[0:00] 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we read in these verses 11 and 12. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God.
[0:14] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Now what Paul is drawing attention to here in these verses is the fact that even ordinary fallen mankind can recognise that each of us feels that really only we ourselves are in a position to know what we are really like.
[0:40] That's probably a misconception because those around us of course know things about us or recognise attributes or aspects of us that maybe we wouldn't be too ready to admit. But we do feel that somebody will really only understand us if we're able to sort of give of ourselves and reveal ourselves, make ourselves known to them.
[0:59] Only we, we feel, really knows the real us inside. And what Paul is appealing to here in the Corinthians is saying, well if this is what you recognise about yourselves, then how much more is it true about God?
[1:14] Man is by definition finite. There's only so much mystery about any man or woman in the world that, you know, can be plumbed, plumbed the depths of or found out about.
[1:25] But God is infinite in his mystery and majesty. So what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? In other words, if you think people would know you, they can really only know you if you make yourself known to them.
[1:39] So even so, the spirit things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
[1:53] As he says a little further down, you know, nobody can know these things because they are spiritually discerned. So lest the Lord reveals himself to people, then they can't know him at all.
[2:05] Now of course he's revealed himself a little bit in the work of creation. We can see sufficient in creation to know there is a God, that everything in creation is perfectly designed and balanced and established in order to be perfectly sort of nuanced and perfectly sophisticated in the complexity of it all, the way it all fits together.
[2:27] All of this declares a designer. It all declares a creator. But that wouldn't of itself be enough to reveal God as he is. Only he can do that himself.
[2:39] And this, of course, he's spoken in the past through his prophets and through the leaders like Moses and Aaron and so on and Elijah and others. But ultimately he's revealed himself through his son Jesus Christ.
[2:52] And now through his written word. But we can read that, we can study it, and it can still remain dead to us until and unless the Lord brings it alive to us.
[3:03] So the difficulty with it or the problem that fallen man faces is that when he seeks to imagine or to address God just with his own resources, he will always end up misrepresenting God.
[3:19] Now this is, of course, what paganism does and what idolatry does. People make statues, the Baal worship and so on of ancient Israel and the fertility cults and so on that people follow.
[3:30] They look at the fields around them. They want fertility. They want fruitful harvest. So they think that if they imagine gods and make images of these gods and say, well, this is the god of the fields.
[3:40] This is the god of the rivers. This is the god of the stars and the sky and so on. And they make images of them and they burn sacrifices to them and so on. And somehow this will help them. Of course, this is just trying to imagine the divine and the godlike things out of their own heads, out of their own imaginations.
[3:58] And so they make their gods like themselves. And even when it comes to the true god, of course, people tend to imagine God to be pretty much like themselves. And he would really sympathize with them in their position because who wouldn't want to support such a brilliant person as oneself might be?
[4:18] So, of course, we imagine God as approving everything that we do, being a nice guy that would pat us on the head and say, oh, yeah, you've had a hard time. You're doing pretty well.
[4:29] Yes, of course, I approve of you. Bless you. And that's what we imagine God to be like until and unless he reveals himself to us. And all the evidence of his word and all the written word that he has given in the Bible and his word, we just say, oh, yes, but that's just people imagining what God was like then.
[4:48] And we think that the ancient writers and those who are inspired to write down what the Lord told them to do, that they were just imagining about their own heads. But we're not doing that.
[5:00] We are positing God as he really is. In other words, we remake God in our own image. Misrepresentation of God.
[5:10] Now, all of us, I'm sure, at some point in our lives have been misrepresented or believe that we have been. And the misrepresentation that will especially bother us will be the negative kind.
[5:23] Perhaps we may have been in a situation where we're misrepresented in an unduly positive light. Perhaps flattered or whatever. We don't tend to be quite so bothered about that, of course.
[5:33] It might be a wee bit embarrassing and somebody's really praising God. We don't feel worthy of it. But that doesn't tend to bother us so much. It's the negative kind that really bothers us.
[5:44] We tend to become really upset about that if we feel that we have been misrepresented. It's bad enough if somebody says, oh, you're really rubbish at doing that.
[5:55] And you think, well, yeah, fair enough. I am really rubbish. But if actually you really work hard at something and you've done nobody, you think you've made a reasonable stab about it. And they say, oh, no, you're really rubbish at that.
