Well let us turn again to this
portion in Philippians 3 that we've been considering these
last couple of weeks turning then to Philippians 3 and verses
10 and 11 Philippians 3 10 and 11 that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. We've sought to approach the
words in a threefold fashion in terms of those three letters
D, E, P, doctrine, experience and practice. And of course the
particular truth that he said before us here is that of the
resurrection. So we've said something firstly
with regards to the doctrine of that truth, the doctrine of
the resurrection, and then last time we were looking at the manifest
experience of that truth of resurrection. And now I want us to consider
something of the practical application of the resurrection we have these
two things in the verses of course we have Christ's resurrection
and then really a reference to the general resurrection Paul
says at the beginning of verse 10 that I may know him he's speaking
of the Lord Jesus that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection And then at the end of verse 11, if by any means,
he says, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. It's the same apostle, of course,
who writes that tremendous portion that we have in 1 Corinthians
15. Now is Christ risen from the dead, he says, and become
the first fruits of them that slept. Christ's resurrection
then is the first fruits, it's the pledge that there will be
in due course the full harvest, the general resurrection of the
dead. And again Paul writes into the
Thessalonians and says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring
with him. And he's speaking there of course
of the one sleeping in Jesus, those believers who have died
and been laid in their graves and may be laid there for many,
many centuries. But it is coming again. There
will be first the rising of those who have died. The general resurrection
then of the dead is what's being spoken of at the end of this
particular text that we're considering. Paul's desire that he might know
that for himself that I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead but tonight I want us really to look at the practical
application the resurrection and its practical application
and to do that under some three headings first of all to see
the desire We previously considered the power of Christ's resurrection
that is necessary to the whole of our salvation. And again,
he says it there, doesn't he, in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians,
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in
your sins. How important is the the truth
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If there is no resurrection,
he says, we are of all men most miserable. If Christ is not risen,
what is the point and purpose of our faith? And in this whole
passage we see Paul expressing his earnest desirings after the
Lord Jesus. that's what he expresses in the
11th verse if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead his desire he speaks in verse 8 that I may
win Christ in verse 9 he wants to be found in him in verse 10
he says how he wants to know him that I may know him it all
together centers very much in the Lord Jesus and this that
he desires is not something merely to do with the intellect, the
understanding but it's that that will affect him in every part
of his being it's an experimental knowledge that he is really speaking
of and a knowledge that involves every aspect of salvation. And we touched on that last time.
The doctrine of the resurrection affects all that we can ever
know concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Our redemption, the forgiveness
of our sins, Now God has declared His acceptance of all that the
Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished when He finished that work that
the Father had given Him to do by His death upon the cross,
His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross and God
sets His seal on that by raising the Lord Jesus from the dead
He is declared to be the Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness we are told by the resurrection from
the dead declared and the force of that statement there at the
beginning of Romans how he has been marked out designated as
that one who is the the son of God the only savior of sinners
and then of course the resurrection is all together
bound up with the our experience of regeneration. The faith that
we have comes by the operation of God, as the Apostle says there
in Colossians 2. Faith of the operation of God
who has raised him from the dead. The God who raised the Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead works that same power in the souls of those
who come to believe in the Lord Jesus. It's the exceeding greatness
of His power to wash away those who believe, and it's according
to the working of the mighty power that He brought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead. The very beginning then of our
Christian life, being born again, regeneration, all together bound
up in the the resurrection that we see in the Lord Jesus, and
so our justification. We mentioned this last time. He was delivered for our offensives.
