Philippians chapter 3, and I
want to begin reading in verse 7. If you're using the Pew Bible, you'll
find it on page 1280. Philippians chapter 3, and let's
begin reading in verse 1, and read down through verse 14. Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you.
To me, indeed, is not grievous, And for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision, the Jews. 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 were of,
he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, than Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee. Concerning zeal
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, I was blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost, were Christ's. Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but lost 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, 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. Not as though I
had already attained, neither were already perfect, but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. 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
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus." Here in verses 7 through verse
14, Paul uses the pronoun fifteen times. speaking of himself, I
and my and mine. And you would think speaking
of himself, he would have to be bragging somewhat, wouldn't
he? When we talk I, me and mine. But he's not bragging of himself
at all. He's not exalting himself, but
really he's putting himself down. You'll see that here as we've
read this. He's casting contempt upon himself. He's pouring contempt upon things
that he tells us here that he used to trust in. His best things,
the best things that he could produce, a Pharisee, a strict
lifestyle, praying, fasting, giving, the best things that
he had, he trusted in these things. He even said, if any man hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I'm o'er. But now, he
cast those things away. Those things that he loved, those
things that he trusted in, that he counted as his acceptance
before God. That's somewhat difficult for
us to understand, I guess, that a man could do things and trust
in those things as his righteousness before God, as his hope of heaven,
but that's what this man did. But now, he says, I count these
things lost. I mean, this was a man who hung
on to these things. He hung on to them and nobody
could take them away from him. What he was and what he was doing. He bragged about it. He even
bragged about it in prayer before the Lord. I thank you that I
am not as other men are. And now, he says, all of these
things that I once trusted in, Now, I've lost them. I've lost them. If you ask him,
if you met him, and you'd say, you'd say, Paul, where are those
things that you used to trust? He'd say, I lost them. I don't
trust in those things anymore. I've lost all of these things.
But he says something else here. He uses another term besides
just lost. Sometimes when we think of a
loss, we think of losing something valuable, don't we? We've lost
our car keys or we've lost our wallet. You ladies lost your
purse. But he's speaking here of losing something not of any
value to himself. But he's lost something here
that he calls dumb. It's not a loss. It's more of
a casting away than anything else. He says, a loss. And he calls it dung. Dung is not only something that's
worthless, but dung is something that stinks. It's scraps. It's something useless. But you
know what else dung means? It means just what you think
it means. It means that which is produced from the bowels,
comes through the bowels. That's bad, ain't it? So he not
only says it's a loss, but he says, I count it done. These things that he lost and
sometimes loved and trusted in. He doesn't say, I've sold these
things and put them in a bank of merit. He doesn't say that
at all. But he says, I've cast them away
as stinking refuge. Stinking refuge. Can you imagine
when these Pharisees that were still trusted in their flesh
read Paul's epistle? Can you imagine how repulsive
that was? They counted him as dumb, didn't
they? They cast him away. How awful of this man. That He's
cast away everything that He worked for all of those years
and counted it done. But that's what it is. Before,
these things gave Him confidence. He even bragged about them. They
were like costly jewels and precious stones that He would wear around
His neck. But how does He see these things
now? Now He sees them as cords of sin. and bands of iniquity
that's holding him in prison. Before he thought it was a sweet
odor and he loved the smell. But now it's a stinking odor
to him. It's obnoxious to him. Before
he thought it was pure white linen. Now he counts them as
filthy rag. Oh, he said there were a loss,
a loss. He talks about himself. He uses
I and me and mine, but it's the most negative thing. He talks
about his loss and the nature of his loss. And what is it done? I count all things lost. Brothers
and sisters, I have never known a person who came to Jesus Christ,
but he was a loser for coming. He was a loser for coming. If
you're here this morning and you've come to Christ, you've
lost something. And the nature of your loss is
your sin, your self-righteousness, everything that you trusted in
before. You lost that. Have you lost
anything this morning? If you've come to Christ, you've
lost yourself. You've lost your self-salvation,
haven't you? And the nature of that loss is
done. I count it all dumb. I count
it dumb. Stinking dumb. A man may have
been an open and profane seeing, or he may have been a good moral
person, or he may have been a religious Pharisee, but everybody who comes
to Christ looks upon his life before coming and says it's nothing
but dead works. Stinking dead works. I just don't understand, brothers
and sisters. This is not my experience. That
when we're young children or when we're teenagers, that we
made some kind of profession. Wayne was talking about making
a decision for Christ. Or we came forward in a worship
service. And then, twenty years later, we hang on to that old
profession. I don't understand that. I made
an old profession back then. But I tell you, there came a
time when I said it was dumb. All of that was dumb. I was trying
to save myself. I knew nothing about being a
sinner before God and being accepted in Jesus Christ. I look back
and say it's dumb. It's dumb. Oh, there's Paul's
loss. But secondly, he seems to speak
of what he lost here as a swap for something better. Did you
notice how he says that in verses 8 and 9? I count all things of
my own 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 it done that I may win Christ. Everything I have, I
have swapped it for something better. Isn't that what he's
saying? I have taken my filthy rags of
righteousness and I have swapped it for Jesus Christ's white linen. I think that's what he's saying.
