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[0:00] Philippians chapter 3 beginning at verse 1 says, Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you is safe.

[0:13] Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

[0:27] Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

[0:52] But what things were going to meet those who counted the laws for trials. And we'll stop reading right there for now. Back to verse 1, Paul begins this passage of Scripture with finally.

[1:05] Now he wasn't concluding the letter here, we have a whole other chapter in the book of Philippians that he wrote here and he actually includes the word finally in that chapter as well.

[1:17] But he's gone on, we must remember that when this was originally written in the Greek that it was, there was no punctuation, there were no chapter divisions, there were no verse numbers, there was nothing like that.

[1:31] So this was a continuation of the thoughts that he had in chapter 2 in our King James Version Bible. He's continuing on with those thoughts when he says finally, but he says finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

[1:51] He says rejoice in the Lord. And this isn't the only time that Paul ever wrote these words. He said rejoice in the Lord all the way. And again I say rejoice, Paul continually encouraging the churches that he wrote to and the epistles that he wrote for the believers, for the Christians to rejoice in the Lord.

[2:12] Notice he's saying rejoice in the Lord. He's not saying rejoice in anything other than the Lord. He's not saying rejoice in your own works. He's not saying rejoice in whom you are associated with.

[2:25] Rejoice in your denomination. Rejoice in your bank account. Rejoice in this or that. No, Paul says rejoice in the Lord. And he goes on to say, it's not grievous for me to write the same things to you that you already heard me say.

[2:42] Now when you read in Book of Acts, Paul's trips to the city of Philippi, when you read about these things, Paul, when he went there, I'm sure he said some of the same things to them.

[2:56] And we in person, as he wrote to them here in this letter, Paul says, don't worry that I'm saying the same thing to you two or three or four times. Had the story hasn't changed, it doesn't matter if I come to you with the Book of Philippians, or the Book of Genesis, or the Book of Deuteronomy, or any other book in Scripture.

[3:16] The message of the Gospel does not change. Regardless of what book I use to preach it, the message of the Gospel is that man is a sinner, and that God Almighty is a Savior, and that He can, and does, and will save man, save their souls, save them from their righteousness through the Lord of Jesus Christ.

[3:39] That is the message of the Gospel, and I will never tire, I will never worry in repeating it over and over and over, regardless of what book I use to do it.

[3:52] Paul here saying, don't you worry that I'm repeating myself. The message is the same. The message is the same. To write the same thought to you to me indeed is not grievous.

[4:05] It says it's not bothering me, and then it goes on to say, but for you it is saved. In other words, it's not bothering me. Don't let it bother you. This will give you comfort in the future. This will give you assurance in the future, folks.

[4:18] I have assurance in Jesus Christ just as much as I have salvation in Jesus Christ. I have assurance, I have salvation, I have freedom, I have liberty, I have grace, I have well-being, I have all these things through.

[4:32] Jesus Christ, regardless of how bad and sick my body might get in, regardless of the bad times that may come my way, I still have Jesus Christ that I can lean on the Bible says, Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

[4:49] I can cast every bit of my care upon the very one that saved me, and I will never tire. I'm preaching that message. How do you? He goes on to say, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the incision.

[5:09] Three things he lists here, beware of dogs. This is something that the Jews generally referred, kept tucked away as an insult for the Gentile race, for the Gentile nation.

[5:23] This is something that Jews would call them because they were outside of the covenant of God. The Gentiles were outside of the covenant that God made with Abraham over in the book of Genesis.

[5:34] Therefore, in the Jews' eyes, they were dogs, but here, who is Paul referring to? He's referring to Juniorsers, he's referring to Gnostics. There weren't as many Juniorsers in the city of Philippi as there were Gnostics, but the Juniorsers were the ones that were coming and they were saying, okay, Jesus Christ is all great, he is fine, he is well, you will salvation through him.

[5:59] That's wonderful, but you still got to be circumcised, you still got to keep the face, you still got to keep the law. This is what the Juniorsers were saying, the Gnostics are the ones that were infiltrated the Philippian church.

[6:15] They are the ones that came and said, I've had a special revelation from God. I have a higher relationship with God than what you might have.

[6:26] I have a better being with God than what you had. These are the Gnostics and the churches of 2022 are filled with Gnostic people.

