All right, ladies, here is the outline for this morning, and I called this lesson, Do You Know Him? And so I hope that you have been contemplating that very question. We're in chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, and we're just going through this slowly, but hopefully at the end, you will be able to go back and read all these verses together and know. and know with confidence this is exactly what it means so I know how to apply it. So the main point from these two verses is the benefits that we experience in knowing Him are the power over sin, the fellowship of Him in suffering, and one day we will be resurrected from the dead. Basically, I just reworded the exact passage because I couldn't be more concise. Anyway, we're going to look at it through four different points. Our first one is in verse 10. It's our knowing Him. It's our knowledge of Him. We're going to talk about that. Then it goes to His resurrection. Point number two, point number three, His suffering and death, how that affects us and is a benefit to us. And then we'll end in point number four, our resurrection. So you'll see that it's something, our knowledge at the beginning, His power, His suffering and death, and then it goes back to one of the ways we benefit is our resurrection in Him, and we see that in verse 11. So, I do hope that you see what a wonderful passage this is. And so as I begin this morning, I want to start by looking at this very familiar psalm, and so hopefully you're already turned to that, Psalm 139. And I want you to listen very intently As I read these words of David, we're going to be looking at verses 1-6 of Psalm 139. And I want you to think about it in the context of knowing but also being known. It starts by saying, O Yahweh, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path. and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Yahweh, you know it. You have enclosed me behind and before, and you have put your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain it. So there are a lot of words in here that we are already seeing in our passage. And I wonder if Paul, knowing these words, even thought about them, as he was not only ministering to his own heart, but to the hearts of the people that he loved. See, these are beautiful words written by a man who knew God, but also was known by God. And this is something that David came to understand in a very personal way. See, this is a picture of an intimacy, right? One that we hope to have with Christ. The very God, Yahweh, the One who is I Am. And this is such a wonderful reminder to us when we read this, but it's also a warning to us that while oftentimes we as humans seek the intimate earthly relationships around us to actually fulfill our needs, we are offered a way better a true knowledge of God Almighty that Paul has been really uncovering to us. He's been making this known that these are not just facts about a God or a head knowledge, but this is a deep personal knowledge that transforms and not only satisfies, but actually fulfills his people. And I think what strikes me as we have been going through this book of Philippians is that from the very beginning of Paul's greeting, he has been laying out the fact that he is a slave of Christ. And he sees it as a privilege that just flows out of his salvation. And so he desires for these Philippian believers that he writes to, to set their confidence and their hope in a settled joy in God that is immovable no matter what circumstance they face. And as he writes these words from a prison, he is fixed on this subject of humility. But it's not because he has been humbled by his chains, but rather he is humbled by his Savior, who has left a perfect example to follow in how to live. In these words that he's been giving us, do not do anything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Put the rights of others above yourselves. Do all things without grumbling or complaining or disputing. And his whole point is, empty yourself that you may be exalted. Now we find, and I love this, we find an empathy in Paul as a fellow sinner, saved by grace, and we find salvation in Christ as our personal sacrifice, right, given to us personally, both in life and death. And today, we are going to see two more glorious benefits that flow out of this precious justification that we have been talking about, where God declared righteous a sinner through His Son, Jesus Christ. And if it were not enough that we were offered Christ's righteousness to replace our own insufficient works, or that we would know Christ in an intimate and personal way, but He just keeps giving us more. It's like, and guess what? There's more. It's like a game show, but not really. I just added that, which I shouldn't have. See, it's like, there's more behind this curtain. See, He offers us the powerful ability to overcome sin. That's amazing, but there's more. He also offers us to know Him most intimately in a fellowship that is only experienced in suffering, the kind that He Himself endured. And so in these next few verses that we're going to look at, we get to see once again the veil pulled back on two great and significant benefits. which Paul has been calling gains, right? And these are only for those who are found in Christ. Have you ever noticed that the power and the majesty of God is always on display? You know, there is never a time when we are not privy to this kind of knowledge of God. Think about it. Everywhere we look with our human eyes, now we might see the effects of sin or destruction or loss. We even get to see the beautiful things too, right? But when we look with spiritual eyes, we can always see the providential hand of God moving in ways that, quite honestly, are compared to even the parting of the Red Sea. It is that miraculous. See, we are watching the very two things that Paul describes