Knowing The One I Believe In - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Would you meet me, please, in your bibles in the book of second Timothy? In chapter one 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 Beelzebub, 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's a spirit that is rejecting this truth, and he energizes people to harm us and to resist us.

But Christ abolished 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 finished in giving reasons why we should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Paul does not finish in 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 unshakable 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 wanna speak from the place of knowing him. I just wanna deliver to you this morning the importance of knowing him and prayfully 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 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 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's 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 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 ad 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 in books, and growing in projects, and all these things getting fine tuned in 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 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 wanna encourage you to, and 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 gonna 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. 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 wanna 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 tune understanding of my savior, of my Lord.

I don't wanna just sit on the surface. I don't wanna 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, he he's trigger happy, and he can't wait to judge.

And then, when he comes into 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're being we're being told that the Lord himself in his preincarnate state appears before Abraham with two angels, and he's 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 you almost come again. What what's the point?

We want to know him. I wanna know every I wanna know him in the Old Testament. I wanna 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. But, 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 and Goro is 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. 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's 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 these 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, oh God, will get the final say of my life. You will get the final determining 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 text, 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 five verse nine tells us, like, 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 in 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 divine court one day.

We'll be 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 it's 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 will 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 gonna allow Christians who grumble against each other on earth get into heaven right away.

He's gonna make sure you get right right now. You guys settle this matter issue right here right now before you go through those gates. Do you think there's gonna 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 wanna 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 in just such an example such as this, I want to be like my lord. Lord, I wanna 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, before I'm 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 and whom we have believed 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 is 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 gonna see how God thinks about sin in a moment. Go to second 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 ewe lamb of a 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 are the man. David 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? Four. The baby, Absalom, Amnon, Adonijah. 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 have 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 Joab, 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, oh 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 70,000 men.

70,000 men. When he committed adultery and murder, it cost them four lives. When he committed this sin with pride, it took out 70,000 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 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 the 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 that 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 in 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 Gad 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 Gad 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 would choose is what is gonna be the least costly? What will be the least painful?

What will be the least embarrassing? What can be the most private active 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 gonna 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 it 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 Gad, 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 gonna ask me what's wrong.

And was David right? He was right. Because God sent his judgment. He sends a 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 gonna 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 didn't understand it with Jesus. That Jesus was willing to get down into the muddy feet of his disciples and wash 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 gonna 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's 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? And I'll give you a little appetizer for for maranatha because that's what we're doing at the conference. We're gonna talk about Jesus. We're gonna talk about Jesus because we wanna know the one in whom we believe. Do I really know Jesus?

When you come to John chapter four, 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 wanna get into this word, and I wanna know my God in a deeper level.

When you come to the scriptures here and you read about this 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, bend now, 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 realized 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 wanna shame her. He didn't wanna embarrass her. He 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 he knew, 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 is that your heart is fluttering. Lord, I want to know you. And I look at this and again, you 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? 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 one nineteen, 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 one nineteen, and her husband Joseph being a just man.

Some translations would say, who has New King James? King James, what does it say? Yes. Being a what? Do you see that?

Being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved 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 wanna make this a public spectacle. He didn't wanna shame her.

He didn't wanna embarrass her. He didn't wanna 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 second 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 translations 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 converts, knowing that he was gonna die. What was gonna 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 could 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 wanna read it to you. You don't have to turn there. In Psalm three verse five, 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 sustaining power, we think it's limited to our difficulties. No. It's actually expanded into 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 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 launch 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 COVID 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 were 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 gonna 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's finished.

It doesn't matter if I'm in my twenties. It doesn't 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 seven. 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. In verse seven 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. So 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 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 wanna 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 wanna just know some verses. We don't wanna just know the elementary truths of who you are. We wanna 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 wanna discover his heart and the way he thinks. I wanna 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 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 and amen.