All right, brethren, let's go
to Philippians chapter 3. Now if you knew that you were about
to die in just a few hours, what would your one desire be
right now? If you were going to die in just
a few hours, what would your one desire be right now? Paul said in verse eight, yea
doubtless, and 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 to count them but done, 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, my faith. What is your life? What is your life? What is it to come, or what is to come for you after
this life? How can you be accepted of God? How can this life have purpose
for you? And how can you have hope for
the life to come? I pray God would make each of
us here be able to answer all of those questions with one simple
answer, to be found in Christ. That's the answer to every one
of those questions. What is your life? What is your
life? Before the Lord Jesus Christ,
revealed himself to Paul, Paul's life was his religious pedigree
and his religious works. He said there in verse four,
he said, I might also have confidence in the flesh. He was warning
him again. He had done it many times. He
said, it's not grievous to me to repeat the same thing to you
over and over and over for you it's safe. Warning him about
the concision, about the evil workers, the dogs that were putting
confidence in the flesh. And he said, I might have more
confidence in the flesh than anybody. Verse four, if any other
thinker that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. It was touching
the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. That
was Paul's life right there. But life is not in external religious
works. Life's not in external religious
works. Circumcised the eighth day, maybe
somebody sprinkled you or baptized you as an infant or maybe there's
some other ceremony as an adult. Those things are not our life.
They're not our life. Life's not in our tribe. It's not the family we're born
into. It's good to love biological
family, but we can love biological family and it not be the love
of God. We have to be born into the family
of God, born again of God into the family of God. Our righteousness
is not by works. We can't look at anything good
we've done It's not our zeal, how faithfully we've attended
the services and our zeal for our religion. That's not our
life. Those things were once gained to Paul, but when Christ
revealed himself to Paul, he said in verse 7, where things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Somebody might
say, well, I don't have any confidence in religion at all. Well, what's
your life? Your life is what you did today. Your life is what you have planned
to do tomorrow. And your life's what you have
planned to do next year. Your life is in getting gang. Turn over with me to James chapter
four. James chapter four. Here's what our life is, James
4, 13. He says, go to now, ye that say
today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas you know
not what shall be on the morrow. You don't know what will be tomorrow.
So what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time, then vanishes away. For that you ought to say,
if the Lord will, we shall live. And if the Lord will, we shall
do this or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings,
and all such rejoicing is evil. When young, it seems like we
have a long It seems like life is long. We have short-term goals. We have long-term goals. So we're
always having to wait, and that makes it seem like time's just
dragging by, having to wait on things to come that we want to
happen, that we want to see happen. But the older we get, the more
we realize life is really short. Time goes by really fast, really
fast. Not any of us know the day that
God's appointed for us to die. It could be today, it could be
tomorrow. If the Lord's appointed it today,
or if he's appointed my death tomorrow, or if he's appointed
me to have a long life, at the most, I only have about 25 more
years left. About 25 more years. Either way,
that's really short. Really short. Psalm 103.15 says,
As for man, his days are as grass, as the flower of the field, so
he flourisheth. For the wind passes over it,
and it's gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Our memory won't even last when we're gone. People won't even
remember you when you're gone. You could drive by the old house
places where people used to family. There was a big old house over
here on the way to Princeton and I passed by it and it's just
run down and weeds has grown up all around a big, like a mansion.
And I just thought about the family that probably once was
young there and thrived there and the place thereof just about
to fall down. Another generation or so, people
wouldn't even know it was there. Man's like to vanity, his days
as a shadow that passeth away. Nothing about our sinful flesh,
nothing about this world will last. Absolutely nothing. Our life will be over about as
fast as a morning shadow disappears. It'll be over that fast, like
a vapor. Well, what's next for you after
this life? What's next after this life?
God has set the time when we shall die, every one of us. But
that won't be the end. Hebrews 9.27 says, as is appointed
unto men wants to die, but after this, the judgment. We are all
going to stand before God. Every one of us here have an
appointment that God has set when we shall die. We will keep
that appointment and we all will stand before the judgment seat
of God. Do you ever think about that?
