Open your Bibles with me to the
book of Philippians. Paul's epistle to the church
at Philippi, Philippians chapter 3. Now, in these last services of
the closing year, I've chosen to preach through this chapter,
Philippians chapter 3. The reason I chose this chapter
is because this particular section of God's Word really describes
the past, the present, and the future of every true child of
God. It spans the time. The present
experience of a believer, a true child of God, a sinner saved
by grace, is all through this chapter. But it also emphasizes
our past and our future. And I really began at Wednesday
night. I've divided it into three messages. And the first message
was entitled, The Believer's Present Experience. Look at verse
3 of Philippians 3. I won't go over all that I preached
then. You know, I was guilty of doing
that in my younger years. If you did a series, you'd go
back and preach the message you already preached and then finally
get to that. People looking at their watches and everything.
And I'm not going to do that today, but I do want you to see
this by way of introduction. Chapter 3 and verse 3 of Philippians,
I've always said I think this is one of the best and most concise
definitions of what a Christian is, a true believer. And Paul
starts out here, he says, for we are the circumcision. Now
he's speaking of circumcision of the heart there. He's talking,
and what is circumcision of the heart? Well, it's the new birth.
Christ said you must be born again. It's regeneration. That is, the Holy Spirit imparting
spiritual life and knowledge, the graces of the Spirit, the
life of God, you might say, that God has for His people, eternal
life, spiritual life, and conversion, being brought to see our sins,
and the impossibility of salvation based on our works and driven
to Christ for all salvation. And so what he's talking about
is those who've been born again, whether you be Jew or Gentile,
spiritual circumcision, that's spiritual Israel. And he says,
which worship God in the Spirit. That is, we worship God as He
reveals Himself in His Word. In other words, whatever God
says about Himself in this Word, that's the way we worship Him.
That's the way we know Him. That's the way we identify Him
and distinguish Him and sanctify Him, set Him apart in our minds
and our hearts. And it also means we worship
from our hearts. That is, we're not here, we're
not here trying to do some kind of just outward ceremony, make
some outward show in the flesh, but if a true believer now You're
drawn here by a holy desire given to you by the spirit. Now you've
got rivals, you've got enemies within that'll keep you away. I know that, that's the war of
the flesh and the spirit. But you have a desire to come
here and to worship God in spirit, and then we worship him in the
truth. So we worship God in the spirit, from the heart. We're
not here to entertain. And, you know, a lot of people,
they equate emotionalism with the heart. And that's not so.
Nothing wrong with being emotional. Don't get me wrong. But that's
not the gauge of worshipping in the Spirit. The gauge of worshipping
in the Spirit is entering into the preaching of Christ. And
being joyous and comforted. And awestruck, in a sense, in
hearing Him lifted up. as the Lord our righteousness.
And then he says this, here's the second thing, he says we
rejoice in Christ Jesus. That word rejoice means to glory. It means to boast. In other words,
our boast, our confidence, our glory is Christ Jesus. Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. My glory is not me or you, each
other. My boast is not in myself, it's
in Christ. I mentioned this Wednesday night,
one of the old preachers, I don't know, I can't remember who it
was, said that preaching the gospel is just a man getting,
a sinner saved by grace getting up and bragging on Christ. Not
bragging on himself, not bragging on you, but bragging on Christ.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. You see, we're not here to build
memorials to men. We're not here to make a name
for ourselves. We're here to preach the name which is above
every name. that at His name every knee will
bow and every tongue will confess. I must decrease, He must increase.
And then He says and have no confidence in the flesh. I don't
have any confidence in the works or in the wills of men. There's
none righteous, no not one. None good, no not one. We're
sinners. And we're in need of a righteousness we cannot produce.
We're in need of God's grace. So we have no confidence in the
flesh. Now that term flesh leads me to this next message now.
