Alright brethren, let's go to
Philippians 3. As we go through Paul's letter
to the Philippians, I try to read the whole letter beginning
to end. from time to time before I start
to study, and I encourage you to do that too. It's important
to read the whole letter so that we can understand something of
Paul's motive and his aim in writing this letter. At least
two saints in the church at Philippi were not of the same mind. I
mentioned this to you a few messages ago. These two ladies were not
of the same mind and we don't know why exactly. But likely
it has something to do with these things Paul has spoken about
throughout the epistle. Paul was in prison. And we know
that had some effect on brethren. A lot of the brethren forsook
Paul. Some were preaching to add to his bonds. But Paul assured
them. He assured them that this was
by the sovereign hand of the Lord Jesus. And it had fallen
out for the furtherance of the gospel. Christ had some elect
in Caesar's house. And he sent Paul right there
with the gospel and Christ called him. Our Savior is sovereign
in salvation. He's our sovereign Savior. And
so it could have had something to do with that, with Paul. It
could have had something to do with legalists. Paul begins chapter
3 and he tells us to beware of the concision. That's legalists. They may have instigated this
and fed this division. But the legalists are those that
want to add something in addition to Christ and make that a necessity
for salvation. In our day, it's very prevalent
for them to add sanctification and they put a part of that in
the hands of the believer. Whatever it was, we don't know
what the division was, but we know it was sin, we know it was
pride, Self-righteousness came in. Unbelief besets us so easily
and included in that is sin and pride and self-righteousness
and all of those things. Legal religion doesn't promote
what the gospel promotes. It promotes fleshly religion.
No worship in the Spirit. It promotes no rejoicing in Christ. And it promotes a lot of confidence
in the flesh. Just the opposite of what the
Gospel does. But Paul declared that he had
suffered the loss of all his former confidence. All of it. And counted it done. He said
that I might win Christ. Paul is about to speak about
this life of faith as a race. The prize is Christ Himself. Everything is in Christ. Everything
we need our Lord Jesus is. The prize is being found in Him.
Not having our own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. Our prize
as we run this race looking to Christ, believing Him, motivated
by the love of Christ in our heart, our desire is to know
more of Him. to know the power of His resurrection,
the power of Christ to keep His people and to keep our brethren
and to keep His church. We want to know the fellowship
of His sufferings, that is, in all of the sufferings we see
something of what Christ suffered. In these light afflictions, we're
reminded of what a great, great, great price Christ paid and what
He suffered to redeem His chosen people. And in these trials and
these sufferings, the Lord is bringing us to be more conformable
to Christ. He's bringing you to submit to
Christ even as Christ submitted to the Father when He went through
this life. Trust in Christ for everything. Trust in Christ for everything,
even if it means death that we may by any means attain to the
resurrection of the dead. Now these are things only Christ
reveals. That's my subject. Things only
Christ reveals. And I get this title from down
here in verse 15. Paul said there, let us therefore
as many as be perfect, spiritually minded, let us be thus minded. And if anything you be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this to you. That's how much
we trust Christ. As the head of His church, the
prophet, priest and king of His people, we trust Christ to reveal
to us what we need to learn and we trust Him to reveal to our
brethren what they need to learn. These are things only Christ
reveals. So, Paul is endeavoring for unity with these two sisters. By beseeching brethren to run
the race, looking to Christ only, looking to Him only, trusting
Christ alone to reveal Whatever it is, we need to learn. Trusting
Him to reveal in the hearts of our brethren. Now, that's what
He's doing here. He's promoting unity by each
thing He says here. I listen to quite a few messages
and I hear passages preached from this passage. And the things
preached, I don't think would promote unity. Because they turn
you to you. And they turn you to your works.
And they turn you away from Christ. And that's the worst thing you
can do when brethren are divided because it just promotes more
division. And Paul here is endeavoring
for unity by exalting Christ to the highest. And I'll show
you this now. We'll just go through our text
here section by section. First of all, Paul endeavors
for unity by promoting humility. He is preaching humility here.
Listen, verse 11, his desire was that we might attain to the
resurrection of the dead. Verse 12, he says, not as though
I had already attained. Either were already perfect.
