For our scripture reading, turn
with me to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. 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. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as
touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted 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 have suffered the loss
of all things. and to count them but dumb, 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, that I might
know him, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, if that I might apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, 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. Let us therefore,
as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if anything you be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Philippians chapter 3. The message this morning I titled,
Rejoice in the Lord. of all people, the people of
God, ought to rejoice always. Isn't that what he said? And
then he said again, I said, rejoice, rejoice. Well, by way of what? By way
of anything that transpires. Rejoice. There's three things
by way of introduction that need to be pointed out. First of all,
he says in this first verse, finally. Finally. I've read this hundreds of times.
That word has never really got my attention as it did this last
time. Finally. What's that mean? After everything's said and done.
That's what that means. After all the trials and troubles
have come, it means no matter what has appeared
on your horizon, finally, finally, with everything considered. Now,
I want you to think about this church. This beloved church had
its beginning with the Philippian jailer. He was charged, and they
didn't tell him they were going to smack his hand if he lost
those apostles. They were going to behead him. And God shook those doors and
everybody left except the apostles. They stayed. And after that, he wanted to
hear what they had to say, and so they preached to him. And it's midnight, or after. Midnight when God shook the doors.
I don't know what time it was when Paul was preaching to him.
But he heard what Paul said and he said, I want to be baptized.
At 3 o'clock in the morning? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I want
to be baptized. Why? Because God told you to. I tell you there's a difference.
When you hear something from God, it's different than a man
standing there telling you. When you realize that God's telling
you through me, you'll obey Him. I guarantee it. No ifs, ands,
and buts. You're going to obey Him. This beloved church had its beginning
with the Philippian jailer. You think he wasn't persecuted
after that? All my soul. And Lydia, the seller
of purple. Paul wanted to go to that country
where Lydia was. He didn't know Lydia, but he
wanted to go to that country. The Holy Spirit forbade him.
He sent him to Philippi. Well, lo and behold, Lydia was
in Philippi. And they had no synagogue, so
they were meeting down by the river, just poor folks, meeting
down by the river. Paul went down and preached for
them. God converted Lydia. You think this lady that dealt
with the public all the time wasn't persecuted? Oh my soul,
she was persecuted. This church was filled with persecutions. Paul said to the Philippians,
or to the Thessalonians, he said, you become followers of us and
the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. Much
affliction. There was nobody in my family
who rejoiced when I told them what I believed. Nobody. My father
was angry. My sisters and brothers were
a little more tolerant than him, but he was angry. He was a Nazarene
preacher. Holiness preacher. Self-righteous. He was angry. And that's what
Paul's telling them. You received the word. He said,
I know your election of God. When my gospel come, it didn't
come in word only. It came in power. It came in
the Holy Ghost. It came with much assurance.
And he said, you've become followers of us and the Lord. Isn't that
what I just told you? You'll react differently when
you realize that God's speaking to you through a man. This is
him speaking, not me. I didn't sit around all week
and say, well, what am I going to say when I get back? No. He
laid these things on my heart. I turned to that passage, and
I prepared this message. And God brought you here in his
providence to hear it. And that's what he's telling
his people. You received the truth, and you were
persecuted for it. You become followers of us and
the Lord having received the word much affliction." Now watch
this, with joy. Joy. Whether they believed it
or not, I was rejoicing. Oh my soul, an accomplished salvation,
one handed to you by grace, one that enables you by grace to
even receive it. The natural man, he doesn't receive
the things in the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him. God
not only gives you the gift of salvation, but he makes you able
to receive it. And when he does, you'll rejoice
in it. If everybody else turns thumbs down, you're going to
rejoice in it. And the gospel, my friend, is
always received in much affliction. Always. And that affliction comes both
from within and without. The first time I heard the gospel,
I thought to myself, this can't be. This runs contrary to everything
I've ever been taught. This runs contrary to everything
anybody's ever told me. How can this be? It was a conflict. And so I went to talk to the
elders of the church. They had a conflict with it. The gospel's contrary to the
world. and especially to Antichrist
religion. But John writes, greater is he
that's in you than he that's in the world. Is he a powerful
influence? Oh, the whole world wandered
after the beast, but not those whose names are written in the
book of life. The joy of the Holy Ghost will
triumph in the end. It always does. It always does. And then the second thing that
needs our attention is this. My brethren. My brethren. Believers have a special relationship,
don't they? This relationship supersedes
all earthly ties, no matter how close they are. mother or father more than me,
you're not worthy of me, he said. This is a special relationship.
