Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Philippians chapter 1. I'm going to look at that last
verse of Scripture that Winston read a few moments ago. Here
in verse 21, this is a summary. Paul's down in prison now. He's
going back over his life and he's talking to a people God
called out through His gospel. He said, I have begotten you,
He said, through the gospel. These were His children in the
faith. These were the fruit of His ministry. This was the grace of God given
to Him for them, He said. And He's going back over His
life. And now He's down here in the
prison, falsely accused. And folks are out here and they're
preaching the gospel and pointing to Him and making fun of Him.
down there in the prison. He didn't preach right. He didn't
preach the way he was supposed to. He wasn't called of God.
Or he wouldn't be down there in the prison. But they were
preaching Christ, these folks were. And Paul said, I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. And that's enough
for me. I'll rejoice. But he tells these folks here
Colossians. He pours his heart out to them. And he said, for
me to live. To live. We talk a lot about
life, don't we? We won't talk about being born
again. I've got the life of God. If you've got the life of God,
you ought to do this, you ought to do that. If you're a good
Christian, you ought to do this, you ought to do that. Paul said,
for me to live, he said, is Christ. That's what it is. For me to
live is Christ. And this is the summary. of all
the apostle Paul was and all of his hope after death for me
to live as Christ, he said, and to die as gain. That's how I
view this whole thing. That's how I view my beginnings
as a Pharisee, not knowing God, out there in the ignorance of
religion, worshiping this and worshiping that and calling my
best efforts to righteousness before God. I view that whole
thing. That new birth and that calling
when He said, He that separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace and revealed Christ in me. This was an overview of all these
things, of His ministry, of His life, of His goal in life, of
His hope after death. And He said, It's all Christ.
It's all Christ. And when I die, He said, it's
just going to be gain. It's just going to be gain. Now
let me tell you something. That's what it is for every believer. Paul is describing here the same
hope of every true believer. Now, you go through the Scriptures,
and these apostles, they describe these things in detail to us.
They singled out certain men like Timothy, and they described
him and described what he did and commended him for certain
things. You find this whole thing. Here's
the hope. I don't care who it is. Peter. John. We looked into the book
of John this morning. You can't read the book of John
and not know that for him to live was Christ. Christ. This was his whole life. This
was about his preaching. This was about his hearing of
Christ, his being called out by Christ. This is the grace
of Christ, the principle of his life, and the Word of Christ
is the rule of his life. Every part of the Christian life
is Christ. It's all Christ. One fellow told me one time he
said, Salvation is in Christ and sanctification is in the
law. Oh, no. It's all Christ. It's all Christ. Every part of the Christian life
is Christ. And all those who have this confession,
have this hope, to die is gain. It's gain. I don't fear death
anymore, John. I'm not going to lose anything
worth keeping. The only thing I'm going to lose
is this sinful flesh. That's it. That's it. We don't lose anything worth
keeping. In dying, we lose this flesh. In dying, we go to be
with Christ. In dying, we gain the whole of
our inheritance. Right now, we just have the down
payment, the earnest money, he calls it, the earnest of the
Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance over there in Ephesians 1. Then
we are going to know Him as we are known. I stand before Him
in a body like unto His. Stand before Him without sin,
without spot, without blemish, not even the potential of sin
there. Unrebukable, he says. You can't find any fault in me. To die, he said, is gain. Now,
let me tell you something. This life he's talking about
living is a life of faith. You can't achieve this. I'm telling
you the truth. You're spinning your wheels.
You cannot achieve this apart from faith. Without faith, he
said, it's impossible to please God. You'll never be able to
pray enough. You'll never be able to repent
enough. You'll never be able to have enough desire to quiet
that conscience down and present you unblameable before God, to
make you a proof of God, to be able to walk with God. The only
way you can do it is by faith. You have to lay hold of that
righteousness of Christ and walk in His righteousness. in his
perfect obedience. That's how you walk. I have a
righteousness, not mine. Now, he said to Israel, he said,
I pray for them that they might be saved. They weren't saved. But they had a righteousness,
didn't they? What did he say about that over there in Romans
chapter 10 where he talks about them? In those first few verses
he said, I bear them witness they have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of the
righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of Christ. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." He's the end. He's the goal. He's the abolishment
of it. He's the whole nine yards. He
is the law. This righteousness which the
law declared was just a picture of Him who is righteousness.
