Intimacy With God — Charles Stanley

Intimacy With God and the Transfiguration

When anyone mentions the word intimacy usually what we think about is a relationship between two people. Usually if it is in the commercial it oftentimes has sexual connotations. But there is an intimacy that is far far beyond.

Simply that relationship between two people and that is an intimacy with God and that is the title of this message Intimacy with God and I want you to turn if you will to Matthew chapter 17. And I want us to read these first nine verses now.

You may read this and wonder well Where do you get intimacy with God from this? So I want us to turn and look at that if you will and then we'll find out in just a moment this is the event of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and he begins by saying.

And six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the Sun and his garments became as white as light and behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him and Peter answered and said to Jesus Lord It is good for us to be here if you wish I will make three tabernacles here one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah while he was still speaking behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and Behold a voice out of the clouds saying this is my beloved Son with whom I am.

Well, please listen to him and when the disciples heard this they fell on their faces and were much afraid and Jesus came to them and touched them and said Arise and do not be afraid and lifting up their eyes.

They saw no one except Jesus himself alone and As they were coming down from the mountain Jesus commanded him saying Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Now Jesus you recall had 12 apostles or 12 disciples as we call them and yet three of these He treated a little different than he did the others.

They were sort of called the inner circle. There was an intimacy I believe between Jesus and Peter James and John. That is not to be found with all the other disciples though He loved them all I'm sure taught the many many things but there's something about these three if you'll notice here in This 17th chapter of Matthew that of all of his 12 disciples He only took three of them Peter James and John to what I believe was probably the highlight of Jesus life in these three years of ministry now, of course.

The baptism was a very important time for him because the father also manifested himself. Many of the things that he did were very important. But if you'll notice here that Jesus is Speaking with Moses and Elijah Transfigured in his physical body with a touch of the glory he had before he came and after he ascended.

This is a highlight in Jesus life. He only took the inner circle. Peter James and John go back if you will to Matthew chapter 26 in Matthew chapter 26 is the most traumatic moment in Jesus life until he is hanging on the cross and Notice what's going on?

Verse 36. Then Jesus Came with them to the place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray he's got them all there except Judas and He took with him a little distant further.

He took with him not all the leaven, but he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee that's James and John and began to be grieved and distressed and He said to them so that those three could hear him.

My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me now. When we talk about intimacy, what are we talking about? We're talking about a closeness of relationship a depth of relationship a confidentiality a personal relationship a Relationship of genuine love toward the others and so usually when we talk about intimacy We're talking about people's relationship with each other and there are many many books out on intimacy and I think 99 .9 It's not a hundred percent of them all about relationships between individuals.

I want us to talk about what I know Must be in the mind of God the most important thing about his relationship With us and ours with him that God is not satisfied with simply fellowship. God desires intimacy.

Closeness and depth that is so deep and so close fellowship doesn't even come close to it now. I want us to see several things are not necessarily from this passage. But I'm coming back to this passage and look at it more thoroughly.

Intimacy as the Purpose of Creation

But I want us to look at several things here about this whole idea of intimacy with God first of all and that is intimacy with God is the Priority in his creation process that intimacy with God is the priority in his creation process.

Look, for example for a moment at the importance of it as far as the reason or the purpose of the creation. Why did God create us? He created us first of all to love us and to be loved by us. He created us in order to be glorified by the lives that we live that would point to him and thirdly He created us to rule over Exercise rule over his creation according to Genesis chapter 1 verse 26.

So those are three primary purposes and therefore when you think about it if he created us to love him and to be loved in return He has intimacy in mind. He didn't create us like angels. The second thing I want you to notice about the creation is the pattern he used in That 26 verse of the first chapter of Genesis if you'll notice what he says, he says let us make man in our image.

According to our likeness now he could have created us like angels, but he didn't. He created us as unique human beings and what did he do when he said let us create man in our own image. He was not talking about anything physical because God is spirit.

