In a world of uncertainty, The Scripture wants God’s people to “Know” for certainty, truths to help them, solidify, and spiritually stabilize them and go forward in faith, trusting Him and testifying of Him. And Praise God we can Know because we have the Book that tells us what God wants us to KNOW…and the Spirit of God who enables us to KNOW- {Read 1 Cor 2:14.}. Consider some things GOD WANTS you to KNOW.
God, among other things, wants You to KNOW…
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GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW YOU HAVE ASSURANCE ABOUT ETERNAL LIFE.
A.- I had a conversation with a nurse at an ENT’S office that I met, and shared with her the Good News of the Gospel, she said to me “just as long as no one can tell me how to be saved.” Her inference was no one can Know. I graciously was reminded and shared with her, “Isn’t it a wonderful thing that” God wants us to know and I shared 1 John 5:13 – “These things I HAVE written TO YOU who believe in the Name of the Son of God, SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW that YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”-{2 Tim 3:15}. “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”-{John 17:3}. God wants you to KNOW, you can KNOW Him, you can KNOW the way to salvation, you can KNOW for certainty you have Eternal life!
God does not want people to be ignorant, left in a state of limbo, not knowing, grasping as in the dark. The Lord Jesus is the Light of the World and His Word says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”-{Psalm 119:105}. He gives His Word to illumine the spiritual darkness with the desire we “KNOW” for certainty, we can come from bondage of sin to spiritual liberty, through repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus! He gifts us with the Spirit to illumine His Word to us…
2. GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW HE HEARS AND ANSWERS YOUR PRAYERS ACCORDING TO HIS WILL.
“This IS the confidence which We HAVE Before- TOWARD- Him, that, If WE ASK ANYTHING according to His Will, He hears us. And if we KNOW that He hears us whatever we ask, WE KNOW that We HAVE the Requests which we have asked from Him.” -{1 John 5:14-15.}
Peter writes that God’s “eye is upon the righteous and His ear ATTENTIVE to your prayers.”- {Read 1 Peter 3:12}. We do not pray to the ceiling or some impersonal “force” or false hope, like a gambler whose “hope is in “chance,” and what we mean is a wish that something or someone out there will hear and do something to help. No certainty, just a strong or weak wishing so, the wish of a chance it might or might not happen! God is Personal, and as our Heavenly Father listens to us, in Matthew 6:6 Jesus teaches, “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” He listens attentively – {1 Peter 3:12} and He “sees…hears…rewards”- {Matt 6:6} and has the ability to answer – {Eph 3:21}. To Him, we come, to His Throne of Grace to “receive…”–{Heb 4:15-16}. How wonderful as we pray in accordance with His will as revealed n His Word, He hears and answers! God wants you to KNOW He hears and answers Prayers according to His Will!
3. God wants You to KNOW our souls are safe.
“…We know (eido/oida) means we have a settled (perfect tense) intuitive knowledge, knowledge which is divinely imparted. We know this beyond a shadow of a doubt! “- “…That the Evil one does not touch him… kept for God by the Power of God.” – {Read 1 John 5:18;}. “KEEPS…”- The idea is protecting of something that is in one’s possession! You are God’s Possession! -{Read Jude 1:24}
“To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:”- {Jude 1:1}.
4. God wants You to KNOW we can KNOW Him.
“And WE KNOW that the Son of God HAS COME, and HAS GIVEN us UNDERSTANDING SO THAT WE MAY KNOW HIM who is true; and we ARE IN HIM who is True, in His Son Jesus Christ. This IS the TRUE GOD and ETERNAL LIFE.” – {1 John 5:21}, God has imparted understanding to the BELIEVERS, “SO THAT…” gives the reason, namely ” we may KNOW HIM who is true…”
5. God wants You to KNOW that He Works all things out for good…
Rom 8:28 “And WE KNOW that God causes ALL things to work together for Good to those who Love Him and are called according to His Purpose…”
Vine introduces this section with the following comment…
“Having shown that suffering is not incompatible with a life of hope, the apostle now extends this to make clear that suffering is part of the working out of God’s all-wise purposes for us, and that neither affliction nor anything else can prevent this or thwart God’s ultimate designs for us. Here, too, he confirms the doctrine of the justification of the believer and establishes that of his eternal security.”- (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
Calvin comments on this verse noting that “Though the elect and the reprobate are indiscriminately exposed to similar evils, there is yet a great, difference; for God trains up the faithful by afflictions, and thereby promotes their salvation.” (Romans 8 – John Calvin’s Commentaries on the Bible)
Raymond Ortlund writes that…
“The hand of God is at the helm. He’s steering us through the storms of life toward home, toward a safe haven. And He takes care to order all the events of our lives right now to speed us on our way there. This is what we call Providence— God’s overruling hand at work everywhere in a fallen world. The Providence of God is clearly taught from one end of the Bible to the other. And our confidence in the Providence of God is a faith so bold, so demanding, so unapologetic, that we cannot believe it without being transformed. Either all things work together for our good, or nothing makes sense. So let’s be bold about it. Let’s either be transformed Christians or bitter skeptics, because we cannot just sort of believe Romans 8:28. We either believe it or we doubt it. There is no middle ground.” (Romans 8:28)
“Romans 8:28 is the NT equivalent of Joseph’s great affirmation of God’s sovereignty, (see RBC booklet How Much Does God Control?) His overruling providence and His everlasting, immutable faithfulness, when he declared to his brothers (who had attempted to kill him)…
“And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. (Ge 50:20)-” –
“We know (oida/eido = perfect tense) (Uses in Romans) refers to knowledge which comes from one’s state of being, intuitive knowledge. Oida/eido means absolute, positive knowledge which one has beyond a doubt. It refers to that which is the common knowledge of the Christian, a settled intuitive knowledge which the Holy Spirit makes real. God Himself has placed the knowledge of this verse in our hearts. Notice that although all believers know the following truth intuitively, they may not always fully understand and sense it experientially.”-{preceptaustin commentaries}
Denny writes that the verb “we know” in a sense is one ground more for believing in the glorious future: God is ever with us, and will not abandon us at last.” (Romans 8)
The words we know are used about thirty times as the expression of the common knowledge of the saints of God as such, in the Epistles (in Romans, five times) and always indicate always Christian knowledge.