That is real. We're going to stand before God
very soon. Every one of us. We may think
we're not as bad as others, and that may give us a little confidence,
but really it does no good to judge ourselves by others. We
all personally must stand before the judgment seat of God. God says through Paul in Romans
14, 10, why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set
it not, thy brother? for we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it's written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then, every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. Christ is the righteousness we
must have. He's the righteousness we must
have because God has appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man. That's who he's ordained and
he's given us assurance in that he raised him from the dead.
God knows every secret thing. It's called the counsel of the
heart. We don't even have to speak it.
Nobody ever even has to know about it. He knows the counsel
of our hearts. He knows what's in our hearts.
And God's going to make that manifest in the judgment. Now, if you're a child of God
who he's created a new heart in so that your only confidence
is Christ, that's the best news you ever heard. Because you may
pass through this life being condemned, but God will vindicate
you when you stand. Christ will stand for you, and
you'll be robed in His righteousness in that day. But now, if you're
not in Christ, and He's not your only hope, your only confidence,
God will make manifest the counsels of the heart in that day. And every work's going to be
manifest, and here's what all our works are going to have in
common if we stand there outside of Christ. Everything we ever
did will come short of the glory of God. It's going to come short
of the glory of God. Look over at Revelation 20. Scripture declares there are
the books That's where God records all
the counsels of the heart. That's where he records all the
works of those who are trusting in something of themselves. And those that are judged out
of the books shall perish in that day. Because God won't accept
any who come to God trusting in self. He won't accept anybody. Now watch what he says here,
Revelation 20 verse 11. I saw a great white throne. You
and I are going to see that throne too. All are. All are. And him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened. And another
book was opened, which is the book of life. Those found in that book, the
book of life, they're going to be found robed in Christ's righteousness. That's where you want to be found,
in His righteousness alone. But the dead were judged out
of those things which are written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to their
works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. A lot
of people think that when you die physically that's it. That's
not it. There's a judgment that comes,
and if we're not found in Christ only, if we're judged out of
the books and judged according to our works, there's a second
death called the lake of fire. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So our
life is a vapor. That's what it is. It's a vapor.
It should be gone like that. But then we've got to stand before
God in the judgment. Now, how can a sinner be just
with God? How will God accept you and me,
the sinner? Paul said, and I remind you now,
Paul is an aged believer here. This is one of his last letters.
He's in prison. He's writing this from prison.
And this is what he said, I want to be found in Christ alone. I want to be found in Christ
alone, having his righteousness alone. Why is that a necessity? God is holy, holy, holy. We know a little bit of what
that's like, but not really much. It's so unlike anything we are.
Holy, holy, holy. God requires perfection to be
accepted. Do you realize you and I have
never seen anything perfect? You've never laid your eyes on
anything that's perfect. God's perfect. And God requires
perfection. Perfect righteousness. Now no
sinner is going to be accepted trusting in anything of us. That's
just obvious. Isn't that obvious? We're not
going to be able to be accepted of God trusting in anything of
us. A person could have done a whole
lot of good in humanity. He could have been recognized
by humanity as being a great benevolent person who just did
great things for men. But if they meet God in their
own merit, they will not be accepted, be
cast out. Now, God's saints know this.
We know we dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean
on Jesus' name. And here's why this is so, of
you who believe Him, and it's so of you sitting here right
now that don't believe Him. The reason we must be found in
Christ alone is this. There is no difference. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. To not believe that is what pride
is. And only by pride cometh contention.
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's
no difference in any of us. God only accepts those made righteous
in his Son. That's the reason the Son of
God came into this world. And Sunday will be the day that
the world recognizes as the birth of the Lord Jesus. Why did he
come? The angel told Mary, she shall
bring forth the Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for
he shall save his people from their sins. That's why he came. He had to come because there
was no other way God would accept his people. No other way. Christ
revealed to Paul that Christ is the righteousness of God.
