Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Knowledge of God Pt.1

God is doing some great things in our lives and preparing us for His coming. I just want to share, as we've been talking about the rest of God, and to really deal with the key subject of all of the Scriptures. This is eternal life, that you might know Him. We want to talk about the knowledge of God, just knowing God. Not knowing about Him, not another study on His attributes, but a biblical look at how to commune and fellowship with your Father. What it means to truly encounter His presence and be changed by His presence. To encounter His presence and to be saturated with the peace and the power that comes from the knowledge of God. We want to talk about the benefits of knowing Him, and the price of knowing Him. What a privilege to know Him, amen?

We're going to look at Philippians. I'm awed; I'm humbled every time I read that passage of Scripture where the great apostle said, "I just want to know Him." I think, "Dear Lord, if Paul cries that out, how far am I from knowing Him?" Many of us in this room don't have that passion. We don't have that cry. We seem to be content. "Well, I know God. I know what God's Word says. I know what God wants. I know how God is ordering my steps. I know the will of God. I know the methods of God. I know the message of God." If Paul says, "I want to know Him," then I say, "I want to know Him." Amen. I don't know Him enough yet. I'm not even close to coming to the understanding of who He is and what my purpose is in serving Him in His kingdom and what He can do to change my life. What I can do to touch other people's lives. I just want to know Him, praise God, so that I can love Him more, and so that I can serve Him more, as we sang, so that He can be glorified.

In this pastoral epistle of 2 Timothy, the first chapter, one of the apostle's last letters as he's preparing to go home and truly encounter the presence of the Lord, he admonishes us in the second chapter, in the second verse of this epistle, to commit these teachings and this doctrine to faithful men who are able to teach others also. In the midst of this, as he's preparing his journey into the finishing of this course, knowing that there's laid up for him a crown of righteousness, he says, "It's been a course of opposition of the enemy, of the instruments and the institutions of the kingdom of darkness that have opposed the sharing and the spreading of this gospel." He says, "I've been through a lot of trials and opposition in my life--the shipwrecks, the beatings, the satanic onslaught." He says, "[All of this has come my way, verse 11 of the first chapter of 2 Timothy] Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: [and this passage we know, don't we?] for I know whom I have believed...." Do you know Him? Not know about Him. For I know. Not what I believed. "For I know, [say it] whom I have believed..."

A lot of people know what they believe. They have their doctrine down. A lot of people are very aware of what they believe--the letter. What about the spirit of knowing whom you believe? Have you embraced the heart of the Master? Is the mind of Christ really alive and effectually working in you? Do you think like He thinks? Do you respond to people and circumstances the way He responds? Do you know whom you've believed? Do you know the humility that we talked about, of taking His yoke upon your own life? Do you know whom you have believed, this one that's humbled himself and become a servant? "...for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Which day, Paul? The day of the opposition of the enemy. The daily trials. The daily cross that I take up as I'm warring against my own flesh. The day of my departure, whether I naturally draw my last breath or I'm cast to the lions, beheaded, tortured. He is able to keep that. I know Him and I know He will "...keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Do you know Him tonight? Are you fully persuaded that what He's promised, He'll perform? Are you fully persuaded that He'll keep that and bring the perfect peace? That He's there in the time of trouble? That He'll never leave us nor forsake us? "I know whom I have believed." I know Him. Do you? I want you to understand. As we go on in this study, we will see that the only way to know that we know Him is by how we come out of the trials and the persecutions and the temptations that we face. Job thought he knew Him, didn't he? Job would have told you, "I know God." Everybody around him said, "This is a man that knows God. He speaks the wisdom of God. God has raised him up. He's honored in the gates of the city. God has prospered him." Job would argue doctrine with you, and I'll tell you what, he won every argument with those that were opposing him. He never won the heart of God until he humbled himself and realized he was trying to justify himself instead of justifying his God. Finally, when he was broken; finally, when the trials had effected themselves; finally, when he took his hand and put it over his mouth, he said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:5). Praise God. "I know [now] whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." How did Job come to know Him? Through the endurance of that trial. Through death to self. Through the purging away of all self-confidence. (Write this in your notes.) The original sin is to have the knowledge of God, or to know what God knows, instead of knowing God. "...your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall become as gods..." The original sin, to know what God knows, but not to know God. If you meditate on that, you're going to see the conflict and you're going to see the problem that we face on a daily basis.