He's altogether righteous. He tells you over there in Hebrews
chapter 1 about this man, what makes this man, Jesus Christ,
different from all other men is this, he loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. We walk in his righteousness.
You can't do enough, pray enough, go enough, sacrifice enough to
pay for a single sin. But His sacrifice is sufficient,
it said in Hebrews 10, to put away sin once for all. Once for all. I've got a perfect
sacrifice and a perfect righteousness, and I receive those things by
faith. And that's how I walk. I walk in that. I walk in that. I know what's in me. Oh, Lord,
those folks come and tell him all about what they was and what
they believed and what they knew. He said, I don't need anybody
to testify to me what's in man. I already know what's in man.
Well, that's what he's going to teach you. He's going to teach
you that there's nothing in there. There's nothing in there. You
can't testify of any good quality you have in the light of God,
in his sight. Oh, if it looks good to me, I
don't see anybody in there that I don't approve. Most of you
in here are moral people. You walk good. You're outstanding
citizens. You hold down a job. You raise
families. I don't see anybody in here that
what I just call an out-and-out rebel. You all look pretty good
to me, but boy, not before him. I'm telling you, his eyes search
all things. He looks right past that facade,
right into that heart. I'm going to ask you a question.
Is there anybody in here this morning, if we had a machine,
and I could just set it inside your coat pocket and pull your
coat up, and there's a big screen up here, and it's going to have
on that screen everything that was on your heart from the time
you walked in that door, who'd want it to play. And that's just
before me. He sees what you can't even see. He said, the eyes of God, it
searches all things. It looks past the façade. It
looks past the playtime. It looks past these refuges of
lies that you make. It looks past this self-righteousness. It looks past that whited sepulcher
right down into the inside where the dead men's bones are and
the corruption is. Oh, he said, you may clean the
outside of the cup and the platter, but on the inside, On the inside. Out of the heart, he said, perceive
evil thoughts and adulteries and all these. They come out
of the heart. That's where they come from. I can do something
about the outside. I can clean it up. I was painting
yesterday with some real dark green paint. I was painting some
shutters on my house and talking to Russell, and I wasn't paying
no attention. I was just painting away, and this can had a leak in it.
This whole hand was grass green when I got it done, and it's
quick-drying paint. It dried. I stood in that sink
last night with a piece of steel wool. I'm telling you, my hands are
so tender this morning, I can't hardly touch my notepaper. But I can clean the outside pretty
good. I got most of it off. But boy, I can't clean this.
I can't clean this. You see what I'm saying? This
walk Paul is talking about is a walk of faith. And faith is
a resurrection from the dead. Did you know that? It's a resurrection
from the dead. You can't crawl out of that pit.
He has to dig you out of it. Lazarus couldn't come out of
that tomb. He had to call him out of it. That man laying down
there on that gurney down there at the Pool of Bethesda, he couldn't
even get up. He had to wait on somebody to
come and put him in the pool, didn't he? That's where we're
at. That old man of the palsy, God
had to send men down there to get him and carry him up in a
bed, climb up on the roof, and lower him down through a hole
to get him to Christ. There's not going to be a resurrection.
He said, I am the resurrection. You see what I'm saying? I'm
preaching Christ. Paul said he looked back over the whole thing
and found out it's all Christ. All of it is. And if I'm going to walk by faith,
I've got to get to Christ. The only way I can get to Christ
is if I can get to Him. It's because they've been a resurrection
of life. And you, he said, Ephesians 2,
verse 1, and you, hath he quickened, who were what? Dead. Dead. Turn over to John chapter 5. Men are dead spiritually. They are dead spiritually. He describes them in Ephesians
2, verse 3, as by nature being the children of wrath, even as
others. That is what that dead and trespassers
have seen. He describes it as walking according
to the course of this world, according to the God of this
world, the prince of the power of the air, that spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience. That is what he
is talking about. And like old Lazarus, we've laid down there
in the tomb, in that spiritual tomb, wrapped up in those rags
of death. A stone sealed the door. That's
the perfections of God. Sealed you in. You can't get
out. You can't get out. You're wrapped all up in them
death rags and laid in the tomb. You're corrupted. And by now,
nobody even wants you to come out because you stink. Lord,
don't move the stone back. By now, he's stinking. That's
us. That's us down there in the tomb.
Look good in their own eyes, smell good to us, and anybody
else get around you with any sense and they go, whoo, I want
to be around him. Don't move the stone back. By
now he's stinking. Lord called him out, didn't he?