And why is this necessary to look at it in this way? Everything
that I have, I let go of for everything He has. That's a good
trade, isn't it? That's a good swap. Listen to
this. Why does Paul say it like this?
Because Christ's righteousness is not something that you add
to your own things, to your list of achievements. Christ's righteousness
is not like a nice jacket that goes well with our shirt and
our trousers. or a new pair of shoes that complements
our outfit. Christ's righteousness will not
match anything of our own by nature. It's not like taking
a new piece of cloth and sewing it onto our old rags. It's a new garment. It's not
like taking new wine and putting it into our old bottles. It's
a new bottle It's a new life. It's a new garment. He strips us completely of our
filthy robe of righteousness and He gives us a new robe. It has nothing to do with what
we have or what we ever earned. It's something completely new.
It's the righteousness of another. Jesus Christ our Lord. Not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, which is of works,
none of mine. That's what he's saying, isn't
it? It's nothing of my own. Everything of my own, I've swapped
it for everything of Jesus Christ. That's a good swap, brothers
and sisters. The righteousness of Christ is
altogether new. It's complete in itself. It's that righteousness that
belongs altogether to another. It's a righteousness Jesus Christ
brought in. He brought it in. He worked it
out. It's His own obedience that He
accomplished in the days of His life and upon Calvary's tree. It's not something he's doing
now. It's something he's already accomplished. His righteousness
satisfies the demands of God's holy law. His righteousness satisfies
the penalty of that broken law. His righteousness satisfies the
wrath of Almighty God. His righteousness justifies those
who believe in Him with all their heart. His righteousness makes
us perfectly accepted with God without adding anything of your
own. And I tell you, this righteousness
is commended to every miserable, hell-deserving, perishing sinner
to clothe the shame of your nakedness and give you a righteous standing
before God. Not because of anything you are
or could do or ever do. but this righteousness alone.
Paul says, I've brought everything I hoped in and trusted in and
I've laid it down at His feet and says it's lost and I've traded
it all for that righteousness of another. That's a good trade
in. That's a good swap. That's a good swap. Take our
dung Take our filthy rags, our dead works, our shame, our sins,
and pile them all up at the feet of this gracious Giver of all
good gifts. And swap it for His righteousness. Oh, what a swap! What a swap! But if you're going to hang on
to anything of your own, you can't swap it. He won't trade
with you. You pile everything up at His
feet. He gets you and everything about you. And you get Him and
everything about Him. What a swap. We just sung that
song. Let me read it to you. Here's
what He says. Let me emphasize some of these
things. This song by William Sleeper. Out of my bondage, out
of my sorrow, out of my night, into thy freedom, thy gladness
and thy light, Out of my sickness, into your health. Out of my want,
into your wealth. Out of my sin, into yourself. That's a good swap, isn't it?
Listen to this. Out of my shameful failure and
loss, into the glorious gain of thy cross. Out of earth's
sorrow into Thy balm, Out of life's storm into Thy calm, Out
of distress into Your jubilant calm, Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of unrest and my arrogant
pride, Jesus, I come to Thee. Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of myself to dwell in Your
love, Out of despair unto rapture above, Out of the fear and dread
of the tomb, Jesus, I come to Thee. Into the joy and light
of Your home, out of the depths of ruin untold, into the peace
of Thy shelter and fold, Jesus, I come to Thee." Everything we
have, we swap it. Are you willing to let go of
everything? Everything that you trusted in? Everything that you
brought before God as your acceptance with Him? pot it up and say,
Lord Jesus, it's dumb, it's stinking, it's filthy. I want your righteousness. I want your life. I want your
salvation. You know, the Bible says it's
a swap. Listen to this, Isaiah 61, 3. I will give them beauty
for their ashes. My beauty for their ashes. I
will give them the oil of joy for their morning. I will give
them the garments of My praise for their spirit of heaviness,
that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Oh, that's a good swap, isn't
it? That's a good swap. It's got to be a complete swap,
though. You can't hold on to anything but yourself and have
His. It's a complete swap. Thirdly,
notice what motivated Paul in making such a trade. In verse
8, he says here in verse 8, "...for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord." In verse 10, "...that I may know
Him, that I may win Him." He counted everything of his own
done and threw it away to know Christ. to win Christ. And he calls knowing
this Christ an excellent knowledge. Isn't it wonderful, brethren?
