Philippians chapter 3, and tonight
I want us to look at verses 12 through 14. The title of this
message is, Pursuing the Prize. Philippians chapter 3, I want
to begin as always by reading the passage that we will be looking
at. The Apostle Paul is the author,
the writer. He is in prison in Rome. The church in Philippi is 800
miles away. They have sent a gift to him. And the book of Philippians,
in many ways, is a thank you letter thanking them for the
gift that they have provided for him. But as he writes to
them, he does more than just say, thank you. He gives them
instruction in the faith and this passage is really at the
heart of what he has to say to them regarding sanctification.
So beginning in verse 12, not that I have already obtained
it or have already become perfect, but I press on. so that I may
lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus."
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet.
But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize. of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus. In these verses, the Apostle
Paul compares the Christian life to an athletic event and specifically
to a race. The race was run inside of a
large stadium before the watching eyes of a cheering throng And
as Paul makes this comparison of the Christian life and athletics,
everyone in Philippi could easily see the picture that Paul is
painting on the canvas of their mind. They could easily imagine
the runners widening their stride and pumping their arms and straining
their legs, and with the pounding of their heart, I mean, these
verses literally drip with the sweat of athletes, and it's intended
to carry over to our Christian life. It said, a picture is worth
a thousand words. And here Paul gives a picture
of the Christian life. He gives a picture of sanctification
that is so clear that it is of great assistance to us on how
I will follow Christ. All this imagery stands behind
these verses in Philippians 3. And in order to advance in personal
holiness and godliness, we must understand from these verses
that it requires discipline and dedication and concentration. that it requires great effort
and expenditure of motion to become like Christ. That there's no let go and let
God here. There's no passive view of the
Christian life. This is one of the most aggressive
passages in the New Testament that pictures what is required
of us. Paul is not cruising in his Christian
life. He's not coasting. He's actually
pressing on and pushing forward in his Christian life. You'll
note that these verses are autobiographical as Paul relates this in first
person as Paul really is opening up, after giving us his testimony
in verses 4 through 11, he now continues in this first person
pronoun I. Six times in verses 12 through
14, and we see the first person singular pronoun I. Four times
in verse 12 alone, we see I. And once in verse 13, and once
in verse 14, Paul is bearing his heart and bearing his soul
personally with us in these verses. And each and every one of us
here tonight who are believers in Jesus Christ, we ought to
be able to place ourselves into these verses and, as it were,
come alongside the Apostle Paul and jog with him, if you will. And as we read these verses,
it ought to have the effect for every one of us to widen our
stride and to press on in the Christian life to become more
like Christ. Now, concerning the race of faith,
and just still by way of introduction, I want you to know that the starting
blocks of this race is the new birth, and the track is the narrow
path that leads to life. The length is lifelong obedience
in pursuing Christ. The effort is personal responsibility
to run this race. No one else can run this race
for you. The rules for this race are found
in the Word of God. The finish line is our death
or the return of Christ. The progressive, the progress
forward is becoming like Christ. And the strength that we need
is provided by the Holy Spirit. And so, if you're a true believer
in Jesus Christ, Paul's testimony here is your testimony. It is
my testimony, as we would vicariously place ourself into these verses. And by way of introduction, I
just need to ask you this question, are you in the race? Have you
gotten out of the rat race? Are you in the right race? Do
you know the Lord? And are you pushing ahead in
your Christian life? Can you track your progress?
