Now I want you to open your Bibles
with me to Philippians chapter 3. Last week I began preaching on
the subject of what is the Christian life. To live like a Christian. Christian living, that's the
subject. If you go to the most religious bookstores, you'll
see a whole section marked off, Christian living. I've looked
through a lot of books in those sections, and most of them have
to do with psychology and sociology and activity. But if you want
to learn about Christian living, and what is it to live like a
Christian, the Christian life, go to the Word of God. That's
the place to go for every answer that we have. Now, I understand
that men can write things and preach things that will help
us to understand that. But when their writings and their
teachings and their preachings take us away from the and get
us into the mind of the sinner, then you don't need to go that
way, because it's just not going to help you. It's not going to
help me. It's not going to help any of us. We feed upon God's
Word, and that's what I want to do this morning as I deal
with a certain aspect of the Christian life. The Christian
life is a high calling, a high calling. Paul calls it the upward
calling. Look back at Philippians chapter
3. where Paul expresses his desire. He had come to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works. He saw that his whole salvation
from beginning to end was secured in the glorious person, in the
finished work of Christ. And he says in verse 8 of Philippians
3, Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul came to a saving
knowledge of Christ Jesus as his Lord. And that's not to say
that he didn't know Christ as Savior. You don't know Christ
as Lord unless you know him as Savior, and you don't know him
as Savior unless you know him as Lord. And he goes on, he says,
for whom I suffered the loss of all things. Now, the all things
that he refers to there in verse 8 has to do with everything that
he listed back here in verses 4 through 6. concerning his religious
experience, his religious life, his moral life, that he thought
at one time recommended him unto God. The things that he had experienced
in his birth as a Hebrew, in his morality, in his religion,
in his sincerity, in his trying to establish a righteousness
of his own before God, He used to highly esteem those things.
He used to think they are the things which recommend me unto
God, the works of the sinner with the help of God. That's
what he would have said just like any good Pharisee. But now
having seen Christ, the glory of the God-man hanging on the
cross, dying for the sins of his sheep, satisfying the law
and justice of God, drinking damnation dry, establishing the
only righteousness whereby God could be just and justify a sinner,
now Paul says everything else is nothing. He says, I count
it all but loss, even less, he says in verse 8, do count them
but dumb that I may win Christ. In other words, Christ is his
life. And so that when we talk about
Christian living, that's where we have to begin. Christ is our
life. It's by the grace of God and
not by the works of the sinner. One time, that song that we sung
today, Only a Sinner Saved by Grace, a woman asked a preacher
after they'd sung that song in their service, she said, this
is the first church I ever come into where they sang about being
a sinner. And he said, we didn't sing about
being a sinner. He said, you missed it. He said,
we sang about being a sinner saved by grace. There's a difference,
isn't there? You see, there's only two types
of people on this earth. There's only two types of people
in this building today. Sinners, lost in their sins,
and sinners saved by grace. Isn't that right? And those who
are saved by grace Christ is their life because He's their
salvation from sin. That's what the gospel teaches. And so Paul says, I count everything
else but loss, but dung. Anything that I was proud of. You know, people like to look
back in their past and talk about what they've been through in
their religious experience. Paul said all he would be doing
and doing that was just talking about dung. Is that too graphic? That's what he said. I do count
it but dung. It did not recommend me unto
God. It did not save me. It did not get me closer to God. It was loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ. I now know Christ and Him crucified. I know how God saves a sinner,
not by that sinner's works and efforts, not by sincerity, not
by the free will of men, but by Christ on the cross, dying
for my sins and giving me a righteousness justifying me, making me not
guilty before God. Isn't that something? And then
he says in verse 9, he says, And be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith or the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now, that tells us this. Now,
whatever Paul is going to say about the Christian life, living
as a Christian, It has nothing to do with a believer trying
to establish his own righteousness before God. That's already been
done. And whatever we do as believers inspired by the Holy Spirit,
as born-again people, now listen to me here. Whatever we do by
way of obedience, by way of worship, by way of praise and thanksgiving
as we are inspired by the Holy Spirit as born-again people,
it in no way Makes up our righteousness before God. That's what I'm saying. All it does is show the fruit
of a righteousness already established. In Christ. And that's what he's
saying there in verse 9 and then look at verse 10. He says that
I may know him now. Paul already knew him, but what
he's saying here that I may know him more. We sing a hymn sometimes
called more about Jesus. And that's what we want. That's
part of the Christian life. We want to know more of Him whom
to know is life eternal. We want to know more of the glory
of His person. We want to know more of the power
of His finished work. We want to know more of Him who
is our intercessor seated at the right hand of the Father
making intercession for us so that we cannot be condemned because
of what He accomplished. That's right. And then he said
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. The power
of his resurrection is what we experience in two ways. That
we were justified at the cross of Calvary and he was raised
again because of that. And in the new birth, when the
Holy Spirit comes and gives us life from Christ. Christ established
it and sends his spirit to give life. And in the new birth, we
are literally resurrected from the dead, aren't we? spiritually
speaking. And Paul said, I want to know
that power. Now, Paul had already seen his justification at the
cross. He'd already been born again
by the Spirit of God, but he wants to know the power of it
as it continues in his life. In other words, that new birth,
it's a one-time experience, but it has continuing life, continuing
implications. I mean, it's not just done and
then stops. If you're born again, you are
a born-again person. You live as a born-again person.
