Good morning. Alright, we're
going to be in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 and
our text will be in verses 7 through 11. Philippians 3, 7 through
11. Now, everything that Paul speaks
of here in our text, this is the result of the new birth.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, so that
what Paul is describing here is fruit that is born of the
Holy Spirit. This doesn't come from our flesh. Now, depraved men and women,
those that are yet bound in their sins, however religious they
are, they may counterfeit this. They may try to counterfeit that
fruit which appears to be good through their religion. But in
reality, only the Holy Spirit can work this in the believer. Only the Holy Spirit can produce
this fruit in the heart. in our text this morning, we'll
see what the believer is made willing to do in Christ, what
they are willing to lose and what they gain as a result of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what we give up in this
flesh is far outweighed by the glory and what we win, what we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ, what we gain in Him. Our title
is Losing to Win. Losing to Win. Let's first look
at what we lose. So, in the first verse here,
in Philippians 3, 7, we read, So, if you consider the unsaved,
if we consider ourselves in religion while we yet did not even know
the Lord Jesus Christ, There is a time when all people,
there's a time for everyone when they do not know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Even believers that are believers
now. There's a time when they in their
flesh did not know the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we were in religion,
we had a hope in the things that we did. We looked to our own
works to gain some kind of an assurance that we are the Lord's. And so we went to church. We
read our Bibles. We said our prayers. We sang
the hymns. We began to mingle and fellowship
with other believers or other professors that were there at
the church that we went to. We asked questions and we tried
to do what they said that we were to do. And yet it never
seemed to be enough. There was always a doubt because
we were looking to the works that we ourselves were doing,
and when we didn't feel like it was enough, then we got more
diligent in those things. We tried to do more to assure
ourselves that we indeed were the Lord's, and yet it all proved
to be a deception and a lie. Once we knew the truth, we saw
through the facade of what we were doing in our own flesh to
try and gain some confidence, some assurance that we were His. And no matter how much we did
to try to appear that we ourselves were saved. This is where Paul
was at. Paul was doing those things which
saved people do. Those things that professors
do. Follow with me in Acts. Go to
Acts chapter 8. Acts 8.3. This is after Stephen's
death, and we know that Paul, or Saul, consented to Stephen
being put to death, so that when the men were stoning Stephen
for his confession of Christ, for his hope in Christ, Paul
was the one who was watching the coats, because you wanted
a a religious man watching your coat because if you had any change,
any silver coins in your pocket, you don't want somebody stealing
them while you're out stoning someone to death. And so Paul
was that man. He was considered trustworthy.
And in Acts 8, 3, After this Paul made havoc of the church,
entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committed
them to prison. And when that wasn't enough,
in Acts 9 verses 1 and 2 we read that Saul, yet breathing out
threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went
unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus. to
go to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether
they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And Paul, at the end of Acts,
in Acts 26, turn over to Acts 26 verse 9, he summarized it
this way, saying, I verily thought with myself. Acts 26.9, I verily
thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that right there points to
us the vanity of religion. I thought with myself. Because
in the flesh we think things to do. We think of religious
things and we think we know what pleases God. and we never rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Christ said in
John 16, verses 2 and 3. The time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service, and these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father nor me. And every man, every man and
woman comes forth, is born into this world dead in trespasses
and sins. And that means that we are ignorant
of God. We are ignorant of how to worship
God. We're ignorant of how we are
to live before him. And so naturally, what religion
does is they turn you to the law. They turn you to the law
of Moses so that you have some guide, some rule, whereby you
know how to walk before God. But all it is is religion, because
the flesh, when they hear that, oh, I'm supposed to do this,
and then that, and this thing over here, the flesh says, I
can do that, and it begins to try and work out its salvation
looking to the law. but they never rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when you say to the flesh,
do nothing, the natural man says, I don't know what that means.
