Oh my, what a good song. If we
can say we've heard the voice of Jesus, that's really something if we
can say that. If we've heard His voice, He said, my sheep
hear my voice. And what they do, they follow
me. They follow me. Jesus Christ
speak to our hearts here tonight, and may we follow him in his
word as we enter into worship. The title of my message tonight
is called, The Excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ
my Lord, and you all probably know where that's found. It's
found in Philippians chapter 3. the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. Let's start reading there in
verse 1. We'll read a few verses from
this chapter. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. This is Paul writing. To write
the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but
for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. 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 circumcise the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for 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 Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Let's bow our heads
in prayer. Oh, our kind and gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, we join together tonight and petition
you at the throne of grace through Christ our Lord, our Redeemer.
We come in His name and ask that you would come and meet with
us and speak to us through your word Help us to stick close to
your word, and may we honor you in this service tonight, you
who alone are worthy. Lift up thyself, exalt thyself,
cause us to look to you, cause us to be encouraged in the belief
and trust that we've placed in your dear son. Help us to proclaim,
as Paul claimed, we count all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. We pray for any that may be lost
to this gathering tonight, that the word would go out in power
and you would slay them and cause them to see Christ as their substitute,
as one chosen in him, represented by him, dying for them in their
place and room as their substitute. Remember our loved ones that
don't know Christ savingly. We ask that you would bring them
into the fold in your time. Be mindful of them. Pray for
our pastors. He's away as he preaches. And
the people there, bring them back safe, we pray. Again, go
with us in this service. Please be with us. Leave us not
to ourselves. In Christ's name, amen. Before I get into the message,
I was on my way over here tonight and this verse of scripture just
came to my mind. It's over in Psalm 46 and God
says in the Psalms, be still and know that I am God. And that just lifted my heart
to no end. I love those kind of scriptures.
It tells me several things, such as a short verse of scripture,
be still and know that I'm God. First of all, be still. God's
not looking to me to do anything. He says, be still. Be still. Can you be still before God?
He said, be still and just know this, that I'm God. That tells me, first of all,
if He's God, I'm not. And it tells me, if He's God,
He's truly God. You've probably heard it said,
I've heard it from a young man, God is either God overall or
He's not God at all. And our pastor said it Sunday,
if there's a particle of dust that flies through the air that's
not in God's hand and under God's control, And he's not God. There's a chance that particle
dust could find its way up into my nostrils and I'd sneeze. Do
I sneeze without God? It's an impossibility. God's everywhere. So rest in
that. Be still. And know that I'm God. And our God is with us. And he
is our refuge. And we can be still and rest
in God our refuge. But I've been thinking, I had
my outline a few days ago for what I wanted to say tonight,
but I don't know, Gary, has this ever happened to you? You come
up with a lot more thoughts. Obie, you probably do. I don't
know if you do or not. I'm kind of scatterbrained, but
maybe you're not. But, you know, I listen to preaching
and I read some scriptures and things, and I find in reading
scriptures and listening to God's preachers, I find a constant
and consistent theme. Several things here. Christ is
all. I find that theme throughout God sent preachers and throughout
scripture. Christ is all. Christ is all.
And I consistently hear this, that all flesh is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, and the flesh profits nothing.
I hear that theme consistently. The flesh profits nothing. I
was talking to Gary before the service that a lot of churches
I see and hear about, they feel like the more flesh, the better.
The more fleshly show and fleshly activity, the better. You know, here, we believe the
less flesh, the better, don't we? The less, the better. The
flesh profits nothing. And then I hear this theme throughout
true preaching. All of grace. All. All of grace. All of grace. And I hear this. It's done. It's finished. The work's all done. Salvation's
accomplished. We read in Isaiah, your warfare
is accomplished. Your sins are pardoned. Salvation
is accomplished. And I hear this, the message
is, not do, but done. Be still. It's not do, but it's
done. And I hear this, only believe. Only believe. Believe Christ. And I see this in Scripture regarding
God's preachers, who in their heart, they agree with Paul who
said this. He said, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel, that they might be saved. That's the
heart of a preacher. That they might be saved. Not
that I might indoctrinate them in the doctrines or persuade
me into my way of thinking and my way of interpreting Scripture.