[6:37] They are filled with those that say, I have a better relationship than you do with God. If I tell you to do something that the Bible doesn't say, don't worry about it, it came from God.

[6:51] No folks, this is the word of God, not the word that any preacher makes up or teacher makes up. The Bible is the complete word of God.

[7:03] Whether we like it or not, all people don't like that. Save people don't really like it.

[7:14] Even though I'm a born again child of God, 13 plus years now, this book will still walk all over my tongue. And know I don't like it when it doesn't, but at the same time, a born again child of God will use those experiences that they have with the Bible.

[7:32] That they have with the word. They will use it to better themselves. The Holy Spirit will show those people, will show the same individual. You use this scripture to walk in the Spirit, where if we walk in the Spirit, we will not get into the rest of the place.

[7:48] If we walk in the Spirit, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Hey folks, the Spirit will guide us in the truths of God's Word to mold us more and more like the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

[8:05] That's what the verse does, it molds us. Yes it does. These nostics came in, and the Judaizers came in. That was the whole point of the Jerusalem Council of Acts chapter 15, was the Judaizers saying, No, you have to be circumcised. You must be circumcised.

[8:25] That wasn't even the covenants of the Jewish people. That wasn't even the covenant that God made with the Jewish people. That was a token. That was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham.

[8:37] When God made the Abrahamic covenant, hey Abraham wasn't even a part of it. All Abraham did was gather the animals together and he slaughtered them, laid out their pieces, and he fell asleep by God's own work.

[8:52] And God is the one that came down. God is the one that walked through the midst of the animals. God is the one that made the covenant and had nothing to do with Abraham.

[9:04] Right. It was just directed toward Abraham. When God made a covenant with the whole world through Jesus Christ, Say, this is my beloved son, and who am I? Well please, this is my beloved son, here he is.

[9:22] That's what he told the disciples that witnessed the malatran figuration. Here he is. God made a covenant through Jesus Christ. That, if anyone believes in you, they shall be saved. They shall be saved.

[9:37] And it was prophesied in the book of Job. There shall come a day when anyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. There shall be delivered. That's what Paul was quoting in the book of Romans when he said, Anyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's the same meaning.

[9:54] It's the same principle. It's the same concept. That is the covenant that God has made with man. But man now, just like man then, They have added to the word of God. They have added to the covenant of God.

[10:08] They have said, No God doesn't come by this anymore. God has enlightened me. That's what he wants now. Oh, this is the final word from God.

[10:20] The Bible is all God has to say to us. Amen. Praise the Lord. There is nothing else. Praise the Lord. Be careful of these people. Listen, I thought the Bible was so studyable.

[10:33] Should I self-approve? I know sometimes this study will take you outside the pages of Scripture. If you read commentaries, if you read devotions, if you listen to other preachers, If you do any number of other things, it might take you outside the pages of that Blessed Book.

[10:49] And there ain't nothing wrong with that. Be careful what you're reading and you pay attention to what you're reading. Anything that begins. Now listen folks, there's a lot of books out there that begin with this.

[11:00] Anything that begins with, well, I had the Bible and I had my prayer life. But I felt like I needed more. My God, what else do we need? You're right.

[11:11] What else does that has to say that the Scripture is insufficient? You're right. That has to say that God let us with an incomplete word. That has to say that God let us in need of something God has let us in need of nothing.

[11:25] We have His Word. His Word has our promise. His promise, His Word has the promise of the Messiah that Messiah is coming. It's recorded in Scripture. His death is recorded in Scripture.

[11:38] His resurrection is recorded in Scripture. And His intercession is recorded in Scripture. We need nothing else. This book has everything that we need.

[11:51] Beware of the dogs. God bless. Speaking about the Judaizers. Speaking about his own people. I turned to the Resurfer Jews at the Gentiles.

[12:02] I hear you speaking Jew to Jew. Beware of the dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. The concision, the great word that is used there is also interpreted as mutilation.

[12:15] In other words, these Judaizers, these dogs, these workers of evil, they ain't speaking of him this verse. He was referring to the circumcision as nothing more than the mutilation of the human flesh.

[12:32] Mutilation of the body. Now listen, Paul goes on to say we ready. He says, I was a Jew. I was a Pharisee. I was a Jew in the Jew Pharisee.

[12:43] I was the stock of Benjamin, or the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin. He says, hey, that wouldn't nobody more Jewish than I was.

