Philippians chapter 3, this is
where we left off, verse 15. He says, Let us, therefore, as
many as be perfect. The word perfect, as you have
heard so many times, means mature. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4 that
pastors and teachers and so forth were sent for the perfecting
of the saints, that we all might come under the measure of a perfect
man, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that
is, grow up in him in all things, grow up to be like him. And he
says, let us, as many as be perfect. Now, if we've been under the
gospel ten, fifteen, twenty years, thirty years, we ought to be We ought to be mature, shouldn't
we? Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 13. He said this, and he turned
to me. I'm going to misquote it. He said, when I was a child,
I spoke as a child, talked about things and children, talking
about toys. And your understanding was, he
said, I understood as a child, didn't understand much. I was
always whining and crying and impatient and on and on it goes. He said, when I became a man,
mature, I put away childish things. That's really the subject here.
That's the tenor of this whole text here in Philippians 3. Our conversation is in heaven,
or should be. It is, but it's not nearly as
much as it should be. We are too taken up with the
things of this world, aren't we? That's like a little child
with toys. Well, in our text, he says, Let
us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. What's he been talking about?
Counting everything done, lost. Counting the knowledge of Christ,
everything. The one thing needful. The sevenfold
desire of a believer. We've got food and rain, but
we just don't need anything else, do we? Do we? And our Lord called covetousness
idolatry, didn't He? One of the last thing Peter said
in his epistle, flee, put away idolatry. This is a pressing
matter. So he says in verse 15, let us
be thus minded, let us realize how pressing this is, how needful
this, how this is the one thing needful. And so he goes on to
say, if in anything, if anything, in any way, whatever it is that
you and I are taken with or distracted by,
he says, God will shall reveal this unto you. He shall. How does he do that? How does
God reveal things to us? How does he reveal his word? That's right. He reveals to us
the one thing needful, and what he reveals to us is the vanity
of vanity. Everything is vanity. The book
of Ecclesiastes is a story of life, and how the preacher, Solomon,
was given everything that this life can give. And he begins
by saying, the very first words are vanity of vanity. It doesn't
say it to the preacher. Vanity of vanity. All is vanity.
And it tells us by experience, through the Word of God and his
own experience, how that nothing satisfies. It's vain. Vain means
it's empty. It won't fulfill you. There's
no fulfillment. It's like things that go in,
they go out. They're gone. They won't stay
with you. And he ends Ecclesiastes by concluding
the same thing. Vanity of vanity. So he says
God will reveal this undoing. He will reveal it through his
work. And he will reveal it through painful experience. No matter
what it is or who it is, we're going to lose it. It's going to grow old. The grass
with all flesh is grass. The flower, oh, it's beautiful.
Remember when you were a little child, you were taken up with
dandelions and buttercups and all that, and you'd bring one
to your, there's no sooner pick it than to start wilting and
it's gone. A little child may cry over something
like that, but all flesh. His grass, and the grass withered,
and the flower faded, the glory of man, everything, everything
that our affection is upon, we lose it, and then the sorrow.
So he says, God will reveal this to His people. He reveals this
to His people, and it's a lifelong revelation. It's a lifelong revelation
through His Word and through His Spirit. All right, verse
16. He says, nevertheless, what you
have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us
mind the same thing. Let us walk by the same rule.
All of God's people walk by faith, not by sight. We don't walk like
the world. The world sees things and says,
that's what I'm going after. The believer's eyesight is different. The things that are seen are
what? Temporal. We're looking for an unseen thing.
The unseen things are eternal. We've got our eye. Our eye, hopefully,
will be single. If the eye is single, the whole
body is full of life. And if your eye is upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, He's the one you're after, and you walk by faith.