Why? Because believers are all one
in Christ. We're one with one another. In
Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor
free, there's neither male nor female. You're all one in Christ
Jesus. This is a special relationship.
And he writes in 1 Corinthians 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12,
12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, He says in verse 13, for by one
spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be bond
or free, and have been made all to drink into one spirit. All
God's people drink from the same fountain. Where'd they drink
out in the wilderness? From the smitten rock. All of
them? Every one of them. What about
the ones who didn't? They didn't drink at all. There
wasn't anything out there. You think there's something out
here? There's nothing out there. I look every day, there's nothing
out there. For the body's not one member,
but many. We're all chosen in Christ, made
provision for in Christ, called to Him, drawn to Him, taught
of Him, and we all receive Him. The men and women of faith are
not casual acquaintances. They're all one in Christ. Mothers, fathers, sisters, and
brothers, and if grace leads me to Christ and calls me to
him, I must and shall become a part of his body and love his
people. John writes, Beloved, let us
love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth
is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. And if any man say, I love God,
and hates his brother, he's a liar. He's a liar. Well, I love God's
people, but I don't love you. Why? Why? Because of something I did?
You mean your standing's not based on that? You weren't forgiven
of your sins? Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. How? Even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. He's a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? And this commandment have we
from him that he who loveth God love his brother. No exceptions. No extenuating circumstances. There's no greater relationship
in this world than being one with Christ and one with his
saints. And if anything else takes priority
over that, you need to trash it. Get rid of it. And then the third thing that
we need to dwell on in way of introduction is these words. Rejoice in the Lord. This whole world is summed up
with these two things. In Christ and without. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new. All of his inabilities are
now abilities. All of his old concepts have
went by the wayside. He has new concepts. Now listen
to this. Paul reminds the Ephesians of
their calling. And he said, at that time, you
were without Christ. Can you go into scriptures and
show me where a Gentile had any part with Christ? It ain't in
there. It ain't in there. The Jews were God's people. That's
God's elect. I'm not a Jew. I'm not a Jew. But I am in Him. I am in Him. Oh, to be without
Christ. Think about it. Without me, Christ
said, you can do nothing. What can you do? I can run down
to the Pentecostal church and somebody teach me how to speak
in tongues and jump around the floor and sing songs. I can go
down to the local Baptist church and they'll teach me how to wave
my arms and sing. What can you do? What can you
do to cause yourself to enter into the kingdom of God? Nothing. Without me, he said, you can
do nothing. But in him, with man it's impossible, but
with God, all things are possible. Stretch forth that hand. It was
withered. Stretch forth your hand. He couldn't,
but he did. Moses, hold that staff out over
that sea. Those waters are going to come,
they're going to part. I can't be, but it was. Believe on me. You can, but you
can't if he commands it. With the commandment comes the
ability, the ability to obey the command. And this is where I want to dwell
this morning. Rejoice in the Lord. In the Lord. Not some defeated reformer. Not
some poor little Jesus boy. I'm talking about the Lord. What has not God put under His
hand? Is He Lord of everything? It
pleased God that in Him should all fullness dwell. He gave Him
the preeminence in all things. Creation. Providence! Salvation! What is He not Lord over? He's
Lord over all things, isn't He? Well, if God be for us, huh? If the Creator be for you, if
He who dictates Providence is for you, if He who has accomplished
salvation is for you, if God be for us, who can be against
us? Rejoice in the Lord. I have three
things I want you to consider in this loving exhortation. Now
remember this, when he said finally, where was Paul when he wrote
this epistle? He was in prison. You can go back to the first
chapter and look, he'll tell you back there, he was in prison.
