Well, good evening. Would you turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3? That's Philippians chapter 3. This evening we'll be looking at verses 1 through 11.
Just a quick reminder about the book of Philippians as a whole. It's Paul in prison writing to the Church of Philippi. Philippi was a city in Europe which was considered a Roman colony, so it was as if they were Romans even though they weren't in Rome. And Paul is writing to thank the Philippians and also to encourage them in their faith, to strengthen them in their faith.
So the book really is meant to be a great encouragement to the saints. So we'll read together Philippians 3 verses 1 through 11. Let's read. 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 have counted 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.
Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. To you, Heavenly Father, we know that you are a great and kind and merciful Lord. We know, Lord God, that for those that have faith in Christ Jesus, that we have something that surpasses anything else. We have Christ.
We have a righteousness not our own. I know, Lord, we consider these things to be true, we know these things to be true, yet sometimes we don't always feel as if these things are true. Lord, we thank you for these texts that are seeking to encourage us, to encourage us to consider the great value it is to know Christ Jesus, the wonder it is to believe on Christ and have Him and Him alone. Lord, we know that any smuggling of works, bringing any sort of our own righteousness into salvation, nullifies it.
It makes it bankrupt, Lord God. How we need your great grace, how we need Christ Jesus, how we need to look on him and believe. Lord God, we pray today that you would ultimately be glorified, especially for this. Lord God, I pray today that the saints would be edified.
I pray that if there are sinners here, Lord God, that you would save them, that you would call them out of darkness into marvelous light. And Lord God, ultimately, we pray that you would be glorified. Lord God, I pray that you would be with me. I pray that you would give me strength by your Spirit to accurately preach this truth, to preach it with clarity and cogency, Lord God, that you might be pleased and you might be glorified, for this is your message and this is your word, Lord God, and I pray that you would come to the front, Lord, that I would decrease and you would greatly increase, Lord God.
Lord, I pray for the hearers today. I pray that your spirit would be with them, that you'd help them to be awake and attentive, knowing that this is your word, knowing that we are in a heavenly institution. We are in your church, worshiping you. We get to hear your word today, Lord God.
We thank you for this great privilege. We thank you for your great grace. And we thank you for your great mercy, Lord God. We pray that you would be glorified.
In the name of Christ Jesus, amen.
Introduction
Well, I'm sure many of us have faced trials of various kinds, ones that seem to bring us down, seem to bring us low. And it's in those moments that we need someone to come alongside us and say, Rejoice in Christ! Rejoice! Be of good cheer!
Because, you see, no matter what trial we face in this life, no matter what sorrow we have, All those things pale in comparison of the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus and also of knowing the inheritance that we have in Him. As Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 towards the end of the chapter, he says, this is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. We have a passport to heaven and we are simply moving around in a foreign country.
And so Paul really is writing, especially in this text, to encourage the saints, to encourage them. Should suffering come? Should trials come? You have Christ.
Now rejoice in Christ. Rejoicing and joy is a great theme of this book. It is found throughout. I know sometimes it's hard for us to rejoice, yet with Paul we can say we need to rejoice in him.
And like Paul, I can say to you, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, specifically in Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 through 11, Paul encourages this Philippian church to rejoice specifically in Christ's righteousness over and against the claims of opponents to his self-righteousness. That is, that Paul wants the saints at Philippi to know the true righteousness and to rejoice in the true righteousness, for in that you have spiritual wealth. Without that, any other form of salvation is spiritual bankruptcy.
And so, we will look at this encouragement, we will look at the true righteousness in Christ under three headings today. First of all, we will look at the charge to rejoice, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. Second, we will look at the reminder of the spiritual bankruptcy of the flesh, verses 4 through 7. And thirdly, we will look at the reminder of the spiritual wealth of Christ's righteousness, the spiritual wealth that is found in Christ.
So point one, rejoice. Point two, bankruptcy. Point three, wealth.
The Charge to Rejoice
So let's first look now at point one, the charge to rejoice. Now there are actually two charges here. So charge one is the overarching charge, that is to rejoice, this command to rejoice. And namely, it's to rejoice in the Lord.