It's a continual power that operates in your life. Now, a lot of people
are confused about what that power involves. What are the
evidences of that power? But it is a power. It's a dynamic.
Scripture would say it's a principle of life and knowledge. It's a
principle of humility and grace. It's the fruit of the Spirit
within. The Bible says it's Christ living
within us. by His Spirit and by His Word.
It's the Word of God implanted on the heart, the mind, the affections,
and the will. In other words, the Word of God,
if you're born again, the Word of God is part of you. And you
can't get rid of it. Now, you may lose sight of it
for a while, but God's not going to let it leave you. And that's
one thing we're going to see here in this Christian living
matter. You see, it's not our hold upon
Him that keeps us. It's His hold upon us. You know, a lot of people, they'll
say, well, we believe salvation by grace. You're saved by grace,
but you've got to work hard to keep it or you'll lose it. If
that's the case, then you'll lose it. You've already lost
it. You've never had it. All right. I've said it before
so many times, if it could be lost, it would be. That's proven
from the scripture. Well, he says that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings.
When we enter into Christ as one of his children, we suffer
with him. We side with him against the
world. The world hates us like the world
hated him. That hatred comes in different
forms and degrees. It can be even ignorance. It can be complacency. It can be anything. You know,
it doesn't have to be somebody coming at you with a gun or trying
to put you in jail. Christ said, if you're not for
me, you're against me. There's no mental ground here.
And he says, being made conformable unto his death. Now, Paul knew
he was headed for death. Everybody in this building, I
believe, knows that, that we're headed for physical death. This
corruptible must put on incorruption. You say, well, I hope I'm alive
when the Lord comes back again. I won't have to die. Now listen
to me now. That's a misunderstanding. This corruptible still must put
on incorruption. If you're alive when the Lord
comes back and you're glorified, you're not going to still be
in this old corruptible body. I hope you are not. Don't you? I want a new body. That's what the Bible promises.
That's what God promises. We'll have a glorified body. And that's the equivalent of
death. That change. We all must be changed. In the twinkling of an eye, the
scripture says. But Paul knew this, and he says in verse 11,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. However I go through death in this life, whether I lay down
my head at night and sleep and never wake up again, or whether
it's in a car wreck, or whether it's my head cut off like Paul's
was, he said I'm going to attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Death is not the end for a believer. You see, the Christian
life doesn't end in the grave. Does it? Huh? Oh, death, where
is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
The Christian life is an eternal life. It's an everlasting life. And it's such death. Now, let
me put this right. I'm not trying to be hard or
callous because when someone dies, we grieve and we should
grieve. And that's a process that we
must go through. Loved ones, when they die, But
you know what? If you look at the Scriptures
totally from God's point of view, you'll see that death in the
sight of God is a really very insignificant thing for a believer.
In fact, most of the time it's called sleep. It's just like
you're laying down and going to sleep. And you know what?