[6:06] Well, that's an injustice. That's wrong. It's a misrepresentation of me or what I've done and so on. But misrepresentation will normally come from two possible sources.
[6:18] Either ignorance of the truth or the reality on the one hand or enmity against the person concerned or both. You know, it's amazing, isn't it, how ready we are, all of us, to trash some public figure, whether it's a foreign head of state or whether it's somebody, a politician or something in our own country and defying fault with somebody.
[6:42] And yet we don't know them. We don't know the particular pressures they've been under or the things that they've gone through or what may be driving them at this particular time or that particular time.
[6:53] But we decide we don't like them. And so we misrepresent them. We say, oh, well, that terrible person. Imagine doing this. Imagine doing that. Imagine doing the next thing. And we think how terrible they are in comparison to us.
[7:07] We misrepresent them, whether public people or private individuals, either out of imagined enmity or we simply don't know the facts. Or combination of both.
[7:18] You know, inevitably, we must each, you know, however sound a note of caution in this, we misrepresent others just like we don't like having others misrepresenting us.
[7:33] But we are just as guilty because we all do it with regard to other people as well. And it is always easier to criticize and to misrepresent than it is to find out what the truth actually is.
[7:47] You know, this has become particularly bad, of course, since the advent of the internet and social media and so on. And you get what are commonly referred to as trolls. Internet trolls.
[7:58] If anybody appears, anything public says anything, does anything, then there will be people absolutely slating it in sometimes very abusive language. They're hiding behind their anonymity.
[8:09] They're just slating off somebody that they don't even know. And we all are guilty to a greater or lesser extent of misrepresentation of people that we don't really know.
[8:21] And this is true in our dealings with others. It's perhaps true in the dealings of others with us. But it is true certainly in the dealings of mankind with God. Man is always ready to put the blame on God or to misrepresent God rather than to look at what would be fair.
[8:40] What we would regard as fair for us is, well, you don't really know me. If you really knew me, you'd know that this is the case. I'm not actually guilty of this. What I'm trying to do is that. And this is the reason why I've said and done what I've done and so on.
[8:54] And we would want people to be fair with us. But when it comes to God, we are often very ready to misrepresent what we understand or misunderstand of what God has done or what we think God has done.
[9:08] It's true in our relationship with others. It's true in our dealings of mankind with God. Now, admittedly, we'd all like to think that misrepresentation of us is an untruth.
[9:20] People just, you know, saying things about us that aren't true as well as an injustice. It's an untruth, you know. And what we want to say is, oh, no, no, that's not what I'm like at all.
[9:31] This is what I'm like. If you only knew the real me, you would never say that. If you know the truth, even we, of course, tend to misrepresent ourselves because we always want to put the best possible light to others.
[9:45] We always want to make a, not a propaganda case, but we certainly want the rosiest possible glow of our own selves or our own, you know, nature or whatever. And perhaps sometimes those who, as we say, are nearest and dearest to us might see different sides or different aspects to us that maybe aren't quite so complimentary.
[10:04] But those sides aren't necessarily untrue. But there are sides to us that maybe we wouldn't want to admit to because we would perceive them from a different angle.
[10:16] Why would we perceive them from a different angle? Because all of us, especially in our fallen natural condition, and there's still a bit of that that lingers over, even in a state of grace, are essentially self-centered.
[10:31] Self-centered in the sense, not that, oh, we're selfish beings and don't care about anybody else. But the fact that we are essentially really the center point of our universe.
[10:42] It revolves around us. We think in terms of what I've got to do today, the tasks I've got, the jobs I've got to do, who I've got to meet, and this I've got to do, I've got to do this, I've got to do that, and so on. And it's about me.
[10:54] It's about my life and what I must do. We are essentially self-centered beings in the sense that the self is the center of our universe.
[11:05] Now, of course, that continues to be the case in man's fallen condition. And even as of when the Lord intervenes in our life, by his grace and changes our priorities, there's still a bit of that self lingering in there.
[11:22] But ideally then, you know, by grace we become Christ-centered in the sense of what does the Lord require of me today? What can most serve the Lord's kingdom?
[11:34] How can I further the aims of Christ's kingdom? How can I live as a Christian better today? How can I be a better witness and example? And we become to think more and more Christ-centered in our actions and hopefully speech and ideally thoughts too.
[11:50] But by nature, we are self-centered. And because we are self-centered, we think in terms of that everything we do and say is or, of course it's okay, it must be okay because I've got a rationale for doing it.
