What is Man - Communion With the Creator

Welcome to the roots, where it's all about Jesus. We

love people, we reach the loss, we make disciples. Really

grateful to be back with all of you. The last

couple of weeks, my family and I have kind of

gotten to take some time away being on vacation, which

has been really neat. Spent some time at the beach

and then spend some time in the mountains. And so

my wife's family had a family reunion in South Dakota.

Last time we did it on you know, the west coast,

and so this time we got to drive seventeen hours

with children in the car, which honestly, I gotta say

profs to them and God's grace because we are all alive.

We all came back in one piece. We survived. But

it was really cool because not only did we get

to go see family, which was a great time, but

we also got to check off a bucket list item,

which was to go see Mount Rushmore, and so that

was kind of like the destination area. And so while

we were there, we got there early the first day,

after long, long early lots of early mornings and lots

of lots of driving together, We're headed to go see

Mount Rushmore. Kind of like our our first victory lap

of our long journey. And as we're going up around

the Winding Roads, one of the last turns before you

get to actually see Mount Rushmore, there's a sign on

the side of the road that says National Treasure two

filmed in this area, which for me is sick. You

might not care, but for me, I'm like, let's go.

We made it. Guys. I've seen the second one, and

growing up that was a big movie in our house.

We enjoyed it. It was a it was a good time.

National Treasure one or two, you know, just kind of

fun fictional stories, and if you're not familiar, let me

kind of just get you up to speed. It's a

fictional story about the greatest treasure ever known, a treasure

that had been amassed throughout time, through the greatest civilizations,

all stockpiling it. And there was a secret group that

was protecting this treasure, moving it from area to area

until finally, sometime during the Revolutionary War whatever it was lost,

and so after that it had only just been a legend.

But Nicholas Cage his family held the secret, They held

the clues, and he was still a believer. A lot

of his family before him had decided it was just

a myth, it wasn't real. People have wasted their time,

people have wasted their lives searching after this treasure that

isn't even real, And so he is not convinced of that, however,

so he's devoted. So it's his entire life to following

the clues, following the maps that he's found in order

to find this treasure. And you are like, probably twenty

years too late, so I don't feel bad about spoilers.

But he finds the treasure. And after he finds the treasure,

proving that it's real, not only does he get to

enjoy that satisfaction, but also his life is forever changed.

But I want to argue that today that there is

a treasure that actually does exist, a treasure that far

surpasses the great treasure from this very fun movie, a

treasure that if you too find it, or if you

have found it, you two will never be the same.

So if you would actually open your Bibles with me,

I'm and Gabe if he's in here not, we have

bibles in the back we would love for you to

have And so if you don't have one, please run

to the back. We have bibles that you can follow

along with us that they're yours to keep, and they're

actually kind of a nice bible, So go get one.

We're gonna be turning to the Book of Jeremiah, which

might seem, you know, kind of a curveball a little

bit how much time we spend in Jeremiah, but I

think it's a fitting text to kind of kick off

our study for today. So what we're going to do

is we're going to read this text, pray, and then

go hunting for some treasure. Okay, let's look at this.

We're looking at Jeremiah, chapter nine, verses twenty three through

twenty four. There we go, says, Thus says the Lord.

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, Let

not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not

the rich man boast in his riches. But let him

who boasts boast in this that he understands and knows

me that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love

and justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these

things I delight, declares the Lord, says God's word. Let

us pray, Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that we

get to be here with one another, that we get

to open your word and as you yourself have put it,

find treasure. So, Lord, I just asked that you would

help us hide your word in our heart, remove any

blindness from our eyes, any deafness from our ears, that

we would hear your word, that we would see your

word go fourth and bear fruit in our life, that

we would be a people who look more like you.

Wash us cleanse us by your word, Lord Jesus, and

help this time be fruitful to your glory in Jesus name.

Everyone said amen. So In the twentieth century, nineteen seventy three,

a book came out pretty popular book written by a

Christian theologian and a Christian author called Knowing God, and

the third chapter titled Knowing and Being Known begins like this.

