And I think there's 21 verses,
is that right? So maybe we can read all 21 without
taking too long. Let's bow and pray together before
we begin to read. O Lord God of heaven and earth,
how privileged, how blessed we are to have in our hands your
book, your word. What an honor, what a privilege. What a blessing. Lord, just reading
this book does not change what we are. You must speak your word
to our poor souls and raise us from the dead. Give us seeing
eyes and hearing ears and believing hearts. What a chapter this is
that is before us this morning in your book. It is without question
glorious, glorious indeed. But, Lord, human wisdom and human
knowledge cannot fathom these statements. Like all the other
aspects of your gospel, this too must be revealed. Therefore,
we plead that you would send us help and aid from above in
the person of God the Holy Ghost, that he might open our understanding
and reveal Christ and Him crucified to our souls. Lord, deliver me
and deliver us from looking for more than Christ. Oh, to know
Him, to really know Him will take an eternity. But we would
pray and do so that You would in this very hour show us that
glorious One who came into this world and took on human flesh,
lived an absolutely perfect life to merit a perfect righteousness
for His people who went to the cross having their sins imputed
to Him in their entirety through that magnificent death of God
in human flesh. He put our sins away. Have you
heard what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Lord,
what a statement. All taken away. We beg You to
open Your book to us this day. Teach us about Your Son and about
our poor selves who desperately need Him. We ask in His dear
name. Amen. Alright, the third of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. We might
need a bell, Craig. If I get hung up someplace, you
might dingle it, so I'll move on, because there are some places
in here that you really want to stop. Finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom God reveals Himself to men. to write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." Now,
I'm trying to resist camping out on that statement, so I'm
just going to say this. These dogs are not literal dogs. These are people whom we encounter
in religion. They are secondly said to be
evil workers. If you're familiar with the closing
statements in Matthew chapter 7, our Lord said to some that
had one of the more glowing professions of Him as their Lord, He said,
Depart from Me, you that work iniquity, workers of iniquity. Depart from me, I never knew
you. So here he says, beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. This seems to be a reference
to the cutting of the flesh when a male infant is circumcised. And Paul is referring to anything
that men do to themselves and particularly to their bodies.
in order to gain for themselves any kind of favor before God. Physical things do not translate
into spiritual things. In this world in which we live,
I might have a Ph.D. I don't, you understand, but
I could have. But I'd be just as dumb as the most uneducated
person when it comes to understanding this book. Human learning cannot
fathom divine things. It must be revealed. It must
be revealed. Don't let anybody ever tell you
that doing away with things, fasting, even praying, whatever
else it is, will automatically transfer into blessings for your
soul is sadly mistaken. to do those things in order to
benefit ourselves spiritually is to bypass Christ. And that
automatically makes it to be a heinous crime in the sight
of God. So Paul is warning the Philippian
congregation to beware of dogs, of evil workers, of the concision,
the cutting, anything having to do with the flesh. And then,
thankfully, he gives us the opposite of this in the following verse,
verse 3. He says, we are the circumcision. We are the truly circumcised.
Circumcision, you see, is an operation of grace in the soul. It's not an operation of grace
on the body. God's favor to us is not based
on how we look. nor of our physical prowess in
any realm you want to name or mention, these things do not
correlate. But here we are told that we,
the apostle and his readers, and hopefully meaning his modern
readers who are saved by the grace of God, and it does indeed,
we are the circumcision, and he defines those persons who
have the blessing of God in Christ upon themselves in three ways. First, they worship God in the
Spirit. The Lord Jesus told the woman
at the well in John chapter 4, God is a spirit and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It means
with the aid and help of God the Holy Spirit, but it also
means that our worship is to be in our spiritual selves, our
spiritual capacities. It's not to be a soulish, fleshly
worship. And we could get some hot shot
singers in here and you'd be stomping your foot and patting
your hand. But that doesn't translate to the soul. Not at all. Anything that gets in the way
has no place in the worship of God. God must be worshipped in
the Spirit, in our spirits by the aid and help of God the Holy
Spirit. They are described as people
who rejoice in Christ Jesus, who boast. Their boast is in
Christ, not in themselves or not even in each other. Their
boast is in Christ. To them, Christ is everything. Some people charge us and say,
you make too much of Christ. I didn't think that was possible.
