I couldn't help but think about something that has always been
a blessing to me. There was an individual who asked
a preacher very sincerely, if all I have is Christ, is that
enough? And the preacher wisely replied,
he is if he's all you got. Now, that's the only way is. If he's all you got. Turn back
to Philippians, chapter three, not tonight, we're going to observe
the Lord's table together. And we're going to begin, I'm
going to begin preaching on Sunday nights, Lord willing, through
the book of Luke. And we're going to look at that passage of scripture
where Luke introduces the book by saying that he was going to
talk about the things that are most surely believed among us. And what is most surely believed
among us? That's what we're going to consider
tonight. We'll observe the Lord's table
together. Let's read verse 16 again in
Philippians chapter three. Let's begin in verse 15. Let
as many as therefore be perfect or mature, be thus minded. Think exactly like I've said.
And if in anything you be otherwise minded, if you're not thinking
in that direction, God shall reveal even this unto you. This
is something that will be revealed. Nevertheless, whereto we've already
attained, let us walk by the same rule. That word rule is
the word canon, a standard of measurement. This is the rule
you and I are to walk by. That's awful important, isn't
it? This is the rule that we're to walk by. And let us mind the same thing. Let us have truly like minds
where we're minding the exact same thing. Now, remember this
about believers. Believers believe the same thing. If I believe and you believe,
we believe the same thing. We don't have different beliefs.
No, we believe the same things. Believers believe. They have
the mind of Christ. They're thus minded. Now, I've
entitled this message, Same Rule, Same Mind. Now, if I'm a believer,
this is the rule of my life. And this is my mind. And I want
to examine myself. in light of this passage of scripture,
to see if I line up, if this is the rule of my life, and if
this is my mind. And I pray that God will give
us all the grace to examine ourselves in light of this passage of scripture. 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. If I start saying something different,
watch out. Something's wrong. Paul says the only safety is
in the same things, the repetition of the gospel in the power of
the Holy Spirit, where it's always new, it's always fresh, it's
not just repeating a formula, but it's still preaching the
same thing. I hope somebody comes in here
in 10 years and Says, I heard that guy 10 years ago, he hadn't
changed a bit. Same thing. I mean, you think he'd talk about
something else. I hope that's, I'm accused of that. Wouldn't
it be wonderful if I was accused of that? To write the same thing
for you, to me, it's not grievous, but for you, it's safe. Beware
of dogs. And that's what he calls false
prophets. Dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. This is a play on words. He's
talking about the circumcision. He says you beware of them. They
talk about circumcision, but what they really are themselves,
they're mutilators. That's what they are. Paul uses a play on
words here. He says, for we are the circumcision. We're the true circumcision.
We're the ones whose hearts have been circumcised by the Spirit
of God. We are the circumcision. And
it gives three marks. We worship God in the Spirit. Worship is only by the Spirit
of God. A natural man cannot worship
God. And I've said this before, that's
why I don't say to somebody, come worship with us. Come worship
with us. I say come and hear the gospel.
I want you to be here to hear the gospel, but I'm not going
to say come worship with us because only God the Spirit can enable
someone to worship. It's not you can just come in
here and start worshiping. Worship is beyond the ability of the
natural man. We worship God. Here's the true
circumcision. We worship God in the Spirit,
by the Spirit of God. And next he says, we're the true
circumcision which rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice
is a different one than the word in verse one. It's we glory in
Christ Jesus. We have confidence in Christ
Jesus. We rest in Christ Jesus. We're looking to him only as
everything in our salvation. We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way someone worships
God and glories in Christ Jesus is if they have no confidence
in the flesh. That's how I can tell if somebody
really does rejoice in Christ Jesus. And if one really does
worship God in the spirit, they have no confidence, no confidence
in the flesh. And you know, I can say from
the depth of my being, I don't have any confidence in my flesh.
It's no good. I look to Christ only. He is
everything in salvation. Now, every believer is right
there, aren't they? Now, Paul goes on to tell us
what he meant by that in verse 4. He says, 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. He says, I will circumcise the
eighth day according to the law of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, And Hebrew of the Hebrews, I had a perfect
pedigree as touching the law. I was a Pharisee. Concerning
zeal, oh, I was very zealous, very sincere. I was so zealous
I persecuted the church because I thought they were wrong. And
I felt it my moral obligation before God to persecute them.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. I could look at the Ten Commandments
and say, I've kept them. Now, he didn't. And he knew that
afterwards, but before he was saved, he thought he did. That's
how righteous this man was outwardly. I've never known anybody like
that of you. Someone who could say touching the righteousness,
which is in the law, I was blameless. This is how much effort Paul
gave in his religion. He says, if anybody else thinks
they have something they can trust in, I've got more than
them. Verse seven, but what things were game to me. And there was
a time when this was a game. He used to think, well, I'll
circumcise the eighth day. I'm the Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I'm blameless.
