Philippians 3, the subject, the
knowledge of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3 verse 1, finally, from the apostle in prison to
the beloved Philippians, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. All the joys of this world are
temporary. Doesn't matter what they are,
whom they are, or how long they last. They will not last forever. Weeping will endure for the night. But the joys of the Lord are
forever. And joy cometh in the morning. Weeping will endure
for the night. But joy comes in the morning,
and they're eternal joys, never ending. The hymn writer wrote
these words, swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day. Its joys grow dim, its glories
fade away. Change and decay in all around
me I see. O thou who changes not, abide
with me. Brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the greatness of his
person. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
15. I was only going to refer to
this scripture in Exodus 15. This is the song of Moses after
the Red Sea. when God delivered Israel on
dry land and drowned all the Egyptians. This is the song of
Moses. He says in verse 2, the Lord
is my strength. The Lord is my song. He has become
my salvation. Wasn't that what he said to the
Israelites before he struck the sea with a rod? He said, salvation. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. He has become my salvation. He's
my God. I will prepare Him a habitation.
He's my Father's God. I'll exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host
as the captain of the sea. His chosen captains also are
drowned in the Red Sea. The depths that covered them,
they sank to the bottom like a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord,
is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of Thine
excellency, Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee.
Thou sendest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together,
the flood stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed
in the heart of the sea. But the enemy said, I will pursue,
I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied
upon them. I'll draw my sword, my hand will
destroy them. But thou didst blow with thy
wind, and the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty
waters. Who is like unto thee? Rejoice in the Lord. Who is like
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods, among the princes of the
world, the rulers, the leaders, the idols they worship? Who is
like unto thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, doing wonders. So brethren, I say to you what
Paul said to the Philippians. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in his person, the greatness of his person. Rejoice in his
incarnation. When Solomon was dedicating the
temple, he built that grand and glorious temple, nothing ever
like it. But he said this. Will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Will God indeed dwell on this
earth? Behold, the heaven of heavens
cannot contain him. Will he dwell on the earth? Job
said he would. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth,
and in the latter days he will stand on this earth. And John
said, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Rejoice in his incarnation. He became a man to redeem us. I rejoice in his blood which
justifies us. I rejoice in his righteousness
that makes us holy, accepted in the beloved. I rejoice in
his amazing grace that keeps us all the days of our life. When enemies encircle us, he
gives his angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. I rejoice in the hope of his
blessed return. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you and I'll come back. I receive you unto myself, that
where I am there you may be also." That's a promise. Brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
When you think you don't have anything in this world in which
to rejoice, and you don't permanently, but you do in him, and a blessed,
blessed hope, rejoice in him. And then he says to write the
same things to you. to write and to preach the same
things, the sure mercies of David, the mercies of the covenant God
in Christ Jesus. The gospel, to write the same
things, to preach the same things to you, that's not grievous.
To you it's safe. Always fear, my friends, fear
to become gospel-hardened. Fear above all things. for the
gospel to become ordinary, and you become hardened. You've heard
it over and over and over again, and it loses its beauty. That's dangerous. So for me to
preach and write the same things to you, he said, that's not tiresome
to me. Thank God it's not. It's the gospel we've received.
It's the gospel wherein we stand. It's the gospel by which we're
saved. It's the gospel. It's the power of God to salvation
to everyone that believe it. Everyone. For therein is the
righteousness that God revealed. Old Brother Barnard said one
time, every preacher, every preacher, every pastor ought to every once
in a while declare the gospel in such a fashion that he gives
the impression that he thinks everybody in the congregation
is going to hell and that right soon. To awaken us, to awaken us to
the good news that we've heard, that we never become gospel heightened,
presumptuous, presuming on the mercies of God. Oh, amazing grace. Is it still amazing? Amazing
grace. How sweet the sound. I never
lost its sweetness, never lost my first love, never lost its
joy, as fresh and new this morning as it was 50 years ago. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was
lost. Now I'm found. I was blind. Now
see, not grievous to me. I hope it's not tiresome to you.
