Let us turn again to the Word
of God in the chapter that we read, Philippians 3, and I'll
read verses 17, 18, and 19. Philippians 3 at verse 17. Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as
ye have asked for an example. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they
are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame,
who mind earthly things." I want to take for a text the words
that we have in verse 17, where Paul sets himself forth as an
example. He says, Brethren, be followers
together of me, and mark them which walk, so as ye have asked
for an example. Considering then what it is to
be a follower of the Apostle Paul, you'll see how In those
following verses that we also read, 18 and 19, bracketed verses,
they form a sort of parenthesis. It really continues the theme
of verse 17 in verse 20. We're to be followers of this
man, the Apostle. And then he says at verse 24,
our conversation is in heaven, or our citizenship. is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our body, that
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself." But the parenthesis is interesting
because there's a contrast He speaks of the way in which he,
as a follower of Christ, seeks to live his life. Mark 10, he
says, which walk. So as you have asked for an example,
then he goes on to speak of these others, for many walk, of whom
I have told you often. And they'll tell you, even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. What does he say concerning these
characters? that they are to be aware of,
spoken of in these two verses, verses 18 and 19. He says their
lives are sensual. Their way of living is licentious. They just seek to satisfy all
the various desires of the flesh. It was interesting that he should
mention such characters because previously He has spoken of those
who were really legalists. The contrast between these loose
livers, we might say, spoken of in the parentheses, and those
that he mentions at the beginning of the chapter when he says at
verse 2, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the
concision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh."
Interesting that he uses such a word as we have there in the
second verse, concision. Those who were contending that
Christian believers really needed to become Jews, they needed to
be circumcised in the flesh, they needed to abide by all the
rules, the regulations, all the various laws that applied to
the children of Israel. The dietary laws and all the
ceremonial things that they had to attend to. But he says, you
see, they are really the concision. They're not the true circumcision.
The true circumcision, he says in verse 3, are those who worship
God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. There's nothing of themselves,
there's nothing of looking to any rituals or observance of
rules and laws that was the practice of the Jews. And Paul, of course,
is one who can speak of these things because he himself was
one such. He was once a proud man, a self-righteous
Pharisee, as he says there at verse 4 following, though I might
also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.
And Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blindness. Oh, he was so proud. He felt
he was a very righteous man and he hated this strange sect, those
who were followers of the Nazarene. He was a legalistic man, very
much so. And yet, having spoken of these
who contend for that type of legal life,
observing all the Old Testament laws and rules. Having spoken
of such, and warning them against such, here, when we come to the
end of the chapter, he speaks of the other extreme. Those who
are not legalists in any sense, but those who are really loose
livers. And I find it interesting because
really I would say we're all so often guilty of going to one
extreme or the other extreme. We react against certain things
and when we react we overreact. So we go from one extreme to
the other extreme. We know that this legalism was
a very real issue in the days of the apostles. The whole theme
really that runs through the epistles of the Galatians is
to point out that the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are
not in any sense debtors to the Lord of God. Christ has honoured,
magnified the law in their room and in their stead. There's no
need for them to become Jews if they're going to be true followers
of Christ. The Messiah has now come. But
it's interesting when Paul answers the legalists and he is aware
of them going to the other extreme. When we come to chapter 5 in
Galatians he says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. They have liberty, but that doesn't
mean they're to live licentious lives. Because he goes on at
verse 13, For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love to
serve one another. Or we're not to imagine for a
moment, because we're free from all those regulations, as it
were, we can just live any sort of life. There are always the
dangers of having the great zeal of the Pharisee, setting up ourselves
as those who think themselves better than others, but in reaction
going to the other extreme of a sort of antinomian spirit,
as if we're free just to do as we please. And the narrow way
is that way that lies between those two extremes. And now we need to look to the
Lord God that we might find that way, and that we might be set
on walking in that narrow way that leads to life. We need the
Lord's continual direction. As St. Paul says in another epistle,
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am a follower of Christ. We're to follow the teachings
of the apostle because he is he is that he is an apostle of
Christ he's a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and so coming
to the words that we have here in verse 17 this morning he says
brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk
so as you have asked for an ensample and as we look at the words for
a while and seek to consider the content of them. I want to
take up then that theme of followers of Paul and as followers of Paul
we need to observe two things. First of all his exhortation
and then secondly what he calls his ensample. That's a simple
division that I want to try to follow as we look at this particular
text, and see as it were to unpack just what Paul is saying in this
portion of this epistle. First of all, the exaltation
of Paul. As I said, immediately after
this we have this passage, verses 18 and 19, which is a sort of
parenthesis. And then, remember how he really
continues his theme in the 20th verses. Our conversation, our
conversation, he says, is in heaven, our citizenship. We're
not those who pursue the pleasures of this world as believers, but
we look for another whose builder and maker is God. From whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue orphans unto himself." But how throughout we see Paul
here exhorting and warning and reminding them Paul's epistles, of course, as
we've said many a time, have that basic construction of being
firstly doctrinal and theological and then more practical and experimental. When we come to the end of the
epistles we come to the more practical part where Paul does give many exhortations. What do we observe here with
regards to the exhortation? Well, he repeats his exhortations.
