Philippians chapter 3, and I
want to begin in verse 1. I told one of the preachers that
preached from this chapter that this is what I was looking at
myself this morning. Of course, we look at it a little
bit different than he did. But in Philippians chapter 3,
in verse 1, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write
the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. and
for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the Jews, the religious Jews, the Pharisees,
the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, If any other man thinks that he hath whereof he
might trust in the flesh, I more. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, I was blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I count as loss 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 my 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 suffering,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I may
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." He says here in
verse 10, that I may know him. And that's what I want to think
about this morning, just for a few minutes with you. Not so
much dealing with a context as just talking about knowing Him. That I may know Him. I remember
years ago, I don't know if Clarence still has the sign on his door
or not, but you can go up on his front porch to enter his
house and there's a plaque that hangs on the right side of the
door and it says, Do You Know My Lord? Do you know, my Lord?"
And that was Paul's desire when the Lord saved him, the rest
of his life that I may know him. Paul met him on the Damascus
Road. The Lord struck him down, showed
him his awful sin, and the Lord Jesus made Himself known to Paul's
understanding. He knew the Lord Jesus. As soon
as the Lord saved him, he went into the city of Damascus and
he preached that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He knew him. And this letter here was written
several years after the Lord had saved Paul. He learned so
much more of Christ than he originally knew, preached so many gospel
messages. But here now he is in prison
at Rome, and still he has the same burning desire, that I may
know him. Oh, to know Christ! If we ever
come to know him, our desire will be to know him better, that
I may know him. And he says here in verse 8,
to know Christ Jesus my Lord is an excellent knowledge. Excellent knowledge. It's a superior
knowledge. Superior to all things combined. Superior to knowing all people.
Superior to knowing all subjects combined. It's superior. The knowledge of Christ is an
excellent knowledge. How many people have we heard
that have given themselves over all their life to study a subject?
They labor to study it. They go to school and study it.
They learn so much about it. But as they get older, the subject
loses its appeal. They get bored with it, and at
last they find out that all their study was vanity and vexation
of spirit. But it is not so with the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul said it is an excellent knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Everything in Jesus Christ, everything
about his person, everything about his work, is excellent
to know. There's excellent beauty, there's
excellent glory, Thus everything in him that is satisfying and
refreshing to the faculties of a person's soul and his spirit. To know him and to see him in
his word is refreshing to the eyes. To hear him with the ears
of the soul is refreshing. O speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth. It is refreshing to the spirit
that searches him out and finds him. David said this about him,
ìOne thing have I desired of the Lord.î Here is the king speaking,
one of the greatest kings that ever lived, that had so many
riches available to him. And he said, ìYet this one thing
have I desired of the Lord, and that I am seeking that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life for this
reason, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord." Beauty of
the Lord. The older I get, the more I have
come to appreciate beauty. You see beauty in people now
and beauty in things that you've never seen beauty in before.
