All right, let's look back here
at Philippians chapter 3. Now tonight, I'm going to talk
to you about the believer's present and future. That's the title
of the message. As I told you this morning and
last Wednesday, this passage here, Philippians 3, covers the
whole gamut of the life of a believer, past, present, and future. We
looked at a believer's present experience, verse 3 there, that
great, great description of a believer. We are the circumcision, the
circumcision of the heart, born again from above. That's the
product, the fruit, the effect of the death of Christ on the
cross. He said, if that corn of wheat, remember he said this
in John 12, if that seed of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it's going to bring forth much fruit. and he said that speaking
of the death which he would die out of his death comes our life
he he was raised from the dead signifying that he finished the
work that he was given to do and every time every time a lost
sinner is brought a lost sheep a lost sinner is found by the
lord and brought into the kingdom under the preaching of the gospel
That's the fulfillment of what Christ accomplished on Calvary. That new birth, that work of
the Holy Spirit in us is the fruit and result of the work
of Christ for us. And it's a necessary work. It's
necessary because Christ died. And so we look to him. And our
circumcision is circumcision of the heart. We worship God
in the Spirit. We worship God as He reveals
Himself in His Word through Christ. And we worship Him from the heart
and we rejoice or we boast and have confidence in Christ Jesus
for all salvation. Everything God requires Of me,
I find complete and finished and full and perfect in Christ.
All the righteousness that God requires of me, I find in Christ. All the redemptive payment, the
payment for my sins that God requires, I find full in Christ. Jesus paid it all. We sing that
song. And we mean it. That's what the
Word of God says. Sometimes I think I sing these
hymns and I just don't realize, you know, that, hey, these things
are true. This isn't just poetry. This is truth. This is reality
for a child of God. Everything that God has for me
by way of blessing, I find full in Christ. And so I glory in
Christ. I boast in Him, not in myself. We brag on Him. We're going to
take the Lord's Supper. That's a testimony to His greatness,
the greatness of our Savior. The greatness of His redemptive
work, that blood that was shed, that righteousness that was established
by the God-man. And so that's what we're going
to do in the Lord's Supper. We're going to rejoice in Christ.
And if you can't rejoice in Christ and Him alone, you don't need
to take that supper. That's the difference. Somebody
asked me, who's supposed to take it? Well, it's for believers. It's for those who rejoice in
Christ and, verse 3, have no confidence in the flesh. I don't
have any confidence in myself. I don't have any confidence in
my works or my will. My confidence is all in Christ.
And that's the believer's present experience. Now we grow in grace
and in knowledge of this. But that's where we start. And
then we looked at the believer's past and present here. We talked
about repentance. Paul said in verse 7, what things
were gained, now I count but loss for Christ. Everything that
I used to think as a lost sinner that would recommend me unto
God, I see now as nothing. The only thing that recommends
a sinner unto God is Christ and Him crucified and risen. That's
it. I have, what's that song that
they used to sing? My only plea, Christ died for
me. Is that really your only plea?
Because that's what it's supposed to be, isn't it? That's my only
plea. If it's anything else, Christ
will have no rivals. Anything else is a denial of
Christ. So I have nothing to plead but
His blood for the forgiveness of all my sins, His righteousness
for my right standing and acceptance before God. And so Paul deals
with that. Now tonight I want us to look
at the present and the future. of believers. And it starts off
here with the high calling of God. The high calling of God. And it is a high calling. It's
the highest of all callings. It's such a high calling that
man by nature or man by his works cannot reach it. You cannot attain
to it. It's too high for you, it's too
high for me. There's not a man on earth who can attain to this
high calling. If anybody attains to this high
calling, it's by the grace, goodness, power of God alone. And that's
it. Look at verse 12. Now, he said
here, look at verse 11 first. He talks about if by any means
that I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now,
what does the resurrection of the dead refer to? Well, you
know that refers to the second coming of Christ. That's when
Christ will come again, that glorious day that's appointed
by God, which no man knows the day or the hour. Scripture says
that. When Christ will come again,
He came the first time to do what? To put away sin. He'll
come the second time without sin. The sin question will already
be taken care of, you see. It's already been taken care
of for God's people in Christ. And He'll come again the second
time without sin. He's going to split the clouds.
