All right. It's counting, so I guess that means it's working. Open with me this morning, if you would like to, to Philippians chapter 3.

I'm sure I'm not the only one this time of the year, this season, that is still reflecting on what has been anticipating or dreading, as the case may be, what may be forthcoming. And as I thought back on this last year, one of the blessings that stands out is when we gather together to worship. What a privilege we have that the Lord's given us to come together and gather around the Word of God. And I'm sure many of you find that to be so.

Start thinking about what this time means. how enjoyable it is, how relaxing it is to get together, to just come and listen to God's Word be proclaimed. Especially when we compare it to the life outside of these walls, where we live, we work, and we play, and it's so complicated. From the time we're born, we hear things like, you need to eat. You need to get up. You need to get dressed. You need to go to school. You need to get a job. You need to prepare for retirement. You need, you need, you need. It just goes on and on. What a relief it is when we gather to focus and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. How often in our prayers we ask the Lord to bless this time, to take away the things of the world that we might just worship. Isn't it lovely? The simplicity and the singleness of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This present evil world in which we walk day in and day out throws to us many things that we need. When we are young, we can fill our entire day with things we need. I need the latest toy. I need money. I need dessert. As we grow older and more mature, we learn to separate our needs from our wants a little better. But we continue to say, I need. Our physical needs are not all that great. We need breath. We need water. We need food. We need shelter. Beyond these things, most everything else is just a want. We don't need it. In contrast, our spiritual need is one, singular. There is one thing needful to have the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our topic this morning is one question. And I pray the Lord will give me a heart to answer truthfully? Pray the Lord will give you a heart to answer truthfully. Do I need the Lord Jesus Christ? Lord willing, we will look at a man who had this need, find out why he had this need, who it is that he looked to to supply his need, And what is it that causes a person to need?

We're here in Philippians 3. We're going to let Paul tell us his need of the Lord Jesus Christ and why he needed Him. Let's read the first 11 verses of Philippians 3.

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 man thinketh 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, an Hebrew of the He brews, as touching the law, a 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 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, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

The Apostle Paul was a man. He was a person, just as we are. He was born into this world. He grew up. He learned. He played with his friends. He took on, as he grew older, more responsibility. Basically, he did what we all do. He grew into an adult.

As he aged, he was told of all the things that he needed. He was born a Jew. We just read in Hebrew of the Hebrews, but he needed to know the law. Not only did he need to know the law, he needed to be an enforcer of the law. He needed to gain the title of Pharisee. He needed to be better than his peers. These were the things Paul was taught. And Paul chased those needs with all of his might. In so much that he could say in verse three, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, I did it better than you did it.

But when God was pleased to reveal himself to Paul, all these former needs the world had taught him that he needed became burdens to him. Verse 7. 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 dung that I may win Christ."

Listen to Paul's determination in this letter. I count all things lost for Christ, that I may win Christ. Paul's desire was to win Christ, to gain, to acquire Christ. And he put forth effort in pursuing the goal of winning Christ. He needed Christ.

One quick side note. Yes, Paul put forth effort. Yes, Paul did things to win Christ. But Paul didn't put any trust or any hope in the things that he did to gain, to win Christ. Paul's doing, Paul's effort was wrapped up in the faith of Christ. Christ did the work. Paul looked to and trusted Christ. That was his pursuit of winning Christ. It was all of him. It was not of Paul. It was Christ who worketh in me both to will and to do.

When did the Apostle, excuse me, why did the Apostle Paul need the Lord Jesus Christ? Pick up where we left off in verse eight, end of the verse. 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.

Paul, at one time, as we all do naturally, we place our hope of eternal life in the confidence of this flesh. I can do it. I can keep this law. I can do what is necessary. The confidence of his own righteousness, the works he performed trying to satisfy God. That's where he looked to. He looked to the, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh. I'm more, I did it better than you.

But when it pleased God, Paul was struck down and he was revealed that his righteousnesses were nothing but filthy rags and abomination in God's sight. And that the only righteousness that God is pleased with is the righteousness that he himself obtained.