This is where God's saints are at all times in the life of faith. We never get beyond this right
here. Never. At all times we know. We have
not attained, nor are we already perfect. We won't be perfect
until we're raised to be with Christ and glorified and put
off this body of death. Right now, God's saints are new
men. You're a new man, the scripture
says. Chosen by God our Father. redeemed
by the blood of Christ, regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. There's
a new man in you. You're righteous and you're holy,
but it's only in Christ. Only in Christ. We have a new
man created and Christ abides within us in spirit, but we're
carrying around a spiritually dead, sinful body of death. We're carrying around. Imagine
if he was carrying a dead body around. That's what we're doing
as believers. We're carrying a dead body around
with us and we're so easily brought into captivity by our sin nature. Sins mixed with all we do. This
is our case. Often this is the case. We either
cast down because of our sins, or we are puffed up due to our
good works. Or due to the sins of others
we get puffed up. We have not walked in perfection
as Christ walked, brethren. We have not. We were conceived
in sin. He was holy from the womb. We
come forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. He comes
forth speaking the gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted
in all points like as we are yet without sin. We've not been
tempted by the devil in all points like he was and yet remain perfect
and faithful in all ways dependent upon God to bring forth His sovereign
will. That's what Christ did when He
walked this earth. He's the perfect believer representing those God
chose and trusted Him to save. We've not suffered the depths
that Christ suffered. We've suffered some things, but
they're called light affliction. We've not suffered the depths
of suffering that Christ suffered when He bore the sin of His people
and suffered the wrath of God on the cross, and yet even in
that, remained perfectly holy in his heart, perfectly faithful
looking to God the Father, and never wavered at all. We never will. We never will
be perfect in this life so long as we are carrying around this
sinful body of death. A sin nature. The most mature
saint there is, is still a child while we are in this flesh. We
grow up, we go from being babes in Christ to young men, to fathers,
just like John said. But at our best state, we're
altogether vanity. At our best state, we're still
children. We're being taught by Christ
in this life of faith just how weak we are due to our flesh.
That's what we're being taught. We're being taught that we cannot
do anything without Christ being our strength. He's making you
experience the power of His resurrection. He's keeping power so that we
know He's the only way we continue. We're being taught that our righteousness,
our perfection is in Christ alone. This is what makes us desire
more and more to be with Him and to be conformed to Him. And,
you know, as you grow up, You learn more and more that
in your flesh is no good thing. I'm convinced, brethren, if a
believer was paralyzed from the neck down so he couldn't move
his body at all, we'd find out we are still foul sinners. In ourselves, in this life, we
will never get beyond saying, not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect. We'll never get beyond that.
Now, if I'm one of these sisters, and I'm being critical of others,
and I'm not of the same mind with my sister, And I hear the
apostle Paul say, he's not attained already, he's not already perfect. This is Paul who was taken up
to the third heaven and was given an abundance of revelations.
This is Paul through whom the Lord sent him preaching the gospel
and established the whole Gentile church. This is Paul who Christ
used to write the majority of the New Testament. This is Paul
who suffered so many things. You talk about if mortification
of the flesh and growth in grace and knowledge of Christ comes
through suffering, Paul was at the top because he suffered as
much or more than anybody. And yet he says, I've not already
attained. I'm not already perfect. Brethren,
if I'm sitting there in the Spirit of the Lord, the power of His
resurrection blesses that to my heart, and I have to hit my
face and say, neither am I. I'm just a sinner. I'm just a
sinner. That's all we'll be in this life,
brethren. We won't get past that. We will
not get past that. See how that's promoting unity?
This is showing that we're all on the same level sinners and
we need Christ. That's what Paul's doing here.
