Knowing Jesus

Praise God, it's so good to see all of you here tonight. Most of all, rejoicing that the Lord is here, amen? He is truly here. The Bible says in Romans 6.23 that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eternal life. Now I want to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it, not out loud, but I want you to answer it in your heart. What is eternal life? What is eternal life? Some say that's when you go to heaven when you die.

That comes from saying a sinner's prayer, some would say. What is eternal life? Our Lord Jesus Christ answered that question. He gave us an exact definition.

And I want you to turn with me to John 17 where we read the first three verses. What is eternal life? John 17. This is in a wonderful, powerful prayer that our Lord Jesus prayed.

One of the last prayers He prayed before He went to the cross. The Gospel of John 17. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You. As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life.

That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent. This is eternal life. That they may know You and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.

Let's pray. Father, I thank You for Your holy and living Word. We thank You for Your living presence in our midst.

Lord Jesus, we lift up Your name. You are the risen, resurrected Christ. You are alive.

We thank You that You're not in some Palestinian tomb somewhere. You rose from the dead. You conquered the grave.

You conquered sin. You're alive, Lord. And You're in our very midst.

And I pray You would reveal Yourself, Lord. I pray You would remove the veil and give each and every one of us an encounter with You tonight. Tonight is my prayer in Jesus' name.

Amen. What is eternal life? How did you answer that question? And how was your answer compared to Jesus' answer? This is eternal life, brothers and sisters. That we might know God.

That we might know Him. And that we might know Jesus Christ, His Son. God's greatest desire for you and me is for us to know Him and to know Him more and more.

How can I be so sure that that's God's greatest desire for us? For one, this is again one of the last prayers Jesus prayed before He went to the cross. This is probably the greatest prayer in the Bible because it's being prayed from our Lord. The Son of God is talking to the Father.

And in this prayer, the beginning of this prayer, this is what He starts with. I have given eternal life to as many as You've given Me and this is eternal life. That they might know You, Father.

And that they might know Me. In essence, it's what He's saying. It's God's greatest desire that we might know Him.

If you really love someone, you want them to know you. And you want to know them more and more. Well, how much does God really love us? Look at the cross of Jesus Christ.

Look at the Son of God who gave His all for you. Look at the Son of God. Look at what God the Father did for us by giving His only Son.

He gave His best. He gave His all that we might know Him. God wants us to know Him.

He is passionate about us knowing Him. How much does He love us? How passionate does He want us to know Him? Look at the measures that God went to for you and me just to know Him by looking at the cross of Jesus Christ. This is eternal life.

That they might know You, God the Father, and know Jesus Christ His Son. Jeremiah 9, verse 23 God says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows Me.

He's not a God that just created this world, sets it in orbit, and then removes Himself. He is a God who wants His creation. He wants us to know Him.

He wants us to know Him personally. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how rich you are, how strong you are, how athletic you are, how pretty you are, how good looking you are, how anything you are.

None of that matters compared to knowing God. This is what matters above all else, folks, to know God, to know Jesus. Jesus said it this way, What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul? What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul? Well, if that's God's passion and God's greatest desire, what in the world should our greatest desire be? It should be to know God.

To know Him. It certainly was the greatest passion of the Apostle Paul. He had this insatiable desire to know Jesus Christ and to know Him more.

And I want you to turn with me now to Philippians chapter 3 where we'll see this in the words of the Apostle Paul as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit. His greatest passion. Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 7. The Apostle Paul says, and mind you, this is not just at the beginning of his Christian life.

He has known Christ for a while now and still, this is his greatest desire. This is his greatest passion. Beginning in verse 7. Philippians chapter 3. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

Yet indeed, I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And here it is. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

God wants us to know Him. This is Paul's greatest desire to know God. And it's a knowledge that goes beyond the head.

We're not talking about knowing God from the head, but knowing Him from the heart. Knowing Him personally. There's a huge difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

And I tell you, brothers and sisters, one danger I see, one danger I see, I see all this wonderful preaching. We have access to so much wonderful preaching and teaching today on the Internet. You can go on YouTube.

