So from our Bibles again to Philippians
chapter 3. The title of the message this
morning is From Dung to Righteousness. The apostle wrote this letter
to the church at Philippi while he was in prison at Rome. And
Paul was sure that very soon he would be put to death for
preaching the gospel. And he dearly loved these brothers
and sisters. You know the story from how that
church at Philippi began. And he dearly loved them. And
he has time, he thinks, to write one final message to them. He's
just got time for one more message. What's his message? It must be
something he feels is very, very important, isn't it? His message
to them that's so important is to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in Christ. That's the theme of the book
of Philippians. Rejoice in the Lord. Put your confidence and
your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. A man by nature has some understanding
that we've got a problem with our sin. Now, we don't have any
idea how big of a problem that really is or how deep the problem
has gone, but we know, we have a sense, some sense there's a
problem with our sin. Man by nature has some sense
that I have a desire to please God. I need to do something to
please God because one day he's going to judge me. And because
of that understanding, man is very religious. Man wants to
find some way to get rid of this problem of our sin. Man wants
to find some way to make God not angry with us anymore. But
our problem is we don't know how that can be done. Man by
nature can't figure those things out. We can't perceive and understand
God. So we've made up many different
ways. There's only one way to come
to God. There's only one way God will be pleased There's only
one way our sin can be put away, but man's made up many different
ways. And Paul warns us here that every
way that man has come up with to get rid of our sin and every
way that man's come up with to make God happy with us won't
work. Man fails every time. And so
he warns us because of all these different ways that man has come
up with, that's false religion. And Paul warns us about false
religion. He says that Those men and women
in false religion, they make merchandise of men's souls. I try to think of an illustration
to explain to you, especially to young people. You beware of
this now as you go out into the world. These people in false
religion think of you as merchandise. So what is merchandise? Well,
merchandise is something that you go get that you really don't
care that much about. You don't intend to keep it very
long. You use it and get rid of it. Here's the illustration
I want to give you. You go to the store, and you
buy a toilet brush. All that toilet brush is to you
is merchandise. It's what it is. You put it in
your buggy, it's merchandise. You don't set it down there carefully,
you just toss it in there. It's merchandise. And you take
that toilet brush home, and it doesn't bother you at all to
dunk that toilet brush down in the toilet and clean it. It doesn't
bother you at all. And when it's wore out, it doesn't
bother you at all to throw it away. because you're just going
to go get a new one. That's merchandise. And that's
what men in false religion think of you. You're just merchandise
to them. They get you. They lure you in. They do anything they can to
get you. They do anything that they can.
They're not trying to get you to make a commitment to Christ.
They're trying to get you to make a commitment to them. And
the only reason they want to do that is they want to get something
from you. They're going to get whatever they can get from you.
And when they've got it from you, they're gonna throw you
away and go on to somebody new. Merchandise. That's what false
religion does to people. And Paul says, it doesn't bother
me at all to tell you and warn you about this over and over
and over again. He said, I may not have many
breaths left, but as long as God gives me breath, I'm gonna
warn you about these things. I'm gonna preach to you Christ
as long as God gives me breath. Look what he says here in verse
one, chapter three. Finally, my brethren, Rejoice
in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me, indeed,
is not grievous, but for you, it's safe. You beware of dogs,
beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Paul says now
here, it doesn't aggravate me at all to tell you the same things
about Christ over and over and over again. Matter of fact, it's
a joy. It really is a joy to get to
preach Christ over and over and over again. It's a joy, not grievous. And he says, for you it's safe,
for you it's safe to hear nothing but Christ preach over and over
and over again, to hear that Christ is the only savior over
and over and over, that for you it's safe, to hear that he's
your righteousness. There's nothing you can do to
make yourself righteous, but he's your righteousness. To hear that
repeated over and over and over again, it's a joy to the preacher
and it's safe to the ear. So we don't forget it. And Paul
says this, you know, I hate to spend very much time even talking
about false prophets, but we must. If I'm doing my job, I've
got to warn you about these false prophets. And Paul says, it doesn't
weary me to preach to you and warn you about these false prophets
over and over again. When our girls were little, it
never wearied me to remind them, look both ways before you cross
the street. It never wearied me because it was safe for them.