here, always. The power of the resurrection and the effects of suffering that both highlight the gospel and continue over and over to bring glory and honor to the God of all creation. And it is my prayer that this morning you would be able to behold Christ in an even greater way that would honestly bring you to your knees in awe and thanksgiving at what has been made available to you. that we may know and behold these means that he's given us to really know him. And so this week we see that our justification that we've been talking about these past few weeks also brings us the power of the life of Christ and the fellowship with Christ in very specific ways. And so if you'll go ahead and turn to Philippines, if you're not already there, which I'm not. I don't know why. OK. Chapter 3. What I want to do is I want to read verses 1 through 11, because we've been dissecting this. But to put it all together, I want you to get the whole meaning of it. Verse 1, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evildoers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcise the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to Zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law. found blameless. Verse 7. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And more than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in him. not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith, and here we go to our verses this week, that I may know Him. and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Isn't that good? And now hopefully you understand what that means. And as he's been telling us to make our justification, our standing, a rightness and perfection and righteousness before a holy God, now we know what flows out of that and we make it central. So here, We see the flow of what Paul is saying and how these last two verses for today are really the climax of what he has been writing about. And so we look at our first point, our knowing him. And we find this in verse 10, because he begins by saying that I may know him. And here we see that although Paul desires to know Christ, and as you remember from last week, that this word knowledge, or to know, is a noun. It is something tangible. It's not a verb. It's not something that you do intellectually, but rather it signifies an intimate and personal relationship that you experience firsthand. It is not knowing about Christ, but rather being in a deep relationship with Him. So this kind of knowledge in Christ that we gain is a direct result of being justified by Him. And so that begs us asking the question, how do you quantify or how do you measure really knowing someone? Have you thought about that? If you say, I want to know him, or if someone were to come up to me and say, I want to know you more. You know, to what level? Do you just want to know facts about me? Or do you want to engage in a friendship, a relationship? But especially when it comes to knowing Christ, how do we know if we really know Him? Jerry Bridges, a wonderful author, he writes this. This is the heartbeat of a godly person, he says. As he contemplates, or you could say as she, contemplates God in the awesomeness of his infinite majesty, power, and holiness, and then as he dwells upon the riches of his mercy and grace poured out at Calvary, as he looks at all of this, his heart is captivated by the one who could love him so much. He goes on to say he is satisfied with God alone, but he is never satisfied with his present experience of God. He always yearns for more. See, there's this abundance of knowing Him, right? And you're so grateful for that, yet you want more. Because you've tasted of who He is and His goodness, you desire more. So let me ask you, is that what you experience in knowing Christ? Have you found that even in your deeper pursuit of opening up your Bible and studying it, does it make you want to study more? Yeah, I tend to find that for my own heart. And I've heard some of you testify to that. Wow, I'm looking something up and it takes me over here and I want to know more. And before you know it, and when you begin to make that a habit, ladies, you wake up going, I cannot wait to get into the word. I can't wait to commune with Him. I can't wait to unburden my heart or praise Him or thank Him. See ladies, what this is, what Jerry Bridges has said for us, that is what it is to know Christ. And as he reminds, him being Paul, reminds the Philippians of this great biblical doctrine of justification, he is pleading with them and us, make it the cornerstone of your life. He goes on to say that because you know Him, you and you have true justification with Him, that will always produce more knowledge of Him in this deep personal way. And see here in verses 10 and 11 give us details as to this result. See, you are never justified and stay the same. And if you do, then that means you've never truly been justified. Right? So true saving faith is life transforming. And that is because justification never happens in isolation from the rest of what God does in salvation. When you were saved, at the moment that you were saved, a number of spiritual events took place. Right? Now that's hard for us to know because we think of things in steps. I do this first and then I go to the next. Listen to what is done all at the same time. You're regenerated means the spirit has awakened you and given you life so that you can have faith. And in faith, you can respond, right? And you respond in repentance and you're justified. And then you're also positionally sanctified, meaning God has set you apart to be holy. And then you've also been adopted into his family. And all of that happens in an instant. See, all of this enables us to know Him, which is the greatest gift to us. And Paul understood this firsthand. I think he understood what Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24 