The Scripture teaches this all over the place. Even Job knew
it. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth and He'll stand in the
latter day. Job understood the first coming
of Christ. He was a worshiper by sacrifice. He knew he needed a substitute,
just like Abel. And he knew Christ is coming
again. We know that too. Several people over the past
few years have talked about the time, you know. There was that
fellow out in California. He wrote a book about it. He
was wrong, said he was wrong, and he said another time. He
was wrong again. Finally, he said he repented
of ever trying to figure it out. He should have started out that
way. Because the scripture says you can't figure it out. And
then everybody's been worrying about the Mayan calendar. And
somebody said the Mayans didn't know when the world was going
to end. They just ran out of rock. And that's probably the
truth. People have always, there's always
been people around trying to figure it out, trying to mathematically
figure it out. You cannot do it. Paul doesn't
say anything about a time here. All he simply says is that my
goal in life is to be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but only that which is through the faith
of Christ which is the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's
what I want. I want the righteousness which
is of God because that's the only thing that's going to do
me and you any good at judgment. Nothing else. Anything less is
utter depravity and sin. You must have a righteousness
that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
the best people on earth in the eyes of the Jews. Pick out the
best one on earth that ever has lived or ever will live, and
your righteousness has to exceed his. Well, how can that be? The
righteousness of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the Lord our righteousness. And so Paul says, my goal is
to know Him. I want to know Christ. And that's
why this preaching thing has to be based upon, centered around
and aimed toward His glory and His truth. I want to know the
power of His resurrection. His resurrection, you see, that's
my justification before God. He arose from the dead. What
does that mean? That means Christ put away my
sins that were charged to Him and His righteousness is charged
to me. I'm justified before God and
that will never change. That'll never change because
it's the righteousness of God. The power of His resurrection,
that's new life by the Spirit. I'm born again by the Spirit.
because I have life from Christ. And then the fellowship of His
sufferings, that's the separation from the world, conformable to
His death. When He died, I died. When He
was buried, I was buried. When He arose again, I arose
again. In order that, verse 11, that I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. I want to be glorified with Him.
That's what He's talking. When Christ comes again, if I'm
already dead and gone, if Christ comes again, I'll be coming with
Him. That's what the scripture teaches, isn't it? The dead in
Christ will come with him. And then the graves will be opened,
and they'll be risen from the dead, and they'll be united with
new bodies, spiritual bodies. And I've told you before, I don't
know all the ins and outs of that. I can't describe that for
you. I had a fellow one time who wrote a book on it, wanted
to sell me the book, and I said, just keep it. The scripture doesn't
say enough about it for anybody to write a book on it. I'm telling
you, I've studied it. It's just not there. But I know
this, there'll be no tears, there'll be no sorrow, there'll be no
pain, there'll be no sickness, there'll be no death. And we'll
inhabit a city wherein dwelleth righteousness, and we'll be there
forever and ever. Somebody asked me, what are we
going to be doing? Well, I know we'll be worshiping God. I think we'll
have other things to do, but I don't know. And you don't either. That's just speculation because
people like that stuff. You know, and it does sell books,
but it's for naught. But Paul said, I want to attain
to the resurrection of them. Now look at verse 12. Now here's
the high calling of God. Now listen to what he says. He
says, Not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Now what he's
saying here is this, as a believer, as a sinner saved by grace, as
one who's been born of God from above, my goal and my hope for
the future is that I will be one day in myself perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. Now that's the whole goal of
God's predestinating purpose, Romans chapter 8 tells us that.
That's what it says, that's his purpose. Now he says, not as
though I have already attained. Now one thing to understand this
passage, you've got to make a distinction here. You've got to make a distinction
between what believers have already attained in Christ and what we
have not already attained in ourselves. Well, we've already
attained salvation. We're saved by the grace of God. Now, there is a sense, you know,
we talk about this quite a bit. Somebody says, well, there's
a sense in which I have been saved. There's a sense in which
I am being saved. And there's a sense in which
I will be saved. And that's true. We can talk
about salvation in that way. I have been saved, referring
to the new birth. I've been born again by the Spirit
of God. I've been brought into the fold. I am being saved. That has to do with perseverance.