I've lost my place. The righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ alone. Paul had tried to obtain a righteous standing before God by the works that he did, and he found that he came up wanting. He was lacking. And he found that he needed someone who was willing and able to fulfill the righteousness that God requires. And he found that in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only did Paul need a righteousness, but he also found that he needed his own sins to be put away. It wasn't enough for Paul that Christ had obtained a righteousness, but Paul needed to be justified. The law that Paul knew so well cried out to him, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And Paul knew that he had sinned and he needed his sins to be covered. He needed to be saved.

In verse 10, Paul continues, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Christ our Lord came in the flesh, obtained a righteous standing before the Almighty God, and for the love He had for those that the Father had given Him, He went to Calvary's cross, bearing our sins, bearing our iniquities. He was wounded for us. He was bruised for us. He bore the wrath of God that we deserve. He shed His blood. He laid down His life to satisfy God's justice.

Paul pursued Christ to the tomb. He needed Christ's substitutionary death. And in His resurrection, by which God declared He was satisfied with our Lord's sacrificial death, in Christ's resurrection, it was revealed that Christ had fulfilled God's justice in the putting away of our sins. Oh, that I may know Him, not some things about Him, not some historical facts about Him, but that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection."

Paul needed the Lord Jesus Christ because he was a sinner. He was a sinner separated from God with no means to make reconciliation. But in Christ, he was made nigh unto God. We've seen why Paul needed Christ, why he pursued Him, why he wanted to win Christ and to be found in Him.

That's great for Paul. But what about me? What about you? Our question is not, does Paul need the Lord Jesus Christ? Our question is, do I need the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is it that we're talking about needing? Many, if we went out and asked a random person on the street, Many would answer this question almost immediately. Of course, everyone needs Jesus in their life. They didn't really answer the question that was being asked. They did like we do when we see a pop-up come up on our computer screen. We hit the button that says go away. That was the response. That's what we do. Just an immediate, of course, everybody needs Jesus. Okay, that satisfies you. Go away.

Do I need the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is he? He is Lord. First and foremost, He is the Almighty God. He is specifically God the Son, one with God the Father, one with God the Spirit, of no less rank, of no less power, no less authority. He is no less God. There is no hierarchy of God. There's one God in three persons. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal almighty God manifest in the flesh.

Colossians 2.9 declares, for in him, in our Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. 1 Timothy 3.16 God was manifest. He was revealed. He was made known in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is the Lord. The Lord. Singular only. You don't need to hold your place here, but turn with me to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 verse 5. I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, speaking to his elect, to his called and redeemed people. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord God Almighty. He is Jesus. He is a man. Wonder of wonders, God walked in the flesh. Why would he humble himself so?

thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. as a man, as He is our High Priest, He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, in all points tempted like as we are, with one great difference, without sin. He is a man, He is God, not half one, and half the other, He is fully man, He is fully God. He is the substitute bloody victim who laid down His life on our behalf.

Who is it we are talking about meeting? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is Christ. He is the Messiah, the Savior.

Down in verse 20 here of Isaiah 45. Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside me, a just God.

What if the sentence ended right here? It's a true statement. A just God. A God that does right. Right because He is righteous. That will by no means clear the guilty. A holy God. Our Lord is holy. He is the just God. But for such a sinner as I, There is no good news here. Not the fact that he is holy and just alone. The good news is there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me.

Look unto me. Will you look? Will I look? Is it so difficult to look upon Him who is altogether lovely? Oh, that the Lord would give us grace today to look. Look unto Me and be ye saved. Do you know who will look? Those who need to be saved. Those who are drowning in sin and guilt, those who are dead and in need of life, they will look. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the just God and Savior of sinful men. What a blessed man He is. Do I need the Lord? Do I need the Sovereign, the Almighty God to overrule me and this wicked, sinful heart? He is Lord. He's not waiting to be made Lord. He is Lord. He is sovereign over all. All men, all creatures, all of creation, and all shall bow to Him. We shall either bow to Him in humble adoration as our Lord, our Sovereign, our King, our Savior, in our Lord Jesus Christ, or we will bow to Him in abject humiliation when we are brought as the rebels and traitors that we are by nature before Him, before the King, and He declares unto us, I never knew you. Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.