And we'll flesh this out a little bit more in point three, but nonetheless, he starts off by saying, you need to rejoice, rejoice in the Lord. That is, to feel happy or joyful about Christ. We see this in chapter two, verses 16 through 18. He tells the Philippians to hold fast to the word of life, or he's holding fast, Paul's saying he's holding fast to the word of life, so that he may rejoice in the day of Christ.
That I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason, you also be glad and rejoice with me. Now remember, Paul's in prison.
Paul has been incarcerated for the sake of the Gospel. Yet he knows something about this. He knows that through this, he's being conformed more and more unto the image of Christ Jesus. He is sharing in the sufferings of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So, he is saying, I rejoice in this. I rejoice that that I can share in Christ's sufferings, and he's meant to encourage the saints as well. If I'm suffering for Christ, you will also suffer for Christ, but in those times, rejoice in Him. And why is that?
Why is he saying that? It's because sufferings may come. Sufferings in this life may come. There is no guarantee that this life will be your best life now.
Jeremiah 29 11, as most people seem to interpret it nowadays, seem to apply it in a positive spin, that God has a wonderful plan for your life. God may not have a wonderful plan for your life in the sense that we think of it, but it may be wonderful in this. He's preparing you for heaven. He's preparing you for your inheritance.
He's prepping you for the day where you'll have no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more trials in this life. You see, in reality, we only have about 80 years approximately at this time in history to live. That's not that long. Eighty years and we get to go be with Christ.
And so you see, he's encouraging these people to rejoice in Christ Jesus. And notice what he says. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Now he's going to get to that in verse two.
Nonetheless, there are certain doctrines I think sometimes we seem to overlook because we think we've understood it. We think we know it. We think we know all the texts that speak of certain doctrines. And so sometimes it's easy to brush those doctrines off.
Like the doctrine of justification. Oh, I definitely know that it means to be declared righteous in the sight of God. I understand that. Maybe I don't need to study it anymore.
You know what one of my professors said? He said he'll spend his whole life studying the doctrine of justification. The point being is we need to be reminded of these things. We need to be reminded of the blessings of justification.
That we have this righteousness not our own. That we are declared not guilty. We have been rendered this favorable verdict. We must be reminded of these things so that we do not Worry, we do not have sorrow, but we have joy in Christ Jesus.
So he says, it's not for me to write the same things to you, or to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Notice why in verse two.
Beware of the Judaizers
The second charge, the second command. He says to beware, and he says it three times, with a different object under each charge, but nonetheless they describe the same opponent. He says, first of all, to beware of dogs. Now, I'll actually read the verse.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. Now, what this is describing are those, what theologians call or scholars call the Judaizers. What they were is they were Jewish Christians who liked to smuggle works into justification. They like to smuggle some sort of personal, external work into their being right with God.
And so namely, in this instance, they said that circumcision was required to be saved. We see that in Acts chapter 15 at the Jerusalem Council. There were men who came from Judea who were teaching that circumcision was required for salvation. And so really these men were probably, it's very similar to the Galatian heresy that was occurring in Galatia.
Again, adding works, adding something, mixing faith and works together. And so what they were is they were probably traveling type preachers. It's not necessarily clear if these men were necessarily at Philippi at the time, but nonetheless, Paul had been dealing with them, Paul understood these opponents, and he's preparing the Philippians for what may come, for what may happen, for these opponents that may come. Why is that?
Now, we see this charge to rejoice, but then he says, beware. That's kind of interesting. And so, what he's probably doing is, I don't know about you, but when I'm down and out, sometimes there's a tendency to somehow incorporate my own thoughts, ideas, my own works into the things that I do, instead of necessarily submitting to God's law, to adding certain things. Now, when salvation is at stake, that's important.
Because, you see, they didn't have a Bible to go back and remind themselves. They didn't all have personal Bibles to do that. And so what he's doing is he's trying to say, these men are going to come. And what these men are going to do is they're going to try and take away your joy in Christ Jesus.