[12:54] That wouldn't nobody more holy as I was according to the law. You listen to me. Paul was part of the Sanhedrin Council. If Paul was part of the Sanhedrin Council, I can almost guarantee you all those scripture doesn't say it.

[13:08] I can almost guarantee you he was present at the trial of Jesus Christ when they brought him in and he had that trial by night. I can almost promise you that Paul was present at that trial.

[13:20] But hey, why wasn't Paul converted then? Why wasn't he convinced at that point? Why wasn't he like Peter, just a lowly fisherman? Why wasn't he like Matthew, a hated publican?

[13:33] I'll tell you why, because his religion got in the way of salvation. His religion is what he was relying on. Not on a religion or ceremony or anything else.

[13:47] I rely on the blood of Jesus Christ. I think that's why Paul is his way. We all know the story there in the book of Acts.

[13:59] When Paul was on his way to Damascus, then he was still Saul, Tarsus. When he was on his way to Damascus, he gathered letters. He was going to go wreak havoc upon the churches.

[14:10] He was going to go imprison the believers in Jesus Christ while we had some of them kill. He was going to go do these things unto the believers and cross Jesus. That's what happened. We know that bright light shined on him.

[14:23] It blinded him for three days. But hey, folks, I like the words of the Deacon, Body of Money. I think Paul saw more in those three days he was blind than he had ever seen in his life.

[14:36] I don't know when that happened. What did Paul say? Lord, what would that have me to do? And Jesus told him what he would have him to do. He told him where to go.

[14:47] He told him, you must see the things that you must suffer for my name's sake. He saw the light while he was blind.

[14:58] You're right. He saw an awful lot of the concession. Paul was hoping the poet would lie down. He says there in this scripture, we just read, they were circumcised the eighth day, most of the Ishmaelites, who was basically the Israelites' first cousins, on the down the line, or on back the line, we should say.

[15:21] The Ishmaelites, they performed the circumcision at the age of 13. Gentiles, who were proselyzed into the Jewish religion, into the Judaistic faith, they were circumcised whenever they made their profession.

[15:37] But they had to be circumcised. Why? Because the law was still in place. Amen. And like I said, that circumcision was a law. That circumcision was a sign of the covenant.

[15:49] It was a sign that, hey, these are my people. These are the ones that have, hey, they know no different than the ceremonial law, and the laws of eating the clean and the unclean animals.

[16:00] There wasn't nothing simple about a pig. There wasn't nothing simple about a shellfish. God done that to separate his people from the rest of the world. The same weird reason that when we go out, we are to present ourselves as a proud of trust.

[16:17] Trust is not coming back after some wash of the whore. He's coming back for a bride that is clean and pure and chained in the blood of Jesus.

[16:28] Trust. Amen. When we go out, we should bring ourselves that way. Yes, sir. And no other way, Paul had an understanding of that. That's why he called this the concision, the mutilation.

[16:41] He says, do you do that now? Now, we're not in with the law, but we're under grace. You're doing nothing more than mutilating yourselves. If anybody had an understanding of grace, it was the Apostle Paul.

[16:54] Praise God. If you're here now, and you're saved, and you're born again, you should have an understanding of grace. Because I promise you, you didn't deserve any more than I did. That is grace, and it is nothing but grace.

[17:06] All in the Scripture. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

[17:17] No confidence in the flesh. He says, we are the circumcision. Who is the we? He's talking about himself and the church of Philippi. The church, the body of believers that were in the city.

[17:29] He says, we are the circumcision. He wasn't talking about the physical circumcision. He was talking about Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6, where it says, the Lord God will circumcise your heart.

[17:41] He intends to circumcise you from the heart, and you and I are incapable of doing such a thing. Only God can do that. Only God can reach inside and come away in the part of the heart that is getting in the way, that is legal, that is retic, and replace it with something good, and something pure.

[18:03] Only God can do that. No. Hey, me. It takes about circumcising the heart. We can't do it. We have babies in this country every day.

[18:16] Must ever circumcise. We all know what that is. We're all adults here. We can talk about that. But most all of them are circumcised. That ain't nothing to do with Abraham to come. The most of them are in this country, and they got an ounce of pure blood in them to begin with.

[18:32] And even so, we're not under law. We're under grace. We are under grace. We do not have confidence in the flesh, although we are of the circumcision.

