Philippians chapter 3. I've entitled this message, Seven
Desires. Seven desires of every believer's
heart. Seven desires. The Apostle Paul
mentions in this text that it is his desire. That is the desire
of every true believer in Christ. Now, in this chapter, the Apostle
by the Holy Spirit warns the saints at Philippi. He warns
them. He says this in verse 1, My brethren,
rejoice in the Lord, to write to you the same things. To me
indeed is not grievous, but to you it is safe. Why do you suppose
we preach the same gospel, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified constantly,
perpetually, because it is safe for you? There are no surprises
in a true gospel church. When the gospel is preached,
there are no surprises. This gospel is known by all His people. Now it may be fresh, it may fall
on our hearts fresh, it may encourage us in a way it didn't before,
but yet to us it is not old, not new, it's old. We know this
gospel. So I'm not going to tell you
anything new. Why? It's safe for you that I don't make up
anything, I don't give you opinions. I put you into the Word of God.
Why? He warns them of dogs. Look at this, beware of dogs.
Evil workers, beware of the Jews, the concision. Who are these? All those that
oppose the gospel of God's free grace. Paul said they're dogs. What does a dog do? He said he
returns to his vomit. They're dogs. They deny that
salvation is by the grace of God without the merits of man's
will. or his religious deeds or his
obedience to the law. They are evildoers. Evildoers. They are as the Jews, the concision. But Paul says this about us.
He said, don't worry about them, for we are the circumcision. We are the true Jews. We are
the true Israel of God, who worship God in spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh." We who worship God. Isn't
that what Jesus said to that woman at the well? He said, the
hours come and now is when God seeketh to worship Him, and they
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. I believe a better translation
of that is this, with the spirit and with the truth. You can't
worship God without the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God must
give you life in order to worship God. Now you can bow down, light
candles, you can wear robes, and you can wear crosses, and
you can do all sorts of religious things. You can get baptized,
you can eat the Lord's Supper, but none of that is true without
the Spirit of God. Except the Spirit of God give
you life. except the Spirit of God give
you life. You cannot do these things. And
what is it to have life? How do you know you have life?
Is it because you joined the church? Is that an evidence of
life? Look, any fool can join a church. Any fool can be baptized. Any fool can jibber-jabber. Any
fool can do any of that stuff. Anybody can fake any of that
stuff. How do you know that you have the Spirit of God? Jesus
said this about the Spirit. He said that He will testify
not of Himself, but of me. Now, any spirit that testifies
of Himself is not the Spirit. The Spirit testifies of Christ. And so then anyone who worships
God, they must have the Spirit. And the Spirit, if you have the
Spirit, this is it. This is how you know if you have
the Spirit. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all your
soul. You trust only in Him without any works of the flesh. You don't
trust... Paul said, we have no confidence in the flesh. I don't
put any confidence in my preaching. My preaching has nothing to do
with my salvation, not one bit. And your hearing has nothing
to do with your salvation. Your will, your passion, your
zeal, your tears, your crying, nothing have to do nothing. I
have no confidence in those things. My confidence is in all the things
that Christ has accomplished for me on my behalf. There is
my confidence. We have no confidence in the
flesh. And so then we are the true Israel
of God. We are the true... Paul says
it's the true circumcision. Now remember, circumcision was
an old covenant token given to Abraham. It was a token of the
covenant. And it was like all the other
Old Testament ordinances. It was a picture of spiritual
things. Of spiritual things. Therefore,
we are born again of the Holy Spirit. Our flesh, which covered our heart, has
now been cut away. As a man is circumcised, the
flesh is cut away, and he is able to feel the painful. And that's exactly what happens
to the heart. The flesh is cut to the quick.
and the heart is exposed. We feel our sin, we feel our
guilt, we know our shame, and we are made to flee to the Lord
Jesus Christ and find all our hope in Him. We are the circumcision. This is by the power and the
love and grace of God that we put our trust in Christ, and
now we see all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our sanctification,
all our redemption are done. What does it mean to be done?