Now, some of you know this a little more than I do, but I'm finding
now, as I get older, sleep is becoming more and more precious
to me. How about you? Get a good night's sleep. Boy,
that's really a good thing. You watch these little babies,
they can go to sleep during a hailstorm in a house with a tin roof. But when you get older, it just
seems like it comes a little harder, doesn't it? A little
harder. The Book of Ecclesiastes speaks
of that. It talks about old age. How just
any, the smallest noise will wake us up and you just can't
go back to sleep. I've done that before. And many
of you have too. But just a good night's sleep.
And you know what? When you wake up from a good
night's sleep, you feel rested and it's almost like no time
has passed yet. And that's the way it's going
to be for a believer. When we die. This physical death. This old body is going to lay
down and sleep. And you'll wake up just like you do, like when
you go to sleep tonight, you wake up in the morning like no
time has passed. That's the way you're going to wake up. The
resurrection of the dead, it's like no time has passed. Now,
I know this for Adam and Abel, been a lot, thousands of years
have passed. But to Adam and Abel, when they
wake up in the resurrection of the dead, it's going to be like
no time. And can you imagine that? Well, that's God's time.
The Bible says a thousand years to God is a day, and a day is
a thousand years. He's a timeless being without
beginning, without end. And so Paul says, that's what
I want, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Now look at verse 12. He says, not as though I
had already attained. Now this resurrection of the
dead means that our experience as sinners saved by grace. as
born-again people, that our experience within ourselves will match and
equal what we are already in Christ. And that's a glorious
thing. Now, David expressed this in
the psalm that Brother Joe read back here in Psalm 17. In fact,
the reason I had Joe read this is because it's a struggle. It
represents a struggle. of a child of God, the struggle
of a Christian here in this life. He has struggles with enemies
outside. And he has struggle with himself
within. And he pleads unto God. He says in verse 1, Hear the
right, O Lord. That means hear justice. You
say, well now, shouldn't a sinner be crying for mercy? Yes. without justice is no mercy at
all. Look at what he says. He says,
Hear justice, O Lord, attend unto my cry. This is a needy
sinner appealing to the God of justice and mercy. Give ear unto
my prayer. When we pray as born-again people,
as Christians, believers, sinners saved by grace, how do we pray? The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
4 that we pray because we have a great high priest, speaking
of Christ. And he has passed through into
the heavens. He's already gone through all
that justice requires for our sins. And he finished the transgression. He made an end of sin. I love
that phrase. That's Daniel 9 and verse 24.
You get an opportunity to read that. Daniel 9 and verse 24. That's talking about the complete
work of the Savior. The prophet Daniel said he'll
finish the transgression. He finished it. When? At Calvary. He made an end of sin. When?
At Calvary. He brought in everlasting righteousness. When? At Calvary. He sealed up
the vision. That is, God's purposes and decrees
were sealed up in this person on the cross. And he brought
to fulfillment all prophecy, every bit of it. That's the one
through whom we pray and based upon whom we pray. We come under
the throne of grace because we have a great high priest who's
passed through into the heavens. He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. He's our surety. He's our substitute. He's our intercessor. He's our
high priest. He's our mediator. He's our holiness. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our redemption. And you
can go through every book of the Bible and I don't have time
to name all that he is to us in every book. The psalmist says,
Hear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. That's
deception. Now, what's you say? Well, sometimes
I'm deceived. Now, listen to me. We are sometimes
we are. And we don't yet know it all.
We know Christ who is all. In that sense, we know it all. But to come unto God with feigned
lips would be to come unto God like Cain in deception. Coming to God in prayer, seeking
an audience, seeking communion, seeking acceptance, seeking salvation
based on something other than Christ and his blood alone. Only a sinner saved by grace,
that's how I come to God. Only a sinner who has nothing
to plead but Christ and Him crucified. Only a sinner who has no righteousness
of his own, but we look to the Lamb of God. Only a sinner. And then he says in verse 2,
let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Now you remember
Mark, cross-reference there in your Bible, if you don't have
it already, Romans chapter 8, that I read in the opening part
there, Romans 8, 32 and 33, when it says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. You see that? Let my sentence
come forth from thy presence. Now, here's what he's praying
for. He says, let God be my judge, not man. Now, if you judge me,
two things could happen. You could be wrong or you could
be right. Isn't that right? But when God judges, He's never
wrong. He's always right. God's judgments
are always according to truth. And when God judges this sinner
saved by grace, this rotten sinner, This one who always falls short
in every area of life. This one who is not yet perfect
in himself. That's Paul in Philippians 3.
