Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 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 other man
thinketh that he hath 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 lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but lost 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, 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 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. 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 thing. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose
God their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. For our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according
to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things
unto Himself." Our Father, thank You again. Thank You. for speaking. Thank you for speaking through
Him who is the Lord. Thank you for allowing us to
be here. Help us today. Lord, help us. Teach us. We ask these things for Christ's
sake. Alright, will you turn to that
scripture that our brother just read? Philippians chapter 3. I was asked ahead of the message
what the title of this message would be. And I assumed it was
so that if they wanted to, they could put it on a CD or tape
or something. And I gave her a short one. I
said, well, we'll just say The believers hope, but actually
it's bigger than that is the believers hope his way, his experience
and his end. And I hope to cover those four
things here in the next little bit and cover them in such a
way, at least you'll have something spiritually speaking to chew
on and to benefit from over the next little while. Now in the Sunday school hour,
the Bible class hour, we spoke what is Christianity or what
is a Christian. And there are things which define
what a Christian is, but there are things which are marks of
a believer. It's not what makes him a Christian,
but it will identify him as one. And one of these things that
will identify a real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is this,
what is his hope? There's a specific hope that
all believers have. Now, when you speak of a person's
hope, you can speak of what he hopes for or what he hopes in. For instance, a man may hope
for a wealthy retirement. I mean, to enter retirement with
plenty. That's what he hopes for. But he'll hope in his job
and whatever he's able to do to collect the money necessary
to have of easygoing retirement. So there's a difference between
what you hope for and what you hope in. The interesting thing
is, though, when it comes to a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that which he hopes for and that which he hopes in is
exactly the same thing. His hope is not heaven. You know,
a lot of so-called Christianity is tied up with a hope for heaven.
I remember a song we used to sing when I was in the youth
groups at church, I'm satisfied with just a cottage below. a
little silver, a little gold, but someday yonder I will never
more wander but walk the streets that are made of gold. I've got
a mansion just over the hilltop in that great land where we'll
never grow old. Have you noticed that they haven't mentioned Christ
in there yet? And we're nearly to the end of
the song as far as I know. Maybe somewhere along, I can't remember
any more of the song, but that's what stuck with me. Is it not
interesting that People define heaven in terms of those things
God told us to avoid on earth. He told us to avoid riches or
the love of them. Now, I know that this book of
Revelation speaks of a road made of gold, and I know your pastor
has been through that book a couple of times with you, so I'm sure
he got it right explaining to you that that ain't a real road
made out of gold. I know that Lord Jesus Christ
said in my father's house are many mansions, but I understand
that's Elizabethan English for a house. It doesn't mean a colonnaded
Georgian mansion, you know, out there. You know, those houses
that are big enough, they've got a name. You know, I live at the Oaks.
You know, so that's not what we're looking for, is it? Are you? I'm not looking for a harp. I'm
not looking for, shall we say, an everlasting retirement. The believer is looking for something
much better than that. And Paul puts it this way. In
verse 8, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency,
this is Philippians 3.8, 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. Now understand he does not say
win in the sense of a contest, as though there's only 50 spots
open and he's in a race with everybody else in the world to
be one of the first 50. That's not the kind of winning
he's talking about. Nor is he talking about the winning like
you got in the grocery store when you're done paying your
bills. You say, well, give me one of them tickets there. Maybe
I'll be chosen and I'll get all the cash. It's not that. In fact,
really, it might be better translated, gain. Here's all he's saying. When I get to the end of what
is called our natural life, here's what I want, Christ. That's what
I'm aiming for. And if I have Him, I'll be satisfied
even if I have nothing else. But if I don't have Him, I'm
going to be dissatisfied no matter what else I have. The believers hope is Christ. And I ask you this morning to
search your heart if you dare. But I tell you, if you're a believer,
you'll be able to say, you know, you're right. I can get confused
by things, I can get distracted by other things, even other things
in the church. But really, here's what gives
me peace. Here's what keeps me going. And here's what I long
for. Him. Him. But Paul doesn't leave it just
there. He begins to itemize some of those things. Because, you
know, if a man wins Christ or if a man gains Christ, what a
thing he's gained. Because everything's in him.