Beware of them. Beware of looking to them. Beware of trusting them. And we see this excellent description of what these men were.
We see that they were called dogs. Now, in our day and age, we do have a positive idea of what dogs are. They're typically our pets. They're typically cuddly and snuggly, and you like to hang out with them, and they love you very, very much.
In the ancient world, they were actually vicious scavengers. They were vicious and vile. Think like a wolf with teeth that would try and bite your head off. That's what they were.
Now, not only is there this ancient, this social connection, but there's also a religious connection as well. You see, all these, this description of these men is ironic because Paul, because remember what the Jews would call Gentiles. They would call them dogs because they were richly unclean. Now, what's Paul saying about these Judaizing Christians?
He's saying that they're dogs. And then notice, Calvin has a wonderful quote concerning these dogs. He says, they assailed true doctrine with their impure barking. Isn't that really how false doctrine sounds sometimes?
It sounds kind of like barking. When someone says, this is your best life now, I think of a chihuahua squeaking. But when there are others who are very close to the truth, It's like a German shepherd, is it not? They're vicious.
They're close to the truth, yet they somehow mix faith and works together. And so he's saying they have this impure barking. That's kind of what false doctrine sounds like. It's impure barking.
And so then we see this second description of these men. He says they were evildoers. Again, notice the difference. Notice the irony as well.
The men who claimed to be doing God's righteousness according to external observance, they're actually rejecting God's righteousness. They are rejecting the righteousness that is found in Christ Jesus. And so, it's interesting. Spiritual Gentiles who believe on Christ are called spiritual Israel.
But what's going on here? He's calling those who consider themselves spiritual Israel, or Israel, he's calling them spiritual Gentiles. So you see, he's kind of this ironic twist on things, and we see it even further in the third description of these guys, beware of the mutilation. Now, this word is only, if I'm correct, it's only found once.
Right here. And it's a wordplay on circumcision. And the words sound very similar in Greek. They both end in the same way.
It's a wordplay on the word for circumcision. And so what it denotes is how circumcision, faulty circumcision, the way in which these Judaizers were teaching, resulted in spiritual destruction. Edi says that the term justly designates the men whose creed was, except ye be circumcised and keep the whole law of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Now, what this reminds me of is Leviticus chapter 21 verse 5.
There was a description or a prohibition of what priests could not do. And what it says in Leviticus 21 verse 5 is that priests shall not make any cuttings in their flesh. That is, they're not supposed to be pagan, pagan-like, to cut their flesh in order to invoke something from their gods. And so what he's saying here is he's saying that these men who are trying not to be pagan-like, they say they're not pagan-like, they're actually pagan-like.
They're saying that we... He's saying about them that those who claim to have spiritual significance and circumcision, they do not. It's spiritual destruction. It's just mutilation.
That's all it is. It's just mutilation. It means absolutely nothing when it comes to being right with God Almighty. And so we have this description of these men, but then notice verse 3.
The True Circumcision
He describes the true circumcision. And this we here is added for emphasis, for we are the circumcision. We Christians who believed in Christ Jesus are the true circumcision. We know that from Romans 2.29, where circumcision is in the heart and not the letter.
Believers in Christ are the circumcision. It's not based on an external right, it's based on faith in Christ Jesus. And so what this reminds us of is the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant that God made with Abraham where he promised that he would be the father of many nations. where he promised that he would give him a seed. And the seed is namely Christ Jesus, and then we can be part of that because we believe in Christ Jesus.
So we see this kind of ironic reversal going on here, where Paul is describing the Judaizing Christians in ways that they would describe Gentiles. And so he's saying here that, no, we are the circumcision. And notice he further emphasizes this, who worship God in the Spirit. That is, we walk by the Spirit and not by the letter.
It probably carries the idea of service to God, not so much in the corporate worship sense, but living by the work of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day life. We walk by the Spirit and not by the letter. And so then we see this other word, boasting in Christ. You see, if circumcision, if an external right is part of our justification, then we have something to boast in.