But he said, don't fret about that. He said, God used the prison
so I could preach to him in the palace. But we don't see things like
they are. We just don't, do we? Here's the first thing I want
you to see. Life begins with the revelation of Christ. Nothing
of any lasting value will ever take place in your life apart
from a saving revelation of Christ. Nothing. All you're going to
do is get religious for a while and go back to being what you
were. John said, this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Well, what is this saving revelation
of Christ? What is that? Do I have that? Do I have that saving revelation
of Christ? What is it? What is it? That saving revelation of Christ is made up of four things. Who
is this man? Why did he come? What did he
do? And where is he now? That's the
saving revelation of Christ. John said, we know that the Son
of God has come. Who is this man? He's the Son
of God. And given to us an understanding
that we may know Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God in eternal
life. Jesus Christ is all that you're
ever going to know about God. You want to know who God is?
Study that man. God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? No man cometh unto the Father but by me, Christ said. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. Who is this man? This is God
coming into the flesh. And then secondly, why did he
come? Why must God come through the womb of a woman? Be partaker of our flesh and
bone. Appear in this world as a man
and walk and talk and eat just like we do. Why must God be subject to the
law? When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Now listen, made under the law. Why did He do that? To redeem
them that were under the law. Why would he do that? That we
might receive the adoption of sons. If he's no more than just an
influence, he could have done that without becoming a man. If he was no more than an example,
he could have simply sent an angel. Angels have no sin. Elect angels don't. They don't
have any sin. They could have come and set an example. Jesus
of Nazareth came as a representative man, as a covenant head, a substitute
for sinners. And Paul told Timothy, this is
a faithful saying, it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Everything about his birth, his
life, and his death has to do with salvation and that salvation
of his elect. To save sinners, he must do for
us what we cannot do for ourselves. That's what has to be done. He
must establish for us a perfect righteousness. People talk about
righteousness and they're talking about how long ladies wear their
dresses. How short men cut their hair. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. God requires perfect righteousness. And that's why he tells us if
the righteous scarcely be saved. There's nothing above perfect
righteousness. If you have perfect righteousness
in Christ, you're just barely there because there's nothing
above it. Paul said to the Galatians, I
don't frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come
by the law, Christ died and died. To be saved, God's holy justice
must be satisfied. Sin must be paid for. I was in a revival meeting in
a Baptist church one time, and there was a chalkboard, a little
chalkboard about three foot by four foot in the back, and he
said, here's how God saves sinners. He said, you're guilty of stealing,
and he put a mark on there. You're guilty of adultery, and
he put a mark on there. You're guilty of this, put another
mark on there. He said, here's how God saves sinners. He took
the eraser and erased it. That ain't how God saves sinners.
Sin has to be paid for. Justice has to be satisfied. Whose justice? God's justice. That's why hell is everlasting.
You can't satisfy that justice and eternity in hell won't satisfy
God's justice for your sin. God's justice must be satisfied. Sin must be paid for. God cannot
and will not excuse sin. He'll punish sin even when He
finds it in His Son. Sin charged to Him. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's what the Scripture said.
