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GOD WITH AND IN YOU
A. Introduction: In this series, we’re talking about how to read the Bible relationally. When we read
relationally, we read not just to get information from the Bible, but to connect with Almighty God, our
Creator and Redeemer (Savior).
1. In relational reading the goal isn’t to finish a chapter and check off a box on your “Read Through the
Bible in a Year” chart. Your goal is to prayerfully think about the One who inspired the words,
with the awareness that He wants to show you something about Himself through His words.
a. Knowing Almighty God is the place of greatest meaning and satisfaction for a human being.
We were created to know Him, to become His sons and daughters who live in loving relationship
with Him. John 17:3
1. Eccl 3:11—(God) has planted eternity in men’s heart and mind [a divinely inspired sense of
purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God can satisfy]
(Amp).
2. Jer 9:23-24—Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the
mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts
boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast
love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord
(ESV).
b. Our sin has cut us off from God and our created purpose. The Bible relates the story of God’s
desire for a family and the lengths He’s gone to, to recover His lost family through Jesus.
1. Jesus is God’s fullest revelation of Himself to mankind. The Scriptures reveal Jesus (John
5:39). Jesus is God Incarnate (God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God).
Jesus took on a human nature and was born into this world to die as a sacrifice for our sin.
A. Jesus reveals Himself (makes Himself known to us) through His written Word. Through
the Scriptures we are brought into relationship with, into contact, with Him.
B. Jesus said: John 6:63—All the words through which I (Jesus) have offered myself to
you are meant to be channels of the spirit and of life to you, since in believing those
words, you would be brought into contact with the life in me (J. Riggs Paraphrase).
2. To help us learn how to read relationally, we’ve been looking at the account of the Last
Supper, Jesus’ final meal with His twelve apostles before He was crucified. John 13-17
2. Jesus sat at the table with these men and shared words to help prepare them for the fact that He was
going to leave them and return to Heaven. His words were meant to comfort and encourage them
and help them deal with what was ahead. This is a key point for reading relationally.
a. When we read, we need to keep in mind that this is a record of Jesus (God Incarnate) sitting at a
table with men whom He loved, men He created and was about to die for. Jesus knew them
(flaws and all), loved them, and wanted to help them. That is the motive behind His words.
b. What would Jesus’ words mean to us if we were sitting at that table? (Remember, we know
more about what is going to happen than those men. Jesus is going to die then rise from the
dead.) We could thank Him for what He has done for us, think about this great demonstration
of love, and draw encouragement in our own challenges. That is how you read relationally.
B. What else did Jesus say? At this Last Supper Jesus promised that He would not leave His followers
(and us) alone, but that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to them (and us). John 14:16-18
1. To see the scope of what Jesus was saying, we need to know that God is Triune. The word Triune
is made up of two Latin words: tri, which means three, and unus, which means one. Almighty
God is three in one—One God who simultaneously manifests as three distinct, but not separate,

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Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
a. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit coinhere. This means that they each fully possess one
Divine nature. The Father is all God. The Son is all God. The Holy Spirit is all God.
1. We need to understand the word person. To us, person means separate, finite, self-contained
individuals. But that isn’t how the word is used in relation to God.
2. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are Persons in the sense that they are self-aware, and
aware of and interactive with each other. They are distinguished from each other, and yet
these distinctions do not mean division in the One Being that is God.
A. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have existed in loving relationship with each
other since forever (John 1:1). And we have been invited into relationship with them.
B. All three Persons were and are involved in our salvation (redemption). God the Father
planned it. God the Son purchased (provided it). God the Holy Spirit produces (or
applies) the effects of the Son’s sacrifice when we believe on Jesus.
b. This is a mystery beyond our comprehension. We simply accept it and marvel at the wonder of
God. You may be thinking, why is it necessary to talk about this. Consider one thought.
1. Almighty God is Transcendent, completely above us and other than us. He is Infinite (no
limits) and He is Eternal (no beginning or end). Yet He is imminent or close at hand and He
desires a loving relationship with each one of us, as though we are only person in existence.
