This One Thing I Do

Back at Philippians 3, I closed
the message last Sunday evening with verse 12. I'm picking up
at verse 13 tonight, in which Paul says, Brethren, I count
not myself to have attained, apprehended, to have arrived,
is the word. But he says, I follow after,
if that I may lay hold, that I may grasp that I may make mine
that for which I have been laid hold of Christ, or for which
Christ has laid hold of me, that I may make mine own that for
which Christ has made me his own. Now, as far as our acceptance
with God is concerned, and this is important to lay a foundation
for us, As far as our acceptance with God is concerned, the believer
is complete in Christ as soon as he believes. Now Romans chapter
8 verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus. Now. There is therefore now no
condemnation, no judgment, no charge to them who are in Christ
Jesus. And then 1 John 1, 7 says, The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin,
not some sin, not minor sins and leaving major sins, but the
blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. God said, I've
separated your sins from you as far as the east is from the
west. The believer in Christ is holy. He is unblameable. He is unreprovable in the sight
of God. He is justified in God's sight. He's legally free. There is no
charge. Paul said, who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemns? Who
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? As far
as the believer is concerned, as soon as he believes, he is
complete in Christ. There's not one charge against
him on the books of God. And secondly, to add, to think
of adding anything to the perfect work of Christ, anything to the
perfect work of Christ in redemption is foolishness. To think of adding
anything to that which Christ has done. As far as our redemption
is concerned, we are passive, totally passive. We believe that
we're justified by Christ alone, not plus our works. not plus
baptism or church membership or decision, but we are justified
by Christ alone. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. It's Christ alone. Now this is
one of the things that the unregenerate professor of religion cannot
lay hold upon. He cannot take Christ to be his
justifier, Christ to be his righteousness, Christ to be his redeemer, Christ
to be his sanctifier, Christ to be his wisdom, plus nothing,
minus nothing. He's got to say it's Christ plus
faith, or Christ plus my works, or Christ plus my perseverance,
or Christ plus something else. But it's not. In justification,
it's Christ alone. And I can say to the chief of
sinners tonight, look to Christ and be saved. And to every believer,
you continue to look to Christ and you'll be saved. For Christ
is all you need. He of God is made unto us all
we need. And to think of adding anything
to the work of Christ, even my faithfulness, even my perseverance,
is utter folly. We are justified by Christ alone. Now the third thing, we must
avoid self-righteousness and personal merit as much in the
middle of the life of faith as at the beginning. We must avoid
self-righteousness and personal merit at the end of the journey
as much as we did at the beginning. It was Christ when we came to
God, it's Christ now, and it'll be Christ in the day of death.
Turn to Psalm 42. I want you to look at three verses
of Scripture here in the book of Psalms. We must avoid self-righteousness
at any time. Now, we don't have any problem
with it when we first come to faith. We come as a sinner. We come empty-handed. We come
to Christ for His righteousness. We look to Christ for cleansing.
But some of us, as we As we grow in grace, supposedly, and as
we know more about ourselves in Christ, and as we're in the
Church a few years, we begin to think that our confidence
and assurance and our preservation or perseverance depends to a
great extent upon what we do. But it's never what we do. It's
always Christ. Now, David writes in Psalm 42,
verse 5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted
in me? Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Look at verse
11. Same thing. Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God. That's where his hope is always.
Never anywhere else. Not hope in your strength, hope
in your confidence, and hope in your faith. Hope thou in God. Turn to Psalm 43 and look at
verse 5. Same thing again. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God. That's where it is. It's never
anywhere else. Always in Him. It doesn't matter
whether I'm on the mountaintop or in the valley. It doesn't
matter whether things are going good or going bad. It doesn't
matter whether I'm old or young. It doesn't matter whether I'm
under severe trial or whether I'm in no trial, my hope's in
Him. It's never anywhere else. It's
never anywhere else. But, now here's what we're looking
at. Now that being the foundation, and that being the introduction,
the work of Christ for me is perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Now that's been established.
