Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3. It is a common thought in every
man born in Adam, and this is kind of a follow-up with what
we just heard about justification. It is a thought that is born
in every person that somehow salvation is attainable by our
own ability. That's just born in us. It's
our will. Our will. Watch a child. It's all about me. And the Apostle
Paul was no exception to this thinking. He said in Philippians 3, verses
4 and 6, that while I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof, he might trust
in the flesh, I more. Now listen to his credentials.
Circumcised the eighth day. Exact day according to the law. Paul said, I didn't even have
a deviation in circumcision. I was circumcised the eighth
day. He said, of the stonk of Israel. He said, I didn't come from Ishmael. I wasn't a proselyte, I was an
Israelite. He said of the tribe of Benjamin,
the tribe of Benjamin was from Jacob and Rachel. The tribe that
kept the maintenance of God's order of worship. when ten of
the tribes revolted. He said, I was from the tribe
of Benjamin. I was from a faithful tribe.
Hebrew of the Hebrews. My daddy was a Hebrew and my
mama was a Hebrew. Touching the law, a Pharisee
of the strictest sect of the Jews, a Pharisee. He said, but after the Lord regenerated
me, after the Lord stopped me, gave me a new heart, new attitude,
that's what I've entitled this message, a new attitude. Verse
7 says, what things were gain to me, what things were lucrative,
is what the word means, what things were gain to me, those
I counted loss. I counted damage for Christ. That is, what things I counted
on before, my heritage, my obedience, those things were damage to me
for acceptance with God any other way except the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Apostle Paul now is
going to, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, and we have
to understand, remember this, when we read this Word, these
are not the words of men. This is God's Word. Pinned, the
Scripture says, as holy men were moved upon by the Holy Spirit
of God. This is God's Word written down
in a book. Now, the Apostle Paul is going
to reveal the heart of a believer in these next few verses. And
we would do well to hear what God has to say, seeking His leadership,
direction by His Spirit, through these verses right here. I got a question. I asked myself
this question. Do I think like the Apostle Paul
thought? Well, you know, you'd say, well,
Paul was a man. That's correct. But you remember
this, a man that was taught of God, that wrote under the direction
of God's Spirit, Paul said, under the direction of God's Spirit.
I want to reiterate this. Hebrews 13.7, Remember them which
have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God,
whose faith follow the object of their faith, the one that
is proclaimed. considering the end of their
conversation or of their life, of their walk. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, "...be
ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ." After Paul was converted, he
had a new attitude. He had a different way of thinking.
Things that were, Now here's the first. I've got about three
points. Here's the first. A believer has a new attitude
about what he formerly believed. I had someone tell me one time, after they made this statement. They said, you know what? I've
always wanted to be in the position of being a believer. I've always
wanted to be a true believer. And I thought about that. I thought,
you know, I don't think so. No. I heard Brother Henry say
one time, you say you've always... He said, that's just a little
bit too far back. No, no. A believer, when God
Almighty calls them out of darkness, they have a new attitude about
what they formerly believed. What things were gained to me,
Those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dumb." Have you noticed how many times he talked
about things that were profitable now are lost to him? Gained. They're not lucrative. There's
no profit in them. Every believer, every believer,
every believer, every believer, when God Almighty calls them
out of darkness, has this confession to make. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. The Lord said, My ways are not
your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
They don't meet somewhere, Mitch. Not until God Almighty calls
a man out of darkness. Until a person is regenerated. They're wrong. They're wrong. What Paul formerly thought was
necessary for salvation, and he thought this way because it's
in every person. Self. Me. Every person. They've got the mind. The Lord said this. He told some
Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. And concerning Satan,
this is his attitude. I will of sin. I will. I will
be like. I will. I. It's in every person. What Paul used to think was his
righteousness was his work. And God revealed it to be worthless. After conversion, the Apostle
Paul and every believer sees Christ to be all of his righteousness,
all of his justification before God, all of his obedience, all
of his acceptance. A believer does not look to anything
that he has done. Ever. Ever. Not even his faith. A believer doesn't look to his
faith. Faith is the gift of God. It's the grace of God by which
we believe that we were justified by the faith of Christ. That's
why I said this is just a continuation of what I just preached. A believer says, formerly, everything
that I could do was nothing. My obedience to the law, My advantage
by birth, being born in a family where there were believers, whatever. Dumb refuge. Now, let me ask
you this. Is that your attitude? Is that
my attitude? Is that the attitude of a believer
according to these Scriptures? Yes, it is. Men or women are
not born with a hunger for God. No man seeks after God. No man
seeks after God. Why? We're dead. Dead. Dead. Spiritually dead. Secondly, a
believer has a new attitude, a new heart concerning Christ. The first one was he has a new
attitude about himself. This boy said, I was wrong. I
was wrong. The Scriptures reveal that many,
many knew about the Lord Jesus Christ. The demons know about
Him. The demons believe that there
is a Christ. But only a believer has a right
attitude toward Him. The Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation. He's not just a historical person. Everybody before conversion has
some attitude toward the Lord. I believe that Jesus Christ is
somebody that makes salvation possible. But none of them, no person. I was thinking about many of
you that grew up listening to Bruce Scott. Now, I grew up in
false religion. I grew up in a false It was a
false free will. God wants to save you if you'll
let Him. Accept Him. If you'll accept Him, then He'll
save you. And the Scripture doesn't say
that. Scripture says God saves His people, then He tells them
about it. I grew up believing that the
Lord wanted to do something for me, but He just couldn't unless
I let Him. That was my attitude of Jesus
Christ. He's made it possible. But there's
a lot of you that grew up listening to Brother Scott. You've never
sat under false preaching. Those of you who grew up here
as infants, you never have. But I'm going to tell you something.
