Let's turn to Philippians chapter
3. Philippians chapter 3. We're living in a very religious
generation. Nearly everyone is religious. The word religious
means devoted to or worshiping something, very firmly persuaded
about something. That's what religious means.
And you remember I said last Sunday morning that we are religious. Nothing wrong with being religious
as long as you're religiously right. Rightly religious. You've got the right religion.
But there's a difference between being religious and being a religionist.
I'm not just making a play on words here. Religionist, to be
a religionist means to be a mere formalist, formally religion,
religious, formally. That is, one who worships and
is devoted to their religion. You know what I'm saying? You
understand what I'm saying? But a true believer, a child of God,
a disciple of Christ, believes doctrine, yes, but is more accurately
described as a follower of a person, a disciple. one who's following
the Lord Jesus Christ, a person, enamored with, taken up with
a person. That's a better description of a true child of God. A religionist is one, is someone
who is devoted to and taken up with and conversant about and
trusting in their system of belief, their creed, their doctrine,
their faith, their profession, their morality or personal piety
or whatever. In other words, the difference
between these two things, the difference is between looking
at yourself and looking at Christ. It's the difference between salvation
and damnation. And Paul, he talked about, when
we read there in chapter 2, did you notice how many times he
talked about being of this mind? Did you notice how many times
he talked about the mind? He said, I would that you were
like-minded, verse 2, chapter 2. I would that you were like-minded.
having the same love, being of one accord, one purpose, one
goal, one mind. And he said in verse 3, in lowliness
of mind, verse 5, let this mind be in you. And then he went on
down in verse 20, he said, I have no man like minded. Verse 21,
sadly to say, he said, all seek their own and not the things
of Christ. And then look down here in chapter
3, verse 15. He said, now let us therefore, talking to true
believers, said in verse 1, brethren, talking to true brethren, brothers
and sisters in Christ, he said, now let us therefore, verse 15,
as many as be perfect, or that is, mature believers, be thus
minded, be this minded. And if in anything you be otherwise
minded, God will reveal it to you. Be this mind, be thus mind. What mind? What are you talking
about? What mind? How mind? Well, I
spent a lot of time looking up this word mind, and you'd be
surprised how many times, how many different ways it talks
about us being minded. Here's a few. He says we're to
be lowly minded, back there in chapter 2, verse 3. Lowliness
of mind. We have every reason to be very
lowly in mind. We're very lowly creatures. Worms, no man, less
than nothing, he calls it. We ought to be lowly-minded.
We ought to be mindful of what we are, shouldn't we? Nothing. Not high-minded, low, low-minded. He says we're to be humble in
mind. We're to be persuaded in our
hearts and minds. Our minds need to be persuaded
about something or someone. He says we're to be renewed in
the mind. We're supposed to have a new mind, transformed. Our
minds should be changed. He says we are to have our minds
filled with the word of God. The law of God written on the
heart of the mind. Our minds are to be filled, conversant
with, and knowledgeable of the word of God. He says we are to
have our minds girded with the truth, wrapped about with the
truth. He says our minds are to be sound,
firm, solid. not poured through with holes,
not mixed, solid. Our minds would be stable, that
is, not prone to wander, prone to be tossed about, thinking
this way one day and thinking this way another day. He says
our minds would be fervent, in other words, what we think we're
to put into action. He says our minds would be willing,
a willing mind, willing. He says we're to be ready, ready-minded. He says we're to be forward-minded,
that means charitably minded, loving, giving. He says we're
to be of one mind, one mind, the same mind. What does he mean
by all this? He summed it all up there in
chapter 2, verse 5. I say, let this mind be in you. What mind? Christ-minded, Christ-minded. I'm not talking so much about
the character of Christ as to be thinking about Christ, thinking,
looking to Christ, Christ-minded, whatever, whoever, wherever,
looking to Christ in all things. Now, keep your place there. We're
going to be going through Philippians 3. Turn to 2 Corinthians 10. You need to look at this. This
is a wonderful verse of Scripture. 2 Corinthians 10. Do you remember
how Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 16, he said, now we
have the mind of Christ. It's a day that is spiritual,
discern all things. And then he went on down, that's
in verse 15, then in verse 16 he said, now we have the mind
of Christ. Who's known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct
to him, but we have the mind of Christ. He said some people
are Christ minded. What does that mean? Joe, what
does it mean to be Christ minded? Well, let's read this in chapter
10 of 2 Corinthians, look at verse 5. Now Paul exhorts us,
he says, now cast down, we're to cast down imaginations or
reasonings. Look at this, this is good man.