Nothing needs to be added to it. The work of Christ for me
is perfect and entire, wanting nothing. But the work of Christ
in me is progressive. The work of Christ for me, in
redeeming me, in presenting me, in justifying me, in making me
God's child is perfect, entire, wanting nothing, there's no contribution
or cooperation in any way involved. I am complete in Him. But the
work of Christ in me is progressive. And the work of Christ in me
is carried on from day to day until someday I am perfectly
conformed to His blessed image. Now that's so. And while it is true, now there's
a twofold sanctification here, while it is true that I am perfectly
sanctified by and in Christ, now that's so, I am set apart,
I am declared holy, I am accepted in the Beloved. I am marked out
as one of God's own. I am sanctified like the vessels
of the temple, like the tabernacle, like the priesthood, like the
firstborn. I am sanctified by and in Christ
who is my sanctification, who is my righteousness. Christ is
my righteousness. He is my sanctification. He makes
my prayers holy. He makes my worship holy. He
makes my person holy. He makes everything. He is my
holiness. And yet, there is a progressive
work of sanctification carried on in us by the Holy Spirit. Christ is our sanctification. We're not questioning that one
bit. That's imputed holiness, imputed
righteousness, imputed perfection, imputed sanctification. All of
it because of who He is and what He did and my standing in Him,
my living vital union with Him, what He is, I am, where He is,
I am. We're already seated with Christ,
in Christ, on the right hand of God. And but there is a progressive
work of sanctification of holiness being carried on by the Holy
Spirit every day in us. in us. And the Holy Spirit uses
means. The Holy Spirit doesn't speak
like a crack of thunder or a flash of lightning and cut your mind
open and make it holy and cut your heart open and make it pure.
He uses means. You don't walk down the aisle
and bow down front and somebody lay hands on you and become sanctified
like that. Christ sanctified you when He
died for you, when He obeyed the law for you, when He took
you on as your representative in charity. God looks at you
in Christ. But there is a progressive work
of sanctification, a work which is done by the Holy Spirit using
what? The Word of God. Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed to the Word
of God. Desire the sincere work milk
of the word that you may grow thereby give you several verses
in a minute But the Holy Spirit not only uses the Word of God,
but he uses every means of grace worship services preaching He
uses prayer, he uses meditation, he uses times of devotion, he
uses Christian fellowship, he uses success and failure, he
uses sickness and health, he uses joy and sorrow, he uses
trial, he uses temptation, he uses peace, he uses conflict,
he uses everything to work in us patience. meekness, humility,
faith, love, and the growth in these graces. He uses these things. And these trials are not just
to try my faith, but to strengthen my faith. Trials are not just
to prove my faith, but to improve my faith. Now John, let's turn to 1 John
a moment. John talks about the degrees
of growth in the church. He writes in 1 John 2.13, I write
to you fathers, write to you fathers, because you've known
him that is from the beginning, you've been around a while, you've
grown, you're mature Christians, I write to you fathers. I write
to you young men, you've overcome the wicked one, I write to you
little children. because you've known the Father.
Now, we're not talking about people that are 5 years old,
people that are 20, and people that are 60. We're talking about
stages of Christian growth and Christian maturity. John writes
to those who are fathers and those who are young men in Christ
and those who are babes in Christ. And then 1 Peter 2, 2, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow
thereby. 2 Peter 3.18, but grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1.3, your faith
groweth, groweth. Ephesians 4.14 and 15, that you
may grow up in Christ in all things. Colossians 1.9 through
11, that you might increase in the knowledge of God. Now this
is the work of God. Turn to Ephesians 2. Let me show
you this. There's no question but what
this is the work of God, this growth in grace, this progressive
sanctification. I can't do it. God has to do
it in me and for me. But God also, the Holy Spirit,
is aided by the means of grace and by the willingness and desire
of the creature. I guarantee you the more willing
you are to grow, the more you're going to grow. The more willing
you are for Christ, to be taught of Christ, the more you're going
to be taught. In Ephesians 2, verse 10, it says, We're His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, or prepared, that we should walk
in them. God does the work, but does it
not say, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
they shall be filled. Doesn't it say that? And does not it say in the word
of God, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you? Does
it not say in the book of Jude, keep yourselves in the Holy Ghost,
in the love of God, build yourself up on your most holy faith? So
what I'm saying is this, that as far as justification, and
I don't know why we have to separate these things, but you know that
the natural man, the natural man in the Church, the false
professor, He's always in confusion where works and grace are concerned.
He's always confused. He reads over there in the book
of Romans, Ronnie, where it says, Abraham was justified by faith
without works, and then he reads over in James where it says,
Abraham was justified by works, and he's confused. Well, there's
no problem there. He reads over in Hebrews where
it says, Rahab was justified by faith. And then he reads over
in James, says, Was not Rahab the harlot justified by our works?
