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. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, turn in your Bibles to the book of Philippians
chapter three, Paul's epistle or letter to the church at Philippi
chapter three. And this message today is part
two and the final message on this subject, faith, repentance,
and perseverance. Last week I did the first part
of this chapter, Philippians 3, mainly dealing with faith
and repentance, but also with perseverance. Faith, the gift
of God, the scripture says, I quote it all the time and I'm sure
you're familiar with it, Ephesians 2, eight and nine, which says
that by grace are you saved. That means salvation is unearned,
undeserved, not conditioned on us. The grace of God and salvation
is conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those conditions. So
for by grace are you saved. through faith, that is, by means
of faith. And that faith is God-given.
He says, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now some
people, some commentators say the it there refers to all of
salvation. Some say it applies only to the
word faith. Doesn't matter. It's all the
gift from God. If it refers to all of salvation,
that includes faith, and it's all the gift. Faith is not something
that you have or I have naturally. I said last week, I said people
believe that sinners have a spark of goodness. They find a preacher
who can fan the flame and it blows up into faith. That's not
the way it happens. By nature, we are all fallen
and ruined in Adam and born spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. We
have no goodness, no righteousness, and no desire for salvation God's
way. Even the spiritually dead natural
man can want salvation his way, but he doesn't want it God's
way. That's why faith is a gift of
God. It's equivalent to knowledge,
knowing what God has done in Christ. Most people today make
faith a work. Because they say, well, Christ
died for everybody and he's trying to save you and you just have
to believe to put your stamp of approval on it and seal the
deal. And that's not what the Bible teaches. Not at all. Faith is the gift of God that
drives a sinner to receive Christ as the Lord his righteousness,
as his salvation, as his redeemer, and all of that. So Paul deals
with that. He said, look at verse 9 in Philippians
chapter 3, Paul said, 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. First of all, the foundation
there is not our faith in Him, but His faithfulness to accomplish
what He was commissioned to do before the foundation of the
world. He had a work to do. And that work was to redeem His
people from their sins by the offering of Himself, satisfying
the justice of God. Christ was set up before the
foundation of the world to be the surety of His people. And what that means is that the
sin debt of God's chosen people was imputed, it was counted,
it was charged to Him. He took that debt and He promised
to pay that debt by His life, His blood on the cross. And out
of that redemptive work comes righteousness that God has imputed,
charged, accounted to His people. Now, this righteousness which
Christ wrought out in Christ himself, it's the righteousness
which is of God by faith. We receive it by God-given faith. And so Paul writes, verse 10,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, verse
11, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. And what he's saying there is this. Whatever God has in
store, and whatever way God does it, that for me to enter heaven's
glory and live eternally with Him in Christ, that's what I
want. That's what I desire. That way
that glorifies God and gives me no room to boast. All of grace. Now, in verse 12, now we talked
about faith, repentance, and now perseverance. What is perseverance? Perseverance is a believer, a
sinner saved by grace, continuing in the faith. Persevering in
the faith. Struggling through. Not in his
own power. Not in his own goodness. And
not even really in his own will, but by the power, the goodness,
the grace, and the will of God. You see, perseverance of the
saints. which the Bible teaches, is not
the foundation of entering glory, it's the result, it's the fruit
of God's preserving grace. Why will a sinner who is truly
saved persevere unto the end? It's because God preserves them
by His grace. And how does he preserve? Well,
he preserves them by his power, his goodness, his will. He is
working all things together for good to them that love God, who
are the called according to his purpose. God cannot and will
not charge them with their sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. He cannot
be condemned. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again,
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. You see, as long as Christ is
on the throne, as long as Christ is making intercession for His
people, they cannot lose their salvation. They cannot be condemned. And so Paul says here, and that's
what perseverance is. But now listen to what he says
in verse 12. And keep it in context now. Look
at verse 11 again. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, verse 12, not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect. Now what
is it that Paul had not attained? He had not attained the resurrection
of the dead. But that's going to happen when
Christ returns again and all the children of God, all of His
true people, will be caught up and gathered together with Him,
vindicated before the whole universe. You see, there are things that
Christians have attained already. We've attained salvation, not
by our works, not by our personal attainments or our personal will. We've attained salvation by the
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says here in verse 12, not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.
Believers now have a perfection But it's not in themselves, it's
a perfection of righteousness, which can only be found in Christ,
and it's imputed to them. That's their legal perfection. God cannot charge me with sin,
because He charged my sins to Christ. Christ satisfied the
justice of God, and I have His righteousness imputed to me.
I stand in Him, not having mine own righteousness. See, Paul
said that earlier, which is of the law. So I do have a perfection,
not in me, but in Christ. But there is no perfection in
me. I'm a sinner, saved by the grace
of God. I have to struggle, I have to
fight, I have to war against the flesh every day of my life. And so that's what Paul's talking
about here. Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect. I've not already been glorified.
I'm in this body of death. Paul describes it as a wretched
man. Remember in Romans 7, 24. Oh,
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. So that's what he's talking about.