Did you? Of course not. That's an absolutely ridiculous
statement. If He's all, if we stand complete
in Him, if He is not only all but everything, then how can
you over-magnify Christ? My soul, it works the other way
around. We regret, we grieve that we
do not more rejoice in Christ Jesus. And then the third description
of these people who are the truly circumcised in soul, it says
they have no confidence in the flesh, none. Now that flesh that
we all have is our human nature. It's this body, this mind with
which we're born, this heart that ain't worth shooting because
it's full of sin. Therefore, when God saves us,
He gives us a new heart, a new mind, and a new nature called
in 1 Peter 1, the divine nature. No confidence in the flesh, none
whatsoever. Verse 4, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinks that
he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, and he
gives his credentials in his previous religion of the Jews,
circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel. The eighth
day because on the eighth day the clotting agent in the blood
is the highest it will ever be from birth to death. God instructed
Abraham that this rite of circumcision was to take place on the eighth
day. I wonder how he knew that. He didn't have a clue. God simply
said, do it on the eighth day. Circumcise the eighth day. I
mean, Paul was in the high muckety mucks in the Pharisees' religion.
of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a member of the most strict
party in the Jewish religion, a Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless, blameless. Now hang on to that thought.
The righteousness which is in the law, and Paul said he was
blameless. Now look what he does with that
righteousness. I'm talking about the one he
earned. I'm talking about what amounts to nothing more than
self-righteousness. But Paul was once proud of that
self-righteousness. But look what happened to it.
But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for
Christ. Just take the whole package,
the whole bunch. What things were gained to me,
those I counted lost for Christ? Yes, doubtless, I not only counted
them, but I still do. 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." Lost his reputation. lost his position, lost his popularity
among the Jews. Paul is now a hated man, a wanted
man, lost everything, lost their respect. He was a revered man,
suffered the loss of all things. Now infinitely above that statement
is this one, and do count them but dung, manure, that I might
win Christ. Compared to winning Christ, these
things are nothing more than a garbage dump. Nothing. Nothing. Not only win Christ,
and he doesn't mean purchase Him, Paul is talking about in
the work of God's grace, a sinner can't have two righteousness,
his own and Christ. You've got to get rid of one
or the other. Verse 9 goes on to declare, and be found in him,
to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness. You mean a believer doesn't have
any righteousness? Oh yes, he has Christ's righteousness.
That's the only kind he has. And that's the only kind that
God will recognize. is the kind that He gives us
in Christ. I've told you a blue million
times that whatever God demands of you and me, He'll have to
give it to us or we won't ever have it to give back to Him.
And this is gloriously the essence of the gospel itself. God gives
us what He demands and He gives it freely. And He gives it in
Christ. It's all in Christ. and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ." Now don't you get this
turned around now. It doesn't say our faith in Christ. Our faith in Christ, and there
is such a thing by the way, does not earn or merit for us anything. It is simply the means by which
that empty hand is stretched out for God to fill it with what
He gives us in Christ. It does not have any merit of
its own. Faith refuses to put the crown
on her head. She puts it at the Master's feet.
So this righteousness that Paul is speaking of, not having his
own, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith." Now this time, you can put the by
in front of faith. But previously you could not.
It is the faith of Christ, and here it is the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Then verse 10, yet still longs to know Christ,
to know Him more and more. And the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death. Now watch this statement in verse
11. It is really surprising. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. But now look at verse 12. not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I
may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus." I am apprehended. He was apprehended. He is now
being apprehended. And he will be the rest of his
days being apprehended of Christ. That word apprehend is a pretty
strong word. It pretty much tantamount to
being arrested and hauled off in the squad car. It's to grasp. It is to lay hold of. Brethren,
verse 13, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Alright, I'm going to stop there
because I'm already in trouble. We open our Bibles again to Philippians
chapter 3, work on just three phrases, primarily the ones found
in verses 7, 8, and 9 in the third chapter of Philippians.
These are some of the most amazing words found anywhere in our Bibles. Here's a proud, arrogant, self-assured
man who had climbed to the top of his religion, the Jews' religion,
and something happened. Something happened. Now, if you'll
put a little marker here and turn back with me to the book
of Acts chapter 9, let me read you just a very few verses describing
what happened to this man who penned those words. in Philippians
chapter 3. In chapter 8, Paul is supervising,
now get this, supervising the stoning of one of our Savior's
preachers by the name of Stephen in Acts chapter 8. He holds the
garments for those that actually threw the stones. But that man's
murder would never have happened without Paul's involvement. His
name was Saul at this point, later to become Paul. Now he
leaves Jerusalem with warrants from the Jewish Sanhedrin in
Jerusalem to arrest any man or woman in the city of Damascus
who is a follower, a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Acts chapter
9, starting with verse 1. And Saul, still breathing out
threatenings and slaughter, well, you mean still? Well, he did
back in Acts 8 that led to Stephen's death. Saul, yet breathing out
threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went
unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to
the synagogues, that if they found any of this way, that is,
any followers of Christ, Christ is the way, whether they were
men or women, He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as He journeyed, He came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about Him a light
from heaven, and He fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecute me? Saul said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus
whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against
the pricks." God has already begun a work of grace in the
man's soul and he's fighting against it with all of his might.
