Knowing The One I Believe In - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

[Music] would you meet me please in your bibles in the book of second timothy in chapter 1 and verse 12. let's pray one more time please if you join me in that as well father in heaven we thank you for this morning we ask lord now that as we open your word as as a family as your children that you would feed us lord we came to this place believing that there's a banquet prepared for us and we come hungry for righteousness longing to know the person in whom we believe we ask that you would guide us and lead us to greater revelation lord not for the sake of mere knowledge but lord for transformative power so that we may be conformed that we may know new heights of love for the master lord help us now and we know that your word says that there are birds of the air that come to try to steal the word from our hearts especially for those who do not know you may you protect every heart in this place we trust that your word will not return void dominate this meeting with your presence we trust that we will meet with you now in jesus name amen our time together spent last week was spent grasping the remedies that rescue us from the temptation of being ashamed of the testimony of the lord jesus christ and his gospel and the treatments that we saw were prescribed to timothy belong to us as well and they have been proven effective by paul's admission you remember the solutions don't you primarily it is a work of the holy spirit that abolishes all fear and instead fills our hearts with with power with love with a sound mind self-control and from that place paul also reminds timothy listen you cannot separate being persecuted being scorned from this holy calling to which you have been called if they call the master of the house belzebab how much more will they malign those of his household and from that place paul goes on to also say that we should not be surprised that there is a spirit that is rejecting this truth and he energizes people to harm us and to resist us but christ abolish death and even if hostility reaches the point in which you might risk your life you can know this no matter who kills you jesus christ killed death and you're in him and you will rise so there is no reason to fear but paul isn't finished paul is not finishing giving reasons why we should not be ashamed of the testimony of our lord paul does not finish and why you and i can stand firm even in the midst of suffering he concludes his point and it is a thought that is so profound and vital that it deserves its own segment this morning and he mentions this glorious insight and he he goes on to say indirectly that it was so significant to his boldness and his unshakeable faith towards his ministry and his message and that phrase that you've probably heard and memorized again deserves for us to explore it for an entire morning and it's found here in verse 12. paul says which is why i suffer as i do but i am not ashamed for i know whom i have believed and i am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me i know whom i have believed why is paul not ashamed why is paul not blushing for any humiliation that is thrown at him why can he suffer and choose to embrace it the way he did because he knows the person that he has committed his life to and as a result of this knowledge of the personality of the character of the acts of his savior it birthed this confidence in which he is not ashamed to be associated with this jesus this morning i don't have three points for you i don't have four points i don't have five points sometimes and oftentimes that helps just flow with the message i just want to speak from the place of knowing him i just want to deliver to you this morning the importance of knowing him and prayerfully that will inspire you to pursue him with an intensity that you didn't have before you came here that's my prayer paul says i know whom i have believed he did not say i know what i believe because there's a big difference knowing what you believe knowing what i believe is absolutely vital it is crucial it actually determines where we will spend eternity knowing what we believe will help us understand the experience of the abundant life that christ has prescribed based on the beliefs that we ascribe to but knowing what we believe is much more profound than just a set of creeds or maxims or proverbs or a set of rules what paul is saying here is what makes our faith so unique it's about a person it's about being acquainted with a person and there is a big difference between knowing what we believe and knowing whom we believe and i believe through this verse when we see paul's language god longs for us to adopt that same language not by parroting it not by parroting it no but from experience from genuine experience we can say i really really know him i do and i would tell you this i've met many believers in my life and i can tell you i'm sure you can testify to the same that there is a great difference and you can tell the difference between a christian who knows what he believes and who he believes in oh there's a difference and i believe you can see the immediate consequence of knowing this person because he says because i know him i have this confidence i have this genuine confidence that everything that's been entrusted to him and to me will be safe you see when you understand this faith with the lens of being in a relationship with this god it's shown in your life it's translated you worship differently you evangelize differently every