Christ is the righteousness of God. The law is holy, just, and
good. What's the end of that law? That
law was given to tell me and you to shut our mouths in guilt
to know we're not wholly just and good. and to show us the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's only son, is holy, just, and good. He is the righteousness of the
law. The end of the law, the end purpose for which God gave
the law, is to say, this is my only begotten son. He is my righteousness. He is the righteousness of that
law. It's him. That's what the Pharisees
were doing. They were saying, we don't want
him, but we want the law, and we want to come to God in what
we've done. Paul, before God saved him, was
saying, I don't want Christ, but I want to come to God trusting
that I was baptized, trusting that I was of this tribe, and
trusting that my zeal, and trusting in these things that I did. And the Lord said, all of these
things you've taken, you wouldn't know anything about circumcision
if I hadn't given it to you. There wouldn't be such a thing
as a tribe of Israel if I hadn't given it to you. There wouldn't
be a tribe of Benjamin if I hadn't named them Benjamin. There wouldn't
be a law for you to say, to boast that you're blameless sin if
I hadn't given that law. And God said, and the reason
I gave all of that is to say, my son is Israel, my son is Benjamin,
my son is the righteousness of the law, my son is the circumcision
who circumcises you with the circumcision made without hands.
He's the one it all declared. But when Christ revealed that
to Paul, Verse 8, Paul said, I count all things lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. He said,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And he said,
now wait a minute. I hadn't lost anything. It's
all done. It was all done. That's all it
was. I suffered that loss that I might win Christ and be found
in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithful obedience of God's own Son, Christ
Jesus, the righteousness which is of God, that righteousness
God Himself sent to this earth to be the righteousness of His
people. It's given freely to those that believe on Him. Paul said, I want to know Him. Don't you know Him, Paul? You've
been in the faith a while. I want to know Him. I want to
know the power of His resurrection. I want to know the fellowship
of His suffering. I want to be made conformable unto His death,
if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. And it's not as though I had
already attained. Either were already perfect.
We won't be that way until we lay aside this body of sin and
we are perfectly conformed to his image. That's what he's saying,
I'm not there yet. But I'm following after, if that
I may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ
Jesus. I count not myself to have apprehended
brethren, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind. He didn't say, I put so much confidence in my
law keeping, how I can't, I don't know if
I'll ever be forgiven of that. He said, no, forget that, it's
behind me. Well, I've sinned so much. He
said, I forget that, it's behind me. See all that stuff he listed
there? That's the greatest sin. That's
the greatest sin there is. The Lord said the harlots and
the publicans would go in before the Pharisees and the scribes.
Coming to God in those things, that's the worst sin there is.
Paul said, the sin that I was committing, I put it behind me. I put it behind me and I reach
forth to those things that are before. I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." You
know, everything God the Father gives His people is in Christ.
Everything is in Christ. I want to be found in Him. Everything
He gives us is in Christ. Colossians 119, it pleased the
Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Ephesians 1.3,
before the foundation of the world, God the Father blessed
His people with all spiritual blessings in Christ according
as He chose us in Him. 2 Corinthians 5.21, He made Him
sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. It's not in us, it's in Him. Romans 3.24, His people were
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. 1 John 3.15, He was manifested
to take away our sins and in Christ is no sin. That's why Paul said, I want
to be found in Him. In Him is no sin. He said in
Ephesians 1.7, In whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Colossians
2.10 says, you are complete in Him. In Him. What about our sanctification? 1 Corinthians 1.2 calls us the
church of God which is sanctified in Christ Jesus. The veil that was upon our hearts
done away in Christ by the Spirit of our Lord. Galatians 3.26,
we're children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. He's raised
us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. He said in Philippians 2.1, our
consolation and comfort of love is in Christ. Philippians 3.3,
there he says, we're the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Philippians 3.14, he said, the prize of the high calling of
God is in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1.10, in the fullness
of time, God shall gather together in one all things in Christ. Everything God has for his people
is in Christ. That's why Paul says I want to
be found in Him. Not having any righteousness
of my own, but His only. His only. He said, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, I don't even really
live. But Christ lives in me. And the
life I now live, I live by the faithful keeping, preserving,
upholding, Christ Jesus, who loved me and gave Himself for
me. I pray this will be God's predestinated hour, that He might
send the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. That you might see up to this
point, I've had no life. That you might see up to this
point, I've just been in danger of the judgment this whole time.