He repeats them. He says in verse 18, I have told
you often, I have told you often, Time and time again, back in
verse 1, He says to write the same things to you, to me indeed
is not grievous, but for you it is safe. He's concerned then
that he should be a faithful watchman. Oh remember that was
part and parcel of the ministry of the prophets in the Old Testament,
they were the Lord's watchmen. We see it in Ezekiel, Ezekiel
33 verse 7. So thou, O son of man, have I
not set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel? Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. And this is what Paul is doing,
part and parcel of his ministry, to give solemn warnings about
dangers, the dangers of extremes, that they might continue only
in the narrow way, not going to one extreme, the extreme of
legality, or the other extreme, the extreme of looseness, but
seeking to walk in that narrow way. As I say, the prophets will
watch me. And not only Ezekiel, we see
the same in the book of the prophet Isaiah. And there, we have an
interesting passage in Isaiah 62, and verses 6, and seven. God says, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, until
he make Jerusalem appraised in the earth. Yes, they are watchmen,
They're on the walls of Jerusalem, they're warning the people. But
it's interesting, isn't it? Because there, at the end of
that sixth verse, "...ye that make mention of the Lord, keep
not silent so as to proclaim the message of the Lord to the
people." But the margin gives an alternative reading, "...ye
that are the Lord's remembrances." And in many ways, I think the
margin is probably nearer to the the true meaning because
of what follows in verse 7. The end of that verse, reading
the margin, verse 6, All the watchmen are not only to be those
who are warning the people, as it were, but also marching prayer
for the people. pleading with God that he would
undertake, that he would help, that he would make their way
plain. Paul then clearly sees here something of what his responsibilities
are. He is to be one who will warn
them and he'll give repeated warnings and they're necessary
because In that day, in the churches,
as was already said, there were so many legalists who had come
in, wanting, as it were, to bring Christian believers back under
the yoke of the Old Testament law, and if they received circumcision,
Paul says, they become debtors into the whole law of God. This
is what he's concerned about. As I said, Galatians is an epistle
that is so very much taken up with that whole matter. Paul
is addressing it continually and demonstrating that believers
are not under that law as was the case with the Jews in the
Old Testament. But it's not only in Galatians.
When Paul gives instruction to Timothy, as he does in these
pastoral epistles, remember what he says there in the opening
chapter of his first epistle, 1 Timothy 1, verse 5, he says,
"...the end of the commandment is charity or love out of a pure
heart and of a good conscience and of faith on faith, from which
some, having swerved and turned, aside unto vain jangling, desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this that the law is not made
for a righteous man. That righteous man is the justified
sinner, the person whose faith is very much in the Lord Jesus
Christ. knowing this that the law is
not made for a righteous or justified man, but for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, and so it goes on. There is that use of the law
to bring that real and true conviction of sin into the sinner's soul.
And as I say, here is a man who was so well qualified to speak
against such legality as that. But always in reacting, the danger
is that of going to the other extreme. And this is what Paul
is concerned about as we come to this passage before us. The danger is that we say, well,
let us sin, that grace may abound. That's the foolish reasoning
of men. If salvation is of grace, and
not of works, why let us sin? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law but under grace? He asks, God forbid, we're not
to be such creatures. We're walking in that narrow
way, and we're aware of these two dangers, the one on one side,
the danger also on the other side, and walking circumspectly,
carefully, diligently, in that narrow way that leads to life. There's a hymn, of course, in
the book on the whole theme of the narrow way, hymn number three,
108 it's a long hymn probably more suited really to read and to meditate on than
to attempt to sing in the public worship of God but it's interesting to go through the hymn and 17
verses in all but verse 4 before we journeyed far two dangerous
gulfs are fixed dead sloth and pharisaic pride scarce a hair's
breadth betwixt there are the extremes, dead sloth on the one
hand, carelessness, looseness on the other hand, pharisaism
and scarce a hair's breadth between those two extremes is very diligent
and frequent in giving warning. He's done it many a times. As
he says here at verse 18, Many walk, of whom I have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, 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 mind earthly
things? Oh, as this man is warning so
diligently and so frequently, so observe how, as a true watchman
upon the walls of Zion, he also speaks very feelingly. Again,
look at what he says in this 18th verse. And now tell you
even weeping. Even weeping. Oh, his eyes are
filled with tears, he's grieved that there should be those in
the churches who are teaching anything contrary to the truth
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ that any want to bring believers
under the yoke of the Lord of Moses or on the other extreme
that any should want to suggest that Christians can live licentious
lives and seek to satisfy the lust of the flesh. He feels these
things. He weeps. He's somewhat like
Jeremiah the weeping prophet. What a message it was that Jeremiah
had to declare to Judah and to Jerusalem that God's judgment
was going to come upon them because of their idolatrous ways. We've
been reading through Jeremiah at home and awful, really, the
judgments that this man has to warn the people of. He was a
true watchman. But like Paul, how this man also
weeps. There in Jeremiah 9, O that my
head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people,
O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place, of wayfaring
men, that I might leave my people and go from them? For they be
all adulterous, an assembly of treacherous men." He was grieved
at all the evils that he saw, their departures from God, and
the dreadful message that he has to proclaim, and how they
would conspire against him. We know how they even took him,
of course, on one occasion and put him in the deep dungeon.
