Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. Our lesson
last week ended with this verse, verse 14, where Paul writes,
I press toward the mark or the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. Now that mark is Christ Himself. That's Christ Himself. It is
to be found in Him. That's the language Paul used
in his letters when he wrote to the churches. To be found
in Him. To be blessed in Him. We're blessed
in Him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
We're redeemed in Him. Made righteous in Him. predestinating purpose of God
to be conformed to His image. His image. Made like unto Him. So the mark is to strive. To
strive for the faith of God's elect and not to find ourselves
in the end to be cast away. That's what Paul's telling them.
There's a mark out there. We have salvation now, in part,
but that salvation, the reality of it, The true reality of it
is out there. It's Him. It's Him. And the mark is to lay hold on
eternal life and not some system of lies and deceit. So Christ
is the mark. He is the goal. Now all this
we have by hope. I have a good hope through grace.
I have these things now by faith And that's my hope. But Paul
said, if you have it in reality, then why do you yet hope for
it? You know, you might, if you've got $100 in your pocket, you
don't hope for $100, you already have it. But if you don't, all
you have is hope. And it might be a good hope.
So he's the goal. And all of this we have by hope.
And all of these things we have by faith. having the earnest
of our salvation in the Holy Spirit of promise. But we don't
have any of these things perfectly. We don't have them perfectly,
and we don't have them physically. But we have them by faith. By
faith. And it's a good hope through
grace. It's a good source. We have a good source for what
we believe. We have the Word of God. We have a book The men
who wrote this book were confirmed by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by Christ right before them. And these men who
wrote this book, the same thing for them. God confirmed them
with miracles and wonders and signs. These are not just superstitious
things passed down through history. These men actually did this before
witnesses. Even the Jews who hated them
and despised them and murdered them and martyred them, those
Jews couldn't deny the miracles that these men done on this earth. And these were not just this
phony mess that you see today of tapping somebody on the head
and them bawling out and all this kind of stuff or healing
somebody from a cold. This was calling dead men out
of the tomb. This is cleansing lepers right
before their eyes. This has given men who were crippled
for 37 years, given them health and energy to stand up and walk.
These were undeniable miracles. And God confirmed this book.
And we have a good hope through grace because we have a good
source. We have a good source and we've
got good means. God has ordained good means to
reconcile His banished. And we've got a good foundation
and a good work within We have a good hope, a good hope through
grace. But I'm going to tell you something.
Hope is not the same thing as possession. And this is where
we get in trouble. We start examining ourselves
for evidences and things and we come up short. A hope is not
the same as possession. By faith I have a righteousness,
but one day I'll be righteous. You see the difference? One day,
I'll be righteous. I'll be righteous. I'll be as
He is. Sin will be no more. By faith,
I have the promise of eternal life. One day, this mortal, this
is how Paul talks, this mortal shall put on immortality. By faith, I hope to dwell with
Christ forever. And that day, I'll stand with
Him. I'll stand with Him. I'll see Him face to face. You
see the difference? And then look here in verse 15.
Let us therefore, based on this good hope through grace, let
us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if anything
you shall be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
you. Now we know that Paul's not here
talking about perfection in the flesh because he's just said
twice that he hadn't obtained yet. He hasn't attained. He hasn't arrived. He don't have
that which he hopes for and he's urging us to press toward that
mark. So he's not talking here about
a perfection in the flesh. Rather this term here has to
do with maturity. Now let me give you two other
places where this exact same word. Often in the scriptures,
the original word in different places is stated with different
terms. I've shown you that example several
times in the book of Romans and in the book of Peter, where his
foreknowledge, whom he did foreknow, is the same as whom he did foreordain. In Peter, that's the very same
words interpreted. So let me give you a couple places
here where the same word in the original is translated using
different terms. In Hebrews chapter 5 and verse
14. These are verses that ought to
be familiar to you, but if you want to turn over there, you
can. Hebrews 5, verse 14. But strong meat belongeth to
them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to determine both good and evil. The word
age in that verse. A full age. That word in that
verse is the exact same word as the word perfect in Philippians
3.15. The exact same word. And then again over in I Corinthians
chapter 14 and verse 20, He said, Brethren, be not children in
understanding. Howbeit in malice be ye children,
but in understanding be men. And that word, men, in this verse
is exactly the same as perfect in Philippians 3.15. It's the
same word. So that what Paul is saying over
here in Philippians 3.15, that as many as be mature in their
understanding, as many as be perfect, as be mature in their
understanding, as many as be grown men in the faith, be thus
minded. Verse 16. Nevertheless, whereunto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind
the same thing." Now, believers are not the same as unbelievers. I talked to a man here this morning
about another man that we both know very well, and there's a
notable difference between the believer and the unbeliever. Now, we both have the same nature. My nature hasn't changed a bit.