The apostle says, "[I'm persuaded.] I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded...." This was one of Janet's favorite Scriptures; it was one of the last verses that I ever heard her quote. "...that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." I heard a preacher just recently tell a story of another old saint of God. This was her life's verse. As she was entering the presence of God, she would quote this Scripture. Constantly, it was upon her lips. "...for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Then as death came, and consciousness began to go, her mind began to break down and the verse would begin to be partially spoken. "I've believed. I'm persuaded. I've committed unto Him." As she was dying, and with her last breath, as the family leaned over to hear her quote this verse for the last time, all that came out was, "Him." "He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." It's all about Him. It's all about knowing Him. It's all about the relationship. It's all about the confidence of the love that He has for us, the awareness of His presence that He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Oh, beloved, do you want to pray? (Jeff's been teaching on prayer.) Kids, do you want to pray? Let me just tell you something. Just kneel down and lift your eyes up and just say, "Him." Him. It's all about Him. I just want to know Him. "I want to know Him," the apostle said. I want to know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to be made conformable to His death. Him. I just want to know Him. I don't want to know about Him. I want to know Him. I don't want to know what the world knows. I don't want to try to impress with my knowledge, my understanding of the Scriptures. I just want to imitate the life of Jesus. I want to be as humble as He was. I want to be as obedient as He was. It's about Him. That I might know Him.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks and we see this admonition to the knowledge of God. Turn over to Jeremiah, chapter 9, verse 24, "But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me...." If you want to glory, glory in this, that you understand God and that you know God. Over the years, one of the things that's been able to keep me in trials and keep me in persecution and keep me in opposition, when people would come and try to confuse you and oppose you and say all manner of evil against you, to where you'd even begin to doubt yourself. You back off for just a moment and you look at it and you say, "No, you're not getting me, devil, because I know Him. I know that this is the Word of God. I know that this is the method of God. I know that this is the heart of God." We're talking about walking in that rest. "But let him that glorieth [Jeremiah says] glory in this, that [you understand God's ways]." Do you understand the heart of God, like the apostle John? Do you take the time not to be busy with the works, not the Martha spirit, but the Mary spirit, to where we sit at His feet and learn from Him? Like John the Beloved, to where you're not ashamed. The others are going to talk about you. "You know John. He's always kissing up." "You can say whatever you want. I'm leaning over on the bosom of Jesus and listening to His heartbeat. I know the heart of God. I know the compassion of God. I know the holiness of God. I know the awesomeness of God, and that's my boast."

My degree is not from one of the great universities, but I glory in this: I understand God and I know Him. My name is not a household word but I glory in this: I understand God and I know Him. As the utterance came forth tonight, my name doesn't have to be in the newspapers and in every household, but I want to tell you one thing, my name's known in the heavens. My name is known by angels and demons, and I glory in this: that I understand God and I know Him. The prophet goes on and he makes this statement, ("What do you know? What do you know about Him? What is this that you understand, Jeremiah?") "I'll tell you what I know. I know that judgment is coming on this people. I know that we're going into captivity. I know that all of the prophets around us have prophesied lies and spoken the smooth things that you want to hear and it wasn't of God. I know that every one of their words are going to fall to the ground. I know that God is faithful. I know that there's a faithful remnant, and I'll tell you what I know, bless God, and here's what I glory in: '...that I am the Lord [that He, the God I know, is the Lord--get it in your notes] that exercises lovingkindness.'" Do you know that about God? Thank God for His lovingkindness. Amen? "[It] ...is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name" (Psalm 63:3-4). That's what I know. I know that His lovingkindness is free, it's exercised among men. His lovingkindness, that when I was His enemy, He loved me and sought me out. That's what I know. Do you want to know what I know? I know the judgment of the Lord, the justice of God. The God that I serve is just, praise God. Therefore, when I go to the sanctuary, and I used to be perplexed why the heathen prosper, it doesn't bother me anymore because I know that there's a day of reckoning, there's a day of justice. God's justice goes beyond this temporal, it goes beyond my understanding. It goes beyond what's perceivable, and God will perform His truth and His justice. That's what I know about God, and because of that I can relax and rest and I don't have to try to make things right. God is going to make it right.