He thought they were on the plus card. This is, this is To my
advantage, this is good for me. This is a plus. This is a gain.
Now, remember, this is the rule of the believer's life. This
is how they walk. This is the rule of their life.
This is how they think. This is the mind that's in every
believer. He says, what things were gained
to me that I thought to be advantageous, those I counted loss. Garbage. For Christ. I now count those things that
I used to think as being to my advantage to be nothing more
than garbage, refuse, loss. Verse 8, yea, doubtless. Now here's something that I can
speak on with full conviction. Yea, doubtless. I count all things. What's included in all things?
All things. I count all things but loss. But garbage. For the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now there's one thing
better. Then the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, the Lord. You know what that is? The excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Now he's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the Lord of providence. He's the Lord of salvation. He's
the Christ. He's God's prophet. He's God's
priest. He's God's king. He's Jesus,
the Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall save His people from their sins. He's Christ Jesus,
the Lord. But oh, how blessed it is to
call Him Christ Jesus, my Lord. He is my Lord. He's the Lord of my life. He's
my Master. He's my God. He's my Savior. He is my all in all, how blessed,
how thankful we are to be able to call Him who is before all
things, above all things, to call Him my Lord. He's my Lord. And look what He
says. Yea, doubtless, verse 8, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. For whom? I've suffered the loss
of all things. And I've heard people talk about
all the things that they suffered loss for, for the gospel sake.
Oh, I've given up this. I've given up that. I've suffered. Look what Paul said. I've suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but done. What's that? Well, you know what
it is. When have you ever seen someone
feel like they've lost anything if they lost dung? It's not like
they're thinking, man, what I've given up what? Now, that is that
is how Paul counted the things that used to be gained in that
he used to thought were beneficial to him. He said it's nothing
more than dung. Now, this is the mind that's
in every believer. They count the loss of all things
but done in comparison with the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord. He said, I count it all but done
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. My desire, and remember, this
is the rule of the believer's life. This is the way a believer
thinks. Walk according to this rule.
Have this in mind. This is the way a believer thinks.
You see, this is the way you think. Paul said, My great desire
is that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness.
I don't want to have anything to do with that. As God is my
witness, I don't want to have anything to do with my righteousness.
which is according to my personal obedience, my works and so on,
because if that has anything to do with my standing before
God, God's got to send me to hell. He's just. He must send
me to hell if that's what it's about. No, I want to win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now, Here's what I want. When
God comes looking for me, all I want is to be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be found any
other way. All I want God to see is His Son. When God passed through the land
of Egypt to destroy the firstborn, there was safety in one place.
Where was that one place? It was in the house with the
blood over the door and what is the one thing God was looking
for. He didn't say, when I see your faith.
He didn't say, when I see your repentance, when I see your love,
when I see your sincerity, when I see anything. He said, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now that's where I
want to be, in the house with the blood. I don't want to be
found anywhere else. That's the desire of my heart. That's the rule of my life. That's
my mind. I simply want to be found in
Christ, having the very righteousness of God, because the righteousness
of Christ is the righteousness of God. My sin became His sin. That's why He died. He was guilty.
My sin became His sin and His righteousness. His obedience,
His law-keeping is mine, and that's the only way I'll dare
come into God's presence. Simply being found in Him. That's the desire, the goal of
my life. I want to be found in Him. Paul
says in verse 9, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, his faith,
his obedience, his faithfulness, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. And then he says in verse 10,
that I may know him. Now, this is what I want. I want to know him so that when
I use his name, it's not name dropping. He's someone who knows
me. I know, Lord said, I know my
sheep and I am known of mine. And I want to be one of those
sheep he knows and to know him. I want to know him. I don't want
to be in that crowd our Lord warned us of in Matthew chapter
7 when he said, many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord,
Have we not preached in your name? And in your name have we
not cast out demons? And in your name have we not
done many wonderful works? If you thought that way about
yourself in any way, would you say that? You want the Lord to save those people?
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Oh, I can't even stand the thought
of hearing something like that. I want to know Him. I want to
have a relationship. I want to have a personal relationship
with Him so that He knows me. I know Him. He loves me. I love Him. He really is my all. He's the Lord of my life. I want
to know Him. Paul, don't you know Him? Yes,
but oh, that I might know Him. You know, if you know Him, I
know this. You know, you don't know Him very well. He's so high. He's so glorious. He's so altered. You don't know him very well.
You've got something that keeps you down from knowing him as
you would want to know him. And your continual desire is, oh,
that I might know him. That's the mind of every believer.