My heart's desire and prayer to God is that they might be
saved. That's our only need. That is our only true... I mean, we all have that need.
We're all in the same boat and our boat's sinking. And we need
to be saved. We need to be saved. And we want
to listen to a preacher who has that in his heart. And we do.
We have one of those pastors, don't we? And where do we point men to
look? Y'all come here tonight. You don't want somebody salving
your conscience, do you? Telling you things that makes
you feel good. You want someone to tell you the truth. Someone
that, I've got a death to die. How am I going to die when that
time comes? Where do we point men to look?
Behold the Lamb of God, John the Baptist says. Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Fix your
eyes upon Him. God's eyes are fixed upon Him,
aren't they? God's looking to Christ. Remember
I said a minute ago, God's not looking to us to do anything,
to provide anything, to accomplish anything. He's looking to His
Son. So if we're looking where God
looks, we see eye to eye with God. And I've got some really good
news that I already told you about, but I want to hit on it
again. This is just really good news
to me, because I fail so much in my own mind, in my life, my
heart, my mind, and oftentimes I despair. But this thought comes
to me that God's not looking to me for anything. God does
not look to me for anything. Fear not. See, God demands perfection,
doesn't He? He won't accept anything less
than what He is. He demands perfection. And what
He demands, He provides. And what He provides, He accepts. And He doesn't look to me to
provide it. My plea is that I have no plea.
In myself, I have no plea before God. I have no standing before
God. I have no right before God. But he hath provided himself
a sacrifice for sin. Not only provided a sacrifice,
but provided himself as the sacrifice for sin. And his blessed son
shed his blood for me. That's our hope. That's our only
hope. My hope is not in my promise
that I may make to God. And this is important. I think
this is really important to understand this. My only hope is wrapped
up in the promise that God made with God before time ever was. That covenant of grace. where
God the Father gave God the Son and elect people and Christ came
and died in their place and room to save those people. My hope
is that I'm one of those that he chose before I ever existed. My only hope is that he's chosen
me and he saved me in that eternal covenant of grace. Eternal covenant. has no beginning, and it's without
end. And those that God has chosen
to save, they shall be saved. They can't not be saved. That's not right grammar, but
you know what I mean. But my salvation is all bound
up in me being in Christ, being in Him, by God's sovereign election
of grace. I have nothing to do with it.
Nothing. Not one thing. All of grace, all of grace. Freely
given. God providing. God accomplishing. And I rest in it. Be still. I'm
your God. I've provided for you. I've saved
you. And He calls out His people in
time and makes them know that. Well, let's go back over to Philippians
3. What in the world would cause
such a drastic change in a man like Paul who was before a persecutor
of God's people, followers of Christ? No mercy in his heart
toward others, but he was changed to a man who pleaded for mercy
for himself. Now that's a drastic change.
That's a drastic change. What happened? What happened? Well, he tells us over in Acts
22. I'd like for you to look just for a few minutes with me
over in Acts 22. You all know this story. He was
on the road to Damascus with warrants in his pocket, I guess,
to imprison the followers of Christ. And he says in verse 6, And it
came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto
Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great
light round about me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered,
Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. So there's what happened. The
Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to Paul, didn't he? Was Paul looking for Christ?
He wasn't. But the Lord Jesus Christ unhorsed
him, blinded him. Who are you, Lord? I'm Jesus,
whom you persecute. If you look down at verse 14,
when he went on to Damascus, they led him, because he was
blind, they led him to Damascus, and he said, It came to one Ananias,
it says in verse 12, but down in verse 14, Ananias told him,
and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. There it is. That's the difference. God makes
the difference. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Do you make yourself to differ?
