Go with me back to Philippians
chapter 3, considering that this is the
last message we will hear in 2016. And considering the fact that the
next message we will hear is going to be in 2017, if the Lord
wills, if He does not return in the next three days. Last Wednesday night, we ended
with verse 3, but I felt led to skip ahead a few verses and
look at verses 12 to 15. And if the Lord is willing, we'll
look at verses 4 to 11 Sunday morning. Now, let's read what
the apostle has written here, and let's read it with this in
mind, okay? Let's read it with this in mind.
The title of this message is A Believer's Resolution for the
New Year. A Believer's Resolution for the
New Year. Right now, everybody is making
resolutions. I am making resolutions. I do
it every year. Everybody is making resolutions. This is the greatest resolution
that a believer could make. This right here is the greatest
resolution a believer could ever make. And I pray that our Lord
would cause us to be resolved to do this. I sincerely pray
for myself. I don't want to fade away. I
don't want my spirit to grow cold. And I sincerely pray for
each one of you individually. I pray for this ministry. I pray
for this church. which is you. And I pray for
each one of you individually. I don't want you to fade away.
I don't want the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the gospel
to grow cold to us. May the Lord cause us to do this,
to do this. This, what we're about to look
at is a work. May the Lord cause us to do a
work, not because we're trying to earn anything. And I hope
we'll see that. But this is truly, truly my prayer
for us. Verse 12, not as though I had
already attained. Either we're already perfect,
but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 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. 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. Do you know where
guilt comes from? You know where guilt comes from,
the source of it, the fuel of it. What fuels guilt and causes
us to thrive in it? And I mean thrive in it. We are
good at feeling guilty. Yes, the answer is sin. Yes,
it is. But the answer is those things
which are behind. You know where guilt comes from?
You know what fuels it? Those things which are behind. Those things which are behind
us. Do you know where resentment
comes from? We all know what resentment is.
You know what causes anger to be harbored? I mean, it just
won't leave. It has just taken up residency. The answer is those things which
are behind. Those things which are behind.
You know what makes pride so stubborn? Pride is a stubborn,
stubborn thing. You know what builds up a man
in his own eyes? You know what makes a man believe
that he is something when he's nothing? The answer is those
things which are behind. Everything we've done up to this
point. Everything that we have accomplished
up to this point. Man turns around and he looks
at everything behind him and it forms who he is. He just does. Man lives in his
glory days, doesn't he? Well, I may not be doing so great
today, but I tell you, there was a time when those things
which are behind. Do you know where freedom from
all that comes? You know where healing from all
that guilt comes? You know where it comes from?
You know, I think I've said it about every single message for
the last month. We all have things that that. Man, wouldn't we love to forget
him when you love to forget him? Absolute freedom from guilt. Forgiveness, true forgiveness. Humbleness. That stopping of
pride, true humbleness, every bit of that comes from the things
which are before us. The things which we are looking
toward. Now the Apostle Paul is going
to tell us what God has laid on his heart. He's pouring his
own heart out. He's telling his own attitude,
his own desire, his own resolve. And he exhorts us to do the same
thing. He exhorts us to have this same
thing that he has and do this same thing that he desires to
do. Verse 12, he said, not as though
I had already attained. Attained what? What is he talking
about? In verse 11 he said the resurrection of the dead. If
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. There is life after this. There
is life coming. And we cannot grasp it. We cannot believe it. We cannot
enter into it. We want to believe it. We want
to get our minds around it, but it is so far from reality. We just can't. This body is currently
dead in trespasses and sins. It is animated by a soul that
God put in it, but it's dead. And one of these days we're going
to see the result of what this body truly is. At some point
it is going to lay in the grave. We become sick and the Lord heals
us from that sickness and that's so wonderful and we're so grateful.
But we have not cheated earthly death. It's still coming. It's
still coming. And we're going to lay down in
the grave. But there is a life after that
death. There's a resurrection after
that death. And Paul said, I have not attained this resurrection
from the dead. Attained means laid hold of. Verse 12, not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect. The word perfect
means complete. Do you mean that he's saying
he's not saved? No, he's not saying that at all. This is the same man that said
over in Colossians chapter two. If you, it's only two pages over,
look at it. Colossians two verse 10. Colossians two verse 10. He said,
you are complete in him. You are complete in Him. In Him,
sinners are made perfect. I mean perfect. They are washed
in the blood. Thank God for that soul-cleansing
blood. Thank God. Perfect. It's the
only thing that can make a sinner perfect. It's the only thing. It is the only thing that blocks
out transgressions. Every single transgression we've
ever made, every sin we've ever committed has been recorded. Revelation says the books are
going to be opened. Every transgression, everything
is written down, all the bad stuff. But the blood of Christ
comes in on that record. And that hyssop is dipped in
the blood. And on my record, it's all blotted out. And when
you look at my record, in Christ, all you see is his blood. What is the life of Gabe Stoniker? What is the end result of the
life of Gabe Stoniker? All I see is blood. That's all
I see. What do you have against him?
