That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10-12 Introduction: You know there is a lot of things in this world that I know. And there are a lot of things that you know as well. They are what we call facts and we know in our head that they are true. For example: 2+2=4, The Book of Exodus is after the book of Genesis, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a 50lb bag of flour will make a big biscuit, VT will beat UVA in football. There are many facts that I know and you know to be true. In our text this morning, Paul writes That I may know him

Read Text: Phil 3:10-12 In verse ten, when Paul said, "That I may know Him. Notice Paul didnt say, That I may know about Him. What did Paul mean when he wrote the word know Him. There are three primary words in the Greek language that translates into our English word know that Paul could have used. He could have used a word which means to comprehend mentally. Or he could have used another word which means to know by acquaintance or familiarity. But instead the word "know" in verse 10 is ginosko in the Greek text and it means to to know by experience. It isnt just to have some type of head knowledge or fact knowledge about who someone is or what they did. It is a about knowing them personally, experientially, and to be thoroughly acquainted with a person. Paul wanted to personally, experientially know Jesus Christ. The same word is often used in the Bible to describe the intimate relationship between a husband and a wife. That is the way Paul knew Jesus and that is the way we need to know Jesus personally and experientially, as a husband know as wife and vice versa! Paul is telling us that it is not enough to know the facts about who Jesus is but we must personally and experientially know Him!

Prop: Do you really know Christ this morning? Interrogative Sentence: How does Christ want us to know Him? Transitional Sentence: Lets look at four truths concerning what we need to know about Christ this morning. He Wanted to Know.

1. The Person of Christ (vs 10a)

Vs 10 That I may know him Pauls entire religious experience resulted in a distant and impersonal knowledge of God. Although he knew the details of the law and was accepted among his fellow peers with high esteem, he never had a personal relationship with the Lord. In other words, he had religion and not a relationship! But now Paul knew Christ personally and experientially! Paul's desire was not to gain information about Christ, who He was or what He did, he wanted to know Christ.

Application Do you personally and experientially know Christ? I am afraid that there are many people in many pews all over this world and right here in Victory Way Baptist Church this morning, that know a lot of facts about Jesus. There are a lot of people that know a lot of facts about the Bible. They know all the religious lingo. Can dress the dress, talk the talk, and even mans eyes walk the walk! They can tell you all about Jesus, how he was born of a Virgin, how He lived a perfect sinless life, How he willing died for us, was buried and rose again on the third day. They can tell you that Jesus is coming back again! They know all kinds of facts! But sadly many dont know Jesus personally and experientially. Friends, you can know everything there is to know about Him, but if you dont know Him personally then you dont really know! Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour personally? Are you truly born again! The first step to personally knowing Christ is to be saved!

There are also a lot of Christians that I am afraid only Christ as their Saviour. They received Christ as their Saviour but have not taken the steps needed to grow in the lord because they are too busy to spend time with the Lord. Friends, Salvation is wonderful, but if all God wanted you to do is to be saved, then He would have taken you out of this world right after you got saved! You have breathe and life today, because God has something for you to do! Salvation is only the beginning point of a walk with God. Unfortunately, I believe that is as far as many Christians get. Does this describe you? Do you have a close walk with God? Do you have an intimate personal relationship with Him? How can I preacher? Well you need to know Him personally! Personal intimate relationships require communication! God talks to us through His Word Do you have a regular daily time that you read Gods Word and allow God to talk to you? We talk to God through Prayer Do you have a regular daily time that you talk to God through Prayer! And just like any other relationship, if there is not regular open two way communication, the relationship will be not be strong. Pauls passion, his purpose, and his plea was to know Him; not through information, not through the law, not through religious experience, but through a personal and intimate relationship. That is the way Paul wanted to know Him, and that is the way we need to know Him! How personally do you know Christ this morning? Vs 10 .. and the power of his resurrection ... " For Paul knowing Christ was to also experience the power of his resurrection. The word "resurrection" means to rise physically in body after experiencing death. The word "power" means to have the inherent capability or strength to overcome.

