Get To Know God

With the knowledge of God we have all things: righteousness, sanctification and redemption. We have everything we need to live a godly life.


Scripture: 2 Peter 1:2-3, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 4:19

Transcript

Alright. Thank you very much and hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing all right today? Yes, I’ll wait for you to answer because I know many of you do. Bless your heart. We understand each other. I know that some days are not as good as other days, and I know that some days you just have to reach up to touch the bottom. But for every day, for you and for me, because we know the Lord Jesus, it can be a day of victory and blessing because we’re trusting our wonderful Lord.

The Bible says when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth ahead, he goeth before. And so no matter where the path may lead today, you know that your Savior has gone before and He is leading you. You can sing with the hymn, right? “He leadeth me. Oh, blessed thought. Oh, words with heavenly comfort wrought. Whate’er I do, where’er I’ll be, still tis God’s hand that leadeth me”. You can say that and know that it’s true. Hallelujah for that. I’m glad to be back with you.

And we’re looking at II Peter Chapter 1 where Peter says, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.” We talked about that the last time we got together. First, God’s grace. Get right with God. Second, His peace. As a byproduct, you don’t strive for peace nor do you work for peace. You don’t even ask for peace. You get right with God and He gives you His peace, okay? Then it says “multiplied” and I pointed out to you that faith is epidemic. It is contagious. It will spread. If you exercise faith in one thing, God will work in other things in your life.

Now, how does this come about? Verse 2. He says, “Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” To understand the grace of God, you need to know God. To understand God, you need to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you follow that? Grace and peace be multiplied in the knowledge. Epiginosko is the verb. That’s to know on top off, to know beyond the surface, the knowledge of God. That is personal, personal, deep, abiding, effective knowledge. Now, do you want to know about His grace? Spend some time with Him. Spend some time with Him.

I can recall a number of experiences where the Lord really met me. One was in San Diego many years ago where I was scheduled to have a crusade, an evangelistic crusade in Belmont Park. There was a big auditorium there that had been rented by the committee and it was a city-wide crusade. One of the chuckles that I still remember is that I heard from Will Bruce who was the organizer of the crusade, and he wrote to me some weeks before the meetings began. He said, “Dear Bob.” He said, “There are 164 trash cans in downtown San Diego and I know you’ll be glad to know that your picture is on every one of them.”

Well anyhow, I got to town early and they had me staying in a little motel down on Route 1 or someplace down there by the shore. And so I didn’t have an awful lot to do and I thought I’m going to seek the Lord. I want to get a new fresh anointing for these meetings. And so I did. I began to pray. And you know what God did? He reminded me of all of the failings and all of the shortcomings and all of the disobediences and so on that had been my lot through past years. That was in 19 I guess 51, so it’s a good many years ago and I was a grown-up man but still young I guess you could say. And so there I was, praying and seeking God, and what did He do to me? He began to remind me as I prayed, and the more I prayed, the more miserable I got. I just stayed in the room. I didn’t even go out to eat there for a while and that’s unusual for Bob Cook. We have a saying around our house. “Poppa always eats.” Well, I didn’t even go out to eat for a while. I’m just waiting before God and getting more miserable all the time as God reminded me of my shortcomings and failings and sins. Oh, how I cried out to Him.

And then at long last, there came a sense of peace to my heart, and I began to experience what I’ve been talking with you about — God’s grace. Come to Calvary. Let your tears fall at the foot of the cross and let your heart cry out to God for His mercy and forgiveness and for a new touch of blessing and power. And as you do that, and you pray as the old timers used to say, pray through. It doesn’t mean that you have to convince God of anything but you have to pray into your own stubborn heart that said yes. And when you come to that place of submission and the Holy Spirit of God has had a chance to work in you, oh, then you know something of His peace. And I finally got that sense of God’s peace, and I knew then that God was going to bless me, and then He did.