So if next time somebody tells you, unless we cooperate with
God, He won't save us, that ain't true of this fella. Never, never,
never. Oh, and get this. The book says
that Paul's conversion is a titan pattern of all other conversions.
Hard for you to kick against the pricks. He trembling and
astonished said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And the Lord
said, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told you what
you must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice. My margins suggest that
they heard only a sound of a voice, but not distinct words. They
did not hear the message that Saul heard. But they heard a
voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And there Christ sends
one of his servants by the name of Ananias to Saul and to speak
to him concerning this one whom he met on the road to Damascus."
Now if you will go back with me to Philippians chapter 3. Here's what followed what we
just read. Verses 7, 8, and 9. Philippians
3. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law." The only righteousness that you and I can possibly have
is a legal righteousness. And once we understand what the
Ten Commandments say, that goes out the window. not having my
own righteousness, but that, that righteousness which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Alright, the first thing that
we consider comes out of verses 7 and 8. It has to do with this
knowledge of which Paul speaks. He says, the excellency there
in verse 8, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Now, what is this knowledge that
so far surpasses what Paul thought he had as a Jew? All knowledge
of Christ as revealed in this book, many people knew things
about Christ that showed no evidence and no description in the passages
in which they are met that they were ever converted. Even the
devils himself who met Christ as he came to one place or another,
they said, we know who you are, you son of God. And they pled
that He would leave them alone. You remember those that were
in one of the most famous incidences in the four Gospels is the man
that we call the maniac of Gadara. You can find it in Mark 5. He's
also in Matthew and Luke. But I don't specifically remember
the chapters in those. But in Mark 5, there this man
is. They've tried to chain him. They've
tied him. They cannot restrain him. any
way whatsoever. So he lives in the backside of
nowhere among the tombs in the cemetery. And our Lord Jesus
arrives on the scene. This man has a legion of devils
within him. They immediately plead for the
Lord Jesus not to send them to their eternal destination. but
let them go into a herd of swine that was feeding nearby. And
when He gave them permission, they did and drowned in the sea."
In the Sea of Galilee. Two thousand head of hogs. That's a lot of pork. So Paul
is talking here about the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. The excellency of the knowledge.
Now the knowledge that those devils had of Christ, was one
that is virtually forced upon them, for it did them no good.
They must recognize Him as their King, for He is King of kings
and Lord of lords. But they do not love Him. Therefore,
they cannot be said truly to know Him. They knew much about
Him. They knew some things that a
lot of folks today who claim to know Him don't know. They
knew that He could do with them as He pleased. Do you know that? Do I know that? God can do whatever
He wills with His own. We belong to Him whether we know
it or not. Several other people in the Scriptures
that we meet had some knowledge of the Lord Jesus. We'll turn
to John chapter 9 just for a second. I won't be there long. I'd like
to remind you of something. The excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord. John chapter 9, you'll remember,
is the account of the man that was born blind. And our Lord
finds him in Jerusalem. And wouldn't you know it, He
finds him on the Sabbath day. So anything He does, the Jews
are going to condemn because He did it on the wrong day. My
soul, Christ is our Sabbath. He is our rest, our peace. So
he comes to this man and heals him. The Pharisees find out that
this man has been healed on the Sabbath day. They go through
all sorts of questioning his parents, questioning him, and
then they call him back on the carpet and want to pry into how
did he open your eyes? What did he do? What did he say?
And all such as this. He answered in verse 27, I've
told you already and you did not hear. Why would you hear
it again? Will you also be his disciples?"