2. The Power of Christ (vs 10b)

The ability and strength of Christ to overcome death, hell, and the grave forever engraved in Paul's heart the desire to serve Christ. To live in the power of Christs resurrection is to become more and more dead to the ways of this world and the lusts of the flesh. It involves becoming more like Christ! Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hey, listen to me, the same Power that raised the lord Jesus Christ from the dead, works in the born again believers to provide daily victory over sin. Dont tell me that you are saved and you cant get victory over your pet sin! You have the Omnipotent (all powerful) Holy Spirit of God living in you, the same Power that was able to resurrect Jesus from the dead and it is the same Power that will allow you to say NO to sin if you will yield to it! Romans 6:16-20 - Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17- But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19- I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. If you are born again, then the problem is not that you dont have the Power to say know to your sin, the problem is that you refuse to yield to the Spirit, but you Yield to your flesh! It is a choice, and through the Power of his resurrection you have the power to say no! Paul pursued knowing this power by experiencing more and more each day in his life. And the same power is available to you this morning!

How can I experience and personally know this Power Preacher! First you must be Saved. Second You must Yield yourself, your actions, your thoughts to God! It is when we come to the place of absolute, complete submission and surrender to the Holy Spirit of God that we can begin to know His power! Absolute obedience to Gods will is essential to know His power! Are you absolutely obedient to God this morning? I am not saying well if it was a test, I would get an 80 and pass. We have enough average Christians in the world! I dont know about you, but I want to be more than average! Friends if we want to experientially know the fullness of the Power of God in our lives, it requires absolute obedience! You cant be obedient in three areas and then knowing live in sin in another and expect to fully experience the Power of God in your life! Paul wanted to know (fully and personally experience) the fullness of the Power of God in his life Do you desire that in your life? It will cost you some desires of your flesh! It requires complete obedience and you to completely yield to the Spirit of Gods working in your life and to quit yielding to the flesh! The full omnipotent Power of God is available to work in your life if you are saved and if you really want it! Do you want it? Vs 10 - " ... and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" Quote: The depth of one's relationship with God is measured by the pain he is willing to endure for the cause of Christ. Paul not only enjoyed the salvation he obtained in Christ, he embraced the suffering that goes with serving Christ. He knew that growing in the Lord involved trials, tribulations, troubles, turmoil and temptations.

3. The Pain of Christ (vs 10)

Even as Christ endured with joy the cross set before Him, Paul eagerly was willing to take up his cross before the Lord. The word fellowship here means belonging to a society or group that shares the same mindset, It literally means to have something in common with others. We are to have fellowship with His sufferings! That means as Christians we are not only called to enjoy salvation that Christ gave to us, but we also will partake in His sufferings.

Application: Listen, I know the TV preachers tell you that the Christian walk is all love, happiness, joy, and prosperity. They tell you that God wants you to be happy, be rich, and live your best life now. I dont know about you, but my best life awaits me when my life in this old flesh is done! God never said that the Christian life is a bed of roses, He warned us that all who live godly shall suffer persecution Paul says we need to personally and experientially know Christs sufferings? But why? Illustrate: Did you know, there is no fellowship as precious as when we fellowship with a close friend in his sufferings. Think about it, we share our joys and your triumphs with many, but we only share our sorrows and our suffering with an intimate few. Who in your life do you share your innermost sufferings and troubles with? It is usually one with those closest to you, that you love the most, that you trust the most, right? That is what Paul is telling us here. His desire was to be so intimate with Jesus Christ, that He fellowshipped in His sufferings. Our desire should be to be that close to Jesus as well. Acts 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake.