I want to be found in Christ. I want to be found in Christ.
Oh, that God would bring us to say, I want to be found
in Him. Believe on Him now. Believe on
Christ right now. Well then, when this is so, and
He's brought you there, hey, we have a purpose to our life. and we have a hope for the life
to come. Before God saves a sinner, his life has no more purpose
in it than a wild beast. I watch these deer out here.
We've got a lot of deer that come up, and they'll come up
right here, and they'll just lay down right here in the yard. That deer's life consists
of eating, sleeping, breeding, and dying, and that's it. That's
what he does every day. That's what his life consists
of. And until we're born again of God, our life has no more
purpose to it than a wild beast. Well, tomorrow we're going to
do this. Next year we're going to do this. We're going to get
gain here. We're going to get gain there.
We're going to just keep doing it over and over. We're going
to copulate. We're going to procreate. Then
we're going to get old and die. And we think that'll be it. It's
just the life of a beast. When God reveals Christ in his
child, then we have an anchor of our soul. Then we have a purpose,
our own self to personally worship God. through His Son to diligently
seek after the Lord to grow in His grace and in the knowledge
of Him. That's what we want now. That's
what we just read. Paul said, I want to know Him.
I want to know the power of His resurrection. I want to know
the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to be made conformable
to His death. I want to be resurrected one
day from the dead. I haven't gotten there yet. I'm
not resurrected from the dead. I want to know Him more. Now our purpose is to bear witness
of Christ. That's our purpose. You know
how we do that? Scripture calls brethren helpers
of one another's joy. You know what you're doing? Every
time I've ever come to this pulpit, I'm trying to set your affection
off of this world and off of the things of this life on Christ
above. Because you're dead and your
life is hid with Christ in God. That's what I'm trying to do.
And what we're doing for one another is we're trying to remind
one another, this is not our life. Christ is our life. We're trying to remind one another
to look to Him. We're trying to remind one another,
forgetting the things that are past, press toward the mark. Look to Him and press toward
the mark. Could Paul go back and be uncircumcised? He told the brethren, if he called
you and you've been circumcised, don't try to be uncircumcised.
If he called you and you're uncircumcised, don't try to be circumcised.
He's saying don't go back and try to do what's done. Forget
the things that are behind and press toward the mark. If we won't do that with one
another, we're not doing that our own selves personally. We're
holding on to something back there. You mark that down. And if you're holding on to something
back there, you got no hope there. Forget the things that are past.
Now, our purpose is to give this gospel to dead, dying sinners. Because it's through you He's
already called that the Lord's going to call out the rest of
His lost sheep. That's our purpose now. Our life doesn't consist
of what we'll do today and what we'll do tomorrow and how we'll
get gain and how we'll save up and how we'll put everything
in the can and sit on the can. That ain't what our purpose is
now. Our purpose is to spend everything
God gives us to spread his gospel because when he gets the last
one called out, we're going home. We seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness knowing our Heavenly Father knows the
things we need in this life. Now our trials even have a purpose. Before it was just bad luck. Before it was just karma. Before
it was just whatever we chalked it up to. Now we know it's our
Sovereign Lord, our Savior, our righteousness working all things
together for our good according to His purpose to teach us our
sin and our need of Him. To teach us our flesh is grass
and He is our life and our righteousness. That might be overly simplistic
to you, but that's what He's teaching us every single trial
you go through. Now, His gospel is more important
than anything else in this world to us. Anything else. Beloved, you could have given
your children much more if you would have went away of the world. But my prayer is that one of
these days, God will make our children know the reason we raised
them up under the gospel, the reason we brought them here,
and the reason we had them sitting under the preaching of the Word,
is because our one desire is that they might know that Christ
is the one thing needful. Do you realize this, brethren?
