Knowing Christ Fully

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 75

Psalm 75 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn; do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’ ” For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 124:6-8

Psalm 124:6–8 ESV

Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Sermon:

Good morning Church!

I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

One of Just the unmitigated Joys. Of being a pastor is getting to deal with all of the crazy people who call. Just a few, uh, probably a few months ago.

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Now, at this point, I got a call. From a guy who. Said he was doing a Bible study. He wanted to ask a pastor a question. Oh, that sounds fun. Okay, sure what? What's going on? And he began to walk me through various different passages in Scripture that he had found that.

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He thought showed that the Bible was contradictory and in particular that the doctrine of the Trinity was false. And I said to him, sir, what you are saying is heresy, it is not true. Faith to believe that is to find yourself outside of all that. The church has believed for all time. And he said, what? And we just went on and on and eventually I had to say, obviously you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince. You have a great day. And I hung up. About three weeks later, I got a call from the same guy, he recognized, or I recognized his voice, I don't think he recognized mine, because he began to try to ask me the same questions and that was fun. When I walked him to this exact same passages, and tried to show him why he was wrong before. He even asked the question, he didn't like that and he hung up on me the second time,

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But I remember the first time ever that I ever as a young associate pastor at my last Church got a call like this. A gentleman called Pretending this is the real issue with a lot of these people, they start with a lie, they are lying to try to get you to fall into some trap which just shows their heart, but This person called Pretending like they wanted me to present the gospel to them. I said sure I'd love to. And I began to sort of ask questions of him so I can know what he believes. What is history, I could try to do that and he stopped me.

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And he said I know now because of how you answered this question. The you are of the synagogue of Satan. This is what this man said to me. Because when I said, what must I do to be saved? You didn't quote acts, 16, 30.

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For those of you that don't know, Act 16, 30 the disciples are asked, what must I do to be saved? And there Peter and John say repent and be baptized. That's their answer. What must I do? To be saved, repent and be baptized. And I said, sir. That's not fair. Because we could ask Paul. What does it take to be saved? And we could go to Romans chapter 10 verse 9 where he says, if anyone believes in their heart, that Jesus is Lord or anyone confess with their mouth, that Jesus is Lord, and believes in their heart, that God raised him from the dead, they will be saved.

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Why is that not the answer to your test? Why do you pick this one verse? And I began to grill him back. He hung up on me and I left very disappointed in people in general. That one took me a while. To recover from. Because it turns out you can't often answer big questions in a quick phone call and anyone who's going to try to put me to the test? In this sort of way is going to make me a little upset. That's just my own heart here. But I bring these stories up, because what, I'd like to share with you today.

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Is I believe another way we could answer the question. What does it take and what does it mean to be a Christian? Ultimately all of being a Christian is submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ, looking to him as your lord and savior. Trusting in him for the Forgiveness of your sins and then endeavoring to serve and love him. That's but that's long. That's and that's very

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That's true. But What about the difference in people and situations and times and things like that but also There are sometimes a few little different ways we can say that same thing. And in Philippians, the argument that Paul is building up to I believe is to try to show the Philippian church. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means as I've titled this sermon today, Knowing Christ, fully It's not Paul's been arguing and will continue to argue living a good enough life because Paul lived the best life, this was last week's sermon Paul lived the best life and that was rubbish compared to knowing Christ.

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It's not following the law, that's what the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh, that's what they say. They're wrong. It's more than that in many ways, but it's also simply just knowing Christ, knowing him fully. That is what Paul will Endeavor to get us to see today. Our passage for today, it's long. So you'll have to bear with me. Philippians chapter 3 verses 10? And 11.

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So, two whole verses But because I want to make sure we remember the context. I'm actually going to start by reading verse 7. To remind us. Right. Before verse 7, Paul has given us his His resume in works base righteousness, his legalistic resume, And then in Philippians chapter 3 verse 7. This is what he says. But whatever, gain I had. I count it as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Jesus, my Lord For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

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Having a righteousness. Not of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith, in Christ, the righteousness, from God, that depends on faith, our passage for today. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Then I may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. That by any means. Possible. I may attain the resurrection. From the dead. These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open with a word of Prayer. Our Holy Father in heaven. We thank you. For all of the gifts that you give us for life and goodness.

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We thank you for sending your son. To be our savior. Our Lord help us to know him. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear speak to our hearts this morning. We pray that by your spirit you would work in us such that we see our son, know your son and are conformed into his image. For, he is our savior, our Lord, our great high priest, the one who lives forever to intercede on our behalf. So we thank you and praise you. For sending such a precious gift as this to us. May we walk in these truths as you conform us into the image of your sons in his name that we pray. Amen.