And the title of this message is, The Believers Past and Present. Because we see both in this next
section, beginning at verse 4 and going through verse 11. The Believers
Past and Present. And so, what he does here, now
this word flesh is an interesting word in the scripture and you've
got to be careful with it. You've got to look at its context and what
he's talking about. Sometimes the word flesh simply
means the physical body. We saw that in what Brother Joe
read there in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. This fleshly body is going to
die and it's going to deteriorate, it's going to corrupt. And those
who are in Christ will be risen again and united to a new body,
a spiritual body. And I don't really know what
that's going to be like, and you don't either. The closest
thing in scripture we have to give us an idea is Christ in
His resurrection. But we don't know a whole lot
about it. But Paul said that this corruptible must put on
incorruption. Now, it's not that this physical
body is sin in itself. Sometimes the word flesh means
sin or the sin nature, fallen human nature, sinful thoughts,
sinful motives, sinful desires, and it just refers to sin. And
that's more in line with what Paul's talking about, but specifically
here, the word flesh is talking about the works and the efforts
of sinners to save themselves. Now here's the proof of it. Now
I want to show you, I call this the believer's past right here. And listen to what Paul says.
He says in verse four, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now here's what Paul's
saying. And a lot of commentators when
you read their comments on this verse, they'll say, well Paul
was bragging here. And he's really not bragging,
because he's going to show you he has nothing to brag about.
And I'll show you that in just a moment. But here's what this
man is actually saying. And I want you to understand
that when you read these words, Paul was inspired to write these
by the Holy Spirit. This is the Word of God. This
is how Paul honestly views it, and this is the truth. And here's
what he's saying. He's saying, if anybody on earth
could have saved themselves, or made themselves holy, or made
themselves righteous by works of the flesh, I'm the one who
could have done it. I'm more. If you say you're saved,
and most people will claim that they're saved, well, what is
the ground of your salvation? What is the basis? Well, I made
a profession when I was 12. That's not a good ground. Or I was baptized. Or I joined
the church. Or I've never missed a Sunday
school lesson. Whatever. I've given my time. Or I've given to charity. What
is the ground? Or I made a decision. That's
a big one. I came to the altar. Somebody said, why don't you
have an altar up here? Well, our altar's Christ. No altar
up here. Don't come up here and bow down
here. No, sir. Our altar is Christ. What is
the ground of your salvation? If your claim of salvation is
based upon anything other than totally, 100% exclusively Christ
and Him crucified and risen again, then it's of the flesh. Mark
it down. That's just about the easiest
way to put it, I know. I mean, you can name all the
things, you know. But Paul said, if anybody could have made it
that way, I more. Now, when I read through these,
I call this every believer's past. And I didn't go through
the same things that Paul went through, but I want you to think
of it as an attitude of self-righteousness. By nature, every person, by nature,
before we're saved, before we're circumcised in heart and ears,
before we're brought to conviction of sin and conviction of Christ,
by nature, we all believe in some form, in some way, to some
degree, salvation by the works and the will of men. And that's
what this represents right here. So even though the specifics
in my case and in your case may be different, the attitude is
the same. Because until God the Holy Spirit
brings us down off of our high horse of religion and self-righteousness,
we're just like the Apostle Paul. We all believe by name. One old preacher said it this
way, he said, we all think we're saved before we're saved until
we're saved. And that's the way it is. Whatever
it is, your ground of salvation, your claim of salvation, your
proof of salvation, if it's anything but Christ alone, His blood alone,
His righteousness alone, then you can put yourself right in
this category. Now, I believe this is every
believer's past. Listen to what he says. Now,
he says he identifies the flesh that he's talking about. He starts
out in verse 5, he was circumcised the eighth day. That's circumcision
of the flesh according to the law. Of the stock of Israel,
that is a physical descendant of Abraham, He says, of the tribe
of Benjamin. That was an honored tribe in
their minds. And Hebrew of Hebrews, a full-blood,
pure-blood Hebrew. And I often say when I read,
I don't know how Paul knew that for sure. I guess he had papers.
