. Now this, I want you to turn
to the book of Job with me, chapter 25. Now this is something that
troubled Job, and it'll trouble any man who understands, who
has an awareness of who God is and what we are. Most people
don't have an understanding of who God is. his attributes, his
holiness, his majesty, his power, his sovereignty, his righteousness,
his justice, his mercy, his love, who God is. And most people don't
have the faintest conception of the sinfulness of human nature. If we had any idea of how high
God is and how low we are, How holy God is and how unholy men
are by nature, we'd be asking this question, Job 25, verse
4, how then can man be justified with God? How can he be clean
that's born of a woman? How? Behold, even to the moon,
and its shine, if not ye, the stars are not pure in God's sight,
how much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a
worm. Old Brother Shelton used to say
that word worm there is wiggling maggot. Wiggling maggot. Our Lord said we know what we
worship. We know the foundation of our
hope. We know the foundation of our
faith. We know the object of our faith. We know whereupon our refuge
is built. We know, we understand. God has
given us an understanding. We know we're not redeemed with
corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation
received by tradition from our Father. We know that. We know
that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We know that.
Here's an interesting scripture, John 16. John 16, verse 27. This is very interesting. Look
at it carefully. The disciples are speaking here.
John 16, 27. Our Lord said to the disciples,
The Father loveth himself loveth you, because you have loved me
and have believed that I came from God. I came forth from the
Father and am coming to the world. Again I leave the world and go
to the Father. And his disciple said, Lo, now
speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that
thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should
ask thee By this we believe that thou camest forth from God."
And Jesus answered and said, Do you now believe? Do you now
believe? Do you understand? Do you really
comprehend? Is this worship of ours, is this
religion of ours, is this piety of ours, is this profession of
ours, is it only a quest for heaven, is it only a thing built
on a desire to have a reputation or admirable character or life
everlasting? Or is it based on a real knowledge
and understanding of who God is and what we are and how God
can be just and justify sinners? how God can be honorable to his
law and honorable to his righteousness and yet give expression to his
love. Do we really understand? Christ said, we know what we
worship. Your whole system of religion,
handed down from your fathers and continued down to this day,
is born out of ignorance. But we know what we worship.
He said eternal life is to know the Father. and Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. Not to know about him, to know
him with an understanding, with a discernment of his attributes
and of his glory and of his redemptive purpose, knowing him. Now, the
third statement that he makes is this. He says, For salvation
is of the Jews. For salvation. Now, here's what
the Amplified version says. Now watch this, he says to the
woman, the Samaritan woman, your whole system of religion and
worship is born of ignorance. We know what we worship. After all, salvation comes from
among the Jews. Now I want you to listen to what
I'm about to say. And in the meantime, turn to the book of
1 Corinthians, and I want you to listen carefully And I wrote
this down, planned to say it, looked at it carefully, and came
back over it again, and I believe God's leading in the presentation
of this thought. Nobody is going to fully understand
redemption, nobody, until he becomes a student of the Holy
Scriptures. And I mean by the Holy Scriptures,
the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, I don't mean by that, I'm
not talking about learning all the names of the kings, that's
a waste of time. I'm not talking about learning
all about the history of Israel's risings and fallings and captivities
and deliverances and those things, but I'm talking about learning,
taught by the Holy Spirit, the basic spiritual types and truths
and pictures of the Old Testament. Now, you listen to 1 Corinthians
15. Listen carefully to it. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, and which also you
have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are
saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I received. This is that gospel which I preached
and which you received and wherein you stand and by which you say,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. According to the scriptures.
And read on, and that he was buried and he rose again according
to the scriptures. Now let me make the statement
again. Nobody is going to understand the death of Christ. which was
according to the scriptures, unless Joe, he knows something
about the scriptures, he's not going to understand. He's not
going to understand the substitutionary work of Christ and the resurrection
of Christ and the intercession of Christ, which is all according
to the scriptures, if he doesn't know anything about the scriptures. Our whole problem in this day
is the gross ignorance of people in religious circles of the Scriptures. That's the whole problem. Why
don't people have assurance? Why don't people have confidence?
Why don't people have involvement? Why don't people have faithfulness?
