Philippians 3. I heard Roth Barnard say years
ago that God doesn't send honest men to hell. God doesn't send
honest men to hell. And I know this, that God makes
men honest. He makes them honest. And He's
the only one that can make a man honest. That's why people have
to say all the time, trust me. That's why I say, you know, trust
me. Well, you can trust God. You
can really trust God. But God makes men honest and
He doesn't send honest men to hell. And that's why Paul here,
as we go through these verses, we'll see that God made him honest. God made him honest. But let
me by introduction, by way of introduction, make a few comments. A believer's life, a Christian's
life seems to be a contradiction. And I've read this to you before,
a fellow named Lord Francis Bacon wrote this back in the 18th century. He said, a Christian is one who
believes things his reason cannot comprehend. and hopes for things
which neither he nor any man alive ever saw. He believes three
to be one, one to be three, a father not to be older than his son,
and the son to be equal with his father. He believes himself
to be precious in God's sight, and yet loathes himself in his
own. He dares not justify himself
even in those things wherein he can find no fault with himself,
and yet believes that God accepts him in those services wherein
he is able to find many faults. He is so ashamed that he dares
not open his mouth before the Lord, yet comes with boldness
to God and asks Him everything he needs. He has within him both
flesh and spirit, And yet he's not a double-minded man. He is
often led captive by the law of sin, yet it never gets dominion
over him. He cannot sin, and yet can do
nothing without sin. He is so humble as to acknowledge
himself to deserve nothing but evil, and yet he believes that
God needs him all good. that's paradoxical yes it is
to the unconverted but to the believer that's the wisdom of
God that's the wisdom of God and here the apostle in Philippians
3 he mentions some contradictions here in Philippians chapter 3
look in verse 1 he mentions rejoicing and grievous in the same verse
he said finally brethren rejoice in the Lord For me to write to
you is not grievous. Rejoice in grievous in the same
words. And then he talks about in verse
2, evil workers. Verse 3, the true worshippers
of God. Evil workers and true worshippers.
He talks about in verse 3 about having confidence in the flesh.
And then he turns around and says he has no confidence in
the flesh. He talks about what was gained
to him was lost for Christ. Can the Lord Jesus Christ lose
anything? Is there any loss to Christ?
I'll tell you what He means by that. Anything that you take
to yourself in salvation is detracting from Christ. It takes the glory
from Christ. It takes the power from Christ. It takes the honor from Christ. Anything that you attribute to
yourself in any way, in your salvation or to get a blessing
from God is taking away from Christ and making yourself you
gain from it but he loses so if you lose everything and he
gets all the glory then he gets all the gain and everything for
you is lost that's what he's talking about and then he talks
about having Christ and then yet designed to have Christ.
He talks about being in Christ and yet wanting to be found in
Christ. I know Him, yet I want to know
Him. I'm in Him, yet I want to be found in Him. He talks about
not being perfect. Look what he says up here in
verse 12. He said, neither God is going
already taint, either we're already perfect. and then he talks down
in verse 15 he says let as many as us be perfect I'm not perfect
and he turns around and tells them that they are perfect and
then he talks about that we've not attained and yet we've already
attained so many things not have so many things it seems like
they're contradictions But I tell you, I know this much about a
believer. I know this much about a Christian. A believer is a
striver. He's a striver. Our Lord says,
Strive, to enter into the straight game. We strive. I know that
he's a fighter. We're fighting a warfare. Paul
said, I've finished my course. I've fought a good fight. We're
in a fight. Fight with ourselves or fight
with the flesh, fight with the world, fight with sin. And then
he's a soldier. We're soldiers. We endure hardness
as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And I tell you when you're a
soldier, you have to endure some hardness. And then we're called
strangers in this world. A stranger. The world's strange
to us, we're strange to it. We're strangers to ourselves.
We're certainly strangers to our families and our friends.
