PHILIPPIANS 3:10 | DO YOU KNOW HIM?
Notes
Transcript
TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 3:10 | DO YOU KNOW HIM?
TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 3:10 | DO YOU KNOW HIM?
INTRO
INTRO
ILLUSTRATION: 3 Years ago, we had the opportunity to go to Orlando, FL.
ILLUSTRATION: 3 Years ago, we had the opportunity to go to Orlando, FL.
We met my family there and all stayed in one big house together.
It was a fun experience.
One night, we went to a section of Kissimmee that has a small park with some rides in it.
It was a fun place and we got ride a lot of fun rides with the kids… my favorite being the go-karts.
But the whole time we were riding rides, there was one ride that loomed in the background, literally.
It was the skycoaster.
The skycoaster is 300’ tall, the tallest in the world.
There is a giant arch in the front and one giant tower in the back.
3 people at a time are strapped into a harness that lifts them slowly up horizontally, 300’ feet into the air.
When it reaches the top, one of the psychos, has to reach over and pull a little strap that will release them and they will free-fall for a few seconds before the swing catches them and they glide through the giant swing.
I know, you are wanting to know, “how do you know all this information… did you ride that ride.”
Absolutely not… I enjoy living and if I rode that thing, I would pass out at the top and the strap would never get pulled!
I know because my wife rode it!
As she was getting strapped in to ride, I was thinking about what life would be life raising 3 kids as a single dad because she wouldn’t survive.
You see, I know about the skycoaster… I can give you details and information.
But if you truly want to know about the experience, you have to go talk to my wife… because she experienced it.
EXPLANATION: Here in Philippians, Paul is writing this letter to the church at Philippi from prison.
EXPLANATION: Here in Philippians, Paul is writing this letter to the church at Philippi from prison.
As he wrote, there was no certainty that he would be released or ever set free.
The prisons of Paul’s day weren’t like the prisons of our day… it was truly a place of suffering.
It is likely that Paul may have gone days without food or water.
Chances are it was a dark and damp place.
He was most likely bound by chains and shackles
There were no luxuries that Paul would enjoy.
Yet the overwhelming theme throughout this book is having joy.
Paul was writing about having joy from a prison cell!
From a place of persecution
From a place of pain
From a place of suffering and hopelessness, Paul wrote about having joy.
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
How is it possible that Paul had joy in such a terrible situation?
The answer is found in our key verse this morning: Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
You see Paul didn’t just know about Christ.
He didn’t just know facts and stories.
No, Paul had experienced a real relationship with Christ.
Paul knew Christ.
APPLICATION: Friend, do you know Christ?
APPLICATION: Friend, do you know Christ?
I’m not talking about knowing facts about Him.
Have you gotten into the harness and experience Christ?
The truth is for many people, the know things about God, the Bible, and Christ.
But they don’t truly know Him.
There are many Christians that aren’t enjoying a relationship with Christ, and they have lost their joy.
This morning, I want to spend a few minutes here in Philippians 3, looking at what Paul meant when he said he “knew” Christ.
And I hope you will walk away today knowing Him on a deeper level than you ever have before.
I want you to truly experience Christ!
To know Christ, is to experience:
V.10b, HIS RESURRECTION
V.10b, HIS RESURRECTION
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
EXPLANATION: It is what today is all about!
EXPLANATION: It is what today is all about!
2000 years ago, and Saturday night, Jesus’s body was lying in a borrowed tomb.
3 days before He had died the most gruesome death imaginable as he was beaten and then nailed to the cross.
After 6 hours of suffering on the cross, Jesus finally breathed His last breath and died!
We talked on Friday night, that the centurion that was in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion confirmed that Jesus was indeed dead to Pilot
And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
This is what this guy did for a living.
He knew when someone was dead
To get it wrong would have meant at best that he would be fired from his job and at worst he would be put on his own cross.
Jesus was indeed dead.
And they laid his body in that tomb and rolled a stone in front of the opening.
For 3 days the tomb remained sealed the Jesus’s body lay motionless.
But on that first day of the week everything changed:
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Jesus rose from the grave!
There are some that say Jesus didn’t really raise from the grave.
Friend, if Christ didn’t rise from the grave then we have no hope:
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
v.13, Paul says, “if you don’t believe in the resurrection, then Christ isn’t risen.”
v.14, and if Christ isn’t risen, then what in the world are we doing here.
Our preaching is a waste
Your faith is a waste.
v.15-16, Paul takes it even a step farther as he says if Christ isn’t risen then I am a liar.
We can’t believe anything that Paul has said.
Throw out the book of Romans
Throw out 1 and 2 Corinthians
Get rid of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and probably Hebrews.
They are all just a bunch of lies.
And for that matter, if Jesus isn’t risen, we should throw out our the Gospels because they aren’t true, and since the other books of the NT reference it we should just throw out the whole NT.
But don’t stop there, because many of the OT books prophesied of Jesus coming, His death, and ultimately His resurrection so we should just get rid of the whole book!
v.17, But it gets even worse.
If Christ hasn’t risen, then we are still in our sins.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If Jesus isn’t risen then the first half is true, but there is no gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ!
