Bibles this day to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 and let's
begin our reading in verse 12 through verse 16. 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 perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,
let us mind the same thing. The title of the message this
morning is taken from two words in verse 13, One Thing. one thing. The Apostle Paul says
that he did and the reason for that is that he might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Now that takes us back
to verse 11. This is where we ended our study
last time when he said, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead. Let me remind us again that Paul
is not doubting, he's not questioning that he would be raised from
the dead. He confessed this in Acts chapter
22, I believe it is, in verse 23. That there is a resurrection
of the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about
this in John chapter 5 when he said, The hour cometh when the
dead which are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of
God and they that hear shall come forth. Now there's one resurrection. I know we live in a day when
people like to say there's resurrection of the just and resurrection
of the wicked and another resurrection. But listen to me. The Bible teaches
there's one resurrection. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
in that one resurrection, some will be raised and it is referred
to as the resurrection of the just. They are just. They are
righteous. But then at that same time, there
is a resurrection unto damnation, men and women who do not know
the Lord. shall be raised. Their bodies
shall be raised, all men. There is a resurrection of the
dead. There's a day coming. There's
a trump going to sound. The last trump, the last day,
and the dead shall be raised. Those who are saved shall be
raised to spend eternity with Christ. Those who are lost shall
be raised to be cast into hell fire, both body and soul. So when Paul here says that he
had not yet attained unto the resurrection of the dead, he's
not talking about the fact that all men will be raised. He confessed
that. He believed that. He taught that.
The total person, soul and body, that Christ has redeemed one
day shall be with Christ. This is what he means by attaining
to the resurrection of the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ said this,
then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their father. There is a day coming when both
body and soul shall be in the presence. I'm talking about believers
now, those who know Christ. There's a day coming when both
body and soul. Christ redeemed the whole man,
the whole person, not just our soul, but He's also redeemed
our bodies. Now our bodies, it's true, will
lie in the dust and turn back to the dust, but He's going to
quicken, He's going to raise our mortal body. sown in incorruption,
but it's going to be raised, or sown in corruption, rather,
but it's going to be raised in incorruption. It's sown in weakness,
it's going to be raised in power. And so this is what Paul has
reference to when he says, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead, that I may attain to that resurrection
and be with Christ and share with Him and His glory. A place where we will not only
be like Christ, but a place where sin cannot come, where the curse
is removed and shall never be known again. Now, in the verses
we're looking at today, Paul continues to use the metaphor
of a runner. runner as he did in verse 8 when
he said that I may win Christ. Now in verses 13 and 14 he says,
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,
reaching forth and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now I want to make four
observations from these verses. First observation, Paul, like
all of God's elect, are apprehended of Christ Jesus. Let me say that
again. Paul, like all of God's elect,
are apprehended of Christ Jesus. Notice that in verse 12, when
he said, 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. We talk, we
use the word apprehension many times in reference to criminals. They are apprehended. They're
accused or thought to be guilty of a crime and the police, the
law, they apprehend the person. Well, Paul uses that same word,
the same English word here in the translation at least. It
means to lay hold. When the police apprehend a person,
they lay hold of that person. And my statement is, Paul, like
all of God's elect, are apprehended of Christ Jesus. Now for the
Apostle Paul, it was on the road to Damascus. He was not looking
for God. Just the opposite is true. And
yet he was apprehended of Christ Jesus. And that is true of everyone
of God's elect. Sometime, somewhere between the
cradle and the grave, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to apprehend,
He's going to lay hold upon each and every one of those whom the
Father gave Him in that eternal covenant of grace. It was not
Saul of Tarsus first laying hold of Christ Jesus, but it was Christ
Jesus who first laid hold of Him. And the same is true of
every one of God's people. We love Him. If you love Christ
today, and you know if you love Him or not, you say, well, preacher,
I don't love Him like, I didn't say that. I didn't ask you if
you love Him like you want to love Him or like you should love
Him, but do you love Him? We love Him because He first
loved us. He first loved us. He first laid
hold upon us, and then we lay hold upon Him. Our safety, the
believer's safety, is not our keeping hold of Christ, but of
Christ keeping hold of us. Peter wrote in his official that
we are kept by the mighty power through faith unto salvation. Now Saul's conversion experience
was more dramatic than others. There's no question about that.