You see beauty in your children. When you're a parent, so often
you don't see beauty in your children. When you become a grandparent,
even though sometimes they get on your frayed nerves, you see
beauty in the children. Young life, so full of life. You see beauty in teenagers,
young teenagers that are mannerly and respectful to their parents
and their elders. You'll learn to appreciate the
beauty in that. The beauty in married couples
that love each other and that make their marriage work and
honor one another. What beauty you come to see in
people. And I tell you, I've seen beauty
in creation. You learn as you get older, don't
you, to appreciate God's creation. Have you ever seen things in
God's creation that almost took your breath away? I've been in
a few places in my life that I just had to stop and gaze the
beauty, the beauty of God's creation. But if you combine all the beauty
of all God's creatures and all His creation, it cannot compare
with the beauty of Christ Jesus, my Lord. It would be like comparing
a teaspoon of water to the depths of the ocean. are a flickering
candle before the brightness of the noonday sun. Human beauty
grows old and it wrinkles, and creation, like a garment, it
fades and waxes old. But the beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ cannot diminish. It cannot fade. I am the Lord,
I change not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forevermore. He was glorious, He was beautiful
when He came into this world, and He's as much so today. Unfading
beauty. Oh, that I may know Him whose
beauty and whose glory never fades. Here's what the prophet
said about it. Here's what the Lord said to
the prophet. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, And don't let the rich
man glory in his riches, but he that glories, let him glory
in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord
that exercises lovingkindness and mercy and judgment in the
earth. Oh, to know him who is altogether
lovely and altogether beautiful and glorious. Let him that glory. glory in the Lord. This is why Moses said to God,
show me your glory. I want to see your glory. What
is God's glory? A better question could be, who
is God's glory? Jesus Christ is the glory of
God. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God, where is it seen? In the very
face of Jesus Christ the Lord. Moses could just as easily have
said, O God, show me Christ. Show me the Lord Jesus Christ. O Jesus Christ in His perfection,
His divine perfection. Jesus Christ in His human perfection. Jesus Christ in His person. Jesus
Christ in His work. Oh, that I may know Him. That
I may know Jesus Christ, my Lord. Is there not an excellency in
the knowledge of Christ's love? To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge. We can all comprehend the love
of a human being. And because it's comprehensible,
sometimes it fades, sometimes it waxes old, and sometimes it
dies altogether. Oh, to read then of one who loves
with an everlasting love. One that is said of having loved
his own which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. To know the love of one who says,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ. An unconditional
and everlasting love of Christ. Oh, that I may know Him in His
love. That I may know Christ Jesus
my Lord in His faithfulness. He has a faithfulness that is
not compared to any other. All the faithfulness of elect
angels and elect men cannot compare to the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How many times are you and I
unfaithful to ourselves? We are unfaithful one to another,
and we are even unfaithful to the Lord. And it breaks our hearts,
and it disappoints us. Sometimes we reach the point
where we realize what the Lord tells us. Don't put your trust
in man. At our best, we're utterly failure. At our best, we're unfaithful.
But the Scripture says His compassions are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. His faithfulness is established
in the very heavens, and the Scripture says, I will never
suffer my faithfulness to fail. Some of you have been on the
way for a few years. Has he ever failed you? Some
of you have read his word from Genesis to Revelation, and you've
studied it. Have you ever found one time
that he failed? Has one word that he's spoken
fallen to the ground? Has one promise he's made ever
come not to pass? Great is thy faithfulness. Oh, that I may know him, that
I may know him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, to know Jesus Christ
our Lord in his nature as God and man. No wonder he's incomprehensible. No wonder the knowledge of Christ
is so rich. He is both God and man. The God-man. Thomas was looking
upon the prince in his hands, and the hole in his side, and
he said, My Lord and my God. That's who he is. Jesus is God. Jesus is our Lord. Jesus is our
Creator. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And all things are upheld, and
they consist by Him. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him. Isn't that amazing? What an astounding
statement! When Thomas looked upon the man
with the wounds in his hands and side, there is my Creator. There is the Creator and Upholder
of the world. Oh, that I may know Him in His
divine nature. David said of Him, He is my Shepherd,
the Lord is my Rock, The Lord is my high tower. He's my shield. He's my life. He's my hope. He's all my salvation. Who else
but God could be all of these things to a man? Jesus is God. He's God. He is the water of
life that quenches the thirst of our spirits. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He is the bread of life. He that
eats of this bread shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh." Mary said, My spirit rejoices in God
my Savior. God is my Savior. And who is
my God? It's Jesus. Jesus. Oh, that I may know. Jesus Christ,
my Lord. That I may know the Lord Jesus
Christ in His human nature. In His human nature. He's a man
born of a woman. A real man. As much a man as
if he were never God. And yet he's a holy man. But
as a man, he is a meek and lowly man in his heart. I can tell
you what's in my heart, but I may lie to you. I really don't want
you to know what's in my heart. I don't want you to know what
I'm really like and what I'm capable of. You know what Jesus Christ is