So he's talking about the image of God as he is as person that is he has intellect. He can think in reason he has emotion. He can feel he has a will to make choices. God Created you and me in order that we may be able to relate to God as he is.

We can think as he thinks not as full as he can think we can feel something of what he feels and that we can Reason and make decisions. We have a will by which to make decisions. So on the basis of that if you look at the creation itself God had an intimate relationship in mind when he created us his purpose for creation.

Loving glorifying and ruling the man in which he created us after his own likeness. That is the pattern of the creation so that you and I are so made we have the capacity to have a closeness a depth a relationship a love relationship a Personal relationship with another person who is God himself.

That is intimacy. Genuine true lasting intimacy and remember this that God begins this creation process of intimacy within us. Because for him it is an eternal process. You and I were not made for time.

Most of us I'm afraid live as if time is the issue in God's eyes time is not the issue. Eternity is the issue and therefore he created us to have an intimate relationship with him not for time. But for time and eternity God is up to something good be wonderful in the life of his children so we say first of all the priority of Intimacy is very evident in the whole creation process.

God's Initiative in Drawing People to Himself

The second thing I want you to notice here is this and that is that God's purpose in Pursuing this intimate relationship with us. That is why would God want to have an intimate relationship with us? Why would he want to be so close to us?

Why would he want to have a depth of relationship? Why would he not just want to create us and send us out like he does angels to do his work? Because that was this purpose for creating us to begin with and so what is his purpose for pursuing the relationship now?

Let me say this about this whole idea of his purpose here because Sometimes we do forget this and that is that he takes the initiative. We don't take the initiative. He does and you say well, don't we talk about building a relationship with God?

That's true. But he takes the initiative for example, he says there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that seeks after God. Nobody has ever found God as a result of their seeking him you and I Discover as we say God as a result of responding to God reaching down to us.

He's the one who must reveal himself to us and all through the scriptures for example, especially in. Especially shall we say in the gospel of John? Especially in this gospel. Do we see Jesus making statements that let us know that only as God reaches out to us?

For example, he says only those whom the father grants me can come to me. He says no. No one can come to the father except by me and he says no one can come except they be drawn by the Spirit. There's no such thing as anybody getting saved anytime.

They want to nobody can just find God anytime they choose you only find God and discover God as God reveals himself and as he reveals himself then we Discover what he's like. God takes the initiative in the whole issue of Discovering him finding him or the whole issue here.

We're talking about intimacy. For example turn to Jeremiah 31 in Jeremiah 31 just this third verse. I want you to notice here what he says. He says in the third verse. He says I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. God is the one who draws us and he draws us with loving kindness. Think about for example in the scriptures how many times that all through the Bible God is taking the initiative for example in The Garden of Eden who took the initiative God comes looking for Adam.

In the life of Noah, it was God who took the initiative to save him and to preserve him from the flood. It was God who took the initiative in the midst of a pagan society to reveal himself to Abraham.

It was God who took the initiative in the life of Moses when he was there in the wilderness. And he suddenly saw this burning bush whose bush was it who set it afire who did the speaking? It was all God's initiative all the way through the Old Testament.

God is taking the initiative. God is revealing himself. God is unveiling himself in the experiences that people face in their life. For example in the New Testament, let's just take one Saul of Tarsus who believed in Jehovah God.

But was absolutely deceived by what he thought on his way to Damascus to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth and what happens the Bible says that God took the initiative and struck him down and As a result began to speak to him and he said why do you kick against the pricks?

It was God who took the initiative to save Saul of Tarsus and make him a statesman for Christianity and a missionary. God is taking the initiative every single thing. You and I know about him is the result of God teaching us.

Everything about our relationship is the result of him taking the initiative. It is all God and none of us. So we are responders to the initiative of God. Therefore nobody can take any credit what they know about God and no one can take any credit about Finding God when somebody says I found the Lord know what you did is God who knew you Began to work in your life and unveiled himself to you and you discovered who he was as a result of his initiative.

