We get our word January from
the ancient mythical Roman god Janus. Janus was a mythical two-headed
god who looked both forward and backward, the Roman god of gates
and doors. Janice had two heads looking
backward and forward. I suppose that's the reason the
word January was chosen for the first month of the year. Well,
January 1st has come again, and we are naturally inclined to
look both backward and forward. And I want us to do just that
as believers. And you who do not know our God
and Savior, I pray that this day may be to you a day of beginning
that God will grant you life and faith in our blessed Savior.
So open your Bibles, if you will, to the third chapter of the book
of Philippians and just hold your Bible open on your lap as
we look back at the past and look forward to the future. you're
taking notes and I always encourage you to do that, the title of
my message is, Not Yet, But Soon. Not Yet, But Soon. This chapter
begins with an exhortation. Paul says in verse 1, Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. What a wonderful way to begin
every day. What a wonderful way to spend
every day. And yet it is something we need
to be encouraged to do because our natural tendency is either
to be nonchalant, giddy, and careless, or to be grumbling
and murmuring constantly about our lot in life. And so we're
admonished again and again in scripture to rejoice in the Lord. to confidently trust in Him and
let that trust be our joy. Ten times in these four chapters
the Apostle Paul was inspired by God to call on us to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord all the way.
And again I say rejoice. Let your moderation, moderation,
that's it, You confidently trust God. Finding your joy in Christ
our Redeemer, and that will give you moderation, ease of mind,
ease of heart, gentleness as you walk through this world.
Being gentle before God, not easily disturbed by things, especially
things that don't matter. And things of time are things
that don't matter. Rejoice in the Lord always, in
all your circumstances, in all your experiences. Rejoice in
Him and be at ease. And the peace of God that passeth
understanding will keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. The peace of God will stand as
a guard over your heart and mind. Rejoice in the Lord. Pastor,
I don't have much to rejoice in. If Christ is yours, you do.
Rejoice in the Lord, in who he is, in all that he's accomplished,
in his redemption, in his salvation, in his character, in his purpose,
in his will. And so let's just say, what my
God does is right. What my God does is right. Right everywhere, right with
him, and right for me. What God does is right. So rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in his providence and
in his grace, in his goodness and in his mercy. Rejoice for
his constant intercession on your behalf in heavenly glory.
And rejoice, children of God, that your names are written in
heaven. God, give me grace ever to rejoice
in the Lord for the glory of Christ and for the good of his
people. I find it amazing how easily
we are motivated to everything evil. Don't you find that strange
with us? When you walk into a room and
somebody starts to grumble, you'll find something to grumble about.
Somebody starts to murmur, you'll find something to murmur about.
Folks are downcast, you just get downcast with them. Rejoice
in the Lord and encourage one another in joy. What do you have
to grumble about? What do I have to murmur about?
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. In
verse two, Paul gives us a warning, a serious warning. Beware of
dogs. Beware of dogs. Let me show you
who he's talking about. Hold your hands here in Philippians
and turn back to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter
23. When Paul says, beware of dogs,
he's talking about false prophets. He calls them dogs because that's
what the word of God calls male prostitutes. Now let that sink in. Paul is
talking about false prophets, folks who come with another gospel.
And he calls them dogs because that's what the word of God calls
male prostitutes. Those who compromise the gospel
of God's grace. Those men who stand as I stand
today in a pulpit and claim to speak for God, but sell out God
and sell out the gospel and sell out the souls of men, prostitute
the gospel for their own gain. They have no other motive and
no other inspiration. But preacher, don't you think
they're sincere? Not on your life, I don't. Not on your life. Not on your life. This is what
the Word of God says. Deuteronomy 23 verse 18. Thou
shalt not bring the hire of a whore or the price of a dog into the
house of the Lord thy God for any vow. For even both these
are abomination unto the Lord thy God. I can't tell you how
many times I have known folks over the years to refer to this
commandment in Deuteronomy 23, 18, and that's the reason why
they won't sell a dog to give him away. That's not what it's
talking about. You're perfectly fine to sell
a dog, run a kin or whatever you want to in that regard. He's
not talking about animals. He's talking about men. He's
talking about male prostitutes. And that's what Paul speaks of
over here in Philippians 3. Beware of dogs. especially the
ones that wear collars. This is how they're described
by the prophet Isaiah. Those who are supposed to be
watchmen on the walls of Zion, watching for the souls of men,
are blind. They're all ignorant. They're
all dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which
can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way. Everyone for his gain from his
quarter. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. He's talking about the same men.
