Known by God
Notes
Transcript
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
How easy is it to truly get to know someone? If most of us think back to the time where we were dating, we did our best to spend as much time as we could with our significant other and could talk to them for hours upon hours. We wanted to get to know them, and sooner or later we know that we can’t live without them and … then we get married. But, one thing we quickly find out is, regardless of how much time we spent with them, or how long we talked, or how well we thought we know them, we very quickly learn that there were things that we didn’t know about each other. I guess it goes to show, we are not omniscient.
In these verses, David marvels in the omniscience of God and how He perfectly knows us! Not only does He know us, but he searched us. He sought US, WE didn’t have to search for Him! But this does not necessarily settle well with everyone - to think someone knows every detail about us, every good, every bad, every sinful thing. You know, many of us are good at hiding things from those around us, but nothing is hidden from God. There is a level of fear when we think that God knows everything about us, however it is because of this knowledge of us that He gave His Son to die on a cross for us. It is with the renewed relationship we have through Christ that we can have assurance in how much God cares for us, how much patience and grace He extends to us, the relationship He desires to have with each of us, and how we can be transformed in our relationship with Him.
Assurance in Christ
Assurance in Christ
His knowledge of us is not judgmental but affirming. If God were to judge us for all we have ever done wrong, we could only stand before Him guilty and with no excuse. However, it doesn’t end in our guilt.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This assurance rests on two interconnected foundations. The initial foundation is Jesus’ death and resurrection, the second involves our personal acceptance of Him as our Savior. Thankfully, we do not have to seek assurance from our own abilities or how we perform as Christians; instead Jesus has accomplished everything for us, on our behalf. Since we contribute nothing for our salvation, we cannot forfeit what we did not earn. Just as we didn’t earn salvation on our own, no one else can ever take our salvation away from us.
RC Sproul stated there are four types of people when it comes to salvation; those who are saved and know it (have assurance), those who are saved but don’t know it (aren’t sure), those who are unsaved and know it, and people who are unsaved but do not know it. God desires for all of us to be saved and know it - to have assurance - that God’s grace has been given to us as believers, and we will enter into an eternal state of grace when we pass on.
Our assurance is provided through the free gift offered by God through Jesus Christ of eternal life. But it doesn’t mean we will not make mistakes after salvation, and this is where we need to be comforted by God’s patience and grace.
Patience and Grace
Patience and Grace
Christ’s understanding allows for growth despite our flaws. Scripture reminds us of his patience:
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
David found comfort in God’s patience and His mercy. Often I think we are similar to kids who know better but seem to always get in trouble. We know what is right, but we cannot seem to do what is right all the time. We continually let God down, we fail Him by disobeying His commands, and we deserve to be punished. Instead, God is patient with each of us, allowing us to learn from our own mistakes and grow closer to Him, all while guiding and directing us to be more like Him. It is when we know that we have sinned that we should find our assurance in God’s patience for each of us. This, however does not give us free liberty to sin, but instead should make us want to make God proud of us and through our prayers seek to be delivered from our sinful nature, our sinful thoughts, our sinful actions, and be grateful for His patience, abundant mercy, and faithful love for His creation.
And scripture tells us of God’s grace:
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
Grace is shown by God by salvation through Jesus. Think about this, while we were at our lowest, in sin and without Christ, God looks at us and says THAT is the person I sent my Son to die for. Even when we fall short of the glory of God when we sin, God still loved us enough that He sent His only begotten Son that ANYONE, EVERYONE, WHOSOEVER would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. Not because we deserve it, quite the contrary we have earned death through our sins, but instead because He loved us so much that He wants to restore our relationship with Him.
Relationship
Relationship
Knowing Jesus is about a personal, ongoing relationship, and the way to God is through Jesus Christ Himself.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This is a critical verse, Jesus said that no man could have a relationship with God unless he approached God through Jesus Himself.
Jesus is the Way.
There is a difference between pointing the way to a particular place and taking someone by the hand to lead him there. The person who guides someone to his destination literally becomes the way himself. Jesus Christ not only points out how to walk through life and how to reach God, He personally shows the person the way. Therefore, He Himself is the Way. Note the repetition of the word “way”
Jesus is the Truth.
There is a difference between telling someone about the truth and living the truth before them. The one who lives the truth literally becomes the truth.
Jesus Christ is picture of truth. God not only talks to man about Himself, God shows man what He is like in the person of Jesus Christ. Man can look at Jesus Christ and see a perfect picture of the truth of God.
Jesus sets men free from the great gulf (estrangement) which exists between man and God, between man and his world, and between man and man. He sets man free from the frustrations which he constantly experiences. He frees man from the fears and weaknesses and defects that plague him. Jesus Christ is the only lasting Liberator on earth.
Jesus is the Life.
There is a difference between telling someone about life and actually living life. The one who lives is the one who possesses life, and the more perfect one lives, the more life one possesses. Jesus Christ lived perfectly; therefore, He possesses life perfectly. He is the Life: the very embodiment, energy, force, and source of life itself.
The only way to God is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Notice that our final destination does not end with Jesus, but instead is with God. Even Jesus acknowledged that when He said He was going to “the Father”. He would not remain dead, but would arise and go to the Father and just as Jesus was transformed, we too are transformed IN and BY Christ.
Transformation
Transformation
This knowledge changes how we live, love, and serve.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Our salvation does not come from our works, it does not come from self righteousness. Even the law could not save, but instead pointed to the sinful nature of mankind. It is only by faith that we are saved. This transformation takes place when we recognize we are a sinner, and we fall short of God’s expectation. We must admit we are not perfect, and by no means morally right. We recognize our sinfulness and realize we cannot do anything about it on our own.
The transformation comes when we admit we are a sinner, believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and confess that we need a Savior. We are then crucified with Christ. When we believe that Jesus died for us, that Jesus took the punishment for our sin, God takes our faith and sees us and pure; having died in Christ, identifying with Christ in death, and sees us as pure because of the substitution of our punishment through the death of Christ. God counts our faith as the point we die - die to sin, and live with Christ.
The believer lives for God by allowing Christ to live His life through our body. The believer is “crucified with Christ,” but we still live on earth. However, we are not to be the one in charge of our life. By faith we have died with Christ; therefore, we are to live with Christ. We are to allow Christ to live in and through our body, to control and to be in charge of our life. Think this way, we should be so emersed in Christ that our life is like Christ walking on the earth through us. We should be so close in our relationship with Jesus that we exude Him! How can this be? Because He lives within us as a believer.
The only way we can live for God is by trusting the grace and love of God, that is, by trusting the death of Jesus Christ for His righteousness. This is how we can have full assurance of our salvation, through God’s patience and grace, having a relationship with Him, and being transformed by and into Him.
Closing
Closing
There is nothing worse that to have the assurance of something we do not possess. To think we are “okay” with God, without being saved is arrogance. We may be able to fool others, but we will not fool God. I would much rather have the conversation now, than to have ANYONE hear “I never knew you; depart from me”.
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
If I could ask you all today, how many of you are certain of your salvation? That you know without a shadow of a doubt that if your last breath were taken before this service ends that you would close your eyes in death and open your eyes in heaven. Are you SURE, do you have assurance of your salvation?
Maybe you are one who has made a profession of faith, but are not sure. Maybe you are one who knows they have not made a profession of faith and know it, or maybe today you have learned that you are not saved and didn’t know it. Regardless, today can be the day where you can know that you know, you can be assured of your salvation, receive God’s mercy and grace, and establish your relationship with Him so you too can be transformed and have eternal life with Him in heaven.
