Peter Brandon emphasizes the profound difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Him personally and experientially. He draws from Philippians 3:7-14, illustrating how the Apostle Paul counted all his gains as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, highlighting the cost of discipleship and the necessity of suffering to truly understand the power of His resurrection. Brandon challenges the congregation to reflect on their own relationship with Christ, urging them to seek an intimate and transformative knowledge of Him rather than mere intellectual understanding. He encourages believers to embrace the losses that come with following Christ, as they lead to a deeper fellowship with Him and a greater understanding of His glory. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a commitment to live out the reality of Christ in their lives, pressing toward the heavenly prize.

We're going to get right to the Lord and we're going to start reading at verse 7 and we'll read to verse 14. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable, or as some translate it, transformed here unto his death, by his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though it had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now the Lord will bless the reading of the scriptures to us. There are two ways in which we can know the Lord Jesus. First of all if I have a good mind I can know all about the facts and figures regarding the Lord Jesus. In other words to put it in a professional way you have a tremendous knowledge of Christology. Again if a person is familiar with the Lord Jesus he would like to know all about the types and the shadows. For instance in the types we see that certain men illustrate the Lord Jesus. In the shadows like the offerings everyone represents the Lord Jesus. And therefore we want to read the offerings and we want to read the types and we want to read the symbols like we have in the tabernacle in order to ascertain a correct understanding of Christ. Then we must go through the epistles and we must go through the Hebrews particularly and we must go through the Gospels so that we get in our mind the right understanding of Christ. But that doesn't mean to say that you know him. You know about him. So then when we come to the scriptures we find that there are two words. There is the word Gnosis which means to know intellectually. There is the word Epignosis which means to know experimentally. Now the word that's used all through this chapter is not Gnosis but Epignosis. To know experimentally and to know personally. Now I must ask myself and I must ask you a question. How much do you know of the Lord Jesus experimentally, personally and intimately? Can I repeat that? How much do you know of the Lord Jesus intimately, personally and experimentally? You see when we stand before the Beamer I believe that there will be a reward for that intellectual knowledge because it shows that we have gone into research. But the real reward will be the experimental knowledge. Now let me give you a case in point. A man died the other day who was a brilliant theologian. Now I mustn't say too much but if that man stood on this platform and gave you an outline on the personality of Christ it would be amazing. And you would leave that door and you would say something like this. How can a mind have such knowledge of Christ? When he came to a crisis and everything was put through the fire. The man collapsed. An old sister died quite recently and she had a good understanding of the Lord but she had this intimate and personal knowledge of the Lord. And when she was dying it was like heaven on earth. Now can you see the point? You can have an intellectual mind like a pumpkin and you can have a heart like a pea. So what we want is to get all in the mind right down into the experience. And once the experience is there then we can rejoice in the Lord. Another point that I feel is vital. You know the moment Christ becomes very precious to us then we have the fulfillment of that wonderful scripture. We've often used it in the gospel but now I'm going to give it its real meaning. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. Do you know what that means? First of all he won't be a stranger Christ he will be an intimate Christ. And then it means here feed the desires of your heart. Peace, joy, love, meet me. And then he says don't forget I'm hungry and you'll feed the desires of my heart. And therefore there is that lovely intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Now that's what I'm talking about. Now may I say something to the young people. Don't think this is above your head. You can have right now an intimate knowledge of the Lord and it can grow. And we who are older let's ask ourselves this question. How much experimentally do I really know of the Lord Jesus? Now Paul's going to give us his aspirations and you will note that most of the I's are personal. Because really this is a matter that we can share publicly but it has to be applied individually. Now the way we are going to look at it is quite simple. From 7 to 8 I'm going to call it the cost of the prize. Now why is it I'm using the word prize? Because obviously before the apostle was verse 14 I pressed toward the mark for the prize. So that we get the meaning it's the idea of a marathon runner in the Olympics. Now you should know all about that in this country, the Olympics. But