Walking by faith means looking to, trusting in, believing, longing
for, communing with the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Believing his word, believing
his promises, all that he said about himself, about the world,
and we believe, and that's how we walk. We don't see things
like the world sees them. We don't listen to things that
the world is saying, I don't listen to the world, but the
foolish, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? The
wisdom that man comes up with year by year and generation by
generation, it hasn't changed. And it's whatever man comes up
with, it'll change. But God changes not. We listen
to Him whose Word and whose wisdom changes not. We don't listen
to the Word. We listen to God. We walk by
faith according to His Word. And He said, let us mind the
same thing. Let us mind the same thing. That
is, let us all have our minds and our hearts set on one thing. Thanks a million. Let's say it.
where Christ is. He's the pride, didn't he say?
Paul said, this is all I have on my mind and my heart, and
this is the one thing needful, and this is the prize that I'm
after. Christ. How about you? Verse
17, so Paul says, Brethren, be followers together of me. Follow
me. Look at 1 Corinthians 4. Can
we follow men? Well, he just told us to, didn't
he? Someone might say, you're not supposed to follow me, you're
supposed to follow the Lord. Well, that's what the Corinthians... One person said, remember they
got in a preacher popularity contest, and one said, I'm a
Paul, I'm a Paulist, I'm a deceivers, and another said, well, I'm a
Christ, I don't follow any man. Well, look at 1 Corinthians 4.
You know, the Lord has raised up many men over the years, through
the years. Leaders of men and women, and
I'm so thankful, aren't you? Moses. If you didn't follow Moses,
you're not going to the throne. Right? He's the man God raised
up. And then Joshua followed him,
the young man. Probably some old people maybe
resented Joshua a little bit. Paul, when Paul left, Timothy
came. And Paul said, let no man despise
your youth. Preach with authority. And Abraham. David. David was a sinful man,
wasn't he? A man of like passions like we
were. I could have followed that man. I would have loved to have
followed that man. I would have loved to have carried
his armor. It would have been an honor. 1 Corinthians 4 verse
15 says that you have 10,000 instructors in Christ. He's talking
to those that heard the gospel from him. He says, You have not
many fathers, but in Christ Jesus, I have forgotten you through
the gospel. Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me. This man had a heart for, a true
affection for those whom God He used him to bring the gospel
to them. They were like his children.
He didn't think of himself as being above them or, you know,
greater than them as a father with all this wisdom and their
little ignorant children. That's not what he's saying.
But it's the same way as a father loves his child and is concerned
for. That's the effect that Kenneth
Paul is saying. He said, I'm only doing what's good for you.
Read on. He says, Chapter 10, the first Corinthians, Chapter
10. Look at verse 31. You have it? Yeah, verse 31. He says, whatever you do, eat
or drink, whatever you do, do all of the glory of God. Give
none offense. Never not to offend anyone, the
Jews, Gentiles, the Church of God. I please all in all things. You know, you remember we said,
if any man please men, he's not the servant of God, that's Galatians. You know what he's saying. He
said, I'm not living for myself, I'm living for my brethren. I'm
not trying to, you know, what I'm doing, I'm doing for them.
So you see, I'm not seeking my own prophet, verse 33, but the
prophet of many that they might be saved. Look at the next verse.
Brethren, be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ. See that? Go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. I am so thankful that God gave
me a godly God sent man who preached the truth and never veered from
that truth one jot or one tittle. Who really had the people to
whom he preached had their soul's welfare in mind. The glory of
God, number one, and the welfare of the people in mind. And I
was one of them. And I'm so very thankful. And I followed him. Followed him. And endeavored
to still follow. Teach, preach, and lead as He
did. He was my example. Look at Hebrews
13, this is what it says. Verse 7, Remember them, meaning
in prayer, think about, don't forget, them which have the rule
over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith
follow. considering the end of the goal,
the purpose of their conversation. Now, go back to our text. It's
not men we follow so much as the faith that they are preaching. You understand? And their example
in faith. So look at verse 17 of our text,
Philippians 3. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk As you have us, for an example,
mark them. There are others, Paul said.