And then Christians and believers are called runners. Run with
patience, the race is set before you. And then they're called
farmers. Labor men, husband men, they're
farmers. They sow things and they reap
things. And so I tell you, a believer
is this, he's not static. There's always something going
on, always a movement. There's always, he's not just
never not doing anything. There's always a struggle, always
a fight, always a hardness to endure. Everything about us has
talk about being active. And when we think we're not being
active, in our very hearts we're being active. Because we're crying
after God for something we're lacking or giving thanks for
something He's done. And I tell you, I know this about
a Christian too, a believer. There's three things that he
wants to prosper in. Three things that we want to
prosper in. We want to prosper in faith. Look what Paul said
up here in verse 9. He said, oh, I want to prosper
in faith. He says, I want to be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God which is by faith. I want to prosper in that faith.
Prosper in faith. I want to prosper in love. I
want to prosper in love. To do like He said, of what things
were gained to me were lost for Christ in all, I count all things,
but I count all things but lost to the Excellency, to love Christ
and want to know Christ more than anything in this world.
To love God's people, to love His Word. And I know that believers
want to prosper in prayer. Prosper in prayer. They want
to prosper in their communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, with
the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. They want to prosper
in prayer for the saints. They want to prosper in prayer
for grace and power to His glory. And they certainly want to prosper
in praying for sinners to be saved by the grace of God. I
pray, there's people in here I pray for by name. I pray for
by name. Oh God don't let them save that
person. Bring that person to Christ.
Bring that person to trust Christ. Call them by name. And I know you do. And what Paul
is doing here, he's talking about himself. It's not about his experience. It's not egotism. It's not boasting. It's not that. He's being honest. And that's what I'm talking about.
God makes men honest. And I want to show you a man
here that's honest with God. And I want to know if you're
honest with God. God makes men honest before... He makes them honest. Before
that, Every man's a liar. Let God be true in every man
a liar. When a man gets honest with himself,
that's a man that God saved. That's a man that God's doing
a work in. And that's what Paul is doing here is being honest
with himself before man and God. And what he's doing here is he's
repenting. of his confidence in the flesh,
he's repenting of his former religious experience, he's repenting
of his goodness, he's repenting of his righteousness, he's repenting
of his religion, he's repenting of everything that he ever trusted,
hoped in, believed in until he knew Christ. Ain't that right? He said in verse 13, Brethren,
he said, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind. What are you going to forget,
Paul? Look what he says. He said, I have confidence. If
a man thinks he's got confidence in his flesh, then verse 4, then
they can trust in his flesh and brag in what he's done and all
of his accomplishments in his religion. He said, I can do it
even more. And this is what he's doing.
He said, I circumcised the eighth day. Just like every firstborn
child is, like every man child is. That's what the law says
to do. He said, I was the stock of Israel.
I was a full-blooded Jew. I mean a full-blooded Jew. I
was the tribe of Benjamin. You know who Benjamin was? He
was the son of Jacob's right hand. When they said, bring your
youngest brother down here, Benjamin said, I'll die before Jacob said,
I'll die before I let him go. If he goes down there, I'll lose
him. He's my last son. He's the son of my love, the
son of my right hand. And he said, as touching the
law, I was a Pharisee. And oh my dear, find anything
good, there's only two Pharisees that you'll find in the New Testament
other than Paul. that God done anything for, and
that was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the only two. And you're not sure, as you know,
it's just because they're always mentioned in a good light. But
I know that that's what he's doing. He said, I'm going to
forget my circumcision. I'm going to forget my heritage.
I'm going to forget my religion. I'm going to forget my zeal.
I'm going to forget my righteousness. And oh, what he said was, I felt
that all these things was necessary to my acceptance with God. He
labored all his life trying to be accepted with God. He said
he thought it was necessary for his acceptance with God, necessary
for his righteousness. He thought that it was necessary
to entitle him favor before God. He said, I trust it in my flesh.
But when God revealed Christ to him, and as he does for anybody
else, he saw that every bit of this stuff that he had to hope
in before was absolutely worthless. Worthless! Is everything you ever done before
you know Christ worthless? Every altar you went on was worthless. Every prayer you prayed, worthless.
