Philippians chapter 3, verses
7 through 10. The Apostle Paul writes, But,
but, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ? Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, 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, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. As I was preparing this message,
I remembered preaching from this text almost six years ago to
the day, soon will be, September the 2nd, 2011. It was just a
few months after you had asked me to be your pastor, and just
a few months before I moved down here. I preach from verse 8. The message was the superior
knowledge. Superior knowledge. And it was
at Grace Baptist Church in Danville, Kentucky where our dear friend,
Brother Don Pastors. And most of you were there. Most
of you were there. I remember how thankful I was
that you would make that long trip. But You also had the privilege
of hearing seven other preachers, each better than myself. Each
better than myself. They all preach. They each and
each one preach better than I do. But John, none of them preach
a better gospel. None of them can preach a better
gospel. None of them have a greater subject, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because this message, the gospel,
Paul tells us, and John quoted it in his lesson this morning,
In Romans 1, the gospel, the glorious gospel of the blessed
God concerns his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. Wow. It's about him. Verse 8, when Paul speaks of
the excellency of the knowledge, he says in verse 7 that he counted
everything lost. for this knowledge, for this
excellent superior knowledge. He counted past tense. Everything he had mentioned prior,
verses 3 through 6, which encompassed his whole religious life at that
time. Those things that he took such
pride in, those things that he was sure, without a doubt, laid
a foundation of acceptance by God for the Apostle Paul, for
Saul of Tarsus. Until that day, that eventful
day, that he met Jesus, not the imposter, not Jesus the deceiver,
but Jesus being everything he claimed to be, Jesus the Christ,
the mighty God. When he met him on the Damascus
road, Paul bowed down And he said, from that day, I've counted
everything lost for the excellency of the knowledge of knowing him. Well, now, Paul, what about since
that day? Have you advanced in your desire?
Have you made progress in your ambition since that time? And Paul tells us here, no, not
at all. Not at all. Because he says in
verse 8, Yea, doubtless I count, I count. Not the past tense now,
but the present tense. Every since that time. I count all things lost. All things lost for this knowledge. This knowledge of knowing the
Son of God. Paul says there's nothing equal
to that. There's nothing comparable to
that. There's nothing greater than
that. There is nothing I want now,
tomorrow, or in eternity than that. To know Him. To know Him. There's nothing
better than this, Paul said. I want to know more of Him. I
don't want to know anything besides Him, but I want to know more
of Him. This is what we read a moment
ago. in Ephesians chapter 1 was Paul's prayer desire for the
believers at Ephesus. And it was his own desire, as
we sometimes sing. More about Jesus. John, isn't
that what you want to hear? Isn't that what you taught us
this morning? More about Jesus. Is there a greater subject? Do
I have a greater need? Is there anything else that can
meet that need other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself? So
then, preacher, tell me more about Jesus. Would I know? Nothing
like him. This word that Paul uses concerning
the knowledge of Christ, he describes as the excellency of the knowledge.
The word means far surpassing knowledge, superlative. above everything else. Nothing else like it. Compared
to what, Paul? Compared to what? Anything. Anything. There's nothing that
compares to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Compared to what,
Paul? Everything. Everything. You take everything this world
can offer. Piled it all in a heap at my
feet. And Paul, are you impressed?
Paul said, it's done. It's just done. It's manure compared
to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Sent Paul down anywhere. On Mars
Hill. Surrounded by those intellectuals. Those philosophers. And Paul
would say, let me tell you, I'm not impressed by that, but let
me tell you what does impress me. Let me tell you about the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you about him. Take
him to Corinth and set him down among some more wisdom. Wisdom-seeking
philosophers and sign-seeking Jews and Paul would say again,
I'm not impressed I'm not impressed don't bother me with that stuff
because I'm determined to know nothing nothing and Paul was
no He wasn't inhibited by Very little gray matter, like
your pastor. Paul was a bright, bright man. Well-educated man. But Paul looked
at everything. And he said, I'm determined to
know nothing. Nothing. Nothing's greater than
this. I'm determined to know nothing.