[12:04] And my rationale is that I'm justified in doing this. I'm justified in saying this. And this wrong has been done to me. So I'm inclined to lash out and so on. And it's all from the self point of view, which is why those, even those who are close to us, will see it from a slightly different perspective.
[12:21] Well, actually, you weren't entitled to do that or say that because, look, this is what you did to this person. This is what you said to her. Oh, yes, but I didn't mean that. What I meant was such and such. We see it from a different perspective because we are essentially self-centered.
[12:37] But none of us likes to be misrepresented. But there is a sense in which we find that, yes, we want to be the truth come out of us, but we feel that only we ourselves can really explain or unfold to others the real us.
[13:00] You know, if you want to know the real person, you've got to get to know them and let them unpack who they are. Let them reveal their heart and their thoughts. And then only then will you really know them.
[13:11] It's got to come from them. And that's true up to a point. But perhaps not really only us knows the real us. But that's what we like to think. If you really want to know me, you're going to get to know me.
[13:22] And then I'll make my know. I'll unpack. I'll come out of my shell a bit. I'll let you know a bit more about me. But we think you won't know me unless I let you in. Unless I tell you. So I think that's how we feel about ourselves.
[13:35] There is a sense in which we feel that only we ourselves really know or understand the real us. the true reality of who we are.
[13:45] those closest to us will see faults and failures of which we may perhaps be unaware. We are one of those two are part of the real us. But one reason why this misrepresentation is so hard for us is because we feel the frustration that whoever is doing, whoever is misrepresenting us, essentially is blind to the reality, the truth, of who we really are.
[14:14] We want to let that be known. We want to say, no, no, if you really knew the real me, you wouldn't say that. You wouldn't think that about me. That's not what I'm like. This is what I'm like.
[14:25] And the deep-seated belief that only we can really tell our own story. For who, what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him.
[14:39] Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. In other words, we tend to believe that just as only we can make known to others what we are really like.
[14:50] To a certain extent, that's true. Not just our human experience. But here also, we see it in the Bible. We see it declared in the truth. But if that's the case, then how much more so is it the case with the Lord?
[15:05] And if then only the Lord can make himself known, then the unbelieving world can know nothing of them.
[15:17] Nothing of them at all, save what's revealed in creation and to the rest of mankind and so on. Except what he himself makes known. And we see this as well because, you know, the world tends to, of course, if you say, Well, yeah, but look at all the good things God has done.
[15:33] Look at all the food he makes come up from the ground and the beasts of the field that he gives for your provision, for your quality. Oh, that's not God. That's mankind. You know, working the fields and rearing the crops and the animals and fishing the seas.
[15:48] And it's, oh, no, that's us. When there is something good, we ascribe it to different sources. But when there is something bad, how quickly unbelieving man will throw it back onto us.
[15:58] Oh, well, you can't. There's a God of love. How did he let that earthquake happen? How did that mudslide kill so many hundreds of people? How did these bad things get done to these poor, innocent, suffering people?
[16:09] So much for your loving God. When there is good, they will claim a different source for it. When it is bad, they will throw it with contempt onto the God in whom they don't even believe.
[16:20] Misrepresenting God, whom we cannot know except to reveal himself to us. We make him in our image.
[16:33] It is a distortion. It is a cheap imitation. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God.
[16:46] Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God. We might know the things that are freely given to us of God. In other words, once the Lord changes our heart and we seek to become, or we become by his grace, Christ-centered, the world literally looks different.
[17:06] The world literally has a different locus, a different focus in our lives. We see things from a different perspective.
[17:17] No longer self-centered but Christ-centered. No longer in terms of how much we can pack into our life but rather this brief breath of time before the eternity that we enter.
[17:28] Either with the Lord or without him. It changes our complete perspective. And yet still we cannot really know the Lord in all the depth of his beauty and wonder and so on.
[17:41] There are those who would say, even in eternity, we won't know the Lord. I think it might be better, given the scriptural evidence. You know, in 1 Corinthians 13 he says, you know, Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.
[17:54] So we will know the Lord to an extent. Perhaps it might be fairer to say, we cannot exhaust the depths and the vastness and the immensity of the divine even in eternity.
[18:08] We will know him in a way that we don't know him here. But we won't be able to exhaust all the knowledge and all the vastness and all the depths of the living God.