Casting down imaginations, reasonings and every high and mighty thing
that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing
into captivity every thought. in your peanut brain, in your
mind, to the obedience of Christ. To be obedient like Christ? No. Every thought to the obedience
of Christ, to Him and what He did, to Christ and Him crucified. Now, listen. We're going to have
to reach this point of spiritual maturity, like Paul said over
here in the text, chapter 3, 1 Philippians. this thing of
heart salvation, we're going to have to reach the point where
we throw away, get rid of, cast down every thought, everything,
everyone that we trust, esteem too highly, or dwell upon, or
exalt against knowing Christ and Him crucified. You know what
Paul said? I'm determined not to know, not
to think about. not to be taken up with, not
to be taken by, not to be confused with anything or anyone save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When it comes to this thing of
salvation, when it comes to this thing of my relationship before
God, Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. It's
a broken record. Christ is the record. Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. The
term, Paul said that I may know Him. Him. Him. And we need to have our minds,
our way of thinking, our thoughts completely captivated by, centered
in, looking to Christ and Christ alone. That's what it is to be
Christ-minded. This is what I'm saying. This
is what it is to be Christ-minded. A mind that is God-ward. A mind
that is Christ-ward. A mind that is spiritual. that
thinks apart from the flesh, not carnal. When it comes to
thinking about salvation, about our relationship with God, how
we can approach God, what we can do to please God, this and
that and the other, anything pertaining to us and God, it's
to think away from this, to get away from this plane and have
our minds Godward, Godward, looking unto him. Now, look here in Philippians
chapter 3. I've preached on this before,
but I want to dwell down to the latter part of this chapter,
but I'm going to read the whole story here. Paul was perhaps
the greatest apostle who ever lived, certainly the most used
by God. Nobody will deny that. No one
will argue that Paul was used more greatly than the rest of
the apostles, the chief apostles, though less than the least, he
said. He was the one with the greatest, seemed to have, God
gave him the greatest insight and discernment and spiritual
maturity. He even withstood Peter to the
face one time, called him down, and so forth. But he says, and
Paul says here in Philippians 3, he says, now you need to be
thinking like I did. You need to think like me. That's what
he says here. In verse 15 he says, now I want
you to be this minded. I want you to think like I do."
That's what he said. Well, here's what led into him
saying that, his whole testimony. This is Paul's testimony, and
this is this Paul's testimony. And it better be your testimony,
John, Rick, whoever, Mickey. It better be your testimony.
It's not you didn't go exactly through the same thing, but you
better be thinking the same way. All right? Let's look at it.
It's all old to you. You've read it before, you've
heard it before. And you'll hear it again. The Lord allows you
to live long enough. Finally, my brethren, verse 1,
rejoice in the Lord. In other words, when it's all
said and done, you praise God. You give all praise and honor
and glory and thanksgiving and everything. Give thanks to God.
You rejoice in the Lord. Not in your attainments, not
what you are, not what you will be, not what you could be, not
what you used to be, but you rejoice in the Lord. You put
all your eggs in one basket. All of your energy and effort
toward praising him, rejoicing the Lord. Now, he says to write
the same thing to you. To me, indeed, it's not grievous
for me to preach the same message. It's not grievous. He says here,
it's safe for you. It's not grievous. And let me
ask this before we go any further. And I worry about this concerning
my own self. Does this same old message, does
this gospel, do you grow weary of hearing it? I mean really now, we don't,
we've been saying the same, I mean the exact same thing every single
service. Oh, exact same things. How many times have you heard
all of these things? Saying, I've used the same illustration. Do you grow weary of of hearing
this, is it getting old hat to you? Well, and I ask this, and you
have to be honest, sometimes it does lose its thrill. Lose
its thrill, its sweetness. And that worries me. That kind
of reminds me of the church in Revelation. He said, you've left
your first love. You remember when the Lord first
dealt with you? how that, uh, I remember it myself, when the
Lord was first dealing with me, I saved me, when He revealed
Himself, working, saving me, started saving me. Everything
I heard, Joe, was just about the greatest message I ever heard
in my life. I mean, everything I read, everything I could get
my hands on, this is great. I'd call people up, I'd show
it to them, I'd underline everything, I had whole books underlined,
every line underlined. Started at Spurgeon's New Park
Street and read all the way through it. Every sermon. Just underlining
everything. Just thrilled with everything. Couldn't get to church early
enough. Thrilled with everything. Couldn't drive. No place was
too far to drive to hear the gospel. Didn't matter. Just thrilled
by it. I want it still to be that way.