component of your life is affected by this relationship and so paul says i know him and because i know him i've committed there's a commitment that i've made there are things there's actually this transaction that's taking place between me and this god that i believe in and we have to graduate more and more into that and listen a growing understanding of god is not encouraged for the sake of being a possessor of some deeper revelations than the next person the importance of knowing him truly on an individual relationship level is for the sake of our healing there is a deliverance found in that there is a sense of freedom there is in this case in paul's case there is an endurance and suffering that is found in it there is a liberation from any accusation and assaults to your character there is in a sense a disarming of fear among all other things this is not a matter of option this morning there needs to be the pursuit of knowing him in whom you've believed and not just knowing what you believe i remember when i was studying my undergrad in advertising one of the first things that they told us in that bachelor's program as we began was that after you finish your four years in this program you will never see commercials the same you'll never see a billboard ad the same you'll never see a magazine add the same you'll never see anything pertaining to advertising and marketing the same way and sure enough after those years of sticking our faces and books and growing in projects and all these things getting fine-tuned and our understanding of how this whole thing works when you drive on the highway when i drove on the highway when i went and saw this or saw that sure enough you see pass through the surface level and you're able to dissect things and see things that the average person doesn't see and that's true with the lord jesus christ that the more you grow in understanding who he is as a person you will be able to see his fingerprint in every aspect of your life things that look average things that just seem normal or neutral you realize there's an association with him that there's an involvement of his of his power of his wisdom in it see what i want to encourage you to and hear me out is that knowing jesus is more than just knowing that he died on the cross for you as significant as that is knowing jesus is is knowing more than you're going to go to heaven one day because you've placed your faith in him and it's through grace that you're saved it's deeper hebrews tells us that these are elementary things that we must move on from not that we ignore it or we never explore it but that's the launching pad the cross was the means for us to understand him and know him and love him in deeper ways and yes there are depths to the gospel absolutely but there is in a sense in which we grow in our understanding of him where we apply him to everything in life and because paul knew the one in whom he believed he can apply jesus to his dungeon and to his fate and to his suffering and again i want to just tell you that the goal of this message is to simply inspire us to simply inspire you to come to the place where you will determine that i desire to comb through my bible i desire to have a fine-tuned understanding of my savior of my lord i don't want to just sit on the surface i don't want to just be ankle deep lord bring me and draw me in deeper to know you and when you know that you will understand a new height of worship and adoration i can guarantee you that and you will know a sanctified perception of people and events in your life i can guarantee you that if you determine from this morning on to really know the one that you claim to believe in you will never see the world the same way again in fact as you grow in the knowledge of him layers are peeled off and you begin to see greater things greater treasures and revelations of christ in life right now paul says i'm not ashamed i'm not ashamed primarily of the gospel i'm not ashamed of jesus christ but there are many reasons why people are ashamed of the testimony of their lord and it may not be about the gospel i argue that many times that when people blush about their belief in jesus christ or in this bible they blush about the old testament they do and there's this false dichotomy in their minds that the god of the old testament is much less patient uh he's trigger happy and he can't wait to judge and then when he comes in to the person of jesus christ he's he's much more gracious and loving and approachable and i just want to again i'm not here with three points i'm not here dividing things i'm just here to inspire you by the grace of god to understand the power and the beauty of knowing him personally so can we go somewhere together let's go to genesis 18. genesis 18. in this chapter at this point in verse 20 we are being we're being told that the lord himself in his pre-incarnate state appears before abraham with two angels and he is ready to head towards sodom and gomorrah to judge these cities because their sin has reached to the point where the cries of the victims of these places have echoed into the corridors of heaven and so god himself chooses to come down and to visit the scene but before he visits the scene he tells his servant abraham what he is about to do and it's amazing we read here in verse 20 what takes place then the lord said because the outcry against sodom and gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave i will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me and if not i will know you and i know what happened to