It's especially a blessing to
be here with you all. You know, sometimes we benefit
from the blessings that the Lord gives to somebody else. Have
you noticed that in your life? Well, the Lord sent this weather
for his Florida children. You understand that. And you
guys are just getting the benefit of the warm weather. We are thankful to be here, thankful
for the hospitality of Cyril and Lenore. And it's good to
see the brethren from New Jersey. And so glad to hear that Clay's
coming over and preaching for you all now once a month. What a blessing that is. The
church in Orlando has been praying for this weekend, and praying
for you and for me, and just so hopeful that the Lord would
be pleased to manifest His grace to us. And I'm thankful to be
here. We're going to be in the book
of Philippians this evening, chapter 3 of Philippians. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
together. Will you bow with me for prayer? Our Heavenly Father, we are so
very thankful that You've brought us to this place and that You've
blessed us with the opportunity of being able to open Your Word
and being able to fellowship with one another. We thank You
for the promise of Your Holy Spirit You've told us that where
two or three are gathered together in Your name, that there You
are in the midst. And You've told us, Lord, that
You would not withhold Your Spirit from those who ask. And so we
ask, Lord, that You would be pleased to open our hearts. We pray that You would speak
effectually to them. We pray that our eyes would be
drawn to Christ, that we would rejoice in Him, and that You
would enable us to worship in the power of Your Spirit and
according to the revealed truth of Your Word. For we ask it in
Christ's name, Amen. There's a very familiar passage
of Scripture in Philippians chapter 3 that's particularly been a
blessing to me over the years. We begin reading in verse 13
where the Apostle Paul says, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but, notice the word this is in italics which just simply
means that the translators added it from the original text for
the ease of reading. However, oftentimes the words
that are in italics in the King James, I'm glad that in the King
James, these words that have been added are identified because
more times than not, the meaning of the passage is clearer and
more powerful if we just leave them out. It doesn't actually
say, this one thing I do. In fact, it says, one thing. And that's the title of the message.
One thing. One thing. Forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, I assume that you've seen
the advertisements for the more recent movie that's come out
of Hollywood. It's complicated. I've seen it
advertised. Don't plan to go see it just
simply because, for me, life is already complicated enough.
There is a lot of complications to living our lives in this world,
are there not? Financial problems can become
very complicated sometimes, particularly in the environment of this economy. Physical sicknesses, chronic
and life-threatening physical sicknesses can become very complicated
in life. Relationships, particularly in
a family, I was on the phone with a man called me today from
Orlando and asked me if he could attend services tomorrow. It
broke my heart, actually, as he began to tell me a story about
how he's been recently divorced with three children and how complicated
his life is. And of course, I encouraged him
to attend services and to sit and listen to the gospel. The
point is that things get complicated. Politically, in the world, as
we observe the events of governments contending with one another,
we see how very complicated things are. And don't you know that
the situation in Haiti right now for those poor people is
extremely complicated. With all the complications of
life, I like simplicity, don't you? I'm not a multi-tasked person. My wife can attest to that. Don't
try to carry on a conversation with me while I'm doing something
else. I can't. Now she can. She can carry on two or three
conversations and be doing something at the same time, but I just
can't do it. I need things to be simple. I
need them to be singular. And the point of this passage
is that the message of the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ is just that. In the midst of all the trials,
in the midst of all the troubles, in the midst of all the complicated
issues that we have to deal with, there is a sure foundation that
is singular and simple in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a mooring He becomes
to our lives in the midst of all of our other problems. Here's
what David said in Psalm 27 verse four, he said, one thing have
I desired of the Lord, one thing, one thing have I desired of the
Lord and that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of
the Lord and inquire in his temple. Now, don't you know David's life
was complicated in so many ways and on so many levels. His family
life was extremely complicated. Why, in his own immediate family,
he had everything from rape to murder to insurrection and adultery,
all sorts of problems that David had to deal with. He said, this
one thing, this one thing I desire of the Lord, to behold of His
beauty, and to sit at his feet. You remember that story of Mary
and Martha, where the Lord Jesus Christ is meeting with the disciples
and teaching them the truth of grace. Martha, concerned for
the physical needs of her guest, was in the kitchen preparing
meals or whatever, and in frustration and aggravation towards Mary,
she goes to the Lord and she said, Lord, tell Mary to come
in here and help me. You remember what the Lord said
to Martha? Martha, Martha. Oh, you trouble yourself with
so many things. You encumber yourself with so
many issues. But Mary, Mary has chosen the