I've not yet already attained. I am not yet already perfect
in myself, he said. Last week I read it to you from
Romans chapter 7. You say, well, he's only talking
about part of himself. That's silly, folks. That's not
even scriptural. No, he's saying, what am I? I'm a sinner saved by grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace. Nothing more, nothing less. And
in myself, I'm not yet perfect. But when God judges me, He judges
me in Christ. So let my sentence come forth
from God, not from man. Don't even let my sentence come
forth from my own heart. Because I may be in a bad moment. You ever get in a bad moment?
And you just sit around, oh my Lord, have I done enough? Have
I done enough? Well, if the answer to that question
ever comes yes, you're in trouble. Isn't that right? No, you haven't
done enough. But I'm going to tell you somebody
who has. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's done enough. He's done more
than enough. So let my sentence come forth from God. Let thine
eyes behold the things that are equal. That means just. Now,
if I'm a sinner saved by grace, I'm justified in Christ. Let
God behold those things that are just. That means he beholds
you in Christ. You see that? Isn't that something? Look over at verse 8 of this
psalm. He says, keep me as the apple
of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. I've got no hope. But that God keeps me. Paul's
saying that in Philippians 3. This is the Christian life. I
must be kept. I'm a kept person. A kept man. I haven't apprehended, I haven't
laid hold of perfection yet. I've got to struggle here in
this life. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Let him behold
me. As the apple of his eye, that
means love. That's what that's talking about.
That means God's got his eye on his people and he never takes
it off. That's his eye of love, his eye
of protection, his eye of grace. And he says, hide me under the
shadow of thy wings. That's our hope. We've got no
hope but that. But look at verse 15, the last
verse. This sort of sums it all up. Now here's the Christian
life that Paul's describing in Philippians 3. He says in verse
15, as for me, now he just finished describing the world, and he
says they're satisfied here on this earth. They've got all this
stuff, and they leave it to their children, and they leave it to
their babies, and they go on. But as for me, now here's the
difference now in Christian living. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness." Now, what does he mean there? I'm
looking to Christ. And John said it this way in
1 John chapter 3. He said, Beloved, it doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that we will be like
him. We'll see him as he is. Paul
said it this way. He said, Oh, that I may know
him. I want to know more of him. And he says, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. He's talking about that day when
he attains the resurrection of the dead, that day that he has
not attained yet, that he will behold the face of Christ in
perfection. Now, my friend, I don't know
what that will be like, and you don't either. And don't let any
preacher or anybody else tell you they do. We don't. We see through a glass darkly.
But then we'll behold perfectly. And look here. And he says, I
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy lightness. Now go back
to Philippians 3. That's the high calling of God.
