Now let's turn back to Philippians,
the third chapter. Paul begins this third chapter
of Philippians with the statement, My brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Now we were talking tonight at
the supper table, Bob and I, about giving thanks not only
in time of blessings, but in time of difficulties. But this
is more than that. What he is saying here is not
just rejoice in his benefits, it's not just rejoice in his
blessings, it's not just rejoice in his providence or his supplying,
but the word here is actually, John, rejoice in the Lord. This
is what he's saying, rejoice in the Lord. And if we can learn
to rejoice in the Lord, then we can rejoice in times of blessings,
or in times of failure, or times of sickness, or times of health,
if we can rejoice in Him. Now here's what he means. Here's
what he's saying. Rejoice in the Lord in the greatness
of His person. You see, Jesus Christ is very
God of very God. The Scripture says, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He said, I and my Father are one. He that has seen me has
seen the Father. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And what I'm saying is, we don't
just rejoice in what He does for us, or what He gives to us,
or what He withholds from us, but we rejoice in Him. Our joy
is in Him. in the greatness of His person,
and then in the fitness of His incarnation. He's bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh. Christ is so identified with
us, they called Him the Man, Christ Jesus. Not only Son of
God, but Son of Man. And so I rejoice in the greatness
of His person. I rejoice in the fitness of His
incarnation. I rejoice in the sufficiency
of His righteousness and of His atonement. He is my righteousness. Through Him we have received
the atonement. Our Lord Jesus Christ has been
made unto us all we need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He Himself is made unto us all
we need. He didn't just supply all we
need. He is Himself all we need. He
is Himself. I heard a song one time, the
Lord will make a way somehow. Well, it's true in a sense that
the Lord made a way, but the Lord himself is the way. That's what one of the young
men brought out Saturday night in his message. It's not just
trusting, I believe it was Jonathan, it's not just trusting the work
of Christ, Jonathan, it's trusting Christ. That's what you were
saying. It's not just resting in something he did, it's resting
in who he is. Because who he is makes effectual
what he did. If he's not who he is, what he
did is not worth a plug nickel. So this is what Paul is saying
here, brethren, don't just rejoice in the mercies of the Lord, or
in the blessings of the Lord, or the benefits of the Lord,
because if you only rejoice in those things, then you won't
be able to rejoice when the blessings and the benefits are not there.
But if you can rejoice in Him, you can rejoice in Him when it's
clouder, when the sun is shining. Rejoice in Him, in the greatness
of His person. in the fitness of his incarnation,
in the sufficiency of his righteousness and atonement, and then in the
comforts of his providence and his purpose, and also in the
glory of his intercession, in the glory of his inheritance,
and in the expectation of his return. Rejoice. You see that? And there's a difference there
now. Empty would be the heart of the man who couldn't rejoice
in the Lord's blessings, in the Lord's benefits. But the man
who's discovered the object of rejoicing learns to rejoice in
the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. And then
he says this, to write the same things to you, to repeat this
good news, to repeat this gospel, to me is not tiresome. It's not
tiresome at all. It's not tiresome to me to repeat
it, and it's not tiresome to you to hear it. Just repeat it
over and over again, over and over again. The greatness of
His person, the fitness of His incarnation, the sufficiency
of His righteousness, that's not tiresome, is it? I tell you,
this is what it will do for us. If we keep on repeating this
gospel, if we keep on preaching this gospel over and over and
over again, it does four things for the believer. Number one,
it'll keep our thoughts on Christ. It'll keep our thoughts on Christ.
The more I hear of Christ, the more I think on Christ. The more
I hear of Christ, the more my thoughts dwell on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then secondly, it guards
against error. It guards against the errors
of false teachers. If the gospel is repeated in
my ears and to my heart often enough, When men come in with
another message, I recognize it immediately. It guards against
the errors of false teachers. And then thirdly, it suppresses
self-righteousness. If I continually hear about his
righteousness, then there'll be no danger of me making a rival
of his righteousness with mine. And then fourthly, it comforts
me in my trials. Whatever the trial might be,
there's no comfort like the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no consolation and no comfort, no assurance like that old gospel
of redeeming grace. Notice verse 2. And Paul here
speaks a little harshly and mighty plain. He says, beware of dogs. Dogs. Beware of evil workers.
