Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to Philippians Chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3.
Beginning at the first verse.
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. 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.
Of he might trust in the flesh I more.
Circumcised, the 8th 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 lost for Christ.
Yeah, 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 to count them but dung, 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 face 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 am?
Entertain 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 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. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walked so as ye have us foreign in sample.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
Well, the Epistle to the Philippians, brethren, is not really a great unfolding of doctrine, but it is bringing a person before our hearts. And doctrine is surely very important. Scripture tells us that it's a good thing to be established in the truth, but nevertheless it's very important that we have a person before us, the person who said I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So we have the truth brought before us in this precious book and tells us in John, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. But I say again, it's very important that we should have the person who is the truth before our hearts. For as someone else has said, we could be just as clear as an icicle and just as cold. We could know a great deal of truth and not be affected by it. And so it's important that we not only lay hold of.
The truth of God, but also that we have the person, the Lord Jesus as the object before our hearts. And so this epistle to the Philippians, it's interesting in the ways of God that it comes between Ephesians and Colossians because Ephesians and Colossians are like 2 mountain peaks. He set before us a most precious truth, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ in Ephesians.
And then occupying us with the one who is head of the body of the Church, the head of all creation in Colossians. And in between we have a practical epistle that which would, I say, bring him before us. And each chapter brings him before us in a different way, as our life, as our example here in this third chapter as our object, and then in the last chapter as our strength. And so I just like to speak of this chapter tonight.
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And a very practical way, as it affects each one of us, and that we might be more occupied with this one, who is the object of Paul's heart.
The time Paul wrote this epistle that he was a prisoner, he wasn't in an easy pathway. He was in a very difficult pathway.
In the book of Ecclesiastes we find a man who was given everything that this world could give. He says, I withheld not my heart from any joy. He was king in Jerusalem. He had plenty of money. He had nothing to restrain him in doing the things that he thought would bring him happiness. And after trying them all, his his remark is all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
But when we come to the New Testament, we find a man deprived of all the things that might seem important in life. There he was in a Roman prison, wasn't getting justice, didn't have enough food, forgotten by his brethren. Well, it was everything to cast him down. But this chapter, more than any other, or this epistle, I should say, more than any other, brings before us that little word, Rejoice. How could he be happy? Well, he had a portion.
Outside of this world, the characteristic message in Ecclesiastes is under the sun, while what is characteristic of Philippians is someone who is occupied with an object above the sun. And friends, we all know only too well that things under the sun can't bring real happiness, but that which is above the sun, the Lord Jesus our Savior, and all that we have in him that can.
That does bring real happiness to our souls. And so he could say here finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. You know, I perhaps could say, rejoice in the Lord when everything is going well in my life, when I have health and when I have friends. It's easy to say it then, but I've often said God chooses even the very people whom he uses to write certain parts of his Word. He allows.
Him to be in this position where everything seemed to be wrong, and he uses him to show us that no matter what the circumstances of life may be, we can rejoice in the Lord. And so he goes on to say to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is sake, it is safe. And that is he never wearied of speaking about the Lord Jesus. Are we going to weary?
In heaven of speaking about him and singing about him and to him. Oh, of course not. That one will fill our hearts for all eternity. And you know when when you have a true friend, I've often said the test of a true friend is that you don't get tired of their company. But when you get tired of a person's company, there's something lacking in the friendship. But here we find that the apostle.
Get tired of speaking about Christ. He said it's not grievous to me to write and speak of these things again. And he said, moreover, it's safe. That is, it's safe for us because how easily the eye and the heart is turned away from him, how easily we can let other things creep in that turn our eyes away from Him. And so he gives a few warnings here.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. And I believe these three things are a present warning for us. In the scripture, dogs are used as a figure of shameless evil, shameless evil, and there's a great deal of it in this world today.
There are people seem to be doing things that are evil and wicked and they don't seem to have any shame they did them other time.
But they were ashamed. They hid. But now sin is coming right out into the open. And that's the warning here. We need to be careful, brethren, that we don't become accustomed to the sin with which we're constantly surrounded. We're never to lower the standard and say, well, I used to think that was a bad thing, an evil thing. But you know, since everybody's doing it, I've changed my opinion.
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People talk that way sometimes. God never lowers his standard. Never. And so we were Christians have to be careful we don't lower ours. Sin is sin in God's sight, and it's just as much sin in 1980 as it was in 1930. There's no difference. God hates sin, and God must punish sin. And so there's a warning here, and I say it for myself as well As for all of us here. Let's.