And he's confused. But Paul is saying this, that
no man is saved because he prays. And James is saying a man's not
saved who doesn't pray. You see what I'm... Paul is saying
a man's not saved because he's honest. James is saying a man
who is dishonest is not saved. You see that? There's no conflict
there. Paul is talking about the justification
of the soul before God. And James is talking about the
justification of your faith before men. Show me your faith, he says. That's the central key verse
in that chapter, in that book. Show me your faith. You can't, he says. You show
faith by works. That's how faith is shown. That's
how faith is justified. That's how faith is revealed.
So there's no conflict between James and Paul and no conflict
between grace and work. And here's what we're saying.
We're justified by the grace of God. We're justified by the
blood of Christ. We're justified by the sacrifice
of his Son. We're saved by the grace of God. That's the reason God saved the
thief on the cross who couldn't work. who couldn't wash in the
pool of baptism, who couldn't walk down an aisle, and who could
not witness because he was dead in a few minutes. And yet God,
by the blood of Christ, saved him. And yet we see a man like
Paul who was saved at 40 and spent his life preaching the
gospel. Paul's no more saved than that
thief on the cross. They're both redeemed by the
blood of Christ. And they're sanctified. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our holiness. There
is no holiness in this flesh. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Christ is my holiness, my righteousness. Righteousnesses
are filthy rags in God's sight. But there's a progressive sanctification. There's God working in you. to
will and to do his good pleasure. It's God working in you the fruit
of the Spirit, the grace of the Spirit. There is a spiritual
growth, there is a spiritual maturity, and that is performed
by the Holy Spirit using the Word of God, using the means
of grace, and it's done on a day-to-day basis. And we're not necessarily,
we don't necessarily make the same progress every day. It's
not like, it's not mechanical like going to school and you
finish grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then you go to junior high
school and you go to high school. It may be that you'll grow rapidly
the first year and then you'll because of various things you
don't grow as much. There's a new encouragement,
enthusiasm, and more till you grow more, your strength and
more. God sends a time of refreshing
and revival, and some grow more rapidly than others, but I'm
simply saying the person that that has his ear tuned to God's
Word, he's going to grow. The man who wills to know his
will, who desires, who hungers and thirsts, who will take God
at His Word. Our problem is taking God at
His Word, believing the Word. Now, we've got to reason things.
We've got to have our human logic as the way it seems right to
us, and we've got to set it up in conflict with this book. Well,
let me show you what Paul says in Philippians here, our text.
Let's go back to it. Now, then, first of all, he says,
brethren, verse 13, I count not myself to have apprehended. I'm going to make four statements. The first one is this. Now, listen
to this. You want to grow? You want this progressive work?
Listen to them. Wise is the man or woman who
makes a just appraisal of his present condition. And wise is
that person. Paul's doing that right here.
He says, Brethren, I have not arrived. I have not laid hold
upon all that God has for me. I have not attained. You know,
usually, occasionally, I meet people who feel that they have
arrived. They've arrived spiritually,
they've arrived theologically, they've arrived doctrinally,
they've arrived in so many ways. They have a lot to say about
their spiritual knowledge and their spiritual attainments and
their spiritual accomplishments and their holiness. And when
I hear these people praising themselves, I think of three
things. I think, first of all, of the
Pharisee in the temple. That's the first thing I think
of. The man who stood and cried, God, I thank you. I'm not like
other men. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
an extortioner, I'm not unjust, I'm not even like this publican.
I tithe, I fast, I give alms, I do all these things. And Christ
said he went home not having prayed at all, but having prayed
with himself, and he went home condemned. Then I think of Peter. When our Lord talked about going
to the cross, and he said, all of you are going to be offended
because of me." And old Peter stepped forth and he says this,
though all men should deny thee, yet I will not. I will not. But my friends, before the cock
crowed that night, he had, and far as I know, the only one who
openly denied the Lord, the others forsook him and fled, but Peter
was the only one that cursed and swore and said he didn't
know him. What's the third thing you think I'll preach to you?
Well, when I hear people bragging about their spiritual knowledge
and their spiritual attainments and their spiritual progress
and holiness and righteousness, I think of that Pharisee. I think
of Peter, and then I think of a big bass drum. Somebody said
there's nothing makes as much noise as a drum, and there's
not anything as empty. Nothing makes as much noise as
a big bass drum, but ain't nothing as empty. What is it that makes
men, religious people in particular, and this is the area where this
is so nauseating, is in religion, in the one place it ought not
to be. I can understand pride of face. I can understand why
a person should be proud of their beauty. I can understand pride
of race, like the old Knoxes used to argue in race or whatever
that was. I can understand pride of place.