Who's he talking about there? He's talking about false preachers
and false teachers. That's who he's talking about.
Beware of dogs. He calls them dogs. He calls them evil workers.
Beware of the concision. There it is, beware of those
who come to you imposing upon you. In this case, circumcision
for salvation. He particularly is pointing out
these men who came to the early church and said, you can be saved
by trusting Jesus, but you have to be circumcised. You can be
saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and resting in Him,
but you can't have full rest until you fulfill these requirements
of the law and the deeds of the law. And he says, you beware
of them. Beware of men who come to you
imposing on you any works of the flesh and deeds of the law
for salvation. He calls them, very plainly,
dogs and evil workers. And then he says, verse 3, we
are the true circumcision. We are the true circumcision.
It's not those who are circumcised in the flesh that are the true
circumcision. It's not those who are following the tradition
of their fathers who are the true circumcision. We are the
true circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. True circumcision
is having the heart laid open, not the flesh. True circumcision
is having the heart broken. True circumcision is having,
by the Spirit of God, not our flesh cut, but our heart pricked
and laid open, open to His Word and open to His Spirit. True
circumcision is renouncing our own righteousness and our own
deeds and looking to Christ. True circumcision is of the heart,
not of the flesh, and brings us to Christ and not to the law.
True circumcision is to rejoice in our completeness in Christ. The songwriter said, in the Beloved
accepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated on high, saved and
redeemed by His marvelous grace with the redeemed ones in Christ
given a place. And notice the last line in verse
3, and we have no confidence in the flesh. no confidence in
my flesh, no confidence in your flesh, no confidence in the flesh
of any man. The works of the flesh, the deeds
of the flesh, the righteousness of the flesh, put no confidence
in the flesh. Where shall I put my confidence?
In Christ. Where shall I rest my case? In
Christ. To whom shall I flee? Christ
alone. You beware of dogs and evil workers, and especially
those of the concision or the circumcision that come to you,
imposing upon you do's and don'ts for acceptance with God. Oh yes,
there are do's and there are don'ts, but not for acceptance,
not for justification, not for redemption. We are the true circumcision
which worship God in the heart, in the spirit, and we rejoice
in Christ Jesus and we have no confidence in the flesh. Now he says in verse 4, if any
man, if any man thinks he hath whereof to glow with a trust
in the flesh, I more, I more. I want you to listen to this.
He says if there's any value to be placed on family ties,
if there's any value at all to be found in ceremony, if there's
any profit at all in religious works. We're talking about for
justification or acceptance with God. If there's any value, any
profit in religious works, in outward obedience to any kind
of law or devotion to any kind of tradition, he says, I have
more right to have confidence than any man. And then he tells
us why. He says, if a man can put any
confidence at all in the flesh, I've got more right to have confidence in the flesh
than anybody, because he said, and watch these seven things,
he said, I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was a natural
Israelite. I'm not a, he said, I'm not a
proselyte. I'm a natural Israelite. And
then thirdly, he says, I was of the tribe of Benjamin. That's
the tribe that retained the true worship when the other ten departed.
