Intimate Communion With Christ
The sermon emphasizes the importance of knowing Christ intimately through the Holy Spirit and experiencing various circumstances that reflect God's glory.
F.B. Meyer emphasizes the profound intimacy that believers can have with Christ, portraying Him not as a distant figure but as a constant companion who knows us intimately. He highlights that true knowledge of Christ comes through the Holy Spirit, allowing us to experience His presence in both joyful and challenging times. Meyer encourages believers to seek a deep, personal relationship with Christ, understanding that every experience, whether in sorrow or joy, reveals different facets of His glory. He stresses the importance of valuing this relationship above all else, as knowing Christ surpasses all worldly gains and leads to true righteousness through faith.
Text
We may know Him personally, intimately, face to face. Christ does not live back in the centuries, nor amid the clouds of heaven: He is near us, with us, compassing our path and our lying down, and acquainted with all our ways. But we cannot know Him in this mortal life except through the illumination and teaching of the Holy Spirit. . . and we must surely know Christ, not as a stranger who turns in to visit for the night, or as the exalted King of men,--there must be the inner knowledge as of those whom He counts His own familiar friends, whom He trusts with His secrets, who eat with Him of His bread (Psalm xli. 9).
To know Christ in the storm of battle; to know Him in the valley of shadow; to know Him when the solar light irradiates our faces, or when they are darkened with disappointment and sorrow; to know the sweetness of His dealing with bruised reeds and smoking flax; to know the tenderness of His sympathy and the strength of His right hand--all this involves many varieties of experience on our part, but each of them, like the facets of a diamond, will reflect the prismatic beauty of His glory from a new angle (The Epistle to the Philippians, p. 162-63).
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, and may 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 (Philippians 3:8-11).
Sermon Outline
- The Nearness of Christ
- The Varieties of Experience
- The Value of Knowing Christ
- Counting all else as loss
- Gaining Christ through faith and suffering
Key Quotes
“Christ does not live back in the centuries, nor amid the clouds of heaven: He is near us, with us, compassing our path and our lying down, and acquainted with all our ways.” — F.B. Meyer
“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” — F.B. Meyer
Application Points
- We must prioritize knowing Christ above all else, even if it means suffering and faith.
- The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in illuminating and teaching us about Christ.
- Experiencing various circumstances can help us reflect God's glory and know Christ more intimately.