Be careful not to be accustomed to the evil. I believe there's a little of that thought in the verse that says be angry and sin not as that is, we ought to have the same feelings toward it. When the Lord Jesus looked around and saw the wickedness in this world, it says that he hates evil, can't look upon sin, and so this is a little warning to us and then beware of.
Workers, well, there's a great deal of false teaching going around today. People come to our doors. People are handing out literature that attacks the person and the work of Christ. And I believe we need to be warned that we don't get caught in the current of what's going on. It's sort of amazing to find that people who were once sound in the face, people who once were.
Very careful.
To maintain the glory of the person of Christ are being turned aside and we find those who even go as far as to teach that our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ could sin. Others are attacking the authority of the Word of God and we find this not only in the modernist places of the day, but these things are creeping in among those who profess to be.
In the faith, we need to beware then of evil workers. Satan has his messengers at work, and if he can't openly attack the word of God, he corrupts it. And so this is a little warning for us. And then beware of the concision. That's a little different word. The concision means cutting off. And you know, I believe it shows us that there's a danger of us becoming spiritually proud.
And it is. We can think, Oh, I wouldn't.
Do this. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do the other thing. And thank God if we have been kept from some of these things, but let's not say I wouldn't do it. My heart is capable of doing anything if the Lord doesn't keep me. And so, you know, there can be quite a bit of pride in the fact that we have cut off this and we've cut off that and this can come into our hearts and rob us of communion with the Lord.
And so these warnings are for us even today.
Say shameless evil, the corruption of the truth and religious pride. It's liable to come into any of our hearts, any one of these, for we are the circumcision which worship God in or by the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So it's not trusting the flesh, but we're told here have no confidence.
In the flesh, it's not saying, well, I can be in bad company, but it doesn't bother me. I can listen to all the evil teaching and it doesn't bother me. There's no danger of me getting puffed up with pride that all those things are present dangers for us because we have the flesh in us. And the circumcision was the thought of the lifting up of the knife upon self when the children of Israel entered the land of.
They were told to make sharp knives what for to use on the inhabitants of the land, not first. The sharp knives were to be lifted up on themselves before they started any conquest in connection with possessing the Lamb. And that's what we mean by self judgment. Self judgment we need to constantly be before the Lord and recognize the necessity of these words. Having no.
Confidence in the flesh tells us that God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
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When God condemned sin in the flesh, it was because there was number good.
In the flesh it says they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You don't condemn a thing that you expect to use part of it. You say, well, I think I can salvage part of it. But when you have a pile of rotten lumber and you condemn it utterly, you say it's nothing. It's no use except for the fire. It's no good. And that's what God has done. Someone said to Mr. Darby one time, Brother Darby, tell me how to study the Scripture.
I'd like to have a knowledge of the Word of God like you have. And his reply was study well 4 words. The flesh profiteth nothing. And you know we need to remember that always to keep the flesh in the place where God has put it. He condemns sin in the flesh. Our old man was crucified with him and so it tells us here.
We worship God in or by the Spirit that is.
Any praise that is acceptable to God is that which is produced in us by the Spirit. In other words, to put it very simply, it isn't how well we can sing. It isn't how well we can play an instrument. It isn't how well we can talk. God looks on the heart. Now, it's a privilege to be able to serve the Lord, but it's good for us to remember this, that worship, true Christian worship, is what is produced.
Us by the Spirit of God. And I'm not condemning nice singing, but I am saying that true worship isn't how well a person can sing, it's whether it comes from the heart and a child who can't perhaps keep the tune. Nevertheless, if its heart is rising up in praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord, that's true worship. We worship God by the Spirit. Little hymn expresses it.
O Lord, we know it matters not how sweet the song may be no heart, but of the Spirit taught makes melody to thee. So it says, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That is, we don't rejoice in a nice building, we don't rejoice in a in a big crowd and stained glass windows in Israel. They had all those outward things. What is Christianity?
It is all that has been produced by the spiritual of God we'd never come to.
Christ, unless we were drawn by the Spirit, we would never please Him unless the Spirit works in, and the only praise that is acceptable is by the Spirit. So we're told here, having no confidence in the flesh. It's a hard lesson for us, brethren, because naturally we like to give the flesh a place, and it's important that it comes in in the commencement of this chapter.
Because if we're going to have Christ as our object.
