Okay, turn with me back to Philippians
chapter 3. I adore this passage of scripture. I truly do. I adore this passage
of scripture. I personally need it. In a minute I'm going to tell
you why. I love this. I just love this.
I want to begin in verse 8. Paul writes in Philippians 3
verse 8, yea, doubtless. He said, I don't doubt for one
second what I'm about to tell you. I don't doubt one bit of
it. He said in verse 8, I count all
things lost. I count all things lost. Now
we just heard Brother Dwight read the verses before it and
he just finished talking about his religion. That's how he started
this. He was talking about all of his
religion and this is what he said. Everything he did in the
church growing up and everything that he learned and all those
kinds of things, he said, I got rid of it. I got rid of it. Turns out religion
was no good. Paul went to seminary. He went
to religious college and he studied under Gamaliel, a man named Gamaliel. He was the top religious professor,
teacher. And Paul said, I have thrown
every bit of it out. I've thrown every single bit
of it out. He said, I finally realized it was all dung. And we know what that is, don't
we? Every bit of it. Dung. A couple of years ago, a man
and his wife came by this church building to interview me and
interview this building. They wanted to see the building.
They wanted to talk with me and see this building. They wanted
to see if this was the place that they would want to attend. And they believed in quite a
few isms. They asked me about all these
different isms, schisms and isms. And they had quite a few questions.
They had quite a few statements that they wanted to make. We sat back there in my study
for about 45 minutes, and the whole time that I was being interviewed,
question after question after question, I thought to myself,
if God ever opens your eyes, if God ever opens your eyes,
you won't go around interviewing men. You will come crawling to the
Lord Jesus Christ. on your hands and knees, you
won't be running to man. If God ever opens your eyes,
you won't be running to man. You will be running to Jesus
Christ. But this is one of the things
they wanted to know. They wanted to know what version
of the Bible we use. I told them King James. And the man asked me, why was I behind
the times? Why are you behind the times?
Why are you out of the loop? They both said that they had
a friend who was a Greek scholar, a girl who was a Greek scholar. She had traveled, been to the
best schools, and I believe they said she had her doctorate in
Greek, the language of Greek. And according to her, there were
better and closer translations than the King James Version.
And they went on and on about this girl and her knowledge of
the Greek language. And at that time, my answer was,
hmm. And I believe that's probably
the right answer. I've thought about it so many times since
then. And what goes on in my heart is I wish I would have
said, when they're talking about all this learning and all this
Greek knowledge, I wish I could have said to them, well, we'll
be praying for her. The Lord's able to overrule all
that. That girl might be a Greek scholar. And if the Lord saves her, if
he has saved her, she is still a Greek scholar. What she's learned
is what she learned. She'll still be a Greek scholar.
But if God opens her eyes, she will count it all done. She will count it all dumb. She'll call it what it is. Look
at verse 7 right here in Philippians 3. It says, But what things were
gain 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."
What Paul is saying right there is, it used to be, I will. I am. I have. That's what it used to be. And
he said now. God appeared to him and God opened
his eyes and he said, now it's he has, he is, and he shall. Paul did not say right here,
I don't want to plead my own righteousness. That's not what
he said. He did not say, I don't want
to plead my own righteousness. What he said was, I don't want
to have one. That's what he said, I don't
even want to have one. And what that means is good deeds. A list of good, you know what
righteousnesses are? That's a list that you have mentally
going in the mind of all the good deeds that we've done. Our
righteousnesses. Paul said I don't want any. I
don't want any. Everything that I've ever done
is a filthy rag. Isn't that what the scripture
says? The only righteousness that I
have is the righteousness which is of God by faith. And what that means is there's
a list running of every good deed Christ did. That's the righteousness
of God that is given to a sinner by His Holy Spirit when that
sinner brings faith to believe on the Lord, to see God as He
is and see Christ as He is. the righteousness which is of
God by faith, the righteousness of Christ. Verse 10, Paul said,
that I may know Him. I want to know Him. I want to know Him. And the power of His resurrection,
the power of His resurrection. Go with me over to Matthew 27.
I love this. I've always loved this. Matthew 27, look at verse 50. Matthew 27, 50. Jesus, 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's the power of his
resurrection. That's the power of His resurrection. His resurrection raises dead
men. His resurrection raises dead
men. I want to know that. I want to
know that. I want to be a partaker of that.
