Let us open our Bibles today
to the letter of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Everyone
should recognize these terms are false teachers and false
prophets and false religion. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth
day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as
touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and do count them but done, that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore,
as many as be mature, perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything
you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. I'm going to stop my reading
here. One charge that is often brought against those of us who
believe and preach the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ is that this message causes men and women to live unholy
lives. It is said that those who believe
that salvation is by grace alone will be guilty of licentiousness
or loose living. Well, I think the history that
we have of the apostles is more than enough to refute that charge. None of the inspired writers
of the New Testament wrote more about the grace of God, these
great, wonderful truths concerning God's sovereign grace, God's
election, God's predestination, God's effectual redemption, God's
irresistible call, the perseverance of the saints, none of the New
Testament writers wrote any more of these things than the Apostle
Paul. And yet, we can see that in his
life, he was completely, absolutely, 100% dedicated to Christ, to
Christ and his service. This morning I want us to look
at the example of what Paul was, or what Paul's past religion
was, before he experienced the saving grace of God in Christ. And then, most of our time, let's
look at what his present religion was. as he lived his life in
this world. And his example, as it is given
to us here in this passage of scripture, will help us to know,
to learn what is meant by growing in the grace and knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. First, Paul's past religion was
a Christ-less religion. Let me say that again. Paul's
past religion was a Christ-less religion. You see that in verses
four through seven, where he said, though I might also have
confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the
eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and
Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ." I don't know of a better
way of defining Paul's past religion. before Christ revealed himself
to him than just to say his religion was a Christ-less religion. It all had to do with Paul, his
religion. It all had to do with Paul, who
he was, what he had practiced, and what he had earned by his
law-keeping. A true believer, a true child
of God, Our religion is Christ and only Christ. Christ is all. A Christless religion is what
all men have, apart from the grace of God in Christ. And it
should be forgotten, and it should be counted but done, just as
the Apostle Paul did. Paul's Christ-less religion ended
that day on the road to Damascus when the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
himself unto Paul. From that point on, from that
point on, for Paul, it was Christ and Christ alone. If you look
back in the first chapter of Philippians and verse 21, he
said, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. From the
moment, from the day that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself
to Saul of Tarsus, from that moment on, his life, his religion,
It was Christ and Christ alone. Christ is all. Let me say something
about a Christless religion before I move on. And I heard a well-known
Bible teacher just recently, a Bible pastor, well-known, very
learned man, make this this statement. He taught pastors who came back
to seminary for postgraduate degrees. He said in his class
he would always ask them, he'd write on the blackboard, what
is the gospel? And he said, I would be surprised
if there was one out of ten of those men who were already pastors
who could tell me what the gospel is. They said they would answer,
some would say, well, God has a wonderful plan for your life.
Some would say, well, it talks about, it's sin forgiven. And
he, there's just a number of things, but he said not one of
them, if one in 10 would tell him the answer, the truth, what
is the gospel, The gospel is the person and work of Jesus
Christ. That is the gospel. Paul learned
the gospel when Christ revealed Himself unto him. And from that
point, from that day on, to the end of his life, until we believe
he was beheaded in Rome, from that point on, his life was Christ
and Christ alone. A Christless religion produces
an empty life, a purposeless life. You know, this preacher
out in California wrote that book a few years back and made
millions of dollars, The Purpose Driven Life. Well, a person who
is saved by the grace of God has a purpose. A purpose who
does not know Christ has no purpose in life. Not any purpose worthy. A person who knows Christ, his
purpose, her purpose from that point on is this and this alone,
the glory of God. If that's not my purpose today,
if that's not your purpose in life, for us living here, then
we've missed the gospel. That's all I can say. We've missed
the gospel. A Christless life is an empty
life. It is a purposeless life. It
is a fruitless life. Do you think Paul ever brought
forth any fruit to God? Any fruit that God would receive
except before he met the Lord Jesus Christ? Of course not. Of course not. No, a purposeless
life, a fruitless life, and let me tell you, a self-righteous
life. A self-righteous life. Until a person meets Christ,
a Christless religion produces a self-righteous person. It's all about me. It's all about
what I have done. It's all about what I'm doing.