This is a warning against those who teach, preach, and promote
a system of man-centered works-based freewill religion. I know that
because in Matthew chapter 7, when our Lord speaks of men who
come to him and say, have we not prophesied in your name?
Have we not done many wonderful works in your name? Have we not
cast out devils in your name? He says to them, depart from
me, ye workers of iniquity. Beware of evil workers, man-centered,
works-based, freewill religion. single greatest cause of evil
in this world. Man-centered, works-based, free
will idolatry is the single greatest cause of evil in this world. If you don't believe me, read
the first chapter of Romans one more time. Paul speaks of the
abominable things of his day during the Horrid, horrid, horrid,
immoral society of the Roman Empire. And he says, all of this
is to be laid at the doorstep of religion without God. Of idolatry, of will worship,
of man worshiping the work of his own hands. These good works
of religion without Christ are the most abominable things done
in the world. They robbed God of His glory.
They trample underfoot the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
do despite to the spirit of grace and gradually debase man to his
lowest, most contemptible state. Evil workers, as Paul uses the
term in this context, are Arminians, free willers, legalist. People
who teach that God's salvation by grace somehow depends on you. and what you do and what you
decide. They make God's grace and God's
salvation, God's redemption, all to be in your hands, controlled
by you. Beware of the concision. He's
still talking about the same people. Concision, concision,
those are folks who cut themselves. cut themselves. Particularly,
he is obviously referring to the circumcision of the Jews.
He speaks of concision, those who mutilate the body thinking
that they are by mutilating themselves gaining righteousness and acceptance
with God. Well, preacher, nobody does that
today, don't they? Don't they? You ever hear tell
of folks doing penance? Monks live in monasteries and
they do penance and they take little whips and beat themselves
on the back, flagellate themselves. Some folks don't eat pork or
salt. Some folks refrain from having
this thing or that thing because they think that by doing something
with the body they make themselves holy. Some folks like to live
like the Amish folks and the German Baptists down below Russellville. good business folks, and you
like to go and be amused by it and watch what they do, and you're
intrigued by folks plowing with horses and mules rather than
using tractors. I was down there one time, we
were buying strawberries, and a fella can't have a tractor. He had
a team of mules pulling a bush hog with a motor on it. But they
think, they think they're doing good things to make themselves
commendable with God. It's concision, evil work. In essence, Paul is saying, beware
of Christless religion. Beware of religious customs,
doctrines, or services centered in yourself. Things that encourage
you to focus attention on yourself. Back when faith was in college,
She had to do a session down in Western Kentucky, and I encouraged
her to attend a worship service in Owensboro. I knew that the
fellow was a legalist, and I knew there could have been folks in
the congregation, preachers, and I said, just don't tell them
your last name, and you might get along all right. And so she
went to services on Sunday morning. What is that, Larry, about 80
miles from Madisonville, something like that? And she called me,
and I said, well, how'd it go? It was kind of like being in
a sex education class this morning. And then she called the name
of a preacher I knew and said, he's supposed to preach tonight
on the blessings of a bad marriage. I said, well, honey, there's
nobody going with you, but God will take care of you. Go ahead and
drive to Madisonville and rest in time. And that's what she did. What
are you getting at, Pastor? Almost all religion, reformed
and otherwise, leaves you looking at yourself. focused on yourself,
thinking about yourself. The purpose of the gospel is
to turn your eyes from self to the Savior. The purpose of preaching
the gospel is to set your heart on Christ Jesus the Lord. Now,
look at the distinction Paul makes in verse three as he describes
true religion for us. For we are the circumcision,
Not the concision, not those who mutilate their bodies. The
circumcision. God's true people who worship
God. We worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. True religion is not man-centered,
but Christ-centered. True religion is not man-centered,
it is Christ-centered. True religion is not ceremonial,
it's spiritual. It's not a matter of creed, but
of conviction. True religion is not outward,
but inward. We are the circumcision. What
is that talking about? You who are born of God, you
who trust the Lord Jesus Christ, have been circumcised without
hands, circumcised inwardly by the Spirit of God. Our circumcision
is described in the book of God as that of the heart in the Spirit
and not of the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. Circumcision
in the Old Testament did not symbolize or portray or foreshadow
sloshing a little water on baby's face and calling it baptism.