You know? I want it still to be. thrilled
by this message. I do. And I don't want to leave
my first love, that which first thrilled my heart, that first
lifted up my heart in love for God. If it does, if it ceases
to lose its thrill or its sweetness, you've left. For something or
someone, you've left your first love, right? You never knew love
until God came to you in the gospel. That's love. Herein is
love. I don't want that to happen to
you, but Paul says it's safe to write the same things to you.
It's safe. In other words, this gospel of our salvation in Christ
is safe, all right. Eternal salvation is what it
is. It's our assurance. It's our
security. It's our security blanket, Charles. I'm not going to let go of it.
I'm going to suck on this old blanket until the day I die. Well, he says, verse 2, now beware
of dogs, beware of dogs, that is devouring religionists, proselytizers,
and the world, you know, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there,
beware of them, they'll take you down with them. Beware of
the concision, beware of evil workers in the concision, Jews,
Pharisees, Sadducees, religious leaders, none of them to be trusted,
beware of them. Verse 3, now we're the circumcision.
We are the circumcision. In other words, we're the true
because three things here, you know it well. Because we worship
God in the spirit. No pomp and show about what we're
doing here. All we're doing is preaching,
singing, praying, reading the scriptures, and I hope and pray,
we all hope and pray that we're doing it in heart, in sincerity,
and in truth. Truly met together in the name
of Christ to worship him. I hope and pray that I'm not
standing before you tonight to impress you with what I've come
up with this week, but to exalt the name of Christ, to preach
the gospel for your edification, for your profit, for the glory
of God and the glory of Christ. And I hope you're hearing it
the same way, not as the word of a man, but as it is in truth,
the word of God himself. We worship God. We're here to
worship God in spirit, in heart, in sincerity, and we rejoice
in Christ. How do we worship God? No man
cometh unto the Father but by Christ. We rejoice in Christ. This is how we come and worship
God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach him and
him alone, him and him alone, our only hope of salvation and
our only cause for joy in Christ. And we put no confidence in the
flesh, not you, me, nor me, you, or anybody. We're not lifting
up, exalting, making over, recognizing any man or man's attainment,
and certainly not man's religion. Anything to do with man, we're
trying to suppress it. Anything to do with God, we're
trying to lift it high. That's what we're doing here.
Now, verse 4. Now, Paul, in thinking about these dogs, now he just
got through talking about these dogs, these dogs with collars
on. They're all, I better not say
it. He's thinking about these Jewish
religious leaders, and he's saying they're surprised. He said they're
surprised, so self-confident, so self-assured, so self-righteous. He said, I know. I was wrong.
And he said, here's my story. Here's my story. Now, verse 4.
He says, now, if anybody thinks they got something to be cocky
about, something to be confident about, I am over. I do. Though I might also have
confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he has
something he might trust in, I've got more to say. I've got
more to say than anybody here, Paul says. And if I might put
it in our language or present day, maybe this Paul does too. He says here, Paul says, I circumcised
the eighth day. So was I. Paul says, I was of
the stock of Israel. Well, I was of the stock of Mahan.
You've heard that name before. He says, I was of the tribe of
Benjamin, I from 13th Street Baptist Church. He heard that
place before him. Hebrew of Hebrew, I'm a preacher,
a son of a preacher, a Calvinist, son of a Calvinist, son of a
Calvinist. As touching the law, a Pharisee. As touching the doctrine,
I could quote him when I was a 12-year-old boy. Paul said, I persecuted the church.
You remember how Paul went about really espousing what he believed
and persecuting people that didn't believe like he did? Well, I
could argue with the best of them, too, at one point or another.
When I was a boy, I used to write clever little sayings in the
back of my Bible. My mother still has them, still
shows them to people, how well taught I was from just a young
boy, you know, knowing the Scripture. touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless." Paul might have added there, baptism
or whatever. I can add my baptism to it. Like I've said before,
I've been baptized more than anybody. I used to swim in the
Banquister with my brothers. We used to literally swim in
the Banquister. I've been in that water more than anybody.