I don't know what you're talking about. How am I saved then if
I do nothing? But as long as you're pointing
them to the law of Moses, then the flesh engages and thinks,
all right, there's something I can do now to perfect myself,
to make myself acceptable with God. I know there's a little
bit of Jesus involved here, but now I have something to do in
looking to the law. And those that preach grace,
like Paul preached grace, they're persecuted. As Paul said, if
I yet preach circumcision, if I yet preach that there's something
we are to do in the flesh, then why am I being persecuted? Because
Paul was persecuted for trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, for committing
the brethren so confidently that Christ, by his Spirit, works
in the believer, and gives them life, and gives them a heart,
and a desire, and a willingness, and a mind to look to the Lord,
to trust Him, to walk by faith, believing Him. That doesn't mean
that we go off and do that which is contrary to the Law of Moses.
That doesn't mean that we feel like it's okay for us to sin,
like it's okay for us to commit adultery, like it's okay for
us to steal or to murder somebody. Not at all. It's just that the
Spirit is living in us, directing us and guiding us and teaching
us what is and isn't that we're to do. It's looking to Christ. He doesn't give us a heart to
want to do those things because we know they're an offense to
the true and living God. So, salvation is a revelation
by the Spirit in the heart of the believer. It's a revelation
of Christ, that He is the one that God has provided for our
salvation. Paul had said in Acts 26 verses
12 through 15, whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and
commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw in the
way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, or
brighter than the sun shines, shining round about me, and then
which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, because man is going to be put down in the dust, I
heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. So Paul received
the commission, that's why he was an apostle, because he was
sent of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But like Paul, as Paul
had Christ revealed to him, so every believer must have the
Lord Jesus Christ revealed to him. As our Lord said to the
Samaritan woman in John 4, 23, The hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
And that word there means the Father requires it. The Father
demands that we worship him in spirit and in truth. So that
he gives that power through regeneration. He gives that power and that
heart to do that which pleases God. That is worship him in spirit
and in truth. And that means it's not the flesh
because the flesh isn't alive in the spirit. The flesh is dead
and doesn't do any work that is good. And so Paul, he was
an apostle, and yet like him, we must have Christ revealed
to us. And Paul described it this way,
for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Not the face
of Moses, but in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. So everything
changed for Paul. When Christ became all to him,
everything changed for Paul. And Paul then began to let go
of his religion, and let go of those outward show of religion
to impress other people, and became very interested and what
the Lord had done for him. And so all those works, turn
back to our text there in Philippians 3, 7 through 8, all those things
were let go. It says in Philippians 3, 7,
but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. 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 you
count them but dumb, that I may win Christ. And all we need to
do is, is Christ all? Is there anything better than
the Lord Jesus Christ to you? Is there something more precious,
more lovely, more honorable than the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there
anything more? It's Christ. Christ is made all. He's our rejoicing because in
Christ we are complete and able to stand before the true and
living God. When Christ was made all to Paul,
that's when he abandoned his ceremonies. That's when he abandoned
trusting in those works that are outlined in the Law of Moses.
That civil law, that ceremonial law, that moral law. It was all
He didn't need it anymore because he had the Spirit of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not only did Christ justify him,
but Christ sanctified him. Christ became everything to Paul. And so, we see, look over in
2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. We see this
willing heart that the Spirit of the Lord, that the Spirit
of Christ works in the believer. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. Paul says, but we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. We know that's speaking of our
flesh. We know the weakness of our flesh, and this treasure
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. So that's why he shows
us, and that's why he doesn't turn us back to the flesh, because
this flesh is weak. As we know, Paul said that we
don't look to the law because of the weakness of the flesh.
If there had been a law that could have been given that would
have worked righteousness, then a law would have been given.
