Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to Philippians chapter 3. I want to look at
Philippians 3, verses 7 to 16. And I want to give you the title
of this message before we enter into it. I've titled this from
a very personal point of view. This message is called three
things that I truly need. Three things that I truly need. I need these things. I just want
to speak to you from my heart this morning. I want to tell
you three personal things that I need. Now, to see those things,
I want to enter into what the Apostle Paul is saying right
here in Philippians chapter three. Look with me first at verse eight.
He begins this verse by saying, yea, doubtless. He said, I don't doubt for one
second what I'm about to tell you. He said in verse eight, I count
all things loss. Loss. Now he just finished talking
about all of his religion at the beginning of that chapter.
He talked about how perfect he was in religion. And then he
said, I got rid of it. Every bit of it, I got rid of
it. Paul went to seminary. He went to religious college. He studied under a man named
Gamaliel, the top religious professor. And Paul said, I've thrown every
bit of the teaching that he taught me out. I've thrown it all out. He said, I finally realized it
was all dung. And that's a strong word. We
know what that word means, don't we? Dung. Dung, that's an amazing statement. to make for a man who was in
the top of his game, in the religious circle, a man who God used to
pin half of the New Testament. He said, I count all of my religious
works, all of my religious learning, Everything I knew, everything
I did, I counted all dung. In verse seven, he said, but
what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things 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. What Paul is saying right there
is this. It used to be, for Paul, he's saying it used to be I have. And that's what man loves to
say in religion, I have. Well, let me tell you what I
have done. Paul said it used to be I have. It used to be I am. It used to be I will. Now he said it's he has, he is,
he will, he shall, him, not me, him. Not unto us, oh Lord. David said
the same thing, didn't he? Not unto us, oh Lord, unto thy
name. It's not me. It's him. Paul did not say right here,
I don't want to plead my own righteousness. He didn't say
that. What he said was, I don't even want to have one. I don't even want to have a list
of my own good works. He's saying everything I've ever
done is a filthy rag. The only righteousness I have
is the righteousness which is of God, the righteousness that
Jesus Christ earned. The righteousness which is of
God by faith, by faith in Him. The righteousness of Christ that
is revealed to a sinner through God-given faith. Verse 10, Paul
said, that I may know Him. I want to know Him. and the power of His resurrection. The power of it. The power of
His resurrection. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me over to Matthew 27. I've always thought this was
so amazing. Matthew 27, verse 50. It says, when Jesus had cried
again with a loud voice, He yielded up the ghost, This is on the
cross of Calvary. When he had cried again with
a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and
came out of the graves after His resurrection and went into
the holy city and appeared unto many." That right there is the
power of His resurrection. His resurrection raises dead
men. I want to know that. Don't you? I want to be a partaker
of that. Back in Philippians 3 verse 10
says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings. In Christ, sinners don't have
to suffer alone. That's the most wonderful news
I've ever heard in my life. In Christ, sinners don't have
to suffer alone. Outside of the blood of Christ,
this world is gonna have to suffer alone. Every soul individually
will have to go stand before God. They're gonna be judged
individually. And they're gonna be punished
individually. but not a soul that's in the
blood of Christ, not in Him. If we're in Him, we stood before
God with Him on that great day of the cross as
He stood there before God and God judged Him. If we're in Christ,
we were judged with Him that day. And God punished His Son, didn't
He? And if we were in Christ, we were punished with Him there,
then, that day. We suffered with Him. We died with Him. Verse 10 says, being made conformable
unto His death. That's what we want. That's the
only hope a sinner has. Verse 11 says, if by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after. if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. What he's saying
is, I want to lay hold of the one who has laid hold of me. I want to lay hold of him. because he laid hold of me. Verse
13, he said, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.
