Philippians and chapter 3 Apostle
Paul writes this. Finally my brethren rejoice in
the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous
but for you it is safe beware of dogs beware of evil workers
beware of the concision For we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. though I might also have confidence
in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, circumcise
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. 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 do 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 by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death. if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Paul says, but what things were
gained to me those I counted lost for Christ. 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 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 under his death. Paul counted all that he had
in the flesh all that was to his credit outwardly speaking
All that which men would look upon and say there in him is
something to be proud of, something that God would be pleased with.
He counted it all as done, as loss, as that which got in the
way of him knowing God. Paul's great desire was that
he might know Him, that he might know Christ, that he might know
his Saviour, not just in the head, but personally. That he might truly know Him,
that he might truly walk with Him, that he might truly commune
with Him, that he might hear his Saviour's voice, that he might have his Saviour's
mind. He longed to know him and he
was willing to give up all in order that he should know him.
He did give up all in order that he should know him. He suffered
the loss of all things that he might win Christ and be found
in him. not having his 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 he might
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings. What things were gained to me
those I counted loss for Christ He wanted to know him. He didn't
want to know the law. He didn't want to know religion. He didn't want to know the doctrine. He wanted to know Christ. The truth, the gospel, the doctrine
led him to Christ but it was to lead him to Christ. The goal,
the aim, the prize that he speaks of later in the chapter is Christ. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore
as many as be perfect be thus minded in anything ye be otherwise
minded God shall reveal even this unto you. He longed to know Christ. He longed to know the power of
his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings that I may
know him. Is this your heart's desire?
That you should know God. That you should know the Son
of God, Jesus Christ. That you should truly know Him.
It's the only thing that matters. This world will fade away. This world is perishing, we see
it all around us. We see death all around us. We see the effects of sin in
the darkness of this world all around us. Every day we hear
of those who have passed from time into eternity. Every day
we see the corruptions and the destruction that sin has brought
in. We see this world fading away
in a moment. And the only thing that matters
is if we know Christ and His salvation. If we know His grace. If we know His mercy. If we know
His abounding love towards sinners, towards His people. If we know
Him. Not if we know of Him. Not if
we know about Him. but if we know him. The great desire of Paul was
to know him. But what stood between Paul and
knowing Christ and what stands between us and knowing Christ
is ourselves, our flesh. our will, our works, indeed our
religion. Our sins separate us from God. Our unbelief, our rebellion,
our wickedness, Our wicked deeds that we persist in each and every
day by nature, our sin separates us from God. They've created
a great gulf between man and God. We can't get to God if we
wanted to, because we're guilty, we're lost, we're sinners. And
God cannot commune with sinners, he cannot come into the presence
of sin. But though we should turn from
our sins, though we should recognise that we're a sinner, should we
try to turn unto God, should we try to follow after God and
come to the Scriptures to find Him and to seek Him out and try
to live before Him as the Scriptures would inform us should we come
to the law of God and see ourselves in that law and see what it demands
and try to live by it still yet we cannot come unto God Saul was a man steeped in religion
steeped in the Jewish religion. He knew the scriptures. He was
brought up in them. He was brought up in the best
breeding, with the best lineage, in the best practice. If any
other man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the
flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Outwardly the law could find
no fault in him. He kept all of its commands outwardly
better than anyone else. Anyone would have looked at Saul
and said surely there is someone with whom God is pleased. There
is a man who will be saved. There is a man who loves God
and serves God. Before men Saul stood up high
and yet he knew that all of that stood between him and truly knowing
God. He came to know that all of that
religion that once he had thought was to his gain, to his credit,
once he had thought would put him in good standing before God,
