Please keep your Bibles open
there at Philippians chapter 3. What are your ambitions? What do you really want? What are those things you most
desire. Answer that honestly and you'll
discover what you are. My subject tonight is my ambitions. These are the things that motivate
me, the things that govern my life. the things that rule me,
the things that are matters of utmost concern to me. We're going
to be going over some things tonight in this third chapter
of Philippians that I trust are very familiar to you, but I make
no apology for that. To preach and teach the same
things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous and for you it's
safe. This chapter begins with an exhortation. Paul says, finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. He used this word rejoice ten
times in these four chapters. We ought always in the depths
of our souls to rejoice in the Lord. no matter what our outward
circumstances may be, no matter what our inner conflicts may
be, we have reason to rejoice in the Lord. I can't always walk
around pretending to be happy. That's what religion does. That's
not what I'm talking about. Brother Angus and I were talking
about that fella in Houston, Texas, Joel Osteen, coming over
here always smiling like a possum chewing on briars. And it's fake. And anybody with half good sense
understands it's fake. I'm not talking about a fake
happiness. But you can with a broken heart,
with weeping eyes, with great sorrow, yet rejoice in the Lord. To rejoice in the Lord is to
have confidence in Him. To rejoice in the Lord is to
trust Him. Rejoice in the greatness of His
person as your all-sufficient substitute. Rejoice in the power
of His blood, which cleanses you continually from all sin. Rejoice in the perfection, the
fullness of His righteousness, which is made yours by God's
free grace. Rejoice in the abundance of His
grace, which is always sufficient, in the immutability of His infinite
love that never fails. Rejoice in the rule of His providence,
by which He graciously works all things together for our good
and his glory. Rejoice, ever rejoice in the
fact of his mighty intercession on your behalf, pleading your
cause, undertaking for you at the throne of grace as your advocate
and great high priest. Rejoice. Children of God, rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven. Rejoice in the Lord. This is the exhortation with
which Paul opens this great chapter. Rejoice in the Lord. Then in
verse 2, he gives us a serious, serious warning. Beware of dogs. Especially the ones that wear
collars. You'll catch that in a minute. He warns us to beware of dogs. You remember in Psalm 22, our
Lord spoke of the dogs, the compassion. He's talking about the same people. Dogs. Beware of dogs. He's talking about false prophets.
He calls them dogs because that's what the Word of God calls male
prostitutes. Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse
18, the Lord God gave the commandment in his law not to bring the price
of a whore, the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog into the
house of the Lord. Now I don't know whether you
had this Yourselves are not, but back home there are people
who actually teach people that it's evil to raise dogs and sell
them. Because you can't pay your tithes
on selling a dog. That's not what Deuteronomy is
talking about. When he talks about bringing
the price of a dog into the house of God, he's talking about bringing
the higher tithes from the higher of a male prostitute into the
house of God. False prophets are men who have,
for their own sakes, prostituted the gospel of God, the glory
of God, the truth of God, and the revelation of God for their
own benefit. Turn to Isaiah chapter 56. Hear what God says about these
dogs. Your pastor read in Philippians, they're the men who are called
the enemies of the cross of Christ. Isaiah 56 verse 10, His watchmen
are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs that cannot
bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy
dogs which can never have enough. They're all shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way. Everyone for his gain from his
quarter. Several years ago, I was preaching
in Tennessee, a state just below us in the states. And there were
several preachers who came to the meeting. One of them, after
I'd finished preaching, we were sitting around having dinner
and he wanted to talk a little bit. And he was pastor of a congregation
nearby. And he made this statement to
me. He said, I'd give anything. I'd give anything if I could
preach in my church like you do. And I said, do what? He said, I'd give anything if
I could preach in my church as you preach here tonight. And
I said, I'll tell you why you don't, if you're interested.
And he said, why is that? And I reached in my pocket. I said, that's the only reason. That's the only reason. Oh, well,
our folks aren't ready for that yet. Nobody's ready for truth.
Our folks aren't ready to receive that yet. Nobody's ready to receive
the truth. Nobody, until God readies them.