Every boast you made, worthless. Every confidence you had in everything
you did, worthless. Worthless. And he said, that
which was everything to me became nothing. Everything over here
that he had in him, he said, this is it, I've arrived. And
then he said, oh, wait a minute. I'm standing on a dung hill. I'm in a shitty dump. I'm standing in a carcass full
of maggots. And I thought this is all my
acceptance before God. And then he saw Christ and he
said, Oh, what an awful place I've been, brother. And he turned
over here and he said, I thought that was it. Now I count all
that to be what it really is. A dunghill. A rotten carcass
with maggots in it. Oh, everything that was to him
that was something became nothing. And Christ became everything
to him. That's what he said. Look what he said in verse 7.
But what things were gained to me, it detracted from Christ. Christ got absolutely no profit
from me. Nothing whatsoever. That's what
he's talking about. Christ got no profit from me.
He says, you know, if you're circumcised, Christ will profit
you nothing. He says, you know the Lord Jesus
Christ and everything about Him, His blood shall profit you. If
you go to anything other than Him, His blood shall profit you
nothing. Christ shall profit you nothing.
His death shall profit you nothing. His blood shall profit you nothing.
His righteousness... I mean, men's got to understand
this, that Christ, if you have anything at all, Christ is nothing. He gains nothing from you. And Lord, he says, yea, doubtless
and without a doubt, without any shadow of a doubt, I count
all things but loss. I thought I knew something and
I was attaining something, but I count all things but loss for
the excellency, excellency of the knowledge of knowing the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, for
whom I suffered the loss of all things, Everything I had before,
zero. That's what he's calling it.
And this is when he goes on to say, he said, I'm going to go
one step further. I'm going to call it done. That I may win Christ. And oh,
I want to be found in Him. And oh, I tell you, being found
in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. When he
talks about the rites of the law, he's talking about the 633
things that those Pharisees believed in and rituals and ceremonies
and mortuaries and that that they went through to be accepted. 633. I can't even remember what
I did yesterday for half a day. And they got to remember 633
things to do. And look what he goes on to say.
But oh, this is what I want. I found in Him, I don't want
nothing to do with my righteous, don't want nothing to do with
law. But I want that righteousness
which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness of
God by faith. Let me ask you, why do men put
on a mask and put on sham religion to appear what they're not? To
put on a pretense? Why do people do that? Why do
people put on this show? Why do they put on a mask when
they come? Why do they put on a sham religion? You keep this
and look with me in 1 John 1. Why do they put on a pretense?
That's what they do, the people do. Instead of being honest, instead
of being what they are, put on their pretense, put on their
mask, put on their sham, put on their pretense. Look what
John said here in 1 John 1 verse 5. This then is the message which
we have heard of him. This is the message that God
gave us. And which we have heard of him.
And this is the message that he told us to declare unto you,
that God is light. God is light, God is holy, God
dwells in a light that no man can approach unto. And in Him
is no darkness at all. No darkness, no shadow of turning. Now listen to it, if we say that
we have fellowship with Him, commune with Him, are in Him,
believe Him and trust Him and walk in darkness, we're lying.
And we don't do the truth. But if we walk in the light,
The light that He gave us, the light of the message, the light
that we've heard of Him. As He's in the light, as God
is light, we have fellowship one with another, fellowship
with Christ, fellowship with the Father, fellowship with the
Holy Spirit, fellowship with fellow believers. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sins. Now listen.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. I ain't perfect, but I tell you
what, I've made a few mistakes in my life, but I don't believe
I'm a sinner. If we say we have no sin, who are we deceiving?
Nobody but ourselves. And look what it goes on, and
then it goes on to say, and you know why? The truth is not even
in us. Now listen to it. If we confess our sins, His faithful
and just to forgive sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now listen to this. If we say
that we have not sinned. I'm not talking about putting
on sham religion pretense. If we say that we have not sinned.
Anybody here willing to stand up and say, I ain't sinned. I remember years ago, and this
is the way a lot of people believe this. A lot of people believe
this. They'll stand up and say, these
hands right here haven't sinned in this longer time, that longer
time, and as far as I know, I don't have any sins in me right now.
And they talk about the sins that they've overcome by their
own flesh. But if we say that we have not sinned, you know
what we do? We make God a liar. And His Word's not in us. I'll tell you why people put
on a mask, why they put on a sham religion, it appears they're
not, they put on a pretense. Because they love the approval
of man. Man wants to be approved by other
men. That's why Lord Jesus Christ,
he told the Pharisees, and Paul, that's what he's repenting of.