Shall I say he must hold that place without a rival, Little Hymn says, and reign without arrival there. He deserves that place and without any rivals.
Well, Paul had many things that he could have boasted in as a natural man. He was a very religious person. He was brought up in a very religious way and tells us about these things that he could have boasted in as a religious.
Man, he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, tribe of Israel, were the favored nation, the tribe of Benjamin, where it was the only tribe out of the whole 11 That remained faithful. When God set that light in Jerusalem and His king in Jerusalem, the other tribes all went away.
Judah was the one from whom the king came, and the only other tribe that remained.
Faithful was Benjamin, so he had something to boast about, and then too he was he followed the words circumcised the 8th day. And then it says too concerning as touching the law, a Pharisee. So the Pharisees, if we might put it this way, they were the orthodox group, and the Sadducees were like the.
Well, let's call them the modernists. They didn't believe in the resurrection.
They really attacked the foundation of the faith, but the Pharisees were orthodox. And what He is showing is that we might have all these things, might boast about them, and yet not have Christ and not have Christ. I say So Paul had everything religiously, but he was still without Christ, without Christ until it tells us in the seventh verse.
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But what things were gained to me?
Those I counted loss for Christ. Something wonderful happened on the road to Damascus. He was going down there in his mad zeal to persecute the church. Imagine a religious man and yet opposed to Christ and opposed to his claims. Doesn't it show us that people often talk about following their conscience?
Conscience, Paul said. I verily thought with myself, I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Now that is, a person could do a wrong thing with a good conscience. It says in John 16. The time cometh that they that kill you will think that they do God's service.
And we sometimes illustrated the conscience as like your eye.
You know, you might have very good eyes, you might have perfect vision, but it still stumble over the chairs if the light wasn't on.
There's nothing wrong with your eyes, but what you need is light. And it isn't until the light turns on that you see those things that you might stumble over and you might start walking and think you are perfectly clear and then you stumble over something. Nothing wrong with your eyes, but what you needed was the light. And so when people talk about doing things and following their conscience.
They're practically saying that they don't need the light of God's Word.
Is like a man saying, well, I've got good eyes. I don't need light in the room. Well, you know that's not true. If you have good eyes, you also need light. And thank God for a tender conscience. But remember, we need the word of God as light. It says the entrance of thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. So here was Saul of Tarsus. He was persecuting the church and yet he was.
Very religious.
And thought that he was doing the right thing, until the light above, the brightness of the sun shone down, and he became awakened to his true condition. And immediately he heard that voice from heaven saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Everything changed and the light had come. He was once walking on in darkness.
But now the light had shone on his pathway, and he says, Who art thou, Lord? The Lord Jesus answers, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And now he turns around and noticed the change. What things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. Those things that he once counted gain, now he counted loss.
All those things that he boasted in as a religious Jew.
And all his zeal.
At all. He found it all to be worthless in God's sight. And isn't it true that there are a lot of things that the natural man can boast in that have no value in the sight of God? It's only in the light of His presence that we get a right sense of values. It says in Proverbs, a false weight and a false balance are an abomination to the Lord.
And we all know this in business, if a man sells you something.
For a pound, and you weigh it when you get home and it's only 3/4 of a pound. You say he's a dishonest man. But sometimes we don't know how to have a right sense of value spiritually. We condemn the man who gives 3/4 of a pound and calls it a pound. And yet very often we have a false sense of spiritual values, and we need to get the right sense of values in the Lord's presence in.
The Lord's presence Now Paul got into the Lord's presence. Saul of Tarsus he was. Then he gets into the Lord's presence and he says, I've changed my sense of values altogether. The things that I thought were gained, now I count loss. And the thing that he counted gained was once what he considered loss. He had Christ now for his gain.
And then he says in the eighth verse, Yeah, 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 to count them but dumb, that I may win Christ.
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In the seventh verse, I believe he refers to the day of his conversion, because notice it's in the past tense. What things were gained to me? Those I counted as the past tense counted lost for Christ. But now he had been saved for a good many years, and he speaks in the present tense. Yeah, doubtless. And I count all things but loss.
That is, as he looked back, he only confirmed what he had decided.
That day and the road to Damascus, and even though he had suffered much for his life had not been an easy 1. He had been in and out of prison, he had been persecuted, he had been stoned, he had been beaten. But he still said it's worth it all I have Christ. So he hadn't changed his sense of values as time went on. In fact, he speaks an even stronger.