The man is becoming more bold by the minute. Then they reviled
him and said, You are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses,
but as for this fellow, we know not where he came from. The man
answered and said to them, Why, herein is a marvelous thing.
that you know not from where He is, and yet He has opened
my eyes. Now we know that God hears not
sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and does His will, Him
God hears. Since the world began, it was
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind. If this man were not of God,
he could do nothing. Now this old boy knows some things
about Christ, some pretty good things. Ah, but he doesn't truly
know Him. Let's find out. They answered
and said to him, you were altogether born in sin and do you teach
us? And they cast him out, kicked
him out of the temple, kicked him out of the synagogue, out
of the Jews' religion. Just like that. What an honor. What a blessing that is. If in
the process, you come to know Christ, that's what this fellow
did. Watch this. They cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out. And when He found him, He said
to him, do you believe on the Son of God? How many people do
you know that would answer that in the negative? A generation
ago, you'd have been hard pressed to find hardly anybody. I'm sure
you could find some. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Now this old boy, without knowing
it, God has begun a work of grace in his soul. And one thing has
made him honest about himself. When the Lord Jesus said, Do
you know me? Do you know the Son of God? He
said, Who is he, Lord, that I might know him? Who is he? Just who
is he? Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? Jesus said to him, You have both
seen him, and it is he that talks with you. And the man said, Lord,
I believe. And he worshipped him." My dear
friends, that's how it works. That's how it works. Paul called
it the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. My Lord. Now, if you go back to Philippians
a second, not that we'll stay there very long, I want you to
notice the titles, the names of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, my
Lord. Christ Jesus, my Lord. Now let's see if these words
truly belong to you and me. If you'd like to join me, I'm
in John chapter 17. Christ, Jesus, my Lord. Here's part of what that means,
just a little part. It is a fathomless word. There are more things said in
this Bible that pertain to who Christ is than any man can possibly
know. But in just two short verses,
in John chapter 17, which is the high priestly prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the real Lord's Prayer, in the second and third
verses, here the Savior is describing Himself. Now this is what the
man said in John 9, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on
Him? We cannot trust or believe in a Christ that we do not know. We must know something of Him
in order to believe Him. That, of course, is illustrated
in that ninth chapter of John. John 17, verses 2 and 3. The Lord Jesus is praying to
His Father. as the Mediator, as You have
given Him, as the Father has given the Son, power over all
flesh, all human flesh, is under the rule and reign of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That He should give, that the
Son should give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given Him. And here's what that means, eternal
life. Verse 3, And this is life eternal,
that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom You have sent. Now that's as simple as it can
be said. This is life eternal. That we might know God through
the one that God sent Paul called Him Christ Jesus, my Lord. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him." Win Christ and be found in Him. Being found in Christ. Winning Christ. Knowing Christ. Loving Christ. Worshipping Christ. Win Christ and be found in Him. Let's see. Let's just look at
one Scripture in this respect. You can also go back to the same
verses we just covered in the Gospel of John and find it there,
but how about turning to Romans chapter 5. Let me emphasize a
different aspect of things in this regard. Romans chapter 5,
a very famous passage that is full of Gospel truth. What is
it to be found in Christ? Look at verses 18 and 19 in Romans
5. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, referring to Adam in the garden, judgment came unto
all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one, that
is the Lord Jesus, the free gift came upon all men unto justification
of life. For as by one man's disobedience,
whose disobedience? Adam in the garden. Not Eve in
the garden. Adam in the garden. When Eve
ate of the forbidden tree, it affected no one except herself. But when Adam joined her, The
entire race fell in their head, Adam. Why? Because Adam was the
representative man. And what I'm trying to get us
to see is that Christ is the representative man of His people.
Adam represents the whole race. Christ represents His whole church,
all of His people, every last single one of them. Alright,
Romans 5.19, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
all of his offspring, all of his descendants, right down to
you and me. And what that spells is this.
We are born sinners. We are born fallen. sinners. We are born spiritually dead,
fallen sinners. Every man is. That's the beauty
of why the Lord Jesus must be born of the seed of the woman,
because He receives no condemnation through Adam. Therefore, His
human nature is perfect, sinless, spotless. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Christ's one obedience serves
as the righteousness of every last single one of his people.
Isn't that wonderful news? Certainly it is. To be found
in Him means what? To be righteous in God's sight.
To be holy, spotless, blameless, something we ain't ever been
before and can't ever be any other way. Be found in Him. In Him. In Him. Just like the
branches in the vine. Christ is the vine. We're the
branches. Just like the body is joined to the head, Christ
is the head. We are the members of His body.
Just like the sheep belong to the shepherd, Christ is our shepherd. Just on and on and on. And you remember those famous
words in Jeremiah 23.6. We'll not turn there, but those
wonderful words having to do with our Lord Jesus Christ. It
says, He shall be called. the Lord our righteousness. And then a few chapters later,
chapter 33, verse something or other, it says, and she shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. Christ's bride shares His righteousness. He bestows it on her. All of
His people are made righteous in Him. By one man's disobedience,
many became sinners. So by one man's obedience, many
were made righteous." Righteous. Perfectly, absolutely, perfectly
righteous. Well, that's half of it. So,
I owe you a refund. I'm tempted to do something different
here.