I call this message, Come and
See. Come and See. Now we left off with verse 7,
but I want to go back and read again what Paul had to say about
himself. Paul was most religious, most
religious before he met the Redeemer. He said, God, who separated me
from my mother's womb, Yet he was pleased to reveal his son
in me forty years of age, or better. And for all those years,
he was a most devout, religious person, trying, endeavoring,
to find acceptance with God in his ceremonies, circumcision,
Sabbath-keeping, and morality, and righteousness, and deeds. And that's what he says in verse
four. Though I might also have confidence in this flesh, if
any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in
the flesh, I more. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel. Saul of Tarsus was born of most
devout religious Jewish parents. He was dedicated to God as a
youth. as an infant. He was circumcised
as an infant, like children today are sprinkled, called baptized
as infants, dedicated to God. And he said, I was of the tribe
of Benjamin. He was brought up in parochial
schools. He sat at the feet of the greatest
Jewish teacher of his day, Gamaliel. He said, I was a Hebrew of the
Hebrews. I wasn't a half-breed. I was a Gentile proselyte. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I
could trace my house and lineage clear back to Abraham through
Isaac. As touching the law, I held the
highest office in the Jewish synagogue. I was a Pharisee just
below a high priest. Concerning zeal, I was zealous. I persecuted the church. I thought
they were wrong. I thought these people of that
way, these people of grace, were all wrong. And I persecuted them. And touching, listen to this,
now touching the righteousness which is in the law. I shall
have no other God before me. I shall not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain. I shall not bow down to a graven
image. Remember the Sabbath day. I shall not bear false witness,
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not covet, thou shalt not steal. That law, I was blameless. Nobody could charge me with any
of those things outwardly. But all of that religion was
nothing but a fig leaf covering for a wicked heart, for a guilty
heart, for a sinful heart, for an uncircumcised heart. But when
the Apostle Paul saw the holiness of God and his true righteousness,
when the Apostle Paul, as Saul of Tarkas, having seen his guilt
and sinfulness, he said, when the law came in the hands of
the Holy Spirit, this old religious Pharisee died, died, out died
before that spiritual law. And when I saw the imperfections
of my best works and my best deeds, like Isaiah said there,
filthy rags, and the inability of this flesh, he wrote, in the
flesh no man can please God. If God, if we bring it before
God to be accepted, it has to be perfect, without a blemish.
Paul saw that he had no ability to please God in the flesh, and
having seen the Lord Jesus Christ, God revealed his Son in me. And having seen Christ, the glorious
substitute, without blemish, in perfect obedience and perfect
righteousness, honoring the law of God in every aspect, jot and
tittle. And on that cross, satisfying
the justice of God, He said in verse 7, these things that were
gained to me, that were so important to me, my devout ancestors, my
house and lineage, my Jewish background, my ceremonies and
Sabbath keeping and tithing and fasting and working and laboring
and striving and studying and faithfulness, all of this, That
was so important to me. And I felt to be gained. It recommended
me to God. I counted but loss. I counted
it loss. Total loss. Total loss. Every bit of it. Loss. For Christ. That I may have Him as my high
priest. That I might have Him as my center
of praise. And my sacrifice. That I might
have Him as my wisdom, my sanctification, my righteousness, and my redemption. That I might have Him as my life
and my hope and my plea before God. That I might be accepted
of God in His perfect, altogether lovely person. Yea, verse 8, I doubtless, doubtless,
without a doubt, I count everything but loss. For the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I'll tell you this,
any person here, including this preacher, having seen Christ,
who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now, any
person here faced with this choice, his righteousness or mine, his
work or mine, his holiness of mind, and if there's any hesitation
in making that commitment to him alone, that person hasn't
yet seen Christ. No, sir, he has not seen Christ. Doubtless, Paul said, without
