This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 17, 1992.

This morning we begin our scripture reading in Jeremiah chapter thirty-one. We are beginning with verse twenty-seven. This is the word of God. behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant saith the Lord.

In those days they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their hearts, and will be their God and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. And I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

I’m turning over to Philippians chapter two as a reminder to us from that chapter, verses five through eleven. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but 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. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And from the third chapter, verse ten, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

Our Father, do not leave us untouched by your word and its power. Though we find ourselves here possibly even with that hint of unwillingness, we ask you, Lord, to take away that spirit of resistance by the spirit which you have given to us and to all of your people. Our Father, your word is life to us, and truly at our better moments we confess this. We ask, Lord, that if this is in fact one of our worst moments, we may find again with you that grace which you have given to us and restore us, then, Lord, to the fullness of that salvation which you have granted us in Christ. We pray, our God, that you would be merciful, in fact, to those who are without faith, that by root of faith they may be born again, that by root of faith that birth from above may be evidence in them, and that they may show forth the excellencies of your mercy. We do pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

It goes without saying that this 10th verse in Philippians 3 is a great and significant text that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. And being important, being also an explication of Paul’s doctrine of sanctification, this text demands our careful attention. We will want to move through it slowly and patiently, We will concentrate this morning on the opening of this 10th verse, what Paul says at the outset, that I may know him. And we will look at this patiently, hopefully in faith, expecting from the Holy Spirit, the one who offered it through the Apostle, a rich reward.

Now you have noticed that this verse catches us mid-screen. which actually is mid-sentence, if you will. The sentence itself, of which it is a part, began with verse 8. These opening words here in verse 10, that I may know him, stand in parallel to Paul’s words at the conclusion of that 8th verse. You note what he says here at the end of that 8th verse. that I may gain Christ, that I may gain Christ.” These words at the end of the eighth verse then are in parallel with what we read at the beginning of the tenth. I might also point out to you that they are also in parallel with what we find at the beginning of verse nine. that I may be found in him. So, if you’re stacking statements, you can begin with what Paul says at the end of verse 8, add to that what he says at the beginning of verse 9, and then again what he says at the beginning of verse 10.

And he, therefore, is virtually building for us his case seen variously as we move through these verses, an explication of what appeared there in verse 8 itself. Now, in that 8th verse, Paul was setting forth before us what he called the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, or, as the New American Standard puts it, the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. Here, then, in this eighth verse set out in this language, is the incomparable prize for the Apostle, the treasure beyond Christ. In the language of Christ, it is the pearl of greatest value. For the sake of knowing Christ, then, for the sake of this knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Apostle willingly surrenders everything of value.

In fact, he tells us all those things which others, all those things which he himself at one time valued, all these things are now of negative value. They are worthless. But even more, they are offensive and even detrimental to his spiritual well-being. They work against him as far as spiritual life is concerned.

All of these things, then, are on one side, and Christ is on the other. Paul is telling us that he has chosen Christ, the knowledge of Christ, And he has left these other things go. As we have pointed out in the past, Paul here, at the conclusion of the eighth verse, isn’t all too delicate about it. The New American Standard translates Paul’s indelicacy by the word rubbish. Other translations have supplied the word refuse.

King James gets it right. It’s dunk, pure and simple. The apostle is not being delicate about the matter. It is pure, unadulterated dunk when compared with Christ. And therefore it is worthless. Now, when Paul says he counts all but done in order that he may gain Christ, there in the eighth verse, you must understand what he is saying. He is not here suggesting that he hopes to gain Christ, that he is giving up everything so that he might someday gain Christ. No, not at all.

What the Apostle is saying is that he has, in fact, gained Christ, and it is for the sake of this Christ, whom he has gained, that he has let everything else go. This is not to say that there is not that future aspect in Paul’s understanding of his relationship to Christ, for surely Christ shall come and he shall see his Savior, But presently he is concentrating upon that which he presently has.

The gain is present possession, similarly with the parallel statements, then, that appear in verses 9 and 10. These come to us along the same lines. When he says that he counts all but done so that he might be found in Christ, he is not saying he hopes to be found in Christ some day, Rather, his sacrifice of all things means a surrender to Christ presently, whereby he has been benefited by the faithfulness of Christ with the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. He is presently justified, we have stated.

But by the same token, when Paul says that he counts all but dung in order that he might know Christ, verse 10, he is not saying that he hopes to know Christ someday. Rather, he has deliberately given up everything because the knowledge of Christ is so precious to him and his present possession for him.

Now, to be sure, Paul elsewhere speaks about a knowing which is in part. He speaks about knowing fully in the coming great day, even as he is perfectly known. You may possibly know where Paul so speaks. That comes from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. But in this text, Paul does not have in view some future knowledge of Christ. rather, the knowledge he presently has of Christ, which is actively engaged and operating. Paul is saying this knowledge is absolutely indispensable to him, for apart from it, he is spiritually in darkness and he is spiritually there. What is the nature of this knowledge without which Paul, is dead towards God, without which Paul remains in darkness towards God, for the sake of which Paul forsakes everything else.

What is the nature of this knowledge? It is, above all, covenant knowledge. Covenant knowledge. Now what do we mean by covenant knowledge? It is that knowledge belonging to an exclusive and intimate bond. It is that knowledge belonging to an exclusive and intimate bond. The most powerful illustration that we have of this in the common affairs of men, according to the scriptures, is marriage. Marriage is to be an exclusive and intimate bond. It is set before us in scripture as that which is inclusive of a unique knowledge Thus, you see, Scripture speaks about the most intimate union between a man and a woman as knowing, as knowledge itself.