And then Paul promotes unity by giving us this rule of faith
that we live by. This is motivated by the love
of Christ, the true motive of the true heart, so that we walk
by faith looking to Christ. He says here in verse 12, 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. Brethren, Christ
apprehended the Apostle Paul, laid hold of him, made him know
he was his possession on the road to Damascus, when Paul was
on his road to Damascus. Christ apprehended us in eternity
when the Father gave all His people to Christ. He prayed in
His high priestly prayer and said, Thine they were and now
gave us them to me. Christ apprehended us, made us
His purchased possession. He came and paid His blood and
bought His people. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
We're His purchased possession. He's apprehended us. But we experience
it whenever He comes to us in power like He did the Apostle
Paul on the road to Damascus and brought us down to the dust
and made us hear Him speak. That's when we've discovered
we were apprehended of the Lord Jesus Christ. and be in His possession,
you have been apprehended of Christ, He makes you desire one
desire, just one desire. This is why Christ apprehended
us, to make us know we are His and He is ours. He is the head,
we are the body. He's the husband, we're the bride,
and He's going to have each and every one of those He laid down
His life for. And when He apprehends you, He
gives you this desire in your heart, one desire that Paul speaks
about right here, that I may apprehend that for which also
I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. I'm the possession of my Redeemer,
and my one desire is I want to one day, in resurrection glory,
be in the full possession of Christ my Redeemer. I'm His possession. I want to be in His possession.
I want Him to be in my possession. I want to be found in Him with
His righteousness alone. I don't want to stand before
the all-knowing, holy, holy, holy God in any other righteousness
but Christ only. I want to know Him more and more
right now and forever. I want to know the power of His
resurrection. I really want to know. You know
what humbles you and you know what keeps you looking only to
Christ? Him showing you and teaching you more and more by experience
that the power is not in you and me. He's the power of salvation. He's the one keeping us. We're
not keeping ourselves. He's keeping us. I want to be made conformable
to Christ right now. I want to be made to submit to
Christ and trust Christ to do the saving. I want to be made
to follow Him. I want to be made to honor Him.
I want to be in spirit. I want to be looking to Him only.
And I want to honor Him in everything I do. I want to see other sinners
brought to Him. And then one day, I want to be
perfectly conformed to His image when He has made us put off this
body of death and He has raised us like unto His glorified body. Right now we see this by faith.
Then we are going to see face to face. Job said, with my own
eyes. When we are brought to be made
conformable to His death, just like I tried to show you last
time, just like Christ trusted the Father, and said, Not my
will but thine be done. Just like Christ in John 6, He
said, All the Father giveth me shall come to me. What was He
doing? He was trusting the Father to draw His people to Him. Just like He said that, I've
gave my back to the spiders because I know He's near that justifies
me. When He's made you conformable
to His death, He makes you just submit to Christ and cast everything
into His hand. And you do this for your brethren,
too. You trust Christ to save your
brethren and teach your brethren. And one day, we're going to see
Him, brethren. But now, right now, have you
apprehended? Are you already perfect? Paul
said, ìNot that Iíve apprehended, but this one thing I do.î He
said, ìThis one thing involves a few things.î He says, verse
13, ìForgetting 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.î
Paul often compares the life of faith to running a race. And
you know, runners in a race, they don't look back. Runners
in a race aren't running a race looking back behind them. They
run looking straight ahead to the finish line. And when they
get closer to that finish line, you know what they do? They bow
their head and lean forward and press to cross that finish line. I used the illustration before
of my grandfather teaching me how to till a garden with a tiller. And when you first start out
tilling a garden with a tiller, you think that the way to make
a straight row is to look behind you and check that row. It will be crooked as a snake.
you pick out an object at the end of that row and you look
straight at that object. You don't look at your feet,
you don't look at your ground, you don't look behind you, you
look straight at that object and you just tilt straight to
it and you'll have a straight row. No man having put his hand to
the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. The
Hebrew writer said, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which just so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him, endured the cross. We're going to have to go through
some crosses. It's going to be some suffering, but nothing like
what He suffered. Enduring the cross, despising
the shame, Why did He do this? For the joy set before Him, to
have His people in His possession. What's Paul talking about here?
Why are we running this race? To have Christ in our possession.