hesitation, the bondwoman is immediately cast out with her
son. They cannot live together. Can't do it. And that's just
so if any person hesitates on that, at that point, he immediately
says, what things were gained to me, I counted lost. Yea, doubtless, without hesitation,
without consideration, I count everything but lost. For the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered, I've suffered
the loss of all things, but I count it, but don't. It's all right,
I count it, but don't, that I may win Christ. Now, in reading,
don't turn to this, but in reading the first chapter of John, I find the testimony of some
men who found the Messiah, who found the Christ, as Saul of
Tarsus did. He found the Messiah. Nothing
could compete with his Messiah. Nothing come between him and
his Messiah. Nothing come between him and his Lord. He said, I'll
just count it lost, anything and anyone. Count it lost for
Christ's sake. I may win him. He found it in
him. Well, Andrew came to Peter, his
brother, and he said, Peter, Simon, I found the Messiah. I found the Messiah. And then
in that same chapter, Philip found Nathanael. And he said
to him, Nathanael, I found the Messiah. I found him of whom
Moses wrote. I found him of whom the prophets
wrote. I found him, the Messiah. I found
him, he's Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael said, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? or out of this earth anywhere,
any good thing come out of Nazareth. And Philip said, come and see. You come and see. And that's
what I invite you to do tonight, come and see. Come and see. You stack all your righteousness
against his, all your works against his, all your profession, background,
ancestry, pedigree, name it, whatever it is, against his.
But let me warn you, it costs you. It costs Paul. He said in verse 8, listen, I
count all things, all this, and he's talking about religious
professions and dedications and doings and deeds, trying to find
acceptance with the Holy God by what we do, rather than by
what he did. He said, I count all these things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. And I've suffered the loss of all things, friends,
family, old cohorts, comrades, my pharisaical
buddies, all these people that were in this religious self-righteousness
with me. They turned thumbs down on me.
Turn thumbs down on me. I've suffered the loss of all
things And I count them, but don't that's all right. I may
win Christ and I warn you the Messiah Will be Lord of all or
he won't be Lord at all He said himself in Matthew chapter 10,
I want you to listen to this He said himself in Matt. This
is a plain message but I want to be as plain as I can be on
this on this score because the Apostle Paul is and Our Lord
is. Matthew chapter 10. I say, come
and see. But I warn you, I warn you, it'll
cost you. It won't cost you anything worthwhile,
but you think it is. You see, Paul said, I thought
these things were game. I thought these things were really
important. I thought these things were going to get me an interest
into heaven. I thought God was pleased with
these things. I thought I was making God happy. The things
you're going to lose are not worth anything. They are now
to you. You're holding to them, but you'll find out they weren't
anything after all. That's right. What was gained
to me, I count lost. Now listen to our Master. Matthew
10, verse 34. Think not that I'm come to send
peace on this earth. I've come not to send peace,
but a sword. There's always been a sword over the offense of the
cross. The gospel of grace always has
been, always will be. Why do you think all these martyrs
shed their blood for 1,900 years? They preach the truth, and the
religious world hates the truth of Christ. This man here hated
it. He was an enemy of the gospel.
He was an enemy of Jesus Christ. He was the most religious man
in town, but he hated Christ. He shed a lot of blood, too.
He held the coats of the people who stoned the first martyr Stephen,
consented to his death. He went down to Damascus. He
was going down there to put women and children in prison because
they believed the gospel of grace. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to send peace on this earth. I came to send a sword. I've
come to set a man at variance against his father. If his father
doesn't believe the gospel, his father's going to have a problem
with this young man. I've come to set a daughter against
her mother. And a daughter-in-law gets their
mother-in-law. The gospel divides people. The gospel separates.