We have our own work to boast in. We have the flesh to boast in. But no. Believers, the true circumcision, boasts in Christ Jesus, because Christ is the only one who lived and died and rose again.
Christ is the only one who could fulfill the law in perfection and die as that perfect sacrifice. And so we boast in Christ Jesus. I prefer the word, I know that the New King James says rejoice, I think it carries the idea of boasting, glorying in Christ Jesus. We brag, yeah I like that, we brag about Christ Jesus, that's an appropriate way to describe or translate that word.
We brag about Christ Jesus. We brag about his great work. And so, and then at the end of verse 3 it says, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now I'm going to draw this out in point 2, but he says we have no confidence in the flesh.
But under this idea of charge, I think there are some things we can take away from this. They're pretty simple. They come right from the text. Namely, we need to rejoice and beware.
That is, we need to rejoice in Christ Jesus. But through that, we need to be aware of those who might take that joy from us, of those who might seek to snatch it away from us. We have a great joy in Christ Jesus. Gordon Fee says, knowing Christ far surpasses even blameless Torah observance.
It is unthinkable that under the pressure of present sufferings, they could lose their joy in belonging to Christ by yielding to such observance. You see, Christ has already fulfilled it. Christ has already dealt with it. Why would you go back to making justification part of your own works?
There's no joy in that. It's hopeless. It's futile. You see, some of the other world religions are very hopeless.
Like Hinduism, for example. Now, you could live life for many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many years before you attain heaven. Before you attain their heaven. And what it is, it's based on your own work.
And you know what's interesting? Each time you're reincarnated, you're reincarnated in a certain class, in a certain caste, yet you live that entire life not knowing why or what happened in your past life to get you here. It's hopeless. That is hopeless.
I would not want to live many, many, many, many, many years. Yet, you see, unbeliever, if you believe on Christ Jesus, you have a great hope. If you believe on Christ, you have a righteousness not your own. You have one who fulfilled the law, one who did what you could not.
There is nothing greater than knowing Christ Jesus. And Paul will explain that more and more throughout this section. And so, again, even for reforms, Believers it's it's important believers in general. It's important to beware of certain men who sound Close to the truth yet.
They're not because they can take away that joy So it's important for important important. I'm not from Boston, but it's important for us to rejoice and beware rejoice and beware must be hanging out in America too much, so Anyway So we need to rejoice in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual Bankruptcy of the Flesh
So that leads us to point to what can take away our joy, namely this spiritual bankruptcy in the flesh. Verses 4 through 7, but we can look at the end of verse 3 as well. and have no confidence in the flesh. That is, the idea of confidence is being so convinced that you put your confidence in something. Are you so convinced that you are the one who can save yourself?
Are you so convinced that what you do will merit salvation? But he's saying, no, that the true circumcision does not have confidence in the flesh. But then we have this interesting thing that Paul does here. Paul then describes his former life in the flesh.
He describes what he once was in the flesh and what he actually could boast in. Now, it's important for us to know that these Judaizing Christians could have been Gentiles. So it's possible that they weren't Israelites. And you see, what Paul is describing here, we kind of have two ideas to privileges that's found in the flesh, namely ethical and religious privileges in verses 5 and 6.
So Paul is saying, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I even more so. And then he explains,
Paul's Fleshly Credentials
he gives us a list of his credentials. And so he says, verse 5, he was circumcised the eighth day. That is, he was circumcised eight days after he was born. He was of the stock of Israel.
He was actually an Israelite. Notice it talks about his tribe, of the tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew of the Hebrews, what that meant was that he spoke Aramaic and he attended a synagogue that actually taught in Hebrew. That is, he wasn't a Greek Jew, a Greek Judaizing Christian.
He was actually a Jew and he had more merit, he had more boasting than anyone else. And so what he's doing here is an ancient type of rhetoric of comparison. What he's doing is he's undermining the Judaizers, saying, you think you have that? Look what I had.
Look what I had. And so then he says, we have these spiritual or these religious privileges concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. Now, if anyone was going to be saved by the flesh, it was Paul. If anyone was going to be saved by a works righteousness, it was Paul.