Well, but Paul says here, he says, with a renewed mind. He's
got a change of mind now. A different way of thinking about
things. He's got the mind of Christ. He's got his mind set
on Christ, not this old boy. On Christ. And he says, verse
7, he says, Now what things were gain to me, what things I used
to think were profitable to me, that made me somebody I can't
loss for Christ. What things I used to be, that
was what things I used to do, all lost time. Worthless time. worthless, useless endeavor. As a matter of fact, it got in
the way of me knowing Christ. My heritage, oh, Paul, thank
God that young Timothy knew the scriptures were able to make
him wise unto salvation, but I knew the truth and was convinced
of the truth, Calvinism and so forth, from a young boy, that
got in the way of me knowing Christ. Because I thought, just
because I knew the truth, I saved. I was right in my, I was an Orthodox,
I was saved. My sister was the same way. And
the Lord had to reveal himself to her later on, and me too.
But being a Calvinist doesn't make you saved. That'd get in
the way, really. It would. And Paul said, now,
even now, verse 8, even now, ye are doubtless. Even now, I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. Even now, all that I am now,
all that I do now, all that I know now, is useless to me. For the excellency of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. In other words, since I've seen
him, since I've come to know him, I hate myself. Everything
has to do with me. Everything has to do with me,
me, my religion, my thoughts, my ways. Everything about me
I hate since I've seen him. The more I get to know him, Joe,
the more I decrease, right? Everything about me gets worse
and worse and worse. He keeps increasing. This is
what it is to be Christ-minded. And he says, I hate my thoughts,
my ways, I forsake me. I'm taken up with him. since
I've seen him." And Paul says here in verse 8, and he says,
for whom? For Christ. I've suffered the
loss of all things. All things, especially friendship
and fame and fortune and prestige and worldly advantage and all
of that. But he says, what is it anyway but dung? Burl manure. That's what it is. My past, my
religious heritage and so forth, my attainment, my character.
my way of thinking. Everything about it has anything
to do with this old piece of flesh, this body of death. It's
dung, right? Dung. I count it, but dung. One woman tried to come up to
me one time after I preached a message, and she said, You
forgot to talk about what we have to give up for Christ. I said, Oh, you mean dung for
pearls? I should have said that. Yeah,
we traded in dung. It's like going down to Stanley
Jewelers, where Nancy works, and taking in a bag of cow chips,
and Mr. Stanley giving you a chest full
of gold nuggets. Yeah, we gave up a lot, didn't
we? Real tough. Real tough decision to make.
Paul said all that. Dung! Dung! Why? That I may win Christ. What a prize. What a gold! What a trade, right? Win Christ. Well, how do you
win Christ? How do you win Christ? Get lucky? Get in the lotto, you know? That's
the way, that's what religion's saying. You might get saved,
you might not, you know. Enter the lotto. Buy your ticket.
Buy, that's it. Buy your way in. Give me, send
me ten dollars and I'll get you in. Buy your ticket. Is that
it? You earn Him, you work so hard
for Jesus, and then you win Him. Is that it? Hmm? Well, there
is something for us to do, but here it is. There is something
for us to do, but it involves forsaking everything about me,
throwing it away. Everything that has to do with
me, my works, my morality, my thoughts, my knowledge, my faith,
my religion, is to deny self. Christ said, He might want to
come after me. He might want to be a disciple of mine. He
says, you deny self. Everything you know, everything
you've done, deny it. Deny it. But chiefly, you win
Christ by being, look at verse 9, found in him. Found in him. It says this, and I don't want
to be too familiar here, I want to be careful how I use this
But it's as if God one day calls you by the gospel and says, hey,
you were in Christ. That's it. I mean, really. Have you ever been called on
the phone and said, hey? Somebody says, hey, you've been chosen.
You're one of the select few to win a vacation to Hawaii and
all this stuff. They're always lying, you know.
They always want you to buy something or whatever. There's always a
catch to it. But really and truly, this is how you win Christ. God calls you, by his words,
through the gospel and says, hey, you win Christ. But I didn't do anything. Right? He did it all. But you're in him. I put you
in him. You won a select few. That's what happened. By being
found in him. That's how you win Christ. Right?