That's the tribe of Jacob and Rachel. Benjamin. He said, I had a Hebrew mother
and a Hebrew daddy. I'm not a half-breed. And not
only that, but he says, as touching the law, I'm a Pharisee of the
strictest set. And not only that, but I persecuted
the grace people. I persecuted all. I was so zealous
for the law and for the traditions of my fathers and for the religion
of works that I persecuted anybody that rose up against it or followed
any other way." And then he says, before the written law, before
the moral law, I was blameless. Now in verse 7, but what things
were gained to me, these things that I felt at one time were
gained, were profitable, were important, were necessary for
acceptance with God. Being a Jew, being a child of
Abraham, being devoted and dedicated to the ceremonial law and to
the Levitical priesthood and to the moral law. I thought that
was necessary one time for acceptance with God. I thought these things
were necessary at one time for a righteousness before God. I
thought these things entitled me to favor with God. But, he
says, when God was pleased to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
to my heart. And that's Christ the sin offering
and Christ the substitute. And that's Christ our righteousness
and Christ our sanctification. And Christ our atonement and
Christ our foundation. When God was pleased by His Spirit
to reveal His Son in me and bring me to trust Christ and rest in
Christ and believe Christ and commit myself to Christ, I saw
that, listen, I saw that all of these things were worthless
Cecil in themselves. In themselves. Now at one time
circumcision was not worthless. At one time it was required of
every Jew. In fact, God nearly killed Moses
one time because he didn't have his son circumcised. And the Feast of the First Fruits,
the Feast of the Passover, feast of the unleavened bread. All
of these different sacrifices and ceremonies in their time,
in their dispensation, fulfilling the purpose for which they were
given, were not worthless, nor were they unimportant. But when
Christ came as the fulfillment of all these things, they became
in themselves worthless. They had served their purpose
and served their time, and they had typified that for which God
gave them, and they were ended. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. Turn to Hebrews, let me show
you that. And you and I are in serious error to try to bring
it back. In Hebrews chapter 10, now let
me show you something here. We're in serious error if we
try to reinstitute and reincorporate and return to those things that
have been fulfilled. because Christ is the fulfillment
of all of them. Now look at Hebrews 10 in a minute,
verse 1, the law having a shadow, a shadow of good things to come. Now the law is not the substance,
it's the shadow. We were one night over at Becky's house,
the children and Darcy and I were outside waiting for Bob and Becky
to come and the sun was setting, it was behind us, And I had fun
with the grandchildren showing the shadow. I don't know whether
they'd ever seen or paid any attention to the shadow before.
But they got a real kick out of seeing the shadow out there,
you know. And they'd move and it would move. And the shadow's
shaped like the person. It's not an accurate outline. It's a kind of a blurry outline. But you can tell whether it's
a male or a female. You can tell whether it's a child
or an adult. You can tell something by the
shadow. And you see, all of these things in the Old Testament which
God gave were shadows of the coming Christ, not the substance. The shadow is not the man. It
announces his coming. It announces something about
him, his form. You can tell something about
him by his shadow. You can tell whether it's a bus or an automobile
coming by the shadow. You can tell whether it's a tree
or a house by the shadow. But the shadow is not the substance
of the thing itself. It's just a shadow of it, a picture.
And you see, when God gave the ceremonial law, when he gave
the sacrifices, when he gave circumcision, when he gave the
Passover, when he gave all these things, you see, they were shadows
of good things to come. And not, read on verse 1, and
not the very image of those things, and can never were those sacrifices
which are offered year by year continually make the comers there
unto perfect. They would have ceased to have
been offered if they could. And verse 4 says, it's not possible
for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Wherefore,
when he came into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, he said,
Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body you prepared
me. Christ didn't come to offer up a lamb, he came himself the
lamb to offer up himself. And he keeps on talking about
those things and in verse 9 of Hebrews 10 he says, Then said
he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. He taketh away the first. He
taketh away the Passover. He taketh away the Feast of the
Firstfruits. He taketh away the Sabbath. He
taketh away the Atonement in the Holy of Holies on the Mercy
Seat. He taketh away the Tabernacle.
He taketh away all those things that He may establish eternally,
permanently. The second, by the which will
we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Nothing needs to be added. to
what our Lord Jesus Christ did. He is our sacrifice. He is our
Sabbath. He is our righteousness. He is
our justification. He is our sanctification. And
for a man to return, keep Hebrews 10 there just a minute. I'll
show you how serious it is. Keep Hebrews 10 there a moment now.