You see, we're not satisfied yet. Now we're satisfied with
Christ. That's what faith in him is all
about. We're satisfied with Him in His beauty, in His glory,
in His finished work. We rest in Him. That's what satisfaction
means. God's satisfied with us. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. He brought about satisfaction
to every attribute of God. And when we look to Him, we're
satisfied in Him. But we're not yet satisfied with
me, with ourselves. That's what Paul's talking about
here. Look at verse 12 again, not as though I'd already attained,
either we're already perfect. I'm not yet perfect. I'm perfect
in Christ. That may be a difficult concept
for some people to understand, but it's not that it's not that
hard. You see, Christ is our representative
and our substitute. All that he accomplished here
on earth, he did not do for himself, he did for his people. The Bible
speaks of that as him being a representative, a substitute, a surety, a sin-bearer. So that when Christ walked this
earth in perfect obedience to the law, he did not do it for
himself. He did it for his sheep, didn't
he? So that the perfection that he
accomplished in his life is attributed to them. Now, I didn't do it. But God
looks at me through him. And he's my substitute. You see
that? So that what Christ accomplished
in his perfect obedience is attributed to me by a legal act of accounting,
charging. Somebody said, well, people can't
understand imputation. I'll tell you what, if there's
any group of people that this generation ought to understand
imputation, I get it. I bet just about every one of
you have a charge card in your pocket. Now don't you? And that's what it means when
you go charge it to somebody's account, you're charging it to
your own account. Well, what happened when Christ kept the
law? That was charged to our account. You say, well, there's
a long time I didn't know about it. My friend, you weren't even
born when it happened. And when Christ went to the cross,
our sins were charged to his account. Sins that we hadn't
even committed yet, except in Adam, as I represented. And when
he died and drank damnation dry and paid the debt, it was a debt
not of his own making. It became his by charging, by
accounting, by reckoning, by imputation. So that when God
sees me, he sees me in Christ. And that's important, that's
the heart of the gospel. He was made sin, Christ who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When did that take place? 2 Corinthians 5 is talking about
reconciliation, took place at Calvary. When did we find out
about it, embrace it, behold it, love it, believe it, rest
in it? When we're born again by the
Spirit. You see the difference? So we are already perfect in
Christ, but we're not yet perfect in ourselves. I'm talking about
His people now, all who know Him. And that's what Paul's saying
here. I've attained perfection in Christ. That's His work, but
not in myself. He says in verse 12, look at,
he says, but I follow after. Now he's talking about following.
The Christian life is following after. What are you following
after? What are you striving for? That's
what this is. He's striving. He's reaching
forth to attain something. He says, if that I may apprehend,
that word apprehend means to lay hold, like you're reaching
out trying to grab something. And I'm trying to reach out and
grab something, lay hold that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Now, let me tell you what that's
saying. Christ has already grabbed hold of me. He's already laid
hold of me, say, now I'm reaching to lay hold of Him. I'm already
perfected in Him. I'm already justified in Him.
Now I'm striving to be perfectly conformed to Him in myself, in
my thoughts, in my motives, in my ways. I want to be perfect
in Christ. That's what David was saying
in Psalm 17. I'm not satisfied yet, but one day I will be. When,
David? When you conquer all the kingdoms
of the world, no. When you get everything in order
like you want them here on earth, no. When I awake and I'm perfectly
conformed to Christ in everyone. When I'm sinlessly perfect in
myself. When I'm free from the influence
of sin. See, I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm looking to Christ for my whole salvation, but I still
have a problem. Sin is still all too powerful
in me. It keeps me from doing what I
want to do. I want to be like Christ. Sin keeps me from doing
that. And I'm not talking about sin as some kind of a robot or
some kind of a monster. I'm talking about me. I'm my
own worst enemy. And Paul says, I can't do what
I want to do. I can't love God perfectly. I
try to, but I don't even know how to, and I always fall short. You say, well that sounds like
the Christian life is pretty frustrating. He said, I'm trying
to lay hold of something. He says in verse 13, look at
it. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. Now that
word count is the same word that's translated impute sometimes.
You see, I'm righteous in Christ, but I do not count myself to
have already been made perfect in myself." That's what he's
talking about. I have not yet been made perfect here within
me. And he says, but this one thing
I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before. Forget the past,
live in the present, and look to the future. That's what he's
saying. In verse 14, I pressed toward the mark of the prize
of the high calling. There it is, the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. It's the upward call. Think about
that. The upward call. Why should we
strive for perfection when we know we'll never make it in this
life? Paul's already said it. The only way we're going to have
perfection within ourselves and to be totally free from the presence
and influence and power of sin in our own lives experienced
here at all, not here but at all, is when we attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. So why should we strive for it when we'll never make it? Won't
that keep us in guilt? Won't that keep us in despair?
Won't that just drive you absolutely crazy? Trying to do that? Well, no, and I'll tell you why.
It's because of Christ and Him crucified. You see, there are
several motivations that God implants within us at the new
birth. Having been born into the family of God, we're born
with a hunger and a thirst. Have you ever seen a healthy
baby, a newborn baby that was healthy that wasn't hungry? Have
you ever seen that? No, it doesn't exist. A newborn
baby that's not hungry, there's some problem there, isn't there?