Had nothing to do with baptism. Circumcision in the Old Testament
portrayed the new birth, the work of the Holy Spirit in you,
cutting away the heart of the flesh. Circumcision was a mark
in the flesh that caused great pain, that identified the one
circumcised as one of God's covenant people, and it was a mark that
gave promise of blessing permanently in the flesh. The circumcision
that we experience in the new birth involves the pain of Holy
Ghost conviction, convicting you of your sin. but giving at
the same time the blessed comfort of righteousness and judgment
finished because of Christ's finished work. It is a mark identifying
you who are born of God as he gives faith in Christ as God's
covenant people, sealing to you all the blessings of God's grace.
It is a mark giving promise of life eternal. The hope of glory
is Christ formed in you in the new birth and it's permanent.
Once given, it's never taken away. We are the circumcision
which worship God. God's people worship God as God
reveals Himself. We don't worship God as we think
He is or think He ought to be or as men tell us He is or ought
to be. We worship God as God tells us
He is in His Word. God speaks of himself being the
potter and us the clay. We worship him. God speaks of
himself having rule over all flesh and we worship him. God
speaks of himself having mercy on whom he will have mercy and
we worship him. God speaks of himself as being
a just God and the savior and we worship him. We worship God
as God makes himself known in his word by his spirit. We worship
God in the spirit. We worship God by the Holy Spirit,
in the Holy Spirit, in our spirits, with our spirits. It is altogether
a spiritual thing given us of God. Unto you it is given in
the behalf of Jesus Christ to believe on his name. God gives us grace to worship
him. Our Savior put it this way to
the Samaritan woman. He said, God is spirit. And they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. I didn't see any of the papist
charade this year. I sometimes have watched a little
bit of it just to see the nonsense, but we're so impressed with carnal
things. We love pictures and robes and
crosses and jewelry and hats and costumes. I can't help but to laugh when
I can avoid crying. When I see men acting like children
in a play and calling it the worship of God. We worship God
in spirit, in spirit. This building is just a building. It's just a building. If the
time should come that God should calls us to have to move in another
place, in a larger place, and you want to sell this for a barn,
that'd be perfectly all right. It's just a building. It's just,
it's not a holy place. It's devoted to holy purposes.
