Let me ask you to turn with me
to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. It's in our makeup to like a good competition,
a good contest. Tonight, most of us will probably
watch the Super Bowl. The big game. The big game. Two teams that outplayed every
other team in the NFL this year will meet head to head. And every coach on each sideline
All the coaches on one sideline will be trying to outwit all
the coaches on the other sideline. Every player on the field will
have an opposing opponent, and they'll be trying their best
to hit, block, and outmaneuver, and outrun the other one. They'll give their bodies to
it. They'll strive for that coveted prize. And both teams will give
everything they have right up until the end. But only one team will win. Only
one team will win. The Apostle Paul used sports
to illustrate what is the utmost importance. He said in 1 Corinthians
9.24, Know ye not that they which run
in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may
obtain. Run like ye the only one that's
going to win the race. And every man that striveth for
the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain
a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so
run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air, but I keep under my body and
bring it into subjection, lest that by any means When I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. What's
the most important thing to you right now in your life? What are you running to obtain? Is it to be liked and to fit
in? Do you know that the majority
in this world, young and old, are striving to win that prize. To fit in. To fit in with this
world. But did you know that to have
your mind set on things of this world is death? You hear me talk
about sin. It's not some strange thing out
there that you're looking to avoid. It's what's within us. To be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. Did you ever think that the desire
to fit in with this world is hatred against God? That's what
God says in His Word. It's enmity against God. The
carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. Paul says here,
I bring my body into subjection. To whom? To God. to the authority of God, to the
word of God, to every word he speaks. But the carnal mind's
not subject to God. It can't be subject to God. So
they that are in the flesh can't please God. The prize that this
world's running after, now get this picture, it's like a drowning
man fighting and striving with everything he's got to grab hold
to a stone in the middle of the sea. Common sense tells us that's
foolishness, doesn't it? Do we have that common sense? Let's see what you're striving
for. Let's be honest with ourselves this morning. What does it take
to fit in with this world? Let's be honest. Now, what does
it take to fit in this world? And let's see here if that's
what we're striving for or not. How vain do we have to be to
fit in with this world? You must dress like the world. Have you ever found yourself
trying to dress so that You'll have what's the latest and the
best fashion, so that whatever you have is that which your peers
around you will say, oh, that's nice. That's nice. You know, that's all it takes
to fit in with the world, is just to have something as superficial
as what you wear to fit in with this world, be accepted of this
world, or to be rejected of this world. The only garments that
are a must. The only clothing that is a must. is that you be robed in the spotless
garment of Christ's righteousness. That's the only garment that
matters. Acceptance with God, not with
this world, with God, is to be robed in a perfect, spotless,
seamless, perfect garment from top to bottom, woven throughout
by Christ Jesus Himself. That's the garment that matters.
God won't receive us unless we put on the sackcloth of repentance. But you know that's not popular
with this world. The Psalmist said, I made sackcloth
also my garment and I became a proverb to them. But God receives those who come
robed only in the garment of His dear Son. And that we receive
freely, freely by believing on His Son. Now, think about that. Let's be honest. Do we strive
to fit in with this world? Are we striving by something
as superficial as our dress to fit in with this world? This
is what sin is, brethren. It's what's the motive in everything
we do. Who we want to fit in with. Well,
what else? You must sing this world's song. You know, there's two songs in
Scripture. There's the song of the drunkards and there's the
song of the righteous. The song of the drunkards is
the song of those who are drunk, intoxicated with this world and
the tune that this world is marching to and everything that this world
delights in. That's the song that this world
loves to hum and sing. What song are you striving after? What words are you tuning your
heart to learn and to know and to understand? This is the song that the believer
delights in. Revelation 15, 3. It's the song
that was given to Moses. It's the song of the Lamb. The song of the Lamb saying,
great and marvelous are thy works. Let me tell you something. I'm
not just harping on dress, and I'm not harping on songs. I want
you to put sin into something you can enter into, something
you can understand here. See, it's not just what we do,
it's what we are. But let me use a song as example. I wrote popular music for a living,
and everything that is That is, that makes up the lyrics of popular
music, is one thing. Depravity. That's all. Because sinners don't want to
hear about righteousness. That don't make us tap our toe,
and that don't make us say, I like that. We like to sing about hate. inordinate love. We like to sing
about jealousy. We like to sing about envy. We
like to sing about overcoming somebody else. We like to sing
about fornication. We like to sing about everything
that sums up what we are in our nature. That's what the natural
man loves to hear. That's what we like. I know that
for a fact. You can take the seven things
that are an abomination to God and go through them and be a
hit songwriter. The Song of the Lamb saying,
great and marvelous are thy works. Lord God Almighty. That's who
the Lamb is. He's Lord God Almighty and His
works are righteous. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord,
and glorify Thy name? Who shall not? Just and true
are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. For Thou only art holy. For all
nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments
are made manifest. That's the song. Revelation 15,
that's the song of righteousness. That's the song of the Lamb.