Well, I haven't attained perfection in myself. One day I will attain
it by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the goodness
and the will of God. I'll be glorified and I'll shed
this vile body and I'll be given a new spiritual glorified body
without any contamination of the flesh, without any influence
of the flesh. So what do I do until then? Look
at verse 12. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect, but I follow after." Now that's
perseverance. But what are you following after?
Well, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. I follow after that which God
has made me and which I'm going to be in Christ Jesus, and I
wanna lay hold of, I wanna apprehend that which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. In other words, what he's saying,
and it may sound a little confusing, but it's really not. What he's
saying is Christ has got hold of me, and I'm gonna continually
keep getting hold of him. Hold on for dear life. That's
what he's saying, that's perseverance. Now again, no believer does that
of his own power, of his own will, of his own goodness, it's
all of the grace of God. The Bible says that God who began
this good work will finish it. And he says in verse 13, brethren,
I count myself not to have apprehended, I haven't yet, realized and been
glorified and perfectly glorified so that I'm now without sin. But this one thing I do, he says,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth
into those things which are before. What I was, forget it. What I'm
going to be in Christ, that's what I want on my mind. That's
what I'm reaching for, to be like Christ. Not in order to
be saved, not trying to earn my rewards in heaven, but because
God has given me every blessing, every benefit of salvation, freely,
all in Christ, conditioned on Him, secured by Him. It's all
a free gift. As a believer in Christ, I realize
that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, from
the Father of lights, with whom there's no shadow of turning,
no variableness. He's God, he changes not, therefore
I'm a son of Jacob and not consumed, a sinner saved by grace. And
that's what I'm looking forward to, see. That's where we're reaching
forth unto things which are before. I don't want to dwell on the
past. I don't want to let the past be a cancer inside of me,
eating away at me, making me feel guilt. I want to look to
Christ. We run the race of grace looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's perseverance. Perseverance is not a sinner
trying to hold on to salvation by his own power and his own
goodness And if he's not powerful enough, if he's too weak, or
if he's not good enough, he loses it. My friend, that's a false
gospel. That's a false salvation. And
anybody who counts themselves saved under such a system is
self-righteous and proud. No, my friend, let me tell you
something. If God were to let go of me right now, I'm sitting
here with an open Bible. If God were to let go of me right
now, I'd sink into hell. That's what I'm saying. He saves
me. He keeps me. He'll bring me to
glory. Therefore, based upon the security
of the saved by His grace in Christ, I'm going to reach forth
unto things which are before. Verse 14 of Philippians 3, he
says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. It is a prize. But it's not just
to those who do better than others. Every true believer will receive
the same prize because it's all of grace. No believer earns it,
no believer deserves it. Therefore, whether you're a preacher
and preach thousands of sermons, or you're just a lay person who
sweeps the floor, it doesn't matter. We're all in the kingdom
of God and saved by His grace. And that's it. And my friend,
if you ever realize that nothing you have is earned or deserved,
not even the next breath you take, let alone salvation and
the inheritance of glory in Christ, you'll realize that you don't
have anything to boast in except Christ. That's what he said in
Philippians 3. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. And it's a high calling. I often
say that true Christianity is advanced citizenship. You've
really got to want it. But it's God who puts that want
to in His people. It's a high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. It's higher than anything that
we could find on this earth. The best that religion on earth,
earthly religion, human religion, can give is salvation, conditioned
in some way, at some stage, to some degree, on you. And that's
deadly. But this is serving God as a
willing, loving bond slave. That's what perseverance is all
about. It's struggling every day, fighting the warfare, the
flesh and the spirit, Feeding upon God's Word and the power
of the Spirit. Looking to Christ totally, always,
every day for salvation, for benefits, for reward. It's all
in Him. Pressing toward that mark of
God. Seeking to obey Him. It is a struggle because it's
a high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He says in verse 15 of
Philippians 3, let us therefore as many as be perfect, that is
be complete, not be sinless. He said we're sinless in Christ,
but he said as many as be complete, that is we are sinners saved
by the grace of God, be thus minded. be this minded, pressing
toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. And if in anything you be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." God's going to
keep His children. God's going to show and teach
His children. See, he's not going to let his
children continue on in error and in legalism and as mercenaries. He's going to reveal that, he
says in verse 16, nevertheless, whereto we have already attained,
let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Now,
what have we already attained? Well, if we're believers, we've
attained salvation. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm not waiting for the conclusion of that if I do my part or do
my best or rack up my points. No. I've already attained it. How did I attain it? By the grace
of God. So let's walk by the same rule.
What? By the grace of God. And let
us mind the same thing. The grace of God. It's all of
grace. So he says in verse 17, brethren,
be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you
have us for an example. This is the way Paul was walking.