in the Greek world when a man won he was immortalized and worshipped and that's why he wore the garland. And people would put themselves through the most protracting exercises in order to win. In fact some people actually died in their training. When the flag went down they had one thing before them the prize and therefore all the training was in order to get the prize. And when they were coming near the end most of the runners in the box would feel that their legs were like lead and their hearts would be thumping and the body kept saying no, no, no, no, no and the will kept saying yes, yes, yes. And then one man would move out of the box and he would stretch his neck. He wouldn't look by his side, he certainly wouldn't look behind forgetting those things which are behind. And he would press toward the mark and he would strain every muscle, exhaust every nerve in order to get to the tape victoriously. Now Paul had that in mind when he wrote this. And if you've got that in your mind you've got the idea that's here. So first of all the cost of the prize and then we're going to look at the contents of the prize. That's right in the middle of the narrative. And then we're going to look at the comprehension of the prize. That means the way to apprehend it, understand it and lay hold on it. So let's go. We'll start with verse 8 or verse 7. What things were gained to me those I counted loss. Now let's look at the cost of the prize, the nature of the loss. I have no doubt in saying this that if Paul had continued in Judaism he would have reached it up. Now Caiaphas was a high priest but as far as we know he did not come from the Aaronic priesthood. That means from the tribe of Aaron or Levi. So in the time of the Apostles the priests were not always taken from the tribe of Levi. And I believe I can say this with authority that if Paul had continued he would have become a high priest. And quite frankly in the day of the Apostles they were almost worshipped like God. In fact Josephus tells us if someone just touched his garment they wouldn't wash for a week. To think they touched the garment of the high priest. Now when Paul became a Christian, the moment he became a Christian all those gains went forever. And so you can see the nature of the loss. Now the extent of the loss. Let's look at verse 8 and we get some idea of the extent. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Now what does that mean? When Paul wrote this you mustn't imagine he was sitting in Caesar's palace. When Paul wrote this there was a man in the corner called Epaphroditus of his prison. He was chained to two soldiers. There would be two soldiers outside watching him continually. And therefore he was in bondage and real bondage. And that man could say rejoice in the Lord. You see he knew how to rejoice. Why? Because the spirit of glory was upon him. If ever you have to suffer for the cause of Christ the spirit of glory will rest upon you. Now here is the apostle in that prison. And there is Epaphroditus taking down the letter and his dictating. Now the apostle Paul if you look at him carefully had lost the joy of preaching. Now if you read through the Corinthian epistle especially chapter 1 and chapter 2 you will see how he delighted in preaching. And if you read 2 Corinthians chapter 4 you will see how this man was compelled to preach the love of Christ constrained him. But now public preaching was off and he was in prison. He lost that for the cause of Christ. Now if you go through all the epistles you will see how Paul loved to meet with the apostles and he loved to meet with the Christians. In fact on one occasion he waited seven days in order to break bread with the Ephesian Christians. And this shows how he loved fellowship with the Lord's people. But he had no fellowship. He was in prison. He had lost that. And then as you go through the scriptures you will find how that Paul loved teaching and praying with the Lord's people. In fact he uses an expression I don't even understand now. He prayed for the Galatians so that they might have Christ formed in them. And he says I do it just like a woman in labour. It meant that he had birth pangs within him. This is how much he loved to teach and preach and pray. And yet it was all over for the cause of Christ. You see he had not only lost the fact of becoming quite affluent among the Jewish people. But he had lost all his service in Christ. And there he was in prison. And everything that he gained, everything that he thought was wonderful he had lost. And now we must ask his attitude toward the loss. Now if you lose something, sometimes for the sake of Christ you can be sad. Many times I thought of the things I had lost and I thought inwardly, hmm, if I hadn't have been there, hmm, I could have been alright. You look at the losses and you feel a little sad about them. When Paul looked at all his losses and he had lost everything. Materially, socially and even spiritually, you feel like saying well Paul, what's your attitude to these losses? And he uses a word of vulgarity. You remember how we looked at the word dogs? Well this is almost the same word. But it's not so much the dogs, it's what they feed on. And it's not dung, it's much more vulgar than that. It's the filthy old offal that's maggot-ridden, that's thrown to the dogs and they eat. And therefore he looked at all his losses and he had lost everything. And then he says, how do I sum it all