Good morning, welcome to Trinity Reformed Baptist Church Jackson, Georgia. It's March 17, 2013. Join us now as Elder Barry Sewell brings us a message from Colossians. Please go ahead and turn in your Bibles again to Colossians chapter 1. If you remember a few weeks ago, Brother Stephen Henderson preached in verses 1 through 8 in Colossians. And I think he and Clint have been doing a series, an introductory series for the church in Alabama. I was doing some reading in Colossians and found a topic of interest to me, so hopefully I do not step on Stevens or Clint's getting their way, because I'm sure they have great messages for us to hear as well. But I think the sermon this morning that I'm preaching on will not be hindrance, so we may hear Stephen, if he deems it fit, preach again on these same verses, perhaps in a different way. And that's what the great thing about Scripture is, that you can read the same verse over and over and over again and come away with a new line of thought, a new evidence of truth, as God's Word is like that. We want to look at verses 9 through 10 this morning as we go through Colossians. If Stephen went through 1 through 8, so if you were here, he gave you an introduction to the book, as well as those words of encouragement for those first eight verses. I don't know if any of you remember, perhaps, but in the late 1980s and through the mid-1990s, there was a serious theological debate that arose in conservative evangelicalism. A number of professors, especially from Dallas Theological Seminary, began to put forth a doctrine that eventually was given the name non-lordship theology, or non-lordship salvation. And as it began to be rolled out and encountered men such as John MacArthur and many others from reformed camp started to show the difference in this teaching and the biblical and historical Christian view of salvation. Of course, their viewpoint was given the title Lordship salvation to confront the non Lordship salvation. The core difference here was whether the true salvation consisted of bowing to Christ as Lord and Savior. are simply to Christ as Savior. Richard Belcher, the author of our Journey books, put out a book summarizing both of these two views, and I want to read a few of his comments about the non-Lordship view concerning key doctrines of salvation. With respect to faith, he says this. He says this is what the non-Lordship people view faith as. Faith is to believe the facts of the gospel, that is, it is to take God at his word concerning the truth content of the gospel, add anything else to faith as an accompaniment or as a result, and it is no longer saving faith. Thus, faith can exist without repentance, without submission, without works, without perseverance, without discipleship, etc. Faith even exists if it does not continue. for it is a one-time act which affects eternal life forever. With regard to repentance, he says this, repentance is not an integral part of saving faith. In fact, it is no part of saving faith at all. There is the possibility that one can be saved and never experience repentance. Concerning regeneration, Belcher writes, regeneration is the supernatural work of God whereby the sinner is imparted new life, but there is not necessarily the transformation of life. Changes may take place or they may not take place in the life of the new convert. And finally, concerning obedience and works. Obedience and works are not the basis or the cause of salvation, nor are they related to the evidence or proof of one's salvation. True salvation will not necessarily result in a life of obedience and godly works. Therefore, it is possible for one to be saved and yet have no fruit or works to follow. Growth and fruit are hoped for but still optional for the believer. It is possible not only to profess salvation but also to possess salvation while continuing evidencing a rebel's heart and an unbeliever's lifestyle. It is not hard to see, as we read these comments, why many, mainly Reformed teachers, view this viewpoint as cheap grace. In summary, again, this view says that salvation is absolutely free as one simply takes God at his word in the gospel. It is simply to believe the facts of the gospel. It involves no submission, no repentance, no change in lifestyle as a result, and no fruit that will necessarily follow. We must ask that if knowing God and salvation really is just believing the facts of the gospel, is obedience optional? Well, we don't have to search long to find that our Christian ancestors, including our own confession of faith, presents a very different doctrine of salvation as the one I just described, we must turn to the scriptures to find out the truth of the matter. So, our text today in Colossians focuses on this aspect of spiritual knowledge of God and a knowledge of his will and what that relationship is between this knowledge and holy living or obedience. So, we look in verse 9, it's interesting that in the Greek, Beginning in verse nine, this is the beginning of a sentence that consists of 218 words. So it's amazing that in Greek they could write such long sentences. And I'm thankful that our English translations are able to break them up into more digestible sentences that we have today. But here we see in verses nine through ten, let's read those again. And so from this day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." We see here that Paul is explaining how he and others are praying for the Colossians since the day that they heard of God's grace was at work among them. Paul describes his praying as asking which is a specific kind of prayer, which we would call intercession. He is making definite requests on behalf of these believers to God. Paul begins by asking that these believers may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in turn meaning God's will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And