In His Image - In His Image - 08/29/26

0:00It's now time for in his image with your Bible teacher Victor Vigorito. Bible teacher and expositor, brother Vigorito believes that Christian should study God's Word and that you can be Christ's light in this life. Past lessons can be heard at imagebearerministries.com. But now let's join Victor with this week's lesson. Good afternoon, saints. This is Victor Vigorito with in his image. Let's immediately start with a prayer. This is our prayer. Jesus, reveal the Father to us that his love may be in us more, that his love for the Son will actually be ours. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Believe it or not, the prayer that I just prayed was prayed by Christ in the upper room. This is outreads in John 17, verse 26.

1:01I have made your name known to them. This is referring to the Father. I have made you or your name known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Where are we going today with this broadcast? We really been focusing a lot on the knowledge of God. Then we would say, just as Jesus said in John 17, verse 3, that what is eternal life? Eternal life is about the knowledge of God that they might know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Why is the knowledge of God so important? According to this verse, what's the purpose of the knowledge of God? Why did Christ say I need to make known the Father to the disciples? And why would Christ say I will continue to make known the Father to the disciples?

2:04Well, He says, why? In order that the love which you have loved me may be in them. In order that the very same love that the Father has for the Son will actually be the Christian experience. We will know the love of God, the intensity of the love of God, and the love that the Father has for the Son will actually be ours. Well, I marvel at the fact that this is not the routine experience that many believers talk about. Because according to this particular passage, the expectation should be that the very same love that the Father has for the Son would actually be ours. I had, of course, begs the question, why isn't this the experience of many people? I would say because our salvation is mostly wrapped up in the forgiveness of sins, but

3:11the knowledge of God is ultimately not in view. In other words, our salvation expectations are way too low. It's all about getting the heaven. It's all about having a clean conscience. It's all about the forgiveness of sins and let's just be generous. It's possibly about sanctification. We possibly want to look more and more like Christ, but what's the ultimate objective? According to Christ, it's the knowledge of God. And even that is not the ultimate objective. This is really the gateway by which we experience the love of God. Well, let's read the whole passage again and see if it makes sense. I have made you known to them and I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

4:11So what's all purpose of this knowledge, this knowledge of the Father? It's so that we would experience the love of God, the love of the Father towards the Son. Well, let's break this down. What does this passage teach us? Again, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known. It really encourages me just in that very first statement is that I don't need to discover God on my own. It says that Christ is the one who makes the Father known. He is the one that reveals the Father. So John 1, 118 says, Christ is in the very bosom of the Father. He has explained him. So the only way to know the Father is through the Son. In fact, that's what the Scriptures say. No one knows the Father except the Son. So the knowledge of God depends totally on the chief cornerstone Christ Himself.

5:15And the book of Hebrews says that God has spoken to the prophets in many times in various ways, but in these last days has spoken to us through His Son. Well, what does it say about that Son in that very same passage? He is the exact representation of the Father in another place. In John, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. So if we would have knowledge of the Father, absolutely has to come through Jesus Christ and Christ is the one who makes the Father known. So just from the very beginning, this is really encouraging because Christ wants to reveal the Father. Now if I have a self-centered Christianity, and let's just say it kind of works righteous Christianity in which I have to do the work, well, I'm not going to give very far.

6:16I have to start off in a humble position, acknowledging that Lord, you have to reveal yourself. I can't find you. I'm the lost one. God isn't lost. So it's up to the one who knows where He is going to find the lost. And therefore in Christianity, we are the lost and we need God to reveal Himself. And how does He do that? Well, when anyone comes to Him and acknowledges, I'm lost. I don't even know the Father. I don't know who God is. I have concepts about Him, but they're probably mostly wrong. And Jesus is the one who makes the Father known. So just from the very beginning, Christ said, I have made you known, referring to the Father. Well, when do I begin to know the Father? Well, it's in salvation.

7:19When you repent and put your faith in Christ, you initiate a relationship with God and you start to know Him. And the reason why you start to know Him, Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life. The Holy Spirit communicates what Jesus has said and Jesus spoke of the Father. This is how it goes. The Holy Spirit, when He comes, will reveal and disclose everything that Jesus said. In the end, about Jesus, what does Jesus say? I can only do what I see the Father doing. I can only say what I hear the Father saying. So the entire Trinity is involved in the knowledge of God. So what does Christ say? I have made you the Father known to them and will continue to make you known. So what happens when you give your life to Christ?