sodom and gomorrah it was destroyed by fire the stench of their sin has reached the heavens and it was such a insult to the glory and holiness of god that he unleashed wrath from above to eliminate these cities forever but as you read this you almost come again what's the point we want to know him i want to know everything i want to know him in the old testament i want to know him from genesis to revelation here's just an example i read something like this and now my heart is fluttering because i know something foundational about my god he knows all things he's omniscient he doesn't need to walk through doors to see what's happening inside he doesn't need a telescope to see what's happening at a distance and he doesn't need to come down from heaven to earth to investigate a matter his eyes are at all places at all times from the heavens down to the depths of sheol but then i come to a verse like this and i think to myself well the lord is speaking and he's saying i will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me and then i will know lord you know all things what are you doing here is there a conflict with with your deity at this point already we've just come to genesis we haven't even reached past the first book of the bible unless he's trying to show us something about himself i believe here that god manifests himself as a human to explore whether or not the sin of sodom agarose true and here's what we're learning about him in that he does know all things there is no debate about it but he is deliberately choosing to make his personal visitation to earth to show humanity for all time that he is a just and fair judge do you see what he's doing here he is coming to the earth not because he doesn't know but he is setting an example he is demonstrating something about his character the all-knowing king is exemplifying the lengths to which he is willing to go to in order to demonstrate that his judgments are motivated by a thorough and careful examination he is not a god who executes wrath out of rash or emotion nor does he simply rely on the information of others this god only moves forward according to the certainty of his personal discoveries he comes down to show not that i need to do it but look how careful i am look how just and fair i am i am going to look at this for myself and based on my perfect infallible conclusion i will move forward on whether or not this people should be judged or not and as you relish in that revelation long enough oh lord do you see how now this is becoming personal do you see now how your heart begins to open up it begins to now seep into your life and you realize lord you're not just the final judge lord you're not just the judge of the judges lord you are the perfect judge man may slander me wicked people may raise up accusations against me but you o god will get the final say of my life you will get the final determinating word about who i truly am and you know my heart and you know my motives and i take comfort to know that and i'm sure paul would have taken comfort in the realization of the one in whom he believed i know him as rumors are being spread about him as people in the church are embarrassed to be associated with this prisoner this gospel preacher that's getting thrown in jail and yet not directly associated to our texts but the thought and principle he knew in whom he believed and he had a confidence i'm confident and i'm sure this is important for us as well to know him in this way you know what james says james 5 verse 9 tells us this is towards christians do not grumble against one another brothers so that you may not be judged behold the judge is standing at the door the judge is standing at the door usually you would think you would preach that an evangelistic meeting towards non-believers no this is towards christians the judge is standing at the door now what is the relationship between grumbling and complaining against one another and the judge standing at the door well we know the temptation right we know the temptation of speaking ill of somebody else or slandering somebody else or speaking out against somebody else's character even within the church and here's what james is saying i wonder how many believers realize that every word every grumble every whisper will be brought before a divine court one day we brought before the court of courts and the judge of judges this proves to me how much god really cherishes and values the reputation of his servants and when it is being attacked or assaulted when is being maligned and muddied by somebody else there is a day coming in which the judge will take those accusations even from a brother or a sister and with his perfect judgment we'll examine whether they are true or not and if they are false that person will be disciplined and the victim of such a thing will be praised before the angels of heaven wow you know how much confidence that gives me i don't know how much confidence it gives you i praise god for that i know in whom i believed be encouraged believer your oppressors even within the household of god will not be able to escape the judge of judges the judge of judges will manifest himself in due time and i love this he says make sure there's no grumbling amongst you because the judge is coming i don't think god is going to allow christians who grumble against each other on earth get into heaven right away he's going to make sure you get right right now you guys settle this matter issue right here right now before you go through those gates you think there's going to be grumbling