Language in this eighth verse, because in the seventh verse he says I counted loss, but in the end of the eighth verse he says and do count them but dung. It was one thing to count them lost, but as he goes on now he counts them positively repulsive to think that he once valued those things that kept him from Christ. He said, I'm ashamed of it. He said I count them not only.
Last, but he said, I count them objectionable, I count them something I don't want of anything to do with. So he says he had suffered the loss of all things, but he had now the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. It was everything to him that he knew Christ and he owned him as Lord.
In our society, when we don't have people, perhaps.
That we look up to and say, he's my Lord over in the in the societies of the Far East, why there were many slaves and the man who controlled him and who counted them as his, they were the slaves looked up to this man and called him my Lord because he had authority over him. A man was a slave and his Lord could tell him what to do and where to go.
He had complete authority.
Over him. And that's why Paul, after he was saved, he said I am a slave. Now. The word in our Bible, translated servant in the epistles is almost always slave. And he said I have made myself a willing slave and I have a person who's over me who gives me directions what to do. And he owned him as his Lord. I say we've kind of lost sight of that today.
In this day when?
People say nobody's going to boss me, nobody's going to tell me what to do. We've kind of lost the meaning of it, but it's still true. In Bible terms, friends, there is a person who has a right to tell us what to do. There is a person who has a right to exert authority over us, and we are to acknowledge his authority, his right over us. As it says, ye are not your own.
Ye are bought with a price.
So he says, Christ Jesus my Lord. And then he goes on in the ninth verse to say 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 is in the past. He was doing all these things to establish a righteousness for himself before.
God, he thought that if he did all those things that he was doing, and tried to do them to the best of his ability, that he was establishing his own righteousness. He says in the 10th chapter of Romans about his Jewish brethren, He said, they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
If sinners only knew what God required, they would throw up their hands and say, I can never provide a righteousness that is acceptable to God myself. Anybody that's trying to establish his own righteousness before God must be ignorant of what God requires, because He requires more than our best. He tells us in Isaiah 63 all our righteousnesses are as filthy.
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The best that we could produce in our natural state is only filthy rags before God. And so he says I was trying to establish my righteousness, but he said now I have the righteousness of God in Christ. He saw himself as one who had been cleansed from his sins and not only forgiven, but brought into an entirely.
New position before God, and I hope every believer in this room has laid hold of that. It's a wonderful thing. It's much more dear friends, than just being forgiven.
I've often said I might do something wrong to you and you might forgive me, but that wouldn't set me at ease in your presence. Every time I met you, I would perhaps have the feeling, very likely would have the feeling that I wonder what he thinks of me. He's forgiven me, all right, but maybe he looks on me as a forgiven thief or something like this. I couldn't be at ease in your presence if that's all you did for me. Just forget.
Me and many Christians don't realize that God has done more than just to forgive us, and that's why they're not really at liberty in His presence. They don't feel liberty to come before Him because they don't see that when the Lord saved us, He not only forgave us, dear friends, but He put us in His presence.
In all the acceptance of his own beloved son, that's what it means.
In Romans when it says justification of life, God places you when he says you're before Him in a life that never sinned and cannot sin, because he sees you in Christ, the righteousness of God in him. It's not just his righteousness put to our account, but as Christ himself is our righteousness.
Before God, it couldn't be any more perfect than it is.
And that is our standing. And then more too. It says holy and without blame before him. That would be wonderful if it just stopped there. But it's more than that. Holy and without blame before him in love. What a standing den we have been brought into. Well, let's rejoice Paul's heart. This made him a happy, rejoicing Christian to know.
That he didn't know any longer. Have his own righteousness. He was the righteousness of God.
God in Christ, and the result was his heart now fully at ease in the Lord's presence. He wanted to know Him better.
Why, if someone acted like that towards you when you had seriously wronged them and they not only forgave you, but they brought you right into their favor and said, well, I'm going to make you a joint heir of my estate. That's how much I think of you and where heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ, wouldn't you say, well, I just want to know that person better?
That's a wonderful person. The better I know them, the better I like them. Well, that's what.
Paul meant here that I may know him. He really wanted to grow in the knowledge of his Lord and Savior. And I say this if you and I only realize what a wonderful Savior we have, and we would want to know Him better too. We just delight to learn more of Him. Grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And so he goes on, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. That is, He not only wanted to become better acquainted with this blessed Savior about, He speaks here of the power of His resurrection.