It's not a holy place. This place here, this pulpit
is not a sacred desk. It's just a desk devoted to the
blessed holy privilege of preaching the gospel of God's grace. So
if you get tired of this one and you wanna get another one,
you can use this firewood, it won't hurt your neck. We don't
worship carnal things or in a carnal way. We worship God in the spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We confidently trust with joy
Jesus Christ alone. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. We do not have any confidence
in the flesh. You see that? And have no confidence
in the flesh. What is that talking about? No
confidence in the fact that I'm married to a godly woman. No
confidence in the fact that you're married to a preacher. No confidence
in the fact that your mom and dad were believers. No confidence
in the fact that you were raised in church all your life. No confidence
in the fact that you have a good remembrance of an experience
you had when you were a little boy. No confidence in the fact
that you have a sense of closeness to God. No confidence in the
fact that you have a terrible, terrible, terrible remembrance
of deep conviction like Paul on the Damascus Road. Oh no! Our confidence is in Christ. When we feel saved and when we
don't. When we feel close to God and
feel far off from God. When we feel like we can pray
and feel like we can't. Our confidence is not in the
flesh. Our confidence is in Christ. He is that one in whom resides
all the fullness of God. all the fullness of grace, all
the fullness of glory, and ye are complete in Him. All right,
read on. Look at verse 4. The Apostle
Paul in verses 4 through 8 sets himself before us as an example
of self-denial. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, If any other man think that he hath whereof he
might trust in the flesh, I more. That is, I have a stronger reason,
I have a better reason to think myself acceptable with God because
of my earthly fleshly experience, my earthly fleshly life than
any of you, I more. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. A Pharisee. A Pharisee. If anybody goes to
heaven, Pharisee will. That's the thinking of men. Prayed
twice every day, or three times every day. Fasted twice every
week. gave tithes of all they had. When they'd go out to Cracker
Barrel and a big crowd of them would go out for lunch or a couple
of them would go out for supper, Pharisee would clear his throat
and bow his head and say prayers to be seen of men. And folks
would look at him and say, shh. He's praying. He's a good man. He's a good man. He got what
he wanted, to be seen of men. They wear clothes that just look
religious. Had the Bibles stuffed with tracks.
Keep a Bible laying on the dashboard of the car or truck until the
pages turn up and ruin the Bible. Because I want folks to see they're
religious. I was a Pharisee. Concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. I didn't just act religious,
I lived a good life. But what things were gained to
me, those, all of this, all of this, those I counted lost for
Christ. I didn't just consider them a
loss. Yea, doubtless, 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 this is what I consider all
of my past religion and all of my past righteousness and all
of my good works and all my prayers and all my church attendance
and all my tithes just done. Just a bucket of manure, nothing
else. Just a bucket of manure. Self-denial
is an essential aspect of saving faith. And it increasingly comprehends
all aspects of life as we grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord Jesus. Self-denial, however, begins
with the denial of all personal worth and merit as a hope before
God. All of it. All of it. All of it. All of it. You who struggle with faith in
Christ, here's your problem. You're still looking for something
in yourself. You just won't let go. You just got to have it. I gotta have something I can
lean on. Until God knocks every prop out
from under you, you will not fall down on Christ Jesus the
Lord. Self-denial is denial of my own righteousness, my own
goodness, my good works, my worth before God, counting it all but
done. Here's a legalist of highest
order laying aside the filthy rags of his self-righteousness
for the blessed, pure, perfect righteousness of Christ. Paul
found that one pearl of great price and sold everything he
had to get it. All right, why? What was the
cause of this man's self-denial, this consecration, this commitment?
What would inspire such? What made this man willing to
forsake everything and follow Christ? Look at the next lines
of our text, Philippians chapter three. Paul was motivated and
driven to the point of utter obsession. To the point of utter obsession. four great ambitions of faith. This is nothing new to you, but
to speak the same things to me is not grievous, but for you
it's profitable. I want us to look at them again. Oh, that God would give me utter
obsession with Christ. Oh, that God would make you to
be utterly obsessed with Christ. When God first saved me, a word
got out pretty quick. I was not quite 17 years old,
and within a week or two, a fellow who lived next door to me, who
used to work for the FBI, and I don't know what he did, he
never did say, I don't have any idea what he did, Ed Sturgis,
won't forget him. I'd lived next door to him for,
Ten years. We moved there when I was six
years old. I'd mow his lawn, do stuff around there, earn a
little money. And he and I got along just fine. Lived right
next door. And he knew that I was a rebel and I got into everything
there was going down the road. And you know, the man never warned
me about anything. He never warned me, don't get
into this, don't get into that, don't do this, don't do that.