like. He tells us. And He's honest. He will not
lie to us. And here's what He says, I am
meek and lowly in my heart. It's difficult to get to know
the heart of an individual. But he opens up his heart and
says, I'm meek and lowly. I beseech you by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ. The gentleness of Christ. A bruised
reed will he not break. Do you ever feel like a bruised
reed? That you've been bruised and
the next little breeze that comes along is just going to blow you
over. A bruised reed will he not break. And smoking flax will he not
quench. The Scripture says, when he was
reviled, he reviled not again. And when he suffered, he threatened
not. Oh, the Scripture says, your
King cometh. your king cometh. And what's
your king like? He's meek and lowly and he's
riding upon an ass, a donkey. All kings would like to ride
in chariots. Our kings would like to ride
on their white stallions. But our king is meek and lowly
in his heart. Our king rides upon a donkey. He is one we can approach unto,
is he not? Is he not accessible? The scripture
says that he pities us as a father pities his children. He knows
our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. One who will turn
again, and he turns again, And He turns to us again, over and
over again, to have compassion upon us, to subdue our iniquities,
to forgive all our sins, and cast them into the depths of
the sea. Why does He keep turning to us? Again and again, He turns to
us, and He turns us to Him. Why does He do that? That's His
nature. That's His nature. Don't you
feel this morning, dear soul, that you can take all you are,
you can take all your felt infirmities and miseries and your care, and
you can go right to Him and cast them upon Him because He cares
for you? Do you know that about Him? Whose loving heart can feel the
deepest woe who in each sorrow bears apart that none can bear
below. This mighty God, Jesus of Nazareth,
who is meek and lowly in His heart, O that I may know Him,
there is none like Him for beauty and for glory and mistress. The treasures of His knowledge
is unsearchable. O that I may know the Lord Jesus
Christ. That I may know Jesus Christ
my Lord in His obedience, for His personal obedience is my
righteousness. If you have a righteousness this
morning that God will accept, it has to be the righteousness
of another. Look what he says in chapter
2. Look what he says. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, the
very image of God, the essence of God, He is God. Yet he thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. But look at this, he made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Personal
obedience. Perfect obedience. We know nothing
of that in ourselves, do we? Everything that God commands
us to do, we see sin in it. We can't do anything that God
commands us to do, but we see sin in it. We have to be washed
from the iniquity of the holy things. Not so with this man. Not so with his obedience. There
was no sin mixed with it. When he came into this world,
this is what he said, Father, I come. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. When he was twelve years old,
he said this, Don't you know that I must be about my Father's
business? My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work." Perfect obedience. From the grave until he lifts
up his voice and says, It's finished. It's finished. And Paul said this in Romans
chapter 5 and verse 19, ìBy one manís disobedience many were
made sinners. Even so, by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous.î What kind of righteousness do
you have this morning? Is it a righteousness that youíre
trying to work out? Are you trying to do something
to make yourself acceptable to God? Paul tried that one time. And he gave it all up. And here's
what he said. Oh, to be found in Christ. Not having my righteousness. I tried that. And it became contemptible
to me. And I counted it as done. But
this is the righteousness I want. The righteousness of another
man! Christ Jesus, my Lord, with His
spotless garments on, I am as near to God as His own Son. Isn't it amazing this morning
that we poor sinners upon this earth can have a righteousness
of a man who is in heaven? A perfect righteousness? The
righteousness of one who never disobeyed? who did the will of
His Father perfectly, even when it called for His lifeblood upon
the cross of Calvary. Oh, that I may know Him in His
perfect obedience. And again, he says here in our
text, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. The power that's seen in His
resurrection. He says this about his resurrection. No man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it up again. The power to raise himself
from the dead, from such a death After suffering the sins of all
His people upon Him, the judgment of God upon Him, dying such an
awful death, and yet have the power to raise Himself from the
dead. Oh, that I may know Christ and
His power. I am He that liveth, and I was
dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys
of death and of hell. Death cannot touch an individual.
until Christ wills it. Hell cannot follow death. The
gates of hell cannot be opened to let anyone in except Jesus
Christ allow it to be so. He has the keys to death and
hell. All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. There is a man, there is a man
this morning on the throne of heaven. And He is ruling this
universe. He made it and He is ruling it
this morning by His power. And everything is under His feet. Nothing is out of His control. The birds that fly through the
air, the worms that wiggle out of the earth, the hair that falls
from the head, the King who rules upon His throne, and the porpoise
that grinds in the mill. Everybody is under the power
and authority of Jesus Christ the Lord. You know what he said
himself? Father, you've given me power
over all flesh. Power over all flesh? He can keep a person healthy,
or he can make a person sick. He can let a person come into
this world in perfect health, or He can let a person come into
this world dumb and unable to hear. Health is of Him. Sickness is of Him. He has power
over all flesh. For this reason, that I may give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given. Power to call a sinner
from the dead and give him life. Power to grant him repentance.