and complaining in heaven and then you'd read this in genesis and you think to yourself wow lord you the omniscient one you come down and you examine not because you need to but because you want to show us by example what kind of god you are and i take confidence that the judge of the earth will do right and as i walk in integrity with my lord and for my lord he will be a shield about me but then the revelation seeps deeper the importance of knowing him and just such an example such as this i want to be like my lord lord i want to be like you like you i will hear the the cries of others against other people but would you give me the wisdom and the strength and the grace to investigate and discern and dissect before i make a judgment before i'm quick to label for a quick to put someone in a certain category oh god i see who you are as a person and i realize if the omniscient one who cannot fail in his understanding and his judgments came down to look and to see with his own eyes how much more us how much more us who are so easily deceived and convinced by the words of another broken and fractured human being therein lies one simple example of how looking and knowing him in whom we believe provokes us to worship him with a greater intensity and to love others with a greater purity you can come through this book and you can come to an example just like that and as you see him the person of your trust and salvation blossoming in a way that perhaps you wouldn't think is applicable to you applies to you how many more examples do you have time i hope so there's so much more for us to know and these things are just coming to my mind as we're going through this text think about david when you hear the word association between david and sin who comes to mind bathsheba see bathsheba maybe uriah right that's the scandal of david's life and people don't realize that there is another sin that david had committed and you're going to see how god thinks about sin in a moment go to ii samuel in verse 12. this is after nathan the prophet wisely comes to david and he provides a parable and when he provides the parable he does so like the way jesus does so so that the the hearer of the parable would make an unbiased judgment not realizing that most of the times they're actually judging themselves in second samuel 12 nathan gives a parable david makes a judgment and nathan quickly makes him known you are the man that you just judged and as you come to verse 13 in the presence of this mighty prophet that was sent by god listen to the words of david david said to nathan i have sinned against the lord and nathan said to david the lord also has put away your sin you shall not die now i want you to scroll up for a moment look at verse five this is when david responds to the parable then david's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said to nathan as the lord lives the man who has done this deserves to die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity so you remember the parable right a rich man comes and a guest comes over and instead of taking one of his own lambs he takes the ulam of of a poor person the only lamb that he had and slaughters it to feed this visiting servant and david as a shepherd knew the atrocity that was just committed because he knew what it was like to take care of a baby lamb and what that can mean to someone and then he says this person in your parable who has taken that only lamb may he be judged fourfold to restore the lamb david says nathan says you're the man dave says i've sinned greatly against the lord and what was the consequence of his sin here's my question how many sons of david died for the baby absalom amnon adonaija he said may this man be judged fourfold for taking the lamb god heard his word and he took four of his sons that was the consequence of this sin but at the end of the same book david committed another sin that many people tend not to immediately associate with him and it's because people do not think that what's what he did at the end of second samuel was as serious as what he does here in the middle of second samuel go to second samuel 24 david at this point in his life creates a census he sends his men to go across israel to number the soldiers that he has and you would think there's nothing wrong in that necessarily and that's true because the bible does give instructions in the old testament about leaders giving a census and numbering the people especially numbering the people for war but it was supposed to be done according to certain rules and we have reason to believe that david broke the rules that's found in exodus 30. we haven't we don't have time for that but david here is actually revealing a pride there is something in him in numbering these people against the way god called them to number them that revealed his motive he wanted to flex his muscle he wanted to he wanted to measure the strength in which he had as a king with his standing army and when he sends out joab to go number i mean a few months pass by and then suddenly i mean even joe that man who was a bloodthirsty murderer was reluctant to do what david did that shows you the seriousness of pride he was like are you sure you really want me to do this right now he goes go and he goes and as he numbers them we read here in verse 10 of second samuel 24 but david's heart struck him after he had numbered the people and david said to the lord now listen carefully i have sinned greatly what did he say with bathsheba in front of nathan i have sinned what does he say after this i have