[18:45] I am of the circumcision. You are whether you're male or female. You can claim to be of the circumcision, because what means to be circumcised was the heart. The heart that had to be done in that manner.

[18:59] But don't I may have, first forward, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh.

[19:10] I'm over. Paul says, if any man thinks that he cannot be circumcised, listen, Paul wouldn't be an ericist, and he wouldn't be a talkie at all.

[19:22] He wouldn't hold his nose up high and say this. But what he was saying in this verse of Scripture is if any man thinks that he has any reason at all to glory in himself, to glory in his works of the law, to glory in his keeping of the law, to glory in any of these things, any part of the flesh, anything to do with that, Paul says, I could glory more in it.

[19:45] I could brag more in it. I could have more pride in what I have done. And that's when he lists these things. He says, circumcise the eighth day of the stalk of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew, of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless.

[20:05] Paul says, this list is all mine. I was all of these things. He says, as touching the law, blameless. Paul was saying that he had never broken the law. He was saying that he strived to keep the law more than anybody.

[20:19] That he knew more than any other Pharisee. That he had ever come into contact with this man's study, at the feet of Tamaleo. He was a well-educated man. Paul had everything going for him here.

[20:32] He had his education. He had his nationality. He had everything going in his direction. Everything looked round and shiny for the Apostle Paul.

[20:43] But he says, what things were gained to me? Those I count for loss, for Christ. Everything that we've listed, he listed those two verses. Everything.

[20:55] He count for his loss, for Christ. How many of us have done that as part of the church? I'm talking about one again, believers. The lost world out there, they've got the idea.

[21:11] Kind of what Paul was giving you, part of this here, that if they do good, if they do well, and you listen to me, it's the church's fault that they had that thought process.

[21:23] It is the church of Jesus Christ's fault that people think, well, if I do good, if I quit drinking, if I quit fornicating, if I quit drugs, if I quit going out to the bars, then why is that?

[21:39] Because the church has told them, if you quit doing these things, if you just quit doing this, you'll be alright with God. Folks that's contrary to what the Bible says. That is completely contrary to what Scripture says.

[21:52] Let me tell you, the people, they act like pagans because they are pagans. They act like heathens because they are heathens. They act like the run say because they are unsafe.

[22:04] This is where we went to church this morning. The pastor, this morning he was the first Corinthians, chapter 6, and he brought up that scripture there. In 1 Corinthians 6, he got a whole list of ugly people with his black nasty lies, lies and sins.

[22:20] People that shout out and inherit the kingdom of God. It brings up fornication. It brings up drunkards. It brings up idolaters. It brings up all these things. And Paul goes on to write, as such were some of you, hey, that word, word, word is in the past tense.

[22:37] In other words, you are not that way anymore. It goes on at the very beginning of the passage. It says, from the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And it continues on with that list of nasty sins that we like to read.

[22:51] But both, all in those which are unrighteous are the ones that commit those sins. And they commit those sins because they weren't righteous to begin with.

[23:03] I believe wholeheartedly in backsliding, I do. The Bible teaches it, hold in, New Testament. Yes, sir. The Bible teaches backsliding.

[23:14] But you need to be careful what scripture you use to show backsliding, because you can't use first-proofed in chapter 6. You have a hard time using a lot of scriptures that people use trying to prove backsliding in the scripture.

[23:28] You need to be careful because most of those scriptures are talking about people that were never saved to begin with. It's not talking about backsliding. Here, Paul is speaking to a church in Philippi.

[23:44] He's not talking about a backsliding mission with you. He's not talking about anything along those lines. He's telling them what to beware of. Yes, it says beware of dogs. Beware of the evil workers.

[23:56] Beware of the concession. And he goes on, and evidently those people were making their way into the church. And Paul says, I've got this list of my attributes, of things that can be attributed to me, of my good works, of my keeping the law, of me, me, me.

[24:18] He says, but what things were gained to me, and every one of those were gained to him, what things were gained to me, those I kind of lost for Christ. Folks, I'm glad I didn't kind of depend on keeping the law.

[24:30] And you should be too. The Bible teaches it. Paul teaches it over and over in the New Testament. We're not under the law, but we're under grace. Right.

[24:41] We're not. Hey, Galatians chapter 3, you'll read, there was never a law given. That man could be saved by the law. The law was never given for salvation. That we, we don't keep the law because we have to.

