Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Philippians chapter 3 and verse one. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed does not grieve us, 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 by 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 hath, whereof 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 he 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 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, If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, neither were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, after 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 walk so as ye have us for an example 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, I believe most of us know that in the Epistle to the Philippians we don't have so much an unfolding of doctrine as ringing before us the Lord Jesus. As we sang in our little hymn in the opening with Christ, our theme begins. And so I believe in this beautiful epistle, Paul, writing to these Philippian believers is bringing Christ before them. Perhaps we could say in the 1St chapter He brings Him before us as our life.
For he said for me to live.
Is Christ, and how wonderful that every one of us who are believers tonight, Christ himself is our life, as it tells us in Colossians, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall he also appear with him in glory. So the believer's life is is Christ himself. And in Second Corinthians chapter 4, the desire of the apostle was that the life of Jesus?
Would be seen in our mortal body.
That is, as people look at us, what the data see, should they see us? Just like those who don't know the Lord Jesus know they ought to see the life of Jesus in us. I sometimes think of it pictured to us in the Old Testament when we find the desire of Elisha was that he would be like Elijah, that is, he asked, Elijah said to him.
Him to ask what he would desire before he was taken up.
And he said, I pray that a devil portion of thy spirit be upon me. And the answer of Elijah was, if thou see me when I am taken up, it shall be solved, but if not, it shall not be solved. So he stayed close with him so that he would see him go up and rather than that's what you and I need. We need to see that the one who is our object is in glory, and we need to have our eyes upon him.
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And so when he came back.
It says he took off the garment of Elijah Elijah that fell from him.
Tore his own garment in two pieces, went back and crossed the river Jordan, the river of death. And when he crossed, the people said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest upon Elisha. In other words, they saw in him the spirit of the one who had gone up. And brethren, that's what people ought to see in us. The life of Jesus manifested in us. So Christ is our life. In the 2nd chapter we have a pattern, an example, and we have the pattern of the.
Jesus, who though he is and was God from all eternity, yet he humbled himself and came down into this world, made himself of no reputation. We like to have a reputation, that's what people seek after, Mr. Darby said. A man would rather be accounted the best thief in the country than to be accounted nobody. People like to have a reputation for something.
But here was a person who had a right to the highest place, but he took the lowest place.
Well, that's the pattern for us, brethren. We'd like people to recognize us, make something of us. But the one who is our pattern. He made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of the servant came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He's the pattern for our pathway here. Then when we come to this third chapter that we have read, I believe he's brought before us as.
Our object.
In the 4th chapter He's our strength, it says I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me, but is particularly on my heart this chapter which sets the Lord Jesus before us as the object.
And I believe he's comparing himself something like a runner running in a race. In those ancient races, the prize was at the end of the race. And so they ran with the prize before them. They ran to obtain the prize. And Paul was running through life, as it were, with an object before him and with a prize at the end. And he is.
Shall I say, having a proper sense of values, because, you know, the man wants to win a race. He's not going to wear a pair of heavy shoes. Even though there's nothing wrong with a pair of heavy shoes. He knows that that would hinder him in the race. And so very often it's not a question of whether things are right or wrong, but whether they're a hindrance in going on for the Lord Jesus. Now, there are some things that are positively wrong, but there are also things that are not wrong in themselves.
But they come between us and the Lord.
And they hinder us from following the Lord Jesus. And so Paul, I believe, is set before us here as one who is running in the race and seeking them to encourage us to do the same with Christ as his object.
We know his life wasn't an easy 1. And so he says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. How could he rejoice in the Lord when he was in prison when he wrote this epistle? Well, because he had that which abides. And even if he was in prison, even if he was deprived of the necessary things of life, he knew that the Lord hadn't failed him, and he could rejoice in the Lord.
We can't always rejoice in our circumstances.
But we can always rejoice in the Lord.
I've often thought that it's really very wonderful that.