When something's done, what does it mean? It means it's finished. It means
you don't need to do anything else. It means you don't need
to add one thing to it. It's finished. Yet men think salvation is something
they've got to complete. Jesus, He put the outline in
and you've got to color it in. You've got to add your work to
it. You've got to put your mark on
it. No! The minute you put your mark
on it, it's defiled. No, it's done. It's done. This is what we find. Who are
the circumcision? It's done. I find all things
ready. Isn't that the message that God
sends His messengers with to the wedding feast? All is ready. Don't bring anything. And you
remember that man that brought his own coat. That man that brought
his own robe. He was cast out into eternal
damnation because he brought something with him. You can't
come to Christ with anything. You've got to come empty. You've
got to come with nothing. Stripped. Exposed. Dead! Empty! And what do you
find? It's done. Everything I need
is already there. Christ did it all. Scripture
says, "...but as many as received Him, to them gave He the right,
the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name." Now listen, we who are the circumcision,
we have surely received Him. gladly received Him, willingly received Him. We drink
Him, we drink His blood, we eat His flesh, willingly we received
Him. But all who do receive Him, why do you receive Him? Because you need Him. Listen,
nobody will receive Christ if they don't need Him. If you only
need Christ for a little while, until you get through something.
A lot of people, they have troubles, they have difficulties, they
say, I need, I need Jesus! And they go, they start becoming
religious. And then once the trouble is
gone, what do they need? They don't need Him anymore. No, that's not somebody who was
born again in the Spirit. Somebody's born again in the
Spirit, we need Him now more than we needed Him when we first
came to Him. I need Him more. I need Him now more than ever. And how is it that you, you need
Him? How is it that you've come to
know your need of Him? John doesn't leave us to guess.
He says this, "...which were born, not of blood." Listen, my children are ever
saved, it's not because they were in relationship to me. It
has nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. "...not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh." If they're ever born again, it
is not because of their will, their desire, nor because of
the will of men, not because I want them to be saved. If they're
ever born again, it is because of the will of God. But of God,
John said. And so all who receive Him, we
do so because we need His blood and righteousness. We are now
the sons of God, and we give no glory to the flesh." That's
what Paul said. We have, verse 3, we have no
confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh whatsoever. Now, so he says, beware of dogs
and evildoers. Why? Because that's what religion
wants you to trust in. They, yes, they're going to say,
trust in Christ. They're going to use the same
words that I'm using. They don't have the same meaning, but they
use the same words. Yes, you need to be saved by grace. You
need His blood. You need His righteousness. But,
you must accept it. You must exercise your will. You must be baptized. You must
do this. You must do that. No, those are
dogs and evil workers. That's all they are. They're
dogs. Beware of them, believers. You know what that means? It
means don't go and debate them. You should beware of them. You
should beware of them. You should avoid them, leave
them! Now what Jesus said, He said, the blind lead the blind,
they'll both fall in the ditch. Leave them alone. Leave them
alone. When Paul was worshipping God, we just talked about him
being on trial. You know when he's worshipping God, you know
what he's doing to the Jews? Nothing. He didn't do anything for them.
He didn't have to. Listen, you don't have to try
to make them mad, just preach the gospel. It'll happen all
by itself. And so now Paul, he puts in his
experience in this. He said, though I might also have confidence in
the flesh, if any other man thinketh he have whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more. And then he gives his lineage. He gives a litany of things wherein
he had a right to boast in his religion. He says this, "...circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching righteousness, which
is in the law, blameless." Paul said, look, if being a Jew, if that saves a man, he said,
I'm a Jew more than anybody else. I'm of the special tribe of Benjamin.
Remember those only two tribes that stuck with God and the rest,
the other ten left, Judah and Benjamin. He said, well, I'm
of Benjamin. I'm of the better tribe. I was circumcised the
eighth day. My parents were believers. And not only that, I exercised
my religion. I didn't just confess it with
my mouth. I persecuted the church. He said, I put my money where
my mouth was. I went. You remember when they stoned
Stephen, he said, I held their coats. I consented unto his death. And not only that, I got letters
and I ran to every church putting them in prison for worshiping
Christ. So if anybody's got anything
to do with the flesh, he said, I'll put mine against yours any
day. What are you trusting in? What
are you trusting in? Is there anything in your flesh
you're trusting in? Paul said, you put it against mine and see
if you stack up. You won't. Paul said, I was of
the strictest tribe. The Pharisees were the strictest
tribe. That has a negative connotation
now among us, Pharisee. But back then, a Pharisee, that
was the highest a sect. It was an honor to be a Pharisee. And he said, not only a Pharisee,
I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I was the rising star in that
religion. He was the Billy Graham of his
sect. He was a rising star and yet,
what does he say? What does he do? He said this,
But those things which are gained to me, I count it as loss for
Christ." Now listen, if you're ever going to come to Christ,
you must count all things loss. All your religion, all the things
you have done in the past must be put away and you must believe
on Him. You can't bring any of that baggage
with you. You can't. Paul says, I count. Yea, doubtless I count all things
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but numb. Not only did he count them, he
said, I'm still counting them as numb. Why? Because the flesh
always pops up, doesn't it? When you're in trouble, you sin,
don't you try to look back at something at some instance for
some hope? It's the first instinct of the
flesh, to try to find something that you've done that gives you
any evidence of hope. Paul said, no, I have to continually
count that as done, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. The excellency of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ. What great grace and love of
our God, who in spite of our sin and vile condition, in spite
of our meritlessness of our religion, in spite of
our evil corrupt nature, God says this, for God who commanded
the light shined out of darkness as shined in our hearts. Aren't
you grateful for the grace of God that shined in your heart?