I can't see anything. I can't find anything against
Him. It's all blood. It's the only thing that blots
out every spot outside of the blood of Christ. None of those
things which are behind, not one thing in a sinner's past
can redeem him to God. There's not one thing we can
do to redeem ourselves to God, not one thing. But if a sinner
is in Christ, not only is he sheltered and safe, being in
Christ, God said, it's like being put in the cleft of a mountain. hiding him in the secret place
of the Most High. Not only is that sinner sheltered
and safe, he is also finished. He's finished, he's complete,
he's perfect. So he's not saying he hasn't
attained Christ and he's not saying he hasn't attained salvation.
This is what he's saying. Look with me over at 1 Corinthians
13. First Corinthians 13 verse 12
says, for right now, for now we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part. But then shall I know even as
also I am known. He's saying I have not yet fully
experienced what I have attained in Christ. I have attained it.
But I have not yet fully experienced it. I have not yet physically
attained everything that Christ has spiritually secured for me.
I'm still walking around in this body of sin. I feel so incomplete. I feel so incomplete. And so Paul is saying with David,
David said the exact same thing. And Paul is saying, and this
is what we all say, I will not be satisfied until I awake with
his likeness. That David said, that's when
I'll be satisfied. I'll be satisfied when I awake
with his likeness. Go with me back over to Philippians
three. Verse 12 says, 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. He's saying, I'm following after
something. I am following after something.
What are you following after Paul? I'm following after what
I desire to lay hold of. I desire to lay hold of something. Have you ever experienced what
it feels like to be in love? Have you ever experienced what
it feels like to be in love? The reason that I ask this, and
I've asked that before, the reason I use that illustration is because
you cannot decide to be in love with somebody. You can try and
you can try and you can try, and that's what religion is.
Religion has gotten in with something and a sinner's trying to make
it work. I'm trying to love this, I'm trying to be faithful to
this, trying to do what's right here, but it's just not real. It's just not real. You can try
and you can try and you can try, but falling in love with somebody
is the same thing. You can try and try and try,
but it has to happen to you. It has to apprehend you. It comes
when you least expect it. You don't put it on your calendar.
This is my five year plan. I'm going to stay single and
in five years I'm getting married. It doesn't happen that way. Love apprehends you. Now, when love comes to you and
overtakes you and completely consumes you, What is the heart's
response to that? When that happens, what does
the heart do in return? We've seen quite a bit of it
this past year. We've seen quite a bit of it. We're about to see
it. We've been watching it here for the past six months. That
heart becomes a pursuer. A man will literally sell everything
and move. What do you have lined up waiting
on you? Nothing. Make sense of all this for me.
I can't. I just can't. That heart becomes
a pursuer. That heart starts following after
the one that apprehended it. Isn't that what happens? Isn't
that what this is? Isn't this love? Paul said, I must apprehend the
one who has apprehended me. I must. I must. Our Lord said, the kingdom of
heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. They
must apprehend what has apprehended them. They must. Verse 13, he
said, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. We know
that we did not apprehend God. God apprehended us. Isn't that
right? The message tonight is not, I
tell you what, now you better straighten up. You better apprehend
God. No, God apprehended us. I didn't want to come here until
he grabbed me and put me here. This flesh naturally doesn't
want to worship God. It wants to literally do anything
else. This flesh will say, I can't,
I'm running late on my homework. I got some extra work I gotta
catch up on. That's what this flesh wants, anything but. But
we didn't apprehend God, God apprehended us. We did not apprehend
salvation. Salvation apprehended us. We did not lay hold on eternal
life. There's a scripture that says
lay hold on eternal life. We didn't lay hold on eternal
life, eternal life laid hold on us. But then there was a response. There was a response. And Paul
said, I can't help it. I must lay hold of what has laid
hold on me. My heart craves embracing what
has embraced me. John said we love him only because he first loved me.