We read about that in Hebrews chapter 12, running the race
of grace. We persevere because we're preserved
by the grace of God. And we're in a continual state
of being saved in that sense. And then I will be saved because
I will be glorified. Talking about our glorification.
But my friend, we've already attained salvation by the grace
of God in Christ. For by grace, are you saved?
If we read that literally from the original language, it would
read like this. For by grace, you have been saved. For by grace,
you have been saved through faith in that not of yourselves, not
of works. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We've been saved by the grace
of God in Christ. There's a sense in which we could
say we've been saved from eternity. We're participants, if you're
a believer, if you're a child of God, if you've been born again
by the Spirit, you're a participant in a salvation that was given
you in Christ Jesus before the world began. That's what Paul
said. Saved from eternity. There is
a sense in which you were saved in time at the cross. When Christ
died, He is our salvation. We glory in the cross. Everything
that God requires of us was fulfilled at the cross in time by Christ,
the God-man, our redemption. You see, we're not working to
redeem ourselves. We're looking back on Christ
who's already redeemed us. He's already paid the full redemption
price, justified in Him. And then we're saved in the new
birth. And that's an accomplished fact.
That's an accomplished act in time. We don't have to know the
exact day and time. That's not important. The issue
is this. If you want to know if you've
been born again, just read Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3 again.
Does that describe you? We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, rejoicing Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the faith. Does that describe you today?
If that does, if that truly describes you today, then you've been born
again. What difference does it make if it was two years ago,
15 years ago, or what? You see? We've already been justified. We were talking about this in
the study. There's a sense in which we've been justified from
eternity. When did Christ become, if you're
a believer now, when did Christ become your surety in the eternal
covenant of grace? And that's a timeless thing.
There's a sense when we were justified by Christ on Calvary
when He actually in time came and fulfilled the purpose of
God before time. He put away my sins. He established
the righteousness that I need to be justified before God. And
then there's a sense in which we're justified at the new birth
when God brings us to faith in Christ, but that's only in our
conscience, the court of conscience. You see, that's when God lets
us in on what Christ has accomplished for us. We've been regenerated,
not by our works, not by our wills, not by our efforts, but
by the grace and power of God in Christ. We've attained, and
there's one sense in which we've attained perfection. Now, the
idea of perfection in the Bible here, when you see that word
perfect, don't always think of the word meaning moral perfection
as if that means you're morally perfect. If you're a believer,
today, I'm going to tell you something. You are not morally
perfect in yourself. You are not. The Bible doesn't
teach that you are. You can't even achieve moral
perfection in yourself. The highest that you're going
to get in this life is, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver
me from this body of death. I thank God, my Savior, through
Jesus Christ, the Lord. That's it. We grow in grace and
in knowledge. But let me show you a way that
we're already perfected. That means complete. That means
finished. That's what the idea is here.
And Paul's saying here in verse 12, not as though I'd already
attained, either we're already finished. Or me, he's talking
about himself now. But there is a sense in which
it's all finished. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10 with me. Look over here. And look at verse
10. Hebrews 10 and verse 10. Talking
about the coming of Christ to do the will of God. He came to
do the will of His Father. And it says in verse 10 of Hebrews
10, by the which will, by the will of the Father, we are sanctified,
that is, we are set apart through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. That's His sacrifice on Calvary.
And every priest stands daily ministering, offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, talking
about the old covenant priesthood. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified, them that are set apart. His one offering
finished me as far as sin goes. It cannot be charged to me. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? So there is a
sense in which I am complete and finished and perfected in
Christ. Colossians chapter 2. Let me
read that to you. Colossians 2 and verse 9. Just
over a few pages from Philippians. It says in Colossians 2 and verse
9. For in him, now notice the language
here. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete, how? in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. I am complete in Him.
And that's what we're talking about. We've attained salvation
not by our achievements, not by our works, not by our wills,
but by what Christ accomplished on Calvary. What He did for us
in establishing righteousness. In that sense, we are complete.
But in ourselves, Now, in ourselves, back here in Philippians 3, we
are not finished. You're not a finished product
in yourself right now. Would you like to be right now?
Would you like to live forever in this body of death? Would
you like to live forever with the struggles that you have,
the flesh and the spirit? Would you like to live like that
forever? And that's what Paul's talking about. David spoke it
over in Psalm 17. Let me just read that to you.