Well, in the same way, it doesn't weary God's preachers to warn
you about these false prophets because it's safe for you. They're
nothing but dogs. Paul calls them dogs, dogs that
bite and devour the flesh. They're greedy dogs. Isaiah said,
They're dumb dogs. They're silent. They don't bark
to warn you about danger because they are the danger. They don't
warn you about danger. These false prophets who try
to get you to do good things so God will be pleased with you.
You know what they are? They're evil workers. You and
me trying to do anything to make God happy with us so he'll accept
us is evil works. It's seen possibly stay away
from you. Beware of their evil workers.
Beware of the concision, their mutilators, they try to in Paul's
day, they did try to mutilate the flesh. But in this day, they
just try to get you to change things about the flesh. They're
dealing with the flesh. And Paul says, now they're a
danger to your soul. You stay away from them. And
the only thing these false prophets are concerned with is the flesh.
That's all they're concerned. They're concerned with you getting
to change your flesh and what you can give them to help their
flesh. But there's no salvation in anything about the flesh.
Look what he says here in verse three. Here he describes a believer.
He says, for we who believe, we, we're the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, not in the flesh and the spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We don't rejoice in what we've
done. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And what do we think about the
flesh? We've got no confidence in it. Mine or yours, either
one. No confidence in the flesh. Now, we'll come back to that
verse again here in just a second. But what Paul's warning us about
here is man-made religion. And the only thing man-made religion
deals with is the flesh. They try to get you to do fleshly
things. They try to get you to do things
with this body of flesh. But anything we do with these
bodies, these are bodies of sin. So anything we do with these
fleshly bodies is sin, it's just more sin, not going to take away
our sin. We can't do anything ourselves in these bodies to
make God not be angry with us anymore. And if you try it, you're
going to fail. I promise you, you will. And
Paul says, just in case you think that you're the exception and
that what we always think, we always think, well, I'm the exception,
you know, that's not going to happen to me. Paul says, in case you
think you're the exception, he says, If you think that who you
are, or you think what you do is going to commend you to God,
Paul said, I got news for you. I got you beat. No matter what
you think you've done that's so impressive, Paul said, I've
done you one up. I've been more impressive. And
Paul said, all those things I did that were so impressive to people,
all those things I did that are better than what you've done,
you know what I think they are? They're dumb. Now, if Paul's got us beat, and
what he did is dung, where does that leave you and me? That leaves
us in a disgusting mess, doesn't it? If Paul thought that he was something
else, I mean, everything he did was something else, and what
he found out was he's no better than a maggot feeding on a dung
hill, where does that leave you and me? Look at verse four, this
is what he's telling us. 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. Circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, in Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a 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 loss 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 I do count them but dung. I just count them but
dung that I may win Christ. Now, Paul says everything he
did couldn't please God. He did it better than anybody,
and none of it could still please God. It's no more than a pile
of dung in your living room could please you. It's just everything
we are and everything that we try to do to please God is dung
compared to Christ. Now, God's pleased with us in
Christ because he's pleased with what Christ did. Our sin is put
away in Christ because he's the perfect sacrifice. But anything
we do to try to add to Christ or try to compare to Christ is
God sees it as nothing better than done. Because salvation
is not in anything we do. Nothing we do makes us saved.