I want to read it. What were we made for

to know God? What aim should we set ourselves in

life to know God? What is the eternal life that

Jesus gives knowledge of God? This is life eternal that

they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,

whom thou hast sent. What is the best thing in

life bringing more joy, delight, and contentment than anything else

knowledge of God. Thus saith the Lord. Let not the

wise man glory in his wisdom, either, let the mighty

man glory in his might. Let not the rich man

glory in his riches. But let him the glorious glory

in this that he understandeth and knoweth me. What of

all the states God ever sees man in gives him

most pleasure. Knowledge of himself. I desire the knowledge of

God more than burnt offerings, says God. So if you've

ever heard the phrase, it's not what you know to

you know, maybe you've heard that phrase before, and what

we're going to be looking at today, if there was

ever a time that that was true, it's what we're

going to be looking at today. Knowing God or knowing

stuff about God, while helpful and beneficial to your walk

with Him, is not the same thing or on the

same level of what it means to know Him. Let

me summarize that it's more important that you actually know

God rather than know a bunch of stuff about Him

and still don't know him. James makes this point. He says,

you believe that you believe that God is won you

do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. What is

James saying. James is saying you can have an accurate

of accurate understanding of who God is and still not

know him. And it's a fact like that that should

make us shudder. So today, as we're gonna be continuing

in our study, our study and our series asking the

question what is man really? How did God make mankind?

It's God's what is God's design for mankind? Today we

arrive at the topic that mankind was made to know God.

Mankind was made to know God. That is, have communion,

have fellowship, or as they like, probably the more normal

way we just kind of hear it when you're listening

to Christian radio is have a relationship with God. What

this means is that God didn't create the world and

just kind of peace out. He didn't like create it,

and then he's like, all right, you guys, figure everything out.

But actually that God wants to be intimately involved with

his creation, and it needs to be clarified. It's not

because he's lonely, it's not because he had a need

that he's trying to fulfill and whatever he's making, but

it's so that he could actually show and reveal his

glory and share his love. We've been looking at it.

It's kind of our our theme text, or our anchor

text for this series, which is kind of pondering this

very fact that God even decides to take notice of

us in the first place. Look at this Psalm eight.

It says, what is man? That you're mindful of him?

And the son of Man that you care for him.

We see in these texts even here, that there's a

the writer is wrestling with this fact that how can

it be God that you would create us and care

for us so much, little old us, little old me.

So we've seen over the last several weeks, as we've

looked at God's design for mankind, we've seen that we

bear his image. We saw that we saw we're supposed

to spread that image by bearing more image bearers. That

we were to reflect and execute His purposes over all creation,

basically kind of like serve as his representatives here on

earth to take care of the earth and rule over creation,

and that he told us to do that. That wasn't

something that we just decided to take upon ourselves, like, hey,

don't worry, God, we'll take it from here. But He's like, no,

I actually have a job I'm making you to do today.

My hope is is that we're going to be surveying

what the Bible has to say, looking at how God

isn't kind of just like a boss or an owner

of a business who sets up a manager and then

kind of just wants nothing to do with that guy.

But God is actually more relational than that that. In fact,

God desires to have a people for himself. A God

desires to have a people and for himself people that

would relate to him. The examples we see in scripture

are a child to their father, or a wife to

her husband, or subjects to their king, or sheep to

their shepherd. And there's this beautiful relationship of knowing and

being known between mankind and their maker. And they've been

going all the way back to the beginning, which is

where we've been spending most of our time, where we

see how God originally created everything. We go back to

the beginning, and in the beginning we see this communion

between man and woman, mankind and God. And one of

the ways that we see that is that when God

made mankind, he made the man and woman. And it

tells us this really fun fact that they were naked

and that they felt no shape. All of us showed

up clothes here, praise God, right, But what we read

at the beginning is that that wasn't the case, which

seems crazy. Like that's what we won't get into, that

that mankind was created and that they were created naked

and they felt no shame. They didn't feel shame in

the presence of one another. They didn't even feel shame

in the presence of God, which is beautiful. There is

this beautiful image of perfect unity, perfect intimacy shared between

mankind and their maker. And I believe that many of

us long for these types of relationships. Not that we

could just be naked with all of our friends or

anything like that. That'd be weird, but like, but the

sense that we can be intimately known, that we don't

feel like we have to hide, that we don't feel

like we have to push away, and we don't feel

like we had to put up these walls, but that

in fact we could have a relationship with people and

just actually be known, just know me. Please. I want

a friendship where I can just be myself. I don't

have to hide, I don't have to cover up. I

think there's a reason that that is in us that

we don't want to be ashamed of who we are.

