Philippians 3, this is a scripture
that I find myself coming back to all the time. I know that we all have certain
scriptures that especially speak to our hearts. We have, and I
know what some of yours are, you've told me. Sometimes you get a scripture
and you just dwell on it. You quote it and Enter into it
and think about it and do it as you just lost in it, lost
in the amazement of it. Well, this is one of those scriptures
for me. The end of verse eight says, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. Verse 10 says, oh, that I may
know him. It's hard for me to read that
without groaning at the beginning of it. Oh, that I may know him. I must know him. What is the
ultimate desire of life and eternity? That I may win Christ and be
found in him. Tonight, I want us to look at
these verses that lead up to that. I want us to see what the
Apostle Paul has written leading up to that. And I pray that the
Lord will make this a blessing to our hearts. In verse one,
he said, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. When does
the scripture command us to rejoice? Always. At all times. In everything. Rejoice evermore. That's what the scripture says.
Rejoice evermore. This is a stark statement. I'm about to give us a very,
very stark statement, but it needs to be recognized by us
because this is the absolute truth. I pray the Lord will honestly
let us get ahold of this every day that we wake up and realize
that God has still not yet put us in hell. For all of our sin against Him. For all of our murmuring and
complaining. For all of our wretchedness.
Every day that goes by that we realize that His mercy toward
us has started over again. That is a day to rejoice in the
Lord. So often, and I'll speak on my
own behalf, maybe you're not like me, but so often, you slip
and fall into wallowing in our misery. So often, it just seems
like we're always just dragging through the miry clay, just wallowing
in our misery. And this is what we think. Life
couldn't get any worse. Oh, but it could. Oh, it could. Every day that
the Son of God keeps us out of hell is a day to rejoice in the Lord.
I know that's a sharp statement. I know that. But we need to recognize
it because it's so. No matter what happens in this
life, As long as we still have life, that's a day to rejoice
in the Lord, no matter what it is. Verse one says, finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous,
but for you, it is safe to preach the gospel to you one more time. to tell the story one more time,
how a savior came from glory, how he gave his life on Calvary
to save a wretch like me, to tell about his groaning and
his precious blood's atoning. Paul said, that is not grievous
to me. That is not grievous at all. That is not grievous to
me at all. I love to tell this story. Tis pleasant to repeat. What
seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet. I love to
tell the story for some have never heard I think about that
all the time. We go to a verse and I think,
I've been here, how long now? And we've gone to this verse
a thousand times. We'll probably go there 10,000
more, but you know what? Somebody has never seen it. I
love to tell this story for some have never heard the message
of salvation from God's own holy word. To me, it's not grievous. And for all of us, it's safe. It's the only message that is
safe. It's the only one. Because it's
the only message that saves. There is only one saving gospel
message. You know how everybody's a little
different? Everybody sees things a little differently. There is
only one saving gospel message. It is so plainly told in this
Word. If I'm a little different, then
I need to change. There's one saving gospel message,
and it's the message that God has declared. It's not the message
that I have declared. It's what God has declared. The
message of the grace of God to sinners through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the only one.
Turn with me over to Galatians chapter one. Galatians 1. This right here
is the saving message of the gospel. Verses 3 through 5. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. That's the story. That's
the only message that is safe. Verse six goes on to say, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. There's not another. But there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. anything other than
what God has written in this word. Verse nine, as we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
The words that the Lord has written They are sharp words. They are so sharp. They are sharper
than any two edged sword piercing and dividing, and they are offensive
to the natural flesh. The flesh is offended and the
flesh doesn't realize that it has no idea that it would be
offended by what God has written, but you read it and the flesh
realized that that offends my flesh. But the Apostle Paul said,
and every true man that God calls has to say, am I here to please
men? Am I here to please my own flesh? Or am I the servant of God? And
if I please men, I can't be the servant of Christ. So I must
declare the truth, the only gospel truth that there is. And I love
declaring the only truth there is it's safe. It's safe. The saving work that Christ performed
by himself for us. That's the message that's safe.
So the apostle Paul said back in our text, if you go back to
Philippians three, verse two, he said, beware of
dogs. False preachers, false prophets,
preachers who preach something other than what God has written
in his word. You know, John said, try the
spirits, whether they are of God, whatever man you listen
to, you need to try him. Don't just accept him because
he says he's a preacher. You need to try him according
to the word. If he preaches the word, then
he is a true preacher. And if he does not preach the
word, he is not a true preacher. He's a false prophet. And he
called them dogs. We're about to see why. But he
went on to say they are evil workers and evil. The word evil translates worthless. And workers translates laborers. He said, beware of the worthless
laborer. His message will bring no worth
to you. None. He went on to say they
are the concision. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. The
word concision means to cut, to cut up, to cut down, to cut
off. It means to mutilate. Beware
of the worthless false preacher that mutilates God's word. Beware. And Paul is about to tell them,
I'm speaking from experience. That's what I used to be. Go
with me to Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56, speaking of false
prophets, the ministers of the adversary. Verse 10, his watchmen
are blind. They are all ignorant. They are
all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping. Lying down, loving to slumber. He said, they are blind. They
are blind to God's truth. They are so blind to God's truth.
