Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

Chapter Two

Not as well as we should, we all confess. Not as well as we desire, we admit. Not as well as we shall, let us hope. Not as well as we must, let us determine.

We will change the heading a bit, from the second person to the first; "How well do we know Jesus?" And still a bit more change, "How well do I know Jesus?" That is better. We are prone to think of such matters as they concern others, or think of them as being in the crowd. In matters with the Lord it is always personal, each one for himself. We won't get off on individual responsibility. It is interesting and important. Back to our subject, "How well do I know Jesus?"

Do you know Jesus well enough to be saved? When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he knew something about Him. He could truly say, "Thou art a teacher come from God," but he was not saved. He did not know Jesus well enough. He did not truly and really know Him. Is it true of you? Do you know Jesus only as a teacher sent from God?

The men whom Jesus healed of his blindness in the ninth chapter of John knew Him as a prophet. The Pharisees said to the man, "What sayest thou of him? and he said, He is a prophet", but he was not saved. Jesus found him and asked him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" "Thou hast both seen him and he it is that talketh with thee." "Lord, I believe." "And he worshiped Him." If you know

something about Jesus and want to learn more, it is easy to learn. It does not take long to know Him as Saviour. If you will seek diligently to know Him as revealed in the Bible, He will find you. Do you know Him as the Son of God? "Son of God'' means equality with God. (John 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (vs 14) "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father)." Do you believe this? If you do, you know this glorious fact about Jesus.

Do you know Jesus as sin-bearer? You have been worried about what can be done about your sins. This is something to worry about. You may think you can do something about them but you cannot. They are as much a part of you as your skin. God only can do anything. He has done something. Do you want to learn what it is? (I Timothy: 1:15) ''Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Our sins were laid on Him. (Isaiah 53:6) "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Jesus is made sin for us. (II Corinthians 5:21) "For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.'' God condemned our sin in Him. (Romans 8:3b) ''God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." God bruised Him. (Isaiah 53:10a) ''Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed ...'' God puts them away. (Hebrews 9:26) ''But now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.'' John the Baptist saw this and said, (John 1:29) ''Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." The Holy Spirit through Paul says, (I Corinthians 15:3b) ''Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.'' Is it truth to you that Jesus has taken away your sins? You have it on God's testimony. You re-

Do you know Jesus as risen and living in glory now and coming back for His own some day? Jesus showed Himself to His disciples for forty days by many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3) Jesus after He had risen from the dead, showed His hands and His feet and ate bread before them. Paul saw Him in glory and that vision of the risen Lord carried him through a long life of peril, suffering, love and devotion in witnessing to our glorious risen Saviour and Lord. (Romans 4:25) "Who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification."

Do you know Jesus well enough for Him to be your Lord? Some who are saved do not know Him as Lord. They do not accept Him as absolute Lord. This is because they do not truly know Him as Lord. They may know what the Bible says about Him as Lord, but it is not truth to them. They do not believe God's testimony concerning Him that He is Lord. Such people will and do follow tradition, and the authority of man in matters of spirit and reject the Word of God. A saved person sometimes will be sprinkled and call it baptism. He rejects the Lordship of Jesus. He accepts human authority in religion. Some preachers say they will and do preach the way of salvation, but do not show the Lordship of Jesus expressed in baptism, and do not baptize their converts as Jesus commanded, and do not teach them to observe all things Jesus commanded. They say, "I will divide the commission of my Saviour," These do not know Jesus well enough. They call Him Lord but He says, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" It is a great temptation for those who hold union meetings and for radio preachers to fail in their loyalty to Jesus right here. When did you hear a preacher in a union meeting show the meaning and duty of baptism to his converts? When did you hear a radio preacher doing this? The response to what I am saying is, "0, that would not do. We would offend our brethren and close the ears of lost people to our message of salvation.'' When Jesus tells us to do it that way then

we may, but He does not split His commission. Disciple, baptize, teach all things. If we can do only part of it, we do not truly know Him as Lord. In other matters we show a lack of loyalty to Jesus as Lord, but these things I have mentioned are so common today, that I call attention to them in the hope that these lovers of Jesus our Saviour will also be loyal to Him as Lord. A saved person loves the Lord Jesus, and in his heart he is loyal to Him but Satan has a way and very plausible ways of marring our loyalty to our only Saviour and Lord.

Do you know Jesus well enough to rest in Him daily as your Shepherd? Can you say with David, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, etc." We should be able to enter into this peaceful state more fully than David, for we have so much more revealed about Him as our Shepherd. Scriptures to the point are John 10, 17 and Luke 15.

Do you know Jesus well enough to rejoice in Him as your High Priest? Read Hebrews 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and I Peter 2.

Do you know enough about Jesus as coming Deliverer of these bodies from corruption to make you rejoice in the hope of the glory of God? Paul says, "God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, our Hope." Read I Corinthians 15 and I Thessalonians 4.

How well do you know Jesus? If I have done what I set out to do, you know Him better, and you are determined to know Him in all His gracious and glorious fullness.