Nothing. You got that? Nothing. Paul says
he obeyed the law always. Even before he even really realized
he was doing it, his parents took him to the temple to be
circumcised when he was eight days old, because that's what
the law demanded. He said, I've been keeping the law all my life. Now, that circumcision is not
an issue for us today, but I'll tell you what this would be like
for us today. This, us today, this would be like us saying,
you know, God is pleased with me because I've been doing this
religious ceremony all my life. You know, I've been a Calvinist
all my life. I was just a little shaver, and
my parents brought me to Sunday school every Sunday. They brought
me to Bible school every year. My teachers gave me memory verses,
and I memorized them, and an extra one. They gave me a challenge,
I memorized that, and some more. The pastor asked me to volunteer
to read, and I shot my hand up every time. I'd stand up and
read the scriptures. Us saying that and thinking that
is Paul saying I circumcised today. Just from a child, he
said, I've done all these things. But salvation is not in the circumcision
of the flesh. Salvation is not in doing anything
in the flesh. Salvation is the circumcision
of the heart. When Paul says up here that we
are the circumcision, what he means there is the believer has
been circumcised in the heart. Now, what on earth does that
mean? All it means is this. God's given us a new heart and
a new birth. That's what that means. Look
at Romans chapter two, I'll show you that. Circumcision of the
heart is the cutting away of the heart of flesh, that stony
heart is the giving of a new heart. Romans chapter two, verse 28. For he's not a Jew, which is
one outwardly in the flesh, Neither is that circumcision, which is
outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew. He's part of spiritual
Israel, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. That circumcision is the giving
of a new heart. Salvation is a heart work. Salvation
is something God does for us. He gives us a new heart. Salvation
is not the changing of anything but the flesh. It's the giving
of a new heart, of the spirit. Then Paul tells us salvation
is not in who we're related to. Salvation doesn't come to us
because of who our parents and grandparents are. Sin comes to
us because of that. That's how we receive the sin
nature. Paul said, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. My mother and
my father were Hebrews. I'm not a half-breed. Hebrew
of the Hebrews. And Paul says, even better than
that, I was from the favorite tribe, the son of Benjamin. And
he says, you know what I learned? None of that matters at all.
None of that made me righteous, just like some of you. Some of
you, your children sitting here, your parents are believers. Some
of you, your grandparents, your great-grandparents are believers.
Does that make you saved? Now it doesn't really, think
about it, does it? No, it doesn't. You must come
to Christ. You must win Christ and be found
in Him. You must believe on Christ. Salvation
can't come to us through our fleshly heritage. All we get
from our fathers is a sin nature. We've got to know Christ. Then
Paul tells us salvation can't come to us by us keeping the
law. We can't make ourselves righteous by trying to keep the
law because we can't obey it. We simply can't do it. Paul said,
when I was solved Tarsus, as touching the law, when you look
at me, you would say I'm blameless. You never saw me break the law.
But Paul only thought he was blameless. He really wasn't. He just didn't know it yet, because
he didn't know what the law really said. But he'd say, you would
think, if you saw me, you'd think I was blameless. I mean, I was,
like Brother Henry would say, straight as a gun barrel and
twice as empty. There's no righteousness there.
Other men may not have been able to find blame in Paul and Saul
of Tarsus, but God didn't. Paul said in Romans 7, he said,
when I was Saul of Tarsus, I thought I was alive once. I thought that.
But I only thought that because I didn't know the law. I didn't
know that the law was spiritual. I didn't know that the law just
doesn't only require outward obedience. I didn't know that
the law also requires inward perfection. I didn't know that
the law says, not only can I not steal, the law says I can't even
desire to steal. I can't even want something that
doesn't belong to me. I didn't know that. And that's
the way it is with you and me too. We're dead. We are dead. Paul said, I didn't realize I
was dead until God showed me what the law said. Now, if the
apostle Paul, when he had kept the law outwardly so well, If
he was dead, where does that leave us? You know, we haven't
even kept the law as well as Saul of Tarsus did, much less
kept it perfectly like God requires. So salvation can't come to us.
Righteousness can't come to us by us trying to keep the law.
And then salvation can't come to us by our zeal. You know,
people say, oh, well, they're so sincere. They're so zealous.
Well, it really doesn't matter. We may be very zealous. We might
impress each other with our zeal, but God's not impressed. Paul
was so zealous, he persecuted anybody that had the doctrine
wrong. I mean, he persecuted them. He was so zealous. Saul
of Tarsus was top dog in his religion at a very young age.