A fellow would be proud that he's president of something,
anything, even the glee club. But I can't understand pride
of grace, and that's something that I do not understand, because
it's a direct denial of all that grace is. It's a denial of mercy. It's the very opposite of true
grace. Well, what is it that makes men
satisfied with themselves? Could I offer four things, suggestions? If any of you here tonight have
any religious pride concerning your your spirituality or your
holiness or your accomplishments or your attainments, let me suggest
four reasons why this is so. Number one, we forget the awful
holiness of God's love. We forget that. Perhaps we become
so familiar with this word, with these things, that we forget
the awesome holiness of God's law. You know it says the heavens
are not clean in God's sight? You know the scripture says the
moon shineth not in his sight? Do you know the cherubims cover
their faces and their feet in his presence? His law, his awful,
awesome, holy law reaches the the inmost thought of the creature
and demands perfection as Christ is perfect. And the only way
that I can possibly be lifted up in the face of that awesome
holy law is to forget what it says and what it demands. You that would be under the law,
don't you hear the law? No, evidently not. Here's the
second reason why men get proud of their spirituality. Not only
a forgetfulness of the awful holiness of God's law, but secondly,
a lack of trial at a certain point. Mrs. Spurgeon said, you may think
yourself to be strong at a certain point of righteousness only because
God has not touched you at that point. That may be part of it. And then thirdly, the third thing
is a lack of understanding regarding what true holiness really is.
That was what the Pharisees, that was their problem. They
had a righteousness, but they didn't know anything about God's
righteousness. They had a form of holiness,
but they didn't know anything about God's holiness. We may lay claim to a holiness,
but is it God's holiness? That's what Christ said. Why,
he said, you scribes, you Pharisees, you hypocrites, you pay tithe
of this, that, and the other, but you omitted the most important
points, judgment, mercy, faith. There's where you're messing
up, and that's the weightier matters, that's the particular
important matters. And maybe the reason pride fills
our hearts is we not only forget how holy the law is, and we haven't been touched at
this particular point where we are especially proud, and then
thirdly, we don't know what true holiness really is. We've never
seen it. Therefore we think we have it.
And then here's the fourth one. A man's opinion of himself depends
much on the company he keeps. If a fellow runs around with
dwarfs, he'll think himself to be a giant. Think about that a minute. If
a fellow runs around with dwarfs, Man, I'm short. I'm just 5'10".
But I suppose I ran with people about like this all the time.
I'd get to feeling pretty big one of these days, wouldn't I?
You know, looking down on all those folks all the time. I'd
get to feel pretty big fella in my world. But now just suppose
I started running around with some of these boys that played
for UK last year. Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Robey, and Mr. Gibbons. I'd feel like a a pretty small
fellow, wasn't he? And I'll tell you, if we'll get
into this book and find out something about some giants named Paul
and James and John, Peter and David and Isaiah, we won't feel
so high and mighty. Maybe read the lives of men like
Brainerd and Mack Shane, Spurgeon, Carey, Judson, These great old
missionaries that suffered and died for what they believed,
we won't feel so almighty good. We've come short of God's glory,
not our glory, it's His glory. Okay, now the second thing, Paul
said, I have not arrived, I have not apprehended, wise is the
man who makes a just appraisal of his own present condition. I'm not there yet. I'm not there. All right. Secondly, wise is
the man who can forget the past. Now this will help you if you
listen. I had a person in my study a
day or two yesterday, maybe it was, and up in years, and she
said I helped her more than anybody that ever helped, and all I did
was just go to the scripture. And she'd been to a lot of very
prominent and expensive psychiatrists and so forth. Now you look at
this. Paul says, I haven't arrived,
but this one thing I do. Now listen. Forgetting those
things which are behind. Wise is the man who can forget
the past, who can put the past in its proper place. Listen to
me. I could be the world's greatest
psychiatrist if I could figure out a way to get people to forget
the past. You know that, Bob? I'd be the
world's greatest psychiatrist. There'd be people lined up down
at the Paramount Theater waiting to see me. Because that's where
that feeling of guilt comes from, the past. That's where fear comes from,
the past. That's where all this despondence
and depression comes from, comes out of the past. And if I could
figure out a way to get people to forget the past, I'd be the
world's greatest psychiatrist. I'd be the world's greatest psychologist
if I could figure out a way to make people forget the past because
our behavior patterns are motivated by our past experiences. That's right. Not many of us act, we react. We don't act upon present opportunities,
we judge them by past experiences, and we react. And if I could
make people forget the past and just act on present opportunities
and present revelations, And present open doors, I'd be
the world's greatest psychologist, nobody could touch me. And I'd
be the world's greatest peacemaker, if I could figure out a way to
make people forget the past, because vengeance is built upon
past experiences. Reprisals, hatred. If you've got any grudge right
now against anybody in the world, it didn't start today, it started
in the past. Huh? That's right. It's something
that happened 10, 12, 15, 20 years ago. There can be no, Paul says, forgetting
that which is behind. There can be no joy, there can
be no growth, there can be no peace, there can be no rest for
people who cannot put the past in the past. No way. There can be no joy, no growth,
no peace, no rest for people who cannot put the past where
it belongs. Forget. Forget what, Preacher? Forget
your sins. I didn't say forget your sinner.