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So Paul. We

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could

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ask. What does it take? What does it mean? Maybe that's a better way to ask this. What does it mean? To be a Christian. Well, it's not legalism. It's not following these things. It's not what I've done. That is all rubbish, we read And in fact, Paul is gladly counts, it as rubbish, she's more than happy to say that it's rubbish because it is not worth comparing to the surpassing worth verse 8. Of knowing. Christ Jesus, my Lord. So, I lay that aside, I Look to have Paul said, a righteousness. That depends on faith. A righteousness that grows from and exists because of Faith. The faith shapes, and mold and grow. We call this last week, Faith righteousness.

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And then we get to the payoff for this entire line of argumentation. And in many ways, this is the argument that he's been building to through all the Philippians Right. Count it loss. Be willing to count everything as gain for the sake of Christ. You forfeit it all, so that you can gain him to live his Christ to die. Ultimately becomes our game. We live life's worthy of the Gospel. We we live. Humble lives counting others as more significant than ourselves. I'm nothing. Christ is everything. Look to him. We model our lives after people such as Timothy and epaphroditus who'd prove their faith by how they lived it up.

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And all of this adds up to this. Paul is willing to say and do and forfeit all of his work, all that he's gained all of everything. Verse 10. That I may know him. It's all about knowing. Christ.

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All of. All of eternity. All of everything in your life boils down to this one question. Do you know Christ? The Christ given to us in the scriptures presented to us in his holy word. Do you know Christ? To know him as your perfect Lord and Savior to bow before him to submit to him for he is worthy of all glory, honor and praise. Do you know Christ. For Paul. This is all of everything. This is the question. This is the issue. There is nothing in this universe. That matters more than how you answer this.

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Do you know Jesus?

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Well, David. That's It's rather simplistic. Don't you think? Yeah.

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And I think sometimes we try to overly complicate things. So hear me? Say, as clearly as I can. You must. Christ. That's it. We'll get into right. There's still more sermon to come. There's more that we can say after this but everything we say after this does not matter. If we can't say yes to this. Paul counts, everything is rubbish. All his good works, all of who he is and we looked at this last week, he was born into the right people. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.

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He lays aside what he was born into, he counts it as rubbish. Paul worked his life worked as hard as he could. As a Pharisee, persecutor of the church to be blameless under the law. It's rubbish. He throws it away. For what? Why is he willing to throw that all away? That I may know him.

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Everything else in life Falls away. As we ask this question, do you know Jesus. To know him is to see him as he is the perfect savior. The one who will uphold you when you stumble, the one, who cares for you, the friend who sticks closer than a brother, the great high priest that lives forever to intercede on our behalf, the one who having made a perfect sacrifice once for all time. Now, sits at the right hand of God, the Father that's who we are trying to know Do we know him?

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Do we know him? And the power. Of his resurrection.

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Those of you that have been going to to Grace group, I went this last week. My argument is, All that matters in history. Is the resurrection? So here's my point all of life is do you know Jesus all of that boils down to did. He raise from the debt? Ray Paul, makes this argument if Jesus rose from the dead then that proves that he is exactly who he said he was. God. Our Savior and Lord, the Messiah, the one who will save and deliver us. If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then everything, he said he was and everything he said was not true.

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So all of life boils down to do, you know, Jesus and knowing him and being able to put our faith in trust in him, boils down to knowing him in the power of his resurrection. And so the positive way to say, all of this is because Jesus rose from the dead. Because he did. There's no more. Trustworthy fact, in all of history, People who have gone to try to prove that Jesus didn't raise from the dead, usually come to Faith or end up. So warped and twisted that anyone can look at their arguments and think that doesn't make sense.

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But because Jesus did raise from the dead. He is able to save and deliver all of us to the other months. When I try to teach this to, to kids, right? When I was a youth pastor. Like, what, what's the, what's the importance of the Resurrection? And maybe this is just how my brain works, but I'm a worst case scenario type of person

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Every situation you face every trial, every struggle, every trouble. What's the worst case scenario? Udot. Really man things are really tough man. Financially, we're struggling. Well, what could happen? Why am I lose my house? Oh then. What could happen? I might be homeless what could happen had to live my car. Okay. Well then what would happen? Well, I may be forced to Not have heat and cooling when I need it, okay. I might die. Sure.

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Jesus, conquered death.

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I hope I don't sound too callous here. You might die. So what's the problem here? Paul's already said in Philippians to live. Is Christ to die. Is gain. If the worst thing that happens to you is good for you. You are no longer ever in any bad situations.