It's all about Christ the Lord and His righteousness. It's all
about God's holiness. It's all about God's character.
It's all about Him. And when we see who He is, we'll
stop wanting to sing about ourselves. And everything be the song of
proud me. Proud me. But that's not popular with this
world. The psalmist said, they that
sit in the gate speak against me, and I was the song of the
drunkards. Now, which song are we striving
to know? Which song are we striving to
learn? Which song are we striving to sing? Sadly, this enticement It's not
only in outward profaneness, it's in this world's religion
of this day. So many churches, so called in
our day, are serving the cult of whatever's popular. It's always
been that way. But it gets worse and worse.
The Apostle Paul said it would get worse and worse, and it's
getting worse and worse. So many things are designed to
entice especially the young people. All sorts of enticements by which
the young and the old are willing to forego the pure word of the
gospel of Christ and Him crucified so that we got something for
the children or so that because everybody wants to go with the
crowd and everybody wants to be where their friends are and
everybody wants to be where the popular people are. This is one reason, this enticement. You know, it doesn't take much
for a man to want to be involved in something that he deems to
be righteous, something he deems to be Everybody knows they need
some something. They got to have something to
offer unto God. Everybody knows that. If you
look into the deepest confines of any jungle, you'll find out
they're using some blood or they're using some kind of sacrifice. They're using something to try
to find some kind of acceptance with God. But brethren, the only way we'll
find acceptance with our God, the only way we'll have acceptance
with God is through the Word of this Gospel. I'll tell you
what I've seen, and I want this to be an encouragement to the
mothers and fathers here. I've seen this happen. I have
seen this happen. I've seen a congregation where
the young people, the young people, sat there and heard the gospel
preached. And a great many of those who
were grown are gone. And the young people, God saved
them through this gospel. He gave them faithful spouses
through this Gospel, who believe this Gospel. And they're having
children of their own now, whom by God's grace, they're teaching
this Gospel to. And I've seen it happen through
the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified. You
see, look at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. This is the fearful, fearful
thing, brethren. Paul warned that this would get
worse and worse. It doesn't take much to attract
a man to some kind of religion. This is one of the reasons our
Lord warned us about doing our alms before men, praying before
men, anything before me, because brethren, don't you want God
to come, a sinner to come to the knowledge of Christ because
God's worked it by His power. Don't you want that? That's what
I want. I don't want you to follow after
me because you see something in me you like. I don't want
that. I don't want to be a discouragement, but I want you to follow me as
I follow Christ and look to Christ and be brought into subjection
to Christ the Lord. Not because I've told you to
do something or I've commanded you to do something or you've
seen something with this natural eye that makes you want to follow
after it. I want to know God's working in your heart through
the power of the gospel. Paul warned this would be worse
and worse. 2 Timothy 3 verse 4. He says,
men will be traitors. Look at this word, heady and
high-minded. How much of what claims to be
the gospel in our day, if you really listen to it, it's just
philosophy. It's philosophy. Lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God. This is in religion. In religion. Lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. Having a form of godliness. But
here's the thing. Denying the power thereof. From such turn away for of this
sort are they which creep into houses. into places, not only
individual houses, into places that are where the gospel is
supposed to be preached. And lead captive silly women
laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Can state every
unimportant fact in the world to you. Can tell you things upside
down and backwards and forwards, but never come to the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, the truth. The truth. Do you discern the
difference? Look at verse 13. But evil men
and seducers, that's what, seducers, shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them." Look over at chapter 4 and verse
3. They shall turn away their ears
from the truth. I'm sorry, verse 3. The time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after
their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. Fables. Endless stories and things that
won't edify. This is what God said through