8:22You repent, you put your faith in Christ, you receive the initial down payment on your salvation, which is in the person of the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit starts to communicate the knowledge of God. What's really interesting is that Christ in this passage says, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known. Well this refers to the initial experience, the encounter with God in which we know God as Father based on repentance and faith in Christ. But then it doesn't stop there. We need to grow in our knowledge of God. So Christ says, I will continue to make you known. So this leads to the second part. Christ progressively makes the Father known. Initially Christ makes the Father known and is mostly centered on salvation.

9:23That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. What is necessary to have a relationship with the Father? Well it's repentance and faith. And once we put our faith in Christ, we are made a child of God. We are born again, placed into the family of God. Well the knowledge of God just doesn't stop right there. Yes, we do now have the forgiveness of sins. Yes, we do now have the imputed righteousness of Christ. Yes, we are fully accepted in the beloved as children, as saints in God's family. But it says right here that Christ will continue to make the Father known. Well this refers to what should be the ongoing experience of every believer in which He grows in the knowledge of God. And it goes beyond the mere forgiveness of sins.

10:23It goes beyond having a clean conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is when we actually start to look and act like our Heavenly Father. Now how can we look and act like our Heavenly Father? By looking at the Son. It is the Son who makes the Father known. So in another place in Scripture, what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to walk in the same manner that Christ walked. Well this is a wonderful blessing that we have in the sacred scriptures. We want to know what the Father is like. We just look at what Christ did. He spoke the words of the Father. He only said what He saw the Father saying. He only did what He saw the Father doing. So we want to know the Father. We look at Christ. So at this point we just need to ask ourselves this very, very frank question. Am I open to the progressive knowledge of God?

11:28Am I possibly settling in for the forgiveness of sins? But I don't particularly care to know the Father a whole lot more. And what would be the evidence that maybe we don't really want to know the Father a whole lot more? Well, are we daily reading the Scriptures, learning about Christ? Christ is in the very bosom of the Father who has explained the Father. Do we get in touch with His life on a constant basis? Well, that is what really gets into our system in which we can grow from a child into a Father. What am I referring to? First John chapter 2 verses 12 to 14 describes the various stages of Christian growth. He goes from the stage of a little child to that of a child to a young man to a Father. The stage of a little child is characterized by one who's sinned or forgiven for Christ's

12:31sake. He doesn't have virtually any knowledge of God, so it doesn't say that he has the knowledge of God. But the very next step that of a child says that he knows the Father. And then the stage of a young man is one in which the Word of God abides in him and he has overcome the evil one. Well, this is a stage in which one has actually imbibed the Word of God. So God's ways become His ways, His thoughts become the Christian's thoughts. He starts to think God's thoughts after Him. Well that doesn't end the progressive growth. In the stage of the Father, the Father is the one who knows Him, who has been from the beginning. The Father is one who has seen God in action. He can almost anticipate where God is leading. He doesn't freak out when He hears of evil tidings.

13:31His heart is strong as a lion, confident in His God. Well, in this description, the stage of the child should evolve into the stage of the Father. The expectation is that the initial knowledge of God based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, that He has forgiven our sins for Christ's sake, will it should grow into some knowledge of the Father in this ultimately leads to growth and sanctification, culminating in knowing God more intimately. Well, doesn't that really just describe the knowledge of God, the expectation that all of us will grow in the knowledge of God? And that's exactly what Christ said. Christ said, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known. In other words, the whole goal of the incarnation of the crucifixion, of the resurrection, is

14:39that we would grow in the knowledge of God. And it doesn't stop there. Because He continues, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. First, to really get an understanding of the holistic purpose of salvation. God wants us to experience the love that the Father has for the Son. That's what the Scripture says. That the love you have for me, this is referring to Christ, may be in them. It would be a terrible waste for us to live our Christian lives and not experience this love and not expect at the very least moments of God's supernatural presence, just overwhelming us with the very same love that the Father had for the Son.