Christ himself said, they are blind leaders of the blind. He was talking about the preachers
of that day. He said, they are blind leaders of the blind and
they are all going to fall into the ditch. He said right here,
they are ignorant. They're ignorant of the only
way of salvation. There is one way of salvation,
and it is not through my good morality. It is not through me
being a good enough person for God to be happy with me and say,
come on in. I could never, ever live up to
the demands that God has put on us in this law. Never. I could
never, ever be good enough. My thoughts condemn me. My heart
condemns me. My deeds condemn me. Everything
condemns me. And until it's revealed, we're
all ignorant. We're all ignorant. Ignorant
of the only way of salvation, which is the blood of Jesus Christ
by itself. All by itself, nothing tainting
it. And this is where, this is where
all error comes from. Everybody wants to add something
to the blood. That's where all error comes
from. And it taints it every time.
God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. When I see
the blood of my lamb, I'll pass over you. It's the only way of
escape. Verse 10 right here says, they cannot bark. They cannot
sound the warning. They just can't do it. All they
can do is sleep, laying down, loving to slumber. They love
telling everybody, oh, it's gonna be okay. It's going to be okay. Everybody's
fine. You're fine. I'm fine. We're all fine. Everybody's
fine. There's no judgment coming. Listen,
don't worry. There is no judgment coming.
God is not a holy judge. Who are the true watchman? Who
are the true watchman? Look at Isaiah 62. Verse six, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day or night. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence. Who are the true watchmen? They
continually cry, Christ is the only way of escape. Christ is
our only hope. They never stop making mention
of the Lord. There is a judgment. There is
a judgment. And men and women will go stand
before Jesus Christ, seated on his throne, the judge of the
earth. And when we stand there, this is gonna be our only hope.
Plead Christ. What do you plead? Here's the
record of everything that you have done and I have done will
be there. And there will be so many things on there that we
had no idea were recorded. All right, here's your record. This is what you did. What is
your only plea? Christ. Plead Christ. Plead Christ. Plead the blood
of Christ. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's it. That's it. Making mention of the Lord is
not grievous to true watchmen, not grievous at all. And they
know for God's people, it's so safe. Go back to Philippians
3. Philippians 3 verse 1, finally,
my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for
we are the circumcision. We are the ones who the covenant
was given to. God gave Abraham a token of a
covenant, circumcision. He said, I have a chosen people. I have an elect people. And the apostle Paul says, we
are the ones that the covenant was given to. We're God's chosen
people. Verse three says, which, this is how you'll know one of
God's elect. We are the circumcision, which, Worship God in the Spirit. That's how you'll know one of
God's elect. He or she will worship God in the Spirit, truly in the
Spirit. Look with me at John chapter
four. John 4 verse 19, the woman said
unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers
worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship. They're saying this,
and you say that. Verse 21, Jesus saith unto her,
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship
you know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Paul
said, we are the circumcision. who have been called to see the
salvation of the Lord, the salvation that God has provided, which
is Christ, the God-man, the one that the Father sent to finish
the work of our redemption, and that's what he did. Christ came
for one reason only, to save us. He did not come to start
the work of salvation. It was not a two-step process
and he didn't take the first one. He came to finish and secure
us our salvation. And that's what he did. And it's
finished. It's done. Now go with me back
to Philippians three. Verse three says, for we are
the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, knowing that he paid it all, all the debt we
owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Is there any room for us to have
confidence in our flesh? Is there any part of salvation
that we can boast in? Any part? Well, now He didn't choose us. Over everybody else, everybody
He didn't choose, He did choose us. You know what that means? This is all that means. Okay,
this is all that means. We were worse sinners than they
were. That's all it means. Because
he came to save the chief. That's all it means. He came
for the worst of the worst. Well, now, at least we believed. At least we did that. We were
dead in our trespasses and sins. Lifeless, rotting, Putrefying,
isn't that what the scripture says about us? But God quickened
us together with Christ. God sent his spirit to us with
the gift of faith that only belongs to Christ. Our faith is not our
faith, it's his. It's the faith of Christ that
causes us to believe. Well, at least I came to him. At least I came. Had the father
not drawn us, we couldn't have, and we wouldn't have moved a
single inch. We wouldn't take one step towards
him. start to finish, salvation is of the Lord. It is totally
of the Lord. Verse three, for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. 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. He said concerning salvation
by works, Us working our way to heaven. I'm working on a building
for my Lord. Concerning salvation by trying
to earn it ourselves. Paul said, nobody tried harder
than I did. Nobody. Verse four, 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 circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin
and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee."