God makes the difference. God of our fathers hath chosen
thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one,
and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. My sheep hear my
voice. When I speak to them, they hear
me. So there's the difference. But this chapter in Philippians
shows us a complete change of direction in the life of the
Apostle Paul. He said, I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of this man, this person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I count everything that I've
lost as dung, manure. Everything I've lost, the world
values everything he lost. And he said, I count it as dung.
He said in Philippians 1, for to me, for me to live is Christ. and to die as gain. Did he value
Christ? Oh, my. Oh, my. But I want us
to look at some more of these words of Paul, one whom God had
saved. And hopefully, I know we can
to some measure identify with what Paul confesses here. Paul said that all things in
this life that he had attained and done so without Christ I
count them loss. Loss. Because they were in opposition
to Christ, my prize and my treasure, He whom I love and He who loves
me and gave Himself for me. Without Christ, we lose. We lose
everything that would do us good. And Paul says, I lose everything,
and gladly so, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. See, knowing Christ surpasses
all else. All else. Nothing can be compared
to knowing Christ. And I think Scripture bears that
out. Y'all familiar with John 17, verse 3? This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. Now notice about that verse,
that's a complete sentence with a period. This is life eternal, and there's
a period after it that they might know Thee. Knowing God and His
Son, Jesus Christ, is life eternal. How excellent is the knowledge
of Christ? Can't be told, can't be known.
It's life eternal. Why would anyone pursue anything
or anyone else other than Christ? And this is what Paul's saying.
If we miss him, we miss life, and we remain in death and darkness
and hopelessness. Oh, that I may know him, Paul
says, that I may know him, I've given up all. He didn't give up anything, did
He? If He gains Christ, He didn't give up anything. I lost everything
that I may know Him and win Him. Win Him. I'm reminded too of
a scripture in Hebrews 11. Turn over there with me for a
minute. And these are familiar scriptures to you, but boy, these
are just favorites. Favorites of us all, I know. In verse 23, what did Moses think of Jesus
Christ? By faith, Moses, when he was
born, was hid three months of his parents, in verse 23, because
they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the
king's commandments. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. My, oh,
my. Esteeming reproaches of Christ,
greater riches than all in Egypt, where Egypt was the wealthiest
country in the world at that time, I would say. And how dimly, Christ had not
yet come in the flesh, how dimly must Moses' view of Christ been, but made known and typified by
the sacrifices they offered in his day. Yet with that dim view,
he esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all
the treasures in Egypt. He's like Paul. He suffered the
loss of all things on account of Christ. And what an amazing
thing to see a man who has everything the world could offer to turn
his back on it and walk away from it and to choose to suffer and to
rejoice in doing so. You know, there's a scripture
where the disciples were beaten, and it says later they left that
place rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for his name. And then they went out and preached
Jesus in every place. They were beaten to make them
stop, but it didn't stop them. But when we get a glimpse of
the Savior, like Paul did, we immediately see what God's people
see, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Hebrews chapter 10. Let's look
over there for a minute. Verse 9. Then said He, Lo, I come to do
Thy will, O God, He taketh away the first, that he may establish
the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. And every priest
standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin, but this man, Jesus
Christ. 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." Oh, my. One offering. And he perfected
his people that he died for. He made that one offering. Does
that tell you a little bit about the value of his person? His
excellency depends upon who he is and the value of his person. And he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified by his one offering. Perfected, not
for time, but forever, for eternity. You remember they offered sacrifices
throughout the Old Testament. And just think of the magnitude
of the Think of the blood of animals that was shed, and none of them, either separately
or as a whole, put away one sin. None of them. But this man, who
offered himself, made one sacrifice, that sacrifice being himself,
and that blood being his own blood, the blood of God, he hath
perfected forever and taking away all the sins of all these
people eternally. They'll never be remembered against
them anymore. They're gone. Can't do any better
than perfecting it. And forever, there's nothing
longer than forever. It's eternity. And he did this
one time by one offering. Back up in Verse 1 of chapter
10, it says, for the law having a shadow, those sacrifices were
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things which can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, so they can never take away sin but this
man, but this man. The one sacrifice. And in God
the Father, he highly esteems his son. This is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. You follow him. You look to him. And there can be no greater recommendation
than God the Father highly esteeming a man. Hear not what men say
about Christ, but hear what God says about Christ. God who knows
all. He said, I've given him a name
which is above every name, and at his name every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. And he told him, he said, sit
on my right hand till I make all your enemies your footstool.