No way that you and I can take any credit for being saved by the grace of God. It's all him. It is all of God. And so it is with this whole idea of Intimacy, what would we know about intimacy with God?

How could you and I build a relationship with God? We can't build it. We can only respond to what he is doing now. So we asked the question. What is his purpose for doing? So why does he take the initiative?

What's he got in mind? Well, let me just say this but for most of my life I have always believed that God in his relationship with us and in this whole idea of this closeness and depth of intimacy and Relationship that God's purpose for doing so was for my benefit that God Wanted us to build a relationship with him an intimate relationship with him and he with us for our benefit.

But the truth is that that isn't the truth God's priority and that's part of it. But the priority of his purpose is that God wants us to know him. He wants to reveal himself. God is saying look. Look behold, look what I'm like for example if you love somebody genuine love them you want them to know you and you want to know them and If you and I are excited about something we want to tell somebody we want to share it with someone.

But we have forgotten in our self-centered Selfish sort of a me myself and I kind of Christianity and everything revolves around us. We've forgotten who the star is. We've forgotten who the center of attention is.

We've forgotten what it's all about. The world does not revolve around us. It revolves around God and the problem with most Christians is we go to church. We want to hear sermons that will help us. Encourage us protect us inspire us motivate us us us us us us us us.

Well, you think according to that that Austin's we are the center of the universe. When the truth is listen when the truth is God is the center and everything in life. Listen God is the center and in your life in my life everything Should Center in him.

So listen his purpose is to make himself known he wants us to know what he's like. Now you hear us talking a lot oftentimes about knowing God. Well, the only way to know him is is by experience, you know I can have a lot of head knowledge.

But if I don't have experience knowledge if it isn't working inside of me, I don't really have it. I don't really know it. I may know what somebody told me and intellectually I may be able to give it back.

But it isn't mine until I experience it until God is working it in my daily experience in my life. His motivation is that he wants us to know it. He wants us to know that he's a person not a thing. Many people act like God is some force some thing.

Something out there and you hear people talk about the Holy Spirit it. The Holy Spirit is it the Holy Spirit is not a it the Holy Spirit God God the Father God the Son. God the Holy Spirit is a person you see God is a person.

He wants to be known as a person. He gave us intellect. He gave us emotion. He gave us will to be able to relate to him on an intimate personal basis and think about this most people are Saved and when they're saved they sort of have the idea now that you save here's what you do.

You go to church read your Bible pray give and so forth. And therefore it's almost like now that I'm in the door and I'm saved. I do the following things to keep God pleased and keep him off my back. I read my Bible I pray I try to be as good as I can and so one of these days I'm gonna die and go to heaven that is Totally removed from what God had in mind.

His very purpose for saving us was what intimacy a relationship. Why did he create us loving us and to be loved by us and to be glorified by us and to rule over this world? Which he created. Everything about God is good.

Everything about God is wonderful and great. We're the ones who've messed it up and So his desire is that we know him and so therefore he desires to reveal himself and in intimacy He is continually revealing himself.

Jesus said If you've seen me you've seen the father and he listened he wanted he desired that they understand who he is. He said if you've seen me you've seen the father. I'm gonna do those things. I see the father doing so what you see me doing is you you understand what he's like and so continually he was pointing them to him and Revealing as much as possible that they could understand and so when he had to leave them he said Some other things I'd like to tell you but you can't hear them now, but I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit.

He's gonna keep on teaching as long as you live. He's gonna be on the inside of you revealing to you things about the father that I can't tell you now. So what does he want us to know he reveals his attributes of love and mercy and kindness and goodness and graciousness and justice and judgment.

That is there multitudes of attributes of God now, how am I going? How is God going to reveal himself to us? The only way for him to reveal himself to us for us to truly understand is not just reading the Bible.

This is always the foundation and let me say this God isn't going to reveal to you anything about himself. That is not confirmed in this book. And I don't mean by confirmed finding yourself a scripture and twisted it around to make it and to make it mean what you want It to me.