I've never known anybody like him. Have you? I tell you, he
comes to us while we're dead and trespasses and sins, while
we're taken captive by the devil in the kingdom of darkness, and
he plucks us right out of it, doesn't he? Plucks us out of
that mess. and saves us. And we find out
who He is. He's the Lord of glory. And we
find out He loves us and He's so good to us and that He's provided
heaven as our home at last. And He sends us these love tokens
to our heart, these love letters that we read. And you know what
we begin to say in our hearts? Oh, I've got to know Him. I've
got to know Him. He's the everlasting God. I've got to know Him. He's the
Lord of Glory. He's the King of Kings. I want
to know Him. Don't you want to know Him? Everything
you know about Him and knowing Him is just excellent. It's just
excellent. I was watching a debate one night
between John Lennox, he's a professed Christian there at Harvard, Richard Dawkins, he's a professed
atheist. He debates people all the time.
He wrote The God Delusion. He hates God. But he made this
statement. I was watching it again the other
night. He made this statement, and I about shouted. Every time
I think of it, I just almost shout. Sometimes God uses atheists
to bless His people. He said, Richard Dawkins said,
he said, now let's just suppose, he said, for the sake of argument,
that there is this eternal being. He said, can you imagine what
kind of being He is? If He's eternal, imagine what
kind of being He is. And sometime between the eternities,
He spoke everything into existence. He said, can you imagine what
kind of a being that is? And he said, just suppose that
this being come down from heaven and was made a man to redeem
sinners from their sin and at last take them to heaven where
He is. He said, if such thing was true, that would be the greatest,
most wonderful thing between the eternity. And I almost shouted,
Yes, Richard! That's it! That's it! And you can know this God, this
redeeming incarnate God in His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh, and Paul said, I know Him.
I know Him in such excellent knowledge to me, I want to know
Him better. And the more I get acquainted with Him and know
Him, the more I count everything lost. I don't want anything to
do with myself, but it's all Jesus Christ. Oh, that I may
know Him. that I may know Him." What impression
this made upon this man, this Saul of Tarshish. Imagine what
he was like before the Lord saved him. He hated Jesus Christ, called
him an imposter. He cleaved his own works for
salvation and earnestly believed he was saving himself. And now
here he is. He said, that life is gone. It
stinks in my muscles to think about it. Jesus Christ, my Lord. Oh, that I may know Him. That
I may know Him. What an excellent knowledge. Paul wanted to know Christ in
His resurrection here in verse 10. That I may know Him. Look
at this. And the power of this resurrection. No, Jesus, the
resurrected Lord and His power. Let's look at this this way.
Look at three or four things this way about the power that's
in this resurrected Christ. What does this mean? Well, Christ's
resurrection is a proclamation of His own power. What a marvelous
thing about the resurrection from the dead. He raised Himself.
destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up again. No man takes my life. I lay it
down of myself. I've got power to do that, and
I've got power to raise it up again. Paul said, I want to know
Him in such power that He can raise Himself from the dead.