You can listen to so many wonderful sermons. It can be a blessing. It's both a blessing and a curse.

It can be a blessing if you're listening to those sermons and you're drawing near to Christ. You're growing in a relationship with Jesus. You're walking with God and it's drawing you near to Him.

It can be a curse if all you're doing is filling your head with knowledge about God. And many today are just riding on the coattails of somebody else's relationship with God, but don't know God themselves. There's a huge difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

Knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. Paul knew volumes about God before he met Jesus on the Damascus Road. He didn't know God.

Judas Iscariot walked with Jesus Christ for over three years. Serving, if you will. Saying all the right things.

Maybe doing, quote, all the right things. He didn't know Jesus. He knew about Him.

He didn't know Him. And many, many people are trying to live, even in the church, vicariously through somebody else. There is only one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.

And there is no mediator between you and Christ. God is no respecter of persons. You don't come through a preacher to get to Jesus.

Look to Jesus. If after a meeting like this, you just think about the preacher, I have totally failed. After a meeting like this, we should walk away more in love with Christ.

More consumed with Christ. More passionate about knowing Him more. And it's got to go beyond the head.

All I know, God created the heavens and the earth. Yeah, Jesus was born of a virgin. Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Jesus died for my sins. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is coming again.

The devil knows all of that. But he doesn't know God. He's not saved.

Born again. You can know the Bible. You can know chapter and verse.

And I've met multitudes of people who can quote chapter and verse of Scripture that don't know God. Our greatest passion on earth should be to know the heart of God. To know Jesus.

To know Him more. And that's one way you know that you're going to know Jesus. You want to know Him more.

The closer you get to Him, the more you know Christ, the more of Him you want to know. And I know there are many in Christendom today. There's many in the church.

There are many Christians who almost feel like, quote, eternal life. John 17.3 I know that, brother Brian. We've got to go beyond that.

Folks, we don't go beyond that. And you have not scratched the surface of that truth. And I've not scratched the surface.

The more you know Jesus, the more you want to know Him. If you know the real Jesus. We have not even come close to plumbing the depths of knowing Christ.

There is so much more to know of Him than you and I know Him. Think of it this way. Every single person who ever met Christ, the risen, resurrected Jesus Christ in the Scripture, it took their breath away.

John walked with Him on this earth. He was so close. He laid His head on the chest of the Lord Jesus at that Last Supper.

Walked so close with Him. And yet, when he saw the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ in Revelation 1, it took His breath away. He fell on His face as a dead man.

And so did every single one who ever met the glory of Christ. You don't know Him like you can know Him. And I don't know Him to the degree that I can know Him.

I was standing again seeing that ocean for the second time in my life today. I can't get over that. Maybe you take it for granted because you live here.

I'm a dry lander. The only time I've seen the ocean is from the air in an airplane. This awesome body of water.

And they say scientists have only discovered about 5% of the ocean floor. I don't know if they've even discovered 5%. That's a big body of water.

I was thinking as I looked at that today, some would boast, oh, I know Jesus. I know Him. I done did that.

I've been saved. I've been born again. I already know Him.

That's like holding a little thimble full of ocean water and say, I'm plumbing the depths of the ocean. Yeah, look at my thimble. And another brother says, no, I've been walking with God longer than you.

I've got a coffee cup. I've got a tea cup. Looky here.

Perhaps we esteem another brother. Oh, he really knows God. He's walked with Him a long time.

He's got a 5-gallon bucket. We're talking about an ocean. And the Scripture says our God measures the waters in the hollow of His hand.

The ocean's in the hollow of His hand. He is the God who says you may come this far and no further. He created that ocean.

Man can't plumb the depths of the ocean. Never has. Never will.

How can you plumb the depths of knowing God? The Creator of all. The glory of Jesus. The more you know Him, the more you want to know Him.

And that's how you know you're growing to know Him. You have an insatiable desire to know Him more. Not just to be a good teacher, a good evangelist, a good Bible teacher.