Paul didn't set himself up as someone to be honored and magnified
above his station. He always pointed sinners to
Christ. Christ has all the glory. We have no confidence in the
flesh and we rejoice confidence in Christ. But Paul says, he's
saying this, I'm walking, I'm following after the prize, the
mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus by grace. Now I'm an example. You do the same as me. Follow
me as I follow Christ. He says in verse 18, for many
walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Verse
19, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, their
appetites, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. There are preachers who claim,
people who claim to be Christian, who walk after the flesh. Now,
you say, well, that's talking about Christian. They claim to
be Christian, but they're immoral people. Not necessarily. Again,
remember how Paul started this about the Jewish unbelievers
who claimed to be Christian, and they wanted to bring believers
back under the law, through obedience to the law, in order to be saved.
Well, their glory is their shame. They're minding earthly things.
They're walking contrary to the grace of God. Over in the book
of Galatians, Paul mentions this. Think about this. He said, in
Galatians chapter two, he says, in verse 20, he says, well, verse
21, Galatians 2.21, he says, I do not frustrate the grace
of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, by your works of the law, then Christ is dead in vain. In other words, if you can be
made righteous by your obedience to the law, then Christ did not
have to come at all. He actually came for nothing.
Because Christ came to save His people from their sins by His
faithfulness to keep the law and satisfy the justice of God
on the cross and bring forth righteousness. Again, Romans
10, 4, I quote it all the time. Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the finishing of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe it. Paul wrote in Galatians 6, 14,
God forbid that I should glory, boast, have confidence except
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when he talks about
those whose end is their destruction, whose God is their belly, their
appetites, he's talking about religious people too who are
seeking salvation or any part of salvation by their works. That's a fleshly appetite. The Bible says that those who
truly hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.
The analogy of eating there, eating and drinking. Well, if
you truly hunger and thirst after righteousness by the power of
the Holy Spirit in the new birth, there's only one thing that will
fill you, that will quench your thirst and fill your hunger,
and that's Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Well, back
in Philippians 3 and verse 20, he says, for our conversation,
now the word conversation there is literally citizenship. For
our citizenship is in heaven. We're sure for heaven if we're
in Christ, if we're saved by the grace of God, if we're justified
by His righteousness imputed, if God cannot lay anything to
our charge, He charged it to Christ. If we're born again by
the Spirit, our citizenship is in Him. We're in the world, but
we're not of the world. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking for Him to come
again. He's going to return, in verse 21. And when He does,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is
able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Now that's what
Paul was saying in perseverance. He got faith in Christ, repentance
of dead works, continuing in the faith, pressing forward by
the grace of God toward the mark of the high calling which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. He's coming again. Right now
we're waiting for him to come. He may come in our day, he may
not, but he's coming. If he doesn't come in my day,
I'll go to him. My citizenship is not on this
earth, I'm here on this earth. I have to work, I have to do
these things, I have to deal with people here, but my citizenship
is in heaven. I'm a citizen of the kingdom
of God, a child of God, I'm in his family. The earthly family,
this earthly brotherhood here is not my family, it's Christ
and all who are in him, my brethren in Christ, brothers and sisters
in Christ. And so I'm persevering, continuing
by the grace of God towards that mark, knowing that one day I'll
either go to him in death, that's what happened, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, to be absent from
the body is to be with the Lord, or he'll come again to receive
his people. And he'll change this vile body,
Paul said this body of death, to fashion it like an unto his
glorious body. We see something in the scriptures
of that when after he was resurrected from the dead and he walked among
the disciples and we see the things that he did. And then
we have some scriptural teaching on it in passages like 1 Corinthians
15 But there are always questions that come up that we can't answer.
There's a lot we don't know about what it will be like in glory,
existing in a spiritual body forever and ever and ever, where
there's no tears, no sorrow, no sickness, no pain, no death. All we know is that we'll be
like Christ. But John said, 1 John 3, he said,
or 1 John 3 and 1 and 2, he said, brethren, it doesn't yet appear
what we shall be. We don't know that exactly. We
know something about it, but we don't know the fullness of
it. But we know we shall be like
Him. We shall see Christ as He is. And that's all according to the
working whereby He is able. Now that's key in verse 21. Did you notice that? It said,
the working whereby He is able. We're not able. We're not able
to persevere, we're not able to glorify ourselves, but he
is able even to subdue all things unto himself. All things will
be brought down under his feet. All his enemies will be made
his footstool. Every eye is going to bow, every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And he
will subdue all things unto himself. He's the sovereign, God of this
universe. He's working all things right
now for the good, all things bad and good. He's working them
to good, the eternal good for His people. who love Him, who
have been brought to love Him by the power of His grace in
the Spirit through Christ, and who love Him and who are the
called according to His purpose. And what is His purpose? It's
to glorify Himself in the salvation of sinners through the blood
and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's
all wrapped up in the glorious person and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able. We're not. But He
is. And so let's press toward the
mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's advanced
citizenship. That's faith, repentance, and
perseverance, all by the grace of God, all through Christ Jesus
the Lord, based upon what He accomplished for His people.
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
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at 1-1-0-2-EAGER. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
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today and may the Lord be with you.