Application: Suffering for Jesus means that we may be misunderstood, we may be ridiculed by the world, and if our country keeps going the way it is going, we may very soon even be persecuted right here in the US for our stand for Jesus Christ. This kind of suffering does not come to the Christian who has fellowship the world and lives a carnal life. No believer who compromises his position in Christ can share in the fellowship of Christs suffering. I hear people say all the time; well I guess I am just suffering for Christ. Friends, if you arent sold out and living for him, you arent suffering for Him. People say all the time, well the devil is just after me right now. Friends, if you arent sold out, living for Christ in your daily talk and your daily walk, and making a difference in this world for Christ, then I can assure you that the Devil is not after you. He is busy trying to take down someone that is actually doing something for Christ. An immature Christian is already doing enough damage to the cause of Christ, he doesnt need to bother with you. God wants us to be so obedient, to know Christ so well, that like a best friend confides in our suffering or us in theirs, we can fellowship in Christs sufferings. Hey friends, our best day is yet to come 1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings, that, when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Can I remind you how Christ suffered? Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He was ridiculed, mocked, scorned, despised, and rejected of men. He suffered physical, spiritual, and emotional pain. For Paul, taking hold of Christ meant taking hold of the cross. Paul saw his own suffering as an opportunity to experience

Christ on a deeper level. Paul too would endure ridicule, mockery, scorn, and rejection as he spread the name of Christ. 2 Cor 12:10-11 - Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
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And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul said that he took pleasure in his infirmities and his suffering for Christs sake. It was these sufferings that allowed Him to more fully know Christ. Are you willing to suffer for Christ? Are you willing to take some stands, draw some lines even when you know it wont be popular? Are you willing to accept what God allows in your life and see it as Paul did as not an opportunity to grow closer to God by fellowshipping in his sufferings? Are you ready to personally and experientially know Jesus Christ at this level? Paul was! Paul so embraced the sufferings of the Lord that he desired to be made "conformable unto his death. " The supreme test of a man's love is revealed by death. What would you be willing to die for? Men will stand for anything in liberty and freedom, but death reveals the true conviction and character of a man. Dont miss the spiritual blessings in your life because you dont embrace the suffering that comes with serving God! Paul was willing to suffer for Christ to the point of death. Paul had overcome the fear of death, and he often expressed his desire to be with the Lord

4. The Promise of Christ (vs 11-12)

Philippians 1:23 - For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: For Paul, death was the means to be with Christ and was considered a far greater experience than life itself. As a former Pharisee, Paul believed in the resurrection of the dead, yet he did not fully understand the promise until he met the Lord. Now he had full confidence in the Promise of the Resurrection. Paul understood that he had not attained (experienced) the resurrection of the dead yet, but by faith through Christ he knew it was a done deal when Christ returned for the church! His soul was regenerated, but his flesh was not! He hadnt obtained that glorified body yet, he still lived and breathed in his natural sinful flesh in a carnal world! But he understood the promise that one day his body would be saved just like his soul was already. In other words, Paul had been saved, he was being saved, and one day would be altogether saved! But until then, he had to deal with the deficiencies of his life The word "apprehend" literally means to take hold of with force. Paul was taking hold of the One who had taken hold of him. He lived his life in the Promise of Christ! The Promise of the Resurrection!

Application: In other words, Paul was not living for today! He was Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; He was living for eternity and not for the here and now. Do you live in the Promise of Christ? Do you live realizing that there is an eternity to be reckoned with? Too many today just live for the here and now. They live for today and dont give thoughts to the promise of Christ and eternity. We try to build up our treasures here on earth.

We try to live for ourselves, our wants, our desires! God says to build our treasures in heaven and not on earth where rust and moth doth decay! Do you know the Promise of Christ? Do you know the Promise of everlasting life?

Invitation: You will spend an eternity somewhere. It will either be in Heaven with Christ or it will be in Hell with Satan and all those that didnt know Christ as Saviour. Do you Know Christ this morning? I didnt say, do you know about Him. Do you know Him personally an experientially? If not, then you can, and it all begins by repenting (changing your mind about who God is and who you are), and confessing (agreeing with God) with your mouth, and believing that God has raised him from the dead. Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 -For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Dear Christian How personally do you know Christ this morning? Do you want to experience Gods Power in your life? Are you willing to suffer for Christ? Do you live for the here and now? If you your answer to these questions is not what Pauls was, then you need to find a place at this altar this morning and ask God to help you know Him experientially and personally the way He desires for you to know Him.