Your thoughts of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, was this. You heard of Him too. And He
was still a historical figure to you too. until God Almighty
gave you a heart and a love for Him and a need of Him. You grew up hearing the truth,
but you didn't need Him. You found all of your peace and
comfort in hearing the gospel, but still you had no need of
Him until God gave you a heart. All of my comfort? was that I
knew that He wanted to if He'd let me. You may have never heard
that, but you still had no heart for Him. Until God gave you a
new heart and you realized without Him, heartfully without Him,
you heard it and knew it up here. You knew it here. I heard Brother
Henry Mahan say one time, he said, is about 18 inches or so,
15, 18 inches from right here to right here. God gives a man
a heart for him, a need for him. I must have him. I must have
him. Those that know him not in regenerating
grace, When they hear the gospel of God's free grace,
their heart rebels against it. You say, I never did. Yes, you
did. How do you know? Because God said you did. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Some of those that heard the
Lord preaching, you said this, no man can come, except it were
given unto him of My Father. That's a hard saying. Who can
hear that? And they walked no more with Him. Will you go away
also? Here's what a believer says,
Lord, where am I going to go? You have the words of eternal life.
We're sure. You. Many, when they hear the
Word of God, You want to kill Him. John 8.37, I know that you
are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill Me because My Word hath
no place in you. You say, I never thought that.
Yes, you did. He that is not with Me is against
Me. You say, I never thought that way. God said you did. How subtle is this heart? Is this heart not the most deceitful
thing you've ever seen in your life? A believer will say, yes
it is. Now they'll say that. Before
they didn't. It's desperately wicked. It's
deceitful above any deceit. You think people have deceived
you or tried to deceive you? You think there's deception in
this world today? You think there's deception now?
This is the most deceptive thing this heart will tell you. You
don't think bad things. You don't rebel against God.
You've always been good. You've always been obedient.
You've always come to church. You were here from your youth
up. And you're good. There's none good. There's none
good. No, not one. Paul says back in
Philippians 3, the latter part of verse 8, he said, I'll just
read verse 8, "'Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss,'
here it is, "'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, the fellowship of His sufferings be made conformable
unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Now let me ask you something, everybody. Whether
you grew up in false religion, or whether you grew up hearing
the gospel of free grace, let me ask you this. Before God Almighty
gave you a new heart, did you think like this? Oh, that I might
win Christ heartfully and be found in Him, not having mine
own righteousness which is the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Oh,
that I may know Him. that I may know Him, the power
of His resurrection." Did you ever think that? No, you didn't. No, you did not. You see what
I'm saying? A cold, hard, justified ourselves,
always, wherever we are, whatever you heard, justified. The Apostle
Paul, in regenerating grace, knew that he had lost nothing
but dung By everything that he formerly believed, but he gained
everything in Christ. He lost self-righteousness and
gained the righteousness of Christ through the revelation of God's
Word. He lost bondage in the law and gained freedom in Christ. He lost that temporal glory before
men. You talk about proud. Man, I'm telling you, I finally got out of college. I was kind of one of the teachers
of young people or something. What an example I was, Mitch.
