Alone with the Almighty, Part 2

Last week we began with Daniel chapter 11, verse number 32, where it says the people who know their God display strength and take action. The Bible says that people who know God acquire something and accomplish something.

They acquire strength and they accomplish a specific task for God, as Daniel himself did. We need to know what that means. There was an African pastor a number of years ago who understood what it meant to know God. He knew that there were people who wanted to kill him. They offered him the opportunity to renounce his faith. He refused. And the night before he took his life, he recorded these words, and I want to read them for you. I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power.

The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My face is set, my gait is fast. My goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough. My companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, or burn up till I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops. And when he comes to get his own, he'll have no problems recognizing me, my colors will be clear. That man was one who knew his God. That man was one who displayed great strength. That man was one who took action because he knew his God. I ask you today, as I asked you last week, do you know your God?

Do you know him in such a way that he rubs off on you? Remember the prophet Jeremiah recorded these words in Jeremiah 9, verse number 23, Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord. If you want to boast in something, boast in this, that you know me, that I am the God who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness.

These are the things that I delight in, says the Lord. So if you are one who knows God and he rubs off on you in such a way that you will love sacrificially, that you will lack partiality, that you will live righteously because it's in those things that he himself delights. It was King David who said to his son Solomon before he died these words, 1 Chronicles chapter 28, verse number 9, listen carefully. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind.

For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be courageous and act. David said the same thing to his son Solomon that Daniel said in Daniel 11, 32. Know the God of your father. If you know your God, you will be courageous. You will acquire something. You will acquire strength and you will act.

You will accomplish something for God. Great counsel for a father to give to a son. Know the God of your father. Know me, know me so much that everything about God rubs off on you in such a way that it affects everything about your life. That's what David wanted for his son. That's what Daniel told to us would be the key to our success, knowing God. I ask you again, how well do you know your God? The text says that it's God who searches the heart. God knows your heart. God knows today whether or not you're really serious.

God knows whether or not you're coming this morning, sitting in the pew and saying, you know, I really want to know my God. That is my passion. I want to become so acquainted with my God that I walk intimately with him, that everything about him rubs off on me so that my attitude is altered, my actions are altered. Everything about my life is changed, that I'm a transformed person. God knows whether or not that's really what your heart states. He knows that. Oh, you might be able to fool your spouse, or you might be able to fool your children.

You might be able to fool the guy sitting next to you or the person in your Sunday school class, but you can't fool God. That's why David told Solomon, the Lord searches your heart. If you seek him, he'll let you find him. But if you're not serious about it, Solomon, he knows, because God knows everything. There was a nation of people who on the outside, it looked like they were searching God. Turn with me to Hosea chapter 6 for a moment.

Hosea chapter 6, for no better reason just to figure out where it is in the Old Testament. Hosea chapter 6, Hosea of course was a great prophet of God, used to proclaim the truth of God to God's people, to bring them back to him. They had gone the way of the world, and God wanted his people back. So Hosea would be that tremendous prophet of God. And listen to the words of Hosea 6 verses 1 to 3. And on the outset, you would think that these people were serious about God. Listen to what it says. Hosea 6 verse number 1, this is the people.

Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, but he will heal us. He has wounded us, but he will bandage us. He will revive us after two days. He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before him.

So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. Now just on the outset, you'd read that and think, man, these people really want to know their God. Come, let's follow God, let's go after him, let's know him. For knowing God is like the refreshment of the spring rain. Let us press on to knowing our God. But they were people who on the outside, expressed something that wasn't a reality on the inside.

How do you know that? Listen to what the Lord would say in chapter 7 verse number 10, though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have neither returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him for all this. They haven't sought the Lord. Verse number 13, woe to them, for they have strayed from me. Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against me. I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me, and they do not cry to me from their heart. Verse number 16, they turn, but not upward, or literally to the most high.

There was a remorse about their life. There was a regret about the circumstances they found themselves in. But there really wasn't a true repentance because God knew their heart. Oh, on the outside, they wanted God to do something for them. You know, there are a lot of us who come to church because we want God to do something for us. We think that if we come and we're here long enough that God's going to make my marriage what it ought to be and make my children obey me and make me prosperous in my job and make me physically well.

That was the nation of Israel. Look what they said. They said, come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, and he will heal us. They wanted God to heal them. He has wounded us, but he will bandage us. They wanted a healing, but listen, they didn't want a cleansing. Big difference. They wanted happiness, but they didn't want holiness. There are a lot of people who come to Christ because they think if they give their life to Christ, their marriage is going to change. If they give their life to Christ, their world will be better.

So they come to Christ for all the wrong reasons. They don't like their situation. They don't like their circumstances, thinking that if they come to God and they rub them just the right way, everything's going to be okay. But God knows the heart. He searches the heart. That's what David told his son, for God knows the sincerity of your heart. He knows it. And they wanted a quick fix. It says in verse number two, he will revive us after two days.

He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before him. Look at that. Just a couple of days, he's going to revive us on the third day we're going to live before him and everything's going to be okay.

Isn't that the way it is today? We want to go to church and get that quick fix. We want to open our Bible, read it, just that first five minutes of the day and say, that's it man, everything's going to be okay now.

