1. That I May Know Him…

Oct 9, 2026 • Rory Mosley

001 That I May Know Him…

Philippians 3:1-2

October 9, 2026

Tonight, I want to start just with a sort of overview of the weekend.

You’ve already caught on that the theme is “That I May Know Him…”

And to make sure we’re starting off on the right page,

I JUST WANT TO ASK A FEW QUESTIONS.

WHO IS “HIM”?

JESUS.

The objective of our study this weekend is to “know Jesus”

· He is the focus.

· He is the aim.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “KNOW” HIM?

We’re going to spend our time in Philippians 3.

You see the word there used a couple of times.

(8) “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”

(10) “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

This passage is talking about knowing Jesus.

What does it mean to “know” Him?

I want to quickly tonight give you 4 types of knowledge

That are either mentioned or alluded to in this text.

And we want all of them.

#1 ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE

This is simply a knowledge of the facts about Jesus.

That is actually the word Paul uses in verse 8.

“knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”

It is the Greek word GNOSIS which simply means “knowledge”.

It is “facts or a general knowledge.”

It is used to talk about the “knowledge of salvation.”

Or “the knowledge you need to be saved.”

Romans 10:13-14 “for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

· Obviously a person won’t call on someone they don’t believe in.

· And they can’t believe in someone they’ve never heard about.

There are basic facts about Jesus that you need to know.

Things like HIS PERSON

· Truly man and Truly God

Things like HIS PERFECTION

· He came and perfectly fulfilled God’s righteous Law

Things like HIS PASSION

· He died on a cross to pay the debt for sin which He did not commit.

Things like HIS POWER

· Not only demonstrated in His miracles, but also in His resurrection from the

dead.

Things like HIS POSITION

· He is seated at God’s right hand and “God has made Him both Lord and

Christ.”

Things like HIS PLEA

· He said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will

give you rest.”

Jesus is a perfect savior who desires to save.

Those are just facts about Jesus.

· Born of a virgin

· Working miracles

· Dying on a cross

· Rising from the dead

· Ascending to heaven

· Coming again

Simple facts about Jesus.

You have to know those if you are to be saved.

Many of you have that academic knowledge of Jesus.

· Some of you don’t, and so it’s good you are here.

· But many of you have that.

· Nothing I just told you was a surprise.

But we want that type of knowledge.

And yet it’s not all the knowledge we want.

#2 INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE

I think you know the difference between these first two.

· I know most of your names.

· I know most of your faces.

And yet, if I were to make broad sweeping accusations against you tonight you might be tempted to say, “You don’t know me.”

What you mean is

· “You don’t really know me.”

· “You don’t intimately know me.”

· “You only know some facts about me, but there’s a lot more to me than you know.”

There is an intimate knowledge that I don’t have.

WELL THAT’S TRUE REGARDING JESUS ALSO.

There are a lot of people who have academic knowledge of Jesus,

Who don’t have intimate knowledge of Jesus.

That is the word Paul used in verse 10.

When he said, “that I may know Him”

There he used the word GINOSKO

“to know; understand; perceive; get a feel for”

It was actually a word used to describe

The physical relationship between a husband and a wife.

For example:

Luke 1:34 “Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

· The word there rendered “virgin” is literally “known not a man”

Matthew 1:25 “but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”

· There again, Joseph “knew her not”.

That doesn’t mean Joseph didn’t know who she was.

It doesn’t mean he didn’t know details or facts about her.

BUT HE DID NOT HAVE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF HER YET.

I know about Dak Prescott, but I don’t know him.

That’s what we want with Jesus.

We want more than academic knowledge, we want intimate knowledge.

· We want to know who He is, what makes Him tick.

· We want to know how He thinks.

· We want to know His desires and passions.

Jesus described this kind of knowledge

In relation to those who believe in Him.

John 10:14-15 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

There is an intimacy there.

Jesus lays down His life for them.

· They hear Jesus.

· They follow Jesus.

· They gain eternal life from Jesus.

· They will never perish.

· They are secure.

Any man can have academic knowledge of Jesus,

But intimate knowledge of Jesus

Is only given to those who believe in Him.

To them, Jesus reveals Himself.