"What do I know?" the prophet said. "I know His righteousness. I know the holiness of the Lord. I know His purity. I know His doctrine. I know the way that God does things." "For in these things I delight, saith the Lord." "This is how I want to be known. This is what I want you to know about me," God says, "My lovingkindness, My justice and My righteousness. 'But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me....'" What kind of an appetite have you had to know God? As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after You. Do you love the knowledge of God and the wisdom of God more than your necessary food? Do you seek it as men seek silver and gold? How valuable is this to you, this knowledge of God? It's not something that comes cheap. It's going to cost you something to come into God's presence. Listen to what the prophet says to us over in Hosea, chapter six, verse three. It says, "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord...." What does that mean? You're not going to get it all in one bite. I want to tell you something for sure tonight: you don't know God. He's too big for you to already know Him. Amen? You've been introduced, but you don't know Him. There are people that we think we're close to, that we don't know yet. Some of you think you know me. You don't know me. I'm bigger than that. "Then shall [you] know if [you] follow on to know...." It's a life process, a following, a pursuing, a panting after the presence of God. Let me ask you something. Are you always wondering, "Where is God?" I want to know what God is doing. I want to know what He's saying at this moment. I want to follow on to know Him. What's being spoken by the Spirit of God to our generation? Let him that has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Do you have that appetite? Do you have that hunger?

As I was in prayer this afternoon, prior to the service, I was just fellowshipping with Father and communing with the Lord over what He's been doing in my life in these last seven months. As I've been following on to know the Lord, I've come to know Him more in these last seven months than I've known Him in the previous 35 years. I've come to know more about God in the last seven months than I knew about Him in 35 years. When all of the trials and the pressures of everything in this temporal system begin to come down and they begin to press on you and all of the value systems begin to be brought to the forefront, the decisions that you make will let you know where your treasure is, where your trust is, whether you really know His lovingkindness, His justice, and His righteousness. To where you can stand like Job and say, "I heard about you but now I've seen you, praise God. Your grace is sufficient. Your mercies are boundless. Your knowledge, Your truth, makes me free, praise God."

You have to follow on to know. You're going to come to different times of your life where you're going to have to make decisions whether you're going to follow on or not. Am I going to continue in this thing? When you meet those set times in your life, the forks in the road, and you make the right choices, you're following on to know Him and He begins to make Himself more real to you. He begins to open His heart to you in a new way. When you've tasted His goodness, you cry out like the apostle, "I want to know Him more, praise God." He preserved you in all of those trials. He brought you out of the shipwrecks. He saved you from the beatings and He gave you grace, praise God, and delivered your soul. He delivered you from the oppressor who beat you black and blue and God's grace sustained you. His grace was sufficient. Paul says, "Yes, He brought me through all those trials and upon every deliverance, I knew Him better. The one thing that I know for sure, I want to know Him more." There's more to know. When you've tasted His goodness, it only whets your appetite. He will never, never leave you without an appetite for Himself.

It's very important that we understand what it means to follow on to know. The knowledge of the truth, this that He's calling us to, to press in.... Turn over to that Philippians passage for just a moment and let's see what the Lord has to say to us. It's a passage that we're all very familiar with in Philippians 3. The Spirit of God is speaking to us and the apostle prays in the Ephesians epistle and in the Colossians epistle, he prays that we might come to the knowledge of God. It's a powerful passage, actually, in Colossians 1. Look over there really quick. It's just a couple of pages away. Verse 9, the apostle says, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard [of your commitment, of your appetite for God], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

