Knowing the Risen Christ | Philippians 3:8-11 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 04/05/26

Yes, indeed. The power of Christ is our

only true hope. And so this morning, we

come to the word of God, which has the

power of God in it. If you don't have a

sermon outline, please lift your hand.

These guys, we may need some on the

front row here, guys. Come on up. Um,

make sure you get one. Maybe you didn't

know to get one. In the life of our

church, we study the Bible. down at the

beach was the first time that we ever

used the program uh this morning to

actually help me preach. But we believe

in studying the Bible. We believe that

you don't need to hear what a pastor has

to say. You need to hear what God has

already said. And so this morning we

come to his word. Now we want to devote

a few minutes to look and to hear from

him. And uh this morning this morning

the title of the message is knowing the

risen Christ. Knowing the risen Christ.

And I have this slide just simply

because it has that tomb that the stone

was rolled away in the risen Christ

emerged from the tomb um in victory over

sin and death. And so this is part of

the picture that we have this privilege.

Now I know that some of you have some

sports heroes. Some of you have um

business heroes. Some of you have uh

other types of heroes in your life. Um

maybe heroes from the past. Um I think

about uh people that I have admired from

afar and I've learned about them and

read about them. um people that are

alive today or maybe people from the

past. And I just think about this. I

think about how much I would love to

know them. Now, my dad was an engineer

and he was an engineer from Georgia

Tech. He was really smart and he was

really sharp. He is still alive. He

still is doing great. Um but dad as

kids, he loved inventions and he loved

unique tools. He loved unique things

that somebody came up with. And he would

always ask me this. He would say,

"Andrew, I wonder what Leonardo da Vinci

would think of that." Leonardo da Vinci

was not only a painter, he was also

what?

>> An inventor. He was a scientist. I mean,

he was a biologist. I mean, it was

amazing how he was. Marcy and I actually

went to Vincy, Italy, and we saw the

village where Leonardo da Vinci was

from. Um, very, very interesting. So,

I've often wondered, what would Leonardo

da Vinci think of the the space shuttle?

What would he think of a 747? What would

he think about these things? And I I

would just kind of marvel at that. And I

and I could only wonder because I can't

know him, right? He's this great figure

from the past. Maybe some of you would

look at your sports hero, your your

person that you know all about their

life. You know all about their you you

know all about their statistics. You

know all about their victories. You know

about their their injuries. You know all

about their maybe there's various other

maybe even movie stars that you really

resonate with. You appreciate their

their acting and you kind of know about

them.

But what would it be like

if you knew them?

you came to know them.

What would it be like if you passed time

with them? That you had dinner with

them? That you went on vacation with

them? I mean, really good friends, did a

long road trip with them

and you would talk with them and get to

know them. And then after a period of

time, if you had very much friendship

with them, you would come to know kind

of how they think. Amen.

>> You would kind of come to know what they

really value. You would kind of know

what they would say. Somebody would say,

"Well, what do you think he would say

about this?" Oh, I can tell you what

he'd say. Why can I tell you what he

said? Because I know him.

This morning, I want us to think about

this that we often hear a lot about

Christ.

We see this figure that has divided

history.

We see this figure that

has been known on every continent.

This morning I I I mentioned that there

are 300 million Christians in China

alone.

There's 250

million Christians in India.

There's tens of millions of Christians

in Brazil.

We have Christians. Listen to this. Even

up to a million Christians in Iran this

morning. There's been a great spiritual

awakening occurring in Iran. Many, many

Iranians have become Christians. God is

at work. But when we see the difference

in knowing about Jesus to knowing

Christ,

we see him for as he really is and what

he desires for us. And so this morning,

look at Philippians chapter 3 and:es 8-

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

11. And I want you to see this in the

box on the page right there in front of

you. Take out your pen and get ready

with this. Let's dive into what it would

be like to really know the risen Christ.

Look what Paul writes. Indeed, I count

everything as loss because of the

surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus

my Lord. For his sake I have suffered

the loss of all things and count them as

rubbish in order that I may gain Christ

and be found in him. Not having a

righteousness of my own that comes from

the law, but that which comes through

faith in Christ. The righteousness from

God that depends upon faith. Verse 10.

That I may what?

that I may know him

and the power of his resurrection and

may share his sufferings, becoming like

him in his death, that by any means

possible, I may attain the resurrection

from the dead. The first thing I want

you to notice this morning, fill this

in. Number one, I want you to notice the

supremacy of knowing Christ as Lord. The

apostle Paul is saying this is better

than anything else. That word supremacy

is important. It means it's the supreme.