That old nature has not. It hasn't progressed one iota. It hasn't been reformed one iota. It's exactly the same as it ever
was, and I don't expect any change to ever take place until this
flesh is put in the ground. We retain the same nature. The
potential to do evil is still there. There's examples left
us in the Scripture of believers who plotted and planned and murdered
their best friend and committed adultery and you can go on and
on and on. We all have the same potential
to do evil and it's still here. But the believer, the difference
is the believer also has a new nature. He has a new nature and
he has by virtue of this new nature an enlightenment. and
understanding. He has eyes to see and ears to
hear and a heart to understand. The Holy Ghost abides in him,
teaching him, leading him, showing to him the things of Christ,
making him to understand these things where others leave in
confusion and doubt, making him willing. You have to be enabled
God's people shall be willing." When? In the day of His power. He's taught. He's led. The Holy
Ghost shows to him the things of Christ, and He makes him willing,
not by force or not by twisting his arm, but by showing him the
truth, by persuading him of the evil of one and the good of the
other. And as believers, we have attained
some things. We have heard the Gospel. And
we've been given the gift of faith. We do believe. That's
what the disciples, even though they doubted, they told the Lord,
we believe, help Thou our unbelief. We do believe. We've been brought by God's Spirit
to submit to Christ and to the Word of God and to the means
of our salvation. When salvation comes, submission
comes. And that man who won't submit,
he doesn't know anything at all about this salvation. That's
one of the first works of God in the heart of man is to make
him bow down and submit. We're no longer ignorant. No
longer ignorant of Satan's devices. We know who he is. We know what
He's doing. We know how He works. And we
know where He works. We have attained some things.
We're not little babies in Christ or small children, but we're
men of ripe age. We've been here a while. Those things which God has ordained
has brought us to this point. Paul said, let us continue by
the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. We don't use that term much today,
and I'm not really sure our kids understand too much about it,
but back in the day, you minded your parents, and you understood
what that word meant, too, didn't you? Might have to go to the
woodshed a time or two, but after a while, you understood what
the word mind means, and that's the sense in which it's given
here. Our rule is the rule of Christ.
It's the rule of love and wisdom and grace. And Christ is our
Lord and King. We mind heavenly things. We mind
spiritual things. We're no longer rebels, but bond
slaves of Christ, willing, loving servants of Christ. And His rule
is the rule of love. It's the rule of truth and righteousness
and justice. His rule is the rule of grace.
Grace reigns through righteousness Paul said, unto eternal life. And it's God's rule which has
brought us to this point in our lives. It's not a cruel, mean,
tyrannical rule, but sovereign love and grace. One reigning
to give eternal life to chosen sinners. That's what His reign
is all about. He said, all power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Now you go cut everybody's throat.
No, that isn't what He said. He said, all power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Now go preach my gospel. You
see what I'm saying? It's a loving reign. He reigns there to give eternal
life. One reigning to give eternal
life to chosen sinners. And then He says this, let us
mind the same things. That's the last line. in verse
16. Now I want you to turn with me
over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. To mind some things, to pay heed
to it, to obey it, to not neglect it. And I want to get right straight
into the heart of the matter here in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul is talking about himself
as a preacher of the Gospel. He has already established that
as the chosen means of God to call sinners, to reconcile sinners. And he says in verse 12, I Corinthians
2, Now we have received not the Spirit of the Word, that is,
the teaching of the Spirit, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man, you see
it there in verse 14, receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. Believers receive
the things of the Spirit. They mine the things of the Spirit. They mine spiritual things. They take heed to the preaching
of the Word. They take heed to the reading
of the Word of God. You see what he is saying here?
They mine these things. And they all have the same rule,
the same spirit, the same means. The difference between them and
the natural man is that they receive the things of the Spirit
of God. They mine the same things. They
pay heed to public worship. They pay heed to the reading
of the Word of God. They pay heed to the preaching
of the Gospel. They pay heed to the Gospel ordinances. They pay heed to how they represent
their Lord in this world. And then he sums it up here in
verse 17, and he says, Be followers together of Me, and mark them
which walk so as you have us for an example. I'm back over
in Philippians chapter 3 now. I'm sorry. Pastors lead by example. In 1
Peter chapter 5 verse 2, Peter talks to these pastors, these
elders, and he said, Feed the flock of God which is among you.
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly,
not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." Now watch this.
Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples
to the flock. Pastors lead by example. You preach grace, be gracious. You preach mercy, Be merciful. You preach kindness, be kind. You preach the long-suffering
of God in Christ to chosen sinners, be long-suffering, be patient,
be tolerant. Pastors lead by examples. And
what pastors preach is of little effect when they don't practice
what they preach. Has little effect on them. So
he tells them here in verse 17, Be followers together of me,
and mark them which walk so, as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
enemies of the cross of Christ. Now what is he talking about
here? Who is this many that he is talking about? Many, he said,
that I've told you about. Some of them he called by name
in his epistles. Alexander the coppersmith. Several
of them he called by name, didn't he, Winston? So who's he talking about here
when he says, many walk? Well, he's talking about men
who profess to be elders and pastors and evangelists. That's
who he's talking about. Men who come in saying that we're
God sent us to preach. I had an apostolic man pull in
the parking lot. He was looking for whatever he
could get from this building that we bought. He was looking
for antiques or something that he could make a little money
on. And when he found out that it
was a church that bought it, he said, you need to have me
down to preach. And he started in on a bunch of stuff and we
just pretty much walked away and left him sitting in his car.
This is what he's talking about. There's many out there, many
who walk, Paul said, of whom I've told you often. And he's
talking about men who profess to be elders and pastors and
evangelists, but who don't know God and who don't know the gospel. Talking about men who profess
to live Christian lives and to serve God and to be examples
to God's sheep. And these are not Christians
gone astray. These are not true pastors who've
fallen into error. They're enemies, Paul said, of
the cross of Christ. Verse 19, whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. who
mind, there's that word again, mind. What do they mind? Earthly
things. Earthly things. They're unconverted
men, men who have undertaken to save themselves. These are
men not enlightened of God, but walking in the vanity of their
minds. They might have went to seminary,
and they may have a head knowledge of the Scriptures, but they have
no knowledge, no true knowledge of God or of Christ. God's people
are taught of God. They are all taught of God. And
how do you know if a man is taught of God? They all come to Christ.
Isn't that what he says over in John 6? Every man therefore
that has heard of the Father, learned of the Father, he comes
to me. They are all taught of God. And
God the Holy Spirit accompanies His pastors and teachers, and
He accompanies the understanding of His people. They are taught
the truth, they receive the truth, and they walk in the truth. But I tell you this, without
the power of God's presence, without the revelation of the
Spirit, without the means which God has put in place and blessed
for the work of the ministry, men are left to themselves. And
left to themselves, they are apt to do anything. They are
apt to make any kind of claim. I can't for the life of me understand
how any natural born son of Adam could think upon himself as being
perfect. Perfect before God. And yet there
are men out there who believe that and preach that and teach
that. But the Scripture said they walk
in the vanity of their mind. They walk according to the course
of this world and the prince of the power of the air. They
walk in darkness. And they walk by a different
authority. They mind earthly things. And they are enemies
of the cross of Christ. They mind earthly preferences,
earthly ways, earthly motives, earthly approval, earthly goals,
earthly means, earthly power. They mind earthly things. And
then back in Philippians 3 verse 20, for our conversation. Now he's talking about believers
again. Our conversation. What's he talking
about here? Is he talking about two people
getting together and talking? That's not what that word means.
He's talking about their citizenship. That's what the word means. Citizenship.
Our citizenship, he said, is in heaven. from which also we
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in this world,
and our Lord told His disciples that. You're in the world, but
you're no longer of it. You're no longer of it. Our power, our example, our hope,
our Savior is in the Lord who's in heaven. Actually, believers
are called pilgrims in the Word of God. We don't walk like it
sometimes. Do you think like that? Do you
walk like that? Like a pilgrim in a strange land? Like you're over in Germany somewhere
and you can't speak the language and you don't like the food? That's a pilgrim, a stranger. Calls them sojourners. Abraham
was a pilgrim and a sojourner. They sojourned in this land.
It wasn't their land. It was theirs by promise, but
it wasn't theirs. The ways weren't their ways.
The ways of these Gentiles, the ways of these heathens, it wasn't
their ways. They were pilgrims. They understood that. They were
just sojourners. They were just passing through.
Listen to this. This is the language of Scripture
talking about our walk in this world. Here they have no continuing
city. But they seek one to come. Abraham,
he sought a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. And these believers, they have
a right to it through the person and work of Christ. And by the free and sovereign
grace of God. And whatever our affiliation
was with this world, it has no bearing now. Has no bearing now. Our citizenship, our commonwealth
is not here anymore. It's in heaven. It's in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our Lord and King. He's
our Savior, our Husband, and our Head. And faith looks to
Christ, and faith looks for Christ, who shall change our vile body
that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto
himself." I was thinking about this, and I jotted down some
notes here. How sinful and vile must these
bodies be in the sight of a holy God? If I find it vile, if I
find it nauseous to me, what must it appear to Him who sees
all and knows all, how vile we must be. And my friend, the same
power that began this work in us, and the same power which
preserves us and provides for us, will one day fashion a glorious
body like unto the body of the Son of God without sin. Not a trace of the serpent's
slime, Don used to say, shall be left. Not one trace of it. Not one trace of it. And so,
the Apostle said, even so, even so, come Lord Jesus.