We want to apprehend that which Christ has apprehended us for,
and that is for us to be united, perfectly conformed to one another,
to us to Him. And right now He's seated there
at the right hand of the throne of God. ruling and reigning and
bringing His will to pass perfectly in this life. Now, as for things
that are behind, It's good to remember the pit from which we
were dug. The Lord told His saints in Isaiah
through Isaiah to do that. He said, look back to the pit
from which you were dug. It's good for us to remember
that you and me were conceived in sin. It's good for us to remember
that we were spiritually dead rebels against God. But the reason
it's good to remember this is simply for this reason, to remember
it's Christ alone that made you to differ. Listen to Ephesians
2.3, We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, For His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, He quickened us together,
for by grace are you saved." You see, brethren, sin that so
easily besets us is pride and self-righteousness, especially
if we're not of the same mind with a fellow believer. And you
know, if your brother sins, your sister sins, you know what's
going to make you merciful? You know what's going to make
you continue to receive them and to fellowship with them?
You know what's going to humble you to trust them to Christ? Remembering that great mercy
He showed you and how He loved you even when you were dead in
your sins. But when it comes to things that
are behind, Our former life in sin and all our former confidences
that we had in vain religion. We forget those things. We forget
them. There's no option. We can't return. We don't have an option. Christ
is all. Peter said and the apostles said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Remember Paul when they were
in that ship in that hurricane? This is when an unregenerate
man will turn back. This is when men will prove they
were never born of the Spirit of God. They were in a hurricane. They were in a storm. And we're
going to go through some storms. And what did they do? They pretended
like they were dropping anchor. But they weren't dropping anchor.
They were letting down lifeboats. And Paul stood up and he said
to the centurion and to the soldiers, he said, except these abide in
the ship, you cannot be saved. And the soldiers cut off the
ropes of the boat and let her fall off. We don't have any lifeboats. We are in fellowship with Christ
and we have to abide in Christ. We're not going back. We're forgetting
those things that are behind. ask for past sins that cast us
down. If you start looking back to
past sins and dwelling on past sins, they'll cast you down.
They'll cast you down. You'll get so depressed, Paul
said, forgetting those things that are behind. Listen, Christ
Jesus came into this world and He bore the sin of His people
and He bore the curse we deserve and He justified His people.
And not only that, picture in the scapegoat, He took our sins
away to a land not inhabited. And God says, I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. forgetting those things that
are behind. You forget them. He forgets them. You forget them.
Forget them in your brethren. We even forget our good works
that are behind us. Forget your good works that are
behind you. If you look at past sins, they'll
cast you down. If you look at your past good
works, they'll puff you up. They'll puff you up. When Paul
recalled his good works and the things he did, He said, I labored. I labored more abundantly than
they all. He said, yet not I, but the grace of my Lord that
was with me. And when he was writing to the
Corinthians and he started talking about his works, he said, I've
become a fool in glory. Forget them. Forget them. The Lord teaches us, now listen,
the Lord teaches us to forget our past natural family ties. Natural family ties. Now listen,
love your family and be there for them, do whatever you can
for them. But our family is the household of God. Listen to what
I can show you. The Lord said forget. Forget
natural family being your true family. Listen now. Hearken,
O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also
thine own people and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly
desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord. Worship thou Him. Worship thou Him. These are things
only Christ can reveal. But now, knowing Paul's aim,
knowing he's endeavoring for unity with these sisters, we
also forget past offenses from our brethren. Forget them. Listen, when you ruminate on
past offenses where brethren have offended you, it's going
to hurt you. It's going to hurt you. It's
going to make you critical. It's going to make you promote
division. There's going to be strife in your heart. How many
times have we offended our Lord Jesus since we've known Him?