I have not reached my finish line yet. I still have to run
the race of this life. I still have to carry around
with me the body of this death. I still have to feel the weight
and the burden and the presence of my sin. Verse 13, he said,
brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Forget those things which are
behind. all of the things. The past is
the past. It's over. It's over. When we turn around and look
at our past, all we see is sin. That's it. Whether we laid in
the sin of the gutter or the sin of the church pew, it was
all sin. Outside of Christ, everything,
all of our doings, all of our Righteousnesses. We go to church. We're so proud of ourselves for
going to church. It's a filthy rag. It's all sin. We can't change
it. What's done is done. But Paul
said, today is the day of salvation. He said, reach forward to those
things which are before and press toward the mark. Let me ask you this, what things
are before? What is before us? Well, Lamentations 3 tells us
brand new mercy is waiting every single morning. An increasing of faith every
time the gospel is heard is before us. Strength for today, bright
hope for tomorrow is before us. Paul said, reach for the mark.
What is the mark? Christ is the mark. Christ is
the mark. Verse 14 says, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. So he says in verse 15, let us
therefore, as many as be perfect, meaning called of God to be in
Christ Jesus. That's the only way a sinner
can be made perfect. It's to be in Christ, in the
perfect one. Verse 15, let us therefore, as
many as be perfect, be thus minded, And if in anything you be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." This is the mindset
of a believer. And if we veer off, God will
bring us back. If we belong to Him, God will
bring us back. The scripture says, they shall
all be taught of God. Verse 16, nevertheless, where
to we have already attained Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Now, while I was reading over
this portion of scripture, in what the Apostle Paul has written
right here, I saw three things that I personally need in this
life. I hope this will be eye-opening.
I hope this will be an encouragement. And I pray this will be a help.
I really do. Paul said, my race is not done
yet. It's not finished yet. It's finished
in the blood of Christ. It was finished from before the
world began. It's ordered and sure. It's all
on purpose. It's all predetermined. But in
the will and purpose of God, I am still running the race of
this life. I'm still walking the walk of
this earth. And once we finally, once we
physically reach out and touch our mark, Christ, our finished
line, These former things won't even come to mind. Isn't that
what the Scripture says? The saints in glory, they're
not going to be thinking about life on this earth. It's going
to be too glorious seeing the Savior, beholding Him, hearing
Him. Why would we want to think back
on these things? These won't come to mind. But
Paul said until that happens, I'm gonna try my hardest to forget
everything that's behind me and count it all dung. So I can press
toward something else. Now as I think about my own life,
the things that I now consider to be dung, I see three things. that I need
in order to finish my race. I see three things in this portion
of scripture that I need in order to finish my race. The first
one is at the end of verse eight and the beginning of verse nine,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. I need the comfort
of knowing based on his word that I will win Christ. Do you need that? I need to know
that I'm in Him. I can't take that for granted.
I don't want to assume. I need to know. And I'm gonna tell you why. I'm
gonna be honest with you. I'm a sinner. I don't know if that's
a shock to you or not, but I am. I'm a sinner. I was conceived
in sin right along with David. I believe that I'm the chief
of sinners right along with the Apostle Paul. Sin is what I am. It's mixed with everything I
do. And I need to know that Christ came to save sinners. I need to know that. If God will, through His Word,
convince my heart of that, then everything else will be dung.
As far as I'm concerned, everything else is dung. If God will convince
my heart of that, that Christ came to save sinners, and because of that He put me
in Him, I'm a sinner. And if I'm convinced that God
has put me in Christ, then everything else is dumb. It doesn't matter.
It truly doesn't matter. People win things all the time. They go on game shows, and they
win trips, and they win boats, and they win cars. Every now
and then, you'll see somebody on the news won the lottery. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Is that your heart's desire?
Can you say that from your heart? Can we just strip down to the
core of things here for just a minute? Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Are we not convinced that fame
and fortune and everything in this world, everything that this
world has for us to press toward, that's all the world has is fame
and fortune and those things. Has God shown us and convinced
us that it's dung? It doesn't mean anything. Compared
to winning Christ and being found in Him, it is nothing. Nothing but dung. I need the
comfort of knowing that when I get to the end of this race,
Christ will be my finish line. That's the first thing I need.
