This study was first taught on March 4, 2014

Topic: Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (3)

(use the audio to study)

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Background
Two weeks ago, we looked at why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus, from the perspective of our not having to rely on the comments of others about Jesus, as well as not relying on a ‘revelation’ of Jesus without personal interaction. Last week, we looked at the reasons why we should desire to know the Lord personally by seeking to emulate the intimacy and revelation which Paul, the apostle, had of Jesus; and even though, like us today, he was not one of Jesus’ disciples, during the Lord’s earthly ministry, yet Paul had come to know the Lord personally and irrefutably. We saw how, by the grace of God, Paul laboured to know and serve the Lord. Indeed, he gave up all that he had achieved before his encounter with the Lord on ‘Damascus Road’, so as to gain such intimacy with Him.

We saw that to know the Lord, like Paul did, we must be willing to give up everything—we must arrive at the point where every other thing is considered rubbish in comparison to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We noted some more reasons why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus personally, like Paul did, as follows:
1. If we are to be of use in the kingdom of God as Paul was, we must desire to know the Lord as Paul did, if not more; such that our suffering for the sake of the gospel is a joy, and considered a necessary part of knowing the Lord.
2. Since the value of knowing the Lord Jesus personally far outweighs all the priced jewels in the world, and everything the world can offer us, all put together; we should make the personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus our prime goal.
3. If our knowledge of the Lord is to benefit many people, through evangelism, and ministry in general, we must, just as Paul, abandon human ideas and concepts about the Lord, and instead, seek intimacy with Him directly.
4. Divine wisdom which leads to eternity with God, eternal life, access into heaven, and eternal security, are all the fruit of knowing the Lord Jesus personally. And unless the premium we place on knowing the Lord personally, is far higher than everything we can possibly hope to gain in this world, our desire to know the Lord will at best be mediocre, and our eternity with Him, shaky at best.

We concluded by noting that our motivation for seeking intimacy with the Lord Jesus, should come from men who have walked with Him, in spite of trials, tribulations, and temptations—men like the early apostles, and all such men who did not love their lives even unto death, for the sake of Christ; rather than emulate those whose motivation for seeking the Lord is their belly’s sake, fame, and personal glory. Motivational speaking which has nothing to do with the motivational speaker, having a personal relationship and experiential knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, leads nowhere—certainly, not to eternity with the Lord!

Scripture Text(s)
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Tonight, we shall examine reasons why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally, from the standpoint of God Himself. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to open our hearts to receive the true knowledge of God and Christ, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Our scripture text tells us that, a major reason why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus personally is because, God would rather that we boast in our knowledge of Him, than boast in the many things we are boasting about, and, are in pursuit of today—worldly wisdom, earthly achievements, worldly wealth, fame, possessions, etc.
John 14:7-11; Exodus 33:18-23; Isaiah 6:1-8; Numbers 14:1-38; Joshua 23:14-16; 24:1-23; Hebrews 10:31.

Conclusion
If the previous reasons we had marshalled in the course of this study did not challenge us enough to pursue after the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, certainly, the reasons we have seen tonight ought to. These are:
1. God delights in our knowing Him, and by implication, to know His Son, the Lord Jesus, since they are one with each other. We have seen how displeased the Lord Jesus was with Philip when Philip asked to know God, even though the Lord had been with Philip for so long a time; and, we have seen how God did everything possible to reveal His glory to Moses in spite of the inherent danger.
2. We have also seen that even though Isaiah had been prophesying for some time, it was not until he saw the Lord, that he was fruitfully and maximally useful in ministry; hence, it is clear that we cannot really be useful in the kingdom of God, and in the service of the Lord, as we ought to, until we know Him, as we should.
3. There is the danger of running foul of God when we don’t know Him as we ought to. This was the undoing of the children of Israel in the wilderness; and, Joshua, before his death, warned those of them who made it into the Promised Land to beware, because God could turn around and do them evil, even though He had been good to them before, should they not relate with Him as they ought to.

It is time we came to the realization that the Lord Whom we have been called to serve, ought to be known by us intimately, otherwise, we would be engaging in a fruitless venture. We ought to be aware that when a person does not take the time to know someone with whom he is supposed to be intimate, he may find himself doing things which would offend that person, resulting in unpleasant repercussions. This lesson, the children of Israel learnt firsthand, even after they got into the Promised Land. We don’t have to find ourselves in dire straits with God, before we realize that we ought to spend time, energy, and all our resources to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

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