Paul said, I've suffered the loss of all things for the excellency
of the knowledge of this man. You know, Paul did suffer great
loss in earthly terms. He lost his great name. He lost
his credit and his reputation. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
Hebrew of the Hebrews. He suffered afflictions, and he suffered persecutions
of many sorts, and he lost the comforts of life. He was often
in cold and darkness and nakedness. He was in prison. And he was
ready to lose his life. He was in danger of losing his
life many times for professing and preaching Christ. And he
says, in regard to all this that he lost and gave up and that
he suffered, I count it all done. Worthless refuge. Look over in
Acts chapter 5 for a moment. We read this a moment ago, or
mentioned it a moment ago, in verse 40. And to him they agreed,
and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they
commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and
let them go. And they departed from the presence
of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in
every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
And then flip over to Acts chapter 20 for a moment. In verse 17, And from Miletus
he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And
when they were come to him, he said unto them, You know from
the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have
been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly, and from house to house testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. Wasn't moved by what faced him,
what God called him to, that I might preach the gospel of
the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And then we read back in Philippians
3, Paul talks about winning Christ. He said that I may win Him. The end of verse 8 there, I've
suffered a loss of all things and do count them but done that
I might win Christ. Christ being that prize possession,
winning that prize possession, running a race to attain that
prize possession, suffering loss and many things to strive and
gain that prize. Paul felt that if he were to
run a race with all his might, if that were the way of winning
Christ, it'd be well worth the effort. Oh, that I might win
him. If we might win him, we'd be
perfectly satisfied. And then Paul says in verse 9,
and to be found in him, to be found in him. And again, I said
at the outset, our hope is wrapped up in this, that we're found
in Christ. And Paul says, and to be found
in Him, not only to know Him and to win Him, but to be found
in Him. And if we're found in Him, what
a blessed event death becomes. That's a blessed event for the
believer. And it's not something we need to fear if we're in Christ. And God's judgment against sin
is brought to bear upon man No other refuge can withstand His
wrath. His wrath for His people was
poured out on His Son, and His Son bore our wrath, and He arose
victorious. He's our hiding place. We're
like those that are in the ark. Those that are in the ark did
not bear the wrath of God. If we're in Christ, we'll never
bear God's wrath against our sin. To be found outside of Christ
is to be as those that were outside the ark in Noah's day. In the
ark is perfect safety. Perfect safety. You can rest,
be still, and know that I'm God. I've provided for you. I've provided
my Son. Rest in Him. All we want to be
found in the ark is safety. our refuge, our hiding place
in God, God the Son, our substitute. And that day when I'm sought
for as one having to give an account, may we be numbered among
those who are found resting in Him, in Him, found in Him where
there's utter, complete safety. And then we read this, and I'm
going to try to wrap it up here fairly quickly. Paul said, not
having my own righteousness," in verse 9. Not having my own.
He had a righteousness as a Pharisee, a self-righteousness, his own
righteousness. He said, I won't have it. Not
having my own righteousness. Paul said, touching the righteousness
which was in the law, I was blameless. I had a righteousness. But I'm
not having my own righteousness which is of the law. but that
which is through the faith of Christ, a righteousness which
is of God by faith. You see, God provides a righteousness
that's perfect, that he accepts, which he puts upon his people.