It says the Apostle, he was raised again for our justification. The surety himself, the Lord
Jesus, the one who came to stand in that law place of his people,
who was made of a woman, made under the law, stands therefore
before the Lord as their representative and their surety and their substitute. Is he not justified by the resurrection
from the dead and the justification of his people is bound up, of
course, linked to his justification, delivered for our offenses, yes,
but also raised again for our justification. And then with
regards to the believers' continual conflict with sin and with Satan
and with himself, with his old nature, mortification, the mortification
of our sins, it's part of the Christians' daily experience. And what does Paul say here? That I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death as there is that communication of
new life if any man is in the Lord Jesus Christ he is a new
creation so there is the conflict then with the old life the old
nature that that is born of the flesh is flesh that that is born
of the spirit is spirit says the Lord Jesus. You know the
flesh lost against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary one to the other. And Paul says you
cannot do the thing that you would. What is the believer to
do? Well it's through the spirit
that there is to be that mortifying of the deeds of the body. If
ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body he shall
live here is the evidence of spiritual life there's a fellowship
of suffering then being crucified with Christ as Paul says in that
remarkable statement in Galatians 2.20 I am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. We have to live
to prove our dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ in the
experience of every aspect, every part of our salvation, redemption
and forgiveness, the new birth, our regeneration, our justification,
our mortification, and ultimately, ultimately there is glorification. now is Christ risen from the
dead says Paul and become the first fruit of them that sleep
he is risen his people are going also to rise again from the dead
there will be glory ultimately and that comes doesn't it at
the end of that tremendous chain of truth that we have in Romans
8 29 and 30 whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Ultimately, there
is that expectation of glory. And Paul is speaking of that
clearly. in verse 11 when he wants to
attain to the resurrection of the dead his desire there for
glory well he had not yet attained it not as I had already attained
either were already perfect he says but I follow after if that
I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus how he is continually persevering, pressing forward, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Ultimately, he wants to know
that complete conformity, that glorifying that is the appointed
lot of all those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what desire
we see then in this man as he expresses himself in this portion
of Scripture. And isn't such desire, that spiritual
desire, a true mark of the grace of God in the heart of any man? We see it time and again in the
language of the Psalms, the aspiring after conformity to God, hungering
and thirsting after God, as the heart panteth for the Water brooks,
so my soul panteth for God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God, says the psalmist. When shall I come and appear
before him? All those thirstings after God. Oh God, thou art my God, he says,
early will I sleep with. My soul longeth for thee, my
flesh, Thanketh for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is. We see it so many times in the
language then of the Book of Psalms, that Book of Prizes. And in a sense we sang it very
much in our opening praise, that lovely hymn of Charles Wesley. And that's one thing that one
has to admire in the hymns of Charles Wesley is his desires,
his longings, his yearnings. His hungerings, his thirstings,
after a deeper knowledge of the Lord God, his Saviour. It's the
language of Job, or that I know where I might find him, that
I might come even to his seat. Do we know anything of such longings
as this? The blessed man is that man who
hungers and thirsts after righteousness, says the Lord Jesus. But when
do these longings and yearnings, these hungerings and thirstings,
where do they come from? Well, in a sense we might say
they're there because of all that the child of God is experiencing
in his present life. In the world, Christ says, ye
shall have tribulation. There's trials. and there's troubles,
there's difficulties, there's desertions. And again, we witness
it in the language of the Psalms. David in Psalm 38 says, I am
feeble and sore broken. I have wrought by reason of the
disquietness of my heart. And when we read that Psalm,
we see his strugglings really, his strugglings with himself,
with his sins. I think in many ways Psalm 38
is the Old Testament counterpart of what we have in Romans chapter
7, the experience of the Apostle Paul. We see the same in David.