I know you do, but I want our children to know this. Christ
is that good part. He's the one thing, the one thing
that will not be taken from you in this world. Everything else
you have, your body, your stuff, whatever you accumulate in this
life, is going to be taken from you. Not Christ. He's the one thing. That's what
he told Martha. He said, Mary, he's the one thing
needful and she's chosen that good part which shall not be
taken away. And when Christ is our one righteousness,
then we have a good hope for the life to come. In verse 20,
Paul said, Our conversation, that is our citizenship, is in
heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself. That's our good hope. Now, each of us know older people,
you have older family members, you have older neighbors, who
have no desire whatsoever to hear of spiritual things, whatsoever. They spent their whole life living
like a beast, maybe they accomplished a lot of things, maybe they have
a great name in the world, maybe they're, you know, as far as
men go, maybe they're great men. But they are near the end of
their life now, and the only thing they have is a fearful
dread of death and the judgment. Don't let that be you. Don't let that be you. Turn with
me to Ecclesiastes 11. Good, verse 7, Ecclesiastes 11,
7. Truly the light is sweet. We're
talking about some natural things here, some things in this earth.
Truly the light is sweet. Pleasant thing, a pleasant thing
it is for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man live many years
and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of
darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. Ecclesiastes
11.9, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart
cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou
that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from
thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood
and youth are vanity. Remember now, thy creator, in
the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shouldst say, I have no pleasure in them. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. And somebody sitting
here might say, well, that's to the youth. I'm not the youth.
You're as young right now as you'll ever be. That includes
me and you too. calling Him right now, as young
as you'll ever be right now. And you don't ever, ever arrive
to where you stop calling on Him and seeking Him. That's what
Paul's saying, I have not yet arrived. When Christ is your
righteousness, but then you have a good hope for the life to come.
2 Thessalonians 2 16 said our Lord Jesus Christ himself and
God even our father has loved us and he's given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. That's everlasting comfort. It is everlasting consolation.
I mean when you got real tears pouring out of your eyes and
you can't lift up your eyes to heaven. If you have Christ, you have
an everlasting consolation. Underneath it all, you've got
an everlasting consolation. And you have a good hope through
grace. And no matter what we face, He
will comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word
and work. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness through faith. One of these days
the Son of Man is going to come. He's going to come in His glory
with all the holy angels with Him, and He's going to sit upon
His throne of glory. And He's going to gather before
Him all the nations, and He's going to separate them one from
another, just like a shepherd dividing his sheep from the goats.
And He's going to set the goats on His left hand, and He's going
to set the sheep on His right hand. and he's going to turn
and say to the sheep, then shall the king say unto them on his
right hand, come ye blessed of my father. Our Lord is always glorified
in the Father. He doesn't even take the credit
for all that He did for us. The King shall say, Come ye blessed
of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Turn over to Revelation
21. What's the crown of life? People
got a lot of different ideas on what the crown of life is.
The crown of life is life with Christ forever. the crown of
life. It's life. It's life with Christ
forever. Revelation 21 3, I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with
men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. There's the crown of life right
there. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me,
It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son." If you're a believer, and you're cast down,
if you're in prison, where Apostle Paul was when he wrote this,
forget the things that are behind. Reach forth to the mark. Press
toward Christ the mark. And if you've never believed,
believe on Christ right now. Believe Him right now. Listen
to this. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is athirst say,
Come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. I pray God will bless that. Father, thank you for this word.
Lord, we ask you, bless it to every heart here. There's not
anybody hearing this that does not need it. There's not anyone
sitting here that does not need to be found in Christ only. Lord,
we ask you to bless it. We ask you to make us hear and
believe every word. Make us seek you personally. Make us have one desire to be
found in Christ alone. Help us, Lord, to forget and
help us to press on. Help us to look straight ahead
to Christ. Lord, make him our life. Make
Him the life of our children. Forgive us, Lord, for looking
back, looking to ourselves, looking to this world. And make us look
to Christ. Make us have one desire to be
found only in Christ. Lord, thank You for Your Son.
Thank You, thank You, thank You for Your Son. It's in His name
we ask it. Amen.