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Well, good evening, everyone. 
As we already mentioned, we're going to be looking at the second 
half of the chapter from this morning, Philippians chapter 
3. So if you have your Bibles and turn to Philippians 3, we'll 
read the whole chapter again just to remind us of the context, 
and then we'll look at verses 10 to the end, to 21. So Philippians 
chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice 
in the Lord. For me to write the same things 
to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, 
beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are 
the circumcision who worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in 
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might 
have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may 
have confidence in the flesh, I more so. circumcised the eighth 
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew 
of the Hebrews. Concerning the law, a Pharisee. 
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Concerning the righteousness 
which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to 
me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also 
count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all 
things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be 
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from 
the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness 
which is from God by faith, that I may know him, and the power 
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings 
being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain 
to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already 
attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay 
hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one 
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching 
forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the 
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 
Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and 
if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to 
you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, 
let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. Brethren, 
join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as 
you have us for a pattern. 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 
set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, 
from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed 
to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is 
able even to subdue all things to himself. Well, let us pray. Dear Father in heaven, again, 
we stand here before you, Lord, and we ask for the ministry of 
your Spirit that He would be here among us, that He would 
aid and assist in ministering Your Word and preaching Your 
Word and expounding it and opening it up to Your people here. Lord, 
we pray that Your saints here would be edified, that we would 
see Christ, and that we would understand that Christ is the 
reason for why we have been saved, and that we would strive, like 
Paul tells us here, to run that race, and to live a life that 
is pleasing to you, and a life that brings glory to your name. Father, we pray for your blessing 
on us today. Please, please, Be among us, 
watch over us, and open our hearts and our minds to receive this 
Word. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. So this morning, 
we looked at the first nine verses of this chapter, and we looked 
at what Paul meant by this statement to the Philippians in verse 1, 
to rejoice in the Lord. And we saw that to rejoice meant 
to be fully satisfied in the Lord. And we looked at what that 
meant specifically in regards to our justification, what makes 
us right with God. And now in the rest of this chapter, 
Paul explains what it means for the rest of our walk as Christians, 
what we would call sanctification. And it's very important that 
we understand and that we maintain this distinction here between 
justification and sanctification. Justification is that legal declaration 
that God makes on the sinner that the sinner is now in right 
standing with him, that he is saved. And as we saw this morning, 
that is only possible through the work of the Lord Jesus. There's 
nothing that man contributes to his salvation, to him being 
declared right with God. God can only declare someone 
right with him who has Christ's righteousness imputed to their 
account and Christ's atonement as payment. for their sin. And 
we saw that this imputation happens through faith, that a person 
receives these benefits when they believe in Christ as one 
who has done it all for them. Now, sanctification, on the other 
hand, is that process that begins the moment a person is justified 
and continues on through their entire life. It's that process 
of overcoming sin in our lives and of being conformed to the 
image of Christ. And again, it's very important 
that we understand that this begins after or at the moment of conversion. 
It is not the cause of salvation. We were created in Christ Jesus 
for good works, not because of good works, the apostle says 
in Ephesians chapter 2. This morning I spoke about a 
lot of things that I said were good but had no value for our 
salvation. And what that means is that things 
like church attendance and our private devotions, our moral 
reform, cleaning up our life, these are all good things when 
we give them their proper place. And their proper place is after 
salvation, as part of that process of sanctification. 
In regards to church attendance, don't get me wrong, even prior 
to salvation, obviously it's a good thing to be in a church, 
in a good gospel-preaching church. But there's that tendency that 
we have to place a value on our church attendance. And, you know, 
thinking that, you know, I'm a Christian because I go to church. 
You know, that's what Christians do. I go to church and therefore 
that makes me a Christian. Or just thinking that our church 
attendance might somehow earn God's favor in a certain way 
in regards to our salvation. So if you're an unbeliever here 
tonight, please don't think that I'm saying stay away from church 
until you're saved. In fact, you should be doing 
the exact opposite, but understand my point. We come to church to 
hear and be taught and believe the gospel. We don't come to 
church to earn God's favor. So there is this change that 
comes. after conversion, and that's what Paul wants us to 
understand here in the rest of this chapter. Because when we 
preach a doctrine of justification by faith, the charge is so quickly 
given, the biblical doctrine of justification by faith, I 
should say, the charge comes so often that if we tell sinners 
that you contribute nothing to your salvation, well, then they're 
just going to continue on in their sin. If we tell them that 
their works have no value, and they just need to believe in 
Christ, then they'll profess to believe in him and continue 
on to live however they want. And Paul knows this, and we also 
see this in Romans 5. He anticipates that question, 
and he says, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 
Certainly not, he says. God forbid, the King James puts 
it. So, because having a right understanding of what we talked 
about this morning and a right understanding of who we are as 
new creatures in Christ, continuing in sin without any change is 
not possible for someone who is in Christ. It's not that they 
will immediately become perfect or even near perfect, but rather 
that a noticeable process starts in their life. Change is necessary. 