he was hated, he was despised but of course the one who is
the most feeling of all the prophets of the Lord is him who is the
true prophet the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ is coming to the
end of his ministry and he makes that final journey to Jerusalem
and he knows all that's going to befall him there in the Holy
City And yet he has set his face like a flint, we're told in Luke
9, to go up to Jerusalem. And then in the following chapters
we read of that final journey and they draw near to the city. There in Luke 19, 41, when he
was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying,
If thou hadst known, even though at least in this day die, the
things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from
thine eyes. Or how the Lord weeps over the
sitter. And why? Why is he weeping over the sitter?
Well, he's aware, you see, of those false teachers, those scribes
and those pharisees. It's interesting what we have
in Matthew's account of that sight that the Lord beholds as
He draws near to the city and looks over it. Matthew 23, 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not. and ye would not. Mark those
words at the end of that verse. He is speaking of Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest
them which are sent unto thee. He speaks in the third person. He's speaking of Jerusalem. But
when we come to the end of that 37th verse there in Matthew 23
It's the second person. He says, and ye would not. Who
is he addressing? Who is he addressing? Throughout
that chapter, of course, we see that the Lord is evidently addressing
the Pharisees. It's that chapter that's full
of woes. He speaks them time and again.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Is it not
the same truth that we have there in that 37th verse? How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not." All the awfulness of the false
teachers. Woes upon woes upon woes pronounced
upon those wicked men. But how the Lord, you see, feels
these things. He was a man of compassion. He's one touch with the feeling
of all the infirmities of his people, all their sinless infirmities. He knew himself. He was a real
human nature, of course. And we see him very much as one
full of compassion. And we have this in Paul, you
see. I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping. It was said of John Bunyan and
his own preaching that he preached those things that he did so smartingly
fail. He felt the truth that he was
handing and seeking to declare and set before the people. The
Bedford Tinker, John Bunyan. And Dr. Owen, probably the greatest of
the theologians amongst the Puritans, it's reported, would say that
he would give up all his learning if he could but preach as Bunyan
preached. He preached those things that
he found. That's the ministry of this man
Paul here then. And what does he say of these
people that he's warning them of? He says they are the enemies
of the cross of Christ. That's why he's so weeps. That's why He feels these
things so clearly. They're enemies of the cross
of Christ. And all that that cross entails,
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, the salvation of His people by
the shedding of His precious blood, He wept most, you see,
on the account of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that death of the Lord
Jesus really the great motivation to holiness of life? That should move us to live a
life of conformity to all the holy precepts of the gospel.
The desire to conform more to the image of Christ. to be those
who are His true disciples, His real followers, seeking to live
as He lived, those who make a profession. Remember what the Apostle says
concerning those who are baptized in the name of the Lord. There in Romans 6, what shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound, God forbid, How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. Like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we be planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. And what is Paul saying there?
Well, have we not identified altogether with Christ in his
death and in his resurrection from the dead, buried with him
in baptism, and now raised in newness of life, Oh, there's
the great motivation to holiness of life, to be a follower. The
follower of this man Paul, even as he was a follower of Christ. Well, as Paul was a faithful watchman and a true
preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, so we see
that he was also one who was a pattern. And so turning in
the second place to Paul as an example. Brethren, be followers
together of me, he says, and mark them which walk so as ye
have asked for an example. Now, example is just the old-fashioned
English word for example. But what we have here really
is a strong word. In fact, The word that we have
is that that would be used of an imprint that would be made
on a piece of metal by a die. In other words, the metal has
been marked, deeply marked, and the pattern on the die has been
transferred to that coin. It's a pattern. That's what Paul
is saying. He's an ensemble, he's a pattern.