And God is going to give us things in his word that He often uses a special instrument to do it. If I say, well, we ought to be rejoicing in the Lord, somebody might say to me, well, but you are not in the problems that I'm in. It's easy for you to say that, Brother Gordon, but really you don't understand the problems I'm in. So God put a man in the Roman prison. He put him there where he was really deprived, even forgotten by his brethren, for he tells.
In the next chapter that no church communicated with him concerning giving and receiving, he put a man in this uncomfortable place, and this is the man that he uses to tell us to rejoice in the Lord. How lovely this is. And so this is how he begins, Rejoice in the Lord. And in the next chapter rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.
Someone has said that in the book of Ecclesiastes we have a man who had everything.
This world could offer.
He said he washeld not his heart from any joy. There wasn't anything that he wanted that he didn't have because he had power, he had possession, he had health, he had everything that this world could offer. And what is his verdict? What does he have to say about it? He said all is vanity and vexation of spirit. And in the New Testament God picks up a man and he deprives him of everything that would make a natural man happy. He was forsaken by his friends, forgotten by.
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His brethren disliked by his nation, and this man says, rejoice in the Lord. This man is the one who has found the true source of happiness. Well, what a word to us, brethren. We could have everything and not be happy, but we can have nothing this world has to offer, and yet we can always rejoice in the Lord.
So he says to write the same things unto you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. No doubt Paul had often spoken to believers elsewhere and to these believers that Philippi about rejoicing in the Lord.
He says I'm not tired of talking about it. The things of the Lord, brethren, don't wear out. They're not like the things of the world. Very often you'll find a Christian at the end of his journey is enjoying the very simplest things, just the simple knowledge of the Lord Jesus love that he died for him and that he's coming again for him. And you'll often find.
A person who's getting near the end of the journey, They're enjoying the simple, simple things.
Of God's word and so he's not burdened that he has to talk to them about the same thing. We're living in a day of itching ears. People want to always hear something new. But isn't it true that those things that we have known and enjoyed.
Are the things that are precious to us as time goes on because they never wear out? You know, brother and I sometimes thought to have a great similarity between the gospel meeting and the remembrance of the Lord. When we gather to remember the Lord Jesus, what are we occupied with? We're occupied with the Lord Jesus and that glorious finished work that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary.
And instead of presenting at the sinners, we're telling God how much we appreciate.
What he has done and how he sent his Son to pay the price of sin, to glorify him and to open the way of blessing to us. So on Lords Day morning, we're occupied with the same theme as the Gospel meeting, but we're simply thanking God for these wonderful things that have been made known to us and that we enjoy. And then in the gospel we're sharing the same thing with sinners. We're telling them exactly what we were enjoying in the breaking of bread, how that the Lord Jesus died for us.
How he grows again for our justification, how we're brought into such a marvelous place of blessing. It's the same things, and let's not lose the enjoyment of the simple things. I remember a dear brother said to me many years ago. He said it's a bad thing when we lose the enjoyment of the simple things. Oh, how precious to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Danny gives 3 warnings here. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision please. These represent 3 dangers to us. When it says dogs, I believe in the scripture figuratively. It's shameless evil and we might think, well, I'm not bothered by all the evil that's in the world. Yes, we need to beware. Our hearts are prone to anything. We're always more or less affected by the generation.
In which we live, if we're not constantly have the renewing of the mind, and I say that to young as well as old, we need to beware of the shameless evil. People talk and people have all kinds of pictures and everything like this that defile the mind and we're told to be aware of that kind of thing. I visited an old man, he was in his 80s, and he said, Gordon, I was saved when I was in my 30s. And he said a lot of things that I heard and saw when I.
Was young are so engraved on my mind. He said here I am an old man and he said a lot of time I have to spend alone and these things are in my mind and they come back to me. I wish I'd never seen them. I wish I'd never heard them. And you know this is a good thing for us. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it and pass away. They'll stay in your mind. Your mind is a tremendous photographic machine and all those things will be pictured there and they'll come back to you when you don't want it.
