Philippians (Lesson 32)

Every one of you, my brother James, I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

And I welcome you once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

I hope you can get your Bible and follow along with us.

I hope you can stay with us for the next half an hour as we continue our very enjoyable and very profitable study of the book of Philippians.

We are in the third chapter of Philippians.

I know some of you are driving and can't look on in your Bible.

Some of you are at work and shouldn't look on in your Bible.

But wherever you are, wherever you might be, we're very, very happy that you've tuned in to the program today.

And we are going to be discussing verses well, let's see how far we need to go here.

Starting at verse number eight, and we'll read down through verse fourteen of Philippians chapter number three.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them the things he's lost, 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 faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Verse number eleven if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus, brethren I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

This is a remarkable portion of scripture.

In verses four through eight, we see that Paul the apostle, as we talked on the last broadcast, was more capable of earning salvation by works, by good deeds, than any man who ever lived, that by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and yet he had to acknowledge that he could not earn salvation by his works, and so we see and understand that if the man most capable of meriting, earning salvation by good deeds was unable to do so, then certainly no one else would be able to do so.

We also saw from the passage that this man excelled in the God given religion, the Hebrew religion, and yet that left him short of the mark, and he came to the place where he had to abandon all self-trust and all self-confidence and put all of his soul's dependence upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then and only then was he saved not by his works, but by the marvelous grace of God.

Now from that passage we then moved into a consideration of the fact that everything this man held to before he was saved, not drinking, not drug addiction, not adultery, not riotous living, but good, decent, moral, upright, God fearing religion.

He now counted to be as worthless as human waste.

He now considered as worthless as garbage because none of it could merit him any favor at all in the eyes of a holy God, and so he just cast it all aside as useless and decided to devote all of his energy to serving God with his heart, soul, strength, and mind.

We then note that he did not consider it any type of a loss or any type of a sacrifice to give up every aspect of his former life in order to follow Jesus Christ.

Many, many times I hear people talk about what they gave up to follow Jesus, or talk about the life they used to live before they met Jesus.

And there's always this tone of sadness and regret in their voice as though they know they should be living for the Lord because he saved them, but they really wish they could still live that old life of the flesh or pursue that old life of religion.

The apostle Paul said, You know, I am so much happier knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior than I ever was striving to earn salvation by my good works, that I don't consider it loss, I don't stand and mourn over my old life, I don't stand and long for the old ways any more than a man stands and regrets having carried out the garbage and wishing he could have kept that smelly mess in his house.

That's his testimony.

That's how a man talks who's really come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then we carry into the passage we just read, we carry that thought and that idea of giving up every ounce of self-confidence in order to be saved, we now carry that over into abandoning every ounce of self-trust, self-confidence, self-reliance in order to benefit from being saved and in order to know the full joy of the Christian life.

You see, this man, as is true of everyone that's ever been saved, this man found the righteousness he needed to have a place in heaven when he died in Jesus Christ.

Not in his works, but through his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, now he has come to realize that this salvation should have an effect upon his day-to-day life, in fact, such a complete effect that he is now living on earth as he will be living in heaven following the resurrection.

That's the objective, not to get saved and then wait around to go to heaven so God can make you holy, righteous, pure, uh, godly, and so forth.

But the Holy Spirit that is given to a man when he's saved, the Holy Spirit that comes to live within a woman when she's saved, begins to go to work immediately to conform us to the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the Apostle Paul recognized, as the Holy Spirit revealed it unto him, and we recognize as we read these words, that nothing from the old life, even those moral and religious aspects of the old life, none of that can bring us to Christian maturity and Christian perfection.

The only way those things can be obtained is again by abandoning all self-trust and all self-confidence and putting our full hope in the person, work, and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so in this passage we read that this man who gave up everything to win Christ in verse number eight, who is now found in him, not by his own righteousness, but by the imputed, that is the God given righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself that became Paul's possession when he was saved.

He now recognizes that righteousness is what is necessary that he might know in an intimate way the thoughts, the words, the deeds, the attitudes, the very manner of living, being and responding that governed the Lord Jesus Christ, so that he as a saved man may live like a saved man, not when he gets to heaven, but this side of heaven.

Take a look very carefully at the verses we read.

Verse number ten that I may know him, he's already saved, and the power of his resurrection.

Now, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was absolutely one hundred percent triumphant over sin, death, and hell.

The apostle Paul said, I want to know that resurrection power in my life.

Then he said, The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

I'm gonna say something here in just a minute.

I don't want to say it just yet.

I I want to make the third point from the verse, but get ready.

And and he wanted to be made conformable unto his death.

Now listen very carefully.

Some of you may not have heard every portion, every program in this study on Philippians.

I I'm going to rapidly sum it up again.

Jesus Christ left the glory of heaven, came down here to this earth, gave up all self love, self interest, self preservation, self care, self concern to die on the cross that you might be saved, that I might be saved, he completely denied himself for the benefit and well being of others.

By virtue of that sacrifice, we may trust him and be saved.

Receive the forgiveness of sins, everlasting life as a gift of God by the grace of God through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Now, many people want Jesus to save them and then leave them alone until it's time to go to heaven.

That is not the mark of Bible Christianity.

The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul said, I want more than that.

I want to learn how to live my life on this earth, like Jesus lived his life on this earth.

And so what I have done through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, I have considered my old life of self-love, self-worth, self-interest to be garbage.

I have completely forsaken it so that I might know the power that Jesus Christ had that enabled him to completely empty himself for others, to suffer, to die, to rise victorious over death, not for himself but for others.

That's the teaching, that's the context, that is Christianity.

Now having said that, do you understand how completely contrary to biblical Christianity almost all modern preaching has become?