Do you see how far you have advanced in your Christian life over the
last month, over the last several months, and over the last year? And are you riveted and focused
upon Jesus Christ? Are you pressing on to the finish
as you run this race of faith? So as we look at these verses,
the first thing I want you to note in verse 12 is the realization,
which is really the self-realization. And Paul begins by asserting
that he has not yet arrived spiritually where he wants to be and where
he needs to be. And so he says in verse 12, he
begins with a strong, emphatic denial. Not. Not that I have already obtained
it or have become perfect. When Paul says, not that I have
already obtained it, the it refers back to verse 10. Not that he
has come to the full knowledge of Christ. And not that he has
come to experience the fullness of the power of the resurrection
of Christ. And not that he has come all
the way to full and complete likeness to Christ. Paul realizes that he has not
yet arrived in his spiritual life. And how significant that
is, because at this point in Paul's life, he has been a Christian
for almost thirty years. He's been converted in something
like A.D., or 33 A.D. Paul writes this in either 60
or 61 A.D. That's a span of some 28 years
that Paul has been on this track, that Paul has been running this
race, and he is arguably the greatest Christian who has ever
lived And after thirty years, three long decades of his own
pursuit of Christ, Paul would still say to us that, that, I
have not yet obtained it. And he says, I have, or have
become perfect. And the word perfect here refers
to sinless perfection. And, of course, Paul would say,
of course, I have not yet reached that point. How important it
is for us to have the self-awareness of where we are in our Christian
life, to not just be on the track and running and to assume that
I'm further along than what I really am. And for the Apostle Paul
to say, there is still so much more of Jesus Christ for me to
know and to become like, Paul realizes that he's nowhere near
where he needs to be in his Christian life. In an argument from the
greater to the lesser, if the Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest
Christian who has ever lived, would bring this kind of a testimony
to us that he has not yet obtained it and he has not yet become
perfect. What must this say to you and
me who would be by comparison mere pedestrians in the Christian
life? Paul would be like a world-class
champion compared to any one of us here tonight. And so, there
must be within our own heart and soul a deepening, stronger
desire to press on in the Christian life, to not slow down, to not
shuffle our feet, to not be in cruise mode, but for us to be
running this race with greater discipline and greater determination
than at any time in our Christian life. Can you say that I am all
in with Christ tonight more than at any time in my entire Christian
life?" That's the realization. And Paul then moves to the responsibility. And beginning in the middle of
verse 12, this realization that Paul has not yet arrived does
not discourage him. It does not cause him to slow
down. This self-realization actually causes him to speed up, causes
him to actually be motivated to press on to the finish because
he sees how much more there is yet before him on the track,
if you will, for him to run to full likeness of Christ. So, he says in the middle of
verse 12, but I press on. This word, press on, really doesn't
come through as vividly in the English as it did in the original
when Paul first wrote this. And what Paul is saying is, I
run as swiftly as I possibly can. I am in hot pursuit of this
goal. And this word, press on, it's
rather interesting. It's used 44 times in the New
Testament. And virtually every single time
it is translated in your Bible, persecuted. And the word persecuted
literally in the original language means to be put to flight. And
the idea is that you're being run out of town because you're
being persecuted by an unbelieving world. And you're having to run
as fast as you can for the sake of your life to escape those
who would want to do bodily harm That's the very same word that
is translated here when Paul says, I press on. But it's not
because the world is running after him. It's actually because
he is running as fast as he can to keep up with the Lord Jesus
Christ who said, follow me. That is the most repeated command
that the Lord Jesus Christ gave, follow Me. And Paul is in hot
pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ to emulate Him, to know Him,