Since we've known Him. Knowing God remembers my sins
no more for Christ's sake. Am I going to remember your sins
for Christ's sake? Forget them. Forget them. What
does He make us do? Not only does the Lord Jesus
make us forget things behind us, good and bad, Christ makes
us do this. Verse 13, Reaching forth unto
those things which were before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Brethren,
the mark is Christ. Christ is the prize. It's the
high calling of God in Christ. It's being called up to be with
God forever in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep your eyes on the
prize. That's what Paul's saying. It's
impossible to look in two directions at one time. Unless you're going
to be cross-eyed or cock-eyed. You can't look in two directions
at one. It's impossible to look to Christ and look to self. It's
impossible to look to Christ and look to brethren. It's impossible
to look forward to Christ and look back. If I feel this bitter root coming
up in me, and I'm going to be critical of somebody for whom
Christ died, that ought to be an alarm to me. Sounding off
the alarm, I'm looking in the wrong direction. I'm not looking
to Christ. So if I'm one of these sisters,
and the Spirit of Christ, the power of His resurrection comes
into my heart, you know what He's going to make you do? He's
going to make you forget the past. And He's going to make
you reach forth looking to Christ. He's going to make you forget
past offenses. He's going to make you forget
former sins and former confidences. And He's going to make you run
this race looking only to Christ. That's what He'll do. If He blesses,
these are things only Christ is able to do. Only things He
can reveal. So then thirdly, Paul endeavors
for unity by once again reminding us Christ is in our midst. He's in our midst. Look here
in verse 15. Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, that means spiritually mature, grown up, let us be thus
minded. Just like what Paul just said,
let's have that mind. And he said, and if in anything
you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. You see, if we're spiritually
mature, We're going to be thus minded. We're going to walk by
the same rule that Paul is speaking about right here. We're going
to walk by faith looking to Christ only. We're going to be motivated
for no other reason than the love of Christ and laying down
His life and redeeming us and making us righteous in Him. And
also, we're going to know as we're running this race, with
our brethren that Christ is right here in our midst. And whatever
we need to know, He will reveal it. That's what He said before
in Philippians 2.13. It's God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So do all things
without murmuring and disputing. You pray for one another, You
pray for one another and trust Christ is able to reveal in your
heart and in your brother's heart whatever you need to learn. He'll
reveal even this to you. And so you trust one another
to Christ and you have to wait on Christ. He doesn't just do
it overnight. It takes time. Sometimes it takes
years. Philippians 3.16, He said, nevertheless,
where to we've already attained? Wherever Christ, what He's already
taught you, the maturity He's already worked in you, let us
walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. This is
the rule that brethren walk by. Walk by faith which works by
love. Look at verse 17. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.
Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. That's what he's saying. Follow me as I follow Christ.
Do you see how Paul is following Christ in what he's writing here? He's endeavoring for peace between
these sisters. How's he doing it? He's preaching
Christ. He's setting forth Christ and
what Christ has accomplished. He's been doing it from the beginning
of this epistle. And he's preaching our flesh
is sinful grass. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We'll never get to the point where we can say we've
attained and we're perfect. We have no room to boast. And
He's beseeching them to forget everything that's behind them.
Forget any good behind you and forget the bad that's behind
you. And press on through hills and valleys and rivers and streams
and sunny days and stormy days. Press on looking to Christ only. That's how... You see him following
Christ in this? He's trusting Christ is able
to reveal this to them. So he's preaching Christ and
he's following Christ. And he says, now you follow me
as I follow Christ. And then again he gives a warning
about the concision. He says, "...for many walk, of
whom I have told you often, now I tell you even weep, and they
are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who
mine earthly things." Now this includes worldly unregenerate
sinners. But worldly unregenerate sinners
usually haven't slipped into the church. He's talking about
the concision. He's talking about legalists
right here, brethren. I'll show you. Go to Galatians 6. You see
what he said there? Over here in Galatians 6, Paul
said the exact same thing. Now, don't misunderstand me. It does include immoral sinners,
but Paul is telling, he told them in the beginning of this
chapter, beware of the concision. And look what he says here in
Galatians. Chapter 6 and verse 12. He said,
"...as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they
constrain you to be circumcised." They are gods of their belly.
They are minding earthly things. They are observing the laws of
meat and drink, touch not, taste not, handle not. He says, "...only
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." They
are the enemies of the cross of Christ, he said in our text.
They won't preach Christ and they won't trust Christ to teach
His people in the heart. Verse 13, for neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. Paul said they mine earthly things,
they glory in their shame. They glory in what they constrain
others to do. Verse 14, but God forbid that
I should glory. This is what Paul is teaching
us in our text. God forbid that I should glory.