the gospel. It's getting worse and worse,
Brethren. There'll come a great falling
away, but to the natural eye it won't seem like a falling
away. It'll seem like Everybody's a believer. Does it seem that way? It doesn't
seem that way to me. I'm not trying to be judgmental
of anybody. I'm just, if you have a discernible
ear, you know, you hear it. You know, the Lord said not any
religion will do. The Pharisees and the scribes
were exceedingly zealous in religion, and they did many wonderful works,
and they compassed land and sea to make converts, and they did
it all in the name of the Lord, in the name of the coming Messiah. Any different in our day? Do
you think men could do the same thing in our day? Who's Paul
talking about? If he talks about the majority
will have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof, he's
talking about somebody. Who's he talking about? But the Lord said, John came,
and he came preaching the gospel, and when you heard Christ speak
through the gospel, He said, the harlots, and the sinners,
and the needy entered in, and they clung to the gospel, and
they repented from dead works, and they followed after Christ
the Lord. And He said to the religious, when you heard it,
and you saw it, and you saw what was taking place, you didn't
repent, you went right on. In the name of God, who stood
right before you. That's what Christ said to him.
He said, those publicans and those sinners and those harlots,
they'll enter in the kingdom of heaven before you will. It
can be a blessing, it can be a blessing that our children
don't just go after religion for the sake of being religious.
Great, great lesson. The Lord said if the light that
is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? I'd much rather preach the gospel
to a pimp or a prostitute than a self-righteous man. He got more hope. It's harder,
harder for a rich man. Rich in his righteousness, rich
in his works, rich in his doing, rich in his knowledge, rich in
his understanding, rich in his doctrine, rich in his tradition,
rich in his history, rich in his denomination, rich, rich,
rich. It's exceedingly difficult for a rich man to enter into
the Kingdom of God. The one thing that's needful
is Christ. Mary sat down at the Lord's feet and he said, she
sought that one thing that's needful, that one necessary thing,
and it won't be taken from her. She's got the pearl of great
price. She's got riches. She's got true righteousness,
true holiness, true acceptance with God. She's got complete
and total, eternal, everlasting life, and it won't be taken away
from her. You see, the friend we need to
stick close by us and the friend we want to seek and the friend
we want to be with is that friend who sticks closer than a brother.
It's that one who says to those, as he said to the apostles, when
he speaks into the heart, and he says, henceforth I call you
not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord does,
but from henceforth I call you friends, because I have made
known unto you the will of the Father. How does he make known
the will of the Father to anybody? He reveals Himself. And if you
have Him, if you have Him, You've got a perfect righteousness and
a perfect willingness and everything that He is and has done is yours. That's what we've got to have. Brethren, if we're left with
this carnal mind, listen to me now, if we're left with this
carnal mind, you know what we'll do? You know one of the reasons
why Well, we'll just go on the rest
of our lives, in our careers, in our what our occupations are,
what our accomplishments are in this world, judging that to
be that which makes us a success in this world. So we can be exalted
over another. It's just wrong. Folks don't do anything different
than high school folks do. Not a bit. Not a bit. Everything we do, by and large,
is to have a status symbol to be something greater than the
next one. That's so. I wish it wasn't so,
but that's so. That's so. All right. Turn over with me.
I want you to look at Philippians 3. We'll close with this. Wrestle
to enter into Christ. Strive to enter in at the straight
gate. You're all to know Christ. Ask
God, ask Him to bring your body into subjection, your whole being
into subjection to Christ. Arm yourselves with the mind
of Christ. You know what mind was in Christ? He subjected Himself. He submitted
Himself to the Father. arm yourselves with the same
mind and submit yourself to Him. He can't do it but by His grace. But I'll tell you how He's going
to do it. He's going to do it through this Word that commands. And one day, God willing, one
day, and I pray it be so to somebody here, one day, if you're His
by His grace, you're going to hear that Word come forth and
it's going to come forth in power. And he's going to command it.
And you're going to bow and say, he's all my salvation, all my
salvation. Strive to win, to win. This afternoon, this tonight,
when you watch that game, I want you to think about these things.
