Philippians (Lesson 39)

Very, very pleasant to be each and every one of you.

I'm Brother James, and I reach one more time 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 as always in Jesus' name.

Think about that, in Jesus' name.

Some people, some people get to introduce themselves as representative of, as associated with some high powered businessman or some high ranking political figure, or some entertainer.

But what an amazing thing that you and I have the opportunity of addressing one another and ministering to one another in the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus Christ.

We have surely been granted incredible privileges in this life, not to even start mentioning all that awaits us in the world that is to come.

We are studying the Bible book of Philippians.

So very glad that you've joined us today.

Hope you can stay with us for the full half an hour.

We've got a really, really good section of Philippians ahead of us.

I guess I've said that every time we've started these forty plus broadcasts on this one little Bible book, but it really is fascinating to see what we have before us today.

The Bible says in Philippians three, Philippians chapter three and verse number twenty, 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.

Aren't those verses loaded?

Aren't they just jammed full of wonderful truth for God's people?

We want to note first of all that we have, as we talked in the last broadcast, a heavenly life or conversation that has already begun.

The moment you got saved, you received an eternal heavenly life, you may temporarily be bound to this earth while living in your mortal body.

But that doesn't change the fact that if you're saved, you already have eternal life as a gift of God.

One man said, although a wheel turneth about on the ground, the greatest part of it is always from the earth.

And although our body be on earth, the greater part of our life must be in heaven.

And we talked last time about that matter of our conversation.

Secondly, in this verse, these verses we see that Jesus Christ is the Savior.

The Savior.

He's not a Savior.

He's not a Savior for one group of people, and some other group of people has another Savior.

He is the Savior.

There is no other Savior but Jesus Christ.

And that one who is the Savior is also the Lord.

The Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now no religion in the world can give you eternal life.

I possess today, today, the complete forgiveness of my sins.

I possess today absolute certainty that my sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And with that cleansing comes absolute assurance of victory in the day and hour of death.

Bible Christianity can assure and guarantee you of that victory ahead of time.

And these verses stand to prove that.

Now it's interesting to note that the Bible that I have before me, the Holy Bible, that's the authorized King James Bible, says we look for the Savior.

Unfortunately, unfortunately, the corrupt and perverted New International Version doesn't have the definite article, the Savior.

There's only one Savior.

You know that.

Don't you know there's only one Savior?

Well, the New International Version says, and we eagerly wait, a Savior.

How about that?

A Savior.

Now what would you think if I said to you that the Bible says Jesus Christ is a way, a truth, and a life?

And some men come unto the Father but by him.

You say, Well, that can't be so.

He is the way, the truth, and the life.

Well then why would the NIV say we look for a Savior instead of the Savior?

Remarkable, isn't it?

The corrupt and perverse revised Standard Version, not seen or used very often anymore, so it didn't make any money, so they quit printing it.

The revised Standard Version says we await a Savior.

I don't know about you.

I'm looking for the one and only Savior.

And the proof that Jesus Christ is the Savior is not that it makes me rich while I'm down here.

It's not that it makes me well while I'm down here.

It's not that he walks the path of life and holds my hand while I'm down here.

The reason that I'm looking for Jesus Christ as the Savior is because whatever else Muhammad said when he died, death shut his mouth for good.

Whatever Buddha had to teach, when death visited Buddha, Buddha stopped teaching.

Whatever example Confucius may have set, he was never heard from again once they laid his bones in the grave.

Whatever decrees hundreds of popes may have set forth when death visited them, that was the end of it.

One day the Lord Jesus Christ turned the tables.

He didn't wait for death to visit him, he went looking for death.

He came all the way down from heaven to earth and looked for death.

He met it on Mount Calvary, and there Jesus Christ conquered death, proved it three days and three nights later when he walked out of that grave.

Now, why would you look for a Savior among the many scattered about this world when you could have the Savior who proved that he was the only one?

Because everybody else has a grave with them in it.

But Jesus Christ has a grave that he occupied briefly before departing therefrom.

How in the world people can't see the difference between that and a religion is one of the great mysteries of life.

Jesus rose from the dead.

Now, because of that, we are looking for the Savior.

We're not looking for the cure, we're looking for the Savior.

We're not looking for the miracle drug, we're looking for the Savior.

We're not looking for the safety measure, we're looking for the Savior.

We're not hoping to live long enough so that somebody can find a cure for death.

I've found something better than a cure for death.

I have found victory over death.

I've found something better than prolonging the inevitable another twenty days or twenty years.

I have found absolute assurance that death has met a superior power, an adversary that it could not conquer in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He said in his word, if I would trust him, he would take care of death for me, and he has.