But this fact is still true. God's elect, each and every one,
are all apprehended of Christ Jesus. As I said, Paul's conversion
experience was more dramatic than others, but the same is
true of everyone who is converted. We are all apprehended by Christ
Jesus. Many of God's elect have been
apprehended in a service like this. In a service just like
this. No one can see it. No one knows
it other than God and the person that he lays his hand upon, he
lays hold upon. Zacchaeus, he was apprehended
when he was up in the sycamore tree. Come down. Matthew, he
was at work, wasn't he? He was sitting at his desk at
the receipt of customs and the Lord Jesus passed by and said,
follow me. He was apprehended. You know, I think about this
when Samuel, he was apprehended when he was a young man, a young
boy. I'm not sure how old he was,
but the Lord called him. And because he was not familiar
with the voice of the Lord, he thought it was Eli calling him.
And so he jumped up and ran and asked Eli why he called him. It wasn't Eli at all. And on
the third time that he did that, the old prophet Eli, the old
priest rather, Levi, Eli, told him, next time you hear that
voice, you say, speak Lord. Speak Lord. And he heard him. He was apprehended. You remember
when Elijah was in that cave, running for his life, and the
Lord passed by, first of all, in a wind, and the wind was so
great, I know it was shaking everything, but God was not in
the wind. And then the Lord passed by in
an earthquake, and the rocks were rent, but the Lord was not
in the earthquake. And then a fire came by. But
the Lord was not in the fire. And then the Lord spoke to him
in a still, small voice. He may be apprehending someone
here this morning. He may be speaking to you in
a still, small voice. He may give you that desire to
know Him, to follow Him. Where did that come from? I tell
you, it did not come from a hard heart. It came from a new heart,
a new heart, a heart that He gives His people. He apprehends
each and every one of His elect. In being apprehended, it means,
of course, that we are called. If you look down in verse 14,
he said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. This call we refer to as an effectual
call. Effectual just simply means it
gets the job done, doesn't it? When he calls, it gets the job
done. He apprehends. He lays hold upon
His people. It's called a high calling because
where is the Lord Jesus Christ today? Where is He? He's seated on the right hand
of the Majesty on high. Yes, He calls by His Spirit. It's a high calling because He
calls by His Spirit from the throne of glory. And it's called
a high calling because we are called into a kingdom of grace
and glory. They always go together. Right? Always, when He calls you, He
calls you into a kingdom of grace, first of all. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But
along with that call into this kingdom of grace, there's a call
that goes with it to a kingdom of glory. Glory, to be with the
Lord in His presence. So my first observation is, Paul,
like all of God's elect, are apprehended of Christ Jesus. And I asked you this morning,
have you been apprehended? Has he laid hold upon you? Has
he? Has he given you a love for him
and for his word and for his praise and for his service and
a desire to know him, to follow him? as he apprehended you. You know, thinking back about
this, one of the greatest preachers, I read this this past week, that
in the Church of Scotland, I could call his name but I won't, but you know when the Lord apprehended
him? While he was preaching. while he was preaching. He'd
already studied for the ministry and been ordained and was preaching
when God called him. I think in heaven we're going
to be surprised, don't you? If we are allowed to hear the
various experiences of God's people when we were called. When the Lord laid his hand upon
me, he reached down his hand for me. There's a hymn that goes
by that title. When he reached down his hand
for me, he reached way down. But he apprehends his people. Now my second observation is,
Paul, like all of God's elect, are apprehended to apprehend
the prize. All of God's elect, like Paul,
are apprehended, yes. The Lord lays his hand upon them,
and those who are apprehended are all apprehended to apprehend
the prize, to lay hold upon the prize. Notice that in verse 14,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. Now this prize, like a runner,
he's still speaking using this metaphor of a runner. And they
had the Olympic games back in that day, and Paul evidently
was familiar with the games because he uses this in several epistles,
both of wrestling and running. But they ran to receive a crown. And it was just a crown of laurel,
made out of laurel bush. But it meant everything because
everyone recognized that that person had won the race. That
was the prize. But now the prize that Paul is
speaking of is not a corruptible crown, a crown that you could
put on your head. It might be green today and start
turning brown and fade and fade and fade away. No, no, the crown,
