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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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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 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 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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.