That's because how God originally made us is to be

who we are. God made us to be a specific

way and also have this type of unity and intimacy

with one another and with God. I think we long for.

That is how it was supposed to be. As we

looked at a few weeks ago, we know that even

marriage is a place that God has made this kind

of capacity more normal or actually okay, where man and

woman can come together in an intimate, naked and unashamed union,

which is actually kind of an interesting fact as I

was thinking about this, that when the Bible will say

that a husband and wife are spending time together, that

one of the ways that it will say it is

like Adam knew his wife and she conceived. So there's

this intimate knowledge. There's this intimate knowing that's going on here.

And it is interesting because the root word that's used

there for Adam knew his wife is also the same

root word that is used in our Jeremiah texts for

when God says, let the man boast that he knows me,

then one it's speaking of a physical intimacy between a

husband and wife, and in another sense, it's talking about

the intimate spiritual relationship that someone can actually be known

and know and understand God, and that would be something

of more value than their riches their strength. So we

see how this is meant to be. But many of

us could ask and might ask, if this is how

God designed it to be, why do our relationships? Why

are they terrible? Why is my spouse the worst? Why

do none of my friends understand me? Why? Why is

my family crazy? Where's God? Why don't I feel him?

Where is he? Why does he feel so distant? Why

do I feel so distant from him? We could ask

ourselves a lot of questions like this. But just as

we saw that God made mankind in the garden naked

and unashamed, unfortunately, sometime after that we see mankind rebel

against God. That is, they rebel against God and his

command of not eating the fruit from the tree that

they were told not to. But because of their own

wisdom and following their own appetites, following the lies of Satan,

they believe that they could maybe find a way if

they just disobeyed God, to get on the same level

as God. If I disobey God, maybe I can become

like him, will be like God, knowing good and evil.

That was Satan's lie, and they clung to that rather

than to God. So mankind rebelled against God, and when

they did, it broke everything. Look at this Genesis three.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good

for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,

and that the tree was to be desired to make

one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and

she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,

and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened,

and they knew that they were naked, And they sewed

fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard

the sound of the Lord, the Lord God, walking in

the garden in the cool of the day. And the

man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of

the Lord the trees of the garden. But the Lord

called out, called to the man, and said to him,

where are you? And he said, I heard the sound

of you in the garden, and I was afraid because

I was naked, and I hid myself. So here we

see a couple of things happening. First, mankind's intimacy with

one another is corrupted because he's like, you're not wearing clothes.

She's like, you aren't either. As soon as they rebel

against God, so immediately they get to their sewing skills

and they sew together a fig dress or whatever and

throw those clothes on. But not only that, then they

hear the Lord walking in the cool of the day, which,

first of all, that's cool, Like how cool that? Like

I could be working in the garden, I'm plucking apples,

doing whatever Adam and Eve were doing before they did this,

and it was a possibility that you could just hear

the Lord taking a stroll, like that's beautiful, like that

that was the level and place that they got to enjoy.

But now instead of working and hearing the Lord going on,

bibe and be like, yes, oh, I can't wait, I

can't wait to ask him a question. I can't wait

to see what he's up to. Instead, you hear the

Lord and you're like, I probably can hide behind that

tree you're ducking for cover. But he's also God. So

he shows up and he's like where are you. I'm like,

what's going on? What's happening in Adam's response is one

of a broken relationship. That intimacy that they had is gone.

It's not there anymore, said, I heard you walking and

I'm naked, kid, so I hid myself. That mankind went

from an open, unashamed intimacy with the Creator, and now

it's been broken to the point where they want to hide.