actually condemned him. It was all outward, he didn't
know God. He didn't know God. He knew all
about God from the Scriptures. He had the promises of Christ
to come in the Scriptures and he never knew Him. When he heard
of Christ in this world, when he heard the apostles preaching
and declaring that this man crucified in Jerusalem was indeed the Son
of God, the Christ, the Messiah, He hated this. He hated Christ
and he hated the gospel. He stood by us, Stephen was stoned. He went about persecuting the
church. Concerning zeal, he says, I persecuted
the church. He thought he was doing God a
service in condemning and slaying to death these who follow Christ. He thought it was right that
Christ was crucified. He thought it was right that
any followers of Christ should be put to death. He saw Christ
and those that loved him as dangerous, as against God, as against the
law. He felt he was upholding the
law. And these, Christ and his disciples, were destroying it. He considered them to be antinomian
against the law, undermining and destroying all that he supported. And he was zealous in his opposition. But for all that he felt he saw,
he was blind. And it took God to come in the
person of Christ personally to Saul and stand before him and
cry out unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? I am Jesus. Until Christ came unto him, and
brought him down brought him to see that he was nothing brought
him to see the depths of his own sin the darkness of his own
heart the rebellion of his nature the blindness of his religion
until Christ came unto him and showed that he was nothing in
himself nothing but a sinner and nothing but a sinner in his
religion. Paul walked tall in pride and
self-righteousness. Not only was he a sinner but
he was a sinner in his religion. All that he was doing that he
thought was for God was against God. All that he thought he was
doing to serve God was against God. He was persecuting the church. He was trampling the gospel underfoot. He was against Christ. And he
came to see when the gospel came unto him and when Christ spake
unto him, that all those things he thought were to his gain,
to his credit, were actually in the way. But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. They stopped
him from finding salvation. They stopped him from seeing
the Saviour. They stopped him from knowing
Christ. And it's the same with us today. not only do our gross sins, those
things that men would look at and say are sinful, those things
which are in clear contrast with the law of God and the righteousness
of God in the scriptures. Not only do these separate us
from God, but our religion, our outward deeds, which we think
are serving God, separate us from God. We look to ourself,
we look to our own doing, and we trust in what we've done,
and what we've decided, and our own zeal, and our own efforts.
We think that God will be pleased with us. But in so doing we say we don't
need Christ, we don't need God, we don't need his salvation,
we don't need the blood of Christ because my works will do. My obedience will lead me to
heaven. My zeal is enough. Saul came to see otherwise. He
came to see that not only were his works not good enough, not
only had he not done enough not only did they not get him high
enough But every one of them was tainted with sin. Every one
of them was a sin against his maker. Every one of them was
an attempt in his own pride and self-righteousness to build a
tower of Babel which he could climb up towards heaven. Every
one of them was him building his Babel to get to heaven. Not one of his deeds were righteous. Even his righteousnesses were
as filthy rags. The very things he thought could
save him damned him. And what is true of him is true
of you and me. The very things that we think
might save us actually damn us. They keep us from Christ, they
keep us from the gospel. Oh how many there are today in
churches that call themselves Christian, in places where they
speak of Jesus and his death and his salvation, who don't
know him. How many there are who trust
in their decision to accept Jesus into their hearts, to follow
Christ, who look to their own righteousness, their own obedience,
their own church-going, their own zeal, their own prayer, their
own self-righteousness. How many are there in the churches,
so-called, who are looking to themselves and their own works
and their own will and resting in that and not in Christ? They
don't know Christ. And they don't know Christ because
they're yet trust in themselves, their works, their will. They look to those things which
they think are to their gain and to their credit. They themselves
stand between Christ and their salvation. And likewise we ourselves, if we're in the same place, if
we look to ourselves, our own righteousness, our own decision,
our own religion however right it may seem to be however much
of the truth it may seem to embrace if we don't see ourselves as
nothing as wretched as worthless as having nothing if we're not
broken If we're not brought to be nothing, then that that we
have and that that we are is that in which we rest for salvation. We don't know Christ. We don't know the power of his
resurrection. And we don't know the fellowship
of his sufferings. But Paul was brought to know.