Come out of that tomb. Loose him and let him go. Resurrection. Listen here in John 5, verse
24. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come in condemnation. Now listen, but he is passed
from death unto life. Think of what it says. Passed from death unto life. He looks past the man. That's
what he talked about. The Jews couldn't see past the
man. All they could see is Joseph's son. We know him. He's the carpenter.
We know his sister. We know his brothers. That's
all they could see was the man. Faith looks past the man, John,
and sees God. Both looked past the man. All
I saw was a good man, a great man. They were willing to make
him a prophet. They would give him the name of a prophet if
he just joined the ranks. And certainly he was a teacher. All of them confessed that. Nobody
could deny his miracles. He was certainly a gracious man.
He gave everything he had. He didn't have a pillar to lay
his head on. He didn't have anything. He gave
it all away. He didn't want none of it. But they couldn't see his glory.
Faith looks past the man and the works and sees the glory. He's passed from death to life. Where is that life? Where is
that life? It's in Christ. This is the record
over in 1 John 5. This is the record that God has
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." He sees the glory. He sees God. Look here in verse
25, John chapter 5. Verily I say unto you, the hour
is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Can you hear? Can you hear? You wouldn't be
troubled if you didn't hear. Huh? You wouldn't be upset if
you didn't hear it. Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Look over here
at Ephesians chapter 4. I'm saying that this life of
faith is a resurrection from the dead. In Ephesians chapter
4, verse 17, he says, I say therefore and testify unto the Lord that
ye walk not as other Gentiles walk. How do they walk? They
walk in the vanity of their mind. Now, I'll tell you something.
Once the Lord gives you life and light where you can see it,
you'll see exactly what He's talking about. You'll look back
over your life. Paul said, I know that most of
you know what I was back then. I was an injurious man. He went
on and told how he persecuted the church. He walked, he said,
believing in that old righteousness. He said, I walked in the vanity
of my mind. He knew how to tell it, didn't
he? He knew how to describe it because it was his experience
of grace that taught him. He came to Christ. God called
him out of death unto life, and he passed. He became a living
soul. He became a follower of Christ. He became what we call and what
the Scriptures call a Christian. He knew something about death,
and he knew something about life, and he could describe it. Boy,
there's nobody I've ever heard that can describe the condition
of a sinner like the apostle Paul. He said they walk in the
vanity of their mind. To walk in any other fashion
except faith in God is vanity, ain't it? If it's impossible
to please God, how are you going to walk with Him apart from faith?
You can't do it. So whatever walk you're walking,
it's vanity, just vanity. To walk with any other conception
of God than His perfection set forth in the person of Christ
is to worship in vain. It's just vanity. Just vanity. To attempt to approach God in
any other fashion except the righteousness and shed blood
of Christ is vanity. To hold out hope for loved ones
who live in the error of their own imaginations is vanity. Why are they good folks, but
they don't preach the gospel down there? Vanity. That's what
he's saying to you. They walk in the vanity of the
mind, listen, verse 18, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their
heart. The ignorance, he said, that's
in them. in them. It's a nature. Sin is a nature. It's a nature. And it hates God. He said the
carnal mind is enmity against God. It is. It is by nature. You're not going
to change it. The carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God, he said, and neither indeed can be. You can't
train it to be. Now, you might take a house cat
and pet it, but you ain't going to pet a mountain lion He'll
eat you alive, because that ain't his nature. He don't want pity. He don't want pity. That's natural
man. He don't want pity. He don't
want reconciled. He's upset and angry at God.
Not his God, but the God of this Bible as he declares himself.
God said, I say today, I've appointed a day in which I'll judge this
world in righteousness by that man. By that man, he judged this
world in righteousness in the gardens. That judgment was declared,
the standard was declared, and the promise was given, wasn't
it? We talked about it this morning. That judgment of God was declared
on Abel's altar. wonderful offering, all these
things he'd raised. It was beautiful, probably flowers,
vegetables, whatever he'd raised. He was proud of it, laid it on
the altar. God had no respect. God spit on his offering, and
he took Abel's and accepted it. And Cain got mad and killed Abel
over that, didn't he? That's that judgment I'm talking
about. Our Lord said, this is condemnation. Light come into
the world, and men love darkness rather than light. They're not
upset at their God, they're upset at the God of the Bible. This
God declares a day in which he's going to judge you in righteousness
by that man. Your righteousness come up to
his? No way. But Paul said of that judgment,
well, until he's given assurance. This is over in Acts chapter
17, by the way. He's given all men assurance
in that he raised him from the dead. What's he talking about? Well, He's telling you that you're
either going to be judged in Christ, in Christ on the cross,
or you're going to be judged by Him in eternity. But either way, you're going
to be judged by His righteousness. You're not going to get around
it. And men hate that God. They hate
the whole idea of this God who's going to hold them to a perfection
of righteousness. But that's what it is. That's
what this book declares. They walk in the vanity of their
mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through that ignorance, through that ignorance.