to become like Him. And Paul here is saying, just
like someone would be persecuted and people running after them,
Paul says, I am in hot pursuit of Christ. He gives the purpose. He says, so that I may lay hold
of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ. There's a lot of theology in
those words. Paul says, so that I may lay
hold of that, that speaks of Paul's sanctification, how aggressive
he is to literally run after with aggressive effort and to
seize Christ-likeness. Though he never fully can reach
it, he nevertheless is seeking to lay hold of it. He's not content
with where he is. He's not content with where he
finds himself in the Christian life. He's got to get on down
the track, and he's got to keep running. Now he says, so that
I may lay hold of that, and again the that refers back to verse
10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the
fellowship of His suffering, and being conformed in the likeness
of His death. That's the that that Paul is
reaching forward to. And he says, for which I was
laid hold of by Christ. That refers to the time of the
Damascus Road. when Paul had letters in hand
to arrest the Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem,
and Christ suddenly appeared, and there was this divine intervention
into Paul's life, and the Lord Jesus Christ literally laid hold
of him and would never let go of him. It was a dramatic conversion
to Christ. And what Paul is saying here
is that the Lord was in hot pursuit of me, and once He has laid hold
of me, I now must be in hot pursuit of Him. There is an inseparable
connection between the Lord laying hold of Paul and Paul now pursuing
Christ to lay hold of Him. And what we see here is the inseparable
connection between regeneration and justification and sanctification. For the Lord had laid hold of
Paul in regeneration. And everyone whom the Lord lays
hold of in a true conversion, it so turns their life around
and implants a new heart with new desires in them for Christ. that everyone whom Christ lays
hold of, that person now is turned around and for the rest of their
life they are pursuing Christ to lay hold of Him, to become
like Him and to know Him. And the order is very important
here. First Christ must lay hold of us and then we will lay hold
of Him. Christ is always previous. And
no one ever lays hold of Christ on their own initiative. No,
Christ has come to seek and to save that which is lost, Luke
19, 10. And He has come to seek and to
save Paul. And Paul now knows that for the
rest of his life, every moment of every day, there must be this
reciprocal relationship. that now that Christ has laid
hold of me by His sovereign grace, now I must lay hold of Christ. The Lord laid hold of me in regeneration. Paul must now lay hold of Christ
in sanctification. Have you not seen this in your
own life? The Bible says before our conversion We all, like sheep,
turn to our own way. The Bible says that there is
none who seeks after God. No, not one. It was Christ who
had to come after us. It was Christ who sought us. It was Christ who found us, and
Christ who laid hold of us and apprehended us, and everyone
who has been laid hold of by Christ. to one degree or another
for the rest of their life, they will be seeking to lay hold of
Christ. No one is ever laid hold of by
Christ and their life just remains the same, that they just continue
in the way that they were going previously. No, everyone who
is laid hold of by Christ are turned around and now they pursue
Christ to lay hold of him. So let me ask you this, have
you seen this dramatic change in your life? It's a radical
change. It is a dramatic transformation. Ephesians 2 and 3 says, we once
walked according to this world. We were like dead fish floating
downstream, going according to the course of this world. But
Christ came after us, and Christ laid hold of us, and Christ would
not let us go. And now, because He has laid
hold of us, we will spend the rest of our lives seeking to
lay hold of the full knowledge of Christ and to seek to pursue
full Christ-likeness. Do you not see this in your own
life? Of course you do, and it is because
Christ has laid hold of you by His grace and by His mercy. So this leads us to verse 13,
and I want you to see the reaffirmation. We've seen the recognition, and
we've seen the responsibility in verse 12. I want you to see
the reaffirmation in verse 13, because in verse 13 what Paul
does is repeat what he said in verse 12. And before we work
our way through verse 13, it is worth stating that some truths
are so important for the Christian that they need to be repeated.