Now, he is blessed enough in and of himself, but he's also
full of blessings. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly place. Where? In Christ. Now we just
come through the Christmas season, you know, and I remember as a
kid, you know, we count how many presents there were under the
tree, you know, as it was piling up, you know, mom was real good
about making sure it looked like there was a whole lot under that
tree. And generally there was. And we thought, boy, a good Christmas
is coming. Look at all of these boxes. But
I'd be happy to have one box if everything was in it. And
when you got Christ, you got everything. That old preacher,
I can't remember which one it was, it's two or three hundred
years ago, but he preached a message and the first point of that message
was all that God has for sinners is in Christ. And if you have
Christ, you have it all. And if you don't have Christ,
you don't have any of it. There is nothing that you need to have
before you have him in order to get him. And then once you've
got him, there's nothing more you need than what he is and
what he has. No wonder Paul said, here's my
hope, Christ. For in the hope of Christ is
the hope of all things good. He itemizes it this way, that
I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Let me tell you something
that's absolutely certain. You will be found. God has appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has raised
from the dead, even the Lord Jesus Christ. On that day you
will be sought and you will be found. So the issue is not whether
you will be found, The issue is where you'll be found. Now,
a lot of folks are trying to hide from God. Some try to hide
from God by denying that he exists. Some try to hide from God by
inventing the God other than the God that's described in scriptures.
Some try to hide from God in the church. Some try to hide
from God behind the pulpit. That scares me once in a while,
Marvin. I wonder, you know, am I just up here trying to hide
from God? But I don't care what hiding
place you come up with, you won't be able to get, you won't be
able to hide from him. You say, well, it's stupid to try to hide
from God. Well, you know, Adam, who was a perfect man, once he
fell, you know, the first thing he tried to do? This shows the
spiritual foolishness that instantly fell upon man. He thought that
he could cover his nakedness with fig leaves and hide from
God behind a bush. Isn't that silly? But it's no
sillier than what men do trying to hide from God. You will be
found. The issue is where you'll be found. And Paul says, I want
to be found in him. And what does that mean? What
does it mean to be found in Christ? There's a negative and a positive.
Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. Now, here's a man who had just
A few verses before said, as touching that righteousness which
was in the law, I was blameless. Now, you and I might refuse to
boast in the law because we know full well we're not blameless.
Paul said, I was. I was. And for him to say, I don't want
the righteousness that comes from the law is a remarkable
thing because he had it. At least outwardly speaking. It's one thing for me to say.
I mean, if I say, oh, I reject that righteousness, which has
come by the law and you might say, well, yeah, you never had
it. You can't give up what you never had. Paul had it. But he
says to be found in him. I don't want that righteousness.
Which comes from the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now
some would say where it says the faith of Christ and it means
the faithfulness of Christ. And you know something that fits
because certainly that righteousness which we gain from God through
faith is nothing more and nothing less than the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ charged our account as though we ourselves
did it. And so that very well may mean
exactly or be exactly what Paul means there. It may mean that
righteousness of which comes through believing in Christ.
Certainly that's what the next phrase means. The righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now that which is of the law
and you know that word translated of actually it's not a word translated
of but just the way the word was written indicates in our
English what we would say of the preposition. It's talking
about the source. And he says there is a righteousness
of which the law is the source. And the only way to get that
righteousness is to perform the things that the law demands.
Moses describes that righteousness which comes by the law. Blessed
is the man who does these things, continues in these things to
do them. He shall live by them. Now that's
how you get the righteousness of the law. And the righteousness
which comes from the law is a righteousness which we earn and work for and
then render to God as the recipient of the righteousness. That's
the way the law works. You are rendering a righteousness
to God. The gospel turns it on its head. And instead of rendering a righteousness
to God, we get a righteousness from Him. Everybody knows you need righteousness. The issue is where you're going
to get it. And Paul says to be found in
Him means to be one who has rejected that program whereby I render
a righteousness to God and God accepts me based upon the righteousness
which I give Him. Instead, I'm part of that system
whereby God gives me a righteousness and accepts me on the basis of
the righteousness that He hands to me free of charge. And I can say that. But boy,
is it hard to really believe that's the way it is. Do you realize that is the essential
warfare of faith? Is to constantly beat down that
fleshly thought that I am accepted and approved by God, at least
in some measure, based on what I do. And it takes regular gatherings
with other brethren to hear the gospel over and over again to
keep us from being dragged back into that system of this do and
live. So I'd never fall back into that.