He says, "We desire that you would be filled with the knowledge of the will of God." Then he says, "I desire that you would be filled with the knowledge of God." The knowledge of His will and the knowledge of His person. Knowing the will of God is knowing what we're to do. Knowing God is knowing how we're going to do it. As you study the Scriptures, you're going to see that relationship. As we go into Proverbs and a few of the other passages, we're going to see that that wisdom, that understanding the knowledge of God, comes through the relationships. It's an intimate knowing of Him. We've shared with you many times before, the words that are used in the Greek for knowledge. As we look at this passage, the knowing of God, the gnosis, that experiential knowledge, the full comprehension of God through encountering Him, through experience. Not just an understanding, but an encounter, an apprehension of His presence that invades our hearts. It changes our lives. The eido knowledge, the comprehension, the full understanding. Many people are satisfied with that, knowing about God, but we need to know Him. The gnosis, the intimate relationship.

Paul, in this third chapter to the Philippians, is putting away the doctrine of the Judaizers and their boasting in the flesh and their desire by works, by circumcision, and all of these ways, to appease God. He says, "That's not how you please God. It's not your performance. It's the communion." Paul said, "I perfected all of that performance stuff. Everything that used to be gain to me, I count loss now. The things I used to boast in--I was the man. "If any other man [verse 4] thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." Paul was very confident in his humility also. Paul was not boasting here. He was just stating the facts. "There wasn't anybody of my contemporaries that had a zeal for God like me. I knew more than anybody else. I was more committed. I was up earlier. I stayed up longer. I studied more. I suffered more. I worked harder." "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." That's a powerful statement!

This was a guy who was disciplined. This was a guy who that did all of the study. He prayed. He fasted. This is a guy who kept his body in shape. This is a guy who kept his mind in shape. He would not compromise. He would have been a model Marine. He would have been a model world class athlete with the kind of heart that he had. Blameless. Look at verse 7. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." This was a guy who had perfected himself in the natural kingdom. He's the one that tells us about a principle. If we're going to be champions, if we're going to excel, if we're going to be perfect in any one thing, we're going to have to be moderate in something else. In every one of your lives, there will be things that you choose that are priorities, that are treasures, that are goals, and where your treasure is, your heart is. Whatever you're committed to is going to occupy your thoughts, your time, your energy, but you're going to have to be temperate in everything else. He says, "The things that I used to give myself to, my value system, changed. I count them loss. I used to boast in them and now they're nothing. I realize that they're worthless, as something in my past." He said, "I count them worthless right now because they will not bring me to the knowledge of God." How much time and energy do we put into things that don't bring us to the knowledge of God? We're talking about the knowledge of God. We're talking about knowing God and what it costs to know Him, what it takes to know Him.

Paul wasn't a guy who was taken up with the fact the he was playing too much golf. He was talking about studying the Bible. He was talking about fasting. He was talking about opposing what he perceived to be heretics, persecuting the church. Everything that he boasted in, a Hebrew among Hebrews. This man took pride in his service to God, and he realized that it was worthless. "It was not bringing me into the knowledge of God. All it did was satisfy my flesh, my ego, my pride. I see it for what it was--the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I encountered God on the road to Damascus. He changed my heart." The prophet makes that clear over in Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31, he says, "The days are going to come when I'll make a new covenant." Verse 33, "But this shall be the covenant.... After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; [It was in his mind. It was in the soulical realm. They had the knowledge of God, but didn't know God. The new covenant is going to put My law in your inward parts. I'll write it in your hearts] and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me [from the heart, not the doctrine], they shall all know me [not just the doctors of law, the doctors of theology], they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them [from the teenager to the experienced saint, they will know me--now watch--because I'll forgive their sins]." When sin is still dominating your life, you can't know Him. We're going to find out that when Paul says, "I'm coming to the knowledge of God," he's talking about putting the body of sin under. He's talking about sin no longer reigning in our members, the experience of the redemptive work, the true effectualness of regeneration. "...they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 33:34). Beautiful passage of Scripture as the prophet speaks to us.