This desire to know Christ should supersede all our other desires. It did the Apostle Paul. This one desire that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

You also know you're growing to know someone when you recognize their voice. When my wife calls, you can call and say I don't have caller ID. All she has to say is one word.

I know who I'm talking to. I know her voice because I know her. Jesus said in John 10, My sheep know My voice.

They listen to Me. They follow Me. They know My voice.

Do you know His voice tonight? Do you know when God speaks to your heart? You can know that. You can know. Well, let's talk about how in a little bit.

But you know you know someone. You recognize their voice. You're going to know a person when they begin to reveal their heart to you.

When they begin to reveal secrets. The depth of their heart. There's a big difference.

Some of you know, for example, some of you know now about my wife, about my daughter. But I know my wife. I know my daughter.

You know someone when they unveil their heart. They begin to share with you. Did you know the Scripture says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him? And He will show them His covenant.

God wants to unveil His heart. He wants you to know not just about Him, but to know His ways. To know Him.

To walk in a close relationship with Him. To be so close to Him that you can hear Him speak through this holy book and by His Spirit. I think of Isaiah the prophet.

When he saw the Lord in the temple, he said, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. You remember the seraphim that had six wings? With two they covered their faces.

With two they covered their feet. And with two they flew. And they cried one to another, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah saw Him and he said, woe is me. I'm undone.

I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. Yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

And the Lord had one of those seraphim take a live coal from the altar, touch his lips, cleanse him of sin. And now in right relationship with God, Isaiah the prophet hears God speak. Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Isaiah was so close to God at this point he could overhear God talking.

Who will go for us? I believe it's the son and the father having conversation, but he is so close to the throne he hears God speak. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Here am I, Lord. Send me.

Brothers and sisters, God wants you to know Him so much more than you know Him. God wants me to know Him so much more than I know Him. And I want to say this to you.

Knowing Jesus Christ is worth losing everything. He is worthy of it all. There is nothing that compares to knowing Him.

Knowing Him is worth losing everything. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. Verse 7, What things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

Verse 8, Yet indeed, I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. He is willing to suffer the loss of all things to know Jesus. Again, this desire should supersede all other desires.

And if I'm honest with you, even though maybe I never have said this, it has been true, that at times my greatest desire, even more than knowing Jesus, was to be a good preacher. Lord, make me a good preacher. Oh Lord, make me this.

Oh Lord, make me that. That's changing, brothers and sisters. It's changing.

I believe I can say in truth before you, my greatest desire is not to be a great preacher. My greatest desire is to know Jesus. It's to know Him more.

I think sometimes, Lord, if You just stand here and we all see You, no one would have to preach. He is the one we worship. He is the one we love.

He is the one we serve. He is the one we adore. He is everything.

And knowing Him is worth losing everything. And I tell you, to know Him, we have to lose some things. You know what we have to lose? We have to suffer the loss of two things especially.

We have to suffer the loss of unrighteousness, namely sin. And we have to suffer the loss of self-righteousness. Both of them.

And Paul refers to both of them in verse 8 as rubbish. I count them, he says, as rubbish that I may gain Christ. One translation says dung.

The Bible can be graphic, can't it? I'm sorry to be graphic to you, but the Bible can be graphic. Let me ask you this. When you use the toilet, do you have to think, should I flush this or should I hold on to it? You flush it.

It's waste. It's rubbish. It's dung.

That's gone. I don't want that. That's how you and I need to look at our sin.

You want to hang on to your gossip? Flush it. Your anger? Flush it. Seeking to impress people so you can get honor? Flush it.

Lust? Flush it. And there's a lot of things that we have to suffer the loss of. I think it was John Piper, I think I read a quote, but it really stuck with me.

He said something to the effect, it's not the exact words, but he said something to the effect that one thing that Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, all these things, will reveal at the judgment seat is that it wasn't because of lack of time that we didn't pray. We spend a lot of time on these things, a lot of time on gadgets. Some of that has to be flushed.