They don't know the Scriptures. You know neither the Scriptures
nor the power of God, Christ said. That's what was wrong with
the Pharisees. Or they had a head knowledge of doctrines and orthodoxy. They were Jews. They were involved
Jews, like some of us are Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterians
or something else involved in these things. They were emotionalists. They were involved in the religion,
the traditions of their fathers. But Christ said, you're ignorant
of scriptures and the power of God. You're ever learning and
never coming to a knowledge of the truth. You take the tabernacle. There
are so many chapters in the Old Testament given to the erection
of that tabernacle and to the services of that tabernacle.
The tabernacle was on a lot about the size of this side, that one
side of the church lot. The building was 45 feet long,
not even as long as this auditorium. This auditorium is 50 feet wide,
and that building was only 45 feet long. And it was 15 feet
high, exactly the height of this ceiling to the floor up there.
You'll see that 15 feet high, 45 feet long, 15 feet wide. Now it was surrounded by a fence.
And that fence was a high white linen fence. There wasn't an
opening anywhere in it. But at the eastern end, that
white linen fence was a picture of God's righteousness. God dwelt
inside the Holy of Holies. This was the tabernacle of God. It was the dwelling place of
God. His presence was in there. The sinner was out here, kept
out by that holy, righteous wall. The only gate was that eastern
gate, pointing toward the rising sun. And outside that gate, or
by that gate, was an altar of sacrifice. And when anybody came
into that holy place, the courtyard, the first thing they had to do
was come to that altar of sacrifice and shed the blood of a lamb
and burn its carcass. There was no way into the presence
of God except first stopping at the altar of sacrifice. There
was no way to God except by death and by blood. That was a set
thing. That's what the scripture says.
When Christ came, he was our sacrifice. He was our lamb. He
was our offering. He shed his blood. This is my
body which is broken for you and my blood which is shed for
you. And then you go on by that altar of sacrifice, next you
have the labor of clean, pure water where the priest stopped
and washed his hands and washed his feet. That's sanctification. Justification, sanctification,
before you enter the holy place. There's the candlestick, Christ
the light. There's the table of showbread,
Christ the bread. Right there, just this side of
that holy veil which separated the presence of God, was an altar
of incense. And all the time, that incense
burned on that altar, and that sweet fragrance of incense ascended
up to heaven. That's the prayers of Christ.
That's the intercession of Christ, which always goes up to God for
sinners. And then the high priest would
crawl under the veil which separated God's presence in the Holy of
Holies in that small room, 15 by 15 by 15. And there inside
that room was the Ark of the Covenant overlaid with gold and
the mercy seat and the cherubim. And in that Ark was Moses, was
God's law given to Moses, which was broken by the people. And
that law was in that art of the covenant, and this priest would
come in once a year on the day of atonement, and he would bring
the basin of blood, the blood from that lamb slain out young,
and he would put that blood on the mercy seat which covered
the broken law, and God Almighty would receive it. Now that blood
of that animal could not put away sin. Scripture says over
here, clearly it says that it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could take away sin. Well what did all this
mean? It all pointed to Christ who
is the Lamb, the substitute, the sacrifice, the sin offering,
the one whose blood was shed. To Christ who ripped that veil
in two when he died and opened the way into the presence of
God, whose blood was put not in the holy place made with hand,
but in heaven itself on the mercy seat of glory before the eyes
of a holy God to cover all of the broken law. By one sacrifice
he had perfected forever them that are sanctified. People press
down the aisle and shake the preacher's hand and say, I believe
in Jesus, I believe in Jesus, praise God, I'm going to heaven.
No, you're not. You believe in a Jesus, you believe
in another Jesus, you believe in that little silly, sentimental,
emotional, frustrated, defeated Jesus who's crying his eyes out
because people won't let him have his way that the preacher
presented to you. People put their faith in the
Christ that's preached to them. And this Christ of sacrifice,
and this Christ of substitution, and this Christ of eternal glory,
and this Christ of an effectual work, and this Christ of a living
atonement, and this Christ of eternal intercession is not being
preached. That's what I'm saying. Salvation is of the Jews. You've
got to get back and study Jewish history if you want to understand
salvation. You've got to look at the Passover. What's that
all about? Well, I don't know, preacher. It doesn't matter.
It does matter. I don't see any sense in going
into things like that. Let's just sing. Everybody sing.