We realize that God is calling us to this knowledge of Himself. No longer having to say, "Know the Lord." Let me reveal God to you. From the least to the greatest, we've come and tasted of His goodness. Our sins are forgiven, so we don't have to hide ourselves like Adam did in the garden. We come boldly to the throne of God. We're not ashamed. We stand before His righteousness and we realize that our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have no merit. We just come and allow Him to cover us with His lovingkindness, with His righteousness, and call us sons of God. When you know Him, you're not ashamed to come into His presence. He knows our frame. He knows we're as dust. He still loves you, praise God. He knows your failures. He knows your besetting sins. He's trying to get us to understand this: if you will come to know Him, He'll give you the grace and the power to live victoriously in those areas so you don't have to be ashamed anymore.

The apostle, as he's speaking to us here, says, "[Listen, the things that were gain, I counted loss for Christ. I had to give them up.] Yea doubtless, [verse 8] and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness." When you get to know God, when you follow on to know the Lord, you're no longer counting on your own righteousness. You count the treasures that used to hold you in bondage as dung, refuse. Have you been able to come to that place where everything you've labored for in your life, you're willing to flush? Dung--the flushing stuff. You need to have a porcelain party and flush it all out, praise God. Everything that the world and everything your flesh says is valuable, stinks. "I don't think I'm able to do that." Of course, you're not, because you don't know Him. You can't do it without knowing Him. You can't willfully put yourself on that cross daily if you don't know Him. You can't watch Him "smoke" your wealth and your treasures and watch it all crumble before your eyes and stand and say, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord," if you don't know Him, if His law hasn't been written in a heart of flesh where there used to be stone. Everything that we face, that we seem to think are adversities and trials and problems, are love gifts from God to get us to know Him more--the reestablishing of our value system. That's why the apostle said, "Count it all joy when ye fall into [different] temptations." "There hath no [trial] taken you but such as is common to man [amen]. ...but with the temptation [He also makes] a way to escape."

It's amazing how we think. We've shared with you, many times, the different things that go on here. Whether it's the disciplining of a child in school, whether it's some of the things that we do around here that everybody thinks we're so weird as a community, and how we respond to unbelievers, and different things, as we celebrate graduations and weddings and things among ourselves. "How come we're so different from everybody else?" Because we know God and we're jealous for His righteousness and His holiness. We just, frankly, are not interested in pagans coming in and defiling our worship of a holy God and our celebration of His Spirit among us. I didn't say that we don't go out to evangelize them. I didn't say that we don't love them with the love of God. I'm talking about the times that we come together in our celebration and our times of honoring God for His goodness. It's amazing to me, whether it's the discipline of a child, or whatever, that everybody can say, "Amen," until it comes to them. Then they say, "How about me? Can't we do this? Shouldn't we change this for me? This is us now. It was okay when it was them." It's an interesting thing to watch here as Paul says, "There's no temptation but such as is common to man and with every temptation He (does what?) makes the way of escape." Yeah, we've all been there. We've all experienced it, and now it's your turn. "But, surely the Lord wants to make an exception for me." No, you have to go through the same trial and His grace is sufficient. You'll come out--what does the Scripture say?--"...perfect [praise God] and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:4).

Can you count it all joy? When you know Him, you count it joy in the midst of the trials, the tribulation, and the persecution. Are you able to rejoice in the midst? No, you don't like the pressure. You don't like the pain. You don't like the circumstances. "In every thing give thanks: [not necessarily for it, but in it] for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Do you know how good He is? Do you know His lovingkindness? Can you say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord?" Do you know in your heart that the judge does right? The apostle goes on and says, "...I have suffered the loss of all things." I wonder. Surely, that's just an expression. No, he lost it all. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." I've purposed. I've given it all over. Nothing I have, I call my own. My life is not my own. It is no longer I in control, but Christ. I am no longer lord, but Christ. The world's system no longer dictates to me, but the mind of Christ. I've purposed it all vanity, vexation, and I've determined that the whole duty of man is to love God and keep His commandments that I may win Christ. Verse 9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that [righteousness] which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Once we've come to a "without the law" righteousness, it's no longer by works. I don't have to try to be better. I will be better, but I don't have to try. I'm not trying to appease God. As I die, God will prune me and I will bring forth more fruit, and I'll do better. I'm not trying any more; I'm resting. My labors are to know Him, to enter into His rest, to mix the Word with faith. What kind of faith? To cease from my own labors, my own merit, my own righteousness, my own understanding, so that I can enter the rest of God. He said this righteousness--look at verse 10, it is key--this will bring me to the knowledge of God. It'll cause me so "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection...." Everybody likes that phrase, "...the power of His resurrection...." When we hear that phrase, our mind immediately goes back to Romans, chapter 6, doesn't it? If we've been crucified with Christ, the apostle tells us, if we die with Him and our sin is placed upon Him, then surely we're going to be raised in His righteousness. The body of sin is crucified so that we are no longer under its power.