up? It's offal, it's that which is thrown to the dogs. Beloved, can I share this with you? If we are going to be used of Christ, we've got to learn to suffer. We've got to learn to lose life. Now can I ask you a question? Have you lost life? Do you live for the home? Do you live for the job? Do you live for the holiday? Or have you lost it? You see the Lord Jesus said, and I wish I could go into the details of this. He that loves his life shall lose it. What does he mean? Well if you love this life and all that relates to it, you won't have the Christ life. But when you lose this life, then Christ can be formed in you. Beloved, don't build palaces on earth. Lose it. We don't belong here. Which you'll see in a few moments, our politics, citizenship is in heaven. That's where we are. And the Lord Jesus who came from heaven knew the glories of heaven. He says lay up treasure in heaven. Do you know, and I want to say this to the young people before they really start life, if you caught a peep of heaven and all its glory, that would finish you for this world. And therefore the apostle says, I look at all these losses in comparison with that glory as awful, that which is thrown to the dogs. Now I know some of you might think, well brother Peter that's an exaggeration, that's very hard, but that's New Testament Christianity. Three years ago I was at Bexley and there were two rows of Chinese students. And may I say this, they knew what it was to rejoice in the Lord. One night they made me jealous. I was preaching on the glories of the Lord. They were rejoicing in it. So one night I said to them, would you stay behind? I'd love to chat with you. They said yes. And I shall never forget this. There they were about 20 of them, very meek, very lowly people. And I said how long you been here? They said three years. I said what are you doing? We're at the university. I said what are you studying? Oh we've finished our studies. We're doing our PhD. We're almost finished. I said what kind of church do you come from? Oh there's only one church. There's the free self church that belongs to the government and then there's the little house churches. We come from the house church. Oh good. I hear there's blessing. Oh yes. I said how many would there be? Oh we don't know. You see we're only allowed to meet in a house and when we get over 30 we have to start again. But they're starting all over, Beijing. Now I said could I ask a question? And would you be straight with me? What do you think of the Christianity that you've seen in Sydney? They wouldn't answer. Then I said now look. I'm not shockable. I want to know. Please tell me. They were quiet. Then one girl came forward and did this. I said what do you mean by that dear? Superficial. Superficial. Do you know that hit me like a ton of bricks. That summed it up all. I said now look. Can you expand on that please? And she was reluctant to do so. Well she said when we accept the Lord Jesus we lose everything. I said everything? Yes. When we have done our PhD because we are Christians we shall work at the till or sweep the floor all the days of our life. And then they all said with radiant faces we are ready for Him. Forgive me raising my voice. They looked at all the material comforts and said awful. They saw the loveliness of Christ and they said that's our prize. No wonder there's revival. Beloved if we said that we could see a transformation in all our meetings overnight. Counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Now having looked at the cost of the prize losing life. Let's look at the content. You will notice that the caption that I've given it is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And by the way the word excellency is good but the better word is the surpassing excellency. And that means nothing compares with it. That means all the treasures of this world are nothing in comparison with this. Then he goes into the details. First of all you will notice there are four features concerning the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And that is that I may win Christ. That I may know Christ. And that means that all that Christ intends for me in my body. That means if I may paraphrase it I have one personality and that personality is the personality that I'm going to have forever. I won't have this body. But your personality you will have forever. It's eternal. And therefore I want this personality to be filled to all its fullness with the beauty and the loveliness of Christ. And that's winning it. I hope everyone is going to say that. Look let me put it to you like this. You live in that body called the body of humiliation for no more than five seconds in comparison with eternity. Let's count. One, two, three, four, five and that's it. You've got the whole of eternity to live with Christ with a glorified body. But in that glorified body will be your personality. And the prize is forming Christ in your personality now. And then he will take it out and put it in a glorified body. And some of us will be more like the Lord Jesus than others. Do you know why? Because we have cultivated it now. Well let's go on and see this. Now there are three things he's going to share with us. Let's look at verse 8 again so we don't miss anything there. For doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now you will notice when you're dealing with Peter the order is reversed. It's Jesus Christ the Lord. But you will