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If the worst thing that can happen to you is you die. And to die. For those who are in Christ is gain. There's no bad options. This is why knowing Christ, and the power of his resurrection is so important. I'm not saying please be careful how you hear what I'm saying? That we should just go willy-nilly endure, all sorts of problems because, you know, we don't live this sort of like yeah, whatever. I'm going to die. Anyway, sort of way, right? We we try to I'm not saying that. What I am saying is Christ and the power of his resurrection become the lens through which we see all things. And therefore

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I can face. All things. I can be brought low. Hanging up high. I can have highs, I can I can be hungry. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me? Because I know him and I know the power. Of his resurrection. And I know this is how Paul's thinking, why do I know this is how Paul's thinking, because look where he goes next, you know, Christ, you know, the power of his resurrection and you share his suffering. This is not about life going, great, and you always know Christ. This might be about life being difficult.

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But more important. What Paul is saying is to share in his sufferings is to be identified in Christ on the cross. To share in his sufferings means that when God poured out, his wrath on Jesus Christ on the cross. We are identified in that such that my sins are forgiven because God already punished them on the cross. How do I know this is true? Look where he continues. That I may know him in the power of his resurrection. Let me share his sufferings. Becoming like him. In his death.

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Ultimately, Being a Christian is knowing Christ. And being like Christ.

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But I want you to pay careful attention here.

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I'm not talking about how you live yet. That I may know him in the power of his resurrection. I may share in his sufferings becoming like him in death. I'm not talking about how you live. I'm not talking about. Do you give to the church? I'm not talking about. Do you? Not lie and not do this and do this. And don't do this? We're not there yet. We're not even close to there yet. Because first and foremost to be like Christ is to be identified in him on the cross. Such that Christ will take our sin upon himself that when he died on the cross. This was the wrath of God poured out on Sinners.

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And then we identified in his death, have our sins forgiven because he is our perfect sacrifice. And now, Being like him. I now am clothed in his righteousness. I haven't done anything yet. This is all a work of Christ.

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We hit. Caught up in our mind in our hearts and in our thoughts of Doing and being and doing, and being and doing and being Like I have to do this and be like this and do this and be like that and don't do this and don't be like that. But for Christ, it boils down to knowing Christ and then being like him in a way that Christ already did the work for us. And so here, being like, Christ, isn't a active being, but more like a passive resting. In what Christ has already done.

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It's not doing. It's knowing. And then be identified in Christ. Share his sufferings become like him in death verse 11, that by any means possible. I may attain Resurrection from the dead My Hope for today, is the assurance that I have for tomorrow. My hope that I can make it through today is Very seldom. Today. Because today, sometimes stinks. It's hard and difficult. There's challenges and trials and troubles today doesn't always help me. But instead if I know Christ, I share in the power of his resurrection, I share in his sufferings, I become like him in his death. Then my hope is that tomorrow

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He will wipe every tear for. That tomorrow. And I don't mean literally tomorrow. I mean, Tomorrow.

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I'll be resurrected to New Life. That if those who believe in Jesus because God, so loved the world. He sent his only begotten, son, that whoever believes in him, will not perish, but have everlasting life. That's my hope. And that's why I want to be. Like Christ.

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Is the foundation. Of what it means. To be aggression. Is knowing him and being like him in his death. That I may attain Resurrection from the death. From the dead.

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Once you have that. Once you have that. Then. You can Endeavor. To be like Christ. This is what I mean by that. Once you understand that it's all about knowing him being identified in him being in Christ, right? As we've gone through, Philippians over and over again. What is it in Christ in Christ? We are in Christ in Christ. Once we understand that being a Christian is knowing him and being in him then how we live. Matters.

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Spoiler alert for next week. Paul ties. All of Philippians here is tied together. Very tightly.

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Once we understand this, Now, I can live my life endeavoring to be like Christ. Not as a way to earn anything. It's not about earning it's about knowing Not as a way to gain anything, it's not about gaining. It's about being in him. But because I am in Christ and because I know him, now I am an enabled and empowered and encouraged and called To live, holy life.

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Not that I'm already perfect.

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For being like him in his death and Resurrection, I can now live for him. I can't do. Good works. I can I can't do things that he's called me to do and not fall into the patterns of sin and failure that have marked my life up till now. I can seek to follow and serve him. And I can have victory over the sin that seeks to destroy me. There are since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance, the race that is marked out for us.

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If I know him and I'm and I may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death. Once I am like Christ, I can become like Christ, do you see the difference?

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So church, I encourage you live, holy lives. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling seek to serve the Lord with gladness. Do not be conformed into this world but be can, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Live. Your lives as Living Sacrifices unto God. All of this is true. But the heart behind it, the motivation behind it is not gaining or earning anything. Rather it is knowing Christ being like him. In his death, knowing the power of the Resurrection and then A resurrection Life. Let's pray.

KNOWING Christ

BEING LIKE Christ