That's pretty good.

Now the doctor says, I'm going to do my best to try and help you.

The nurse says, I'm going to do my best to try and help you.

The pharmacist says, the chiropractor says, the faith healer says, I'm going to do my best to try and help you.

The preacher and the church members say, We'll try our best to do and to pray for you.

But when all have done their best, we're going to die.

But when Jesus Christ says, I'll do my best for you, his best is eternal life.

That changes everything.

Now the Bible says in Philippians 3 21 that this Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we look for, will change our vile body.

Here's the quote.

Who, Jesus Christ, shall, no doubt about it, change our vile body.

Listen very carefully, please, please.

I know you're listening, but right now I want you to undivide your divided attention.

Listen very carefully, please.

I don't care which modern version or translation of the Bible you pull off your shelf, if it's not a King James Bible, it is humanistic.

That is, the Bibles produced since eighteen eighty one honor man in varying degrees, and thereby dishonor God to the same degree.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the way the new Bibles handle God's statement in Philippians 3 21 that our body our our bodies are vile.

The Good News Bible says He will change our weak mortal bodies.

They are weak and they are mortal, but that's not what the text says.

They are vile.

The living Bible says he will take care of these dying bodies of ours and change them.

You say, Well, Brother James, they've all got the same general message.

No, they don't.

No, they don't.

The modern Bibles are written for people who love their bodies, who devote more money to their appearance than they do to foreign missions, who are more concerned with their looks than they are the condition of their soul.

That's right.

That's right.

And so the modern versions say weak bodies or lowly bodies instead of vile bodies.

How about that?

That ought to tip you off to something.

Something's going on with these modern versions.

You know what they're trying to do?

They're trying to appeal to people that love themselves more than they love God.

The Bible says in Philippians 3 21, he's not only going to change our vile bodies, but he's going to make them like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's run some scripture here.

Genesis 2.

Genesis 2.

This may be elementary, but the basic principles are always worth repeating.

Why am I going to die?

Because of sin.

Not because of cancer, not because of pollution, not because of our fast-paced, stressful world, it's because of sin.

Genesis 2.15.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

God said it.

Adam died.

Romans 5, verse 12.

Romans 5:12

Wherefore, as by one man, death entered into the world, and death by sin.

You see that?

Death could not enter the human race until the human race opened the door and invited sin to enter.

Death entered by way of sin.

And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

You're not dying because Adam sinned.

You're dying because you've done what he did.

He sinned, you've sinned, I've sinned, we've all sinned.

And since death is the consequence of sin, everybody dies.

This is why politics can't be the answer.

Medicine can't be the answer.

Social reform can't be the answer.

Religion can't be the answer because you can't deliver someone from death until you have first delivered them from sin.

Death is the consequence of sin.

So when you line up and get smacked on the forehead and get healed, but you never get your sins dealt with, you still die.

People so blind, you know that.

You can get offended if you want, that's absolute truth.

If you get your body healed and you don't get your sins forgiven, you're gonna die in your sins and go to hell.

So why are you running up down this country following healers instead of getting into a Bible preaching church and get your sin dealt with?

Romans 6, verse 5.

Romans 6:5

For if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

The gospel is not that Jesus is a good man.

The gospel is not follow Jesus.

The gospel is not let Christ come into your life, the gospel is not accept Christ.

The gospel is Christ died for our sins.

You gotta deal with sin and death.

That's why Jesus came.

He died for our sins, he was buried in the third day, he rose from the dead.

So when I put my faith and trust in the death that Jesus died for my sins, that death takes the place of my death and guarantees that his resurrection becomes the down payment, the earnest of my resurrection.

Just as surely as Jesus died for me, he'll raise me from the dead.

That's why we look for him.

We look for the Savior.

He took care of the sin problem, which takes care of the death problem.

Hallelujah.

First Thessalonians, chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

First Thessalonians, chapter number four, and verse number 13.

But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, I believe that, do you believe that?

Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself, himself, the Lord Himself, not somebody else, not an angel, not a representative.

The Lord Himself should descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

Now today, today, on the program today, I'm not going to argue with you about when this happens.

It's not our subject, not our topic for today's program.

But you can't argue about the fact that God said it's going to happen.

People that are already dead, their bodies are going to get up, and people that are still alive are going to join together with them, and all of them are going to rise up and meet the Lord in the earth.

That's what it said.

Now the fact you don't believe it, or somebody taught you not to believe it, or you think it means something other than what it says, that's not my that's not my problem.

I just told you what the Bible says.

According to the passage, you know what the sole condition for making that trip is?

The only requirement?

If we believe.

Not if we work, not if we believe and work, not if we believe and give, not if we believe and endure, not if we believe and belong to the right church.

