If you would open your Bibles
to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. And your comment there, Claire,
about nothing more important, couldn't be a better precursor
to what I'm getting ready to say. Let's read, starting in
verse 1 of Philippians chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. 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. For
we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcise the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. 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 dung that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. that I may know
Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Look at the phrase
to start this verse 11. If by any means. That's the title of my message,
If By Any Means. And I believe two things about
that phrase. First, it says, if there is any
way possible, any chance for me to be saved, I want it. I'll take it. No matter what
it comes with, beggars can't be choosers. Once we find out
there is only one way, we want it even more. Teach me thy way,
O Lord." And the second thing about if by any means, it says
to me, nothing is more important. There isn't anything I want more. There isn't anything I wouldn't
give or anything I wouldn't do to attain salvation. If by any
means puts an unrivaled importance on attaining whatever goal it
is you're going for. Now, let me try to give an illustration
to explain what I mean. And this is a little uncomfortable,
but I really want you to see what I'm trying to say and what
I mean and believe Paul means by this statement. I have a precious
little girl downstairs in the nursery. She's not a year old
and she can't walk or talk. And if I found out tomorrow that
she was dying, by the grace of God, I would say, if by any means,
I'd ask everyone I know. I'd find every doctor I could
find who would know anything about what was wrong with her.
And I'd read everything I could possibly find, all while praying
without ceasing to the Lord. And if I found a way that she
might be saved, I'd grab onto it tight with everything I had.
And I'd go to whomever and wherever I had to go for that little hope
that I had. And I would also give up everything
to attain it, to attain life for her. And I mean everything's
on the table. I'd give up my possessions, everything
I own. I'd give up my health if necessary.
And I would give up my dignity. And if necessary, my life. I'd
do all of this for a chance to save her. Now, with all that
said, believe it or not, you and I are in a worse situation
than that. We aren't dying, we're already
dead. We've been spiritually dead since
the fall of man. Since Adam ate that fruit, we're
dead. And if you know that you're dead
in sins, doesn't it make sense that you would search for a way
to be saved? I said I'd do anything for a
way that might save my daughter. Even just a slim chance, I'd
do anything. Our situation is much worse than
the illustration I've given. But I also have great news for
the spiritually dead. Those who attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, that it speaks here in verse 11, those who attain
unto salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is 100% sure. It's not of this world, and therefore
it doesn't contain any of the pitfalls, any of the doubts,
and the failures of this world. There's no partial remedy. There's
no, we thought we had it all. A child of God is made whole,
a hundred percent guaranteed. And there are no mistakes. You
know, we thought we had all of it, but we didn't get it. And
being cured doesn't mean just this time. It doesn't mean, I'm
sorry, that's the best we've got, but it might come back. Before, well, the Lord Jesus
Christ is holy, and His sacrifice is perfect. He is the only way
of salvation, and if you want life, you want spiritual life,
by any means, seek the Lord. And He said it in His message
this morning, come to Me for rest. Now, before we look at
what preceded verse 11, Let me apply this phrase, if by any
means, to the Lord Jesus Christ. I said two things about the phrase,
if by any means. One, if there was a way to be
saved, I'd take it and everything that came with it, no matter
what that was. And secondly, nothing is more important than
that way which gives salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only person that can save a sinner. The only way to salvation is
Him. He came to this earth and was made flesh with one purpose
in mind, with one thing to be done to save the children of
God. He knew that He had to do what
He had to do, and He knew that in doing it, He would be mocked,
ridiculed, and knew He would be beaten, tortured, and killed.
But that was the only way. you or I could ever be saved.