Yes. Do you love him? Yes. God will
love you if you'll love him. Well, then God will never love
me. But I tell you this, you'll love
God if God loves you. We love Him because He first
loved us. We embrace Him. Oh man, we embrace Him because
He first embraced us. He laid hold of us. And Paul
is saying, even though I know that my eternal standing before
God has nothing to do with anything that originates in this flesh,
nothing that I do, he's about to give an exhortation to do
something. And he's saying, I did not apprehend. This is not the cause of my salvation. But he said, brethren, this one
thing I do. The things that I do have no
bearing on my salvation, but this one thing I do. I know I'm not saved by my works,
but that does not stop me. This one thing I do. Verse 13. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. for getting those
things which are behind. Dear brethren, 2016 is over. It's over. It's crazy, isn't
it? It's over. Everything that happened
in 2016 is gone. It's gone. 2015 is over. 2014, 2013, 2012. I was called to come here in
2012. Everything that has transpired
from that moment till right now is over. Oh, there's a bunch
of things I'd love to go back and redo, but I can't. It's over.
It's over. Earthly speaking, all of the
good things that we did, And I would put those in quotes,
all the good things that we did, they're gone. They're gone. Let's not lay hold on things
that are gone. Let's not hold on to them. Let's
not think fondly of ourselves for something that happened yesterday. The terrible things that we did,
the things that only we know about, the terrible things that
we did. If we are in Christ, if we have been attained by Christ,
if we have been apprehended by His love, and if we have been
covered in His blood, those terrible things that we did, they are
gone. They're gone. Don't look back. Don't look back. Verse 13 says,
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. Let me tell you what
believers don't hold on to. This is so true. I believe every
believer is going to say, that is right. Let me tell you what
believers don't hold on to. They don't hold on to yesterday's
mercy. I was baptized as a boy. Don't
you want to go worship God? No, I was baptized as a boy.
I'm good. I need mercy today. If the Lord tarries and if he
gives me breath through the morning, when I wake up in the morning,
I'm going to need brand spanking new mercy tomorrow. I'm going
to need mercy every minute of every day. I'm going to need
it right now. I truly do thank God for yesterday's
grace. I wrote that down and then I
thought about it after I wrote it. Grace is His goodness, His
kindness. He's been so good to me. He's
been so good to my family. through my brethren, and I thank
God for all of the grace he showed to me in 2016. 15, 14, 13, 12, and go on back. I do thank God for that, but
I cannot be satisfied on yesterday's grace. I just can't be. I need grace for today. I need it today. I can't be satisfied
with yesterday's worship. I can't be satisfied with yesterday's
communion with him. I need him today. I need to worship
him today. I need to worship him tomorrow.
Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before. Verse 14, he said,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God. in Christ Jesus. What he's saying
is drop everything and run. You can take those four words
literally. Drop everything and run. Run harder today than you
did yesterday. Press, I mean press. Press. I couldn't help it. I thought
about a press. You've been in a machine shop. You've seen them
make plywood. They lay those veneers in there
different ways. They put some glue in there and
they press it and then they press it and then they press it. Press. Press. Press. Run with your wife, your husband,
your children, your parents, your friends. We sang, I am resolved. Who will go with me? I'm only resolved because God
put the resolve there. But drop it all and run. This
is the only resolution a believer needs. Keep a single eye on Jesus
Christ. Keep a single eye on his glory. Keep a single eye on his blood
and run. I mean it. Run. I would. I would. I really would. But
I'm kind of busy. I've been busy. You see, I got
a promotion at work and man, they've really given me a lot
of responsibility. Run. I mean it. Run. Press and run. Yesterday's gone. Yesterday is
gone. Today is all that we have and
we are not promised tomorrow. We have dear loved ones right
now who are at a visitation. We had loved ones who earlier
today had a funeral. We're not promised tomorrow.