sinned greatly in what i have done but now o lord please take away the iniquity of your servant for i have done very foolishly what did david do at this point that caused him to say in comparison to his sin against bathsheba and uriah i have sinned greatly pride arrogance self-sufficiency there is an impurity and unholiness of his motives in this moment and so offensive was his attitude in the sight of god that he himself knew a greater conviction than that of adultery and murder what did it cost david after he sinned with bathsheba four of his sons when you come here what did it cost for this sin go to verse 15. so the lord sent a pestilence on israel from the morning until he appointed time and there died of the people from dan to beersheba seventy thousand men seventy thousand men when he committed adultery and murder it cost him four lives when he committed this sin with pride it took out seventy thousand people it's quiet in here because we're trying to figure out how does this make sense how does it make sense that a man with the the body can sin so grossly with another man's wife and then have that man murdered and then here is a man who is just giving out his senses and there seems to be greater consequence and greater conviction with that sin than with a sin that we all associate david with when we associate him with the word sin let me make this point we don't see sin the way god sees sin we don't this should teach us how god views the severity of our iniquities and he has a different way of measuring them than we do it is not that there are some sins that are lighter than others it is that some sins are more serious than we might think in god's eyes when it came to davidson with bathsheba again we see the flesh element to it we see his his hands getting involved in it then we come to this sin and we realize that it was a matter of the heart and the bible calls out the sin of the spirit it's not necessarily performed with the flesh but it's an inward reality but god sees it just as strongly as he does anything else do we really see it that way i read something like this and i think to myself god help me see as you see lord do i really know you the one in whom i believe do i really know the depths of who you are how you think how you feel how you estimate how you measure you see when you see what paul said i know in whom i believe the question that i had reading that was how familiar am i with him how much do i really know this one in whom i believe or do i just know that he died on the cross for my sins do i just know that one day he will judge the world generally how much do i know this one and whom i believe well here's an example of how he views sin but at the same place where we see a sobering lesson of the holiness of god you get served something about his bountiful mercy because what happens is after david realized that he had sinned against god with this great sense of conviction the prophet god shows up on the scene another prophet david's like i've been through this before but god shows up confronts him with his sin and interestingly enough he gives them the choice of the consequence of his sin now you know why that's significant because as a general rule you and i can choose our sin but we can never determine the consequence of our sin but in this case in this isolated scenario i believe that what god is allowing here is this multiple choice for david not because that's how he does it generally but so we can learn something about the one in whom we believe through this look at verse 13 so god came to david and told him and said to him shall three years of famine come to you in your land or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you or shall there be three days pestilence in your land now consider and decide what answer i shall return to him who sent me talk about a difficult multiple equation multiple choice answer let me ask you this as you sit here this morning how would you choose how would you choose out of these whole three i'm sure how most people will choose as what is going to be the least costly what will be the least painful what will be the least embarrassing what can be the most private act of discipline i can choose out of these three correct if we're honest if we let our hearts speak i'm sure we would look and say these are difficult choices but i'm going to try to figure out in this moment what will cost me the least you know what was running through david's mind not the severity of the punishment not what would have cost his fields or his family or his reputation the only thing running through his mind was who's behind the judging who's the one that will execute this act of discipline upon me that's all he cared about and that's why he concludes with his answer the next verse then david said to god i am in great distress let us fall into the hand of the lord for his mercy is great but let me not fall into the hand of man god you're putting me in a difficult situation right now with these choices but i know that the best answer that i can come up with right here right now is that i must fall into the hand of god don't give me to the foes don't give me to my enemies because i realized something david i believe with all my heart that david was an old covenant character with a new covenant heart david has more understanding of new covenant principles and promises than most new covenant christians do today david said god's mercy is far greater than the mercy of man in the old testament in the old covenant and he says let me fall under his act of discipline