And this is one of those most basic truths in how to live the
Christian life and how to become more like Christ. And so, what
Paul will do in verse 13 is essentially just reaffirm and repeat what
he just said in verse 12. So in verse 13, he begins, brethren,
and that's important because we need to be clear that none
of us are pursuing Christ to become like Christ in order to
be saved. No, we pursue likeness to Christ
because we are converted, because we have been regenerated, because
we have a new heart with a new passion to know Christ. And so, by Paul saying, brethren,
in verse 13, to begin this verse, it is a reminder to us that only
believers will be pursuing Christ. I do not regard myself as having
laid hold of it yet." And again, the it refers to the full knowledge
of Christ, to the full realization of the power of Christ, to the
full likeness of the person of Christ. I do not regard myself
as having laid hold of it yet. Paul is saying, I'm not there
yet. I've not yet arrived. It's not
in my grasp. It's still yet out in front of
me, and I still can't get my hands on it, and so I have to
keep running in this race and pursuing this goal. But he says something right after
that that is so critically important. He says, but one thing I do. Those two words, I do, are not
in the original, and they are added by the translators just
to help us in reading this verse. It's what would be implied by
Paul. But Paul, when he wrote this,
merely said, but one thing. And it is intended to be very
abrupt and very dramatic to have its effect upon us. Because,
as Paul says this, this must be true in my life, and this
must be true in your life as well. He says, but one thing,
and that indicates that Paul has myopic vision on Christ,
that he's not distracted by other things going on around him. He
has this narrow focus. It's like he's looking through
a keyhole. And he can only see Christ on
the other side of the door. He's like a racehorse with blinders
on, blocking out all of the other horses and blocking out who's
in the grandstands. He is locked in on Christ with
tunnel vision. Paul is not a double-minded man.
And Paul has a laser beam focus that is riveted upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's telling us here, He's not
focused on two things, or three things, or five things. And yet we can say, Paul, you're
a preacher, you're a teacher, you're a discipler, you're a
church planner, you're an evangelist, you're an itinerant, you're an
author of Scripture, you're a defender of the faith. All of these things,
Paul, How can you say only one thing that I do? Because in order
to be all of these other things, and to do all of these other
things, it must be that you only pursue Christ. The same is true
in your life. I mean, you may be a mother,
you may be a father. You may be a businessman. You
may be a student. You may be on an athletic team.
You may be good in music. You may be a lot of different
things. And you may have your fingers
on a lot of different activities, of course. But in order to do
all of these other things, you and I must be able to say but
one thing, I do. And as we lock in on the Lord
Jesus Christ, that enables us and empowers us to do everything
else. If I was doing marriage counseling
with a husband and a wife and they were to come to me for marriage
counseling and they have this problem and this problem and
this communication problem and this and that, what is the solution
to all this? One thing. the man must do. One thing the woman must do. And when you have a man and a
woman who are in the pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
two will truly become one. And what is the key for your
ministry as you serve the Lord? What is the key for you to be
the best at whatever it is God has vocationally called you to
do? The answer is the priority of
being able to say that I have tunnel vision on Christ. I am
so focused on Christ, just like Paul is saying here, that when
you have this singular vision and passion for Christ, you are
then enabled to do everything else that God calls you to do. And so, he continues in verse
13, this very familiar imagery here with a negative denial and
a positive assertion. And he says, forgetting what
lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. We need this in our Christian
life to help us get down the track to identify and to apply
what Paul is saying here. He begins with the negative,
forgetting what lies behind. The imagery is still of a runner,
and no runner can run the race and win if he's looking backwards,
if he's looking back over his shoulder. He will be sure to
trip and fall. He will be sure to slow down.
He might even drift off of the track itself. And what Paul is
saying is, for us to move forward in our Christian life, we cannot
live in the past, and we cannot be focused on the past. We can't live our Christian life
by looking into the rear-view mirror. We've got to be looking
forward. Now, this represents a complete
break with the past. And I want to give you three
areas in which Paul would say, there has to be this break with
my past, because these same three must be true in your life if
you are to excel in running this race. Well, first of all, Paul
must forget past sins. Paul just gave us a bucket list
of sins in verses I mean, he had been a persecutor of the
church. Think of all the sins that Paul
could have been carrying around with him, breathing threats against
the believers, attempting to arrest the Christians and drag
them back to Jerusalem, approving of Stephen's martyrdom at the
end of Acts 7. and his own self-righteousness
that just plagued his own life. Paul could have been haunted
with this throughout his entire Christian life. And Paul could
have been paralyzed in trying to live his Christian life because
of what his life was like before he came to know Jesus Christ. And Paul had to forget all of
that sin. that is in his past, if he is
to move forward, he must understand that if we, 1 John 1, 9, if we
confess our sin, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sin and to cleanse us from, listen to this next word, all unrighteousness. When you come to Christ, and
you confess your sin to Christ, you don't have to keep confessing
this for the rest of your life. Like this is a millstone around
your neck. And we understand that Christ
bore our sins upon the cross. And He was our scapegoat. And
He took our sins far, far away. And the devil is a grave digger.