Power to grant him faith. Power to keep him through this
world of devils. The power of his resurrection.
The power to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. There is no power. There is no
other power but the power of this resurrected Christ. You and I put a lot of stock
in politics, don't we? We're beginning now to be concerned
about the upcoming presidential election next year. And some
are saying, we need this man, and we need that man, and we
need this party, and we need that party. You know who rules
the parties? Christ Jesus the Lord. There
is no power. But what's invested in this resurrected
Christ? Oh, that I may know Him. I don't
care about looking to politicians or anybody else. Oh, that I may
know Christ and the power of His resurrection. Have you ever
grown weary of knowing Him? Don't you want to know Him better?
And this is why. This is why. He's incomprehensible. the power of his resurrection. And he says this about the power
of his resurrection. Because I live, you shall live
also. That's the power of his resurrection.
Not only did he raise himself from the grave, now he says,
I'll raise you from the grave. Because I live, you shall live
also. The Father has begotten us again
unto a lively hope, a good hope. What is your hope this morning?
Here is your hope. Christ has raised from the dead. That is our hope. He is the firstfruits,
and just as sure as He raised from the dead by His power, He
shall raise all of those from the dead that are in Him. He'll
descend someday from heaven with a shout, and he'll speak, and
he says, those that are in the grave shall hear the voice of
the Son of God. You remember when Lazarus was
laying in the grave? He was unconscious. Where was
his soul? Who knows where his soul was?
But he was beginning to decay. It was impossible for that man
to be revived. He was dead. He was stinking. And the Son of God, who said,
I am the resurrection and the life, got in front of that man's
tomb and says, Lazarus, come forth. I think it was you one time,
Glenn, said if he hadn't said, Lazarus, come forth. If he'd
have said, come forth, everybody would have come forth. That's
the power that He has. He'll call the dead from their
graves. By His power, He'll bring them
up to heaven. And by His power, He'll change
our vile bodies and fashion it like unto His glorious body with
a working whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself.
Oh, that I may know Christ. and the power of his resurrection. Nothing else will do to wean
a sinner from this world and from self and sin like knowing
the Lord Jesus Christ. You may preach hell to him, and
may scare him out of his sins for a while, but he'll go back
to them. When God is pleased to bring
a man from his sin and from self and the pleasures of this world,
what does he do? He makes Christ real to his heart.
He brings him to know the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as the
Lord Jesus is made real to a heart, there is when that wonderful
song begins to be sung in his soul. Fade, fade each earthly
joy. Jesus is mine. All that my soul
had tried left but a dismal void, but Jesus has satisfied. Jesus is mine. Let good and kindred go. This mortal life also. And when will that begin to take
place? When we can say with Paul, oh,
that I may know Him. That I may know Him. The excellent
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Brother Bob Coffey told
us here one time, he says, if you've got a young child, And
they're playing with a toy that could be dangerous. Or you have
a young child that wants to eat something that's not good for
them. Then offer them, give them something better. And when God
wants to give His children something better than the toys of this
world, and wean them from sucking on a lust, what does He do? He gives them something better.