and all that was gained to him he counted loss for Christ. He came to see that everything
he had and everything he was stood in the way of him knowing
Christ. It had stood in the way of him
knowing Christ and should he turn to it in any way it would
continue to cloud, continue to get in the way of his fellowship
with Christ. This isn't a one-off thing. Believer,
having been brought to faith, every time you turn from Christ
alone, every time you turn from the blood alone, and having no
confidence in your flesh, every time you look to something you've
done, thought or said, and feel there's some credit in it, every
time you think you've stood up, stood up for the truth, stood
up for Christ when others haven't. Every time you've looked around
at those that aren't walking right and you feel like you are,
and you take some pleasure in what you've done, then you cease
to look to Christ alone. You cease to see that all that
was gained to you is loss, that you might know Christ. Christ
will start to fade from view again until he brings you down
and brings that trial that strips you and teaches you and lays
you bare and you realize and learn once more that I am nothing. wretched man that I am who shall
deliver me from this body of sin and death that I'm nothing. Constantly God brings his people
down to nothing. He makes them conformable unto
Christ's death. He brings us to die, to lose
all, to suffer the loss of all things as Paul speaks. To suffer
the loss of all confidence in our flesh, all confidence in
self, all confidence in what we are, or our ability to stand,
or our ability to discern, or our ability to follow, or our
ability to believe. Every time we think we are doing
something right, He'll bring us to learn and to know that
it's only of His grace. It's only because He's shown
us. It's only because He's made us
live. It's only because He's given
that pathway for us to walk in. He's done it! And every time
we start to turn our gaze away from Christ crucified, from His
shed blood, from Him alone unto ourselves, then we'll come crashing
down. And He'll make us to die with
Him, that we may rise with Him, that we may know the power of
His resurrection, that we may know Him. O to know Him. It's the only thing that matters. It's your great need, my great
need. Oh you may wander off, you may
gaze away, you may think of what you want to do tomorrow and what
you're seeking in this world, but your need is to know Christ. Your need is to hear His voice
in the Gospel. Your need is to be brought to
see your nothing and He is all. Your need is to be washed in
His blood. not having your own righteousness
which is of the law but that which is through the faith of
Christ that which was shed that which was brought in through
his shed blood the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ how can we know him if we're
taken up with ourselves with what we are what we do, what
we think, what our plans are, what our thoughts are, what our
opinions are, what we think on this and what we think on that.
With our righteousness, our goodness, our merit, our will. They all stand between us and
God. They all stand between us and
Christ. That's what we must lose. When
Paul says he suffered the loss of all things, he's not meaning
so much material things although he knew what it was to lose material
things and have nothing he knew what it was to be to abound and
to be a base he knew what it was to have nothing to be cast
into jail to have nothing but his body But what he meant in losing all
things was losing all that he looked at as gain, all his religion,
all his pride in his religion, all his works, all his will,
everything that he could look at as being to his merit. He
lost it all. He stood before God as it were
shamed, naked. shameful, that's where we must
be brought to know God, to know Christ, to stand before Him stripped
bare, naked, guilty before His gaze. Just like that woman brought
by the Pharisees, by the scribes into Christ's presence in the
temple. Here we found one, we found her
guilty, we found her guilty in the very act. And she stands
there in all her shame, she's got no answer. But Christ said
to all her accusers, you who are without sin, cast the first
stone, you who are without sin, stand here. And each one of them
knew that they were with sin. And they all departed. And they
left just that woman, naked, exposed, in shame before a holy
God, before the Son of God, with no answer. But God looked on
her who had nothing, who was nothing, in mercy and in grace,
with love, and said, where are thine accusers? They've all gone. Then neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more. That's where we need to be brought
to know Christ. Brought in before Him, guilty,
with nothing. Nothing but our guilt, nothing
but our shame, nothing but knowing that we are nothing. And then
He will look upon us in mercy, in loving grace, in forgiveness. Paul says in Galatians 2, I through
the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. The law
crucified him. The law brought him down to nothing. Once upon a time his obedience
to the law was that in which he felt he had credit with God. He looked to his obedience, he
looked to his keeping of it as something that would lead him
to God. But when he came to Christ, he discovered that the law condemned
him. It condemned all that he was
inwardly, whatever he might have done outwardly. to conform to
its commands. Inwardly he knew he'd broken