King David, he made a statement about this in verse 15 of Psalm
17. He said, As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. That's when I'll be satisfied.
Now, right now I'm satisfied with Christ. How about you? But
I'm not satisfied with Bill right now. You see what I'm saying? And that's what Paul's making
this distinction here. John said it, 1 John chapter
3 and verse 2. He said, we're now the children
of God, but it does not yet appear what we shall be. That hasn't
come into our view yet. That hasn't come into our experience
yet. You see, Paul said, I want to attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. And he says, it's not as though
I had already attained perfection in myself, completeness in myself. Either we're already perfect.
Verse 12, he says, I follow after if that I may apprehend. He said,
I'm pressing on. That's what that means. I'm pressing
forward towards the goal of perfect conformity to Christ. He said,
I follow after if that I may apprehend. That word apprehend
literally means to lay hold of something. It means to reach
out and grab something with a grip that you will never let go. To
make one's own possession, that's what it means. I may apprehend
that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. In other words,
Christ has laid hold of me. That's the ground of salvation.
Now, I want to lay hold of Him. That's the fruit of salvation.
Christ took possession of me in electing grace. I was given
to Him before the foundation of the world. Christ took possession
of me in redeeming grace. He paid the price for me. He
bought me with the price of His own precious blood. And Christ
takes hold of me, takes possession of me in regenerating grace.
He brings me to himself by faith. Now, he says, this is why it's
impossible for a believer to lose his salvation. Christ has
hold on you. Look at John chapter 10. John chapter 10. This is the
Good Shepherd chapter. Look at verse 27. See, this is
why a believer cannot lose his salvation. This is why we really
believe, once saved, always saved. Because when you're saved, what
does that mean? That means Christ has taken possession of you.
He's taken hold of you. He said in verse 27 of John 10,
my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life. It's a gift. And they shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. Nothing
can take us away from His hand. He's got a grip on you if you're
His. He says, My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand, and I and My Father are one. That's
eternal security right there. And what Paul is saying back
here in Philippians 3 is this, Christ has laid hold of me, and
my goal is to continue to lay hold of Him. I'm apprehended,
and I want to apprehend him. And he says, look at verse 13.
He says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, that
is, final glory in heaven, absolute perfection within himself with
no sin, no contamination, You see, we still have to deal with
the presence of sin in our lives, in ourselves. We still have to
deal with the contamination of sin within ourselves. We still
have to deal with the influence of sin, the contamination of
it, all of that. If you didn't have to deal with
that, you wouldn't have a warfare now. You wouldn't have to fight
within yourself whether or not to obey God or to obey self.
You wouldn't have to fight within yourself to fulfill the glory
of God or to fulfill your own passions. There'd be no battle,
see, if you were perfectly conformed to Christ in yourself. And so
Paul says, I haven't yet laid hold of glory, eternal, finished
glory, final glory. But this one thing I do, listen
to, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth
unto those things which are before. He says, this one thing, I do. He doesn't say, I will do it.
He says, I do it. This is the present. What is
he talking about? He's like a sprinter running
a race. You ever seen sprinters run a race? I'll tell you the
last thing on a sprinter's mind when he hears the gun go off. The last thing on that sprinter's
mind is the starting line. I guarantee you that sprinter,
I've seen it and I've done it. I guarantee you when that gun
sounds off and that means go, he'll never think about that
starting line again. Unless he has what they call
a false start. That's right. Now what's a false
start in the analogy here? It's a sinner trying to reach
the goal by his self-efforts and his works. That's a false
start. What's the only right start? Starting out with that
which I've already attained. Perfect conformity to Christ,
not in my character and conduct, but in Him. I'm justified. I'm sanctified. I'm saved by
the grace of God. And listen to it. Before I make
the first step in this race, I'm already saved in Christ.