Do I need Jesus? Not the Jesus who is unable, not the Jesus waiting for you to accept him, not that little Jesus, but the conquering, victorious Jesus, who is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who obtained as a man a righteous standing before God, We, sinners against God, stand at the very edge of eternity. Right now, we're taken up with, it's the new year. What are we gonna do? What are we going to accomplish? We don't know what the next moment will bring, much less tomorrow. Today, now is the day of salvation. Oh, Lord, give me a need for you. Do I need Jesus, the accepted sacrificial substitute that has satisfied the holy and just God? Do I need the Christ? Do I need the mediator between me and the Holy God? Do I need my sins covered from the one with whom all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do?

You and I are just like Paul, before the Lord revealed Himself to him. We have all gone about trying to establish our own righteous standing. We have all defied the Lord, and we have all thought so little of the precious blood of God the Son. In our own nature, we are rebels and enemies against God. Do I need the Christ who has made peace between God and men?

Over and over I've said the words, do I need? You and I will not need until we are made to know that we are lacking. Turn with me to Romans chapter 7. Romans 7 verse 9, we're listening to Paul once more. He says, for I was alive without the law once. Paul, as a Pharisee, he knew the letter of the law, but he only knew it as a carnal law, as a moral law, as a law he could fulfill in himself. not as the spiritual law that it is. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, this do and live, that's the sum of the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and it slew me.

What Paul thought, what he trusted to be life for him, in the pursuit of keeping the law in the flesh, when the commandment came, when it was made alive to Paul, Paul became aware that he was lacking. And he died.

Earlier I said one of our base needs is air. And while we're healthy, we don't give a moment's thought to this need. It's there. Don't even think about it. You just do it. But let an infection enter this body. Let for one moment our airways be obstructed. And that need becomes all-consuming. So it is for us. We know the law, at least in our head. It's written on our hearts, in our conscience. Ten Commandments. We know them, and we say we keep them. As of this moment, I haven't yet murdered anybody in the flesh. We keep them. At least that's what we tell ourselves. And best that everybody that's like us can tell, we've basically kept them.

But when the commandment comes, To each of God's chosen, lovingly elected, called sinners. Sin revives. And we are made to know what we are. That we have sinned against God. We are made to know that He is Lord. Holy. and just. We are made to know what we are, sin, from the top of the head to the sole of the foot and everything in between. When that commandment comes, we will need the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you lack Are you like me and come short of the glory of God? There is good news. There is one who does not lack. There is one who has perfectly kept the law, perfectly glorified God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, come and let us flee to Him. Call upon His name. Ask of Him. Beg. Lord, let me know how poor and needy I am. And in so doing, draw me to You. If He gives us a need of Him, we have His sure promise that He will fully satisfy our need.

I want to close with a promise of God to those who are poor and needy. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 15. Deuteronomy 15. Deuteronomy 15 verse 7. Deuteronomy 15.7 If there be among you a poor man, it is hard to find a poor man. It takes the power of God to make us poor. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need. in that which He wanted.

You know, generally when I'll read verses such as this, and this one, this command is written to me as though I'm one able to give. Even as a child, owning nothing of my own, If I read this, I would have read this as being, well, if my buddy doesn't have a toy, I'm supposed to give it to him.

But what a promise to the poor and needy sinner. Verse 11, for the poor shall never cease out of thy land. When I'm haughty, when this sinful flesh rises up and starts deceiving me that I have something of myself. Oh, how I need the Lord to work in me and cause the eye of faith looking unto Christ. But when it starts looking within, when it starts saying, surely there's something good about you. Thank God when He turns our eyes back to Christ and we see Him high and lifted up. And we're made to know just how poor we are.

For the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, and thy land. From one mercy beggar to another I was without, I was poor, I was found wanting. I had nothing and have nothing in and of myself. No hope of salvation until one day I was met by the man, by the precious Lord Jesus Christ, who in his wealth, who in his riches, opens his hand wide. and met my every need."

We were listening to Gabe on the way up here, and his morning message was a prayer for the new year. Basically. He named it something else, but that was the gist. He said it in more words, Give me a need this day, this year. Give me a need for Christ Jesus, my Lord. May He be exalted. Amen.