He gives them Christ Jesus, the Lord. Oh, that I may know Him. Look with me again in my text
in chapter 3. Is this what the Apostle Paul
says? Look here in chapter 3, and look
here in verse 5. He said, I was circumcised the
eighth day. When he was eight days old, he
was circumcised. Oh, he had been religious all
his life. His father and mother were both
Pharisees, and they made sure that he was going to be a keeper
of the law, so they circumcised him. You know, Moses wasn't circumcised
when he was eight days old. Many of the children of Israel
weren't circumcised when they were eight days old. Titus wasn't
circumcised until he was an adult. The year Paul said, I've got
something I can glory in. I was circumcised when I was
eight days old, just as the law commanded. He said, I'm of the
stock of Israel. He could trace his inheritance,
his heritage, all the way back to Jacob. Not to Abraham, because
Abraham had two sons, and Isaac had two sons. But he said, I
can trace my heritage back to Jacob, whom God named Israel. I'm a son of Jacob. He said,
I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. A lot of people had lost their
family tree. They couldn't trace it back.
They really didn't know if they were Jews or not. But Paul said,
I am the tribe of Benjamin. I can trace my family tree all
the way back to Benjamin. Jacob's son. And you know what
was in the tribe of Benjamin? Jerusalem was in the tribe of
Benjamin. That's where their land was. The temple was there
in the tribe of Benjamin. I am of the tribe of Benjamin.
I've got something I can glory in, he said. I am the Hebrew of the Hebrews. Not only could he trace his heritage
all the way back to Jacob, but he said, there's no Gentiles
in my lineage. You know there was Gentiles in
Christ's lineage? There was harlots in Christ's
lineage. When Christ came, he could trace
his lineage back to Judah. But you know he had some harlots
in his lineage. Rahab the harlot. and Ruth the
Moabite, the Gentiles. Paul said, I'm better than that.
There's no Gentiles in my lineage. I am an Hebrew of the Hebrews. There's no Gentile converts that
came in and married a Jew that I proceeded from. Oh, and he
said this, as touching the law, I was a Pharisee. I was a Pharisee. There was your religious people.
There was your very religious people. There was your very,
very religious people. And then there was your Pharisees.
And they were the strictest set of the religions of that day.
And Paul said, I was that. I was that. And he went on to
say, you don't think that I was serious about my religion? That
I was just a normal little fellow? No, he said, I persecuted the
church. That's how much zeal I had. Oh,
he was exceeding mad. He was loving his religion to
the point that he killed everybody that disagreed with him, men
and women. And he tried his best to stomp
out Christianity. He said, I was a zealous man. I took my religion seriously.
Nobody takes their religion as seriously as he did. You think
Islam today is zealous in its religion? Paul would have put
them to shame. He was killing Christians long
before they were. I was zealous. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, all of those ceremonies, the keeping of the Sabbath day
holy, knowing what kind of sacrifice to offer and when. He said, I
was perfect. I never made a mistake in it.
And he said there in verse 3, If any man have any reason where
he can rejoice in the flesh, in verse 4, I am the Lord. If
any other man thinks that he has whereof, he might trust in
the flesh, I'm over. I tell you it's a difficult thing
to beat a man out from trusting in his flesh. This was the most
religious man that you ever read after in all the Scriptures.
He was serious. And if you ask him if he had
a hope, he could tell you he did. And he could tell you what
it was based upon. I'm a religious man. And I live
up to my religious profession. And you know what? If you'd have
went up to him and said, Saul, you're deceived. You know what
he'd have done to you? He may have very well had you
arrested and put in prison. You could not beat his hope out
of him. In verse 7, "...but what things were gained
to me, those I counted lost for Christ." What made him give up
his gods, his religion, his false hope? What made him say, I'm
finished with it? And not only did he count lost,
but look in verse 8, Yea, doubtless I count all things lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them done." Done! When I was growing up in Tennessee
on the farm, and we walked through the field, we weren't allowed
to wear our shoes in the summertime. Because we had cows. And my dad said, watch the paddies,
boys. Watch the paddies. Better not
wear your shoes, you'll get into the paddies. And a lot of times
we got into the paddies. And I mean to tell you, when
we did, we headed for the pond. Dumb. What did Paul's self-righteousness
become to him? Badness. Loss. I'm finished with it. I hated
Al for it. Why? He found something better. He found someone better. The
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. I never will forget my dad, not
long before he died. When I told him about this righteousness,
he said, how do I get this righteousness? I said, you must believe in Christ
for it. There is no other righteousness. And he said, I believe in Christ.