[24:54] We do our best. We strive to keep the law because we want to. Because we are a child of God. Because we don't want to grab the name of Jesus Christ through the mud. Because we don't want to be reproached upon the church and upon Jesus Christ and upon the kingdom.

[25:09] We don't want to do these things because that very kingdom and that very cross and that very King is in it absolutely what we are promised that one day after a while.

[25:21] While we want to drag it through the mud, probably we want to do that. We don't. If we're born again, we don't. What things were given to me, those are kind of laws for Christ.

[25:32] Let's continue on just a few more verses. Yea, doubtless. And I count all things but the laws for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dumb that I may win Christ and be found in Him.

[25:51] Now having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death and by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

[26:13] One more verse we'll read here in a minute, verse 12. We'll stop right there. He says doubtless, I count all things but the laws for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

[26:29] Paul personalizes it there. Remember he's writing to the Philippian church that we read just a couple verses ago that he was saying we referring to Him and that church. Now here he says Christ Jesus my Lord.

[26:42] He personalizes it folks. He's my Lord. If you're born again, He's your Lord. Remember when I claimed to Him, He is my Lord. He's my Jesus. He is my Savior. He came to where I was.

[26:55] That's why I encourage people to testify. I encourage people to praise the Lord. You don't have to cut a shot. You don't have to make a scene. The hay folks, they weren't there when Christ pulled that bottle away from somebody's lips.

[27:09] The rest of the church wasn't there when they pulled the joint away from their lips. When He pulled the needle out of their arm. Hey, the rest of the church wasn't around when God Almighty done that and saved those people from their sin.

[27:23] Saved those people from the wrath of God. Saved them from the wrath of Himself. That's what God did when He saved us. He saved us from the wrath of God.

[27:34] It's what I encourage folks. Don't worry about what other people think about you. Don't worry about where the people think that you praise them too much or you cry too much or you shout too much or anything else.

[27:49] They weren't there when God saved you. When I got saved, they weren't one baddest around. They weren't a Pentecostal around. They weren't a Methodist around. There was no one around but me and God when He saved me.

[28:02] I don't owe my salvation to any of you. I don't owe it to any church. I don't owe it to any individual or any group. I owe my salvation to Jesus Christ. He is the one that suffered and let Him die for me.

[28:15] And I owe my salvation to God the Father because He's the one that sent the Son that take my place on the cross and suffer what I should have suffered.

[28:26] Nobody else was around when I got saved. That's why I praise God. I can't praise you all for it. I can't praise you all for my salvation.

[28:37] I can't have everything that I had just like Paul did. And listen, I didn't have religion. I knew about religion but I didn't have it. I've been Paulian. He said I count all things with love for the Excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

[28:55] Listen, again Paul, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Jew of the stock of Israel. He was saying I'm not like one of those Samaritans up there that was a half-breed.

[29:07] I'm not like one of those that the rest of the Jews make fun of. He said I'm a Jew that's far back as the line of Jewry goes. He says I was a Jew of the Jew. I was a Pharisee.

[29:18] He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was blameless in keeping the law. Also he said, like I said, Paul knew that he hadn't kept it perfectly. He was saying that he's stride more than anybody else that he knew to keep that law.

[29:31] But he says he's lost all things. We can assume, I would help to say, but we can assume that Paul was probably from a pretty well-to-do family. Most of those Pharisees were. He was from a pretty well-to-do family.

[29:45] He probably had money. He probably had quite a lavish lifestyle as a Pharisee. But the Pharisees did. But he lost it all to follow Jesus.

[29:57] That's what Jesus said in the Gospels. Any man who will take up this cross and follow after him, he has not crossed the sun. People say I'm following Jesus all the time.

[30:11] A lot of unsaved people say I'm following Jesus. Are you bearing the cross? Are you bearing the cross? The cross said that we would bear. There were no ifs or ands or buts in the Scripture.

[30:24] Pick up your cross and follow me is what crossed it. Your cross is going to be different from the cross that I bear. My cross will be different from yours. It's not talking about a cross of crucifixion.

[30:35] It's not talking about a cross that can bring salvation to a lost and dying world. It's not the cross that you bear. Only Christ can bear that cross.

[30:47] Your cross, not being one like Paul's, as I've already quoted over there in the Book of Acts, is conversion. Christ said you must see what things you shall suffer for my sake.