And the apostle Paul said, all that was done. All that that
I worked so hard to get was just done. And I gladly lost it. I gladly gave up all that done. I gladly let loose of all that
done so that I could have Christ. All those things that I thought
I did that made me righteous, I gladly, all that wasn't done. I covered myself in done, and
I gladly gave that up. to be made righteous in Christ,
to be washed in his blood, to be made whole and righteous in
him. Well, here's my question. It's
kind of a long introduction, but here's my question. How can
you and I go from being dumb to being righteous, just like
the Apostle Paul? You know, God's still in the
business of saving sinners. God's still in the business of
doing this right here. God never changes. However it
is that he took the Apostle Paul from dung to righteousness is
exactly how he's going to take you and me from dung to righteousness. So let's look here at the Apostle
Paul as a pattern. See how God saved the Apostle
Paul. See how we might learn something,
how sinners like you and me can go from dung to righteousness.
Number one, we go from dung to righteousness by going from being
in ourself being in Christ. Look at verse nine. Paul said
there at the end of verse eight, I count them, but done that I
may win Christ and 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, which is of God by faith. Now, Paul's
already established. We can't make ourselves righteous
by obeying the law, can we? Well, how can a sinner be made
righteous? by faith in Christ. He says here,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now look back at
Romans chapter four. Here's Abraham, the father of
the faithful. How is Abraham made righteous?
Same way Paul was, the same way you and I are. It's by faith
in Christ. Verse one. What should we say
then that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh hath
found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the
glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
If we ever want to know anything about how God does something,
what saith the scripture? Let's find out what God's word
says. Scripture says Abraham believed God, and it was counted. It was reckoned. It was imputed
unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you can be made
righteous by what you do, God's got to give it to you out of
a debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
We go from dung to righteousness by being through faith in Christ,
by trusting Christ our righteousness. Then we go from dung to righteousness
by being in Christ. By being in Christ is our righteousness. Sinners are saved in Christ in
the exact same way Noah was saved by being in the ark. Wouldn't
it be foolish for us to say Noah was saved from that flood because
Noah could swim and he was a real good swimmer? That wouldn't be
right, would it? How was Noah saved from that
flood? Noah was saved from drowning in the flood because he was in
the ark. Same thing applies to you and me being saved. We can't
be saved because of what we do, no matter how hard we think we
can swim. The only way we'll be saved is by being in Christ. So I'm not made righteous by
what I do. How am I made righteous? Through the faith of Christ,
Paul says, because he was faithful to be obedient to all of the
law. And I'm in him. So when he obeyed the law, I
obeyed the law in him. I'm not delivered from the curse
of the law by what I do. I'm delivered from the curse
of the law in the death of Christ, because when he died, I was in
him. I died too. And in the end, when
I die and I stand before God in judgment, this is my desire. I want to be in Christ. I want
to be judged in Christ. I don't want to be judged covered
in the dung of my works. I want to be judged in Christ.
When I'm judged, my only desire is that God see Christ and he
see me hidden in Christ. That's what the songwriter said.
He said, when he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then
in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless
to stand before the throne. That's how we go from dung to
righteousness. It's by being in Christ. Second,
we go from dung to righteousness by knowing Christ. We go from
dung to righteousness when we quit knowing what and start knowing
who. When we quit being concerned
with why and when and start being concerned with who. Verse 10,
Paul says that I may know Him. Every believer knows Christ.
Eternal life is knowing Christ. Our Lord said in John 17 verse
3, this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only
true God, and they may know Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. So every believer knows Christ. That's how we have eternal life.
We know him. But we only know him in part,
don't we? I see. I see what this means, but I
just see through a glass darkly. I see Christ in the scriptures.
God has enabled me, I see Christ in the scripture. But I just
see through a glass darkly. I know whom I have believed. But how I long to know him better.
How I long to have a closer union with him. Because the more I
know of him, the more I'll trust him to be my all. And I'll tell
you what happens when we start to know who instead of what.