That's the rule of our life. We want to know him. Not in a name-dropping way. There's
all kinds of folks that say, oh, I know him. Well, does he
know you? That's how you know if you know him. Does he know
you? I think of that passage of Scripture in Galatians 4,
9, where Paul says, now that you've known God, or rather,
scratch that, are known of God. That's what I'm relying on, is
his knowledge of me. But oh, that I might know him. And look what he says next in
verse 10. that I might know, this is the desire of every believer,
here's the rule of our life, here's our mind, that I might
know the power of His resurrection. What do you mean the power of
His resurrection? Well, what does His resurrection
do? Romans 4.25 says He was delivered by our fences and we are raised
again for our justification. Now, here's what His resurrection
did. It accomplished the justification of everybody he died for. I want to know the power of that.
And what all do I mean by, or what does Paul mean by knowing
the power of it? Is he talking about more power
in my life? Well, I'd like to have more power in my life. I'm
not denying it. I want power to obey, power to believe, power
to love. And here's the power of the resurrection.
The Lord looked at a woman. who was taken in adultery in
the very act. And he looked at her and he said,
woman, where are your accusers? Has nobody condemned you? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I. Go and
sin no more. Now, our Lord, if you know that
story in John chapter eight, He took two stoops. Remember,
he stooped down twice in that two stoops in John chapter eight. Now, he took two stoops in his
first incarnation. He stooped when he became a man.
And his second stoop was when he went to the cross and was
made sin. It was a stoop to be made man. What a stoop it was
to be made sin. And after those two stoops, he's
now talking to this woman on resurrection ground. the power
of his resurrection, and he can look at this woman who was guilty
of dark, dark sin and say, I don't condemn you. And there's only
one reason he won't condemn. There's nothing there to condemn
for. Now, that's the power of the
resurrection. God looks at me and he says,
there's nothing to condemn you for. That's the power of the
resurrection, isn't it? I want to know the power of his
resurrection. And next, he says in verse 10,
I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to
know the partnership of his sufferings. There's two things meant by that,
both of which are critically important. First, when Paul says,
I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings, he means I
want to know that what he did, he did for me. I want to know
that he died for me. Now, this is what is called assurance.
Now, faith. Listen to me real carefully.
Faith is not believing that Christ died for you. You can believe
Christ died for you and split hell wide open. All you got to
do is believe in the universal redemption. You believe Christ
died for you. Faith is not believing Christ died for you. Faith is
believing that He is the Savior, that He is the Son of God, that
He is all in salvation. You really believe that? Assurance
is believing that Christ died for you. And that's everything
in assurance. The only thing I need for assurance
is that Christ died for me. I don't need anything. If Christ
died for me, I've got assurance. Now how can I know if he died
for me? How can I know if what he did, he did for me? Because
the Bible tells us when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. Do I fit that description? Without
strength and ungodly? Would that be me? Then I can
conclude from that that Christ died for me and I have a fellowship
in his sufferings. What he did, he did for me. And you know what else? I do
want to suffer for his sake. I would count it a great privilege
and a gift of grace to be allowed, privileged by the grace of God,
to suffer persecution for his sake. I realize, apart from grace,
I won't want this. But this is a gift of grace.
Look back in Philippians chapter one. Verse 29, for unto you it
is given. What a blessing of grace unto
you. It's given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Would you find that an honor
and a privilege of grace to suffer for his sake? Well, if you love
him, you would. You'd count it a boon, a gift. of his grace. I want to know
the fellowship of his sufferings. Next in verse 10, it says being
made conformable unto his death. Now, here's what I want. This
is what every believer desires. This is what's in their mind.
This is the rule of their life. I want to be made conformable
to him in his death. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Well, look in Philippians chapter Verse 8, And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Now there are two things he was
said to do in his death. First, he humbled himself. The Son of God humbled Himself. He who is the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Almighty,
humbled Himself. I want to do the same thing.
I have reason I want to humble myself under his mighty hand. I want to take the lowest seat
in the house and believe that's where I belong. I want to never
see myself in any other light than the chief of sinners meeting
him. He humbled himself in his death,
and I want to be made conformable. I want to be made like him in
that sense. I want to be somebody who always takes the lowest seat,
believing that's where I belong, esteeming everybody as better
than me. And what else did he do in his
death? He became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Obedience. This was the ultimate
act of obedience. The Father said to His Son, His
only begotten and well-beloved Son, Son, die on the cross. And He said, Yes, Father. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. I want to be obedient. To this
extent, how important is obedience? How important is obedience to
the Lord Jesus Christ, to His will? How important is obedience?