I don't know. But he said, there's no mixed
blood in me. As touching the law, that is
the law of Moses, a Pharisee. That means he was one who went
above and beyond the call of duty. He wasn't just your average
everyday law keeper. I mean, he was adamant. Verse
six, he says, concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Now,
why would he add that? Because that sounds like a bad
thing. Well, you've got to understand Paul's mindset. When he was a
self-righteous, religious, unbelieving Jew, he persecuted the church
because he thought the church was heresy. And that's what the
law said. There would be no heretics in
Israel. And so he was zealous to do that. He says, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. That's his
outward character and conduct. In other words, Paul could not
be accused of being a lawbreaker by men who watched his life. That's what he's saying. Now,
everything that Paul writes here are things of the flesh. It represents
the efforts and works of men to establish a righteousness
of their own. Look back at Romans chapter 9. Think about it this way. In order
for a sinner to be saved and enter heaven, that sinner must
be righteous before God. Do you understand that? That sinner
must be righteous before God. Now here's the question. How
does a sinner become righteous? Well, Paul said, well, I was
circumcised the eighth day. I was of the stock of Israel,
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. That's touching the
law of Pharisees. That's how Paul sought to become
righteous. Today, how do people seek to
become righteous? They make their decisions. They
walk an aisle. They get baptized. They join
the church. Is that what makes you righteous?
You understand what I'm saying here? That's the issue. Look
at Romans chapter 9 and verse 31. He says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. They were trying to be righteous,
but they didn't make it. That's what he's saying. Wherefore? Why? That means why. Why didn't they make it? Well,
because they sought it not by faith, but as it were, by the
works of the law. They didn't seek righteousness
by faith, but they sought righteousness by works. Now that's the flesh.
He says, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now Paul
is going to be going back into the Old Testament and he's going
to extract some verses from Isaiah to show what this stumbling stone
is. Verse 33, as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling
stone and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. That stumbling stone is a person.
And he's quoting here from Isaiah 28. which is a prophecy of the
coming of Christ. Christ came to do what? To redeem
His people and save us from our sins. How? By His death in establishing
the only righteousness whereby God could be just and justify
a sinner like me and like you. So that if I seek righteousness
by my works, what am I doing? I'm denying Christ. I'm rejecting
Him. I'm saying that what he did was
no good, not worth anything. I'm saying that he did it all
in vain because I can do it by my works. What is it to seek
righteousness by faith? Somebody says, well, that means
to believe. No, it isn't. Oh, no. Faith is not our righteousness. Faith and righteousness are distinct.
Let me show you what I mean. Look at chapter 10 there of Romans
in verse 1. He says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.
Now remember Paul said concerning zeal, persecuting the church.
He said they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, God's standard
of righteousness. Somebody asked me one time, how
good must I be to go to heaven? And I said, you got to be perfect. Perfect. He said, well, no man
can do that. And I said, yeah, that's right.
That's why salvation is by grace and not by works. Because no
man can do that. It took the God-man to do that.
You see, our salvation is in Him. And He says, they're ignorant
of that. They're ignorant of God's righteousness.
And going about to establish their own righteousness. That's
what Paul is describing in Philippians 3, 4 through 6. Circumcise the... Does circumcision make you righteous?
He thought so. Does being a Hebrew of Hebrews
make you righteous? He thought so at one time. What is it that you thought made
you righteous before God brought you to see yourself and drive
you to Christ? Whatever that was, you can put
it right in that category of the flesh. He says, "...and have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Verse
4, look at it. Hebrews or Romans 10 for Christ
is the end of the law. That word end means the fulfillment,
the finishing, the perfecting of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. What is it to seek righteousness
by faith? It's to seek righteousness in
Christ. He is the Lord my righteousness. Go back to Philippians 3. All
of these things Paul thought recommended him unto God. But now look at verse 7. Here
is Paul brought to repentance and faith. And this passage here
I believe is one of the best definitions of faith and repentance
you'll find in the Bible. Look at verse 7. But what things
were gain to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. You see that? What a statement.