It's the ultimate way. It's the ultimate

goal in this. He says, notice the

supremacy that look at verse eight. He

says, indeed, I count everything as loss

because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I

want you to see this. fill it in. We see

this is the ultimate

relationship,

not religion.

The Apostle Paul is saying knowing him,

not knowing about him. And that's the

next part here. Paul's goal was not

merely to know about Christ.

Paul's goal, fill it in, was to know

Christ.

He wanted to know him personally. And

there's a vast difference. It's a vast

difference to say you maybe maybe

there's an engineer in this room. And um

I I know we have many engineers in our

church and some of them are really

really sharp. Some of them invent things

and some of them come up with things. I

have a friend. If you drink water out of

a plastic water bottle, about 30 years

ago, one of my friends developed the

chemical compound um for Eastman Kodak

that arrests the idea that that plastic

bottle is going to produce water that

tastes like plastic. He and another guy

came up with the molecule structure that

allows the plastic to not be tasted.

Aren't you thankful for that? So milk

doesn't You remember in the old days

milk tasted like plastic. Remember in

the old days water tasted like PL Well

these guys came up with it. The younger

people don't remember that but when

plastic bottles came out I mean that's

everything was glass before that. Then

they started using plastic and it all

tasted terrible. And then old Dave Mills

up in Tennessee with another guy

discovered this. And you know, you look

at engineering and you think that's

amazing.

Some of you appreciate

the engineering brilliance of Elon Musk,

aside from his politics and other

things, but he is very brilliant when it

comes to all kinds of engineering.

And you think, I think about all of his

abilities and all of those things, but

what would it be like to not just know

about him, but to know him? to know him

personally and see this to have a a

relationship with him to have a

friendship with him. We see that that's

what Paul is saying this figure is not

just to be known about but to be known

notice Acts chapter 9:es 1-9. This is

where Saul a man who was persecuting the

early church has the original Damascus

road experience. He's on his road to a

place called Damascus. And in it was in

that v voyage where or that that

traveling that he was there that a

bright light shone from heaven knocks

him down, blinds him and he hears a

booming voice from heaven that says,

"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting

me?"

And do you know what Saul's response

was?

Who are you Lord?

So the person who wrote this

letter to the Philippians,

he started off asking that question in

his spiritual journey. He started off

when he started to hear the voice of

God. When he started to see that God was

coming after him, he immediately wanted

to know who are you?

And Paul never ceased from that goal.

Here, decades later, he writes this

letter, Philippians 3, and we see that

he still

simply wanted to know Jesus.

I think that's a powerful point when we

consider what really matters. Look at

the next thing that's here. Not only do

we notice the supremacy of knowing

Christ as Lord, but we notice the utter

worthlessness of all other ambitions and

accolades. The utter worthlessness of

all other ambitions and accol accolades.

Verse 8 says he he writes in it, I count

everything as loss. And he goes on to

write, I suffered the loss of all

things. And he goes on to write, I count

all of that stuff as rubbish.

Now, the Apostle Paul was brilliant. He

was one of these people. I mean, he was

super smart. And we see that because of

his standing in Judaism, but we also see

that later because of everything that he

writes in the New Testament and how God

used him that he was he was a very

gifted individual. He was trained in one

of the elite schools of Judaism. He was

known. He would have Paul could have

been on his way to being chief priest if

he had been among the Sadducees. He

certainly would have been a leader of

the Pharisees and actually was and

probably would have become more and more

so as time went on. But you know what he

did with all that? He threw it away

because he discovered all of this is is

not in line with Christ. He Christ is

calling me to leave behind all of my

training, all of my status, all of my

career goals and to come to him. And so

he counts everything as worthless. You

see the we we can see in this the

contrast is made between temporal things

versus things eternal. There are things

that are temporal. That means they're

passing away. They're temporary. And

there's things that are eternal. In

fact, look with me at 1 Corinthians 4:1

1 Corinthians 4:1

17. We look not at the things that are

seen, but to the things that are what?

>> Unseen. For the things that are seen are

transient. That means they come and go.

But the things that are unseen are what?

>> Eternal.

Friends, true Christian. If you're

wonder if maybe you're here, you're

trying to figure this out. You came on

on Easter because you know a friend

invited you. If you want to know what

really, really, really matters, what

this is all coming down to,

a healthy church

should be focusing on the things that

are eternal,

not on the things that are temporal.