And the only reason a man who claims to be a servant of God
does not preach the gospel of God's grace when he knows full
well he's not preaching it is because he's afraid of what it
will cost him. He's looking after himself, minding
his earthly things and not the things of God or the souls of
men. Read on. Beware of evil workers. Beware of evil workers. Somebody
was here the other night and was so concerned. Talked to some
of you folks about the politicians and all the corruption, all the
evil. Oh, what a horrible thing. But let me tell you something,
homosexuality and adultery and rape and murder and pedophilia
and fornication are all evil things. Drunkenness and theft
and murder are horribly evil things. But those things are
nothing compared to what Paul's talking about. Those are nothing
compared to what Paul's talking about. What are these evil workers? Turn to Matthew chapter 7, we'll
see. This is a warning Not against moral evil, but spiritual evil. It's a warning against those
who teach, preach, and promote any system of man-centered, works-based,
freewill religion. Now, don't let anyone misunderstand
what I have said. I do not in any way suggest that
the moral evils are things that we ought to look at lightly.
Not by any means. You who are gods, walk circumspectly
in your lives, blamelessly before men. Not so that men would look
at you and brag about how good you are, because men will never
see you as blameless. But you walk in such a way that
they have no just reason to blame you for anything. But that's
not what Paul's dealing with here. Look at Matthew chapter
7. These evil workers, in the day of judgment, our Lord describes,
verse 22, and says, Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? These are preachers. These are preachers. And in thy
name have cast out devils. These are miracle-working preachers.
And in thy name have done many wonderful works. Preachers who
come with the Bible in their hand and Jesus on their lips,
and they perform marvelous things so that men who hear them, who
were once in the clutches of alcohol and drugs and evil, they
now have reformed their lives and they walk circumspectly and
upright. and we've done many wonderful
works. Everybody knows what good things we've done. Then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. What a statement. What, they
say? Man-centered, works-based, free-will
religion, call it by any name you will, is the single greatest
evil in this world. Let me repeat that, I want you
to hear me. Man-centered, works-based, free-will religion is the single
greatest evil of anything in this world, and is the greatest
cause of evil in this world. The good works of religion without
Christ are the most abominable evils imaginable. You see, man-centered,
free will, works religion robs God of his glory. Man-centered,
free will, works religion, tramples underfoot the blood of Jesus
Christ. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29. Tramples underfoot the blood
of Jesus Christ, making it an unholy, a common thing, a common
thing. Something that's for everybody,
something in which everybody shares a part. Man-centered,
free will, works religion, robs God of His glory, tramples underfoot
the blood of Jesus Christ, does despite to the spirit of grace,
and gradually abases society to its lowest, most contemptible
state. We have a problem in the United
States, as you have here. as folks have in Europe. Indeed,
it spreads rapidly through all the world with moral perversity,
with the promotion, not just tolerance,
the promotion of adultery and fornication and homosexuality. So that in some places men speaking
as I am now speaking may be subject to being arrested for speaking
hatefully against queers. Not gay folks, queers. I meant
to say what I did. Give them no honor. Give them
no honor whatsoever. But what's the cause? What's
the cause? Where is the blame to be found? The blame is laid squarely by
the Spirit of God in Romans chapter 1 at works based free will religion. It is man being exalted in the
house of God to the place of God so that men worship Him as
God. And the result is what we have
in our streets today and in our schools and in our churches.
Evil workers, as Paul describes the term in this context, are
Arminians, free willers, legalists, people who teach that God's salvation
depends upon or is in some way determined by man. I can't remember whether it was
James Hervey, but it was one of the men of his era. Before
God saved him, he was an Anglican preacher, and he said he preached
law and preached law and preached law until there was hardly a
sober man left in the village. That's what works religion leads
to. That's what it leads to. Many of you are familiar with
cultures where such religion is not just a part of the free
society but promoted by government. And wherever you find it, wherever
you find it, the whole society is corrupt. We don't. Beware
of the concision. The concision. Paul is talking
specifically about men and women who cut, mutilate, and torture
their bodies in the hope of winning God's favor. Folks who practice
circumcision, particularly in his day. Well, brother John,
we don't have any problem with that anymore. Let's see. Let's
see. Folks who do penance. Folks who observe Lent. Folks
who live in monasteries and do without, beat themselves, and
live in silence, or take vows not to do this or not to do that.