Don't kid yourself. Peter did. It was subtle, but
that's that's what he meant when he separated himself from the
Gentiles. Paul had to call him on it. We find all the time. And I'll
tell you how. You can be certain of it, but
that you fight with it. When you find yourself in notable
sin, Do you fear that God's going to punish you for it and deprive
you of one or more of those blessings which are in Christ? Do you ever say to yourself,
I couldn't be saved and do that? That's Moses, brethren, not Christ. And I'm not blaming Moses. There's
nothing wrong with the law. There's something wrong with
us. And that's why we got to get out of the law. if we're
going to have any hope. That's why we've got to have
a righteousness that comes from somewhere else than Mount Sinai. Because any righteousness which
has our hand upon it will be stained with the filthiness of
who we are and what we do. And that's as true now as it
was the day we first believed. And he goes on to say that I
may know him. Well, don't you know Christ?
Yes, I do. I married Bonnie. 32 years ago, I better be right
about that. 32 years ago. Yeah, it's 32.
And I knew her when I married her. And I know her better now. And if the Lord gives us some
more years, I assume I'm going to know her more. Marriage is a wonderful thing
that way, isn't it? And Paul says, just like that woman in
the Song of Solomon, say me that I may know Him. Oh, to enter
with Him into the big chamber. And to be united to Him. And
to know within the depths of your soul the love that He bears
for you. People in this world want to
rub shoulders with the high and mighty and to know them. Big
deal. They can't do anything for you.
At least not for very long. That I may know Him and I may
know the power of His resurrection. Turn back here to Ephesians chapter
1. What is it to know the power of His resurrection? I've heard it explained this
way. God will give you resurrection
power and you can overcome this and you can accomplish that as
though resurrection power and knowing resurrection power is
somehow God assigning to you the ability to do things that
other mere mortals cannot do. Resurrection power is not something
given to you, it's something worked in you. Paul is praying
here. for the Ephesians and he says
in verse 18 that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened
that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what
is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints
and what is the great or excuse me what is the exceeding greatness
of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his
mighty power which he brought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
which is the body, the fullness of him, that filleth all in all."
Now what is Paul saying? I want to know the power of his
resurrection. He said, I want that. Because the same power
that was at work in Christ to raise him from the dead is at
work in the hearts of every believer. The heart of every believer.
First of all, remember that regeneration is merely the beginning of the
resurrection. When Adam died, the whole person died. His spirit
died immediately. His body began an irrevocable
process of dying. I mean, there's nobody that's
going to not die except Enoch, and I'm not sure about that story.
I mean, I don't really know what all went there, but evidently
he didn't taste death. But aside from him and, what,
Elijah, I think everybody else has died at least once. So we're dead, and the resurrection
will restore us completely. But the new birth is just the
beginning of it. God has raised our spirits from
the dead, and he did so with the same power that he exerted
when he raised Christ from the dead. Now, Christ is the forerunner
of everything for the believer. Now, we were the forerunner into
sin. Christ followed us there, and our sins were laid on him.
We were the forerunner into death, and he followed us there. But
we were in death and couldn't get out. He went into death and
he got out. Here where the scriptures say,
the Lord said, on this rock I'll build my church and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. And for the longest time,
I always thought that meant that hell couldn't stop the church
from breaking down the gates and getting in there. And that's
the way it's, you know, like it's a warfare thing. And we're
going to triumph over hell by breaking down its gates and getting
in. Brethren, I don't want in. I want out. The gates of hell
are not there to keep people out, they're there to keep people
in. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who is typified by two people
in the scriptures named Perez. One time I think it's spelled
Perez, but it's the same word, and it means the one who breaks
out. And the Lord Jesus Christ went into death, He went into
hell, and He broke out, and the church came out with Him. He
was the forerunner. And those mighty gates broke
because it couldn't prevail against Christ. And because they can't
prevail against Christ, they won't prevail against His church.