It's my ambition, it's my desire, it's my motive, and it's my determination
to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul was well-content. Depart with the sky full of stars
for the son of righteousness that I may know him. There's
been much, much talk lately about the eclipse that's supposed to
take place tomorrow, the eclipse of the sun, S-U-N. Oh, but child
of God, there will never ever be a total eclipse, whether you
feel it or not, of the sun, S-O-N of God, to your soul. There was
a martyr by the name of John Lambert. He was burned at the
stake for preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
refused to renounce his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
refused to bow to the Pope. He was burned at the stake. And
while the flames engulfed his body, he raised flaming hands
and said, nothing but Christ. Nothing but Christ. And he went
home to be with him forever. We're familiar with the words
of Jeremiah. The Lord God speaking and he
says, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, like those at Corinth, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but,
but, Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me. Glory in this. God says that
I revealed myself to you, that you know God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath revealed to him. Outside of Christ, God is nothing
but a consuming fire. But glory in this, that he knows
me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness and
judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, saith the Lord." With Paul, may God give us grace to
say it's all about Christ. First, Paul says that I may know
him. Then, then those blessed truths
that concern him, the power of his resurrection, and so forth. But first it's Christ himself,
first his person, first the giver, and then the gifts. Christ first,
then the doctrine. Doctrine without Christ is an
empty tomb. It's a dead, killing thing. Jesus
Christ himself is that which gives the beauty to all those
precious truths that we hold so dear. It's Christ himself
that makes the gospel glorious because it's about him. All those
truths. Again, as John taught this morning,
this is just part two of his lesson, if you will. They find
their beauty in him. Chosen. Blessed, blessed truth. Election. Chosen. What is it? Chosen in Him. Without Him, there's
no election. Chosen in Him. Election is Him
standing for me before the foundation of the world. It was Him that
God chose us in. Without Him, there's no us. Without
the head, there's no body. Without the bridegroom, there'll
never be a bride. called, glorious calling, the
high calling. But it's a calling that brings
us to Him. To Him. Accepted. Accepted by God. Accepted by
God. Loved by God with an everlasting
love, as Bobby's saying. And as long as God shall be,
I'm His and He is mine. As long as God lasts, I'm His
and He is mine. But the reason being, Because
I'm accepted in Him, Christ. Oh Christ, it's all about Him.
Heaven. My soul, the crazy ideas people have about heaven. The
silly songs that they sing. What was that? I used to hear
as a kid, build me a cabin in the corner of Gloryland. Build
my mansion next door to Mama's. What if Mama's not there? No,
no, no. Here's the heaven of heaven,
the glory of glory. It's this, that we shall be with
Him. We'll be where He is, Father.
I will also, that all those you gave me, be with me where I am,
that they might behold Mama, Daddy, Peter, Paul, Spurgeon. Know that they might behold my
glory, the Son of Righteousness. Glory, His grace, His power. Oh, that's heaven. Heaven is
to be where He is. In Matthew chapter 8, our Lord,
many professed disciples. When He put them to the test,
it was found out that that was all they were, professing disciples. But one said, Lord, I'll follow
you anywhere you go. Anywhere you go, I'll follow
you. And the Lord said, you will. Foxes have holes, the birds have
nests, but the son of man doesn't have anywhere to lay his head.
And he said, hmm, well, allow me first, then. Me first. Allow me first, the man said.
No, it's not me first. It's Christ first. Christ first
and last. Christ first and foremost. It's
all about him. That red book over there. We
sang from a moment ago. That's our hymn book. There are
songs in there we love to sing. It's a H-Y-M-N book. This book, the one you hold in
your lap, the one we're reading from and preaching from this
morning, it's a hymn book too. H-I-M. It's all about hymn. Search the scriptures. In them
you think you have eternal life, and they testify of me. Turn if you will to Luke chapter
24. Chapter 24. You know where I'm
going. You know these verses well. Our
Lord has risen from the dead. after obtaining redemption for
us, after putting away sin, after bringing in an everlasting righteousness,
after satisfying God's justice, after bearing the wrath of God
for his people, he raises from the dead. If he hadn't accomplished
that, not made it possible, if he hadn't accomplished that,
he'd still be in the grave. If Christ be not raised, you're
still in your sins. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
well, wait a minute, Paul, what do you mean if it be not raised,
I'm still in my sins? I thought it was on the cross
that my sins were put away. Yes, indeed, but it's the resurrection
of Jesus Christ which is God's eternal amen and proof that he's
satisfied with what his son did. After he had done all that, he
joins two disciples, two sorrowful disciples walking on the road
to Emmaus, here in Luke chapter 24. Verse 21, they tell him why
they're so sorrowful. Concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
they say, but we trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel. And now we're just not sure.