says. And he lived this out. But if you want to know what God desires for you to know, this is it. In Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, it says this, and he's going to tell us, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness and justice and righteousness in the earth. And then he says, for I delight in these things, says the Lord. Does that describe you what Jeremiah has just said? Is that your heart's desire and your motivation for life? Is that what you are building your life around? The pursuit of knowing Him in this way? Well, sometimes it's hard to know what that practically looks like, right? And so I just want to spend a few minutes trying to flesh this out and give you some practicality. Many years ago, we had started going up to this place, Hume Lake Christian Camp. I don't know if you know where that is. And each summer we would spend a week up there. when our girls were little all the way through, I don't know, we stopped going because we couldn't find a cabin to rent. But we'd rent a cabin and they would always have these junior high and high school camps going on during this time. But for those that were just renting normal cabins, they would have a smaller chapel and they'd bring in a pastor to speak and teach for that week. And so we get up there and unbeknownst to us, the speaker was John MacArthur. And we're like, we hit the jackpot here, right? And so they'd always have a day camp for kids when my kids were young. And so we gathered for this teaching and were so excited because we knew we were going to get the word. You never knew what speaker you were going to get. It could be deep, it could not. But what he used as the text that whole week was 1 John 2. And so I want you to go ahead and turn there. I had asked you to kind of put your finger there. And I want to just briefly take you through this text because I think it kind of gives way or some explaining and some understanding of what the growth process is for growing in Christ. Because ladies, let's be honest, there are different stages that we grow in, right? Just like a baby is a baby, and yet we watch them grow to a toddler, to a teenager, to a young adult, to an adult. And so that is much like it is in our spiritual life. So in this passage, they begin as infants spiritually, but as infants they're going to grow. And so here John says, young men, he uses the term young men, fathers, and children. So I want you to look at verse 5 first, just as context. And he says, by this we know that we are in him. I love that. The scriptures are very clear. If you want to know if you are in Christ, which is what we've been talking about, this is how you know. And he says, the one who says he abides in him ought to himself walk in the same manner that he walked. That is very clear, right? And so, if you are in Christ, you will live as He did when He was here on earth. And then He gives us practical examples. Now I want you to jump down to verses 12 through 14. This is the progression of knowing Him. He says, I'm writing to you as what? Little children. Because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. Verse 13, I'm writing to you fathers because you have known him. And I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I've written to you children because you have known the father. And then look at verse 14. He says almost the very same thing of fathers and young men, but he adds this description of their spiritual progress of why or how they have overcome the evil one. And he says this, because you are strong. Why are they strong? The word of God abides in you. See, this is key, right? This is why we study the Bible. This is why we have to know truth. It helps us, it enables us to abide in Him. Abide is this union that cannot be separated. Now, maybe you have known this to be true in your own life. That there are times when you are not diligent to battle and to labor to know Christ. When I say that, can you think back to a time, or I hate to say it, maybe some of you are there right now. You're just kind of going through the motions. You're resting on your laurels. You're coasting on prior knowledge that you've had. You know the gospel. You've experienced forgiveness of your sin. And you now have an understanding of biblical truth, which does keep you from following error or going into some areas of life that you shouldn't. But you've become content in the saving from sin. And you remain there without going deeper in who God is and what he says about himself in the word. And you might be very content to just take doctrine and belief that you're taught. You hear a sermon, you read a book, you even see a short blurb on social media and you think, yes, that's it. But you are not meditating on the truths of scripture in a way that you really believe deep down that you need to know him more. And this sometimes manifests itself in you begin to think of church activities rather than the person of Jesus Christ. Now, this is not befitting of someone who Christ has saved and given new birth. Right? And that would be what John here in 1 John 2 is calling young men. You're saved, but you're not still mature. And even worse, maybe you're still an infant or a child. But he addresses fathers, which not only infers age and years, but also a maturity in the things of God. And ladies, there are times when we are actively pursuing the means by which God brings growth and maturity in us, like reading His Word, and prayer, and confession, and repentance, and godly fellowship. and putting ourselves under good teaching and putting ourselves in areas of service to Him through the body of Christ. And those people that do that, they have a desperate need to know God more. And sometimes even when we're in that stage, we don't feel like we're maturing or we don't see the growth and the progress in our