And the devil wants to raise and resurrect your past life
before you became a Christian and sins from your past I heard
someone's testimony this morning up in Dr. MacArthur's office.
It was one of the most extraordinary testimonies I've ever heard of
where someone would be before they came to Christ. It was dark. It was devilish. And yet when
you come to Christ, you forget what lies behind. Listen to Hebrews
10 verse 17. their sins and lawless deeds
I will remember no more." God has a sense of spiritual amnesia
when our sins are under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of
course God remembers everything, but no longer in a condemning
way. Romans 8 verse 1, there is now
therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 103 verse 12, as far as the east is from the west. Now
listen, you can measure the north from the south. You cannot measure
the east from the west. As far as the east is from the
west, that's an immeasurable distance. Every time you spin
that globe towards the east, the west is going in the other
direction. They can never meet. As far as the East is from the
West, so far have I removed your transgressions from you." That's
either true or it's not true. It is true. And not to believe
that would be to call God a liar or to call God unfaithful. Micah
7 and verse 8, who is a God like you who pardons iniquity and
passes over the rebellion of the remnant." Then verse 19,
you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. And God puts up a no fishing
sign. The depths of the sea in that
ancient world, no one can go down into the depths of the sea
and lay hold of anything that fell overboard, any treasure.
It is lost forever. It is gone forever. It is out
of sight, out of mind forever. And so God has taken all of our
sins that were laid upon Christ and He has taken them away and
they will never be brought back up against us in a condemning
way. And those who know they have
more sin are the very ones who would be clapping right now. And that would be every one of
us here tonight. And so Paul says that I must
forget all my sin from the past. And so, as I'm speaking to you
tonight, if there is some haunting guilt from your past that is
like a millstone around your neck, that is like an emergency
brake pulled up on your car and not allowing you to move forward
in your Christian life, and you have come to Christ and you have
confessed your sin and you have repented of it, it has been nailed
to the cross and it will never be brought back up again, ever. Well, second, not only are past
sins, Forgiven, forgotten, but also past sufferings because
the Apostle Paul had suffered many attacks and many injustices
that had been committed against him as he traveled to preach
and went from city to city. Think of all the suffering that
the Apostle Paul went through. as he suffered beatings and floggings
and literally drugged through the streets there in Philippi
as he endured stoning and being chained and imprisonment. And then the character assassination
and the slanderous attacks the mocking and the belittling and
the attacks on his motives and the attacks on his personal life. That could have brought anyone
to a grinding halt in living their Christian life because
of what they have suffered. But Paul understood he must let
it go. He can't continue to drag all
this around and have a pity party. and be welling up with anger
against what has happened to me in the past. No, He must be
like Christ, who upon the cross looked at those who had crucified
Him and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do. I wonder what past injuries that
you have suffered. that you need to say, Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. Maybe it was the
way you were brought up. Maybe it was the treatment you
received from unchristian parents. Maybe it is how you fell in with
the wrong crowd, and all of the shame as well as the harm that
came to you And maybe you carry that around with somewhat of
a bitter spirit. You need to come to the point
where you let that go. You need to name it and nail
it to the cross. You need to bury that because
it will hold you back if you continue to dwell on your past. Paul says, forgetting what lies
behind. 1 Corinthians 13, 5 says, love
does not take into account a wrong suffered. You need to clean the
books and you need to forget. It may be that you suffered from
even a spouse who has abandoned you and who has left you and
it has been a heavy weight that you've had to carry around, and
in no way would I, nor Paul, nor even God Himself, underestimate
the sorrow that has come from that. But you need to forget
what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead in the Christian
life. No runner can run the race and
win the prize if you're looking backwards over your shoulder.
