Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. I've been preaching through the
book of Philippians chapter three, this specific chapter, if you'd
like to follow along in your Bibles. So if you haven't kept
up with these and you want to hear the past messages, today
I'm going to begin around verses nine and 10 of Philippians chapter
three concerning the resurrection of the dead. That's the title
of the message, the resurrection of the dead. And if you'd like
to go back and listen to the messages that I preached before,
then be sure to go to our website. You can order them or you can
listen to them right there. But this is the resurrection
from the dead. It's where the Apostle Paul has
been writing by inspiration of the Spirit concerning the salvation
of sinners, God in the new birth bringing sinners to faith in
Christ repentance of dead works, which Paul speaks of in verse
seven, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ, and he explained that. And he shows here that the only
hope that sinners have of salvation, of being justified before God,
and what is it to be justified is to be forgiven of all of our
sins, and declare righteous in God's sight, the only hope of
any sinner attaining justification is to be found in Christ. Now, to be found in Christ, and
he says that in verse nine. He says, in verse eight, he talked
about that I may win Christ and be found in him. to be in Christ. What does that mean? Well, it
means that if I'm in Christ, there are several aspects of
that. It means that God chose me before the foundation of the
world in Christ. Ephesians one speaks of that.
It means Christ is my representative before God, my high priest, that
Christ is my surety, which means that all of the responsibility
of my sins, all my sins, my falling Adam, my own personal sins, sins
of omission, sins of commission, sins past, present, future, the
penalty, the payment, the debt of all my sins were placed on
Him, His charge, imputed, that's the word, imputed to Him. In other words, He was chosen
to be my surety, the surety of all of His people, all that the
Father gave to Him. And He took responsibility, He
willingly did this now, took responsibility to pay the sin
debt in full of His people by dying on the cross of Calvary
for their sins. You see that death, His death
on Calvary was not just a token. It was not just an expression
of God's love. It was the satisfaction of the
debt. That's called redemption. And
so to be in Christ is to be in Him as my surety. And then it's
to be in Him as my substitute. That when He came to this world
and assumed human nature, human body and soul without sin, He
did it for me and He kept the law. He was made under the law,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. And that is being in Him. He died for me on the
cross. How do I know that Christ died
for me? Well, to be in Him is to be born
again and brought to faith in Him. It means I believe in Him
and I rest in Him. I plead His blood and His righteousness
as my only hope of salvation. And to be found in Him, verse
nine here, Philippians three, is to stand before holy God at
the judgment in the beauty, in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's a beautiful thing.
See, if I'm found in Him, then there's no possible way that
I can be condemned. Romans 8, 1 says that there's
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not according to the flesh, but after the spirit.
They believe in him. Romans 8, I think it's 33, says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. yea rather, is risen again and
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession,
to stand before God in my place as my intercessor, my mediator,
my high priest. And so that's what it is to be
in Christ. Well, Paul writes here in verse
nine of Philippians three, I want to 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. My hope is not even in my own
faithfulness. My hope and assurance of salvation
is in Christ's faithfulness to do what he agreed to do in the
covenant of grace. And what did he agree to do?
He agreed to be my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, my intercessor. You see what I'm saying? He's
faithful. The faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ is
perfection. Now, when God gives His people
faith in the new birth, we have that faith, but we have it in
these broken vessels, you might say, fleshly bodies. And we still
have the sinful flesh to deal with. We're in a warfare. And
our faith is always contaminated by our own doubts and misgivings. And so even though a believer,
a true believer, believes and rests in Christ for all salvation,
he's in a struggle with the world, with himself, the world, the
flesh, and the devil. Now the battle is sure to be
won because of Christ who has the victory. He's not going to
let his people go. If he took his sovereign hand
of power off of me, I'd fall in a minute. But he won't let
that happen for me to fall away completely, apostatize as you
say. So my hope is in him, the righteousness
of God in him. The Bible says in Acts 17 31
that God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained in
that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. And what that's telling me is
this, the only way that I can appear before God in the perfection
of the righteousness of the law, that's the only thing that God
will accept, is to be found in Christ, having His righteousness
charged to me. And so, that's the righteousness
of God, which is by faith. We receive it by God-given faith.