Look back there for just a second, Romans 6. Keep your finger here, and I want you to see one aspect that is worth putting your eyes on. He says in the Philippians passage, "That it's no longer my own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ." The Judaizer doctrine. I'm being freed from that and I'm learning where my treasure is. In the epistle to the Romans, he said it this way. He said, chapter six, verse 3, "[We've been baptized into His death.] Therefore, [verse 4] we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life." The power of His resurrection doesn't mean that we just go around having power over demons, and every prayer we pray is answered, and our "gimme" list is met in a day. The power of His resurrection is the power to walk in the newness of life; it's the power to be free from sin. The power of His resurrection is the liberation from the dominance of our own flesh. "For if we have been planted together [verse 5] in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: [That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection.] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not [say it with me] serve sin." I'm counting all of this loss so that I no longer have to serve sin. We're not talking about just the immoral behavior. The sin that he's speaking of here in Philippians is one that we contend with so much. It's the sin of self-righteousness, of trying to appease God, of going the way of the Pharisees and thinking that somehow our own righteousness is going to merit. If I try harder, I get more merit points. Paul says, "What an abomination! You need to die to that so that Jesus' finished work can be seen and glorified in your life. Count that stuff loss that you might gain the knowledge of God! You're worthless! Your righteousness is as filthy rags." "Oh, I want to know Him," Paul says in verse 10. "...the power of that resurrection, [And then the next phrase we don't like. We're going to end with this so that we don't have to talk about it tonight.] and the fellowship of His sufferings." Do you want to know Him? Paul knew what this was about. His kinsmen, the demonic hosts, everything Satan can do to try to distract him, to oppose him, to rob the glory of God, and the apostle's heart cry was, "[I want to be] made conformable unto His death."

What does it mean to be "conformed to the death of Christ"? It means to drink the cup of death to self-will. It means to come to the understanding that to know Him is to obey Him, because if we know Him and love Him, we're going to keep His commandments. We'll end with this for tonight. John 17: 3, "And this is life eternal, that we might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." To know Him is to fulfill the same course that Jesus was on. Not our will, His will. Not our words, His words. In our case, it goes a little further: not our righteousness, but His righteousness. Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord? "I want know You more." "You want to know Me more? It's going to cost you more. You want to know Me more? Die more. You want to know Me more? Do less. Stop trying to do it in your own strength because without Me, you can do nothing."