I can remember that I would preach and give the invitation and then I would say, “I want you to come forward.” And then the invitation hymn would be sung and I’d stand down below the platform and the people would come up by the dozens and by the scores and sometimes by the hundreds. During that crusades, there were tears and there was repentance. There was a desire to get right with God. And I knew that God had given me His touch, but it only came because He brought me down low, way down low to the foot of the cross where I had just to look up to Him just to see the bottom. I had absolutely reached the lowest point of my praying career at that point. I just had to cry out to God and He answered. Now, that’s grace, see, and then came peace.

So you want to get at this down on your knees. Seek God. Let Him talk to your heart. Let Him remind you of passages from the Word of God. Let Him clear your memory so you remember some things that you had tucked away and had conveniently forgotten. Let Him remind you of some things you need to bring out and plead the blood over them. And then finally, let Him give you His perfect peace. Amen. Through the knowledge of God, you have to get next to God. You have to get to know Him. And that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ — knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Now, what’s the mechanics? What are the mechanics involved in knowing God? Well, you go on to verse 3. According as His divine power hath given unto us. Now, this is past tense. It’s done. It’s yours. All you have to do is call for it and take it. Hath given unto us all things that pertain into life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, all things that pertain unto life and godliness. There isn’t anything you need in the process of living in Christian life that you don’t already have in Christ. Do you believe that? Well, he said it. All is all, isn’t it? All doesn’t mean some. All doesn’t mean almost all. He said all. His divine power hath given us, past tense, onto us all things that pertain into life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue. It’s yours.

I go over to I Corinthians 1:30. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom. He is made unto us. Christ becomes to you all you need. That’s the idea. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

I’ve got a little Cook definition of those things. It may not fit your particular upbringing or whatever, but what I say as wisdom is knowing what to do with what you do. God won’t do your homework for you, but He will show what to do with what you do know — wisdom. Righteousness is the quality of being spontaneously good. Now, there’s imputed righteousness. God reckons His divine righteousness to us but there’s also imparted righteousness, the quality of being good and doing good. But Paul says to do good, neglect not, and he says that we’ve been created unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should live every day in them.

So righteousness is the quality of doing good things spontaneously because God lives in you by His indwelling Holy Spirit. Sanctification is the quality of being set apart for God’s use without, and I add this is a Cookism, but without being sanctimonious. Being sanctimonious doesn’t mean that you’re sanctified. Sanctification means set apart for God to use. You go shopping at a furniture store. You want one of those Barcaloungers or whatever you call it where you can recline in the chair, you sit down and fall back and just about break your neck, that one. Well, you want a particular model and you finally find on over in the corner. You say to your wife, “Oh, come here, dear. This is the one we’re after.” And you both go toward it and then you go away from it. Now why? Why? Because you saw a little red tag on it that said “SOLD.” It belonged to somebody else so you couldn’t claim it.

Sanctification is simply putting the “SOLD” tag on your life, set apart for God to use. Christ is made unto us sanctification. That is to say when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and commit your life to Him, He puts the tag on your life and sets you apart for God. He has made unto us redemption and that of course is wrapping up all of life in the package of divine love and power and living it as a continuing miracle. We’re not redeemed as silver and gold. This is a correctible thing such as silver and gold or your vain manner of life received by tradition from your father’s blood with the precious blood of Christ. Redemption has to do with a living adventure with the Lord Jesus Christ because of His death and resurrection.

Now, Christ has made unto us these things. Paul says in I Corinthians 1:30, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” I’ll go back to II Peter 1. He says, “God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” What are they? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. You got that, you got everything. How does it come? Through the knowledge of Him.

Now, how do you get to know Him? Why? Through the promises. Whereby, see, are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these, that is these promises by the scripture, you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. That’s our word “desire,” through desires, but we won’t get into that before time runs out today.

But let me just emphasize the fact that all you need is already yours. All you need of faith, all you need of power, all you need of guidance, all you need of love, all you need of holiness, all you need of supply. My God will supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Paul says in Philippians 4:19, “Everything is already yours. All you have to do is take it. “By faith as you pray, receive God’s gifts.”

Dear Father, today, oh, may we have what You already purchased for us through Jesus. I ask you in His name. Amen.

Until I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!



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