The knowledge that is in view here in Philippians 3.10 is covenantal knowledge. It has in view an exclusive and intimate bond. an illustration of which is found in the marriage relationship.

How often this marriage relationship is used in scripture to speak about the relationship that exists between God and his people. An entire Old Testament book is built upon this imagery. The Old Testament prophecy of Hosea. speaks against the background of the marriage relationship that exists between God and His people, and the fact that God’s people have become faithless, adulterous. The people of God, according to God, are bound to Him in covenant, like a woman is bound to a man in marriage.

It is an exclusive and intimate bond. The knowledge and view, as Paul speaks about knowing Christ, has as its background the covenantal relationship between God and His people. It is this bond of exclusivity and intimacy that the apostle has in view. Jeremiah also speaks about the knowledge that pertains to this covenantal bond.

He prophesies a coming day when the covenant, though spoiled, though ruined by faithless Israel, that covenant will be renewed. And God’s people will again know the Lord. As we have read this morning from Jeremiah chapter thirty-one, verse thirty-four, they will know the Lord from the greatest to the least. And you might note in that section that we read this morning in verse thirty-two, that the Lord specifically compares himself to a husband in relationship to Israel and Judah. But earlier, in Jeremiah’s prophecy, he has presented the Lord’s challenge to faithless Israel in language quite similar to what we find in Jeremiah 31, and then again in Philippians chapter 3. Jeremiah writes these words in the ninth chapter of the twenty-fourth verse.

Let him who boasts in this that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. In the day God renews his covenant bond upon earth, the exclusive intimate knowledge of himself is that is associated with the revelation now of his Son. That day in which he renews his covenant bond upon earth and fulfills the prophecy that was given in Jeremiah 31, in that day the exclusive intimate knowledge of himself is that which is associated with the revelation of his son. Jesus will pray, and this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

John 17, verse 3. It is now apparent that there is no knowledge of God, no fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, no real fulfillment of God’s covenant, no boast of the Lord apart from the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It is not without reason, then, that all the marriage language which we find in the Old Testament applied to that relationship between God and Israel is now applied to the relationship that exists between Christ and His Church. Christ’s Church is His bride.

But this knowledge, this covenantal knowledge, must also be understood to be more than just an awareness of certain information. To know Jesus Christ is to know more than just certain facts about Him. Even in the Old Testament, the knowledge of the Lord spoken of by Jeremiah. had in view more than acquaintance with certain facts about the God who had created the world, the God who had opened the Red Sea and rescued the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Even there in the Old Testament, the knowledge of the Lord was more than just an awareness of certain facts and information.

This knowledge is in keeping with its covenantal character. once more, not just the exclusivity of the relationship, but the intimacy of the relationship. And you, and you is such a knowledge of the Lord that it brings with it a conformity to Him. The relationship is such that in this intimate bond, we who are brought into this relationship become like the one with whom we are bound.

So it is, you see, as Jeremiah promises the day of a new covenant that he speaks about God’s writing his law upon our hearts. This writing of the law upon our hearts means nothing less than a conformity to God. This is also the reason why we have there in Jeremiah 9 verse 24, which we quoted earlier, not simply the fact that God himself is merciful, just, righteous, as is spelled out for us there, but that in intimate communion with him, the people of God would themselves become merciful, just, and righteous. It is the New Testament that makes this clear to us, but also spells out for us to what lengths God will go in order to realize his covenant bond with his people.

For not only are his people to be conformed to him, but he would conform himself to them. The reason that we backed up then to Philippians 2 this morning is because it is important that we set that before ourselves once again. We, in fact, are being called to conformity to Christ.

Christ, God’s Son, has conformed himself to us. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Philippians 2, then, spells out for us the greatness of this covenantal knowledge. That knowledge that comes from the side of God as Christ conforms himself to us out of his great love for us. And now the knowledge that is ours as we in relationship to this Christ are conformed to him. Philippians 2 speaks about God’s conformity to us in the interests that true knowledge and covenantal fellowship, as Christ takes our condition to himself, may in fact be realized for us and in us. Christ knows us, and we know Christ.

But our knowledge of Christ means that there is then such knowledge in us that expresses itself as does the Apostle in chapter 3, verse 10. We are conformed to him, knowing him by way of the power of the resurrection that is found to be in him and now in us. but no less the fellowship of his sufferings as we are being conformed unto his death. Here is the foundation, then, as we move from Old to New Testament, as we consider the nature of covenantal knowledge that provides us with that grounding for better comprehension of our doctrine of sanctification. As we move on to consider more explicitly how the doctrine of sanctification rises out of this text, let us not lose sight of these fundamental points. The covenantal knowledge of which the Apostle speaks is in fact bringing before us the bond that exists between God and His people, and that God knows us. We now, by grace, know Him. And such knowledge is sealed by conformity. His conformity to us as He became like us, and our conformity to Him as we are made new in His image.

Let’s pray. Our Father, may it be our confession that we, along with the Apostle Paul, know Christ. That for the sake of knowing him, we have forsaken all, we have forsaken everything else. That Lord, we pray and plead with you that our confession of this may match his confession, so that our confession is not hollow. so that it is not empty. We pray, Father, therefore, that ever more perfectly would we grasp hold of the significance of this knowledge as we in fact are bound to our Covenantal Lord and in fellowship with him made more and more like him. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.