I've already attained justification before God. Before I take the
first step, That's the way it is. That's the start. But now
listen, when we start this race, we never forget Christ. We never
forget what He's accomplished for it, but we forget ourselves. We deny self and look towards
Him. And so, like that sprinter running
the race, not thinking about the starting line, past sins,
past experience, past disappointments, past achievements, we keep our
eyes fixed on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews
12. That's what he's talking about. Look at verse 14. He says, I
press toward the mark. That mark is a goal. For the
prize. Now what is that prize? It's
a crown of righteousness. It's a crown of life. Of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You've heard me say before
that true Christianity is advanced citizenship. It calls on chosen
redeemed, justified, and regenerated sinners to follow Christ and
obey Him motivated by the highest of virtues, grace, grace, love,
and gratitude. You see, those motives of legalism
and mercenary promises of earned reward, that's a low motive.
That's a low calling. That's the lowest of all. Oh
yeah, I'll serve you if you pay me. What a low calling. That's of the flesh. But to serve
the king of kings as motivated by grace and gratitude and love,
that's a high calling. That's the highest of all callings. And that high calling of God,
pressing toward that mark for that prize, Not that which we
earn, but that which He's freely given us. Look at it. Look at
verse 15. He says, Let us, therefore, as
many as be perfect, complete in Christ, be thus minded. This is the way we're to think.
This is the way we're to think. He says, And if any of you be
otherwise minded, God will reveal it to you. This is interesting
right here. What He's doing now, He's talking about life in this
present world in light of our future glory. In light of this
future goal, and in light of the assurance of attaining that
goal by the grace and power of God in Christ, how should we
think? How should we live? Well, as
many as be perfect in Christ. Now, some commentators say that
has the idea of maturity, and that may be. We grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. But he says this, think the same
way, have the same mind, the same attitude, hold these same
convictions concerning this high calling of God. What is that? Well, count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. That's the way we're
to think. You see, that's it. I don't need
anything but Christ and Him crucified and risen to recommend me unto
God. How are we to think? Well, we're
to be willing to suffer the loss of all things that we may win
or gain Christ. If I have Christ, I have everything.
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. What more do I need if I have it all? If I have Him,
I have it all. All things that are good and
honoring to God, all things that'll last eternally, I have them in
Christ. I may not have experienced it
all yet, but I have it all. Peter called it an inheritance
that's incorruptible and undefiled. I'll tell you one thing I know
that means. It means I didn't have anything to do with it.
Because if I had anything to do with it, it'd be very corruptible
and very defiled. But Christ is all. How are we
to think? Well, to disclaim perfection
in ourselves, but to aim for perfection to honor Him. To honor
Him. Now, some people say, well, that's
not enough for me. Well, you haven't been circumcised
in heart and ears yet. You haven't seen the grace of
God in the salvation of a sinner. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
How are we to think? To desire to be found in Him
having His righteousness and not our own. His righteousness
imputed. To desire above all things to
be like Christ. To honor Him. If you're truly
a child of God. And Paul says this here in verse
15. He says, listen to it again. He says, let us therefore as
many as be perfect be thus minded and if in anything you be otherwise
minded. In other words, if there's any
of you who claim to believe in Christ, who claim to be saved
by his grace and who claim to know and love him and you don't
think this way he says God will reveal that unto you if you're
a true child of God but you don't have this mind and attitude you
know who's going to take care of the problem God is not a committee
not the Baptist police Not the discipline committee, not the
preacher. Other than the preacher will be an instrument where he'll
deliver God's word. But God will take care of it
if you're a true child of God. Now, if you're not a true child
of God, God just may leave you alone and you can go right on. The world will think what it
wants to think. The world will give you a remedy. And it's going
to be false religion, it's going to be legalism, and it'll be
self-righteousness. And it'll be threats of punishment
or promised of mercenary reward. One of the two. That's how the
world will do it. That's how false religion will do it. But
if you're a true child of God and you're not thinking this
way, I'll tell you who's going to take care of the problem. God is. He'll
deal with you. That's what Paul's saying here.