We want the quick fix approach to Christianity. But for there to be a deep cleansing, there needs to be a surgery. And if you've had surgery, it takes a long time to work itself out. And we just don't want to go through the process. Too painful, purging, purifying is a long ordeal and we don't want to take the time to know our God, but yet it takes time. If you seek me, you'll find me, God says.

If you search for me with all of your heart, you will have me, God says. But because we are so affected by our society, we want that quick religion, that quick fix, that instantaneous intimacy. Doesn't happen that way. And then it says, so let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as a dawn and he will come to us like the rain. There was a ritualistic approach. There was a mechanical approach to knowing their God. There wasn't a relational approach to knowing their God.

There are a lot of us who think that if we set all of our ducks in a row and we do everything just right, we'll know God. That if everything is just so, everything's going to be okay. And so we've become very ritualistic in our approach to worship, very ritualistic in our approach to pursuing God, thinking that if we do the right things and we do them at the right time, we come to know God. And God says, it's not the way it is.

It's a relationship with the living God. It's something that happens because there's a heart that's truly committed to him. So listen to what the Lord God says in verse number four.

What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early. God says, let me tell you what you're like.

You're like a morning cloud. You know, here in Southern California, we get those morning low clouds that come in off the ocean. And they're here after about 9 a.m., 10 a.m. in the morning. They burn off and then the sun comes out. He says, your loyalty is like the morning clouds. They're temporary, but they're not true. Your loyalty is like the morning dew, he says. You've seen the dew on the grass when you wake up in the morning and the sun comes up and it glistens. It's kind of pretty until about 10 o'clock when it's all evaporated and gone.

It's all dried up. Oh, it's lovely, but it's not lasting. It's pretty, but it's not permanent, God says.

That's your loyalty. Oh, it looks good on the surface and people around you say, man, those people are committed to their God, man. They're pursuing him. They're doing all the right things. They're going through all the right motions and they're looking pretty good, but it doesn't last. Man, they get on the bandwagon for knowing God and they begin the new year with a new attitude and everything looks good and boy, they look like the dew in the morning. They glisten in the sunlight and all of a sudden, it evaporates.

It's all gone. They dry up. Listen to what God says. He says, verse five, therefore, I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. God says, you know what I did?

I sent you my prophets, guys like Hosea, guys who give you the word of God because the word of God is like lightning. It just shoots to the soul of man. It's like as Ephesians six says, it's a sword of the spirit. It pierces the depths of a man and God says, I've sent you my prophets because you've got to know my word.

You've got to know exactly what's going on in my heart and my mind. So I send you my prophets who have my word because my word is going to pierce deep into your soul and you got to have that cleansing work. You got to have that surgery. Got to have it. Why? God says in verse six, for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice and in, here it is, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

I want you to know me. I want you to come to me because you want to know me, not because you want a better marriage. I want you to want to know me, not because you want a better job. I want you to know me, not because of what I'm going to do for you, but because of who I am. That marks out one who is loyal and committed and steadfast versus one who is like the morning cloud or the dew upon the grass that fades away in a matter of moments. I want you to be loyal. I want you to know me for who I am, that I am the God of the universe who saves your soul, who sustains your life and moves you from one place to the next.

I am your God and I created you and as my created people, I want you to have an intimate relationship with me. God cries out, I want you to know me, to know me. We have to respond by saying, is that us? Do we want to know him? Do we want to know him? Let me say it this way.

Let's say you decide to marry and your spouse says to you, you know, you can have 70% of me, but you can't have 100% of me. You say, well, why not? Because I'm only going to give you 70%. Or put it this way. Let's say you're going to go to your spouse and say, you know what, I only want 70% of you. I don't want all of you. I just want 70%. Your spouse is going to say, well, what 70% do you want? What 30% don't you want? What is it about me you don't want? Can you imagine marrying someone and they saying to you, I don't want all of you.

I just want 70% of you. You know, the Bible is 30% prophecy and we go to God and we say, we want 70% of God. We don't want to know about the end of the world. We don't want to know about the future. That's irrelevant to me. I just want to know about the God of the gospels, the God of the epistles. And God says, wait a minute, don't you want to know all of me?

No, I don't, God. I don't really care about the future. That doesn't really concern me anyway. I just want to care about today. And God says, wait a minute, time out.

Don't you want to know me for who I am? Because prophecy proclaims the truth of my all-controlling power and my sustaining grace. Do you really want to know God? Do you want to know all of him or do you just want to know a part of him? You want to be consumed with him so much that he alters your life? You need to spend time alone with him, alone with the Almighty. Over in John chapter 6, listen to the words of John. Instead of verse number 15 in John chapter 6, Jesus therefore perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

What's the last word? Alone. Christ had just fed the 5,000. It was more like 20,000, but he fed them. And they said, man, if this guy can feed all of us, he's our deliverer. He's our king. And so Christ knew that they intended to take him by force. They didn't want to accept him as king. They wanted to force him to be their king. Christ knew that. Now, for most of us, we'd say, man, everybody, 20,000 people coming after me want me to be their king. Man, I'll step in. I'll fulfill that. I can do that.