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight and we ask for Your visitation as we come now into Your presence. We ask that You would, through Your Word tonight, touch hearts. Father, it's our desire that somehow tonight through Your Word, You've touched a heart and it was a heart of flesh and You said, "I'm going to write My laws upon their hearts. They're going to know Me through the awareness that I've forgiven their sins." You're right with God. Do you know that tonight? You're right with God. He loves you. You're a son of God. Do you know that tonight? Sin is not the dominant force. You don't have to bow your knee to it. That besetting sin no longer has to rule you. Do you know that tonight? This is eternal life, that I might know You. Lord, I purpose tonight to follow on to know You. I count it all dung. I'm counting the cost. I know what this thing is going to cost. There's no greater freedom, beloved, than absenting yourself from all of these things. When you're put to the test and in your heart, you mean it, you're determined, but still, back in your mind, somewhere down there deep, you say, "Oh Lord!" You haven't been like Peter and presumptuously said, "Lord, though everybody else forsakes you, I never will." You've said, "Lord, I want to be faithful. You are my first love." Then the enemy comes and says, "Be careful. He's going to take you the way of Job." You say, "That's fine. I trust in His justice and His mercy and His love." If you're really truthful, what you'll say next is, "Lord, I believe. Help [my] unbelief." Then the time comes when He puts His hand on your treasures. He puts His hand on your life and, by the grace of God, you come out on the other side and you know Him more. In the process, He reveals you to yourself more. It's not self-righteousness; it's the true rest and you say, "Lord, I really didn't know how I would respond, but Your grace is sufficient. Your weapons are mighty. Your presence is peace. Your words I have found and eaten and they are the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I've been proven and what I've come to know, is that I know You. It has proven to my heart that I know You. Lord, it's revealed to me. I want to know You more. I want to know more about the power of Your resurrection, the fellowship of Your sufferings. I want to be made conformable to Your death. I want to obey to the cross as You did. I want to drink the cup as You did. I want to fulfill the will of the Father as You did. I just want to know You, Lord."

Let's stand before Him tonight. As Gary plays for us, just take a moment and let Him speak to you and let His Word live in your heart and encourage you tonight of His desire to reveal Himself to you. Don't be afraid. "Glory in this, I'm a Lord that exercises lovingkindness and justice and righteousness." Glory in this, that you understand and that you know the Lord. He's sufficient. He does right. We glory in that. We boast in that. We count it all loss that we might be pruned and bring forth more fruit and that it might remain. The more you know Him, the more you want to know Him. The more you know Him, the more you know there is to know about Him. The more He reveals Himself, the greater glimpse you get of His infinite being, that there is no exhausting His knowledge, His kindness, His love, His mercy, His power, His justice. Just when you think His love will cause your heart to burst, He'll give you a greater capacity and love you more. "Enlarge my heart," the psalmist said, "and I will run to know you." Enlarge my heart with Your Word, that I can come to a greater knowledge of You. It's our heart's desire, Father. Let's sing this together and rejoice in His goodness tonight.

It's our heart's desire, Lord. Just empty us of everything else and let our prayer be, "Him." What a testimony to have the last words that come out of your mouth, "Him." I see Him. I trust Him. I love Him. It's not about me. I'm laying this temple down after all these years, but it's not about me, it's about Him. I've lived for Him. I've died for Him. The knowledge.

The Lord spoke to me on Monday about what I was supposed to teach tonight, as I was down in my morning devotions. I got sidetracked and I forgot, and I couldn't get it back. I was praying and I said, "Lord." The rest of Monday went by and all day yesterday went by, and I said, "Lord, what was it that You told me to do?" All day today went by and I'm saying, "Lord, what is it?" About six o'clock this evening, I was looking in the Scriptures and "Boom!" that thing jumped out at me. The way the Lord speaks to me many times is just one word. One word the Lord says to me--trust, faith, whatever, and then everything starts going nuts. I couldn't bring it up and I'm praying, "Lord, I can go get my notes and teach on anything, but You told me and I can't remember what it is. I'm sure if You tell me, Lord, I could really work up a good teaching between now and then if You'd remind me what it was." We're walking out the door and Greer said, "Do you have your notes?" I said, "There are no notes tonight. I've got one word." (Actually, it was more than one word.) The phrase, "that I may know Him." That I may know Him. I'm persuaded that He'll keep that that I've committed unto Him because I know Him, praise God, and I've tasted His love and His mercy.

Jim, do you want to come and bring Kevin with you? Jim asked if we would pray for Kevin tonight. I want to lay hands on him and pray for him tonight and just believe God to heal his body. There have been some growths, and the doctors said they were concerned about these things. As we pray for this young man, God's going to reveal Himself to him tonight. He's going to speak to Kevin and say, "Glory in this, that you understand and know Me. I'm full of lovingkindness. I'm full of justice. I'm full of righteousness. Yes, I'll heal you tonight." Praise God. Let's just believe God to heal him tonight and see the glory of God. Pray with us and we'll just extend the glory of God.

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