Sunday Morning, May 30, 1993

Jeremiah 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
	What is the will of God? We have been dealing with this question for the past few weeks on Sunday evenings, and hopefully have come to realize that the will of God is His desire that we know Him. We are not talking in terms of knowing that there is some kind of deity in the heavens that is referred to as God. And we are certainly not referring to an intellectual knowledge of what man considers to be God! There are so many people who claim to know God or the doctrines of God, and yet they are sadly saddled with only an intellectual knowledge of God. That is, they can quote scripture and passage and give detailed histories of the God of the Bible, but they do not know God in a living relationship.
	We are directing our attention to the fact that God desires that we know Him in a living relationship with Himself through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior on a daily, quickening basis. To know God in the depth of a relationship means that we have come to the point in our lives where our focus is no longer on our being, but on Him.
	Consider for a brief moment the passage before us this morning. To know God means that we know Him as He has exercised lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. Each one of these qualities of our God is manifested by Christ in our lives in truly marvelous manners. As we apprehend the reality of God on the basis of each of these truths, so much less is our focus upon us, but rather upon Him. How does this work in a daily reality in our relationship with God?
	The lovingkindness of God is manifested as we are placed into situations which enable God to make Himself known through the agency of the Comforting ministry of His Holy Spirit within us. When the circumstances of our lives become so extreme that we cannot find love or kindness or any such thing from the realm about us, that is when God's perfect essence of lovingkindness can be manifested. As long as we look at the problems and the concerns, we lose sight of the reason for those elements being put into our lives. When, however, we can look to God, and see Christ as the focal point of each of these problems, we are given a different perspective, a spiritual perspective of what God is accomplishing in our lives and the lives of those about us through these situations. We experience His hand of love as He directs in our lives to point us to Himself. He uses these dilemmas in order that we will give ourselves completely to Him. As we focus our hearts on Him, then we can see how each of the situations of our lives are there for the expressed purpose of being to the glory of God.
	This is how we come into a living relationship with God. It is not as things are smoothly proceeding about us. When there is no reason to call upon God, we tend to ignore Him and to feel that we have things under control. It is when things are beyond our control that we call upon God in our utter desperation. 
	What God is working in us, through those times when He can meet our needs in His lovingkindness, is that we are to know Him at all times, not matter what the situation. Even when things about us are proceeding smoothly, we should want to know Him, and Him alone. He is faithful in times of grief and in times of joy to shower us with Himself in all His love.
	Concerning His judgment, there is no other more perfect judgment than that of our Lord Jesus Christ. As everything is placed in relationship to Him, it will be seen as being of merit or being worthless. How do our lives relate to Christ? Is He our everything, the focus of our being, or are we seeking after our own ways apart from Him? This is another avenue of God making Himself known in our lives in a living manner. As we are brought into situations that require us to decide between our fleshly lusts and His perfect desire after the glory of the Father, where are our hearts inclined? In each situation, as we choose to glorify the Father in obedience to the Word of God, so then will Christ be more and more reflected as the focal point of our lives. We will find that our desires are brought more and more into line with His desire after perfect submission to the Father. As well, we will find that we are more fully enjoying His judgment of what should and should not have a place in our lives. We will experience the guidance of the Holy Spirit as He directs how we should act toward others, and how we should speak of others and how we should be the vessels of the Love that is Christ unto all those about us. This perfect expression of God is a daily, living relationship in the will of God for us, and is a declaration of how fully we know our Loving God.
	The third aspect of knowing God, as stated in our passage, is the righteousness of God. We know God as we know His righteousness in our lives. This has absolutely nothing to do with any aspect of self-righteousness whatsoever. Our righteousness is the very righteousness of Christ, who now indwells us and covers us with Himself as we are before God and before man. As we seek after Christ to make Himself more the center of our lives and the center of each of our relationships with one another, so will we learn more and more to know Him as the covering of our protection, spiritually and physically. The slings and arrows of this realm are of no consequence in the protection of Christ. The spiritual taunts of the enemy have no ground as we are covered in Christ. Every aspect of our dealing with God is based on the righteousness of Christ alone, and it is by His essence of Love and Mercy and Grace that we have such an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent friend in Christ. 
	What a difference this truth makes in our dealings one with each other. No longer will we take offense with the perceived insults to ourselves. We are no longer the focus of our attention. We look to Christ, and allow Him to be the protection of our beings. No longer will the wrongs of this realm matter in the light of His glory. Rather, as we are wronged, we will allow Christ to make Himself manifest in Love, rather than our selves in hatred and anger. This is the effectual covering of His righteousness in our lives in our daily relationship with Him. Thank the Lord that He is our righteousness and that we are secure in Him!
	The question is do we know Him in this sense as our complete and perfect Righteousness? We should! Do we know Him as the means of God's expression of Lovingkindness? We can't live without Him! Do we know Him as the standard of judgment in our dealing with each other and with God? This will be the righteous judgment of eternity! 
	To know Christ in each of these wonderful aspects requires that we know Him beyond any intellectual basis. It requires that we live in a relationship of trust in Christ. That we trust God with every aspect of our life, and with every aspect of the lives of those we love. It requires that we become so set in the foundation of Christ that nothing will shake us from Him, neither cause us to look away from Him. Whether we experience catastrophe or triumph, our focus needs to be centered in Christ through Whom all things work to the glory of God. That is the will of God for us as individuals, as families, and as His Body, the Church. To know God, we need to know the living Son of God, Jesus Christ as our life. This is the relationship which delights the Lord and will bring glory to God forever and forever. 
	Hosea 6:1-3  Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
	But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.