They're full of fear and shame and they have to

hide themselves. They're trying to they're trying to clothe themselves

with whatever they can put together. And then when God

actually does show up, instead of running to him being

like we messed up, no, they run, they go hide,

and God has to call on them. God has to

call them out. So what's going on, which that, even

right there is is showing because God's all knowing, he

knows where they're at, he knows what's going on. But

even there, he's he's interacting with his creation in a

relation personal fashion. No longer is God's presence a place

of peace and joy, but a fear of judgment because

of their sin. And we all know this right like,

like I don't know if you've ever sinned before, but

it's hard, Like whether you're an adult now or you're

a kid. As soon as you sin, if it's obvious,

everyone knows, that's just kind of there. But like when

you sin in secret, it kind of feels like everyone knows. Right,

You're like you're trying to hide something, and you're like,

they know something's up. They know I'm not being minor,

you know, like, and you can you feel exposed. No

one can actually hear your thoughts. You shouldn't stay in

that place, so confess your sin. But still there's this

sense of like, as soon as you sin, you're like,

I'm not good anymore. I don't know if I should

go out anymore. Everyone's gonna know. And that's just between humans.

But God knows, He sees the heart, he knows exactly

what's going on. So even more so there's this sense

of being exposed. We don't But when you haven't sinned,

you're not even thinking about it. You're just doing what

you do. You're having a good time, you're enjoying, you're

going through life. But as soon as you've done something wrong,

hit the brakes. No longer is life. No longer is

an experience of joy and peace about how you're going

about your day, And instead there's this troubledness that you're

going to carry with you, This exposed this I'm always

trying to hide. I'm never trying to let anyone. I'm

trying to never let anyone show who I really am.

Mankind sin radically changed the nature of a relationship with

our Maker. Instead of this intimate relationship with him, as

the Bible says, and we're gonna be looking at in

a couple of weeks, we rebelled and became enemies, rebels,

hostile and alienated from God and his presence. It's quite

a rap sheet. It is not it's not good, and

not as long as we are still in our sin

and rebellion that there's no way that we could be

restored and reunited to our communion with Him. So this

amazing paradise that mankind started out with was lost. This

thing that is beautiful and wonderful and incredible that mankind

got to enjoy was now gone. It was now lost,

it was now broken. The now instead of this pleasant

presence that we get to experience, we have fear of

his presence, the weight of our sin, the weight of

our shame crushing us in his presence. He's holy, he's righteous,

we are good or He's good and holy and we're not.

So this intimate relationship the mankind once had with God

would have been lost, this original joy, blessing and privilege.

He's gotten't have to do that. From what I know,

he didn't do that with the monkeys. Right, From what

I know, he didn't do that with the fish. He

didn't have that same kind of special relationship built in

with a special job. If I find out that that

is the case, that would be kind of crazy. Though.

You get to Heaven, you're like, what's up, fish man? Like,

it's so dumb? Okay, sorry, my brain three of evac

All right, this incredible treasure that it was to possess

and have has now been lost. But God made a

promise to send someone who had set all of these

things right, who would pay for the penalty do our sin,

who would make a new people in himself and clothe us.

This is actually something that's really interesting as you look

through it, especially in Revelation, when we look at the

new heavens, the new Earth, that we're not naked anymore,

but instead we're clothed with Christ's righteousness, We're clothed with

his purity. He's given left to ourselves. We're not we're sinful,

we're broken. But the beauty of the gospel is that

Christ took our penalty and instead gives us his white robes,

so beautiful and so that wearing these robes, wearing this

holiness and purity that He's put on us, that we

could once again be restored, that we could once again

come with boldness before his throne to be in his presence.

That for all who believe in Christ's finished work on

the Cross is death, burial, and resurrection, that they could

have their shame and guilt taken from them. Like that's

actually a big deal. It's kind of crazy because like

that goes back to the beginning off my memory, so

we'll see off my memory when they actually do sin.

It doesn't say like an Adam and Eve felt shame.

It doesn't say that, but you see a lot of

actions of shame. But at the beginning there's a note.