We should be seeking to encourage you to

look at what God's word says about the

things that last forever as opposed to

things that come and go.

Now you should take care of your health

but eventually one day your health is

going to fail. You should work hard and

you should provide for yourself but you

should recognize that money will not

save you. You should be a responsible

kind person to others that has a

reputation of being generous and kind to

others. But you need to understand that

other people will not save you.

There is there is only one thing that

matters most. I preached on that at the

beach this morning. But here we see that

the things that we can see are not

eternal save except for the people that

are right in front of us. And their

bodies aren't even eternal in the sense

that it's going to be the exact same

body. This body is going to decay. But

you know what really does matter is who

they are as a person.

And those are the things that Jesus is

concerned about. He says, "Love God and

love others." Those things are eternal.

Everything else is passing away.

Nothing makes it off this planet

except the word of God and the lives of

people, the souls of people. Those are

the only two things that will leave

here. Your 401k will not leave here.

Your house will not leave here. Your

jewelry will not leave here. Everything

else that you admire about the earth

will not leave here. Your reputation

won't leave here. All of that's going to

stay. The things that are eternal are

the things that are given to God. The

things that are truly unseen. Notice

number three. Notice that true saving

faith renounces

selfrighteousness.

renounces self-righteousness

and receives

God's righteousness in Christ Jesus. And

we see that in verse 9. Look what it

says. His goal was to be found in him.

Look what it says. Verse 9. And be found

in him, not having a righteousness of my

own that comes from the law. That's from

doing the right thing versus the wrong

thing. But that which comes through

faith in Christ, the righteousness from

God that depends upon faith. So twice it

says it in that verse.

It's not through your good or bad

behavior that you're going to save

yourself. Listen, the only way that you

can be saved, look at this, is through

faith in Christ. It comes from God. a

righteousness that comes from God and it

depends upon faith not works. The Bible

is exceedingly clear on this point.

Notice here with me here we see another

contrast. Um so the first one there is a

righteousness of my own. This is

lawkeeping, morality, religion.

Now this kind of righteousness is

rejected by God.

God is not interested in your

righteousness.

God is interested in you having his

righteousness. And if you have his

righteousness, he is going to cause your

behavior to be like his behavior. So

it's not that you can live however you

want. You can do whatever you want. Oh

great. I've got Jesus's love for me, so

now I can just do whatever I want. The

pastor said, "My righteousness doesn't

matter." No, your righteousness does

matter, but it has to come through him.

And this is the only this is a key

point. And this is such a key point

because listen, so many in the world

today have believed Satan's lie

that you can eventually somehow

be good enough for God.

Sorry, that's impossible.

You're a sinner and he's a holy God. He

accepts zero sin, not one sin. It all

has to be paid for. And here it is.

Either you will pay for your sin

or Christ will have paid for your sin.

Jesus said, listen, don't get mad at me

for being so exclusive. Jesus is the one

who said it. Jesus said, "I am the way,

the truth, and the life. No one comes to

the father except through me." That's

pretty direct. That's pretty exclusive.

And that is clearly the testimony of

scripture.

God calls us to recognize there is one

way off this planet alive, and it's

through the cross of Christ. That Jesus

paid for our sins. It is the only hope.

Notice here with me, the righteousness

from God through faith in Christ is

accepted by God. That faith he will

accept. That righteousness he will

accept. But your own righteousness

you'll never add up. So that's why we

run to Christ. So here's the key truth.

Fill this in. Salvation is not achieved.

Salvation is received.

There's a big difference in those

things. Christ is the one who gives to

us the salvation of God. It is not

achieved as if you've arrived or anyone

can boast. It is received. Notice this.

It is credited. Salvation is credited

through faith because of Christ's fill

it in finished work on the cross. When

Jesus Christ died for the sins of those

who would call upon him, listen to this.

His work was finished and it's nothing

can be added to it. Andrew Coleman can't

add anything to my account

to what Jesus has given me. Jesus said

it is finished. He said tlesai which is

an accounting term which means paid in

full or it is finished. It's paid off.

How many of you have ever paid off a

loan? Have you ever paid off a loan? How

did that feel?