We want that kind of knowledge too.

We don’t just want to know about Jesus, we want to know Him.

Now, what we learn in Philippians 3

Are two facts about that kind of knowledge.

1) INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE IS COSTLY

(7-8) “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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 so that I may gain Christ,”

You see that gaining intimate knowledge of Christ

Was something that cost Paul a great amount.

He was forced to let go of

· His former manner of life,

· His reputation,

· His treasures,

· His accomplishments etc.

In fact, he said it cost him “all things”.

We’ll talk more about that tomorrow,

But you see that intimate knowledge IS COSTLY.

And you know that.

If you get married you know that the relationship will come with costs.

· There are certain things you used to do that you can no longer do now that you are married.

· There are freedoms and liberties you will lose.

· There are toys and treasures you will lose.

It is costly to get married.

BUT…

We get married because it is worth it!

And that’s the second thing about intimate knowledge

2) INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE IS VALUABLE

(8) “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 so that I may gain Christ,”

Paul lost a great deal to know Christ,

But it was a cost he gladly paid

Because of the tremendous value of knowing Christ.

Daniel is going to talk about that tomorrow night.

BUT YOU SEE

There is academic knowledge of Jesus that you need.

There is intimate knowledge of Jesus that you need.

· It is both costly and valuable.

I would tell you another kind

#3 EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

In many ways this falls under the category of intimate knowledge

But I want to separate it in order to make sure you understand it.

What I mean by that is that it is a knowledge

That is gained through experience.

It is knowledge gained through living life with a person.

· Academic knowledge knows your parent’s name.

· Intimate knowledge knows your parents don’t like lying.

· Experiential knowledge has felt the pain of the punishment when you lied.

It is knowledge that has had a measurable effect on your life.

Paul speaks of that knowledge in verse 10

(10) “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.”

Paul is speaking of the things

· That he has experienced,

· Is experiencing,

· And will experience

Because of his relationship with Jesus.

1. He has a resurrected life.

2. He has suffering.

3. He will have death.

4. He will have physical resurrection.

These are the realities of the relationship.

These are even the PROOFS of the relationship.

FOR EXAMPLE

· If you do not have a resurrected life, you do not know Jesus.

· Even suffering can be a proof of a life that is in a relationship with Jesus.

· They are experiences that you would not have if you were not in a relationship with Jesus.

And this is a knowledge we also want.

The disciples who walked with Jesus didn’t just know about Him,

They knew Him intimately

And they experienced the same struggles He faced

Because they knew Him.

This is a knowledge we want too.

#4 COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE

This is the knowledge that WE ULTIMATELY STRIVE FOR.

To know Him fully.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

While we are all growing in this journey to know Christ,

NONE OF US YET KNOW HIM FULLY.

And that is what this weekend is about.

IT IS ABOUT KNOWING JESUS…MORE

We want to know Him academically and we want that to grow.

· We always want to know more about Him.

We want to know Him intimately and we want that to grow.

· To be His sheep and to know who He is and what He cares about.

We want to know Him experientially and we want that to grow.

· To walk with Him, follow Him, and know what it’s like to live like Him.

We want to know Him completely

· Which means we keep striving in those first 3 with all that we have.

This weekend it is our hope that you will be able to identify

Where you are in your journey of knowing Christ

And that you will strive to know Him more.

And then just one more question I want to ask you tonight.

WHY SHOULD I WANT TO KNOW HIM?

Because there is no salvation without knowing Him.

Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

You cannot be saved apart from knowing Christ.

· It doesn’t matter how religious you are.

· It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are.

· It doesn’t matter how good you think you are.

You cannot be saved without knowing Jesus.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

That is the danger.

· To stand at the judgment and hear Christ say – WE DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER

KNOWING JESUS IS NOT OPTIONAL.

You must know Him ACADEMICALLY

· The facts of the gospel that you may believe and confess.

You must know Him INTIMATELY

· For only His sheep are granted eternal life.

You must know Him EXPERIENTIALLY

· For true knowledge is measured by the effect He has on our life.

You must know Him COMPLETELY

· For He is the One we dwell with for all eternity.

So this weekend, our goal is to know Him.