But it's safe. He says here, beware of dogs.
Who's he talking about? Beware of false preachers. That's
who he's talking about. Isaiah 56 tells me that's who
he's talking about. Isaiah is the prophet that's
quoted more than any other prophet of the Old Testament, quoted
more in the New Testament. And he talks about these false
preachers being dogs. being dogs. He says in verse
10 of Isaiah 56, his watchmen, people who claim to be his watchmen,
they're blind, they're ignorant, they're all dumb dogs. They cannot
bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber, and they're greedy
dogs, covetous, never have enough. They're shepherds that cannot
understand. They look to their own way, everyone for his own
gain. from his own quarter, promoting
himself. That's a dog. Now you beware
of it. Our Lord called them wolves.
That's a dog, a vicious dog. He says they'll come to you disguised
as sheep, but inwardly they're wolves, and they're seeking to
devour thought sheep. He says you beware of it. You
beware of the greedy dogs. Something else he says about
them, he says they're evil workers. The world calls them good workers.
They're doing good. Well, let's see what the Lord
says in Matthew chapter 7. Let's see what Christ said about
these people that are doing such good. That which is highly esteemed
among men, which is abomination to God. He calls them workers
of evil, workers of iniquity, evil workers. Listen to Matthew
7, verse 22. Matthew 7, verse 22. Many will
say to me in that day, in the day of judgment, Lord... Now
listen, they don't talk about what he did, they talk about
what they did. It's not what he did for them,
it's what they did for him. Now listen to it. Lord, have
we not preached in your name? And in your name cast out demons,
and in your name we did many wonderful works. Then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye workers
of iniquity, evil workers. Now you beware. Beware the covetous
prophets that seek their own gain, popularity and glory. Beware of workers of religion,
not in the name or for the glory of Christ, but for their own
glory. And then he says, beware of the concision. What is the
concision? It's the circumcision. In Acts
15, if you want to look at this, Acts chapter 15, this is the
problem. Even after our Lord died on the
cross, was buried and rose again, instituted the Lord's Supper,
did away with the Passover, did away with the tabernacle, did
away with the priesthood, the human priesthood, the sons of
Aaron, did away with the sacrifices, put away the first to establish
the second. Even then, look at Acts 15.1,
certain men came down from Jerusalem, from Judea, And taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised after the matter of Moses, you
can't be saved. Can you imagine that? This is just months after the
Lord died on the cross. These short years, you talk about
the apostasy today, this happened just after Christ died. The gospel
was proclaimed, He appeared. Resurrected body, ascended to
heaven. And these men who were in the church at Jerusalem came
down and said, now you fellas, if you don't keep the Sabbath
day, if you're not circumcised, if
you don't do all these things Moses commanded, you can't be
saved. Salvation not only by Christ, it's by what you do.
Added to the work of Christ. That's what they're saying. Now,
Paul said, you beware of these people. that give you anything
to do to find favor with God, anything to do in the flesh,
in the deeds of religion, in the works of religion or the
keeping of the law to find acceptance with God and add to the work
of the Son of God, beware. Verse 3, we are the circumcision, we are the circumcision Circumcision was laid aside,
it was given to Abraham as a sign of what God had done for him.
It wasn't given to Abraham to be accepted, to be saved, to
be God's child. It was given to Abraham as a
sign he was God's child. Abraham wasn't circumcised until
15 years after God saved him. 15 years! God called Abraham. blessed Abraham and 15 years
later gave him circumcision. It had nothing to do with his
believing God, had nothing to do with his righteousness, had
nothing to do with his acceptance. It was a sign, a token given
to Israel, we're different with God's people. Now he said we are the true circumcision. Circumcision is of the heart,
not of the flesh anyway. What are the marks of the true
circumcision? Here there are three of them. Number one, we
worship God in spirit. Not in tabernacles, not in temples,
not in cathedrals. The church is not a building.