I'm feeble and sore-broken, I've roared by reason of the disquietness
of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before
Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. All that desire then is continually
confronted by difficulties. And so we can think here in the
second place of the difficulty. Look at the language that he
is using. If, he says, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead. What are we to make of the word
if? does it suggest doubt? as if
there's some uncertainty in his mind it's not doubt that we're
to understand by the use of such language but the if really indicates
the difficulties the difficulties of what he's speaking of it's
not dissimilar to what we find in Peter when he says if the
righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear? if the righteous scarcely be saved that's not to suggest
for the moment that there's some possibility that the righteous
won't be saved the righteous are those who are the justified
and they're justified in the Lord Jesus Christ they are those who have won Christ Paul very much speaks of justification
here, doesn't he? He wants to win Christ. He wants to know Christ. He wants
to be found in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the Lord, he says, but that which is with the faith
of Christ. The righteousness which is of God by faith. And
once in Him, in Him forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands
for the righteous man that Peter is speaking of, who is scarcely
saved. The scarcely isn't suggesting
any possibility of him not being saved, but again it indicates
the difficulty of the why. That man's salvation is sure
and certain, being confident of these very things, says Paul,
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. God says, I have spoken it, I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. There can be no possibility then,
in spite of all the difficulties of the way, all the troubles
of the way, no possibility that this person will fall short at
the end. It is such a truth as the perseverance
of the saints. They are preserved. They are
preserved in Christ Jesus. And again, the language that
we have there in Romans, in Romans 8 at verse 33, It is verse 33 Romans 8.33 Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth, who is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, Jairad,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors. through him that loved us. And
then he goes on to speak of his persuasion that nothing, nothing
can ever separate these from that love of God which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so all things must work together
for good to them that know God, to them who are the called, according
to his purpose. Or if we suffer with him, we
shall also reign with him whatever the trial whatever the trouble
and we must we must endure these things it is through much tribulation
that we enter into the kingdom of God and so there is that difficulty
in the wine but then ultimately There is that sure, that certain
end of everything, the destination. What do the difficulties and
the disappointments do to the believer? Do they not
make that man look and long for his blessed end? That's what
Paul is saying here in verse 11, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. That resurrection is the
beginning of glory. That resurrection will be the
beginning of the glory. I have not seen nor heard, neither
have entered into the hearts of men the things that God hath
prepared for them that love Him. And what is all that they are
experiencing in this life? Light affliction. That's what
Paul calls it, a light affliction, which is but, for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal glory. Oh, it's that
glorious end that God himself has purposed for his people. And so Paul can say, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It's grace now. It's glory at
the end. And how there's that relationship
between each of those. What is grace? I like the definition
that we find in Thomas Boston. He says, grace is but glory in
the bud. and glory then is grace in the
full flower grace and glory and if we have a right understanding
of what that glory is it will be a motivation to live the life
of faith and to walk in the paths of obedience we have the words
of John as well as those of Paul John says in the third chapter
of his first epistle behold what manner of love the father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God therefore
the world knoweth us not because it knew him not beloved now are
we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for
we shall see him as he is and then he adds this every man that
hath his hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure well
the doctrine you see if we have a right comprehension of the
doctrine it's a motivation to holiness of life if we have this
blessed hope we will be those who desire to walk in the ways
of obedience a man purifying himself even
as God is pure and is it not in many ways the same sort of
language that we have in Paul when he writes to the Colossians
and speaks of what it means to be risen with the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's that sense in which what
Paul is expressing is not just the desire for glory hereafter,
but for something in the here and now, if by any means I may
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He would live his
life, you see, as one whose citizenship is surely in heaven. and so he
writes to the Colossians there in chapter 3 if ye then be risen
with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection on things
above not on things on the earth for you are dead and your life
is it with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall
appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory and then the
consequence mortified therefore your members which are upon the
earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, and evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,
for which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience, in the which also he also walked some time
when he lived in them, but now he also put off all these, anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old
man and his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him." The
implication all the time with Paul, he deals with these doctrines,
but there's also the outworking of the doctrines with those who
really embrace these truths. It will be a blessed motivation
then to be the more conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the renewing of our minds, understanding what the will of
the Lord is, the call then to that life of holy living. That is the practical outcome
if we have a right and true appreciation of what this doctrine of the
resurrection is all about its doctrine, its experience and
then it's the practice by their fruits says Christ ye shall know
them. May the Lord be pleased to bless
his word to us. We're going to sing now our second
praise in the hymn 79 which of course is very much based on
that passage in the opening part of the third chapter of John's
first epistle. In Hymn 79, the tune is St. Ethelwold, number 58. Behold
what wondrous grace the Father has bestowed on sinners of a
mortal race to call them sons of God. For does it yet appear
how great we must be made, but when we see our Saviour there
We shall be like our heads. Number 79 June 58.