When we know Christ, we're going to quit trusting in all of the
dung of our righteousness. We're going to quit trusting
in our knowledge of what? And we're going to rest in Christ
our righteousness. That's what happens if we know
him. If you want to go from your dung to righteousness, I'll tell
you what, you seek to know Christ. You seek him. And I tell you,
where are you seeking? Where is God pleased to reveal
His Son? In His Word, isn't it? He's pleased to reveal His Son
through the preaching of the Gospel. Then you seek Him right
there. You seek Him in His Word. You
seek to be here when the Word is preached. You seek to be here
when the Gospel is preached as often as you can because you
remember this, faith that knows Christ and believes Christ and
rests in Christ, that faith comes through hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. We go from dung to righteousness
by knowing him who is our righteousness. Third, we go from dung to righteousness
by going from death in Adam and death in ourselves to life in
Christ. Verse 10, that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection. We go from dung to righteousness
by knowing, by experiencing the power of the resurrection of
Christ. Now, when we're born again, that's when we experience,
we know the power of the resurrection of Christ, because God uses the
same power. That power he used to raise Christ
from the dead is the very same power he uses to raise his people
from the dead, to give them life and the new birth. The power
of the resurrection of Christ is life-giving power. That's
how we go from death in the dung to life in Christ. The power
of the resurrection of Christ is the power of Christ to make
my sins not exist anymore. Scripture says he was raised
again for our justification. He justified his people through
his blood, through his death when he died for them, but that
His death, His blood fully removed, justified His people, removed
the sin of His people, is that God raised Him from the dead.
His sacrifice was accepted. And if my soul is going to go
from dung to righteousness, I've got to experience that power,
to experience that my sin is gone under the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The power of the resurrection
of Christ is to know, to experience His power, to satisfy the law
for me. The resurrection of Christ proved
he took away the sin of his people. He obeyed the law for them. And
the only way I will ever quit working to try to please God,
the only way I'll ever quit trying to come up with some different
works I can do to take away my sin, is if my conscience is clear. As long as my conscience bothers
me, as long as my conscience still tells me, you've got sin
you better make up for, Well, my conscience tell me God's not
pleased with you. I'm going to keep working, aren't I? What
will make my conscience clear? Faith in Christ. When by faith
I see that Christ satisfied the law for me. When by faith I see
that Christ is all of my righteousness, then I'll quit working. I'll
rest in Him. I'll go from my done to His righteousness. Number four. We go from dung
to righteousness through faith in Christ, believing that his
suffering and his death took my sin away. When he suffered
for sin, he suffered for my sin. Verse 10, and the fellowship
of his sufferings. Now this fellowship of his suffering
doesn't mean that I want to suffer like Christ suffered. Only a
fool would say that. But it means this. that I want
to know that when Christ suffered, He suffered for me. He suffered
for my sin. If Christ suffered for my sin,
then I know my sin's gone, that He's taken me from dung to righteousness
because He removed my sin. The only way my sin can be gone
is if Christ suffered for me. So I want to, I know He suffered,
that's a historical fact. What I want to know, what I pray
that God will reveal to you and me both is that he suffered for
me, that he suffered for you. Knowing the fellowship of his
sufferings means that when the Lord prayed in the garden, he
was praying for me. When he prayed, Father, I will,
that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which you gave me before the world
began. If the Savior prayed that for me, That's if I was had fellowship
with him, I was in him. He's praying for me that I know
this. He's going to take me from dung
to righteousness by the fellowship of his suffering. But it also
means this. That in this life, until he takes
me out of this life to be with him. I want to suffer some things
I do. I want to suffer the loss of
everything this flesh thinks pleases God. I want to suffer
the loss of everything that that makes me think I need Christ
less. I want to suffer the loss of
those things. And we're going to have this is the correct phrase,
suffer the loss of those things, because to lose those things,
to give up those things, to give up trusting in those things is
going to be painful to the flesh. It's going to be humiliating
to the flesh because I've got to consider That that I thought
made me beautiful, I've got to consider that it looks and it
smells like dung. I've got to humiliate myself
to suffer the loss of those things and admit, I need Christ to be
my all because I can't do anything. Now, that's painful to the flesh,
but it's great gain, isn't it? Great gain to the spirit. I want
to suffer losing those things so Christ will be my all. And