If you were to start reading your Bible and you

get to the beginning where it says and they were

naked and they felt no shame, You're like, what, like,

what world is this? That's not the world that we know,

and what's beautiful about that is that there is this

problem of shame from that point on until you get

to Jesus, until you get to the cross, where Jesus, beaten, bruised, humiliated, stripped,

naked and hung on a cross, would take all of

your shame. It would take all all of your guilt

on himself and give you his righteousness. That's good news.

Look at this first or John one says he was

in the world, and the world was made through him,

Yet the world did not know him. He came to

his own and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in

his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

who were born not of blood, nor of the will

of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but

of God. That is, to believe in Jesus and be

born again. As the only way to be saved from

the wrath do our sins and the eternal separation and

punishment that is to come on the last day. We

need Jesus. So Christ comes and points us to the

only way of salvation. Christ comes to point us to

the truth that leads to life, that is, to know

and be known by him. Look at this John seventeen three.

He doesn't hide it. It's pretty great, he says. And

this is eternal life. And I love parts of the

Bible like this. You're like, just tell me it, just

tell me the thing, he says, And this is eternal

life that they know you, the only true God, and

Jesus Christ, whom You've sent. And I love this because

this might be a little different than what we might

think eternal life is. Some of us just might think

eternal life is not going to hell. We might think

eternal life means I get to go to heaven instead.

But Jesus says, it's not just about a location. It's

not just about a place that you're going to. It's

who you're gonna be with that eternal life is to

know God. I think when we kind of come into

this understanding, when we begin to actually know Oh God,

when we begin to know Christ personally, that we end

up being like the Psalmist who says things like this,

whom have I in heaven? But you I'm not going

to heaven to see my grandpa. I'm going to heaven

to see Jesus. And there is nothing on earth that

I desire besides you my heart and my flesh, and

my heart may fail. But God is the strength of

my heart and my portion forever. Psal I'm sixteen, says

the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You

hold my lot. The lines have fallen from me in

pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless

the Lord, who gives me counsel and the night. Also,

my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always

before me, because he is at my right hand. I

shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and

my whole being re joices. My flesh also dwells secure.

For you want to abandon my soul to shale, or

let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to

me the path of life. In your presence, there is

fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Sounds pretty good. God. Who you start talking to God

like that, You're like, I want to know him like that.

I want that kind of relationship with him. They're like,

no matter what happens with the relationship I have on

this earth, I'm like I have Jesus. I'm good, I'm

in his presence. I'm okay. And even if things really

aren't okay, I'm gonna be okay. Where I'm going, I'm

gonna be okay. You see in this Texas also a

versus verse ten that Peter ends up using to say

it was about Jesus, which is really cool that God

the Father didn't let Jesus see corruption in the grave,

but raise him to life. And we know that for

we too, who are in Christ, have the promise of

fullness of joy in his presence, and that we're going

to get to experience that forever and ever if we

have put our faith in Him, that if we know God,

that we get to experience that forever, which I gotta say,

whether it's your family, whether it's your baseball cards, your outfit,

Nicholas Cage's treasure, whatever it is that is that high

value or that high treasure in your life, nothing compares

with the gift given by God's grace that is in

Jesus Christ. The treasure is to be enjoyed in knowing

Him forever, that once again, through Christ, we can be

reunited to our creator, to enjoy the love and joy

that are found in His presence. We can be brought

back to that we're not just left and hopeless, a

peace that can stay with us forever. And don't you

want that? Like, actually, don't you want that peace? Because

you know if you told me that you didn't, you're not.

You're lying. That's that's what's happening. You're lying. And I

know that because you'll go to We all of us

look to as many things as possible to try and

find that peace. We will turn to all kinds of

things to try and find that peace. But the reality

is there's only one person who can give us that

piece forever. Just as Christ redeemed us that he also

gave us his spirit to dwell us, literally be with

us and seal us for the day of redemption, when

all things are set in their proper place. That when

we believe in Christ, you, when you've believed in Christ,

you had received you have received God's spirit to come

make his home in you. And it reconciles us to

God and takes us from being enemies of God to

not just slaves, to not just servants, to not just

kind of like an even playing field. And he's like, hey,

don't mess up again, and we'll have to see what

happens to sons and daughters from enemies. And if you've

read the end of the book, you know what happens

to God's enemies. You listen to Jesus teachings, He'll tell

you what happens in the king's enemies. But when we

come to know him, that we come to know him

in a way that he is now our father, that's crazy,

crazy good. That's a crazy, amazing truth. Look at Romans eight.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God

are sons of God. For you did not receive the

spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the

spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry abba Father.

