So take your Bibles and go to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Talk about knowing God. I've got four messages to preach on that, on something that will take you a lifetime to just start to understand. Knowing God. So I'll give you a little bit of a testimony, and I'm so grateful to be here. I got raised in a Christian family. My dad was a pastor, got saved when I was around eight years old. I remember thinking, you know what? Other people even told me that I was saved. They said, you're going to heaven. And as a kid, you remember those things. And I was sitting there and just gotten spanked. Has anyone in this room Ever been cruelly abused by your parents? Yes, I see those hands. Praise God for spankings, because they made me know this, that I'm a sinner. And I remember that clear in my mind. And I remember not knowing for sure that I was saved and on my way to heaven. I knew all the facts. I understood I need to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. I knew the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. I never doubted it. There's been very few times in my life where I've doubted some of the scriptures. Sometimes it's happened because we're human. But growing up, it's not like I disbelieved the Bible. But what I didn't know for sure is if I myself had called upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Well, that day after sitting sorely on the kitchen table, I remember looking out the window and I remember saying these exact words, If I am not saved, would you please save me now? And that day God gave me everlasting life. And that's not where I started knowing God, but that's the greatest step of knowing God that I've ever taken. And all the rest of the steps have been minor compared to that. John chapter 17, verse number one, first verse we'll read and then we'll pray and get started. John 17, verse number one, Bible says this, these words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes into heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. Father in heaven, thank you for being my God and my father. Lord, thank you for so many years ago adopting me into your family, making me an heir right alongside your son. Lord, I'm so grateful for that. I pray that you just take me, Lord, and you know how nervous I get, Lord, and I can be like a gerbil normally. And when I'm nervous, that just makes it worse. But Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would have its way or that it be his words and not mine, and that you speak to every heart here from the youngest to the oldest, Lord. And I pray that we would know you tonight. So, Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for your word. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Well, John, we're going to talk about this idea, knowing God is equal to knowing eternal life. Knowing God is equal to knowing eternal life. You may have seen that bumper sticker before. It says, no God, no life. And then right underneath that, it says, no God and no life. But the only difference is the first part is an N-O. So if you tell no to God, you will have no life, N-O life. Or if you know God, K-N-O-W, you're gonna know what life is all about. And that's what we're gonna talk about tonight. As I grew up and got saved and surrendered my life to the Lord, he's brought me through different places. This place, this First Baptist Church of Laurel, Montana, has always been special to me. That's my father-in-law back there. I can remember the first time I went to a BBYC. Where is Griff at? Griff's right there. I met Griff at a BBYC. I met my wife at the BBYC. In fact, I asked my father-in-law if I could date her. I was talking to my wife the other day. It was the last night. It was Saturday afternoon. after it's all over, and I've been working my courage up. I talked to the youth pastor. I said, hey, what about this pastor's wife over here? Or not pastor, pastor's daughter over here. And so I finally got the courage up and asked, and it's been the most wonderful thing. This is a wonderful church. They love you. They care about you. They want to see you grow up and give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then follow Him the rest of your life. That's what they want here. And that's what God wants, and I'll be honest with you, that's what you want. Even if you don't understand it right now, but that is absolutely what you'll want. Look at verse number two. As thou hast given power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou givest them me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and know surely that I am come out from thee, and they that believe that thou Knowing God is equal to knowing everlasting life. In fact, knowing God is essential to salvation, and salvation is essential to knowing God. You cannot have one without the other, and you need both at the same time. You need to know God in order to be saved. And after you're saved, you get to know God more and more and more and more. Jesus' hour was come. He was about ready to be crucified. And he said, listen, it's come. I know it's here. He knows the future. That's wonderful about God. He knows the future. He knows what's going to happen in 10 minutes, in 10 hours from here, in 10 years from now, in 10 millennia from now. He knows it all. And so he's talking to his father, he's saying, God, you know, this time has come and it's time for me to now be glorified and for you to glorify me. He's saying, listen, the hour has come. He was just about ready to pay for the salvation of all mankind. And Jesus tells us some