There's something about that, right? Did

anybody ever burn a mortgage? Did you

ever burn a mortgage? I Marcy's mom and

dad after they paid off the one of the

mortgages on their ranch uh or the

mortgage on their ranch. I remember we

were out there. It was their 25th uh

wedding anniversary. They paid off the

mortgage on a 3000 acre ranch and they

burned it. It it was like it was joyful.

I mean, it was like it's over.

Jesus

burned the mortgage so that you can be

free.

He paid it off and he burned it up. He

destroyed it. He got rid of it. Look at

this. We transfer faith in our works to

his work. So if you've been tempted to

think you're going to be good enough for

God, you've been tempted to think that

somehow you're going to win God's favor,

you're going to go to Sheran Hills, that

church that has long sermons and all

this other stuff, you're you're going to

work in the nursery, you're going to

change the diaper, you're going to give,

you're going to you're going to give

your tithe, what whatever.

We transfer trust from anything we're

going to ever do and put our trust

totally in what Christ has done. Very

quickly, look at the last couple of

points here.

Number four,

Paul wanted Christ and his resurrection

power in his life. That's all he wanted.

We see it in verse 8. We see it in verse

9. We see it in verse 10. In fact, look

what it says in verse 8. Indeed, I count

everything as lost because of the

surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Skip

down to verse 10. That I may know him

and the power of his resurrection.

That's what he wanted. That I may know

him and the power of his resurrection.

That's what he wanted was Christ. You

see, this is not only the power at the

end of his earthly life, like when he

dies, oh, that's when I really need to

know Jesus. No, he wanted it during his

earthly life.

He wanted to have that power in his

life. I love Romans 6:4 and it talks

Romans 6:4

about this because Romans talks Romans 6

talks about baptism and it talks about

being baptized in Christ both

figuratively and literally. So, we're

we're we're looking at that. Look at

Romans 6. He says, "We were buried

therefore with him by baptism into death

>> in order that as Christ was raised from

the dead by the glory of the Father,

look what it says there, we too might

walk in newness of life." We too might

walk in newness of life. The Apostle

Paul wanted Christ in his life. He

wanted Christ's power so that he could

walk in a new life. Notice this and fill

it in. This new life has new power. It's

not the same power of your own strength.

It's the power of Christ. It's the power

of the Holy Spirit in your life. Look at

Romans 6:11. In the same way, count

Romans 6:11

yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God

in Christ Jesus. That's beautiful. He's

saying you you can just consider

yourself. You don't have to keep going

back to the alcohol. You don't have to

keep going back to the anger. You don't

have to keep going back to the

selfishness. You don't have to be go

going back to the same old grudges. You

don't have to keep going back to

whatever it is that keeps circling up in

your life, stealing the true joy and the

true purpose and the true meaning of

your life. You can have power over that.

He says, "Consider yourselves dead to

sin." Why? Because Christ died and rose

again so you can die and rise again in

him. Not someday, but right now. That's

the gospel. Look at uh number five. In a

fallen world, Christians enjoy the

privilege of sharing in Christ's

sufferings.

Yes, I really said that. Um, number five

could sound strange to somebody who

hasn't been in our church over the last

three or four Sundays where we have been

looking from first Peter at sharing in

Christ's sufferings. This this it

directly is related to everything we've

been talking about. What it means to

identify with Christ, not only when

times are good, but also in the fallen

world that rejects Christ, that we share

in that rejection. And what we see here

is that the Apostle Paul really drives

that home. I mean, the whole passage

that we're studying, he says this. Look

at verse 10. He says, "That I may know

him and the power of his resurrection."

And then read out loud with me what's

next. What does it say next? And may

share his sufferings, becoming like him

in his death. This is amazing. You say,

"Well, why would you want that?

When someone has a loved one,

a husband or a wife that is dear to

them. When someone has a child

and that loved one

goes into great suffering,

true love looks at them

and seeks to come and be in it.

True love will often say this,

"Oh, I wish I could take this on. I

would remove it from her.

I would I would take this. I wish this

could be me." Dear God, let me endure

this, not her,

not him.

You see, when when we see true love that

seeks to enter into the suffering of

those and seeks to encourage those in

the midst of their pain, that's when

we're getting down to true love.

True love denies self

and exalts the other.

>> That's exactly what we see Jesus do.

Jesus leaves the halls of heaven. He

comes and he's born into a stable in

Bethlehem of a woman of fallen parents.

He lives in our human

disaster

of a sinful world where even Herod tries

to wipe out this newborn king. I mean

atrocities,

failures, brokenness, pain, disease.