To save us, the Lord Jesus Christ endured the worst means possible. If by any means, He endured the
worst possible means to save us. And though men constantly
tried to interfere and Satan would tempt Him, there was never
a waiver on the job at hand. From when he was a child and
said, I must be about my father's business. To when he said, my
time is at hand. To when he was on the cross and
said, it is finished. As he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. And then three days later, he arose from the
grave and ascended on high where he sits enthroned in glory. And because it was so important,
we can rest in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. And I am
so thankful He did all that to save His children, to save a
sinner like me and you. And I pray that the Lord would
give us this attitude, if by any means, when we seek Him. Paul begins this chapter in verse
1, and he says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. This is the theme of every believer,
and it's repeated over and over again. And Paul acknowledges
this by saying, To write the same things to you, to me indeed,
is not grievous, but for you it is safe. After you tell your
child not to run into the street, and you tell them again not to
run in the street, you do it a few more times. Do you at some
point say, they're going to figure it out? No, you love them. So you're going to tell them
until they know the truth, until they know better than to go out
in there. And you know what? You're going to remind them anyway,
even though you know they know. And that's what Paul's saying
here. He's saying, it's not grievous for me to tell you this over
and over again, but it's safe. When I was a child, There was
the same song that was always played before the tapes from
13th Street. They were the same song that
was played before the TV program. And it was the same song that
was on anything else we sent out, the videos or the radio
or all that. And after services sometimes,
it was a thing that the kids did, would run back to the tape
room and see what was going on, all these machines and everything,
and that song would be playing over and over again. And I don't
know how many thousands of times I heard it, and finally one time
I got so fed up with it, that I went to my mom. The song was
How Great Thou Art, which we sang before. I asked Duane to
sing that. And I said to her, why do we sing that same song
over and over again every time? Everybody's going to think that's
the only song we know. And she responded and saying,
if that's the only song we know, it's a good one. But we can never
say too many times how great the Lord Jesus Christ is. And this applies to the Gospel
more than anything in the world. If something is going to be repeated,
let it be this Word. Let it be said over and over
again in any place possible. There's never a time that it's
inappropriate to read the Lord's Word. And then in verse 2, Paul
gives us a warning. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision." Paul calls these Jews dogs, the
same name that they would always call the Gentiles, filthy dogs.
He calls them by that name. And he's warning the people of
false teachers. The Jews who were teaching works and ceremonies
of the law were necessary for salvation. He calls them evil
workers because they were misleading the people and changing the gospel
of Christ. He warns us of the concision
or people who use any custom or any ceremony as part of being
saved or requirement for being saved. And in the Old Testament,
circumcision was much like sacrifices on the Sabbath day, and ceremonies,
and they were teaching that as a part of salvation, something
that was necessary to be saved. And they were using that as a
token, or I'm sorry, those were used as a token of the covenant
the Israelites had with God. But the false preachers were
claiming you couldn't be saved without them. Now, we believe
in baptism in the Lord's Table and we practice those regularly
here. But we ask to be baptized or participate in the Lord's
Table because we want to publicly confess that we believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and He's our only hope. He's all we've got
and that's why we do that. But we all know, or I hope we
all know, that there aren't any religious ceremonies, anything
like that that we do, or anything that anyone else does. None of
those have any role in anyone's salvation. Now look at verse
3, and it says, For we are the circumcision. These evil workers
wanted the title, the form, and the outward sign of circumcision.
They wanted to brag about it. They wanted to use it. They were
stuck on these tokens of the covenant and not on Christ with
whom the covenant was fulfilled. It's the difference between having
the Lamb of the Old Testament sacrifice and having Christ the
Lamb of God. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
7. Ecclesiastes 7, just after Proverbs. In verse 20, Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20, For
there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not. Also take no heed unto all words
that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. For oftentimes
also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast
cursed others." If we put any stock in anything
we do, we have a false hope. And the rest of verse 3, It says,
we are the circumcision. We are those to be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We have no confidence
in the flesh. In v. 4-6, Paul illustrates this
point about having no confidence in the flesh using himself as
an example. Read v. 4-6 with me. Though I
might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
is touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."
Paul tells all these religious Pharisees, you think you're something
special. All of us either know someone
or remember someone from school who was the know-it-all who had
something and just held it over our head. They bragged about
it and said, I've got this, and they treated it as if they were
better than you because they had something. Well, Paul here
says to those Pharisees, you think you're something special.
You've got the right bloodlines. You've got these impressive titles
and a name. You've followed these Old Testament
ceremonies and on and on with all these things you brag about.