one thing that is needful. One thing. One thing. The rich young ruler had many accomplishments in his
life and had acquired a lot of accolades and obviously material
wealth but the Lord said to him one thing thou lackest go and
sell all that you have and give it to the poor and take up your
cross and follow me one thing you see his God was his wealth
and rather than having a single affection for Christ, he was
divided among many things. The Lord said one thing, thou
lackest. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Look with me at verse 34. The light of the body is the
eye. Now he's likening the physical
to the spiritual, isn't he? He's not talking about this physical
eye and this physical body. He's saying just like your eyes
take light in to enable you to interpret things around you,
so the soul works in the same way. And what he says is, the
light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is
single, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of
light. But when thine eye is, you see
that word evil? The literal translation of that
word is braided. Now oftentimes, if you want to
strengthen a rope, you braid it with other ropes. You put
strands together and it makes it stronger, doesn't it? But
in this case, In this case, a single strand rope is stronger than
a braided rope. If thine eye be single, if you
have your affections set on Christ and Christ alone, if the hope
of your salvation is in His righteousness and His righteousness alone,
if there is one thing, one thing, one person in your life, then
your body will be full of light. But if you intertwine your affections
for Christ, and diversify the hopes of your salvation to other
things other than His accomplishments, then your whole body will be
full of darkness. That's what he says, the body
also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the
light which is in thee is not darkness. Take heed that you
have one thing. and one thing only. Go back with me to our text.
I want us to see this verse in light of its context. And to get verses 13 and 14 in
their context where Paul says this one thing. One thing, forgetting
those things which are behind, pressing towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What is the context of that statement
of that declaration of faith? And we began in verse one to
find out what it is. Look what he says. Finally, my
brethren rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. In the midst
of the troubles that we face in this world, in the midst of
the trials and the heartaches that we experience, sometimes
it's hard to rejoice. Sometimes it's difficult to be
thankful in all things. But this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning us, that these things are according to
his good providence. And so that maybe we can't rejoice
in the circumstance by itself, but knowing that it's come from
the Lord, we can rejoice in the Lord. We can know that this is
what he has sent and it will always be for our good and ultimately
be for his glory for we know We know. We quote Romans 8.28
often, don't we? And we misquote it sometimes
because we leave out those first two key words. Romans 8.28 doesn't
just say, all things work together for good for them that love God
and those that are the called according to His purpose. The
first two words of that verse are, you know. God's people do
know that. In the midst of however difficult
things are, they know. that God is on His throne and
that whatever He sends them will ultimately be for their good
and it will ultimately be for His glory so that they can say,
Lord, I rejoice in You. I rejoice in the Lord and in
what You're doing. And look what he says in verse
1, To write the same thing to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous. Now that word grievous means
slothful or irresponsible. And what Paul is saying here
is that I'm about to say something to you that I've said to you
before. Matter of fact, you've heard me say it many times. But
for me to say it again is not irresponsible on my part. It's
not being a slothful student. As a matter of fact, it's what
God's required me to do. It's required of a servant that
he be found faithful. And a faithful servant is always
preaching Christ. That's what Paul said. He said,
we profess to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified. That's
the message that we preach. No other message. We're not trying
to be clever. We're not trying to be complicated.
We're not trying to come up with some new idea. We're not trying to be deep and
profound. We're preaching the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. And to say the same
thing to you again is not irresponsible for me. It's not being slothful
on my part as a preacher. No, it's the, you don't want
a preacher coming in here and telling you something that's
new. If it's new, it's not any good.
Just mark it down. And if it's good, it's not new. Yes, the gospel hasn't changed.
The message that we hear, the message that we believe, the
message that we preach is the same message that the church
preached and heard 2,000 years ago. And it's the same message
that God's faithful people have believed and heard throughout
all these centuries. We're not looking for something
new. We're not looking for a new twist on things. And that's what
he said. Rejoice in the Lord, brethren,
for me to preach this unto you is not grievous on my part. It's
not being irresponsible, but for you, it's what you need. That's what he's saying. Look
at the verse. For you, it is safe. It is safe. The safety of your
soul, the safety of your salvation, is determined by you hearing
this same old story. The same old story. That every
one of God's people have preached and believed for all these generations.