And he goes on down here in verse 26 and says, If we sin willfully
after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin. Now, so many people have mistranslated
this verse of Scripture. They're saying by that if a man's
saved and then he commits a sin, then there's no sacrifice for
sin. That's not what he's talking
about at all. He's talking in that verse about the same thing he's
been talking about all the way through Hebrews 10. He's talking
about those Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies and deeds and
works and laws and traditions and so forth. If a man has come
to a knowledge of the truth, of the grace of God in Christ,
and then Bill goes back to those things, There's no sacrifice
for sin. Because that can't take away
sin, and if he rejects Christ, he has no sacrifice. That's what
he's saying. You have no sacrifice. That's how dangerous it is. That's
how deadly it is. Those things Paul said, these
things at one time he said, verse 7 of Philippians 3, these things
that were gain to me and profitable to me and important to me in
my life, I count loss. I count them for loss. That which
was everything became nothing. That which was gained became
loss, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. And we lay it
all aside. We take all of our religious deeds and doings, all
of our religious actions and activities, we take all of our
religious gifts and goings, and all of our religious accomplishments,
and so forth, and just lay them aside. For salvation I'm talking
about now, for justification, for acceptance with God, for
redemption, we'll lay it all aside and look to Christ. Cease
from our labors and enter into His rest. Enter into His rest. You see what he's talking about
there? Starting in verse 1, rejoice in the Lord, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our source of rejoicing. He's our reason for rejoicing.
And you beware of these folks that come to you and impose upon
you a set of rules or a set of duties or ceremonies or anything,
ordinances, even ordinances that are blessed ordinances, like
baptism. A man's not saved because he's baptized, nor by being baptized,
nor unsaved if he's not baptized. These things in themselves are
worthless. They are only profitable where
they serve to bring a man to Christ. The law of Moses or the
Levitical law or any other law is only profitable as it brings
me to Christ, only as a means of grace and not a means of justification. And these things Paul said to
which I'd given my life, these things that were gained to me
and so important to me and the things for which I killed, he
said, I killed people for these things. That's how dedicated
he was. I counted loss. Yay, watch this now. Furthermore,
he says in verse 8, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared
to that priceless privilege of knowing the Son of God. That
priceless privilege. I count all things, all things,
and underneath that put all things, but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I count everything as
loss. compared to that priceless privilege
of knowing Christ. I renounce earthly heritage.
I renounce worldly honor. I renounce reputation and substance. I renounce all things that I
may win Christ and be found in Him. That's what he's saying.
I do count them, read on, verse 8, I do count them but rubbish,
garbage, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. I renounce
all personal righteousness. I'm less than the least of all
the saints. I'm the chief of sinners, O wretched man that
I am. I renounce all personal righteousness that I may gain
His righteousness. I renounce ceremonial bondage
for His freedom. I renounce false peace, pretended
peace, for His true peace. I renounce it. I renounce all
pretended glory for His eternal glory. The songwriters put it
this way. I love this old hymn, Out of
My Bondage. And it may be sinful bondage
or religious bondage, one as bad as the other. Out of my bondage,
sorrow and night, Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness and
light, Jesus, I come. Out of my sickness, into thy
health. Out of my want, into thy wealth. Out of my sin, into thyself,
Jesus, I come. Out of my shame for failure and
loss, Jesus, I come. Into the glorious gain of thy
cross, out of earth's sorrows into his balm, out of life's
storms into his calm, out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to thee, out of unrest and arrogant pride, Jesus,
I come, into thy blessed will to abide, Jesus, I come, out
of myself to dwell in thy love, out of despair into raptures
above, upward for aye, on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to
thee." I count all things, and this is what Paul is saying in
that verse, furthermore, I count all things pertaining to me,
to my flesh, and to my religion, and to my righteousness, I count
all things to be done. It's rubbish. that I may only
win Christ and be found in Him." No stronger statement has ever
been made in regard to the Dutish traditions and ceremonies of
religion than that statement right there. And it was made
by a man who knew something about the bondage of religion. It was
made by a man who had something to count loss, but loss. It was made by a man who had
some things to count but rubbish. His one desire was to win Christ
and be found in Him. That's what he said, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him, to know Him. I was reading a sermon by John
Flavel in regard to this particular thing here, the desire to win
Christ and be found in Him, and I found a test. I put it in Sunday
morning, it will be in next Sunday's bulletin, but I want to give
it to you now. There are six questions. There are six questions,
and this is what he called it. He said, let me take the following
test, set forth pertaining to my desire to know
Christ, to win Christ and be found in Him, and let me discover
if my desire after Christ is truly of the Spirit of God. If you want to, you can jot these
down or you can just wait until Sunday and get it in your bulletin.