that is our first point, if you take notes. Paul prays that these believers will have a full knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God's will. He wants them to know God in a way that fills them up fully. This type of knowledge is certainly objective since it reveals truth about who God is. I don't want us to get confused about that. Truths about who God is, his character and attributes, and what he wills or desires. Without a doubt, there are certain facts that one must believe to be a Christian. Paul presents these basics in 1 Corinthians 15. If you want to turn there, 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 3, Paul says this, For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all is to one untimely born, he appeared to me." So I want to emphasize that one must certainly believe these necessary facts presented in scripture of who Christ is and what he did and will do for the benefit of his people. These facts are found in his Old Testament appearances, the Old Testament prophecies about his coming, who he is, and what he was to do when he came. They focus on the virgin birth, his perfect life, his atoning death, his miraculous resurrection, His glorious ascension and His promise coming again to judge the living and the dead. Our own confession of faith goes into detail on these foundational facts that are necessary to be believed. Without knowing and believing these objective facts, one cannot claim to be a Christian from a biblical perspective. So we need to recognize that knowing God involves knowing these objective facts about who Christ is and what he came to do. That is a key necessity to being a Christian. But this type of knowledge is not one that is merely intellectual, abstract, or theoretical, even as Robin discussed this morning in Bible study. It is not a knowing about God, it is knowing God in all that he is. Few years ago, we went through J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God, and he points out this difference with respect to evangelicals in his book. I want to read a section paragraph from his section. Chapter two and knowing God says knowing versus knowing about. We need, frankly, to face ourself at this point, we are perhaps orthodox evangelicals, we can state the gospel clearly. We could smell unsound doctrine a mile away. If asked how one may know God, we can at once produce the right formula that we come to know God through Jesus Christ the Lord and virtue of his cross and mediation on the basis of his word of promise by the power of the Holy Spirit via personal exercise of faith. Yet the gaiety, goodness, and unfetteredness of spirit, which are the marks of those who have known God, are rare among us. rarer, perhaps, than they are in some other Christian circles whereby, by comparison, evangelical truth is less clearly and fully known. Here, too, it would seem that the last may prove to be first in the first last. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him." So, we see Packer describing the difference between knowing God himself and knowing about God. And I think he's pointing to the fact that, even perhaps more so in Reformed circles, that we can give you the right formula. We can give you the right theology, the right doctrines. But the question is, do we know God as Scripture describes it? This knowledge of God, as Packer points out, goes beyond a mere intellectual, theoretical knowledge of God. But we also must admit that this knowledge is not one that is a secret kind of knowledge that we find outside of the teachings of Scripture and outside of the objective facts. This was a type of knowledge that those in the first century church had to fight against in the sect of Gnosticism, who held to a view of an inferior Creator God that we see in the Old Testament and a superior God of the New Testament. Even Paul in this letter, and Stephen brought this out in his sermon, is perhaps wrestling with the root form of this teaching in his letter to the Colossians. Listen to how the Holman Bible Dictionary describes what the Gnostics believed with respect to this type of knowledge. I quote, This secret knowledge was not a product of intellectual effort, but was given by Jesus, either in a special revelation or through his apostles. This secret knowledge was superior to the revelation recorded in the New Testament and was an essential supplement to it because only this secret knowledge could awaken or bring to life the divine spark or seed within the elect. When one received the gnosis or true knowledge, one became aware of one's true identity with a divine inner self, was set free or saved, from the dominion of the inferior Creator God and was enabled to live as a true child of the absolute and superior deity. To be able to attain to one's true destiny as God's child, one had to engage in specific secret rituals and in some instances to memorize the secret data which enabled one to pass through the network of powers of the inferior deity who sought to keep persons imprisoned. Salvation was thus seen by the Gnostics in a cosmic rather than a moral context, and to be saved was to be enabled to return to the realm of spirit, or pure spirit, with the transcendent God. So we see how the Gnostics viewed this knowledge as being a secret form of knowledge. And this kind of teaching remains with us today, and we can see it in evidence by the promotion, mostly from liberal scholars, of these non-canonical Gospels written by and teaching Gnostic stories of Christ. And now they're everywhere, and they're the ones you're going to hear about if you watch the History Channel and the Smithsonian Channel. These are the Gospels they want to talk about. And they do this, these liberal scholars, to try to put Christ in a different light from that that we have from the four Gospels that we have in our New Testament. They hope