I didn't say forget that you stand in need of mercy every
day. I didn't say forget that by the
grace of God you are what you are. But I said forget your sins. God did. You know what he said? Remember them no more. Why do
you remember them? Why do you punish yourself? Why do you always keep them in
a prominent place so you can reach back and look at them every
once in a while? Brood over them. Grieve over them. Mourn over
them. I know some of the old Puritans preached that, but that's
not in God's Word. Forgetting those things which
are behind. If the Apostle Paul had dwelt
upon the past, do you know his hands dripped red with the blood
of believers? Think of the despondence and
depression that would have gripped his soul. As he remembered standing
there holding the coat of the fellow that stole Stephen, the
first Christian martyr, Paul gave him permission to kill him.
And he held their coats while they bursted his brains out with
stones. Suppose he wanted to remember
the blasphemy. He said, I blaspheme the name
of Jesus Christ. Some dear person said to me just
last week, talking about being guilty, didn't believe God would
ever save them because they were guilty of blasphemy. You don't
know what blasphemy is until you understand something about
Paul's hatred for Jesus Christ. He said, I was a blasphemer.
He was riding when God met him. He was riding to Damascus to
see how many women and children he could put in prison, even
women and children. He didn't dwell on the past or
he'd have never rejoiced in the Lord. The only time he ever mentioned
the past was to praise God for saving him. That's the only time.
He never sat around and talked about his past, and bragged on
his past, and brooded over his past, and grieved over his past.
It was done! The blood of Christ puts it away! Paul said, forget it! And I'll tell you something else,
forget your religious experiences. I get tired of hearing people
talk about the victories they used to have, experiences they
used to have. Yesterday's grace won't feed
me today any more than last week's biscuits that filled me up this
morning. It won't do it. Boy, I tell you, you can starve
to death sitting around and talking about a steak you had last month.
You can starve to death. And I know a lot of people look
like they're so emaciated Problem of spiritual malnutrition talking
about what victories they used to enjoy. Boy, you don't look
like you ever had a victory. Yesterday's blessing won't give
me any joy today. No joy. I got to forget them.
Forget that time you walked the aisle. Forget smelling the roses
in mama's yard and start smelling the ones in your yard. Forget your victories, forget
your revelations. We don't know anything much,
do we? Let me read you three verses. Turn to 1 Corinthians
10. Now listen to this. 1 Corinthians
10. These are three important verses
here. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12. We're all in the same ship. Brother
Barnard said that's what Feller's ship is. Feller's in the same
ship. 1 Corinthians 10, 12. If he standeth, take heed lest
he fall. That's all of it. You just think
you stand. Don't talk about what you used
to do, past victories and revelation experiences and deeds. Watch
out. Watch out. And then 1 Corinthians
8, go back to chapter 8, verse 2. If any man think that he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to know." Then turn to Galatians 6, verse
3, almost the same thing over here. Now listen, "...let him
that thinketh he standeth, take he lest he fall. If any man thinks
he knows anything, he doesn't know anything like he ought to."
Galatians 6, verse 3, "...if a man thinketh himself to be
something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Let's forget
the past. Forget. Paul said, I have not
arrived. I have not apprehended. I haven't
laid hold yet. But I'll tell you what I do.
I forget the past. I don't live back there. I don't
dwell back there. I told this person the other
day, I said, draw the curtain once and for all. The play is
over. The actors have gone home! There's a new day. There's a
new stage. There's new actors. There's a
new play. I'm on the stage now. You are. God wrote the script. Here it is right here. Forget
the past. Forget your religious experience.