He says, oh listen, you know what you fellows look like? You
look like a beautiful, beautiful grave in the graveyard. He says,
I'll tell you what, you got your big stone up there and you got
all the grass and mold around it and flowers around it. Oh,
you just look glorious. He got your statue of yourself
up there and said, but don't you know within you're all dead? There's nothing but dead bones.
And he said, Oh, you appear outwardly righteous unto men, but within
you're full of ravening and wickedness. And he said, I know you, you
are those that justify yourselves in the sight of men. But God
knows your heart, and that is well-pleasing in the sight of
men, is an abomination in the sight of God. And I tell you,
that's why people put on, that's why Paul put on his thorny religion.
He wanted the approval of other men. And they feared censorship,
they feared, oh boy, people will start Stand away from me. My sister won't have anything
to do with me. They don't want to be cut off
from their family. They don't want to be cut off from their
friends. They don't want people talking about them. Oh my! And I tell you another reason
they do it is because their reputation is at stake. And men work hard
for their reputation. If I confess Christ, And I ask
for prayer. And I ask for believers baptism. Someone will think I'm a sinner. That'd be the worst thing in
the world if somebody think you're a sinner. That'd be the worst
thing in the world if somebody find out you're one of them.
Huh? Are you afraid of being embarrassed?
Are you afraid of being embarrassed? Is that why you won't own Christ? Is that what it is? I tell you
what, God will embarrass a man. He embarrassed Paul of Tarsus.
He put him down in the dust. He put him down in the dust,
took him off his white horse of religion. And his Phariseeism
and his circumcision and his Hebrewisms and his righteousness
of the law, He took every bit of that away from him and put
him right down in the dust. An old man walked up in his great
old big general's thorned uniform and he had metal from here to
here and he walked up there and he said there's a prophet here
that can heal me of my leprosy. That prophet said I can't do
it but there's a God who does. And he said I'll tell you what
you do. You go down there and you dip in that water seven times. Take everything you got off of
you and get in there naked seven times and you go down in that
water. I ain't doing that. I ain't doing that. You think
I'm going to take off this beautiful uniform that I've worked hard
for and labored for? I mean, I went to military school. I'm a, I'm a fighter. They'll
go on ahead and go to hell with uniforming. And he said, I fought. That this
is the way God would accept me. I thought that this is the way
I could be saved. I thought that I could bring
some money. I thought I could bring some
clothes. I thought I could bring my uniform. I thought I could
come up here with a bunch of gifts. I thought that I could
buy my way in. No, that's not the way you get
in. Take off your clothes. Go down there to that river.
And you go under once, get up, go under again, get up, go under
again, get up, go under again, get up, go under again, get up,
go under again, get up, go under again, and then get up! And until
you do that seven times, you'll be a leper all the days of your
life. And that's what being an honest
man is. God made him honest and made
Saul a Tarsus artist. And oh my, back over in our texture,
why do we try to be anything but what we are? Why would we
try to be anything but what we are, but sinners? Same sinners,
hopefully, but nevertheless sinners. Do you know what this enemy said
about our Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 15? They said, this man
receives sinners. They said, he's a friend of sinners. Oh boy, I love it. He's a friend of sinners so that
makes him a friend to me. And oh listen, you know who the
owner of the sheep, the shepherd only seeks lost sheep. The woman,
she lost her coin and she turned her house upside down so she
found the coin. And the prodigal wasn't satisfied
until he started home and the father was looking for his lost
son to come back. But they was all lost. And oh, he only saved sinners. Sinners, sinners, sinners, sinners. Sinners. People that are exceedingly
sinful. He only saves those who count
everything but lost, but dumb. And Paul, let me show you how
he groaned. When God saved him by His grace,
he said, I'm the least of the apostles. One out of twelve ain't
bad. Well, I don't know how many of
us here, but if I'm the least among you, that's pretty good,
ain't it? Then go down here and he says,
wait a minute. I'm less than the least of all the saints.
You find the least saint on the top side of God's earth. He said,
I'm less than him. And then, you know what he said?