So he says beware of dogs, then beware of evil workers. I believe this refers to those who bring bad doctrine. And we need to be aware because as someone has said, it's harder to unlearn than to learn. And when you get something wrong in your mind, it's much harder to get rid of it. It seems it's much more simple to learn the truth of God. But if we get a lot of wrong thoughts into our minds.
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We find that they crop up, they come up when the scripture is read, and we're much better to acquaint ourselves with the truth. Like the captain who was asked, did he know all the rocks in the channel? He said no, I know the safe channel law. And so we don't need to know all the things that are in this world, but we need to know the safe channel and beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision of only the thought and the concision is what might minister to.
Spiritual pride, we could boast that we had done this or that, and I believe the thought and concision is cutting off. And so we could get occupied. Well, since I was saved, I gave up this and I gave up that, and I think I'm a pretty good Christian and I gave up a good job to follow the Lord. And those kind of things can rob us too. Those kind of things. We're prone to spiritual pride. And so the apostle gives these warnings here.
In this chapter.
He says we are the circumcision which worship God in or by the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
In the scripture, the circumcision is the cutting off of the first man. That's what it figures. Circumcision that is the first man has no place in Christianity. The only true worship is that which is produced by the Spirit.
It isn't how well you can sing, It isn't how well you can play an instrument, it isn't how nicely a person may be dressed. It's what comes from the heart, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Christendom has introduced a great many things that entertain.
And they appeal to the first man. A man doesn't even have to be saved to enjoy a grand building. He doesn't have to be saved to enjoy grand music, but he has to be saved to enjoy occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we don't try to bring into our meetings those things that would appeal to the flesh, but what God values and what true worship is, as the Lord said in the 4th of John.
The true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. People say, well, wouldn't it be better if we introduced, say, some music that would be a lot better singing? I say, who would it make it nicer for? Would it make it any nicer for the Lord? No, He's looking for the melody in the heart. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Well, it would entertain us, but is that what we come together to entertain ourselves?
No, we come together to be occupied with the Lord.
Jesus and present the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name as though this is just a convenient meeting place. There isn't that which is intended to make it attractive to the natural man. It is that which the Spirit of God works, whether it's in conversion of a soul or whether it's in true worship. It's that produced by the Spirit of God.
So he contrasts that when he says we are the circumcision, worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. I might say that in the Old Testament man was under trial, and if grand buildings would produce true worship, then God gave the best. There was never a more wonderful building built than the temple, if good music would produce true worship.
There was nothing better than when the temple was dedicated. There were 120 priests sounding with trumpets besides other instruments, and all the singers were arrayed in white linen. Why, it was a marvelous thing. It was a grand orchestra. But all those things didn't change the heart of man at all. And when the trial was over, the people who had all those things were the ones who cried away with him. There's a new order of things in Christianity.
The cross was the end of the first man. The circumcision is that cutting off the end of the first man. And now, as the Scripture shows us, God begins all over again. As the Lord said to that woman, the hour cometh when and now is when the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He said neither at Jerusalem nor in this mountain. That's the worship that He's produced. It isn't a special center.
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Special building it's that which God has produced. Doesn't your heart respond in affection to the Lord Jesus? And so this is what true worship is. Well, you might say to me, well, but you didn't have all these things. If you had had these things, you would find it hard to give them up. Paul said I had everything I had everything I was a.
Devoted and devout Jew, he said.
If any other man thinks that he hath, whereas we might trust in the flesh eye more. He had gone on with all the ritual and everything that was given under the old order. 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.
A religious man, outwardly an upright man.
All that, you might say, would produce some kind of righteousness in the flesh. But what did all this lead Him to? It led him to persecute the only One who could bring salvation. And hasn't history shown that the greatest persecution has come from those who have religion without Christ? Religion without Christ? And so that's what He is bringing before us here. He had everything.
How that could be given to the natural man and given of God too, to prove that the flesh profiteth nothing. Someone said to Mr. Darby one time, I think you have a wonderful knowledge of the Word of God. Would you tell me how to study the Scripture? He said, study well for words. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The flesh profiteth nothing if it's something that we're getting.