Forget your sins. You say, Preacher, I thought
we were supposed to remember our God. Forget some. I don't believe I'm supposed
to dwell on something he doesn't dwell on. I believe he told me to think
on whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are holy, whatsoever
things are of good report, whatsoever things are of God, think on those. I believe that's what he said.
Isn't that what he said? I don't believe he said think on your
past, think on your failures, think on your successes, think
on your victories. Whatsoever things are pure, think
on these things. forget your failures. I want
to tell you, this little story means as much to me as anything
I ever read. I spoke at the high school, I
think when Becky graduated, or Danny, or, I don't know, was
it Robbie, one of the back, Robbie's baccalaureate, because Danny's
one of them anyway. I mentioned this little story
when I spoke to him. But there's a little boy, Years
ago, born to a very, very, very poor family in the South, they
were so poor, so wretchedly poor, that his mother couldn't afford
a needle and thread or button. She pinned her dresses together
with thorns. And his daddy was so no-count,
so utterly, completely no-count, they owned a little farm of rich
land, but he sold it one day for 400 gallons of whiskey. Sold
the farm. And when the little fellow was
nine years old, his mama died. And when he was 12, he could
read, but he could read with quite a bit of difficulty. He
was always a failure in business. He worked hard. But the first
store he worked in, he's 25 years old, it went bankrupt and then
he and a partner opened the store, they became partners, but his
partner was a drunk and it wasn't long until they went bankrupt
and it took him 10 years to finish paying what he owed. And he practiced
law, he went into law and went into politics. And when he was
26 or 27, he ran for the state legislature, state of Illinois,
and he was defeated. And he ran again two years later,
and he got elected. And so they talked him into running
for Congress when he was 33, and so he ran for Congress and
got defeated. And when he was 35, he ran again
and got elected. That's two defeats and two elections,
but he was unpopular in Washington. He was so unpopular that when
his term was over in Congress, he applied for two separate government
jobs, and they refused him both of them. So he came back to his
home state, and when he was 46 years old, he ran for the Senate,
and he got beat. When he was 49, he ran for the
Senate again, and he got beat. That's two elections and four
defeats. Now he's 51 years old. And they
made him President of the United States. And he's named Abraham
Lincoln. That's the true story of Abraham
Lincoln. And what does that tell me? It tells me that God Almighty
doesn't use men because of their successes or because of their
failures. He uses whom he will. Whom he
will. He'll raise up whom he will for
his glory to do what he wants them to do. So forget what's
behind. Forget it. All the failures and defeats,
and somebody says, you'll never amount to anything. No, you won't,
but God can make anything He wants to out of you and me. I
can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. All things. But I can't do it living back
yonder. Can't do it. I can't know the joys of his
presence, I can't know the joy of his fellowship, I can't know
the joy of assurance, I can't know the joy of accomplishment,
I can't know the joy of growth if I'm going to live in the past. Can't do it. Close the curtain. Just have you a big old ceremony
and go over there and draw that curtain and say, she's done,
it's over, there's nothing can be done about it, under the blood,
Christ has taken care of it, goodbye past. I'm walking with
a cane from now on. And then Paul said in Philippians
3, and I've got to hurry, forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth. This way, reaching forth. reaching forth unto those things
which are before." We don't want any new revelations,
but we want a greater understanding of what we know. Look at verse
16. Where to we have attained? Let's
walk by that rule. Let's mind that same thing. Where
we have attained. Okay, this is what I'm saying.
I do believe. I do believe. Lord, help my unbelief. I do know Christ. I know whom
I have believed. I want to know Him better. Let's
come where we are. I know Christ. I know Christ. I believe Him. I do love, he
knows, Peter said, you know I love you. I want to love him better. I pray, not like I'd like to,
so I say with the apostles, Lord, teach me to pray. I bow to his
sovereignty, but I want to learn in what sort of a state I am
to be content. But I don't discount where I
am. I don't discount what I've learned
because I'm not a master. I don't discount how far I've
come because I'm not all the way. He says, nevertheless, whereto
we have attained, let's walk there and let's reach forward. Don't throw the thing over because
you're not a master yet. Don't quit the race because you
haven't crossed the finish line yet. You're three-fourths of
the way. You're halfway. And the only way you could be
halfway is to run thus far. So he says, that's what I do.
I forget the past and I reach out. For what? for the mark of
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's
not that way, it's that way. It's not that way.

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