important truths about salvation. Jesus is the best person to know how to be saved. He actually tells us many, many, many times in the book of John how we're saved. And so if you wanna know how are we saved, just ask Jesus, how are we saved? And then open up your Bible and see what the Bible says and what Jesus Christ himself says. Look at verse number three, he gives us some important truths about salvation. Salvation can only come as a result of knowing God. John 17, verse number three. And this is life internal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Eternal life. is given after we believe and receive the Word, which is the only true God. Eternal life is given after we believe and receive the Word of God, which is the only true God. Salvation comes after we hear the Word of God. You're all here, you're listening to the Word of God, and hopefully many of you are taking in, letting it soak in. But you have to know something about God to be saved. You have to know God. And yet at the same time, You will never, never, never, never, never know everything there is to know about God. He's the unknowable God that you can know. And that is absolutely amazing. You have to know God in order to be saved. As soon as someone hears the truth about God, and this is the gospel, the death, The burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, those are essential for your salvation. People aren't saved unless they hear about Jesus Christ. Look at verse number eight, verse number eight. As soon as we know the truth and believe on the only true God, we are given the gift of eternal life. John 17, eight. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, that's super important, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. A proper understanding of God is essential to your salvation. If you want to say it this way, people cannot be saved unless they have a true understanding of the God of the Bible. You will not be saved if you have a wrong understanding of God. In fact, if you grow up and you believe in God and He's not the God that was the Son of God, you're not saved. It doesn't matter what you believe. You can even come to church like this one. You can hear the truth of God. You can pray a prayer asking Jesus to save you. But if you believe that Jesus is somebody other than the Jesus of the Bible, guess what? You're not saved. That's why Jesus said there are many antichrists in the world. There's a lot of people claiming to be Christ, and there's a lot of misunderstanding about Jesus Christ. A proper knowledge and belief in God is essential to salvation. No other God can save you. God will not save you unless you know and receive him. God will not save you if you believe that he is something other than the Bible teaches. to believe that something contrary to the Bible is to reject salvation. Does it say, no, even though you're saying, yes, I want to be saved, I want to go to heaven, I don't want to go to hell, but I'm going to just reject this part where the Bible says about Jesus Christ. What you're doing is you're rejecting Jesus Christ and you're not saved. You cannot be saved unless you have a proper understanding of the Bible. Now, here's the wonderful blessing. A proper understanding of God is a central salvation. But a complete understanding of God is not essential for salvation. What I mean by that is this. If you know the essentials, a child that is four years old and they can understand right from wrong, they can understand the truths of the gospel, they can understand being punished, they can understand good and evil. If they're properly instructed by the scriptures, they can be saved. They can walk out of this room or wherever they're at and they can know for sure they're on their way to heaven. But they don't know it all. There's tons they don't know. They might not know anything about justification or glorification or God's eternal God. I mean, there's a lot of things they might not understand, but this is where the Bible says you have to believe in the only true God. And then he explains it, okay? Jesus Christ is the son of God. You have to believe that he's deity, that he actually is God himself. You have to believe that he's 100% God, and he's also 100% God. Man, that is something you have, now you might not understand that all, but that's okay. You don't have to understand it all. You do have to believe it. We must know the truth and accept the truth. Go to John chapter 14. A proper knowledge and belief of God is essential to salvation. You need to know what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. However, a complete knowledge of God is not essential to salvation. You don't have to know everything there is to know about God to be saved. John 14, verse number one is where we begin. We must know the truth and accept the truth. John 14 says this, let not your heart be troubled. That is a wonderful, wonderful phrase. My heart has been troubled many, many times. Then I go to this, you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? He just said, listen, you know, you know how to get there. And then you see, who is the, I'm not gonna say smart aleck teenager, but who was the guy over here that said a lot of comments that was over in this section? What guy was that? Raise your hand where that was. Okay, that guy. I can remember, there's always that guy. Every youth group has that guy, and sometimes that guy is a girl, and I'm not saying the weirdness like the world, but you know who I'm talking about, the one that's like, I have a question, and you're like, okay, here it comes. I'm gonna field the question. Anybody ever hear there's no such thing as a stupid question? That is a lie. Whoever came up with that, they're wrong. They clearly has never had children. I'm like, I don't know if they're a stupid question. They're just stupid. There's just stupid questions, okay? They're out there. And those people ask those questions. But Thomas, he asks a question. It's not a stupid question. Jesus gets done saying, you know the way. And I think Thomas just goes, nope, I missed it. I missed that one, so he asks. Verse six, and Jesus said unto him, you know this verse, have you been in church at all? I am, you can start right there, that would be a great way to stop it. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If you have known me, we're talking about knowing God, if you've known Jesus Christ, you have known my Father also. And from henceforth you know him and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father. And it suffice to this. And so there's another question, like, what do you mean? We've seen the Father, you show us. I do not understand what you're talking about. You just said we could see the Father, show him to me. And so what does Jesus say unto Philip? Jesus said unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me? Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen my father, or the father, and thou sayest thou, thou then showest the father. He said, listen, have you? Thomas, how many times have I had to tell you this? Philip, don't you understand? I've lived with you this entire time. I've walked on water. I have raised dead people. I have given sight to blind people. Don't you understand who I am in front of you? I and the Father am what? We're one, if you're looking at me. And I think these questions are probably understandable. These are from people, they knew the scriptures. Philip probably knew something like this. God is a spirit and nobody has ever seen God at any time. So the Bible says. And yet Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So, question. And Jesus is trying to get them to understand how to, this is what he's really trying to get them and media to understand. He wants them to be saved, but they cannot be saved unless they have a proper understanding of who this person standing in front of them really is. Verse number 10. Believest thou that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, the words that I spake unto you? I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. At other times, you might hear Jesus say something like this, everything that he does, he does in the Spirit. So the question might be, wait a minute, does he do it through the Father or does he do it through the Spirit? Or other times, you might say that Jesus has said this, the work that I'm doing, I'm gonna finish it, I finished all the work. So you might say, oh, wait a minute, is it Jesus that's doing the work? Is it the Father that's doing the work? Is it the Spirit that's doing the work? You know what the answer is? Yes, that's what the answer is, of course it is. God is a Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You have to know that in order to be saved. Now, you don't have to understand everything about that. In fact, there are people that were in the Bible that they believed and were even baptized. And Paul comes along here and asks them about, do you know about the Holy Spirit? In fact, he says, have you received the Holy Spirit? And they said, wait a minute, who? We didn't even know there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit. We're oblivious to that. And so he instructs them in the way and he rebaptizes them because they need to understand about the Holy Spirit. You must have a proper understanding of God in order to be saved. Knowing God is essential to salvation and salvation is essential to knowing God. And their second point tonight is this. Knowing God means knowing the all powerful one. Go back to chapter 17, verse number two. Knowing God means you know the all John 17, 2, as thou has given him power over all flesh. That's all flesh. that's man, everybody, animals, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. God is all-powerful. Jesus is all-powerful. The Holy Spirit is all-powerful. You need to know that. And the greatest demonstration of God's power is not that he created everything out of something, although that is a great act of his all-powerfulness. The greatest act of his power is not when he designed the mankind to be so amazing. You know, our bodies are absolutely amazing. They are just mind-blowingly amazing. Scientists still to this day are studying, and studying, and studying, and studying, and they have probably not even scratched the surface of our DNA, of all how we're made. It's just mind-blowing to them. That was God. God created this world. It is, I mean, you know, there is enough potential power. I have this Bible. I've had this Bible since 1999. It's a wonderful Bible. Did you know there is enough potential power in the actual products, the paper, the ink, and the leather? Inside here, there's enough potential power to destroy probably the universe over and over and over again. All the atoms that are inside this, if you split every one of those atoms, planet Earth and the surrounding planets would be no more. That's our God, he made that. That's his power right there. But the greatest act of his power is not that he made the world or spoke the stars. You know how God made the stars? This is wonderful. Genesis, he reads, and he made the stars. Like, eh, whatever. And