Blind ignorance. And it's called here a blindness
of heart. You see that in verse 18? Because
of the blindness of their heart, and look at this next verse,
who being past feeling. Boy, let's think about that for
a little while. Those of you that God's called out of darkness,
you think about that. I've experienced that. God showed me I was without feeling. See it there in verse 19? Past
feeling. Past any and all desire to hear. Past any conviction of the truth. You hear the truth. Well, I ain't
having that. That's past feeling. That's what that is. Somebody declares the sweetness.
Paul said the gospel was a sweet savor of God. But it ain't to
them. Why? They pass feelings. A man stands up and preaches his
heart out, preaches until the tears roll down his face, and
you're unaffected. How come? You pass feelings. That's what he's talking about.
That's where God found sinners. That's what a sinner is. blinded
by the ignorance of his heart. His heart's not moved. His heart
doesn't go out to God. His heart doesn't reach out in
faith to Christ. He's past feeling. That's his
nature. He's past feeling any affection
for God, past feeling any dishonor in his rebellion, past feeling
any remorse over his sins, and he's past feeling any urgency
to seek God. He ain't in a hurry. I'll hear
thee again, they said to old Paul over there. Acts 17, when
he preached to them on Mars Hill, we hear it again in a more convenient
setting. There ain't no urgency there.
Men ain't no hurry. They're not upset. They're past
feeling. It's a blindness and ignorance
of heart that renders a man past feeling any shame for his actions. And listen to this in verse 19,
"...and have given themselves over to lasciviousness, That
word literally means to the excitement of the flesh and the pleasures
of the flesh. You give yourself up and you
call it religion when you go get entertained somewhere. That's
what he's talking about. That's what he's talking about.
Or you can take it the other direction to the world. All that
excites him is these sexual lusts and things of the flesh, being
rich and dying with a fortune and all these things that men
go seek after. But he's also talking about religion
where he goes down there He's not hungry to have his soul fed. He's not hungry to worship God. He's not hungry to hear the truth
of God proclaimed. He's hungry to go down there
and get his little religious fix. And they stand up there
and they play a little music and they surround the place with
candles. Have you ever noticed? Some of
you have probably never been in these places, but I have.
I used to go into them and play and sing all the time, play my
guitar and get to say a few little words and things like that. And
I'd go in these places, and they've got a smell to them. I don't know if it's the incense.
I don't know what it is. This place smells a little musty
to me when I come in. But those places, they've got
this smell. I don't know what it is. I don't
know if it's the candles. I don't know what it is. But it's got a smell. It's got
a unique smell and odor. That's what it is. It's something
you go down there that feeds the flesh. A friend of mine told
me not too long ago, and I've known him for a long, long time,
He made the dumbest statement I think I've ever heard, and
I hope he gets this tape and listens to it. He told me, he
said, well, Pastor, he said, I just believe if a man goes
down to church and he don't come home feeling better than he did
when he went down, what was the point of going? Let me tell you
something. If that's why you're going, you've
all together been given over to lasciviousness. That's what
Paul's talking about. That's the only thing that concerns
you is to go down there and come out feeling a little bit better
about yourself than when you went in. Well, what did the boys
tell John the Baptist to cry? All flesh is grass. He doesn't
want you to feel better about yourself. He wants you to see
what yourself is. You'll feel better about yourself
when you see yourself in Christ. Boy, I'm happy about that one.
I'm happy about the new man. That old man, Paul, he said,
I can't get rid of him, what I want to do. He said, I do the
very thing I don't want to do, and the thing I don't want to
do, that's what I do. He said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I don't
want to feel better about that man. Paul didn't. But let him
talk about that new man. Old things, he said, have passed
away, and behold, all things have become new. He liked that
man. He liked that man. And that's
what he's talking about here when he said, for me to live
is Christ. It's Christ. It's a resurrection
from the dead. And then I believe this. I believe
Paul is talking about his tenor of life. A president believer
doesn't walk in darkness. He's got eyes. He's the one that
has eyes to see, he said. Ears to hear. Why do you speak in parables?"
his disciples asked him. He said, because for you it's
given to know these things about the kingdom of God, but to them
it's not given. Yes, it has to be given. It has
to be given. Then how come you're to be here
today? It might be that God brought you here to give you something.