I mean, that's amazing. You want to talk about amazing
grace, this is it. Right here. This is the new birth. This is regeneration and conversion. His mind and his heart has been
changed. You see? And somebody says, well,
what day did it happen? Who cares? I think Paul knew. It was probably on the road to
Damascus. But that's not the issue here. It's not finding
a date. I know some preachers who'll
tell you, you've got to know the exact day and time that you were born
again or else you're not born again. That's a lie. That's a lie. I just know I have
been born again. Why? Because what things were
gained to me, Those things that I used to think recommended me
unto God, now I count nothing. Loss, I had it in the profit
column, you accountants, I had it in the profit column, now
I put it in the loss column. Now, in light of what? Christ. Listen to what he says there.
Those I counted loss for Christ. In other words, now Christ is
everything. His blood is everything in the
forgiveness of all my sins, past, present. His blood is the complete
payment, redemption price for all my sins. He paid it all. I didn't pay anything. What I
used to think was payment, now I count the loss. His righteousness,
the merits of His obedience unto death, not what I do for God,
but what He did for me is everything to recommend me unto God. Everything
else is loss. Christ is all. Christ is everything,
you see? And he says, look at verse 8,
he goes on. He says, he says, Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for or in light of the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done that I may
win or literally gain Christ. That word win there is the same
word that he used for gain in verse 7. What I used to think
was gain is nothing now. It didn't gain me anything. It
didn't mean anything. In fact, it drove me farther
away from God. Now my only gain before God is
Christ. And I may gain Him. You see if
I have Christ I have everything. You know what Paul is saying
here? Listen to this. He's saying this, everything that God requires
of me in order to be saved, in order to be justified, in order
to be preserved and glorified, I find in Christ. Nothing outside
of Him. Well, preacher, doesn't God require
things of us? Yes, He does. But not in order
to be saved. Not in order to make yourself
righteous. That's all in Christ. Everything that God requires
of us is just the fruit and the result of what Christ is and
what he's done. You see that? You notice what
he said there? He used a very graphic language.
He said, I do count it, but dumb. Everything that Paul was so proud
of before, Saul of Tarsus, you remember him, you read about
him. Everything that Saul of Tarsus was so proud of in the
sense that he thought it recommended him unto God, everything that
he thought made him righteous and holy before God, everything
he thought before that separated him from the heathen, he now
says, I count it but dung. And that word is dung. That's
right. That I may have Christ. That
I may gain Christ. You see that? You know what that
is? That's repentance of dead works and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so, listen to his description
of his present life. Now, there's his past. You see,
it takes a saving revelation of the glory of God in Christ
to bring a sinner to this point. You won't come to this point
anyway else. I can preach the law to you and beat you down
verbally with the law, and you might change your ways, you might
join the church, you might reform your life, but it will not bring
you to this point of faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. We can embarrass you, ostracize you, we can do all
kinds of things, but it will not bring you to this point.
The only thing that's going to bring a sinner to this point
is the power of God in the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. So there's Paul, he's describing
his past. But it doesn't stop there. Here's his present life
of faith. He said, I want to gain Christ. All that other stuff, it's no
gain, it's no profit, there's no righteousness there, there's
no salvation there. It means nothing, less than nothing,
even dung. But he said, here's my hope.
Now here's the believer's present hope. Verse 9, be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law. That is my attempts to keep the
law. But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Think about that. I want to be
found in him. That's my goal. That's my whole
life. I want to be found in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is the law. Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah
64, 6, that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before a holy
God, when compared to Christ. He says, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. Now there's a couple ways you
can see that. The faith of Christ could mean this, the merits of
his obedience unto death to fulfill righteousness. What he accomplished.
He was faithful to do what the Father sent him to do. And he
did not sin. He did not give up. He did not
faint. He did not quit. He was faithful
to the end. John 13 1 said he loved his own,
his own nation, his own people. That's spiritual Israel. His
sheep, His church, unto the end, the finishing of the work. Same
word that Paul used in Romans 10, verse 4, Christ is the end
of the law. He did it all. He established
judgment and justice in the earth. Everything He did was perfect
in His thoughts, in His attitude, in His deeds. He was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. suffering for the
sins of His people charged to Him. He was made sin, Christ
who knew no sin, for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He was made a curse, the Scripture
said. He was brought under the curse because of the guilt of
His people charged to Him. He became fully accountable,
indebted to God for the sins of His sheep and He died the
death that we deserved and earned. He's called the Lord our righteousness.