As I mentioned, Timothy, Titus, and Paul. Oh, what a promoter
Paul was of all his brethren, wasn't he? All the brethren. He said one time, I am less than
the least of all the apostles. And he promoted them, as do all
men who love the truth and love the men God has raised up. You know, my pastor had many,
many men preach from his pulpit, and there were a lot of bad messages
preached from that pulpit. And I heard them. And he was trying to encourage
these men, hoping that the Lord would teach them, and listening
to other men who brought some good messages. But there were
some bad messages, Prager, that he had to undo. But he was patient
and compassionate with and hopeful for men. And many men who preached in
the pulpit fell away. left the gospel. They did. That's why I say I'm so glad
that the man that I followed never did leave the gospel. And
he said, now many walk like us. You have us in example. But now,
verse 18, many walk of whom I have told you often. Paul often warned
the church, every church, often. He named 16 names of people that
did damage to the cause of crime. Hymenaeus and Alexander, and
on and on it went. Alexander the coppersmith, on
and on. He named 16 names in his epistle. He said, I've often told you
warned you. That's what a watchman does.
Because wolves are dressed in sheep's clothing, and sheep don't
always recognize them. And this is the job of the watchman. And that's what he does. And
that's what Paul did. He said, I've told you often. Often. But, now just look at
the attitude he had. And now till you even weeping. that their enemies of the cross
of Christ what was all we know. Well you know David. Throughout
the songs if you read the songs you cannot help but notice how
David said Lord. Deal with my enemies. Often he
said. slay my enemy, kill my enemy. In Psalm 139, he said, David
said, Do not I hate them that hate thee. Yea, I hate them with
a perfect hatred. They're blasphemers against God. You cannot love someone who blasphemes
your God. You cannot love a false prophet
that butchers men's souls, that's stealing your God's glory, that's
bringing reproach upon your Lord. You can't love that person. Pray
for him. You can't love God and love those
that are bringing his name down, can you? But Paul said, I say,
weeping. What he was weeping over was
not his enemies, but weeping over the great damage that they
did. Weeping over the reproach they bring on God. Weeping over
the souls that they're destroying. Weeping. Weeping. Weeping. And he said, many. Look at verse 18. Many, Walt. Did he say many? Did our Lord not say many? He
said many false prophets. Titus, go over to Titus chapter
one. Titus chapter one, this is Paul's
letter to a young preacher. It follows first and second Timothy. Titus chapter one, look at how
this, look at what Paul says here. He says Titus chapter 1
verse 4, to Titus my own son, in other words, he heard the
gospel from Paul, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father. He said, I left you a creed that
you should set in order the things that are wanted. And down in
verse 10, verse 9, Verse 9 says, Hold fast the faithful
word, as you have been taught, that you may be able, by sound
doctrine, to exhort and to convince the gainsayer, that's arguing.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially
they of the circumcision, that is, in religion, whose mouths
must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
they ought not for filthy money. One of themselves even said it,
the Christians are always liars, evil be slow-billed. This witness
is true. Rebuke them sharply. Pretty strong language in it.
He said, many unruly. Now that was 2,000 years ago.
How many are there now? A thousandfold more. So, Paul
said, I tell you often, warn, rebuke, prove, correct. That's
what he told young Timothy. Rebuke, rebuke with all authority.
Let no man despise you. Many walk, I tell you, weeping. Enemies of the cross of Christ,
verse 19. Their end is their destruction
if God is their belly. This health and wealth gospel,
that's what that means. God is their belly. Covetous
men. Whose glory is in their shame.
Look at verse 19. Their glory is in their shame. The glory
in things that ought to be shamed of. And are ashamed of that which
they should glory in. That is the gospel of Christ,
the truth. Enemies of the cross of Christ.