Don't get lucky, you don't work for him, you don't try to earn
him, you just win him. God says, hey, I've chosen you, I've elected
you, you're one of the chosen few, you've been selected out
of this large mass and been placed and found in Christ. You don't
find him, he finds you, right? That's what salvation means.
He comes to find you, you're the lost sheep out and wandering
out in the wilderness, he comes to find you, right? If only men
would learn that That basic fundamental truth. To be lost means you can't
find your way, right? To be lost means that somebody's
going to have to come find you. And we didn't find Him, He found
us. We didn't accept Him, He accepted us. We don't live for
Him, He lived for us, right? We didn't decide for Him, He
decided for us. We didn't choose Him, He chose us. That's Bible
salvation, right? That's what it is to win Christ.
Christ is the one that worked it all out, isn't it? He's the
one that worked and earned our salvation, isn't he? And he says,
now here, you were me. I didn't do anything. I did. Here, it's yours. Give
it to me. God found me in Christ. Found me. Not having, he says,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. Used to
have one of those. Used to have one of those robes. Used to think
it looked pretty good. Didn't jump. Used to think it
looked pretty good. Oh, my. My, my. But it was filthy rags, wasn't
it? It was a stench in God's nostrils. Oh, I was real religious,
Paul said. I thought I was somebody, something,
and other people had other people fooled, too. But I was, I looked
bad. Kind of like a hospital gown.
I rode with righteousness, kind of like a hospital gown. Looked pretty good up front. Don't turn around. Now I have
my own righteousness which is of the law, of my doings, my
morality, my religion. But, he says here, that righteousness
which is through the faith of—oh, is there a misprint again? No.
The faith of Christ and the faithfulness of Christ, that which he wrought
out. Great is his faithfulness, not
mine. His faithfulness. By him being faithful to God,
by him living according to God's law of perfection, by fulfilling
righteousness, that righteousness is the righteousness I now have.
Not the righteousness of a man, the righteousness of perfect,
eternal righteousness of the God-man. The righteousness of
Adam failed because it was the righteousness of a man. The righteousness
of God, the God-man, can never fail. It can never fail. It's eternal. It's impossible
for God to sin. Right? That's the righteousness
we've got. The righteousness which is of
God, and God just gave it to me. Just gave it to me, by faith. Yeah, I receive it by faith,
but He didn't give, gave me faith. Right? Gave me the righteousness,
gave me faith, chose me. He did it all. He did it all.
The righteousness of Christ, which is of God. Now look at
verse 10. He says, And I want to know Him, O that I may be that are found
in him, and that I may know him." For this reason I ask, how people
that profess to be believers, and churches, and preachers,
and disciples, prophets, preachers, how can they be taken up with
anything other than Christ? Huh? When this great apostle
said, oh, I want to know Isn't he a great enough subject, Terry,
to study for the remainder of our days? Isn't he? Eh? Isn't he a great enough subject
to occupy our thoughts and our studies for the rest of our natural-born
days? Isn't he? Oh, yeah. We'll never exhaust anything
that has anything to do with Christ. We're to study him and
the power of his resurrection. Paul says, I want to know him
personally, more about him. Yes, but I want to know Him,
I want to commune with Him. I want to be one with Him. I
want to actually know Him, Ellen, like I know you. More. More. And the power of His resurrection. I want to walk with the risen
Christ. I want to be like Enoch. I want
to walk with Christ. I want to rise to walk in newness
of life. Don't you, Terry Kensington?
Don't you, Roberta, want to walk like Christ, like David said? I'll not be satisfied now until
I waif with his likeness. Don't you hate yourself? But
you're enamored with Christ. You want to be like him, don't
you? I'm not going to be satisfied with anything that has anything
to do with me until it's perfectly conformed to be like him. Right? A truly Christ-like old to have
a truly Christ-like, Christ-centered, changed, regenerated life. I've got to hurry. I don't even know enough about
this to talk about it, but I do know this. I want to be sold
out to Christ. I want to be so sold out to Christ
as to renounce and be renounced by everything in this world. I want to be so sold out to Jesus
Christ so as to renounce everything and be renounced by everything
and everyone that has to do with this world. Right? I want to
be thought of as one of those fanatics. I do. Like a fellow said at work about
me one day, there's one of those. I said, what? He said, Christian. I don't know if he, you know,
what his connotation of a Christian was, but that's what I want to
be thought of. I want people to take note that I've been with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And be conformable unto his death.
