Listen to this article:

“Do You Know The Lord?” MP3 File – right click and select “save as”, “save link as”, or “save target as” to save it to your computer.

Friend, have you been saved?

Do you LOVE JESUS?

You do? That’s wonderful!

Do you KNOW THE LORD?? Yes? That’s terrific!

Do you keep His Ten Commandments? What? You DON’T?? Oh dear. Oh my. Dear, dear, dear… Forgive me, I’m just a little bit befuddled by what you just said. You see, now I’m in a bit of a spot. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you mean what you just said, but I’m not sure what to think right now. You see, on the one hand, you say you know the Lord. And I think you believe what you say. But on the other hand… well, let me show you what I mean and maybe you can help me understand what’s wrong.

You believe that the Bible’s the word of God don’t you? Of course you do. And of course, God can’t lie, so if it’s in the Bible, you can take it to the bank, you can COUNT on every word in that Bible being absolutely 100% true, can’t you? Of course you can, everyone knows that. But here is my problem… let me just show you the scripture that’s troubling me here…

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Now I didn’t say that. God did…. And please, check in your own Bible to make absolutely sure that I’m not just making this up. You see, that’s the word of God. And it says that if you SAY you know Him, like you just did… and if you DON’T keep His commandments, like you just said you didn’t… well, then God calls you a liar.

That’s a pretty serious thing for God to say about someone. Could it be true? We know that God can’t lie. After all, if you can’t trust God, who can you trust? If you can’t take HIS word at face value, I guess it’s time to find a new God, one that you CAN trust.

So if God is so certain that’s He’s right in this, and that you are wrong, to call you a liar, that’s worth a few minutes of your time to check into, isn’t it? After all, if you’re right, and God is wrong, it won’t make much difference anyway, just a few minutes of your life spent…

But if you’re WRONG… well, then you’re NOT saved, you DON’T know Jesus, and you don’t even LOVE Him!

1 John 5:3 For THIS is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

So if you’re willing, I want to ask you a few questions about what you said earlier. You said you knew the Lord. And I still think you believed that, don’t misunderstand what I’m doing. But if God calls you a liar, I think we need to investigate and see what’s wrong. Because SOMETHING is wrong somewhere, either something God said or did, or something you said or did.

So you said you knew the Lord. Well how did you KNOW you knew the Lord? Had you ever seen Him? Had you ever seen a picture of Him (a REAL picture)? Would you recognize Him if you saw Him on the street? No? Well then why do you think you know Him?

Can you go to the Bible and prove that you know Him? Ah, I see. You know things about Him, and so you think you know HIM. Let me ask another question in a way that’ll make this simpler. Let’s say I knew where you worked, what time you went to work, and whether you were married or not. Would you say I knew you? Of course not.

I know a few things ABOUT you, but I certainly don’t KNOW you. I don’t know your character, your dreams, your interests, I don’t know what you would do when confronted with a given problem, I really don’t know you at all.

Now, just hearing a man, a preacher even, tell you that Jesus is Lord, and that He died on a cross for the sins of mankind, and that He loves you… that doesn’t mean you know Him, does it? It just means you know a few things ABOUT Him.
But to REALLY succeed in pleasing God, you have to KNOW Him, REALLY know Him. You have to get inside His head and know how He thinks, how

He feels about things, what His plans for the future are, most of all you have to learn about HIS CHARACTER, learn WHAT HE IS LIKE INSIDE!
And the Bible gives you exact, detailed instructions on how to do that, if you really want to learn. No man can teach you what He is like, no, you have to learn that from Him, yourself.

It’s like if you were to talk to a friend of yours, who knew where I lived, and knew where I worked, and knew that a few years ago I lived in a different city… Imagine talking to that person, and then based on that, claiming that you knew me. You don’t know me! Your friend doesn’t even know me. And you can talk about me to your friend forever, and you’ll NEVER KNOW ME!

The ONLY way to ever know me is to MEET me, talk to me, work with me… see how I react when someone’s car is broke down, see how I react when someone slaps me for no reason, see how I react when a child’s toy is broken… THEN you would start to actually KNOW me, wouldn’t you? Of course!

That’s as simple as anything can be! And KNOWING GOD IS NO DIFFERENT! And God tells you EXACTLY how to get to know God!

1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

THIS is how you KNOW GOD, and KNOW that you know Him!! You can SAY you know Him, based on conversations with your friend or your minister, but if you don’t KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, God says you are a liar! On the other hand, He also says…

1 John 2:5-6 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Have you ever heard the expression that you can’t really know a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes? Of course you have, everyone has. I don’t usually go in much for trite little sayings like that, but here the Bible says pretty much the same thing. You can’t know God until you’ve WALKED, JUST LIKE HE WALKED!

And so all that you have to do now is figure out how Christ walked when He was here, and you’ll know JUST WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET TO KNOW HIM!

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Jesus said He OBEYED His Father’s commandments! Are you starting to see a pattern here? I know you haven’t been taught this – you’ve been taught that that nasty old testament law was done away – but today you’re seeing a lot of plain scriptures that say that you must KEEP the commandments, not just the Jews, but EVERYONE who considers themselves a Christian is obligated to keep them!

Paul tells Timothy, who worked mostly with the gentiles, NOT with the Jews, to “…Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19). What is Iniquity? Lawlessness – LIVING WITHOUT THE LAW OF GOD! While we’re on the subject, what IS sin, anyway? Do you know? It’s very simple really. As always, the Bible gives us a plain answer, if we’ll just believe it.

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Sin, says John, under inspiration of God, IS the breaking of God’s law. You’ve seen a lot of scriptures tonight that prove that modern-day Christians, if they really ARE Christians, must obey the law of God. I know there is a flurry of confusion of people out there, most of them telling you that the Law has been done away – but you have two eyes, and a mind – you can decide for yourself! Don’t believe me! Please! BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE!

You’ve seen the scriptures here, and I’ll show you a few more before we’re done. You can look at those and see the SIMPLE, PLAIN TRUTH, and decide for YOURSELF what God said, and what He wants YOU to do!

This message isn’t very popular today! No, people want to hear that they’re OK, that God loves them just as they are! Maybe you’re that way. I hope not, I hope you can read the Bible for yourself and believe the TRUTH that you read there, and not a fable taught to you by men, men who probably never KNEW the truth, because THEY NEVER KNEW THE LORD!

Here is a scripture that isn’t very popular with THAT kind of minister. But it’s a scripture that is in your Bible, words that came from the very mouth of YOUR SAVIOR! A young man once came to Christ, and said “Master, WHAT MUST I DO to inherit eternal life?”
THIS man wanted to be SAVED! What advice would YOU give Him? If you KNOW the Lord, you should know what to tell Him, because that’s what it MEANS to know God, to know how HE THINKS!

Would you tell him to just BELIEVE ON JESUS, and nothing else? Would you tell him not to try to be saved by WORKS, but to forget the works, not to try to obey the commandments, and just have FAITH?

Matthew 19:17 And he(Jesus) said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

But Jesus, the most AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE IN THE UNIVERSE, told this man seeking to inherit eternal life to KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS! But the man wanted clarification. He wanted to know exactly what Jesus was talking about. So…

Verse 18-19 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

And so Jesus quoted a few of them back to him, to show him to which group of commandments He was referring! If Jesus Christ said that, then we know that was GOOD advice. So do you follow it? Do you obey the commandments of God?

I know there is a lot of confusion out there. And I know that, if you’ve been in contact with any church at all in the past, this has raised a lot of objections, questions in your mind. I can’t hope to be exhaustive with this little article, all I really hope to do is to show you that there are a lot of scriptures, in the NEW Testament, to say nothing of the Old… that are clear, direct commands to obey the Ten Commandments. And I haven’t even quoted more than a small fraction of them here.

I’m more than happy to answer your questions, see the Contact Us link at the left side of this page. By now, you have probably already decided if you are interested in learning the truth, the REAL TRUTH, the kind of truth that only comes DIRECTLY from the Bible.

On the other hand, you might prefer to be just another sheep who follows the crowd and does the “in” thing. You might be unable to stand on your own two feet and make a decision based on clear evidence from God’s word that yes, your minister, your friends, nearly the entire world may be wrong on such a foundational issue as this.

But that is the choice – is God a liar, or are they? Can you believe GOD when He says a certain thing, or must you go ask someone else what THEY think, if THEY think God means what he says?

As for me, I say, with Paul, “yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). You, too, should make this choice. It is the only choice that can bring you happiness, peace, and an eternal relationship with the God who created you for an awesome purpose that I can’t begin to discuss here, but that I will write about very soon.