15:45Very critically, before I go on, what's the basis of the experience of God's love? Is it my performance? Gia sure hope not, because if it's based on my performance, I should never expect some wonderful supernatural experience of God's love. It's all founded on the imputed righteousness of Christ. You see, why are we called saints to begin with? Are we called saints because we have merited God's righteousness? Of course not. San Corinthians 521, he who knew no sin became sin so that we would become the righteousness of God created in Christ Jesus. So where is my righteousness found in? It's found in Christ himself. So if he who knew no sin became sin, if Christ became sin or it's in substitute for me,

16:46in order that I might become the righteousness of God created in Christ Jesus, then the foundation for any experience of the love of God is ultimately what Christ already did for me. Now why am I going down this road? Some of us would like to say about ourselves that I received this wonderful experience of God's love because I did something. Really? Maybe you did something cooperating with what Christ is already doing through you. Maybe you have read your scripture. Maybe you have been spending some time in prayer. But ultimately the foundation from which we can actually take a little bit of pride in the fact that periodically God shows up and gives us these wonderful experiences of him, the very foundation of it is Christ himself. The reason why we love is because he first loved us.

17:51And what did he do based on that love? He died for us. He made us righteous. He washed us. He made us holy. He declared us saints. Will as any of that based upon our performance? Is any of that based upon our accomplishments? Of course not. So, before I go forward, I am really pressing that all of us would strive to make the love of God really the highest priority to put all the scriptures in their perspective that the knowledge of God is there so that we would ultimately experience the love that the Father has for the Son. But, we need to make sure that we don't get ahead of ourselves and say, well, I am going to do certain things to make this happen. It is ultimately God's prerogative to give us these wonderful, beautiful experiences of

18:51divine love. This moment, let me just give a little bit of a testimony. I'll start off with my testimony and then give a testimony of someone that many of you will probably know. I gave my life to Christ when I was about nine years old. I was a pretty confused child. I won't go into all of that, but I was pretty darn messed up. My mother was touched at the time by the Catholic Charismatic Movement. And the Catholic Charismatic Movement, as distinguished from, let's just say, regular Roman Catholicism, did one thing that I now consider in retrospect a little bit more novel. They were straightforward about salvation, how to become born again. And they didn't teach that you were born again based upon typical Roman Catholic teaching. Roman Catholic teaching taught that you were born again through infant baptism. Well, that I don't believe is anywhere in scripture.

19:53And luckily, the Catholic Charismatic Movement went beyond that. Or let's just say they altered the doctrine a little bit. They said that in order to be born again, you had to put your faith in Christ. Well my mother, who was exposed to this movement, she became a believer. And she looked to her darling, butting son, who was very, very confused and messed up and said, you know, this little kid needs Christ. Well I was ripe and I received Christ when I was nine years old. Well, not a whole lot changed, but I did remember having this distinct feeling of, now I am God's child. And I owe my life to him. And since I was in properly disciple, my mother really wasn't properly disciples. I continued to live my life, but I had a blazing conscience. I actually inwardly wanted to please God. Well where did this come from?

20:55This came from the fact that the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in my life. And I inwardly knew, even though I didn't have the scriptural backing, that I was God's child. Now, how does that fit in with what we've talked about in 1 John chapter 2? What does it say about the child, the stage of the child? What is it about the stage of a child is that he knows the Father. It might not know a whole lot, but he knows something. And he particularly knows that he has a relationship with the Father. Well when you have a relationship with the Father, you want to please the Father. Well I instinctively started to pick up my Bible and read the scriptures for myself. Well I made a good deal of progress, but within a year as I was sitting on the couch, God just showed up.

21:59And he showed up with love and power, which I experienced his love like nothing that I ever experienced before. And that was my encounter with the love of God. He was overwhelming. Another person who had an experience similar to that, who you're probably familiar with, is D.L. Moody. He was a believer. He was a Christian. He was a minister who preached and for all outward presentations was totally full of God himself. But he had two ladies in his congregation who said, we're praying for you. And he asked, for what? Well, that you have more of the power of God.