But because of the weakness of the flesh, God doesn't give us
a law for righteousness and to look to that law to something
that we do ourselves, but rather He gives the Lord Jesus Christ
for that purpose. That's the treasure that we have
now, that faith which is worked in the believer to believe the
Lord Jesus Christ, to trust Him for their righteousness. And
he says, and here's the marks that were weak. We see that we're
weak. And he says in verse eight, we're troubled on every side,
right? In this flesh, we're troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not
destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. You notice how Paul is never
directing us back to the Law of Moses. He's never asking us
to look to the Law. He's always looking forward unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always pressing the believer
to keep looking to Christ, because that's where our hope and our
salvation is. It's in the Lord. It's in the
work of the Spirit that he does for the believer. And he says,
verse 11, for we which live are always delivered unto death for
Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh. The life of Jesus, not the life
of Moses, not the law of Moses, not looking to Moses, but that
life, that living spirit, that was never present in this flesh
because we came forward dead in trespasses and sins, but that
living spirit now flowing through us like a river, like a never-ending
river flows through the believer. And that's why Paul preached
the Lord Jesus Christ and committed the brethren to him. As he says,
it's in 2 Corinthians 3, 3 verses, 3 and 4, where he says,
Such trust have we through Christ to God. Such trust, so confidently,
so confident are we in the Lord Jesus Christ that we know we
just preach Him, exalt Him, and lift Him up, and the Spirit gives
life to His people, and they look to Christ and believe Him.
And they don't need the law, because the law is written on
their hearts now. Not the law of Moses, but the
law of love to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he writes that,
you're not going to offend God. You're not going to want to offend
your brethren and sin against them, because the law of love
and liberty is written on our hearts by the Spirit. And our
Lord, well, let me finish verse 12. So then death worketh in
us, but life in you, we having the same spirit of faith, according
as it's written. Not the spirit of this world,
not the spirit of the wisdom of man, but the spirit of faith,
according as it's written, I believed and therefore have I spoken,
we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and
shall present us with you." So that Christ is the righteous
robe of the believer, the confidence that we have to stand before
God in that day, blameless before the throne of God. Who can imagine?
That's the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
present you and I who believe in him blameless before the throne
of holy God." That's a sweet thing. And our Lord said in Matthew
16, 24 and 25, He said to his disciples, if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it. And that's what
we see with Paul. He was willing, made willing
to lose his life, to lose his ceremonies, to lose his law keeping,
to lose his tithing, to lose all those works, to lose persecuting
the church and everything he had there with his countrymen,
all to win the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see the Spirit makes
us willing to do that. And that leads us to our next
point, who we win. So the believer wins Christ. He said in verse 8 that I may
win Christ. And he's not talking about obtaining
salvation, doing something to win or to earn or to obtain salvation,
but compared to everything that he gained in religion, it's nothing. He didn't care about the The
fellowship that he had with the other people like him in the
Jewish faith, he didn't care about the acceptance that he
had with his countrymen. He didn't care about the riches
that he had gained there in the Jewish faith. He was willing
to let all that go and lose it all for Christ. And this is because
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Old things are old, and they're
let go of. And all things have become new. And that's the Lord
giving you his spirit, so that by the spirit now we worship
him in spirit and in truth. All those new things are of God
who hath reconciled us to himself by the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul, a little earlier, had
made the statement, which unites believers and it differentiates
them from those that are not believers. If you remember in
Philippians 3.3, he had said earlier, which these verses are
built upon, when he said, we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. And if we're honest, when we're
made honest, we know that as soon as you preach the law, you
cease to preach Christ, right? You're either talking about Christ
or you're talking about the law. And when you talk about the law,
the flesh stops, the flesh doesn't look to Christ. You can't see
Christ. You're now looking at that law and what you need to
be doing better. And the faith ceases right there. Faith no longer is active there