I was just so proud. Man, I could quote Scriptures. That temporal glory before men.
and to gain the knowledge of eternal glory in Christ. The believer has gained Christ
and wants to gain more. More knowledge found in Him and
wants to be found in Him. You that believe, know. I know Him, but oh, I want to
know Him. Oh, how much I don't know. How
little I know. A believer never feels that he
has attained all that he needs of Christ. Though God says he
has all things, no condemnation, and a believer looks at himself
and says, oh, that I might grow in the grace and the knowledge
of our Lord. I want to know more of the power
of His grace, of resurrection, what God has attained and done
for me, secured for me. I want true fellowship with Him. I want to fellowship with Him.
There are times that we'll read together at night. And I'll finish
reading and I'll think how disrespectful I was as I
read things that just It just floated right through my mind,
Neil. I'm just thinking about something. And I'm thinking,
I wonder what I just read the verse before. Oh, if God charged
me with iniquity, if He imputed my guilt to me, where would I
be? I want to know Him more. Jealous
for the place of His presence. God's people blush. that they're
folly. And they truly cry, O that I
may win Him, be found in Him. And then lastly, I believe he's
got a new attitude about himself, a new attitude about Christ,
who He is. And thirdly and closing, he's
got a new attitude about his walk. I want you to look back in Philippians
3, verses 12-14. Paul says, not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, everything that he trusted informally. And
reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus." The Scripture sets forth. I want you to turn to Romans
6. I'll wrap this up. Romans 6. The Scripture sets forth. Therefore,
we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of God, even so we
also should walk in newness of life." A believer has a new attitude
concerning his walk. Before men. Before God, before
men. And all the while, he does not trust in his walk. But he presses forth. He presses toward the mark. Striving
after. No confidence in his flesh. But
I'm going to tell you something. A believer is concerned about
his walk. We walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. That we walk believing God. Look at Romans 13. Here is the
walk of a believer. Let us walk honestly. Well, if you've got a margin
there, it will tell you what that word honestly means. Decently. Walk decently. I heard Brother Henry South told
you this before. He said, especially a preacher
of the gospel, ought to be the most respected man in the community.
He said, not that they're going to believe what you say, but they respect you as far as
the way you treat them. Pay your bills. If you tell somebody
something to the best of your ability, make good on it. Doggone
it, do it. Don't tell somebody something,
just ignore it. If you tell somebody you're going
to be somewhere, if you can't call them, just be respectful. Walk honest, decently, is what
he's saying. As in the day. As in the day
and the knowledge of who you are and whose you are. Not in
rioting. I went and looked these words
up. You know, a lot of times we'll read a word and you read
and say, well, that sounds spiritual. That's a biblical word. Right. What does it mean? Not in rioting. I wrote these down. Drunken festivals. What it means? Not in rioting. Okay? Not in rioting and drunkenness. That's where those two words
go together. Not in chambering, cohabitation or whoredoms. Wantonness. Unrestrained lewdness. Sodomy. Sodomy. Homosexuality, that's what it
means. In strife and envying. Fighting
personally, lawfully, against each other. Jealousy. How to walk. We walk by faith. Not by sight, not by my thoughts. Walking, believing God. Walk with our expectations being
regulated by that which we've seen by faith. I believe that
Almighty God works all things after the counsel of His own
will. Whatever comes my way, God's ordained it. Let me walk
honestly. Without drunkenness, without
whoredoms, without unrestrained lewdness, sodomy, fighting, jealousy,
walk as children of light. Walk as children of the day.
Galatians 6-9, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due
season we shall reap if we faint not. And then, last two verses,
back in Philippians 3. I just wrote this down. I put
good advice. Here it is. Philippians 3, verses
15 and 16. Paul said, Let us therefore,
as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.
Let us mind the same things. Has Almighty God revealed to
you that everything you ever trusted in before He called you
out of darkness is just dumb? It's just refuge. Has God Almighty
revealed to you that your attitude and your thoughts toward Christ,
who is He? He's the Lord of glory. He's
God's chosen. He's the Savior of His people,
Savior of sinners, those made to know so, be so. And has God
Almighty given you a heart to walk, as children of light, honestly,
respectfully. I'm telling you, God's people
have a heart for the glory of the Lord and put half or half,
no confidence whatsoever. When we've done all that we can
possibly do, you know what we are? Unprofitable servants. We've
done that which was our duty. And it has not added one iota
to our standing before God. We walk before Him, believing
Him, trusting Him. Lord, bless these words to our
hearts for Christ's sake.