She's coming out. And He is now the forerunner
ahead of us in all those things that bring us out of death and
into the presence of God. And all those things we see about
Christ are also about us. God raised Him from the dead. and set Him at His right hand.
And Paul says we're seated with Him in the heavenly places. Far above all principalities
and power and might. Now, I can see this of Christ.
With the eye of faith, I can see this of Christ. But do you
know, brethren, that God's going to set us above all principalities
and powers? Not setting us above them as
though we rule over them in the way that Christ rules over all
things. set us above them that they can't reach us anymore. There are some principalities
in this power and powers in this world that really get aggravating,
don't they? I hear people talking about the
political situation in the United States. You know what my hope
is? Someday I'm going to be above all them. They won't be able
to mess with me anymore. Imagine those who are suffering
under the persecution of Rome, who have seen their friends dragged
away, some of them killed, their property seized. They are at
that time subject to the principalities and the powers of this world.
But God says in due time, I'll get you out of there. And they
won't ever bother you again. In fact, we're above every name
that is named. Not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. Oh, isn't the name of Satan a
powerful name among us now? He is a troublesome fellow, isn't
he? There'll be a day. We know he can't bring us any
true harm now. We already know that. There'll
be a day he can't even trouble us. We'll be far above him. And he put all things under Christ's
feet. And we are his bride and his queen. Now, I don't have
a lot of power and significance in this world. And there's not
much under my feet. But whatever is under my feet
is also under my wife's feet, because all that I am and all
that I have is hers. And someday I'll realize that,
that all things are under my feet. Because they're under my
Lord's feet. They're under my husband's feet.
And we could go on, but He's head over all things. God gave
Him, Christ, to be head over all things for the church. He's not just head of the church.
He's head over all things. Why? In behalf of the church. In other words, God loved the
church. And here's how he showed that
love. He made Christ head over everything on her behalf. I preached through the book of
Revelation here a couple of years ago. That almost sums that up. Christ is head over all things
for the church. It amazes me whenever I'm able
to lay hold of it, or maybe the other way around, whenever this
truth lays hold of me. that God is running the whole
world for my sake. Jesus Christ is ruling the whole
world for my sake. Sometimes we may have a hard
time believing that, particularly with the political climate in
the United States of America, and we elect our leaders, you
know, and there's always going to be about half of the people
that are upset with the way things turned out because we're fairly
evenly divided. But do you know something? No
matter who gets put in office, God put him in there for your
sake. And he may tax you half to death, but it's for your sake. He may do things that you absolutely
despise and think is wrong and wicked. God put him in there
to do that for your sake. You say, I don't see how that
can be. Well, that's where faith comes in. We're not living by
sight, brother. We live by faith. God created disease for your
sake. Paul says all things are yours. I know very few people here that
is intimately know what's going on with you. Some of you may
be sick with serious illness right now. And you might be thinking,
oh, I've been abandoned by God. No, you haven't. That was done
for your sake. That was given to you as a blessing.
