Knowing Him to Know Yourself

The strength of our relationship with God is found in our hearts and minds.

How we act is not merely connected to what we believe -

· How we act is connected to WHO we believe.

What we believe can determine what we do, but WHO we believe will determine who we can become.

When we know who we are, we act as we should act.

Knowing Jesus empowers us to be holy.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

(ESV) preparing your minds for action

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The Scripture is not our teacher.

· Holy Spirit is our teacher, and the Scripture is a witness to the voice of Holy Spirit.

The letter of the law will kill, but the Spirit gives us life.

We can only know the Spirit that gives life through an intimate relationship with God in our hearts.

The Pharisees of the first century knew the Scriptures in their minds, but they didn’t know God in their hearts.

· Jesus confronted their religious stronghold of valuing their understanding of the Scriptures above a personal relationship with Him – the word made flesh.

· John 5:38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

Much of Christianity presents a faith that is based upon a rule of law.

· Christ in humanity empowers a rule of faith.

We need a personal relationship with Christ in all things.

· We are a temple of Holy Spirit as the body of Christ.

The Old Covenant was one of information and works, but the New Covenant was one of grace and transformed hearts and minds as members of the living body of Christ.

The firstfruit church overcame the limitations of the Old Covenant by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and loving not their own lives even unto death.

· In Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being

The Pharisaic system of the first century thought they understood God’s written word, but they didn’t understand God’s heart.

The Old Covenant way of law and conscience left mankind bound to aimless conduct in life.

Not knowing who they were, left them unable to find their true focus in life.

· Jesus ended our aimless conduct by empowering us to be born again into a living hope.

The shed blood of Christ ended our old lives of flesh and invited us all to live our lives empowered by God’s Spirit within our hearts.

1 Peter 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word (logos) of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,

25 But the word (rhema)of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word (rhema) which by the gospel was preached to you.

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word (logos) of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, 25 But the word (rhema) of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word (rhema) which by the gospel was preached to you.

Verses 22 & 23 Having purified your souls in the obedience of the truth through the Spirit to unhypocritical brotherly love, love one another earnestly out of a pure heart, being begotten again, not out of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through a word of God—living and remaining—continually.

The One who lives and remains continually in our lives is Jesus.

· It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory.

As we grow in knowing Christ in our hearts, we grow in becoming like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority, in our world.

1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word (logikos), that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Our tasting is not a tasting of God’s written word. It is a tasting of Jesus in our lives.

· It is having a personal experience with Jesus as Lord of our hearts and minds.

Greek word logikos. It is to be logical, rational. reasonable. sensible (acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason).

A relationship with Christ in us will empower us to be life-givers to others in our world.

· This is the pure milk that we desire. It is a milk of babes.

· It is a milk of innocence.

· It is a diet of being innocent to evil and wise to good for the sake of giving life to others in our world.

· It is the place of becoming like children who see Jesus as the center of everything in life.

We come to Jesus so we can become expressions of Christ in life.

1 Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."

The objective of being a believer is to be a part of a spiritual house. We are a habitation of Christ.

To us who believe He is precious.

· He is like the air we breath. He is like the food we eat. He is like the water we drink. We cannot live without Him. He makes us come alive in every way.

1 Peter 2:7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

· Present your body a living sacrifice

· Be a giver and not a taker

· Be transformed in your thinking

· Walk in the will of God