Number two, Christ's resurrection power as the surety of all the
elect of God. His resurrection from the dead
is the surety of every believer's justification. For He was delivered
for their transgressions and raised again for their justification. Now you think of this power,
brothers and sisters. Think of what power the Son of
God has. First, to gather up all the sins
of His elect people. and then take them to Himself
and so bear those sins and suffer for those sins that He atone
for them and then rose again without those sins. Justify from
all of those sins. That's power, isn't it? That's
power. You see, if He hadn't atoned
for those sins, He would have still been in the grave. But
it took power to take them, it took power to put them away,
and it took power to raise and be justified from all those sins. And you know something? You have
no doubt this morning. You have no reason, no just cause
to doubt. If you're a truster in Jesus
Christ, you have no reason to doubt but that you're clear from
all the guilt of your sin. You're just as clear as He is
because He's the one that cleared you. How clear is He? He's raised
from the dead. Larry, He's raised from the dead. He's justified, is He not? And
all His people are justified because of Him. Thirdly, this
word power, that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection,
sometimes it's translated as virtue, that I may know Him in
His virtue. I think of that woman with an
issue of blood. Remember her? She said, if I
could just touch the hem of His garment, I know this blood will
stop. And as soon as she's touched
Him, what did Christ say? Virtue has gone out of me. Virtue
has gone out of me. Healing power has gone out of
me. And Paul said, I want to know Him in His healing power,
this resurrected Christ. I tell you, If I asked you to
raise your hands this morning, if you knew anything about a
sick soul, everybody in here would probably raise your hands,
wouldn't you? We all know something about being sick in our souls,
don't we? I tell you, unbelief will make
you sick, won't it? It will make you sick. I have
had a prayerless attitude. I have had a guilty conscience,
a cold heart of love. Do you ever get sick? Do you
ever get sick in your soul, your spirit? Isn't this a wonderful
thought, brothers and sisters, that Jesus Christ ever lives
at the right hand of God and He's full of this saving virtue? He's full of this healing virtue?
He is the physician that can heal the soul's sicknesses and
He can be touched? Just as that woman touched Him
and the healing virtue came out of Him to her, how much more
today? Touch Him! Reach out and touch
Him by faith and see if you don't heal your soul's illness. I don't
know what it is that you may be sick of this morning. But
I tell you, in this resurrected Christ, there is healing power. Reach out and touch the Lord
as He goes Oh, Paul said, that I may know Him in His healing
virtue, in His power. Something else that this Word
is translated as, is translated as strength. That I may know
Christ in His resurrection strength. That reminds me of what Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 12, where he said he had this thorn in
the flesh. Remember that? And he said, I have sought the
Lord to deliver me from this thorn and this thorn from me?"
And he said, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength
is made perfect in your weakness. Why is this such a wonderful
thing? He's seated there now and he's full of strength. Do
you ever feel like you've got a thorn in the flesh? Are you
weakened by struggling with sin? And the devil, as you wrestle
with devils, well, we get weak too, don't we? Paul felt that
he was utterly weak. He said, Lord, I can't take another
step. I am utterly weak. And you know what he thought
of? The strength that was in this resurrected Christ. And
he went to Him. And the Lord Jesus said, Paul,
here's my power. Here's my strength. And Paul
said, my! I've never felt such power. I've
never felt such strength. Oh, brothers and sisters, I don't
know how weak you may feel yourself to be this morning, but I tell
you there is a Christ who has raised from the dead and He's
seated at the right hand of God and He's a high priest. He's
an advocate and He ever lives to save to the uttermost those
who come to God by Him. All of those old prophets, David,
And Isaiah and Jeremiah, those good prophets that led the people,
they all died. Those priests that interceded
with God on behalf of the people, they died. And the kings that
led the people, they died. And you know what happened? The
people went astray because they lost their priests. The people
went astray. They lost their prophets. They
went astray. They lost their king. We have
a prophet. We have a king. We have a priest
that never dies. He has an endless life. Therefore, He is able to save
to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. Oh, what a blessing
to know. As Paul said here, I want to
know Him, this resurrected Christ. He is not a dead Christ. He lives
and He has power, doesn't He? He has power. Something else
here about this, this power here, this word power, that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection. Sometimes this word is translated
violence. They quench the violence of fire,
the power of fire. That I may know Christ in the
violence of His resurrection. You know, when I thought of that
and read that, I thought, boy, that's sobering, isn't it? You
know Christ is called the Lamb of God, but He's also called
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's called a rock that poor
sinners fall upon, and they're saved. And He's called a stone
that crushes the wicked. I heard some more atheists talking
last night. They were making fun. They called God a tyrant
and a monster. They said, look at the Old Testament.
Look at the God of the Old Testament. Look what a monster He is. Look
what a monster He is. Look how He told the children
of Israel, go into these places and kill men, women, and children.
Kill them all. And He said, you come to the
New Testament, He is a worse monster still. He said, you talk
about heathens. What kind of a heathen is God?
He said. Now this is what he said. That would sacrifice his
own son. What kind of monster is that?
I tell you, they mock, don't they? They mock God. They say things they have no
idea what they're saying. But I thought, my friend, you
think God's a monster. You don't know the half of it.