We're not sure. We were hopeful that he was the
one that should redeem Israel, that he was the Messiah, but
now we're not so sure. No wonder they were dragging
their tails. And besides all this, today is
the third day since these things were done. Look down at verse
25. Then Christ said to them, O fools,
O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Not Christ, who hath suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses. That's Genesis. The book of beginnings,
beginning at Moses, the first five books of the Bible. And
all the prophets, not one or two, but all the prophets, he
expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. It's a hymn book. Look on down
in verse 24. Now he appears to his disciples. as they're together. Verse 44. These are the words which I spoke
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the
prophets and in the Psalms. That's it. That's all of it concerning
me. And then he gave them the key
to unlock the scriptures. He says, it's about me. It's
all about me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. Thus it is written,
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead
the third day. Hymn. That's the title of my
message. Him. Paul said, verse 10 of Philippians
3, that I might know him. That's the first word. That's
the first word. Underline him. Him. Highlight him. Put stars around him. Jesus Christ. I was thinking of this last night
and I remembered a story which you have probably heard. But
I thought, I can't think of a better way to illustrate it. Brother
Paul Mahan was telling one time about a visit he made to the
hospital. A woman that he had known for years was there, was
a patient there and she was suffering from Alzheimer's. And Paul went
into her room and he said, Sister, how are you doing today? He talked
a little bit and he could tell by her expression she didn't
know who he was. And he said, don't you remember me? I'm Paul
Mahan. And she looked at him and said,
I'm sorry. I don't know you. I don't remember you. And he
said, well, you remember my daddy. You remember my father, Henry
Mahan, don't you? You've known him for years. He's
known you a whole lot longer than me. And again, she looked
at him and said, I'm sorry. I don't know him either. And
Paul said, oh, well, I come to talk to you about Jesus Christ.
And her eyes lit up. She said, oh, I know him. I know
him. I know who he is. And Paul said,
OK, you can forget me. I'm not important. I know him. Our Lord told the woman at the
well. You know, she had begun to talk to him about things.
She knew some things, some what's. And she thought she would be,
that the Lord would be impressed. She tried to deflect his searching
of her heart. He was starting to put his finger
on her heart. And she tried to deflect it at first. Oh, our
fathers, I know you guys worship there in Jerusalem, but our fathers,
we've got us a temple up here in Samaria, it's good enough,
isn't it? Jacob's will, this will, Jacob, you know Jacob,
gave us this will. And our Lord said, Lady, if you
knew, if you knew, I can't quote that without the
picture of my sons and daughters and grandchildren coming up before
me in my mind's eye, and I think, oh, if they just knew, John. Our Lord told her, Lady, if you
just knew, who? She'd been talking about what's.
And he said, lady, if you knew who it is, if you knew who I
am, if you knew, if you just knew you would ask of me and
I'd give you a drink of living water and you'll never ever thirst
again. You've not been able to do that
with this religion of yours. You're thirsty. That's why, like
this whale, you keep coming back and back and back. That's all
your what's can do. They'll never quench the thirst
of your soul. Oh, but if you ask me, if you
ask of me, if you know who I am, I'll give you a drink and you'll
never thirst again. Did anybody thirsty? Our Lord
said on another occasion, oh come to me, come to me and drink. Come to me and drink and live
forever. Oh if you only knew. On the Damascus
road, Paul met who, didn't he? And after that, he threw away
all the what's. All the what's. The tradition
of his fathers. His being a Pharisee of Pharisees,
his observance of the law, his robe of self-righteousness, all
the things he's laid down and stomped on them and said, they're
not enough. I've counted them all done. They're
rubbish. Take them out. Sweep them out
with the rest of the garbage. I want to know Him, Jesus Christ
Himself. Is that not what our Lord himself
said in that high priestly prayer in John 17? Father, you've given
me power over all flesh that I might give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. And this is life eternal, he
said, that they might know five points That they might know this
thing, another thing. No, that they might know you,
the only true God and Jesus Christ. Can't know one without the other.
Whom you have sent. That verse of scripture reminded
me of another message I preached from that text. This is life
eternal. On January the 8th, 2012. Larry, was that message so outstanding?