Run. Forget those things which are
behind Reach forth unto those things which are before and run
as hard as you can. Run as hard as you can. If God caused us to do that,
I promise you there will come a great and terrible day when
you will be so glad God laid hold of you, God put you under
the warning, God gave you a heart to heed it, legs to do it, and
you ran. Oh, you'll be so glad. Look with
me at 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24, this
is the Apostle Paul again writing, he said, know ye not that they
which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize? He said,
so run. Run, just like that. You run
like you want that prize. He went on to say that you may
obtain the prize. Are you saying if I don't run,
I'll lose it all? Are you saying that my salvation,
whether or not I'm saved or lost, depends on my decision right
now, whether or not I run or not, and then how hard I run? If I don't run hard enough and
somebody beats me, I'm going to be lost? Absolutely not. Absolutely
not. This is what I'm saying. This
is what Paul is saying. When God gives the prize, when
God gives the prize, He also gives a heart to run toward the
prize. This right here, what we are
hearing right now is the call. This is the call. Run. And if God has laid hold on a
sinner, and if God has put faith in that sinner, ears in that
sinner, eyes in that sinner, if God has chosen to show mercy,
that sinner will start running. We're not lunatics. There are some congregations
that literally run in the building. They hop the pews, and the preacher's
a monkey up here. That's not what he's talking
about. This heart right here starts running. This heart is
racing. like a duck above water, just
legs, just getting as fast as he can go. This heart is running.
Where? Where are we running to? Jesus
Christ, His blood, His righteousness, my God, His throne of mercy,
this heart is running. It sure isn't running to what
I did in 2016. It's running to Him. Verse 26 right here in 1
Corinthians 9 says, I therefore so run not as uncertainly, so
fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my
body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when
I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Isn't
that awful? What he's saying is, if I don't have Christ, I
don't have anything. I don't have anything. One more
time, go with me back to the text. Philippians 3 verse 15
says, Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect, as many as have been placed by God the Father in the
salvation of His Son, as many as are perfectly complete in
Him. Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect, be thus minded, and if any If in anything you be
otherwise minded. If we don't completely understand
what he's saying. If we don't see the need. If we don't feel the urgency. If tomorrow is okay. The good news he's saying right
here is if you belong to Christ. Then God in his own time, the
end of verse 15 says, shall reveal even this unto you. We all will
be taught of God. He'll bring us to this knowledge. He'll bring us to this urgency. All of us at some point had no
heart for these things. And all of a sudden, God calls
us to say, wait a minute, maybe I ought to think about some of
these things. And then God caused us to lay hold of these things.
And then God caused us to see more and more and more of our
weakness, and more and more and more of His sufficiency. And
the longer we go, we hope and pray, the harder He will cause
us to run. And God teaches, He doesn't teach
everyone at the same time, but in His time, He teaches all of
His children these things. And if we have not seen the importance
of forgetting the things that are behind, just forget, just
forget. This is my closing statements,
okay? Whatever has happened up to this
point, forget it. Forgive, forget, Remember it no more. I thought
about King David. When they made him king, they
all came running to King David and it says he forgave every
man's debt. Everything that every man owed,
he said, here's how we're going to start from this moment on.
Everything's wiped clean. Nobody owes anything. We're starting
over. Forgive, forget, absolutely forget
those things that are behind. And if we have not yet seen the
importance of reaching forth unto those things that are before
us, the things that we have right here in this world, I'm thankful
for them. And I don't deny the fact that there's a certain need
to be fervent for your job. We need things. We need to provide
for our own. If a man doesn't do that, he's
worse than an infidel. But with all that being said,
these things are temporal. These things are right here.
God will provide all of our need. If he provided that need, he'll
provide this need. Beg the Lord to make these hands
reach, reach, reach to the things which are before us. If we have
not yet seen the importance of making Christ our only mark,
He is the finish line. Not success, not comfort, Christ. If we haven't yet seen that being
found in Christ is the high calling of God. That is the prize. He is the prize. And if we've
not yet been given a heart to press toward him, the Apostle
Paul said, if we belong to God, God in mercy is going to reveal
those things to us. He will reveal those things to
us. Isn't that wonderful? What he's
saying is, great is his faithfulness. Even though you don't see that
pressing fervency here, he will not leave you behind. No man can come to the ton to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him. What that means
is drag him. He'll drag us. He'll drag us.
He'll cause us to grow. He'll cause us to grow in his
grace, in his love, in his knowledge, in his wisdom, and he will produce
in us exactly what he wants us to be. Lord, make us what you
want us to be. So here's where we are. May God give us that resolve
tonight. Forget him. I mean, forget it. reach, start reaching. I'm talking to myself. If I have
not done it before, Lord, let me begin today. And may Christ
be my mark. Everything else was before. May
Christ be my mark starting right now. Next week, Lord willing,
it's going to be 2017. May Christ be our mark all through
2017 and every year after that. May God cause every single one
of us to press toward the mark. All right, let's stand together.