He said, if we believe, believe what?

The gospel?

The gospel.

That Jesus died and rose again.

The gospel is not his good deeds, it's not his teachings, it's not his life, it's not his miracles.

Christ died for our sins and was buried, and the third day he rose again.

And if you put your faith and trust in that Lord Jesus Christ, then the sin issue has been dealt with.

And if the sin issue has been dealt with, the death issue has been dealt with.

And on the basis of believing, we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

How about that?

How about that?

I I know, I know that heaven is a real place, and I know that saved people go to heaven, but I'm not excited about going to heaven.

I'm excited about being with the Lord.

I know, I know, there are some wonderful things said about that place.

I don't I don't doubt, I don't doubt anything the Bible says about those gold streets, jasper walls, mansion houses, and the rest of it.

But we're not looking for heaven.

We're looking for the Savior.

He's the one that makes the place what it is.

First 15 35, but some man will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come, thou fool?

Thou fool.

That which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God giveth it to bodies and it pleased him, and every seed is own body.

You know what that is?

The seed, you know what the seed is?

It's a container.

The life is inside it.

You plant that thing in the ground because of what?

The container is dead.

But once it's planted, then the life that's inside springs forth.

You know what God said?

One day men are going to plant your container in the ground, but the life is on the inside.

And that life is going to spring forth.

That's the picture God gave here.

Verse 39, all flesh is not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of men, of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds.

There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.

That is, some fit for living in heaven, some fit for living on earth.

But the glory of the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another.

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for one star differeth from another star in glory.

So we're not all going to look alike.

Animals don't look alike, birds don't look alike, fish don't look alike, people don't look alike, heavenly bodies don't look alike.

Now the context.

Each of these different types of bodies, verse forty two, so also is the resurrection of the dead.

Got it?

It is sown in corruption, rotting flesh, it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonor, a frail, weak, vile body.

It is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised in a spiritual body, there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

I'm entitled to both.

I've got a natural body, I'm going to get a spiritual body.

Verse 51 Behold, I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep.

Everybody's not going to die before the Lord comes.

But we shall all be changed.

Everybody that's saved is not going to die, but everybody that's saved is going to get a new body.

A changed body.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump of the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Shall be.

Shall be.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

A vile body in a glorious heaven?

That won't work.

A vile body in a spotless heaven, no way.

God's going to change us.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But Jesus Christ defeated sin and defeated death, and they no longer hold any power over the saved man, the saved woman.

Oh, your body, your body is going to be seized upon by death one day.

But you will be so quickly absent from the body and present with the Lord you won't even know you've died.

And then on the day of the Lord's return, that body will be raised up, changed, made like his, and you'll dwell forever and forever and forever with the Lord in the place that he's gone to prepare for his own.

Well, there's some more verses on this.

We can't get through them today.

We'll have to get to them next time.

Don't go anywhere.

We're not finished yet.

I've got two things I gotta ask you about.

Three things, three things I've got to ask you about.

I've still got a few minutes.

Stay with me.

Number one, are you saved?

Really, truly, genuinely saved?

You are not going to make this trip to heaven if you're not saved.

What do you have to do to be saved?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for your sins.

He was buried, he rose from the dead.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe it enough to trust Him and nothing else for the forgiveness of your sin and the salvation of your soul?

You need to be saved.

The Bible says you must be born again.

Second question.

Are you looking for Jesus to come with joy, with anticipation?

Or would that kind of interfere with your life if the Lord came?

You see, some people are going to heaven, but they don't want to go.

They just prefer that to hell.

And so when the time comes that they have to go somewhere, they'd rather go to heaven than go to hell, but they're really not all that excited about going to heaven or seeing Jesus.

I don't want you to be one of those people.

God doesn't want you to be one of those people.

Why don't you fall in love with Jesus?

So you can look forward to going to heaven.

Third, I've got to ask you this.

I I I don't question your sincerity.

And it's not your fault.

You just did what somebody told you to do.

But I've got to ask you this.

When the Bible teaches from one end to the other that there's only one Savior, and that NIV calls Jesus a Savior, not the Savior, that has to bother you.

Doesn't that bother you?

That the book you hold that somebody told you was a Bible could be that wrong?

Now you know humanism and Christianity are opposed one to another.

If the Holy Bible says you live in a vile body, and the NIV tries to fix that up a little bit so you won't feel so bad about your flesh, you've got to know that's a problem.

My friend, I encourage you get a real Bible, a holy Bible, a King James Bible, authorized version.

And get rid of that NIV with those 17 missing verses.

Please, please do that.

All right, our time is nearly gone.

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Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you.