What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God? If you’re uncertain of the answer, you may be merely enduring religion rather than enjoying the intimate and satisfying relationship Christ died to give you as the only Savior and Lord.
Jesus said in John 12:32, “I, if I am lifted up from the earth, (I) will draw all peoples to Myself.”
Can you envision Him on the cross, arms stretched out, beckoning you to Himself? He desires authentic relationship, not only for His sake—He created you to be with you—but also for yours. He knows that every right desire you have is met in Him alone.
He is our source for life itself and our resource for every good thing. If you consider the traditional marriage vows—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish—God Himself is the faithful spouse, the covenant keeper, the provider, the protector, and the friend who comes in when everyone else goes out.
He offered Himself up completely on the cross for our sakes. How foolish it would be to settle for looking at Him when we can have every longing met in His embrace.
You have all of God you want. When you say, “Lord come; I want You; I receive You,” He comes. Anybody who wants Jesus can have Him. —Pastor Adrian Rogers
As we answer His call and come into intimate relationship, we stop enduring religion, discover what true friendship with Christ Jesus means, and experience the fullness of fellowship with God in His triune nature.
The Unmatched Beauty of Experiencing God Intimately
The familiar passage in Exodus when God appears to Moses and calls him into ministry teaches us a lot about knowing God personally.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt”’ (Exodus 3:11-16).
Notice, this is a two-way conversation. Moses already knows something about God’s works; but when he prays to God, listens to Him, and takes part in His work, He learns God’s ways. That is the critical difference.
Imagine a father tilling, planting, and tending a garden by himself and bringing the harvest of vegetables in. Those in his household know him by his works. If, instead, the father takes his children out to plant and weed the garden, if he patiently answers their questions and teaches them his techniques, they share in the work and in the harvest. They know his ways. God invites us to work with Him, learn from Him, and know His ways. Moses came to know God intimately through the continuous process of asking, listening for answers, and acting in obedience.
Pastor Adrian Rogers likened knowing only God’s works to infatuation; in contrast, Pastor Rogers’ said, those who know Him intimately know real love in unmatched beauty. This intimate love, he said, is the gift of God and the way of tranquility and stability. More importantly, he said, intimacy with God is a necessity.
God wants you to come face to face with Him. When the Israelites came to the Red Sea, the only way they could turn was to God. You must know God personally. You cannot know God by hearing sermons about knowing God or reading books about knowing God. You cannot know anybody that you do not spend time with. —Pastor Adrian Rogers
Knowing God Comes through God’s Grace, not through Religion
Religion is Man’s attempt to bridge the gap between sinful Man and holy God—an unfruitful pursuit because it is not possible. Grace is God condescending to Man—coming humbly and gently to Earth to atone for Man’s sin and to bring Man back into right relationship with Himself. We cannot love God without God’s grace.
Most of us have had all the religion we can stand; what we actually need is a personal, vital relationship with Jesus Christ. —Pastor Adrian Rogers
Jesus wants us to stop enduring religion and enjoy the true love He offers. He invites us to drink deeply of the river of life He offers us.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
This invitation, given to all during the week before Jesus’ death on Calvary, lays out four simple steps to deeply drinking in the satisfaction of Jesus Christ.
First, we must understand the subjects—those who thirst.
Jesus was not speaking to everybody, rather only to thirsty people. If we’ve been filling ourselves with shallow things like self-love and worldliness, we will not long for the living water of Jesus Christ.
Second, the Bible says we must understand the source of this living water—Jesus Himself.
We don’t find living water in rituals or religion or rules, rather, we receive it through Jesus. We will never live “right” until we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Third, we must recognize the secret: “Come to Me and drink.”
This living water is free, but it costs everything within us. We must let it sink into our hearts so that we claim Him so deeply that we believe in Him and appropriate His promises.
Finally, we must remember what the Bible says about the supply.
Ezekiel 47 prophecies what we, as believers, are to look like today: a mysterious river, flowing past the altar, which represents Christ crucified.
This river’s mighty force brings life where there was death and success where there was failure. This living water brings fruitfulness where there was barrenness and health where there was sickness.
When we are filled with the Spirit, our lives will overflow with joy, praise, and service. Not only will there be an income, but there will also be an outflow. We will become springs of revival and rivers of blessing.
Are you friends with Jesus? Our deepest need is to have someone who understands us, and Jesus does—completely. First, He is the One who created our physical bodies, our spirits, and our souls (our minds, wills, and emotions). When He took on flesh, He experienced everything we experience—laughter, excitement, victory, disappointment, pain, loss. He is familiar with all our ways and longs to share both our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows.
The Psalmist said of God:
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways (Psalm 139:1-3).
The Psalmist understood that God knew him better than he knew himself: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6).
And he could speak of God’s friendship with great confidence:
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10).
It is a privilege to call Jesus our friend—to know Him intimately as a close companion. John 15 reveals the beauty of friendship with Jesus—what it means and what it makes of us.
Love One Another
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another (John 15:12-17).
In the same passage, Jesus describes the cost of friendship with God.
The World’s Hatred
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause’ (John 15:18-25).
Pastor Rogers said, “A man is known by his friends; if you’re a friend of Jesus, you’re somebody.” He also described the cost of friendship with Jesus. For details from Pastor Rogers message on John 15, read the article, “Love One Another as I Have Loved You.”
Knowing God in His Fullness—the Holy Trinity
If we are to really know God, we must look at His Word, the Bible, and understand His triune nature revealed in God’s Word, the Bible:
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2b).
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26a).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-3).
God is triune in nature. He is one God in three persons. You can recognize those persons in the Bible verses above. The Spirit of God in Genesis 1:2b is God the Holy Spirit. The God speaking in Genesis 1:26 is God the Father. The Word who was with God in the beginning in John 1:1-3 is God the Son.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, all fully God. Yet together, they are one God. The Trinity taught in the Bible is beyond our comprehension. We can’t fully understand how God can be three in one. But the fact that it is beyond our understanding doesn’t make it untrue.
While we can’t understand the Trinity, God’s nature is reflected in the order He established for this world. Space consists of height, width, and depth. You can’t have one without the other. Time is divided into past, present, and future. You cannot have one without the other. Time is triune. Space is triune.
Man is also triune. We’re made in the image of God—body, soul, and spirit. The soul consists of the mind, will, and emotions; the spirit is unique to Man and is the part of our nature through which we can know God.
With my spirit I have spiritual life and I know the world above me; with my soul I have psychological life and I know the world around me; with my body I have physical life and I’m related to the world beneath me. —Pastor Adrian Rogers
If you are ready right now to know that you belong to God forever, pray something like this:
Dear God, I know that You love me, and I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You. By faith I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Save me, Lord Jesus. Thank You for salvation. I receive it by faith like a child, and that settles it. Now begin to make me the person you want me to be, and help me, Lord Jesus, never to be ashamed of You. Amen
If you just prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord CLICK HERE for some helpful resources as you begin your relationship with Jesus.