I said, there's one thing left. You must count your own as filthy
rags. And you'll never do that until
you know Christ. until you see His righteousness.
And when you see His righteousness... Have you ever been wearing a
white shirt, and you thought, boy, my wife, I don't know what
detergent she's using, but this is beautiful, beautiful white
shirt, until you see someone with a new white shirt on, and
your shirt's not so white anymore. That's the way it is. You trust
in yourself. You trust in your own righteousness.
And you think, my, how good I'm doing. My, how pretty I am. Surely God can find no fault
in me. I'm ready for heaven. Until you
see the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see what real obedience
is. You see what God really requires. And then you say, oh, my soul,
I'm filthy. Give me Christ. Give me Christ. Let me know Him. I want to know
Him. Oh, that I may know Him. Just
talking about knowing Him. That's all we're doing. Talking
about knowing Him. I want to read three Scriptures
to you. If you want to turn there with me, you can. Three things
in closing. Hebrews chapter 8. In the light
of everything I've been saying. Hebrews chapter 8. Knowing Christ is a covenant
promise. What a wonderful promise. It's
when I look out here over you this morning, not knowing who
knows the Lord Jesus, not knowing who doesn't. This is a wonderful promise,
that God has an elect people, that he chose in the Lord Jesus
Christ to salvation before the world had its beginning. And
he covenanted, he made this promise, this covenant promise. All of
those people shall know the Lord. I'm concerned about many people.
I'm concerned about members of my family that's lost. But one
thing that comforts me is this covenant promise. that if you
belong to him somewhere in your lifetime, he is going to bring
you to know him. Look what he says in Hebrews
chapter 8 and verse 10. This is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
minds. and write them in their hearts,
and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know
Me." They shall all know Me. From the least to the greatest. All God's elect are going to
be brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I know my sheep,
and I am known of mine. And it doesn't matter if you're
the least, if you're a child, if you're uneducated, if you're
a fool, if you can't write your name, or if you're a genius,
if you're His, you're going to be brought to know Him. This
is the thing that keeps me preaching. Because I know He has some people. It's not up to me. I still say,
Know the Lord! Know the Lord! Know the Lord! And that falls on deaf ears.
But if you're one of His, He's going to bring you to know Him.
All. All. From the least to the greatest,
all, all. He moved me from a little community to the state of Indiana to bring
me to know Him. And He'll do whatever it takes.
He'll move you or He'll move nations if He's pleased. to bring
you to the knowledge of himself. But this covenant promise will
not fail. He shall. They shall. And secondly,
look in 1 John chapter 5. And look in verse 20. 1 John
chapter 5 and verse 20. To know Him, a covenant promise,
all His people shall come to know Him. And secondly, this
is wonderful, verse 20, and we know that the Son of God
has come. He's come into this world and
lived and died and ascended to heaven. But He's come again in
the Spirit. God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts. And look at this, and He hath
given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ. And look at this, this is the
true God and life. What is it to know Christ? Life! Life! Here you are living in
the world, and you're moving and you're breathing, but you're
dead in sins. Your spirit is dead. And what
happens? He brings you to know Him, and
then immediately you're alive. This is life eternal. You know
Christ. You have life eternal. His life
about it in you, and you shall never die any more than He can
die. And lastly is this. Look over
in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13. Matthew chapter 16 and verse
13. But how can I know Him? How can
I know Him? Well, here is the way we know
Him. Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13. When Jesus came into the
coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some
say that you're John the Baptist, or you're Elijah, or you're Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. They're just not for sure. There's
a lot of confusion about who you are. And he said unto them,
But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ. You're the son of the living
God. How did he know that? Look in verse 17. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Simon Bar-Jonah, you are a blessed man. For flesh
and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. You see, I can preach to you.
And I can preach the true gospel to you. And I can tell you about
one you must know, but I cannot make him real to you. He is in
heaven, out of the sight of the natural eye. We must know him
in our spirits. We must know him in our understanding.
And for that, God the Holy Spirit must make him known. It's not a thing of morality.
It's not a thing of joining the church. It's not a thing of water
baptism. It's a thing of revelation. Revelation. Oh, that I may know Him. That
I may know Christ.