notice when you're dealing with Paul in the epistle, invariably it's Christ Jesus the Lord. When he mentions the word Jesus alone always remember it's to show his humanity and invariably to show his death upon the cross. But almost every time it's Christ Jesus the Lord. Now why? Peter met the Lord Jesus in life. Followed him carefully to the cross. Saw him die. Then witnessed the resurrection. Then saw the ascension and therefore it's Jesus Christ the Lord. Paul met him in the glory. Always remember that. He met him when all power had been given to him both in heaven and on earth. And then he traced him all the way back to the cross and all the way back to his birth. So he reverses the title Christ Jesus the Lord. And that is why Paul always begins with the resurrection and the glory. For that's where he met him and that's where you met him. You met the Lord Jesus first of all as the risen Lord and you trace him back to the cross. But you will never you will notice it's Christ Jesus the Lord because the moment he was saved he said a wonderful word Lord what wilt thou have me to do? And he knew him not only as saviour but as Lord. Now having said that he's going to show to us what it means now and I'm going to call this the contents of the prize. Yea doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and to count them but done that I may win Christ verse 9 and be found in him. That means to be constantly enjoying that position of being in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Lord. That means I don't want to be found trying to produce my own righteousness. Now it's a very strange thing we get saved by faith and lots of us think that we get sanctified by works but you never will. If you try and sanctify yourself you will find Romans 7 every day. Now we are saved by faith and we are sanctified by faith. The same principle that saves us is the same principle that sanctifies us. Now isn't it relaxing doesn't it give us risk to say something like this I can't make myself holy but the Lord can and I've trusted him to save me. Now I'm going to trust him to make me holy and I'm going to live a life and it's not going to be dictatorial and demanding I'm doing it because he loves me and gave himself for me. Doesn't that lift the burden? You know I was so tired last night and so tired this morning I said to the Lord how am I getting through those three lectures but the Lord says what have you been teaching people? Oh to trust now he says you trust me and I'll get you through it. So you see we have to bring it right the way through into every detail of our lives to trust him and that's what he meant that I might be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith it's living the life of faith now that's the first section of the content now beloved when it speaks about knowing Christ intimately I know how you feel I don't think I don't feel it I do we're all saying something like this well experimentally I know very little about it but I want to know him I don't want to be a defeated Christian I want to be a victorious Christian I don't want the Lord to come and find me a half-baked Christian I want him to come and I want to be in a state of the fullness of Christ but how is it going to be done by faith trusting him obeying him say Lord I can't do it but you can do it and he will do it if you're left why because the Holy Spirit is within you and his longing to form Christ within you and who is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of God and because he is in you you have the potential power now to be like the Lord Jesus well let's go on and now the excitement begins that I may know him and the power of his resurrection now what does this mean now when I first read this years ago know him I thought it would be better if Paul had said and the power of creation what power when we look out there you know I've been laughing at the astronomers old professor used to tell us when I was at school that we have come to the edge of space and they thought they had conquered it but I don't know have you been reading astronomy of late that they have discovered that they haven't come to the edge of space but there outside of the realm of space as they thought are galaxies and galaxies and galaxies of stars and they're all beaten all they say it's not a trillion years but it's a trillion trillion trillion years old how stupid can they be but can you see the point that I'm driving at if he said the power of creation because we are materialistic we are saying that would be power but it's the power of his resurrection now why, now will you bear with me while I go into the details of this when God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead he raised him from the dead in a different way in which the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead when he raised Lazarus from the dead he died again when God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead he raised him from the dead in the power of an endless indissoluble life there's more descriptions but I think if I do that I will only confuse you but it means he raised him in such a way that death now was totally impossible he was living in the power of an endless life he came in with a body so that he may taste death for every man but now he has been raised from the dead in the power of an endless life but it means more than that ooh that's very superficial wonderful Paul calls us the