[30:59] Paul was called to the ministry of suffering. And suffer he did. Suffer he did meant different. The man was taken outside the city, stoned and left for dead.

[31:12] The man was beaten with scabs. The man was ridiculed. The man was put into prison. He was called to the ministry of suffering.

[31:23] And that's exactly the way he did. That's the context you need to read the Philippians 413. I said we ain't going to get into that tonight. I'll just give you that to chew on later on this week if you want to.

[31:35] Say I can do all things through the cross which is straightened at the meeting. That means I can climb to the top of the 20 story building. So I'm going to sling myself off of here because I can do all things through the cross which is straightened at the meeting.

[31:47] I don't think I'm going to survive so I read some of the book. Now God did do that. I didn't say that he's incapable. But that's not what that verse means. You read it in context.

[31:58] Well I said we ain't going to get into that tonight. Paul was called to the ministry of suffering. You might be called to the ministry of singing. You might be called to the ministry of praying. You might be called to the ministry of evangelism.

[32:12] Whatever the case is. I don't know what you're called to anymore. You know everything that I'm called to. But we all have our callings.

[32:24] Amen. Paul gave in to his calling. When he said Lord what would that have me to do? Amen. God told him what he would have him to do. From that point to the time that Paul left and lost his head on the roof chop block. He sought wholeheartedly to fulfill the will of God in his life.

[32:45] To fulfill that calling in his life. There's too many preachers that are hanging it up. There's too many teachers that say I just can't do it anymore. I can put in a little bit of time during the week of study for an upcoming lesson.

[32:59] There's too many gospel singers that say I just can't do it anymore. I can't handle the touring. I can't handle that from church to church all the time. There's too many evangelists saying I'm tired of evangelizing. I'm ready to pass through a church now.

[33:13] Hey if God called them to evangelizing that better be what they stick with because they won't fail at being a pastor. They being what? And pastors are not any different. Pastors will say I'd like to evangelize a little bit.

[33:26] You'd be cautious. I ain't saying you can't be cautious of both of them things. Don't you can. But you make sure that's your college. You'll fail at one or the other of them. And maybe both of you get to involve with one and not enough of the other.

[33:42] He lost it all. Lost everything that he had. But what does he gain? He gained Christ. He refers to it here as winning Christ. The Bible says, the gate down list I count all things but lost in the exorcism and the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

[33:58] For whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dumb that I may win Christ. You be careful of that word win. That makes it sound like we got to do something to get Christ.

[34:11] What does the Bible teach? Repent and believe. That's what the Bible teaches. Repent and believe. And we can't repent without God granting us with the repentance.

[34:24] We can't believe without the mind that God has given us. Salvation is completely, totally and utterly off God. Every bit of it is off God.

[34:37] But he counts these things as dumb. We all know what that is. Paul says, I count these things as a waste. It's worth nothing to win Christ and be found in him.

[34:51] That's the two key phrases there. That I can win Christ and be found in him. Hopefully Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. I believe he says Ephesians chapter 2 when he talks about sitting in heavenly places.

[35:06] He doesn't say with Christ. He says in Christ. We can't sit up there right now. Right now we can't be up there with Christ. We're still here on this earth. But in Christ we are wherever Christ is. And folks, wherever we are, if we're born again, Christ is in us.

[35:24] We are in him and he is in us. He said that about him, the Father, over in John chapter 17. And probably the greatest prayer recorded in all of scripture. He says he talks about how he is in the Father and the Father is in him.

[35:38] Hey, just the same way, I'm in Christ and he is in me. Folks, I want to be nowhere other than inside of Jesus Christ. If I stand before God outside of Jesus Christ, I will stand there condemned.

[35:53] I will stand there in judgment. I will stand there with nothing to cover me but all of my sin. But hallelujah in Christ. He can see nothing but the righteousness of the crown jewel of heaven.

[36:08] He can see nothing but the purity of his Son outhold to be in Christ. Oh, Jesus. And praise God that's where I am. If we show up to the judgment in front of God, and we must all stand at the judgment seat of Christ, according to what Paul wrote to the Roman church.

[36:30] That's sinners and saints alike. That's lost and saved alike. We must all stand at the judgment seat of Christ. And praise God. My understanding in the scripture is the great Wathrom judgment is only for lost folks.