spiritual life. But I'm telling you, when you stay at it and you continue in those things, you will begin to yield to His will. and you start to forsake your feelings, and listen, when you fill your time and your mind with the things that speak of Christ, that give you greater insight into His beauty, His person, His character, there is growth going on. See, we can't always, well, we can hardly ever trust our feelings, right? There are times when we feel, I'm doing good, and those around you are like, she's not doing good. And there are times when we're like, I'm just failing at everything, and those around you are like, no, you're growing. I see Christ. You know Him differently. Now, in my own life, There are three specific times that just stand out in my mind when I can recall where I knew clearly that God was directing me very explicitly to forsake my own will for the direction of my life. and to do something that God wanted me to do and where I actually yielded in like spoken words like, okay, do whatever you want to do with me no matter what. And each time it was very different circumstances. One was on one of my front porches of a house that we lived in. Another one was on an airplane. and I can picture it so vividly. And then the other one was by my mom's bedside right before she took her last breath. Now see, these were not glamorous places. They were not these mountaintop experiences in the moment where I was just in the perfect setting and I was expecting for God to make himself known. No, they were very simple and mundane and ordinary moments, but they were ones that were just me and Christ. And I knew it. See, he was closer to me than I had ever known him to be. And it was him who was doing the work, right? And I was quiet and I was still, and I was still enough not to be distracted by anything else because he was so enrapturing to me. But ladies, I have to be honest, those moments came because I had purposed to ask Him for a hunger. And I had purposed long before those moments even came. And it was in the daily habits of centering my life around the things that were most important to Him. And you know what that was? the body, His body of Christ, the family of believers, the others that He had died for. See, and as I committed to those things, and it is not because I was a pastor's wife, but as I committed to those things, it ignited in me such a love for Him As I learned more, I served more, I watched more living examples of faithfulness around me, and of course I read his word more. I gave time and attention to it, but I also started believing it. See, there's a difference. And as that happened, I started to mature. And I remember that something in me was changing and I'm still maturing. See, one of the telltale signs that I knew I was maturing was what I was praying. I began praying for things that I would have never asked for. I mean, there were times I'd be praying and I'm like, no, no, no, no, bring those words back in. And I thought, this Spirit was moving in my life. He was changing me. He was helping by making my prayers more in line with His will. See, instead of asking for the need of ease and comfort and relief from pain, all of a sudden my prayers were replaced with pleas that my soul would be protected from sin. and that I would be protected from unfaithfulness to God. And that's just to name a few of those things. But see, knowing Him should produce trust in Him, which gives way to love. And I want to plead with you, do not wait. Do not wait to ask to know Him when you're in a crisis. Because when you're in a crisis, you can't really think straight. But when you've already prepared that soil in knowing Him, it just takes you to a greater depth. It takes you down, but it lifts you up in ways that you would never know. And see, ladies, our justification before God even makes that possible. And this is what Paul is talking about. So how are we to know which category that we're in that John is writing about here? Are you in the father role, meaning are you mature? Are you a young man? You know some, but you're not really mature. Are you a child, maybe an infant? See, in order for you to know, you have to examine yourself. And passages like 1 John are so good, not only for giving us assurance in salvation, which is usually what we use that passage for, but it actually allows us to evaluate our actual maturity as a believer. And ladies, if you and I can just remember, keep this in the forefront of your mind, there is not a specific end to our knowing Christ that is really measurable. Meaning there's not a specific level that you reach and then when you reach it, you can let your guard down or quit trying or you can think, I don't need to know him more. It is a lifelong pursuit. It's just one that you're never going to fully reach, but you labor for it. Even if you are still around at age 80, or 90, or God forbid, 100. I can't even imagine. Or more. As long as there is life, there should be striving to know Him. Like I said, don't wait for a crisis to know Him. Prepare now so that when those things come, because they are coming. It is already known who you can trust. And scripture is so clear on how we do this. We do not lack information in how to know Christ on this kind of level that Paul is speaking about. But that being said, he does give us two specific areas in which we are given this personal knowledge of Christ that should have a massive impact. on life-altering proportions. It should change us that much, that there should be no mistake for what is available to us in His resurrection and in His suffering for those who are in Christ. See, that direction that He's been leading us in has already told us the depths of how we can know Him. But to think that we could experience Him firsthand in this deeper knowledge laid out for us in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. So