Error can walk with 10,000 errors with no problem, but truth can't
walk with one error in peace. It just can't be done. And don't
you try it. You can't mix oil and water,
and you can't mix grace and works. You just can't do it. And a man's foes will be those
of his own household. That's a terrible loss. That's
a heartache. But I tell you this, I said it
costs you. He that loveth father, mother
more than me is just not worthy of me. He that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that will
not take up his cross, that's a death to self and ambition,
plans, all of fame, fortune, materialism, cross. That's where the world is crucified,
to us and us to the world, at the cross. And if he won't take
his cross and follow me, he's not worthy of me. And he that
findeth his life or lose it, if you save your life at the
expense of the gospel, that's what he's saying. Well, let's
live and let live. That can't be done. Let's just
get along. Let's calm the waters. Let's
live in peace with air. It can't be done. That way you
save your life. You deliver yourself from persecution,
from harassment. I could do that if I didn't know
Christ. Just don't preach this message.
Get along with the religious world out there. You can't do
that. I'd save my life, save myself a lot of unhappiness,
a lot of harassment, a lot of trouble, my family too. But I'd
lose my soul. I'd lose my soul. He that saveth
his life, findeth his life, will lose it. And he that loses his
life for my sake, for the gospel sake, for the truth sake. And
he stands for the truth of God and the truth of the gospel and
the truth of Christ the Messiah, no matter who it offends or who
it cause us to leave. Your fine life, that's true life,
that's eternal life, that's divine life, that's God's life. I'm
sure glad our master didn't compromise. Aren't you? I'm glad he, they
said come down to the cross we'll believe you. Aren't you glad
he didn't? Aren't you glad? He that findeth
his life elusive He that loses his life for my sake shall find
it." So that's what I'm saying. If a person here tonight, I say
come and see. But if a person here tonight
cannot commit life, lock, stock, and bale, to the Lord Jesus Christ,
he need not apply. That's just so. He just need not apply. I'll
give you five questions that'll They'll confirm that. Let me
ask you five questions. You jot them down if you want
to. This will answer whether or not you can apply, whether
or not you'll be able to see. He that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, hath everlasting life. But now here's the problem. Number one, are my desires to
know the Lord Jesus Christ genuine and sincere? Or is there some
other motive? Am I desirous to know Christ?
Are they genuine? Are they sincere? Or is there
some other motive involved? Is there some business venture,
or some person I want to impress, or some person's friendship I
want to win, or just playing religion, playing a game? Is
there some other motive? Listen, our Lord answers that
question in John 7. Turn to John 7. John chapter 7, verse 16 through
18. John 7, 16. Jesus answered them
and said, My doctrine is not mine. It's his that sent me. And every true minister of the
gospel can say that. You see, Christ is not speaking
as God. He's speaking as the Messiah.
He's speaking as the man, Jesus Christ. My doctrine's not mine. It is his. He's God. One with
the Father. But in his role as our representative,
in his being as our second Adam, as
a man, he's submissive and in subjection to the father, doing
what the father ordered and commanded him to do. Finish the work you
gave me to do. I must be about my father's business.
So he says, this is not my doctrine, it's his that sent me. Now listen,
if any man will do his will Whatever the cost, he'll know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. That's where
it starts, if he's willing. Thy people shall be willing on
the day of thy power. Are you willing? Whatever the
gospel is, tell me, I'm willing. I'm willing to be saved on God's
terms. He that speaketh of himself seeks
his own glory. That he that seeks his glory
that sent him and called him, the same is true. No unrighteousness
in him. So if a person wills to know
the truth, you know it. You know it. If there first be
a willing heart. All right, here's the second
question. Are my desires for a knowledge of Christ and eternal
life totally surrendered to the Word of God? Now think about
this a minute. Can I dismiss any tradition that's
been handed down, any old edited sayings that I was raised with,
anything I heard in my childhood contrary to Scripture? I am basing
my hope and seeking Christ depending totally upon what this Word says. This is our only source of knowledge
of God. This is the only foundation of
faith. This is the only textbook. A man cannot know God by looking
at the stars and the moon. He declares the glory of God.
But it has nothing to say about the mercy of God, the sinners.
It has nothing to say about the righteousness of God. They have
nothing to say about the holiness and justice of God. Will God
punish sin? Sun, tell me. Moon, tell me.
He says, well, I can worship God down on the creek bank. Well,
fish, tell me, will God save sinners or will he punish sinners?