But here's where we're coming from. Here's a man who was wrapped
up. And I mean, he wasn't playing
religion. Here was a man who was wrapped
up in a religion of form, a religion of ceremony, a religion of tradition. And it was not a false religion
either. It was a religion of the Old
Testament. It was a religion of types and shadows and forms
and ceremonies. It was given by God to the Old
Testament prophets to set forth Christ. Not to take the place
of Christ, but to set forth Christ, to announce the coming of Christ,
to be a shadow of the coming Redeemer, not the substance.
These things were never to be trusted in. They were never to
be rested in. They were never to be waited
upon. They were always pictures and time. But here was a man
who was a slave to them, enslaved by them. And when he finally
came to know Christ, he said, I count all these things to which
I've given my life and myself, I count them but dumb, but rubbish,
but loss, that I may only win Christ and be found in Him, that
I and the Redeemer might be one, that I might be brought to a
living, vital, personal union with the Son of God. And John
Flavel gives us this test, and I want you to listen to it, a
desire for Christ. Are my desires for Christ genuine
and sincere? That's the first question. Are
my desires for Christ genuine and sincere? In other words,
does He really have the supreme place in my desire? Can I really
esteem all things but rubbish in comparison to the knowledge
and fellowship of Christ? Is that really true? You know,
when the Old Testament manslayer was fleeing to the city of refuge,
you could have asked him to stop by the house for a steak dinner,
and he wouldn't have stopped. That's right. You could have
asked him to tarry for a picnic in the park. He wouldn't have
stopped. You could have offered him any sum of money to join
your band or caravan. He would not have stopped. His
pursuit of that refuge city was genuine and sincere and uppermost
in his mind. That's where he was headed. Is
Christ my well of water in a dry place? Is Christ the shadow of
a great rock in the weary land? Is Christ the fountain open for
cleansing and forgiveness? Is that desire really genuine
and sincere? The disciples, to them it was. Our Lord asked them one day,
will you go away? And they said, to whom? Where shall we go? You have the words of life. You
have the words of life. I think I can say yes to that.
I think I can say yes. I believe in my heart that my
quest and desire for Christ, that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, is a genuine and sincere desire. Secondly, are
my desires for Christ honoring to Him? Honoring to Him. In other words, not just profitable
to me, but are they honoring to Him? Now, here's a serious
question. Is everything about Christ desirable
to me? As He is. Now, the hypocrite
wants a divided Christ. He'll take the pleasures, but
not the person. That's right. He'll take the
cure, but not the Redeemer. But now, if my desires for Christ
are honoring to him, I'll not only take his mercy, but I'll
take his sovereign mercy. I'll not only pursue his grace,
but I'll also bow to his government. I'll not only bask in his love,
but rejoice in his righteousness. I'll not only rejoice in his
benefits, but in his commandments. He said, my commandments are
not grievous. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Here's the question. Are my desires
for Christ honoring to him, glorifying to him, not just beneficial to
me? But am I willing for God to save
me in a way that's honoring to his holiness and his justice?
not just beneficial to me. Somebody said one time, I don't
care how I get to heaven, just so I get there. I care. I care. Because it's important. Because
there's nobody going to be saved at the expense of the Lord's
righteousness. I want to be saved in such a way that God can still
be God. Now that's important there. My
desires for Christ, are they honoring to Him? Honoring to
Him. Can I bow in my heart, like I
was reading a while ago in that book, not my will, but thy will
be done? Honoring to Him. Thirdly, do
my desires after Christ lead me to seek Him? Now, we say we
desire Christ. Well, what shall we do to obtain
that desire? Shall we sit in the chair and
wait till it comes our way? But the Bible says, seek the
Lord. He said, you'll seek me and find me when you search for
me with all your heart. I tell you this, a man who really
wants something, if he wants it badly enough, will go after
it. I heard somebody say to a piano
player one time, they heard this man play the piano. Oh, he played
beautifully. And the fellow standing behind
him said, I'd give anything to be able to play like that. And the
fellow just turned and said, would you give six hours a day?