every command, every direction, every instruction. He knew that
he was exposed before God. He knew that men outside might
look upon him and see a worthy man, but he knew that God looked
upon his heart and saw him guilty within. And that law crucified
him, it slew him, it condemned him. and being slain by it. He was before that law a dead
man. Its penalty came down upon him,
it slew him, it judged him and he stood before God dead. And that's the only way that
he could live unto God. Slain by the law, crucified with
Christ, judged and condemned forevermore. made conformable
unto his death, that he might know the power of his resurrection. I am crucified with Christ, he
says, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead
in vain. Here's his hope, here's what
he knows of Christ, he knows that he's been crucified with
him. He knows the power of his resurrection
that he's risen with him that he lives with him yet it's not
he who lives but Christ who lives in him and the life he now lives
in the flesh he lives by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me he says. That faith of Christ which
took Christ to the cross in the place of Paul, in the place of
Saul. That faith which took Saul upon
himself and Saul's sins upon Christ. Christ bore Saul's sin. He bore Saul's sins. He was crucified
in Saul's place. And Christ by faith looked unto
his father as he bore Saul's sins and was made sin in his
place and suffered the outpouring of God's wrath and judgment as
he went through the fires of hell. As he went through the
three hours of darkness and an eternity of darkness, an eternity
of separation from God, as Christ went through the darkness for
Paul, he looked unto his God by faith. And the righteousness
of God judged every sin and all sins. and brought it in its place. Perfect righteousness in the
person of Jesus Christ. Christ liveth in me, and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do
not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. But Paul knew that righteousness
never came by the law. It could not possibly come by
the law. If his keeping of the law was
not good enough, then it couldn't be. His keeping of the law slew
him. His keeping of the law is that
which brought him to condemnation. His keeping of the law supposedly
is that wicked self-righteousness, that wicked turning from Christ
to himself, the very essence of the fall of man in Adam at
the beginning. His obedience to the law wasn't
justifying himself, wasn't saving himself, wasn't sanctifying himself,
it was separating him from God because it was saying I don't
need God, I'm okay, I can stand on my own and that's exactly
what Adam did when he turned from God and ate of the knowledge
of the tree of good and evil, he said just tell me what to
do. If I know what good and evil
is, if I know what to do, I'll do it. Give me the law and I'll
live by it. Just like the children of Israel
said, when the law was brought down by Moses from the mount,
all that the Lord has said we will do. As they fell immediately
into sin and rebellion. the very essence of law keeping. All those who would seek to be
justified by the law, all those who seek to be sanctified by
it, all those who insist it's our rule of living and try to
live even as Christians by the law and by its rule are turning
their back upon Christ, trampling his blood underfoot and saying,
we can do all that thou has commanded. All that the Lord has commanded
we will do is to turn to the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil and eat that fruit, the eating of which brings in
sin and death and rebellion. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ, Paul says. We must be
brought to nothing. We must be brought to knowing
nothing. To see all that we are and that
all that we do prevents us knowing Him. To see that that great barrier
between us and Christ is ourselves and all that we do. However good,
however righteous, however religious. In order to save his people,
Christ himself gave up all. He left heaven's glory. He left
the presence of the Father in glory. He came into this world,
made a man, framed in human flesh, with the same weaknesses that
we have as men and women. He walked upon this earth. He
knew what it was to be tired, to be weary. He knew what it
was to sorrow, to no loss. When Lazarus was sick and died,
Jesus wept. He knew the sorrow and the travail
that we do in this world. He knew the consequences, the
effects that sin has brought upon mankind in this world. He
suffered in the heat of the day, he knew what it was to be lonely,
to be abandoned, to be hated, to be rejected. He came into
a world that rejected Him. He came unto a people who rejected
Him. Those very ones that should have
received Him and loved Him, they hated Him. And they hated Him
so much that in the end they cast Him out and put Him to death. He had no friends, no one to
receive Him, no one to care for Him, no one to help Him when
He needed it most. He suffered the loss of all things. in order that he should go to
that place where he should take the sins of all his people and
bear them and take them away, in order that he should die,
that his people should live. And for us to be saved and to
know him, to really know him, We must be brought a similar
path. To be brought to lose all things
that we might in Christ receive all things. We must be brought
to lose all things. This is not something that we
can do. We can't choose to lose all things. We can't choose to give up. Oh,