So that could be the faith of Christ, His faithful. But it
could be faith in Christ too, faith of which He's the author
and the finisher. What is faith? It's not just
believing. It's believing in Christ. It's
not just hoping. It's hoping in Him. It's not
wishful thinking. Somebody says, well, you don't
get what you want because you don't believe hard enough. or
you don't believe sincere enough. My friend, that's a lie of false
religion. Faith, the value of faith is determined by its object. How many of you believe the moon
is made of green cheese? Well, I'm glad nobody raised
their hand, but I got news for you. It doesn't matter if you
believe it or not, that doesn't make it right. You see, the thing about
it is, it's not faith itself. There's plenty of people who
have sincere, strong faith in an idol. They believe a lie. So it's not just believing, but
in whom do we believe? Paul said it this way. He said,
for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that
day. Now what have I committed unto Him? My whole salvation
is committed to Him. My whole standing before God
is committed to Christ. Not to you, not to me. It's committed
to Him. And He's able. I know He's able. That's what faith is all about.
It's not how much you believe. There's weak faith and there's
strong faith, mature faith. But all true saving faith has
Christ for its object. You'll have moments of doubt.
That's the sin that so easily besets us that Paul spoke of
in Hebrews 12. But how do you run the race of
grace? He said, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the beginner of it and the
completer of it. Faith is the gift of God. It's
not a product of your free will. It's a gift of God. That's what
the Bible teaches. You say, well, I choose to believe
what I want to believe. Well, that's right. Our Constitution
gives you that right. It gives you the right to be
wrong. That's right. And listen, we
ought to fight for that right. And men have. And men and women
have. And they've done. And I thank God for them. But
you see, your right to believe something doesn't make that something
right. If Christ and Him crucified and
risen again is not the sole object of your faith, it's not the faith
that's the gift of God. And then he says in verse 9,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's the righteousness
of Christ that we lay hold of, we take hold of. I'm going to
talk about that tonight. Laying hold of Christ. We take
hold of Him with the eye of faith. And it's the righteousness which
is of God, not of man. Saul of Tarsus was seeking the
righteousness of man. That'll do you no good. Paul
wrote in Romans 1 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and the Greek also. Verse 17,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. Not the righteousness of men.
He says, I want to be found in Him. To be found in Christ. To be in Christ. Listen, to be
in Christ means to be perfectly righteous before God. Based on
His righteousness charged to me. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again. Seated at the right hand of the
Father. Ever living to make intercession for us. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. And so to be in
Christ is to be perfectly righteous before God, not by our works,
but by His work alone. To be in Christ is to be totally
absolved of all sin debt, all guilt. All condemnation, not
by our works, but by His blood alone. Christ paid it all. Our
righteousness before God is the righteousness of God in Christ
charged to us by God Himself. And when God the Holy Spirit
gives us that circumcision of the heart, that regeneration
and conversion, that new birth, we lay hold of Him. We run to
Him. We rest in Him and His finished
work. Look at verse 10 of Philippians
3. He says, that I may know Him. and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death. When God the Holy Spirit brings
us to Christ, He teaches us many things and we know Christ. We
know who He is. He's God in human flesh. He's
the God-man. He's the Son of God incarnate.
He's Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. He's Emmanuel, which being interpreted
as God with us. He's our salvation, just like
Simeon when he took up the Christ child in his hands. As it's recorded
in Luke chapter 2, he said, Now your servants ready to depart,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Christ is our salvation. We know
what he accomplished on Calvary's cross. It wasn't an attempt to
make us savable. It wasn't an attempt to make
us redeemable if we would cooperate. It was the completed salvation
of His people in redemption. And He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And so we know Him. The Bible
says this is life eternal that they may know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. But we want to
know more of Him, don't we? That's why we come to worship
service. That's why we study his word. I want to know more
of him. Because the more I know of him, the more I grow in grace
and knowledge of him, the more comfort, the more peace, the
more assurance I have of my salvation. I want to know more. I want to
know the power of his resurrection. The power of his resurrection
declares that I'm justified before God. He was raised again for
our justification. Not guilty. Standing before a
holy... Think about that. Standing before
a holy God who knows not only my outward acts, but He knows
the thoughts and the intents and the attitudes of my heart
over my whole life. And to hear someone who is that
omniscient say to me, not guilty. How can that be? How can that
be? There's only one way. Through
Jesus Christ our Lord. It's because I'm washed in His
blood. What can wash away my sins? Huh? Nothing but the waters
of baptism. Is that what that song says?
No. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but tears of remorse.
Is that what it says? No. Nothing but the blood of
Jesus. That's it. Nothing else. Everything
else is lost. Everything else is done. He's
my gain. That's the power of His resurrection.
The power of His resurrection is His power to give me life
from the dead. That's regeneration. My spiritual
life within comes from His death. His death is the ground. My spiritual
life is the fruit. The power of His resurrection
guarantees my resurrection. That's what Brother Joe read
back here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when he speaks of the resurrection
of the dead and how this corruptible must put on incorruption. In
verse 55 it says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the power
of His resurrection. The power of His resurrection
is Christ living in me and through me. Paul wrote in Galatians 2.20,
listen to this, he said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Why? Because He lives. Yet not
I, I'm not the source of that life, Christ liveth in me and
the life which I now live in the flesh, that is in this human
body, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave Himself for me. That's the power of His resurrection.
He says, I want to know the fellowship of His sufferings back here in
verse 10. That's separation from the world and suffering for Christ's
sake. Christ told His disciples in
John 15 and verse 18, He said, marvel not if the world hated
me before it hated you. It's to know my personal interest
in His sufferings. Paul wrote, God forbid that I
should glory save in what? The cross. Jesus Christ, His
finished work. It's to know what He accomplished
in His sufferings. He accomplished my redemption,
my salvation, my justification, all of it. He ensured and secured
my entire salvation unto final glory by His suffering unto death. To know the fellowship of his
suffering is to know that separation that comes from standing with
him. And then he says in verse 10, being made conformable unto
his death. Let me show you this passage,
Romans 6. If you want to understand that, being conformable unto
his death. That means to be united in the
likeness of his death. Listen to what Paul writes here.
I won't go over the whole chapter, but read the whole chapter when
you get an opportunity. It's talking about Christ, verse
8. He says in Romans 6, verse 8,
Now if we be dead with Christ... Now I want to be conformable
unto His death. Alright, if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. There's the power
of His resurrection. Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more, Death hath no more dominion over
him. That means his death was the
death of death. Now we're going to die physically,
but that'll be it. We'll be raised again never to
die again, just like Christ. That's being conformable unto
his death. Look at verse 10. For in that
he died, he died unto sin, how many times? Once. One offering
for sin, for by one offering he hath perfected them that are
sanctified forever. One offering. By His one offering.
The blood of bulls and goats couldn't do that, could it? They
had to be offered every day, every week. The blood of atonement
had to be offered every year. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin. The blood of a mere man could
not do that, but this is the blood of the God-man. He died
unto sin once. He put it away. And then, but
in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon, or
account. You know that word reckon there
is impute. That's the same word. Reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin. That is, unto sin's penalty.
under sin's condemnation. But alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, and let not sin therefore reign, rule in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust there. That's
being made conformable unto his death. When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose again, I arose again. How is that possible?
He's my substitute. He's my surety. He's my sin-bearer. He's my surety and offering.
and then look back at Philippians 3 look at verse 11 this will
be a transition from this message to tonight's because here we're
going to talk about the believers present and future tonight he
said if by any means literally in order that that would I believe
a better translation Paul's not doubting here But he's saying,
and what he's saying here, the means of resurrection, if by
any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
The means of attaining the resurrection of the dead is not man's, it's
God's. He says, in order that I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. That's our goal. That's what
the believer's present hope is. That we might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. In other words, the grave is
not the end for us. It's the beginning. It's the
beginning. All right. Let's sing as our
closing hymn, hymn number 58, Jesus, the very thought of thee.