To give you the truth. He might have brought you here
to give you His salvation. That might be the very reason
you're here. Think about it. Why? Two years
ago, you wouldn't have been here. Last month, you wouldn't have
been here unless you had to be. All of a sudden, now you're here.
Why? This thing has got to be given. It's got to be given.
And I tell you, once it's given to you, and you're awakened from
that death, and you're given life in Christ, and your hope
is in Christ, and you walk in Christ, Once that takes place,
your whole tenor of life, I'm talking about the direction of
it, changes. It just swings right around. Now all of a sudden you're going
this way. Now it's like that Mississippi River. It'll go east
for a while, and then it'll go west for a while, and every now
and then it'll turn and go north for a little bit. But it's headed
for New Orleans. That's where it's going. Salvation is headed for Christ.
Every man that God calls out of that death, brings him to
life. He's passed from death unto life.
He's going to be made just like Christ. And all through this
world, that's the direction he's headed. That's the tenor of his
life. And Paul said, for me to live
is Christ. That's what he's talking about.
It's Christ. I've got him fixed. I see him. That's what I want. He said,
I don't take my eye off of it. That's my goal. That's the prize.
That's why I'm running the race. I want that prize right there.
I'm going to be made just like Christ. And everything that ain't,
I despise. Then thirdly, for me to live
as Christ means that He's the honor and privilege of my life. I bet you've never even thought
about this. The only reason, John, why would God leave a believer
in the world? He's given him a perfect righteousness.
He's not going to get any more righteous than he is in Christ.
How could you get any more righteous than you are in Christ? You can't
get any more justified. If you're justified, that means
you're justified. It doesn't come in amounts. It
comes all at once. Boom! You either are or you're
not. When he's justified, he's as justified as he's ever going
to get, just as though he'd never sinned. There he is. God says
he's worthy. If you're in Christ, what did
they say about Christ when they saw it? They said, worthy is
the Lamb. Didn't they? Well, if I'm in
Him, I'm worthy. You're not going to make it to
glory unless you're worthy. The only way you can be worthy
is to be found in Him. That's what Paul said, wasn't
it? Oh, he said that I might win Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, but that righteousness which
is of God by faith. Oh, He's the honor and privilege
of my life. It's the only reason. And here
I am. I'm here. I'm justified. I'm righteous.
So why am I still here? Am I being punished? Is this purgatory? I've got to
work off some sin? No, I'm justified. Do I still
have some righteousness, something to work? No, that's complete.
That's complete. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Then why am I still here? Because God has
in His purpose Listen to me. He's given us a privilege that
angels just stand back and wonder at. He made you a part of His gospel. He made you a part of the ministry.
He made you a part of this. In Christ, I'm a part of it.
He said for me to live is Christ. It's Christ. Show me a man that's
passed from death unto life, I'll show you a man that's in
a hurry to tell somebody about him." He even told them, he told
them, don't tell anybody that I did this. They couldn't help
it. They went to the first person
they seen and said, guess what he did for me? You can't help
it, can you? Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal Christ in me, He said that I might preach Him among
the heathen, didn't He? You can't help it. When He's
revealed, it just sticks out. It just sticks out. Old Barnard
used to say, it will leak out on you. It will leak out on you. And that's exactly what he's
talking about. It's the greatest privilege of his life. He said,
I don't care if they preach hostile to me. Who cares? Christ is preached,
he said, and I still rejoice. Let them get mad. Sometimes I
preach to folks, and some of you know what a voodoo doll is.
I forgot what the name of the people is over there. They stick
pins in them, you know, and try to hurt somebody else. I get
up there and preach the gospel, and I look out there, and I might
as well just be sticking pens in them. Boy, it just, I mean,
eats them up. It eats them up. Christ. Just to preach Christ. For me to live, He said, and
that's what they, you know, those folks down there, they preach
Christ. And they did it in contention.
They did it in a bad way. Christ said, I rejoice anyway.
For me to live as Christ is to see in Him an eternal union of
man and God. And my life, Paul said, is hid
with God in Christ. And when Christ who is my life
shall appear, then shall I appear also with Him. You can't get
any more hid than that. Hid with God in Christ.