It's embedded in your memory? No, no. I came in that morning
It was rather a cold morning, and Brother Lloyd was already
here, and there was two people sitting, I think just about a
pew or two in front of where Mitzi's sitting. And they were
strangers. I introduced myself to them,
and I preached from that text, John 17 and 3, this is eternal
life. I tried by God's grace to preach
him, to preach him. And I shook hands with them as
they left, and I thought to myself, well, I wondered if that was
enough for them. I wonder if they'll be back. I wonder what they're looking
for. Well, they came back. John and Kay, they've been back
ever since. They even brought their sister. It's all about
Him. Christ appeared to Paul and He
revealed Himself to him. And Paul was constantly preaching
Christ, the object of his trust. My faith has found a resting
place. The subject of his ministry,
Christ alone, and the joy of his heart. Everything about Jesus
Christ interested Paul, didn't it? In Galatians 1, when Paul
said, when it pleased God to reveal his son with me, he said,
afterwards I went up to Jerusalem. After I was in the deserts of
Arabia, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. You know what the
word there is for see? To interrogate Peter. I wanted
Peter to tell me everything he knew about Jesus Christ. Peter,
tell me about those three and a half years. Tell me about those
times you spent with me. Tell me everything you can tell
me, night and day. Old Paul sat like a sponge, just
soaking it up. He went to interrogate Peter. Tell me about Jesus. More about
Jesus would I know. Tell me about the glory of His
person. the riches of his grace, the magnificence of his work,
the excellency of his nature, and the majesty of his kingdom.
Tell me more, Peter. Tell me more. Christ to Paul
was the apple of his eye and more precious than all things
on earth could ever be. He would live if he could honor
Jesus, or he would die if that would honor Jesus. He was a sacrifice
on the altar of Christ, He was a vessel for His honor, and He
would go anywhere, He would do anything, if He might but honor
Christ. Heartily, Paul would say, let
the name of Paul perish, but let Jesus Christ live and be
exalted forever. And brothers and sisters, I'm
convinced that throughout eternity, our knowledge of Christ will
continue to increase. Yes, I do. Throughout eternity,
we shall be learning more about Christ. As the ages roll on,
we'll spend eternity, no, eternity won't be spent, but we'll spend,
I don't know how else to say it, eternity learning and enjoying
and honoring Christ, Him, the Alpha and Omega. the first and
the last, the center and the circumference of Him and through
Him and back to Him are all things. Him are all in all. In Him dwells
after all, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And if we
are found in Him, what can we lack? What can we lack? I've had Folks from time to time
want to enlighten me. Religious folks. The drunks don't
do it. They don't bother me. It's religious folks who want
to straighten me out. Larry, there's more I've been
told. I mean, you've come so far, and
so far so good, but there's more. More. How can there be more than
Christ? If I'm in Christ, in whom dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in His body, how can I lack anything? Paul said, I don't. I don't.
You're complete in Him. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Complete indeed. Bobby sometimes
sings, complete in thee no work of mine can take, dear Lord,
the place of thine. Thy blood hath parted and bought
for me, and I am now, now, right now. Man, makes me feel good
just saying it. Right now I'm complete in thee. Dear Savior, when before thy
bar all tribes and tongues assembled are, among thy chosen will I
be at thy right hand, complete in thee. But without Christ,
without Christ, you're without grace. You're without grace. Matters not what you think, what
you claim to have experienced, what you know or don't know.
Without Christ, you're without grace. Grace comes by one man,
Paul said in Romans 5. It's him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Christ, without God. No man comes to the Father, Christ
said, but by me. Without Christ, without hope. Without hope. If I had Christ,
I fully expect God Almighty say to me, enter into the joy prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. I really don't think
God's elect, God's redeemed, God's called and chosen and kept. Those that are ushered in his
presence are just gonna barely get in. I hear preachers say,
well, just saved by the skin of your teeth. Hogwash. You're
not saved by the skin of your teeth, you're saved by the blood
of Jesus Christ. And up under that banner of the
captain of our salvation will march in the glory under full
collars rejoicing in that one who sits upon the throne. Enter
into the joy. But oh, if I don't have Christ,
I'll hear, depart from me. Depart from me. The next word. The next word in the text, know. Know. Paul says that I may know
Him. Not as Paul once knew Christ
as Jesus of Nazareth. Paul, I'm sure, knew of Him. and knew about him. I think this
is the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5.16 when Paul says we've known
him after the flesh, just intellectually, in the head. Oh, but not spiritually,
not experimentally, that I might know by personal experience. Don't be afraid of that word.
I must know Christ by personal experience. I must know Him experimentally. I must have Christ revealed in
me as the hope of glory. I don't mean the experience of
these crazy Pentecostals that talk about doing flip-flops over
the pews jamming some tie-de-tie, tie-de-bow-tie kind of nonsense.