You don't know the half of it. You think He can be vengeful?
You think He can be vindictive? You don't know the half of it.
Jesus Christ is coming with His holy angels in flaming fire to
take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they shall be punished with
everlasting fire. Listen, from the presence of
the Lord and the glory of His power. There is something in
this resurrected Christ. that is terrible, knowing the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Sixthly, think of this when we
think of the resurrection of Christ and His power. The Lord
Jesus told His disciples just before He went back to heaven,
He said, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel. Go and preach the gospel without
fear of something or somebody is going to hurt you. Because
all power is given to be in heaven and in earth. Brothers and sisters,
there is nothing outside the authority of Jesus Christ. That's
the power that He has as the resurrected Christ. Peter said
God raised Him from the dead, set Him at His own right hand.
And all power and principalities Powers are made subject to Him. This world is full of devils,
ain't it? I mean, if you and I could see
them this morning, the air is full of demons. Demons are in
the minds and the hearts of people. They're everywhere. But Jesus
Christ rules them all. He rules them all. They're His. Flesh. We talk about flesh. This old corruptible, vile, sinful,
decaying flesh. How hard it is to cope with it.
Jesus Christ has power over it. He has power over it. Your sicknesses,
your physical ailments, the ailments of your soul, these diseases,
He has power over them. Your tribulations, He has power
over. Your trials, He has power over.
There is nothing, brothers and sisters, that He does not control. Everything is subject to Him. Oh, I want to know Him, don't
you? I want to know such a Christ who has such authority over everything. It comforts me. It strengthens
me. I can worship a God like that.
I can't worship a God who has a grain of sand outside of His
control. I just can't do it. Everything
is subject to Him. And I'll tell you something else
about this resurrected Christ. He is the possessor of all things. God raised Him from the dead
and set Him on His right hand and said, My son, ask of Me and
I'll give you the heathen for your possession and the uttermost
parts of the earth for your possession. I'll give you everything." And
he said, the Father loves the Son and has given all things
unto His hands. Tell me what Jesus Christ does
not possess. We didn't see it this morning
because it's too cloudy, but you look at it the next clear
morning seeing the old sun peeping up from the east. That's His
Son. That Son who belongs to Jesus
Christ. You go out tonight and see the heavens full of stars
and the moon. You know who those belong to?
Jesus Christ. A little infant is conceived
in his mother's womb and the doctor brings him forth and he
takes his first breath. That breath in the infant too
belongs to Jesus. You got up this morning and you
eat some breakfast. That was His food. You clothe
yourself. Those clothes are His. You got
in your vehicle and came here. That's His. Heaven is His. Earth is His. Grace is His. Mercy
is His. Salvation is His. Natural life,
physical life, spiritual life, everything belongs to Jesus,
the Son of God, who is seated in His resurrected body at the
right hand of God in glory. It's all His. I want to know
Him, don't you? Oh man, what's this world and
what's my righteousness but filthy rags? I want to know Him. It's all done that I may know
Him and win Christ. He says something else here in
verse 10. The second part of verse 10.
He said, I want to know Christ in the fellowship of His suffering. This word fellowship means participation
or sharing in. I want to share in the sufferings
of Jesus Christ. And we look at this in two ways. I want to share in all He's accomplished
by His sufferings and His death. I want to share in that, don't
you? His personal sufferings has reconciled me to God. Oh, I've got to participate in
that. God has reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son. Peace? He's made peace through
the blood of His Cross? We're made nigh by the blood
of Jesus Christ? I want to share in that, don't
you? All the benefits that spring
from the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, Paul said, I
want to participate in them. But there's another way to look
at this too. to share in Christ's sufferings as He suffers in His
people. And this is probably what Paul's
talking about here. You know Christ is still suffering
today. Not as His own person. He's free
from suffering. But you know He's suffering in
His people? You know the Bible says the sufferings of Christ
abound in you? Think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial that's to try you? But count it all joy, because
that's the sufferance of Christ in you. He was tempted. He suffered being tempted. You ever tempted? When you're
tempted for His sake, that's Him suffering in you. What was
it He asked all of Tarshish? Why are you persecuting Me? Paul
can't persecute Him. He's in heaven. But He can persecute
Him and His people. And Paul says, I'm willing to
suffer with Christ. I want to participate in the
sufferings of Christ. I was telling my wife yesterday
about a little story I read. If you've never read Foxe's Book
of Martyrs, I recommend that book to you. It talks about the
suffering of the saints. The Lord's people have suffered
something tremendously. Martyrs. I was reading a story
about these two ladies. One of them was an older lady
and one a younger lady. And it shows all the ways that
Rome and the governments killed the Lord's little people. And
it was there in Scotland. They called it the dark days
of Scotland. And they took them out to the edge of the ocean.
