A Passion to Know Him - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 7th. Do you need help pushing aside lesser things and maintaining a passion for God?

Today's podcast discusses that journey with a passion to know Him. When you hear the word passion today, most of the time we relate that to some sensual or sexual idea. But the word passion means an overwhelming, intense, strong desire towards something of someone else. Passion is not to be limited to something that is sensual. But passion can also be directed towards something that is spiritual. That is a passion to know God, a passion for God. And that is exactly what I want to talk about in this message.

And I want to begin a series today about that very theme title. And that is a Passion for God and the title of this message, A Passion to Know Him. A strong, intense, overwhelming, emotional desire to know God in Christ Jesus. Now, if you'll turn to Philippians chapter 3, because probably of all the text in the Bible, this is the one that best describes and expresses the passion of the Apostle Paul to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you'll recall also that in this book, all through this epistle, he's talking about rejoicing and praising the Lord, though he's writing this from a prison. And in the third chapter, he has just made the statement in the last part of that third verse, put no confidence in the flesh, that is, don't depend upon our own self-achievements and accomplishments for anything spiritual. And then he begins by verse four saying, 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. He says now, first of all, you shouldn't put any confidence in the flesh. That is, don't base your acceptance by God on the basis of your past heritage accomplishments or achievements.

But he says, if anybody had the right to do so, he said, I would for the following reasons. And then he tells us what they are. Verse five, he says, I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as the zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless. But whatever things referring to these were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

And then he says, more than that, I count all things to be loss in view 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 in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 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, not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect in these things, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Now, if somebody says to you, do you know so and so, if you've heard of them, or if you've been around them, or if you've talked to them, more than likely you say, yes, I know them. When in essence, what you mean by that is on a very surface level, I do know something about them. But to know someone and to know something about them is entirely different. And so most of the time when we say, yes, I know them, we don't really and truly mean that we really know that person.

We know about them, we know something about their reputation or where they live or who they are married to, their children and so forth. So I want to ask you this question. Do you really and truly know Jesus Christ? If someone should say to you, who is Jesus Christ? How long would it take you to explain to them who Jesus is?

Would you say something like this? Well, he's the savior of the world. He's the son of God. He was born of a virgin. He was crucified, buried and risen again. And he's ascended to the Father and he's sitting at the Father's right hand. He's coming again.

Would you stop with that? Or could you tell them who Jesus really is in an intimate fashion? As your friend, one who's accepted you, one who loves you and one who walks with you every day. One who's become not only your savior and your Lord, but your very life.

One in whom you trust, one upon whom you rely. Could you begin to explain to that person who Jesus Christ really is? Far too many people sit in church houses on Sunday. And far too many people listen to the radio, watch television programs that are religious or spiritual, and think they know who Jesus is, but really do not know who he is. And the Apostle Paul in this passage of Scripture says, The passion of my heart, that is the most intense, strong, overpowering, yearning, hungering, thirsting desire of my life is to know Jesus Christ.

Could you say that? Because you see, real genuine true knowledge goes beyond the surface when it comes to knowing someone. And so the question comes, why would the Apostle Paul say, I count everything else in my life as mere rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ?

Well, let's see why. Because that should be the desire of our own heart to know him in that fashion. And there must be something very special about Jesus for man to say, everything else is mere rubbish compared to him.

So let's look at it, if you will, in this third chapter. And first of all, let's get a proper understanding of what he means by knowledge here. And you can tell by the priority that the Apostle Paul puts on his desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ, this has to be certainly more than factual knowledge, some theory or some principle about Jesus. When he says what he desires is far more than that. So what does he mean when he says, above all else I desire to know him?

That kind of knowledge involves three things. First of all, it involves understanding Jesus Christ. It involves experiencing him personally. And thirdly, it also involves an intimacy with him. So it means understanding him, his ways and why he operates the way he does and how he seemingly responds to us and works in our life. It involves not only understanding but it involves an intimacy with him. That is, an ever growing deepening relationship of oneness with him that is continually growing. It involves a relationship of intimacy and understanding.

It involves a relationship that is ongoing and life effecting. To know the Lord Jesus Christ never leaves a person the way they were before. To know him by experience. To know him in intimacy. To know him with understanding. This is what Paul is referring to here when he says, but I count everything is lost compared to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example, in the Old Testament, a word that is similar to this word for knowing here is the word Hebrew word yada, which means to know. And in Genesis chapter 4, I believe in the King James Version, it says that Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and brought forth a son. And so they use the word know to explain the physical intimacy between a husband and a wife. Because you see, genuine true knowledge is beyond the surface and it goes into that intimate relationship. Why did Jesus say that a man is to love his wife like Christ loved the church?

Jesus doesn't love us merely on the surface. He loves us in an intimate, deep, ever growing, ever life changing fashion. Husbands and wives are to grow in their intimate relationship with each other.

Far above and beyond the physical because the spiritual intimacy that a husband and wife are able to experience with each other goes far beyond any kind of physical relationship. And so Jesus said to the Apostle Paul that a man is to love his wife in such an intimate relationship, it is like Jesus loving his church in a fashion that can only be experienced and probably never fully explained. The Apostle Paul is saying in this passage, the passion, the deepest yearning, the overwhelming emotional desire of my heart is to know this Christ. And so when he talks about knowing him, he's talking about knowing him in that fashion.

To know him in such a way that he can never be the same again. So if that knowledge of him is growing, that means I'm growing. If my understanding is growing, then I'm growing.