The church is the people of God. God doesn't dwell in temples
made by hands, in buildings. God is everywhere, omnipresent.
But God dwells in the temple of God which is his people in
their hearts. And we're the circumcision worship
God in spirit, in heart, not in form. Holy days, feast days,
rituals, form, we worship God in the spirit, in the heart. Whether we're walking in the
street, washing dishes, looking out the window at God's creation,
whether we're in this building, in Sunday School classroom, or
we're in jail, wherever we are. John was on the Isle of Patmos
by himself, exiled in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, worshiping
God. Not a soul around to hear him
sing or to sing with him. Not a soul around to hear him
preach or rejoice with him. Not a soul around. to hear him. He's worshiping God. That's true
circumcision. A broken heart, a contrite heart,
a heart operated on by the Spirit of God. And another thing, we
rejoice in Christ Jesus. We accept him, the beloved. We
don't rejoice in our duties and deeds. We're really embarrassed
by them. I wish I could worship God like
God ought to be worshiped, don't you? I wish I could preach like
this gospel ought to be preached. Don't you elders wish, oh, we
come into this pulpit under such pressure, what a burden, the
burden of the word, we go away embarrassed. We didn't exalt
him like he ought to be exalted. We didn't praise him like he
ought to be praised. We didn't preach him in his beauty and loveliness
like we ought to preach him. We wish we could. But we won't
rejoice in what we do, rejoice in Christ. who loved us and gave
himself for us. We rejoice in his eternality. We rejoice in his incarnation.
We rejoice in his obedience. We rejoice in his sacrifice.
We rejoice in his resurrection. We rejoice in his exaltation. We rejoice in his intercession.
We rejoice and look forward to that day when he will burst the
clouds apart with a shout of victory and the voice of the
archangel and the trumpet of God and every eye is going to
see him. And man, I rejoice to him. Like
I've never rejoiced before. That's the circumcision. And
we have no confidence in this flesh. I've been circumcised. I keep Sunday as a Sabbath. I don't even buy paper. Hooray
for me. I do this, I do that. I don't
do anything. that God can accept apart from
Christ. Do you? Never have and never
will. That's right. But I have a tabernacle. I have a priest. I have a lamb. I have a sacrifice. Just like
they did then. But theirs were in picture. Mine's
in person. Theirs were in type. Mine's in
reality. Theirs was a promise. Mine is
a revelation. Let's turn to Hebrews. Let me
show you that. I have a tabernacle. I have a
tabernacle where I meet God. It's not a badger skin in the
wilderness. It's not a land and glorious
temple in Jerusalem. It's the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Here in Hebrews chapter 8, verse
1 and 2, listen. Now the things, Hebrews 8, 1,
now the things which we've spoken, this is the psalm. We have such
a high praise. Yes, we do. He sat on the right
hand of the majesty of the throne of the majesty in heaven. He's
a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
God pitched in our man. How did God pitch this tabernacle? Listen to Christ and listen to
him. He says, Sacrifice an offering thou willest not, a body hast
thou prepared me. He tabernacled among us. And
in him we see the glory of God. Just like that old priest went
into the Holy of Holies, and between the cherubims the Shekinah
glory of God was revealed, we go to Christ, our true tabernacle,
and there we behold in his face the glory of God. The true tabernacle. Look at Hebrews 7 back here,
verse 22. Verse 23, Hebrews 7, 23. And
there truly were many priests, because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. But this man, this God-man, because
he continueth ever hath an unchanging priesthood. Wherefore he is able
to say to the uttermost, them that come to God by him, seeing
he never dies, he ever liveth to make intercession. For such
a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." That's
our priest. Paul, I have a tabernacle, it's
Christ. I have a priest, it's Christ.
I have an altar, it's Christ. I have an atonement, it's Christ.