You need to look straight ahead at Christ and have myopic vision
on Christ. There's one more thing to say
about forgetting what lies behind. Not only must you forget your
sins from the past, putting them under the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ and confessing them to God, and not only must you forget
the suffering that you have endured from the past. Listen, that was
a part of God's sovereign plan for your life to conform you
to Christ, bring you to Christ. But third, you need to forget
past successes. You can't live off of yesterday's
victories. And there is a deceptive danger
about our past victories because it breeds self-reliance. It can even breed prayerlessness. God's done it in the past. It's
almost like it's an automatic, well, He'll do it today. And
by looking back even to past successes, it can have a crippling
effect of causing us to no longer be reliant upon the Lord today,
this moment, this hour. Paul must put behind him. In a sense, the churches He's
planted, that's no guarantee He'll plant a church today. He
must put behind Him sermons that He has preached that has won
souls in the past. That's not an automatic that
today's sermon is going to win souls as well. And Paul cannot
live in the past, neither can you and I. Our past successes
sometimes can bring about present day defeats because we're no
longer as dependent upon the Lord as we once were in past
days. So, that's the negative denial.
And before I move on to the positive, I wonder what there is in the
secret place of your mind and in the secret place of your heart
that you might still be looking back to that is holding you back
in your pursuit of Christlikeness." And Paul says here, forgetting
what lies behind. I had someone interview me the
other day with a film crew, and they wanted for another seminary
here in the country, and they wanted me to talk about my past
failures. They wanted me, you know, what
would the old Steve Lawson say to the young Steve Lawson and
that kind of a thing. And I said, quite frankly, Paul
says, forgetting what lies behind. and pressing forward to what
lies ahead. I don't think it would be healthy
to go back and revisit the graves of things that have been buried.
So, let's look now at the positive assertion. It's at the end of
verse 13, and the order is very important. Paul always teaches
first negative denial, then positive assertion. So, he says, and reaching
forward to what lies ahead. I just have to tell you this
about reaching forward, not to be too technical, but it's a
very strong word. It's a word that has a main root
word, it's a compound word, it's a double compound word, where
there's not only one prefix, there's two prefixes in front
of the main root word, which intensifies it, and this is the
only time in the entire New Testament that this word is used. And the
idea means to stretch out to the max. It means to stretch
to the limits, to hold nothing back, to reach forward as far
as I possibly can. That's the idea of this reaching
forward to what lies ahead. And what lies ahead, we'll look
at in just a moment in verse 14, it's the goal. It's the prize. And every runner knows that there
must be this forward lean and this pushing ahead in order to
win the prize. And Paul is saying, I am straining
every spiritual muscle in my anatomy that I can in order to
win the prize. Paul is not half in with the
Lord. He's not wanting this moderation.
No, Paul wants to lay hold of this Christ-likeness, and he's
stretching every nerve in his body in the Word, and in prayer,
and in worship, and in the Lord's Supper, and in fellowship, and
hearing testimonies like what we heard tonight, and in service,
all the means of grace. Paul is stretching forward and
every step forward is a step forward to greater knowledge
of Christ. With every step, he's going closer
to Christ, deeper to Christ, learning more of Christ. With
every step in this race, he's becoming more like Christ and
a little bit more like Christ. And I'm not there yet, but reaching
forward to become a little bit more like Christ. And with every
step forward to become more like Christ, there's more joy from
Christ. The lack of joy is when you slow
down. The lack of joy is when you even
backslide. The joy comes from knowing Christ
just a little bit more, becoming like Him just a little bit more.