Now notice what he says in verse seven. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted as loss for Christ. What things were profitable for me, I consider them to be rubbish. And you know, this language, it's the language of the marketplace.
You know, you have profits, or losses, and you have profits. And this idea, this idea of gaining is only used several times in the New Testament. One other we see is Philippians 1, 21. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
And so, in the business of heaven, in the business of attaining heaven, we only have one gain that we need. We only have one prophet that we need, and that is Christ Jesus. Everything else is a loss. Everything else, as he'll say more, is considered rubbish.
Considered rubbish. And so, what's interesting, though, is we need to narrow it and say, He's not missing a complete renunciation. I think he's still proud to be an Israelite. But what he's saying is he's renouncing these things, these ethical and spiritual privileges or religious privileges.
He's renouncing them as a grounds for boasting, as a grounds for saying, look, God, I get to heaven through this. He's renouncing those things. He's renouncing them. We'll actually get into verse 8 in point 3, but nonetheless, we see in verse 7, he starts this.
What things were gained to me, these I have accounted as lost. And so, what this can teach us is this. It's probably pretty clear already, but
Faith, Not Association or Works
salvation is not based on your works, nor is it based on association, but faith in Christ Jesus. You see, perhaps there's a tendency sometimes for children or parents of children to think, because my kid was born in a Christian home or because I grew up in a Christian home, ergo, because of that connection, I am saved. Or perhaps if you ask someone, what merits you? What merits salvation for you?
What merits righteousness before you? And they say, I've been baptized. I attend church. You see, perhaps we sometimes take certain truths and good things.
Those are all valuable things. I'm not knocking that it's good to be born in a Christian home and to be baptized and to attend church, but we take those things as a way for salvation. That's not right either. You know, association doesn't save us.
Faith in Christ Jesus saves us. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And kids, it's based on your own faith in Christ Jesus, not based on your parents' faith. Otherwise, your parents' faith becomes the grounds for salvation, instead of Christ's righteousness becoming the basis for your salvation.
You must believe. You must look to Christ. You must call on Him as your Savior. So we've seen kind of this spiritual bankruptcy found in all these things, and Paul's going to draw on that more in verse 8, but
Spiritual Wealth in Christ
let us move now to the spiritual wealth that's found in Christ Jesus, this new life that's found in Christ Jesus. Notice in verse 8, I indeed 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." Now, we see several purposes or reasons for why he counts all these things as rubbish, why he counts these things as loss. We see, first of all, we see this gaining Christ at the end of verse 8. He's like, that I might gain Christ.
But notice what he says earlier on in the verse concerning it. He says, it's this surpassing excellence. I count these things as loss for the excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I love the idea of surpassing greatness.
That idea that all these things pale in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus. You see, brothers and sisters, if you have Christ, you have everything. If you have Christ, you do not need anything else. If sufferings should come our way, and it's possible and probable that they will, should we be thrown in prison?
Should we be beaten? Should we be scourged? We have Christ, Jesus. And there's no other need other than knowing Christ Jesus.
We have Christ. And so notice how he describes it. He counts these other things, these spiritual additions, he counts them as Rubbish. I like the way one of the lexicons defines it or describes it, crud.
He counts these things as crud. He counts these things as dung. That's what they are. That's what they are.
They're useless or undesirable material that is subject to disposal. Now, notice he says, he counts these things as rubbish. He counts these things as dung. But they actually are rubbish.
They actually are done when it comes to our relationship with Christ. They actually do not mean anything when it comes to our standing with God Almighty. Now remember, Pastor Butler preached last week on Zechariah chapter 3. Remember the language there.
Joshua the high priest is standing before the throne of God. What does he say? You can turn with me there to Zechariah chapter 3. He's Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord.
And notice verse 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the angel. Joshua was covered in dung because that's what sin is before God. That's what it is.
It's vile. It's awful. And to think that we on our own account without Christ can add anything to those things is as Zachariah describes it is as Paul describes it. It's rubbish.