I tell you, I like that. I do. Because I think that puts
things in perspective for us. Look at verse 16. He says, Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, that is our salvation by the
grace of God in Christ, let us walk by the same rule. Let us
mind the same thing. Well, what is our rule? Well,
here it is. We're the circumcision. We worship
God in the Spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That's our rule. Paul stated
it another way in Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ. All who walk by this rule, peace
be on them. Mercy from God and the Israel
of God. That's our rule. Our rule is
grace. Somebody said one time that our
doctrine is grace and our ethic is gratitude. I like that. Verse 17, Brethren, be followers
together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us
for an example. Paul's saying here, follow me
as I follow Christ and His Word. Paul is not bragging here. He's
not setting himself up as the supreme example. Christ is the
supreme example in all things. But you see, since every one
of us as believers are imperfect in ourselves, we're perfect in
Christ, but since we're imperfect in ourselves, we really do need
examples of imperfect people who know how to deal with the
remaining imperfections of the flesh and guide us in pursuing
the goal of conformity to Christ without legalism and without
unbelief and I think about this I think about Paul in Romans
7 don't aren't you aren't you thankful that Paul was led and
inspired by the Spirit of God to open up his heart to us in
Romans 7 Oh, wretched man that I am, I can identify with that,
can't you? That's a good example for me.
Because it lets me know that because of my inward sin, I'm
not to be led to despair, but I'm to continue trusting Christ
for all salvation. He says, mark them which walk
so as you have us for an example. That is, take note of those who
are examples of godliness. We know that all who are examples
of godliness are examples because of God's grace. Think about that. Think about old Joseph. Boy,
don't you wish you could have the attitude of Joseph under
trials? God meant it for good. You meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. And even Job. I know
Job messed up. He did. But he was brought to
see the glory of God even more. Think about Abraham. He was a
sinner saved by grace. Verse 18, he puts a parenthesis
in here. He says, For many walk, of whom
I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they
are enemies of the cross of Christ. He says, Whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, in
their shame, who mind earthly things. Sad to say there are
bad examples. Now an enemy of the cross is
an unbeliever. Their heresy is measured by their
reaction to claiming to believe in Christ and His finished work.
Everything is to be measured by Christ. What think ye of Christ?
That's how it's all measured, isn't it? Whatever my claim is,
whatever I do or don't do, it's all measured by what think ye
of Christ. He's talking here about false
preachers who seek to bring believers into bondage, into legalism. He said their end is destruction.
Their ultimate destiny is damnation because without Christ, that's
all there is. Without His blood to wash away
my sins, without His righteousness to justify me, there's nothing
but destruction. That's all I'm headed for. He
said their God is their belly. That's their own fleshly appetites.
It could be religious appetites. It could be immoral appetites.
It could be men seeking popularity or acceptance with men, men pleasers. But they're guided by their own
fleshly appetites, their own desires and not the glory of
God in Christ. Whose glory is in their shame.
Whatever men glory in other than Christ, I'm going to tell you
something, it'll be their shame. Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied
in your name? Is that what you glory in? Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. Haven't we done many wonderful...
Whatever a sinner glories in, other than Christ and Him crucified
and risen, it will be their shame. And then they mind earthly things,
that's the flesh, not the things of the glory of God in Christ,
the salvation of sinners and the edification of the church.
It's all tied to this earth and this world that hates God and
His Son. And then the last two verses,
listen to how he ends this off. He says, our conversation is
in heaven. Now that's our present experience. Our future goal is
to be like Christ, perfectly conformed to His image in ourselves.
But right now our conversation is in heaven. Now the word conversation
means citizenship. I'm a citizen of the kingdom
of God. citizen of heaven, made so by the grace of God in Christ.
And he says, from there we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We eagerly await His coming. Even so, Lord Jesus, come on,
come again. He may come in our lifetime,
He may not. But we eagerly wait for that coming. We know that
we'll be found in Him. And then he says, who shall change
our vile body, this body that's subject to such vileness, disease,
and death, and all those things that we all suffer for, age,
everything, sorrow. And he's going to change that.
That it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. You see
something of that after his resurrection. What we know of it, that's what
we know, after his resurrection. And it's according to the working
whereby He is able. Now see, this is not based on
my abilities or your abilities. Our abilities have nothing to
do with this. It's according to the working whereby He is
able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Even our vile bodies. Even our selfishness and our
sin. He's able to subdue you. He's able to subdue me. He's
able to subdue this world. So our final glory is not conditioned
on our faithfulness are we to be faithful yes we are but our
final glory is not conditioned on our faithfulness it's conditioned
on him who is able to keep that which we've committed unto him
against that day and so we look for him and pray that he will
come again to take us unto himself all right we're going to sing
as a closing hymn hymn number 221 thank you lord