It's not necessary as a means of salvation. but it's a necessary 
result of the change that has occurred in the heart. Changes 
in outward life start to happen because of a change in the inward 
change that has happened. Faith without works is dead, 
James says. It's not that the works are necessary for faith 
to be there, but it's because the change in the heart that 
produced faith also produces good works. And that's what Paul 
tells us here in verse 10 says that I may know him and the power 
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed 
to his death. So this sentence is a continuation 
of the previous verse here, and it's all what's included in being 
in Christ here. But that last clause there of 
being conformed to his death, it might be put at the beginning 
of the verse to give us a better understanding of what it means. 
So having been conformed to his death, now I may know him and 
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. 
So then what does it mean to be conformed to his death? Turn 
to Romans chapter 6 with me for a minute. Romans chapter 6, Paul 
gives us a much clearer illustration of what this means. Verses 1 to 11, we'll read them 
all so we can understand what he means here. Romans chapter 
6. What shall we say then? Shall 
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How 
shall we, who died to sin, live any longer in it? Or do you not 
know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were 
baptized into his death, therefore we were buried with him through 
baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the 
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in 
newness of life. For if we have been united together 
in the likeness of his death, certainly also we shall be in 
the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man 
was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done 
away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For 
he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with 
Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him, knowing 
that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. 
Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that 
he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he 
lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves 
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus 
our Lord. So if you remember what we said 
this morning about the natural man in Romans 8 and in Isaiah 
64, that prior to conversion they are not able to do any good 
works, and that is because they are slaves of sin, meaning that 
the fallen human sinful nature that we have is only capable 
of sin. Every desire is sinful, every 
action is produced by that desire, and therefore it is sinful. But 
once a person is in Christ, Paul says here in verse 6 here in 
Romans, Now that that old nature is crucified with Christ, the 
body of sin is done away with, and we are no longer slaves of 
sin. So there is this change that happens by the power of 
the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person at conversion. They 
become dead to sin, Paul says. Now, that doesn't mean dead to 
the practice of sin, but dead to the reign of sin. So sin no 
longer reigns. It no longer controls everything 
we do. That sin-controlled nature is put to death there. And now 
because of that supernatural change that happens in the heart 
by the power of the Holy Spirit, having been conformed to His 
death, we are raised as a new creature in Him, a new creation. 
So if you're still in Romans 6, look at verse 4 again. Now 
flip ahead to chapter 8 in Romans here for a minute. Chapter 8. Reading verses 9 to 11, Romans 
8, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed 
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have 
the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, 
the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because 
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who 
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ 
from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through 
his Spirit who dwells in you. So our old nature has been put 
to death, or maybe we could say it's been given a mortal blow, 
and we are no longer under the complete control of that sinful 
nature. We have been given a new nature, 
one that desires to serve and please God. So there is a real 
change that happens in the heart of a person at conversion, and 
that change will produce real, visible changes in the lives 
of believers. So we can go back to Philippians 
again. And that's what Paul means here 
when he says the power of his resurrection. That same power 
that God used to raise Christ from the dead is that same power 
by which he creates in us a new nature. Now this change, it happens 
at conversion, but it's not complete until we are in heaven with him. 
We have been broken free from that control of sin and given 
a new nature, but the old nature is still present. And it's still 
something that we must strive continually to put to death, 
as well as that new nature, we must press on to conform that 
nature to the image of Christ. And we'll see more of that in 
a minute. And now just briefly, what he says here, that I may 
know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. 
Now, regarding this, some commentators apply this to the physical sufferings 
of Paul, that part of being in Christ is suffering for his sake. And there may be truth to that. 
But I think in this context here, he's speaking of the benefits. 
of being in Christ and receiving the reward for which Christ suffered. That is the forgiveness of sin. 