It means nothing. And so again, he's saying the purpose is that he might gain Christ. This is why he's losing all these things is because he gains Christ Jesus.
Justification: Righteousness by Faith
Notice in verse nine, he's 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. Notice the comparison.
Notice the contrast. He's saying, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, which is what I can do, but notice that which is through faith in Christ. That righteousness which comes through faith in Christ Jesus. Remember, justification.
If you believed on Christ Jesus, you are considered justified. You are declared not guilty in the sight of God. And I like the way Ryle describes it. Justification gives us our title to heaven.
Justification gives us our passport to heaven, if you will. That is, we've been issued this passport where one day we will pass through death into life, into our home, into our heavenly kingdom. And so it's this favorable verdict. And notice the way in which we receive it.
We receive it by faith. That's the instrument. We consider Christ to be true. We consider this to be true.
That which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith in Him. Romans 3.20 says, through the works of the law, no man will be justified. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8, we are saved by grace through faith, and not of works. And get this, lest any should boast in those works.
That is, we boast in Christ, we boast in Him, we look to Him day in and day out, and we are thankful for that great work that He has done. We are given that title to heaven. We are given that citizenship to heaven. then notice we see another purpose for counting these things as loss. We've seen verse 9 kind of talks about justification.
Sanctification and Knowing Christ
Verse 10 talks about the other benefits of being found in Christ, that is, sanctification. That is that process by which we are made holy, which we die more and more unto sin. Remember, justification is an event. Everyone in this room who's believed on Christ is equally justified.
But sanctification is that process, that there is someone out there on this planet who is the holiest person on this planet. I don't know where he is, but he's somewhere, but there is that one person who is the holiest one on this side of heaven. He's not perfect, but he's holy. The idea is that we've been justified, therefore we will be sanctified.
That is, we will bear fruit, as our pastor spoke about this morning. We will be conformed more and more unto the image of Christ Jesus. But notice, verse 10, we see the second reason or second purpose for counting these things as loss. That I might know Him.
That I may know Him. This was a yearning for the Old Covenant. But it's a great blessing for the New Covenant. In Exodus chapter 33, when Moses prays, he says, Lord, show me your way that I might know you.
But what's the great blessing of the New Covenant? The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, 34, they shall know me. from the least to the greatest. We can know the God of heaven and earth because of what Christ has done. We can know Him and commune with Him and come to a place like this that He set up and hear His Word and have His Spirit with us.
It's a wonderful, it's a great blessing. And then we see in verse 10 a further definition, a further way that we can know Him. We see
Power of the Resurrection
the power of His resurrection in verse 10. That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. Now, right after that it says, and the fellowship of His sufferings. Now, this power of the resurrection is meant to be our strength and motivation for those sufferings.
You see, Christ died, but He rose again. Hill helps to provide, to define it well. He says, it's a virtue arising from the power that was put forth by the Father and by Christ in raising and being raised from the dead. So it can include that future resurrection, that promise that the saints will be raised one day with a body incorruptible.
We will not decay. It's that pattern for our bodies to be raised. It influences justification. Romans 4, he was raised for our justification.
And perhaps, relating to this text a little bit more, is the idea that this power can cause us to walk in newness of life. Think of Romans chapter 6. You've died and you were raised with Christ in order that you might walk in newness of life, that you might put away the sins of the flesh. What about Colossians 3, verse 1?
If you've been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ is, at the right hand of God. And what's interesting, further on in that chapter, he says, you've been conformed to the image of God, being renewed in the image of God. That is, you see, if you believed on Christ, you have the power of the resurrection with you. You have the power and the Holy Spirit with you to watch and pray and fight, even in times of trial and suffering and pain, but also in blessed times as well.
And so that's probably what's going on when it talks about the idea of this power of the resurrection. Now, again, we're talking about sanctification here. Justification gives us our title, but Ryle also says sanctification prepares us. It gives us our fitness for heaven one day.
You see, how would you define the kingdom of God? I think the kingdom of God in its essence is the new creation. It's that place where there will be a body incorruptible. It's looking forward to that time when we will have that body incorruptible.