Does that sound like there's a loophole somewhere? Ain't no
loophole. He says in the Proverbs, he that
justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even
they both are an abomination to the Lord. He tells us that Jesus Christ
is the head of the body, the church, the covenant head, the
representative head. As Adam represented all mankind
as a federal head, even so Jesus of Nazareth represented all his
elect. as a federal head, all of his
people. And he tells us, for since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all died, everybody that was represented in Adam,
they all died when he died. Even so in Christ shall all be
made alive, everybody that was in him, represented in him. They
were raised from the tomb when he was raised. When Christ died on the cross,
he satisfied God's justice for all of the sins of God's elect. He tells us that the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. And then thirdly, what did this
man do? He came to put away sin. He came
to save us. What did he do? I heard a man
say one time, boy, he was preaching for all his worth. He got down
to the altar call and he said, now God's done all that he can
do. Now it's all up to you. Huh? What kind of God do you got?
He's done all he can do and he's going to leave it up to you? What did this man do? Did he
do the best he could and fall a little short? That's what religion
said. Was he after everything was said
and done just another defeated reformer? That's what religion
says. He said this, I come to do my
father's will. That's why I come. I didn't come
to please you. I didn't come to please the king. I didn't come to do my own will. He said, I came to do the Father's
will, and my Father's will is that all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. That's why I came. When he came into this world,
his coming, his appearing in this world said this, I come
to do thy will, O God. God's will, His sovereign will,
His eternal will, His redemptive will. Hebrews 10.10, by the which
will. What will? That accomplished
will. By the which will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. Jesus Christ came
and accomplished the redemptive will of God. And then fourthly,
where is He? Where is He? He came. He did all that He came to do.
He satisfied God. God raised Him the third day
from the dead. And what happened? He ascended
back into glory and sat down at the right hand of God. Where
is He at? On the throne. Henry Mahan lost a son in the
Vietnam War. And he and his wife was on vacation
when he got the news. He came back to Ashland, and
I guess they'd all heard about it. It was in the papers and
everything. And one of the preachers that went to seminary with him
asked him, he said, Henry, he said, where was God when your
son died on the battlefield? Henry said the same place he
was when his son died, on the throne. On the throne. Where's he at?
On the throne. On the throne. Delivered for our offences, raised
again for our justification. And He ascended into glory as
our victorious Savior and sat down at the right hand of God.
And in Ephesians 2.6, Paul tells us, God hath raised us up together
with Him. Now watch this. And made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Where am I sitting
this morning? With Christ. Salvation is an accomplished
work, and our federal head, who accomplished it, is crowned and
sitting in full favor at the right hand of God. Having, now
listen to this, the scripture said, having, something already
done, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Where's that
redemption? In His hand. Where's He at? On the throne. on the throne. You reckon he's
in full favor with God? God raised him from the dead. Life begins with the revelation
of Jesus Christ. You see what I'm saying? Nothing's going to happen in
your life until you come to that revelation and see that. God
shows his people who Christ is and why he came and what he did
and where he's at. And then secondly, those who
have been given this revelation begin a lifelong cleaning out
of the house. Yvonne came into my house and
cleaned it out. I ain't got anything left. I
said, I don't care if you throw it all out. Boy, out it went.
It was gone. That's what happens when that
revelation of Christ comes into your life. All that crap goes
out the door. All those things you thought
you cherished, they go out the door. Who puts them out the door?
You do! I helped her. Philippians 3, 7, listen to this. What things were gained to me,
Oh, he cherished him. You know Paul cherished his righteousness. They gloried in their righteousness.
You know he cherished the fact that I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel. Who's your great-grandpa? Benjamin. Benjamin. It's on file. It's on file. Go down to synagogue.
It's all written out there. Circumcised the eighth. You want to talk about zeal?
Are you zealous? Paul persecuted the church. He
sought papers and went down and got people and brought them back
to be put to death for heresy. You think he wasn't zealous?
As touching the righteousness of the law, he said, I'm blameless.
Blameless. Oh, my soul. But he said, what
things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, that revelation of Christ,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count
them but dumb, that I might win Christ, and be found in him not
having my own righteousness. I don't have a righteousness,
Christ is my righteousness. Somebody asked me, he said, how
do you justify your past? I'm not going to justify anything
about me, past, present, or future. Christ is my justification. He's
my righteousness. I don't have one. All your righteousnesses,
Isaiah said, are filthy rags. The all things that Paul says
he lost is not really all things, but all things that he hoped
in As a legalistic pharisee, that's what he's talking about.