22:59It says in his testimony that he initially took offense, but he realized that the pious nature of these two believers, it should not be threatening to them that they really wanted the best for him. So he humbled himself. He humbled himself more and says, Lord, I do want more of your power. And then one day, God showed up and it blew him away. In fact in his own testimonies what D.L. Moody says, God showed up not so much in the power, the expectation of power, but he just drenched him with a supernatural love of God. And the love was so intense, so strong that D.L. Moody actually prayed, Lord, no, no, I can't handle this. This is way too much. Can you imagine an experience with the love of God in which God's love shows up and you say, Lord, I can't handle it.

24:00It's just too much. My physical being cannot take it. Well, that's how strong and intense the love of God in D.L. Moody's life was. Well what happened in his ministry? It exploded. He continued to preach the same messages, but now suddenly that divine encounter that he had, which was mostly characterized by love, it started to bring forth fruit and really the power element of his presentation of the gospel suddenly hit his ministry like a mighty rushing wind. Well, what does my experience and D.L. Moody's experience tell us it should be the expectation and I'm not relying upon purely anecdotal evidence. I think that this is all throughout the scriptures that it should be the expectation of every

25:02believer to experience the very same love that God the Father has for God the Son. Can you get your head around that? Think about it. Think about it just for a second. What is the love of the Father towards the Son? How intense is that? It's almost impossible to put in words, but I dare say that when D.L. Moody said, stay your hand. No, I can't handle it. I think it's obvious that he experienced the very same love that the Father had for the Son and it just blew him away. Well at this point, we need to ask ourselves, is this our expectation? Is it possible that the salvation journey of the Christian should get to a point in

26:10which we have the knowledge of God and this opens the floodgates of God's love? The very same love that God the Father has for God the Son will this should be the everyday experience of each believer. And what would happen if we anticipated and cooperated with the Holy Spirit to bring about this experience? Is it possible that we can be walking on cloud nine most of the time? I'll leave you with that for a second. If you're just now joining us, this is Victor Vigorita with In His image. You can listen to this broadcast, part of this broadcast, or listen to previous broadcasts if you just go to imagebarrowministries.com. Well today we're getting into, what I would say is the high point of the Christian experience which is the love of God. And this is the love of God that has made manifest after we have the knowledge of God.

27:16This is what John 17 verse 26 says, this is Christ in the upper room discourse. I have made you, that's the Father, known to them. And I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Well in the first part of the broadcast we really unpack the connection between the knowledge of God and this love. Christ, once we received Christ, Christ has now made the Father known to us in an initial way. We know a little bit about God. And then it says, Christ will continue to make him known. Well this refers to the stage of sanctification which when you're a believer, what is Christ

28:18doing? He's continually revealing the Father. So what happens? What should we expect? Christ continues to reveal the Father and we grow in the knowledge of God. We start to look like God. We start to think God's thoughts after Him. But that's not the end. Because right here it says, Christ will continue to make the Father known. Stage one, stage two, conversion, sanctification. In order that the love Christ, that love God, the Father has for Christ, may be in us. So what's the whole purpose of this knowledge? What's the whole purpose of Christ? Revealing initially who the Father is and then continually revealing to us who the Father is? Well, it's all about the relationship.

29:20In order that the love that God has for the Son may actually be ours. You see, it's so hard to get our heads around this because this is something that really can't be described. How can you describe the love that God the Father has for God the Son? It's beyond expression. And one way to do it is just to refer to another place in Scripture in which Paul refers to it, just referring to the love. This is what it says in chapter 3 of Ephesians, verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath, the length, the height in the depth and to know the love of Christ with surpasses knowledge.

30:23That's really interesting. In verse 18, he says that they may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath, the length and the height and the depth. He doesn't say the object. He just describes something and we know from the context that it's about God, but he doesn't even specify. He just says that we would be rooted and grounded in love and that we might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath, the length, the height and the depth of what Paul, he doesn't say. He goes from saying that we would be rooted and grounded in love and then he says that we might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath, the length, the height and the depth. He doesn't even give the object. I believe Paul at this moment is just so exhilarated in the love that he is experiencing, the love, the very same love that the Father has for God the Son.