So all these things here, the power of his resurrection conformed 
to his death, fellowship of his sufferings, these are benefits 
of being in Christ. John Gill here says, this so 
signifies a sharing in and a participation of the benefits arising from 
them, that's Christ's sufferings, such as reconciliation for sin, 
peace with God, pardon, righteousness, and nearness to God. So this 
is tied into verse 9 here, where in addition to the righteousness 
that we receive from Christ, we also receive the forgiveness 
of our sins through Christ's atonement, just what we saw in 
Colossians 2 this morning. So, and now verse 11, here he 
says, Now, what Paul does not mean here is that it is now up 
to him to earn and obtain for himself the resurrection of his 
body. He's been very clear, and he's not wavering now, that he's 
been saved completely by the work of Christ. and that Christ 
has secured for him the resurrection. But what he's saying here is 
that he's now in a process in which he must persevere, in that 
he must be disciplined, and then at the end of that comes the 
final resurrection of the saints upon the return of Christ. He 
knows that this is not going to be an easy process, but by 
any means, as he says here, he's going to get there. And he explains 
more of that in verse 12 here. Not that I have already attained 
or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold 
of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." So, 
for one, we can't miss the sovereignty of God in salvation here in this 
last statement. that Christ has also laid hold 
of me. So we know that Christ is the 
one who has laid hold of us. He's the one who seeks and saves. It's not of Him who wills nor 
of Him who runs, but of God who shows mercy, Romans 9 tells us. And so it's God, by His Spirit, 
changes a man's heart and makes him willing in the day of His 
power. But Paul says that now he's pressing toward that for 
which Christ laid hold of him. So he's pressing toward the goal 
of why Christ saved him. There's a reason why Paul has 
been saved. So the end is not salvation. Salvation is the means to the 
end. So Christ has a purpose for saving 
us. And what is that purpose? Turn 
to Ephesians chapter 2 for a minute. Ephesians 2. Verse 8 through 10, "'For by 
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, 
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.'" 
Now turn it to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Verse 11 to 
14. For the grace of God that brings 
salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying 
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope 
and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every 
lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous 
for good works. 1st Thessalonians 4 says this 
is the will of God your sanctification Romans 8 29 for whom he foreknew 
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son So we 
know that the ultimate purpose in redemption is the glory of 
God. And that purpose of each individual believer is to bring 
glory to God. And that's achieved through our 
continued conformity to Christ, putting to death that old nature 
and the sin that it brings, and fanning the flames, as it were, 
of that new life that has been created in us. This is what the 
old boys called mortification of the old man and vivification 
of the new man. So putting to death the old man, 
bringing to life the new man. And that's Christ's purpose for 
saving you, that you would bring glory to him through your life 
by becoming like him. So knowing that we have been 
laid hold of Christ should not cause us to become idle. It is 
not that now that we are saved, the journey is over, I have arrived, 
now I just go through the motions of life on this earth until he 
calls me home. But it's not that. The moment 
of salvation is not the end of the journey, it's the beginning 
of the journey. And it's the beginning of the journey that 
you will be on for the rest of your life. The Westminster Catechism, 
the first question says, what is the chief end of man? And 
the answer is not the chief end of man is to be saved. but rather 
the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Chief 
end meaning the purpose. So to glorify God and to enjoy 
Him forever. Now this only begins at salvation 
where God is glorified as the sinner rests fully satisfied 
in the finished work of Christ on their behalf. That's what 
we saw this morning is the beginning. And now Paul wants us to see 
the middle, that process, and that process that takes dedication 
on our part. So he says here that he's not 
already perfected. He has not yet come to a complete 
knowledge of Christ. He has not yet come to a complete 
realization of the power of the resurrection and of being conformed 
to Christ's death. These are things that he wanted 
to experience more of. He wanted to grow more in the grace and 
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted to experience that 
power of the resurrection as a new creature in Christ and 
through his conformity to the image of Christ and the mortification 
of his old nature as he's conformed to Christ in his death. And he's 
in that process. He's pushing for that goal. And 
in verse 13 here, he repeats himself again. Philippians verse 
13. He says, brethren, I do not count 
myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those 
things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which 
are ahead. So he says, I know I haven't attained, I haven't 
reached the end. But the thing that I do know is that everything 
that lies behind me, I forget about and I press on towards 
that goal. So what Paul does not mean here is that is by looking 
back here, is that looking back to where we were before Christ, 
our sinfulness and what Christ has done for us. That's not what 
he's talking about, because those are good things to look back on, 
because when we look at that, that doesn't detract from Christ, 
but that just rather serves to sharpen that vision of Christ 
and to make us just to love him more for what he has done for 
us. And it should be a means to spur us on in pressing forward. 