I'll tell you something else. I want to suffer. I want to suffer
being identified with Christ in this world. I do. The world
won't like it, but I want to be identified with my Savior. I love him. I have a thankful
and grateful heart. I want to be identified with
him. Even if it costs me, I'd be happy to do that for the sake
of my Savior. Believing Christ, loving him
and resting in him makes me happy when the world treats me just
like it treated my master. I can be happy when men make
fun of me and they reject me for believing the message of
grace and forgiveness in Christ and not depending in any of my
own works. I got a couple of weeks ago some
of the worst, most vile hate mail I mean, I just, I told you,
you gotta come read this. I can't believe this. And it,
yeah, it made me mad at first. But that's all right. Because
if somebody's gonna call me that for preaching Christ to you,
it's all right. It's all right. Look back at
chapter one, verse 29. This is what the apostle's saying. For unto you it's given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake, to suffer being identified with him by this world.
The world hated him, and I'll just be very happy if they hate
me too because I'm identified with him. I don't want them to
hate me because of the stupid stuff I do. I'm talking here
about being identified. Don't just go around being a
horse's hind end and being happy that everybody hates you. Well,
that's just what you're getting what you deserve. I'm talking
about for being faithful to Christ, for being faithful to say our
works have got nothing to do with this thing. It's Christ
alone. If the world hates me for that,
I can be happy with that, to be identified with the Savior.
Here's the fifth thing. Sinners go from dung to righteousness
by going from the obedience of the law to the obedience of faith. 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." Every believer desires
this, to be made conformable unto his death. Now, what does
that mean? Well, why did Christ die? Christ
died for sin, didn't he? The scripture tells us that he
died for sin. Well, this is what I want to know, that I've already
died to sin in my substitution. And if I know, if God, the Holy
Spirit reveals to me, I've already died to sin on my substitute,
then you know what I'll do? I'm going to quit trying to make
up for my sin by keeping some law and just rest in Christ. Just resting in Christ, knowing
His death is all it takes to put your sin away. That's going
from dung to righteousness. And I want to be made conformable
unto His death in this way. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly
obedient to his father, wasn't he? Even under death. Even when
the father said, you've got to be made sin. You've got to take
the sin of your people and your own body on the tree and you've
got to die for it. He was obedient, wasn't he? We go from dumb to righteousness
when we're given a nature in the new birth that is always
obedient. The nature you receive in the
new birth cannot sin. And that new nature is always
obedient in faith, always looking to Christ and trusting Christ
alone. That's the obedience of faith.
Faith simply looks to Christ alone. Now, I know I want to
be an obedient son. But now I know this. I cannot
add to my salvation by being obedient to the law. I can't
improve my standing with God by obeying more laws than you
do. I can't get anything extra from God. I can't get a bigger
mansion in glory because I've done more good things down here.
But I still desire to be obedient, don't you? I desire to be an
obedient son. I desire to be obedient out of
love. Not because I'm a servant being
obedient because I have to. Not because I'm a servant because
if I'm not obedient, the master is going to beat me. I'm not
trying to be obedient because as a servant is trying to get
a raise. I'm obedient out of love, a loving son. I desire
to be obedient, to quit my works and trust Christ alone. That's
going from dung to righteousness. And then lastly, one day, This
journey from dung to righteousness is going to be complete. You
who believe, you're righteous and you'll never
be more righteous than you are right now. You won't be. But
in our experience, there's still a lot of dung in there. One day, this journey from the
dunghill to righteousness, from the dunghill to the king's table
is going to be complete. When our Lord returns, there's
going to be a great resurrection. Those who have died in Christ,
they're going to be raised in a body exactly like the body
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are alive and remain
in the twinkling of an eye, they're going to be changed. They're
going to be changed into a body just like our Lord. Body and
soul. And at that moment, That last
trump, the journey from dumb to righteousness is going to
be complete. Verse 11, this is what Paul means here. If by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, these
bodies are going to be buried in dishonor. When sin finishes
its work on this flesh, these bodies are going to be buried
in dishonor. God's going to raise them in
honor. He's going to raise the bodies of His children in such
honor. He's going to raise them in a
body like His Son. What honor is that? Isn't that
your chief desire? To be made like Christ. And then,
we're going to be done with all this done. Then we're going to
be done with sorrow. We're going to be done with tears.