I want, by the grace of God, to be so obedient that I will
choose death over disobedience. Now, that's how important obedience
is. I want to be made conformable
to Him in His death. Oh, may God deliver us from a
religion that doesn't have obedience at its very heart. Being made
conformable to Him in His death. Verse 11, If by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Oh, I want to change the resurrection
of the dead. Now, I'm not talking about resurrection
to damnation. I'm talking about resurrection into life. I love
what David said in Psalm 17, 15. He said, as for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I in thy
likeness. Now that's what Paul's talking
about. I want to wake up in his likeness. Can you imagine that
one of these days you're going to shut your eyes in death, and
the next time you open your eyes, you're going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. You won't sin anymore. You'll
be done with the flesh. All that I might attain to the
resurrection of the dead. Oh, that's my desire. That's
my Let as many as walk according to this rule have this mind.
Isn't this a wonderful rule of life? Everything in this passage
of Scripture, this is the rule of the believers. This is how
believers think. This is their mind. Let's go
on reading. Verse 12. It's not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect. I'm not there yet because
I still have this thing called the flesh. When I would do good,
evil is present with me all the time. And that's my experience
even right now. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. I've not attained. I'm not perfect,
Paul says. You know, when somebody says,
I'm not perfect, I'm tempted to say, well, I didn't know that.
Thanks for telling me. As long as we have this thing
in the flesh, we are aware of our own sinfulness, our need
of Christ. He says, Not as though I had
already attained, neither were I already perfect, but I pursue. I follow after, if that I may
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended. of Christ Jesus. Christ apprehended me. He arrested
me. I love that song. Hail sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless,
free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
and fond of darkness more than light. Madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, Almighty love, arrest that man." I was arrested. And I want to apprehend that
for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, verse
13, I count not myself to have apprehended. I don't either, Paul. I don't either. Remember, this is the rule of
our life. This is the mind that's in Christ
Jesus. Walk according to this rule, according to this mind.
I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do now,
notice this and I do is in italics. It could be read more precisely,
but one thing. One thing. What is it, Paul? Forgetting those things which
are behind. And reaching forth into those
things which are before, I press, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, there's
one thing I do, one thing, forgetting what's behind. Now, there's a
whole lot of forgetting to do in there. I can think of experiences I've
had where the Lord's blessed me and made himself known to
me. You know what I'm supposed to
do? Forget them. Because I will make an idol of
those things. And I will look for salvation
in those things. Forget them. What about my sins? I've got so many sins that I
remember. Now, most of my sins I don't
remember. But I've got some I remember. Forget them. God has. He said there are sins
and iniquities. Well, I remember no more. And
there's no point in me thinking about them. Forget them. Forget
them. You know, there are people who
have had such difficult upbringings. They've been put through so many
difficult things where their parents didn't understand how
to raise a kid right. And they were, they had all these
weird ideas that they're struggling with even now. And you look back
on your past and you think, you know what the best thing to do
is? Honestly, forget it. Forget it. It's over. It's water
under the bridge. And realize that everything God
has sent your way actually has been for your good and for his
glory, even as painful and horrible as those things might be. Forget
it. Forgetting, forgetting my sins, forgetting my good experiences,
forgetting my bad experiences. Forget it. Isn't it a great thing
to just forget stuff? It really is, but I don't remember.
When you forget, you don't remember. I'll tell you what, I love it
if somebody forgives me something and then they forgot that I do
it. Or did it. That's real forgiveness isn't
it? They forget that you do it. Forget it. Forgetting those things
that are behind. Everything that God has sent
my way has been for my good and his glory and I'm not going to
dwell. Forgetting those things that are behind and reaching
forth. under those things which are
before. The carrot's always before me. I press toward the mark of the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now I want you to think of what
a high, heavenly, holy calling you've been given. Paul said,
I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. Now forget what's behind and
think about what's before you. Well, what about the economy
tanking? So what? I mean, really, so what? It's
all, everything's going to tank one way or the other. I'm talking
about what's really before you. perfect conformity to the image
of Christ. That is what is before you. Now I press toward the mark of
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Verse 15, let us therefore as
many as be perfect. Well, I am perfect in Christ
Jesus, but here the word really means mature, mature. Let as many as therefore be mature,
be thus minded. Think exactly like this, and
if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this to you, what I've been talking about, this rule, this mind. Nevertheless, until we've attained,
let us walk by the same rule. Here's the rule of our life right
here. Let us mind the same thing. Everything he said here in Philippians
chapter three, he says in verse 17, Brethren, be followers together
of me and mark them which walk the way I've been talking about.
So as you have us for an example, for many walk of whom I've told
you often and tell you now even weeping that their enemies of
the cross of Christ. Boy, that's a scary thought,
for somebody to actually be an enemy of the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose
glory is their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation
is in heaven, from which we also look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. That's
a good rule, isn't it? It's a good rule, and that's
the only mind to have. This is the mind which is in
Christ Jesus. And may God enable us all to
walk according to this rule and mind this same thing. Let's pray.