Now, he was a man, of course, who
was very diligent in seeking to practice what he preached. Does he not tell them as much
in the following chapter? there in 4 verse 9, those things
which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do. And the God of peace shall be
with you. Oh, they've not only heard him,
they've not only received instruction from him, learned at his hands,
but they've seen the sort of man that he is and the sort of
life that he lives. We know that He is a patterned
believer. I've referred many a time to
those words that we have at verse 16 in 1 Timothy 1. Howbeit for
this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ may
shew forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. He's the pattern
believer in that sense. Not that we're all going to have
the same depth of experience, or anything like the same sort
of ministry as Paul the Apostle had. But there are those principles
that we see in his life. And there are those occasions
in his epistles when he's forced, as it were, to speak of himself. He's not one who wants to project
himself, but there's such opposition to his ministry on occasions
that he has to, as he writes to some of the churches, thinking
in particular of the epistles to the Corinthians, because they
had been infiltrated by false teachers who turned them away
from the truth and turned them against Paul, so Paul has to
defend his ministry. There are several passages there
in those Corinthian epistles. Not to think that this man is
seeking then to make much of himself. That is certainly not
the case. What does he actually say here
in this 17th verse? It's not just himself, is it? It's the plural. Walk so as ye
have us. Not me. So as you have us for
an example. He willingly identifies with
others. There are others who are helping
him when he addresses these churches. He doesn't just address them
in his own name. He mentions those who are associated
with him. Even here, Paul and Timotheus.
the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. And does
he not previously make mention of Timothy and Timothy's ministry
and Timothy's example really? There in chapter 2 verse 19,
I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you
that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state, for I
have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the Father
he hath served with me in the gospel, him therefore I hope
to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with
mine. Oh, he commends the ministry
and the example of this godly man, but not only is there Timothy,
there's Epaphroditus also that he goes on to mention. There
at verse 25 in that second chapter. I suppose it necessary to send
to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor, and fellow
soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my
ones. for he longed after you all and
was full of heaviness because he had heard that he had been
sick for indeed he was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy
on him and not on him only but on me also lest I should have
sorrow upon sorrow I sent him therefore the more careful that
when you see him again you may rejoice and that I may be the
less sorrowful it's these men you see, it's all of these men It's not just Paul, it's Timothy,
it's Epaphroditus. In a sense, we might say it's
also Titus, because when he writes in that pastoral epistle, he exhorts, "...in all things
showing thyself a pattern of good works." That's how he instructs
Titus, Timothy, or Epaphroditus. They are a pattern of good works. They're like him. having us for an ensemble, he
says. And it is quite remarkable how
different all of this is to the scribes and the Pharisees. Oh, we referred to those words
in the 23rd of Matthew, the end of the chapter where the Lord
is weeping over Jerusalem. As I said, he speaks of Jerusalem,
he's addressing the scribes and pharisees. And what does he say
concerning these men at the beginning of that chapter? The scribes and the pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. These are the false teachers.
What do they do? They say, but they don't do what
they say. They don't practice what they
preach. So what is Paul teaching here
with regards to what it means to be a follower of him? Well,
he's teaching the importance of practical Christianity. How do we show the reality of
our faith? Well, James deals with that.
Show me thy faith without thy works, I will show thee my faith
by my works. Works have no part in the justification
of the sinner. The sinner is justified only
by the righteousness of Christ, the law-keeping of Christ. But
those good works, are they not the justification of the faith?
Are they not the proof of the reality of the faith, that it
is true faith? How important is practical Christianity? Paul tells the Corinthians what
they are to be, "...manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ, he says, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in
fleshy tables of the heart." are we those who receive God's
Word into our very hearts and we receiving it there have such
a love for it such a delight in it that we want to be not
only hearers of it but doers also well what does Paul say
be ye followers of me even as I am also of Christ ultimately
it's not being a follower of Paul or of Timothy, or of Aphrodite,
or Titus, or any of the great saints of God. It's being a follower
of the Lord Jesus, and Christ is that one who has set before
us the greatest pattern. There in chapter 2, in the 5th
verse, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. It's remarkable, this passage,
because it's such profound doctrine that Paul is going on to declare
concerning the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and yet he
couches it in these terms, you see, that here is the pattern
of godliness, the mind of Christ, being in the form of God, would
it not robbery to be equal with God? but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." Oh, what a pattern. What a pattern. A pattern of humility. A pattern
of obedience. And that's the Christian's calling,
is it not? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them also which walk so as ye have us for an
example. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word. Now let us conclude our worship
this morning as we turn to sing the hymn 144. The tune is Angelus 282. Jesus my all to heaven is gone. He whom I fix my hopes upon his
track I see and I'll pursue. the narrow way till him, I view,
the way the holy prophet went, the road that leads from banishment,
the king's highway of holiness. I'll go for all his paths, I'll
please. 144, TUNE 282.