because man is much more severe much more relentless much less willing to accept my repentance even if it's a sincere repentance i must fall at the mercy of my god do you believe that about your god do you see that about the one in whom you believe when you fall into sin is that the revelation you have the great mercy of god are you thankful that in your sin though man may not forgive you smear you isolate you reject you there is one who is more merciful than man if you want proof that god is much more merciful than man go to the book of jonah and compare jonah the prophet with the holy one of israel and you'll realize that the holy one of israel is much more compassionate than the prophet jonah against the assyrians i look at a verse like this and i realize god do i really know you do i know the depths of who you are or do i just sing songs because i'm told to sing them and i should participate or else somebody's going to ask me what's wrong and was david right he was right because god sent his judgment he sends up he sends a pestilence but he stops it right at the moment where he needed to stop it god does judge when david says i'm just going to fall at god's mercy god does judge and what does he judge he weakens his people to show david that he's not as strong as he thought he was he strips him of people within a matter of hours thousands of people are falling the news is spreading another 2 000 died another 5 000 died and whatever david thought he mustered up in strength by numbering them is quickly dissolving before his face but even in that horrific act what god is doing is chastising his son just at the right temperature to make sure that he is not thinking for a moment that god hates me but that he's willing to sanctify me in my sin do you believe that about the mercy of god do you really believe that in your mind though you have a revelation of the holiness of who he is do you at the same time realize that there is none as merciful as he is and that when i do sin and i come before him i have no doubt in my mind that he will deal with me perfectly he will deal with me perfectly david understood it here peter did not understand it with jesus that jesus was willing to get down into the muddy feet of his disciples and washed them and he tells us what that means that we are washed by the word and we are cleansed by salvation but as we walk through this world we're going to pick up dirt on our feet and christ is just as eager as to wash our feet than he was when he died on the cross for our sins he is just as eager to forgive you when you fall in your redemptive state than before you were saved do you know in whom you believe really do you understand the depths of who he is do you have a fine-tuned understanding do you long to know it we come to a place like this and we realize there's so much to know of you lord there's such a deep well of truth that i must know and we're in the old testament why don't we go to the new i'll give you a little appetizer for for maranatha because that's what we're doing at the conference we're going to talk about jesus we're going to talk about jesus because we want to know the one in whom we believe do i really know jesus when you come to john chapter 4 this is the infamous scene of jesus and the woman at the well and what's amazing about this there's so much to say and we'll we'll most likely unpack this at the conference but just to get an idea of what i'm talking about listen again this may not impress you this morning but my only goal here is to inspire your heart i want to get into this word and i want to know my god on a deeper level when you come to the scriptures here and you read about the story you realize that jesus encounters this woman but he came to the same place with his disciples but it's not till later that you realize in verse 31 of chapter four if you come actually earlier verse 27 he has this moment with this woman and it's an incredible conversation and then in verse 27 it says just then his disciples came back they marveled that he was talking with a woman but no one said what do you seek or why are you talking with her again i'm resisting of going deeper into john chapter four daniel bennett hold me back if you see me going come up here and pull me down but i look at a verse like this and you know what i realize about my jesus do you realize what you see about the one in whom you believe we are told that he had to go to samaria we know that he had to go because he had an appointment with this woman and you know what jesus does he sends all his disciples away to get lunch let me ask you a question does it take 12 people to get lunch for everybody no but he sends every single one of them away and the reason is because he's about to have a conversation about a woman's sin and he's gonna he's gonna unveil something about her life and he didn't want one of his disciples to be in that vulnerable moment as he was ready to encounter her and prophetically reveal her past he didn't want to shame her he didn't want to embarrass her he didn't want people to listen in on the conversation he wanted to restore her privately and that's why they came they were shocked because you know you guys don't understand what i'm doing go go get lunch come back and i look and i see this is my jesus do you know in whom you believe even from a verse like this i'm telling you there's so much more for you and i to understand of him and i hope that as you're hearing what i'm what i'm saying that your heart is fluttering lord i want to know you and i look at this and