Look at this. Oh, I like this. I had to spiritualize
a great deal here. being made conformable under
his death. That is, crucified with Christ. Oh, that it might be me hanging
on that cross there again. Oh, that when God saw Christ
hanging there, he saw me. Right? Being made conformable. Oh, that
Paul Mahan might have been killed nearly 2,000 years ago. Kill
that old boy. Don't you, Joe, know what you
want? Get him out of my sight. God, get him out of your sight.
I want to be crucified. I don't want me to ever be heard
of again. Right? I want God to see Christ
in me. When he sees me, he says, I'm
well pleased with you. And that has to be Christ, because
there's nothing pleasing about me. I've never done anything
pleasing to God. It's impossible. No man in the
flesh can please God. And Paul says here, by all means,
whatever it takes, verse 11, if by any means, I believe what
he's saying here is by all means, Lord, by all means, by any means,
whatever it takes, that I might attain unto this resurrection
of the dead, this resurrection unto life. Whatever it takes,
Lord. Is that your prayer, Vicki? Can
you say that for me? Whatever it takes, by all means,
Lord. I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. Follow me. Well, he says, look
at verse 12, certainly I haven't obtained, not as though I'd already
obtained my soul. I don't know about you, but I
don't even feel like I've come close. Do you? Sometimes I don't
even feel like I'm saved, let alone obtained something. I don't feel like I know anything
half the time, let alone know the Lord. Certainly don't act
like it most of the time. Not as though an apostle Paul
said that. Not as though I'd already attained.
He said, I'll tell you what I am doing. I'm following after. I'm still in line. I'm still pressing. I'm still
sitting in the pew, Joe. You're still sitting there. That's
good, buddy. Stay right there. I'm still following. I'm still
spitting in the pew, I'm still sneaking, I'm still knocking,
I'm still asking, there's still hope for me. I'm following after if I may
apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ, that
is salvation, that I may apprehend, that I may be saved. That's what I'm after, to be
truly saved from me, from sin, from sin. I know that he must have me.
I know that he must choose me, but I want to choose him, too.
I want to have him. I want to say with Jacob, Terry,
I'm not going to let you go until I know you've got a holy man.
I'm not going to let you go until I know you've got me. I want
to say with David, Lord, say to me. Is that what you want,
David? Say it to me. You said it to
Abraham. You said it to David, you said
it to Jacob, now say it to me. I am thy salvation. That's what I want. I want to
keep crying out with Peter, Lord, you better save me or I perish.
Right? Lord? Until he hears me. And that'll be by his grace.
If you keep crying by God's grace, that's what I want to do. Oh, to be apprehended. What is it when you get apprehended
and somebody got a hold of you? Captive. I've been apprehended
before by the law. Caught. I want to be caught.
That wandering sheep, I want him to catch me. I'm running
from him. Pronged to wander. Right, Barbara?
I'm running from him half the time. I want him to catch me.
Don't you? Stop me. Quick. Stop what I'm
doing. Isn't that what you pray half
the time? Lord, stop me. Catch me. Capture me. I want to be captive
of Christ and captivated with him. That's what I want. That's what Paul's saying here.
That I may apprehend him who apprehended me. Well, look at
this. Verse 13. Now, he says, Now,
brethren. Now, listen very carefully. Brethren.
Now, listen up. He says, Brethren. Calvinist? Churchgoers? Religionists? He says, the great Apostle Paul
here says, now the great Apostle Paul here says, now I cannot
myself have apprehended. Now, what does that say about
you and me? If the Apostle Paul said that, he said, now brethren,
he said, I ain't there yet. Jerry, what's that say about
us? Paul. If he said that, I'm out. But look at you, Paul. He said,
I ain't there yet. But look what you've done. Forget
that. I ain't there yet. But look where
you've been. You see, somebody said to you,
forget that. I ain't there yet. Look what
you know. I ain't there yet. And what are you going to do,
Paul, with all this, everything you've been doing and going through
since the same thing as before? Forget it, verse 13. Same thing
as before? I'm not there yet. I don't count myself as apprehended,
but this one thing I do, I'm going to forget it all. Same as before? Throw it to Donahue. Forget it. That's what I'm going
to do. I'm going to forget these things. I'm going to forget my past experience.