The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we

are children of God and of children. Then heirs. It

just what he's saying is like it gets better. He

just keep getting good. Oh you thought you were a son.

It's not like you're a son and you're left out

of the inheritance. Like you're a son in an air

heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Provided we

suffer with Him in order that we may also be

glorified with Him, so that we get to have this

incredible relationship. But he's not just our maker, but he's

our father, he's our savior, he's our shepherd. And that's

just so sweet in a world where everyone feels so alone,

everyone feels so alone and looking for meaning, looking for purpose,

look for relationships, and the internet has really not helped it.

It hasn't helped it. You know that. Just I'm looking

for you to agree with me that that was all

I'm saying there, Like, the internet has not helped that.

It's made us more alone, and it gives us this

lie that we're not well, how many friends I have.

It's like, when's the last time we actually talked to

that person? And liking their photo doesn't count. We're alone

and that sucks. That is terrible. No one wants that.

That's awful because we're not made to be alone. As

we start at the beginning, God did not make us

to be alone, and he did not say it was

good for us to be alone. So one big thing

I want, like for you guys, I think it's beneficial

for all of us. It's like we should just marvel

at this, we should just in this, we should just

think about how great it is that we get to

know God. And if you don't know God. How terrifying

that is that you're still his enemy. I would point

you to Christ. Look to Christ. Believe in Christ. It

is the only way. Don't cling to the things of

this world. There's no reason for it. There's no good

that comes out of it. It's all momentary. When you're

being offered eternal life, to know your maker, understand yourself,

find peace. It's just like the list goes on and on.

I think we need to marvel in this fact as

believers that we know the living God. But as much

as we should know him and marvel at this fact,

I do want us to be practical. I do want

us to get a little practical in about this topic.

I want us to get practical on how we can

live lives that truly know Him. So really, I want

to look at two questions. First is how do we

come to know Him? Hopefully we'll get that one decently quickly.

And the second is what does it look like to

treasure and know Christ. I'm going to kind of pick

up the pace here a little bit, So what does

the Bible say about how we come to know God?

And it can feel like we already kind of answered

this question and in a sense we did put your faith,

put your trust in Christ, Believe in him, believe in

his finished work. Look to Christ. That's not all the

Bible says. There's actually more to it, which is pretty incredible.

And not more to it in like a works way

or adding to the Gospel or anything like that, but

more to it in the sense of like there's something

else going on, and it just makes God even greater.

It gives God even more glory. Look at this Galatians four.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent

forth his son, born of woman, born under the law,

to redeem those who were under the law, so that

we might receive adoptions as sons. So right there, right

off the bat, God's on the move. God's doing something.

He's looking at little mankind in their sins, slaves of

their sin, disobedient, rebellious, and He's like, I'm gonna send

my son. And because you were sons, God has sent

the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba Father.

So you were no longer a slave, but a son,

And if a son, then an heir through God. Sound familiar.

Just looked at this Romans eight. Listen to this. Formerly

when you did not know God. You were enslaved to

those that by nature are not gods. But now that

you've come to know God, and get this, look what

Paul does. That's so funny verse nine. But now that

you've come to know God, or rather to be known

by God, how can you turn back to the weak

and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you

want to be? Once more, so, we see this beautiful

thing about how God sent his son to adopt us,

give us his spirit in our hearts. It's beautiful and

it's glorious, and he's like and there was a time

you didn't know him, you were chasing after other gods,

but then you came to know him. And Paul almost

like kind of corrects himself that, or rather, is it

means to like or speak more accurately, to become known

by God? That God had an intention in knowing you.

And it might seem odd, could seem a little weird, maybe,

But Paul isn't teaching us anything different than what Jesus taught.

Look at this. Look at what Jesus himself says about

those who come to God John six forty four. He says,

no one can come to me unless the Father who

sent me draws him and I will raise him up

on the last day. Should go read this whole chapter.