He said, oh my, how did I ever think I was the least of the
apostles? How did I ever think I was less than the least of
the saints? He said, I'm nothing. And he didn't come ready to die,
you know what he said? I'm the chief of sinners that's
ever lived on this earth. That's what he said about himself. And he's being honest with God.
And he's acutely aware, because he's acutely aware that God actually
knows him as he is. When he put it down on the Damascus
road, do you know what the Lord said to him? Saul, Saul. Saul,
Saul. God knows who he was, knows where
he was, and knows what he was. They said, what do you think
you're doing? Who, you know who you're fighting
against? Do you know how ill you are, how hateful you are,
what a rebel you are? What a blasphemer you are, how
injurious you are? And just as quick as our Lord
revealed himself to him, the first thing out of his mouth
said, Lord, Lord, what would you have me to do? And this is
what he had him to do. Count everything but done. Count everything but done. Oh,
count everything but done. And I tell you what, beloved,
this is the thing. Everything is open and naked
before Him with whom we have to do. A safe center, I know
this without a shadow of doubt, a safe center is ready to draw
all things out in God's sight, so He may tremble to think of
the defects that God finds in Him. Look with me over in Psalm
139, just a minute. Psalm 139. Does your heart ever, if you've
ever been in such a state where you've come to the service or
something and your heart just condemns you so much because
of somewhere you've done, something you've done, some way you act
or something like that and you just feel so, you know, oh Lord. But you come anyway because you
know that God already knows. He already knows the condemn,
already knows the guilt, knows everything about you, knows what
you done, knows what you thought, what you said, how you acted.
But look what he said here in 1st Psalm 139 verse 1, Oh Lord,
thou hast searched me and known. You know my down setting, you
know my unpricing, and you understand my thoughts. You understand my thoughts. You
know the way that I'm going to think. You know what I'm going
to think. You know what I'm going to think before I think it. That's
what he's saying. And then look what he said down here in verse
11. If I say, surely the darkness
shall cover me, Oh, darkness, it covers me. The darkness of
my mind, the darkness of my sin, the darkness of my depression,
the darkness of my troubles, the darkness of my trials. It's
going to cover me and God, you won't even see it. And he said,
even the night will be light about me. Yea, the darkness don't
hide me from you. But the night shines as the day.
When you see me, it's just like daylight when you're looking
at me. The darkness and light are both the light to thee. And
then little Cardi goes on to say down here in verse 23, Search
me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked
way in me, lead me in the way everlasting. And what David said,
now Lord, I want to be saved. I know you know me, but I want
you to save me. I expose myself to you, and I
know you see me as I am. But still yet, you lead me in
the way everlasting. Because if you don't lead me,
I won't be led. If you don't save me, I won't
be saved. And I tell you what, that's what he's talking about
here. And I tell you, here's another thing that he sees, and
this is being honest with God. And are you honest? Do you see,
and Paul saw the absolute necessity of God's grace. Necessity of
it. If salvation is not, if grace
is necessary for a soul to be saved, necessary for Paul to
be saved. He said these, verse 3, he has
no confidence, look what he says. In verse 3, For we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and
have no companions in the flesh, anything that this flesh by fallen
nature ever did. And then he says he rejoices
in Christ Jesus. How else? How else could he be
saved other than through the Lord Jesus Christ? What else
could make him count all things but done except the grace of
God? What else can make him esteem
the excellency of the Christ and the knowledge of Christ but
the grace of God? What else can make him count
his righteousness but done and count the righteousness of Christ
to be everything? What else would cause him to
lose his ceremonial bondage and give it up and gain freedom in
Christ and say he's going to stand down? Oh, he lost his false
peace and gained real peace through Christ. Lost all his earthly,
fleshly glory and attained an eternal glory with the Lord Jesus.
And I tell you, look down at verse 12, it takes an honest
man to admit that he's not perfect. He said, not as though I had
already attained, either, were already perfect. He said, everything
I said to you, I've said, I'm not arrived yet. I'm not arrived
yet. I'm not arrived yet. And what
he's saying, I'm not perfect, not as though I had already attained,
in verse 12, either were already perfect. He said, I've not attained
perfect knowledge, I've not attained perfect happiness, I've not attained
perfect faith. I've not attained these things.