[18:21] But we will know him in a sense that we don't know him here. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. So only the Lord then can make himself known to us.
[18:36] We think, well, okay, that's a fat lot of use. If I don't know the Lord, then I'm stuck. I'm really in difficulty. I can't make it happen. No matter how much I read the Bible, no matter how much I pray.
[18:47] Well, prayer in itself will not change God's mind. We can't clock up enough prayers to somehow tip the balance. You know, in, I think it's the Hindus in Nepal.
[18:58] I remember my aunt was out in the far east, rather, in Nepal many years ago and came back with what they call a prayer wheel. And this was an artifact she bought when she was out there.
[19:12] It's sort of shaped almost like a rattle with a handle in it and with a drum inside it. And inside the drum was turned by a string with a weight on the end.
[19:23] And packed tightly inside the drum was a roll and roll and roll and roll of paper. Tightly, tightly packed, almost like if you had one of these sort of ticket machines that prints out your receipt in the supermarket.
[19:35] Only tightly packed drum of paper. Thin paper rolled up tightly packed. And on every piece of that paper there were written prayers.
[19:47] Okay, to be Buddhist or Hindu prayers or whatever, so they didn't be, you know, up to the true God. But even so, prayers were written on this paper. It was all tightly packed on the prayer wheel. And the idea was that all the prayers were squeezed into this prayer drum and written with all the devotion that they could give it.
[20:04] And then the drum was closed. And that the Buddhist monks or whatever, as they walked along, they would turn the weight on the end of the string. They would turn the prayer wheel. And every time the drum turned, all the prayers inside were being said, allegedly.
[20:19] Now, even if it were possible to accumulate such vast numbers of prayers, even if they were prayers to the true God, that kind of prayer is not going to tip a balance or unlock a key or a door or a lock or make it possible for us to enter into the divine presence.
[20:41] Only the Lord can open that door to us. Only the Lord can declare himself to us. But if we ask, we are taught in Scripture, we shall receive.
[20:54] James tells us, remember, chapter 1, verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
[21:07] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
[21:20] A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. If you're going to ask, ask believing. That if it's the Lord's will, he will give it. And the Lord desires to give good gifts to his children.
[21:33] You know, this is what we read in Luke 11, of course. This is from verse 9. I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
[21:44] For everyone that asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And then the Lord gives this illustration, this famous illustration.
[21:55] If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
[22:07] He's not trying to play tricks on his child. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?
[22:21] The things of God, remember, are spiritually designed. We cannot know the Lord except by his Spirit. But he will give the Spirit to those that ask him.
[22:31] That's what he says. In his word. And he cannot lie. And his word cannot lie. And the context of those verses, in the previous parable he's told, is if somebody comes to his friend at midnight and says, Friend, let me three ropes.
[22:45] Because a traveler has come to me on a journey. I've got nothing to give him. He says, Oh, I'm in bed already. And I've got children and saw the doors locked. You know, go away. Even though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend.
[22:57] Yet because of his importunity. He keeps on knocking. Keeps on asking. Keeps on pleading. Eventually he'll get up and give him it. And that's somebody who is impatient, sinful, worldly.
[23:09] How much more then will the Lord delight to give good gifts to his children? Now, all of us, of course, know situations where perhaps we have to ask something of whether a parent or a friend or whatever.
[23:22] You know, we might say, Dad, can I borrow the car this weekend? And Dad might say, Well, yes, okay, you can borrow it. But make sure you're capable of it. But there might be a reason why he has to say no.
[23:34] He might say, Well, I'm sorry, son. You can't take it this weekend because I have to be away at such and such conference or something. And I'm taking the car. I need the car. So I'm really sorry.
[23:45] I would. If it was there, you could have it. You can't have it this weekend because I need it. And there might be other occasions when we ask something of a friend or a member of our family or whatever.
[23:56] And they would love to help us, but they can't on that occasion because there's a prior claim. And sometimes we ask the Lord for things. And he will say, Look, I'm not going to give you just now.
[24:07] Or I can give you just now because. And he won't necessarily make clear to us the because or the reason. But he will always have his reason. It is not the case that we ask and the Lord will say, No, no, no.
[24:19] You can't have that just because I don't like you. And because I'm not giving it to you. But rather there will be a reason. If the Lord says no, there will be a reason why. And almost always the Lord will say no for a good reason.