It's all about what I hope to do. But when a person meets Christ,
it's all about Christ. It's all about Him, who He is
and what He has accomplished. His saving work of redemption
through His death, resurrection. Well, let's look. That was Paul's
past religion. It was a Christless religion. Well, let's look at Paul's present
religion. I'm talking about present when
he was writing this official. These verses describe his ongoing
experience. It was day by day. You notice in verse 7 he said,
What things were gained to me, those I counted lost. Counted, that's past tense, isn't
it? I counted. That time when I met
Christ, from that time on, from that moment, I counted all things
but lost. But now, he speaks in the present. He says, I count. That's the
reason I said this is day by day. This is our experience as
we go through this life. Day by day, counting, as the
Apostle Paul did. And two times in these verses,
he speaks of the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of Christ. Notice that in verse 8. He said,
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. and also in verse 10,
that I may know him. Two things about his knowledge
of Christ. First, he states his estimation
of the knowledge of Christ. As far as Paul was concerned,
there was nothing I mean zero. There was nothing that could
compete with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Nothing. Now notice he didn't say the
excellency of Christ, but the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ. Now what does that mean? As far
as Paul states clearly here, that in his estimation there
was nothing, there was no knowledge that could ever compete with
the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Some people have the idea, well
I've heard that before. I've learned that. Are you telling
me that you know everything about Christ that there is to know? No one would be so foolish. We're
talking about the God-man. We're talking about Him who is
God and man. In Him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. I think this could be maybe illustrated
by something I was told a couple of weeks ago about a young man
who was taken to the sea. I'm not sure if this was the
first time he'd been to the ocean, see the ocean or not, but it'd
been a while at least. And as he looked out, he said,
it's so big. It's so big. The knowledge of
Christ, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. In Ephesians,
Paul declared that God had sent him to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ. You could think of a gold mine,
maybe, and you just go deeper and deeper, digging deeper and
deeper and deeper and deeper, and all you see is gold on this
side, gold on that side, gold as you go down, gold, gold, gold. The riches of the knowledge of
Christ. Paul said, there's nothing in
my estimation, in my opinion, there's nothing that can compete
with the knowledge, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. And number two, he states his
desire for this knowledge in verse 10, when he said that I
may know him. If you had asked the Apostle
Paul, he was in prison when he wrote this letter, if you had
been in a prison cell with him and you had asked him, Paul,
don't you know Christ? Don't you know Christ? Well,
of course he would have said, I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. He knew Christ. He knew him,
but his desire was the knowledge of Christ. To know him. This is what he means when he
says that I may win Christ. It doesn't matter, Paul says,
it doesn't matter what it cost. And evidently it cost him everything. He said he'd suffered the loss
of all things. Tradition tells us he lost his
family. They remained Jews. He lost his
kinfolks. He lost his standing in society. He became the off-scouring of
the world, an apostle of Jesus Christ. But he said, my desire,
nothing, nothing can compare to the knowledge of Jesus Christ
and cost me what it will. That's my desire, to know Christ,
to know Him. Now, I want us to look at some
benefits he mentions that came along with this present religion,
that is, knowing Christ. Now remember, his present religion,
it's all about Christ. It's not about some church denomination. It's not about some ceremony.
It's not about some rituals, some ordinances. It's all about
Christ. It's all in him. First of all, he says, to those
who know Christ as their all. Now don't overlook that. Those
who know Christ as their all. His righteousness is all, A-L-L,
all in their justification. Notice that in verse 9. And be found in him not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. It is Christ's faithful obedience. That's what he means by the faith
of Christ. The faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ in absolutely, perfectly obeying God's will, fulfilling
the law of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is received
by faith. He said, This is my desire to
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law. I'm not trusting in anything,
I'm not looking to anything for myself to be declared just by
an absolutely holy God, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ
and Him alone. The faith of Jesus Christ. Did you know that one of the
names whereby the Lord Jesus Christ is called is the Lord
our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness, Jehovah
Tiskanu. That's one of his names. He,
by his coming into this world, being made of a woman, born under
the law, he obeyed that law, he obeyed his father, he finished
the work which the father gave him to do. tells us that one
of the benefits of knowing Christ is free justification. Free justification, not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy. Paul's obedience from that moment
that he met Christ, Paul's obedience was not to obtain righteousness. He was given that righteousness.
It wasn't to obtain righteousness or attain righteousness. It was
because he was given the righteousness of Christ and the love of Christ
constrained him. You might say this is what Paul
had been looking for all of his life. All those things he mentions
there that were true of him in that Christless religion. What
was he looking for? What was he hoping for? He was
hoping, he was looking for a righteousness that would set him right with
God. And he couldn't find it in a
Christless religion. But when he came to know Christ,
He found that righteousness that God requires and that God imputes
unto all who believe. That word impute, it just simply
means that God counts. God counts. It's used to speak
of God taking the sins of His people and imputing them, counting
them unto Christ. He became charged with them.