Not one time. Not one time. And he knew most of what I was
doing. Not a word. But word got out that God had
saved me. And he said, Don, come over a little bit, sit here a
second, I wanna talk to you. And we sat down and we chatted a
little bit. He said, now, I hear that you got religion. He said,
don't get obsessed with it. Don't go overboard with this. What a sad, sad state for a man
to be in. If only you knew my Redeemer. If only you knew Him. If only
you knew His grace. If only you knew His blood, His
righteousness, His forgiveness. You would desire to be utterly
obsessed with Him. And look at how Paul speaks,
verse eight. 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 do
count them but done, that I may win Christ. That I may win Christ. What an ambition. The life of
faith is the lifelong pursuit of Christ. Faith looks upon Christ as the
most precious, most desirable, most necessary person and object
in the world. The more he's known, the more
he's wanted. Therefore, true faith willingly
forsakes all to follow him. He's the treasure hidden in the
field. for which a man will gladly spend
everything. He's the pearl of great price
for which a man will gladly sell all he has to obtain that pearl. He is the one thing needful,
the one thing we must have. I'm thankful, I'm very thankful
for the comforts of life God's given me, but I must have Christ. I'm thankful for friends, friends
around the world, close friends, but I must have Christ. I'm thankful
for health, but I don't have to have health, I must have Christ.
I'm thankful for my family, but I must have Christ. I'm thankful
for you, but I must have Christ. Look at the next ambition, verse
nine. And be found in him. I want to
win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness.
You see how Paul, it just keeps trying to get this off of him.
Not having my own righteousness, my own filthy rag. It's like
walking in a spider web, just can't get it off. Not having
my own righteousness. which is of the law, that is
righteousness of works, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. This righteousness
that we must have is not something we perform, it's something Christ
performed for us. It is not something that we obtained
by our work, something Christ obtained by His work. It is the
righteousness of God, the righteousness of God in Christ, established
by His faithful obedience unto death as our substitute, and
obtained only by faith in Him, only by trusting Him. Oh, to
be saved is to be in Christ, in Christ. This is where we stand,
in Christ. Religion, somebody said, is knowing
doctrines and facts. Salvation is knowing God. Religion
is knowing what I believe. Salvation is knowing whom I believe.
Religion is being reformed. Salvation is being regenerated.
We are in Christ. In him by God's everlasting decree. In him by the new birth. In him
by faith. In him in the blessed experience
of grace. Our Lord speaks of the vine and
the branches, and we're branches that have been graft into the
true vine. I don't know much about it, but
if you're going to graft one tree into another, You gotta
make two cuts. One in the original stock tree
and one in the tree to be grafted. And you take the limb and put
it next to the other. The two wounds mix together and
you bind them together until they grow into one. And we have
been grafted into Christ. cut made by the sword of justice
in the Savior, and a cut made by the sword of God's Word in
our hearts, bound together by the Spirit of God, and caused
to grow into one in Jesus Christ the Lord. To be in Christ, graft
into Him, is to have perfect righteousness in Him. so that we are made of God to
be the righteousness of God in Christ. I have said in time past, I hope
never to say it again by mistake, and I have read in good theology
books for 50 years now, that we are made righteous by imputation. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are not made
righteous by imputation. We're made righteous by grace,
and therefore righteousness is imputed to us. God Almighty did
not impute sin to His Son until He made His Son sin for us. And when sin was found on His
Son, He justly and righteously imputed sin to His Son. And the
Lord God does not just say sinners are righteous. but rather we
are made the righteousness of God in Christ. And being found
in Christ, God in justice and in righteousness imputes righteousness
to all who believe. Here's the third ambition Paul
was possessed with. Verse 10, that I may know him,
that I may know him. But Paul had been preaching the
gospel for a long time. He was in prison for preaching
the gospel. He was an apostle. And he says that I may know him,
yes, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. I know that Christ is mine. and
I'm his. I am my beloved's and my beloved
is mine. And yet I count all things but
loss and dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Christ,
that I may know him. I want a constantly renewed and
renewing, ever increasing knowledge of and communion with the Son
of God, don't you? Oh, I want to know Him. I want to know my God and Savior,
my Redeemer, my Lord. May God give me grace never to
take my eyes off of Christ. May God give you grace never
to take your eyes off of him. I think I told you this last
week, maybe Tuesday night, but it's worth repetition. I've got
a note from my friend, Pastor Peter Barnes down in Sydney,
Australia. Peter's a Presbyterian pastor and professor of theology
at the seminary in Sydney. And I wrote to him, I wrote back
to him and I said, Oh, Spirit of God, consume my
very being with the wonder of grace, complete forgiveness,
perfect righteousness, and everlasting salvation in, with, and by Christ
Jesus. Almost immediately, I got a note
back from an email from Brother Barnes that said, amen, amen,
amen. Spirit of God consume my soul,
consume my heart, consume my life with Christ that I may know
Him. I want to know Him and the power
of His resurrection. The power of His resurrection
is the power by which I stand just before God. He was raised
again for, that is because of our I'm sorry, because of our justification.