Folks who practice religious taboos. Asceticism. Paul speaks of in Colossians
2, they say, touch not, taste not, handle not. Oh, and if you
would be godly, you've got to not having any wine with your
meal. If you would be godly, you don't use tobacco. If you
would be godly, you don't wear shorts. If you would be godly,
you don't do this or you don't do that. It's amazing how much
it's always don't. Just do this and don't do that. Do this and don't do that. I
call it doodoo religion. You can call it voodoo religion
if you want to. It's just filth. It's just filth. You see, godliness
has nothing to do with any of those things. Nothing whatever. Nothing whatever. Brother Don,
are you saying it's alright for folks to have a glass of wine
or drink a beer? Of course it is. Of course it
is. You can't tell people that. Drunkenness is evil. That's a
different story. But God doesn't prohibit the
use of anything in this world. He teaches us to use everything
with moderation. Godliness doesn't talk about how long you wear
your hair. No. When I was in college, I
attended a couple of Bible colleges. It didn't rub off much, but I
attended. And they had rules. They had rules. Do you know,
I was in college in 1968, 69, 70. And we were not allowed to wear
sideburns below our ears. That was worldly. That was worldly. When I was in school in Springfield,
buckle loafers. You remember the loafers that
had straps on them? We weren't allowed to wear those. Those
weren't worldly. I wear these tassel loafers. That's worldly. That's worldly.
And the fellow who wrote the rule book, last time I saw a
picture of him, he had sideburns down to here. How come? Well, things have changed now.
This has become acceptable. So now this is no longer world-led.
Oh! Godliness changes with time?
Holiness changes with where you are? No, no, religion does. That's all. That's all. In 1969, the schools were forced
to integrate the Bible colleges in the South. Prior to that,
we didn't have any black students in the 7th graders. They could
come in from Africa, but they couldn't come in from the local
town. That wasn't allowed. And then the government said,
alright, if you don't let them in, we're going to cut off the
veterans pensions, or veterans funds supplied to the school. Oh, well, now this is the thing
for us to do. We started accepting blacks. And the black fellas
wore mustaches. You used to wear a mustache,
didn't you? Wore mustaches. And that was against the rules. So some of us decided to grow
a mustache and got called in. Called in, going to keep us out
of school for wearing mustaches. And somebody had the nerve to
point out, but the black fellas wear mustaches. I'm not saying
anything to them. You know what they said? This is what the fella
said to me. He said, well, for them, it's
natural. I said, I don't put manure on
this thing to make it grow. For there is natural. That's
how ridiculous this notion is of making godliness to be carnal
behavior. That's not what it's all about.
Evil workers, the concision. Beware of the concision. Paul
is essentially saying, you beware of priceless religion. Beware
of religious customs, doctrines, traditions, and services that
center in you. Beware of religion that focuses
on you. Beware of religion that calls
attention to yourself. And then in verse 3, he gives
us a description of true religion. For we, we who believe, we who
are born of God, We who are taught of God, we are the circumcision. Circumcision, you remember God
made a covenant with Abraham. And he said, now by this men
will know you are my covenant people. You circumcised every
male in the household. And all the Israelites from the
eighth day were to be circumcised, identifying them as God's covenant
people, the seed of Abraham. Circumcision was a mark in the
flesh that was painful, identified, and permanent. And he tells us
here, we're the circumcision. The true seed of Abraham. God's
Israel. God's covenant people. The Israel
of God are not those folks who live over in Palestine. The Israel
of God are gathered right here in this place. The Israel of
God are those who believe Christ. They're the circumcision. And
the circumcision he's talking about is a circumcision made
without hands. In the heart. A mark. A mark that identifies
you as God's own. A mark that seals to you all
God's covenant promises. A mark that is painful in the
experience with conviction in the new birth. And a mark that's
permanent with the circumcision. For we worship God in the Spirit. Our worship of God is spiritual. Spiritual. In our church building
in Danville, we meet in a very simple structure, wood frame
structure wrapped with vinyl siding. And we don't have stained
glass windows. That's not because we can't afford
them, we don't want them. And we don't have crosses. We
don't have them. Not because we can't get them,
they're available everywhere. Because we will not practice
idolatry and call it the worship of God. But these things, we
don't worship. That just helps us in worship. That's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm talking about. We worship God in the spirit.
We worship God by the direction of his spirit. In our spirits,
through his word, spiritually. Worship is a heart matter. True
spiritual worship, not carnal worship, is the worship of God.