It has to be laid aside for the sake of knowing Christ. And you won't know Him without spending time with Him. I used to think about this, you know, preaching on the quiet time and having our time alone with God, that that's elementary and everybody knows that.

But you know, I'm finding a lot of us don't know that. A lot of us are missing that. And God has no grandchildren.

You can't be riding on the coattails of somebody else's relationship with Christ. You need to know Christ. You need to spend time with Christ.

And the beauty of it is God is no respecter of persons, so you can know God as much as you want to know Him. He promises in Jeremiah 29, if you seek Me and search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me. He promises no respecter of persons.

He's inviting you and I to know Him more. But we've got to flush the unrighteousness. We've also got to flush the self-righteousness.

Suffer the loss of it. Even our tears of repentance have to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus. I love that hymn, Rock of Ages.

I was so glad we sang that tonight. That hymn is full of truth about nothing in My hands I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling.

If there is anything that you think you can boast of before Christ, my friend, you're on the wrong track. You need to flush that. All our righteous acts, the Scripture says, are like filthy rags.

There's nothing outside of Christ that makes us worthy and acceptable to God. It's His righteousness. It's His worthiness.

It's Him. All of Him. There's no other way to come to the Father except through Christ.

Flush it all. Lose it all. Some of us, it's this proud reputation.

You know, there's one thing sometimes we can't let go of. Or maybe it's a conditional surrender. Lord, I give You everything, but please don't ever call me to do that.

Please don't ever call me to go there. I think of W.P. Nicholson. He was one of the greatest evangelists that Ireland ever knew.

And W.P. Nicholson shares his testimony and he says, first of all, as a young man, he lived a very sinful life. Then he met Christ. The Lord saved him.

He was born again. Cleaned him up. He joined a Presbyterian church.

He said for about the first seven months of his conversion, he sort of just drifted along. He knew he was saved. He had a relationship with God through Christ now.

But he said his Christian life was up and down. More down than up. He never led anybody to Christ.

He had heard about this deeper life in Christ. Victory over sin. The joy of the Lord.

And he was honest with himself and said, I really don't have that. And he said a conference came to town on the deepening of the Christian life. And he heard how Christ was God's unspeakable gift to the world.

The Holy Spirit was Christ's unspeakable gift to the church that he could not live the abundant life in Christ apart from being filled with the Holy Spirit. He said he wanted it, but he resisted and he rejected because he didn't want to be or do anything that a good Presbyterian would not be or do. But he kept struggling.

He said, finally I came to the place I realized I couldn't make God a Presbyterian. So he said one night, after being angry almost every meeting, he kept coming back to that conference, every meeting he would leave angry. And one night he just got alone by himself and he just cried out to God.

And he said, okay God, whatever it takes, I come to You with unconditional surrender. I surrender all my reputation to You. Now one of the things he was struggling with was that in those days the Salvation Army would come to town.

They'd come in little bands like a corps. And in this particular town, his town, the Salvation Army Corps that came to town was made up of two young girls who played the tambourine and one awkward young man they called Daff Jimmy who held up a flag. He said, Daff Jimmy didn't have enough brains, darling, give him a headache.

And he made fun of him. And he mocked him. On the back of Daff Jimmy's big red Salvation Army jersey in white letters it said, Saved from Public Opinion.

And one of the things Nicholson said was, Lord, I'll follow You anywhere, but don't ever ask me to join them. Don't ever ask me to look like that. I'll look like a fool.

And after that night of surrendering all to God, he was making his way back to town. There was a holiday. Everybody was on the streets.

All of his family, relatives, friends. And guess who he runs into? The little Salvation Army Corps. Two young girls playing the tambourine and Daff Jimmy holding the flag.

He walks by them and he stops just to watch them. One of the young girls says, Brother, the people won't stop to listen to us preach the Gospel. Let's pray.

So she went down on her knees. He said, I couldn't run away. So I knelt and prayed along with them.

He said, I could hear the people laughing, scorning, and mocking. And all I could think was, Oh, please pray a long prayer. He said, I was hoping they would pray a prayer as long as the 119th Psalm.