it takes us to point number two, His resurrection. And really this is just giving us the power to overcome sin. You can just kind of write that next to point number two. Now Paul describes his desire for spiritual perfection. The desire that he has is to be like Christ in several ways. And so let's look at this first one here. First he says, I want to know the power of his resurrection. And Paul wanted to know and experience this power that actually raised Christ from the dead. Now in this passage, Paul will expound on the depths of the impact and the gains that he and every other believer in Christ has from that flows out of their right standing with God. And Paul says, in essence, I'm giving up everything so that I can know the power of his resurrection. And specifically, that power that was displayed in Christ when he rose from the dead. Now, why would Paul want or desire this kind of power? I mean, power is something that many men and women, maybe, desire, right? We have seen this throughout our world, where they seek out this kind of power, but it's usually for their own profit, right? Or position that comes with that power. But here, Paul has a totally different reason why he desires this kind of power that Christ has. Think of what Paul has lived under before his salvation. He was bound by the what? The law. And although he kept the law in perfect obedience, according to himself, he was found blameless, the law had no power to save him. Why? Because the law did not possess the power to overcome sin. It actually just gave more burden, right? And this is why he is so desirous of the power of the resurrection, because only that is the only capable power that can overcome the flesh and the sin that dwells within the flesh. And by Christ raising himself from the dead, he showed that that power was more powerful to overcome the physical world, but also the spiritual world. And he had power over the human realm and death. And he also, I mean, think of this, his power was even over the demonic realm. the demons that wanted to hold him captive, you see the greatest display of power that Jesus ever accomplished was his resurrection from the dead. And Paul says, that's the kind of power I want to experience. You see, Paul knew that it was the power of the resurrection that actually had overwhelmed him and saved him. But even more than that, he knew it was necessary for him to continue in that same power to be sustained as a believer with this new life that he had been given. He knew that he would not be able to walk in this newness of life and in obedience without this power to overcome sin. To Paul, it was this power that made living a holy life even possible. And we see that in Ephesians 1, when he is praying for the believers in Ephesus, he says this in verse 18, I'm praying that you may have illumination. He's saying, I'm praying that the eyes of your heart would be opened. Why? So that you will know. And what does he want them to know? The surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. In accordance, he says, with the working, with the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ, when? When he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. See, this is what it means for the power of the resurrection to be given to the believer. It's the only way that we can be transformed and changed and stay transformed. It keeps us. We don't fall in and out. We should not fall in and out of change. It should change us. We continue to walk in that change. He changes us more the more we know. And what's sustaining or enabling us is this extraordinary power, the very power that raised Christ from the dead. And Paul, you see this throughout all of his writings. When he wrote the book of Romans, he explicitly states this in Romans 6, chapter 6, that before salvation, we are called what to sin? We're slaves, right? Sin is our master, and to be freed from that kind of master means that you need something more powerful than what is mastering you. And if you have ever felt the weight of being mastered by a specific sin, you know there is great power in that. You just can't seem to overcome it. It's like, this is hopeless. The only thing that can combat that is the power of the resurrection of Christ that we're talking about. Think about this, when people witnessed the risen Christ, what a witness to the actual power of the resurrection. And to believe this, to believe that he was resurrected is really central to our faith. It's what sets Christianity apart from any other religion, right? No other religion has someone as the deity giving up himself to be killed to pay the penalty of sin, and then actually having victory over the death and sin that needed to be dealt with. One commentary said it like this, if God exists and if he created the universe and has power over it, then he has power to raise the dead, if anyone is questioning that. He goes on to say, if he does not have the power, he's not worthy of our faith or worship. Only he who created life can resurrect it after death. Only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself and only He can remove the sting of death and gain the victory over the grave. In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God is reminding us of His absolute sovereign rule over life and death. Amen? That's good. See, the truth in Scripture says that without the resurrection, nothing has been conquered. Nothing. Not sin, not death, not the devil. Jesus' resurrection from the dead actually testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. but that really the offering of his own life was an acceptable sacrifice unto God. And if Jesus had not been raised, it would be an indication to us that the work of salvation had not been accomplished. Do you see how that's tied to your justification, to your right standing before