No, I mean a viable passage of Scripture that says this is what God is like. So the attributes he wants us to know what he's like. He wants us to know his ways how he operates. I'm simply saying that the only way to develop intimacy with God is to experience him.

By allowing him to unveil himself to us in the experiences of life, which means what? It means that I must be willing to go through difficulty. Hardship pain suffering joy happiness peace, you name it.

Why because there's some things I am only going to learn about God by hurting and suffering. He says, you know suffering is a part of the Christian life. And when I hear people say well if you're living for Jesus, you're being obedient to God and you're doing what's right?

You're gonna live in peace and everything's gonna be fantastic. You're gonna have all the money you want. Well, you know what? I can't find a singer. I can't even find two or three words in the Bible that you could put together to make that true.

Because that's not what the Christian life's all about. You see the Christian life is not all about me. Feeling good and having everything to fit my pattern and everything to satisfy me. The Christian life is about God the Almighty is sovereign of this universe loving you and me so much that he's willing to unveil himself to us and to and to reach out to us and to Build an intimate relationship with you and me so that all that he is you and I can discover and know as he unveils Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.

God is excited about the truth of himself. He wants us to know him and Jesus life was the life of unveiling who the father was and All these experiences in the Old Testament of these characters every time you see God working in the life of one of those men.

You know what? He's doing. He is unveiling the reality of himself. That's why when people say well, I really want to know God. Well, I'm gonna tell you how to know it. You don't know him simply by listening to sermons sermons.

Messages may be stimuli they may be words of instruction that give direction. But you and I will never develop an intimate relationship with him until we're willing to take the truth. Applied to our heart and allow God to send us into the valley.

Oftentimes to hurt suffer pain on the mountain peaks with joy and peace and happiness and allow him to say to us. This is what I'm like. For example, how will I know what God is like as a comforter until I hurt?

How will I know what God is like as a healer until I'm sick, how will I know what God is like as One who accepts me until I feel rejection so that the experience of growing in my intimacy a part of that is growing in life and Suffering and going through the pain and heartaches of life.

That's how we know who he is and listen somebody can tell you you can memorize it till you can hand it back. It is not yours and mine until we walk through the fire and the pain and the suffering and the hurt.

Then we can speak with authority and say let me tell you who God is in the light of what he says. This is who he is. And so he wants to unveil himself. He wants to show us. So that's one of his primary purposes.

Knowing God in Order to Serve Him

A second one is this and that is in order to accomplish his work so as you and I are growing in our intimacy with him and we're beginning to understand what he's like and he keeps unveiling you. See he wants to reveal himself.

He said in John there the 15 14 15 16 chapters. He said he said those who love me and obey me. He says the father and I we will reveal ourself to them. So that God wants us to understand as fully as possible What he's like now if you've been a Christian a long time.

You've learned a lot of things over these years and you would ever want to go back where you were 40 years ago. And you little knowledge and understanding of God. What is God done if you've been in the word and you've listened and you've studied and you've prayed and you've allowed God to work these Things into your life.

Look how you've grown over the years. You have a greater understanding of who God is today than ever before in your life. But think about all the people who go to church week after week or who've been saved backslidden don't go to church at all.

How little they know about God and you hear them making statements that are totally erroneous totally unbiblical. They're as sincere as they can be. The problem is they just don't know who God is and they'll talk about what God this and God that and God the other the truth.

Is there absolutely totally out and left field over the fence have no earthly idea what God is like. Why. Because they've never taken any time to understand what he's like. He wants us to know him now the better you and I know him what happens the more fruitful We are in our life the more productive we are in our life.

And you see the more intimacy we have with him the more we understand His plan his will his purpose and so the more intimate we are with him. The more we understand him the more we're going to be walking in his will walking in his way doing things God's way waiting upon Him trusting him being patient and relying upon him the less I know about him.

Listen, the less I know about him the more of self will dominate our life. We'll do it our way. We'll do it the world's way. We'll be impatient. You name it because that's natural carnal flesh in operation.