But when a newborn baby, when they come forth from the womb,
they get hungry. They want the milk. And that's
the way it is with a born-again person. That's the way it is
with a Christian. That's the way it is with a Christian. Now,
he's got a hunger. What does he hunger for? Well, he hungers,
he has a desire to glorify God. and live up to our position in
Christ. That's what he says here in verse
12. He said, I follow after. I want
to lay hold of that which also I'm laid hold of. In other words,
Christ has laid hold of me. I want to lay hold of Him. I
want to walk worthy of my calling. He saved me by His grace. He
saved me in mercy. You see, the Christian life is
a high calling because it's advanced citizenship, folks. We're not
citizens of this world. We're citizens of a higher country,
citizens of heaven. And seeing what God has done
for us and given to us, we desire not to bring reproach upon Him
and His Son, upon His truth, the gospel, and upon His people.
We're justified in Christ. We're children of God. We don't
want to dishonor our Father. We're blessed. above all people. We're the richest people on earth. And I'll tell you, there's not
too many rich people that live in poverty. And the ones who
do get thrown into an insane asylum or close to it. We're rich in Christ, not with
material things, but in spiritual things. So we don't need to walk
around like poverty stricken citizens. We're born again with the desire
to be like Christ. We'll be satisfied, David said,
when we wake in his likeness. When we're born again by the
Spirit of God, that is what Christ in you is about. We desire to
be like him. Not that we already are. Some
people say, well, that means we already are. Oh, no. Not that
I've already attained. Not as though I'm already perfect.
But I reach forth. But even that desire. Christ said in Matthew chapter
5 and verse 6, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Do you have that hunger and that
thirst? Somebody says, well, that hunger gets worse at some
times than it does others. Well, that's the way it is with
physical hunger too, isn't it? There are times physically you're
more hungry or hungrier than at other times. I tell you, I'm
getting to think that anymore, whether I'm hungry or not, I
can eat. You know, I shouldn't. But that's what I want spiritually.
I want a hunger after Christ. And secondly, it's a hunger for
His Word. Look over at 1 Peter 2. Listen to this. This is the Christian life. It's
hungering and thirsting. It's desiring to glorify God
in Christ. We have that desire. We don't
want to dishonor. Now, are there times we do dishonor
him? Yes, there are. Sad to say, but
there are. David, in Psalm 17, he said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. He's saying,
I desire to be like Christ. Were there times in David's life
when he dishonored God? Oh, yes. And there'll be times
in our life. That shows that even our desire
is not perfect yet. Did you know that? Even our desire
is not yet perfect. We don't even desire it enough
yet. Right? Somebody said, well, I do. Well,
you need to get on out of here. I'm not trying to be mean, but
you don't need to be with us sinners saved by grace. We'll
disappoint you. But look here in 1 Peter 2, look
at verse 1. He says, Wherefore, laying aside all malice. Now,
he's talking to believers here. You mean a believer can have
malice? Yes. That's hatred is what that is.
Well, doesn't he love Christ? Yes, but not yet perfectly. And
all guile, that's hypocrisy and deceit, hypocrisies, envies,
all evil speakings. Look at verse 2. As newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Now, how are you going to get
that desire? Well, look at verse 3. If so be you've tasted that
the Lord is gracious. If God's been gracious to you,
you'll have that desire. That's part of the work of the
Holy Spirit in you, to give you that desire. And he says in verse
4, to whom coming, this is a continual coming to Christ. It's not just
a one-time thing. As unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, you also as
lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices. That's worship and praise. Acceptable
to God because you're already perfect. No. Acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. You see, we're accepted in the
Beloved. And even our pitiful attempts at worship and prayer
and obedience are cleansed by the blood of Christ. Isn't that
right? That's right, isn't it? Or they
wouldn't be accepted. Listen to me. Our attempts at
worship and obedience and prayer and praise, Christ in presenting
them to God as our intercessor, Christ does not just make up
the difference. He is our acceptance. But look on, verse 6, 1 Peter
2. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, the chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, this is Christ, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. That means not be ashamed. Now
in ourselves, we have a lot to be ashamed of, don't we? But
in Christ, we're never ashamed. Don't ever be ashamed of Him.
He's the Son of God. He's the sovereign redeemer. Don't ever be ashamed of him.