If my intimacy is growing, then I'm growing. If my relationship with him is such that it is affecting all of my life, then I too am maturing on the basis of my knowledge and understanding of who Jesus Christ is. It is a continuing daily experience with Christ.

Now let's think about it for just a moment. I wonder how much you and I really and truly want to know him because you see most people are satisfied with knowing Jesus as Savior. Now watch this. The reason most people are satisfied with knowing Jesus Christ as Savior because knowing him as Savior means I'm forgiven of my sins.

I've been redeemed from them and ultimately the penalty has been removed and therefore I am now receiving something as a result of knowing him as my Savior. But now watch this. Far too few people are interested in knowing anything about Jesus Christ as Lord because you see to know him as Lord says I know him as the boss. I know him as the controller. I know him as the guide.

I know him as the director. I know him as the one who's controlling my life. Am I interested in knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord?

Am I interested in submitting my will to him? Am I interested in walking subdued before him and yielded to his will? Am I only interested in knowing him as my Savior because that's the way I get the forgiveness of my sin. And then how many people know Jesus Christ as their life? If someone should ask me what is the greatest truth you have ever known or discovered since you've been a Christian I can tell you right now what that is. The greatest truth I have ever discovered in all of my Christian experience second to nothing is this simple truth. That Jesus Christ who is my Savior, my Lord in my life is my sufficiency for all my needs. I am complete in him and I can respond to every circumstance based on who I am in him, who he is in me. Drawing for every temporal and spiritual need from the inexhaustible resource of the person of Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient one. That is the greatest truth I have ever discovered in life. That is knowing him in a far greater and more intimate way than something that is on the surface.

That truth has absolutely radically revolutionized and changed my whole perspective of the Word of God, of the church, of God, of Christ, myself and my whole outlook on the world. Paul said I have a passion. I have a passion to know him. You see most of us want to stretch our hand to him not our heart. We want to know him as the giver.

We want to be the receiver. We are far more interested in knowing him as the one who answers our prayers and gives us what we need rather than just to know him for who he is. Isn't it strange how many people can quote certain very popular people who are in the area of sports or politics or the theater? It is amazing how much real knowledge about some people they have and then when it comes to Jesus Christ there's a void.

Let me ask you a question. Is he worth knowing? I wonder when Jesus looks at your life and mine and our interest in him if he sometimes comes to the same conclusion or caught in the way we respond to him and of course he knows better, he is indeed worth knowing. But how much do you care to know about him? Are you satisfied just knowing him as your Savior that you're forgiven of your sins and you go into heaven?

Or is there something inside of you that drives you, that motivates you, that stirs up your keen interest? You want to know who is this Christ in whom I've trusted my whole eternity? Who is this Christ who answers my prayer? Who is this Christ who loves me, cares for me, forgives me, meets my needs, accepts me just the way I am, who's written my name in the Lamb's Book of Life, who's going to take me to heaven, who's preparing a place for me, who understands me fully and who loves me just the same. Who is this Christ? Are you dissatisfied as long as you know you're going to heaven and you've been saved by the grace of God?

The Apostle Paul was never satisfied. He says, the passion of my heart is to understand and to know this Christ. Listen, to know him in such an intimate fashion that I am absolutely and totally perfectly satisfied being in his presence, asking for nothing. When you kneel to pray or when you come to him in prayer, are you always asking for something? Do you always have your hands outstretched, oh God, my needs here, there and yonder? Or can you honestly say, I'm just satisfied being in his presence and talking to him and listening to him and asking for nothing? Do you really know this person whom you serve and whom you claim to be your Savior?

And if you know him, how intimately, how deeply, how lovingly? Or are you satisfied to have your mind barraged with all the information the world has to give, all the things that pour into your mind day after day after day, remembering this and that and the other? And whatever happens to our knowledge of Jesus Christ? All of that is so temporal and passing and changing.

And remember this, listen carefully. What you and I know about Jesus Christ, listen, the truth of him never changes. I didn't say that our understanding wouldn't deepen. And I didn't say we wouldn't understand more, but I'm saying the truth of him is always the same. Everything else in life, all the knowledge is continually changing.

But knowing Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul said, the knowledge that I'm talking about is of such priority that I put that knowledge above every other thing in all of my life. Now what happens? When a young man gets interested in a young woman, what happens? He wants to know her better. When a young lady gets interested in a young man, she wants to know him better. They don't just say, well, how you doing? Good to see you again. But there is an ever growing desire toward reaching out, pursuing, seeking after, desiring to know one another.

Let me ask you a question. Since you have been saved by the grace of God, what have you done to really and truly know Jesus Christ? So not only do we need a proper understanding of what he means by knowing, but the second thing I want us to notice here is this, and that is the profound value the Apostle Paul places on knowing Jesus Christ. So he says, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

Now look at that for a moment. He says, here's how I value this knowledge of Christ. First of all, he says, as I look at my past, my achievements, my accomplishments, my possessions, my heritage, he said, I count all of that as of no value compared to intimately understanding and experiencing knowing Christ Jesus. Not only that, he says, those things that were gained to me, verse eight, more than that, he says, I count everything as a total loss compared to knowing Jesus Christ intimately, understanding him, experiencing him in my daily life.

He said, there's nothing to compare with it. And then he sort of reaches his climax at this point when he says, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value. Listen, he says, when it comes to knowing Christ, there's nothing to be compared with the priceless privilege. He says, with the overwhelming value, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing value and the supreme advantage of knowing Jesus Christ.

He says, there is nothing to be compared to that. Thank you for listening to A Passion to Know Him. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.