God? However, he was resurrected. So this does indicate that God was satisfied. The wrath poured out for that sin now satisfied that divine justice. The punishment is over. The merit of Christ has proven worthy. The debt has been paid. Death has been vanished. sin has been atoned for, and the resurrection means the death of Jesus was enough. That's amazing. Enough to present us holy in God's presence. Christ won sin, death, and the devil lost. And that is the good news of the empty tomb. The resurrection means that Christ proved himself righteous to the Father so that through faith we can now share in that righteousness. Do you see how Paul just keeps adding to greater truth? And ladies, this kind of stuff, we shouldn't just take it, oh, yep, Jesus was resurrected. We should think about it deeply and think about how it impacts us. But second, by Christ's power, we too are already now resurrected in new life, right? Our hope of new life is not just in the future when we are with Him in glory. It is a present reality. See, the knowledge of this is so valuable to Paul and it should be to us that we value nothing more in life than to know him. But like I said, there is more. I mean, that alone would be great, right? Point number three, now we're going to look at his sufferings. that we have this shared fellowship to preserve us, to help us persevere. And we see this also in verse 10. This word fellowship has been one that Paul has already used earlier in this letter, and it means to partner with. And it's this idea of not only associating with someone, but participating with them. And Paul says, I want to know Christ by experiencing, by getting a taste of the same sufferings that he went through. And that means the persecution that Christ received because of who he was, because he was holy and separate, set apart unto God. Now, Paul understands this for the Christian. He knows that this is just to be expected as part of how God is not only going to perfect us, but how he's going to use us. And remember back in chapter two, Paul says, part of this, of why you are to be different is so that you can be held forth, right? As light in a world of darkness, you're holding forth the truth to a wicked and depraved world. Now, maybe because Paul has had this mindset that suffering is a privilege, maybe that is why he has been able to be so steadfast and to endure these trials and hardship, because he's dealt with a lot already at this point, right? But maybe that's why he is able to rejoice in these things. Now remember, at the time of him writing this letter, he had been a Christian for 30 years already. So he has experienced a lot, and he's come out of that going, no, this is even more true than I believed at the beginning. And we want that as believers. Remember back in chapter one, he had already encouraged the believers that the suffering of Christ was an additional gift along with belief. In Romans 8, verse 17, he has written, If children, then heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him. See That's one way that we are united with him. We're partners. We're not just partners from afar or associations. We have experienced this with him. Second, Timothy also tells us this too, that Paul, when he was in prison and coming to the end of his life, he's actually awaiting execution and he says in chapter 3 verse 12 of 2 Timothy, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Now, this is a specific kind of suffering that is tied to that partnership, to that fellowship that you have with Christ. And ladies, if you are continuing to grow, and to mature, and to know Him, and you're keeping as the center of your thinking, your right standing before God, and everything is flowing out of that, you are guaranteed suffering. in this way because it's for the sake of Christ. And we must be willing to do this, right? And we must have the mindset where we're, you know, embracing it when it comes because we understand what it means. And I know that some of you are already facing this. You're walking through it now. And because your life is changing, because you have greater obedience and a loyalty to Christ instead of a loyalty to yourself, that you are an affront to some people. you are finding conflict within your own families because you are taking a stand for Christ. And in doing so, you're changing and your thinking is changing and your words are changing and you can't contain it. So you have to speak of Him. You have to testify of Him. You have to correct wrong thinking. And so just know that loneliness Like that, when you feel like you're standing alone, because of loyalty to Christ actually brings communion in a unique and profound way of fellowship. And Paul has known this. He desires for us to know that too. And when I think of Paul specifically referring to this kind of degree of persecution, it's kind of hard for us to comprehend on that level. But even in that, we want to prepare our hearts because it could come to us. It could come to a place where we're physically persecuted for the sake of Christ. We look back at the examples of martyrs and we've looked at that certain times throughout our study. And I always, when I think of that, we're so inspired by those stories, right? But I want you to think of it in the context of in those moments, Christ is interceding for those specific believers. And that's why sometimes we hear experiences of this sweet fellowship that come out in this person's saying while they are being burned at the stake. They're shouting out praise and rejoicing as they're being put to death. See, they're experiencing this sweet closeness of their Savior that was so much sweeter to them than preserving their own comfort. Ladies, you want to experience that now. You want to experience it when it is not being thrown in your face so that when you are caught off guard, you are