Have you had some kind of salvation experience? Anybody in here?
Maybe you have. Paul did. Paul said, I knew a man. He didn't
want to talk about his name. He didn't want to testify. He
said, I knew a man. Whether he was in the body or
out, I don't know. But he went to the third heaven,
the heavens of heavens. He saw things unlikable to utter.
Paul went to heaven. He was talking about experience.
But you know what he said? Forget that. Forget that. I'm going to forget
that. You had a salvation experience. You better drop it. You better
forget it. All right. You better forget it. A past
profession of faith. If you've got your baptism written
down in your Bible, the date you were baptized, you better
mark her out real fast. I got a pen. You better scratch
it out real fast. If you go, somebody will come
up to you. Did you make a profession of faith? Oh, yeah, it says right. No, I'm talking about, did you
confess Christ this morning? Are you confessing him right
now? That's salvation. Not June the 4th, 1981. Better
mark her out. Better forget it. Right? Past profession. Past knowledge. Think you know something? You need to learn all over again.
If we think we know anything, we know nothing as well tonight,
Paul says. Now, I know a little doctrine,
John, but forget that. I've got to know Christ fresh
every morning, every day. I've got to know him again. Tomorrow
morning, I'm going to have to learn him all over again. Because
I wallowed in sin all night long, my dreams and whatever, and I
wake up like a hellion. And I've got to come to his feet
like a newborn babe all over again, like a lost sinner all
over again and say, Lord, stop him today! Right? Forget what you know. Forget
your old knowledge. Forget your creed. Now listen,
I've got a library down there full of books. I talked a while
ago about reading all the old Puritans, and I like some of
these old Like what they say. But you better drop those old
boys. They're dead. They're dead. Like old Spurgeon
said when he took over, he took over Metropolitan Tabernacle.
And there was a chair there that John Gill used to sit in. And
he came up, first service, and the first thing he did was walk
right up on that, nobody touched old Dr. Gill's chair. They left
it empty and on it. He went right up there and sat
down in that chair right in front of everybody and said as loud
as he could say, John Gill is dead. Charles Spurgeon is the
pastor here. John Gill is dead and so is Charles
Spurgeon and so is Rolf Barnard. We got some prophets alive today.
Let's not be like the Pharisees who the Jews of old who killed
the prophets, who ragged on the dead and killed the living. We've
got some prophets alive today. We'd best be hearing the voices
of God's prophets today. Maurice Montgomery, Tim Jane,
Jim Burr, Henry Mahan. There's some men today writing
and preaching better than anybody I've ever read. Yes, ma'am. I've read a lot, as much as anybody
in here. And there's some men today that are writing and preaching,
preaching more clearly than anybody I've ever heard. Like Spurgeon
said, a lot of what you read and hear is flour. You can't
eat flour. Sheep need good food. Eat plain,
honest-to-goodness, wheat-filled bread. And there's some men doing
that today. Boy, I heard, I've been listening
to the tapes all week long. I'm telling you what, Maurice
Montgomery, praise God Almighty for that man, that preacher.
But you better forget the old Puritans, forget everything you
ever read. If you find yourself remembering or quoting John Gill,
Spurgeon, Whitefield, or even Ross Barnard more than you do
Christ, you'd best be forgetting them fast. You understand what
I'm saying? We're all guilty of this. But
Christ lives. They are dead. Christ lives,
Christ reigns, Christ rules. He is our Lord. He is the one
we emulate. He is the one we imitate. He
is the one we quote. He is the one we honor. He is
our wisdom. He is our knowledge, right? Him
and Him alone. Somebody once said that, and
you know the Bible shed a lot of light on those commentaries.
Do you hear that? The Bible shed a lot of light on
those commentaries. And I'll be perfectly honest with you.
And I said, putting that study, I don't reach up. I've got the
sermon after sermon, after sermon. I could very easily just look
up any, many, many more. Verse 17, chapter 2, reach up
first verse and get me a sermon. I've already got a sermon there.
Just preach it. But I don't do it. That's the
last resort. Last resort. I want God to speak
to me. I want Christ to speak to me
personally, to my heart. I know he uses men, but you better
forget it. What I'm saying here, what Paul's
saying here, is forget it. Forget those things which are
behind. Forget it. Drop it. And look at what he
says here, and reach forth unto those things which are before.