It's fantastic because Jesus likes to double down on things

that he says, especially tough stuff to work through. Jesus,

when he's teaching the masses, he tells them to believe

and be saved, and all of a sudden amen. And

yet in the same breath he tells them that some

of them don't believe, that there's some of them who

just refuse to believe and will not believe. And what

does he say, Well, like I said, he doubles down,

like literally doubles down. Look at this, he says, And

he said, this is why I told you that no

one can come to me unless it is granted him

by the Father. Well, duncan, that's just like two places.

Let's look at this, Luke ten Behold, I've given you

authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all

the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless,

do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject

to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit

and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and Earth,

that you have hidden these things from the wise and

understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for

such was your gracious will. All things have been handed

over to me by my Father. And no one knows

the son or who the son is, except the Father,

or who the Father is, except the Son, and anyone

to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Jesus tells

his disciples, don't rejoice over the power, but rejoice that

you were known in heaven. Rejoice that the Father and

the Son have been revealed to you to the end

that you would actually be saved and come to know them,

because they have been chosen and known by God Romans

eight twenty eight. And we know that for those who

love God, all things work together for good, for those

who are called according to His purpose, for those whom

he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the

image of his son, in order that he might be

the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined

he also called, and those he called he also justified,

and those whom he justified he also glorified. The fact

that we even can know God is because of his

great intention to love us. Which is interesting is what

is actually being talked about here is a very specific love.

It's not just God's general love. Because husbands, let's say

you told your wife, well, I just love all women.

I love you, I love all women, and it's all

the same. Okay, I mean, good luck with that. I'm

not gonna do that, and I'm not gonna go over

very well. But what's being talked about here. We know

God loves his creation, but Christ loves his bride. Christ

loves his people. That there is an intention that many

of you may have loved your wife way longer before

she ever loved you, and Lord willing, now she likes

you a lot, and she loves the whole life. Why

I think this is important to bring up is because

this makes the relationship we have with the Lord just

that much sweeter. Like, Lord, you saw me, you saw

me at my worst, except for whatever reason, you still

chose to love me, to show me this grace, to

show me this kindness. I didn't deserve it. I don't

deserve it. Christ loves us, and He's loved us for

a long time as his people. As John first, John says,

we love because He first loved us. So we've seen

that we love because He first loved us. And I

want to move on to the second thing on any

of the band to come up, please, what does it

mean to treasure and truly know Christ? Well, there's two

things I want to say before Kim jump into that.

First is have you just met someone who you like, know, like,

hangs out with God. You just meet someone and you're like,

you've been in God's presence. Usually they have gray hair, right,

and like, not all of them, but if you don't

have hair, I'm sorry, but there's a lot of people.

There's a lot of people. It happens, Okay, whatever, to

just ignore my comments. Not helpful, don can. There's people

that you'll meet who've spent decades with Christ and it

shows you can just tell and you're like, man, I've

listened to pastors who they're like, they have spent time

with God and they've been intentional for years, and I

have to remind myself of that. He's just like any relationship.

You might go into a new workplace and you see

two best friends and you're like, I wish I was

best friends with them like that too, But they've been

there for thirty years together. They've been working alongside one another,

getting to know each other. The reason I bring up

this example is because it's not any different with the Lord.

To get to know him, it's not just no stuff

about him. I've sought him, I've called out to him.

He's living, he's active. I'm going to call on his

name and expect and hope and pray for a response.

And I know that he's spoken to me, he's told me,

he's given me his word. So you like, treat God

like he's someone that can be known. Yeah, seek him

like he's a person that can be known. That he's

a being that can be known. Because he is, you

will come to know him. This all just feels like

fairy tales or else. It all just feels like Santa

Claus or this all feels like whatever it is, he's

a person that can be known, and when you come

to know him, we'll change your life because it's an

actual relationship, it's an actual fellowship, it's an actual communion.