like, this is what I've waited for. I know him so well. I know he's going to be there. I know I'm about to experience a fellowship that is so deep and profound. Can't wait. And it's putting off this, no, no, no, no. It's like, okay, Lord, I can't wait. And so Paul has experienced this and he wants believers to experience this. And ladies, we're all going to experience it to varying degrees. But Christ suffered not only on the cross, but think of it, He suffered in the wilderness under temptation. He suffered in the garden when He was about to face intense suffering. And ladies, He's giving us a pattern, an example, a real life. illustration that we are going to face temptation. We are going to come up against fearful circumstances that we must walk through. We can't subvert them. And He's saying, remember, this is a benefit. This is a gain of your salvation. This is a privilege, a gift. And what we get in the midst of suffering for Christ is the perfect fellowship that He experienced with His Father and the Holy Spirit while He was suffering in the flesh here on earth. See, ladies, all of these things that Paul is naming as gain in knowing Christ is actually what Christ also experienced in the flesh when He was here in His humanity. See, we have the element of sin that He did not, but He had to rely on the same things that He is providing for us in God that He possessed. he experienced his father's sovereign hand upon him. And the power that exalted him as he humbled himself, the power that enabled him to live a sinless life and to fight against temptation in order to attain the life of righteousness that he could give to us, See, the fellowship that he experienced while in the wilderness and in the garden, which could have failed if he had not had the Father's will on the forefront of his mind and being subjected to that will. See, he wanted to bring pleasure to the Father. And that was his single-minded focus while here on earth. That in itself is an example to us, right? And see, when we put it in those terms, don't you desire to know someone who has done that for you more than you already do? So you should not be okay with just saying a glib, thank you, throwing up a prayer, and then just going on with your life. you should want to show him gratitude by trusting in him. So for Paul to experience a relationship with Christ in this way meant sharing in the fellowship of his suffering even unto death. And that's why we love Galatians 2.20, but this is Paul's heart. He's just reiterating his desire to share in this dynamic, all-in union with Christ. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. See, the early apostles believed that participating in the fellowship of Christ's suffering was just part of the preparation for sharing with Him in future glory. All of these things, right? See, Jesus embodied humility and obedience to God as He walked a path to death. And the very purpose God sent him, his son, was to suffer and die. That was the purpose. Why? So that we might be saved and be made like his son. And we do that by entering into the fellowship of his suffering, but also his death. And Paul adds a further description of his desire to be like Christ. And he says, I want to be like Christ in holiness. I want to be like Christ in his suffering. And then he says at the end of verse 10 here, I want to be conformed to his death. And what does that mean? Well, Paul tells us, like we said in Romans 6, that he died with Christ as a result of his salvation in the past. In other words, there was a time when he came to faith in Christ. And at that moment in time, it's as if he died with Christ on the cross. and being raised to walk in newness of life. And see, Paul is now saying that he is willing to conform his life to the implications of Christ's death now, in the present, not just in the past when he was saved, but right now. He's saying, even though it took Christ's death for me to be saved, now in this newness of life, I'm going to die to myself. I'm going to continually die to myself that I might be alive in Christ. I'm willing to renounce all of my selfish desires. I'm willing to take up my cross daily and follow Christ because I want to be like Him in this way. He explains this even in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 10. He says, We are always carrying about in our bodies the dying of Christ, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Christ's sake. And he tells us why. So that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So he says, I don't take this lightly, the death and suffering of Christ. I am now a participant with Him, not just in saving me, but now in the process of becoming holy. I'm constantly dying to myself because I want to embrace what He has given me. And so, that's what it means to be conformed to His death, which leads us to our final point. Point number four, our resurrection. This is found in verse 11. And this is the whole goal of us knowing him, right? It comes to fruition. Justification is always accompanied by a dramatic change. And a change that begins in our desires and our ambitions. It's not meant to just create outside behavior. Right? The way that we do things, it's doing something in us, in our desires, that then influences and changes our behavior. And if you've been justified, then you will have a longing to know Christ. You will have a longing to be like Him. And finally, You will see that you just want to embrace all those things, but it's for a purpose. You want to be like him. Verse 11, it says, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. See, he knew where he was going, right? It was not like, I hope this works out. There was this surety. He doesn't have any doubts about where he's headed. Instead, he simply is saying, I don't know how I'm going to receive my resurrection body. I don't know whether