I've not attained perfect joy. He said, though my sanctification
is perfect in Christ, it's not yet perfected in me. He's talking about I know in
part, sin dwells in me, my faith's imperfect. I want to lay hold
on, I want to get a hold of it, I want to understand it, I want
to know why Christ laid hold of me. I'd like to know why Christ
got me, saved me, and the purpose in Him will for me and do for
me. I want to know what in the world
Christ is mine and how He made Himself mine. And oh, I want
to lay hold on him, and I want to be like him. And he says in
verse 13, look what he says here. Brethren, oh, he says brethren, I cannot mock myself to apprehend
that I don't claim to have arrived at perfection in doctrine, I
don't claim to have arrived at perfection in spirit, in word,
in deed, And that's what he talks about.
I won't understand what Christ is doing with me. I'm not, he
said, I'm not yet all that Christ would have me to be. I've not
arrived yet. I'm not all that Christ would
have me to be. I'm not all that Christ would
have me to be. Paul listened. Get out of the
way. Ain't nobody worse shaped than
that. He said, I'm not all that I'd like to be. I'm not apprehended. I'm not
all that I'd like to be. Or even all that I ought to be.
I quit that ought to preaching years ago. You all ever hear that ought to preach,
ought to be preaching? You ought to be like this, and
you ought to be like that, and you need to be like this, and
you ought to quit this, and you ought to quit that, and you ought
to quit going here, and you ought to quit doing that. We ain't
going to do no offs anymore. No more offs. But here's one thing I know.
This is one thing I know. Bless God, he says, I'm not what
I used to be. I'm not a Pharisee anymore. I
don't care about being a Jew anymore. I don't care about being
a Hebrew anymore. I don't care about my circumcision
anymore. I don't care about my ceremonies anymore. I don't care
about it. And then look what he says. And
there again in verse 13. I count not myself to arrive
yet. Perfection yet. But there's one
thing I do. I forget what lies behind me.
Oh my. I forget what lies behind me.
I'm going to forget my struggles of self-righteousness in false
religion. My experience, my revelations
when I had my spiritual infancy. And then look what he says, reaching
forth, reaching forth, reaching forth. unto those things that
are before me." You know, we've all had children,
we all have children, we all have grandbabies. Has your child
ever reached forth to you that you refuse to pick them up? Have they ever reached out like
this? They want you. And that's why
Paul says, I'm reaching out. I'm reaching out to the Lord
Jesus. I'm reaching out to the Master. I'm forgetting everything
that's been. I'm reaching forth to the things
that are before me. Things that are present right
now and things that are future. I'm reaching forth. I mean, I'm reaching out there. I'll stop and tell you a story.
Yesterday, I was getting ready to cross the finish line, that
race, 6.22 miles, getting ready to cross that finish line. And
there's a little old blonde headed girl beside me. She's probably,
look, be 18, 20, something like that. And she come running up
beside me. Oh, about that time I had about
two-tenths of a mile to go. I gave her everything I had.
It wasn't much. But I gave her everything I had. Well, she decided she was going
to give her everything she had. And I mean, we were just both
running as hard as we could go. And we stepped on that thing
together and we slapped hands together. And that's what I was
reaching. I was reaching. I was reaching.
And that's why I pause, reaching to the things that are before
me. And Christ is before us. All His righteousness is before
us. Every perfection that we need is in Christ and He's before
us. All that we need in the present
is in Him and we reach for it. We want it. You reach for it
because that's what you want. You want to hold it. You want
to embrace it. You need it. And all the future
things that we have, we reach forth unto Him. Huh? Oh my! And listen, now he said,
look what I love this right here. In verse 14, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, to be called of God, there's
not a higher calling in the world. Oh, at graduation this year,
people are going to walk up, they're going to call her name,
they're going to walk up on the stages, and they're going to
say, Magnum cum laude, and they're going to have honor after honor,
scholarship after scholarship, and they'll have all these attainments,
and they say, boy, that's a high calling, you know, they're going
to attain a lot in this world. But, oh, listen, the highest
calling is for God to call your name. For God to call you. God calls you. It comes from
heaven, so it has to be high. And He calls you to high things.