Jesus enters into it with us. And then

what does he do? He goes all the way to

the cross and he bears the death.

Having done nothing to deserve that, he

bears the death that we deserve,

the wrath of God.

So the Apostle Paul is looking at Jesus

and he's come to love Jesus enough where

the Apostle Paul is saying, "Oh,

I want to share in his sufferings

and even embrace a death like his.

This is my love for him." My question to

us,

are we willing to share in the

sufferings at all of Christ?

Are we willing to enter into his

mission, his life, his priorities?

Or are we just obsessed with our little

stuff that's going to be 50, 60, 70, 80

years and then it's over?

God calls us. He invites us, listen, he

invites us to enter into that which is

eternal, which is Jesus. And he invites

us to give over the value of our life

and the purpose and the meaning of our

life that we can live for him.

There's plumbers in this room that are

living for Christ. There are teachers in

this room that are living for Christ.

There are people that work at Publix in

this church that are living for Christ.

All across this room, there are people

that are saying, "I want my life to

honor Christ

in everything that I do."

That's the heart of Paul.

when he look what it says in verse 10

and may share in his sufferings becoming

like him in his death.

This is the picture here. Here it is.

Paul so loved Christ. Fill it in. Paul

so loved Christ that he wanted to be

counted and identified with Christ.

And the earthly rejection didn't matter.

Now remember with me that he was

starting off as one who persecuted the

followers of Christ.

So he wasn't always this way.

What caused him to change to this? The

power of the Holy Spirit in his life

changed him. Truly changed him. Truly

amazing.

Notice Hebrews 11. And so Paul is a New

Testament example of this. What about

Moses?

Do you remember the story of Moses?

The Hebrew nation had fled to Egypt in

the midst of a famine. They were there.

They prospered. They became very

powerful. And there were Jews in Egypt

that were just exploding in population.

And they were strong and they were

industrious. And the Pharaoh of Egypt

began to go, "Whoa,

these Hebrews are going to outnumber us

very shortly. Whoa, these Hebrews are

really powerful. These people are smart.

These people are able to build. These

people,

they're going to side with our enemies

someday, and they're going to destroy us

from within.

we better do something to limit these

Hebrews.

And so the Pharaoh first said, "Okay,

all the midwives, if you're an Egyptian

midwife, go to a Hebrew woman that's

about to give birth and when the baby is

born, if it's a boy, kill it." It's

literally what the Pharaoh did.

And that started to happen some. But

then the midwives, it says in the Bible,

the midwives feared God

and they said, "We're not going to do

that." So when they were called in by

Pharaoh and they said, "Uh, why are

there's all these little boys still

running around?" The midwife said,

"Well, um, these Hebrew women are so

strong, they give birth before we can

get there."

So then the pharaoh said,

"If a baby is born, a Hebrew baby is

born, a male baby is born, you throw it

in the Nile.

We must stop this."

Well,

Moses's mother after she gave birth to

him put him in a little basket,

a little ark as it were, a place of

safety and pushed him into the the reeds

growing by the edge of the the Nile. You

can read this in Exodus 1 and2.

And it was there that Pharaoh's daughter

found little Moses, heard him crying.

She goes down to the water's edge. She

finds this baby. She picks him up

and she loved him immediately.

She took this baby home. Said, "Look

what I found."

And then what is Moses's mother and

family is nearby. and they go, "Oh, I'll

help you find someone who can help nurse

him."

So, there we see

Moses's life is saved.

Moses grows up a son of Pharaoh.

Moses grows up to be strong. And

eventually, that's the first phase of no

Moses's life. But the second phase is

Moses sees the suffering of his people

and it angers him that they are

suffering horribly in Egypt.

In fact, when he sees one of them being

mistreated, Moses kills an Egyptian

soldier and flees for his life.

He's on the back side of the desert for

a long time until a burning bush says,

"Go back home. I have work for you.

And then this phase two of Moses's life

comes.

As Moses comes home, we see instead of

being Pharaoh's son, he acts as God's

son. He acts as God's agent.

And we see this, notice here with me,

that Moses could have been a son of

Pharaoh. Moses could have embraced all

of the power and the wealth of Egypt.

There's in fact a lot of historical

evidence that is that is there that

would indicate that he well could have

been in line to becoming a Pharaoh.

But notice here what Hebrews 11:24 says.