The second thing, is at the beginning of verse 10, right here in this
text, that I may know Him. I need to win Him and I need
to know Him. If I'm gonna have any amount
of joy and comfort and peace, I'm gonna tell you, this life
is difficult. This life is hard, I don't know how old you are,
I don't know how many experiences you've had, but either we have
seen this to be true, or we are currently seeing this to be true,
or we will very soon see this to be true. This is a difficult
life. Trials, troubles, hardships,
heartaches, sorrow, tears. This is a difficult life. Sin
has just tainted everything, ruined everything. And if I'm gonna have any amount
of joy or comfort or peace, I need to know Him. The only way it
will come is if I truly know Him. We see people we know all
the time. You do. I do. We're affectionate
with those that we know and love. We smile at each other. We shake
hands. We might give each other a hug.
Tell each other how much we love each other. We appreciate each
other. We're thankful for each other. Can't wait to see each
other again. We'll see you soon. The reason
we do that is because we know each other. You don't do that
to a stranger. You do that with somebody you
know. You have that bond, that closeness, the comfort with those
that you know. Well, I need to know him in the
same way. I need to feel his embrace. I need for him to hug me. How's that possible? Through
his word. I need to see His smile. I need
to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I need
to see His smile. I need to hear His voice. I need
to hear Him say through His Word, that's how it happens, through
His Word, I need to hear Him say to my heart that He loves
me. I need to hear Him say, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Do you need that? I'm telling
you, if a sinner ever hears him say that, he'll count everything
else to be dung. It won't mean anything. That
sinner will say, I don't need fame. I don't need fortune. I need to win him and I need
to know him. Now here's the third thing that
I need for the rest of my time here on this earth. Verse 15,
He said, Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, meaning be
found in Christ in the perfection of His blood and His righteousness.
Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. The end of verse 16, He said,
Let us mind the same thing. For the rest of my time here
on this earth, I need unity with every brother and sister in Christ
that God has given me. I don't want to be at odds with
any of God's people. Do you? I don't. I don't. Nothing is more crushing
to the heart than for two brethren who claim to have all their hope
in the blood of Christ to be at odds. Nothing more crushing,
nothing more sad in the world we live in than for two brethren
to be in that state. I don't need to be at peace and
unity with this world, the world that has no heart for Christ,
no love for Christ, no fear of God. But I'm telling you, I must
be in the love and unity of God's people. I need it. I need it,
and you do too. If you love Christ, you need
it too. And I will tell you that our
adversary is gonna continually try to divide God's people, God's
chosen people. He's gonna try to divide the
true church of God. So if the Father has convinced
us that we're sinners, And if He has convinced us that Christ
came to save sinners, and our only hope is in Him, if He's
given us faith to believe that, if He's given us faith to believe
that He has put us in Christ, because that's where all our
hope is, then let's all press toward Christ. Let's all press
toward the one who is our peace and the one who is our happiness
and the one who is our unity. All of it is found in Him. So let's press toward Him in
prayer. Let's beg Him to keep us. Let's
beg Him to speak to us. Let's beg Him to preserve our
love and our unity. Let's be praying for that. May
God cause His sheep to love one another in Christ. I want to
close this message by reading one verse of Scripture to you
from Psalm 133. If you have your Bible, turn
with me over there to Psalm 133. This is a precious, precious
verse. Psalm 133, verse 1 says, Behold, look at this, dwell on
this. With the eyes of faith and love,
see this. Behold how good. You know there's nothing good
on this earth but what is in Christ. That man came up to the
Lord one time and he said, good master, and our Lord said, why
do you call me good? There is none good but God. And that is true. Behold, Psalm
133 says, how good, how of God this is. How glorifying to God
this is and honoring to God this is. Behold how good and how pleasant. It's so precious. Nothing more
pleasant, nothing more pleasant in this lifetime. Behold how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren. true brethren, those
who have been called of God to be redeemed in Christ. Ephesians
1 talks about our being adopted into the family of God by Jesus
Christ to Himself. That adoption makes us brethren. If God chose us, we're brethren
in Christ. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. unity, one. That's Christ. We dwell together
in Christ. God said, I'm going to dwell
with them. They're going to dwell with me. I'm going to dwell with
them forever. How good and how pleasant that
is. Until next Sunday morning, may the Lord bless his word to
our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.