To exalt ourselves and to think that we are something that doesn't have any value before God. And last, what is said tonight occupies your heart with Christ and draws out your heart to Him, and has failed in its purpose. Because knowledge puffeth up, but love edifies. And so here Paul had all these things but one day on the road to Damascus.
On his way to persecute the Christians. A light above the bright.
Of the sun shone down upon him, and his whole sense of values was changed. Everything that he once thought was so important, so worthwhile in the religion system that he was in.
Why it all came to its end when that light above the brightness of the sun shone down upon him, and he met for the first time in his life the Lord of glory. And everything was different. What things were gained to me, those I.
Loss for Christ, He found the one in whom the Father found all his delight, and he found him as his Savior and his object. I know how important that is. Man, I say again, can have religion, He can have everything and not have Christ. And even we can get so occupied with outward things that we lose, lose a sense of what is truly valuable before God, and that is to have Christ.
You could.
And perhaps some of you remember a little expression my father used to have. He said everything could be right, and yet nothing would be right unless the model was right. We could have all the open things. We could even come to this meeting and sit here and sing the hymns. But if it isn't having Christ before us, it isn't being occupied with him. It's sounding brass in a tinkling cymbal, as First Corinthians 13 says. And so the time came when Paul was journeying.
Down to Damascus with letters from the high priest to bind the Christians and bring them to Jerusalem. When that light shone down upon him. And I say again, he met that person, He met the Lord of glory. And now he says, what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ, everything that he once considered so valuable.
All came to its end and he says.
Because he counted them lost. And then in the eighth verse he says, 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 might rein Christ.
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The seventh verse is what happened when he met the Lord that time on the road to Damascus. He could say he counted all things, but lost for Christ. When this epistle was written, it was many years afterwards. He I suppose when this epistle was written, he had been saved for a good many years. Had the Lord Jesus become less precious to him?
No, the seventh verse is the past.
But the 8th is the present tense. I count all things but loss. And that's what the Lord desires, that he should be increasingly precious to us. Like a little song says, richer, fuller, deeper. Jesus love is sweeter, sweeter. As the years go by, shouldn't a better acquaintance with the Lord Jesus make him more precious to us? And that's why he has so much more to say in this eighth verse.
Than he did on the road to Damascus, because on the road to Damascus he found the Lord Jesus as his Savior, as his righteousness. But as he got a better acquaintance with him, he found out how richly he was blessed, and it just filled his heart with more praise and Thanksgiving. In other words, he got to know the Lord Jesus better. We have a little experience like that. Sometimes we meet somebody somehow our heart is drawn out to.
And we say, I'd like to know that person better. And as we get to know them better, we just think more and more of them because if they're really worthy of our confidence, why our attachment to them grows, well, that's only a human. But rather than how could we know the Lord better without loving him more and desiring to please him more?
And so, as he went on in his Christian life, notice how he talks.
In this eighth verse, the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, as he got to know him better, why he just delighted to think about the Excellency of the knowledge of him, and he calls him my Lord. What is the meaning of that expression? Sometimes I think that we don't think of what it means. We think of it as a title, and it certainly is a title.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ. But what does it mean to own him as Lord? It means that we recognize that He has authority in our lives. I have sometimes said there is one person who has a right to tell me what to do from the time I go up, get up in the morning all through the day, and I go to bed at night. He has a right to tell me because he's my Lord. That's what it is to own Jesus as Lord. It isn't that well, I own him as Lord because he's my Savior, but.
I choose my own fun and I choose my own way during the day and what I want to do, that's up to me. I'm, I am in control of my own life. That's not Christianity. Christianity is to own Jesus as the one who has right, who has authority over our whole life. Oh, you say I'd be afraid to do that because it might make it awfully difficult. Oh, just try it. Just try it. You'll find these interesting. Everything in your life he's interested in.
In your health, He's interested. In your family, He's interested in how we gather to worship, He's interested in everything in your life and mine. And if we really believe, brethren, that He's going to make us supremely happy and have them when we don't have any will of our own, we're just in the place where His will is supreme. Do I believe this, That heaven is a place of supreme happiness?
