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Watch Online Sermons 2025 » John Bevere » John Bevere - Evidence That Someone Is in Relationship with Jesus

John Bevere - Evidence That Someone Is in Relationship with Jesus


John Bevere - Evidence That Someone Is in Relationship with Jesus
TOPICS: The Awe of Go

The fear doesn’t mean we’re scared of God; I’m going to say it again because I want to make sure you understand this. It means we’re terrified of being away from Him. It means we’re terrified of being outside of obedience. Okay, you just finished chapter 31, and it’s really important that we dive deeper into this now. This is a very riveting and sobering subject that we’re talking about in this chapter, but it’s necessary because in order to understand intimacy, we have to look at the complete opposite. Jesus makes this statement in Scripture: if He wouldn’t have made the statement, believe me, I wouldn’t spend time talking about this right now. But He said there’s going to be a multitude, a massive number of people, that are going to come fully expecting Him to say, «Enter into the joy of the Lord.» They are going to call Him Lord; they are going to say, «We did things in Your name.» But He’s going to look at them and say, «I never knew you.»

Now, the Greek word for «knew» is the Greek word «ginosko,» which is actually the exact same word as the Hebrew word «yada.» It’s easy to understand; my name is John in English, my name is Juan in Spanish. These two words are exactly the same. So what Jesus is saying to these people is that He never intimately knew them. Now, what was the cause of Him never intimately knowing them? They practiced disobeying what He says. Lawlessness means we’re not in submission to the authority of God. That means we become our own authority. That means I’ll obey God as long as I agree, as long as I like it; but if I don’t agree, I don’t like it, or it interferes with my schedule, I’m not going to obey God.

Now, it’s not that blunt; we make little excuses to make it easier. But lawlessness means I’m simply the final authority. So what Jesus is saying is you practice lawlessness; because of that, we never intimately knew each other because you had no holy fear of God. This is why Paul said we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The fear doesn’t mean we’re scared of God; I’m going to say it again because I want to make sure you understand this. It means we’re terrified of being away from Him. It means we’re terrified of being outside of obedience. Now, the beautiful thing is Jesus isn’t creating a law here; He is simply stating what’s going to be evident in a person that’s truly been born again. Somebody that says, «Jesus, I submit my life fully to You; You are my Lord.»

What happens is God changes our nature; He gives us a brand new person. We’re recreated, and now that person has the grace to obey. So the evidence that somebody has truly been saved is the fact that they can obey even beyond what they couldn’t do in their own ability. You know, what is the evidence that a cherry tree is a cherry tree? Well, in my opinion, it’s if I can pick cherries from it, and those are sure enough cherries; that means it’s a cherry tree. Jesus is saying this is going to be the evidence of people who truly have an intimate relationship with Him. The foundation is going to be the fear of God, but that’s not what you’re going to see. What you’re going to see is the evidence; it’s the cherry, and that is the obedience to His word. This is why He comes right out and says whoever hears my words and does them is going to build a foundation.

Now, a foundation is something you don’t see. The foundation of an intimate relationship with God is the holy fear of God; that foundation is what we build our house on. You can build two houses right next to each other—one’s got a foundation you don’t see, the other one’s built on sand. What happens when the sun’s shining? They both stand. What happens when life is going great? They both look good. But when the storms come, this one blows down, and its fall is great; the bigger it is, the greater its fall.

So what Jesus is saying is this hidden foundation that really gives you the assurance that you and I are intimate, and you have made up a fictitious Jesus, is that you love obeying My word. I will tell you a person that is truly born again is a person who loves obeying God’s word. I hope this protects you from the leaven of hypocrisy that is so prevalent today among professing believers. I want to see you finish well; I want to see you deeply in love with Jesus. That’s what He wants too.