Verse 10 says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
and that's the power of an endless life, the power of eternal life,
Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made
conformable unto his death. In other words, I am in Christ. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. And when he arose again, I arose
again. He is my surety, my substitute, my redeemer. and then identify
with him against the world. I take sides with Christ because
God gave me faith and repentance. I take sides with Christ and
I stand against the world. And then look at verse 11. He
says, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Now what's Paul talking about
here? Well, the resurrection of the dead here is the final
glorification of all of God's people in the end. When Christ
comes back, He's going to raise His people from the dead. And
He's going to give them new, perfect spiritual bodies. They'll all be glorified together. And that's the resurrection of
the dead. That's the culmination of everything
that salvation is. the glorified realm of salvation
when Christ comes again to destroy this world and to judge those
who died in unbelief, but to gather His church, His children,
God's elect believers unto Himself and will be changed in the twinkling
of an eye. That's Paul's goal. That's the
goal of every true believer. Every sinner saved by grace,
every justified person. Are my sins forgiven? If it's
by the blood of Christ, yes. If I think it's anything else,
I count it but loss. You see what I'm saying? It is
the resurrection of the dead unto glorious, perfect, sinless,
sorrowless life. No tears, no death, no sorrow. That's what he's talking about.
And that's not just a pipe dream. Christ arose from the dead and
the book of 1 Corinthians 15 says he's the first fruits of
them that slept. In other words, he is, his resurrection
from the dead proves that all of his sheep, all of his church
will be raised from the dead and glorified with him. Now when
Paul says here in verse 11, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead, Paul's not saying I don't care
how I get there, just so I get there. That's not what he's saying. Paul realized, as every other
believer does, that we get there, by the grace and the power of
God in the righteousness or the blood of Christ. That's how we
get there. Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by him. The only way of salvation The
only way of being justified, the only way of being born again
and glorified is through the grace and the power of God based
on the righteousness of Christ. But what Paul is saying is this,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of death.
What he's saying is this, it doesn't matter what I go through
here on this earth. When Paul wrote this book of
Philippians, you know where he was? He was in jail. This is
one of his prison epistles. You remember the story of the
Philippian jailer in the book of Acts. This is where Paul was
and he wrote this letter in jail. Later on when he was in, I believe
he was in Rome where he wrote this letter, but he was in prison
at Rome. But he wrote this to the Philippians
and he called himself the prisoner of the Lord. He didn't say I'm
the prisoner of Caesar or the prisoner of Rome. What he recognized
is that this was one of the ways that God was going to use him
to get the gospel out. And so when he says, if by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection, no matter what
I go through between now, the time of my death and my resurrection,
that's my goal. And nothing's gonna hinder it.
Being in jail's not gonna hinder. Being beheaded, which Paul was
beheaded. Being opposed. Every true gospel
believer has had to face opposition, mainly from their families, unbelieving
family members. But nothing's going to hinder
or stop the perfection that we will experience in the resurrection
from the dead when Christ comes again. And so how do you know
he's talking about this final resurrection, this glorification?
Well, look at verse 12. He says, not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Now Paul says, not as though
I had already attained. He's talking now about something
he has not attained yet. Something he has not reached
yet, a point. Now Paul has attained salvation.
Not by his works, not by his efforts, not by his own will
or free will as they call it. He had attained it because God
sovereignly stopped him on the Damascus road and he was born
again and brought to faith in Christ and repentance. See, our
attaining salvation is not a matter of our efforts or our decision.
It's a matter of God's sovereign grace. Paul said in Galatians,
when it pleased the Lord to reveal himself in me. Now that's what
happened. God's good time. But he'd already
attained salvation. And then Paul had already attained
justification. Paul's sins were already forgiven. His righteousness was already
complete and perfect. He stood before God in the perfection
of righteousness, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10, 14 says this, it
says, by one offering, Christ hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. Those whom God set apart in election
and in redemption and in the new birth, Christ has perfected
them. They have attained the perfection
of the law, again, not by their works, but by Christ's work for
them as our surety, substitute, and redeemer. So he's already
attained that, all the spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. But there's something he had
not yet attained. Something yet that's yet to be
completed. And what is that? That's the
final culmination of all things when Christ comes the second
time without sin to destroy this earth and gather his people unto
himself. He's talking about final glory. So he says, not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect. That is in the
sense of final glorification. I am perfect in Christ. He is
my righteousness and there's no flaw, there's no sin, there's
no contamination or corruption in the righteousness that I stand
before God in because it's Christ. But now me, you look at me and
my inward thoughts and everything, I do believe I've been born again,
I have a new heart, but I also have the flesh. That contaminates
everything I think, say, and do. And it's a struggle. That's a continual repentance
in that way. Godly sorrow over sin. So I'm
not perfect in myself. And that's what Paul's saying.
He says, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect. I'm not perfect in myself. I
am perfect in Christ. In Him, Colossians 2, 9 and 10,
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him, in Him, in Christ. And that's why I spent
some time earlier talking about what it means to be in Him. But
in myself, I'm all, we sing a hymn at our church. Only a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
And another hymn, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus'
blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
friend, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand. Another hymn,
what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And one verse in that says, this is all my hope and peace, this
is all my righteousness. You understand what I'm saying?