Hebrews 11:24

By faith, Moses when he would has was

grown up refused to be called the son of

Pharaoh's daughter,

choosing rather to be mistreated with

the people of God than to enjoy the

fleeting pleasures of sin. You see, he

could have seen that Jewish person being

mistreated that day and said, "Yeah, I

guess he shouldn't have done that." He

got what he deserved. Instead, he was

angered because God's people were being

mistreated.

So verse 25, choosing rather to be

mistreated with the people of God than

to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Look at verse 26. He considered the

reproach of Christ greater wealth than

the treasures of Egypt.

He considered the reproach of Christ to

be greater wealth than all the treasures

of Egypt. For he was looking, what does

it say there?

>> To the reward. You see, he was looking

beyond this earthly life. Part of the

problem with ve very, very often, part

of the problem for us is that we keep

looking at the reward now instead of the

reward later.

This

this destroys

our life.

We go after that which is seen instead

of that which is unseen.

Paul so loved Christ that he wanted to

be counted and identified with Christ.

Moses so loved Christ that he wanted to

be counted and identified with Christ

even if it meant suffering. And that's

part of that picture. Suffering

in Christ is not something to be dreaded

or avoided, but it's something here we

see that it is a privilege. Look what it

says in verse 10. That he may share

may share like be privileged to share

in the sufferings of Christ. Well,

finally number six, I want you to see

this. The ultimate quest, the ultimate

quest is resurrection with Christ.

The ultimate quest is to be raised with

Christ. This is the greatest hope, the

greatest sure hope, the greatest goal of

any. Look what it says in verse 11. That

by any means possible, I may attain the

resurrection from the dead. That by any

means possible, I may attain the

resurrection from the dead. Now, this

isn't Paul's insecurity about this. Uh,

I want us to see what this really means.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with

wanting to live. Paul is saying, "I want

to be part of the resurrection." And so,

there's nothing wrong with wanting to

live. That's a good reason to come to

God, to want to live. Look at the next

one. Only a fool embraces eternal

destruction.

And there's many that do that. There's

many that do that. There's many that

say, "Ha, no, it's fine. Not

interested." Several years ago, we were

inviting people to the Easter sunrise

service. Some of you maybe have heard me

share this before. We were over at

Piccadilli's uh cafeteria. been over

there with the legacy adults and I saw

this big truck um full of workers and I

just went over to this truck full of

workers and I had some Easter cards with

me and I go up to the truck and I

invited this guy um and his whole truck

full of people um to come to the Easter

sunrise service and he just started

laughing in the most demonic laugh.

I said, "Wow, okay." Um and he goes,

"You want me to come to church?" And I

said, "Yeah, I invite you to come." He

goes, "Ah, I am the Diablo.

I am the devil. You have no idea who

you're inviting to church." And I looked

at him and I said, "My brother, um,

you're not the devil, but you're going

to meet the devil if you don't do

something.

I promise you."

We had a nice conversation. He wasn't

mean, but he was very arrogant.

He thought it was funny. You know, in

the movies, in the westerns or in the

army movies, when you hear somebody say,

"A, I'll meet you in hell."

You have no idea what you're saying. You

have no idea what you're saying. These

t-shirts that say, "Oh, heaven's for

you. The party's in hell. See you

there." You have no idea what you're

saying. You have no clue.

I mean, I want to say go get a

blowtorrch and just burn your arm for a

minute or two and then tell me if that's

what you want for eternity because

that's what the Bible describes.

You may not like that, but that's what

the scripture indicates.

And that may cause you to have to work

through some things theologically. I get

it. Me too. But you can. And you really

can. And let me tell you, it's much

better to do that than to endure the

alternative. And I really mean that. You

see,

only a fool embraces eternal

destruction.

Christ offers to all who will come to

him eternal life. This is amazing.

He offers all, even the little

construction worker guy over on

Hollywood Boulevard that thinks he's the

devil. That And you know what? I I just

continued to invite the guy. I was real

nice. I I hope somehow someway he's

gotten saved.

RC Sproul talked about what does this

mean? Was was the Apostle Paul uncertain

of his salvation? Look at verse verse

11. That by any means possible I may

attain the resurrection. That that that

could makes you think okay so is that

means he's going to work for he's trying

to attain it. Um, does that mean h how

does this mean by any means possible? I

want you to hear RC Sproul's comment on

this. And for those of you who have

never heard of RC Sproul, he's in heaven

now. Died in 2017, but a great

theologian. This guy is worth you

reading you and and you can listen to

him online. Um, all kinds of things. RC

for all. He's a pastor. Um, and he he

started a church in Orlando eventually

and he passed away from there. But um

when he was commenting on this, when he

was commenting on Philippians 3:es 10-

11, listen to what he he wrote. He said,

"But though we experience, excuse me,

though Christians experience the sin

crushing power of the resurrection in

this life." So we we experience his

power and his resurrection power can can

crush our sin, which is awesome.

