Know Him and Everything Changes
- Henley Samuel
- May 9
- 7 min read
May 09, 2026
There is a kind of knowing that is more than information. It is more than attending a service, more than reading a passage, more than saying the right prayers. It is an intimate, personal knowledge of God, the kind that transforms everything on the inside. Today I want to talk about what it means to truly know Jesus Christ, and why that knowledge is the key to every blessing, every freedom, and every fruit in your life.
The Knowledge That Changes Everything
Look at what Paul prays for believers in Ephesians, beginning at verse 17:
"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19
Paul is praying that we would know a love that, by its very nature, surpasses knowledge. It is beyond the capacity of human reasoning to fully contain, but it is not beyond our experience. You can know it personally, intimately, and deeply.
And notice what that knowledge produces: you are filled with all the fullness of God. That is not a small thing.
What Happens When You Do Not Know
But what happens when God's people lack this knowledge? The prophet Hosea gives us a sobering answer:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
Not because of a lack of effort. Not because of a lack of religion. Because of a lack of knowledge. Specifically, knowledge of God. When we do not know His love, His character, and His nature, we stumble. We make decisions from fear. We relate to God as though He is a distant employer waiting to penalise us for the smallest mistake.
And that is exactly the trap many sincere believers have fallen into.
Knowing Jesus, Not Just Knowing About Jesus
Now look at how Peter opens his second letter. In 2 Peter:
"Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." 2 Peter 1:1-3
Read this carefully. Grace and peace are multiplied to you through what? The knowledge of God. Godliness comes through what? The knowledge of Him who called you. Not through religious performance. Not through how many services you attend. Through knowing Him.
Grace and peace do not come from trying harder. They come from knowing Him more deeply.
Peter goes on in verse 4:
"By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." 2 Peter 1:4
You escape the corruption of this world not by sheer willpower or religious discipline, but by becoming partakers of His divine nature. And that comes through knowing Him.
The Intimacy of Knowing
Now I want to take you somewhere important. In the original language of Scripture,
"Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain" - Genesis 4:11
when it says Adam "knew" Eve and a child was conceived, the word used for "know" is the same root word for intimacy and union. Something happened. Something was produced. When two lives come together in that knowing, something new is born.
That is exactly what it means to know God.
Knowing God is not an intellectual exercise. It is a union that produces life.
When you truly come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ, something happens inside you. His character begins to be formed in you. The fruit of the Spirit is not something you manufacture through effort. It is born through intimacy with God.
That is why Peter's words hit so hard. The same faith that Peter had, that produced miracles and moved mountains, is available to you, not through your own righteousness, but through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You have access to the same standing Peter had. The question is whether you are walking in it.
David Knew Something the Others Did Not
Think about the young shepherd David. Out in the fields, alone with his flock, with no audience and no applause, what was David doing? He was worshipping. He was speaking to God. He was cultivating a knowledge of the Lord that no one else around him could see.
And when the prophet Samuel came looking for the next king of Israel, God bypassed seven impressive-looking sons of Jesse. God said to Samuel,
"Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7.
David had been building something in private that no one could see or measure. He was knowing God. And when the time came, that knowledge became the foundation of everything.
The Prison That Found Its Answer
To understand how remarkable this story is, you need a little context. In early America, the response to crime was largely physical and public. Criminals were punished through whipping, branding, public shaming, or execution. The idea was that fear and pain would correct behaviour. And yet, the same offences kept happening, because the outside was being addressed while the inside remained unchanged.
Then something different was tried. A group of criminals was handed over to a church that spent six months simply teaching them the Word of God. No force. No punishment. Just the knowledge of Jesus Christ going deep into their lives. When those men were released after six months, they were completely changed.
Why? Because the knowledge of God had gone on the inside. And when the root is transformed, the fruit takes care of itself.
The government saw the results and tried to replicate the programme by removing the spiritual element. It did not work. Because the system without the knowledge of God is an empty shell. You can change the method a hundred times. You can make the consequences harsher or the conditions better. But until something changes on the inside, the outside behaviour follows the same old patterns.
What changes a person from the inside out is not a better behaviour programme. It is the knowledge of Jesus Christ taking root in their heart.
You Are More Blessed Than You Know
We live in a generation that can search the entire Bible in seconds on a phone. Every generation before us had to hand-copy texts and memorise entire books. They searched and laboured for years to access what you can touch in seconds.
You are extraordinarily blessed. And with that blessing comes a responsibility. That access, those resources, are not just for information. They are an invitation to know Him.
The knowledge of Christ is not a curriculum. It is a relationship.
Peter says that faith of equal standing with the apostles is yours, by the righteousness of Jesus, not your own. Grace and peace multiplied. Life and godliness available. Escape from worldly corruption possible. And it all flows from one source: knowing Him who called you.
Conclusion
The breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ's love are not theological concepts to admire from a distance. They are the dimensions of a love that wants to be known by you, personally and intimately.
When that love becomes your foundation, something shifts. Godliness stops being a performance and starts being a natural overflow. You stop striving to escape worldly desires because you are so filled with something greater that those old things lose their grip. The fruit grows not because you are trying to produce it but because the root is finally deep and alive.
God created you for fellowship with Him. He designed you not for religion, but for relationship. And when you walk in that intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, everything else finds its proper place.
Go deep in Him today. Not as a religious task. As a delight.
Reflect on This
How would you describe your current knowledge of Jesus? Is it more like reading a description of a fruit on a menu, or actually tasting it? What would it look like to move from one to the other?
Peter says that all things pertaining to life and godliness come through knowing Him. Are there areas of your life where you have been looking for God's blessing through effort rather than through intimacy with Him?
Prayer
Father, I thank You that You have not hidden Yourself from me. You designed me for fellowship with You, and You have given me access to Your Word, Your Spirit, and Your presence. Today I choose to come to You not to perform or to earn, but to know You. Let Your love, which surpasses all understanding, take root in my heart. Let Your grace and peace multiply in my life as I grow in the knowledge of who You are. I declare that I am a partaker of Your divine nature, and I choose to walk in the fullness of that reality. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Key Takeaways
Grace, peace, and godliness are not produced by religious effort but flow from a genuine, growing knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge is not just a theological fact to believe but a living reality to experience and be filled with.
God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance, and cultivating a private intimacy with Him is the foundation of spiritual fruitfulness.
The divine nature we receive through Christ enables us to escape the corruption of this world, not through willpower but through the transforming power of knowing Him.
Every believer has been granted the same standing as Peter, by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and can access that same faith and fruitfulness today.
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To dive deeper into this powerful message, watch the full sermon on our YouTube video below.
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