Well, guess what? I more." He says, I've done all these
things and there's not a man who has so many reasons to boast
and have confidence in the flesh as I do. Now, why would he say
something like that? Read verse 7. But what things
were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Paul said all
that to tell them At one time, I thought that these things were
necessary for righteousness and they would earn him favor with
God. But when Christ was revealed to him, they all became worthless
in themselves. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
sacrifice. He's our sanctification and our
righteousness. That which was everything to
Paul became nothing and Christ became everything. In verse 8, Paul emphasizes this
again in case anyone misunderstood him the first time. Yea, doubtless. It's doubtless what I just said.
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 dung. A child of God counts all things,
everything, as loss compared to the priceless privilege of
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to John 17. And look at verse 3. And this is life eternal. What follows this phrase is life
eternal. That they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. That's it. Humanly speaking, Paul seemed
to have a very prosperous life until Christ was revealed to
him. Then, after that, he was beaten, stoned, cast into prison,
and troubled by earthly things for the rest of his days. Never
a moment of peace on this earth. But, if by any means he might
know the Lord. He was willing to renounce the
Jewish ceremonies along with worldly honor, a reputation,
his substance, his things, his comforts, and his advantages.
And he just told us he had more than any of us. He had more than
anybody in here had. And he was willing to give all
that up once the Lord had been revealed to him. And if you are
a child of God, most of these worldly treasures will not be
yours. And some advice for everyone here, including me and for young
people, be careful to chase after worldly goods. For the allure
of the flesh is very strong. And what we don't want is for
ourselves and our families to hold on tight to the things of
this world until they become, the things of this world become,
our if by any means. Paul also lost other things. Paul lost his self-righteousness
and gained Christ's righteousness. He lost the ceremonial bondage
and he gained his freedom. Paul lost false peace and gained
true peace with God. He lost pretended glory and gained
eternal glory. Turn back a few pages to 1 Corinthians
1 here with me. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. Is that not worth giving up all
the things of this earth? Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption." Boy, I hope that everyone here values those
things more than the things of this world. And in that last
part of verse 8, it says, "...for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung." That word stuck out
to me, and I didn't know how to express it. And I was looking
over my message this afternoon, and Tracy had laid Finley down
to take a nap in the room next to me. And she was rolling around
and wouldn't quite go to sleep, but it wasn't bothering me, until
all of a sudden I was sitting there, and I smelled something. And it threw me off, and I didn't
put it together at all. but I couldn't concentrate. And
she kept making noises and started crying, so I went in and changed
her diaper. And the reason I give that illustration
is because think about how much effort we go to as a society
to get rid of our waste. We don't want to see it, smell
it, or even an inkling. In this illustration here, counting
all things but dung, The things of this world are a stench in
the nostrils of someone who knows the Lord. They're a distraction
and make it hard for us to do anything else. And we focus on
them. And it's important that when
we smell those things and the things of this world are thought
to us as dung, that we put them in their place and we don't let
them distract us. The end of verse 8 through verse
11, there's going to be three things here that I'm going to
clump into one. These things together make up
my, if by any means. They make up my one desire, my
heart and soul's sincerest hope. The first of these three things
are in the last line of verse 8. that I may win Christ and
be found in Him." Look two pages over, Colossians 1, verse 22. In the body of His flesh, through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Our only hope is to be presented
holy and unblameable in the Lord Jesus Christ." The rest of verse
9, I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to take anything
with me. I've not done anything worthy of it. Andy covered it
so well this morning. There's so many things that we
prize and we feel like we've done something good, but we've
done nothing of any value. Because that is of the law. But
that which is through the faith of Christ, faith that is given
of God, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That holy
and perfect righteousness which He gives to His own. In verse
10 we see the second one. That I may know Him. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death. I know the Lord, but want to
know Him so much more and to continue to learn of Him. I want to see and know the power
His resurrection gives to believers. and I want to know His sufferings,
and I want to die daily to the sin and the things of this world,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him, that I may know
the Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse 11, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection
of the body in the likeness of Christ in the great day of the
Lord, as well as a moral and spiritual resurrection that lifts
us out of the death and darkness of this world and sin. Those
three things, that's what I want. By whatever means it pleases
God to bring me to this place. I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. If by any means I want to know
the Lord Jesus Christ, and if by any means I might attain unto
salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.