Why is it so? Because this one whom I now own.
Is my Lord is in complete control up there. Oh, let's not be afraid or ashamed to give him that place that he rightfully deserves in our lives. That's what it means in Romans 10 and 9. Even thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved and that is up to the time that we're saved. We well, we make our own choices. We do our own will. But when he comes into our life.
And we own him as Lord, then get up in the morning, and we ask him to guide us through the day. Are we afraid to do that? A person who loved us enough to die for us and will never be satisfied until he has us in his company forever. Are we afraid to own Jesus as Lord? Well, that's what Paul is saying. Oh, but Paul, there are a lot of other things worthwhile.
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He said.
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Why does it say this and do count them as dung? Well, I've heard Christians say it was awfully hard to give that up, but I gave it up for the Lord. But Paul said, he said it's done. It's not hard to give up something that's harder than worthless. And so he's saying that the things he gave up, I've heard Christians talk, I gave up a good job for the Lord. I gave up this for the Lord.
Paul said if I gave up anything for the Lord, it had no value. He said it wasn't worth anything. And so he gained so much more. The Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. And when he says that I may win Christ, as I say, he's comparing himself to a runner. He already had Christ as his Savior and Lord and his righteousness, but he was looking on to the end of the journey.
And just as we might say, and it says in Romans, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed? What does that mean Now? Is our salvation nearer than when we believed? When I accepted the Lord as my Savior, I got the salvation of my soul.
I was given the unsearchable riches of Christ. I was blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. But at the end of the journey.
All hindrance will be removed and will be in His presence and that will be the completion of our salvation. You might buy a piece of property down in Florida and maybe it's a very wonderful piece of property. Maybe it's worth a half, $1,000,000. It's a marvelous place. It's yours whether you're there or not. But until you get down there and are living on it and enjoying it, you haven't got the full benefit of what's already yours. And this is the way Paul speaks.
He was running, as it were, in the Christian life. There were hardships, there were obstacles, but he said that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is the righteousness, that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. He says this because.
In his unconverted days he was trying to establish a righteousness of his own.
This is what he means in Romans when he speaks about his Jewish his Jewish brethren. He said they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Before he was saved, he was trying to establish a righteousness of his own, and he found that he couldn't because he was condemned. He was guilty. He knew he didn't have a righteousness that God would accept.
Because he said.
That he was the chief of sinners. He found that out in that light of God's presence. I might think my clothes are all right in the dark, but the light shows them up. And the light above the brightness of the sun showed what he was in the presence of a holy God. He'd been trying to establish his own righteousness, but he said when I get there, it won't be any righteousness of my own at all. He said I'm not going to enter there because anything that I did or could do.
The righteousness which is of God.
God by faith. How many people there are who are trying to establish their own righteousness? They're either trying to do it to get salvation, or thinking they have to do something after they're saved in order to keep it as though they could do something to add to the righteousness which is of God by faith. Christ himself is the believer's righteousness.
He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And now he talks about his desire to be like Him, and his pathway, this tenth verse, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
I believe he's speaking in this 10th and 11TH verse. He's talking about, shall I say, two different things. Talking about, first of all, that there should be seen in him resurrection life as he went through this world. And then he says when the time comes, if he has to pass through death, then physically he would be raised.
We often speak about how as believers right now.
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Were dead and risen with Christ. That is, it says he are dead. If he then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above.
And then he says, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. You know, I like to think of a little pattern of that in the scripture. Do you remember when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead? It says that there were people who came out of their graves and appeared in the holy city unto many.
After they came out, after the Lord Jesus rose. And I've often thought of those people as those people appeared in Jerusalem and you met one of them and you said, oh, who are you? And the man would say, well, I I rose because Christ rose.
The Scripture doesn't record their names because that's not important at all, but they appeared in this world as those were the proof, as those that were the proof that Christ was risen. Brethren, that's the way we should appear.