Would you give six hours a day? You can learn to play like that
if you give six hours a day. So this is the question. I say
I want Christ. Do I seek Him? Where do you seek
the Lord? In His Word. You seek Him in
prayer. You seek Him in worship. You
seek Him where the Gospels preach. But most of us are like the young
fellow that came to the Lord and said, now, Lord, I'll follow
you wherever you go, but let me first. That wound it up right
there when he said that. Let me first. Let you first what? Go and bury my father. The old
man wasn't even dead. In those days, when they talked
about going to bury their father, he meant go and live with him
till he dies. And then when I put him away and got the inheritance,
I'll come follow you. Another fellow said, well, I'll
follow you, Lord, wherever you go with. He said, but first let
me go bid them farewell at home. Those people weren't seeking
the Lord. A man who seeks the Lord, Christ is first. My desires
after Christ are genuine and real if I'm using whatever means
at my disposal to find Him. I've had people come to me on
Sunday morning and say, After I preached, I said, brother man,
that was a good message. It reached my heart. I want you
to pray for me. I need to know Christ. I'm not
saved. I'm lost. And I sure would like
to be saved. Well, you know who I look for
first on Sunday night? That's who I look for. And you
know the disappointing thing is usually they're not there.
I come in on Wednesday night and I sit down and I survey the
congregation. He's not there then. He lied to me. You say,
well, he was speaking his heart. Yeah, but his heart lied. The
heart's deceitful. He didn't really want to know
Christ. He didn't really want to know Christ. A man who really
wants to know Christ, a man that says, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Oh, that I may know Christ and
the power of His resurrection. Well, if he really means that,
he will take advantage of every opportunity to hear about Him.
Every opportunity. He'll look through the Word,
he'll search the Scriptures. In fact, one man said to Spurgeon
one time, he came to him with a Bible, and he said, Mr. Spurgeon,
I know one thing, salvation is to be found somewhere in the
pages of this book, and I'm going to get in it until I find it.
Now, that man, his desires were sincere. I think I can say that. I believe I can say my desire,
That's another thing I was talking about at the first of this message. It would be maybe easier to be
somewhere else right now, due to certain circumstances, but
you know, one time the Lord appeared to the disciples and Thomas wasn't
there, and my, he missed a blessing, didn't he? Fourthly, now here's
something interesting. Are my desires for Christ permanent
and persistent? Or are these desires only a sudden
fit of emotion? Are these desires for Christ
and salvation and eternal life, are they only a sudden fit of
fear? I've come suddenly under the fear of dying. I've come
suddenly under the fear of judgment. I've come suddenly under the
fear of hell. I've got to do something about my relationship
with God. Well, what were you doing when you got well? or perhaps greed or covetousness. If my desire for Christ, to win
Christ and be found in Him, is of the Holy Spirit, it will continue
day in and day out. That's right. Day unto day and
night unto night, at all times, thy praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Turn to 2 Samuel 23 and listen
to what David said about that. 2 Samuel 23. Brethren, you know what I'm saying
here, and what I'm saying is true. It may not sit well with
this flesh, but it's true. A man who has a sincere Holy
Spirit-given desire for Christ is a man who persists in it and
perseveres in it. It's not just a sudden fit of
emotion. He hears a good sermon and starts getting emotional
or hears a good song and gets to think about, I woke up this
morning with heaven on my mind. You know what? Did you go to
sleep last night with heaven on your mind? Wake up tomorrow morning
with Christ on your mind. Persistent. Listen to David.
2 Samuel 23. These are the last words of David.
See verse 1? These are the last words of David.