No more pain, no more sorrow, no more sin. Are there effects of the Kingdom of God now? Absolutely. The Church of God is a Kingdom institution.
Believing on Christ Jesus, Christ issues you your Kingdom citizenship. And so what sanctification does is it prepares us to enter in to our true home. It prepares us to enter in as kingdom citizens. And a way that we can grow more and more unto Christ is found in verse 10.
The sufferings, the fellowship of his sufferings. Again, Gil was helpful. He said it's either the personal sufferings of Christ, perhaps mocking, scoffing, beatings, incarceration, or death. But there's also those benefits as well.
We have reconciliation. We have peace with God. We have pardon that Christ brought about through those sufferings. Perhaps also it refers to the idea of those who actually suffer, and Christ suffers with them.
We think of Acts chapter 9 when Jesus appears to Paul. What does he say? He says, Paul, why are you persecuting me? That is, the idea is that we need to... we're fellowshipping in the sufferings that Christ faces.
And throughout Philippians, Paul is rejoicing in that, that he's fellowshipping in those sufferings. We see also another purpose or another reason for... another way we can know Him. At the end of verse 10, being conformed to His death. Now, Again, Gill provides two different answers.
He says it either refers to a spiritual sense, or the actual idea of being physically exposed to death. I think it refers to the spiritual sense of daily dying unto sin. You see, this word is actually only used once in the verb, here, and it's only used twice in the noun form. We know Romans 8.29, those whom he foreknow he predestined to be conformed unto the image of his Son.
It's also found in 3.21 of Philippians. And notice this is pointing forward to that future body. who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the work by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself." So the idea is that we are dying daily more and more unto sin. We are mortifying the sins of the flesh. Now, how can we do that?
I'm not going to blow your mind or anything because our pastor has said it many times. We need to pray. We need to seek God for strength, for aid daily. We need to fight for those times.
We also need to read our Bibles to fill our mind with spiritual things. Perhaps, probably one of the more important ways to grow is attending church on the Lord's Day. I mean, it's the way that God has set up the means, the way by which we grow. It's the means of grace.
We come, we hear the word preached. the spirit works. We come and we partake in that spiritual nourishment of the supper. We are baptized, we die with Christ, and we are raised with Christ. Those things help us grow more and more unto Christ Jesus, to be conformed more and more unto the image of Him.
Now on this side of heaven, we know that we will never ever be perfect, so we need His Spirit, we need His strength to strive to be Christ-like, strive to be conformed more and more unto His image. So that's the idea of being conformed to His image. It's dying daily unto sin. And then finally we see another reason for counting all these things as loss.
Perhaps the most important, perhaps the most glorious.
Glorification and Heavenly Citizenship
Verse 11, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. That is, we have this hope in Christ that we will be transformed, that we will be raised from the dead. We look forward to that day greatly. And notice it's a hope in Christ not in self.
It's a hope in what Christ has done, not what our self can do. Now, this is probably related, this is probably the doctrine of glorification. That is, we will have a body incorruptible. Notice what he, what Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 20.
Again, this citizenship idea. For our citizenship is in heaven. from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." That is, brothers and sisters, we are heavenly citizens. That is, we have a title to heaven. We have a passport to heaven.
It is almost as if the kingdom of God is our country, and the church is like a consulate. Every time we enter in these doors, we pass into the heavenly realm, the heavenly country, we get a glimpse of what heaven will be like. I'm going to level with you. If you don't like church on Sunday, with the saints, as it's properly practiced, you're probably not going to like heaven very much.
But it's that place where we come and we get to praise God Almighty. You know, we get to go back out into the world as kingdom citizens. to live in a manner representing our kingdom, representing our savior, living as our passport says, as kingdom citizens. And so the application from this section is really this. If you're a kingdom citizen, act like a kingdom citizen.
And it's not meant to beat you over the head with it. It's meant, you're a kingdom citizen, Be a kingdom. Act like a kingdom citizen. You know, be conformed unto Christ.