God puts it on us, our righteousness. We read in Isaiah 45, 24, surely
shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength
in the Lord. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. Well, glory in Him, justified
in Him. Jeremiah 23.6 says, In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That's his name. He's our righteousness. This is his name. Where are the
proclaimers of the Lord our righteousness? Do you hear preachers talking
about that? Outside of great churches, I don't. I may not
know much about it, don't listen to them much, but I'm being honest. That's our hope, that we're in
Christ and his righteousness is our righteousness. But churches
and preachers talk about everything else under the sun. I don't hear
no title of a message, The Lord Our Righteousness. You don't
see that on the signs out front, do you? You see all kinds of
silliness. And this is salvation. This is where it's at. This is
life. This is life. Christ is all. In Him is life. And the righteousness He provides
stands us in good stead. And nothing else does. Nothing
else matters. You believe that? Nothing else
matters. If we're not righteous before God, nothing else matters. You'd think men would talk about
it. Scripture's full of it, isn't it? You don't have to look very
far to find it. Men's eyes are darkened and men
are blind by nature. We know God's got to step in
and reveal himself like he did to Paul. But this is his name,
the Lord, our righteousness. Oh, dare we speak of any other
righteousness or any other goodness, anything that we've done to commend
ourselves. Paul says, I want to win Christ, I want to
be found in Him, and I want to have His righteousness, not my
own. So this again, once again, sheds
light on the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our
Lord. It's through faith in Him that we have the righteousness
of God. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Neither is
there salvation in any other. It can be said of none other
name. We read this in scripture, he
that believeth on Him is not condemned. But he that believeth not, he
is condemned already." Oh, my. It sounds like it's pretty important
we know Christ, isn't it? Why is He condemned? Because
He hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell, Paul says that I may know Him,
hold to know Him, acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace. Just be at peace. Be still. Don't
rise and do. Fall down and be at peace and
rest. Repose yourself in Him. God's
provided for His people, and the work's done. I would hope that Paul's desire
would be our desire. Those that are believers, it
is our desire, isn't it? It is our desire to be found
in him, to know him, to know more of him, to have his righteousness
and not our own. We hear so little of Christ our
righteousness, and that's what we prize him. We prize Him who
provides all things for us. All else besides this is not
worth considering. Christ our righteousness is worth
all we are and all we have. For again, and you know this,
if we have Christ, we have everything. If we don't have Christ, we don't
have anything. That's the long and short of
it. Though we appear to have much, we've got nice clothes,
we've got a nice car, we've got a nice house and a warm bed to
go to. It's not eternal. It's fading. Oh boy. May God show us the true value
of things. They're of no value. And may
we see the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. worth everything we have and
everything we are, give up all for Him. We have nothing of eternal
value, even our own lives. This mortal life is temporary. It's fading fast. Well, I pray
we've caught another glimpse of Christ and His beauty, learned
a little more of His value, So much more should be said, but
I trust this will suffice for now. In closing, let's read a
verse over in 2 Peter, chapter 3. I've not said anything new to any
of you tonight, I don't believe. If a man stands up and tells
you something new or says this is original, you better walk
out. Nothing original with me, and
I tried to stick close to the word of God. 2 Peter 3, 17-18. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. Amen. Let's dismiss with a word of
prayer. Kind and gracious Heavenly Father,
once again we bow and give you thanks for your blessed word
that guides us and instructs us and gives us light. We trust
that what was said and done here tonight was for your honor and
glory. We ask that you take the things
that were said and make them effectual and useful. Help your people as we live in
this Christ-hating world, as we war against our flesh and
the devil and all that's against us, and sin that's in us. But thanks be to God that you've
put our sin away, and Christ our Savior bore the wrath against
our sin in His own body, and we're safe in Him and complete
in Him. Oh, He's an excellent Savior,
The knowledge of him is truly excellent. Help us to know more
of him. Continue to teach us and guide
us and lead us and leave us not to ourselves in our own way,
but enable us to acknowledge you in all our ways. Keep us,
we pray. Bring us back this Sunday to
worship again. In Christ's name, amen.