2. And, when we see the wonder, bigness, and love of God, it inspires our trust (faith and
confidence) in Him and His help and concern for us. Ps 9:10—Those who know what thou
art can trust in thee, for never wilt thou abandon those who seek you (Moffatt).
2. At this Last Supper, Jesus talked to His apostles about the Holy Spirit, and promised that He and the
Father would send the Holy Spirit. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper (Comforter, Counselor).
a. Jesus said: John 14:16-17—And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,
who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world at large
cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do,
because he lives with you now and later will be in you (NLT).
b. Jesus also said: I am in the Father and the Father is in me (John 14:10-11). Then He added:
When I am raised to life again (NLT), you will know [for yourselves] that I am in My Father,
and you [are] in Me, and I am in you (John 14:20, Amp). What did Jesus mean by this?
3. When Jesus and His men ate their last meal together before His crucifixion, they were celebrating
Passover—an annual Jewish feast in which the Jewish people recounted and remembered God’s
deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Ex 12-13
a. Their deliverance from Egypt was an actual historical event, but as with many things in the Old
Testament, it pictured or foreshadowed some vital facts about the Lord Jesus and God’s plans.
1. Through a series of power demonstrations (knows as the plagues of Egypt), God persuaded
the reluctant king of Egypt (the Pharaoh) to release His people (Israel, the Jews).
2. The night before the final plague, God instructed His people to sacrifice an unblemished
lamb and place its blood over their doors to protect them from the plague. This act pictured
the final Passover Lamb, Jesus, who would one day deliver men and women from slavery to
sin, corruption, and death through His own death on the Cross. John 1:29; I Cor 5:7
A. Once Israel was out of Egypt, God instructed them to build a Tabernacle (or tent, later
replaced by a temple) where He could meet with and dwell with them: I want the people
of Israel to build me a sacred residence where I can live among them (Ex 25:8, NLT).
B. Down through subsequent centuries, God visibly manifested Himself (His Presence, His
visible glory) in both of these structures (Ex 40:34; I Kings 8:10-11). These were real
events, but they also picture the ultimate goal of salvation—God dwelling with and in His

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people. The New Testament calls Christians temples of the Holy Spirit. I Cor 6:19
b. God’s plan for man has always been to unite us to Himself through shared life. He created us
with the capacity to receive Him into our being and to be indwelled by His Spirit and life (the
uncreated life in Him, eternal life) through a new or second birth. John 3:3-7; I John 1:12-13
1. We don’t get absorbed into God. We retain our individuality. But this union restores us to
what we were created to be, literal sons and daughters of God who are Christlike in character.
2. Christianity is more than a belief system. It is an organic or living relationship with
Almighty God through union with Him through shared life.
c. When Jesus told His apostles that you will know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in
you, He was referring to union with Him: At that time you will know that I am in union with
my Father and you are in union with me and I am in union with you (John 14:20, Williams).
1. The Bible uses a number of word pictures to help us understand how a Transcendent,
Infinite, Eternal God can interact with finite beings.
2. Jesus used one at this Last Supper when He referred to Himself as the Vine and believers in
Him as branches.
A. Jesus said: John 15:5—I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those that remain united
to me while I remain united to them are those who bear fruit plentifully; for you can do
nothing apart from me (20th Cent).
B. A vine and a branch are united through shared life, and fruit is outward evidence of the
life within. We are branches, dependent creatures dependent on God for everything.
4. Almighty God created us with the capacity to receive Him (His Spirit, His life) into our being and
then reflect and express His beauty, holiness, and love to the world around us. However, since all
humans are cut off from the life in God because of sin, we are unable to fulfill this purpose.
a. Through His death on the Cross, Jesus opened the way for us to be restored to our created
purpose as sons and daughters of God through shared life—sons and daughters who glorify Him
as we live in loving relationship with our Creator and Redeemer.
1. The salvation that God provides for us through Jesus is the complete deliverance of human
nature from sin, corruption, and death, resulting in complete transformation and restoration
by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross.
2. Through this union with Him through shared life, we are being, and will be, progressively
restored to all that we were meant to be. When we believe on Jesus, He, by the Holy Spirit,
becomes our life—not to replace us, but to fully restore us to our created purpose.
b. Note this statement that Paul the apostle made: Col 2:9-10—For in Him (Christ) dwells all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him (NKJV).