There's just one source. Here it is. And Isaiah said this,
listen, Isaiah 8, 20. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there's no knowledge of it. So that's
the second question. Do I desire to know Christ genuine,
sincere? Secondly, am I willing, have
I been made willing to be totally surrendered to what the Word
of God says? I won't argue with the pastor
if he started teaching the Word of God. I don't accept arguments. I'm reading the Word of God.
There's no argument forthcoming. There's no rebuttal. There's
no answer. It's just, amen. It's over here. It's over here.
All right, here's the third one. Are my desires for a knowledge
of Christ glorifying to God? Am I willing to let God be God?
I mean be God, a sovereign, independent, omnipotent, almighty God who
does as He will, when He will, with whom He will, for His glory,
who works all things after the counsel of His own will? Who
says none can stay my hand or say unto me, what doest thou?
Cannot I do with my own what I will? Let God be God! And every man a liar, me and
you, everybody. Your old preacher, your old deacon,
your old wise fables, let them all be liars. Let God be true.
God be God. I've got to be saved if I'm saved
at all. I've got to be saved in a way
that God can get the glory. That's just so. How can God be
just and justify me? That's the question. How can
God be holy and forgive and pardon me? Would I want to be saved
at the expense of God's character? Brother Barnard said, well a
man said to Brother Barnard one time, the God you preach is my
devil. He's a monster. Well Ralph said,
you better get ready to deal with the monster then, because
it's just the God of the Bible. God's not a monster. That's what
that man thought. God is good. Whatever you, whatever
Judgment people arrive at when the character of God's preached That's who they will deal with
them Would I want to be saved at the
expense of his law, his justice, his character? Let God be God The fourth question Are my desires
for knowledge of Christ, are they permanent? Brother John read a while ago
from Philippians 1 where the Lord said, He that hath begun
a good work in you, he began a good work. He's the only one
who can do a good work. He's the only one who can begin
it. He's the only one who can take out the stony heart and
give a heart of flesh. He's the only one who can give
us a will to be saved. Grant repentance and faith. He
began the good work and he'll continue it. So what I'm saying, if this work
in you is of God, it's permanent. See what I'm saying? If he began
it, any man draw back, my soul hath
no pleasure, he won't draw back. Not if God began the work. He
that hath begun a good work. So I'm saying, is it permanent? Is it from your very soul? Is it from God? Is it permanent? I don't intend
to go back. Fifthly, do my desires for knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, now here, come on, that's where I've
started this. Do my desires for knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ lead me to say with this man Paul, he
said his conversion was a pattern. A pattern. of all those who will believe.
Do my desires lead me to say with power, all right, I doubtless,
I count all things and all people and all ambitions and all my
past and all my pedigree, I count it to be done. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. That's all right. I can readily
and willingly part with anything except Him. Now, those aren't hard. Those
are just true, aren't they? Those questions are true. They're
true. They're true. And here Paul gives
us the believer's threefold desire in these next verses. All right,
that's verse 8. Look at verse 9. First, it is
the believer's threefold desire. It has to do with the person.
He says that I may win Christ and be found in Him. That when
the Father in heaven looks on Christ, that's how He sees me. He sees me in His Son, chosen
in Him, loved in Him, called in Him, Crucified in Him, risen,
ascended, and seated in Him. He sees me in Christ. I want
to win Christ and be found in Him. Not in the right church. People are looking for the right
church. If you're in Him, you're in the church. That's His body. And when I stand before God,
I stand there not having any self-acclaimed, self-achieved
righteousness of my own. I stand in Him. holy, unblameable,
unreprovable, having on his wedding garment and accepted in the beloved. That's when Christ can be found
before God in him. It's not a doctrine that saves
a person. And I know doctrines introduces
us to Christ. I know that the doctrine of Christ,
that's the gospel, the doctrine of Christ. But salvation is in
knowing Him. It's not coming to a knowledge
of the doctrines of grace or coming to the certain doctrines
and truth. It's coming to the person. When
Christ be found in him. All right, here's the second
one. Verse 10, that I may know him, that I may know him and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering
being made conformable to his death. Did Paul not know Christ? Oh, yes he did. He said, I know
whom I believe. I know whom I believe. I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep all that I've committed to him. But here's
what he's saying. I long to grow in grace and grow
in the knowledge of Christ. Never know him like I want to
know him on this earth. I want to know him. I want to
grow in grace and the knowledge of him. I want to walk with him.