Same story. Same person. Let me show you
a verse of scripture while you're thinking about that word safe.
For you, the preaching of this gospel is safe. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. And look at verse 18, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, assurance of our salvation. How are we
going to get assurance of our salvation? By hearing the gospel. by having a faithful man of God
preach Christ to us. That's how we're going to have
assurance of our salvation. Why? Because when we hear Christ
preached, our eyes are taken away from ourselves and our accomplishments
and lack thereof. And our affections are turned
to him. And our hope is in what he's done for us, not what we've
done for ourselves. So he says, by these two immutable
things, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us. There's
the strong consolation, laying hope on Christ. For me, it's
not grievous to preach this gospel to you. For you, it is safe. It is the safest place to be. It's the only place to stand.
so that when all the trials of life come, and they will come. That house in Matthew chapter
7, there were two houses, remember? One was built on the sand and
one was built on the rocks. You know both houses experienced
the same storms? The wind blew and the rain fell
on both houses. One stood and one didn't. We're not promised protection
from the storms. But what we are promised is a
foundation that will be sure and safe. One that will stand
in the midst of all the troubles. This one thing, this one man,
look what he says. Look what verse 19, which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul, both. You see that word? Sure. It's the same word translated
safe in our text, the same word. both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth in, that is within the veil. Whether the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek." Now, think with me back 2,000 years,
all vessels on the water were wind-driven. There was no motors
to push the boats. The ship is often times referred
to in the scriptures in light of the church. The ship is used
to illustrate the church from Noah's Ark to that ship that
that Paul was on on his way to Rome. All these boats throughout
the scripture is a picture of God's people gathered together
in fellowship on that boat together. And here the illustration is
that the ship is in the sea and it needs to get into the safe
harbor. The problem is you can't sail the ship into the safe harbor
under normal circumstances. It has to be brought in another
way. And so what they would do is they would take the anchor
of the ship and put it on a dinghy. And the anchor would be connected
to the ship with a rope. And the men in the dinghy would
row the anchor into the harbor and make sure that that anchor
was planted firmly on a rock in the calm waters of the harbor,
of the safe harbor. At which point, the men in the
ship would grab a hold of the rock and pull the ship into safe
harbor. And you know what that guy in
the dinghy was called? He was called the forerunner. He was called the forerunner.
Now go back with me again. We'll look at verse 19 again.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure, both
safe and steadfast, and which entereth in within the veil,
whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a
high priest for us." You see, he's the anchor. He's the captain
of the ship. He's the rope that connects the
anchor to the ship. He's the one who's sure and steadfast. He's the one that brings that
ship into its safe harbor. Right now, the way of the Lord
is by the seas, is what the scripture says. And just like the ship
illustrates the church, the turbulence of the seas illustrate all throughout
scripture the trials and troubles that we experience in this world.
And this ship is going to be tossed about. But it is a sailing
vessel. And the wind that fills the sail
of this ship is none other than the wind of the Spirit of God.
and he listed with the so ever he wills he'll direct that ship
but there's an anchor for our soul and that anchor sure and
steadfast and this ship's connected to the anchor one day one day
it's going to be brought into safe harbor now that's what Paul
says the preaching of this gospel is this one thing is not grievous
for me. It's not irresponsible for me
to preach Christ to you. For you, it's safe. It's sure. It's the only way that you're
going to get in to the safe harbor when all the storms are gone.
All right, go back with me to our text. You see, we're not trying to
be clever. Paul said, I fear lest by any means as the serpent
beguiled Eve, that you will be directed away from that simplicity
which is in Christ. The simplicity of the gospel.
In the midst of all the complicated things of this world, there is
a Savior. There is a Savior. You see, our
greatest need is the forgiveness of our sin, isn't it? Someone
has said that if our greatest need had been for information,
God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been
for technology, he would have sent a scientist. If our greatest
need had been for money, he would have sent an economist. If our
greatest need had been for pleasure, he would have sent an entertainer.