To give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And so to us who believe, what?
Christ is all. Christ is all. When you come
here, what do you want to hear? You want to hear Christ is all.
Christ is all in righteousness. He's all my righteousness. Christ
is all my wisdom. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? The only wisdom of that is found
in Jesus Christ. I see wisdom in Christ. All my
wisdom, all my sanctification, all my holiness is found in Jesus
Christ. All my redemption is found in
His blood and His offering for sin. He satisfied the justice of God. And what is the result then of
this union that we have with Christ? The result of our salvation. Paul says in Colossians 2 and
verse 10, you are complete in Him. You're complete in Him. Now, does this mean that we are
free from the presence of sin, you as believers? You know you're
complete, but are you free from the presence of sin? No. God
forbid we should even think of such things. Paul in this very
text said, I've not yet attained. I've not yet attained what He
promised me, which is perfect, sinless perfection. I've not yet attained that. I
have it in Christ. I have it in the inner man, but
yet I still have this old body. I've not yet fully got what I've
been promised. And so what do you say? I press.
I press toward that mark. I want that so much. I desire
to have what God promised to give me. That when He comes again
at His second advent, that I might be found in that resurrection
acceptable. acceptable under God and so then as long as we abide
in this body we struggle with sin and therefore we must press
toward the mark of the high calling of God we must press and so you who believe in Christ we all long to grow and mature
in the knowledge of Christ. Is that not right? Are you satisfied
with your knowledge of Christ? Are you satisfied with where
you're at right now that you can just say, I don't need no
more? No. This is why Paul said, I press
toward that mark. And so now I want to give you
seven things that the Apostle here, as a believer in Christ,
desires. Seven things, here I'll mention
them and then we'll go over each one of them. First of all, he
desired to know Christ, that I may know Him. Second of
all, he desired to win Christ. Thirdly, he desired to magnify
Christ. Fourth, he desired to be found
in Christ, Fifth, he desired to be like Christ. And sixth, he desired to be with
Christ. And lastly, he desired to rejoice
in Christ. Rejoice. Let's look at this list. First of all, to know Christ.
Look at that in verse 10. He said these words, that I may
know Him. Did Paul know Him? Did Paul know
Him? Now look, I've never seen the
Lord Jesus Christ, but Paul did. Met Him. taught of Him three
years the Lord Jesus Christ taught Paul face to face. Now is that
something? Now that's somebody that knew
Christ. And yet He said, that I may know Him. Everybody who truly is born of
God knows Christ. We know His person, don't we?
We know that He is God and He is man. We know the riches of
His grace, that He condescended to be like us, to be made flesh. He dwelt among us so as to be our substitute, our
representative. We know of His glorious death
by which He made atonement for our sins and satisfied the justice
of God. We know of His glorious righteousness
that He merited in His flesh. We know of His resurrection,
of His ascension. We know He is now seated on the
throne of God. But do you know what I want?
I want to know more of that. I'm not yet attained unto the
perfection of the knowledge of Christ. Have you? I'm just not
there. I don't know Him like I want
to. He is the object of my faith. He is the subject of my gospel. He is the joy of my heart, but
I confess. I confess before you. I don't
know Him like I want to. I just don't. It's sad. I have studied this book for
a long time, and I still don't know Him like I want to. I want to know Him, not just
about Him. I want to know Him. I want to know His heart. I want to know His love. I want
to know His grace. I want to know Him. Paul said we now see through
a glass darkly. Someday I'm gonna know Him. I'm
gonna know Him even as He knows me. But that's just not now. Now we see through a glass darkly. David said one thing. Now that
word thing is in italics, it's not in the original. Therefore
he said one have I desired. One have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and listen, to inquire in His temple. I want to inquire in
His temple. True believers, I know this,
we can't get enough about Him. Now those of you who don't believe,
you already had enough. You're ready to go. You've had
enough of this. Not me! I want to know Him. In the fullness of His love,
in the fullness of His person. The deity. Second of all, Paul
said that I may win Christ. I may win Christ. That's verse 8. Yea, Dallas,
I count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, do count them but done, that I may win Christ. And we are not merely satisfied
with knowing Christ, but we may win Him. What does this mean,
win Him? It is not though our salvation depends upon us winning
Him. No. What it is to win Him, it
means to prize Him. Isn't that what you do when you
have a trophy? When something's set out there
and you're racing for a trophy? You have an object that you prize,
that you want in your possession. You know what I want? I want
Christ in my possession. I want Him. I want to feel His
presence. I want to know Him, and I want
to win Him. I want to be near Him. Listen
to what the Shulamite said. That bride who pictures all the
church, he said, by night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul
loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. Anybody been there? You believers,
have you not been there? You sought Him. You sought Him
and you can't find Him. You can't find Him. He said,
I will rise now and go in the city streets and the broadways
and I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him but I found
Him not. She sought Him in all the wrong
places. How often have we done that? Sought Him in our works. Sought Him in our religious zeal.