I'm going to be among those who are dead in Christ when he returns and whom he raises up or whether I'll still be alive and brought up in the rapture. But either way, I will attain the resurrection. I will attain to the resurrection of the dead. And this word attain is a really interesting word. It's a word that is used often in the book of Acts to refer to actually arriving at a destination. And so the destination that he is naming is the resurrection. And this is kind of an interesting expression in the Greek and it literally means out from among the corpses. That's interesting, right? So there's a similar expression found in Luke chapter 20 verse 35 and 36. And in both cases, it seems to be clear that Paul is speaking about the initial resurrection of believers from the rest of the dead. And he's talking about what we refer to as the rapture. when those who are in Christ are taken out from among the corpses. And so Paul is saying, I'm going to be a part of that resurrection. And Paul longed for the resurrection so that he could be with Christ. It was just one of the highest and fullest expressions of knowing Christ, that his salvation would come all the way to fruition of being glorified, being given a resurrection body so that it was fit for heaven and fit to worship him forever. And so, if you are a Christian, you should be longing for that same thing. You should not be so focused on, I need to know him in this life, I need to know him. It's for a purpose. You want to know him so you're ready to really know him for all eternity. And so I do hope that through this passage, you are learning that our salvation should change us and that our desires and our longings and who we are and what we do should all be centered around, how can I know him more? So you want to be like him in holiness. You want to be like him in sharing in his sufferings, in being Him like even being accused of being a Christian that should be a badge of honor, right? You shouldn't cower to that like oh, you're so you know you're so heavenly minded. Thank you You know all you care about is you know Christ. Yes, I You know, and this should be our testimony. And we even want to be conformed to his death. We want to be committed to holiness in these specific ways. See, that is what it means to be truly justified. On the Sunday that Christ took my mom to heaven, just a few hours later, Ruth actually texted me and she said, I know it's been a really hard day, but I'm going to go see and visit Karen in the hospital, Karen Law. She had just been diagnosed with her cancer. And that was very new and I hadn't had a chance for a few weeks to be around Karen. And she said, I just wanted to see if you wanted to go. And I immediately thought, yeah, I would love that. I hadn't really had any fellowship with her. And really, sometimes there are things when someone passes away and you're there and you think, what do I do now? It's just so done, right? And you're just like, okay. And yet I really saw this as an opportunity that God had given me. And so I said, John, do you think, should I be doing something? And he goes, go. go. And so we got to visit her and it just seemed like such a gift to me. And I remember we went and we fellowshiped and it was Bill and Karen and me and Ruth and we talked and at the end we had a time of prayer. And I remember starting to pray and the first thing out of my mouth was, Lord, I love you more now than I did this morning. And it kind of like made me stop because I thought, it's true. But also I was kind of shocked that that was the first thing, right? But how sweet, because I knew it wasn't anything I was doing, but the Holy Spirit was just helping me. He was carrying me. And he had carried me through so much and would continue to do that. But see, that actually was an act of mercy for him that had been ordained for me before the foundation of the world. But in Him saving me and drawing me to Himself and then allowing me to know Him and giving me the words to even pray years before, God, help me. God, help me know you. Give me a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Help me to walk in your truth. And trust me, in that moment, I did not feel strong or mature. I was desperate, right? And yet how good of God to bring that to my mind that in one of the hardest things, the response is, I love you. Thank you. Thank you for taking her. Thank you for taking her the way that you did. Thank you that I got to be there. But you know what was amazing? It was an illustration of this text. Because as I watched her take her last breath, it was the power of the resurrection of Christ. that gave me hope, that had been her hope, that was there in her last moments, that led her to have such sweet fellowship. Even when she was completely, you know, in a coma, there were times when she would all of a sudden just smile, and I knew she was enjoying the fellowship of Christ. Because she longed for that. She prayed for it. She labored for it. And what a blessing to see that and to know she is fellowshipping with him right now. She's fully aware. Her hope is in what Christ has done by being resurrected, but she also will attain his resurrection. She had purpose to be conformed to his death, right? And I got to watch that transition. And what it did was it made me love him more because it confirmed everything. See, ladies, we have to know him like that. It isn't about just on a surface level. We want to know him, that we might behold his beauty and be able to walk through this life straight to heaven. knowing Him and knowing Him for all eternity. Let's pray. God, you are so good. And we never want the focus to be on what we have done, but what you have done. So thank you for knowing us in such an intimate way. May you give us courage to labor in knowing you back. And we ask all of this in your precious, precious name. Amen.