Our Lord calls them workers of iniquity. Over in Matthew 7,
you know these verses. Matthew 7 where the Lord said
many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, And they said in answer
to him. Have we not? They said, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? In thy name have cast out devils,
in thy name done many wonderful work, and he'll profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. But they were preaching in his
name. They were casting out devils. They were doing wonderful works
in his name. But did you catch what they said? Have we not? In other words, they were pleading
with him what they had done. And our Lord said, you're workers
of iniquity. You're taking, you're getting
glory in what you have done for me, as opposed to what I have
done for you. And Titus 3 verse 5, he says,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done. But according
to His mercy, He had saved. It's not what we have done. It's
what He had done. So, and Paul said, they glory
in their shame. They glory in what they did. Not what Christ had done. But
God, Paul said, God forbid that I should go save anyone. the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ,
what He hath done. Because after we've done all
that's required of us, what are we? Unprofitable servants. That's what Paul said, I'm not
fit to be called a disciple. I'm doing what is my reason of
serving. I'm doing what I love to do, ought to do, should do.
But I get no glory in me, as necessities are laid upon me,
and woe is unto me if I don't preach the gospel. So he said
in verse 19, they mine earthly things. Earthly things. I told someone recently, whatever
appeals to the flesh, whatever men say that's appealing to our
flesh, is wrong. It's not of God. It's not of
God. The gospel is an offense to the
flesh. All right, look at the last two
verses. Our conversation. Now, let's read without the parentheses. Go back to verse seventeen, because
eighteen and nineteen are in parenthesis. Let's read verse
seventeen and twenty. Brethren, be followers together
of me. Mark them which walk, like us. That is, you have us for an example.
Verse 24, our conversation is in heaven. You remember when
John said, they are of the world, and therefore speak they of the
world. And that's what the world hears.
We have a family church. We have programs for our children.
That sounds good. But it sounds just like the world,
doesn't it? Social programs and all that.
This place is not a social program. This is a house of worship. It's
a spiritual house. But we look at spiritual things. Verse 20, our conversation, and
the word conversation takes in every part of us, our mind, our
thoughts, our walk, it's our conduct, our ways, it's our speech. It's in heaven. Like Hebrews
11. Hebrews 11 talked about all those
strangers and pilgrims in the earth. They said they had their
minds, their hearts, their affections set on one thing. And if they'd
been mindful of another thing, they'd have turned around and
gone back. Some of them did. Some of them did. They said,
we want to go back to Egypt. What was there, people? Leeks
and onions. You mean to tell me you'll sacrifice
the promised land and following God for leeks and onions? Yeah. What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? Anything. But God's people won't give anything.
They won't give anything. They count all things lost for
the excellency of an ounce of pride. This is our conversations
in heaven. That is our conversation. Who
is it we're talking about? Talking to? Walking with? Who? Christ. We're called Christians. That is a Christian. Your mind,
your heart, your affection, your communion with, your desire is
set on a person. That's the Bible, right? Our
conversation in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior.
You know what God's people want? They want saving. They want save
from this untoward generation. They want save from this place
we live in, this bondage, this captivity. We want save from
ourselves. The world doesn't need a Savior.
They don't think they need a Savior. They don't want a Savior. They
don't want Him to come back. We're having fun here. But not God's
people. We're like we're in Egypt. Come
help get us out. Come, Lord. Even come quickly.
Is that you? Look at verse 21. He's going
to change our Lord and Savior. Look at verse 20. For the Savior,
the Lord, Jesus Christ. who shall change our vile bodies. What's our problem? It's this
flesh. See what Paul was saying? The
world's all about flesh. We want done with it. The world
loves the flesh. We hate it. We want done with
this flesh. No, it's our problem. Lord, come
remove us from this vile flesh. And give us a glorious body,
a sinless body. Well, he will, according to the
working whereby he's able even to subdue all things unto himself.
I was going to have you turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and talk
about that new body, but time is out. But, Brethren, is that
you? Is it? I mean, it is really,
isn't it? Christ is all your desire is
not. It's history. And you want to
be with Him or you don't? I pray it is. Okay.