Rejoice, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. There again, Paul speaks
of this thing of rejoicing. And again, he's not talking about
giddy ha ha happy. He's talking about faith. We
who are God's people, we who are the circumcision, we who
worship God in the spirit, trust Jesus Christ the Lord. That's
all I hope. That's all I hope. We trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior, our Redeemer, we
place all confidence in Him, for we're complete in Him. But
of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto you
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him." Complete
in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. We place no confidence,
absolutely no confidence in our flesh, in the experiences of
our flesh, in the emotions of our flesh, in the imaginary excellencies
of our flesh, the privileges of the flesh, the feelings of
the flesh, and the works of the flesh are no basis of confidence
before God. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
then in verse four, Verses four through eight, Paul teaches us
something about self-denial by his own example, self-denial. If you pull down books from intelligent
reform folks and they write to you about self-denial, or you
hear sermons about self-denial, or you read what some of the
Puritans have to say about self-denial, you'll go absolutely bedbug insane
crazy. Self-denial. Self-denial. Oh, we've got to do without this
and do without that. The Lord convicted me about drinking
tea. I've got to quit drinking tea.
Now, some folks say you can't have coffee. Some folks say you
can't have Cokes. They've got caffeine in them.
Self-denial. On Friday you can't have certain
foods. On lunch you can't eat certain things. You've got to
give up things. All that stuff is nonsense. That's nonsense.
What's he talking about by self-denial? Look at verse 4. Though I might
also have confidence in the flesh. I might trust my flesh. I might
trust my heritage. I might trust my experience.
I might trust my works. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Paul says
if there's anybody out there who thinks he's got something
he can trust in, I stand head and shoulders above you. You
don't compare with me. Surely he didn't say that. He
said it by divine inspiration. Read on. And here's the reason.
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, I was of the most strict sect of the Pharisees. I've been
a Baptist on the Sunday school road since before I was born.
I've always been in church. Concerning zeal? Persecuting
the church. I was willing to put men to death
for my religion. Zealous. Read on. Touching the
righteousness which is in the law. touching the righteousness
which is in the law, the righteousness that men talk about by law obedience. The righteousness spoken of as
men speak of obeying the Ten Commandments. Nobody could point
to any commandment and say, there, Paul's a violator. Nobody. He didn't pretend to keep the
Sabbath day, he kept it. He didn't envy and covet and
steal. He didn't lie and cheat. He didn't
blaspheme God. You know, but what things were
gained to me, all this religious preeminence, all this that calls
me in to look at Saul of Tarsus and say, boy, if anybody goes
to heaven, he will. All this that said, oh, he's
such a holy man. All this that said, oh, Paul,
he's a devoted, godly man. All this 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 do
count them but done. If you don't have any idea what
that is, go trips around in the barnyard. You mean Paul is saying that
all his religious knowledge All his religious works, all his
religious experience, all the religion taught him by his mama
and daddy, all the religion he learned going to Sunday school,
going to church, all the things he learned to recite and quote,
all the good things he did. Mama taught me to be a good boy,
and I've always been a good boy. Paul says that stuff is just
manure. That's called self-denial. It is counting all goodness in
you, filthy rats. It is counting all religion without
Christ an abomination. It is counting all that is considered
spiritual, that is carnal, an abomination. Here is a legalist
of highest order. And self-denial, he tells us,
begins with the denial of personal worth and merit before God Almighty. Now it includes many things,
and it is a continual, lifelong denial of things we count precious
to ourselves. Self-denial is taking up your
cross daily and following Christ. It is hating father and mother
and brother and sister, yea in your own life also. The self-denial
begins, it begins with casting aside all worth before God. And let me tell you, some of
you here I have no doubt, had no knowledge of who God is, or
what faith in Christ is. You don't know anything about
believing God. And you may have a profession,
you may have been baptized, you may have been in church for years,
but you don't know what it is to believe God. I'll tell you
why. I'll tell you why you don't believe Him. I'll tell you why
you don't trust the Son of God. There's one reason why you don't
trust Him. Because you really think you're good. You really
think you have some worth before God? You really think you have
some righteousness? You really think there's something
in you, something that separates you from other men and makes
you better than others so that you do not need to stand on the
merits of a crucified redeemer alone? You've got to have your
righteousness. for the Bruce Crabtree, visiting
his dad. His dad was dying numerous times
to visit him. He called him and we'd chat. He'd broken hearted
to try to witness to his dad, who had been a preacher, been
a Pentecostal preacher. And his dad got to asking him
some questions, gave Bruce some hope. And Bruce said to him,
just before he died, he said, Dad, you've got to give up your
righteousness, all your righteousness. and trust Christ alone. His dad
laid there silent for a while and he said, son, I can't do
that. I can't do that. I can't hope
to stand before God with no righteous works of my own. I can't do that. Self-denial begins right here.