I believe the thought here is that he desired to display in his life that resurrection life for believers possess life in a risen Christ and he wanted to know that there's a little hymn expressed as it kind of nicely. Oh teach a soul the power to know I've risen life with thee not we may live while here below, but Christ our life may be.
I've.
Sometimes thought that when it tells us that when the Lord Jesus rose, that there were bodies of the Saints which slept.
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And they arose and they came into the holy city after the Lord's resurrection and appeared unto many. I see a little picture in that of what we should be in this world. If you had been in Jerusalem and you had met one of these people and said, Oh, how? How come you're alive again? Oh, he would say, I live because Christ.
Rose and so as these people appeared in the city of Jerusalem.
In the power of the life of a risen Christ. And that's the way you and I ought to be in this world. Sometimes people see old self in us. They shouldn't though. Paul said that the life of Jesus might be seen in our bodies. And so Paul desired this. He wanted to manifest in his life, risen life. And it's the power of his resurrection.
I believe it's the same thought as when the Lord breathed on them in resurrection.
And there he gave them resurrection life. And that's what you possess. That's why the Lord said also I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. You and I have resurrection life. Paul desired that this might be manifestly true in his life. Well, it's not going to be an easy pass if that is so, because he immediately falls with the fellowship of his.
The Lord Jesus walked through this world to please His Father. Was everyone glad to see the life that he lived before them? Oh no.
They persecuted him, they laughed him to scorn, and they despised him and finally crucified him. And what Paul is saying here, I know only too well that if I display the life of Jesus, I'll have a life of suffering too. The Lord Jesus said if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
And if you and I want to be like Christ.
We all find that we can't have an easy life through this world. The world will not want us any more than they wanted our Savior. And so Paul Speaking of Christ as his object here, and he says that I may know him, 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 or it's the out resurrection.
From the dead, he's speaking here of the path of following Christ. And he knew that this path might lead ultimately to his being put to death. And that's actually what happened. As we know, he was martyred, he was put to death, but he said, I want to be like the one who is the object of my heart and he.
He was here in this world, and his path was one of suffering.
He was put to death. And he said, if I am put to death, even if they put me to death, he said, I'll experience the power of his resurrection and bring me out from among the dead. So perhaps the enemy might have whispered in Paul's ear and Paul and said, Paul, if you try to please the Lord too much, you'll be martyred. You'll be put to death by Nero. And he said, that's all right, My Lord was put to death.
Of course, there's no thought of Paul suffering an atoning death. The Lord was alone in that. But it says.
That be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. And so Paul here desired to be like the one who was the object of his heart. And if it meant suffering, if it meant death, it was just that much more like his Lord and Savior.
Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect. I will not be perfect until we get home to glory. But he said, I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
The thought here, that I may apprehend the thought, is lay hold of. Paul desired in his soul to lay hold of.
The purpose that the Lord had in laying hold of him. When the Lord laid hold of me as a Sinner on the road to hell, and he put his hand on me and saved me, what did he save me for? To make me a successful businessman, to make me a great man in the in the politics of the country. No, what did he save me for? Well, He saved me to be like his.
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To God save me.
To be like Christ, that was his purpose and he is going to produce that.
Ultimately, when we get home to glory, we're going to be like Christ fully morally and physically. The end of the chapter speaks of being physically like Him. What he's talking about here is being morally like Him. And he said like this, I want to lay hold in my soul of the purpose that the Lord had in laying hold of me. And so he said I'm not already perfect, but he said that is what I desire.
Do we desire that? Do we desire that we would be like Christ, that we would really lay hold of the purpose that he had in picking us up? And too often we get thinking about our own interests, but would to God that we realized that he saved us as we sang in our opening hymn to be fully conformed to Christ, as it says in Romans chapter 8.
Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. And then it says that we might be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what God had in mind, shall I say, in saving us, while Paul desired that this would be so.
But he said in the third verse, I count not myself to have apprehended. Have any of us fully laid hold of this? Well, I'm sure if we had, we'd be more Christ like, we'd be living more for Him. But he said this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
He says.
Said I don't say that I have apprehended fully, but he said I I want to do one thing.
You find those two little words quite often in the Scripture. One thing Paul said here, One thing I do, the Lord Jesus said to the rich young ruler, One thing thou likenest, the psalmist said. One thing have I desired of the Lord, the Lord said to Martha.
One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part.