A true partaker of that. Go with me back to Philippians
3. Verse 10 says, that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. I want to know Him, the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. In Christ, sinners don't have
to suffer alone. You know that. In Christ, sinners
don't have to suffer alone. While this world is going to
suffer alone, this world is going to suffer alone. It's so unpleasant,
isn't it? This world is going to suffer
alone. And while this world is going
to suffer alone, every soul individually will have to go stand before
God. Every single one. And they're going to be judged
individually. And they're going to be punished individually. Not us. Not us. Not in Him. In Him, we stood
before God with Him. We were judged with him, meaning
when he was judged, what we just read about when he gave up that
ghost and God was satisfied and that veil that kept his people
out was rent in twain. We were punished with him. We suffered with Him. We died
with Him. All those that God the Father
chose to put in Christ died with Him. Verse 10 goes on to say,
Being made conformable unto His death. I want to know the power
of His resurrection. Being made conformable unto His
death. 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 on the
one who has laid hold on me. I want to attain, I want to apprehend
the one who's apprehended me. I want to lay hold on him like
he's laid hold on me. Verse 13 says, brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended. I haven't finished this course
yet. I haven't made it to 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 have
to feel the weight. Let me ask you this. Do you feel
the weight of sin? Do you feel the weight of sin? The
burden of sin, the presence of sin. I still have to carry every
bit of that around with me. Verse 13, 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. Yesterday's over. It's over. I mean, it's over. The past is
the past. It is over. When we turn around
and look at our past, all we see is sin. That's it. You turn around and look at your
past, all you see is sin. Whether we laid in the sin of
the gutter or whether we laid in the sin of the pew, I don't
see just sin. I did that mission trip last
year. Whether we laid in the sin of the gutter or whether
we laid in the sin of the pew, it's all sin. We can't change
it. What's done is done. Paul said,
today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation.
He said, reach forward to those things which are before and press
toward the mark. Press toward the mark. What things
are before? We're going to reach forward
to those things which are before. What things are before us? This word says brand new mercies
come every morning. Brand spanking new mercy every
single morning. And increasing of faith comes
every time the gospel is heard. Reach forward. Press toward the
mark. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. That's what the song says. That's
what is before the believer. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. You mean I'm going to get that
job tomorrow? Nope. I'm talking about tomorrow. Strength for today. Bright hope
for tomorrow. What's the mark? He said, press
toward the mark. What is the mark? It's Christ. It's Christ. Verse 14, 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, let us, as many as be perfect, Meaning called of
God in Christ Jesus. Those that are called in Christ. 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, he says. If we veer off, God will bring
us back. They'll all be taught of God. Verse 16 says, Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,
let us mind the same thing. Now, while I was reading this
in my study, in what Paul has written right
here, I saw and I came here thinking on and dwelling on three things
that I need in this life. Three things. I was thinking
Monday about this life. If you don't know this just yet,
I'll tell you that this life is not easy. It's very difficult. And God's
people don't have much in this life. They don't have much in
this world. They have not been promised this world. They've
been promised a new one. So God's people don't have much
of it. And they don't have a lot of
friends. They have each other. And you
can veer out a little while, but as soon as somebody finds
out that you are holding to the Word of God, people don't care
for that. They think they like the Bible,
but they don't. People don't care for the Bible. And persecutions
are pretty much everywhere. And if all we had was this world,
we'd be miserable. I mean, we'd be miserable. This
world just doesn't offer much. So I was thinking about how difficult
this life is, and I was thinking about my life to the end. If I'm going to be standing here,
if I'm going to be standing here in 30 to 40 years, there are three things that I
need in this life. And I think you'll believe you'll
feel the same way. I hope this will be an eye-opening
thing, an encouragement, a help. What Paul is saying right here
in all this is my race is not done yet. My race is not done. Once we
finally physically reach out and touch our finish line, We're
just saying, reach out and touch the Lord. That is going to happen. You think about runners in a
race, and at the end of it, man, they are leaning forward, reaching
out with everything they have until they finally snatch the
finish line. And once we finally reach out
and touch our mark, Christ, our finish line. These
former things won't come to mind. These former heartaches and these
former sins and these former troubles, they won't come to mind. But
Paul said, until that happens, I'm going to forget everything
that is behind me. Now, this is for us. He said,
I'm going to forget everything that is behind me and count it
all done. Here I stand today. Today is
all that matters. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow might
not be here. I got today. I have today. And he said, I'm going to forget
everything that is behind me I'm going to count it all dung,
and I'm going to press toward something else. That's what I'm
going to do. Now, as I think about my own
life and the things that I now consider to be dung, there were
some things in my life that were not dung to me. They were gain to me, but they're
not anymore. They're not anymore. And when
I think about my own life, I see three things in this right here
that I need in order to finish my race. If I'm going to have
any sanity and any joy and any peace and any desire to press
toward the mark, I need three things to finish my race. The
first one is at the end of verse 8 and the beginning of verse
9. I may win Christ and be found
in Him. I need the comfort of knowing
based on His Word. And this is how believers know.