again you just relish in that revelation and what begins to happen it seeps into your life am i one to shame am i one to to embarrass him do i long to restore people in the most humble gracious way possible in fact go to matthew there we escaped john four we're not gonna go there go to matthew matthew 1 19 this is when joseph hears about the news that his fiancee was pregnant and he knew nothing happened between us so the only conclusion is you committed adultery but look what joseph does in matthew 1 19 and her husband joseph being a just man some translations would say who has new king james king james what do you say yes being a what do you see that being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolve to divorce her quietly i believe some translations say he was a righteous man and the first mention of justice the first mention of righteousness is that he wanted to deal with this quietly he didn't want to make this a public spectacle he didn't want to shame her he didn't want to embarrass her he didn't want to drag her name in the dirt he wanted to deal with this quietly the first mention of being a just man is here in the new testament with this example and we come back to ii timothy and we see in paul's case what the revelation of his understanding of jesus christ brought him to and you heard it earlier it says here for i know whom i have believed and i am convinced that he is able to guard until the day what has been entrusted to me most transition would say what is entrusted to him the reason why the esv has it this way is because the greek sometimes can mean one or more two things and it's okay because both are true but i believe the flow of thought is that what has been entrusted to him but do you see because i really know who he is right now in this moment i have a concrete confidence in the face of what death death right around the corner ready to snatch his life and yet paul could say i have so saturated my mind and my heart with the understanding of who jesus is that i am confident really confident everything that i've entrusted to him what did he entrust to him some say it was his ministry some say it was his converse knowing that he was going to die what was going to happen to the churches that he plants that he planted and some say just his life well here's the beautiful thing regardless of what it is anything that you place in his hands is safe the whole idea here is i know who he is to the point that whatever i commit into god's hand for god's glory he will faithfully manage it perfectly and in this case it means i believe paul's soul i've committed my soul to him knowing that my death is just around the corner and because i know who he is i am convinced that he will not allow death to have the final say i know for certain that he will raise me up on that final day i know that he will usher me in as he says until that day at that moment where i stand before him i know i'm headed there i have no doubt in my mind i have no doubt in my heart how do you have that kind of confidence how do you have that kind of assurance i can tell you this you better know him know him and as you know him you will feel the strength surging in your soul you will know how to interpret everything even in this moment being in a roman cell i know that i am confident do we believe that it's the revelation of the long-suffering it's the revelation of the faithfulness of christ that is holding up paul right now and coming off of this thought i think it should be an encouragement to us do we really believe that the moment you give your life to jesus christ that every nanosecond of your existence is being supervised by the savior that every waking and sleeping moment your lord your savior is monitoring you and watching you and holding you in place i read this briefly last friday i want to read it to you you don't have to turn there in psalm 3 verse 5 i lay down and slept i woke again for the lord sustained me i lay down and slept i woke again for the lord sustained me you know when we think of god's sustaining power we think it's limited to our difficulties no it's actually expanding to your sleep that as you're in that vulnerable condition the lord himself is making sure that your breathing is okay he's making sure that your organs are functioning well and he will ensure that when you pop your eyelids open even though you think it was your rude alarm that did it it was actually your sovereign lord that made sure that you woke up and for the sinner the fact that they have a new day is just an expression of god's longing for them to finally repent before it's too late but for the saint who wakes up with the aching back and maybe the sore muscles and they launched their feet into the ground the fact that the lord woke you up precious saint is because your testimony is not yet complete on the earth do you know in whom you believe beyond knowing that jesus died on the cross for you and that you're going to heaven one day do you really know in whom you believe and how it affects every aspect of your life you know that truth that i just shared profoundly affected my life back in pre-cover days where you didn't have to worry about traveling i remember getting on many flights and there's something about being 30 something thousand feet in the air sitting in a chair with a seat belt and it's shaking violently that's not comforting to me and there are many flights where we're greatly disturbing because of that reality i don't mind things happening while i know i'm on the ground but 30 something thousand feet in