he walked to the fellowship hall. That was pretty simple. For most people, it's pretty simple. You know what, that is our God. He made the stars. Well, I think I'm gonna make trillions and trillions of stars by just saying it. He makes them all. But that's not the greatest act of his power. The greatest act of his power was not that he made the sun to stand still. Oh, I love that passage in the Bible. They're fighting, the Israelites are fighting. They're like, man, if we could just have a little more time. Sun stands still, and it doesn't. The sun stands still because God honored that. When God, remember if you remember what prophet that was, I don't know, one of the non-prophets, King said, okay, if the sundial will go backwards 10 degrees, then I know. And what does God do? Do you know what that means? I mean, that is, the whole world in his hands and he just goes like that. Let's go 10 degrees backwards. Listen, that is amazing power, but that's not the greatest act of his power. The greatest act of his power is not when he parted the Red Sea, although I want to see that. The greatest act of his power is not in the fact that he can tell the future, but he does tell the future accurately. Do you know that critics reject Daniel for one reason? In fact, this is what they say about the book of Daniel. Daniel was not written when they say Daniel was written because nobody could write an accurate account of the future. They had to have been in the future to write what Daniel said because nobody can do that. And the answer is yes, nobody can but God. But that is not the greatest act of God's power. The greatest act of His power is not when He made the walls of Jericho to fall down. The greatest act of His power was not when He walked on water. The greatest act of His power is not when He raised a dead man to life, although that is some power. That's not the greatest act of His power. The greatest act of His power is not when He raptures the Christians one day, maybe even two day. God is gonna take all those that are saved in the moment, in the twinkle of an eye, we will be here and in the presence of God like that. And then He'll change us and you'll all be wonderful people at that point. You'll stop being you and you'll be wonderful people. That is going to be a wonderful day in all of our, and that's me too. I'm not gonna be me. I'll be, I won't be the best version of me. I'll be a brand new me. I'll be created in the image of Christ. But that is not the greatest act of his power. The greatest act of his power, not when he comes down, the Battle of Arnegrad is going to come. All these nations are gathered against Israel. Jesus comes riding on his white horse. The saints come with him. And I've always envisioned this great battle. I used to envision me with a bow and arrow. And then sometimes they envision me with nunchucks. And then I read the Bible and I thought, I don't even get a fight at all. A word and they're all dead. But that's not the greatest act of God's power. The greatest act of his God's power is not when he cleanses us from sinful habits. Now that's wonderful. We're praying, I hope you get rid of sinful habits in your life. And I hope you're changed, I mean completely from now, I hope you look back in two years from now and say, the things I used to do. I hope you sing that and you mean it and you can tell you're a changed person. But the greatest act of his power is not when he takes maybe someone that's lived in sin for years and years and years and transforms them and they start living right. That is not the greatest act of his power. The greatest act of his power is not when he restores relationships, marriages, our friendships, our churches. But God can do that. There is no relationship that God cannot fix. You know that? Isn't that a wonderful thing? No relationship in your life, God can fix, I mean, he literally can fix them all. In fact, he would fix them all if we would be willing to. The greatest act of God's power is manifested when he gives us eternal life. That is the greatest act of his power because only an all-powerful God can save a human that is headed for an eternal death, an everlasting death. all other things that only God can do. Now all those other things, only God can do those things, but they do pale in comparison to giving us everlasting life. Why is that? Well, I'll tell you why that is, because God saves in the moment of salvation. When you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, probably most people get saved before they ever say a word. Before they pray, before they bow their heads, they're gonna be sitting in something like this. They'll hear a message about knowing God, believing in God, and they'll go, you know what? I need to know God. I'm not sure I know him, and I wanna trust in God. And then they'll have an invitation. If you wanna get saved, they'll say, you can come down here. Someone will take a bio and they'll show you how to be saved. Probably the moment that you walked out of your pew or the moment in your head say, you know what? I need to believe on Jesus Christ. I need to do that. Or before you even, if someone's taking the Bible and they're explaining to it, and they say, do you believe in Jesus Christ? And you're like, you know what? I do. In that moment, before you have ever said a word, you are called a child of God, for whosoever shall believe on the name of the Son of God shall be saved. Man, that is the moment when you do that, you go from being someone that is unsaveable to being saved. Why is this the greatest act of God's