If our greatest need had been for world peace, he would have
sent the consummate politician. If our greatest need had been
for a higher self-esteem, he would have sent a therapist.
But our greatest need is forgiveness of sin. And that's the reason
he sent a savior. One to bear in his body the sins
of his people and suffer the wrath of God's judgment to satisfy
justice once and for all. One who himself is able to present
to God a righteousness that will be pleasing to the Lord. One
that the father could look at and say, that's my son. In Him, I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. Come to Christ. This one thing. This one thing. How often times we need to be
reminded of that, don't we? To just put everything else aside
and say, you know, there's one thing that's necessary. One thing. That I have my sins forgiven.
that I'll be on that ship that's anchored to the safe harbor,
that I'll be connected to that sure and steadfast anchor for
my soul. It's one thing that I know Christ and that I have
Him standing as my advocate before the Father, pleading my case.
That's the one thing that I need above everything else. Now, look
what Paul says in Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 3, I'm sorry, verse
2. In light of this one thing, he
says, beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Those
who say that circumcision is necessary for your salvation. Now here's what the men of concision
said. They said that Christ that Paul preaches, He is the Messiah. That's what they said. These
were the Judaizers. They believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Messiah sent of God in fulfillment of all those Old
Testament promises. They believed that. They believed that faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ was essential for salvation. It was absolutely
necessary. to believe Christ to be saved. But here's what they believed.
That He wasn't sufficient. He was not sufficient. He was
necessary. But there's something else you've
got to do. You see, He didn't accomplish everything by Himself. You've got to do your part. You've
got to keep the law of Moses. You've got to be circumcised.
You've got to, you've got to make your contribution. Christ
alone is not sufficient. It's the same message that's
being preached in religion today. How many people say, yes, that
Jesus that hung on a cross in, in, in Jerusalem 2000 years ago,
that's the son of God. That's the Messiah. You've got
to have him to be saved. He's essential, He's necessary,
but He's not sufficient. You've got to do your part. You've got to show the evidence
of your sincerity. You've got to keep this law. You've got to maintain your end
of the bargain in order to be saved. Christ alone? And that's what Paul's saying
here, this one thing for getting those things which are behind
and pressing towards this one anchor for my soul, this one
hope of salvation, this one God-man in all of his glory and everything
that he's done. Not two things. I'm not braiding
this rope. This rope that connects the ship
to the anchor, it's a single strand. It's not a braided rope.
We're not braiding it with something we've done. Some prayer we've
prayed or some work we've performed. It's all 100% based upon what
He's done for us. And so, in light of that, Paul
says, you beware of those who come. They're gonna present themselves
as ministers of righteousness. Oh, they're gonna be wolves in
sheep's clothing. They're gonna show themselves as being messengers
of God, being angels. But in fact, they've polluted
the truth and destroyed the gospel by giving man something to do
to help God out. Beware of them. Look at verse
3. For we are the circumcision. This circumcision is the circumcision
of the heart. It's not something that's done
by the hands of men. It's something that's done by
the Spirit of God. We are the circumcision which worship God
in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh whatsoever. We have no confidence in the
flesh. The more we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the more we see of our need for a Savior. The
more we see of our own sin, the more we see of His perfection.
The more humbled we are in the presence of God, and the more
we see how the law, because of the weakness of the flesh, is
not able to do anything for us. The law does one thing. The law
judges. The law condemns. The scripture
says the law is our schoolmaster. Takes us to Christ. It's a mirror
that reflects back to us our imperfections, our sin, our disobedience,
shows us our need for one that is perfect. And this idea that
the law takes you to Christ, now that Christ has saved you,
He takes you back to the law, and the law now becomes your
rule for life? It's a lie from the dogs. It's a lie from the concisions. It's a lie from the self-righteousness
of Pharisees. The law is for the lawless. It is not for the child of God.
It's not. So why not? Because we have a
better law. We have a better law. We put
no confidence in the flesh. Our confidence is in the accomplishments
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he's done is he circumcised
us in the heart. He's given us the law of the
spirit. We have the law of faith. We
have, believers are motivated by love. They're inspired by
gratitude. They're regulated by grace. They're
guided by the Holy Spirit. Our lives are governed by love,
not by fear. The law genders fear and judgment
and self-righteousness. Wherever you bring it in, wherever
you bring it in, you bring it in on the front end, you bring
it in on the back end, if it's of grace, it is no longer of
law. Otherwise, grace is not grace.