There is no way you can escape that punishment because as Ephesians 2:8-9 says
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
You are in your sins… and you have no hope!
v.18, If you aren’t depressed enough already, Paul says if Jesus isn’t risen, then all those that have died believing in Christ are gone.
It has the idea that they had dissolved to nothingness.
They had ceased to exist, and there was no hoping of seeing them again.
v.19, Finally, Paul finishes with the ultimate path that this reality would lead to:
There is no hope.
You just live, and then you die, and then that is it.
No purpose to life.
APPLICATION: And friend, that is where a lot of people are living today.
APPLICATION: And friend, that is where a lot of people are living today.
They are broken people with broken lives.
They’ve tried to find fulfillment in the things they can buy and they ended up empty
People let them down
Family disappointed them
Friends weren’t who they thought they were
They’ve been hurt
They’re depressed
They’re hopeless.
I have no doubt there a people who came into the service this morning and you are hanging on by a thread.
Maybe no one knows it but you are at your end.
You are questioning if this is all there is to life.
You’re just as v.19 of 1 Corinthians 15 says, “miserable.”
EXPLANATION: Don’t miss this next verse: 1 Corinthians 15:20
EXPLANATION: Don’t miss this next verse: 1 Corinthians 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Paul says “Now is”
Two present tense words.
Two words that mean it wasn’t just in the past, but what he is about to say is happening on the day Paul wrote it and is continuing to happen today!
Don’t miss it!
NOW IS Christ risen from the dead!
HE IS ALIVE!
And Paul says, “If you don’t believe me, just ask one of the other guys that saw Him after He arose!”
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
NOW IS CHRIST RISEN!
And if Christ is risen..
Our preaching is not in vain!
Your faith is not in vain
This Book is true!
And you can have forgiveness of your sins
And I will see my loved ones who trusted Christ again one day
And we have hope today!
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul says here in Galatians 3:10, that there is power in Christ’s resurrection!
Because with Christ’s resurrection, we can have the hope of eternal life!
And eternal life isn’t found in your good works
It isn’t found in telling someone what you’ve done
It isn’t by going to church or getting baptized or any other good thing you can come up with.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Jesus Christ paid the payment for your sin when he died on the cross because Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is death.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And when Jesus rose from the grave, He proved that He is Who He said He was!
And Romans 10:9-10
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.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Friend, that is the most powerful truth you could ever hear!
It is the most powerful decision you could ever make!
And it isn’t because I said it… it’s because God said it in His Word!
APPLICATION: If you are here today and you know about Christ, but you don’t truly know Him…
APPLICATION: If you are here today and you know about Christ, but you don’t truly know Him…
If you have never trusted in Him as your Savior, why don’t you do that this morning?
It is the most important decision you could ever make in your life.
To truly know Him is to know Him as your Savior!
To know Him as your Heavenly Father
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATION: Tressa and I had been married for a few years when we made a trip back to Indiana to visit my family.
ILLUSTRATION: Tressa and I had been married for a few years when we made a trip back to Indiana to visit my family.
When we go back we try to make plans for things to do so we aren’t wasting the time that we are there.
One day, my dad invited us to come and check out his work.
At that time he was the head of the maintenance at a major pharmaceutical plant.
When we got inside, it was incredible to see some of equipment that they used to make the medicine that they made.
We saw the clean room where they made the medicine.
Dad had to dress in a clean suit to go in that couldn’t touch the ground.
I remember as we walked down one of the hallways my dad pointed to some water that was flowing out of a large pipe.
The water was totally pure.
All of the minerals and impurities had been removed from the water through the purification process and it was so pure that if you were to drink it your body wouldn’t be able to process it.
It would literally destroy you from the inside out because your body needs the minerals to be able to absorb the water properly.
It was a really cool experience to be able to get to see the facilities.
But before we could see any of it or experience any of the those cool things, we had to get into the facility.
I remember we pulled up the front gate where there was an armed guard on duty.
He asked, “Can I help you.”
You see they didn’t let just anybody in.
And I didn’t have the clearances by myself to get in.
If I had said, “don’t you know who I am… what I’ve done.”
He would have said “get lost.”
No my response was, “I’m here to see my dad… Troy Gilstrap. He said we could come in.”
And I remember the next part so clearly… He grabbed his radio and pressed the button.
“Troy, are you there?”
“Ya.”
“I’ve got a vehicle here saying that you have given them access to come in.”
And I remember what my dad said on the other end,
“Ya, that’s my son… He can come in.”
APPLICATION: Friend, do you know God?
APPLICATION: Friend, do you know God?
Has there been a time in your life that you accepted Him as your personal Savior?
That you stopped trusting in what you could do to get to heaven and you put your full faith and trust in Him?
When you do Galatians tells us there is a wonderful transformation that takes place
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
You see one day you will take your last breath and your heartbeat will beat for the final time.
And you will find yourself standing before God
No one will be there with you… no family or friends.
Just you.
And when God asks why He should let you in, will you be able to say, “I know Jesus… And you are my Heavenly Father.”
And God will answer back, “Come on in my child! You’re mine!”
Do you know God this morning?
Not just about Him… Do you know Him?
If you don’t I hope you will receive Him as your personal Savior right now.