I want to walk with him in the fellowship of his sufferings.
I want to be made by the Spirit of God conformable to his death. I want to walk with him like
Enoch of old who walked with God. I tell you, he just walked
with God and walked right on into glory. One day he went for
a walk and didn't come back. He walked with God and walked
right on into glory. And I'll tell you this, if we are in Christ,
We know Him and He is our Redeemer, like this. That's the way death
will be. We're going to walk right on
Him to glory. Doesn't have to be any changes made as far as
the relationship with Him. In Christ we have everything
heaven can require, everything heaven can command, everything
heaven can give. It's all in Him. I want to when
Christ can be found in him, I want to know him, know him, walk with
him. And thirdly, if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead, there's a two-fold
resurrection of the dead, two-fold resurrection of believers, as
far as deadness is concerned, death. Turn to Ephesians 2. Here's the first one. You know,
we're born in Adam, dead in sin. And this is a spiritual resurrection.
Paul wants to attain to this resurrection, I'm sure, and he
had, in Ephesians 2, 1, and you have to quicken who were dead
and trespasses in sin. In times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
fire and the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were by nature
children of wrath, like others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead, quickened us, gave us life, quickened us together with Christ,
by grace you say, He raised us up and made us sit together in
heaven and places in Christ. That's already done. That's not
the resurrection he's hoping to attain. That's already done. But here's the next resurrection.
Philippians 3, verse 20 and 21. And that's the resurrection of
this body. In that same chapter 3, verse
20, our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change
our vile body." He's already changed our vile hearts. He's
already given us a new nature. He's already raised us from spiritual
death. We're His. We're His. But one day He's going
to come and change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He's able,
even as to do All things unto himself, all things. Not only
the powers of Satan, the powers of death, not only the powers
of sin, but the powers of the grave. Not only the powers of
corruption, spiritual corruption, but physical corruption. And
this corruption will put on incorruption, this mortal immortality. He's
able to subdue everything to his will. But he's the only one
that can. He's the only one that will. This doctrine won't do that. I hear preachers say, well, why
don't you come down now and accept Jesus as your personal Savior? It won't do what he's talking
about here. He does that. He gives life. He's able to subdue,
conquer Satan, conquer you, conquer me, conquer sin. Conquer death. Conquer the grave. Conquer corruption. Conquer mortality. And that's
my Messiah. That's the one whom to know his
life. And that's the one this religious generation is just
carrying on a bunch of foolishness on their way to destruction.
They're missing him. They're missing him. There's
no commitment. There's no heart, faith. There's no life in Christ. And closing, let me give you
some things here that Paul deals with in closing. There's the
three things. He wants commitment to Christ,
communion with Christ, and conformity with Christ. That I may win Christ,
be found in Him, that's commitment. That I may know Him, walk with
Him, that's communion. That I may attain to the resurrection
of the dead, that's what I'm going to be made like. That's
worth whatever we have to endure, isn't it? But then he talks about
our present. He said, brethren, verse 12,
I want you to know something. Not as though I had already attained
or I'm already, I'm not perfect. I haven't arrived. I tell you,
I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also
I'm apprehended of Christ. We're not, don't claim perfection
in this flesh or in anything we do. We're perfect in Christ,
but we're not perfect in this body. We don't have perfect knowledge
or perfect faith or perfect love or perfect holiness or anything
perfect in this flesh. You say with the Apostle Paul,
oh, the things I would do, I don't do them always. The things I
would not do, I do. I have a law warring in my members
against the law of righteousness. So brethren, verse 13, I count
not myself to have arrived, but I'll tell you this one thing
I do, now that's his present, now here's his past. I forget
those things which are behind. I forget my failures and my infirmities
and everyone else's too. I forget my false religion, my
false professions, I'm going to bring them up. my attempts
to produce righteousness before God, just forget it. I forget all those good works
that I did in the name of the Lord. Any lasting good is His, not
ours. I read that thing, only one life,
it'll soon be past, just what's done for Christ is gonna last,
don't count on it. Only one life will soon be passed.