that Christians like you and me will listen and question and doubt what we have come to believe and know about Christ from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These were the only four Gospels accepted by the early churches, canonical and authoritative concerning the life of Christ. And they were not given this authority because the church approved them, which is what the Catholic Church would have you believe. But the authoritative nature of them was recognized by these early Christians led by the Holy Spirit. So, in light of this, we must remember that we are not autonomous in our quest to know God, which would allow us to invent knowledge outside of scriptures, like the Gnostics did. John Frame writes that our knowledge of God is one under his authority, and it is subject to scripture, the most certain knowledge that we have. So, if it is the most certain knowledge we have of God, then it should govern our accepting or rejecting all other propositions and teachings about God. For Christians, therefore, the content of Scripture takes precedence over and serves as a criteria for all other understanding of God. So, we see that this knowledge is not merely intellectual based on the facts found in Scripture. It's also not one consisting of a secret formula, not found in Scripture. The question is, how do we gain this knowledge, and of what does it consist? Paul gives us this answer in verse 9, that this knowledge is one, he says, gained through spiritual wisdom and understanding. It is a knowledge spiritually discerned and imparted by the Holy Spirit. It is knowledge that must come from God for it reveals his mind or will. It is not common knowledge or what we would term general revelation given to all people, but it is a knowledge that is specific or special given to believers. One cannot simply learn God. God must disclose this knowledge to the believer. It must be revealed as truth to truly feel or take hold of an individual. This knowledge is by grace. And Paul goes into detail more about what this knowledge is in 1 Corinthians 2, and I'd like you to turn to there, that passage, and we'll read 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 6. Paul goes into more detail about what this knowledge is. Beginning in verse 6, he says, Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age, or the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thought except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but in himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." First, I want you to look at verse 7. You might jump up, you are a Gnostic, and say that we see here that this wisdom is referred to as secret and hidden. And of course, I've just told you that this knowing God is not a secret kind of knowledge. So, what do we do with that word as Paul uses it? Well, first we must understand and remember that the Gnostics said that their secret knowledge was outside of and superior to Scripture. If we read Paul throughout his letters, he is clear about the superiority of the Word of God which is given to the authors of the New Testament through the Holy Spirit. It is not a product of human wisdom. He also urges that the churches in his letters to remain in these truths taught to them by the apostles and chastises them when they do stray from this body of doctrine, especially look at the book of Galatians. Second, we can get a meaning of Paul's use of the word secret if we move to the very next chapter of Colossians, chapter 2, verse 3, where Paul refers to in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, referring to Christ. He says that this use of the word mystery here states that knowledge of mystery is found in Christ. Here in Colossians, with the use of the word mystery, and in 1 Corinthians, as Paul uses the word secret and hidden, we see Paul referring to a concept that we label progressive revelation. The gospel, which has now been completely revealed in Christ, was at one time only in seed form, and in essence it was kind of hidden, and it was a mystery for those living at that time. They had an idea of it, and they had faith to believe. But they did not have the complete revelation of how God would work out salvation through Christ completely. Paul even stresses that if they had understood this truth of Christ fully, they would not even have crucified him. So that's what he means when he uses the word like mystery and the words like secret. He's not talking about a secret knowledge, but one that in the past was not as clear to those who lived as it is now. So we can see that in this passage in 1 Corinthians how this knowledge comes about. This knowledge is one that again is spiritually discerned. It is not imparted or taught with words of human wisdom, but it is taught by the Holy Spirit. It comes by spiritual truth through the Holy Spirit, even so that the natural man cannot understand it in its fullness. So we must understand that to know God, God must reveal himself to us spiritually. You know, there are many teaching and seminaries and colleges today that are not Christians. They would be what we would call the natural man. They can give you the facts of the gospel. They can tell you what the Bible teaches, but they don't know God. They don't know God's will because it has not been yet spiritually taught to them or given to them. And that is how this knowledge comes about in our lives. God must give it to us spiritually by grace. But what does this knowledge consist of? We see from verses four through seven in chapter one of Colossians, a few spots, that these believers had already received the saving truth of the gospel. In verse four, we see that Paul mentions their faith in Christ Jesus. In verses five and six, he says the gospel is bearing fruit among them. And again, in verse six, we see how they have heard and understood the grace of God. in