It's one way or the other. You can't mix the two. You ever
try mixing oil and water? You shake it up and it'll stay
shook up for a minute, won't it? What happens if you put that
glass down? Set that glass of oil and water
down on the table for a little while. Give it five minutes. And take your big swig of it
and see if it satisfies your thirst. No, you're going to get
a mouthful of oil, aren't you? That's all you're going to get.
It's not going to satisfy. You see what men in religion
do is they keep that oil and water shook up, don't they? They
keep shaking it up. They keep complicating the gospel.
They keep intertwining the rope. They get away from the simplicity
that's in Christ by shaking up the oil and water, and they give
it to you to drink, and when you try to take a drink out of
it, you get a mouthful of oil, and the thirst is not satisfied.
You cannot mix law and grace. You can't mix it. It's either
of grace or it's of works. It cannot be of the two. Grace is such a wonderful thing,
doesn't it? Turn with me to Acts chapter
15. Let me show you a passage of scripture. You know, the self-righteousness
of lawmongers who say they believe in grace, but they promote the
law as the measure of your salvation. They bring the law in the back
door and they practice all this comparing man to man. And they
set themselves up as the keepers of the law, don't they? The Lord
talked about those men in Matthew chapter 23. He said, they put
a burden on you that they themselves don't keep. And it's just, it's
a coverup. for their own evil sin and hearts. You see if I can if I can promote
the law to you then it makes it look like I'm keeping the
law. In time you find out they're not keeping it either. Grace is so contrary to that. Under the law men set themselves
up as the standard of righteousness. Now there was a conflict in Acts
chapter 15 where It was in the early days of the
church and the Lord was still teaching even the disciples that
this gospel was not just for the Jews, but it was for the
Gentiles also. And there was a very significant
event that took place in Acts chapter 10 at the salvation of
Cornelius and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius'
home in order to convince Peter that this gospel was for the
Gentiles too. Remember Peter said, Oh no, Lord, I would never
touch anything that's unclean. And the Lord said, don't call
that which is unclean. Don't call that which is what
I made clean, unclean. And the Lord sent him to a Gentile's
home. The Lord saved Cornelius and other members of his family.
And there was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit to confirm
to Peter that this gospel of God's grace was for all men.
And now there's a controversy in Jerusalem. Well, actually
it was in Antioch in chapter 15 of Acts and the believers
Well, some of these men of the concision had come into the church
in Antioch and said, yes, the Gentiles can be saved, but they've
got to submit to the, to the law of Moses. They've got to
be, they've got to be circumcised. They've got to become like us.
These men set themselves up as the standard and said, yes, the
Gentiles can be saved, but they're going to be saved. They got to
become like us. And the scripture says that Peter
went down to Jerusalem and had no small disputation with these
men. In other words, he spoke against
them publicly, defended the gospel against them, exposed them for
what they were. And I want you to see this one
statement that Peter makes to the elders in Jerusalem in Acts
chapter 15. Look with me at verse... Look at verse 10. Now therefore,
why tempt you God to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Why do
you put the law on these men? Why are you putting the law of
Moses on them? We couldn't bear the law. We couldn't obey the
law. We were never able to keep it. And now these men are insisting
that other men keep it? Why? What are you doing? But we believe, and here's what
every believer believes, we believe that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, here's what we believe. Now,
in light of everything I've told you about this event, you would
think that the natural thing for Peter to say would be, We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
shall be saved in the same way that we are. Would you not, that
would make sense, wouldn't it? But that's not what he said.
Look what he says. He says, we believe that by the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same
way that they are. You see the contrast between
self-righteousness that sets itself up as the standard and
says, you've got to become like me, and grace that recognizes
the evidence of God's Spirit in another and says, I've got
to become like you? What a difference. What a difference. God's people genuinely esteem
one another more highly than themselves. You look at another believer,
you don't insist that that other believer become like you. No,
you look at them and you think, boy, you're so much better than
I am. I wish I was like you. I wish
I was like you. I want to be like you. I want
to have the evidence of God. I know the wickedness of my own
heart. Surely you don't have the thoughts I have. Surely you
don't deal with the same sin I deal with. We set one another
up as the model. We don't set ourselves up. Isn't
that so clear there? We believe that by the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. You're Peter,
an apostle? One that had walked with the
Lord for three years, had been anointed by God as the one to,
you know, he's the apostle, the head of the apostles. If any
man had the right to say, we believe that God's gonna save
them the same way he saved us, Peter would, but no, he didn't.