He calls you to high things in Christ. Glorious things in Christ. And it will take you to a high
place one of these days where Christ Himself dwells. And oh,
listen. Zacchaeus! Oh, what a call it! Lazarus? It was such a high calling
it gave him life from the dead. Ruth? Oh, why did you even call on
my name? I'm just an old Moabite. I'm
sorry I'm out here bleeding in this field. I'm poor and ain't
got nothing to nobody. Boy has got his eye on you. Oh, listen. And you know what
the mark is? When you reach press for that
mark, you know what the mark is? It wasn't that crossing that
finish line like I did yesterday. The mark, the starting, the mark
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. There's people that their mark
is to learn to speak in tongues. Their mark is progressive sanctification
until they get holy. Their mark is to be a preacher
or teach Sunday school or win so many souls to Jesus. They
got marks that they want. Paul says, the mark that I want,
the mark that I want to reach, the mark that I'm pressing for
is the Lord Jesus Christ. You go after every mark you want,
I want Christ. to know Him, to be found in Him,
to win Him. You see, beloved, He's the starting
mark. Where are you going to start
at? Start with Christ. And not only that, but He's the
finishing mark. You start with Him and you end
with Him. He's all in it all. And all the prize is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. We've got to keep our eyes on
the mark. They talk about, you know, they keep your eyes on
the prize. Well, keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
be beguiled from the simplicity that's in Him. Now look what
He said back up here in verse 12, just a minute. He said, Not as though I'd already
attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after. Oh, I'm not already attained.
I'm not already perfect. I follow after. What are you
following after, Paul? A perfect knowledge of Him. Happiness
from Him. Joy for Him. Everything that's
perfect in Him. That's what I want. That's what
I want. And then he says down in verse
15. I'll wind it up. Let us, let us, therefore, As many as be perfect. Now what
is be thus minded? Now he talked about not perfect,
but what does he mean perfect here? That word perfect here
means those that are mature. Those that are mature, those
that have grown up. Has some maturity about. He said
as many as us as mature, as many as us as are grown, be thus minded. Be minded like what? To count
all things but lost for the excellency of Christ. to count all your
heritage, your pride of race, your pride of place, your pride
of face, your pride of grace, your ceremony, your works of
religion, but done, that we may win Christ and be found in Him.
He says, be this minded, disclaim perfection in ourselves, but
aim for it. Desire to be found in Him, having His righteousness.
To desire of all things to be like Christ, to press forward
in perseverance to attain that incorruptible crown. And then
he went on to say this, if in anything you have a mind different
than this, if in anything you have a mind
different than what I'm talking about, God will have to reveal
it to you. And He will. He will. You get
your eyes off of Him, He'll reveal it to you. He'll reveal it to
you. And then look what he says in verse 16, nevertheless, we're to, we've already attained,
let's walk by that same rule, let us mind the same thing. And
what he says is, what he means is, whatever degree of knowledge
of Christ, whatever the truth of the gospel that you've taught,
whatever light that God has given us, let's walk in that. Let's
mind the same thing, what God's taught. And as we walk in that
light, walk in that light that God's given us, what we've attained,
He'll give us more. He'll give us more. And that's
what He's talking about. What you've attained, don't back
up from it. What you know, don't never let
it go. And you walk by that rule, what God's taught you to walk
in, and you mind that same thing, and when you walk in that, you'll
get some more to walk in. And I tell you, beloved, my spiritual
growth, I won't say about you, my spiritual growth may be slow,
and it's even discouraging. I get more discouraged with myself
than I do anybody in this world. There's not anybody in this building
that I get discouraged with. I'm telling you the truth. There's
not a soul in this building I get discouraged with. Except myself. And I feel like I'm standing
still, and that's why you may feel the same way, I don't know.
But I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Whatever I've attained,
I'm not going to let it go. I know this, that Christ has
been revealed to me and revealed in me. I know whom I believed
and I'm going to lay hold on that until he makes me no more. Ain't you? That's what I'm going
to do. I'm not going to move a peg from
that. Not going to move a peg from it.