Here in the world we ought to appear in the world as a proof that Christ is risen. We sometimes sing it in a little hymn, Oh, teach us so the power to know of risen life with thee not we may live while here below, but Christ our life may be now this was Paul's desire. He he had such affection for the Lord Jesus. He thought of what the Lord had done for him that he says, well, I just be so pleased if people would see that.
Resurrection life in me and so he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection oh he he knew it was a difficult path because in following Christ he had to suffer he was beaten he was he was put in prison he was finally put to death as he walked through this world trying to.
Manifest the life of the risen Christ, why He suffered in that past.
He said it's worthwhile law, the fellowship of his sufferings. And I believe if we can put it in this way, he was really saying, well, I, I really want so much to be like Christ that he had to suffer. And so if I have to suffer in the path of obedience, it'll be all right. I'll be just that much more like Christ. I think that's so lovely. I've often thought of what the Lord Jesus said when he when he said to the disciples.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you, He said the disciple is not above his master. If they have persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. And that speaks to my heart. Sometimes we kind of get the idea like this. Well, why should the world treat us so badly? You know, what we're really saying is they ought to treat me a little better than they treated my Savior. They spit in his face and they crowned him with thorns, but they shouldn't be that mean to me.
They ought to treat me kind of nicely.
Because I'm a respectable person, a citizen of this country and, oh, if we want to be above our master, Paul said, I want to be like my master. And if he had to suffer, then that's what I expect is going to be my pathway too. And so he said even in that I just say likeness to Christ.
And he said, if my if my life should entail going through death, I'll experience resurrection, I'll come up my savior rose Christ the firstfruits afterward, they that are Christ that is coming. And so if we have to pass through death, if you ever even put to death like Paul was for Christ's sake, why he'll experience the power of his resurrection.
Yes, how, how lovely, and yet how searching it is to our hearts.
When we think of this dear man of God, who had this great desire in his heart to be like Christ, 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, I believe the word apprehend means to lay hold of.
And.
I believe the thought in this verse is something like this is that I want to lay hold in my own soul of the purpose that the Lord had in laying hold of me. Did the Lord lay hold of me to make me a great businessman? Did he make lay hold of me to make me come out and tops in the sports world Or did he lay hold of me that I might be like his son and be his representative here in this world because.
We're spoken of as being.
Ambassadors for Christ, he laid hold of us. And Paul said, I want to lay hold of in my own soul the purpose the Lord had in laying hold of me. He said he reached out and laid hold of me, delivered me from the pit and lifted me up. And he said, I want this to get hold of my soul, the purpose that he had.
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And so he hadn't fully laid hold of that. He said, 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.
Sometimes there is a certain line of ministry, sometimes called a victorious life, where people are occupied with themselves and how much they've attained, how well they've got along in their Christian life. And you know, that just leads to spiritual pride. I don't think that this is what Paul is talking about here, but rather that he shouldn't be, as it were.
Rating himself, but rather that he would be pressing on.
Where the object in view, perhaps I could illustrate it something like this, supposing that well, in our country we have quite deep snow and you're trying to break a path across a field of snow. Well, you know, as you start out why if the snow is kind of deep, you find that you're making a kind of a crooked path. It's it's really not very straight and that the only way that you can really break.
A straight path through deep snow. You've got to set your eye on something on the other side and keep your eye on that. And in that way you can make a straight path. Well, Paul had broken a pretty crooked path. Truly didn't want to be occupied with that, but he wanted to keep his eye on the Lord Jesus exposing while you're going across this, this field, you realize you've made a pretty crooked path and then you do get your eye on something on the other.
Side and only you think, I think I'm doing pretty well. So you turn around and you start to think, well I think I'm doing pretty well here. Look at that nice straight path that I'm breaking and then you know, oh, I forgot, I took my eye off that object on the other side. When you get to the other side, you look back and there was all that bad part before and then there's that nice straight path. Then there's kind of a crooked part where you were patting yourself.