31:26He doesn't want to say exactly what it is. He just says this is an overwhelming love, but then in the very next verse, he says exactly what it is and to know the love of Christ with surpasses knowledge. This is really, really interesting. He says that the love of Christ surpasses knowledge. Now what's so interesting about this is that the love of Christ with surpasses knowledge is founded on knowledge because this entire experience beginning in verse 16 talks about Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith that they might be empowered by the spirit in the inner man. So they receive the divine power and they start to experience the love of Christ. Their hearts are now allowing Christ to dwell in them with faith and this culminates

32:29in this experience in which they know the love of Christ with surpasses knowledge. So when we put all of this together with what the scriptures teach, we come into the kingdom as little children. We know that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake. It's based on some initial down payment of knowledge. So we now know God as our Father. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in our life. We are empowered by the spirit in the inner man. Well, what's a natural response of the believer? As they receive God in the person of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Remember in other places, scripture, it says Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well the natural response is that we start to make more room for Christ.

33:31So in verse 17 it says that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. You get the initial knowledge of God as your Father through the imputed righteousness of Christ. You are born again. You are accepted in the beloved. You are now an heir and a coer with Christ. You are now God's child. Christ is now residing in you. Well you are encouraged. You start to give more and more over to that God. You want Christ to dwell in your heart through faith. You start to trust Him more and more. And then it says that this love of Christ starts to come into our life. We are now rooted and grounded in love. You see, when you really know that you are fully accepted in the beloved, that you are

34:34a saint, that you are holy, that you are his child. You are truly grounded in love. To be grounded in love means that God can say or do anything. So you pass through the valley of the shadow of death. You are not afraid because God is with you. And how do you know? Because you are rooted and grounded in love. Now you are making more and more room that Christ would dwell in your heart through faith. So what does Paul say? What would be the expectation? This is the Christian experience. Since you are rooted and grounded in love, this puts you in a place in which you start

35:35to live almost in another place of another zone. It says, may you be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath, the length and the height and the depth. It doesn't even give the object. You are just in another world. In another place in Scripture it says, they have tasted of the powers of the age to come. Well, what you are really putting yourself in is the love of God, the very same love that the Father has for the Son. You are now right in that zone, at which the love of the Father directed at the Son, you are right in the middle and you start to experience it. So back to our verse, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them. Can you see what your Christian experience could be in which you start to grow more and

36:37the knowledge of God? You make room in your heart. You start to trust God more and more. In Peter it says that you sanctify Christ as Lord over your life. You are making more and more room for Christ to take up residency. And this just puts you in a place in which you are just right in the dead center middle of the love that the Father has for the Son. No, you might have that experience like D.L. Moody and which God's overwhelming love, which God's, God the Father's overwhelming love towards God the Son is just yours. Well, what happens is this really just starts to transform your life. You start to see what the whole purpose is all about. And all of this is ultimately aimed at service. Because what is the whole reason for which we were saved?

37:38We were saved and order there might be worshipers of the one true God. Well, the same root for worship is service. So was the indication. What's the motivation behind the love of God? It pushes us towards love in which we want to serve everyone around us. Depending on my Christian experience, I read the great commandments and came away a little bit depressed. What are the great commandments? The great commandments are, in the words of Christ, in the words of the Old Testament, because he's repeating them, that you would love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. Well that landing on a fleshly Christian, which is what I was, didn't make a whole lot of sense because I couldn't do it.

38:38And every time I tried to muster up feelings of love, I completely felt hypocritical. In fact, one perverted way of understanding love was, this is basically beat myself up. That's what ultimately God wants. God wants me to prioritize everything in the universe except myself. So let me beat myself up and become a Christian doormat. Well, that's not Christian love. You can't love God that way and you certainly can't love your neighbor. If anything, you'll probably end up being a terrible, terrible testimony to everyone because you're almost begrudgingly becoming a Christian. But what does a scripture say? It says, we love because he first loved us. Well, listen, lock my understanding. If I'm going to grow in the knowledge of God, which is primarily demonstrated by my love of God and love of neighbor, I need to allow this love with which God has loved Christ.