first fruits that's why we must never throw away Leviticus now what does that mean when a Jew had a wonderful harvest he would go to his harvest and he would say where's the best wheat and there he would look for his big ears then he would cut a sheaf an enormous sheaf and then he would bind it together and he would look at it and say doesn't that look lovely I'm going to give that to the priest then he would take that sheaf of corn and all his neighbours would be looking and standing that looks lovely ooh what a lovely sheaf of corn going to the priest and then the priest would look at it and he would be very pleased because he was going to consume some of it and he would say if his name was Levi you're going to have a wonderful harvest why that was the first fruit and then he would look and smile and then he would wave it before the Lord and then the priest would wave it before the Lord and he would say now when God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead he was the first fruits and that simply means he was raised with a resurrected body but more then he went through principalities and powers and as he was going through he was called the forerunner what does that mean well a forerunner always has hundreds behind him and when he went in he was the forerunner and it meant hundreds would go in behind him and then when he went right through principalities and powers right through the chamber of angels right into the very home of the glorious trinity that we call the father's house where the throne of God is and that throne is a throne that will be he never toppled the Lord said to him thou art my son this day have I begotten thee he said from this moment all thine enemies will be made thy footstool and he made him the head of a new creation and that's where our head is in heaven now why is this powerful in that man at God's right hand there is the solution to the world's problem and that is his second coming as king of kings and lord of lords but more after the world has had a thousand years of rain just like a lady folds up a curtain is going to fold up this earth at the end probably of the 7000th year and then he is going to build a new heaven and a new earth and the one that's going to build a new heaven and a new earth is that man in the glory so can you see when God raised him from the dead when God received him up into heaven in that man are all the purposes and the counsels of God so it is the moment of absolute power when God raised him from the dead now here is the thing that will take your breath away the same Holy Spirit that raised him from the dead let me give you the verse Romans 8 if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling you actually dwells in you think of the same Holy Spirit that took him from the grave the first fruits the same glorious spirit that sent him through principalities and powers the same Holy Spirit that put him right at the right hand of God on high that man in whom all the counsels and purposes of God are found the great Amen the one that put him there is dwelling in your life now what does that Holy Spirit want to do now I wish really I could call a boy up but I must not do this because it is all recorded but this is what he wants to do year by year he wants to invade your personality with the power of his resurrection that means the resurrection life, the endless life, the eternal life, radiating through your personality isn't that wonderful shouldn't that cause us to rejoice in the Lord but then he goes on yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord verse 10 that I may know him the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings now what does this mean the Lord Jesus went to glory through suffering he couldn't go there apart from the cross therefore Hebrews 12 teaches us who through the joy that was set before him endured the cross the Lord Jesus went through principalities and powers the Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God but he got there through suffering now beloved we have the pleasure, the privilege the honour to suffer now what does that mean, there are three stages that I want to share with you at the cross is salvation and you'll remember the moment and we've been asking you to rejoice in the moment when you saw Christ dying for your sins on the cross is the secret of consecration you will never be fully consecrated until you realise that your old man has been crucified and that you are a completely new being and then there comes this moment where you lose life and that means you put yourself under the cross and you become a disciple now can I ask you a question, have you been at the cross yes do you see that you're on the cross, yes here it comes are you ready are you under the cross are you under the cross have you lost life or do you really want it, you know dear friends there was a brother that I met and I heard him worship Sunday morning a young man only 35 and he was an elder in this local church at Bishop's Stortford and when I got home I said to the brother that I was staying with that man had a touch of the spirit, yes every time he worships he takes us right into the presence of God something beautiful about that man and his wife and children he said I'll tell you the secret he has a very responsible job now and last year he was asked to become a director of one of the largest firms in Britain and this is what the chairman said we want to