Which shall not be taken away from her. And so the Christian's life ought to be characterized by one thing.
That is to have Christ before him. So here Paul says one thing I do. He had a a race before him. And it was like those ancient runners when they ran in a race, the prize was at the end of the race. And they ran with the race, with the prize before them. And their whole desire was to be the one to get to the end of that race, to get the prize. Well, that was the way Paul thought of.
Himself as going through this world, it wasn't a prize to what the world would say climbed to the top and the business world or in the political world or in the entertainment world or the world of money. No, that wasn't his desire at all. His desire was to come to the end of the race and be fully conformed to Christ. And he was pressing on in life.
With that before him. And so he says.
Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, he doesn't turn around to see if he was doing better than somebody else. No, his whole object was that he was pressing on for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. That is, he just wanted to be in the presence of and like the one who was.
Object of his heart. It isn't so much here the thought of forgetting past failures because we know he didn't it tells us it tells us very often he speaks of how he persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. He said he was the chief of sinners. He said to the Ephesians wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh and so it's.
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Good thing for us to remember the rock from whence we were hewn and the pit from whence we were dig. Good for us to remember our failures because they helped to keep us humble. I don't mean to be occupied with them, but I do mean that we should always, as we look back, we should not be patting ourselves on the back, but just praising the Lord for His goodness and grace that's been so patient with us.
But there is a danger of us looking back and boasting.
I remember I was in a meeting one time and I heard a brother give a little bolst and he said I haven't missed a prayer meeting for 50 years except for health. And he said I don't tend to miss it one either. Well, within about two years he was away from the Lord's table. Well, you know, brethren, we can't make boasts like that. We need to If there's been anything in your past or mine for the.
Of God, let's forget it. I often say, if you've done something for the Lord, forget it because God won't. He says he's not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, but if he have failed in the past, he says remember that because I've forgotten it. Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more. I really believe that if we were more humble about what?
How the Lord has had to be so gracious.
To us, why we'd want to keep nearer to him, our only place of safety. But there is always a danger. You remember, dear Gideon, mightily used of God in a great victory over the Midianites. But what was his downfall in the end? Why, he said, give me all the all the necklaces and so on of your prey. And he took all this jewelry and everything, and he made an effort and put it in his house.
As though he wanted to tell everybody, here's the remembrance of my big victory. And that became a snare to him. Oh, let's, let's remember God has the record, but our place is to remember his patient grace with us, how he's born with us along the journey. So when he says forgetting those things which are behind, it's that he didn't want to look back and boast.
But rather look on and have his eyes upon Christ in glory.
And press on toward the mark. You know very well if you're going to break a path through a field of snow or if you're going to make a a straight furrow with the plow, you've got to have your eye on an object on the other side of the field. And you've got to keep your eye on that object if you intend to make a straight path. And so it is. We need to keep our eyes on Christ in glory.
So he says. I press toward the mark.
For the prize of the high calling of God, or the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus, So he says, Let us therefore as many as be perfect. Be thus minded. The thought in the word perfect in this 15th verse is the thought of full growth. What characterizes full growth in the things of God is having Christ as the object.
I say is not that we can say, well here I've got two or three.
I've got two or three diplomas, and I think that's a pretty good sign that I know something. Oh no, it's not that at all, dear friends. It's having Christ as the object before us, and His Word as the guide for our pathway. So he says. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
We learn the truth of God lying upon line, precept upon.
Precept here a little and there a little.
And if we differ, it's not because God teaches us differently, it's because we don't sufficiently have Christ as our object and His Word is our guide. Do you think we're going to have different thoughts about the things of God when we get to heaven? Why, It's inconceivable, dear friends, because the Spirit leads us into all truths. Where is the hindrance then, if the Spirit?
Leads us into all truths. How is it that some may see the truth and some not? Well, certainly not that the Spirit isn't willing. The hindrance must be. It always is on our part, dear friends. So he says, let us be thus minded, that is, have Christ before us, have his word as our guide. And then if there's something that we didn't see at first.
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God shall reveal even this unto you.
And often when we have just taken the humble place before him, he shows us things we hadn't seen before. Have often said the Bible is not a textbook. The Bible is written for willing hearts, willing hearts. If he be willing and obedient, he shall eat the good of the land. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. And so it's written for willing hearts.