Sought Him in our tears. Sought Him in our flesh, some
manner of flesh. You won't find Him there. You
won't win Him there. But what'd she do? She ran into
this watchman. He said, the watchman that go
about the city found me. These are the preachers of the
gospel. Those who preach Christ and Him crucified. To whom I
said, Saw you whom my soul loveth?" Preacher, have you seen Him whom
my soul loveth? I want Him. You know Him? Yeah, I know Him. Let me tell
you about Him. Let me tell you about Him. And
as soon as the bride hears of Him, it is but a little that
I pass by from them, I found Him. What did she do? She won Him. She loved Him. She found Him. Listen, I want
Him. Do you want Christ? Do you want Christ? To find Him is to win Him, to
find Him. And know this, He loves to be
won. by his people. He said this to
his bride, he said, Thou hast ravished my heart. Don't you
know you ravish his heart? Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes. He loves you and surely he desires
to be found of you. one of His people. Thirdly, Paul
desired to magnify Him. To see this better, go to the
first chapter of Philippians. Look at verse 20. Paul said,
"...according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing
I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always,
so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body." whether it be in
life or by death. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. What did Paul say? With everything
in me, I want to honor Him. Not just in my spirit. Many believers
say that. Well, I want to honor Him in
my spirit. What about your body? God's people want to honor Him
in both. Paul said, in life or in death. Whatever it is. I want to magnify Him. I want
to glorify His name. I want to highly exalt. You know
this, you can't exalt Christ and yourself. You can't do that. If you exalt Christ, you abase
yourself. And if you exalt yourself, you
abase Christ. What does a believer say? What
is your desire? This morning, what is your desire? Well, I
want to magnify Him. Have I talked about me or Him?
I want to talk about Him. I want to magnify His name. I
want to preach about His blood, His righteousness, His salvation,
His joy, His peace, His kingdom, His resurrection. I want to preach
about that. I want to magnify Him. Glorify
God in all things. Why? He had purposed my salvation. He accomplished my salvation.
He applied my salvation. He keeps my salvation. To God
be the glory. Listen what Christ said it by
the psalmist. He said, I will praise the Lord at all times.
Now who is that? Who magnified God at all times?
You? No, that's Christ. He alone magnified God at all
times. And He said, His praise is continually
in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
of the Lord. And listen, here's you. The humble
shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, Christ said this to you,
magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. Is that not wonderful? This morning,
if you magnify God, it's only through Christ you can do that.
Only through Him. The next thing is that we desire
to be found in Him. Look at that in verse... Go back
to your text. He said in verse 9, "...and to
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but the righteous which is through the faith of Christ." Every believer in Christ desires
only to be found of God in the righteousness that Christ made. That's what that means, righteousness
by the faith of Christ. It means all the righteousness
he merited himself, that's the righteousness I want to be found
in. But in order to be found in that righteousness, you have
to get rid of your own. You can't put on your righteousness
and his. it is only here we desire to
be found paul says in whom we have redemption through his blood
the forgiveness of sins. Paul says, "...in whom we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will." Have you been redeemed in Christ in the fullness of
time? He comes in the wisdom of God
and He gives life. And once He gives life, you don't
desire anything else but His righteousness. I don't want even
mine. I don't want even a... I don't
want one stitch of this robe to come from myself. Not one.
Not one. And all who have this, guess
what? Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are, listen, in Christ Jesus. Paul said, I desire to be found
only in Christ Jesus. Jesus said this, abide in me.
Now what does that mean? You are already abiding in Christ.
You are already in Him. What does He say? Continue to
abide in Me. Isn't that what Paul's saying
here? He said, look, it's not that I've done this one time.
I've not counted on Jesus one time. I count on Him every time,
all the time. I only want to be found in Him.