There's people that you meet in real life you're like,

I'm just never the same after meeting that person. How

much more with our creator. So first and foremost we

need to actually treat him like a person and approach

him like that. But j I Packer in his book,

I thought this was great. He talks about what it

looks like to kind of actively know, like what's a

life look like that knows Christ? And he says, it's

a life that knows him emotionally, intellectually, and volitionally. And

I was like, that sounds pretty familiar a lot like

loving God with all our heart, all our mind, and

all our strength, which is what Jesus tells us in

the first Grip is the first and greatest commandment, that

we would love God with everything. That's our emotions, that's

we would love him with our mind. We would grow

in our understanding of who He is. And here's the deal.

Many of us are usually pretty good at like maybe

one or two of these areas. Maybe you're a big feeler,

maybe you're a big thinker, maybe you're a big doer.

We have all of those different gifts, but we need

to be careful that we don't dupe ourselves into thinking

it's good enough. And why I say this because we

want to we want to grow in our intimacy with

our creator. We want to actually come to know him

on a deep level. And the reason I say it's

not enough, I'm not saying it's not enough for salvation.

What I'm saying is like, there's an intimacy that we're

missing out on. There's a way that we're failing to

know him or failing to love him. Because if I

just told my wife that I loved her, there is

no feelings actually there there was no actions to back

it up. There was no growing in an understanding to

actually know who she is, how does she function, how

does she work? Like? What is she like planning? What

does she want to do? But I was like, but

I love you, it's just talk. I don't know her.

But there's this drive of when we love Christ, when

we love God, that we want to know them. I

want to know you with my feelings. I want to

have my feelings and my affections grown for you. I

want to have my knowledge and understanding how do you work?

And who are you? And what are your quirks? Like?

Just who are you? How can I serve you? How

can I do life with you? How can I be

on mission with you? Those are all real parts of

any real relationship, So how much more for God? Look

what first John two says once again, it's one of

those places that keeps things nice and simple, it says.

And by this we know that we have come to

know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I

know him but does not keep his commandments as a liar,

And the truth is not in him, But whoever keeps

his word in him, Truly the love of God is perfected.

By this, we may know that we are in him.

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in

the same way in which He walked. We need to

love God with everything. And for those who do truly

know him, we see here that they will be growing

in their love and obedience to Him. And this should

cause two things to happen. This should really convict us.

This should convict us to not grow complacent in our

relationship with the Lord. This also should really encourage us

that we can that we can grow in our relationship

with the Lord, that we don't have to settle for

the relationship that we have with him, that we can

know him deeper, that we can feel about him greater,

and that we can work more and harder for him

and in service and for His glory. The blessing that

we get in Christ is worth more than anything this

world has to offer. It's the greatest treasure available to us,

that is to know and be known Christ. And why

this is important, So when we look at our lives,

when we examine our hearts, if we're not treasuring Christ,

Christ doesn't have our hearts. And if Christ doesn't have

a hearts, we don't know Christ. Look at Matthew six says,

do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where

moth and rush destroy, where thieves break in and steel,

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither

moth nor rush destroys, where thieves do not break in

and steel. For where your treasure is there, your heart

will be also. So my question is where is your treasure?

Is it in your stuff? Is it in heaven? Is

it in your earthly relationships? Or is it in your

Savior and King, who is enthroned in heaven, who can

be known. What you treasure is what has your heart?

So what do you treasure? What has your heart? What

is your cause for boasting in your life? What are

you posting about the most. That's probably just an easy

way to do it. If you're on social media, what

are you gloating about? What are you boasting about the

things of this world or the relationship you have and

knowing the Lord. This is what our opening text was

getting at when we began look at it again. Jeremiah

nine thus says the Lord. Let not the wise man

boast in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man boast

in his might. Let not the rich man boast in

his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this

that he understands and knows me that I am the

Lord who practices stead fast love, righteousness, or justice and

righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,

declares the Lord. God is revealing himself to us. He

told us what he delights in. The only thing truly

worth boasting about in this life is that we know Him.

Everything else will fade, everything else will perish, But knowing

and being known by Christ will never be taken away

from us. It's the greatest gift. We were made to

have a relationship with our maker. And if we're made

to know God, that our greatest possible treasure is to

know him. And God has revealed this treasure in sending

Christ that we would be saved by him, loved by him,

and known by him. But you please stand