the prize is a crown of righteousness, a crown of life, an incorruptible
crown. A crown of glory. Look with me
over in 2nd Timothy. 2nd Timothy chapter 4. Very familiar passage to all
of us. 2nd Timothy 4 beginning with
verse 6. The apostle said, For I am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I
have finished my course. There it is, a race. I've finished
my course, my race. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. That's the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A crown
of glory, a crown of righteousness. An incorruptible crown. And notice he says, and not to
me only. but unto all them also that love
his appearing. I know sometimes people say,
well I'm not sure if I really love his appearing, his second
appearing. Let me ask you this. Do you love
his first appearing? Aren't you so thankful that God
came into this world as a man? that He appeared once in the
end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. I tell you, if you love His first
appearing, you love His second appearing. Look over with me
in 1 Peter, just a moment. 1 Peter chapter 1. This prize,
it's an incorruptible crown. You know, everything in this
world is temporal, isn't it? And everything fades. Fade faith,
each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. He doesn't fade. How many of you adults here today
bought a new car? At least once or twice in your
life. And you just desired that car
and finally you got up enough nerve to go down there and put
yourself through that experience and bought a new car. And it
just has a new car smell. Of course, they sell that in
a bottle. It's a lot cheaper to buy a bottle. But you get
that new car, and it's so shiny and clean and smells like a new
car, but it begins, when you drive it off the lot, it's already
depreciated a tremendous amount. And then, as the days go by,
it becomes old hat, doesn't it? It fades. This is an incorruptible
crown. 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now notice, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. Those who are called are born
of the Spirit of God, he says, who hath begotten us again unto
a living hope through the resurrection of Christ. It's through the new
birth that we are brought into this kingdom. And let me tell
you something, my friend, you know this, but there's a mansion,
or a dwelling place, that has your name on it. There's a crown,
there's a harp that is reserved for you in heaven for everyone
whom the Lord has apprehended. We will apprehend that for which
we were apprehended. No one else, no one can take
your place in heaven. The one for whom it is prepared
will surely be there. Our Lord told his disciples,
come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. From the foundation
of the world. Names written in the Lamb's book
of life from the foundation of the world. Christ's sheep. That's what we're
talking about. God's elect. Christ's sheep.
Members of His body. His bride. All of these terms
speaking of the same people. Those who were given to Him.
But Christ's sheep are in His hand and no one is able to pluck
one of them out of it. For He said, My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. If you've been apprehended by
Christ, then you will apprehend that for which you were apprehended. That is eternal glory with Christ. The third observation. Paul,
back in our text. Now Paul, like all of God's elect,
never attained perfection in this life. That's what he said
in verse 12. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect. Now, let me explain something
here. Paul, like all of God's elect,
never attained perfection in this life. But look down to verse
15. Let us therefore as many as be
perfect. What does he mean? Not as though
I had already attained, were already perfect. Then he says,
as many as be perfect. In verse 15 he is using this
word perfect in the sense of maturity. When compared to some
believers who did not have the same growth of grace and knowledge
and experience as the Apostle Paul, he was a mature Christian. He was perfect. And when he said
in this text, verse 12, not as though I were already perfect,
he's not talking about his justification either. Because, you see, a person
is either justified or he's not justified. There's no middle
ground. And every person who is justified
is justified in the same way. And this morning, those of us
who are justified, we are just as justified as the Apostle Paul
was. Listen to this verse in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. And such were some of you, and
you know the context there, he just named a list of evil, wickedness,
sinfulness, and he said, and such were some of you. But you
are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Now, we're
washed, justified, sanctified, all in the same way. all in the
same way, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Well then, what does he mean
here in our text? As though he had not attained
unto perfection. His knowledge was not perfect.