And the righteousness of Christ, God takes that righteousness
and he imputes it, he counts it to be that of those who believe
in Jesus Christ. That's the first benefit Paul
mentions here. The second, to know Christ as
their all. And I remember, I think Brother
Scott Richardson said this one time, when someone asked him,
Is Christ enough? And he answered, if he's all
you have, he is. If he's all you have, he is. But if you're counting on him
and something else, no. No, it's Christ and Christ alone. He is all our righteousness. The second thing, to those who
know Christ as their all, His resurrection. Notice what he
says here in verse 10, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. Now, when Paul speaks about the
power, he doesn't mean the pure power, the force. that was involved
in Christ being raised from the dead. You know, we gauge power
by horsepower. We have a motor, electric motor,
it's a half horsepower, it's our horsepower. That's not what
he's speaking of here when he speaks about knowing the power,
the force of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What's he talking
about? He's talking about the virtue.
The virtue that is in Christ, that now that he's raised, he's
the living head. He's the living head of every
believer. We are members of his body. And the virtue flows from the
head to each and every one of his members. Paul desired this
virtue that is in Christ, his living head, to flow more and
more to him, day by day. I like the words of that hymn.
I've heard thy voice that told of thy love to me, but I long
to rise in the arms of faith and be drawn near, near to thee. to experience that virtue that
comes to us by being one in union with Jesus Christ. David, you
know these Old Testament saints, they knew this, they realized
this. There's only been one gospel.
David said, the Lord is the strength of my life. We don't have any
strength, any power to live for God, to serve God, but that power,
that strength, it flows to us, to the members, those who are
believers, it flows to us from our living head. That I might
know the power of His resurrection. You know, His resurrection, the
virtue of His resurrection has an influence upon our justification,
upon our resurrection in the future, upon our new birth, and
it has an influence upon our life day by day. Oh, Paul says that I may know
Him and may know the power of His resurrection. the virtue
in stirring up his affections. You know, sometimes, and I'm
sure I know you'll identify with this, sometimes our love for
Christ is greater, isn't it? It just seems warmer. Our desire
to serve Him, to honor Him, to glorify Him, and sometimes it
seems like it's not so warm, not so hot. It wanes. This is
what Paul is desirous of, the power, to know the power of his
resurrection, that that virtue that comes from Christ as his
living head would flow to him day by day, stirring up, stirring
up that grace that was in him. that He might both live and do. Paul said, God working in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This is what we
need. This is what I need. Every day, we sang that hymn.
I need Thee every hour. I need Thee every moment, don't
you? And I need that virtue, that
grace. that is in Christ to flow to
me, work in me, both to will. Give me a will. Give me a will
to serve thee. Give me a desire to serve thee,
both the will and to do of thy good pleasure. I don't have that
in myself naturally. That comes to me from my living
head. This is what Paul is talking
about. This is his present life, his religion that was Christ
and all of Christ. The third thing, he says to those
who know Christ as their all, his sufferings were for them.
Notice that also in verse 10. That I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. the benefits
and the blessings that come to me through His sufferings. His sufferings, He didn't suffer
for Himself. He didn't suffer for His own
sins. He had no sins of His own, but
He suffered for us. His sufferings, His agony, His
bleeding, His anguish, it was all for us. That I might know
the suffering, the fellowship of His sufferings. Realize that
those sufferings were for me. That when He suffered there on
the cross, He suffered for me. And this is what causes believers
to rejoice in so great a salvation. When He suffered there, He suffered
that I might be pardoned from my sin, that I might be reconciled
unto God, that I may have victory over sin, over death, and over
hell. And they all come to a believer
through his sufferings. Not through our obedience, not
through our merit, we have none. But they all come to us through
fellowship with His sufferings, through His sufferings. And number four, to those who
know Christ as their all, His death is also their death, being
made conformable unto His death. His death is also their death. He, as the head of his mystical
body, he died to the law, he died to sin, he died to the world. And we who were in him, we too,
we died to the law, we died to sin, and we died to this world. Paul deals with this especially
in Romans. But in chapter 6, he said, how
shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Are
we dead to sin? Absolutely. How? Through the
death of Jesus Christ. And the same thing concerning
the law. In Romans 7, you also are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ. How does a believer become
dead to the law? Because he's in union with Christ,
and when Christ died, we died in him. We died to sin. Sin shall no longer reign. It still remains, that's true.
