Turn with me to Philippians chapter
3. We've been going through Exodus,
and I thought we would be there tonight, but we're not going
to. Philippians chapter 3. This life is very tough. This life is tough. There are
more heartaches than we have happy times. If you really stop
and think about that. There is more stress than we
have relief. You know, we're going to go on
vacation, Lord willing, in a week. And I'm hoping for relief. No stress. And to think about,
you know, we go, we take one little stop and then this life
is so crazy. There's so much stress. There's
more burden and worry than there is rest. Much more. This life
is tough. Very tough. It's easy to get
lost in it. It's easy to get lost when we
come in here on Wednesday night. Coming in from the world and
we're driving 90 miles an hour, thinking 90 miles an hour, and
we have to stop. We have to stop all that. It's
easy to become overwhelmed by it. Very easy. Emotionally, Mentally and also
spiritually. Overwhelmed. I feel lost all
the time. One of those three ways, or all
of those three ways. Lost. Lord, help me. Help me. Do you ever find yourself
saying you get to a point where you want to pray, but you just
can't? You wish you could enter into
reading, but you just can't. And you find yourself saying,
please just help me. Just help me. Please, just help
me. I can't do anything right. I
can't. I sit in there and I try to study
and I pray the Lord will overrule me, but I can't study right.
I can't pray right. I can't preach right. I can't
love right. I can't serve right. Just help me, Lord. Please, just
help me. This is a big undertaking. We
have a big responsibility. Help us, Lord, help us. Well,
if we belong to Him, He will not leave us where we are. He will not. He will help us. He will find us. If we're lost,
He'll find us. And He'll speak to us through
His Word if we belong to Him. And I'm telling you the truth.
So many times, this verse of Scripture right here in Philippians
3 has pulled me back. Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And here it is, it's Philippians
3 verse 10. It says, that I may know Him. That's it. That I may know Him. That's the answer. That I may
know Him. I can't do anything right. I don't have the answers. I don't. I don't have the answers. I don't
know. I really don't. I'm actually
learning that a little bit more every day. I don't know. I don't always know what's right.
I don't always know what's wrong. that I may know Him. I know He's right. He knows what's
right. As I go through this life, what
is the one thing that I need? That I may know Him. That's it. That's all I need. Now all the trials that come,
all these burdens that come, why do they come? Why do they come? That I may
know Him. That I may see Him. That I may hear Him. That I may
know with true conviction What is the one thing that I desire
in this life? As these hard times come, and
as we start to learn, that wasn't what it cracked up to be. That
didn't satisfy me. As all these things come, that I may know what is the one
thing that I deeply desire in this life. Verse 10 says, Him,
and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. The more I know
Him, the more I know of His death, The more I know of my fellowship
with His sufferings, the more I hear about that. The more I
know of my life in the power of His resurrection, the more
peace I'm going to have in this life. It's going to bring more
peace, and more peace. We come here, and we come here,
and we come here, and I say the same prayer, and I preach the
same outline, and it's one more chance to grow in grace, and
one more chance to grow in grace, and it's one more time to hear
about Him. And the more I hear, and the
more I see, the more peace I'm going to have in this life, that
I may know Him. Now turn with me over to Psalm
27. Psalm 27, look at verse 4. It says, one thing is in italics. One have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple. One, have I desired of the Lord
that will I seek after? Why? Why do I desire Him? Why do I seek Him? It goes on
to say that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life. to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in His temple. That's all my heart's desire. There's only one way. There's
only one hope of that. There's only one life that I
may know Him. That's it. Now turn with me over
to John 17. John 17, verse 3 says, And this
is life eternal, that they might know how to live right. I can't. I can't. This is life eternal that they
might know correct doctrine. That's not it. This is life eternal
that they might know the five points of Calvinism. That's not
it. This is life eternal They might
know deep theology and the meaning of these words that end in "-ism."
That's not it. I don't need any of that. This
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Oh, that I may know Him. That's my one concern in this
life, that I may know Him. If my daughters wind up knowing
Him, I don't have to be concerned about them anymore. They know
Him. By God's grace, I'm determined
to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Turn back
over to Philippians chapter 3. Verse 8 says, Yea, doubtless,
I count all things loss. Everything in this life compared
to Christ is loss. Every single thing. Well, I've gotten a lot of stuff
over the last few years. Well, what have you gained? Loss. I'm going to lose it all. I'm not taking it with me. It's
all loss. Well, I'm real busy right now.