But what Paul means here is that looking back here, he's talking 
about looking back on how far we've come in that process, in 
our own sanctification. So it's not stopping along the 
way to rest and congratulate ourselves for how well that we're 
doing. So all those good things that 
I mentioned earlier, those good works that take place in our 
lives, we still do not allow those things to detract from 
Christ and from the end goal. So we saw this morning when we 
looked at verse 8 that Paul, he had counted all those things 
at loss and he continued to count everything at loss so that he 
might gain Christ. Now, self-examination. is a good 
thing, something that we should all be doing as believers, looking 
at our lives and to see if we're evidencing those changes, the 
fruits of the Spirit. But when we do see the fruits 
of the Spirit, they're a cause for rejoicing in Christ as assurance 
that we have been laid hold of by Him. That's not something 
to congratulate ourselves about. We must press on. Remember Jesus' 
words. He says, no one, having put his 
hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom 
of God. You are not very effective at 
plowing if you're constantly looking behind you. If you want 
to plow in straight rows, you look forward. Someone who's running 
a race doesn't look back as he runs. This is going to cause 
him to run slower and lose that race. He doesn't look back to 
see how far he's come and give himself a pat on the back. Because 
that's going to distract from pressing towards that goal of 
winning the race. So we do not look back at our achievements 
in our walk with Christ, certain sins that we've overcome, and 
congratulate ourselves, thinking that now we've arrived. But we 
press on, we continue this fight, Paul says here. Spurgeon says, 
the Christian church is the child of spiritual war. She only lives 
as she fights and rides forth, conquering and to conquer. God 
deliver us from the self-congratulatory spirit, however it may come, 
and make us long and pine after something better." So he's speaking 
of that pursuing on, always pressing forward. So Paul here also wants 
us to continue to press on. And look at the end of verse 
14 here, and he adds, he adds, "...I press toward the goal for 
the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus." In Christ Jesus here, that's 
a reminder to us that our salvation, our reward, this prize is all 
because of Christ. It's not because of how hard 
we've pressed, it's all because of Christ. Remember what he said 
in verse one this morning. that for me to write these same 
things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. And this 
is one of those little reminders again from Paul here for our 
own safety, just to always remember that we're here because of Christ. 
And again, we also must note here that in Christ, is also 
referring to our pressing on. So we're pressing on in Christ, 
meaning we're not pressing on in our own strength, but we do 
so by the power of Christ. Remember, in Ephesians 2, it 
says that we are Christ's workmanship. So He is at work in our lives 
to conform us into His image. Philippians 2 verse 13 here says, 
for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his 
good pleasure. And even prior to that in chapter 
1 of Philippians verse 6, being confident of this very thing, 
that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it 
until the day of Christ. So take courage. This fight is 
not something that you are on your own with. Paul Washer always 
says that to try and do this is like trying to pick yourself 
off the ground by your own bootstraps. It's not possible. So we have 
to be in much prayer. dependence on Christ for this, 
because we don't want this to drive you to a spirit of fatalism 
where we take all responsibility away from us. Paul is calling 
us here to be disciplined, and we're not robots, but we have 
been given a rational mind and the ability to use that and the 
responsibility to use that, and that's what Paul wants us to 
to understand here. Jerry Bridges, in his book, The 
Discipline of Grace, he gives the example of an airplane. And 
the two wings of the airplane, he calls discipline and dependence. So just like an airplane must 
have both wings properly attached in order to fly, we must exercise 
both discipline on our part and dependence on Christ in our life 
of sanctification. We must be disciplined in our 
actions of pressing forward to that goal, but always dependent 
on Christ for the power to do so. And always remember Jesus' 
words in John 15 5, And now in verse 15, And 16 here, he says, Therefore, 
let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if in anything 
you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, 
to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the 
same rule. Let us be of the same mind. So, 
Paul again, he's encouraging them to always... Always keep 
this in mind. Like I said this morning, we're 
so quick to allow those little things to slide in and to take 
away from being fully satisfied in Christ. We have to be on constant 
guard against this, even as we have just seen, even our own 
successes in if you want to call them that, in our sanctification, 
and allowing those things to detract from Christ's work in 
us. So to be of the same mind here means to be fully trusting 
in Christ for justification and in salvation, as well as for 
our own sanctification, and then being disciplined and committed 
to fully pressing on in our growth in grace and knowledge and conformity 
to Christ. And then Paul's also given us 
the statement here that if any of you think otherwise, God will 
reveal even this to you. So now remember from this morning, 