He said that. He said we know in part. His
knowledge was not perfect. His faith was not perfect. Our faith, my faith is certainly
not perfect. Our Lord told that woman, great
is thy faith, O woman. But he told his disciples, O
ye of little faith. It's not our faith being little
or great, it's our faith is in Jesus Christ, the great Savior
of great sinners. He was not perfect in love. John
says, ?Perfect love casteth out all fear.? Someone says, ?Well,
sometimes I?m still afraid. I have fear.? That shouldn?t
surprise you. Do you think you have perfect
love? Read about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. There?s only one
who has ever walked on the face of God?s earth who has who had
the love as it is described in 1st Corinthians 13, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is love. Love never faileth. You think that could be said
of any son of Adam? That we have a love that could
never fail? I don't think so. He did. He does. He is love. He's God. His joy, Paul's joy,
was not perfect. I'm sure sometimes he got discouraged,
maybe, when he was in prison and it looked like, as he tells
us in one epistle, no one stood with me. He had not attained, he was not
already perfect in these graces of the Spirit. And certainly
he had sin dwelling in him because in Romans 7 he said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? So Paul, like all of God's elect,
never attained perfection in this life. There are those who
claim it. And maybe, I don't know, but
maybe there were some false teachers who had come to Philippi and
who were actually teaching that they were perfect. That they
were not guilty of any sin. That they were so sanctified
that they didn't know what it was to have sin in their life. You've met some people like that,
haven't you? I have, not many, not many, but
a few. And there are some denominations,
whole denominations who teach that it is possible for a person
in this life to arrive at sinless perfection, to have a second
work of grace, a second experience of grace, and to be without sin. And yet John the Apostle said,
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation
for our sins. My fourth observation, Paul's
one thing should be the one thing of all of God's elect. When I
read this text, I was reminded of David's one thing. Psalm 27,
when he said, one thing have I desired of the Lord that will
I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
inquire in his temple. I also thought about the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ that he spoke to Martha. You remember
Martha and Mary in the Gospel of Luke, and our Lord visited
their house, and Martha got all concerned and troubled about
serving food and taking care of all of this. And here's her
sister, Mary, and she's sitting at the feet of Jesus. Every time
Mary is mentioned in the Scriptures, she's always at the feet of Jesus. And our Lord told Martha when
she complained about her sister. He said, but one thing is needful. You're covered, Martha, about
many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary has chosen
that good part which shall not be taken away from her. Now,
one thing, what does he mean, one thing? People say, well,
that means Christ. No, Christ is not a thing. Christ
is a person. That one thing was the Word of
God. That's where she was, sitting
at the feet of Jesus. She had chosen that one thing
that's needful. We must hear God's Word. Now, let me close, if you will,
in verse 13 by just breaking down that statement where he
says one thing. Number one, I count not myself
to have apprehended. I fully acknowledge, the Apostle
Paul says, that I have not yet arrived. And by that, of course,
he means to the resurrection of the just, to perfection, to
being with Christ. I acknowledge that. Number two,
I forget those things which are behind me. Now all of the writers
are in agreement that what he means by all things, he forgets
all things that are behind him. He's not talking about his sin,
his sinful life, and things like that. God's forgotten that. But I tell you, God brings things
to our mind, doesn't He? To humble us. He does. What Paul means when he says
that he's forgotten those things behind, he means from the time
that Christ laid hold upon him and he put his hand to the plow.
He had been serving the Lord, but he forgot about all those
things. All those things. He wasn't at a place where he
could rest on his service to the Lord. He had, he forgot about
those things. I press toward the mark. That's
the last thing. I press toward the mark. Race
runners in a race look toward the mark. They don't look back. They look toward the mark. They
look toward the mark. And in this case, the mark is
Christ our Lord. He's the forerunner. He's the
captain of our salvation. I press toward the mark. As he wrote in Hebrews chapter
12. looking unto Jesus. Let us run the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. He looked to Christ, to God,
to encourage him in this race. knowing that he is the only way
to the prize, the prize of the high calling of God, which is
in Christ Jesus, one day to be with him and to be like him. I pray the Lord would enable
me and you that all of us might be like Paul. Have one thing,
one thing. Not many things, but one thing. Forgetting those things which
are behind, pressing, pressing toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To be like him,
to be with him. Everything else, secondary. He must be first. I pray the
Lord would