From the back, how well you're doing. We don't need to do that, brethren. Let the Lord keep the record. He'll always keep it right. But if we get occupied, I've seen dear Christians, and I mean dear Christian that I love very much, they get occupied with what a fine job they're doing of their spiritual life. And you know, if they only realize that they've got their eye off the object, you've got their eye off the object. And I believe when he's talking about forgetting those things which are behind.
And he wants to not, shall I say, rate his own spiritual life. He wants to give, keep his eye upon the Lord. And may I say that for myself and for you, there's a great danger sometimes. I remember I was in a meeting one time, and I heard a dear old brother.
He said, Brethren, I haven't missed a meeting for 50 years, except there was some good reason for it and I don't intend to. And within two years he was out of fellowship and out of the meeting. He was patting himself on the back for his good Christian record.
And we need to have our eyes upon the Lord, how important it is, so he said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for.
Under those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And he says, Let us therefore as many as be perfect. The thought in this 15th verse is maturity or full growth. It is therefore as many as be, shall I say, mature, full grown. Be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. So the sign of maturity is not for us to be boasting. Well, I made a lot of progress since the Lord saved me.
I've read a lot of books and I've really done a lot. I spent five years out in China and all that kind of thing. No, he said. He said, Let us therefore as many as be full grown and mature, and if in anything he be otherwise minded. God shall reveal even this unto you. Perhaps we might say that all Christians don't see alike in everything.
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Well, is it because God is not?
Willing to make his mind known to us. Now, I've heard some people make the comment, well, if Mr. Darby and Mr. Kelly agreed, who am I that I should know what's right? And what what they're really saying is the Lord is not able to show me His mind because I have to depend on those people. And if they couldn't agree, well, how could I ever know his mind? Brethren, the Lord is able and willing that we're willing to show us his mind.
And anything maybe otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you. Next time you differ with another Christian, don't try to press your own point. Say well brother.
I'll I'll ask the Lord to make it clear to me and you ask the Lord to make it clear to you through his word and by his Spirit, and I'm sure that he'll teach us the same thing. Yes, He's willing on his part. It says to this man, will I look to him? That is poor and of a contrast.
Spirit and a trembler at my word. Oh how lovely it'll be. All the mind of heaven is 1. Why is it different down here? Well, if I if I don't see the truth of God clearly, shall I say it's not because God doesn't want to show up to me? My will must be at work. And perhaps we don't realize it. Dear Mr. Darby made this comment too. He said the flesh in another is easily detected.
We see in other people.
Sometimes there's self will, but we have to get into the presence of the Lord and he shows it to us. So he said God is willing. But then I think this 16th verse is so precious. Nevertheless, where to we have already attained? Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
Does God have two different rules for Christians so that one Christian can say, well, this is a rule of my life. You can make another rule for your life. Now He only has one rule, and that is to have Christ as your object and His word is your guide. There's no change whether it's a child who is only saved.
Perhaps yesterday or whether it's somebody that's been saved for 50 years. There's only one rule for the Christian life, and that is.
To make Christ as our object and His Word as our guide. But I've often said, brethren, I'm glad the Lord didn't show me everything He wanted me to do. The day He saved me, I couldn't have taken it. But if we're willing, He shows us step by step He leads us on. And what I want to encourage in you, and what I would desire for myself.
Is a willing heart that says, Lord, teach me thy will.
There's a beautiful verse in the 886 Psalm. It says, Teach me to do thy will, unite my heart to fear thy name. And so the Lord is willing. And so just like we had last night, there was the portion for the children in the Passover, There was the portion for the ones who were older. Each one according to his eating, shall make your account for the lamb. And I don't expect a person who's just saved to see everything at once.
God leads us on in growth, but as it says here where two we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule that us mine the same thing. So I can teach my children about the Lord Jesus in their simple way. They can learn what pleases him. I expect when when they get older then they'll know a little bit more of what's pleasing to him.
And as we get older, why we need to?
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
Pardon me for repeating this, but I remember I was out West at a meeting there on a we were talking and they were talking about growing and maturing and the things of God. And one of the brothers who was a farmer there, he said, well, he said, you know, when the time comes for the wheat to be ripe, he said, the head falls down, the head falls down.