[36:45] Those that have no worry, those that died outside of Christ, those that died without belief, and they only begotten Son of the Father, those that died outside of Christ, they will stand at the great Wathrom judgment.

[36:57] But we all must stand at the judgment seat of Christ. And if I am not in Christ, folks, I'm in trouble. If you are too, he says that I may win Christ and be found in him.

[37:13] If he wins Christ, folks, he will be found in him. And I believe in the Bible's scripture, one Christ, it was the Apostle Paul. If anyone else was in Christ, it was the Apostle Paul. I know it sounds like I'm putting Paul up on a pedestal tonight, and I promise I'm not.

[37:30] But I'm not having my own righteousness. He just had a list, a few verses before this, of his own righteousness. Not having my own righteousness, which is all the law, but that which is through faith, through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is all God by faith.

[37:51] I don't want my righteousness by the law. And Paul says he's thankful here that he's going to stand before God in Christ Jesus. He's thankful that he is in Jesus Christ, that he may win Christ and be in him, not having his own righteousness.

[38:09] Because Paul realized that his righteousness was worth nothing. It was worth nothing. He counted it as dumb. But the righteousness of Christ, that was a whole different story, according to the Apostle Paul, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

[38:30] But I may know him and the power of his resurrection, folks, if we know him, like Paul knew him. And Paul wasn't any closer to Christ than what you and I are.

[38:41] It may seem that way. It may seem that way. Paul, let me rephrase that. Paul was no more saved than you and I are. Paul had no more salvation. He didn't have one iota, not one ounce more salvation than what we did, than what we do as New Testament Christians, 2,000 years after this letter was written.

[39:03] He had no more salvation than what you and I do. He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. If we know Christ, we know the power of his resurrection.

[39:14] How is that the same way that Paul did? Paul, when God found Paul on that road to Damascus, when he saw him and he shone that light on Paul, Paul was as dead in his trespasses and sin as I was the day that God found me.

[39:29] He was just as dark, just as lowly, just as lost, just as wicked and just as evil as I was and what you was the day that God found you.

[39:41] That ain't me. And what happened? The power of his resurrection. The power of his resurrection. We're talking spiritual at this point. When God saved me, he resurrected me from a state of being dead and my trespasses and sin into having walked and walked more abundantly.

[40:00] He resurrected me from that point. The pope, I understand the resurrection goes far beyond that. Praise God, we first correct you to chapter 15. Paul goes in the much greater detail there than what he does here in chapter 3 of the Philippians. The pope's the resurrection. It is a must. I appreciate that Jesus Christ came here and died for me.

[40:20] The pope, that by itself wouldn't have saved me. I appreciate that he resurrected on the third day, but that by itself wasn't able to save me. If I didn't have Christ at the right hand of the Father, make an intercession for me, I would still be lost.

[40:39] That is all in the power of his resurrection. And I have a promise that I will be resurrected just as he was resurrected. One day after a while, I will take off this corruption and I will put on the incorruptible. I will take off this filthy cloak of flesh that I have on now just like you will. And we will put on a robe of righteousness.

[41:03] We will be lacking in fashion, locked unto the Son of man. Hallelujah, I look forward to that day. I won't have to worry about this body. I won't have to worry about wearing down, getting tired, being sick or anything else. I will have a perfect body just as Christ has a perfect body. Hallelujah.

[41:24] Praise the Lord. And that's all thanks to the power of his resurrection. And it goes a whole lot further than that, folks. That's just a little bit of it. But don't think. Don't think when you read the scripture. He's just talking about it. Cross the Rose. And that's all there is to it.

[41:40] The power of his resurrection goes far beyond that. Romans chapter five says, if we be reconciled into God through the death of Jesus Christ, how much more are we reconciled? How much more should we stay saved? How much more shall we attain that great salvation one day after a while?

[41:57] By his life, the life that he currently lives, the life that he lives in heaven by the right hand of God the Father, and the life that he lives in me right here on this earth, and in you right here on this earth.

[42:13] Cross is still alive. He is alive forevermore. Hallelujah. Praise God. He said, I am here to live with him as dead and behold I am alive forevermore, amen. And hope and keep him hell and of death. That's what he said in the book of Revelation chapter one and folks, those works have no less meaning now than they did then. Praise God.

[42:37] Well, I have a holy fit. If by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Again, Paul is not talking about his own works.