how many will come to religion and it's all dead. willing to
sacrifice, willing to live an austere life, willing to give
up the riches and the pleasures of this world, but they are trusting
in those riches that they have built up for themselves in religion. What Paul lost, Saul lost, was
not just the outward, But all those things that men see as
spiritual, all his rags of self-righteousness, all that with which he tried
to clothe his nakedness. When Adam and Eve fell in the
garden, they knew they were naked. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil teaches us that we are naked. The law of God
will teach you that you're naked. But if you try to sew your own
garments through your obedience to that law, that will keep you
from Christ. Saul had to be stripped of those
garments, of those fig leaves. and Christ had to take blood-soaked
garments and clothe him in them. Adam and Eve built themselves,
made themselves garments of fig leaves, and God stripped them
away, said, you're nothing, but your salvation will come through
the death of a lamb, through blood, through the death of my
son. What they did was to make themselves
fig leaves. What Saul did was to make himself
fig leaves. What God did was to strip them
of those fig leaves. And to strip him of his fig leaves. To strip him of his righteousness. To bring him down to be nothing. And if you or I are to know Christ
and his salvation, God must come unto us and strip us of our fig
leaves. Make us nothing, truly nothing. We can't do it, we never will
do it. We have an insistent, repetitive
tendency to keep going back to doing something. Even when we
come to know Christ, there's that in our flesh. We'll keep
on turning, keep on trying to do something. And he'll keep
on stripping it away and saying, no, Christ is all. He must bring us to this point.
Saul never got there until he met with Christ in the way to
Damascus when he was seeking in his zeal to do what he thought
was service for God in persecuting the very ones for whom Christ
had died. He thought he was doing right
by condemning them, by condemning their religion that he thought
was so dangerous, that he thought was such a burden. Oh he was
going to do the right thing and get rid of them, get rid of their
religion, oppose it. And yet God stood in his way
and said you're not hurting these when you oppose. You're not condemning
them when you come against them. You're persecuting me. And if
we try to fight a battle against Christ we will find ourselves
stood before him either one day in this world or in eternity
to come. When we raise our hands against
one of Christ's little ones, his sheep, his people, those
who testify of his grace and mercy, those who follow him.
When we stand against them, when we oppose them, when we ridicule
them, when we mock them, when we reject the gospel, we're rejecting
Christ. And one day, he will meet with
us. With Paul he met before it was
too late. when Paul was still in this world.
For Christ had a great purpose for him, that he would turn him
and send him with the gospel for the deliverance of many,
by leading them from the darkness unto the light, by leading them
from their works unto grace. We won't turn until Christ meets
us, but once we meet him, we will know, in an ongoing sense,
this constant dying to self, constantly being brought to give
up all, to suffer the loss of all things, to turn from self
unto him, to have fellowship in his sufferings, in order that
we might know the power of his resurrection. He said, He suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. There's no greater prize than
to win Christ and to be found in Him. What do you most want? What do you most want? If you
had all the riches in this world but lost your own soul, what
would you have? What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? What does
it profit us if we live to a hundred and live in a palace, and have
everything we could ever wish for in this world, but lose our
own soul. Oh, to meet with Christ. Oh, that those that rule over
us in this world, the governments, the powers that be, the kings,
the queens, the princes, the dukes, O that they may meet and
know Christ in the way. O that they may have done. But
it would profit us nothing if we had everything and never knew
Christ. 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. Here's the gospel. Here's the
heart of the gospel. To be brought to no longer have
our own righteousness, which is of the law, which is of works,
which is of self and our own will. that in which we take pride
that in which we think we stand that in with which we form our
own clothing fig leaves to be brought to see that that
won't do and to receive in their place
that clothing, that blood-soaked clothing which is that righteousness
of God through the faith of Jesus Christ. Oh, how God brought this in for
his people. This is the heart of the matter.
You and I need righteousness. It's our sin. our lack of righteousness
that separates us from God and from eternal life. We need righteousness. You can seek righteousness by
making fig leaves, by making your decision for Christ, by
living your life outwardly in a way that others would say is
godly. by seeking to be justified and
sanctified by the law of God, by your obedience, by your works,
by your zeal. But those things will damn you
because they are your righteousnesses. Filthy rags. They're your righteousnesses
which are of the law. Paul had his own righteousness.