[24:33] Which will be probably not no, but rather not yet. Or else no, because I have something better planned for you. I have something greater that I want you to have.
[24:46] You think this is your desire now. But I happen to know what your real heart's desire is. And I've got that lined up for you. So, not just now.
[24:58] No to the thing. But if we're asking the Holy Spirit, which is what Luke 11 is talking about. We're asking so that we can know the Lord. And so that he'll make himself known to us.
[25:09] You know, this is what Moses asked the members of the day. To see something of God's glory. When he was discouraged by the disobedience of the children of Israel. And the Lord was going to say, Well, I'm not going to go with you up into the promised land.
[25:22] And Moses prayed. And begged that the Lord would go up with him. And he said, My presence shall go with thee then, and I will give thee rites. And he said, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
[25:35] For wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
[25:47] And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also, that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I deseech thee, show me thy glory.
[25:59] Now, it was the case that nobody could look upon the face of God and live. So what the Lord says, No, no, no, no, Moses. You're not going to see anything of me. Because, you know, nobody can do that unless they die.
[26:11] But rather he says, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.
[26:23] He said, Thou canst not see my face. For there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me. And thou shalt stand upon a rock.
[26:34] And it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by. I will put thee in a cliff of the rock. And will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away my hand.
[26:46] And thou shalt see my back parts. But my face shall not be seen. In other words, Moses, I have to keep true to my own glory. And the mystery of my own divinity.
[26:57] But you've asked for something special. And I'll give you what I can give you. I'll give you enough to be going on with. You've asked and I want to give.
[27:08] I can't give everything you've asked. And it's just not possible. You can't do that in this world here. But I desire to give you something of what you've asked. I desire to give you more.
[27:20] Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. You see, so often, as we've said, misrepresentation arises from either ignorance or enmity.
[27:34] And you know, there's an enmity that delights to find fault with people. Delights, you know, always to pick holes in whatever they do. And one of the few occasions, in fact, probably the only occasion I've ever written to a prime minister was a few years ago when the prime minister at the time, several prime ministers ago, there have been those who are forces who have been killed in operations abroad.
[28:00] And the prime minister had taken it upon himself to write a personal note of condolence to each of the widows of these servicemen. One of these widows, whether he'd been misadvised or whatever, one of these widows, he had misspelled a name.
[28:17] And so the person concerned, they went to the tabloids, he says, oh, I didn't care at all, the prime minister was a whole bad lord. Look, I didn't even care enough to find out the spelling of my name or my husband's name or whatever the case was.
[28:30] And really trashed that prime minister's reputation in the paper. That was the occasion I took it upon myself to write and say, look, you're doing a good thing writing to these widows.
[28:40] You're doing your best with that. Don't agree with your policies, but, you know, don't be discouraged by this. This is, you know, this is an unjust criticism. So, you know, keep going, doing a good job in this regard, at least.
[28:51] I just felt that I should have some word of encouragement of kinds because they were seeking to do something good. There was lots of things that prime minister had done that I could never agree with.
[29:05] But that was a good thing. But in seeking to do that good thing, they were being trashed. They were being absolutely, you know, slated. And that happens with politicians.
[29:16] It happens with public figures and so on. Isaiah talks about this in chapter 29. It says, Is it not a very little while? A very part of verse 18. In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.
[29:30] The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord because he openly will revere himself to them. The poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
[29:43] For the terrible one is brought to naught. And the scorn is consumed. And all that watch for iniquity are cut off. That make a man an offender for a word.
[29:56] And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate. And turn aside the just. For a thing of naught. You know, fine fault for nothing.
[30:07] Delight in nothing more than just stirring and causing trouble. And there are those that do that. Who will misrepresent. Who will delight to find fault.
[30:17] Remember again what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13. Childly love. Suffereth long and is kind. Envieth not. Vaunteth not itself. Is not puffed up.
[30:28] Doth not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity. But rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things.
[30:39] Believeth all things. Hopeth all things. Endureth all things. Charity never faileth. And this is what the Lord is doing. As opposed to those who are seeking to find fault with it.
[30:52] And that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book. How can the deaf hear? If the Lord opens it unto them. The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
[31:05] Because the Lord opens their eyes. Not only has Christ opened the eyes of those born blind. But as the scales fell from the eyes of Paul. When he was converted. And the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord.
[31:19] The poor among men shall rejoice. In the Holy One of Israel. Because he shuts down. Those who seek to find fault for nothing. But rather.