power? Because God sets the captive free. God redeems the unredeemable. You cannot be paid for, and yet he paid for you. That's an amazing thing. God forgives the unforgivable. He cleanses the uncleanable. Many teenagers have problems with cleanliness. But you know what God does? He cleans things you could never clean. You could scrub and scrub and scrub, never gonna get clean. But in salvation, God cleans the uncleanable. God takes a child of devil, of the devil, and he turns him into a child of God. That is a miracle right there, the greatest miracle that could ever happen. God places us, takes us from eternal death to eternal life. God replaces a sinful, our own sinfulness at salvation. You are a sinner. After salvation, you get the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is amazing. You're robed in Jesus Christ's righteousness. That is the greatest act of God's power, that a sinful person could take the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God justifies the unjustifiable. He reaches the unreachable. He makes a partaker of sin, a partaker of sinlessness. A sinful temple becomes the home of God Almighty. This flesh that we walk around with, we are sinners. And yet God says, I'm gonna come and live inside you. That right there is the greatest act of God's power. How can a holy, perfect, almighty God live inside me and you? I'll tell you, it's a miracle because he's all powerful. That's how it happens. The greatest act is when God gives us eternal life. Do you know God? You need to ask yourself that question right now. God, do I know you? Do I really know the God of the Bible? This person that's been talking about you, do I know you? Listen, if you have been saved, if you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, there is zero reason to doubt. Do you know why I know I'm saved forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever? Because the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I know I did that and I just didn't say some words. I meant everything I said. And so I'm going to heaven because God told me that if I would do that, that I'd be saved. My question is, are you saved? Have you received everlasting life? You first must know God. You have to understand God. Maybe you're sitting here, you're like, man, I had some wrong beliefs about Jesus Christ. Now I need to accept him. That would be a good thing to do tonight. Come and get saved. Do you know God? Have you received the gift of salvation? Tonight, I just have this simple question. If you don't know God, you can know God. If you do not know God, today, tonight, in the next few minutes, can be, the Bible calls, the day of your salvation. You can come, someone can open up the word of God, they can explain even more in depth about God's word, but if you sat in church, you probably, if you're here, more than likely, maybe not, this might be the first time you've ever heard the gospel, that'd be okay. But if you sat in church, you're probably like me, that grew up in church, and at least you've heard the gospel once. And maybe some other people said you're saved, maybe you said some words and didn't believe them, but tonight I wanna ask you this simple question. Do you know the God that we've been talking about? If not, you can know him. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? We're gonna have a time invitation. Has there been a time in your life where you learned about Jesus Christ? And then has there been a time where you've received Jesus Christ? In our text, Jesus said that he gave eternal life to all those that received him. All those people that knew about Jesus Christ and that said, yes, I receive you. This God that's standing in front of me, Jesus, I receive you. Have you done that tonight? If you haven't done that, or if you're like, pastor, I just don't know. I'm not sure, but I wanna know. I don't wanna doubt this anymore. There have been people that have been praying for you. There are people that love you, your youth sponsors, your pastors, anybody that knows you that's a Christian. Even if they think that you're a Christian, but you're not, they want you to know tonight. They want you to know. So we're gonna have an invitation. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we're gonna ask you to come out, come to the front. Your sponsor's gonna come up here. They're gonna take a Bible and show you from the word of God how to be saved. If your sponsor's busy with someone, someone else is gonna come up and grab a Bible and show you from the word of God We're gonna have our pianist come, and I want you to think about this. Do you know the God of the Bible? So would you just do this, ask yourself this question. God, do I know you? And if God, or maybe you, don't know that you know him, won't you come tonight and accept him and be the greatest decision that you would ever make in your life? God wants you to know Him. It's possible to know Him. You can do that tonight. As the piano begins to play in just a little bit, as soon as you hear it playing, the invitation will begin. You can stay there in your seats. Your heads will be bowed. Your eyes will be closed. But I'm gonna have your sponsors and all those workers that are gonna be watching for someone that gets up and walks out. If you need to be saved and a sponsor sees you, you shouldn't worry about that. You shouldn't worry about what they think or what other people think about you. This is the greatest decision you'd ever make. So we're gonna go ahead and have our invitation as it plays. How about you, teenager? Do you know God?