But look at verse 7. Now, here it is. Under you, therefore,
which believe, he is precious. Christ is precious. That's Christian
living, folks. Christ is precious. We have a
desire to be useful. Paul talks about here in Philippians
3, he said, I press toward the mark for the prize. What is the
prize? It's being like Christ. That's the prize. It's not a
prize we earn. It's a prize God brings us to
by His power and grace that we desire to be useful. So when
we pursue the prize, when we run the race of grace, looking
to Christ and grow spiritually, it brings joy and peace in believing.
It makes us useful, not useless. in the kingdom of God. I'll give
you a good example of that. Think about Lot. Remember Lot? Lot was a child of God and took
his family down and lived among the Sodomites. And you know,
somebody said, well, how do you know Lot was a child of God?
Because God said he was. And you know what? That's the
only way you know it. And he came out of Sodom by the
power of God. But you know what? Lot was no
good to anybody, not even his family. But we desire to be useful
in the kingdom of God. This high calling is based upon
God's grace and His powers. He's already apprehended us in
Christ Jesus, and we're to strive to lay hold upon Him by faith,
continually seek to lay hold of perfection in ourselves, which
we will not attain in this life. But we desire to, not in order
to be saved, not trying to earn our favor with God, not trying
to earn our reward. You see, that's not grace. You
say, well, I'm going to do it because I'll have greater rewards.
Now, listen to me. You may be doing that, but that's
not grace. You serving God just for what
you can get out of Him? Trying to make Him a debtor to
you? No. Our salvation and final glory
is based upon his grace. And how do we seek that for him?
He said, this one thing I do, Paul said. Forgetting those things
which are behind verse 13. And reaching forth into those
things which are before, you know, let me just say this. He
says, forgetting those things which are behind one of the greatest
hindrances of sinful men in every area of life. especially in salvation,
and it even hinders growth in believers, is not being able
to forget the past. You know that? And it comes up
in one of two ways. Somebody says, well, I can forget
the past. No, wait a minute. Listen to it. It comes up in
one of two ways. Number one, they're either glorying
in the past. Oh, I long for the days of old.
Do you remember when our church – forget it! That's what he's saying here. It's insignificant. That's right. In this matter of striving for
perfection, we thank God what He's brought us through, but
we don't live there. I'll tell you, in the Bible there's
only one area that you're never to forget the past. God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross. Always looking at what Christ
accomplished. But when it comes to our striving
and our going for the high calling, forget the past. Forget it. It's
gone. And right now, for the present
and for the future, it's insignificant. Don't try to hang on to the past.
Don't try to live in the past. You're glorying in it. Forget
it. That's what he's saying. Forget about it. That keeps a
sinner from faith in Christ and true godly repentance of dead
works. And then the second way this comes up is guilting over
the past. Let me close with this. Turn
to Hebrews 10. Guilting. Oh, I tell you, you don't know
what I did 10 years ago. Well, what about two seconds
ago? What about that? Does that bother
you? You don't know what I did when
I was a child. It's a good thing I don't know. It's a good thing
you don't know what I did when I was a child. How many times
do you think about it? I mean, what if, I don't know
how many people here today, I don't count you, but what if all of
a sudden over top of your head there appeared a cloud and the
last thought you just had appeared right there for everybody to
see? Would you get red? Somebody says, well, I wouldn't.
Well, just hold on a few seconds. And then it's passed. Forget
about it. Oh, I'm such a great sinner.
Look at look at Hebrews 10. And look at verse 17, now he's
talking out this whole chapter, you read the whole chapter, but
he's talking about what Christ accomplished at Calvary. And
he says here, by the power of the Spirit, God, in verse 17,
he will lead us to understand that God, it says, in their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. God doesn't bring them up again. Now, your enemies will. Some
of your so-called friends will. And even a brother or sister
will. But God says, I'll remember them no more. Forget about it. And then Paul says, reaching
forth unto Christ, pressing on means to pursue, to chase the
mark, the prize for the incorruptible crown of grace. Now, that's Christian
living. Now, that's not all it is. We're
going to continue on that. But that's that's Christian living.
Christ is precious, pursuing the prize in him.