We still wait for that final day when

this power will be consummated in our

own resurrection and glorification when

God raises us from the dead and we get

our new glorified bodies that doesn't

have arthritis anymore, doesn't have

macular degeneration, doesn't have

cancer, doesn't have any of these things

anymore, isn't aging. He He's promised

you're going to be raised and you're

going to get a new body. Look forward to

that.

This is what Paul is talking about in

Philippians 3:es 10-11. A passage that

is exceedingly difficult to translate

into English. So that last phrase is

hard to translate. Go on to the next

one. The apostle is not revealing doubt

about his future reward in the new

heaven and earth when he expresses his

hope to attain the resurrection by any

means possible in verse 11. Instead,

listen to this. The uncertainty involves

the physical route by which he will be

prepared for resurrection. At the time

he wrote, Paul did not know if he would

gain his resurrection body at the final

judgment after dying as a martyr or

after dying of natural causes or by

being alive when the savior returns.

He didn't know how it was going to go.

But this is what he did know. But he did

know that the righteousness imputed to

him by faith in Christ alone guaranteed

that resurrection would be his. That's

what he knew.

And so he was saying, "However it

happens,

he's going to raise me from the dead. He

I have his resurrection." That's what we

see here. That's what the Apostle Paul

is saying. So fill this in here. Paul

knows or excuse me, Paul shows us that

we have God's resurrection life through

faith in Christ. We have it only through

faith in Christ, not in ourselves.

Faith in Jesus's sacrifice for your sins

is God's fill it in his only plan for

salvation, for your salvation.

It's God's only plan for that, the

cross.

So finally and we end with this.

We are called to turn from sin itself

and believe in him. We put our trust in

him. Look what it says in John 6:37.

John 6:37

And would you read this out loud with

me? These are Jesus's words. Read it.

See what it says. Let's read it

together. All that the Father gives me

will come to me. And whoever comes to

me, I will never cast out. Isn't that an

amazing

promise? All that the father gives me

will come to me.

And those who come to me, I will never

cast out.

Your job

is not to undo your sin.

Your job is to run to the one who can

undo your sin.

That's the only hope.

Martha, I appreciated your testimony.

Wherever she is, she There she is right

there. Appreciate your testimony. You

You came to realize you can't figure you

can't do it yourself.

Jesus died for my sins.

This is my only hope. Our hope is in him

and in him alone. And this is coming to

know the risen Christ. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Would you stand with me for prayer?

>> Father in heaven,

again we honor you, we bless you. We

thank you for sending Jesus as the only

sacrifice for our sins. We thank you

that though he was sinless, he died a

sinful death by taking all of Andrew

Coleman's millions of sins upon himself.

And the countless millions and billions

and trillions of transgressions against

you

were laid on him,

the sinless son of God.

Lord, we thank you.

Lord, we thank you that you have

promised us not only life eternal, but

life now abundant if we will run to you

and not after we get all fixed up that

we would run to you exactly as we are

right now. So Lord, I pray that this

morning that you would give people in

this room.

Lord, the faith

and the repentance to run to you right

now in their hearts,

in their minds, Lord, I pray that they

would surrender to you as Lord and say,

"Lord, I cannot do it. I see from this

message, I cannot do it. This is only

you."

Lord, I pray that they would surrender

with with reckless abandon.

And Father, I pray that you would do

what no man can do. That you would come

and that you would save the sinner that

says, "Lord,

take me. I'm yours."

With your head bowed and your eyes

closed, I want you to know this morning

that not a person should leave this room

without knowing Christ, without

surrendering to Christ.

I encourage you right where you are

right now to say, "Lord God in heaven, I

have sinned against you

and I need you.

I need a savior like you.

Take me.

Make me yours.

Forgive my sin.

Set me free.

I pray,

oh father in heaven, I pray that there

would be new brothers and sisters in

Christ because today they surrendered to

the goodness of the one who says,

"Anyone who comes to me, I will not cast

out."

Lord, thank you for so great an

invitation.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.