But as the Spirit of God is working within us and he's unveiling himself and we're seeing his ways and seeing what he does. Then we become more productive more fruitful in our life and God is doing what what's his original purpose?

Loving us glorifying himself and accomplishing his work ruling and so he gets it done. The most productive people that I mean real genuine fruit are those who have a continually growing intimate relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ.

The Sequence of God's Work in an Intimate Relationship

Now so the next question that we have to ask is this what's the sequence of events by which God? Does build this relationship with us? Well, I think there are four simple things. Number one. He chooses us.

He says in Ephesians we've been chosen for example, Jesus said his apostles he said you didn't choose me. I chose you. And notice he also said to him. He said I'm not calling his servants. I'm calling your friends.

If you go to the Gospels, it'd be amazing. How many things Jesus said that says intimacy intimacy intimacy intimacy. He wants this relationship to be more than just apostles disciples. Follow us what he says.

I'm calling you my friends Peter James and John. He took into the innermost being of his heart you realize that in the Gospel of John three times. When John the Beloved who is the writer of the gospel is referring to himself, you know, how he refers to himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Now he was probably the youngest one imagine that he says the disciple whom Jesus loved three times. He says the disciple whom Jesus loved what is John saying to us? He's saying to us Jesus and I had such a relationship when I think about my relationship to him.

I can only think he. He loved me. He loved me. The only way for me to describe my relationship is I'm the disciple whom he loved that was he implying? He was the only one. No, but he's simply saying this.

I had such an intimate relationship with him if you want to know what I think about it. He just loved me. Does not God? Desire that all of us feel that kind of love. I'm a man whom God loves. You're a woman whom God loves.

We are his children whom he loves. So what's the sequence of events? He chooses us. That's number one. Secondly, he reveals himself to us by his love. What does he do? He points us to the cross. He says you're living in sin.

Your life is in ruin. You're rebelling against God. You're going to destroy yourself. Let me tell you how much I love you in your sin. Let me tell you what I'm willing to do for you in Your rebellion.

Let me show you what I want to do for you and in you and through you. I want you to look at the cross and I want you to see what my son Jesus the Christ did in your behalf he died. And so what does he do?

He reveals himself. His love to us then the third thing he does that is He responds to our invitation for him to come into our life. Which he himself motivates and so we invite the Lord Jesus Christ into our life as our personal Savior.

And he comes in to take abode. The Bible says he did. Jesus said I'm abiding in you and you're abiding in me as the branch abides in the vine. Lives in the vine lives off the vine. What a beautiful way in nature to describe that intimate relationship.

Grafted into the vine and now taking root the vine and the branch become one. He says I'm abiding in you and you're abiding in me as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in me. No more.

Can you accept you abide in me? And so now we have invited him to our life. And what does he do? He begins immediately. Immediately. Immediately to unveil himself to us. Reveal himself to us to build that intimate relationship.

I think about when I was 12 years of age and gave my life to Christ. When he convicted me of my sin I walked down that aisle on the walk to two pews because that's as far as I'd sit I always sell in the second P on the end.

I Walked out knelt down and the Lord Jesus Christ saved me. I knew almost nothing except I would read the Bible. I Had my mom's old big Bible with big black Print in the back that had all the headings of all the subjects.

I want to read. So when I when I was saved I knew very little. But I didn't know this that God Wanted to do something in my life. I didn't have any idea what it was. I Knew that he saved me but then what?

But you know what as I began to read the scriptures and begin to pray and pray that of a lot of ignorance I'm sure and read a lot of scripture didn't know it didn't have any idea what it meant, but you know what was happening.

God knew my heart just like he knows your heart and so what did he started doing? He started working in my life. And as I think back what he was doing Primarily, he was just sort of gearing my mind in my heart to him.

And as I think back over the years and realize how he worked in my life in Difficulties and hardships and all kinds of bad situations in which I grew up. What was God doing what he was doing unbeknown to me was building an intimacy with him by taking me through hardships and difficulties and and situations when I was absolutely Totally helpless that depended upon him now I didn't even have any idea what was happening, but I can look back and see that God builds intimacy in our lives through those experiences.