the air maybe that doesn't matter to you but i remember so many times whispering underneath my breath or saying it in my heart being somewhere over some state and feeling my chair shake and people trying to be as confident as possible but they're all looking at each other like do you know what's going to happen thinking to myself these thoughts lord you know i'm traveling right now to do something but if my time has come my time has come if this thing is going down then i know with the few seconds as we plunge towards the earth or the ocean my testimony is finished doesn't matter if i'm in my 20s does it matter if i had hopes and dreams because i know in whom i believe you have guaranteed that i will not come and see you until everything is complete in my life would you like to see that here's one example we'll conclude here in revelation 11 verse 7. this is a chapter about the two witnesses during the tribulation period who will testify of the truth of who god is in the midst of one of the most hellish scenes that this world will ever know and these two witnesses have been raised up by god but there's a little insight tucked into this chapter that is so comforting because it reveals something about the one in whom i believe verse 7 of revelation 11 we are told and when they have finished their testimony the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them this demonic creature that will rise from the abyss will come and actually ravish them and destroy them and slaughter them but only on this premise when they have finished their testimony do you realize that even a vicious demon like described here cannot even touch one of your hairs until your testimony is complete all of hell can belch out every single satanic creature against you but according to god's law as a child and a servant of his kingdom none can harm you until your testimony is done wow so what's a turbulent flight gonna do what's the diagnosis of the doctor over my health gonna do what are threats on emails gonna do when i know that i'm not going anywhere until my testimony is done paul could be confident because of the knowledge of his savior was concrete i have one application as a result of this what seems to be kind of a sporadic message is that you would search for him and you would know him go deeper brothers and sisters go deeper study harder pray harder lord i really want to know you because this is not just a matter of you having greater understanding it will come into your soul and you will like paul be able to be confident in times where many people would be shaken and you will be able to understand jesus and god the father in every circumstance whether it's your sin like david his mercy is far greater than the mercy of man i run to him whether it's you experiencing things that you feel like nobody's there to he's the judge of judges and he's right at the door and he will vindicate you with perfect judgment whether it's fear over your health do you know the one whom you believe you're not going anywhere till your testimony is done oh there's so much to know about him so much to know about him from cover to cover and my only desire out of this place is not for you to be impressed but to be blessed to be blessed to realize that your savior your lord the one that you have put your faith in has much more to be discovered if you're willing to discover him go now and seek him and he will be faithful to reveal himself let's pray heavenly father we don't want to just know some verses we don't want to just know the elementary truths of who you are we want to be like paul and be confident to say i really know him i know him i know what he can do for me in this prison i know he can what he can do for me in this ship i know what he can do for me as i'm traveling i know what he can do for me at this job i know who he is i can see him behind every blessing and every beauty and i can see him in this dilemma because i've read of what he can do with my problems father we have one simple request through the sampling of your word that we would be inspired to say i must know him more i want to discover his heart and the way he thinks i want to know something of his faithfulness and his promises so that i can apply them to my life and so lord we have tasted of your sweetness we see even for a moment how good you are how holy you are and lord we ask that as a church on an individual basis we would be persuaded to pursue you in a deeper way would you help us by the holy spirit's power to see between the lines to read with a depth that we didn't have before lord would you make us hungry enough not to be satisfied with the knowledge that we have of you at this moment help us realize that the consequences of seeking you are far greater than boasting in knowledge but lord as paul experienced there is a confidence that can be known there is an assurance and a safety and a security that can be unleashed help us know you that's our only desire this morning help us leave here wanting to know you more we ask these things in jesus name amen amen

Channel: UE Church - Chicago

Views: 711

Rating: 4.9111109 out of 5

Keywords: daniel batarseh, ue church, bible study, sermon, church, new testament, old testament, teaching, preaching, building, encouraging, christ, jesus, christian, how to, god, lord, where, when, how, bible, christain, christianity, encouragement, what, belief, believe, knowing, knowledge, faith, faithful, righteous, righteousness

Id: QvwWWuLQoQ4

Length: 54min 50sec (3290 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 20 2021