This was done on the Damascus road. when the Lord saved him. And this was a decision the apostle
made every day with increasing, growing commitment and consecration
to Christ. He counted all things but dung
for Christ. Understanding that Christ is
the pearl of great price, the treasure hid in the field, the
one thing needful that he must have. The one thing he must have. For God's people, Christ is the
one thing we must have. We must have him. Why? What was the cause of this man's
self-denial? His consecration, his commitment
to God? What made this man willing to
forsake everything and follow Christ? He was inspired, motivated,
and driven to the point of utter obsession. Oh God, make me this,
utterly obsessed, utterly obsessed with these great ambitions of
faith. And it begins described in verse
eight. That I may win Christ. What an ambition. The life of
faith is the lifelong pursuit of Jesus Christ the Lord. The
lifelong pursuit of the Son of God. I'm thankful for the many
comforts of life with which I am blessed, but I must have Christ. I'm thankful for Friends, I can't
tell you how many times Shelby and I have said this past three
days how thankful we are to have met you face to face. I'm thankful
for you. Thankful for friends. But I must have Christ. I'm thankful
for good health. But I must have Christ. I'm thankful
for my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law. Oh, so thankful God
gave my daughter a good husband. Thankful for those grandchildren.
But I must have Christ. I must have Christ. Do you understand
this? That I may win Christ with His
next ambition and be found in Him. And be found in him, verse
9, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. Brother Lance, self-righteousness
claims to us like fathers. This time of year I was shoved
ashore tonight. I walked out the door and Peter
caught me. Every time I walked out, he caught
me. Start wiping them off and just
feel like you just can't get it off. It just sticks to you.
And that's the way we are with our pretentious, arrogant, proud
self-righteousness. It clings to us. Our flesh loves
it. We love to think we are good
and doing good. Paul says, I count this bedug
that I may be found in Christ not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, But that which is through, now watch this,
the faith in Christ. No. Through the faith of Christ. There's a huge difference. Modern
translations have perverted this terribly. The scriptures never
declare that we make ourselves righteous by believing Christ.
Our faith in Christ is not our righteousness. But rather this
righteousness was established by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. The righteousness which
is of God by faith. Righteousness which we receive
by faith in Christ. This is the believer's standing. This is the believer's acceptance.
We're in Christ. This is Christianity. This is
salvation. It is to be in Christ. In Christ. Religion is knowing doctrines
and facts. Salvation is knowing God. Religion
is knowing what I believe. Christianity is knowing whom
I believe. Religion is being reformed. Salvation is being regenerated.
Religion makes me a new convert. Christianity makes them new creatures.
Religion is being in the church. Salvation is being in Christ.
Believers are people in Christ. in union with Christ, one with
Christ, by God's decree. Our Lord Jesus stood forth before
the foundation of the world. In the beginning was the Word.
He stood forth as our surety. And when God accepted Him as
our surety, He accepted us in Him. When God Almighty blessed
him as our surety, He blessed us in Him before the world was. When God put all things in His
hands as our surety, before the world began, God Almighty gave
all things to us in our surety. We're one with Christ, and the
two cannot be separated. Indeed, Christ and His people,
Christ and His bride are not two, but one. As the Father and
the Son are one, so the Mediator and His people are one. One with
Him. One with Him by the Spirit's
operation of grace creating Christ in us. One with Him by personal
faith in Christ. To be in Christ is to have perfect
righteousness before God. His righteousness is not something
we establish by performing good works, but something Christ established
for us by His perfect obedience to God as our representative,
and we were made the righteousness of God in Him. As I stand before
the Holy Lord God, I want to be found in Christ. Found in Christ. so that God
Almighty sees me in His Son and accepts me in His Son. As I walk
before Him and seek to preach the gospel, let me be found in
Christ. As I bow my heart before Him
and seek His face in prayer, let me be found in Christ. As
I offer the songs of praise to Him in the house of God or when
I'm taking my shower in the morning, let me be found in Christ. When
I sit down in the evening and have a supper with my wife, let
me be found in Christ. So that God accepts my works. Accepts the totality of my being
in His Son. Now look at verse 10. That I may know Him. Oh, that
I may know Him. Brother Don, don't you know Christ?