I have a high priest who is interceding for me, it's Christ Jesus. Now, Philippians 3, look at verse
4. He talked about we have no confidence
in this flesh. We have no confidence in the
works of religion and the duties of religion, in the form and
ceremony. I might have confidence in the
flesh. If any other man thinketh he
hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh. People bring up
the past. I sprinkled as an infant. I was
catechized. I was confirmed. I attended Sunday
school. I won all the awards. I tithed. I fasted. I did all these things.
I preached. I taught Sunday school. I was
a deacon. I was an elder. I rested on the seventh day or
the first day of the week. I did all these things. If anybody
thinks that they can have any confidence in anything they've
done, confidence that God will show favor or mercy or accept
us because of these things. He said, do you think so? Well,
how more, he said. Because he said, I was circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel. Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin.
That's the beloved tribe. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. My
mother was a Hebrew. My daddy was a Hebrew. We go
all the way back to Abraham. I didn't trace my tribe, he said,
my house and lineage back to Abraham. Touching the law of Pharisee,
I rose to the highest rank in Jewish religion. I was a Pharisee.
I was a member of the Sanhedrin. Let me tell you about it, he
said. And concerning zeal, I persecuted anybody that disagreed with me. as a religious fanatic. The law, concerning the law,
I was blameless. But all these things, my family
ties, my ceremonies, my ties, my offerings,
my alms, my fasting, my religious deeds, my keeping of days in
tradition, These things were gained to me. He thought he had
righteousness in these things. But that's what people today
believe, isn't it? Do the best you can, and God
will bless you. Be a good mother, a good father,
a good husband, a wife, a child, and you'll go to heaven when
you die. Paul said all these things that
were gained to me, I count loss for Christ. And here's the problem,
what he found out when he met Christ. That even though all
these duties and deeds and works were done, and a religious robe
was wrapped around this son of Adam called Saul of Tarsus, his
evil heart was still there. His evil nature was still there.
Still underneath, he's under the condemnation of sin and the
curse of the law. That all of this outward robe
of religion didn't profit him. So I counted but lost. Those things that were gained
to me. And I would advise preacher brethren, A lot of fellas
have trouble with this. Now I was raised in a church
by a mother and father that were very religious. From cradle roll to young people's
department. Till I left home and went to
the service. 17 years old. Came back, first
thing I did, go back to church. Rededicate. Start all over again. Then I felt called to preach
and went to college and studied to be a preacher. Served the
Lord. I was 24 years old. Then I heard
the gospel. Gospel of free grace. Gospel
of sovereign love. Gospel of an efficient, effectual
Savior. The gospel not of works but of
grace and grace alone. That's when God save my soul. That's when I met the Christ
of God. And I don't try to trace my salvation
back to those religious days and talk about serving the Lord.
I didn't serve the Lord, I served myself and the church, not the
Lord. You serve the Lord by exalting
Christ, loving Christ, resting in Christ. And I hear preachers
talk about They were saved and then they learned the gospel
of grace. That's impossible. Nobody's saved
without knowing the gospel of grace. That's when God saved. And Saul of Tarsus here, he says, this is my experience. I had all these things in which
I rejoiced, were gained to me, which I gloried. in which I received
praise of men, in which I trusted. But when I met Christ, I burned
these idols. I turned my back on these idols.
I count them but loss. Loss. I lost self-righteousness
and I gained the righteousness of Christ. Isn't that true? I lost ceremonial bondage. The
bondage of a slave, of a servant of religion, and I gained the
freedom of a son. I lost the false outward peace
that I claimed that my preacher gave me, who cried peace, peace,
when there was no peace. And I've gained true inward peace
of the crucified Christ who made peace through his blood. I lost
a pretended hope of glory, and I gained a blessed home in Christ. I didn't have to impress anybody
or try to show off my religion. God looks on the heart. And I
can say with Peter, Lord, you know I love you. I lost an association with professors
of religion, and I gained a family. I became a son. In the family
and fellowship and household of God Almighty, what a swap!