And every step forward is a step closer to the goal, closer to
the prize, closer to the finish line, advancing in the will of
God. which is good and acceptable
and perfect. As you would look at your life
tonight, are you really reaching forward? Are you pushing yourself
and disciplining yourself and buffeting your body and making
it your slave and resisting temptation and putting to death the deeds
of the flesh and setting your mind on things above and not
on things of the earth and seeking first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness. Are you pressing on in loving
others and being kinder and more patient and more forgiving, hoping
all things, bearing all things, believing all things? yet more
and more like Christ. This is where Paul was in his
Christian life. It's where I must be. It's where
you must be. We must be forgetting what lies
behind and pressing forward to what lies ahead. This brings
us to the last verse for tonight, verse 14. the reward, the reward, because
it's this reward in verse 14 that is pulling Paul forward. It's what's putting Pep in his
step and Glide in his stride. It's what's putting wind in his
sails. It's what's propelling him forward. It's the motivation that's welling
up within his heart and soul. He says in verse 14, I press
on. He's reaffirming what he said
in verse 12. I'm running as swiftly as I can. I press on toward the goal. And the word goal here really
means a target or a mark upon which you have fixed your concentration. And Paul has narrowed his focus
to the goal And the goal is at the finish line. The goal is
always before him. The goal is awaiting him at the
finish line. And as he narrows his focus to
block out everything else, as he narrows his focus upon the
goal, it's at the goal is the prize. Every athlete, every runner
knows that you would go to the nth degree to win that prize. You'd be willing for your lungs
to burst. You'd be willing for your thighs
to go numb. You'd be willing for sweat to
be just dripping off your forehead and running down your nose. You'd
be willing to do anything and everything and every sacrifice
and every energy to pour into winning this prize. And this prize is Christ Himself. This prize is being with Christ.
This prize is being like Christ. This prize is being in the very
presence of Christ forever. This prize is to behold Christ
and to look upon Him whom we love now by faith in that day
by sight. It is to hear Christ and to hear
Him say, well done, good and faithful servant. It is to press
on to the prize to be given to us, which is now to step into
that place where we would fully know Christ, as much as a redeemed
saint could know Christ. and to become as much like Christ
as we possibly could be, to have a resurrection body like Christ. And he'll talk about that at
the end of this chapter. For our citizenship is in heaven,
verse 20, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of His glory. We will have a
glorified resurrection body exactly like the resurrected glorified
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul says, that motivates
me. That inspires me. I don't want
to be shuffling my feet across the finish line. I want to be
picking up my pace. I want to hit that finish line
in full stride. It's pulling me like a magnet
forward. but not just our body, within
our heart and within our soul, finally to shed this body of
sin, to shed our sin lusts and nature, and to have only pure
thoughts and holy thoughts about Christ and God and the Spirit
and those who are around us. Paul says, I press on toward
the goal. I'm not going to pull up short.
I'm not going to stop on the twenty-yard line and kick a field
goal. I've got to go all the way. I've got to sprint to the
finish. I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. and the upward call of God is
that day when God calls us home to stand in the immediate presence
of Christ. And that will take place either
when we die, to be absent from the body is to be present with
the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5, and we'll graduate to glory and we'll
be in the immediate presence of Christ, or when Jesus returns. And the Bible says, the Lord
Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the trumpet of
God, the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we
shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another
with these words. We shall behold Him, and we shall
see Him face to face. the beatific vision, the greatest
of all blessings that could ever be bestowed upon anyone, to be
in the immediate presence of Christ, dressed in His righteousness,
conformed into His image, and to look upon Him in the beauty
of His holiness That is the greatest blessing that you and I could
ever have, could ever know. Ancient monarchs were rarely
seen by the citizens of their country, only those in the palace,
only those elite in the inner circle around Him. Rarely did they ever actually
look into the eyes and into the face of their King. But for you and me in Christ
Jesus, We will all have such immediate access to the throne
of God, the throne of grace, and to be in His presence. Paul