Happy all the time. Happy all the time. Let's not
bother about preaching. Let's sing. Let's have a good
time in the Lord. Let's not get into that deep
stuff. You better get into that deep stuff. That's what Christ said to this
woman, said, your whole system of religion, your whole system
of worship is based on pure ignorance. Let's forget doctrine and get
together around Jesus. That's an impossibility. You
can no more worship Christ without loving his commandments, without
loving his law, without loving his truth, without loving his
teachings. You can't separate him from his
teachings. What is this Passover? The scripture says Christ is
our Passover. What happened down there in Egypt
when God's wrath fell upon that nation and God's judgment came
that night at midnight and slew the firstborn in every house
and God Almighty passed by and here was a house and he slew
the firstborn and he came next door and there was blood on the
lintel and blood on the two side poles. What did that mean? And a man
who doesn't know what that means has missed the gospel. Because
Christ is our blood on the doorpost right now. And the only thing
that keeps the wrath of God off you is that blood on that doorpost.
When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That blood was Christ, that Passover
was Christ, that lamb that was slain and its carcass eaten and
the blood put on the door, that's Christ who died at Calvary and
whose blood was placed over our very forehead so that God sees
not us, but the blood. What is that smitten rock? The
Bible says that rock was Christ. What is that uplifted brazen
serpent? What does that mean? That's the
silliest thing anybody ever concocted if you don't see it in the light
of the cross. Here the Hebrew children, the Israelites had
murmured against God and fiery serpents were all over the camp.
Every time they lifted up a rock there was a fiery serpent that
bit somebody. Every time they walked through
some weeds there were fiery serpents to reach out and bite them. The
fiery serpents were killing the people. They were falling like
flies. Moses cried, God do something. And the Lord said, Moses, make
a serpent of brass, just like that fiery serpent, and lift
it up on a pole. He said, I'm not interested in
things like that. You better be, it's your eternal soul's
welfare. For Christ said, as Moses lifted
up that serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life. That brazen serpent in the wilderness was made in the
likeness of the fiery serpent, just like Christ the perfect
Son of God came down here and was made in the likeness of sin.
It's sin that's bitten us, it's sin that's condemning us, it's
sin that's destroying us, it's sin that brought death to us,
and Christ was made in the likeness of the one that caused it, of
the thing that caused it. And he was lifted up between
heaven and earth on a pole to be crucified. that whosoever
believeth on him." The book of Hebrews goes into detail, bringing
back all of these pictures and types and promises and tabernacle
and priesthood and points to Christ. I hear this all the time, oh
what a good time we had in the Lord, didn't have time to preach,
just had a good singing and testifying. You might as well stayed home.
That's right, that's cruel, but that's right. Sometimes the cruelest
thing we can do is tell people the truth. They think it's cruel,
but it's the best thing we can do for them. Because a man cannot
call on him whom he does not know. And a man cannot trust
in one whom he doesn't understand. And he cannot build upon a foundation
of which he's not aware. He cannot receive an unrevealed
Christ. And if he trusts that Jesus is
being preached to him, and he trusts that Jesus is being put
out over the airways and the television and the pulpit today,
he'll perish because that's another Jesus. That's not the Christ
of the scriptures. Of the scriptures. It's not a
big book, but it's an important book. The scriptures over here, Not a whole lot of reading, but
oh, what vital reading it is. Look at Luke 24. Our Lord thought
it was this important. In Luke 24, listen to it, verse
44. Luke 24, verse 32, first of all,
the disciples were talking about the Lord. He appeared to them
after he was resurrected. And he said in verse 32, they
said one to another, Luke 24, 32, Did not our hearts burn within
us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to
us the scriptures? And what did he show them? Look
at verse 44. And he said to them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the book of Moses, in the law of Moses,
in the prophets, in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he
their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. and said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to die, and to rise from
the dead this third day, that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all the nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." And preachers are destroying their congregations
by getting up on Sunday morning and finding a verse and reading
it and standing up and talking about everything from Washington
to California, from one end of the world to the other, except
the word of God. All right, now back at John 4,
let's see this fourth statement. Our Lord said your whole system
of religion is based on ignorance. We know what we worship. We know how God can be just and
justify the ungodly, for salvations of the Jews. And he showed it
to us starting back yonder in Genesis 3.15 when he said the
seed of woman. Seed of woman. Woman never had
a seed. Man's seed. But God said seed
of woman. He's talking about the virgin
born Son of God. That's what Mary said when the
angel came to her. How can I have a son? I don't
know a man. You can't have a son without
a man. And the angel said, the power
of God shall come upon you, and that which shall be conceived
in you shall be the Son of God, the seed of woman. It starts
there, Genesis 3, verse 15, and it comes right on through the
scripture. Everything Christ is, everything Christ said, everything
Christ did is fulfillment of these promises and purposes.
And we better take our Jesus and examine him by the scriptures.
This Jesus we worship, this Jesus we believe in, this doctrine
of salvation that we profess? The Church of Christ better take
their baptism and see if they can find it in the Old Testament.
The Catholics had better take their wafer and wine and see
if they can find it in the The Baptists better take their hour-walking
handshake and see if they can find it in the Old Testament
and measure it by the Scripture. And the Methodists better take
their legalism and morality and see if they can find that in
the Old Testament. You can find Christ there. To him give all the prophets
witness. All right, the next verse, verse
23, he said, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers,
oh, that's what I want to be, A true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. True worship is more than Sunday
piety. True worship is more than a doctrinal
position. True worship is more than a strong
moral conviction. True worship is more than a church
fellowship. True worship is more than a ceremonial
participation. True worship. True worship. I picked up three
or four things from the book of John, and I'll give you just
briefly. John 1.11 says, in defining salvation, this true worship,
says first of all it's to receive Christ. as he's revealed in the
scriptures, many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God. Not just accept him. It's not
just to trust his finished work. It's to receive him. And that
word receive means this. Now watch it. It means to take
and hold. It means to permit to enter,
to receive him is to permit to enter, to contain, to get hold
of. Our Lord has a threefold office,
prophet, priest, and king. He enters, he is permitted to
enter, he is held as prophet to reveal all that I need to
know of God, as priest to offer up all the sacrifice I need,
as king to absolutely reign over me and control my being. In John 3, 3 through 7, John
says, our Lord speaking, that this thing of salvation, true
worship, is to be born again. Now, we know what it is to be
born of the flesh. We have a human father. We get a human nature,
which is a fallen nature. We have human needs and a human
family. Well, to be born again. A person
is not born again by something he does. A person is born again,
regenerated, recreated, given life by something God does. The
new birth is as supernatural as the fleshly birth. We have a Heavenly Father. We
are born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of
the will of man, but born of God. We receive a spiritual nature. that loves God and hates sin.
We receive spiritual needs, spiritual hunger, spiritual thirst, spiritual
passions. We are part of a spiritual family. This Church is a family. It's
an eternal family. Actually, it is more important
than our fleshly families because they shall pass away, but this
spiritual family lives forever. And then look at John 4, 14.
Something else he said to this woman. He says this thing of
true worship, salvation, is life within. Life within. It's to receive, to get hold
of, to permit to enter Christ. It's to be born from above. It's
to be born of God. It's to be supernaturally conceived. It's to have life within. Now,
the false religionist gets his strength from without. He must
have something that he can see. That's the reason he demands
soft lights and colored windows and burning candles and robes
and uniforms and soft music. He demands something he can see,
something he can hear. Why do you think people reach
out and touch the garments of priests and rub crosses and wear
crucifixes? Why do you think they wear these
things? Why do you think they have pictures of Jesus on the
wall? Why? Because they need some kind
of strength from without. Let me tell you something. I'm
telling you the truth. Do with it what you want to. But every
picture of Jesus Christ on the face of this earth is a graven
image. It's an idol. Every statue of Christ, every
picture of Christ, God is displeased with every, if you've got one
in your home, God's displeased with it. He says plainly in his
word, do not make unto thee any graven images, do not make any
pictures of anything in heaven or earth. That's what it says
in the Bible. There was a church down in Alabama,
my home church, after we left there. I was probably too ignorant
to say anything about it when I was there. I would now. But
after we left there, they had a great big picture of Christ
up here in the baptistry, and after the evening service was
over, the lights would dim, the spotlight would shine on this
person they called Jesus, and the organist would play softly,
and everybody would have a minute of silent prayer to that picture.