What things? Set your mind, set your affection
on things above. What things? Where Christ sits. You know, reach out and touch
the Lord, in other words. Forget it. Forget the past. Forget yesterday. Forget five
minutes ago. I best be forgetting this message
just as soon as I preach it and reach for Christ, right? Forget
it. You ever see the old westerns
or cop movies or whatever? That's the title of my message.
A guy be standing there with a gun, holding a gun on somebody,
and somebody come up behind him and stick a revolver in his back
and say, drop it. Reach. Drop it and reach. That's what
we better be doing. Drop that religion and reach
for Christ. Right? Everything you know, everything
you've done, everything you are, drop it! Forget it! And you better reach forward.
You're not saved by yesterday. You can't eat yesterday's mayonnaise
artist's stunt joke, right? Today, his mercies are new every
morning. Drop it. Brother John Davis is going to
be baptized. Does that mean that John just
got saved? Well, I tell you what, I'm going
to be in the water with John. And I'm going to turn around
to John and say, John, you ducked me. I want to confess him again.
I want to confess him too. Like Tim James says, he says,
sometimes when I hear the gospel, I get saved four or five I get saved every time I hear
the gospel. Lot, don't look back now. You forget Solomon. John, just as soon as you go
into that water and come out of there, you get dried off. You forget you
ever went, buddy. Forget it. Don't write her down. We're not
going to. We're not going to call the Southern Baptist Convention
and tell them how many baptisms we had this year. It wouldn't
make much of an impression, would it? Ain't going to be an old
notch on my belt. You don't spend any years, do
you? Forget it. Forget it. Reach. Reach. Put your hand to the plow.
Don't look back. You ever plowed? I was using
Henry's tractor the other day, and if you plow and if you look
back too much, you'll get plumb off the track, won't you? You'll
plow where you've already plowed, or you might even not be plowing.
You might run over in the yard or something. Don't look back.
Pass that curbside. Look forward. Plow forward, look
ahead. John, disciples of John, what
did John say? You better leave me boys, there's
the Lamb. Didn't he? Behold the Lamb of God. Now y'all
go follow him. Leave me, I'm not the Lamb. I
ain't even worthy to tie his shoes. And every true prophet
or preacher of the gospel, that's what he's saying. Don't send
me your money. Don't look to me, don't trust
me. There's the Lamb. Give unto God all that's due
him. Don't follow a man, follow Christ. Verse 14, I'm pressing
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ. Set your sights on him. Aim high. Aim high. The throne of God himself,
the Son of God. Aim high. Set your mark up there. What a prize. What a prize just
to be one in Christ. And there's nothing, there's
no one else worth remembering or pursuing but Christ and Him
crucified. Boy, we're going to find out
someday, aren't we? Someday. My, my, my, my, my. Someday. We're going to look back and
say, why on earth? Why on earth was I so taken up
with such foolish games? Aren't we? Now, we know we won't. We'll forget everything, but
right now, oh my, to win Christ, when we behold him. Now, Paul
says this. Let me look at it there in verse
15. He says, Now, let us therefore as many as be mature, able to
listen to this and enter into this. Now, you be this minded.
See? Now, you think like this. This is the way you need to be
thinking. Right? Drop it and reach. You think
like this, be best minded, and if, look at it again, verse 15,
and if in anything you be otherwise minded, pray God will tell you, pray
God will reveal it unto you. That's your desire, isn't it?
That's my desire. Anything that has to do with
me, anything that gets in the way of Me knowing Christ, trusting
in Christ, I best drop it. Right? Lord, make it like a hot
potato. Drop it. Drop it. Like, oh, I was listening to
Maurice. He said, idolatry. He said, I don't care if it's
a... I don't care what it is, how small it is. If anything
that gets in the way between you knowing God, worshiping God,
Christ, it's idolatry. Anything. I don't care what it
is. He said, God, you can have all you want. I mean, God gives
us all things richly to enjoy. You can have a lot of things.
As long as it doesn't get in the way of you worshiping, knowing
God, following him, it's all right. But I don't care if it's
a, he said, I forget the illustration he used, but if it's a bicycle,
no matter how small it is, if it gets in the way, it's idolatry. And you best drop it. Best drop
it. Well, be thus minded. I hope
that's been helpful to you. That's the way I want to be minded.
That's the way I want to think, Christ-minded toward Him about
everything, about anything. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss some questions.