He didn't. What a difference. Oh, beware
of the concision. Beware of the dogs, beware of
the lawmongers, beware of those hypocrites and Pharisees who
set themselves up as the standard of righteousness and demand that
you become like them. That's not grace. Go back with me to our text. Paul says, verse 4, "...though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof that he might trust in the flesh, I the more."
Paul is saying, you want to set up a man as a standard of righteousness? I defy anyone to demonstrate
law-keeping any better than I did. That's what Paul is saying. I
kept the law from the time I was conceived. He said I was circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
My mother and my father were both Hebrews. And I was of that
select tribe. I wasn't of the tribe of Dan
or one of those other tribes. No, I was a tribe of Benjamin. Favorite wife, favorite son,
Benjamin and Joseph. They were the choice tribes.
That's where I came from. Both my mother and my father
were of that tribe. Touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. I had a zeal for God. I believed
that these Christians were perverting the truth of the law, and I sought
to kill them for God. I was so zealous. People think,
you know, well, if I'm sincere, that's what's important. No,
it's not. You jump off a ten-story building
sincerely believing that you can fly. See what's going to
happen. Your sincerity is not going to
save you. Not going to save you at all. God doesn't count sincerity
for righteousness. He counts Christ as our righteousness. But Paul said, concerning zeal
and sincerity, why, I persecute the church. Touching righteousness
which is of the law? Blameless. Paul is saying that my peers,
when they observed my outward performances of the law, could
not find a charge against me. I was so zealous for the law
of God that no one could find a charge against me. But, in
another place he said, when the law came, thou shalt not covet. And I realized that the important
thing was not what I looked like on the outside, but what God
saw on the inside. And that He exposed me for what
I really am, a sinner. One whose every thought and imagination
of the heart was only evil. And that continually, one who
saw the covetousness of my own heart. Once God exposed me, I
died. That's what he said. When the
law came, when it came to me, I died. The Lord made me to be
a sinner. Look what he says. But what things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Now I've heard
people say, you know, I used to be in this and that and all
I was engaged in all these fleshly adventures and all these worldly
pleasures. And I gave them all up for Jesus.
And you listen to them talk and you wonder if they've really
given them up. And most of the time you figure, you know, they
don't really relish the fact, they're kind of reliving their
experiences vicariously, aren't they, in their memory. That's
not what Paul's talking about here. He's not saying I gave
up all these things for Christ. He's talking about those things
that he prided himself in, not the sinful pleasures he indulged
himself in. He's talking about those things
that impressed his peers. He's saying those things that
I thought were game to me, those things that I thought were meriting
me favor with God, those things that I thought were to my credit,
those things that I thought were earning me salvation, those things
that I thought were improving my position with God, those things
that I was proud of and everybody else commended me for, those things I realized were
the very things that kept me from being saved. You see, what keeps most men
from Christ is not their sin, it's their righteousness. That's what keeps most men from
Christ, their righteousness. And that's what Paul's talking
about. Those things that I thought were gain to me, I count them now 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 have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung." Now, when
was the last time you felt a loss or when you got rid of dung?
You know, you want to get rid of that as quick as you can,
don't you? And you don't feel any remorse over its being gone. That's what he's talking about
here. We don't go back and relive it. No, my self-righteousness
was but done. And it's the very thing that
kept me from Christ. The pride that I had in my law
keeping. The pride that I had in the accolades
and the the reputation that I had among
my peers. Oh, I was so proud of myself. But, look at verse 9. To be found in Him. Those two little words. The whole
gospel of God's grace are summed up in those two little words.