That's what Paul's talking about. What has exchanged? You want
to swap that? You want to swap your old self-righteous
rags, pig-leaf aprons for his glorious robe of righteousness?
You can't have both. I wish I could tell the whole
world that you can't have both. You can't have both. You can't
bring your righteousness and His together. God doesn't put
patches on old garments or wine in old bottles. I make all things
new. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. And that's what Paul is saying here. Verse 8,
I'm going to go a step further, he tells you. Doubtless, I count
all things, heritage, ancestry, deeds, duties, relationships,
commitments, contracts, I count everything that's not in Christ,
loss. Wipe it out. Forget it. For one golden objective, by
the excellency, indescribable excellency, of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things. And I'm not ashamed. He said, I'm not ashamed. I know
whom I have believed. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed
of him, not ashamed of his gospel, not ashamed of his cross, not
ashamed of his mercy, not ashamed of his grace. I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him. against that day. And I do count it all but done. And my friends, solemnly, I say
unto you, and I say it again to myself, I remind me and I
remind you, religion without Christ is done. Works without
Christ is done. That's all it is. A hope that's
not in Christ. Christ didn't use the hope of
glory. A hope that doesn't have Christ as its foundation, trust,
confidence, peace, and rest. Objective is dumb. Three things. Let me close. I count these things
but done that I may win Christ. If I said, well, you can't have
both. You can't have both. You can't be by grace and works.
It's either all of works, no grace, it's all of grace, no
works. Nothing I did before God called me, nothing I did after
God called me makes one contribution to the redemption of my soul.
What we do is not in order for God to love us, but because God
loves us. What we do is not in order to
find favor, it's because we've found favor. In serving our fellow
man, our brothers and sisters, serving our Lord is not in order
to be accepted, it is because we are accepted. We serve not
as servants, but sons, heirs of God. And I count these
things but doing that I may win Christ and be found of God in
him. Right now and at the judgment.
I don't want to stand with these people who talk about what they
did. I want to be found in Him. When Almighty God looks at Christ,
I want Him to see me. When I stand before Him, I stand
there not having any self-achieved righteousness of my own based
on any deed I've ever done. I stand in Him complete, holy,
unblameable, having on His wedding garment His holiness. And God
says, into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. Oh, that I may know Him. Oh, you know Christ. I know Him. I want to know Him
better. I know Him imperfectly. I long to grow in grace in the
knowledge of Christ. I haven't arrived." He kept saying
that. Brethren, I have not arrived. I have not apprehended. I labor
that I may lay hold upon that for which I've been laid hold
of by Christ, seeking, still coming to Christ, still repenting,
still believing, still looking, that I may know him, the power
of his resurrected life, the fellowship of his sufferings,
and that I might be made conformable to his death. if by any means,"
the third thing, verse 11, that I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. There are two resurrections of
the dead. There is a spiritual resurrection of dead sinners. You have to be quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. I won't part in that resurrection,
quickened by the Spirit of God. But there is a second resurrection.
Verse 20 and 21 of this chapter, look at it, Philippians 3, 20.
Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our body. Here's the glorious resurrection
of the body. God raised us with Christ, our
souls, redeemed us, now he's going to raise our bodies. And
he'll change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorified body, according to the working whereby he's able,
he is able to subdue all things to himself. I'm not able, he's
able. I'm not able, you're not able. Hey, sing a song, are you able,
set the master to be crucified with me? No, sir. I'm sorry,
I'm not able. But he's able. He's able to do
all that he promised. He's able to keep us from falling.
He's able to present us before his presence, holy, unblameable,
with great joy. He's able to keep that which
I've committed to him, and he's able to raise my bow body and
make it like his glorious body. What a Savior. Hallelujah, what
a Savior. One whom you can trust.