39:47I need to allow this love to become mine. And I love because he first loved me. So the more I get in touch with my position in Christ, and now I'm fully accepted in the beloved and just what Christ has already done for me on Calvary and what happened in the born again experience. The love of God was poured out in my heart through the Holy Spirit. In my career, I didn't experience all this love, but I knew from the scriptures that somewhere deep down this love was in fact inside of me. So if I wanted to ultimately fulfill the great commandment, which is to love God and love neighbor, if I could only get in touch with the love of God that's already been poured out in my heart. So I think the progression that we have here right in Ephesians chapter 3 shows us where

40:51we need to go, how we need to go in order that this love might almost become a routine experience. So again, what does it say? Are you starting off in a place in which well, shoot, I have, I'm not making any progress in my Christian life. I just know that my sins are forgiven for Christ sake. I'm basically a little child in God's sight. Well don't beat yourself up on that. That's at least a foundation and you have really the foundation from which to go forward. So yes, in the words of first John, you are a little child for Christ sake. Your sins have been forgiven. Don't beat yourself up that you haven't made enough progress up to this point. But if we're going to make further progress at the very least, know what you should do to cooperate. Well, what does the rest of this passage say?

41:51It says that I write these things to you children because you know the Father. Get in touch with what you do have. You are born again through the Spirit of Christ. You're freely accepted in the beloved, not by anything that you have done. And then read about Christ. Learn about Christ in the Bible, in the Scriptures, and ask God Lord. Make the Father known to me and continue to make him known. That's it right there. This should honestly be the prayer of every believer who just wants to grow in the knowledge of God, culminating in this experience in which they can experience the love of God, the love of the Father towards the Son. Lord, make the Father known to me and continue to make him known.

42:53And now in my part I read the Scriptures and I pray. I sanctify Christ as Lord in my heart. I now ask God to dwell in my heart through faith. I give over more and more and more to God. And then from this knowledge, this initial knowledge, I know how God thinks based on what he has done through Christ. Remember, John 118, Christ is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained him. Christ Himself said, I have come to make the Father known and I will continue to make him known. Well, based on that, I put myself in the place where God can descend with all of His love and all of His power. That's not the end. Because Ephesians chapter 3 says something remarkable.

43:55Now when you try to get your head around it, it will explode. In verse 19, it says, to know the love of Christ with surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Down the world, do you get filled up with all the fullness of God? God is infinite. How do you, a mere creature, get filled up with all the fullness of God? Why don't think it means that you suddenly become a God? This is not some kind of rebirth of a God inside of me. No, no. What it means is our capacities to receive God's fullness are filled up. So, referring to the testimony of D.L. Moody, what did he say? When the Lord God came to Him and power and love, He prayed, Lord, I can't handle it.

45:00It's too much. I'm being filled up with too much of your fullness. I'm about to explode. It's blowing my mind. Well, what would it be like if all of us had the expectation that as we are rooted and grounded in love, we're making Christ, Lord over our life, more and more, that we can't even comprehend. We start to comprehend a little bit more. The length, the height, the depth of God's love, we start to experience God's love with surpasses knowledge. What would happen? If God just suddenly descended and filled up our entire capacity to feel Him, to hear Him, to look just like Him, you might be saying, well, I don't know, this is really stretching

46:00the borders of my expectation. It's interesting, first John chapter 3 in that beautific vision, John says, what it will be like when we finally do see Him. It says, when we see Him, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. What I think John is talking about being filled up with all the fullness of God, but in that great beautific state in which all of us are in heaven, are so transformed into the likeness of Christ, we will see Him as He is because we have been so transformed. So how is this relevant to this experience of being filled up with all the fullness of God? If your ultimate goal is to be filled up with the fullness of God, and this is predicated

47:02on knowing the love of Christ with surpassed knowledge, and this is predicated on knowing God more and more, on allowing Christ to dwell in your heart and faith. And this is predicated on allowing God to dwell in your heart through the power of Him, dwelling in you in the inner man. We want you to be more motivated to allow Christ to be Lord completely. See, I don't understand quite frankly why this kind of message isn't taught in many of our pulpits. Many of our pulpits, and I don't want to be church bashing, but, you know, let each church take it where they may. But if our church has spent all of our time teaching and rightfully teaching the imputed righteousness of Christ, and possibly going on to sanctification that we need to look

48:02more and more like Christ, but they don't really teach the end goal, which is the knowledge of God, and that which flows out of the knowledge of God, which is the love of Christ. That can ultimately lead to being filled up with all the fullness of God. Well, aren't we depriving ourselves as Christians of the ultimate experience that we might have in this life? You see, dear brothers and sisters, I am desperately pushing all of my hearers and anyone who would hear to seek the greatest expectation that we might have in this life, which is that we might be filled up with all the fullness of God, that we would grow in the knowledge of God. Which according to this passage is not the end goal. It's the actual love that we might experience. So let's come right back to our initial verse.