Oh yeah, but I want to know him. Oh, I want to know him. I've been married to this dear
lady for nearly 43 years. And I know her like I've never
known her before. And I want to know her. The more I know
her, the more I want to know her. The more I experience her
love for me and enjoy loving her, the more I want to know
her. So it is with our Redeemer. I want to know Him. To know Him. What are you talking
about? I want to know the mysteries
and glories of His person. The riches of His grace, the
greatness of His salvation, the benefits of His providence, the
depths of His love. Oh, may God give us grace never
to take our eyes off Him. I recall the first time I had
ever known anything about an eclipse of the sun. I was in
junior high school and we were warned, don't look at the sun.
Don't look at the sun, it'll burn your eyes. That's like saying
sick unto a dog. I was a big boy. Anybody I could
handle looking at the sun. And just as soon as they announced
this and I saw the sky getting dark, I went out and looked right
up at the sun and turned away immediately. I mean turned away
immediately. And I opened my eyes and all
I could see was the sun. I thought this was going to be
permanent. My eyes were burnt just temporarily. You look upon
Christ the son of righteousness once. and you will forever have
sunburnt eyes and never want to see another. Oh, that I may
know him. I want to know him in the power
of his resurrection. What's that talking about? What's
that talking about? That's not talking about this
Pentecostal nonsense. Not talking about ecstatic religious
experience, no. The power of his resurrection
is the power by which I'm justified declared just before God. The
power of His resurrection gives me spiritual life. I've been
quickened together with Christ. The power of His resurrection
guarantees my own resurrection. But I want to live every day
walking with Him as I testified to the world As a 16-year-old
boy, what God had done for me, I was crucified with Christ,
buried with Him in the watery grave of baptism. And lifting
my hands to God, I said to the world, from this day forward,
I walk with Him in the newness of life. The power of the resurrection
is the power of new life. Life from the dead. Life with
God. I want to know him in the fellowship
of his sufferings. Fellowship of his sufferings.
That doesn't mean, as I've heard this explained, Indeed, the first
time I heard anyone deal with this text of scripture, my wife's
pastor, when she was a girl, was dealing with it and he said,
he used the illustration that his daughter had a kitten that
had gotten hurt and she's trying to help the kitten and as the
kitten is just obviously in great pain, his girl began to cry and
that's what he's talking about. No. No. That's not what he's
talking about. No. But it's amazing to know
him in the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know. my personal interest in the accomplishments
of my Redeemer when he suffered the wrath of God in my stead.
Bruce, I want to constantly learn more and more of what Christ
has done for me in his accomplished redemption, when he suffered
the wrath of God in my stead. To know what he accomplished
in his sufferings and to know that he's done it for me. As
His sufferings are His glory, I want His sufferings to be my
glory. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to know
Him in the fellowship of His sufferings to such an extent
that I am ever being made conformable to His death. ever being made conformable to
his death. What is that? When he died upon the cursed
tree, the Son of God was entirely consecrated to the glory of God. Entirely. He taught us to pray. After this manna pray ye, our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Pray continually for God's glory. Pray continually for God's honor. Pray continually that God be
exalted and magnified and honored and distinguished as God. Oh,
that I may know Him, being made conformable to His death, being
constantly consecrated to God's glory. When our Lord Jesus died
upon the cursed tree, he was entirely submissive and surrendered
to God's will. Not my will, thy will be done. God, do your will. Do your will. I recall A long time ago now. Somebody can tell you the year.
I don't keep up with those things very well. And I misstated, but
I was 25, 26 years old and had cancer. And the doctors didn't
expect me to live very long. And I had friends all over the
world praying for me. Family praying for me. Folks
in churches praying for me. Preachers praying for me. Praying
that God would heal me of the disease. And I couldn't. I couldn't. I just, I couldn't. I just, I couldn't ask God to
heal me of that disease. Why? Because I didn't know His
will. I didn't know what His will is,
but what's best for His glory? And then I read in the Psalms
one morning, I shall not die, but live and declare the wondrous
works of the Lord. And I was able to ask God to
heal me of that disease with complete confidence that he would. Oh God, make me submissive to
your will in everything, all the time. Make me not to grumble
and complain and fight against your will, but submissive to
you. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. These are the pressing concerns in
my heart. These are the things I earnestly
desire from God, that I may know Him. in the power of his resurrection,
in the fellowship of his son, being made conformable to his
death. And soon, very soon, I shall
have what I desire, for I shall know him. And I shall know the power of
his resurrection. And I shall know the blessed,
wondrous fellowship of his sufferings. And I shall be in resurrection glory completely
conformed to him. That's my ambition. What's yours? Amen. All right, we'll have the Lord's
table together now.