That's what he lost. He cleaned out the house, circumcised
the eighth day. All those things. What are those things? Religious
luggage. That's what it is. Junk. Worthless, meaningless things
that can't produce acceptance with God. like a bunch of kids playing
in a sandbox. When a person truly sees who
Christ is and why he came and what he did and where he is,
he begins to throw away his old hope and the things that constituted
that hope. He gets rid of it. Why does he
throw them away? Because he counts them but dumb.
That's why. He sees the reality of what it
is. It's just junk, useless junk. Get rid of it. things men and women build to
hide in and hope in. Paul said, I pray for the salvation
of Israel, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of Christ, for he is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And
real truth, truth revealed in the heart, brings about a house
cleaning. It does. It does. Every man, John said, that hath
this hope in him purifies himself, even as he's pure. Well, if he's
pure, how does he purify himself? He gets rid of all that religious
junk. He takes it out and throws it
on the dung heap. Or what about that man who has
no religion? That man who lives for the gratification
of his flesh, lives and feeds fleshly desires, lives the life
of a rebel, commits all sorts of gross sin. Well, he's told by the same revelation,
walk no more in the vanity of your mind like these other Gentiles. Don't do it. Don't do it. Be renewed in the spirit of your
mind. And people who know Christ, they
love all those in Christ. They long for their company.
Not the company of those they used to run with. They long for
the company of believers. I tell you, I've been all over
this country to nearly every Grace Church in it. I have not
yet walked into a church that I have met somebody that it was
just like I've known them their whole life. Is that not so? We have conferences here. You've
got people, you didn't know them from man to moon. They walked
in the door and 20 minutes later, you're like, man, it's like I've
known him my whole life. The saving revelation of Christ
brings about a house cleaning. And then lastly, it establishes
an effectual desire to know our Savior. And it never gets full. Never gets full. Oh, Paul said
that I might 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 or faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. And listen, that I might know
Him. and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. Don't you want to know
him? Oh, my soul, I want to know him. And this desire is in the heart
of all of them that have received this saving revelation of Christ.
And this knowledge is fed through the preaching of the gospel and
the inward working of the Holy Ghost. We grow in grace and knowledge
of Him. Old Sam Houston, down in Texas
years and years ago, he led the battle that brought the defeat
of Santa Ana and his Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto. And then years after that, Texas
become a state and they elected old Sam Houston as president.
President of the Republic of Texas. Sam, as president, he passed
a law. First thing he did, he passed
a law. Anybody who fought in that battle of San Jacinto, that
final battle, that bloody battle, anybody who fought in that was
entitled to free land in Texas if you were there. There wasn't
a whole lot left after that battle. That's why he did it. One day, a man by the name of
Old Knobby Horsham, oh, he was a hoot. He was into problems
about gambling and all this stuff. And he was accused of defrauding
several of the farmers out of the sale of their land. And they
took him to court. And on the day of the trial,
everybody in the courtroom was shocked. to see President Sam
Houston walk into the courtroom. And they watched him, and he
walked all the way down, come over here, and sat down right
beside Nobby Horsham. And they were all just sitting
there looking with their mouth open. And the judge, he convened
the court, and they began the trial. Old Sam got up, and he
called Nobby Horsham. He said, you come up here. Put
him on the witness stand. Sam said, Nobby, where were you
on the afternoon of April 21, 1836? Where were you? Old Nobby said, well, I was standing
right by your side, Sam, at the Battle of San Jacinto. Sam turned
to the judge and said, that's it. That's it. He said, I rest my case. And
the judge declared case dismissed. That's our standing before God,
is it not? Where were you when Christ died? I was in him. Case dismissed. I rest my case.