He wanted to be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness. I don't want mine. I don't want
that which I can produce, he says. I know it's filthy. I know it
will damn me. I've seen what it is. Once I
gloried in it and then God opened my eyes and I saw what I was
clothed in. Once I thought I was strutting
around like a peacock with my feathers all in the air. Oh how
great I thought I looked and then God showed me how filthy
and naked I really was. How wicked I was. And he brought
me down. And he showed me how glorious,
how wonderful the righteousness of God in Christ is. And God
took these filthy rags from off my back and clothed me in them. He clothed me in the very righteousness
of God, by the faith of Jesus Christ. through shedding his
blood, he took his blood and washed me in it. And there's
my righteousness, there's my salvation, there's my hope, there's
my life, through that blood in Jesus Christ himself. He brought me to see the righteousness
of God in Christ. Oh the love of God that he should
go to the cross and suffer in my stead. Oh that he should die, that I
should live. I've 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 unto his death. We can't know him. We can't understand
Him, we can't be one with Him except we enter into all these
things, except we die and rise again, except we're crucified
with Him and live in Him and He lives in us. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And that life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. There's the power of
his resurrection and there's the knowledge of him. There's
no knowledge of him outside of dying with him and rising with
him. Paul goes on later in the chapter
to speak of those, those who would profess Christ, those who
walked with believers, those who would claim to know Christ,
who walked, as he had told you often, and now with weeping,
in a way, that turn them against Christ, they are enemies of the
cross of Christ, their end is destruction, their God is their
belly and their glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. There are those who speak of
Christ and his salvation. but they're so taken up with
this world, they're so taken up with earthly things, they're
so taken up with their walk and their life in this world that
they don't walk and know Christ, they don't rejoice in His grace,
they don't rejoice in His mercy, they're brought down to the world's
level and they in so doing become enemies of the cross of Christ.
Because if they love the cross, if we love the cross, we'll see
this world, this earth, our works, our all crucified with him at
the cross and we'll see ourselves risen with him. Life is above. Our conversation is in heaven,
Paul says, from whence also we look for the Saviour, 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. Here's
our need to know him, to be crucified, to self to our works and to this
world, and to rise again with Christ, looking unto heaven,
looking into glory, seeing our Saviour. seated in glory upon
a throne, victorious, having conquered sin, having conquered
hell, having brought in everlasting righteousness, having subdued
all his enemies, having taken away every foe, every enemy,
and brought in everlasting salvation for his people. Oh to know Him,
to know Him is to see Him there, to see Him by faith. And oh when
you do, when you do, when you know Him, when you're brought
to see Him, when the Spirit opens your eyes and gives you a sense
of His mercy, His love and His power in the Gospel, oh the joy! the elation that comes. Finally my brethren rejoice in
the Lord, you will rejoice, you'll shout, you'll sing, you'll look
up. Your salvation has come after
such a long time, after being in the darkness, after being
in the chains, after being in the prison cell. Light shines
in, the doors open, you're led out and here's your Saviour. Oh the joy of hearing His voice
in the Gospel, oh the joy of hearing Him come unto you and
saying unto you, thou art forgiven. Well done my good and faithful
servant, come and enter ye into rest. Oh the joy of seeing his
face and hearing his voice. Oh the sense of being lifted
up by his strength, by his grace. The sense of flying, of lifting
up, of soaring through the air with eagle's wings as we read
in Isaiah. of knowing what it is to attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Oh the joy that comes through
the Gospel when you're delivered from that which holds you down. All his life Saul thought he
was living unto glory but it was bondage, it condemned him. He never brought him to God,
he never knew God. But when Christ came to him in
the Gospel, then he flew. Then he saw, then he ran. Then he knew the power of the
resurrection. He knew the power of Christ's
resurrection. He knew Christ his Saviour. Isaiah writes, Hast thou not
known? Hast thou not heard? that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not faint, because they know Him. That I may know Him. and the
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
Do you know him? Amen.