2 Samuel 23. Got it? Verse 5. Although my
house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, This is all my salvation
and all my desire, although we make it not to grow. Can you
say that with me? My desires for Christ are persistent
and permanent, not blowing hot today and cold tomorrow, but
a persistency. And then fifthly, will this desire
for Christ find no satisfaction till I'm found in Him. No satisfaction. Now, I've seen some people become
satisfied with riches. I've seen some young ladies and
young men become satisfied with a marriage relationship. I've
seen... I remember down in Birmingham
we had two sisters who used to sing when I was a kid. Oh, they
could sing. They were Lee Robinson's favorites.
Two young ladies, sisters. Oh, how they could sing. They
could sing so beautifully. He had them sing every service
nearly. And they just sang so beautifully. They picked the
right kind of songs usually, I thought, back then. They wouldn't sing for anything
worldly. They were always singing the church and all the different
religious gatherings on the church radio program. My, they were
talented. And one day a Hollywood talent
scout was passing through Birmingham, and he heard those girls sing,
and offered them a scrumptious contract. Dean and Evelyn were
their names, Dean and Evelyn McKinney. And it was awfully
lucrative and so, so attractive. And they took it. And one of
my buddies in the Navy ran into Dean and Evelyn singing in a
nightclub in Hollywood, both just about as drunk as they could
be. But show business was just too
glamorous to turn down. They found their satisfaction.
They found what they were looking for. And that's the fifth question
Mr. Flavel asked. Will my desire
for Christ find no satisfaction? No satisfaction. shall I be found
in him." David said that. He said, I'll be satisfied when
I awake with thy likeness. It may be some young people here
tonight will one day have some of these things offered to you.
And it's not money, mind you, that's the root of all evil.
It's the love of it. It's the love of it. It's not
possessions. It's possessions when they possess
us, when they possess us. It's not using this world, but
abusing it. It's not when these things are
mean, but when they become an end. That's when they become
deadly and dangerous. God can give men gifts of various
forms and of various natures and degrees, but a good steward
of the grace of God possesses those things for God's glory,
and they don't possess him. Anything that takes my heart
away from Christ is not of God. It's not of God. I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. Then here's the last question. Do my desires for Christ arise
from a sense of my deep need of Christ? Why do I want Christ? Why do I want Christ? Well, I'll
tell you why I want Christ. I've got to have him. Now, that's
just simply put. Hunger makes bread precious. Bread is not precious to a man
that's full and satisfied and has no hunger, but a man who's
hungry, who's been days without food. Bread is necessary and
precious. Water, what makes water precious? That's what makes water precious.
What makes fire comforting? Coal. And I'll tell you what
makes Christ precious and what makes Christ a necessity is sin. And the more I understand, the
more I realize my sinfulness, my guilt, my inability, my lack
of righteousness, the more I say I must have Christ. I must have
Him. And Paul realized that, that's
why he cried, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Oh, that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection. A needy sinner must have a full
Savior. An empty sinner must have a full
Savior. Our Father, we rejoice in Thy
Word. We rejoice in the comfort and
the joys which come to our hearts when we read this book. We would be, O Lord, delivered
from pride and self-righteousness and religious haughtiness or
false piety. We say with the Apostle Paul,
we've not arrived, we're not already perfect, we haven't laid
hold upon that for which we've been laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
But Lord, we do earnestly, sincerely, and you know the hearts of all
men. You look not on the outward countenance but on the heart.
We want to win Christ and be found in Him. We want to know
Him and the power of His resurrection. We want to be found in Christ
not having our own righteousness, which is filthy rags, but we
want to be robed in and clothed in His spotless garments and
washed in His precious blood and redeemed by His grace and
by His merits. Give us this hunger and thirst
for righteousness. Give us this desire for Christ
Jesus. Give us this willingness to count
everything, whatever it may be, whoever it may be, to count everything
but rubbish and loss for the excellency and the knowledge
of Christ Jesus our Lord. to whom be glory both now and
forever. Amen.