And they had these poles stuck up. Every so often, every so
many feet out in the ocean. They took the older lady and
stuck her on a pole. And as the water came in, the
tide came in. It covered her up. And they took
the younger lady, her name was Margaret, and put her closer
to shore. They wanted her to see the death
of the older lady. And as the waves come in and
cover the older lady, she began to gasp for breath. Then the
waves would go down, another come in, she'd gasp. She was
gasping for her last breath. And finally, she laid her head
down limp. And the murderers said, Margaret,
what do you see out there, Margaret? What do you see out there, Margaret?
And you know what Margaret said? You know what this young believer
said? I see Christ. I see Christ suffering
in His people. That's what I see. That's what
Paul said. Being conformed to His death. I want to be partakers with Him,
not only in what He suffered personally, but what He suffers
in me. I want to be conformed to that. That's what He says in verse
10, being conformed unto His death. What does this mean, conformable
unto His death? The word means assimilate. It means to bring to a likeness,
to cause to resemble. In a nutshell, it means this.
I want to answer to and conform to and be in agreement with every
reason and the cause for Christ's sufferings unto death. His personal
sufferings in the days of His flesh and His suffering in me
as I suffer for Him. I want to suffer with the same
understanding the same patience, the same submission and love
to my Father as Christ suffered with. I don't want to resist it, do
you? I don't want to grow bitter. I don't want to get resentful
or ashamed or unwilling to suffer for Christ's sake. I want to
die with Him. If we be dead with Him, we shall
live. I want to die to myself? I want
to die to this world? I want to die to sin? If I'm
called upon to suffer for His sake, I want to do it willingly
and lovingly and faithfully. Paul said, I want to be conformed. I want to resemble Him in this
suffering. I tell you what, boy, that's
a resolve to come to, is it not? And look what he says. Look what
he admits in verse 12. And I'm keeping it a little bit
long. Forty minutes. Give me just a little bit longer,
would you? We'll sum this up real quick. But look what he
says in verse 12 now. Not as though I had already attained,
neither were already perfect. And he says in verse 13, Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended. Boy, he says, I want to be perfectly
conformed to Christ. And turns right around and says,
I haven't accomplished that yet. Not that though I was already
perfect. They used to be back in the 1700's
and 1800's, they had groups of people that professed perfection. They thought they could actually
reach the point. And they professed to reach the point. They had
no sin and no struggle with sin. I was just reading Adam Clark
and one of the reasons I told Larry I kept Adam Clark is because
he's a spokesman for the Armenian. And he said it was blasphemous
for a man to say that he still has a body of sin. Do you struggle with sin? This
man said, I have not yet reached the point of perfection. Have
you ever known a man like this, a mere man like the Apostle Paul?
Do we know anybody that labored like he labored? That loved Christ
like he loved Christ? Right up until his dying day,
I labored more abundantly than they all. And here he says, Brother,
I have not attained yet what I want to attain. I have not
reached this perfection yet. I have not. And I ain't either.
Have you? I'm struggling. I'm just struggling. Ain't no
sense lying about it. If salvation is perfection in
this flesh, then I'm not saved yet. I'm just not saved yet. If that's what regeneration is,
I'm not regenerated yet. God save me, Lord, regenerate
me. But I tell you what they found out about those men. When
they started following them or just watching them close enough,
they were meaner than snakes. They were doing things in secret.
Remember Jimmy Swagger that kept preaching against perverts? And
he was one himself. He is preaching how holy you
have to be. He is unholy himself. Oh, Paul said, I have not yet
attained. But now look at this. Look at this in verse 12. Not as though I had already attained,
neither were already perfect, but I follow after. Man, I'm
following after. He's follower of the Lamb, isn't
He? He's a follower of God as a dear child. And look what He
says in verse 13, Brethren, I kept 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. He's running, isn't He? He's
running in this race. He said in verse 14, look at
this, I press. I press towards the mark. I fall
after. I'm reaching for it. I'm pressing. Man. He said there in verse 13, I'm
forgetting those things which are behind. What does he mean
by that? He's not forgetting God's mercy,
is he? He's not forgetting his sins either. He'll ever remember
them. What's he forgetting? Well, look
at it like this. He's not stopping in the middle
of the racetrack to congratulate himself for how good he's done
up until now. And he could have, couldn't he?