Do you realize when you listen on the radio, on the TV or in your church to men perverting the scripture to teach you that Christianity is using God to get rich, that Christianity is using God to avoid suffering, that Christianity is using God to help you love yourself, exalt yourself, promote yourself, glorify yourself?

Do you realize how utterly non Christian that so called Christianity is?

These angels of light promoting self glorification and the lust of the flesh in the name of Christianity are the most evil men in the world today.

They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, and beyond that they teach others to deny him by their pernicious ways.

I'm here to tell you that biblical Christianity is not lining your pockets.

Biblical Christianity is not exalting yourself.

Biblical Christianity is not pursuing that which gratifies your sense of feeling.

Biblical Christianity is denying yourself gladly without complaint for the benefit of others.

And there's not much of it to be found in this world today.

Amen to that.

So the apostle Paul says that I may know him, not just be saved, but learn Jesus Christ so completely that he controls my being.

And when he does, I'll be like him, I won't be using him, I'll be like him.

It won't be for my benefit, it'll be for the benefit of others.

Watch carefully.

Verse number twelve, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

There isn't any way in the world this man could be hoping that when he dies he has eternal life.

He's already got that, he knows it, he taught it clearly in chapter one and chapter two.

He which hath begun a good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

There's no doubt in his mind that he has as a present possession eternal, everlasting life through Jesus Christ.

What does he want?

He wants to live that resurrection life now, this side of heaven.

That's what he's pursuing.

How about you?

Do you have a Jesus that saved you and is coming one day to get you, but in the meantime you want him to wait on you hand and foot and gratify every whim and every lust of your flesh?

That's not Christianity.

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, he wants to be now what he is going to be then, and he believes that is attainable through the working of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God, and he believes that step one in that process is carrying all that pertains to the old life out to the garbage dump, getting rid of it without regret because it's not worth clinging to.

How about you, my friend?

Are you saved?

I hope so.

Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?

I hope so.

Having been saved, has it gone any farther than that?

Is that all you are?

Saved?

Or do you genuinely desire to be a Christian?

He says not as though I had already attained.

I'm not there yet.

Now, come on.

You know he's already attained salvation.

You know he's already attained the forgiveness of sins.

What could he possibly be talking about?

Christ likeness in thought, word, deed, and action.

That's what he's after.

That's what he desires.

Oh to be like him.

Not as though I'd already attained either or already perfect.

Perfect in your Bible never means sinless.

His sins are all gone, washed away, under the blood, forgiven.

So what does he desire?

That I follow after.

If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

When someone violates the law and law enforcement pursues them, when they capture that offender, they report the offending party has been apprehended.

That is, they have laid hand upon, they have laid hold upon the one they were pursuing.

They have him in hand.

In this passage, the Holy Spirit through Paul the Apostle says I am pursuing something, but I have not yet gotten it in hand.

Then he says Jesus Christ was pursuing something.

He has that in hand.

Now Philippians chapter two.

What did Jesus come to do?

Make full payment for our sins, that he might give us his complete righteousness so that we could have right now everlasting life.

The Holy Spirit says Jesus Christ got that.

He has it in hand.

What I want to do is I want to have in hand the very life that Jesus wants me to live, just like Jesus has my soul's salvation in his hand.

I want to be as surely like Christ as I am surely saved by Christ.

That's the objective.

That is what he is pursuing.

And so he says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.

I haven't laid hold on this thing yet.

But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.

That's his former life.

And reaching forth unto those things which are before.

Now that can't mean getting saved.

He's already saved.

That can't mean getting the Holy Spirit.

He's already got the Holy Spirit.

What lies before him?

The very life of Jesus Christ completely manifest in him on the day he is resurrected and found in heaven completely like Jesus Christ.

That's what lies before the saved man, the saved woman.

So what does he say?

I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

It's as clear as it can be.

What the Holy Spirit desires for you, my friend, now that you are saved, is that you put every ounce of your living into the pursuit right now of the life you will live when you get to heaven someday.

That is the objective.

That is the mark.

And the Bible says it is not some far off dream, but it is possible to own that as a present possession if we will allow God to fully and completely have His way in our life.

What about that?

Is that the mark you press toward when you rise in the morning?

Is that the desire of your heart when you enter your prayer closet?

That certainly doesn't sound like the mark most preachers are calling upon me to shoot for.

I know it's not the mark my old flesh is urging me to press toward, but it is this goal that the Holy Spirit has in view for each and every one of us who is saved.

Oh, that we might find ourselves in agreement with, yielded to, working in harmony with the objectives and desires of the blessed Holy Spirit of God.

Amen and amen.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe what you have heard on today's radio program is as important as anything you will ever hear if you are saved.

We want you to have a copy of today's program for yourself and your friends and your loved ones and your fellow church members, and we will gladly send it to you free of charge.

You will never get a solicitation letter, you will never get a follow-up in the mail begging you for money.

We want God's people to hear this truth.

Would you write to us and say I want the message that was preached on today's program having to do with the life God wants me to live?

Write for the program, send, please be sure and send the date of the broadcast and the station upon which you heard it, and we will send you this teaching without cost, without obligation.

Our web address, the internet address is JamesKnox.com.

Our mailing address eight seven two Glenwood Road.

That's in D Land, just like it sounds D E L A N D D Land, Florida.

That zip code number is three two seven two zero.

And for those of you listening outside our borders, that mailing address is in the United States of America.

By God's grace and through your help, this program is heard at many different times over many different radio stations.

We have an announcer, well, we don't have an announcer, the radio station has an announcer, who will be on in just a moment to tell you when this program will be heard again over this particular radio station.

You can help us out, not only by listening, but inviting someone to listen with you, urging them and encouraging them to listen to the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

Would you do that for us?

It would really be a blessing.

We appreciate it.

All right, until next time.

This is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you.

Thanks for tuning in today.

Join us every weekday.