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Know Jesus!
Philippians 3:7-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 16, 2012
*One of God’s greatest goals for our lives is to know Him.
-The greatest believers in history are those who had great passion to know God.
*In Exodus 33:18 Moses pleaded with the Lord, “Please, show me Your glory.”
The psalmist in Psalm 42:1 cries out to God: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
And here in vs. 10, although Paul has known the Lord for 25 or 30 years, he longs “to know Him” more!
*And God wants us to know Him better, understanding that this word “know” does not mean just knowing facts about God.
It does not mean knowing God in a casual way.
This word “know” is talking experiencing God in a close, personal relationship.
*When Paul said, “I want to know Him,” he used the same word the Bible uses for the close relationship between husband and wife.
That’s how much Paul wanted to know God.
And that’s how much God wants us to know Him.
1. Jesus wants us to know Him first of all, because He can give us an excellent life.
*As Paul said in vs. 7-8:
7. What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8.
But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
*Paul talks about the excellence of knowing Jesus.
-The NIV calls this the “surpassing greatness” of knowing Jesus.
-Paul is telling us here that nothing could be better than knowing Jesus.
*Here’s the background: Paul opened this chapter with a world class religious resume.
Listen to vs. 4-6 from the New Living Translation.
*Paul said:
4. I could have confidence in myself if anyone could.
If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5.
For I was circumcised when I was 8 days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin.
So I am a real Jew if there ever was one!
What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
6.
And zealous?
Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church.
And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
*Paul had a first class religious resume.
-It was his security, his source of confidence and well-being.
*But then Paul met Jesus Christ, and his life was changed forever.
-Paul saw that his self-confidence was nothing compared to the Savior, so in vs. 7&8, Paul said:
7.
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss (or worthless) for Christ.
8.
But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (or garbage), that I may gain Christ.
*Paul saw that everything he had was trash compared to the treasure of knowing Jesus Christ.
And what Paul found out in vs. 7&8 is true for any kind of human achievement.
God wants us to know that no earthly achievement can compare to the excellence of knowing Christ.
*James Dobson was reminded of this in a remarkable way.
The story started when he was in high school.
Jim’s great ambition back then was to win the school’s tennis championship.
He worked and practiced until he finally won.
It was a great success, and Jim was very proud to see his tennis trophy in the school’s trophy case.
*But years later, much to his surprise, the trophy arrived in the mail.
The school was being remodeled, and someone had found Jim’s trophy in the trash.
Dr. Dobson said, “Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else!” (1)
*Now is the time to understand that no earthly achievement can compare to the excellence of knowing Christ.
And Jesus wants us to know Him, because He can give us an excellent life.
2. But also because He can give us eternal life.
*In vs. 9, Paul was thinking about God’s gift of eternal life.
-Here he talked about being found in Christ “not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”
*Paul gave up on having his own righteousness, because our righteousness can never measure up to God’s perfection.
Yes, Paul kept the Old Testament ceremonial law better than most, but at the same time, his heart was filled with bitterness and hatred.
*Paul was so aware of his own shortcoming that he once called himself the chief of sinners.
So in vs. 9 of the New Living Translation Paul says: “I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me.
For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”
*The truth is that you need God’s merciful love as much as the worst sinner who has ever walked the earth.
Alan Perkins explained: “It doesn’t matter if you’re a little better than someone else, or even a lot better than someone else.
You’re still guilty of sin.
You’re still condemned.
*The person who jumps halfway across the Grand Canyon winds up just as dead as the person who only jumps 8 feet out from the cliff.
They both fall a mile to the bottom.
(2)
*That’s why we have to depend on Christ’s perfect righteousness to make us right with God.
Our goodness will never be enough.
And the only way to have God’s righteousness in life is through faith in Jesus Christ:
-Faith that the Bible is true in what it says about our sin.
-Faith that God loves us in spite of our sins.
-Faith that God became a man to live a perfect life and die on the cross for our sins.
-Faith that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
-Faith that Jesus will forgive all of our sins and give us eternal life, -- If we will open our heart to receive Him as our Lord, Savior and God.
*Now when we put our faith in Jesus, all sorts of wonderful things begin to happen in our life:
-Our sins are forgiven.
-He puts His righteousness into our spiritual account.
-And we are born again with eternal life, which only exists through knowing Jesus in a personal way.
*This is why in vs. 9-11, Paul said he wanted to:
9. . .
be found in (Jesus) not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11. if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
*Jesus wants you to know Him, because He can give you eternal life.
-There is no eternal life outside of knowing Jesus in a personal way, because there is no other way to know the Father in Heaven.
*We see this truth in the prayer the Lord prayed just a few hours before the cross.
In John 17:1-3, Jesus spoke to His Heavenly Father and said:
1. “Father, the hour has come.
Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
2. as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
*There is no eternal life in trying to keep God’s rules, because you can’t keep them all.
There is no eternal life in religious things, like coming to church, being baptized, reading the Bible, even praying.
All of these religious activities are dead unless you know Jesus in a personal way.
*Michael Dean tells about sitting next to a very religious man on a flight from Phoenix.
They struck up a conversation when the man noticed Michael reading a book on the history of Christianity.
And they talked for hours.
This other man had an amazing knowledge of the Bible, freely quoting verse after verse, sometimes from little-read parts of the Bible.
*At first Michael thought the man might have been a Bible professor at some seminary.
He most certainly had to be a believer.
But Michael began to wonder, and had to know for sure, so he asked him if he was a Christian.
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