Live the law as that normative practice in our daily life. Attend church. Love the saints. Pray daily.
Represent Christ in the way He would have you represent Him. You see, that's the blessedness of the Gospel, is that we have this kingdom citizenship already, and we get to go to that place one day. or there is that body incorruptible. We have no more pain, no more sorrow. We don't have to worry about breaking bones, having cancer, various trials that we face, because we get to be with Christ because of what Christ has done, because it's Christ's body that was raised.
And so it really is meant to be, brothers and sisters, walk in the way, walk in the country with which You have your passport. Be a kingdom citizen. And so, in conclusion, we see that this is meant to be an encouragement. Paul's charging these saints to rejoice in this righteousness in Christ.
Rejoice in knowing that though you walk this life, you have an inheritance that far surpasses anything on this life. And namely, that that treasure is found in Christ Jesus. So the applications were clear, I think. Rejoice in Christ.
And we must rejoice in Him knowing that we have that righteousness. Application 2, salvation is really not by association, it's by faith. It's by believing in Christ, and faith really is related to truth. Do you consider this to be true?
Do you consider that your works are faulty? Do you consider that Christ is the only one who can live and die and rise again? You see, that's what faith is. Do you believe this to be true?
It's a truth statement. Do you believe this to be true? It's not something that wells up inside of you. It's do you believe this to be true?
Do you believe this to be accurate? Christ is the one who, it is true, whether you believe it or not, it is true, Christ lived, died, and rose again on behalf of sinners. And he gives a body, he gives a righteousness to them, and issues them their passport to heaven. And so, thirdly, the third application is, again, we need to walk as kingdom citizens, walk with the passport that we have been given.
Now, if there is an unbeliever here today, The reality is, in whom do you have your confidence? In whom do you trust? Now, it's interesting. You can go on the news sometime and some people ask various people walking around the street, they ask them, do you think you're a good person?
Do you think that you're a good person. And some of them say, yeah, I think I'm pretty good, and they give reasons for why they're a good person. But you know, that's based upon their own righteousness. Now, it's probably true.
Maybe they have some ethical goodness in them. They do, which is perhaps morally right in some sense. Maybe they do that which is civilly right. But in reality, They don't do that which is spiritually right.
They don't do that which is spiritually good. If you're an unbeliever here today and you have not believed in Christ Jesus, you can do no spiritual good. You cannot procure, you cannot attain your salvation. You must believe on Christ.
You must believe on this one, and you'll have your passport issued to you. You will have your kingdom citizenship. You will have, one day, a body incorruptible. You see, it really is a joyous thing to believe on Christ Jesus.
Why would you not believe on Christ Jesus? Believe on Him today, and you shall be saved. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord God. We do thank you for your great mercies upon us. We thank you so much, Lord, for the ways in which you bring about your salvation, Lord.
You use broken vessels to call people out of darkness and into light. Lord God, we look for those who believed in Christ, Lord, we look forward to that day. We look forward to that time where we will have joy unending. We will be with you in heaven.
We will be in our home, Lord God, and we look forward greatly to that time. O Lord, we pray that if there are any here who have not believed in Christ, Lord, we pray that you would work by your spirit in their souls, that you would save their souls, that you would conquer their souls, that you would call them, Lord, out of darkness to believe on Christ Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for justification. We thank you, Lord, for not declaring us guilty.
Lord, we thank you for sanctification, that you are patient and merciful with us as we grow day by day unto the image of Christ by your spirit for those who believed. Father God, we pray that this would be an encouragement to us, knowing that we have Christ, knowing that we have him, we know we have that great treasure. Lord God, we pray that you help us go out into this world, you would help us to live as your kingdom citizens, that you might be pleased and you might be glorified and that your gospel might go forth and that you might issue more passports to those whom you have chosen to save. Lord God, I pray that you would encourage the brothers and sisters here today.
Give them strength and aid to grow, to go out into the world, and to walk in faith, to walk by your spirit. We thank you for your grace and mercy. In the name of Christ, amen.