Now, I'm up here saying it. If you wait for somebody, I'm
going to be flat on my back in a hospital. Wondering if God's
abandoned me. We preachers preach far above
what we believe, but that's just the nature of the thing. But
it's so. But the power of the resurrection,
Paul says, I want to know the power of the resurrection. It
is that which puts us far above anything that can do us harm
or trouble us. He said, I want to know the fellow. We're back in Philippians chapter
three, verse 10. The fellowship of his sufferings, that word
fellowship means to have in common. Well, why in the world do I want
to have anything in common with the sufferings of Christ? Because
there's salvation in those sufferings. Paul certainly is not saying,
I want to suffer like Christ did. He's saying, I want to be
joined to Christ in those sufferings. I want them to be for me. I wanted
to be that when he died he died for me. I wanted to be that that
as Peter say he bore our sins in his body on the trees and
I want to be part of that hour whose sins he bore. And then said being made conformable
unto his death. Or as one translation put it
being made like him in his death. Well what's that mean. Well a
couple of things I believe or are mentioned, meant here. First
of all, that I would learn to be submissive to the will of
God, like our Lord was. Father, if there be any way that
this cup can pass from me, except I drink it, nevertheless, not
my will, but your will be done. When our Lord Jesus Christ died
on Calvary's tree, never was a man so fully in submission
to the will of God than him. Never was a man loving God more
than our Lord loved God as God beat the life out of him. And Paul said, Oh, that I knew
that kind of submission, that I could surrender everything
to the will of God and trust in him, though in providence
he beats the life out of me. being made conformable to Him
in His death also is this, because Jesus Christ died, He submitted
Himself or became obedient to death, even the death of the
cross, wherefore God hath highly exalted Him. And he who is joined to Christ
in his sufferings through faith is conformed to Christ also in
the outcome of those sufferings. And then he says, if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Now, in English,
that's a little bit enigmatic, as though he's saying, you know,
just I'm trying everything so that by some means I'll attain
to the resurrection of the dead. No, he's saying that I may win
Christ so that by that means I may attain to the resurrection
of the dead. Now, that's his hope when you
say, well, the hour is about up. The others follow along pretty
quickly once you've established what the hope is. What is the
believer's way? How does he pursue that hope?
He pursues that hope by ditching all his other hopes. You know, Christ is enough for
the man who has nothing else. In fact, he's enough only for
the man who has nothing else. The Lord said to his disciples
there in John, Chapter six, after many of his disciples had left
him. And he looks at them and says, well, will you also go
away? And I love Peter's answer, where are we going to go? I'll
tell you who won't leave Christ. These are the only people that
won't leave Christ, those who have no place else to go. If
you've got somewhere else to go, you will. In due time, the
Lord Jesus will say something offensive enough to you, and
you'll go to wherever else it is you feel you can find some
peace, comfort, and safety. But when you've got nowhere else
to go, you will go to him. And Paul says in verse 7, 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've suffered
the loss of all things. You can just hear Paul now, can't
you, just weeping and wailing over all those things he had
to give up for Jesus. Have you ever heard anybody talk
about all they sacrificed for the Lord? Oh, you know, I just. I used to be, but I had to give
that up. For God, as though they did God a favor. Paul is saying. Not simply that
he gave these things up. But he gave them up because they
realized they had no value. And he did not. Suffer the loss
of them as though he were suffering over the loss of them. He says, I do count them but
dumb, which was a word meant all kinds of rubbish. Now, whoever
weeps as they drag the garbage can to the curb. Open the lid and say, oh, there's
those green beans we had Wednesday night. Look at it. I remember changing that diaper.
You ever do that? If you're smart, you don't even
take the lid off. It's garbage. And brethren, everything you
had till you met Christ is garbage and should be taken out to the
curb even if you've got nothing else to replace it with. But
Paul said, I took it all to the curb because I, by the grace
of God, had found Christ. And that which I once thought
was wonderful and glorious, I found to be absolutely disgusting. That which I used to put on the
asset side of my register, I realized was nothing but a liability.
That which I thought was helping me was a hindrance to me. Because of Christ. Now, nobody's
ever going to take that stuff to the curb until they see Christ. Because Paul was dragging that
garbage can around with him, and he was heading to Damascus
with that garbage can strapped to his back, thinking it was
full of gold, when it was full of rotting leftovers and dirty
diapers. And then he saw Christ, and he
saw the garbage for what it was. If you think that you have lost
anything for the sake of Christ, I dare say you've never seen
Christ. But if you believe you've been
cleansed from something, then maybe you've seen Christ. That
is the way. That's how you gain Christ. By ditching everything else.