The Catholics never saw the day that they worshiped idols any
more than that right there. Because the false religionist
has got to have something he can see, something he can hear,
something he can feel, something he can touch, something that
appeals to his flesh. God is a spirit, God is not a
picture, God is not a stature, he's a spirit. And they that
worship him, worship him in spirit and truth. And that person has,
he gets his strength from within. It's a well of living water springing
up within. The false religionist gets his
comfort from without. That picture comforts him. Let
me ask you this. You take me and point to a picture
in your home of, you say it's Jesus. I say, who is that? You
say it's Jesus. I say, Christ never had a picture
made. Never one time did he ever, there is not anywhere on this
earth a description of the Lord Jesus Christ, nowhere by nobody. You may as well, you may as well
get a picture of George Washington and put it up there and say,
that's Jesus, it'll look just as much like him as your picture. It's a false, it's a false picture,
it's a graven image, it's an idol, it's something that appeals
to the flesh. And those who worship God have
life within, it springs from within, it comes from within.
And let the whole, let everything else fail and fall down around
you, but you have that life within. You're like this scripture over
here, Psalm 1, He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His
leaves shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
It's ungodly enough so. the ungodly enough so. And I'm not telling you something
I never experienced. And then John 15. Let's look
over here a minute. The Scripture says here this
thing of salvation and true worship is a living relationship with
Christ. The disciples were walking along with the Master, and he
told them he was going to die and leave them. They were troubled,
and he said, ìLet not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me.î And then he said here in chapter 15, ìI
am the true vine, my Father is the husbandman. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch
that beareth fruit he will purge it, that it may bring forth more
fruit.î Now verse 4, ìAbide in me, and I in you.î ìI am your
life,î he said, ìI am your strength, I am your food, I am your hope.î
I'm as vital to you as the vine is to the branch. What is the
branch without the vine? It's a withered, twisted food
for fire. That's all it is. Without me
you can do nothing. In me you can bring forth much
fruit. We do not only look to Christ to do a work for us, to
get us into heaven, to put away our sins, do we? Is that all
he means? Is he just a fire escape from
hell? Is he just an insurance policy to put in a safe and hold
on until we get ready to die? Christ is not just, we don't
want to look to him to do a work for us, he does a work in us.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. He said, God was pleased to reveal
his Son in me. He said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In
John 17, 23, he prayed, I in them and thou in me, that they
may be one as we are one. And then John 17, 3, and I'll
quit. And he said, and this is life
eternal, this is true worship, this is salvation, that they
might know thee. to know God, to know God. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. What is this knowledge of God?
Will you listen for a moment? Be patient. Because this is so
vital. We made 8 o'clock, September
the 21st, God was pleased to open our blind
eyes and reveal to us who Christ is, what salvation really is,
what life is, who he is, how he can be just and justify the
ungodliness. There was a day when Spurgeon
saw that. There was a day when George Whitefield saw that. There
was a day when it became real to these disciples. We know now,
they said, we're sure now. He opened their understanding
that day, and they understood, and they understood. And it ceased
to be a theory, it ceased to be just a profession, it ceased
to be just a religion, and became a person. This knowledge of Christ,
It's not just the knowledge of God that comes by the light of
nature, all men have that. Or the works of creation, all
men see that. A man can recognize God in the
sense of creator and not know him as Lord and Savior. This
knowledge of God is not just to know God in the law, in which
he's revealed as holy and righteous, but here's what this knowledge
is. Now listen to this. This knowledge of God is an evangelical
knowledge. It's to know him as the Father
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to know him as the God of
mercy and grace, pardoning sin through the blood of Christ.
It's to know him as just and justifier. It's to know him as
the one who forgives sin through the sacrifice and intercession
of his Son. It's an evangelical knowledge.
Secondly, the knowledge of God here is one of experience. whereby
a person willingly and intelligently and lovingly believes in him,
receives him, and commits oneself to him. It's an experience. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I have committed to him. I commit it to him. And this knowledge of God here
is not only evangelical and one of experience, but it's an enlightened
knowledge. One knows God according to his
revealed attributes, according to his holiness and his mercy
and his grace and his justice and his sacrifice. I want to show you a scripture
in Genesis 22, and I asked Brother Richardson, Genesis 22a, who's
going to speak for you Sunday night. I'll be gone Sunday night,
but I'll be here Sunday morning. He's going to preach Sunday night,
and I asked him to bring a message. which he brought yesterday at
this Bible conference, which he brought out this point in
Genesis 22, verse 8. Now listen carefully to this,
and I promise this is the last point, but Abraham and Isaac
were on top of Mount Moriah. They had gone there on the

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