truth. They had clearly come to a saving knowledge of God and salvation through Christ. Their hearts had been spiritually regenerated by the Spirit and granted a faith, opening their eyes to understand and receive the gospel facts as trustworthy and true. They were trusting in Christ and his atoning work for them. So what kind of knowledge did Paul want them to be filled as we see in verse 9? Charles Spurgeon writes about this, he says that saving knowledge, though it be the most essential attainment, is not the only knowledge which a Christian should seek after. He longs to be useful as well as to be safe. Being himself delivered out of darkness, he strives to bring others into the marvelous light of grace. Paul would have his brethren thoroughly furnished for sacred service, knowing the will of the Lord themselves and able to teach others. He desired for them that they might possess comforting knowledge, strengthening knowledge, edifying knowledge, sanctifying knowledge, directing knowledge, so that they might be ready for all the trials, duties, and labors of life. Conversion is just the beginning of knowing God. We taste his mercy, his grace, and his love. We rejoice in the God of our salvations and our hearts supernaturally cry out to know him more. Ask yourself, do you understand your own sinfulness or the depths of God's mercy the same way today as you did when you were converted? Do you love God and trust him more today than you did at your conversion? I hope that you do have a greater understanding of your salvation and a greater understanding and knowing of God of your salvation more so today than you ever have. This knowledge refers to you now being a friend of God and no longer His enemy. You have responded in your whole person to God in all areas of your life. In essence, you have a fullness of love and desire for God's Lordship, His authority, and His ever-present reality in your life. This type of knowing God and His will for the believer will continue to grow throughout his or her life. We see in Paul's letters that he was so concerned that these believers would continue to grow that when he left them, he wanted to make sure that they had teachers and elders to continue to instruct them in these truths. He made a point to have these elders go about this task so they would not be floundering on their own. Again, John Frame writes, he says, it is this friendship, covenantal and relationship, knowing of God that separates the believer from the unbeliever. While the unbeliever sees and knows enough of the truth about God to be without excuse, they lack an obedience and friendship with God that is essential to knowing God in the fullest biblical sense, which is the knowledge that believers have. The unbeliever in his knowledge seeks to overturn the authority and truth of God and God's will. And so, in essence, the unbeliever knows God as an enemy. So, do you know God today as an enemy or do you know him as a friend? Even though, as we have seen, these things of God are spiritually discerned and by grace, there must be a supernatural or spiritual empowering effort put forth And Paul prays that this effort of these new believers would bring forth a more intimate and faith-building knowledge of their God and Savior and his will for them. This pursuit of knowing really can be wrapped up in the answer to the catechism question, what is the chief end of man? To know God is to glorify him and enjoy him forever. But this increase of knowledge is not obtained through osmosis, and it's not automatic. It is not gained by the lazy. How do we grow in this knowledge of God? Well, God has given us means to use in this pursuit of knowing him. Proverbs 2, we read this. My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding. If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. We pray for the knowledge and understanding of God's truth and purposes to come to ourselves and our fellow believers. This proverb instructs of some of the means God uses to accomplish this understanding in the believer's life. For one, we must listen with attentiveness. We must pay attention to the truths as they are taught to us. We must seek understanding, even calling out and raising our voice to gain it. Personally, I'm a pretty quiet person, but here we see in the Proverbs we are to cry out for this understanding, cry out for this knowledge. And also, we must seek it in the same way we would seek a hidden treasure full of silver. If someone told you there was a treasure in your backyard, what extreme measures would you go to to find it? We are to seek knowing God in the same way. If we do that, then we will understand the fear of God and find the knowledge of God and wisdom from his mouth. I often think of Jesus comparing the kingdom of heaven to a hidden treasure. and a fine pearl in Matthew 13, 44 and 46 when I think of this pursuit of this knowledge. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. Who won't find in one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it. You know, are we willing to give up all to know God? Is knowing God a longing for us? Do we thirst to know God as the deer thirst for water in a dry land? Do we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? For this is knowing God. He's worth everything we value. He is our value. Again, Robin discussed the passage where it said, if anyone does not hate his mother and father, Hathes other things, he does not know me." God is to be our value. He is our treasure. He is what we pursue, and it will take an effort if we are to know him as we would desire. As we see, just as Paul prayed for the Colossians, we all need to pray for one another to have this hunger and desire to know God in all he is. To pray that we will not grow weary in this task, for it is sometimes wearisome. To pray that God will be gracious to reveal himself to us in truth