the Philippian believers were constantly being harassed by 
these Judaizers who taught them that they needed to adhere to 
the law of Moses in order to be saved. And now these men would 
have been very convincing because they didn't deny Christ. They 
said that you could believe in him. That was fine, but that 
just wasn't enough. You needed to add your own law-keeping in 
order to be saved. Now, there may have been new 
or weak believers in Philippi, and they could have tended towards 
this doctrine even in spite of Paul's warning. So, Paul's trusting 
here that in time that they would be led by the Spirit to understand 
these things, because ultimately the Spirit is the revealer of 
truth. I remember a conversation that 
I had with a friend once regarding these things, sovereignty of 
God, that kind of thing, election, and I was trying to explain to 
him all the, I was giving him all the verses. I was coming 
from a logical standpoint, trying to explain to him the necessity 
of it. And he wasn't having it at all. But it was several days later, 
I got a text from him, and he says, dude, you're right. God 
really is sovereign. And the funny thing was, he was 
reading in Ephesians 2 those very same verses that I had been 
quoting to him earlier. Now the Holy Spirit was working 
in him, you know, several days later as he went through and 
didn't even realize that they were the verses that I had been 
trying to convince him with. So it just shows the Holy Spirit 
is necessary there. And this is encouraging because 
there are many believers out there, you know, new or immature 
believers, maybe those who haven't been taught right doctrines and, 
you know, are just newly converted. Now, they know Christ is the 
Savior, they know Christ is their Savior, but they might not understand 
all these things. Now, hopefully they're using the means of grace 
that God has given here, that the Spirit gives for edification. 
and growth, which is one is the church attendance and as well 
as reading the Bible prayerfully. But ultimately, it is the Spirit 
that does reveal these truths. It's the Spirit who shines the 
light into the hearts. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 4, he says, who has shone in our hearts to 
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Christ Jesus. So it is God who reveals these 
truths of the gospel at conversion, and God who continues to reveal 
truth in our growth in grace and knowledge. So all of the 
most clearest, most logical presentation of the gospel without the Spirit 
is nothing. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal 
that truth. And we also, oh, we always need to remember this, 
too, as we converse with other believers. See, Paul doesn't, 
Paul's not coming down with a hammer on them here, but he's rather, 
he comes alongside them. He empathizes with them by sharing 
his own experience. He gives himself as an example. 
So there may be a time when it's necessary. I think we see Paul 
do that with the Galatians. He comes down a lot harder on 
them, but maybe they were being more obstinate in their refusal 
to listen to Paul. We don't know exactly. But here, 
he's just, Paul gives his own experience to the Philippians 
there as an example. So, and again, you know, Paul 
had, there was good reason here because from man's perspective, 
to boast in the flesh, if there was anyone who could do it, it 
was Paul. We saw that this morning. But he, you know, he says away 
with that all. If you want to have Christ, you have to count, 
he says, I have to count all these things as loss so that 
I could gain Christ. And so do you. So now I need 
to press on to run that race, and so do you. And that's what 
he says in verse 17 here. Brethren, join in following my 
example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 
So he says, just that, follow my example. Note others who are 
following my example. Imitate me, just as I also imitate 
Christ, he says to the Corinthians. So if there ever was an example 
to follow, it's Paul constantly pressing forward. And that's 
why he could say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Because as long as I live, I'm 
knowing more of Christ. I'm experiencing more of that 
power of Christ's death and resurrection as I press on. And if I die, 
then I get to fully understand and experience these things. So, he was constantly growing 
in Christ, never going backwards. So, definitely use Paul as your 
example. And then, in verse 18, he gives 
that warning again. just like he did earlier in the 
chapter. There are many who say that they 
are Christians, but in reality, they're enemies of the cross 
of Christ here. He says, 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. So, because as we saw this morning, 
you either have all of Christ or none of him. To try and mingle 
the two, to try to make salvation a matter of Christ and is to 
take away from the cross of Christ, that's to be an enemy of the 
cross. And also just note Paul's concern 
here for the believers and his sorrow over this perversion of 
the gospel. He says, I tell you, even weeping, Paul was determined 
to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. So for Paul 
to know that there were men going around trying to pollute and 
pervert that pure gospel brought much grief to him. And he also, 
he had such a desire to present the church of Christ as that 
chaste virgin, to present the church to Christ as that chaste 
virgin. 2 Corinthians 11, he says here. So he strove for the 
purity of the church. He labored in birth pains till 
Christ be formed in you, he said to the Galatians. So it pained 
him to see these Judaizers infiltrating the church and polluting it. 