49:06I have made your name known to them. This is Christ, John 1726. I have made your name, some of your translations read, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Well up to this point, I've been focusing on that conclusion in order that the love that you have for me may be in them. What about the rest that I myself may be in them? You see, this is Christ's prayer that they might know the Father, that they would continue to know the Father, that this will open them up to the very same love that the Father has for the Son and that Christ may be in every believer and every Christian.

50:08Well, at this point, you might be saying, well, wait a minute. He's already in every believer, every Christian. Yes, he is. But in sanctification, he is allowed to take up residence, let's just say more fully. So in the words of Peter, sanctify Christ as Lord over your life. In the words of Paul, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. Well, that's referring to, let's just say, the greater residency of the Son. This is our expectation as we grow in sanctification. Christ dwells more in our hearts through faith. He starts to get rid of all the nasty habits that we have pretty much put up with. And he becomes more and more the Lord over our lives. Christ more easily accesses our gifts and talents.

51:08Sin has greater difficulty in trying to express itself in our life because we're constantly putting to death the deeds of the flesh. So what happens? Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. We're being rooted and grounded in love. We're now living out of the expectation that the very same love that God the Father had towards God the Son, well, this can be my everyday experience. Well done in there. We experience that love, but our capacity for that love goes even larger and larger. Well what is this predicated on? Well it goes back to the previous verse that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. What happens when Christ starts to dwell in your heart through faith as you give over to Him more and more?

52:10Well your capacity gets bigger and bigger. Well as your capacity for God to rule gets bigger and bigger. Well this ultimately can open you up to the greatest experience that you can have in this life that you might be filled up with all the fullness of God. As you see as Lewis in one of his books said the ultimate goal of Christianity, of Christ, is that he would be able to make little Christ all over the earth. That certainly implies the greater residency of the Son. Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith. We're rooted in grounded in love. We're now in that zone in which the love that the Father has towards the Son is constantly covering us. So much to the point in which periodically we have to say like deal moody lord, not not

53:12it is too much. I can't handle this. You're going to blow me away. Well what if that was the everyday experience, expectation of believers? Would we say like Paul, Lord, I want to know you. I want to know you in the power of your resurrection and in the fellowship of your suffering. I want to be filled up. I want to finish my race. I want to keep the faith. I want everything that I have to be poured out as a drink offering. Because that's exactly what Paul said in his dying days. My cup is running over. I have been poured out as a drink offering. All of my capacity has been filled. And now I go to see that God who has purchased me with his blood.

54:17Is that your experience? Is that your expectation? Are you settling in for the imputed righteousness of Christ? And maybe sanctification, hopefully along the way looking in more and more like Christ? You see these aren't bad things. They're excellent things. They're wonderful things. And we most definitely need to ground our journey on those truths. Which is, we live out of Christ's righteousness. We grow in sanctification. But let's not stop there. That's not the end. And if you want to be a more powerful bold witness for Christ, just pray as Christ did in John 17 verse 26.

55:17I said, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order. That the love you have for me may be in them in that I myself may be in them. So in closing, pray this prayer, Jesus, reveal the Father to me, that his love for me may be mine also. That Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. That I might expand my capacity for the love of God with surpasses knowledge that I might be filled up with all the fullness of God. Well, if you just prayed that in sincerity, since these are Christ actual words and his prayer in the upper discourse, you can be assured that God will answer your prayer.

56:20It programs like this bless you particularly this holistic picture of what could be ours in this life. I want to ask you to join this ministry financially. Just go to imagebearamministries.com and donate. That's imagebearamministries.com. Join his image with your Bible teacher, Victor Vigarito, Bible teacher and expositor, encouraging you to study God's Word and be Christlike in all you do. You can contact Victor at imagebearamministries.com. Listen to past episodes and donate to keep and his image on the radio at imagebearamministries.com. That's imagebearamministries.com. Have a blessed week. God with grace. God with grace. God with grace.