because you're now relying on what you're doing in the law
to make yourself acceptable with God. And I know that few today,
not in many of Well, few today might say that the law is our
justification, but they sure look to the law for sanctification,
as though it's a partnership between you and God. And Paul
said to the Galatians in 3.3, he said, are you so foolish,
having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Are we now going to be perfected through our law-keeping in the
flesh? Is it really? Is God looking
to us in sanctification? Or is our sanctification that
which is worked out, that fruit which is produced in us by the
Spirit? We desire, we want to walk in
a manner that's worthy of our calling, but He produces that
in us. And when we see it, He'll allow
us to see the weakness of this flesh as he gives us his spirit,
he says he puts his spirit in us so that we cry out to him,
Abba, Father. We call out to him, begging him
for mercy, begging him for forgiveness, begging him to deliver us from
the things that this flesh lusts for and would normally seek after. So, alright, well here comes
the fruit in Philippians 3, 9, he says, Since we have no confidence
in the flesh, here's the fruit that the Spirit produces. In
Paul, he said in Philippians 3, 9, "...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 faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ and that work that he works in us, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. So that When the Holy
Spirit gives us life, He illuminates us and enables us to see the
darkness of man's works. He allows us to see the deadness
of our religious works. He allows us to see the vanity
of our religious works, so that we're made willing, like Paul,
to let those things go, because we want to be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so Paul in no way speaks,
he doesn't ever turn us to our own righteousness. He doesn't
point to his righteousness. All he says is, I let my righteousness
go. I let all those things go that
I might be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, his faithfulness. That's the
trust and the confidence he works in us. And so when we see those
things for what they are, our works, like a filthy rag, polluted
with bodily fluids, we let those things go because they're disgusting
to us. And we see the shame of those
things. And so our chief desire, like
Paul, becomes, Lord, I want to be found in Christ. Don't look
to me. If you think that your law-keeping
in looking to Moses is our sanctification, Do you really want God to look
at you in the works that you're doing? to look into your heart
and to see what's in your heart and in your mind and the things
you do in His flesh, do you really want Him to count that with Christ? Or do you want to be found in
Christ and Christ alone and in His righteousness? That's the
work that the Spirit produces in us. That we see, Lord, not
my works. Please don't count my works in
this. look to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. I want to be found in His works only, and not mine
at all. So that's what we're looking
to, is to be found in Him. In 1 Corinthians 1, 29-31, Paul is telling us, he's speaking
how that God chooses the weak things of this world, the foolish
things of this world. And I realize I'm speaking like
a fool right now. To the religious world, I speak
as a fool because I'm saying it's nothing that we do. That
all the glory, all the praise, all the honor goes to Him and
Him alone. And I can't have any confidence
In my works, in this work, and so he doesn't do it, but in 1
Corinthians 1.29, Paul says, the reason why God chooses the
weak things, people that won't be boasting in themselves, is
so that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him,
verse 30, of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God makes Christ everything to
the believer. He's all in our sufficiency to
stand before him, that according as it's written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. So, if Christ is our sanctification,
just as he's our justification, then why do men keep telling
people to look back to the Law of Moses? Why do they keep directing
our flesh to do something? It just puffs up the flesh, because
when you're looking to the flesh, and you're trusting in that,
you end up despising your brethren. because they're not doing those
things that you're doing. And if they do those things that
you're doing, you despise them because you envy them, because
they do them better than you. And you get angry because they're
doing it. And you don't want to hear it.
And so why do we keep, why do men preach the law of Moses? So that justification or sanctification,
which is of the law for righteousness, Paul said he wants no part of
it. And that's the attitude that
the Spirit works in us, to have no part of it. Not to be lawless,
not to be just rude and arrogant and puffed up and fulfilling
the lusts of our flesh, but rather we're trusting Christ. resting
in him, that just as God said, I've provided my son, that he
shall be your righteousness. Trust him, look to him, rest
in him. And that's what we're doing.