And these men here, he says in verse 9, their end is destruction. 
So in verse 19, sorry, their end is destruction. He knows 
that Christ is ultimately going to separate, you know, the wheat 
and the chaff, the sheep and the goats. So those who pollute 
the pure gospel of Jesus Christ will find their end in destruction, 
in hell. And John Gill here says, Gil 
is great, by the way. Now I understand why Pastor Butler 
loves him so much. It's very insightful on so much 
here. So he says, heresies such as 
strike at the efficacy of Christ's cross, his blood, righteousness, 
and sacrifice are damnable ones and bring upon men swift destruction. 
Now remember what Paul also said to the Galatians. He said, if 
anyone preaches any other gospel to you, even if it's an angel 
from heaven, let him be anathema, which means damned. So you cannot 
get the gospel wrong. You cannot teach Christ and my 
good works. It must be Christ alone. And 
then he says their glory is their shame. So all the things that 
they've boasted about will become the things that bring about their 
downfall if they do not repent before it's too late. So were 
they teaching that you had to add works in order to merit salvation? Well, that doctrine would bring 
them to shame when they came to stand before God without that 
perfect righteousness of Christ. or if they were teaching that 
they could just continue on in sin, you know, that grace may 
abound, you know, teaching and priding oneself in this doctrine 
is sure to bring about shame and destruction, because it shows, 
teaching that doctrine shows that the heart has not been renewed 
by the Holy Spirit. So, because these men, they were 
not about the advancement of the kingdom of heaven, but they 
were self-seeking, they were earthly-minded. Their God is 
their belly, he says here, their mind is set on earthly things. 
So they didn't have a kingdom mentality, so to speak, kingdom 
of heaven. They had no desire to be useful in that kingdom 
of Christ. And look at verse 20 here, he says, for our citizenship 
is in heaven. from which we also eagerly wait 
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." So we are citizens of 
heaven. We have been delivered from that 
kingdom of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of 
His love, he says in Colossians. So our citizenship now is in 
heaven, and we must live with that perspective. And Paul also 
now shows us what the end will be here as well in verse 21. So we also eagerly, sorry, verse 
20, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be 
conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which 
he is able even to subdue all things to himself. So he gives 
us a glimpse of what that end will be, that we will receive 
our glorious resurrected body. and there will be no more sin 
and sorrow. And that's what we all have to look forward to. 
But we must press on in achieving that purpose for which we were 
saved. Remember that it is a process. It's not, I'm saved and now I 
do my own thing until I die and then at the end of the age I 
receive my glorified body back. I'm free of sin and everything's 
great. It's not to be looked at that way. It's a process that 
we're in the middle of. It's not justification and then 
glorification, it's justification sanctification, and then glorification. So we are all now in that sanctification 
phase, that pressing on stage, and that's what Paul wants us 
to understand in this passage here. So in conclusion here, 
first of all, if you are an unbeliever here tonight, you do not believe 
in the Lord Jesus, you need to understand that this is not a 
prescription of how to be saved. do these things, clean up your 
life, get rid of sin out of your life, press on, and you will 
be saved. Absolutely not. If you were not 
here this morning, then I would suggest maybe go back and listen 
to that message if you have time. We talked very clearly about 
how it is that a man can be saved. That was about justification. 