But she prayed only a very short prayer. He said, I got up. I was embarrassed.

I was blushing when the young girl looked at me and handed me the tambourine and said, Here, brother, you lead the march. He said, I took the tambourine. And he said, the most amazing thing happened.

I started playing the tambourine and praising the Lord. And he said, all of a sudden, my chains fell off. And I felt the glory of God come upon me.

The risen, resurrected power of Christ. You see, brothers, he came to an unconditional surrender now. He said, I lost something that night I never want to gain.

And I gained something that night I never want to lose. Will you come to Jesus tonight with unconditional surrender? Lord, make me what You want me to be. Take me where You want me to go.

Tell me what to say. Unconditional surrender. Can I tell you, if you do that, you can trust Him because He's a good God.

The devil has painted in many minds that God is an evil taskmaster. He is a good God. And what he calls us to do, there's no way I could be happy doing anything other than what he's called me to do.

Happy earth, that is. Doesn't mean you won't suffer. Doesn't mean you won't go through hard trials.

But brothers and sisters, there is a satisfaction when you know you are in the will of God. That you're abiding in Christ. That you're walking with Him.

That you're following Him. Don't give God conditions. I did that, I'm ashamed to say.

I did that a time in my life. I walked away one time and I told God, Lord, I'll do anything, but I will never pastor another Baptist church. I will never do that again.

But there was something very wrong in my heart. And I walked away. And I tried to preach on the streets.

I couldn't preach on the streets. I tried to do things I used to enjoy. I couldn't enjoy anything.

I was like Jonah in the belly of the whale. Wanting to follow God on my own terms with a proud, hardened heart and sinking into a pit of blackness and darkness. And it went on for some time.

And I was running a trap line during that time up in the mountains. And it was snowing. It was cold.

The roads were iced over. And my little boy Luke was with me. He was running the trap line along with me.

And we came around a curve and we slid off the road onto an iced over river. And the truck slowly cracked in. I knew it was going to sink.

We rushed to get out. I got him out of the truck, off the ice. Wrapped him up in some coveralls and put him up under a tree.

By that time the truck was sinking, being sunk all the way under the water. And I remember walking away. At this point, it was just one of many events that was transpiring.

I knew I was being chastened by the Lord one thing after another. And I remember hearing the Lord so crystal clear speak to my heart. How long will you run? How long will you run? I fell on my face in the snow.

And I cried out to God. God, I'm so sorry. I'm so proud.

God, I'm so disobedient. I was a miserable wretch. And I cried out to God for mercy.

I cried out to God for His forgiveness. And He forgave me. And you know what I heard Him say so crystal clear? He brought this Scripture back to my remembrance like that.

You are not your own. You've been bought with a price. Now glorify God and your spirit and your body which belong to God.

And I got up free. I got up experiencing the joy of the Lord again. And He put me right back in the Baptist church at that time.

That's exactly where He put me back. I'm not there anymore, but it was just where I should be at that time. Brothers and sisters, God has a plan for you.

God has a journey for you. And you will never make a better one. You can't improve on it.

His way is right. His way is good. His way is perfect.

And how do you begin the journey? You begin to seek Him with all your heart. To seek His face. One thing I do, Paul said.

One thing I do, David said. He sought the face of God. He was thirsty.

He yearned for God. Brothers and sisters, that's what the Lord is calling us to. Henry Ironside, H.A. Ironside tells a story about meeting a man by the name of Andrew Frazier.

This was an old Irishman. And the old Irishman, Andrew Frazier, came to California because he had tuberculosis. And he came there hoping it would help his lungs.

He said this old man was still even weak and feeble. He would open the Word of God and begin to share truths. And he said, every time my tears would just start running down my face.

I never heard preaching like this ever in my life. Just life. Words of Spirit and life going directly to my heart.