Save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. They don't glory
in the cross, Paul said. He said, but God forbid that
I do anything but glory in the cross. By whom the world is crucified
to me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision. People will say, well, they observe
the day, I don't observe the day. Well, if you observe the
day or you don't observe the day, neither one of them is going
to profit you. You could be as lost as a goose in a hailstorm
either way. What prevails? Christ making
you brand new in the heart, making you look out of yourself to Him
and know He's your all. He's everything you need. And as many as walk according
to this rule." Paul said, that's what he said in our text. Where
to? You've already attained to walk
by the same rule. What is this rule? It's faith
which works by love. It's knowing that it's what matters.
It's being made new entirely by the wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption of Christ alone. As many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the
Israel of God. Let me ask you a question, brethren.
You know, people get on sinners and immoral sinners and worldly
sinners in this passage in our text. Who do you think was the
worst, most dangerous? Do you think it was the ungodly
sinners who had fallen and sinned? Do you think it was the woman
caught in adultery? Or do you think it was the Pharisees
that brought her to condemn her and to condemn Christ? That's
what they came for. Which one do you think was the
worst enemy? Christ said to him, he said, it will be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. Look at your calling and
election, brethren. There's some sinners called. The Lord has chosen to save sinners,
weak, foolish, nothings. But there's not many mighty called.
Saul of Tarsus was a man who was called. But where's the wise? Where's the prudent? Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? There are not many. There are not many. Paul's been beseeching us to
press toward the mark of this upward call of God in Christ.
So look at verse 20, Philippians 3.20. He says, Our conversation,
our citizenships in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior. We're looking at Him now. We're
looking to Him now, but we also look for our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be
fashioned like to His glorious body according to the working
whereby He is able even as to do all things to Himself. You
see here, I know Paul is talking about legalists because that's
the exact same word he told the Colossians when he warned them
about legalists. He said, these things they're
teaching you, touch not, taste not, they indeed have a show
of wisdom in will worship and false humility, neglecting of
the body. He said, but if you be risen
with Christ, you seek those things which are above. That's what
He's saying right here. Seek those things which are above
where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affection
on Christ above, not on things on this earth. You run this race
looking to Christ, forgetting everything that's behind. You're
dead. You already died in Christ. Your
life's hid with God in Christ. You're seated there with Him
in glory. Press toward that mark. When He shall appear, you'll
be made like Him. So finally then, back in our
text, Philippians 4, finally Paul gives the main point of
the whole epistle. This is the point of the entire
epistle. Philippians 4, verse 1, Therefore,
my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy and crown,
so stand fast in the Lord. My dearly beloved, stand fast
in the Lord. And now he just comes down to
being as direct as he can be. And says, I beseech you, Odius,
and I beseech you, Syntyche, that they be of the same mind
in the Lord. Now, if I'm one of these two
sisters, and the Spirit of Christ blesses this to my heart, here's
what he's going to convince me of. He's going to convince me
of two things. Number one, by not being of the same mind, by
not walking by this rule of faith, constrained only by the love
of Christ for me, not constrained because somebody is good to me,
treated me like they ought to, even when they don't, even when
they're ungodly, being constrained by Christ's love for you when
you were the ungodly, by being critical. I'm not looking in
the right direction. I'm looking in the wrong direction.
I'm not looking at Christ. He's going to convince you of
that. Things Christ revealed. He's going to convince you, I'm
not forgetting things that are behind. He's going to convince
you, I'm serving my belly. I'm glorying in my shame. I'm
minding earthly things. He's going to convince you, I've
not attained and I'm not perfect. I am the sinner. He's always
going to convince you of that. I'm the sinner. But number two,
if the power of Christ blesses this work and the power of His
resurrection works in your heart, then Christ is going to reveal
this to me right here too. This one thing I do. Forgetting
those things which are behind. Reaching forth into those things
which are before. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Those two
things, what he works in every trial we go through, he makes
us to remember our flesh is grass. We've not attained. We're still
the sinner in ourselves. And He's going to turn you to
Christ. And He's going to make you get
up off your knees and get your face up out of the dust, dust
yourself off, and keep running this race looking to Christ only.
These are things only Christ reveals. And I pray He'd be pleased
to bless His Word now and do that very thing for us. Amen.