Oh, no, no, no. No. I'm talking about knowing
who Jesus Christ is. Look in chapter 1 here of Philippians,
verse 9. This is exactly what Paul says
here. He says in verse 9 of chapter 1, and this I pray, that your
love may abound you more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment. All judgment. You know what the
word there for judgment is? You know what the meaning of
that is in the original? It means feeling. sensible perception
that you may know. Paul not only wanted them to
love God, but he wanted them to know that they loved God and
that God Almighty loved them with an everlasting love. Christianity is not a theological
system. I had a young lady several years
ago came here and heard me preach and after the service was over
she asked me at the door, What procedure do y'all use to teach
salvation here? What is the process? I said,
it's not a process. It's not a procedure. It's a
person. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is not only redemption, but the Redeemer. It's not just salvation,
but the Savior. What a difference between casting
ourselves upon a system, however beautiful it may be, and upon
the tender, loving, compassionate Savior. What a difference in
a system of theology and a living, feeling, compassionate Savior
that we can come to in our time of need and find His grace sufficient
to lighten every burden and to soften every heartache. This
is what man needs. This is what he will need above
everything else when the hour of sorrow comes or the hour of
death draws near. Oh, what are systems compared
to this, to just fall into the arms to be embraced by a living,
reigning, conquering Savior. To feel Him saying, come up hither,
come up hither. Grace and peace, Peter wrote,
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
Christ our Lord. If we don't know Jesus for ourselves
by a spiritual discovery of his person and grace given to us
through God's power, what testimony have we of any saving interest
in him? To know him as our surety and sin-bearer, our advocate,
our intercessor, our husband, our friend, our brother, to know
our saving interest in him and our union in him, that alone
brings peace to a sinner's heart. Augustus Toplady. I remember
reading a message by him as I was preparing this one and I got
down the volume that I have and found the message he preached
and it was from Psalm 115 and 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. The title of his message was, Free Will and Merit Fairly
Examined, or Me and Not Their Own Saviors. But he touched upon
this. He said, I'm convinced that God
will always be faithful to every soul whom he has called out of
darkness into his marvelous light. And notwithstanding none can
be plucked of the people of God from the hand of Jesus Christ,
still, he says, I am no less satisfied that it must be the
feeling sense of all this. That is a perception, exactly
what Paul said in verse 9 of chapter 1. A perception wrought
in our heart by the Holy Ghost that will give you and me the
comfort of the Father's gracious decrees. Yes. And the comfort of the Messiah's
finished work. How do I know he died for me? How do I know he died for me?
Until he calls me out of darkness into his marvelous light. Oh,
blessed be God. May he be pleased more and more
to teach us of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that we might know
him. That was Paul's desire. And the
last word, we won't have much to say about this. It's I. Oh,
Paul says that I may know Him. I by my own personal experience
of His grace. I by His revealing Himself to
me. Lord, remember me. Lord, have
mercy on me. Oh, Thou Son of David, open my
blind eyes. Lord, show me Your great salvation. I can't see Him through somebody
else's eyes. I can't love him with somebody
else's heart. I can't know Christ through somebody
else's experience of grace. Like those sons of a certain
self-proclaimed prophet, wasn't it? In Ephesus, I think, in Acts
chapter 19, they saw Paul casting out devils. So they got together,
these seven sons of Seba, was it? And they got around this
man who was possessed and said, we command you by the Jesus that
Paul preaches. We don't know him, but Paul does.
So we command you by the Jesus that Paul knows and preaches.
Come out of him. And the devil said, I know Paul, but I don't
know who you rascals are. And jumped on him and whooped
him. Just give him a good old fashioned licking, and they ran
out. Oh no, I must know him by my
own experience. So much for salvation by proxy. It just won't work. Turn and
we'll wrap this up. Turn if you will to Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 61, this blessed prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 61 in verse 1. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. This is Christ. Because the Lord
had appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he has
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness. the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. I know that he can
bind up to a brokenhearted, because he did mine. He did mine. I know, as we just read, that
he opens blinded eyes, because he opened mine. I once was blind,
Now I see. And I know he can set the captives
free, because he freed this sinner. He gave me beauty for ashes,
joy in the place of mourning, and a garment of praise instead
of the spirit of heaviness, that he might be glorified. Glory
to his name. Let me close by quoting from
one of my favorite old hymns. I asked for musical accompaniment
if I decided to try to sing it, but I was turned down. So you
might want to thank her for that. Once my soul was astray from
the heavenly way, and I was wretched and vile as could be. Remember? Remember? But my Savior above gave me peace,
joy, and love when he reached down his hand for me. And I was nearing despair. Yes,
I was. Oh, how I was. My soul. I was nearing despair when he
came to me there. And he showed me that I could
be free. Then He lifted my feet and gave
me gladness complete when He reached down His hand for me. When He reached down His hand
for me, oh, when He reached down His hand for me, I was lost and
undone without God or His Son when He reached down His hand
for me. Oh, that I may know Him. and count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. God bless you. Thank you for
your time.