And he said, then you know that the wheat is right.
And other brothers spoke up and he said, not if the head is empty, He said it doesn't go down unless it's full. And so, you know, as we get older, it ought to make us more humble, brethren, It ought to make us more humble. And we're not really going on in the things of God.
Because one time somebody said to Mr. Darby.
Mr. Darby, there is a brother. That's not what we call a spiritual brother at all. And the Bible says let each esteem other better than himself. How can you esteem that brother who's not very spiritual better than yourself?
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His ready reply was, I know far more about the faults of J and Darby than I know about him.
Yes, if we're going on, brethren, we realize how much we have failed, how weak we are, But so let's not build up ourselves, but let us go on in the race with Christ as our object. And how could any of us as we get older have a very good opinion of ourselves? We just learned a little bit more about ourselves as we go on, But happily we ought to, we ought to learn more of Christ.
And this is the way the chapter closes. The apostle says there are two paths.
There are two paths. There's the path of this world that ends in destruction, and there's a path of following Christ that ends in full conformity to him, morally and physically like him. And that's what we're waiting for, brethren. We're waiting for that glorious moment when the Lord Jesus gives the shout, and then when I meet you, when you meet me in glory.
We'll be fully like Christ. We love bodies like Him.
And there won't be any of that flesh within us. There won't be anything of that self will in the glory, everyone will be fully like Christ. And he said this is a Christian pathway. This is the way we ought to be pressing on with that desire in our souls that we more like Him now, and that as we grow and have a better knowledge of himself, this becomes more and more true in our lives. Until that blessed moment it might be tonight.
On every redeemed one will be in his presence and will be like him, morally and physically. He'll change these bodies.
He sets before us, then two paths no true Christian could ever end, for the world ends because this world is under judgment. Judgment has been passed upon us, upon it rather. But brethren, it is possible for us to get in the wrong path. When I am traveling, sometimes I've got off the right road and I've gone in the wrong direction.
Usually we realize that we're wrong and we turn around, come back.
And I don't believe the thought here is to occupy us with some people that are going on to destruction and some to glory, but rather the thought of where the path leads. And if I decide that I'm going to walk with the world, I am treading a very dangerous path, because the world's path ends in destruction. Now the Lord loves his own too much to let them go to the end of the path.
If you had seen me when I got off the road and got onto the wrong path.
He might have said, well, if you'll never get to the place, you're going that way, and I turn around and go back. And so sometimes a Christian can walk with the world, James said. Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So as Christians we can sometimes get off the path and go along with the world. Well, the Lord loves us too much to let us continue in that path. He draws us back with cords of love.
But.
We're always sorry when we missed the road, we usually waste quite a little bit of time and we usually have to turn around and go back. And brethren, we can have, we can have a life that abides for the Lords glory or we can have a wasted life.
Lot had a wasted life.
When he all he lived for was burned up in Sodom. I'm going to meet Lot in glory. He's going to be there through the value of the precious blood of Christ. But the scripture tells us that we can have a saved soul, but a lost life.
And how, how good it is? He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. So the thought is that we can, we can have that wasted life, but the Lord wants us to have a life that will abide for His glory and His praise. And I believe, brethren, this is what is brought before us. And Paul is trying to encourage these believers not in setting himself up, but rather encourage him to go on.
In that path only the Lord encourage each one of us to go on in the path with Christ as our object, to walk along with those who are making Christ the object, as He says.
That he's encouraging to follow along in that path of following Christ and we need each other. We need help in the path, and we can encourage one another. Nothing sweeter than another brother to come along and give you a little word of encouragement to go on in that path. Well, may the Lord keep us and may we go on in our Christian life with Christ as the object. And you say, well, I don't see everything exactly the same as some other brother. Well, he says if in anything you'd be otherwise minded.
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God shall reveal evenness unto you. May we be willing to let Him show us His mind, His will for our pathway, individually and collectively, until He comes.