Now so we say what's the sequence of events? Well for those of us who believe us he's already done this part. He's chosen us secondly he has revealed his love for us at the cross and then he's come into our life as our Savior Lord and our master in our life and He has begun to build this intimacy now.

The Characteristics of Genuine Intimacy

Here's the tragedy the tragedy is most people don't have any earthly idea that there's any such thing as an intimate Relationship with God. Oh, they know that they've been taught that God is in heaven and we're down here.

We pray to him when we get in trouble. We have needs some had they've never connected the point. Because they've not been taught that he is not satisfied unless there's an ever growing continual it growing Intimacy, so their degrees of intimacy.

We're all degrees now if I don't know that that's what God wants and I think the only thing God wants is for me to Be good and to me to do what he says do and Peter live up to rules and regulations. I'm gonna miss the whole point of being saved God in all of his wonderful almost inexpressible love as far as human minds can conceive of it.

What he desires is to say I want to show you what I'm like. I want to show you what I am like and when you see what I'm like. You're going to love me and obey me and worship me and adore me and you're going to choose me.

And I'm gonna be the priority of your life when you see what I'm like and when you and I see what he's like. Nobody's gonna have to beg us to worship beg us to read the Bible beg us to pray beg us to give.

Beg us to share our faith. Listen, we're gonna be so excited about him. We just got to talk about him. We just got to get in the way. We want to know what he's like. The secrets of events and he's already working those in their lives now.

The next thing I want you to look at here is this. I want us to go back to this 17th chapter. I haven't forgotten it 17th chapter and Simply to say that intimacy with God involves a depth of relationship now what I want to do is I want to give you 15 characteristics of a relationship now, no, I'm not going to explain them all because If I do we'll be here for a while.

And so but I do want you to jot them down. I Want you to jot them down because these are characteristics of a genuine intimate relationship. Not just that you can have all kind of relationships distant relationships sort of close relationships all kind of relationship bad relationships.

We're talking about this closeness this depth this intimacy at this personal this warm this indescribable Genuine love each for the other. Well If we had time we could take these 15. Go through much of what's in the 17th chapter other chapters of the scripture and say look how Jesus was showing this intimacy here.

But I want to give them to you. Maybe just comment on a few things here just to give you a little idea. But number one, we're talking about a growing intimate relationship with God. One of the first requirements is time if you'll think about it with whom did Jesus spend most of his three years.

Not with the multitudes not with the crowds, but with 12 men. He gave them his time primarily. Because no matter what he was doing in the daytime you think about in three years He spent his nights with them.

They must have set up late and talked got up early. He got up early and prayed and So he spent time with them. Secondly. Sharing that's absolutely essential to build a relationship. And so what happens.

God, let me ask you a question. Have you ever been to God and prayer and he said sorry, I'm too busy. Never. God has all the time I need For me in my relationship with him. He has all the time he needs to build his relationship with us.

The problem is sometimes we're too busy. So time is sharing. God wants us to share with him in our prayers. He wants to share with us. He wants to speak to us through his word primarily, but also in our praying so sharing.

Thirdly respect. Do you realize that God respects you as an individual. He respects your free will. He doesn't force intimacy upon us. And one of the characteristics of intimacy is respect and he builds that into us.

Number four listening. He's always willing to listen. Now he says if I regard sin in my heart if I just absolutely totally rebel against him. Choose deliberate willful disobedience to him. He said, you know, my hands not sure that it cannot save my ear.

It's not death that it cannot hear except for the sin. But he's a listener. Jesus was a listener to these men. Then attention. I don't ever have to worry about getting God's attention. He has to work at getting mine sometime and yours sometime.

That's what intimacy is all about giving attention in Jesus with these Apostles always giving them to his attention his time. He's sharing his listening his respect his attention. And number six his acceptance.