God shall reveal even this unto you. This is a good promise, brethren. And so I believe very often, when there are things where we don't see eye to eye, if we would just take that humble place and seek to be before him, why the Lord can work things out. God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, He said, whereto we have already attained, Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
In other words, in the Christian race, everyone is not in exactly the same point of progress. John addresses the babes and the young men and the fathers. And so, you know, in the family of God, that's the way it is. There are babes, there are young men, and there are fathers. And the Lord leaves a son step by step, and he says.
Let us.
Walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Suppose now meet someone. He doesn't see something just the same as I have seen from the scripture. What am I to do? Well, I tell them, well I'll show you why I believe this way. And I show them from the scripture, and then I say, well, you just look to the Lord. And I'm sure that if we both look to the Lord.
He'll show us his mind and his will now. It's very blessed in these things, brethren.
Now that God delights to have us to go on together of one mind in the Lord.
Now in the end of the chapter he compares the two paths and it's very sad what he has to bring in here. At the end of this beautiful chapter he shows that there are two paths and it tells us here about the path pressing on with Christ as the object glory before us. And then he speaks of the path that is trodden by the people of the world.
And where are they going?
The end is destruction because God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame.
Now it's perfectly possible that a Christian can get on the wrong path, but God will never let him go to the end of it. You know, sometimes in my travels I've got on the wrong Rd. but usually when I get on the wrong Rd. somehow by checking the map or someone telling me, I find out and I turn around and go back and you know, God is faithful.
He's never going to let one of his.
Go to the end of the past that this world is treading the end for this world is destruction. But a Christian who is going along with the world, it says in James, it says whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. And it's a sad thing when a Christian.
Gets so taken up with worldly things that he becomes identified with the.
Shroud that's going down in the wrong direction. I say God won't let one of his own go to the end. It says whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He didn't let lot go to the end. Lot chose to live in a city that was destined to be destroyed and even when the Lord mercifully.
Allowed him to be carried away, and Abraham came down and helped him. He still went back and built a house in Sodom. Previous to that he lived in tents, and now he goes down.
And he's got a house inside him now. So the Lord sends the the 2 angels down to Sodom. And they said to Lot we can't do anything Lot till you get out of this place. Now a Lot didn't perish in Sodom, but certainly he lived in Sodom too long and he saw the whole place go up in flames.
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He says it was just like the smoke of a furnace going on. Poor lot.
He had a saved soul but a lost life. And so he's comparing the two paths. And Lot was a real believer. Scripture says he was a righteous man, but he chose to live in a place that was doomed for destruction. He chose to, shall I say, find his fortune in that place. And he saw it all come to an end. But how different with Abraham. He was up on the top of the mount, communing with God, interceding for Lot, well, the two paths.
Set before us here, Paul says there's a path that leads through this world with Christ in glory at the end, and there's a path that leads to destruction. And he said it made him weep to see Christians just like Abraham as he was up there on the top of the mount. He was interceding, Lord, he didn't want Lot to perish in that city. He was interceding for him. And that's what I believe.
Paul is doing here. He's he's in tears.
As he sees those who are going on that way, but then he turns around and he speaks of the happy ending for the believer. He says, for our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all.
Sings unto himself, He's been speaking about being like Christ in a moral way that is living to please Him now. He shows what is the happy end for that past, not only to be in the presence of the one we love, but to be like Him physically. And these bodies of humiliation that we possess here, it says they'll be changed, and it says fashioned like unto his glory.
And so it tells us in Second Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul is speaking about the Lord Jesus coming again. And I love the way it's put there. It says when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day, that is.
I like to think of it this way, brethren, that when the Lord, he's going to come and take us up, he's going to take.
One of his own up and then he's going to come back with his own and he's going to display us to the world. And he said these are the ones that I picked up and he's not going to display us with all our faults and failures. We were talking about how they're going to have to be reviewed and rewards will be given at the judgment seat of Christ. But when he displays us to the world, he'll be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe he'll see.
The world will see us with Christ.
Supremely blessed with Him. Well, as we think of this, doesn't it touch our hearts? Doesn't it make us realize that there are two paths through this world?
Which one do we desire to trod? The one where we mind earthly things, where we live for our own interests? Or is it our desire instead to live for the interests of Christ, to desire to be like him morally as we wait the day when he gives the shout and then we like him physically? Well, I say again, what a privilege to go on in this world with a right object, with a right sense of values before our souls.
US and that object for our souls is Christ, and all proper evaluation of things is how does it compare with Christ? Well, may the Lord grant it will be so in our lives for his glory.