says, that is driving me. That truth is empowering me to
live my Christian life full tilt for the glory of God. He says at the end of this verse,
in Christ Jesus, that this upward call of God is in Christ Jesus. And that little word in, I-N,
speaks of the sphere of this upward call, that this upward
call is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that this
upward call into glory, into heaven, is found in the sinless
life, the substitutionary death, and the bodily resurrection,
and the present enthronement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
all of Christ. that we would be taken up to
heaven. It is because of what He has
done for His sheep. It is for what He has done for
you and me. And in a sense, we can only go
to Christ because of what has come from Christ. It is only
because of what Christ has done for us that we are able to go
into His very presence. And so, as Paul gives this autobiographical
testimony about his Christian life, you and I need to be able
to run beside Him and jog beside Him and be challenged to keep
pace and to move out and to move forward as we live our Christian
life. And so, as I bring this to a
close, let me ask you just some personal questions. As you would
audit your soul, as you would take inventory, are you in the
race? Have you been born again? Have
you come to faith in Jesus Christ? Or would you honestly say, I'm
still in the world? I'm still in another race going
in another direction. And if you've never stepped into
this race, I want you to know it's open tonight, that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You don't have to go downward
into the flames of hell. You can be caught upward. into
the glories of heaven. But you've got to be in Christ.
You've got to know Christ. You've got to commit your life
to Christ. Do you hear this? You must commit
your life to Christ. You must entrust your soul to
Christ. You must confess your sin to
Christ. You must repent of your sin and
turn away from Christ. You must deny yourself. You must
take up a cross. You must step out of the crowd
and out of the world and now become a follower of Jesus Christ. If you've never committed your
life to Christ, Do so now. Do so this very moment. Don't
go home and pray about it. Do it now. Behold, now is the
accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. The Bible says, he who hardens
his heart, being often reproved, shall suddenly be cut off, and
that without remedy. The Bible says, boast not yourself
of tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring forth. God has brought you here tonight
to hear these words. Respond to them tonight, this
very moment. Commit your life to Christ. And if you've already committed
your life to Christ, how long have you been in this race? When
did you step into the race? How far down the track are you? Are you advancing the way you'd
like to in your Christian life? Do you realize how much more
there is to go to reach this goal, to reach this prize? Would you purpose that for the
rest of your days, for the rest of your life, that you would
reach forward to what lies ahead? And have you forgotten what lies
behind? Are you allowing what's behind
you to hold you back and to pull you back? Let it go. Commit it to the Lord, confess
it to the Lord, and move on so you can run with greatest speed
by the grace of God. Are you slowing down? Are you
speeding up? Are you focused upon Christ? May God do such a work in our
hearts tonight that we could apply what Paul has said here
in a very real and meaningful way in our heart. And as you would later get in
a car and drive home. as you would prepare for bed,
would you think about these verses? Would you meditate on these verses? Would you pray about these verses? Would you pray and ask God to
make this real and a part of your own Christian life? What
an incredible thing it would be if every one of us in this
vast worship center was to make great advances, even tonight. How powerful this church would
be, even yet more. How yet more dynamic would the
witness of this congregation be if we could tonight, in the
days ahead, just even be more. like Christ. May God give us
the grace. And ultimately, Philippians 2.13,
for it is God who is at work within you, both to will and
to work for His good pleasure. It is only by the grace of God
and the internal operation of the Holy Spirit are we enabled
to advance. May God do this in our lives.
Let us pray. Father, every verse in the Bible
seems to leap off the page and grab our hearts and capture our
minds. Every verse seems to be the most
important verse. And yet, what we've looked at
tonight are critically important truths about pursuing Christ
and pursuing Christlikeness and knowing Christ Lord, I pray that
you would meet each and every one of us right where we're seated
right now in our particular pew. Lord, that you would do business
within our hearts and soul, that our heart would be a marketplace
and you would come in and do business with each one of us,
and that the result of that would be much spiritual good and much
spiritual prosperity. Father, we ask this and pray
this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen.