I Know That I Know That I Know How do you know that what you believe about Christianity is true? How sure are you that Jesus is your Saviour? Are you confident that heaven is yours? How confident are you that the Bible is the absolute Word of God? Have you ever had doubts about your faith? These are some of the questions that we are going to look at today. We will not only examine these questions but we will also see why it is important to know that we know that we know that Jesus is the truth. We will come to an understanding of why we must know what we have is certain. We must not only be sure. We must be 100% sure about our faith. We will also see how we can be. What we must do to be 100% certain of our faith. We have so far seen that Jesus has spent time with the disciples. He had taught them various principles of the Kingdom. They have seen Him minister as well. They had also been sent out by Him to minister. There however came a time where Jesus had to ensure that the disciples knew that they knew that they knew that Jesus is the Messiah and whatever He had taught them is the absolute truth. There has to be no doubts in their minds about it. They have to be 100% certain. After all, Easter is only in a few weeks time. Jesus would soon go up to the Cross to die for the sins of all mankind. He would soon be departing from this earth. It would be important that the work that He had started be continued by His disciples after His ascension. Jesus therefore took steps to ensure that the disciples knew that they knew that they knew that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and all that He had taught them is the truth. What did Jesus do? Please turn with me to Matthew 17 to find out MT 17:1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. MT 17:4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." MT 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" MT 17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. MT 17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." Among the twelve disciples there were three who were the key disciples of Jesus - Peter, James and John. If there was anything that Jesus wanted the disciples to know, it would be these three first. Jesus brought them to a high mountain. There He appeared to the three in all His glory. They saw Him in this glorified state talking with Moses and Elijah. Moses is representative of the Law and Elijah of the Prophets. By being seen in His state of glory with Moses and Elijah, the message to the three was that Jesus is indeed the Messiah who has come to fulfill the Law and all that had been prophesied. Peter, James and John saw the image clearly. There can be no doubt in their minds. Peter even suggested building three shelters for them. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere they heard the voice of God affirming that Jesus is the Son of God and that they were to listen to Him - they were to listen -- not just hear what Jesus had to teach them. They saw with their eyes and they heard with their ears. Could they then deny that Jesus is indeed the Messiah? We would think not. After such an experience, how could you deny the fact that Jesus is the Son of God? How could you deny that He is the Messiah? How could you deny Him? And yet. On the eve of the crucifixion of Jesus that was what happened to Peter. He not only denied Jesus. He denied Him not just once, not just twice but Peter denied the Lord three times. Peter - who had seen the glorified Lord - Peter who had heard the audible voice of God proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God - Peter - on the eve of the crucifixion he denied Jesus. If Peter could deny the Lord even after he had been brought to this experience by the Lord, what chance have we in standing unshakable in our faith? Most of us would probably not see the glorified Lord. Most of us would probably not hear the audible voice of God. So what chance have we in knowing and being sure of what we believe in? Being sure of what we believe is vital. Without it, when the storm comes - when the shaking takes place - we will probably not be able to stand firm in our faith. All of us would be shaken in one or another, at one time or another. The magnitude of the shaking would also increase as we continue to grow in God. There are much that can happen to conflict with our Christian faith. The services of most churches are on Sundays. Sundays also happen to be a day used by many organizations for their activities. It is also a day when many of our non-Christian friends would go out to enjoy themselves. Will we be pulled along? I had always enjoyed the sea and the beauty of the underwater world. Whilst I was in Sri Lanka I went to the Maldives three times and was introduced to snorkeling. I had then determined to learn scuba diving. Two months after my re-posting from Sri Lanka I accepted Jesus into my life. Months later I checked up on scuba diving courses and discovered that all had their open water dives on Sundays. It will mean missing out on services in order to learn scuba diving. I never went for the classes. There was no doubt in my mind that Sunday is church day. I had shortly after coming to the Lord also joined the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship. As part of their orientation programme, you would have to share your testimony - about how you came to Christ. I remembered telling them this. I had been brought up to think logically. As such, if something does not make sense to me, I would not accept it. What made me accept Jesus then? There is no scientific proofs that I could draw on. In fact I had nothing to show logically why I accept Jesus. It was just something on the inside of me that tells me that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The MC then said "you know that you know that you know that Jesus is Lord, don't you?" that's right. I know that I know that I know that Jesus is Lord. If this had not been so, I would have gone diving on Sundays. If I did not know, there were also many things that could have distracted me and it was very easy for me to backslide too. However, I know that I know that I know that Jesus is the only way for the salvation of mankind. That there is no other name under heaven and on earth by which man can be saved. Because of that, when God called me, I was ready to surrender all in order to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. Sundays also happen to be a time where we can catch up on our sleep. Mondays to Fridays we have to pull ourselves out of bed and go to school or work. Saturdays - well, there are housework to do as well. So, unless we know for sure that Jesus is indeed our Saviour and Lord, why bother? Unless we are certain that we must worship God with brothers and sisters from our church, why even take the trouble to get out of bed on Sundays. Church. It comprises people. When we have people we seem to have problems. Everyone is different. Their ways and ours just do not seem to match at times. Machines don't talk back. But people do. They sometimes hurt us. So, unless we know that it is God who have given them to us as our brothers and sisters, why even bother working on our relationships. Why even bother. So, unless we know that we know that we know Jesus is our Saviour and Lord, much can happen to cause us to backslide. Friends, do you personally know? Do you know that you know that you know Jesus is your Saviour? That without Him you will perish for all of eternity? Without that knowledge you could easily be pulled by the world into many of its pleasures. The devil will see to it. Oh, you and your girlfriend are so close - why not just get intimate with her? Oh, it is so easy to get into those pornographic websites as well. Enjoy yourself while you can. While you are still so young. Yes, there are many things that can lure us away from the truth of God's Word. If we are not certain that Jesus is the way the truth the life. If we are not certain that the Word of God is the absolute truth for life. Perhaps you were out with the boys. Not all of them are Christians. You accept that because you want to reach them for Jesus. So, you flow with their ways though you know some of the words they say are not right. Some of the things they do are not right as well. That evening somehow the conversation wandered into sex. Then one of the boys started to talk about those pictures that you can see on the internet. He described them in detail. Somehow it aroused something from within you. He also mentioned the website. You couldn't get those images off your mind. You go home. You were seated in front of your computer. The images kept flashing across your mind. Then out of curiosity you keyed in the website address. The pictures appeared on your screen. You stared at them. But out of nowhere - all of a sudden - you hear a voice from within you telling you that what you are doing is wrong. However the pictures in front of you were way too tempting. You ignored the voice. You continued to click and got into other sites. You just could not help yourself. For that period of time, you forgot about God. You forgot what God had said in His Word. Indeed temptations will challenge every single Christian without exception. But how do you handle them when they come? It depends on whether you are certain about your faith. It depends on whether you are certain that the Bible is the absolute Word of God. But, how can we be certain? How did Peter who was like a chicken - who denied Jesus three times turn to one so bold - one who stood up on the day of Pentecost and spoke boldly for Jesus - one who is the pillar for the New Testament church? What transformed him? What changed him? It is the same thing that will hold us firm in our faith. One which will make us know that we know that we know Jesus is the Messiah - the Saviour of our souls. It is the Holy Spirit - He is the one within us who is our internal witness. The Holy Spirit in us bears testimony with our spirits that we are the children of God - that we belong to God no matter what happens. It is the Holy Spirit within us that teaches us about the things of God. It is the Holy Spirit within us that points us to Jesus in all things. It is the Holy Spirit within us that makes us certain that the Word of God is the absolute truth for life. Though we may not see the glorified Lord with our own eyes. Though we may not hear the audible voice of God telling us that Jesus is the Son of God. Nevertheless, within us we see the invisible glorified Lord - we see Him within us. We hear the silent voice of God within us - we hear Him within us. We do so because the Holy Spirit within us enables us to do so. The moment we accept Jesus into our lives the Holy Spirit comes and live within us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are however still in this world - a fallen world - a world of sin. Inside us is the Holy Spirit. Outside of us is however the realm of the devil. The Bible tells us that greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world. This is a theological fact. God is definitely greater than Satan. But who do we allow to influence us more? That is a choice we have to make for ourselves. No one can make the choice for us. God does not control us either. Even though we may have the Holy Spirit in us, even though Jesus is our Saviour and our Lord, even though we have direct access to God the Father, how much room we will give to them rather than the world is up to us. Even though we have the light of the Holy Spirit in us, that light can only shine brighter than the lights of the discos and all these places with their fanciful floodlights if we allow it to. Even though the Holy Spirit may be speaking to us, whether we will hear Him rather than the voices of the world calling us from the pubs, the karaoke lounges, the internets is really up to us as well. When the light of the Holy Spirit. When the voice of the Holy Spirit. When they are not louder than those of the world, then we stand a real chance of not knowing Jesus as we should. We will not know that we know that we know that Jesus is Lord. We will know the world more than we know God. The only way of allowing the light of the Holy Spirit to be brighter and the voice of the Holy Spirit to be louder is when we are passionate about Jesus. Passionate about spending time with Him in prayers. Passionate about reading His Word. Passionate about being in the family of God. No Christian can ever survive alone in a world that is hostile to his faith. God never intended for any of us to be alone. He has created us for community living. The church is a community. Community living is however at two level. One is the larger gathering where the community gathers to worship God. The other is where a few in the community gathers together to share their lives. To spur one another on. To encourage one another. This mode of where a person can be his true self - where the deepest emotions can be shared - where joys and struggles can be freely expressed - it can only take place in a small group. Are we lone ranger Christians or are we living the community life at both levels? If we are not into community life, then we become the lone tree that can be uprooted when the storm comes. Our roots are not entrenched together with others so that no matter what happens we know that we know that we know Jesus is the truth the way and the life. Today, are you 100% certain of your faith? Are you 100% sure of who Jesus is? Are you definite that the Word of God is the absolute for life? You can be certain and sure if you build up your passion for Jesus, for the Word of God and for community living with your brothers and sisters.

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