We know Romans 8:28-30 is true because we know God and He has said it. His word is trustworthy and that guarantees His promise. Indeed, His character rests upon it. We know because we know Him. We know not by looking at the events of our life but by knowing our God. We know not by studying the pattern of the cloth, but by knowing the “Designer” of the fabric. We know it not by listening to the notes of the symphony, but by knowing the “Composer” of the music. There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know why babies die or why cars wreck or why planes crash or why families break up or why good people get sick and suddenly die. But this we know—God is at work and He has not forgotten us. Hallelujah!” – {preceptaustin commenatries}
NOTE; Not “some” or a “few” things but “all things…to work together not for evil but ‘good’ and the “good” in v 29 is to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus. We may not see how, but we can “KNOW” that “God causes all things to work for good.” It is confidence in His Sovereignty, ability, wisdom, love, purposes to be fulfilled. As a friend used to say to me, “It may not feel good, or look good BUT He promises it will all work out for good!” That’s His Promise, and He wants us to be assured, confident of in Him! And in light of who He is and what He has done, “We Know…” We are not ignorant, nor does god want us to be. Be assured God is working!
6. God wants You to know Him…
John 17:3 “TO KNOW Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal Life.” He is not playing “hide and seek.” He sent His Son into the world as he so loved us and desired we know Him. His design, desire, is that we know Him. “God is faithful who has called us into fellowship with His Son.”-{1 Cor 1:9}.
7. God wants you to Know – He will never abandon you
Heb 13:5 – ” Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU.”…”…who are protected by the power of God “-{1 Peter 1:5}. “…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -{Matt 28;20}
8. God wants you to Know He Loves You.
“We KNOW Love by this that He laid down His life for us.” -{ 1 John 3;16}… “May be able to COMPREHEND with ALL the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to KNOW the Love of Christ which surpasses KNOWLEDGE, that you may be filled up with the fullness of God.” – {Eph 3:18-19}. “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. “-{Gal 2;20}.
9. God wants you to KNOW you are to love others
– “….AND WE ought TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.“- {1 John 3;16-18}. We are and can know what true love is. It is the love of Christ demonstrated on laying His life down from His coming, birth, service,the cross… and we are to do likewise! No, we are not called to die on a cross, though some are martyred for Him, but in this passage we see laying down our life is as simple a as SEEING and SUPPLYING for the need of someone! Love is as simple as meeting a need. And God wants us to KNOW we are to love others! There are approx 50 positive “one another’s”in the New Testament. What we are to be to one another in our relationships such as “accept one another… bear one another’s burden’s.. care for one another… be devoted to one another… encourage one another… forgive one another… be kind to one another… love one another…” and many more of the positive one another’s we are responsible to do in loving His own!
10. God wants you to KNOW His Word is EFFECTIVE
– “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work IN you who believe. ” -{1 Thess 2:13};
“For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’-{Heb 4:12};
“…All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”-{2 Tim 3:16-17}.
11. -God wants you to know His Son has gone ahead to prepare a place for you.
“Do not let your heart be troubled;believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” -{John 14:1-6}
12. – God wants you to KNOW and understand the Joy, blessing and implications of the Gospel…
Col 1:5 – “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the Gospel, which has come to you, Just as in All the world also IT IS CONSTANTLY bearing fruit and INCREASING, even as in you also since the day you heard and UNDERSTOOD the Grace of God in truth:”
These are some truths from God’s Word for you to KNOW, to assure, strengthen, encourage, comfort you to KNOW Him and His Word that gives assurance and fuel for your faith in Him!
Thank Him that He has revealed Himself in His Word and by His Spirit that you can “KNOW” the things He has revealed in His Word!