He could have stopped and said, man, look how I've labored. Look
what God's did for me and through me. I've labored more abundantly
than they all. Look what I've accomplished.
There's no room for that, brothers and sisters. Forget it. Forget
it. Forget in those things which
are behind. I was talking to a friend of
mine yesterday. And he was talking to me. He said he agreed with
me. One of the things that scares him more than anything else is
a church just dying out. It just dies out. And most people
think it's just because the congregation got old. So they died out. That's not the reason. That's
not the reason at all. Don't old people pray? Do old
people quit serving the Lord and worshiping Him? That's not
why a church dies. I'll tell you one reason a church
dies. It gets complacent. I've seen old people, and you
talk to them, and you know what they're talking about? Everything
they've done in the past. Boy, you wouldn't believe we
used to set it on fire around here. The Lord used to visit
us. And we gave so much and we preached
so much. Man, we were something in the
past. Can you imagine? Let me show
you a picture of a person. Paul is your run in the race.
And he says, this word, reaching forth, it's stretching forth
one's hands. Have you ever seen somebody running
and they're leaning towards the finish line? And they're putting
everything they've got into it? And they're reaching, they're
reaching. Let me show you a picture of
this one fellow. Here's the track, and it's going out of the field,
through the woods, down through the valley, and just before you
start up the hill on the other side, there this fellow stands. Look at it! He's standing right
in the middle of the track, and he's looking back, and he's thinking,
man, I got over that hill. Man, look what a long valley
I've come through. Man, I've done something. It's good, brothers
and sisters, to pause to give the Lord thanks for where He's
brought you. But when you're just standing there in the middle
of the track congratulating yourself with your hands crossed, you've
quit running. And here comes these people by
you in sweats on their face. And you can see the strain in
their muscles. And they're running and they're
passing you. Why? Because you've not forgot
those things which are behind. You quit pressing. You quit reaching. That's why churches die out.
That's why this church will die out if it gets complacent. If
this church stops running the race, and everywhere you see
in the Scriptures about running, it's never runned. It's always
running. Run the race with patience that
is set before you, looking unto Jesus. Only time it's used is
run. Paul said you did run well. Who
did hinder you? Why did you stop your running? A man told his wife one time,
he was an artist, and he painted this beautiful painting. And
he looked at his wife and he says, I'll never paint again."
And she said, What do you mean, husband? That's your life. You're still young and you'll
never paint again? He said, No. She said, Why? He said, Because
I'm so satisfied with that painting. I am so satisfied. I'll never
paint again. And when we get so satisfied
of how far we've come, and how well we've done, and what God's
done with us, or what we've done for Him, and we stand looking
at the track that we've covered, we'll never take another step.
Running is tough. It's tough. Do you want to live
under the power of one sin? Do you? You want one sin to have
dominion over you? No! Do you want to follow the
Lord more fully? Yes. Do you want every thought and
motive under His control? Yes. Do you want to obey Him
in every single thing? Yes. Do you want to take up your
cross daily and follow Him? Yes. Yes. Yes. And when we get to the place
where we say, No. No. I've come for enough. then
we're not forgetting those things which are behind. Brother Paul
Mahan called me the other day and he said, some people say,
I'm not trying to keep the law. He said, I am. He said, I am. He said, I want to love God.
I want to love my neighbor. I thought, that's a good thing
to say. I am. I am. Are we present? Are we reaching out? Are we urging? Brothers and sisters, it's not
starting. It's finishing the course, isn't it? It's finishing
the course. Paul wasn't bragging here at
all. He said, Christ has apprehended me for this very end. Christ
has arrested me. He's arrested me. And he says,
since Christ has apprehended me, then I want to apprehend
Him. And if Jesus Christ has called
you to follow Him, then do it with all your heart. If He's
put you in this race, then run with all your might. Don't let anything hinder you.
Run. Strive. Press. content. I don't know what some people's
doing. Bless their hearts, I just don't know. I don't understand
it. But from the best I can see, they've just quit running. They've
just quit running. What's going to happen to them,
I don't know. I don't know. I pray the Lord will stir them
up to take hold again and run. Lord bless this message. Let
us pray.