In Him. One, a very common little preposition
that we use all the time that describes our union with
Christ. In. And one, a personal pronoun that describes Him. The One, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the Savior of sinners, the sin-bearer, the Holy One of Israel, the One
who's been given all preeminence, the One who rules the universe,
rules over all the affairs of man, the One in whom we must
know to have eternal life. And this glorious union that
we have with Christ is the hope of our salvation. In Him. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. Whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. For in Him we live and
move and have our being, to be rooted and built up in Him. In Him you are complete, all
to be found in Him. You see that? To be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness. Look at it right there. It's
in our text. Verse nine, to be found in Him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. Your righteousness, Rob, is not
your faith in Christ. It is the faith of Christ. That's
not a misprint. It's the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ that earned for His people, those that are
in Him, a righteousness before God. Now do we have faith in
Christ? Oh yes. But the scripture says
it's from faith to faith. So it's His faith that He gives
to us to believe. But if you know anything about
yourself, you know that your faith is very
frail at best, very inconsistent, and not something you want to
hang the salvation of your soul on. But there is one, there is
one who has perfect faith. He trusted the Father. You know,
we often say, quoting those final words of the Lord Jesus Christ,
it is finished. As his last words, you know,
that's not his last words. That wasn't his last words. As
critical and important and as much as they summarize the
truth of our hope, it's finished. It's finished. What's finished? Faithfulness to the father on
behalf of sinners is finished. And that's why his last words
were father into thine hands. I commend my spirit. And he bowed
his mighty head and gave up the ghost, trusting the father faithfully
to the last moment of his life. Now that's what God requires.
That's what God requires. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied. And so Paul said, beware of those
who would take you away from Christ. Beware of those who promote
the law as any hope of salvation. For our confidence is not in
the flesh. Our confidence is in the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, I do believe, Lord help
thou mine unbelief. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. That's what he goes on to say. I have not yet fully, all but
that I might know Him, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His suffering." Now, the power of the resurrection of Christ
is not having some emotional experience and feeling like,
boy, I'm a resurrected saint now. No, no, no. What Paul said that I might know
Him and the power of His resurrection, he was saying that I might be
more fully convinced that when Christ rose from the dead, that
He rose for my justification. He was offered up for my offenses
and raised again because of my justification. The hope of my
salvation is in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the firstborn among many brethren. It's Christ. It's being in Him. That I might know that. Paul's
an old man when he writes the book of Philippians. He knew
a lot about the gospel and about grace. But he said, I've not
yet apprehended that which is apprehended. Oh, but that I might
know Him. I don't know him as I ought to know him. I don't
know him as I want to know him. I don't know him as I one day
will know him. But my union with him in the resurrection, the
power of his resurrection. And you see the next phrase there,
the fellowship of his suffering. Now, who wants to suffer more
than they already do? Anybody? I don't. I pray for the Lord to take away
sufferings. Paul said that I might know Him
the power of His fellowship of His suffering. Was he saying,
I want to suffer more? I mean, here's a man that had
been stoned and left for dead and shipwrecked and beaten and
how many times? He didn't want to suffer more.
No, he was talking about identifying with the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, that I could believe more
fully That when God drew the sword of His justice and plunged
it through the heart of His Son on Calvary's cross, that He was
doing that for my sin. That that was my sin that He
bore in His body on that tree. That when God killed His Son,
He was doing it for me. The fellowship of His sufferings. That I might know Him. The power
of His resurrection. The fellowship of His suffering.
That's the hope of my salvation. This one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, pressing towards the mark for
the prize. The prize of God, the prize of
the high calling in Christ Jesus. One thing. If your life's like
my life, you've got a lot of complicated things going on,
on every level. A lot of things that are very
distracting, very painful, very difficult. You're in a ship that's
being tossed about on sea of trouble. There's an anchor for
the soul that's sure and steadfast. God's preachers are going to
be faithful to tell you the same thing over and over and over
again. For them, it's not grievous.
It's not irresponsible. For you, it's safe. For you,
it's hope. For you, it's the only thing
that you can push away all those other things and say, one thing. There's one man who's seated
at the right hand of God in glory, who's my advocate and my savior. And when everything else gets
out of whack, I know that what he did for me is sure and gives Well, it gives stability
to everything else, doesn't it? Because if we've got that mooring
for our ship, then everything else is going to be okay in time,
isn't it? Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank You for the simplicity of the Gospel, the
truth of Your Word. We pray for Your Holy Spirit
to apply it effectually to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's
name, Amen.