This is the only way we can know. God speaks to us through the
Word of His Son. And I need the comfort of knowing
based on His Word that I will win Christ. I need that. I need that assurance. I need to know that I am in Him. I am going to be found. We just
said that every soul individually is going to stand before God
whether they're willing to recognize it or not. I need to know today
that I'm going to be found in Him. I need to know that. If I don't have that, if I don't
have that assurance that I will win Christ, I'm not going to
make it. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. That's all I am,
is a sinner. I need to know that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Because if that's not so, I'm
not going to make it. If God will, through this word
right here, cause my heart to be convinced of that, everything
else is dung. You know that? Everything else
is dung. People win things all the time. They win things all the time. Game shows they win trips they
win boats they win cars Every now and then on the news you'll
see somebody won the lottery. Oh That I may win Christ That I may win Christ and be
found in him are we not convinced absolutely convinced that fame
and fortune and everything in this world is that we have to
press toward is dung compared to winning Christ and being found
in him. Every soul on this earth at some
point wants fame and fortune. Every soul. Later on down the
road every soul wants health. They get a good scare and they
start to realize I want health. Everybody wants popularity, even
right now. I don't want to be hated for
the truth's sake. I bow to what my Lord said. Everything is dumb compared to
winning Christ and being found in Him. Fame, fortune, I need the comfort of knowing
that when I get to the end, you know, the end might not be 70
years from now, 40 years from now, 20 years from now. The end
could be Tuesday. I might lay my head down tonight
and never raise it back up. And I need to know that when
this race is over, I hear Christ will be my finish line. I need to know that. That's the
first thing I need. The second thing is at the beginning
of verse 10. It says that I may know him. I need to win him and I need to
know him. I know each one of you. I know
each one of you. And when I saw you tonight, I
hugged you. And you hugged me. And we smiled at each other,
didn't we? And we tell each other how much
we love each other, don't we? And we appreciate each other.
We're going to leave here in just a minute, and we're going
to say, all right, Lord Willem, we'll see you Sunday. Hopefully, Thursday
will get on by, and Friday will get on by. And Saturday will
be great. We're all going to be together. And then we'll see
you Sunday. The reason we do that is because
we know each other. You know that? I don't go up
to strangers and hug them, smile at them, say, I'll see you Sunday.
I don't know them. I don't know them. But we know
each other. I need to know him in that way. If I'm going to make it, I need
to know him in that way. I need to feel his hug. I need to feel his embrace. How's
that even possible? Through this word right here. through this Word right here.
I need to see His smile. I need to hear His voice. I need to hear Him say through
this Word right here to my heart that He loves me. I need that. I need that. I need to read this
and hear Him say to my heart, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. If a sinner ever actually hears
him say that, he will count everything else dumb. Dumb. I don't need fame. I don't
need it anymore. I don't need fortune. It's a
good thing. I'm never going to get it. I need to win him and I need
to know him. Now here's the third thing I need for the rest of
my time on this earth. Verse 15, he said, Let us, therefore,
as many as be perfect, be thus minded. The end of verse 16,
he said, Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. For the rest of my time on this
earth, I need unity with every brother and sister
in Christ that my God has given me. That's what I need. I don't
want to be at odds with any of you. Not one. And this flesh always wants to
bump it to the limit. And our brother just prayed for
us that we would have fellowship. We'd all be fellows in the same
ship. 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. Being at odds with anybody
is just crushing. Crushing. I don't need, even though it
happens, I don't need to be at peace and unity with this world,
but I must be in the love and the unity of every child of God. I need it. I just need it. And
I will tell you that our adversary is going to continually try to
divide us. Remember that. That's all he
wants to do is divide us. So here's what we all need to
do. Let's all press toward Christ. The mark. The finish line. All of our peace and all of our
happiness and all of our unity is found in Him. Oh, that we
might win Christ and be found in Him. That we might know Him. us together together. Let's do this in prayer. Let's
do this in prayer. From time to time, I've asked
the men back in my study, we'll read scripture and pray. I've
asked the men to pray for the unity of the brethren here. Our Lord said, you have not because
you ask not, and he said, ask and you'll receive. If you ask
a good thing in my name, I'll give it. That's what he said.
Well, here's a good thing. Lord, would you unite our hearts
in Christ? to Christ, in Christ. And I want to say to every member
here, man and woman, be praying for that. Be praying for that.
Lord, keep us. Beg Him to keep us. Beg Him to
speak to us. We don't want to meet here and
not hear from Him, do we? I don't want to come here without
hearing His voice and seeing His smile. Lord preserve our
love and preserve our unity. Let's be praying for that. I want to close with Psalm 133
verse 1. Go with me over to Psalm 133. Psalm 133, this is such a precious
verse, Psalm 133, 1. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. He said it's precious. It's like the precious ointment.
It is so precious. This life truly is difficult. This life is so difficult. And
there is only one thing that is going to get us through. There's
only one thing, three things, that are going to give us any
amount of peace and encouragement. We need to know that we're going
to win Christ. This is what he said. He said,
You look unto me and be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou shalt be saved. He said, I came to seek and save
that which is lost. I'm lost. We need to win Christ. We need
to know Him. Lord, would you walk with us,
talk with us, speak to us? And we need the love and the
unity and the support of each other. If we have that, everything
else is done. Everything else is done. If we
have Christ, and if we feel his comfort, and if we have each
other, nothing else matters. If God will give us that, that's
all we need. That's all I need. It really
is. Nothing else matters. We need Christ, we need his touch
and his comfort, and we need each other. Lord, give us that,
if you would. Okay, let's stand together.