and spirit. And to pray that this knowledge will fill us to overflowing. This will be a lifelong pursuit as long as we are on this earth, but I guess I could also say it will be an eternal pursuit. For that's what we will spend eternity doing, is learning more and more of who God is. Paul continues in verse 10 to show us that this type of knowledge will produce something in us, and that is our second point. Paul prays that because these believers are filled with this knowledge of God, it will produce a life of godliness and good works. John Frame writes again, knowledge of God in the fullest sense is inevitably an obedient knowledge. Notice what Paul says in verse 10. so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work." Let me return to J.L. Packer, who writes, One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God. He goes on in his chapter to say that the question is, can we say simply and honestly that we have known God, and that because we have known God, the unpleasantness we have had are the pleasantness we have not had, though being Christians does not matter to us. If we really knew God, this is what we would be saying. And if we are not saying it, that is a sign that we need to face ourselves more sharply with the difference between knowing God and merely knowing about him. In essence, Packer is saying, does knowing God affect our lives? Does it affect our emotions and actions when providence goes against us in our own thinking? Does knowing God affect our response to worldly wisdom? Does knowing God affect our response to those temptations to do or think things contrary to God's clear word as found in Scripture? Packer would agree with Paul here that the answer is yes. This type of knowledge that Paul prays for these believers to have will impact their lives in godly thinking and godly living. Notice how he describes those who possess this knowledge of God. They will be concerned with walking in a manner that shows forth the worthiness of God and fully pleases God in every good work. Godliness is a result of knowing God. A scripture is full of many passages that links knowledge of God with righteous living. I want to read a few, so don't bother to turn. In Colossians, which we see over and over again, chapter 3, verse 5-10, we read this, Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Notice he says this godly living is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 1 John 4, 7-8 says, "'Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. And John 1420, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and I will manifest myself to him. So we see the people of God will seek to obey him and the better they know him, the more obedient they will become. This type of knowledge of God will result in the believer being renewed, transformed, and conformed to his image. It is a sanctifying experience as God continues to manifest himself to the believer. We recognize that God is the ultimate, legitimate authority who is absolutely right on all things. We believe that he, as our Lord and Savior, only wants what is best for us and instructs us in these good ways. As we see Him and know Him as He reveals Himself to us in spirit and truth, we desire with our whole heart to pursue obedience out of this loving knowledge of our God. So we see that knowledge produces within us an obedience to God. A truly knowing God will bear the fruit of godly living. And that leads us to our third point we see at the end of verse 10. What do we see here that is produced in the believer's life by godliness? We see that obedience to God leads to an increase in the knowledge of God. So we have come back around and now see that there is a circular relationship between knowing God and obeying God in scripture. They occur simultaneously and are inseparable. Listen to Jesus' words in John 7, verses 16 and 17. So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority. A willingness to obey God, God's revealed will gives knowledge of God and what that will is. If you want to obey God more fully, you must get to know him. But it is also true that if you want to know God better, you must be willing and seeking to obey him more fully. Again, John Frame writes about this relationship. This emphasis does not contradict our earlier point that knowledge is by grace. Knowledge and obedience are given to us simultaneously by God on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice. Once they are given, God continues to give them in greater and greater fullness. But he uses means. He uses our obedience as a means of giving us knowledge and vice versa. So how would we determine if someone knows God? They walked in today. Do we give them a written or an oral exam? While we can't evaluate their thoughts or hearts, we do look at their life. Again, once again, let me quote John Frame. who says that atheism in scripture is a practical, not merely a theoretical, position. Denying God is seen in the corruption not just of one's thoughts, but of one's life. Similarly, the test of Christian faith or knowledge is a holy life. The ultimate reason for that is that God is the real, living, and true God, not an abstraction concerning whom we can only theorize, but who is profoundly involved with each of our lives. Thus, our involvement with him is a practical involvement, an involvement with him not only in our theoretical activity, but in all of life. To disobey is to be wrongfully ignorant of God's involvement in our lives. So disobedience involves ignorance and obedience involves knowledge. We must not overlook this relationship between true knowledge of God. and holy living, for it is necessary. You can't have one without the other. They are vitally connected to each other. Well, we've already looked at a few passages that focus on how true knowledge of God in Christ will, by God's grace, produce good works, though not without means. But what about those who would skip the true knowledge of God and move to a boasting in their good works? Well, Jesus responds to these in Matthew 7, 21 through 23, and you listen to his sobering words. You've probably read these before. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Jesus did not know them, and they certainly did not know him. Paul reminds us of this same thought in Galatians 4, 8 through 9, when he says, Formally, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather, to be known by God, How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more? The one who truly knows God, in essence, is known by God. Though the temptations will come to return to the world and its weak wisdom and worthless principles, God has adopted these as children and will produce within them principles and living based on his purpose and righteousness. They will grow to be holy as he is holy. All here in Galatians is warning these believers not to go back, for they would then prove that in essence that they never knew God and that he does not know them. So I must ask you this morning, do you know God in the way that we have looked at the way we have evaluated? Are you known by God as one of his adopted children? Even though it is not perfect, is this knowledge producing a striving for holiness in your life? And then, is this holiness producing in you a greater knowledge and love of your God? If your answer is yes, then your life gives good evidence that you are a child of God based on scripture. Or, on the other hand, are you trusting in a human knowledge and understanding of the gospel of Christ that is not producing the pursuit of holy living? In other words, this knowledge of God has no impact on your life. Are you simply concerned with eternity, with no desire to obey God here and now? You have no desire to follow Christ as your King and your Lord. Your life is not different from before the time when you say you believed. That is basically what that teaching I described earlier would be promoting. A living as if there's no change. Is your life like that? Does knowing God affect your life? You're not perfect. You won't be on this earth. But is there a striving? I was talking with Bobby earlier. I think we all go through seasons of doubt in our lives. We think about our lives and our still struggle with sin. We say, how can I be a Christian? But think about what you were before. Think about the changes God has made. This is not a instantaneous, blameless change. It's a constant growth. Has Christ made a difference? Is your life moving forward? We fall down. We get back up. Think of the story of When David was confronted with Nathan, Nathan, I think, told him to get back up, get up, get moving. So when we do sin, we need to move back into the truth of God's gospel. So does knowing God affect your lives? But also, are you the one that is trusting in your good deeds without a true knowledge of God? In essence, you think these good deeds will be enough to gain entrance into eternity with God in heaven, yet these good works do not produce within you a desire to know God better. You know, those comments we read in Matthew, they were doing many great, wonderful works for God, but Jesus said He did not know them. If this vital, circular relationship between true, loving knowledge of God and holy living is not evident in your life, Then based on Scripture, you are not giving evidence that you do not truly know God and are not one of his children. And unless things change, you will hear the dreaded words of Christ when he says to you, as he said to them, I never knew you. I pray that God will grant you grace and favor this day to know him. And then may this knowledge yield good, holy fruit in your life, beginning with repentance and faith. In Jesus Christ and going forward to a future where Christ presents you as blameless and holy to the Father as a trophy of his grace. That was Paul's prayer for these believers, and I hope it is a prayer that we have for ourselves and the prayer that we have for each other as believers in Christ. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, we do thank you so much for this knowing you in a saving relationship. For all of us who are believers here today, we know that it is not of ourselves. We were not smarter than the next guy. We were not wiser. But it was your grace that reached down and opened our eyes, changed our heart. So we know you because you first knew us. But I pray, Father, that that knowing will not be one that limits itself in producing good works. I do believe, Lord, that as we know you, those things will come. They will naturally stem from the fact that we love you in this way. I pray that we will not become complacent with our knowledge of you, that we will not grow weary of doing good. Continue to work in us, Lord, this vital relationship between knowing you and obeying you and godly living. Continue to build on each one of these things in our life, for we know that the more we know you, we will want to obey you. And the more faithfully we obey you, we will grow in knowing you better. Continue to help us, Lord, in our lives, for we know that it will be a lifelong pursuit. I pray for the one that does not know you this morning, that your spirit will work in them, that you will change them and you will knock them, Lord, from the thinking they have, that they will see their great sin and affront to you. And they will repent and they will come to you in faith. And through this knowledge, you will then change them and produce within them evidence of that change through godly living. Lord, thank you so much for your word. May we never grow weary of reading it. hearing it taught and preached, and may it continue to impact us since the very first day when we became Christian. We pray in Christ's name and for your glory. Amen.