What are you striving to win? When you watch how hard those
men are striving out there on that field, Would you think it's foolish
if one of those players out there, you're going to see a bunch of
them go into the end zone and point up to heaven. Would it be foolish to think
that one of those men, if he said, you know how I'm going
to get to heaven? Because I won this game right here. You'd say,
that might get you a Lombardi trophy, but it's not going to
get you into glory. Well brethren, that's the ignorance of striving
after the dress, and the song, and the dance, and trying to
fit in, in everything that this world deems necessary to be a
part of it. It's just that foolish to think
there's anything in us that's going to commend us to God. It's
just that foolish. We've got to have Christ Jesus
the Lord. Here's what Paul said, I'm striving
and fighting and running to win. Here it is, Philippians 3a. He
said, 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 might
win Christ. What does that mean, to 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 might
know Him and the power of His resurrection. You know what that
power is? It's life. The power of covenant grace,
the power of effectual redemption, the power of perfection, the
power of perfect righteousness, the power of God's grace which
demanded Christ be raised from the dead and demands that everybody
for whom He died be raised in Him. Raised to spiritual life
to know the great things that Christ had accomplished for them.
Paul said, I want to know that power. Well, he knew it if he
already had counted everything done and lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of God. He wanted to know it even more.
What else did he want to know? The fellowship of his sufferings.
He wanted to know what it was like to be able to stand with
Christ and not be ashamed and not be confounded and suffer
whatever this compromising world wants to hurl at you because He knew what His Redeemer
suffered for Him when the whole world turned thumbs down on Christ. We find out who He is, we won't
care nearly as much about what people think about us. being made conformable unto His
death. I want to just be in subjection
to Him. I want to completely, totally
lay down my life for Him. You want to know that? Brethren,
you believers, you want to know that, don't you? I want to know
what that's like. I want to know more of it. If by any means any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead, to be with Him,
to be with Him everlastingly, not as though I had already attained,
He said, either were already perfect, but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus." How do we do that? Today when
All the evil of our sin comes upon us as believers. How do
we keep on going when the weight of our sin weighs us down? He said, brethren, verse 13,
I count not myself to apprehend it, but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind. He said in Hebrews
12, lay aside the sin and the weight which is so easily beset
us. and run the race set before us
with patience, looking to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher
of our faith. He's forgiven past sins, present
sins, and future sins. If He's forgiven them, they're
forgiven. Cast off, lay them aside, and follow after
Him. And he said, 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. To be found when he returns,
waiting and watching and looking and eager, eager to be with him. That's something far better than
anything this world can give us. I'm going to end with this. Our
company influences the way we'll go greatly, greatly. I want to give you an illustration.
When I was young, I loved outdoor sports. And what I mean by that
is I like to hunt and fish. I loved it. And I hung around
people that loved it. It's what we talked about. It's
what we did. It's what we plan to do. It's what was on our minds all
the time. And it was a complete and total
idol to me. And I didn't even have any idea. If you'd have asked me, I'd have
said, in fact, somebody asked me one time. They said, you know,
you'll get older. An older man said, you'll get older sometime
and you might hunt fish on the weekends. You'll be a weekend
warrior, but you won't hunt fish like you do now all the time.
I said, oh, no, not me, buddy. I'll be doing it all the time.
You can bet on that. You know what God did? He graciously
He took my idols away from me. And He's still doing it. He's
still doing it. And He put me with like-minded brethren who
talked to me about Christ and the glorious accomplishment of
His redemption. And through my brethren, He nourished
me and grew me and made Christ more and more to me. So that
now, having been put together with like-minded brethren, I
don't miss the things that I said I would never live without. Now
that's just one example, but God does that. God does that. He makes us not even to miss
those things that we thought we could never do without, that
we thought was so important. That's what he did to Paul. And
he said, I just count them loss. They're done for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ. Therefore take no thought saying
what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where shall we be
clothed. That's what the world's seeking
after. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. And everything that you need
will be added to you. You'll have it. Because you'll
find out when you have Christ you don't nearly need all those
things you thought you needed. You really will. You'll be content
with such things as you have. everlasting righteousness, everlasting
life, everlasting acceptance with God. I pray he'll give us grace today.