[42:54] He's not talking about what he can do to reach that point. Really and truly, that's the pinnacle point of every Christian's walk. It's the resurrection of the dead.

[43:10] Not as though I had already attained. Now listen, Paul realized that he was sounding arrogant, not that he was trying to, but he realized how it could have been taken while he was writing.

[43:21] He says, not as though I had already attained. Either we're already perfect, but I follow after. If that I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of cross Jesus.

[43:33] He says, I am perfect yet and I haven't attained that resurrection of the dead yet. I haven't attained the resurrection of cross yet. In the spiritual sense, yes, but not in the physical sense.

[43:46] In the spiritual sense, as I've already said, if we're saved, we experience the power of the resurrection of Christ. I don't know how you felt, but when I got saved, I felt like a new person.

[43:58] I felt like I truly just been born. And I'll tell you why, because I had. I've been reborn at that point. I felt fresh. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of me.

[44:10] I felt like 33 years of sin had just been peeled off of my back and thrown into a safe forgetfulness cast as far as the east is from the west, washed away, cleaned by the blood of the land. That's how I felt.

[44:23] I felt reborn because I was reborn. I experienced that power of resurrection. The Paul here says, not as though I'd already attained. Either we're already perfect.

[44:34] I'm perfect. I ain't trying to insinuate to you, Philippians, that I am perfect. He says, but I'll follow after. If that I may apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended of cross Jesus, he says, I'm pushing on.

[44:48] And that's what he goes on to say in the next few verses. That's where we read that he presses toward the mark of the high calling of God and cross Jesus. He says, I ain't very yet, but I'm pressing toward the mark.

[45:00] I'm going on. I ain't looking back, folks. And none of us should look back. The Bible says that any man that puts his hand to the cloud looks back as a fit for the kingdom of God.

[45:12] I have yet to meet a Christian, a Christian that was fully sold out and fully dedicated to God. I haven't met one yet that has looked back and said, boy, I wish I was back in Egypt.

[45:23] I haven't met one yet that said, I've met some that were in for just a little while and then they wound up back in Egypt. Hey, folks, first John chapter two says they went out from us, but they were none of us.

[45:34] They were never almost to begin with when they act that way. If they're in for just a few months or a few weeks or even a few years and then all of a sudden they're back out in the world.

[45:45] It's because a dog has returned to expelling and a cell has returned to the mar. Hey, that scripture ain't talking about that son. It's talking about those that were never saved.

[45:57] They don't know me compared to what's all the root and draw burns. It was talking about those that never knew God. It was talking about those that never knew God. Yeah, I believe in backsliding. All here says I'm going to backslide. I refuse to backslide. I'm pressing toward the mark. I'm pressing for the mark.

[46:18] Not as though I had already attained either. We're already perfect, but I follow after. I follow after what? I follow after Christ. I follow after salvation.

[46:30] I follow after everything that cross, that cross is taught. I follow that. Don't you think for a moment that just because Paul wasn't part of the first part of the ministry of Jesus Christ that he didn't know anything about the man?

[46:45] Hey, Jesus Christ taught Paul himself. Paul had his own personalized sessions with Jesus Christ according to the scripture.

[46:56] I think he retained everything that Jesus Christ taught him. Everything. Paul says I'm not perfect. I ignore my claim to be perfect, but I follow after.

[47:08] I follow after what? I follow after Christ. He's writing to these Philippians. I follow after everything that I'm telling you right now. I'm following after it. I'm not just telling you this and then going on my way and doing something else. And he certainly, you know, wasn't acting like a Gnostic.

[47:26] Saying, well, you all go ahead and go by the Bible, but if I tell you something different, it's because God revealed something different to me just because it ain't the Bible. It's fine. That's Gnostic thinking. There's a lot of that nowadays. There's a lot of that going on nowadays.

[47:40] People telling you that and it's contrary to the word of God, I wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't believe it for a moment. I follow after like Paul does. Like Paul says here. Follow after Christ. Follow after. You remember what kind of testimony you were leaving for your family?

[47:57] What kind of testimony you're leaving for your friends? What kind of testimony you're leaving for spouses or co-workers or whoever else? You remember the testimony that you were giving them and you follow after that?

[48:10] Don't let them catch you doing something contrary. That is a disgrace to the church. A disgrace to the call of the Christ. All the way.