You know, what's making us right with God. And what makes us right 
with God is not our own works in any way. It's the perfect 
work of the Lord Jesus. His perfect life to earn eternal 
life and His atonement on the cross to pay for sin. So pressing 
on, pressing towards the mark, you know, all that we've talked 
about tonight, that cannot earn your salvation. You need to start 
at the beginning. You need to go back, believe on Christ, trusting 
in His work on your behalf, resting fully satisfied in what He has 
done to secure your salvation. We are justified by faith, by 
faith alone. And then that process of sanctification 
starts and you and you press on where you press on to be conformed 
to the image of Christ. So please, please understand 
those distinctions there. And now, believer, are you growing 
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 
like Peter tells us to? Remember, there's a reason why 
you have been saved. It's to bring glory to Christ 
through your sanctification and conformity to him. And that doesn't 
happen on its own. Paul wants us, we need to press 
forward on that quest. And the first thing that he wants 
us, you know, is to know him more and more. Like he says in 
verse 10, that I may know him. The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 
chapter 9, he says, So the best way to know more 
of God and know more of the person and work of Christ is to read 
and study His Word regularly. So He has revealed so much of 
who He is in His Word. So study it, prayerfully, of 
course, to find Him there. And there's no formula. It's 
not, you know, if you read seven days a week for two hours a day, 
you know, then that'll work. I've even heard once seven verses, 
seven times a day, seven days a week. There's no formula. It's 
just read your Bible prayerfully with the goal to learn more about 
Christ. And church attendance is another 
way to learn more of Him. Ephesians 4 says that pastors 
and teachers are gifts from Christ to His people as a means for 
their edification. So use these means to learn more 
of Christ. He's your savior, the bridegroom. So we should have this desire 
to learn more about him until we get to see him face to face. 
And because so often it seems like church attendance is looked 
at more just like a tradition. It's something that Christians 
do rather than realizing that it's something that God has explicitly 
said is there for the very purpose of your edification and for you 
being built up in a knowledge of Christ. And now Paul also 
wants us to experience more of the power of Christ's death and 
resurrection in our own lives. So that is that process of sanctification. We're progressing in holiness. 
So putting to death sin in our lives, like I said earlier, and 
fanning the flames of that new life that has been created in 
us. And that is evidenced by doing good works. See, holiness 
is not locking yourself away in a monastery and pouring over 
the Word of God all day. It's not sitting on your couch 
or your office all day reading and praying. Now, as attractive 
as that sounds some days, you know, and studying God's Word 
and praying are very good things. we do need to be producing those 
fruits of the spirit in our lives and practically carrying them 
out through good works. So sometimes I feel that we look 
at sanctification as only the mortification of the old man, 
and we forget about that other side. We think that as long as 
I stop doing these certain sins, then I'm doing good. And that's 
true, but that's only half. The other half is of the life 
of sanctification, This bringing to life new good 
works Titus chapter 2 we read it already, but you know, he 
says they're Zealous being zealous for good works. That's how we 
bring glory to Christ We evidence good works in our lives and we 
and we are we're zealous for them. Remember this remember 
we talk about what zeal was this morning? It's that fervor or 
passion with for a cause and our cause is the glory of Christ 
and we need to have that fervor that that Passion to bring glory 
to him through our good works The Confession of Faith states 
in chapter 16, paragraph 2, that these good works are done in 
obedience to God. These good works done in obedience to God's 
commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively 
faith, and by them, believers manifest their thankfulness, 
strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession 
of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify 
God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, 
that having their fruits unto holiness, they may have the end 
everlasting life. So what is a good work, just 
practically speaking? So our confession says here that 
it's anything that's done in obedience to the commandments, 
or going back one paragraph says anything that's done, anything 
that he has commanded in his holy word. And as Jesus said 
that all the law, all those commandments hang on these two things, love 
to God and love to your neighbor. So good works are things that 
express love to God and or love to your neighbor. So Sam Waldron, 
he says that good works are concrete expressions of kindness and generosity, 
of a practical and financial kind. So it's very practical. It's just not living for yourself 
anymore. You're not on this earth for 
yourself. You're part of the kingdom of heaven. We need to 
always keep that in focus, that we are citizens of heaven. So 
if your whole life is dedicated to your job, your business, building 
your earthly kingdom, I encourage you, examine yourself. Hard work 
is good, it's biblical, but it cannot be our sole focus. You must realize that you are 
part of that great kingdom of heaven. Now, I don't want to 
get all, you know, Rick Warren purpose-driven life on you, but 
you need to understand that you were saved for a purpose. That 
purpose was not to advance your own little empire on this earth. 
That purpose was to bring glory to Christ through the advancement 
of His kingdom on this earth. And as believers, we have all 
been commanded to be useful in that kingdom. This doesn't mean, 
you know, sell your business, quit your job, and go reach the 
untouched tribes of the Amazon. God does not call everyone to 
that. Kind of work. So how do how do I know what 
God has called me to? Well, you know that that might 
just mean making disciples of the ones who sit around your 
dinner table every night. It might not be clear if you're 
called to be a missionary, but if you have children, then you're 
clearly called to be a godly mother or a godly father. If 
you're married, you're called to be a godly husband or a godly 
wife, the way that he has laid out for in his word. So you have 
the front line, so to speak, right in your own house. So start 
there. Now, but armies are not made up of only soldiers on the 
front lines. There's cooks, there's cleaners, 
there's medics, doctors, generals. So, being a useful part of the 
kingdom of heaven doesn't mean that you need to be on the front 
lines in the mission field or preaching on a street corner. 