1. The Greek word translated Godhead (used three times in the New Testament) means divinity,
the Divine nature (Jesus is fully God). Complete means to fill, supply abundantly with
something (we are filled with God through our union with Him).
2. We are now partakers of the uncreated life in God by His Spirit in us. We are united to
Him, and He. by His Spirit and life in us, is and will fully restore us (lesson for another day).
A. Col 2:9-10—Yet it is in him (Christ) that God gives a full and complete expression of
himself in bodily form. Moreover, your own completeness is realized in him (J.B.
Phillips).
B. Col 2:9-10—For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you
have been given full life in union with him (Good News Bible).
5. We were created for relationship and fellowship with Almighty God, in this life and the life to come.
Through faith in Jesus, we have been restored to this purpose.
a. When we talk about being made right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we often

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emphasize the legal aspect or right standing with Him: We have been “justified (acquitted,
declared righteous, and given a right standing with God through faith” (Rom 5:1, Amp).
b. There is truth to this, but it is impersonal. I am in right standing with the United States because
I am a citizen and I obey the laws of the land. This is true, but it is impersonal, not relational.
1. I (we) have more than a legal position relative to the Lord. I am (we are) in union with God,
and it is a relationship that gives us the blessing of indwelling life and power from Him.
2. But there’s more. Union gives the blessing of fellowship, closeness, an intimate relationship
with God. (Intimate means a warm friendship developed through long association.)
c. Our slate (the record of our wrong doing) is clear legally because of Jesus’ sacrifice and our faith
in Him, and God now gladly welcomes us back to the relationship for which He created us.
1. Jesus made this clear when He told the parable of the prodigal son, the son who left his
father’s house, took his inheritance, and spent it all on wild, sinful living. When the son
ended up in a pigpen, he repented and returned to his father’s house. Luke 15:11-32
A. His father welcomed the wayward son home, cleaned him up, restored him to his place in
the family, and celebrated his return. Jesus told this parable in response to religious
leaders who criticized Him for associating with sinners. Our Father is glad we’re back.
B. When Jesus was on earth, He made it clear that He came to recover and restore God’s lost
sons and daughters to the relationship they were created for. Luke 19:10; Luke 15:3-10
2. Eph 3:12—Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s
presence assured of his glad welcome (NLT).
6. How would you read the passages we’ve cited relationally? As you read, stop and ponder the fact
that Jesus is talking to you personally, as though you are the only person at that table.
a. Meditate on the fact that Jesus and the Father are not only with you, they are in you by the Holy
Spirit. Thank Jesus that He wants relationship with you, and that He loved you enough to die
for you and wipe away the record of your sin. Thank Him that He is with you; you aren’t alone,
b. Ask Him to help you become more aware of the fact that He is with you, in you, and for you.
Ask Him to help you deal with fears about future and doubts about His love and care for you.
C. Conclusion: The depth of relationship with anyone is tied to how deeply you know them—not just
about them, but them, the person. The only way to fully know the Lord is through His written Word.
1. The Bible is our only fully reliable, completely trustworthy source of information about God. And
it is the primary way that He makes Himself known to us.
a. At the Last Supper Jesus told His apostles that He would continue to make Himself known to
them through His written Word with the help of the Holy Spirit. (More on this next week.)
1. John 14:21—Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me… and I will
reveal myself to each one of them (NLT).
2. John 14:23—Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (ESV).
b. Without the Bible our relationship with God is based on imagination—mental images we have
formed that may or may not be accurate. This is why reading the Bible consistently is so
important—especially the New Testament because it reveals Jesus (good teachings is also vital.)
2. Relational reading is not the only way to read the Bible, but it is very important. In relational
reading your goal is to read thoughtfully and prayerfully, with the awareness that you’re reading the
words of your Creator and Savior, who is with you and in you.
3. You read with the awareness that He knows you intimately (through long association) and that He
wants you to know Him. And He wants to continue to reveal Himself to you by His Spirit through
His Word so that you can know Him more fully. More next week!