You can know an impressive set of facts about a person and not personally and directly know that person. When it comes to God how can we be sure that we know him and that he knows us?
- TEXT: Matthew 7:23
- SERIES: The Gospel of Matthew
- SPEAKER: Jason Dollar
- DATE: December 4, 2011
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Matthew 7:21-23 “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. [22] 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?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
INTRODUCTION: Knowledge is often defined as justified true belief. This definition relates to knowing the existence of an object or the occurrence of an event. But relational knowledge of a person should be thought of a bit differently (for example, if Page asked me “Do you know me,” and I said “I have a justified true belief that you exist” she would not be satisfied in the least with that answer).
It means that God has decided to know you first.
Paul’s direct statement in Galatians
Galatians 4:7-9 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Formerly, 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?
John’s teaching on God’s initiating love and choice
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
The wedding garment: Matthew 22:1-14
It means to know God directly and not simply about Him.
If you know about someone it means you have a set of facts about them.
If you know someone personally it means you interact with them and they with you (they know your name for example) – (This is why prayer / Bible study is one of the key confirmations of true salvation)
Keep in mind, we can’t know God exhaustively (since He is infinite), but we can know Him truly. [for example, I may never fully understand His Trinitarian nature, but I can know in truth that He is Trinity]
It means to personally trust Jesus Christ for salvation.
Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
To truly know God in relationship, the roadblock of sin must be removed.
ILL) A wife cheats on her husband for 10 years at which point he declares, “I don’t even know you anymore.” What he means is that her infidelity is a roadblock to true personal knowledge.
It means to love God and keep His commandments.
1 John 2:3-6 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 is 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 be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