I love how he didn't say right there, as touching the law, I
kept it perfectly. He didn't say that. He said,
I was a Pharisee. As touching the law, I was a
Pharisee. I was a self-righteous hypocrite. As the Lord put it, A whited
sepulcher. That's what he called the Pharisees
were the religious leaders, the preachers. He said on the outside,
you look all clean and polished. You got your suit on and your
tie on and look so clean and polished. But he said on the
inside, you're full of dead men's bones. And Paul said, that was
me. Verse six, he said concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. No one was more on fire for God
than me. That's what he said. Nobody touching the righteousness, which
is in the law, blameless on the outside. No one could accuse
me. Now he knew what he was on the
inside because in Roman seven, he told us, he said in here,
there's a war going on in here. But on the outside, he said,
I put on a greater show than anybody. I was thought to be
the finest godly man in town. I was respected, I was rich,
I profited in the lies of the false religion above all my equals. Verse seven, he said, but what
things were gain to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. What he's saying is, but once
I saw him, I saw religion. I saw the law. I saw my good
deeds. I saw all these things, but once
I saw him, once I saw the pearl of great
price, Once I saw where God the Father had placed all the unsearchable
riches of heaven in Christ. Once I saw where all the blessings
were. They were not in the deeds of
my flesh. It was through the deeds of Christ. It was his goodness. It was not through being in the
tribe of Benjamin. People love, you know, tracing
their lineage back, and they love the tribes, and it's not
in being in a son of Israel. It's in being in the Son of God. It had nothing to do with any
righteousness that I thought I was earning. My salvation cannot
be secured with a self-earned righteousness. All of my self-earned
righteousnesses are filthy rags before God. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of it. Salvation
is being given a heart. TO BELIEVE ON HIS BLOOD AND HIS
RIGHTEOUSNESS. THAT'S WHAT SALVATION IS. MAN
NATURALLY BELIEVES IN HIMSELF. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE BORN WITH.
THAT'S THE BELIEF THAT WE'RE BORN WITH. A TRUST IN SELF. AND THEN WHEN GOD COMES AND PERFORMS
AN OPERATION, ALL OF A SUDDEN HIS TRUST IS SOMEWHERE ELSE COMPLETELY.
IT'S IN HIS BLOOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE. ALONE. God's people are
not trying to earn what Christ has already earned for them.
We are not trying to earn what Christ has already earned for
us. We are not trying to satisfy the God that Christ has already
satisfied for us. It is finished. It's finished. Paul said, as soon as God removed
the scales from my eyes, and revealed the truth concerning
Christ. As soon as he did that, verse seven, 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 do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
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 righteousness which is of God by faith, 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." What he's saying is, now I see my all. I see my all. I see that I am
nothing and Christ is all. I see that I can do nothing and
He has to do it all. I don't have a goodness to stand
before God with. The only goodness I have is the
one He earned for me. And my only hope is that God
joined me with Him, put me in Him, and that when He suffered,
I suffered in Him. And when he died, I died in him.
And when he rose, I rose in him. He is my hope. He's my hope. He's all my hope. Everything that I am is nothing.
And Christ is all. Honestly, can we say that with
Paul? A lot of people can't. A lot
of people can't. I am nothing and He is all. I am nothing. I am nothing. Think about John the Baptist. John the Baptist. The Lord Himself
said there's never been a greater man standing on the earth than
John the Baptist. And John said, I must decrease. He must increase. I won't even
tell you my name. I'm just the friend of the bridegroom,
and I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. I'm gonna listen to Him. Everything else is nothing. My
works are nothing. My goodness is nothing. Christ
is all. This is all my heart's desire. This is all my heart's desire.
Can we say this? That I may win Christ, come the
end of this life, and the years are clipping by,
They really are. Come the end of this life, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness
before God, but having His. I just want to know Him. I just want to know that I am
joined together with Him. This is life eternal, that I
might know Him. My eternal desire is to be completely
united with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Verse 10, 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.
This is all my hope. That's what he's saying. This
is all my hope. I want to win him. I want to be found in Him. I want to know Him and I want
to live with Him. Can we say that? Can we honestly,
sincerely say that? If we can, if we can say that,
then turn with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37 verse 4 says, delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. If Christ is our heart's desire,
not heaven, everybody wants to go to heaven. But just because we want to go
to heaven does not mean we want Christ. But if Christ is our heart's
desire, if he is truly our heart's desire, then Christ is what we
will have. If Christ is our heart's desire,
then Christ is what we already have. Because God is the one who put
that desire in us. There was no desire. There was
a lifeless being here until God moved. And God created something
in each one of His people. He created a love for the Lord
Jesus Christ. And if that love and that desire
is there, then it's God who put it there in the first place.
If we have a heart to come to Him, it's only because He has
already come to us first. To love Him. If we love Him,
if we truly love Him, being the God He declares Himself to be,
That is to know Him, that is to have Him, that is to be found
in Him. If we truly love Him, then we
have Him. Lord, increase our love. Lord, increase our desire. Let
me say with David, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and
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 to inquire in His temple. Oh, to win Christ and
be found in Him. May that be our desire. All right,
let's all stand together.