We've got a lot going on right now. I just don't have time for
Him right now. Well, then I'm going to get to
the end of this life And then I'm going to realize everything
that I thought was important has actually turned out to be
loss. My loss. Our Lord said, What
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul that I may know him? That's it. Verse 8 says,
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, I've lost it all. I've lost it all. Lost everything. I've lost all
of my religious pride. Every bit of it. My religious arrogance. Coming
to a knowledge of Him, knowing Him, has broken me. It's broken me. I've lost my self-righteousness. The glory of my own works, my
own good deeds. The knowledge of Him has caused
me to see that they're all filthy rags, every one of them. They're
all filthy rags, every one of them. I've lost my way in this
world. You know, I started out and grew
up in Nashville trying to make my way. I lost it. My way is not the way. I've lost my will. I don't have
a free will. I don't have a will at all. I
really don't. Not my will, thine be done. What do you want? By God's grace?
Whatever He wants. I don't even have a will. I lost
it. I lost my friends. I grew up, I had good friends.
I lost my associates who hate the true God of this Bible. I
lost them. But listen to this, with this
excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, I lost something
else. I lost my sin. I lost the burden of my sin. I lost the bondage of the law. I lost the curse of death. When Adam sinned, God said, it's
all cursed. But God, who's rich in mercy,
quickened us together with Christ, by grace we're saved, and now
I'm no longer under the curse. I lost it. Verse 8 says, I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that
I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him. That I may know Him. and be found
in Him, that I may win Christ. Now what is it to know Him? What
does that mean? Everybody says they know who
Jesus is. I've never met a person that does not know who Jesus
is. Never in my life. So what does it mean to know
Him? Here's what we need to realize. There are a lot of Jesuses in
the world. There's a lot of them. One of
them is the Jesus who wants to save you, but He can't. Poor thing. I feel sorry for
Him. One of them is the Jesus who
actually saved everybody. Everybody's saved. God loves
you. You're good. Don't worry about
it. There's a lot of other Jesuses
out there. Then there's the Jesus Christ
of Scripture. What is it to know Him? Verse 10 says, "...that I may
know Him, and the power of His resurrection."
To know Him is to know what it means, what it really means that
He rose from the grave. Turn with me over to John 10. John 10, look at verse 17. Our Lord says, Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Now go to John chapter 2. Verse 18 says, Then answered
the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing
that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple. He's talking about his own body.
Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Now go to John 6. John 6 verse 38 says, For I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." This Lord Jesus Christ is the Almighty God. He's the Almighty God. All power has been given unto
Him. when He had by Himself purged
our sins. He arose from His own grave,
and He went back to His glorious Kingdom. He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high, and He said, Father, it's finished. It is finished. Oh, that I may know Him. I want
to know Him badly. What is it to know Him? Go back
to our text in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3 verse 10 says,
that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings. I don't want to just know that
the Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt of sin. I don't want to
just know that. I want to know that when the
Lord Jesus Christ died, He died paying the debt of my sin. That's what I want to know. I
want to know that when He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb, Dumb before His shearer, He opened not His
mouth. I want to know that He did all
that for me. Me. I want to know at that exact
moment in time He was thinking about me. Thinking about me. Not that He just died for sin.
Not just the whole idea of sin. Man did wrong. God fixed it. I want to know that those sins
that I have committed, those sins that just I hate, the things
I cannot forget, I want to know that He was thinking about those
things when He was standing there and He opened up His mouth. I want to know Him and I want
Him to know me. the fellowship of His sufferings.
The text says in verse 10, I want to be made conformable unto His
death. I want to be joined together
with Him. Inseparable. Joined together. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's my only hope. I plead His death. I plead that He took my sin. I plead His burial, that He suffered
the punishment of my sin. And I plead His resurrection,
that He paid my debt in full. He took it. He suffered it. And He paid it in full. And now
it's gone. Gone. I want to know Him. Now turn
over to Romans chapter 6. Romans 6 verse 5 says, For if
we have been planted together in the likeness of His death,
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with Him. Isn't that wonderful?
That the body of sin might be destroyed. that henceforth, or
after that, and forevermore, we should not serve sin. For
he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him, for in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in
that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves." And I believe that includes me. Reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin. but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. I don't want to know of Him. I don't want to know about Him.
I want to know Him. I want to walk with Him. I want to talk with Him. I want
to hear Him tell me I am His own. flesh and blood. I'm His own. Look at Romans 8
verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we're
children, then we're heirs. heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." All these hard
times and these trials and these burdens, light afflictions. They are just light afflictions.
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Our text over in Philippians
3 verse 10 says, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means. I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." If we died in Him, if we did, and if we suffered
in Him, if we suffered God's wrath against our sin in Him,
and if we rose in Him, then we will attain the resurrection
of the dead. Turn over a couple of pages to
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, look at verse
14. If we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first." Can you imagine seeing that?
Can you imagine what that's going to be like? Then we which are
alive and remain shall be called up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be
with the Lord. That is going to happen. That's
going to happen. Oh, that we may know Him. It's only going to happen in
Him. Only by Him. Only through Him. That's our
prayer. That we may know Him. Alright,
let's stand together.