And Ironside said, I asked Frazier one day, where did you learn these things? What books can I read? Did you go to some college or seminary to read all these things? And Andrew Frazier said, my dear young man, I learned all of this on my knees on a mud floor in a sod cottage way up in the north of Ireland. He said there on my knees for hours I would open the Word of God and I would ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to my soul. He said I learned more on that mud floor than I could have learned in all the seminaries and universities in the world.

And it's true. Brothers and sisters, if you will open this holy book and read it not just as a textbook, not to get a sermon, not to get a Bible study lesson, not to get some truth that will puff up your head to go and try and impress someone, but open this holy book and on your knees ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus Christ to your soul. Ask Him to reveal the heart of God to you.

You know what will happen. Oh, this living book will come alive to you. He will begin to reveal Himself to you, His heart to you.

And that's what God wants. That's revival. Listen, that's living in revival.

And that's true repentance. Listen, repentance is turning from sin, yes. But that's only half of repentance.

Repentance is turning from sin to Jesus Christ. If you don't turn from sin to Jesus, you've not truly repented. You will go right back into sin.

Many turn from sin and then look at themselves to try and have the strength to keep overcoming. You won't overcome until you look to Christ. That's true repentance.

And that's revival. Revival is Christ. Revival is knowing Jesus more.

That's His desire. That's His desire for us. I want to ask you as we close, Do you know God? Do you know Jesus? And some of us say, I know Him, but not nearly as much as I want to know Him.

And you're on the right journey. You're on the right track. Seek Him.

Seek His face in prayer. Set aside time every day where you shut off everything else to spend time alone with Him and have this one main priority in your prayer. Lord, reveal Yourself to me.

Lord, I want to know You. I want to know You. And the way you get to know someone, if there's someone else here tonight who says, I don't really know Him, the way you get to know anybody is you have to meet them.

You have to meet them. And God calls you tonight. You can meet Him, but you can only meet Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

God is a holy, holy God. He is good. He is righteous.

He is love. He is holy. He cannot tolerate sin.

He will not look upon sin. He must judge sin. He hates sin.

And God made a way because sin separated holy God from sinful man. Sin separated us all from God. And God made a way by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

And that's why Jesus died on that cross and received the wrath and judgment of God that we all deserve. He died there in our place. He died there to receive the judgment that we deserve.

So that through believing in Him, trusting in Him, turning from our sin to Him for forgiveness, cleansing, and righteousness, we can now come to know God. We can enter into fellowship with God. He made the way.

But you have a choice. That choice is to turn from sin. Turn to Jesus.

Lord, forgive me. Lord, save me. You don't have to have a 500-word prayer if it's coming from the depths of your heart.

Lord Jesus, save me. Forgive me, Lord. Save me and He'll do it.

He will come and save you. There's only one question that I know that would be more important to answer than do you know Jesus Christ? And that is, does Jesus Christ know you? Does Jesus Christ know you? Because here's one of the most terrifying verses of Scripture that I know of. Matthew 7 and verse 21.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says this, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of My Father in heaven, many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Tragic words.

I never knew you. We never enter into any relationship. I never knew you.

Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. And such people will be cast into a lake of fire called hell for all eternity. Tragic.

Does Jesus Christ know you? You will stand before Him on judgment day. The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. And we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

When you do, will it be as one who knows Jesus and whom Jesus knows? He knows you by name. Or will you be one that He looks at even though you boast of all the things you've done? And He says, depart from Me. I never knew you.

Please, please, please, please, please, turn to God through Jesus Christ. Turn to Jesus Christ, God's Son, for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul. Let's pray.

Father, this is what I felt You put on my heart to deliver. I pray that these words, Your words, would pierce and penetrate each and every one of our hearts. That You, Lord Jesus, would fill our vision and fill the room.

When You fill the room, everything else just junks up the decor. You, Lord, are the one we want to see. You are the one we want to behold.

You are the one, Lord, we want to have dealings with now. I pray that each and every one of us would respond to Your call. And I thank You so much that You desire to be known.

You desire for us to know You more. Help us today, tonight, to come to You with unconditional surrender and true repentance and absolute faith in You alone. May we know You more, is my prayer in Jesus' name, Amen.