The perfection of the law for righteousness can only be found
in Christ, not in me. And I look to him. So in that
sense, I say with Paul, not as though I had already attained,
I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm perfect in Christ but not
yet perfect in myself. So either we're already perfect.
But look at what he says in verse 12. But I follow after if that
I may apprehend. What does that mean apprehend?
It means to lay hold, grab hold of it. That for which also I
am apprehended of Christ Jesus. I wanna lay hold of that for
which Christ Jesus laid hold of me. God is the first cause of all
things, especially salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. My
salvation was brought about not by my laying hold of Him, but
of His laying hold of me. That's what happened. My former
pastor, he used to talk about the Apostle Paul on the road
to Damascus. And he'd say this, he'd say,
Paul was not going to a religious service. He was not going to
a prayer meeting. He was not seeking the Lord.
He was seeking Christians, that he might arrest them, bring them
back and arrest them and have them executed. That's what he
was wanting to do. But God laid hold of him, apprehended
him. God hold of him, Christ grabbed
him and put him on his face and blinded him physically, but opened
his eyes spiritually, gave him spiritual eyes to see and spiritual
ears to hear, sent him to Ananias. And Paul had already heard the
gospel, he heard Stephen preach it, he heard others preach it
that he wanted to persecute. But God made it effectual unto
his salvation. And so when he's talking about
this glory, That's the reason God chose a people in Christ. That's the reason He purposed
before the foundation of the world to save a people and gave
them to Christ, that He would bring them ultimately to final
glory, to live with Him forever and ever and ever in uninterrupted
blessing and fellowship without sin, without sorrow, without
death. And Paul says, I want to lay
hold of that. That's why he laid hold of me. So he says in verse
13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. I haven't
yet achieved final glory. I haven't yet attained it. When
I say achieve, I don't mean you earn it. We don't earn it. But
I haven't yet gotten there. But this one thing I do, Paul
says, this was the determination of his mind, and that by the
power of God. This one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. So many people, when they talk
about salvation, when they talk about assurance of salvation,
they always go back into the past, and they always wanna relate
some experience they had that they thought was supernatural
or spiritual. But Paul says, I forget all that.
The only time that Paul ever related or referred back to his
own experience on the Damascus Road was when he was trying to
prove to believers that he was the actual Paul who before persecuted
them. I am that man. But God did a
work of grace. So he says, I forget those things
which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, those things that are before me. That final glory
in Christ. Not trying to work my way into
God's favor, not trying to work my way into righteousness, not
trying to work my way into salvation, but because I am apprehended
of God, because I have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, born
again by the Spirit of God, justified based on His righteousness imputed
to me. I reach forth unto those things
which are before. Verse 14, I press toward the
mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
That's the mark, the prize, final glory, resurrection from the
dead. Just as Christ arose from the
dead, he will bring his people to be raised from the dead. You
know, in the book of 1 Corinthians, there were some false preachers
who crept into those churches saying that there is no resurrection
of the dead. And Paul's argument against that
is that cannot be. Because if there's no resurrection
from the dead, then Christ was not raised from the dead. And
he was. And remember in 1 Corinthians
15, he talks about how he was seen of over 500 witnesses after
he died on that cross and was laid in that tomb for three days.
He came out and he was seen of all kinds of people. And so we
know he was raised from the dead. That's a historical fact. You
can't deny that. I know people do. But it's a
historical fact. That's just as much a historical
fact as claiming that George Washington was the first president
of the United States. But we know that because history
recorded. Well, history recorded this,
biblical history. And so if you deny the resurrection
of the dead, that's a denial of Christ. Because in Adam all
died, but in Christ shall all be made alive. That's what he
says there. Christ gained the victory over
death and the grave and hell. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? It's all been conquered because
of Christ. He died, and in His death, He
finished the transgression, He made an end of sin, and He brought
in everlasting righteousness. So he says, I press toward the
mark of the high calling. And it's a high calling. I call
it advanced citizenship. Christianity is not an easy life,
true Christianity. It's not a life, it's not a bed
of roses as the old song used to say, a rose garden. It's not
health and wealth all the time. As he said back up here, he said,
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. Marvel not if the world
hates you. People will have to stand against
their nearest and dearest relatives who do not believe this gospel.
You're to love them, but you can't speak peace to them. And
so he says, I press, and it's a pressing. It's an effort now. It's not trying to be saved by
works or hard work, but it is a determination of mine that
is brought about by God-given faith and repentance and perseverance
I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling, that
resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of the dead, the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.