You know, sometimes it just comes in the part of reaching out to 
someone with a little encouragement. I received a message this past 
week. I was in my office wondering 
what in the world I was thinking that I was going to be in the 
pulpit Sunday morning. And I received a message from a dear brother 
that just said, brother, the same spirit that raises Jim up 
every Sunday is the same spirit that can raise you up. And it's 
those little things that just mean so much at a time like that. You know, those little things 
here. And like Waldron said, things, 
acts of practical and financial aid. So, if you've been blessed 
financially, you know, perhaps then your financial support is 
needed to advance the gospel somewhere. So, we all have different 
gifts and abilities. We all need to use these gifts 
and abilities as different members of that body of Christ working 
together in His kingdom. And we don't need to... We don't 
need to hold workshops on how to determine which spiritual 
gift you have, that kind of thing. Paul is very straightforward 
to the Corinthians. Pursue love, he says. So, you know, love the 
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and 
your neighbor as yourself. It's pretty simple. So, ask yourself 
and think about it. What am I doing to advance the 
kingdom of Christ on this earth so that his name will receive 
glory? Remember, Christ didn't save you just so that you didn't 
have to suffer eternity in hell. It was not just for you. He saved 
you as a means to bring Him glory, not only in your salvation itself, 
but in your life of sanctification on this earth. So whatever you 
do, make sure your focus is always on Christ, knowing that He brought 
you into His kingdom for His glory. And one more thing here. It's comforting to have this 
little glimpse of the end here, isn't it? The glorification. 
To know that we are part of the kingdom of Christ, citizens of 
heaven, and that one day He will return in glory to bring you 
home. Because there's so much evil in this world. We see it 
more and more with each passing day here. And to know that we 
are no longer citizens of this evil world, but we are part of 
the kingdom of the one who has conquered evil. Look at the end 
of verse 21. Here he says, according to the 
working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. So he has subdued all things. 
We are on the winning team, brothers and sisters. So take courage 
and press on because we have that future glory awaiting us. 
Stand up, stand up for Jesus. The strife will not be long. 
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song. To 
those who vanquish evil, a crown of life shall be. They with the 
king of glory shall reign eternally. And I want to close with the 
next verse, chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore, my beloved and 
longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, 
beloved. So stand fast in Christ. Stand 
fast in Him for your justification. Stand fast in Him for your sanctification. 
And one day, you will stand fast with Him in glory. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, again we thank 
you, Lord, for this beautiful passage of Scripture where we 
see Christ in his glory. Christ and all that he has done 
for us, Lord, we praise you for your great grace. We praise you 
for redemption, for purposing to save a multitude. of people 
that no man could number, and as a means to bring glory to 
your most holy name. And Lord, I pray that we would 
each be striving and pressing on, as Paul says, to bring glory 
to your name, that we would make much of Christ and that we would 
be a reflection of the love that you have shown to us, and we 
would be a reflection of that to others around us. Lord, help 
us in this fight to press on daily. Lord, the battle is real. 
We strive in our own selves with putting to death this old nature, 
and also with so much evil around us. Lord, we just pray for much 
grace, for much courage, that we would put on that full armor 
of God, that we would be able to withstand the wiles of the 
devil. And Lord, I just pray that you 
would go with us in this week, be with each one here. Help us 
to strive to do all things for your honor, Lord, in all the 
daily things that we do. Some things that seem so mundane 
and feel so mundane and repetitive and little, but that we would 
just seek by the grace of God to bring glory to your name. 
And Father, we ask that today that Would be a would have been 
a means of edification for your people here to see Christ in 
his glory And we pray that those here who are who are not in Christ 
who are not safe in him Would see him as that only way of salvation 
that they would trust in him knowing that they do not have 
a righteousness that can avail with you, but that Christ, that 
you are offering a perfect righteousness, one that is acceptable in your 
sight, and the righteousness of Christ. And by faith they 
would receive that, to be found in Him, not having their own 
righteousness, but that righteousness which is from God by faith. Lord, 
I pray this all in the name of our Savior. Amen. We'll have 
a time of meditation. When the piano is finished, you 
are dismissed.