[31:30] When we are misrepresented. So we see it is either out of enmity. And that enmity may be personal. It should be general. You know what? I was hearing a politician speaking just a few weeks ago.
[31:43] And she visited the island. And saying that one thing that she hadn't been prepared for. Was the minute. The minute. She stood for public office. All the hatred that was poured out upon it.
[31:55] She hadn't done anything. Hadn't said anything. Hadn't even won the election yet. But it just happened automatically. I remember another one a couple of years ago. Who put his name forward for the leadership of his party.
[32:06] And he ended up withdrawing within about 24 hours. Because he just hadn't been prepared for the amount of venom that would suddenly come upon it. Out of nowhere. And it's the way that enmity and misrepresentation just delights to find a target.
[32:23] And this is not of the Lord. It is of the fallen world. It is ultimately of the evil one. And those who will delight to trash one another will likewise delight to trash the reputation and the sanctity of the Lord.
[32:40] And they don't know him at all. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God.
[32:53] And yet even though. Even though we are essentially. Until the Lord changes us. Self-centered. And self-concerned. And we think nobody really knows me.
[33:05] Except nobody understands what I'm really like. And who I'm really like. And so on. This self-centered state. This concern with ourselves. And wanting to be known. Wanting to be understood.
[33:16] This is exactly where the Lord meets us in our need. He doesn't stand up on the mountain and say. Oh you should be better. Oh you should be changed. You should be more honoring of me.
[33:27] You should be a holier person than you are. No. First of all. He meets us exactly where we are. First of all. He looks right into our heart. He speaks into our very soul.
[33:38] And he makes it clear to us. That he knows us. Exactly as we are. Lord thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising.
[33:48] Thou understandest my thought afar off. What is it that really hit home to the woman of Samaria in John chapter 4? It's that the Lord knew exactly who she was.
[34:02] He didn't criticize the fact she had five husbands. It was now shacked up with somebody that wasn't her husband. He just said this is the reality of who you are. And she asked to try to deflect him with questions about Mount Gerizim and about Jerusalem and so on.
[34:15] He just answered everything completely. She knew he had seen right through her. She knew that he knew her exactly as she was. Who she was.
[34:25] And still he was taking time to talk with her. To open things to her. To understand her. Because he did understand her. This is the sense in which I would suggest to you.
[34:38] And we come to know that yes, the Lord is real. The Lord is true. And one reason we know he's true is because he speaks to me.
[34:49] He speaks to the individual. To the you. To the me. He knows exactly who we are. Exactly what. And we don't have to explain to him because he knows. And we get that sense that fills us that we are completely known.
[35:04] Completely understood. That this is one we don't have to try and represent the best possible. That they know us. He knows us perfectly. Completely.
[35:15] He puts his finger exactly on who we are. What we are. On our good points. Our bad points. He knows us exactly as we are. And in that condition.
[35:27] He still invites us to follow him. He still invites us to be his. He doesn't wait for us to be righteous. But he knows. He meets us exactly at that point of need.
[35:41] Isn't that the crying desire of almost every fallen human being in this world? To be known. To be loved just for who they are.
[35:53] To be understood and not misrepresented. That's what the Lord is ready to do. To go straight to the heart. Not to misrepresent.
[36:04] But to make himself known to them. Exactly where they are. Who they are. And how they are. Because he alone is able to peel away those layers.
[36:17] And go straight to the center and soul of that being. And in doing so. To make himself known to them. For what man knoweth the things of a man?
[36:30] Save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world.
[36:41] But the spirit which is of God. That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. He deals with us right where we are. In so far as he speaks to our very deepest needs.
[36:55] Even needs of which up until then we may not have even been aware. You know the woman in the well of Simeia didn't know that she needed the Lord. But then she went away and said. Come see a man that told me everything I ever did.
[37:08] Isn't this the Messiah? And then others believed because of what she had said. And then they found out for themselves too. He met them at their deepest need. Only the Lord can make himself known.
[37:20] And he does it perfectly. He does it by showing us that he knows us inside out. Such a one that knows us so perfectly.
[37:34] Cannot be anything other than totally true. Cannot be anything other than totally real. Let us pray. Come with me.
[37:44] God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. You need to pray. God bless you. People bless you. And if you are willing to pray.
[37:56] Movement me. God bless you. You need your love. All right. All right. Many God bless you. All right.