But in our believers, it doesn't reign. It's not on the throne
anymore. And Paul tells us there in chapter
six of Romans, count that to be so. Consider that to be so. He said, well, I feel like sin's
very much alive in me. Well, no doubt you do, and no
doubt it is. But believe God, we're dead to
sin. Count it to be so. And the same
thing concerning the law, which cursed us. We don't have anything
to do with that curse of the law anymore. Why? Because Christ
was made a curse for us. And the same is true concerning
the world. In Galatians 6 and verse 4, Paul
said, by whom that is Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. Oh, that I might know Christ. I might know him. You say, well,
don't you know him, Paul? Oh, yes. I met him. I know him. I know whom I believe. But it's
so big. It's so big. His person, His
work, that I may know Him. I kind of get upset myself when
I hear people say, well, all we hear is Christ. Well, that's
all I want to hear. That's all I want to hear. Christ and Him crucified. That's
the message. of the Word of God. And here's a fifth thing. To
those who know Christ as their all, He gives them grace to forget
what is behind and to continue to reach forth. Let me say that
again. To those who know Christ as their
all, Christ is all. Those who know him as their all.
He gives them grace to forget what is behind and to continue
to reach forth. Now what is it that he gives
believers grace to forget that is behind? Well, if you've been
saved for a week or 10 years or 30 years and You've been serving
the Lord. You've been trying to honor God.
Forget all that. He gives you grace to forget
all that. Just forget it. You say, well, I thought... No,
forget it. And God's people do. Now, self-righteous
people, they like to keep a list. They do. They like to keep a
list and check off on this. I've done this, I've done that,
I've been faithful here, this, that, and the other, all these
years, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Forget it. Forget it. And God's people do forget it. Why? Because what we do, we do
out of love to Christ. We're not doing it to gain, to
earn. Look back over in Matthew chapter
25 a moment. I think we see this illustrated
to us. To those who have Christ as their
all, He gives grace to forget. Forget those things that are
behind. You know one of the problems
I've met people who have is they cannot or they will not forget
their free will religion. They just won't forget it. They
just keep hanging on to it. Forget it. Forget that. What's
important is that we look to Christ today. Someone says, well,
are you saved? I'm looking to Christ today.
I'm not running back to an experience I had 20, 25, 30 years, however
long it may have been. I've had a lot of experiences
during that time. I really have. Some of them have
been good. Some of them haven't been so good. But I tell you
one thing, Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,
looking to Him. That's how we are to run this
race, looking to, forgetting those things which are behind.
Here in Matthew chapter 25, when the Lord comes again and the
sheep are on His right hand and the goats are on His left hand,
notice in verse 34, it says, Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, You, blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
See, God prepared this for us. When he laid the foundation of
the world, he'd already prepared this kingdom for his people.
Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When
he laid the foundation of the world in the purpose of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ was already a lamb slain. Come, you blessed of my Father
inherited kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. For I was unhungered And you gave me meat, I was thirsty,
and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me in naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited
me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous say,
Oh, I remember that. I remember that time that I visited
you in the hospital. I remember that time that I took
food to you. No, no, no. Absolutely not. Forgetting those things which
are behind. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, I know you can't make a mistake. Lord, when shall we be hungered
and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee to
drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? You see, they
forgot all about it. They had done these things. Our
Lord tells them that. He said, And the king shall answer
and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have
done it unto me. Yes, they were active serving
the Lord. They were active serving Him,
but they forgot those things. They were not keeping a list
as though they expect, Well, I've done this, that, and the
other, so I'm going to get a bigger crown. than other people, no,
they forgot those things which were behind. Having Christ as
your all gives you that grace. Not only to forget those things
that are behind, but it gives you grace to reach, to continue
to reach forth. Reaching forth. Notice he says
that back in our text. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect. But I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus, just like a man in a race. He's
not looking back, looking over his shoulder. No, he's looking
up there at the finish line, the mark, the mark, and he runs. He extends himself. He gives
it everything he has. That's what Paul is talking about,
that I may apprehend that for which I have been apprehended.
The Lord apprehended you, Paul. What did He apprehend you to
be? To be conformed to the image
of Christ. You've been apprehended, predestined
to be conformed to the image of His Son. And until, Paul said,
until I reach that mark, I'm pressing on. I'm pressing on. to be conformed to the image
of Christ and enter into the joys of the Lord. I pray that God will bless these
words to all of us here today. Christ is all. I remember several
years ago, my wife and I, went to the funeral home and had the
arrangements made for our burial. And I came to that marker. And he said, what do you want
to put on there? I said, three words, Christ is
all. That's it, isn't it? Christ is
all. May he be all to each and every
one of us here today. I pray it so. Number 314.