Only what Christ has done is going to last. That's the way
it ought to be. Forgetting those things which
are behind. You're going to have to. You can't have your holiness
and his now. When Paul saw that, he said,
these things that were gained to me, I've shut the door. I've
slammed the door. Don't bring it up. Don't bring
it up. forgetting all the misunderstandings
and divisions between brethren. If God doesn't remember my sin,
I'm a fool to remember yours. Forget the past and remember Him. He said, this
do in remembrance of me. That's the only thing I'd have
you remember about the past is what He did. This do in remembrance
of me. And then our future. I haven't
arrived, I'm not perfect now, but I forget those things which
are behind, and I reach forward unto those things which are before.
What's before us? What's before us? Well, number
one, His blessed word. His word. There's so many green
pastures in which I hadn't grazed yet. How about you? I'm looking
forward to more of the word, more teaching, more teaching. grazing in some more of these
green pastures, finding some more of these nuggets in the
treasure of God's Word. We read the Word a lot here and
preach and preach the Word, but we haven't got started yet. It's
inexhaustible because it's His Word. Tell you something else
that's before us, His sheep. You said, Peter, you love me? Yes, Lord, I do. Go out there
and feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Don't fleece them
now, feed them. No, share them, feed them. Feed
my sheep, feed my lambs. Brother Gruber, I was thinking
about him this afternoon down in Mexico, been there 35 years.
Still what, doing what he did 35 years ago. Today, I can just
see him in that truck headed out to Upwayville to find God's
sheep and tell them about Christ. We do the same thing. Eat the
rump. That's before me. Tell you something
else that's before me. That's His cross. Keep it before me. God forbid
that I should blow it, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the cross of Christ, I gave this on television this morning,
I see in the cross of Christ a full display of the character
of God, His holiness, His justice, His righteousness, His love.
I see in the cross the actual putting away of my sin. Sin's
hard to put away. This water won't do it. Repentance won't do it. Faith
won't do it. Death won't do it. Hell won't
do it. He appeared to put away sin for
the sacrifice of himself. I see in the cross my sin put
away. I see thirdly the sting of death
removed. I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to die. Now, because
of who I am and what I've done, I'm not afraid to die because
He died in my place. And he that believeth on the
Son will never die. To be absent in this body is
to be present with the Lord. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. And as you get a little older,
a little farther, and you envy your friends who've already gone,
Wish I was with them, don't you? Oh, yeah. Nothing here. I see the believer's full entrance
into the presence of God accomplished right there on that tree. He
suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God. And he shall
not fail. Would you charge him with failure?
That's my Messiah. That's the one, Paul said, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and I do count them
but done. And I may win him before I lose
him. I'm worth it. And I press, look at this, I
press, not indifferently, not presumptuously, but dedicate,
I press toward the mark, the finish line. He that endureth
to the end, the same will be saved. I pressed toward the mark
for the prize. What's the prize? The crown of
life. The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's
a holy calling, a heavenly calling, a high calling. A high calling. Paul said, I finished my course.
I kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give me in
that day, and not me only. not me only, but all of them,
who really love, is appearing. What's this appearing? He appeared
to put away sin for the sacrifice of His Son. He appears as our
high priest, the right hand of God, interceding for us. And He shall appear without sin
unto salvation. And I love all three of them.
Don't you? That's the way I began the message. Anybody has a hesitancy about
a choice between the world and Christ? He hadn't seen Christ. We haven't seen him like I'd
like to, and we're going to. All right.