Why? He's my only refuge. He's my only shelter. He's my
tower, my high tower, my defense. I only want to be found in Him. Next, he desires to be conformed
to Christ. Look at that in verse 10. He
said, "...being made conformable unto his death." Believer, do
you not desire to be like Christ? What kind of faith did Christ
have? Is that not the faith you want? What kind of person was he? He
was meek and lowly in heart. Don't you want to be like that?
Yes. I desire to be like him because
guess what? In the end I'm going to be like
him. John said that. He said, look,
it does not yet appear what we shall be. But I know this, when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him. And now what does Paul
say? Look, I'm pressing toward that.
I'm pressing toward that. Now what does it take for us
to be like Christ? Friends, you've got to put off
all you are to be like Him. You have to mortify this body.
You've got to put off everything you are to be like Him. Otherwise,
you ain't be anything like Him. Now, we're not like Him to be
saved. We're like Him because we are
saved. Matter of fact, that image of
His nature is now stamped on us in the new nature, isn't it?
You already are like Him in the new man. And so then, we desire to be
like Him. We press toward this. Let us then forsake sin, flee
it, and be like Christ. The next thing is, we desire
to be with Christ. Paul said, set your affection
on things above and not on things of the earth. To be with Christ. Do you desire to be with Christ?
Listen, where is Christ? Where is He? He's not here, is
He? He's here in his spirit, in his
presence in the spirit, but his body is in heaven. Do you desire
to be with him? Paul said, you are dead and your
life is hid with God, Christ in God. I'll give you this illustration. There was a sergeant in World
War II, he was a very bold man. rushed into the enemy compound
through multiple engagements. He was a very decorated hero,
very bold, very brave. And every one of his troops knew
it. This one private who was a cowardly private, he hid himself
for several days in a hole until they found him and made him go
back to war. He asked his sergeant, how can you be so bold? Why am
I such a coward? And this is what the sergeant
said. He said, you're a coward because of this. The only hope
you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. We're all scared, but the only
hope you're not to be a coward and to be a soldier. He said
the sooner you accept that, the sooner you're able to function
as a soldier. Believer, you should take that
to heart spiritually. Don't you know this, that you're
already dead? You're dead to the world. Scott
Richardson said this, he said, you know what dead is? Dead.
It's dead. You're dead to the world. And
your life is not here. Your life is hid with God, in
Christ, with God. That's where your life is. And
the quicker you realize that, the more bold you'll be. And I tell you what, the more
you know that, the more you would want to be with Him and not be
here. The only reason we want to be
here is because we got things, things holding on to. As you get older, those things
become more of a burden than a blessing. And as we get older,
what do we desire more? To be with Him, to be with Him. And lastly, we desire to rejoice
in that day of the resurrection. Paul said, if by any means I
might attain to the resurrection of dead, not as though it already
attained or already were perfect, but I follow after, I pursue
after, if that I might apprehend that for which I am also apprehended. What was he apprehended for?
Eternal life. He was apprehended of Christ
so that He might give him eternal life and glory. Why were you
apprehended? Why were you arrested on your
road to hell? God arrested you. He apprehended
you. For what? That you might apprehend
that which you were apprehended for. eternal life, that you might
have what God purposed for you to have from eternity. Heaven,
joy, peace, a sinless existence in eternity ever praising God. And Paul said, okay, I want that.
And you know what I'm going to do with the rest of my life?
I'm pressing toward that. I'm forgetting everything else
that is behind. Now, is that not a better existence
for a believer? You bet it is. You bet it is. We should press
toward this mark of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So then, you
who know Him, do you desire to know Him? You who have won Him,
do you desire to win Him? You who are found in Him, do
you not long to be found in Him? You who magnify Christ, do you
not continually seek to magnify His holy name? You who are now
made in the image of Christ, do you not long to be in the
full image of Christ? Do you not want to be with Him
and rejoice with Him in heaven? Listen, these are the desires
only of the elect. If you don't have any of these
things, you know why? You're dead and you're without
Christ. You're lost. You're lost and
you're ruined and you have no hope. And the only hope for you is
if God ever give you these things. Now listen, I'm testifying of
this by experience. I was in religion all my life.
I knew the doctrines of grace from a child, and they did me
no good until God saved me. Until He puts these desires in
your heart, you'll never have them. And when He does, you'll
never want to get rid of them. Are these your desires? Paul
said they're mine, and I have no confidence in the flesh. All my confidence is in Christ.
Is your confidence in Christ? Oh, then you've got a good hope.
Paul said, let us all be of the same mind. This should all be
my desire. This should be your desire. It is the desire of all God's
saints. I pray God would bless this to you. Let's stand and
be dismissed in prayer.