We're resting in the Lord Jesus Christ because we see the insufficiency
of this flesh to do that law of Moses perfectly. The law was
given not for us to be righteous. The law was given to shut our
mouths because when you look at the law by the Spirit, you
see, I don't measure up. I don't measure up to the law,
to the perfection of the law. It's not in me. It's not in this
flesh. As the psalmist wrote in Psalm
31.1, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. We know our deliverance is in
the righteousness of Christ our Savior. And so Paul doesn't ever
point us in this passage I can't find anywhere where Paul points
us to our works of righteousness for sanctification. He's always
pointing to Christ. Turn over to Romans 12. Romans
12, 3. And we'll come back to verses
1 and 2, but let's pick up in Romans 12, 3 first. And here Paul says, For I say,
Through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith. Now what he does is he points
us to the faith, the measure of faith that God works in each
one of the members of his body. Verse 4, for as we have many
members in one body, and all members have not the same office,
so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members
one of another. having then gifts, differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering,
for he that teacheth on teaching. And then he goes on listing all
these different gifts that we exercise in the church. But he
never talks about the law, he just speaks about exercising
that measure of faith that he's worked in each believer. You
see how he just keeps us looking to Christ, keeps us looking to
what Christ has done and what he's worked in us. He never directs
us back to look back where we came from in looking to the Law
of Moses. He always keeps us looking forward unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's what he says, you
can hold your place in Romans 12 because we'll be back there,
but that's why he says in 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, so that under that illuminating power of the Spirit
were made to see things as God sees them." All right, as Paul,
look back in Philippians 1, were made to see things not according
to the flesh, but according as God sees them. In Philippians
1, 9, do you remember his prayer? He said, This I pray, that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent. so
that we see what God is working in his church. We see that we
trust him, that whatever we see going on in the flesh, whatever
persecution, whatever trials, whatever suffering, whatever
affliction he calls us unto, we see how the Lord is working
all things in the establishment of his kingdom, and his gospel
is going forth, not the least of which is going forth in our
own hearts, and bringing us to see that, Lord, you have all
things in control. Lord, you're teaching me. Lord,
you're producing that which is right and acceptable to you. Lord, I see the weakness and
the insufficiency in my flesh, but I see more and more that
Christ is all, and that he is my acceptance with you. And we're
made to rest and be settled in Him, in that love of Christ. When we're preaching the law,
it stirs up that enmity that's naturally in our heart, because
we can't do it. But when we preach and declare
what Christ has done, how that Christ laid aside His glory for
His people, for His brethren, He laid aside His glory, took
upon Him weak flesh, took upon Him to do all the covenant requirements
of grace to fulfill them in love willingly for his brethren, so
that he went to that cross, knowing in his mind, seeing his very
brethren whom he laid down his life for. and willingly pay that
redemption price, which was the shedding of His own blood, to
put away your sin. That He took that burden upon
Himself to put away your sin once and for all, to make you
acceptable to God, to reconcile you to holy God, to restore that
which was lost when we sinned in Adam. He did all that work
completely taking it upon himself. And so when we see that, that
love by the Spirit, that faith is born in us and grown in us
so that we see, Lord, you've done everything. And he creates
that love in us so that it's not about the law and what we're
not doing good enough and what we need to be doing better, we
see and fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being filled,
he says in Philippians 1.11, being filled with the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and
praise of God. So you see that all that love
keeps coming from, all the fruit of righteousness keeps coming
from the Lord Jesus Christ and his spirit. it, not our works
in the flesh. Alright, now I said we'd go back
to Romans and we're going to wrap up very soon here. Romans 12, 1 and 2. Here he says,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. So what he's saying there is
that the Lord makes us willing to lose these works that we've
done in the flesh and our law keeping and things that we boast
in and things that we draw, drew upon in our flesh to try and
find some assurance. And then lost that assurance
as soon as we didn't do those things that we had done just
the week before. And so he separates us from that. He severs that flesh work. because it has no part, and you're
just going to be washed around and blown around on the waves
of this world. But He settles us in Christ,
He anchors us in Christ so that by the Spirit, and this will
be our last verse, in Philippians 3, 9, by the Spirit we have that
desire, and that only desire. to be found in Christ, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the faithfulness, the faithful
work of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
is, we lay hold of that through that fruit which the Spirit gives
us, which is faith to see and rest and trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I pray that the Lord will Bless
that to your hearts and rest you, settle you in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for... your work of grace lord help
us to see that salvation really is of grace it's all in the lord
jesus christ grow us lord settle us by your spirit and lord we
trust and know that by your spirit you produce fruits of righteousness
in your people and we're thankful for that lord keep us from looking
back to the law keep us from looking back to the flesh we
pray this to go forward looking to Christ alone. We pray this
in His name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.