In other words, His resurrection is the result of Him having accomplished
redemption, forgiveness, righteousness, free justification for us, and
He was raised by the power of God who justified Him in the
Spirit. And we are justified by the power
of His resurrection. I want to know Him. In that power of his resurrection
by which we believe, I want to know him so that I have confidence
in his resurrection as the assurance of my own. And I want to live
every day experimentally walking in the knowledge of that power,
in the newness of life. I want to know Him and the fellowship
of His sufferings. Without curiously, irreverently attempting to go
where I shouldn't go, I want to know all that I can possibly
know of what He suffered. when he suffered as the Lamb
of God on the cursed tree for me. And I want to know my interest,
my participation in his sufferings. I want to know that as he suffered
and died, I suffered and died in him, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. I want to know all that he accomplished
for me. and as His sufferings and death
are His glory, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being made conformable unto His
death. What does that mean? Our Lord
Jesus went to Calvary utterly committed will of God, the glory of God,
and the salvation of His people. Utterly committed. Merle, He
was obedient unto death for you. Bobby, He was obedient unto death
for you. Did you get that mark? He was
obedient unto death for you. God conformed me to him so that
I am utterly, utterly, utterly committed to God, to the glory
of God, to the salvation of his people, utterly committed to
his will. Here's the fourth ambition that
motivated this man. If by any means, I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Verse 11. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect, I know better than that.
But I follow after. That is, this is the thing I
keep chasing. If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Oh, what a way to describe God's
grace, God's salvation. I was running fast as I could
to hell and he apprehended me. I was running fast as I could
to destruction and he arrested me. I was running fast as I could
away from God and with the omnipotent arm of grace, he grabbed me.
Oh, now let me apprehend him. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. forgetting those
things which are behind, forgetting those things which
are behind. I look back, oh, my God, what a failure. And
I'm not talking about before He saved me, I'm talking about What a disgusting failure I have
been in everything I put my hands to. What a failure. What a failure I've been in that
which I desire most, these great ambitions. That's yesterday. And you know what God says about
it, Josh? He doesn't remember it. You forget it. Yesterday's gone. Reaching forth. Reaching forth
unto those things which are before. I put my shoulder to the wheel
and I press. I press. I press. Pushing everything out of the
way, I press. Pushing every temptation aside,
I press. Pushing every allurement aside,
I press. Pushing every personal ambition aside, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. These are the ambitions, the
goals of my heart, the things I seek, the things for which
I live. I hope the same is true of you,
that I may win him and be found in him, that I may know him,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Children of God, set your hearts upon these things. And by the grace of God, these
things shall be yours. Not yet, but soon, soon, very
soon. Now let's read the rest of the
chapter, verse 15. Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, be thus minded. Paul said, he already said, I'm
not perfect. He's talking about his own experience
and his own flesh. Ah, but ain't Christ perfect?
And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this
unto you. Nevertheless, whereunto we've
already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind
the same thing. Brethren, be followers together
of me. It's my responsibility to lead
you. Oh, God, give me grace to do
that. Paul said, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk
of whom I've told you often, and tell you now even weeping,
they're enemies, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose
end is destruction, whose God is their belly, they live for
themselves, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. For our conversation, our life,
our life ain't here. Our conversation is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Soon, soon he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he, bless
God he can, He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Even me. Even you. Amen.