And Christ knew that it wasn't his time. He knew. In fact, if you go back over in chapter 4, over in verse number 34, he says this. He says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. He said, my daily sustenance is to do what God the Father has sent me to do. And that was to accomplish his work, the work of redemption. Over in chapter 6, verse number 38, it says this, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Listen, if the son of man had to spend alone time with his father to make sure that he accomplished the will of his father and to do the work in which his father had sent him to do, how much more do we, as the children of God, need to be alone with the Almighty to understand his will for our life and to accomplish his purposes through our lives?

To know God so much so that he rubs off on you means that you acquire something, strength, that you accomplish something, his will, because he wants to work in and through you alone with the Almighty. We said that there are two points we're going to cover, the essence and the consequence of our time alone with him. We began by looking at the essence. And point number one, the primacy of salvation.

The primacy of salvation, this is where it all begins. If I have not been born again, if I don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I will never get anything out of the book that he has given to me, the word of God, because in order to get anything out of this book, you got to know the author of the book, therefore, you must be born again. So we begin at the very beginning. And some people will say, excuse me, this is so elementary, why do you have to do that? Because there are people, even in our audience, whether it's the first service or the second service, who do not know the Lord.

They don't know him. There are others who think they know him, but in reality, they've never come to saving faith. And so we need to go back to the very beginning and talk about the order of things, and that is the primacy of salvation. We begin just by looking at the first point of that point, and that was the personal test.

We look at 2 Corinthians 13, 5, where Paul said, examine yourselves, test yourselves, prove yourselves.

Three different words to help you understand the significance of personal examination. And we say that exam is based on 2 Corinthians 3, verse number 18, where we are to look into the perfect law of liberty, the mirror that is the word of God, and see, as we look into it, that our lives are being changed from one level of glory to the next level of glory, even as by the Spirit of God. And so we said, the reason or the way you know that you have passed a personal exam is that your life reflects Jesus Christ.

That is, your life radiates with the glory of God. And although it might be a dim reflection, it's still a reflection of God. People affirm that in you. They see you walking with the Lord. They see you talking with the Lord. And you're able to see Jesus Christ in your life as well. That's the personal test. But turn with me to 1 John 1.

In 1 John, we receive the other four tests. John's a great book. John was written for... 1 John was written for four reasons. The first one is that John wanted to promote satisfaction in the lives of people.

So he said in 1 John 1, verse number 4, and these things you write so that your joy may be complete. I want you to have complete joy. I want to promote satisfaction in your life, so I'm writing in 1 John. Over in 1 John 2, verse number 1, it says, my little children, I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. He writes 1 John not only to promote satisfaction, but to prevent sin in your life. Number three, it says over in 1 John 2, verse number 26, these words.

These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. He writes 1 John to protect the saints. And lastly, he writes 1 John to provide surety. It says in 1 John 5, verse number 13, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life. He says, I want to provide surety in your life. I want you to know for certain that you can have eternal life. Now, folks, that verse right there sums it up for me.

When the Roman Catholic Church says to us that, listen, there is no man who can say for certain that he has eternal destiny with God. For if he says that, he is anathema. He is to be damned by God. We know that they're in error because 1 John 5 says, these things are written so that you can know for certain that you have eternal life. Right? That's important. There are many churches who teach that you can't know for certain whether or not you're going to spend eternity with God. Yet the Bible says you can know for sure.

So John gives us four tests. He gives us the doctrinal test, the relational test, the moral test, and the spiritual test. 1 John 3, 23 and 24 sum them up for us. 1 John 3, 23, and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of the Son of Jesus Christ. That's the doctrinal test. And love one another. That's the relational test. Just as he commanded us and the one who keeps his commandments, that's the moral test, abides in him and he in him and we know by this that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us.

That's the spiritual test. So right in the middle of his epistle, he gives you the four tests and all around those two verses, he gives us one of the characteristics of how you know for certain you are truly born again. The first one, of course, is the doctrinal test.

Over in 1 John 2, verse number 20, But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. Here's the doctrinal test. The doctrinal test is this.

You know exactly who Jesus Christ is. It says in 1 John 4, verse number 2, But by this you know the Spirit of God. Everyone that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. John says very simply, this is the doctrinal test. It's based on who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He's the Savior of the world. He is God in the flesh. If you don't believe that, then you don't know God. Because the bottom line is that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. The perfect Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.

And everyone who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. You know for certain that you know Jesus Christ. The Bible says he who comes to God must believe that he is, he is what?

He is exactly who he says in the Bible. That's why when you talk to somebody about salvation and about what they believe, you only ask two questions. Who is Jesus Christ and what must I do to be saved? Those are the only two questions that matter. For what they say about Jesus Christ will determine how they are saved, right? Those two questions are the only questions you need to ask to determine someone's salvation when it comes to the doctrinal test. Because the Bible says you can know for certain you have eternal life.

And the Bible doesn't leave you in the dark. It gives you a series of tests, whether it be a personal test, whether it be a doctrinal test, whether it be a relational test, a moral test, or whether it be a spiritual test. Do you pass? Do you know for certain that Jesus Christ lives within you? Let's pray.