give you a Rolls Royce we want to give you a 6-7 bedroom house we want to increase your pay three fold we want to give you a pension that will keep you in luxury until you die until you die and he put his head down he said sir thank you very much but I must refuse it he said I am a Christian and I'm told to lose life if you don't mind I would like the job that I've got but I don't want to go any higher and would you mind if I only served you four days a week and then I would like to spend the time helping my local church he knew what it was to have fellowship with him in suffering and he had the beauty of the Lord in him may God help us to take that seriously fellowship with him in his suffering and the man who wrote it was in prison and then made conformable unto his death what does that mean well it has two meanings first of all it means that the apostle could die and right at this moment the death sentence was over him but Paul believed at this moment that he would be released and he was released but with the death sentence over him he wasn't discouraged do you know what he said he wanted to be a drink offering now what does that mean for the young people we talk about a drink offering but what does it mean I wish really we had some wine here so I could explain in detail what a drink offering was when an Israelite was going to worship not a sin offering not a trespass offering when he was going to worship a worship offering was the burnt offering the meal offering and the thanksgiving offering that they called the peace offering and invariably when it was a thanksgiving offering what we call the peace offering there would be all parts of the animal there and they would eat some of the parts there would be some of the meal offering the serious offering all there and it would be burning and some of them would be eaten and then he would take a quart of wine like that lovely wine and then he would do something that was really dramatic he would take it and pour it on the offering do you know what he was saying I've given this to you oh God and I'm so happy to do it he did it in joy and when the Lord was going to die upon the cross he had the same joy in doing it now says the apostle there's the sacrifice of my master and if I'm sacrificed it will just be like a drink offering it will be poured upon that great offering and I do it with great joy isn't that beautiful conformed unto his death but it's deeper than that if you look carefully you will notice that this if you look at verse 11 if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of or out of the dead so that it not only speaks of martyrdom but it speaks of spiritual death now what does that mean the apostle had seen very clearly that he had died to sin when the Lord Jesus died that doesn't mean to say that he never sinned again it doesn't mean that he had died to a sinning life and he was laying hold to that for the word confirmed should be transformed it simply means by the appropriation of that death I'm making it good to me so basically it means that he had died to the life of sinning secondly it means he had died to the whole law of principle that means Judaism couldn't touch him it couldn't be revived forgive me shouting this it's so important but he had died completely to Judaism and the law and brethren we must die to it too there is no holiness and no salvation in law keeping but it means something more than that the world system in which we live is filled with vulgarity if ever we are living in a day when the devil is beginning to reveal himself it's now beloved we are under serious attack that's why many of our boys and girls are wandering away from the faith that's why many of our brothers and sisters are growing cold it's because we are coming right near to the coming of the lord and satan is attacking us the whole of the evangelical church is under terrible attack from legalists and the liberals and even in some local churches now the whole of this world system is the system of a congregation of people a better word an aggregate of people that is separated from god but more it is not only an aggregation of people separated from god it's a company of people I am using another word so that I am simplifying myself it is a company of people that is deceived unknowingly by the devil and thirdly it's a group of people that is totally entertained by satan both intellectually and politically and socially and morally and when we look at that entertainment forgive me using a crude word it stinks you know when I walk through London early in the morning and I see crowds of young boys and girls from broken homes with needle marks all over them and some of them die before they are 21 I begin to see the wickedness of the system when I go into schools to speak to children and I see a line of boys and girls lining up for a cuddle from the head mistress because they come from broken homes I see the wickedness of this world beloved we have died to him the cross has crucified the world we are finished with it we belong to a new society we belong to the church of God isn't that wonderful and therefore being conformed to his death means I die to the principle of sinning I die to the principle of the law in order to produce holiness I die to the evil system of this world and all of us should be saying hallelujah we are made conformable unto his death now let's go on how are we going now to get this Christ life formed in us