We're going to be done with worry. We're going to be done with pain.
We're going to be done with sin. And we'll finally be done with
that nature that keeps whispering in your ear, you got to work.
You got to work. You got to work. This keeps trying to pull you
back to the dung pile. Then we're going to be done with
that. And the journey will be complete. The work of grace will
be complete. Now, I can't explain this. Not
fully, I can't. So I believe it, and I know this
to be so. Salvation, being taken from dung
to righteousness, that's a work of God alone, isn't it? That's
a work of God's grace alone. We don't contribute anything
to it. Yet this is true. We are to strive for it. We're
to strive for Him. We're to strive to win Christ,
just like an athlete strives to win a competition. I like
to watch some basketball. And I just enjoy just a display
of athletic prowess and a display of hours and hours and hours
and hours of practice coming through and seeing that competition. I just really enjoy that. We
are to strive to win crime, just like that athlete is striving
to win a competition. We are to press on, strive, press
on. like a marathon runner strives
to win, to get to the finish line, to get that wreath on his
head. It amazes me. I watch these marathon runners
and they run for however long they run. I don't know how long
it takes them. They run about, you know, two hours. And then
the last mile, they run a four-minute mile. That's striving, pressing
on. They've got to be tired. Surely
they're tired, you know. That's striving, pressing on. That's what the believers to
do, to strive to win Christ. Look here at verse 12. Paul says,
not as though I'd already attained, either already perfect, but I
follow after. If that I may apprehend, I might
lay hold, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I can't not myself to have apprehended. But this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. What
are those things which are behind? All that sin that troubles you
so much. I wish I hadn't done that. All
that's embarrassing. All that's that's so dishonoring
to my God. Forget those things. If you're
a believer, God has. He's forgotten. He won't remember
me anymore because they're under the blood of Christ. Forget those
things. But I'll tell you what else to forget. All those things
that you did that you think, oh, God was pleased with me because
I did that. Forget those things which are
behind. Forget them. Forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. That's what we're pressing toward.
Salvation is the work of God alone. But now we've got to strive
to find it. We've got to press on to the
end. You press on and you strive to find Christ. and strive to
be found in Him. Not in anything about yourself,
but you strive to be found in Him. That's going from done to
righteousness. That's bound in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
mercy and your grace. We thank you for this pattern
of salvation. And we're thankful that you never
change, that you're still in the business of saving sinners.
If you would save us as we beg, how we beg for your mercy, how
we beg for your grace, how we beg for the forgiveness of our
sin. As we beg for your salvation,
you still save sinners the same way that you did forever. And we beg that you might save
us, that you might take us from the dung heap to the table of
princes, that you might take us from our dung to righteousness
in our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we pray that You
might make us faithful, faithful to continue to look to Thee in
all things, that we never look to anything about ourselves to
commend us to You, but that we always look to and trust in our
Lord Jesus Christ, that we might strive to finish our course well,
to finish this course in faith and love for our Lord Jesus Christ,
looking to Him and Him alone. Father, we pray that You bless
Your Word as it's been preached. Pause it to go forth, to bring
glory to your name, to reach the hearts of your people, to
strengthen and encourage us in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
our all and in all. It's in his name and for his
glory we pray and ask these blessings.