Now, what's the believer's experience? His hope is Christ. His way is
to abandon all those things in which he previously hoped. What
is his experience? Verse 12, not as though I had
already attained either were already perfect, but I follow
after. He says, folks, here's my hope. But don't get me wrong, I haven't
got it yet. For, as he says in another place,
Who hopes for what he already has? You know, it is just plain silly
for us to fret over the fact that we're not perfect. Because there is no promise that
we ever shall be in this life. In fact, there's a lot of statements
that says, count on it, you will not be perfect in this life. You cannot be. I'm not advocating
light attitudes towards sin. I'm simply saying this. You'll
be a whole lot less disappointed if you will keep in mind that
our hope is for after we leave this world. Paul said, I hope
for all these things, but I am not thumping my chest and telling
you I've got them. And anybody that preaches the
perfection of the believer in this life hadn't a clue what
he's talking about. What is it in this life? It is
one failure after another. And no matter how much you may
feel you have succeeded at something, really it was just at the best.
It was simply not as bad a failure as the last time. I played peewee baseball when
I was 11 years old. We had an 18-game season. I think we won two games. We
were a brand-new team that year, and none of us were really any
good. But you know, for those 16 games, there were no victories.
Now, there were some defeats that weren't as bad as others,
but they were all defeats. Paul doesn't say. Thanks be to
God who causes us to be victorious. He says, thanks be to God who
gives us the victory. We don't win. He did. And he hands us his victory in
the end. Yeah, but a believer ought to
be getting better. Well, maybe ought to. But ought
to and did are two different things. And if you think you're
getting better, I'm troubled for your sake. Well, there's sins I don't commit
anymore. Maybe you just can't. Furthermore, if you did manage
to overcome a particular sin, I'm sure there were two or three
to take its place. We may change the sins we commit,
but we simply cannot change the fact that we commit sin. I haven't achieved this, but
I press on. I'm not going to let that deter
me. I'm not going to let me. I'm not going to let the testimony
of my sin say that I'll not win Christ because it's exactly because
of my sin that I must have Christ. All right, and lastly, then,
What is the end of the believer? In verse 9 we find out what is
the end of the unbeliever whose end is destruction. Verse 19.
Their end is destruction. But in verse 20 we read of the
end of the believer. That is the end when he is perfected. When his life here
is over. For our conversation is in heaven
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." Do you know what
is the end of the believer? To realize everything he hoped
for. That is his end. Now there's only one way to that
end. Or maybe we could say two, but
really one that most of us are going to experience, and that's
to die. You know I think of my father he described what Marvin
told you what's going on with him and he's 85 years old and
he's had a stroke. Nurses told me he's not going
to get better. You know you can't when when
brain dies it's gone. And my father you know he still
has wits about him but he lays there in the bed he can't walk
can't hardly talk. He's only got one hope of getting
better. And that's to leave this life.
And brethren, that's your only hope of getting better. We are
like that, like my father. In fact, really true of all of
us, the older you get, the more of the aches and pains you feel
and you realize, you know, there's no backing the clock up. There's
no way of getting out of the troubles and difficulties and
frustrations of life other than this, to get out of life, as
we call life. But of course what we call life
is really simply a slow march to death. But all the difference
that the grave holds for the believer and the unbeliever. The believer hopes for things
and he hopes for things which he may obtain in this life. And yet when he dies, he loses
everything he hoped for. The believer hopes for things
he can never obtain in this life, but the moment he dies, They're
all His in full. Now, what is your hope? And how
is it you're going about to press toward it? And what is your experience
as you press toward it? My hope is Christ. My way is
denying myself and taking up my cross and following Him. My
experience is But I'm not making any progress. But my end shall be that He whom
I long for, I shall see. He whom I love, I will embrace. And I shall be like Him who I
admire from the depths of my heart. Job spoke of that same
hope. He said, I know my Redeemer lives. And even though so far as my
body is concerned, Worms are going to eat this flesh, yet
in my flesh I'll see God. Not with the eyes of another,
not by the report of another, but with these eyes I'll see
Him whom my soul loves. Brethren, if that hope is within
you, no number of years nor suffering of days will take it away. The Lord bless you.